when a heart breaks / rowen

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In Mylenne's eyes, it was a gorgeous day. Lonely, breathless, and desolate. As much as her inner conscience pleaded for dependency (and as much as her stubborn heart rejected such desire) she loved the sort of late afternoons spent independently, with only herself to talk to. Strolling down a very narrow lane, she watched a few women pull their windows closed, scowling up above at the thick grey clouds. It looked like rain, pesky rain that stranded lonely little girls like Mylenne in puddles. Before they shut the curtains, they gave a sad look quickly at the girl. She had always been that sort.

She felt a strong draft through her worn, tearing sweater. With her one arm, she felt the strands of wool up to her opposite shoulder, fumbling to tie the sweater in a knot where her arm wasn't. She stumbled over, tripping on her own feet. She jutted her jaw with frustration. There was so much clumsiness involved with lacking an entire arm, nevermind the fact that the horrid stub was extremely sensitive to cold. Winter was coming.

She came to the end of the lane, where the stone underneath her disappeared completely and the forest began. Her steps were quick and silent, as she saw from the corner of her eye, many lights shut out from behind her. Mylenne needed to be far from anyone in town, she needed to be away from their sympathy, from their judgement. After a long and tedious mile or so of walking, the assymetric teen stopped at a birch that was almost completely dead, broken. She assumed it had been struck by lightning at one point, because the usually pure wood looked charred and terrified

Mylenne leaned her back to the tree, looking up above at the depressing branches. The majority looked as though if she touched them, they would snap instantly and violently. She didn't dare too. Just look at them wonderingly, hoping her gaze wouldn't simply snap them.

[Axium]

Rowan shivered as the wind began to pick up. He hated overcast days. The sky looked dark and dreary, about to break into tears any minute. When the first drop fell, Rowan pulled his jacket tighter. His bare feet were freezing, yet he liked it better than wearing shoes. His think skin pounded the pavement with every step, long oblivious to the roughness of cobblestone roads.

By now, the rain turned into a light drizzle, the ones where the mood is always sad and depressed, more so than a full on storm. As the tears fell from the sky, Rowan had the impression that someone was crying above. The tiny flecks of water flowed down his own face, creating a river of sadness on his cheeks.

Today was gloomy that’s for sure.

Rowan picked up his pace. He needed to get to the forest before the rain really picks up. He took off running, his feet splashing in puddles, spraying extra soakiness to his black wool jacket. By the time he reached the treeline, his clothes were soaked through.

He entered. A girl was leaning against the lightning-struck willow near the entrance. He stopped. The girl was missing an arm. Rowan couldn't help but stare.

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Reflecting among the coiled and crossing branches, Mylenne's observation was limited. It was hard for her to hear the pounding footsteps approaching rapidly while lost among the bark. In a last, noisy splash, the girl snapped back to the rainy forest, and looked around attentively. Her eyes focused in narrowly on a boy who was looking directly at her, or rather at her torso area, towards her right.

Mylenne tried to look away. Post-accident trauma and hallucination could've been an option. Insanity was triggered by violent changes in emotions, right? Her mouth parted, looking at the ground below her worn sandals, trying to see if the boy in her peripheral vision had moved on. He hadn't. He stood there, brown hair, somewhat short, cute. Mylenne made a mental note to smack herself when she was alone again. She wasn't exactly in a position to be calling someone cute. I mean, he was staring lazers into her upper arm enough to slice her shoulder off for a second time.

She looked away from him, so the very back of her tangled blonde mane faced him. Maybe he'd move on, if he saw she didn't want to care. But before she could make another move, she felt words creep out of her lips.

"Staring. That's what everyone does"

Her words were quiet, so she begged that as soon as she spoke that he couldn't hear it through the sounds of the rain on the forest. Creasing her lips, she felt suddenly that this wasn't the case.

[Axium]

Rowan stood transfixed, his eyes unable to look away from that horrible stump. His brain kept nagging him to move on, to keep walking and hope the girl never noticed. Maybe she didn't even know he was here. She looked deep in thought anyway, and the rain made it hard to see or hear very well. But something about the missing arm bothered Rowan. It was the product of the Capitol's harsh treatment, that's what.

Suddenly, the girl's eyes flew open, glaring at him. Rowan could feel the blood rushing to his face, and he quickly looked away, ashamed of himself. Hadn't his parents always told him to be a polite person? He slapped himself mentally as the girl lowered her head. Rowan could still feel her eyes on him, though.

Rowan silently studied the girl. She was about his age, maybe a bit older. Pale skin, hazel eyes, bleached blond hair. She looked, well, normal. Except for the missing arm. From the girl's shoulders, you really couldn't tell the "abnormality." But as your eyes travel downward, you'd find that the arm stopped abruptly.

Pity, Rowan thought. Such a pretty girl to suffer this fate.

The girl turn her back to him, obviously upset. "Staring. That's what everyone does." She said, barely audible above the patter of the rain. Rowan felt terrible. He didn't mean to make the girl this angry/sad. He looked down at his bare feet. "I- I'm sorry." He stammered. "I didn't- I wasn't- I- I..." He trailed off. He wasn't very good with words.

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OOC: Sorry about this taking so long! I wasn't aloud to use electronics until my concussion got better, and even now I'm just sneaking on. I'll try to crank out replies sooner.


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Mylenne's eyes travelled downwards bitterly. Minorly frustrated with herself for spitting out something so rude, she abruptly ended her self-conflict. Whatever, she thought, people like that deserve it. But deep down, she knew she wasn't so sure about that.

She heard the boy begin to stutter regretfully. She was almost sure she heard a sorry somewhere in there, but he struggled with his words. Somewhere between the words of his incomplete sentence, Mylenne turned apologetically, and found herself looking, though he was a few feet away, into his eyes.

He looked as though he didn't think something, someone like her was even capable of speech. She felt a slight bit of shame creep into her, felt contrite over the fact she made him act this way. At least he wasn't laughing aloud. But she wouldn't say sorry.

"It's no problem" she said, more purposefully this time, though with a slight edge of spite.

[Axium]

Rowan’s mind was going mushy. That powerful, calculating, photographically-memorizing machine of his coughed, sputtered, gave a final wheeze, and died. That’s how it always was when he tried to talk to strangers. ”Uhhh… er, um…” Even though his brain shut down, his mouth apparently didn’t get the message. It continued sputtering and slurring and he could do nothing about it without his brain.

And then the girl looked him directly in the eye.

Well, that did it. Inside Rowan’s head, his broken brain exploded. Tiny pieces were hurled at the walls of his skull, beyond repair. Outside, he could feel his temperature rising, redness going to his cheeks. Now that his brain no longer existed, he couldn’t even do anything. He awkwardly stood there, his mind blank and his eyes staring off into space, which just happened to be into the girl’s eyes.

”It’s no problem,” the girl said, though somewhat spiteful.

Gradually, Rowan got a new brain (Through the brain order hotline, 1-800-NEWBRAIN). ”Oh, um, hi, uh, sorry for, uh, staring. Um, I’m going to practice, uh, archery now, so, uh, see you later?” He started taking quick steps to flee this awkward and embarrassing scene.

OOC: Oh no! What happened? I hope you get better!

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OOC: Haha thanks, but it was just soccer and I should be fully recovered by next week. Everyone told me to stay away from brightness and such for a few days, though, which was minorly frustrating >< (And oh my god... 1-800-NEWBRAIN <3)

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Mylenne felt something harsh and turbulent surge through her veins as this boy turned to leave. Her gut turned in a fresh pulse of guilt. She honestly didn't believe he had archery to practice, or anything to practice in this sort of weather besides napping indoors. She watched his heels pivet, dip once into the soggy mud, and Mylenne had made up her mind, though at this point it had tread into near-insanity.

Though the boy was not more than ten meters away, but she ran anyways, empowered by sincere apology. Coming out from underneath a tangle of branches, the rain dappled her skin far thicker than before. Her heavy footsteps in the mud kicked up debris on her back as well as behind her, as she reached out to try to catch the boy's attention again. She didn't know quite what it was that she wanted to say, but she knew she had to say something.

Mylenne reached out her arm, grabbing loosely at the boy's wrist. She instantly regretted it, withdrawing at the warmth of his skin.

"Look..." Mylenne said, a headache coming on in the mix of her words "I'm really sorry about that, I mean... it really wasn't a ... a big deal"

[Axium]

Rowan turned as the girl brushed his wrist, taken aback by the gentleness of the touch. She looked shocked at her action, withdrawing her arm immediately. "Look..." She said, "I'm really sorry about that, I mean... it really wasn't a ... a big deal"

Rowan raised his eyebrows. He didn’t really understand this girl’s apology. After all, wasn’t it him who was being rude? Certainly, the girl’s attitude toward him was a bit hostile, but he really couldn’t blame her. Who didn’t feel anger towards those who treat them rudely? ”I- I’m sorry? Why are you apologizing? You did nothing wrong. It should be me who apologizes.” Rowan was surprised at how easily the words flowed from his mouth. Just a few seconds ago he had been brain-dead and unable to say anything. Something about the closeness of this girl made him more relaxed. ”I’m Rowan, by the way.” He held out his hand.

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Mylenne was so sick of being conflicted and confused. Shebit her lip, awkwardly standing to the side with the weight on her left foot. She felt a little bit out of place, feeling like she owed someone something, never mind an apology.

She hastily let him finish before giving him her left and only hand, which made for a rather uncomfortable handshake as their skin touched for yet a second time. She gave him an unbalanced smile, curling one side of her lip sharply upwards.

"Mylenne," she said, introducing herself in turn.

She took a breath to let her explanation run clean, but no words came. She looked slightly as though she was choking for about a second or so, before she could speak properly. "It's just that... I guess I didn't want you to feel like you had to leave"

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[Axium]

As Rowan was speaking, he could see that the girl looked uncomfortable. He felt the same way. His palms were a bit sweaty and his heart was running a marathon. He shifted his weight from side to side as the girl introduced herself as Mylenne. The fact that she only had one hand made for a very awkward handshake. When their skin touched again, however, Rowan felt a chill go up his back. Must be the rain. It was coming down harder than before, but he could sense that it was at the maximum.

As the rain flowed down both their faces, Rowan studied Mylenne’s face. Full lips, broad cheeks, pale blond hair. And brown eyes. Kinda darker than it appeared, with almost no reflection of light. Rowan felt himself get pulled into those eyes, captivated by them. He tried to look away but couldn’t.

Luckily, Mylenne’s voice brought him back to the outside world. Rowan cleared his throat and blushed, embarrassed. What would this girl think of him, staring into her eyes like that? Probably as some sort of perverted creep.

"It's just that... I guess I didn't want you to feel like you had to leave" Mylenne was saying. Yeah, I don’t want to either, Rowan thought. What the frick was he thinking?! Maybe he was some sort of perverted creep. Either way, he didn’t want Mylenne to know what he was feeling. Surely she would never talk to him again, worse yet, never even look at him. ”Well,” he finally said, after much internal battles about whether to just leave. ”I’m not in much of a rush. Why not just stay and chat?” He sat down on a nearby log.

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The moments that followed her voice were alarmingly silent. Looking up briefly, she caught his eye for a long time. It was somehow a rather warm feeling, realizing the color of his eyes. They were brown, alike to hers, but somehow very friendly-seeming, inviting. She realized the fact that the length of their eye catching must seem very odd, but she smiled lightly, trying to hold it in by biting her lip.

”I’m not in much of a rush. Why not just stay and chat?" Mylenne blushed subtly, trying to pull back her smile. She didn't want to like this boy, but somehow she just did. She tried to pull her shoulders back, to still display pieces of her pride. But for the most part, she felt broken down, and she hated it.

"Why not?" she said, letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding, "doesn't look like I'll be going home in this weather"

[Axium]

“Why not?” Mylenne said, letting out a breath. "Doesn't look like I'll be going home in this weather." She sat down on the log next to him. A long, awkward pause ensued.

”So, um, how did it happen?” Rowan asked, pointing at her stump. He immediately wanted to slap himself. The girl’s arm had to be a sore spot, and Rowan felt like he was intruding in her privacy or something. ”Sorry, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.” He said quickly. He didn’t want Mylenne to feel like he thought of her as inferior, as surely some of the guys at school did. Curiosity killed the cat, he thought. And I’m the cat.