Got the dreamer's disease
With so many new faces here, Fern finds herself unable to keep watch over any one person or pair. Instead, her focus slips from one to another, shameless in the way she gawks and watches. She's noting attire and mannerisms, the way people stand, how they tilt when they laugh, how they cart the paper lanterns with a solemn care that lifts the moment they turn back into the music.
She might have been content to stay an observer on the outskirts, drinking in her first large gathering with something like a long curly straw. Might have, if not for the rumble in her stomach and the very appealing aromas wafting their way. "That smells good," she tells Ever, glancing sidelong at him, specifically his nose, to see if he's scenting any of it too and agrees or not.
By the time she looks back, there's a younger boy waving at her. Fern stiffens beside her father, a half-step taken back, her body instinctively pressing in closer to his side. Her breath draws in a touch, and she turns her head to glance over her shoulder. Only shadows remain behind her. "Is he waving at us?" she murmurs to her father. "Do you know him?"
Inevitably, a tug of curiosity overrides the initial caution, and a full step forward is taken as Fern slowly and awkwardly lifts one of her hands and waves back.
She might have been content to stay an observer on the outskirts, drinking in her first large gathering with something like a long curly straw. Might have, if not for the rumble in her stomach and the very appealing aromas wafting their way. "That smells good," she tells Ever, glancing sidelong at him, specifically his nose, to see if he's scenting any of it too and agrees or not.
By the time she looks back, there's a younger boy waving at her. Fern stiffens beside her father, a half-step taken back, her body instinctively pressing in closer to his side. Her breath draws in a touch, and she turns her head to glance over her shoulder. Only shadows remain behind her. "Is he waving at us?" she murmurs to her father. "Do you know him?"
Inevitably, a tug of curiosity overrides the initial caution, and a full step forward is taken as Fern slowly and awkwardly lifts one of her hands and waves back.
Fern
This world is gonna pull through, don't give up
