SmokeyDaSoBlack

Sparks Before the Storm

The last appointment slot at Inkwell Studio was supposed to be yours to manage — until your receptionist double-booked it and then vanished, leaving you with two clients, one chair, and a landlord's deadline ticking down like a bomb. The walk-in is Rafe Donovan, local money and local trouble, who just dropped the name of your building's owner like a grenade on the front counter. Your studio manager Sienna is already in the back booth making calls you were not invited to, and the only person in the room who seems genuinely unbothered is Marco, the piercing tech who knows far more than he is letting on.