OPEN TO CR (and +1's, why not!!)

[revlon]

Who: Peggy Carter (revlon), Steve Rogers (starspangle) & Various
What: The wedding!
When: Dec 1
Where: Thesa Station
Warning(s): N/A

[ To anyone who knows Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter, this wedding has been a long time coming — almost too long. So perhaps it isn't surprising at all that once they finally got engaged, the ceremony fell into place fairly quickly. Neither of them are ones for much fuss so they've decided to have it up on the station so friends and guests can attend no matter where on the island they live. And while the exhibition hall on Thesa isn't the English countryside or a church in New York City, this day is still uniquely theirs and intrinsically tied to the life they've made here.

It's an intimate late afternoon ceremony with wide windows overlooking the vastness of space and its twinkling stars. Steve, in a sharp suit one might recognise from last December's holiday gala, has Bucky Barnes as his best man and Claire Fraser is there for Peggy as matron of honour — the first friend she made in this new world. With so many absent friends, the bride decides to walk herself down the short aisle and the wedding gown is an understated, elegant affair in satin with a touch of beaded lace, expertly tailored by Claire's own hands. When the bride and groom meet, Captain Kirk begins:

"Since the days of the first wooden vessels, all ship's masters have had one happy privilege. That of uniting two people in the bonds of matrimony. And so we are gathered here today with you, Margaret Elizabeth Carter, and you, Steven Grant Rogers, in the sight of your fellows..."

And once they are pronounced Mr and Mrs Rogers, the party can officially begin! There's a hodgepodge dinner buffet courtesy of the mess hall (and cake later, of course) so perhaps you're trying to decide where to start first; or maybe you've forgone the food for the self-service bar with wine, whiskey, and beer. (Champagne for the toast!) If tipple isn't to your tastes, then maybe the dancing is — it isn't big band swing music, but it's close enough, and you're attending the wedding of some golden oldies from the 1940s so there's sure to be someone cutting a rug. Or maybe you're taking a breather from all that and taking in the view of the stars and the planet below.

Whatever your fancy, mingle and enjoy! ]

Comments

[ettersberg]

[ nightingale isn't worried about the setting. he has no reason to be. the worry he's had is that bucky may not have wanted what happened between them —but there is nothing influencing them now, as far as he can tell, and that smirk says he doesn't have reason to worry about having taken advantage in some way, either.

his own expression fades, though he retains some warmth around the eyes, a hint of humour to the set of his mouth. ]

If you'd like.

[ best to be upfront, perhaps? ] How do you feel about magic?

[lednikovyy]

[ Bucky just looks at him for a moment, trying to assess what angle that question is coming from. Without more context, it could mean at least a few different things and he's not sure what to make of it. ]

No strong feelings as long as you aren't a street magician.

[ettersberg]

Nothing of the sort.

[ the question earns bucky a half-smile, one corner of nightingale's mouth quirking up momentarily. ]

I was a police officer, most recently, if you must know. But magic is how I keep Steve on his toes in the boxing ring. [ a beat. it seems only fair to add: ] I am a wizard. [ he has been, for about as long as bucky's been alive, not that he knows that. or is likely to mention it, although both steve and peggy know his real age. ]

[lednikovyy]

[ Huh. It makes sense. Bucky's pretty sure most normal humans can't give him all that much of a challenge in a casual setting. There's a big difference between fighting to kill and fighting to train. ]

It doesn't bother me as long as you stay out of my head.

[ If Bucky's honest, police officer makes him a lot more nervous than magic does and he's not even a wanted man here, but it's a hard habit to kick. ]

Should probably tell you that I picked up some extra abilities since I woke up here. I can feel people's emotions sometimes. It's inconsistent.

[ It's mostly white noise that Bucky can't decipher his way through, anyway. He'd definitely been incapacitated in that regard back in the forest. ]

[ettersberg]

I've no desire to be in anyone's head.

[ a beat, as nightingale considers that statement. ] Nor would I know how to go about it without ample time in a library I no longer have access to.

[ that's comforting, right?

his brows rise as bucky mentions the ability to feel people's emotions. it isn't that it makes him nervous, per se, but —in many ways, thomas nightingale is a very private man. it's more by habit than by nature, but decades of being alone have had their impact. ]

How inconsistent?

[lednikovyy]

[ Bucky's face scrunches up a little, like he's not thrilled to be asked about it. ]

Room like this feels... nice. Like I can tell people are happy. A lot of the time, it's just like radio static. If I touch someone, it's louder, but it's still hard to figure out what it is.

[ In other words, he considers it mostly useless and mildly annoying as it currently is. He's not exactly big on touching, either, so it's not like he's gotten much practice. ]

[ettersberg]

I see.

[ he considers that for a moment. ]

Something would be amiss if this room didn't feel nice, I suppose. How did you come into this power?

[lednikovyy]

They asked me to do a simulation up here and next thing I know, I've got this.

[ Because Bucky really needed more shit in his head to ignore.

He shrugs, though. It's been a few months and while it hasn't done much for him, it hasn't hurt him much, either. It's better than a destructive power as far as he's concerned. ]

Kinda feels like a power for someone else.

[ettersberg]

What have you tried in order to control it?

[ peter may be in stasis, but regardless, nightingale is his masterteacher (peter doesn't like the word master and quite frankly, nightingale cannot blame him) and peter his apprentice. the process of teaching and learning to control magic or new abilities is something of a professional interest to nightingale. ]

[lednikovyy]

[ The question pulls Bucky up short. Mostly, he's just worked on learning to ignore it so that he can function in a crowd. That first month, he'd barely wanted to leave the apartment. ]

Not much. It's not really in my usual wheelhouse.

[ His usual wheelhouse being guns and knives and even though he's sharp in a fight, it's really not the same thing as having mind powers. ]

[ettersberg]

What is your usual - [ only the slightest pause betrays that this is not terminology he'd ordinarily use. ] wheelhouse?

[lednikovyy]

I was a sniper in the war and, uh [ He coughs awkwardly. ] women really liked me before that, so that might've been my wheelhouse before.

[ He shrugs and doesn't bother mentioning that he's a lot more comfortable with a gun than a woman these days. ]

[ettersberg]

[ softly: ] Which war was this?

[lednikovyy]

[ It's something Bucky's made a habit of lying about with anyone who doesn't already know Steve or Peggy, but his worry about the one threat he'd gotten from a HYDRA agent seems so far away here. ]

World War 2. I served with Steve.

[ettersberg]

[ how is it that at this wedding, thomas nightingale ends up having this precise conversation with two men who are not precisely the same but almost?

he pushes that thought aside. lifts a hand to briefly rub at his jaw. ]

I briefly served.

[lednikovyy]

Really?

[ It actually catches him off guard a little, but he's not sure why. A lot of men were serving back then and a good number of them went home afterwards and lived normal lives. Back then Bucky had expected to be one of them. ]

A soldier and a cop and a... what? A wizard?

[ettersberg]

[ nothing about thomas nightingale's life after the war had been normal, but for the rest, it's accurate enough.

plainly: ] Yes. [ and then he adds ] Not necessarily in that order.

[lednikovyy]

So what order, then?

[ There's an easy smile settling on his face now, his posture relaxing a little more. He really doesn't meet a lot of people who are from the same time. There's a coyness to their interaction that Bucky can't help enjoying and he's not too unhappy that they're talking about Thomas and not himself now. ]

[ettersberg]

Wizard, first and foremost.

Both soldier and police officer are secondary to that. I briefly worked for the Foreign Office as well, before the war.

[ not quite a spy, but... not quite not, either. the sort of person who'd be found at diplomatic events just as soon as chasing german archeologists through nepal. ]

[lednikovyy]

How does that work? Something you're born with?

[ It's invasive, maybe, but Bucky's pretty sure he can get away with a few invasive questions between them. ]

[ettersberg]

[ hardly invasive. he doesn't mind questions about magic nearly as much as questions about the war, most days. ]

Oh, no. It's something I learned in school.

[lednikovyy]

Is that normal where you're from?

[ Bucky's not sure what had existed on his world and what hadn't. He's experienced so many unbelievable things since him childhood and even more after waking up here. For all he knows, people were using all sorts of magic and he just never saw it. He's seen things close enough, at least. ]

[ettersberg]

When I was born, it was not entirely unheard of, but nothing I would call normal, no. There was one school, in all of Britain.

[ and admission was based on needing to know the right sort of person... and being from the right sort of family, too, though that didn't become obvious to nightingale until much, much later. ]

By the time the storm hit, it was entirely unheard of and the school empty.

[ please don't ask him what happened. ]

[lednikovyy]

When was that?

[ Bucky's got an idea, of course, if he served in the war, but he can't really help the question, anyway. He wants to know more about Thomas and not just because the idea of magic still feels a little exciting and fantastical even now. Besides, his own timeline doesn't add up and he's been about as cards-on-the-table as he gets with Thomas. ]

[ettersberg]

Ah.

[ when is a better question than why, and it isn't as though it really is a secret. ]

The Storm hit in 2017.