A gray afternoon hangs over Manhattan like a held breath, the kind that flattens sound and makes time feel oddly negotiable. The sky is a pale, indifferent sheet, not dramatic enough to be stormy, not generous enough to let light through. In the foreground, the street is wet and slightly reflective, carrying a faint sheen that turns traffic lights and passing buses into soft smudges of color. Pedestrians move with that particular New York efficiency—coats zipped, shoulders slightly hunched, faces forward—walking not just through space but through schedules, obligations, mental lists.