teleios | {OPEN} ♔ they call her the black crow

( september 1st ; outside the temple )

It's the first, and yet another month beginning with the confusion and alarm of those kidnapped and brought to be judged.

Despite the sun being rather unforgiving in its heat, with no nights to cool the ground and the air, Anne is dressed head to toe in black; a state of mourning for those brought here and forced away from lives they once knew. She has few jewels owned here, so she herself has seen to the gown with ornate embroidery of silver thread, especially along the belled sleeves and the breast of the bodice. Her hair is gathered up in a coif, wrapped beneath a french hood. Other than her rings, the only jewelry she wears today is her silver crucifix pendant.

But even with the dress of mourning, the young woman's smile is as bright and inviting as the sun, as she remains near a large table set up and arranged just outside the temple, beside the bottom of the steps.

With help from those in the kitchen and others with kind hearts, the table has been brought out and covered with inviting things, such as food and drink. There is a tray holding biscuits and fruit jam, another tray with fruit pies, and yet another with smaller mincemeat pies. At the other end there are a couple silver coffeepots with an arrangement of condiments beside: sugar, honey, milk (before it curdles), chocolate shavings, and ginger shavings. There is also a pitcher of ale, since it's a proper daytime drink, and water beside that.

There isn't only food and drink on this table, but also a pile of First-Aid Kits put together by Anne and Beverly Crusher and handed to anyone who wants them; something Anne had learned to do in Exsilium. Truthfully, this welcoming table is not her idea, but also one brought from her former life. It's the only way she feels she can contribute just now.

Strangest yet is beside the First-Aid Kits, there rests an open Bible written in Latin. Perfectly normal presentation, right? Well, it is to her Reformist mind. She would have it in English if she could.

She strives to greet any who might come down the temple steps this day, to show them that this is all free and welcome to them. If there should be any penalty for the abuse of supplies and food, it should be on Anne Boleyn's head. The Bible is the only thing to personally belong to her.

[ ooc; OPEN and backdated to the arrivals on the first! Anne would have been vocal about requesting help for moving the table and setting everything up, so feel free to handwave that your character helped if you like. I just didn't want to spam the Arrival Log with a top-level. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Johanna and food are like a moth and flame. On a day like today, she figures it's for the newbies and she's clearly not new, so she's holding back from taking any, but damn. It smells delicious, and she knows from this woman's stint in the kitchens (and her own period of only one meal a day) that it tastes justs as good too.

"Where were you when I got here? This looks amazing," she says. Shame Peeta had gotten here the same month as her too, considering the baking he hands out to new arrivals.

Moving down the table to the first aid kits, she raises an eyebrow and picks one up to examine. "What are these?"

Smiling towards Johanna, Anne must of course bow her head in humility at such a compliment. She can't take credit for all the food, though, having had help on some things like the fruit pies. She doesn't have her signature tarts out today, keeping those for the breakfast crowd usually.

Moving to the young woman's side, Anne reaches for one of the kits and opens it up to show her. There's just about a little of everything that might be recognized by...anyone not from Anne's time. It's a wonder she herself knows how to use many of these things.

"Medical supplies, so as you may not be caught to unawares in times of trouble. I can teach you to use what you may not know, if it pleases you."

"Smart," Johanna murmurs, glancing over. Strange things happen often enough around here that they probably would be useful - even Johanna's helped frail, recently unconscious, or just drunk people back home.

She opens the kit already in her hand. She'd figured out a little first aid in the arena, and tried to learn more after her first Games, but she doesn't know as much as she'd like. It's a tempting offer.

Still, she'd better check first: "Are they just for the newbies?"

She's quick to shake her head, waving an arm to gesture the whole table before motioning to Johanna. 'Newbie' is such a strange word, but she can understand it in context.

"God's breath, no! Please help yourself, to all manner of nourishment. A woman should be allowed to protect herself with proper cause here, as much as they speak of equality in this realm."

The food too? Johanna glances over it again, trying to decide what to eat first, as she tucks the first aid kit under her arm.

"Great, thanks," she says. But something else the woman had said had caught her attention, besides the food: "Women aren't so equal where you're from?" She can't say she's heard much talking about gender equality here.

Anne isn't so sure she can speak freely enough to say 'where I'm from', because...it really is God's law, which is universal. Of course, despite Anne's love for the Good Book, she isn't a brainless follower latching onto any truth she can find. She knows very well that women are just as capable, if not moreso, than a man when it comes to many things.

But she also knows that at any day, at any time, someone from her time can show up. And anything Anne has ever said could be used against her.

Her smile is friendly and gentle, choosing her words diplomatically. "Women have their roles and responsibilities, as do the men, throughout Christendom. And what is your role?"

'Christendom' gets an eyebrow raised in confusion, but the question makes her shrug. "I work in construction, with Shirtless Hunks Building Stuff," Johanna offers. Beyond that, and at home, she's not really sure. Does trying to train a fellow victor count as a role? Does playing nicely in the hopes of making allies count?

"I do pretty much the same stuff as the guys, though," she adds, figuring her lack of direction in life is a pretty poor first impression.

Shirtless? She hopes that's merely a misnomer, because the prospect of people working shirtless completely boggles her, but then the word 'hunks' might also be lost on her. Still, it might not matter, as proudly as this one proclaims she's one of the boys. Words of a pauper, she'd originally say, but women seem proud of it in other times.

"Do you enjoy such work? I could not suffer such heat at all hours. The sun does not seem to forgive in this realm. All the more reason to be securely stocked with medical supplies."

Johanna nods to the question of whether she enjoys construction work, then, as the woman goes on, she pats the first aid kit she's claimed. In this world, it's hard to tell whether she's just very safety conscious, a pampered wuss like the Capitol cowards who cringed at a hint of inclement weather, or simply from somewhere cold.

"Would've been easier at home," she agrees. "But I always thought I'd end up in either construction or timber, and I'd rather have the sun on my face than have no sun at all. Winter here's awful: Forget forgiveness; the sun just goes away." It's rather like being in 13 again.

This girl really is not from anywhere Anne can name. Even the peasants don't expect the girls to undertake such work, not in a way that would have her expecting to grow up to do so. Of course, Anne has had many brushed with feminism since leaving her time, but there are so many different aspects, she can still be surprised or confused.

Perhaps the most confusing thing of all is that there are men who allow it. It isn't a woman's drive that limits her.

Of course, the mention of the cruel winter is a good distraction, so that Anne doesn't over-dissect her embarrassingly poor way of life. But then how can she critique one who wants to be in the sun all the time, as even that is preferable to what's not being suggested.

"Goes away?"

She looks fairly horrified, but not as surprised as she might be.

"Say this is not to be... Already I have known such frigid winters. I had hoped the experience here to differ, with no war to constantly cloud the skies."

"Sorry for the bad news," Johanna says, with a touch of sympathy. "The temple's heated, but it's too dark and cold to go outside." As boring as the Arena had gotten, at least they'd seen the outdoors there.

This talk of Teleios's winter is almost enough to make her feel cold, and she moves for the coffee, pouring herself a cup and adding a generous amount of chocolate and ginger.

"Is that what home's like for you?" she adds, a little more seriously now. With all she heard in 13 of the air assaults throughout Panem, she expects life in the Districts similarly had hovercraft in the sky instead of sunshine. "Wars and gray skies..."

"England? No. It is prone to being fickle in mood wherein the clouds tease, but it is nothing of which you speak, or that I recall. No, I think of Exsilium, a force of reckoning on par with Teleios, mayhap."

Lips pursing, Anne stops rearranging things so that she can give this one her full attention. That doesn't mean she feels like disclosing all, but there's no harm in sharing some. It's what gets them to open up about their own experiences, most of the time.

"Where I learned to use those medical packages. They used time as a defense, and a weapon."

{OPEN} ♔ they call her the black crow

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