Chloe Visits the Good Doctor

[Suzthulhu]

<Chloe> Chloe had made a promise to herself: no more therapists. They hadn't helped before. In fact, the only thing that -had- helped was sitting down with Tobias for several days and slowly but surely working through the voices in her head and eventually merging her peronality with the fractured alter-Chloe, the one that made everyone around her shriek and collapse in fear when she was allowed loose. As a result, she'd finally been able to give up her SND, able to touch people without that horrible sensation of sensing their fears, vividly, and able to control herself much better. The voices were still there, but they were much more managable and much less freakshow horror. Still, when she'd seen this guy on the news, she wondered if now that she was a little better adjusted, that he might be able to help her work through the rest of her subscriptions. So into his office building she went, taking the elevator up to the third floor. Stepping into the receptionist's office, she smiled timidly. "Hello? I'm Chloe Cane. I'm here to see Dr Covenant?" Her wildly curly hair was pulled into an unruly mass that sprouted errant spirals, and she had on a plain white t-shirt and jeans.

<Ricochet> "Of course!" Chirps Sherry, the pretty, vacant young blond secretary. "I'll buzz you in." He smiles cheerfully and taps the intercom. "Dr. Covenant, your twelve o'clock is here." The response comes through immediately. "Send her on in, Sherry." The woman smiles at Chloe, and gestures to the double doors. "Go right ahead in." Bob's sitting in his normal place in the receptionist's office, huge back pressed up against a wall as he pretends to read a magazine. His eyes narrow slightly at the girl, possibly disliking her even more than he seems to dislike everyone else, then go back to his magazine. In his office, Covenant moves to sit down in one of the two chairs facing each other, and picks up his pen and notebook as he waits for her to enter.

<Chloe> Ditz. Shut up, you, she's nice! She's still a ditz. Chloe frowned slightly, shaking her head to jostle the voices around, like shaking a bottle with the genie inside. And then there's Bob. Whoa, that's a huge bitch! Shut UP! She clenches her jaw slightly and proceeds into the doctor's office, managing another smile as she sees him. "Hello, Dr. Covenant. Thank you for taking the time to see me." Creepy Chloe, Creepy Chloe! I swear to the heavens if you don't pipe down in there, I'm having a lobotomy. Blissful silence. For a moment. She'd been in plenty of shrinks' offices, and didn't need to be asked to sit in the chair facing him. She did so of her own accord, planting her butt in the chair and crossing her ankles.

<Ricochet> He steps up out of the chair and leans forward, clasping one of the girl's hands in both of his own for a long, vigorous handshake. "Chloe, glad you came to see me." He smiles charmingly at her, looking straight into her eyes. He exudes an aura of charm, of trustworthiness. One might be willing to put their life in his hands just after talking to him for a while. He steps back and settles down into his chair again, picking up his notebook and pen as he does so, and never once breaking eye contact. "How are you feeling today? Enjoying the warm weather? I love early Fall days like this. Not too hot, not too cold." He's disarmingly friendly.

<Chloe> The handshake makes her tense visibly, still unaccustomed to physical contact, even if it was alright to do it now. She holds her breath for a second, prepared for the flood of horror... but it doesn't come. Instead, she shakes his hand back, weakly, and pulls it away as soon as he lets go. "I'm not sure you can help. I've been to dozens of shrinks, therapists, psychics, and telepaths. But I've had a little breajthrough recently, so I thought I'd give it another shot." She was spilling her beans already. She liked this guy. Even if he couldn't help, he seemed genuine. Chloe nodded, oddly shaded hazel eyes fastened on his. "It's nice, yeah."

<Ricochet> "Chloe, it's not me that can help, it's you." He smiles warmly at her and writes something down on his notepad. He clicks the pen twice, then taps the pad with the tip of the pen. "The best I can do is try and guide you along." His smile brightens, and he clears his throat. "So what would you like to talk about? Anything in particular bothering you today?" He tilts his head slightly, unblinkingly maintaining eye contact with her, and waits for her response.

<Chloe> "Well..." She sighed and made a vaguely helpless gesture. "Where do I begin? It's sort of a long story, but I guess if you wanted to sum it all up, borked is the word. From the age of 13, until just recently, I was unable to touch anyone. At all. When I did, it was just awful. I saw what they were most afraid of, vividly, in ways you can't possibly imagine. They felt like they were being touched by death itself, cold, slimy, just... horrible." She shook her head again, quite obviously remembering things in great detail. Her head though, was silent, as though the voices in it were all standing around, looking at one another uncomfortably, waiting for something to happen. "Whoever I touched, part of them stayed with me. They're still with me." She tapped her temple with one finger and shrugged. "Then there's the other thing, too..."

<Ricochet> "What's that, Chloe?" He tilts his head again, and a practiced look of understanding concern comes across his face. He reaches up to remove his stylish glasses and holds them with one hand as he looks over at her from his chair. "Please go on." He reaches out to touch her hand, briefly, a lingering touch of comfort and reassurance. Then he clicks the pen twice and taps the notepad, and writes something down.

<Chloe> She took another deep breath before continuing. "Mom died when I was little. She was really sick, some genetic disease that they didn't have a name for then. I think she was a mutant, like me, and that it killed her. Dad was in the Army, and he died in Iraq almost four years ago. So, mu aunt and my grandmother lent a hand raising me... but it didn't really work out very well. I mean, they loved me and all, but..." She trailed off again. You scared them away, that's what. Shhhhh! Don't start! "But with what I am, what I can do, my aunt was too scared to stay with me, and my grandmother was too old. Anyway, they came to help my dad after mom died. It was fine, until a couple months after I turned 12. I had just started my period, at school of course, and they let me go home for the rest of the day. I saw a little girl fall down, and I went to help her up... next thing you know, she's screaming and crying that my hands are cold and not to touch her again. That was the first time I saw... her name was Gertrude, and she was afraid of snails." She paused for a second, but it was clear there was much more to the tale.

<Ricochet> "So you can sense people's fear, Chloe? Is that right?" He writes something down in the notebook again as he nods, not taking his eyes off hers for a second. Click. Click. Tap. "What else can you do, Chloe? You can tell me." He smiles disarmingly again, head slightly tilted, as he waits for a response.

<Chloe> "Yes, that's right. Through touch. Before, it was always on, for lack of a better word. But a friend helped me. He's a very powerful psychic." She blinked, frozen for a second as her brain tried to process.. what? She felt like she could trust him, and so she started speaking again. "I kissed a boy once. On my 13th birthday. He told me I was pretty. He was one of the last people I ever touched. He was the only boy I ever kissed. Two months later, Gertrude happened, and it was downhill from there." Remembering all of this made her visibly uncomfortable, and scared. Scared because she was afraid it might all happen again, and she'd be back to square one. Still, he was reassuring, so she kept talking. "The day Gertrude happened, I came home. My aunt was there, and she hugged me. She was afraid of getting old. I watched her rot in front of me, in my head I mean. She left shortly after that. She was scared of me. I don't blame her. I'm scared of me. My dad is in here, too. He thought it would be better if I was homeschooled. Jackie. She was afraid of sharks. She was also when the other thing happened." Chloe frowned deeply. "I was mad, I didn't want to sit down and study, but she just kept harping... And I remember thinking that I wanted her to just go away. I wanted her to be scared enough to just shut up for one god damn minute... and I screamed at her, and there was this sound. A vibration. I felt it more than I heard it, and it shot out from me. It was like looking at myself from inside me, as scary and horrible as I thought I could ever be. Next thing you know, she was on the ground, screaming. There was this other part of me from then on, me, but horrible. Always inside me, begging to be let out. Not only could I touch people and see their fear, but I could throw it right back out at them, at anyone too close."

<Doctor`Covenant> She can't see it, but Covenant's just scribbled a line of dollar signs on his notepad, followed by an exclamation point. He nods, and his face is the perfect mask of 'I feel your pain' concern. "That sounds awful, Chloe." He leans forward and puts his hand over hers again. "It's not your fault." He leans back again and smiles reassuringly at the girl, never blinking. He clicks the
<Doctor`Covenant> pen and taps the paper. "What did it feel like, Chloe? Be honest."

<Chloe> "It was, it is, awful." She looked down at his hand over hers, and thankfully felt nothing. Looking back up again, her expression changed rapidly when he asked her how it had felt. Gone were the sweet, almost doll-like features, replaced instead by a look of pure insanity and... pleasure? "It felt good to let her out. Like a release of some sort, of something that's been caged up far too long. It felt like, at least for a time, what whoever got caught up in it deserved exactly what they got." She shook her head again. "But after, I feel like a thing. Like a monster."

<Doctor`Covenant> "Chloe, I want to try something." He smiles, then reaches to the intercom on his desk. "Sherry, could you come in here for a moment?" "Yes, Doctor Covenant." The reply is immediate, and they can both hear the woman's chair moving through the double doors. "Chloe, I'm going to need a demonstration." The mask of concern crosses his face again as he looks her in the eye, one hand on hers again. "It's important. You'll feel better afterward. I promise."

<Chloe> Want to try something? That never lead down a good path. She opened her mouth to protest, but he'd already called his secretary in. And then... well, it seemed like a perfectly reasonable request. She stood up and turned to face Sherry, her back to the good doctor. There was a sound, a feeling, like everything being sucked into some sort of vortex. And then a low vibration, like a pulse, felt more than heard. Anyone within 50 feet of her, in front of her, would suddenly be plagued by a full hallucination of their absolute worst fear. It smelled, touched, tasted, you name it, just like the real thing, just like it was actually happening to them at that very moment. Chloe's eyes went white, then black, then back to their normal yellowish green hazel shade. It was done.

<Doctor`Covenant> "You wanted to see me Doct-" Sherry starts, before she's caught full force by Chloe's attack. Her body goes completly still, and her eyes widen and her pupils dilate as she starts shivering. Her nostrils go wide as she tries to breathe. She's drowning. She knows it. She can feel the current sweeping her away again. She shouldn't have swam out that far. Mommy told her not to, but she didn't listen. Mommy and Daddy were fighting, so she swam out to get away from them, but now she can't stop. She's being pulled away by the riptide again, she can't fight it. She's too small. Why isn't anyone helping her? She goes under. She can't scream, if she screams, she'll die. Covenant watches her reaction, feeling an unease in the pit of his own stomach during the demonstration, but there's a smile on his face. Why is he doing this? Maybe he needs to gauge Chloe. Maybe he's just a sadist. When Sherry can move again, she's reduced to a shivering, sobbing heap on the floor, and he calls out. "Bob, help Sherry back to her desk, please." The huge man grunts from the reception area, then lumbers in and hoists the woman over his shoulder. He shuts the door behind him. Covenant turns back to Chloe, once more looking her in the eye. "There, didn't that make you feel better?"

<Chloe> The shock and horror of what she'd done dawned on her face, and both hands clapped over her mouth. That poor woman, look what you did to her! You MONSTER. You're going straight to HELL, and I WILL TAKE YOU THERE! Then... the good doctor said something that made it so much better. She did feel better. She felt good, in fact. "Yes, it did. It was like... it was... it felt great, actually." Chloe grinned, a seriously creepy expression considering what she'd just done. She returned to her seat and plopped down in it, looking for all the world like the little girl who'd just gotten that pony she always wanted.

<Doctor`Covenant> "Sometimes we need to face what we're afraid of, Chloe. It's liberating. Think of it like primal scream therapy." He smiles at her, and reaches out to touch her hand again. "We're almost done for the day, Chloe. There's just a few more things I'd like to discuss." He clicks the pen twice, and taps the paper. "You met my assistant, Bob?" He refers to the mountain of a man that carried Sherry out of the office while she sobbed hysterically.

<Chloe> "I guess you're right." She was still grinning like an insane per... she was grinning like Chloe. Nodding, she gestured toward the receptionist's area. "Big guy? We didn't meet, really, but yeah, Bob." Doo dee doo.. bee bop! There was a tune in her head at the moment. The voices? Well, they were probably scared shitless right now.

<Doctor`Covenant> "Bob's a good guy, Chloe. He's been a true friend." He keeps his hand on hers as he stares into her eyes. "Don't you think Bob's a good guy, Chloe?" He lets go, then leans back again in his chair, writing on the notepad without looking again.

<Chloe> "I think he's great!" Oh god, what the hell happened? "Any friend of yours is a friend of mine." Ohshitohshitohshit! But she was paying the alarm bells no mind, not even a little.

<Doctor`Covenant> "Bob has a lot of errands he needs to run these days, Chloe. He needs a lot of help with that. You should help Bob if he asks you to, Chloe." He tears off the sheet he'd been writing it, folds it once, and tucks it in his coat pocket. "Well, that about does it for us today, Chloe. Remember, we had a good session. I was very helpful." He smiles at her, then moves forward to help her up from the chair. "If you could send Bob in here on your way out?" He thinks for a moment, still hearing Sherry's sobbing through the door. She could cry all she wanted, he'd go over there and set her back right when he felt like it. Sherry isn't even her name. He just always liked the idea of having a receptionist named Sherry. "And just ignore my receptionist. She's having a rough day."

<Chloe> "Oh, of course! You have my number, right? Just call me if you need anything. I'll be there lickety split." Lickety split? What the fuck does that even mean? HELLO? ARE YOU STILL IN HERE? But she wasn't, and no matter how much they screamed and ranted, that's all they'd be doing. "It was awesome. I really feel so much better. Thank you so much!" Chloe practically leapt out of her chair to hug the doctor. Chloe does not like to hug... anyone. "Thank you. I will tell everyone about this!" On her way out the door, she completely ignored Sherry. "Hey Bob? Doctor Covenant wants to talk to you. See you later, big guy!" And out she goes, feeling a gazillion times better.

<Doctor`Covenant> He pats Chloe on the back when she hugs him, smiling in a comforting, almost fatherly way. "You have a great afternoon, Chloe." Once she leaves, Bob lumbers into his office and closes the door behind him. Covenant turns to him. "Bob, this city is a fucking goldmine. It's beautiful." He does a little jig over to his desk and opens the drawer, pouring himself a glass of whiskey. "You want one?" He big man shakes his head. "No thanks. I'm drivin'." Bob turns towards the door, through which Sherry's sobs can still be heard, though it's more like a pathetic moaning now. "You're a real piece of shit, you know that, Doc?" Covenant takes a sip of whiskey, then plops down into the expensive leather chair behind his desk. "I know." He sighs, looking down into the glass of liquor, then back at Bob, a smirk on his face. "It's great being me."