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Gamora practically stomped her way into the bar, the squelch of her boots ringing through her ears rather unpleasantly, though she couldn’t be bothered to wipe off the blood. Yes, blood. The last mission might have been a little messier than originally planned. Whatever, her plan right now was alcohol first, shower second.
The crowd parted almost instantly upon her arrival, partially because it was Gamora, but mostly because of the stench. She threw herself into one of the barstools with an exhale of satisfaction, alleviating the ache in the arches of her feet, before turning towards the bot bartender. “My usual, please.”
A slow chuckle to her right jolted her out of the thoughts racing about in her brain. “I can’t tell if you just had the best or worst job of your life.”
Gamora couldn’t help but laugh herself, dipping her head abashedly before turning towards the other person. “When it comes to the Guardians? It’s always a ‘both’ situation, never an ‘either or’.” She smiled at her companion, quirking an eyebrow at the large beer stein in her hands. “Bad day, Val?”
“On the contrary,” Valkyrie grinned impishly, pursing her lips as she raised her glass in victory. “I had a damn good day. So I’m celebrating.”
Now Gamora was curious, turning in the squeaky barstool to face her. “Celebrating what?”
“Loki tried to pull a fast one on me. I knocked him on his arse for his troubles, not that it was going to turn out any other way,” Valkyrie replied with an impressive roll of her eyes. The bot returned with Gamora’s drink, letting out a disconcerting series of beeps before gingerly offering her a towel. Relenting, she accepted it and began wiping down her shoes. “So, what happened on this mission of yours that took you straight here? Without your team, no less.”
“Just...needed the night off, I guess. From their ridiculousness,” Gamora added. “Sometimes I think I’m the only sane Guardian around.”
Valkyrie nearly snorted into her beer mug. “Sane, right. I doubt you’re without your...quirks.”
Gamora slammed down her bottle a little harder than necessary on the bar. The bot nearby gave out a squawk of surprise. “You don’t know me,” she reminded her, her eyes darkening.
“Relax, I didn’t mean anything by it.” Valkyrie simply waved a hand in her general direction as if it explained everything she was trying to convey. “And I mean, I’d like to. Come on, Gamora, we’re both non-Terran girls with swords that like nothing more than a good fight. You never considered the idea of us being friends?”
“You suggesting being friends?” Gamora laughed with a little more derision than she intended, though Valkyrie didn’t seem all that offended. “When you first got here, you seemed more antisocial than my sister, and that’s truly saying something.”
“Well, can you blame me? This school is mental, even compared to Sakaar.” Valkyrie stared down her mug for a moment, swishing it around with a flick of her wrist. She seemed almost mesmerized by the movement. Gamora briefly wondered if she was already getting a little inebriated. “Fine, you don’t want to be friends. Whatever. I was just hoping to find someone to talk to that wasn’t a goddamn Asgardian.”
“Aren’t you Asgardian?” Gamora asked. “When that Hela woman came here, searching for Thor...she recognized you.”
“They’re conceited, the lot of them. ‘Asgardian pride’, they call it.” Valkyrie took another generous swig. “Well, I call it complete and utter shite. Their whole damn history is something to be ashamed of. Them and their family feuds.”
When Valkyrie seemed like she wasn’t going to elaborate, Gamora instead turned in her stool to face the rest of the bar, observing the other students. Some of them were watching a sports game on television - what kind of game, Gamora couldn’t tell - while others were chatting away at the pool tables, likely complaining about their professors as they often did. Sometimes, it was hard to understand them, or alternately, for them to understand her. “We can be friends,” Gamora said quietly. “I think we’ve both spent enough of our lives being lonely. We could use the company.”
“Oh, I had plenty of company back on Sakaar,” Valkyrie said, grinning salaciously. Gamora had a feeling she wasn’t talking about just friendship, or even really thinking of friendship at all. “That was never a problem. It’s the freedom here that’s weird. The Grandmaster might pretend that my being a scrapper meant I wasn’t one of his so-called ‘prisoners with a job’, but it wasn’t like I could exactly disappear off the face of the planet and not expect consequences.”
“And what about before Sakaar?” Gamora prompted. “I’ve heard tales of it from my time with Thanos, but I’ve never been there. It doesn’t sound like the kind of place where you would raise children. You did grow up on Asgard, didn't you? Did you know Thor then?”
“Please,” Valkyrie chuckled. “I’m much older than you think. I’m older than Thor.” Very suddenly, a sobering look passed her face, her eyes somewhat glassy as she fixated on some random spot behind the bar. Gamora turned to see if she could tell what Valkyrie was looking at, but she was simply just staring off into space. “Valkyrie isn’t actually my name, though it looks like it’s gonna stick. It’s the title I had back on Asgard. I led a battalion of women called the Valkyrie who would guide the fallen to Valhalla. And, one day, we had to take on Hela. It didn’t end well.”
“Meaning…” Gamora’s mind was racing with the possibilities, though there was really only one conclusion she could arrive at.
“Meaning I’m the only one left.” She slammed her mug viciously against the counter, sloshing beer everywhere. The bot tittered at her, flinging another dishrag, this time in Valkyrie’s face. She spat at the bot in retaliation, smirking to herself as it cowered and slinked off like a scolded cat. She wiped her forearm across her mouth at the bit of beer foam that had been left behind. “You know, I’ve heard stories about you. The ‘deadliest woman in the galaxy’, they say? And how you lost your family? I know a little bit of what that’s like.”
Gamora could feel her fingernails digging into her palms, though she knew Valkyrie didn’t mean it out of malice. Maybe they did have more in common than she initially realized. When Valkyrie had arrived at the academy, courtesy of Thor, who had dragged her back with him from one of his adventures, she had been snappish, a little violent, steely-eyed like no other. She hid herself among Thor and Hulk especially, and somewhat reluctantly, Loki as well. The others didn’t know what to make of her, had written her off as just another angry girl. But from what Gamora had observed, even in those initial weeks since Valkyrie’s arrival, she could tell the other girl was recovering from years of just trying to survive, spending her days drinking and fighting and drinking again. The amount of free will she had here was probably disorienting, scary, even. Gamora had experienced that herself, at least, at first. Having the Guardians had made her considerably more comfortable over time, learning how to be with people that cared about her in a place that didn’t drain her very existence. Valkyrie would need time to get to that point herself, would need people who would offer her that time.
“It’s not something I like to relive,” Gamora murmured. “And I imagine the same goes for you.”
“I had to watch her sacrifice herself...right in front of me.” Valkyrie glanced at Gamora, giving her a tight smile. “My...my girlfriend.” She then let out an unsettlingly hollow laugh. “Why am I telling you all of this? I must be drunker than I thought. Not a good sign, I’m only getting started. Barkeep!” The bot grumbled to itself in more nonsensical beeps before reluctantly refilling her glass.
“We don’t have to talk about all this now,” Gamora offered as she drained the rest of her bottle. She was admittedly more curious than before, now knowing what she knew, but it wasn’t the right time, the right place, or even the right mindset. Her own brain was beginning to fuzz a little around the edges from her drink.
“Good, because I don’t want to,” Valkyrie said shortly, though not unkindly. “Tell me, is there anything fun to do around here? I’ve already been to all the places that serve alcohol on this campus, but what if I want to just fight? Not for my life, but just for the fun of it. I miss a good tussle, especially the kind that don’t involve Loki’s tricks.”
“It’s always a good adrenaline rush, isn’t it?” Gamora smiled a little at this. She was beginning to grow uncomfortable with how uneasy Valkyrie had seemed just moments ago. This right here, this seemed less like uncharted territory, and more like common ground. “Well, I’m assuming you’ve already signed up for combat classes with Ares, but I’m also running a fight training extracurricular with my sister in the new semester. You’re welcome to join in, maybe help us with some demonstrations? It’d be nice to have some other perspective on how to fight with a sword.”
“Maybe I will,” Valkyrie nodded. She leaned in a little, poking Gamora in the shoulder with a single finger. Now she seemed well on her way to being tipsy, if the frequency of her pokes were any indication. “Y’know what, Gamora? You’re not so bad. I heard talk around campus about how you’ve got a real hard edge, but you seem alright.”
“Thanks, I guess.” Gamora wrinkled her nose in distaste. Valkyrie’s breath was stronger than she had anticipated. “I also know all the hiding spots on campus, if you like to people-watch.”
“That’s more like it,” Valkyrie beamed. “I need my fill of entertainment, now that I don’t have the Contest of Champions to look forward to. I imagine there’s all sorts of drama with this amount of so-called ‘heroes’ around.”
“Oh, you have no idea,” Gamora said with a good-natured eye roll. “I ask myself every day if this is how Terrans usually live, or if it’s just a disproportionate amount of flashy personalities among our campus population, my boyfriend included.”
Valkyrie let out another hearty laugh, notably cheered up from just moments ago. She held up her glass, paying no mind as it slopped a little bit onto her arm. The bartender bot let out a resigned sigh from behind her. “I’ll drink to that. And to friendship, apparently.”
“Sure.” Gamora held up her empty bottle, ignoring Valkyrie’s side-eye at its vacancy. “To friendship.”