6537/Another Place Nobody Knows Your Name (if you're Mantis)

Another Place Nobody Knows Your Name (if you're Mantis)
Date of Scene:	12 June 2021
Location:	Knowhere
Synopsis:	Mantis learns the many definitions of fun
Cast of Characters:	Mantis, Peter Quill

---

Mantis has posed:
Having had some off time on Knowhere amid the many tasks, Mantis turned to Peter to ask him if he'll spend some time with her. Because she's had something she wanted to ask him. That, or she just wanted an excuse to get away from Rocket for a bit.

Peter Quill has posed:
To say Peter was going a bit stircrazy was a bit of understatement, even in a place as wild as Knowhere, Ronan still had one of his crew, albiet the grumpiest most murdery member but a member all the same and it burned him a little each day they got no closer to finding her.

So, when Mantis suggests going out on the station he jumps at the idea, leading the way to a bar he'd first gone to with Yondu and the rest of the Ravagers, with good drinks and in the corner a bit of gambling where you can wager on which Orloni was going to escape being lunch for an Askavarian Iguana. Peter opted for the drinks and grabbed a quiet table in the corner where he could sit with his back to the wall, lifting his cup of glowing blue liquid to his lips, he asks Mantis, "So, what's up?"

Mantis has posed:
"Peter..." Mantis offers in a cheerful tone of voice, "you need to relllaaaxxxx..." her drawing out of the word sounds relaxing in itself, as if she's trying to will Peter to relax without even using her power. "We will save Nebula, and she will be okay."

Mantis for her part orders a Cosmic Haze drink, and goes to sit across from Peter. Her drink is a purpley swirl, "...you know, when we were on Earth, I saw more of your people for the first time. It made me wonder, what does it feel like to have a people?"

Peter Quill has posed:
Peter looks up at Mantis' words, as he protests. "Hey, I'm relaxed, of course we're going to get her back," he swallows. "From Thanos." He pastes on a smile and takes a long gulp of his Brightstar Blast.

Though he lowers his glass at Mantis' question. "Y'know I never really thought about it" he takes a second to do it now. "Pretty good I guess, I mean especially out here, where I'm pretty much the only Terran, it feels good to have something to hang onto," then he frowns. "Why do you ask?"

Mantis has posed:
"Yes, from Thanos," Mantis says with a surprisingly calm smile. She does understand who Thanos is, does she? One would hope. She takes a sip of her own drink, timing it in perfect unison with Peter.

"It's okay, being the only Terran here..." she murmurs, and when asked why, she looks a bit sad for a moment. Eventually murmuring, "well, I have only ever met one Mantis," she proceeds to point at herself, "this one." Feeling like she's turning the conversation sad, she puts on a big smile on her face, which really clashes with her topic of conversation. "I have always been just me, sometimes it feels like I'm a mistake, since there isn't another...like me."

Peter Quill has posed:
"Right, Thanos, who is like super powerful," Peter says puzzling at Mantis' calm. "I am not sure how we're even supposed to come at that guy, I mean we've got Phylla and she's pissed in his Cheerios before but going toe to toe with the guy? I dunno?" he says admitting his worry openly now.

What Mantis said next is a good distraction from that worry, "What? No, no you're not a mistake, just because we haven't met any more of your people doesn't mean you're the only one, the galaxy is a big place, we probably haven't run across them yet. Either way, you're still cool, you've got those empathic abilities, and the glowy antenna, you're great Mantis, and definitely not a mistake."

Mantis has posed:
"Yes, he is mighty, it is said..." Mantis concurs with Peter, and somehow still seems rather calm. "I think we can reason with him? Appeal to his...emotions," yes, Mantis puts a lot of weight on emotions. Then again, it's kind of her thing. But she's probably very wrong about how easy it is to manipulate Thanos.

"How did you meet Phyla? She seems interesting. Powerful. You make strong friends, Peter Quill."

She smiles faintly at Peter's attempt to cheer her up, taking another sip of her drink, the first not in perfect timing with Peter. "You have a good heart, Peter Quill. But it's weird, that I grew up without a people."

Peter Quill has posed:
"I dunno, from what little Gamora has told me about him I am not sure how much Thanos really feels anything any more, seems like he just wants to wreck stuff," Peter says, "But maybe we can be sneaky about it and steal Nebula away before we have to fight him and you know, just keep running," he says though even that doesn't sound hopeful. He finishes his drink and calls for another.

"Phyla? Oh, it was just after I left the Ravagers, we ran into each other and she asked me to help find her girlfriend, Moondragon, we never did find her, but she was glad I tried I guess, and we've been in touch ever since, she's pretty great really, a good friend."

Peter nods, smiling as his new drink arrives, before he answers Mantis. "Yeah, it's weird, but you're on the right ship for weird, I mean you've got one of the only Terran's in space, Thanos' daughters, Groot, Drax and Rocket, we're all sort of weird, so while you might not know your people right now, you do have us, your crew, a bunch of other weirdos." He lifts his new drink to her.

Mantis has posed:
"Everyone has emotions...everyone," Mantis says while giving a sagely nod, as if that would somehow convince Peter that she's right. "Some people just suppress it, like Gamora!"

Mantis gives a quiet conspiratorial giggle at that idea, "we can be so sneaky! And sneak in, and get her, and take her, and POOF!" That little bit was far too loud for someone being sneaky, the wide arm gestures didn't help either. "Just like that, she's safe!"

"But Phyla is a girl..." Mantis murmurs, sounding a bit confused. "Moondragon is a pretty name, did you meet her? I wonder how pretty she is."

"Yes," Mantis agrees, finally putting a more genuine smile on her face, "and you have this one, too."

Peter Quill has posed:
"We'll see, hopefully we don't get close enough to Thanos to find out," Peter says with a bit of a smile for Mantis' assertion, though he still looks skeptical that Thanos can feel anything, "And yeah, sneaking seems the way to go? if we can find the guy," he adds a bit more soberly.

"Hmm?" Peter asks. "Oh, yeah, Phyla's a girl that likes girls, and Moondragon is her girl," he nods though about the name. "Yeah, it's really cool, and never did meet her but Phyla did show me a holo one time, she's a humanoid, not a dragon," his face displays some residual disappointment at that. "Bald like Nebula but with skin like me. I can see why Phyla likes her just from the holo."

Mantis has posed:
Mantis seems very enamored with the idea of sneaking, nodding along, "yes, yes, we will do it...and he will not even know!" She listens as Peter explains the concept of a girl that likes another girl, and looks a bit puzzled, "...how does she solve the issue of procreation? Or does it work with Moondragon's specie?" There seems to be no trace of malice in her question, just pure confusion. "All things mate to produce offsprings, it's the nature of it all." She then makes it all the more inappropriate by asking, "did you follow up with Gamora? Did you say you will offer the aggressive breeding she seeks?"

Peter Quill has posed:
Peter takes another drink before answering. "Welllll? sometimes it's about procreation," he says a little colour rising to his cheeks, "And other times its about fun and showing someone you love them. I mean I've been with a lot of girls, but I wasn't looking to have kids or anything, it was just y'know, fun," he says. "And uh, no didn't offer that to her, just you know seeing where things go, there's a lot going on for the both of us right now?" he says before taking refuge in another drink.

Mantis has posed:
"Yes, it is, I read about it...it's science," Mantis nods, still looking as confused as she was moments ago. "Fun...?" Mantis blinks a few times, she's utterly clueless. "Mmm...I noticed you've been with many girls, but you only care about Gamora. I was confused, but I think I understand. If it's fun, and you like to have fun, it means you still love Gamora...you just have fun when you're not with Gamora."

She empties her drink and grins widely, "I understand, it's because her sister Nebula is gone! Once she is back, then you will offer the aggressive breeding, because she'll see you're a hero, and it will work! You're smart, Peter."

Peter Quill has posed:
Once again Peter is very interested in his drink, "Yeah..." he says turning the glass on the table watching the irridecent blue liquid swish around. "Something like that," he says before looking up at the last part. "Yeah, well that's more or less the plan anyhow, we'll see how it goes."

"And Mantis, maybe after we get Nebula back, we could go look for your people, I mean if you want to find them that is."

Mantis has posed:
"It is a pretty drink," Mantis comments, thinking Peter is suddenly very attentive to it's beautiful glowy blue hue. "I should order one for myself too." She sighs, and murmurs, "I don't think there even is a my people..."

Peter Quill has posed:
"Yours looks good too," Peter says glancing up. "Switch drinks next round?" he suggests bouncing back quickly from his more morose mood of a moment ago. Mantis' comments bring a sympathetic smile to his lips, "Why do you think that? I'm pretty sure that everyone has a people," he says, before smiling a little bit more mischeviously as he echoes her earlier words. "That's science."

Mantis has posed:
"Yes! It's fun!" Mantis agrees with a laughter, before looking a bit serious for a moment, looking intently at Peter, "does that mean we have to be together, just for fun? Or can we have fun without it? I didn't really do much of that thing, but I know about it, I read it!"

"Because I was always one of a kind, it was very lonely growing up..." she starts, before freezing. That was bad, she shouldn't get into stories of the past. Blushing, she then murmurs, "we should order that next round, because I'm done!" As soon as she says it, she sees her glass is half full, and proceeds to down it all at once. Grinning at Peter all the while.

Peter Quill has posed:
Peter almost chokes on his drink. "Uh, wasn't thinking about it, I mean that sort of fun, we're more... other kinds of fun friends, like having drinks and talking and going on space adventures kind of fun."

Peter grins as he downs his drink along with Mantis, "See? Fun," he says before flagging down the waiter, "Two more just give me what she's drinking and give her what I'm drinking."

The service creature nods and goes to get their drinks.

Mantis has posed:
"Ooooooohhhh..." Mantis doesn't help things the way she intones her fascination with learning a new thing. "So there are different kinds of fun! Fun is much more complex than I would have thought!" She smiles warmly at Peter, "you're a very smart man, Peter Quill. There is much to learn from you. I think you are more clever than Drax." For some reason, she really seems to hold Drax in high regard. Weird.

Poor waiter has to suffer Mantis giggling inanely as she notes, "we are switching our drinks! It's fun!" At least they're easy to dismiss as a couple that's been drinking for awhile.

Peter Quill has posed:
Peter grins, "Yeah, people say that about me all the time, 'Peter, you're so smart'," he says seeming to believe his own hype. "And yep there's all sorts of kinds of fun, drinking being one of them."

The waiter shakes his head at the pair but is quick to bring back their drinks putting them down in front of them before hurridely retreating. Lifting up the swirling concotion in front of him he offers to clink glasses. "To fun?" he suggests by way of a toast.

Mantis has posed:
Mantis lifts her glass all too quickly, "to fun!" She seems thrilled to be bonding with Peter, and at how successful she was in shifting the subject before any questions are asked. She needs to be more careful, "this one is having fun!" To demonstrate she drinks quickly, giggling throughout.