✮ video.

[uprightness]

Who: Steve Rogers + you.
Broadcast: yep.
Action: on the starstruck, if you're inclined!
When: current.

[ It has been a long time since Steve Rogers has done one of these little network announcements, seven months, if you want to be specific about it. Some things have changed, others haven't. He still looks awkward about addressing a whole lot of people at once for something that isn't an emergency. The uniform is gone, however, replaced by a simple blue t-shirt and jeans and the shield is nowhere in sight.

He seems to have spread many sheets of paper all over the Starstruck's kitchen. Some feature tables of dates - undoubtedly a calendar in the making and others feature, well, drawings; each sheet contains one scenery. They would strike some people as rather familiar, a hand-holding tree, a sandy beach, the market of the tri-fraction system with people wearing clothes in various colors, the woods of the Lagan system, the Nebula lights and lastly, the mountains of Siourew and the Co’kal. ]

I meant to finish a few calendars by New Year's Eve but it seems I'm behind on my deadline.

[ To say the very least. He rubs his chin, there's a beginning of a stubble there. How many days has he devoted to this as of late? it's hard to tell. ]

I'm not going to write years on 'em, since it's different for all of us but I thought it might be a nice way to keep up with dates and holidays.

[ He frowns and confesses, ]

I feel like I've left some things out - and some of you have seen planets I haven't been around to see for myself. I figured I'd ask - if you have the time, you can describe some of them to me and I'll add them to the calendar. It can be anything you liked on any of the planets we've been to.

[ and, okay, fine - ]

I could use a description of where we're currently docked, too.

[ How can a person so big can seem so awkward? ]

Thanks you.

Comments

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[uprightness]

[ he bites back a smile. it seems that even the dryness doesn't lower a rather excited level of being infatuated. ]

Can't be off the ship when I'm not sure where to swim to - all ok?

[ is he seeing hints of blushing, hmm? ]

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[mucked]

[ -- hints, but nothing more. peggy's nose crinkles and she decides it's best not to dwell on displays of public sentiment. not when it opens her to accusations of protesting a little too much.

so, instead, she provides him with text directions to one of those dry inns -- nestled deep in the heart of the city. ]

See you soon.

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[uprightness]

[ nothing less than her metaphorical carrot would have convinced him to venture out of the ship - and for so long, too! Still, he does appreciate the colors of the corals and well, some of the wildlife.

He's shaking water out of his hair when he finally, finally reaches the dry ground of the inn. ]

-- You know, there are jellyfish the size of a Cadillac out there.

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[mucked]

[ the rental space isn't without its drawbacks, of course. it's cramped -- but peggy's never minded that. also, the bed is bewilderingly unstable and seemingly filled with water. luckily, she hasn't been sleeping here; it's merely rented as a kind of dry-dock for her comings-and-goings instead of constantly going through the decontamination process on and off the ship.

she smiles when he walks into the room. turns out she was right -- he does cut a nice figure in the wetsuit. peggy tosses a towel into his arms. ]

Best avoided, I think. I don't want to imagine the sting.

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[uprightness]

Thanks -

[ he grabs the towel, ducks his head and dries his hair first. it's a hurried effort and the result is mostly messy. ]

Here.

[ he passes her the very lidded cup she asked for. ]

Wish my phone's camera would have worked underwater. It's quite a sight.

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[mucked]

[ she pops the lid and takes a nostril's worth of tea-smell into her system. it's rejuvenating. ]

At least now you won't have to rely on hearsay for what this planet looks like. [ peggy smiles -- still riding a slight swell of victory, it seems. ] You'll be able to recreate your Cadillac jellies from memory.

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[uprightness]

Yeah, well. so far, the intel I got was 'wet'.

[ he gives her a look. ]

Amazingly, it turned out to be true.

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[mucked]

Of course it did. [ she eyes him over a sip of tea. ] I'm not in the business of lying to you, after all.

[ -- she may deflect and she may mislead, but peggy's done her level best not to speak whole lies to him. ]

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[uprightness]

Only in the business of arms racing.

[ not that he's one to talk. In the end, she knew better than he did, his presence here is proof of that. ]

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[mucked]

[ her chin lifts. she smiles. ]

You started it.

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[uprightness]

[ there's something between a scoff and a chuckle that seems to slip out before he can stop himself. ]

Really? that's what we're going with?

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[mucked]

Yes. And I mean it -- every word. When the Fleet's history logs record the great Tea War of the Starstruck's Kitchens, they'll be made amply aware that you're to blame for everything that followed.

[uprightness]

Really.

[ he's still drying his hair and his arms but he stops to give her a look. ]

And what followed?

[mucked]

[ tut tut. ]

I don't want to give away the ending. That wouldn't be sporting of me. Not at all.

[uprightness]

Should I be worried?

[ better be on alert. this has the potential to become exactly as she's said it, a battle of wits of a sort. ]

[mucked]

That depends. [ ahem. ] Do I worry you?

[ -- another tilt of the travel mug. she smiles. ]

[uprightness]

All the time.

[ helps him stay alert which is how he almost keeps up with her. ]

[mucked]

[ her smirk stays, but: ] Just what every partner wants to hear.

[ because that's the word she's landed upon, it seems. partner. more cemented than girlfriend, and less daunting than not-yet-wife. ]

[uprightness]

You're not every partner.

[ an easy comeback, he takes rather quickly to this choice of semantics. ]

[mucked]

[ she sets aside her half-finished tea, keen swap her hold on it for a grip on his hand. she offers her open palm, coaxing him further into the small room. ]

I'm glad you decided to brave the deep, Steve.

[uprightness]

[ he waves away the credit before taking her hand. ]

Dunno if it counts - I headed straight to the only dry place 'round here.

[mucked]

You had to get through the water, first. [ she smiles -- thinking, also, on the shuttle ride to the ring during their last stop. ] It counts for something.

[uprightness]

I guess it's a start. At least they made these places.

[ for people like him, he suspects. each one and their own reason to want their two feet on dry ground. ]

Nat said the scenery gets a little repetitive. Hopefully once the locals are doing better they can keep building their cities down here.

[mucked]

They've got a whole heap of people to house -- once they're doing better.

[uprightness]

It's one of things I like best about these places, that people get to help. Gives a meaning to all this traveling and it makes the augment useful for a change. At least they don't seem to need security around here.

[ he's rather glad not being needed, all in all. fighting underwater, that would have been a bit of a nightmare. ]