Owner	Pose
Mantis	It isn't everyday Mantis gets to visit Quill's home planet, and so far the experience has been quite eye opening. Everything was new, and weird, and sometimes even funny. Today, Mantis snuck away from the group and decided to see what a clothing shop looked like on Earth! Sadly, the only disguise she had is the Christmas Elf outfit she got on her ice skating escapade, but at least the elf hat with the bell is a perfect cover for her antennas, even if it is a bit uncomfortable. But the disguise doesn't matter so much, where to any onlooker, it's super obvious she's never been in a store like this before. She's pretty much standing right past the doorway, staring wide eyed at everything on display. "Wooooooo..." she says to no one at all.
Barbara Gordon	It's Christmas timeish and Babs has not yet lost her ability to walk. Which is why she's strolling casually through the rows of thrift (which is funny since she's rich), looking for outfits for a project she's been working on. That means her decisions are based on criteria other than appearance. Standing near some shirts tugging at the neckline to test the strength of the material, she probably looks a crazy person. With her red hair all pulled back, red framed glasses on the bridge of her nose, and a green top/black members only jacket and pants combination. It's out wear when wearing pajama pants would be inappropriate. Anywhere but at Walmart at 2am, that is.
Mantis	Mantis doesn't take long to notice that Barbara is there by her lonesome, making her a prime candidate for pestering with super important questions! For science! Very obviously, she makes her approach towards the red head, not even trying to be stealthy like Drax, not at all. "Hi!" She calls out cheerfully, "...is it customary to check the garments for stretchability? Should I do that before I buy?"
Barbara Gordon	It is Gotham, so it is not common for people to engage in small talk while shopping. The Gotham peoples are a singular, insular people. So she's polite about smiling and nodding hello at the initial ''hi!'', but seems struck when there are questions that follow. Not unpleasantly, she grins and shrugs indifferently. "If you have ulterior motives for the clothing, probably. I'm putting together a wrestling outfit for an independent federation. I wanted to scratch ''become WWE women's champion'' off my bucket list."
Mantis	"Oooooo, are you a wrestler entertainer?" Mantis asks Barbara curiously, "do you have a character? Like you have to be an evil overlord, or a galactic hero?" Weird she would go immediately to a galactic scale, but maybe she's superfan! She giggles at that last bit, "why would you put a list in a bucket? It would get wet when it's filled with liquid!" She then muses over the goal itself, "WWE. Wrestling Women...Enjoy?" It's a fair attempt, though Mantis is still puzlled, "are you meant to enjoy the fact others are wrestling?"
Barbara Gordon	"Yes, I have a character." Babs says with a brisk nod, resuming testing the strength of a shirt by pulling at both sides of the neck, "Buster Cuisinart. I'd do a twisting sidewalk powerbomb as my finishing move and call it the Cuisinart slam." Glancing over at the odd eyed woman with little judgement. Some of her best friends are weirdos, super humans, or ... ya know... Bat people. "I's more metaphorical than literal. It's things you want to do before you die. Ya know, ''kick the bucket''-" Quote fingers, after replacing the shirt on the rack. Again shrugging, "I do. Like wrestling I mean. It's mostly cheeky fun, with subpar storylines, but gosh darn I can't get enough of it."
Mantis	"Buster...Cui..art..." Mantis struggles a bit repeating the name, but she doesn't insist on being corrected, instead she just gives a thumbs up to Babs, "clever name!" She has no clue why it would be clever, but it made sense to try and sound clever herself. Yeah, Mantis' disguise isn't perfect, the black pools that are her eyes do stand out, but at least there's the mutant excuse she's utterly unaware of. "I can kick a bucket!" Mantis brags, totally missing out on Barbara's explanation. "I like stories, they are fun. Do you know if they sell star hats here? I want one like the Elder Groot! It's the big tree in the Rocker and Feller square, in the city where Mr. Pym lives." Because that would be obvious to everyone.
Barbara Gordon	"Cuisinart, yes." Babs offers up correction regardless of desire because she is a helpful lass. "It's a food processing device." Helpful. "That is largely outdated and rarely used-" Super helpful. "-And ... that's the irony. So is Wrestling. Except for it's become more entertaining over the years, specifically womens wrestling." So helpful. "Anyways..." Bucket kicking and star hats. "Elder Groot you say... oh right, the Christmas tree. Uhhh... maybe? It's the hollidays, so I'm sure there's an entire section dedicated to gawdy holliday wear." Lifting up on her toes to peer around curiously, finally pointing at the section. "That way. I see antler hats too. You'd look good with Antlers."
Mantis	"Yessss..." Mantis agrees without daring to attempt to repeat saying that tricky name again. "That's the one!" Mantis has a beaming smile at that. "A star hat is very special, I was told," Mantis relates, before blinking in surprise, "antler hats!? Are they for special people? Do you think I should get one?"
Barbara Gordon	"Very special people, yes." Babs points and heads forward to lead Mantis to the antler apparel. Even grabbing one to hold out, rather than putting it on the big eyed womans head because that'd be entirely too familiar. "You only live once, I say that you should scratch ''antler hat'' off your bucket list. Be damned the authorities saying whether you're special enough for such gear." Peering side to side, she leans towards the other to speak conspiratorially, "Down with the patriantler."
Mantis	Mantis follows Barbara's lead, eyes wide open, gasping as she's given one such antler hat. "Wow! It is real!" She then looks quite gleeful, "I have a bucket list too!? Yay!" She nods in quick agreement, before asking, "is the partiantler a problem? I have a crew, we take ass and kick names, we can help."
Barbara Gordon	"Oh yes, this Patriantler is the only enemy that matters. A global conspiracy against the females of our gender... against the notion we should be allowed to wear antlers if we so desire." Babs continues to hold the antler aloft infront of Mantis, should she just take it. "Be the leader we deserve."
Mantis	"What is the female of our gender?" Mantis asks all too seriously once Barbara has her more than a little confused, "...and antlers are good or bad? I don't want to be bad." At the mention of leader, Mantis shakes her head, "oh, no, no, no, that's for Quill, Gamora would never let me lead, she's too scary..."
Barbara Gordon	"It is a slip of the tongue when my mouth gets out ahead of my brain keeping pace with it. The Female gender of our SPECIES." Motioning between them as if Mantis was, in fact, a human. Which she most certainly is not with those eyes but it's rude to point that out. "Gamora is a very European name. And very European ideas too."
Mantis	"Ah, yes! Of course!" Mantis agrees with a wide beaming smile, that looks ever so creepy despite her best intent. "Ah, yes, European," Mantis agrees, the puzzled expression growing ever thicker across her visage, she has no clue what Barbara is talking about, and she's loathe to giveaway her secret, so at this point she just agrees with everything. "Her sister Nebula must be very European too, it's a good thing, right?"
Barbara Gordon	"Nebula is a very European name..." Babs seems a little amused, if not for Mantis' near childlike wonder, then the bohemian nature of her friends naming conventions. "That or their parents are old hippies who have seen their way around some left handed winstons and ''mushroom'' pizzas." Is it a good thing though? "Sure.. Europeans are people too."
Mantis	"Yes, European..." Mantis agrees once more, "yes they are, as I am, too a people," Mantis nods firmly, as if that would assuage any concerns to the contrary. "I am called Mantis, I believe it is European too." There, she's getting the hang of it!
Barbara Gordon	"Mantis? Yes, very. Or Bohemian... which I suppose is kind of European." Babs smirks at the odd woman, "I'm called Barbara... or Babs. Most people just call me Babs. It's very basic white girl in middle American." Pause, "It's good to meet you Mantis. You have very colorfully named friends."
Mantis	"B..bo...Boheeemian!" Mantis tries the new term, looking suspiciously at Barabara, "is it like European? Yes! Yes! European!" Mantis beams, glad to not be an exception, extending her hand to shake with Barbara, "nice to meet you Barbara, you are European too?" She asks, before Barbara herself says middle American, leading Mantis to quip, "....is that another name for European?" When Barbara notes Mantis' friends have colorful names, Mantis bursts in giggles, "especially Peter, it's the silliest name of them all!"
Barbara Gordon	"So the only guy in your group is named Peter." Babs finds this, of the things, the most amusing. She almost laughs, but it stops just short of gently rocking shoulders as she shakes Mantis' hand. "That is very silly, indeed." Is she European though, Babs? "In the loosest sense, sure. No doubt there was a Barbara in Europe, either now or in some distant past, but for the most part... just old rich white women."
Mantis	"Oh no! No! We are not sexists!" Mantis gasps, taking Barbara's question to suggest they are biased against men. "Peter is not the only guy, we also have Drax, and Rocket and Groot!" She nods at the explanation, "old rich white women, nice to meet you," she then pouts a little and clasps Barbara's hand, taking it close to her own chest if Barabara won't struggle to release it from Mantis' grasp, "....you are worried, don't be, I am not dangerous. I am a friend, ask anyone, they say Mantis is the nice one."
Barbara Gordon	Drax, Rocket, and Groot. "It's nice to see that the naming convention amongst your ecclectic group is one of abstracts and outliers. Very forward thinking." They sound like a superhero team, if she's being honest- "You sound like a super hero team." Because it needed saying. Brow furrowing at Mantis mentioning her being worried, "Hm? I'm... not... worried." Okay she is, but not about Mantis. A person can feel a thing deeply and not realize it realize it. Just sort of realize it. Like liking someone, but not like liking them. "The nice one? That's ... nice. Who would be the ''mean one'', just in case."
Mantis	"Yes, they are very special names, except for Peter." Mantis admits, "I like to call him The Quill, but he doesn't like it." Mantis has this teeth exposing grin of a giddy child that can't contain their excitement when Barbara notes they sound like a super hero team, and while she tries to keep it down, she evnetually announces proudly, "it's because we are! We're the Guardians of The Galaxy! Heard of us?" She asks with a beaming smile, so beaming, that it almost seems like a bit of light is coming from inside her elf hat. Letting go of Barbara's hand, Mantis thinks for a moment, and then admits, "it depends on a given mood, I would say it's a tie between Rocket Racoon and Nebula, sometimes Gamora too, but they all mean well, we are heroes, you see? It's not all about the money and fame," see? And Rocket thought that Mantis couldn't tell a lie! It's mostly about the money, and ok, the fame too.
Barbara Gordon	"Nope." Babs has not heard of them, though she's suspects they're probably the group what crash landed at Titan Towers now that Mantis has pulled the wool from the covering of eyes. "The Quill sounds like an early 90s alternative band that opens for Silverchair." Random. Still grinning, despite the way Mantis lies. She's no empath, but Babs is one of the best detectives in the world! And Mantis one of the worst liars... somewhere in there is the real reason why Babs is unconvinced. "Hey, I get it. Fame, fortune, a Jedi needs not these these things."
Mantis	"Yes," Mantis agrees about The Quill and Silverchair, without knowing either...are they even real? Obviously, Mantis has no clue Barbara is a detective, and thinks she's still making a very convincing case that she's a human and not at all an alien. "Yes. Fame. Fortune. And..." that last bit catches Mantis off guard. "Uhhh..." she blinks. Jedi, did Quill ever mention that word? "Jedi is someone who has everything, so he doesn't need new things? Right?"
Barbara Gordon	"Well, I gotta admit, you're not what I expected for a Guardian of the Galaxy..." Babs says with a laugh, shaking her head, "But I'm glad I got to meet one of you, before you guys... like... go back to space? Whatever it is Guardians do when not Guardianing a Galaxy."
Mantis	"Yes...I am very deceptive, you think I am nothing special," Mantis admits, before making a sudden movement, lifting her arms and letting out a "YAAR!" cute kind of growl, "then you find I'm a Guardian of The Galaxy! Yay!" It only then dawns on her that Barbara totally figured out she's from outer space, and lets out a stressed out squeal, "nooooooo. I'm European! I fooled you!" She claims, an obvious lie, and proceeds to run out of the store, antler hat still in hand, which brings up the alarm, but she proves very fast. Too fast for a store guard to have any chance to catch her.