Blameless gumball wishes and taxicab dreams

[thespaceopera]

[On Today's Episode of Drift Fleet:

The cargo are still full of crates of gumballs! The ships are well booked past capacity! There's a new empty vessel in the fleet- the SS Blameless! Official alerts have informed the passengers that they are signed to contracts that they've never agreed to! They are still docked at the dazzling FS Starlight, but are flat broke (or have they made it big?)

How is the fleet handling these turns of events? Find out in the continuation!

...Meaning, this is a spillover mingle for February's mingle as it's hit recaptcha. Feel free to use this mingle to start new threads, or carry on old threads from the previous mingle!

- Current Plot Setting
- Previous Mingle Post
- Latest Shuffle

Tag around, have fun, and feel free to continue posting your own posts/ship mingles! We really mean it this time when we say this will be the only mod-posted one for the event!]

Comments

fs starlight »

[ladybro]

[ -- did he just ask her to dance? kate's nursing a glass of wine (and not exactly all that pleased with it, honestly) at one of the quieter, jazzier joints on the star-station. she isn't here to make friends; instead, she's waiting down the street from another bar where clint barton is making himself into a dartboard folk hero. but she can't stomach all that small-time celebrity, so she's here. waiting.

and that's when this guy approaches her. she squints. ] Does it look like I'm here to dance?

[speedboat]

It doesn't look like you're not here to dance. It is a dance club. [ is he missing something here? (always) ]

[ladybro]

And maybe I'm a fan of dance music.

[ just not the dancing. except (truthfully) she loves the dancing. it just doesn't feel like as much fun without america here, too. or billy and teddy. hell, she'd settle for tommy right now. ]

[speedboat]

But not a fan of dancing. [ he doesn't buy it. he speaks up a little to be heard over the music, much more invigorating than anything his time had to offer. he's finding himself quite excited by it really. ] Beautiful girl like you, what have you got to lose? [ he offers his arm in a gentlemanly fashion and lays the puppy dog eyes on her in full force. come on mama ]

[ladybro]

My standards.

[ zing. but her heart isn't in it. for some reason, the burn just isn't as sweet if the target hasn't yet proved himself to be adequately sleazy. ]

[speedboat]

[ his hand comes back, touching over his heart. ] You wound me, baby. But hey, suit yourself. I was just trying to be polite. [ which is mostly true actually ]

[ladybro]

The name's Kate. [ because this is a sore point, ok. ] Not baby.

[speedboat]

Kate, will you dance with me? I'm making a fool of myself here. [ come on u kno u wanna ]

[ladybro]

[ FINE. ]

Do you solemnly swear to leave space for the Holy Spirit?

[ not that it's ever really mattered to her, but sometimes it's good to lower expectations nice and early. ]

[speedboat]

[ he blinks, but slowly... nods uncertainly, holding out a hand for hers. ] It's like the 30s all over again.

[ladybro]

...You lived through the 30s? [ curious, now, as she puts her hand in his and rises from the table. ]

[speedboat]

Of course I did. [ not that it's all that obvious, he supposes. he wonders if she's part of the common ~2015 crew. she's nearby anyway, that he can already tell. he shouldn't chide the poor girl for not catching on as quickly as him -- no one does. ] Howard Stark, nee 1917.

1/2

[ladybro]

[ ... ]

2/2

[ladybro]

Shut up. You're not.

[speedboat]

Oh, but I am. [ he's satisfied with that answer, remembering what celeste said to him. kate must be from the future of his universe, and that alone is far too interesting to pass up. he leads her out onto the dance floor, even as he has to steadily raise his volume past the volume of the music. ] I take it you've heard of me.

[ladybro]

[ kate's a good but decidedly modern dancing partner. they may struggle, at first, to match steps. ]

I grew up in Manhattan. You'd have to be blind to miss Stark Tower. [ and then, during the registration act conflict and osborn's reign, it had become a kind of bogeyman on the horizon. ]

[speedboat]

[ no look he's been learning, though the results are a little hilarious tbh. like a mix between white boy club dancing and something more classically trained with no discernible pattern to connect the two. ]

Really. So we are from the same universe. [ curiouser and curiouser. ] Are you also from the common 2015? Good to know I'm still a household name.

[ladybro]

I mean -- really, it's... [ tony who is the household name. but maybe she shouldn't mess around with timelines. so she gives her head a shake (to the beat) and changes tack: ] We're at least from two very similar worlds.

[ she has to talk loud. over the music. ] If there's one thing I've learned, it's that the differences can be...pretty small.

[ between worlds. ]

[speedboat]

It's close enough, for a place like this, don't you think? [ he's already puzzled out that they can't break the timelines from here. he's met tony after all. maybe that's because they're all from minutely different worlds. maybe it's not. there's no way to test it and so he needs to file it under 'irrelevant.' ]

[ladybro]

I don't really put a lot of stock in close enough. [ well, isn't she pretentious. ] Something either hits the mark or it misses.