33 Apocalpyse Avenue, Tuesday.

[icecoldfrost]

Emma was packing.

Well, no, that was a lie. Emma had attempted to pack. Emma had her suitcases open on the bed in her room and stuff flung everywhere. There was a trail of things she'd dropped all over the hallway, from where she'd rescued them from Jack's room or the room they shared, or the kitchen, or-- but she just didn't understand how so many of her things from New York had ended up here, or how much she'd had here in the first place, or how she was supposed to get it all to fit back into two suitcases. No matter what she did, she couldn't make it fit, and it was driving her up the wall.

Which meant it was time for a break, before she started making lists and color-coding things, or ended up just donating everything but her favorites and going shopping to distract her from her own brain. Emma had grabbed her sword and headed out to the front yard, taking up a stance amongst the other residents of their address. Footwork drills without knocking anyone over, and then attacks to see how many she could 'kill' before they reappeared the next day.

It was rather soothing, actually, the way the damn things kept coming back. No matter how the residents of 33 Apocalpyse Avenue changed, the zombie gnomes stayed the same.

[OOC: Open house, open post!]

Comments

[bitten_notshy]

"Are som eof those going back to New York with you?" Jack asked, in a firm, not-going-to-admit-I'm-sad-about-this kind of voice. "I wouldn't mind. Just dont't take Penny there, she's my favorite."

[icecoldfrost]

"Of course not. Could you imagine the panic if they started multiplying and then reappearing after everyone trashed them?" Emma said, shaking her head as she stepped around Penny to extend her sword in a downward sweeping arc to stab Muertos Gnome in his tiny eye. "It would all get blamed on mutants, and zombie lawn gnomes will have destroyed the social scene."

[bitten_notshy]

"And that would be the end of your career as a social climber," Jack said, mock-rueful. "Better they stay here where nobody cares."

[icecoldfrost]

"And the end of all commerce in New York as the mundane population becomes terrified to leave their homes, causing a worldwide economic crash and a genocide of gnomes everywhere," Emma agreed. "They're safer here, for the sake of their un-undead comrades."

She pulled her sword out of Muertos to walk over and give Jack a kiss. "Besides, I need someone to keep an eye on you and tattle when you get in trouble. I can't read squirrel, so I bribed the gnomes."

[bitten_notshy]

"You could just ask me, you know," Jack laughed, once he pulled away from the kiss. "I'm even more reliable than the gnomes. And anyhow, sometimes I miss you a little bit."

By which he meant 'all the time' and 'a lot.'

[icecoldfrost]

"I do ask you, but sometimes you leave out bits that you think are unimportant, or might worry me for 'no reason,'" Emma pointed out cheerfully. "Because this is Fandom."

And trauma liked to drop in for breakfast sometimes.

"You won't have long to miss me, I'll be back for Homecoming at the latest, but I *do* have to actually spend some time in New York." Emma slid the fingers of her free hand into his hair to brush it away from his face. "I promise, you aren't going to have time to miss me, darling. You'll finally realize you've stopped finding my heels in impossible places, and I'll be back again to steal your blankets."

[bitten_notshy]

"This is Fandom," Jack agreed, a laugh in his voice. "All right. I'll hold you to that, by the way. If you don't come back to steal my blankets I will pout horribly."

[icecoldfrost]

"You can always sic Candy on me, or show up yourself and sweep me off my feet to show me what I'm missing," she promised. "--you can steal all my blankets, and I won't complain."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack smiled at her, trying to keep on an even keel. "Speaking of sweeping you off your feet," he said. "There is one -- well, a proposition I'd like to make before you go."

He'd been meaning to have this conversation with her for months, and it had never seemed like the right time. He wasn't sure this was it, either, but it was better he do it before he lost his nerve.

[icecoldfrost]

"Oh?" Emma blinked, interested. "Is this about our casino? Or some new and interesting plan? I do like it when you get devious."

Emma, for a telepath, you are very very good at being willfully blind.

[bitten_notshy]

"Sadly this is something terribly traditional," Jack informed her, and swallowed hard. "I'll be done with school in another year and a bit. When I finish I'd like to move to your New York."

A beat.

"And I'd like to do it as your fiance."

He wasn't ready to get engaged yet. Engaged to be engaged, though? He could do that.

[icecoldfrost]

"Wait, what?" Congratulations, Jack. After years of teaching Emma to not eavesdrop on every single stray thought of yours, you've finally surprised her.

Her sword clattered to the ground, forgotten, and her eyes searched his face as she reached for one of his hands. She just...needed the contact. Needed to know if he actually meant this. "Jack, I can't ask you to give up your world for me. You just spent the last few years specializing in Supernatural Law... what about going into practice? I know this is just as important to you as mutant rights is to me."

She wasn't saying 'no' to the engaged to be engaged part, mind you. But Emma didn't want Jack to end up resenting her for the rest of their lives.

[bitten_notshy]

"Are you trying to tell me you don't know anybody who could make my degree valid there?Jack asked, trying to make his voice light even as his eyes were serious. He noticed that she hadn't said no to the proto-engagement, so that was ... some kind of victory, anyhow. "Seems like mutants need my help as much as things that go bump in the night do."

He took her hands in his, tilting his head as he weighed exactly what to say. "Emma, the way I look at it is that if we don't want to give up each other, one of us is going to have to give up our world sooner or later. You've got more to accomplish in yours than I do in mine. And nobody's going to force us to stay in your New York forever, if it comes to that."

[glacial_queen]

Sometimes Karla's Black Widow powers manifested in dreams and visions acted out over a loom. Sometimes they were a lot more subtle, like a need to call an old friend out of the blue.

Ring ring!

[icecoldfrost]

Emma's phone was ringing. Why was Emma's phone ringing?

She flipped it over enough to see who was calling, then slipped away to answer before it tripped to voicemail. "Frost. What did you do this time, Karla?"

WHAT. It wasn't as if Karla was in the habit of calling when she wasn't in trouble.

[glacial_queen]

And yet Karla was still unprepared for it. "Uhh, I just finished weeding my garden, getting ready for spring proper?"

For once, she'd been behaving!

[icecoldfrost]

"Is anyone on fire or bleeding who isn't supposed to be?" Emma checked. Because, well, Blood. It was a fair question.

[glacial_queen]

"Well, I haven't gone back inside, so Darkness only knows if Kayla's bitten anyone again or if Julian's pissed off another Warlord Prince, but I haven't heard a commotion, so I'm going to assume the answer is no until I absolutely have no other choice," Karla said, laughing. "Things have actually been calm around here. It's rather nice."

[icecoldfrost]

"I keep telling you to send Julian to New York with me for a few days. I'll teach the boy some manners," Emma laughed quietly, making her way to an unused bedroom and shutting the door. There'd be blankets and pillows in here, and Emma could make a nest to snuggle into and pretend for a little bit that her world hadn't just turned itself upside-down on her (albeit in a good way). "The culture shock might be good for him."

[glacial_queen]

"Or someone will steal the taxi you hail and he'll incinerate them because his feet hurt," Karla retorted. "Besides--don't tell him--but I actually like him sometimes now. Mostly when he's around the children and not aware there are other adults around, yes, but it does happen!"

She finished cleaning her gardening equipment and started lugging it over to the shed. "So how are you, darling. It's been forever since we caught up."

[icecoldfrost]

"Please. No one can steal my taxi unless I let them," Emma scoffed as she got comfortable.

There was a pause, then-- "Good enough. I was packing to go back to New York earlier, but it seems my wardrobe has mutated again. There's now way I can take it all back with me."

What were the words for when your long-time best friend and on-again boyfriend proposed to be engaged to be engaged? Fuck if Emma knew.

[glacial_queen]

She could always start with, So Jack and I had this talk... and go from there?

"I'd suggest you send some of it ahead, but I've seen your apartment. There's no way it would fit," Karla teased. "At least, not with what's already there. Are you leaving some on the island or reselling to thrift shops. Your wardrobe would make some poor girl incredibly happy to find in the stacks."

[icecoldfrost]

"Oh god, real estate, I need to start looking at upgrading," Emma muttered to herself, forgetting Karla for a moment.

"Oh, I don't know. A three-part curation, perhaps. Items to return to New York, a select wardrobe to leave here so that I don't need to deal with Portalocity and luggage, the rest to consignment shops."

[glacial_queen]

"You really do," Karla agreed, ignoring that Emma had been speaking mostly to herself and ignorant of the whys behind it. "You've been living in that same apartment for how many years now? A little more room won't go amiss, darling."

[icecoldfrost]

"I bought the building two years ago, through an entire shadowplay of trades. I have all the rooms, I just take other peoples' money for them," Emma said absently. "I like my studio, it's a perfect 'me' size. But a better address and bigger floor plan..." Emma was already running the numbers in her head. "I can do that. I should have done it last year, actually."