icecoldfrost | New York Preplay

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

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.

From:

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!"

From:

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."

From:

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."

From:

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."

From:

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.

From:

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?"

From:

icecoldfrost

Emma waited by the door until the two of them finished their herbal joygasm and Karla had paid the man.

"Have fun?" she teased, glancing at the other girl's brimming bag of purchases. "Tell me if it gets too heavy to carry, and we'll slip down another alleyway for you to vanish it."

From:

glacial_queen

"That was wonderful," Karla said, grinning from ear to ear. "There were so many herbs that I've never even heard before. I'll have to run them by Lady Ghanima, see if she knows them. Oh, how I wish I spoke Chinese. I bet he knows lots of stuff!"

So, yes.

"I'm good for now, anyway. Unless we find someone willing to translate and can come back!"

From:

icecoldfrost

"Jack is the cunning linguist, you should ask him if he speaks Chinese in addition to all those other languages he's got squirreled away in his head," Emma said, managing to keep a straight face.

From:

glacial_queen

"Oh, maybe I will," Karla said, innuendo going over her head like it had been delivered in Chinese, too. "I'll offer to buy him dinner or more good scotch or something if he'll play the cunning linguist for me."

From:

icecoldfrost

Emma actually facepalmed. "We are sitting you down for some innuendo-laden movies when we get back to school," she sighed as she started down the block. "Karla, think about what you just said. Please."

"Then try to think of how it could be dirty."

Just in case she needed a prompt.

From:

glacial_queen

"Dirty talk?" Karla hazarded.

One look at Emma's expression suggested maybe not. "Okay, no. But I can figure this out. Cunning linguist, cunning linguist." Some kind of word play here? Well, cunning, when said quickly, kinda sounded like 'coney' which was a rabbit. "Cunning linguist. Cunning linguist." Maybe not. But she was pretty sure that cunny was another term for the female organ, so perhaps... "Cunning linguist. Cunni--OH! EMMA!"

She got it.

From:

icecoldfrost

"See?" Emma, it's not nice to be that smug. "More movies for you. You're a smart girl, you'll pick up the wordplay in no time at all."

From:

glacial_queen

"You should be the one working at 'Dite's and not me," Karla said with a sigh. "You're the one who knows everything. One day, someone's going to come into the store and need help and I'm not going to have a clue what they want."

From:

icecoldfrost

"Everything I know, I learned from television, magazines, and other people's heads," Emma pointed out. "I haven't slept with that many people!"

Just ~~three~~ two! Emma just liked making people flail.

From:

glacial_queen

"I'm not saying you did," Karla laughed. "It's just...I was raised knowing about sex. It makes up a major part of both Healers and Black Widows curriculum. So how am I so clueless?"

From:

icecoldfrost

"You probably know more of the biological and physiological stuff than I do," she replied. "You just don't know sexual culture here. There's a difference."

From:

glacial_queen

"Because if there's one thing I want to whisper into George's ear to get him all hot and bothered, it's the exact mechanism by which all the blood flows into his pants," Karla complained, giggling.

From:

icecoldfrost

"Well, if you're looking for words to whisper, I'm sure we can get you a magazine or a book for a few ideas..." she teased, rounding a corner; the subway entrance visible in the distance. "I've got no idea what sort of verbal enticement George personally enjoys. Sorry."

From:

glacial_queen

"I was joking, Emma!" Which was Karla's way of saying she didn't either. As if the scarlet cheeks weren't enough of a give away.

"...I started reading some of the things the heroines say out loud to see if they'd work," she admitted a moment later. "But I just sounded stupid."

From:

icecoldfrost

"Of course it did. There was no passion, no reason to make it good," Emma sighed. "Look, from what I know, most boys don't really need help getting riled-up, but I've always found that whispering that I'd be in my room -- alone -- usually got the anticipation going. It doesn't have to be fancy if you mean it."

From:

glacial_queen

"You could have three-quarters of the school eating out of the palm of your hand, if you really want them to, you know that, right?" Karla asked, admiring. Emma knew everything. "So, it's all about the anticipation, you think? Well, not all, I mean, but...you know."

Hopefully she did, because Karla was just confusing herself again.

From:

icecoldfrost

"Three-quarters of the school thinks I'm an unrepentant bitch, and they're right," Emma cheerily replied as they arrived at the subway entrance. "But yes, anticipation is very sexy. Clearly, we need a girl's night."

She started down the steps to catch the train. "Come on, we'll ride the rest of the way, so we don't have to walk half the island."

From:

glacial_queen

"Oh! The subway! We're gonna take the subway?" Karla's enthusiasm for riding the New York metro was quite out of proportion to the actual experience. "And we do. Lots of girls or just us?"