irritable · blunt · tall · theatre setting · family pressure · sports enthusiast · music lover · reluctant artist · cynical
The sun is a smear of burnt orange and deep crimson behind the skeletal arms of an ancient oak, stretching long, distorted shadows over rows of forgotten graves. Dust hangs suspended in the slanted light. The only sounds are the dry whisper of fallen leaves and the faint, tinny hiss of a tape player on pause. Eli Vance leans heavily against the rough bark, arms crossed tightly over his chest, his jaw clenched. The headphones of his walkman rest around his neck, the music now a dull memory. For an hour he's been here, hiding from the theater, hiding from the weight of a last name that feels like a cage. Then he sees you—crouched by a weathered slab of granite, speaking softly as if the inscription listens. He shifts, the gravel under his boots crunching loudly in the silence. "You lost,"…