A multi-tiered city. Those at the very top live the life of luxury never having a worry in the world. But the lower you get thing change; Elite, upper-class, upper middle-class, lower middle-class, lower-class, and then the very bottom. Bottom of the barrel scum as most would say. Those who lost it all or were unfortunate enough to never have anything at all. Character 1 they live near the top caught somewhere between upper class and upper middle class. While Character 2 they live at the bottom. Two VERY different lives, past and present. But what the future holds for them well that is something no one would expect.
Character 1 has grown tired of the life they live, they want to know what more this world is than the level they are on. They sneak out, rebel against their family only to find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place as they lay in the muck of the ground in some darkened ally way while rain falls on them...
Full Name: Norah Amberlee Sorrento Nickname: Ray, Norrie Age: 25
XXXXXXXXXXThe Appearances
Height: 5'3" Hair: Pink, cut in a jagged hairstyle | Changes based on whims Eyes: Brown, flecks of gold Tattoos: Small ring of flowers around her right bicep - posies | Six birds on her left shoulder in a V formation Scars: Small scars on her fingertips, like papercuts and small punctures Piercings: Three in each earlobe | cuff on her right ear | industrial in her left Theme Song:[Move into the Light]
XXXXXXXXXXThe Little Things
Likes: Sweet treats, sunlight, books Dislikes: Small spaces, being cold, water chestnuts Personality: Norah is impulsive and hard to pin down. When she gets something in her mind, she goes towards it 100% Laughs easily, and tries to stay cheerful, even when she's not. Tends to keep her complicated feelings under wraps as much as possible.
XXXXXXXXXXThe Background
Family: Father - Julian Micheal Sorrento | Mother - Renata Amelia Sorrento | Brother - Ezra Gabriel Sorrento Background: Norah was born into the upper middle class of the city. She was raised in a home where she wanted for nothing. However, Norah's gaze refused to stay where she was. She saw the city as broken, and wanted more from her life than to just settle into place and take something she had never earned. She wants better for her city. And she definitely wants better for those down below. So she left home, and decided to burn her own path... no matter where that took her.
XXXXXXXXXXThe Base
Full Name: Luca Novak Nickname: N/A Age: 37 Gender: Male Orientation: Bisexual Relationship Status: Single Occupation: Bot repair man Current Place of Residence: -The Ground-
XXXXXXXXXXThe Little Things
Likes: Solitude, the quiet, gardening, repairing bots Dislikes: Strangers, those who live on the upper levels, Personality: He is quiet and reserved on the outside using it like armor or a shield, but there is a split in his personality, when triggered he can become quite uncanny with how opposite he acts
XXXXXXXXXXThe Appearances
Height: 6" Hair: Blonde Eyes: Hazel Tattoos: N/A Scars: Two prominant ones on his face, one on his right cheek, another over his left eyebrow more on his forhead. [[See Here]] Piercings: N/A Theme Song:Hearing Damage
XXXXXXXXXXThe Background
Family: Father - Deceased | Mother - Deceased | Background:Born to lower middle class parents, Luca was an only child his parents provided for him the best they could. From an early age his parents knew there was something off about him. Like their were two different "Luca's ". Split personality turns out and it impacted his like growing up unfortunately. At 19 his parents passed, a freak accident some would say, others would find it suspicious. But the official news they were caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Luca turned to mercenary work for money, going from lower class to the ground. In his adult years he was picked up by the military for his " natural skills " and they used that to their advantage until he was discharged, that's when he wen dark. Living on the ground he keeps to himself now, repairing old bots preferring their company over humans.
Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2026 6:36 pm
There was something to be said about the amount of mischief one could get into with enough audacity, time, and the right set of circumstances.
Her footsteps pounded on the walkways as she ran across bridges that should have been familiar, but were definitely not. Her movements took her from building to building, and though she went inside none of them, interruptions to her pace were made consistently to handle the change of texture beneath her feet.
Her black sneakers were not built for this kind of running. The red laces had been meant for standing on well manicured fields while she cheered rather than for any athletic fashion.
Norah makes her way through the areas, yelling out apologies when she hit strings of laundry, holding court with the idea that perhaps there were people who cared about them. She would apologize several times. To laundry. To baskets. To open windows. To a cat she passed on the way and startled. And even to a flock of birds that she darted through, scattering them to the wind.
When the day had started, she had woken up in the comfort of her own bed. Breakfast had gone without a hitch. She had attended her lessons without complaint. However, then Trent had happened. Stuck up, horrible, future ruining Trent. He had been so loud, talking about those down in the lower regions of the city. Down below, where none of them had been for more than a dare and a quick jaunt.
A lark.
She had lost her temper. And then, upon going home, her father had lost his temper. When all was said and done, tempers had run amok, and Norah had left out her window with a satchel of her belongings, and a rebellious streak a mile wide. After all, she could not bear to be around people who seemed to think that things were just fine as they were.
The city was broken.
Norah was certain.
But somehow, the idea of lingering in a place around people who refused to see that--who refused to allow for the idea of fixing it--she couldn't bear it any longer.
A childish thought, she mused, as she dove around one more corner.
Things have been going rather well until she tried bartering for food in the market. How was she to know that they wouldn't accept her cards? That they used different currency in the rest of the city than stupid trust fund kids used in their day to day life?
There was too much she was ignorant of.
Yet, those cards held worth to someone, because she had been cornered by men demanding them. And so she ran. No plan. Just vibes. Like she usually did. And now, she was hiding on a skinny ledge, quite lost, and quite frustrated with herself. Her white shirt clung to her with the sweat that seemed to mist every inch of her skin, and she was starting to regret the leather of her jacket. The jeans she wore were questionable at best. Though she would examine that later.
"Stupid, Norah...." she mutters the words darkly.
It was then, perhaps, that her luck ran out. Just one misstep while turning, and she found herself losing purchase on that ledge, and falling backwards. Her final thought as she fell, was of how perhaps she needed to think her actions through just a little bit more.
Just a little bit would go a long way.
The next thing she knew, she was on the ground. A pile of old tech had cushioned her fall. Though, cushioned was a rather strong word. More like broke her fall. And definitely broke something in her. Groaning, she brings one hand to the burning sensation in her side. Lifting her fingers so that she could look at them, she groans as her brown eyes barely focus on the red staining her tips.
At least she wasn't dead.
That was something.
Though what that ended up being, she would have to figure out later. For now... she was very tired.
Luca Novak, a man of few words. A man of mystery some might say. His days started and ended the same, bleeding into one another. This he did not mind, the routine, the habits they kept something within him at bay. And today was no different. He woke up, made coffee, stood in the kitchen staring blankly at the counter as he sipped it. No breakfast. After coffee, rinse the mug, set it out to dry. Then getting ready, worn cargo work pants, boots equally as worn and repaired. A plan t-shirt with a long sleeve over shirt. All weathered with wear and tare. The same thing every morning.
After getting ready Luca walked to the front door, grabbing the bag of tools by it, he unlocked the many manual locks on it. Though he fixed old bots, tech was not a favorite of his. Leaving his apartment and locking it back up he began his usual trek. Here on the ground, things moved fast. People moved fast, criminals faster. Luca slung his bag of tools across his body as he walked to the train, from there he took the train to the scrap yard. Did he daily work of fixing old bots and collecting old tech. Once the days work was done it was back onto the train, back home. No unnecessary stops. Well until today.
As Luca headed back to his apartment he heard the sudden sound of something falling. Which would not have been unusual if it wasn't followed by a groan. Stopping, against his better judgment, he turned his head toward the sound, down a tight ally. Atop a pile of scrapped old tech...was that a person. Luca's hand moved to grip the strap of his tool bag as his eyes stayed focused on the mass on top of the pile of junk. Hands calloused and covered in dirt and grease.
Today, Luca diverted from his routine. Diverted from his path. Today Luca's life branched out in an unexpected route. Walking towards and down the tight ally his eyes focused more, it was a body. A woman and she was alive...well kind of. Looking over her then up, where the hell had she come from. Looking back down at her, at her clothes now...she wasn't from the ground.
Clenching his jaw he let out a heavy breath through his nose and moved towards the pile of old tech, reaching out he moved the woman that lay before him, eye darting to the red staining her side. He muddled over the thoughts in his head. He could leave her, most would. But he found himself reaching down and grabbing her, picking her up much like one would pick up a fallen soldier. He placed her over his shoulders as he turned. Exiting the ally way and back into the fast paced crowds of the streets.
He kept his eyes forwards, as most people did. You don't question things down here. That's how you end up 6 feet below the ground. No one stopped him for having a woman over his shoulders. No one gave questioning looks. Always mind your own down here, or learn the hard way to do so.
It was not long before he was back at his apartment, dingy and unassuming from the outside. Metal shutters always down covering the front window. Unlocking the many he locks, he pushed open his front door ands stepped inside. All while she still was over his shoulders. He closed and relocked the door behind him before he moved further into the small apartment. A single room if you didn't count the bathroom as its own room. Luca set the woman down on his couch slowly. He didn't say anything as he moved away and took off his tool bag. Placing it back by the front door.
Across from the couch recessed into the wall was a bed and a wardrobe. The coffee table in front of the couch had an old drone bot on it. Its components placed neatly next to it all laid out like some sort of anatomy book.
Again silently Luca walked through his apartment, to the bathroom where he grabbed a small metal box. A first aid kit. Exiting the bathroom and walking into the main room he stood just a few feet from the couch. Tapping the first aid kit in his hand. Thinking. Help her, or let her help herself.
Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2026 7:44 pm
Norah felt like the world was existing in flashes.
The first flash. Someone bent over her. Looking at her. Seeing if she was alive. She wanted to tell them she was still alive. Tell them that she had really messed up, and perhaps it was best to leave her here to reap the consequences of those actions. But also, she wanted to tell them that she didn't want to stay here. It would be a shame for this to be the end of her rather stubborn adventure.
The second flash. They were moving through the streets. She wasn't sure when he had scooped her up. But her arm was over his shoulder, and she was moving through the streets towards somewhere. She wanted to ask where they were going. Where he was taking her. But really, she was just grateful to not be in that pile of tech.
He smelled nice.
Her side hurt.
The third flash. A ceiling. Unfamiliar, but not unwelcome. It wasn't the sky. She was inside somewhere. Norah's gaze moves slowly over what she could see, a small sound exiting her lips as she tries to remember how to say something. Anything out loud would be fine. She could ask where she was. Ask who had brought her here. Ask why her side had stopped hurting somewhere along the way.
The last flash had her turning her head to the side. A sound. Tapping. Her brown eyes focus slowly on the man. He was fuzzy around the edges. She was sure that wasn't how people were supposed to be. A smile drifts over her face and she mouths words. But she forgot to make noise. That was rather important, wasn't it?
She focuses for a moment.
Then, she tries one more time, her brown eyes staying on that strange, fuzzy figure. "Who..." A thought makes her pause, a frown replacing the frown in what she felt was slow motion. It felt like she was existing in a place of flashes and slow motion. That wasn't quite right, but she couldn't put her finger on why. "Where...?" That question made more sense, all things considered. A soft chuckle escapes and she winces.
The chuckle felt like it knocked something loose inside of her. Norah was pretty sure laughs weren't supposed to do that.
"Ah." She pauses, her gaze returning to her fingers as she lifts them up. They still had that red on them. It was murky to try and remember why. "I fell..." It was starting to piece together in her mind.
But the more she cleared her mind for thinking clearly, the more she realized that the pain was coming back. Norah grimaces, closing her eyes for a moment.
Luca stayed there, knelt by the side of the couch. Watching, studying the woman he had found upon a pile of rubbish and old tech. He was quiet as she tried to speak. Tried to come up with the right question.
The first word she spoke Who. Of course she would want to know who he was. The second word Where another valid question to ask. She went from, well wherever she had fallen from, to a pile of rubbish and now a stranger's dwelling.
His brows moved together only for a brief moment as she grimaced in pain. He flexed his jaw as she spoke again. So she was trying to piece together what had happened. Luca took in a steady breath and let it out as he opened the first aid kit by his knee.
What he pulled out was not something she would have been accustomed to. Not that he would know that. A small triangle shaped tube, with a needle sticking out of it. Morphine. His hands moved to her arm pulling up her jacket sleeve, his hands were rough. Calloused hands of a working man, dry. He stuck the needle into a vein in her arm."Deep breaths". He now finally spoke for the first time.
A deep voice, rough like his hands, but it had a smooth edge to it. His word came calmly, as if he didn't have a stranger injured on his couch. The morphine would soon take over, and lead her into a relaxed state. Relaxed enough for him to try and treat her injury.
And in time it did, and he went to work. Moving her jacket out of the way. And lifting her shirt just enough to reach the wound. He cleaned it thoroughly, patched it up. And dressed it. As for the broken rib, there was not much he could do about that.
No bruising so it hadn't punctured anything. He wrapped her torso a bit more on the tight side. In hopes to keep things more 'secure'. When things were all said and done Luca stood and moved her. Cradling her in his arms this time, he moved her from the couch to his bed.
Turning his attention to his couch. Blood. The mess. He chewed the inside of his lip as he stared at it. His right pointer finger twitching at his side. Licking his lips he pulled himself from his stare and into the kitchen where he grabbed a rag, a bowl, soap and peroxide. Filing the bowl with warm water he brought everything to the couch and began to clean it.
He scrubbed and scrubbed till he could no longer see or smell the blood. Once satisfied he got up from his knees gathering the, bowl, soap, cloth, and peroxide. He walked it all back to the kitchen place the supplies back in their rightful spots, the washing the bowl out three separate times before setting it on the drying rack. He moved to look at the woman on his bed for a long moment. Who was she, where was she from. He had the same questions for her as she had for him. His right index finger tapped on his leg three times before he pulled his attention away from her. Back to the couch, the floor. He moved back to the couch and cleaned the first aid kit up. Throwing away used items, and placing the kit back into the bathroom.
Clean.
To his wardrobe he walked, gathering clean clothes, and walking to the bathroom the door shutting with a click, the light flicked on. He took his dirty work clothes off and put them in a clothes hamper before turning the shower on. Once warmed up he entered the shower, letting hot water roll down his skin, he scrubbed at his hands. Grease and dirt. Cleaned under his finger nails. He continued with the rest of his body till satisfied he was clean. Exiting the shower and drying off. He dressed himself again. Plane black t-shirt. Sweat pants. Hanging his towel up to dry he exited the bathroom bare feet padding on linoleum flooring. He walked back to the couch and sat down. Watching the woman on his bed.
Why.
Luca's life branched off in more ways than one. He was no longer going to be living a quiet life. He didn't know it yet, but this single act of kindness. This one moment of straying from his path. It would change this life of his.
Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2026 11:26 am
She kept her brown eyes on him as he came near. The needle delivered heat, and she felt herself relax into it. The pain faded, but the other result was that her mind faded with it. Like the absence of such things left her adrift, and all she could do was sink into it.
Deep breaths...
The words he said echoed in her mind over and over. Like a mantra that she wasn't going to forget any day soon. Her eyes flutter closed and she breathes out, following the directions later than he had meant her to, but following them all the same. This flash had been longer than the others, she decided.
She wasn't sure how long she had been out.
But when she opened her eyes again, she was in a different place. Or the same place, but a different location. Still inside. But not on the couch she had been on before. Grimacing, she tries to focus her thoughts. They were all over the place.
Snatches of thoughts that she could barely hold onto.
Her hand moved before the rest of her did, resting on her side. Manicured nails touched the wrappings, and she blinks her eyes slowly, trying to think about what she was feeling there. Norah couldn't quite make sense of it all. Her mind was a cacophony of thoughts that her riot of pink hair couldn't contain.
Running. She remembered that. Stupid mistakes in a market. Someone had demanded things she had been holding. She refused and ran. The buildings blurred by her. She had apologized to a cat. Hidden on a ledge. Norah breathes out slowly.
She had fallen.
That was what it was.
The fall had rattled something inside of her loose. She could feel it every time she took a breath. But somehow, Norah knew that she had been lucky.
Turning her head, she focuses slowly on the room around her, taking in each piece. Her eyes land on the man and she freezes.
Not that she had been moving very much in the moments before, but she stopped breathing, and that was really enough. She keeps her gaze there. He wasn't fuzzy this time. In fact, he came into her mind in perfect clarity. Norah did the quick math in her mind. She was on a bed. Bandages under fingertips. No more bleeding. The pain was in the back of her mind, but not present on the surface.
Deep breaths...
She starts breathing again. Taking a moment to gather herself, which seemed to her an eternity but she was sure it was mere seconds, she licks her lips, then speaks softly. "Where...?" Her voice cracked halfway through the word, but it was asked all the same. Her forehead wrinkles and she keeps her unblinking gaze on him.
After all, who else was she going to ask?
Her mind definitely held very few answers to that particular question.
Luca stayed watching her a long while. His arms lay loosely in his lap. Right pointer finger tapping his thumb mindlessly. Who was she? Why was she here? How did she get here? He observed every inch of her by this point. Clothes too nice to be lower class, they were for looks rather than practicality. He nails too nice, too clean. Her hair, too...too much for down here. Unless you were a lady of the night. But this woman before him was not that.
The apartment was silent all but for the buzzing of the florescent light in the kitchen. The sounds of The Ground had dulled down outside as the hours ticked by. And as those hours ticked by Luca kept asking himself. why . Why did he help her. Why did he stop. Why did he divert from his path, from his routine. It made no sense to him. He had passed by so many other people in need of help. Why was this one so different? The thought made his neck twitch slightly, like a voice whispered in his ear.
Then she moved.
Luca's eyes froze on her as he saw her wake. Moving, adjusting, making sense of where she was. But when her eyes met his, a silence filled his apartment far more deafening than any sound. He felt himself hold his own breath, for reasons unknown to him. Was he trying not to startle her? If so why was he just sitting there...staring at her. His brows twitched together a moment as she spoke, the single word hoarse and broken.
"The Ground".
His response quick, his voice didn't waver in response. His eyes stayed looking at her, but there was a tick in his jaw as it tightened. An unsureness in his eyes as to how much he should be talking to someone like her. "You said you fell." Luca had stopped the tapping of his index finger on his thumb, his hands gripping the tops of his thighs lightly as he stood up from the couch. He walked over to the side of the bed but still stood at least a foot away. His eyes moved from her face down her body to her side. "Where are you from". With words spoken his eyes snapped back to her face.
This sentence came out tight, nearly urgent. Like he needed to know just what level she was from. He needed to know what he had done by taking her to his home. Who was going to be knocking on his door if any one. Did he just bring trouble to his door step. And his body language matched the tightness in his words.
He stood stiff, broad shoulders, straight posture. Too straight. Too straight for your average Grounder. He was ft too, hard to come by such a build when down here people will fight one another for the smallest bit of food. He had rough hands of a worker. She had felt their roughness earlier. But his face, the scars on it. They were just from a fist fight, the one on his cheek deep. The one on his forehead, it looked like it came from the edge of something. A table?
Who was she.
Who was he.
Why had their paths crossed...
Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2026 3:34 pm
The ground. It was said so simply, but somehow, it answered something in her. She hadn't been returned to the areas above. She had made it all the way to the ground without stopping. The quick way. If it didn't hurt so much, she'd probably laugh at that. She looks up at the ceiling, considering.
Then, his questioning words came and she looks back to him. Brown eyes sliding slowly his way. Where are you from? She frowns slightly. Her eyes move back to the ceiling as she considers. With her being hurt, he was probably asking if anyone was coming after her.
What kind of trouble she had been in to fall.
It was complicated.
But an answer he had to have. "I fell from the markets above. Alter, not Haven." The lower run rather than the one just above. Almost the bottom but not quite. Said in the words she knew from where her family stayed near the top.
Norah wasn't sure that they were the right words to use here. But they were all she knew.
Not the Gardens of the elite. Not the Fortress of upper class. "The Ring." She breathes the name of that third section. That outer ring that lined the other two, working alongside, but never a part of. The last bastion before the city started moving down the spires and towards the bottom.
Norah knew the implications of her being down here.
She licks her lips, turning to look at him again. "I'm from the Ring. But..." She considers for a moment, then shakes her head. "No one knows I came down..." For the next few days, they would assume that she just fled to a friend's house. Pouting, or throwing her tantrums.
Whatever her mother assumed of her when she disappeared.
"Norah." She speaks her name, watching him again, her eyes holding that question from earlier. Who was he? Why had he helped her? What did he want? She didn't have much more than her cards to offer him, and from what she had figured out all too quick, the markets down here didn't take them as well. They would have to be sold and exchanged for something else probably.
Or she would have to go topside to withdraw money. But that journey wouldn't be as easy as the one coming down. Though, she supposed there would be less injury to her person going up.
Hazel eyes watching her in anticipation. He waited as she seemed to mull over her thoughts. What should she say to him, what could she say to him. His head twitched a for a single second as she mentioned the markets above. She was not lower middle class. He had deduced that himself. Luca's eyes watched her intensely now. Waiting for more. Hoping for more of an explanation. That's when the words hit his ears The Ring .
If he wasn't tense before he was now. That pesky right hand index finger began to twitch again. Trigger finger .
She spoke again, her voice soft and rough at the same time. Hoarse from not being used for some time. But Luca did not find himself playing host right now. Not when given the information that he had someone in his home from The Ring. A place that to him, might as well be the top. But how...why would she come down this far. There was nothing down here for people like her. Was it again one of those stupid dares teenagers and kids would challenge one another with. It brought him little comfort knowing no one knew she was down here. Her sentence missing a word Yet . They do not know she is down here yet. Someone was surely going to come looking for her, parent, sibling if she had one. A friend.
The Ground was no place for someone like her. For someone so naevi. So careless. The Ground was no place for him when he was 19 yet he survived. Blinking in a small amount of shock, his brows knitted together in a bout of confusion. Did she just give him, a stranger, her name? Norah, he repeated in his mind letting a pregnant pause follow her words. Shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "Luca". His name slipped passed his lips before he could stop himself, it was just a name but it felt foreign speaking it to a stranger. "The Ground is no place for some one like you ".
He put an emphasis on the word you, stepping away from the edge of the bed he walked to the small kitchen in the apartment that was only a coupled feet from the bed / living area. Opening a cabinet he grabbed a glass from it, opening the fridge he pulled out a pitch and poured water into the glass. He was not being kind in this moment, he was using this to bargain with her. Placing the pitcher back into the fridge, and closing the fridge he walked back towards the bed. Standing again next to it with some space between them. "How did you end up down here.". Falling wasn't an answer. Not when she was from The Ring. He held the glass of water in his hand just out of her reach as he raised his brows. "Broken rib, and a laceration. You wont survive long out there. I would talk if I were you". The voice he spoke with now sounded more confident than the earlier one. Almost cheeky, a predator playing with prey perhaps. Not a man who was just simply preforming an act of kindness. Not a man who had just willingly given her his first name.
Split.
One kinder than the other.
One plays with its food.
One is neat and particular.
Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2026 4:29 pm
The Ground is no place for someone like you...
The words brought a snort echoing from the girl. She wanted to tell him that the Ground wasn't a place for anyone. But right now, she felt like the words had less humor than they probably could. He moves from his space and she works on sitting up slowly. Hand pressed to side as she works from the ground up to get herself into somewhat of an upright position. Almost as if proving that she could. Her hand stayed against the place that hurt the most as she swings her legs off the bed, resting on the floor as she finally, breathlessly, made her way to sitting up.
Stubborn. But driven.
Hurt. But capable of movement.
She took that as a win.
Taking a breath, she releases it slowly, closing her eyes as she keeps that hand pressed to her side, wrapped on front of her like a shield. She had never had pain this bad before. Sure, there had been small scuffles and hurts when she did something stupid in class, or out with her friends. But this pain seemed to sink into her from every inch of her body.
She was not looking forward to seeing what the bruises on her back looked like after falling like she had.
But she hadn't cracked her skull open, and she was taking that as a win.
He returned with water while she was sitting up, and his words were missed at first. Norah's mind snapped forward to that, and she looks at him slowly, her breathing uneven as she watches for a brief moment. And then her mind supplied the words he had spoken.
Broken rib. Laceration.
How did she end up down here?
Not why. How.
Tilting her head to the side, she considers, then speaks softly. "I slipped." Not the answer he was looking for. She was sure. But how did you tell someone that you were also pretty sure that you shouldn't be down where you were? How did you say that you knew you were out of place, but you also weren't leaving?
She needed to learn how to be less... well less what she was.
Her mind went over the options again, and she closes her eyes, letting her breathing steady as she got used to being upright. She was dizzy. That probably wasn't great. But really, she was lucky, she decided. The dizzy was probably just from whatever was going on underneath her hand. A remnant.
She opens her eyes again, looking at him. "Luca." His name finally settled into her, and she matched it to his face before she smiles. It was a warm smile. Definitely one that was out of place in places like this. "Thank you... for helping me..." She breathes out the words, then chuckles, wincing with the motion. "As soon as I can, I'll get out of your hair." An offer to leave. She was a lot of trouble, after all. And she knew that he was well aware of that.
A war was starting to rage within him. A war between the two parts of him. One wanted to do what he did best. To get the answers out of her, the real answers. But the other part of him docile and tame. A part he worked hard over time to maintain. She was a strong soul. She was an odd soul. His hazel eyes moved back and forth between her brown eyes. Trying to make sense of her actions of her words. Why was she so calm. How was she so calm. In a strange mans apartment. Here on The Ground. Slipped. She slipped, and fell, from one of the markets above. No. There was more to that story. And yet he found himself moving forward enough for her to grab the offered glass of water.
Hearing his name be spoken by another was another strange and foreign feeling to him. It had been ages, he didn't even know how many years it had been since another spoke his name. At the scrap yard he was just a number. In the military special forces some years back he was again just a number. Or a last name. Now she was offering to leave as soon as possible and to top it all off she thanked him. She thanked him for helping her, essentially saving her life.
"Your...welcome." The words tasted strange on his tongue. Felt strange leaving his lips. That docile part of him taking over again, shoulders relaxing, he let out a small breath through his nose he didn't know he had been holding in. " Drink". He motioned to the offered water then set it down on the hard edge of where the mattress sat in the wall. Taking a few steps back now to distance himself from her. It seemed for his sake more so than hers as she was rather calm for the situation she was in. What kind of Ringer was she.
Those from The Ring, though not at the top, that didn't stop some of them from acting in such a way when there was a rare visit from them. These visits were more so like trips to scare children into listening, behaving, and doing well in their lessons. Norah. The woman before him seemed far from that. Walk fully away from the bed, Luca came to sit back on the couch. His trigger finger tapping at his thigh in durations of threes.
Split.
One kinder than the other.
One plays with its food.
One is neat and particular.
"You are, oddly calm for the situation you are in Norah". words spoken in a softer tone as he sits. His hands clasping one another in his lap. To stop his tick. To stop the tapping. " How, did you slip". He knows she is not telling the whole truth, so he tries again to get it out of her. What was a ringer doing in the markets above the ground. How did she find herself in the lower class levels. How did she manage to end up here. At the very bottom of the barrel.
Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2026 5:33 pm
She watches his indecision with an unblinking observation that she knew was not normal for those coming from the Ring. Unsettling, she had been called a time or twelve before. Like she sort of forgot that humans needed to blink--that eyes needed moisture.
He replies to her thanks like a man who wasn't used to receiving gratefulness. That was interesting. The water he brought was set closer to her. She noted that with the same expression she did everything else.
Like she was storing it somewhere deep inside of herself for later perusal.
He sat back down after a gruff order to drink. And she leans over slightly, grabbing the glass with the hand that was not pressed firmly against her side, as if to hold in her own weakness. She takes a tentative sip, letting the water linger in her mouth a moment before she swallows.
Making sure to use the moisture to it's full effect, replacing the saliva in her mouth that was still struggling to figure out how to work before coating her throat.
A small frown expands over her features as he mention that perhaps she is too calm for the situation. Why was she so calm? Shock? Fear? She felt like neither of those was present inside of her. Maybe later, when it had all settled in her system; when she wasn't so damn tired; then, she would have the luxury of falling to pieces.
Keep your own council, Norah. Your outbursts will not be allowed forever... Her mother's words echo through her and her frown only grows, this time making furrows appear on her forehead as she lets it breeze through.
How did she slip? She roves over her options for answering him before speaking softly. "I was clumsy." A brief pause and a grim smile. "Stupid." Another non-answer. She wasn't sure that telling a stranger the story about how she had been running from someone who had noticed her rather obvious stupidity was a good idea.
No one could say that Norah wasn't a fast learner.
Then, she tilts her head to the side. "Would you... feel better if I panicked a little...?" There was a strange hint of amusement under her words, and she takes another drink of the water. This one was a deeper drink.
The first hadn't killed her or anything, so she supposed that was something.
Even if he was drugging her, there wasn't much she could do about it at this point. She had already been unconscious in his house. Her eyes travel over the room and she blinks finally.
It was.... neat. Orderly. There was a flow to the room that she could read around the edges. Everything in it's place. It reminded her of someone else's house. Someone who didn't like surprises. Someone who didn't like interruptions to their predictable monotony.
Norah supposed it was just her luck to find another one of them down here.
XXXXXXXXXXThe Base
