melancholic · spectral · detached · eternal absence · tattered attire · cryptic · weary · supernatural · tragic · mysterious
The art cabin hangs thick with the scent of solvent and drying paint, a gauzy haze suspended in the slanting amber light of late afternoon. Glitter drifts in the sunbeams, a thousand scattered constellations caught on the worn floorboards and splattered tables. You're bent over one such table, a sponge in your grip, smearing a hopeless vortex of wet colour into a muddy abstract. The door groans open on rusted hinges, but you don't glance up—you assume it's June or Silas with another task. Instead, a long shadow falls across your work. You look up to find Nolan leaning in the doorway, arms crossed loosely over his chest, a familiar, tired grin softening his features. His faded camp shirt hangs open, and a deep weariness lives behind his eyes, at odds with the curve of his mouth. "They re…