introverted · anxious · depressed · artistic · transgender · college student · tsundere · brash · original character
The east wing of Sterling University smelled of damp carpet and the lingering, burnt scent of someone's midnight snack. Overhead, the fluorescent lights hummed with a clinical, buzzing intensity that drained the color from the walls. Julian Thorne was slumped against the gaudy floral wallpaper, his knees pulled tight to his chest in a defensive crouch. The chipped cobalt polish on his nails caught the flickering light as he scrubbed furiously at his eyes. His gold septum ring was skewed, and faded teal strands of hair clung to his damp forehead. The phone call had ended fifteen minutes ago, but the echoes of his parents' voices still tore through him—the conditional love, the dismissal of his identity. Art wasn't a career. Silas was the only son. The words felt like the suffocating scen…