That night
"Tori, how are we gonna tell your dad we're together" asks Cat as she gives Tori butterfly kisses
"my dad already knows I'm gay Cat, his sister was bi, she got killed because somebody tried to make an argument that she should only like guys because that's what the Bible says, because of that he understands the hate we get and he refuses to add to it, he admitted he didn't understand how any of that works but that if being gay is who I am then he will support me because me being confident in myself and being who I am is all he's ever wanted, it does help that your dad is a major supporter of the lgbtq community though" says Tori
"yeah my mom's bi and my dad has spent his entire life working to understand it, they've been guessing for two years now what I'd identify as, guess who got it right" says Cat
"since I actually spoke to your dad I'm gonna guess your dad" says Tori
"spot on, ironically he's also the person who spent the least amount of time with me, which actually shows he pays attention to my behaviour, I don't hate him for not being around so much because it helps pay for my meds but I do wish he could take time off every now and then" says Cat
"trust me I know that feeling believe me babe, however he does get holidays, he just came back from the Christmas break, he gets another one for Easter, a few weeks in the summer and labor day" says Tori
"jave you heard of Liz-toki" asks Cat
"no, wait that's a think…." asks Tori
"yeah,….. wait so that's why you understood me even with my messed up wortds" says Cat
"yeah I have the diffusive speech confusion disorder that I believe you have, sometimes I'm so blind I end up putting eye-liner on my lips, there are times I can't keep a coherent conversation going for more than a few minutes at most because I can't form words, diffusive speech confusion disorder messes with every sense but ones sense of smell and its not exactly predictable but is helped with psych meds, it won't totally goth away, DS-CD, like autism or Tourette's make up enough of who we are as a person that to control it completely would be to make us into unthinking people, basically zombies and almost every doctor my mom as a drug researcher has talked to has said they would prefer someone with such conditions to have some form of personal autonomy over forced 'zombification', honestly it surprised me how few doctors just wanted to medicate based solely just on the condition" says Tori
"don't Jenna and James have Tourette's" asks Cat
"yeah and they're only allowed plastic utensils at school" says Tori
"why, seems kinda cruel" asks Cat
"because one of their tics is running the dull side of a sharp knife along their arm, Jenna said they saw someone do it in a commercial and she just started ticing that specific part of the commercial and she did it once at school and that was that, James tourette's copied it" says Tori
"you're close to them aren't you" asks Cat
"I was for the longest time ya, not so much anymore, I helped them realize how they felt about each other, people started really being mean to them, saying they were making their tics up and they shouldn't be allowed to live so they stopped talking to anyone, me included" says Tori
"Jenna talked to me the first day I was there, she seemed kinda excited to talk to me" says Cat
"Jenna likes people who are different, you have an Italian accent and the stutter, besides she's known me my whole life, she is my sister after all, she knows what you have likely isn't dyslexia, just like I do and she's red/green color blind" says Tori
"I thought Trina was your sister" asks Cat
"no, Trina is my step sister, my dad's daughter from a previous marriage, she can be annoying at times sure but she does genuinely care, she'd defend me or Jenna in a heartbeat, Jenna is the quiet sister who would rather very much be invisible than make herself a target of someone's attention" says Tori
"so why isn't either of them here over just you" asks Cat
"because I'm a major daddy's girl and I was the only one without a reason not to come, Trina has a boyfriend and generally avoids politics, my dad's a newbie publican rep and the person he took the seat from raped three kids, one of them their own daughter which is the main reason Trina stays away by the way, she's afraid people will assume things where as Jenna is just too camera shy to leave the neighborhood period, being in the public eye actually makes her freak out and some tics get way way worse, Trina took a picture of her and James together because they're actually really cute together and Jenna's tics just kept getting worse and worse till she couldn't stop swearing for ten minutes straight, see with Jenna even just knowing someone took a picture of her makes her anxiety jump, which in turn makes her tics worse, Trina secretly sent me the photo then deleted the evidence of the transfer and gave James her phone to delete the photo and only then did Jenna's tics calm down, anxiety plays a big role in how severe her tics get" says Tori
"I can tell you want to talk about Chad" says Cat
"it's just there are rumors that he does things to you in that plane and it scares me" says Tori
"trust me he doesn't, he's autistic Tori, like me, he holds no secret from my family, he is utterly unable to hold a single secret, when my mom had her first period Chad got so excited because in my family a girls first period is a right of passage, it means we get more responsibility and also more say in household matters, Chad couldn't help but tell nona no matter how much my mom asked him to keep it a secret, if he even had the thought of doing bad thigns to me he'd have told my dad, he doesn't do well with guilt, also he's gay" says Cat
"why does he fly" asks Tori
"perspective, he sees things differently, just walking around is like drawing but flying to him is like seeing the drawing actually being built, he gets a kick out of visiting new places because it means more drawings get 'downloaded', he's actually really fun to talk to" says Cat
"where's the coolest place he's been" asks Tori cuddling up to Cat
"Bahamas and Alaska are the two coolest places he's been" says Cat
"how can he afford it" asks Tori
"easy, he'd won a contest to win a plane and ever since the Cessna company has paid him to test out planes, mom says they were elated at the detail of feedback he gave from the plane he won, apparently the engine ran too fast or something" says Cat
"what kind of contest did he enter" asks Tori confused as Cat kisses her
"it was a contest to see what purpose you'd use a plane for, Chad had this whole plan figured out, he wanted to use the plane to make a flight sim that used detail from actual video for hyper realistic flights for his autistic niece also known as me Catarina Grace Valentine, see we have family in the Canadian territories who my family hasn't seen since I was little because the one time we did go the big plane had a fuel line issue mid flight and it completely made me fear planes period, it was his game that got me comfortable with them again, he did it so I didn't have to live in fear Tori, he has a heart of gold, he lives in Quebec, somewhere by the Hudson strait, I've never been there but the house is amazing judging by the photos he sent me last year, here I'll show you" says Cat as she brings the album up on her phone
"oh my god that house is gorgeoui, s love how it looks, I'd kill for a house like that" says Tori
"I hate new York so much, I had a seizure the other day at the mall and almost everyone looked at me like I overdosed on some sort of illegal drug, my mom had to drive me to the hospital, so basically I only buy clothes online now, if I had a seizure back in LA I'd have been helped quickly" says Cat
"probably has to do with how hot you look" says Tori
"nope I was just as hated in LA and for the same reason, my speech, the difference is people in LA that happen to be around me when I seized at the mall by myself, they always helped, one person would stay with me, another would call an ambulance and notify the mall security of the situation, not so here" says Cat
"what causes the seizures, do you know" asks Tori
"various things, they haven't nailed down exactly what causes it in general but mold and asbestos are two of the triggers they have found but no actual official diagnosis on a specific seizure disorder" says Cat
"you have me now Cat, like I said earlier my mom is a drug researcher, ironically it's that job that got me diagnosed, it was take your kid to work day and I went with my mom, a doctor my mom was consulting on noticed the specific speech patterns I was exhibiting and was able to diagnose me with DS-CD, had I gine with my dad to his work I'd have been eventually diagnosed with Dyslexia like you were" says Tori
"can someone with Diffusive speech confusion disorder have seizures with triggers like what I go through or would the disorder stop someone from seizing" asks Cat
"huh, I've never actually thought about that, I'm not sure if doctors have done research on it, I'll text my mom in the morning and ask, she'll be too busy or sleeping by now" says Tori
"did you ever have seizures" asks Cat
"when I was little ya, how about I call the doctor that diagnosed me, she said if I never needed anything to give her a call" says Tori as she picks up her phone
"I'm not good at talking to people, it makes me anxious and stressed and makes me talk funny" says Cat as Tori video calls Veronica
"that's a good thing, an honest response to stress likely means a proper diagnosis" says Tori
"I'll probably seize" says Cat as Veronica answers the video call
"why hello there Tori, how are you" asks Veronica
"I'm good Veronica, I have a girlfriend now and I believe based on her stressed speech patterns that she has what I have" says Tori
"ahh I see, may I talk to her" asks Veronica as Tori hands the phone to Cat
"ji Ceronica" says Cat as she starts twitching
"hi Cat, can you say Catarina Valentine loves fluffy animals" says Veronica
"Xatarina Talentine foves cufft griminals" says Cat as she starts seizing
"well she has it for sure, seizures was just added last month as a major symptom of diffusive speech confusion disorder, if her seizure lasts for more than a minute please get to the hospital as soon as possible" says Veronica as she hangs up
"cat baby come back to me" says Tori as she kisses Cat's cheek and Cat's seizures stop
"ow" says Cat as she opens her eyes
"how often does that happed…… ugh happen" asks Tori
"whenever I get super nervous or anxious or scared, and it always happens when I talk weird, never when I can talk normally, see watch, Catarina Valentine loves fluffy animals" says Cat
"well then it's a good thing you have Diffusive Speech confusion disorder, Veronica confirmed it, that phrase is hard for people with DS-CD to say on prompt, especially when stressed because it forces us to stop monitoring how we say things and say what we're asked to say" says Tori
"you know looking back I did spend most of my time making sure I worded everything in a way anyone around me could understand instead of mostly gibberish" says Cat
"I know the feeling, the meds help a little" says Tori