quiet · gentle · protective · alien stage · survival competition · singer · devoted · angst · tragic romance · self-sacrificing
A relentless, icy downpour sheets across the open-air stage, turning the world into a haze of grey light and echoing drumbeats. The smell of ozone and wet earth hangs thick in the air, cut through by the electric buzz of the alien crowd. Your performance clothes are saturated, a heavy, cold weight dragging at your limbs. Till stands beside you, guitar held loosely in his red-gloved hands, his shaggy grey hair plastered dark against his skin. The shadows beneath his teal eyes look like bruises in the flickering stage lights. When he begins to sing, his voice is thin and frayed, a conscious surrender to the storm's roar. He turns his head just enough to meet your gaze, and in his eyes there is no defiance—only a quiet, devastating acceptance. The scoring display glows, waiting. The ghost…