open » audio & text & action

[mucked]

Who: Peggy Carter and YOU
Broadcast: Audio + Text
Action: Aboard the Starstruck.
When: Evening

[ it's been a long day. long week. long bloody month. and tonight, in the rebuilt space of a bedroom now properly shared, peggy carter is reading a book. not just any book, really. but that's a story for another time. for now, she's prepared to proceed publicly as though nothing is amiss.

in the handful of hours before bed, she takes to the network with a brief puzzle. ]

VHOILVKQHVV PXVW DOZDBV EH IRUJLYHQ, BRX NQRZ, EHFDXVH WKHUH LV QR KRSH RI D FXUH

[ and attached to the text is an audio messsage. ]

I know it's been a little while since the last one -- and some of you lot who most enjoyed them have gone and left. So we'll ease back into it with something simple. Simple, but no less fundamental. Solving it is all well and good but, as always, there are bragging rights up for grabs for anyone who names the source. Fair warning -- English is the native tongue.

And while I've got your attention, I suppose I ought to do my due diligence [ however reluctantly ] and ask whether anyone else has purchased the upgrade which merges two rooms together. It may be worthwhile to swap notes on how those changes came into effect.

[ and that's that. although she'll be awake for a little while yet -- answering messages and putting on a brave face. truth is, things have gone pear-shaped and she's only just realizing how much recovery yet required. those aboard or visiting the starstruck can find her at her desk, hatch left open, in her and steve's newly merged room. ]

( ooc: and because not everyone has the out-of-character time or inclination for codebreaking, here is the quotation peggy's posted using a caesar shift. )

Comments

[mucked]

Why not? Code-breaking is a decent skill to have. Even here.

[theroadwarrior]

whats the point, though?
already gave up, remember

[See, I can be petty, too.

Your words, though.]

[mucked]

I was the one giving up.

Not you. I can see that now.

Hs are Es.

[theroadwarrior]

i am trying.






it's annoying.

[mucked]

It gets easier.

Unlike other things.

[ like apologizing. ]

[theroadwarrior]

i was trying to trust you.

you can't just

[... He stops. How the hell do people do this? Even when he was... of sound mind, he never really had a knack for expressing how he felt. Hell, he only barely told Jessie how he felt — how he really felt, how proud he was of his father, how much he loved her, how important it was to be there for his son — before the end of his life started. If this isn't just a prime example of how fucking loony everything's gotten... How much trying to change feels like lancing a wound.

He's exhausted from it. He has no clue how to put any of what's in his head on paper right now.]

[mucked]

[ trying to trust. her stomach churns. he'd put more faith in her than she'd deserved, perhaps. ]

I failed you. I'll cop to that.

[theroadwarrior]

its been hard for everyone.

[He almost writes 'not just for you'. But he's not quite that petty — he knows whatever's eating at her, it's probably bad, real bad. But she doesn't get it. Or maybe she didn't want to get it, back there. He had relived his family dying. Multiple times. He remembers every visitor in his head, yeah. And he remembers every moment that he held his son in his arms and watched him roll lifelessly in them. He remembers every moment he opens his eyes and finds himself hanging, upside down, his blood traveling to his visitor's arm. He remembers lashing out, rabid again, confused and alone and wanting nothing more than to smash their faces with something and run away.

So yeah. Maybe they're all wound up.

She just. Needs to know that. He's not in a good place, either.

But like her, he can't just... talk about it, aloud, not to just anyone.]



there's a cure for some selfishness by the way
its called 'preemptively putting your foot in your mouth'


i used to be good at it

[mucked]

Well done.

[ -- and it's earnestly meant. she finds some bone-deep satisfaction in knowing he'd bothered, in the end. he'd worked at it.

it'd been worth the work, in the end, in his estimation. even if it took a bit of coaxing. ]

I want to make it up to you. Hell, Max, there aren't many in this fleet I actually miss when they're not around.

[ but he's one of them. somehow. ]

[theroadwarrior]

[Peggy can't hear the deepest, longest, most exasperated sigh Max has ever sighed.]

dont talk to me like i'm a scorned mistress

[mucked]

[ -- she actually takes this as a good sign. a sign of progress. ]

I'd best cancel the bouquet of roses, then.

[theroadwarrior]

dont banter at me like i'm a scorned mistress either

1/2

[mucked]

[ oh, that nearly unravels everything all over again. her indignation rises -- something sharp and wicked settles on her tongue, but gets scrubbed clean long before her fingers can complete the message.

time to eat humble pie -- although it's certainly her least favourite flavour. ]

2/2

[mucked]

I'm sorry, Max. I truly am.

1/3

[theroadwarrior]

[HOLD THE FUCK UP]

[theroadwarrior]

[Did I just have an aneurysm? Am I having a stroke? Is reality bending?]

[theroadwarrior]

did you just use the S word

[mucked]

I did. Yes. Now bloody well come back home before I find myself using the P word.

[ don't make her beg, max. it's so undignified. ]

[theroadwarrior]

[He's honestly a bit confused.

The idea of someone wanting him back somewhere, anyway. To his face. So to speak. Nobody's ever really wanted him back home, though he sort of does that on purpose. Just another example of how that stupid ship has him wrapped around their finger.]

... need to get supplies still.

nothing's exploding over there, right?

[mucked]

Only everything.

[ perhaps she's being a touch dramatic. ]

[theroadwarrior]

i'll pick up some fire extinguishers

[He's serious, maybe. Probably.]

[mucked]

I look forward to seeing them. The fire extinguishers.

[ -- which means, probably, that she's looking forward to seeing him. ]

[theroadwarrior]

if i have to use them when i get there, they're not feeling the same.

[Peggy, what's he going to do with you, he swears.

Always roping him back in. He's trapped eternally.]

[mucked]

What if I put the kettle on?

[ it all comes back to tea. ]

[theroadwarrior]

i dont know, last time didnt go over so smoothly

tea might bring out the worst in us.