#ch:nora

At first Nora thought she’d found a like minded friend online. Someone who openly admitted to breaking the law online. Someone else who was aware that White Crest’s police force was a joke. Nora was against the police for multiple reasons; White Crest just happened to have the dumbest police force she’d ever met. She was probably being biased on that. It had taken a bit to track down the online stranger’s home address. Unfortunately for the woman against crime, there was nothing that money couldn’t be. Private investigators were good at their jobs and she was good at handing over boatloads of money to absolutely pointless endeavors. That was how Nora Pine, artist & fear incarnate, ended up outside Willow’s apartment window. The fire escape rattled under Nora’s boots as she climbed up and up. The window slid open easily. Not locked. Sliding in the window, Nora took her first look around and was surprised to find that it looked a lot like her own home. Art and art supplies everywhere. “Cool.”

Willow was sound asleep, blissfully unaware of the state of her apartment and the fact that it was being broken into while Nora began her study of the area. She might have even stayed that way had her local and friendly ghost friend in the form of Kal hadn’t taken it upon himself to try and wake her despite knowing how unreliable her ability to hear him was. “Willow! Willow!” he yelled as loudly as he could, frustrated beyond belief that the medium had chosen this time of all of them to be unable to hear him. “Willow, wake up! Someone’s here! Someone’s coming in!” But it was useless, and the blonde simply rolled restlessly in her sleep as Kal’s efforts persisted. However there was another ghost perched nearby, feet propped up on one of the canvasses he didn’t like nearly so much as the bear one the little artist had painted for him. “I don’t know why you even try!” Tommy chuckled as he watched Kal’s desperate attempts to wake the slumbering woman. “We both know she might as well be dead like us with the way she ignores us. Here- watch!” With that he banged a hand against the nearby dresser, only to be surprised when it actually made a loud and hearable noise. Willow jerked awake, looking around with groggy eyes in an attempt to find the source of the noise.

 “What? ….who?” Her voice was sleepy as she rubbed at her eyes, and though it hadn’t been Tommy’s true intention to wake her, he was more than pleased with the results as he barked out a laugh. “Ha! Did you see that shit? It fuckin’ worked! This is gonna be even better if she’s awake for a break in!” Now all there was to do was sit back, relax, and watch the beautiful series of events and terror unfold.

Nora was not deaf to the cries of the ghosts. With each cry for Willow to wake up Nora moved closer to where the sound was. “Is everything okay in here?” Nora asked upon reaching the threshold of the bedroom. Nora saw two ghosts sitting around a sleeping blonde. She seemed to be moving. “Why do you want her awake?” Nora asked them. She walked closer to the bed, rudely passing right through the legs of the ghost who was disrespecting some art. “Hey your friends think you should wake up now.” Nora said, looking down. “Ghosts are real. If you didn’t know. The library has been lying to everyone about them not being real.” Nora stopped. Now really wasn’t the time to get in her spiel about how ghosts were real. “Nice art by the way. Can I have the studio tour?” Nora was aware that she was speaking more than she normally did. It surprised her to look in on her own emotions and find that she was excited to meet another artist. One who had almost as much canvas, brushes and ghosts as her. 

“Get out!” Kal yelled as Nora made her entrance, hands in front of him as if he could push her away. “Get out!” Unfortunately it seemed the moment of the ghosts’ tangibility had been as brief as the loud thump Tommy had made, and he passed uselessly through the woman. Meanwhile, Tommy’s grin was nearly infectious on his lips as he realized this chick could see him and the other spirit. “Come in! Come in!” he goaded, his own arms making a welcoming motion in towards the center of the room. It was fine if she walked through his legs so long as she was gonna give him a good show. 

Willow’s eyes finally cleared as she heard a foreign voice enter the mix, one she’d assumed was another ghost until she found she could clearly make out the face of a woman standing over her. Her scream was instant, almost as quick as the pulse of energy that ricocheted out from her as she realized a stranger was standing in the middle of her bedroom. Or had been standing in her bedroom. The energy wave sent the woman flying back through the window from whence she’d come, landing her with a heavy thud on the fire escape outside. “Who are you?!” Willow screeched, hands gripping uselessly at her sheets as she frantically searched for something to defend herself with. “What are you doing in my apartment?!” Meanwhile, Tommy’s guffaws of amusement had already left him short of breath, his feet now solidly planted on the ground as things heated up. “Holy shit! Did you know she could do that?” he asked Kal with a hand point in Willow’s direction. “This is gonna be even better than I thought it would be! Hey, come back!” he yelled towards the woman who’d been thrown out the window. He wanted to see that again.

It was noteworthy that one ghost seemed very protective and the other ghost full of mirth. Nora had been turning to look at the distressed ghost, to tell him that it was okay. She wasn’t there to hurt anyone when the breath was stolen from her lungs. Stolen by the violent force propelling her back out the window. Nora thudded against the fire escape ladder. Her back let out a large cracking noise as the tension she’d been holding released with the crack. “Cool.” Nora mumbled. Sure, she was in a little bit of pain but that was to be expected after she was thrown across an apartment and into a fire escape. But there had been the crick in her back for so long she thought she’d never get rid of it. 

Nora climbed back into the window and right back. “That was cool. Can you do it again?” Nora asked while grabbing a pillow from the blonde’s bed and shoving it down the back of her shirt. It’d hurt less that way.  She looked around at the three in the room while she shimmed the pillow down. By the look on everyone’s face she had absolutely no clue which one had done it. Except one of the ghosts had said ‘did she know she could do that.’ Nora’s eyes moved back to the blonde. “Did you know you could do that?” Nora asked her. “I’m Nora by the way. We talked online. About breaking and entering.” 

“Oh God- oh no, oh no.” Somehow this was a nightmare Willow had never even considered. Someone was breaking into her home and she was throwing people? Very possibly breaking them? “Stop! No, that’s my pillow!” Willow cried as she reached out to try and yank the thing back, but it was too late. “Again? What do you mean again? Who are you?! Get out of my home! I don’t want to throw you again!” Unfortunately it seemed the unbridled anxiety racing through her veins had other plans Nora was once again sent soaring through the air. This time the angle launched Nora flying towards a few of Willow’s recently finished pieces, including the grizzly bear she’d finished earlier that day. “Please- please just leave,” the medium practically begged, breaths coming fast and short. “I don’t want to hurt you! And I don’t want you to hurt me!” 

Tommy was a much different story while he watched in absolute awe as the woman came trudging back, asking to be thrown once more. “Fucking superb, you funky little lady!” He got to see someone get thrown not once, but twice? He could only hope he might get to see it a third time. But concern managed to enter his voice as Nora ended up next to his painting. “Hold on! Be careful! That one’s mine,” he said while moving towards the bear portrait. “You wouldn’t wanna mess up such a handsome lookin’ fella would ya now?”

Willow had only just begun to process what it was that Nora had said as she finished her telekinetic throw, and her panicked tones continued. “You’re the girl from the internet?!” Why? Why, had she decided to break into Willow’s home? “I don’t want you to break into my apartment!”

Fear was abundant here. A veritable feast. A full ass eight course meal coming from probably the most scared person Nora had ever met. And Nora had met a lot of scared people in her life. This one, the blonde, just seemed more scared than most. “I’m not going to hurt yo-.” Nora tried explaining but her wish was coming true. Nora’s pillowed back hit the wall with a nice thud. She slid to the ground in a pile of canvases. A ghost, the one who was laughing and not the one who looked like he was about to meet his second death, said something about it being handsome. Nora looked for a moment, just long enough to recognize it as a bear before the blonde was talking again. This was something she’d have to process later. After she was done being thrown repeatedly. 

Nora picked up the canvas and slunk back into the bedroom. “You can invite me next time.” Nora explained, holding the canvas. “And your window was open. Nothing really broke. Besides, it's fun. So I won’t stop.” Nora came closer again sitting on the edge of the bed. “So how do you do it. Throw people?” She asked, then, pretending it was an afterthought she added. “You could do it again if you want. It’s fun.” Really fun. Nora found herself longing to be capable of flight in that moment. A longing she’d never had before. 

“I’m not gonna invite you!” Willow yelled, folding in on herself where she sat on her bed, her arms latching around her knees as she tried to make herself smaller and get as far away from this insane woman as possible. “Not after you came into my apartment without asking! You can’t just do that!” God damn it, her window. She’d been leaving it cracked more often the closer the warmer weather came, letting the freshness of the outside air trickle in whenever she could. After all, she didn’t get much of it anymore seeing as she minimized her time outdoors. That’s generally where all the people were. People who could be touched and thrown and broken. “But I don’t want you in here,” the blonde nearly cried, her bottom lip trembling as she tried to reconcile the fact that she’d now tossed this woman twice, and that she still wasn’t leaving Willow’s apartment. “And that’s- that’s victim shaming!” she managed to get out. “Just because someone’s window is open, doesn’t mean you can go through it! If you leave- if you go, I’ll tell you how I throw people! Not here, though!” The medium clutched desperately to the only thing she seemed to have over Nora, not bothering to consider that she also didn’t want to talk about her telekinetic abilities any time soon. “I don’t want to throw you! That’s how people get hurt! Please...please just leave,” Willow begged, looking as if she might actually start to cry. 

But Tommy had little interest in seeing Nora go. “Nah! Don’t leave! This is great! And she makes you fly! What’s more fun than flying, right?” He wanted to see it again! Plus this was the most interesting that had happened since he’d started following Willow around, and her face looked kinda hilarious when it was all scrunched up like this. “Listen- what other chance are you gonna get to fly?” Tommy asked Nora, crouching a little beside her to look her in the eye while he sent her a manipulative grin. But Kal was having none of it. “Do what Willow says, and get out! Both of you!” He said while pointing between Tommy and Nora. If this new asshole of a ghost was going to disturb Willow, he wouldn’t stand for it. After all she’d been nothing but sweet to him.

“That’s not nice.” Nora mumbled as Willow told Nora she wasn’t going to invite Nora and that she didn’t even want Nora there. It stung a little. Hurtful to say someone wasn’t welcome. How would Willow feel if Willow found out she wasn’t invited to  hang out in her own apartment. She also said she didn’t want to throw Nora. This was getting confusing. If she didn’t want to throw Nora then why had she thrown Nora twice already? Nora couldn’t keep up. Not when there were a lot of people talking at once. Willow, on the edge of tears. The laughing ghost somehow knew Nora was into flying and then the protective ghost was. Well, he was there telling two of them to go. Nora looked down at the canvas in her hand. “I do like flying.” She admitted absently. Her fingers lightly traced the bear on the canvas. She liked that piece of art a lot. An idea suddenly hit Nora. She could turn into a bear! She could show the other woman that she was different just like her and they could be friends and Nora could get the studio tour! 

“I like your bear.” Nora looked up from the canvas, flipping it around to show Willow what piece of art she was talking about. Getting off the bed Nora took off her jacket and boots. She tossed the borrowed pillow back to Willow. “I’m a bear too. Look.” Nora backed away from the bed, checking to make sure she had enough space for the transformation. It happened in an instant. Then there was Nora. Standing as a bear in front of Willow. She let out a friendly little yodel. As bear friends do. 

“You...you like my bear?” Willow managed to say through her panic, nonplussed and confused by the compliment. But what did Nora mean about the fact that she was a bear, too? Tommy, now absolutely certain that Nora had wonderful taste in artwork after seeing her reaction to his portrait straightened as his curiosity piqued. What did she mean by the fact that she was a bear? Certainly he couldn’t have had the absolute earth-shattering luck to stumble upon-

His hopes were answered as a little bear promptly filled the space where Nora had been, and his hands shot above his head in excitement as pure joy filtered through his laughs. “A bugbear! Holy fucking shit, you’re a bugbear! Look! Look!” He continued his display of exuberance with a boyish charm before he too was shifting, letting fur, claws, and teeth take him over as he turned into a behemoth, ghost, grizzly bear. Almost immediately he backed onto his hind legs in a bear welcome, answering Nora’s little yodel with an elated bear chuff and roar. 

Willow was not nearly so fond of seeing a human turn into a bear as Tommy was, and for the third time that night Nora was sent flying out of Willow’s room via mystical means as the medium screamed. Only this time it was in a mass of black fur and beady eyes. Had she ever thrown someone three times in a row? Had she ever thrown something nearly so large as a bear? She wasn’t sure, but as her arms went weak, and her eyes began to droop she was certain that this was how she was going to die. Eaten by a woman who turned into a bear while she couldn’t keep herself awake after expending so much energy through telekinesis.

Nora had come here for Willow but now Nora’s full attention was on the ghost. A bear. A Bugbear. The ghost shouting bugbear. “You’re a bugbear?” Nora tried to ask. It came out as low bear grumbling. But the ghost shifted. The ghost shifted into a bear. A really big bear. Oh god was her bear smaller than average like her height? Despite having been thrown twice before Nora didn’t see it coming. She was too enamoured by the ghost bear in front of her. Nora went flying, shattering the window that she landed against but didn’t make all the way through. Shards of glass poked her heavy hide. It didn’t matter. Nora shifted back, standing there naked and bleeding in a strangers apartment with open windows. 

This time when she ran back to Willow’s room Nora’s attention wasn’t on Willow. It was on the Bear ghost. “You’re a bugbear?” The words practically tumbled out of Nora’s normally taciturn mouth. Excitement was reaching her normally monotone affect. “You’re a bugbear?” She asked the ghost. She looked back at the really tired blonde. “You’re a friend of bugbears? Did you paint him?” Nora’s attention shifted to the third ghost. She didn’t have anything to say to him. Back to the bugbear. “Do you know other bugbears? Alive bugbears? I- How’d did you die? Why are you here?” Nora turned back to Willow. “So you can see ghosts then? Are you a bugbear too?” 

“Of course I’m a bugbear!” Tommy answered in his returned bear-talk, though it mostly just sounded like a series of grunts and growls to the human ear. The bear shaped ghost lumbered over to Nora, sniffing at her side as if he could tell whether or not the damage done to her was anything to be too concerned about. Thankfully, it mostly just seemed to be a few surface wounds. He let loose another inquisitive bear sound before shifting back into his human self, somehow still clothed. “You know the one good thing about being a ghost is you don’t have to find clothes all the time to change back into. The humans can get so weird about that whole not wearing them thing,” he commented with a roll of his eyes. “But you- I’m sure you understand,” he said brightly, all but forgetting that Kal and Willow even existed. “Of course I know other bugbears! We’re the best sort to know. As for how I died, that’s a bit of a longer story but I could tell it to ya if you wanna blow this popsicle stand. I think the blonde one needs a nap anyway- so she’s not gonna be much fun anymore.” 

Tommy was right. Willow was fading quickly now that the toll of what she’d done was beginning to manifest on her energy levels. Her eyes blinked closed a few times as she looked towards Nora and whatever mystery ghost she was talking to. Was it Kal? Was he here? Maybe he could help. But she was so tired. Very much against her will her body collapsed back onto the bed, but not before she saw the little pokes of blood marring Nora’s side. “I’m sorry,” she choked out, insufferable guilt already pooling in her stomach. “I’m so sorry- I didn’t want to- you’re hurt, and I didn’t want to-” A few tears finally slipped down her cheek, unable to keep the emotion at bay now that she’d injured another living being. But sleep made quick work of that despair, forcefully gripping the medium in its clutches as her body relinquished itself to exhaustion and she passed out in her bed. 

The strangest thing was Nora understood those bear grunts. Not like she understood language where the words formed letters and sounds but in an instinctual way. In the most primal of ways. Like that same grunt could be used to say so much but because it was another bear in that moment she understood what it was supposed to be. She blinked slowly revivling in this new discovery. Another bugbear. A ghost bugbear. “Yeah. Nudity is natural.” She blinked down at her own nude body really unsure of what to say. She had so many questions but all of them eluded her now. Now that she was face to face with a bugbear. Wow. Nora reached out to the ghost, her hand sliding through. Oh right. She thought, noting how stupid it was to try and touch a ghost to check if it was real. Real idiot moments. 

“Yeah. We can leave.” Nora looked over to Willow, about to explain that she had to go. Willow didn’t look great. She looked tired. Was she apologizing for the back thing? Nora was about to tell her it was absolutely no problem but the blonde collapsed into unconsciousness. “Do you think she’s okay?” Nora asked walking back over to Willow. “She’s probably just tired right?” Nora tucked in her new friend. There was a broken window, she didn’t want her to get cold. “Let me just… hmmm.” Nora left the bedroom and started snooping around the kitchen. A glass of water for her bedside. An advil cause she’d screamed so much. A ham sandwich to wake up to. Nora plopped the items on the bed side table before scribbling a note. ‘Sorry about your window. I’ll send someone to repair it tomorrow. You’ll have to invite them inside. - np.’  Nora borrowed a shirt and pants before she climbed back out the window. Beckoning to her new bugbear friend she said. “We can go to my place. I’m Nora by the way. It’s so great to meet you.” 

It was a very beautiful day to go on a nice long walk in the woods. The birds were chirping, the wolves were howling and in the distance she could just smell a monster of unknown name prancing around. For a few miles Nora followed the unknown monster deep and deeper, never catching up to it but definitely feeling like she was getting closer. She would have kept following the unknown beast farther and farther, but a new scent caught her attention. A human. Nora followed her nose until she walked into a clearing and right onto a circle drawn on the ground. “Oh, sorry I stepped on your circle.” Nora announced in her boring old monotone voice, before considering if she should speak or not. 

It was a very beautiful day to summon a demon in the woods. The birds were chirping, the wolves were howling, and the way the morning fog had left a nice dew over all the plants made an excellent conduit for all the magic she was about to perform. Nell’s splendid stag that she’d lured and killed lay just inside the circle’s boundary where she’d placed it, an offering for whatever demon was willing to form for her today. Her eyes were closed when the magical perimeter she’d set up to tell her of anyone getting near went off in her mind, but she was already too deep in her summoning to stop now. She’d just wipe the memory of whoever it was once she was done, unable to tend to it now. She still hadn’t lifted her gaze when she heard a voice, the words it said making her eyes snapped wide open. “You what?!” Her outrage most likely seemed sudden and out of place, but with the circle demolished, there would be nothing to keep a demon in place, leaving it free to run amok.

Oh. She sounded angry. Nora quickly started using her foot to push dirt into place to fix the circle. “It’s fine. I fixed it.” She pointed down at her patched part of the circle. Now that she wasn’t looking at the ground Nora had a chance to look around. A stag was dead in the circle, the woman who’d yelled at her seemed to be knee deep in something interesting. “Is this a summoning circle?” Nora asked, pulling out a chunk of ham from one of her pockets and taking a bite. Seeing the killed stag had made her hungry. “What are we summoning?”

“No, no, it’s definitely not fine,” Nell said as she crouched by the part of the circle that had been distrubed, trying to patch it as best and as quickly as she could with an influx of magic. But whatever had been planning to come through seemed to be forming, a dark mist pooling in midair in the center of the circle. But the recognition of her summoning circle caught Penelope’s attention. “You know summoning circles? Are you a witch?” Spellcaster, sorcerer, whatever. She was too focused on fixing what had been ruined to find whichever name it was that the other person might prefer. Out of the corner of her eye she caught the ham. Damn it, now she was hungry.

Mouth full of ham Nora stared at the dark mist solidifying in the center of the circle. “Hello. I’m Nora. I’m here to be your friend demon.” Nora has conveniently not answered if she was a witch or not. Blanche seemed to think Nora was, but Nora was on the fence, because she still thought she was fear itself. Because she figured she was fear itself, she also figured that whatever was coming through, a demon she presumed, was going to be her friend. Demons and fear got along hand and hand right? “That is a demon right?” Nora asked in her dull monotone before taking another bite. 

For a moment, Nell thought the woman was trying to tell Penelope her name at a time like this, while a demon was on the verge of escaping. But no....she was trying to say hello to the demon. Though...come to think of it— Penelope couldn’t deny that she wouldn’t also probably make introductions with a demon rather readily, she’d done such a thing on numerous occasions in the past. “Can’t guarantee the demon wants to be your friend back, unfortunately.” Nell was deciding that maybe this whole summoning should go into the books as botched, and renewed her chanting to try and send the demon back into the hole she’d pulled it through. Slowly, the mist began to reverse on itself. “Are you just going to stand there? Actually- that’s probably better- yeah- just stand there.”

The other woman told Nora the demon didn’t want to be her friend then started chanting. Nora’s gaze steadily drifted from disappearing mist to chanting woman while eating ham from her pocket like a person eating popcorn in the theater. Now that she was being directly told to just stand there, Nora didn’t feel like standing there. “I’ll help summon more demons.” Nora said, starting to mumble some complete mumbo jumbo under her breath. Deep within her, she tapped into the magical powers granted to her upon birth and started crafting perfect illusion replicas of the mist, slowly materializing around the circle, but out of its bounds. 

“What?” was Nell’s high-pitched and strained reply. “No, we don’t need more!” Not right now at least. Maybe they could compare demon summoning notes and thoughts later, though. But her shoulders relaxed as the supposed witch began to chant something that didn’t make a single lick of sense, and Nell began to wonder if this other woman was...well...entirely sane. So focused on diminishing the demon in the circle, she didn’t realize until a few moments later that there seemed to be more mist balls forming around the circle. What the fuck? That wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be possible. “What are you doing?”

“Summoning more demons.” Nora said in her calm monotone, staring blankly at the illusioned beings. They were looking good, it was about time to solidify them and have them start waddling around. Making direct eye contact with the woman in the circle, Nora casually slipped her foot forward and broke the circle again. “Oops.” Her voice, tone and face didn’t match what it said. Everything was blank, bored and bland despite the excitement she knew she was about to cause. Each illusioned demon stopped being see-through and started looking solid. Then they started waddling towards the original demon summoner. 

Nell sent out a wayward blast of magic towards one of the ‘demons’, and was mystified momentarily as the magic passed right through. It was as if...nothing was there. But she didn’t have all that much time to think on it as she let out a frustrated near screech when the stranger messed up her circle once again. Without warning, she sent out another pulse of magic, but this one was meant to stick the other woman up against one of the nearby trees. “Stay,” she commanded simply as she tried to fix the newest hole in her circle. 

The other woman was not pleased with Nora’s antics. Nora could tell as she found herself flung to and stuck against a tree. This, Nora decided, was not something she would call ‘an ideal situation.’ It was in times like this she had to ask, what would Jesus do? Nora wasn’t close to being a religious person, but everyone was always asking what he would do and since he was capable of walking on water and coming back from the dead she figured he’d also be capable of freeing her from a tree. She also concluded that he would probably do some religious magic thing that Nora wasn’t capable of doing. Casually Nora peeled off her jacket, letting it drop to the ground before turning into a bear that was attached to a tree. She did all of this while the other woman was hopefully not looking at her. It was more fun that way. Now, safely in bearformation, Nora let out her loudest yodel as if to say “What did you do! I’m a bear! How could you do this to me! Change me back!” 

Nell shot a few more blasts of magic towards the apparitions, and after a few continued to pass through them- it’s wasn’t the hardest thing to guess what was going on. Fucking illusions. Of course. Growling a bit in frustration, she stopped paying the faux demons any mind, focusing only on mending her circle as the demon trying to form in the middle stayed stagnant, neither growing nor shrinking back into whatever world it had come from. But then...what the fuck was that sound? She looked back over her shoulder to be greeted by a fucking bear, and another sound of annoyance was wrenched from her lips. Of course a bugbear had decided to come in and fuck her shit up and try to make a meal of her fear. “Joke’s on you! I’m not scared! I’m just annoyed!” 

“Joke’s on you! I’m not scared! I’m just annoyed!” That declaration of bravery really put a bee in Nora’s perverberal bonnet. Well, maybe she should have been prepared for a witch currently in the middle of summoning something wouldn’t be easily provoked into fear by a few simple tricks. Maybe she was one of those people who needed an actual near death experience to make a difference. So Nora shifted back, in her full nude glory, and hung there attached to the tree without saying anything. Occasionally she would kick her feet, but it wasn’t a ‘I’m trying to escape’ motion. It was a ‘I’m bored and just hanging here so…. Eh.’ motion. “Can I come down yet?” Nora asked after a few minutes of waiting for the witch to salvage her summoning.