uprightness | ɪᴄ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴀᴄᴛ

Not unless the Atroma wants her to be. [ a stern reminder. bucky might have had a convenient switch inside his programming -- easily toggled, compared to the rest of them. but that doesn't disqualify any of them from being used in that fashion. not wanda. not peggy. not steve himself.

peggy wonders if he realizes it. ]

If they wanted her to attack us, she already would have done it and very few would have seen her coming.

[ the nightmares are a part of Wanda's powers that she stopped using after Sokovia. Her training has never included that particularly skill for a reason. All the Avengers were shaken by it and truthfully, Steve hoped never to see it used against another person again. ]

She took down most of our team without so much as breaking a sweat.

-- How?

[ christmas bloody morning be damned. peggy carter sets her personal self aside. she would never approach wanda herself with such an abrupt interrogation. certainly not about her own powers. but she spares steve the kid gloves. ]

Her powers. She can move things with her eyes but there was more to them. She could make people see things. I don't really understand it.

[ it hit them far worse than they imagined it would, back in the day. ]

I'd call them dreams. She could plant them in people's heads. One moment you'd be once place and the next.

[ a whole other. Truth was, none of them had spoken about it since that day. ]

She can see them, too. Made it easier for her to understand people's weakness, I guess. Their fears.

[ good lord. she knew about the telekinesis. the manipulation of forces all around her. but this is a new dimension to those powers. it reminds her of the calibration rooms, months and months ago. it had been in those dreams (or nightmares) where she first realized she and wanda knew the same man. ]

It takes a great deal of trust to work on a team with someone with those sorts of abilities.

Sometimes I think Wanda is the most powerful of us all.

[ and probably she is, if she managed to take down Thor. There's Vision, of course and Steve can't guess the balance of powers between them but as for the rest. ]

The things she can do with her mind, none of us can really come close but for all those powers, she's a kid. She's just scared.

[ especially now. ]

I'll ask her. You're right. It'll be good for her. I've no idea what they did with her memories or what they want to achieve with it but we'll just have to make new ones.

-- Having the kitchen to focus on might be good for her. [ ... ] I've caught her cooking in there, before. Meals from home. Maybe something relaxing like that will help her with her memories.

I hope so.

[ he looks down, touches the beads Wanda had collected until she could make a bracelet for his birthday. The Atroma seem to take as much as they give, it's more than a little irritating, this level of control over the minds of those he cares about. ]

Her cooking's pretty good, too.

A sort of silver lining, then, for our meals. As long as we keep the pantry stocked. There will be staples we're no longer receiving now that Felix has left the ship -- staples that only come when you have a cook on board. [ ... ] Wouldn't hurt, maybe, to start talking with some of the other ships about what we can barter.

Eugene Woods is the cook on the Wonderduck. He and I have a pre-existing arrangement; I'm certain we can renegotiate.

I can talk to Kara and Kitty, ask them who to talk to on the Tourist and the Windrose.

[ he eyes the little cup she's still holding and smiles. ]

But in the mean time, it's Christmas.

[ and that means enough business for one day. ]

The world doesn't stop turning just because it's Christmas, Steve.

[ -- never you mind that they're not on a 'world' at all. ]

No, it doesn't.

[ as lightly as that. ]

But we can still take a break for one day.

We just took a break. [ it's not that she's got anything against christmas, per se. but relaxing at the hotel has left her with a latent restlessness. her shoulder wants to get back to the grindstone. ] You, me, and one very large bed.

Yes, I remember that.

[ and he seems to refuse to let the entire concept of we, you, me, a large bed distract from the current task. ]

But than was then.

[ 'then' was not so long ago, at all, but still. ]

And this is now. Hardly any time has passed. [ is she giving him a hard time? yes, she's giving him a hard time. you'd think she'd be kinder after such a lovely gift. but hearts are strange and fickle things, and she suddenly wants to pretend like she hasn't been terribly moved by the tea cups. ] You've gone soft.

[ if you need another day off. ]

Highly likely.

[ and he softens, still, in the face of this sternness, taking a step closer, on the edge of her personal space. ]

Nothing much to be done about it.

[ she stands her ground -- not least of all because it means keeping him close. how unfortunate a side-effect of their time sharing a room in the hotel: he's less skittish; less reserved; less likely to hang back and wait for her first move. she loves it and resents it all at once, not yet certain how to adjust to these little progressions.

peggy huffs. ]

There's something that could be done, [ she assures him. ]

Really?

[ the smile is hidden, tucked back to the corners of his lips but very much present in his tone. it's a bit of a challenge but mostly a flirt, easy and comfortable despite of or perhaps because of all the huffiness. ]

I'm all ears.

[ she raises a very threatening!!! fist. along with an eyebrow. ]

Good. That would make it easier to box you in'em.

[ your ears. ]

[ he arches his eyebrows right back; evidently curious, now. ]

You know if you wanted to spar, I wouldn't have minded. Probably best to put away that tea-cup, though.

[ ever so amused. ]

[ -- she hadn't been serious. but. ]

Us? Sparring? [ watch her as she chews it over. considers it, earnestly. must be a christmas miracle. ] That'd end badly, surely.

[ surely??? ]

That's not a no.

[ he should have known his winning card will have to involve adrenaline rather than hot chocolate and cuddles. of course this might be the thing that works. ]

I mean, we already exchanged presents.

[ why not fists, really. ]

[ a little surprised, really. but definitely not a no. ] There's no way you can win, Steve.

[ a bold claim! and it looks as though she believes it. peggy carter things she can take steve rogers. hand-to-hand. ]

Really?

[ it seems to be his turn to huff. he folds his arms. ]

And if I do? What's it gonna be?

[ it seems to be a tradition by now, these wagers of theirs. ]

[ she likes this. very much. the back-and-forth. the negotiation. she falls into it far easier than she does gentler gestures.

whip-quick: ] If you win, the day is yours. We'll be as disgustingly festive as you like. No further protests.

[ well maybe SOME protests. ]

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