thisavrou | video 01 | Aortic Aneurysm

(You know who is not going to react to this situation decently no matter how many times it's explained to him? Eddie. You know who doesn't have a good game face against fear? Also Eddie. He's alone, he needs an adult, and he's pretty sure they don't restock on inhalers here. He knew he didn't need it, not technically, but he also knew that his lungs were contracting at a rate that lead to hyperventilating and as far as he was concerned, that was exactly what an asthma attack was all about. He was having an asthma attack. Maybe. His body was thinking about it.

By the way, he's definitely just been staring at the video for a couple of silent seconds, his jaw working back and forth as he just tried to remind himself that he was actually capable of breathing. This kid......)

My mom's going to fucking kill me.

(The words are whispered under his breath and he would think twice about swearing if he realized how many adults might be watching this video. He was enough of a loser that he could get the whole communication device thing, really, that was fine. But he wasn't quite able to wrap his mind around the full extent of it all.

After a second, he decides fuck it. He needs his inhaler. It goes up, he gives it a few shakes, and takes a deep, deep breath in with it. Holds. Holds.

Then his whole body deflates, his eyes rolling up. He closes his eyes and thinks about how he would talk to the police in Derry. Ha. If that wasn't the biggest fucking joke ever. When he speaks next, his voice is pitched higher than before, that typical 'I'm trying super hard to be polite and endearing' voice that he uses to call his mom 'mommy' when he's real apologetic. He's not even trying to be a suck up. The kid's just scared.)

Um. My name's Eddie Kaspbrak. I'm Sonia Kaspbrak's son and I definitely need to be home for dinner which is like, in an hour. So if anyone can help...I would really appreciate it.

.....God, I really hope this isn't that creep who was taking all those kids.

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(At this point, Eddie has been reduced to a sulking shell of the panicking boy he had been in his initial video. It's better than having a full-fledged asthma attack ("asthma attack") but this kid's got some weight on his shoulders as far as worry goes.)

Yeah, it's Eddie. (His voice is somehow smaller now than it had been before.

His mother would be more than worried about him. Enough that it makes him a little queasy to think about. He hopes to god the whole time-frozen-back-home thing is right because if it isn't, he's pretty sure his mom will never let him leave the hospital until he's thirty.

Eddie just sighs and nods.)

Yeah, I guess she will be. (He bites the inside of his cheek.) I hope she doesn't know I'm gone. She'll give herself a stroke otherwise.

(He hesitates a full half minute, drawing his eyes up to actually look at this guy properly. Assessing him with the critical eye of a kid sizing up any adult. He looks slightly wary.)

Do they have microwave meals here? (That sounded like the stupidest question ever but somehow it helped because it would be an easy solution to one of his fifty worries.)

[ He laughs, because god what else can you do? Space is weird. This is all weird. ]

I don't know about microwaves--I've never actually tried to use one out in space--but "individually pre-packaged" meal nonsense? Sure. Ain't much better than that touristy "astronaut food" but it won't kill anybody.

[ He doesn't think. He shrugs. It says the same thing.

But...on the subject of food... ]

Oh, uh. Right, so on that note. You see a big blue dude, red mohawk--and look, I know that sounds crazy, trust me--tell him to piss off if he says anything about eatin' people. He's harmless.

[ Don't make his mistake. ]

(The laugh is startling to Eddie, Eddie who visibly jumps at its sound, but then he gets this weird little smile of his own on his face. This guy had a good laugh. It wasn't the kind of laugh that mocked people or tried to scare them. It was just. A normal laugh.)

There's astronaut food? (Watch his eyes go huge. NASA had only just been established around his life. They definitely hadn't reached astronaut food yet.)

Wait, a blue person? (That's right. There were aliens here, weren't there?

What's more amazing though is what this adult actually says. Eddie has never in all his life been encouraged by an adult to swear at someone. His eyes take on this mischievous sparkle and his inhaler is all but forgotten about in his lap.)

I can seriously tell him to piss off? I won't get in trouble?

[ Oh, to be that young again, huh? ]

Sure, astronaut food. Nasty freeze dried stuff they sell next to key chains in truck stops or whatever. Anyway.

I think I was a little younger than you the first time this happened to me, so uh. Tips from one pro to another: who's here to get mad at you for it? I've been telling him to piss off for...don't matter, anyway, a long time. It's what he gets if he says it: he's lyin' and he doesn't think about how scary that can be when you don't know better.

[ It seems like some kind of in-joke at this point. Peter doesn't sound very serious about it at all. Honestly, he just knows how it feels, and if he can make that any easier for another kid out of space or time or both maybe, isn't that the whole point of Star-Lording? ]

You can tell him I told you so, even. [ Except, he never introduced himself, did he? ] Name's Peter. Folks call me Star-Lord.

(Peter says enough things that Eddie doesn't quite catch that the boy is left looking a little confused on his end of the video.

But he does understand the gist of Peter saying that he got taken away from home this young too. Thing is, if Eddie never saw his mom again....He'd be sad but...Maybe not as sad as some people might think. He feels a raw stab of guilt for that because he knows that's bad, that's really, really bad to think, but...)

Who is 'he' anyway?

(A description was nice and all but a name would be better, Eddie thinks. Granted, how many blue people with a red mohawk actually existed? Not many, he bets.)

Really? (Eddie's mouth fights into a bit of a smile. It was a little empowering having an adult encouraging him to do something most would consider 'bad behavior'.) Hi Peter-.

(Star-Lord?

His eyes widen at that because welp. He's a kid and Star-Lord might not impress space bandits but it was definitely going to impress a twelve year old boy.)

Star-Lord? Are you a space prince or something? (He asks in an excited rush.) Or a super hero? Is that like an alias or something?

[ Exactly as planned. Peter smiles broadly--he isn't really all that deterred by the fact that the name really only ever seems impressive within a certain age-bracket of youth--and shrugs. Eddie isn't wrong, he is...sort of like a prince, isn't he? Or...is that was? A space demi-god? Complicated. ]

Something like that. Two-time professional galaxy savior at your service, Eddie.

[ It takes a pause before he remembers why they're actually talking here and he finally cycles back around to it. ]

Name's Yondu, trust me when I say you can't miss the guy.

[ And moving on from that when the joke is all but dead: ] Kid, you're from Earth, right?

video 01 | Aortic Aneurysm

video;

HE IS THE WORST I AM SO SORRY

No he's the best. They can bond over their cancer dead parents and good music taste.

SOB

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