Hope you enjoy the crew pulling together :)
"Hey you, another round!" a slobbering drunk fell heavily against the counter, grinning lopsidedly at the bartender. The bartender rolled his eyes but threw down six more shot glasses, filling each with the watered down scotch that the group had been drinking all day.
Along the back wall Cass turned her own glass of water slowly in her hands, letting her fingers trace the simple square design absentmindedly. This place was a hell hole, meant only for those who were too drunk to care or too desperate to notice. Cass leaned back in the ridged wooden chair, letting the backrest dig into her shoulders. All she really wanted was a way out. Out of this bar, out of this town, and off of this planet, unfortunately that involved money and a ship, neither of which she had in any abundance.
"I didn't think it would be this difficult to find someone," a man huffed, leaning against the bar.
"Perhaps if you stopped sexually advancing on every prospect we'd have a better chance," his companion complained. She leaned against the bar next to him and waved off the bartender.
"Why, is someone getting jealous?" the man pulled the green woman closer before she smacked his hand off her hip.
"That sort of mind game will not work with me Quill," she snapped.
Cass went back to tracing the square lines on her glass, listening to their loud conversation since she had nothing better to do.
"Seemed to work last week when we docked on that moon outside the allegiant zone," Quill accepted a glass from the bartender and threw down money before following the woman to a back table near where Cass sat.
Instinctively she pulled the collar of her grey threadbare coat up to hide her face a bit better. She wanted to turn and watch them openly but managed to settle for a peripheral view.
"Hey, you lazy bums, found anything yet?" A new voice joined the conversation but Cass couldn't see where it came from.
"No, Quill here keeps scaring off any potential candidates." The green woman sat back in her chair and crossed her arms.
"Same with Drax," the new voice growled and a chair scooted across the floor on its own. A head lurched into vision, furry and small with grey and black markings. From what she saw, it was some sort of talking animal. Cass averted her eyes when the creature glanced her way.
"I have done nothing of the sort," a new voice boomed. Unable to fight her curiosity Cass glanced over to see the one called Drax. Grey skinned with red tattoos, the man was a giant. "I simply asked if they deemed it fair that I remove a hand if they touched what is mine."
Cass shuttered when Drax pulled up a chair and dropped heavily into it, placing a glass in front of both himself and the animal. He basically threatened to rip someone's hand off, perhaps she should finish her water and leave before this escalated.
"If I had a week I could list off the reasons ripping someone's limbs off wouldn't come across as a job perk." Quill took a swig from his glass.
"I do not believe a Terran such as yourself is capable of such lengths of speech without sleep." Drax interjected.
"You haven't listened to him ramble lately have you?" The animal grumbled into his glass.
"It was just a saying," Quill looked at Drax and sighed. "And I don't ramble, don't tell people that I ramble."
"We are getting off topic," the woman cut off their petty debate. "We find someone willing to leave with us by sundown or I'm staying here."
Cass's heart stopped. Leave with them? Like get off this dusty rock and travel into space? Had her luck just changed? Resisting the urge to jump from her rickety chair and volunteer, she ran a hand through her short dark hair and waited to see what more they had to say.
"Look it's just a bit more difficult to find someone who's willing to clean the ship than I thought," Quill leaned forward with a serious expression. Cass could clean, if it meant getting out of here she would clean till her fingers bled.
"It's not the cleaning, it's putting up with you two," the animal growled. Cass had put up with much more unpleasant people before. Surely she could handle these men.
"I simply do not wish for someone to steal from me," Drax leaned back in his chair and the poor thing creaked like it wanted to give up and break. She knew for a fact that she could avoid stealing from this man, definitely not on her list of things to do.
"Perhaps we can find someone on the next planet?" Quill asked, eyeing the green woman like it was her decision.
There was no way she could let this opportunity escape her. "I'll do it!" Cass blurted out, swiveling in her chair to face the rag tag group that she'd been eavesdropping on.
"What?" The animal asked. All eyes turned to her suddenly and she felt like sinking back into the wall but she remained frozen in place.
"I'll clean your ship," Cass repeated, talking low so they might miss her voice shaking.
"Really?" Quill asked, nodding subtly he turned to the woman with a superior look on his face. "Told you I'd find someone."
"I thought you said we would hire a woman?" Drax asked, crossing his arms over his chest, which bulged his biceps to larger than the size of her head.
What was he talking about? Cass ran her hand nervously through her short hair again and stopped. Short hair, baggy clothes, working boots, and an over sized men's jacket. She looked like a man. Before she opened her mouth to correct him she wondered if that was actually a bad thing.
"Man, woman, does it matter what gender if they can clean?" The woman snapped and turned her body to face Cass more directly. "The ship is a mess. It will take a while to clean fully, after which you will be tasked with keeping it as such. You will be provided with room and board and a small sum of money for your service at the end of each week. This is the deal, take it or leave it." She was straight forward, and her unwavering gaze made Cass want to crawl under her table.
But she wanted to get away from here even more. "I'll take it."
"Great, now can we get off this rock?" The animal asked impatiently.
The green woman extended out her hand for Cass, who jumped up to take it as quickly as possible. Her foot caught the rung on her chair and she stumbled forward nearly losing her balance but she hopped just enough to avoid falling into the woman's lap.
"Sorry," Cass said, quickly wiping her sweaty palm on her baggy pants.
"Great, this is bound to be a disaster," the animal rolled its eyes at her less than graceful first impression. Cass cringed inside, hoping that things would go a bit more smoothly.
"Gamora," the green woman grasped Cass's hand firmly and gave it a shake, pointedly ignoring the jab.
"Quill," the man then extended his hand and she took it as well.
"Drax," the largest man copied their movements and crushed Cass's hand but didn't shake it.
Instinctively Cass held her hand out for the animal who glared up at her without extending his own. Then just as she began to pull back his small clawed paw gripped hers and jerked it hard and released as quickly before looking back into his cup. "Rocket."
"It's…it's nice to meet you all," Cass stammered, trying to calm her racing heart. The three of them stared at her, like they were waiting. Even Rocket looked up with a single raised brow.
"And you are?" Quill asked expectantly.
"Oh right…C-" Cass nearly blurted out her name. They thought she was a man, blurting out Cassiopeia would be a red flag on the manly card. "-aden. I'm Caden."
"Couldn't remember your name for a second there?" Rocket asked. Cass was sure he was seeing right through her little façade with his dark eyes.
"Just nervous," Cass said, shoving her shaking hands into the pockets of her jacket.
"Who would not be nervous in the presence of the Guardian's?" Drax boomed a laugh and smacked Quill on the back so hard that the smaller man knocked forward into the table. The who? Didn't matter, Cass shook the idea from her mind, they could be Ravager and she would have taken the job.
"Anyways, Caden," Quill shot Drax a glare that the man didn't see and lightly rubbed his chest, "when can you be ready to leave?"
"Now," Cass blurted out. Which wasn't entirely true, there were a scant few items that she'd like to pick up from her home, but if necessary she would leave them.
"We disembark in three hours," Gamora rose from the table, and cut off Rocket's complaint before he could begin muttering. "Groot would very much appreciate the open space until dark I assume."
Rocket's mouth snapped shut instantly. Cass watched the expression on his face soften at the name, and in a way it was adorable. "Three hours," he agreed.
"Great," Quill stood and slapped Cass on the shoulder, leaving his hand there and gripping it tight. "We're in the shipyard. Look for the Milano when you're ready."
"Yea," Cass agreed, watching as the men threw back the rest of their liquor and parted ways. When she was finally alone her knees turned to jelly and she barely managed to stumble back into her seat. Excitement and terror flooded into her at once. Three hours and a whole new life awaited her. What would it entail? Who were these people? Cass held her head in her hands and leaned her elbows on the table, taking deep deliberate breathes.
"What do you think of Caden?" Quill asked quietly after the bar doors swung shut behind them.
"I think he's hiding something," Gamora said. Her eyes flashed to Quill for just a second, bringing with it a look of deep thought. Quill trusted all his friend's opinions, and took them seriously, but Gamora put more rational thought into her decisions, so he was inclined to listen closer. Plus that and she was hot, even in this dusty worn out town she glowed with determination and ridged deadly sexy…Quill shook off his thoughts before they took him any farther.
"Can we trust him?" Quill asked, trying to get his mind back on track.
Gamora stopped and turned to Quill, letting Rocket and Drax continue ahead of them. "We're all hiding something Quill," Gamora looked up at him through her lashes and Quill suppressed a shudder. "That doesn't mean we can't trust one another does it?"
That was a loaded question. Each member on the Milano trusted the others with their life, but their secrets were another matter. They all had a past, none of which they spoke of openly, and not one of which they were expected to.
"He's only going to be on the ship until it's clean, then we drop him where we land after that," Gamora continued, beginning her walk back to the ship.
"You told him that he could stay on after that," Quill said, jogging a step to catch up with her again.
Gamora shrugged, a habit she picked up from him, "I lied."