open » please don't be a stranger in my place

[mucked]

Who: Peggy Carter + YOU
Where: Mansion grounds + the 'Palace'
When: August 25th to 27th
Rating: PG13ish
Summary: Peggy struggles with spatial anomalies, with the universe being bigger than she thought it was, and with life in general. Will match prose/brackets.
The Story:

( DAY ONE )

Even after the announcement made by Darcy and Steve, Peggy Carter isn't looking to stay a homebody. Not least of all because somehow (somewhere) in all this spatial mess, she's gone and misplaced one of the very few items brought with her from home. (Home! What a funny concept, just now!)

So, she's on the hunt. It's not an easy endeavor. Quite apart from striding into the kitchen and ending up in the music room, or entering a stairwell only to find herself standing in mild bewilderment in the middle of someone else's bedroom, it seems she can't quite manage to get back to her own quarters without ending up in the lake.

That's right: in the lake. And so if someone doesn't catch her misdirected elsewhere, they might come across Peggy as she's stalking her way back to the mansion with her heels in hand and her clothes soaked through. The unexpected dip has forced her curls undone and her makeup to run. By the stormy look on her face, it's entirely possible this isn't the first time she's made this particular and sodden walk. Little does she know, she's got a lot to be thankful for. At least the lake hasn't taken to freezing yet.

All she damn well wants is to get back to her bedroom.

( DAY ONE + TWO )

With a bit of charity from a fellow resident, she may yet manage to make it through this event with (most) of her dignity intact. Incapable of making it back to her bedroom, Peggy is forced to rely upon the kindness of (near) strangers. It's a position she hates to be in, but it's entirely possible she'll be knocking on your door with a quick and sheepish request to make use of your closet. I'll only be a moment. Hand to heart. She promises with a smile that doesn't reach her eyes. Good Lord, this is humiliating. Begging, hand to mouth, while dripping lake water all over someone's doorway.

The Asgardian garb isn't really her style, but it's any port in a storm -- and until she can make it back to her own wardrobe, she might as well make do and mend. And if the whole ruddy place is meant to be so transformed into a palace then perhaps she may as well look the part. Albeit under duress.

( DAY THREE )

-- But it becomes soon apparent that she's not wholly herself in these fabrics and armours. Never great at sitting still, it now feels like tenfold a challenge not to rush to the threatened defenses and do something about it. At first, she tries to resist the siren's call to arms. And when she does begin to wander the palace, she tells herself it's because she's curious about this place that shares some metaphysical connection (apparently) with her own home-world. She can be found leaning her cheek against the warm walls with interest, or tracing the impossible architecture of an arched doorway.

"--Must've taken ages to knock together something like this. Touch more ambitious than Hampton Court. And that's saying something," she comments to passers-by.

But in the end it's with relief that she finally manages to access her own room again -- keen to peel away the alien fashion and find herself a proper pencil skirt again.

Comments

[geiger]

Nora closes the door and pulls out a chair for Peggy to take when she's a little more dry, laying out a dressing gown if she wants something to change into.

"Event get you too, huh? I was halfway down the hallway this morning and suddenly I found myself on the roof. I didn't know this event was dumping people in the lake too - I feel kind of lucky now."

[mucked]

"The roof sounds like a vast improvement, yes."

A wry glimmer in her expression. Peggy's far from a smile -- but she's at least managed to find a spark of humour over the situation. Perhaps because she understands this woman's not to blame for what's happening. It's a mature step for her -- forcefully not taking out her frustrations on the nearest stranger.

Speaking of strangers, however.

"Peggy. My name's Peggy."

[geiger]

"Nora. Pleased to meet you, Peggy." She almost holds out a hand to shake, but doesn't want to get it damp. "I have more towels if you need them."

[mucked]

"You know, I might take you up on that -- a second might be an imminent necessity."

And then, with a bit of an awkward clearing of her throat:

"Thanks."

Almost as though she's unaccustomed to thanking anyone.

[geiger]

Nora reaches into the closet and pulls out another towel, handing it out to her.

"No problem. Any time you get dropped in the lake, you know where to come."

[mucked]

So! She's got her hair wrapped in one towel, and is patting down her face, her neck, her shoulders with the other. The blouse might not be salvageable after this, she decides. But the state of the closets (with regards to clothing) aren't all that helpful.

The towels will do for now.

"I'm rather hoping it won't become habit. Even so, it's--" she puffs a sigh through her cheeks. "Good to know."

[geiger]

"Events usually last a good few days, so there may be more of it yet." Though she really hopes not, it was already getting old finding yourself in the garden when you were just trying to get into the bathroom.

[mucked]

"A few souls from the same world as this -- phenomenon, I imagine -- have suggested there may indeed be considerably more yet to come. Intrusions of other worlds. Monsters."

Peggy doesn't look concerned. That said, it doesn't mean she isn't feeling concerned.

[geiger]

"At least monsters I know how to handle." She gestures toward the guns on the table, in various states of assembly. "Just shoot them until they stop walking. It's a lot harder trying to tackle a problem like being teleported into the lake."

[mucked]

"Provided, of course, that they do stop walking."

But now that the guns are mentioned! Peggy nods towards them.

"Quite the collection you've got."

[geiger]

"Thanks." She looks rather proud, as though Peggy were complimenting a child or a pet instead of a collection of firearms. "It's sort of become a hobby of mine."

[mucked]

"A hobby!" Peg doesn't sound surprised, exactly. But she nurtures a burst of incredulity. And why shouldn't she? After all: "That's a funny way of putting it."

Or not. But she'd rather goad a bit more information out of the situation before all else.

[geiger]

Nora simply shrugs, picking up the gun closest to her and turning it over in her hands. "I guess they're one of the few things from my own world that still have some practical use here. And I kind of enjoy keeping my hand in, both shooting and cleaning them."

[mucked]

"Not that I blame you. I've got a piece or two myself," she admits. "But that's rather shy of this arsenal."

[geiger]

"Were you around for Alexandria?" She pulls out a seat to offer to Peggy, then takes another for herself. "I may have got a little paranoid about having a decent stockpile after having no guns at all there."