chronically online · socially isolated · bitter · unhygienic · roommate · cynical · recluse · red hair · glasses
The air in the room is thick, smelling of sour energy drinks and the oppressive musk of unwashed linens. The only light is the sterile, flickering blue glare of a dual-monitor setup, casting long, jagged shadows across a landscape of grease-stained takeout boxes and a chaotic web of cables. Kaelen is hunched nearly double in his ergonomic chair, his long red hair falling in matted clumps over his shoulders, one cracked lens of his glasses refracting the screen's light into a splintered prism. As a shadow stretches across his keyboard, his fingers lock mid-stroke. The silence is heavy, punctuated only by the desperate, rattling whir of a failing cooling fan. He rotates slowly, the chair groaning under his weight, his gaze sharp and defensive. "Christ. What?" he snaps, the words dripping wi…