catch-all — take a sad song and make it better ;

[respiting]

Who: rocket and you
When: post-august event
Where: solvunn settlements, the horizon
What: a day in the life (and also building his horizon)
Warnings: none so far but will warn if they come up!


my schemes are just like all my dreams — solvunn ;

[ It's just another day in the commune, and in his newly mended and much better fitting robes (with pockets!), Rocket makes the rounds. Not that he makes a point of it at all, or says anything, or even thinks about it but he's taken to helping the locals whenever he sees an opportunity: mostly simple stuff like mending fences and roofs, fixing up tools, and then there's the odd wrangling of a goat.

Because, yeah. After his confrontation with some weird too-many-armed creature in defense of the goats, he's been keeping an eye on them a little. Every now and again. Just because.

Throughout the day(s) he can be found:

i) Mending said fences, just knee-deep in manual labour and looking surprisingly content while doing it. It's not just busy work (even thought it kinda is) but there's a surprising kind of productive feeling to the act. Maybe even something like ... fulfillment. But like hell is he ever gonna admit such a thing. Gross.

ii) Later, he might be found at one of the nearby little drinking holes, taking a local up on their offer for a free meal for helping them with a task (this time it was fixing a roof). If he recognizes you, he'll nod his head, which is essentially your cue to join him if you want. ]

Eh. Anything you want, it's on me. They owe me like twenty more of these things just today.

[ iii) And finally, at the end of the day Rocket will be making his way back to the treehouse near the Black Eye Lakes. He pauses as the sun sets to lift his head towards the bright orange skies and watch them for just a little bit.

To no one in particular (though clearly within earshot of you): ]

Well, I guess it's not all bad here.

here am i floating 'round my tin can — the horizon ;

[ Rocket's experience with the Horizon is still a little new and will take a little practice, but following his last visit there with Vash, in which there had been a lot of empty barren land and not much else, he decides that it's finally time to get to work on his own space.

He doesn't take up a whole lot of that space because being ruler of a planet or a kingdom or even grounded land has never been Rocket's ambition. Instead, it's a metal platform that he's currently working on, which stands beneath a system of control panels and steering systems that have already been installed, lights glowing through the motherboard. It looks like it's the kind of thing that will take a hell of a lot of work, and it'll be slow in its progress, but it's precise and it's exactly the way that Rocket wants it.

It's the starts of a spaceship. ]

Yeah. [ He makes a sweeping gesture with his free claw, while the other readjusts his goggles. There's a small shiny little symbol to signify the Chariot emblazoned on the side.

He points to the box of tools to the side, perfectly sized to him and looking already worn and well-loved. ] Yeah, that thing. Can you pass it over?

and oh, it's never quite as it seems — wildcard ;

[ feel free to leave your own starter below in any such fashion you wish if the above don't quite work for you! i'm down to party with anything and reach out to me via plurk/PM/discord to hash out any details! ]

Comments

[thepath]

[ Bug boy. Great. Cal smiles, shakes his head a little—taking the jab in stride, as predicted. He's been called worse—much worse, and with actual malice—so it's no sweat. ]

I usually go by Cal, but yeah. And that's BD-1.

[ He gestures to the thing in question, the droid perking up when he hears his name—putting a pause on whatever he was investigating—and trilling a cheerful greeting. ]

He's an explorer droid. So that's what we're doing here. [ A beat. Casually, in case it wasn't clear: ] Exploring.

[respiting]

[ See? This is how he knows Cal's a decent dude. He can take a joke, especially a stupid one.

Rocket nods. ]

Cal's definitely a better name than Bug boy. And, I'm Rocket.

[ And now his gaze goes from Cal to the droid, and then back again. ]

See anything interesting? Aside from the starts of this ship, anyway.

[ Because there is no way in hell that this hunk of lovingly-crafted metal and lights and buttons isn't fascinating to everyone, right? ]

[thepath]

Don't get him started. Everything's interesting to him.

[ Beedee beeps in protest, but it's clear that he doesn't take any actual offense—if that can be clear from the tone of a few beeps. But it's the truth, and Cal has had to hold the droid back more than a few times to keep him from trespassing on other people's domains out of pure curiosity.

But Rocket was here in this one, so Cal allowed it. ]

A starship, right? [ It's more a rhetorical question, but so many people here have stared at him blankly when he's mentioned space travel that he feels like he can't assume anymore. ]

You're starting from scratch, huh? Seems like a lot of people here just make things for their domains wholesale.

[respiting]

Uh-huh.

[ It's an answer to both of his questions, actually. But Rocket pauses in his tinkering to give Cal an exasperated rolling of the eyes. ]

Yeah, and they're morons.

[ He has no idea who they are, but that's his story and he's sticking to it. ]

What's the point of having a whole domain done up in a thought? Where's the fun in that? You miss details. You get gaps. And the whole thing feels like cheating.

[ Dare him to argue with you, buddy. Just try it. ]

You got a place done up here?

[thepath]

[ Hey, he's not going to argue, especially since he can actually see the appeal of something like rebuilding the Mantis himself. Cal has always liked to tinker, since it keeps his hands occupied, and his mind along with them—something he desperately needs, most of the time. Modifying his lightsaber or repairing the Mantis is soothing, in a way.

In fact, he raises his hands in front of him in mock-surrender, as if to concede the point. ]

Yeah, a little. It's just my ship right now. [ He adds with a lighthearted kind of cheekiness: ] I cheated, though. But I promised my boss I'd show him a working starship, so.

[ His shoulders shrug. Couldn't keep Viktor waiting too long. ]

[respiting]

[ It is soothing. It's like some kind of balm for his brain and the bad thoughts when he gets wrapped up in the smallest, most intricate details of building a ship. Of course he's gonna take his time and painstakingly put it all together as if it were all real, and not something that still — ultimately — exists only in his mind. ]

Well, you lost some respect from me, kid — [ Nah, not really. ] — but tell me about this ship of yours.

[thepath]

The Mantis? You could come see it. It's right over there.

[ He gestures in its general direction—BD-1 interjects with a hoot, pointing more precisely with one spindly droid leg: there, though the ship isn't visible from here with all these other domains in the way.

Cal's mostly joking, though. He continues with a grin: ] It's an old Stinger XL luxury yacht. Don't know when it stopped being a yacht, but it's more of a getaway vehicle now.

[respiting]

Ooh, so you're a fancy guy, huh?

[ He can joke too, see?

And Rocket looks towards the direction Cal indicates as though he might see the general shape of a large, fancy-schmancy looking ship in the distance.

But he can't make anything out from here. ]

You have to do a lotta getaways where you're from?

[thepath]

[ It's a ribbing, sure, but Cal feels like he has to defend himself at least a little— ]

Not exactly.

[ Or not fancy at all, really, especially in the couple years the Mantis has been in Cal's hands—much to Greez's chagrin. The ship might look like a luxury yacht on the outside, but it definitely isn't on the inside. ]

Uh. [ He exchanges a glance with BD-1, almost shiftily. He did say getaway vehicle, didn't he? Yeah, that one's on him. ] Lot more than we'd like. Let's just say we're on the Empire's bad side.

[ Despite the shifty look, he doesn't actually seem at all repentant about it. ]

no worries if this is way too crusty to tag back! feel free to ignore!

[respiting]

Yeah, I get it.

[ Loose lips or not, Rocket can keep a secret. Or maybe it's that whatever he has to tell him, he just doesn't care enough to blab. Your secrets are safe with him, Cal.

Still, it does pique his interest, makes him study the guy a little. ]

I dunno what the Empire is, but I know a little something about being on someone's bad side and needing a proper getaway vehicle.

[ Rocket you cannot possibly be thinking of defending your stance as a (former) thief and looter, and mercenary for hire, bud. ]

Better if it blends in a little more, right?

it's all good!

[thepath]

Right. Speed usually helps too.

[ Ah, yes. Cal knows when he's being sized up, though he doesn't appear to mind at all. Probably because it happens often enough.

And probably because he's studying Rocket a little too, his head quirking to the side, as if he wasn't expecting to find a fellow... fugitive? He's curious. ]

You do, huh? Dare I ask?

[respiting]

Oh, yeah. Speed's real good too. Not exactly what I'd expect from a former luxury yacht, but if it works, it works.

[ Now that he knows this guy ain't going around flaunting some kinda wealth handed to him on a silver platter, his ship has both his interest and maybe even his respect too.

He rubs at his nose absentmindedly and shrugs a shoulder. ]

Yeah, sure. You can ask. I mighta had a few run-ins with some bad people. Mighta escaped from twenty-three or so prisons too.

[thepath]

[ Yeah, nobody ever expects the former luxury yacht. In any case, Cal whistles softly in admiration at the number of prisons Rocket has busted out of, his eyebrows raising. ]

Twenty three? Can't say I've ever had that pleasure. Unless you count breaking into prison and then breaking out again?

[ BD-1, back to investigating the ship, interjects in tones of dissent. Beep-boop-beep. ]

It was technically a prison. The prison was there.

[respiting]

[ If Rocket puffs his chest out just a smidgeon, you saw nothing, okay.

(But he is kinda proud.)

But he chuckles now, looking between Cal and the little robot-thing poking about the makings of his ship. He won't even admonish it, he's curious about what Cal's just said. ]

Is that what you did?

[thepath]

[ Look, a 100% success rate out of twenty three attempts is pretty impressive. Cal can let Rocket have it. ]

It was more like a fortress.

[ He concedes the not-technically-just-a-prison argument to BD-1. Which probably makes the heist more difficult, actually. Fortress Inquisitorius, home of the Inquisitors, a group of dark Force users led by Darth Vader himself. ]

But they had, uh. Something important. That would've been bad news for a lot of innocent kids. So we went in and stole it back.

[ (By we, he's of course including BD-1, who beeps in agreement.) But his tone is so nonchalant that it might seem like the whole thing was easy. It wasn't. Cal was stabbed in the chest with his own lightsaber and almost drowned to death. ]