» we're all starstruck in september

[mucked]

Who: Crew + Visitors
Broadcast: N/A
Action: Aboard the Starstruck
When: Septemberish

[ an open mingle for crew and visitors throughout the month. go wild. just not too wild. ]

Comments

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha smiles slightly then. She's not about to argue with Peggy about her own moral failings. Especially not when Peggy has seen so much.

She'd prefer not open that door.]

If you say so.

[mucked]

-- Natasha. You know as well as I do that right now it's a bit more than a case of merely saying so.

[ but she smiles too. it's not a lecture. ]

It's a case of believing it. Knowing it.

[outstandingbalance]

I don't doubt you believe it. And I'm glad you do. I'm not going to try to change your mind.

[But that's different from believing it herself.]

[mucked]

Not that it's my opinion what should matter.

[ of that she is adamant. ]

[outstandingbalance]

It matters as much as anyone's.

[Which might have been to say that Natasha cares about Peggy's opinion, but while she does, the actual meaning is simpler. No one's opinion is going to change the facts.]

[mucked]

Except it doesn't. [ a light shrug. whatever she's about to say, it doesn't much bother her. not like it used to. ] I'm an antique, Natasha. Outside this funny little circumstance, my opinion is -- what? Dust.

[outstandingbalance]

We're both here now. But I'd still say, it matters as much as anyone's. At least as far as it goes in this context.

I suppose you're right that your opinion can't get me arrested, but that's about it.

[mucked]

...Is that the sort of thing you still worry about?

[ she asks, quick and incisive. they've discussed some of the political landscape awaiting the lot of them back home -- she knows something of the legal hot water in which steve's landed his cohort. but knowing the circumstances is quite different from knowing the fears. ]

[outstandingbalance]

I crossed lines back in Germany. Wasn't my intention, exactly, but I did. Not entirely sure how everything fell out, but I am sure I'm on the wanted list now.

[mucked]

Professional like you, though? I'm convinced you know how to dodge an arrest for quite some time. [ ... ] They'll exhaust themselves looking for you.

[ which might be a valid strategy, in the end. ]

[outstandingbalance]

I doubt I'm their top priority. But no, I'm not so worried about actually being apprehended. Not if I don't want to be.

[mucked]

I could use a few lessons in that. [ it's both honest and a joke. she could go below radar if she wanted -- for whatever reason, she doesn't. ] I seem to spent more of my work-life back home under threat of arrest than not.

[outstandingbalance]

That's the job if you're doing it right.

[mucked]

...Fair enough.

[ and it seems a good moment to propose a toast. but without a drink and without so much as anything but air between them, peggy does what's second best and offers a hand to shake. there are rough seas to smooth out, here. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[As smooth as it probably can be with two people like them. Natasha takes Peggy's hand and shakes it, her grip seeming still somehow completely professional.]

On that note... Maybe I should let you go? Save any more conversations until you can lie properly again.

[Because that's fair.]

[mucked]

Or at least until I can be honest under my own ruddy steam.

[ which is really the point, isn't it? not to be counted on to lie, but to tell the truth with intention and consideration. when it counts and when it's not forced. ]

-- Try not to be a stranger, Natasha. Whatever's happened, you're always welcome aboard the Starstruck.

[ someone's got to drink the bloody coffee. ]