sixthiterationlogs | Skinny-dipping [OTA]

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Skinny-dipping [OTA]

WHO: Veronica Sawyer
WHERE: The spring
WHEN: BACKDATED to the night of September 19
OPEN TO: OTA
WARNINGS: Naked ladies?
STATUS: Open
NOTE: Skinny-dipping party post! Threadjack away! All village ladies will have been quietly invited. Brave men are also welcome to accidentally happen upon them all or try to spy.

The sky was filled with the most perfect, big, bright, shining moon. Mark called it the harvest moon, but tonight, she's just their gracious and beautiful lady to Veronica; their luminescent co-conspirator.

The idea had come to her mostly out of desperation. Hauling water back from the spring is tedious and exhausting, and there's never enough to have a real bath -- Although the thought of spending a whole day walking her happy ass back and forth solely to indulge had occurred to her. The spring itself is clear and clean and inviting, but with people in and out of the area all day long, it's not exactly private.

So what do you do? Go at night, of course, and invite all of your friends.

"I haven't done this since summer camp in sixth grade," Veronica admits as she whips her shirt off over her head and drops it beside the shimmering pool. She wouldn't have called herself an exhibitionist by any means, but feeling as gross as she has been makes a girl not care so much about who sees her topless. And after she shimmies quickly from her pants and slips into the water, any irrational, lingering embarrassment is snuffed entirely out: It is truly and completely bliss.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There is a measure of amusement in her eyes as she watches each girl shyly climb into the spring. Their bodies carefully shielded by foliage and shadows. When Peggy climbs in, it takes all of her self control not to laugh or tease her. It would have a poor effect and it took a great deal of bravery for Peggy to dart into the water naked.

Rather than comment, she instead glanced at the wound on Peggy's side, remembering how severe hers had been as well. "The waters will heal you more." She said gently. "Any aches or pains will be gone after awhile."

Peggy manages a smile, hardly minding her nudity now that she's in the water. It's less the fact that she's baring herself and more to do with the scars she holds. The rebar is a fresh wound, now healing, but the double slugs in her shoulder mar her skin and take away from the impression of what she likes to project. "It was mostly healed when I arrived," she admits, "but it was quite a nasty wound."

"It was somewhat healed, though, upon arrival," she shares, something she still hadn't been able to understand. "I went from popping stitches opening a door to mostly healed. Perhaps these waters and the ones in the fountain aren't so different?"

"You didn't receive it from the earthquake?" It wasn't as though Margaery had any opportunity to see it before now. Though, she had first assumed it was from debris and or something falling on her, similar to how Margaery was injured. She didn't have a good look at the wound, otherwise she would have noticed it wasn't fresh.

"Perhaps? I arrived without any wounds on my body, though I should have had some." She wasn't about to go into what they were. Her skin was pristine, rather than burned. She had dismissed the idea, but maybe Peggy had a point.

She shakes her head, thinking of whether she wants to talk about what happened to her. She doesn't think a high level explanation could hurt, though. "No, there was an incident before I arrived. I fell from a rather large height in a factory," she explains, thumb running the ridge and thinking of Violet patching it up and the accompanying flood of guilt over her part in Daniel's breakup with her. "It did not come with me, though," she says.

It had been a strange thing and if she's honest, it niggles at her, making her wary. "It's made me wonder," she admits quietly, "what else they might have been changing about us. I met a man who seemed quite concerned that he'd lost his abilities."

"Gods, but that is horrible. Were you hurt other than the wound on your side?" She knew Peggy hadn't died. They had discussed as much months ago, during one of Kate's lunches. "We seem to be healed upon arrival, if we were injured to begin with."

She frowned, "Abilities? What did he mean by that?" There certainly was no sign that anything had been tampered with on her end. She had her memories, her feelings, all was as it should be.

"No, but it did lead to a rather unfortunate sequence of events, many of which I wish had never come to pass," she says, thinking of releasing Dottie and how that had led to poor Ana in hospital, all triggered by her injury, if she thinks about it. "And I'm not sure," she admits. "He seemed convinced that he had some sort of preternatural strength, but it wasn't present when he attempted to demonstrate it."

It was all trailing back towards the meeting and the things that were said there. So many convinced that someone was behind all of this. Yet it seemed impossible that someone have the strength of more than one man or that someone could create these natural events.

She shook her head, almost dismissively. "It is all very strange."

Peggy gives a sound of agreement as she sinks a little deeper into the water to let it soothe and calm any worries she has. It's like she feels rejuvenated, like all her aches and woes have vanished on her. "I've a great deal of experience in odd things, yet this place seems convinced to open my mind to brand new horizons."

"That said, if some of those involve the springs like this, I cannot complain," she says, stretching out and letting her toe rise from the water to watch droplets fall.

"It was a happy surprise," Margaery replied, remembering how wonderful it felt when the wound on her head ceased to ache. It was almost as though it had been removed from a vice grip. Suddenly, she could focus again and feel back to her old self. She had even emerged from the water with her hair a deeper and more lustrous color than it had been in a long while. It felt like a blessing after a week of hardship.

"At last it feels as though everything is returning to normal."

"Don't let this place hear you say that," she warns, teasingly. "You're bound to invite some new horror on us. What do you think comes after flooding and earthquakes?" She doesn't dare say anything out loud, like plagues of bugs or creatures or volcanoes. Anything like that seems as though this village might get ideas.

The longer she stays in the water, the better she feels. It's as if her body is thrumming with energy, which only means that she wants to expend it, somehow. "Have you started some sort of skin regiment?" Peggy wonders, eyeing Margaery warily. "You look a touch as if you're glowing." And seeing as the other cause for that involves a baby, Peggy doesn't want to jump to that conclusion just yet.

"I'm not certain..." she said, genuinely confused. "What does come after earthquakes?" She had never experienced them before. The only time that she felt the ground shake under her feet, it was not the work of nature.

Margaery beamed, blush spreading over her cheeks. She was glowing, but not because of any beauty regiment. "Robb spoke to me after I left the rose for him." Which should be answer enough, but she enjoys talking about him. "Since then, everything has been happening so quickly. I hardly know what to make of any of it."

"I can only assume there is some sort of terror worse than earthquakes," is her reply, trying not to think about it as she sinks down into the water a little more. When Margaery keeps going, she can't help the way she lights up, eager to offer some teasing. "Did you two work things out, then?" she asks, with delight. "Well, don't just leave me with nothing. Details, please," she coaxes.

It will suit to fill the gap that her own lack fo a love life is currently providing. It's been a very long dry spell and normally, she has work to sate her, but here it's a little harder to keep busy.

"We did," Margaery said, her cheeks flushed from both the heat and from her delight. There was so much to tell, but she had no idea where to begin. "We came to an understanding and I told him that I love him." Which had been a milestone in itself. It was the first that she had admitted it to anyone other than Robb.

"He loves me as well." It was still a marvel to her, even after their arguments and misunderstandings. Somehow, this honorable man found her desirable.

Peggy's smile is warm for her friend and she's more than a little pleased at how things have worked out. She's not going to rush to judge when it comes to how fast anything moves because who knows the history of two people in this place? "I'm glad that it all worked out for you. Now," Peggy continues as she relaxes back against the natural outcropping of a ridge behind her. "Don't muck this up, now."

"Or I could always give him this speech," she offers, helpfully.

She nodded, biting her lower lip. There had already been a few misunderstandings and minor arguments, yet they seemed to have recovered. Of course there was also his sudden proposal, which others might not understand. In Westeros, their speed would have been accepted as normal. She had no idea how others might respond.

More than anything, she needed someone to reassure her and help her decide if her desire to wed Robb was a good one. Her experience with marriage was far from pleasant. "Something did happen a few days ago."

"What was that?" Peggy asks, an edge of wariness in her voice, given that she doesn't like the notion that 'something' had already happened on the heels of things being so good. "This is a happy thing," she reminds Margaery. "What was the something?"

She feels a little awkward, sitting nude in the water, discussing this issue. And yet, at the same time, the spring makes her feel beyond relaxed and refreshed that she doesn't care about the lack of clothing.

"I'm not certain. I am happy, this is true, but I worry." She worried about Robb's motives sometimes, though she didn't want to question his honor. The need for alliances didn't exist here, so there was no reason to truly hurry between them. Yet...that was all they had done, far more quickly than she was used to and it frightened her.

Not because she wasn't sure about Robb, but because she feared what could happen if he had her as he wished.

"He asked me to marry him." She said softly, not wanting anyone else to hear.

"That seems ... quick," Peggy says cautiously, not wanting to be a thunderous storm on Margaery's parade. "How long have you both known each other?" she asks, because she thinks she needs more information than rush to a judgment -- even though she can feel that percolating and brewing in the back of her mind.

She feels herself beginning to prune a little, but her hair is still far from done. Sliding lower, she holds her breath as she completely submerges, coming out and slicking back her hair.

"It isn't in our world," Margaery said softly. "I have been wed three times, all within a few years of each other. Marriages aren't normally for passion but for alliances. This...it's not beyond Robb to fall for a woman and fix his mind and heart to her. He's devoted, no matter the speed that devotion appears."

She's not opposed to it in the slightest. It's what could happen to him that worries her.

"I lost two husbands in rapid succession, both murdered. The third may have perished as well, I can't be certain. I died before he did. I feel cursed, marked by misfortune. If I marry Robb...I could lose him. I could bring him misery or pain. I don't know if I could suffer that."

Peggy listens carefully as the water drips from her hair to her shoulders, feeling strange to hear familiar words spoken to her. "Someone near to me, and very dear," she begins cautiously, "in a fit of anger lashed out and said that everyone who gets close to me dies. I'm not sure he's wrong, you know. He was angry and cruel, but not wrong," she says, thinking of Mr. Jarvis' accusations. She thinks of Steve, of Colleen, and of all the people who have lost their lives because of her.

Is she cursed? Or is it simply her line of work? "If I continued to think like that, though, then I never would be able to live my life. And I want to," she promises, thinking of Daniel and the chance she'd been about to take. "If you don't marry him, won't you be miserable?"

It seemed similar to Margaery's predicament. The words were reasonable, things that she had said to herself in an effort to calm her nerves. Hearing it come from another, that made them easier to believe. What was she supposed to do? Lock herself away and deny herself a chance of happiness? She had enough of sacrificing her emotions. Robb was her first love, she wouldn't give him up for superstitious reasons.

"I would be," Margaery admitted both to Peggy and herself. "I can't imagine my life without him."

"Then, even if it's fast, listen to your heart," Peggy says, giving Margaery a kind smile. "I let something linger and go on, thinking that I would have time in the future, but time ran out," she says, her face the picture of grief and regret. "Perhaps, I would have been rushing and making a mistake if I had moved faster, but at least I would have had something."

"Now," she says, turning to brighter things. "When do I get to meet him?"

Peggy was right, though she had known this deep down as well. It helped to hear someone say it aloud, especially someone that she trusted as she trusted Peggy. "In this place, I don't think speed matters. Maybe it is better we cherish what we are able to find and create here." This isn't where she'd want to have children, but she wants to be Robb's wife.

"I'm surprised you haven't spoken to him already. I should like you two to meet."

"I can't say that I've sought him out either," Peggy admits, so it's as much on her as it is on Robb, seeing as her priority hasn't been to gossip and make friends, but rather to continue seeking out information and a means for escape. "I assure you, when I do meet him, I'll make sure that he knows that if he intends to move this quickly with you, he'd best be prepared to stand by his word," she says, with the dark air of a threat in her voice.

Most people here don't know her well enough yet, but Steve and Barnes could both tell stories about what Peggy can handle, when she sets her mind to it.

"Be kind to him," Margaery said, knowing that Peggy meant well. "He's honorable, almost to the point of stubbornness." There's a hint of exasperation about her features. "But I've never known anyone like him. I feel like I can trust him completely and I know he won't hurt me by breaking his word."

He didn't seem likely to make that mistake again. "I think you might like him."

Skinny-dipping [OTA]

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