Room 528 -- Wednesday Morning

[icecoldfrost]

It was lucky for Emma that ermines likes burrowing into things, such as blankets. Because it meant when she woke up person-shaped (and without clothes) on Wednesday morning, she wasn't freezing or in a hideously embarrassing situation. Well, no more embarrassing than being a rather cuddly ermine had been in the first place.

Blanket firmly wrapped around herself, Emma hopped out of bed and headed over to her dresser to pick out some clothes and find her shampoo. After a week of being small and furry, a hot shower and something to wear that wasn't a blue ribbon sounded fantastic.

[OOC: For the roomie, should she wish, and open to other visitors once Emma is happily clothed.]

Comments

[glacial_queen]

"Only if you're smarter than it is," Karla countered. "If Ben hadn't warned Peter's parents in time, Peter would have been killed. As it was, he had to flee his private compound with his tail between his legs."

Okay, Bean might have helped with that, but who cared?

"He got played. And he was surprised at getting played. By a male known for doing the exact same thing to three different countries! Jackass."

[icecoldfrost]

"Boys will be boys, and boys are morons," Emma pointed out. "Poor Peter. I suppose it's too bad that Valentine and Ender got all the personality, brains, and the looks."

Well, privately Emma felt that Valentine was by far the cleverest of her siblings. Emma hadn't even met Peter, but it seemed the right thing to say.

[glacial_queen]

"I think all of his ambition comes from wanting to be as good as his siblings at something," Karla sniffed. "Too bad he's incompetent at that, too."

There was a polite tap on Emma's shields. *I had to let him know about himself,* Karla said, offering Emma a peek at the memory of Karla berating Peter in his own office.

[icecoldfrost]

Emma slipped in to explore the memory gently, looking at it from all sides.

<<Not helpful, Karla,>> she chided silently. <<There's more effective ways to deal with people like that than public humiliation. Next time be a bit more... subtle.>>

[glacial_queen]

*It wasn't public,* Karla sent, not at all sulky. *I kept it in the family. Just me, Ben, and Suriyawong.* She tossed her hair. *It wasn't like he was being helpful anyway.*

[icecoldfrost]

<<You undermined him in front of a lackey and a stranger, darling, and rubbed salt in the wounds to boot. Next time, keep it to a single, pointed, cryptic comment, that references something you should have no way of knowing. And don't reveal how you know,>> Emma advised. <<The way to make a point with people like that is by beating them at their own game before they realize you're playing.>>

[glacial_queen]

Karla was subtle like a brick to the face. *I didn't have a chance to beat him at anything. We weren't there long enough. I didn't even think I'd ever see him again and he was being deliberately unhelpful.*

[icecoldfrost]

Emma knew bricks more subtle than Karla. At least bricks could camoflauge with other bricks. Karla was more like dropping an anvil on the cartoon coyote.

<<And he had to put effort into it, didn't he? Talking constantly. One comment to undercut all his preening; that's all you need to take the wind out of his sails,>> she pointed out. <<There isn't always time, or a place, for actual justice, darling. It can be...inconvenient. In certain circumstances. You need to pick your battles sometimes, Karla.>>

[glacial_queen]

Karla could camouflage! Totally camouflage! Assuming, of course, that she was deafened, struck mute, and deliberately hidden by someone else.

...Emma still loved her though, right?

*Still felt good,* Karla muttered. *Are we going to have to trade lessons in flirting for lessons in subtlety next?*

Somewhere in Hell, Karla's mother's Steward was clasping his hands and thanking the Darkness.

[icecoldfrost]

Emma just smiled. "We can do both," she replied aloud, tranquilly. "They can help each other out very nicely, and there's a certain joy to the more detailed machinations."

Emma was so very much a Frost at heart.

[glacial_queen]

"Am I going to practice the first under your tutelage?" Karla asked, mouth quirking upwards, "Or--" she glanced quickly at Beka and switched back to psychic threads. *Or are you going to grade me on how I flirt with George?*