entrancelogs | Did I slip? Know I stumbled. Did I trip? 'Cause I know I fell.

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Did I slip? Know I stumbled. Did I trip? 'Cause I know I fell.

Who: Rip Hunter, Peggy Carter, Sunburst, Freya Mikaelson, Regina Mills [Closed]
Where: The Diner, Freya's Room, Other Places
When: May 30 and June 2
Rating: PG-13 Max probably. Talk of injury, Peggy getting mad, Rip possibly getting something thrown at him again.
Summary: Nachos and Tea: Rip and Peggy's first date following the event, and Rip attempting to get Peggy healing in time for the oncoming war.
The Story:

May 30 - Closed to Peggy Carter

[Wednesday arrives, and typically it would see Peggy traveling down to the second floor to spend her evening-turned-night with Rip, just as it has for months now. Yet there have been exceptions along the way; some unnecessary (if you ask him), some forced by Wonderland itself--and now tonight, as Rip beats Peggy to the metaphorical punch by knocking on her door before she has a chance to leave, bottle of whiskey in hand. His intention is to still have their friendly chatting and their drinking commence as usual; the past event would not steal that from them. Certain other aspects, however, must be sacrificed due to her injury: their more physical activity falls in that column, and Rip thinks the location can as well.

After all, it's only been a week and some days. She needn't make the trip downstairs--or it's return up while dizzy with drink or weighed down with a hangover.]

June 2 - For Freya Mikaelson, Sunburst, Regina Mills, and Peggy Carter

[The Red Queen's announcement does indeed serve as a call to arms for Rip--though not in the way the monarch of Wonderland intends. It hasn't been so long since the prison event; not nearly long enough for Peggy to have healed from her injury. Whether she intends to volunteer or not, the proclomation makes it clear that war is coming, and likely soon.

Desperate times, as they say, and Rip wastes little time before he reaches out to certain contacts. Although it is not a method he has specifically employed before, given his background and reliance on technology, Wonderland has made him quite the beggar when it comes to what Rip is used to. Stripped thus of his typical choice, he sways to the other side of the pendulumn: magic, and those practioners he's managed to forge bonds with during his time in Wonderland.

Thus, Sunburst, Regina Mills, and Freya Mikaelson all receive the following text:]

I'd like to speak to you regarding what you know of healing magic.

[Of course, there is a notable person missing from the list of those he's contacted: Peggy, it would seem, gets no say in the matter of her own healing.

Why would she need to? There's only one way Rip can allow this to end, after all.]

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[It was an impressive attempt, all the same- and at least it was an attempt. Not lying down and letting Wonderland win without a fight. Limiting as things are, it's something.

A small smile crosses his face.]

No budging you on that one, huh? I'm sure Peggy would have hung me out to dry if I tried the vendor route anyway.

Not in the slightest. I’ve had far too much experience with memory manipulation and alteration, I’m afraid.

[From the Time Masters and cognitive intrusion to Eobard Thawne cavalierly rewriting his memories, Rip is well and truly happy to never be put into a position where he willingly hands one over. He knows that good can technically come of it—that it has, as Ray couldn’t have gotten the machine that had fixed Rip any other way. But he will not let that sacrifice be made again.

And Sunburst also isn’t wrong as he continues.] Oh, I’m sure she would’ve likely done worse than that. You didn’t see the lump she left me with after your visit to her prison cell.

[By the by, he knows you sold him out. THANKS FOR THAT, BUDDY.]

Understandable, with that taking into consideration.

[He lets out a small, slightly embarrassed laugh at that. Sorry, not sorry. ]

At least I got her to eat?

[Ideally understandable enough that Sunburst would never make a trip to the vendors.]

Yes; the bruising would've hardly been worth it otherwise. [Really, Rip's taken harder blows in the past, been far more hurt, and isn't cross with Sunburst in the slightest. He'd accomplished the goal: gotten Peggy to take at least part of a meal, and with relatively little fuss.

It's like the best anyone could've hoped for under the circumstances.

Now to deal with the lingering matter of those injuries. Rip reaches for a scroll, unfurls it to get an idea of what's written on the paper.]

And now you'll have the experience to realize that Peggy might not be a cooperative patient when it comes to these particular--efforts. Which is why I'd ask you not to inform her of them.

[Oh, what was that Sunburst? Were you expecting Rip to have actually gotten her consent before he started all this? Pfft.]

[He'll avoid losing memories if he can, Rip's good. ]

One thing to be glad for then! The...eating, not the bruising. Obviously.

[Realisation dawns on Sunburst- on what Rip is actually saying here. Confusion turns to exasperation pretty quickly.]

Wait. You- you haven't told here that you're looking for magical cures to use on her?

[This is Starlight and her lack of magical consent all over again. He sits down, putting his face in his hooves, groaning softly.]

Riiiiip. Nooooooo.

Obviously.

[About as obvious as Sunburst's sudden show of dismay; he's partway through the current scroll when Sunburst moans out his disapproval.

Given exactly whom they're discussing, however? He shouldn't really expect Rip to be all that swayed.]

There's no point in discussing it with her. [BUCKLE IN GUYS.] Either she'll agree to its use, or she won't and I'll have it done anyway. Far better for her to be in good health and able to face whatever happens at her full capacity than the alternatives.

[For Rip, it's a simple calculus.]

I'll gladly face the brunt of her anger if it means she's safe in the wake of what is to come.

It's not just about her being angry about it, Rip.

[It might be a touch too close to the quick for him, this subject. He's seen first-hoof how forcing magic on someone else can cause real damage. Rifts are created, sometimes irreparable. It's happened to him- sure, he and Starlight made up for that little misadventure, but he still remembers what it felt like. ]

It's still a violation. Magic shouldn't be used that way. You start using magic on people against their will and it- well it's just a really slippery slope. It becomes too easy. More to the point, I couldn't ask Starlight to get involved in something like that. We'd need her magic, but I don't want her doing that without Peggy's consent.

[Not because Starlight wouldn't do it without consent- quite the opposite. He knows this is a slippery slope Starlight knows only too well, and he'd be a poor friend if he encouraged it when she was trying to be better. ]

I understand needing her to be better- but this? It might cause a rift in her trust you'd never get back again.

Edited 2018-06-10 20:27 (UTC)

[I was saving your lives!

His own voice, raised in angry protest as Sara complained of how Rip had sent them all off to different times before using the Waverider to stop a nuclear bomb. She'd hated the notion too, of what Rip had seen as best, as unquestionably grounded so he gave no opportunity to broker argument or agreement.

Just as he intends it to be now. Rip leans over the table, braced on his arms, palms flat against the wood.]

She knows me well enough to expect it. [So he would like to believe. But shouldn't the Legends have equally realized it, given their association? One isn't much longer than the other, not anymore. And Rip--Rip is no longer the captain of his own ship.

For a moment longer he hesitates, pinches the bridge of his nose.]

I was there when they beat her, Sunburst. [Here now, explaining himself to a unicorn but he'll do what must be done. As always.] I couldn't stop it. I watched when they electrocuted and kicked her and punched her, and there was nothing I could do.

[And the same old ghosts had once more arisen from their graves to haunt him. Sunburst had realized Rip was tired, but not the full reason of why: he hadn't slept since that incident. Even back in the mansion, rest had been fleeting.]

I don't care if she agrees. And if that means you and your friend won't be involved, then so be it. [He's sent out more messages, after all. Plans remain in place.] I will not have her hurt again, or worse, if there is something I am able to do to prevent it.

Edited 2018-06-10 22:12 (UTC)

[Sunburst listens, patient and understanding. To a point. He knows why Rip is so desperate to get her healed up- Sunburst wants the same. Whatever they're going to face, it's important that she's fighting fit, it's too risky otherwise. But this...it's not the Equestrian way. Not the proper Equestrian way, anyway. ]

I understand what you want, I really do. I want her better as well. And I can only imagine how awful it was to watch that happen to her and be powerless to do anything about it.

[He exhales, trying to think of a way to explain the weight of the situation. He levitates his glasses off his face, cleaning them with the edge of his cape- a nervous habit. ]

Magic...at least Equestrian magic can be very corrupting if used in the wrong way. That's why we have so many lunatics trying to breach our borders to get hold of it. It's powered by emotion- the feeling behind a spell can alter it. Using a spell, even with good intentions, deceitfully...it could cause more harm than good.

[He probably should have led with that one. The glasses go back on his muzzle. ]

And, again, it's simply unethical. She might never trust you again- or anyone else involved in it. I know she can be difficult, but surely she's not so impossible to reason with. If she understood why you wanted to do it.

[Perhaps it’s not the Equestrian way—but it is that of a Time Master, certainly. To make the difficult choices, regardless of what it may cost himself, in order to serve a greater good? That is what they had been called for, what Rip had been trained to do since he was a child.

But Sunburst had grown up in an entirely different world. One where the idea of burning books to survive was unthinkable, where victory relied on friendship and the bonds between his kind. He tries to say he understands, but Rip doubts it possible. There are other pieces he does not, cannot know of.

He wasn’t there for Rip’s event. He doesn’t know how many times Rip has been forced to watch, helpless.

How many times he has let people die.

But Sunburst had done the kindness of listening, and Rip can at least return that courtesy. Hadn’t he invited the unicorn up for his counsel, after all? And indeed, there stands a very real and true reason beyond moral philosophy why this magic cannot be used as Rip intends. He moves away from the desk, takes a few steps. Turns and completes the circle before walking it again. Sunburst cleans his glasses and Rip paces; they each of them have their tics.]

Peggy prides herself on her strength. [There’s no fight in his tone now; as he speaks, Rip finds himself reminded of Martin in a way. Perhaps, he realizes, that’s why he’s gotten on with Sunburst.] She comes from a time when people think of her less because she’s a woman, and so she has become self-reliant in order to forge her place in the world.

[To be what she believes herself capable of, rather than what anyone else might assume she should be.]

She doesn’t ask for help when she needs it, and resents when it’s pushed upon her. [So yes, Sunburst had been quite right in his summation of the risks. Not that the unicorn hasn’t already had opportunity to learn that lesson, thanks to the event prior. But now, as he stares at the floor he walks across, Sunburst may recognize something else creeping into Rip’s tone beyond the worry: ther’es a fondness too, as he goes on.] And she is--stubborn beyond measure. I doubt there are many across all of time who can best her in that regard.

So I cannot say with absolute certainty that her pride wouldn’t hamper her in making the wiser choice.

She has told me as such. It's...difficult for me to understand. Equestria is something of a matriarchal society. It's outside of my life experience to see a female as something lesser.

[It makes no sense. Peggy is a formidable woman. Strong, powerful, determined. How anyone could see her as anything other than that is absolutely insane. He catches that fondness, though, and his muzzle quirks into a little smile, despite the severity of the conversation. ]

True, she is all of these things. And she probably would fight you on it. But don't you think she deserves the option anyway? To not make that decision for her? If she comes from a time where she's treated as less for what she is, don't you think it would mean more to her that you allow her to make an informed decision?

While in her time, many men and women would’ve claimed it impossible to see a female as more. [Never mind how much sense it doesn’t make; that was how they had been raised, how society would’ve indoctrinated them in the ways things should be. But it’s also not the point, exactly—just the foundation of it, where she stands versus Rip’s beliefs, grounded in quite a different way of doing things.

One that could be argued not to sense either.]

And if she says no, hmm? What then? [Because that’s the crux of it. She could fight. She could resist, decide that no, she doesn’t want magic exercised anywhere near her body, never mind it’s intended effects.] I am not saying you are wrong. She does indeed deserve everything you’ve said. But it could well prove a mistake in the larger scheme to give it to her.

That's...so strange.

[He doesn't think he'll ever understand logic like that. It's just...silly.]

At least she'd have the option to say no. Then, well, we can point out that a war is coming and it's using magic or sitting everything out because she's in no state to do anything. I'm fairly certain her pride is bigger than her principles. You find a way to phrase it right, well. You have something.

[Blackmail. Honest- but still kind of blackmail.]

[Isn't it though?

But understandable or not, it's how so many believe the world to be. The irrationality of a belief is hardly enough for people to reject it in so many cases--and it's that very truth that has Rip letting out a short, unhappy laugh at Sunburst's suggestion.]

I mentioned her stubbornness. [Rip puts hands on hips then, finally stops pacing and turns to face the unicorn.] Wounded or not, I fully expect she'll be out on whatever battlefield the Mirrors set up--and quick to dispatch anyone who might try and stop her.

[It had been like that from the start, really. Peggy stumbling from his closet and standing her ground, never mind how she could hardly move from the way she'd been stabbed.

Walking out into the hall after, despite being warned of the danger.]

Giving her the option to say no could amount to exactly that--her saying no, and still putting herself in harm's way all the same.

...That's a very good point.

[A good point, but he's not really swayed. It would still feel like a betrayal- and he's done enough of that for one lifetime. ]

But I can't help think how much this would hurt her, if she knew it went behind her back. She'd never see the fact you were doing it for the greater good. It would be awful to see you harming your friendship with her.

[Because that's what it is right? FRIENDSHIP. ]

[Would it hurt her? Part of Rip wants to argue that Peggy knows him better than that, would expect such insistence simply because she’s seen for herself so much of who he is—

But she also trusts him, somehow, in spite of it. Not easily, not always, yet she does.

He finds himself not wanting to betray that.]

Our friendship. [He glances down again, smiling to himself.] I’m not sure we’ve ever really called it that.

[Certainly they’d crossed that line at some point along the way; it and who knew how many others. But even then, he can only picture Peggy’s face should Sunburst declare the pair of them friends in front of her.]

You...wouldn't?

[He's not hot on the whole friendship deal, but even he's pretty sure that statement doesn't ring true. ]

You didn't? But you seem pretty close? I mean, this whole thing wanting to get her healed before the war comes- that's a pretty friend-heavy thing to do.

I would agree we're close, yes. But there are certain risks involved when it comes to connecting with people here.

[Ones that he and Peggy had discussed from the start. It had always been their intention, even as things grew more heated between them, to never cross certain lines.

Except they'd set themselves up to do just that, hadn't they?]

I suppose by avoiding labels, we each had hoped to also avoid those dangers--or at least, fooled ourselves into believing it could be done.

Like...what? I mean. Other than them potentially going home and forgetting about you? That's...okay that's probably a big risk, emotionally.

[The label thing sounds strange, but Sunburst hasn't quite picked up the thread of the conversation yet. A master of romance he is absolutely not. ]

And from the looks of things, that didn't quite work as well as you hoped, huh?

[He's on the verge of revealing something to Sunburst that Rip hasn't exactly shared with anyone. Oh, it's not as if he's avoided the matter per se--although in certain circumstances, yes, he denied particular kinds of connections with Peggy, he also didn't clarify what they were.

But Sunburst is strikingly close to what Rip would consider a friend. And perhaps that association, that commonality with Martin Stein still lingers--but he finds himself almost wanting to tell the pony.

Surely it couldn't hurt if someone knew. Particularly given the nature of the advice that's already been offered up.]

All the more so, given that we've each lost someone we cared deeply for before. [Peggy had believed Peggy dead, and Rip--well. He'd watched his entire family be slaughtered, more than once. He leaves Sunburst to put the pieces together; he's clever enough to, Rip suspects. Although there is one more hint he'll offer.]

It didn't, no. But arguably, the way it has worked out is--better.

[If he knew anything about Stein, Sunburst would have likely been honoured by the comparison. Even more so to know Rip considered him somewhat of a friend. The unicorn certainly felt the same way. ]

Well, that sort of this does bring-

[The pieces suddenly slot into place, as his eyebrows raise. ]

Ohhhhhh you two are- Oh. Well. How about that. I...did not see that one coming.

Neither did we.

[Neither had he, when Peggy showed up angry at his door well after Wednesday had passed. Of course he realized that he cared for her, saw her as important to him--but he'd nary a clue that the sentiment was returned, or to such a degree.

Still. In spite of the heaviness of the matter still at hand, Rip manages a small smile before he looks down.]

It's also not something we've exactly advertised. In fact--I do believe you're the first one I've told.

Oh, well. Um. It's an honour?

[He thinks? He has no idea how this kind of thing works. He's still working on hie friendship social skills, romance hasn't got a sniff right now. ]

But that's nice. That you have one another. Especially here.

[More of an honor than perhaps Sunburst realizes. Rip is not one to trust, not easily and rarely in full. He could have rather easily kept this little secret thus, but—some part of him does feel better for the telling. Happier, in an odd little way.]

Indeed so. She’s aided me through some of the hardest times I’ve faced in this place. [Rooted both in events and circumstances back home. Her strength is something Rip has long appreciated, right along with her desire to forge her own path, regardless of what may happen around her.

Never mind that it borders so closely to the traits that cause their current dilemma. But--]

I’ll think on what you said. Regarding informing her. [It’s a concession not many might get from Rip, even as his experience tells him that keeping the truth hidden is the better way.] And I will not involve you in anything deceitful—although I would ask that you keep my intentions secret for now.

[Let him at least make the choice for himself, however the consequences play out.]

[A fact Sunburst would be very glad for. Sharing secrets disperses some of the weight of them. Makes them easier to handle - good or bad. ]

That much is very clear. You mean a lot to one another. I'm happy for you.

[Genuinely so. He wants his friends to be happy, they sure as hay deserve it.

He isn't keen on not telling her anything. It feels like being a collaborator in the lie. But tell her or not, either way it would be a betrayal to one of them. But, but at least he knows there are good intentions there, on Rip's side. ]

Okay. I won't tell her anything. You have my word.

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