Dite's Decadent Delights, Monday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

Karla had decided to let Ben take care of Jaenelle this afternoon while she went to work. While it was true that the vast majority of the store was taken up with books, novelties, and clothing, Karla didn't want to chance her daughter getting into something inappropriate the minute her back was turned. The last thing she needed was to find Jaenelle dressing up like a nurse or eating the anatomically-correct lollipops--and those options assumed the door to the toy section stayed firmly closed.

Now there was a hand-lettered sign hanging on Dite's window:

KEEP THE DISTANT FUTURE DISTANT
FREE CONTRACEPTIVE WITH EVERY PURCHASE!

Karla was already adding a few condoms to every bag next to the register. And she kept the big bowl of condoms that had already been set out in a very prominent location.

Comments

Talk to Karla

[glacial_queen]

She's around.

Re: Talk to Karla

[atreides-heirs.livejournal.com]

Victoria walked into the shop, looking around the shelves. They didn't have toy shops in Arrakeen, but she suspected there was something odd about this one.

"Hello," she said. "What kind of toys are you selling?"

Re: Talk to Karla

[glacial_queen]

Karla glanced at the little girl who came in (and considered adding a line No children allowed in unless accompanied by a parent to her sign) and gave the girl a smile. "Toys for grownups, I'm afraid," she answered, hoping that would be the end of it. "This isn't a store for children, I'm afraid. Sometimes I don't think I'm old enough to work here."

Re: Talk to Karla

[atreides-heirs.livejournal.com]

"No? And how old are you?" she asked. "Do you go to school like my parents?" Being told this were toys for grown ups didn't stop Victoria from browsing the shelves.

Re: Talk to Karla

[glacial_queen]

That was kind of a tricky question, what with time travel and all. "My sixteenth birthday is at the end of the month," Karla answered as a sort of compromise. And decided not to mention it was the second iteration of such.

Fortunately, out in the main room, most of the items on the shelves were fairly innocuous. Candy, suggestive board games, naughty cards, romance novels, and fuzzy handcuffs predominated. Karla prudently used Craft to shut the door to the room with the real toys.

"I do go to school here," she continued. "Who are your parents?"

Re: Talk to Karla

[atreides-heirs.livejournal.com]

"My father is the Emperor Leto Atreides II and my mother is Queen Alice Liddell." She smiled brightly. "And I'm Victoria Chani Lorina Oxford Her-Own-Self Liddell Atreides, Princess Royal of the Known Universe. But my family and friends call me Victoria. My mother named me that after the Queen of England."

Re: Talk to Karla

[glacial_queen]

Karla inclined her head in greeting, partially to cover a smile. "I'm Karla, Queen of the Territory Glacia in the Realm Kaeleer," she said. "And I'm very pleased to meet you, Victoria. I am friends with your father; he taught me to fight with knives when I first came to Fandom. And your Aunt Ghanima is my teacher and sayyadina."

Re: Talk to Karla

[icecoldfrost]

"Auntie Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarla! Kiss kiss, darling, I have someone who's complaining we never get to go see you, and wants to hear stories about unicorns!" Emma practically sang, sauntering into the store with a omgmodded Annika in her wake.

Yes, she was bringing the girl to 'Dite's for storytime. Emma was the Best Mom Ever.

Re: Talk to Karla

[glacial_queen]

Karla looked up and grinned at the pair coming into the store. "Kiss kiss," she greeted, glancing between the two. "You know I'm always happy to tell unicorn stories. Though if I'm going to tell any stories, I at least want to know who I'm telling them to."

Re: Talk to Karla

[ofthe-blood.livejournal.com]

"Annika. Annika Liora Priest and can I really have stories?" Annika asked, doing her best to seem Very Grown Up and was not actually vibrating with excitement. "Real Stories, with unicorns?"

Re: Talk to Karla

[glacial_queen]

"Annika is a lovely name and of course you may," Karla said with a smile. "I can tell you of the time your mother met unicorns for the first time."

*Did you inherit your mother's gifts?* she sent on an open psychic thread, so that Emma could hear her, too. *Stories are much better this way, aren't they?*

Re: Talk to Karla

[ofthe-blood.livejournal.com]

Annika's eyes widened. Nobody but Mom talked to her that way! The almost-vibrating was about to become actual vibrating

She thought back, <<A little. Mom tells me stories sometimes. Secrets, too. She says I'm a really good listener.>>

Re: Talk to Karla

[glacial-ears.livejournal.com]

It should not be terribly surprising that Emma Eleni had managed to lose her father at some point. And now she was on a mission that involved following mommy's psychic scent directly into the store.

"Hi Mommy," she said with apparent unconcern. "Why are you in a store? What kind of store is it? It says delights. Are there sweets?"

It also should not be terribly surprising that the child managed to switch accents depending upon who she was speaking to.

Re: Talk to Karla

[glacial_queen]

Karla had accepted the fact that she had one daughter. It was weird, but Jaenelle was cute and it was fun to tease Ben about, and so...adjusted. At least, an adjusted that meant 'I can deal with this now and freak out later.' Having another child show up several days later and claim to be hers was tossing that notion of 'adjusted' out the damn window.

She was just going to blink a few time. And mutely hand over a lollipop. Hopefully one that was breast-shaped rather than anything else. Not that she could be sure because...

"Mommy?" she repeated.

Re: Talk to Karla

[glacial-ears.livejournal.com]

She frowned a little, clearly considering if this was some kind of game that Mommy and Daddy had set up or if there was a problem.

"Yes, mommy," she decided, beaming at the lollipop and tilting her head to look at it. "I've been a'lookin' for ye for days, and your psychic sent kept going in and out, in and out, and finally I do find ye, and y'don't know?" Emma Eleni frowned a little. "I don't like this game."

Re: Talk to Karla

[glacial_queen]

"I don't, either," Karla said--which was only mostly true.

"Let's back up a second," she said. "First of all, come here and give me a big hug, okay?" If this was her daughter (and Karla didn't really doubt she was), the first order of business was to make sure she knew that, somewhere, she was loved and wanted. Karla missed her own mother too much to turn another little girl away. Especially one who'd been looking for her for days. "This isn't a game--where ever you come from where I'm your mother, well, that's my future. I'm not there yet. So everything you know is stuff I don't--this is probably the one chance you have to be smarter than your Mommy, so enjoy it."

She bent to wrap her arms around the little girl. "But I do know that your mommy loves you very, very much."

Re: Talk to Karla

[glacial-ears.livejournal.com]

"Is it smarter if I just know stuff you haven't got to yet?" she asked curiously even as she hugged Karla tightly. One thing Emma Eleni was totally confident of was that she was adored by both her parents. "If I don' call you Mommy, what do I call you?"

Re: Talk to Karla

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

Jack saw the sign and he almost ran into the shop. Nothing against Samantha, but some of these kids--

--and then he saw Karla. Oh, no. This wasn't good.

Re: Talk to Karla

[glacial_queen]

Karla glanced up at a panicked Jack. And smirked a bit. "Can I help you?" she asked.

Re: Talk to Karla

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

"I'll take one of everything?" he half-joked. "And you can tell me that none of these," he said, gesturing to the whole island, "are yours and mine and I cannot believe I just said that."

Re: Talk to Karla

[glacial_queen]

"I'd like to reassure you of that but I can't," Karla said, sighing. She pointed over to where a little girl was sitting on a stool, coloring on one of her notebooks. "I just met her today. So, for all I know, I could have five more wandering the island."

Re: Talk to Karla

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

"If we find any, can we ship 'em back? Now? I don't think I can handle that," he said, deadpan.

Mod Your Purchase

[glacial_queen]

Enjoy your free condoms!

OOC

[glacial_queen]

Where the world-ending is at.

Re: OOC

[likethegun]

Hahahahahaha sign! *loves*