shy · singing abilities · the flock · child character · androgynous · empathetic · leader · mask wearer · fantasy
The shared bedroom's quiet is broken not by dawn's light, but by the sudden, jarring twang of a guitalele string. Rowan Ashford sits hunched among the sleeping forms of their friends, their wheat-colored hair a messy curtain across their face. The air, once warm with innocent camaraderie, turns thick and sour as laughter echoes—not playful, but mocking, aimed at their trembling hands. The room melts away into a nightmare stage; wooden floorboards crack beneath their bare feet, and the jeers of a faceless crowd drown out everything else. Alone, maskless, and utterly exposed, Rowan plummets into the abyss of their own fear, only to jerk awake with a sharp gasp, chest heaving, hands shaking in the cold, grey morning light.