Emma's Manhatten -- Central Park -- Sunday Evening

[icecoldfrost]

It had been quick work to arrange a portal off the island, and now Emma found herself sitting at the edge of Bethesda Terrace, happily munching away on a hot dog.

"Better?" she asked her companion, tossing a bit of her bun to a wandering duck. "I promise, if anyone shows up purporting to be from the future, I'll dunk them in the lake for you."

[For the Little Sibling, please.]

Comments

[provostsdog.livejournal.com]

See? This was exactly why Beka did like her Big Sibling.

"Much," she agreed, managing a grin at the promise. She wiped a bit of mustard from her chin and suck it off her thumb. "I like this city. It's naught like the Lower City, but it feels close enough."

[icecoldfrost]

"Yeah? What's your Lower City like, then?" she asked, licking some relish off her own fingers. "I love New York. People, buildings, the energy of it all. It's fantastic."

[provostsdog.livejournal.com]

"Filthy," she said honestly. "We've no sewage. There's mumpers and minnows - pickpockets," she correctly quickly. "It's not a pretty place like here. It's a hard living, but folk are real. There's Evening Markets with the best apple fritters and goods from outside of Tortall, but you'd best watch your coin."

[icecoldfrost]

"Oh, it's not all this posh," Emma replied wryly, "and there's plenty of pickpockets. We're in a nice area right now, but if we stick around after dark, there's plenty of unsavory types, even here."

[provostsdog.livejournal.com]

"It'd not be a city if there weren't," Beka agreed. "Should have brought my baton."

She took another bite from her hot dog. "Why do they call it a hot dog anyway?" She may have been avoiding a certain subject.

[icecoldfrost]

"No idea," she answered, giving Beka a grin. "But they're good, aren't they? I like them with everything on it, especially the sweet onions. The best ones are over at Nathan's Famous, but I like the ones from the cart vendors, too."

Mostly because they were cheap, and easy to steal, but Beka didn't need to know that.

[provostsdog.livejournal.com]

"They are," she agreed, "and I like eating outside."

There was a pigeon a few steps away from them and she tore off a small enough piece for it. "Do you miss this?"

[icecoldfrost]

"Yes," Emma replied simply, tilting her head back to look up at the street lights. "But right now, I need to be somewhere safer that I can work on my powers, without fear of being found out."

[provostsdog.livejournal.com]

Beka glanced at Emma. "It's wrong having to fear who you are," she said quietly. "Mages can be dangerous too, but they're valuable."

[icecoldfrost]

"There's no magic here," Emma elaborated with a wave of her hand. "If I'm lucky, they'd assume I'm nuts and toss me in a mental ward. If they realized that what I could do was real? I am valuable, but I prefer to keep my value for me."

"I've only met a few other people here with powers. There's me, Hank, and two gentlemen who might not be thrilled to see me, next time we meet. It depends on how well they remember me." She took another big bite of her hot dog and shrugged. "I'll be back to stay after I graduate, so I can make-do with small visits for now."

[provostsdog.livejournal.com]

"It sounds... complicated," she admitted. "You're not putting yourself at risk coming back?"

[icecoldfrost]

"I don't think so." Emma wriggled her fingers at Beka and grinned wickedly. "I can always make them forget they saw me."

"Hank worries, but that's just because he's really an old woman underneath it all, I swear."

[provostsdog.livejournal.com]

She couldn't help the shiver, the idea of losing memories didn't sit well with her. Then again, mayhap there'd be some benefit to forgetting all that'd happened that day.

"It's not a bad thing to have someone who worries," she said. "They see what you might not."

[icecoldfrost]

"I see a lot," Emma commented wryly. "And before you ask, no, I am not going to make you forget today, even if you ask. I don't know how long it sticks, and you'd just be mad at me for doing it later."

[provostsdog.livejournal.com]

"I'd not ask. I don't like being magicked," she assured Emma. "Just was thinking it was nice being oblivious. "Was it this strange for you when Jonothon knew who you were?"

[icecoldfrost]

Emma thought about it for a moment, picking at the remains of her hot dog bun before flicking it at Beka's pigeon.

"It feels unfair," she said finally. "That Jonothon and Layla and all their friends know me, and I haven't even gotten to make my own choices yet."

[provostsdog.livejournal.com]

She nodded and watched the pigeon pick up the bread eagerly. Pigeons didn't change, no matter what they world they were in.

"Do you worry it'll influence the choices you'll make?"

[icecoldfrost]

"Sometimes?" she admitted. "But I try not to worry about it."

"I make my own decisions, for me. For all I know, they know a different Emma in a different world. I can't ever picture being a teacher, so I'm not going to try and become something I'm not, just for them."

[provostsdog.livejournal.com]

Beka couldn't picture being a mother either.

"I'd not thought of that," she admitted, rubbing her nose in thought.

[icecoldfrost]

"I don't think you can live for other people," Emma said. "It tears a person in too many directions, because you can never make everyone happy."

"I guess some people would call it selfish, but the only person you should have to please is yourself. If you can sleep happy at the end of the day, isn't that all that matters?"

[provostsdog.livejournal.com]

Beka glanced at Emma as she crumbled up the napkin of her hotdog. "So how'd you define being a Dog? In a way, it is about living for other people too."

[icecoldfrost]

"It's more of a calling though, isn't it?" Emma asked. "I mean, you're a Dog because you want to be one. Not because anyone's trying to make you wear shoes that don't fit right."

[provostsdog.livejournal.com]

"Ersken says it's in my blood," she said with some amusement. She stood up, stretching her legs afore she held out her hand to accept Emma's napkin. "I see what you mean. I've not taught it in my blood to want to have a babe."