Retro

July 13, 2017:

Peter and Kitty discuss the Milano and his new handler.

The Milano

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions: Phil Coulson, Thor, Rocket, Groot

Plot:

Mood Music: None.


Fade In…

Where is Peter Quill?

Thats a good question sometimes. However mostly the self proclaimed Starlord is either:
A) At 'home'
B)At the Milano
C) Being yelled at

Sometimes it can be All Of The Above.

Right now though it happens to be 'B'. The Milano. Whistling to himself and sounding /way/ too happy with things. Which is suspicious all by itself.

The radio going, the cassette deck spinning out tunes of the Mamas and Papas as he slides from pannel to pallen, in his socks, singing along to the old tunes as he plugs commands into the various systems of the /highly/ customised ship.

One screen fritzes out on him and he pauses long enough to slap it a few times before it clears up. A nod to himself as he moves to the next.

Once again. Looking way too pleased.

*

The Milano is a place that Kitty has only been a few times. The last time involved a tossing into space that she did not enjoy or appreciate. This time, though, Kitty is wary but curious. "So, what is this?" Kitty asks as she cautiously approaches Peter and studies his intent mechanical repairs. This is unlike how she's ever seen him before, so she's curious.

"Also, you know, we could get you a Spotify account. There's no need to go with a tape deck."

*

"What is what? I can't be in a good mood for once? Is that it?" Peter calls over his shoulder as he sliiiides down the corridor to stop expertly right in front of the X-Woman with the attitude. "Come on, I'm allowed to have good days right? Right. In fact all my days are good days."

A roguish grin pops onto his features before he glances around a moment and…

Then a frown.

"…whats wrong with the cassette deck! Nothing! I happen to like it…its vintage!" He spins back to face a pannel again. "Whats a Spotify anyway?"

*

"This is not about good moods!" Kitty tells Peter as she looks about her warily. Her thoughts about space have been very clearly blocked out. "A cassette deck means your whole space system is from the eighties and therefore means it could fall apart at anytime!" Kitty tells Peter with both fear and confusion.

Good days are a good thing, but things are at stake here. As Peter slides right in front of Kitty she looks at him. "Nothing wrong with good days, but they might mean something, Peter."

*

"A cassette deck means my space ship is /awesome/, not from the eighties! God the Milano is a one-of-a-kind state of the art flying machine! Thats why I entered it in the space race thats going on around here." Peter states proudly, a wide grin on his face as he crosses his arms over his chest. This might explain why he's in a good mood.

He gets to fly again.

"Rocket and Groot and I are totally gonna show these Terrans how to fly." A smirk again before he continues. "But now I have to take that suit on a ride along too. Urgh. I don't like suits…usually they are sooo shifty!"

*

"You entered the Milano in a space race?" Kitty gives Peter a raised eyebrow. "Really?" If he was expecting Kitty to think this was a good idea, she quickly disabuses him of this notion. Or, at least her own opinion on the matter. "Why do you want to race the Milano? Is there some sort of prize?"

There's a raised eyebrow. "There are Terrans taking place in this race?" That actually surprises her for some reason. "Also, Spotify is a music streaming service that is available just about everywhere. No need for tapes. I'll show you my phone some point." As for a suit, she raises an eyebrow. "Like, a suit suit? Or a space suit?"

*

"Like…/Suits/. Capitol 'S' suits. The guys with sunglasses and black suits and ties that show up and wave badges around and tell you your breaking laws you didn't even know about. You know. /Suits/." Peter explains as he turns towards her, a spannner in one hand that he seems to wave for emphisis.

"Anyway, I don't know about prizes. Or what terrans are gonna be there. I just know its a /race/ and the Milano has been grounded for /way/ too long."

Then there is a squint towards her. "And there is /always/ a need for tapes. They just /sound/ better than those CD things."

Peter is stubborn. If she hadn't noticed.

"Anyway, the Suit was an agent of…SHIELD? Something like that. Apparetly Thor gave him my parole." He throws up his hands. "He didn't even ask me! That can't be legal."

*

"CDs?" Kitty gives Peter a look of surprise and raised eyebrow. "Who listens to CDs anymore?" She's actually amused by his declaration. "Like I said, Spotify!"

Unable to help herself, she reaches forward and attempts to snag the spanner from his hand as he waves it wildly about him for emphasis. "Ah, so you have to bring a SHIELD agent with you to participate in this race. Is this all part of your parole?" She asks, clearly thinking it is.

With a laugh, she shakes her head. "You're the one on parole, Peter. I have a feeling Thor can transfer your parole to a government agency on Earth to ensure you're not doing anything out of the ordinary. He's a God, after all, he's got other things to do. And, you know, maintaining those abs have got to take him quite a lot of time. Unless that's an Asgardian thing, in which case I would like to sign up for citizenship."

*

"Spotify sounds like some strange laundry detergent!" Peter shoots back as she grabs the spanner from him. "Hey! You don't know what you're doing with those space tools!"

Yes. He said space tools.

He makes a grab for the spanner back from her even as he chatters on. "Urgh though, don't get me started on Asgard. I mean there is /one/ fat guy in Asgard. ONE. And he like…eats whole cows or something I don't know."

He thumps down in one of the chairs in the cargo bay of his ship. "But…yeah, part of it now. Gonna have to have SHIELD oversight or something. Whatever that means. But at least they said they would gimme some place more secure to park the Milano. Even if they just wanna scan it and try to figure out how it reverse engineer it."

A beatpause.

"…I know how those Men in Black guys work. I've seen the movies."

*

Kitty opens her mouth to quickly put Peter's observation down, but she finds herself unable to do so. It really does sound like the name of a laundry detergent, so she just keeps the spanner and raises it up behind her with a smirk. "Well, despite it's name it's awesome."

Grinnning, she attempts to keep the space tool out of reach. "A man who can eat an entire cow deserves our respect." The thought of SHIELD having a closer eye on the Milano and Peter in general gives her a bit of a frown. A hand reaches toward her pocket, where the gem is now hidden. "You realize if they get wind of this gem, they're going to want to study it and me, right?" she tells him, a bit o worry sneaking into her voice.

The Men in Black comment, though, breaks a bit of the tension. "You have a tape deck from the eighties, but you know what Men in Black is? You're a weird alien, Peter."

*

Peter reaches for the spanner from where he sits as she dances back out of range. Long arms have an advantage. Then he's standing up to try to get it back, random snatches that she evades. "Yeah, well. Thor already blew that one for you. The Phil guy knows about it. He doesn't know its linked to you, or that you're around. But…he knows about the thing. And wants it studie—d!"

A lunge for the spanner as he steps towards her, reaching /far/ over her shoulder. Proving once more that Peter Quill has no idea what 'personal space' means.

In fact he's enjoying this at least. Trying to get rid of the worry maybe. If one was being charitable one could think that at least.

"I'm not technicly an alien, I'm just…" And he reaaches up with his other hand to boop her nose. "…from space."

"I just happen to like tape decks. Its not so wrong."

*

There's an immediate rear of panic in Kitty's chest to know that someone from SHIELD knows about the gem and wants it studied. In studying the gem, that means studying her and that is something she is far from okay with being on the agenda.

However, as is Peter's ability, the fear is pushed slightly to the side as she attempts to play keep away from him. It may not be his intent, but it clearly works. Kitty tries to keep the spanner out of his long arm's reach about her smaller frame in order to reclaim the tool that is - let's be honest - rightfully his. The spanner is kept behind her and she grins as Peter invades her personal space. As he reaches for her arm, she phases it while keeping the rest of her body solid to keep the gem in its proper place.

Grinning, she'll watch him try to grab it with a self pleased look on her face. The boop on her nose is met with a wrinkle. "Fine, space man, you're not an alien. But liking tape decks is just wrong. What about a space record player?"

*

Peter is good for that. That distraction. That easy confidence that /somehow/ everything will come out fine. That strange, off the wall plan that brings it out in the end. That might be his superpower, if he had one.

Of course if you ask him his superpower is being that damn awesome.

His hand phases right though Kitty's as she does that and he snorts just slightly. "Cheater!"

There isn't any heat to it though, he can't really help from smiling.

Instead he just steps closer still, hooking one arm around her waist with a roguish grin. "Ha! So all of you can't get away! Now I just need to figure a way to distract you!"

This close though, she can tell that something in that last question hit…something. Not sure what. But there is a flicker of /something/ actually serious in the irriverant spaceman's eyes. It lasts only for a flicker, but impossible to miss.

Then its covered again, a smirk. "I just like casettes! God, nothing pleases you does it?!"

*

That is part of what draws Kitty to Peter. She is a worrier, a woman who tends to need to know details and worries about all of them. His flippant self confidence is both an annoyance and a boon.

Kitty's laugh as Peter's hand passes through hers to grab the spanner is almost more a cackle than an actual laugh, but it's one of pleasure and pleased surprise. "It's not cheating if you knew I could do it!" she retorts.

As Peter steps forward and hooks an arm about her waist, she doesn't fight it. After all, she can only phase certain parts of her body with this gem attached to her like this. "However will you manage to do that?" she asks innocently, fluttering her eyelashes at him with a grin.

The flicker across his face, though, is one that Kitty easily catches. They're too close at the moment and despite herself, she has started to learn a few of Peter Quill's tells. There's a raised eyebrow. "Sure, you can like cassettes. But, if you really cared about musical tone, you'd just use a record player or something. You could put anything in this spaceship, it's a spaceship. What's up with the tape deck?"

*

For all that Peter Quill projects his devil may care attitude and his larger than life persona, he doesn't talk about himself much. Oh he'll talk about adventures and conquests and relationships and how they have some sort of thing going. But nothing about /himself/. All he's been able to pry from him was that he was from the midwest.

So the question itself is an easy one, its just a hard one for Peter himself to answer. Most of the people around him don't pry into his past. It's past, they don't ask. But this infuriating mutant girl just…keeps…prying.

He isn't quite sure how to feel about that.

"They were a gift alright!" He finally grumbles. "I've had em since I was ten. The cassettes."

A beatpause.

"Can we go back to me figuring out ways to distract you, because I think I've totally figured one out that we would both like." The grin returns, trying to undim the odd flicker that crosses his face when he talks about those cassettes. "I mean. You. Me. My bunk. Right there. Totally distracted."

*

Distracted, that's what Peter does best: distract. At times it is completely welcome. However, right now? Kitty knows she's hit upon something and she's not about to let up on it now that she knows that this is a thing. That's just not who Kitty is.

The spanner remains phased behind her, but her other hand snakes about to wrap around Peter's waist. They stay there and his attempt to change the subject in a way toward his bunk is met with a raised eyebrow.

Her question, though, is soft and empathetic. "The cassette tapes?" she asks as she remains where she is, looking right at Peter. "You keep the tape deck because it plays those gifts?" That's actually really sweet. She didn't expect that from him, despite his inclination to be a good guy when the chips are down.

She can't help herself, she keeps asking. "Who gave them to you?"

*

"I…" Peter pauses for a moment, looking towards the stubborn, annoying mutant girl that just won't let this go. She's so tiny too, looking down at her. The frown on his face something that usually doesn't reside there. "…look my mom gave em too me."

His arm falls away as he raises his one uncaptured hand in a wild gesture. "Happy now! I'm a momma's boy! I keep her gifts around! Gonna tell Rocket so he can laugh at me about it now?" He glowers, though there is little heat in it. "Totally ruined the moment too. We were having a moment, totally ruined now!"

…yes. Mock-hysterics are entirely required at times like this.

*

There's a long moment where Kitty digests what Peter told her. His mother gave him the tape. It's why he wants a tape deck in the Milano. The look that Kitty then gives Peter is not pitying, but understanding and sympathy.

There's a lot of things that Kitty could say, could tell him about how she understands and appreciates him telling her. A lot of things could be said, but this is Peter Quill. And so, she decides to show him. Using the hand not phased, she pulls at his jacket toward her to kiss him.

*

That is /defintally/ the most effective way to shut up someone like Peter Quill.

It suprises him, thats for damn sure. There is a moment where her fingers curl around his jacket where she thinks she's gonna shake him. To get him to stop talking. Just like it usually happens.

So when she pulls him closer and then /down/ there is more shock than resistance.

That changes pretty quick.

He defintally rallies quickly there.

His arms slide around her waist after a split second of hesitation to pull her closer. He leans into the kiss, devoting the entirty of his attention to just that. When comitted to a cource of action like this, well…he isn't one to back off.

In fact, he's only coming up for air when his lungs scream at him to do so.

Breathless, eyes wide and dark. The pilot just slowly smirks towards the mutant in his arms, who has hold of his jacket.

"…alright." His voice a touch breathless, but very satisified. "So moment rekindled."

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