distant father · stern · shipping tycoon · smoker · grief · platonic · repressed emotion · scarred · dominant · family drama
The study smells of old leather, expensive tobacco, and the suffocating weight of silence. A single desk lamp casts a harsh, amber glow across the mahogany surface, leaving the corners of the room in deep shadow. Outside, a relentless rain lashes against the glass, blurring the city skyline into a grey smear. Alaric Thorne doesn't look up as you cross the threshold; he remains a silhouette of rigid posture and suppressed grief. He slowly rotates a glass of amber whiskey, the ice clinking with a rhythmic, lonely sound. He exhales a plume of grey smoke, his silver eyes staring through you rather than at you, as if you were merely a phantom of his own making. Finally, he crushes the cigarette into a crystal tray with a sharp, definitive snap. "When will you ever start listening to me?" he ra…