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MACY'S! Land of a thousand thousand products!
Noemi Novonha has always enjoyed coming out to the city in order to shop, even if it's not common for her to spend a lot of money in the process. She seems to just enjoy the entire process, sometimes to the point of mild absurdity. Today she did bring some actual money, though.
As she enters the foyer accompanied by her partner in crime, she looks upwards and asks, in the midst of a momentary space not jam-packed with people, "So-o-o— where do you think we should head? I felt like wasting money on shoes, but I guess there's really all kinds of things out there."
*
A conspiratorial glance is cast towards Noemi, complete with a sly side-smirk. Kitty's eyes flit downwards towards Noemi's shoes and she lifts a single wry eyebrow. "I thiiiiink we should consider new shoes. But I need — " her head tilts ambivalently " — dresses. I know that's ridiculous to say," because Kitty is ever practical, "but I'm going to visit mom and dad and need to make sure that I look…" her lips twist to the side thoughtfully "…well, healthy. And respectable annnnnd like the daughter they wish they'd had, I guess — "
*
"Aw," Noemi says, with a smile up. "You look great just the way that you are, though! I'm sure they'll be happy with you." Noemi thinks so, at least, though now she's filled with doubts. Either way, she says, "We should start at the shoes and build up from the foundation. That works better. We'll just make it quickish."
SOON, into the elevator. "So you're going to them? That's in Chicago, right?" Noemi asks. (She didn't visit home much.)
*
"Deerfield, actually," Kitty replies quietly. "But yeah, we're going to them. They want to see me, and I need to get some things from their front closet…"
"It's not — " Kitty starts with a flush of her cheeks, " — I'm not." Her lips twitch into a strange line as she rather awkwardly tucks her hands into her pockets. "I'm introducing them to Piotr." She cringes slightly as her throat clears. "And I've told them… a lot. They know he's Russian, and a mutant, and well… not Jewish," her eyebrows stitch together as she tugs on her ear. "And I'm not sure which of the list concerns mom more." She shrugs lightly. "I have no control over, well — any of those things or their reactions, but if I look good. If I look happy, and bright-eyed, and pleased, then maybe they'll see — " she shrugs.
*
Noemi listens with evident sympathy as the elevator moves towards SHOETOWN, NEW YORK. Her lips purse for a moment, thinking back to how her mother would have reacted if she'd brought a boy home who wasn't Catholic!
… Noemi has no idea how that would have gone. She takes in a deep breath. "Well I don't know about all of that, but I see why it's rough." DING! Out they go, but Noemi does not yet turn her gaze upon the promised realms of Shoehalla. "Umm-m-m. Does your mother get nervous about things just, in general, or is it especially about this…?"
*
Kitty easily falls into step with Noemi towards the wonderful emporium of shoes. Her hand brushes her curls and she emits a soft sigh, "My mother gets nervous about a lot of things. Most recently she suggested I should try not being a mutant." Her lips purse slightly.
"Dad though? He will be the reasonable one out of the two. He's already running interference. They know my life is my life." She shrugs. "That said, I'd really like them to see that I'm happy and then like Piotr as a result. At least a bit."
*
"Well," says Noemi, "that's easy for her to say."
She walks a few more paces in silence as she looks around, before she finally looks back to Kitty. "Oh I don't think THAT's going to be hard, Piotr's so nice! I don't think he's going to just yell about politics, is he? Or, um, is that likely to come up. Politics, I mean." This has a range of possibilities as far as Noemi can spot.
"Are they going to pester you for grandchildren, do you think?" Noemi continues with a crooked smile, even as she hangs a left towards the funkier boots and away from mary-janes. (No Spider-Men were harmed in this directional reference.)
*
"Right?" Kitty replies. "I meant, I am what I am. Being plagued with headaches wasn't awesome. And waking up by falling through the floor wasn't great either," she notes quietly as she plucks a single pair of shoes from the shelf.
She grins brightly at the notion of Piotr being nice. "He is," she agrees quietly. "And I want them to know each other. I need them to know each other…" She cringes at the thought of politics, "Gosh I hope that doesn't come up…"
Kitty's eyes widen at the last, and then she leans towards the other girl to jab her in the ribs with her elbow. "Ha! I'm still a baby to them. Basically."
*
"Yeah, it isn't much fun for anybody," Noemi admits. Then comes in the elbow and it bounces off of her, with an oddly resonant 'oof' from Noemi's lips. Her ribs, of course, aren't exactly normal now either. "I still can't imagine what that was like, to have that happen by ACCIDENT, geez."
She takes in a deep breath as she pivots towards an array of similar-looking boots in a range of synthetic chemical colors. As she studies them in their glossy spotlight glory, Noemi muses, "You don't have any brothers or sisters, right? I was reading an article about the whole birth-order thing in one of the magazines the other day, since I had to bring in the mail?"
Naturally the school gets a lot of subscriptions.
*
"It mostly hurt," Kitty offers with a shrug. And then, her cheeks hue red with faint embarrassment as she notes, "Well. It happened here once too," at Macy's. "I was at the perfume counter and sneezed annnnd," her eyes flit downwards. "Super embarrassing. Got a concussion — " her lips purse slightly. "Welcome to the life of Kitty Pryde~"
There's a faint chuckle as Kitty picks up a pair of black dockers. "If I shoot for innocent schoolgirl, that's probably best, right?" There's a pause and her head shakes, "No. No siblings. Only child. One Kitty was more than enough~"
With a smirk she peeks back at Noemi, "Learn anything insightful about siblings?" There's a twinkle in her eye, "Learn something about yourself?"
*
Noemi coughs a little and looks aside. "Well," she says, "just that it's usually roughest to be the eldest child — that's where I was, so I did have to kind of be a good example and everything…" She picks up, possibly to be mildly /shocking,/, a red vinyl boot, holding it up - "What do you think?" she asks, before continuing her thought.
"But that can have a really strong impact, because of how the parental attention gets divided. So you're probably in a really good spot, it's just that your parents are going to /really/ worry about you in a way they wouldn't if you'd had a lot of siblings!"
*
Kitty thoughtfully sucks on the inside of her cheek and her fingers run around the various shoes and styles. Her eyebrows lift at the boots, "Only if I can borrow them. Those are awesome. And with that black dress in your closet?" She nods slightly as she tries to sell this idea to Noemi. "But not for the Prydes. Conservative. Little heel if any."
She hmmmmms quietly and nods slightly, "I can see it." She eyes Noemi for several beats, "You've always been one of the good responsible ones. It's like being an older sister to a lot of us. And mom and dad do put all of their nervous energy onto me."
"But I feel bad for Piotr. I've tried to warn him. The Prydes are nervous for me. About him. Because…" her cheeks flush, "I've never talked about a boy before let alone wanted to bring him home to meet them…'
"
*
"Wow, you really think so? Well, I don't think - I mean, like you say - hm -" Noemi trails off for a moment with a thoughtful look. She puts the red boot back down.
Then says, with determination, "I'm going to get a clerk to grab them. I think I DO need to try them on though." Then back to Kitty as she smiles faintly: "Oh, totally. And… Gosh, I don't even know what that must be like for him. I mean the entire situation for him must be really difficult, though at least he has his sister here with him…"
Noemi doesn't bring up anything about the whole sorcery and so on. "Anyway I think you should think more college girl than schoolgirl," Noemi continues. "That makes you look a little all grown up, right? And if you're all grown up then yes you can date a big tough gentle Russian man if you want, you're not a tiny little slip any more."
*
"Yeah, if they're not walkable, no good. Don't get them if they're not comfortable, but they are fantastic. With a black dress," Kitty eyes them discerningly. "And normally I would say no to the red, but Noemi, you were born to stand out, just a little." There's a distinct glimmer of mischief in her eyes.
She frowns slightly at the thought of Piotr's situation. "I'm trying so hard to make things normal for him. You know? Like, Yana aged up out of nowhere," she was a child and then reappeared as an adult, "he lost the rest of his family, Yana is learning how to be a person after being tucked away," in Limbo, "and then all of this nonsense with the project that was under Coney Island… I just want something to make him feel normal, finally."
"Good tip! And one equally good point! Yes, I should definitely try to seem adult, but not too adult. It'll freak them out if I'm — " she waves her hand ambivalently.
*
"You're embarrassing me! I'm going to look like - like," Noemi says, faltering without even getting to that, and putting a hand on her hip out of nowhere. She purses her lips for a moment in thought.
"Right," she says, "you don't want to be - you know - /too/ daring or modern, then they might think you've just fallen into sin or whatever," Noemi thinks aloud.
*
"No! Colours are good! Red is good," Kitty states with a teasing grin. Her hands reach down for a pair of yellow rubber boots. "These are also fantastic. But not Pryde-Appropriate," her eyebrows lift expectantly," …right?" Her teeth lightly worry her lip.
"And they already think I've fallen into sin. Daughter moves to the city, gets ideas, rescues her Father in Japan, marches in Louisiana," she cringes. "No, I should show up in a pair of high heels and a scandalous skirt — the clothes will just confirm what they already think."
*
"Well," Noemi begins, before pausing for thought.
"I wouldn't exactly saunter in smoking a cigarette with your thighs showing," Noemi says then, "but I don't think you have to /avoid/ heels. They'd make you look taller and I mean, all kinds of people wear a little bit of heel, right? So an inch or two would be just kind of… normal! How is he doing, though, after that whole, um, the Japan thing, I mean?"
*
A chuckle is stifled by Kitty's fingers at that image. "Ohmygosh! Can you imagine?! Mom would be scandalized. Dad wouldn't let me come back. I'm sure of it!" Her eyebrows lift to punctuate the point, but chatter about Japan has her frowning. "He's… been better. Adjusting to life after being the Yakuza's prisoner? Yeah, Carmen Pryde has had easier times." She sucks on the inside of her cheek, "I haven't… told Piotr anything about Japan. Aside form going after dad. I just… don't really know what to think of what happened."
*
"You'll probably have to, sometime," Noemi says, turning away and towards the less synthogarish boots. "That was another thing in that magazine, war secrets poisoning — Well, I don't know, I don't want you to get too ahead of yourself."
She was totally about to say THE M WORD there.
"— Oh! Look at these, I think this is oxblood? These seem good, don't you think? A little fancy but not like, oh no you're making this look like a brothel fancy."
*
Kitty cringes. "How do you bring that up though?" Her nose wrinkles. "It's like, 'So… you know how I went to Japan to rescue dad? Well I met this demon Japanese warrior who .. well. . So. There's that. Also I am basically a ninja and I can use a sword to defend myself.'" She smirks and shrugs. "Seriously, it's kind of ridiculous. Truly."
She stares at the boots a few beats and then nods, "Yeah, they're good. And they'll go with more than the black dress."
*
"Geez, I'm going to look like a dancer," Noemi says, though it doesn't seem like she's entirely displeased with that outcome.
After this, Noemi folds her arms loosely and takes her attention off the shoes and over to Kitty. "… I don't really know. I just meant - I don't know - don't TRY to keep it a secret, you know? That doesn't mean you have to just /gush/. But I'm not an analyst, I'm a chemist, so what do I know?"
*
"But a lovely dancer," Kitty decides quickly. "Plus it'll make you a bit taller. And you're right, height is a good thing. Better angle to see things. Easier to see Piotr almost at eye-level." Her cheeks flush lightly.
"Well…" Kitty's eyes turn downwards. "Apparently there's a bunch of demons," her nose wrinkles, "or something that was unleashed in Central Park. So. I need my swords. They're at the Prydes. I mentioned I needed my swords to Piotr yesterday and he seemed like it was just normal. Like I should have them. So."
*
"I don't know if they have heels THAT high here," Noemi says with another grin, half-stifled. "But I get you!"
Then the topic of demons come up. Noemi's face doesn't really blush or blanche but she seems to be leaning towards the latter. "Oh — Well, I mean, with the demons and everything, sure. Maybe he's just accepted it all and you're worrying for nothing! Or is that like a Russian thing, with swords."
*
"Maybe…" Kitty replies. "Or he's just made his peace with the fact that his girlfriend is… I don't know. Something." Her hands rest on her hips. "Maybe it is a Russian thing. Like all Russians have swords. I feel like Yana might have a sword…" Maybe.
*
"But do only women have swords?" Noemi says, half joking. The other half of her actually wonders. Then she clasps her hands together. "ANYWAY I'm going to go find the clerk. Pick out some shoes! We can make her do all the work in one go, then. I'm going to try both colors of boot on, though."