Groot thinks 12% is better than 11% (i_am_groot_) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-04-24 17:26:00 |
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Entry tags: | groot, nina pickering, rocket raccoon |
Who: Rocket, Groot, and Nina
When: April’s Full Moon, the 11th
Where: Nina’s House
What: Nina and Gabe reveal to Rocco Nina’s secret
Rating/Warnings: Mild, for language
Status: Complete
Gabe always was a bit bummed when their evening on a full moon came to an early end; with Nina's dream ability having crossed over it meant she turned into a werewolf once a month. So the plan on the night of was usually an early dinner and a movie or Netflix, then a kiss goodnight and Nina would go into the chamber to transform.
Tonight however was a bit different. Now that Rocco or as he liked to be called these days, “Rocket”, was back in town, Gabe felt it necessary to tell his best friend the truth about his fiancee. They didn't keep secrets from each other as kids (or at least not important ones) and he wasn't about to start now. It'd taken some time to convince Nina, however. He couldn't blame her, hardly anyone on Valar even knew she had this ability. She just wasn't the type to splurge details like that.
“Well, Rocket says he'll be here in a minute.” Gabe said, checking his phone as it buzzed. He was curled up with Nina on the couch as the credits to what they were watching started scrolling up.
Even now Nina wasn’t sure about it but if Gabe was then she’d have to trust in that. She wasn’t overly keen on too many people knowing about her situation but Rocket was Gabe’s best friend and he was going to be in their lives so she supposed he should know. She only hoped nothing would go wrong.
When Gabe spoke she nodded, “Okay” she said, “Just be careful right? I may be used to you now but I can’t guarantee what will happen with a new person” He had to make sure the door was locked properly and she was secured behind it.
So Nina had abilities.
And Gabe wanted him to see them.
The idea of it all made Rocco suspicious, and he almost felt as if he should have brought some protection with him. The girl was nice enough, but what was she going to show him exactly? Was it dangerous? Rocco was used to danger, and with his dreams becoming more and more elaborate he noticed that he was the same in this other life as well. But this felt different, and as Rocco stood at the door to Nina’s place he felt the hairs on his neck stand on end.
He shook it off and rang the doorbell. There were no loud dramatics from him tonight, not when everything felt ominous.
“I promise. No way I'd put the wolf in that situation or Rocket in that kinda danger.” Gabe kissed her forehead. Though to be truthful, he wouldn’t be surprised if Rocket wanted to try to see the wolf without a barrier between them; he was kinda crazy after all. But for now Gabe would keep them separated as Nina was right; their relaxed rules of letting the wolf out in the house with him would have to wait. He just hoped the wolf would understand and not get upset with him. A moment later he heard the knock and disentangled himself from Nina.
“Hey, man. Thanks for coming.” He said as he opened the door to his friend who looked a little unsure of all this. He stepped aside to let him in.
“And no watching the complete transformation” Nina still felt weird about that, it wasn’t a pleasant experience and even now she wasn’t keen on Gabe watching her. She let him go and answer the door as she retrieved the potion she took to help her keep her head and reduce the pain. She could feel the stomach ache building and knew it wouldn’t be too long until the moon was out.
“Thanks, for inviting me?” It was a definite question on Rocket’s end because he still wasn’t sure what was so important about abilities that he needed to see it. He attempted a smile, though, and entered the house. “I can’t believe you guys ain’t living together yet,” he said suddenly. Gabe and Nina were engaged, shouldn’t they be living under the same roof? But then again Gabe was a little old-fashioned so maybe he was taking his time.
“Hey, Nina,” Rocket said as she came into view. No smart quips tonight. Rocket was on edge. Something inside told him to be on guard.
Gabe was about as old fashioned as modern society would allow these days. Truth be told, he had his grandmother to thank for that; she'd scared it into Gabe and each of his brothers to keep it in their pants until they'd found the woman they knew they were going to marry and God help them if they knocked up someone out of wedlock. Treating a woman with respect was a must. Living with a girlfriend had also been out of the question, at least when they were teenagers. But those instructions had stuck with Gabe all these years which was why Nina had been his “first” and why they hadn't moved in together yet.
“Why, you want dibs on my place or something?” Quipped Gabe, throwing his friend a smirk. He looked over at Nina and saw that expression on her face - the slightly anguished look from the anticipation of the pain that was to follow. The house had the odor of cannabis - they'd discovered between her potion and the cannabis it helped her ease into the transformation better. It still hurt but it wasn't nearly as agonizing.
“Is it time?” He asked her.
“Hey” Nina said with a little smile at Rocket, she could already smell the worry and uneasiness coming from him as her senses started to sharpen.
The cannabis definitely helped and Nina had been extremely grateful for Gabe’s suggestion of using it, when he directed the question at her she nodded, “Yeah, it is” she said with a little wince before moving towards the basement.
“Wait a minute… are you guys smoking up in here?” Rocket had to be careful - working with the sheriff’s office meant there was always the chance for random drug screening, and sometimes second-hand smoke could give a false positive. “You guys got a mask or something? If I get piss-tested I’m gonna be up shit creek.” He let out a sigh, and shook his head.
“Sorry, just forget it.” Rocco ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m just on edge. You know I love you… the both of you,” he added as he looked over at Nina. As far as Rocco was concerned she was family now, and that meant he was loyal to her as well. “I just don’t know what I’m doing here. And I got a funny feeling. You know, like those feelings I told you I had in Iraq. The ones I got before I found an IED.” He got the shivers and shook them off.
“Can you just tell me what’s going on here?”
Gabe’s brow furrowed and he placed his hands on his best friend’s shoulders. His expressive brown eyes looked into his friend’s worried ones. “The ‘L’ word? Seriously?” Rocco NEVER said the word “love” to anyone. To his guns sure. To the action of setting off explosions? Absolutely. But to other human beings? It was exceptionally rare, and Gabe realized Rocket really was overreacting. Probably the PTSD. “Bro, chill. The cannabis is for Nina. It’s for when she changes. You’ll see. And there are no IED’s. Geezus.” He ruffled his friend’s hair, then he extended a muscled arm for Rocket to follow Nina down the stairs to the basement. “It has to do with the dreams. I can’t explain it without it sounding ridiculous. You have to see it.” He explained as he followed him down. “Nina doesn’t want a lot of people knowing about this, so you can’t shoot your mouth off about it either.”
“I promise it’s nothing to worry about. It’s just one of those things where it’s easier to see than explain. You probably wouldn’t believe us either” Nina said wincing a little as the pain came faster now. Trying to explain things to Rocco would only have led to him thinking they’d both been smoking too much and were hallucinating. If he actually saw the wolf it would be harder to claim madness. Or that was the hope.
“Love you” she said to Gabe pressing a quick kiss to her lips before entering the secure room and shutting the door behind her, leaving Gabe to lock it properly. Something they’d not done for a while now since they’d realised the wolf part of her had taken a shine to Gabe too.
Gabe was always a little bit protective of Rocco. Just a remnant of when they were kids. It carried through even after Rocco grew up and filled out, Gabe was always the protector. That was just his way. Still, the strong hands on his shoulders did little to calm down the ex-soldier. And he knew, he knew that a large part of that was because of the PTSD, and it was hard to control because, and he didn’t tell anyone, he stopped taking his meds. He thought he was okay, but apparently he was wrong.
“What do you mean change?” His brow furrowed even more as they descended the stairs. It was foreboding, and the actual descent itself - well the symbolism wasn’t lost on Rocco. “What the hell you guys… what is Nina going to change into?”
Because really he wasn’t sure if he was ready for the surprise of monsters.
“Love you more,” he said to Nina, returning the kiss. Locking her behind the heavy, reinforced door that held a small window of tempered glass, he took a step back, locked eyes with her once more then turned away. Looking down at Rocco his expression shifted to a stern, hard look. “Under no circumstances are you to look in there while she's changing, got it? I don't care what you hear or how curious you are. She doesn't even let me look. Says it's too horrible.” Already he could hear the sounds of her pain, and he stiffened a little; usually he left the room and had gotten used to not hearing her cries.
Nina tried to hold back her screams of pain, it definitely hurt less than it had used to thanks to the drugs and potion Merlin gave her but it was never going to be painless. She felt her limbs breaking and then twisting into the wolf shape, her body shifted and soon where once stood Nina there now stood a large powerful werewolf.
The large reinforced door was more than intimidating, and it was only then that Rocket knew that Nina turned into some kind of monster. At least one that needed that sort of chamber to stay in. There weren’t a lot of instances where Gabe ever looked stern, but this was one of them. It signified that he was serious about what he said, and as a friend Rocco complied. Even as the screaming started he didn’t look in as much as he wanted to. It was unlike anything he had ever heard, and Rocco had heard a lot in his life.
When it was over he still didn’t look in. Instead his eyes were trained on Gabe.
“What the fuck are you involved in, buddy,” he asked. “What the fuck just happened in there.” He pointed to the door, chest heaving as he was trying to wrap his mind around all of this.
Gabe's expression softened a bit at his friend's panic. He held up a finger without a word and turned to check in on the wolf. Peering through the glass he saw the familiar hulking, shaggy form. It was looking at him with some measure of confusion as to why it wasn't allowed out. “Hey, babe.” He murmured. Biting his lower lip he twisted around and waved Rocco to come over. “Look for yourself.” He only hoped Rocco didn't freak out too much. That wouldn't make for a good first impression for the wolf.
The Nina wolf was somewhat confused, it had been a while since it had been locked away. While Nina maintained a small portion of control and awareness the majority of senses were purely wolf and currently the wolf wanted out. It wanted to curl up next to the strong warm body it associated with safety and comfort, it did not want to be locked away again. Nina struggled to remember what they were doing and why in order to calm the animal instincts.
If there was anything that Rocket hated it was being silenced when he had every reason to react the way he was. He frowned, but complied for the moment by following Gabe’s lead and going to the window. What he saw caused his eyes to grow wide, and without a word he covered his gaping mouth with his hand. There was a fucking wolf in the room, and no Nina. There were two options for how that happened — either a wolf got in there and ate Nina, or Nina turned into the wolf. Rocket didn’t think Gabe would be so calm if something ate Nina, and the fact that he called it “babe” told him that it was Nina.
Nina turned into a wolf.
Nina was a werewolf.
What. The. Fuck.
He moved away from the window, and doubled over to breathe. He hadn’t realized that he held his breath until that moment, and he was catching up. Deep breaths, in and out until he was as calm as he could get before he looked up at Gabe.
“Bro…” he shook his head. It was all he could manage at the moment, but it carried the weight of everything he wanted to say. “BRO.” He repeated for effect because damn — his best friend was engaged to a werewolf, and all he could imagine was everything that could go wrong.
Rocco's reaction was about what Gabe had expected; in fact it was better and more controlled than he'd anticipated. He'd actually thought the sight of Nina would have been met with wild gesticulations and a string of swear words mostly consisting of F-bombs, but the emphasized 'Bro’ was all that came out.
“Just breathe, man. It's all right. I know it doesn't look it but trust me, it's cool. I'm the Alpha so she doesn't attack me.” He reassured his friend, rubbing his back as Rocco stood bent over. He still was apprehensive of letting the wolf out to see his friend, though. The last thing he needed was Rocco shooting his fiancee, as he knew he was always packing heat.
“She got it from the dreams. In Nina's dreams her world has werewolves and vampires and ghosts.” He sighed, glancing back at the chamber as he heard a solitary, hesitant scrape of claws on the door and the muted sound of a whine. “We worked out that the wolf sees me as her Alpha, so now I let her out and about in the house. She mainly just eats and then goes to sleep next to me on the bed.”
Rocket paused when Gabe told him to breathe, and just stared at his friend. The kind of stare that could have put a hole in the wall if he wanted it to. “It’s all right?” he repeated in question. “The fuck it’s all right,” he answered. “She turns into a wolf. Once a month, right? Isn’t that how the story goes?” Because up until now this was all just make believe, the result of some horror writer’s twisted mind. And Rocket thought it was weird that he was a raccoon in his dreams, and that’s when he paused.
“If she got it from the dreams then am I going to —” he cut himself off and took a step back. The idea that he could turn into an actual talking raccoon was a little too much, and he shook his head. “Nuh-uh… no way. No fucking way.”
And when Gabe said that he was the Alpha, well Rocket almost laughed out loud. His best friend would barely kill a fly let alone be considered an alpha anything, but he kept his mouth shut. “She mostly sleeps until one day she decides she wants YOU to be a wolf, too, and then scratchy scratchy bitey bitey, you’re a fucking wolf.” Rocket hadn’t realized that he had backed away to the far wall until he ran into it. He stood there, staring at Gabe, and shook his head.
“We’re best friends, man. I just…” He knew this was important to Gabe because he felt strongly enough to share it with him, but he just wasn’t sure if he could give Gabe what he wanted. Not yet, anyway.
“I’m gonna need some time, okay? I just… this is a shit ton for me to process right now and I’m kind of freaking out.” Rocket slowly made his way to the door that led upstairs. All he wanted to do was to get out of that house, and go have a drink or twenty. “Just… let the wolf out when I’m gone so she can eat and cuddle up or whatever the hell she does.” Because that sounded a lot better than ”let me blow it up” especially since that was his best friend’s fiance. He frowned at the thought now. Nina was so nice, but now she’s… this. He wasn’t sure if he’d get over it, but now wasn’t the time for that decision. He needed a clear head, one that he wouldn’t get until he had drunk himself into oblivion and woken up the next afternoon.
He was going to have to call in sick to work with that plan.
Gabe's expressive features now had a slightly worried look mingled with apology. Rocket was having a meltdown, he knew it all too well. He belatedly realized how cavalier Nina and he had been about showing him this aspect of their lives - no sit down talk, no warning. Just BAM! btw Nina's a werewolf. They were so used to all the crazy in the OC it was hard to remember what it was like to be new to it. In hindsight he could see how justifiably freaked Rocket was being.
“Not everyone turns into their dream self, Rocco. I'm still me.” Gabe said reassuringly, pressing a hand to his chest. Okay granted there was that ONE time, but it was for a week, and there was no point in mentioning that now. As he watched Rocket back up and babble, he could hear the scrapes and whines of the wolf increasing. He frowned at Rocket’s assertion Nina would turn him one day. “It's not like that. Nina says she has some measure of control, so she's in there and recognizes me.”
He watched as Rocket inched his way to the basement door. He nodded, acquiescing. There was possibly nothing more dangerous than a freaked out Rocket, except maybe when the man was cornered. “Do what you gotta do, man. I'm sorry, we're so used to this, I didn't even think how insane this must look, bro.” He offered a mild smirk. “Just try not to get too shit-faced, okay?” He knew his best friend’s method of 'coping’ all too well.
Rocket let out a nervous chuckle. “Heh, good thing I know a lot of bartenders that’ll stop me if I take it too far.” Which was why he was going to by two bottles of whiskey, go home and drink until he passed out on the couch.
“I’m sorry,” he said again. Rocket just felt that he needed to apologize for the reaction. It wasn’t what they wanted, but this wasn’t about them. It was about him, and how he needed to deal with it. “I’ll…” he stumbled a bit as he walked up backwards on the stairs. “I’ll text ya, buddy.” And with that he turned around and hurried up the stairs.
Gabe watched him go, and it wasn’t until his friend disappeared as the basement door slammed shut that he uttered softly in disappointment, “Yeah.” Turning to the chamber, he went back over and without even glancing in the window unlocked and pulled open the door, releasing the wolf.
Nina could sense something was wrong, she could smell the heightened emotions in the air and wanted to get out and make sure Gabe was okay. When he opened the door she whined at him and nuzzled his leg with her muzzle. Looking up at him she took in his features as much as she could, trying to push her human self as close to the surface as she could.
Gabe smiled down sadly at the wolf, looking into her eyes as she stared up at him. He could tell by the way it was looking at him that Nina was struggling in there, and he stroked the shaggy head of the animal and placed a kiss on its brow. “I’m okay. Rocco’s just not ready yet.” He sighed, both hands scratching behind Nina wolf’s ears. “I can’t blame him. You are intimidating. Just sucks.” He glanced up at the stairs then back down at the wolf. “I’m sure you smell him. Hopefully you’ll get used to him like you do with me.”
Ironically Nina was in enough control to be more concerned about Gabe than the unfamiliar smell, when she returned to normal she’d feel terrible about it all. She didn’t want anybody to be afraid of her, though she couldn’t deny he had valid concerns and they’d worried her too when Gabe had first suggested letting her out. But luckily his instincts had been right, as they usually were. Whining a little more she very gently licked his hand before turning towards the stairs and waiting for him to go up.
Gabe smiled at the gesture. “Thanks, babe.” He ruffled her fur and then headed up the stairs. “How about we get you some dinner now.”