Useless

[Maya Deveraux]

Outfit Reference

Maya had closed the shop early today simply because she could and sent the little workers back home. They were grating on her so she supposed it was a twofer. She had ended up going downtown for whatever reason she couldn't really explain yet.

For the most part, people moved out of her way when they saw the stick but some unfortunate ones had to endure a sharp whack from her foldable walk stick. She didn't even bother apologising despite some of them actually saying something.

All the while, her ability kept picking powers off every here and there. She would comment under her breath with a smirk about them but eventually she didn't really see any of use for them.

She stopped at a place that smelled remotely like food and drinks and felt her way into the establishment, her stick guiding her through the sea of people. Practically the whole place buzzed with a sort of energy that only mutants emitted and Maya was feeling everything.

One in particular made her laugh as she sat down. "What use would holographic imagery be to a blind woman?" She muttered, shaking her head as her walking stick was folded up and put on the table. Whether or not the mutant actually heard her was left to chance.

Tagging: Tamara Sulik

[Tamara Sulik]

Tamara would have to return to the school later but for now she enjoyed some time out. She walked around town, did some window-shopping. She didn't have enough time for herself, she thought, and since her boy should be asleep at this hour, she had to count something like eight hours to know, thanks to their different time zones, she figured she could occupy this time in town, amongst adults for a change. And she decided she would eat outside also and come back only after. She still had plenty of time, so she was in no hurry. This gave her the luxury of picking up the restaurant of her choice as opposed of entering the first one she saw.

Tam picked one and before long she was seated at a table. Pulling off her leather jacket, she let it rest on the back of the chair, her purse soon joining it before she sat down. She let out a sigh of contentment as she sat comfortably, then picked up the menu, looking for what might very well interest her. Maybe some pasta, they seemed to have a nice selection. She was still debating when she noticed someone sitting at the table right next to hers. The woman was blind or at least had her sight impaired. Tam did not feel one ounce of sympathy for her. She must have learned to deal on her own if she had no one to walk her around, she didn’t need her pity.

The woman however intended for Tamara to hate her, plain and simple. She heard her comment and she frozen there. Did she hear right? She looked up to see whether anyone else heard or not. Most people were on another side of the restaurant, this one only started to be filled so they might not have heard her. “And what makes you think I will let you use it?” she asked, staring at the woman even though she could not see it, not trying to hide her annoyance in her tone. Who did she think she was to appropriate her power like that, or even to talk of it in such a way?

[Maya Deveraux]

Maya had to hold back her laughter when she heard how pissy the woman in question was. "What makes you think I would waste my abilities on that shitty power?" She snorted before taking a sip of her tea.

There had to be a reason for Maya to engage a mutant like this but really, all Maya wanted was a reaction. And boy did she always get it. She had yet to find someone she didn't irritate. Apart from her family of course.

[Tamara Sulik]

Tamara was pissed. She knew her power was not very useful. She could not attack with, she could not protect herself. Her images were glowing a bit, and were see-through so obviously you could not mistake them for the real thing. And she couldn’t make them talk. It was a cool visual effect but other than that, it was pretty useless. Still, if she was ready to admit it, she did not allow others to point it out, especially not in such a way.

“My power may be of no use to you, but I’m not above kicking the ass of a snotty blind girl if she lacks of respect,” she warned her. It didn't matter to Tamara, the condition this woman had to live with. Being blind was not an excuse, it did not give you the right to be a pain in the ass. She never understood why people felt the need to be more understanding to them. If they accidentally bumped into you, maybe. But her problem had nothing to do with her manners. Of, in a way, it did. She was not thought some.

Tamara tried her best to ignore the woman as the waiter came back and she ordered some water, asking for more time to decide since she had been too busy bickering with the person sitting at the table next of hers to think about food.

[Maya Deveraux]

"Oh my. Violent." Maya tittered, so amused by how easily the woman was influenced by her anger. It was almost too easy.

"If you can catch me by surprise at any moment, I'd gladly surrender." The power mimic sneered, her abilities stretching so she could almost feel the mutant's distance. It was a very useful tool, her abilities. One that she had honed for years. Because she could tell how far the power was from her, she could basically track the mutant's movements.

The closer they are, the better she was at knowing what they were about to do.

"Is that all you have, hollow...graphic imager?" It was a lame retort but one that could possibly just anger the woman even more.

[Tamara Sulik]

Tam believed that she normally controlled her anger better than that. This woman caught her by surprise, there was no other explanation. She sat down there and decided to simply insult her power, without even knowing her at all. It frustrated Tam. Without feeling the need to always show her worth, she hated not being taken seriously. And that woman was not taking her seriously. Worse, she implied that her power was completely useless. To the blind woman that she was, probably. But it was not useless. She refused to have a useless power.

She took a deep breath. The last thing she wanted was to start a fight in the middle of the restaurant. But she’d happily gouge out her eyes. Not like she had much use for them anyway. But she bet it would still hurt. “And what’s yours, other than being a parasite?” she let out, trying to calm her temper. Blake would not like it, since she too could mimic and sense powers but Blake never claimed that her ability made no sense at all. She turned her head to look at the blind woman not far from her. “I prefer my hollow images to being a ghoul,” she added, this time able to contain her disdain for the woman enough to make her tone almost light before she turned her attention back to the menu. She was tempted to ask the waiter if she could not change of table. But she knew that she could not explain why without sounding like an asshole to blind people.

[Maya Deveraux]

Maya could sense the agitation in the other woman, pleased that someone would be so insulted by mere words.

The woman's retaliation made her laugh as she took a sip of her coffee. "A parasite that could sooner kill you given the right ability."

Not to mention the self-defence classes she had been taking since she was a kid, a recommendation from her then mentor. Her disability had never been a hindrance to Maya's life, more of an annoyance.

"A ghoul? You really think I'm a ghoul? That's so awful." Maya said in a monotonous tone of voice before smirking. "I think you'd have to do better than that to insult me."

[Tamara Sulik]

She had to admit, the woman had some guts. Not only was she insulting her but just plainly admitted she could kill her. Right there, in the middle of a restaurant. Too bad no one was apparently listening to them, Tam would then have witnesses to ask for the blind girl to be moved elsewhere. It would be a nice little victory for her also, a petty one, but one nonetheless, if Maya was the one forced to move. She could just imagine it, the blind woman grumbling while asked to go elsewhere because she was disturbing people at the other tables and Tam, quietly sipping at her glass. She almost wanted to order wine just because she thought sipping it would make her look even bitchier.

“But, like you say, you’d need the right ability to do that. Otherwise, you’re pretty powerless, aren’t you?” she replied. She thought her pun wasn’t so great but at least she was throwing a punch at her and she thought it would piss her off good. She suddenly loved Blake so much more for not simply stealing people’s abilities and make fun of them like this one was.

Tam was about to reply to her again when a man came to her. He was not a waiter and she remembered he was the one who placed her. He excused himself before explaining there was a large group coming and they would need her table to place with others so they would all have a place to sit. In the meantime, he suggested, since he found her talking with Maya, to place them together, promising to give her another seat if a table emptied before her meal arrived. She was about to protest but noticed there wasn’t another table at her section she could switch for. She still wanted to argue but she couldn’t deny the fact the two of them had been talking to each other might give people the wrong impression. She didn’t want to sit with her though. Sighing, she had the man promise that the second a table emptied, she would get it. She wasn’t sure he would oblige her, probably preferring to give it to anyone coming in instead but she felt like she didn’t have much of a choice. With another sigh, she switched to Maya’s table, trying her best not to look too pissed about it, not wanting to have the bad role of the judgemental one here. But she so wanted to get to anyone else’s table right now.

[Maya Deveraux]

The woman's response to her had Maya chuckling at just how poorly people chose their words. Pun or no, it was hardly the way to respond. And powerless? Maya? She had had the luck of having smarts enough to realise that as much as her defect left her defenseless, it also opened up a bigger possibility of filling it up with offensive practices.

It took her three years just to get the basics of self-defense right but after those three years went by, everything went smooth. No, her other senses were not heightened, she wasn't Daredevil or Tof from that Last Airbender show Kiera and Kieran loved so much. But she did learn to read the currents in the air when movements were being made.

It had been torture and she remembered how many times she fell exhausted in bed after too much concentrating but she never gave up. She didn't want to because she knew these skills ensured her to live.

"If you believe that, I have to say, it isn't only your powers that are useless." She shook her head in amusement. When she heard someone else come over to tell the other woman that she would have to sit with Maya, the smirk on the blind woman deepened.

"I think I'm actually going to order food now." She purposely smirked and waved a waiter down, asking them to repeat the specials they had. After deliberating for a while, she decided on an entree and a main course, leaving dessert till later.

"Couldn't wait to get near me, could you?" Maya started, turning her head slightly to where she thought the other woman was sitting.

[Tamara Sulik]

Tamara was not scared of Maya. Simply irritated. But she might also go to that restaurant again and she didn’t want to pass for the woman who was an ass to blind people. Seriously, why did the world have to be so much softer on the disabled? That woman was being a bitch and it was Tam who’d look bad if something happened. Damn it.

And now they were placing them together because the fact they talked to each other had people believed they knew each other. Okay, so next time, she would never talk to other people. Ever. Tamara was ready to go for the small table by the toilets if that meant being away from her and her negativity. Because no way Tam was the cause of it. That woman was. She pissed her off by mocking her power and by acting like mutants were just articles in one big store she could pick at will. Who would do things like that?

She sucked it up when she took her time ordering something. She could not complain and Tam was making big efforts not to roll her eyes or grunt or anything. But she waited for Maya’s comment about the situation. A comment that came not very long after the waiter left. “Why do you even bother talking to me still? Do me a favor and find someone else to annoy while I wait for a table,” she snapped back at her. With a bit of luck, she wouldn’t get her food by that time. Otherwise she might be tempted to throw some of it at her. No matter how puerile that was.

[Maya Deveraux]

"Aww, but it's quite fun annoying someone who really can't stand being annoyed." Her grin was almost child-like in exuberance and innocence when it was filled with the exact opposite.

"You're making it quite easy too. You're easily riled up huh. One mention of your useless power and I've got you where I wanted you." She shrugged lightly as her hand traced over the cutleries. "Sometimes, it's better to be indifferent."

[Tamara Sulik]

“Because you ever met someone who enjoyed being annoyed?” she replied sarcastically. She wondered if the woman was like this with every people she met. Was she doing this, scanning through people’s powers as she seemed able to identify them, like they were clothes? What power am I wearing today? If so, Tam doubted she had a lot of admirers.

And she dared bring up how she found her power useless. Her jaws clenched and she wished that woman could read minds or feel people’s emotions, like this she would know what Tam thought of her. “I’m more appalled by your obvious lack of manners. What is it? So used of people being soft on you for being blind you assumed it gave you the right to be a bitch?” she replied. If that was the case, she would soon realize Tam had no intention on forgiving her everything just because of her handicap.

[Maya Deveraux]

"I wouldn't say enjoyed but they do just take it in stride. Something which you obviously lack." She shrugged. She knew the woman hated her and would seek to hurt her somehow and frankly, Maya would be surprised if she didn't attempt anything.

Of course, hurting a handicapped person was taboo nowadays and people were so fucking politicaly correct that Maya wouldn't even enjoy it if people blamed the other woman for acting out.

"That's exactly it. Oh you know me so well and we've only just met! You're a keeper." Maya said cheerfully, though meaning nothing by it at all.

[Tamara Sulik]

Perhaps Tamara took it too close at heart. She could just ignore the woman, pretend she wasn’t there, that her words meant nothing to her. Being told that she had a short fuse however only made her fuse shorter. She never liked to deal with that kind of person. Normally, she would have told her what she thought of her opinion and go away. But the place and time was not appropriate for it. Still, the second she will have a chance, Tam intended to do it.

Maya seemed to be just as sarcastic as Tam herself. Somehow, she didn’t savour that fact. Perhaps because she seemed to find it easier than Tam to keep her cool. She just called her a bitch yet was smiling at her. Tam knew the smile was fake but that was not the point. She could not pierce through her think skin like Maya was and it annoyed her. “Tell me, you’re always this charming or is it a special treatment just for me?” she asked with irony. They brought their plates and Tam sighed inside. That would be harder to ask for another table with her meal in front of her. Well, she will have to eat at the speed of light and ask for the check then.

[Maya Deveraux]

The other woman's question had Maya laughing as the food came over. Maya thanked the server, purposely ignoring the other woman as she asked the server to point out which plate was the entree and which was the main course.

Once things were pointed out, Maya started on her food, again purposely prolonging answering her newfound victim.

"Mm...best sauteed mushrooms in Kalispell." She announced before taking a sip of her chilled water. "Oh I'm actually quite a delight. I beseech you to ask my employees. You just seem more uptight than most so..."