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

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

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.]

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"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.

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."

"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."

"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.

"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.

Edited 2017-03-25 23:13 (UTC)

"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."

"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.

"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."

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.

Seth couldn't argue that, not with the things he'd seen. He'd like to believe he wouldn't be that type, wouldn't rush in like that, but now with Kate and Richie, he wasn't sure at all what he'd do.

"I am betting we all die bloody given the lives we lead. I'd say better than dying in bed in your sleep but I have plans for death that involve a beach and a beautiful woman." And eventually he might end that way, but he doubted it though he'd never give voice to that.

"Yeah well, fuck that. There's things I wouldn't do again." Except the big mistake, taking the bearer bond job, would he not do it again? Not end up heading for Mexico and in that RV? Would he give all that up? He doubted he could save Richie from being turned, and if he was honest, he was pretty sure his brother didn't want to be saved from it.

"You know, this is a bad train of thought. Fuck that. You're right. Never look back. Fix the shit and move forward."

"A lot of people have those plans." He's never heard anyone give voice to them, and Rocket's not even stupid enough to consider that an option. He doesn't have to say the rest- and I bet no one really sees them happen- because it's there in his tone.

He snorts a laugh at Seth's quick realization about falling into the habit of thinking about the past- at least it's not just him. You think about it too hard, you always end up trapped. "Trips you up, don't it? It helps to believe you just get smarter from all the bad that happens. You learn what not to do, and hope whatever you screwed up on wasn't the 'clip the wrong wire on a bomb' sort of situation. You don't really bounce back from that one."

"Yeah well... Geckos make life happen," he said with a shrug. Not that Richie was ever going to die on that beach. Not unless he was stupid and stood out there under the sun, and if he tried that, Seth would have his ass and physically drag him inside. He gave him shit for what he was, but he was his brother and that was all that mattered.

"Yeah well, I kind of live with my past a lot. I just have to stop making accusations about it." Like for blaming Richie for what happened to him, when it was about Richie embracing what he was and both of them angry with the other for that rift they couldn't change but could heal.

"I don't know. Sometimes you do, just shit changes, you know? You have to change your life because it's new, but not over." He chuckled. "And I say that as someone that is avoiding facing all of that. Even now and here." Especially now and here.

He eyes him for a second- actually listening instead of just brushing over it and focusing on his own shit. The thing about Rocket's friendships over the years is that they have been based entirely on an overly macho predilection to not talk about things. And that includes not filling in the blanks on what someone is not saying and holding it out for them to confirm. There was a reason they weren't saying it, you numbskull.

But... in this particular case, it involves a friend. A friend whose general... everything Rocket has swept pretty solidly under the rug, because as weird as Richie's baggage is, Rocket's is just as bad. But that doesn't mean he's not curious. "Richie's, uh... His thing." That sounds better than 'casual vampirism.' "That's a recent thing then, huh?"

Off the look he's liable to get, he holds his hands up. "Look, I'm not judging, but I figure that's gotta be what you're talking about. It ain't rocket science here."

Seth isn't sure how many know Richie's life. Maybe everyone in the place, but Seth is circumspect about it. Richie wants to shout it from the rafters, so be it, but no one will hear it from Seth. Not if they don't bring it up first.

So when Rocket calls it that, Seth chuckles even if it is humorless, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, Richie's thing is very recent. Especially to me, since I haven't been here for months like he has." And they never worked things out, just fought constantly.

"And honestly, not to be rude? But I am betting you'd be the last to judge many for it." He as a raccoon! And Seth felt he was doing good never having asked about it.

"Yeah it's what I'm talking about. So life for us isn't over, even if we still can't get along really." He went quiet and then made a face. "He went with her. Yeah I get it. I can't do shit to help him with what he is, but she's..." There was another face made. "It's the past, and I can't change it. This place though? It means maybe I can fix shit."

He wasn't sure he ever could have in their world, but here with just the three of them? He has hope here, stupid as that might sound.

"I figured it had to be since you ain't a- a... whatever you call it." He can only mentally catalog so many species at a time and his head is full of intergalactic races far and wide. He can't keep up with the Earth ones too, gosh. "He kinda implied it's somethin' you become, not somethin' you just are."

Which, incidentally, is why he can't judge. Even if he puts his ears down and looks a little bit affronted (only a little bit though), Seth's right. It's not just a matter of being a raccoon or whatever the word people are using today is. It's about being one thing, and then being something else.

He shrugs. "I don't have family, but I figure if I did, there'd be some level of unconditional bullshit attached to it. That's how it goes, right? You care about somebody, so you put up with all the shit they can throw at you and they put up with yours."

Seth snorts, biting back his reaction to that. For Richie's sake, he was going to do the best he could to hold back his feelings on that. "Yeah, it was something he got pushed on him." With a gut shot and a lot of months of being mentally fucked with. "And I'm glad he doesn't have to entirely hide it here. He said it's all good but I just..." New place, new people. He worries, even if he doesn't share that with Richie.

And truth is, not that Seth is good with words about it, he doesn't look at Rocket and think about it. Not after the short time they've talked. Sure, he looked different, but so did Richie when he went all hunger and fangs but Rocket is more like the brothers than most Seth has met. He didn't have to lay on the charm and be someone else.

"Doesn't have to just be family though. Hell, Kate's not family but there's lot of unconditional bullshit there too," he admits. "And so trust me, you don't need family for it." Though given how their conversation's been, he is pretty sure Rocket knows that. "But you're right. I think this place is actually going to make that easier." Or so he hopes.

Rocket had been trying to avoid the whole idea of family-as-a-thing-you-pick, because it would hit too close to the bone, re: the guardians. And Groot, especially. Easier to admit you had no family at all then try to internally debate whether his feelings on Quill, Gamora, and Drax were unconditional. Groot was, definitely- he'd potted a damn twig in the hopes that something might come of it.

He just didn't want to admit it.

And he really didn't want to extend that to some of the people he's met here. They always end up leaving him, one way or another.

"Yeah, I get that. You run into people on the way and they get under your skin." Which is all he has to say on the matter, as he scratches at his neck uncomfortably.

Seth was never good at avoiding the things that upset people. Why his life went so well all the time. What with the fighting and the screaming and all. So when it came to saying things that pushed buttons, Seth was the master of it. Never one to leave shit alone.

Thing was, he had spent the afternoon hanging out with a guy with a lot of knowledge about weapons and a lot of opinions on movies, and okay so he looked like a raccoon, there was that, but it wasn't what Seth had focused on. So maybe he wanted to make sure the guy knew he didn't have to face the world alone, even if he had no one here from his world like Seth did.

"We should get back to the movies. But since you know, let's avoid anything with vampires, okay?" He said the word, and it wasn't easy, but putting it out there was for his own sake of not finding himself watching whatever the hell Hollywood had twisted that into.

Rocket flicked his ears and chuckled as he wandered back over to the DVD player to switch discs to something hopefully more entertaining than idiots in love on a boat. "I know too many vampires. It'd be weird. I'll stick with heist movies and outlaws, thank you very much. That's closer to my speed."

And probably closer to Seth's speed, as well. It was a good talk, all things unsaid and considered, but enough was enough. Time to disengage from the shit that was their lives.

Seth would probably rather the idiots on the boat than people romanticizing vampires. That he would definitely avoid.

"There a lot of vampires running around your world or..." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Let me guess, you don't mean your world."

Here. In Wonderland. Not just Richie. That was not at all reassuring to Seth with what they've been dealing with. Even if they're all different from other worlds. He will still be unsettled by them.

"Works for me. You know, I wonder if one day in my world we'll ever have a movie about the exploits of the Gecko Brothers. I think we deserve one," he said, settling in. "Though they'd probably screw up casting me and I'd be pissed."

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

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