riverviewlogs | you get the gray skies outta my way

who: Mantis (and yoooou)
what: Catch-All~
when: The month of August
where: All abouts
warnings: Almost without a doubt there will be spoilers for Guardians Vol. 2 in this post. You have been warned.

[Closed to Peter Quill]
[Mantis, after recovering the necessary iron from the room of laundry, paces in front of the elevator, awaiting the arrival of her 'instructor'. She is not sure why she is nervous, but she is that, in addition to the general excitement she has retained at the idea of learning more new skills.

Someone, likely one of her floor-neighbors, walks by and Mantis offers an explanation they didn't ask for.] I am going to learn to sew and to iron.

[Very important stuff.]

[Closed to Gamora]
[Mantis is not really sure what to expect or if this will end well.

On the other hand, she knows she probably needs this. It is important to learn to take care of herself. She does not always want to rely on others to protect her. Her powers are helpful, of course, but they are not enough. Mantis has seen Gamora fight, and she knows how proficient she is, so if anyone is capable of teaching Mantis to do this, it is her. She follows Gamora along the street, wondering where they were going, but staying silent for the moment. The last thing she wishes to do is annoy her 'teacher' on the first day.]

[OPEN to anyone - all around wildcard]
[Feel free to spot Mantis anywhere in the city. Places you are more likely to find her include the following:

Wandering the streets looking for the portal, on her perimeter orientation squad grind.

Checking out 616!Loki's club

In the toy section of a second-hand store. Or any section.

Anywhere else your heart desires.

Feel free to poke me with questions/ideas if you so desire, or just throw something at me, I'm sure it's fine.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Cisco is on a very important mission, that afternoon, going on a very important supply run in which he will buy very important essentials that he needs to do his very important work as an engineer.

In other words: he is wandering the aisles of the best candy shop in the quarantine, filling his basket absolutely to the brim with everything bright-colored and sweet that his heart could possibly desire. It's all skittles and red vines and a truly impressive number of lollipops, and he doesn't show any signs of stopping soon.

He does, however, pause in his progress when he spots Mantis. Cisco's been in this place long enough that he's pretty used to the concept of aliens, and he's even been friends with a few of them. But it doesn't stop being surprising, just looking up in a store and seeing a woman with, well, antennae. ]

Those ones are really good.

[ He gestures to the container of sour peach rings in front of where Mantis is standing. ]

[Mantis is definitely lost. Not so much in direction, since she knows where she is, at least, it is a place she has walked by enough to know its location, and to be drawn in by the brightly colored displays and food items for sale.

But she is lost in the sense that she does not recognize any of the foods. She recognizes some of the fruit flavors, but she is still struggling to decide what to select from the many options.

When her fellow shopper points out a suggestion, Mantis doesn't hesitate to pull it off the shelf, peering closely at the rings through the cellophane bag and squeezing them through the crinkle.]

They are very squishy.

Do you like sour stuff? Those ones are pretty sour.

[ It's not hard to guess, from the way she is handling the bag, to her expression, to the delicate way she is squeezing the candy, that she's never had any before. Which... is kind of a delightful thought, to Cisco. Sure, lots of people here are more sophisticated than him, had travelled from planet to planet, or could do magic, or a bunch of other stuff. But he does, at least, have extensive knowledge and experience with candy. ]

I was gonna get some of those, anyway, so if you want, I can buy a bag and open 'em up so you can try one before you decide if you want a whole bag of your own?

[ He lives to be helpful. ]

[She makes a face, half wary, and half uncertain, at the mention of sour.]

I think... it will depend on how sour they are, sometimes sour is way too sour.

[Which Mantis discovered the first time she bit into a lemon. She would not make that mistake again.

She listens to his suggestion curiously, head tilting to consider the offer.] That would be most helpful, I would like to try the sour squishy rings.

[Then, because she had never met the young man before, and because he is offering to help her...] Thank you very much.

[ When she agrees to the offer (which actually surprises him - he feels like most people would say no, even if it was a good idea, merely because it's a breach in usual etiquette) he grins. ]

You're most welcome. Gimme two seconds.

[ With that, he grabs one of the bags, leaving the basket with the rest of his candy sitting on the floor of the store as he goes up to the counter to pay for just that bag of peach rings. He returns a moment later, stuffing a receipt into his pocket and then tearing the plastic bag open. He plucks one of the peach rings out and pops it into his mouth, then holds the bag in Mantis's direction. ]

Moment of truth.

[Mantis waits in the aisle relatively obediently, looking about at the other items in the vicinity of the rings that the new and helpful stranger has pointed out for her. There is a bag of blue gummies that she has taken to prodding at while she waits for him to make his return.

She was keeping count.]

That was not two seconds. [Her pointing this out is somewhat offhand as her gaze is already narrowing in on the offered bag. She selects an orange and yellow ring and sniffs it, nose wrinkling when a couple of errant sugar granules attach to the tip of it. She brushes them off before taking a careful bite that removes half the ring and morphs her face as she adjusts to the mix of sweet and sour the ring provides. It is a rather intense combination of both flavors and something fruity.]

These are very powerful rings. [She cannot resist finishing the other half, taking her time to chew it thoroughly whilst she offers a thumbs up. Universal symbol of acceptance.] They are very good!

[ Cisco laughs when she tells him that he was gone for more than two seconds, shaking his head a little. For the most part, whatever technology is in place that translates speech between them all works seamlessly. But it can't cover things like idioms and colloquialisms as well. ]

Just an expression. If I was gonna buy them in only two actual seconds, I'd have to be a speedster.

[ He finds himself laughing again when she describes them as powerful. It sounds like a compliment, anyway, but he had never really thought of them that way. Her thumbs up makes it clear she's enjoying the taste, so Cisco reaches in for two more and then holds out the bag to her. ]

Here, you can have the rest, I only wanted a couple anyway.

[ Cisco shakes the bag a little, prompting her to take it. ]

I'm Cisco, by the way. Nice to meet you. I'm gonna take a wild guess and say they don't have a lot of candy shops, where you're from?

[Well, she understands what 'just an expression' means, but she is about to ask was a speedster is when he offers to let her have the entire bag of squishy rings. Mantis is immediately smiling.]

Thank you very much. [The thanks is genuine, and she does not hesitate to take the bag when it shakes at her, crinkling it as she is already digging for another one.]

I am Mantis. There were no shops at all on the planet I am from. There was no candy either. I did not know there were so many types of food.

[ Cisco is yet again delighted by her enthusiasm, by the way that she doesn't pretend she doesn't want them and make him insist a second time, but just accepts the gift without any pretense. ]

Wait. So you're telling me you probably haven't tried, like, most of these?

[ He swings his arm in a broad arc, indicating the candy shop with its hundreds of different varieties, some bright and colorful, others glossy and dark, some shaped like fish or butterflies or belts, some on sticks or in little packets. He almost say 'any' of these, but he wants to give her some benefit of the doubt. ]

I got an idea. We should get a teeny tiny bit of as many different kinds as we can... or not that many but just... a lot [ He amends the statement midway through, realizing that given her earlier comments, she might appreciate if he were a bit more literal, and he doesn't want to ACTUALLY buy every kind in the store - ] and just find somewhere nice to sit and try them all, so we can see which ones are your favorite? Like a taste test?

you get the gray skies outta my way

(hope this is ok! lmk if you'd like me to change it to something else)

it is wonderful!!

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