2012-08-29 Captain Sam's Comics

Captain Sam's Comics is a large comic shop that has taken over three stories of a downtown building over the years, well, the whole building really, but only 3 stories are used for customers. The Captain Sam on the sign is a cute cartoony pirate woman, and the real Captain Sam isn't that far removed. She often dresses up like a pirate for no other reason than, she can. The basement of Captain Sam's is a ShangriLa of manga. Floor to ceiling shelves form a cramped maze of manga and anime goodness. Not only do they have a mammoth collection, the prices are very good here. Whitney Pratt, who doesn't look too far off from being a pirate herself, is perched up top of a ladder, looking over titles.

Captain Sam's is too hard to miss for a comic and TV nut like Jubilation Lee. Aside from trying to kill time and study (just a little) and sleep, she hasn't got much to do in the daytime, so she's been doing a little exploring. With her designer denim jacket and jeans, worn with a pink baby tee and rollerblades, she doesn't look a bit like your local comic book fan, except for the excited look in her eyes when she walks through the door. "Score! Bet I could go through an hour in no time here!" she exults, pausing on the lip of the stairs to slip off her skates. How stupid would she have to be to risk going down carpeted stairs on those things?

Whitney stretches on top of the ladder, struggling to get the book she wants. As she does, her baggy jeans start sliding down her trim backside. It would appear she picked her panties with Captain Sam in mind. She's got on Hello Kitty skull and crossbone panties. The weight of her studded belt and the odds and ends dangling from belt loops is pulling her pants one way while she stretches the other direction. She reaches down to grab at her pants, and the ladder starts to wobble beneath her. "Oh. Oh. Oh!"

By now, Jubilee has taking skates off down to a speedy science. She's just tying them together by a lanyard when she hears a startled cry from downstairs. "Uh-oh. That hit ten on the Oh-Crap Meter..." she murmurs, and is on her feet and down the stairs at a lunge.

Following the sound of the voice, she arrives to find... a very singular scene. A blonde girl on an unsteady ladder, with less than the usual amount of lower attire in the right places. She quickly moves to steady the ladder. "Whoa! Looks like you've got a serious case of wardrobe malfunction," she observes, her tone light and bantering, if not untinged with concern. "Are you okay?"

Whitney flaps her arms as if she could fly, trying to catch her balance as the ladder is steadied under her. She manages not to fall, but her pants didn't get the memo, and down they go, falling around her ankles. Gear waves her book and grabs onto the shelves, looking down at Jubilee, "Oh. Hey there. Thank you so much. You saved my life!" The ladder is marked, "Staff Use Only"

"Sign, sign, everywhere a sign," Jubilee muses in singsong, giving the unpanted girl a smile. "It's okay." Hey, it might've been her, another day! "Are you gonna be able to get down like that?" she asks, looking from pants to ladder in concern. "I can hold your book if you want."

Whitney squats down and hands over the book. Then she grabs at her pants and pulls them up. She wobbles a bit as she gets them around her waist, then she hops down. "Phew! Thanks." She grabs Jubilee and gives her a peck on the cheek, "My hero!" Taking the book back she says, "That ladder is an accident waiting to happen. If it wasn't marked staff only I'd sue their butts!"

Jubilee takes the book easily, stepping back as the blonde girl displays surprisingly good balance in retrieving her baggy jeans. Then the other girl is on the ground and kissing her cheek! The SoCal refugee blinks in surprise, but doesn't pull away. "Wow. You don't kid around about gratitude!" she observes, trying not to giggle about the irony of the praise. If she only knew! "But it's nothing, totally. I mean, might be me up there one day!" She can't hide a giggle this time. "And I don't have such cute panties, so it'd be /sooo/ much more embarrassing!"

Down go Whitney's pants again! This time she is pulling them down to flash the panties to Jubilee from the front, "You like these? I love cute panties. I collect them. Strange collection huh? I adore skull and crossbones girly stuff. It makes me happy." She tugs her pants back up and says, "Oh? What are you wearing? I totally can help you find some cute panties. Did you know Captain Sam sells stuff like this? She says she's thinking about turning the fourth floor into clothes."

Jubilee blinks in surprise again, as the other girl's pants come down completely on purpose! She giggles again, shaking her head. "Not strange, just unusual, but very cute. And I knew a girl who collected /snail shells/ back in Cali. Seriously! Trust me, there are /way/ stranger things to collect. And you can wear these!"

And another blink. "What am I wearing? Um, nothing very cute..." she says, hesitantly reaching for her jeans and glancing around to make sure nobody else is with them on the Manga floor. The other girl is so exuberant that she's having trouble keeping up with the questions. Her, the resident posterior-pain of the X-Men! "I would totally shop here more often if she did that. Well, when I was in town..."

"Well, if you ask nice, Sam will let you look at the stuff she has upstairs. She imports stuff for her own amusement and she resells some of it. She only puts a few things on display downstairs for everyone." She joins in the giggling, "For me, she buys all sorts of strange things. I love fun stuff." She thrusts out her hand, which looks a bit odd if one is observant. Plastic? She has on a boat load of jewelery, mixing real and expensive with cheap and fake without regard. "I'm Whitney. You don't live in Gotham? Tourist?"

"So you know the owner?" Jubilee asks, thinking that over while she works with her jeans. "And she buys stuff for you?" She's no expert on jewelry, and the light's not good, but some of what's on Whitney's heavily-laden arms looks like it's worth two whole shelves of manga. Then the other girl offers her hand, and Jubilee has to take it for a shake, her jeans hanging precariously on her hips. "Um, sort of. I'm just in town for a few days, seeing some people. I live over in New York. The state, not the city. I'm Jubilation..."

And at that moment, the jeans decide gravity's more important than their owner and plummet to the floor, leaving the Chinese-American girl standing in her silky black panties. "... occasional lingerie model," she adds quickly, blushing a little, though her blue eyes are twinkling with stubborn good humor.

"Sam? sure. If you come in here a lot, she knows you. I mean I could pretend it is because I am so awesome and stuff. But I would guess it is because I bought most of my manga from her, and a ton of clothes and jewelry." She busts into laughter at the plummeting pants. "Oh. You like pretty. Those are very sexy. I like em. That's something to wear on a date. I bet you feel super sexy in them right Jubilation. Jubilation? Wow. That is a name I have never heard before." She holds on to Jube's hand probably too long, and only lets go when she realizes they've been holding hands for a bit. "Oops. Sorry. I'll let you get your clothes on."

Jubilation can't help blushing, but she's smiling, too. The other girl is too pleasant to be uncomfortable around, at least for long. There's nothing fancy about the underpants but the material, comfortable and sleek, but the compliments make her giggle anyway. "They're comfy, and they do make me feel pretty," she replies. "And the name was my folks' idea. I think they were just happy to have me. Most of my friends shorten it to Jubilee, for Jubilation Lee."

She grins when she feels Whitney let go of her hand, having forgotten they were holding for so long as well. But she still stoops to pull up her rebellious jean. "S'okay, really! Besides, even if you know Sam from business, I'll bet she thinks you're kinda awesome. You're very easy to talk to."

Whitney waves her hands in the air, "Oh...I know. I am the total cat's pajamas. Women want to be like me, men want me. What can I say? It is hard being this incredible." She laughs and reachs to poke Jubilee's cheek, "Blushing? You do that pretty well for a lingerie model. Too bad you don't live in Gotham though. Or at least Metropolis." She threatens a tug at Jubilee's pants once she gets them up, "So, other than joining the Sisterhood of the Dropping Pants, what ya down in the basement for? You like Manga?"

"Well, I could totally see you in cat pajamas, if that counts," Jubilee teases back, turning her head with the poke to her cheek. "Well, I /am/ off the clock! It demands a certain mindset. And yes, I'm majorly into... hey!" she protests through giggles as Whitney grabs hold of her pants and pulls on them, though the other girl doesn't pull them down, at least. "I can't button those with you shaking them, Panty Pirate," she teases. "I came down to look for some back volumes of /Othello/. I really wanna see how that turns out, but the local comic shop crapped out on me!"

Whitney laughs and says, "I have cat pajamas!" She grins and waits for Jubilee to seize control of her pants, then she lets go. "Panty Pirate?" More giggling, then she is off. She bounces around a corner and says, "I really like Othello too." She wanders then she starts grabbing books, "Do you read it in Japanese?" She quickly has a stack of books, "Have you read Guru Guru Pon Chan? I don't think it is as good, but if you like Othello you will ike it too."

Jubilee laughs, buttoning her jeans. "I can't follow you like this, you know!" she calls. But she's done and after Whitney in moments. "Wow, you work fast!" she says, seeing the growing pile of books. "I can't read Japanese. I have to settle for translations. But if Pon Chan is related to Othello, I /know/ I'll like it." She smiles and points to another title. "Have you read Tenshi Ja Nai? I think it's even better than Othello, but the comic shop came through on that one, so I'm not looking to fill in any gaps."

"I haven't! It's good you say?" She puts back the books she had collected, then grabs the english translations instead. She offers the stack to Jubilee, "My treat, now that we are sisters of the dropping pants." She grins at the smaller girl and says, "Too bad you like up in New York or we could hang out. You want to go look at the clothes upstairs? All kinds of fun stuff. Sam sort of has a Japanese style fetish."

"I loved it! I hope you do, too." Jubilee smiles at the offer. "Clothes, you say? Well, sister, I do have a few hours to pass. And even if we don't live in the same town, I could give you my phone number and email addy, so we could keep in touch!" She pulls out the first volume of Tenshi Ja Nai (Japanese language), opens it, and quickly writes down a couple things on the inside of the back cover. "There ya go! It's the least I can do, with you being so generous, Whitney."

Whitney checks the information in the book, taking a picture with her cellphone. "Maybe we can meet in the middle sometimes. Metropolis isn't so bad. Kind of straightlaced, but still, it is right in the middle." She puts her phone away then grabs her own books, "Let's head upstairs. You need to see Sam's treasure trove to believe it. She cosplays and everything." Tugging on her pants to make sure they aren't about to slip down, she then takes Jubilee's hand, "Hey, did you leave your shoes upstairs?"

"If we have to. But if we go to Metropolis, I can't come to the store!" Jubilee points out with a laugh. "And it sounds like totally the best place to meet up, unless there's a mall I don't know about." She lets Whitney take her hand and follows along. "Yes and no, actually. I was wearing my 'blades, and I wasn't about to go climbing stairs on them. Then I heard you and I must've forgotten 'em completely. I'll get 'em as we go by!"

And up the stairs they go, not only into the upper level of the store but into the beginning of a friendship. Totally cool.