peter quill

How to do a Redemption Arc Right

yourshipsaregross:

Okay, I’m going to have some spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy 2 so if you haven’t seen it, skip this.

So Yondu is a Ravager. They’re basically space pirates so that means he has done a lot of terrible things in his past. We also find out he brought children to Ego and later found out that Ego killed his children. That is right. Ego hired Yondu to bring him his kids and Ego murdered them. Granted, Ego is the one at fault but Yondu helped despite not knowing this. So not only is a liar, a thief, and a cheat but he also helped a man kill countless children. Of course, Yondu regrets this. So that already makes him a decent character because he knows what he did was wrong.

Then, when Peter kills off Ego, Peter is left on the dying planet. He think he’s going to die. But Yondu comes and saves him. Yondu then gives Peter the only space suit, leaving Yondu to freeze in the cold grip of space. He doesn’t ask to be forgiven, he just tells Peter than he was happy to have Peter in his life. He doesn’t demand to be forgiven, he doesn’t feel like he deserves it.

And that is what makes a good redemption arc. A character must not demand it. A character must earn it but they must not demand it and we must know that they realize they made a mistake.

Sorry, I just have a lot of feelings about Yondad.

My favourite thing about Yondu’s redemption is that he specifically apologizes to Peter, because he wronged Peter too. And Peter doesn’t answer him (he barely realises what’s going on I think) but Yondu puts the spacesuit on him anyway, as he was always going to, because whether or not Peter forgives him isn’t the important part.

Go The Fuck To Sleep (the Yondu and Quill edition)

ask-a-ravager:

The rats nestle close to their ratlets,
Half-nut is tryin’ to count sheep.
Yer cozy and warm in yer bunk, my boy.
Please go the fuck to sleep.

The portholes are dark in the ship, boy.
Thanos sits out in the deep.
I’ll read ya another damn holopad if ya swear
That you’ll go the fuck to sleep.

The Nova who soar through the sky are at rest
As the peace is sure to keep.
I know you ain’t thirsty. That’s bullshit. Quit lyin’!
Lie down, idjit Terran, and sleep.

The cosmic wind whispers through space, son.
The stars, they make not a peep.
We’ve travelled thirty-eight lightyears already.
By Anthos, what the fuck? Go to sleep.

All the miners from Knowhere are in dreamland.
The fleas have made their last leaps.
Hell no, ya can’t go to the bathroom.
Ya know where ya can go? The fuck to sleep.

The Kree fly forth from their homeworld.
Their canons roar and slaves weep.
The hot, crimson rage fills my heart, boy.
For real: shut the fuck up and sleep.

Taserface and Narblik are snoring
Wrapped in a big, snuggly heap.
How come ya can fit through the vent ducts
But ya can’t lie the fuck down and sleep?

Celestial seeds slumber in Terra,
And the other worlds Ego will reap.
No more questions, this game is over.
I’ve got two words for ya, kid: fuckin’ sleep.

The bilgesnipes recline on Asgardian plains,
Trinkets at the market are cheap.
Fuck yer Walkman kid, I ain’t fetchin’ you shit.
Close your eyes, cut the crap: sleep.

B.O. wafts around the Eclector
Like a smog cloud it billows and creeps.
My life is a failure, I’m a shitty-ass parent.
Stop fuckin’ with me dammit, and sleep.

(Accompanies this art)

A secret bonus verse (posted with permission from @ask-a-ravager)

I didn’t do none of it right, boy
I’m kinda surprised that you weep.
I was lucky you were my boy, son –
I’ll see you after I sleep.

sarah531:

avoid-avoidance:

I wonder… has anybody approached the Peter & Yondu angst/feels by making an AU where Yondu was too late to save Peter in Vol. 1?

If no-one else takes it, I reckon I could give that a try

Lucky

*

“Boy,” Yondu snarled. “Boy! Get the fuck up!”

He slapped the face of the man on the floor. Nothing happened. Peter didn’t get up.

“He’s dead, Udonta,” the woman who had entered the ship with him snapped. “If you lay your hands on him one more time I will kill you and any man who tries to stop me.”

“Peter can’t die, you idiot girl. I know what his father is!”

Kraglin, standing at the front of the gaggle of Ravagers, winced a bit at that. “Maybe we oughta go drop him off where we was meant to drop him off twenty years ago.”

“We’re not doing that! You fucking insane, Kraglin? You know what his father is too.”

The woman – Gamora – opened her mouth to speak. Horuz, who was holding her back, spoke over her. “What’d you care, Captain? You said you were gonna kill him anyhow.”

Yondu whistled and the Yaka arrow came out of its holster. It hovered in the air over Peter’s body, looking for all the world like it was some sort of spirit protecting him.

“Anyone wanna question the way things are run around here, you know what you up against.”

There were some mutinous mutterings which Yondu heard and fully understood, but he didn’t care. Peter didn’t look dead. Apart from the ice on his face, he looked like he could have been just sleeping.

“There’s no life signs, Captain.” Kraglin was holding some little medical device. “Not one.”

Yondu looked at Gamora, partly so that he wouldn’t have to look at Peter. This was her fault, the sentimental sanctimonious witch, and he wanted nothing more than to kill her. But he couldn’t bring himself to. It would bring more trouble than it was worth… and it would render Peter’s sacrifice pointless.

“Idiot fucking boy!” He had no idea who or what he was actually talking to. “Idiot fucking girl,” he said to Gamora.

“Now isn’t the time to be grieving,” Gamora said. She looked like she was only just holding it together, but her voice didn’t wobble. “There are bigger things-”

Yondu whistled and the arrow came to a stop in front of her face. She barely flinched.

“One more word out of you and it goes through your brain,” he said. “And ta the rest of ya, fuck off and go do what I pay you for.”

More angry, whispered swear words.

“Tullk, Kraglin, get this up-herself green asshole outta my sight. Put her in the brig or something.” A pause. “What’re you all standing the fuck around for? Go!”

They went. All the Ravagers were smart enough to not glare at their captain directly, just, but Yondu still felt the contempt radiating off some of them. He would happily have killed them there and then if it wouldn’t have made things even worse.

“Let me say goodbye to him,” Gamora demanded as she was dragged out. She had apparently realized that the arrow-through-the-brain threat had been an empty one. “He saved my life.”

“An’ you’ll have plenty of time to contemplate that over the next coupla days, while we work out what to do with you.”

Let – me – say – goodbye – to – him.” Her teeth were bared. It served to remind Yondu that she was even more of a prolific killer than he was.

Only he, Tullk, Kraglin, Gamora and the corpse were left in the room. “Fine. You got five seconds. And if you try anything just remember, you can’t outrun the arrow. Nothin’ can.”

Gamora shook off, with dignity, the hands that were holding her arms behind her back. She walked to Peter’s body, knelt down, whispered something in his ear, and stood back up again.

“You remember that I showed you that kindness, girl,” Yondu said, as Tullk and Kraglin escorted her out. She spat in his face, so quietly that the others didn’t even notice, as she passed him. He did nothing.

A part of him had hoped Peter might suddenly sit up and laugh once the room was empty, but he didn’t. With fury and grief coursing through his veins, he picked up the body and carried it to the engine room. With every step, it hurt more.

*

“Folks ain’t gonna be happy that you’re giving him a Ravager funeral, Captain,” Kraglin said.

“You keep talking, Kraglin, and you’re goin’ into the flames after him, and it won’t be no funeral.”

“S’not an insult, Captain! I swear. I’m trying ta warn ya.”

Peter’s funeral pyre had all Yondu’s console toys on it, and the Walkman, obviously. Peter wouldn’t have wanted to go anywhere without his mother’s last gift to him by his side. The flames were licking at it and turning it black and making the room smell like chemicals. Like death, too.

“We picked up some of Peter’s buddies,” Kraglin said. “They came after him, trying to save him from… you, I guess. An angry green guy and an angry tree and a really, really angry rat thing. All the fight kinda went outta them once they learned he was dead.”

“Did you put ‘em in the brig with the girl?”

“Yeah. They won’t shut up though. They keep yelling about that fucking orb.”

“S’all that girl’s fucking fault…” But it wasn’t, of course. It was all Peter’s fault, for being good and noble and stupid and far, far more than Yondu had ever deserved. “We’ll deal with ‘em later.”

“Yeah.”

Both of them stared at the fire and at the trail of ashes visible from the window. Yondu wondered what Gamora had whispered into Peter’s ear.

Kraglin put his hand on Yondu’s shoulder, which made him jump. “I’ll leave you alone, Captain,” he said. “Just watch your back, ya know?”

“Not one of them assholes has the balls to go up against me, not while the arrow’s still flying. Just go, Kraglin.”

Kraglin left. The door to the engine room slid shut with a clunk, and Yondu was left to watch Peter’s body burn. Terrible things were going to happen soon, he was fairly sure of it. He was surrounded by enemies, and Peter’s friends would probably be out of their cell soon enough if they’d been smart enough to make it so far already, and that whole orb situation sure as hell wasn’t looking exactly promising either…

“Sorry, boy. Hope wherever you are now’s better than here.”

It was a shitty eulogy. Once again, Peter had deserved better, but Yondu had run out of words and out of energy. He slumped down next to the blazing engines, so close he could almost feel the fire on his skin, and took the arrow from its holster again. It had been his last connection to his home planet as much as the Walkman had been Peter’s. But it didn’t really matter anymore.

He snapped it in two with his bare hands, and threw it into the fire. Within seconds it was gone, its ashes merging with Peter’s and falling out into the darkness. Yondu watched the patterns forming in the stars, longing to see some sort of sign, in accordance with Ravager tradition, that Peter was still in some way there.

But it was alright. He’d gotten lucky. They’d be coming for him soon enough.

dis4daria:

guess who is still not over guardians of the galaxy 2? this gal! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
first two pics are for the amazing fics by @laylainalaska​ – the hug one is for the “Night Watch” which gives you FEELINGS;_; and the kid Yondu is for the “the past is just goodbye”  which also gives you double FEELINGS

Girl Peter is for the amazing series by @mapleymood! Scrappy badass ravager girl Peter! the latest story shook me in the best way