[FAIR '24] Alowyn - This place is a Mess!

“Why did I come with you again?” Konstantin sighed. 

“You promised to spend a couple of days at the fair with me,” Alowyn huffed as she glared at her brother. 

“Yeah, but I expected games, treats, fun things… not cleaning,” He grumbled to himself as he collected more garbage into the bag he held open with his other hand. 

Alowyn ignored him while she moved around the area collecting discarded cups and food wrappers. She moved through the snowy area checking under benches and picnic tables. Alowyn found the snow made it easier and harder to clean because in some cases the bright colours against the white made it easy to find. However, any spills couldn’t be cleaned, they just stuck out against the snow. Alowyn continued to ignore her brother and continued to meticulously clean around the area where he stood. 

“Wyn,” Konstantin called her, “Come, we don’t seriously need to clean up after other reoseans.”

Alowyn sighed and turned to him, “I told Gwen we would help.”

Konstantin glared at his older sister and the pair like the silence spread. 

Eventually, Alowyn sighed, “Just help me clean this picnic area and then we can do something you want to do.”

“Fine,” Konstantin relented. 

Konstantin moved to the outskirts of the small picnic area to clean the edges while Alowyn carried on with her method. He moved the trash bins around to pick up garbage that had fallen out or didn’t quite make it to the bin. The more Konstantin cleaned, the more frustrated and irritated he got at the lack of respect some reoseans had. There was a moment when a young tyrian passed, they tried to throw their garbage but missed and what bothered Konstantin was the young one just kept walking away. 

“Hey,” Konstantin growled, “Get back here and pick that up!”

The young empyrian looked over their shoulder to see Konstantin’s look and quickly flew away. Konstantin was about to fly after the tyrian, while Alowyn stopped him. Her clawed hand held his shoulder in place with a tight grip. 

“What-” Konstantin started to say, but Alowyn cut him off.

“Just forget about the little guy,” Alowyn urged, “The quicker we get this done, the faster we can get to the games.”

Konstantin sighed and quickly moved back towards his selected area. There wasn’t much left to clean so he hoped they would be out of there quickly. Alowyn left her brother to finish his zone, but if she were to look at his area she wasn’t happy with what she saw. She felt he wasn’t putting in his full effort. However, she kept her thoughts to herself because she wasn’t completely honest with him about their purpose here today. 

Alowyn and Konstantin continued cleaning the snowy area in relative silence. They were both happy to remain in their own thoughts as they moved through the snow to pick up discarded pieces of garbage and food. Every once in a while, Konstantin would exclaim about how gross some reoseans were and refused to clean anything else, but Alowyn would manage to take him back into helping. 

They thought they were nearly done when Konstantin exclaimed and pointed to the large section of ever-green trees that lined the edge of the picnic area. The trees had a thin layer of snow sparkling on the branches, but that wasn’t what caught Konstantin’s attention. Alowyn followed the direction of his hand to see garbage scattered in the branches of the wintery trees. Alowyn would be lying if she denied the crushing feeling that weighed on her when she too realized there was still much to clean. 

“This is ridiculous,” Konstantin raged, “The garbage bin is right there!”

He wanted to pull out his hair, but Alowyn, as kind as ever, urged him to at least pull out a few pieces of garbage. Alowyn led by example and started to clean out some of the trash and food stuck to the trees. Despite Konstantin’s constant growling and complaining, they both managed to clean the area and trees. Alowyn was very happy with the outcome and thanked her brother for his help. 

“We’re going to do something fun now, right?” Konstantin urged.

“Yup, your choice,” Alowyn laughed as they wandered away from the area that would surely be covered in garbage again tomorrow. 

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