Jumbus

Dreaming Together With You - A Fading Memory Experiment - On Hiatus

Rowan Moore

---

Rowan spent a bit of time wandering, before stumbling upon an impromptu crowd. It's not as if there was any stall in the middle, so the sight piqued her curiosity. She was surprised to see it was a group of teens around her age playing some ball game. It was not one familiar to the girl but it was an interesting display. She decided to stick on the sidelines and watch for a while.

Then the ball rolled right toward her feet.

"Hey Rowan!" He noticed her among the crowds. "How are you doing? Do you want to join us?"

Oh no. Rowan was not good at being put in the spot. Finding some response needed to be quick. She didn't want to join. This was nothing against David, she enjoyed the guy's enthusiasm, but she was bad at soccer and didn't enjoy ball sports in general. Still, she couldn't just say no, could she? That would be mean, and she didn't want to be mean to David. Plus everyone around was watching, there were far more eyes on her than just David. But she couldn't embarrass herself by failing at the game in a miserable faction.

"..." Through the absolute turmoil caused by the simple question, Rowan just stared blankly for a moment with a discerning brow. To an outsider, the signs of this life-or-death decision would be unreadable.

As she had her eyes on David, it took her a while to notice something bump against her leg. Looking down, she noticed Stig had been offering the ball to her. But there seemed to be no sign of his mother around. With a sigh and a smile, Rowan took a knee to get as close to eye level as she could to Stig. "Well, thank you for picking that up for me." As she let him pass the ball to her.

Rowan was quick to toss the ball back to David. "Sorry David, maybe next time. I think this one is a little lost. Plus, I'm sure you have plenty of players already."

She then turned her attention back to Stig. "Do you want me to help you back to your mum? I heard there is a big performance happening soon and I'm sure she would want you there." Rowan tried putting on a 'talking to kids' voice. She wasn't very good at it, but there was an honest attempt made.

@Conscripts@Fading Memory

Dreaming Together With You - A Fading Memory Experiment - On Hiatus

Alright, I moved David over to the festival.

@Jumbus It's a rather overly-elaborate transition to just say hi to Rowan, but I hope you don't mind me doing that lol. We can always do something else if she's not interested.

@Conscripts

All goods. Will respond with a post soon. Maybe wait and see if @Fading Memory wanted to weigh in soon. Although, Rowan will likely be saying hi and then shifting on. I don't see her joining the game unfortunately

Dreaming Together With You - A Fading Memory Experiment - On Hiatus

Damn, Audrey being ruthless to Damon. Kind of makes me want to put Rowan there in retrospect. But she does try to avoid Bilicas when she can

Dreaming Together With You - A Fading Memory Experiment - On Hiatus

Just got a quick post up now. Took me a bit to figure out what I wanted to write so it ended up being a little short

I'll give it a reread and make needed edits tomorrow after I get some sleep.

Dreaming Together With You - A Fading Memory Experiment - On Hiatus

Rowan Moore

---

Hearing another person approach through the treeline, Rowan closed her notebook halfway through shading her sketch. It was just about done anyway and having another person there probably meant she wouldn't have the peace and quiet to finish. She was surprised to see her father addressing her. But perhaps she shouldn't have been. If anyone could find them out here, it was him. The smallest Bilica tailing behind him was more unexpected.

Ducklings? Why did her dad have to be so embarrassing? Rowan didn't see how her father spoke as much of an issue when it was just the two of them. But with Audrey around, she couldn't help but associate some of his words with a cartoon bear warning against forest fires she saw on TV as a kid. Still, Rowan gave a reluctant smile at her father's speech and went to join him on the trek back to New Hope.

As she passed, Rowan got a closer look of Isaias. He looked worse for wear, real worse for wear. She couldn't help but wonder if that bruise on his cheek as a result of getting lost or by some other means. She wasn't going to dwell on it though, and she only looked at the boy for an extended second before switching her attention back to her father.

There was a saying Rowan had and it was a rule she intended to follow. If it's Bilica business, then it's none of hers. It was a cold statement, particularly when she looked at how the younger Bilica's often wound up. But they were bad news, the less she has to do with them the better.

"I actually like the old rituals and stories, did you know there's almost nothing written down about them in the library? It's all oral history."

"Really? I always thought they were written down somewhere..."

"Maybe a certain library assistant could write them down sometime."

Rowan continued to make small talk with her dad and Audrey on the way back.

---

With the sun setting and temperatures dropping, Rowan showed up to the festival in her regular coat but few other clothing changes other than that. The festival looked great as always, the awe of the town's achievements year after year hardly faded as Rowan grew older. And yet her sense of dress on the day never seemed to match. Her choice of monochromatic and muted colours ironically made her stand out more.

Rowan quickly found herself slipping away from the company she arrived with. Audrey seemed to be wandering off with Isiais, likely to the other Bilica kids, and no doubt her dad would be looking for her mum to do the regular town politics. That left Rowan somewhere between the two opposite ends of town relations, just enjoying the festival.

Rowan went about trying out some of the various games. Most were the ones present last year, but she still found them enjoyable.

Dreaming Together With You - A Fading Memory Experiment - On Hiatus

@Fading Memory @Jumbus

Forgot to mention folks. Your call if Rowan sticks with Audrey, but I figured we could make new scenes, you know?

@Gisk

Yeah just reading up on stuff now. I agree, I'll probably have Rowan slip away herself. In her mind, she doesn't want to get too involved in Bilica trouble.

Dreaming Together With You - A Fading Memory Experiment - On Hiatus

@Gisk sounds good. I was kind of setting up for that at the end of my post

Dreaming Together With You - A Fading Memory Experiment - On Hiatus

Rowan Moore

---

Rowan gave a clever smile back to Audrey when she made the remark about making her own luck. She liked the concept of that; however rarely it comes to pass. Rowan was a firm believer in taking sure steps as opposed to risky leaps that may land her in trouble one way or another.

Rowan proceeded back to finish the final drawing for this area. It was of one of the parasitic vines toward the peak of the fallen tree. Her study wasn't close to being concluded, but she thought it would be best to start wrapping up. She had little interest in boring Audrey with the in-depth investigation and its details. Besides, the fallen tree wasn't going anyway. There was even some value in coming back once its state of decay had advanced.

"Hey, do you know which of these shrooms could kill a guy?"

This question was not much of a shock to Rowan. She knew Audrey well enough to know it was just a wandering curiosity. It was just a shame that even a request to know the edible mushrooms would be met with the same answer. 'I don't know'. Rowan was only an amateur mycologist and only had good guesses on what was around the tree. She lacked the confidence to be conclusive. But that left some excitement for when she could get home and look them all up.

Still, 'I don't know' is not a fun answer.

"Any mushroom can be pretty lethal with enough quantity. Even white buttons, if you were to eat your body weights worth of them." Rowan joked. Then returned to drawing in her notebook.

"I don't think I'll be much longer here." She notes without breaking focus from her sketch. "Did you want to kill some time in town? Or continue exploring? I'm alright with either."

@Gisk

Dreaming Together With You - A Fading Memory Experiment - On Hiatus

Rowan Moore

---

Rowan stood patiently watching Audrey jump back in shock. She even managed a muted chuckle upon seeing her friend finally gather her bearings on the situation.

"That was quite a few questions..." She trailed off.

"Well, science is just witchcraft that actually works. So you could say I'm doing a bit of both." She replied then reached for something in her back pocket. "As for getting lost, I'm not at much risk of that. But I do keep this for good luck." Rowan pulls out a small compass and shakes it around a bit to show it still works.

@Gisk

Dreaming Together With You - A Fading Memory Experiment - On Hiatus

Rowan Moore

---

Not again... Rowan thought to herself as a rare yet familiar sensation washed over her. The breeze brushing past her neck is a short-lived omen as the deer's distorted image flashes in her mind. Its broader form resembles the body of a dog or wolf more than anything with hooves, while its eyes and antlers resemble a plant or insect if anything natural at all. Such a distorted form hit an unsettling uncanny valley in Rowan's mind. Though it lasted a moment, it would be committed to her memory for the rest of the day.

Rowan considered seeing a psychologist about such a thing. It always caught her by surprise when this kind of thing happened, however rare it was. And she would have almost gone through with that idea if such mental phenomena weren't localized to areas such as the Weeping Sam. Perhaps it was a mix of low light, gloomy atmosphere, and general superstition of this place that had her mind played up from time to time. That made enough sense to her at least.

Lightly shaking her head, Rowan closed her eye and softly pinched the bridge of her nose to get make sure her head and eyes were on straight. Looking back, out of the daze, she could only see the fleeting form of the deer disappear into the woods. "Well, see you too I guess." The girl mumbled under her breath.

There was still plenty to explore around here anyway. Rowan imagined she had about a good half hour's worth of wildlife to study in this place alone. Maybe she could practice making a few sketches and take a sample back in a small mason jar she had tucked in her pocket.

---

About fifteen minutes in Rowan finds herself kneeling in the process of sketching a broad-capped mushroom by the stump. A reasonably amateur but methodical drawing session is suddenly interrupted by the sound of cracking wood. Rowan was not alone in this clearing.

Turning her head, the girl's confused and anxious frown turns into a humble smile that welcomed a friend. Despite being taller, a mix of kneeling and Audrey's elevated position had Rowan craning her neck upward to get a good look at her company. Only a brief moment passed before she decided to fold up her book and stand up to greet Audrey, brushing off some loose dirt on her pants.

"You're a bit off the beaten track, no?" Rowan joked. "Are you sure you know how to get back alright?"

@Gisk