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ok but I'm assuming there's a welcoming committee? I'd just like to say that I haven't been introduced to the welcoming committee and also, I'm assuming there's a brochure somewhere, something along the lines of 'welcome to wonderland here are 101 ways to get high'?

didn't get that either.

so that said, i'm going to compile a list of every question you must have heard a thousand times before.

✘ this pocket universe is inspired by carrol's wonderland. duh. any signs of a portal? anything?

✘ are the mirrors creepy in a 1984 way or in a creepy-girls-WILL-climb-out-at-night way? super important.

✘ where are the EAT ME and DRINK ME stuff? because I had cookies three hours ago and I'm reporting no change in size. Where do I file a complaint?

✘ how many people's heads have been offed? is that a thing?

✘ is there really a high caterpillar? because meeting the guy's on my bucket list.

✘ HAVE all of the mansion's horses and all of its men tried to put Humpty together again?

also fyi if you see a guy in a flying suit of armor that's just me. don't shoot, it never ends well and also it gives me a serious electromagnetic headache.

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It's 'we' now, is it?

[ she rakes his tactic and nudges it none-too-gently back in tony's direction. ]

I'll have you know this is leagues cozier than an army tent.

[ which means her argument is something along the lines of i've had worse. ]

Edited 2017-10-07 12:18 (UTC)

--- It's cozier than a cave, too. Trust me, I've tried.

[ but that is neither here nor here, in fact - ]

You know there isn't a rule anywhere that says that just because you've had worse, it necessarily means you can't have better. Just throwing it out there.

[ by this point, there's no use in hiding the sharp and personal nature of her curiosity -- especially not when he goes ahead and says something like that. a cave? it's a shame he moves along so quickly. but peggy is already assembling a mental dossier on the man sitting in her room. she was assembling it before he even arrived. ]

I've got what I need. [ she counters. sulky, almost. ] To arrange for anything else seems like a waste of time. I don't intend to get attached to this place.

[ says the woman who's been here nearly half a year now. ]

Okay.

[ it almost sounds like he's about to let it go. except tony stark isn't famous for letting things go. even seemingly insignificant things such as this. he's not about to let her go about living in a place like that. ]

it'll be a waste of my time. Seriously, I have tons of it. it'll be fun.

Mister Stark.

[ yes, we're still rolling with this thinly veiled attempt at formality. ]

You can't simply bust in through someone's window and -- and redecorate. [ although to use the word 'redecorate' implies that any decorating had been done in the first place. peggy becomes a little huffy.

just a little. ]

Haven't you got anything better to do?

Uh, no.

[ that's a really pointless question, honestly. ]

You can pay me back by inviting me to afternoon tea or whatever it is you do for fun around here.

[ fun? what is this fun of which you speak? ]

I don't suppose you're likely to take 'no thank you' for an answer, are you?

[ -- if she's drawing a comparison to his father, then it's only the very barest of one. ]

Not in my vocabulary.

[ but look, he'll take a seat again. ]

maybe a couch there, a bit of furniture. a fancy work table, the whole nine yards.

As coping mechanisms go, this one's remarkable. [ peggy lays a card on the table. except the table is as-yet metaphorical because (as he's so astutely pointed out) there's no actual table in sight. ] Have you even bothered with your own quarters yet? Or is a better distraction to fuss with mine?

[ because that's how she chooses to reduce his actions and his offers. she's a distraction. her room is a way to keep the mind and body busy. and it's remarkable because it draws a definitive line between father and son. howard, she's convinced, would have concentrated that energy on his own domain. ]

I've had worse.

[ really. it's better than the iron legion. ]

Mine are done. Same as home. Only took an hour. I'll add onto it but it's there. maybe a box of cookies. some cups. You really don't have anything to offer people who come visit. I could use a snack.

Or you could stop and consider that the lack of anything on offer is a deliberate choice.

[ peg doesn't want visitors. peg doesn't plan for visitors. she makes her visits to other people's rooms, seeking them out and playing architect when it comes to the terms of any meeting. she can count the amount of people who have visited her room on one hand.

and a singular someone had visited more than once. he's gone, now. ]

Yeah, no. we're not going to do that. you still have to put up with this horrible space you call a room. if you want, I'll get F.R.I.D.A.Y to play a recorded message to people coming over. hey there, you're not wanted or - pay attention, you are approaching the room of someone deeply antisocial.

[ stop him at any time, really. ]

[ i'm not antisocial, she nearly stammers in argument. but what other explanation is there for how she's conducted herself within the mansion? guarded, protected, veiled at nearly every opportunity. she's smiled so many fake smiles in the last few months; she's wondering if maybe she's forgotten what a real one feels like. they burst through now and then. but not nearly often enough.

christ, the war saw her in better spirits than this. ]

Tell me how you got those bruises, Mister Stark, and you're welcome to call forth one new piece of furniture from my closet.

[ so this is how it's gonna be, eh? nevermind whatever the devil a friday is. ]

[ tony could tell her she doesn't really want the answer to this question but that would be telling. he's not the sort to spare, either. sparing feelings was steve's way and that was how he ended up with the bruises to begin with. ]

deal. got into a fight with a spangled bald eagle.

[ that would surely be enough to clue her in. ]

[ at first blush, she doesn't take him seriously. oh -- look -- it's a stark playing silly buggers all over again. how novel; how expected. but as the answer settles into her echoic memory, peggy has to consider what it means. a spangled bald eagle.

steve. and for such a tiny moment, all her bravado and flint drains away. peggy appears remarkably vulnerable for the span of a heartbeat. most of it is confusion -- from what steve had told her, she can't imagine why the two might have fought. and hits like those? peggy reads the bruises on his face a second time. hits like those don't come from a friendly spar.

she swallows her emotions. however sore a topic steve might be for tony, it seems to be at least as sore for her. so much so that she doesn't take any triumph in getting an honest answer out of him.

and in recompense, she falls back on the same coping mechanism he'd first introduced. she jabs a finger in the closet's direction. ] ...Do keep it tasteful. Whatever you choose.

[ not a word spared for steve rogers. ]

Edited 2017-10-07 14:12 (UTC)

[ he spares her a crooked smile, a sort of I told you you don't want to go there before getting up and opening the closet. ]

seriously?

[ but he doesn't pull out a piece of furniture. instead, it's a tablet. a bit of an old one, really. tony was aiming for the newer programmed work spaces. his sigh is heavy and tragic. ]

Okay, let's see what we can do with this.

[ at least it came with a cord. he takes out his cell phone and spares her a look. ]

did anyone teach you how to work with these? real time savers.

[ she bites down and swallows whatever broken-glass retort she might have planned for his smile. his infuriating smile. steve's specter is its own kind of bruise -- one that covers her whole being, lately. it's a weakness she wishes she could shake off.

so she redirects. channels. tries, in vain, to compartmentalize. tony's taking liberties already because she's fairly certain the slab of something he's taken from the closet isn't furniture at all. ]

What is it? [ she stands up, then, and at least launches herself into the distraction. ] I know how to use the devices they give us here -- if that's what you mean.

[ and she's heard rumblings of smart phones and touch screens but she really isn't all that familiar. ]

This is better. the screen is bigger. I don't know what it has on it, though. it's sort of ancient but -

[ he connects his phone to the tablet ]

maybe it'll transfer, maybe it'll, huh.

[ it seems that tony stark can smile more easily at technology than he does at people. ]

F.R.I.D.A.Y, you in there?

[ always boss. ]

she's a program, she's great. you girls will get along.

[ she's in his phone, it would seem. ]

[ there is a very real and honest part of peggy carter which absolutely hates how fascinating this becomes. fascinating enough that she moves within arm's reach -- close enough, at least, to look at the tablet. close enough to witness the lines around his smile when it happens. ]

She's a program. [ it's repetition, not inquisition. ] Why Friday?

[ -- maybe she should be more impressed than she is, but peggy's had a conversation with an artificial consciousness already. they discussed paint colours. ]

Oh come on. My girl Friday? it's from your time. you should know this one.

[ he dares wink at her, the very nerve. ]

F.R.I.D.A.Y, let's upload a 3D design program. Try the basic ones, this tablet's ancient.

[ I can tell. ]

[ it takes her a moment but -- ] Not a big fan of Cary Grant, I'm afraid. Nor film in general.

[ which is just as well that they don't bust into that topic, because it brings them once again 'round to howard stark. and oh lord his wink puts her immediately in mind of that man. whatever else is different, that wink is achingly the same. it's enough to put a pang in her heart.

ugh it's no fair she can't properly see what the screen is doing without actually standing next to him. ]

Oh come on. Everyone loves films. some kind of. we'll find something. what do you do here all day?

[ seriously, does he have to go and find his aunt a life? ]

alright, hold on - initiate scan.

[ as his phone creates a digital version of her room, he turns to look at her. ]

seriously. music? film? live shows? monopoly? anything at all?

[ she refrains from telling him that she spends a good portion of her time trying not to die. and that another portion is spent sitting on the mansion grounds with her coded notebook propped against her knees while she tries to sort out future-rumours from valid intel. or that she's taken to tapping a shoulder or two for quiet shared drinks, turning attempts to learn about her fellow residents into its own kind of entertainment. ]

There's a library. [ she offers with a shrug. peggy hasn't been there often but to mention it might satisfy tony's immediate curiosity. ] And a firing range.

[ TRUTHFULLY, she's considered taking up horseback riding. but that's a confession she's not prepared to share with anyone just yet. ]

Going crazy on your Saturday nights?

[ but he's not one to talk. he's been spending his at the lab for years now. he points to the tablet. ]

this is a model of your room. see this? if you add things onto it from the menu at the side, you could redesign it. and if you don't do it, I will.

[ he taps the screen, moves a bedside table just next to her bed, a box reading WORK TABLE by the window, two other boxes listed CHAIRS to stand by it. ]

[ look, this is all well and good but: ]

I could do the same damned thing with pen and paper.

[ which is when she reaches out and taps the screen and accidentally deletes the box labeled BED. whoops. ]

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