(Untitled)

[waltsnothereman]

Wanda had a problem. It was hardly an urgent one, and she'd merrily set it aside for weeks, but now that she'd gotten accustomed to the new and arguably improved island-that-wasn't-an-island-anymore, it was time to get down to business

Comments

[loveofmasters]

"I, uh - sure, just... you should probably go back inside, right?"

If there was one thing guaranteed to make Florence fluster, it was seeing a nearly naked woman darting out into a Victorian landscape. She wouldn't expect it in modern time either, but considering the circumstances, she was even more surprised. Maybe even scandalized, it certainly wouldn't happen back home even after the so-called liberation of the sixties and seventies behind her.

"Wanda, right?"

[waltsnothereman]

"Bingo," Wanda replied, heaving a rather restrained sigh of relief to keep from losing her top. "On both counts. You're a lifesaver; my very own Florence Nightingale."

[loveofmasters]

"I'm a Florence, don't know about the Nightingale part."

She followed Wanda into the house, waiting so she could make certain the door was closed. She didn't want some ghost stumbling in, even if they were... ghost-like. She was really starting to doubt her own sanity around here.

"But let's see if we can help you get laced up."

[waltsnothereman]

"Yes, please," Wanda said, flashing Florence a grateful smile. "I mean, I'm sure I could just keep winging it for another couple of weeks until this all probably goes away, but when in Rome, right? Or London, as the case may be."

[loveofmasters]

"Don't worry, I know the feeling. Here, turn around." Florence started pulling at the corset's strings, something she'd gotten used to in recent days. "You might want to re-lace all of these, use two laces, one for the top half that ties at the top and one for the bottom that ties at the bottom. They're a little easier to tighten on your own that way."

In the meantime, Florence continued to tug and pull. "Is this too tight?"

[waltsnothereman]

"Oof, that's- no, that's okay," Wanda said once she'd had a second to get accustomed to it. It was tighter than she'd been expecting, but not uncomfortably so. "And that makes sense, about the laces. You'd think that's the sort of thing I should be able to figure out for myself, but nooooo."

[loveofmasters]

"Well, it took me a few tries and an unfortunate incident with a bent coat-hanger to get it right." She chuckled and tied a neat bow. "The advantage of being stubborn, I refused to ask for help so I had to figure it out myself." Of course, she could laugh about it now, but she'd nearly cried with frustration those first few days.

She tapped Wanda on the shoulder. "There you go, all trussed up."

[waltsnothereman]

"Just like a Christmas turkey," Wanda deadpanned, checking herself out in a convenient mirror. "Thank God my stubbornness always manifested in different ways than that, I never would have figured this out on my own."