Baby Ravager

baby ravager

Peter Quill + objects with emotional value

Keepin' yer safe and warm

Due to an unexpected stopover, the Ravagers have to set up a camp on a unhabitated planet. And while everyone has laid down to rest, little Peter is shivering in the cold of the night and Yondu, sitting nearby, eventually hears the small Terran.

"What's up with ya, boy?"

A gruff voice called from nearby and Peter shifted his head, shivering and rubbing his shoulders. He looked up to the Centaurian with a sad expression, biting his lip in despair.

"I-i'm cold..."

The child had crossed his arms, in an attempt to warm himself, which didn't help much, though.

Yondu grumbled and let out a humorless laugh.

"Ain't my fault, I told ya to dress warm."

Sensitive Terrans...

Ignoring the child, he turned around again. Not his problem if the boy freezes his ass off. Serves him just right. This stupid brat didn't want to listen and that's what he gets now.

The Ravager grunted, closed his eyes again and tried to ignore the boy's chattering teeth and helpless whimpers in the cold. He waited to fall asleep again. Though, he had to admit that it was kinda chilly tonight, even for him.

Almost dangerously cold, especially for little Terrans - in fact, the boy only wore his thin leather jacket that barely contributed any warmth. Maybe he could...

Nah, he's gonna be fine. Don't care. Ravagers don't give a damn 'bout stupid Terrans.

Yondu still heard Peter shivering desperately under his breath, kinda glad that he at least made any noise by this cold. Admittedly, he had this uneasy gnawing in his chest, whenever he didn't hear any more noises from the kid but relaxed again as he was still breathing.

Great. Now he couldn't even sleep because of the brat.

The Centaurian turned around to the boy who by now had huddled to a bundle, pulled his legs close to his little trembling body. Rolling his eyes in annoyance, the man left out a reluctant grunt.

"C'mere."

Peter immediately turned too, raising his head. The boy stared at him with a glazed sight, surprise written all over his face. He didn't need to be told twice and scrambled over to the man.

"Hurry up, before I'm changin' my mind, boy!"

The Ravager held up his arm, pulling the shivering child under his coat to warm him up. Peter snuggled up to his side, his lips of bluish color, cheeks burning red from the cold.

"And if ye tell anyone 'bout this, I'm gonna kill ya myself an' eat'cha then, got it, boy?!" He hissed down to the kid.

Peter already made himself comfortable and eventually stopped shivering, mumbling into Yondu's coat.

"Mhm..."

And he will deny it later on, say that he just couldn't stand the noise, boy was gonna damage his chompers from all the clatterin'.

Couldn't have let his best little thief freeze t'death, he'd be stupid if he did, now did he?

Hell, he couldn't care less. But when the little Terran lay that close to his body, cradled in big strong arms and buried his face in the warm chest, even the Ravager allowed himself to put his guard down.

There was a feeling in his chest, which he ignored. And he put his hand on the boy's shoulder, just so his coat isn't slipping off and the kid won't start annoying him again. No other reason for that.

And by the stars, Yondu will never ever admit it - even in the afterlife - but he held the boy a little closer that night, making sure he is secured from the cold weather, keeping him safe and warm.

when you’re only ten and nothing makes sense and your teacher/brother/dad goes and gets himself critically injured on a mission 

(it’s young obi-wan and even younger anakin angst hours)

part 2

dad joke gone too far

I'm just gonna hop on this train of thought :D

The thing about Yondu's character is that he's so... complex. Say, the audience believes he's the bad guy at first, we see him kill, we see him lie, threaten Peter, before, after the Morag scene and later on the Eclector. Especially in Gotg vol. 1 everyone's like 'man, this guy's an a-hole' (and I think that's exactly what Gunn and the writers were aiming for), only to show another side of his character, a much more vulnerable and emotional one later in the second movie.

But I'd say even in the first movie we see this little moments shining through, like in the scene where the Ravagers capture Peter on their ship and Yondu really has no other option than pulling out his 'bad pirate captain move' to show his crew what happens when someone of them messes with him. Sure, he did this mainly to shield himself, because we know how ruthless Ravagers can be, who think of love as a sign of weakness. And if he just would've let Peter go, he'd risk his own life and that of Quill too.

If you look closely, you can see that hollow expression in Yondu's eyes, he actually turns away when the arrow's close to Peter's neck because he can't bear the sight of killing him, the boy he raised like his own son. He really didn't want to do this. But I think he also knew that Peter would act soon, he knew the boy, knew he'd came up with a cheeky answer and an offer Yondu just can't reject.

So, back to the question, what would've happened if Peter hadn't intervene?

That's really interesting actually, because I can't think of a single reason for him not to do it. Because it's Peter Quill we're talking about, the guy who can always talk his way out of situations like this. After all, he's an outlaw from childhood and practically used to deal with bad guys who want to kill him all the time, he's not that good with fists and kicks but with words. And let me just claim it'd be pretty out of character for him not to say anything, letting Yondu just kill him in front of everyone.

And Yondu?

Well, that's harder to say, because in theory I'd say he simply could've killed Peter, because if he'd back down, that would make him look like a coward in front of his crew. But apart from this, there actually is that inner conflict in him during that scene and he has to choose between Peter and his crew (in the end of gotg 2, he chose Peter, of course, and turned his back to his crew, killed all who betrayed him and went away with Rocket and Kraglin to save Peter...)

Yet in this moment, he's struggling and probably was silently praying to any gods that the kid opens his mouth. Maybe he would've said something like 'any last words, boy?' or something snarky like that just to give Peter a hint that he has to do something about this situation, something that gets both of them out safely.

I think that whole scene was so very important for Yondu's and Peter's relationship because before I get the feeling that Peter was constantly running away from his past and he still did (until he opened his mother's present at the end of vol. 1 though) and he was also, quite literally, running away from Yondu, didn't want to accept the thought that they were his only family before he met the Guardians. But there he was confronted with Yondu again and with his past, that he was kidnapped by him right after he lost his mother, and Peter still saw him as a bad guy, only "the guy who tore him away from his home and family" as said by himself in that scene and the beginning of vol. 2 at the campfire scene with Ego.

And though, at the end of the first movie, after the battle with Ronan, Peter actually admits to Gamora, that Yondu was the "only family he ever had", after he and the other Ravagers had helped him during the fight on Xandar. And Yondu kinda does that too, replying to Kraglin's "Pete's not that bad after all" with a humorless comment about what a jackass Ego was and that it was actually a good thing he kept Peter with him. And later, when he opens the orb with the troll doll in it, we see his big cheeky grin that's not angry or enraged but amused that Peter dared to fool around with him, like he probably used to when he was a little boy. Like it's the same expression a parent gets when their kid pranks them, thinking affectionately to themselves "oh that little shit :D".

I just love rewatching this scene, it's so amusing but also heart-warming and that's a feeling I personally got even before watching the second movie at all. (i also believe the writers did that on purpose to tease us for vol. 2 :))

Thoughts on Yondu from Guardians of the Galaxy:

He is Sold as a baby by his parents. Lived as a slave for first Twenty years. Then had a hard life as a ‘pirate’ captain. Did some really bad stuff. Got cast out by Ravager leader who had saved him & who he respected. First shot we see of him in Vol 2 he looks very unhappy, 😦 Then in the cell, after been beaten & mutiny upon (having had to watch all his loyal crew killed right before him!) he says he deserves all of this. 😢 He did ‘unintentionaly’ take those kids to their deaths, (heard theory his trinkets on console represents each child he dropped off) He seems ready to be done, until Rocket mentions that Peter is in trouble….. Peter, the one (after he learned what was happening to the kids) had decided to save from Ego, take on himself and raise. He’d obviously wanted Peter to stay with him and the Ravagers & probably be his successor) but Peter had left him to be with a different family. 😟 Yondu probably didn’t know how to be affectionate with Peter, with the way he himself had been brought up. And he just couldn’t be like that anyway in front of his crew. He wanted this little Terran to be able to survive out in the harshness of the galaxy, so he was tough with him. In the end, Yondu did good by saving this man he’d grown to love as his son. He probably regretted not being closer to him or things he never told him, but he was proud by how amazing Peter turned out, 😭

(Peter got none of this until after it was too late.) 😢

And how he connected with Rocket! Telling him not to end up like himself, pushing away the ones you care about. What Rocket did for him, calling all the Ravagers. It was terrible for Rocket to lose Yondu too! I mean the last shot of the film is freakin Rocket looking up and crying!

I will Never get over how tragic and soul crushing Guardians is at times.