(no subject)

[lord_wizard]

Who: Starstruck crew and visitors
Broadcast: None
Action: The SS Trainwreck Starstruck
When: August

[It might be accurate to say that the crew of the Starstruck had spent the majority of the month prior avoiding each other, or people in general, but as we leave the hand holding planet perhaps the crew can get back to normal.

Whatever that means...]

Comments

STEVE ROGERS ✮

[uprightness]

[ the previous planet has been a much needed reprieve from all that came before. and as much as steve knows he will miss clear air and open space, there is at least work to throw himself into. you might catch him at the weaponry, keeping all the weapons marked and numbered, fixing what's needs to be fixed. at times, he may be looking around the room with a little frown because in all honesty, he can't see what they need all these weapons for and while he likes being prepared, he usually likes to know what he's armoring himself for

at quieter hours, you could also find him sitting in the kitchen either putting various shells from the planet into glass jars or otherwise sitting and sketching something into a little notebook. ]

[ weaponry ]

[axiomed]

[ Charles wasn't expecting to find him here. Granted, he knows a lot more about Steve Rogers than he intended to. Even though Bucky's memories blurred together and it was difficult to tell what was real and what wasn't, there were fragments, crystallized and untouched. ]

Mr. Rogers, I presume?

[uprightness]

[ so many people know little fragments of Steve Rogers' life. some know it through the grandparents' stories and vintage comic books, others through their visit at the Smithsonian for the Captain America exhibit. Though people knowing him through other people's minds, well, that's a new one.

He knows of Charles but not much, the little Peggy had told him, her quiet words offering, he could help Winter and as much as Steve had wanted, childishly, to claim that it is his own duty, he had accepted the possibility and in all honesty, if it ever works, he will never be anything less than grateful.

he puts the weapon done and wipes his hands on a mop before offering one ]

That's me.

[axiomed]

[ He puts on his best unassuming smile - the one that usually puts people at ease. Not that Charles has ever presented himself as a threatening figure. ]

I was wondering if I could ask you a favor. Winter helped me out with something and I thought you could write a testimonial in this journal.

[uprightness]

Winter.

[ he's not surprised to hear the name. after all, he only knows of this man in relation to Winter. He has a semblance of Peggy's trust, which puts Steve more at ease. Winter and Peggy both have healthy instincts. he doesn't ask what Winter has done, though there is a hint of a smile, one of a man who feels an odd sort of pride a friend who is evidently doing better. ]

Of course.

[ at once. he takes a last look at the weapons before turning his back to them. ]

What sort of testimonial?

[axiomed]

Whatever you'd like to say. About how you see him. It's not meant to be a reminder, but more . . . of a way to look into the window of the soul. Or the souls as he is perceived and how others perceive him.

For someone trying to find their way . . . I think it could help.

[uprightness]

-- You may need to sit down, it might take more than one page.

[ it will absolutely require more than one page. his smile is a bit pained. trying to describe how he sees Bucky - he isn't sure whatever he's going to write will be good enough. ]

You know, he's my oldest friend. Used to keep me safe when I'd get in fights.

[axiomed]

[ . . . Steve . . . ]

I know. I've seen a little of it.

[uprightness]

[ he meant...!!! ]

-- How does it work?

[ and this is curiosity more than suspicion ]

Does he feel it when you - look into his mind?

[axiomed]

[ Charles shakes his head. ]

Technically he shouldn't. People can only feel it if I want them to. But I try to be as transparent as possible when I create that kind of connection between two minds.

I know you have little experience with telepathy.

[uprightness]

It didn't leave the best first impression on me.

[ he's willing to admit. He still feels the dread of the nightclub, the loud bangs and flashes of cameras, men who should be dead laughing together, Peggy whispering the war is over, we can go home at him and then - nothing. an entire life, gone. the thought Wanda had seen all of his regrets to create that scenery still disturbs him, sometimes, though he would never blame her for it. ]

But I know it's not all there is to it. If you can help Winter, that's all that matters.

kitchen

[lord_wizard]

[He hasn't had the chance to properly meet Steve, considering he'd been confined to the Pathstone during the time that the man had transferred to the ship. So far he only knows the man is a friend of Peggy's, because he pays at least some attention, but their acquaintance has very much in passing.

But they're both here now. Still, it seems strange to introduce himself straight away to someone who's been his crewmate for weeks, so he moves into the kitchen to fix himself a drink without any comment. And it's also without comment that he comes to be standing behind Steve, eyeing his notebook with interest, the only sound announcing him being the musical ringing of his spoon as he stirs sugar into his cup of coffee]

[uprightness]

[ in truth, Steve's time on the Starstruck has been eventful from day one. There was the initial shock of Bucky turned Winter, of Peggy, of the entire situation, turned into the worry for the people of the poisoned moon and quickly into panic at whatever it was the Atroma did to Winter that made him lash out at various people, injuring himself, injuring others and after that, it was suddenly the planet, with his sunny beaches and odd magic.

so perhaps it's also his own doing, failing to notice those around him as readily as he did before. he knew who they were, of course but perhaps an introduction is long overdue.

his pencil is creating a city against the page, an old looking neighborhood, something one would see in a vintage postcard; brooklyn of the 40s. ]

How are you doing?

[ he looks up and sits back, puts aside his notebook. captain america is not without manners, after all. ]

[lord_wizard]

[His reference point for Earth cities is somewhat shaky. His glimpses into that world were mostly of a later point in time, full of sleek skyscrapers. Steve's drawing is rougher, that much he can tell, but it does little to place the sketch into any particular location or time for him.]

I am eagerly anticipating yet another week of aimless drifting through space.

[The sarcasm is of course obvious but not as vehement as the words would indicate, and the words are laced by a smirk. Steadily, he's been finding these idle times less oppressive than he once had.

He does have manners of his own, when he decides to use them, and the polite acknoweldgement from Steve means he'll respond in kind. He gestures with his empty hand to the seat opposite.]

May I?

[uprightness]

Aren't we all.

[ it's as much sarcasm as one can get from the fabled Captain America but it's said with a smile as he gestures towards the chair ]

Please.

[ a moment later and he offers him a hand to shake ]

Steve Rogers, security.

[mucked]

[ the starstruck's captain is once again at her helm -- so to speak. she's back on the bridge, and she's certainly back on her feet. although her ribs are still wrapped beneath her silk blouses, and she's rather slow-moving, she is (at least) independent. and a lot of that is owed to a cavalcade of overly generous nursemaids who'd made certain she wouldn't over-extend herself while healing.

today, she wanders into the room where all the weapons are stored. it might be by aimless; it might be by design. she won't tell.

peggy doesn't so much greet steve as slide smoothly into the middle of a conversation: ] Worrisome, isn't it? All of it. Like they're just waiting to conscript us.

[uprightness]

[ Steve breathes a little easier now that Peggy's mostly out of the woods. He doesn't fret at her as much as before, not now when she walks without her cane and without as much as pain as before. It's a relief to her too, he doesn't need to be told as much, Peggy likes the idea of bed rest even less than Steve, after all.

Her voice calls him back from the whatever it is he was thinking about ( Pietro's arrival, Tony wanting to tell him of his death, Wanda's tears; her admission of being terrified of him being taken from her again, never to be seen again, how it rang true in his own chest -

true, indeed. he breathes out a sigh of relief. She's right there, just to his left and he smiles a bit ]

To fight against invading aliens.

[ and, all of the sudden, a thought occurs, a memory that is ancient history to most people but to them, not too far away ]

Remember the radio program? War of the Worlds? My next door neighbor was scared half to death, was planning to hit 'em with her cooking pot.

[mucked]

-- Good God, yes. I remember that. [ the programme, not his neighbour. peggy sets aside the odd blaster she'd been idly examining and hitches her fingers around the edge of the counter. she watches him with kind but careful eyes. ] It feels like a lifetime ago.

[ close! within their lives, certainly. but peggy had been a very different woman the year that programme came out. or, rather, she was play-acting someone different. an adventurer's soul laced tight beneath a would-be housewife. that role didn't take, in the end. ]

What about you? [ she teases. ] Did you promise your neighbour you'd protect her? Fend them off?

[uprightness]

It does, doesn't it?

[ it should feel like a dozen lifetimes ago to him, living in the 21st century as he does but here lies the paradox. For him, it's a fond but vivid memory, still. ]

With my mom's very best frying pan.

[ he doesn't bite back the grin that comes at once. In truth, he made her a cup of tea and promised her it's all fictional nonsense.

Aliens in New York City? The very thought. ]

[mucked]

I was in Sixth Form. [ she ducks her chin -- funny, really. she knows so much about steve's childhood: the broad strokes, at least. the where and the when and the socio-economic realities of brooklyn. she's read file upon file.

but, by comparison, she's been rather mum about her own upbringing. childhood-to-womanhood. some days, she almost prefers to come across as a creature fully formed in the fires of the war. ]

St-Martin-in-the-Fields. The wireless wasn't allowed -- but we sneaked a listen, anyway.

[uprightness]

Hardly surprising.

[ though it's still odd to imagine, Peggy in school uniform. At times, he still somehow thinks her youngest is just this here, just the way she is now. He knows what she will be like, hardly what she used to be. church-school, she supplies and he smiles. ]

What was it like?

[ he hardly ever heard her speak of England. ]

[mucked]

School? [ her lips twitch. she can sense his curiousity, and she appreciates it. heaven knows, she's felt it for him. even after his disappearance -- how many reports did she read? how many slow, thoughtful strolls did she take through brooklyn, trying to glimpse a part of him? ] School was fine. School was good -- as it was a good school. My parents made certain of that.

[ she settles into the conversation. it doesn't come easily -- talking about herself, like this. but if anyone offers safety and confidence, then it's steve. ] All girls, of course. And in a very fashionable part of London.

[uprightness]

Do you miss it sometimes?

[ he never actually asked her any of this and he's not entirely sure why. it was the lack of time at the days of the war, of course, the battles and the debriefing that left little room for anything else but here, well. they supposedly had all the time in the world. ]

London? I mean, it's pretty different than New York or LA.

[mucked]

[ she nods, because the answer is easy. ]

Of course -- but like any city, it has its best parts and its worst parts. [ peggy considers him with a careful expression. ] I left London shortly after the war started, and went to Bletchley. And Bletchley led me, the long way 'round, to New York. I don't regret a moment of it.

[uprightness]

[ I've lived a life, she told him and it tugs a smile from him now, too. it's a remarkable trait, being able to live without regrets, not one he had mastered himself. at least, not yet. ]

I remember these sort of schools. They were always 'round the Upper East Side.

[ Bucky always used to flirt up those girls when they were growing up ]

Plaid skirts and jackets and all?

[ not imagining it. nope. nope. ]