exsilium | ａｕｄｉｏ + ａｃｔｉｏｎ.

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ａｕｄｉｏ + ａｃｔｉｏｎ.

[ she begins without preamble, speaking clearly and surely. ]

I have things to trade in the cafeteria. There's hams and cheeses, doughnuts, and juices. Socks too, and wet wipes, toys and jewelry. I've got books too for those who want them and markers in lots of colors. There's a lot more too. I'll be here all day or until it's all gone.

[ she took over a section of the cafeteria for her use. her direwolf lies beside her, guarding both her and the cart.

her wheeled cart ( commandeered from the clinic ) is full of items: the top has a tray of finger food from the promised cold hams and cheeses to oysters and shrimp packed in ice with sauces alongside, even cooked mini pizzas. below are assorted vending machine goods in their wrappers, sacks of ground coffee and hot chocolate, and a dozen fresh doughnuts. she has a pitcher of lemonade and a half-gallon of fruit punch.

in the drawers are assorted items such as wipes, hand sanitizers, socks and scarves, toys including a stuffed bear that moves and talks when you press its stomach, a few books and papers and markers.

hidden inside a bag at the girl's feet are a few cartons of cigarettes and small bottles of whiskey and wine for those who can pay a little extra. ]

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Nothing.

[ she's starting to wonder about the sellers these people have. do they all have a motive other than acquiring new goods? ]

[More like the motive of "just give the kid what she wants because she's a kid and he's not a heartless bastard..." Until he realized a possibly resemblance to Cammi, who would have (tried to) gut him for it, probably.]

Well it makes it kind of hard to do a trade if I don't know what you're looking for, doesn't it?

I'm looking for useful things or interesting things. You have any of those? [ and prize for remaining vague as hell... ]

[Well he's got a dead Cosmic Cube, which immediately comes to mind, but it would be really cruel to give that to a kid. And also irresponsible. And also he's pretending it doesn't exist.]

I've got a couple. Some I can't give up, but I might have a few spares.

Then why mention them if you won't part with them? [ js. ]

[You know what, keep your logic to yourself.]

I've been told I have a problem with shutting up. So are you gonna want some sticky bandages that automatically seal wounds with the built in antiseptic and accelerated healing enzymes or not?

[ can't, won't ]

If you won't cry when you hand them over.

[oh my god it's really like talking to a Cammi clone.]

It'll break my heart, but I'll keep a stiff upper lip about the whole thing. You still have books left? I am bored out of my mind up here half the time.

There're still a couple. Want me to save them?

If you wouldn't mind. Do I need to arrange for a secure drop-off point?

Or you can walk. [ she already said where she was. else she'd be all over that. ]

[Where's your sense of humor, Arya?]

You drive a hard bargain, kid. But fine. I needed to hunt down some coffee anyway.

[Aka. he'll be by after he goes and yells at Gamora until she gives him some from the pot that was supposed to be his.]

[ it died along with her hopes and dreams and much her family.

she gives him no answer. if he shows up, he shows up. if not, it's no trouble to her. she'll find another customer. ]

[No, no, he's coming. He wasn't exaggerating his boredom; it's real, and it's driving him crazy. The fact that he's not going to deprive a kid of something without offering her something far more valuable and useful in return is just sort of another layer of nuance. It's been a long time since he's just sat down and read anything.

But also, and Gamora would call him an idiot for this, and maybe he is...the urge to be the hero, to take responsibility and help people, even after everything that's cost him, is still a deeply motivating factor. So yeah, he'll show.]

Ta-da, sooner or later I always show up. Like a bad penny. [After bullying coffee out of Gamora which just involved a giant yelling match until he just took it and stormed off.] You know, I just realized I never bothered to ask you if these were books that were heavier on words than pictures.

They're all words.

[ the girl tries to seem polite. the direwolf expresses their shared disinterest. ]

I sold the illuminated one.

[He's not even gonna comment on the wolf. One of his best friends is a talking raccoon. There is soooo little room for judgement or questioning in his life.]

I'm a little bit old for that anyway.

[It requires a little bit of digging in the variety of pockets hidden in places in his uniform- spare ammo, no, instant coffee, should throw it at Gamora unless he actually wants to sit tomorrow, rubber bands, shoot them at James later- and buried in the pack of "things that are useful in combat" is a roll of Kree-made, fleshy-colored (for Kree, so blue) bandages.]

Here you go. [He tosses them to her.] Should seal anything, as long as it's not immediately fatal. Won't keep you from dying if you're too far gone, but it works pretty great otherwise.

[ she turns over the roll in her hands to examine it. she drags a nail over it. a healthy amount of distrust has her doubting his words. but bandages are bandages. even if he's exaggerating, she can find some use for them. ]

Thank you. [ she sounds a little friendlier, a little younger. ] Grab whichever you want.

[They're all the same to him, really. He hasn't read any book off Earth in...well over a decade, and before that, if it wasn't about space, he probably didn't read it at all unless he absolutely had to. But now he's got nothing but time, doesn't he? Gotta do something while he's not coming up with any plans to save the universe.]

No recommendations? [He's tempted to find whichever one would be best to troll with, but sadly, there does not appear to be a Fabio cover in sight.] Don't use that on something you can just slap a bandaid on, by the way. [And remarkably, he actually hasn't found that much use for it; but then, he's not Adam Warlock, people don't stab him literally in the back on a regular basis.] Hey, do you have a name?

Don't go outside, there's no air. [ she knows he meant re: books. she also needed to let the snark out somehow. ]

'M Cat.

Sure isn't. That's why space is cold. And that's what they make nifty helmets that extract oxygen from practically nothing for.

[It probably doesn't work in the void of space, actually, but details, details. It works anywhere else. They don't need to get into those semantics right now.]

Cat, huh? I'm Peter. They shake hands where you're from?

[ she only gives him a look like "what are you even talking about." whether it's in reference to the space comment or the handshake or both isn't obvious. ]

No.

Oh, good, that saves me from having to attempt to be diplomatic or polite.

[He gets that look a lot. He tends to deserve it, too. Something about "hey my teammate killing you wore off what's the problem" and "did you know if you set off that giant bomb you will rip open the universe maybe don't do that" and "we're going to take a mad titan into the evil universe and use him to get rid of it" provokes a lot of incredulous and frankly contemptuous and baffled stares.]

I'm guessing they also don't talk a lot where you come from either.

[ the flat look that follows must also be very familiar. she remains silent and unsmiling, waiting for him to get something else or leave. ]

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ａｕｄｉｏ + ａｃｔｉｏｎ.

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if this is medically inaccurate I'm blaming it on "not my kind of science"

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20,000 years later with the magic inbox of vanishing tags...

gosh inbox g o s h

this is probably a lesson about not checking your tags on your phone at work or something

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