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

[mucked]

[ 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.

[winn]

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? ]

[mucked]

[ 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.

[winn]

[ 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.

[mucked]

[ 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.

[winn]

[ 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. ]

[mucked]

[ not out of spite, per se. however: ]

Amateurish attempts, all of them. Anyone with half a brain would realize the Griffith's true weak point is its dumbwaiter. Stops on every floor.

[winn]

[ now there's the peggy he knows and loves. ]

They should consider the phone company, prepares you for life.

[mucked]

[ does it ever. ]

Not that it much matters. As housing situations go, I burned that bridge quite thoroughly the day I got perp-walked out the front door in front of the other girls.

[winn]

...perp walked? As in - arrested?

[ he's finding out so much today! ]

[mucked]

[ she'll say a lot to distract from even the whiff of marriage with steve bloody rogers. ]

Treason charges. [ she answers lightly enough -- implying, of course, that they didn't stick. ]

[winn]

[ its okay, steve bloody rogers brings it up enough. ]

Oh, yeah, [ there is some face making here ] I came close to those. [ luckily, he did not get caught. ] They are not fun.

[mucked]

Nothing quite like the threat of the noose around one's neck to light a fire under the arse. [ a huff of breath. ] How close are we talking, Winn?

[winn]

Uhh - I did the thing but I didn't get caught.

[ so, not that close, really. ]

What were your charges?

[mucked]

I did the thing, also, but not for the reasons my colleagues thought I did. [ ... ] Trying to clear an innocent man's name is dangerous work so long as the authorities still contend he's not innocent at all.

[winn]

[ he nods ]

Yeah, that would be tricky.

[mucked]

So I sabotaged evidence. Stole SSR assets. Conducted my own private investigation. Took out a baker's dozen of agents sent to apprehend me before they finally got the cuffs in place. [ all thanks to a soviet operative and her own selfish desire to see steve's blood saved. ]

But tell me. What did you do?

[winn]

...nothing that exciting. Just, hacked a secret government agency from my tablet.

[mucked]

Oh, I don't know about that. Such a feat sounds terribly exciting to an old war horse who can't imagine getting intel without picking a few locks and risking hide. [ ... ] It's all very remarkable: remote intelligence work.

[winn]

It was pretty ingenious. 'course, it'd be a lot harder now - first thing I did when they hired me was beef up the cyber security.

[mucked]

[ oh -- a glimmer of genuine surprise. ] You 'hacked' DEO before they hired you on. Bloody brilliant.

[ if you think about it, it's a lot like turning an enemy asset. ]

[winn]

[ other than the part where he doesn't like to think of himself as the enemy (he did it at the request of an agent, that's gotta count for something, right?) - yeah, pretty much. ]

I also helped them hack a living internet alien before they hired me. But that was sanctioned, so - [ shrug. ]

[ he looks all cute and innocent with karaoke and t-shirts and parties but - he's done some things. ]

[mucked]

[ whoa, now. peggy holds up two fingers -- as if to silence him in his tracks.

back up a moment, please. ]

Sorry. But -- a living internet alien? Is that exactly what it sounds like?

[winn]

Living code.

[ he nods ]

Reaching out through your monitor and trying to strangle you as you're hacking it. Made me real glad I dabbled in the dark side of virus making.

[mucked]

[ a visceral, bone-deep shiver. it reminds her of something she was told, once -- about zola, and about how he lived on in a machine. pulling strings. ]

Don't tell me that's a common problem.