---

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.

Toby had watched the exchange unfold with a demeanor that could only be described as that of a frozen statue, completely petrified and unable to even think or process what she'd just witnessed. This was way above her league...

Who are they talking about? Votes? What...

Toby gestured at Will with a worried, trembling gaze, almost shivering in fright. She... she just didn't know what to do.

@Teyao

---

Is it possible for one's eyes to fall out from rolling too much? First Damon turns up with his creepy "m'lady" bullshit. Audrey looked at Odaya and said to her, in a serious tone, "Otter, if a guy talks to you like that, you run the other way, okay?"

As if that isn't enough, Weasel turns up and tries to play the black knight to Damon's white. Still acting like he resolved the situation, as if his brothers' behavior isn't a direct result of the example he sets.

Audrey bit into the apple, not once acknowledging Weasel's remarks, and spoke with her mouth full, "Find better role models, girlie. Everyone here sucks, and I think you know it."

Without further word to the Bilicas, she stalked away through the crowd.

@Fading Memory@SilverPaw

Sidney Malcolm

A butterfly suspended in mid-air. Its wings spread, caught frozen in between flaps, brightly coloured like a kaleidoscope. Greens and blues and pinks and yellows and violets and even more colours in between. Beneath it, a sea of wild flowers just as vibrant, just as colourful and the wings, identically so even, trapped in a moment where the breeze had pulled at them, bending their stems and bowing their heads. It was only this shift in the flowers that allowed the butterfly to be seen at all, the colours that matched and camouflaged the insect moved aside to reveal it in a moment of inconsistency.

Just a moment, and then it would be gone again.

A stylus swished across the screen of the tablet, adding a dark line at the edges of the butterfly’s wing. Then it was gone, erased, as Sidney chose a thinner brush and repeated the motion; she wanted the butterfly to be visible, but not too obvious. No thick outline dividing it from the surrounding flowers, she wanted the incongruent colours to be the first thing people noticed, then the outline second. Something like that anyway.

Finishing the line work on the edges, Sidney moved on to the inner wing. These lines would be even thinner, dividing the wings up into patterns, each little section like the petal of a flower. Draw a line, draw another, erase it, draw it again, draw another, erase the first line, draw, draw, erase, start again. She set the stylus down next to her and swiped a finger across the screen, sliding the drawing away so she could look at her reference images again; butterflies, flowers, stained glass windows. Flower petals were uniform in shape, but also overlapping, butterfly wings were made up of inconsistent shapes, but the overall pattern was symmetrical and stained glass windows were usually made up of more angular pieces, but the placement of colours was a lot more purposeful. Sidney wanted a little of each of those qualities really, but nothing she drew looked right to her.

She ran a hand through her hair, brushing back the bangs over the left side of her face and huffed out a breath. On her left forearm, she caught a glimpse of the thing that had gotten her stuck in this rut in the first place; a brightly coloured butterfly drawn in faded marker ink directly onto her skin. A moment of fancy had led to her doodling it on herself yesterday afternoon, in between helping her parents get stuff setup for the festival, and she’d been in the mood to draw something unbearably colourful ever since. Sidney had sat down this morning looking to do just that, hoping to spend a few hours getting the groundwork out of the way before going out to meet her friends only to get caught up in it and now she was almost done.

Emphasis on almost. Frustrating, but, as long as she could get this finished before the festival she… wait, when did it get so dark outside?

“Oh, shoot.”

Reaching for her phone, Sidney checked the time and jumped out of her seat. She rushed towards her closet, throwing the phone onto her bed and ignoring the missed calls and texts for now as she hurried to pick out something to wear.

----

By the time she made it to the festival grounds, Sidney definitely felt a little frazzled; she just hoped she didn’t look it as she tried to flatten her hair and brush down the creases in her hastily donned clothes. In her other hand she held her phone, trying to type out a text one handed to William to find out where he was. It had been ages since they’d hung out and she had wanted to catch up at the festival, until she nearly forgot and missed the whole thing.

”Hey, W, where are you?”

Send.

Putting her phone away, Sidney looked up just in time to avoid bumping into a familiar face. “Oh, Audrey. How’s it going?”

@Gisk@Teyao

---

---

Yeah, of course that’d be Audrey’s reaction. Flames of offense licked at him, and annoyance flashed across his expression. “It’s called impro, you dolt,” he complained.

That’s when Ezekiel appeared, and promptly went to bash two of his brothers heads together, and dunked them. In return for what they’d done to their sister. Damon watched the scene, disapproving but not bothering to interfere physically.

“Charming as always, Zeke,” he commented. There was definite sarcasm there – both Audrey and the Bilicas were liable to bring it out of him even on their own. Combined? It was practically guaranteed.

He ignored Weasel’s insult; just huffed, and drawled, “I’m right more times than you think.”

At Odaya repeating to her oldest brother how she ‘was a lady’, he smiled, pleased. As much as the girl was also a little shit – as much as everyone gave her a pass for it – she had at least found some genuine appreciation for his performance.

Audrey did vaguely acknowledge the child’s questionable behavior with her last remark. Damon didn’t think the girl would get it, though. Also, seriously, a ‘better’ role model? He snorted. “Look who’s talking,” he shot at her retreating back meanly, still angry with her.

Sticking by her or ditching her? Pick one, Audrey… he thought, but didn't say.

He looked at the gathered Bilicas. Sure, they were a miserable bullying bunch, but he did kind of have to try and cohabitate with them. His father’s politicking was one reason for it. The village being way too damn small was another.

“I know it’s summer and all, but if you get tired of being all wet, you could get some spares there.” He pointed towards one of the tents in the distance, where one could borrow traditional festival clothing from years past. “Or just, I don’t know, go fucking dry it off before you catch a cold.” Not like he wasn’t saying anything they didn’t know already.

His gaze passed Odaya, who was still wearing his jacket. It was light denim, black – he’d worn it mostly for the looks, so he didn’t miss it much. He didn’t mind it staying with her.

Instead, he gave one last look to Ezekiel. “Violence begets violence,” he quoted. “Ever heard that one?” Then, figuring he’d pushed his luck far enough, he decided to leave. He gave a two-fingered salute, and turned to go with a, “Cheers.”

He faced Isaias, who’d been left standing by his side ever since his oldest brother had told him to do so. “Come on, we’ve prep to do.”

First things first, the two should switch from their casual clothing to what they’d wear to the procession – but no, looking at Isaias, maybe the boy should get cleaned up and patched up first.

“You’re kinda…beat up,” Damon pointed out bluntly, because no matter how he brought it up, he doubted Isaias would like it.

---

---

@Fading Memory, @Gisk

---

"He is, I'm glad to learn that he is doing well." David gave a warm smile and a nod to Enrique's fatherly, or grandfatherly, jokes. He hoped to see Will again at some point. Maybe he could ask if they could meet up for the festival or something, but David continued his work for now, not wanting to be distracted. As the work proceeded, the laptop disassembled then reassembled with new parts, that thought was forgotten as a new visitor came into the bakery. He did not immediately recognize the man, but Enrique quickly reminded him. It was Tom Springer, and with him came with some emotional baggage, something something about a woman, likely his wife?

"R-Right, haha...it's umm...I'll keep in mind." He laughed nervously, finding it really difficult to properly respond to the weird grumble. He did not want to offend Audrey's father, but he obviously did not share the ideal, and also it took quite a bit to actually process the word play, and when he did, it had diluted in his already tired brain for the day that he could barely give off an empty indecipherable sigh. The boy silent admired the elder Enrique, who was really keeping himself composed. This must not be the first time this happens.

Thankfully, Tom had nothing else to do with him and just left after getting his things. It was then that he saw the sunlight gleaming off the ground. It had gotten late, the festival was about to begin. He quickly wrapped up his work and returned the laptop to Mr Enrique. "There, the motherboard has been replaced, all your stuff should still be there." Quite a bad issue if he was being honest, but for that, the Mencia owner was grateful. The cupcake was a fresh cupcake, chocolate too, something he did order more than often. "Thank you very much Mr Enrique. Enjoy the festival as well!" He left the bakery with a big smile on his face.

Since the computer shop already closed for the day, David went back to his home to put away the tool. The house was still empty by the time he arrived; his father must've already left for the festival. He set the tool down on the table in the middle of the room, knowing he'd be picking it up later anyway - a trick so that he'd never forget anything is to just lay it out where he could not miss. In the middle of the room was a picture of Wong and David at the airport. It was before they left the country to come here. David reminiscently glanced at his younger-self. His face was rounder, his eyes were brighter, but he wore the same kind of shirt he is wearing at the present day. It felt...weird, but relieved. The kid that were eager but anxious of what's to come back then...he wished he could have told him what he had found in the journey.

And his dad too...

"Pa, hope you're enjoying yourself." David whispered into the picture, before taking his leave. He could change to something else, but he was in a hurry and his work attire kinda works for the less warm night.

---

"Hey, it's David!" He heard his name called. It was a couple of kids from up the streets, whom too were from immigrant families. It was relatively easy to get along because of that. "Wanna join us?"

"Sure, what are you guys doing?" David agreed without hesitation, looking at what one of them was holding. It seemed to be a soccer ball, but it's also a lot smaller and seemed to be made of thin bamboo layers wrapped into a sphere. It gave a rather...exotic feel to it.

"Come, you'll get it eventually." The one holding the ball had David by the arms and pulled him into the group. The others fanned out in a circle, then the one with the ball tossed it over to another, who caught the ball with his foot then kicked it over to another person in the circle, who'd deflect it to another, then another, then another, all the while the ball never touched the ground. Until the group felt like they had demonstrated enough, who'd kick it over to David.

Caught a bit off-guard, David tried imitating them, but the ball hit his foot at the wrong angle and it fell onto the ground instead. He shied a bit from the group at his mistake, but they didn't seem to care, just a laugh off before continuing.

"This feels familiar." He remarked after seeing it several more times. This is just like that game he always played with the school kids during break back then! Ah the memories. The next time the ball was sent his way, David tried remembering how he used to do it. Then his legs just moved on its own.

"Yeah! You got it!" The group cheered as David made a perfect pass with his ankle-side of his foot. A few more circulations before the ball bounced back to him, in which he caught, tossed backward with his foot before swinging the same foot over to his backside, intercepting and delivering the ball gracefully over his head to another player, earning him an awe from the group. A big grin appeared on David's face as well. He still got it!

The seemingly fun little 'unofficial game' soon drew a small crowd of curious onlookers. David continued his theatrical physical performance, looking excited and juxtaposing the seemingly serious impression one might have had earlier from him. It was only when he missed the pass that he was finally brought back to Earth. The ball rolled over to the crowd, and in particular to the feet of someone he knew.

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

@Jumbus@Fading Memory

---

Not one for daydreaming, Audrey was ready to catch Sydney by the shoulders, but the girl righted herself before colliding.

"Doin' good. Literally, if you count breaking up a Bilica squabble. Oh, Syd, listen," she smacked her friend excitedly on the arm, "There's a dead tree fallen in the forest. It's got all kinds of mushrooms and bugs and shit eating it. Very, like, 'ashes to ashes,' you know? Thought you might wanna draw it or something. Rowan did, but y'know, more of a Darwin's journal scientific sketch. I can show you tomorrow, if you like."

@King Cosmos

Brown blinked thrice. Then a fourth time, just to be safe. He didn't know a great many people with cars his age. He didn't know a great many people his age, but irrelevant. He certainly didn't know anyone remotely his age with such a nice car. He was far less shocked by Ambrose changing his shirt than he was when Ambrose pulled it out of his car. He feared his expressions would be visible on his face, and interpreted as rude. So he quickly turned his shocked face back to a polite smile. He began to respond, choosing to ignore the possibly passive jab and instead focusing on the other parts with a smile on his face, "Yeah I'm somewhat new around here, my family hasn't been here for generations, but I've been here most of my life." He gave a short chuckle, "My mum is one of the teachers round here. Miss Cheeseman. But no, I don't think I've heard of a Miss Hightower. Does she have a different name?"

Brown closed his eyes for a moment and tilted his head, givning a sincere smile as he began to wander up the street, hoping Ambrose would follow suit. Brown was warming to him, though he seemed slightly airheaded and privileged he liked the strange sincerity that could be attributed to his interesting form of 'intelligence'. He blinked thrice geometrically as he thought he spied a group of familiar faces up the road and slowly trundled that way, observing the fabulous decorations and stalls that accompanied the festival.

There is a moment in every person's life when they are given several options they had to choose from, for William this was this moment, he felt the burning curiosity at whatever the older man was talking about and what they seemed so secretive about it but a look back at his companion made him reign himself, Toby was reacting badly to whatever they were talking about and if he insisted they investigated she would likely take it even worse, he didn't want the normally nervous girl to get even more so.

Giving a last look at the retreating back of the Bilica elder he directed his attention to Toby once more with a smile.

"Wow, I didn't know Mr. Bilica and Mr. Howard were such good friends! Is nice knowing they seem to be so close enough to be hanging up in the festival together, hey it's kind of like us!"

Foot meet mouth, ugh sometimes he wished he had a better filter, what else could he say, he didn't want to leave it at that.., Oh right.

"Hey Toby I just realized I have been kind of dragging you along to Mount Bilica, do you really want to go or would you prefer to wait here for the Festival to start? I get to spend time with a friend so I am cool with both dude"

It was at that moment that he felt his phone vibrate slightly notifying him of a message.

"Wait for a second please just got a message"

Reading it quickly he was torn again between two options again but it was through sheer force of will that he managed to prevail against his childish impulses.

"Yo new phone, who dis?"

He

"Okay right, so what do you say Toby, stay or go?"

@myrkwise @King Cosmos

Bilica Nonsense - Isaias Bilica
@SilverPaw

Audrey makes her points, then makes her exit; Odaya watches her go, swaying where she stands, as does Isaias Bilica from beside Damon- otherwise, once she's no longer a potential issue she is largely disregarded by the Bilicas. Weasel rises up from his knee and brushes his pants off. The trio of lesser brothers exchange looks as if about to speak, but are silenced by a glare from Weasel.

"Alright, freakshow. Fancy quotes. Clever words. I'm not an idiot; you can talk circles around me... But I do have a pretty good quote of my own." Weasel laughs a rumbling laugh, before snapping his fingers- halting Isaias in his tracks, and thusly temporarily forcing Damon to listen. Isaias frantically looks between the two, that familiar storm broiling in his eyes. Weasel continues, "If Is starts to sound even remotely like you, you're gonna be eating those fancy words."

Weasel and his three brothers will thusly depart into the Festival at Large

Isaias grumbles under his breath, then turns and trudges along with Damon. After a moment, Damon points out the boy's shame.

"I fell." He snaps at Damon. "Off the path. Into the Sam."

He sniffs once. Indignant.

"The tree I hit looks worse." He concludes, bitterly, as if he somehow vanquished the branches that struck him out of pure spite. "Let's just get ready." He broods, clearly wanting to focus on the upcoming performance.

---

David, Rowan, and Assorted Nonsense
@Conscripts@Jumbus

The ball lands at Rowan's feet. David makes his invitation. The situation is so simple- yet so very not simple all at once, for without warning or herald suddenly the toddler of Stigandr Hoar appears at Rowan's side and quietly picks the ball up. His white hair is combed neatly, and how he escaped his mother's arms is a mystery- but no harm could befall him in this place with these people, the scarce population of 300 all knew the child's parents intimately and each other as well. Stig looks up at Rowan and silently offers her the ball.

---

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

Sidney Malcolm

Bilica squabble? Urgh, whatever Audrey was talking about Sidney was glad she arrived late enough to miss it; that was a silver lining even if she would have preferred not to lose track of time as she had. Of course her friend would find herself in the middle of it as well, but it sounded like things went well enough, this time.

“A dead tree? I don’t know…” It was sweet of Audrey to think of her and her art upon seeing something she thought was cool and Sidney was always happy to be given a fresh source of inspiration, but this one kind of missed the mark. A dead tree just made her think of rotting wood, little pill bugs crawling all over it and dark, shadowy vibes. The thought was enough to make her scrunch her nose up; maybe some other time she would have been into it, but that kind of scene was completely at odds with the kind of colourful stuff she wanted to draw right now.

Although… if mushrooms were starting to grow on it, then maybe it wasn’t as dreary as she was imagining; she didn’t know her way around the woods like Audrey did, but she was pretty sure some of those mushrooms could be pretty colourful. Her look turned thoughtful, and then she began to smile. She could just picture a bunch of brightly coloured fungus growing out of an old stump and a fallen log; a dull, grey under layer with a vibrant, psychedelic forest growing on top of it. Like something out of Alice in Wonderland. “Actually, yeah. Yeah! That sounds great. Thanks for telling me.”

Feeling her phone vibrate in her hand, she turned the screen over to see the return message from William. “Sorry, it’s William. Let me just text him back.” Really? ‘New phone’? That joke was so old.

”Nevermind. I found someone cooler to hang out with.”

Take that.

“So, do you want to get some food? I haven’t eaten all day.”

@Gisk@Teyao

Barely a moment after sending his reply he felt his phone vibrate once more with Sidney's answer to his joke. Without wasting a second he sends back a follow-up.

"Ah this feeling of betrayal, yep that is my good ol' pal Sydney alright, soo.. who is the new victim?"

@King Cosmos

---

Rowan's refusal did put him in a little bit of a difficult spot, to either go with his classmate or stay with the group to play more balls. While neither probably would not mind if he picked one, David wanted to hang out with both. It's been a while since he had seen his friends, outside of classes...David fiddled with the ball for a moment, before the group headed over to him.

"Ya busy?" One of the group's kid asked.

"Umm, not really, but..."

"It's alright, we're gonna head to Suraj's house now for some games afterwards. You can always come around. Enjoy the festival man."

They didn't exactly pressure David, but they kinda just left without him really being able to pull their skirts, so they did make him a choice supposedly. Well, fine with him, hopefully...

"Well, uhh." He turned to Rowan. "I hope you don't mind. We can look for Freyja together."
@Fading Memory@Jumbus

---

Audrey raised an eyebrow at Sidney's answer. Or, rather, at the apparent internal back and forth before she gave it. All she said in response was, "Cool! Maybe tomorrow, if we're not too tired."

Sidney had a brief text exchange with William, who Audrey mainly knew as another artsy friend who hung around sometimes. He was alright, but they didn't see each other much unless there was an intermediary friend, like Sid or Toby.

At the suggestion of eating, Audrey grimaced, but answered, "Sure, if you're buying," without a hint if shame, pulling her pockets out to demonstrate their emptiness. "Work at the ole mill dried up. I can getcha back in maybe a week, though. Don't let me forget."

Brown laughed at Ambrose's mix-up. He enjoyed the charismatic honesty of the man. "I assure you, despite it sounding slightly odd, Cheeseman is a real name. I of all should I know." He chuckled brightly, walking up the bustling brightly lit streets of the festival. The normally sleepy street had been converted into a colorful parade of all the town's characters for one of the few nights in a year. He shoved his sleek hands into the worn-out pockets of his jeans.

Ambrose's laugh made Brown smile. As he chimed at his own joke the younger boy couldn't help but crack a grin. As he continued talking Brown listened and walked. Only stopping when the merry voice of his companion began getting further away. He turned to see he had stopped and was busily texting someone. As Brown listened the smile dropped. He listened to him talking about someone.

Rowan.

He knew her. Of course he did. How could he not? He knew how pretty she was. He knew how smart she was. He knew her soft features by memory, but he doubted she knew him. At all, let alone well. And at the suggestion from the matchmaker, he felt his face going red. He began talking, nervously. Then as his new friend began talking again, he was put at ease. Upon his friend's casual usage of the term 'Cronenberg mouse,' Brown couldn't help but begin laughing at the utter ridiculousness of the situation.

He had not laughed this hard in a long time. He wheezed until he could wheeze no more. And that did not stop the tears from flowing. When he could finally catch his breath he came up from his doubled-over position. "You're a fool, Ambrose, and I think we'll get along well. As for my friend? He still has yet to show face. No doubt working late in the pub." He gave a slight frown at this, it was hard to hide his worry for Aleyn, but he would try to keep spirits high in his present company. He quickly fired a text to his good friend:

Sidney Malcolm

When Audrey grimaced and emptied out her pockets, Sidney grimaced with her in sympathy. It was never a good feeling to be low on cash, especially when the festival was happening and everyone around you was having fun and you just… couldn’t. “Oh, sure. No problem.”

Come to think of it, did she have any money on her? Leaving the house in a rush as she did, Sidney wasn’t actually sure if she’d remembered to bring any with her. She checked, patting down the sides of her jacket and reaching inside to where she usually kept that sort of thing; for a moment she was worried they would both have to hungry, which would be embarrassing, but luckily she was able to find a few bills in an inside pocket. “Yeah, okay, no problem. And you don’t to pay me back; just cover me the next time we go out, okay?” Not that there was much difference, but Sidney preferred to treat these things in a kind of ‘pay it forward’ way rather than hold people to a debt. It was less awkward that way; for herself as much as the other person.

Putting her hands in her pockets, Sidney picked a direction at random and began to walk, trusting Audrey to follow along. “And I’m picking where we eat. Did you see any good stalls? I only just got here; haven’t had a chance to look around.”

@Gisk

---

Rowan took Stig's blank stare with a delayed nod as an affirmation. She took the toddler by the hand and looked around for where the concert stage would be. It didn't take her long to collect her bearings considering the stage was exactly where it was every year. She was about to see off before David grabbed her attention again.

"Well, uhh." David turned to Rowan. "I hope you don't mind. We can look for Freyja together."

The others who were playing the game looked to be heading off elsewhere and it didn't look like David was joining them. Rowan didn't mind him tagging along with her of course. What interactions she had with the guy were sparse, but he seemed nice and respectful company. That was a breath of fresh air when compared to some of the other kids in town. Rowan's only concern was that trying to reunite a lost toddler with his family wasn't a riveting task.

"I'm afraid I'm not doing anything exciting. But you can tag along if you want." Rowan replied back with a muted but welcoming smile. "I think Freyja should be somewhere around the stage. But I'm not sure, I don't really keep up with what happening at these things until I'm actually here." She joked as the two started heading toward the stage area.

As they were walking, Rowan noticed a buzz in her pocket. Then again. And again. Then twice more. Leaving her to wonder what exactly could be happening that her phone would be going berserk. Grabbing out her phone, Rowan checked her notifications to discover she had just received 5 texts from Ambrose. 5 texts from Ambrose during the festival when it couldn't possibly be about tutoring meant nothing good.

Luckily my phone just ran out of power so I couldn't have received those texts. Rowan thought to herself as she held down the power button to shut it off and place it back in her pocket. She didn't like to be bothered by her phone while she was at the festival anyway.

@Conscripts@Fading Memory@psych0pomp

---

"You got a deal!" Audrey said, brightly, offering her hand to shake. "You choose today, I'll choose when I pay. So there's like three different kinds of fried dough I've seen, and apples if you wanna dunk your head in a trough for your food like a pig. Someone's grilling meat, somewhere," she added this last part with a sniff to the crowded air.

@King Cosmos