Life of the party [Nora]

[Celia Gaines]

2015 was coming to an end and there was only a small chance of 2016 being a better year. For Celia, 2016 was just another year with just one extra day of a chance at nothing. And it wasn't like she didn't try, she tried as hard as she could to get her band somewhere, to get signed and actually do something more than sing at parties and bars.. she got the small gigs, never the ones that could actually get her signed, and in the end that was all she wanted. To get her music out there and let people know what sound she liked instead of what everyone else liked, and that had been her way of looking at it all along, her band, her music. If only other people saw it like she did, the world would be an easier place.

But alas, she was stuck doing the crummy gigs at the crummy places and ending up just having too much free time on her hands, so she obviously took to things that where better off left alone but necessary if she wanted people to know her face. But some of those things were just.. you went to them no matter what, assuming you weren't a complete hermit. Like a new years party. Or well, an old years one going on until new years. Because who knew what the last day of the year brought? Perhaps a new friendship, or maybe even more than that, like a record deal or something.

Probably none of those, but a girl could dream..

[Elanora Brennan]

It had seemed like a good idea 10 minutes ago, what better way to get back into dealing with society then a party right? Nora had forced herself to come to this end of year bash as a way of throwing off the shackles of the past and moving forward into the new year as a more confident sociable person! Or at least that was what she had been trying to tell herself all afternoon, she was dressed in jeans and a black sweater. her left thigh was painful to the touch and under the jeans was wrapped to stop the jeans from rubbing and the raw skin of her new tattoo.

She had paced out the front of the building for what? maybe 10? 15 minutes maybe even more trying to work up the courage to go in. Finally she had strode inside with determination that faltered once through at seeing everyone and a second later turned to complete and utter regret and she stumbled off to the side of the room feeling like someone had just punched her in the face with a steel rod.

When she had decided to do this she hadn't even thought to consider the fact that being a party in Pilot Ridge would most likely = a whole lot of meta humans. She knew it now though, the building must have blocked most of the signal or she had been so focused on making herself enter she hadn't noticed the warning prickling behind her eyes. One thing she did know right now was she was in way over her head.

Huddled on the floor now her head gripped in her hands she shook with the effort of trying to block them, at least some of them so she could function again. But already the sheer magnitude of the meta's was over whelming her, it felt like someone was using a jack hammer on her head and her vision was swimming with black and white dots from the sudden powerful migraine. Her stomach rolled and she knew if she didn't get out soon she would end up redecorating the room. She tried pulling herself to her feet but they barely seemed to want to work for her. 'Help' she whimpered barely load enough for even her to hear.

Nora was oblivious to what the people around her were actually doing she just knew her senses were being assaulted, the more she tried to block the signals the more got through, Electrokinesis, 

Plant Manipulation, Shadow Manipulation, Animal Communication, Empathy. They were all there and many more shouting into her mind she just wanted it to stop.

[Celia Gaines]

As fun as it should have been Celia felt that she got way too much attention by people wanting something more from her than just a talk, and while she was always up for a tease that was not why she was there. And the fact they were men also helped in shrugging off those advances like water on a dog. If there was a girl around that did those things she would surely give in and join the game, sadly there were just too many straight people around and Celia was not in the mood to initiate talk, not that kind of talk anyway.

The blue haired girl walked around a few of the rooms and smiled ironically when the few times she passed a group of men she could feel hands where there weren't supposed to be hands. Last thing she wanted though was to be known as that man-hater who tried to get signed, so she just let it slide (though not before giving a dirty look back, and, depending on the one doing it, an invisible kiss). But because of that there were men following her around, likely because they were under the assumption they were going to get a treat, that caused Celia to let out an inaudible sigh with a slew of nasty comments behind her.

So she decided to get rid of them the old-fashioned way. Or the new fashioned. She decided to get rid of them. And the way she did that was simple, sensory overloading those guys to the point of having to look up private rooms or something, because they sure as hell would not try shit at a party. Too many people around.

She spotted her way out soon enough as she walked a bit further in the form of a girl who didn't seem to be doing much aside from being in what looked like an upright fetal position with her head in her hands. Something Celia could use whether that girl wanted or not. She looked behind her briefly and saw that the men were still following her, at which fact she rolled her eyes and told them to go away, that she had to comfort her girlfriend. Simultaneously sending them away because of problems and giving herself something to do.

Sitting down next to the girl she put an arm around her as if they were old friends, which they weren't. Celia instantly felt she was a meta and out of habit blocked her ability in case it was something with fire or something and she would lash out or some shit.

''Hey.. you okay?'' She almost had to yell to make herself be heard.

[Elanora Brennan]

Nora didn't even realize someone had approached her until she felt an arm around her shoulder and miraculously she felt the pressure of all the meta powers trying to force them self on her lift. She still felt a little sick in the stomach and her head was still sore from the assault but her vision cleared and she was able to take her head from out of her hands and lift it with relative ease, it was like someone had turned off her migraine and left her with a simple headache.

She looked up at the sound of a voice yelling next to her, though she barely caught the words over the sound of the music she hadn't noticed until now. The voice belonged to an intriguing looking girl with blue hair and Nora realized after a moment it was this girls arm that had gone around her. Nora was puzzled as to what had turned off her power, she had certainly never been able to do it before and highly doubted this was her own doing now either, maybe it had something to do with this girl.

"I... I think so... how did you do that? you made it stop" Nora answered her yelling herself to be heard, she wanted to get up and flee from this place while she could, while she wasn't feeling the pressure of all the meta's but she stayed on the floor too scared to move for fear of it all slamming into her again the second she did. The music was a little too loud for her already sensitive headache but she barely noticed she still couldn't get over the feeling of relief at it all just stopping and stared at the blue haired girl in awe.

[Celia Gaines]

It was a good way to get rid of those men for one, those pesky flirts which she wasn't entirely innocent of. But it also happened to be a fun way to get to talk to someone, and in this case someone with red hair which was pretty fun. One more color and they could be a flag or something, which.. made her think of other things to do which she quickly shook her head out of.

''Stop? Made what stop?'' She tried to figure out as her arm was still draped around the girl. Maybe her power had some kind of nasty side effect? Or maybe she didn't have a good level of control over it? But since the stopping had begun on her touching the girl it was a pretty solid guess that it had something to do with her power, and that it wasn't anything fire related. Celia couldn't tell what it was though, she could only make out that she had one. Maybe if she took her arm away it would get a bit more clear..

But the blue haired girl didn't want to do that as she was sitting just fine with her arm around the red haired girl. To some it would be madness to touch a stranger like that but Celia was never one to mind getting physical with anyone, even if she didn't know what could happen. That was the fun part of her power; she could shut down powers with a mere touch.

''You don't look okay.'' She yelled out a reply. ''All huddled up like that.''

''Wanna go somewhere a bit more silent?'' Celia asked, assuming it was because of how loud the party was. Maybe her power was increased hearing or something.

[Elanora Brennan]

Nora hadn't been thinking much about how she might look curled up in a near fetal position on the floor, but she had to admit saying she didn't look okay was probably an understatement. She didn't feel okay that was for sure, though she felt allot better now that the jackhammer of powers was gone, unfortunately the migraines and headaches took longer still to recover from. She was grateful when she heard the girl ask if she wanted to go somewhere more silent and she was sure the relief at the proposal was plain on her face as she nodded. "More then anything" she called back. The music was beginning to register and annoy now that the more pressing jackhammer was gone and she longed for fresh air and space between her and the Meta's.

Nora wasn't thinking clearly enough to register what sort of meta this girl was and right now she couldn't care less. it was the power of knowing that had put her in the helpless state, she was regretting ever coming out tonight, mental note to self, wade into the new year by gently exposing yourself to people slowly one on one situations, don't dive headfirst into the shallow end and knock yourself out on a rock next time. All she did know for certain at that moment was she wanted away from this party and she knew she couldn't let this girl leave until she was. She didn't know what she was doing or how but she knew it had to be this girl who was stopping her power somehow, whether by shielding her, or cancelling it out or whatever other option there was Nora didn't know and didn't care she just didn't want this girl to leave until she was clear of this situation she had gotten herself in.

Nora tried to pull herself to her feet again slowly and found it was working a little better now her vision wasn't swimming as bad her head was still pounding and she would need some good pain killers, a dark room and to crash out for a good 8 hours to get rid of that but at least the room was staying where it should be and the black and white spots blurring her vision had cleared so she could actually see all the people moving to the music ignoring the two girls huddled against the wall. Nora was careful to stand up in a way that she didn't break contact with the girl, she vaguely had a notion that the pain stopped when the girl had touched her and feared what would happen if she broke contact.

[Celia Gaines]

Red and not afraid of contact. Celia would have to remind herself of that in the future. Though maybe she didn't like being touched and had just figured out, much like the blue haired girl, that her touch did something to the girl, and it seemed to be something good because she didn't physically stuff herself in a corner anymore. Celia smiled at that, she didn't take her arm away though but instead had it slide down her arm and took her hand when she tried getting up. She nodded when the girl talked because she couldn't really hear her, although the kind of music she made was way louder, and decided to save her questions for when they were in a more silent room. Or outside. Or anywhere but there.

She wondered what kind of ability she had that did this to her, and she didn't even seem to acknowledge it as a side effect or anything.. though, being huddled up into a ball of pathetic human would prevent you from mentioning anything, she supposed. Still, it was something she wanted to know so she was pretty bent on guiding the girl away from there. But where to?

Celia looked around as she held the other girl close and smiled when multiple people looked at her and nodded at her with stuck up thumbs. At first Celia just smiled because it was polite, but when she looked behind her and to the hand of the other girl in hers it suddenly dawned how the situation must have looked. It wasn't the worst idea ever to try and do that, but right now Celia was more focused on getting her out of here and letting her come to.

Slowly guiding her to the front door and away from people crowding up rooms she blew an imaginary kiss to the people behind her as she opened the door. Whether they saw it or not didn't matter, all that helped was the fresh air hitting Celia in the face like a splash of water, and hopefully it did the same for the red-haired girl.

''So what.. exactly happened?'' She asked without letting go of the girl. It was rhetoric in the sense that she knew her power did this, but she wasn't quite sure how or when..

[Elanora Brennan]

The cold night air hit her face the second she was outside and she was so grateful to the hand holding hers that somehow kept her power for overwhelming her again, there were a few people outside and Nora had no way of knowing in that moment if they were Meta. Nora automatically kept moving now that she could further from the door and down the pavement to where there were far less people, unconsciously dragging the blue haired girl with her. It wasn't until Nora heard her ask what happened that she realized she was being totally rude just dragging this girl who had helped her around, she stopped and turned back to face the girl.

"Sorry I didn't mean to drag you, thank you for getting me out of there, how did you do that? Sorry, my power kind of gets the better of me when there are too many Meta's around, I end up with sever migraines and can't function very well, I should have known coming to a party here would be a terrible idea but it didn't even cross my mind that there would be so many of us in there until it was too late..." Nora cut herself off realizing she was totally doing the rambling like a total social outcast thing again.

"What I'm trying to say is thank you" She finished lamely looking down and realizing she still had the girls hand gripped in hers like a lifeline, she slowly released it getting ready for another onslaught but thankfully this one was very mild she could sense the girl in front of her and a few people milling around the front but all the people inside the building were out of her range.

Nora sighed with relief sagging against the wall for support, even though the worst was over she felt exhausted from the onslaught and her head was still sore. Nora fumbled through her purse and came up empty, damn, she had forgotten to get more pain killers earlier when she was at the shops. She mentally tried to work out where the nearest late night store that would stock pain killers would be but came up blank. She would figure it out later or just go home and try to sleep it off without the drugs she thought to herself, as soon as she could see straight enough to ride the motorbike.

[Celia Gaines]

To say that the girl was dragging her along would be a lie, and furthermore Celia wouldn't be entirely opposed to the thought of the redhead dragging her anywhere. Age difference aside (if there was one), she wouldn't hate it if she and this girl.. hooked up, in a way. Though the way she had just been was pretty much a confirmation that that wouldn't happen, and that was quite the bummer to the blue haired girl but not a deal-breaker. She, after all, did get someone to talk with and was no longer at the party she didn't want to be at anyway.

She ran a hand through her hair and smiled at the girl as she talked. Slowly her hand was released as the girl looked at it when she was done mentioning what exactly her power did, though she only really explained the migraines that it caused and not much else. What caused them? What was her power? Could she sense people who were meta? Because in a city like Pilot Ridge there would definitely be a lot of those and she could see how that might give you a major headache or worse.

''So-'' Celia began as she took back her hand reluctantly, she wouldn't have minded at all if the girl kept holding it, but whatever suited her current needs best, right? ''-Are you sure you can handle letting me go?'' She asked half in a flirting way and half in a serious way. She had only held it for a few seconds, maybe a minute or two at the most and Celia had not yet reached her limit at all. Though she could restore the lost time a bit it did seem no more than logical that if her power gave her migraines it would make sense for Celia to keep blocking it.

''Need something?'' She finally asked when she saw the girl going through her purse. Painkillers was her assumption, but she couldn't be sure. ''I can hold you, or something, if it helps?'' She proposed.

[Elanora Brennan]

Leaning against the wall Nora let her eyes close gently. She smiled slightly despite the headache as she heard the girl’s slightly flirty tone when she was asked if she was okay with being let go. She wondered slightly if the girl was any relation to Lucas since she seemed to like to flirt with red headed females too. She must have been pondering the similarities for too long as before she could get her brain to function enough for an answer the girl in front was talking again.

Nora opened he eyes so she could focus on the girl better, she smiled again as the girl suggested she could hold her. This girl definitely reminded Nora of Lucas. "I'm okay now, I can only sense you and vaguely a few of them" she said indicating the group milling around the front entrance. "That I can cope with, there were just too many of us inside it becomes a bit overwhelming with too many." She went on feeling slightly more relaxed after noting the similarities to Lucas. He hadn't judged her for being socially awkward and she had begun to relax around him which make her think this girl wouldn't judge either.

"Do you know where the nearest store would be that will still open at this time and sells pain killers?" She asked looking around. Nora wasn't usually out this late so had no idea what would be open.

[Celia Gaines]

Walls made a good support, it seemed, and not only for building but for people just the same. She had seen multiple people slant down against walls before, she didn't mention it, but it looked.. almost like an insult. Celia was there offering to hold people which she liked doing, and there were people who would just use a wall to lean against? Good thing she had to shrug off worse on a daily basis.

The explanation came in parts, it looked like as the girl mentioned that she could indeed sense meta people. That was the first thing Celia thought of and it just so happened to be true, she felt like a detective right then and smiled as her hands found her sides and she stood in a superman-pose. ''Maybe Pilot Ridge isn't the best place for you then, hun.'' She said despite not wanting to. Having a girl around to maybe talk to and who she could help just by touching was very fun, and she risked ruining it by saying something bad about the town they lived in. Who knew how she would respond to it, right?

Though maybe it was okay as it seemed that she was able to handle it when not around massive numbers of meta people, and there were also quite a few people without powers there. Heck, she had just recently met one!

''I think..'' She pondered a moment when the girl asked for a store that sold painkillers at that time of night. There weren't many, but there were some. ''I think Celia Gaines is your best bet for those, I hear the service is fast there.'' She joked as she went through a pocket and produced some of the pills. Being a musician meant having quite a few new pills every day.. she could probably make a fortune off of selling them by now.

''And the payment is simple, just a hug!'' She added with a smile as she stretched out her hand for the girl to take the entire case of painkillers. All in all there were a good twenty of them in there and she just handed them over like it was nothing. ''Don't bother with the other stores here, none of them appreciate beauty anyway.''

[Elanora Brennan]

Nora couldn't help it despite the pain in her head and her usual awkwardness she laughed at the girls comment in regard to Pilot ridge not being the best place for her. "Ironic isn't it that they drag us here to go to school with a bunch of meta's when some of us would be better away from it" she said with just a hint of disdain completely directed at the school system and not at all toward the girl. Her mum had out all the money they had into moving them both here to America when Nora had been told she had to attend freak school, so they didn't have enough left to be able to up and move on again now some weeks they struggled to make it through the bills. "Unfortunately moving away isn't an option, so I should probably just try and stay away from the parties" She said with a shrug.

Celia Gaines, Nora had never heard of that store before and her brow furrowed in concentration as she tried to think where it might be, even though she had no idea at all. It took a few seconds for her sluggish brain to realize Celia Gaines must be this girl, she only really clicked when the girl pulled a packet of pills out of her pocket. It wasn't until then that Nora realized they had never introduced themselves, admittedly Nora had other things on her mind, mainly a jackhammer but still she felt bad for being rude. "Thank you Celia, I'm Nora" She said with real gratitude as the girl dropped the whole packet of pills into her hand.

Nora pulled herself away from the wall and moved from foot too foot slightly, she wasn't really accustomed to hugging people other than her mum. She stepped forward and gave Celia an awkward hug as payment before pulling away her face slightly red. She busied herself casting her gave to the pills and popping 2 of them into her palm, she preferred taking pills with water because it was easier but she was well rehearsed in the dry method as well.

Taking a moment to build up the spit in her mouth she tilted back her head dropped the two tablets toward the back of her throat and swallowed. They went down though a little less easily then with water but they went down and that was the main thing, she looked forward to when they would kick in properly and wondered if she should start to make her way home, but no her vision was still a little funky and she didn't want to ride like that. After swallowing her tablets she held the packet of pills back out to Celia, "Thanks again" she spoke shyly, feeling her anxieties and awkwardness creep back in now that she was able to think more clearly.