She Couldn't Help But Chuckle At Peyton's Sleepy Protest. "Sorry For The Early Ruckus. But You See, Pancakes

She had seen some amazing inventions in her travels around the galaxy, however none intrigued her quite as much as the human device known as a 'smartphone.' All of Earth's knowledge, right in the palm of her hand. Not to mention all the adorable creatures she could stand to watch, probably her favorite part of the device. "He fell into his bowl!" Mantis squealed in delight as she turned her screen to share the video of a puppy tripping into his water bowl with the other.

Mantis tilted her head slightly, her eyes fixated on Eddie. "No, can't say I know the meaning of LOL," she admitted, her antennae twitching in curiosity. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, she observed Eddie's amused expression with genuine interest. The feeling washed over her, a smile of her own tugging at her own lip. "Is it perhaps a human expression for joy or amusement? Because that's all I can sense right now."

Eddie glanced back at her, a light scratch on his temple before his arm wrapped back around his knee. "You don't know what LOL means?" He lightly chuckled, relaxing a little on the floor as he talked with Mantis, he liked her. "Lucky you, I ain't going to tell you as I don't want our texts being filled with them."

Mantis fought the urge to look back to see who could be trailing them, not wanting to escalate the situation if she could avoid it. "Do you recognize them at all?" She questioned, looking for an escape route. "We should be able to turn up ahead, maybe we can shake them on that street."

"Someone's following us. We need to lose them."

"Thank you, Johnny," she replied, her voice filled with genuine gratitude. "I was nervous, but everyone seemed to have a good time." She tilted her head, studying Johnny's expression. "Did you really think it was good? I hope I didn't miss any important Earth party traditions."

"So," he started as he walked into the common area of the Avengers' quarters, bringing breakfast for both of them. "How do you feel after throwing your first party on Earth?" Johnny sat the food down on the table. "You did good." ; @guardianmantisx

Mantis, with her multifaceted eyes flickering in shades of green, considered Ella's proposal. "Electronic games could be intriguing, but I have observed that the tactile nature of card games has a unique charm. And I've heard of so many games that can be played with a single set of cards. I'm curious to know how that works."

Ella thought for a moment, "Do you want to play something electronic? Or like a card game?" She asked the other woman, thinking of all the different possibilities. Plus she was sure there were a ton of games she didn't even know about. That was just on Earth! She couldn't even imagine what sort of things aliens did to pass the time.

Thankfully, in her experience at least, men had been an upstanding sort, though most of her human interaction up until this point had been with the Avengers and a few SHIELD agents here and there. She'd been venturing out into the human world more and more as of late however, which opened her up to a whole new world of human interaction. "Sadly, they're located right in front of my favorite donut shop, so I'll have to go without those while they're working. Oh! We should go find a new donut spot to go to!"

"Oh. Yeah." Peyton set Leia down beside her brother when she started squirming and walked over to her roommate, cat leashes that both cats were ignoring still in hand. "It's 'cause men are assholes." She knelt down to their level and made a face when Luke started resisting the leash again. Letting out a breath, Peyton looked up at Mantis, clarifying before she could question her on the asshole comment, "They're gross. Have no moral center. No decency. Most of them anyway."

Mantis returned the warm smile, her antennae twitching slightly. "Yes, thank you," she replied with genuine appreciation. "The transition has been smoother than expected, and everyone has been incredibly welcoming, and it's been rather fascinating learning the ways of humans. The internet has been very useful in learning Earth customs, too so I've been watching a lot of videos on that."

Wanda had her mouth open ready to say something, but the other woman cut her off before she could speak. She laughed and nodded, reaching out for the bubbles. "I was going to ask you how you were doing, but you seem to be doing alright." She blew some herself, before turning a warm smile to Mantis. "Are you, though? Settling in? Everyone being okay?"

"Please be careful," Mantis pleaded. "We have no idea what threats are out there."

Mantis tilted her head in confusion, her large eyes fixed on the floor while she processed Klara's explanation. "Ah, I see... Metaphorical expressions can be perplexing. The intricacies of Earth's languages continue to elude me," she admitted with a laugh, her expression reflecting a mix of curiosity and bemusement. "But congratulations on the revelation of your impending parenthood! I sense a complex array of emotions within you, and it's truly fascinating. If you ever need assistance, I am here to help in any way I can." Mantis extended her hand, offering a warm and reassuring smile.

Admittedly, Klara should have known that using the phrase cat's out of the bag in reference to everyone now knowing about her pregnancy would be a problem for an alien that's been on Earth for maybe three weeks. After all, there were still some phrases that frazzled her own mind. "No, no don't worry! There are no cats in bags involved!" she shook her head. "It just means that a secret's out. I'm not sure why Midgardians use that phrase but I can't really judge," she chuckled.

Mantis was thankful that Loki didn't ask more about her history with Ego; eventually she would open up about it all. But at that point in time it was just too fresh of a wound to go and reopen. She uttered a soft thanks before her smile of appreciation turned into amused laughter as Loki described the happenings of home. "How lucky that she can communicate with them though! At least you'll never have to guess what the animals are thinking? There's probably a lot of people who'd be jealous of that ability. As someone who's thinking of fostering, I am one of those people."

"My father used me as a political pawn. Found out a few years ago." Loki looked up at her. "I get it. I promise. It sucks beyond reason to talk about, so we don't have to." His expression was softer when he said it, but didn't say anything else about it. At the shift in conversation, he scrunched his nose. "Do I not like it? Eh. I don't mind it. But my fiancé enables it, so there's a difference." He smirked, but then shook his head. "I think she can actually talk to animals, funnily enough. Which would make a lot of sense. Apparently her magical abilities manifested in nature, so I'm guessing that's why she's attracting them."