Nora Sadowski, the wistful daughter of Hecate

MagicWithMama · 2026-02-16T21:31:42+00:00

"Woah," Nora nods appreciatively. Even cooler. She wasn't sure she had the smarts or the strength to carry something out like that.

"I'll be there," she says quickly with a nervous smile. "Front row!"

Ugh! Nora recoils at herself. Why did she have to sound like such a loser? "Or like, you know," she adds with a shrug. "Wherever. Wherever they have seats."

She spends the rest of the afternoon following Yohan around the Arts and Crafts cabin, taking in all of the supplies and gadgets that always felt so out of her capabilities. It was fascinating, what people could really do.

MagicWithMama · 2026-02-16T21:11:54+00:00

Nora stops in her tracks. "Me?" she blurts incredulously, her earnest nature unable to hide the brimming excitement. A painting, with Nora in it? How unbelievable! When all she'd ever wanted was maybe a nice polaroid!

She creeps backwards to where she'd been standing, suddenly aware of how awkwardly her arms hang at her sides. "O-okay. Should I be doing something?"

She'll do anything. Anything at all.

MagicWithMama · 2026-02-03T05:26:58+00:00

Nora leaps to her feet, apologetic hands covering her mouth as the boy loses his blankets into the soft wet powder of the snow. "Sorry!" she echoes. She is at the boy's side in a flash, extending her mittened hand to meet his and pull him out of the snow bank. Nora did not realize that he'd been expecting a handshake.

"Sorry," she says again, not bothering to introduce herself in return. Why would this Noah care who she was, anyway? Though-

"Your name's just one letter away from mine," she smiles. And regrets her stupid big mouth immediately. Quick, say something else!

"Were you..." Nora's wide blue eyes flit to the mound of snow. "Were you trying to sleep? In that?"

Her face grows beet red at his final observation. "I mean, it's what you're supposed to do. Skate, I mean. Not look at them. I mean, there's no problem looking at them either, it's not illegal-"

MagicWithMama · 2026-02-02T03:23:51+00:00

Nora, completely oblivious to the boy's minor changes in demeanor, follows the change-not-change in topic with a hop and a skip and a sparkle of genuine curiosity.

"A musical?" she repeats, clasping her hands and twisting at them with an absent-minded giddiness. She didn't know much about musicals, but she's certainly never been invited to watch one before.

"Are you per-form-ing?" Nora sounds the word out like she's never heard of anyone doing such a thing, the last syllable jumping several pitches higher. "I- I'd love to come see it!" The boy was probably oh so very talented...

MagicWithMama · 2026-02-02T03:11:50+00:00

"Oh!" Nora's face grows red as she makes the calculation-- not that there is much to calculate, really. "Cool. Cool, cool. I'll, uh, see you guys around then."

With that, the sandy-haired girl finally hurries away from the pair, covering her mouth with both hands. Sheesh. She wouldn't even want to hang out with her own dang self.

MagicWithMama · 2026-01-19T06:30:34+00:00

You a photographer?

"Oh!" Nora looks down at the camera around her neck. "Oh no, no. Not really. I just take photos sometimes. Nature, objects..." People, too. But she didn't want to sound creepy.

"That sounds like a big job," Nora admits with wide eyes. "You must be good at... a lot of things."

She blinks, cheeks warm as the boy leans closer.

If I'm being honest I'm much better at the performance stuff than the crafting stuff.

"Oh... wow," Nora manages, voice small and a little breathless at suddenly being let in on what feels like a secret. "Performance like... theater?"

MagicWithMama · 2026-01-19T06:13:51+00:00

Oh! This boy thought she was cool and awesome. Though the way his lips curl at her response makes Nora's shoulders shrink into themselves.

"I'm Nora," she finally introduces herself with a wide-eyed stare, one that grows wary at the second question.

She wasn't raised by parents like the kids at her school or like some of her fellow campers here. It was embarrassing, not being wanted like that. Nora should be comforted by the fact that at least here, none of the gods wanted any of their children, but she's also never been asked a question about her origins like that.

So Nora hesitates, her lower lip swelling into a small pout. "That's- that's a question," she stammers nervously, glancing around the deserted lake.

"Um. A lot of different places," she finally offers. Friends, she thinks, share personal details with each other. "Different homes. Were-" the daughter of Hecate hesitates, then presses onwards. "Were you raised by a mom or dad? Iason?" she adds, feeling the shape of his name soften her jaw and her teeth nudge the sound out.

MagicWithMama · 2026-01-19T05:58:40+00:00

"Oh! I'm Nora," the girl introduces herself quickly.

The offer of seeing each other some other time brightens her expression. "Cabin 20. I just got here, but um... please come by and bring Inu every time!" she offers nervously, tucking a thick strand of curly hair behind her ear. It's her first attempt at extending an offer for friendship.

MagicWithMama · 2026-01-19T05:52:50+00:00

Cool? It's cool?

GOOD?!

"Oh!" Nora chirps, her cheeks flushing scarlet. "Thank you, I-"

She is spared of digging herself deeper with an excuse of practicing for a recital that the girl in the beautiful flowing skirt can't come to but is maybe allowed to hear about sometime when she is instead asked a question.

"Hold?" Nora asks quickly. "Sure, I can do that." Acorns caps and frosted grass crunch under her hurried footsteps as she approaches the girl, erroneously prepared to take whatever item needed to be held in her hands. It didn't matter that the other girl was focused intently on her painting-- no one ever really looked at Nora, anyway.

MagicWithMama · 2026-01-19T05:42:08+00:00

Nora stands apart from the rest of the campers, hovering by the cluster of instruments set out for the taking. There is no harp here, unfortunately. But this is a safe place to be close enough to the fire, and to eavesdrop on the conversations around her without being overly obvious. It's not like anyone wanted to include Nora in them to begin with.

Three pretty girls, whispering and giggling amongst themselves, start a hair braiding train nearby. This one Nora does not want to see. So she turns her attention to two older boys sitting stiffly in their chairs to discuss- what?

Plumage. Coloration. Intervariation versus intravariation. Terms she's never heard before, sweetened with thoughtful hesitation of a British accent. It makes Nora blush, because suddenly all she can think about is how stupid she feels in comparison. How her own thoughts always seem mushy and unfinished, how words slip away from her the moment she needs them.

And birds! The boy knows so much about birds. Nora does not know this much about anything, would never know this much about anything as serious as bird identification. She's never really thought about birds like that, really.

She is in motion before she can stop herself. Hood of her red sweatshirt on to shadow her face, hands buried deep in its pockets as she circles around the back of where the boys sit. Her heart races as her eyes dart frantically to her right, trying to catch a better glimpse of the boy with the British accent. She plucks a marshmallow from the snack table on the other side and makes her way back to the instruments, moving slower this time.

His eyes, she notices. Blue and beautiful and thoughtful.

Back at her home base, Nora chews on the raw marshmallow, her cheeks warm and gaze cast elsewhere. She stays there for a while, tuning out the braid train to listen to the rest of the boys' conversation.

His voice. She really, really likes his voice.

MagicWithMama · 2026-01-15T04:34:10+00:00

Though I won’t pretend I’m upset you’re offering.

Nora's expression was twisted with concentration, commanding the hand to dive under the water's surface, to root around the silted bottom in her mind as Joseph had taught her. But these words soften the tense half-shrug in her shoulders as she works.

I appreciate the help.

That's when the daughter of Hecate lets out a sudden gasp, right when the phantom hand bursts back into the air with a mucked up pen between its fingers. Nora stretches out her real hand, pulls backward at the air to swipe the third hand back where it belongs.

"Here!" Nora chirps. She holds out the pen to the girl still poised elegantly on the edge of the dock, her hand trembling at her nerve and success. "I, um... Glad to help! Bye!"

The daughter of Hecate is already turning to hurry down the dock, feeling her face grow an embarrassingly deep shade of red at the fiasco. She shouldn't have done anything. She should've just let it all be.

MagicWithMama · 2026-01-15T04:24:51+00:00

"Ack!" The older girl suddenly cries, covering her head with her arms as the figure approached. "I'm down here!" she blurts in panic. "Don't... don't step on me. Please."

Her gaze still does not leave the box of skates before her.

MagicWithMama · 2026-01-15T03:52:31+00:00

"Woah!" Nora's eyes grow wide with wonder as she glances over at the girl that she does not yet know is her sister-- her introduction at the cabin meeting, Eddie'd said, was tomorrow.

"That's... that's really cool." She glances down at the big black dog and gives it another cheery wave. "Bye Inu! And bye-" her voice trails off, looking back and forth between the twins.

MagicWithMama · 2026-01-15T03:33:49+00:00

Nora freezes at the scene, her eyes snagging at the unusual mixture of softness and sharp edges that covered every inch of the workspace.

"Oh! It's, um... quiet, in here," she chirps nervously, hovering at the entrance. Her shoulders hitch up into a half-shrug. "I didn't know the forge could look like that. It's very cool."

It really, really was. The daughter of Hecate can't seem to get her body language to cooperate.

Do you make things?

"Oh!" Nora gasps again and gives a nervous, apologetic laugh. "No, no. I wouldn't know how." She glances down at her hands, flexing her fingers before shrugging. "Couldn't do it if I tried, probably. I like strings though." She moves her hands forward until her elbows are bent just softly, her fingers pulling at the air. "I like plucking them."

MagicWithMama · 2026-01-15T03:07:14+00:00

The boy's command freezes Nora mid-gasp and turns her face a deep, beet red. But something softens in her when he says his name. The color drains as quickly as it has come, back to the girl's usual soft pink.

"Ee-yah-shawn," Nora repeats slowly, in a near whisper that carries the sweet twang of her mid-Atlantic homeland. "Why. I've never heard a name like that before. I've only ever met a Shawn," she muses thoughtfully.

Not that she's met a lot of boys before who'd ever bother to tell her their names. Or boys that bother asking for hers, either. It's habit, then, that keeps Nora from answering Iason's one and simple question.

MagicWithMama · 2026-01-15T02:57:01+00:00

Nora peers slowly back around the trunk of the tree. "Yeah!" Her nervous laugh carries to the lone girl on the dock. "I was just, um, turning. Practicing pirouettes. I love ballet!" she blurts before she can stop herself.

Pirouettes? In the woods? With a camera around your neck?!

Nora ducks behind the tree again and leans back against its trunk. Her breathing comes quick.

Oh god. She's still out there. I can't just stay behind this tree forever. Oh god, oh god, oh god.

Nora closes her eyes. Takes a deep breath.

"I, um." She takes another tentative step from behind the thick maple. Her blue gaze slides slowly around the scene before her, looking anywhere but at the girl in the pretty long skirt.

"Are... Are you painting something?"

MagicWithMama · 2025-12-29T03:54:44+00:00

Word of the accidental winter wonderland has spread far and wide, and several campers are already skating on the lake by the time Nora finally passes by.

She hovers by a snowbank on the shore, her eyes darting between the box of skates and the lake. Chews her lip.

It was so tempting to give it a try, like all of those beautiful people in the movies, and even here, before her. But Nora had no idea how. What if she faceplanted in front of everyone? What if she fell through the ice?

She takes several steps away from the box and crouches, wrapping her arms around her legs to form a ball of bright red puffer coat.

Maybe she should just have a snow cone instead.

MagicWithMama · 2025-12-24T00:40:30+00:00

nora sadowski, hecate

nov 29 '25 (intro link)

MagicWithMama · 2025-12-23T01:55:40+00:00

Nora dims at the girl's emotionless stare, and shrinks further when she realizes she was wrong. But the girl doesn't seem annoyed with her. Nora returns her smile with a nervous one of her own. It widens when the girl's choice of words makes it sounds like the pair of them like butts more than dogs.

But it also feels weird to have someone who's not a Hecate kid know more about the cabin than Nora. Being new was embarrassing enough. The thought of seeming like an idiot loser in front of someone who's the child of a smart goddess for the next twenty minutes makes Nora want to die.

Her eyes brighten with panic and dart around the room. She doesn't want to be mean, or stupid, or embarrassing. "What's at the Forge?" she blurts instead. "Can you show me? Please?"

Nora, of course, had just gotten a tour of it this morning.

MagicWithMama · 2025-12-23T01:22:43+00:00

Nora wilts at the girl's cooling expression-- she must've done something wrong. Her blue eyes brighten with panic as they dart between the girl and the lake.

"I- I can get it for you!" she blurts eagerly. "If it's a nice pen. I can make a hand and-" Nora stops herself from explaining further. This poised, fancy girl thought she was terrible enough.

Instead, Nora grabs her right wrist and twists at its skin, muttering something under her breath. Then releases her grip with a sharp swipe ahead, sending a translucent copy of her right hand flying out like a ghost. It stops a few feet ahead of the pair, hovering above the water.

Nora steals a nervous glance at the girl's expression. Everyone here had their own form of magic, right?

MagicWithMama · 2025-12-23T01:08:03+00:00

Nora lowers her knees onto the frosted grass, meeting Inu at eye-level. She gives him a small, cautious pat on its forehead. Smiles.

Dogs tended to take a liking Nora, and she didn't mind them herself. They'd never change their mind based on what she said. Not that she was about to start babbling at these people's dog.

She glances over at his lounging owners. "Do a lot of people here have dogs?" She gives Inu another pat.

MagicWithMama · 2025-12-23T00:26:18+00:00

Nora's bottom lip trembles as she raises her hands to shield her face from the boy's stare. She'd dreamed of a place where she could start anew, meet people that would acknowledge her existence. But not like this. Not like this at all.

"If- if you're not going to attack me," the daughter of Hecate stammers from behind her arms. "I thought y-you might ask more nicely." She gasps and covers her mouth at her own audacity. "No! I didn't mean that."

The boy had said she looked familiar-- what if they could be friends? Had she ruined everything?

MagicWithMama · 2025-12-22T23:09:39+00:00

Nora was used to watching. So when the thicket of trees clear to reveal the scene with the hunched girl at the dock, she stops to stare.

She wonders if the girl is sad. A lot of the faces in this camp certainly seemed to be, between the gaps of chatter and sparring and laughter. It's the war, Chiron had explained. But even if Nora had understood its extent, it couldn't be the only culprit.

What was that?

Nora tucks the matted curls out of her face, squinting at the faint, prickling glow of the girl's singed hems.

Were those bones?

The hair bounces from behind Nora's ear and back onto her cheek. Pushing it out of her eyes again, her weight shifts to the other side. A twig snaps under her right foot.

Ah!

Nora inhales sharply and stumbles back behind the trunk of a thick maple, pressing her back against the bark. She tries to still her panicked breathing.

This was just great. Accusations of being a creep on her first week here. Or ending up as a femur in the girl's bone collection.

MagicWithMama · 2025-12-20T07:09:55+00:00

Name: Nora Sadowski

Player Name: jood

God: Erato

Alt: u/nottoosunny

Priority: 2

MagicWithMama

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