"And then what happened?" Kraglin quirked an eyebrow.
"Well, they said that Fox was bought...but it could still be a while before I'm in anything related to the movies. Yeah,that's right-- no open slots. I can't even pop up in Netflix's Punisher!" Ever since Kraglin and Tullik made it down to Elsewhere, he'd meandered around for a cheap spot to drink. He found a spot at the Golden Cabaza, a fancy place that gave you sofas to recline on while you were served cheap liquor. Just like that, some random dude in a red suit showed up, with swords on his back and guns and stuff. He didn't catch a name from the freak, but he was hilarious company, so Kraglin didn't really ask. He just sorta nodded along and listened to the very insane stories he brought up. "So, I'm like Feige, come on! Help a guy out, you know? And Feige says he's got a slot open, but I wouldn't like it on account of it being a no pay deal."
Kraglin furrowed his brow at the masked lunatic. "Wait, dude. You didn't take the deal."
The man somehow gave a wincing look with his black rimmed, white lensed eyes. "I had to! My sequel was out and I needed something to do, you know. So he told me, Okay, you can pop up in a random story on a fanfiction site that's set in the MCU. It ain't pretty,it not canon, its got ponies and its only the twelfth chapter, but hey..."
"That sucks." Kraglin sympathized with a wave of his drink. "I'd hate being stuck in...whatever you just rambled about, with nothing to do until next year. I feel for ya."
"Thanks, Kraglin. That means a lot to me, coming from the brother of a director." The suited man offered a tilt of his own glass. "To a wealthy future?"
Kraglin nodded and toasted his drink with him, before guzzling his down. When he set down the empty cup, the suited man was making ready to leave. "Well, this was nice, bro. But now I gotta get going. My team got massacred in said sequel so, still searching for replacements. "
"Thats all right! But, hey!" The Ravager managed to catch his attention with a tongue click before he could move away. "What was your name again?"
"Huh? Oh! Pacina de La Muerta, at your service." He snorted in a laugh seconds later. "I'm kidding, sorry. It's Ryan. Ryan Reynolds."
"Oh, nice talking Reynolds."
"Right back at ya!"
Kraglin downed a few more cups and walked off, away from the sofa he’d reclined on. He figured that everyone else was here by now, huddled at a table and swapping stories or something. He should get on over to them before he missed anything funny or juicy.
He wasn't sure how, since he was looking straight ahead, but he walked into Yondu. It was hard to miss the blue skinned, red finned captain he’d been following as far as he could remember. It was hard to miss that he was sneering,too. “Jesus, Kraglin. You blind now?”
“Uh, no. My bad, Cap’n.” Kraglin quickly apologized.
“Hmm. I hear you and Tullik ran into the Guardians.” Yondu said with disinterest in his voice. “Keep out of their business. We’ll get bad attention.”
“Right.” Kraglin said.
Without another word, or even a look in his direction, Yondu marched in a somber pattern away.
The fire crackled loudly, but it was not the only thing to fill the empty slot of silence in the air. No, for there was also the thick tension between all that sat around the odd group. Well, all of them except two; one highly amused and one highly inquisitive.
"But just a couple of hours ago, I shot this huge bolt of lightning and I didn't know I could do that, cuz I've never really done anything that big before." Trixie rambled with a crazed look in her eye to the old man, who had named himself Ego. Her nonstop chatter seemed to make her oblivious to the incredulous eyes staring at her. "But I never thought I was a celestial, either! Like, wow! I'm a demigodess!"
Ego chuckled aloud and leaned back on the log with a warm grin, chewing on jerky. "Ha Ha! Well, for your heritage its not that simple. You're just as powerful as your father was, some its more than half. More than Demi."
"Can you tell what species my father was? " Trixie nervously bit her hoof and flattened her ears back. "Ooh, he wasn't an alien like you, right?"
He rubbed his big beard in curiosity and shrugged off the question. "Not sure. I suppose I need more strength to assess that. For now, I can confirm that he's from Equestria. Someone ancient, obviously."
Trixie cooed in fascination, and elbowed Quill in the ribs. "Is your dad the best or what?!"
"Or what."
Trixie leaned forward again. "Go on, Mr.Ego! What were you saying about Quill?"
"Well, after a particularly...unhappy time in our lives," Ego glanced at Quill with a brief look of built up sorrow. "I hired Yondu to pick him up. But that was the last I ever heard from him. You both just...vanished into thin air."
"Well, that's cuz Yondu kept me." Quill explained with an uncomfortable frown. "I was skinny, so he forced me to go places where his crew couldn't fit. Apparently I was only ever good for theivin' to him."
Drax gave him a disapproving look. "That is not a nice thing to say about your father. I'm sure Yondu loves you very much."
Derpy poked his leg and pointed at Ego with the same hoof. "Uh, that's Quill's dad."
The green warrior blinked owlishly at all three of them. Peter rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed loudly, before looking back up at his partner. "You really thought Yondu was my dad."
"Yes! You look so much alike!"
Rocket stared at Drax as if he were a very stupid baby. "Yondu is fucking BLUE."
“In other words,No. Yondu is not my real dad. Real dads don't teach their sons to steal from people and shoot blasters and do nasty stabbing things!” Starlord grumbled under his breath. “And what kind of Dad keeps their kid in check by threatening to eat them?”
Ego gave a very offended look to Quill and almost choked on the jerky he ate. “Oh my gosh--Eat you?! That's horrible and disgusting. I'd never try to eat you...or...anyone I've been searching years for. It's just...weird.”
Gamora’s blade glistened in the light of the fire, but was still in her jade hands. “Right. How exactly did you find him after so long, anyway?”
“Legends, of course. Even where I must reside--even as a kooky old being of mass power--I’ve heard countless tales of the handsome, daring swashbuckler they call Starlord. Way out in the beyond.” Ego explained readily, possibly missing the brief smug look on Quill’s face. He smiled wider and clapped his hands once. “Heck, why don't we travel out there in the morning, son? Oh, and you too, Trixie and--Heck, everyone else! You, Drax and even that...rabbit you got!”
“Rabbit?”
“Sorry, I'm not sure.” The old man shrugged, apologetic. “Triangle faced monkey?”
As Rocket flinched and promptly began patting his face down in worry, Ego turned back to his flesh and blood. “But yeah, you'll love it. It's got a big, outdoor forest feel...A place like you've never seen before--guaranteed! And, its the best place for me explain your very special heritage, your gifts and potential...The perfect way for me to...to start being the father I should have been years ago.”
He held a deep stare with Quill, and the both of them went without any smiling. Ego’s face was set with great hope, and Quill’s face was set with great distrust. After a few more seconds, the old man said the most profound, inspiring and heartwarming sentence that night.
“Sorry. I just...I gotta take a whiz. BRB.”
Everyone, excluding his strange entourage stared as he got up and picked out a nearby tree to mark his territory on. Trixie’ears perked up seconds later and she offered her human pal a small smile. “See? He's pretty sweet!”
“I’m not buying any of this. I don't like him at all.” Peter crossed his arms and huffed to top off that statement. Trixie scoffed at him and shared a sympathetic look with the green woman on the other side of Quill.
“Trixie, join us.” Gamora elbowed Starlord and stood up. “We’re taking a walk.”
When the three of them wandered away into the dark stretches of the wilderness, Derpy inspected the cooked cattail she’d tried to make with a stick and the campfire. If was slightly burnt, but the taste was...edible. She ate it all and casually wiped her chin, just in time for Drax to nudge her. “She has been awfully quiet.” He whispered.
Derpy looked over to the strange, insectoid woman. The newcomer was idly rubbing her arm where the green sleeves didn't cover, almost lightly pecking at her skin with her nails. Her eyes, giant orbs of shiny black, were focused on the pony and the guardian. “I think she’s just shy.” Derpy blinked and waved a hoof. “Hello! What's your name?”
The woman gave a smaller wave. “I am Mantis…” Then, very slowly, she pulled her lips back and gnashed her teeth at them.
“...what are you doing?” Drax practically inspected her pearly white teeth, face contorted with confusion. “Are you growling?”
Whatever she was doing, she stopped doing it. “I am smiling. I hear it is the thing to do to make people like you.”
“Not if you do it like that.“ Drax sneered.
“Hey! Be nice!” The Pegasus pouted at Mantis and patted her hand with a gentle hoof. “Its okay. I like you already.”
Oddly, when Derpy made contact with her hand, Mantis sat up straighter. Her mood seemed to lighten up, much like Derpy’s kind attitude towards her. “Thank you. I am still learning the intricacies of social interaction. I was raised alone with Ego on his planet, and it left very little learning opportunities. No real lessons.”
“I am Groot!”
Derpy beamed as Groot nuzzled her neck. “He says you're off to a good start. So, Lesson one is a success..”
Mantis nodded and looked around the camp, glancing over Maud and peeking at Nebula before settling on Rocket. The woodland critter was licking a paw in silence, locked in his own thoughts. The insectoid woman pointed at him. “Your puppy is adorable.Can I pet it?”
Derpy opened her mouth to explain that she shouldn't do that, but a huge hand slapped over her mouth. She gave a deadpan look to Drax as he nodded at Mantis, suppressing an extremely amused smile. The woman leaned forward with curious glee, fingers reaching and reaching and reaching until they caught the very first hairs of his fur.
Rocket’s head whipped back in milliseconds, making both Derpy and Mantis shriek as he snapped at the latter’s fingers. The woman was about to start to counting them for any missing digits, but Drax’s whooping laughter drew her confused attention. When he had enough breath, he explained with: “That’s your Lesson two! That is what is called a practical joke!”
Much to the pony’s surprise, Mantis giggled and snorted, guffawing at the mention of a joke. She laughed with Drax hard enough to bust a gut, and he laughed harder. Derpy snickered into her hoof and poked Mantis. “Okay, okay. That was pretty funny!”
“That was the funniest joke ever!” Mantis wheezed.
Drax chortled. “I just made it up!”
Nebula hugged her knees close to her chest, as best she could with the annoying shackles. “Maybe I'm dead, and I'm suffering the fourth level of hell right now.”
Maud glanced at her from the side. “Oh, they're not that bad.”
“They’re infuriating,” Nebula paused and snarled. “Just like you.”
“Hmm. Well, you'd better get used to it.” Maud advised as she watched Mantis pick up Groot. The small being was tiny in her hands, fitting easily in one palm. “You might be stuck with us for a while.”
“Hmm.”
Maud looked just the slightest bit hopeful. “Maybe we can talk?”
“I have nothing to talk about with you, Beast.”
“My name’s Maud.” The pony smiled ever so slightly. “Nice to meet you too.”
“Come on, son! I'll teach you demigod stuff!” Quill kicked a tree branch and then a small stone. “ Give me a break! After all this time, you’re just gonna show up out of the blue, and try to be my dad? Does that sound good to you at all?!”
“Well...When its put that way, no.” Trixie trotted alongside him, careful not to get in the way of his kicking. “But, Look. I don't know you extremely well, but second chances must be your thing right? Even a little bit?”
He groaned. “Even if it was, this could all be a trap! There are people that want to kill us for what we do, Trixie. Very bad people with laser guns. Especially Yondu’s people.”
“But if that's not the case, then Trixie has a very valid point! And think past the second chances! This your own flesh and blood!” Gamora offered and visibly wracked her brain for any intellectual leverage over the situation. “What happened to all those stories you told me about Zardu Hasselfrau?!”
“Who?” Both Trixie and Quill asked.
“He owned a magic boat!”
Peter paused, allowing nightly silence to fill in the long break. “...Wait--David Hasselhoff?!”
“Yes!”
“Again, who?” Trixie tilted her head.
“He’s kind if a singer/actor. Look,” Quick as lightning, he unveiled a small image from his pickets, aged greatly but still intact. It was a picture of a human, with stylish black attire and a mullet that flowed in the wind. Despite the hair color, Trixie didn't see much of a resemblance. “It wasn't a boat, it was a talking car!”
“I meant car. Anyway,” Gamora grasped the human’s hand and squeezed it gently. “As a child, you would always carry this picture in your pocket… and if anyone asked, you would tell all the other children… that he was your father, but that he was out of town….shooting Knight Rider--”
“Or on a tour in Germany. I was really drunk when I told you this--why bring it up now?”
“I love that story.” Gamora said sweetly.
“I hate that story!” Quill said bitterly. “Its nothing but sadness and depression! Every time I saw other kids run off to learn how to fish or play catch with their dad...it--it opened a hole inside of me.” He sighed uncomfortably. “I really wanted what they had.”
“Thats what we’re trying to tell you!” Gamora pointed back to where they’d walked from. “ Suppose that old man is your Hasselhoff; Don’t brush off this opportunity! Take it! “
“You may not have had him back then, but you have now, right?” Trixie sternly asked, then narrowed her eyes at the silence. “Right?”
Quill sighed in defeat. “Right.”
“Peter. You should try this. You should. And if he’s evil,” The green woman leaned forward and planted a kiss on Quill’s cheek, leaning back to stare into his eyes. “We’ll just kill’m.”
Soon after, she began to walk back down the path and leave her two friends alone in the wooded area. Trixie looked up at Quill with a wincing shrug. “Or maybe, don't kill him. That works too.” She began to trot their way back to camp. “Um...Trixie recalls that Ego mentioned something bad happening before you two were seperated?”
Quill followed her, but stiffened up. “Don't want to talk about it.”
“But…” As he sped past her, she pouted. Trixie wanted to know as much as she could about him in order to help, but clearly there was still of a lot of trust to be had between them. That didn't mean she couldn't guess, though. “...Did it have something to your mom? I've hardly heard any mentions about her.”
Quill slowed to a halt and sighed. She couldn't see his face, but the body language said it all. “Don’t want to talk about it.”
Trixie surrendered with a nod. “Its fine. Just...wanted to help... Somehow.”
“Well, I never said I wasn't going to try even a little bit.”
When she perked up, he rolled his eyes at her. “Don’t get your hopes up...You may end up hating him too.”