Fitting

Korisse had told Hettie she would try and stop by some afternoon that week to see how the sewing was going, after they'd talked more about designs and fabrics for a bit, and had needed a break from the studio before she fired one of her actors, so it seemed like a good time. She'd worn a simple blouse and skirt, which she hoped would make any necessary changing easier, but she had been playing with some of the hairstyles she and Lealia had worked out. She'd also been experimenting a little bit with just a touch of makeup on a more regular basis - she liked the artistry, but found the changes to her appearance a little disconcerting if it was too dramatic.

She'd managed to stop by the little bakery by her studio n the way and pick up some honey pastries. Hettie's nice always seemed to have baked something when she stopped by, but she hoped it would be a welcome gesture in any case. Brushing back one of her ringlettes, she knocked on the door.

Hettie fairly jumped at the sound of the knock... She'd been expecting Korisse, of course, but this business with Nycki had her feeling on edge. She pushed back from her sewing table, and elbowed aside a rack of mockups, stepping over a stack of sketches. The increased chaos in the sewing room was probably also related.

She opened the door to see her friend waiting there with a white box that looked tantalizingly like it came from a bakery. Hettie's stomach grumbled a little, and she realized she hadn't eaten since Den had left earlier. She grinned widely. "C'mon in, hon! Love the hair."

"Oh! Thank you..." Korisse smile a little. "It was Lealia's idea. It takes a little more time than I'm used to, but Marie has me up pretty early in the mornings anyway." She offered Hettie the box. "I stopped in and picked up a few little snacks on my way over, I hope that's all right."

"More 'n alright... Totally copacetic. I'm starvin'." She ushered her friend inside, and helped her out of her coat.

Korisse relinquished her coat and stepped inside, eyeing the chaos of the living room. It seemed ot have expanded beyond its usual confines, and she blinked. Of course Hettie probably knew where absolutely everything she needed was in the various piles. Her own studio could be just as bad or worse when she was in the middle of a big project. "It looks like you've been busy!"

"Hah! You could say that, I suppose! Got a lot goin' on up here-" she tapped her temple, "- all o'this helps me get it off my mind. Well, more or less. Careful you don't trip!"

Korisse nodded sympathetically. "Yes, I know how that goes." She stepped carefully around the piles. "Did you want to sit for a bit, open those pastries, or go right to it? I'm not in any rush - I sent my actors home for the day," she added with a slight frown.

"I'm famished, hon; let's crack into that box." Hettie swept up a pile of swatches from the settee and dropped semi-gracefully down. "Trouble at the ranch, huh?"

"Oh nothing too terrible..." Korisse said, lowering herself to perch as well, easing the twine back away from the box to reveal the deliciousness inside and opening it to offer Hettie first pickings. "It's just difficult, sometimes, to make them think a little bit about the scene, the characters.... you know. I understand that they just want to be told what to do, but I think there needs to be a little more effort than just 'stand here, say the line, smile'. If I ask you to think about *why* Elira is smiling, I would like a better answer than 'it's in the script'!" Korisse shook her head. "Anyway. Tomorrow will go better, I hope."

Hettie gladly picked up a pastry and took a big bite. "Sure it will. You'll whip 'em into shape." she made a cracking motion with her free hand.

Korisse gave a shy but amused smile, looking for a relatively safe place to set down the box after picking out a snack for herself. "Well, I hope so. What's been on your mind?"

"Too much, honey, too much..." She sighed. "I don't wanna dump on you if you've got too much on your plate already."

Korisse frowned in concern. "No, Hettie, of course not - is everything alright?" The chaos of the living room took on a new, somewhat more concerning implication.

"Well..." Hettie hesitated, wondering where to begin and exactly how much to tell her friend. Best start at the beginning, she supposed. "Remember how I told you my brother showed up on shore leave a bit back?"

Korisse nodded. "Yes - I'm still sorry I didn't get a chance to stop by and meet him."

"I dunno if I mentioned, but he brought a friend, y'know, another bell bottom. They was tight like. Anyhow, this bird goes out to some gin joint in the Shambles one night. Don't know what was in his head... He didn't come back the next mornin'. Come to find he got shanked by some hood. Poor Serge-Yves ended up fishin' him out of the river." Hettie looked grim, but it did feel good to start unloading some of this.

"Oh dear! That's awful..." Sometimes Hettie's stories reminded her that they came from very different worlds, and she sensed that this was going to be one of those things - and that there was more to it. But loss was something she understood very well. "I'm so sorry, that must have been terrible, if they were close..."

"Yeah... I was there with 'im. It weren't pretty. I'm tryin' to run down a couple leads for 'im, since he had to ship back out again, poor darlin'. You know the cops don't give a toss what happens in the Shambles."

Korisse nodded. No wonder she had a lot on her mind. "Have you found anything?"

"Couple maybes, like I said..." She waved her pastry-free hand distractedly. "But when we was down by the river-" she hesitated for a breath, her dark eyes stormy. "I saw Nycki there."

"Oh." Korisse's eyes went even wider with concern, leaning forward. "Do you think...she was involved?"

"Naw." Hettie shook her head. "Not direct-like. She wouldn'ta hung around. Think she was there to check it out though. I dunno. She sure looked spooked when she saw me." She brushed a few stray crumbs from her skirt. "Took off like a pig with its ass on fire."

The colourful colloquialism and the mental image it provided has her half smiling for a brief moment, but she was still more concerned than anything else. "Is that...something else you're chasing?"

Hettie set her lips in a grim line. "I just... can't get it out of my head, you feel? Like, seein' her brought it all back to the top. I'm all messed up, Korisse." She rubbed her temple as her brows furrowed into a deep frown. "I found out some other things too. I dunno what I'm gonna do." She knew her friend wasn't going to like a lot of the things she had in mind.

"What kinds of other things?  What.."  She realized that maybe Hettie might not want to tell her, or that maybe there were things she'd be better off knowing, but she was going to worry regardless.  Even when she'd first got out, and they'd managed to really reconnect, Hettie hadn't seemed this thrown off.   Korisse bit her lip, not knowing how to say what she was thinking and feeling a little overwhelmed with the talk of the poor sailor's murder on top of everything else.   tentatively, she set her hand on Hettie's shoulder. "Hettie...please... be  careful?"