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

[stefanged]

Actually, it is. Given how dumb the rumors get, better for me to keep one stupid poem and read it to everyone rather than.. you know, pretending that I'm immune somehow.

[ Immortality has given him eternal life, after all, not a thicker skin. ]

[mucked]

-- You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din.

[ kipling's a troublesome poet, perhaps, but there are some lines she'll never foget. also, peggy knows she's unlikely to ever make the same manner of sacrifice. but she admits it with no shame, pouring their tea and delivering it to the table as she does so. ]

If someone wrote poetry about me, I'd never let it see the light of day.

[stefanged]

[ he shakes his head, ] I'm not that selfless. Misery always loved company.

[ Stefan murmurs his thanks as he reaches for the tea, carefully wrapping his hands around the mug. ]

Poetry isn't my strong suit, thankfully – or this rumor monger's, not that it stopped them.

[mucked]

Was the poetry the worst of it, then?

[stefanged]

As far as I'm aware, yeah. [ He takes a sip. ] That said, I probably just jinxed it.

[mucked]

You know, frustrating though it is? I'm finding it hard to be well and truly angry. [ a miracle, really, for peggy carter. ] A rumour in isolation can blitz a whole life. A whole career. Things like what was said about me -- they've as good as haunted my every step since the war.

[ blunt. honest. but, then again, stefan's her friend. ] But it's all a bit toothless when everyone's dealing with them at the same time. Reduces it down to something like the common cold.

[stefanged]

[ He nods, unable to hide the worry lines running across his forehead. Stefan can only imagine the harsh nature of a rumor - it's not a struggle Salvatore would've ever faced, and Stefan knows it. Even in his current life, rumors around him only emerge when strangers uncover his faith (and only then, not a moment before). ]

Yeah, I'd consider it a blessing in disguise. Hard to take any of these seriously when new ones are popping up every... what? Hour? Half an hour? [ he shakes his head. ] Wherever they're coming from, I hope they die down soon.

[mucked]

We can only hope they get bored before too long. [ a beat. ] Until then, I should learn to take my own advice and try not to let it get a rise out of me.