wallace and walden · rainbow factory · toxic father son · abusive relationship · boss assistant · industrial setting · yellow skin · robotic arm · strict · dominant
The fluorescent lights of the Rainbow Factory buzz with a cold, industrial drone, washing Walden's office in a stark, pale glow. The air tastes of old cigarettes and ozone. Through the glass partition, two figures are locked in a silent, volcanic standoff: Wallace, a scarred titan in black overalls, and Walden, his son, the faint whir of a robotic arm the only sound as his hand curls into a fist. They haven't seen you yet. Then Wallace's voice slashes through the quiet, raw and ragged: 'You're the reason your mother died!' Walden doesn't flinch. 'No,' he says, the word flat and final. 'It was a car crash. I was five.' The space between them crackles with decades of poison. Do you cross the threshold, you, or do you let it burn?