driftfleet | ( video )

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( video )

Who: Peggy Carter and YOU.
Broadcast: Fleet-wide, from inside the Marsiva.
Action: Y, for any other newcomers between now and the Shuffle.
When: This Week.

[ let us not dwell too long upon the awkward silences and humiliating nascent moments of agent carter's awakening. let it only be said that she woke with a start (despite the afforded comfort) and the broadcast didn't quite zoom in close enough to adequately witness the depth of her horror when she first raised a tentative hand to her forehead only to find an empty glass vial still sitting there. steve's blood had been poured away: returned to his native lands by way of the east river. both guilty and triumphant, she pockets the vial in her blazer and tells herself it's a problem for another time. after all--- ]

Bollocks. [ mistaking herself for a person alone, she swears. loudly and colourfully as she crosses the bay and knocks her knuckles against the too-intact viewing window separating herself from the rest of creation -- and no familiar blue-and-green marble in sight. peggy swears again: bollocks, damnit, and hell. unable to peer into the void for much longer, she turns her back on oblivion and is confronted once more with the too-sterile hospitality deck. she may be a tidy and precise sort of woman, but this much tidiness and precision makes her stomach turn. where is the stink of new york? the heat? the mess? the humanity?

feeling charged with purpose, she springs into (moderate) action. feeling alarmingly comfortable with technology she swears she's never seen before, she plays her fingers across a panel she doesn't know will connect her to the rest of a whol damned fleet -- but she's left with the burning certainty that it'll connect her with someone. imperiously: ]

I would speak with the individual -- or individuals -- in charge of this operation. Believe me when I stress there is a whole bloody cavalcade of laws, both domestic and international, you're breaking by holding me here. I demand to...

[ some of the fire floods from her belly. a little desperate, she changes tactics: ] Is anyone there? Hello?

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Someone here gave it to me. But it's all I have.

[ All that he's aware of having, anyway. Those pesky memories are still not forthcoming at all. ]

[ they call him the winter soldier. she'd be worth nothing if she didn't have her intellect and her intuition.

letter by letter: ] Sergeant Barnes?

[ is she speaking to the other? hydra's toy? the one who fell -- who was supposed to fall -- from that train? her blood boils. ]

I'm not the Captain.

[ More and more people seem to be making this mistake, and as much as he adores Jim, it grates on him. Like nails on chalkboard, clawing at his skull every time.

They don't look that similar, either.. Or at least that's the opinion of someone who has been nameless for so long he can't connect with the reflection he briefly catches in the mirror. ]

You're not. I know you're not. I didn't mean --

[ the words stop. she hates how she feels sympathy for a wounded predator. one that would if he could kill... ]

And yet you may be more him than he is.

[ he's the one who fell. the one steve mourned. ]

I doubt that, ma'am.

[ He doesn't even compare to Jim-- there's no way he could be that compassionate toward anyone. He takes care of his crew and the others he cares about. Winter has tried connecting to anyone else like that and just...falls so far short. ]

Peggy. [ she offers her name almost like a plea. desperate for some spark of recognition, but she dreads it won't come. for anyone else -- and perhaps had she not been primed for this by the other barnes -- she'd never offer such blatant informality for all others to read. ]

Peggy Carter, if you like.

Peggy Carter?

[ He gets that feeling in the back of his mind again, that something is familiar, although it's very much like a mist- something he can't quite grasp onto it like he wants. ]

Yes! [ somehow, a great deal of feeling is injected into that single word. perhaps it's the exclamation mark. or perhaps it's how quickly she replies.

hell, even the fact that she gave her name at all is a sign of some sort of hope. had she not guessed already that 'winter' might in fact be the so-called 'winter soldier' mentioned by the other barnes, she might not have dared to feel anything at all. ]

Peggy Carter. Margaret, really. But very few people call me Margaret.

It's pretty.

[ He takes a few minutes to send his next reply, still trying to catch that feeling he's got. He knows something isn't right, and it involves Peggy, he's sure of it.. Winter just can't seem to trust what his mind says just yet. ]

Are you safe? Is anyone else there with you?

[ -- hah. what an odd weird discomfort it is to be (almost) comforted by a man she once knew and who, if the other one is to be believed, would see steve dead. well: steve's already dead. the thought makes her chest tighten.

and, hell, she doesn't know for certain whether this floating text really is the 'winter soldier'. she could yet be mistaken. ]

Quite safe, all things considered. But not alone.

[ one man (the archaeologist) doesn't frighten her. ]

Good. Most here aren't a threat.

[ Though, perhaps what he constitutes as a threat and what Peggy does are possibly two very different things. ]

Just as you said: helpful.

[ after a moment, she prods the communications device with a kind of curious and clumsy inquiry. the speaker crackles into existence. peggy can't leave well enough alone, and she asks: ] Can't you speak?

[ The sudden voice throws him off, causing him to drop the communicator. He fumbles with it, pressing the button on the side, choosing his words. ]

I can speak.

-- So why didn't you? [ why, she wonders, did he not want to speak? there's something to be discovered (she thinks) in the reasons why he might have chosen to communicate textually first.

but then again, she doesn't yet understand the depth of what they stripped away from him. ]

The other way is easier.

[ Maybe no one else will really understand exactly why the text communications are easier for him. They're comfortable, and he can think about how he needs to reply before actually doing it.

It's a precaution. Tells are harder to see in a written message. ]

I suppose it is. [ easier. peggy sounds tired -- quite above and beyond the problem of space-travel, she must swallow a brace of other bitter pills. ] But we don't do ourselves any favours by only taking the easy ways, Mister Winter.

[ she nearly chokes on the name. ]

[ He's quiet for a few moments and sighs wearily before actually responding. ]

..No. I understand.

Nor any favours to those around us. [ ... ] Besides, I had to hear your voice.

[ had to hear it for herself. ]

My voice? Why?

I thought I mind find it recognizable, Mister Winter. [ and she did. just barely, if she's honest. it doesn't harbour the same tones as the man she once knew via the commandos. but a spy's ear must be trained and keen, and she can spot the similarities lurking below his laconic syllables. ]

Did you find what you were looking for?

[ She doesn't look or sound the type to be involved with HYDRA-- which is where his mind instantly goes. She's fishing for information without really asking questions, and it makes him more than a little wary. ]

I did, I'm afraid.

[ and it makes her very sad -- confused, a little out of sorts, and very sad. ]

Sorry for the disappointment.

[ It doesn't hurt quite as much as the thought of disappointing Jim, but the feeling still sits heavily in the pit of his stomach. ]

If the man calling himself a Captain is being honest, then I understand the disappointment isn't your fault.

[ hydra. oh, she has a hate for them. ] But if he's being honest, then you and I knew each other once.

[ Winter seriously considers not responding. His frustration at not having anything save for his training before his last mission is really starting to wear on him. He can feel that there should be more, but nothing is really forthcoming, no matter what he tries.

He does think Jim's stories are helping somehow, though..

Steeling himself, he switches the feed over to video so he can at least read her face for deception. ]

I wouldn't know, really. There isn't much I can remember.

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