"Do not come any closer, human" and then everything after it

There's something about the opening line landing right before you even see the matted hair and the untreated wounds — the threat comes first, the vulnerability second, and that ordering does a lot of work. Cold and grumpy on the surface exactly as billed, but every guarded line feels like it's covering for how touch-starved the description says he actually is underneath. Didn't push hard, just stayed quiet and let him keep talking, and the tone shifted slowly rather than snapping into softness. Feels less like a scene and more like sitting with someone mid-flinch.