[ CLOSED ] he's in the army now, blowin' reveille

[revlon]

Who: Peggy Carter (revlon), Steve Rogers (starspangle), Claire Fraser (nineteenfortyfive)
What: Vintage folks meet their fellow golden oldie roommates.
When: Arrival at Olympia.
Where: House #29.
Warning(s): N/A

[ It's been a long trip. Not as long as some marches she's embarked on during the war, not by half, but it was nearly as treacherous and just as exhausting for simply going in blind. She's a woman who likes to know what she's getting into — she's certainly capable of handling it if she doesn't, but it's a new world and a new life. Not a new country. Now it's a new city.

She's given a patch at the entrance despite her firm refusal.

Hello! My name is
PEGGY CARTER!

I am in House #29!
Are you my housemate?

It's absurd. It lists her hobbies as guns, codebreaking, and crosswords in the most cheerful manner possible and it's not precisely discreet, either. But there's nothing for it. She's whisked off into a tour group before she can find anyone else she knows and deposited at her new home without preamble. It's not what she expected, not after Thesa. But beggars can't be choosers.

She opens the door with some measure of wariness. She doesn't know if her roommates are here before her — she doesn't even know who they might be — but she investigates the place all the same. Is anyone home? ]

Comments

[nineteenfortyfive]

[Ah. Agent jokes. Humor that's actually not very far from the truth, if it's not the thing itself. Claire smiles, watching Peggy with almost wonder. A handbag. Something she'd see in a department store window. It seems like an alien thing now.]

I'm not much of a chef, I'm afraid. A bit rusty.

[She can cook, but for so long it's been nothing but stews and game over campfires, if not stale bread and cheese when they could find it.]

[revlon]

[ At that, she pauses. Pulls a bit of a face. ]

That's rather unfortunate, [ she says after a beat, ] seeing as I was about to warn you of the same thing.

[ Campfire stews abound. There's a reason she ate at the automat more often than not, picked up food to bring to her desk, or had dear Mr Jarvis or one of Howard's chefs whip something up for her. She'd never asked for that sort of life, either, it was all a matter of circumstance. But still, beyond cobbling together a passable sandwich... ]

[nineteenfortyfive]

[Well. Claire knows she can boil a potato and toss some ingredients together to make something edible, but the jury's out on how enjoyable it might be.]

Perhaps we'll find a cafe along the way.

[Or something similar.]

[revlon]

[ She's not saying she's had roasted rat. But she's probably had roasted rat. ]

A cafe! [ How novel. She seems delighted by the notion. ] It has been a long while since I've had tea with someone who appreciates it.

[nineteenfortyfive]

Assuming this place understands tea to begin with. [Claire gives her a little smile before looking about. Well, nothing to lock up or clean up just yet, so she supposes they're good to go.]

Shall we?

[revlon]

[ No, there's nothing else to be done with this little flat for now. Peggy takes her rucksack and kicks it under the bed, settles the blanket back into place where it hangs over the side of the mattress. There's nothing too important in there but it's habit more than anything else. ]

We shall. [ She follows the other woman out and together they make their way down the street. ] It all feels so — normal, doesn't it? Being on a completely different planet aside.

[nineteenfortyfive]

Now and then. Sometimes it comes rushing back to me that there's no such thing as home anymore.

[No home, no family. Not within reach, anyway. Back to that strange feeling of lack--like there's something just outside her grasp.]

[revlon]

[ She breathes out at that, voice quiet and even. ]

Well, it certainly just did for me. [ When you put it like that. ] I've always been all right with going here and there for work. Never really calling any one place home. But I'd started to feel settled when...

[ Peggy shrugs as if to say: the storm. ]

[nineteenfortyfive]

It all came to an end.

[She can relate. She had hoped so desperate that Culloden could be avoided, that their efforts in Paris had been enough, but war came anyway. And then this. She's not sure if this is better or worse than Culloden moor.

There's a part of her that wishes she could take out her anger at the unfairness of it all. It's selfish, of course, but she can't help but be upset. For a moment in time, they had everything. Home. Family.]

We were reading ourselves for a war of which I knew the outcome. We were on the losing side of history. Never quite made it that far.

[revlon]

I'm sorry.

[ She does mean that sincerely. She doesn't know the details, but Claire has said enough to be telling. ]

You'd mentioned it when we first spoke — about, well, time travel, for lack of a better phrase. I didn't want to pry, but now that you've said it... [ She glances askance at her. The losing side of history. God. ] I can't imagine what that must have been like.

[nineteenfortyfive]

It's all right. [No use in being sorry now. She's only sorry that so many lives were lost in the uprising already. Dying, often painfully, and for what? They won't even see if Culloden will come to pass.

Claire glances aside at some of the buildings lining the street as she chooses her words.]

Are you familiar with the Jacobite uprising in the 1700s? The one that culminated at Culloden, in Scotland.

[revlon]

[ She raises her brows at that. It's been a while since school and their subjects were so carefully selected. But, perhaps unsurprisingly, Peggy does have more than a passing familiarity with military history. ]

A little, [ she admits after a moment's consideration. ] Charles Stuart, wasn't it? For the British throne.

[nineteenfortyfive]

[A nod. Most have heard if it, even if in broad strokes. Jacobites, princes vying to be king, and both sides believing their man was the one that belonged on the throne.]

I found myself in that time in Scotland. That's where I met my husband, Jamie. [We'll just gloss over the fact that he's her second husband and she said to hell with the first, more or less.] We tried to stop Culloden from happening at all. I knew what would happen to his home, his way of life. His family. I tried to change history.

[Abruptly, she laughs.]

It sounds mad, talking about it now.

[It always did, but back then, she had much more conviction.]

[revlon]

[ Mad, maybe. But not impossible after waking up in this place. Peggy shakes her head, smiling a little, almost a reassurance. ]

Don't you think any of us who lived through the war would take the chance to change it if we could?

[ The camps that came to light during the liberation of Eastern Europe, the trials at Nuremberg. Bucky being killed in the line of duty. Steve sacrificing his life. God, yes, would they have tried. ]

It might sound mad. But I've seen a lot of things that most people wouldn't believe, even before we got to this place. [ And those are stories for another time. ] Tell me about your husband.

[nineteenfortyfive]

[She doubts anyone would be able to sit and twiddle their thumbs in good conscience. The sentiment is appreciated, though, and Claire smiles before quickly glancing aside. The thought of Jamie never fails to sting. But she's had her bouts of crying already. Out of her system for now.]

He's a good man. It seems... too simple, to say that, but he truly is. A born leader, though he's happiest at home, working in the fields or tending to the horses. He's a stubborn bastard but God knows he's got the kindest heart I've ever encountered. He'd do anything for his family. [He's laid down his life for them, over and over. She shakes her head, looking down at her feet as they walk, the lines in the concrete passing them by.]

His laugh is infectious. If I could get him laughing, that was it.

[She takes a breath.]

It's been so long since I heard him laugh. I'd give anything right now to hear it.

[The war didn't leave much time for jokes.]

[revlon]

[ She listens quietly, careful not to seem as though she's watching too closely, giving the other woman some privacy even as she describes the man she loves. Because of course she loves him; marriage doesn't always mean what people think, but there's a tenderness to how Claire speaks about her husband and it makes her heart ache for her. But it's lovely, too, to hear how she cares for him. ]

He sounds wonderful. [ Peggy pauses, admits with a small smile of her own, ] And he rather reminds me of someone I know.

[ She glances at her, expression softening. ]

He... isn't here, is he. Is he on — [ She interrupts herself, remembering she isn't supposed to mention how they came to be here. ] Is he still asleep?

[nineteenfortyfive]

We're lucky women, then. People like that are rare.

[And how terrible it is to be robbed of them. Claire takes a breath, composing herself. She's done enough crying over this and she knows for a fact Jamie wouldn't want that.]

He is. Sometimes I don't know why it's me instead of him here. He's the leader, the warrior. And then other times I'm bloody glad it's not him instead of me, because this is all mad. Better I be the one questioning reality.

[revlon]

[ Only, Peggy hasn't been robbed of Steve. Not here. Not really. No, they've been reunited in a remarkable way and she still can't quite believe it, after years mourning his loss. She still needs to find where he's staying in this neighbourhood, make sure he's all right.

Not that he can't take care of himself. But. ]

But even better to question it together, I wager. [ It's kindly said. ] And I think he'd agree with me saying you underestimate yourself, Mrs Fraser.

[ There's a moment, then she adds, ]

The man I spoke of — he's here, somewhere. But honestly, until we all woke up where we did, I never thought I'd see him again. As far as I knew, he was dead. [ It doesn't pain her to say it now that they're here, and now that she knows the truth. But it's a bittersweet one. ] It seems this is the right place for us to start believing in the impossible. I'm sure you'll see your husband again soon.

[nineteenfortyfive]

[He would agree with her, and that's the funny thing. Jamie's believed in Claire completely, entirely. Even when he shouldn't believe the woman sobbing about time travel and coming from the future. She's not sure what that says about them, but it certainly says something.]

Is he? Then what the hell are you doing here with me?

[It's said with a wry smile. If Jamie was here, she's not sure if she could leave his side.

... initially, anyway. Once the relief wore off she'd be getting into trouble, and so would he.]

[revlon]

[ She laughs at that, bright and easy. It's a valid question. When they found each other on the ship, it was indescribable. The joy she felt, the confusion, the relief, the uncertainty. She still feels all those things but they've settled under her skin now and she's sure that every time she sees Steve in this city, her heart will still jump. Sometimes it's like seeing a ghost. The grief hits before reason does.

She hopes that will go away eventually. And then... And then what? She isn't sure. ]

We've had our reunion, [ Peggy says instead. ] And we've had time to get reacquainted, a little. It's been rather a lot all at once. [ She takes a breath, exhaling it slowly as she shrugs. ] I don't know. It's been so long and I... [ There's a pause, then her voice softens as she looks away. ] I'm just glad he's alive. Knowing that is more than enough for now.

[ She hasn't said she has a history with him. She doesn't say she's in love. She hadn't said as much to her closest friends in New York. But she didn't have to then and she probably doesn't have to now. For all that she's a spy, for all that she tries to keep people at bay and keep her private life private, her emotions are sometimes remarkably easy to read. ]

[nineteenfortyfive]

[You don't meet a man like that and not fall in love. Claire knows. She tried her best not to fall in love with James Fraser, and yet try as she might, she was drawn to him like a moth to a flame. As Claire listens to Peggy speak, talking about this man, she nods. All in due time.]

You'll have to introduce me sometime. Once the two of you have a little more time together, of course.

[No need to rush anything. God knows how long they'll be here.]

[revlon]

[ She smiles at that. ]

I'd be glad to. In fact, maybe you've already met him? Steve Rogers. He was helping at the crash site.

[nineteenfortyfive]

[Claire lifts a brow, stepping around someone not watching where they're going on the path.]

The American?

[Scandalous.]

[revlon]

[ Not just the American. The American. Peggy grins, amused; imagine if Claire found out just how star-spangled Captain America really was. She's aware of how absurd it sounds. ]

Surprised? Or perhaps scandalised is the right word.

[nineteenfortyfive]

[She didn't think laughter would come so easily, especially with Jamie on the forefront of her mind, but there it is.]

I'm married to a Scot. I'm not judging.

[Besides--]

I could tell he's a good man.