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Entry tags:
( OPEN ) mister blue sky, please tell us why.
Who: Gamora (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
godslay) & YOU
What: A catch-all for January.
When: Throughout the month.
Where: Mostly Wyver.
Warning(s): None so far?
1 ) That's Not a Horse
2 ) Stay The Night
3 ) Disturbing The Dead ( A )
4 ) Disturbing the Dead ( B )
5 ) Wildcard
godslay) & YOUWhat: A catch-all for January.
When: Throughout the month.
Where: Mostly Wyver.
Warning(s): None so far?
1 ) That's Not a Horse
[ Gamora does not have experience with dragons. There were none on her planet, and even less in space, but in Wyver, that isn’t the case.
She’s also discovered that traveling can be a pain, and with the availability of mounts (which she hasn’t acquired for herself yet), she’s drawn to the wyverns she’s regularly seen. She’d prefer something that wasn’t, you know, alive, but given the options, she’s willing to take one for a test-drive, to see what she thinks.
The reins are handed off to her, and she leads a beautiful red wyvern towards the city gates. She runs a palm down the beast’s broad neck, feeling its scales with appreciation, and when it turns its head to meet her eyes, she stares right back into the reptilian slits.
A quiet hiss, and Gamora reaches out to set her hand on its snout. It doesn’t snap at her, and instead, slowly blinks in quiet acceptance.
She’s just about to climb aboard, because she’s going on an adventure.
Come along for a ride? ]
2 ) Stay The Night
[ It’s nearly nightfall out in the Undergrowth, and Gamora’s wyvern is getting fidgety. She remembers what she was told about sending the beast home if she wouldn’t return before sundown, so she pulls the reins taut to stop the mount, glancing over her shoulder at her companion. ]
We should find somewhere to stay out here. He needs to return to the city, and he won’t be willing to take us with him in a few minutes.
[ The wyvern hisses and shakes out its head, tugging against its bridle. ]
… The sooner we get off, the better.
3 ) Disturbing The Dead ( A )
[ Gamora has adjusted to making a living since joining the Guardians. Earning units where they could was normal, which is why picking up odd jobs for silver doesn’t bother her.
So here she is, wandering through this damned crypt with anyone unlucky enough to join her.
She has an excellent sense of her surroundings. She can usually detect traps with little trouble, but when ghosts come into the mix, it’s hard to focus on possible trip wires that will dump her and whoever’s joined her into a dark, unwelcoming pit.
An unholy howl fills the crypt’s passage, and as Gamora whirls around to search for the source, her ankle catches on—
Oh, damn it.
The ground drops out beneath her, and there’s going to be a lot of tumbling down to land in a tangle of limbs in the dark.
Gamora gives a short grunt of annoyance as she lands directly on top of someone.
Oops. ]
4 ) Disturbing the Dead ( B )
[ This has been a long, miserable haul through the dark, and Gamora is in no mood for shenanigans.
At the end of the maze is a stockpile of dusty odds and ends that look like they might be valuable.
Crouching down by the heirlooms, Gamora lifts one up to give it a once-over. ]
This had better be what they want.
5 ) Wildcard
( ooc: have something in mind? hit me up @poprocks ! )
no subject
[ And he says it with a little more certainty. ]
We've got at least one advantage: we know he's here, but he won't know that we're here.
[ Though realistically, Thanos would really only care about Gamora. But the point still stands; it's better to present a united front, right? ]
We have a level playing field, here. We may not have much, but neither will he. And you know his tactics. You know how he thinks. That's huge.
no subject
We have time.
We have an advantage.
We know he's here.
When Gamora ran from her father, she did so alone. She betrayed him and broke away by herself because she didn't think anyone would join her or stay by her side, and she wasn't going to risk her freedom when she was already signing her own death certificate by considering stealing the orb in the first place. She thought that she'd be running from Thanos for the rest of her life, alone and trusting no one, but—
Here are her friends. Here is her family.
The way she nods is less reluctant, the barest flicker of something softer in her eyes – though easily a trick of the firelight. ]
He won't be able to predict how we fight.
[ Because maybe he knows Gamora, but he doesn't know the Guardians.
Another moment, and that softness is overwritten by wariness again. ]
You know what committing to this could mean, don't you?
no subject
At her question, he frowns, trying to figure out what sort of answer she's looking for.
He settles on, ]
Thaaat we're ridding the galaxy of one of the shittiest, awfulest, evilest megalomaniacs ever?
no subject
It's not the answer she intended, but it somehow makes this easier.
That does not, however, make the reality much brighter. ]
It means that you could die, Peter. That all of us could.
[ Because that's what Thanos does: he conquers and destroys. ]
no subject
At length, Peter offers another small shrug. ]
That's been a possibility for most of our jobs, to be fair.
no subject
[ Going up against Ronan had felt like suicide, had been dangerous and stupid and everything in between, but even with an Infinity Stone, she'd been determined to throw herself into stopping him. She'd wanted so badly to save Xandar, because—
Because she hadn't saved her own planet, hadn't even had the chance. Because she'd taken so many lives at the behest of Thanos and Ronan alike, and—
And she'd wanted to stop him. She'd been willing to commit herself to 12% of a plan.
This bare concept still scares her. ]
no subject
[ Peter's trying not to sound too skeptical, but he doesn't quite succeed. ]
Every job we take, we're rolling the dice, you know? We've been lucky, most of the time, but we've always been risking the possibility that one or all of us won't come back.
no subject
[ —but is there? That's what Gamora keeps coming back to, keeps getting caught on. Is Thanos's threat reality or is it, in part, something engrained in her perception of him?
She seems to have a moment of realizing how she sounds insisting like that, and she frowns, pressing fingertips briefly to her forehead. ]
Or it— feels like there is.
[ And how often does Gamora go off of "feeling" – something distinctly different from trained instinct? ]
no subject
As she pauses, second guessing herself, Peter chews on his lower lip in thought. ]
The stuff with Ronan. With the Infinity Stone. We thought for sure we were all gonna die, right? But we didn't back down from that.
no subject
[ Immediate and sure. ]
I trained under Ronan, I knew him for what he was.
[ A boy wielding power he didn't understand, throwing a tantrum over his own radical, destructive politics. ]
It's who we face now, and Thanos is more than the simple fanatic Ronan was.
[ But— he isn't wrong. She'd been ready and willing to die for the sake of stopping Ronan, so instead... ]
If we had failed on Xandar, we would have died and nothing more. Thanos—
[ A short shake of her head, her jaw gone tight. ]
Thanos will make us wish for death before he grants it.
[ But he surely would kill them, in the end. ]
no subject
Well. That's terrifying.
Peter rolls the twig he had found earlier between his fingers as he tries to find the right thing to say. Something reassuring and soothing, something that will calm the fear that's inching into them both, but—
There's nothing, really. Peter knows fuck all about what Thanos can do, and if Gamora thinks the guy might make their lives living hell, then Peter believes her.
But after a while, his head drops, and his hand runs up and down Ducky's neck, its plumage waxy, and smooth like the leaves of a bush. He hesitates, before he speaks haltingly, slowly. ]
If Thanos is really that bad... if he's, you know. If he's really that evil, and if he's capable of all the crap you think he is—
[ Another pause, as he chews over his words. He glances up at her, expression solemn. ]
I mean, it's our job, right? We kinda took it on ourselves to, you know. Guard the galaxy. So, I mean— we have to do this. No matter what might happen.
It's the right thing to do.
no subject
That—
—is probably the most convincing thing he could have said.
Because he's right – they are the Guardians of the Galaxy, and if they're going to guard against anything, that's going to include Thanos. This is what they signed up for, this is the responsibility they've accepted, and it was only a matter of time before Thanos fell into their hands.
That wariness in her eyes is replaced by something more resolute – determined. ]
... Yes. It is.
[ A slower, deeper breath, and— ]
We have to do this.
no subject
Yeah. There you go.
[ and maybe a handful of months ago, Peter would be singing a different tune, would do everything he could to wipe his hands of the situation, but—
Not so much, these days. He’s not sure how or when, exactly, it happened, but the shit with Ronan and the Infinity Stone had dredged up some long dormant desire to do the right thing, to be the good guy, to play at being hero, even if the fit of the title is still a little awkward. It’s like growing into a pair of shoes that are still too large, leaving him plodding around clumsily, but he thinks he’s getting used to it. He thinks he’s doing alright. ]
When we get back, we can figure out a plan, see what we can do about gearing up.