(no subject)

[womanofvalue]

WHO: Peggy Carter
WHERE: Outside the Inn
WHEN: Late October 11th
OPEN TO: OTA
WARNINGS: Mature clothing
STATUS: Closed

---

Naughty Surprises

When the box arrives on her doorstep, at first Peggy thinks that perhaps it's simply James' turn for a gift. The package is a small one, the likes of which she'd found her hair items in earlier, and though she still doesn't understand the ability of a prison like this to deliver them such luxuries, she's also not about to turn them away. She's even turned over her shoulder to summon Barnes when she gets a better look at the name on it.

It's her name. Odd, though. After the last few, Peggy can't imagine what more she might require. Certainly, the seeds and the pigeons have been somewhat useful and the hair frivolities are a lovely little treat, but what more could she need? Settling on the front steps in order to open it and find out, she discovers that apparently, there is a cruel streak of humour in whomever is sending her such gifts.

The top two items are practical. They appear to be quite skimpy, but look like they will support her quite well if she decides she wishes to exercise. The shorts and brassiere are not what she's used to, but the concept is quite practical. It's when she goes further to the next layer that has her eyes wide and a look of shock on her face.

"Good God!" she reacts, slamming the box shut instantly. Opening it a moment later, the set is still there, as lurid and red and lacy as before. Fishing the top out, Peggy dangles the strap of an indecent set of bra and panties from her fingertips, which wouldn't cover much on any woman, let alone her. Turning skywards, she regards her strange benefactors with a disbelieving look, as if this is suddenly some awful movie production Howard is manning and he expects her to put on a show.

"If you think I'm putting these on where anyone can see, you've another thing coming," she warns the strange gods above, staring through the holes of the panties and going approximately the same colour red when she sees someone else through them. "Well," she says, as calmly as she can muster, "this is embarrassing."

One Hundred and One...

When Kate and Margaery are found and brought back to safety (albeit somewhat scraped), Peggy finds herself quick to frustration and hating her ineptitude in helping to find them. That, combined with how easily her body slides to weariness is a reminder that she needs to keep up with a much more regimented training plan. While she dislikes running for the sake of exercise, she clads herself in her brand new sports brassiere, the tank top, and scrubs trousers before going for a run.

What she would like most of all is something to take out her aggression on. There had been nothing better than the punching bag at Howard's mansion to finish a day with, allowing her fists to take out all the fury she can manage. The best she can do here is a pillow she's absconded with, but the punches feel light and she gives up someway through when it's nowhere near the sort of satisfying she's aiming for.

In her mind, she can hear Howard's voice (a ghost of itself) as it asks Peggy, does Jarvis know that you can do 107 one armed pushups? and it makes her absurdly homesick for a set of people, but also gives her a determined goal to try and best.

It's been some time since she set that record for herself, but there's no time like the present to try and beat it, especially since sparring seems out of the question when the pillow is hardly fighting back. Pinning her hair back to keep it from her face, Peggy settles herself on the ground in order to begin, winding her way through the first four sets of ten with ease, but as she begins to hit seventy, then eighty, she finds herself flagging.

"Bloody Nora, they weren't always this hard," she mutters under her breath, arm trembling as she refuses to give up just yet. This is what she gets for ignoring her regiment as long as she has, and with a loud cry of frustration, her arm gives out and she goes to her stomach on the barely-dried ground, accepting that she'll be doing quite a bit of laundry after this. Staring up, she lets out a long sigh and wishes for Howard's gym facilities, not for the first time.

Comments

[lastofthekellys]

She'd gone for a walk. She'd even walked out the front door, and not climbed down sheets from her window like she'd been tempted. People are fussing, like she's made of spun glass and caught pneumonia. Which she hasn't. She's merely been sleeping for most of the time since yesterday, and trying not to laugh because the scratch across her nose stings when she crinkles her face in a smile.

Added to that just how soothing Benedict's- Mr Sorelin's - presence is, and honestly, Kate just needs some fresh air. So she'd strapped up her foot, pulled some dry clothes, and gone for a walk.

She hadn't expected to see Miss Carter sitting outside the house she shares with Mr Barnes, although people do tend to sit on the steps. She most certainly hadn't been expecting to see the woman holding...

Holding...

"What in God's name is that?"

[womanofvalue]

Peggy smiles wryly at Kate through the holes, shifting it so that the pair of indecent briefs dangles from her outstretched index finger. Were it another man (and were it some very specific men) she might blush harder, but when it's just another woman, Peggy isn't so quick to embarrassment. "I believe it's something someone would like to see me in," she notes, because she can't imagine any other reason for its arrival.

"I'm afraid my nameless benefactor is going to have to learn with disappointment."

[lastofthekellys]

"Like to see you in," Kate repeats, with a performer's precision. Frowning, she adjusts her grip on the crutches and swings her way forwards to peer closer. She'd been bemused, and more than a little scandalised, at the smallness of the underthings their captors thought decent, but the scrap of fabric Miss Carter is holding up, she doesn't even understand how it works.

"Is. I'd presume from your reaction it ain't exactly a hair-piece, but... what is it?"

[womanofvalue]

Amused, now, Peggy feels rather a bit better knowing that while she might be slightly shocked, it seems like she's going to get to introduce Kate to a brand new sort of undergarment today. She can practically feel herself preparing for the task. Peggy rises to her feet and clears her throat as she rolls her shoulders back and tries to act quite dignified as she overlays the brassiere over her chest, laying the straps where they ought to go.

"See me in," she echoes once more. She leans into the box to dig out the bottoms with a pinky and dangles them in view. "Matching set, I believe."

[lastofthekellys]

Kate has been a performer in a show for two years. A Wild West show, yes, where the most her costume calls for is a tiny waist (achievable, although she generally prefers her corsets not to be pulled that tight) and padding out the front of her riding habit to go her more of a bust. But, still, a performer, associating with other show-types, and it's been eye-opening.

And yet, she's never seen anything as revealing as that which Miss Carter is holding.

Kate crinkles her nose, her quick temper roused to protectiveness. "Now that just ain't right," she says heatedly. "Sendin' you that kind of thing. I've seen more proper underthings on dancing girls. Certainly more supportive. Where's the boning?"

Belatedly, she realises her mistake: no boning, no real support, if it's anything like the brief underthings their captors have given them. So maybe it all covers... mostly the right things, according to the standards.

But nothing that lacy is proper.

[seekingvinland]

Thorfinn had been back to his normal routine as soon as the rain stopped, firewood was some days, hunting and gathering others. He had to keep himself busy, it was the only thing he really knew how to do these days without being at sea or having a set of instructions. So, manual labor came first. He was coming back with his arms full of split logs to drop in the back yard near the cellar door. It was where he had been keeping the wood he was collecting. Perfect little piles almost like he was making a fence out of the split logs, but he wasn't. It was just how he was stacking them.

Kol's house, where he was still staying, was right behind the Inn. So, as he shifted to head back to the woods he noticed Peggy and her impressive training. He didn't even think about it, he made his way over watching as he did. He never expected to see a woman doing such movements but it added to his already forming thoughts that Peggy Carter wasn't a normal woman. "You've not been training enough, gets harder without doing so enough." He heard her say, as he stood not far off from her in his dusty tunic Kate had made him, over the light gray stained up scrub pants and boots. His hair braided back up in two braids going down and joining in the back as one. All in all, he looked much better than the day in the rain. Thorfinn waited to move over to offer a hand until she was let out the sigh. No judging in his look at all.

[womanofvalue]

Peggy glances up from the sweaty hair in her eyes, staring blearily up at Thorfinn as she works her knee to the ground in order to lever herself into a sitting position, breathing out sharply. Lucky that her clothes are dark, but the tank top is no longer the pristine white it had once been. "I let myself get soft," she confesses with a shake of her head. "I used to be able to do more, you know. A hundred and seven of them!"

Now she's just boasting and it's a touch embarrassing, which makes her remember not to be so smug. "I don't suppose you'd like to be my sparring partner? Keep me in shape today?"

[seekingvinland]

Thorfinn nodded, clearly impressed. Though his English was still coming along he had always been good with numbers and math. His sister had ingrained it in him from the time he learned speak. "Very impressive, would not have guessed." He admitted. Peggy didn't strike him the fighting or training type. He knew of women who fought along side men, but he had not met many. "We have much time here, you will get to more if you want." He spoke with a sure tone.

Letting an amused noise escape him, thankful once more that no one but Jo knows the details about his past here. "Sure, Peggy, but I have not sparred with a woman before, please tell if to much. I do not wish to hurt anyone anymore." he spoke honestly. Even if he hated violence it was a better idea to help with her if he could, least something happen while the men were away and the woman not be able to protect themselves. Though with the woman in this village it seemed unlikely to happen but he still worried.

[womanofvalue]

She steadies herself on her feet and works to re-pinning her hair in place to ensure that it won't go too wild. She gives him a fond look, a touch empathetic, but it's driving her onwards to show off a little. "I assure you," she promises firmly, "you won't hurt me. Just tell me if I hurt you too much," she insists.

Raising her hands, she sets herself into a boxing stance, and waits for Thorfinn to approach in order to know what she's dealing with and how best to defend herself and then attack.

[seekingvinland]

Thorfinn pulled the knife from his boot tossing it over to the side the nails and random stuff he had in his pockets. He watched her take her stance and nodded. Fists, fists were easier, he just had to remember to control his strength. He didn't know enough about Peggy to know what to expect.

He moved forward then with a dash of speed to close the distance between them. He swung out hard with his right fist, testing how quick she was, he couldn't let himself listen to the voice inside screaming it wasn't okay to try and hit a woman. She asked, she wanted to spar, it would be rude to hold back to much.

[thenewways]

It's not like Nerys has never seen lingerie before, though Bajoran fashions differ considerably from Earth ones, so she's not entirely certain why Peggy's blushing the same color as the underwear she's holding up and looking through. Or why Peggy's looking through it at all. Admittedly, it's about as practical as feeding hasperat to a sinoraptor, around here, but it's nice enough, she guesses.

"It's okay," she replies to Peggy. "Though I think you're supposed to wear them on your body, not your face?" She may be playing up the not-from-around-here thing for a laugh, to ease the embarrassment.

[womanofvalue]

"If whoever left this thinks I'm going to wiggle my arse into this just because someone left it on my doorstep, they've another thing coming," Peggy says darkly, wishing that there had been a delivery man or someone else that she could slap. This reeks of Howard levels of joking and the timing is particularly cruel, given Steve's arrival last month. It's enough to make her stuff it back into the box, trying for more civility when she next looks at Nerys.

"Apparently, between the useful presents and the unending canyon walls, someone expects a fashion show."

[thenewways]

Nerys bites her lip a little, mostly to keep back a smile. It's not that she doesn't take Peggy's anger seriously--she shares it, after all--but saying as much with a pair of barely-there underwear in hand is still a little funny. Particularly when she gestures with it, sort of like a flag.

"I wouldn't strut down the canyon in that," she says, deciding that's the best focal point for the time being, to keep from laughing or from the creeping feeling of unease that comes from Peggy being left some clothing that's impossible to make on site. Like their mysterious captors have a replicator or something. "You'd probably get a cold, and that's the last thing you need."

[womanofvalue]

Peggy's laugh is a barked, delighted thing as she stares at it wryly, agreeing that if someone imagines this to be a new wardrobe for her exploring, it's going to be a rude awakening for them. "No, I don't think it did make the pages of the fashion magazines for roughing it when exploring magical canyons," is her critical remark. She sets it back in the box and sighs. "There's other more useful pieces of clothing, but I don't understand the impracticality of these."

Well, that's not entirely true. If she assumes this place to be as cruel as it can be kind, she knows exactly why she's being taunted with such things on the heels of a certain someone's arrival. In another life, these items might have been purchased and worn on a wedding night. Something that never came to pass, not for her.

[thenewways]

Nerys looks sympathetic and nods. The lace is nice and all, though it's not the kind of color she's ever pictured wearing on her nether regions. There's some cultural thing here she's not getting, she supposes. From what she knows of human history, many of the cultures at the time Peggy's from were...limited in terms of expressing sexuality. Even someone practical and unflappable as her can be taken aback by flagrant disregard for norms, perhaps.

Or maybe they remind her of someone she wore that kind of thing for, notes a little voice in Nerys' head, but seeing as that's Not Her Business, she purses her lips for a second. "What else did you get?" she asks instead, and curbs the urge to peer into the box.

[treadswater]

Annie can feel herself going mad.

Ever since her Academy days, she'd gone for a daily run. Barring injury, of course. Swimming depended on weather, on if she was okay with water, but running? Every day. Even if it was up and down the marble stairs in her victor's mansion, she'd run. She'd run because it's a habit, she'd run to keep up her stamina, and she'd run because she noticed if she didn't, she got...

Worse.

More distracted, more paranoid. The violent thoughts would come and the fear would be easier to set off.

Except, here, in an arena, ironically enough she can't. And here, once she and Finnick had taken refuge in the house, there isn't even any hiking. She can feel her energy curl itself in her, under her skin, starting to seize up her fingers and make her twitch.

Once the rains had gone, she'd had to get out. Walk a bit. Normally, she'd add, 'talk to someone not Finnick', but that's not a goal here, with these strange people. Besides, she knows he's watching her from where he's gathering supplies. Keeping an eye, just in case she needs assistance. Which she doesn't, until she sees the brunette doing push-ups with one arm and collapse into the dirt with an all too familiar groan.

She'll blame it all on being cooped up in a house, in an arena, because Annie opens her mouth and blurts out, "They're always if you've not done 'em in a while."

Then she snaps her mouth shut and stares, a little wide-eyed, because even in a non-arena setting, people don't tend to like random comments from her.

[womanofvalue]

Peggy's glance upwards is fond despite the wryness, because it's hardly the other woman's fault that she's lost her ability to do the push-ups the way she might have once been able. And it's true in that she hasn't done them in a very long time, seeing as she's been trying to find a way out of here, which means push-ups and running and sparring, in general, have taken a backseat. "You would think that with all the time in the world that I do have, I'd be acing these with no problem."

And yet, here she is, struggling away. She pulls herself to her feet and one planted firmly in the ground as she works herself to her feet. "You sound like you're speaking from experience," she says warmly.

[treadswater]

Annie smiles, nervous and shy and brief. She thinks, well, it's easy to get distracted, but conversation isn't exactly always easy with her. Particularly not when she didn't prepare herself beforehand.

By the woman's second statement, she's got herself more together.

"Yeah. I am. I got injured, once. It wasn't easy to start up again, after."

[womanofvalue]

"May I ask how?" she wonders, taking the opportunity of the break to fix her hair absently. Peggy's own injury had been hard to come back from, especially given that she had a bad habit of popping her stitches by not taking it easy. "I just came off of one myself," she shares, "but when I got here and after the spring, it's really just when it's damp that I feel the ghost of a pain." She's not even sure that makes sense, really, or perhaps it's just her brain thinking that there ought to be some sort of pain there.

"And did yours fix as well?" she adds, because she does have to wonder whether the springs and the fountain had been generous in their healing abilities.

[treadswater]

Annie often has a sense of movement about her, all her urges to run and fidget lingering even if she's standing still. She stumbles over words, her sentences can be choppy, and her eyes rarely rest. Certainly, they rarely rest on a conversational partner.

But now, that all vanishes into focus. Her eyes, a dark sea-green, flick over to the woman sharply and remain.

When she speaks, she still stumbles a little over her words, but her eyes don't leave.

"I, in my games. Oh, except you don't know about them." It's said dully, but mostly impersonally. Like she's gone somewhere else, a little. "I had to tread water once, when I was nearly nineteen. For a day. It fucked up my joints pretty bad. Since then, air pressure, wet weather, all of that makes them hurt. Bad.

But not here. They don't hurt here. I thought-"

Here, the impersonal falters, and her gaze drops. She swallows back the rest of the sentence, that I was just going crazy again.

"The spring healed you, too?"

[hawkeyesniper]

Riza does her best to hide the smile playing at the corner of her lip. She knows that if the situation were reversed she would also likely be turning red. However, since it is not her, it is a little easier to find amusement in the situation. Even she can admit, though, that Peggy would likely be able to pull off that particular pair of lingerie just fine. Although, on the other hand, it is rather creepy that someone out there decided to send them over.

"I didn't realize it was laundry day," Riza finally replies in a cool voice. "Who's the lucky guy?"

[womanofvalue]

It's precisely the right thing to say in order to steal her words for a moment. She wishes she could be quick to a quip and to insist that there will be no lucky men, but there is the unfortunate presence of Steve in the back of her mind. Luckily, she recovers herself quickly enough and tucks the lacy thing back into the box with an efficient and curt folding motion. "I can assure you, no one has that sort of luck to have earned that sort of view of me," is her demure and calm reply, even if it's been such a very long dry spell that she wouldn't mind allowing someone to be lucky.

That's not the sort of thing that you ought to be fixated on when you're surviving, though. "Honestly, I'm beginning to think that there are some very disturbed people in charge of giving these gifts." Now that she's collected herself, she turns her attention to the woman. "I think this is the first time I've ever met anyone over unmentionables."

[hawkeyesniper]

"I'm inclined to agree," Riza admits. She wonders if perhaps she was a bit too forward with her quip. The woman doesn't seem too upset though, just a little flustered and recovering from that. Riza decides not to needle her too much since, as she points out, they've only just really met.

"I can thankfully say the same I think," Riza says, though she's fairly certain that with the small population she had seen Peggy around. "Sorry if I was a bit forward. I've seen you around but I guess you're right, this is the first time we've really gotten a chance to speak. I'm Riza Hawkeye, I've been staying at the Inn."

[womanofvalue]

"Peggy Carter, apparently now the owner of a set of unmentionables the likes of which should only be on mannequins in department stores," she says, as she absently folds away the underwear in order to get them out of sight. "I assure you, considering the subject matter at hand, it's far from forward," she guarantees.

She can only imagine how lewd and lurid the comments could be. "You're somewhat newly arrived, aren't you?"

[hawkeyesniper]

Riza can't think of a meeting as strange as this, except for perhaps running into some of the other women for the first time at that little spring swim night a little while back. That had also been a little outside of her comfort zone, but Riza had always been one to hide whatever was phasing her. This was actually tame compared to that. Although she really did have to wonder what they were doing sending a pair of under garments like that OR what Peggy was planning on doing with them.

Still, that was none of her business now. Though she might tuck the information away to try to figure out when or if they ever discovered the people behind this.

"Somewhat. I think it's been a few weeks now," Riza replied after giving it some thought. "I have a habit of keeping to myself if I'm not careful...it's one reason I chose to stay at the inn instead of moving to my own house," Riza added. If she wasn't careful she could easily fade into the background and stick to people watching, but given her time in Manhattan and the fact that she had zero friends from home here it made sense to be in a space where other eyes were constantly available. The inn was also a strategic place for information and she needed that desperately, not just as someone new but as someone who wanted to help solve the problems here. If anyone she knew ended up in this place, she wanted to be able to give them as many of the clues as possible.