New York Preplay

[icecoldfrost]

OK. So if we have time, we can do an establishy post the night before, with Emma telling Karla to wear running shoes and clothes she doesn't mind ruining. If we don't have time, we'll assume all that got said handwavily, so feel free to remark on it anway.

Thread One: The portal will dump them in Chinatown, where they make their way to the nearest subway station, hitch a ride up to Central Park. Emma and Hank make their home in lost sections of the abandoned lower level under the 42nd Street station. Hence the need for pants Karla might not mind throwing out. It's dry and clean, but there's lots of climbing and such.

Thread Two: MEET HANK! If Karla wants to poke at Hank's head, I think she could. Since he's not really a 'landen,' I don't think she'd burn out his brain.

Thread Three: (optional slumber-party thread) The girls can either stay the night with Hank (Emma's got a room! With a bed!) or then head out to crash at a hotel if they want.

Final Thread: Then some late breakfast at a diner the next day before heading back.

Comments

On the Way!

[icecoldfrost]

The portal dumped them out in an out-of-the-way alley down in Chinatown, where some extra flashing lights or strange activity wouldn't attract any attention.

Emma took a moment to make her backpack was secure before checking on Karla. "It's not too late to decide you want a fancy dinner for your birthday instead," she offered.

[For walking through this end of town, stopping if Karla wants to go in a shop, and awkward explanation of where they're going.]

Re: On the Way!

[glacial_queen]

Karla was glancing around, ever-curious. "I can convince you to go out for fancy dinners anytime," she pointed out, stopping to peer into the window of a Chinese butcher shop. "This is way more interesting. Though I know better than to go into any of the theaters now."

The one lesson she'd learned from the New Year's trip: don't go to a Chinatown movie theater.

Re: On the Way!

[icecoldfrost]

"No theaters, and you only get to drag me into two or three herbalist shops," Emma agreed. "And remember, I don't speak Chinese, so you'd be on your own to figure out what stuff is."

"Which reminds me..." Emma jabbed a finger at Karla. "No. Craft. In. Public. When we're with Hank, it's fine, but nothing where other people can see you."

Re: On the Way!

[glacial_queen]

Karla tried not to sulk. "What if I have a really good reason?"

Like the streets were filty or someone needed a really good pinch or something.

"I can be discreet!" Like a rhino. On meth.

Re: On the Way!

[icecoldfrost]

It was New York. Part of its charm was the filthy streets and people in need of a pinch.

"Hollering 'kiss kiss' right after you've yanked down some punk's trousers with Craft is not discreet," Emma replied, bemused, as she hoisted her pack and set off towards the entrance of the alley.

Re: On the Way!

[glacial_queen]

"I didn't yell!" Karla protested. "Besides, he was after that lady's purse. And for all you know, I had nothing to do with that. They were practically hanging off his ass anyway."

She followed Emma, though slightly more slowly, as she truly enjoyed taking in the sights and sounds of the city, if not entirely the smells. "So, when you say a maximum of three shops, do you mean today or all weekend?" she asked, as they passed a tiny store directly by the alley's mouth.

Re: On the Way!

[icecoldfrost]

"Today, before we get to Hank's," Emma said. "We can go out again afterwards, and tomorrow morning, too."

"But for every two shops you pull me into, I get to drag you into a clothing store!"

Re: On the Way!

[glacial_queen]

"Bleh," Karla said, making a face--before pulling Emma into the tiny little shop. "We'll stick to an off-number of shops, then."

The shop front was dusty and dingy, but inside, everything smelled of herbs and furniture polish. Karla inhales appreciatively. "Good. Nothing smells musty," she said in an undertone. "That means he knows how to properly dry things. Nothing's worse then going into an herbalist and realizing that anything you buy is just going to be moldy or completely unusable."

Re: On the Way!

[icecoldfrost]

"Oh, for every off-number store we go in, you owe me a shoe store," Emma commented sweetly, following Karla around. "Lead the way, darling, I haven't the faintest idea what any of this is."

Re: On the Way!

[glacial_queen]

Karla peered at the herbs hanging in bunches with interest. "Oooh, these look interesting," she said, with much the same enthusiasm as Emma would display for shoes. "I wonder what these all do."

The man behind the counter grinned at them and spoke in a slurring, liquid tongue. "I can't understand him," Karla said, glancing at Emma. "And touching his mind with mine enough to understand what he's saying..." She shook her head. "I can't think of any way to try that won't have disastrous results if this world is enough like mine for it to matter."

Re: On the Way!

[icecoldfrost]

"If I don't know the language he thinks in, I can't be any help," Emma replied quietly. "But there's another option."

She smiled brightly at the proprietor. "These?" she asked clearly, in English, gesturing to the hanging bundles Karla had displayed an interest in before spreading her hands wide in an 'I do not know' motion. "What are they for?"

Oh yes, bargaining charades.

Re: On the Way!

[glacial_queen]

Karla was going to give Emma a big mental thwap if she started speaking loudly and more slowly to try to make herself be understood.

Though it appeared that Emma was doing well enough on her own. "Tea," the man replied. "Sleep. Helps." He pointed to another bunch. "Stops sleep. You like?"

Karla stepped forward, excited. "I do!" she said. "Can you tell me more?"

Meet Hank!

[icecoldfrost]

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaank!" Emma yelled, letting go of the ladder to drop the last few feet down the vertical shaft into an open room. "I'm home, and I brought a friend!" Beat. "Like you said I could! It's Karla."

She peered back up the shaft at Karla. "Come on down."

Re: Meet Hank!

[glacial_queen]

Karla had hung back to give time for Emma to warn Hank, but at her invitation, she swung down the latter to get to the room. "I didn't let her get into any mischief on the way," Karla teased, glancing curiously around the room. "It was tough, but I persevered."

Re: Meet Hank!

[icecoldfrost]

The space was a long abandoned white-tiled room, that looked like it had once been a women's bathroom. The sinks were covered over with plywood, making a long shelf that was covered with soup cans, beakers, and vials, and there was a ratty old couch and two over-stuffed chairs in the middle of it all, like some strange cross between a science lab and a common room.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaank!" Emma bellowed, putting her hands on her hips as she surveyed the space, careful not to look at Karla yet. "What's the rule about leaving Unmarked Science in the living room?"

"I am not supposed to do it?" asked a faint man's voice from somewhere deeper in the tunnels. "Yell a little louder, Emma, I don't think they can hear you on the moon yet."

Re: Meet Hank!

[glacial_queen]

Karla's attention had been snagged by the aforementioned Unmarked Science and she'd drifted towards it, hands securely behind her back. She knew the rules about entering another's workspace, after all. That didn't stop her from being interested in what it all was, though.

"We have that same rule back home," she said to Emma. "I'm not allowed to brew anything in the stillroom that isn't marked, especially when people can't be sure if it's poison, perfume, or afternoon tea."

Re: Meet Hank!

[icecoldfrost]

"You mean there's a difference between them?" Emma joked, just as there was the sound of someone coming down the hall, and her head snapped up.

<<Now, Hank looks more like your Kindred than human,>> she started to remind Karla, just as a large man with black-blue fur and yellow eyes entered the room, blood still on his apron. "Emma!" Pause. "Little Emma!"

Re: Meet Hank!

[glacial_queen]

"Brat--" Karla started, but was interrupted by Hank's entrance.

Hank did look like a kindred, though not like any race she'd ever seen. If anything, she would have to place him as some kind of Arcerian cat--though blue instead of white with stripes, and man-shaped. Still, to her eyes, he was no odder than the satyrs or the centaurs or any of the myriad other races she'd met after befriending Jaenelle. "Kiss kiss," she said, bringing her hands slowly forward. "I'm Emma's friend Karla. Thank you for allowing me to visit."

Re: Meet Hank!

[icecoldfrost]

"Hello," Hank rumbled tilting his head as he regarded Karla. "You aren't scared. Most people are scared of me, except for Emma."

"Because I know you're a huge pushover for cute blonde girls," Emma replied, dumping her bag on the couch. "Especially those of us with powers."

Re: Meet Hank!

[glacial_queen]

"I'm from a different world," Karla said quietly, but with a smile. "I'm used to people who are not human. Or fully human. Depending on your definition, I'm probably not, either. But I do count as cute, blonde, a female, and powered. So I'm hoping we'll get along."

Re: Meet Hank!

[icecoldfrost]

Hank looked at her omgmodded! still out-stretched hands. "Do I shake them?" he asked, curious rather than bewildered. "Emma taught me how to shake hands, but this doesn't look right. How do I do it?"

Re: Meet Hank!

[glacial_queen]

"This is the greeting of my people," Karla said. "Bring your hands up under mine, so we can touch, palm to palm. We can shake, too, if you like."

Re: Meet Hank!

[icecoldfrost]

"Okay." Hank carefully brought his giant hands under Karla's, easily dwarfing them in size, and gave her a hopeful smile. "Like this?"

Emma, for her part, was just lounging on the couch, torn between giggling and breathing a huge sigh of relief that Karla hadn't screamed. "Just like that, Big Blue. You're doing good. Right, Karla?"

Re: Meet Hank!

[glacial_queen]

Karla had gotten all her screaming at nonhumans out during her first trip to the Keep and meeting Draca. Hank? Reminded her more of a stuffed animal that anything else. She was having a harder time not cuddling than she was not freaking out.

"Perfect," she beamed at him. "Now you can give a proper greeting to any Kaeleeran you meet."

Optional Slumber Party

[icecoldfrost]

Location TBA.