#rocket:thread

sure, he’d been observing them for awhile while being nestled up behind a few cargo boxes and pretending to read a file on astrophysics. was it a crime to follow people and observe whatever it was that they was doing? he didn’t think so. groot was back on the guardian’s ship so that meant that whatever he was doing was going to be well-spent. that and the person who he was following had what looked like something shiny. before he could slink off and find another angle, however, rocket’s foot slipped and he ended up tripping and spilling out from the cargo - his entire form and the article splayed out onto the ground with him looking up into the face of the person he was following. “uh...” he paused and then pulled a full-toothed smile, “i was just admirin’ the boxes? what? you can’t prove anything - how much for the shiny thing?”

“fifty doombucks, take it or leave it, pal.“ rocket stared over his inventory list at his current customer - waiting for them to accept the outrageous price. or for them to haggle, he loved it when they haggled. when the guy started to argue, rocket held up his paw and shook his head. “that was the discount, now yous gotta pay twice that but also add a few extra zeroes and throw in your pocket watch.” with sharp teeth, he grinned and as soon as the guy tried to do anything, groot stepped in from behind him - pulling the unruly customer up by his feet and slinging him across the room and away from them towards the exit.... right past a potential new customer. “what can i do for ya? ignore the last thing you saw, it was nothing, just groot taking out the trash.”

“you look like someone that i could employ often,” rocket spoke up, looking up at the blonde with a toothy grin. groot leaned forward and ushered a soft “i am groot” before giving illyana a smile and a nod and backing up - making rocket sigh and roll his eyes. “okay i guess it’s weird to say it like that, sorry. what i meant is, you look like you can handle yourself in the middle of literally anything and i would very much like to hire you for jobs i run sometimes in places like the roxxon mines.” he elaborated, giving a shrug of his shoulders. rocket was a very fair boss, or at least he believed he was - so he really didn’t see what the problem could be.

rocket’s nose itched and he soon let out a loud and uncontrolled sneeze, wiping his snout with the back of his paw as he looked around for somewhere to wipe his arm off. with a shrug, he reached over and wiped it against the wall before pausing when he felt eyes on him. eyes that weren’t groot’s. “what?” he nearly barked, throwing his arms out to the side before pointing up at the starer. “you don’t sneeze? something got into my nose okay? mind ya business.” rocket’s ear twitched as he watched the person - only to sneeze again. “oh buddy i think i’m allergic to you, what are you?”

a snicker escaped him as he scuttled out from underneath quill’s bunk, satisfied with the box of unused tapes he’d found and feeling, given that groot is his look-out and hadn’t said anything, that he’d once again gotten away with something. that was until he finally got everything out and he was sitting on the floor and saw the shadow of what was most definitely peter quill-shaped. “uh-oh.” he muttered, slowly looking up and over at quill, widening his eyes and wiggling his nose to be as cute and harmless looking as he possibly could. “it’s supposed to be a surprise for you, but now you’re gonna ruin it - and you too groot, don’t think i’m letting you off on not telling me he was here!” rocket barked, looking around quill at groot who merely shrugged and began to chomp on some grass. typical.

“no, don’t touch that one - “ rocket warned as he gave groot a stern parental glance. he was taking inventory of his mystery boxes and he truly didn’t want anyone aboard to have an issue. as he slowly walked his way through, rocket took pause when he noticed gamora off to the side seemingly by herself. “kinda thought it was just me and groot on the ship right now, didn’t really expect anyone - you okay?” a lot had happened and rocket remembered too much of it. but it didn’t stop him from approaching her - after all, this was probably his last chance to have the real gamora back with them. “if you want to know, nobody has taken the boxes they shouldn’t.”

“whoa okay MUCH bigger of a problem then i ever anticipated,“ rocket stopped dead in his tracks as his eyes widened at the newly remodeled hell-death-inferno hole that the roxxon mines had become. he dropped his large sack of goods and turned to look at groot before hearing carol above, shaking his head at the anticipation of what they were going to have to do. “hey carol, you get this stupid letter too? i don’t read cursive so i had to get groot to read it to me, what’s a mine of moria?” he called out, holding the letter up as groot let out a gasp of excitement at seeing carol and chewie. “also we’re gonna melt our tails off, chewie. this place is hotter than drax’s seat after a night of movies.”

when they arrived, rocket let out a low whistle at how atmospheric it was to see all the beauty that the lighthouse location - and the cottage - really was. “man this place really makes latverion almost worth it, okay come on groot - ” with a grunt, rocket turned to look over his shoulder as groot carted a giant stuffed bag full of things - with the stuffed bear’s head poking out. stepping up to the door, rocket knocked and cleared his throat before loudly announcing himself and groot. “uh, hello? we’re rocket and groot - swinging by like we said we was with the glue gun and fabric and well, groot found a few more things you might like too?”