Nora felt as if she were floating, although that was a metaphor since she did know what that sensation was like, she just did not really have a way to describe everything she was actually experiencing.
It was like describing a color you just imagined, something that does not exist but that in your head makes perfect sense. That was how she had felt this past week since they fused.
Things would not be the same as before, but that was the damn point of it all. She felt good, very good, almost as if she were living a fantasy made by herself, but not completely, because in a perfect world her father would not have walked into the house with a shotgun asking for Adrian the next day. How the hell did he find out in less than a day? She had a slight suspicion of how, but she did not say anything. And why the hell a shotgun? He was not supposed to have things like that after that incident when she found his weapons when she was younger without knowing they were weapons.
What followed was a very clear explanation on her part. Very uncomfortable and embarrassed by her father's actions, the talk was very very very strange, starting with silent threats and ending in some sort of tacit agreement. She was not blind, but understanding all of that while being embarrassed was not as easy as one might expect. Luckily for her, Adrian did not turn into a bundle of nerves like she did at that moment, maybe a little surprised, but at the end of the day not everyone has their girlfriend's father point a ten gauge shotgun at them.
Clearly she could think of many things about her father at that moment. She loved him, but sometimes he was very exaggerated in many aspects of his life like school or the house, though it was not like she could really complain about it. Well, she was going to complain once she stopped being so embarrassed about getting the talk while Adrian stood beside her watching both father and daughter be equally embarrassed, though one was far more furious than embarrassed.
She stared into the void for a second before refocusing on everything that had happened this week.
First came the near tirade of questions Connie threw at her while smiling slyly. She did not stop asking until she practically ran out of air in her lungs. Questions that embarrassed her, but answering them also gave her a sense of happiness.
Then there were the reactions of the Gems, clearly calmer after they unfused. It was worth noting that Amethyst looked fine, but from what she knew, while fused it was not the same, something she would have to pay attention to. Pearl was in a similar state to Amethyst, but for different reasons, she just did not know which ones, plus something odd in her behavior. Lastly Garnet looked calm, as if a weight had been lifted off her. She was the one Nora talked to the most, despite being the Gem who spoke the least in the group.
Strangely enough, she was the one who understood her the most right now. Yes, she knew that was because Garnet was a fusion, but what more could she ask for in that moment than someone who could truly understand how she felt about it? Of course human couples might give part of a worldview she did not have, but the Gem part of her? Not at all. That was territory she could only ask Garnet about, being the only Gem relationship she knew and likely would ever know.
She was happy about that. She would say it again and emphasize it over and over, because she did not know that feeling could feel like this. She could invent pretty words for those sensations, but the truth cannot be defined.
But that was not the only thing she did this week. Lately she had been going out a lot with Adrian. Even if it was not very different from when they went out as friends, she could notice the change in both of them, not just in herself.
The way their hands intertwined when they walked together, the way they sometimes got lost in each other's eyes only to laugh at the other's embarrassed face, how the smallest gestures became something to cherish, how they talked about things they had not talked about before while keeping their dynamic exactly as it was. Him being the supernatural horror that he was and her being the daughter of an alien revolutionary.
As for why she was still so embarrassed even though a week had passed since everything started, it was because he would not stop reminding her of her slip before fusing. Yep, looking back now she knew that what she did, or rather how she did it, was like giving a weapon to a monkey, a very bad idea. Not because the idea itself was bad, she literally could not contain herself at that moment, but that was not the way to act. Not when Adrian would joke about it for eternity or beyond that. In the end, that annoying side of him turned her into a bundle of nerves. The way he looked at her, the way he smiled at her with mockery but also respect, something contradictory, something beautiful.
She even managed to get him to open up about the place where he lived. She already knew about it, but she had never spent much time there. Seeing it was like seeing a part of Adrian. Extremely contradictory yet fitting him perfectly. The living room was a normal living room with barely any furniture, while a fairly simple kitchen fulfilled its function. His bedroom was, at best, something straight out of a supernatural horror story about the human mind. The place had that feeling to it, while red roses grew from the wood of the bed whispering songs. She had to raise an eyebrow at that, but he simply replied that it was something he had added recently to help him sleep, which actually made sense considering his situation.
Continuing with the house, the last part was the basement. She could say with certainty that it had something that made it seem bigger than it really was, because the endless hallway of cables alongside electronic components she did not recognize were exposed in large constructs while paper notes filled everything. Notes about formulas, thoughts, or nonsense, yet strangely you did not get lost. Instead you understood the thread of thought that led to it, as if by looking at it you could answer any question. Knowing Adrian, it could very well be something like that. She would not dismiss it, not after he fused several timelines. She was honestly surprised he did not have something more supernatural, something he noticed, but he only replied by showing her the same book he had been writing weeks ago. The book looked as if it were made of twisting leather while metallic parts swirled and pulsed like a heart, and with each beat it emitted a soft silvery light. There was the supernatural part of the place. She knew it. She expected him to pull something like that.
Today she was with Amethyst in her room, looking for old things to pass the time. Even if it seemed like she spent the day with what could be considered one of her aunts or mothers or sisters, the truth was that she wanted to figure out what was going on with Amethyst and Pearl. But Pearl was so deep in that mask that she could not get anything out of her. Amethyst, on the other hand, was more expressive despite trying to hide her expressions, so at least Nora could try to decipher something. From what she was discovering, it seemed like an inferiority complex. That was the most likely answer, but Nora could not understand why.
And that was how her day was going, accompanying the shortest Gem in the group while they searched through what she herself called Relics of the past. That was until a silver hand mirror caught her attention while Amethyst climbed atop a large pile of historical weapons. She carefully took the mirror and put it into her burger backpack before continuing the search for Relics with Amethyst. Maybe she would find something he would like. Damn it, lately it was all she could think about, but deep down she knew it was not the only thing she had to think about.