may-time mingling (starstruck!)

[mucked]

Who: Starstruck crew + visitors
Broadcast: N/A
Action: Aboard the Starstruck!
When: The merry merry month of May

[ there's been a tiny regime change and doubtless some debriefing after that masquerade! have at it, starstruckers. mingle away! ]

Comments

[mucked]

Howard Stark is a colleague of mine. He was here for a brief stint -- and he holds the dubious honour of being Tony's father, and may also be the one person who can give the younger Stark's ego a run for its fortune.

If I'm being honest, I was shocked to learn he even had a son. Howard was never the settling sort. Not as I know him, at least.

[resnipstance]

It's a pity he left. Or-- both of them, really. I was getting his help with an engineering project, but I can't complete it on my own.

[mucked]

What were the two of you working on?

[resnipstance]

[Idly, Ahsoka drums her fingers across the top of Peggy's desk in front of her. Except it's not idly at all. It might look random, but...]

Oh, you know. I wanted to make some upgrades to the ship. See if we could make her go faster, improve our defenses, boost our comms and scanning capabilities so we could better detect and intercept other ships out there before they find us-- you know. The usual.

[It seems casual, but in fact it's a well practiced speech. It has to be, because the pattern she's drumming idly on the table is, in fact, morse code. It's short, but to the point: S I G N A L J A M M E R S.]

[mucked]

[ morse code, she knows. intimately. from her days at bletchley, to as recently as christmas when steve rogers tapped out an I LOVE YOU against her skin. peggy's face doesn't move an inch as she listens both to ahsoka's words and her message.

against her thigh, she replies: ANOTHER WAY.

as in we'll find a... ]

Our resident stoic -- Max -- has shown an interest in taking apart the shuttles. Seeing how they tick.

[resnipstance]

[Message given and received, Ahsoka continues drumming out nonsense on the table as they talk just so as to throw off anyone who might be over-analyzing their conversations.]

Don't think I haven't noticed. Anakin does the same thing. He says it's his way of meditating. [A chuckle.]

[mucked]

I believe it. [ she relaxes -- but only just barely perceptively. ] Max certainly seems more at ease when he has tools to hand.

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka's expression sobers.]

... It's something to keep his mind busy. Max... mm. I think-- he doesn't do as well as he thinks he does, when he's left alone too long. But he also doesn't like being around other people, either.

[mucked]

No, no -- he well and truly doesn't. I think he's growing to accept the Starstruck, at least. He's beginning to consider himself part of an 'us'.

[resnipstance]

Ha. I knew it. We'll get through that gruff exterior sooner or later.

[mucked]

I hope so. He has a lot to offer us, I feel. And we have a lot to offer him.

[resnipstance]

... Mm. It almost makes me wish ...

[But then she trails off, stopping herself.

She's too old now to be thinking in terms of "wishing" and childish fantasies. She should know better.]

[mucked]

...Wish for what?

[ -- peggy isn't so easily persuaded by silence. ]

[resnipstance]

Wish that... we could take the people we meet here from terrible places home with us. Max's world, it just-- it sounds so ... awful.

[mucked]

That it most certainly does. Honestly, I can't say whether he'd prefer to stay or not -- his home is what he knows. If I had any power over the situation, I'd certainly save him from returning. But...

It's all relative. His home sounds full of horrors, to me. And mine must sound very bleak to someone else. Even so, it's a nice thought.

[resnipstance]

If the Atroma have the power to pull us from all different worlds, surely they have the power to send us to all different worlds, too! You'd think they could at least use their powers for good.

[mucked]

If they're the ones pulling us -- I'm not willing to overlook the possibility that they may merely be piggy-backing off of a naturally existing dimensional phenomenon.

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka draws a great big breath and opens her mouth to argue that, because her hatred towards the Atroma is strong indeed... until she realises that she can't.

It's a perfectly valid theory, bias aside. There's nothing to refute it.

So then she just pauses there for a minute with her mouth slightly open before closing it, looking annoyed. Begrudgingly:]

...

I guess.

[mucked]

[ peggy smiles -- if only because she can so deeply relate to ahsoka's knee-jerk desire to bear her grudge. yes, she's quite pleased with the young woman as her first mate. ]

Should that be the case, they're still bastards for taking advantage. Don't let me get in the way of your ill-will.

[resnipstance]

[Well, that's that then. Satisfied, she crosses her arms and relaxes.]

Good. I don't think you could anyway.

[mucked]

I would never want to. You seem to feel injustice keenly, Ahsoka. [ ... ] I happen to think that's a virtue.

[resnipstance]

... Product of my upbringing, I guess.

[Regardless of her recent beef with the Order, she can't begrudge them that.]

[mucked]

Then, as an upbringing, it's done you well.