Guess who's back!

[mannersmatter]

Who| De and/or Effie and/or Lottie and/or Katniss and/or other NPCS AND YOU.
What| Them around the city, doing things, meeting people.
Where| Mainly the Training Center, but any setting is good!
When| Around this week.
Warnings/Notes|

I made a thread with a tag for each character, so just tag in there! if you'd like any of my other NPCs besides Katniss, just PM or private plurk me so we can hash it out real quick.

Let me know if I can add anything, and I am down for minor assumptions/handwaving some things!

Comments

totally!

[mannersmatter]

And from the sour expression that crossed her face, it was clear she had.

"Well you might as well, it's not like any other basic manners are being followed around here."

She did have sympathy for them, having this place be home for long term. But they didn't all have to lounge about so.

[69problems]

At least his expression was properly guilty. He wasn't terribly fond of Effie and he certainly disliked what she stood for and enabled, but he thought of her sort of like a blueblood. Too much of a highblood to understand what she was doing was abhorrent, too low on the pecking order to question things without danger if she did.

"I've been trying. It's just hard to keep all your human domicile customs straight." And it was just more comfortable, but he had a feeling that wouldn't be taken as much of an excuse.

"Maybe you could write me a list? So I could keep the rules right there while I learn them."

[mannersmatter]

She sighed.

A list wasn't a terrible idea, but these...this species...

Well, they made the Tributes from the Districts look positively high class.

"I could do that. Which areas are you having issues with most?"

She sank down next to him, opening a screen on her tablet to take notes.

[69problems]

He looks thoughtful. He can't list them all, it would just get obnoxious, but the most pressing ones he should probably get confirmation on.

"Remembering what I can and can't sit on, and how I'm allowed to sit on it depending on what it is. What food I'm allowed to eat with my hands and what food I'm not. And where is an acceptable place to eat, since there's apparently rules about that too." He pauses to make sure he's not missed anything, and then his expression clears. "I think that's a good start? Interpersonal things I can intuit a lot more easily, there's a pretty clear hierarchy here."

[mannersmatter]

She made a note very quickly of each one, before turning her attention back away from the tablet and back to him. Her lips pressed together as she tried to find the most succinct way to answer all of those.

"Well, anything with a seat, for one. And I suppose the floor...in certain settings. The training center, a park, perhaps, but never at a nice party, of course."

[69problems]

He nodded. He hadn't been to many parties and never for very long, but he'd got the impression that most everyone stood by default.

"And unless it's the ground, my feet aren't allowed to be on it?"

[mannersmatter]

"Or if that's what it's made for. For example..."

She walked over to one of the ottoman's, nudging it towards Signless with her heeled foot.

"You can put your feet on this. Even bare."

[69problems]

"You have seats specifically for your feet," he said, not incredulous so much as just terribly amused. Now that was luxury. That was decadence!

Experimentally, he set his bare feet up on the ottoman. It was, admittedly, really comfortable.

"Amazing. I'll remember these. Do they have a particular name?"

[mannersmatter]

"That is an ottoman. They usually have storage inside as well, but I don't think these particular ones do."

She hadn't checked. But she doubted hidden compartments abounded in the suites.

"Something have foot rests as well. But tables are not foot rests."

[69problems]

"Right. Tables are only for food. And the floor is not for eating on?"

He'd been eating on the floor of his room the first time he met Peeta, and the young man had given him the strangest look, like eating in a blanket nest on the floor was definitely not something you were supposed to do.

[mannersmatter]

"That's right." She said, with a genuine smile. She was always pleased when her lessons seemed to catch. And although Signless was old enough he should know these things, he really wasn't unlike the children from 12 in that manner.

In fact, some of them were far worse.

"I suppose in some casual settings...but don't complicated yourself with that. Just stick with tables."

[69problems]

"It's probably best if we stick to basics, for now," he agreed. "Things that I'm likely to have to deal with. Party etiquette, maybe? There's always food at those, but it's meant to be shared by everyone so I'm never sure how much is appropriate to take."

That and he just hadn't been to many parties, yet.

[mannersmatter]

Oh, this Effie could do. This was Effie's territory, and she settled on the couch next to him, clearly ready to tackle this issue with relish.

"Well, if there are plates, never take more than comfortably fits on your plate. Not over loaded, not hanging of. It should never look like a messy mountain of food. There is always more to come back to."

She held her hands up, apparently to indicate the proper level of food piled on a plate.

"If there are no plates, let the food follow the flow of the conversation. Follow the lead of others. And always error on less. Less is more."