driftfleet | text & video

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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. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ that particular phrasing just makes the thought of a gun more horrifying. mon-el is allergic to lead. ]

I never really liked the idea of using something that kills people. [ the fact that the only time he had the real thing in his hand his father put it in there doesn't help much, either. but maybe he could make a non-lethal version... ]

Killing someone with a gun is even more likely when you're untrained, you realize. [ you hit all kinds of things you don't meant to -- although, certainly, peggy's done a fair bit of killing her career. that's neither here nor there. ]

Yeah, yeah, can't argue with that.

[ he realizes it a little too well, he was such a nervous wreck that day with his dad, so terrified, so terrible at it, that he could have easily hit an innocent bystander. ]

Perhaps you should come to the range, then -- get yourself feeling a little more accustomed to the action. [ ... ] Not with a conventional gun, necessarily. The ships offer those blasting alternatives.

[ he's not totally comfortable with this idea, but he does agree both with her and with kitty that it's necessary, so he nods. ]

I'll need a teacher. You know, so I don't shoot myself.

-- If you're toeing your way around a question, Winn, then you might as well get on and ask it.

[ she'll say yes. ]

Agent Carter, will you train me?

[ he really hopes that next time he goes home it's with all this knowledge he's gathering, because training and then completely losing all that training when he actually needs it? sucks. ]

I think I will, Agent Schott. [ a tilt of her head. a spark of warmth. ] Provided you'll agree to be about as attentive a student as I've been.

[ there's something almost precious about this little exchange of theirs, about being seen as a professional by someone he respects so damn much. ]

Easiest promise ever, I'm a great student.

[ it's a funny feeling! this odd little swell of pride -- of purpose. peggy's worked in intelligence for years, now. but either in the field or in the office. distinguished, outspoken, forceful, but ultimately part of the rank and file. she might have been able to boss around any given private during the war, but there was always brass above her. brass outflanking her. never, not once, would she have considered herself a mentor.

and so when news reached her ears of shield, of its formulation, and of her position as its first director-in-chief? she'd felt an icy horror. peggy carter? leading, but in a capacity beyond barking orders in the middle of the gunfire? it seemed like a poor fit. worst of all, it seemed like it would be safe. dull. exhaustingly dull.

but she sees the look on winn's face and finds herself truly warming up to the prospect of teaching him something -- something any enterprising federal agent deployed in the field ought to know. and, finally, she can feel the appeal in a flock of newly minted ssr agents -- no, shield agents -- reared in opposition to what the ssr had become. quite apart from hydra's infiltration, she's starting to understand why her life meander down such a path. ]

We can use my pistol. At first. [ she irons all sentiment out of her voice -- hesitant to reveal her emotions on the matter. ] The first box of ammunition is on me, but I expect you to buy your own when you can find it. Or make it if you must. The revolver's antique even by my standards.

[ the thing is, she's been serving as a mentor for him for months, in the little ways she's encouraged him, in little bits of advice and the way she reprimands him during their lessons and talks. he would be filled with pride knowing that he can bring that sentiment out of her, that he can help inspire her into doing something so huge.

he nods as she goes into the more technical details needed. ]

I'll work on it, I never really dealt much in weaponry. [ kara doesn't need guns, she's a weapon herself. but this will be a good opportunity to figure out how to make a non-lethal gun he could carry! he could talk to hank, figure something out. it'll be fun! he definitely doesn't want a lot of lead around his space, what with mon-el's allergy. ]

All the more reason to learn. [ she sees an opportunity -- for him, at least -- and is quick to encourage him into seizing it. certainly, she never made it this far in her own career without taking every chance to learn what no one wanted to teach her. ]

Besides, [ she offers, ] there's an odd comfort to be found in a firing range. If you know how to look for it.

[ much steam has been blown off. ]

I think I'll find a lot of comfort in not needing to be rescued.

[ it scares the shit out of him, the thought that one day he'll get in trouble and no one will be able to get to him fast enough - or that he'll get in trouble and someone else would get hurt trying to save him. that's why he's been putting so many hours into learning self defense, but there's only so much he can do with his body. he'll never be a ninja. he needs something a little stronger to level the playing field. ]

Is that what you're searching for?

[ she pulls the short sheaf of exercise papers nearer -- mock-distracted with tidying their corners while she considers what winn's telling her. more importantly, what his words imply about the rest of his thoughts. ]

I suppose I can't blame you, really.

Running away can only get you so far.

[ it mostly worked out for him, seeing how he's still alive and all, but he knows it's not always going to be an option, especially now when his life keeps getting more and more complicated, more and more dangerous. they're not feelings he's particularly comfortable sharing with anyone, but every now and then it just slips out. peggy had to have been someone else before she became an agent too, right? she wasn't born with a gun in her hand and danger at her heels, or was she? she has to get how scary it is to go from a normal life -- to this. it's not the kind of fear that paralyzes you in the moment, thankfully, he's pretty good at keeping his wits about him, fighting back, doing what he has to. but...not that long ago, he didn't know that, didn't know he had that in him, and it's a lot to process.

he empties his coffee cup. ]

[ her smile is little -- and quickly subdued behind a sip of tea. bold reach and determination never fails to drag a little admiration out of her. better, still, when the application of those principles reminds her of a particular person. ]

Only so far, yes, before you need to turn and fight back. [ dreary, but: ] Our heroes won't always be there.

[ and more than anything he doesn't want to be the reason why any of them disappear from his life. he will never be able to forgive himself if his recklessness or his inability to defend himself cost someone else their life. he has to learn to carry his own weight if he's going for this lifestyle - which he is. he can't turn back now, no part of him wants to. ]

We're agents, we're supposed to be other people's heroes.

Well. [ she's a little more forthcoming, these days, on her work -- and the nature of it. ] I can't speak for the DEO, of course. But it's better for everyone involved if none outside the agency know about any -- ah -- heroics.

[ a hum. ] Anyone I meet in civilian life thinks I work for the telephone company.

No, yeah, I didn't mean like that kind of hero - [ more the saving lives kind of hero, less the being a symbol of hope kind. that's reserved for the superfam. ] the DEO's on the down-low but it's pretty easy for me though - my entire social circle either works there or has access, so I don't really have to keep secrets there.

[ and he was free of keeping secrets for guardian for like. a couple weeks. and now we're back here. why. ]

[ of course, it changes -- peggy still must stomach that at some point her cover is blown to the extent that she becomes a public figure. folded into history books, with her picture adorning the walls of old ssr bunkers and shield offices. a bitter pill to swallow for someone so secretive. but for now? ]

I used to live in a lodging house -- the Griffith. Good Lord, if I told the landlady what I really did for a living? [ a grimace. ] She already found the phone company line to be utterly distasteful.

Distasteful - why?

[ he frowns, trying to understand. why is it the landlady's business, beyond that she has the funds to pay her rent and isn't doing anything illegal to procure them? ]

[ well. eyeing the phone (and recalling it's recently erased string of emojis), peggy answers: ] That's an awfully good question. Whatever her reasoning [ -- and she'll let winn reverse engineer it rather than spell it out -- ] she wasn't satisfied until I assured her it was only temporary until I found a nice man to marry.

[ oh - oh. he should get it easier, really, but he's always lived in this bubble and been surrounded by powerful women that whenever these things come up - in the past, in other worlds, and in his own life - they catch him by surprise. ]

That's a lot of investment for a landlady. Mine only cares that I pay on time and don't trash the place.

[ a slight smile -- peggy's gut reaction is to tell him it's because he's a man. but she knows better: in the future, it mayn't be such a restriction. ]

Mrs. Fry enforced a very strict curfew. And never allowed men above the ground floor. Didn't stop all sorts of suitors from climbing the gutters and fire escapes. [ a clearing of her throat. ] Not mine, mind.

[ a curfew? rules about visitors? at her age? it must have been a common practice, otherwise he can't imagine her accepting such terms.

someone get him a lid to flip. ]

Of course - [ are you sure there wasn't one out of sheer spite because he would so get that. ]

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