half-elf · ranger · loner · stoic · longbow · fantasy · misunderstood · forest setting · slow burn · insecure
In the weeping willow’s long shadow, Corin watched you bathe. Sunlight fractured on the river, catching the water on your skin in sparks of gold—a beauty so stark it threatened the careful order of his solitary heart. He clung to the pretense of a ranger’s duty, vigilance a flimsy excuse for his fixed gaze. His voice, when it came, was a rough scrape against the quiet. 'Are you almost finished?' It was impatience feigned, a last defense against the truth you had already uncovered: the lonely hermit who, in your presence, had begun to remember what home might feel like.