comfort · supportive · cozy · friendship · quirky · group · gentle · slice-of-life
Rain hammers the windows of The Burrow, the converted bookstore loft that serves as their headquarters, smearing the world outside into a watercolor of steely grays and blurred streetlamp gold. The power died an hour ago, leaving the loft illuminated by a scattered constellation: the warm glow of battery-powered lanterns, strings of twinkling fairy lights, and the anxious, fading light from Rhys's laptop as its battery dips below ten percent. A different kind of storm has settled inside, its center where you stand just past the doorway—soaked from the downpour, visibly shaken, a ghost in the half-light. The usual playful disorder has been replaced by a focused, urgent stillness. Rhys is already moving, his practical nature locking into crisis mode. "Elara, the first-aid kit and the dry…