The sky was overcast, and it was growing dark long before Norm thought it should. It was also growing colder as the evening drew on, and the young man wasn't ready for it. He was only wearing a black, hooded sweatshirt over a t-shirt. His jeans were the pale, washed-out blue that meant they'd been worn a lot of times and were probably due to be thrown out.

Damn,it's getting dark...

He gave a quiet sigh, tilting his head back. He'd chosen a seat on a bench, as far away from other people as possible. His saxophone case was shoved under the bench. He'd dragged it out here because he'd fully intended to play it, but his fingers were so numb he couldn't even get a scale down right.

Snowflakes started slowly fluttering down from the sky. He scowled at them.
I'm so cold,... but I don't want to go home...

It was difficult to decide what he was more afraid of - staying out here in the dark and cold with whoever might be out as well, or going home, possibly to find that demon of a teenager waiting for him.
Decisions, decisions...

Nienna hated the dark, and she hated the cold. She never seemed to dress appropriately for the weather, even if she attempted to. Alas, going outside with three pairs of sweatpants, four layers of shirts and sweatshirts, and three pairs of socks isn't the most attractive look in the world.

Then again, Nienna wasn't exactly an attractive person. Pretty blue green eyes and straight, straight shoulder-length, pale blond hair. A fair enough face, square, though hidden behind her hair and the hood of her sweatshirt pulled over her head.

"It's so freezing," she murmured, her black boots crunching upon the snow. The boots were not made for snow, though. Her jeans were a very dark blue, almost black, and made her legs look longer.

She had just been taking a walk, her pale hands stuffed in her sweatshirt pocket. She shivered, looking back. Home was a long way from here.

She passed one of the benches, then came to the one Norman was sitting on and paused.

"Umm."

Mind if I sit here?

But the words didn't come.

Norm had been watching her out of the corner of his eye - nervous as he was, he didn't think he could afford to let anyone pass unnoticed. The closer the girl got, the more nervous he became. He's learned all too well that appearances are worth next to nothing in deciding what a person is like.

By the time she'd drawn level with him, he was trying to pretend he was relaxed, and failing rather miserably. He was leaning back in a slouch on the bench. His hands were betraying him, his long fingers twisting around one another like a mess of snakes.

Go on, move along, he pleaded silently.
And then she stopped.

He looked up, a panicked look crossing his face for a fraction of a second. Then he forced a small smile. Though she hadn't actually asked aloud, he answered, nodding to the empty space next to him. Go ahead. Have a seat.

Not everyone is out to get you, you dolt, he scolded himself.

"Um. Thanks." She offered a weak smile, sitting beside Norman, but not so close to him. Personal space, you see. She was very weird about it.

"I... um. It's cold."

Yeah. Nice observation.

She twirled a lock of her hair in her index finger.

"Mm-hmm," Norm nodded, glancing at her sideways. He leaned forwards to rest his elbows on his knees, then winced and quickly pulled back. After Logan's visit, he'd gone for a bit of a checkup. They'd done what they could, but he'd been let off with some pain medicine and an order to be careful.

"It's, uh,...yeah. Cold. 'S snowing," he said awkwardly. He started knotting his fingers together again, and added somewhat wistfully, "I like snow."

"Do you?" She asked, tossing him a glance. She was biting her fingernail, looking down at her cold fingers, then looked back over at him.


It's... uhm... wet and cold."

"Yeah. But I mean, like,...for sledding," Norm said hopefully, trying desperately to bring up something semi-interesting to talk about. "Sledding's fun. Building snowmen. Snow forts. Snow angels."

Well,...maybe not snow angels...

"And the separate snowflakes,...they're pretty. Right?"

Noticing that his constant fidgeting was making him look a nervous as he felt, he deliberately forced his hands apart and gripped the seat of the bench. God, I must sound like a babbling idiot...
It's reasonably quiet,... if Nienna listens, she might just be able to hear what Norman's thinking.

"Well, yeah." She looked down at her boots and put her hands in her sweatshirt pocket again. "Sledding's fun. So's building snowmen, if you have the right kind of snow."

She kicked her feet a little, wondering why she'd stopped and sat here.

"Mm, well, snow's pretty. But it's still wet and cold. Makes for good pictures."

She raised an eyebrow, though.

"You're not babbling."

'Cause, you know, it sounded like he was talking out loud.

He turned to look at her - until now, he'd been avoiding her gaze.

"...I'm not..?" he said slowly, his brow furrowed. "...Oh. I thought I...I thought I was..."
I didn't say that out loud. I know I didn't. How could she hear me...?... Maybe it's like with Nick,.. he can talk in my head, maybe other people can hear what I think. Maybe they're mind-readers...

Oddly enough, it hasn't really occurred to him that he might be projecting. It seems much more likely that everyone's just reading his mind.

"Thought you were...?" She trailed off, repeating what he'd said, except in a question.

"I don't quite, um..."

See, this is creepy.

People who talk out loud to themselves without moving their lips... are creepy.

"Um, what're you..."

Talking about? she wanted to say, but she didn't want to seem rude.

He gave her a weird, strained smile. He didn't want to make a guinea pig out of this girl, but he has to figure this out somehow.

"Okay,.. I know you probably think I'm crazy, but,... please bear with me." Norm looked pleadingly at her. "Were you just listening in on my thoughts?... Because you're looking at me kind of funny, and you answered to something I didn't say out loud..."

"Uhm. Yeah. I'm sorry, but... I do, and..." she stood and was no longer touching the bench. That meant that Nienna was no longer touching anything that Norm was touching or belonged to Norm.

"You did say that out loud, didn't you?"

She scrunched her face up in confusion, when she probably should have started... y'know, running. She didn't know he wasn't some psycho killer, after all.

"If my mouth was moving, I said it out loud. If I didn't,well...obviously I didn't, right?"

He reached out and grabbed her wrist - not a good idea, really, because it's bound to just frighten her more.

"Look, I just want to know... weird shit's been happening and I'm trying to figure it out."

"Iunno, I guesso."

She looked at Norman, clearly more frightened than she should have been. But... he scared her. For the moment. She tugged at her wrist. "Hey, hey!" No touchy. She's awfully skittish.

"Why would you want to bring me into it?" It was asked harshly. Scared.

She was scared.

But he sounded nice when they'd first met.

Norm let go of her wrist, pulling back in a way that was almost a cringe.

"Well,...you're here, for one thing. Maybe it's not just you, maybe it's everyone-" he sighed and shook his head. "I don't understand. People always seem to know what I'm thinking - or they pick out things that happened to me that I never told them about! How does everyone seem to know what's going on in my head?!"
He was starting to sound a bit hysterical. He really ought to try to control himself a little better.

"Hey..., hey. Look. Um." She was going to make a joke and suggest that perhaps he was just transparent, but she figured that wouldn't help any.

"Maybe... um, maybe it doesn't just happen to you. Maybe... it happens to other people too."

She's not helping at all, is she?

"If it does, I haven't heard of them," he said gloomily. "I mean, have you met anyone else whose mind you could read?,... 'Cause it seems like everyone around me can. They might just not know it yet. Or-"

He drooped as it finally occured to him.

"Maybe it's me. Does that even make sense?" He let go of the bench and started knotting his fingers again. "No, no, of course it doesn't. None of this does..."

"Hey, hey, hey." She seems to like that word. Or, rather, she's at a loss for words, and that's the only thing she can say.

Gone from really freaked out to petulant to slightly scared but troubled. Full of mood swings, isn't she.

"I don't know." She said with a frustrated sigh.

"But I don't think it's me, so... I think it is you." She frowned. "But it doesn't have to be a bad thing."

Sure. Easy for her to say.

"I.. um..."

She couldn't bring herself to mention Wick or Alex, that kid she met and took out to dinner. They were... different too.

"Yeah, but what is it? See, that's the problem, I don't even know how--"

Norm paused in his ranting to look at her. He smiled weakly. "I'm sorry. I don't even know you, and yet I'm going on about all this,... no wonder you think I'm crazy. It's really got nothing to do with you, has it? I shouldn't be bothering you with it."
The smile became faintly bitter.
"You ought to go before I start spouting nonsense about monsters and ghosts, as well."

"Sound like you need to talk to someone, but maybe I'm not the person you should be talking to. Like you said... you don't even know me."

She shrugged weakly, giving him a sympathetic look.

"I... look, I don't really think you're that crazy, see. I was just... bah, forget it. Now I'm rambling."

"I really do think you should... um, find someone else to talk to about this."

Because she doesn't want to believe it, for the reason it might be true.

She turned to leave.

"Yeah. I should." Norm nodded, looking quite miserable. He huddled into his spot on the bench, wrapping his arms around himself to try and warm himself up. "Right. Well. Again - sorry. Goodbye."

Though he'd told her to leave (and wished she would for her own sake), he did regret that she was going.
Should have just kept my mouth shut... he thought, looking sadly after her.

"Um. S'ok. Don't apologize. 's my fault. Bye... 'n good luck with that." She turned some more and continued walking, shivering as her boots touched the snowy ground.

Sigh.

How odd.