A Closet With Many Hats
Title: A Closet With Many Hats
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Anthea
Summary: She goes by many names, many faces, many personalities. And they all come from the same closet
It was early. Earlier than even the most early of rises usually got up, but that wasn't a problem for the woman currently stepping out of the shower. She operated on very little sleep. She had to, to keep up with her job (life).
She stepped in front of the fogged up mirror enjoying the distortion it provided her. The anonymity.
It allowed her to forget what she looked like (and who she was) once stripped of all her personas.
It allowed her to build new ones from a blank slate.
She squished her hair with one hand and determined it dry enough. She put a highlights cap on her head and plucked the amount of hair she wanted through it with the tiny hook then applied a liquid to the hair with gloved hands. A gift from a friend down in MI6. A greying agent that would be permanent until a certain shampoo was used.
While the liquid set, she turned to her closet. The computer built into the wall allowed her to filter through the items and easily the the ones she needed. It kept track of which outfits belong to which persona.
Mycroft had had it installed for her. Not a gift, for that implied a meaning to it that it didn't have. No, he had simply been providing a tool with which she could handle her job (life) more efficiently.
In the end they'd had to remove two walls and combine three rooms to house all her clothes and the mechanical fetching system... Still, that was better than the racks of clothes that had taken up four rooms before.
This was definitely more efficient.
She was very grateful.
She choose a black pencil skirt, an ivory blouse, and a deep grey cardigan. For earrings she chose simple black pearl drops on a platinum ear stud. The necklace was an antique, but well cared for A pendant (silver, this, not platinum but they didn't really have platinum in those days). From her many wedding rings, she a large sapphire surrounded by small diamonds (set in platinum as well). She left the men's rings alone, her husband would be alive.
No, she decided, dead but her persona was not the type to wear his ring around a chain on her neck.
With her clothes chosen, she turned the shower back on and carefully washed the grey liquid from her hair. Once the cap was removed, she toweled her hair dry ignoring the silver streaks that appeared through it intermittently.
She made a towel turban to keep her hair out of her face and opened her makeup cabinet. She sorted through the different bags and pulling out the bits and pieces she would need.
An expensive brand, her persona today was well off.
The mirror was already beginning to lose it's white sheen as she applied her foundation. The person she was becoming needed to be older, so rather than concealing the fine lines that actually existed, she accented them with a bit of eyeshadow (with a very fine brush it worked perfectly for deeper wrinkles).
Eyeshadow, eyeliner, lip liner, lipstick (not lip gloss, lip gloss was for younger women).
The mirror was still slightly fogged by the time her makeup was applied and she turned to her clothes and jewelry.
With that done, she opened the bathroom door and let the rest of the steam out and allowing the mirror to clear.
As she gazed upon the clear reflection of this persona, she carefully catalogued every attribute, every flaw. She made up a backstory and several humorous anecdotes.
"Myrtle Arlington," she named herself.
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Anthea
Summary: She goes by many names, many faces, many personalities. And they all come from the same closet
It was early. Earlier than even the most early of rises usually got up, but that wasn't a problem for the woman currently stepping out of the shower. She operated on very little sleep. She had to, to keep up with her job (life).
She stepped in front of the fogged up mirror enjoying the distortion it provided her. The anonymity.
It allowed her to forget what she looked like (and who she was) once stripped of all her personas.
It allowed her to build new ones from a blank slate.
She squished her hair with one hand and determined it dry enough. She put a highlights cap on her head and plucked the amount of hair she wanted through it with the tiny hook then applied a liquid to the hair with gloved hands. A gift from a friend down in MI6. A greying agent that would be permanent until a certain shampoo was used.
While the liquid set, she turned to her closet. The computer built into the wall allowed her to filter through the items and easily the the ones she needed. It kept track of which outfits belong to which persona.
Mycroft had had it installed for her. Not a gift, for that implied a meaning to it that it didn't have. No, he had simply been providing a tool with which she could handle her job (life) more efficiently.
In the end they'd had to remove two walls and combine three rooms to house all her clothes and the mechanical fetching system... Still, that was better than the racks of clothes that had taken up four rooms before.
This was definitely more efficient.
She was very grateful.
She choose a black pencil skirt, an ivory blouse, and a deep grey cardigan. For earrings she chose simple black pearl drops on a platinum ear stud. The necklace was an antique, but well cared for A pendant (silver, this, not platinum but they didn't really have platinum in those days). From her many wedding rings, she a large sapphire surrounded by small diamonds (set in platinum as well). She left the men's rings alone, her husband would be alive.
No, she decided, dead but her persona was not the type to wear his ring around a chain on her neck.
With her clothes chosen, she turned the shower back on and carefully washed the grey liquid from her hair. Once the cap was removed, she toweled her hair dry ignoring the silver streaks that appeared through it intermittently.
She made a towel turban to keep her hair out of her face and opened her makeup cabinet. She sorted through the different bags and pulling out the bits and pieces she would need.
An expensive brand, her persona today was well off.
The mirror was already beginning to lose it's white sheen as she applied her foundation. The person she was becoming needed to be older, so rather than concealing the fine lines that actually existed, she accented them with a bit of eyeshadow (with a very fine brush it worked perfectly for deeper wrinkles).
Eyeshadow, eyeliner, lip liner, lipstick (not lip gloss, lip gloss was for younger women).
The mirror was still slightly fogged by the time her makeup was applied and she turned to her clothes and jewelry.
With that done, she opened the bathroom door and let the rest of the steam out and allowing the mirror to clear.
As she gazed upon the clear reflection of this persona, she carefully catalogued every attribute, every flaw. She made up a backstory and several humorous anecdotes.
"Myrtle Arlington," she named herself.