[log] There's a road I'd like to tell you about [closed]

[zunesareawesome]

Characters: Peter and Gamora
Location: Arcade (Bldg 292)
Date: Day 377
Summary: Guardians being Guardians.
Warnings: Infinity War spoilers, talk of major character death, ptsd



292: This building shows up green on the Geiger counter. Going inside, it looks like it might have been an arcade, once: the machines and electronics are all gone, but the layout matches, and there are long-forgotten signs for various games and coin dispensers that vanished years ago. There are areas for less high-tech games, too, though: tables set aside for tabletop, board, and card games. It's not a bad place to spend the night, except you'll have to sleep on a hard bench or on the floor.

Comments

[zunesareawesome]

It's weird, the routine they've settled in is enough to bring back some semblance of normality. The arcade was starting to become familiar, and the four years that he's been gone drift into that weird kinda unreal memory territory. Sometimes it almost feels like a dream, and this...the snow and the cold and the isolation? That's the reality.

Then of course he looks at Gamora and remembers the pain, and the snow becomes a dream once again, something that's going to disappear, like so many other things.

He knows that whatever...this...is, this limbo, whatever it is--it's not going to last. Maybe there's a way out, maybe there's a way back in time, maybe there's a way he can beat the answer out of Stephen...

...or maybe there's not and everything, everything is on borrowed time.

Still, he's had his sight back for awhile now, and Gamora's alive and well, and that's something.

That's everything.

And he's gonna do everything he can to keep it that way.

There's a part of him that wants to keep it this way forever. All that stuff they were doing in the Bunker? People gettin' killed left and right? It was awful, and he should be there helping...

...but he didn't want to help. He didn't want to find a way out because a way out meant that not only he was dead, but Gamora... (and Stephen.) And yeah, maybe he could find a way to another world, but that wasn't guaranteed at all.

Would he damn everyone to save one person?

Again?

...it feels wrong to think this ruthlessly, but he's tired. Tired of seeing Thanos' cruel face, tired of seeing him take her away, tired of the galaxy taking so much from him. Taking everyone and everything he's ever loved. It's an awful seed that's taken root, something that was planted a thousand-fake years ago when he was a cold, cruel facsimile of his father when the town did one of its' errors. When he was tired of seeing people he cared about die, when he was tired of seeing mortals--seeing Flynn--as already dead. And he'd worried about being immortal so much, worried about outliving his friends...and it turns out probably wasted a lot of time thinking about it. But that part of him, that horrible person he'd become--like his father--still haunts him.

But he's finding it harder to care.

Peter coughs, sitting on top of one of the tables, looking at his Zune. He's been coming down with something, a cold or a fever, maybe from not being able to sleep properly. Either way, it's nothing he's gonna worry about.

Except...

"My Zune's dead."

[alivingweapon]

That Zune. He'd died for it. She understands why, objectively, but it still makes her so angry. The foolish idiocy, and the fear, and the agony of listening to him die, of losing him. All for the sake of some music. And yes, she knows it's not really about that, but distilling it down to its dumbest motivations helps her stay angry and block out the sadness.

Besides, it means so much to him. So she purses her lips together. "Are you sure?" She's not that far from him, and her steps are heavy as she closes the distance to see for herself.

She also really hates the sound of that cough.

[zunesareawesome]

"It needs a charge." He hands it over to her. He wouldn't just let anybody even touch his Zune now--maybe Stephen, maybe Flynn, maybe Angel who could charge it--but Gamora, of course, he has no problem sharing. The heavy rectangular object shows no sign of life at the moment.

"Angel charged it last time for me, but I..." Kinda had a falling-out and don't want to admit I was wrong in order to secure another Zune charge. "...might see about other options first."

My pride versus music, which will win out first?

He stifles a cough. Nope, not sick either, uh-uh.

[alivingweapon]

Gamora has known him long enough to be able to read between the lines. With her head aching like it is, it takes a little longer, but she still manages it. She manages to hear what he's not saying. "Maybe... we have something that Angel wants." She turns the player over in her hands a few times before carefully handing it back." If we do, I can trade for it. You don't have to."

A starburst of agony goes off behind her eyes, and she winces. Today sucks so much.

[zunesareawesome]

He clutches the Zune protectively once it's back in his hands. If he was protective over his Walkman before, it's even worse now, worse after he'd died for it.

He's silent a moment, before speaks up, a wan smile on his face. "You'd do that for me?"

The wince doesn't go unnoticed, and the smile fades into a frown. "Are you okay?"