Peter Quill (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
zunesareawesome) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
makingthisupasigo2018-04-14 11:02 pm
zunesareawesome) wrote in makingthisupasigo2018-04-14 11:02 pm
Entry tags:
And the stars look very different today...
It was a way out. But it wasn't home.
Truthfully, after Norfinbury, anything would be better than that place, but the cold truth was--there was no way to find his own universe out of the endless multiverse, even if Norfinbury's busted technology had worked properly. He was stuck, here, with a megalomaniac Flynn--granted, a Flynn that managed to open up a portal out of there. Maybe that's what it took to get out of Norfinbury.
Or, Peter thought sometimes on bad days, Norfinbury only released you once you became the twisted version of yourself it wanted you to be. A specially-designed virus inflicted on countless worlds.
Besides, he ought to know something about that.
He didn't stay long on earth, he couldn't. Maybe it had something to do with the mystery of how they were revived in Norfinbury, their bodies recreated or cloned or healed, or maybe it was something that was gonna happen to him anyway, but he could feel the Light burning inside him, inside his head almost as soon as he landed. A desperate need to take to the stars. He'd managed to create a ship and took off.
Time passes, and scientists notice something odd about several exoplanets they're monitoring, especially ones marked as 'earth-like' or other planets in zones that could make them potentially habitable. Bright bursts of light and changes in the composition of the atmosphere or surface, it was inexplicable. Possible evidence of intelligent life? If they didn't know any better, especially with the rocky planets that now somehow boasted extreme changes, it was like something was terraforming them.
There was cause for alarm when Mars suddenly turned blue and green a few months later.
Meanwhile, a small blue-and-orange ship that looked suspiciously like a slightly more organic-looking Milano was racing towards the earth.
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"Yeah, well. I once had the idea of superglueing your feet to the shower floor and take some super embarrassing pictures but then I didn't because I didn't have a megalomaniac in my head to tell me that's a cool thing to do."
He shrugs a shoulder, which sends a searing hot pain down into his hand but he powers through it. "Let's just say if you ever break my hands on a regular Monday? Then we'll talk. And I'll definitely superglue you to something."
It's getting a lot harder to keep meeting his gaze when Stone suddenly looks at him with all this pain and helplessness and Ezekiel's heart breaks a little. What can he do? Is there nothing he can do? There must be something he can do to stop this.
When Stone tells him to run away he sobers.
"I can't."
I can't forget about Earth. I can't forget about you.
I can't leave you.
"He can... revoke the spell." He works his jaw through the admission, then snorts, trying to bring a lightnes to his voice that he doesn't feel. "And come on, what is Ezekiel Jones without his--" friends? "--hands?"
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"You wanted to superglue my feet to the shower floor--why would you even think about that in the first place--"
Okay, that's not what's important here.
"...no, of course I would never do--I'd never do that, man. You know that, right?" He needs him to know this. The guilt is eating him alive. And the fact that Jones didn't sound like he was automatically hating him for coming up with the idea was...good. Good. Yeah.
"How? We can't make a plan without him knowin' about it, and I'm not gonna let you try because that'll just make things worse! You don't know what he's like, Jones. I saw inside his head. I saw what happen to the real Flynn."
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But that's only hilarious in theory, it's Stone's indignation that's hilarious and it ends there because it's also mean and getting superglued skin off surfaces is not funny at all and Ezekiel would never actually do it. Difference between banter and the real world.
"And yeah, I know that." A brief smile. "Absolutely no idea yet, mate. But I'll figure it out. I'm Ezekiel Jones! And uh, good luck trying to stop me because nothing can stop Ezekiel Jones."
But then Jacob continues and suddenly it's a little colder in the cell. "The 'real' Flynn? What do you mean, the real Flynn?"
cw mention of torture
Despite himself, a chuckle escapes him. "As long as Ezekiel Jones is confident in Ezekiel Jones, then everythin's gonna be all right."
Maybe...maybe he could figure it out. It was a tiny amount of hope, but it was there, like a candle, all the same.
"It's...really sad, man. The place he and Quill came from? Norfinbury? The old Flynn, from back when he was all good and normal--well, in Librarian terms and actual decent human being terms--he got messed up by that place. Quill got messed up by that place. They were like..." Like me and you. "They were pals, best friends, until Quill became immortal, got stuck there for like, a thousand years and he just...lost it. He ended up betraying the old Flynn and it was...I saw it, some of it anyway," he shakes his head. "When I say Quill's bad news--he's bad news. It was torture, he tortured him. And then the town did something to make Flynn this way, somethin' to do with...with updating personalities onto people and he went home before it could be reversed, so now we're left with this guy...and old Flynn's gone."
cw mention of torture
The story that's unfolding is teeming with horror but that last bit is a punch in the gut. Ezekiel draws in a small, audible breath, his face suddenly stricken bit the same mourning sensation of losing a friend. "N-no."
He looks away, struggling for a moment to keep his composure and sniffs, working his jaw. He really wished he could punch something right now. "... Dammit."
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He looks down, the grief is still fresh. It's somehow worse because he still sees Flynn, like there's some other guy walking around with his face.
"I wish there was something we could do."
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After the first wave of grief the denial hits him like a truck.
"Maybe he's just trying to get to us."
cw mention of torture
Jake realizes that Jones is in denial and he understands. But the reality of the situation won't wait for them, either.
"I wish it was him just trying to get to us. But it's...I just felt it, okay? It was real. I just know it."
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It's a little hard to pull himself together but he manages. Barely.
"S-so what do we do? There's gotta be something we can do."
cw mention of torture
There's something awfully hopeless in Jake's tone. The memories of what he'd done are burned into his mind and he can't bear it.
"I really don't know how we can beat this. Beat him."
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That tone is terrible and Jones would love to reach through the bars and shake him. But again, no can do.
"I'm not gonna let him win. And neither will you. Flynn wouldn't want us to give up, he'd be all annoying and preachy about it."
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"...yeah. Y'know, yeah, you're right? Flynn would, and it would be just...ugh."
His face turns serious again.
"...if we can't, if...if I get pulled under, and I mean--really pulled under, and he never--" Stone's voice hitches for a moment, and he clears his throat. "--never come back to myself, you know I don't--I would never, ever mean to hurt you, and..."
cw mention of torture
Ezekiel's voice cuts in uncharacteristically strong, a little deeper, a little more mature, a little more genuine; one of the rare instances of utter seriousness. There's no play here, no pretense.
"Alright? Whatever happens, whatever... game he thinks of next, it doesn't matter, okay? I just, I know. I'll always know."
cw mention of torture
"...okay." It's said with some measure of utter relief, even though he's afraid that it will happen someday and he'll be made to hurt him.
"Okay...I'm holding you to that."
cw mention of torture
He leans his head against the bars, the lopsided grin returning. "But if it makes you feel better, I will absolutely let you buy me drink once we're getting out of here."
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"One drink, and nothin' expensive."
Because they were getting out of here.
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And they were absolutely getting out of here.
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Don't go crazy now on him.
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This bargaining isn't over.
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Take it or leave it, Jones.
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"Alright, fine. But they better not be crumpled because you kept them in your pants for two weeks."
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"...why would I keep them in my pants for two weeks!?"
cw mention of torture
He shrugs.
"You know, sitting on the pipeline, going like 'wow, I sure would love a snack now, oh wait, didn't I put Oreos in here somewhere at some point, yep, there they are'!"
cw mention of torture
"Why would I be wearing the same pants for two weeks!?"
crying
"I don't know, for extra man points? Because oil stains are ridiculously hard to get out and at some point it's just a waste of time?"
crying so much
i just can't with these two anymore
THAT ICON
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