second draft || [written]

[kayeaton]

All right, I've got to know: Are there any publishing outfits here? In a town this size, the chances seem slim, but for all I know, there's a paper no one's mentioned to me. I've got a story or two started, and if I could see them in print, I wouldn't mind dropping my asking price to zero cents a word. It won't hurt them to sit in handwritten piles in my apartment, of course, but stories are always better when they're shared.

It's strange to think that it's May here. It was November back in Manhattan, and that meant a lot of gray skies and windy days, and some rainy ones. Thanksgiving was coming up; between Julius and I, a whole turkey is a waste of a bird, but we were going to have something nice for dinner nonetheless. And in the meanwhile, it would have been a whole lot of pounding on typewriters and talking, no doubt.

At least I left near the start of the month. Just in case time here doesn't run faster than every other world's time, he's got a few weeks to plan out a story or two about the drunken scientist or the mutant hillbillies, and from there...well, ideally, he'd show up here one of these days, too. And if not, he's written plenty on his own before; he's not about to starve to death just because I'm not there to do my share.

I do miss him, though.

((OOC: And just in case you're curious, when she says drunken scientist and mutant hillbillies, she is, uh. Completely serious.))

Comments

[Voice]

[poorneedyand.livejournal.com]

Do you call it home, too?

[Voice]

[i_speak_softly]

[He jumps a little when someone answers. He really was lost, for a minute there.]

I... used to.

[Voice]

[poorneedyand.livejournal.com]

Yeah? Whereabouts?

[Voice]

[i_speak_softly]

... Below 11th.

[He means this rather literally.]

[Voice]

[poorneedyand.livejournal.com]

[While Kay takes it figuratively, as she is wont. She sounds amused, more than anything.] Oh, you're from the Village? Some kind of bohemian?

[Voice]

[i_speak_softly]

More like Hell's Kitchen. [A pause.] A mutant. [A longer pause.] But not a hillbilly.

[Voice]

[poorneedyand.livejournal.com]

More of a fighter than a lover, eh? [She laughs.] At this point, I think I'd rather meet a mutant than a hillbilly. Kay Eaton.

[Voice]

[i_speak_softly]

[Both, actually.]

[He flips on the Video function.] Donatello Hamato.

[Voice]

[poorneedyand.livejournal.com]

[Oh hey there, Donatello, you're actually the first noticeably non-human person Kay's met. If her eyes widen a moment, if her eyebrows raise, it's because she's never met a talking...turtle? before.]

[In a low voice--] You weren't kidding. [And then, with a genuine smile, if perhaps a slightly belated one--] Nice to meet you, Donatello. I don't think I've come across anyone else from the city yet.

[Voice/Video] of course i changed this for the last tag, what are you talking about

[i_speak_softly]

[It's - almost a surprising reaction. So many people here don't even seem to notice he isn't human.]

[He shrugs it off.]

There's at least seven of us now. Eight if you count Long Island.

[Voice/Video] clearly you did i saw it myself

[poorneedyand.livejournal.com]

[Kay is, for better or worse, used to stories of alligators living in sewers. Not so much overgrown turtles. She's also a little relieved that she hasn't apparently caused offense; however caught off-guard she was, she's fairly sure she learned thirty-odd years ago not to stare.]

Whether we're counting Long Island depends on who's from it. [She grins.] Seven or eight's not too bad a number.

[Voice/Video]

[i_speak_softly]

[Yes, there are alligators too. Just not here.]

Another mutant.

[What do you think of that?]

[Voice/Video]

[poorneedyand.livejournal.com]

[You can catch her off-guard once, Donatello; now that she's met one mutant, mentions of another aren't enough to faze her. Kay hmms, considering--not particularly seriously.]

If he's a good guy, I'm sure we can forgive his place of address.

[Voice/Video]

[i_speak_softly]

[Fast learner.]

He's not really from there, anyway. What about you? I'm guessing uptown.

[Voice/Video]

[poorneedyand.livejournal.com]

Well, Long Islanders of necessity are a different breed than the ones born and bred. We'll have to have a gathering sometime, everyone from around town. And that's not a bad guess. I work up around 49th and Broadway, live a few subway stops away.

[Voice/Video]

[i_speak_softly]

The 1 train?

[Voice/Video]

[poorneedyand.livejournal.com]

The Lexington Avenue line, actually. But good try.

[Voice/Video]

[i_speak_softly]

Oh, the Green. Nice part of town.

[Voice/Video]

[poorneedyand.livejournal.com]

You know your stuff. [She smiles.] Suits Jules and me well enough, anyway. So what d'you do, back home? [Kay can't quite imagine an overgrown turtle with a desk job, somehow.]

[Voice/Video]

[i_speak_softly]

What... [What did he do? He doesn't even know how to explain it anymore.] This and that.

[Voice/Video]

[poorneedyand.livejournal.com]

Ah. ['This and that' sounds to Kay like a euphemism for unemployment more than anything else. She has the good sense not to pry into such matters.] You been here long?

[Voice/Video]

[i_speak_softly]

Over a year.

[Voice/Video]

[poorneedyand.livejournal.com]

[Kay's face drops to a momentary frown--half in sympathy, half in concern for her own self--before she realizes it (and more importantly, that Donatello can still see her). She gives him a smile, small and thin and close-mouthed.] In it for the long haul, then. Count me impressed.

[Voice/Video]

[i_speak_softly]

[He offers a watery smile in return.] It's not like I had much choice.

New here yourself?

[Voice/Video]

[poorneedyand.livejournal.com]

Still. [She pauses.] Yeah--I showed up about two weeks ago. It's strange how quickly it's gone, when I stop to think about it.