There and Not

"Gift it?" Mantis echoed, voice small with disbelief. "Ava, you- you don't understand how gifts work. That is not how gifts work. Your mind is not something to give away. It is a part of you." Her hands fell to her sides, a faint frown appearing on her face. "And if you think I would want you without it, then you don't understand me at all."

"Not in the literal sense. I can gift you something that we both take care of. Like a house. Or a puppy." Ava was quickly realizing, from the look on Mantis' face, that her suggestion was not going the way she wanted. "It's something I want to share with you." But all of the joy and teasing had evaporated, leaving the air cold and dead. How could just a few words turn such an endearing situation into something so uncomfortable? "... who wouldn't want the pain to go away forever? Who wouldn't want their life to feel like perfect bliss? Is it so wrong of me to want that...?"

Bucky couldn't help the stupid grin on his face. Ava was one of those few people he truly did manage to get him to smile, they understood each other. "How dare i indeed?" Bucky responded in the worst English accent he could muster which ended somewhere between Scottish and Russian. "Oh hell no....! We're going on a... extremely long lunch tomorrow."

"... we are? That's news to me." Ava checked her mental calendar and couldn't remember any special lunch being scheduled. Unless something spur of the moment had happened without her knowing. "I've been known to skip lunch sometimes. Especially if it gives you the time to help 'Dad' out."

"Ava.” Her hand found the fabric of the woman’s sleeve, her touch gentle — not forcing Ava to stay, but asking her to. “I could never be afraid of you.” Dark eyes rose to meet Ava’s, just to prove that she meant it. “I know you have killed many people. I know you did it because they promised to cure you. I know what you have done, and I am no more virtuous than you. There was blood on my hands long before I became a mercenary, long before I was done growing.” She let go of Ava’s sleeve. “If I feared you, I would be a hypocrite.”

"This has nothing to do with killing people. This has to do with the fact that sometimes, I enjoyed it. That's what I don't want you to see. That... instinct they injected into my veins and forced into every muscle and joint until I didn't know how to do anything else." Ava didn't recoil, but she found it difficult to meet Mantis' gaze. Not only because of her empathic powers, but also due to her unexpected revelation. She couldn't fathom the woman being a killing machine, driving knives into people's necks or worse, using their own emotions against them so that they would do the work themselves. But she wasn't about to question the veracity of it. She had no reason to lie. "Knowing what I've done isn't the same as seeing it for yourself..."

As sound prove as that may sound, margo had a hard time believing that what talker did was justified. Loosing someone to a known terrorist was beyond forgivable yet the way walker went about it was still out of line. " I suppose that's true and belive me I would think the same way of them as I do with John walker. Although what he did was still reckless, I do feel bad that he lost his partner." Margo couldn't say she would do the same however. Taking a life like that even if in the heat of the moment. " you seem to really care for him don't you?" Maybe she had swayed by the negative press about the walkers time as captain America. But ever since he joined with this new team of there's, ' thunderbolts or aka the new avengers, maybe available had a point after all. " fair enough, although I'd rather focus on you for now."

"His partner. His best friend. One of the only people who stood by him when the world was flinging shit in his face," Ava replied with a shrug. "When you offer someone peace, or at least a conversation, and they slap your hand away or, worse, drive a knife through it, the time to play nice is over." It wasn't as if the first Avengers hadn't had assassins amongst their ranks already, who had plenty of blood on their hands to stain an entire laundromat red. "Empathize, more like. All of us got a raw side of a deal and were thrown away when we didn't kneel and beg for more punishment. It's easy to twist stories when they're the ones in control. History's written by the victors, isn't that how the saying goes?"

     “Right,” Carol stepped off to the side, avoiding the flow of traffic. “Are you… superhuman?” She tilted her head, “as in, can you get hit by a truck and survive, or no?”

The sight of the marketplace and the surrounding buildings was one thing; the crowds was another. While Ava would have preferred staying right where she was to admire everything, she didn't want to lose her guide and only person saving her from becoming an "indentured servant" to some alien pawnshop owner. The overstimulation of it all got to her before she could steel herself. Instead, she allowed a small fraction of her power to pass through the few people who ventured too close to her. Hopefully, they wouldn't notice with all the bumping and shoving everyone else was doing. She was more than thankful when they finally stopped for a breather. "... depends. Are we talking Hot Wheels or the real deal?" Was she trying to make a joke?

Ava's thumb paused for a second. A flicker in her form as Mantis brushed up against her, unprepared for her question. "I used to, once. Then I wrote off the possibility given my condition and the concentration it requires." Her hand slowly fell away to rest at her side, the thrill of the situation somewhat diminishing. She had wanted to see if she could get this far without having to think about it. Test her boundaries before she took a step back. "But, I think, you can help me with that. Keep me in the here, I mean. While..." Well, she didn't want to finish that thought. Not with her words, anyway.

"We could just get it over with now rather than waiting, don't you think? Like ripping off a bandaid." That's how Ava was used to doing things, anyway. Minimal pain, cut to the quick, instead of lingering in the anguish of what-could-be. "It's no pressure at all." She stepped closer and took the other woman's hands in her own, sensing her unease. "You're worried he won't approve?"

Killjoys: Wargasm (S03E10)

These two🔥🔥

Watching Killjoys for the first time: The Warrior Princess Bride

"What do you want to change...?" The curtains were slowly being pulled back, revealing a side of Mantis she'd never even considered or asked about. Probably because she always oozed such optimism that it never crossed her mind that all of it could come from a dark place. "There's... something you regret?" She took Mantis' hand in hers and held them both against her chest; a gesture of trust, if she wanted to talk about it.

"I'm afraid i do like shooting the shit with you, because i've found you're the only one i can't creep out yet." Bucky replied humorously, shaking his head a bit. He enjoyed Ava's company, they was on the same wavelenght in some way. Hearing her next words however, Bucky tilted his head a bit. It made sense concidering everything but still... "Really?" He asked curiously. "If it makes you feel better.... I'm quite sure i've never kissed someone that gives me butterflies." That was a can of worms he wasn't sure he was actually sure he was willing to go into right now. "It's not sad....! People are never going to understand people like you and me, so don't play to their standards of what's normal. It's only gonna make you sad."

"When you've been taught to phase a man's heart through his chest before you've even had your first period, there are very few things than can creep me out." Visually, no. But there were other sensations that made it easy for the panic to set in. "But I guess you're right. As long as we're not dead, there's still time. ... damn, I wish I had something to toast with..." So instead, she held up her fist for a fist-bump. "Here's to us finding someone who'll sweep us off our feet, yeah?"

"I'm not the one with flawless skin here." It's not that Ava didn't appreciate the compliments; she merely felt that if the two of them were put in a lineup for a blind date, Mantis would get more votes on looks alone. "I do know. It's what I used when I needed to get into somewhere I didn't belong. A flirtatious shoulder, show a little leg, and men are dumb enough to let me in anywhere." She adjusted the little ghost on her shoulder. "How about you do this little guy the honour of naming him?"

Ava's stare narrowed; she couldn't believe he would say that to her face. "A knife? I'm more subtle than that, Barnes. However I decide to get back at you, it's in a way you'll least expect it. My answer would be you, if you keep talking like that."