uprightness | ɪᴄ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴀᴄᴛ

[ it's a little eerie how different she is from Peggy, what with the overly broad smiles and the heavy flirtation. Steve looks torn between being mortified to deeply confused. there is a cue here he should be catching up on - this must be why he's never sent to these sorts of jobs. the thing to do, he figures, is to try and get out of it before he damages her cover.

or stares too hard. ]

-- very good, actually.

[ he would have made for such a lousy spy - ]

I hope you found a good bargain.

Not half so good as I'd hoped for. Stingy, the whole lousy lot of them. [ she watches the fissure lines between his embarrassment and his uncertainty. god above, but she knows agents back home who would eat a man like him alive.

what would dottie make of captain america? her smirk dims, but only as long as it takes for her to rally her next playful act. ]

If you've found a better deal elsewhere, be a dear and let me know.

[ she pastes the sweetness on fairly thick -- suggesting, perhaps, that he ought to lead her away. if it sounds a touch sordid, it's because scandal is exactly the facade she's hoping to achieve. peg even walks her fingers across the line of his shoulder, playing up the flirtation for the benefit of the vendors' gossip. she wants to be memorable for when she returns once again to soften the hard lines of their bargains. ]

Edited (-- wording!) 2016-09-01 19:42 (UTC)

[ Should he be at all concerned that he is getting a heavier flirtation from her other persona than he does from Peggy? and even more oddly, that it works - making him clear his throat and good god, please stop. it's one thing with Natasha who is a friend and another with a woman he's actually very attracted to.

at the very least, having no skill in espionage doesn't necessarily means he misses his cues. ]

There's a - place down there.

[ in the direction of the ship and away from this weirdness. ]

Down there? [ she echoes -- reaffirms, and nods, and displays all manner of people-pleasing tendencies. she betrays no flint, though this confidence goes hand-in-hand with her own natural certainties. ] Righto, then, handsome. Down there.

[ and she takes him by his hand. even when the distinct figures of the vendors fade into the crowd behind them, she doesn't drop her whole act. the wig stays, and so does the accent. after all, they're still in moxie territory. she still needs to play her moxie part.

but she tempers it with an apologetic phrase: ]

You did alright -- hope I didn't spook you.

Edited 2016-09-01 21:03 (UTC)

Beginner's luck.

[ and probably still better than the honeymoon in New Jersey idea, he figures. He holds onto her hand, trailing after her. ]

Do I wanna ask?

[ this is half odd half amusing by now ]

So what do I call you?

[ she can't be Peggy like this, after all. ]

Nancy? Shirley? Annie?

Close. [ she flashes a smile over her shoulder. ] Angie -- after the best actress I've ever met.

[ there's colour high in her cheeks. her own embarrassment seeps into place, but she keeps it at bay. ] I seem to fit in far better with the local crowd, this way.

Gotta say you kinda do. The hair and the dress - I mean the colors not the -

[ oh boy. Another clearing of the throat before he goes down the lane of utter awkwardness. ]

So.

[ lightly ]

Do I get to be 'sugar' and 'handsome' after today, too?

[ :) ]

[ hand-in-hand, they duck behind the shuttle. peggy leans back against the dusty metal as comfortably as though it were an olive drab jeep. ]

Why? [ ... ] Do you wanna be? You might have to ask real nice.

[ her grammar breaks down; her words are drawled, and pulled long. all part of the easy care-free accent. ]

[ good lord, he can't seem to remember what made him think he could win this little flirting back and forth with her. a tinge of pink catches his ears at the thought of asking peggy real nice for anything.

he hides the pang of shyness behind a chuckle ]

You sound like a film star.

[ they used to have the same way of speaking and the same sort of dazzling glamour of gold hair. he still prefers peggy's more practical elegance to all of this but then -

she told him plenty of what she does but this is sort of the seeing is believing case. ]

[ -- her eyes stay lit, and perhaps some of her persona's playful nature adheres itself to peggy's own personality. or perhaps that nature had always been there, gathering dust during the war. ]

That's not an answer to my question, Captain.

[ he smiles since, it really isn't but then, hidden behind the shuttle as they are, there's no one there to see a man without a fraction being a bit too affectionate with a woman in Moxie colors and more importantly, he'd have to be a planet-sized idiot to do anything less than answer a rather simple question, especially when it's asked like that.

be bold, captain Rogers - and blonde, black haired or redhead, it's still Peggy and so it's still an easy thing to press close to steal a kiss from her, blonde hair and everything. ]

Ma'am, I like to think that's a fairly obvious yes.

[ it's dangerous, really: how she's come to look forward to these stolen kisses. back on board the starstruck, they're careful not to get lost in each other. but right now? peggy feels the cool metal of the shuttle on the back of her head, and she has to press herself against it in order to resist pressing forward. hidden though they are, it's hard not to think they're still somewhat-public.

her fingers tighten on the sleeve of his jacket. ] Well, sugar, [ the accent slips. she clears her throat. ] All you had to do was ask.

[ it's not the safest path to follow, this chased kiss behind a shuttle. mostly because, they're always short, these moments they have together and there is always the instinct to make them far longer if it weren't for the Atroma or any other matter that might in hand. today it's being outside as well as risking Peggy's cover as a Moxie woman gone down the drain.

she doesn't make it entirely easier, either, proper accent in place and all but he just about manages to stay in her personal space but in an appropriate manner. ]

Should I prepare myself for a familiar black-haired girl in the Savvy part of town?

[ at least then he wouldn't gawk at her ]

[ what mental effort it takes not to tear the pinned wig free and toss it aside -- to be herself, again, if only for the pair of them. heat rises to her cheeks, and peggy pointedly lets loose of his arm. ]

Savvy does feel like the better fit. [ she breathes the words more than she speaks them. a telling vulnerably -- one she's eager to squash. ] Not so much for you, of course. But I see you're trying to fit in with none of them.

Never been really good with color coordinating.

[ said with a bit of a grin. it's an excuse, of course but he suspects she can already tell what drove him to put away all these fractions and their politics ]

Figured I'll use the time to try to get those people to talk to each other.

[ he shrugs a bit ]

Hasn't been going that well.

Not everyone can be saved. [ -- the honey-sweet trappings of her persona fall away. ] Least of all from themselves. These people have lived and breathed conflict for so long.

I guess you're right.

[ it's beginning to be more than a little obvious they're not willing to listen. still, he smiles a bit. ]

However long we have, I guess that's the time I got left to keep trying to convince them.

[ perhaps he's too stubbornly idealistic for his own good. ]

Ever the idealist. [ god, she loved him. idealism tempered with good sense. doesn't mean it made him perfect, but she thought it brought him rather close. ]

I wish I knew what would help.

I guess they never heard the concept of united we stand, divided we fall. I want to believe there should be a way to get through to them without them having to figure it out the hard way.

[ somehow, unison was usually achieved in times of great perils, when differences no longer mattered. ]

The thing is if you ask them, I don't think anyone really remembers why they ended up like this to begin with.

[ peggy isn't keen to admit how much of a challenge it is to keep her cool -- to keep herself collected, rational, and pragmatic -- when they still stood so near to one another. still ebbing in the wake of his stolen kiss.

but sensibility reigns. peggy exhales. ] At times, the hard way is the only way someone will learn. You can't force it, otherwise.

No, I can't.

[ an understanding achieved by force is not really understanding. she's right, sometimes the only way to understand is to learn. he isn't sure he can entirely blame these people. after all the wars the world has seen, men still create new ones, after all. ]

I'd like to think there's hope for them. Maybe if we ever visit here again, they'd have come to their senses about this mess.

[ with a hint of a smile ]

and then maybe you wouldn't need to be all -

[ well. ]

Angie, to be out and about.

Perhaps. And then I could retire the wig, hm?

At least until next time - you know, I barely recognized you.

[ lord help him if he stood there gawking at someone who only looked like her. ]

[ oh bless you steve rogers. peggy purses her lips. ]

That's rather the point of a disguise, isn't it?

I guess it must be. I guess seeing is believing.

[ but then, this is more than just blonde hair. he never quite saw someone change personalities so fast except for Natasha and at least she sounded the same. ]

You know, I wish I could take a leaf out of your book. The most I got for a costume were sunglasses.

ɪᴄ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴀᴄᴛ

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