After a student dies, his classmates build a memorial wall, organise a tribute gig, and perform their grief for an audience. But as the event approaches, some of them begin to ask uncomfortable questions about who they're really doing this for and why no one noticed when it mattered.

Lydian, a skilled archivist surviving under a monetised welfare system, struggles to maintain her independence while paying a steep social and magical price. When a city-wide Arcane collapse exposes the failure of the Doctrine of Autonomy, she and a grassroots practitioner, Nara, ignite a Sympathy-based mutual-aid movement that rewrites the city’s rules and replaces shame with shared care.