Steve's Diary

November 30, 2023

Nebula stood. "I'm her sister, Nebula, another of Thanos' children. I am a Luphomoid and most of you already know me, so..." she sat again.

A man without a shirt and with strange grey skin and pink, raised tattoos stood and looked slowly around the room for a moment before remaining in this place without moving at all.

"Not again," Quill started. "We can see you, Drax. I promise."

"No, I'm sure you can't," he argued, leaving the rest of us confused. "I am Drax the Destroyer and the last of the Kylosian people... and I have mastered this art, Quill!"

"It's not an art! You're just being weird," he explained.

"I am not," Drax answered. "I'm sure I'm invisible." he sat down very slowly and we just all kind of ignored that.

"I'm Rocket, yes, I'm a raccoon and yes, I can talk. This is Groot-"

"I am Groot," he interrupted, allowing me to remember our little mid-Wakanda-battlefield-moment from all those years ago.

"And those are the only three words he says because he only speaks groot, which, I can translate for you all so, you're welcome," Rocket confirmed, sitting again.

"Mantis, tell them about the game," Tony requested, sounding a little more than buzzed at this point.

"Of course," she stood. "After training with the Priests of Pama in Vietnam to become the Grand-Mistress of the Martial Arts, I discovered I had actual powers. For example, I can commune with and control plants, I am also an empath... meaning, I can alter emotions as well as detect them. From this last ability, sprouted a game we Guardians used to play when we were in space and would meet new people... invented when we met Mr. Quill for the first time. If I touch you, I feel what you feel and it can be fun to put to words what you might not be able to... we usually have fun with it," she smiled at us.

"All right!" Tony stood, raising his drink as Have You Ever Seen The Rain? by Creedence Clearwater Revival started to play. "Who's first?"

I turned to Bucky and sent him a sideways look. "These people are crazy," I whispered.

"Tell me about it," he mumbled back with a smirk.

"Well, the first time I did this, as I mentioned, it was with Peter," she admitted. "But, he didn't like it very much," she went on to explain further

"Why not?" Gamora wondered.

"May I?" Mantis reached out for her. "I can show you... what it is like."

"Uh," Gamora nodded hesitantly and we all watched in awe as Mantis placed her hand on Gamora's hand and closed her eyes. The antennas on her head started to glow.

Her eyebrows furrowed. "You feel... confusion," she started. "You know what you are supposed to be now that you are here, but you are afraid to disappoint those around you. And... there is the beginnings of love, somehow, anew for someone you felt, at first, you had to be with, but now feel you want to be with... for him-" she pointed at Peter, putting two and two together.

"You do?" Quill questioned.

"I, uh," she stuttered. "I suppose so, yes," he took her hand and they sat back in content, talking quietly among themselves.

"That was... so cool!" Peter Parker (who wasn't drinking because he's still underage by a long shot) shouted from the other side of the room, extending his arm up and slinging a web up to the ceiling and swinging over and onto the couch with everyone else. "Me next!"

Mantis walked over to the boy and put her hand on his head. She smiled. "You feel joy, more completely and utterly now than you have in a while. This... relief, almost, it comes from a place of sadness. You feel like you have this new beginning, a second chance with... a parent? It feels like your father, or an uncle or..." She scanned the room. "Him."