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

[winn]

You're one of the wisest people I have ever met.

[ said with utter sincerity. he feels like every time he talks to peggy he comes out of it a better person. ]

[mucked]

Bloody hell. [ she gives her head a shake -- curls bouncing. but it's a brave show to hide the oddity of such a compliment. or, at least, the oddity of how it lands. settling like a stone in her stomach. ] Say it like that and it sounds as though I ought to start using the blue rinse.

[ -- isn't wisdom associated with age? good god, man, don't make her feel old when she's barely older than you. ]

[winn]

-- I have no idea what that means, beyond I unsurprisingly don't have your talent with words.

[ actually kitty and his nerd bros aside, he feels like he has a habit of saying the wrong thing, try as he might. he definitely did not mean to imply she's old. ]

[mucked]

What, blue rinse? [ a beat. ] It's dye. For your hair. Takes the yellow out when you start to go grey. The Queen uses it, I swear.

[ -- she means king george's wife, the queen mother. not her daughter, queen elizabeth. although she, too, might blue rinse. ]

[winn]

[ admittedly the hair care routine of the royal family is a blind spot of his, so he'll take her word for it. ]

...okay, that is totally nowhere near my meaning of wise.

[mucked]

I know, I know -- [ a puff of her cheeks. her interpretation had only been in the service of dodging a compliment. ] Thank you, Winn. It's kind of you to say.

[winn]

It's the truth, Peggy. Talking to you is making me a better person, I'm the one who should be thanking you.

[ dodge that. ]

[mucked]

Oh, hush. You're starting to sound like Steve.

[ not the worst thing, really! but she makes it sound like end times. ]

[winn]

Thank you.

[ he takes that as the highest of praise. he knows how she feels about steve (and no, he doesn't mean the romantic aspect, you know he doesn't). ]

[mucked]

[ huffy: ] I didn't mean it as a compliment, actually. You've no idea what a pain he can be.

[ not that you're a pain, winn. just -- she copes so poorly with admiration. she's prepared most of her life to bear the brunt of criticism, not praise. ]

[winn]

[ well too bad, peggy, you're going to have to learn a new skill. ]

I'll take Steve's worst over mine.

[ he shrugs, he can be a major pain, peggy, you have no idea. he deals with frustration and disappointment extremely poorly and when he lashes out, well, he has more in common with her than steve. ]

[mucked]

I'll spare you from hearing about his worst, then -- for fear of tarnishing him beyond repair.

[ this is good, she thinks. peggy likes keeping steve's profile humble. let him be the man, not the shield. ]

[winn]

I'm pretty sure I heard worse.

[ his girlfriend used to be an assassin, yo. and while he never blamed her for what her life forced her into, he will never be a fan of that part of her that still looks at killing as an acceptable none absolute last resort. ]

[mucked]

Worse? Likely. [ steve's as good as squeaky clean. ] But perhaps nothing quite so hopeless.

[winn]

At hopelessness I'm sure I've been worse.

[mucked]

Alright. [ she'll bite. ] Do share.

[ -- and, comfortably, it's not about her any more. ]

[winn]

Hmmn, that doesn't seem very wise of me.

[ are you going to use him as an example to someone else. ]

[mucked]

You can't claim to have been more hopeless than Steve Rogers and not, in effect, pony up. [ ... ] That's just not cricket.

[winn]

I don't even know what I'm up against, or what the rules of cricket are.

[mucked]

Nobody knows the rules to cricket; that's not the point.

[winn]

Point is, intel doesn't come for free.

[ convince him to tell you, go ahead. ]

[mucked]

[ she ought to be miffed, really. only she's not. peggy smirks -- perhaps a little proud that he pushes for a negotiation. ]

Alright, [ peggy stands, but only so she can go and put the kettle on anew. ] Let's see if we can't come to some sort of agreement. Have you got a question you'd like to ask?

[winn]

[ it's the reaction he was hoping for. he has embarrassing stories and moments aplenty, a lot of them caught on camera in the fleet, and he doesn't even really mind peggy knowing about the less funny more vulnerable stuff because he trusts her, so it's not that he minds telling her, but one - she always seemed like the sort of person who has more respect for people who make her work for things to him, and he's usually very bad at it, so this little joke-work feels like a good place for him to assert that he is capable of it, and 2 - it's just uncomfortable for him to be talking about himself like that with no real reason, especially if he's the only one doing it. he can laugh at himself extremely easily but who likes to recount all the ways they've been an idiot to someone who's maintaining their dignity? ]

Oh wow - that's a big question, I don't wanna waste it...what type of hopelessness are we talking about here? [ because yeah he's still pretty sure he doesn't have to tell his worst stories to beat steve at it. and fairness is key, the question and story he chooses have to be at about the same level, right. ]

[mucked]

[ sometimes, you hafta give a little to get a little. peggy understands that kind of exchange -- and, with most people, she'd try and eke by with the least amount divulged. a skinny trade, disguised as something enticing. not so today -- not so with winn, at least, in this particular moment.

she decides he deserves a bit of honesty for having made a bold play. her guess is that he wouldn't have even instigated a bit of barter a handful of months ago. so, with a long-suffering sigh, she explains: ]

It's entirely possible he might still think that fondue is a euphemism for sex.

[ -- a little crass, perhaps. but there's nothing to be gained in being coy. ]

[winn]

[ he really wouldn't have. before he got his new memories, his extra year of growing stronger and being able to contribute something of substance to the world, he wouldn't have dared to risk their friendship with even this mild a play. he's still desperate for affection and approval, will still bend over backwards for any crumb of it, but he feels more secure that it's not going to disappear if he asks for a little more. ]

I mean, under the right circumstances, anything can be -

[ that's not really that hopeless, on its own. ]