you and i are friends of empty graves

[assembles]

Who: Steve Rogers & OPEN 
When: Throughout September 
Where: Farhill Mining Camp; the Horizon 
What: Following his decision to perform some light sabotage on a military base, Steve has to do some jail time out at the mining camp.  
Warnings: Mention of child labor; will edit to add if anything else comes up! 

[ Open starters can be found below! Reach out to me on plurk at demonology or discord at demonology if you have any questions! ] 

Comments

[assembles]

[ Steve can't help but laugh at Rocket's blunt honesty, but he doesn't say anything just yet, letting him add some more details to fill in the full picture of this place that's now his home.

Except right from the jump, there's a hint of confusion that passes over Steve's face at the mention of "the head of a Celestial." He tilts his head to one side, but stays quiet so that Rocket can keep talking. The rest sounds... pretty nice, honestly. Sure, the Avengers Compound is sleek and full of all sorts of amenities and bells and whistles, but Steve doesn't view any of that as actually necessary for a place to be considered home. ]

Right, Nebula mentioned you took in some kids from a bad situation. It sounds like you've got a decent amount of space you're working with, even though it's a fixer-upper.

[ He leans back in his seat, arms crossing over his chest. ]

And knowing you, you're the one who's been trying to do all that fixing-up, right?

[ Rocket can't usually let his hands stay idle for too long, from what Steve's observed. ]

[respiting]

Enh.

[ He offers a shrug that says nothing and everything all at once, his mouth quirked into something of a smile. Yeah. Steve knows him well enough, knows that if there's something that needs fixing and he's got the time — hell he's tinkered with ships and shit even while in the middle of an all out space chase and/or war — he's gonna freakin' do it. ]

Got the speaker system set up just before I landed in this place so at least they'll have tunes. [ That bit's important, okay. Music helps to soothe a lot of wounds, even if it ain't the physical kind. ] The kids — yeah, they weren't so bad. One of 'em had a hell of a lot of promise, even.

[ Does he sound a little wistful? Yeah. Probably. ]

But Groot's got that handled while I'm away.

[assembles]

[ The speaker system. Right. Steve's noticed how important music seems to be to Rocket, a fact that he picked up on over those five long years. Just based on the tracks he would listen to, he can only assume that fondness was ingrained by Quill. ]

... Huh. That makes me realize how music's sorely lacking around here. When we're awake, I mean.

[ He's got a record player in his apartment here in the Horizon, but it would be nice to get something set up in the Sarstina. He files that away for later.

While he's curious what Rocket means by one of the kids having promise, he's quickly distracted by the mention of Groot. He can't quite hide the way his eyebrows shoot up in surprise. ]

Yeah? Can't say I expected that a tree would be a good babysitter, but...

[ Hey, why not. ]

[respiting]

I set something up at the Treehouse in Solvunn, got a speaker in almost every room. It ain't the same thing, 'cause it's all based on the memories I got of the stuff I heard, but —

[ It'd been Wanda's magical doing, and a hell of a lot of trust to let her inside of his head, even just a little bit, in order to find the place where he keeps the music.

It's not the same thing as Quill's Zune, but it's a heck of a lot better than nothing. ]

If there was a way to get a connection to some real music, somethin' familiar from your Terra, man.

[ Anyway.

He snickers now, wistful illusions of Radiohead and the Electric Light Orchestra fading into his memory. ]

You got a good twig like Groot being raised by a buncha us, and you turn out mostly okay. [ He and the others did their best, you know? ] He turned out okay. Got a good head on his shoulders. You remember him, don't you?

[assembles]

[ There's no way that radio waves from Earth are ever going to reach this far, but even so, it sounds like Rocket has figured out a pretty good solution.

Steve takes another sip of his coffee, eyebrows lifting as he's quietly impressed. ]

Still, even if it's based on your memories, that's gotta be a nice slice of home.

[ Via Earth tunes from the 70s and 80s, but that's neither here nor there. Steve's educated himself on some of those musical artists, so in that sense he and Rocket have had a similar journey with music discovery.

As for Groot, Steve definitely does remember him. Not that there was much time to get acquainted before the Snap happened, but it was enough to make an impression. ]

We didn't get too far past introductions, but yeah, I do. He was still kind of gangly then — I'm guessing he's grown a lot by now.

[ Timelines are confusing here, to say the least, but Steve settles back in his chair, curious to hear more news from the galaxy as Rocket remembers it. ]

[respiting]

You got any favourites? Maybe you could help to fill this library with a few more songs, if you're open to it.

[ It's a little bit of a task, drawing those songs out from someone's consciousness through magic but Rocket's always curious to gather more for his speaker system. And lately he's been trying to find a way to keep 'em all archived in a small device he can take out with him, hand-held and portable and all but it's still gonna need some work. ]

Oh, yeah. He's real big now, a fully grown tree. [ said fondly, almost a little wistful. ] Lost the attitude too, which I guess when you met him he'd already done some proper growing up anyway. Some of us left to do their own thing, and Quill went back to Terra to his family, so the Guardians got a little bit of an adjustment. Groot's been stepping up.

[ He's just so proud. ]

[assembles]

How would that work?

[ Steve has to assume there's a way, that Wanda's magic would somehow make it possible. It's not like he or Rocket are the magic-using types, even here. But if there is a way to make it happen, he'd be happy to help. He nods again as he takes another sip of his black coffee. ]

If you've got a way, I can definitely contribute. You'll have to decide if you want music from my era or some of the stuff that's been recommended to me since I came out of the ice.

[ Trouble Man is always a good option.

But as Rocket describes what's happened with Groot since they thwarted Thanos, it's clear how proud he is — of a tree who's probably three times his size now. It's sweet, and Steve doesn't hide his fond smile. ]

Sounds like you did a great job prepping him for that. I'm kinda surprised to hear that Quill went home after all this time, though.

[ It sounds like there might be a story there. ]