Open/Mingle - Roll Call.

[collegedropout]

Who: Sam, and you, and anyone; tis a mingle of sorts.
Broadcast: Fleetwide.
Action: SS Bloodsport, if you wanna find him.
When: After the planet is struck - Sept 22nd.

Note: Feel free to tag each other and inform everyone of whatever you need to, post-planetary explosion! I'll tag here and there, but consider it more of a mingle for people to touch bases about casualities and making sure people know they're okay (or if someone's injured.)

[Sam sits, triumphant in their mission but also defeated in spirit. Because yeah, they got the ship off the planet, and there's a whole civilization of people who get out of there... but he also is already too aware there is at least one fatality on their end already. Looma's last broadcast had been expected, especially after she'd sent him a warning beacon as the meteor pressed down into the planet's atmosphere, speeding, ready to smash the thing to pieces without effort.

Looma at least faced her death as one would expect, for her people. He imagines they would be proud.

Still, he sounds deflated at the thought, as he speaks a more leveled and straightforward response:]


... We've lost Captain Looma, of the SS Bishop. Umm... for what it's worth, she did it on her terms. I'm sorry.


[He's carried out the task of divvying up the blood from the blood drive, in case anyone from any particular ship needs it; there've been some injuries from shrapnel and citizen unrest, he's pretty sure. That's about all he can do, now, other than check in on the gardens... make sure Fie's work is continued alongside her, because it's important to keep those plants alive and thriving.

He slumps a little in weariness, sighing at his desk where he sits on the SS Bloodsport.]


... Role call?


Who's, um. Who's missing?

Comments

[uprightness]

People fight.

[ steve says, angling his head towards the ice pack and taking a seat. he's exhausted, yes, aching, sure but also worried for her sake. ]

People forgive, too.

[ his palm covers hers over the ice pack. ]

We're going to get him back and I know you're not going to let him grunt at you.

[mucked]

[ it's good to have a focal point. somewhere to steady her attention and her nervous energy -- and just now that focal point is the place where their hands both prop up the ice pack. step by step, she's grown strangely accustomed to little moments like these wherein she's permitted to tend to his well-being in a way she'd never anticipated.

not during the war. certainly not after it. but now, it's beginning to feel natural. so much so that she leans in and touches a kiss to his brow. ]

Did you know he was the dog? Earlier this month. The stray who wouldn't leave the room...

[uprightness]

Was he?

[ it's not a huge surprise. atroma had pulled odder things and in retrospect, steve thinks he might have known. only he was too focused in his own worry and grief to see what was right there before him. ]

Bummer. we could have used our own pet.

[ he comments, only to make her smile, really. ]

[mucked]

He was in our bed, Steve. Our bed! [ horrified, actually. ] I scratched his belly. There are some interactions you simply can't live down.

[ but it works. she smiles -- slow and with a dash of teeth. she's quick to shake it away and clear her throat. ]

[uprightness]

The first bit's gotta be weirder to him.

[ he comments and not without a shade of a grin. this might be the first time that he's even referred to their intimate life with an aroma of humor. ]

besides, it'll give you something to discuss when he gets back. I think it's a good thing, really.

[mucked]

'Something to discuss,' really? [ peggy shakes her head. ] I'm afraid that's a terrible optimistic take on our friendship. We don't discuss things. Him and me. We sort of...stay and grumble within the same vicinity.

[ she brushes hair back from his temple, curling the longer bits around her fingertips. ]

...But he did make for a very sweet mutt.

[ and don't you dare tell anyone she said so, steve rogers. ]

[uprightness]

[ he laughs, leans back against the pillows and rests his bones. honestly, he's getting too old for these things. these days, he would like nothing more than reading a good book and going through his day and falling sleep at her side. he doesn't search for distractions nearly as much. ]

if that's your way of saying you want a dog, I'm all for it.

[mucked]

[ peggy doesn't follow him to bed. she does, however, sit on its edge -- the edge he so recently vacated. she grabs at a foot, tugging at bootlaces while she settles the heel against her thigh. perhaps she's intent on putting him to bed. ]

That's not what I said. Not one bit.

[uprightness]

Too bad. It might have been nice having another dog around.

[ but then - what is she - ]

Peggy, you don't need to - I'm not going to sleep.

[ though lord knows it's tempting to. ]

[mucked]

Perhaps. Perhaps not. [ she digs at the laces, loosening them. ] But you're not going to get your boots all over our bed, either.

[uprightness]

Sorry about that.

[ she's not wrong. Those are new sheets. He sits up with a soft grunt, knocking the ice pack to his lap. ]

I'll do it.

[mucked]

No, no. [ she fusses and refuses. worse yet, she waves a hand him -- warding him away. ]

Sit back. Shut your eyes. I've got this under control.

[uprightness]

Fine - but you'll tell me when my hour is up, yeah?

[ said as he settles back to obey her instructions. ]

[mucked]

Oh, absolutely. Hand over heart.

[ she smiles, pulling off one boot and starting in on the next. she intends to use his clock -- the one by which he judges their mornings. ]

[uprightness]

One hour. Don't let me sleep too much when we have things to do.

[ and though his limbs and his eyelids are growing heavier by the moment, he places his palm over the crook of her arm, not to stop her so much as to remind himself she's there and she's okay. ]

[mucked]

[ one hour.

peggy waits, stilled, while he's got his hand on her. but when he slips asleep she nudges his touch aside and finishes the work of removing his second boot. both get tucked gently under the bed -- where they should be. and once upon a time he rubbed comfort and relief back into her body with just a bit of attention paid to the bottoms of her feet.

she recreates that moment now from the other side. it's silly, she thinks. and so terribly outside of her usual behaviour. peggy doesn't give in to hugs all that easy, let alone foot rubs. but it's an easy price to pay to watch his breath even out and sleep take him over.

and, in the end, she lets him for for an hour and three quarters. all's fair in love and nursing. ]