Chapter Text
Dawn pulled uncomfortably at the fluffy silk dress draped over her body. It was stiff and ugly...and made her look like she was ten. "I'm not a kid- I'm a teen!" She huffed to herself as she yanked at the fabric again.
The girl sat under a tree in a forest and while she couldn't remember why or how she got there she honestly couldn't care less. She was outside, away from her family and their rules and there was grass beneath her feet and sun in her raven hair. A sigh of content left her mouth and Dawn leaned back against the tree. Annoying dress be damned, she was just glad to be breathing fresh air and not her father's tobacco.
Rowan rolled under a bush, crawling deeper beneath the branches and leaves as he chased after a rabbit. Of course the rabbit was too fast for him, but he tried at least. "Come back," he asked of it, but again he just wasn't quick enough. Sighing, he went ahead and pushed his way through the thicket, coming out on the other side. He didn't even blink as branches scraped his bare back, surprised none hooked his shorts.
As he emerged, a color not of this wood caught his eye and he looked up to see a girl he'd never encountered before. He stilled, eyes going wide as he stared at her.
She started at the rustling near her and stone colored eyes flashed open to stare back at the boy watching her. Dawn sucked in a breath because what if he was one of the house servants come to drag her back? She'd only just gotten out here! Dawn dug her nails into the soft earth around her before standing up to her full five feet and three inches.
"I refuse to go back. You cannot make me."
Rowan didn't remove himself from the bush. If anything, he slid back under at her petulance. Did she know him? She acted like she did. "Umm," he bit his lip. "Go back . . . where? Exactly?"
Dawn opened her mouth only to pause and close it. She squinted at the other and dropped down to a crouch, hands resting on her knees as she scrutinized the boy. "You are not one of our servants . . . you are not marked as such . . . ." A few of her raven locks fell in front of her face and she quickly brushed them behind her ear. Her hand paused and she dropped her head into it, still thinking. "So if you are not one of ours . . .," Stone eyes quickly lit up and she fell forward onto her hands and knees, grinning with mirth. "Then that means I do not have to worry!"
Rowan had no clue what she was talking about, but her happiness did make him relax more. Still, she'd thought he was a servant? He had never seen her before. Who was she? He almost wanted to double back and run back into the woods in search of his family. Yet he somehow knew that would be rude. Sitting up a little in the bush, he was half aware of leaves getting stuck in his golden hair. "Have we . . . met?" He knew the answer was no as he and his family were not very public people, but figured he would ask.
Her lips twisted in thought before rapidly shaking her head. "No no. We have certainly not met before!" Her eyes caught on the leaves in his hair and it made her stop and really take in his appearance. A blush quickly rose to her flush her cheeks and she turned her head away. "Uh . . . you . . . you have no shirt on . . . ."
His brow furrowed. "Yeah? So?" Did people not undress where she was from?
Dawn's head snapped back to level her own frown at him. "It- It is indecent!" Her voice rose at the end, cheeks somehow flushing redder.
Rowan pushed himself upright, still very much tangled in the bush. "Well . . . we're not around people. No one's here to see." Then he amended, "Except you." This was the hard part of being around people: manners. He had a hard time with those sometimes.
She shoved her face into her hands, eyes wide. Oh god . . . she was seeing a boy without his shirt . . . Dawn's fingers split slightly and she peered through them. "Y-yes. Except me . . .," She reiterated, voice somewhat muffled.
Well now he felt embarrassed. That was . . . bad. That was bad. Scratching his head, he tried to think of something to say. He didn't exactly have a shirt he could just pull out of thin air and wear. "So," he drawled out, fingers tugging nervously at his face and hair like he could wipe his own blush off. Ugh, this was the worst. He hated feeling something just because someone else was feeling it. "Um, my name's Rowan?" Introductions were good manners, right?
She stilled then let her hands fall from her face, skin still flushed like a tomato's. Hesitantly she reached out a hand and turned her head to the side. "D-Dawn."
Oh boy. Handshakes were awkward for him. It was sometimes difficult touching strangers. Feelings sometimes rub off that way. Tentatively he touched her hand, gripping and shaking quickly before pulling back and crawling back under the leaves so only his head was visible to her. Maybe if she didn't see his torso she wouldn't be so flustered. He'd never known anyone to get this offended by his lack of shirt. "You," he fought for a semi normal topic (if he even knew what was normal), "you have servants?"
Dawn stared at him and then at her hand. She blinked in confusion before letting it drop to her side only to swing it back up and cross her arms in front of her chest. "You do not have to be so disgusted in touching someone's hand . . . ." she bit the inside of his cheek then scowled at the mention of the servants. "I do not. My father and mother do."
“Oh," it was his turn to really fluster. "I'm not disgusted, just," I don't like touching people, he should say, "it's hard to explain." Settling in, he propped his head up on his hands. "Are you hiding from them? Do they know you're here at all?"
Her cheeks puffed out in annoyance before letting out a dramatic sigh and dropping to the forest floor as well. Now that the two were eye to eye she realized just how . . . pretty he was. Still a boy, but there was a softness to him she could sometimes see in the nuns that worked at the local church. Dawn picked up a leaf that lay by her feet and twirled it between her fingers. "No one does. I am . . . I am gone. Completely." A wave of sadness passed over her and she choked back a sob. What the- why was she? Dawn shook her head and ignored the weird ache in her chest. "You are not from around here are you?"
Rowan shook his head as he felt her sadness. "No." He wondered what had upset her. Had he missed something? He didn't doubt it. He missed a lot of things for all he tended to pick up on. Eyes locking on her dark hair, it reminded him of feathers. He blinked away the thought several times before asking, "Is something wrong?"
Dawn let the leaf fall back to the floor, watching its descent with all her focus. "I don't think so."
Rowan tilted his head to the side before asking, "So what are you out in the woods for?" She certainly didn't look like she belonged in the woods.
Dawn looked up at Rowan and wrapped her arms around herself. "It's suffocating being trapped in there. I don't like it." She paused, then added as an afterthought, "My home, I mean my home."
“I get that." He gave her a toothy grin. "I'm not exactly a people person." He had only ever been used to his parents.
Rowan's grin eased something inside her and Dawn gave one back. "People suck." She said, sticking out her tongue. She tilted her head up to the sky and closed her eyes, enjoyed the sun on her skin. "You do not however. I think, I think I would like to be your friend, Rowan."
Rowan wasn't quite sure what it meant to be a friend, but judging by the way it made him feel to hear the word he liked it. "That would be nice," he uttered. Then he relaxed, chin resting on his arms as he contemplated her earlier statement. "Not all people suck."
A small laugh bubbled out of her throat and she spread her arms out before falling backwards onto the ground, grass brushing against her skin and clothes. "A lot of them do though!" She giggled and plucked some of the grass up only to let it rain down over her stomach. "You can stop hiding in the bush now. I think I will be fine if you are shirtless . . . since we are friends now."
Rowan slowly crawled out, trusting her evident excitement more than anything. Settling onto the grass beside her, he grinned and asked, "Did you have to hang out with a lot of people to figure that out? And it didn't bother you?"
Her head rolled to look at him and she smiled widely, eyes practically closing as her cheeks squished up into them. "Yes. I have met so many people- I could have an army!" Her smile dropped to a more relaxed face and she reached out to poke Rowan's face. "You know . . . for a boy you are very pretty . . . Oh!" She poked him again as her eyes widen. "You are- you remind me of the creatures in my stories."
He was surprised he didn't flinch when he poked her. He did wrinkle his nose a little before asking nervously, "What kind of creatures?" He squinted. "Why would you want an army?"
"Oh I do not actually want an army. It is . . . a comparison! I have just met a looooooot of people." She dropped her hand and stared at their skin tones, her own a pinker shade of his yellow. "Let me think . . . ah . . . there were unicorns! Unicorns that had healing magic and could talk." She rolled onto her stomach, the movement closing some of the space between them. Dawn plucked another piece of grass and went to working bend in it a variety of directions. "And dragons. I liked them, they could fly! There were also some scarier ones but," she paused then shrugged, focusing more on the grass piece, "I was not actually scared."
He grinned. He liked dragons and unicorns too. But what was scary? He froze. "Not giant spiders, I hope." He hated spiders. He hated them. They just didn't . . . look right.
A shudder ran through her and the grass fell back to the ground. "Eugh. No. I mean . . . yes, there were spiders- but I really do not like them. No I would have to say . . . the scariest things," she turned to him and moved her face closer, eyes narrowing and face growing dark, "were the humans."
He could see that. Humans were truly scary. She was a bit intimidating herself, but he liked her. He chuckled, then added, "That's why I stick to animals. They're less intense." He sat up quickly and ran to a tree nearby. "Watch this!" he called back as he started shimmying up the trunk with ease.
Dawn rocked backwards at his sudden movement from the ground to the tree and sat up to watch his quick ascent up the bark. She giggled as he missed a branch in his eagerness and ended up hanging there for a moment. Rowan quickly regained his footing however and in moments was up among the leaves, looking more and more like a wild creature than a boy. Dawn dropped her face into her hands and watched him as he moved, the other's personality and presence making her both happy and calm at the same time. It . . . was a pleasant feeling she hadn't felt in a while.
Rowan settled among the branches, beaming as he found what he'd been after. "It's okay," he coaxed the squirrel out of its cubby. Putting as much energy as he dared into the exchange, he waited until the squirrel came out on its own and sniffed his hand. His smile widened as she trusted his presence and proceeded to crawl up his arm to his neck. With the squirrel perched on his shoulder tentatively, he started his descent to the ground again. He moved quickly, maintaining the energy needed to keep the squirrel comfortable with him while also struggling to keep from falling.
Dawn sat as still as she could as Rowan reached the ground, squirrel perched on his shoulder and twitching its nose worriedly. "How did y-" she clapped her hands over her mouth and tried again to be still, this time silent too. But she really wanted to know how he managed to get a squirrel to sit on his shoulder like a pirate's bird.
The squirrel stayed put, shaking slightly at Dawn's excitement. He cooed to it, then turned a little to present the squirrel to the girl. "She just needed to know she was safe with me." His grin grew sheepish as he pet her head with his index and middle fingers. "That's usually all they need to know to come near you."
“That is . . . amazing," Dawn whispered, eyes wide with envy and joy. She bit the inside of her cheek before tentatively asking "C-could . . . I try to pet her too?"
"Sure." He stepped closer, sending small amounts of soothing energy to the squirrel so she knew it was okay. "Just be calm and she'll be fine," he added with a toothy grin.
As slowly as she could Dawn stood up and hesitantly reached out a hand towards the wild duo. A tiny gasp left her mouth as she stroked the squirrel’s head, face twisting into an excited smile. "She's so soft."
"Yeah, she is." The squirrel allowed herself to be pet, even arching up into Dawn's hand. He waited for Dawn to finish petting her before he pulled back on the energy output. Sighing, the squirrel stayed for a moment longer before regaining her previous state of mind and scurrying down his back to the ground.
She watched after the animal then turned back to Rowan, confusion evident on her face. "Why did you let it go? You could have kept her as a pet!"
He smirked and shrugged as he repeated his mother's mantra. "Wild things should stay wild."
Dawn raised her eyebrows at that and stared back after the squirrel. "But what if she gets hurt without you there to protect her? Could . . . would that squirrel not be better with you where you can protect her from monsters and keep her fed?" She cupped her cheek in her hand, lost in thought over the, at least to her, apparent dilemma.
Rowan shrugged again. "Better to live free than dependent entirely on someone else. She was born out here. She should stay out here. She'll learn to protect herself." Some didn't, but that was life. It was harsh, but not always cruel. "What will happen will happen."
She redirected her gaze to Rowan and squinted. Dawn repositioned herself to stand in front of the other, only just looking down on him. Without warning her hands were clapped over his cheeks and the two were only centimeters apart. The girl inspected him closely, grey eyes flitting over his face as if reading a book. "You do not act like any boy or other kid I have ever known."
A mild panic overtook him as she grabbed his face and looked him over. Her emotions bled from her hands into him and thank God they were positive or else he might collapse. "Is . . . is that good?" He wasn't sure how to take that.
"It is different. That much I can say." She brushed her thumbs across the tops of his cheeks, nails just running under his eyes. "You know," she began, breath just ghosting over his face "There were other creatures in my books."
He pulled out of her hands suddenly, flinching at how near her fingers were to his eyes. She assumed he was a creature. Well . . . he was, but he couldn't tell her. That was just a general rule. Rubbing at the parts of him he touched, he uttered, "Sorry," over having pulled away. "Um . . . what exactly," he shouldn't ask, but he couldn't stop himself, "do you think I am?"
Her hands stayed in the air a moment after he pulled away before dropping to clench at the stiff fabric of her skirt. "Hmm . . . I . . . Not one of the bad ones?"
What did she consider bad? He tilted his head, watching her carefully before deflecting the subject entirely. "So what is your family like?" He stared at her attire, feeling pity for her over the restricting clothing. "Are they trying to torture you?"
Dawn puffed out her cheeks, annoyed at him avoiding the subject and changing it to a much more annoying one. "They are all butts. Butts with money who think fun means sitting inside and drinking tea!" She huffed and yanked at her skirt more, wishing she could tear the annoying garment off. "They are not trying- they are succeeding!"
He back stepped at her irritation, then jested, "You could always run around shirtless. That'll make them angry." Then he perked up. "I like tea! But it doesn’t make me sit still." Quite the opposite actually.
Her eyes widened at his suggestion and she quickly wrapped her arms around her chest. "W-what?!" She shrieked, face flushing red again. "I-I could not do such a thing!"
He snorted. "I do it all the time." His family too, when they were certain the woods were safe. He cared less about safety and more about the way he felt when running through the wood.
Dawn twisted her hands in her skirt and stared down at her bare feet. She was already running around without shoes or stockings on- but taking off her dress? She'd be left in her underclothes! But . . . she peered up at Rowan from under her eyelashes and pouted. He wasn't really a boy, or a human . . . at least she didn't think so . . . did that make running around barely clothed okay?
"If you don't want to, that's cool too." People were so funny about clothes. "How long did it take you to get used to bare feet?" He knew many couldn't step on a twig without flinching. Meanwhile he ran on rocks.
She lifted a foot to show the bottom which was in fact fairly calloused, a grin stretched her face as she put it back down. "I have a high pain tolerance- so not long at all."
He smiled. "Is there anything you do like about your family? Or is it all awful?"
Her grin dropped and she huffed, looking anywhere but at him. "Everyone has something you can like about them- that does not make them likeable."
"I get that," he said. Settling down on the grass, he pointed at the sky and said, "And people who are likeable aren't always full of likeable traits. I, for one, am never on time for anything!"
Dawn pouted slightly before dropping to the grass as well, squinting up at the sky that was just barely visible between the leaves. "I have been told I am rather selfish."
"Everyone can be selfish. It's not always bad. Sometimes you need to be." He bumped shoulders with her slightly. "How else would we get away with running through the woods?"
She sighed and dropped her head to his shoulder as she stared at the trees before them. "I do not normally get away with it . . . hence why I lost my temper on you earlier."
He felt bad for her, so he didn't mind her leaning on him as much. "I shouldn't run away so much. I actually get along with my parents." He often looked forward to telling them all about what he'd seen. "We don't really interact with people. We tend to only have each other."
Her gaze shifted down to their hands which sat next to one another and she slowly wrapped her pinky around his. "My . . . my mother does this for me. She normally does not like being around me but we are both fairly scared of lightning so whenever there is a storm she will make me a promise that we will be fine then wrap our pinky's together . . . that is her likeable trait."
He returned the gesture, feeling her remembering the times it had happened. "My mom sings to me before she goes out for the night. That always reassures me she'll come back the next morning."
Dawn nodded against his shoulder and just sat there in a comfortable silence with him, enjoying Rowan and the sun's warmth together. Her eyes closed and she took in a slow breath that was full of the scent of the forest and the other's own sweet smell. She tightened her finger around his before exhaling and opening her eyes again. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes but she didn't move to wipe them away.
"I don't want to go back . . .," was her quiet whisper.
"I wish you didn't have to." Not with the way it made her feel. He didn't usually encourage people to run away, but he also didn't talk to people much. He figured he'd make an exception. "Don't you have somewhere else to go?"
"Ha . . . I do . . . ." Finally she reached up with her free hand to wipe away her now falling tears. "I have another home actually. It's full of a bunch'a idiots-- but they're mine."
"Really?" he asked excitedly.
Dawn nodded her head then fully entwined her hand with his. "Yeah. It's great. I think you'd really like it there . . . you'd just need to open your heart to them is all, Tea."
Something in his mind triggered at the name and he felt semi ill. Tea . . . he was Tea . . . .
His brow creased as he squinted at her. He knew her. But he could only think to ask, "Tea?" It was like there was a wall in his mind, blocking his association with the name.
She moved her head off his shoulder and twisted to fully hug the other, body pressing against his gently. "Yeah. Tea. I'm sorry you have to wake up like this . . . though I doubt you'll remember much . . . I know she won't." Dawn hiccupped and tightened her hold on the other. "I'm really glad I got to meet you though. Who'd've thought our silly giant was such a cute kid."
Rowan . . . Tea held onto her, grip weak at first. Then it strengthened to a fierce hold. He squeezed his eyes shut as he returned the hold full force, gritting his teeth as he uttered against her shoulder, "T-Tapi?"
"Aha . . . sorta. I'm just me, just Dawn." She reached up a hand to slowly thread through his golden hair, sighing rather sadly. "This happens sometimes- if she, we I guess, are having a, a nightmare, sometimes we end up reaching out to the closest soul we have and drag them here to calm down."
Tea shuddered. He wouldn't remember this. He knew he wouldn't. But . . . he was glad. "You have nightmares often?"
Dawn nodded against his shoulder and let go of him only to once more cup his face. Her grey eyes, now tinged the familiar blue of Tapi's, looked at him with a mixture of sadness and fondness. "It happens in cycles, it's a result of . . . well . . . you don't need to worry about that for now I don't think." She pulled his head towards her and placed a small kiss to his forehead. "Thanks for sitting with us, Sweet Tea." She smiled as she said the nickname Ash had given him then let his face go before standing up and brushing the dirt off her now stained dress. "It helped a lot."
Tea watched her get up and walk away before quietly saying, "Anytime." He watched her disappear. A pain rose in his chest as he glanced down at where she once sat. He touched the spot that hurt most, then rubbed the left side of his neck in a way Rowan never would have.
--
Tapi turned over in her bed, body curled tightly around a pillow. She let out a soft whimper and her face contorted in a pain before her eyes blearily opened and stared through the dark and out the wall of windows across from her. She let go of the pillow and wiped at her eyes, the fresh tears there not surprising. She knew she'd been having a nightmare . . . but her chest didn't ache like it normally did after waking up from one. In fact . . . she felt oddly peaceful . . . and a bit hungry. Tapi laid in her bed a minute longer, trying to sort out exactly what she was hungry for because this wasn't the same hunger she normally dealt with. No, this was . . . she scrunched her eyebrows in thought. She wanted tea . . . weird.
The cult leader pulled herself out of her bed and put on her cloak before leaving her room and heading for the kitchen. She knew Tea kept a stash of it down there and right now she really, really needed some.
--
Tea woke to the sound of cruel laughter from the next room over. He must have dreamt something interesting for the demon to be enjoying his waking so much. He kept his mouth shut, refraining from asking as he probably didn't want to know.
Still, he felt . . . not like he usually did upon waking. His heart wasn't racing. There weren't fresh puncture wounds in his gums from gritting his fangs too hard. His talons weren't broken and his fingers didn't ache from gripping the sheets too hard. He felt . . . strangely alright.
And also like he had missed something crucial upon waking. That was the only thing leaving him hollow.