nostalgiabomb: (136)
Peter Quill ([personal profile] nostalgiabomb) wrote in [community profile] riverviewlogs2018-08-24 07:35 pm

[ open; ] the city streets are empty now

who: Peter Quill & open!
what: Quill is coming back from a canon update, which includes four years and the events of Infinity War. So he's going to be a little off his game.
when: August 24th and onward
where: All around Riverview & a bit outside the walls
warnings: none, aside from Quill having a pretty rough time


i. the sun always shines on tv;

[ Peter wastes a couple days, sitting in his apartment, staring at a wall. He catches Mantis hovering around, sometimes, and occasionally, he tries to send her a small, reassuring smile. Something that says, It’s fine. I’m fine. I just need a second. Groot doesn’t fully understand why Peter is so— weird, but the kid still recognizes that there’s something wildly wrong. And as the days drag on, Groot just drags over the Zune while Peter stares, offering Peter an earbud.

It’s on the third day that Peter realizes he can’t just— do this. He can’t keep moping. Because Mantis and Groot are clearly worried, and— what if the others show up? Peter did, after all. And Mantis and Groot are still here, hale and whole. So maybe the others will arrive, too. Any day now. And if they find out how completely useless he was while he waited, he’d never hear the end of it.

So he scrubs his face and announces that he’s going to take Groot to the beach.

Of course, about ten minutes after they arrive at the banks of the river for a day of fun in the sun, or whatever the hell Peter’s calling it, Groot immediately wanders away, slipping through the legs of the various beachgoers as he chases down one of those alien sugargliders.

Predictably, Peter panics as he works to shove past the crowd. ]


Groot—

Groot, get back here!



ii. new york groove;

[ A day or two later, Peter’s back at work. Unwise, considering he’s still injured, but the four walls of his apartment were quickly becoming suffocating.

His job with the Perimeter Guard, such as it is, is to scout the area, to map it out, to uncover valuable goods buried in the dirt or left abandoned in reasonable condition, and most days, he’s good at it. He’s agile and clever and does one hell of a job avoiding the monsters that lurk in the abandoned areas.

But today, he seems to be attracting trouble – though truthfully, he’s seeking it out, though he’s unconscious of it. Rather than veer out of the angry looking creatures’ way, he stumbles headlong into them. And for a while, he’s forging a decent path, shooting out huge, burning chunks of them and leaving the corpses to rot in the woods.

And then he’s not.

Peter never played Dungeons & Dragons as a kid, but if he did, he’d instantly recognize a Bulette when he sees one.

Or more accurately, he’d recognize a Bulette as it’s leaping at him, all gnashing teeth and sharp claws and hard armored plates. Peter manages to dodge out of the way, but only barely, and he goes tumbling and rolling across the jungle floor.

Little help? ]




iii. yesterday once more;

[ Peter was in the middle of wandering the aisles of Blu-Rays and DVDs in some electronic goods stores. In his arms is a stack of movies, old favorites and new ones he had picked out based solely on how interesting he found the covers.

The criteria for his current selections: Would the other Guardians like these? So far, he has picked out The Wizard of Oz for Groot and The Dark Crystal for Mantis. Along the way, he picks up Predator for Rocket and Rambo for Drax, because, well, they're going to be here eventually, right? And the films would be decent ice breakers, once they arrive

And he was in the middle of reluctantly looking for something for Nebula (would she have a good enough sense of humor about it if he picked up Robocop, or would she just threaten to sew his face to his balls like she usually does?), except right now, he's frozen in front of a shelf, completely zoned out while he faces a copy of Footloose.

Sorry if he's in your way, fellow patron. ]




iv. turn to stone;

[ It's been over a week since he's been back, and Peter's out on a very, very late night grocery run. He's been putting off getting them various odds and ends – paper towels, boxes of cereal, various snacks – and apparently he's decided tonight's the night—

(because the bed is too empty, and the atmosphere in the apartment is too fucking heavy, and Groot and Mantis are so fucking sad, and he can't stay in there, he really can't, not a single minute more, because shouldn't the other Guardians have been here by now? Shouldn't Gamora have come back with him, since they left together?

Why isn't she here?)

—because he's trying to be productive.

He's also decided, apparently, that baskets and carts are completely unnecessary. So here he is now, a former thief turned Guardian of the Galaxy, juggling his items in his arms as he stands in the refrigerated dairy section. He shuffles things around and reaches for a jug.

And fumbles it.

The plastic bursts open as the jug lands, milk splashing across the floor. It pools around his boots, and for a second, he just stares at it all before he lets out a helpless laugh, scrubbing his face.

One might think that life in space would have erased Peter's love of Terran idioms, but it hasn't, really. He used them whenever he could. Phrases like "killing two birds with one stone," or "letting the cat out of the bag," or going the "whole nine yards" were pretty common from him as he grew up on the Ravager ship.

There's another Terran saying that Peter uses sometimes: Don't cry over spilled milk.

Guess who's trying desperately not to do just that? ]
shoplifter: (Default)

iv. wassup bud

[personal profile] shoplifter 2018-08-25 03:44 am (UTC)(link)
[Laura knew that Gamora and Peter went home — and she had been used to it well enough, with other friends who have decided to go back. It's not a bad note to leave on, even if she's saddened by it, because this little group had endeared themselves to her stoic little self too quickly. And Peter Quill, Star-Lord, well — he shared a foxhole with her, at one point. So yes, she was sad, but it's life. She was ready to look back fondly and try to keep some of the advice given.

And then she finds a clearly miserable man juggling way too much in a store that she probably shouldn't have been in this late at night; see, she had bought a candy bar and a tall can of pringle-like chips that are stuffed into her backpack now, and she had almost left if not for the splatter of milk. She turns and walks patiently toward the noise, and when she sees the mess (not the mess on the floor, of course), she approaches.

... There's clearly a lot wrong here. She knows something must have failed — that home wasn't very good to him, or some kind of terrible reason he'd wound up back in Riverview. He's busy being upset and looking one step away from crying, so she holds up an empty shopping basket and puts her other hand on his arm gently.

It's okay.]
madeupnames: (pic#12438742)

ii.

[personal profile] madeupnames 2018-08-25 04:10 am (UTC)(link)
[Peter is quick to learn about Big Pete's return.

Without Gamora.

And in knowing he's back, he gives him space, partly out of fear of what he could even say, and partly because the guy probably really needs said space. He knows what it's like at least a little; it wasn't very long ago that he had a mini-meltdown in Athena's arms over what he'd learned about his future — and the futures of so many. But he's at least had a little time to try and adjust and push through it. Ben wouldn't want him to be weighed down by his mortality, and May wouldn't want him to just waste what time he's got, so he's... trying. He puts on his own mask and gets to work.

When he finds Peter in the jungle, a trail of monster bodies behind him and the Bulette lunging for him, he's quick to aim and fire off a web grenade (and ignore the way his heart leaps up into his throat). The beast's legs get entangled and it goes toppling, rolling round and round 'til it hits a big tree. It's at least dazed and he leaps down to the ground and starts unleashing all the webbing in his current canisters, to keep the thing down.

And you know, he'd throw some witty remark, maybe laugh off the situation, but instead he rushes over to where he'd seen Peter go sailing and yanks off his mask as he moves. He hadn't exactly been at a good enough angle to tell if the guardian was hit or not, and that's kind of freaking him out.]


Pete?! Hey, you over there?!

[You better not have gotten murdered by a D&D monster, he swears to fucking god, he can't deal with a double-death here.]
shoplifter: (pic#11324651)

[personal profile] shoplifter 2018-08-25 06:03 am (UTC)(link)
[She watches him with a cool carefulness, silent as ever as she plucks the damp back out of his hand and drops it into the shopping basket. Peter would not be the first man to lose it, not when she had witnessed her father weeping over Charles' grave — just before tearing into a truck with a shovel with all the animalistic violence he could muster. She's fairly confident Peter Quill is not one to pass out half-dead after unleashing his anger on a truck, though.

She motions for him to put the rest in the basket.

Softly:]


... You are terrible at juggling. Never join a circus.
madeupnames: (pic#12311166)

[personal profile] madeupnames 2018-08-25 06:11 am (UTC)(link)
[Peter breathes out a shaky sigh, relieved. He hadn't even been sure that he would come back, and now that he's here there's a little less weight on his heart and soul. He offers a gloved hand out for Big Pete to take, his expression still a little grim, a little strained. What's he supposed to say? He wants to explode into apologies. He wants to make a run for it, like how he'd made a run for it from Gamora on that tram; but look where that got him? Look at what happened.

Guilt paints his eyes as he looks down at Peter. He tries to smile, and while it doesn't reach his eyes, it at least looks somewhat honest.]


... Hey, man, I'm not judging.

[He's gonna fucking lose it. There's no way he can do this. Mantis was hard enough, but now he owes it to Peter to be honest with him — unlike before. Karma's a bitch, what with him only just learning from Mr. Stark that he had been keeping his demise from him, too.

Go figure, that it'd bite him on the ass, this whole 'avoiding and keeping your mouth shut' thing.

At least this Guardian isn't an empath, huh?]


Um. Welcome back?
madeupnames: (pic#12510504)

[personal profile] madeupnames 2018-08-25 08:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Aah, 'bout two and a half hours.

[He'd extended the time with some measure of success anyway, in Mr. Stark's lab. Not by much, but by enough. He watches the creature and determines it'll probably get exhausted after a while, which is a double-success as far as the webbing is concerned. He snaps out of his anxious trance long enough to pop the capsules from his wrists, replacing them with full canisters of web fluid.]

Are you — are you okay? You hurt your ribs? We should get you somewhere to rest those.

[... He's scared to ask about Gamora, but it's on the forefront of his mind.]
ikenai: (kumo10a)

IV

[personal profile] ikenai 2018-08-25 08:38 pm (UTC)(link)
[Mikumo, the tall and vivacious idol, is making a late night run to the grocery store also. Instead of the million watt smile she shows everyone on the network and at all of her performances and jobs, she has a hat covering her long hair, no makeup and she has discovered the joys of sweat pants!

All she wants to do is grab a few food items so that she can indulge in her favorite new pastime of eating junk food. Of course, she still loves her customary glass of milk after a long performance and there is none in her personal fridge in the communal housing floor.

When the gallon of milk hits the floor, she feels a pain at the waste until she sees the person responsible for such a horrible travesty and finds herself feeling sorry for him.]


It's a shame there aren't like ten cats at the ready to help you with this mess.
madeupnames: (pic#12442280)

[personal profile] madeupnames 2018-08-26 08:44 am (UTC)(link)
[Okay, but you're really not good, Big Pete.

Part of him considers if he should just pretend everything's the same. That maybe Quill's too preoccupied with home that he won't even give a shit about Peter's weird and abrupt silence. After all, he's a teenager, and people probably figure he goes through... hormone issues, or something. Maybe he wouldn't ask about it, and then he wouldn't ask about Quill's trip, and—

That's just running away. And at this point, it can't get any fucking worse (alright, it can, but what's a broken arm when your head's lopped off?) and he can clearly see the guy's struggling. He might as well just keep blindly wandering into the fire that is this situation.]


Are you sure about that? You — shouldn't be back at work already, if you've got injuries, y'know. It could — [get you killed] earn you even more injuries on top of that. C'mon, I'll get you some ice packs. I've been giving people way too many lately, I'll tell ya...
madeupnames: (pic#12454458)

[personal profile] madeupnames 2018-08-26 09:11 am (UTC)(link)
[He glances away. Swallows.]

Um. It's — It's my usual suit, actually.

[It'll be about two years until he gets it, for him. Time works about as usefully as whatever plans they had up there on Titan. He breathes in and out, unsure if it's better or worse that he can't see Quill's face right now.]

... Mr. Stark made whatever you saw me in.

[He licks his lips, hesitates.]

I'm sorry.

[It's entirely vague and unhelpful, because there's a number of things to be sorry about, but it's something. Peter Parker has always been the king at saying sorry. Sorry I broke your chimney, sorry I made you worry, sorry I hit you too hard, I'm sorry please don't keep the suit—]

I'm — I'm so, so sorry.
madeupnames: (pic#12468664)

[personal profile] madeupnames 2018-08-26 09:24 am (UTC)(link)
[He feels a little sick, and certainly doesn't laugh at the light banter. He just rubs his hand up and down his bicep and tries to think of how to just spit it out. And Pete's here, waiting expectantly for some kind of answer. If he doesn't say it now, he never will. It'll be another long quiet spell that just makes it all worse. He doesn't want to let it get any worse than it already is.

He squeezes his eyes shut, heart thudding in his chest. It comes out of him like a punch.]


I knew what was going to happen on Titan. I knew we lost. That's why I was being such a dick, because I was scared of how to say it, and I knew — I knew if I said anything, it'd ruin your time here, but I didn't even think that you'd go home, so I just — I just didn't say anything. And I'm so sorry, Pete, I'm really sorry.
shoplifter: (pic#12137772)

[personal profile] shoplifter 2018-08-26 09:37 am (UTC)(link)
[She nods, releasing her cargo to him.

Better than watching him drop even more stuff.]


De nada. [But she still watches up, quiet and expecting; wordlessly, she moves and collects a new jug of milk, carefully placing it in the basket.] Is this all you need? [a beat] Would you like me to steal a candy bar for you?

[Really, she's just hearkening back to his lecture, just to lighten the air.]
madeupnames: (pic#12350311)

[personal profile] madeupnames 2018-08-26 09:58 am (UTC)(link)
[Peter doesn't look at him, ashamed, hands fists at his sides. Quill's not the only one who feels sick. He can hear the other man's heartbeat, can hear too distinctly the speeding of his breaths and the crackle of the fluid in his knuckles as they go white. They're as loud as the Bulette, with his overly-sensitive hearing. He moves a step after him, but no more than that, and rambles with very little certainty on what to say:]

When you said to ask Mr. Stark, I did — and I... I swear, I would have found out how to tell you, I — I needed some time to figure out how to do it! I never meant to make anything worse or... or screw up your guys' chances back home, I just...!

[Against his attempts to avoid it, his voice cracks a little, hoarse and remorseful.]
Edited 2018-08-26 10:00 (UTC)
madeupnames: (pic#12468652)

[personal profile] madeupnames 2018-08-26 10:25 am (UTC)(link)
[Peter finally twists around, aiming another blast of webbing at the beast with an admittedly shaking hand. It's stronger than he gave it credit for; if the webs can't hold it (it's barely been any time at all, and it's just brute-forcing through already), there's gotta be a better solution. He bites the inside of his cheek hard enough to bleed, before whipping around to look at Quill as he shoots.]

It's — It's not holding.

Pete, do you have something that can stun this thing?!

[Can't stop a big monster and ruined Quill's life even more, can't win lately, huh, Spider-Man?]
shoplifter: (pic#11316505)

[personal profile] shoplifter 2018-08-26 10:32 am (UTC)(link)
[Laura thinks about white ceilings, beeping machines, and calm voices whispering overhead.

"Adjust the straps. Increase the dosage."

And then she shrugs at him, glancing away toward the spilled milk at her boot.]


Nightmares.

And you?

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