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skdjadasa · 1 year

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Nevermoor Big Bang Entry! Warning 6k + words

Summary: Jupiter takes Morrigan to a haunted house, to teach her safe investigation practices. Cadence is also there.

Thank you to @bluebutlikenotalways for the accompanying art! This will also be available on ao3. My account doesn't have the same username but it is Revolutionary57 if you want to view it there, for whatever reason.

The house Jupiter has taken Morrigan too ends up being... quite underwhelming. It looks reasonably regular, or as regular as you can get in the Free State, with their buildings. It makes Morrigan relax a little, but she knows that Jupiter hates it when she puts herself in danger, so it can't be that bad. There are some slight differences in the house. The designs on the house are a bit darker and less colourful than the usual brights the civilians seem to adore. But that could simply attribute to taste, it's not black or grey or overly dim and dull. But it is brown. The garden is showing signs of overgrowing, but it's nothing Morrigan hasn't seen before.

But Morrigan frowns when she looks at Jupiter. He's tensed, his muscles clenched and he's slowly approaching the building. "Stay back, Mog," He warns, using the stupid nickname she still hates.

"It doesn't seem that bad, Jupiter," she points out. She sighs when Jupiter simply gives her a pointed look. She hovers a good few metres from the wooden gate that Jupiter is prodding with a stick. He lets the sleeve of his evergreen velvet suit touch the gate. Jupiter's caution is making Morrigan nervous, but he had brought her to teach her about safety protocols when he finally gave up on simply warning her away from things.

"Don't make physical touch immediately!" He projects his voice so Morrigan can hear him when his head is facing away. He swings the gate open gently, taking one step forward onto a cobblestone, of some kind leading up, as part of a path to the porch.

"Come forward," Jupiter confirms, and Morrigan moves gently to stand next to him. Jupiter's bright ginger mane is stark against the shrubbery surrounding them on three sides.

"Now we'll check all the borders," Jupiter instructs, but he's relaxed significantly. He doesn't mess with safety when it's somebody else's, Morrigan knows. Most of the time, anyway, she thinks, recalling the tricksy lane, Octavia, the trials. Although some of those were out of his abilities to prevent, Morrigan would have appreciated a bit of forewarning. Like right now, for instance, where she has barely been briefed besides 'we're going to check out a house.'

It takes maybe ten minutes for Jupiter to be satisfied with the gardens and to approach the porch. He avoids the steps, and he throws a stick onto the deck, and then one onto the steps. It's all a bit anticlimactic, as nothing happens.

"It's best to get the simple checks out of the way first." Jupiter explains. Morrigan tries to show she sounds interested, but they haven't done anything yet. Jupiter swings a leg up onto the deck unceremoniously and lifts himself up and over the railing.

"Up you come, Mog! Avoid the stairs." He grins, looking pleased. Morrigan snorts, unsure what he was expecting. She elevates herself up onto the deck, using the wooden bars as a leverage. It was quite fun, even the slight unbalancing drop to the other side.

Morrigan lands on deck with a light smack, and Jupiter holds her steady with a grip on her elbow.

Jupiter grins toothily at her. "Excellent!"

Jupiter says something else about safety, "The stairs are the most obvious place to trap, as they have a smaller surface area than the whole deck."

Jupiter swings open the great heavy door, and a cloud of dust billows over them, causing Morrigan to scrunch her eyes shut and cough lightly. Jupiter waves a hand in front of his face. Nothing happens with the door, but there is some ominous creaking when Jupiter tentatively lies a foot into the house. Morrigan knows this isn't what they are looking for.

Jupiter places some lines of salt along the floor, safely giving them an exit. He claims to have never seen it work but you can always be safe. And it doesn't harm anything else. Morrigan trails behind Jupiter as they turn right into the dining room, possibly a parlour, that is filled with cobwebs. There are eight chairs seated around a table on two legs, leaning forward into something almost like a yoga position. A coat of dust is settled on the floor, kicking up as Jupiter gently pulls down webs and makes his way through. Morrigan coughs as she breathes in the thick clouds.

Morrigan and Jupiter explore the whole house, taking quite a few hours, or so it feels. Everything is run down but rather beautiful, like the carvings into the bed-heads and the old red carpets with pale patterned leaves. The windows are coated in thick grime, and nothing is functional. The bathrooms are rusted and growing plants from old leaks, but the place has no signs of toxins.

The kitchen is similar, but Jupiter still pours them cups of tea from a thermos. It's Martha's blend, and Morrigan sincerely appreciates it after the boring, long time she's spent in the house. She wasn't even allowed in any room until it was cleared.

With the house all safe, Jupiter leaves Morrigan to review the pipes out back, and to check the gas system that the kitchen has proved to not be working. Morrigan takes this opportunity to wander, sitting on the creaky stairs that crawl up a wall close to the entrance of the house. The pickets of the bannister wobble when she touches them.

Eventually, she ends up downstairs, with an old pot of kettle boiled on the stove, and a mug of warm water in her hand. She hasn't asked Jupiter, but she washed the dishes, it's fine.

A bang startles Morrigan out of her wandering thoughts. She turns and sees a glimpse of darkness disappearing up the stairs to her right. The ones she was earlier exploring.

"Jupiter?" She calls out, expecting to hear a grumble in response from somewhere in the house. There's no response, so he must be still outside. Morrigan isn't quite sure if she's scared or not. Maybe it's just the old house, but Morrigan doesn't know if old houses have doors that shut. A draft inside? It's not like she would know much about that.

Fear coursing through her veins for a split second like an electric current, Morrigan turns around on her heel, her hair flicking and her clothing whishing. She makes quiet steps up the staircase and down a hallway, which is a fair bit of effort on these floorboards. She watches everything out of the corner of her eye.

She throws a door open. Morrigan's eyes glimpse a bare moment of a dark humanoid figure. "Hello?" She calls, "this isn't funny." Morrigan takes deep breaths, and shuts the door, leaving herself in a small, empty closet, wondering where a person, possibly thing could be hiding.

Morrigan looks down, to see a crouched figure in the corner. Morrigan stumbles, pressing her back into the door. The impact makes the house shake.

"Stop," a low, husky voice says to her, while Morrigan desperately searches her mind for the protocol that would work in this situation, or at least an impulse of some kind. But as she registers the voice, her thoughts are gone, and she breathes softly. "Turn around and leave."

Like a mindless puppet, a feeling that will become terrifying after Morrigan realises later, Morrigan moves her body, opening and exiting the closet. She makes her way down the stairs to the entrance of the house before she snaps out of it, regaining control. She takes in a shaky breath. Morrigan turns and sprints back up the stairs, opens the closet, but there's no sign of what happened. She should probably mention this to Jupiter, vaguely. There was no *immediate* threat anyway.

Maybe the person would leave, the girl by the sound of her voice, Morrigan remembers. But why would the girl be here out of choice and not make her presence known? Was she hiding? A test, set up to have Morrigan's decisions analysed like the Wundrous Society did but this time to teach her safety protocols and the girl to have an ending?

Morrigan hates not knowing, and plans to find out.

----

Luckily, Jupiter comes back inside very quickly. But not luckily enough, as he didn't hear anything. Jupiter peers at her a little oddly, while Morrigan stands still, nodding her head fervently. She plays with her hands, fidgeting, wondering if she should tell Jupiter.

"Uh, so, it's just us here, right?"

Jupiter frowns. "Of course, Mog. Unless this place *is* actually haunted."

Morrigan swallows strongly. "Nobody here to check it out before us?"

Jupiter has turned away from her now, walking briskly down the hall. Morrigan moves to catch up to him. He snorts, "No." There's some muttering, which isn't uncommon for Jupiter. Morrigan is more worried, but perhaps the girl lives in the neighbourhood and was wandering. Morrigan's compliance to obey her words was only a manipulative tactic, and not some strange supernatural power.

Jupiter stops and turns to her, as though he only just realised something. "Is something a problem, Mog? Anything strange?"

Morrigan does her best to smile, mind still whirring. "Nothing to worry about. Just some paranoia, probably."

Morrigan ends up at the kitchen table, sitting on the most stable chair she could find. It still rocks and the back creaks, but it holds her weight. Jupiter, however, has a bit more trouble and he drags over a moth-eaten ottoman. He sits squat at the table, facing Morrigan, and she finds it odd how short he is on the stool. His knees are almost up to his chest.

"Alright, Mog. 'Detective' work is what we are here for. It's a lot easier for me, as I can see the things that are already there. Unfortunately, this makes me somewhat underqualified. But we can start with the basics."

Morrigan nods, finding the situation somewhat tedious. Her mind was still focused on the girl, and Jupiter's method of learning was never very immediate. But, Morrigan likes anytime she spent with Jupiter.

Morrigan doesn't particularly enjoy Jupiter's education of observation skills, but she did learn a lot about the house. It was built in the Age of the East Winds, and had 2 main floors and an attic they had yet to access.

There were some specific things only Jupiter knew about the house, due to his Witness abilities, like how the inhabitants were married in the extravagant backyard, but there were some things you could gather from the house itself. The scrapes on the chairs told them they were well-used even before they started falling apart. There were some remains of a family, with a welcome mat, rusted coat hooks and scratched windows. The furniture styles show how old it is, approximately thirty years of abandonment, but still an old-style household.

"And then, over here, Mog." Jupiter directs Morrigan to the bedroom of the house, entering a walk-in closet. Morrigan is struck by the sudden thought of the girl, but she brushes it aside, as Jupiter always knows when someone isn't focused, simply by looking at them the correct way.

"The mold growing on the inside of this door and the damp smell could be a sign that this house had a lot of moths, but it could also be a sign of water damage." Jupiter blabs, Morrigan notices that those two things are reasonably unrelated. How does mold even grow from moths?

Morrigan is quick to not be able to stand Jupiter's vague explanations anymore. Sometimes she isn't even sure *he* knows what he's talking about, only taking his witness skills and attempting to connect them to real things. Once he claimed that the dust on the window proved the dog died under it. Morrigan figures unless Jupiter suddenly got the ability to understand borderline ancient, tiny cells, the two separate things were true. Some of it was helpful though, she supposes.

Later, Jupiter realises they would end up in this house for longer than he may have expected. He tries to be upbeat; claiming "No worries, Mog! The best adventures come from the unexpected." But Morrigan notices he seems a bit more fumbly than the usual calm and joyous Jupiter. He then leaves Morrigan to locate some groceries.

Morrigan is exhilarated to find she can use this opportunity to do some proper exploring of her own. After a few words from Jupiter, and a way to contact him of course. (He said he was concerned about the new place they were in, that he didn't know about and he knew more about the house than this neighbourhood.)

Morrigan only gives it about ten minutes before she cracks. She wanders into the wooden hallway, the doorframe oddly askew, leaning down and creaking ominously. She steps forward, soft-toed boots brushing against the old runner.

"Hello? Hello? Closet girl?" Morrigan isn't sure this is the best idea, but the girl wasn't openly hostile before and she doesn't know how long an ambush might take. She peers around the corners of doors, her tips of fingers coating with dust from the walls.

"You remember me. How?" The girl stands in clear light now, after Morrigan whips her head around to see a girl her age standing behind her. They seem to have similar tastes in clothes, but her hair is longer and tied back into a long plait, strands of her sitting in front of her face. She looked slightly frazzled, hair a touch askew, but elegant all the same.

"Uh..?" Morrigan said unintelligently, mouth slightly agape. She blinked several times, registering the fact that there *was* in fact somebody there. And how was Morrigan supposed to answer that question? Was she not supposed to?

The girl huffs, taking a step forward. She crossed her arms, her posture straight and confident, like *Morrigan* was the one in the wrong place.

Morrigan snorts, "Was I supposed to?" is her delayed response. "Random people in closets are pretty memorable."

The girl rolls her eyes. "It's not my fault you were too curious."

If Morrigan were a cat, her hair would be standing on end. Her brain was just short of short-circuiting. She doesn't really know what else to do. She closes her mouth and blinks a few times. "What are you doing here?"

Cadence's cadence didn't shift as she sniffs and says; "maybe you can't see me at all."

Morrigan bristles a bit more, tensing at the obvious dismissal of her question. She snorts humourlessly, inelegantly. She crosses her arms to match the girl's, and shifts her weight to mirror the girl's, although Morrigan can't quite mimic the sneer correctly, she settles for a frown. "I trust my eyes."

"Well you'd be surprised by how many people don't." Cadence mutters, staring intensely at Morrigan until she feels uncomfortable and shifts herself to a more vulnerable, lax position.

"Well, being or not, you're not supposed to be in here. Unless you're the ghost, spirit thing Jupiter and I are here for." Morrigan drops her shoulders, the tight, tense posture making her sore.

"Well, maybe I am." The girl says, a touch snappishly. Morrigan thinks for a moment, then leans out to lightly touch the girl. Who jumps backwards, and begins to retreat.

"Whatever," says the leaving figure, as Morrigan is left unsure, but at least she knew more. The girl *was* corporeal. All Jupiter's possibilities hadn't been, unless they were interacting with physical objects for a short time.

Morrigan hears Jupiter almost fifteen minutes after her impromptu rendezvous with the unfamiliar girl.

She ends up sitting at one of the dodgy chairs, kicking her legs as she watches Jupiter set down a plastic bag on the counter that creaks under the new weight. Jupiter grimaces as it but looks up as Morrigan begins to speak;

"Jupiter, what kind of creature are we looking for to be haunting this house?" Morrigan asks, feeling a bit silly she didn't think about this earlier, as she's unfamiliar with the beings that are in Nevermoor and not the Wintersea Republic. She just assumes that Jupiter would know, but after being left in the building herself, and the girl she met's charisma (if it can even be called that), she would like a basis for her own detective skills.

Jupiter looks at Morrigan for a few moments, and Morrigan knows he's doing the thing, with his eyes searching her face. He sighs almost silently, and Morrigan fights the urge to snap impatiently.

"Well, Mog, this is one of those venues they didn't have any idea about. Strange noises and breakages were the things witnesses reported before they left the neighbourhood entirely. But we haven't found any evidence of anything broken that hasn't been here for years. So it's highly likely we are looking for some illusionist spirit."

"Well, why didn't you tell me before!" Morrigan exclaims, perturbed by Jupiter's lack of communication once more. Why doesn't he tell her anything without prompting?

"I didn't have all the information before, Mog." Jupiter attempts to soothe, but mostly he looks tired. Morrigan rolls her eyes, she's been with Jupiter all day, couldn't he have explained his own thoughts about the actual problem more?

Morrigan doesn't think that the girl was any sort of illusionist, but Morrigan doesn't have any evidence against it.

Morrigan muffles a groan, leaning into the circular table, wanting to be able to tell Hawthorn everything. For once, Morrigan almost wishes to be at school for once.

Also, unrelated, Morrigan's mind jumps, where did the girl even go? The house wasn't that large and there were only so many hiding places. She just kind of slips away.

It takes a hot minute for Jupiter to leave again so Morrigan can interrogate the girl. He ends up going back into the backyard again, and Morrigan complains until she can come back in. It's not like there was anything out there anyway, besides the fear of snakes in the knee high grass out back.

"Closet girl?' Morrigan calls once more, upstairs where she was found last time.

The girl appears faster than the last time, which is a good sign.

"It's Cadence, by the way." The girl snaps, chin held high in a way that showed her pompous pride. Her legs are crossed tightly.

"..Morrigan" Morrigan forgot that names were something you offered when meeting people. Whoops. She shuffles awkwardly, all but forgetting her goal.

"What do you want now?" Cadence says brutishly, less graceful than their last meeting, despite it only having been a few hours. It was creeping closer to nighttime, and Morrigan really hoped she didn't have to sleep in this abhorrent house.

"You're not haunting this place, are you?" Morrigan's words tumble out of her mouth much more rude and demanding than she had hoped to be. Oh well, better to get to the point.

Cadence's feet make a terrible scratching sound as her heeled black shoes dragged backwards on the wood. She looks affronted, eyes widening a slight. "I'm not dead, moron."

Morrigan flinches diminutively, or though she hopes. "Well, it's just that, there's a, I'm here for a reason, because, uh, there's something haunting this house. Or something" Morrigan can feel the heat rising to her face each time another word comes out of her mouth. Where did all her collectiveness go?

Cadence looks slightly mollified, stature softening a little. "Well, it's obviously not me. But it does explain the fact that this house isn't inhabited."

"How long have you been here for? Noticed anything different?" Morrigan asks, but her soft tone doesn't go down well.

"How should I know?" Cadence's body locks in on itself, slightly defensive.

Morrigan quickly changes the subject, "well, how do you get in here then without being noticed? You must be very good." Morrigan placates.

A small grin emerges on Cadence's face that Morrigan doesn't like the look of. "Allow me to demonstrate."

Morrigan ends up almost running down the stairs following the brisk pace.

"Cadence, what?" Morrigan whisper-yells down the stairs as she takes a sharp turn around the corner, hip bumping the wall.

Cadence is at the bottom of the stairs already, timing perfectly as it only takes a few moments for Jupiter to walk in.

"Oh, hello, Mog." Jupiter says, suit he has to wear as they came immediately after Jupiter's board visit, slightly crumpled with bits of grass stuck to him. Morrigan would have laughed if she wasn't waiting apprehensively for Jupiter to notice the other girl, Cadence.

But he doesn't, and Morrigan wants to point her out, Jupiter looks confused, searching her face, but Cadence gets to him before her.

"You don't remember this conversation. You may turn around and walk back outside and climb a tree. Get down from the tree and never question why you were up there."

Cadence speaks clearly, and Morrigan shudders, not quite knowing if that will work, it's quite a long set of instructions. How often has Cadence done this? How powerful is it?

Morrigan heart tightens as she watches Jupiter's eyes glaze over and he steps back outside. Morrigan runs to hold the door open so she can watch him climb a tree, scruffing his shoes and getting his hat stuck on a low-lying thin branch, until he stops. Once he's obviously coming down, Morrigan breathes a sigh of relief and turns to a slug Cadence.

"What did you do that for?" Morrigan snaps, fire beginning to warm in her belly. She shoves it down, but that doesn't stop her increasing fury. "There was no need to do that!"

Cadence sniffs. "It was a demonstration." She clenches her jaw and turns around to leave, and Morrigan fights the urge to hell again, but it is overtaken by the urgency to check on Jupiter.

("How did my hat get up there?"

"I think the branch got it, Jupiter")

Fear courses through Morrigan as she realises Jupiter doesn't remember at all, and didn't spot Cadence at all. Maybe she was hallucinating and it has begun to seep through into reality. Morrigan growls, frustrated and she leads a frazzled Jupiter inside for a cup of tea and a distraction.

There's something in the house.

Morrigan is lying on a stripped, single bed mattress in a sweaty sleeping bag with Jupiter to her right. This was one of the bedrooms, fit for two two children. And all she can here past the faded navy walls is a horrific screeching noise, like nails on a chalkboard.

Something shatters. The noise jolts Morrigan upwards, the sheer volume of the sound leaving her wondering what could have been broken. Most of the stuff in this house would snap and bend rather than break into pieces, due to their old age. Most things are too stuck to fall even with the drafts, if they are yet to have fallen before.

A swift woosh of wind comes rapidly afterwards, leading Jupiter to glance up from his sitting position on his bed, not-so discreetly trying to look through some papers. "Go back to sleep, Mog." It has been a good couple of hours and Morrigan had yet to fall asleep in the first place. The place at night was giving her more chills than she could deal with.

Morrigan has a fleeting moment where she wonders if Cadence is alright. But Morrigan knows Cadence can take her of herself with her freaky abilities. Well, Morrigan's seen freakier at Wunsoc, and arguably she herself has the freaki*est*. Morrigan chides herself for even thinking of her, locking her jaw and swinging back against the mattress, which squeaks under her weight. The noises have changed to scratching off walls, and squeaking like scrapping furniture against wooden floors.

"Jupiter, can you hear that?" Morrigan asks, just to check as he hasn't even flinched at the noises. A window shutter violently flaps even though little wind is leaking into the house at the present moment. Morrigan squirms further into her sleeping bag to in some way feign comfort and protection.

"There's nothing, Mog, anything you're hearing is likely paranoia. The house hasn't done anything to us yet." Jupiter disputes, but through the moonlight streaming in through the grubby uncovered window, Morrigan can see his eyebrows' furrowed and his eyes slightly widened. He presses his lips together and turns back to his papers.

Morrigan lies awake, possibly sleeping for bursts no longer than half an hour by the way the moon is letting in light.

Morrigan wakes up for the final time, and all she can hear is a constant, almost distant ringing. She blocks her ears but it isn't coming from her own head, but there's a source she can't identify in the distance. She leaves Jupiter and attempts to follow the noise, but once she's up the stairs and standing outside an estimated place, the ringing has changed directions, now coming from multiple sides.

Morrigan chases it, until she is finally standing outside a door that very clearly some ringing is sourced from. She wiggles the handle and finds it locked, the old brass latch rattling. This causes the ringing to stop from inside the room, and there's a loud noise, and some scrapping. An unidentified voice screams, but Morrigan assures herself it must be simulated as that's not anybody she knows' voice and there's nobody else in the house she doesn't know.

A few more moments pass and Morrigan can swing the door open, but it leads to the room looking as it normally is. Worn bed with bitten quilt on the left, and a double dusty dresser on the right. A painting falls from the wall in front of Morrigan, making her startle. She loosens when she realises it was the one Jupiter and her found when they first went through the house and they put it back up.

The incessant noises still rolling in her head, Morrigan struggles to keep herself contained. She ends up once again sitting at the table, drinking tea until the noises fade out into the background where she isn't overwhelmed by them at every turn.

If Jupiter can't hear it, maybe Cadence can?

Morrigan asks herself, hopeful that she isn't just going insane. Maybe it was all an elaborate prank set up by the Hotel or her unit. Or a test from the Society. Morrigan swallows, closing her eyes as she tries to rid the exhaustion from her body. She has a mystery to solve.

Honestly at this point Morrigan just needs a Cadence call button. This time, Morrigan doesn't even bother distracting Jupiter. He obviously hasn't gotten any sleep and he didn't look like he was going to move from the dining table anytime soon. Morrigan goes back upstairs, ringing that is quickly becoming familiar is settling in her ears.

"Cadence?" She asks, in a softer tone than usual, as the house is hardly soundproof. "Cadence?" She repeats, risking a little louder.

"You cannot shut up, can you?" Cadence is glowering, looking slightly frazzled as Morrigan just saw her have to slip her way into the hallway, body brushing slightly too close to a jammed doorway, catching her hair.

Morrigan immediately feels angry once more, but she grits her teeth through it. The ringing doesn't help. "I'm hearing things in this house. It only happened last night."

Cadence raises a perfect eyebrow. "So? It's not my fault you're going crazy."

Morrigan scoffs. "I know there is multiple sources from inside this house. It goes away when I block my ears. Can you not hear anything like," Morrigan doesn't want to mention Jupiter, but it doesn't seem like she has much choice for an example. "Jupiter."

Cadence rolls her eyes, and manages to look like standing here is the most irritating thing she could ever think of. Morrigan is slightly offended, but she couldn't really care less. "I cannot hear your strange noise, Morrigan."

Morrigan presses onwards, "is there any possibility that I'm not going insane?" Morrigan can't think particularly straight, with the constant noise. It's currently screeching, screaming in her ears like nails on chalkboard and squeaking balloons.

Cadence huffs, eyeing Morrigan a little oddly. "What was the purpose of you coming to this house?"

"It's been abandoned, and we are looking for something scaring people off. It's haunted- oh."

Cadence nods slowly, patronizingly. But Morrigan now has more questions than answers. Why can only she hear it?

"Cadence. I need you. I need to tell Jupiter." Morrigan says. Introducing Cadence is required so they can eliminate her effects from the haunting. Like that yes there's this girl in the house, no it's not what we're looking for. Morrigan grabs Cadence's wrist, preparing to pull her along.

Cadence immediately tenses. "No," She hisses, trying to yank back her hand.

"It's the easiest way!" Morrigan exclaims, "we need him to be on our side, and then this can all be over." Morrigan's head is throbbing from all the constant noise, and Cadence flinches with Morrigan when something else knocks over.

Cadence ends up being pulled down the stairs, halfway down she wrenches out of Morrigan's grip, but she follows Morrigan down the rest of the stairs anyway. Morrigan is vaguely aware of this, calling for Jupiter just a bit too loudly over the noise in her head.

Morrigan almost slams into Jupiter at the bottom of the stairs. In turn, Cadence almost falls into her, barely stopping herself by yanking on the frail handrail that makes a horrible creaking sound Morrigan can barely hear.

Morrigan puts both of her hands on either of Jupiter's arms, leading to an expression of alarm, which only furthers as he assesses the situation. "This is Cadence, don't worry she's fine, a bit creepy, but fine. But there's something else."

Jupiter's eyes flick from Morrigan to Cadence. "What in Nevermoor? What is that awful noise, Morrigan?"

Morrigan is desperately trying to calm herself, words coming out in unintelligible gargle. Cadence is still behind Morrigan, unmoving.

"I think we'd better sit down," says Jupiter, leading them both to the kitchen.

Morrigan sits tightly, tensely, wishing mournfully for the sounds to die down. She can hear Cadence tersely explaining as far as she knew, but not much else except the noise whatever was haunting this house was making. Morrigan wondered if that's what happened anytime anyone entered the house, on the second day one just could hear the being and no one else could, not unless they touched or made eye contact or something.

Morrigan attempts to explain what she found when she chased the noise around the house, but it doesn't help Jupiter eliminate many of the options.

"Maybe we can lure it out?" Cadence suggests, looking imperturbed by anything in the conversation. Calm and collected despite Morrigan's cower, flinching. Jupiter is hovering over by her, making attempts to comfort without touching that Morrigan barely registers. She thunks her head down on the table.

"That could be an option," Jupiter says, in his thinking tone of voice. Morrigan can practically hear the gears turning in his head even over the constant noise the haunting is creating.

Morrigan is practically dragged out into the small foyer in front of the stairs to the second floor of the house.

"Do we have anything it wants?" Cadence asks, looking around the room, eyes flitting over every exit. The small room feels even smaller, as the chaos around upstairs moves almost in a panic, to the kitchen, to a bedroom, to a hallway, to a closet. Possibly, Morrigan can't recognise the rooms besides the general distance and direction of the noise.

"All it seems to be doing at the moment is causing chaos," Jupiter says, laying a hand on Morrigan's arm, and flinching violently. He only lasts a few moments before he withdraws.

"Perhaps we could set it up?" Cadence suggests, glancing at Morrigan. Morrigan is slowly making her way to sit on the floorboards, back scraping against the wall. She exhales heavily.

Jupiter grimaces. "We could try."

Morrigan and Cadence step out to the verandah to watch Jupiter from the window. The noise is duller for Morrigan there. They watch as Jupiter collects a few pots and pans, lying them astrewn on the floor. He also positions a lamp half off a table, and some other small things. He pulls down part of the curtain bar.

Jupiter stepped over the line of salt at the front door and then they sat outside.

"How's the noise, Mog?" Jupiter asks.

The noise had gone suspiciously quiet. Morrigan breathes a sigh of relief. But now all the other noises seemed loud, Jupiter and Cadence's breathing, the buzz of a fly, the rustle of a tree.

"Better," Morrigan tries to speak clearly, but her voice cracked a little. Jupiter nods and they waited in silence for a few good minutes, to Morrigan's relief. Jupiter begins to prep through the front window.

There was a slight buzzing coming from inside now, within Morrigan's head. She rubbed at her temples and over her eyes. It felt like it was thinking.

Then, a whirlwind, resounding crash scares her. Morrigan stands up and glances through the window, and she sees the remains of a shattered lamp, lying on the floor. Splinters of glass lay in almost an artwork, but the Haunt is not done yet.

It kicks up the dust in a terrifying storm, the pots and pans rattle and ring spectacularly, and Jupiter watches thoughtfully, while Cadence tries her best to look unimpressed while still fighting Jupiter for the best view through the dirty window. They keep themselves a fair distance from Morrigan, to avoid the sound.

"So the spirit haunting thing can interact with the world physically but somehow it doesn't send sound vibrations to anyone but Morrigan, and anyone interacting with Morrigan." Cadence says, watching. Jupiter nods, humming agreeably in a loud enough tone for Morrigan to interpret.

Although for a few more moments Jupiter and Cadence seem content watching the show, Jupiter suddenly moves towards the front door and throws it open.

There's a sudden howl of wind as everything rushes to the door in full force. Only to be forced, jolted back in a violent flinch that leaves everything settled for a bare split second before completely dispersing, rattling all the picture frames on the walls as it splits to leave in every direction.

Jupiter looks at the salt at the floor. "Mog, has the spirit ever made noise from the outside?"

Morrigan thinks, trying to clear her head as the noise slowly starts to build up again. "I think the back shutters? Maybe the pipes along the backyard?"

Jupiter nods. He pauses for a few seconds before Cadence prods him with three of her fingers before he explains, "some of the back windows open, so the Haunting can get out, but it doesn't go around the front. I'm going to need to test something"

Jupiter says all this while stroking his beard, something Morrigan believes might be the only point for the shocking ginger scruff.

"The Haunting spirit can recognise a lifeform, or movement of an object perhaps, but it doesn't know when someone is behind the window, as we saw. So if we.." Jupiter trails off, and strides into the house purposefully. He runs his hand through his hair.

Morrigan is sincerely hoping this is over soon and whatever Jupiter tries works.

Jupiter has previously lined salt around the room, and all Morrigan has to do is sit behind a chair, watching Cadence, who hasn't been noticed but has parked herself under the desk next to Morrigan. They just need to wait. Jupiter is hiding behind the bookshelf, pushed forward.

Morrigan knows the thing can sense. The poltergeist, as Jupiter has guessed, based on the evidence. It's a better name than the Haunt or Haunting anyway.

Morrigan can see it. Well, she can't see it, as all poltergeists and poltergeist like creatures only physically manifest themselves when they want to, according to Jupiter. But she can see the magic, Wunder clinging to it when she calls it instead of her. Not enough to be dangerous or a Wundersmith, but enough to show it's amount of power. It shooting across the room, trying to escape but it is trapped with the power of something called 'invisible walls in a can' that Jupiter has sprayed all over the place.

Seemingly frustrated it can't get out, the poltergeist starts to cause havoc, breaking what it can.

Jupiter steps out from behind the bookshelf, finishing the square of salt, securing his trap. Morrigan cowers, and Jupiter immediately shields himself too. Cadence dives for the door, attempting not to disturb the salt. Morrigan follows quickly after. She's seen everything now, Jupiter can do his thing *by himself*.

Morrigan is reluctant to leave Jupiter in the room by himself. She could at least stand outside! But the poltergeist is fighting back, and the noise is distressing her, too much to bear. She can at least put some distance between them. So Morrigan follows Cadence, sprinting down the stairs and out into the front yard.

Cadence takes the stairs, which suddenly slant into a small ramp, knocking Cadence onto her backside, sliding down into some loose stones and overgrown grass. Morrigan giggles as Cadence let's out a guttural *oomph*.

Cadence stands up, brushes herself off, swings her braid and fixes her hair, before sending Morrigan a dirty look. Morrigan purses her lips together in an effort to hide her smile.

Morrigan climbs over the fencing on the porch, before sitting down near Cadence. Morrigan smiles at her, grin growing broader as she hears the noise from the house dying down and no screaming coming from within.

Cadence moves to sit down next to Morrigan, grumbling in a way that Morrigan finds kind of sweet. This thought is immediately lost when their bodies brush together in the slightest way, making Morrigan's face feel warm.

Cadence and Morrigan sit together silently, a bit awkwardly but overall comfortably, until Jupiter comes down.

When he does, he doesn't really give them an explanation. He doesn't seem to even know, claiming, "I don't know what that was, but it's gone now." Perhaps he's just not telling them for their own conscious. Morrigan can never tell if Jupiter is ommiting information. She's just glad it's over at this point.

"I'll see you again?" Morrigan asks Cadence as they stand by the gate. Jupiter had asked just before who, exactly, did Morrigan need to say goodbye to. This elicited a groan from her.

"Maybe," Cadence smirks, "I live nearby here." Cadence balks, fumbling almost awkwardly. "So if you're ever in town.." Cadence leans forward and gives Morrigan a kiss on the cheek.

Morrigan can feel the imprint of Cadence's lips where they touched her. Her brain fries for a few seconds, and when she looks again so return the favour, Cadence is gone.

Morrigan lets Jupiter guide her towards the brolly rail, a strange feeling settling in her chest.

At least something good came out of this.

Plotholes fixes that didn't make their way into the story because I can't write conversations: Cadence is in the house because she's hanging out. Obviously.

If you find any let me know and I'll see if I can come up with an explanation for them. This is an unreliable narrator because Morrigan is not omnipotent.

Hope you enjoyed it and a big thanks again to @bluebutlikenotalways! If you find any grammar mistakes that are bugging you for me to fix let me know!

Also sorry about the terrible pacing I'm still learning to write properly.

#nevermoor #nevermoorbigbang2022-23 #mordence #alternate universe: canon divergence #fanfiction #nevermoorbigbang #Jupiter North #Morrigan Crow #Cadence Blackburn #I did not write this well #This never seemed to finish but it only ended as 6k words #ahhhhh #AHHHHH

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