[center][hr][img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/dHRmLjEwNi5mZmI2YzEuVG1WcmJ5QkRZWEppWld4c1lRLjA/fairy-mother.regular.webp[/img][/center][b]Interactions[/b]:Jasmine[@Punished GN] Ophrenia[@silvermist1116] [right][b][code]The Summit Motel Parking Lot.[/code][/b][/right][hr]

Neko sat upon the yellow bumper of an empty parking spot with her arms wrapped around her knees as she waited for the others with Jasmine. She watched the curtains draw shut as litter tumbled through the empty lot, lighting the end of a fresh cigarette with the final breath of the previous one before dumping the corpse out into the empty lot with a flick of her fingers. She used to try to limit her smoking, a little guilty reward for making it through the day, but the exhaustion and the frustration and the confusion and the disappointment and the unbearable weight of feeling useless had broken her restraint. 

Her little investigation into Harmony and Gene had turned up nothing. The desk jockey working the motel was adamant in their ignorance, even going so far as to show Neko the guest registry probably in hopes that she would then be satisfied in her questioning and fuck right off. She saw no sign of Harmony or Gene checking in on the list that held little more than a block of familiar names amongst the columns of John Somethings with same-day check outs. Given how little the others seemed to worry about the lack of check-in from Harmony, Neko had begun to convince herself that she was just being stupid and unreasonable. They got spooked, they left, end of story. 

Unless…Neko waved away the thought and focused her attention on Jasmine. The woman had shared her experience with seeing a ghost to Neko at the other motel and in return Neko had told Jasmine of the events at Blake's cabin, omitting one tiny detail that never needed to be thought of ever again. Neko didn’t know if she believed in ghosts or not anymore, but she believed that Jasmine wasn’t just making up some story for attention. Plus, even if Erik hadn’t seen her ghost he could verify the thing about the orb. However, there was one thing about Jasmine that Neko did not understand.

[color=FFB6C1]“Hey Jasmine, can I ask you a question?”[/color] said Neko, before she almost immediately began to wave the question away, the ember of her cigarette dancing frantically. [color=FFB6C1]“You don’t have to answer it and I’m sorry if this seems like I’m prying but it’s just, you know, I get Charlie wanting to look for her mom. I get Carl wanting to look for his wife. But if it wasn’t my daughter who’d gone missing but somebody who was responsible for an awful moment in my life I wouldn’t go looking for them when they suddenly got replaced by a different person. I definitely wouldn’t go looking for them in a dangerous swamp with a bunch of trigger happy strangers. I'd probably still be hungover from celebrating.”

“So, um, why?”[/color] said Neko, the question barely out of her mouth before the burning ember fell out of her cigarette and onto her clothes.  She jumped to her feet and furiously began brushing herself off, her swears drowned out by the roar of Z’s motorcycle as the others began to gather in the parking lot. Neko’s eyes widened as they fell upon the shotgun slung over a way too excited looking Ophrenia’s shoulder. The distraction offered Jasmine room to wriggle out of the probing question as Neko pinched the bridge of her nose, shook her head, and then shouted to Ophrenia, [color=FFB6C1]“Oh god, please hide that before we get shot!”[/color]