gotta get down for a mingle

[redactions]

Who: The crew of the SS Heron and visitors.
Broadcast: nope.
Action: Aboard the SS Heron.
When: After returning to the ship.

[ finally back on the right ship, except the corridors are all mysteriously cold and the ship seems smaller. Thanks, Atroma. New crew, visitors, starters in comments ]

Comments

[mucked]

[ that smile widens. she doesn't mean to scold -- doesn't mean to proselytize, either. ]

I don't suppose I could convince you into calling me Peggy. [ it's not a question and it's not a command. she understands the sorts of protocol jim has left with the winter soldier, and she doesn't care to trip any of it. merely telling him to call her something else would be a hollow victory. ] Almost everyone does, in the end.

[reconstitution]

[ He certainly does scrutinize the situation at hand, weighing both options. On one hand, Jim had laid down parameters for how to address and act around her. If she wanted to be called something different, did that mean that overrode what Jim told him? Would he be cross for going with her word instead of his?

She is the person in question, so he can't really try to pull rank and go over her head. He nods once and very carefully replies. ]

..Only so long as you drop the 'mister'?

[ It is difficult to really determine if this is something that can even have a conditional clause pasted to it, but he's certainly going to try. Even if she denies him, it's easy enough to brush off. ]

[mucked]

I believe I'm capable of doing so. Winter.

[ her cheer persists. and why not? negotiation is a good sign. she approves of his attempt to tailor the bargain to suit not only her, but also himself. or perhaps she merely feels more benevolent, lately, what with steve's arrival.

although: ] Is that right? 'Winter'? Or should I call you something else?

[reconstitution]

No, that's okay. Unless you think of something better.

[ Winter has been the solitary thing he's really been able to claim as his since arriving, but maybe it was time for change? His throat tightens at the possibility of what she may suggest, but he would at least hear her out.

Diamond's words back on the Marsiva are still echoing loudly in his head.

Though, I suppose you've never been very good at recognizing when someone is trying to help, hmm? ]

[mucked]

Buchanan has an awfully distinguished ring to it, you know. [ but she's teasing -- and doing so affectionately, because she's certain that much like 'james' or 'barnes' or 'bucky', that staid old name has long been let go by this man before her. ] But that's more Buckingham and less Brooklyn, I suppose.

[ she crosses her arms. rubs warmth into her elbows. ] I always liked the creative license allowed when it came to choosing names undercover. Plain names or pretty names or what-have-you. Are there any to which you feel partial?

[reconstitution]

[ That's just the thing, he doesn't know what he feels partial to or what suits him. Going so long without and being pressed with his past really does leave very little wiggle room into creating his own identity.

He can't very well say that he wants to be Jim- not the name, exactly, but who he is as a person.

But figuring out who he is?? He doesn't have a goddamned clue. As far as Winter is concerned, he's a slate that has been wiped away so many times, all that's left are stubborn, chalky streaks. ]

I don't have an opinion on it, m-- Peggy.

[mucked]

But I suppose you may, someday. [ she lets her head tilt. ] Until then, I don't mind calling you Winter.

[reconstitution]

Yeah..maybe someday.

[ He nods. ]

Winter is fine until then.

[mucked]

There are plenty of names that are a damn sight stranger, after all. [ brows up. peggy dispenses with her own unique brand of optimism. ] Hamlet. Othello. And among some very particular English circles, Macbeth is one that's downright bizarre. So Winter will do just fine.

[ it's no coincidence she names these tragic men. ]

[reconstitution]

Always right, aren't you?

[ He's not annoyed by it- really, he's grateful. Anyone else probably would have just left the conversation as it was. Peggy wants to make it better in her own way, which is very much a tell of her personality. ]

[mucked]

[ at first, her eyes widen ever so slightly. they betray a shock -- but not a bad one. perhaps from another soul, such an invasive comment would only get beneath her armour. but for a brief and beautiful moment he feels like bucky: quick with his returned fire, and always right in his own intimate way. nostalgia tugs at the corner of her lips. ]

Heaven knows I try. [ lives depend on it, some days. ]

[reconstitution]

[ Bucky is starting to come back one piece at a time, the ice chipping away at the edges. It will be a long time before he resembles anything like the man he used to be. Maybe he'll never be him again, but there are just pieces of himself he'll never be able to completely erase. ]

You don't have to, but you do.

[mucked]

Or maybe I merely have an awful lot to prove.

[ this time, she isn't being smarmy. nor smart. but quiet and confessional. ]

[reconstitution]

..Do you? It doesn't seem like you would.

[ She's strong and commands attention already. What the hell would she need to prove? Peggy is one of the good ones that he's met so far. Who else could dislodge memories long-forgotten with a few kind words? ]

[mucked]

Hah. [ dry. ] Bless Jim for not having breathed a word of it to you but -- I'm afraid the S.S.R. rather more often has me fetching coffee these days, my friend.

[reconstitution]

[ My friend Oh god, it makes his chest hurt. It's a warm feeling, but there's an edge to it, too. She wants her friend back, but with those words, she's deemed him an acceptable replacement.

It didn't really feel like friendship, before. But now it does.. ]

Then you should just show them who is boss.

[mucked]

More than likely, you're right.

[ she won't quibble. she won't argue. she won't sob and sigh over how damned difficult it is to make them see her as an equal, let alone a superior. ] Not that it matters now. They're well and far away.

[reconstitution]

I suppose it is, Peggy.

[ It still feels wrong not to address her as Agent Carter, but it's what she wants. He's not going to dispute that. She gives him the same courtesy and calls him Winter; even though they both damn well know that's not who he is. ]

[mucked]

And changing their minds will take time. [ ... ] Time worth taking, of course. But time all the same.

[ she wonders if perhaps the winter soldier might empathize with that point. ]

[reconstitution]

They'll see they were wrong.

[ The easy way or the hard way, certainly. They'll regret being on opposite sides in either scenario. ]

[mucked]

Or they'll go the way of the dinosaurs alongside their prehistoric thinking. [ a nervous laugh. she hadn't meant for it to sound quite so much like a threat. ]

[reconstitution]

Some people's ideals are harder to change. They think they're right and try to make you believe it.

[ And sometimes, they're so charismatic about it, that they win. ]

[mucked]

Ideology's a bastard to battle. [ she wets her bottom lip. ] From either side.

[reconstitution]

As long as there's one, it won't stop.

[mucked]

So -- in your experienced opinion, Winter -- what would you say we battle here?

[ it's not as simple as toiling against the atroma, because there more like an overseeing power than an ideology. is it voyeurism? is it some bizarre twist on capitalism? she can't be certain. ]