I am Groot

[The teenage tree member of the Guardians. If lost please return to the raccoon] {A closed RP}

[thegalaxyoutlaw]

didntsayfricken:

Groot let out of sigh of relief. At least everyone else had found each other. Bad things happened when they got separated. Like the thing with the planet and now all of this bullshit. [They’re okay? You’re okay?] Groot tilted his head up so he could smile back at Peter. [Wait, what’s a Soul Stone? I thought we were beating up Thanos? Are we not on a planet?] He would probably have been more panicked if he wasn’t so confused. At least this was Peter, he wasn’t the smartest, but he wasn’t completely fucking braindead and was a good explainer.

[Let’s go!] Groot started marching off and almost made it out of the clearing before he realized that he had no idea where they were going. Quickly, he returned to Quill’s side and made an embarrassed noise. He wasn’t some sprout anymore, he was a goddamn Flora Colossus. But, he needed help and didn’t want to get lost again, so he took Quill’s hand. [Come on, you gotta take me to them.]

Peter could tell that Groot’s mind was reeling from all the information and for a moment he wondered if he should have held back more. Grimacing he prepared for the worst when the little tree spoke up to him. “Eh, depends on your definition of ‘okay’. ‘Cause right now we’re all functioning and kinda keeping it together but the smallest thing might cause one of us to break down and lose our shit.” He shrugged lightly, giving him a small smile and reaching over to pat him on the head.

“It’s not really a planet, more like a realm — if that makes sense. We were fighting Thanos but now we’re trapped in his bullshit.” He shrugged, unhappy with how he had to describe it and wishing Tony or Rocket were there to describe it better for him. “We’ll get out though, don’t you worry about that. We got some real smart geniuses working on it.” He paused and raised a brow, “you met Tony Stark yet?”

Oh. Okay, so Groot had an agenda of his own and soon Peter was trying to catch up with him. It wasn’t until he lost the kid — which he mentally noted that Rocket would murder him for — when he heard Groot make a noise and return to him. Smiling softly when he felt the other grab his hand, he gave Groot’s a reassuring squeeze before nodding. “Yeah absolutely, I’ll show you. Stick with me, I won’t let bad shit happen to you. Also, have I mentioned Kevin Bacon Jr. to you yet?”

[didntsayfricken]

Groot made a point of grumbling, when Peter patted him on the head, but he didn’t pull away. It was a nice feeling, even if he was too old for that kind of stuff.  He considered what Peter said, about how everyone was doing and nodded. [The next time I catch a monster you can shoot it if you want.  It makes me feel a little better.  Don’t shoot Dad, even if he’s makin’ you mad.] Growing up with Peter and Rocket, Groot knew that they’d probably wind up yelling at each other eventually. But as long as nobody got hurt, it didn’t really matter. If everyone was barely keeping it together, they were bound to get mad sooner rather than later.

As Peter went into explaining the answers to Groot’s many questions, Groot noticed the bug flying around Peter’s shoulder. It was blue and long with lots of wings. He could make out huge eyes on the front end.  Maybe he could eat that and then he wouldn’t feel so hungry.  It would be too small to really help though. Shit, Peter was talking.  Groot nodded at the question, hoping it was the right answer, and his gaze kept flickering back to the bug.

Once he had Peter’s hand and the promise to be safe with him, Groot calmed slightly. [I’m gonna keep the bad shit away from you too.] Groot froze at Peter’s question, his eyes wide and his mouth ajar. [There’s more than one Kevin Bacon?] he cried out in shock. [Did he die and regrow himself? Or does he have a new little human?]

[didntsayfricken]

hellsguardiandevil‌:

didntsayfricken‌:

Matt was doing his best to understand Groot and he hoped that the tree person understood that. He wasn’t sure why Groot was grumbling when he asked him to walk slowly. He was reminded of the scene from Lord of the Rings were the Ent was nicknamed for answering a question before the entire question was asked. “I’ll try to make sure you don’t have to wait too long,” he offered.

He paid attention as Groot kept contact with his blanket. He could feel as the moisture left the blanket and the blanket got lighter as the tree seemed to absorb it into his body. When he was finished, Matt wrapped the blanket around himself again. “Thank you,” he told him. “That’s much warmer,” he told him. 

He listened to the other move around a rock for a long moment before he asked, “Would you like to keep going that way?”

Talking to people was hard. He didn’t want this new person to think he was being a jerk, but he couldn’t seem to get his tone right.  Normally, this was when he would throw his hands up, curse heavily and walk away. But if he did that with everyone who couldn’t understand him, he wouldn’t be able to talk to practically anyone.  Plus, this one seemed nice enough and hadn’t even mentioned that he was a tree once. He was much cooler than some fucking tree.

But Groot was pretty sure he’d upset this new person.  The entire time, Matt hadn’t even looked at him, not once.  Groot hadn’t noticed at first, but once he had caught on it was obvious.  He wasn’t sure what he had done wrong.  He hadn’t stolen anything or punched him! He even got a thank you, but still, something didn’t feel right. He didn’t know why though. He looked ahead in the direction Mat was talking about. It seemed as good as any other.  [Let’s go,] he said with a nod. He was sure to walk extra slow so he wouldn’t push Matt too much.

While they started moving, he tried to think of some of the signs Peter had taught him.  After a moment, he stuck his arm out and gave Matt a thumbs up. [You’re doin’ a good job.] That was weird and he was trying to smile but sometimes the bark on his head didn’t move right and he was pretty sure it didn’t look right.

[empathictouch]

didntsayfricken:

The snow was falling softly outside of the cave.  It was always falling, sometimes hard and sideways and into the cave, so Groot appreciated this kind.

He was used to being cooped up on the Milano, spending chunks of time between planets. However, the Milano had plenty of things to do. Video games and talking and watching Rocket build things. But he didn’t have his game, most of the people in the cave couldn’t understand him, and while he still tried to stay close to Rocket just in case, he needed a break.

His hunger was intense, but without sunlight or food there wasn’t much he could do about it. There wasn’t much he could do at all except sit here and not become dormant.  Grumbling to himself, he sat down and leaned against the wall. Absentmindedly, he started scratching patterns into the floor that looked a whole heck of a lot like his game. It was no substitute for the real thing and by the time he was done he was bored again. Now frustrated and bored, he got up and started wandering around. Hopefully, he’d find someone interesting deeper in the caves. @empathictouch

Mantis wondered if the caves made the cold worse, either that or she was truly experiencing a freeze, unlike the others who dwelled in the cage. She was cold to the bone and she hated the feeling of it. It made it hard to talk when her words were so shattered by her shivering. 

She had just been sat by a fire not too long ago with some others deeper in the and was feeling more like herself. Which is why she thought it was time to do some exploration, as some people found they could get lost in the tunnels while searching for a place to sleep or build a camp. She tried to keep as many people together as possible for the added presence of others seemed to keep people warm and that was what they needed to do right now. Sticking together was optimal for survival. 

Mantis would like it if she and the guardians were doing more of that but they were trying to work on keeping everyone safe as well as themselves. There was a lot going on and the Soul Stone was a place of many surprises. No rest was in their future till they could free themselves from this prison.

As Mantis continued on she came upon a curious sight, there were some odd shadows playing off the lights the came from cave entrances. It looked like someone was walking over further down the path. She hurried her pace to see if anyone needed to be helped, but as she came around the corner she was met with a welcoming sight the filled her with surprise and elation. 

“Groot!” She exclaimed and continued to the young one and embraced him eagerly. “Oh, Groot! You are here, I am so happy! I have missed you young one!” Mantis felt his discomfort with the cold and sighed, “Ah, the cold has bothered you as well. Oh, Groot, I feel your pain, the cold has been unwell to me too, frustration is also evident as well I know this place is hard to reside in.”

[didntsayfricken]

Groot walked down the path with one arm out, dragging his fingers along the wall out of sheer boredom. He had passed a few people along the way, but so many of the beings here were Terrans and he didn’t want to have another one explain that they couldn’t understand him.

There were sounds coming up ahead that sounded like footsteps. Groot slowed down, his guard up against whatever foul and terrifying creature might be around the corner. He hadn’t seen any monsters or heard of them, but all the creatures of the jungle had to go somewhere. Slowly, he moved forward, his hands up and ready to attack whatever horrific creature dared to approach him.

He was relieved when Mantis called out his name.

“I am Groot!” [Mantis! There you are!] He rushed to meet her in the middle and give her a hug. [They told me you were here, but I didn’t see you in the jungle. I’m glad you’re okay.] At the mention of the cold, he shivered. [This place sucks,] he agreed. [I liked the jungle better, it was brighter. I miss the sun. If you get too cold I can give you my arm for fire. I already gave one to Thor, from the rescue mission, remember? He’s very nice. Just don’t tell the others I did, because I’m not sure how fast it’ll grow back in the cold.]

[thegalaxyoutlaw]

didntsayfricken:

Someone was calling his name again. It made him so angry, how the voices kept trying to sound like his family. It hadn’t been so bad in the desert when he could see for miles, but now every time Rocket or Gamora called out to him he got his hopes up only to be lured into another trap.

But if it was really Peter, he could go home, and most of the monsters here couldn’t actually eat him no matter how hard they tried. Slowly, he turned to the voice the was calling out to him and the being that looked a whole lot like Peter and waited. They normally faded when he got too close. If he wasn’t real then he’d go away.

But instead, Peter pulled him in for a big hug. Startled and overjoyed, Groot threw his arms around Peter and held him close. He was almost giddy with joy and couldn’t keep from . Finally! Someone had found him!

“I am Groot!” [You’re real! And you’re here!] He couldn’t help but hold his friend closer and sway back in forth. “I am Groooot.” [I missed you so much.] He couldn’t stop talking once he got started. [Rocket and Pirate Angel took me to a dead star. And then we helped turn the star on. And then we used my hand for the hilt of his new Axe-Hammer. And then we teleported to Earth! And then we were killing all these bad guys! They were everywhere. And then we had to go protect someone but they got killed and then I disappeared and there was this desert but now it’s a jungle and you’re really here.]

Groot was solid and thus he was really there. It felt amazing to have the kid back in his arms even if he didn’t want to actually think about why Groot was there. Rocket had told him that he’d been dusted too and Peter just couldn’t… quite… accept that.

The first time that Groot uttered his usual three words, Peter couldn’t help but to let out a laugh of pure joy and excitement as he let him go from the hug and nodded. “Yeah–! I’m real and I’m here, buddy.” He left a hand on Groot’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

It was then that he was pulled into another hug and was gently being guided into swaying back and forth. “I missed you so muc–whoa okay, that’s a lot of info.” He commented, trying to continuously keep up with what Groot had to tell him. He thought back to Thor’s new ax and realized that yeah the hilt did look awfully familiar.

“Rocket is gonna be so happy to see you. So is Gamora, and Mantis!“ He stated, grinning as he pulled back again. “But I don’t know if I should be the one to break the news to you, but you’re inside the Soul Stone, man.“ His smile faltered a little, betraying him and showing his true thoughts and feelings. “So what we gotta do is find a way to get the Hell out of here. But you should meet up with everyone first-!“

[didntsayfricken]

Groot let out of sigh of relief. At least everyone else had found each other. Bad things happened when they got separated. Like the thing with the planet and now all of this bullshit. [They’re okay? You’re okay?] Groot tilted his head up so he could smile back at Peter. [Wait, what’s a Soul Stone? I thought we were beating up Thanos? Are we not on a planet?] He would probably have been more panicked if he wasn’t so confused. At least this was Peter, he wasn’t the smartest, but he wasn’t completely fucking braindead and was a good explainer.

[Let’s go!] Groot started marching off and almost made it out of the clearing before he realized that he had no idea where they were going. Quickly, he returned to Quill’s side and made an embarrassed noise. He wasn’t some sprout anymore, he was a goddamn Flora Colossus. But, he needed help and didn’t want to get lost again, so he took Quill’s hand. [Come on, you gotta take me to them.]

[didntsayfricken]

thephoenixrising:

Jean laughed, pointing to her eyes when he did. “Yes. I suppose I’m lucky the rest of the table was ready to tackle him.” She may not be able to understand Groot very well- okay, she couldn’t understand him at all, save the different emotions attached to the three words he said all the time- but she liked him. “You’re really sweet.” she added.

She slowly took his hand, because yes, it was made out of bark but it was very much a hand. She had to get used to knowing that the galaxy was weird. “Groot,” she began, cocking her head, “that’s your name, right?” smiling again, she gently pulled her hand from his. “I’m not sure where everyone is- but Tony was here earlier trying to get people to look for the injured.” she paused. “I think he’s looking for Peter Quill. He’s one of yours- I met him briefly, he’s…” complicated. She hoped he was okay.

‘Grabbing friends and family and wrapping them up in your vines was not nice, even when it was being helpful,’ was a lesson Groot had picked up after dragging Peter out of bed that one time.  He had screamed a lot, which had startled Groot into dropping him. In the end, he wound up with another lecture that he hadn’t appreciated then, but was going to put into practice now.  He wasn’t sure how to even ask her if she wanted a lift up to the top, so instead he let her take away her hand and slowly started extending his legs so he could maybe see over the nearest pile.

“I am Groot. I am groooot.” [He’s bossy and kinda fucking dumb,] he grumbled as he looked around. [But he’s fun and good at making us do good stuff and he’s kinda nice sometimes.  He’s got all the best music too and he shares.] Groot wouldn’t even share his game that they had made for him. [Hey, I think I can see the camp from here.] He pointed down the path to a column of smoke as he shrank back down to face her. [I didn’t see any beasts, but we can walk back together? Or I can put you back on your perch?]

[didntsayfricken]

hellsguardiandevil:

Matt tilted his head and tried to understand what Groot was doing. He could feel and hear as Groot dug into the ground. He wondered how the tree was feeling here with the cold. He didn’t remember feeling sunlight when he’d walked here. The poor tree must be starving. He protected the flower he’d been given a bit more now that he understood more of the cost to it.

At the motion, Matt straightened. “I can follow you, but please take it slowly,” requested with a bit of a smile. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been hurt, but he could feel how slowly he was healing. “I’m not particularly fast at the moment.” When Groot reached out and touched his blanket but didn’t try to take it, he wasn’t exactly sure what the tree meant, but he nodded, “I’m sure you have a good idea,” he smiled and gave a breathless laugh. “I’ll do what I can to help.”

Considering that he had been raised by fleshy beings and spent all of his time with fleshy beings who like to punch things, Groot was disappointed in himself for not realizing that Matt was injured.  Grumbling to himself, he looked over this new person. He didn’t seem to be bleeding, so that was best. Maybe it was the cold? But Groot didn’t have a solution for that.  The only thing he could think of was how some of his weaker inner wood were flammable, but he didn’t have the ability to make a fire.

Instead, he settled on absorbing the water from the blanket. The trick was to not let the tiny roots he was growing push through the fabric.  The last thing he needed was to grow into this kinda nice person.  It only took him a few minutes to pull the moisture into his system and then pull the roots back into his body, leaving behind a dry blanket.  [I’m sorry I got you wet.] He apologized quietly as he nudged an odd looking rock around, unable to look Matt in the eye.

[vvhitequeen-a]

didntsayfricken:

You can’t put fleshy beings back together.

There’s no way he survived.

Gamora was trying to be nice, trying to keep him upright and steady but he didn’t want that. He wanted to be mad.  He wanted to stomp his feet and throw creatures as far as he could.  It was hard to focus on her, maybe because he didn’t want to focus.  He’d thought he’d finally found them and now he’d never see Peter again.

Before he could do something rash, he saw her wipe her eyes.  

Groot couldn’t cry, couldn’t think of a time when he was so sad that he’d do something like that, but he knew what it meant.  And watching Gamora cry was deeply upsetting in a way that ripped through him. All he wanted in that moment was for her to stop and feel even a little bit better. Carefully, he reached forward and touched her cheek like she had so many times before.  [I’m sorry. I’m sorry.  Maybe we stay here and be a family. And Nebula too.]

Gamora lifted her hand up to gently touch Groot’s as he brushed her cheek like she had his. “It’s not your fault.” she whsipered. And it wasn’t hers either. That was what Bucky told her. Easier said than done. But she wouldn’t say a single thing about the fight to Groot- not yet. That would upset him more, and she just wanted to bring him back to the rest of the team- especially Rocket.

Wrapping her arms around Groot again and suppressing a sob that was ready to wrack through her, she let out a deep breath. She’d been skeptical about getting out herself, but after losing Peter and having most of the team here- in this hell- it made her want to leave- damn the rules, she’d kill Thanos herself if thats what she had to do to get out of here. “Tony has a plan- I hope.” she pulled away, slowly and tried to give Groot her best smile. “We aren’t staying here, I promise.”

[didntsayfricken]

Groot didn’t realized that ‘sorry’ was the wrong thing to say, so when Gamora hugged him again, he stayed quiet and carefully held her close.  He hoped that whoever Tony was that his plan was a good one.  This place was miserable and all he wanted was for them to be rid of it.  [Okay,] he agreed with her. [But I’m not gonna go if you don’t go. We go all together. Even Drax and his stupid face, and Nebula. And then we can go far away and do something better.]  He didn’t care if Thanos was her father or if other beings died.  If they left this place, they should walk away and never turn back.

[Can you show me where everyone is? I want to see them. Did they miss me?]

[thor-o-thunder-deactivated20201]

didntsayfricken:

Groot didn’t stop until Thor made him. The hug reminded him of Drax, like someone who could hurt you but didn’t want to. Or maybe something like that, he’d never been hugged by someone who wasn’t a Guardian before. Slowly, it made him calm down until he could return the smile.

[I’ll stab him in the eyes and when he’s distracted you can crush him with your hammer!] Groot wriggled out of the hug so he could demonstrate Thor smashing Thanos by punching a medium sized rock with his enlarged hand. It would have been more impressive if the rock had broken.

[I’ll follow you and we can go find them!]

Thor laughed and patted Groot on the back excitedly.

“That is a fine strategy my friend.” He smiled.

“You have an Asgardian fighting spirit.”

“Once we… restore Asgard, you’ll always be welcome there… You could have your own room, I used to live in a huge golden castle.”

[didntsayfricken]

A golden castle.  That would be interesting to go see, but he’d have to make sure that Rocket didn’t get himself kicked out. He thought about it as they walked through the jungle.  [I don’t need a room, but it would be nice to stay sometimes.] He wouldn’t know what to do with another one. Or one that was in the same place all the time. [But if you wanna give me one anyway, it should have big windows, the kind that open. That would be frickin awesome.]

He didn’t want to talk too much about Thor’s home though, it wasn’t nice to talk to people about dead things.  Instead, he marched along with his friend and mentioned some of the creatures he had bested until they came upon the camp.  Groot thanked Thor and ran off to greet his family.

[didntsayfricken]

hellsguardiandevil:

Matt wasn’t quiet sure how it happened, but one moment he was offering his hand to Groot and the next moment he was holding a flower that that tree had sprouted. “Oh, ah, thank you,” he told him, not wanting to be rude but having no idea what to say besides that. 

He stood back as the tree creature plowed out the cave to clear it from the mess that his entrance had made. He smiled as he listened. There was a quality to his actions that Matt had missed while he had been here and it was nice to know it happened, even under stressful conditions like this.

When Groot introduced himself again, Matt realized that he wasn’t listening correctly as the tree spoke. Every time he introduced himself, it was always with a different tone and inflection. Groot might only say three words in English, but Matt was fairly confident that Groot was far more expressive than Matt could understand. 

“I’m sorry,” he apologized when Groot moved away from the blanket. He wrapped it back around himself and tried not to shiver more. “I don’t think I understand you beyond your name. We can go and find someone else who might understand you if you’d like,” he offered pointing back towards where he knew several members of the group were staying.

Groot shrugged when Matt told him he couldn’t understand.  It wasn’t something that ever bothered him before he got stuck here.  Who needed to talk to other beings? Turns out, he did now that he was dead. Groot looked over to the other people sitting there. He gave them a wave and the ones who knew him gave him a wave back.

The ground was wet beneath him and he was so hungry.  Wasn’t sure if he was welcome here, but Matt didn’t seem like he was going to to be upset if he stayed.  Although the being wouldn’t even look at him.  If there was a problem, then he would have to say something.  Groot sat down and started to let his roots dig into the ground.  It wasn’t enough to sate him, but enough to take the edge off.

Groot looked up at Matt and motioned for him to join him. [Come on, I might be able to take the water from your cloth.] He realized that his vines scared some people, so he very slowly reached out to touch the cloth. [If you hit me I’m going to hit you back and you’ll really fucking regret it.]

[didntsayfricken]

The snow was falling softly outside of the cave.  It was always falling, sometimes hard and sideways and into the cave, so Groot appreciated this kind.

He was used to being cooped up on the Milano, spending chunks of time between planets. However, the Milano had plenty of things to do. Video games and talking and watching Rocket build things. But he didn’t have his game, most of the people in the cave couldn’t understand him, and while he still tried to stay close to Rocket just in case, he needed a break.

His hunger was intense, but without sunlight or food there wasn’t much he could do about it. There wasn’t much he could do at all except sit here and not become dormant.  Grumbling to himself, he sat down and leaned against the wall. Absentmindedly, he started scratching patterns into the floor that looked a whole heck of a lot like his game. It was no substitute for the real thing and by the time he was done he was bored again. Now frustrated and bored, he got up and started wandering around. Hopefully, he’d find someone interesting deeper in the caves. @empathictouch

[didntsayfricken]

hellsguardiandevil:

Matt had been sitting in the cave and wrapped in a blanket. He needed time to think by himself, to understand everything that was happening. He’d be hit with so much information that he struggled to process it, especially with the growing issues this place presented him. 

He felt the small thundering of steps coming towards him in the cave. He cursed himself for being visible to the outside when he couldn’t easily move out of the way to protect himself. This creature, whatever it was, was going to have an easy time with him in his condition.

The first batch of snow fell on his blanket and Matt quickly threw the blanket over his head to protect himself from anymore snow the creature was tossing all over the cave. He wasn’t sure what to make of it until it introduced itself. When it stopped dancing, he stayed under the blanket for a moment longer, making sure he wouldn’t get a face full of snow when he came out of hiding.

“I… I am Matt Murdock,” he told the creature. Matt was baffled. It sounded like a tree. It smelled like a tree. Was he talking to a tree? Was the talking tree even real? He decided to treat the tree like he was real, just in case. “Umm, where are my manners, sorry,” he struggled to stand and offered the creature his hand to shake. “You seem like you need this more than I do at the moment,” he realized before he shook the blanket to try and dislodge any snow and then held out to Groot. It was a human being under a blanket! That was much better than a wooly blob.  Blobs weren’t very interesting and they got all in his crevices.  Plus, humans were always polite and told you their name.  Even if he didn’t always remember. Still, it was nice.

“I am Groot,” he said to introduce himself, but he looked curiously at the hand. Did he want something? It only took a tiny bit of energy to produce a flower with bright red petals so it wouldn’t get lost in the snow.  He placed it into the open hand. [Nice to meet you.]

He looked around the cave and realized just how much of a mess he had made. He made and embarrassed noise and collected his vines in his hands so he could plow most of the snow back outside. It wasn’t perfect, but it looked better. Hands on his hips and a broad smile across his face, Groot chuckled.

[That’s okay. It’ll just get wet] he said when the human being offered the blanket. He shook his head to emphasize the point.  With that settled, he shuffled around until he found a spot of softer ground and sat down.

[didntsayfricken]

This was bad.  Very, very bad.

The forest had had everything Groot needed to survive and feed himself.  Water, sunlight, dirt under his feet and in the hard times, monsters he could munch on.  Now there was nothing there for him.  The sun was eclipsed, the ground was freezing up and so was all the water.  Animals were always far in the distance. But the cold was the worst part.

The chill of the air and the snow falling down on top of him was sapping the warmth out from deep into his bark and his vines. Groot could feel himself slowing down, the temptation to sleep and go dormant like trees in the winter seasons was growing.

He didn’t see the cave until he was practically on top of it. Without a second thought, he tumbled in, bringing a whole lot of snow with him. Then, he was so caught up in trying to get the snow off of himself, dancing around in the cave’s entrance and sending snow all over the floor.  And all over the person sitting on the floor.

“I am Groot!” [Aw shit.] Slowly, he held his hands up in a small surrender.  He gave the stranger a careful smile and waved at him. “I am GroOot.” [Sorry.]

@hellsguardiandevil

[didntsayfricken]

notjustatrashpanda:

“Whoa!” Rocket yelled, as Groot tried to shake him off. “Hey! It’s me!”

He was just starting to doubt himself, wondering if Groot had somehow lost his memories or whether this was some messed up side effect of this place, when his grip slipped, and –

–branches wrapped around him before he could go smacking into the ground.

Normally, he would have said something snarky, but right now the only thing that he could do was just return the hug, butting his head against Groot’s bark. “You’re not alone any more,” he coughed out, his throat getting choked up with too much emotion. “I’m sorry I took so long to find you. I’m sorry.”

When Groot started apologising, he sat up and punched him. “No, you don’t get to say sorry. We’re going to go home. I’ve found Quill, Mantis, Gamora… we’re just missing Drax. And whaddya mean ghosts?”

He considered, for a moment, not telling Groot about the fact that this was turning out to be a one way trip, but he’d never been good at hiding anything from him. “We’re kinda stuck here for the moment. The devices that were supposed to get us out of here don’t to be working, and it’s all magic and shit, so…” he threw his hands in the air in frustration. “But the rest of the infinity stones turn up in that big attack, so maybe we have a chance now.”

Groot snook his head when Rocket tried to apologize.  It wasn’t his fault, it was Groot’s.  Everyone always told him not to go wandering, to stay close.  He didn’t know how he got here, but there’s no way his dad would send him away.  Only bad things happened when the Guardians weren’t together.

This was the best moment he’d had since Groot woke up here.  The hunger was still there, but the voices and the ghosts were gone.  And now there was a plan, or Rocket would think of one. There would probably be some very big explosions to look forward to.  He took the punch, barely registering it against his thick bark, and was glad that Rocket didn’t step back. The idea that he would be out of sight or reach made him nervous.

[They’re all safe.] The news was such a relief that he laughed at the mention of Drax still out there.  He was probably having a great time cutting down the whole jungle. He would be easy to find. After a second he caught himself and felt a little guilty.  Being lost wasn’t fun.  They always did best together, even Drax.

[The ghosts, like in the scary stories.  The dead people who show up and then disappear.  They look like the Ravagers.  The bad ones.] They would appear and threaten him and remembering made him shiver.  It was dumb, they weren’t real, but sometimes he forgot when they got in real close.

So there wasn’t a plan.  All Groot could do was shrug.  He was much too excited to have his dad back to worry about complex stuff like plans.  They’d point him in the right direction eventually.  [What’s an Infinity Stone?]

[didntsayfricken]

mxstdanerousguardian:

Tears welled in her eyes as she stood and she put a hand on Groot’s shoulder to steady him. “Quill was fighting…. Outriders. He was protecting this kid- and he didn’t make it. Rocket said he heard Peter was ripped apart- there’s no way he survived.” Saying it just made it sink in more that he was gone. Damn it. Damn Thanos and damn it all. 

She’d leave out everything else. Groot didn’t need to have all of that dumped on him right now, she was sorry she had to dump Quill’s death onto him at this very moment. “I don’t know what happens when we die again.” she added. “I don’t even know if we can make it home.”  She furiously wiped the tears from her eyes, not wanting Groot to see she was crying- but knowing he was seeing it anyway.

“Nebula is here too.” she added.

You can’t put fleshy beings back together.

There’s no way he survived.

Gamora was trying to be nice, trying to keep him upright and steady but he didn’t want that. He wanted to be mad.  He wanted to stomp his feet and throw creatures as far as he could.  It was hard to focus on her, maybe because he didn’t want to focus.  He’d thought he’d finally found them and now he’d never see Peter again.

Before he could do something rash, he saw her wipe her eyes.  

Groot couldn’t cry, couldn’t think of a time when he was so sad that he’d do something like that, but he knew what it meant.  And watching Gamora cry was deeply upsetting in a way that ripped through him. All he wanted in that moment was for her to stop and feel even a little bit better. Carefully, he reached forward and touched her cheek like she had so many times before.  [I’m sorry. I’m sorry.  Maybe we stay here and be a family. And Nebula too.]

[didntsayfricken]

thephoenixrising:

She pointed to herself as he did and cocked her head. “Um…” she’d assume this was maybe asking her who she was with- since she’d asked him and he had confirmed it with a nod. “I’m with the X-Men. I jumped in here with Tony Stark, Charles Xavier, and Rocket. I didn’t speak much to him though, the most I ever said to him was something about him being cute and uh…. I think he tried to claw my eyes out.”

She stuffed her hands in her pockets and gave Groot an apologetic smile. “Charles is around- somewhere, but I haven’t seen him since the little party in the scrapyard. And I lost Mr. Stark completly.”

That was a lot of beings. Charles Xavier? X-Men? He tilted his head in obvious confusion and looked her over.  [Who are they?]

A chuckle escaped him when she admitted that she tried to pet Rocket.  It wasn’t very nice of her to do, Rocket wasn’t some pet, but maybe he understood. Groot was maybe the only entity in the whole universe who got the privilege and he never did it as a surprise. [You’re lucky you still have your eyes.] He gestured at his eyes, hoping that would help.

Being separated from your people was awful.  He wanted to help, so many people had helped him get back to the Guardians.  The question was how? All the trash piles were too high to see very far. He held out his hand and pointed up. [Do you want to look?]

[didntsayfricken]

Fruit! Actual fruit!  Groot nearly jumped for joy at the sight of the long yellow fruit hanging from a particularly tall tree with not a lot of branches.  He hadn’t eaten for, well, maybe as long as he had been trapped here.

Humming to himself, Groot reached up and grabbed the whole clump of fruit and yanked it down.  With his reward in hand, Groot sat down at the base of the tree and took a bite out of one of them.  He wasn’t a fan of the skin, but the insides were worth the trouble.

Humming loudly, he finished and started up on another one.  He became so distracted he didn’t realize that something was approaching the clearing until a human stepped into the clearing.

“I am Groot!” [I know you!] he cried and got to his feet, spilling bananas everywhere. He pointed a waved at the man to make sure he was noticed. “I AM groot.” [You’re Thor’s friend from Earth. Steve!] @capcanthang

[capcanthang]

The pain was almost unbearable as Steve made his way through the jungle. But he pushed through, he didn’t want any enemies seeing him looking weak, easy to take down. Hell no. So he pushed through, doing his best to keep his chin held high.

Making his way into a small clearing, Steve heard a somewhat familiar voice. Glancing up, he saw the creature whom arrived with Thor during the battle in Wakanda. Tree, as Thor called him. Groot, as he called himself.

“Hey there,” Steve gave a small wave as he approached the creature, hoping that their interaction would be one of friendliness. By the looks of it, he seemed happy to see him. That was new. “You okay? Have you found your team?”

[didntsayfricken]

Groot nodded to the questions. “I am groot. I am groot. Iamgroot?” [They found me and we went to the camp. I went to get food. See?] He gestured to the bananas and handed one over to Steve Rogers.

He looked the being over.  He didn’t seem too good, a little pale and not right.  Almost like when Rocket and Peter got drunk.  Maybe Steve Rogers was drunk. Or maybe he was hungry like Groot was, deep down in his roots. Either way, food was good for drunk people and hungry people.  The worst thing that could happen was maybe Steve Rogers would throw up.  Oh well.  There were plenty of the fruit for both of them and he was a friend of Thor so he couldn’t be all that bad.

Groot picked up several more bananas and held them out to Steve Rogers. [Here you go.]

[didntsayfricken]

thephoenixrising:

She hadn’t seen the person- er- talking tree? until he was on top of her, waving his arms at her. She thought she had seen everything when she met Rocket, a talking raccoon, but now she was meeting a tree person. Jean tried to flip herself off of the piece of metal- the way she’d seen Peter jump off a number of things after hanging upside down- and failed miserably, slipping down into the surrounding smaller pieces. Ow. 

Jean pulled the earbuds from her ears she stood up flicking the off button and stuffing her ipod back into her pocket before she faced the tree again- Groot? That was what he kept saying, so she was going to assume that was his name. “I’m Jean.” she replied, giving him a warm smile as she approached him. “Jean Grey.”

She could feel the emotions lacing his tone- so perhaps this was a language she didn’t quite understand. “I’m sorry, I don’t- really understand what you’re trying to say to me.” she admitted. “I can feel the emotions attatched to your words but- thats all.” she paused. “I’m telepathic. I can read minds.” she explained. She wondered if reading his mind would give her a better understanding of what he was saying, but decided she would as later. “So, um… are you with the Guardians of the Galaxy?” she asked. Because he was definitely not human, so the only thing he could be was an alien.

Groot watched her fall off the metal and land in the smaller pieces of metal right in front of her.  It didn’t look comfortable, but she popped back up and didn’t seem broken. It was headphones, but he didn’t recognize the music box.  Maybe there were more types of music boxes? If it had more music, maybe she would share.

Right. She couldn’t understand him. Groot didn’t talk to a lot of beings that weren’t Guardians, sometimes he forgot that others didn’t really hear what he was saying. But this telepathic sounded helpful. He might not know her for long, but it would be nice to talk to someone new.  Who knew that strangers could be interesting?

Groot perked up at the mention of the Guardians.  He nodded quickly, and gestured to himself. “I am Groot.” [I am a Guardian.] There was a bunch of things he wanted to ask her, but he wasn’t sure how.  Maybe, he could do it like when Rocket was trying to explain something to Peter. “Iiiii aaaaaaaam Grooooooooot.” He said slowly while gesturing to her. [Whoooo arrrrree youuu? Wheeeerrrreee is your faaaaamily?]