driftfleet | everybody's starstruck in june.

Entry tags:

everybody's starstruck in june.

Who: starstruck crew & visitors
Broadcast: n/a
Action: aboard the ship
When: june

[ another month; another mingle. but there are changes in the air! the starstruck has some fresh crew to boast of, as well as a spiffing new lounge. things have been difficult, lately -- the common area might make for a great place to decompress and socialize with your fellow starstruckers.

after all, it seems the captain's gone and requisitioned max's record player. for the first week in june, it'll be returned again and again to the new lounge. good luck hiding it from her, rockatanksy.

ready steady go! ]

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Falcon. It's not the same without seeing his gear. it sure is something.

[ steve is rather fond of the wings, really. sam saved him from many tight spots with those. ]

I don't know if it's worse than Captain America but.

[ he shrugs. it's not his title anymore, is it? without his gear, it seems sam wouldn't have to claim his own title if he won't want to. ]

It's not. [ worse. peggy's brutally honest on that front. she's got a great deal of fondness for steve, but the 'title' had long since been soured. ] Falcon is downright decent by comparison, I'm afraid.

Yeah, I figured as much.

[ he nods, accepting her judgement as true without too much of a fuss. it seems that the title has been ruined for both him and her but at very least they're on the same page. ]

I'm glad you've talked, he's a good guy.

He certainly seems that. [ a good guy. ] If a bit nosy. It's no surprise he wanted aboard the ship -- he asked me himself. That was a nice touch.

Must have been. He volunteered himself to my team back in the day, too.

[ it fits sam, always so proactive, placing himself where he thinks his help is needed. they so direly needed his help back then but steve needed him as a friend too.

he never told him but sam hardly ever needed to be told. ]

[ and as lovely as that proactive nature must be, peggy takes a wicked delight in what she reveals next: ]

I said he needed Buck's permission. First.

[ -- she's been using the nickname, or a variation on it, more often lately. ]

He must have been happy to hear that.

[ sam helped steve a lot with bucky but the two of them seem to prefer a sort of bickering to actually being friends. steve can't really blame sam, seeing how determined bucky was to kill them at first and well, after meeting zemo. they don't hate each other and steve suspects there's a measure of respect beneath all the bite and the sass.

but there is a lot of sass. ]

He made his peace with it, I assume. [ then, behaving as though it's a simple confession, she adds: ] I don't poach from the Heron. Any other ship is fair game but -- not his.

Yeah.

[ which means I've noticed or maybe I understand. ]

He lost a lot of them lately.

[ which, he assumes, is exactly why peggy makes such an exception for the heron. steve is worried about bucky more than not, especially as of late. they see each other, they talk, but there is a sense of loss that steve knows all too well.

it'll take time and a lot of it. ]

[ well, in for a pound? ]

So did you.

[ in for a penny. ]

[ a pause, he considers his options and chooses a safe route, ]

seems like everyone did lately. I'm kinda glad Hank and Raven left together.

[ the same is true for pietro and wanda. sometimes it's kinder not that he thinks atroma are very big on kindness. ]

Their whole team seemed to have vanished at once.

[ charles and erik, too. ]

Do you think it's a coincidence?

[ -- to witness great swathes, whole chunks of a social architecture, be wiped out? peggy has a few painful losses she's nursing. but, for her part, she's not mentioned a single one. at best, she might have looked a little melancholic when she finished the last piece of shortbread from the last batch stefan had brought her.

she'd rather let the world believe herself unmoved by these losses. she'd learned how to wear grief with dignity. hide it under grace. ]

No. Nothing is. I don't know why they do what they do but none of it is accidental.

[ it's not the first nor the last time he'd catch himself being grateful that through it all, despite it all, she's still here. He reaches over, takes her hand in his. An anchor, a reason to breath a little more easily. ]

[ for once, her eyes duck his. instead? she focuses on their hands. joined; twined. peggy shakes her head. ]

Do you ever worry that -- maybe -- they know who we are before we're taken? [ peggy gives her head a little shake, as if she can't quite articulate the problem. ] That they have some knowledge of us before we arrive. Know who we know, who we miss, who we'd long to see...

[ -- did they take him because they'd already taken her? was that part of their design? ]

Peggy.

[ he doesn't try and coax her to look at him. He runs his thumb over her knuckles, tries to see what she's trying to articulate. Whatever it is, it's bothering her. ]

If that's why I'm here, I'm still grateful for that.

[ grateful is much the same word she'd use. nevertheless, she wonders whether that makes them a bit complacent -- too willingly to see the gift horse, see its mouth, and obediently avert their eyes. ]

I'll save my gratitude for the day we're taken at the same time. [ maudlin, maybe. she'd not intended to indulge her own darkness but! here she is. doing just that. ] Should we be so lucky.

If we can't.

[ he hates talking about it, hates it so very much but at perhaps it's one of those things that must be said once before they're pushed out of the way. ]

If we won't be, I hope it's you.

[ who leaves first. He said his most difficult of goodbyes already. It'll be a bit easier releasing her to go live a long life than carrying her at the end of her days. ]

[ peggy isn't easily given to tears. and nor is she, now. but there's a wealth of emotion captured in her expression and she's acutely aware of the public space they're sharing. she gives her head a little shake. ]

No -- God, no. Let's not have this argument.

[ the one where she replies she hopes it's him, instead. ]

I know.

[ what she will say and how none of them shall change their minds, not about this. He brings her palm to his lips, presses a kiss there ]

Go on choose another one.

[ another song. A finer distraction. ]

[ she glances at the record player. and then at the gulf between them. peggy's cheeks puff; her mouth puckers. with a shake of her head, she throws a certain level of caution to the wind. it's been an exhausting week on so many levels. everything with the atroma; new crew; max describing to her how he's prepared to die.

peggy needs a win. she craves a win. ]

Doesn't break any rules if we dance, does it?

[ there's just enough space between the mismatched furniture, she thinks. ]

Not a one.

[ and her hand is already in his. It's easier to keep holding it when he rises up, book forgotten. He waits for her to find her feet and wraps an arm around her waist when she does.

Funny, he's still not a great dancer but he is that much better thanks to his time here. Of all the things to improve. ]

[ she stretches a hand against the back of his shoulder. otherwise, her fingers curl against his palm. as dances go, this one starts prim and proper. they've got a bit of space between them but it's doomed to wan as the moment wears on.

she looks up at him with a flick of her eyes; her chin doesn't lift. he could be the most terrible dance partner she's ever had (he isn't) and she would still love dancing with him more than any other person imaginable. ]

I don't know the music; we'll have to feel out the steps as we go.

It'll have to be your job. What I do best is look at you and try and do the same thing.

[ half joking and half truthful. It turns out to be a little easier than he had imagined, a slow sway to a tune, a little faster when the tempo changes and lifts. He's a little better at this when not surrounded by other people. ]

[ it's lovely, this. just them; alone. and she knows that someone might walk into the lounge at any moment. there's no sin to be found turning, slow and sweet, to some unheard of song. peggy knows she might feel a twist of embarrassment if someone did walk in -- but just now, it's worth the risk. ]

If only you made a concerted effort to learn -- [ she chides him in a gentle voice. the corners of her words are rounded; shockingly blunted. ] You would be a force.

[ one to be reckoned with. ]

[ it's the sort of moment that moves in a manner that isn't physical. a dance has been a bit of a metaphor for a whole world that he and her lost. perhaps that's why, many dances later, the act itself still brings a sense of victory.

in a way, the music hardly matters. ]

Well, you know, I don't think anyone is giving lessons around here.

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