Jester and Nora (Backdated to July 17)
Jul. 17th, 2019 09:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ax_mainJester and Nora start off their friendship Bob Ross style: There are no mistakes, only happy accidents.
Nora perched on the edge of the roof of Xavier's and scanned the horizon, her hammer resting comfortably against her shoulder the way one might hold an umbrella. She'd climbed to the highest point on the school. Time to see just how far she could go out here.
She backed up to the other end of the roof, took a racer's stance, and bolted forward. Right before she ran out of roof she leapt into the air and swung the hammer down and set her feet on the head as if it were some sort of airborne wind sail. Her fingers squeezed down hard on a button located on the end of the long handle, sending an explosive stream of pink flame out of one end.
"Yeeeeeeeeeee-hah!"
Nora leaned back, happy smile on her face as she rocketed across the sky. Lifting one hand to shade her eyes while she scouted her course, she shifted to adjust the angle and direction of the hammer into an exhilerating flight...
...that lasted all of ten seconds before she crashed into the trees below.
"Oh my god oh my god oh my god!" Jester cried out as she ran in the direction of the crash. She hoped it would be someone sturdy and resistant; she hadn't really had the time to see who it was. Could she use her power to help somehow? She didn't think she could Draw fixed bones if they were broken, and what would she Draw on or with anyway, the pencils in her bright pink backpack would not do the trick for something like this. "Are you okay?" she cried out as she neared the site of the crash, her accent perhaps even stronger in her panic.
Next thing she knew, she tripped on something and fell flat on her face, hands barely coming out in time to stop from breaking her nose on the forest ground. "Ow," she muttered, and looked over at her feet to see what she had tripped on. A shaft of some kind?
"Oof." Nora shook her head to clear it and get her bearings, but there was nothing but leaves and branches in every direction. Well, that could have gone better. Still fun, though.
The leaves of the tree rusted as Nora struggled to move. A moment later she squirmed free and swung out, emerging from the bottom row of branches, her legs hooked securely around one steady limb. She dangled upside-down and looked to the ground, gasping loudly when she saw the girl laying there next to her hammer. It was her! Just the way she'd described herself. Blue, with horns and a tail and so pretty! Who else could it be?
A massive, toothy grin spread over her face as she met the other girl's eyes. She threw her hands out in welcome. "Nora!" she said by way of introduction, overwhelmed with excitement.
Jester had just picked up what turned out to be a massive... metal... mallet? A massive metal mallet! She was still on the ground, staring at it in puzzlement, when the rustle of foliage had her look up in time to see a girl dangling out of the tree. A girl who seemed unharmed (phew!) and who happened to be Nora!
Jester grinned in return, grip firming on the mallet. "Jester!" she introduced herself in return, then hurried up to her feet, forgetting all about the scrapes on her hands and knees in her excitement. She held the mallet out in front of her. "Is this yours?"
Nora nodded fiercely enough to rattle the branch she was hanging from. "That's Magnhild," she said. "Thanks for finding it for me!"
Unhooking her legs, Nora dropped gracelessly to the ground, landing on her rear with a grunt and a giggle. Vanishing for a fraction of a second, she reappeared in front of Jester, standing properly, and accepted the offered hammer. With the click of a button the oversized weapon collapsed and folded down to a hand-held grenade launcher (minus the real grenades, because rules), which she strapped onto a holster on her back.
"I'm so happy to finally meet you!" she said, diving in for a quick hug.
Jester's eyebrows raised halfway up her forehead. "Holy sh-" Her words were interrupted by the hug, which she returned eagerly, after just a second's surprise. "It's really good to meet you, Nora?" And if she sounded a touch hesitant, it was that she wasn't all that used to people being so enthusiastic about meeting her. But back to the matter at hand, as she pulled back from the hug, "Is that some kind of gun? Is it yours? Can you show me?"
"Do you like it?" Nora asked, reaching back to grab the handle and pull it out again. "It's a grenade launcher," she said, beaming with pride. "I'm not allowed to have regular grenades in it, though." She pouted for a second before brightening up. "But I am allowed to have these!" the front of the launcher unhinged, revealing a chamber holding six canisters with pink hearts painted on the front. She offered it out to Jester to hold and inspect as she pleased. "They just make smoke and noise."
"What kind of noise? What kind of smoke?" Jester asked in rapid succession, as she peered at the canisters. "Did you paint the hearts yourself?"
"It's a 'K'PWAGH!' kind of noise," Nora said, speaking just as rapidly as Jester, fingers of one hand flaring out to emphasize her impression of the sound. "The smoke's pink! Pink's my favorite color. Piotr painted the hearts! He even paints them on the real grenades for me! Aren't they great?"
"Pink is my favourite colour too!" Jester blurted out, and slid a strap off her shoulder to swing her pink backpack around to her front. Here, proof! "I love it so much. And purple, purple is very nice too. I mean, it's pink and blue!" And obviously, blue was awesome. Besides, purple was Gilmore's signature colour and the colour of eggplant (and its emoji). Obviously it was awesome. "The hearts are really cool," Jester went on with a nod, and looked around curiously (and kind of hopefully). "Is Piotr around?"
"Your backpack's so pretty!" Nora said. She completely agreed with Jester about blue and purple, but Piotr! Her head snapped up to look around as well. "He went out to do some sketching. Like to the lake or the gardens or someplace." She grinned at Jester (maybe a bit knowingly, because she'd caught that hopeful expression). "Do you wanna see if we can find him?"
"Well, I mean..." Jester looked unsure, uncharacteristically unwilling to bother someone. "If he's drawing, maybe we shouldn't interrupt him?" It was a good thing Nott wasn't here; Jester would never have heard the end of it.
"I dunno." Nora shrugged, genuinely unsure. It never stopped her, but then again, it wasn't like they were ever given time to themselves to begin with before they got here, and all they'd had was each other, so the idea of giving each other space never really occurred to them. Maybe now that Piotr could sketch whenever he wanted he'd rather be left alone. She'd have to ask him. "But that's okay!" she said, perking up again. "We can do other fun stuff! Unless you're working a case. Are you working a case? I mean, I guess not, since you're not wearing the hat." She was really looking forward to seeing the hats. "Is Nott with you?"
Jester shook her head. "I think she's with Caleb right now! Have you met her yet? Or Caleb? He's about this tall, with red hair? And he has an awesome cat!"
Nora's eyes grew wide and she let out a little, delighted squeal. First a bear, now an awesome cat! Did everyone at the school get a cool pet? She hoped so. "Not yet but I really, really want to," she answered with a slight moue. What if everyone left for the summer before she got to meet them? Then what would she do? "What's Nott like? What's Caleb like? Are they 'together' together?" Her grin went wicked and her voice pitched higher on the last words, the way girls talked in the movies she used to sneak into or the television shows she used to watch from store windows.
"That's what I thought too!" Jester said excitedly, then shook her head. "But no. I don't think so, for real. They're just very very close." Is Piotr your boyfriend, she very nearly asked, but kept the question back. She was being silly; she hadn't even met him yet! Besides, it did not matter, why would it matter? No, no mattering here. "And Nott is the best! She's super sneaky, and she's got a wicked sense of humor, and she'll go to the bat for you! And she's an amazing detective, obviously."
"That is so cool!" Nora said, barely able to contain herself. Nott sounded amazing and she and Jester were obviously perfect roommates for each other. She couldn't wait to meet her and hoped the three of them got to hang out all the time. "How did you decide to become detectives?" she asked eagerly. "What's the coolest case you've taken so far?"
"Welllll, we both liked detective stuff, and we were talking, and we realised how awesome at it we would be!" Jester recalled. "With the appropriate hats. I mean we already kinda closed cases without even realising. So I made our logo and we made it official!"
Nora listened with glee. "I've seen your flyers around the school! The logo's perfect! It must have been destiny for you two to meet!"
"I think so too," Jester confirmed with a nod. "The Traveler likes her very much too, I think, even though she doesn't pray to him."
"Who's the Traveler?" Nora said, canting her head slightly. "Is that another student?"
Jester giggled at the notion. Wouldn't it be amazing? "That would be so cool! No, no, the Traveler is..." She swung her backpack back around and produced one of her flyers. "The coolest guy!"
It was a bit of an open secret that Jester was the one leaving flyers all around school, anyway, at this stage, so she didn't think twice about outing herself.
She'd started leaving some in town anyway. And at the mall.
"Oooh!" Nora hooked her arm through Magnhild's handle, letting it dangle while she took the folded pamphlet to inspect it. The artwork and assortment of greens looked familiar. She might have seen one poking out of a sofa in the common room, but hadn't given it another glance beyond that.
Now, though, she took in the image of the mysterious figure in green on the inside page. "Wow, that's really good!" Nora said. "You made this?" She shifted her attention to the other page, reading eagerly. "Wow," she said. The Traveler really did sound like the coolest guy. "I... wow." She went back over the list, feeling a slight chill run through her. Except for the last two things on it, they described all the things she'd been doing since she the accident, as long as asking Piotr to draw stuff for her counted as making cool art (which it did, in her opinion). She traced her finger over a line, reading it out loud quietly. "He'll be there for you even if you don't know about him." Her hand went up to cover her mouth. "Omigosh."
"He's the absolute best," Jester said very decisively. "You can pray to him if you want! I'm sure he'll listen. I'll tell him all about you and how you're awesome and how we're gonna be friends so he knows who you are."
Could she have already have been praying to this Traveler guy all this time without even knowing it? Nora thought about asking, right up until Jester said the f-word. It kinda felt like they already were friends and that had her grinning happily all over again. "You're the best!"
"I know!" Jester agreed enthusiastically. "And so are you!"
This was going to be amazing.
Nora perched on the edge of the roof of Xavier's and scanned the horizon, her hammer resting comfortably against her shoulder the way one might hold an umbrella. She'd climbed to the highest point on the school. Time to see just how far she could go out here.
She backed up to the other end of the roof, took a racer's stance, and bolted forward. Right before she ran out of roof she leapt into the air and swung the hammer down and set her feet on the head as if it were some sort of airborne wind sail. Her fingers squeezed down hard on a button located on the end of the long handle, sending an explosive stream of pink flame out of one end.
"Yeeeeeeeeeee-hah!"
Nora leaned back, happy smile on her face as she rocketed across the sky. Lifting one hand to shade her eyes while she scouted her course, she shifted to adjust the angle and direction of the hammer into an exhilerating flight...
...that lasted all of ten seconds before she crashed into the trees below.
"Oh my god oh my god oh my god!" Jester cried out as she ran in the direction of the crash. She hoped it would be someone sturdy and resistant; she hadn't really had the time to see who it was. Could she use her power to help somehow? She didn't think she could Draw fixed bones if they were broken, and what would she Draw on or with anyway, the pencils in her bright pink backpack would not do the trick for something like this. "Are you okay?" she cried out as she neared the site of the crash, her accent perhaps even stronger in her panic.
Next thing she knew, she tripped on something and fell flat on her face, hands barely coming out in time to stop from breaking her nose on the forest ground. "Ow," she muttered, and looked over at her feet to see what she had tripped on. A shaft of some kind?
"Oof." Nora shook her head to clear it and get her bearings, but there was nothing but leaves and branches in every direction. Well, that could have gone better. Still fun, though.
The leaves of the tree rusted as Nora struggled to move. A moment later she squirmed free and swung out, emerging from the bottom row of branches, her legs hooked securely around one steady limb. She dangled upside-down and looked to the ground, gasping loudly when she saw the girl laying there next to her hammer. It was her! Just the way she'd described herself. Blue, with horns and a tail and so pretty! Who else could it be?
A massive, toothy grin spread over her face as she met the other girl's eyes. She threw her hands out in welcome. "Nora!" she said by way of introduction, overwhelmed with excitement.
Jester had just picked up what turned out to be a massive... metal... mallet? A massive metal mallet! She was still on the ground, staring at it in puzzlement, when the rustle of foliage had her look up in time to see a girl dangling out of the tree. A girl who seemed unharmed (phew!) and who happened to be Nora!
Jester grinned in return, grip firming on the mallet. "Jester!" she introduced herself in return, then hurried up to her feet, forgetting all about the scrapes on her hands and knees in her excitement. She held the mallet out in front of her. "Is this yours?"
Nora nodded fiercely enough to rattle the branch she was hanging from. "That's Magnhild," she said. "Thanks for finding it for me!"
Unhooking her legs, Nora dropped gracelessly to the ground, landing on her rear with a grunt and a giggle. Vanishing for a fraction of a second, she reappeared in front of Jester, standing properly, and accepted the offered hammer. With the click of a button the oversized weapon collapsed and folded down to a hand-held grenade launcher (minus the real grenades, because rules), which she strapped onto a holster on her back.
"I'm so happy to finally meet you!" she said, diving in for a quick hug.
Jester's eyebrows raised halfway up her forehead. "Holy sh-" Her words were interrupted by the hug, which she returned eagerly, after just a second's surprise. "It's really good to meet you, Nora?" And if she sounded a touch hesitant, it was that she wasn't all that used to people being so enthusiastic about meeting her. But back to the matter at hand, as she pulled back from the hug, "Is that some kind of gun? Is it yours? Can you show me?"
"Do you like it?" Nora asked, reaching back to grab the handle and pull it out again. "It's a grenade launcher," she said, beaming with pride. "I'm not allowed to have regular grenades in it, though." She pouted for a second before brightening up. "But I am allowed to have these!" the front of the launcher unhinged, revealing a chamber holding six canisters with pink hearts painted on the front. She offered it out to Jester to hold and inspect as she pleased. "They just make smoke and noise."
"What kind of noise? What kind of smoke?" Jester asked in rapid succession, as she peered at the canisters. "Did you paint the hearts yourself?"
"It's a 'K'PWAGH!' kind of noise," Nora said, speaking just as rapidly as Jester, fingers of one hand flaring out to emphasize her impression of the sound. "The smoke's pink! Pink's my favorite color. Piotr painted the hearts! He even paints them on the real grenades for me! Aren't they great?"
"Pink is my favourite colour too!" Jester blurted out, and slid a strap off her shoulder to swing her pink backpack around to her front. Here, proof! "I love it so much. And purple, purple is very nice too. I mean, it's pink and blue!" And obviously, blue was awesome. Besides, purple was Gilmore's signature colour and the colour of eggplant (and its emoji). Obviously it was awesome. "The hearts are really cool," Jester went on with a nod, and looked around curiously (and kind of hopefully). "Is Piotr around?"
"Your backpack's so pretty!" Nora said. She completely agreed with Jester about blue and purple, but Piotr! Her head snapped up to look around as well. "He went out to do some sketching. Like to the lake or the gardens or someplace." She grinned at Jester (maybe a bit knowingly, because she'd caught that hopeful expression). "Do you wanna see if we can find him?"
"Well, I mean..." Jester looked unsure, uncharacteristically unwilling to bother someone. "If he's drawing, maybe we shouldn't interrupt him?" It was a good thing Nott wasn't here; Jester would never have heard the end of it.
"I dunno." Nora shrugged, genuinely unsure. It never stopped her, but then again, it wasn't like they were ever given time to themselves to begin with before they got here, and all they'd had was each other, so the idea of giving each other space never really occurred to them. Maybe now that Piotr could sketch whenever he wanted he'd rather be left alone. She'd have to ask him. "But that's okay!" she said, perking up again. "We can do other fun stuff! Unless you're working a case. Are you working a case? I mean, I guess not, since you're not wearing the hat." She was really looking forward to seeing the hats. "Is Nott with you?"
Jester shook her head. "I think she's with Caleb right now! Have you met her yet? Or Caleb? He's about this tall, with red hair? And he has an awesome cat!"
Nora's eyes grew wide and she let out a little, delighted squeal. First a bear, now an awesome cat! Did everyone at the school get a cool pet? She hoped so. "Not yet but I really, really want to," she answered with a slight moue. What if everyone left for the summer before she got to meet them? Then what would she do? "What's Nott like? What's Caleb like? Are they 'together' together?" Her grin went wicked and her voice pitched higher on the last words, the way girls talked in the movies she used to sneak into or the television shows she used to watch from store windows.
"That's what I thought too!" Jester said excitedly, then shook her head. "But no. I don't think so, for real. They're just very very close." Is Piotr your boyfriend, she very nearly asked, but kept the question back. She was being silly; she hadn't even met him yet! Besides, it did not matter, why would it matter? No, no mattering here. "And Nott is the best! She's super sneaky, and she's got a wicked sense of humor, and she'll go to the bat for you! And she's an amazing detective, obviously."
"That is so cool!" Nora said, barely able to contain herself. Nott sounded amazing and she and Jester were obviously perfect roommates for each other. She couldn't wait to meet her and hoped the three of them got to hang out all the time. "How did you decide to become detectives?" she asked eagerly. "What's the coolest case you've taken so far?"
"Welllll, we both liked detective stuff, and we were talking, and we realised how awesome at it we would be!" Jester recalled. "With the appropriate hats. I mean we already kinda closed cases without even realising. So I made our logo and we made it official!"
Nora listened with glee. "I've seen your flyers around the school! The logo's perfect! It must have been destiny for you two to meet!"
"I think so too," Jester confirmed with a nod. "The Traveler likes her very much too, I think, even though she doesn't pray to him."
"Who's the Traveler?" Nora said, canting her head slightly. "Is that another student?"
Jester giggled at the notion. Wouldn't it be amazing? "That would be so cool! No, no, the Traveler is..." She swung her backpack back around and produced one of her flyers. "The coolest guy!"
It was a bit of an open secret that Jester was the one leaving flyers all around school, anyway, at this stage, so she didn't think twice about outing herself.
She'd started leaving some in town anyway. And at the mall.
"Oooh!" Nora hooked her arm through Magnhild's handle, letting it dangle while she took the folded pamphlet to inspect it. The artwork and assortment of greens looked familiar. She might have seen one poking out of a sofa in the common room, but hadn't given it another glance beyond that.
Now, though, she took in the image of the mysterious figure in green on the inside page. "Wow, that's really good!" Nora said. "You made this?" She shifted her attention to the other page, reading eagerly. "Wow," she said. The Traveler really did sound like the coolest guy. "I... wow." She went back over the list, feeling a slight chill run through her. Except for the last two things on it, they described all the things she'd been doing since she the accident, as long as asking Piotr to draw stuff for her counted as making cool art (which it did, in her opinion). She traced her finger over a line, reading it out loud quietly. "He'll be there for you even if you don't know about him." Her hand went up to cover her mouth. "Omigosh."
"He's the absolute best," Jester said very decisively. "You can pray to him if you want! I'm sure he'll listen. I'll tell him all about you and how you're awesome and how we're gonna be friends so he knows who you are."
Could she have already have been praying to this Traveler guy all this time without even knowing it? Nora thought about asking, right up until Jester said the f-word. It kinda felt like they already were friends and that had her grinning happily all over again. "You're the best!"
"I know!" Jester agreed enthusiastically. "And so are you!"
This was going to be amazing.
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Date: 2019-07-30 01:57 am (UTC)