INBOX.

[zune]

// star-lord

TEXT • AUDIO • VIDEO

XIMILIA

Comments

action; (ankata mission)

[godslain]

（ she is not quite certain what to do with the egg.

she is sitting cross-legged on her bedroll, in the tent they have been sharing as they explore the country. it is... pleasant. nice, to be out among nature, to smell clean air and see clear skies. even the little creatures are cute, and they have collected a gaggle of them that seem to be drawn to peter's music as much as the safety and shelter they provide.

but she had come across this little egg in the grass, and with no parent around to care for it (that she could find, anyway —) she had finally opted to take it along. the issue, primarily, is that she has no idea how one cares for it.

she gives peter a nudge with one elbow to get his attention. ）

Do you think it requires warmth?

（ what are they doing. send help. ）

[zune]

Huh?

[ He'd been reorganizing the crap in his bag, after he'd picked up one or two of each kind of item: potions, sprays, some berries, some extra and empty Cubitiles, and some miscellaneous other bits. So he'd gone a little overboard — maybe a part of him just wanted to see what each of these things were.

When Gamora nudges him, he puts his stuff down to glance back at the egg.

His expression softens a little but he tries not to look too obvious about it. ]

I think most eggs do, yeah. [ At least they do on Earth? Which may not actually apply here, but it's all he's got so he'll make his best educated guess. ] Give it another blanket, maybe. Worse comes to worst, one of us can always sit on it.

[ankata mission] there you go 😂

[shadysided]

[Ziggy had mostly been keeping to herself, outside of the Spice Girls. Spice Trainers? She's not sure the final name they all agreed on — don't worry about it, okay, forget it was mentioned. Point is, outside of her little team of teens, she hasn't really gotten into the spirit of battle as much as others. It's kind of fun sometimes, maybe, but her Seaquaza has Anxiety and her Glooish sleeps through most situations, so really, her Flarig's the only Cubit that seems to have any kind of common sense or chemical balance —

Ugh!]

Come on, Glooish. Get back in the cube-thing.

[So Gloosih, round little gremlin that it is, has decided to sleep in the middle of the trainer-frequented trail. Ziggy is really doing her best to wake it up, but to no avail. This is the scene Peter gets to walk in on; some teenager in a spiffy red leather jacket and an axe holstered on her shorts as she snaps her fingers in front of Glooish's face.]

[zune]

[ Well, it certainly is some kinda scene. She's familiar inasmuch as any orber from the station might be, but Peter hasn't really made it a point (just yet) to memorize all of the names and the faces that go along with them.

It's actually the sight of his red jacket on her that snags his attention first, setting off the immature, Ravager part of him that gets just a little bit possessive over his belongings because if he didn't take care of 'em, someone else on the team would gladly step in, steal his shit off of him, and then sell it to the highest bidder.

Ah, space pirates. You gotta love 'em.

(He decidedly does not. Not for half of the time anyway.)

But! — before he can really think about it, before he can take even two seconds to realize that he's also wearing the same freakin' jacket right now, he's making a beeline for her and her lazy Cubit, calling out: ]

Hey! You! That jacket? That's mine —

[ And then being reminded that she's just a kid.



Aaaand he's acting like a total weirdo right now. ]

[shadysided]

Mind your own business, nerd!

[Is what she says when she whips her head around, accidentally getting her red hair in her face before she just as grumpily shoves it back. But the voice and appearance catches up with her, and she immediately freezes at the sight of him; sure, she'd known about his arrival. But... what was she gonna do? Fake being some stranger? Try not to get sappy at someone who doesn't know her? She thins her lips and turns around, showing off the STARDUST in big letters.]

It's my jacket, for the record.

With my codename. Proof's in the pudding.

[... Ugh. She's not trying to be mean. She's just flustered. Looking at him is way more sentimental than she wants it to be, so overcompensating seems like the thing to do... 'til it's not. Folding her arms, she motionsat the jacket he's in, using the hand at her elbow.]

... Besides, yours is on your back, space cadet.

[(Glooish is snoozing, he does not give a flying fuck about this conversation.)]

[zune]

[ Man, to be that Glooish right now.

There are so many things Peter wants to say right now, his mouth opening and closing with each insult she lobs at him, chipping away at his already woeful insecurities, but he doesn't. Look, he might claim to have his shit together, and to always be the Mature One (okay that's false, that's definitely Gamora), but the truth of the matter is: he's anything but.

He's learning, he's growing, but he's still got a lot of work to do. And if he gets a little bent out of shape for being called a 'nerd' and then a 'space cadet' ... well, that's not on him, okay? That's on his myriad of issues! (It's on him. It's definitely on him.)

Okay. You're a freakin' adult, Quill. Maybe try and not? Be such a childish a-hole to the actual person allowed to be childish here? ]

How's your codename almost the same as mine?

[ His voice is a little less accusatory; more mystified. ]

Okay. [ He scrubs at his face, but he's taking a moment. ] This is another one of those alternate-universe-me things, right?

[godslain]

（ she does not quite roll her eyes. but she does give him a playful little swat to the arm as she pushes him over to grab one of his blankets that's sitting (poorly) folded just past him. she hesitates briefly as she hovers above him — studies his eyes, and then briefly his mouth. perhaps it would have become a kiss, if not for the inquisitive sound of one of her cubits that's made it into their tent. ）

You are welcome to do all the sitting you wish. I'm sure it will need a mother.

（ the blanket is sculpted carefully into something that almost resembles a mountain, twisted up on itself. the egg is slipped carefully into the hollow space, and the blanket then tucked around it carefully. ）

It seems strange that one can store a cubit in one of the boxes, but not an egg. This world is — unusual.

[zune]

[ Oh, come on, little cubit dude. Way to ruin the moment. Peter gives the creature the barest of looks, but it's there. Oh, it's there.

Nevertheless, he adjusts his posture and gets into a more composed, upright position, watching Gamora turn the blanket into a comfortable, customized little nest perfectly sized to swaddle the egg. Man, how is she so good at that? (How is she so good at everything?)

He chuckles softly. ]

We can both be its mother. [ And yeah, if he needs to do the sitting, he will. He's got no problems with that, certainly no insecurities about his current fitness level or weight or anything. Nope. ] Groot turned out okay, didn't he?

[ He unbuckles his utility belt where he keeps the Cubitiles for his little gang of creatures — all of them currently hanging out somewhere outside of their tent, free to roam (but still be closeby) where they wish — and sets that aside with his other belongings. ]

This world definitely has its quirks. [ He grabs another one of their blankets and balls it up into a makeshift pillow with which he can use to lean back against. ] But I dunno, I kinda dig it, you know? No one's shot at us or chased us down to steal from us.

[godslain]

He did, didn't he.

（ it's said softly. there is a wistfulness to it that settles into the lee of an otherwise steady voice. but perhaps that's how it should be. perhaps leaving behind a memory can be enough.

(there are things she holds onto, from her home. her mother's voice. her father's smile. but she has forgotten more of them, of her world, than she ever had.

peter will not let her be forgotten, that much she knows. it is a dead certainty, like the love she carries for him and he for her.)

she leans back against him without quite thinking about it. they have been... cautious, around one another, but not avoidant. he smells like she remembers, and somehow that is a comfort of its own. ）

It is... （ she searches for a word. then: ） peaceful. I also like it. Though I feel badly for these poor little creatures being forced to fight.

（ the little wooskull, perhaps feeling jealous, goes out of its way to try and wriggle in between them. she shushes it with a soft pat to its head. ）

[zune]

[ Being in her presence is never gonna get old. If anything, he'd made some kind of internal promise with himself to treasure every single second that he gets with her until they complete their contracts and head back home. He hasn't rushed it, and she hasn't either, and honestly after everything they'd both been through ... he likes the pace of it.

He puts an arm around her when she leans into him, keeps her close so he can bask in the solidity of her weight and the warmth of her skin through the thin material of his t-shirt.

It feels safe to work their way through all of this together, the safest he's ever felt since he'd met her. And it's solid and steady in a way that he's always fruitlessly searched for and could really only find with Gamora.

And maybe it isn't right to rely so heavily on the way he feels about her, but they deserve a little bit of an indulgence, don't they? After everything? ]

If it helps, I think some of them want to fight. [ He knows Freddie Mercury and Bruce Springsteen do, especially. Yes, those are the names of his Mewther and Omaem, what of it. ] And a good deal of them ... just wanna help their trainer. I'd never force them though.

[godslain]

（ and none for kevin bacon, bye??? ）

I know you wouldn't.

（ it's said with a (not entirely unkind) nudge to his ribs with her elbow. is the unspoken phrase there that she knows him better than that, or that she'd murder him if he did? hard to say. maybe it's a little of column b for both. ）

But there are certainly people in this world that don't share your ideals.

[zune]

[ Gotta give the other greats some love too!

He grunts with a huff of laughter in response to the nudge, knowing full well that it's probably a bit of both where his motivations are concerned. But it is true that he'd never force his cubits to do just about anything they didn't wanna do.

Except get their sleep in even if they want to play. And probably to eat some of the really healthy shit he bought for them because it was expensive, and he may have gotten swindled by the saleslady who insisted this was the best stuff cubitdollars could afford for them.

But whatever! That's about it. ]

Yeah — no, you're right. Like those Torpedo guys we keep hearing about. They seem like a bad crew, and not in the 'hey we're still doing cool stuff while being kinda bad' kinda way, but more 'we suck and we're big a-holes here to ruin lives'.

Here's hoping we don't run into any.

[godslain]

Why should we have such a hope?

（ excuse you, peter. are you or are you not a guardian of the galaxy? is this not part of... well, perhaps not their galaxy (though she can't definitively say, she has not spent much time studying the stars) but certainly a galaxy, somewhere. ）

If we meet them we can simply kill them and free their cubits.

[zune]

[ Okayokay, fine Gamora, you're right. Just because they're on some completely foreign planet in some completely unknown part of the universe without the rest of their gang, or their guns (aside from Peter's blasters, which never go anywhere without him) and swords, or their ship, or their newly bought headquarters doesn't mean they give up the responsibilities bestowed upon them by the Nova Corps.

Even if the Nova Corps basically doesn't exist anymore.

But whatever!

Always the voice of reason, the compass pointing true north (or true heroism), Gamora speaks the truth. Especially and including that last bit. ]

Rocket would love that. [ He smiles, fond, and it veers a little lopsided. ] I guess it just goes against the whole peaceful thing we've got going here. [ Sigh. ] But you're right. If it means freeing some cubits and stopping some bad guys, it doesn't matter what part of the galaxy we're in.

[godslain]

（ rocket, perhaps, has more reason than even her to hate this particular arrangement. she may not know the specifics of his past, but every little insight she ever gained of him was like the twist of a knife.

the wooskull makes a soft warbling call of the first syllable of its name, and finally decides that it can slip under her arm, nesting on quill's lap and half against her. she sighs faintly, but doesn't try to dislodge it. it's just a baby, after all. ）

I don't mind losing a little peace so others can know it too.

（ she only had so much time, to undo all of what she did under thanos. what right would she even have to such grace as that? peace is a word for other people, other places, other times. not even resurrection can be restful.

she studies the wooskull as it drifts off to sleep, red eyes blinking closed in the soft light. when she changes tacks, her voice is thoughtful and soft. ）

Peter. Do you believe the others here to be trustworthy?

（ she is... undecided. but the majority of them are human, and human are still his people. perhaps he will have better insights than she. ）

[zune]

I know.

[ It's his voice that's gone a little quiet this time, his free hand reaching out to gently pat the wooskull that's come to join them. It's weird but honestly kinda nice to be surrounded by the little critters that seem to have taken to them immediately, and the coziness of this tent and Gamora ... right now it feels like some kind of freakin' dream.

The kind of dream that he doesn't want to shatter with ideas of killing people, honestly.

But. ]

Hm? You mean the people of this world? Or the people we came here with? 'Cause I can't really speak on the people of this world ... except to hope that they're mostly okay. And as for the rest of the Ximilia crew ...

[ He frowns. ]

Did you know that I was here once? Not like, here here but ... apparently I did this whole thing before — for a little while, at least.

[godslain]

The Ximilia. Our intended... crew.

（ the word has a connotation to both of them that goes beyond its native meaning. her nose crinkles briefly as she considers how it sounds, not entirely certain she likes it. ）

I saw. I suppose it makes sense. An infinite number of universes...

（ she trails off. mean gamora, he'd said — and they hadn't really taken it upon themselves to discuss exactly what he'd meant by that in any real depth. but she can guess.

why should the same principles not apply here? some other peter jason quill, from some other place and some other time. it's funny, perhaps, that she can see a million ways she could have never come to exist, or had died with the people of her planet, but somehow, inexorably, whatever she imagines there is always a starlord. ）

[zune]

Yeah.

[ He can't help but think of the other Gamora again too; just for a moment, to remember how different she was from the one resting against his side right now, his arm around her, the dark and pink curls of her long hair fanning out across his chest. The gesture is so small and seemingly so mundane, but it's a mark of closeness, of trust, of the mutual love shared between them — it's unquestionable now.

If Gamora could be so different, shaped by her experiences with the Guardians ... could the same be said of him too? He hadn't asked any specifics about when he'd come in from, and what he knew, but was there a chance he could have been a real dick?

Or was he more or less the same? ]

Anyway ... I guess what I was trying to say is that a lot of 'em seemed to know who I was. Some of them even said we were friends. And if it really was me, and if I really was friends with some of these guys ... they couldn't be all bad, right?

The guy who made that first post, Newt, seemed like a cool guy.

[shadysided]

[She offers a small shrug, seeming a little closed-off. Like maybe she's nervous to continue this conversation — or at least battles herself on it. It's hard to consider the fact that she'd be starting from zero with Peter; she'd cared about him a lot. And he cared about her. At least, enough that he'd give her a collapsible space mask like his — and leave her a jetpack before he went. One she's got even now, carefully tucked away in her qiankun bag.]

It's like Ziggy Stardust.

I mean, my nickname's Ziggy. Stardust came naturally.

[She drops her arms at her sides. Relenting, a little.]

Would that bother you? What if I was an alternate-universe-you?

[Sure, she isn't. But it's a thought.]

[godslain]

（ does he know? can he guess, that his being present and then being gone likely meant that his resolve wavered? she has seen that moment in him, clear as a boundless sky. she knows that peter — her peter — has a curious adamantine spine that is not common to any of the many species among the stars, but he is only human. sometimes, resolve is not enough.

she studies his hand where it's draped across her hip. the rough callouses, the little scars that have gone silver with age. is he near the middle of his life? she has never thought to ask. ）

I — he seemed... enthusiastic.

（ he reminded her almost of the collector. not quite uncomfortably so, but enough she can draw the comparison.

but he did apologize to her after his misstep, no matter that she ignored it. that matters. ）

But if some version of you was friends with him, I suppose that is testimonial enough.

[zune]

[ Truthfully he hasn't even considered that his leaving meant that he never got his regret undone, that he might have decided it wasn't worth it or that it was too hard; he wouldn't know how to feel about it. As it is, he's been so preoccupied with the weirdness of the situation, the end result seemed to fall into lower priority. ]

Yeah? I mean, I'd like to think I'm a pretty good judge of character.

[ He huffs a quiet laugh at the joke at his own expense. The kind of guys he hangs out with, the ones he'd been raised by ... he can judge a scumbag from a non-scumbag most of the time, but he hadn't exactly been surrounded by honest, wholesome individuals either.

And the Guardians ... well, he picked the right ones to hang out with, to align his own destiny with. That's gotta count for something, right? ]

Or at least I learned it pretty quick.

[godslain]

Peter, you are a staggeringly poor judge of character.

（ somehow, it's not an insult the way she frames it. perhaps that's due to the fact she follows it up with — ）

But you make people want to be better. So... perhaps that is the case with this Newt.

（ she takes his hand in hers. twines their fingers together. sometimes, the frailty here astounds her. she could break him with a touch, now that he is only mortal.

she would die first. ）

[zune]

[ That gets a good and genuine laugh from him now, squeezing her fingers gently with his. He wouldn't have taken that as an insult, not from her anyway, but the follow-up is nice. It makes him feel warm and comforted and good in ways he hasn't felt in so long now.

He brings their joined hands up to his lips and presses a soft kiss against the top of her hand; brushes them across her knuckles. This hand could punch the hell out of a grown man and they'd thank her for it, but it's capable of this kind of gentleness too. He thinks of the way they've held hands on so many occasions, of how she'd pick Groot up when he'd still been barely more than a twig, of how she would pluck the debris from Rocket's fur after a messy mission ...

Man, he wishes this moment would literally last forever. He'd give almost anything to make it so, even if that isn't at all realistic. Even after they're done here, will they go home and recall these memories? Or would they go away, fading out like the end of a song? ]

Do you think we could do it? Get all the orbs and undo our regrets?

[godslain]

（ she does not answer him with any immediacy. instead, she closes her eyes. her mind drifts into the fetters and fragments of a life that ran its course. her life has been a series of impossible things, one after the other after the other. they live in a universe where one mad titan could warp the fabric of reality with a snap of his fingers.

how are the orbs any different, truly?

thanos would rip the universe apart just to have a power like that.

(she does not delude herself by thinking he might have regretted throwing her to her death. a daughter's hope, weighted against a warrior's cynicism cannot possibly win.)

she gently pulls her other hand away from where her little wooskull has fallen asleep against her, and uses it to envelop peter's between her two. ）

I think... that if anyone could, it would certainly be the Guardians of the Galaxy.

[zune]

[ He isn't sure he'll ever get over every minute thing that Gamora does or says, not when he knows that going home means her absence is felt in every single part of his daily life. And it isn't just him, though he's likely to be the most human about it, or maybe the most Peter about it; he's never really been great about emotional control. (And that's a whole other thing.) But he knows the rest of their little family, and in Nebula's case — literal family — feels it too.

His voice is soft when he speaks, studying the way her hands enfold his like it's some marvel to be treasured. ]

Yeah, I think you're right. [ And because he couldn't just leave a serious moment alone, he adds: ] We are pretty badass.