[NYE Party] happy new year and lots of fun

[nascensibility]

Who: EVERYONE, but especially you!
Where: Wonderland Ballroom
When: New Year's Eve
Rating: PG - PG13 (will change if applicable)
Summary: New Year's Eve Party
The Story:

[ Previously in the month all residents received an invitation to a formal event: a black tie affair to ring in the New Year. The ballroom and adjacent areas are decked out for the party starting at eight o'clock sharp, meticulously planned and executed, glittering décor to match the no doubt glittering attire as music pours into the halls from the dance floor.

Bars flank each side, service for all manner of alcohol unless a minor requests something, and the primary setting stage features an enormous clock for the countdown. ]




[ Where will you be when the clock strikes midnight? ]

Comments

[luchnik]

[ manners dictate that he turn her down, that he offer to meet up some other day - not spoil her party. manners have no place in a survival situation and despite the festive atmosphere - there's no doubt in oliver's mind that that's exactly what they're dealing with, and honestly the talk of monsters was just overkill for that point. ]

After you, agent - [ he gestures for her to lead the way, because yes he wants to talk more about that and anything else she can tell him. it's critical information. ]

[mucked]

[ yes, she's got a ward (of sorts) who's drinking herself sick. and a dance partner, besides, who might miss her if she goes too long without claiming her spot on his card. and friends beyond that who might wonder why peggy carter is ducking out with such a stern expression on her face.

even so, the party is not spoiled. there are all sorts of parts of her that feel more at home with this kind of talk than all the rest. so she drains her whiskey and pushes the glass aside and glances over her shoulder to make certain he's following as she ducks into the hallway.

the closest tea room isn't far. ]

Did you witness anything else out of sorts at the last party?

[luchnik]

[ he leaves the rest of his wine, not actually having been interested in consuming it in the first place, and follows her closely. ]

Do you count things being oddly in sorts? [ because he sure as hell does. mirrors were out, the whole place was a giant cookie, people were under the influence and not in the party-usual way he's come to almost expect - but from giving into temptation to magical baked goods -

and despite it all, things were calm, things were civil, things were festive.

things should have been chaotic, dangerous. he came to the party expecting them to be, and he doesn't understand why they weren't. whatever the reason may be, he's sure it's not half as pleasant as its result, making the result eerie. ]

[mucked]

Ordinarily? Yes. Absolutely, yes.

[ she won't downplay that assumption. his gut is right, after all, to wonder how a whole mansion of (mostly) reasonable people could be confronted with circumstances so unnatural and bizarre and not fall into a panic. had she been equally as new as him, she probably would have assumed the same.

peggy pours herself a glass of (sobering) water once they're inside the tea room. it might be a good idea to mitigate some of the alcohol she's been drinking. ]

But for once things were remarkably calm. Non-violent. No one died. [ she looks oliver in his eyes. ] I believe most of us were simply relieved. Death is altogether too common, here.

[luchnik]

[ that's what he found eerily extraordinary - mirrors and people together, cookies that influence people's judgments - and everything's peaceful? it's not the lack of panic that throws him off (he knows how resilient and adaptable people, are, after all), it's the lack of that violence and death.

was it a desire for a peaceful holiday season, or were people under something's sway? is it still going on? ]

That accounts for us. [ but there were also them. if they're magically subservient and programmed to follow the queen's instructions - it's not like they require motivation by being given a vacation, do they? too many things don't add up in this mirror story. he hasn't yet scratched their surface, and it bothers him. ]

[mucked]

Yes. Well. The mirrors are made to be loyal to their queen, for the most part. If she didn't want them going for blood then I imagine the lion's share of them would show some restraint.

[ it doesn't count for everything of course. but then the mansion itself had managed to account for violence, hadn't it? turning it cartoonish and stage-y instead of fatal. a bizarre twist of fortune that no one had perished throughout the time they'd crossed over. ]

And I don't believe all of them are evil, exactly. Misaligned? Certainly. But I did once meet a mirror who was almost -- almost friendlier, I suppose, than the real on this side.

[luchnik]

[ and that's exactly it, isn't it. what did the queen hope to accomplish with this? he can't just believe that it was a party for the sake of a party. he doesn't know how this fits into the plan, and it worries him. ]

What are they? [ are they people? are they squishy robots? there's a big difference between the two.

squishy robots he can kill without a problem. ]

[mucked]

They're -- reflections. [ she answers with a note of apology. there's no better way to explain it, in the end.

peggy pulls out a chair and takes a seat for herself. maybe the heels are bothering her (unlikely) or maybe she no longer wants to bother with the pageantry of standing, pacing, crossing her arms. ]

They only exist because of us. They might be loyal to their queen, yes, but on some fundamental level they must be products of our presences here.

[luchnik]

Does that mean they disappear when we do?

[ he would imagine their well-being should be pretty high on their list of concerns if that's the case. ] What happens to us happens to them?

[ because that would be a good ace to have up his sleeve if his own reflection gets too unruly.

[mucked]

When we disappear for good? Yes -- as far as I can tell.

[ she's been giving too many of these disclaimers and caveats. she knows it, too, when she glances at him almost apologetically. peggy knows there are people here who can give him better information, but she's beginning to suspect mister queen has just about stomached the idea of thinking about trusting her.

and maybe her incomplete answers are the only things he can stomach right around now. peggy can empathize with that feeling, at least. ]

But that is probably where the reciprocity ends. You couldn't, for example, shoot yourself in the foot and expect your mirror to suffer the same. For a great many mirrors, they would happily see us shot.

[luchnik]

[ he's approached the people she suggested, and they in turn suggested others he could speak to. but no one can give him a complete picture, and no one can he trust completely - the more information he has to corroborate each claim the more reliable it becomes, and hopefully the easier it will to find a place to start from. ]

Has a mirror ever disappeared while its real person was still around?

[mucked]

I wouldn't call it disappearing.

[ she toys with a cloth napkin -- somewhere, down the hall, she can still hear the occasional warm burst of trumpet. ]

But the Queen of Hearts can unmake and remake them. As punishment, I suppose, if they disappoint her. As for whatever else happens on that side of the glass? I can't say. We can't watch them the way they watch us.

Beyond that? I'll be honest. I've only met three of them. Two when I first arrived and one last week. Of the three, the very first one I spoke with I didn't even know he was a mirror.

[luchnik]

[ obey or die. it seems very...human. but it also gives him a clearer image of what they're up against. he doesn't want to go back but the fact is to keep his family safe from the league he needs his killer instincts back.

here might be where he gets them. ]

Do you who's been to the other side?

[mucked]

-- Anyone whose mirror has visited this side prior to the last event which allowed for the mirrors to cross over without any barter, I suppose.

[ it's not a list that's kept -- nor one that she's asked about, specifically. it never seemed relevant given how little she'd seen of the mirrors until recently. however. ]

There was a sort of away team that crossed over to the other side on a mission of their own. A few months ago. I'm afraid I had very little to do with it, however.

[luchnik]

[ there's a little frown ]

How'd they manage that?

[ from the sound of it, mirrors had all the power in this game. ]

[mucked]

There's an entrance. [ she hums -- not with boredom, exactly, but with the kind of dread that comes with telling a person something that will undoubtedly get them into trouble. ] If you can convince one of the original residents of this place -- Alice, perhaps, or the Dormouse -- then they might take you to it.

[luchnik]

And where do you find them?

[ so much trouble, peggy. he has not bled on you for the last time. ]

[mucked]

[ -- her goodwill only goes so far. and maybe, just maybe, she doesn't like the way this begins to expose just how much they don't know. just how little ground she's managed to make in eight months. ]

You do realize that this is getting the slightest bit tiresome. [ peggy tips her chin. ] Doubly so when I wager you'd clam right the hell up if I tried to reciprocate and ask you any questions.

[luchnik]

Not at all, [ there's a bit of a humoring grin there ] you can ask me whatever you like about Wonderland, it'll just get very redundant, very fast.

[ he'll either repeat answers she's given him - or say he doesn't know because he doesn't know. ]

[mucked]

Oh, knock it off with the tall and handsome and idiotic act. [ peggy rolls her eyes. perhaps her patience has finally worn through. it was inevitable. ] You know damn well I've got no reason to ask you about our current predicament. Questions about yourself, on the other hand...

[ she gets a bit bold. and why not? there's a whole ballroom full of people he could be grilling for intel -- but he returns to her. maybe it's ego and maybe it's wishful thinking, but she hopes that means he at least acknowledges her as a legitimate source.

albeit a bit of a testy one. ]

[luchnik]

[ she gets a little tall-and-handsome amused smile at that comment. ]

Not exactly what I'd call fair trade, and I was warned about making deals in this world. [ by her. but he does know he's going to have to release some information about himself, and not just because there's a creep from his world walking around, people who know alternate him, and everything else he's heard about wonderland and its events.

what he gains from that trade is potential good will, and that's a valuable purchase.

of course, that all depends on what she asks. he very much doubts she'll come up with a lot of questions he'll have a straight answer to offer her for. ]

But shoot.

[mucked]

A fair trade? Perhaps not. But I believe I reserve the right to examine whether you're someone to whom I should want to be feeding information. Although 'niceness' stands as a majority in this mansion, it doesn't mean there isn't some danger in playing the Good Samaritan for too long.

[ cynical? maybe. but by now she's figured out that there's no objective harm in revealing a dash of it mister queen. lurking beneath his 'hapless' questions has been his own vein of cynicism. ]

You could start by telling me you didn't get your injury in a motorcycling accident.

[ so not a question at all, really. peggy isn't even asking him to reveal the truth -- only to reveal the lie. it's a little step, but an important one. ]

[luchnik]

[ maybe he's been playing it wrong, maybe he's been giving her too much credit because that - is a rookie mistake. he gives her carte blanche, a way to discover some truths about him and she goes with the one question that can have no other consequence but shutting down conversation.

he takes a moment, then shakes his head lightly with a strained - offended sort of smile. ]

If you don't want to share information, that's your prerogative. [ he has other sources now, and it's not like she's been the most valuable of those, either. not even worth interrogating, for the moment. ] I am not going to buy your trust with a lie.

[ he's done so much worse than lie with a straight face to a stranger to protect his secret, please. he stands up. ] Have a good evening, agent.

[mucked]

[ what oliver considers to be her rookie mistake is one she quickly considers to be his. for peggy, it was never about carte blanche. for peggy, it was simply about watching whether the man could at least acknowledge how rubbish his lying has been. after all, she isn't asking for how he was injured -- all she wanted was for him to admit, aloud, that it wasn't sustained while riding a motorcycle.

frankly, the truth of the story doesn't matter to her one bit. it's about as relevant to peggy as her being impaled on a bit of rebar would be relevant to him. that is to say: not at all.

doesn't mean she doesn't gain anything from the exchange. in the end, it teaches her that his caution is not professional but personal. this isn't a trained operative -- this is someone who is reflexive, who is instinctive, who is paranoid.

peggy stands up only moments later. ]

I wasn't asking you to buy anything, Mister Queen. But so be it -- I hope you can find it in you to enjoy at least a bit of what's left of the party. We don't often get nights like these.

[ there's no rush to stop him. after all, peggy carter has never had anything to prove. ]