Subject: Prompt Time!
Author:
Posted on: 2018-01-11 08:12:00 UTC
It's been two weeks since the last prompt, although it may feel like longer to some people. This time, the prompt is:
"Don't forget your pants!"
Don't ask me why. It's a long story.
Novastorme
"What do you mean you don't have any other clothes?"
Cass sighed and flopped onto the bed like a sack of studiously indifferent potatoes. "I don't need any other clothes, Em. That's what the Disguise Generator's for."
"Oh. My. God. You have not been wearing the same outfit for the past three months." Em clambered out of the armchair and folded her arms, her foot tapping indignantly on the floor. "Like, have you even been doing laundry?"
"... Spells count, right?"
"You are unbelievable."
"You're a weregerbil."
"Don't change the subject." Em twitched her nose. "We are taking you clothes shopping and don't even try to get out of it."
"Look, Emma, if you want to go clothes shopping, I won't stop you. Go. Take my purse if you want to, I know you blew threw your money for this month already. I just don't care about how I look. It doesn't matter to me."
"Huh." Emma stopped tapping her foot, deep in thought. "Damn. You hate it that much?"
"Hate implies I care about it."
"Huh."
The clock in the corner of the room ticked. Every one seemed louder than the last. The RC beeped the beep of the righteous. The bathroom mirror prophesied their inevitable doom, which told them it was a Tuesday.
"Can I ask a question, Cass?"
"You may."
"Pedant. Anyway, were you serious about me taking your purse shopping on El Worldo Uno? I know how you are with money."
"If it got me out of a shopping trip I would let you have my friggin' kidney."
"Wow. Uh. Okay. I mean, uh, I knew you didn't like it? But... yeah."
"I'm technically an adult, and adults get to decide what that means. In my case? Wear one set of clothing until it's basically a bunch of loosely connected holes, then buy the exact same outfit. Clothes shopping is an experience akin to having both my legs broken with a hammer and I never want to do it again."
"Fine! Jeez. Like, you made your point."
"Hey, I wouldn't make you go to LeakyCon-"
"Ugh. Gurl, for real, can you not with that name? I know what the history is, but it just sounds like a bunch of old folks packed into a convention centre talking about adult diapers."
"My point exactly."
"Dude, I said you already made your damn point. I get it, okay?"
"Yeah. I... yeah. Sorry."
"It's okay, Cass." Em sat down beside her and ruffled her hair. "You're okay. You don't have to do anything you don't want to ever again, okay?"
The clocks kept ticking. Louder and louder. Filling the silence until Cassie could speak again.
"Okay."
[REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~]
"Ohfercryinoutloud. Cass, you wanna get that?"
"Sure. Um. Wow. Potterverse AU where all the magic is replaced with spy gadgets. This seems... dumb."
"Oh, jeez. At least it's your wheelhouse."
"And I know you came from KP, so the spy stuff? Your wheelhouse. Come on, Em, let's get the DG out. Black cargo trousers and T-shirts ahoy."
"Sweet. Just... Cassie?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't forget your pants."
I can so much relate to "clothes shopping – bah", although I understand the advantages of possessing more than one set of clothes.
The clock in the corner of the room ticking off the seconds while Emma thinks about what to say next is a nice image (promptly turning into the absurdity that is PPC HQ), but there may be a small inconsistency when The clocks kept ticking. Is there more than one or is this a typo?
I’m looking forward to see more of these agents.
HG
That was a nice bit of character interaction. People not being perfect but managing to talk through their conflict was good.
The only thing I don't quite get is the last line. It doesn't quite follow, I suppose.
(also, "blew through")
- Tomash
Oh, my, this was fun to read, because Cass's attitude towards clothing and looks is basically mine. I do have more than one set of clothes, but I only go clothes shopping if I get too low on shorts to make it through a week. I do the laundry too, but I would most happily substitute a magic spell for using electricity and hot water. Clothes are just extra matter that I would rather not have sitting around. So I can absolutely get behind Cass's attitude here.
The dialogue is simple, but very expressive. I can really feel the trust and camaraderie these agents have built up with each other, despite not seeing them on-page before. I love Cass's plain honesty about her feelings, and Emma's energetic reactions to what Cass says. And the last line of dialogue really opens up a mystery as to what was actually happening before the scene started to trigger this topic of discussion.
Looking back through Emma's dialogue after the reveal that she's a Kim Possible character, her speech definitely has that "confident teen" vibe that the young characters on the show tended to express, so good job getting that feeling across. I have one question though. KP didn't have any lycanthropes, so is Emma a true weregerbil, or one of DNAmy's experiments?
And one thing:
". . . I know you blew threw your money for this month already."
—doctorlit in outfit number four out of five for the work week
Yeah, initially Emma's weregerbilicity (which is a word, honest) was gonna be a joke about weird crossovers, but... well, DNAmy is a thing, and you can definitely get some mileage out of a person with gerbil traits having one of the most dangerous jobs in the multiverse. If nothing else, the phrase "Emma, you don't have cheek pouches right now, please stop eating the Artifacts of Sue." would make an appearance at some point.
Also, the badfic referenced? It's entirely real. =]