open rp post 2.0

[spiraea]

OPEN RP POST

❖ pick a partner-in-crime

❖ pick your poison
word • picture •  music
au • random prompts ✔︎

( art source )

Comments

[stealwithit]

[ Kasumi begins to take stock of what's around them almost as soon as they're through the door (but don't worry, she's not planning on stealing anything), more out of curiosity than anything else. This is, after all, the home of an expert assassin. She spends the most of that time looking at the tape deck on the wall, recognizing it immediately as a pretty much ancient artifact, and were they not here to talk about Serious Things she might have already asked him about it. Instead, she looks at him when she speaks up and folds her arms. ]

--Thanks for, you know. Letting me in here. I can't imagine you do that for many people.

[ At least, not many of her nature. ]

[nostalgiabomb]

Yeah. Not many people make the cut.

[ It’s a very select few, which exclusively numbered himself and Yondu – and in the case of the latter, not altogether willingly. His one-night stands typically involved renting out some shitty room or heading back to their place; bringing someone here was a risk.

Especially if they happened to jostle loose one of the knives concealed in every room. That would surely be an awkward conversation.

And one would think that inviting a thief into one’s home would be inviting trouble, but—well. Peter’s a goddamn hitman. He stares trouble in the face every day; what’s a bit more?

He walks past her to the table in the common area, taking a seat and waving to the one opposite him. ]

I’m surprised you were even willing to come. Considering… [ He gestures to himself. ] …what I do.

[stealwithit]

[ She keeps her arms folded as she walks across and even when she slips into the seat across from his. Partly as a defensive gesture, partly to show that her hands are not secretly pocketing things around the ship. To his comment, she shrugs. ]

I figured that if you still wanted me dead, I would've been dead a long time ago.

[nostalgiabomb]

[ He smiles a little wryly. ] I feel like you might be giving me too much credit, there, but I’ll take it as a compliment.

[ And maybe to someone else it would be in poor taste to joke about, you know. Killing people. It’s not something Peter takes lightly, by any means, but it’s certainly not a delicate topic as far as he’s concerned.

Fidgeting in his seat, he picks up a hex key from the table – something he uses while maintaining his blasters – and twists it in his hands. Slowly, he ventures, ]

… So.

[ He pauses, trying to find words to put this delicately, then, and when the tactful approach escapes him, he exhales sharply.

The blunt approach, instead: ]

What the hell are we doing?

[stealwithit]

[ If this were just another one of their meetings at a soiree, Kasumi might have said something like well, if you kill me here, at least I'll have died by the hand of a seriously attractive man, but--they're not, and now is hardly the moment for such a comment. Instead, she keeps quiet, watching him almost squirm in his seat and pick up that hex key. When he poses the question of the night, she sighs. ]

You tell me, Quill. You're the one who bailed for months after I said I was... I don't know, interested.

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Yeah, okay, now finally seems an appropriate time to murmur, ]

... Sorry.

[ He ducks his head, gaze fixed on some oil stain on the table. ]

I just... wasn't sure what to do. No one's ever— I mean, no one who knows what I do has ever— [ He trails off before waving a hand, as if to say, "You know." ]

[stealwithit]

[ She gives a shrug. Her lips are drawn into a thin line that just barely turns into a frown, and she looks at something off to the side--a bunch of tools he probably uses to keep his gear in check, or something. ]

I figured it might've been something like that after a while. Just--this time, maybe tell me you're planning on cutting me out after I leave. I understand, honestly.

And if you run into me again, just... pretend I don't exist like you did before.

[ She's trying to put on a brave front, although she's not really sure it's working. But it's easier this way, telling him she gets it, because at least this way she knows not to hope for anything to happen. ]

[nostalgiabomb]

[ He winces at that, hands falling still as he risks a glance over. For a long while, he holds his tongue, forming words and tossing them away when they don't seem to capture his meaning. The silence draws on a hair too long, and he lets out another breath. ]

... Right. Sure.

[ Ah, this again. He kicks himself for falling into that same rut, tossing the hex key away to lean forward on the table, forcing himself to actually look at her.

Quietly, with his hands clasped together on the table, ] That's what you want, then? Put a cap on this and call it the end?

[stealwithit]

[ Her brow furrows in the silence, her grip on her own arms tightening in the tension, and now it's her turn to avoid eye contact.

That's not at all what she wants. Granted, she doesn't know the specifics of what it is she does want, but it definitely doesn't entail going their separate ways for good. Part of her knows that's probably still for the best. But at the same time... It's sad, how much they're putting themselves through when they're both just lonely. They don't have to be. ]

Not really, but I have the impression that that's the way you want things to be. Let's be honest, Peter. If you hadn't run into me tonight you'd still be hiding.

[nostalgiabomb]

… Yeah, maybe.

[ Granted, even if he had changed his mind midway through his forced separation, it wasn’t as though he could track her down. Both of them made a habit of being difficult to find as a general rule. ]

But, uh. [ he clears his throat, just to buy himself a bit of time. Quietly, ] But maybe that’s not what I want. Anymore, I mean.

[stealwithit]

[ That gives Kasumi pause, and she finally turns to make eye contact, yet another perplexed look on her face. ]

And what do you mean by that...?

[nostalgiabomb]

I mean…

[ Actually, that’s a damn good question. What does he mean? ]

I mean… maybe I made a mistake. With the whole, uh, cutting off ties thing.

I panicked. I admit it. There’s only one other person in the galaxy who knows as much as you do about me, and we’re, uh. Not on the best of terms. So I thought… I thought maybe it’d be safer, you know. If I kept to myself.

[ Peter seems to lose steam, at that point, faltering and letting his gaze drop to the table again. He adds wryly, ] I kinda don’t like leaving myself open, in case you couldn’t tell.

[stealwithit]

[ she gives a rueful little smile. ]

I get it, don't worry.

[ and then she considers what he says for a few more moments. ]

It's lonely though, isn't it. The kind of life you lead.

[nostalgiabomb]

[ He doesn’t have an answer for that, at least not right away, and he leans back in his chair, pulling a hand down his face.

Because on the one hand – yeah. It is. Of course it is. But part of him doesn’t want to admit it. Pride, maybe; it feels like a weakness to acknowledge it aloud.

So instead, he shrugs, looking up with a mostly neutral expression. ]

It is what it is. I don’t like getting people involved, and most people wouldn’t want to get involved with someone like me. It makes sense, right?

[stealwithit]

Yeah, it does.

[ Kasumi understands, she really does. Up until Keiji she'd kept everyone on the surface, something she tried to do again after he was gone. But then Peter Quill came along, again and again, and he's as much of an anomaly in her life as she is in his. ]

So what happened, then? Why change your mind now?

[nostalgiabomb]

... I'm not sure.

[ Which is true enough. He chews on the inside of his cheek before inspecting a new stain on the table. ]

Guess I just... I saw you, and... I dunno. Thought we could maybe— give the whole friendship thing a shot.

[stealwithit]

[ The whole friendship thing isn't quite what she expected, which gives her pause. She's pretty sure there was at least some level of attraction between them that fell outside of friendship but if that's what he wants... Maybe friendship is more to the speed of what they need. No need to complicate things further with feelings, right? Friendship is fine. Her gaze drifts off, lips drawing into a thin line before she continues to press for answers, ]

And why's that?

[ It's not that she's nosy. It's just that she's nosy and wants to understand what he thinks he wants from her. ]

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Again with all the hard-hitting questions, Peter thinks with a wince.

Yondu taught him a lot of things while he was growing up – how to maintain a gun, how to clean a blade, how to kill a man six ways with a coaster. Somehow, honesty and genuine discourse never made it into his lessons, and he shies away from it on instinct.

But he already let Goto in this far, already let her know this much, and part of him thinks, What the hell? It's not like this can get worse.

Still, he gets to his feet, traversing the short distance between the table and the kitchen under the guise of grabbing a bottle of water. As a convenient consequence, as pulls open the door on the compact little fridge, he has his back turned to Kasumi when he quietly admits, ]

I think... I think seeing you— it made me realize—

[ He fishes the bottle out, letting the door close with a quiet fwump. ]

I think— I think I realized how much I missed you.

[ A pause, and he huffs out a quiet, bitter laugh. ]

Weird, huh?

[stealwithit]

[ Oh. That... makes sense, maybe. She had thought that their run-in might have made him think, Hey what the hell, why not hang out with Goto more often? She didn't think he would've actually missed her. That's different, isn't it? Her brow furrows, with an almost concerned expression on her face. ]

--You did?

I almost didn't think there was much to miss.

[nostalgiabomb]

[ He keeps his back turned, contemplating the label on his bottle. ]

I guess there was.

And I know that sounds creepy, or whatever, so...

[ He trails off with a shrug. ]

[stealwithit]

[ She shakes her head, although it goes unseen with the way they're positioned. ]

Well, want to know a funny story?

I missed you, too.

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Funny, how a statement as simple as that makes him freeze, makes him turn to look over his shoulder at her with undisguised surprise. But it happens, and he frowns at her, confused. ]

... You did?

[stealwithit]

Well, yeah.

[ she says, as though it were so simple. She takes a moment to sort of gather her thoughts and think of what to say, and her expression turns more somber all the while. ]

We kind of left things hanging last time, then you vanished. Of course I'd miss you. I feel like I should be the one asking that question.

[nostalgiabomb]

Well, I mean—

[ ...she actually might have a point. He hesitates before turning toward her, leaning back against the counter and the bottle twisting in his hands. It takes him a moment, but he parrots back her words: ]

Just wasn't sure you had much to miss, is all.

[ Considering the amount of unguarded moments they shared probably could be numbered on one hand. He says it without any bite, though – just a flat statement of fact. ]

[stealwithit]

[ She huffs a light laugh at hearing her words thrown back at her, fixing her gaze down at a suddenly intriguing spot on the table, mostly just avoiding eye contact. ]

Don't know. Mostly I kept wondering what you were up to, or if we'd still run into each other if I hadn't said everything that I said, last time. That kind of thing.