driftfleet | ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡɪɴᴅᴏᴡ, sᴡᴇᴇᴛ ɪs ᴛʜᴇ ɴɪɢʜᴛ-ᴀɪʀ ( ᴏᴘᴇɴ )

The view is nicer, too.

[ he gestures towards the open water and the clear sky, all that better to look at than the walls of the ship and peggy's punching bag which he won't touch so it'll stay in one piece. ]

You're doing much better than I used to when I did boot camp.

Definitely. So's the smell.

[ in the closed quarters of the gym, the smell of sweat tends to take over pretty quickly. but out here he can smell the ocean and it's nostalgic as well as just generally...better. ]

Well, I better, running away is my signature move. [ he shrugs, wondering if he should tell steve about those bits of his life he's seen. he just had a conversation with his lady friend but this planet allowed him to take actual peeks at his life. facing him now, he feels a little guilty about it. he should say something, shouldn't he. ] I met Peggy, she told me a little about it. [ his tone conveys nothing but admiration. steve had tried much harder against much worse hurdles. he's just kinda lazy and hates exercise, he has no serious physical disability in his way, not that he's aware of at least. ]

Peggy?

[ he smiles a little, trying not to worry about Peggy wandering around the planet while injured, reminding himself very firmly that for all of his concerns, agent Carter knows what she's doing and what she's capable of. it mostly helps, would have been a bit easier if she were just agent Carter rather than Peg but she hasn't been just that for a very long time. ]

She's has been there since the beginning, one of the only ones who knew me before.

Yeah, she told me.

[ he mirrors steve's smile. ]

You know she talks about you the same way you talk about her. [ ok, she's not as obvious, but the affection would have been clear even if he hadn't held her hand. ]

[ oh boy. ever since the unfortunate incident with the photos, it seems as if everybody knows and while this was never the intention, he doesn't truly mind. With Peggy, he's mostly just happy and grateful for each moment they have together. Pretending to feel otherwise feels like a disservice. ]

Well, we've been through a lot together. What did she tell you?

[ at the very least he can be sure the subject of fondue never came up ]

[ he helped you fold paper flowers for her, he feels entitled to some comments. ]

She told me about how you got chosen - I was suitably impressed so she decided I could be trusted with all your deep dark embarrassing moments.

[ nodding. see, it's funny because there's nothing embarrassing about him. he's pretty sure the guy could dress in drag and do the hula and still look totally cool. ]

The grenade story.

[ he smiles a bit. trust peggy carter, honestly. ]

she told you the only other person in the whole damn area to run towards it was her? I just happened to be closer.

[ actually she showed him, but saying that much kind of feels like betraying the trust she placed in him when she shared that. ]

She had her hands full telling me how dreamy you are - [ nodding, this planet is bringing out his inner brat with all its glory ] ok I'm paraphrasing - I think it was something like 'clever and good hearted' but really, same difference.

[ he shrugs. what. he's happy for his friend, ok! and a little bit of it may be that he's just happy that he's taken, but he's mostly just happy that his friend is happy. ]

I doubt she'd ever say 'dreamy' about anything.

[ somehow, it doesn't quite seem like the Peggy Carter vocabulary at all. Highly likely, words like that would get a bit of an eye roll. her appreciation is expressed in many other, deeper ways. ]

You know, at first, after the change, they wanted to keep in a lab and after that, I did propaganda short movies, taking pictures with citizens for morale. It was Peggy who said she believed I was meant for more than that. She's one of the first people who believed in me, it meant a lot.

[ still does. ]

[ he knows how that feels. no words could ever explain what listening to kara, kitty, and jim express their faith in him means. ]

I saw the uh, the thing on the network.

[ scratching the side of his nose. he'd laugh but, he's pretty sure that's where some sort of line crosses, and besides, steve is being pretty serious. he should try to match the tone of the conversation - he does want to be someone steve feels he can talk to. ]

It's a good thing they had someone with a head on her shoulders somewhere in their ranks. That'd be a terrible waste.

I think everybody did. Not the worst thing that ever happened to me with Peggy, I think.

[ there was the whole unfortunate 'beautiful dame' comment in that car ride which in retrospect seems even more painful than it felt and the fondue, always the fondue. ]

She understood. Back then, being a woman - she had to fight hard for what she deserved, paved the path for many other women. She's a legend for a reason.

[ but more than that, she had left her mark on Steve Rogers. ]

I meant the - propaganda video.

[ of course he saw the pictures, he's the one who took them down. does steve not know it's up there? well, better he find out like this, probably. ]

For a lot of reasons, I'm sure. [ it's weird, to be surrounded by so many legends. even the people who aren't powered are some sort of heroes. he loves that he gets to know them - it's the coolest thing ever - but he also feels very out of place. why is he here? because the atroma thought it'd be neat to have some hero wardrobe? why is he here? ]

I heard the legend of Captain America - or at least parts of it - only right I get the Peggy Carter side of the story too. [ he genuinely is interested in her legend - he loves stories of heroics - but it's not the only reason he asks for the story. steve seems to really love - and need - to talk about her. he can relate, he would love to talk about kitty, but his friends don't really seem to want to hear it. he settles down on the sand, and gestures for steve to join him. missing out on one workout is not going to do the guy any harm, he's sure. ]

-- The Star Spangled Man with a Plan.

[ he almost cringes. that explains so many of Stark's comments. Steve naturally assumed Howard told him about the USO girls. Well, at least it means the worst is probably over. ]

It was a service, too, in a way. Wasn't what I had in mind when I enlisted, but.

[ it did get its own line of merchandise, anything from comics to...vintage cards, apparently. ]

Agent Carter, really. The first women to be an agent, really. She worked for the SSR, Strategic Scientific Reserve - I am sure she told you that. After that, she took it and made into SHIELD, Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. She kept people safe in everything she did, kept the world safe.

[ there is a hint of anger and regret there, he joined SHIELD so he could help but also because of Peggy's involvement in it. to think that HYDRA had infested something she and Howard worked so hard on making. ]

[ winn offers him an apologetic smile. he was just...snooping on everything on the network and it was up there, so he watched. ]

I can picture it, [ gently, he doesn't know where the anger stems from so naturally he assumes it's because of him. he didn't mean to make it sound like he was belittling peggy and what she's done for the world - quite the opposite - in his own way he was trying to express that he appreciates her as a hero as much as he does steve. ] she's a very impressive woman.

[ he's always looking up at steve, but now that he's sitting, looking up at the standing man makes him feel like he's 5 years old, and standing by a giant. for the first time since he got to know the sweet soul behind the muscles - steve makes him nervous, almost afraid. he's not the sort of man he wants to make angry. ]

She is.

[ he doesn't want her to know about SHIELD, not really. he had it taken apart exactly because he knew she would have done the same if she were to find out what happened to the very thing she worked so hard on, not only HYDRA but the entire project insight matter. ]

Our world needs more people like her. She may not have super powers but she saved the world just as much as I did.

Every world needs heroes.

[ it makes him think of kate - saving lives with her bow and arrow, or whatever she has lying around. so many people are doing everything they can, pushing themselves to the limit in order to make their worlds a better place. and he...he still can't even land a punch on jim. even if he could (which, he honestly doubts would ever happen) he's too scared to be actively violent, scared of where it could lead him.

helping the heroes get the job done has to count for something too, right? while they're training, they don't have time to do the research necessary for backstage support. that's why it's backstage. ]

Kara's sister's like that, 100% badass and brilliant.

Alex.

[ he nods. it seems to be a thing between those two, saving the world, helping people, each in her own way. he never enlisted to be Captain America, he would have done anything he could have in the army, just to serve. ]

At least now you know I wasn't kidding about being smaller than you.

Yeah -- yeah your story checks out.

[ he smiles a little. ]

Though, I mean, you're Rambo now, so I dunno that it counts anymore.

-- That's a film, right? I'm pretty sure that's a film.

[ Sam said something about it, he's pretty sure. the name rings a bell, anyway. ]

Yeah, yeah that's a film.

[ he offers him a hand ]

Ok either you sit down, or help me up, looking up that far is killing my neck.

-- Sorry.

[ he gets a bit of a sheepish smile as he sits down. ]

I'm still catching up on those things, films, music, technology. It's a learning process, I did miss 70 years, the world changed quite a bit. Films in color, 3D -

[ ... ]

Twitter.

[ that he'll never understand. ]

[ he lets his hand drop, and smiles more genuinely now, feeling calmer now that steve doesn't seem angry anymore. ]

Oh man, I could give you the ultimate education on all of these if I just had my laptop and like -- a couple hard drives. [ the internet is asking too much, he knows, but come on, at least give him his media library! ] Or well, at least the ultimate education on pop culture and technology of my world - but they seem similar enough that it'll take.

[ the release of nervous energy results in babbling, sorry steve. ]

Twitter has some really cool stuff on it, like historical accounts relaying daily news from years ago that -- probably wouldn't be very interesting for you -- it's got something for everyone, though. And a lot of trolls and spam accounts. But I could weed those out for you.

[ he has to concentrate very keenly if he wants to follow along these waters, Winn talks and parts of it he understands just fine while the others - he's pretty sure there are some terms that needs to catch up on ]

Trolls?

[ cue confusion. ]

Eh -- you know that bored kid in the back of the class disrupting everything cuz they think it's hilarious and nobody ever agrees? They're the online version of that, basically.

So you're fighting bullies online.

[ he smiles a bit. you're the network's super hero winn. all safe cyberspaces need one ]

You know, I should introduce you to a friend of mine, he's a bit of an expert in technology.

[ with a firm warning that he must behave since tony stark ]

(no subject)

winn - 2016-07-16 05:59 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

uprightness - 2016-07-16 21:43 (UTC) - Expand