15340/Middle of Knowhere

Middle of Knowhere
Date of Scene:	14 July 2023
Location:	Marketplace, Garnet (Knowhere)
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Gamora, Star-Lord

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Gamora has posed:
With a galaxy teeming with life, planets of virtually limitless composition, options of venues in which to spend their time ranging from beach resorts to massive, high-technology city-worlds where crime is non-existent, where do the Guardians of the Galaxy spend their time?

In the severed head of an ancient celestial being, surrounded by some of the most questionable characters capable of space tech... of which they themselves were several. And no one seemed to mind it. As soon as they landed, everyone was so anxious to get off the ship that they all went their separate ways. Rocket and Groot were no doubt out looking for trouble to get into. Drax and Mantis were going to go find a bar.

Which left Gamora reaching out to The Collector and some of their other known contacts looking for jobs. Because the Team Mom was the Team Mom, and while everyone else was out having fun, she was focused on keeping them flying.

Or... she had been, until Peter had found her and convinced her, in typical Peter fashion, that she needed to loosen up and get out of the ship for a little while -- probably because he insisted 'cabin fever' was a real disease that she needed to be worried about. Even though they weren't in a cabin. And she didn't have a fever.

Regardless, that's what she's doing, now.. begrudgingly out of the ship and strolling into the sprawling Knowhere marketplace with STAR-LORD by her side. Apparently it didn't matter that they didn't have a particular purpose. Or, maybe Peter did have a purpose and he just hadn't told her what it was. That happened so much that she'd almost (almost) gotten over being mad about it.

"Look at this," Gomora says, slowing at an open-air tent and lifting up a particularly delicate silk scarf that runs through her fingers almost like a liquid. "Vorkolian silk. Five hundred units. Who would pay that for a scarf?"

Of course, the shop proprietor looks none too happy about that comment.

Star-Lord has posed:
Peter Quill aka STAR-LORD is doing what he's always going to be doing and that's winging it. Even when just wandering around Knowhere, there's always a chance for opportunity to be around any one of these corners. Which could be one of the reasons he's dragged Gamora off the ship so that they can actually find some of those opportunities. Which normally results in a pile of units for the Guardians to share.

Quill is all about enjoying Gamora's company during their Knowhere walkabout when the silk scarf is noticed and becomes the topic of conversation. He makes a face. "I don't think anything at this dump is worth five hundred units." Peter looks at the shop proprietor long enough to make sure they don't notice his sticky fingers doing anything they shouldn't be doing. "You should try selling /actual/ Vorkolian silk, pal!" That's right, making a small scene will make thievery a little bit easier. Especially if the shop proprietor is in a mood.

Quill reaches out for Gamora's hand to lead her away from the tent. "Come on. Let's take our business elsewhere." is another snide comment tossed in the shop's direction while Peter tries to make sure Gamora keeps walking so they can get around the corner faster. It likely won't take uptight salesbeings too long to realize that something may be missing.

"Should get something to eat?" Quill's inquiry is tossed in Gamora's direction. "We should get something to eat." Anything to get them out of this open air market so they can hide inside a restaurant or something.

Gamora has posed:
"This IS Vorkolian SILK!" the proprietor sputters. He might have let Gamora's comment slide (because, frankly, she was a little scary), but Peter's direct insult and mischaracterization of the quality and genuineness of his product?! Not a chance. "I'll have you know that I source from only the FINEST sources. You're LUCKY I even let the likes you NEAR it!"

"The likes of who?" Gamora asks, suddenly bristling at the words and drawing the man's (who was shorter than she was) gaze.

"Well.. not.. not you.. HIM." He's still staring at Gamora, even though he's jamming a pudgy finger towards Peter.

Did Gamora even notice Peter's thievery? If she did, she makes no sign of it. In fact, she didn't seem to. She was focused on the angry little man.

"What are you--" Gamora's hand was already on the way towards the hilt of one of (important note: ONE of) the blades she was currently wearing, facing the portly little man directly, but that hand was seized before she got the opportunity.

She turned her eyes on Peter, clearly still bristling after that little interaction, but she didn't fight him when he tugged her away. She just glared at the shop owner for a few steps before turning back to look at the man beside her quizzically.

"What's gotten into you?" Suspicion in those eyes of hers. Why were they suddenly in a hurry to get food? An /actual/ hurry. "Surely you're not /afraid/ of him..."

Of course, it wasn't /him/ they had to worry about. There was nothing close to 'police' here, so the Hims around here always had friends. It took just a few seconds of shouting for the Hims to turn into Thems, and the Thems never took kindly to outsiders causing problems with people under their protection.

Star-Lord has posed:
"Uhhhhhh...."

Peter Quill is a known thief and even though there's no rules on Knowhere there are Thems. And Thems often have large numbers and large weapons. And that usually means there's going to be a mess and then they'll have to talk to Cosmo and sometimes that dog is in a mood and there's just a lot of things that could go wrong with this whole situation. Which might actually be the reason why Peter Quill is walking Gamora towards the food quadrant with so much more pep in his step.

But he can't tell her that. That'd be too easy.

"Nothing!" Peter forces a grin and dos not look over his shoulder even though he wants to. "I just thought you might be hungry and wanted to let you know that your meal? Today, it's on me."

As if to almost make that a cue of some sort while they round another corner to head in the direction of the food quadrant. The cue is enough for him to pull his hand out of his knapsack. The closed fist is opened up to reveal an antique brooch with a shimmering green Trillidium Gem in the center of it.

Unsure of how Gamora's going to react to the impromptu jewel theft, Quill just plasters on one of those aloof smiles of his to try and keep things smoothed over. In a way, Quill has conducted this theft for Gamora. Or at least maybe she'll see it that way.

Gamora has posed:
/Uhhhhhh..../

"What did you do?"

The question was out of Gamora's mouth before he'd even finished the last 'uh' of his 'uhhhh,' her gaze sharpening accusatorially.

/Nothing!/
/Today, it's on me./

"Peter..."

She's still actually having to hurry to keep up with with him, and when that hand comes out of his knapsack, he's not /happy/.

"Why?! You /know/ we're not going to be able to fence that, here..."

The fact that it might be /for her/ in some way doesn't even seem to enter into the realm of possibility, in her mind. Or, if it did, she'd dismissed the thought in favor of Peter's sometimes completely random behavior as being more likely.

Of course, the explanation isn't possible immediately, since in the distance behind them they can hear a shout of, "THEY WENT THIS WAY!"

A tall, green-skinned assassin in all black and.. well.. STAR-LORD. It wasn't exactly like blending in was an option.

"This way..." Gamora hisses, grabbing his hand, this time, and pulling him into the doorway of a darkened tavern and looking around for a place to get out of immediate line of sight of the door.

Star-Lord has posed:
"It was just /sitting there/!" It's a loud whisper from STAR-LORD as he tucks the brooch away while getting snatched up by the much stronger and better at escaping (maybe) Gamora. He didn't really have a chance to create a story for why he stole that but he's going to try and make one up on the spot and see if Gamora buys it.

Does she ever?

"When's the last time you've seen a Trillidum Gem, huh?" Peter tries to explain himself by stating the obvious. "I got a couple of guys that'll pay us a pretty penny for the gem alone." Peter plants a hand on his utility belt while he tries to take a peek towards where the Protectors of their Rackets are likely coming from. Fingers always at the ready.

For the moment, even Quill's not paying attention to the closeness between himself and Gamora while they are in that darkened doorway. Normally, he'd have something slick to say but right now there are other matters of not getting dead importance that he's focusing on instead.

"Poor sap didn't know what he had. Pushing the Vorkolian silk when he's got jewelry worth so much more..." It almost sounds like Quill wants to double back and take another look at the shopkeeper's wares.

Gamora has posed:
You know the whole 'lean against the wall and pretend to make out' trick? There's a reason it works. People get awkward about looking too hard at couples, and it was harder to make figure out what you were looking at when you could only see the back of one of the people.

That was probably why Gamora had put herself up against the wall inside with Peter mostly blocking her. Not only did she have the dark to hide in, but they couldn't see her green skin through his back.

Of course, 'pretending to make out' wasn't happening. Not the least of which because Gamora already had her hand crossing her middle, resting on the hilt of Godslayer in case they were spotted and things turned rough.

"We're not going back there," Gamora hisses, already sensing Peter's itchy fingers wanting to pilfer more ill-gotten booty. "With our luck, he's got the Voidborn backing him up. Or worse, the Shadow Syndicate." Some of these names really did sound like a ten year old Terran coming up with names for 'bad guys' in their game of pretend. Rumor was that there was a guy running around that called himself Taserface.

She pauses, though, her eyes dipping back to that knapsack.

She might have been a stone-cold assassin that had been cybernetically engineered to be the most lethal weapon in the galaxy, but...

"It is... pretty," she admits quietly. "It's probably not the worst thing you've ever randomly taken."

Star-Lord has posed:
Under normal circumstances, Peter would be paying enough attention to their surroundings to realize that this is the perfect moment to try and pretend to make out with Gamora. Unfortunately, his mind is on thievery right now and he's too busy worried about the fact that she's reaching for Godslayer to actually be thinking about anything else. He might've even gulped. Yeah, definitely not going to be thinking about anything pelvic sorcery-y.

"Ugh. The Voidborn." Quill's rolling of the eyes has to mean that he's either crossed paths with them or has heard things that are not too good. Considering his kind of luck, it would be them. Although, he's rather hoping for the Shadow Syndicate if there's a choice. At least they can be reasoned with... if the units are right.

"Yeah..." Quill agrees with the assessment of not going back. Kind of. "But..." Oh here we go. "We have something they don't have." Quill raises a hand to extend a finger and points right at Gamora's nose. He'd 'boop' her if he didn't think his hand would get sliced off.

"We've got you." The confidence in which he says that makes it clear that he has no second thoughts about how utterly awesome and dangerous Gamora is. More than willing to put his life in her hands as often as needed.

"Oh, for sure." Quill is missing the point and already thinking back through some of his worst heists. "One time, I had to steal the drool of a Groosalug. It was not a good time." Quill leans into his jacket and gives it a quick sniff. "... Still not sure if the smell ever came out of this jacket."

Gamora has posed:
Gamora sighs. As lethal as she looked when that finger was headed towards the tip of her nose, it's obviously hard for her to be /that/ mad at him when he's complimenting her at the same time. Besides, for as many times as she'd either threatened him or given him a scathing look, she'd never actually /hurt/ him. And he'd given her plenty of reasons to.

At some point, whether or not he realized it, she'd stopped outright threatening him with violence. Oh, she still got mad. There were times when she yelled, called him names, questioned his intelligence, even even /some/ times when she sided with Rocket over him. But the Guardians were her family, now, and Peter was part of that family, for better or worse.

There was a moment when she actually seemed to quiet and sort of appreciate the fact that Peter trusted her as much as he did. In a 'family' that hardly ever revealed their honest feelings to each other, a statement like /we've got you/ really meant something.

....And then there's Grossalug drool.

"Ugh." Placing a hand on his chest to ease Peter back a step so she can slip out from the wall she'd put herself in, Gamora glances out the door briefly and then gestures towards the bar. "Come on. We should stay in here for a while. The goons around here are basically children. They'll get bored and move on to something else, soon."