GT Short: Reluctance To Speak

GT Short

Reluctance To Speak

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“So… Anything yet?”

She doesn’t respond, her eyes lowered to the floor, hands between legs.

“I see. Still not talking are we?”

The much older blonde woman sits back in her chair and clicks her pen. She scribbles down a few notes on the yellow notepad resting on her right leg which was crossed over her left. While she did that, the young, orange haired girl shifts around on the soft chair uncomfortably. Her gaze wonders anywhere so long as she doesn’t end up looking at the woman sitting across from her.

The woman finishes what she was writing and puts her pen down on the pad, then adjusts her glasses. “Right. Nora, this is our third meeting and you still have yet to say a single word to me. I hope you realize that neither of us is getting anything out of this wasted hour every session.” She sighs, rubbing her bagged eyes. “You’re not going to get out of this by just sitting there and staring at the floor, you know. One of these days you’re going have to say something to me.”

Nora remains silent, causing Glynda to sit back in her seat and cross her arms over her chest.

“Evidently, today is not that day…” she says under her breath. She lifts her arm and checks the watch on her wrist. “And we’ve seemed to have run out of time.”

Knock-Knock.

As if on cue, a couple of knocks can be heard on the door behind Glynda. She turns to it and says, “Yes, come in.”

The door creaks open, leaving a crack in it. Through it, the face of a young man with blonde hair and blue eyes pokes through.

“Uh, hi, Ms. Goodwitch. Here to pick up Nora.”

Glynda waves him in. “Of course. We were just finishing up for the evening, Mr. Arc.”

Jaune opens the door fully and walks into the room. Upon entering, Nora looks up at the blonde and he waves to her with a smile. Nora wastes no time darting up from her seat and speed walks to the door where Jaune stood. Glynda follows Nora’s path with her gaze.

“Same time next week, young lady. I hope you’ll see it fit to converse with me during our next meeting.”

Nora doesn’t seem to register Glynda’s words as she wordlessly walks past Jaune, he rubbing the back of his head with a confused expression on his face. As Nora leaves the room, he turns back the the older blonde.

“Same thing?” he asks.

Glynda flips through her notepads, taking record of her recent entries. “Hasn’t said a word to me yet. The entire hour she just sits there, looking at anything and everything that isn’t me. She’s a tough one to crack, I must be honest.”

Jaune sighs. “I’m really sorry, ma’am. Nora can be a little… yeah.”

“Oh, I know that all too well. I’m not the least bit worried, however. Because, eventually…” She gives Jaune a sideways glance and small grin. “She’ll open up. And when she’s ready, I’ll be right here.”

Jaune can’t help but to smile dimly at Glynda’s words, nodding.

“Now, off you go. I have a class to attend to shortly. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that we are having a test in a few days and I expect you to be prepared for it.”

Jaune groans, his shoulders dropping. “Yes, Ms. Goodwitch, I know… I’ll see you tomorrow, ma’am. Have a good day.”

“You as well.” With her goodbyes out of the way, Glynda walks over to her desk in the room and sifts through the various other notes on top of it.

Jaune takes this opportunity to see himself out, shutting the door behind himself as he walks out into the hallway. The door closes with a soft click and he stands in front of it silently for a moment. He turns to the left to see Nora leaning her back on the wall. The boy gives her a sympathetic look, puffing a quick gust of air out of his nose.

“You… ready to go?” Without answering, the young girl pushes off the wall and turns to walk down the hall. Jaune puts his hands in his pockets, sighing to himself. “Feels like I’ve been doing that a lot lately…”

With that last thought, he proceeds to follow behind Nora and head home.

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Knock-Knock

She places the book she was reading down on her lap.

“It’s open!” she calls out.

With permission given, a familiar, toned, red-haired woman pushes the door to the bedroom open with one hand. In her second, two white mugs were being held by the handles. Steam noticeably rises from the top. At seeing Pyrrha, a small smile graces Nora’s face, eyes lighting up.

“Hi, Pyrrha,” she greets sweetly.

“Hello,” Pyrrha greets back. She holds up the mugs to allude to them. “Jaune made some hot chocolate for us. I thought you would like some.”

“Oooo~!” Nora claps her hands in excitement, scooting over on the twin-sized bed to give Pyrrha room to sit down. Pyrrha chuckles a little as she approaches.

She sits down next to Nora, carful not to make the bed bounce. After, she hands one of the mugs over, the young girl taking it up.

“Careful, it’s still hot,” Pyrrha advises.

“I know~” Nora says. She blows into the cup lightly before lifting the tip to her mouth and taking a sip. When she takes the cup down from her mouth, she bounces around in delight, giggling. “So good!”

Pyrrha smiles at Nora. “I’m glad you like it.”

As Nora continues to focus on her chocolate beverage, Pyrrha, too, takes a sip from her own mug, looking around the apartment bedroom. It was just as bare as before Nora moved in, the only new additions being the bed she and Nora sat on, a small nightstand next to said bed and a bookcase in the corner of the room. The bookcase itself was practically bare, save three other books, minus the one Nora had in her lap.

Speaking of which, Pyrrha decides to lean over and inspect the book Nora had been apparently reading before she came in and interrupted.

“‘Destiny’s Sky’…” Pyrrha reads the title aloud.

“Oh!” Nora perks up at the name, taking one last swig of the drink in her hand. Wiping her mouth, she says, “Yeah! Ruby let me borrow it. She said it was her favorite book and that I should give it a go. I’m really liking it so far!”

“I must say, Nora, I never really pegged you as the reading type. No offense.”

“None taken! I love reading! I remember I used to do it a lot when I was littler. Never really got the chance to do it much since then, though. You know, because of the whole wandering hobo-lady thing.”

“I… see…” Pyrrha scratches her cheek at Nora’s word usage. “So, how are you handling the transition? Have you gotten used to staying with us yet?”

Nora looks around the room in thought, a finger on her chin, her bottom lip poked out. “It’s… still a little weird… But it definitely beats leaving behind a dumpster. I still feel kind of bad for kicking Jaune out of his room, though…” At this, Nora pouts guiltily.

Pyrrha waves it off. “Nora, there’s really no need for that. Jaune offered to take the couch. He thought you and I needed our personal space and gave us our own rooms.”

“I could have taken the couch. Besides, all of this room is a little much for me. I don’t even know what to do with it.”

“You’ll adapt, I promise. Besides, this isn’t even Jaune’s room. I’m the one that moved into that one, silly.”

“Oh, then… who’s room was this? Was it yours first?”

“Um… No, Nora, Jaune and I didn’t live together before you came along. He had a different partner, but she…” Pyrrha looks down to the swirling liquid in her cup, holding it with both hands. Her eyes take on a reminiscent, yet somewhat sad look. “She… had to take some time away… Figure out some things…”

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Nora tilts her head in curiosity at Pyrrha’s sudden change in demeanor. Placing the cup down on the night stand next to her bed, she scoots closer to Pyrrha, bending over to get a better look at the woman’s face.

“Pyrrha…?”

At Nora’s worried call, Pyrrha looks to the young girl and shakes her head, a small smile on her lips. “No, it’s nothing, Nora. Just… taking a stroll down memory lane.”

“The girl… was she your friend?”

“Yes she was.”

“Is she… you know…?”

“Oh, heavens no. She’s fine. Just not here right now.”

“Oh… Well, is she okay, then?”

At that, Pyrrha lets out a sigh, looking down to her mug once again. “I would hope so. I haven’t been able to talk to her since she left, so I can’t really be sure.”

“Do you miss her?”

“More and more every day… It’s… strange. I only got to meet her after coming to Beacon. We hadn’t known each other before then, but we quickly became friends, to my utter surprise. Truthful, with her cold attitude, I suspected we’d be at each other’s throats more often than not. But she actually warmed up to me fairly soon. Before I knew it, she was constantly by my side. I hadn’t even noticed how often she would stand beside me until some time had passed. But, overtime, I would look down and there she was, talking about whatever unimportant thing she liked to ramble on about.”

“Hmm… Did she have any other friends other than you?”

Pyrrha goes to answer Nora’s question, but finds herself pausing before she can. She looks to the ceiling in thought, a wave of realization washing over her. “Actually… Now that you mention it, I don’t recall her having any outside friends. Why do you ask that, Nora?”

The orange-haired girl shrugs her shoulders. “I don’t know. It just sounds to me like this friend of yours was clinging on to you to avoid being alone.”

At this, Pyrrha gives Nora a perplexed look. Placing her mug on the floor, she turns more toward the girl. “Why would you say that, Nora?”

“I mean, you said yourself that you didn’t even know how close you were until a little while later. But she was always there with you for some reason, right?”

“I… suppose…”

“Well there you go. The way I see it, it wasn’t the fact that she warmed up to you. It was the fact that you bothered to even talk to her. And when you gave her a chance to talk back, she didn’t want to stop. Simple as that.”

Pyrrha looked absolutely dumbfounded by Nora’s assessment. Her mouth opened to question the young girl’s logic, but no words came out. Right after she finished talking, Nora takes up her book once again and continues reading, picking up her mug and sipping out of it at the same time.

“…Nora…” Pyrrha finally speaks, finding her words. “How… would you know something like that…?”

Turning the page, Nora shrugs her shoulders, not looking up from her book. “Call it a hunch. I don’t know. I could be wrong.”

“…By any chance, does this ‘hunch’ of yours happen to stem from your own personal experiences?”

Rather than answer, Nora continues to read her book, acting as if she hadn’t heard what Pyrrha said.

“Jaune told me what happened at Ms. Goodwitch’s office today… Nora, you can’t keep doing this; keeping yourself closed off, not talking about how you feel… You and I both know that not talking isn’t helping anybody. Don’t we?”

Nora flips to another page. “I don’t wanna talk to her…” Nora says under her breath.

“Nora…”

“She wouldn’t understand… She probably doesn’t even really care about what I have to say. All she has to do is deal with me for an hour and then she gets paid to pretend to care about the next girl that comes in. Rinse and repeat.”

“I don’t think that’s true. I think Ms. Goodwitch really does want to help you as much as she can. But she can’t do her job if you don’t let her.”

“That’s all it is to her, though!” Nora looks up from her book, placing her cup back on the nightstand, looking into Pyrrha’s eyes. “It’s just a job. She doesn’t really care about me or anyone she talks to. She has a job to do and that’s that.” With that, she faces forward, arms crossed over her chest as she pouts defiantly.

“Do you really think it’s fair to judge her so quickly, Nora? How do you know any of that if you don’t give Ms. Goodwitch a chance to prove herself?” Pyrrha could see Nora deflate at her words, eyes lowering to the sheets. “Yes, Nora, this is her ‘job’, and she most likely does get paid to do this. But what if she doesn’t consider this as just-a-job? What if she truly does take the time to get to know each and every one of her patients? What if she does spend an hour with you each week because she cares about what you have to say? Or even what you don’t have to say? But how will you know any of this if you don’t give her a chance?”

By now, Nora’s arms had completely fallen to her sides. She pulls her knees inward to her chest and wraps her arms around them. Pyrrha gives the young girl a sympathetic smile.

“Here. Let me get closer.”

Pyrrha moves to completely get atop the bed, making sure to get as close to Nora as possible. Once next to her, Pyrrha wraps an arm around the teal-eyed girl’s shoulder and pulls her in.

“I know it can be difficult to put your trust into someone you don’t really know. Believe me, I do. But… don’t look at it that way. I think it’s better if you see it as… having an ear to let out all of those thoughts swirling in that big brain of yours. Don’t see Ms. Goodwitch as someone who’s only there to get a paycheck out of you. Look at her as someone who just wants to make it to where you don’t have to visit her every single week. I think if you give her a chance, you’ll find that Ms. Goodwitch isn’t as bad as you think she is.”

Nora looks up at Pyrrha with her big eyes.

“Do you think you could do that? For me?”

She doesn’t respond for a moment. Instead, she looks away, eyes wandering around the room, but not actually paying attention to her surroundings. She closes her eyes and sighs. Finally, she slowly looks up at Pyrrha and nods slowly. Pyrrha smiles down at her. With that, she pulls Nora into a hug.

“Thank you, Nora. Just try it. See how it turns out…”

“Uh…”

At the sound of the new voice, Pyrrha and Nora both look up at the room entrance. Standing there with a mug in his hand, looking at the two awkwardly, Jaune has his other hand in his pocket.

“I was just… checking on you girls… seeing if the hot chocolate was good… Should I come back later, or…?”

Pyrrha and Nora turn to one another. At Jaune’s antics, they each giggle, then turn back to the blonde.

“It’s fine, Jaune. We were just finishing up.”

“Oh, uh, cool then,” he says, scratching the back of his neck. “Say, I think I’m just about spent on this whole studying thing. I was gonna put on a movie, or something before heading off to bed. You two wanna join me in the living room and hang out?”

Pyrrha turns to Nora. “Well? Would you like to see a movie, Nora?”

Nora nods with a smile. “Sounds good to me!”

“Come on.”

With that, the two girls hop out of the bed and follow Jaune to the living room.

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The two walk down the long corridor, passing various other doors, each with numbers and the names of the occupants on signs. Nora had her eyes on the ground as she made the trek to the familiar room she had visited on more than one occasion now. Before her, leading the way, Jaune rambled along.

“Just, you know, try and chill out a little. Open up to her. Let out your feelings and stuff.”

“I know,” she answers for the umpteenth time.

“It’s like Pyrrha said, Ms. Goodwitch is just here to help. That’s all.”

“Yeah, I get it.”

“I’m sure if you just relax a little, everything’s gonna be al-“

“Jaune.”

The boy stops his stride and turns to the young girl. “Y-Yeah?”

“I got it. Don’t worry.”

He laughs. “Yeah-Yeah, totally. You got this. Just… makin’ sure.”

She smiles at him and the two continue their walk.

Before they know it, the door to Glynda Goodwitch’s office comes into sight. Just as they approach, however, the door opens and a familiar red figure walks out. Jaune and Nora pause in their stride to look on at the sight.

“Bye, Ms. Goodwitch. Thanks for listening.”

“Of course, Ruby. Have a good day.”

Ruby completely exits the room, shutting the door behind herself. Putting her hood over her head, she turns to walk down the hall, only to pause when she sees Nora and Jaune standing before her.

“Nora. Jaune,” she says, looking between the two.

“Hey, Rube. How’s it hangin’?” Jaune greets. “What brings you here?”

“I-I was just… finishing up a session with Ms. Goodwitch. That’s all.”

“Seriously? You’re in therapy, too?”

Ruby has an uncomfortable look on her face. “U-Umm…”

The boy puts his hands out quickly. “Hey-Hey, not that it’s any of my business, or nothin’. It’s cool. I was just dropping Nora off real fast. She’s got a session starting with Glynda pretty soon.”

“Oh. Okay, then. Well, don’t let me hold you guys up, then. I’ll see you around, okay Jaune?”

“Right back at ya’, squirt.”

Ruby waves to Nora. “Bye, Nora. Have a good session.”

She begins to walk forward past Jaune and Nora, the blonde moving aside to let Ruby through.

“Hey. Ruby?”

Ruby turns back around at the sound of Nora calling out to her, curious to what she wanted. Nora fidgets where she stands, looking to the ground.

“These therapy sessions… do they help at all…?”

For a split second, Ruby looks taken off guard by Nora’s question. She looks to Jaune, who looks back with a shrug, pointing to Nora. Ruby looks back to younger, fidgeting girl and smiles.

“More than you’d think…”

At that, Nora looks up, surprise evident in her expression. With no other words spoken, Ruby proceeds to turn and walk away, leaving the two alone in the hall. Nora stares at where Ruby was for a moment, lost in thought. Jaune reaches a hand down and takes her shoulder. She looks up at him.

“You good?” he asks.

She nods her head reassuringly and turns to Glynda’s door. Walking to it, she stands before it, hand raised to knock. After a second, she finally does and waits for the go-head to enter.

“Yes, come on in,” the older sounding voice inside calls out.

Slowly, Nora takes the handle of the door and opens it. Inside, sitting in her cushioned chair, Glynda sits with one leg crossed over the other as she wrote information down on the clipboard. She turns around and looks to Nora, a smile on her face.

“Ah, good. You’re right on time. I can take it from here, Mr. Arc, you go ahead. She’ll be ready in an hour.”

“Yes ma’am,” Jaune says. He looks down to Nora. “You gonna be okay?”

Nora looks up at him with a soft grin. “Yeah. I think so.”

He reaches a hand up and ruffles Nora’s hair, making her giggle. Giving one last wave Glynda’s way, he shuts the door quietly, leaving the two ladies to their business.

“Please. Have a seat, Nora.” Glynda points to the chair before her. Nora complies and walks to it, gently sitting down, hands atop her knees. “So, another day, another session.” Glynda leans forward, pulling down her glasses a bit to look at Nora. “How are you feeling today? Do you finally feel like talking to me?”

Nora smiles at Glynda and nods. “Yes ma’am… I think I am…”

Glynda can’t help but to smile at Nora’s answer. She leans back and writes something on her clip board. “That’s very good to hear. We can start anytime you feel ready.”

“Um… actually… I have a question.”

“Yes, what is it?”

Nora rubs the back of her neck as she conjures up the correct way of asking her question. “W-Well… I was just wondering… Do you… get money when you talk to me like this?”

At Nora’s rather odd question, Glynda stops writing for a minute and looks up. “You’re asking if I receive payment for the time I spend here with my patients. No, I do not. This isn’t considered an actual job, teaching taking that mantle. I simply do this as an extracurricular activity to help my students and people like you who need someone to talk to.”

This was not the answer Nora was expecting. And this was made clear by Nora’s complete look of shock.

Glynda grins. “You’d be surprised how many of my patients actually ask me that, Nora. You aren’t alone.”

Nora looks down to the ground, still trying to grasp what she just heard. She could feel a smile force it’s way on to her lips. She couldn’t explain why.

“Now. Enough about me. Lets talk about you. How’s about we start with who you are; your life from the beginning. Feel free to go as far as you see fit.”

Nora looks up at the woman and nods. Taking in a deep breath, she lets it out in a puff.

“Once upon a time… there was a little girl named Nora…”