oo-oh child things are gonna get easier. | mostly open

[amongfriends]

Who: Gamora and anyone
What: assorted starters - see prompts (will match format)
When: throughout the month of February
Where: Guardians' ship, around Asgard
Warnings: potential references to child abuse

a. BENATAR - open to anyone on the ship (Feb 11-13)

Someone made the mistake of telling Gamora about Valentine's Day. Like any being who has spent less than a handful of years being a person and is insecure about it, she fixates on giving the one thing that's difficult: she is trying to make chocolates. The hows aren't something Gamora will readily share, but whoever is living there is going to be roped into testing chocolates for a couple of days. There's little warning to it. Gamora is simply going to show up and ask for help whenever Peter isn't around. No, she won't realize the potential for jump scares here since she makes little-to-no sound as she walks. Just taste the chocolate!!!

Her efforts will get progressively better by the 13th, but good luck to the first round of testers.

Part 2- Closed to Peter Quill (Feb 14th)

The morning of Valentine's Day Gamora is not in bed. She sneaks out before Peter can wake up to make a final batch based on her feedback from the past couple of days. She sneaks back in just as he's set to wake up. His fiance is both excited and nervous as she tip toes back inside their room with a small bag in hand. "Happy Valentine's Day." She doesn't waste any time running up to present it to Peter proudly despite her nerves. She's worked hard on this. "Open it." He'll find some misshapen, but decent chocolates. She's still not great at this, but it's the thought that counts, right??

b. feb 17 - open to anyone around Asgard

Happy times can't last forever. Gamora knows when wakes up to burning, itching wrists and throat that something is very wrong. She takes it how she does most things: with her head held up high and a wall around her heart. The words hurt by design: daughter of Thanos, Mad Titan's daughter, and weapon are etched on these spots. She knows she can cover her wrists at least, but to Gamora that's admitting defeat. She forgoes her jacket as she goes about her day despite the gross weather in order to own every word they put on her.

She goes through her usual day like nothing is amiss: going from the Benatar, to the training grounds, the library, and so on even more unapproachable than usual; as if daring anyone to look and ask about what she's been branded with. Good luck with that, Asgard.

Comments

Feb 14th

[momsboy]

Peter is still curled around a pillow by the time Gamora comes back into their bedroom, waking up after noticing the missing warmth that was her body against his own in bed. He's fully dragged back to the world of the living by her words and sleepy eyes look up at Gamora.

"Wha...? OH!" Valentine's Day? Oh, damn it, yes, Valentine's day. He forgot about the whole thing. "For me?" Peter takes the offered present with big eyes, looking from the box to Gamora and then back again as if he can't fully process what's happening.

"Sorry, I forgot about it, I didn't get you anything. I never really celebrated it with anybody and I figured you didn't know the custom." Peter runs a hand through his hair to smooth it and only succeeds in leaving it in a bigger state of disarray, his other hand clutches the present to his chest and he looks at her shyly.

[amongfriends]

"I didn't know it until a few days ago." Gamora confesses without ever tearing her eyes off him. She's visibly bustling with nervous energy. It doesn't stop her from reaching out to actually smooth out his hair. Call her crazy, but to her Peter never looked more handsome with messy hair and a shy expression. Impulsively, Gamora leans to kiss him; firm and reassuring. If that's not enough, she adds once she pulls away. "All I want is you." That much is true. She loves all his gifts, but they pale when compared to him.

Feb 17th-ish

[sinistral]

She isn't the only one to wake up to suspiciously burning, itching spots. And she isn't the only one to take it stoically. The words are a brand, yes, but no more so than the brand that is what HYDRA has made his body. If anything, it solidifies in Bucky's mind the reason he was truly brought here: to be the weapon he is.

And if that's how things are, he's going to make as much of it his own choice as possible.

Or so he tells himself. Regardless, he hasn't bothered to hide the prosthetic arm because it's annoying to pick loose threads from clothing out of the sliding plates; it means too that he's not hiding the bold Fist of HYDRA curling its way down his forearm. Neither is he hiding the word assassin splashed across one cheek, nor the four Cyrillic words starting at the opposite jawbone and making their way down his throat. He knows what he is, and he'll take the brands with everything he can manage in stoicism. If this world wants a Winter Soldier, it will be on his terms.

That's why, when on his visit to the training grounds he chances to run into the green woman bearing brands all too similar to his own, he meets her gaze squarely. There's something that seems defiant in her general air, and that's something he respects.

Feb 17

[hikikomori_king]

In the training grounds she finds Turgon, working through his blade exercises, a bandage wrapped around his right wrist betraying the reason for the frustration visible in his movements.

"Milady Gamora!" He bows politely to her when she arrives.

[amongfriends]

Gamora visibly softens at the sight of him. He came off as a kind man in their interactions. She may be defensive, but not unnecessarily. Gamora inclines her head to return the respect. "It is good to see you. Do you need a partner?" There's no point in pretending she's not trolling for a fight.

[hikikomori_king]

He smiles back, bowing politely.

"I could, yes. Are you familiar with blades such as these?"

He's using a longsword - a great thing suited for his height. He is fortunate, he knows, that the caprices of this world have given him his actual blade again.