Naomi Bettingfield (corruptableslay) wrote in btvsal, @ 2011-03-17 15:18:00 |
|
|||
Current mood: | calm |
Maybe Giving Some Help?
Who: Naomi and Tasha
Where: Chloe's Sugar Shack
When: March 13th, Afternoon
Naomi sat in the Shack with her Sugar Fairy Shooter (the damn things were addictive, OK?) while working on her homework for school. Hey, the girl couldn't hang around her Watcher all the time, right? Right now she was working on stupid Chemistry homework. Why did she have to learn this stuff again? She was born to beat the butts of vampires, not mix chemicals together and pray they didn't explode in her face.
When Tasha silently walked in, she waited until NOBODY was in line before walking to the counter, and quietly ordered an extra-large coffee, taking it and walking over to an empty little table near the window, resting her chin on a gloved hand, staring out the window with a little sigh.
While most wouldn't have noticed Tasha when she came in, Naomi had happened to look up as she was ordered and the girl caught her eye. Since figuring out that she apparently liked girls just as much as guys, she had been noticing them a lot more lately.
Tasha just sat there, watching all the other people talking and hanging out... looking at the couple both friendly AND in love with a look of desperate longing. She wanted so badly to belong, to be cherished by someone... but dared not let herself get close to anyone.
After watching the girl for a few minutes (she had certainly been the wallflower of the decade before becoming a Slayer, so she knew what to look for), she got up and gathered her stuff, heading over to Tasha's table. "Um...mind if I join you? I could use some company."
Tasha looked up, blinking in surprise. She knew who Naomi was, obviously, having seen her at school... but they'd never even spoken there. "Um... sure? I mean, I'm not really great company, but if you like..."
Naomi had actually seen her a bit in school as well, but she had been more than a little distracted as of late. "I would like," Naomi said with a smile, sitting across from Tasha. "You're Tasha, right?"
"Y-Yeah, that's me. I've seen you around school, usually running around with Phoebe Stevens." Yeah, she tended to know who hung around with who, mostly because, sadly, she liked to daydream about fitting in with all these little groups.
Naomi nodded. She hadn't really seen Tasha hang around with anybody, but figured that would be bad to bring up. "Been trying to make more friends lately, though," she said.
"I bet that's nice." Tasha said without a hint of sarcasm or malice. If anything, she sounded envious.
"So far, it's been kind of awkward, but making friends kind of is for a while," Naomi admitted with a shrug. "It's ok, though."
"I just don't really... mingle well, I guess." Tasha sighed, nibbling her lip nervously.
"Admittedly, me, either, but it's kind of a New Year's resolution: meet more people." OK, and maybe she wanted to eventually find someone to truly 'date.' She'd happily take friends as well, though.
"I like people, don't get me wrong... just... me and 'friends'? It's just not a combination that can end well." The redhead admitted with a deep little sigh.
Naomi tiled her head at her. "Can I ask why?" she asked. She couldn't help but be curious about the pretty girl who wore gloves, OK?
"It's... a long story. I just don't want anyone to get hurt, that's all." She blushed, feeling those walls going up again. Damn. She wasn't sure WHY she blurted this shit out to TJ to begin with, but she was trying to not just... make her condition a well-known fact.
If only this poor girl knew that Naomi was supposed to kill stuff for a living, hm? They both seemed to be stuck in low gear, as far as their lives were, and they were both supernatural to boot. "It takes a lot to hurt me," Naomi said to her. "Gotta trust me on that."
"Just... we'll say I have a skin condition, ok? One that makes it pretty much impossible for me to get close to people. And sometimes... it's easier to just keep away from everyone than to feel teased by it." Sadly, she felt exactly that way. Why get JUST CLOSE ENOUGH to people that she could like them... but never touch them?
Naomi looked her over for a second. "Well, I have to admit that I don't see an obvious skin condition." She wasn't even being an ass; she was just being blunt. "Promise I wouldn't tease you about anything, though."
"It's... not really visible. But trust me when I say if your skin touched mine? We'd BOTH regret it." Yeah. Regret it as in 'I WILL INCINERATE YOU'. Lovely.
Naomi nodded, getting it a little better. "Kind of like Rogue from X-Men?" she asked. OK, she didn't follow comic books worth a lick, but a lot of the other Slayers did and Naomi just kind of absorbed, k?
"....a LOT more like that than you'd think, really." Tasha said with a nervous laugh, not really meeting Naomi's eyes now. "Just... look. I'm enough of an outcast around here. I don't want people to know about this..."
"Look, promise I won't tell anyone about it. I've got stuff about myself that I don't exactly go posting about on the internet, either, you know?" Naomi pointed out. "I get not being able to tell people about yourself and feeling like a freak over it."
"Fine." She let out a lonnnnng sigh, reminding herself that since Naomi wasn't exactly Ms. Popular anyway, nobody would believe her if she TRIED to tell them this. "But if you don't believe me... at least don't laugh at me. When I touch anything organic.... it burns. Like... to the point of turning to ash if I touch it long enough."
Naomi didn't laugh. If anything, she was simply curious. "Really?" she asked, just sounding amazed. "That's more like Rogue than I even realized." She looked down at her hands. "Is that why you wear gloves?"
Tasha nodded, looking rather mortified at herself right now. "Yeah. It is. I don't know what I am, or if I can ever control it... but if I can't? I can't let myself be near anyone."
Naomi nodded. "Actually...I know of some people that might at least know of someone to teach you to control it or know of a way to control it," she offered the girl. "No promises, but it's at least a shot."
"....are you making fun of me or something?" Tasha asked, not defensively, just... in disbelief.
Naomi shook her head earnestly. "No, totally serious here. It...kind of has to do with my freakness, actually."
"I just... I want to be able to be held. To hold someone's hand. To KISS someone. I hate being so lonely..." Tasha's voice went to a low whisper, filled with sadness. "But... it's better than being close to people I can't touch."
Naomi nodded. "I understand...or at least I can get where you're coming from. Trust me when I say that I only want to try and help you. No one should have to go through life without any sort of touch."
"Naomi... if you're serious... if... if you CAN find someone to help me..." Her voice cracked a little there... she couldn't HELP but feel a little emotional. "I'd be grateful forever..."
"Well, if I can actually help you, then it would be my pleasure," Naomi told her. Isn't this part of what Slayers did? Help people? And Tasha was just SO sweet underneath the walls that she had built. Naomi could just tell.