(no subject)

[yondu]

WHO: Yondu Udonta | OTA
WHAT: Yondu has a search for some company derailed by a mirage
WHEN: A week and a half after the explosion
WHERE: A dingier part of the city
WARNINGS & NOTES: References to sex work and references to dying

Yondu's heart isn't what you'd call open. Now, without the presence of his crew and without the ability to use his arrow as intimidation he's had to moderate his behavior. But he's still got his walls up, he's still mostly getting along with people based on practicality, and he's still not willing to search for an actual companion even this far into his dumbass life.

This is the worst of the reasons as to why he's taking some of his wages and looking for a companion for the night.

Worker droids are the best back home. They can erase memories, have lots of tricks programmed in, and they're not gonna judge a body that's covered in scars and wear. Problem is he don't know if any of these damned places have something of that sort. Instead, he's wandering the dingiest, shameful part of this utopia looking at the selection of girls offered on lit signs that aren't always scrolling or flickering they should.

It's in the middle of his trolling that, instead of a prospective business to patronize, he sees a familiar broad shouldered towheaded Terran walking down the sidewalk, drifting in between busy foot traffic composed mostly of perverts, drunkards, and cheapskates. A sea of inconvenient failures he just nearly lost track of Peter in.

"...Hey! Hey Quill!" He shouts. The kid doesn't hear him.

It still feels like a heartbeat since he 'died'. He had his last admission, an acceptance of his fate and penance for a life full of bullshit, the cold and silence sinking in as he realized he'd be dying the same as so many more of his crew. The better of 'em, anyway. He said what he said, but he would have liked to have known if the boy'd felt the same way. Peter didn't argue the point at the time, at least. He'd just looked at Yondu up until the point that Yondu couldn't see him no more.

The Ravager is moving before he even knows he's moving. He's shoving by people, nearly knocks a woman over. "Quill!" he shouts again. "Hold up! It's me."

But he doesn't stop. And when Yondu grabs his arm and spins the guy around, it's a fella with a big mustache and a modded third eye in his forehead. Looking very, very offended.

The old captain jerks his hand back, looking just as offended even if he has no right to be. As if this guy turning out to have nothing like the face he thought he saw was some great hostile act against him personally. He yanks back completely and starts storming off, kicking a clanky can from the path as noisily as possible. Because pissy displays of angry noise with an accompanying growling shout are the best way to show off one's patient personality and not make people veer around you as if you're a madman.

Maybe they're not far off, he figures, if he's seeing nonsense.

Comments

[helpdesk_hero]

This isn't a part of the city that David would have intentionally set himself to were he not set to an interesting set of tasks by the cop he was working with. As it was, he knew that this was the sort of place that he could go to get information that wouldn't be thick in the net.

Perhaps it's chance. Perhaps it's fate. Perhaps it's just fucking dumb luck that David happens to be looking the right direction when Yondu storms off. Which means David catches sight of the familiar blue, and starts weaving around people until he's catching up with the Ravager.

"Yondu?" he asks as he gets to the man's side. Hadn't expected to see him here. Perhaps he should have.

[yondu]

Yondu whips around like the off chance that someone recognizing his voice could mean that, maybe, just maybe, he'd just lost track of Peter. That it's him calling out a 'Yondu'. But no, it's the friendly kid that bombing fucked up.

"Somethin's real wrong with my fin. I'm seein' shit." He thumps his temple a couple of times, like he'd knock a wire back into place that had come loose. That old "fix it by kicking it" method.

He makes sure he's out of the way of the people walking, looking in the reflection of a darkened shop window, and giving his temple another pound.

[helpdesk_hero]

There is a momentary look of concern and regret on david’s face. He’d promised to help Yondu look at that, hadn’t he? And now he’d gotten side tracked. Again.

“What sort of things? Could be you’ve got a short messing with your head. I could try and help. I am a qualified neurosurgeon. Well, for human brains at least.”

[yondu]

He thinks about the money saved up. He'd wanted a prostitute, but the last thing he wants is to suddenly find himself banging the Missuz Ogord or something. Not that Aleta was bad looking by a mile, he just doesn't need that right now.

So instead-

"Let's go find one o' them mod places. They'd have the equipment to take a look. I ain't interested in gettin' nothin' patched into me just yet but I can pay 'em to use what they got."

[helpdesk_hero]

Oh, damn. David hadn’t even thought of that. But he smiles as he considers it. Yeah, that could be useful, couldn’t it?

“No reason not to try. Maybe we can figure out things in a place like that.”

And yes, he pulls out his phone to start searching for a local mod shop. In this part of town people might be more willing to rent tools out. And he may be a touch excited to look over the tech in question.

“Don’t know that I can get your arrow working in short order, but I should get your fun to stop being rude.”

[yondu]

He waits as David checks for info. "Which one is the closest?" He cares fuck all about quality or ratings. Or agreeability. He'll strong arm if he has to. All he cares about is if they have something that can see where the wires fit into his brain got crossed.

"As long as they do head mods I can work with 'em." Or sensory mods of some sort. He shoves aside some drunk who nearly carelessly bumps into him, everything about his fixed permafrown reading 'not in the mood'.

[helpdesk_hero]

"And you're assuming a lot more information than I have available," David shrugs as he finally selects one. "Things can be hard to track in this city, but I think I have a lead on a place a few blocks from here."

He hopes it has what they needs, but he has other immediate concerns. In this case, the concern is that he needs to keep Yondu from a fight.

"Let it go," he says softly. "Just for now."

[yondu]

"Might be right. Might be that the closer ones ain't the sort you can look up on your phone." And he knows that. He even prefers that, usually, but he doesn't want to drag David into place while he's trying to strongarm them for information.

He just needs to drag him into the one place, have the damn thing looked at.

But for now, at least, he just leaves the drunk to stumble. The drunk who points at him accusedly and warns him, 'There's candy stuck in your skull' and goes teetering along his merry way.

[helpdesk_hero]

Yeah, well, David has a certain requirement for how much credibility and oversight a place has, okay? He wants tools that are up to date and he can complain to someone about their right to operate. If nothing else, he wants the place to be sanitary.

"I think I'm going to prefer what I can find," David admits, ignoring the drunk. Laughing, he knows, wouldn't be the smartest. "Here, take a right at the next corner."

[yondu]

Yondu rubs his hand over one side of his fin as they walk.

"This is a prototype. The one I had before got busted when I got shot in the damn head. Might be a side effect of that. Never had it happen before, but there's always a first time for everthin' an' this has been in there for a while."

He lets his hand drop again, flexing his fingers irritably.

[helpdesk_hero]

"What sort of malfunction are you worried about?" David asks as he leads them around the corner and past a group of leather clad toughs. He's really not in the mood to break someone for looking at him funny tonight. Especially because he knows it would turn into a pissing contest.

Thankfully a surly blue man with sharp teeth at his side helps him avoid having to prove that normal looking and in slacks and a long-sleeved shirt doesn't mean pushover.

"And have you experienced traumatic head injuries before?"

[yondu]

"A few times. More'n once, anyway."

Indeed it doesn't, because Yondu's mood is reflected on his face, and other than the biggest of guys (or the drunkest) people are starting to give them a wide berth. Just what Yondu wants.

"This thing roots down into my vision, my hearing, and a few other bits of brain meant for motorfunctions. I use sound vibrations to control my arrow an' it follows a plan that I visualize. Don't know how similar it is to Terrans, an' I ain't had a problem like this before, but I had this thing in my head in some shape or another since my skull stopped growin' an' I was old enough for 'em to stick it in there. So I cain't be sure that the wear and tear ain't got to it. I don't reckon I was meant to live this long, nohow."

Bitter and angry, every single word. Technically, he didn't live this long, he doesn't guess.

"I also froze to death before comin' here. So that mighta had somethin' to do with it."

[helpdesk_hero]

Fuck. David prays to whatever gods may be out there, that this doesn't need to head into brain surgery areas. Ever. Who knows how Yondu's brain structure differs from Terran. And now Yondu's got David thinking of them that way too. Fun.

But really, it's the 'froze to death' that gets David to stumble and come to a stop.

"You what?"

[silentnarration]

Yondu isn't the only one seeing things, it seems. The exterior of this one pub had looked so familiar that Squall tried to enter without thinking. He's in the midst of being thrown out as Yondu walks past, a rough push that has Squall stumbling back and right into Yondu.

"18 only, kid." comes the taunt from the bouncer before the door shuts again.

Squall clicks his tongue as he stares back at the front of the pub. It doesn't look like Raine's pub at all now.

"I didn't want to drink here anyway," he grumbles, righting himself again before turning to look at who he's been tossed into. "Sorry..."

[yondu]

There's some kid being thrown into him, and on one hand, he's irritated at having someone thrown into him. But it's just a fuckin' kid, and the bouncer is about to receive a hard verbal attack from a man that's suddenly looking for a fight when he vanishes, and he hears an apology.

It's taking every fiber of his being not to walk into that pub and start some shit just because they didn't care about starting some shit with him.

The blue man's face is made for scowling, equal measures unfriendly and spiteful and still personally attacked and it's as if his scars are set particularly to make that expression even more pointed. "Trust me kid, all the good places don't care how old ya are. So long as your voice broke you oughta be good."

[silentnarration]

Squall would probably be okay with this just as long as he doesn't maim anyone. He's staring a little. Aside from the Shumi, everyone else at home is human, so a blue man kinda stands out. Not that much in this city but still.

He shakes his head, dusting his shoulder off. "I know. I wasn't-- It just looked familiar for a second."

[yondu]

"It did, huh?"

That seems to get the irritable blue guy's attention. Just chip off a touch of that ravager anger and smooth out his facial features.

"It look like somethin' from before you came here?" No telling if they're related, but maybe it's more than the broken fin.

[silentnarration]

That response gets Squall's attention too.

"Yes. A place I've been before." For a short time but still. It was an important place. Kind of. He looks at Yondu questioningly. "Did you experience the same thing?"

[yondu]

"Yeah, with a person."

He taps the piece of plastic embedded in his skull.

"Figured my fin was broken an' was makin' me see stuff. Maybe that's not the case." Maybe there's something in the air or water or whatever.

[silentnarration]

Squall stares at that fin. He'd assumed that was a part of him, not an addition.

"What does it do?" He rests a hand on his hip and finally draws his eyes away from just rudely staring. "It's weird. It feels like everything in this city is always... shifting."

[yondu]

"It controls my weapon of choice, but I ain't been able to use it since I got here. Not to any effect nohow."

He holds up his arrow and whistles. It floats over his hand, but then starts to wobble. Little control of it left, really. And it's pissing Yondu the hell off.

"What about you? You come in with somethin' broke?"

[silentnarration]

Whoa. That looks cool. Too bad it's not working, Squall would love to see it in action.

He shakes his head. "Not broke. Just missing. My gunblade didn't come with me. And they removed my GFs. They're Guardian Forces, summons that... live in my head I guess. They let me use magic spells."

[yondu]

Magic isn't so strange to him as it is to other space farers, probably. His old team had a skilled magician. So he doesn't really hold up over it.

"So you just forgot how to summon? Or do they just not come when you try?"

[silentnarration]

"They won't come because they're not here. If they are, I'll have to find them." Would this city have GFs lying around? Guess he'll find out.

"Does everyone from your world have a fin like that?"

[yondu]

"Nah, it's pretty rare. Most of the other fellas that had one got killed off. My world's about mixed an' matched as this'n.

"Krugarr's brand o' magic was multidimensional. It could grab from a little bit of everywhere. An I reckon if I'm here an' all my shit applies, that means there could be some mix and match here, too."

Basically, Yondu's guessing that even if the guy's friends aren't here, he might be able to call upon something to make them work here. Krugarr could. Asgardians do on the regular.