text & video » open

[mucked]

Who: Peggy Carter, some rumours, and you!
Broadcast: text, then video.
Action: y, aboard the starstruck.
When: today!

[ a message materializes on the network around midday: ]

Peggy Carter's got a veritable guy-pile of suitors: Edwin Jarvis, Max Rockatansky, Jason Wilkes, Jack Thompson, Howard Stark, Stefan Salvatore, Steve Rogers, Sam Winchester, James Barnes, Clint Barton, Daniel Sousa, and counting! How many more can you name?

[ and not long after (in a state of utter pique and dismay), that same network registers a rather heartfelt reaction -- but this time with accompanying wide-eyed video. ] Jack -- Jack Thompson? Un-bloody-likely. The only thing he's ever got his eyes on is the next greasy rung on the ladder. [ peggy scoffs, disgusted. ] As pranks go, this one's been truly shambolic. The first of April was days ago.

[ in a few hours, she'll enjoy her meltdown all over again when she finds a box of sponsor gifts in the cargo bay filled with stickers, each with a different so-called suitor's name scribbled into the blank space. all of them are filled in except for an ominous pile with an attached note: in case there's so many you start to forget their names. blanks included for any others that we might have missed. ]

Comments

video

[outstandingbalance]

Away from prying eyes?

video

[mucked]

Indeed. And equally far from any of his complicated feelings of goodwill and camaraderie.

video

[outstandingbalance]

It does keep things simpler that way.

video

[mucked]

Simpler isn't always better. [ ... ] A wise butler once explained as much to me, once.

video

[outstandingbalance]

That sounds like him. [At least, as far as Natasha knows him so far.]

Better is a lot more subjective than simple.

video

[mucked]

Luckily, it's occasionally a ship captain's prerogative to be subjective about her crew.

video

[outstandingbalance]

I wouldn't argue against you on that one. I can just imagine how it seems to him. Simpler is definite. Safer is definite. Better... that gets harder to define, and harder to rely on.

video

[mucked]

-- Did you hear about what happened when Max tried to go through decontamination for the last planet?

video

[outstandingbalance]

I heard about it, yeah. Not from the source. Steve mentioned it though.

[In the course of Steve not being all that happy with the situation himself.]

video

[mucked]

No, I expect you wouldn't have. [ heard from the source. ] He turned rather isolationist after the incident. And so perhaps I can survive a few foam darts if it means he's finding his even keel again.

video

[outstandingbalance]

Sometimes people need a little time to themselves to recover. Especially if they're not used to people seeing them vulnerable.

video

[mucked]

[ she tries to be polite and cheery when she replies: ] You're certainly preaching to the choir.

video

[outstandingbalance]

[Very convincing. But Natasha's no more inclined to pick open scabs than Peggy.]

I figured. Just putting it out there.

video

[mucked]

Nevertheless, if he's recovered enough to shoot darts? He's recovered enough to go to dinner. Captain's orders.

video

[outstandingbalance]

That presumes that he'd have dinner with you if he was a hundred percent.

video

[mucked]

What it presumes, in fact, is that he's clever enough to know when to do as Peggy says.

video

[outstandingbalance]

Oh, is that how it is on your ship?

video

[mucked]

[ she knows better than to rise to the bait. instead, she jokes: ] The children get a pass, at least.

video

[outstandingbalance]

Who exactly counts as children.

video

[mucked]

[ ha. ]

Kubo and Ochako. [ ... ] And Jarvis about a week ago, but he's feeling much more like himself now.

video

[outstandingbalance]

Obviously I need to visit more often. Or pay more attention to children.

Jarvis seems like he would have been a prissy kid. Is that unfair of me?

video

[mucked]

A little, although I can't blame you for the guess. [ ... ] Truthfully, he was anything but.

video

[outstandingbalance]

So he was getting in trouble.

[Natasha's eyebrows rise with her statement. She's still not sure she can picture the mischief a young Mr. Jarvis would get into ranking.]

As long as he didn't try to stab anyone.

video

[mucked]

Let's simply say that he was endearingly earnest -- and not yet ironed into his perfectly pleated trousers.

video

[outstandingbalance]

A very apt way to put it.