driftfleet | April System Mingle

Currently? You've got a good, oh, seven inches on him. For one. [ it's easier to speak in specifics. in numbers, measurements, and plain truths. better than discussing matters of the heart, or of why she'd go to such lengths to provide for someone regardless of how important they might be.

she cards her fingers impatiently through a selection of curls. ]

He's narrower. [ lighter, too, she'd reckon. ] But he's narrower than just about anyone. Hard to find a point of comparison, really. Not many match his measurements. But I should be able to account for the difference once I see it on you.

Edited 2017-04-17 20:02 (UTC)

But only currently. [It's the second time that she's implied as much in their short conversation, and despite his promise of just moments ago Rip does have to bite his tongue a bit. It's really galling what they expect people to pay for such workmanship, period.]

Then by all means. [He pauses long enough to retrieve his coat, then gestures for Peggy to proceed, easily falling into step with her.] I'm sure you're rather eager to get back to him.

[ oh, he could have the kindest of intentions and she would still find that last statement thoroughly galling. peggy pauses, offering a half-shake of her head. ]

We're not attached at the hip. [ her temper gets the better of her. she takes a breath, steadies herself, and swallows the worst of her proverbial bile. ] This week has been a bit more trying than most, that's all.

Nor was I attempting to imply that you were. [Defensiveness once more; shocking.]

Because of a glitch? [Might as well at the opportunity to confirm his suspicions. Winn had left it vague beyond grown adults being turned to children or falling into comas. Having someone suddenly shrunk falls into the bounds of limitations unknown, he thinks.] You realize there is absolutely nothing wrong about being worried for someone you care about. Most people would consider it quite normal, in fact.

[Just saying, Peggy.]

[ oh, for heaven's sake. she doesn't hide her frown in the face of a lecture. this conversation had been barely stomachable from edwin jarvis; it hardly goes down any smoother with a man who's mostly a stranger.

but there is (at least) an imperative to warn him of the pitfalls to come: ] Because of an augment glitch, yes.

[She truly doesn't know Rip well at all if she thinks this is a lecture. Just some unasked for advice at worst.

She opts for the safer topic regardless, and Rip lets that sink in as they find someone to actually assist them. He asks after the dressing rooms, then turns to go in the direction the helper points.]

I got a bit of warning about those. Including the part where the effects are meant to be temporary and do no lingering harm. [Perhaps it's not an aspect he's strictly wanting to confirm, but it feels relevant to the conversation.

Especially since Rip can't imagine that Peggy isn't worried, no matter how many frowns she might throw his way whenever Rip tries to imply it.]

[ she's hard on his heels -- and although she's not speaking about steve's current glitch, she supposes it's important to clarify: ] Quite the opposite. They can cause plenty of harm. About a year ago I was laid up in bed with a few broken ribs thanks to someone else's glitch -- although it's true enough that the glitches themselves don't leave any lasting harm on the person who's been changed.

[ not physical harm, at least. she's certain barnes is still coping with the mental fallout. ]

[Well, isn't it good to clarify.]

Technically that's more of an indirect result of the glitch--but I do see your point. [Rip's gaze turns downward then, his steps perfunctory as he considers the implications of such an alteration.

What he wants to know now is likely personal, which means Peggy will be unlikely to answer.

But Rip needs to know.]

Do you know the nature of the glitch that caused that person to do you such harm? [By accident or otherwise.]

I do. [ almost intimately -- and in a way, it's tied directly to her desire to see a future that's more malleable. changeable. ] And I'll assure you, at least, that it's not the sort of glitch that can happen to just anyone in the fleet.

[ suggesting that further details might not be so forthcoming. it's not that they're secret -- just that she might be a little too close to the events. ]

[He huffs out a soft sound at her attempt at reassurance. She sounds so confident of her conclusion, and yet--

There are too many moments Rip has not forgotten. That he cannot, nor should he be allowed to.]

You seem rather sure about that.

[ -- well, might as well go whole hog. ]

Not many people arrive with such a particularly nasty piece of programming still stuck in their brains. Although I'll readily admit his situation may not have been unique.

[ there's no coming back from this -- no pretending she's an office worker, or a civilian, or anything but someone with a professional stake in these matters. ]

[He's a little surprised she gives him so honest of an answer from her. But then again, they are speaking of someone else. Perhaps not a friend of Peggy's then; not that Rip can really know for sure either way.]

This person had undergone some form of mind alteration, then. [There are many names for the process that Rip has heard throughout time. Memory manipulation, cognitive intrusion--brainwashing.]

And that programming led him to go after you?

Not specifically. [ she's quick to clarify -- that had never been a part of the problem, although she's more than once asked herself whether the opposition forces in the future ever try to use the winter soldier against her. ] I was a roadblock. An obstacle. That's all -- I was in his way.

So he did what was necessary to remove you from his path.

[With cold efficiency, Rip wonders, or some brand of sadistic glee? He remembers the night all too well, the utter joy he found in the moment when he aimed the gun, pulled the trigger and looked upon his work with satisfaction because she no longer meant anything to him.]

You said the programming was in his head still. You're sure of that. [He doesn't want to hope, but he also needs to understand, to know how likely this might happen again.

If it might happen to him.]

[ she's said enough. at least, enough to go without exacting some kind of revenue from what she's divulged. the problem of the shirt is momentarily forgotten, and peggy sizes up his worry. ]

It was there when he arrived. It mightn't be there still. [ how is that? well, that's what she's keeping to herself before she gets a better read on the moment. ] Why are you so curious about him?

We've all got these augments in our heads, don't we?

[She has told her half-truths and kept her secrets, even as Rip has quietly (or overtly) pried. But what Peggy Carter perhaps has not realized is that for everything she's left unsaid, something from Rip has gone untold as well.

This he does not mean to tell. Even though he doesn't look at her--has not for the pace of several steps--and that might make it clear enough.

He still has no desire to admit that whole truth.]

Without understanding how they work, who's to say that we can't all be suddenly reprogrammed in such a fashion?

We've all got the augments, yes. [ ... ] But as I said, we don't all of us arrive with a switch nestled in the middle of our little grey cells.

[ it is making it clear enough. she reads the absences. although, notably, she doesn't assume his concern is for himself. it could equally be for a familiar face or for someone he fears might arrive in time. ]

The augments can revert a person to a previous state. They can -- enhance certain strengths or strip them away entirely. [ another beat. ] I've yet to witness them taking control of a person who isn't already susceptible to that sort of thing.

[ which makes her wonder... ]

Good to know, I suppose.

[It's almost funny that she doesn't realize Rip thinks of himself first, and yet there it is. He hasn't considered those from his own world and time simply because they are not here, there's no indication they will be, and even if they might show up--

It's easier to live under threat of them, than for Rip to accept being the one to stand as the danger.

Because even if she's right, he has no reprieve. Rip has been proven subject to those manipulations time and again, by the hands of the Time Masters and the Legion and his own desperate need to protect those things which he once believed in above all else: time, reality. Humanity.

Captain Rip Hunter was the puppet, he can still hear himself angrily say.

And perhaps he will be again.]

We've gotten rather distracted, haven't we? [It's obvious but frankly? Rip doesn't care. They're close enough to the changing rooms that's it's a simple matter to duck into a stall, to busy his hands hanging up jackets and opening buttons.

To think about what would happen if he were to change in such a way in this new setting, and lose himself once again.]

[ he deflects. dodges. and she doesn't blame him, really. she'd done much the same when they'd first met and he hadn't yet been shuffled onto another ship. peggy swallows the lump in her throat and leans her shoulder against the hard corner dividing the fitting room from the belly of the store.

she watches his feet beneath the stall door. and with her own cold brand of mercy, she explains: ] There's...a telepath. In the fleet, I mean. Aboard the Heron. He can root around in someone's mind and pull apart those kind of implanted suggestions. It's what he'd offered to do for the man who broke my ribs. Of course, we can't be dead certain it worked -- but we can hope. I can hope. You see, I knew him back home as well.

[ she hides a crumb of advice in a confessional. rip needn't acknowledge what she's told him -- that there might someone out there who can help him if he is (indeed) concerned for someone's sake. his own, or anyone else's. ]

[Each piece of his clothing is neatly hung up, though the process as a whole lasts longer than it should. Even accounting for the fact that Rip dresses in layers, there's a level of deliberation he takes, particularly when Peggy opts to continue. The dual meaning of her words stands clear enough, and silently, he's thankful for the offer.

Even if there is nothing left of the Legion's handiwork lingering--or more to the point, if the thought of someone else routing around in his head, best intentions aside, makes his stomach twist.]

I am sorry. For you and your friend. [Did Peggy watch this unnamed man in the same way Sara had Rip? That Jax had? Had she pled with him, desperate to find some trace of the man she'd once known? He pulls the shirt over his head; it's a bit snug, but he manages it.]

...Is it the same one you're out shopping for now? [Or a different person she cares for, whom has been brought here along with her despite every improbability of such a thing happening.]

No. [ -- she almost laughs. almost. and the hint of a smile is doomed to go unseen by the man in the fitting stall. however messy her personal life might be as this very moment, she must at least be pleased that it's not as messy as could be. she thanks her lucky stars she's not tangled up with barnes. ] God, no. That would make for a very complicated relationship, wouldn't it?

[ a huff. the ludicrousness of it all drives her to be a little more honest: ] But Steve -- sorry, the one I'm shopping for -- is good friends with the other.

Indeed. [Perhaps it goes unseen, but not unheard in that answer. Rip's glad for it too; he suspects if it had been the same person, it would take quite a great deal of effort for the man to even be able to bring himself to look at her again.

Complicated wouldn't begin to describe it, he suspects.]

They are, even after everything that happened? [Rip's seen it for himself: that amazing sense of understanding that comes in such cases, even when to the guilty it makes no sense that they be painted in such a light. There's blood on Rip's hands now, and it doesn't matter that Sara promised it hadn't been him, that the Legends offered handshakes and nods and quiet acceptance each in their own way.

Ah, but perhaps this unnamed mystery person takes to all of that better than Rip. Who is he to say?

He steps out of the stall carefully once he's ready--not just in clothing, but in mind as well, holding out his arms for a moment to silently ask her opinion of the shirt.]

They knew each other when they were younger. Before -- before everything. Such loyalties run deep. They ought to. [ which is precisely why she'd been so troubled with steve's reluctance to share his situation with bucky. it didn't make any sense; peggy would just about kill to have michael back, and he's the nearest to a childhood friend she'd ever had.

she crosses her arms and eyes the toes of her shoes and waits. ] And he's always been better at forgiveness than most. He knows his friend wasn't in the driver's seat. So to speak.

[ forgiveness. goddamnit. she cuffs at her cheek and clears her throat. and steadies herself, because here comes the man she'd shanghai'd into this sad little adventure. bless him for being such a good sport, because here he is with his torso stuffed into a very tight tunic that might run long but it also runs narrow. it leaves little to the imagination, definition-wise. ]

Oh, Christ. [ a sputter. ] God, I'm so sorry.

[Well, any hopes there might have been at continuing the rather serious conversation are quickly dashed once Peggy gets a good look at him. Yes, Rip looks ridiculous. He'd thought as much, and he's afraid that one deep breath too many might actually tear that side seam they'd disparaged on earlier.

Still. There's something in her apology that rubs just the wrong way.]

For your amusement, or for the fact that I look like I've tried to stuff myself into some sort of cheap cloth casing?

[Just so they can be clear here.]

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