Re: NM: Cat & Leena
Cat still referred to Helena by her full name in conversation, and she'd never get used to Helena's surname, but Leena was a nickname, one of many she'd used for the little girl when she was small. Well, with one less e, but it was pronounced the same, and she didn't think it was that far removed. Which was a little disconcerting, given what she knew of the people Helena had been held by. Of course, she wasn't certain that the people who held her daughter had given her the identification, but Cat only knew the glimpses she'd seen in an escape memory. Other details were filled in by Reece, but they were locations and not specifics. "You'll be able to tell once they kick in, right? Whatever you're taking that's new? I don't know very much about medication. When I was young, there wasn't money for anything. And, older, the serum meant I couldn't get sick."
She listened about eating, and she tried to understand, tried to put herself in her daughter's shoes. She had trouble comprehending the food situation, but she assumed no one could really understand, not without having been there. "I'm not going to say I understand or I can imagine what that's like, kitten, but I will say I'm glad you seem to be doing better with it. It sounds exceptionally difficult."
She chuckled warmly at the admission about Degas. "Now I know what to get you for Christmas. I like paintings. At first, I was interested in what I could sell them for. Now, I've developed a fondness. Degas liked to paint dancers and people just being people."
Cat didn't understand the stuttering and glancing down the hall, she didn't know what had caused it. Interacting with her daughter was very much like walking through a field of landmines; she never knew what would set Helena back, make her seize, twitch, all those things Cat remembered clearly. After all, she was the girl's mother, and it was unlikely she would ever forget what Helena looked like with blood running from her face as she seized in the bar that one time. "Alright. No feather topper," she finally said easily, assuming Carol was not the cause of the reaction.
She knew about the conversation with Stephanie thanks to Damian, but she listened as Helena finished her explanation. "What made you uncomfortable, kitten? I think Stephanie tries too hard. I'll try to explain it to her, what she did wrong, if you explain it to me. Can you?"