Calibration Post 1, "Daytime"

[thespaceopera]

[ Not long after the shuffle, there's a ripple of static over the network - loud, sudden, and seemingly with no origin. It's puzzling, but there's no indication that it's going to happen again...

Until a minute later. Another surge of static comes in over the speakers, and then a voice - one some may find familiar, though not necessarily welcome, after all of this time... It's Diamond. Long time no speak, hmm?

Clearly, not all is well. She sounds very far away, for one. For another, she sounds... skeptical, almost alarmed. There may actually be real concern in her voice. ]

Again? Twice in one c--

[ Her sentence is cut short with a strangled gasp, followed by a moment of silence. What follows may be the sound of metal dragged across metal, but it's hard to place. When she speaks again, it's uncharacteristically monotonous. ]

... Bring them in.

[ A blip of lost time passes right after those words, before every passenger mysteriously wakes alone in their own unfamiliar room. The style of decor resembles that of the Marsiva's Hospitality Deck, if any passengers should remember what that's like. It sounds and smells the same as the host ship as well, all clean and chrome, but this set of rooms has only been used once, and for the very same purpose that befalls the fleet contestants now.

As for their hosts, there is no immediate sign of them, though some may recall a series of hideous, half-electronic screams before their memories begin to blur upon arrival...

Welcome back to the Marsiva, dear passengers. It's time for round two of calibrations. ]

[ This mingle will cover all non-calibration room interactions. Please continue to come back to it for the duration of the plot! You are, of course, free to post any other mingles/posts/etc. that you'd like. ]

Comments

[mucked]

Is it at all prudent to warn me of your plans?

[ she teases. once upon a time, her teasing might have maintained a crueller bent. today, despite the turmoil of their nights, it's rather light. she doesn't have the heart to be hard on him after what he's endured dream after dream.

how many have made him relive her funeral, she wonders? and what -- what were those flowers? she never did find out. ]

I'll wake up all the earlier if I have to, Steve Rogers.

[ or at the very least she'd threaten to -- eager for the challenge. ]

[uprightness]

Only fair. And probably smarter. I don't want to be on the receiving end of your right hook if you mistake me for someone else.

[ god, one would have to be an idiot. and to think the jackass who made that horrid radio show thought that he's the one to be feared and she's the one who needs his protection. at least now he had finally seen what she's capable of.

( one would have to be a complete idiot. ) ]

Guess you'll have to beat me to it.

[mucked]

[ this time, her laugh is a proper laugh. less a snort; more a chuckle. as though her right hook could ever stagger him -- she rather doubts that even the element of surprise would help her in that endeavor. ]

Or maybe I'll make it into your room first.

[ peggy counters -- eager to catch him on the back foot with her enthusiasm for some early morning company. ]

And I'll get in the way of your day.

[ while aboard the marsiva, at least. she has a hunch he might night a bit of extra care and affection. or to see her when he wakes. ]

[uprightness]

[ something inside him uncoils, old-as-time tensions seem to disappear. it's something about her laughter that sets him at ease. he does arch an eyebrow at her statement. ]

You can't ever get in the way of my days.

[ an impossible prospect, by all means. ]

I'm going to take it as a promise, not a warning

[mucked]

[ peggy's begun to wonder whether they don't somehow inhabit their own odd little bubble. one wherein so long as they're together, on their own, the various incentives to feel miserable melt away for a little while.

(all the more reason to cling to the time they have, she supposes.)

peggy's shoulders roll. the headphones are cast aside, but the fish are still swimming on the screen -- slivery and quick against the deep blue. ]

Well, now I'll have to. [ show up. ] Can't go around breaking promises, can I?

[uprightness]

Especially not that one.

[ lord, it might be the only thing to look forward to in the end of long nights, either entertaining guests inside his mind or intruding others'. he met perfect strangers for the first time in their minds, it's horrible eerie. ]

This is not how I was hoping to meet new people.

[ in their memories. talk about an introduction. ]

[mucked]

[ -- and so, perhaps, she cobbles together a few designs of her own. why shouldn't she? as difficult as it is to admit out loud, she does miss sharing her space with him. sharing their space together.

but now she's curious. ]

Who did you meet?

[uprightness]

Barry - he's - I think Kara mentioned him. Never thought I'll end up meeting him in his own head.

[ it's such a weird way to meet people. He's not sure he'll hurry to introduce himself face-to-face. ]

Someone's memories aren't the first thing you're supposed to know about people.

[ and he's worried, very much so. so far no strangers have entered his mind - but the last thing he wants is for people to see some of those memories. ]

[mucked]

[ she can be thankful (at least) that she's not meeting strangers in their heads. everyone she's encountered so far has been familiar -- and the one with whom she's got the least amount of familiarity has been the most explosive. but peggy doesn't allow herself to think on that chestnut just now.

she's feeling selfish. she doesn't want to give up this bubble of comfort.

and then, out of seemingly nowhere: ] I wish we had our pick of memories. God, Steve, the things I'd like to show you.

[ above and beyond what he had to see. ]

[uprightness]

[ he smiles, both at the thought of being able to pick what he could show her and at the notion of all that she would have shown him. He runs a hand up and down her arm, stopping at the crook of her arm. ]

Maybe one day we could go back to that memory sharing planet. That was a nice feature.

[mucked]

[ now isn't that a thought. peggy nods, quick to pass positive judgement on the notion. although, truthfully, she doubts they'd ever return to a planet.

then again, she never would have thought they'd have returned here either. but perhaps this is a good leaping ground for a more positive conversation. ]

Alright. [ a beat. ] Give us a preview, then. What would you have shared if you could?

[uprightness]

[ he considers for a moment. it's not that he doesn't have any good memories from the 21st century but that they're shadowed by the most recent ones, the ones he got a few months ago.

he thinks back to easier times. ]

Well, for one, getting your opinion about how Nat and I drilled the new Avengers would have been helpful.

[ ... ]

It's an interesting team. Maybe that's what I'd go for.

[mucked]

[ -- how pragmatic. it's an instinct she can appreciate. and perhaps if she had the chance to see the team in proper action (and not simple in dribs and drabs here in the fleet) she might finally learn to shake her trepidation over its name.

she nods. ]

-- Who haven't I met yet?

[ of the new avengers. ]

[uprightness]

Rhodey.

[ god, he hopes Rhodey is alright. after everything that happened, he never had the chance to go and visit him or to find out. ]

James Rhodes. He's Tony's friend. Used to be a pilot for the Air Force. Tony created a suit for him, not entirely unlike the Iron Man one. His code name is War Machine.

[mucked]

[ war machine. what a name. how on earth are they choosing them? she can understand what happened with steve -- the war's propaganda machine had been to blame for the 'captain america' moniker. what was everyone else's excuse?

indeed: ] I don't know which sounds more ridiculous. Iron Man or War Machine.

[ espionage calls for all sorts of code-names and cover identities. but nothing ever quite so flamboyant as those. ]

[uprightness]

Some of them only go by name.

[ not most of them, but. ]

Wanda, Vision, Thor.

[ oh no, a snort. ]

He only comes for visits but they're always eventful.

[mucked]

[ vision is also a terrible name, but she refrains from telling him so. ]

-- What about Natasha? [ now, there's a question she probably shouldn't be asking. but it tumbles out, driven first and foremost by curiousity. ] That can't be her real name.

[uprightness]

Before -

[ he makes a bit of a face. what's to say? before SHIELD? before the Avengers? he knows enough of Natasha's past but not the entire story, not the turning point between who she was then and the woman she is today. ]

They've called her Black Widow, some people still do.

[ she never seems to mind but it's hard to tell with Nat. ]

I've always called her Natasha.

[mucked]

[ black widow. yes, she'd heard the name tossed around here and there. but only since her arrival in the fleet. more interesting, peggy thinks, is the way natasha herself uses the title. it sounds different on her tongue -- when she deigns to use it. ]

What? Never 'Agent Romanoff'? [ a nudge of her shoulder. ] So very informal.

[uprightness]

Romanoff, sometimes - when she's being too much of herself.

[ and perhaps steve is one of the only people who thinks this means being nosy and having too sharp a sense of humor. others might think being too much of natasha romanoff means something far darker. ]

She didn't have that many friends before. I think I almost roped her into being mine.

[mucked]

Almost--? [ peggy could laugh. she doesn't, but she could. ] Darling, she's well and truly roped. I'd wager just about anything that -- if pressed -- she'd call you a friend.

[ there aren't many things of which she can be certain when it comes to natasha romanoff, but that one is evident enough. ]