[OTA] Midas is king and he holds me so tight;

[digging]

WHO: Karen Page
WHERE: Various
WHEN: 8 January 2018, throughout the day
OPEN TO: All, with 2 locked starters
WARNINGS: Standard blanket warning for Netflix MCU spoilers

---

In the Forest

OTA - 3 max threads

It was probably only a matter of time, Karen thinks. This morning she woke up to find three big boxes sitting in the middle of her chilly bedroom floor like they'd been dropped off overnight by the FedEx Fairy. She's three days out from her one-month anniversary stuck in this place, and she has officially been anointed by the gods.

As much as her instinct is still to be wary, curiosity takes only a beat to win out. Sitting cross-legged in her absconded "I'm not Daredevil" shirt and chili pepper socks, she pulls each box open and lines the contents neatly beside her on the floor. Shampoo, journals, underwear, earmuffs. When she's done, she can't shake the feeling that this is less divine intervention and more care package.

And weird as that concept may be under the circumstances, she's not looking the gift horse in the mouth.

She feeds the furnace and indulges in a longer shower than normal, then starts the process of organizing her notes in her new journals while her hair dries. Then it's out into the snow, bundled like the true Vermonter she is, pack of supplies on her back as she looks toward the horizon. There's a voice tutting in the back of her head that sounds mostly like Frank, sometimes Matt, and funnily, occasionally like Claire, but she's never really been very good at listening to people who tell her to sit still. Boots crunching with each step, she pushes into the forest's edge.

[Feel free to find her in the forest, on the way there, at the canyon wall, or on her way back.]

Canyon's Edge

for Peggy

Here's the truth: It still freaks Karen out a little bit that Peggy (and others, but mostly Peggy) are from points in time so far-flung from her own. The people who say they're from alternate realities, other planets, that doesn't get her as much — She stood in the aftermath of the alien assault on Manhattan. But the time thing she's still getting her head around.

But in the moment, it's usually an easy enough detail to forget, and Peggy makes it easier by being the sort of woman who, when Karen asks if she'd like to come with her to try and scale the canyon wall, agrees without hesitation. It's possible Peggy is mostly looking out for Karen's well-being— Because yeah, OK, it really isn't smart to go mountain climbing solo — but the fact that Peggy seems interested at all, especially when she's been here so long, is encouraging. In Karen's opinion, it's way too easy to be complacent in this place.

Home Again

for Claire

The stomp of snow-clotted boots on the porch announces Karen's return home that evening before she pushes open the door with a sigh of relief. It's warm inside, which means Claire must have been home long enough to feed the furnace. As Karen unwinds herself from her scarves, she can hear the distant sounds of another person in the house, and she smiles, grateful, almost bursting to tell what she's discovered today.

"You won't believe what happened today," she calls out, shrugging from her coat and then plopping onto the sofa to begin working off her boots. Pulling at a heel, she winces; she had a misstep earlier while climbing, and her wrist is killing her.

Comments

[womanofvalue]

Any time that someone says they're going out into the canyon yields worry for Peggy, seeing as she'd once spent a terrifying two days on a tight ledge thinking she was going to break her leg. When Karen had spoken about wanting to come out here, Peggy had been encouraging, of course, but also quite firm in the fact that she wasn't going to do it alone. Besides helping her out, it's a good opportunity to spend more time with her.

Her version of the future makes her curious, seeing as it seems aligned with others she's heard. That said, costumed capers in New York are far more cheerful sounding than her own, so perhaps she can eke out a few more stories. "Careful," she advises, drawing herself from her own mind when the canyon walls begin to encroach them. "You know, I've mapped this out more times than I can count, yet every time I come here, it's changed," she says with the irritability of a woman who's not planning to give up, but wants to make her annoyance known.

[digging]

"That's what I heard, that it changes," Karen replies with a glance back over her shoulder to Peggy before returning her attention to the canyon wall looming before them. "One more thing to support the idea of this place not being natural." Not that it particularly seems that way regardless.

It's been snowing for days, but it's light, and Karen squints up toward the top edge of the wall through her newly-gifted sunglasses. The conditions aren't ideal, and that Frank/Matt/Claire-sounding voice in the back of her head is massively dubious, but if she waits for conditions to be perfect, it could easily be months. No; they came out here, she's going to climb the damned thing.

"I scrounged together some climbing equipment," she says as she slings her pack down off her shoulder and unzips it. She looks back up to Peggy. "I just want to see if I can reach the top. I know I'm not the first, but if I don't try, it will drive me crazy."

[womanofvalue]

Peggy has brought a few things of her own, though it's the ropes that she's most wary about and wishes that she could better test before they head up. Still, with two of them, she feels safer, and she understands Karen's desire to explore more than she can put into words.

It's almost like looking at a former version of herself going through the same motions, but Peggy is also not quite stubborn enough to think it's useless. If it changes constantly, maybe this is the time they find something. It has happened before, after all. "Keep an eye for cracks and anything of the like."

Eyeing the face before them before turning to Karen, she also thinks they've jumped over a rather basic question. "Have you ever done any climbing before?"

[digging]

Karen pulls in a breath to speak, hesitates, and then pushes it out in a chagrinned laugh that hovers opaquely in the air between them. "Not really, no." Where 'not really' actually means no, full stop.

"I grew up doing a lot of outdoors things, though," she picks back up, knowing that her reasoning is thin when it comes to something as specialized as this. "Winter sports. Skiing, hunting, ice fishing... Which obviously aren't climbing a cliff, but I guess what I'm saying is I was taught to be careful and aware. But if you've got any tips, I would definitely be glad to hear them."

[womanofvalue]

"I didn't have much experience back home, but when I did have tasks that required ascending mountains, we had slightly better equipment," she says, with a mildly disapproving look to what they have on hand. It's not as if the army was wonderful at giving them supplies, but it had been better.

"For the most part, it takes a great deal of steel, nerve, and luck from my previous experiences, but I was also stuck on a ledge when the rope frayed, so my stories may not be the best to listen to," Peggy notes, glancing around them. "Are we trying to get a particular view?" she asks breezily, as if she hasn't just spoken of her own failures.

[digging]

"A general look, and just to see how far I can get."

When she considers it, Karen doesn't really blame the people here for not being out here everyday, even if in those first days and weeks it had felt to her like complacency. There comes a point where you have to trust in the old adage about doing the same thing and expecting a different result. But the boundaries of this place have expanded before, and maybe there's a steady enough stream of newbies like herself who'll test the theory because they just have to know for themselves.

"At least the boots they gave us aren't bad for it," she points out, and then looks down to the climbing hook in her hand. No time like the present.

[womanofvalue]

At least Karen isn't stubbornly determined to crack her way out of here as Peggy had been, all that time ago. It only leads to disappointment and a strange heartache. Recon and exploratory missions have a goal they can actually achieve, which is why she's rather pleased to hear it.

"No, they're fairly decent," she agrees. "Be careful up there," Peggy warns, as she starts to wrap the rope around her waist, trying not to think about the last time she'd belayed for someone and how what happened then isn't something she ever wants to repeat.

The prospect of being sucked into another dimension by zero matter is not on any of her to-do lists, particularly, after all.

[digging]

"I'm just going to take it extra slow," Karen says as she approaches the rock face and ties off the rope around her waist. It's more damp than she really wants it to be, but the snow has slacked off enough and the sun has peaked through the clouds, so it's mostly dry about halfway up. It's just a matter of being super careful on the parts that aren't.

She's glad to find that the rock seems relatively solid — Getting a good hold with her hands and feet is easy enough; nothing starts crumbling away under her efforts, at least. That makes it a little harder to get the hook in, but it holds well when she's able to find a big enough crevice.

[womanofvalue]

Peggy shifts her weight to her heels and resolves to think about this moment and only this one. Karen is not Daniel, this is not a rift into another dimension, and this isn't the past repeating itself. She only wishes that they had some method of taking pictures to help do proper recon.

"Do you see anything out of the ordinary?" Peggy calls up, when it looks like Karen has managed a little more progress than before.

canyon walls

[3ofswords]

Kira has no idea what he's doing.

It's obvious from the journal he'd reclaimed from Mark's pile that he'd been keeping track of certain things--days, weather, arrivals. Everything had culminated in some drama with the Margaery woman, then cut off. He'd scribbled notes about the Oregon Vortex, a thing he'd apparently decided to maybe believe in after his first arrival, instead of ignoring mentions of on the internet.

Yes, ghosts and shit are real: mountains are still just mountains.

Still: he'd been trying, and after everything with Mark, he wants to try again. "Nancy Drew would have definitely gone with the pea coat," he tells himself, his oddly wide selection of red sweaters layered under his tatty green parka, his attachment waned not a bit since finding it. "Nancy Drew would also totally be out in the woods alone though." She was a bad bitch like that, and also kind of fucking senseless.

But at least he's not the only one following in her footsteps. As he carries along the wall, looking for a crack he'd written about, he spots Karen up ahead. "Oh good," he says, pitching his voice to carry toward her as he walks up. "You're Nancy, that means I get to be George."

[digging]

For all that Karen had put together her pack of supplies and headed dilligently out here all on her own, she's a little relieved to see Kira. Standing here staring up at the actual expanse of the canyon wall really drives homw how stupid it would be to try and climb the thing alone, especially in this weather. She'd been on the cusp of hiking back to find Peggy when the voice had cut through the chilled air.

"Nancy?" she echoes, brow pinching, feeling like this is a reference she should know.

[3ofswords]

"Do they not have Nancy Drew where you're from?" He prefers the phrasing to the more specific world, timeline, or reality. He believes Mark, he really does, but the headache that lives in his eyebrow has a few concepts it just hates to acknowledge. "Mine has this weird progression of intrepid train orphans to tweens with great memories, and eventually you decide between boy or girl teen detectives in junior high."

Or, if you were Kira: you skipped that entirely and stole the box from Chiyo's room when she moved into her dorm, drowning your sorrows over it all in a weekend of smoking and paperbacks.

"Unless you always gear up for a stroll," he adds, nodding at her pack.

[digging]

"It never hurts to be prepared," Karen hedges, adjusting the lay of her pack strap over her shoulders. "And Nancy Drew was more my mom's time than mine. I was more Harriet the Spy and the Babysitter's Club." A conspicuous absence, now that she considers the direction her life has taken. She really probably is way more Nancy than Stacey or Claudia.

"I was, uh," she begins again with a vague motion toward the underbrush. "Heading out to the edge of the canyon. Thought I'd take a look. I found some climbing equipment."

[3ofswords]

"You missed out," he says, conversational. "She squares off with mountain lions in one of them. Definitely badass enough for rock climbing." Which is not a skill he absorbed from her through the book or the bowl, so he hedges with his body instead, a step back to catch the top of it through the bare trees.

"Do you know how to use it?" There are several lengths of rope and a set of what look like very large, iron needles in his closet, waiting for the right person or the right alternative use. And if she doesn't, well: "I'm not saying this to pad my resume, but I watched someone set a broken bone once. It was unpleasant for all of us, but mostly the guy it was happening to."

He'd learned to climb around the city for his own survival, but in the current conditions--he thinks that logic applies more to waiting for the snow to melt.

[digging]

"I was kind of planning on learning as I go," Karen admits, and then motions Kira's way. "You could come along if you're not busy. Give me tips if you know any or run for medical help if you don't."

It's impromptu, sure, but now that she's allowed herself to fully consider the risk level of this particular jaunt, she really can't shake the feeling that going alone is a terrible idea. If Kira isn't inclined, she might just head back to town and see who else she can wrangle for a little adventure.

[3ofswords]

"I mean my biggest tip is not to climb icy walls when you don't know what you're doing, but sure." It is what Nancy would do, even if it's time to toss tween heroes aside and seriously watch a woman try to scale a wall.

He can't exactly complain to Mark and Bodhi about concrete results without some concrete effort, and that's a very large chunk of his socialization. The other, apparently, is failing to talk sense into other grown human beings. "I was looking for something from some old notes," he admits, his arrested posture easing back into movement as he starts toward the wall. "I'm looking for a crack in the northern part of the wall. If you didn't already pick a place to start, we could scout them out on the way?"

From what he's heard, short of an earthquake the caves don't tend to disappear.

[digging]

"The part with the lab?" Karen asks, and squints forward through the trees as they pick their way through snowy branches. "I've been meaning to go out there anyway." She'd found the cave with the first pod that was discovered, but had no climbing gear that day. More than once she's intended to look for the others but chose exploration closer to home because of the weather.

"I've only got a vague idea of where it's at. Apparently the walls shift."

[theluckygirl]

Claire hadn't done much venturing on her own as of late. After her excursion out into the woods and having her tumble, life was back to being mundane and on a schedule. Or as much of one the winter season would allow. All the snow and cold weather saw less people in the more populated places around the village.

And yet she still needed wood which she collected from the wood pile around back of the inn. Unfortunately, upon returning she snagged her coat sleeve on an exposed nail in the framework of her and Karen's porch and tore a big hole into the fabric.

When her new roommate returned home, Claire was in the dining room finishing her mending. Moments later she emerged with an curious expression.

"Most of everything that happens in this place I can't believe. But go ahead and tell me." she said, moving over to the other side of where Karen was sitting.

[digging]

Leaving her boots in the living room, Karen pads into the kitchen in her multi-layered socks and stops just behind the chair adjacent to Claire. "I got to the top of the cliff wall."

There's probably a lecture forthcoming about risking her neck, and Claire wouldn't be wrong, but the fact remains that the achievement is significant. "I wasn't able to actually see over the top, but I touched it. I literally had my fingers over the edge," Karen continues as she slides into the chair. "I don't think anybody's gotten that far up before. Not even Frank when he was here." And god knew Frank wasn't concerned about seeing after his own safety, so it wouldn't have been for a lack of trying.

[theluckygirl]

As soon as Karen says it there is a deadpan look that suggests a lecture is forthcoming, but it quickly shifts into one of curiosity. And shock. Mostly because Frank Castle was military and those kinds of "missions" were priority. Then again, a lot had been discovered since the first people arrived.

"... And that's it? You had your fingers on the edge but couldn't see over the top? Why?" Claire asked, wondering if there was a reason Karen couldn't hoist herself just a little bit higher to see what was over the top.

Was something stopping her?

[digging]

Karen falters, her head tilting as her mouth opens, pauses and then shuts. "I slipped," she finally admits, because she's going to get the lecture regardless, she the Band-Aid might as well be ripped off now. She lifts a hand in what's probably a futile attempt to postpone Claire's reaction. "I had a climbing hook and rope, I was securely tied." Not that she wouldn't have still severely hurt herself if she had actually fallen.

"And I caught myself before before I fell," she's quick to add. "In fact, I was hoping you could take a look at my wrist, I think I sprained it." She lays the arm in question across the table. This is good, right? Distraction.

"The thing is, now that I really think about it, I don't know how I slipped. I was reaching up, yeah, but I had a steady footing."

[theluckygirl]

Unfortunately, Claire sees what Karen is doing and it's in her expression when she reaches to take her hand in what, at first, may seem like a handshake. While she continues to listen, she visually examines it looking for redness and swelling before gently putting her other hand on it to feel for warmth.

"You know, now that you mention it, same thing happened to me when I took my fall in the woods." A pause. "Tell me if this hurts."

She had to feel around and though did it as gently as she could, wasn't able to promise there'd be no pain. Claire looked up.

"Maybe some kind of interference?" It honestly sounded so far-fetched but where they were it wasn't as far off as one might think.

[digging]

Karen winces with a wrinkle of her nose. "A little," she replies with a slight nod. "Not enough to keep me up at night or anything, but I definitely wish I had some Advil."

With her free hand, she swipes the tendrils of escaped hair from her forehead. "There have been stories about that. About people trying to get out and something always stopping them. I mean, you know Frank— Well, you know of him, I mean. The idea that he wouldn't be able to get up and over that cliff? It's crazy."

[theluckygirl]

"I also know Matt, so I doubt it's from any lack of trying." Claire added, releasing Karen's hand and getting up. She disappeared briefly and returned with a little white packet. Thankfully, the EMS backpacks that were left behind by villagers who went home made mild to moderate pain something that could be managed.

Claire passed her the pills and sat down again.

"But Frank Castle is a military man, so it makes you wonder, doesn't it? Maybe whoever is bringing us here sent him home because eventually he would figure it out."

Then again, there were plenty of really smart people there in the village.

[digging]

"And this is why you're the best," Karen says when she flips the packet over and sees what it says. There's a split second's worth of hesitation before she tears it open — Does she really need something so precious? — but the throb in her wrist wins out.

Cradling the pills in her hand, she blinks. "God, all this time and I never thought about it like that," she admits. "And it's not just the military aspect, although that's definitely part of it. I think we both know what he can be like when he's got a bone to pick. He wouldn't have just given up. Maybe that's the difference. I've talked to so many people who finally just stopped trying."