[IC] Miss. Dawson's Home for the Truly Gifted [Closed for Now]

[Legion02]

A surprisingly mature view on life. Alex thought to himself, as he ate in silence. Not wanting to agitate Artemis even more. That and he was also starting to think a little. For him it was easy to eat the meat. He didn't know the animal that was turned into his bacon. But he understood that if someone had a deep bond with that animal, as that girl clearly had, then eating meat must feel disgusting. For a split second he considered eating less meat. Sadly, he knew he couldn't keep that up. It tasted too damn good.

When he finished his bacon he put away his plate and went to sit in front of the girl playing with the violin. Both enjoying the slow music and waiting till she was finished playing so he could relay the message from Artemis. As an act to make up for his stupid remark. But soon the music became too enchanting and he was dragged along. He closed his eyes, and formed one of his familiar purple spheres in his hands. Just like the sun, the sphere had darker and lighter spots. Which flowed and danced along with the music, slow but fluid. Jason understood for the very first time in his still young life what the word serene meant. As all the other sounds were blocked out. And he was alone with the beautiful song, the darkness covering his eyes and the flow of energy throughout his body. Emulated by the sphere in front of him.

[Karl Kadaver]

Toby followed Artemis to the other table. Outwardly, he still seemed nervous, but inside there was a bit of excitement. After all, this was going better than he had hoped; not only wasn't she dating the guy she was sitting with, but she specifically asked Toby to come with her to a more private area.

However, he knew that he wasn't living in some anime or comic book, so he needed to calm himself down. Apparently, she didn't even know his name, although she correctly deduced that he knew hers, which made things easier, he supposed. Not to mention that she sounded pretty cheerful to be meeting him, though for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why. Best just to answer her question and go from there:

"My names, uh, Tobia- Eh, it's Toby. Toby Kirtman." Then, before he could stop himself, he mentioned, "I work for the butcher."

[Madame Kitten]

"What? I'd be alright! If anything happened I'd just need to sunbathe though.... I wouldn't be able to wear anything during that time." Persephone said the last part quieter, blushing before she realized she had said that out loud. "Never mind!" She cried out as she was completely embarrassed, her whole face a deep shade of red as she started to go back to work on her plants.

Just as she was finishing up the second row she heard him complain about the speed of the growing plants, still blushing as she decided to use some of her powers to grow the plants to full yielding perfect crops that would be ready to pick that day, though she'd have to go to the lake later on with her sister so Artemis could help her get better.

"All you have to do is say please and they'll grow so fast you can't believe it." Persephone said as she started to focus her powers on the plants, feeling her energy start to drain from her body as she continued to pour more and more of her power into the plants.

---

"Ah, so you're the cute guy who butchers up my friends. Nice to finally meet the man who I see every day chopping up my friends into little pieces." Artemis said as she peppered in her compliment, amused that he was so nervous that he would blurt out his job to her even though he knew how she felt on the subject.

"By the way, I think the other's who eat the bacon in the morning would prefer fatback cut bacon instead of pork loin cut bacon. If they're going to eat, they might add well eat the fatty good stuff, no?" She asked, knowing he'd probably be surprised that she knew her cuts of meat even though she was an animal lover. She smiled as she hoped she wasn't scaring him off, wondering what exactly he thought of her at this moment in time.

[Inkwell]

The sound of trumpets were so unexpected that it made Amy jump out of bed right onto the floor. As she rubbed her sore butt she listened to Miss Dawson's announcement. Amy was a bit excited as today was her first day out of the infirmary and into a normal routine a least for here where ever that was. It all seemed a bit odd to her this place the fact that she had been given a job and the fact that this place was made for people with powers. How ever odd it might seem to her but she had to admit the place sure looked nice. Walking over to her wardrobe she pulled out a white shirt with green vest, black jeans and boots. She tied her hair back in a ponytail before heading off to get some breakfast.

As Amy walked around she realised that she was just wondering around not having a clue where she was. Someone had told her where everything was but unfortunately she couldn't remember the very dry conversation. Still she was optimistic that she could find her way to the mall and she did after following the smell of pancakes which she stacked on a plate with strawberries and syrup. Looking around Amy managed to find a table for herself which she had picked due to its closeness to the violinist. She began to stare mesmerised not only by the sound but also by the girl and how her hands moved so fluidly. Amy wished she could play an instrument like this girl sadly she couldn't so she let out a disappointed sigh before she started picking at her food still staring at the lovely violinist.

[Suzy Blue]

Lina Evangeline

Lina had managed to get a bit caught up in her own performance and, towards the end her own eyes had fluttered shut. As a result she failed to notice when she was no longer alone. Finally, as she reached the end of the song and the final note was swallowed up by the ambient sound of over a dozen background conversations all happening at once, she opened her eyes and looked at the young man sitting across from her. It took her a moment to realise that he'd been sitting listening to her with that peaceful look on his face. A quick red flush of self consciousness reached her face and she dropped the violin into her lap.

Her attention was then, naturally drawn to the purple sphere in his hands. She really shouldn't have been surprised at the sight of it, as this Home was practically bursting at the seams with young people possessing strange and unique abilities, still she was unused to seeing them so openly used. She rarely even acknowledged her own ability. There was a brief moment of awkward silence, in the aftermath of her music, before she cleared her throat and said. "Uh-um... Can... Can I help you?" She questioned the young man shyly, with a small voice.

[shinigami94]

Lively was the description that came to Azai's mind, it was nice to see a "normal" scene, that those people almost never had becuase of their abilities and powers. No one would feel different in this place or left out. If there was anything good about this place this would be it. Azai was enjoying the violin being played by the young girl, and then noticed Artemis who looked angered it was probably because of the food once again. He knew about her problem from the roumors that spread in the lounge, it seemed that she also hates her job and even more than he does towards his job. It reminded him that he had a job to do after he finish his breakfast.

He went back to munching on his food, when a man approached him trying to start a casual conversation with Azai. It appeared that he was the bowling alley manager, he also knew it from the roumores in his loung. He seemed nice and friendly, so Azai took a sip from his tea to swallow the food, and replied with a calm friendly voice "Hey. Jack The bowling manager right?. Well living at least, how about you?"

[Karl Kadaver]

"Ah, so you're the cute guy who butchers up my friends. Nice to finally meet the man who I see every day chopping up my friends into little pieces."

Toby was startled by Artemis' words. Apparently, at the same time he'd been watching her, she'd been watching him! His ears turned bright red, an indicator of his embarrassment. Of course he knew what she meant by "her friends", most people knew that she raised the animals that were used for food.

But what did she mean by cute? Did she mean cute as in, 'Hey, you're kinda cute. Wanna date?' or, 'You're so cute when you beg for your life...?'

But just like that, she started talking shop with him, instructing him about what cuts of meat would be ideal for eating. Fact was, he was taken aback by this, and he wondered if she was trying to trap him. Maybe she was finding more reasons to hate him. But...it didn't seem that way. The smile that she'd had on her face when they met was still there. Was she playing him? He couldn't know for sure (little to no social contact will do that to a person). He decided to choose his words carefully. He kept his voice quiet, tried not to sound too into what he was going to say.

"I just do, uh, what the head butcher tells me." He suddenly flashed a smile. He just thought of something that he could say that she couldn't use against him! "I don't eat the animals, myself. Nuts, seeds, and dry fruits give me the highest caloric intake... And the..." he shuddered, "The whey protein shakes they give me."

The truth was, he hadn't eaten an animal since he gave into his Hunger a few years ago. Part of him was afraid that what happened last time would happen to him this time. After he'd eaten a stray cat, he had felt a connection to it, like he's absorbed its memories, or something...

He quickly snapped out of his reverie, fearing that Artemis would think he was some kind of space case. He'd almost forgotten why he'd wanted to talk to her in the first place:

"Would you...like to hang out sometime?" He glanced around, and added, "I mean...not here. Like somewhere else. This afternoon?"

[Legion02]

Alex’s eyes shot wide open. It felt like he was pulled from a dream. Not slowly waking up but violently pulled out. The shapes and spots on the sphere stopped moving and fractures formed over the surface. Without a sound, the sphere broke into shards of purple glass. Though none of them ever touched the ground. Like fine sand they disintegrated and vanished into nothingness. Alex watched it all, with both curiosity as of how that all happened and a yearning to make it happen again. It was the first time he made a sphere again in a very long time.

Shaking his head, Alex gathered his wits again and formed a small but hopefully friendly smile. “See that girl over there?” He nodded to Artemis. “She wanted to talk to you later. That aside that was really beautiful. If you’d tell me that your gift was playing the violin I’d totally believe it. That was truly a lovely piece. Did you learn it by yourself?” He genuinely asked.

[General Scales]

"Trying to fill in the time mostly. I think the boredom is starting to set in, speaking of which you need any help over at the lounge Azai? You looked like something had you down last time I went by." Jack said curious to see if he could get an answer out of the man.

He definitely had others reasons for offering help, like learning what made his fellow prisoner tick, but giving a hand felt right in this circumstance. A quick glance around showed the tense conversation ended without incident thankfully and they now had silent company at the table in the form of one of the stockers in the mall. It took a moment but he remembered Rebecca's name and gave her a quick nod of acknowledgement and a light smile catching her when she was looking around and afterwards he had noticed the music stop which while it was a shame it was good to see the others talking, keeping sane really. As for himself doing the same meant keeping busy and working on Azai would keep him engaged for a little while at least.

[shinigami94]

Azai made a sigh, acknowledging Jack's point. He was right about him though, he was feeling down a little bit last time. He noticed by then that everything went science, he felt like he was being integrated by Jack, he didn't know his motives for such questions, or why he would offer help.. Azai didn't get a bad feeling from him, maybe it was just his nature to ask such questions that others would call weird at least, but everyone here was weird so he didn't think like others.

Azai took a deep breath to start explaining to Jack his troubles "Well let explain this.. I am professional fighter, I practiced Kung Fu for 8 years, and my master said I had a gift of fighting, and then in my last year I started practicing MMA to enter their competions, for the money of course. But then I was cursed with this power of mine, and came here after I was unable to fully control it, but like we all know it was a trap... So to return to your question, as a lounge manager I have to be a team leader, who's there at everything that my employers do, and check that everything is in order, and in the end I'm a fighter so I am used to working alone, and this takes a lot of my brain energy on something am not used to, that why I look down almost all the time... Not to mention the suit. So thank you for the offer Jack, but I can't accept it because am uses to a routine that I need everything to be perfect for the coustomer... So what about your job is it to your liking?" Azai let a deep breath and reached his hand for another bite when he discovered that the plate was empty, so he took another sip of his tea.

Azai noticed Monica as he was glancing across he place. She was eating alone, like she always did, even when she was at the lounge she would be alone. It was intriguing for him, so he always tried to be extra nice to her. He felt that maybe she was troubled but wouldn't want to share for some reason. Azai put down his cup and looked back at Jack.

[Love Dove]

Zaniel looked up at Persephone’s mention of sunbathing, his eyes running over her with a bit of a smirk before she yelled out never mind and went back to planting. In all honestly his mind wasn’t on the garden anymore as much as on what she had said and how embarrassed she had actually made herself this time while he dug out the second row. Though he had been starting to grow impatient, which was a natural thing for him when around the others here, he hated waiting, it was a waste of time he could be spending doing something more entertaining. When he asked about the plants it was actually meant as a question, seeing that he knew nothing about plants other than what Persephone had taught him about plants while he was working as her helper.

Still he stood there quietly for a few moments watching as she used her powers to speed up the growth of her plants. "I was um actually wondering because this is the first time we've planted them, and I really didn't know." He said as he watched the plants grow to the near harvesting point, meaning he would just have more work to do later on during the day. Damn me and my big mouth. He thought rubbing the back of his neck. When he looked down at Persephone again he could see that her power was having some type of effect on her and Zaniel held his hand out to help her up off the ground. "Why don't you take a break on the fence and tell me where to dig. It will go a lot faster without making me stop and wait for you to plant between rows anyway."

---

Monica was lost rather deeply in her own thoughts as she sat at her table by herself eating and listening to the lovely little violinist girl play. Though as the music came to an end she snapped back to reality and looked around her at the others. She didn't know very many of the others here, other than seeing them at meals and whenever a fire happened around one of them. Despite the fact she had been here for almost a year now. Being social when in a crowded room wasn't really her strong suit, it wasn't that she didn't like company, she had been told that she could be a really fun person to be around. It was just she didn't want to worry about her nerves causing her to lose control because she pushed herself into a conversion with some complete stranger.

Monica noticed the table across from her had the guy that worked at the lounge sitting at it, Azai if she remembered his name right, was looking at her and gave a small smile to him. He was always nice to her when she ate there, although she really wasn't sure why. She looked at the other two sitting with him and shifted a little uncomfortably, looking away. If he had been sitting by himself as well she might have went to sit with him. Although as she looked down at her plate she saw it was empty, and sighed. So far her effort to not be a downer wasn't going very well. Deciding that the mall was too crowded anyway she got up and put her plate away before leaving.

[Adamina]

Looking around, Rebecca saw the bowling alley guy - Jack, right? - look at her and nod, smiling slightly. She smiled back, a deep red hinting at a blush as she wondered whether he had seen her zoned out listening to the music. Speaking of the music, it had stopped, and Rebecca glanced at the violinist. She'd gotten company, it seemed, and she looked almost shocked when she, too, had opened her eyes. Rebecca laughed to herself, taking a small comfort in not being the only one enthralled by the music. Smiling slightly, she finished the last of her pancakes, and took a moment to look around.

It's not that she was necessarily lonely, but sometimes she wished people would come talk to her first. She spotted a girl - she looked about her age - sitting alone, also looking around. She seemed a bit shy, maybe even scared? She, too, had finished eating, and was now packing up to leave. Rebecca thought things over while she cleaned the slight mess she'd made before leaving. When she stepped outside, she saw the girl again. Making up her mind, Rebecca caught up to her, falling into a relaxed walking pace beside her. "Hi," she said, "I'm Rebecca." She paused a moment, not knowing what to say. "You have really pretty eyes." she blurted out before being able to stop herself.

[Mega Birb]

With an angry parrot pecking at his face, Jace finally woke up. Not because of the trumpets, no, be he had managed to use his powers to deafen himself slightly, just enough to reduce the noise of the brass instruments that had woken him for the last three-and-a-half years, every single day. He crawled out of bed, satisfied with the fact that he finally found a way to get more than a little sleep... Gallus, on the other hand, was the best alarm clock one could have. In the form of an extremely clingy parrot.

Jace disabled his ability and made his way to the dresser, and sighed. "Hey Gallus, how's Artemis been doing? You spend part of the afternoon hanging around her animals, anyway."

The parrot, having an actual understanding of the English language, answered. "She's good, still sad about Fred, I think."

"Fred?"

"That runty pig, smallest one the place's seen in awhile."

"Ah." Jace finished buttoning up the front of his suit and straightened his tie as Gallus lighted down on his shoulder, and headed out towards the mall for breakfast. He wasn't looking forward to his job in the infirmary, he had a feeling someone was gonna get injured that day, and he didn't want to perform any kind of surgery that day. He could do it, he has before, he just felt inexperienced among the professionals.

He bumped into the mall's front door soon, earning a sarcastic remark from Gallus, then proceeded in and got his breakfast of pancakes and various fruits. He didn't hate eating meat, he just preferred to stay off of Artemis' hit list. The surgeon sat down across from the fellow red-head, and started eating quietly, as Gallus jumped off his shoulder, then hopped over to her.

"Hey Artemis."

[Madame Kitten]

"R-Really? You don't eat meat?" Artemis asked, blinking in shock as she never knew there was another vegetarian here under 'the dome' as she called it. "Well, glad to know I have a fellow vegetarian in here.... I was beginning to feel a bit lonely actually." She blushed deeply, wondering what he thought of her right at that moment though her thoughts were answered as he asked her if she wanted to meet him later.

"You mean.... Like a date?" Artemis asked as her blush darkened to a rose red, Artemis getting excited as she realized she'd be going out on her first date ever. "I would love to! I mean, if you don't mind that I've never had a date before.... Yeah, I'd totally love to meet you later! If I know my sister, we'll be heading to the lake later in order for my sister to sun bathe for a bit and I've got a new bikini, so why not meet me near the biggest cherry tree and we'll go take a deep while my sis is sun bathing! If.... If that's alright with you that is. We can meet somewhere else but it'd have to be after dinner!" Artemis said happily, really excited to be going out with the guy who she had a crush on and who possibly had a crush back.

Toby seemed nice, so she felt she had nothing to fear and even if she did she could kill him thanks to her powers so either way she'd feel both secure and happy. Artemis blinked as the doctor known as Jace came to sit down with her. "Hey Jace." She said as her eyes lit up as she saw Gallus. "Hey Gallus, how are you doing today?" She started petting his head, happy to see him as she hadn't seen him in quite awhile. Her attention turned to Toby again which made her smile even more. "So....? Do you think we could meet at the lake?" Artemis asked as she hoped he'd say yes.

---

"Oh, I get it now." Persephone said, a little out of breath as she took his hand and pulled herself up. "Two months by the way, they would've taken two months to properly grow to harvest so that took a bit out of me. Sorry I made more work for you later, I'll help you harvest them after I go to the lake and rest for a bi-" Persephone said happily as she sat down on the fence as she realized that she had told him she was definitely going to be at the lake which made her cheeks bright red once again.

"I mean, if I have time. It's not like I usually go to the biggest cherry tree often or whateve-" She said before she gave herself a mental slap upside her head, the tips of her ears turning as red as her cheeks, Persephone looking away from him as she pointed to where the next row should be. "You can start over there." Persephone said as she continued to stare down at the ground, not even daring to look up at him.

[General Scales]

Jack was a more than a little surprised as to getting a mini life story out of Azai instead of the short response he had expected who did a good job of explaining what had been getting to him so much. It certainly made sense to have difficulty working in a place like a lounge when fighting for a living was what you knew, an interesting nugget of truth which could be useful later. He could relate to the need for some sort of routine or activity otherwise he might get a little too creative with his own power. However, it was good to hear Azai was willing to keep going it on his own without and it would make sense with his background which would probably nix anymore offers of help unless the man asked himself. One less person to have doubts about I suppose, interesting how these power seem to either make or break us. The thought passed quickly but it was one that had intrigued him since before he was forced into the Home.

"My job huh? It makes for a good distraction around here mostly and I make an effort to keep an eye on everything and everyone so there aren't any issues. Helps to be good at talking with people need be, would rather convince them to stop acting up than get physical if possible and its worked so far so I can't complain. Sometimes I wish there was more to do though because once everything is going well it gets boring but I guess being able to go bowl a few frames relieves it a bit" Jack said keeping it sort of concise but mostly truthful on why it ran so smooth.

Jack had noticed a little before that he might've caught Rebecca a bit off guard, he couldn't blame her what with the good music playing and atmosphere being decent enough that you could forget where you were quick. Well anyone but him could as far as he knew it was difficult for him to forget after being dragged here which left a sour taste in his mouth and while it was only on of the reasons it was a big one. It appeared that she had moved off as well as the emergency worker and thought not much more of it because they probably had a reason or not for leaving so he didn't mind much. Sure if he really wanted to he could make people stay and do what he wanted but his power almost always had a bad outcome if abused plus it was wrong to deny freedom to anyone and he knew it but it hadn't stopped him in the past out of desperation. He shook himself realizing his train off thought had gone off the tracks for longer than he liked this time and the shake helped him back into reality.

[Mega Birb]

Jace looked up at Toby, a little more than envious of at the moment. Before being noticed, though, he was back down in his plate with a piece of cantaloupe on his fork, and moving towards his mouth. "If no one does anything stupid today, I guess I'll come, too. The infirmary's usually pretty empty, anyhow." He stated rather flatly, ignoring that he wasn't invited. Besides, he liked swimming, that's something that makes for a pretty good alibi in this scenario.

Gallus chirped happily at Artemis' touch, having a fondness for being stroked. "I'm well, what of you?" The bird asked, tucking his beak under his wing for a moment to straighten an askew feather.

[Karl Kadaver]

Any person who happened to be passing by would've been able to knock Toby over with a feather. Not only was Artemis interested in seeing him later, but she actually seemed excited! Before he could say anything, she began making plans for them to meet at the largest cherry tree by the lake. Toby almost laughed out loud. That was the very place where he was going to suggest meeting!

His smile turned into a grin, up until the point that Jace sat down next to them. He recognized the doctor from the time that a coworker nearly lost a finger. It had been Toby's task to accompany the poor sap to the infirmary. He didn't have any negativity toward Jace, but he did kind of intrude in the moment that he and Artemis had been having. He nodded his head curtly toward the young man. "Hey, Jace. Gallus," he added, acknowledging the parrot. Then, he turned to Artemis again, realizing that she'd asked him a question...and that he hadn't answered yet.

"Of course we can meet!" He then realized that he didn't have a pair of swim trunks. Maybe he'd be able to pick up a pair at one of the other shops at the mall here. "I gotta go," he said. "I'll see you there!"

[Love Dove]

Truly Monica hadn't expected someone follow her out of the mall, usually she was quiet enough that no one even realized when she left. Still it was a nice change for once. Looking out the corner of her eye as the red head caught up with her, Monica gave Rebecca a small smile as she introduced herself. "Nice to meet you, I'm Monica." She said slowing down her pace slightly so she didn't seem like she was trying to run away from Rebecca.

Though she actually looked at the girl when she complimented her eyes. "Oh, um thank you." Monica said her smile growing a little. "You have really pretty hair." She added after pausing for a moment, though she refrained from saying that it's color almost reminded her of her fire. Having been told by Zaniel that saying things like that made her seem even weirder. "I was going to go to the lake, if you want to come with me." She ordered coming to a stop still offering her a smile.

---

Zaniel nodded a bit as he helped her up. Even though he would have to do more than his usually amount of work now, he did enjoy watching how quickly her powers made the plants grow around them. "Why are we even planting something that takes two months?" He complained a little bit before shaking his head at her offer to help him harvest the plants later. As nice as it was for her to offer, he didn't want to chance hearing that annoying voice again because he didn't do his work.

He opened his mouth to answer and tell her no but was stopped as she brought up sunbathing again. His mind picturing her nude body by the lake sunbathing under the cherry tree, the sun warming up her smooth skin and making her red hair shine a bit.

Zaniel cleared his throat, trying to clear his head of the images her words were bringing. It was already hard enough working beside the girl he had a crush on and keeping his mind out of the gutter without her giving him something to actually picture. "Huh?" Zaniel asked lost in his own thoughts and metal images of Persephone sunbathing when she told him where to dig.

"Oh right." He said rubbing the back of his neck again as he turned and started digging Persephone's rows out for her. He dug out four more rows before sitting at the end of one of the rows having to take a break himself. The shadows the plants cast from the sun being absorbed on their own before he got up and headed towards the fence. "Alright I'm taking a break, that should be enough to earn me a break." He said sitting beside her the shadows following him.

[Mega Birb]

Jace looked down at his watch and finished off the pancakes that were his breakfast, leaving the rest of the fruit for Gallus. "Crap... I'll see you guys at the lake after work!" He took off through the mall at a run towards the infirmary. The resident medical professional, officially still in training but quite capable on his own, was late for an appointment with one of the more elderly patients, and decided that deafening himself and being late to important things maybe wasn't worth an extra ten minutes of sleep.

Gallus quickly set his sights on the abandoned food, and began to eat hungrily. He was well-fed, yes, but a little extra something never hurt, especially if it was blueberry-flavored.

[Madame Kitten]

"Jace.... I was hoping to go with Toby today to the lake.... Could we possibly go to the lake tomorrow? I heard its going to be even more beautiful than today." Artemis offered, in too much of a good mood to be put down by his deciding to go with them without being asked.

"Plus I'll bake you chocolate chip cookies too, and deliver them fresh from the oven! Please?" Artemis asked as she leaned towards him and batted her eyelashes with an innocent smile gracing her lips. She looked at Toby happily as said they could meet up, grinning from ear to ear as she nodded her head.

"Awesome, I'll see you later Toby!" She said before he was out of ear shot. "That was the guy I was telling you about Gallus." Artemis whispered into the tiny earhole of Jace's parrot, oblivious to anything that Have could possibly be feeling towards her and Toby.

---

"We need them according to the kitchen, so we do what we're told, though I think I may have to use my powers more often since we do have a bit of a back order." Persephone said as she sighed, remembering that each night she had to work at the bar each night since that was her punishment for not using her powers to speed things up.

Maybe she'd get the night off since she used her powers this time? She really didn't want to go to the bar which held a disgusting fowl order that'd make a skunk gag and men who decided slapping a girls ass was a sport. She snapped out of it as Zaniel decided to take a break, her smile showing again as she didn't want him to know something was up. But she couldn't find anything to say so she started to panic and blurted out the thing she wanted to say the least;

"Hey, did you hear that a car just opened up not that far from the apartments?" Shit.... How stupid could she be? Why did she have to mention that? She gave herself a mental slap upside the head, cursing her lack of conversational skills.