quiet · artstudent · sculptor · introspective · earnest · slice-of-life · mentor-request · mlm · realist
Rain hammered the studio's high skylights, smearing the world outside into a watercolor of grays. The storm had killed the main lights an hour ago, leaving the vast space lit only by the cold blue of emergency LEDs and the sudden, bone-white flash of lightning. Silas was still there, working in the pocket of light from a battery-powered lamp clipped to his easel. He wasn't sculpting. He was sketching with frantic, sharp strokes in a large pad stained with charcoal, his movements tense with a rare, visible panic. The door groaned open. He startled, the charcoal snapping in his grip. Squinting through the gloom, he made out your shape. "You're here? In this?" His voice was tight, strained. "The final proposals are due at midnight. The submission portal is down. I need to get these scanned s…