driftfleet | Just Keeping Swimming

Just Keeping Swimming | March Planet Mingle

Who: Everyone!
Broadcast: If you want!
Action: Anywhere on Mafik
When: The month of March

[Welcome to Mafik, the water world! Hope you brought your best swimming gear and don't have a paralyzing fear of water, because that's all that's here! So get out those wet suits and enjoy life under the sea!

In other words, it's a mingle! ]

> System Information

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Much appreciated, Miss Carter.

[A little smile, short but not unkind.

He's actually sitting and looking a bit sleepy, now. A slow whirring down of the robo-butler, it seems, because he's been going, going, going. Pretty sure he's been going since the moment he was designated a ship.

But he doesn't want to be rude to Miss Carter, so he will resist.

Like someone trying to not pass out in morning class.]

We've quite a group of talented people here! Mr. Rogers among them. And Kubo! So talented at paper crafts. I've never had much of an artistic flair; that's more along Ana's forte.

-- Steve's always been a dab hand with a sketchpad, yes. [ she clears her throat. ] Another detail lost to the sound and fury of the propaganda machine.

[ peggy spoons the last few mouthfuls from her bowl. the salad, by contrast, will be a quicker eat. ]

The damnable machine.

[He agrees. He's fortunate to have evaded it well enough, thanks to being around Howard. Howard really did love Steve quite a lot; it makes for more genuine stories, more genuine answers.]

But very admirable, to take lines and find people, with them. Places.

[A yawn into his sleeve.]

I bet he's already taken to drawing you.

[ a look. peggy finds herself at a loss for where to even begin her response. clearly, mister jarvis's decorum is slipping because of his exhausted state. even so, she can't quite forgive yet another intrusion into private territory.

she hoovers another mouthful of salad before countering: ] I have no idea what you're suggesting, Mister Jarvis. Really.

[ but it's a little too forceful. ]

[He sighs, leaning against his hand, elbow on the table.

And perhaps his weariness isn't solely from being tired, when he speaks.]

It was an innocent question, Miss Carter.

... Ana's attempted to draw me plentifully; my nose never looks right.

[ clearly, no question is ever really innocent when it delves into her personal relationship with steve. although most of her pique is a hanger-on from the very charged (and very new) association made with steve, his sketchpad, and the prospect of her as his subject. though back in the last system, he never did get around to drawing her... ]

I'm amazed she gets you to sit still long enough to draw you in the first place.

[ but just to talk about jarvis and his ana, really. a safer subject. ]

[Jarvis has plenty of things he'd love to prod Peggy for -- her lockbox of a heart, her terrible deflecting into safer territory, her godawful method of talking about others but not herself, not ever so personally, like an unfair safe with a dynamite stick trap beyond a complicated ten-number lock -- but he thinks of that last terrible conversation, the way she had so promptly shut him down. Now he's really not sure when he's supposed to tell her his opinions; it is safer to just play the butler here, and it's a bit aching to think. He could use someone to fill the silence left now that he's without Ana. Perhaps it's impossible. And perhaps he was... foolish to think Miss Carter was ever someone to exchange that sort of quiet companionship.

They're co-workers as best. He's the butler at worst.

He suddenly feels so very unsure of his place here. More than ever.

He wishes they could go on an adventure together, so he could come home to Ana and tell her all of the things rattling around in his head.]

Like the quiet frustration he has with Miss Carter sometimes, when she elects to just talk about him.]

I am more than patient and accommodating when it comes to her pastimes. It would be a shame if she grew rusty on my account.

[He motions to her used dishes, beckoning to take them.

Being a butler is just easier, sometimes, especially in the wake of silly silly thoughts. He will create his own lockbox. He will be the most pleasant!

No more mistakes tonight, Mr. Jarvis, it's not good for your resume.]

Would you like anything else?

You've already done more than enough. [ her voice betrays a rare uncertainty -- as though she knows something's amiss, but she can't quite press her thumb to it. at no point does she guess near the heart of the matter, having never once assumed her distance should pain him. it had been one thing, back in new york, to concede that she might need his support in the field. quite another to imagine she might need it anywhere else. even most of their more sentimental moments had been spent back-to-back. booth-to-booth, at the automat.

she pushes her plate towards him. happy, it seems, to let him take that responsibility. ] I should hope your ship-mates don't feel cheated out of their leftovers because you keep feeding the captain of a different vessel.

[He smiles a bit as he places the dishes in the sink, towel over an arm.]

Not at all, Miss Carter. I'm always happy to serve.

[But his heart is not particularly in it, when he says it.

Quite unusual, he thinks. It leaves a small bite of uncertainty in his work ethic.]

I... hate to be a poor houseguest -- [Jarvis you live on this ship.] -- but I'm a bit dead on my feet. Perhaps a nap is in order.

[... oh, but there are dishes in the sink.

He looks at them critically.]

... After dishes. Yes.

Sod the nap. [ she dabs the corners of her mouth with a napkin and finds her feet. ] Get a whole night's sleep.

[ peggy unbuttons the cuffs on her sleeves and pushes the blouse's stiff cloth up her arms -- all the way to her elbows. ] Let me.

[ she can't be the emotional connection he craves -- that much is obvious. but she can nudge him firmly away from the sink and take ownership of the mess she's made. just tonight. ]

[He just stands there at first with mouth slightly open, a confused creature.]

I - I assure you, that's not necessary. I'm sure you have more pressing matters.

I would hate to get... shabby.

-- Shabby. At washing up?

[ a shake of her head. she's a hair's breadth away from a dreaded do as peggy says. but before she can fall to growling, she course-corrects. ] I'll wash; you'll dry.

[ it's still a command, of course. just one with a compromise. ]

[He looks far too relieved at compromise.

Because then he finds himself useful once more, while still accepting help.

Never mind the full course meal sitting on the counter, ready for crew. It's simply not enough.]

Very well.

[He shimmies beside her -- almost comments on the trouble with suddenly not having a job, so to speak.

But he quiets instead. And waits for something to come to his mind.

Think, Mr. Jarvis. Being tired is no excuse for impolite silence.]

... Perhaps water will become very tiresome to look at, after we're done with this planet.

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Just Keeping Swimming | March Planet Mingle

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