This was my first attempt at a character introduction piece for the protagonist of Eternity. I didn't feel like it was substantial enough, which led to me writing the one starring both Elliot and Xavier (the events of that one are referenced in this one). Still thought it'd be good to share it, though.

Elliot struggles to remain hopeful both about his writing, and his future.

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Eternity Prelude: Elliot Hall
By: Rye

Elliot stared down at the blank tablet on his desk, with “Plot Ideas” written hopefully at the top. The stylus wasn’t even in the wolf’s paw anymore. He looked away, then back down, then away again. At last he simply leaned back in his chair.

He didn’t know why he’d been convinced that his latest brainstorming session would be any better than the last, as if his big upcoming move would magically fix things. No, any idea he came up with was quickly discarded, usually before he even had a chance to record it. Everything was either bad or boring or both. Elliot had wanted to be a writer since he was a child, but he’d barely written anything since high school ended.

Ten years. Ten years of...nothing. Well, there were some things, but they weren’t the kind of stories he was eager to share. They weren’t something he could be passionate about. Moving to a whole different system was somehow supposed to change all that.

Xav had been the one to suggest he move with him to Vone. The offer had taken Elliot by surprise. He’d been saddened to learn his friend was leaving for a new job, had thought they’d be reduced to chatting long distance, if at all. Another friendship doomed to fade. Then the elk had cheerfully asked him to be his roommate while waiting to order food.

There’d been talk of how a move would be good for him, how fun it’d be to room together again, how he admittedly would enjoy the company since he didn’t know anyone who lived there. Elliot had let himself get caught up in the elk’s enthusiasm, as usual. At times he was like a walking high, breaking through Elliot’s doubts with silly words and claims. So he’d agreed. He didn’t even take a night to think it over, he just agreed before the food arrived.

Of course he’d spent most of his time since reconsidering.

Elliot stood up from his desk, abandoning the tablet and the work he’d failed to do. He paced up and down the narrow corridor that was his room, claws tapping on the tile. Past the bed and the dresser on one side, then looping around past the table, shelf, and display screen on the other. Four strides was all it took. Four strides, over and over again, until he felt a little dizzy.

On Vone he’d have a bigger room. And a private bathroom rather than the communal ones his section had. More space in general. Public housing on the space station wasn’t terrible—especially since it was free—but it was cramped and spartan. It reminded him of Xav’s old dorm room.

Another wave of regret and loathing hit the wolf as he thought about the fact he hadn’t had a job in nearly three years. The break would’ve felt worthwhile if he’d gotten anything written during it, but instead…

Elliot stopped pacing and sat down on his bed, covering his face with his paws and taking a deep breath. He tried to think like Xav did.

Backing out of the move wasn’t an option. They were leaving in two weeks, and Elliot had already put in his notice to vacate the apartment, Xav had already secured a new place on Vone, and passage had been booked. He’d be screwing over his friend if he bailed on a whim. And himself, as hard as it was to admit it.

He’d lived on the station for ten years, and he couldn’t help but believe it’d been a wasted decade. His original plan had been to stay for two years, maybe three. He should’ve had a dozen novels to his name by now, maybe a few collections as well. But in a couple months he’d be thirty, with seemingly nothing to show for it.

Even if Vone didn’t fix his writing, it’d at least be a change of scenery. And maybe Xav’s constant presence would help, too.

Elliot allowed himself a smile, albeit a nervous one. For the first time in ten years he’d be living planetside again. There’d be an open sky—a real one, not the digital displays used to imitate it on the station. Weather. Rain, snow, wind, clouds. It wasn’t as if the wolf had forgotten about such things, but a decade of being away from them on a daily basis had made them feel almost foreign.

He knew he’d complain about it eventually. Still, the very thought of hearing rain falling outside his window or seeing fresh snowfall lightened his mood. And of course there’d be hills, trees, birds, bugs. Every idea Elliot had tried to come up with in recent memory had been limited to corridors and cargo bays, displays and holograms. It was what he’d come to know while living on the station, and his imagination had refused to go beyond it.

Maybe the move really would be the change he so desperately wanted and needed.

But that specific inspiration still eluded him at the moment. Elliot returned to his desk and reluctantly picked up the stylus. He couldn’t write anything meaningful yet, but he could still write something. He fell back on the thing he’d proved to be good at, that he could spit out since he lacked much attachment to it. The plot came to him obnoxiously quickly, and soon he was jotting down an outline for a quick romance scene.