Peggy was still getting situated into the regular routine of the Defense organization after the whole Vallo Dark thing happened, so that morning it was mostly administrative and catching up on months of Vallo happenings. She was getting used to seeing newcomers around when she came and went around the offices, however she was still surprised at times.
Surprised that morning at running into a man who was dressed even more old-fashioned than she had been upon her arrival. She managed, at just the last possible moment, not to physically run into him. She sidestepped to keep from a collision and then straightened. "Pardon me," she said, smiling warmly in greeting at the gentleman. She took in his baffled and slightly agitated expression and touched his arm gently. "Can I help you with anything?"
To say that Anthony was completely taken by surprise at finding himself in Vallo would have been the understatement of the century. More than one century, even. His arrival within the world had been a whirlwind, and his understanding of what was happening was minimal, at best. Oh, he had nodded along and watched a video after a brief explanation of the technological advances since 1813. There seemed to have been quite a few, he'd told the man tasked with orienting him dryly.
Now he was meant to wait until someone could escort him to the apartment complex where apparently two of his sisters were staying. That seemed near impossible, as did communicating with him with the device now residing within his pocket. As a result, he found himself pacing the hallway where he was meant to wait unintentionally. That is, until he almost walked straight into a woman who soon was touching his arm. He glanced down at that, struck by the forwardness of the gesture, and said, "Pardon me, Miss. I've had the most unfortunate morning and appear to have been distracted."
He paused, his eyes returning to her hand which had not moved. "Are you here to escort me to the Morningside residence?"
She stepped back. "I can, if you'd like me too. I think there were a few new arrivals and everyone's fairly busy just now. I'm Peggy Carter," she introduced. "From the looks of it, I assume you're quite set apart from your time, yes? I imagine there's a lot you take in. Have you already been through with the DOA and the introductory film then?"
Peggy had purposefully not signed up for any of the DOA work but knew there was some crossover on the defense team, things like this at times. "Do you know if there's anyone in Morningside whom you might know?"
"Anthony Bridgerton." He dropped the honorifics as she had, as had everyone he'd met thus far. "I've been told we're quite removed from 1813," he agreed. "As well as London, and yes, I've found this all a bit overwhelming even after receiving instruction."
At last he managed to focus his thoughts, and considered Peggy's offer. "Two of my sisters live in Morningside, Daphne and Eloise. I would like to find them as soon as possible." He had not understood what they'd told him regarding their previous residence within a snow globe, and had mistakenly assumed they'd been caught in a blizzard. It was one of many, many things that he had not yet made sense of.
Once again, he looked at Peggy, this time giving her appearance a full appraisal. "Is it customary then, that a woman should accompany a man unknown to her?"
1813, yes, that made sense given his appearance. "I'm out of time here myself," she admitted, "though not as far back as you. It was most recently 1948 for me. I spent several years in London, too, though I grew up outside of the city. It's very different here, but everyone is very welcoming."
Peggy nodded and gestured for him to walk with her. "I'm glad to know you've family here. It's harder when Outlanders don't know anyone. I can look up their flat number and take you there." She fished her phone out of her pocket and fumbled with it only for a moment before managing. Even for her, sometimes, the technology was more than she was used to.
At his next question, she stopped and looked at him. "Ah, you did say 1813, my apologies - in - Mister - Bridgerton." She supposed he could have an honorific but he hadn't introduced himself with one. "You'll find that it's a lot more progressive here than you're used to. More so than I'm used to, and I made a place for myself in a field overwhelmed by men. I assure you, no one will think twice of seeing us together on our own."
"Very well then," Anthony said decisively. "Miss Carter, will you show me the way to the Morningside residence? And you wouldn't know where I could find ... a history lesson, I suppose, to bring me current."
As they started on their way, curiosity got the best of him. "What was the world like in 1948?"
"There are a number of resources for you to catch up. A lot of that information can be found on your phone, which I realize will take some time to figure out. I'm still not used to it myself. Didn't have anything quite like this in my time either. Otherwise, there is the city library, and I'm sure someone at one of the local schools would be willing to give you a broad overview." As they walked, she continued on. She found herself glancing at him every now and then, not only because he was very handsome, but because she wanted to be sure he hadn't, er, swooned (ha!) from the overwhelming nature of his new situation.
"In 1948?" Peggy repeated. She hesitated. "One thing I should note is, whatever universe you came from in 1813 might not be the same timeline as the one I came from in 1948. Though I've learned that, at least some majority of Earth realities have minimal differences with regards to the mundane. That being said, in my time, we'd finally emerged from the Second World War and the world was rebuilding. Very quickly, I might add. Technology and household amenities had advanced far beyond what you'd have known - and more so from then to now - with indoor plumbing and electricity and automobiles. That is, you won't need to use chamber pots to relieve yourself, use gas lamps for light, or need a horse or carriage to get around."
When they emerged outside, she paused to allow him a moment to get oriented, considering the foreign sites and sounds he was currently encountering. She recalled what Steve told her, about his first few hours waking up fifty years after his plane went down, and thought it must be even worse for Mister Bridgerton. She was dealing with the same thing, of course, but she didn't have the time or inclination to not go at her new life head-on.
"The second world war?" Anthony asked, that bit of information sticking out amidst many other things that didn't quite make sense to him. "That implies a first world war," the scope of which he couldn't imagine.
He'd arrived within the city streets, and fortunately had been quickly met by a member of the DOA, but even now, the second time outside in this new world was nothing he was prepared for and he was grateful that Peggy had stopped, as he would have on his own.
"It certainly seems that life moves with more haste," he commented, speaking louder to adjust for the noise. And as overwhelming as the sights and sounds were, so was his curiosity. His attention focused on the speed and size of automobile driven without horses. But there would be a time to learn of everything around him, for now he needed to find his sisters.
Taking a deep breath, he nodded at Peggy, indicating he was ready to move on.
"Yes, well, men always seem to find some reason or another to start a war," Peggy said with a sigh. She gave him a moment before continuing on down the sidewalk. "Every year seems to mean a faster-paced world, yes," she agreed. "Especially with all this new, instantaneous communication technology that is so prevalent. It takes some getting used to, and if nothing else, you can stay in your flat and enjoy a modicum of peace and quiet if you need it."
It wasn't a long walk to Morningside in this part of the city, and Peggy turned a corner before it. "It's just up ahead," she said.
"I suppose it is in our nature to solve disagreements with force," Anthony agreed, focusing on the conversation at hand during this walk through the unknown. He had, after all, been willing to kill his best friend over his sister's honor, which was nothing he felt the need to speak of then. "When other options have failed. But it seems the nature of women has been altered dramatically."
"Perhaps," she said, tilting her head to the side to regard him for a long moment. "Or perhaps women have always been this way and merely stifled or kept at bay by men for far longer than they ever should have been." Peggy smiled at him then stepped forward when they had arrived at Morningside. "Here we are. It looks as though your sisters' flat is on floor ten. I can take you up there if you'd like? Or you can go on your own."
"I do believe you and my sisters would find each other's company enthralling, Miss Carter," Anthony said. "But I fear they may get the wrong impression if I were to introduce you now." He regarded the lift with suspicion. "Are there stairs?"
"There are," Peggy said, motioning towards a hallway where the door to the stairs was located. "However, it is ten flights up, and the lift will get us there much quicker."
Pure stubbornness would have driven Anthony up ten flights of stairs but he walked toward the lift anyway, and then, in some relief, realized he knew precisely what to do. "I believe I can take it from here," he offered even as Peggy stepped onto the lift with him. "Thank you."
Then to his bemusement, the doors closed on their own.
"Oh," Peggy said as the doors shut. She glanced at him and then reached forward, brushing past him, to hit the correct button for his sisters' floor and then, as if an afterthought, for her own floor. "I'll just get off on seven," she said. "That's where I live. Might as well pop back into the flat and see about fixing something for lunch."
"I do believe myself capable of pressing a couple of numbers, Miss Carter," Anthony said, before pausing as the lift took off, once again eyeing her as she touched him, however unintentionally. "But thank you, once again."
"You're welcome," she said. And then the doors opened again on the seventh floor and she stepped out. Before the doors could close again, however, Peggy stuck an arm out and turned back to smile at him. "I'm sure we'll cross paths again, Mister Bridgerton. Best of luck with your sisters." She stepped back as the doors closed.
* * *
With as strange as the day had been, Anthony was grateful that there would be two faces he was familiar with, though as he stepped toward the room number Peggy had given him, it occurred that one or both of his sisters might not be home. How odd, given the number of rooms down this hallway, that their residence would be so small, nothing more than a stay at an inn, perhaps. But he didn't concern himself with that for long, knocking on the door and waiting, hoping at least one of them was there to greet him.
Eloise was at home and, though she wasn't expecting any visitors, still bounded over to the door to answer it. When she opened the door to find none other than her eldest brother on the other side, she gasped and then let out a squeal of excitement. "Anthony! My word you are the last person I would have ever expected to see here," she said.
Having burned the dress she had arrived in the other Vallo in, Eloise had taken to wearing pants and smart button downs or jumpers. How much freer she felt, and how much more comfortable. If she never had to look at a corset again, she would be quite pleased indeed. "Were we meant to get some sort of notification that you'd arrived?" she asked out loud, picking up her phone and poking at it a bit. When it didn't do much of anything, she shrugged and dropped it onto the sofa. "No matter. You're here now, and that's the important thing."
"The last?" Anthony asked, but he was grinning ear to ear. "Eloise, you have no idea how good it is to see you. And I've no idea about notifications, or much else about this strange world but I am indeed here." It appeared his sister had already adapted to the customs and cultures of this world, and he simply didn't know what to think, having already experienced far more drastic changes then could be deemed reasonable in any given day. Until the shock wore off, it was of very little importance to him really. (It would remain of little importance, but he did not yet realize as much.)
"Well, I don't know. I suppose I could have been more surprised to see, say, Gregory or Hyacinth turn up but then I suppose I would have had to mind them or something - no governesses or maids here, I'm afraid - and I wouldn't want to have to do all that." Eloise smiled right back at him. "Are you hungry? I could put some tea on. Or we could go out to eat. Yes - yes that would be better. Yesterday I discovered these wonderful handheld foods called tacos. Anthony, we must go get tacos, I've decided."
"You want that we should go back out?" Anthony replied, staring at Eloise. "Have you adjusted to this strange place then, sister?" Though he supposed he'd be useless in a kitchen. How convenient had his life been only hours before.
"Daphne is here as well?"
"This is better than the last place I was in," she pointed out. "I showed up in some horror-filled version of Vallo - Daphne had already been there for two months! - before we were found and rescued and brought here instead. Thank goodness, it's much better here than there." Eloise picked up her phone and stuck it in her pocket and started to move back to the door. "Yes, she is. Well, she isn't here as in here at the flat at this moment - she went out earlier today - but yes, Daphne's here as well."
"I don't know what you speak of, Eloise. There was somewhere worse than this?" Anthony couldn't even fathom this new information, as he reluctantly followed his sister back to the lift. He would have appreciated at least a half hour to sit on the couch and attempt to process everything.
"Oh yes. It was dark and foggy, like a winter morning in London but without any chance at all of sunshine. And there were monsters - actual monsters! - like from some horrible fairytale." Eloise kept talking all the way to the lift but then stopped abruptly without hitting a button. "My goodness, brother, look at me, how daft I'm being. I can just order the tacos to come to us and you can have a rest back in the flat." She shook her head and changed directions back to the flat. "I know I would have preferred a moment to breathe when I arrived and unfortunately didn't have one at all. There were some kind of undead monsters that showed up very quickly!"
"Undead monsters?" he repeated, grateful for the diversion back to the flat. Of course, compared to what Eloise was talking about, horseless carriages seemed like nothing at all. Not that what she said made any more sense than anything else that day.
"Are you well, sister?"
"Mmn yes. It was all very strange and quite terrifying." She opened the flat door and ushered him back inside. "Oh! I am well, yes. This place is unlike any I could have ever imagined. Quite the marvel, honestly."
"Things are … quite different here," Anthony replied. "I am not opposed to having food brought here and waiting before I venture out again." Though he was uncertain of how that was meant to happen without a kitchen staff. That was just the physical differences between their world and this. "It appears many of these differences are to your favor."
Eloise gave her brother quite the glare, eyes narrow, then sank onto the couch. "To everyone's favor," she said. She set her phone on her thighs and starting poking around on it. "I'll order tacos then. You'll have to trust me, brother, with what I'm getting for us to enjoy. Will you do that?"
"I don't have much choice, do I?" he said, looking amused. "And I meant nothing ill of it, Eloise. Only that you in particular of all my sisters seemed the most unsatisfied with the life you were meant to live."
She chewed on her lower lip as she tried to figure the phone out and took a break to look over at Anthony. "Mmn, well, considering that as a woman I truly only had one path unfolding before me, one that I have little interest in following, then yes of course I was unsatisfied with what it seemed I was meant to live. If you'd given it little thought, brother, you might have realized that most of us women were dissatisfied."
"Well it certainly appears that I'll have time to think that over now," Anthony replied. "You've not heard of anyone else from our time who has arrived here, have you? Outside of our family?" Was it too much to hope that whatever it was that had brought him here may have been kind enough to bring Siena along as well? To gift him with what he himself could not have back home?
"Only myself and Daphne at this time," she said. "Although I know there are some others from times around us. No one whose names I recognize, however." Ever perceptive, Eloise, squinted over at him. "Why? Hoping for someone in particular?"
"Perhaps," Anthony replied, debating whether or not he wished to share that aspect of his life straight off. "Have you figured out the … tacos, was it?"
Eloise waited for him to continue, but when he didn't and brought up the food again, she jumped. "Oh, right the tacos, yes. Give me just a moment … " She peered down at the phone again and poked around at it for a little longer before exclaiming "ah-ha!" and waving it in the air. "Success. They will be here in between fifteen and twenty minutes from now."
"That sounds like sufficient time to begin filling me in on what I missed," Anthony replied. "Or if you wish not to dredge that up straight away, tell me more about this place." He had questions, but chances were Eloise would not need further prompting and maybe he'd have a better idea of what lay in store for all of them.
Eloise needed no prompting at all to start talking about everything she'd learned so far in Vallo, and she started right in with everything about the hellish landscape that was the other Vallo, filling the air for as much time (if not more) than it took for their tacos to arrive.
The tacos, curious as they were, did not disappoint. Neither did Eloise's storytelling skills, and by the time the meal was finished, Anthony had been caught up. Only it did nothing to ease his mind over what his sisters had endured or what might come next. Even so, he preferred to be present rather than not, and Eloise seemed excited about the world that had suddenly opened to her. That was enough for the moment.