driftfleet | Open: July Starstruck mingle log

Entry tags:

Open: July Starstruck mingle log

Who: Crew of the Starstruck and visitors
Broadcast: n/a
Action: Starstruck
When: July, post-calibrations

[July on the Starstruck is so bright, you gotta wear shades. Good thing everyone has a pair now! In other news, the first mate is in a coma, the captain is hella cranky, and the tunes now feature Lady Gaga and Queen.]

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[Not everyone can be idealistic in the face of everything. Especially when the choice has already been made.

Though maybe it's easier when Natasha isn't the one making the choice. She thinks she'd be able to... but she doubts that would make Peggy feel better at this point, though.

So the new topic is welcome. To a degree.]

I haven't been hiding. Just haven't been out, and didn't feel like sticking around on the Vanquish.

[So essentially hiding.]

[ her smile is pure polite. they both know there's nosiness that lurks below. ]

Where have you been 'sticking around,' then? Because it hasn't been here.

Sticking around here might have defeated the purpose.

[Natasha is well aware that Peggy is being nosy, and her smile is equally polite. The question, though, is what information she's trying to uncover

I spent some time on the Iskaulit and some on the Heron.

[She lifts her chin a little.]

And how was that? [ she's so coy -- but in no way is she subtle. peggy tilts back another mouthful of tea. ] The Iskaulit, of course. I haven't been off the ship since we returned. I assume everything's still where we left it before our month on the Marsiva?

[ yes. because she so very much wants to know about the heron. ]

I think you'll find everything more or less where you left it. The firing range came though fine.

[Peggy Carter can be many things. Discreet, certainly. Tactful when the situation calls for it. For a spy, though, subtly isn't her forte. Natasha cottons on to what Peggy's after a little on the slow side none the less. Natasha's fault for assuming Peggy's curiosity was be about Natasha's past, not how she is recovering in the present or who she's been recovering with.]

I ran into Jarvis there, eventually. He hasn't gone out of business.

[Natasha will decide how she want to deal with Peggy's real question when Peggy actually asks them.]

[ -- subtly certainly could be her forte. but peggy isn't the sort to waste energy on being subtle when that subtly is more of an academic exercise than a practical one. ]

Everyone's got to eat. And most of us would rather eat well. One presumes. [ and back to jarvis. she nods. ] Fond of the bistro, are you?

Fond enough to stop in for lunch from time to time. [Natasha's answer is perfectly bland.] The company is good.

I'll cop to being a bit coddled. Mister Jarvis tends to bring a plate over every third or fourth evening.

[ more so, recently, but peggy's not about to cop to that too. ]

At this point, it's very well established that Jarvis enjoys spoiling people. You especially.

You don't know the half of it. [ a beat passes. peggy's attitude softens just enough -- remembering, maybe, something fond from jarvis's calibrations. ] I never have to drive anywhere when we're in the same city. He very much insists.

[Natasha shakes her head a little at that. She very much believes that. She also knows it would be a bridge too far for her—she has a hard time picturing Peggy submitting to being chauffeured around.]

Seems like he can be very insistent when he puts his mind to it.

[ -- the companionship doesn't hurt. well, right up until it does. but she'd been leading a terribly lonely life before mister jarvis joined it. howard might be one of her dearest friends, but his presence has always been inconstant. ]

Terribly so. Insistent. Loyal. A bit ridiculous, at times. [ ... ] But he's a good egg. One of the best. Although I know he feels a bit at sea without Howard here to spoil and coddle instead -- and therefore he turns his attention to the rest of us.

Well. As much as you were right about him spoiling me too, I think you get the worst of it.

[A pause, then she adds:] He did get me some very nice boots though.

Now -- I will say I've never gotten footwear from him before. [ a beat. ] A few lovely dresses from his wife, however.

[ and a delightful thigh holster sewn into a garter. ]

There was a conversation that led up to it. [Which only more shows how thoughtful he is.] I have no problem believing that he's married to a woman as generous as he is.

-- Generosity might be where the resemblance ends. I promise, she is otherwise quite different. No less wonderful, of course, but quite, quite different.

[ peggy drains her mug of tea. ]

But I suppose there's no accounting for love.

[Natasha believes it; she saw Jarvis in jail for his wife, making himself a traitor to save the woman he loved. But that information can stay between her and Jarvis. Instead, Natasha answers noncommittally.]

I'll have to take your word on that one.

[ just as well, really. although it's a story peggy already knows -- one she'd wheedled out of jarvis long ago, dissatisfied with the secret staying unsaid between them. ]

My word? Certainly. [ unfairly played once again, natasha. they're discussing jarvis and ana; not herself and steve. ] Although you'll find him waxing far more poetically on the topic than I ever will.

[ it'd taken her long enough to seven say the word 'love,' frankly. ]

[Peggy could have chosen to take it as being about Jarvis and Ana, if she wanted. Natasha hasn't met Jarvis's wife, and hasn't seen them together certainly. Peggy would have more insight than Natasha.

Of course, Peggy takes it precisely how Natasha means it. But she'd wondered if the other woman would take the out.]

I don't doubt it; it's why I don't ask.

One hardly needs to. [ ask, that is. certainly, the man offers it freely. ] But it's nice enough -- heaven knows, some of us ought to find and enjoy love.

You say that like you haven't. Seems like more than a few of us are enjoying it. [Natasha gives Peggy a pointed look; is she going to deny that she and Steve are disgustingly in love?]

[ -- now, there's a snag. peggy clears her throat. ]

For the time being? Yes, alright, I'll confess to feeling a few -- feelings.

[ but moments like this really hit home how changeable the fleet can be. ]

[Everywhere is changeable, really. They get to enjoy what they have while it lasts. Or maybe Natasha is just very Russian that way.]

A few feelings. I'll consider it a victory you cop to that.

[ a victory! peggy laughs, at least. however mirthless a laugh it might be. ]

It's only that I don't see the need to get sentimental about it. If he had his way -- [ steve. but she trails off, mouth going dry. ]

Well. He'd have taken out a bloody full-page ad, I fear. Newspaper or none.

You know, he's not about that about everything. With Steve, he can be pretty private about things. Honest... but private.

[Natasha smiles a little as she points it out. He might not be as intensely protective of his feelings as Peggy is, and there's reason for that, but he can be awful shy.]

Something about you makes him want to celebrate.

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