::1.5:: Winter

Winter arrives at Lunar Lakes, fluttering over scorched, barren earth unquestioned.

Sunflower has searched everywhere.  Asked every townsperson she could.  Denn is nowhere to be found.

What she expected to be an absence lasting only a few days, maybe a few weeks, has turned into months.  She'd even asked her boss to run a search for him in the town database, once she was too desperate to worry about appearing stalkerish.

"Denn Wilder?" Gretel Sekemoto had frowned when the results popped up on her office computer screen, ignoring the way Sunflower hovered anxiously over her shoulder.  "It says there's no resident registered by that name.  Are you sure that's who you met?"

It's hard not to doubt, at this point, but it doesn't really matter.  She's pregnant again.

But his disappearance is all she can think about.  What if he decided he wants nothing to do with her and their family, and has left for good?  Did she scare him away with all the talk about living together?  What if he's hurt somewhere, with no one to help him?

Or worse?

 Roe, now a teenager, takes over a large portion of the household chores.

(A pointless close-up for those who care about that sort of thing.)

It isn't that his mother is completely absent, but she spends most of her time out looking for Denn or worrying herself into a frenzy at home, these days, especially after her job forced her onto maternity leave, giving her nothing to fill her time.

When she isn't mid-meltdown, she's sleeping...

...or indulging in escapism.

"Eugh, this fridge reeks.  I thought you took out the old food last night?"

"Guess I forgot."  Roe yawns, pats Elisabeth on the head.  "Sorry, Mom."

 Frustrating as it is, he can't bring himself to blame his mother.

He feels stupid for feeling betrayed.  Denn was the man he'd chosen as his father figure from the first time they met, but maybe that bond wasn't as mutual as he'd assumed.

 He tries to find ways to get out of the house whenever he can.  Studying at the library is a great excuse, though most of the time he ends up doing something more mindless.

 "How am I losing against myself?"

Iron Fang grows quickly through the winter, oblivious to her family's angst.  She has just enough of Denn in her appearance--forest-green eyes, elfish ears, pointed canines--to make Sunflower's heart hurt.

Roe loves his sisters with every fiber of his being, but filling the role of second parent is... a lot.

"Your name is Iron Fang Wilder-Moon.  Can you say that?  Eye-ern-fan-guh.  Wy-yul-der.  Moon.  But not moon like the ones in the sky.  A different kind of Moon."

What is she talking about?  Sunflower doesn't even know what that means.

"I'm going crazy," she groans.

"Crazy!" Iron Fang parrots.

A few hours later, Roe returns from his part-time job as a spa receptionist to find his mother going into labor.  "Oh!  Um...!"

"Stay here and watch the girls," Sunflower orders as she waddles toward the door.  "I already called the cab."

 The swift, chaotic departure of her mother stresses little Iron Fang out, which she expresses through destruction of property.

Her tiny baby claws are not strong enough to leave any kind of noticeable mark, so all she does is disrupt the dust collecting beneath the chair.

Still, Roe feels obligated to discipline.  "Uh, bad werewolf!  Bad!"

Of course, when has a werewolf ever cared about the opinions of humans?

Knowing when to let things go, Roe changes out of his work uniform and settles down for strawberry pancakes, leaving Iron Fang to tire herself out.

By the time Sunflower returns from the hospital with baby Charlie, her were-child has forgotten what she was upset about.

"Finally, another boy in the house," Roe grins.  Then, glancing over his shoulder at Iron Fang alseep in her crib, having no desire to incur the same wrath he witnessed earlier in the evening, adds, "Your sisters are totally great too, of course."

For whatever reason, the delivery of her newest child lifts Sunflower's spirits, and she tentatively begins to take care of the household again.

Starting with pancakes!

She returns to work, and saves enough money to separate the basement into two proper bedrooms.  After the expansion, there's little money left for actual furniture, but she spends a few evenings on a paint job, which hopefully lessens how depressingly bare it is.

She now has a bedroom to herself, as well, while the ladder, along with a new bookshelf, are located in a main entryway.

And with the last of the savings, the younger children are finally provided some educational toys.

That ladder has got to be a safety hazard...

Roe knows he'll have to share the room with a sibling (or two, or three) eventually, but that doesn't stop him from enjoying the solitude while it lasts.

 He also, finally, finds some time to focus on other things.

He and his friend Irene agree to meet at the art museum on a Saturday.

"For an establishment that relies solely on visuals, this place sure is poorly lit," Roe remarks.

"And the art is... hm," Irene agrees, as though her orange flippers give her any room to talk.

"Listen," Roe begins, ignoring her choice of footwear; "I wanted to apologize that we haven't been hanging out as much since high school started.  I didn't mean to ghost you, it's just my family, you know?  My mom has been pretty out of it lately, and she needs a lot of help with my younger sisters, and now she just had a baby and..." He realizes he's rambling.  "Just wanted to say sorry, I guess."

To his relief, Irene smiles kindly.  "Roe, I get it.  When my parents had my younger brother, all the attention went to him.  I mean, we hired a live-in nanny, so none of us actually had to do anything, but still.  I know what you mean."

Roe's shoulder sag with a laugh.  "You haven't changed at all, have you?"

"Neither have you."  Her words are teasing, but her expression is serious; gentle.  "You cared just as much about your family when you were a kid, too.  Always running home early to make sure everything was okay.  I remember.  Pretty admirable, if you ask me."

Neither of them are expecting it, but in spite of the atrocious spotlights and grody installation pieces, it feels like the right moment, anyway.

Roe pulls back quickly.  "Sorry, I should have asked first."

Irene takes his hands.  "I'm wearing scuba fins, Roe.  I think I need someone who's a little unpredictable."

☾

Misc: MTS user TwistedSmiley asked for scenic shots of Lunar Lakes a few chapters ago, but right when I went into the game to take them, winter began, so for chronology purposes,  I wasn't able to use them in the blog until now.  Hopefully I can grab a few more in the other seasons, because obviously the place is meant to be a more arid climate.

At this point in the legacy, I had completely forgotten about Sunflower's "Property Mogule" generational goal, so I was spending every meager paycheck she and Roe earned on making the house more livable, when that shouldn't have been my priority at all.  It'll be a few more chapters until we get to the part where I remembered and panicked, though.