video ==> text | @gamora

[godslay]

[ Hey, you know who hasn't graced the network in a while?

This tiny monster.

You know who understands how the network works and thinks it's neat?

That same tiny monster.

When the camera clicks on, Groot is standing way too close to the screen, and all that can be seen are his gigantic, black eyes. There's a muffled, "I am Groot?" and then he's setting the communicator down and taking a few steps back until he's mostly visible from the waist up. He waves cheerfully at the camera, and then reaches offscreen to produce...

This bad boy.

He waves it around effortlessly; even if it's already extended, it's clearly near weightless. An excellent blade, all around.

Not excellent for children, however.

Offscreen, Gamora's voice sounds distant:

"Peter, have you seen my—"

Her feet appear in the camera's view, followed by a sharp, reprimanding, ]

Groot! Give that back! You're going to hurt yourself!

[ And she's stomping over to snatch away her sword.

Groot whines when Gamora takes Godslayer, and after a brief pause, the sapling is bursting into immediate, earsplitting bawling.

Sorry to anyone next door or on the adjacent floors. ]

Ugh.

[ She scoops up her communicator, too. It takes a second for her to notice that Groot turned it on, but then she clicks off the feed. ]



[ Following after that disaster: ]

Who has experience dealing with tantrums?

Comments

action;

[nostalgiabomb]

[ So. That was a thing.

And you know what's also a thing?

Groot, screaming and flailing on the floor, while Peter kneels beside him. ]

Dude. Come on, you've gotta—

[ "calm down," is how Peter intended to finish that sentence, except Groot just shouts, ]

I! Am! Groot!

What? No, you can't—

[ —"play with the sword." But the instant Peter says, "no," the kid just starts wailing again.

Peter takes a deep breath and pinches the bridge of his nose. ]

[godslay]

[ Gamora is at a complete loss. Admittedly, the way she grew up didn't allow for tantrums, so...

What are they even supposed to do with this? ]

Groot, screaming— [ – and she raises her voice as Groot raises his – ] —is not going to get you what you want.

[ ... He pauses like he's going to stop, but...

It's literally just to take another deep breath and start up with more unreasonable screams.

Gamora growls under her breath with frustration, looking over to Peter. ]

Do we just let him wear himself out?

[nostalgiabomb]

[ Peter looks up at her for a second or two, wordlessly.

... but that's mostly because the expression on his face screams, How the hell should I know?!

He heaves out another sigh. ]

Groot, c'mon, you—

[ But the kid just starts throwing his limbs around again, slamming them against the floor and screaming. ]

... How the hell does someone so little scream that loud?

[godslay]

I have no idea.

[ Sharp and aggravated, but Gamora finally moves forward to scoop Groot off the ground. ]

Hey.

[ She raises her voice over his again, but instead of being intimidated into stopping, his flailing arms almost whack Gamora in the face. She catches his little hand, looks him right in the eye. ]

... Absolutely not.

un: TheStrandInstitute

[nobasisinfact]

I do.

I assume this is about the tree?

[godslay]

Yes. That was Groot.

He can be... unreasonable.

[nobasisinfact]

It's rare when a child isn't being unreasonable.

Have you tried replacing something more preferred?

[He resists the suggestion of coating the little tree with Miracle Grow to see if that will age it out of the toddler-like behavior.]

[godslay]

[ Peter will appreciate that joke; it would be wasted on Gamora. ]

Just distracting him?

text.

[madeupnames]

Oh, I don't!

[Peter that's not helpful.]

I could try tho, me and Groot are buddies.
Is that what that high-pitch noise is from up there? It's killing my ears.

[It should by all accounts shouldn't, but it's like a dog whistle to his sensitive spider-senses.]

[godslay]

Is he actually being that loud?

[ SHE FEELS A LITTLE BAD ABOUT THAT. ]

You can try, if you want, but I don't know what good it will do.

[madeupnames]

It's okay! He's little, he's allowed to act like a kid and learn how to deal, right?

I'll come down and try to help out! Be there in five!

[... Is Groot any calmer by the time he gets there?]

[godslay]

[ Groot is in time out by the time Peter shows up, so the sapling isn't actually screaming when Gamora opens up the door.

She doesn't look relieved or impressed. ]

He almost hit me, so he's sitting in the corner.

[ there u go, there's an update on the sitch. ]

@the.tetherer

[tetherer]

[Oh, it's this little guy again! Different username on the network, though. Maybe Peter's girlfriend?]

groot seems like he likes to regularly be a handful.
i don't have experience with children per se but perhaps you could calmly explain why you took it from him.
if he knows you did it out of concern for his wellbeing, he may see your point and calm down.

[godslay]

That would involve him quieting down enough to actually hear m speake over the screaming.

[tetherer]

oh.
yes, that would be a problem.
um...
you could put him in time out?

[IS THAT WHAT PARENTS DO? MAYBE??]

has anything worked before when he gets like this?

[godslay]

We did put him in time out. I don't know if it has any impact on him. We usually can only wait it out, until he tires or gets bored or distracted.

text; @falcon

[wingedman]

That tree was a lot bigger the last time I saw him.

[you know, ignoring the request for parenting advice.]

[godslay]

Then it was a different Groot.

[ Because she definitely thinks he means the now-dead Groot. ]

[wingedman]

[And he doesn't know the first thing about Groot, or about the Guardians' timeline - actually, he's only pieced together that they all share a universe from what Tony's told him, and now the presence of the talking tree.]

Is that what the whole species is called?

[And now he's wondering if there's a collective noun like "a forest of Groots", but he's not going to actually ask that for fear of sounding completely ignorant about talking trees.]

[godslay]

The species is Flora colossus, but... yes, they're all Groot.

text; un: hawke

[indigobird]

it's been quite awhile but i had twin siblings that were several years younger than me. enough that i remember their tantrums. try distracting tree-child with another toy or something else. if he really won't budge? let him cry and scream. yes it means a headache but he has to learn that he won't get his way by throwing a fit.

and maybe keep the sharp pointy objects locked away from now on. little children can and will get into every damn thing

[godslay]

We need to have our weapons accessible. That's the problem.

How long does it take them to learn by ignoring the fit?

[indigobird]

then get used to this happening a fair bit

sort of depends on how old the child is. buuuuut given that these are new for you and how young tree-child looks? i would start getting used to them. this won't stop anytime soon

text; un: j.calhoun

[bardish]

In my experience if you can make them laugh they'll forget about why they're tantruming (sp??) in the first place

it also works for scraped knees!

[ Though he doesn't know if your tree/son can scrape his knee, because he seems to be made of bark........ ]

[godslay]

I don't want to make him laugh when he's misbehaving.