Room 528, Thursday Morning.

[icecoldfrost]

Emma loved Thursdays, mostly because she never had any classes. It was her own little weekend mid-week, where she could get anything she wanted done.

For some reason, though, she just kept dozing off. She hadn't gotten much sleep lately, true, but that didn't explain the odd dreams she'd been having lately; snippets of conversations with people she didn't recognize, none of which made any sense.

She was inclined to brush it off, blame it on everything that had happened on Monday. Adrenaline from the sleepover party and Alex combined with... whatever the fuck that was, and it had her brain on overdrive. That was all. She just needed a distraction, something to focus on, and her special little brain would calm down and heal up by itself.

And when Emma wanted a distraction, she knew just who to bother. For now, however, she was going to stay curled up in her blanket with the business section. Work came before play.

[OOC: Open post, open door, SP totes applies today.]

Comments

[icecoldfrost]

"You can have anything you want, darling," Emma promised lightly. "Between the two of us, no one can say 'no' and mean it."

What? It was true.

< Very nice. > Emma held the dream carefully, looking it over for a moment before grinning. < Oh, I recognize him. He's in my Strategy Games class with Mr. Reid. Cute choice. >

[glacial_queen]

Karla laughed. "I am giving serious thought to bringing you home with me. You would fit in Kaeleer so well."

*Girlfriend. Whom he loves. And is my friend.* Well, kind of a friend. But coming to Karla as a Black Widow, and therefore even more sacrosanct than friendship. *Couldn't hurt either of them. Which makes these dreams that much more frustrating.*

On at least two levels, though Karla was only consciously aware of one.

[icecoldfrost]

"We should do an exchange! I'll bring you home with me for a party some weekend, and maybe we'll do Spring Break in your Kaeleer." Oh god, someone warn the males.

< Well if it's frustration that's a problem, that we can always do something about, > she teased, staying away from the 'girlfriend' issue.

All was fair in love, war, and sex, after all.

[glacial_queen]

No way! Warnings count like cheating, except less fun!

"I'd like that," Karla said. "I'll bring you to Dhemlan. You can make Khary cry and wrap Uncle Saetan around your little finger at the same time." She grinned, thinking of it. "Please don't break Morton. He's my cousin and he'll probably fall in love with you first thing."

You can stop the dreams? Karla asked, confused.

Oh, Karla.

[icecoldfrost]

Oh Karla.

"Do your people have some thing where the boys get funny names, and the girls get the pretty ones?" Emma laughed, leaning across the bed to snag her hairbrush from the nightstand. Karla was totally going to get braided. "'Morton'? He sounds like a butler!"

< I could, maybe, but I'd have to be awake and stay awake to keep them out, > she pointed out. < Although I have discovered that kissing other people does wonders for relieving frustration. >

Emma would introduce her to Alex, but, well, she didn't think Karla was quite ready for that yet.

[glacial_queen]

"There's nothing wrong with Morton!" Karla protested. "...Except for it kind of sounding like a butler. Umm...Khary is short for Khardeen, he's Morghann's cousin. Chaosti is with Gabrielle... Aaron is normal! He's from Dharo, with Sabrina."

Karla had no problems with getting her hair braided. In fact, Emma was going to get Karla's vote for the best person ever if she did.

*I kiss Leda!* Karla sent, along with a wave of guilt. *I really like her. Which is why I'm pissed I can't get over this stupid crush.*

And no, Karla was most certainly not. Especially since she'd probably want to murder Alex four minutes after talking to him.

[icecoldfrost]

Well if she'd just keep his mouth busy, he couldn't talk, now could he?

"You're going to have to draw me a map sometime." Emma scooted closer to Karla, lifting the other girl's hair and starting with long, soothing strokes. Just like how the housekeeper had brushed Emma's hair once-upon-a-time.

< It's a crush, Karla. He's adorable, and you aren't blind. There's nothing wrong with attraction, and you aren't acting on it when you're awake or anything, > she pointed out as she worked. < Personally, I think the Skywalker boy is cuter, but it's your call. >

[glacial_queen]

But why would she want to kiss him is she didn't like him?

"That's a complicated map," Karla admitted absently. What little attention wasn't taken up by their silent conversation was wrapped up in the feel of Emma's brush in her hair. It reminded her of afternoons with Jaenelle, honestly. "There are three Realms: Terreille, Kaeleer, and Hell. Not that we'd have any reason to go to Hell or Tereille, I guess."

*It was never like this in Kaeleer,* Karla grumbled, willfully ignoring a few pertinent facts, like she couldn't trust any male other than Morton and that attraction had been a little beyond her then. *There's no call to make. I like them both too much to hurt either. It isn't too bad when my dreams aren't going stupid haywire on me.*

[icecoldfrost]

Emma just hummed absently, letting her fingers and the brush move though Karla's hair. < A dream is a wish your heart makes, > she sang over their link, amusement coasting along the surface of her thoughts. < Isn't there a new store in town? We could see if some shopping could alleviate some of your frustration. >

Totally dirty.

[glacial_queen]

*Not these dreams,* Karla sent. *Or if they are, I don't want to know whose heart is making them.*

But that was too serious for right now. *Which store?* she asked, confused, even though she'd been in 'Dites just yesterday. She hadn't really gotten the tour, between talking to Raven and Dinah collapsing and all. *Is there a new book store open?*

Oh, Karla.

[icecoldfrost]

< The 'Delights' one, I think, > Emma answered. < Could be fun! >

Or give everyone who knew them a heart-attack. Although the two were not mutually exclusive.

[glacial_queen]

*I was there with Dinah yesterday. She was telling me about a nightgown she'd bought there and I'd thought it was a brothel.* Amusement flooded the link. *I was pleased to know that Dinah is not buying secondhand clothing from whores. Then she told me what a sex shop actually sells, since it doesn't sell sex, but she lost me when she mentioned toys.* An image of porcelain dolls and kickballs, alone with some confusion. *But I didn't get to see much before she collapsed.*

[icecoldfrost]

Emma started laughing so hard that she fell over on her side, clutching her stomach. "We are going after classes tomorrow," she gasped totally unaware that her player was going to be horrible to her.

[glacial_queen]

"What? Emma, what?" Karla rolled over to look at her, trying to figure out what was so funny. "Emma? Have you lost your mind or something? Emma, what's so funny?"

And again: oh, Karla.

[icecoldfrost]

"Not toys like that!" she giggled. "For sex, Karla. And Tweety passed out rather than talk about it?"

Oh god, this was fantastic.

[glacial_queen]

That just got her a blank look. "What do toys and sex have to do with one another? I'm just now getting it. And Dinah didn't pass out because she didn't want to me explain. She probably could have asked Aphrodite--that's the goddess who owns the store--to explain what the toys are. She passed out because of whatever the odd nightmare-napping thing that's going around."

She paused, trying to decide whether she wanted to keep talking about the weird sex shop that sold toys but not sex, or the frightening and possibly dangerous phenomenon that was sweeping across Fandom.

"So she doesn't sell dolls and balls, then?"

[icecoldfrost]

"Oh, I'm sure she sells dolls and balls," Emma said wryly, getting herself back together. "Okay, um, so. Sometimes a girl gets urges, and there's no one around to oblige her, or no one she wants obliging her. Shocking, I know, but it happens."

"'Toys' is a euphemism for various types of sex aids. Items designed for pleasure."

[glacial_queen]

"Oh. Well why didn't anyone just say so." Karla was exasperated. She'd snuck into a Red Moon House. She'd seen sexual aids before. "Carved phalluses, you mean."

Karla was in for the shock of her life.

[icecoldfrost]

"Other things, too. Vibrators, special candles, erotica, bondage items, pretty much anything you can think of, it's probably available," Emma replied. "Stores like that, especially when run by a woman, are usually pretty nice and have a nice range of items."

[glacial_queen]

Blink blink.

"What?!" Confused Karla is confused. "I don't think I've heard of any of that."

Extensive learning aside, her education had been fairly vanilla. And that wasn't even counting things like vibrators, which simply didn't exist in her world.

[icecoldfrost]

Emma got up to grab her laptop off the desk and bring it over to the bed, flipping it open. "Okay, we're going to start at the beginning," she announced, pulling up some handwavey shopping websites of the NWS variety. "Let's talk about sex."


[Sorry, my notifs seem to be borked.]

[glacial_queen]

"I know about sex," Karla protested. Until she saw one of the items the website had pulled up. "What in Hell's name is that?" she demanded, pointing. "Is that a pineapple?"


[Totally cool! Link NWS (and a vibrator, in case you don't want to pull it up).]

[icecoldfrost]

Emma started giggling again. "Yes, it is," she agreed. "Some of them are silly, for novelty or to make the idea of self-pleasure a little less taboo."

"They come in all sorts of shapes and colors and materials, since everyone likes something a little different."

[glacial_queen]

Karla just gaped at the website. "But--but--how?! And why?" She tilted her head to the side. "Okay, there's the how..."

[icecoldfrost]

"The 'why' is because there's no reason someone should have to rely on another person for sex," Emma pointed out. "If you have a need, and don't have anyone you trust to fill it, you can do it yourself."