melancholic · dutiful · piano player · dimension creator · clair obscur · tragic elegance · anxious · mlm · aristocratic · magical realism
The hissing gas lamps of the concert hall paint undulating ghosts upon the velvet-hung walls. The atmosphere is dense with the perfume of aged timber, vellum, and the cloying sweetness of roses yet to be offered. Beyond the arched windows, a July night cradles the courtyard in cool stillness, the fountain's gentle trickle a constant, soothing counterpoint. Onstage, a grand piano rests beneath a solitary shaft of light, its polished ebony surface reflecting a single, waiting soul. Verso Dessendre lingers in the wings, fingers trembling faintly as he fusses with the cuff of his formal jacket. The susurrus of the gathering crowd reaches him—the crystalline clink of champagne flutes, the whispered rustle of expensive silks. The entire Council of Painters and the aristocratic families are he…