Capacitance (Orion and Naomi Stewart)

[Nora Marie "Nory" Gwinn]

[Early September]

There was an argument going on in the small blue car idling in front of Mike Batista's house.

"No! That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Nory had one hand on the car's inside door handle, and she was frowning at her brother. "Just give it to them yourself, who cares if they know?" she said crossly.

"I care. I'm a teacher, I can't just give books to students," Adam replied, pushing two copies of To Kill a Mockingbird into Nory's lap. Her remark had stung, so his response was laced accordingly with venom.

"Uh, yeah, actually you can." Nory laughed and rolled her eyes. "That's what teachers do. And you didn't even buy them, they're from the school library." She tugged on the door handle, which was locked.

"You are completely missing the point," Adam hissed. "It would be weird, and...I just don't want them to know, okay? And if this is because I was late picking you up, I already told you I couldn't drop what I was working on, I was too close to a conclusion. No, sit down--! Look, will you just give them the damn books? They can't know they're from me."

"So what am I supposed to tell them, that they fell out of the sky?"

"I don't know, you're the one who's allegedly so talented with people skills and lying." He made it sound like these things were one and the same. "Invent something."

"Ugh, fine." Nory snatched up the books as she hammered on the door handle, which finally popped open as Adam unlocked it.

"Don't forget, they're not from me!" he called after her as Nory swung her pack out of the car and stalked up the front walk. Adam waited until the front door closed behind her, then pulled into the street with anxiety bubbling in the pit of his stomach. Maybe he shouldn't have snapped at her...

Inside, Nory peeled off her shoes and dropped her bag next to the coat closet. She stayed the night at Mr. Batista's at least once a week, as she had since her first months at Hammel. "Orion? Naomi?" she called as she wandered out of the front hall, tucking the books under her arm as she went.

[Orion & Naomi Stewart]

Orion and Naomi were well used to Nory being around. That wasn’t the same as knowing what to make of her, though, which was why (despite Mike’s insistence that they not do this) they tended to hide when she was around, only peering out when it was time for food or direct conversation. It wasn’t that they disliked her. They were pretty sure she was quite nice. It was just that the twins weren’t really used to anyone talking so much, or trying to be nice to them. They were used to avoidance, irritation, or just cool indifference. Enthusiasm was strange to them. So they avoided her, mumbled polite things and kept the sarcasm down to appease Mike, and then generally stayed out of her way. They were glad Mike was helping other people. But they really preferred not to be involved. So when Nory came in asking specifically for them, not Mike, there was a long pause as the twins applied their enhanced intelligence to this issue.

One, they had no idea how to converse with her.

Two, they had no idea what she was here to talk to them about.

Three, they got along somewhat well with her brother, so maybe that meant they could get along with her.

Four, the problem with the previous theory was that Nory and her brother were nothing alike.

Five, Mike would get mad at them if they stayed in their room and didn’t answer. Or, to correct, he would be disappointed and that was much worse.

“Coming out,” they called in unison, and slid out of the room. Orion had his hands in his pockets, and Naomi her arms crossed over her chest. They had never learned to be good at not being intimidating.

”What do you want?”

Orion made a face. ”Hi Nory. Nice to see you again.” He would’ve given Naomi a look, but since that would’ve only caused double vision and a headache, he didn’t. ”Mike’s not in.”

[Nora Marie "Nory" Gwinn]

The twins had a reputation. Intimidating, sarcastic, capricious. To Nory, this meant that they just needed a little extra love and affection. When Orion and Naomi became Mike's new fosters, she was raring to whip out the gory movies and nail polish and let the friendship blossom. But the normally confrontational twins...avoided her. She tried for weeks to lure them into bonding activities, and they eluded her at every turn. Eventually she learned to just let it go, but she was friendly whenever she saw them. Which was rarely, considering how often they slept under the same roof.

“Hey guys.” Despite her lingering crabbiness, she flashed a smile at the pair. She adjusted the books under her arm and cast her imagination around for some reason to hand them over. She wasn't feeling especially creative. “Uh, have you been reading any good books lately?”