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. ]

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]

[ 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?

[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?

[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. ]

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!

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.

video

[resnipstance]

[Howard Stark, meet alien.]

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

[mucked]

[ -- it's a strange feeling, this mixture of consternation and relief. although she's certainly gone months and months without so much as a peep from howard, it took the threat of treason charges to have truly pushed him off her map. ordinarily, he's only a phone call away. reliable, in his own unreliable fashion. but on more than one occasion, she'd noted his absence within the fleet. ]

Week? [ her displeasure is a sharp note. ] Try months. I've been here ages, Howard. You're late.

[speedboat]

More or less. [ that's sure an answer. even howard can note some differences in bucky - not that they'd been close or anything before. but it is. ]

I'm sorry to ask this, pal. Hate to be a cliche and all that, but - is there any way I could be dreaming this? I do have quite the vivid imagination.

[reconstitution]

You could be dreaming, but it's a little... out there for the subconscious, isn't it?

[ He tilts his head to note his surroundings. ]

If it's a dream, this is pretty fucked up. [ Bluntly. ]

[speedboat]

Months. [ oh he gets it, she's messing with him. he gives that warm, robust laugh she's quite familiar with by now. it isn't wholly sincere, but when is he ever? ] You almost got me, pal. I like to be a little fashionably late, sure, but I wouldn't miss a party as your plus one.

[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?

[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. ]

[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. ]

[speedboat]

That may be, but when I'm sleeping my customary three-to-four hours a night is generally the only time I see dead people. [ since you're being blunt, he will be too. though fear is certainly a contributing factor. ]

[reconstitution]

Short story- I didn't die when I fell.

[ That is honestly the nicest way he can put it without just laying it out there. Since he doesn't actively remember knowing Howard, he won't. ]

[speedboat]

Funny how that story doesn't sound all that short. [ he can't prevent the flinch. he has so many questions... thing is, he can't work out if he's ready for the answers. ] And by funny, I mean... not that.

[reconstitution]

It never is.

[ You are never ready for answers, Howard. ]

[mucked]

Do be serious. [ does she have to put on her legit face? because she'll pull that one out of the bag'o'tricks. if she must. ] It's something of an intergalactic kidnapping. Welcome to the Fleet.

[speedboat]

[ ok obviously he knows this isn't actually a joke. or a dream. or a hologram. but the urge to remain blissfully full of denial is so there. ]

Alright, where's Jarvis? We need a plan of attack.

[speedboat]

I got it. You have the whole tragic backstory angle working for you. Maybe we should just table it for now. [ which he doesn't say often, but there are actually more important things at stake. ] Do you know where Steve is? [ probably bad timing for an interrogation, but if bucky was alive... why didn't he reach out to peggy or himself? but that question would get more of the story that he's pretending he doesn't want. steve's location is actually of vital importance. ]

[paraclete]

[Howard's laughter makes Kaworu's smile even more cheerful... maybe even indulgent. He's sweet when he says,] You know, I feel like many of humanity's scientific accomplishments can be summed up as, Because they could. Right?

But they built things there, too.

[speedboat]

Well. That's not wrong. [ but he sounds unsure. he's not sure he appreciates this guy's unerring cheer. ] What kind of things did they build?

[paraclete]

Tabgha Base, as well as all its functions and operations. [Which included constructing Evangelion, but if this person doesn't know that man walked on the moon, he certainly doesn't know what Eva is.]