closed » you're the horizon line -- i'm the last sunset

[mucked]

Who: Peggy Carter & Steve Rogers
Broadcast: Definitely not.
Action: Closed, aboard one of the occasional waypoint stations as the fleet drifts.
When: Mid-afternoon

[ today, peggy decides she's done with nudges and hypotheticals. done with veiled suggestions and unfulfilled promises. she and steve had danced around the concept of going steady; of being official; of committing. they danced around it without ever really dancing at all. he'd made overtures enough, even if his follow-through was rubbish. and she feels a concrete certainty about him, even though her overtures are shite. so, today, it changes. ]

...Steve? [ peggy rapsher knuckles loose against his bunk's doorway. she looks casual (by her standards) with her hair plaited and her sleeves rolled up. she watches him from the threshold, tilting her head with a flicker of affectionate admiration. ] Let's get out of here for the rest of the day. Just us.

[ although she doesn't use the word 'date', she decides it's been suggested often enough that she needn't so crassly underline her intentions in this very moment. to do so would surely insult his intelligence.

...right? ]

Comments

[uprightness]

Always thought about it. I'd read about all these places, figured it might be nice to see how other people live. I figured, maybe some day.

[ at first it was after the war ends and then, well, just living in new york felt like a long journey of exploration. ]

And then here, you know, all these planets and the people - on the fleet. They all have their own stories to tell.

[mucked]

You romanticize them, Steve. Likely shouldn't do that. [ peggy takes dibs on the pilot's seat, not least of all because neither of them have a pilot's augment. either way, they'll be letting the on-board computer do the steering. ] These planets we visit. The people. They're all very fascinating, but -- one assumes the stops are by design. And not our design.

[uprightness]

They're not. Likely it's all the Atroma, but I'm not sure these people are a side to that. Everywhere we've been so far they were simple people, hard-working. They could be working with the Atroma or they're just - there for the setting.

[ he wrings his hands, smiles a bit ]

I guess I just wanna give someone around here beside us the benefit of the doubt.

[mucked]

[ heavens, but it's a good thing he's as strong as he is -- as sturdy as he is. because peggy thinks a man as open and as generous with his doubt as steve might otherwise be eaten alive by any world. modern, alien, or otherwise.

she flips a switch and the shuttle ticks over, humming happily to life. ]

I don't even like giving us the benefit of the doubt. [ other members of the flet, she means. ] But I suppose the universe needs your perspective as much as it needs anyone else's.

[uprightness]

I guess that's the one good thing about having all of us here. Keep each other in check.

[ and very few people have given him as many good advice as she had over their time together. ]

[mucked]

Admittedly, it's worked better than I might have first anticipated. No laws, a jumble of pre-conceived norms, and many minds under stress. [ ... ] Everyone gets understandably out of joint when there's some sort of flare-up, but I'm surprised there aren't more. Frankly.

[uprightness]

Maybe it's the crews - doing a good job of calming each other down. Especially the newer people. Those first days are important.

[ there is a shade of a grin there. Does he remember the welcome she gave him? Yep. ]

[mucked]

-- Is that an opinion based in experience, Captain?

[ she looks askance just long enough to catch a glimmer of his grin. cheeky bastard. ] Fond of your warm welcome, are you?

[uprightness]

All too fond.

[ and there it is, hint becomes fact and he's downright grinning at her. Very pleased with himself, this one.]

That can't be a surprise.

[mucked]

[ gently, and with her eyes on the stars ahead: ] A surprise? No. But it's nice to hear it said all the same. [ ... ] I was rather fond of your arrival, myself.

[uprightness]

[ odd, he thinks, that he never told her that before. Perhaps the tip toeing around this, her and him, was what kept it all at bay. He reaches to her side, takes her hand in his, entwines their fingers together. ]

It's been months since.

[ that odd day on a dying moon, an old fashioned kiss to her palm that led way to a more meaningful one. ]

I could never regret it.

[ coming here, despite of everything ]

[mucked]

Funny sort of circumstance, isn't it? [ but that goes without saying, so must merely be biding time as she comes to grips with how he so readily takes her hand. they've lived in a liminal space for so long, now. ]

I forgot I could ever be so...content. I suppose that's the only way to say it. It's not as though the war left much room for it, but there were moments -- [ oh, some days she utterly hates being honest. it always stings. ] There were good moments.

[uprightness]

Yes, there were.

[ and maybe that is why adjusting to the time he woke up at was so difficult. He remembers them too vividly, too clearly. To some, they happened seventy long years ago but to him, they've always been too close. He remembers exactly how she looked on the rainy day when she renewed his convictions, remembers the exact shade of red on the dress she wore. It was never too far away, never a long time ago. ]

Made it all a bit easier.

[mucked]

[ easier. it's a small word for a large concept. peggy adjusts her palms against the shuttle's controls -- although it isn't as if she was actually controlling the vessel. but it offers her some semblance of control. his optimism awes her, and she wishes she could access it as readily as he could.

so long as he is at her side, optimism grows all the more in reach. ]

Listen to us -- reminiscing like two people far older than we truly are. [ a shake of her head. a signal to move on. ]

[uprightness]

Gotta watch it there before they start calling you a fossil, too.

[ it's 100% teasing; he rather doubts anyone will dare. steve likes to think that his team has basic survival instincts in them somewhere. ]

alright - so what are these way stations like?

[mucked]

Sparse. Cheap. A real make-do sort of place, but it's better than nothing. [ she pretends as though she has some sort of say in the docking of the shuttle, but really it's all automated. there's a temperamental rumble as the shuttle shuts off.

she unbuckles the belts fastening her into place and stoops while she stands to exit the shuttle. ] We'll make it work. You and I.

[uprightness]

Gotta say I'm curious now.

[ he rises, falls to his usual place at her side. there is a certain buzz of happiness when she says it, you and I, not in an overly emotional way but in a practical sort of manner which is better, somehow. walking into the ring, he arches an eyebrow. ]

huh.

[ it's a shopping mall of a sort - there is a little smile there as he looks around, peeks out to the courtyard ]

you really hit the nail on the head with sparse but I gotta say,

[ he looks up, to the vast stretch of space and stars above ]

they do have one hell of a view.

[mucked]

Breathtaking.

[ -- she half-smiles. and true to her description, the station is just emptied-out enough that their steps cause a sort of rolling echo. peggy doesn't mind the isolation. by degrees, she welcomes it. one presumes the atroma might be always watching, but it's nice to step out from under all the other eyes.

peggy's pace slows. she lets him drink it in. ] Take your time. Holo-billiards can wait.

[uprightness]

the - what?

[ curiosity has him turning away from looking up, turning to face her. billiard is familiar enough, but - ]

what are holo-billiards?

[ apparently, he has some catching up to do. ]

[mucked]

It's exactly as it sounds on the tin: billiards, but a hologram. [ here is an upside to having been in the fleet for a full year, now: peggy knows what 'hologram' means. ]

[uprightness]

They play those with holograms 'round these parts?

[ should he even be surprised at this point? highly likely not and yet. ]

you played these before?

[ first the paintball and now this; another little detail to add to the puzzle. he smiles. Peggy. billiards. makes perfect sense when he thinks about it. ]

[mucked]

I may have done a little recon earlier in the week. [ -- she isn't so ashamed to admit it, either. if anything, it better strengthens her position to express how well-thought-out this excursion has been. ]

[uprightness]

I'm at a disadvantage, then -

[ he's not as nervous as he used to be around her, all those months ago. perhaps it is simply the effect of time itself or maybe the fact that they can have this, these moments, simple and yet deeply cherished. ]

I'm going to try and avoid another whole month of brewing tea.

[ so maybe captain america did lose to agent carter at paintball but surely billiards - right? ]

[mucked]

Something tells me you might hold the advantage in this contest. [ a quirked brow. peggy felt confident about her use of angles -- she's no slouch. but it's hard to compete with a man whose very weapon depends on hard physics and ricochets. ] Why -- are you eager to lay another wager?

[uprightness]

Wouldn't temper with a winning system.

[ there is another reason, there. any repetition here will create a routine of a sort, almost a tradition in the making and maybe he is a bit too eager to have those with her, things that are theirs. ]

Never really got that coffee date, did I.

[ after that spectacular loss ]

Might be my lucky day.