open starter — downtown windham-- super moon event.
Charlie felt-- off.
It was the only description she could think to muster the moment she rolled over in bed at the sound of her alarm and contemplated remaining in bed for the length of her day off due to the pit of dread that had pooled in her stomach for a reason she couldn’t even identify. She felt uncomfortable in her own skin the moment she slipped out of bed and slipped on her glasses-- something she had gotten out of the habit of doing the moment she got contacts when she was twenty. Her glasses made her feel dorky and childish and it was everything she could do to avoid wearing them when she had to be out in the world-- but there was something comfortingly nostalgic about putting them on and it was oddly soothing the moment she adjusted to them.
“Get your crap together, Flanagan,” Charlie found herself muttering under her breath-- paying little attention to the lack of swearing she might normally lean into on any other day. She exhaled softly as she dressed-- skinny jeans, beat up Converse she’d had since she was fifteen, a dress shirt tucked neatly beneath a dark sweater. Her style had leaned much more into ‘grunge’ as she’d gotten older but she had a tendency to buy things on a whim that were far more buttoned up and reminiscent of what she’d worn when she was growing up. With anxiety roiling in her belly the she-wolf collected her backpack and keys-- armed with her sketchbook and various mediums tucked in the pockets of her bag and made her way to the café down the street from her apartment.
Art of all kinds had always had power over her-- it was one of the few times she felt sure and comfortable in herself, when she was creating, and with a mug of tea and a slice of banana bread in front of her Charlie doodled idly-- only pausing to glance upwards through the lenses of her glasses when a shadow passed over her. “Um, h-hi? Can I uh, can I help you with something? I didn’t st-steal your seat or something like that, did I? I can move. Seriously. It’s not a problem.”











