text & action » fleetwide

[mucked]

Who: Peggy Carter + YOU
Broadcast: text, fleetwide
Action: aboard the starstruck
When: the days following winter's glitch

Damage report, please. Who did the Winter Soldier hurt? Casualties?

[ her thumb hovers. she nearly adds I am so sorry but thinks better of it, in the end. peggy carter is confined to her bed in the captain's quarters aboard the starstruck, propped up on a small mountain of pillows with most of her torso bandaged and wrapped. a pair of broken ribs, at least. she hasn't properly listened to her own damage report, yet. but the consistent throb in the side of her skull suggests winter's initial blow landed harder than she'd first anticipated. one eye is still puffed up, bruised, and swollen to the point where it doesn't see a thing. one half of her face is streak of black and blue now that the blood's been cleared away.

she doesn't use the network's voice or video function. her texts are slow, business-like, and methodical. and she'll text for as long as she can before someone with a busier body than her own shows up to confiscate her device. but she hasn't been able to adequately parse the information that flew quickly and efficiently in the hours following her own fight and black-out and lonely struggle to an empty shuttle.

even now, it's about all she can manage to toggle the privacy settings and message her first mate individually: ] Ahsoka. Please see me in my room. ASAP.

[ a torch must be passed, for the time being. and peggy has a lot of healing to do. visitors are welcome, whether they are aware of her bashed-in state or not. ]

Comments

[mucked]

Helps? [ now, that's curious. she replaces raw pain with a mystery. ] How does it help?

[theroadwarrior]

[He's gotten strangely used to admitting his faults to Peggy. Weaknesses, as it were. Not that they're not blindingly obvious and she can't read them after all the time they're around each other... Hell, that's why he likes to leave before people can pick up on them.]

If I hear voices clearly here -- [He holds a finger up to his ear.] -- I know it's not a voice outside of my head.

[Such an odd thing to discuss. But everyone copes with their illnesses somehow. Max likes to find the cracks in the armor that constantly weighs him down. Likes to figure out ways around it rather than treat it. He's a strange fellow.]

[mucked]

It's a litmus test. I see. [ her gaze sharpens in that way it does when she's decided to eschew her own pain and pick, thoughtlessly, at someone else's. ]

[theroadwarrior]

[He hums. Affirmative.]

Useful when our crew tries to talk to me at length. I can literally block most of it out.

[........... :)

what a little shit]

[mucked]

[ in spite of herself (and of him), she smiles. ]

Bit of a bastard today, aren't you?

[theroadwarrior]

[Hummmmm.]

Usually the case, isn't it.

[He cocks his head to the side, thoughtful.]

You need more medicine?

[mucked]

Heavens, no. If anything, I'm likely a little over-medicated. [ ... ] Captain Rogers makes for quite the nursemaid in his own right.

You've met him, haven't you? [ bit useless as a question. she knows the answer. ]

[theroadwarrior]

[He purses his lips, then nods.]

Your, hn. Significant other.

[Of all the terms, that oh-so-formal title is what he uses.

Way to go, bud.]

[mucked]

[ oh -- she winces. and for a moment it looks like she might refuse the term, and the implication altogether. her mouth opens.

problem is, max isn't exactly wrong. ] The man who's ear I pull, you mean.

[ she jabs back. ]

[theroadwarrior]

[Max blinks, stiffening, seemingly startled.

Then he clears his throat, not looking at her.]

Mm.

Guess so.

[Don't prod at it, Peggy. Don't you do it.]

Seems like a... decent guy.

[mucked]

The single-most decent, in fact, depending on who you ask.

[theroadwarrior]

[His gaze flicks up.]

Mhmm. You?

[But he seems hardly grieved by the idea of giving Steve credit.]

He's fine. He doesn't pry, for a hero.

[mucked]

He minds his Ps and Qs, certainly. And I would sing a great many of his praises. [ she almost-smiles. ] But I'll curse his flaws as well. He's just a man, despite all else.

[ a good man. maybe even a great man. and in her more nostalgic moments, she would call him greatest. but that's the aching heart that speaks, perhaps. ]

I think I would loathe him completely if he were, indeed, the most decent.

[ she smiles. ]

[theroadwarrior]

Most decent usually means they're hiding something.

Never trust a polite wastelander.

[mucked]

Well, luckily for me, he's not a wastelander at all. [ really, max. she raises her brows at him. ] When I first came across Steve Rogers, he barely came up to my shoulder and couldn't get a sentence out without back-pedaling. A funny kind of polite.

[ -- but then again, that had more to do with his inability to speak to women. and less about his manners. ]

[theroadwarrior]

Hmmm. Puny then.

[He knew about the serum thing, but when you put it that way...]

Surprised someone like that would get involved. In what he did.

[mucked]

[ peggy can't help her own smile: ] He also doesn't much care for bullies.

[theroadwarrior]

[He blinks, seems to think she's potentially hinting at something.

He points to himself with a frown.]

Me?

[He's just checking, m'kay. He doesn't mean to be a bully, alright!]

[mucked]

[ for a moment, she's taken aback. ] You? [ surprise doesn't show often on peggy's face, but it does now -- she hadn't expected him to take her teasing lilt in quite that direction. rather, it had been allusion to a previous conversation they'd had about her own aversion to bullies.

she can't help herself. she leans forward (with a bit of effort) and pats the back of his hand with perfunctory touch. ] Heavens, no. You're something else entirely.

[theroadwarrior]

Can't tell if that's supposed to be a good thing or not.

[But hey, not a bully. That's nice.

For once, his hand doesn't twitch at the motion. Maybe he's just tired, huh.]

How bad is your recovery time?

[mucked]

[ a good thing, max. a very good thing. peggy has resolved to forgive a lot in him by virtue of his circumstances. he has rough edges, but she now knows more than ever that it's his world that roughed him up. once upon a time, the gentler parts of his soul weren't so hidden. ]

Shouldn't be too long. I'll be honest, I'm not usually afforded such luxury in my convalescence. There's not a lot of wiggle room for sick days where I come from. [ a sly smile; she's trying to make the best of it. ] I'll be back to haranguing the lot of you in no time.

[theroadwarrior]

[He sighs through his nose.]

Plenty of time here for it, though.

[It's so strange, and annoying, and relieving, and infuriating; he was going to leave them all behind in his mirror a day ago. Stupid Winter. Wanker. Made him have to face the fact that he worried about too many people on board this fleet. He stares at her for a moment, expression passing into shades of thoughtfulness.

Now that she mentions it, while Max is a hypocrite who is worse at resting to a dare we say idiotic level — ]

Took your medications? Pain pills? Drink water?

[oh no you're about to get mother henned]

[mucked]

Yes, mother dearest. [ -- sharpish, but grateful. she deflects kindness with a smidgen more grace than he ever has.

but then she can't help but test their boundaries. would he condescend to put the kettle on, she wonders? ] But I could use some tea.

[theroadwarrior]

Hmph. Mother's not the worst name I've had.

[By all means. He glances to the door.]

... Won't complain too much if it's not the best glass?

[Let's face it, you're snooty when it comes to tea.]