[open] you were content to let me shine, that's your way.

[beatupgrass]

Who: Rocket and anyone who wanders into this hot mess
Where: Wonderland's "movie theater."
When: Various points throughout the month of March, except during events. (Catch-all)
Rating: PG-13 for Rocket's mouth, probably
Summary: Rocket doesn't always play Beat the Clock with bombs in the hedge maze or shoot things for fun... sometimes he catches up on Terran pop culture.
The Story:

ᴀ. ɢᴇɴᴇʀɪᴄ ʜᴏʀʀᴏʀ ᴍᴏᴠɪᴇ

We find Rocket seated comfortably in the first row of comfy couches, a bowl of trail mix situated beside him, which he keeps idly reaching his disconcertingly human-like hands into, as he stares at the scene unfolding before him with the look of someone wondering if the movie is going to actually get good if he looks away for a second.

"Bet he's still alive," he mutters, popping a pretzel in his mouth. Unsurprisingly, the killer gets to his feet, limping along and ready to have one last stab- hah- at the quirky killer. "Dippy broad. You're supposed to shoot his face in before you turn your back."

He ends up going through several horror movies and being continuously disappointed in all of them and their lame excuses for twists. He's probably even figured some out way before the ending, and isn't shy about proclaiming his theories, therefore ruining the suspense. He's a bro like that.


ʙ. ɢᴇɴᴇʀɪᴄ ꜱᴄɪ-ꜰɪ ᴍᴏᴠɪᴇ

If you thought watching horror movies with Rocket was annoying, then wait until you see how he gets with science fiction. Most of it is yawn-worthy to him, having lived in space. More importantly, it's horribly unrealistic. He spends most of the ones he watches flopped in one corner of the couch with his head on the armrest, rolling his eyes.

People watching with him get treated to a raccoonoid in various states of agony, running his hands over his face, muttering things like, "You can't freakin' do that, jackass. You'll burn up your d'ast engines" or "Did they hand a bunch of frickin' children laser guns? Why can't any of these people hit anything?"

But also, occasionally, he'll perk up and you get things like, "Now that's a nicely designed spacecraft. Y'all can imagine that, but you can't legitimately build it? What a waste."


ᴄ. ʙᴇᴀᴄʜᴇꜱ

It's hard to say where Rocket was when this movie began, but right now he's in the middle of the comfy floor pillows with a blanket over his head, staring with wide eyes at the screen. He may or may not be sniffling a little bit as "Wind Beneath My Wings" starts playing.

Look, the story of an unlikely friendship withstanding the test of time and people being selfish and stupid, only for one of them to die really hits home for him. And while he's too manly to admit why it gets to him so deeply, he's not too manly to admit he can be genuinely moved by the film. God, people. He has feelings too, you know.

He definitely spent the entirety of this one engrossed entirely and threatened to shoot you if you interrupted it. Look, he's been thinking about Groot a lot lately. He was bound to find some way to deal with this.

ᴅ. ᴛɪᴛᴀɴɪᴄ

You probably stumbled upon this viewing because Rocket has spent most of it yelling at the screen, ranging from things like "YOU ARROGANT DICK" to "oh my flark- YOU CAN'T GET OUT OF THAT?" and so on and so forth. It's hard to tell whether he's pissed at this movie or worked up because he actually likes the characters and wants better for them. It's Rocket. He's difficult to read.

As it draws to an emotional climax, Rocket is tugging at his ears and looking somewhere between wanting to yell or cry. Or both. "You both could've fit on that d'asted raft! What the hell, Rose?!"


ᴇ. ᴛʜᴇ ɪꜱʟᴀɴᴅ ᴏꜰ ᴅʀ. ᴍᴏʀᴇᴀᴜ

This one starts out promising. Plane crash. People duking it out for survival. Iceman from Top Gun is in it. All really great points, but as it goes on, it occurs to Rocket that maybe he should have paid a little bit closer attention to the details. At first, the strange hybrid humanoid animals and the talk of experimentation only make him tense and a little annoyed, but he manages to keep watching, if anything, out of stubbornness, growing continuously more on edge the longer it goes on. He doesn't even make it halfway, however, after a brutal scene involving bringing the Beast Folk into submission through their implants forces him to snarl and slam a hand down on the remote.

Once his fur settles, he tries to play it off. "It was boring anyway."


[OOC: ALSO AVAILABLE FOR WILDCARD OPTIONS if you'd like to force Rocket to sit through your personal favorite movie.]

Comments

[beatupgrass]

You would like Billy Zane, Seth. You would.

Not that Rocket is in any for or against him. Here at these last few moments of the film, he has only one target for his rage- so much that he actually blatantly ignores Seth. "Tell me she ain't gonna do i-" And then Old Lady Rose drops the FUCKING DIAMOND into the ocean.

And all hell breaks lose as Rocket scrambles to his feet on the couch and points accusingly. "You crazy broad. That thing was worth a mint! Who cares if you're like five seconds from death! You got a kid! You got some jackasses who'd love to take that off your hands! You... You..." He mimes strangling and then finally acknowledges Seth by pointing accusingly at the screen.

"Can you believe her?! What a waste."

[screwedontight]

Better than some street urchin who is too busy making out to actually try and save his own life.

But then they're both on the same page with that. "Awww, but it's proof her heart will always be with him," he said, placing his hand over his heart before he started laughing. "Or, you know, she lost it and now she'll spend the rest of her life in poverty and shunned for banging the kid that is practically help."

He shook his head. "He'd have wanted her to keep it too. Died for nothing."

[beatupgrass]

Rocket drags his hands down his face and sinks back onto the couch, digging around the cushions for the remote. "And this is what the average bald-bodied helpless romantic wants to call a love story. I got zero experience with the topic, but even I can tell you that's just freakin' depressing."

He's pretty sure a 'love story' should not end with both parties being dead and meeting up in that big cruise ship in the sky or whatever.

[screwedontight]

"I don't ever get these damn movies. The guys are idiots, the woman put up with shit, and people think they're so romantic. What's so romantic about spending her entire life dreaming over a guy that's long gone and dead? How is that romantic?"

He shook his head, making a face. Not that he knew much of anything about romance in the least, and definitely didn't have room to talk about it.

"Hell she probably poisoned herself to die there with the damn boat."

[beatupgrass]

Ugh. She lived way too many years for someone that unfortunately stupid. He didn't even think the average humie could get that old. Unbelievable.

Oh, there's the remote. He hits the STOP button as Celine Dion starts singing about her heart will always go on and on and on. "That's about enough of you, lady." With that done, he starts rifling through the pile of DVDs he's cabbaged away to see what strikes his fancy.

"This is more of a learning experience than I thought- I'm learnin' humans have got terrible taste."

[screwedontight]

"Avoid soundtracks. Avoid the title theme. And, honestly, avoid the romances unless they're older, in black and white even. Not that they're entirely better, but they're not crap like making out instead of making your escape."

Damn but that scene bothered him.

"Okay, not everything is horrible. What do you have? There has to be something good around here, right? All the worlds and people? Has to be something good. What do you prefer? Let me guess. Things blowing up?"

[beatupgrass]

"I can see that any day of the week here, and I like my explosions better." They're real and most of the bombmaking and red wire green wire stuff is just bullshit. Takes him right out of the mood.

"You think I'm not the type of guy who doesn't enjoy a good story?" He doesn't sound offended that could be Seth's assumption. It certainly wouldn't be most people's first guess. Maybe he just likes things that look normal, but still sane enough to be taken seriously. Not this contrived epic love story BS.

He picks up a box and is about to put it back down when he catches sight of the title. "Oh hey, I think Quill mentioned this one." He's flipping over a copy of the Faye Dunaway Bonnie and Clyde and studying it with a scrutinizing eye, as if he's not quite sure.

[screwedontight]

Seth arched a brow at that. In truth so much of this was so damn surreal and he wasn't sure what to even think about it, but he was going along with it. What was his life is he was going to let a bit of fur and pointy ears got in the way of checking out the possible allies in this place? Besides, so far he hadn't tried to blow him up personally, had he?

"Do you do a lot of blowing shit up around here? Like the event things, or just because you can?" Because explosions seemed better than sitting around waiting for the next time the people in charge fucked with you.

"I don't know what type of guy you are. Most people are crap about movies." He perked when he saw that cover. "Bonnie and Clyde is almost always good. Oh, also pick up Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid if you get a chance. I kind of like buddy movies." Not because his brother is his closet friend or anything,. Nope of because of that.

[beatupgrass]

"I get bored, and even the stuff outside gets repaired eventually." It's not like he causes any lasting damage to the idyllic little Wonderland hellhole. "'Sides, I gotta keep myself sharp. If I don't screw around with that stuff, I'll get rusty, and then I'll really be in a shit during an event when I need it."

Most people are crap about movies? Right now, his opinion is that the majority of the species as a whole are they're not that great at cinema. Still, Seth is Richie's brother, and Richie has proven to have pretty good taste. "Buddy movies, huh? Like two guys fightin' against the odds to raise some hell?"

Maybe he has his own experience with that kind of thing, and Groot's been on his mind more and more here lately. He misses that stupid tree.

[screwedontight]

Now that was new for Seth, pausing to consider that. "So wait. No matter what shit we do, it just magically gets repaired?" Said with finger quotes and all. "So what? We can dismantle the place and none of the fairytale creations care?"

Because it sounds too good to be true in some ways. Not that kidnapping and the idea of these events doesn't suck but there had to be some entertainment on their own.

Hearing it put like that, Seth kind of looks away, the sound he makes nearly like a chuckle. "Yeah, something like that. Except they don't always make it in the end. Which I think is a lot of bullshit. Some can make it. They have to." His story isn't done. His and Richie's and he has to believe it doesn't end with both of them dead. True dead. Not Richie's new diet dead.

[beatupgrass]

"I mean if you set fire to the building, people are probably gonna burn alive and then come back pissed at you, but the mansion would be fine." Theoretically. It's not something he's tested out to any great effect, but given the majority of his exploits and fondness for making things go boom haven't gotten him anything more than sighs from the population (and the holes he's blown in his own room usually repair themselves over night), he's inclined to believe it.

If Seth is a little pressed, then Rocket's even worse when he hears it laid out that way. Some can make it. Right. Well, Groot didn't. Maybe he's gonna bounce back and that little twig's gonna remember everything that made him Groot or maybe he'll just be someone new. Someone Rocket has to forge a new relationship with. And maybe that Groot will get it into his head to sacrifice himself for the greater good too, and so on and so forth. It's stupid. Groot's a tree, and he's a science experiment with a warranty that could run out any year now. He's not supposed to outlive anyone.

"They have to," he repeats, chuckling dryly. "Heh. Any way possible, right?"

[screwedontight]

"Is that a hypothetical, or has someone tried it?" Because honestly, he could see it. Anger at being there, seeking a way out, trying to force the hand of those that brought you there. Seth could definitely see it having happened before. "Not saying you have but in general has someone tried it," he said, clarifying a bit. He didn't want to sound accusatory, after all.

It was the downside of attaching to someone. Even if Seth said he had no choice. They were brothers, after all. But it came with the territory of giving a shit about another person. Someone that was part of you, no matter how bad things got sometimes.

"Hey, being together means you have a better chance. I don't give a shit what the movies might say. When are movies true anyways? Come on. No one believes that old bitch tossed the necklace into the sea. She hocked it years ago. Endings are all lies and smoke and mirrors. Nothing more."

[beatupgrass]

"Rick's tried a few times, but, y'know... People were inside it at the time, so they probably tackled him. Crazy old codger." Rocket isn't that stupid. He would have at least had everyone clear out first, but at one the time Rick was sleep deprived and not quite sure of reality. He can't really account for the other times.

He barks a laugh, which is better than that contemplative teeth-grit intensity when those pesky feelings settle in. He can relax now, brush it off as unimportant, stupid. "Ain't that the truth? That's the one thing I've picked up in my years- nothin' really ends. It just starts somethin' new."

Unless you die, and even then it's the start of something new for the people you leave behind- it isn't like him to be that poetic or even cavalier about death, but the Battle of Xandar wasn't so long ago. It gives a man some perspective, even if it didn't really change his personality and ambitions any.

[screwedontight]

"A few times. Okay then. That's a name to remember." Because Seth knew eventually they should try and get out of there, but right now? Sadly, Wonderland was practically better than home. He had who he needed and no one he wanted to kill on sight. It was a win win so far.

"Exactly. Everyone thinks otherwise, want to pretend everything is dire, when they could just face starting shit over," he said, determined, not willing to accept what he had nearly let happen. He had let Richie walk away. He had let that bitch take his brother. He knew, having him back as he did in this place, he wasn't letting that happen again.

"Movies just do it because otherwise how many movies would they have to do if the endings just start over again?"

[beatupgrass]

"I mean I got stuck in a loop of watching sixteen horror movies the other day 'cause they kept doin' that, but it was a terrible experience." And should never be repeated. Ever. Any movie that has more than two sequels is evil and should be stricken from the record.

"The real horror was that they never frickin' ended, and that bastard never died."

Like an evil penny. Or someone in Wonderland that you really hate that just won't leave. Actually, maybe those films were entirely true life Wonderland horror stories from the bygone days.

[screwedontight]

"Okay one? Do you hate yourself? Two, what's wrong with thirty two hours of dumb ass people that run upstairs instead of out the door?" He's laughing even as he asks it though, because that is a huge part of what's bad with it. "I can't imagine how much you yelled at that."

And it sounded kind of entertaining, to be honest. "Maybe they're based on Wonderland," he said, thinking the same thing. "I mean, everyone keeps telling me if I kick it, I'll be back. I will totally quote that, Terminator-style, if I think I'm dying too."

What? He has to be grown up about dying?

[beatupgrass]

"Unless you got a jetpack or a freakin' ship to escape in, there ain't no excuse to run up." He's held in that rant for a few days and now that it's out, he feels so much better. No decent escape artist and strategist should ever watch horror movies unless they hate themselves or are in the mood for a good scream. And yet here they are.

He has no idea what the Terminator is, but that sounds badass- enough that he actually has to laugh at the image. "I mean what's more hardcore than lookin' whoever killed you square in the eye and tellin' 'em that." They'll be up for a week, realizing how bad they screwed up.

Unless they shoot him in the back, which is highly possible. And also rude.

[screwedontight]

Seth might argue it, but he definitely didn't disagree. People in those movies are too fucking stupid to survive. Which was good, since most didn't.

"I never got the running past the kitchen full of handy weapons," he admitted. "Trust me, when the horror movie happens to you? You use every weapon you can."

Because horror movies weren't as funny when you'd faced down blood thirsty vampires, but that didn't mean he wouldn't make jokes about it.

"Exactly. When it's a guarantee, at least from most of what I've been told, let them sweat it out." He paused, considering that. "Wait, do you remember the deaths and all? Because seriously, someone actually puts a bullet in me and I can remember it when I come back? Yeah, that's going to be ugly."

[beatupgrass]

"It ain't happened to me yet." At least he acknowledges that it could happen. He's seen some of these events get pretty nasty and there's a lot you can prevent if you're smart, but avoiding drowning because your room is running out of air and everything is flooded is a little harder to maneuver around.

"But from what I understand, yeah. You remember everything." Which really must suck if that cannibal guy actually ate anyone... which he probably did. No wonder no one wants to remember that bastard. Yikes. "It's a pretty fucked up system."

[screwedontight]

"You're lucky then. Everyone keeps warning me that's all this place is," he pointed out. "My life went that way before I came here."

Falling silent, considering that and all it meant. "You died yet?" Probably he should ask, but it all left Seth wary. Dying and coming back was close to what Richie had gone through and it made him wonder what would happen, could happen even. Would this place let a Culebra turn him? Damn but he didn't want to think about that.

[beatupgrass]

"I'm too smart for that." Like it's really about brains. He expects that's going to be the response, so he presses on without a pause. "I keep my head down and I don't pick fights I can't win. Tends to keep me from havin' the pleasure of that kind of experience."

Pleasure. Hah. One day it'll happen, and he probably won't be ready, but until then, he'll do everything he can to prevent it from happening.

[screwedontight]

"Let me guess. Too many heroes and white hat types around here to keep themselves safe?" He could imagine it with those he'd already talked with. "Only about two people on this island would get me to rush in where angels fear to tread."

Except he'd caused it last time, and he knew it. Well, gotten them involved, at least.

"When it happens in your world, it has none of the horror movie warnings though. Which kind of sucked."

[beatupgrass]

"Nailed it." He's a Guardian of the Galaxy, but they are in no way white hats, and what they did that was self-sacrificing was probably a once-in-a-lifetime thing. And only because they had no other choice- it wasn't as if they did it blindly.

Rocket's a bit contemptuous about people who do things like that without thinking.

"Yeah, a lot of things in my life could've gone different if I had some kind of warning that the messes I found myself in were gonna be hazards to my health."

And he's fine. Groot is not fine. Groot could've been fine if they had found another bounty that was less of a hassle than Quill had been. So maybe everything was okay now, but had it to do over, maybe Rocket would've decided the human worth 40K to a Ravager wasn't worth the fight with a green assassin. He's not that noble.

[screwedontight]

"Bet they die a lot, don't they?" Maybe that was why it was "allowed" to happen so often. Hero types just couldn't stop themselves from dying. It reminded him he needed to check with Kate, see how often she was rushing into things and if she had died here already. Not that he really wanted to hear it.

"Yeah not that you always notice it." He hadn't. Should he have seen Carlos for what he was? Or that Richie's "craziness" was anything but? Probably, but how the hell are you supposed to know? "What is it they say though? Not about hindsight but if you'd do things differently if you knew."

[beatupgrass]

His whole body tenses up. He's not thinking of Groot now- he's thinking of the Nova Corpsmen who put up that barrier around Xandar to keep the Dark Aster out and held their ground right up until the very last moment. And Rocket had watched, helplessly, as they were all crushed to death. Saal had called him by his name and that was the last thing he ever said. That stupid bastard. All of them were idiots. But they were heroes too.

It stays with you, that kind of thing. "They die bloody is what they do."

He huffs, running a hand over his ear so he scratch just behind it. "I dunno, but I know a saying of my own- don't look back. You get too hung up on what you should've done, you just make the same mistakes."

Advice he should take, but some wounds hang pretty close to the surface.