15142/Nettie's Tea: Bulwark Nursing Home

Nettie's Tea: Bulwark Nursing Home
Date of Scene:	18 June 2023
Location:	Bulwark Nursing Home, Bulwark, NY
Synopsis:	After Talia and Nettie attended to the bedside of one of Nettie's former students, the 101-year-old Dorothy
Cast of Characters:	Nettie Crowe, Talia al Ghul

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Nettie Crowe has posed:
    The actual name of the facility was the Bulwark Skilled Nursing & Advanced Age Home, but BSNAAH was a horrible acronym to put on letterhead and T-shirts to keep the nursing assistants engaged, so it was lovingly called the Bulwark Nursing Home. This building has a lovely fieldstone fascade with white trim, big windows to let in a lot of light, wide hallways to allow for wheelchair and bed transfers, happy beige walls and white and black checked tile.

    There was also a very confused receptionist and nurse looking at those who just showed up on a beat-up bus, wearing their Sunday Best, asking to visit one Dorothy Smithfield, nee Bell.

    "I'm one of her grandkids, you see. I mean, once removed, twice put back in," Nettie comments, rolling her hand in the air "It's complicated. Mum had me while she was a bit older, more of an 'oops' and an 'oh no' but never really got on with the older family members. Rebellous states as teen, ran off to join a writer's guild in New York and then I heard that she's here, my grandmom, Dorothy Smithfield, and thought to m'self well I want to make good with at least one member of the family 'fore she journies onto the hereafter."

    Nettie, who is wearing a nice grey blouse, button-up high waisted pants and has a shoulder-strapped 'SERVICE ANIMAL - DO NOT PET' bag under her arm in which Corvax is VERY grumpily muttering to himself gives her best smile behind a pair of sunglasses, not being shady about this visit at *all*.

    The only information she gave on the bus? They were visiting a friend that she was worried about, but didn't want to tip her hand too soon.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul enters on in over and goes to glance about, over with Nettie and looking about and then speaking, "Yes, they're related. She's had some rather major health issues that have caused her to have it rather rough physically. You know how it goes. Poor thing has gotten hit by about everything imaginable. But she's a trooper. No matter what she's kept on going and is able to stay mobile. More htan most of us could do. She's actually in her twenties and she's always been like this." She would go to explain over in a bit of a whisper to thew oman.
    "It's been really rough. Early onset type two diabetes, HIV Positive, major kidney disorders and a half dozen other things. Poor dear is too damned stubborn to spend her life in the hospital and hooked up to machines three quarters of the day. We should all take some inspiration from her."
    Talia lies very smoothly. She can't fool Damian. Or Bruce. But hopefully the recepitionist lacks super nagging grandmother observation skills.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "... what... explains the hair, I suppose..." the Receptionist murmurs back, and Nettie motions to Talia.

    "She's my nurse. Yells at me all the time." she explains, and with a wave the two are buzzed into the nursing home proper.

    There's a television lounge playing old comedies in black and white, in spite of the fact that many of the current residents are now Boomers and no longer the Greatest Generation, but here and there there are octo, novo, and even centagenerarians.

    One of whom Nettie is now looking for.

    "No, no, too tall. Too short. Far, *far* too Western --" she murmurs as she looks at the faces of those sitting in the television lounge.

    "Let's try the rooms down this way, Talia, she's bound to be here." Nettie mutters, adjusting her bag with the crow inside giving a "WAUGH! Nettie! Gentle!"

    And she quick-steps down the hallway, poking her head in rooms. "Too male. Too male. Too -- oh *hello* I'm so sorry, interrupting a bath, how rude of me --"

    And at the end of the hall, in a room marked appropriately with SMITHFIELD, D...

    Nettie stops at the door, and she takes a deep breath.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would smile, "Yes. She cares a lot for her family, but she needs not care, but someone around. I yell at her, she yells at me.. She's not given me grey hairs. Yet. But I'm sure by the end of the year I'll have my first batch of them. I think us screaming at one another is what keeps her going. She has to keep on going out of spite really. And she loves her family too much for it to be then. She's difficult but interesting. Too many.." She goes to keep up with her drivel until the receptionist has gone to automatically tune them out as Talia puts her voice over at the level where she sounds like the background droning of one of those television sets playing Matlock for the thousandth time. She glances over her shoulder to make sure they're not being paid attention to.
    "Rather subtle there, Corvac. You might want to keep things a little more to yourself or we'll have to explain where the voices are coming from." She goes lightly snarky, going to head along wtih Nettie. "Take your time. IF you want me to barge in there to set the scene so you can come in to rescue your friend from a random transgressor.."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Lass, they'll just pass off a talking crow as a Youtiai."

    "You-Tee-Eye." Nettie corrects quietly, and she takes a small swallow, and steps into the room.

    There are birthday cards taped to the wall with 'HAPPY 101ST BIRTHDAY!". A letter framed from the president on the occasion of her Hundreth birthday. The woman laying in the bed looks frail, dark circles around sunken eyes, her veins standing out. She is hooked up to a bed monitor that will alert if she tries to get up.

    She's dressed in comfortable, loose clothing and has a blanket, decorated with stars and moons and all number of planets pulled up to her elbows, along with a few potted plants near her window.

    And Nettie does a very odd thing. She removes the gloves that were almost always present on her hands as she pulls a rolling chair up to the side of the woman's table.

    "Talia, meet Dorothy Bell." she states softly, brushing her hand over the old woman's forehead.

    "I'm afraid she's in grave danger."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul wold glance over at the woman over and then take a moment to incline her head, "Pleasure to meet you." She would offer quietly while going to move to look about the room, taking it in and the bed monitor. She doesn't say anything over in judgement - she's met those who are very old. This woman looks her age.
    She looks over at Dorothy thogutfully, "An old lover?" She would ask. She didn't knwo how old Nettie was, or what had happened in her past that rendered her unable to touch and have contact with things.. But she had a sense there was a little bit more to it than friendship. And then it's sealed over when NEttie can make physical contact with her - without issue. There's no hesitation on Nettie's part. Which means that it's normal. Interesting and interestinger.
    She would then at 'in grave danger' go on light alert. She goes to take in and sweep the room, looking for anything that would stand out or be a symbol of a risk.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "No, I'm afraid in spite of my boasting I've rather got not much in the department of lovers. At least any I would admit to." Nettie gives a wry grin.

    "She was my student. One of the two who survived. The other passed into the Sunless Lands long ago, natural causes--" Nettie murmurs quietly.

    The room itself doesn't seem very remarkable; she's probably lived in this room for the last few decades. It's kept clean. All of her clothing is marked with her initials. There's pictures of her from the Woman's Army Corps and a couple of her as a nurse after the war. A few medals.

    ... a framed newspaper clipping about how four nurses apparently went on a joyride in a tank and trampled some Nazis in France entirely by accident, written in French, with a picture of a much younger Dorothy holding up her demerit report.

    There's also a doll. It looks home-made, with brown eyes and some hand-made clothing and a few gray hairs tucked into the gray yarn hair.

    "She's the last of my eight."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would nod and listen over, glaning about. "Very well. So the last of your disciples then?" She would inquire politely. Probably not the best phrasing to use, but it was close enough and what terminology Talia was used to. Coven wasn't the right phrase - covens tended to come in threes after all and Nettie was speaking of eight.
    "You had at least a happy history together?" She makes the assumption over, glancing at the newspaper and giving it a quick review, then over to the doll. "She seems at peace." She would speak and then cross her arms.
    "What can you share about whatever is targeting her so I have a best idea of what to watch out for?" On to practicalities. Talia Al Ghul was not a sentimental woman.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "You could say that. Before I did some very awful things in despair. Depression is a hell of a thing... make sure you've got yourself a good shrink, Talia, 'fore your son starts thinking about your nursing home." she states quietly.

    The old woman's eyes open. She looks to Nettie, and gives a startled expression, then squints, as Corvax unzips himself from the crate and hops out onto the soft blankets.

    "/Nettie!/ And Corvax as well! Oh, you don't look a day older than when we last were, the both of you!"

    "Hello, Dee!" Corvax brightly greets the old woman, and Nettie smiles gently.

    "It appears you've put a couple years on, Dee. I'm sorry I haven't been by to visit--"

    "In eighty years!" Dorothy laughs brightly, and then coughs.

    "Dee. I got an alert from the crystal ball. Something in your blood tracking's come up. I need to know... have you seen her?" she asks gently. "Has our Mary come to visit since you've been here?"

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would shrug over, "Oh, I have better ways than that. And Damian would simply break whomever they were. I don't think even Ms. Quinn could help him." She speaks that in a very proud way that was probably very, very disturbing and explained a lot about her family dynamics come to think about it. Then she glances over at Dorothy for a moment and dips her head.
    "Greetings." She doesn't bother to elaborate any further, content to let teh two have thier reunion. It was something that was for the two of them. And likely the last time they would speak together. Massiv ethreat or not coming - it was likely that teh woman would simply move on to the enxt world and be escorted along by the lady of the ankh taking her on a new journey.
    Alert on crystal ball and blood? That sounds so unclean and ever so antiquated. Ah well, thautamurgy couldn't quite catch up to some of the mroe modern practices in long distance scrying.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    If it ain't broke, don't fix it Tals. Just be lucky Nettie hasn't offered to set up a supernatural blood network yet.

    "Seen Mary? Jessop-Hyde? One of the oth...ers..." Dorothy stammers a moment, and then she goes very quiet.

    And she raises her frail hand, bruised from pricking with lancets, and points to the doll that was behind Talia.

    The hand-made doll is now standing up. It has a pair of sharp scissors in its little hand, and takes a step towards Talia, ready to strike!

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would glance over at it then and move to quickly lash out at the doll. She does so with the palm of her hand, attempting to use a minimal amount of pressure on it. Presuming it was roughly as heayv in mass as a cat, presuming it hit true her strike would hopefully just fling it off the dresser that it would approach her on.
    Presuming that Dorothy was acting defensively out of seeing someone there she didn't know when she was in danger, Talia was simply acting to try and use a minimum of force to neutralize the threat without lasting damage to it.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Talia! Catch it!" Nettie barks, and she sets up a defensive ward. The door slams shut with no one touching it. The room seems to chill a good twenty degrees, and the old lady gives a soft sound of fear, pulling up the blanket and hiding like a child!

    "That's not our work!" Nettie yells out in explaination, "but we need to examine it!"

    The door, on the other hand, gets whacked with Talia's hand and goes flying into the closet. There's a rustling in the clothes before it comes back with two large hatpins, and uses them like javelins, attempting to stab Talia in the feet with them, moving with surprising speed for something so small!

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would go to let ou ta sigh over, "As you say." It goes to stab over to her foot.. Which is wearing a heavily reinforced boot - the stiletto she had on had some metal lining it and a literal blade for a stiletto. Someone wanted to be able to slice it when she kicked high. The strike goes in, hitting her heel over as it couldn't get the needles in deep enough - not for lack of strength, but by the needles simply bending and not being strong enough to penetrate.
    She would go to move to try and yank over a heavy bag holding thread, and move to attempt to stuff the thing over into the bag if at all possible.
    At least it wasn't a Mogwai

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    If it had been a mogwai Nettie would have broken out the fire. You don't mess with gremlins.

    The poppet from Hell gives a very, very faint screeching noise of anger, some garbled speech, and then with the scissors cuts through the bag, additionally giving it a pin cushion in the shape of a tomato, which means it now has hat pins, cloth pins, needles, and a sharp pair of scissors in its current armory.

    It leaps from the bag to the dresser, and tries to flank Talia as it moves, looking to get behind her quickly!

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Oh well, this is annoying. Talia goes to let out a sigh over as it goes to slash at her, it peppering her hands and shoulders with the needles. "I am not a pincushion." They had to take the thing intact, sos he couldn't use her sai.. She spots a plate over with leftover food - more importantly, the plastic utensils on it. SHe goes to grab out a plastic knife and one of thsoe combination fork/spoons used for it. Then she goes to start to parry, slash, counter!

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Parry! Slash! Counter! On a very odd scale.

    The poppet is showing to be a strangely worthy opponent to the Assassin as it moves, countering to slashes, parrying the parry, until it upsets a tray of granny candies full of strawberry bon bons and hard caramel and toffees wrapped in gold foil, and begins to sling them at Talia. Content that it will not make its kill today, the little cretin turns, and begins to run towards the window!

    "mwehehehehehehue!" it laughs in a very tiny maniacal voice!

Talia al Ghul has posed:
It's not exactly Robin Hood Daffy, but Talia can hold her own with the yarn-ball of stabbing doom. As it goes to make a break for it, she goes to stay in the mood. She looks about for the heavy sewing yarn dropped askew. she quickly goes to pick it up, twist it together in a small noose.. And then flings it through the air! All five or six meters of it as she goes to yoink it down HARD over the small beast to reel it back! Yarn, hardened by years of not being visited by grandchildren and thus nagging that had built up over decades (whether or not Dee had grandchildren did not matter) would be impossible to break!

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    The doll laughs and laughs and laaaaaughs, about to leap out the window when -- WHUMP. The lasso strikes the doll. It comes down around its overlarge head and it flails and curses in Abyssal as it's reeled back, its weapons forgotten by the sheer force of inertia as Talia captures the demonic doll!

    "Well done, Talia." Nettie states, dropping the ward, and she breathes out. "Expected nothing less."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would go to reel it in, then moves to quickly move to spin it about in the yarn, trying to make sure to cocoon it up and over so it can't use it's leverage for any of the numerous small needles, bobbin pins, and things with sharp edges to try and wriggle itself free. "So is this what was giving you that sense of danger?"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Nettie holds Dee's hand a moment, and then steps forward to look at the poppet, pulling her gloves back on as she narrows her eyes.

    "Too right it was. Best get it back to my workshop so we can take a closer look at it. Only a few people I know of who would hunt down a one hundred and one year old nurse, and two of them are in Hell. Now, Dee, did you--" she pauses a moment, and turns around. She takes a deep breath, and slowly lets it out.

    Dorothy Smithfield, formerly Dorothy Bell, whose name resonated in the name of Nettie's shop, lay back on her bed with her eyes closed, and a smile on her face, exhaling her last breath.

    The heart monitor gives an alert.

    "Should probably make ourselves scarce, Talia." Nettie states, and she throws up a portal, motioning to the assassin and the doll. "Bus'll find its own way home."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would glance over her shoulder, "I'm sorry that you have to see her again in such a state." She would take a moment over and then softly move to do one final thing over for the woman. She moves to go over to her, takes her fingers up and over.. And gently moves to fully close her eyes. Then.. She goes to take out two small coins and moves to place them over on each.
    To pay when one crossed the river and was lead along by the guide, the womanw ith the ankh. For it never hurt to leave the one that was there at the beginning and the end of things a small gift. Then she's quiet, and going to head over into the portal. Thoughtful and reflective as she would step into it and vanish.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    It was strange, at first, watching Talia step over to the shell that was once Dorothy Bell, who lied about her age to join the nurses, lied about being afraid to join a group of witches, and bravely took off with an overloaded broom, fleeing the betrayal of her friends and family.

    Nettie tarries a moment, and then leans her forehead against Bell's.

    "... O Lady that never I see, take my friend gently with thee, for now though we are ever apart, you carry with you a piece of my heart." she whispers, just beneath the sound of wings in the aether, and then she too leaves.

    Forced cheerfulness as she passes through the portal, stiff upper lip, and Corvax lands on her shoulder.

    The short witch takes a deep breath, looks to Talia and gives a feral sort of grin.

    "Well. Now we're on the hunt, aren't we? Gather some forces... this is going to get interesting."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would glance at Nettie, "Interesting is never the word to use when in a pursuit. It lends itself to a sense of joviality to it. That lends itself to not taking the matter seriously, which leads to sloppiness and excessive risk. Would some of the others have taken it upon themselves necessarily to intercept the golem before it engaged it's target?" Nothign in life is what it looks like up front.
    And Talia Al Ghul will not stand for thoset hat do not approach things with wariness and caution. "So just be aware that when one uses that term.. Particularly with those that are young and not experienced.. And not hurt.. That it lends itself to unnecessary risk." Talia is a hunter. To her, that is the perspective of the world.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Talia, do not mistake my forced cheer for jovality. SOmeone just killed my student, my friend, and I will take their still-screaming skull and feed it to fire ants to clean the bone of their rotten god-damned flesh and make sure they are aware to suffer every living minute of it." Nettie gives a smile.

    "Interesting is the word to use when you have all seen me at my nicest."