Breaking Curfew (Nory)

[Jesse Adams]

The steady stream of curse words leaving Jesse's mouth were far from censored as he jogged up the path to the school. His knee ached with every stride, but he kept moving. This was the first time since he'd been put on probation that he'd cut his curfew so close. It probably wouldn't even help that it wasn't really his fault.

Going into town that afternoon, he hadn't expected to be delayed. He'd just wanted to hit the mall to pick up some things, as well as replenish his cigarette supply. Easy things. Yet when he'd come out from the mall, he'd encountered car problems in the form of one completely flat tire. It had been bad enough to change the stupid thing to the spare on his own, but trying to find a garage open that could help him? Near impossible. By the time he found one and arranged to pick it up the next day... curfew was just about up.

Crap.

Walking had turned into running to try to beat the clock, but by the time he passed the gate, he was out of luck. He'd worked so hard for the past few years, trying to stay out of trouble. And now it was going to be undone by a stupid flat tire. Unless... unless he could creep past security and into the dorms.

It was worth a try. If worst came to worst, he had his memory manipulation. He just needed to stay quiet. Pausing by the entrance, he mentally calculated where he needed to go to avoid the most detection. God, it was like planning a mission for MSAD all over again. Well, no time like the present. The faster he got in, the sooner he'd be back in the dorms.

[Nora Marie "Nory" Gwinn]

When Nory first came to Hammel, she had revolted against everything from the headmaster to the brickwork. It was all the staff could do to keep the screaming, vomiting eleven year-old from bolting out a window. Six years later, Hammel was home and she loved every inch of it. Of her great passion of hatred, only a sad resignation that she had to live so far from her father remained.

But in less than a week, they would all be back in Portland together. Every time she thought about it her heart gave a warm skip. Even finals couldn't dent her excitement, and she was by far the cheeriest member of that afternoon's study party out on the lawn. She suspected that was why no one had accompanied her when she doubled back to fetch a forgotten book. When you're straining to memorize the Eurasian capital cities and chief exports, there's only so much enthusiasm a person can stomach.

She took one of her more obscure shortcuts back towards the dorms, and she heard rustling just as she passed by the English topiary shrubs. The young woman slowed. The sky had started growing dim, but Nory had a good memory for faces and furtiveness always drew attention. She looked to the left and right, then poked her head around Jesse's hiding spot. “Hi. It's Jesse, right? Do you, uh, do you need anything?”

[Jesse Adams]

Jesse wasn't sure he'd ever be able to call Hammel 'home.' Though it was miles away better than his actual home, it still wasn't where he wanted to be ultimately. ... He just hadn't figured out where he actually wanted to be. For now he was just going to ride out the remainder of his probation and powers training, and hopefully graduate before he was 25. Right now, that was looking like a stretch.

Even more so if he got busted now.

He was still trying to figure out his best approach when he heard footsteps. Freezing, he waited for whoever it was to go away. When that didn't happen, he was about to just dash for it when he was faced with a blonde girl. Blinking, he stepped backwards in surprise. He didn't think he knew her, but she knew him... oh hell, who didn't know who he was these days?

"Shh," he hissed. Really must be nice not to have to worry about strictly enforced curfews. She looked pretty casual being out at this time. "I'm just..." He looked away. "Gotta get back in. Without getting busted." No, he wasn't going to go into details as to why.

[Nora Marie "Nory" Gwinn]

Nory's eyes lit up. "Ooh!" She crouched down next to his hiding place and instinctively lowered her voice. "I love sneaking in," she whispered. "Which route are you planning to take? Up the oak tree by the janitor's closet or jimmying open the emergency exit?" She poked her head over the top of the shrub to survey the lay of the land. "I'm Nora Marie, by the way," she added. "Curfew, huh?" This was in a sympathetic tone of voice.

[Jesse Adams]

Jesse recognized the look in Nory's eyes. Hell, it was one he'd copped himself more than once. The spark that was born out of the idea of trouble. Funny, he was now the one that needed to avoid the hell out of it.

The blond stared as Nory crouched beside him, baffled as to what she was up to. But as she listed off ways to get in undetected... maybe she'd come in handy. "I was going through the front door..." Because he seriously didn't know the other ways to sneak in. He'd never had to know them. "You know other ways in?"

The question about curfew made him frown slightly. "It's none of your business, but yes. So I need to get in fast." And hopefully under the radar.

[Nora Marie "Nory" Gwinn]

Now it was Nory's turn to frown. "Through the front door?" She sounded disappointed. What a waste of opportunity. She had thought that Mr. Terrorist would have something better than that in mind.

She tucked her hair behind her ear and peered through the leveled upper branches of the topiary again. "I know loads of ways in," she replied with pride. "My first year I did practically nothing but try and bust out of this place." She grinned at him. "I can show you if you like."

It was perfect. Nory got to enjoy the fun of sneaking around, feel the warm pleasure of helping someone else, and since she didn't have a curfew she wouldn't even get in trouble herself.

[Jesse Adams]

No, the former child terrorist did not have any better ideas than slipping through the front door. Despite all his time slipping in and out of Hammel when he was younger, he'd never explored alternative routes in and out. Granted, back then he may have been on unofficial watch, but he'd never been on probation. Now... yeah, he was on probation, and that probably wouldn't change until graduation. If he ever graduated. "Yes, through the front door." But with other options, he'd take them over potentially getting his butt busted by the door.

Nory was... well, fascinating. She was the kind of girl that Gabriel probably would have both loved and hated having in the group. She was clearly good at sneaking around, but her personality would have been a little much for him. ... No, he needed to stop thinking about that. "Yeah, that I can relate to. I was always getting out, and probation wasn't a problem back then." It made things trickier, that was for sure. "Yeah, show me. ... Please?" Good manners weren't displayed from the blond boy often, but in this case it was probably to his advantage. If he wasn't nice to Nory, she could easily abandon him and make her own way in, leaving him back where he started.

Yeah, better be nice.

[Nora Marie "Nory" Gwinn]

Nory's eye flicked to Jesse when he alluded to the vagrant tendencies of his youth. Her expression briefly held an opaque, calculating look. Nora Marie was trusting by nature, but not stupid. She had been at Hammel for six years, made a lot of friends, and heard almost all of the stories anyone had to tell. She'd known people he had hurt--badly--for fun.

But anyone who had seen him slouching around the halls since the big...whatever had happened, no clear story had ever reached even her ears, knew something had changed. He'd stopped messing with people's heads, for one. And as Nory watched, year after year as the now definitely adult failed to leave the school, she started to feel sorry for him.

The odd expression was gone as quickly as it had come, wiped away by the thrill of intrigue. “Sure,” she agreed, grinning and pulling the straps of her backpack over both shoulders. “Come on, this way.”

Nory poked her head above the topiary once more, then slipped around the side towards the back of the dorms. She skirted the pools of lamplight that illuminated the darkening lawn but walked with an easy stroll. “You've got to look like you're supposed to be where you are,” she added quietly to Jesse.

[Jesse Adams]

Though there had been a time that Jesse had been damn proud of his misadventures and rule breaking, that time had long since passed. Now he just wanted to keep his head down long enough to graduate, and that was it. So far he was doing a great job of sabotaging that, between this and the incident at Father's Day... well, he'd either graduate, or get expelled. Either way, he'd eventually leave.

Someday.

There was a reason he hadn't told anyone outside of Dr Neville what had happened that had eventually drawn him back. Most of it was simply because he didn't want to talk about it. Part of moving on was to leave the past behind, and though it was much easier said than done, he was trying. But if he knew that it was causing people to feel sorry for him... it was better left unsaid. He wouldn't know what to do with that. People didn't feel sorry for him, and he liked it better that way. Pity wasn't something he knew how to handle.

Still a little aprehensive, but knowing he wouldn't make any progress staying put, he followed her out. It seemed like an odd lesson, and one he was actually familiar with in terms of the concept. But usually it was more looking like he belonged so he could cause trouble, not trying to avoid it. Strange how priorities changed over time. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense..." He was still worried about the getting caught part. "So what happens when we get busted? You got a plan for that, too?" Because if he was trusting her, she had better have a back up plan.

[Nora Marie "Nory" Gwinn]

Sympathy came easily to Nora Marie, though she had learned discretion in expressing it. Intuitive, empathetic and always ready to believe the best of people, she found hardships to pity in the nooks and crannies of all sorts of people. Adam called her an emotional skeleton key.

Nory crossed through the shadows and around a back corner of the building. A stretch of plan brick wall punctuated with unimpressive shrubs greeted them. "That depends on who catches us, I think," she said. "Most of the time if you fess up and sound really sorry they let you off the hook." She grinned at him over her shoulder. "Hang your head and stammer, that works for me."

A third of the way down the back of the wing they reached a smooth metal door painted to match the color of the brick. It had no handle and opened outwards, clearly a fire escape door at the end of some deserted stairwell. "All right, this is us," Nory said with quiet glee. She checked to the right and the left before stooping behind a nearby shrub and reemerging with a short, square length of metal. It looked like the break pedal from a car. Before she explained to what use she would put this mysterious object, she stopped in front of Jesse and looked him sternly in the eyes. "You have to promise not to tell anybody about this."

[Jesse Adams]

Jesse was capable of sympathy, but it came across oddly at times. He tended to become almost dangerously protective, like he usually was with Clement. He didn't know how to show it any other way, and for now he was fine with that. He didn't need to work on feelings. He just needed to get his shit together, and graduate without any more incidents.

"Maybe that works for girls, but not so much for guys." Let alone ones who were already on the edge of mistrust, and on the probation list. Even though this time it was a legitimate reason, he suspected that he wouldn't be believed, even if he tried. Somehow, sneaking back in seemed the easiest way to deal with it. Still, Nora Marie was... well, the fact she seemed to think this was an adventure rather than a serious deal was... well, baffling. But amusing, in a weird way. He could almost see Sasha doing the same thing. Though his sister had a healthy respect for rules, something like this would probably make her happy too. She had a heart as big as a mountain, and if it was to help someone, she'd be right there too.

God, he missed his sister.

The door was given a look, and the lack of a handle made him quick his eyebrow slightly. He might have questioned it, had Nora not brought out the bit of metal. Clearly, this wasn't a first time offense for her. Her sudden proximity made him take a tiny half step backwards, but the question made him smile in an oddly fond way. "Nora Marie, I'm the last person to spill secrets. I won't tell." Again, he felt a certain pain associated with missing his sister, but there was little he could do with that right now, except tell Nora the truth. "You know, you kind of remind me of my sister." Which was a good thing, really. Jesse was standoffish at the best of times, but younger girls hit a soft spot with him.

[Nora Marie "Nory" Gwinn]

"Yeah, maybe," Nory said with another smile. "You should probably stick to scowling. Teachers like that."

Despite the sarcasm, Nory didn't take much convincing. "Okay," she agreed brightly. She squatted down in front of the door and wedged the break pedal underneath it. She did not seem surprised at Jesse's comment. "Yeah?" she replied. "Well, I can't say you remind me much of my brother." It was not the first time she'd been told that she reminded someone of their little sister/daughter/niece/beloved parakeet. Something in her demeanor evoked the innocent-girl-to-be-protected archetype. She should probably start wearing makeup or stuffing her bra or something. Still, it made it a lot easier to get out of a tight situation by crying.

Pedal thoroughly lodged beneath the door, Nory flicked open her pocket knife and stamped hard on the break. There was a loud clunk, and the door jumped up half an inch on its hinges. Still standing on the lever, Nory took her pocket knife and wedged the blade in between the door and the doorjam. She wiggled it down until she found the bolt of the lock, then kept wiggling. The knife scraped, and every few seconds Nory adjusted her weight on the pedal and the door shifted on its hinges. In less than two minutes she leaned hard on the pedal, and the door creaked open an inch. She grabbed a corner and pried it open. "After you," she said, gesturing grandly into the whitewashed stairwell.

[Jesse Adams]

Oh, Nory. Jesse had a hard time reining in the urge to roll his eyes at her. If she only knew the half of it when it came to him and scowling. "Yeah, I think if I went around being really sorry, I'd be sent to Dr Neville to get my head examined." He spent enough time in that office, thank you very much.

He couldn't say that Sasha would be particularly eager to seek trouble, but sticking her neck out for someone to keep them out of it? Very like her. God, he missed her, and Nory's uncanny ability to remind him of her was just making it worse. Much as he didn't want to go home after graduation, he got the feeling he'd go a little crazy if he didn't at least get to see Sasha and his mother. His brother he could honestly do without, if he was still up to the same trouble he'd been involved in before Jesse had been recruited by Hammel, and his father... nope. Not happening. When Nory mentioned her brother, Jesse couldn't help the quiet bark of a laugh. "I'd be worried if I did." And he meant that. He was a protective thing when he wanted to be. Clement seemed to spark that part of him more than most people could, but girls like Sasha... like Nory... also seemed to spark it. Which, while he would be grateful for her help for a long, long time... he was also a little worried about her getting in trouble over him.

Ha. That would probably end up being the topic of his next session with Dr Neville. He made no effort to shield anymore, and while he'd probably get a talking to about coming back late to the campus... he suspected that other things would overshadow that. Like actually caring about what happened to someone else due to his own actions. Maybe therapy really was helping.

Nory really was a resourceful little thing, wasn't she? He watched as she managed to crack open the door, one eyebrow arched slightly. She really would have made a decent recruit. Fifi would have loved her... ugh, no. He had to stop thinking about that. instead he just waited, rocking back and forth from his heels to the balls of his feet, arms crossed as he bit down on the urge to help her. She clearly knew what she was doing, and sure enough, the door came loose all the way. He had no idea where this led, but he didn't care. Setting foot inside meant he was decently safe from the curfew Nazis. "Nora Marie? You're kind of a genius." He flashed an oddly easy smile as he ducked in and waited on the steps for her.

[Nora Marie "Nory" Gwinn]

Nory had stopped worrying a long time ago about what Dr. Neville might learn through some intermediate acquaintance. Frankly, if he went out of his way to chastise her for every slippery lock or loophole she found, he wouldn't have time to do the rest of his job. Besides, Jesse seemed to really appreciate it, and it wasn't her fault that the door was loose on its hinges.

Nory beamed with pride as Jesse slipped inside, then tossed the break pedal back into the bushes and let the door close behind them. They were at the bottom of a fire escape stairwell, and the door had a horizontal bar on this side to push it open. Nory started up the whitewashed stairs. "Thanks! We could have gone up one of the trees too, but that one's kind of hard to pull off without anyone noticing unless it's like two in the morning." She tucked her pocket knife back in her bag and smiled at him, still glowing with the compliment. "You can call me Nory if you want, everyone does."

[Jesse Adams]

Jesse was not so lucky to not worry about what did and did not reach Dr Neville through the grapevine. A lot hinged on his success in staying out of trouble, and while he was sure that some part of this would eventually surface to him, he was also banking that he'd also be forgiven. It really wasn't his fault, after all.

And of course, simply explaining that to security in the first place really hadn't crossed his mind, no. That was far too logical.

Jesse followed Nory up the stairs, glad to finally be inside at least. As long as no one spied them coming out from somewhere they weren't supposed to be... he'd be home free. For a moment, he was bemused by the fact that he was relying on a girl that had to be younger than him to keep him out of trouble, when just a few years ago he had gone out of his way to do things that would have likely seen him heavily punished if not expelled, if that was even possible. It was a change, but not necessarily a bad one. "Yeah, I could see that." Shoving his hands in his pockets, he continued up the stairs. "... Nory, then." Despite himself, a softer expression came over his face. "Still a genius. Thanks for, uh, saving my ass. Not many people would."