Kit Greene (cheekly) wrote in fableless, @ 2016-08-20 21:48:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | ! log/thread, kit greene, nora carson |
WHO: Nora Carson and Kit Greene
WHEN: 2am, 13 August
WHERE: Nora’s Cottage
SUMMARY: Nora can't sleep because of the storm the power-swap brought on, and around two am the lights go out.
WARNINGS: None!
STATUS: Complete
While Kit wasn’t a fan of the power swap that had occurred in Woodsbridge, he couldn’t help but feel a slight bit of relief that Nora was the one who ended up with them. Barring any major catastrophe, she’d be safe from harm for however long this went on. He’d always looked out for her – grabbing the keys when they went out so she could enjoy herself, polishing off the burnt bits when they forgot something in the oven, keeping her company at the beach when everyone else had fallen asleep – that it was fitting that his power was doing that while he could do nothing more helpful with his new power than use his hand to shine a light into a box so she could better read which wines were included. He had ushered Nora out of Pippa’s apartment when Leda appeared. It was clear that cracks were starting to show in Pippa’s tolerance of the Noracopter that was hovering over her, and while he had known the younger girl long enough to see that she was grateful for her sister’s concern and rescue the night before, Kit decided they had pushed their luck enough as is and bundled Nora up into his car. The winds had accosted his SUV on the drive to Nora’s home, making the drive back tenser than usual, but he had cranked the music up in an effort to drown out the howling gales that swirled around them. Jasper was waiting at the cottage when they got there, and between the three of them they had managed to get everything inside and sorted. His fellow Lost Boy had only been gone for an hour or so before Kit passed out at the foot of Nora’s bed, uncharacteristically wiped from an afternoon of heavy lifting. While he was in peak condition from training, he hadn’t anticipated running out of energy so soon without the aid of his power. He woke up a few hours later to a crack that echoed throughout the house, bouncing off the walls and quickly pulling him to consciousness. The first thing he noticed was the sound of the pelting rain outside, amplified by the silence of the house. He couldn’t hear the usual hum of the electronics, and a quick glance towards the normally brightly lit clock on Nora’s bedside table confirmed that they had lost power. After that, his attention quickly zeroed in on the homeowner herself. The light from a nearby flash of lightning illuminated the woman, outlining her profile and dancing across her bare legs as she kept her face towards the window. It took a herculean effort to keep his breathing steady as he studied her, Bone’s earlier comments to him suddenly popping into his head. Deep thoughts about Nora. So you like her. If he wasn’t aware of those thoughts then, he certainly was now. It was with great reluctance that she'd left her sister hours before in order to start prepping for her birthday party. She knew that Pippa was in secure hands with Leda present and Calder had promised her to send an update of her sibling's status when he dropped off soup, so it would be fine. Nora could concentrate on her work alongside Jasper and Kit, sorting bottles of wine and beginning to decorate barrels, happily munching her way through the contents of her refrigerator as they did. Having Kit's power wasn't so bad, so long as she kept her caloric intake up. She felt energized nearly all the time, could almost feel the potential illnesses from such abrupt weather changes halt in their tracks, but she couldn't deny that she missed her own power. She'd honed it so carefully over the past thirteen years and now her sister was lying in bed, recovering from her simple use of it. But she couldn't focus on that. Not right now. What she could focus on was the laughter that echoed through her living room with two of her Lost Boys and draping a blanket over Kit when he fell asleep soon after Jasper's departure. She followed suit not long afterwards, collapsing into bed as she gripped one of the pillows she'd had made from her father's t-shirts. But she was conscious before the first clap of thunder even shook her cottage. Nora hated thunderstorms. She hated any extreme weather, but rain and lightning was the worst for her. It always had been since she was a small child, and had only gotten worse since 2012. She was awake now, though and she pulled her knees to her chest as she watched the lightning hit down and listened to the resounding claps throughout the house. It didn't take long for the power to go out, but still she sat; the thought of sleep a very distant memory. A glance at Kit told her that he was still asleep, the lines of his face glowing from the storm raging outside. Her heart warmed at the sight, her own conversation of misunderstandings with Bone rising to the forefront of her mind. I'm just saying, I would definitely support [...] anything that may have happened. Nothing had happened, but Nora couldn't help but wonder what Bone had seen or felt that would've led to him thinking that something did. It could've have been five minutes or five hours, (Nora wouldn't have known the difference) when she realized Kit’s even breathing had halted. She tore her eyes from the window back to his face, her voice catching in her throat as she looked at him. “We lost power.” Kit sat up when Nora turned to him, abandoning all pretenses of sleep when she spoke. He had been selfish for those few minutes he had stolen to watch her. Bone's words didn't fade as fast as the thunder did, but they had left just as much of an impact with him as a bolt of lightning. They had hit in the blink of an eye, striking fast and true, changing the shape of what had previously been there, but he pushed them aside as best he could when he noticed the tension in Nora's normally peaceful frame. "How long has it been out?" he asked, voice hoarse from sleep as he raked a hand through his hair. He peered around the room, hoping for some sort of indication of how much time had passed, and hauled himself up to the head of the bed to settle next to Nora. It was impossible to tell by just looking, but he knew Nora would know. He wasn't a fool; he had been Nora's friend long enough to know how deeply thunderstorms unsettled her, and he would be lying to say that her parents' deaths didn't briefly flashed through his mind when a thunderstorm descended on Woodsbridge. It didn't happen much with Samantha Cross in charge of the weather, but there were times when she got mad and let the rest of the town suffer as a result. “About an hour and a half,” she replied, scooting closer to him, needing the reassurance that only someone, well, no, not someone, but Kit could provide. There was no way of knowing, of course, that a storm would have hit a week before. Samantha Cross was usually pretty level in her weather manipulations, so Nora was beginning to pity whatever poor soul had ended up with her power. Whoever it was? They were probably going to be mobbed by the masses in their displeasure of it ever got out. It was a big responsibility, after all, and something that powerful took a long time to get a handle on. “It's just after two.” Her head came to rest on his shoulder as the storm continued to rage on outside, a shiver passing through her as another bolt of lightning hit right outside her window. “Sorry,” she apologized instantly, her knees making their way to her chest again. She seemed determined to make herself as small and compact as humanly possible, as though she believed if she wasn't taking up as much space, the storm would pass over her entirely. “I tried falling back asleep, but…” She trailed off, her focus back on the window. "Eh, not too bad," he said, keeping his fingers crossed that the temperatures would at least stay down so they didn't roast while the power was out. Kit automatically raised his arm as Nora shuffled closer, hugging her against him and allowing her to slot against his body to draw any comfort from his presence that she need. As Wendy Darling, it was easy for Nora to look out for others. She was always the first shoulder available for people to lean on, quick with soothing words and food to smooth things over, that people often overlooked that fact that some days she needed taking care of as well. He felt a surge of affection pulse through him as she leaned against him, trusting him to be there as she placed her head on his shoulder, and rubbed her arm when he felt the shiver pass through her. "But it's storming, I get it," he told her, knowing that she'd understand that he knew it was more than the flashing lights and pelting rain that she was thinking about. They had been friends for years, and that was a big part of her life. "Don't worry about it. I have nothing on my agenda for two in the morning other than being here and apparently," he paused, looking down at the way his hand seemed to throw off light each time lightning struck outside their window, "be your own personal strobe light." “But it's storming,” the smaller of the two repeated in agreement, watching as his hand glowed in the darkness. Though Nora didn't think anyone necessarily had a good switch of powers, she couldn't deny that Kit’s new ability was fitting. There has always been a sort of brightness that radiated from the man beside her. It was that warmth that made her feel comfortable enough to sag against him as the weight from the storm outside raged on, relentless in its power. She pinched his side just slightly in thanks as his hand lit and then faded, the action a welcome distraction. “Everyone said that disco was dead, but here you are; bringing it back. At two am, no less!” Nora joked, eyes bright. The amusement faded as another clap of thunder rang out, and her voice softened as she leaned into him further, “I'm glad you're here.” Kit laughed, the sudden burst of mirth a stark comparison to the storm that raged on outside the window, and jokingly pulled Nora to the side as she pinched him. "Easy, woman," he joked, fingers tightening around her shoulder briefly as she regained her balance, "I don't heal as quickly as I used to." They both knew he barely felt the gesture, but he hated to see the atmosphere turn so glum. He hated to see his friends down; in a way, being a 'motherfucking flashlight' was the best way to bring some lightness to the situation at hand. (Pun intended.) His grin faded when she shrank against him at the sound of thunder, the downturn of his mouth highlighted by the way the lightning danced across his skin. He absently pressed his lips against the crown of her head in a gesture he had done out a thousand times, trying to reassure her that she was safe where she was. It wasn't until the scent of her shampoo flooded his senses that he realized what he had done, causing the habitual gesture to suddenly feel intimate in the darkness. He cleared his throat and straightened back up, putting a little bit of distance back between the spot he had just kissed, and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm glad I am too," he said, his voice warm as he tried to figure out what to do with the spark that he had felt jump between them that had nothing to do with the storm. And it was true. She needed someone to help her through this, and while family was good, her siblings had other things on their plate that kept them from making their way over to watch over their older sister. A part of him knew Jasper and Bone would have dropped everything to help Nora if the situation arose, but it wasn't the same. He wouldn't have trusted that everything was okay until he saw her with his own eyes. “Don't worry. I've got you.” "You're so delicate now," she teased, determined not to let the fear simmering below the surface take the place of the peace she felt, safe in her home with her best friend. For a moment, Nora debated sending Pippa and Nate texts, but it was two o'clock in the morning. Even if they were awake, what could be done? She was fine where she was. The loss of contact threw her off slightly as the man next to her readjusted, her lips forming into a confused frown. There had been a shift; she knew, one that kept growing more dramatic over time, but she wasn't entirely sure what to do about it. The change had been so gradual, a series of passing moments that lent themselves to daydreams over time; a moment of what if here and a was that just for me? there, and now...Now they were sitting on her bed in the middle of the night. While it wasn't the first time he'd been in such close proximity, it was one of the few times where chills had erupted on her skin, leaving her exposed in ways she wasn't accustomed to. She was so used to Kit knowing what she was thinking without having to say anything, but a lack of communication here could lead to potential disaster. She slid off the bed without warning, but faced him, a hand reaching out so her thumb could brush his cheek. "I'm not worried," she told him truthfully. Mine, a voice in the back of her mind insisted. "I'm with you." Kit straightened up as Nora slid off the bed. Cool air rushed in to fill the void she had left, leaving him feel oddly exposed as the warmth seeped away, and while their contact had only been broken for a few seconds, it was still enough time for him to feel a tangible loss. He kept his mouth shut as she turned back around and arched an eyebrow as her hand reached out to touch his face. A shock ran from her thumb made contact with his skin, causing gooseflesh to ripple down his arms as the heat radiated through him from the simple gesture. He’d be lying if he had said he hadn’t felt things shift between them lately. There were moments where he had caught his mind wandering down a path it hadn’t entertained before, entering a world of what if. Sometimes it was harmless - what if he reached for her hand as they walked through the grocery store in search for some obscure ingredient for a dish for Pippa’s party - but then there were moments like this where he looked at her and wondered what if he leaned forward and closed the gap between them. “Good,” he simply said, mind made up and not bothering to waste words as he stood up, reaching up to capture the hand that was resting against his cheek. He tugged slightly, pulling her closer, and mirrored her own gesture by lightly brushing the lines of her face with his hand. They were cocooned in their own world, safe from peering eyes with good intentions and from the storm that howled outside, and suddenly the world of what if didn’t seem so implausible as he studied her face, a half smile on his face, as if he was looking at her for the first time. He started to lean closer to her as a crack shook the walls of her house, brilliant light flooding the room and temporarily blinding him in its intensity. His grip tightened around Nora’s hand as the spots faded, letting him know he was still there, as he worked on slowing his racing heartbeat that only had a small part to do with the proximity of the storm. “We’re okay,” he assured them both, glancing back down at her as the spots started fading from his vision, but he wasn’t sure he could honestly say that any more. |