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WHO: KANAYA and KAREN
WHERE: A cafe in New York.
WHEN: Sometime after this.
WHAT: Just alien/timeline problem talk.
WARNINGS: Possible discussion of death and sad things. Will edit as it comes up.

[ Once the fire-breathing model fiasco had been sorted, Karen stuck around the fashion show to make sure no one else suddenly began spewing unpleasantries or got hurt in the process. Despite her inclination to find out what had caused the model to do that in the first place, after all the excitement and remembering a promise to Kanaya, she decided to follow up on that. When Kanaya was free, they both headed down into one of the more touristy areas of the city, settling at a cute, although slightly pretentious cafe with outdoor seating.

With her iced latte on the way, Karen gets comfortable in her chair, looking over the patio at the crowds of people wandering the streets, some clearly exploring New York for the first time, others getting frustrated with the typical traffic. Reminds her so much of home. ]

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[ Kanaya practically melts into her chair. Between all the work she put into the show, sorting out Talia's problem, and having to field the press in the aftermath, it's been an exhausting day. If it were anyone else, she'd take a rain check and sleep it off. For Karen, she'll take the coffee and the conversation. Maybe she'll feel better by the end of it.

She hopes the babysitter doesn't have her hands too full. ]

Yeah. She will be, at least, for whatever definition of "okay" her life will follow now. We don't know what caused it, or if it's permanent, just that it's here now. Qubit seemed curious, I might give her his number, if she wants to find the answers.

[ Probably better than giving him hers, Kanaya's sure he'd be put out if she declined. Still, the nagging worry about the Meta-men won't quite go away. She's been wrong before, last time she feared Vulcanus had found them, she could be wrong again.

Might not even be worth mentioning to Karen, she can't remember how much of that she'd been through. No point in bothering her with empty paranoia. Instead, she digs her flask out of her purse and stirs some blood into her espresso. ]

I'm glad to hear it. That's not something you see everyday on the runway.

[ The fact someone, visibly human as far as Karen knows, was able to do that in the first place is concerning. She's got an ear out just in case she overhears anything about another person in the city spitting out flames, though she hopes it's an isolated incident and nothing more.

Knowing their luck, it may be.

The weather in New York's gotten a little chillier with the changing seasons, but there's enough buildings to block off any cold breezes that pass through the streets. Karen's kept a colourful fall sweater on, with deer print across the front and back. ]

It might be weird to say, but I'm also glad I get to see New York again. Love the food here...

It's funny you say that, my assistant was just telling me the opposite! He was just saying that nothing good ever happens here, as if New York is the only place bad things have ever happened to us. Whatever caused this, I have no doubt that it traces back to us in some way. Even if it's indirect.

[ After all, if someone wanted to trace all their troubles back to one common element, there's a pretty obvious one staring them back in the mirror. She takes her cigarette case out of her purse, and taps one on the top.

It they're going to sit outside, she might as well take advantage. But she holds it up before she even considers lighting it. ]

Do you mind? It's been a day.

New York can be exhausting, that's for sure. The City had a similar kind of energy.

[ On account of being fake New York and all.

She eyes the cigarette for a moment, obviously not keen on it, but she waves a hand anyway. The secondhand smoke won't harm her and there's no one seated particularly close to them to catch a whiff of it themselves. ]

I wish you didn't even if it doesn't affect you, but go ahead.

Hey, I've cut back a lot since Ashiah hatched, you should be proud!

[ She lights the cigarette and takes a drag, stirring her coffee idly. It's funny to think that she's been smoking longer than she's even known Karen, especially when she's now defaulted to one of her oldest friendships left, after Peter. ]

It was much worse three years ago. And always fairly benign, in terms of various methods I've used to relieve stress.

Personally, I never got the appeal, but I've never smoked or taken drugs or the like.

[ The idea of losing control especially with regard to drugs doesn't sit well with her; Karen is a woman who needs to be in complete control of everything she's doing or she'll find herself stressing. ]

Does Ashiah relieve a lot of that stress?

[ She's not going to accuse Karen of being a square, that would just be inspecting the speck in her eye through the plank in Kanaya's own. Besides, the only counterpoint she had to offer involved a terrible bout of underaged drinking when she was younger. The less she revisits those days, the better. ]

In a lot of ways, she does. Knowing she's around, that she exists in any sort of way, that feels like one weight is off my shoulders. Though, in a way, it's only been replaced by another. She can be quite the handful!

But I'd rather have her than not, all the same.

That's family for you.

[ A playful wink as she adjusts her seating in her chair to get more comfortable. ]

I've never had kids, but I have to hand it to anyone who the ladies who can be a full-time mom and worker, especially when they've got additional work.

[ Like ensuring some meta who's gone off the rocks hasn't decided to try and blow up a bridge or on a bank robbery spree. Many of her friends in the JSA had families, but even till now Karen hasn't quite figured out how they make time for them.

The ones who don't fight crime with their parents or grandparents anyway. ]

I suppose it depends on what you mean by "additional work". If it's what I think, then I'm afraid I haven't really done much since Osborn.

[ After that, she no longer had so much need to redeem or martyr herself, the battle had been won, the scales were in balance. Plus, Ashiah hatched shortly after, so that was one more thing on her plate. ]

One might count the fight against Demidov, but I wouldn't. It was too personal. Though I have considered getting back into it lately. I mean, you know me, I don't feel right if I'm not always busy.

What's been going on anyway? I noticed some [ well, she wouldn't call it shouting ] squabbling over the network a while ago.

[ Fighting with that Demidov guy and Kitty Jones, if she recalls correctly. She would have intervened, but Kanaya didn't seem to need the help anyway; she had made her point as far as Karen had seen. ]

In May, Nicolas Demidov murdered two of my charges. For no reason, other than that they were vampires, and that this is what werewolves do on his world. He's shown no remorse for this, no remorse for murdering two innocent natives, but he still got nothing for it but the standard three months probation.

And of course the imPort community welcomes him back with open arms as if nothing at all has happened. No one gives a shit that the man is a murderer, because it isn't as though the victims mattered to them!

[ She takes a long drag off her cigarette, and lets it out slowly, regulating her breathing to keep herself calm. ]

It's just one more reminder that we've always been worse than we want to believe ourselves, as a community. When we talk about helping people, or caring about the inhabitants of this world, we never mean it. Nothing matters to us but ourselves.

[ On her worst days, she wonders if the Hornets didn't have a point. ]

[ Her expression strains as Kanaya recants the story. It's taking a lot of willpower not to press her palm into her face and heave a very heavy sigh; the system is utterly broken here, but it seems no matter what's said or done, no one attempts to fix it. As Kanaya points out with this Demidov, there are far too many dangerous types on the streets again who were never remorseful about what they had done in the first place. ]

You care — so do I. That counts, as small as it is.

Does it really? It's only a drop in the bucket.

[ Which is a much more vulgar metaphor on Alternia, but has a similar, if stricter, meaning. Just a drop in the bucket wasn't enough for the Imperial Drones not to execute you on the spot for failing to provide. ]

Being someone who cares enough not to accept it when others look the other way just means you'll be fighting an uphill battle to get the rest of them to realize how callous they've been.

It's never going to be easy.

[ And she's had to learn this along the way as well. Many imPorts won't look beyond what they can see in front of them, completely oblivious to the consequences of their actions. While, understandably, they've got their own dealings being trapped in another universe far from their own, they seem to forget that as long as they are all here the, this world's problems are still their problems.

And that their own can easily become this world's if they're not careful. ]

I think it's a battle worth fighting. People never want to look at their friends and think they're capable of doing wrong.

[ Kanaya lets out a groan, taking another drag of her cigarette. ]

No, you're right. Giving up in the face of hopelessness just demonstrates a lack of conviction. [ Because of course she'd see it more as avoiding a fault than any actual admirable quality. ] It just gets old when you keep running into it from the same people over and over again. It's like breaking my head open on the same wall again.

Some people won't learn and they aren't always worth trying to convince.

[ Kanaya likely knows this, but it bears repeating regardless. A gentle reminder never hurt anyone. ]

And for the ones who need to be stopped? We'll take them down every time if we have to.

[ It gets exhausting, of course. To have to drag someone back to prison, have them out within two or three months and falling back into the same cycle would make anyone else snap. But they have to have the stronger conviction. Peej has to believe in the system, even if she's got her own gripes with the one here. ]

Heavens know it's easier to stop someone with fists than it is with words. But it's the words that are more insidious, in the long run.

The ones who can't learn, they teach. Empty ideals and selfishness spread like a virus. They claim more lives than they even realize.

[ It's why she considers Kitty so dangerous, because she just keeps letting things like this happen, letting the people who do them get away with it. If anyone could be more terrible than the predators in the imPort community, it's the people who knowingly enable them. ]

[ Karen nods as the waitress finally makes her round to their table, apologizing for the wait and offering Karen her iced latte. She thanks the young girl and takes a quick sip of the drink, enjoying the fresh taste of it even in cooler weather. ]

I don't always have the patience for that before I let my fist do the talking.

[ Except she wouldn't hit someone that much younger than her. Mostly. ]

[ Kanaya's younger than her, she can hit them instead. She gives Karen a smile. ]

There's the rub, isn't it? In a war of ideals, patience is perhaps the greatest weapon. This is a battle that should be fought by someone less pugnacious than either of us.

I've always got too many fights going on anyway.

[ Most of which come up as the day goes by. If it's not a bank robbery, it's a hostage situation. If it's not that, it's a high speed chase. There's always something that requires her attention. ]

How long are you in New York for, by the way?

Probably for a few more days. I should attend a few shows myself, as a courtesy to the other designers, and to be visible for the press. That's what fashion week is about, after all.

At least I can still be home every night.

[ Not all imPorts can fly across the country in minutes, or make easy shortcuts from a non-Porter city. She decides to shift gears, remembering there was another reason they were meting today. ]

Are you going to be meeting with Kara at all during that time?

[ Her discomfort at Kara's name is very visible in the way her shoulders pinch and her lip turns down. She's not angry, no, but it's always uncomfortable whenever Kara suddenly appears. It throws her off completely and she hates feeling not centered. Plus it means having to explain again to people she isn't like Kara and vice-versa. ]

... nng. [ She takes a long sip of her drink first, feeling as if she needs it. ] I don't know. We've been staying out of each others' way.

[ Kanaya smiles as she stirs her own coffee. Come on Karen, you don't have to drink it like it's whiskey. ]

You know, if I had something so close to a sister, I don't think I'd go out of my way to avoid her. But maybe that's only because I've never had a sister.

[ The idea of being so familial with Kara makes her wince again. ]

She's not— I don't even know. It gets difficult when you're both from different universes.

No, you're right. It does get difficult.

[ She remembers how hard it was to connect with Karkat when they only had slightly divergent timelines. She can't help wondering if it wouldn't be easier when the universe is completely different, if less overlap wouldn't make the differences all the worse. ]

Still, it can't be worse than being alone.

[ Karen immediately begins to withdraw upon herself following that comment, biting down on her lip. Kara's presence almost always made her feel more alone than she normally did. ]

I don't like to be around her. I don't— I don't hate her, Kanaya, she's just a reminder of things I don't like to dwell on.

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