2007-05-25: Bad Words

Starring:

Daphne_icon.gif Natalie_icon.gif

Summary: Natalie didn't count on her abilities being able to hurt someone, but too much of a bad thing can do some pretty nasty damage, especially if you're messing with the language centers of a telepath.

Date It Happened: 25 MAY 2007

Bad Words


Natalie's Apartment, New York

Daphne has never used her power in this way before, and it's taken a few days to get a bead on Natalie's location. Animals see things, though. They know the people of the city, they see them every day. It's all a matter if finding the right trail, and considering the massive size of New York, that's no easy task. To that end, Daphne started at the zoo. Actually, she showed up for work, only to be told she had a three-day suspension for going AWOL for two days. In her hand is the letter, which someone thankfully read to her, which in turn put her into a rage. To be fair, anyone in her position would be upset. Unable to read, in jeopardy of losing her job, she's pretty much on the verge of tears. She hasn't cried yet about all this, but the headaches, the total lack of literacy… Just /everything,/ is seriously starting to take its toll.

So she asked the animals to lead her to Natalie. It's taken all day, from the time she left the zoo, to now. It's almost midnight when she pulls into the lot, looking at the pair of pigeons next to her on the passenger seat of her car. <You think this is it?>

<Yellowhair girl with eyes,> says one of the birds. Luckily, she can sense a picture of the same, with much better features than 'yellow hair and eyes.' She parks, steps out of her car, and allows the pigeons to fly away. Now all she has to do is… Figure out how she's going to get to Natalie.

—-

Natalie has finished replacing all the windows in her place after Jane blew them out. She hasn't ratted anyone to the Company, largely because she's not sure what to do. She's inside at the moment, relaxing with a -normal- book for a change.

—-

Totally exhausted from spending all day in her car, Daphne manages to get to the door of the hotel and follow someone inside as if she lives there. No one suspects a thing… She hopes. It'd be so much easier if she could consult the names on the doorbells, but she can't read them, plus, she doesn't know Natalie's last name anyway. At least there are pets allowed in this apartment. She can sense a few cats and dogs speaking to her. The odd rat here and there, and a few ferrets. So, she heads up the stairs, asking as she goes if anyone has seen a blonde girl with glasses, fitting Natalie's description.

It's nearly an hour later that she knocks on a door that she /hopes/ is hers. The envelope is still in her hand with her notice of suspension, and she intends to show this girl just what it is that she caused.

—-

Natalie heads to the door, not knowing who it is. She looks through the peephole. Oh, HER. Hopefully she's here to apologize. The blonde unlocks the deadbolt, then opens the door.

—-

An apology will come, eventually. After Daphne gives this girl a piece of her mind! As soon as she sees that this is, indeed, Natalie who lives here, she reaches forward, pushes open the door, and walks in. Though she doesn't speak at first, she /glares,/ scowling as she holds out the letter. "As y'can imahgin, Oi can' read this. Oi 'ad t'av someone tell me wut it sed. You read it." Inside, Natalie will find a notice of temporary suspension without pay. "Yer fault. I 'ope yer 'appy."

—-

Natalie looks at it. "-My- fault. You still don't get it! You still can't figure out that this all happened because YOU were a bitch to me. Twice!" she says, frustrated.

—-

"Oi weren't th'bitch!" she yells. "Mos' Oi did was yell at ya a bit, bein' thah' you were somewhere you din' belong." She looks incredulous. This? Not her fault. Not at /all./ Okay, maybe it is, and she did come here with the best intentions. And now that she's got a captive audience - Natalie can't run away from her apartment forever - Daphne's going to stay here until /things are put right./ That means she can yell all she wants! "'Oo the 'ell does this ter a person, eh? D'yoo 'ear me? I can' even talk roight!"

—-

Natalie looks annoyed. "That's because you were being a bitch. I've told you before, apologize and I'll fix it!"

—-

Daphne's of the opinion that if Natalie fixes it, she'll apologise! It's a good thing there's no animals in here, and also a good thing she won't make pigeons bash themselves against Natalie's window in order to attempt to get in. That'd just be mean. "Tol' you las' toim, yer er freak. Lucky Oi don' repoht you t'the authorities r'somethin'. Fix this and Oi'll keep quoi't."

—-

Natalie glares back. "You're just as much a freak. And go ahead. Keep insulting me. That's done you REAL good so far."

—-

"Oi use moi ability to /'elp,/" Daphne says. Jeez, Natalie must be damn good if she figured out that Daphne has a power just from one pigeon dive-bomb. Still, there's no reason to hide it anymore. Actually, there is, but she doesn't know that Natalie's a Company agent, nor does she know about the Company at all. "Yoo', what. Yer 'oidin' in yer shell, so y'go aroun' n' terr'ize people yoo don' loik? /Mature./"

—-

Natalie figured it out more from the smirking that accompanied it. Natalie looks back. "Look here. I -could- have made it worse. I still can. Apologize, say you're sorry, and I'll fix it."

—-

"Make it worse, then," Daphne says. It's a challenge. Probably a foolish one. "I aren't leavin' this place 'til Oi'm put roight, so's if y'want a permanent roommate, Go 'ead." Actually, she can't imagine how this could be made /worse./ She's got the accent from hell that she CAN'T UNLEARN, she can't read. "'least Oi know you c'n fix it now, so y'can' tell me you can'." HA.

—-

Natalie concentrates. This girl has a way of pissing her off. This time, it's outgoing communication she scrambles. Anything Daphne tries to say will come out as total gibberish. But she can understand speech…still.

—-

As soon as Natalie hits her again, the sharp pain returns behind her eyes. Instead of just shutting off her ability to speak English, the other girl has scrambled hundreds of languages, probably without knowing. Unlike the language centres of a normal person, someone whose ability relies on telepathy counts on that part of the brain quite heavily.

She looks… angry, tries to say something, but it comes out completely unintelligable. Truth of the matter is, she's in a lot of pain, and now she has no way to convey this. What did you /DO?/ she tries to say, but not even Daphne can understand it.

—-

Natalie hmphs. "There. You wanted to see worse? Now you have worse. Now you can deal with being aphasic." she says.

—-

But Daphne isn't listening to Natalie. In fact, she's starting to shake. Feeling a warmth above her lip, she reaches up to rub it, only to smudge a streak of red across her face. Her nose is bleeding, which she realises just before her legs give out, and she hits the floor. The pain is so bad that it does bring tears to her eyes finally; when she looks up, a pleading expression on her face, it becomes evident that the stress has finally gotten to her. The white of her eyes are both /red./

—-

Natalie blinks! What the hell?! She looks worried! Her powers don't do things like this. She moves over to the fallen woman, quickly taking her pulse.

—-

Pulse is racing, but mostly because Daphne's /scared./ She can't speak, she can't read, she can't write, and now she feels as if she's gotten herself in so far that she's not going to make it out of this apartment alive. Gritting her teeth, she makes a weak attempt to push Natalie away, but gives that up in favor of planting her hands on the floor so she can remain upright. She attempts to say something else, a single word, but that doesn't make sense, either. Dizzy.

—-

Natalie shakes her head. "No, no, no. Stay still." She's almost afraid to try anything, but she has to try and fix it. She concentrates one more time, trying to reset everything to normal on Daphne.

—-

As soon as Natalie's gift touches her mind again, Daphne cries out, because it /hurts!/ "God, what are you doing!?" she asks, voice still containing traces of the Australian accent. At least she's speaking English again, and the pain is diminishing a little.

—-

Natalie looks worried. "Fixing it. Lie still, I'm going to call an ambulance."

—-

Nodding, Daphne lowers herself to the floor. Her nose is still bleeding, she she rolls over on her side, holding her hand under it so it doesn't get all over Natalie's floor. "…Puppy died— " she says. Which may not make much sense to Natalie, but it makes all the sense in the world to Daphne. "S'why I— I— " She doesn't finish, though, squeezing her eyes shut instead.

—-

Natalie nods. "Just lay still." She moves to dial 911. Her anger is now gone, replaced by worry for the other woman. She might deserve a lesson, she doesn't deserve blood.

—-

"S— sorry," she finally says. Seems unimportant now, but she's said it anyway. Daphne doesn't really want to go to the hospital, honestly. She wants to go home, read a good book, /sleep/ knowing that she'll be able to speak normally the next day. But she doesn't move… Doesn't really have the strength to do so as Natalie dials 911. Her hand is pretty slick now, and finding nothing else available besides Natalie's carpet, she pulls up the collar of her shirt to press it to her nose.

—-

Natalie calls it in, then moves to sit next to Daphne. "Just sit down. Don't move, just relax." Worried. She grabs some tissue and hands it to Daphne.

—-

Also too scared at the moment to be really angry, Daphne finally opens red eyes and looks into Natalie's. "Didn't think you could do this," she says quietly. "Thought it'd…" Her voice trails off as she lays her head down on the floor, eyes closing. "H—ha, at least I have three days… Three days off."

—-

Natalie frowns. "Shh…it's okay." It's not, and she's worried too. "I'm right here." She reaches out and lays a hand on Daphne's shoulder.

—-

"Laurel," she says, one eye opening. She looks toward where she dropped her bag - She has to call her friend. It's after one in the morning now, but hopefully this is bad enough to warrant a late-night call. Of course, with the pain starting to take its toll, with her head spinning, she can't reach her bag to get the phone out of it, and she feels like she's going to pass out. "Tell the— Just tell them I got hit on the head when they get here." In other words, no giving away their powers. That would be bad.

—-

Natalie replies "All right." She leans in and gets the bag, putting it in Daphne's lap. Thankfully, it doesn't take long. The paramedics arrive to get Daphne to the hospital.

—-

After a quick call to Laurel and one message left, it's a damn good thing the paramedics get there when they do, because she passes out almost as soon as she sees them. At least this'll make it easy to /deny everything./ All she has to do is say that she doesn't remember what happened, and her and Natalie are both in the clear. She /hopes./ At any rate, it's time to spend the night in the ER.

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