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]

I've been worse. [ and she can't precisely say she's been 'better'. that, there, is the rub. why should this place offer her so much when its premise is so rotten? ] I thought I was seeing things...back on the Marsiva. I want to say he hasn't changed a bit, but --

That's my sentimentality talking. And not my pragmatism.

[ there must be a change somewhere beneath all that familiarity. look at bucky; look how he's different. ]

[redactions]

We've all changed.

[ That's his sentimentality and pragmatism, but this isn't the time for nostalgia. ]

Somethin' you noticed about him, in particular?

[mucked]

[ a mild hum. she allows a mild shrug to infect her posture. ] He was always bold. But now? [ she won't be so crass as to explain the bewildering kiss in the hallway -- because explaining it would also require explaining the one she'd initiated before steve took to the valkyrie. and some moments are meant to stay private. ]

Bold, still, but of a different variety. A different breed of boldness.

[redactions]

[ might also make his little shipper heart explode, just saying. ]

Bold, huh?

[ Steve hadn't seemed bold at all — just more withdrawn, the walls around him higher and more difficult to scale. He puts this away to look at it later. ]

[mucked]

More hungry.

[ but her voice betrays nothing. that sort of boldness that's born in desperation. ]

[redactions]

[ This line of thinking is lost on him. Jim frowns. ]

Well. Guess we'll see just how much.

[mucked]

[ his frown (paradoxically) makes her smile. a quiet smile, edged with anticipation and just a hint of something...sweeter. were it any other topic, she might have put jim out of his curious misery and explained every tent-pole of her verdict. but, as it was...! he and steve are-were-could-be the dearest of friends, and she would not deprive the two boys of their friendly chatter. let steve tell him, she decides. if he wants to. ]

Oh, I hope so. And meanwhile I'll try not to be too pleased he's been shanghaied alongside the rest of us.

[redactions]

[ This is like some infuriating code he can't crack, and he'll just bother Steve about it later. ]

You'n me both.

[mucked]

Are we allowed our selfishness, you think? Just this once. [ or just this twice as she feels the weight of folded paper in her pocket. ]

[redactions]

[ He grumbles, and lets it go. ]

Just this once, Pegs.

[mucked]

[ -- something in his grumbling is a comfort. he is so one of the commandos; she can hear their set-upon humour in him. the long-suffering and the long-lasting. ]

He'll be joining you lot here on the Heron, won't he? [ she hasn't been told anything -- hasn't heard anything. she's merely guessing. assuming. ]

[redactions]

For visits. I think he's staying on the Bloodsport for now.

[mucked]

Hm. Unexpected. [ ... ] I thought he'd be chomping at the bit to be -- well, nearer. [ peggy doesn't hide the mental calculations behind her eyes. ] Is it because of the Winter Soldier?

[redactions]

No trouble in Paradise, you shouldn't worry.

[ His mouth quirks up reflexively, a consequence of her concern — even as she calculates visibly. ]

We're just working a few things out.

[mucked]

[ working things out... ]

Is that why he's billeting in the cargo bay?

[redactions]

What? No he just doesn't like the bunks. Bed's too soft, and it's cold.

[mucked]

[ bed's too soft... ]

He reminds me of a guard-dog, out there. Pacing the place with his gaze. Sentry duty.

[redactions]

Probably how he likes it.

[ We all want to be useful. ]

[mucked]

Oh, likely enough. [ in the wake of the war, she could be accused of the same desire to be precisely that: useful. it did (on occasion) get her into trouble. ]