TO ASHES

Damien had never been a heavy sleeper, not since being stuck in foster care, and he definitely didn’t sleep at the facility. Therefore he had chronic bags under his eyes, at least that’s what he thought. Sometimes if Nora sighed in her sleep, he’d stir, open one eye to check on her, then nuzzle back and fall asleep within moments. This morning, however, the sun woke him up and he refused to go back to sleep. With her blonde hair slightly tousled, her calm, even breathing a quiet hum in the air, her skin smelling of warmth and love–that is what Clark’s house always smelled like, like Nora, like heat radiating from a crackling fire that gave you goosebumps and made you think of good memories–a time, a life, he had never experienced. The beauty emanated and filled his heart with serene yearning, and he couldn’t miss another second of looking at Nora.

He didn’t even feel himself smiling until her eyes opened inches from his own. Her face engulfed his line of sight, all he could see was her and the aura of the morning light around her. “Not long enough,” he whispered, trying to quietly breathe in her natural scent. He loved waking up with her, smelling her sheets, smelling their scents mixed together, but mostly he loved smelling Nora in the morning. It was a little heavy but in the best way possible, so unique and warm and deep, engulfing his senses. “You know… I’m not in any rush to get home. Or get out of bed. Or… pack,” he chuckled, diverting his eyes which meant he was shy and was only thinking about one thing: a kiss. “You’re not in a hurry, are you? ‘Lazy Sunday,’ know that phrase?” 

His response made her smile a little and turn her head to the side, burying her nose in her pillow as she felt some blush warming her cheeks. There could hardly be anything fascinating about seeing her asleep, and yet Damien made it sound like those minutes he’d been awake before she woke up were something of a treasure. It made her feel something warm and bright inside, knowing he looked at her like that, and that such a look of love was the first thing she could see when her eyes opened in the morning. Perhaps she was starting to get greedy, wanting to wake up with Damien next to her every day. Nora missed his shy smile and honest eyes those days she woke up alone. “Were you waiting for me to drool or something?” she asked with a soft chuckle, finally turning to look at him.

He diverted his eyes and Nora leaned close to press a gentle kiss to his cheek, somewhat close to the corner of his lips, in order to get him to look at her again. Gott, seine Augen. It was so easy to get lost in them, and she wanted to every single time. “Good, because I don’t want you to go home. Or get out of bed. Or to pack” she said as a smile made its way to her lips and she moved closer to him, close enough to wrap her arms around him and hold him close. “I know that phrase, and it sounds perfect for today”.

@dcmicns​

Nora stirred, slowly beginning to wake up. She felt a bit of muscle soreness in her arms as her mind began to process things after being asleep. The nymph had asked Damien for help to do some spring cleaning at her father’s house and the two of them had moved around some stuff, packed things to store and stash things in boxes to give away. And they had only tackled half of it yesterday... She stretched a little and then curled again into the position she was, eyes finally fluttering open. “Hey” she said with a soft smile, her voice still a little groggy from sleep, when she found a pair of blue eyes looking at her. “You’ve been awake long?” she asked as she moved closer to Damien. The nymph usually woke up pretty early but given their hard work the day before, she’d just slept until she felt well-rested.

Location:TriBeCa Date: May 9, 2021 Time: 2:00 PM

TriBeCa was a little busier than usual and he had to admit while staff was small he appreciated that maybe the business was finally paying off. What wasn’t paying off was how people seemed to constantly mess up the vinyl records section of the shop. He let out a sigh, wondering if he did this because organizing was a way to deal with his anxiety or just because he hated when people messed with music. Either way he was in the zone while he worked. “ This isn’t even a record?” He replied making a face as he pulled out a book from the section. “ At least try. “ He added before realizing that someone had walked over. “ Sorry I was in my own world. Was there anything I could help you with?”

Damien’s birthday was in a couple of weeks and the nymph had already begun her hunt for a good present. She was still debating between getting him some good books, or perhaps some iconic record. Or maybe just a whole lot of candy to poke fun at the way they met. Since Peter first brought her, TriBeCa had become her favorite spot to search for good literature or some music. “Hey Jack” she said with a little smile as she found Damien and Peter’s dad fighting the usual troubles of clients who didn’t put things back in their place. “Uh, no. You know me, I was just looking around” Nora said as she gestured around the place. “But maybe I can give you a hand with that” she told him as she walked over to the vinyl section he was trying to get organized again.

Quinn gestured a wave to Nora as she was heading out. He was on he way out too, but wasn’t gonna ask for her to wait, since that wasn’t usually what he did. However, when he walked out, throwing his jacket on he noticed Nora had been standing in one spot and felt something strange creeping up in the air. “ Shit” He grumbled as he caught sight of the smoke. “ Fucking assholes” Quinn muttered again knowing it had to be those same people. “Might be enough time to catch them this time” He thought out loud already making up his mind on what to do about the situation. He knew how Nora had been coping with everything and what she had lost and was there for her if she needed him. 

Nora felt something strange creeping up from within at the sight of that smoke column rising. She was a fire nymph, the spark of life and vibrant power from her element had always been something that she held close to her heart, it was a part of her... but her relationship to fire had changed a lot since her father’s corpse was taken out from within embers and ashes. “I can’t fucking believe this keeps happening” she muttered through gritted teeth, loosening her grip around her backpack’s strap after taking notice of just how hard her fist was wrapped around it. The nymph glanced at Quinn after he spoke, considering his words very seriously. “Knowing the Council, they’ll let this slide again” she mentioned with evident disdain. The arsonists had been periodically striking again and again for months and no real measures had been taken to prevent such attacks from happening or to apprehend those who had caused so much damage already. “If we want to get shit done I guess we’ll have to do it ourselves” she said with a light nod, waiting for his response. Quinn was a good friend and she knew he had her back she wasn’t sure if he was willing to take this particular risk.

@quinn-cameron​

The workshop had closed a few minutes ago and the nymph was out in the back, gathering her things from her locker and throwing on a jacket. The whole day had been quite gray with a threat of mild rain, though not a single drop had fallen from the sky yet. With any luck, it wouldn’t rain on her way home, because she hadn’t packed an umbrella in her backpack. “See you tomorrow!” she called out as she made her way out to the street. Nora stopped on her tracks just as she stepped out of the building, noticing that in the distance a smoky column that was a few shades darker than the sky was rising up. She felt a presence close by and turned to see Quinn coming out of the workshop. “It looks like smoke, doesn’t it?” she asked quietly as she looked in the direction of what she thought was another fire. Another arson.

“I’m sure he’s been proven wrong before” Quinn responded back not bothered at all by what Nora said. He had been in Lethe for a few years now and as a result he realized he was more social here than he had been in the past. He wasn’t the same person from our years ago who had spent a few months without talking to a single soul. He had people he cared about and one of them was standing in front of him and he was glad to be there for her over the wall he had built up. “Good to know I am not the regular part. “ He joked, but then fell into a more serious resonance to his voice. “But really I am there for you no matter what. “

Quinn had dealt with loss in a way that was different than most. He had no one for most of his life, so he had no connections with others to miss. Aside from one person but that was his own fault to miss them. He didn’t have the experience she had gone through, but he was still going to try to help. “ The only way to get through anything is to live it. Otherwise you’ll be stuck and I don’t anyone wants that. “ He knew it was never going to be easy but there was the benefit of time to help and he believed one day Nora would be okay. Talking about himself however was a much more difficult task. He hated revealing anything about himself to anyone. He shook his head unsure how to articulate words that made sense. “ I wanted to see her for ten years. I always intended to go back to her but some  things had happened and I just have this fear it’s been too long now. Not something I thought was going to happen this way” He nodded, not wanting to say too much. Quinn had been in love with the same person for a long time but he didn’t want to express that out loud even if it were true out of fear. 

Nora smiled a little at his response. Her friend wasn’t a social buttlerfly but the fact that she could call him ‘friend’ and that he thought of her in the same way was pretty damn special. “Come on, your magnificent self couldn’t be regular” she stated back in a more light-hearted manner before the nymph also turned a bit more serious. “Thank you, Quinn. That really means a lot” she told him, softly smiling at him, truly grateful for his support and his willingness to be there for her. Her eyebrows rose a little and her smile was subtly turned more playful “Fair warning. I’m going to hug you now”. And she went ahead to do just that. Quinn might not be as much of a hugger as she was, but it was a way in which the nymph showed her appreciation for those close to her and so the werewolf was going to have to accept that for a few seconds.

She ended up nodding along his words, agreeing with them fully. She definitely didn’t want to feel stuck. She had already felt pretty damn stuck in the first few weeks following her dad’s death and it was the most suffocating, exhausting and distressing feeling ever. Living through the pain was the only way, even if the process was rough. “I don’t have the whole context and I obviously can’t know how this history with your ex affected you, both positively or negatively,” the nymph began, offering an empathetic smile “but life’s too short to not tell others how we feel about them”. Her dad’s death had made her rethink certain things, relationships mostly. Nora had even gone ahead to confess her feelings for Damien little after her father died. “If you think it’s an option, have a chat with your ex. You don’t have to dump everything on her if you don’t feel like it, but at least you might find out if there’s still a chance, if it’s actually not too late”.

Date: 1-01-21 Time: 00:45 Location: Irving Plaza Status: closed with @nora-bernstein​  

The streets were chaotic, with people and spirits everywhere. She could hear people crying, maybe from seeing deceased loved ones or just fear, she didn’t know. She knew that she herself certainly didn’t want to see her sister; in fact, all she could think about was getting home to Terra. She wasn’t sure if these things could get inside but if they could… the last thing that little girl needed was waking up to her dead mother. It wasn’t like the sitter would be able to stop it.

Avery rounded a corner quickly, halting just before running straight into Nora. Relief pulled at her face as she tugged the other girl into a hug. “Oh my god, are you okay?” Had she seen anything? Had she seen Clark?

He wasn’t him, Nora told herself over and over, a thought that was accompanied by deep breaths in a poor attempt to keep her emotions in check. The nymph would have given anything for another day with her dad, but not like this... That shadow of Clark Segen wasn’t what her father had actually been. Seeing that shade had shaken her and all she wanted was to kick that faded image from her mind so it wouldn’t in any way ruin the vibrant and lively memory of her father.

Her relief upon running to Avery was more quickly showed on her expression than she could ever muster with words. The nymph ran towards her friend and help her tightly. “I’m okay” she reassured her because no shade had harmed her, her fire magic still intact. “But I did see him” she admitted quietly, tightly closing her eyes and holding Avery a little tighter.

@dcmicns​

The nymph had been terrified about the Winter Festival, even if she didn’t outwardly admit it. A tragedy had happened to her in the last town event and she couldn’t help but feel that another one might follow tonight. It was more the trauma of it than any rational thinking, she knew that. She didn’t want to be kept captive by her fear, however, and ultimately that was why she faced it. She went to the festival. And once she found herself there she couldn’t have been happier to have done so.

Damien and Nora had gone ice skating together -even though skating was most definitely not a talent of hers-, had participated in some of the games and had eaten sugar cookies. They had found a nice spot to watch the fireworks at midnight and she smiled a little as the people around started to chant the countdown to 12 o’clock. “Five... four... three... two...”. Nora tugged gently at the collar of Damien’s jacket and leaned into him, standing on her toes to give him a midnight kiss.

Quinn still felt a little bad he had sounded so dismissive before. He would have at least worked on his tone if her knew it was Nora. “ Is that right? Sounds like a hard guy to track down” He replied glancing back giving her a small smirk. He was well aware he wasn’t social by any means and avoided town events like the plague. He didn’t mind the teasing cause he couldn’t say it was inaccurate. He did behave like a hermit. “It’s good to start small and work your way up to regular folks”  Quinn added. It was sort of  a joke but in all honesty it also felt like the truth. He was safe to talk to when it came to people dealing with trauma. He knew it was gonna be a process to deal with everything. 

It was weird to be missed in town. To have connections and friends since he had spent so long avoiding people. It was weirdly nice now, when before he would have seen friendship as a reason to leave. “ Good to know. I know none of that is easy. It’s okay to not be okay though. This stuff takes time” He offered, wanting her to know he’d be there for her if she wasn’t okay. The werewolf let out a sigh at the mention of his life. Usually it was boring but the fact his ex had been in town and he hadn’t seen her for over a year, proved he really didn’t get out and maybe his life wasn’t exactly boring. “ Finishing building my house mostly. I’ve had a lot of free time. Before everything happened though, my ex….. well I’m not even sure if she is an ex…..It’s complicated, showed up in the shop. Kind of surprised me. I’ve been processing that lately. Not really great at that sort of thing, you know? ‘ Quinn explained. It was rare for him to say so much and yet not really anything at the same time

“No, he’s not as deep into his shell as he thinks he is” she answered with a little smile. That could easily be a false statement but at least in her experience Quinn wasn’t even hard to talk and she liked being around him. But then again, they were already friends, so his more open attitude might not apply to all. “It’s too soon for regular folks” the nymph scrunched her nose and scoffed a little. Regular folks that didn’t really know her would just give their condolences and tell her kind words that would sound empty, and she wasn’t in the mood for that at all. Her brave big step into the world was just to see those few people that knew how to read her, and would know when to talk serious matters, when to distracte her or when to just share silence.

Nora nodded along his words, exhaling softly afterwards. “Yeah... I know I’m never going to not miss him, but-”.she paused a little, trying to find the most elocuent way of saying what she felt “I have to keep going, right? And just embrace both the bad days and the better ones”. She’d had ‘bad days’ before for entirely different reasons in the past, and she’d found her way through that mental health situation, so now she was learning how to find her way through her grief. It was all about finding the tools and methods to cope and keep going, right? A smile crossed her lips when Quinn mentioned he’d finished his house and her eyebrows suddenly went up as he spoke of his ex. “Huh. And you didn’t want to see your ex?” the nymph ventured to ask, not to pry but to get a better understanding of Quinn’s mindset about it and why he seemed conflicted about the situation.

Peter looked over at Nora with a small smile. He wasn’t sure what exactly was happening between her and his brother, but whatever it was, he was glad for it. It was nice having her around. She had one of those presences that was comforting just by being there. 

Besides, he was happy to be able to be there for her with everything she was going through. “Wanna go out? You know, uh… I’m trying this new thing of… Well… Trying. So wanna go to TriBeCa? you and I haven’t been there in a while and we can get some hot chocolate and… I dunno, I don’t wanna go alone and you’re one of the only people I can picture going with and not feeling like shit.”

Going out sounded quite daunting for some reason. Nora had been nothing short of a recluse for the better part of two weeks and as Peter suggested going out a little voice in her head told her to say no, which was enough of a sign that she should probably say yes. “Okay” she said with a nod, rolling her lips for a moment. Fuck, the idea of running into familiar faces that might come close to tell her how sorry they were for her loss made her feel anxious, but know she wouldn’t be on her own somewhat tamed that rising feeling. “Yeah, TriBeCa sounds great and their hot chocolate is delicious, so I’m sold” the nymph replied as she went over to get her backpack, mentally preparing herself for leaving the house. “I also don’t really feel like being out there alone” she admitted as she reached for Peter’s arm briefly, offering a little smile. This was what friends were for, right? Keeping each other company so they wouldn’t feel like shit. And the two of them were going through stuff at present so maybe that made them the perfect pair for this little excursion.

Quinn had to have been in his own head when he realized who had shown up, cause he knew if he had realized he was talking to Nora he would have never talked to her like that. She was his coworker, one of his only friends and someone who was going through a lot. The werewolf made a face realizing how rude he sounded and noted that this was probably why he stayed away from people. “ Nora, shit. Sorry. It’s been a little crazy. I wouldn’t have talked to you like that if I had realized it was you” He really was better at this. 

The werewolf put his things down as he walked over to her and gave her a ha;f smirk at his comment. “I might not be the person to talk to when it comes to socializes in society?” Quinn replied as he reached over to her. He avoided people in general. It was even worse lately now that the shop had burnt down. “Missed you around. You holding up okay?” He asked, understanding though if she had been going through hell still 

“It’s okay” the nymph said with a little wave of her hand, letting him know she didn’t take it personally and therefore there was no need for him to apologize. “Yeah, but you know- little steps. First I’m visiting the hermit” she mentioned with a little smirk, though one that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Then I’ll take bigger steps, actually rejoining society”.

Nora smiled briefly at his words and then gave him a little nudge. “Missed you too”. She’d missed several people but somehow, in the depths of her grief, not even that had been enough to drag her out of bed or outside the house. “I’m uh- better, I guess” she mentioned, not sure how to put into words how she was feeling. She was still sad, of course, but at least it wasn’t a constant crippling feeling. It came in waves now, and it made it easier to cope. “How’ve you been, though? What did I miss about the thrilling life of Quinn Cameron” the nymph said in a mildly teasing way. Even if Quinn wasn’t one to extensively talk about himself, Nora would be happy with anything he’d give her. It was better than talking about the doom and gloom that had been her life lately.

Date: November 24 Location: Outside of Quinn’s cabin in the woods

Quinn had a lot of free time lately. The auto shop was still not back in order, so the werewolf who had a penchant for avoiding people was spending most of his days working on finishing his cabin. He hadn’t moved out of his apartment entirely, but he was spending some nights in the unfinished structure out of reluctance to leave He had spent nearly ten years of night out under the stars, sleeping in the back of his truck was not a big deal. The sun was about to set and he knew it was time to start packing up, but the werewolf head footsteps that sounded relatively close. He leaned up and raised a brow at seeing someone walk near the area. “ Did you get lost or are on a hike or something?” Quinn replied glancing over. “Surely this isn’t a personal visit?”

His words sounded curt, as if any presence around was unwelcomed, but Nora knew him well enough not to take it personally. “It kind of is a personal visit” the nymph said as Quinn finally turned to face her. She pursed her lips for a moment before a little smile crossed her lips, raising a hand in silent ‘hello’. “I’m uh- trying to go back to world and all that” she admitted with a self-aware scoff. It had been just a month since her father’s death, and while she was nowhere near being able to move past it, she was trying to make the conscious choice not to stay cooped up all day. Going out, doing things she enjoyed and spending time with friends was supposed to make the grief process a little less brutal to deal with. So yes, this was a social visit, an attempt to keep nurturing her friendships after going radio silent on almost everybody.

@peterscadoc​

The nymph had been practically living at the Cadoc’s place for almost two weeks now. Sure, she’d gone a couple of days to be with Avery too, but she’d come back recently. She had just gone to pick some stuff at her dad’s house a couple of days ago, she had even met Mira there... but Nora couldn’t bring herself to go back for good just yet. It still hurt too much to be home and know her dad wasn’t ever going walk through the door. She was fortunate to have the friends she had, who understood what she was going through and who opened the doors of their home for her.

Nora had showered and gotten dressed and as she walked out of Damien’s room, she spotted her friend. “Hey you” she said as she tentatively made her way towards him. She could tell that Peter had been going through some stuff and now she felt like a horrible friend for being so wrapped up in her own grief process to notice he might need someone in his corner now. “So, I was thinking of making some hot chocolate. Or maybe going out to get something sweet. I’m kind of having a sugar craving”. A little smile crossed her lips “And I was also thinking you absolutely have to join me. You can’t say no”.