SEPTEMBER TEST DRIVE

[thespaceopera]

THE FALL TEST DRIVE MEME
(Or Spring Test Drive for you Southern Hemisphere folks!)

Got someone you want to try out before you app? Well this is the post for it! Feel free to use anything that fits in the setting of Drift Fleet! Want to play bumper shuttles? Want to go wild in a med bay? Play around with the current plot? Have at it!

Threads from the Test-Drive may be made game "canon" but DO NOT count toward AC!

FOR NEW PLAYERS: You DO NOT NEED an invite to participate in the TEST DRIVE! If you decide to APP into the game, ONLY THEN will you need an invite from a current player!

Helpful Info for Ideas!:

September's Star System

Game Details

Test drives are posted SEASONALLY, so the next one will be in December!

Comments

[speedboat]

But? [ his eyebrows implore her to go on. he can't be the only one putting himself out there, even if he does always somehow feel like the disadvantaged one of the two of them. but JARVIS. that is so distracting. the bright smile is back in an instant. ]

Jarvis? I see how it is, he waited for me to get out of dodge so he could slip right in here. Clever dog. [ and now he can be hideously codependent on someone, hurray! not that he and peggy weren't last time, but... ] Are you gonna make me guess, Peg? You know how I hate speculation.

[mucked]

[ oh, look. she can avoid this whole rigmarole concerning barnes. ]

Steve Rogers. [ a huff of breath; now, she can't quite contain that preening content tone to her voice. ]

[speedboat]

[ he hasn't forgotten!!! ...or he'll eventually remember!!!!11 goddamnit peggy. ]

Steve. [ it's said with reverence. he's really here this time, not just a lie on a ship log. and peggy's first mate, how fitting. ] It'll be good to see him. [ which is the most understated thing he's ever understated, but even h stark can be at a loss for words sometimes okay?! ]

[mucked]

[ she can read between the gaps. she can hear what he doesn't say. she doesn't need him to say it -- just as he doesn't need to hear her say it in turn. what matters in the end is that they can share this proper relief. they'd mourned together; they should have this together too. ]

I am quite certain the feeling will be mutual.

[ ...complications aside. ]

[speedboat]

[ he shrugs a shoulder, not so sure about that but appreciating the reassurance all the same. ] When is he from?

[mucked]

[ ah. there's the rub. peggy's eyes shift -- the broadcast records a flicker in her expression. not doubt, exactly, but a recognition of deadlines. ]

The year 2016. And I'm also quite certain he could tell you damn lot about what it's like. Him, or one of the others.

[speedboat]

[ of course, 2016. when he was here last year it was 2015. thngs are beginning to click again... ] Others?

[mucked]

Sam Wilson. Natasha Romanoff. [ ... ] Watch out for her. She'll have you for lunch.

[ -- and howard would manage to half-enjoy it, she's certain. ]

[speedboat]

[ that gets a frown. he doesn't recognize those names, of course. ] As much as I like lunch, we've been over this. I don't fraternize with Russians... even sexy-sounding ones. [ probably. he clears his throat. ] Who are they?

[mucked]

This one is on our side. [ and yet she can't help but spare a half-panicked thought that howard should mistakenly light upon so dangerous a similarity between romanoff and underwood. ] They both are.

[ well, that's not exactly the truth is it? ]

They're on Steve's side.

[ and that's always been enough for her. ]

[speedboat]

[ he opens his mouth to argue because really peggy!! but then she goes on and he sighs -- slighly put-upon. ] Alright. [ he can accept that, and at least wait until he meets these people to pass judgement. ]

What were you going to tell me about Barnes? [ dun dun dun ]

[mucked]

It's not my story to tell, I'm afraid.

[ but whose is it? who could lay a better claim than someone who'd known the man -- properly? but peggy tries to brush it off. she doesn't want to taint his return. not yet. ]

[speedboat]

[ LOUDER MORE PUT UPON SIGH. ] Call me back when you want to dish, Carter. Can't you see I'm sunbathing?

[mucked]

Oh, for God's sake. Grow up, Howard. [ she's testy. hurt, somehow, although it's hard to see exactly where and why. ] I don't dish. As a rule. You know that.

[speedboat]

If we can't stick together here what the heck is the point? [ he should just go back if she doesn't want him here!! if only it were that simple. he's stuck, and maybe for a long time this time, like her. it's impossible to know. he lets out a frustrated little noise and leans a little closer to the feed. ] I'm sorry I up and took a powder on you. I missed the juiciest part of the action. [ again. he's always doing this to her. it doesn't seem to matter that this instance was actually completely out of his control. ]

[mucked]

[ what he calls juicy had been one of the hardest revelations of her life. endured from jarvis's mouth -- and was it any wonder that she'd cried? there'd been no surprise to learn that howard's life had come to its end. they'd been talking of decades, after all. but murder? assassination?

-- and at the hands of the winter soldier. peg's jaw works soundlessly. danger darkens her eyes. a whole world had come to blows because steve had failed to adequately explain the circumstances to howard's son. what chaos does she invite by denying that same knowledge to the father? ]

It's the sort of knowledge you can't come back from. [ ... ] Trust me, I know what I'm talking about.

[ -- she'd damn well witnessed her own funeral within steve's memories only months earlier. these things stick with you. ]

[speedboat]

[ his expression softens -- he hates seeing peggy this way. she's supposed to be his rock. lord knows he's not stable enough to be hers. but he tries to be there for her anyway, for as often as he fails. the effort is always there. ]

I just don't want to be the us we were before. We can do better. [ he swallows ] I'm gonna do better by you, Peg. You'll see.

[mucked]

[ his ambition -- his idealism -- makes something in her heart crumple. few can hear it, she thinks. fewer still can identify it: that line where howard stark crosses from wry and brash to disarmingly human.

briefly, briefly, briefly, she wonders how he'd met his death. a wink and a nod? a cry? stoicism? peggy shakes her head. ]

For once, Howard, you've got nothing to apologize for.

[speedboat]

Then what's eating you, pal? You don't look as cute wearing that frown. [ right back to light chatter, on the surface. she'll know better. ]

[mucked]

We've had a difficult few months. [ and that's honest enough. ] And not least of those difficulties has been a bit of mental jiggery-pokery on behalf of the Atroma. Memory-sharing, that sort of thing.

We saw all manner of things we shouldn't have seen.

[speedboat]

Memory-sharing. [ he repeats it to absorb that more readily, but also because as a concept that is so incredibly fascinating. if he knows peggy, and he does, then it will be hard to get information about what she saw. still, how many other exciting things did he miss aboard the fleet while he was... doing equally exciting things back home??? shh. ]

Isn't that the whole punchline of this place? They seem to get off on making everyone about as mad as a box of frogs, from what I remember.

[mucked]

Exactly so. And these mad frogs are all feeling a little tender. Of late.

[ let that be her one and only warning to him: be careful whose buttons you press. ]

[speedboat]

Oh the upside, tender frog's legs make great soup. [ is that some sort of metaphor? the world will never know. ] Don't be a stranger, Peg. Once I get my assignment, you won't be able to get rid of me.

[mucked]

[ truth is, she wouldn't want to. but she can't speak the truth. not like this -- blunt, sentimental, warm. so peggy swallows up that answer. ]

Another remarkable similarity to trenchfoot.

[ she loves you, you bastard. ]

[speedboat]

Remind me to ask you to write my epitaph, will you? [ ignorance is bliss. ]