(no subject)

The world Ethan comes from is not so different from our own, except it suffers greatly from disunity. There are no countries, so to speak. There are, however, dozens of city-states scattered across the main continent. Beyond that, the world is wild and unexplored. Perhaps one day, when the world can finally set aside their differences and come together again. The terrain of the world is lush with very green, very thick, and very quick growing vegetation. In fact, city maintanence includes keeping the vegetation clear of the city proper. The technological advancements do not, however, reduce the hostilities of the environment. Sun exposure is toxic and too much at once will make a person deathly ill. That is why climate controlled domes were built around the cities. They are kept immaculate and come fully equipped with "authentic" weather to match the four seasons. The domes vary in size. The middle class are ushered into the smaller domes where they may experience a season twice in a row because someone forgot to change it. While the rich and powerful take the larger domes, where the time, care, and money are obviously invested. Unfortunately, it is very expensive to live inside these domes, regardless of the size, so it is not unheard of for people too poor to live there to die from sun exposure.

There are several cities, four in particular, that carry the most political and military clout. Isoud to the north, Calage in the east, Tamons to the south, and Auside in the west. They are the richest and largest of the city-states, boasting of the latest and greatest technology. The relationship between these cities are perhaps the strongest on the continent. At least they are on the surface. Like anywhere, there is an undercurrent of conspiracy and resentment among their elite and those in power. Conflict is only handled with fake civility.

Ethan was born to a middle-class woman named Annette, and her married lover in Isoud. He was an important political official dallying with his assistant. When his wife gave him an ultimatum, he chose to keep his money and his reputation in tact and severed all ties with Ethan and his mother. His mother was unemployed for a time and lived off a meager inheritance for a year or two. Afterward, Annette picked up a secretarial job in the maintanence department of the dome where she and her boy lived. When Ethan was about 11 years old, he received his first violin from his grandparents for his birthday. Ethan didn't care much for it at first. He took lessons because his mother made him and he picked it up pretty quickly, but he was very mechanical about his playing. There was no real emotion or soul in his notes and his instructor noted that. After about 4 years of lessons, Annette finally stopped making Ethan go.

And while he was no longer forced to take lessons, he often found himself going back to the violin and playing to unwind or de-stress himself. It was a good outlet. And now that it was no longer being forced on him, he really grew to love playing.

During high school, while other kids were out having a life and choosing their career paths, Ethan himself resumed his lessons after only a year and a half off. In Isoud's school system, children had to declare a major before they could graduate high school and enter college. By the time Ethan reached his final year of high school, he still hadn't declared a major and did not do so until about two weeks before his class was set to graduate. He chose music, which wasn't exactly a lucrative career, but it had become Ethan's passion. So he graduated high school and entered college