Don't Make a Racket (Nory)

[Sebastian Bolstad]

Focussing on gym class was proving to be incredibly difficult today.

Gym was hardly Sebastian’s strongest class but he had always enjoyed it. It gave him something to do physically and mentally that distracted him, however temporarily, from the reality of where he was and who he was stuck living with. Sure sometimes he was hit with a reminder when one of the kids used their power to cheat, but as a general rule most people behaved like humans should. Besides, it was a little difficult to be upset or panicking over being surrounded by a hall full of freaks when he was busy trying to concentrate on not getting hit in the face with a basketball.

Sebastian had always been quiet and distant with his classmates when not having to discuss what was going on with them, and lately that had only been increasing. Monroe was graduating very soon, would no doubt be running far from this place, and Sebastian did not blame him in the slightest. He had said that he would keep in touch with Sebastian and that they would still see each other often, but Sebastian knew, deep down inside, that it was unlikely. Monroe hated this place and what they were almost as much as he did. Why would he ever want to set foot within a mile of here ever again?

That sadness and loneliness that Sebastian was feeling was taking an altogether different turn today, though. He was still recovering from the vision that had attacked him earlier, the blood from his nose long cleared but the throbbing in his head remaining, and Sebastian was doing all he could to avoid meeting the gaze of the girl he had been paired with for this class. This was proving to be incredibly difficult considering that they were playing badminton.

Once again the shuttlecock landed on the floor, Sebastian having missed it once more, and he muttered yet another quiet apology to Nory as he picked it up. His mind was everywhere, unfocused and distracted, and he disliked the teacher for having paired him with Nory, of all people. They had barely spoken to one another save for a quick ‘hi’ every now and then, and Sebastian really had no clue how to talk to her. He certainly didn’t know how to tell her that he had seen a vision of her in a hospital bed with machines and drips attached to her arms. “Your serve, again” he said as he returned the shuttlecock to her.

[Nora Marie "Nory" Gwinn]

Nory caught the shuttlecock by clapping it between her left hand and her racket. She held it up. "Are you sure you don't want to take a turn? I don't mind." The score was something like 11 to 0, and after the fourth point she had started trying to go easy on him and now she just felt guilty.

Like Sebastian, Nora Marie enjoyed gym class, though for entirely different reasons. She just liked running around, and if not her athleticism, at least her quickness and charisma meant that she was never left for last when picking teams. She got to talk to people, mess around, and generally enjoy being out of a desk for at least an hour.

But her current partner had her puzzled. Nory had never talked to him much since this was the only class they shared. She knew something vague about him not liking metas, but she'd never really understood how that was possible. Not without some serious logistical difficulties. He at least didn't have to worry about any shameful displays of power from her, since it took sophisticated equipment to even tell when she was using them.

More than that, Sebastian seemed sad and incredibly distracted. She walked towards the net and tugged it down to look over it properly. "Do you want to move to a different court or something?" she asked eagerly. She twisted her head to look around. "There's one in the back corner by the gardening shed that nobody's using."

[Sebastian Bolstad]

Usually Sebastian was fairly reasonable at badminton. Granted he very rarely actually won a game, but he could usually get a few points and if there was no direct competition going on he could hold a rally with not too much trouble. However, he knew that today he was failing miserably despite his attempts to play as normal despite the mess that was going on inside his head. He had hoped that if he could just play as normal he could muddle through without getting any attention brought to him, but that was proving to be remarkably difficult when playing opposite the subject of his most recent vision.

Sebastian managed to give Nory a smile that probably looked just as fake as it felt, and gave a small nod of his head. “Of course. If I serve, it might give you a chance to actually hit something at least; providing I can get it in court, of course.” Unlike Nory Sebastian knew what it felt like to be consistently one of the last selected for teams, but in truth that didn't bother him. He knew he wasn't particularly athletic and his quiet, reserved personality tended to offer little in team situations, but at least he still got picked before the obese boy with asthma and built-up shoes. Although had any of the other students seen his performance today, in future Sebastian could well find himself right at the back of the queue.

Eventually Sebastian managed a reasonable serve that Nory returned with ease, but as the shuttlecock once more harmlessly flutted off his racket and into the net the blond was all set to just tell the teacher his head was killing him and call it a day. It wouldn't be a lie, after all, and he had never been the sort to try to get out of classes so he would possibly have at least been allowed to sit out and do homework or something.

Sebastian's train of thought had once more drifted away to medical equipment and tubes and nurses when Nory's voice pulled him back. “Oh, sorry. I was... thinking about something else.” He didn't have a clue what to tell her, or indeed even if he should tell her. Sebastian wasn't sure how he would be able to tell her that her shoelace was undone, never mind tell her that she would likely soon be very, very sick. “Yes, sure, if you think that might help. It will not hurt to try, I guess.” If nothing else, the slight change of scenery might give him something else to focus on. He managed to give her a tired, embarrassed attempt at a smile. “I am sorry, though. I wouldn't want to be paired with me either.”

[Nora Marie "Nory" Gwinn]

Nory had hoped that letting Sebastian start off might jump-start his sportsman's edge, but her hopes died with the birdie as it fluttered into the net on his return swing and dropped to the grass. She sighed, then scooped up the birdie and gestured her racket towards the far back corner. "Ok. Let's give that one a shot."

She fell into step beside her badminton partner and gave him a sideways once-over. She couldn't help a tingle of jealousy at his long, shining blond hair. Her own flipped behind her in a thin, mousy ponytail. More than that, she could not figure out why he was so distressed. A warm breeze shifted the trees now out in full-force with the beginning of summer, they were away from classes for an hour playing an undemanding, entertaining game, and she didn't think she was that horrible of a badminton partner.

"Oh no, it's fine!" she replied with surprise at Seb's comment. The remark fit with his general demeanor, but that didn't mean she found it any less alarming. "I'm having a great time," she added, and this was mostly true. She cracked a warm smile that helped her plain, acne-scarred features immensely. "And it's always fun to meet somebody new. You're a sophomore, right?" She was pretty sure he was the year below her. She bounced the shuttlecock on the end of her racket as they threaded through the other pairs of players, back towards the far, sloping, slightly uneven corner.

[Sebastian Bolstad]

To say that Sebastian wasn't a great sportsman would be kind of like saying that fish aren't great pilots, but today he was failing even by his own low standards. He was academically rather bright, but as soon as it came to physical activity most of the other students quite literally ran laps around him. Today of course it wasn't being at all helped by the nightmare vision he had been plagued with earlier. Usually he tried to put such horrors out of his mind, like they were merely bad dreams, but that was proving impossible to do when the object of the nightmare was being so polite trying to coax him into being not quite so horrific at badminton.

The short walk over to the other badminton court did at least give him a few moments to try to gather himself up a bit, but instead it turned into a few moments of him looking away, across the courts, not in her direction. It was rude and unkind and he was internally scolding himself, but... wasn't he being just as unkind by not telling her? Was he even supposed to tell her, or would that just make the future more likely to happen? Never before had he detested his power so much. Why should it be up to him to burden all this weight? It wasn't fair! There were so many idiotic people who wished they could be abominations like this. Why couldn't it have been one of them instead? He rubbed a hand roughly over his eyes as they approached the other court and he took a deep breath before replying, managing to make a faint ghost of a smile cross his narrow lips, his words full of honesty. “You are very kind. You do not deserve to be burdened with this.”

Burdened with him as a partner. Burdened with being an inmate in this glorified prison. Burdened with the sickness looming on her near horizon. Sebastian meant all three. Even though they had never interacted much, she had not said a cruel thing or gotten impatient with him once today. Kind people deserved to be happy and content. It was heartbreaking to him that was never the way. Nory, Mister Cohen, Tomer... He gave a nod at her question, picking one side of the court and trying to focus on at least just muddling through this. Then perhaps he could work out a way to tell her... or a way to run away and hide somewhere and try to deal with the guilt of not telling her so she could be prepared. “Yes, I am. Hammel is my first school; I was home-schooled before they made me come here.” He quickly re-secured the ponytail that was holding his hair back, catching a few strands that had managed to escape. “Did you play sports a lot before you came here? You seem very talented, and not just in comparison to myself.”

[Nora Marie "Nory" Gwinn]

Nory could feel discomfort radiating off of her companion like a persistent buzz. She felt bad for him, and confused, because she didn't know what she had done that had made him so upset. She suspected that she was walking into the middle of a larger problem, since "You do not deserve to be burdened with this" was a bit grandiose for just being bad at badminton. But she was determined to offer whatever salve she could.

"Burdened? I don't think I'm burdened with much of anything," she said with a grin. "Though if you have some good acne lotion I wouldn't say no to that. Or shampoo." She eyed his shining yellow hair with envy.

She misjudged a bounce of her racket, and the shuttlecock fluttered to the grass. She stooped to pick it up. "Home schooled? That's cool. Adam was friends with a couple of home schooled kids; one of them was really, really into politics and the other made all his own clothes out of hemp and stuff." She tucked the shuttlecock in her pocket and swung her racket over her shoulder. "He always had kinda weird friends. Cool, but weird."

His second comment brought another grin to her face. "Nah, Mr. Batista just says that I keep chili beans in my shoes. I did gymnastics when I was like six, but the lessons get more expensive when you get older." Shortly after she stopped taking lessons Adam had helped her make a 'trampoline' out of an old wooden sandbox and some sheets. It had ended about as well as could be expected, in retrospect. "It was fun though. How about you?" She poked him genially with the end of her racket. "Did you raise giant pumpkins or box other home schooled kids or anything?"