Rocket

I am not a body language expert this is my theory based on body language research and studying the characters don't @ me.

We're doing this by movies folks!

GOTG VOL. 1

Rocket Raccoon and Peter Quill mirror each other constantly throughout the first film, constantly.

If Peter holds his hip, Rocket holds his, as soon as Peter relaxes his pose (both arms by his side), Rocket relaxes his.

Mirroring is a sign of attraction and I think it all started in the Kyln.

In the beginning, when they're in the Kyln, after getting sprayed with that goo, and Rocket walks in naked, his pose is very guarded and self-conscious because he's in a vulnerable position, (his shoulders rounded, his ears flicked slightly forward, and his eyes shifty while avoiding anyone's gaze, he adopts that pose many times, each time with Peter being mentioned or Peter being there, I'll get into that later) Peter, although curious, he...says...nothing. He doesn't take advantage of Rockets vulnerable state, he doesn't make fun of him, he doesn't pity him, he stays silent. That was the beginning of Rocket's affinity for him. That was the beginning of his little crush/like/appreciation/attraction.

(this scene always stood out to me for Rocket's posture and Peter's reaction to Rocket's scars and cybernetic enhancements. The 'unspoken things' passing between them.)

He starts to be aware of Peter's movements, and engaging in contact

- people say, 'hey why are Peter's hold ups explored, his hold ups with dating/being attracted to a raccoon (although rocket ain't a regular raccoon, he's person, a him, he's as much an animal as human beings are) and not Rocket's hold ups with dating a humie well here's this: he engages, multiple times, with Peter with touch. He initiates touch multiple times. He just doesn't really appreciate when someone else initiates touch. I honestly don't think rocket even thinks about it as humie vs raccoon. I think he more of thinks of it as his insecurities vs the world.

But Peter didn't mind his insecurities. So, he's aware of Peter's whereabouts, instantly scurries to follow him, puts a hand on his thigh, and whispers 'Quill', which is really a plea for not going further. He doesn't stop him, he asks him.

AND EVEN THEN!! they're mirroring each other. Or Rocket, more specifically, is mirroring Peter.

Eyes! Peter always, always, looks for Rocket and when Rocket does or says something, he looks for Peter, first.

The first person in trouble they both look for is each other, to make sure they're safe.

Peter immediately, after Rocket crashed his plane into Ronan, checked on him.

They're usually standing near or next to each other, with open arms and open torso. The only time Rocket closes this is when he's doing his, insecurities vs the world or vs the group, thing, or he's coming to a decision or he feels too vulnerable, or he's trying to be....firm....on his decision, so he'll cross his arms , look away, hunch his shoulders.

Peter actually sorta adopts the same pose when he's embarrassed, holding his arms closer together, messing with his fingers, looking away, hunching his shoulders.

Peter often ducks his head to meet Rocket's eyes, nobody else really does that, Rocket usually has to look up, and will swivel his head to pay attention to what Rocket says.

Interest ^ he's actively interested.

Rocket is invested in Peter, in the background often times, he's looking at Peter and observing what is going on

Rocket's super observant. He's even more observant with Peter. His ears twitch and his head tilts a little.

Interest ^ actively interested.

Anyways, overall, in the first movie, Rocket is a lot more touchy and close to Peter and Peter calls Rocket his friend two seconds after knowing him. Peter immediately sees him. There's a click! here.

This is what I like to call...a slight attraction, a small crush, on Rockets part. Peter? Peter thinks Rocket is interesting, he's his friend, c'mon, but Gamora? Gamora is the pretty girl that can kill him. He's already got a lot on his plate. He's already got someone.

There's an unspoken thing alright but it's not just the one you're focused on, buddy.

-my words to Peter ^

Mirroring, looking, choosing, interest. Tilted towards one another or paralleled, don't even get me started on the goddamn music! (That's for another time)

In GOTG VOL 2, all of that changes.

VOL 1 , Attraction

VOL 2, Love

GOTG VOL 2

Immediately, there's more of a rift between them.

It is so palpable. It's dense. There is an air between them, with Rocket in the beginning sorta trying to make Peter feel better about the high priestess being a not very nice lady and winking at Quill but it not being received well, and Peter not really joking too much with Rocket. Rocket pulling away. It's a very tense air. There is tension.

This movie, Rocket focuses on interacting with baby Groot, Gamora, Drax. He, unlike in the first movie, hardly ever interacts with Peter unless it's to tease him or to defend him (in the beginning of Vol. 2)

There's a noticeable pushing away.

And, unlike the first movie, there is little to none mirroring. There isn't any mirroring but there is a lot more, from Rocket's part, self conscious posing and guarded expression while Peter is still dynamic.

Possibly because Rocket is a little more closed off and he's compensating because he's not used to Rocket pulling away like he is, especially from Peter and on some level Peter doesn't know how to cope with that so it's making Peter agitated as well, and well

Rocket doesn't like to be open, vulnerable like that. He doesn't. So he's pushing Peter away.

And the reason why? The reason why he hunches his shoulders, his ears hang forward, and he avoids eye contact? The very things he does when he's feeling vulnerable? Is because he loves Peter and is trying to cover it up.

He loves him. What happened last time he loved someone dearly? What happened?? So he pushes them away so they don't get hurt because he blames himself for the hurt that's happened in the past.

He pushes Peter away.

He only ever adopts that body language in the movie when Peter is brought up or he is talking to Peter, and the only reason why he didn't act that way when getting the music together or whenever talking to the high priestess is because he was 1. Focusing on something else, and 2. He was defending Peter, he had his arms crossed in front of him in a defensive, guarded posture, his feet shifted slightly, and his chest puffed, because what the priestess said about Peter pissed him off.

(he is imperfect, his friends of past were imperfect, he's been dealing with this shit his whole life, he's mad, and trying to make Quill feel better. It doesn't work, the rift deepens, yadda yadda.)

When Yondu brings up Peter while they're waiting for baby Groot to grab the fin, Rocket does his vulnerable pose, whenever Peter leaves and tells him, 'are you trying to make everybody hate you?', he does that pose, and besides that he also does the pose when he's trying to get dressed in the Kyln, after getting sprayed down.

Another positioning aspect I noticed, is that, throughout vol 1 and vol 2, Rocket is in between Gamora and Peter. Consistently in between Gamora and Peter. The only time this ceases is after Yondu makes Rocket acknowledge he's in love with Peter ('for what? for honour? for love?' Rocket looking at Yondu with a heart broken expression of surprise because he saw through him, because he knows.) And Rocket and Peter mend their breaking chain by Rocket apologizing in his own way ('and he stole batteries he didn't need?' 'of course not.'). Because they needed to mend that broken chain, because Rocket needed to know that he felt the way he felt and accepted that and moved on with acceptance because Peter likes/loves Gamora. Peter doesn't feel that way about him. And so, after their relationship is mended, and Rocket realizes this, he literally and metaphorically moves out of the way of their relationship.

Only after Peter and Rocket's relationship is mended does Peter enter a relationship with Gamora.

Because! Peter and Rocket has always been the most important relationship in the group. Everything would go out of tilt if they had a rocky relationship. (heh puns)

Anyways. 2nd Vol. Love, and 1st vol. Attraction.

More Things I noticed:

Rocket's resting position is his arms crossed, and feet neutral, posture neutral. He crosses his arms often, but depending on the look on his face and the things goin on, changes why he's crossing them, and Peter's resting position is both his hands on his hips, sorta like he's about to put his fingers in his pockets. Both Peter and Rocket talk with their hands.

Whenever Pete is pissed, he brings his arms closer to his body and balls his fingers into fists. He, much like Rocket, goes from 0 to 100. Especially when it involves those he loves.

Whenever Rocket is pissed he spreads his feet evenly for more balance and brandishes his claws and shows his teeth (unless he has his guns, or he's drunk, then it's slightly different as with Peter.)

Whenever Mantis went to pet Rocket the first time, he was listening and barely snapped at her fingers with his teeth. He heard Drax joking, is my theory. He coulda snapped her fingers clean off. He didn't.

Peter has open body language most of the time, his arms open, and his feet apart, he becomes more closed off and tense when he's angry (body language right) and he becomes more deflated when he's embarrassed (shoulders hunched, eyes downcast, twiddling with fingers/thumbs, not as talkative)

Peter checks on Rocket more than he does anyone else when they are fighting (except baby Groot, he checks on baby Groot a lot, everyone does, he's baby Groot). Not out of lack of trust or doubt of capability but out of worry and care. When he was fighting Ego, he didn't look for Yondu during the fight, until after Yondu was already getting crushed, but multiple times, he looked for Rocket.

Whenever they landed in the area they needed to to connect the bomb to Egos core, Peter slid over Rocket and landed at his feet and Rocket smirked at him. (It was a soft, sorta fond smirk, not the devious smirk he usually does.)

This was a lot of information. I hope this made sense. I got distracted 60 times. I lost count and recounted. That's probably not an accurate number. Please leave questions in the notes for me to answer if you have any, and I will do GOTG VOL 3 after I have it so I can rewatch it as many times as I need.

Thank you, Rocket loves Peter, and Peter loves Rocket (although he doesn't really realize it in GOTG VOL 1 and 2. I think he knows there's a fondness maybe but it's not a conscious thing.)

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.

I love gamora, please, she's amazing. This is not hating them, it's literally just a rocket and quill post.

Tags:

“Let me have this moment with you,”

Little storyboard animatic i drew (60 minutes) after i got inspired by the thumbnail of HakuSpokus’s ‘She-TOH animatic’

You were a little trooper and we fought hard together, but it didn't feel right to continue the battle when we didn't know what we were up against and it was causing you suffering. I'm so so sorry I couldn't save you. I would have tried anything if it seemed like there was a chance. I spent every cent I had trying. You never lost your spirit, and that drove me to want to fight harder, but I could see you were afraid when you suddenly deteriorated and I didn't know if you were in pain despite the medication, but I did know you were uncomfortable and that didn't feel fair on you. I hope you understand why I made the decision I did. I wish I could have had more time with you. I'm glad I could at least give you a day full of cuddles and treats before it all went bad.

What happened seems so cruel. You were happy. Then you were injured and I'll never not feel guilty for that, accident or not. You had to have a life changing surgery and you got through it and we're doing so well. But then we took you back to the vet for a check up because you still had some nasal discharge that had sprung up after the accident and hadn't cleared up despite medication, but when I brought home something was wrong. We don't know why. We thought you hurt yourself when you slipped on the examination table but the later scans didn't show anything. We kept trying medication but nothing was working, but still you were fighting. Until one day it got worse. The vets think it looked neurological, and you'd lost weight despite still eating. Things weren't looking good but I was caring for you round the clock and you were doing okay, still eating and drinking when I hand fed you. So we were going to try some different scans. But the night before it got worse. You couldn't hold yourself up at all. It happened suddenly. One second you were sitting up. The next, I offered you some water and you went to reach for it and then you fell but this time you couldn't lift yourself back up. I tried to sit you back up but you just kept flopping back down, so I held you, but you couldn't even sit up in my arms anymore. It didn't make sense, I had been holding you earlier and giving you pets and you were teeth chattering because you loved it so much. And then suddenly this. I wish I could have done more. I wish they could have run more tests to find out what was wrong so we knew our options. But in the end, we weren't left with any good options. As much as I wanted to keep you with me, and as tough as you were, and as much as I didn't want to separate you and our other bunny, it didn't seem fair to you to keep putting you through anymore when you weren't responding to treatment. Despite the strange circumstances, it was seeming more likely that something more sinister and incurable was going on. I could piss off my already short staffed work place and take time off to continue round the clock care while you could barely lift your head, stress you out by putting you through more sedations to have more x-rays at the vet with the high chance that what we found may very well lead us back to the point we ended at, or I could make the choice there and then that meant you didn't have to suffer anymore, and you didn't have to be scared anymore. You didn't even really seem very aware that you were at the vet this time, which was unusual. You perked up enough that you were looking for treats you wouldn't take earlier, and how I wish I had brought something along for you to snack on. You loved blueberries and thyme, in that moment all I wanted to do was change my mind and take you home and give you something to eat. But you still weren't well. You were still struggling. The vet didn't think there was anything more that we could do, and believed we were doing the kindest thing for you. It broke my heart. I hope in those last moments of awareness that you knew how much you were loved. I'm sorry I couldn't control my emotions and be stronger for you. But I hope you could feel that my cuddles and pets were filled with all the love imaginable.

I wish we had a rabbit specialising vet where we lived, but we took you to the most knowledgeable vets that had worked with exotics that we had available, and they really did try to help. I'm not sure a different vet would have changed anything, but it's the not knowing that I hate.

Part of me wanted to continue searching for answers even afterwards, but I couldn't bear the thought of disrespecting you like that. I just wanted peace for you, even if you weren't around anymore to know about it. I don't know how any of the 'after' works, or if there is one, but hopefully somewhere there's a part of you that's still out there and knows how loved you were and will always be.

This took me all week to finish! The grass was a little challenging and it’s my first time doing grass that detailed. I also added another version piece without the background! Lemme know what you think!

      POWER 💪💪💪

quill    <    rocket

think about what you had and

can no longer have