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

[uprightness]

( A; pumpkins! )

[ a few planets back, just before Halloween, Steve Rogers planted a few pumpkin seeds at the garden on the iskaulit. today, finally, a result comes through and he's carrying in five pumpkins. if you ask him, they're very good-looking, thank you very much.

except, growing pumpkins is one thing and cooking them is another so you may find him frowning at those very pumpkins in the kitchen. ]

( B; rumors! )

[ aside from the various rumors about steve's upbringing, ranging from canada ( no ) to new jersey ( absolutely not ), there is another one hanging on the fridge.

steve rogers is a wanted man in 100 countries ]

A few more than 100, I think.

[ he's not impressed. ]

( C; wildcard )

[ anything else goes here. ]

A; pumpkins!

[outstandingbalance]

[Steve has only himself to blame, when Natasha comes by. He wanted her to visit more often. That's how he ends up with a redheaded spy peeking around his shoulder to get a look look at what he's doing with his haul.]

That's going to be a lot of pie.

b.

[mucked]

[ ah, yes. she'd witnessed the fridge-rumour earlier, but she'd left in place. after all, it's meant for him. but when he comes nose-to-nose with it, she's leaning against the kitchen counter with a mug of tea in one hand and one of stefan's shortbread biscuits in the other. she dunks the shortbread in her tea, holds it for half-a-heartbeat, and then bites the soggy half. ]

Oh, I'd not yet considered that angle. [ an almost smile. ] The one that has me shacking up with a man of considerable infamy.

[uprightness]

Beautiful, aren't they?

[ look at him, Natasha, look how proud he is. ]

Want one? I doubt we'll use them all and I gotta admit, I'm not sure what to do with them.

[uprightness]

Oh c'mon. Only a hundred or so countries.

[ he takes down the note, crumples it between his fingers. ]

That's hardly considerable infamy.

[mucked]

[ peggy laughs -- perhaps a little pleased to see the shoe on the other foot, even if steve had been nothing but gracious about her own rumour. ]

I was being charitable. Truthfully, it's a bit beyond considerable. It's downright international.

[uprightness]

You know me.

[ he smiles, tries to make for the other part of that shortbread biscuit. ]

I never do things halfway.

[mucked]

No, I don't suppose you -- [ but she interrupts herself, skittering backward when he makes a play for her treat. peggy drops her mug carefully onto the counter and grabs for his wrist.

she's a bit too late, however, and he manages to break off a crumbling quarter. ] Oi. Keep your hands to yourself.

[uprightness]

Are you really saying that to the guy who's wanted in over 100 countries?

[ well, it's not the whole half but it sure is something. he chews and shrugs, quite the happy criminal, it would seem. ]

[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.

[outstandingbalance]

They look good, but I wouldn't know the first thing to do with them. Think you'd be offended if I used one for target practice.

[Teasing.]

[uprightness]

[ he aims an elbow at her side. ]

Very funny. I didn't spend all these months taking care of these just to give you something to shoot at.

[ come on, Natasha, we can't not do pumpkin-related things. ]

Maybe soup.