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;

[mucked]

And if you're very lucky, I'll have some shortbread left to share.

[ the true measure of her friendship: she's willing to share. ]

video;

[winn]

[ he crosses his fingers and holds them up at the camera. ]

I'm due for a lucky break! [ so much progress, maybe in 3 years he'll even get that hug! ]

video;

[mucked]

Until then, Winn.

[ JUST FOR YOU, MISTER SCHOTT. ]

video -> action;

[winn]

[ she gets such a smile for her trouble. ]

Til then, Peggy.

[ he arrives on time; he makes a point of always being as punctual as possible with peggy, and smiles at her as he makes his customary move towards the coffeemaker - he knows, if he wants coffee he has to make it himself. ]

So, how's my luck doing?

[mucked]

[ the kitchen's as cozy as it ever gets: the kettle's on, for her, and although she doesn't deign to make the coffee she did leave the grounds out on the counter for him. a modest gesture. peg has the table cleared off, and her paper-bound exercises sitting in a tidy sheaf by the corner. steve's phone is out, powered up, and waiting.

and on a thin plate she's placed a modest amount of shortbread cookies. ] Stellar. In the meantime, Stefan dropped off a whole new container. Takes the sting out of sharing.

[winn]

Gotta love Stefan.

[ he smiles and makes his coffee. pours her tea, too, and brings both cups with him back to the table. ]

How'd you do with these? [ he taps the paper ] Any issues?

[mucked]

Cheers, [ she says of the tea -- pulling the mug nearer to herself and letting the warmth leech into her palm before ever contemplating a sip. ] I've got some questions. Mostly about nomenclature. Nothing too wild, but...

[ she hesitates. ] I've got another little nut I'd like your help in cracking, first.

[winn]

[ he takes a satisfying sip of coffee and picks up one of the cookies. ]

Shoot -

[mucked]

It's a message on the phone. I need it deleted. [ she picks up the device and keys through the sms function until she comes across a text that had somehow been sent from this number back to the same one. beneath it, there's all manner of leftover conversations from before steve arrived in the fleet -- but the top one seems to have been 'sent' regardless of the restrictions the atroma place on technology. perhaps because it wasn't really an outgoing message, but merely stuck on the same device it was sent from.

it's really quite horrible. but peggy makes no comment on its contents, and her silence as good as dares winn to try and do anything but the same. ]

[winn]

[ what he finds truly fascinating is that with no service - a message has been sent at all. but that content is...its something. he bites his lip to try and keep the instant snort under wraps. ]

Um, does Steve know we're deleting this? [ it's his phone, after all, and whatever the story behind this particular set of emoji ending up on his phone - it might be precious. knowing steve he's pretty sure he'd still tell him to do as peggy says but it just feels wrong not to at least ask. ]

[mucked]

Yes. I've no doubt that Steve's anticipated this outcome.

[ a cagey sort of answer. truth is, peggy knows thatfrom the moment she and steve had their conversation about the stupid little pictures, he must have predicted she would move to obliterate them. as misunderstandings go, this one had been a doozy. she'd rather not be reminded of it every time she powers up the mobile phone for a lesson. ]

[winn]

-- if he punches me I'm blaming you.

[ he touches the message until a menu pops up ]

Hold on the message - delete message. [ he touches the side of the screen to remove the menu. 1. she should learn to do it herself and 2. ain't no way he's clicking delete, he's just the teacher here, he's totally innocent! ]

[mucked]

Don't be so dramatic. [ huff, her favourite go-to deflection. peggy taps her finger against the screen and follows his instructions. ] He won't be punching anyone over this. The message isn't even his! Not truly.

[ peggy watches the phone process the command for a split second before, presto! gone. but she hums a moment and turns to winn with her chin perched on her palm. ] Is it likely something like that could have been 'stored' elsewhere on the phone?

[winn]

Whose is it, then?

[ you can't expect him not to have questions, peggy, that is some message ] Normally I'd say no, but...it shouldn't even have been possible to send it, we have no service here, so clearly the Atroma are messing with it somehow. I can run a search but with them involved I make no promises.

[mucked]

[ it's not the atroma's meddling she's worried about. rather, she doesn't put it past steve to have tried to store the evidence somehow -- despite how innocent the little pictures were, in the end. but peggy sees an opportunity to avoid answering winn's question by dissecting his statement instead. ]

I suppose things were a little too dull for them. [ peggy tries to live a life under the radar. ] They needed to pull a stunt like this to squeeze a bit of blood from this stone.

[winn]

It's almost thoughtful of them to keep it on the phone.

[ instead of the network. he notices how she avoids his question, it just makes him more curious but for the time being - he just runs that search. ]

[mucked]

I imagine that's because it was keyed into the phone. Originally. [ the truth is far less impressive, of course. but she's always disinclined to share too much. especially since it also ropes more evidence of jarvis's despair into the conversation. and treads altogether too close to the question of whether she ever would marry steve rogers -- a question she can't answer. not yet. ]

[winn]

Can't imagine that'd stop them.

[ not if they can mess with it. that's a concern. he always kind of thought of his phone and the computer he built and has been programming an operating system for as his safe havens. it makes sense, though, the atroma brought their phones, why wouldn't they be able to control them?

it's probably for the best, he's been skirting the question of marriage in his mind quite a bit as of late, there'd be no stopping him talking about it if she brought the subject up, and he's worked so hard for her approval! ]

[mucked]

Just as well, then. [ a huff of breath. peggy grabs for a shortbread biscuit and dunks it into her tea -- holding it there a fraction of a section until it starts to soften. perfection.

around a mouthful of soggy biscuit: ] They've inflicted near enough humiliation already today.

[winn]

Bright side - at least they didn't accuse you of being useless, lazy, and a liar.

[ beyond the rumors about his love life, the majority of his rumors seem to center around incompetence - he can't really program, he's auto tuned when he sings, he outsources his sewing...he takes real offense to that first one. ]

[mucked]

Well. [ -- of those, of course, she could at least stomach being called a liar. and the others? they'd haunted her at other points in her career. but peggy could sense they'd cut winn to the quick, and so offered a mild: ] Now we know they're utter hogwash. Mine was almost believable, [ she jokes, ] but those claims are bollocks. Nothing but bollocks.

[winn]

[ and then she wonders why he thinks she's nice. he smiles, there's no helping it. ]

Yeah, I clearly can't be both incompetent and lazy - if I couldn't program I'd be going to a lot of trouble here to make these fake lessons. [ he shrugs. ]

[mucked]

And -- try not to take this the wrong way -- but I rather suspect you make a piss poor liar.

[ it's alright. so does steve. she can see through his fibs each and every time. ]

[winn]

No, I think that's uh, that's actually kind.

[ he's the worst peggy, for someone so imaginative he has such a hard time coming up with believable lies on the spot, and he gets anxious and it's just a mess. ]

[mucked]

Not in my line of work.

[ -- grim? yes. and just a little combative. but only as much as she usually is, and only to cover for the kindness expressed just moments ago. she can't be too sweet, lest he start getting it into his head once again that she's some sort of warm-hearted creature.

but ultimately these prickles and sharps are more performative than painful. lately, she deflects more often than she attacks. character growth. ]