effie yaxley (euphemia) wrote in cultureic, @ 2016-05-07 19:06:00 |
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“Well,” Effie said, only just managing not to wrinkle her nose at Elsie’s outstretched fingers, “you were right about your manicure.” Effie was currently standing by Elsie’s door, having automatically reached for her friend’s wrist the second she’d walked in to survey the damage. There was definitely damage, too. So much so that she couldn’t actually bring herself to touch Elsie’s hand and had her own fingers hovering cautiously underneath. She had no doubt they were attached, but they still looked like they might fall off yet. And she couldn’t quite shake the mental image of Elsie gathering up her fingers. Frowning down at her hand, Elsie resisted the urge to move it away so Effie wouldn't be subjected to the horror of looking at it any longer. Effie may have been able to conceal her disgust but Else knew how it looked. “It’s not that bad,” she said, lifting her gaze to her friend’s face to watch for any change in her expression. “It’ll be fine in a few days.” “But the reunion tonight,” Effie said, tilting her head thoughtfully. “And the wedding tomorrow. The timing is just…” She shook her head. They were going to need more than long sleeves to hide this. But how did she break that to Elsie gently? “Inconvenient.” She reached for Elsie’s wrist again to lift her hand up to get a peek at her palm, but then she immediately started to lower it. “It'shorribly inconvenient,” Elsie sad, her complaint tapering off in a whine as she slumped her shoulders. She let out a sigh and finally drew her hand back to her side. She couldn't miss everything because of some stupid vigilante. But she couldn't risk her cover either and there was no good reason for a reporter to have such a peculiar injury. “I can still go, though. I just can't let anyone see it. Once they're done running away screaming, they might ask questions.” “They won’t run away screaming,” Effie pointed out, lips quirking into an amused half-smile. Her eyes flicked to Elsie’s hand, though, and she fought a shudder of revulsion. She echoed Elsie instead. “It’s not that bad.” It was. “Maybe we could bring muffs back into style.” She flashed Elsie a wide, teasing smile. Lifting an eyebrow, Elsie considered her friend with a skeptical look. “A muff? in May? At a pub?” She knew Effie was only teasing but Elsie needed real a real solution — one that didn't require her being a shut-in for the weekend. “Maybe I can fix it up with glamours. A bit of magic and no one will notice a thing!” Again, Effie managed to not wrinkle her nose, but the thought of Elsie’s fingers out in the open grossed her out. “I don’t think…” she said slowly, trailing off. She tilted her head thoughtfully again, staring down at Elsie’s hand. And then, suddenly, she straightened, snapping her fingers and pointing at Elsie with her other hand. “Gloves!” “Really?” Looking down at the arm she had cradled against her chest, Elsie wasn't as convinced they'd landed on the answer to all her problems yet. “That won't just make it more noticeable?” “Should they really be,” Effie started to ask carefully, a bit like she was navigating a patch of landmines, “out?” And then quickly, “When they’re still healing, I mean.” She pursed her lips at Elsie’s hand, trying to visualize how strange Elsie would look in gloves compared to everyone else who surely would not be wearing gloves. “We can come up with a story.” It was all Elsie could do to keep herself from hiding her hand behind her back — under her shirt — anywhere at all, so long as it’d stop Effie from looking at it with that expression on her face. She settled for covering it with her other hand and relented to the idea she’d need something better than long sleeves. If everyone looked at her like that all weekend, she’d either want to disappear into thin air or punch someone in the face. “What kind of story, exactly?” Elsie glanced at the bag by Effie’s side. “You messed up my manicure and now I have to hide my hands?” Effie’s eyes had drifted back up to Elsie’s face when she’d covered her hand with her other and she knew she wasn’t doing a very good job of navigating that patch of landmines. It was gross, though. And going on her list of reasons why she’d make an abysmal Death Eater, right under all the other ways in which she was too pretty for the job. “Well,” Effie said, not really wanting to be the public reason behind Elsie’s gloves, but feeling badly enough that she’d only drag her feet a bit. “That might be a little unbelievable, you know, but maybe everyone will have pre-gamed enough to buy it.” “I’ll just say they’re the latest fashion, very useful,” Elsie said, waving Effie’s concerns away before she remembered her hand. She gave in, finally, and folded her arms behind her back. “It’s the hottest new trend for spring.” “Exactly,” Effie agreed. She closed the space between them to link arms with Elsie, leading her towards her room. “What look do you suppose we’re going for? Regal satin or femme fatale?” “Femme fatale, obviously,” Elsie said, wrinkling her nose at the thought of the alternative as they passed through the rest of the flat. “We’re going to a pub, not a coronation.” “You wouldn’t want to be crowned queen of ‘06, Winks?” Effie teased, bumping hips with Elsie before they turned to walk through her bedroom door. She dropped her bag on Elsie’s bed and shrugged out of her coat so she could poke through her friend’s closet. Over her shoulder, she smirked and added, “You’ll make a hot femme fatale, though.” For a beat too long, Elsie couldn’t think of a thing to say that she wouldn’t choke on as it made its way out of her mouth. Instead, she replied with a laugh as she collapsed onto the end of her bed. “Let’s hope so,” she said finally. “Cause right now I’m just the queen of the infirmary.” “Oh, now,” Effie tutted as she thumbed through Elsie’s closet. “Queen of my heart, too!” She didn’t wait for Elsie to say anything more before she was tugging two hangers out and holding up two dresses for Elsie to see. “What do you think? We’ll charm the blue one black.” Propping herself up on her elbows, Elsie gave the two dresses a passing glance before inclining her head toward the one on the left. “That’s the one. I’ve got boots to match.” A grin wavered across her lips. “I bet Daffy’s got a studded collar I could borrow to finish the look.” “Nice,” Effie said appreciatively and then stepped forward to drape the one on the left over Elsie’s head so she could return the other to the closet. Elsie sat up straighter and rearranged the dress so her head slid through the gap between the hanger and the straps. She glanced down at the dress, adjusting it to lay flat against her chest. It wouldn’t have been her first choice, but it would do. As Effie returned from the closet, Elsie grinned up at her. “What are you wearing anyway? Want to go full rebel with me?” “I thought I might really make a splash and go in the nude,” Effie said, but even as she said it, she scooped up the garment bag she’d brought along with her and started to unzip it to show Elsie what was inside. “That’s gorgeous,” Elsie said once she could see it, glad for an excuse not to have to acknowledge the comment about making a splash. “You’ll be the best looking one there.” Effie smiled and tilted her head in a show of false modesty. “We both will, anyway,” she conceded after a moment, sweeping her eyes over Elsie and her dress. The dresses had distracted her from thinking too much about Elsie’s hand. Now, she held out a hand to help Elsie to her feet. “Now that that’s all sorted, let’s get dressed!” Accepting Effie’s help with her uninjured hand, Elsie got to her feet and considered herself in her bedroom mirror for a moment. When she went to duck her head back through the hanger, her arm gave a twinge of pain — enough to make her wince. “On second thought,” she said, tossing the dress into her bed. “Maybe we should have drinks first. Pain potions for me, cocktails for you.” “Sounds good to me,” Effie agreed. With the bulk of her revulsion out of her system, she had finally stumbled upon the sympathetic portion of the evening, especially after watching Elsie wince and thinking about how they were going to get a glove on her. She held her arms open for a beat, long enough to give Elsie time to decline, and then pulled her into a hug. “I’m sad you’re hurt. I hope it doesn’t hurt too long.” “I’ll be fine, as long as I can get someone back for it,” Elsie mumbled, holding her arm off to the side as her other wound around Effie’s waist. She took a deep breath before pulling back, a wry grin slipping over her features. “Anyway, we’ve a reunion to watch Lo ruin.” Effie laughed and linked arms with Elsie again, leading her out to the cocktails and the pain potions to start getting ready for what she hoped would be an entertaining night. |