（ ＶＩＤＥＯ ）

[uprightness]

Who: peggy carter, steve rogers and all of you guys

Broadcast:  amazingly, yes

Action: on the starstruck, if you're so inclined
When: current.

[ New Year’s Eve has come and gone without anything exploding or going awfully wrong and so today is just safe enough for something else. Steve Rogers doesn’t address the network for no reason, after all. Only today he keeps looking back and eventually, calls: ]

Are you really going to stay there throughout the whole thing?

[ There’s a flicker to Steve’s left: dark curls and a flash of a silk blouse as Peggy leans into view. ] Perhaps. After all, of the two of us, you’re the one with experience in addressing the public.

[ But! Fine! Here she is, framed beside him onscreen, and refraining from making any more jokes about the old USO show. ]

Very funny.

[ but he is smiling, small but amused. For all of his experience, he seems as if he’s been practicing his lines for this one broadcast. ]

I know some of you will say this is long overdue, but after months of asking, mostly on her part, I’ve said yes and we’ve decided to get married.

[ -- and that’s when Peggy slaps the back of her hand against Steve’s shoulder, hissing something (something for him alone) about twisting the truth and tarnishing her well-earned cred. ]

I mean, after a careful observation of mutual interests, we’ve decided to get married. What this is really about is a simple matter of proving me right. I’d like you all to tell her three weeks is a perfectly reasonable duration for a honeymoon.

[ She reaches for the device, tugging its focus onto herself. ] -- For God’s sake, don’t encourage him. We’ve only just got engaged; it’s far far too early to start discussing the rest. [ Aside, to Steve: ] I warned you when I agreed to this ridiculous message. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

[ But she’s laughing. ]

It's not getting too ahead of ourselves. Call it careful consideration of facts.

[ he'll reach out and close the device for the sake of this banter. ]

Comments

Video.

[mucked]

It's a pity, really. One hears about an advanced alien race and one just assumes that political marriages are a thing of the past.

Video.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Thor shrugs slightly, used to the concept but more aware of how the strictures of their traditions have turned to grief over time.]

That was the way of things in Asgard for generations. I think it will change soon.

[They have no other choice.]

I assure you though, it wasn't all marriages.

Video.

[mucked]

[ there's a new king, after all. ]

I believe it. [ the stories steve tells about thor make her think about -- well, about soldiers of old. about fairy tales and myths. ] There are all sorts of reasons to feast. Reasons beyond marriages, I'm sure.

Video.

[rebuildyourruins]

Oh yes, plenty. A victory in battle, a new year, the summer solstice...

Video.

[mucked]

-- What about a coronation? Those sorts of things always come with a big party where I'm from.

Video.

[rebuildyourruins]

[Hooboy. He forgot the obvious one.]

Those usually are, yes. There was a big feast planned for my coronation years ago, only that ultimately didn't happen.

Video.

[mucked]

We had two in one year back in '36. London was just one big mess of bunting.

Video.

[rebuildyourruins]

Two coronations? It must have been an eventful year. My father was king for millenia, so my ascension is the first change in a long time.

Video.

[mucked]

There was an abdication.

[ but-- ]

Good God, how old was he? [ ... ] How old are you--?

Video.

[rebuildyourruins]

Oh, that would explain it. I've never seen one of those myself.

I'm over a thousand. My father was much older. [after a beat:] I probably haven't mentioned that before, have I.

Video.

[mucked]

Must have slipped your mind. [ good god. ] I suppose after a certain point there's no use in keeping count.

Video.

[rebuildyourruins]

Well, most conversations I have aren't about ages.

[Otherwise he would have said so earlier. It's a non-issue for him.]

I know the exact number, but I find it's not that relevant.

[Either at home or on Earth. In his experience, humans stop hearing anything after "one thousand" and the rest is just increasingly unfathomable noise.]

Video.

[mucked]

Forget relevant. It's damned impressive.

Video.

[rebuildyourruins]

[He chuckles a bit.]

Thank you.