video + action || the first

[speedboat]

Who: Howard Stark and YOU (I'm sorry)
Broadcast: Video Transmission, Fleet-wide.
Action: The Marsiva
When: Now

[ howard begins by painstakingly peeling himself up off the surface of the deck. this is a familiar position for him so he's not overly worried, smoothing back his hair as he rises unsteadily to his feet. he blinks heavily a few times, expecting his eyes to be heavy and for the customary knock in his head to follow. nothing happens. he feels remarkably alert, actually. wait a second...

the hairs on the back of his neck raise up, triggered by that eerie feeling of being watched. ] If this is a ransom demand, you're going to be sorely disappointed. [ it's not directed at anyone, scarcely above a mumble, he doesn't know anyone can hear him yet. howard steps towards the viewing ports, sticking his hands in his pockets and wondering what form of trickery this could possibly be. very advanced and very clever, surely, but just as frustrating. ]

I must admit, I'm impressed with your holographic technology. I could almost believe I were really in space... if we weren't at least a few decades off from such an advancement anyway. [ unless, they aren't. that disquiets him, smugness dropping from his tone as he continues to look around, but his voice only grows smaller. ] ...Hello?

Comments

video;;

[reconstitution]

[ The face in the video feed is familiar, though he's having trouble connecting why. Maybe he can make the connection quickly. Hello, Howard. You have a video that looks like it's being broadcast in the belly of a ship, a familiar face from the shoulders up, though there are a few differences. ]

Would it comfort you more if it were just a hologram?

[ Thinking about it that way isn't much of a comfort. You would have to start considering what was behind the hologram. Much worse. ]

[speedboat]

[ he actually jumps. half-jumps. but then he seems alright with this system. actually, it's pretty cool. ]

It would comfort me more if I had a twenty year old scotch in hand. No - forty. Forty-five.

[ wait. this can't... oh. ] Barnes?

[reconstitution]

[ He lets out a huff of something that could be annoyance or entertainment. With him, though, can you ever really tell? ]

More or less.

[ He looks at something off screen briefly before his attention is back. ]

video »

[mucked]

[ months. it's been bloody months -- and, apart from a great many people hailing from seventy years in her future (familiar faces among them), peggy hasn't quite experienced this. she half-expects howard to spin around and claim much the same. another one put on ice, and flung into some distant year.

soft -- almost in awe: ] Crikey O'Reilly. [ she centers herself in the image. at least peggy looks quite properly like herself: red lipstick and pin curls. ] This is unexpected.

[ and yet it likely shouldn't have been. ]

[speedboat]

[ though he still has no clue what's going on he has to smile at the familiar image of one peggy carter. it probably shouldn't be as comforting as it is really. ]

Peg, I'm disappointed. Where you go, I'm always but a few steps behind and to the left. [ he taps the side of his nose like that was something insightful. ] Care to tell me which lion's den we've dropped into this week?

Action

[combatready]

[ Howard isn't alone, per se, on the hospitality deck of the Marsiva.

Enter Penny, a seemingly-normal teenage girl. 'sup. ]

I don't believe we're being held for ransom. [ She offers Howard a smile. She thinks it's comforting, but it probably isn't? ] Also, hello!

[speedboat]

Not you. But I'm worth... well. It's up in the air. A lot. And I'm no stranger to kidnappings. [ he looks around, uncertainly. okay so maybe... ] This is a touch more elaborate than I'm accustomed. For one thing, they didn't even drug me. Amateurs.

[ does he sound like he's disappointed? maybe a little. ]

video.

[paraclete]

[The youth on the screen has such a pale complexion that he'd probably look ill if not for his robust atmosphere. He's even dressed in grey, almost wholly lacking color... except for his eyes, which are soft and ruddy. Ultimately, he seems full of composure and perhaps even cheer — he smiles like things are going to be all right, because that's what he wants Howard to feel. It doesn't look like the man is panicking, anyway, but a little more hope is good for anyone.]

Where I come from, a man first set foot on the moon sixty years ago. Space travel has been widely aspired to and improved upon for decades. Though, these ships have gotten further than what I would have expected, too.

[speedboat]

Sixty years... [ no. for all the conspiracies and bullshit he's helped peggy uncover. or -- mostly that jarvis has helped uncover. sixty years is simply too many. this is outlandish in the worst way, and he finds himself staring into those inhuman eyes as if he couldn't break the connection if he tried. ]

Why would we go to the moon? [ now he's laughing outright. ] That barren space-rock? Now I know you're putting me over.

[ though why anyone would play an elaborate prank on him of this caliber he still can't quite work out. ]

video

[resnipstance]

[Howard Stark, meet alien.]

What? ... Holographic imaging doesn't look anything like that!

[speedboat]

No. No, of course it doesn't. [ what even. he knows he shouldn't give crazy people the time of day, and yet... they do have a habit of intriguing him all the same. damn it all. ] Though... if it were. A hologram. How do you reckon it might be different?

video.

[intelligently]

Would you believe it more if this wasn't your decade? Or possibly your universe?

( He sounds smart. Why not throw odd concepts at him )

[speedboat]

I'm starting to get that impression. And I only have one question.

Where's the booze?

video;

[firstrebel]

[ This one seems like an interesting one. Enough that Hera turns on her feed, anyway. So, Howard, is the green-skinned alien girl a holograph, too? ]

You know, it's not often we get people who know how long it'll take to reach a particular technological advance.

[speedboat]

Let's just say I'm an inside man, sweetheart. [ yeah he'll hit on you. being green doesn't preclude you from this shit. ]

video;

[universal_charm]

I already went after the ransom angle. I've been assured that's not what this whole thing is about, and so far I haven't seen evidence to contradict that.

As for the space thing - that's real. So, you know, no opening strange doors. Decompression isn't fun without a suit.

_{[ He smiles into the video feed, all blonde hair and bright blue eyes with a smattering of freckles. He has on the bright yellow and black uniform shirt of the Fleet he came in rather than the gray jumpsuit he's given as a back up. ]}

Captain Jim Kirk. Nice to meet you.

[speedboat]

Everything's about money one way or another. [ and he'll find out how. this guy's uniform is curious to say the least, but he doesn't say anything about it, merely filing it away for when he has more information. ]

Do I seem like an idiot to you, Jim? I'll get to the bottom of this without exposing myself to the vacuum of space, pal, thanks for your concern.

video;

[nulliverse]

Well, you must be incredibly important, mustn't you, if the first place your mind goes is ransom.

[Sorry, Howard. You've got bright, dark eyes peering at you now, alight with curiosity and amusement, because you're a) way more confused than most people and b) taking it pretty damn well. That's the exact recipe for someone who'll be fun to tease, a perfect balance of those two, because anyone who's too light on one or the other could become genuinely upset. And that ain't how Celeste rolls, she's in it for fun.

(he's also c) absurdly handsome in a classic film sort of way, which - well, no one could say Celeste's got her groove back, but at least she's noticing such things again.)]

I was beginning to think that everyone who came here was lifted from other transdimensional... nexuses? Nexii? But you sound like you've come right from your home base. Poor thing, that means you've really a lot to learn.

[speedboat]

[ and she's... cute. howard is noticing such things again as well as he begins to internalize all of this. even as he desperately needs to speak to steve and needs to find someone in charge so he doesn't end up with a bunch of randos. ]

I am. Important, that is. Though I won't waste my time expositing. [ not that he has any problem humblebragging his face off, but this isn't the time, even for him. ]

I'd rather hear about you, babydoll. I take it you came to be here through other-dimensional means?

[ is he flirting or trying to get information? wait. there's a difference? ]

text;

[redactions]

[ Best not to freak the poor guy out with two of them, so, text first. ]

Got everything you needed, Stark?

[speedboat]

[ oh cool, he didn't know he could type on this thing... howard quickly catches on, hammering out a reply. ]

Do we know one another, my mysterious typist?

[housepartyprotocol]

[Tony has been holed up in the engineering room for the better part of two weeks. Mostly ignoring the comms unless directly relevant to keeping the ship operational while he gets more comfortable with the practical science of the ship. Until he hears this one.

His stomach drops before he can even recognize why he knows the voice, it's younger, after all, than he remembers it. When he turns to see the video feed, he very nearly drops the wrench in his hand.

His face is completely pale when he approaches the screen.]

...you.

[speedboat]

[ another admirer -- or not. this guy seems stunned, but howard's got nothing. ]

Me, yes. How perceptive. [ it's dry, but mostly he just looks confused. he's not out to embarrass anyone except maybe himself. ]

video;

[forgetyourusedtobe]

I'm thinking by now everyone's told you that it's not a hologram, huh?

video;

[speedboat]

No, no one. Please, say your piece. [ it's a tad distracted, but she's pretty. why not hear her out? ]