Starstruck Mingle | October 2017

[theroadwarrior]

Who: Visitors and crewmates!
Broadcast: N/A
Action: SS Starstruck
When: October 1st to October 31st

The scariest Halloween trivia is that there's a 2010 original Disney movie called Starstruck.

Have at it, everyone.

Comments

howard stark || OPEN

[speedboat]

[ the first chance he gets to get off the bishop and out & about it shouldn't be surprising that he chose the starstruck as his destination. steve and peggy on the same ship and he's there -- not to mention, he does want to check up on the ship herself. he has been away over a year after all.

which is TOTALLY why he beelines it straight for the engineering room and ignores the actual inhabitants. yeah, that makes sense. he knows it isn't his purview to actually touch anything here, but still, it's calming somehow to see it all. the inner workings of any machine could always keep his attention unendingly, but he's clearly distracted, something weighing heavily on his mind so that he might not turn to say hello or hear a person entering the room right away. ]

[mucked]

[ there's an interloper on her ship. she's more bothered than she ought to be, really, until she figures out it's him. at which point she tracks him down in engineering and lurks in the doorway until he manages to realize he's not alone. ]

Who let you aboard, eh?

[ but peg cracks a half-smile. her ship has no security. generally speaking, max was usually deterrent enough. god, she hopes he comes back soon... ]

[speedboat]

[ he notices her before she speaks. the air always shifts a particular way when peggy is near him, as though some part of him is hyperaware of her at all times. he slowly turns to face her. ]

I am capable of doing a few things on my own, Carter. [ boarding your ship being one of them!!!! ]

[mucked]

A few. [ peg concedes.

she doesn't move from the doorway. but nor does she attempt to rush him away from her ship's systems. he's not her engineer, perhaps, but there are some things with which she trusts him implicitly. ]

I hope you haven't found her wanting.

[speedboat]

No, of course not. Just as pretty as the day I met her. [ he flashes that bright smile, the one he wields when he isn't feeling 100%. but for peggy there's always a little bit of truth to it. ]

[mucked]

And perhaps a bit prettier. [ she doesn't quite rise to meet his smile. hers lingers, half-felt, but she's always been a more dour presence than her. ] We've got a lounge. [ ... ] And there's a record player in it. Courtesy of my pilot.

[ still missing, but let's not get into it. ]

[speedboat]

Are you proposing something? [ he always did like playing dumb with her. ] Remind me to ask Wilson about the details. [ of the ship. ]

[mucked]

Not a dance, if that's what you're thinking. [ she nods about sam -- gives him his silent world, although she could just as easily retort that she's never been his secretary. ] But there's some modern music you should give a listen to. Or cringe at. I can never decide which.

[speedboat]

Of course not. [ that was exactly what he was thinking how did you know??? ] We have music aboard the Bishop too, you know. We're not savages.

[ but still he'll cheerfully follow her to do just that. ] I remember liking Guns n' Roses when I was here last.

steve rogers ✮ open

[uprightness]

[ so they don't have a cook again. and with so much weighing on his mind, steve searches for something to do. this brings him to the kitchen. he's no chef, not even close, but he did take care of himself since he was eighteen. he's not entirely hopeless. it's probably not where one would expect to find a man who's built like an army tank but steve is indeed in the kitchen.

if you go pass the door, he'll be sure to call after you.

hey, have you eaten anything today?

the answer doesn't matter. you'll be getting soup and a salad anyway. ]

feed me, seymour

[reconstitution]

[ He's not looking for anyone in particular, really. Mainly checking in on the crew to see how everyone's doing. Steve beckoning out the door means he didn't notice who he was talking to, or he knew damn well. He doesn't ignore Steve, simply backtracks and sits at the table in the kitchen to both keep him company and to get some grub.

He is a man of simple wants, he knows what he's about. They both eat a lot, so it works out. ]

You going to start naggin' me?

wow he won't sing tho

[uprightness]

You've been nagging me for eighteen years, seems fair.

[ he places a bowl of soup and a plate of salad in front of him with a shrug. ]

it's not the four seasons but it's better than the stuff I used to make back then. I've been learning.

what an ungrateful host

[reconstitution]

You deserved every nag you got, pal. Thanks.

[ He takes a few bites of salad and nods in approval. ]

So an old dog can learn new tricks. What else have I missed?

[uprightness]

I'm not even a hundred.

[ 'old' is pushing it a bit too much. even if steve jokingly does it himself every now and then. as for things he missed well.

steve watches him eat for a second in silence. ]

A while back, Pegs found the engagement ring I got her.

[ c r i n g e. ]

[reconstitution]

..I bet that went over well.

[ Knowing Peggy, not so much. He had assumed that maybe eventually, Steve and Peggy would settle down a little more now that the opportunity was there. ]

I didn't know you were going to pop the question. 'm happy for you.

[uprightness]

I wasn't. Not yet, anyway. I got it last Valentine's Day and kept it hidden until - you know.

[ he shifts about, awkward as ever. ]

until the right moment comes and then she just found it.

[ and no, it didn't go well at all. goodness. ]

[reconstitution]

Sounds about right. Your first mistake was hiding it on her ship, but I understand the secrecy.

[ This is why you enlist buddies to help with your secret-keeping, Steve. ]

Bucky Barnes;; visiting

[reconstitution]

[ It's been a while since he's been on the Starstruck, and possibly rightly so with everything that's popped up lately. Regardless! He's here now, and he can be found in various parts of the ship. In the hallways in search of someone-- perhaps any of the nerds he calls friends, or in the kitchen stealing a cup of coffee. If you manage to catch him in the cargo bay, he's definitely giving Rock more attention than any human on this ship.

Not sorry. ]

cargo bay »

[mucked]

[ at first, it seems as though she's only passing through. getting from point a to point be with a bit of a hurry in her step. but when she sees bucky -- when she catches sight of him crouched by rock -- it's easy enough to tell that her impatience had been just that: impatience. she's got nowhere to be. or if she does, it's easily sidelined in favour of stopping by the visitor and the ship's resident dog. ]

He's been in a better mood since Max has come back. [ 'come back,' she says, as though the man had simply been on a trip. ]

Good afternoon, Buck.

[ she's settled comfortably into the nickname, it seems. ]

[reconstitution]

[ He's not been around to see so himself, and maybe he should have been in the wake of all the bad shit. Then Howard came back and he retreated to his normal haunts again. He glances at Peggy over his shoulder, hands not stopping in their attention to Rock, one hand scratching at his ear, the other patting him on the side. Rock seems to be okay with it. ]

I imagine so. 'lo, Peggy.

[ It's still odd to hear the nickname rolling off her tongue, but it's a welcome thing. It means she's not horribly annoyed with him. ]

[mucked]

[ a great deal has tempered her since they'd been forced through the calibrations. another flush of memories from home, for one. a desire to be strong for jarvis. her fight with max, max's death, max's return.

and ultimately a desire to make what's important what's here. so long as she's present, her devotion is to the members of this fleet. sod the problems from home; she'll tackle those when it comes to it. it's a new lease on live and one that will end (inevitably) with tying her horse to steve rogers's cart.

but not yet. ]

I'm glad you came. [ true enough. when she's close, she sinks down to run her fingers along the curve of rock's back. ] I suppose I was concerned -- concerned, perhaps, that you'd feel the Starstruck wouldn't want you.

oh jeez I'm sorry this is late

[reconstitution]

That wasn't it.

[ That might have partially been it. His fingers brush idly at a patch of fur as he compartmentalizes the reasons he retreated. Being forced through calibrations again had made him feel exposed. More so than the first time, when there hadn't been much to share. Some things were better left in the dark, and it was more than a little off-putting having so many people trample through the bastardization of the place he'd made for himself. Forcing people to have to choose which fucking trap they had to suffer through was worse. Jarvis had--

He retreated, sure. The Heron seemed about the only place he didn't feel like he was wearing an ill-fitted skin, and then Natasha.. They'd worked through a few things together. ]

it's all good!

[mucked]

No?

[ her question holds that too-cool kind of concern. soft strain, like she's biting back a world of relief to learn her worries were unfounded. talking with bucky isn't half-so-stressful as it ought to be, but maybe that's because she values his forthright answers. they lack detail, but nevertheless carry a kind of earnestness that peggy appreciates. ]

So tell me what it was.

[reconstitution]

I needed to feel like me again.

[ Whoever that is. There's not really a way to describe the wrongness he felt afterward, though she can probably sympathize. Checking on his crew, something that was vitally his had helped to ease the feeling, but the time he spent with Natasha was what really pulled him out of his own head. They'd talked about what was in the room, the mutual memories, and the things left in the dark. He'd talked about Jim, especially after she had seen those particular moments. ]

[mucked]

[ a terribly fair motivation. peggy might not have been quite so raked across the coals as others had been, but she'd witnessed more than enough of it to empathize with the desire. she raises her eyes from rock (who is laying most comfortably between his two visitors) and gives bucky a more discerning glance. ]

...And do you?