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[hr][img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/dHRmLjEwNi5mZmI2YzEuVG1WcmJ5QkRZWEppWld4c1lRLjA/fairy-mother.regular.webp[/img][/center][b]Interactions[/b]: Blake Thornton [@Punished GN], Nori/Jordan/Olivia ([@NoriWasHere]), and Wyatt [@Helo][right][b][code]House on the Edge of the Swamp[/code][/b][/right][hr]

Neko winced at the woman laughing at her own joke, her face scrunching up in a look of disbelief. Neko let out a soft, singular ha and tried to smile like she found the woman even the slightest bit entertaining instead of simply annoying. In that moment Neko suddenly found herself understanding men like Blake Thornton more than she thought she would, because if she had the dough then Neko would also pay this woman to leave. What she couldn’t understand was Blake not jumping on her out but instead inviting them all in. Maybe it was an ingrained buttling instinct, maybe it was good ol’ fashioned Southern hospitality, but either way Neko found herself missing the fuck off they would’ve been given had this been her hometown.

Nevertheless, she found herself walking back up onto the porch. They’d come here for a reason. If Mr. Thornton was going to offer them his time then she was going to take it, although she’d skip the finger sandwiches after seeing where his hands had been. As she passed by the others she gave them a wide-eyed look of uncertainty that begged them not to let her go in alone, eventually stopping just short of the threshold into Blake’s cabin. Neko clasped her hands behind her back and won a valiant battle against her natural instinct to look down when she made eye contact with a stranger.

[color=FFB6C1]“Thank you. I’m Neko Carbella. We appreciate your generosity but…”[/color] but Neko grimaced. [color=FFB6C1]“But I, um, we’re, uh…”[/color] A hand escaped from behind her back and wiped away a bead of sweat. She shot a look back at the others and mouthed, [i]I’m sorry[/i]. The others didn’t need to know Neko to tell what she was thinking. It was plain by the look on her face: she was a desperate mother terrified that something awful had happened to her daughter. She was incapable of playing this cool. She was about to let the dam burst. [color=FFB6C1]“But—”[/color]

But she had hesitated, giving someone the chance of cutting her off before she let it all loose.