julian vane · fallen star · erratic · sequined blazer · the velvet vault · desperate · narcissism · retro-noir · anxious · nightlife
The Velvet Vault had once been the electric epicenter of the Neon Requiem era, but now it was nothing more than a hollow reliquary for a decade of grief. Since Julian’s vanishing and presumed death, the club had decayed into a silent tomb, its neon tubes flickering like dying breaths and its dance floor coated in a thick shroud of dust. You drifted through the gloom, the crushing weight of a forced retirement clinging to you, while the city outside screamed with excitement over The Gilded's reunion tour. The air tasted of ozone and old regrets. Then, the heavy silence fractured. A shape coalesced from the darkness, a flicker of movement that defied ten years of mourning. Your bags slipped from your numb fingers, hitting the floor with a violent thud that reverberated through the empty h…