Once upon a time, in a land not so far away...
You wake to the feeling of being watched. Of a set of unfamiliar eyes, of warm breath on the back of your neck. A jolt back to the land of the living, and it's gone. No matter how quick you are, how sneaky, the source of the disruption has long since disappeared, so you have no choice but to try and ignore it. To continue on with your day and try to set that moment of strangeness aside.
You eat, drink, speak with others. Perhaps you explore a little. Whatever it is you choose to do for the day, that feeling from the morning won't return. And by the time the sun sets and the moon glows brightly above, you've likely set those moments of strangeness aside. It's not like it's anything new, after all.
It's the same again for the next few days. No better, no worse. Something best ignored, right?
A speck of blood on the doorframe. That wasn't there before, was it?
A snap of twigs in the distance. A crunch of leaves.
Claw marks gouged deeply into the door.
Into the wall above your bed.
Scraps of red fabric, turned darker with blood. Pieces of fur. Of flesh.
Do you run and hide? Do you fight? Whatever you choose, it's definitely time to make sure your body parts aren't scattered next...
...what a horribly big mouth you have.
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Since first waking up on the island, characters have been stuck with that feeling of being watched. It isn't a constant. Isn't more than a few seconds at a time, dotted throughout the day. Investigation has never turned up much, and there's never been any sightings of the cause of it all.
Until now.
Throughout the first half of the week, characters will find themselves suffering from that feeling of being watched on a far more constant basis. Rather than it being a one-off, few seconds occurrence each day, that feeling will last for minutes at a time, and on multiple occasions.
However, it isn't until the fifth day that they'll start stumbling across physical signs of their monitoring. There are claw marks on doors. Spots of blood on the paths outside. A crack of twigs in the forests, or the imprint of bloodied paws in the snow.
Ten days in and those signs start finding their way indoors. Wet footprints, tinged with red. Claw marks in the walls, the floor. Torn sheets and the smell of wet...something. Whatever it is that's been watching you, its finally decided to come and say hello.
Two weeks in and characters will begin to have sightings of the creature, its fur dark and its eyes a glowing yellow. At times it looks like a wolf, prowling in the distance. At other times, it's walking on its hind legs, almost human were it not for the muzzle full of gleaming sharp teeth. Get too close, and it slips away like a shadow, gone between one blink and the next. It decides when to reach out to characters, not the other way round.
It's after characters finally get a good look at the creature that it starts leaving...gifts. Characters will start to find familiar items from their home worlds amidst the mess. The remains of a childhood pet, perhaps. Photographs of loved ones, faces torn almost beyond recognition. It's only once it delivers its final gift that the creature retreats to the trees again: a blood-splattered item of clothing that clearly belongs to the person the character misses the most at the time, alive or dead.
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fablelands2018-08-27 11:34 pm
groot | i am groot
[O-Oh. This isn't home. Not that he has a home exactly, but he knows it's wherever Rocket and the others are. It's where Gamora and her warm hugs are, and where Drax always lets him win staring contests. Wherever this is, it isn't home. It's cold, and dark, and it smells strange. He cautiously grabs the tiny Groot-sized backpack he's been given and takes off with it at a run. It feels like he's being watched, and he knows from Peter that it's a very bad thing to have that happen.
He's not exactly easy to be spotted in the middle of a forest, being basically a tree and all, but if he ever ends up under foot he'll be sure to pipe up with an alarmed GROOT!! to get someone's attention.
When he finally makes it to the lake, he takes the time to toss his backpack onto the ground and start sorting through it. He ends up halfway stuck inside the thing, pulling out and biting at wooden coins. Each one is tossed aside before he decides that maybe he does want them. After that point, he scurries around to scoop them up, happily depositing them right back into his bag. That being done, he figures he might as well do what Peter would do and play nice with the locals. There's people here, so he slowly approaches one of them and gives their shoe a nice and gentle kick.
Hey, down here!
Whenever attention is given, he eagerly waves, smiling hopefully. ]
I am Groot.
[Yeah, that's how he says hello.]
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Groot. You're okay. Is Rocket with you?
[ he doesn't want to think about why groot is tiny again, he's just going to revel in being able to hold him when teen groot would have shoved him off by now. ]
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Whew.
Today's turning out to be a lot for one little groot to handle.
As everything stops spinning, Peter's words register with him, and he sadly shakes his head.]
Groot. [No Rocket.] I am Groot. [Just Groot and Peter.
And because he's so glad to see Peter, he scurries on in to cling hold as tight as he can. Because he's missed his dad in the hours they were apart, okay.]
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It's okay, we'll find him. We'll find everyone. Remember, no matter what happens, we'll always be together again. That's 'cause we're family, right?
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Groot.
[Right. He gives a firm nod of his head before tapping Peter's cheek and pointing forward. They should get looking for their family before something bad happens to them.]
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Gamora is here, she's safe, Groot. And now, so are you.
[ peter picks up the tiny backpack and hands it up to groot before stooping to pick up his own and shouldering it, careful not to displace his tiny ridealong. ]
There's this guy here you gotta meet, too. He's like a tree monster, kinda like you. You're way cuter, don't tell him I said so.
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I am Groot? Groot. [You think I'm a monster? Rude.
Actually, there's a choice word or two somewhere in there about what he thinks of the comparison. But he's smiling and his tone is amused. It's obvious he's just being a little shit for the sake of it.]
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He's cool, I think you'll like him. He was helpin' me look for you. I wonder if... [ huh. it's weird because alec couldn't sense groot before, but now he's here. peter doesn't feel like breaking his brain over it right now though. ] Did you get anything cool in your backpack?
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While he talks he grows bored with riding on Peter's shoulder, so he starts to dance in place to the music he can hear coming out of the headphones around his neck. This ends with his dancing and falling right off of Peter's shoulder and into his hand. There's barely a pause before he resumes the conversation like there wasn't just a lapse in talking.]
Groot? [What about you?]
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The same stuff as you, plus my walkman. Plus - this. [ he pulls the crystal frog out of his pocket that had been buried with yondu and holds it in his opposite hand so groot can see it while they walk. ] It doesn't make any sense. Just like the rest of this place.
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Groot! [She offers her hands to him so he can climb up, her eyes shining with tears. She may not know why it's happening, but she's so happy that it is.]
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Groot?
[Mom?
The guardians were a family unit, and everyone has earned a place in Groot's heart as someone special. Gamora is naturally his mom, just like Peter is his dad and Rocket is like his dad or occasionally his angry uncle that teaches him bad things that are fun to do. He loves everyone, but seeing Gamora right now fills him with a sense of comfort and elation. He drops the coin, letting it slip free of his mouth to land on the ground. A little hand raises and he traces the outline, before slowly turning to face her with a big smile on his face. There's a couple of little hops of excitement before he takes off at a run, leaping onto her hand so he can scurry on up to try and get to her shoulder. Whether it's with her assistance or alone he doesn't really care, because as soon as he's in close, he's hugging her cheek like there's no tomorrow. Which, up until about two minutes ago, he wasn't sure there would be.]
I am Groot! [I missed you! You know, because they were only apart for a few hours in his mind.]
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[She leans her cheek into the hug and wonders if this is real. A tear falls down her cheek because real or not, it's so good to see him and finally say this:] I love you so much.
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This is not a good thing. His connection to the green fades in and out. How can he trust his abilities? He needs to take time to center himself, to root, to connect to the green-
He stops just short of stepping on the thing shouting "Groot!" and his red eyes widen.
That's a baby tree.
It's a...baby tree person.
Like I am. A sapling? A sprout? His mind wanders to Tefe and he shakes it off before peering downward. This tree seems sentient. like him. Even if he's unsure if he's a man or a tree at this point, he's struck dumb by the creature. All he can do is stare for a moment before he raises a root in greeting.
Words are kind of useless at this point.]
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Words are pretty useless right now. Groot tips his little head all the way back and stares. His jaw drops and his eyes go wide, and he stares some more. He isn't sure what he's seeing right now, this isn't like one of his people. ]
I am Groot? [Who are you?]
[His head tips to the side as he observes the much taller creature, but the spell is broken when some kind of insect flying by catches his attention. His sightline drifts over toward it and he ends up running and hopping off toward it to try and catch and kill it. He stops short of his goal when he runs past the looming shadow the other tree causes, and slowly comes to a stop. His head turns, neck craning so he can get the whole view.
He can't remember whether or not he's waved yet, so he figures it's good manners to wave again.]
Groot. [he's just saying his name now. Being polite and introducing himself. Gamora would be so proud.]
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Alec can't help himself. He puts one big hand against his chest.]
Alec.
[His first impulse is to sit, to try and get down to the creature's level before he realizes he could grow another body. Would that frighten the creature away? Assume it would..
He moves, surprisingly delicately, to sit. Up close he's a mass of moss and lichen and leaves, clearly a tree being with a few flowers poking out of his shoulder. He doesn't even notice. Instead he he just extends his fingers as they bury themselves in the soil.
Photosynthesis is a hell of a thing.]
...Hungry?
Do you eat like...like I do?
[Man he'd like to learn the kid's language. He's limited to "I am Groot" but there has to be a root structure to it. Perhaps at some point.]