#moonskinsstart

Today started as normal. Wyatt decided he wants to do something spontaneous and energetic. Unfortunately for his house mates he'd called off work for the impending full moon and has locked himself in as to not be caught running around town not sick. He ended up bouncing on Ryder's bed claiming something about parkour as he did a flip, letting his 'state of being' take over his entire room. But once he'd left enough black marks all over his sheets from his shoes he ran to the other end where he was sure Brenden's room had a window that unlatched with easy access to the roof.

He balanced on the sill and threw Brenden a carefree salute and clambered up.  He usually was mostly blown off, because the kid was like a monkey, constantly doing ridiculous stunts that ended with bruises and scrapes and sprains. Wyatt had made his way up and walked around the rooftop, balancing precariously along the edge of it, ever the daredevil. Until he decided to sit with his legs hanging over and his back reclining against the slanted roof, the shingles warm from the March sun.

It was strange, arriving in someplace where it felt like they might be able to stay for a while. Josie wondered if it was in the nature of Moonskins to be nomadic. She would have asked Brenden or Jordan or one of the more knowledgeable members of the pack about it, had they been there, but the first thing she'd done upon arrival (after choosing her bedroom, of course) was pull on some snowboots and a warm jacket to hit the town.

She wasn't sure what she was looking for, exactly. Maybe it was just curiosity in general that had led her to explore. She wanted some flowers for the cabin, some nice creature comforts for her room like blankets and cushions and maybe some incense. A nice little town like this had to have a store that did cute little arts and crafty things. Something that didn't look as if it had come from Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Josephine wanted something more unique, something rustic. When she found a store that seemed like what she had in mind, she ducked inside, loosening her coat and feeling relief at the lack of chill inside. The store was warm and homely. Just what she wanted. But she wasn't aware enough to be on guard for someone who might make it less so.

Carter finishes packing up unsold vegetables for a couple of the local farmers. They smile politely and thank him with some extra cash. He smiles back and hopes to see them the next morning but lets them know that he has a shift at Novel Idea, so he can only help for a few hours. Most of them don’t mind at this point. Carter has been nothing but a help to them the last six months and one of them even helped him get a job at the local bookstore. After saying his goodbyes, he grabs his copy of A Separate Peace, and wanders off to town to find a good place to relax. 

Instead of heading directly to the liquor store or the bar, he decides to take a different route on the brisk, chill evening. The air left a cool, pleasant touch on his skin. Since he moved to Rainsburg, the cold was something he appreciated even more; another reason he would never take Delaware’s advice and move down to Florida. He had always heard horror stories of the awful, humid weather. 

He turned down an unfamiliar brick road that he hadn’t quite taken the time to notice before; it led to a small, unkept fountain, with green creeping up from the ground, threatening to tear a part anything man made at any moment. There were vines creeping down from the surrounding walls and buildings that looked like they were once businesses but hadn’t been open in a long time. He found one lamp still lit and sat on the staircase beneath it. He opened up his book and began to reread it; it was the one thing he could remember loving aside from his name. 

It wasn’t until he heard a shifting sound and someone had blocked his light that he had even noticed anyone else approaching. 

It was almost two am when Nevada made it back home. She took an extra shift bar tending and stayed later to help close up. It had been four days since the meeting between Delaware and Jordan, Nevada just recently decided to learn his name, and Nevada was still was avoiding the house when she wasn’t training with Lanta or when she hoped everyone else was asleep.

The house was quiet when she walked in. Even if everyone wasn’t sleeping it was obvious most were. The only real noise was the sound of a few pack members snoring, a sound that bothered Nevada when she first moved in but was more soothing now then anything else.

She moved quietly through the house. She hoped running the washer wouldn’t wake anyone else up. She loaded it up and went back to her room, returning only to swap it to the dryer, then again when she couldn’t hear the dryer anymore. She stayed in the small laundry room though. She made a circle around the house before throwing her clothes in and grabbed anything else she could find. Mostly it consisted of bathroom and kitchen towels mixed in with her clothing.

Nevada folded in silence. It was something that rarely happened in the pack house. She was about halfway through when she hear someone walking through the house. It wasn’t uncommon. With how many of them that lived there is was common for people to get up in the night. She didn’t bother stopping what she was doing or trying to focus on who it was. Instead she just kept folding.

“This is all but hopeless.” She muttered to herself when she reached down to retrieve it.

Carter has been feeling off after the night of a full moon for the past six months but usually forces himself to ignore it. Tonight, he just can’t ignore the feeling he has; his senses are heightened more than usual, he’s irritable, and he skin is crawling with extra energy. He paces about A Novel Idea, working to finish up any last minute closing to-dos, hoping that another customer won’t walk in. To his luck, the store is never all the busy. 

He spent most of the day reading the book that Delaware sent him, trying to understand all the rules and complexities behind being a moonskin. A part of him dreads getting to the memory loss section of things, though. He feels like it won’t actually explain anything and the feeling of hopelessness he’s been having will only grow worse. But there’s always a chance that it won’t be worse and the answers will be there. 

Looking down at his watch, Carter realizes that it’s officially 8 p.m. and he can close up shop. He grabs his jacket with his pack of cigarettes and flasks and walks about out the door of A Novel Idea, the bell chiming behind him. The air is crisp and cool against his skin. Carter shivers a little, not because it’s cold to him, just because he wasn’t expecting it but he deems it a pleasant surprise. He pulls the shop keys out of his pocket and locks the door. 

Nevada actually wished the percent chance of rain was higher today. The slight over cast made it feel colder then it was but still she walked in just a light sweater to work. To be completely honest she wasn’t sure why the liquor store opened so early. It made it one of her favorite shifts because it meant she didn’t actually have to talk to anyone normally for the first few hours of the day. It if would rain it might deter even more people from wanting to be out and about today.

Once inside the store it was much to warm. Not that the cold bothered her anymore. It was actually one of her favorite parts of being a moonskins, not having to freeze during the winter months. Her boss though, was a freak who thought the heat needed to be turned on when ever it dropped below 80 outside and Nevada couldn’t stand it even if she use to appreciate it. Going into the back before opening up, Nevada opened the bosses desk, taking the key to the box he had around the thermostat and turned it down. Before going back up front, Nevada returned the keys and got ready for the long shift ahead of her. 

It didn’t take her long to open the register and turn the sign to open and station herself with her feet up on the counter. It’s not like it matter, the boss wouldn’t be in until much later to open the bar next door and by then people would be coming in and out and Nevada actually liked her job enough to not want to get fired for something so stupid. But for now she was conformable. She scrolled through her phone distracted by her varity of games, switching when she ran out of lives from one to the next and only putting it down when she hear the bell above the room ring saying someone had walked in.