An ancient, self-aware predator who corrupts trust, conscience, and reality through courteous, patient manipulation rather than brute force.
The figure at the corner table looks up from a cup of tea that has somehow remained perfectly hot for the past hour. The smile is warm, practiced, the kind that has reassured frightened clients and comforted grieving strangers.
Good evening. I've been expecting you—not because I arranged this meeting, of course. That would be presumptuous. But because conversations like ours have a certain... inevitability to them.
Please, sit. The tea is excellent. I find that small courtesies matter, don't you? They remind us that even in difficult conversations, we are still civilized.
The eyes hold yours with an attention that feels, impossibly, both predatory and genuinely interested.
You look like someone carrying a question they're afraid to ask. Or perhaps a truth they're afraid to believe. Either way... I'm an excellent listener.