"J, be a dear and stand right there, please." Her voice sounds fuzzy and warm, like the worn knit sweater that O gave me as a guess-day gift, wiping over my ears in a massage that left me to its whims. That was the kind of person E was, a leader without ever trying. I remember once in a magazine she was reading aloud that there was an article about kinds of modern women and identifying what you would be considered.
I think the category she fell into was 'paramount' or 'luxury' or 'intoxicating' or something along those lines. They all fit regardless of which.
Before I know it, I'm standing under a lamp as E holds up one of her many magazines up to my body, mumbling and uncapping a pen with her pink glossed lips without getting any on the cap, scribbling something on whatever article she was scouring over. I knew better than to interrupt her during one of her deep dives. The last time I interrupted her while she was seeing if B was a summer or an autumn I found out I didn't ever want a winter funeral.
"Hm, interesting, interesting. It turns out that you're a 'forest' type, J."
"A what?"
"A 'forest' type. It means you trend towards, and look better in, darker, denser, more mature colors that bring attention to brighter accessories, like a forest canopy with minute areas of sunlight that highlight its inner beauty."
"... I still don't fully understand what you just said."
E pops her mouth at me and waggles the rolled up magazine like a baton. "It means wear more attractive accessories, silly. A pearl bracelet or necklace would highlight your excellent bone structure."
"..."
"You're not listening to a thing I'm saying, are you?"
"The last time I did you filled my room with arsenic."
"Touche, dear. Touche." E let out a giggle as she returned to an armchair she had claimed without contest, making another mark on the magazine. "So far you've been the only forest. O was an ocean, P and B were meadows, and I was an oasis."
"Please do not even attempt to elaborate. I have a question I'd like to ask you anyway."
E's usually dark brown eyes turned to a sparkling spun sugar color. "A question from the famous shutterbox J? Ask away, ask away!"
"If you could have an actual name, what would it be?"
"Effie."
She had answered the quickest yet, but it was also an unexpected reply from the composed and elegant E. The E I had watched roll poison down her wrist into someone's champagne glass with the grace of a violinist with their instrument who wanted to be called Effie.
"Why Effie? I was almost sure you'd say something like Elizabeth or Elena, something sophisticated."
"Is Effie not sophisticated?"
"No, not really."
"Well I like it and that's all that matters. Why are you asking about names anyway?"
"In case we die without one, something to write on a makeshift grave. "
Effie went quiet at that, rolling over the words in her mouth as if they were sour hard candy stuck under her tongue. Right when she finally opened her mouth-
A large splash and bang interrupted her and I woke up to the rolling of the train car in my ears and its light rumbles running up my legs. It took a while for me to realize I had been dreaming, the memory still fresh within my mind and scratching at the back of my brain like a rat digging its way out of a hole. Operation "Herald" wasn't a memory I enjoyed looking back on, not that any of our missions were enjoyable in a way that would make sense.
Thinking about it more, I'll most likely see E and everyone else tomorrow morning if all goes as planned. After all, this train ride was taking us, well they were on other routes for safety reasons, back into the home we could barely remember, Theacana. Z knew it best since he originally began his career as a civil servant born and bred there. Not that I can see much of it from the night stained windows of the train car. Checking the watch on my wrist confirms my suspicions, 2AM on the dot. The train would arrive in the capital city, Cirrane, at 5:30AM. I had ended up sleeping through the first hour of the ride.
Everyone else in my car looked as if they'd sleep past arrival. One man was almost on the floor from laying himself across the entire seating arrangement.
I suppose that most would feel miffed at the idea of being stuck on such an early morning train, but I had never been one to enjoy a good rest. Light sleeper and all. Now all that there was left to do was waste away the next 3 hours and a half on something. Digging around in my bag for a short while produced yesterday's unfinished newspaper crossword, the folder given to me by The Hand- Hannah, and a travel brochure for Theacana.
Rather strange that one has a brochure for their own 'home', right?
The crossword would do best for the last leg of my journey, so I settled on thumbing through the brochure for whatever semblance of entertainment it could bring me for the time being under the low yellow tint lights of the train. The cover is rather pleasant looking, showcasing a sprawling garden scape with 'Experience Theacana' in white cursive above it. Theacana was known for its greenery and agricultural regions, which assisted in creating a thriving tour and restaurant industry.
I'd always wanted to try an authentic Theacana fruit sampler, Z often gushes about how divine they are, particularly during the season in which grapes are just right.
Inside the brochure was just as aesthetic, showing different major cities of Theacana and things to see in them. Cirrane had the Henenroque Botanical Gardens, which was the view on the front of the brochure, Denemar Monument, and Yerensan Quarter. I suppose I had some stops to make after the debrief occurred there.
It truly depended on the moods of the higher-ups that would be in the room if I'd have the energy to even attempt the travels.
"But stopping in the Yerensan Quarter to pick up some wine wouldn't be a bad idea if it does go awry..."
Traveling had always been so tiring.
