*Beats Up Grass*

Scott listened intently at the whole thing and couldn’t help but shake his head. Get a load of these guys. Maybe it’s the fact they’re the Guardians that has kept random thieves from coming to this place and steal from them. But still, they’ve got a security problem.

“Well,” he shrugged, “I’m an expert in security. I started a business dealing with security after all. Maybe I could help out with your situation. Only if you guys want my help, obviously.”

"Seriously?" Peter asked, "I mean, that sounds like just the expert we need. We could use some upgrades. This place... it's been around for centuries and some of the tech is a bit outdated still... we got this whole plan to revitalize it that has been stretching us pretty thin."

"Hypothetically," Rocket chimed in, "can I be the test on security? I mean, you can't trust Quill to test it, as he can't flirt his way in. And if I can't break in Quill can pay double your going rate."

"Nope! No. We're not doing that," Peter shutting down the proposal immediately. He imagined that Rocket would sabotage the whole project just to prove he couldn't be bested, even at the expense of their own facility.

"Also I don't flirt my way through security... all the time," he added defensively. "Why does everyone like to forget I was a professional thief?!"

He chuckled and comes to lean on the counter next to Rocket as he looks over the dim setting, sighing with a soft grin tugging his lips, "Well, unfortunately for you, my friend, I try not to keep much of that stored down here as much of the society is underage. So, if you are wanting something a little harder, that will be in my office. So if you are brave enough to make our way there, I will gladly share."

The darkness was calming and while it was still curious, he was glad for the moment of peace and the company.

Miguel rolls his eyes and shakes his head, "That does not bode well for our serene darkness.. I am certain they will appear soon enough for marshmallows..." with a sigh, his brows pinch and he turns to Rocket, "A drink?"

Rocket's eyes shining with interest and ears forward at the offer of harder liquor. He taps his clawed fingers on the counter, his tail flicking back and forth as he ponders the offer.

Rocket smirks, whiskers flicked back, taking Miguel's playful teasing in stride. "Brave enough? Try me, mi amigo," he says, hopping off the counter and landing on his feet with a soft thud. He pads over to Miguel, his tail swishing behind him.

As he leans against the counter next to him, Rocket chuckles at Miguel's exasperation over the others in the tower. "Ah, let 'em sing, it's not like there's anything else to do without power. Besides, maybe they'll get some practice before the holidays come around," he quips with a grin.

"But a drink sounds like a great idea right about now."

A power outage was rare, so it was a little disturbing when the tower went dark, but LYLA had assured them everything was secure and it was city wide. Still concerning, but Miguel planned to make sure the Society was safe and secure before he'd go out and patrol the city.

The familiar patter of feet alerted him to Rocket's approach and while he lights the last candle he blows it out, sighing. The spider was thankful for darkness, the light that usually filled this room irritated his eyes and often wore his sunglasses when he joined the rest of the Spiders.

With a roll of his eyes, red hue turn to look at the other and smirks, "Well, as a fellow creature of the dark, there is no fear--- So I guess that leaves setting the mood. Do you drink wine, Rocket?"

Rocket snickers, pulling himself onto the counter top where there was enough space for him to sit. His gaze lingering on the red hue of Miguel's eyes in the dim light. "Ah, a man after my own heart, not afraid of a little darkness. As for wine? I'm more of a hard liquor kind of guy myself. But for the right company, I'd make an exception," he replies, he wasn't really the kind to turn down a good drink.

His eyes were naturally adjusted to the dark, he preferred things on a dimmer scale himself so the darkness was more relaxing to his eyes as well. As long as it wasn't anything malevolent, he'd stay calm.

"Y'know, speaking of fire, you got Quill and about twenty Spider-Men singing 'Kumbaya' in the lobby right now around a campfire."

set the scene setting prompts (but a little more specific) from yours truly.

Detective Sentences, Vol. 16

Thematic Headcanons. A series of subject-specific headcanons you can ask your favorite blog and muse.

Fox's ears flicked involuntarily as his eyes shifted back and forth at the monitor and off to the side, a subtle reaction to Rocket's playful antics. His emerald eyes sparkled with amusement, a silent acknowledgment of the raccoon's flirtatious nature.

"Yeah, and if I do?" Fox muttered, arms crossed as he leaned back in his chair. "And no, not unless you want my entire visit to be in a prison, peering at you through a glass window?" He chuckled softly.

Fox rested his arm on the armrest, leaning his head against his paw as he listened intently to Rocket. Tho he probably looked a little lazy, he was fully engrossed in their conversation.

"I do enjoy seafood, but you already know that," Fox quipped in response to the shrimp comment. "Maybe it's the whole 'vibe' Star-Lord’s got going on for himself?" He chuckled. "Or perhaps it's his charm?" Fox shrugged casually.

Fox observed Rocket’s body language for a moment. While he couldn’t fully grasp Rocket’s personal struggles here, what with balancing the complexities of parenting such as discipline and gentleness. The mercenary knew Rocket was a fantastic parent to Groot. This was only based off what he had witnessed during his time on Xandar. “You know what?… I think you are a great parent to Groot tho,” Fox said, his tone had a soft and gentle tone. “Without you, I’m sure he’d be lost. You and him been through allot together, you know?” Fox added, a soft smile spread across his lips, acknowledging the beautiful bond between Rocket and the sapling.

Fox felt a surge of genuine excitement at the thought of reuniting with Rocket and his team. He eagerly anticipated the journey ahead, whenever time and work would permit. However, the demands of distance and work currently kept them apart, temporarily delaying their reunion.

"I'll be sure to give you the heads up. Peppy's been blabbing about a much-needed vacation, and more than likely, if and when that comes, I'll most certainly be on Corneria. Pretty sure I can swing a few days for you and me, to show you all the pretty sights and what have you," Fox smirked, his eyes gleaming with anticipation. The simple thought of someone coming to Corneria just to see him made his tail sway with elegance.

As Rocket leaned into the camera, the vulpine began sitting upright as his pointy ears perked up. A smile spread across his face upon hearing Rocket's words. "I know you do, Rocket... I do too... I miss you... A lot," Fox said with a gentle sigh, his tone filled with warmth and longing. Those few words couldn’t be more true, Fox really did miss Rocket.

Rocket’s grin soon turned into a more playful smirk at Fox’s response although there wasn’t hiding any amount of softness behind those sharp eyes of his as he watched Fox through his holo-screen.

"If you do," he drawled, “well I’d say, ‘lucky me.’"

His voice lacked any sarcastic edge to it, it was more alluring, but sincere, or at least as sincere as anyone could get out of Rocket.  He did feel like he’d be lucky if someone like Fox cared about whether or not he was getting himself into trouble.

As Fox said he liked seafood, Rocket gave a shrug.  "Well I won’t eat shrimps, but I like fish… as for Quill, I’m surprised you picked up on that already," Rocket asked with a snort, glancing towards his open door as a sign he might be a bit nervous about sharing his thoughts on the matter in the event anyone was in ear shot.  He knew what Fox was getting at, it was the whole schtick Peter had with his ‘Star-Lord’ reputation. 

He was a bit concerned that Groot may be growing a preference for Peter as the ‘favorite parental figure’ but he had never explicitly shared his feelings on the matter, but it seemed Fox may have pieced it together. As observant of a person Rocket really considered himself is surprised him how it kept taking him by surprise HOW much Fox picked up on subtle cues (or in some cases, not so subtle).

"Well, I try," Rocket said, "but us Guardians have a severe lack of good father figure experience to pull from, same goes for moms. We're all wingin' it here. He's a good kid though, about as good as you can get given the situation."

He knew though, that no matter what he had to do what he could to protect Groot and even if the lifestyle he was exposed to wasn't the safest, due to his own history involving Groot's natural father, it had been the first thing outside of working with his team that gave him any real sense of purpose.

"Yeah I will make sure I discuss the plan with my team so they understand I'll be leaving for a bit, that way it's not a big shock when we get this ball rolling... I gotta admit, I'm pretty interested in seeing your neck of the universe... 'pretty sights' and all."

She couldn't help but hun the whole 'Don't Be Suspicious.' tune with a grin on her face. He knew her so well. "Dunno what X-Men are but sounds interestin." Rei said with a shrug. Listening to him rant she nodded thoughtfully. "Nahh this just shows you are too awesome. You never claimed to be some god among men. You are you and that's all you need to be. He don't like it that is a him problem not a you problem. He ever pulls that shit again you tell him Not my Circus, Not my Monkeys." Like at the end of the day rocket still helped a crap ton of people and sam had no right to bitch that he wasn't enough. "Dude is obviously dealing with his own self esteem issues and decided to let it out on you... if he's smart he won't do it again." After what he had planned he better the fuck not or her anonymous glitter might turn into very not anonymous hand meeting face.

"You think he's got self-esteem issues?" Rocket said, as he finally started nibbling on his biscuit feeling better after Rei's words were helping with clearing his own self doubts. He mulled over the idea a bit, and as far as he knew, Rei could very well be right. He more worried that Sam was getting fed up with his random drop ins to exchange intel and tech upgrades to help get the Avengers up to date on an intergalactic level so they'd have an easier time clapping back if any big bads from space came their way.

"If he's smart, he'll keep his flarkin' yap shut," Rocket said, his upper lip twitching in agitation at the thought of how even HE'D react if Sam started that shit again. "For what it's worth though, I couldn't have asked for a better outcome to a bad bar night; getting to hang out with you a night early ain't exactly gonna get me complainin."

❉❯ 𝓛𝓸𝓴𝓲 𝓛𝓪𝓾𝓯𝓮𝔂𝓼𝓸𝓷 ❮❉·̇·̣̇̇·̣̣̇̇·̇

Loki was sighing and he lay there with an arm across his forehead. He was clearly feeling horrible and just wanted the feeling to go away. He was glad when Rocket didn't really press him about what had happened. He wasn't sure he could even talk about it. Even if he didn't want others to know. He also knew it would just bring up more trauma too.

❝ I suppose it does, at least for me it always has.❞ he didn't have the energy for much else sadly. He did want to be able to heal fast. The god knew Thor would only worry about him if he saw him in this condition.❝ Thor would be a pain in my ass if he sees me like this. ❞ he did manage a slight smirk at Rocket's attempts to lighten the mood. He still had no intentions of telling Thor what happened to him.

The god reached over to take the damp cloth and lay it across his forehead and closed his eyes.❝ It is probably a good idea.❞ He was looking drained and weak. Loki was wondering how long it would even take to get back on his feet.

Listening to his words, Loki just opened his eyes a few times before closing them again. He still wasn't used to many people caring about him either. He groaned in discomfort as he lay there. He wished his body would just stop conspiring against him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rocket observed Loki's discomfort, his sharp eyes taking in every detail. He could see the pain etched on Loki's face, and it stirred something within him, a mix of curiosity and concern. Despite his tough exterior, Rocket couldn't help but feel a twinge of concern for the trickster god.

"Hey, take it easy, Loki. You look like you've been through the wringer," Rocket remarked, his tone gentle as he gathered the depleted syringes at Loki's side.

"You're gonna need some time to recover from whatever happened. Just rest up, and I'll make sure no one bothers you. Especially not Quill," he added with a smirk, understanding Loki's desire for privacy.

"You got the com if you need anything. Try not to die, we don't really like the clean up."

{➹} – THE HEDGEHOG WAS used to saving the world, and until the last big 'incident' some might have even said he was damn good at it. But he wasn't used to problems of a cosmic proportion, in fact he hadn't seen let alone dealt with anything quite like this. And that wasn't something that instilled him with the greatest confidence.

The fact that the other seemed just as clueless? Totally not helping.

"Robotnik? Just a madman who used t' terrorize this planet with killer robots and the occasional city-sized aircraft. Before he...died he tried t' take over using the power of a god and something we call Chaos Energy, but..." He frowned, looking up at the mess of sky above him. There was only one thing he could fathom here, and he didn't like to admit it.

"I'm starting t' think maybe there was something else t' his machines we were missing..." It wasn't as if it would be the first time the human had messed with things beyond their own scope. The problem was that, while the hedgehog had quite a variety of skills and knowledge, technology had never been his best subject. He was the one who blew things up, not built or understood them.

Not much, anyway. Nothing like this, and he wasn't going to even try to understand what had happened here. But he did know they needed to fix it. Somehow.

"He got desperate near the end, there's no telling what he was actually doing or wanted t' do...though he did strike us all as the 'out with a blaze of glory' sort."

"Killer robots, huh?" Rocket repeated. "Cliché much?" It was more a jab at Robotik than anything, although the metaphorical pieces did seem to be painting him a very clear picture all of a sudden.

"He ever mess with dimensions portals, warp tunnels or quantum projectors?... anything like that?" The raccoon's voice was somewhat friendlier sounding as he realized even if he was going to be the one to fix the mess up, he needed this guy's intel, whatever it was.

Rocket was carrying his own invention with him that had a very simple function of being able to temporary portal projection which was laughably limited in application. It was no more practical than a cartoonish 'portable hole' that he could use to get through walls when needed. It wasn't going to be enough to get him back out. He had no doubt in his mind that shooting it within the realm they were stuck in was not going to be of any help to either of them.

Scott raised his eyebrows at the discussion regarding security. Now that would be fun to tackle. The fact they keep having to update security meant these kids provided a challenge. Scott enjoyed some competition, and since he’s the ex-con with a security business, the whole conversation intrigued him a great deal.

“Security problems, huh?” He leaned forward, a little eager. “What kind of security system you got now?”

"Mostly Steemie Blueliver," Rocket explained. "He's the one who was in charge of security measures at the time. It's just a security code but the system's outdated and yeah, I taught the kids how to trip the circuit back to default codes."

It was Kraglin who spoke up next, since he was actually the closest to Steemie out of the lot of them. "Wait? That's what y'all are doing? Steemie's been goin' nuts tryin' to figure out why the system keeps resetting the codes he's been setting."

"Rocket, that's gonna screw us up big time if we ever need to get into the lockers in a hurry," Peter said, his tone serious. Ironically he probably could have also broke into the lockers if he had wanted to having been a professional thief, but he never tried. He knew Rocket didn't have to either, he knew the codes, he probably just did it to prove they needed to update it, be an asshole, for fun, or all of the above.

"Not to do whatever the opposite of bragging is, but I've seen Centaurian flower gardens with more security than us," Rocket explained, as if ignoring that part of that breech in security was solely his fault.

It wasn't anything that Rocket couldn't have helped with either. While he didn't specialize in security like Scott (he more so had the common ground of breaking in than securing things) Rocket was far from careful with security in the first place, which was ironic because he leaned more on the paranoid side. With Knowhere often moving however, he was pretty relaxed about the safety of their home.

"A scumbag after my own heart." ~💜

A contemplative silence settled as Thor gave the matter some consideration, calloused fingertips tapping his chin slowly. After all Rocket had done for him since first they met – whether his little companion knew of his influence or not – Thor felt he owed as much to try and return the favour. Though there might have been little to the lives of those Rocket held dear, that they were held dear was more than enough reason to hold something significant.

“I can think of a few things,” he murmured at length. “We could do something symbolic – a bonfire, or a ritual burning – send some flowers or tokens of your choice to the skies in their name through smoke. We could quite literally fly to the skies and say some words, or scatter some flowers from a height. We could go further to space and leave a marker there for them, in their honour. We could do it all.”

He tilted his head, then, meeting Rocket's gaze. “You know, my mother used to say that those we hold dear do not die in our memory: that they are remembered creates legacy of its own. Perhaps ‘tis something to think on, that in some small way, through you, they all did see the sky.”   

Rocket knew he gave Thor almost nothing to work with for inspiration on how to properly send off his dear departed friends and listening to his suggestions. The sweetness of Thor's idea was touching, particularly to Rocket who so rarely would open himself up to anything that made him feel the least bit vulnerable.

Rocket gave a small nod at Thor's ideas and the thought of doing something in their honor, his eyes going distant. It was different when it came from others, there was some feeling growing that Thor actually cared.

"That sounds like somethin' I'd like," Rocket said softly. "Yeah," Rocket murmured, his gaze meeting Thor's with a mixture of gratitude and resolve. "Maybe it's time they finally get to see the sky."

He wondered if that might be too much to ask, he wasn't sure if he was ready for such an emotional experience. But thinking about it made him feel a little lighter, the feeling of floating as if he might cry.

"Let's do a bonfire," he said. "I can... maybe write a few notes we can burn too." He sounded a bit sheepish because he was already contemplating on what to write.