Need Some Help! (Everett)

[Karashi Usaki]

It was official. Karashi needed help. She had tried so hard on her own, and had failed miserably. That, to her, was not an option. In fact, she had been bullied for it so much, and she had decided that she needed to take matters into her own hands. She was not about to dishonor her family just by giving up. That was the last thing she wanted to do. She decided to try one last time on a group of passing students, who looked Mexican. First she tried her native language, and when they spoke, she spoke back in their language. However, Karashi did something wrong.

How you ask? Well, the reaction of the group of students resulted in loud laughter and followed with the Japanese girl landing flat on her face with her books and papers going everywhere. Through her tears, she picked everything up and organized it the way it had been. However, she noticed a card that had fallen out, one that she hadn’t noticed before. The name said Everett, but she couldn’t figure out the rest of the name or things on it because it was smudged. Despite the smudge, Karashi decided to go visit him. Maybe he could help her out.

After several failed attempts, Karashi finally got some people to understand her, and she got directions to his office. However, she somehow got lost, and had to ask for directions again. After several more attempts and a student escort, she arrived at his office, looking disheveled and with her clothes all messy. At this point she didn’t even care. She knocked on the door, but then decided to go in, not caring at first of the fact that she was being rude. It took about five seconds to register with her before her eyes went wide. Karashi immediately bowed. “I’m so sorry!”

Karashi had said that in Japanese, hoping that the man would understand her, although she wasn’t hoping for much. In fact, she figured it would be a miracle if he understood what she said and actually replied back to her or helped her in some sort of way. It would be the first time that someone would have helped her besides out of sympathy. She figured that was the only reason the other students had helped her get to his office in the first place. Karashi had had a rough day, and she was just looking for that silver lining, hoping that this Everett guy could provide that for her.

[Everett Lilien]

Everett was on the phone with the comic book store when he heard a knock on the door. "Just a moment!" he called out, before putting his cell phone back to his ear. "No...I mean...nevermind. I just wanted to make sure that all of my comic books are compiled and saved for me. I need a new issue of each set aside each week and when I went in there a few days ago I didn't get the new Daredevil comic with the rest even though it's on my list."

So, he probably wasn't supposed to be making phone calls to the comic book store while at work, but this was what he deemed important and he'd been dying to read that comic book anyway. He was listening to what the guy said when the door to his office opened and a flustered looking Japanese girl was standing there, speaking a language he didn't understand. Apparently she hadn't wanted to wait.

"Nevermind. Just make sure it's there. Thank you." He hung up a little too quickly and set his phone down on his desk, eyeing the girl. He had no idea what she just said. "Yes?" he prompted her.

[Karashi Usaki]

Karashi heard him speak, and quickly adapted to his language, not even noticing what language it was. “U-Um… I didn’t mean to interrupt your phone call…” Now she felt even more guilty for making him hang up. What if that had been someone important? Now she felt more guilty than sad. The girl couldn’t handle all of these emotions at once. She decided to start by showing him the card, which she didn’t remember ever getting. Karashi started to speak, but then hesitated.

“Um… Well, are you Everett? Um, well, Mr… Dr… Um…” Why was she so nervous? Karashi wasn’t good at starting conversations. She breathed hard. Talking to people after what she had just experienced had taken a lot out of the frail girl, and she was already shaking from how nervous she was. Her throat was starting to dry out now, and it was becoming difficult to speak. “I-I’m K-Karashi… U-Usaki… Um…” She really didn’t know what else to say. So Karashi just decided to say it all at once.

“I’ve been having a bad week and I was bullied and was tripped, and my stuff went everywhere and your card popped out so I came here and thought maybe you could help me.” The way Karashi said that was almost impossible to understand. She had spoken so fast it had all come out in one big sentence, and when she was done, she collapsed in her chair, shaking uncontrollably and breathing very hard. Karashi was having a panic attack, which was very rare for her. She just hoped it would stop soon. She wondered if this man thought if she was insane yet. It wouldn’t surprise her if he did.

[Everett Lilien]

"That's what my name plate says outside the door," Everett said jokingly, pointing to the doorway. "And....just Everett is fine. Mr. Lilien is way too formal." The girl was shaking though, obviously nervous and he figured he should probably stop with the jokes so he didn't make her condition worse. He hadn't gotten any new trainees yet and so he wasn't prepared which meant he'd have to dig up her file at a later date.

"I'm not sure I can help you with being bullied...that seems like more of a counselor issue and I'd direct you there. Is this related to your powers?" He decided to just start with simple questions. First of all, she needed to calm down. He couldn't help her if she didn't.

[Karashi Usaki]

Karashi nodded, listening to his voice, trying to calm herself down. It was sort of soothing and authoritative, and she kind of liked that. It was good that he was willing to help her, even though she didn’t think that he would be able to do anything, especially about the bullying. But who knew? Maybe she was in for a surprise. Karashi just wanted to stop her crying and be happy again.

Karashi knew it. It seemed like no one could help her with her bullying problem, and she refused to go to a shrink. She had tried it back home, and it hadn’t helped. Then again, she knew that everyone in this school had some kind of special talent, so she couldn’t rule out going to the counselor just yet. She nodded in response to his question, wiping her eyes and blowing her nose on some Kleenex. Karashi was afraid to speak for fear of crying again.

[Everett Lilien]

The young Japanese girl nodded, but didn't speak any words. Everett felt helpless when females cried in front of him because he wasn't really sure what to do. He spun around in his chair once and began typing away on his computer, typing her name in to find her records on Hammel. If she didn't want to talk, he'd have to dig up some info of his own. "Look, I know being a meta-human can suck and I also know that high school sucks. So I'm here to help, but you need to talk to me alright?" His eyes glanced over her records. "Want to tell me about your power, Karashi?"

[Karashi Usaki]

Karashi sighed and nodded. He was right. She wanted the help, but she needed to help him first. Now that she understood what he meant, she switched to the language he was speaking and spoke for the first time since she had barged into his office in hysterics. “Right… S-Sorry… I-I’m just afraid that I’ll s-say something wrong and t-then I’ll be made fun of…” She could hear him clicking away, and she assumed that he was looking her up. Karashi looked down at her hands, which were folded in her lap.

Karashi looked back up at him when he asked her about her power. “W-Well, um… My talent, per say, is speaking many different languages… I-I know it has a name, but it’s really long a-and I can’t say it…” She looked down again after she was done speaking, sniffling every five seconds. She didn’t have a tissue on her, but she saw some on the man’s desk, took one, and blew. When she was done, Karashi threw it away.

[Everett Lilien]

The moment she'd told him what her power was, Everett understood. The bullying. The being made fun of. Saying something wrong. "Omnilingualism," he recited. "Recognizing and being able to speak all languages." Honestly, it didn't seem like too much of a problem, that kind of a power. It seemed fun. Where as Everett had to deal with not causing power outages everyday or getting struck by lightning when there was a storm, but apparently it had really caused some turmoil for this girl. "Damn, kids are cruel." He shook his head. "Just so you know, I'm not going to make fun of you if you slip into other languages, but I won't understand you either." He tried to joke, to make light of the situation, to see a smile grace her features.

"When did you manifest?"

[Karashi Usaki]

Karashi nodded as he recited what her talent was. She wasn’t too keen on him calling it a power, but she didn’t let that show. She figured it wasn’t that big of a deal at the moment. She would just have to live with it. She waited as the man went over her records. She looked down at her hands, which were still folded in her lap. She didn’t want to interrupt him at all. She looked at him when he told her he wouldn’t understand her if she used her power. Karashi just smiled politely, even though it was completely fake.

Karashi frowned. She had never been asked that question, and it was actually a good question. She thought for a moment. “I-I don’t really remember… These past few years and months have been a blur for me…” She looked at him. She honestly couldn’t remember. Her manifestation, the recruiter, the moving, it all had happened so fast. Karashi knew that she was in Japan at one moment, and the next, she was in the United States. She looked at him, frowning. “I-I’m sorry…”

[Everett Lilien]

Alright, well at least they'd established what her power was, but she hadn't laughed at his joke, and her smile wasn't too convincing. It bothered him when he couldn't get a student to at least give him a genuine smile.

Everett nodded at her answer to his question though, scrolling through her file, eventually finding when she arrived at Hammel which told him similar things about her manifestation date. He understood why she possibly blocked it out, or why she couldn't remember. Everything changed when you became a meta-human. Everything. It was like one day you woke up a different person. Some were excited, some weren't, but it took getting used to. "Don't apologize," he told her, looking back at her. "I can see why it would be hard to remember. You've been through a lot, especially leaving your home in Japan." That was a really far move.