Sixth Dispatch | Action

[trinkett]

[Since her return, Effie hasn't been up to talking over the journals. Mostly she's been listening and trying to recover -- locked away in Katniss's house until Jack Horner returned, and then locked away in Horner's house. She hasn't wanted to be around people -- not with her face and much of her body still sporting some pretty vicious-looking scars.

In Capitolista culture, scars are just about the death-knell to any self-respecting woman's social life, career -- you name it.

Today, though, she is going to venture out to pick up some walnut-free cookies for Jack and some clementines for Clementine and some romance novels for herself. Bodice-rippers. Real smutty, steamy stuff that's perfect for escapism, even if one can only escape for a few hours per book. It's worth it.

Find her at the library and the grocery store. She will be wearing a cloak pulled almost all the way over her face, a scarf around the lower half of her face, and elbow-length gloves; tall boots and tights cover any evidence of violence on her legs. She's trying not to draw attention to herself, though she is wearing complete make-up and bright green wig.]

Comments

[stillplaying]

[She had noticed, upon returning to Luceti, Effie's strange behavior. The way she had opted to stay sheltered indoors rather than be her overly social self. There was a change in wardrobe (though, truth be told, that took longer to notice). A quiet reservation to the woman that Katniss didn't recall ever seeing before.

While she had wondered what had happened, if it had anything to do with the woman's kidnapping, she hadn't pried. Instead, she had given Effie her space. Even attempted to be nicer than normal, something easier done once Effie moved out again. But if anything, the absence made her worry a little more. She didn't like it, knowing Effie was some place she couldn't keep watch over.

So when Katniss encounters Effie at the grocery store, the look of relief on her face is obvious. She's out and about, not hiding in Jack's home anymore.

Even a small smile is offered. The rare sort, one actually meant.]

[trinkett]

"You're here." It's blunt and emotionless. Effie carefully puts bananas into her basket. Bananas are mercifully walnut-free. "Hello, Katniss."

While she would never admit it to the girl, Effie has come to see Katniss as a source of comfort here in Luceti -- someone important from home she can orbit around. It's hard being away.

"Richard enjoys cinnamon pop tarts."

[stillplaying]

Katniss' own basket is relatively empty. Some fruits and vegetables, items impossible to find in the forest. Because as much as she wants to be entirely independent of food provided by the Malnosso, she's developed a weakness for certain foods. Especially the sweet fruits that were so rare back in District 12.

She glances at the bananas that Effie puts into her own basket and back up at the woman. Her smile fades a little and she tilts her head instead. The lack of emotion seems... every un-Effie like.

But she doesn't question that. Instead, curious, she asks: "Pop tarts?"

[onlyeffie]

"You put them into the toaster oven," the escort explained as she picked a box out of her own basket and held it toward Katniss. "They pop up when they're done toasting. They're tarts. Richard enjoys them."

[stillplaying]

She looked at the box briefly before placing it in her basket. How could she turn down food. Ever? Even something as odd looking as this had to be edible. And could mean the difference between starving or not. She'd have to make a point to try one. Just out of sheer curiosity.

"I'll give them to him then."

[savedtheworld]

[Aang is at the grocery store, collecting a small mount of fruit snack packages in a basket and scanning the latest one intently.]

[trinkett]

"Those fruit snacks are made of hooves you know."

This is Effie being helpful, Aang. She's still shocked at how bald you are.

[savedtheworld]

"Oh no!" He quickly shoves them back into the shelf. "I was afraid of accidentally eating animals ever since I found what's in marshmallows. But I thought fruit snacks would be safe..."

[trinkett]

"No! They're NOT safe!" Effie tries to help by pushing them even further back on the shelf, knocking some other stuff down as a result. "Barely anything is safe! You should know that by now, young man!"

[savedtheworld]

"Sorry! I'm learning!" He admires her concern though. Her very... extreme concern. "Do you know more than? About... what things are safe? I mean, some dairy is still okay for me..."

[fashionably_strong]

[It's hard to miss that bright green wig, even if the clothing isn't what Bulla's accustomed to Effie wearing. Usually, Effie isn't going out of her way to hide herself, but that's what it looks like she's doing right now.

Bulla approaches, concerned, but trying to smile in greeting.]

Hi Effie.

[trinkett]

Bulla! [Effie pales. Bulla is not someone she really wants to meet right now. She stutters, then nervously manages a clearer:] Hello!

[fashionably_strong]

How are you? I haven't seen you for a while. I was worried.

[And she was. In spite of Effie's insistence that everything would be fine, letting her leave with the Malnosso hadn't sat well with Bulla at all. And now she's all covered up like this... It makes Bulla wonder.]

[trinkett]

[There was good reason to be worried; however, Effie is determined to make everyone believe that she is FINE. NO PROBLEMS.]

I've been busy at Jack's place. [She explains this with a careless toss of her green-wigged head.] He...needs me. How are you?

[fashionably_strong]

I'm pretty good. My older brother is in Luceti now. He got here last month.

[Bulla doesn't really want to talk about the injuries she had, either. Said injuries are part of the reason she has no idea what happened to Effie. She'd been recovering from being impaled through the shoulder by cultists before. But maybe Effie will feel more comfortable talking about what happened to her if Bulla shares first. ]

I'm much better than I was in August. I was hurt by cultists from the Third Party.

[generalflirt]

[Well here's here! In the grocery store! Drinking a soda! He's lamenting his time of only T-shirts and tank tops is gone for now, because he's got a hoodie on. But it's cool because he does have weirdly too tight skinny jeans on, as he leans back against the counter, drinking this soda... mostly he's just not at the convenience store right now]

[trinkett]

[Well THERE'S an attractive young man! He looks confident, graceful -- comfortable in his skin. Effie likes being around people like that.

Also, he looks familiar. They've never met in person, but...]

Masaomi?

[generalflirt]

[He turns and... lurid makeup. Green hair. He's not sure he knows who this is by appearance, but the voice, at least, is distinct enough to --]

Oh, Effie-san!

[trinkett]

How are you? [She smiles and reaches up to touch her wig. The gesture is unconscious. She approves so much of Masaomi, even if she does feel intensely self-conscious right now.] Out and about on some special errand, no doubt?

[generalflirt]

Mmmm, I wish I could boast that, but honestly - I'm pretty much hanging out, being all cool.

[And he even takes another sip of his soda, to prove the point. He's trying to feel cool and present that he is cool to her... and ignore how done up she is]

[greenjacketed]

...It was the wig. The wig was unmistakeable. And Sharpe supposed that there might have been some other someone bounding about with bright green hair, but it was unlikely. And he'd come to know her stride, her demeanour, her height -- with or without the heels. Living only briefly with her, he'd absorbed these details -- unknowingly capturing them in his memory in the same way he might learn the curvature of landscape or the pitch of a possible battlefield. Richard Sharpe had an eye for detail, but it usually took war to bring it into view. Here, in Luceti, his perception was allowed to run rampant. So he surprised himself when he recognized Effie at a glance and across the shelf-crowded library.

He ducked behind a rack of magazines. It wouldn't do, he supposed, to reveal why he was here. Miss Sage had agreed to tutor the soldier in his letters -- leaving room for more advanced learning than he currently possessed. It wasn't something he was ready to share with anyone, least of all Effie Trinket. Perhaps he could sneak out without her seeing.

[trinkett]

"This won't do," she muttered as she wandered -- unbeknownst to her -- in Sharpe's direction. She was flipping through a book called "Rowena's Gift." The cover was shocking. "Every scene is just..."

Effie frowned. All the good, steamy stuff trailed off into ellipses.

[greenjacketed]

...Bloody hell had everyone else planned a trip to the library today, too? There was a bottleneck at the door and the tall Major had to loop back, grumbling as he left himself full in the path of the distracted capitolista. He hunkered down, raised his shoulders, and braced himself for an uncomfortable social experience.

"Miss Trinket," he rumbled.

[trinkett]

"Richard." Her heart sank. Effie crushed the book against her chest, trying to spread her palms and fingers in such a way that they might mask the title and the cover. There was no ready escape.

"You're looking..."

Tall. Green-clothed. A wee bit ornery.

"...Well. You're looking well. And everything's well?"

[greenjacketed]

Well. His brows knit. That was...alarmingly almost-civil from the woman. But he kept up his guard, fearing that she might be baiting the hook with kindness only to reel him in and give him another little verbal slap-around.

"Well 'nough, now that the village has settled back into routine. Miss Trinket."

The name he added as an afterthought.