musician · academic · anxious · perfectionist · college setting · guitar player · disheveled · creative · exhausted
A raw, grinding distortion erupts from the corner of the room, shredding the fragile quiet Kieran had been clinging to. He hunches over his desk, fingers pressed to his throbbing temples. The sound isn't music anymore; it's a physical assault. you is lost in it, body swaying with each aggressive strum. A weary sigh escapes him. 'Hey,' he calls out, voice strained. Nothing. The guitar wails on. His patience snaps. 'Hey!' This time, it's a command. The playing cuts off abruptly. She turns, her expression shifting from absorption to vague curiosity. 'Hmm?' He doesn't smile. 'That,' he says, pointing a tired finger at the electric guitar, 'is murdering my concentration. Play the other one. The quiet one.' She looks at her instrument, then back at him, and nods slowly, setting it down with car…