Rowan Moon's personality could easily be described as stepping in front of a raging bus and narrowly jumping out of the way before it could hit you. He'd been born scowling and clutching his umbilical cord in one hand until he turned purple, according to Soren's mom, who laughed every time she told the tale.
Though Rowan was certainly a force to be reckoned with, he had his good moments in between, so he wasn't completely rotten on the inside. His redeeming qualities were thievery, mad fighting skills, and an affinity for making a decent quesadilla. Anything other than that was quickly kicked under a rug of brutality and outrage, never to be seen again.
"Row-Row!" Rocky cries, and he flies towards Rowan, his arms extended and waving like Oprah handing out presents. "My darling little brother! Come give Rocky a hug!"
"Fuck off!" Rowan hisses and quickly sidesteps Rocky, who goes sprinting out into the corridor, a series of loud crashes and thumps proceeded by a bird-like shriek ringing out when he trips over a mountain of trash.
Soren pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs, collecting himself for a moment as the chaos unfolds around him. "Rowan? How the hell did you know where we were?" He finally asks Rowan, "This place is miles off the map, smack dab in the middle of nowhere."
Rowan scans the room, scoffing a little before his gaze returns to Soren. They had the same fierce blue eyes just like their father, but the resemblance stopped there. Rowan was on the shorter side, kind of built like a pitbull, all stocky and tough looking. "You guys are easy to track," he tells Soren, "Rocky leaves behind a trail of glitter that you can see from space. And wherever he is, you're right behind him. Stuck to his ass like glue."
"I'm not stuck to him like glue," Soren bites back, "I'm making sure he doesn't do something rash. Someone has to look out for him around here."
"Yeah, well," Rowan jams his hands into his pockets, "Mom and Dad want you guys home stat. They're calling a family meeting in an hour, but they won't say what it's about."
"Shit," Soren whispers under his breath. Family meetings always spelled trouble in the Moon household, but all he could think about was Quince walking in on him and Rocky in bed. Was it possible that he'd run to their parents and told them what was going on?
"Soren! Row-Row!" Rocky suddenly shouts, and he comes bursting into the room clutching a crumpled folder in one hand. "You're not going to believe what I just found!"
"Oh, what could it be?" Rowan replies sarcastically, "The other half of your brain?"
Soren smacks the back of Rowan's head as he passes by him, making him hiss and duck his head in pain. Disregarding the boy's resulting glare, he walks over to Rocky and leans over his shoulder to look down at the mess of papers he was holding. "Adoption records?"
"It's better than that!" Rocky opens the folder, a huge grin on his face, "This is paperwork that had to be filled out before the orphanage took in certain kids! This is my folder! My parents and their last known address might be in here!"
"Wait." Rowan comes over and snatches the folder out of Rocky's hand, "What?"
"You can barely read, dude," Soren says and he snatches the folder from Rowan and flips it open, pawing through the papers, most of which were ruined. Fortunately, the bottom ones seemed intact and he starts pulling out birth certificates and information on Rocky, including the age that he had arrived and his health report.
"You were one when your mother dropped you off," He tells Rocky quietly, "She didn't leave much information other than that."
Rocky seems to sag at that. "Well," he whispers, "Maybe she was in an abusive situation? Or a teen mom? We don't really know what happened, Soren. I'm sure she loved me, though. She had to enough to leave me here."
"Hey, wait," Rowan leans over, an unlit cigarette between his teeth, "Go back to that page. The one with the picture of Rocky holding a toy."
Soren flips back the paperwork.
"I know that place," Rowan points to the background of the photo, "it's a few hours from here."
"Oh, my God!" Rocky squeals and rips the folder out of Soren's hands, practically ripping the thing in half. "Is this what I think it means?" He demands, his eyes darting from Soren, then back to Rowan, who scowls in response. "Are we going to find my birth parents? Oh, Christ! This is like Matilda the Musical all over again!" Sighing, he flings the folder over his shoulder dramatically and spins around, collapsing against the wall.
"So, where is this place?" Soren asks Rowan, and he watches Rocky slide to the ground.
"It's a jewelry store in a really fancy town," Rowan replies. "I steal all the time from there."
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