The citizens of Neopolis are used to it. Most of them have been stared at many times before; have come from places where they were strange and unwanted. In Neopolis they're ordinary. It takes some getting used to. Not everyone is satisfied with being ordinary.
"No," Li admits. "Done?"
Li's fingernails change color along with the rest of her. And she has precious little 'girl programming'. It's something she worries about.
The thought that she's the different one in this city, as opposed to New York where no one would look at her twice, does cross her mind. She wonders if Pete and Li felt out of place in New York.
Sophie holds her hands out to study her own chewed up nails. "Sure, painted, filed, buffed and all that good stuff."
Children in Neopolis read comic books about the adventures of businessmen, who go to work at offices where they type on computers.
New York is a very forgiving city. It takes a lot to make anyone there turn their head. But the answer is: yes, Peter had felt out of place. But Peter has issues.
"Painted?" Li continues to look lost, but she pushes bravely forward anyway. "If it's something girls do, then let's do it. Totally."
She picked up that word from Peter. Who, in turn, picked up that word from the rest of Neopolis.
A short while later they're sitting in a nail salon across from women who like the goddess Kali...if the goddess Kali was middle-aged and worked in a nail salon.
As someone who lives and works in the city, she'd find it hard to believe anyone would find her life style or the life style of people around her comic book worthy. It all seems so dull to her, as opposed to this amazing city she was currently visiting.
Sophie grins at the use of the word, because apparently the word 'totally' couldn't be kept in the confines of the valley. Catching the lost look she has to admire Li for going along with it anyway. From the looks of it, Li doesn't spend a lot of time with other females. Which might change some time.
Sitting and being pampered is very nice, even if the one doing it has about the same number of arms as a house hold spider. "How have you been, Li?" Sophie finally asks, sneaking a glance over at the other woman.
Li looks up from her nails, which she has been staring at, mystified.
"Work?" She repeats. "Oh, work. Well, there's no shortage of it. And I guess that's a good thing, but sometimes it just feels like I'm, um, swimming upstream, I guess. Not that I can tell Peter that, of course. Complaining at all about work in front of him would be, well, cruel. What about you? What have you been up to?"
Frowning, Sophie looks over at Li's nails and then up at Li, "what's wrong?" Perhaps she wasn't satisfied with the color or she didn't like the treatment.
"I suppose it would be, I mean he's just sitting there and he wants to do something." Her shoulders rose and fell in a shrug. "Still, you should have someone you can talk to about how frustrating work is. Complaining about work is apart of life." Smiling she shrugs and then falls silent when asked about what she's been up to.
"Nothing much, stuff, I saw my mom for mother's day. That was about it."
"Nothing," Li insists, flashing both her manicurist and Sophie a small, embarrassed smile.
It has never occurred to her before that things could be done to nails. It makes sense now, of course. She's seen women with colored nails, she's just never thought about how they got that way.
"You don't think he'd mind? I'd love someone to talk to about it, but I wouldn't want to upset him."
She brightens at Sophie's response.
"That must have been nice."
Li has no mother. No father either. The closest thing to a care-giver Li has ever had is Jeeves-A4, and he was programmed only to obey.
Nodding in response to Li's 'nothing' she turns her attention back to her own nails before closing her eyes and tipping her head back a little bit.
"Mmmm . . ." She wonders if she should answer how she thinks he'll really respond to it or how he should. "Maybe it's something you should ease into, test the waters so to speak. You know Pete can get sensitive about stuff like that."
It's not that hard to understand why. "It was nice to see her, I missed her." Perhaps the next time they saw each other it would be under better circumstances. "She cleaned out my apartment."
But Li looks more amused than anything. Slightly annoyed, of course, because this is Peter we're talking about, but there's a small secret smile on her lips too.
"Yes, I do know."
Her smile turns into an all out laugh.
"Speaking of clean apartments..."
Now Sophie knows first hand what Li has to deal with.
"Yeah he starts to go all angry cop and it's all over from there." She's come to expect it from Pete almost and the first couple of times it scared her. Now, when she has the energy she just gives it right back to him. Poor guy.
Sophie has to chuckle when Li starts to laugh and she shakes her head.
"That's some apartment, Li. He told me he cleaned it, is that clean?" Shaking her head she wonders how Li puts up with the place. It reminds her of college dorm rooms, at least those had white walls though. For a moment her thoughts drift and then dead end. The medication makes her a bit stupid at times.
"I should bring my mom next time, she can clean it."
Sophie thinks she's seen the waitress before but can't remember where, until she walks away and her eyes light up.
"So cool." She murmurs to herself before turning to Li and laughing. "He wanted to know what we would talk about, I through it out there. I don't think I have any boys to talk about."
"Would you like to talk about boys? Because I can, they're great to talk about. You can talk about Pete, if you'd like."
Drawing a knee up to her chest she gives a half shoulder shrug to the question. "Because I've got crap luck with them and I don't really go out any more. Visiting you and Pete is the most social interaction I've had in a long time."
Sophie smiles at the blue, it's a very pretty color on Li. "By all means, talk about him all you want. He talks about you all the time, you know he's crazy about you." She tells her with a big grin. Their relationship is the only thing that makes her think that there are good couples out there.
"The guys I see tend to be bad, jackasses, or just don't want the same thing I do."
The citizens of Neopolis are used to it. Most of them have been stared at many times before; have come from places where they were strange and unwanted. In Neopolis they're ordinary. It takes some getting used to. Not everyone is satisfied with being ordinary.
"No," Li admits. "Done?"
Li's fingernails change color along with the rest of her. And she has precious little 'girl programming'. It's something she worries about.
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Sophie holds her hands out to study her own chewed up nails. "Sure, painted, filed, buffed and all that good stuff."
Reply
Children in Neopolis read comic books about the adventures of businessmen, who go to work at offices where they type on computers.
New York is a very forgiving city. It takes a lot to make anyone there turn their head. But the answer is: yes, Peter had felt out of place. But Peter has issues.
"Painted?" Li continues to look lost, but she pushes bravely forward anyway. "If it's something girls do, then let's do it. Totally."
She picked up that word from Peter. Who, in turn, picked up that word from the rest of Neopolis.
A short while later they're sitting in a nail salon across from women who like the goddess Kali...if the goddess Kali was middle-aged and worked in a nail salon.
Reply
Sophie grins at the use of the word, because apparently the word 'totally' couldn't be kept in the confines of the valley. Catching the lost look she has to admire Li for going along with it anyway. From the looks of it, Li doesn't spend a lot of time with other females. Which might change some time.
Sitting and being pampered is very nice, even if the one doing it has about the same number of arms as a house hold spider. "How have you been, Li?" Sophie finally asks, sneaking a glance over at the other woman.
"How's work?"
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Li looks up from her nails, which she has been staring at, mystified.
"Work?" She repeats. "Oh, work. Well, there's no shortage of it. And I guess that's a good thing, but sometimes it just feels like I'm, um, swimming upstream, I guess. Not that I can tell Peter that, of course. Complaining at all about work in front of him would be, well, cruel. What about you? What have you been up to?"
Reply
"I suppose it would be, I mean he's just sitting there and he wants to do something." Her shoulders rose and fell in a shrug. "Still, you should have someone you can talk to about how frustrating work is. Complaining about work is apart of life." Smiling she shrugs and then falls silent when asked about what she's been up to.
"Nothing much, stuff, I saw my mom for mother's day. That was about it."
Reply
"Nothing," Li insists, flashing both her manicurist and Sophie a small, embarrassed smile.
It has never occurred to her before that things could be done to nails. It makes sense now, of course. She's seen women with colored nails, she's just never thought about how they got that way.
"You don't think he'd mind? I'd love someone to talk to about it, but I wouldn't want to upset him."
She brightens at Sophie's response.
"That must have been nice."
Li has no mother. No father either. The closest thing to a care-giver Li has ever had is Jeeves-A4, and he was programmed only to obey.
Reply
"Mmmm . . ." She wonders if she should answer how she thinks he'll really respond to it or how he should. "Maybe it's something you should ease into, test the waters so to speak. You know Pete can get sensitive about stuff like that."
It's not that hard to understand why. "It was nice to see her, I missed her." Perhaps the next time they saw each other it would be under better circumstances. "She cleaned out my apartment."
Reply
"He can be a little..."
But Li looks more amused than anything. Slightly annoyed, of course, because this is Peter we're talking about, but there's a small secret smile on her lips too.
"Yes, I do know."
Her smile turns into an all out laugh.
"Speaking of clean apartments..."
Now Sophie knows first hand what Li has to deal with.
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Sophie has to chuckle when Li starts to laugh and she shakes her head.
"That's some apartment, Li. He told me he cleaned it, is that clean?" Shaking her head she wonders how Li puts up with the place. It reminds her of college dorm rooms, at least those had white walls though. For a moment her thoughts drift and then dead end. The medication makes her a bit stupid at times.
"I should bring my mom next time, she can clean it."
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"He'd probably be thrilled."
Nails done, Li relocates them to a cafe. Their waitress looks like Jem, of and the Holograms fame.
"So...I was told you wanted to talk about boys."
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Sophie thinks she's seen the waitress before but can't remember where, until she walks away and her eyes light up.
"So cool." She murmurs to herself before turning to Li and laughing. "He wanted to know what we would talk about, I through it out there. I don't think I have any boys to talk about."
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"Oh."
Li looks disappointed.
"Why is that?"
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Drawing a knee up to her chest she gives a half shoulder shrug to the question. "Because I've got crap luck with them and I don't really go out any more. Visiting you and Pete is the most social interaction I've had in a long time."
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Li turns baby blue.
"I...I wouldn't mind."
She doesn't have anyone else to talk about him with. You can't talk about your boyfriend with your boyfriend.
"Why do you think you have bad luck?" Li asks, curiously.
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"The guys I see tend to be bad, jackasses, or just don't want the same thing I do."
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