alnifolia | OPEN POST;

[ His eyes narrow and his brows knit together -- disapproving is the general look he's going for, here. Because he was worried, and for a bit there, worry was starting the sharp ascent into actual fear, but-- no, he doesn't want to admit that. Star-Lord doesn't do fear. Fear is a weakness, and the last thing Peter wants to seem is weak. He's already spent more than six months feeling like a doormat -- he doesn't want to give anyone cause to keep treating him that way.

It's why he lets her change the topic, though the annoyance doesn't quite leave him, not yet. He exhales sharply, signaling that the matter is tabled, at least for the time being. He steps off the ship (though not after a quick glance around; he's learned to be more wary of his surroundings) and moves to her side, hands in his pockets as he looks up. ]

Did it just start? [ Even if he's letting the matter slide for the moment, his tone is still a little sharper than he intends it to be. ]

[ She leans on him a little, shoulder to--arm, probably, because of their height difference--in hopes that he might calm down a little, because she doesn't miss the annoyance in his voice, either. She's here now, and likely will be for some more time yet. She hasn't got the next job lined up, so for now her only plan is stay with Peter (but with the Reaper war gearing up, it was hard to tell when she would get called away again). ]

Yeah, it looks like it. Beautiful, isn't it?

Edited 2014-12-24 23:24 (UTC)

[ He stiffens a little as she moves closer, if only because he's pretty set on the whole-- being annoyed thing. Being angry. But-- at this point, relief is overtaking all else; he's just glad that she's whole and here and unhurt, and that's all he was wishing for in those two hellish hours, right?

So the fight goes out of him, and he takes her hand. There are some days, bad ones, since he came back from the Ravagers that he feels unmoored, and just a simple, physical touch is enough to keep him from going too far adrift. A casual brush of arms as one of the Guardians passes by in the small space of the Milano. A familiar hand on his shoulder to get his attention while he wears his headphones. The feel of Kasumi's hand in his, their fingers laced together.

Kasumi and his team are his anchor. He doesn't want to admit how badly he needs all of them right now, needs them to be here with him, so he can watch over them and keep them safe, whatever the cost may be. But he can't say that, especially not when Kasumi or the Guardians could be called away at the drop of a hat. There are bigger things going on in this galaxy than trying to make some dumbass feel better.

So he makes do with what time they do spend all together, but it's not enough. ]

How long can you stay, this time?

[ He-- doesn't mean to ask that right off the bat. He really doesn't, but it just comes out. He keeps his gaze fixed upwards, watching as light streaks through the sky, and he has to admit -- it is beautiful, but that's not exactly at the forefront of his mind right now. ]

[ She turns her head to look at him, even if he keeps his head up to look up at the sky. He seems entirely unsettled to her, and it's definitely her fault, she thinks.

Something in her heart aches, in a way that's both pleasant and painful, when she thinks about how things have been for the last few months--for the last month or so, specifically. It's crystal clear to her just how much Peter needs the team, and she even ventures, dares to think that he might need her, too, when sometimes she stirs in the middle of the night to find him holding onto her tightly, finds him seeking out her touch at random moments, finds him sometimes looking at her like he's trying to make sure she won't disappear on him at any moment.

It makes her want to protect him, as fiercely as she can, but she knows he wouldn't want to hear that from her. It's the least she can do for this man who put himself through hell for five months and then some, for his friends, and for her. And it's in the moments that she remembers that she's reminded of how much she just-- loves him. She hasn't said as much out loud, (apart from the occasional slip of her calling him "love") thinking it's not something he'd want to hear just yet, maybe especially of what he's been through, so it's unspoken but it's there and it's made its way into how she speaks to him, how she touches him, how she looks at him. She knows that to Peter, it might seem like she's taking pity on him and treating him like a fragile little thing, but really, it's just that she loves him. There's nothing more that she would want than to stay with him--after all, when they're apart, she spends her idle moments worrying about him, too.

But there may be a point in time, she knows, when she'll probably have to leave for quite some time. If the Crucible needs her. When Shepard decides it's time to take the fight to the Sol System--to Earth, and with all this going on with Peter, she hasn't quite figured out where she fits into all this. She doesn't want to leave him, that's for damn sure, but she might have to, and that's killing her because who the hell knows what's going to happen during that final battle, and then after that?

So, to his question, she can only offer a vague, but hopefully reassuring response, tinted with a dash of playfulness to try and lighten the mood. She's not sure it'll work, though. ]

Well, how much longer can you guys stand to have me around?

[ He tries his best to match her tone, but it's not quite up to snuff. Still, he's trying, at least, and doesn't that count for something? ]

I mean, it's a trial, sometimes, lettin' you bum around, but we've all come to accept it.

But darling, don't you think I make the best pancakes?

[ She lets her smile linger for a moment longer, before it fades into something more subdued and she tightens her hold on Peter's hand. Because she doesn't want to ignore how he's still upset over what happened--and at her--and if it does turn out that they won't have much more time together, Kasumi would hate for things to remain this way. ]

Hey. I'm sorry I made you worry, Peter. I just--my hands were tied. I should have let you know when it was over and that I was alright. But trust me, if anything were to really happen to me, you would be the first to know. I promise.

[ She's got all sorts of things she's set up, after all, to let him and Shep know if she ever needed backup, or was badly injured, or being hunted down, or worse. ]

[ For a long moment, he's just quiet, watching the meteors flaring as they enter the atmosphere.

It's pretty. It reminds him of the yearly meteor showers back home (Perseus? Perseids? something like that). Mom would check in the paper for when the meteor shower would be at its peak; she always sent him to bed with a promise to wake him, but Peter was too excited to sleep, would bolt out of bed the second she opened the door. Every year they would go into their backyard and lie in the grass, staring up and watching as the meteors disintegrated in the sky, bursting to life and disappearing as they went.

"I met your father durin' a meteor shower," she told him once. It caught his attention immediately, but she said no more on the subject. She never did tell him much about him, except that the man was a good person, that he glowed with the brightest light. When he was really young, he took it literally, imagined him to be an angel. As he got older, he started thinking that she was just being poetic, but now, he's not so sure.

(He hasn't told Kasumi that he's half-human, half-who-the-fuck-knows. It still doesn't feel real enough to admit it aloud. He wonders if she'd care.)

Eventually he turns to her, smiling a little. ]

It's-- fine.

[ Well, it's not really, but hey, at least she gets why he's kind of pissed. And he knows he doesn't sound particularly convincing, so he sighs, starts leading her to an open patch of grass. ]

C'mon. No idea how long the shower will last.

[ (Of course she would care. She'd care about anything Peter would want to tell her, by now.)

Kasumi just nods, letting him lead her to the spot of grass, and now it's her turn to be distracted from the shower because she's not sure what he wants her to do, what she can do to make things better.

Unlike Peter, Kasumi's never truly sat down to watch a meteor shower like this. She'd lived in big cities where this sort of activity was basically impossible, even when she lived on Earth, and she hardly took the time to find meteor showers the times she was on remote colonies or planets for jobs. (She did come to gain more of an appreciation for stargazing when she was on the Normandy and found herself restless at night, though.)

So it's a little unfortunate that she isn't paying much attention to the meteor shower anymore, at least in thought; her head is tilted up, and her eyes are directed towards the sky, but it's not really registering at the moment. But she can at least pretend that she's paying attention. ]

Yeah. Let's just... try to relax and enjoy this.

[ For his part, Peter needs the distraction.

He's often accused of never having a single thought in his head. The truth is, his mind is often abuzz with activity, flitting from one idea to the next. It's become worse since he became de facto leader of the Guardians, worse still since his brief, unhappy reunion with the Ravagers. Because now he worries constantly, second guesses himself, thinks about how best to keep his newfound friends safe and unharmed.

It was easier when it was just him. It was so much easier when his mistakes meant only his neck was on the line, and none of these amazing, talented dudes who made the mistake of following his lead. Sometimes he envies Yondu's ability to detach himself. The man's a bastard, but he was a good leader.

(In the early days, he wondered if this whole-- team thing was a good idea. He had buried those thoughts after a few jobs well done, but now they're starting to resurface.)

He flops back on the grass, hands folded behind his head and ankles crossed; he looks relaxed, but he's always been a good actor. The meteors continue burning through the sky, flaring to life and fading out just as quickly; for a few moments, he just watches them, feels a twinge of something that makes him wish he were on Earth again. ]

You ever wish on stars, Goto?

[ She joins him on the grass, letting the hood fall back and away from her face as she lays down and rests her hands one on top of the other at her ribs and crosses her legs at her ankles.

At his question, she smiles a little to herself. She's a romantic; when she was younger, she used to look up at the skies on Earth and wish she could see what all was out there, even though she loved Earth to bits. It has always been in her nature, after all, to want more, and before she realized she could take things into her own hands (and quite literally so) she would merely wish on stars that were barely visible, on fallen eyelashes, on strips of paper during Tanabata.

(While Peter was gone, she often found herself staring up at the sky, stars or none, murmuring silent wishes--prayers, almost--that he was okay.) ]

Of course I have. Why, are you making some right now?

[ She turns her head sightly to see his face; hers offers a gentle smile. ]

[ The corner of his mouth turns up slightly, but he keeps his gaze upwards. ] Don't you think that's kinda cheatin' during a meteor shower?

[ He's quiet for a second, then, ] Nah. I stopped makin' wishes on fallin' stars a long time ago.

[ She huffs a small laugh under her breath. ] Since when were we concerned about cheating?

[ She looks back up at the sky, finally relaxing a little to be able to actually appreciate the way the meteors are darting across the starry sky. It was unlike anything she'd seen, before. ]

Anyway, maybe you can make an exception for tonight. Who knows when we'll see something like this again?

[ He shrugs a little. ] Yeah, maybe.

[ But he wasn't lying; he gave up on wishes a long time ago. Four-leaf clovers, the first star in the sky, wishing wells, coins tossed into fountains, lucky pennies -- he tried all of that shit when he was a kid. Looked up any and every superstition he could think of to get more wishes. Pinned everything on those stupid hopes, and what did it get him?

Nothing. He still lost Mom, even lost his entire fucking family on the same day, once the Ravagers got a hold of him.

So Peter doesn't wish anymore. What's the point?

But that's not the kinda thing he wants to unload on anyone, much less Kasumi. She's got enough baggage to deal with, one of which already being a stupid, damaged boyfriend. ]

Still think it's kinda cheatin', though, all those shooting stars. That, and what could you possibly wish for? Pretty sure you could just steal anything you wanted.

Edited (wording!) 2014-12-30 00:06 (UTC)

[ She murmurs a drawn-out hmmm for a moment, like she's trying to come up with something to wish for, and then she turns to her side to face him, propping herself up on her elbow so she can get a good look at his face. ]

Hey, I can name a lot of things I would wish for. And I can't possibly steal anything I wanted. Unless it's true that I've actually stolen your heart?

[ Kasumi and her lame jokes at inappropriate moments. ]

[ He only turns his head to her, quirking an eyebrow. ]

Pretty sure you can't steal what's been given, babe.

[ And then he turns back to look skyward. ]

Or. I gave you the decoy heart. Who knows?

Aww.

[ She flops back down on her back, scooting in a little closer. ]

It's okay. I'm well-aware that the Milano will always be the true thief of your heart. I'm fine with the decoy.

[ There's a hint of a smile that tugs at the corner of his mouth. ]

If it's any consolation, the decoy is probably a lot better than the genuine article. It probably has, like, karate-chop action or something.

Karate-chop action.

[ She chuckles. ]

That does make me feel so much better, thanks.

[ She continues to look on at the meteor shower after that, and spaces out. Wishes, huh? If there's one thing she would wish for, at this moment, it could only be Peter's happiness. And that's something she definitely cannot steal, something she wants--for him--but there are times when she doubts whether she's the one who can give him that.

She really, really hopes that she is, though. ]

[ Peter doesn't wish. He watches, and he appreciates; he thinks about how strange it is that something as small as a grain of sand could cause such a stir, could flare to life and burst across the night sky.

And he thinks about Mom and Earth and feels that pang of nostalgia, bittersweet and aching. He thinks of every night between leaving Earth and now, how the sky was different every time he looked, how the stars rearranged every time he turned away. Every night there were new constellations, new configurations for him to stare at, and he felt so small.

He misses looking up and seeing the same sky, sometimes. He misses the stability. He misses knowing where to look for the Big Dipper or Orion's Belt. There were so few things in his life he could be sure of, and even that was taken from him. He could only trust himself -- because everyone and everything would change. Shift. Leave. Disappear.

And then those idiots burst into his life. And then the Collector made the mistake of thinking Kasumi Goto, best thief in the galaxy, needed back-up. And aside from a few hiccups along the way, they've stayed. They've stuck by him. And Kasumi's the biggest surprise of all; someone who slips from sight so easily but stays around with his stupid ass because-- she likes him, he guesses. Lord knows he's not exactly useful to her.

But that's not what it's about, is it? Sometimes he forgets that relationships aren't about equivalent exchange. Sometimes he forgets that people don't need a concrete reason to just-- stick around. He's never quite sure what it is that gets Kasumi to stay, but whatever it is? He's glad for it. He's glad she's here. Warm and alive and here.

His hand moves down to find hers, and he squeezes it, turns to catch her gaze. ]

Hey. [ His voice is quiet, small. Like he's not sure of his words or where he's going with this. ] Thanks for-- this. For-- being here.

[ Although she's never made it clear just how much he means to her--how his friendship kept her from a life of isolation and perpetual grief, how moving beyond that friendship made her feel alive again--she's always hoped that her actions would speak louder than words. When she realized he had been taken, she all but tore through the galaxy to try and get him back, and she would do it again and again until Yondu would get tired and leave Peter alone. And she realizes that's an unlikely scenario, but that won't stop her.

She would do that, and she stays because he's the greatest thing she's found in this galaxy since Keiji died, since the crew of the SR-2 was forced to split up. Because he gave her a reason to fight instead of throwing her hands up in the air and letting the Reapers take what they want and, as Peter might say, she's one of the idiots that lives in this galaxy--a galaxy that's worth saving if it meant she could be with him.

When she feels his hand take hold of hers, she gives it a squeeze back, looks into his eyes as he speaks, and finds herself affected by the way he speaks. ]

There's nowhere else I'd rather be, Peter.

[ She hopes he'll understand that she really does mean it, that even though she gets called away doesn't change the fact that she'd still rather stay with him. ]

[ Yeah. He gets it. He's still not sure if he understands, still isn't quite sure what it is that she sees in him--

(aside from the good looks. rapier wit. winning personality.)

--but he appreciates it all the same.

Things'll settle, he tells himself. Or they'll settle as well as they can in a galaxy at war. He just needs to see this shit through for once. He wants to run from this weird coil of messy emotions that got knotted up while he was back on the Eclector, ignore it till it fades away, but-- that's not an option, not anymore. Not when people are looking to him to be there, trust him to stick around.

Stay. Wait. See it through. Kasumi did that for him, right? He can do that for her.

At this point the meteor shower seems to be ending; the meteors are appearing less and less frequently. Peter takes a deep breath. ]

Ready to head in?

[ She pauses before responding. Truthfully, she'd be perfectly fine laying down here with him, for a while. Even if he's still mad at her, and they just stayed there silently--she'd still take that over being away. But maybe he's tired; she did stress him out by being so goddamn late after all, she figures. So she concedes, for now-- ]

Wait--

[ She sits up and leans over to plant a quick kiss on his forehead. ]

Okay, now I'm ready to head in.

[ When she tells him to wait, he figures she was gonna do something like find one last meteor and make a wish. Or just-- sit and watch until the show ended.

He wasn't expecting the kiss, so she surprises a small smile out of him; he props himself up on his elbows. ]

What was that for?

[ when she sees that she's managed to coax a smile out of him, she returns with one of her own. ]

Do I need a reason? I just felt like it.

[ He hums thoughtfully, then, ]

I bet you broke something.

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OPEN RP POST ① Pick a character ② Pick a prompt (or DIY) (shamelessly and selectively pilfered from bakerstreet's Random Scenario Meme) ③ Do the thing!. table code by betterdolphin