everybody's starstruck in june.

[mucked]

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! ]

Comments

[mucked]

[ -- marginally appropriate. at least until the tragedy kicks in. and the papers want to know whose shirts you wear. there's an ethereal, wheedling quality to the man's voice that catches her ear again and again. she takes a seat on the sofa and lets him work in relative peace.

in time, she falls in love with the saxophone.

eventually the chair is stable. peggy watches him give it an experimental wobble. then, with an expectant look, she gestures for him to take the seat himself. ]

Moment of truth. Tell us how it is.

[theroadwarrior]

[You know, he has the mental image of Charlie Brown getting the football pulled out from under him. The whole scenario just plays out in his head, and he almost feels the ache in his back as he stares at her victoriously holding that football up in the air. Only it's a chair and he's become a sad turtle.

... Boy, he has an imagination on him.

He plops down on the chair, thoughtful, brow as serious as ever despite how very not serious he is.]

... Hasn't collapsed to spite me.

Think that means it's a success.

[mucked]

[ -- peggy smiles. as ever, it's a rather muted thing. but she's pleased with his success. more so, perhaps, that he'd chased it in the first place. rather than fixing up his own things, he's fixed something for them.

he's likely right; she ought to have just asked him. blimey, he's come far. ]

The cat's out of its bag. [ she pulls her legs up onto the couch, sitting with her knees bent. ] I know how handy you are, now. You'll never lack for chores.

[theroadwarrior]

Don't, uh, mind so much.

It gives me things to do. M'used to always moving, remember?

... If I can't move in miles, I can move in other ways.

[So... You know. Whether he grumbles or not about it, he does like keeping his hands busy. Even the hand that aches a lot more than it used to. That's what happens when you get it crushed under a steering wheel that's being pulled by a monster truck.]

[mucked]

I think we all feel a bit like that. [ she pauses. ] To varying degrees.

[ -- and perhaps that's her sympathetic ingress. peggy leans an arm on the sofa's back and watches max as he sits. is it odd, maybe, to find the sight of him in a proper chair a bit unnerving? unusual. ]

You can fix things. Do you think you could build them, too?

[ simple things. nothing too grand or ambitious. ]

[theroadwarrior]

Sure. Most people from back home take to it. Fixing and building.

[It doesn't usually last long, whatever's built, but building does happen.

But he does remember doing plenty of repairs, fixing the ol' auto for Jessie, things like that. He's built some additions. Hell, he built a swing once, one of those relaxing swings you watch the water with. Back when there was water left.]

I'm best at engines 'n car parts, but I could probably figure out whatever needs to be built...

[mucked]

Depending on our luck with upcoming star systems, I might see if I can source you some wood to work with.

[ she glances around the lounge; for the time being, it's awfully bare. ]

Our numbers have swelled a bit. Another seating option or two might be helpful.

[theroadwarrior]

[He glances around the room, too.]

... It doesn't look that bad.

Better than rusty folding chairs?

[#deserthobo]

[mucked]

Ideally, yes.

[ she wants to impress the new recruits, max. just -- not too much. manage expectations and all that. ]

A bench would do.

1/2

[theroadwarrior]

[theroadwarrior]

... I guess I could make a bench.

[How hard could it be.]

Won't even leave any splinters.

[mucked]

That is about the bare minimum one could ask for, yes -- [ no splinters.

the song switches over to the next. her head tilts; she listens to the differences inherent and can't help a wrinkle in her forehead when she attempts to sublimate new sounds.

but then her thoughts fall on max again and she gestures that he should join her on the couch. ]

I've got another favour to ask of you.

[ she's just rollin' in them today. ]

[theroadwarrior]

[He quirks an eyebrow, slowly moving to join her on the couch.

He sinks a bit, stretching out his bum knee.]

Awfully needy, today.

[Though he's really just teasing. Poking at her. Especially since she's been poking back, sure, but it's also just become part of their routine. Maybe it makes him feel more human.]

[mucked]

[ awfully needy, he says. and it might be true -- just a bit -- but she scowls all the same. had another member of the crew (perhaps even steve) accused her of it, she might have had their head in retribution. max, as ever, is absolved. ]

One of the new crew, [ she doesn't say his name. not yet. ] I want him to familiarize himself with the ship's piloting controls. We were spoiled when we had both you and Ahsoka able to fly the thing if necessary.

[ max will stay her pilot. but they both know, she hopes, that despite his progress he might still have some bad days. ]

Don't be too rude with him while he's trying to learn it. He hasn't got a pilot's augment, but wherever-the-devil he comes from sees him captaining a spaceship of his own. So I thought the opportunity would be worth seizing.

[ peggy rarely speaks so gently around a topic. for once, she's beating around the bush. ]

[theroadwarrior]

[He quiets for a moment. While he wasn't entirely skeptical of her needing two pilots, her careful mentioning of it -- having him sit down, laying it down carefully -- it does make him wonder if this is about what he thinks it's about. And if he said it didn't bother him, didn't make him feel some sliver of guilt and doubt in himself, he'd be lying. He knows, though. That he's... not... always reliable. The underwater world was an example of that.

He nods slowly.]

It's a good idea.

Ahm. It's good to be prepared. Two is... good.

[mucked]

[ -- truth is, she would happily open max up to more responsibility. peggy had taken him into serious consideration when she'd been thinking about her next first mate. he'd as good as laughed her out of the room. and maybe that's why she feels skittish, now, to lay too much on his shoulders.

peggy nods -- trying hard to be satisfied. it doesn't come easily to her. ]

I wouldn't take it too personally. [ a huff. ] After all, it's not like I don't also have a back-up. In case -- well. In case I can't be counted on.

[theroadwarrior]

[He raises his eyebrow.]

Being counted on and not being a risk are a little different from each other.

[He's not about to think Peggy and he are on equal footing here. She's more in control, better at handling herself. And that's not even talking about her occasional moment where she has to battle her heart versus her head. This is literally mental capabilities here, mental stability. He does take it personally. Not angrily, but personally. He knows he's, ahm. Sick. Clinical whacko. Criminal psychotic. Madhatter. Whatever you want to define it as. Lord knows he's made up his fair share of put-downs.

He shifts uncomfortably, thinking of his time aboard the ship.

And of the times he was not available when he could've been, if he wasn't so fucked up.]

M'sorry I can't... uh. [His hands motion, little subtle flicks as he gathers the right way to say it. Ultimately, it's easy:] Be more.

[Being self-aware of your issues sucks.]

[mucked]

[ he's right, of course. dreadfully correct. but perhaps his discerning logic is another good sign. peggy doesn't smile because it's not a smiling sort of conversation. and yet she can't help but feel something warm in the foot of her heart. ]

Max. [ peggy edges an inch or two closer to him. as usual, her tactic is just to set her palm on his elbow. the touch is featherlight. ] It's alright. Sod the risk; you're still the pilot. But I have a duty of care over this entire ship -- and that includes you.

[ and she won't spread him too thin like a dab of marmalade over too much toast. ]

[theroadwarrior]

[He nudges at her, but it's one of those entirely ineffectual "stop it mom" gestures for show; stop being so nice, Peggy, it's a terrible look for a captain. Except that it isn't. His expression is light and despite the concerned furrow of his brow earlier, he seems at ease. It's the best most can hope for in a conversation with Max, eh?

He opens his mouth, and oh, he's going to say something heart-warming — ]

... Like a mom with a van.

[Just kidding.]

[mucked]

Good God, man.

[ -- that ginger touch lifts off his arm almost immediately before she backhands him (firm, but fair) across the shoulder. ]

A van? What are you on about?

[ because that's the part she's upset about, currently. ]

[theroadwarrior]

[He totally ignores the backhand to the shoulder, because he expected that for sure. Instead he gestures, a shoving motion, like he's pushing child after child into an old beat-up minivan. His eyebrows are high on his forehead.]

Throwing all the kids into the car, zoomin' 'em off to school.

Having to go to the principals office when they punch doctors in the eye.

[He gives a weak one-two-punch, low, a lazy example.]

[mucked]

[ -- this is her penance, isn't it? she stole the sodding record player and the records and she stole them again, again, again. and this is how he's having his revenge. by calling her a mum and talking about vans and...

and principals. peggy's lip curls. ]

I'm certain the bastard deserved it.

[ because you can be damn sure any hypothetical child of peggy's is going to learn a decent right hook. ]

As I'm certain I've deserved this.

[theroadwarrior]

... Mmmm.

Yeah. Think you do.

[What, you knew he'd agree to that.]

[mucked]

-- I suppose I'll survive it.

[ this ribbing, this teasing, this playfulness on his part. it's never easy to swallow, but it's easier among friends. and he is a friend. unquestionably. whatever other measures she feels she must take, he nevertheless has her faith. not many do. ]

I like this comeuppance a bit better than the foam bloody darts.

[theroadwarrior]

Ah.

[He shrugs, looking entirely all right with a bit of bartering.]

... F'you give an oath not to use it on me, you can use the darts on First Mate Beau and the others. Capital punishment when you need it.