19564/Sad Times at Ridgemont High

Sad Times at Ridgemont High
Date of Scene:	26 November 2024
Location:	Wreckage - The Milano
Synopsis:	Peter's sulking over the death of the Milano. Mantis, meanwhile, solves everything.
Cast of Characters:	Peter Quill, Mantis

---

Peter Quill has posed:
The Milano.
Rather, what's left of it anyway.

The pieces of the former ship that belonged to Peter Quill, aka the Legendary Outlaw: STAR-LORD are all over the place. There's not much of the original ship that remains intact but for those with the right eyes or the right heart, there's a good chance that some things can be seen or found in the wreckage. It's all in how you actually look at it.

Speaking of said Star-Lord, Peter is here. He looks as somber as never really does. He's literally kicking rocks (or Milano pieces) as he wanders around the ship's wreckage. He's got a bag slung across him as he sifts sullenly through the wreckage every once in a while; any moment he spots something that might be worth saving or salvaging. It's a bit of a Sad Times at Ridgemont High kind of vibe as Peter's not even listening to the music on his Zune.

Peter sighs and crouches down to pick through a pile of exploded metal, sifting through the pain as he tries to find a reason to rebuild this ship so he can get off this dangerous planet. Way more dangerous than what he's face growing up in space.

Mantis has posed:
Typically, Mantis would make herself at home wherever she happens to find herself, content to continue to float through the universe like a feather carried by fate's whimsical breeze. When the Guardians arrive somewhere they've been before, Mantis accumulates new friends as a natural byproduct of the good-natured misunderstandings that come from interacting with her. This time, her new friends are Terrans and that suits Mantis just fine.

It's hard to enjoy the hospitality when there's so much pain surrounding it.

It's not clear exactly when Mantis arrived at the Milano's wreckage, but there she is, sitting quietly on top of the ship's former cosmic generator. She watches Star-Lord sift through the memories, staring with her large, expressive eyes.

"Peter..." she begins in her ethereal, almost sing-songy way. She holds a warm, smelly bag full of Wakandan cuisine.

"I brought you some goops."

Peter Quill has posed:
"Not hungry."

Peter doesn't even look up. Although, it does take him a moment of sifting through the current pile of wreckage to realize that he might've just snapped a bit. So with a sigh and a tossing of a vertebraic converter that's no longer operational. he does force a half-smile as he looks up and into the direction of the one that's offering him something edible.

"Are they at least gummies? I could use a gummi anything right about now." His boot kicks at another piece of the ship. this part looks like a chunk of one of the wings, on his way over to where Mantis is sitting.

"At least we still got this." He nods at the cosmic generator that has become the stool of Mantis in this moment. "Rocket can probably fix it." Peter over here trying to make conversation while extending a hand for what he hopes is a gummi style goop of some sort.

Mantis has posed:
Mantis looks down at the stinky bag she purchased in Birnin Zana before she made her way back to the Milano wreckage. Her antennae droop a little as she considers what could be inside it. The bottom of the bag has started to turn brown and moist to the touch.

"Perhaps," she replies, hopeful as ever, as Peter takes it from her. Her answer is meaningless. She has no idea if the bag contains gummies.

Mantis' shoulders tense a little, as they often do, when faced with an uncomfortable moment. Her fingers come together at her thighs and worry against themselves. She hesitates a beat, opens her mouth to say something, but no words come. It takes another couple of seconds before she tries again.

"...Peter, what do you like most about the Milano?" she wonders, eyebrows hiked up. Her antennae sway hopefully as she looks up and waits for an answer. She'll either get one in the form of words or she'll simply experience the ripples of emotion that pass over her antennae. Either way.

Peter Quill has posed:
"... Uh." Peter's looking at the bag and just kind of shoves it into his jacket pocket. "That's not exactly a mid-scavenger hunt snack. But thanks." See? He's definitely saving that for later and not at all preparing it for disposal in the first viable receptacle that he can find when he's no longer within line of sight of Mantis.

Then she's asking him the hard hitting questions. Peter shrugs just for a moment as he turns to look at what used to be his ship. "I dunno. She was mine?" Peter's probably going into a bit of a flashback sequence now with the way his lips are curled up into a small smirk. "Yondu never saw it coming. Classic misdirection." He leans against something creaking but solid. "It was just supposed to be a joyride at first. But I loved the way she handles-- handled. So I just kept going." Peter shakes away some of those memories and tries to focus up.

"You know I tricked her out myself? I put a lot of work into her. Lots of custom work. I made her Home." Another shrug because this is going too sentimental. "Not to mention how many women I've had all over this ship. I swear, Mantis, if she still had walls and they could talk?" Peter gets to waggling his eyebrows to help solidify his defensive mechanism.

Mantis has posed:
"Bone Ape Tit," Mantis tells Peter, face lighting up as she recalls the famous phrase that Terrans say to someone before they eat some food. She nods her head a couple of times to really affirm it. The excitement fades as she watches the bag disappear into Peter's jacket.

Better luck next time, Mantis.

As Peter wades through his memories, Mantis watches with interest, mirroring the changes in his expressions as best she can -- smiling at the right times, moving her eyebrows just so.

Something said catches her attention, though.

Mantis' antennae rise slowly. "It is not the Milano that makes us all feel at home, Peter," she quietly points out, watching for his response to that.

Though, when Peter shifts his tone and fondly remembers all of the women he's had in the Milano, Mantis perks up and smiles proudly. "Oh, yes!" she agrees. "Gamora and Nebula...Cosmo, too, of course. And me!"

Peter Quill has posed:
Peter just cracks a smile at Bone Ape Tit. That phrase is so much better. This is why space is so much more fun than Terra. And why coming back here is just weird. He's not even Terran anymore, if you ask him. Well, okay, maybe he's still Terran. But he's fascinated enough with the rest of the universe to claim it first.

"I know. You're right, Mantis." Peter almost sounds like he doesn't want to admit that. "But that ship was more home to me than..." Peter waves a hand around to just kind of indicate 'Terra' as a whole. "And now she's gone." Peter kicks a piece of metal by his foot. "And I'm stuck. Here." He looks half annoyed and half disgusted at the world around him. "Maybe forever." So that's what he's worried about. On top of losing the Milano.

Another shrug leads into a chuckle. "A lot of the right names with a lot of the wrong circumstances there." Peter smiles at Mantis. "But you got it in spirit."

Mantis has posed:
If Mantis knew what Peter was suggesting about the women in the Milano, she'd certainly not include herself in that list. But, what Mantis doesn't know can fill a warehouse.

"I like it here," Mantis tells Peter, leaving it at that. Of course she likes it here. She likes being everywhere. That's the perspective that comes from a lifetime of servitude.

Mantis' attention shifts towards the ground as her hands go back to worrying against themselves. Several long, uncomfortable seconds pass before she speaks again.

"Peter..." she begins, approaching this next idea cautiously. She lifts her gaze carefully, watching Peter as she works through this idea.

"I have been watching many of the movie films you've mentioned to me before," Mantis admits, eyebrows hiked as her shoulders rise in turn. "...And I have learned so much. You see, whenever something bad like this happens, the people all come together and play music and, um... Pitch in."

"I am told it is called a ... montage?"

Peter Quill has posed:
Peter shrugs just a slight bit. "It's alright. It's a lot different now than it was when I left." Peter looks around a bit more. Wakanda, of course, is even more different than Missouri but he's probably just speaking in generalizations. "But nothing beats the stars, y'know? Or hell, even Knowhere makes this planet look like a strip mall flea market. But I guess it has its charms." There's a weird 'thinking about Earth women' smirk on his face now. Oh Peter.

Spotting something that does look like its still useful, Peter scoops it up, twirls it in his fingers and shoves it into the 'Salvage Duffle Bag'. "Oh!" Peter looks up and over at Mantis. "Yes! A montage. Those are so sick." Peter leans again. "Man, one of the best ones is in the best movie ever made: Footloose. Everybody really came together in that one. It takes a village, they say."

Peter grins just at the thought of that movie. "I should see if I can find the VHS of that while we're stuck here. I really need you all to experience the awesomeness of Kevin Bacon for yourselves. Man's a legend."

Mantis has posed:
Peter's enjoyment of her words draws out some happiness from Mantis. Her antennae rise along with the corners of her mouth. Though he'd never know it, Kevin Bacon has a supernatural talent for cheering up the Guardians of the Galaxy.

"Yes, I I know, but..."

"Peter..."

It's not often that Mantis has an idea worth interrupting with. Her tone is one of gentle lecture, as though she expected Peter to already know what she's trying to suggest before he went down that Kevin Bacon tangent.

Mantis looks up from her tensed posture, eyes-wide as she navigates her own thoughts. "Peter... What if we did a montage ourselves?" she suggests. "...For the Milano."

Peter Quill has posed:
"..."

"..."

"..."

Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, just stands there in the middle of the Milano Wreckage, right in Wakanda, on Terra and he looks as though he has just been hit with the most invisible but powerful lightning that's ever been known to mankind. He just blinks in his state of blissful frozeness. It takes a long moment before he looks over at Mantis. He's staring at her for that long moment and it's hard to read his features. Maybe even hard to read /him/ at this moment. But then those lips curl right up into a thankful and slightly mischievous smile.

"Mantis." Peter practically leaps at her. Hands reaching out to grab her shoulders. "You're a genius. A GENIUS!" He goes in for a personal space invading hug quickly and then bounces back away from her! "That's how we're going to rebuild the Milano! A freaking montage! YES!"

Peter turns and practically starts skipping through the wreckage on his way to get ready for this. "... I gotta' find the right song!"