My fair faire

[sunflowerfields]

Who: Erryone
When: Day 170, right before leaving for Heartstone Manor
Where: The cookhouse
What: dinner and a show A crash course in table etiquette, and/or your chance to get your bad behavior out of your system.
Warnings: Watch your damn language.



With the threat of behave or die hanging over their heads, Hinawa is feeling very nervous. She's only tangentially familiar with the rules and regulations of formal dining and mingling, having only experienced it for the first time during the Celebration, and for the most part she's just a simple country gal. The last thing she wants is to get everyone in trouble because she used the wrong fork, and she can't help but feel like she's not the only one, so she comes up with a plan!

She only hopes it'll be enough.

[This is a mingle-ish! Jump on in!]

Comments

[fortuneglass]

"Not really," she admits, frowning. "....Everything's provided...for once, all I have to focus on is.." Ulp.

"....T...talking..." She looks a bit nervous about that, suffice to say. Carly coughs though, and moves on. "A-Anyway! That said, we need to make sure you know how to take it off, and put it on! Just in case! So, I have some old dresses from the King's Court that might work for that..."

[amusicaladventure]

"Oh, well. Okay then!"

Ash grabbed the bottom of her shirt and started to pull it off. Luckily for Carly's poor innocent eyes, she was wearing a bra, but still...

[insidescoop]

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!!!!!" WAAAAAAAAAAAIT "W-W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!"

[amusicaladventure]

Ash paused, her eyes just visible over the lower hem of her shirt. "You weren't gonna put a dress on me over my normal everyday clothes, were you? Because I'm pretty sure that isn't gonna work, Cee."

[insidescoop]

"I wasn't going to put one on at all...!!" She yelps. "This isn't stuff we can bring with us! I was just going to demonstrate all the parts so that everyone would know how to put whatever is provided on...these might not even match what we get, I'm really working with bare threads here..!"

[amusicaladventure]

"Whoa, hold up." Ash dropped her arms slightly, if not her shirt, regarding Carly with skepticism. "You think you can just show people how to put on a fancy-ass dress and they'll get it right when the time comes? Just from a demonstration?"

[fortuneglass]

"No." Well she's honest at least.

"...But we probably...won't be dressing ourselves as it is. This is so that we know what's what, and it's a little easier to at least get started, or take things off..! But we don't have time for that kind of demonstration! It takes hours to get some of these right..!"

[amusicaladventure]

"What, and we're low on time? It's not happening in like two hours from now! Besides, I need practice."

Ash delivered this all so straightforwardly even SHE wasn't sure if she was serious or just teasing Carly.

"Who else could I even turn to?"

[insidescoop]

"I...." Honestly this just makes her even more anxious at this point. Carly stammers, her hands half in front of her, words caught in her throat. "I... ...I don't even know if these are the right dresses though..!" she quietly squeaks, trembling. "Everything I think that could be relevant...everything that IS, I don't know if it would be and...and I..."

She's scared. Perhaps more scared than she normally would be, with the responsibilities on her shoulder.

[amusicaladventure]

Ash shifted gears so abruptly she practically became a different person -- flirty, coquettish Ash certainly moved and held herself in entirely different ways than empathetic helpful Ash. Letting her shirt tumble back down over her, she stepped over to her friend to tug her into a hug.

"It'll be okay."

[fortuneglass]

Carly shakes, and after a few moments returns the hug half on impulse and instinct, breaking down in the other's arms. "I don't know...why they thought I could do this, I...I can do the work, but the important parts-the talking, th...the representing, I know we don't normally do it like this but...snfff...fkhh.."

[amusicaladventure]

"Because you CAN do it, Carly. You're a lot stronger than you ever acknowledge." Ash wasn't just saying that, either. For all that Carly could freak out and flip out so easily, Ash knew she had a far deeper core of strength than she showed.

[fortuneglass]

She doesn't answer Ashleigh immediately. It takes some time to do so in fact, and her voice is, even then, still muffled. "....It doesn't feel like I am," she says softly.

[amusicaladventure]

"Yeah, but look at everything you've done. Look at everything you've been through. You may not have felt strong, but the fact is, no one strong couldn't have managed to do everything you've done." And remain relatively sane, she didn't add, but... well, look at some of the people who'd been through it all.

[insidescoop]

"I haven't done much at all though..! I made a shield in Portland, but that was still just a shield, and if the Ringmaster hadn't appeared, or if we hadn't cut the barrier, I...." Well.

There's no telling what would have happened, really.

"...It doesn't feel...like I should be someone to be relied on...."

[amusicaladventure]

"Hey, in Portland all I did was screw up and get immediately knocked out, so I don't know what you're complaining about." Ash's annoyance was aimed entirely at herself. "You don't need to do everything and solve everything all by yourself to be strong."

[insidescoop]

"....It'd be nice to be strong at all, I think though."

She seems to miss an obvious part about herself, just saying that...

[amusicaladventure]

"What'd I just say, Cee?" Ash released Carly just enough to give her a little shake. "You are strong. You just don't see it because you're looking for the wrong kind of strength."

[fortuneglass]

"Then how am I supposed to find the right kind? How do I do that?"

[amusicaladventure]

"You look for it, and you see it. I can see it. If you don't know where to look... then listen to where I'm telling you to go."

She gave Carly's shoulders a reassuring squeeze.

[fortuneglass]

It's quite reassuring-far more reassuring than most have been, aside from, go figure, Strange. Carly takes a shuddering breath, but no words can come out.

Instead she just finds herself pulling the other close into a hug, clinging as she breaks. They aren't even there, and it feels as though the world is preparing to crumble beneath their feet, no sign of what will happen when it finally does-

...But somehow having someone else telling her she can handle it helps, even if she can't feel that strong right now.

[amusicaladventure]

If Ash was good for one thing, it was hugs. She was tall, strong, and soft; her hugs could practically smother in comfort, when she was putting her all into them.

"We've been through worse, too. This won't be Portland. Or Hell. And you got through all of those too."

this seems a good end,,,sob,,,

[fortuneglass]

Carly just shudders. Shudders, and holds the other, breathing in deep. "....I just hope you're right," she says quietly, her words barely a whisper.

"I hope you're right."