⸻⸻ 𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚞𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚐 ... 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗸𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝘢𝘴 :
⤷ ゛ ˎˊ˗ BABBLING BROOKS(S) .
the costume had been explained enough times on the walk over that by now it hardly needed repeating . a babbling brook . equal parts terrible pun and committed bit . swathed in soft blue fabrics that caught every passing current of air , shirt left open without a second thought , he looked less like someone who had spent hours planning an outfit and more like he'd wandered straight out of the stream he claimed to be . somehow , it worked .
brooks slipped through the front door with the sort of ease reserved for people who never seemed to arrive anywhere as strangers . conversation found him before he ever had to seek it out , a laugh here , a greeting there , his attention drifting from face to face as naturally as water finding its course . the room buzzed around him in warm waves ; music pulsed beneath the floorboards , costumes blurred together into bright patches of color , and somewhere nearby someone had already started pouring drinks far stronger than the night probably required . he let himself be carried along by it all without resistance , content to exist in the middle of the current for a while .
and yet , beneath every passing smile and every moment stolen by the crowd , there lingered the quiet habit of searching . his gaze wandered almost absentmindedly over unfamiliar masks and familiar faces alike , lingering for the smallest fraction of a second longer than necessary before moving on again . ever since a night spent in a club , listening to house music , there had been someone he hadn't managed to cross paths with again . whether tonight would finally put an end to that stretch of bad timing remained to be seen , but it was enough to keep his eyes wandering each time another body slipped through the doorway .
