time for some spring-mingling!

[mucked]

Who: Starstruck crew and guests!
Broadcast: N/A
Action: Aboard the Starstruck
When: All of April

[ oi, crew! we've got some upgraded bathrooms this time 'round, so enjoy your extra hot water! and a comfier tub! and some privacy curtains in the changing area, thank goodness. everyone please remind max to actually use the curtains, of course. (right after you remind him to shower!)

mingle away, starstruckers! don't forget you can still toy around with some of the rumours! ]

Comments

[mucked]

[ peggy rolls her eyes. her mouth is too busy with the biscuit, otherwise she'd tell him how little she feared his fugitive status. professionally, he's thoroughly weaponized -- he's volatile -- but she thinks of him as the man first and the captain second. all she can see is the same earnestness in his eyes. sometimes, she sees the man he used to be (shorter, skinnier, sicker) instead of all the muscle. a side-effect of having kept his pre-serum photo as her main souvenir of his existence. ]

Good, yes? [ she says of the shortbread. ] I told Stefan he ought to teach you how to make it.

[uprightness]

[ he would have minded it all, once, maybe. this new development, however uncomfortable is not even the terrible side to the whole story and definitely isn't what he's regretting most. what led to it, well, that's a whole other matter.

and speaking of new developments - ]

Me? I'm only really good at boiling things, you know.

[mucked]

Doesn't matter. [ she pats the back of his hand -- the guilty one, for those of you still playing at home. ] I've already signed you up. Captain's orders.

[ aka, do as peggy says. ]

[uprightness]

[ why this. ]

To learn how to bake? Never realized it was needed for a first mate's resume.

[ oh fine, it's not a terrible fate to accept altogether. ]

[mucked]

[ less so the first mate's resume, perhaps, and more the suitor's. after all, that's how the conversation had turned upon the subject with stefan. awkward, humiliated, but eager to find a way out of the muck. ]

What if we end up without a cook again? [ ah, well. time to rip off the bandage. ] And this time, Wanda isn't here to pick up the slack...

[uprightness]

[ he pauses and nods. it's a good enough reason, last time wanda was a great help but with her gone.

wanda's gone. steve isn't sure how to feel about it whatsoever. ]

She knows her way around kitchens.

[mucked]

[ this time, she reaches for his hand in earnest. ]

Do you want to talk about it? [ ... ] We don't have to, of course, but I'm here. Ears and all.

[uprightness]

She's the same as me. Wanted in more than 100 countries.

[ but that part is entirely his fault. it's one thing to be a wanted man himself and another to have wanda tangled up in his mess because she wanted to help him. ]

She had an easier time here. She got - not many people get chances like that.

[ it stings that she returns to a world in which her brother is dead. few understood steve's mixture of emotions about the fleet as well as Wanda. ]

I don't know if she wanted to leave.

[mucked]

One hopes -- [ hypothetically, because that's all this can ever be unless one of them returns ] -- that she might have taken comfort that she and Pietro left together. No matter what their divergent fates were.

[uprightness]

They never really did anything apart.

[ twins, after all. pietro was the last of wanda's family and while he died a hero, he still died and none of them could have consoled her for that loss. ]

It makes sense that they did. Almost as if the Atroma had a heart, not making her lose him again.

[mucked]

[ small blessings and silver linings. peggy watches him -- thoughtful, and pained, as she realizes that there may very well come a day when the pair of them mightn't be granted the same clemency. if either of them are to leave, she hopes he goes first; she can't abide by the thought of him left behind. mourning her once more.

she banishes these thoughts with a shake of her head. ] Hungry?

[ there's a list to contend with, after all. and thoughts to distract. ]

[uprightness]

Starved. You know if I start baking these things, you're going to have to learn how to share them, right?

[ assuming he won't burn down the ship, of course. ]

[mucked]

I fear I'll already be sharing the ones Stefan brings with our newest arrival. [ elena. peggy knows the woman from the last time she'd been here -- back then, peggy had been the newcomer and elena had been the established crewmember. ]

But I'm not talking about sweets. I'm talking about lunch.

[ i'm talking about cooking. ]

[uprightness]

[ it's a silly, selfish thing, the reason why he didn't introduce himself to their newest arrival. The timing was terrible, it's almost as if atroma wanted to replace wanda.

he'll have to get over himself soon. ]

well, we do have half a dozen pumpkins but I've no idea what to do with them.

[mucked]

A soup, maybe. [ a puffed sigh. she reclaims her mug of tea. ] It's tough to stuff up soup.

[uprightness]

Famous last words?

[ he teases as he ducks to retrieve one of those fabled pumpkins from the crate he keeps them in. it's a rather large one and he'd be giving her a rather pointed look.

go on, say something nice about the pumpkin. ]

[mucked]

[ oh, crumbs. he's expecting some sort of praise for his prized pumpkin. peggy bites her bottom lip, buys time while fetching a knife, and turns back with a hesitant expression on her face. ]

It's certainly...ample.

[uprightness]

Oh come on.

[ for the love of god, peggy carter. ]

She's beautiful. She's the best one of the lot.

[ SHE. ]

[mucked]

...She?

[ ahem. ]

[uprightness]

Yeah.

[ he looks at the pumpkin, so smug, so proud. ]

She's the largest of them all.

[mucked]

Are you so certain you ought to be so cavalier with your food's pronouns? [ because peggy's gonna carve your precious pumpkin girlfriend into wedges, dear captain. ]

[uprightness]

Don't worry, I still think you're sweeter.

[ what a brave thing to do when faced with her holding a sharp object. ]

[mucked]

Steve. [ steve. ] Did you just compare me to your favourite pumpkin?

[uprightness]

[ he leans against the counter, not really holding back laughter. ]

Hey, I try not to play favorites, they're all a result of hard work.

[mucked]

Perhaps I ought to start saying the same of my crew. [ not that peggy plays favourites when she's got the captain's hat on, so to speak. but the threat is oh-so-thinly veiled. ]

Your pumpkin is lovely. [ dry. ] Is that what you want to hear?