template by punki of adoxography | Beatrice Fawn Rochester

Rowen had an awful habit of getting dolled up when her sister demanded then smiling shyly and watching the clock from the corner of the room. People who ventured too close got a paltry attempt at a platitude or two, but she was far from the great company most assumed a brunette in a fancy dress could offer. That was fine for her – as long as it didn’t get back to Nerys, who would give her that look of tight-lipped disapproval. They would not discuss it (that was not an Oswald thing), and Rowen was quite sure she should have been immune to disapproving Oswald looks at that point in her life. In truth, she knew, she would never be immune to them, yet she could hardly stop herself from accruing them.

There had never been a time when she had purposefully made choices to make members of her family cross with her. On the contrary, they always seemed to fall into her lap, quite unbidden. Her time with Bea was an excellent example. Would it light her sister’s hair on fire to know that she and the chemistry teacher had something, anything going on? Of course. Had Ro purposefully set out to end up beside the buxom shifter? Not in the slightest. She had a rotten sort of universal luck, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her from thinking of Bea as she stood in her designated corner, being talked at by passersby. She offered minuscule smiles and encouraging nods to those that overstayed their welcome.

She kept her mind on the red-head and the topsy-turvy…whatever they were embroiled in. It was not exactly her style – or Bea’s for that matter. Perhaps that was why it made sense and drew her in. It was such a left-footed step off of her usual path that it forced her to actually think about what she was doing. It wasn’t something she wanted to be on autopilot for, which was more than she could say for the function at hand.

A familiar voice cut through the din of her conversation with the old man, and she did her best to hide her look of relief. “It was lovely to meet you, sir,” she lied to the old man before eagerly following Bea away. She did her best not to openly stare at the woman; they were still, after all, in the open of the function. “I was done before I came, but I usually am. I’m not even sure what we’re collecting the money for at this point,” she told Bea with a sigh. “You look amazing as always, though, of course.”