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Tweak says, "Bill is Almighty"

Effie Trinket (The Hunger Games) (baubled) wrote in snapthread,
@ 2019-03-23 22:06:00

Entry tags:

effie trinket

Who: Effie and Carol
What: Effie's 'arrival'/humbling/rescue
When: Sunday evening
Where: A quiet street in the Village
Rating: Moderate
Warnings: Mentions of abuse/torture, broken bones and other injuries
Status: Incomplete

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. On day one the shuddering of her breath as she exhaled had privately startled Effie, and given some sort of shape and feeling to what exactly it was she was experiencing. By day twenty it was normal, and by day fifty-nine she struggled to remember a time when air had left her lungs smoothly. It was difficult to remember much of anything by then, really, and even if she could have, would it have made anything easier? Probably not. The blonde was lying with one cheek pressed against the floor, her bruised leg stretched out as straight as she could manage. The pads of her fingertips sat lightly against the cold linoleum floor. Effie had tried to perfect the act of clearing her mind over the past several weeks. It made the time go faster, and made it easier to find small spaces of time in which she could sleep. The nightmares were starting not to bother her as much as they had, once, and some days she passed from waking to sleeping and back again with hardly a change in her line of thinking.

Except. Suddenly her brows furrowed above closed eyes. The light beyond them seemed different somehow. The floor felt more rough, and there was warmth that felt almost like...sunlight? Effie clenched the fingers on her right hand and found that they dragged against what felt like concrete. Something caught beneath her fingernail. Blinking took energy she hardly thought she had, and there it was. She'd been right. The sun was shining down on her pale skin, her crumpled form had been moved to...where? A street? The woman swallowed thickly and allowed her vision to clear. There were trees in the distance, buildings lining the street, and she swore she could hear birds for the first time in months. "You're hallucinating," she said softly to herself, tilting her head a little to take another look around. No one else was there.

She put her head back down and allowed herself to drift again.

Wake up. The sun had moved to look her in the eye, and she squinted against it, bringing a stiff hand up to shield her face. Effie was startled and confused to find herself still on that street. Her heartbeat quickened. The four white walls she had come to know were not surrounding her. No one had slid in a tray of food all day. With a sudden burst of adrenaline she pushed herself up with her arms, trying hard not to move her leg, and looked around as fireworks went off behind her eyes. The blood was rushing from her head, and she pressed a thumb to either temple and rubbed in slow circles. There was no one in sight.

"Hello?" Effie called, voice cracking from disuse. She thought she yelled, anyway. It was getting harder and harder to hear herself lately, "Is anyone there?" A tired tear tracked its way down her cheek. At least in her cell she had known where she was. Who knew what cruel trick the Capitol was playing on her now.

"Hello?!"

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baubled
2019-03-24 10:41 pm UTC (link)

Hello, just relax. Words said underwater would have been clearer, easier for Effie to make out. There was a horrid ringing in her left ear that blurred every single sound which approached her, and in her right ear there was nothing at all. It had gone in and out a little, over the past few days, only to seem to resolve itself in silence. The rest of it she couldn't make out quickly enough to respond to in any sort of helpful way. It was enough that someone had come. Anyone. Even if they were someone Effie had never seen before.

At least she was a woman. Effie tried hard to focus on the way the blonde was forming her words, trying to make out anything helpful without giving away just what a horrible position she was actually in. Alone, on a strange street. Bleeding, and aching, and unable to do much of anything to help herself. It was horrifying, but something in her brain wouldn't allow her to process it fully just yet. She could have a break down about the mess of her hair and her state of dress later. For now, safety was the only thing on her list.

Stand? It was a familiar word for her to read on the mouth of another, though generally it was being screamed by a red-faced guard. Effie nodded, but knew full well what her current version of standing looked like. She had tried to splint her own leg a couple of weeks back with wooden spoons and fabric from the slip she was wearing, but it was no good. Effie rolled onto her back, wincing, and pushed herself to a sitting position. At least in her cell there had been walls to brace herself against, but she did her best to maneuver her leg (crying out much more loudly than she was aware of) so that she could drag it upward as she pushed herself up with the other. Without thinking she reached for Carol, laying her weight onto her forearm to avoid collapsing again.

No one could say she wasn't determined to do her damnedest, regardless of circumstance. "My name is Effie Trinket," she said, a little too loudly, "You are?"

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cpt_marvel
2019-03-24 10:51 pm UTC (link)

The poor woman looked even more confused than others did when they first arrived. She'd seen things like this before. Whoever she was, she'd been through hell and was probably traumatized by something. Those questions could be saved for later, though. As the newcomer started to try to stand, Carol quickly reached around to help her, bracing the other woman as she tried to lift herself up. Carol rose with her so that the woman would have something or to lean on, her eyes moving to the crooked splint and frowning.

She needed medical attention badly.

The loud voice. It was something else Carol had experienced before. Back when she was training to be a pilot, they'd exposed the recruits to all sorts of situations with loud noises and sudden light with the objective being to prepare pilots for any conditions they might face, to be prepared to go blind or deaf in the air. This woman was deaf, or at least partially. "Carol." She spoke louder and clearer and nodded to Effie's leg. "You need a doctor. Can I carry you?"

Carol didn't want to surprise someone with possible PTSD. Even if the woman looked frail, she really didn't feel like getting punched while trying to do a good deed today.

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baubled
2019-03-26 09:41 pm UTC (link)

There was ice and fire in Effie's leg from putting any amount of weight on it, and she found herself leaning more heavily on Carol than she was entirely comfortable with. After having cried so many tears over the past few months she was surprised to find more pricking at the corners of her eyes - pain was a funny thing. It wasn't that long ago that she had had absolutely no idea what it was like to be deprived of everything and now...

One of her arms slung around Carol's shoulders, Effie nodded against her better judgment. Nothing was more humiliating than not even being able to take care of ones self. Needing to be carried - well - if President Snow could see her now he would be laughing, that was certain. It was one thing to lock a woman in a room and subject her to torture, it was another entirely to knock her out and leave her in the middle of a place she had never been before. It was the only thing her brain could come up with. There was nothing familiar about the surrounding area, and it felt like a cruel trick, to be left in such a seemingly quiet place. There were flowers everywhere, but no sign of roses, and the cool breeze that brushed over her would have been enough to relax her under normal circumstances.

But life was anything but normal these days.

"Yes," Effie murmured, a sad but grateful smile crossing her lips, "That would be wonderful, thank you." No use forgetting her manners, even if she wasn't entirely sure she could trust this Carol. "Which District is this?"

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cpt_marvel
2019-03-26 11:16 pm UTC (link)

Nodding, Carol easily scooped the girl up without any difficulty and started carrying her in the direction of the medical office. Or what served as a medical office. It was really strange because they still didn't have a doctor (well, there were two people calling themselves doctors who didn't handle health issues, and one person calling herself a warden or a mage that did). Either way, Carol was trained for first aid, but it would be better to have a more experienced person look at the leg and examine this newcomer for any other injuries.

"District? I don't know. I don't think it is any district, actually." The truth is they hadn't even settled on a proper name. Carol frowned. "Where were you before this?"

She tried to talk loud enough for Effie to hear, but not so loud that she was screaming at her.

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