[OTA] shopping or whatever

[st_ripetail]

The 'boutique' was pretty much a nightmare of pink and glittery, at least in places, but the fact that the thing restocked itself was useful as fuck. Sure, you couldn't always rely on finding the same things you did before, but there was almost always something similar. And Rocket was used to repurposing and relying on junk, anyway. Junk was usually free. Nobody cared if you took their garbage, and they didn't care for long after they were blown up by what you'd turned the garbage into.

All of which was why Rocket spent a lot more time in the boutique/gift shop than most people would have expected, given that there was nothing pink and glittery about him. Except, now, a backpack which was still pink but no longer glittery, as the rhinestone-things had been pried off and store elsewhere.

As per usual, he climbed shelves and fixtures, evaluating items and occasionally shoving something into the backpack. There was a heavy emphasis on anything with clockwork or mechanisms, but also postcards, greeting cards, and clothes that had rhinestones, sequins, or beads.

Comments

[st_arkintern]

Peter looked over at the racks, not sure if the inn would actually replace them the next day. It might. But it also might not.

Peter frowned, worried.

If it were only one or two racks, though, they probably wouldn't be missed, right?

Peter clears one of the racks, moving the merchandise not pillaged (or not yet pillaged) by Rocket elsewhere. He doesn't want to make a mess here, even if Rocket doesn't seem particularly concerned about tidiness.

Peter easily picks up the cleared rack.

"Anything else?"

[st_ripetail]

Now Rocket did bare his teeth a little. "Okay, I'll bite. What's your game here, kid? Nobody sucks up like this for no reason."

[st_arkintern]

"Mr. Star-Lord has me on probation," he says. "He wants to make sure we all get along."

But that's not the only reason.

"I also just like helping," he says. "A lot of people here don't really need my help."

It's true.

[st_ripetail]

"Probation?" Probation for what? Quill was weird, so that was almost normal, but still. Definitely normal was Quill worrying about people getting along. "If you're not bleeding from any new holes, which I note you are fuckin' not, we get along fine."

So hopefully it was more the second option. "I might go pokin' around rocks an' shit outside, sometime. See if there's anything useful might need to be prospected or mined." Probably not, but it was something to do. "You wanna be a pack animal, I'll bring you along."

[st_arkintern]

Peter looks pleased when Rocket indicates he is at least fine with him. Fine is actually better than what he expected.

"He says that I might be able to become a Guardian of the Galaxy, but that I'm currently on probation."

A beat.

"He didn't really tell me what else I needed to do to get off it." So now, Peter's just trying to do things to prove himself worthy.

"Y-yeah, I'm happy to go along."

[st_ripetail]

"Pretty sure he's just messin' with you. No way we're that fuckin' organized." Like the group had been planned at all in the first place? No, they'd just failed to scatter when they had a shot and kept on failing. "Just stick around an' help out when there's galaxy saving or some shit and that's it."

[st_arkintern]

Peter shoots Rocket a dubious look.

"Maybe the application process has changed since you guys were founded," he says. Peter is unwilling to believe that Quill might just be messing with him.

"What do you do when the galaxy doesn't need saving, though?" Like now?

[st_ripetail]

"Priority one: application process for the group'a random assholes who picked up a fancy name? Yeah, that's fuckin' believable." It was not even a little believable, but that Quill was puffing himself up for the kid was absolutely believable. "We mostly do whatever looks fun, profitable, or both."

[st_arkintern]

"What's fun and profitable?" Peter asks, sounding very much like the relatively-naive 16-year old kid he is.

[st_ripetail]

"Sometimes we kill things for bounty. Or rob pirates. Quill likes rescue shit because attention, so we do a lotta that." Rocket shrugged. "Sometimes we take out people tryin' to kill us 'cause of other shit. You know, fun stuff."

[st_arkintern]

Peter files away this knowledge for later. Of course Quill would be selfless and rescue people. Some of the other stuff, though...

"You can't just bring your bounties in?" he asks. "I'm morally against killing anyone."

Even bad guys.

[st_ripetail]

"I mean, we could, but that's a shitload more work for not a shitload more pay." Most bounties did pay more for alive than dead, and Rocket knew that from having made most of a living at bounty hunting before the Guardians. But still. "Besides, if you carry someone on your ship somebody gets attached an' sad about their shitty life experiences or whatever the fuck, and then it's just a fuckin' nightmare actually gettin' to turn'em over to whoever."

[st_arkintern]

"You wouldn't have to worry about me. I always turn bad guys over to the appropriate authorities. I once turned in my Homecoming date's father on the night of Homecoming."

Peter doesn't want to sound like he's bragging about it, but he does want Rocket to know that he's a capable bring-them-back-alive bounty hunter. Sort-of. Minus the pay part. That could potentially be a problem.

[st_ripetail]

"Appropriate authorities? No, kid, you turn'em over to the one who wants'em enough to put up the bounty. 'Appropriate authorities' mostly can't be assed, that's why there's jobs for people like me." Rocket had almost said 'people like us'. He'd changed it at the last second because the kid probably wasn't an 'us' in this particular way.

[st_arkintern]

"But aren't the appropriate authorities the ones that want them the most? They have like, $1000 rewards for just more information."

Not that Peter Parker would ever take advantage of that if he did have more information.

[st_ripetail]

“Who wants it more, the one who says ‘tell me a story about that killer guy an’ maybe I’ll give you one’ or the one who says ‘bring him to me dead or alive for fifty’?” It seemed obvious to Rocket. “I’ll give you a hint, it ain’t the cheapskate who gives zero fucks about results.”

[st_arkintern]

Okay. Rocket definitely had a point, but it was not something that Peter was excited about doing. Profiting off doing the right thing felt bad somehow. And Peter wasn't entirely convinced that bringing people to the highest bidder was always going to be the right thing, either.

"How often do you do your rescue ops?" he asks.

[st_ripetail]

"I dunno, whenever Quill thinks we gotta apologize for somethin' or he wants some princess to think he's a hero. Or when Gamora gets that look on her face says we're fuckin' monsters." Rocket was a monster, but it was easier to get along with Gamora when she wasn't stomping.

[st_arkintern]

Peter considers this, but doesn't say anything. Instead, he lifts the rack he's been holding. "Where'd you want me to bring these?" he asks, still ruminating over what Rocket has said.

[st_ripetail]

"Just outside my room. I can shove it in the rest of the way." And then find something to cut it down with. Or find a way and place to melt it. Or something. Who knew? At worst it was something to climb on. "But seriously, kid, only listen t'Quill with one ear. Membership probation's not a thing."

[st_arkintern]

Rocket's declaration leads to one final question:

"Does that mean I'm a full member, then?"

[st_ripetail]

“Yeah, sure, fine, the fuck do I care?” The kid was okay, and if the eagerness to please was likely to get annoying with time it was also the bit that’d get sanded off the fastest if the Guardians actually started doing their thing somehow. Besides, with only Quill and Rocket around, it was weird to still be ‘Guardians’ of anything. “Welcome an’ shit, start thinkin’ about how you’re gonna survive jail. ‘Cause number twenty-four’s definitely happening sooner or later.” Not in the Inn, probably, unless it ended up being number twenty-four.

[st_arkintern]

Peter's face immediately brightens. He's not even thinking about how he'll survive jail right now, even though Rocket thinks he should.

"You'll let Mr. Star-Lord know, right?"