[ Steve notices himself, how close their faces are, how easy it would be for him to just lean up and kiss her. He just about starts to do it, but as he begins to lift himself up on his elbows, Peggy rises off of him altogether. And from this angle, it not only becomes clear but impossible to ignore: Peggy is definitely bigger. ]
Did you get taller? [ That takes him back to a lab under an antique shop in Brooklyn, to gasping for air as he was helped out of the Vita Ray chamber, Peggy the first to ask how he felt. And suddenly, he takes in the rest of Peggy's new appearance, the suit that's just familiar enough to fill in any remaining blanks.
But he doesn't get a chance to confirm anything; Peggy's next question takes him completely by surprise. So much so that he doesn't have any kind of intelligent response. ]
[To answer both his questions. Good thing they've got the time, pun absolutely intended. Peggy sits back on her heels and tucks a few stray hairpins back into place as she speaks.]
Apparently your universe - specifically your universe, because I imagine I wouldn't have made it through the war otherwise - has an agency that's very persistent in regards to eliminating anyone who mucks with what they consider the proper order of time. Which means that they weren't too keen with you reinserting yourself into a timeline that had quite happily moved on while you were frozen in ice, and if I hadn't got there first, you would have been- well. I'm not certain what they do with their so-called variants, but it's safe to assume they get wiped out of existence.
[ Steve has the decency to feel some shame in response to Peggy's explanation; he was explicitly warned not to disturb the timeline and he decided to do it anyway, damn the consequences. Granted, he didn't know that those consequences were complete erasure, but then, Steve can't even say with certainty that knowing the true risk could have stopped him.
Peggy must have guessed he wouldn't be easily deterred, because she pushed him into a landscape so barren he almost wants to ask what she thinks he could accomplish with the odd shrub. ]
So where are we now? [ Steve asks, pulling himself up to his feet and taking a longer look around. ]
[It's not always about you, Steve. In this case, it's about choosing desolate, utterly abandoned places - ones where their presence won't have an effect on the timeline, where they can't be detected by the TVA for causing a deviation. (Sure, you can accomplish the same thing by hiding in apocalyptic events, but that's just overly dramatic.)]
Another planet. I don't know what it's called, or if it even has a name. What it does have is a breathable atmosphere and no native sentient population.
[Peggy stays where she is, sitting on the ground - though it's strange having to crane her neck so far to look up at Steve. She can't say she's surprised by the way he looks, being familiar with the changes the serum work on a body, but...it's different. Certainly not in a bad way, judging by the way he fills out those slacks.]
I can take you back to your own timeline, if you'd like. They shouldn't chase after you if you go back to where you're meant to be. Or when you're meant to be, rather.
No. [ Steve responds immediately, and rather forcefully. He isn't ready to give up on what he set out to do, and he certainly isn't about to let Peggy Carter drop him off back where he started. Even if it isn't the same Peggy that Steve was trying to get back to, it is Peggy. He can't just let her slip away again. ]
I left that timeline for a reason. [ Peggy should be able to infer that reason even if he doesn't elaborate. He has to hope that they mean enough to each other in any universe that she'll understand. He's not ready to say goodbye so fast. ]
[Peggy pinches the bridge of her nose. She understands his desperation, she truly does. She isn't entirely certain she wouldn't attempt the same, given the opportunity. But she's also not going to stand idly by and let any Steve be a complete idiot.]
First of all, because I'm sure you were thinking 'oh, I can overpower whatever team they send for me', let me just inform you that in the process of eliminating variants, the TVA has handled innumerable copies of every villain you've faced, with wildly differing powersets. I don't know how they accomplish this, but they do.
Second, once you're in the timeline, you begin to contaminate it. Short-term contamination can be reversed fairly easily. Once you, say, spend any length of time around other people, they inevitably become variants as well, and they're doomed to the same fate as you.
[Hopefully he cares enough to not want his Peggy to be erased from the timeline through his own selfish actions. If not, she's got nothin'.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Did you get taller? [ That takes him back to a lab under an antique shop in Brooklyn, to gasping for air as he was helped out of the Vita Ray chamber, Peggy the first to ask how he felt. And suddenly, he takes in the rest of Peggy's new appearance, the suit that's just familiar enough to fill in any remaining blanks.
But he doesn't get a chance to confirm anything; Peggy's next question takes him completely by surprise. So much so that he doesn't have any kind of intelligent response. ]
What?
no subject
[To answer both his questions. Good thing they've got the time, pun absolutely intended. Peggy sits back on her heels and tucks a few stray hairpins back into place as she speaks.]
Apparently your universe - specifically your universe, because I imagine I wouldn't have made it through the war otherwise - has an agency that's very persistent in regards to eliminating anyone who mucks with what they consider the proper order of time. Which means that they weren't too keen with you reinserting yourself into a timeline that had quite happily moved on while you were frozen in ice, and if I hadn't got there first, you would have been- well. I'm not certain what they do with their so-called variants, but it's safe to assume they get wiped out of existence.
no subject
Peggy must have guessed he wouldn't be easily deterred, because she pushed him into a landscape so barren he almost wants to ask what she thinks he could accomplish with the odd shrub. ]
So where are we now? [ Steve asks, pulling himself up to his feet and taking a longer look around. ]
no subject
Another planet. I don't know what it's called, or if it even has a name. What it does have is a breathable atmosphere and no native sentient population.
[Peggy stays where she is, sitting on the ground - though it's strange having to crane her neck so far to look up at Steve. She can't say she's surprised by the way he looks, being familiar with the changes the serum work on a body, but...it's different. Certainly not in a bad way, judging by the way he fills out those slacks.]
I can take you back to your own timeline, if you'd like. They shouldn't chase after you if you go back to where you're meant to be. Or when you're meant to be, rather.
no subject
I left that timeline for a reason. [ Peggy should be able to infer that reason even if he doesn't elaborate. He has to hope that they mean enough to each other in any universe that she'll understand. He's not ready to say goodbye so fast. ]
no subject
First of all, because I'm sure you were thinking 'oh, I can overpower whatever team they send for me', let me just inform you that in the process of eliminating variants, the TVA has handled innumerable copies of every villain you've faced, with wildly differing powersets. I don't know how they accomplish this, but they do.
Second, once you're in the timeline, you begin to contaminate it. Short-term contamination can be reversed fairly easily. Once you, say, spend any length of time around other people, they inevitably become variants as well, and they're doomed to the same fate as you.
[Hopefully he cares enough to not want his Peggy to be erased from the timeline through his own selfish actions. If not, she's got nothin'.]