RETROGRADE ;;

“Now that she had nothing to lose, she was free.” nora young, xxiv, composer, westbrook, lost.

[waverlyshavght]

[norayoxng-blog]

casemitchell:

“Okay, no calling you or anyone ‘lady’.” He nodded in compliance, just eager to know her name. He was hopeful that he could make her her friend, and knowing each other’s names was the first step towards that, in his view. “Nora!” he exclaimed, when she finally told him. “That’s a very pretty name. And it’s Casey. People say it’s a girls name, too, which I don’t mind. It’s just like the name Sam.” He shrugged, offering some tidbit of information she probably wouldn’t care to hear.

“Good, thank you.” She said and looked at him before actually sparing him a small smile, genuine too. She sighed though, when he exclaimed her name like it was the best thing in the world. This kid was pure magic, and for a second she wished she were someone else - someone who could be nicer to him and tell him how great it actually was that someone like him existed. “Thanks Casey, your name isn’t that bad either. Unisex names are the best names anyway.” 

[norayoxng-blog]

franciisco:

“Thank you.” He told her, though he couldn’t help but catch her small cringe and wonder what it was all about. He couldn’t help but wonder what she was all about. “I’m pretty new, yeah.” Francisco smiled as he listened to her speak, nodding as she mentioned the bar that he could go to if he wanted to have a good time. “Yeah? Is that a place you tend to frequent on your days off?”

“Why’d you move here of all places?” She asked and once again wondered why she bothered. Wasn’t any of her business after all, but curiosity got the best of her. “Sometimes-” she said, thinking about The Cellar. “I’ll probably be there tomorrow night. Come by and see for yourself. They play good music, so there’s your recommendation.”

[norayoxng-blog]

carterdewhurst:

He watched for a moment, wondering if that was really true. Somehow he didn’t buy it. “The two aren’t mutually exclusive you know. That might have been convincing, just don’t do the fake smile next time” he wasn’t going to push it. He knew how difficult it was to actually talk about things, especially with a stranger. It was why he would’t push her. That wouldn’t be fair. “Conspiracy theories? I don’t know if I should be flattered or insulted right now”.

“Fake smile? Well fuck you-” she said and sighed. She wasn’t very mature, and she knew that, but sometimes it was better than to be even remotely real about her feelings. “Sorry...” She mumbled eventually and looked at him again to make sure he knew she actually meant it. “You should be insulted by my precious words, but definitely flattered by the conspiracy theories thing. I take it that’s not what you do though.”

[norayoxng-blog]

jude-nolan:

“Oh yeah, in the mornings, deadlifting those hundred pound weights just like me,” Jude chuckled, neither of them being the least inclined for exercise. They strolled out into the cool night air. “Mmm. Can you smell that spring in the air?” Jude said, taking a deep breath in to fill his lungs. Though that, of course, made him crave filling his lungs with something else. A pack of American Spirits was pulled out of his side pocket, and he offered Nora one. “Fuck,” he cursed under his breath as he pulled one out for himself. “I just remembered I have like, ten emails to return. Don’t ever become a recording artist.”

“Weird how we never run into each other at the gym, isn’t it? I guess we’re just too busy deadlifting cars and horses to notice each other.” She chuckled, and thanked whatever higher power was up there, for not being stupid enough to actually throw money after a gym membership. She did the only right thing she could when they got outside, and breathed in heavily like him. She liked that cool, crisp smell. “About fucking time too.” After living in LA for so long, she’d gotten used to the heat and now missed it more than she thought she would. “Ah, thank you.” She took the smoke happily, pinning it between her lips as she padded herself down for a light. “Ten emails? Don’t you have a manager to do that shit for you?” She asked, talking around the cigarette.

[norayoxng-blog]

andytsege:

“If you’re asking about how old the actors are, they’re all high schoolers, so maybe “kids” is a little misleading. Still, bad habit. As for the charity, it caters to all children under the age of sixteen.” Andy wore the smile she’d been practicing all evening. “I can see you’re conflicted about the decision to go or not.” She just didn’t know why. It was only an hour out of the day, and it was for a good cause. She was aware though that some people had other arrangements and obligations. “What can I say to put you at ease?”

“I think it’s fine to still say “kids” actually. I know they think they’re all grown up, but are they really?” She chuckled a little humourlessly, mostly because she was still wondering when she herself would grow up. “No, it’s fine. I’m not conflicted. I’ll go...”

[norayoxng-blog]

carterdewhurst:

“Sounds lonely, sensible though” he knew he did the same thing. But then people never did like him, and it was better they hated him for who he wasn’t, then hated him for who he was. A tough balance, but one he was used. “I’m not a total idiot, doing it would not be worth it, even if satisfying”.

“I don’t care.” She said and shrugged even though something in her chest tightened almost as if she was lying. She was accustomed to being alone, and she knew in the end it would be better than getting attached to someone again, only to have them abandon her like her real parents, or die on her like her foster family. “Lonely or sensible, it’s just easier this way, you know? Less disappointment.” She plastered on a smile like she normally did for customers, well aware that he probably knew it wasn’t genuine. That was okay too. “Well that’s too bad. It would’ve been entertaining for me. What do you do again? Let me guess... You’re a writer? You write books about conspiracy theories?”

[norayoxng-blog]

sarah-bluth:

“Right? Or there’s a carbon monoxide leak in their houses. Either way, it’s wrong.” She agreed with a chuckle, shaking her head. Sarah still couldn’t understand why people actually listened to One Direction or other bands like them. The songs were awful, lyrics were cheesy and music was unbearable. It was mostly autotune anyway. “She totally does! She hates One Direction as well. I guess all Noras do.” With a chuckle, Sarah shrugged her shoulders. “Amazing, I am doing that right now.” The red head mused and turned the sign on the door. “Thanks for going out for drinks with me by the way. I may have been living in Lanford for a year but I only have three or four friends. And they all are busy lately.” She sighed as waited for Nora to get her stuff.

“Ooh yeah, that’s probably it, actually. At least that would explain a lot,” said Nora and laughed. She wasn’t usually one for banter, but when it came from someone likeminded, it wasn’t half bad. “Really? Well I guess that comes with the name. No one into One Direction is worthy of it.” She laughed lightly and nodded twice before she reached under the counter for her jacket and bag, fishing out the keys to the shop. “No problem. I’ve lived here on and off since I was eight, and I don’t even have that many friends, so maybe I should be thanking you.” It was kind of a joke, but also not really. Nora wasn’t that good when it came to friendships, or maybe it just took some really cool people to pass the ‘test’. Like Sarah. “Okay, let’s go. We’ll go out the back - I need to turn on the alarm.” She suggested and switched off the lights when she was sure Sarah was with her.

[norayoxng-blog]

olivepruitt:

“Right. So, he’s not like the guy I should be worried about because there’s several of them. Or most of them if we’re being correct about it.” Olive silenced a groan that was threatening to escape their lips in order to not seem so dramatic despite the fact that they were genuinely upset. “I don’t know. I don’t know what goes through their minds when they say all this stuff and I don’t think I’ll ever know.”

“Yeah, if I know one thing for sure, it’s that if there’s one creep, there’s bound to be at least another handful somewhere close. I don’t know what it is, they may be lone wolves, but they don’t travel far behind each other.” Nora sighed. She’d learned to ignore creeps or get rid of them relatively fast, but they were still annoying. “And they all wonder why we don’t like them. They should’ve figured out by now, it’s not like it’s that difficult to see.”

[norayoxng-blog]

casemitchell:

He smiled, then, happy to know that she at least wasn’t yelling at him or trying to pretend that the time at the lake didn’t happen. “Maybe your name?” he said, though he knew it wasn’t what she was asking. “I don’t want to call you ‘lady’, unless that’s what you want me to call you, but I’ve found that people don’t become friends that way.”

“No, and by the way, you probably should call anyone ‘lady’ - me least of all. It gives me the creeps for some reason.” Nora sighed and then waited another two or three seconds before she caved in and told him her name. “My name’s Nora. What did you say your name was again? Caleb?”

[jedinightsister]

Ada in APB 1.01 — Hard Reset

[norayoxng-blog]

carterdewhurst:

“And here I thought everyone knew everyone in a town like this” thank goodness that wasn’t the case. He’d be the town villain by now. Of course none of it was true, but he knew Yasmin had been spreading certain lies about him. “Probably the latter, but I never said I would stick to just English swear words, plenty of other languages in the world”.

“Nope. At least I don’t, but I guess that’s just because I prefer it that way.” The fewer people she knew, the fewer people she risked losing - it was pretty simple to her actually, even if it meant she lived a lonely life. “Well that’s pretty impressive. If you ever do get the chance to do that, can you bring me along to watch?”

[norayoxng-blog]

franciisco:

“Hm.” He mused, taking his card back and putting it inside his wallet which he placed in his back pocket. “No, you don’t have to wrap it. It’s just for me.” Francisco explained to her, eyes scanning the store before landing on her again. “Well, sorry I won’t get to hear any of your recommendations tomorrow then. I’m still trying to get to know the town so I’m sure we’ll run into each other again.” 

“Well you have good taste,” said Nora and cringed a little when it came out genuinely. She was often forced to say all kinds of shit to customers, to project some sort of customer kindness, but most of the time it came out stale. Maybe it was just because this guy actually did have good taste. Next time she would probably just keep her mouth shut instead though. “So you’re new here huh? Well if you’re looking for a nice place to drink and listen to good live music, I would go to The Cellar in North End. The music can be hit and miss, but at least fifty percent of the time it’s pretty good.”

[norayoxng-blog]

casemitchell:

He gave her an enthused nod, eyes widened enough to show that he would be taking her seriously. “Yes, yes! I promise! You can be record store girl and not lake girl— I won’t even talk about the lake anymore!” Which was a lie, considering he still had questions about why she was there in the first place. He figured he could bring it up some other time, though. For now, he had to get on her good side.

Nora looked at the guy suspiciously, really not that sure that she believed him one bit - she never trusted people, and usually always believed the worst in them. But for now… She decided to take his word for it, if only because that was a lot easier than arguing with him. “Fine, that’s good then. Let’s just-“ she gestured vaguely with her hands, not completely sure how to finish her sentence or what to do exactly. “Uhm, did you want anything else but the record?”

[norayoxng-blog]

olivepruitt:

“The biggest creep? Well, that is good to know.” Olive sighed. “He told me that he owned a huge motorcycle, which wasn’t the only thing that was huge, that it was a couple of blocks from here if I wanted to see it.” 

“Well I don’t know, there wasn’t an official crowning ceremony or anything, so there might be one or two guys worse than him, but he’s high up there on the creepiness spectrum,” said Nora and shrugged. “That’s gross. What do these meant think exactly? That all we’re waiting around for is some guy to come along and tell us he has a huge dick? If they need to announce it to us, they probably don’t know how to use it.”

[norayoxng-blog]

andytsege:

Andy’s gaze narrowed for a moment, having grown a little suspicious of anyone that had stopped to give her the chance speak. Simply because she’d ran into quite a few jerks. Surprising, as she’d been living in Lanford for years and she never knew there were so many assholes. “It’s a mystery spring production that my kids have been working on since the start of the semester. They collectively decided that they want to use their small platform for good, so all of the money obtained will be donated to Art Start, which is an organization which allows underprivileged children to express themselves creatively.”

“A mystery spring production?” Nora furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the flyer and then at the woman again. The words ‘kids’ always did something to Nora, and it wasn’t necessarily a good thing. She wasn’t good with kids, didn’t know how to treat them, and didn’t actually like them that much. Underprivileged children though… Nora had been one of those ones, tossed through the system and for a second, she was almost certain she felt something. “Well I guess that’s nice,” she said and remembered one of her early foster homes where she hadn’t been allowed to play her tiny keyboard. If it hadn’t been for her foster family here in Lanford, she probably would have never gotten to compose and play music like she always wanted to. “How small are these kids exactly?”

[norayoxng-blog]

sarah-bluth:

“Oh my God. What’s wrong with these people?” She wrinkled her nose, obviously disgusted. Bad taste in music was one of her pet peeves along with bad taste in movies. Oh boy, some people needed to be educated, that was for sure. The red head took the records from the other woman and held them tight. “Nice to meet you Nora. Cool name, I had a roommate named Nora back in Brooklyn, she’s great – just like you.” Chuckling softly, Sarah nodded. “Do you need any help by the way? I can help you to close the store if you want.”

“All kinds of things are wrong. I think they might have been deprived of oxygen when they were born,” said Nora and wrinkled her own nose as well, thinking about all these people - all ages - coming in here to buy shit music like One Direction and Little Mix. It was tiresome really, and something that definitely made it easy to lose faith in humanity. “Nice to meet you too Sarah, your name isn’t half bad either. I’m glad that my name twin in Brooklyn keeps the name great.” She laughed a little, pleasantly surprised by this sudden connection. “Uh, well there’s not that much to do actually. If you wanna turn the sign on the door around and lock the door, then that’s pretty much it. I’ll get my stuff and then we just need to set the alarm and switch off the lights.”