norahgrady

[norahgrady]

She didn't really know how to even respond. She didn't want Devin. She never really did. He was there, and she was lonely, desperate, embarrassing. All of the things she didn't want to taint her waters, and yet had become more concentrated than she'd ever expected. Ernesto was better than her, and that tasted more bitter than anything else. So unwilling to fight, and ready to just cut the diseased limbs from himself. "I don't want Devin," she grumbled in the midst of a well-won war against a roll of her eyes. All of her kicking and screaming that she could throw a tantrum with to defend herself fell dead as soon as it crossed her mind. It wasn't about you. It was the truth, but it was a truth that would only stir up more shit. He was right. About Ernesto, or not, it wasn't worth some desperate grasp. She simply nodded, agreement, at the very least, that she should have had even a minor consideration over someone she considered a friend.

His words, her words, stopped her in her tracks, framed by the door and a short three steps away from being out of earshot. Fucking asshole. She turned back to face him, a hand rested on the door frame. "We are. This is dealing with each other. At least, as far as work stands. I come in, bring you paper work. You call me when you get a body." She forced herself to meet his eyes. "Work is work." She started to turn again, only to stop once more. "For the record," she started, keeping her voice steady. "I am sorry. We can talk outside of here." She motioned her hand in a vague, upright circle, signifying the building. "Your call when and where you want to hash it out."

Ernesto was well aware that this hadn’t been the kind of conversation Norah had been looking for and maybe it was cruel of him to make it go into that direction instead but there was an anger burning in the pit of his stomach and a tightness in his chest that he hadn’t been able to shake ever since he’d learned about what happened. He remained neutral, his tone calm and glance averted for the most part but it was all connected ultimately, wasn’t it? He sighed, his shoulders slumping as he tried to figure out what to say to that. It was torture on both ends in a way but maybe there was a masochist trapped away within him. He’d stayed after all. Time and time again. A restless hand dragged along his beard, in desperate need for a trim – it was as if he’d stopped feeling and looking like himself lately. As if a part of his identity was shifting and he wasn’t sure what to do about it.

He blinked at her, eyes blank and yet expectant. A humorless snort escaped him and he shook his head in dismissal. Only a few weeks ago, he would’ve laughed about it, joked about having connections and all but now, the laughter was left out, no longer an option in his mind. “I’m not turning this into a catfight,” was all he said before sniffling, a nervous habit he was trying to shake, brushing the pad of his thumb against his itching nose. “You can have him if you want. No gouging your eyes out, no raging and screaming. I’m not going to fight for something that was probably never worth fighting for. I guess I was naïve thinking there was some respect for me left. If not from him, then at least from you.”

When Norah turned, Ernesto couldn’t help but huff in disbelief. “Whatever happened to us having to deal with each other at some point?” He repeated her words back to her, a tilt of his head underlining his rather spiteful question.

[norahgrady]

There was a time that would have worked. Where Shauna could have Norah seeing red, only to then smile at her, or suggest something so gentle, and she would have huffed out the last of her discontent before giving in. Instead of the cleansing breath, a frustrated sigh of "Shauna," escaped. She moved aside, though, letting her in and shutting the door behind her. "I'm not drinking anymore," she answered the offer. She'd never really had a problem, simply viewed it as a reason to point to as a cause of her own indiscretions. Though, she wasn't sure if she was exactly ready to share the reason with her. She could have let it go, could have ignored the request, gone and grabbed the last couple of boxes of her things in silence and sent Shauna on her way, the way she'd always envisioned. However, her own anger was like a festering wound that she couldn't leave well enough alone. "What do you want to talk about?" She asked, arms crossed over her chest. "Are you just going to ask me for some money to help get you back on your feet? Because the answer is no."

"I won't stay long," Shauna promised quietly. "I just need to grab a few things." As far as excuses go, this was was so thinly veiled that she almost shouldn't have bothered with it at all. Costume jewelry that was already tarnished, a few records that weren't very good to begin with. Things she wouldn't have missed until she did a mental inventory of what she could possibly ask for. Serving time seems to have cost Shauna her hard-won poker face, because she was already faltering. "Unless, maybe, you want to grab a drink? It doesn't have to... it doesn't have to be anything. Just... talk. It's... it's good to hear your voice without making a collect call."

@norahgrady

[norahgrady]

“That’s not—” She stopped herself from finishing the thought with the punctuated what I meant. It wasn’t a question of how they would deal with the situation, rather about each other. Though, they were intrinsically linked, and so, she held her tongue. Cutting the unhelpful, half-assed defense down the center to let it bleed out and die on her tongue. She huffed out a breath, knowing he was right. How were they meant to deal with it? It was too much to ask of him, and she’d known that going in. He had every right to feel however he did about her. It was by some miracle he hadn’t fired her, that she was still being called and hadn’t had to leave town, even as that had been fresh on her mind as of late. Some fake pride keeping her from running away from her problems, when rather, she was slicing open the wounds over and over again by staying.

The point he made was clearly rhetorical. How could she expect him to react and get over it, when she was standing in front of him. Still, the answer of a “No,” came without thinking. “I just meant,” she started, some desperate attempt at trying to ease the tension. “This is our reality, at least for the time being, and I’d rather not make our jobs harder than they already are, given what happened.” She rolled her eyes at her own passive way of phrasing it. “Like, if you want to gouge my eyes out or whatever, you can to do it beyond the parking lot. If you do it here, then you’ve got to call Walter and the crime scene clean-up guys, and that’s such a hassle.” The joke didn’t land, and she knew it the second she said it. The kind of morbid humor that may have flown before Ernesto had found out. “Sorry.”

She finally half turned, and pointed to the door. “I’ll get out of your hair.” Norah finished the turn to the door, doing everything in her power to keep herself from breaking out into a full sprint as she exited the office, half anticipating that she’d given Ernesto the idea to follow after and make her a deserving victim within the town. A singular glance as she turned to head to the exit to make sure he wasn’t actually making a move to follow. A quiet, “Have a good one,” escaping her lips on little more than a whisper.

Ernesto wasn’t sure that he had any more to give than this – the icy cold of his usual warm and gentle demeanor but in a way, it was the only option for him to deal with this. Of course, he felt like raging sometimes. Like throwing nasty insults her way and Devin’s or smacking the paperwork right out of her hands in a moment of fury but that wasn’t how Ernesto operated. Whatever had happened or blossomed between Norah and Devin, there’d been a line that either of them decided to overstep on his behalf and ultimately, that was the one thing that finally shattered the illusion of the vision he had for them. In a way, it had been naïve to think that this move would change Devin but maybe he’d hoped that he wouldn’t dare to be as open about his unfaithfulness here where people were quick to talk and judge and observe.

Now, there was nothing Ernesto could do though. He could tell her to look for a new job. He could make her the only one responsible but the truth was, she wasn’t. Maybe he’d even played his part in enabling what had happened by allowing Devin to step out again and again and again. It was different now though, with a familiar face being unable to look at him properly, the feelings he had shifted. He’d grown to be okay with the faceless numbers but not with this. This was different. This wasn’t just his partner being unfaithful. This was betrayal.  

With a deep breath, Ernesto reminded himself to keep himself steady. They were adults after all – they could be professional about this, potentially. “Okay,” he said, almost flinching at the tone of his voice himself but he dared to look back at Norah briefly. Merely a flicker of his eyes before focusing back on the screen. “Yeah,” Ernesto replied. “I will do that. Thank you.” With that, he willed this situation to be done and over with but it only then registered what Norah was saying after and Ernesto squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. “Coworkers. Right,” he muttered and a part of him regretted ever going beyond that. Maybe coworkers were just that for a reason. No family. No friends. Someone neutral you didn’t familiarize yourself with beyond work. But he had and now he was grieving both, the loss of his partner and a close friend. He was almost relieved when Norah seemed to leave, ready to settle back into the routine of work to occupy his mind. Though, he wasn’t safe just yet and he let out a sigh at her words. He wanted to accept the offer, to thank her for the gesture and pick-me-up that came with a boost of much needed caffeine but the words caught in his throat. “Well, I don’t know how to deal with all this yet, Norah,” he admitted, clearing his throat. “If I had any choice in this, I’d not exactly choose to see Devin first thing in the morning and you next. But it is what it is and you’re right, we can’t keep doing that dance but right now, I don’t know what else to do. Hell, if you have any ideas, I’m all ears but as far as I’m concerned, there wouldn’t be a hump to get over if none of this had happened in the first place, so I’m not sure what my part is supposed to be in all of this, other than being as neutral as I can be given the circumstances.”

[norahgrady]

It was unfair to expect more than this. Whether it be her own reckoning, his anger, but especially the forgiveness she craved. She didn't want Devin, and maybe that was worse. Not that some deep emotional affair would have been less of a knife in Ernesto's back, but, maybe it would have been more understandable if it had been love. But, it wasn't. She didn't know that she even liked Devin. And yet, she'd struck the match against her own bridge and lit it ablaze that first time that the two of them had exchanged tipsy glances the moment Ernesto had left them alone, and she decided to hide it and keep returning.

But, however unfair it was, she was still taken aback by the neutral tone. Anger was understandable, hurt was understandable. This, though, this was torture. Some ice cold block wall between them that her arms were strapped to with no way out. All things considered, this was the kindest route, chilly peace at work. Not being screamed at or not having to endure some reality TV level catfight. But, it didn't mean she wouldn't have preferred the other way. There was catharsis in having her eyes clawed out; some release of guilt and self-loathing if Ernesto fought her, gave her a reason to hate him just as much as she knew he had to hate her.

She had been standing there for too long at this point. She could apologize, she could beg for forgiveness and tell him how big of a mistake it was, even though she'd made it enough times that she didn't rightfully get to call it that. She stammered at his rhetorical dismissal of a question. Something she rarely let herself get caught doing. "Uh, no." Still, though, she couldn't make her feet move, as if they'd grown roots and stitched deep into the foundation of the building. "Just, um, I guess, give me a call or shoot me a text if another body comes in. I know we're doing this whole 'avoiding each other' dance, but, we're going to have to deal with each other at some point or another. I'd rather just get over the hump of that. Coworkers, and all." She paused, ready to turn heel and make a beeline for the exit, but holding herself hostage for just a moment longer, simply to pitch a small attempt at raising a white flag. "There's coffee in the pot. I just made it fresh before I came up. That really good Colombian blend."

Work had been taxing as it was. The long hours and recent deaths hadn’t left Ernesto unaffected and yet, it was part of the path that he’d chosen when he’d taken over the family business. He tried to remind himself of his profession. Of the promise he’d made to himself when he’d started his training and for the most part, it worked. It was mostly that the working conditions lately were not ideal either – considering that he had to properly face Norah eventually, despite their best attempts at keeping a distance between them. Work was work though and spending their days in the same establishment was only asking for it to happen, whether they liked it or not.

Ernesto wasn’t even sure what he felt about it all. He’d turned numb to Devin’s antics over the years, or at least he’d thought so. Knowing Norah and him had gotten involved was a whole different kind of hurt. There was anger, too, a feeling Ernesto wasn’t too fond of but he couldn’t deny that he was going through the motions as it was. The betrayal hurt more than the physical aspect of it all. Ernesto had been able to look past that for the most part but knowing that someone he’d considered a close friend and someone he trusted would fall for Devin’s charms was a hard pill to swallow.

It was only a matter of time until they had to face this new reality though. And the time had finally come today. He’d started it like any other day, in hopes that he’d get out of the house without having to talk to Dev, coming into work early after working late in an attempt to distract himself. Norah’s voice almost caught him off guard from where he’d been typing away at the countless unanswered emails on his computer, dark eyes flashing from behind his glasses before his glance lowered again almost immediately. “Thanks,” he said, taking the paperwork from her. Dry and without much intonation to it. “Sounds good to me.” Ernesto cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortably on his chair, letting out a breath. “Anything else?”

[norahgrady]

location: work :/ @ernestocardonax

Norah couldn't remember the last time she'd looked Ernesto in the eye. Even before he'd actually found out, she'd avoided it at all costs since whatever it was had started. Affair sounded so serious. It was terrible, it mattered, but not in the way that affair made it seem. They had all been friends since they'd arrived, easy and casual. Things just happened. There wasn't really a way to explain to someone that you slept with their partner in a way that came off fine or forgivable. Not that she deserved forgiveness, she knew she didn't, but it didn't mean she didn't want some sort of absolution. She'd practically been begging the assistant to handle the go between for her and Ernesto. It avoided two birds with one mortuary assistant.

But, it was a matter of time before she had to face him. Professional, even for as nervous as she was going in. She'd practiced what she'd say and how she'd say it all night when she'd been working. The hope had been she'd finish before five, and be out before Ernesto even got in, and could just leave a note. However, she'd practiced just in case. And now, after at least fifteen minutes, she'd made her way to his office, and swallowed down the nervous quake in her voice. "Mr. Tarkesian is prepared," she'd said, handing over paperwork, trying to keep a cool air to keep from poking too much time and talk between them. "His wife called late last night, asked if she could bring some of his things to be buried with, some baseball cards or something, I don't know. I told her to bring them by this morning when you were in. I said around nine."

[norahgrady]

[ jessica lucas, cis woman, she/her ] - was that norah grady i saw by the lighthouse today? i heard that the thirty-nine year old who has been in nightrest for ten years and works as a mortician has a reputation of being responsible, but also deceptive. they reside in ashmore & people in town usually associate them with getting lost in work until late at night, ignored voicemails, empty takeout containers. let’s hope the killer doesn’t go after them next.

tw: parental death, death tw

name: norah emily grady

age: 38

birthday: september 28th, 1984

zodiac: libra ☼ | scorpio ☽ | aquarius ⇡

occupation: mortician

gender/pronouns: cis woman | she/her

sexuality: bisexual

element: water

alignment: true neutral

temperament: melancholic

mbti: isfj

enneagram: 3w4

BIO

Born in Portland, Maine, the only child to a doctor and a Biology professor

Was always very interested in science from a young age

Attended college at Salem State University  in Salem, MA going into Healthcare with a minor in Human Biology, intending to become a doctor like her mother. 

During her senior year, her mother passed away unexpectedly. With the sudden shock, had come both a closed door to herself, and a coping that led to some sort of morbid curiosity. She dropped out of school, and took a job at a funeral home in Salem, one that started out just as an assistant. But, through it, befriended the mortician, and a discussion of learning from him.

Norah went back to school, this time for mortuary sciences, while interning at the mortuary.

When she met @shaunahammond, Norah fell head over heels in love quickly. Norah moved to Nightrest after taking a job at a mortuary working as a mortician. They got married when Norah was 28.

The couple divorced after Shauna ran them into deep gambling debt :)

Had an affair with @devinvega because she's a shit friend to @ernestocardonax

messy asshole, dude.

ESTABLISHED CONNECTIONS

ex-wife: shauna hammond

co-worker (ex-friend): ernesto cardona

ex-affair: devin vega

TBD

WANTED CONNECTIONS

friends (any and every kind of friendship, but she'll fuck your partner, be warned)

enemies

anything and everything, dudes.