driftfleet | Open: July Starstruck mingle log

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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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Nice? Truly?

[ -- peggy doesn't know if she'd call either of them nice, exactly. sam perhaps comes closest. ]

If we're to discuss niceness then I suppose that involves a whole other shortlist.

[ and she suspects ochako would be near the top. ]

...Well... I mean... they could be less nice, if they wanted.

[She thought Sam was pretty friendly?? And Rip made her shitty pancakes, which, while shitty, was nice of him.]

[ peggy suggests a simple explanation: ]

Or perhaps it's you who makes the differences. We all might find it easier to be nicer when you're in the room.

Eh, really? I don't know about that.

[she's nothing special, honest!]

Well, I do.

[ know about that. ]

Lord knows I find it easier. Remarkably.

[ a gesture at the teacup, as if even that thin charity could be considered kindness. ]

[well now she is just EMBARRASSED]

Ah... w-w-well!! I think you can be a very nice person on your own. You just show it in your own way!

[ oh, dear girl. peggy offers a bare look suggesting she doesn't believe it for a second. it's all propaganda, she thinks, with a wry twist of mood. ]

You ought to ask Captain Rogers about how nice I am -- after he wakes up. I'm sure he'll beg to differ.

You don't think he'd say so? But he loves you! He must know you're nice.

[That's not too forward, right?]

[ perhaps it shouldn't be so forward -- but there remains a moment when peggy's expression tightens. her brows knit. it's one thing to be comfortable saying the word herself, behind closed doors.

quite another to hear it said by someone else. ]

Quite the opposite, I fear. [ she answers -- tentatively. ] He's well-acquainted with my truest nature and -- and enjoys my company despite it.

[oh wow she didn't even kick up a fuss, peggy she's so proud of you]

Awww, that's really sweet! It must be nice to have someone who understands you so well.

-- It's not half-bad, no.

[ she clears her throat. awkward, yes. and ill-adjusted to discussing the matter. ]

But we're all fortunate to have him aboard the Starstruck. [ not just me, she insists. ] He'd never tell you this, but he's something of a important figure back home.

Right, you guys have superheroes in society too! He's very strong, so does that make him popular?

I like to think he's popular for more than his strength, but -- [ peggy gives her head a shake. ] I can't really say. I know what he was popular for. But he now lives in a very different world, back home, than I do.

A different world?

[the heck does that mean]

Or -- [ she manages to look nearly apologetic. ] Same world, but a rather different time. I come from 1947. He, most recently, hails from 2016.

Oh... oh, wow. That's a long time! How did you two meet, then?

We met in '43. [ a beat, that's an answer to a question she didn't ask. ] Steve's experience of time hasn't been a wholly linear one.

Forty... 1943?

[THAT'S LIKE, FOREVER AGO.....]

[ bear with her, ochako, there is nothing easily explained about this. ]

We met in '43. Steve -- [ died ] -- got himself lost and frozen in a block of ice in '45. It as '47 before I got dragged here and he wasn't recovered and woken back up again until, good Lord, 2012 I think?

[ she used to have more trouble telling these details. but the more she realizes they're common history for steve and the others, the easier it becomes. ]

You'll have to ask him for the specifics. I'm afraid it's all hearsay to me.

[what the heCK]

Wh... but... but that's so sad! How could life be so cruel!?

[it's like the worst kind of romantic tragedy! it's something out of a sad story! it's terrible!!]

[ sad! well, yes. she supposes it is. but she's never had anyone express it so plainly to her before. she shimmies where she sits; a touch uncomfortable. ]

Steve made a difficult choice. He made a sacrifice. I'd rather see it as him being noble than life being cruel

[you're too subtle for her, Peggy, just tell her to shut up]

Well, still... it must've been hard for you. If it was me, I'd cry for ages and ages...

[ the amount of tears shed in the wake of the valkyrie's crash is a number she won't share even with steve. best to spare all of them that dash of vulnerability, although there were certainly many. a year on, and she was still struggling to contain that hair-trigger of hers whenever captain rogers was involved.

four years on, here in the fleet, and -- well. things are better but no less raw. ]

Hard for me and for every person who lost someone during the war. [ she distances herself from that pain; refuses to take it solely on her shoulders, for once. ]

I guess so... but... you don't have to think about it that way just because you're not the only one. You don't have to be alone for it to hurt.

[She's probably prying or something and should just be quiet, but it's a tall order to get Ochako not to speak her mind about something.]

I aim to leave the hurt back home, Ochako. After all -- here, I've got the privilege of knowing he's not lost at all. [ not the way she'd thought he was. ]

(no subject)

willynilly - 2017-09-11 07:07 (UTC) - Expand

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