Moonlight Nocturne

Elena smiles softly, bending down to kiss her cheek, before padding quietly out of the room to explore. Someone's around, right?

And this is a werewolf house, it must be full of neat things.

 

Nick is sprawled on a rug upstairs, sleeping soundly, head pillowed on his arms, with some weird book about dungeons and dragons on a table nearby, with a sticker in an untidy hand that says 'Property of W. Hemming'.

 

... Nick is a dork. Elena yawns, padding on further down the hall, looking for someone who's awake.

Huh. Can she climb out on the roof? Roofs are fun.

 

...well, there is a window with a good shot onto the rooftop nearby, so...

 

Elena slips her socks off, and tries the latch, grinning like a loon. She hasn't gotten on a roof in ages, since she met Nick. And while that's super awesome in general... climbing around in the dark is fun.

If the window opens, she'll slip outside barefoot, going for the highest place she can find.

 

This roof is perfect, almost like it's made for climbing. It's easy to find a good vantage point to look at the stars and trees from.

 

... Maybe it is made for climbing. There are treehouses and everything!

She settles cross-legged on the roof to watch her surroundings, for a while. She's hardly ever been this far out of the city. It's so dark! There are weird noises!

 

Red clambers onto the roof next to her, crawling into her lap.

 

Elena smiles, tentatively reaching to pet the cat's head. This is awesome.

... then she remembers that it's all because her mom's in the hospital, and the guilt comes rushing back.

 

The kitten looks up, eyes full of a strange intelligence, and miaows, batting at her arm.

 

"... um... Are you a person? Do you talk?" Elena asks, frowning.

 

"Miaow?"

 

"... I mean, in English."

 

"Mrrrow?"

 

"Oh. Um. Okay." She falls quiet again, scritching the cat's ears. She's hanging out with werewolves, she had to check!

 

The cat purrs quietly, gently clawing her leg every time her mind drifts towards misery.

 

She squeaks, giving the cat a perturbed look after the second time it claws her. "Ow!"

... that is definitely not a coincidence, is it?

"... You're a weird cat."

 

"She likes wolves," a voice murmurs from a hidden vantage point, far across, and Winter steps into sight on one of the treehouses. "She was already strange."

 

Elena perks up, smiling brightly. "Hi, Miz Hemming! Are you hunting?"

 

"No. Just watching the stars," Winter smiles, leaning on the railing.