driftfleet | ✮ video.

Who: Steve 'belated bday boy' Rogers
Broadcast: fleetwide
Action: the ss star(spangled)struck
When: current

[ after the incident which involved steve rogers, a misunderstanding regarding technology and some ( very flattering ) photos of one Peggy Carter, Steve tried to avoid addressing the entire network regarding anything less than a security threat.

And then today happened.

The video opens up to the Starstruck though the ship looks drastically different due to the large number of red, white and blue balloons and confetti that seems to be everywhere. To make matters weirder, there seems to be a rather big cake reading 'Happy 1776th birthday, your Highness' and a song that seems to be playing every few minutes and rather loudly.

And in the middle of it all, there sits Steve Rogers himself and his smile is absolutely long suffering. He looks up and waits for the song to end before speaking rather hurriedly, mostly since he's worried it'll start over. ]

--- My birthday was last month but - thank you. Tony. For arranging alla this.

[ is he saying it through gritted teeth? Oh yes. And why? ]

And more importantly to Pinkie Pie who dedicated her time and effort to doing all of this. It's - very kind of you. Can't say I've ever had that much done for my birthday before.

[ and now if you'll excuse him, he's off to kill Iron Man. ]

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[ how are you doing, Erik? ]

He thinks he's being funny.

[ a bit of a cringe ]

My birthday is on 4th of July, he finds it really amusing.

[There's a bit of a wry twist to his lips at that.]

Now it all makes sense. Happy birthday, I suppose.

This wasn't the work of an idle moment.

Thank you.

[ so awkward. can you tell he's not using to any grand birthday party, not to mention this Disneyland parade Tony is putting him through? ]

It was for Stark. Pinkie Pie worked for hours. She takes these things very seriously.

[ a bit of a frown. he really doesn't appreciate Tony making her work hard for something that is essentially a joke. ]

That would be one of the ponies, correct? [He had seen the two of them appear at Nightingale's non-party a few weeks ago. It had been an experience watching her desperately try not to have them throw a party.]

This doesn't seem like the kind of song that's on the Atroma's network.

She's an earth pony. I'm not sure what it means -

[ it's a bit of a sheepish confession but if Pinkie Pie wants to be acknowledged as an earth pony, then an earth pony she is.

whatever that means. ]

-- I don't know how they got hold on it, in all seriousness. It's from my world but it's old fashioned.

[ much like steve, himself. ]

A pony from... Earth? [What DOES it mean. It's not something he ever imagined himself thinking about.]

I know I haven't heard anything like it in decades. [Even then, the wartime music he'd heard in his youth had come from the other side. Hardly a good comparison. He had picked up on the American tunes in later years, bits and pieces in the context of recent history.]

I think it's a regular sort of pony. A pony that works the earth, maybe? growing flowers?

[ HE'S TAKING WILD GUESSES HERE, ERIK. ]

You don't see that old.

[ it's curious more than anything because, well. neither does he. ]

Obviously my knowledge of ponies is lacking.

I'm from 1973. [This usually clears everything up. His timeline has always been a point of difference for most people from Earth.] And I'm forty-two.

It's a whole other culture. You know they have pony princesses with magic powers who live for many years?

[ seeing is believing, right? ]

The 70s were some of the years I've missed. Is it quiet, where you are?

[ he knows about the years of the cold war, has read what he could but hearing about it from others does beat the textbooks. ]

I... can't say that I knew that. But I suppose I've heard of stranger things.

[Erik sighs briefly, flicking his eyes offscreen. Steve doesn't know that he's asking entirely the wrong person about current events, Erik having 'missed' the last ten years himself.] Missed? [It's an idle question, and he moves on quickly.]

The Vietnam War is ongoing. The President tried to launch a number of robots that could track and kill mutants. I would not call it 'quiet', no.

I'm sorry.

[ it's a funny thing, naive in retrospect, that steve thought the war was so terrible that after they win it, it is bound to be the last one. but the world can't seem to settle down and others are paying the price for this absence of peace.

he thinks of zola's voice, explaining how HYDRA worked hard to plant seeds of mistrust and chaos to see them blood into wars, into one crisis after another. ]

I hope you all keep as safe as possible. It's not the right thing to do, going after anyone just because they're different.

[It always strikes him as a bit hollow, sentiments like this, when they come from people who don't live in his world. Words are easy to say when it comes from a distance. It was something he'd only slowly gotten used to, after hearing the sentiment so many times in other worlds. Maybe his world was the one that was backwards, compared to the others. He doesn't think it likely.]

That doesn't stop them from believing it is. [Fear drives them, hatred. Right and wrong rarely matter to the men at the top of the food chain.] But change will come. [He'll make sure of that.]

I believe it will, too.

[ if only because he has to. he hasn't given up on humanity, on being able to put wars and discord aside. he tries to forget Ultron's taunts, God's righteous man, pretending you could live without war, to think of them as nothing but lies and deceit. If there is truth to them, he won't think of it. ]

I wanna think bullies will always find people who are willing to stand up against them.

That's idealistic of you. [Standing up to tyrants doesn't always work. Not without bloodshed and heartache.]

I guess it is.

[ that's really how captain America came to be, isn't it? I don't like bullies, no matter where they're from and it hasn't changed except for the fact that recent times has made it harder to tell the bullies than before. ]

I always felt that people should be free to be who they are. if they don't hurt anyone, they have the same rights as anyone else, powers or not. I'd hate to think someone would try to hurt the members of my team who have powers just because they're different. They're my friends. I'd do anything to protect them.

There are plenty who refuse to consider us people for those very differences. Human history is littered with it. Why would they change, when faced with those who they see only as different and something to be feared, kept in check?

[ why, indeed. he doesn't answer, gives himself a moment to think about it. ]

Not everyone is the same. I guess the thing to aim for is for people who don't think that way. It's my experience there is nothing all of us agree about. Two of my team members are enhanced. We fought against one another in the past but these days, they're as valuable as any other Avenger.

[This is a rather heavy conversation for a birthday. Not that it matters to Erik that much. At the least, they've reached a point that he can relate to.]

Yes, well. I've ended up on the same side as those I've fought as well. [To a certain extent.]

I guess it's the way some of those stories end. It's good. Any middle grounds found is something that we all should be proud of.

[ he smiles a bit ]

if anyone ever threatens anyone here for being different, you can be sure I'll fight alongside you.

[Provided there's anything left by the time Erik's done with them.]

I'll keep that in mind.