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[yondu]

[There's no particular view, just some market stalls, off kilter and moving a little as Yondu starts talking in his drawl (which sounds markedly southern U.S.).] So, I'm tryin' to build up a collection again. I get little figurines. You know, of animals and people and stuff? And I line my workspace with 'em. Sort of good luck charms. [His blue hand comes into view, showing what looks like a tiny porcelain deer person about four inches tall or so. And it is, frankly, adorable.]

But see, I didn't exactly show up with any of 'em.

So I'm lookin' for some new ones. So tell me if y'all come across any places that got good selections of these sort of things.

This is another'n I got. [And he switches items, showing a jeweled frog thing. He misses his cute little collection of adorable crap. Don't question it.] Just as an example.

Comments

[clussy]

(Okay hold your horses there buddy. He did what at age ten? Eddie was barely even allowed to ride his bike at age ten. His mom was wary about him walking, for Christ's sake.

But then Eddie outright gasps and sits up ramrod straight.)

He was tiny? But he's huge!

(Or at least he looked pretty big from what Eddie could see on the video. Like, a guy who could seriously take someone on in a fight. Eddie's eyes are as wide as billiard balls.)

I'm tiny.

(Said like this is a marvel. Thing is, kids like him, kids like anyone really, liked knowing there were people out there like them.

Yondu's got Eddie's attention pretty much completely with this story, that's for sure.)

[yondu]

Yeah, he was about... I dunno. He was littler than you when I met him. Pretty average for a Terran his age, I reckon. Not that I met a lot. About the same as Centaurians and Xandarians.

[Yondu is at least smart enough to not encourage the kid to go theivin' openly on the network. But he's also not going to tell the kid that he can't work towards something admirable. Quill might have come with Celestial bonus points, but he was raised with average mortal limitations in mind and he did pretty damn good with those. Why can't this kid?]

[yondu]

I'm so so on it, but I'm willing to give it a try.

[Regrets are likely to be had.]

[inconsequence]

You don't have candy where you come from? What manner of sad existence was this?

[clussy]

Littler than me? Jeez. I'm the smallest one of my friends.

(Now that was something else. Eddie wasn't a perfect kid, but he also wasn't a bad kid. His mischief was the good old fashioned kid-mischief. Not the illegal kind of mischief. So it's not a bad idea on Yondu's behalf.)

What are--

(He begins to ask, but then his mouth begins to try and shape those words and it isn't going to happen. So he gives up, shaking his head. Aliens. Aliens existed all over and if he honestly thought he was going to be able to pronounce even half of them...Well that's a joke.)

What are you? (Is what he winds up asking instead.)

[yondu]

We got candy. I just never had a reason to bother much with it.

[When one doesn't have much of a childhood...]

[yondu]

Centaurian.

We pretty much get kids the same way as Terrans, so I started out a little squirt like you, too. You'd be surprised how much y'all Terrans got in common with some other races.

So what else did Star-Lord tell ya?

[squadgoals]

Star kind-- but, uh, I'm not picky.

[The last part is hurried on, as if she's loathe to limit her options.]

The build-your-own sets are pretty good, actually.

[inconsequence]

This is unacceptable.

[LOCAL HELLCHILD IS HERE TO FIX THIS. For reasons they will...not enumerate to themself. Yeah.]

Where are you at the present time?

[clussy]

Cen..taurian. Like centaurs?

(Did Yondu have half a horse body? Color Eddie intrigued.)

Yeah I haven't exactly seen any you know- the green guys with the biiiig eyes and big heads and thin bodies that want to probe you and steal your cows.

(He moves his hands around his head to form the very earth-stereotypical version of an alien. Roswell. He remembers reading about it once. Very serious, very scary stuff.)

Not too much. We only talked the one time when I first got here. He just told me to not worry about you. (That Yondu was actually a good guy. Eddie doesn't say this, but he is sort of thinking it.)

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[tearsinajar]

That is... [ Not what she expected from him. ] ...all kinds of cute.

[ex_bossily211]

Mine was too, before waking up here. I'm from Earth, and I still have a life there. It's just not that important for me to get back to is all.

[And since he can get the sentiment, she adds him to her mental list of people to talk to more often. He probably has some good stories to tell about other planets.]

Are you liking it here so far? Apart from the lack of your collection, that is.

[yondu]

I like bein' able to choose my own direction. I don't like havin' to rely on luck just to take a trip.

[The portals are a relief, but he's too grumpy about the other circumstances to say otherwise.]

[yondu]

I think I saw some of those soft wood buildin' kits somewheres but they was for buildings. No ships yet.

I'll let you know, though. They got water, so they're bound to have 'em.

[yondu]

Nah, not like the Earth thing. It means I'm from Centauri Prime.

Wait, green guys that do what now?

[He's going to need him to back up a little, there.]

[He'll worry about Peter spoiling his reputation later. Not that, you know, publicly asking for cute toys did him all that much good.]

[yondu]

Yeah, it is pretty cute, ain't it.

[He thinks she's talking about the little figurine, so he shows it again. See? Cute.]

I had a bunch of 'em, but I lost a few durin' the last big battle I was in, not to mention what I didn't get to take with me, leavin' on such short notice and all. The jeweled one, it showed up last month out of the clear blue or lack thereof.

[yondu]

This market I showed on my feed. I can't rightly name it, but it's sorta in the middle and I'm the only blue guy here that I see at the moment. I'll tell you if the other one happens along.

[These are the most specific directions.]

[tearsinajar]

It is. But so is the fact that you, a tough guy, have a thing for little figurines. It's too bad we didn't get any from home, I could've helped you fill it in a bit with what Nate and I have collected on some of our adventures.

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[inconsequence]

Understood. I will be there posthaste.

[Because this requires immediate remedying, this tragic and regrettable lack of candy in his life. And sure enough, in less than five minutes, a familiar child in a striped sweater will venture along. They look...rather more put together than they did the first time they met him. Thankfully.]

Greetings, sir.

[clussy]

(Eddie mouths the words 'Centauri Prime'. He'd likely never remember it, but all the same, this stuff is wildly interesting to a kid who before had never even seen color TV.)

You know. They're the aliens who steal people in their sleeps and put stuff in their heads and up their uh-

('Asses' almost slips from him but it doesn't. Eddie purses his lips together in thought before holding up his finger, indicating for Yondu to wait. He then bows forward and there's the sound of some stuff being moved around.

After a couple minutes of this, Eddie holds up a picture and points to it.)

These guys.

[yondu]

...

Well.

[A child just brought up interspecies anal experimentation and Yondu is about cornered by the sheer force of the awkward.]

I reckon that's one way to say hello. Guess I'll be keepin' any green guys with big ol' black eyes at a healthy distance.

[He doesn't know if Eddie's right or wrong. He can't assume he's lying, even with scribbled images. This could be a completely accurate warning.]

[clussy]

(The kid had horrible influences in his friend group. That and being a near-teenage boy resulted in a lot of crude humor. Or at least crude rumors.

Eddie doesn't know if he's right or wrong either. Those articles had been pretty convincing. He nods very seriously.)

They take away memories and then put people back on earth.

(Probably.)

I think I'll take my chances with you eating kids.

(He smiles a little and see, look, not as awkward. Sort of.)

[yondu]

[He's constantly surprised by formality coming out of kids. Most of the time it's not a great sign, but then again, considering they're way excited to give Yondu somethin' it's probably pretty innocent in this case.]

You know, you don't gotta do this. You got stuff for yourself, kid. Who knows when next it'll be what we can get you more candy.

[Yondu is a jackass, but he's not so much a jackass he'll compromise a kid's sweet tooth if he can help it.]

[yondu]

[There's no verbal comment to that. Just a facial response as he turns the camera towards himself, a visual of that craigy big blue face twisting up in its exaggerated frown of confused disbelief. What? Him cute? Who would think of him as cute?]

[He's not really considered how meaningless his rep is here.]

[yondu]

Lucky for you I ain't found any pots big enough to make a big stew in, but you'll be first on my ingredient list when I do.

Always did wonder how Terran tasted.

[He's pretty much never going to let it die, especially since Peter fell for it for years and years.]