#nytcwl

the lunar eclipse ball had been the newest disaster to hit the town of westray. one much more catastrophic and harder to be swept under the rug. the first of many, considering that clan solune had no plans to play as nicely as clan venatore. to debase themselves as something less than the apex predators they were was far from the interests of most under alexander's leadership. while what happened the other night wasn't necessarily intentional, it was a mere taste of what would befall the rather regulated town.

the days since the masquerade have been absolute hell for her... and like her mother, marlowe's coping mechanism is distraction and to pretend like it isn't happening. when all of her stress boils over? that's an explosion for another day. she's been in the cafe from open to close all week. at night, she's been trying to perfect recipes for strawberry and strawberry cheesecake mochi for umi. as promised, she went through the storage shed at her mom's place and dredged out her father's old fishing gear. she even made sure to get a fishing license.

her big blowup fight with val and finding out that her friends are monster hunters after finding the body of a regular at the cafe has left her a little worse for wear since her distraction method often bled into her sleep time. she's covered up the circles under her eyes the best she could and threw her hair up so she didn't have to deal with it. as she approaches umi on the pier, tupperware in hand, she leans her fishing pole against the railing and sets down her tackle box.

she's officially over this. realistically, she has been since waking up to the latest shitstorm in her life. she tries to remind herself that other people have it worse than her today, but all that really does is make her heart ache for everyone else too. so many people are missing the most important people in their lives right now and that's something that marlowe can empathize with more than most. all she can hope for is that everyone that went missing while the town slept is found. as far as she's heard nobody has found anything yet, but maybe she would know more if she could get back in contact with her search party again. the trees all still sporting their vibrant green summer foliage all seem to look the same, especially with everyone going off the well worn hiking trails to look for clues.

in her attempts to get back on track and in her assigned section of the forest, she's using the compass app on her phone. however, when a text sneaks through from her mom and she accidentally swipes out of the app trying to close the notification... a frazzled marlowe trips over a fallen log while trying to reopen it and skids across the forest floor. her shins scrape against the rough bark of the log, causing her to cry out in pain in a sound similar to what she assumes an injured squirrel would make. her hands are covered in packed on dirt as she pushes herself up to sitting on her knees. as she curses the day under her breath, she looks up and locks eyes with umi. dusting her hands off together, she looks away quickly -- embarrassment as evident in her eyes as it is on her rosy cheeks. ❝ please tell me you didn't see that superior exhibition of athleticism. even if you have to lie. ❞

the afternoon rays are peeking through the trees by the time roland reaches the southern forest in his search. he's made his rounds through town and imani's necklace is still not recovered. maybe he should have joined in on the organized groups, but he really wasn't interested in sharing why his object was important to him. losing at this game he and many around town were pulled into without their consent or knowledge is leading to roland feeling more demoralized by the second. not only does he hate losing, but he doesn't think imani deserves to have nothing left commemorating her life. he doesn't think he's ready to sever his only tie left to her.

when he's launching himself across a small creek cutting through the southern forest, he has to swivel to the side to not fully crash into lana. he really shouldn't have worn these shoes, while he could always find another pair -- he does really like them and they're likely to get stained. ❝ sorry lana, i didn't think anyone was out here. ❞ a testament to how locked in his own mind he was. his voice sounds tired, almost apathetic. a far cry from the flirtatious, smooth-talker she's more accustomed to running into since the masquerade. hopefully it isn't written all over his face. ❝ how is your search going? any leads? ❞