video; @star.lord

[nostalgiabomb]

[ INT. Shared Housing, Floor 13, Room 4 – Very Late Night.

We open on a shot of the living space in one of the many shared housing units. It's dark in the messy room, with a couple of red jackets tossed onto the backs of chairs. Nearby, soft snores are audible.

In frame is a small, wooden creature, his giant eyes squinting with concentration as he stares at the screen. An old, beat-up mp3 player and a Sony Walkman sit beside him on the coffee table. The little creature mumbles a tiny, irritated— ]

I am Groot?

[ —in the same tone of voice someone else might use to ask, “How the hell do you work this thing?” He pokes at the screen fruitlessly for a while, but soon enough, his eyes light up as he shoves his hand forward one last time.

Suddenly, “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” by the illustrious AC/DC shrieks over stereo speakers.

DONE. DIRT. CHEAP.

Sorry about your beauty sleep, Floor 13. And probably Floors 12 and 14.

The sapling yelps, scrambling and panicking to figure out how to stop this crazy thing, just as a sleep-tousled Star-Lord stumbles into frame, flicking on a light. Barely audible over the music, ]

Groot, what are you—?

[ Busted.

Peter picks up the device, sees that it’s recording, and he grimaces. ]

Oh, son of a—

[ Which is when the feed and the music both cut out. ]

Comments

[evite]

Riiiiiiight. Alien tree, got it.

( she doesn't get it... but the fact is, skye's kind of coming to terms with the idea that there's going to be a lot here she's not going to get. luckily, bad jokes are a one-size-fits-all solution, hence the quirk at the corner of her mouth as she replies: )

Is his bark worse than his bite?

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Peter snorts out a laugh. ]

God, no. His bite is the worst.

They come with splinters, most of the time.

[evite]

( she isn't sure how to reply to that. how does one reply to the concept of an alien tree that's likely to leave splinters in your hand when it bites you? probably by hoping not to get bitten, if skye had to guess. )

Huh. So, note to self: don't piss off the tree. ( she pauses for a moment, considering. ) Does said tree have an actual name, or is this one of those weird "don't make eye contact and pretend he's not here" scenarios?

[nostalgiabomb]

... Uh?

[ what kinds of aliens are you meeting, exactly ]

No, it’s fine. You can look at him.

[ ... actually, Peter frowns a little, glancing down at Groot while he’s still sulking. Then, ]

Just, you know. Don’t look at him funny.

[ Though what Peter means by that is anyone’s guess; hell, even Peter doesn’t know, considering the definition seemed to change on a nearly daily basis. ]

His name’s Groot, though.

[evite]

Okay, but. ( her voice drops a bit. ) Does Groot know he's funny looking?

( she means well. but it needs to be said! he's a small tree! that talks! )

What kind of a name is Groot, anyway?

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Uh???? Like, admittedly, a talking tree isn’t something you see every day, but Peter kind of frowns at the camera. ]

He’s really not.

[ also that’s his buddy/teammate/kid??? you’re talking about, so Peter sounds a little affronted. ]

And I dunno where the name came from, but it’s his. And he can hear and more or less understand everything you’re saying, so you might wanna chill.

[evite]

Whoa, okay, no. I come in peace.

( two hands up to the camera and everything. )

Look. Aliens... talking trees... it's all really new for me, and I'm basically running on negative sleep, and I have been kind of feeling like I'm playing in some kind of weird virtual reality horror game for the last hot minute since I got here.

I'm not trying to, you know, be a dick to your buddy. Who, by the way, totally looks like a really awesome tree. Not that I super know what trees are supposed to look like or not supposed to, but he looks good? I think?

( she feels a little — okay, a lot — ridiculous, as if she's talking about a child instead of talking to them. and skye remembers pretty damn well what that felt like. aka: it sucked. so she's going to try and raise her voice up a little, just in case mr talking tree in the corner can't hear her perfectly clearly through mr star.lord's network device. )

I don't know how to say 'sorry' in tree but hopefully English works! I'm sorry!

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Peter looks impassively at the camera, letting this person babble themselves blue. When she finishes, he stays silent for a second.

Then, he lifts both shoulders in a blithe shrug.]

It’s cool.

[ that’s it that’s all he offers. Groot, at least, perks up a little, glancing over at the camera, but— considering he’s still pissed off about getting lectured about keeping sane sleeping hours and not messing with stuff if he doesn’t know how to use it and waiting for adult supervision and blah blah blah, he offers a mumbled, ]

I am Groot.

[ before returning to sulking. Peter’s expression pinches – an expression that clearly says, Be nice – but he dutifully translates, ]

Apology accepted.

[ And that’s that. ]

You’re new around here, then?

[evite]

( well, it's better than telling her off, in any case. not exactly a warm welcoming gesture, but she'll take it. )

Yeah. ( a shrug of her own. ) It's really... quiet here. Like, I guess when they told me it was a moon and a pretty chill city that I figured the weird stuff would happen, but I didn't really expect it to be so quiet.

( she glances over her shoulder for a moment, peering out at the black sky through her window. being on one of the higher floors gives her a decent vantage point for observing the grounds beneath, including the occasional person milling about at this ungodly hour. )

I'm Skye, by the way.

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Peter huffs out a quick laugh. He claims he's not very superstitious, but that doesn't stop him from spouting off stuff like, ]

You totally just jinxed it, you know.

... But, yeah. I get what you mean. Pretty sure this is the longest I've ever stayed in one spot since I was a kid.

[ It's been... nice. Mostly. Kind of. Running around outside the wall for his work with the Perimeter Guard tends to keep things lively, but otherwise, this is a lot more peace and quiet he's experienced since he was living in Missouri. ]

I'm Peter Quill. Folks call me Star-Lord. [ no, they don't. Not unless they're making fun of him, humoring him, or just plain don't know any better. ] And you already met Groot.

[evite]

God, I did, didn't I? Damn.

( a shake of her head, and skye laughs under her breath, brushing her hair out of her face with a quick flick of her thumb and forefinger. )

Peter, okay. And Groot, right, of course. That's not gonna be a name I forget.

( she's not going to outright call him out on the nickname thing — because she could be wrong, maybe somebody calls him that — but she's not going to believe it with much gusto, either. peter's a reasonable name, anyway. no reason not to go with it. if he really didn't want people to know the name, he wouldn't bring it up. )

Did you move around a lot? As a kid, or...? ( it's kind of a personal question, she knows. it deserves a fair return. ) I was a foster kid, so. I get it.

[nostalgiabomb]

[ He takes a breath, readying a response, but—

... listen. The real story doesn't tend to go over well. "Hey, you know those stories about folks and cows getting abducted by flying saucers? Kind of true, as it turns out!"

He hesitates, then decides to go with the easier answer: ]

I, um. I left my home planet as a kid. Hadn't really been back after that. Mostly lived on space ships.

[evite]

( they are on the moon. skye has met other aliens thus far. you'd think she'd be prepared for this sort of answer, but every time, she finds out exactly how completely not prepared she is. )

That's — I'm sorry, did you say space ships? Like, pew pew, 'oh hey that's Mars, what's up Jupiter' space ships?

( maybe she's just too tired to handle these things normally. )

Jesus. And I thought moving states was a pain in the ass.

[nostalgiabomb]

[ That.

Actually startles a laugh out of him. ]

Yeah. Exactly like that. Saturn’s pretty nice this time of year, too, but man, you should see how those rings look when they change colors for fall.

[evite]

But you're from Earth, right? ( because he looks like he's from earth. but then again, so did some of the other people she's met here who are from different worlds, so maybe she shouldn't assume. ) Or no?

( she wonders if it's technically still fall in space. do seasons work the same way when you're not on the same planet? )

I didn't think people could breathe on other planets, I mean.

[nostalgiabomb]

Yeah, I’m from Earth. Missouri, specifically.

[ St. Charles, even more specifically, though that’s probably not a necessary distinction to make. ]

And it depends on where you go. Like, obviously there are a lot more places with atmospheres filled with chlorine, but there are habitable planets, too.

For the toxic places, I have a mask. [ And he taps on a metal trigger tucked behind his ear – not deploying it, but in demonstration. ] Air filtration and a rebreather. Never leave home without it.

[evite]

Oh, yeah, Missouri I know. Not the worst place in the world, but you're not missing much either.

( her stint hadn't been the most reassuring for a six year old begging for somebody to let her stay longer than a few weeks, but it hadn't been as miserable as a summer in phoenix. it doesn't entirely surprise her to think that an alien abduction could happen in a place as white bread as good old missouri.

as for his demonstration: ) That's awesome. ( the mask, obviously. not so much the chlorine atmosphere. ) Did you smuggle any other rad space gear back for me to drool over?

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Yeah, okay, this is a much easier conversation – mostly because Peter kind of loves showing off. ]

I didn't get to bring back much, but I've got a couple of blasters and an aero-rig.

[ A pause, then, ]

It's a jet pack.

[ NO BIG DEAL. ]

[evite]

A JET PACK?

( uh, excuse? it is totally a big deal, and skye is enthusiastic as hell about the concept of a real life working jet pack. not that jet packs aren't actual technology on earth, but she sure as shit has never seen one in real life. )

Oh my god, dude.

( best. day. ever. )

How much do I have to pay you to go on a jetpack ride? Tandem style, obviously, I know you're not gonna let me, like, take it for a spin or anything.