[ action / voice ] backdated to Tuesday because I was too tired to post it then

[blessingone]

[ So, Fenimore had spent the last event as bittyblessing. That had been fine at the time, but, now that the event was over, it had its own issues.

One of them was clothes. Another was pretty much everything else she owned.

Some of her belongings had stayed in the house -- Stella had rescued and retained some outfits, for example -- but, as they lay unclaimed during the event, many eventually disappeared (Shuri and the trash can are particularly suspect in this matter). She had made a brief effort to find particularly important effects, like the locket Shirley had given her -- that disappearance had sent her into a panic until she found it again. But, for the most part, she was too busy sulking to go out into the general social sphere.

Until, well, she woke up one morning to realize that she was down to one clean outfit. One...embarrassing outfit from when she had spent an experiment trying to be a magical girl. (Top and right, respectively, but with added stockings and arm warmers. After all, it was winter at that time.)

Unable to avoid the chore any longer, she can be found in or on her way to either the clothing or item shops, attempting to pretend that there's nothing wrong with this outfit.


She can also be found partway there under a tree, in the same outfit, seemingly attempting to reason with a strange bird sitting on a high branch. It seems that, sometime between her kidnapping and her return after the event, the peepit chick she got for Christmas escaped and has been living the wild life. ] Look, I said I was sorry. Now would you -- ?

[ The bird squawks and turns its back on her. Fenimore huffs as though she suspects the bird to be intelligent enough to understand an apology and reject it, opening her journal, transmitting a request as Voice. ]

Does anyone here speak bird? [Her intended request was for someone who was good at catching birds, but, annoyed, it came out as a more sarcastic one.]

Comments

[markofthewise]

[Sokka is too proud of his heritage to ever be bitter over things like that.]

Well, the important thing is, I didn't have to find a girlfriend back home. Believe me, the availability? Not so good. [There was Katara and umm... a few little girls above seven years younger than him.]

[blessingone]

Sokka! [The tone was intended to be reproachful, but it's unexpected enough that it startles a laugh out of her.]

...Well, I'm sure your current girlfriend prefers that state of affairs. [No need for a long and varied history of women! (What makes this statement weird is that, at the time it is being made, Fenimore doesn't know that the proper term is fiancée and Yue has yet to arrive. Backtagging sure is confusing!)]

[markofthewise]

Hey, hey. I'm sure she had a guy or two before me. [He would prefer she DIDN'T, but there's no way a girl that smooth could be inexperienced, right? Besides... it's only fair. Sokka had a few crushes before Suki. And not just Yue, either.]

[blessingone]

Maybe she did. But I think she'd still prefer you limit the number of girls before her if you're not going to have the courtesy to at least pick up a little finesse from it.

[She gets through that as lighthearted teasing, but it does strike her that she ended up as one of those hypothetical girls. Or technically in-between? And she had even critiqued his finesse at the time as a tsunning method. Um. That's a little awkward.]

[markofthewise]

Well it's not like I plan to go bragging about it to her or anything.

[She practically had to drag out him bringing up the Toph thing.] Besides, it could be seen as a good thing! It means that even though I've had other girls I liked, she's the only one I wanted to marry.

[blessingone]

[When he mentions marriage, she brings both hands together and attempts to use them to hide the smile that she can't enitrely suppress. She doesn't press him on the point -- since she hasn't heard about his engagement at this point, she thinks that it's just something he's been considering and slipped out accidentally -- but, even after the initial moment passes and she slips her arms behind her back, she can't hide that she's pretty pleased by this.]

I'd hope that even you wouldn't be candid enough to brag about that! [She shakes her head.] I guess it depends on who you ask, whether it's a good thing or not.

[markofthewise]

[... he notices that. Umm, eheh, she doesn't know about the engagement, does she? He decides to not say anything about it for right now. Even if she would probably be excited to hear about it.]

I'm guessing you would say no, huh?

[blessingone]

Well.... [Hmm. For the most part, she would, but:] It depends on the person, really. Some can carry off the experienced manner -- and people who aren't who need all the help a former partner could give.

[markofthewise]

Right... so which of those two am I?

[blessingone]

You aren't even an option! [/TSUN. Except she does have a leftover opinion from the experiment, when she had been really happy he chose her over Suki and had...appreciated his experience in a certain matter.] ...But if you were, you might be able to make a case for the benefit of a previous girlfriend or two.

[markofthewise]

I'm not sure if I should take that as a good thing or not. [... let's go with good-ish.]

[blessingone]

It's neither. Not really. [Well, it's definitely closer to good.] It just means that you have a different kind of appeal, that's all.

[markofthewise]

Right. [Welp. Time to turn this around.]

So what about you? Any boyfriends from back home? [Just... leaving out the love experiments. Those don't count.]

[blessingone]

[Yeah, you probably don't want to be listed as an ex. It is awkward enough.]

...I've had a couple boyfriends. Though I don't know if one of them counts -- it really didn't last very long. [Pause. Is it long enough after Valentines to make this kind of joke? ...Why not.] Why, are you trying to see where I fall in your preference for girlfriends?

[markofthewise]

[That earns her a flat look.]

... no. I wanted to see if you were the type that benefited from prior relationships or were 'just naturally gifted'. [Or however it was she put it before. Thinking of Fenimore as an 'ex' means including Toph in there and... no.]

[blessingone]

...So, you think I'm gifted, huh?

[THERE IS NO DOKI HERE, I AM UNAFFECTED BY THE FEBRUARY EXPERIMENT. Except there is a small amount of it. Just a little. Not that she would admit it to herself, and she's pretty good at hiding that. Her tone is casual and teasing, and, even if she's not looking at him, she's trying to make it seem that she's not looking because it doesn't matter at all. The only slip-up is the slight hesitation before she spoke.]

[markofthewise]

[Sadly Sokka's mind is nowhere near that train of thought, so it doesn't much register for him that there's any noteworthy hesitation there.]

Huh? Uh, I guess, a little. I wouldn't really know.

[blessingone]

[That is fine. That is more than fine. She really would prefer no one ever notices. Not that there's anything to notice.

...The noncommital answer does kind of sting a little. But she thankfully has a little control over her tsun and thus can contain it to a huff before switching over to a clearly mock-offended tone instead.]

After all the advice I've given you, this is what I get. [Not that she's really given him that much advice.]