Public Network Video - (Plus Two Private Messages)

[doubled_speed]

Public Video - [Posted During Ship Lock-Up]

[The video comes on and there's Tommy, a touch blurry around the edges. The background changes behind him constantly. One second he's pacing in what was clearly the dorm of the ship he's on. The next second he's in a mess hall, the protein paste machine in the background. Then the hangar. Then the bridge. Back to the mess and dorm and mess. This will be true for the whole video. There is no denying that he's very agitated, like ready to run up the walls. Or through them if he could.]

Dudes, who in the world decided this was the best plan that there was? Like, seriously, this plan? It's bogus. Being locked up on a ship is one thing. I wanna go to space. Space is fucking cool. All the stars and planets and traveling and that shit. But here, on the fucking ground, and there's like no way to go and travel between them and the space is small and itissosmallandthewalls are everywhere andican'tgetthrough

[He's shaking harder now, as he comes to a stop. This is miserable.]

Yo, Agrii or whatever. I don't fucking CARE about making friends. I can do that on my own time. But I want the fuck out. Let me go back to the greenhouse. I swear I just found a door that led to a whole section of a floor that was just fucking MINT. I like mint. Let me at the fucking mint.

justletmeoutofhere!



Private Message to Billy - October 13th

[He's calmed down a bit at this point, and it's important that he does this. That he seems calm for this. Because Billy deserves it.]

Yo, happy birthday, bro. Was gonna make you this whole salad with things from the Garden. But some ASSHOLES in charge here absolutely decided to blow birthday plans. I'm sorry this all sorta got blown up. Who you on wherever you're on with? I'm with Wanda. Which, you know, awkward. You know where V ended up? Whatever, not like it matters. Just be okay, right?



Private to Vision - October 13th

[This one has a more nervous looking Tommy. Like he isn't even sure he should be sending this.]

It's today, right? You sorta said that the math would come out to today, yeah? So you know, I don't hold it against you. Forgetting. And not, you know, doing the whole thing you said you would. But it's fine, right? I get it, that you'd want to. So don't worry about me, okay? Just make sure you wish Billy a happy birthday. This will probably be the first time he has to celebrate it without his family or friends or all that. It would mean a lot, I think, for you to reach out.

Because, you know, it's a good Dad thing to do. And he's used to having a good dad. So, you know Vision, do your best. We're nineteen now, so I guess throw that in too?



[OOC: If anyone of Tommy's cohort wants to run into him while he's recording messages, that's cool too. Just hit me up at churbooseanon and we can set it up.]

Comments

[doubled_speed]

“Tons of them. Like Billy, he’s from New York City. I live there now. Sometimes. Or I will when I get home. If I get home. Shit I’ve missed dinners with Mom so many...“

Wait. Brain goes from thinking not at all to thinking insanely fast. He says wait and it’s a second before he continues talking to Sansa. It’s a lot more nanoseconds for him to think in, running back through his whole conversation. And he goes white as a sheet in that instant.

“Wanda and Vision. I meant Wanda and Vision. That’s all. I didn’t say that other thing, okay? We’re not even from the same version of Earth and all of that. So that didn’t happen and if you repeat it I will deny it. Okay? Yeah. Right.”

[theladyofwinterfell]

Sansa arches a brow at the mention of Wanda and Vision and the confirmation of them as parents. If this is their son, she supposes that they do deserve to know that. Still, that isn't her secret to tell. She's revealed secrets before in order to protect the people she loves but this isn't going to be life or death for anyone involved. Sansa doesn't need to tell anyone this to keep them from harm.

"I see," she says carefully. "I won't tell them, if that's what you're afraid of. I'm keeping my own secrets from my husband right now, actually, so I rather know what it's like when you're trying to hide something from someone that you love."

[doubled_speed]

"Pops knows," Tommy says, "but you can't tell Wanda. Please. She... Fuck."

He's pacing all over again, nervous and trapped.

"Just want off this thing. It's making me say stupid things. And do stupid things."

[theladyofwinterfell]

"I won't tell her," Sansa says softly. "I would only tell her if I thought she was in danger. I do not think she is in danger, though I think Wanda would want to know. She is a loving person, a kind person, and I cannot imagine she wouldn't want to know about a child. Still, it's not my place to tell her that. It is yours and yours alone."

It's different, this, than other secrets she's shared.

"You have nothing to fear from me."

[doubled_speed]

Not just his secret. His and Billy's and Vision's. Why do they leave Wanda out of it? It's difficult, some day they'll have to make a decision that doesn't deny her information. Today is probably a bad day for it because she can't walk away from it.

"I don't know. I have a lot of things to fear here, including the fact that you have a massive wolf and we might be tasty."

[theladyofwinterfell]

"Lady? Lady is more interested in belly rubs and table scraps," Sansa says, laughing softly. She scratches her behind the ears and gets a pleased little whine out of the direwolf.

"She's a bit stressed from being cooped up in here, yes, but she's not going to maul you. Lady has proper manners."

[doubled_speed]

They kept dogs there, at the place like this. At least... at least Lady doesn't seem too much like a dog. He paces back and forth even faster, his eyes watching the beast nervously.

"Guess we're all just caged animals to the Agrii. And how the hell does a wolf have manners? She lifts her dew claw before eating your face or something?"

Tommy? Clearly failing on the manners front.

[theladyofwinterfell]

"I raised her by hand," Sansa says stiffly. She's protective of Lady, having lost her and only regaining her as a gift from the Atroma, and she tangles her fingers in the wolf's fur to calm herself and not get angry. This man doesn't know her and isn't familiar with direwolves; they do look quite fierce and it's not often that one is tame.

"She would no more bite you than I would. If you harmed me, she would devour you, but as you have no intention of doing so she will be far more interested in being your friend."

[doubled_speed]

"Sorry. Not... not big on dogs. They had dogs at... Dogs are faster than people, you know. Wolves too. And a ton of stamina. They keep going and going and going."

He remembers the dogs, snapping at his heels as he ran on the treadmill. Their chains were just long enough that they could get to him if he wasn't going fast enough. If he wasn't giving it his all. If he slipped, if he got tired, if he didn't always run his best, there were dogs.

And they would keep turning up the speed of the treadmill. To make him better. To push him faster. To.

No. Tommy's shaking, and looking anywhere but at Lady. Yeah, no, this is bad. Very bad.

"Dogs chase things that run. I run. Really fast. It's sorta not conducive to friendship."

[theladyofwinterfell]

"Oh, well, Lady won't chase you," Sansa promises. "Direwolves are more intelligent than hounds. If I tell her not to chase you, that it frightens you, she would never do it. She knows better than to frighten someone unless they were trying to hurt me."

Sansa tangles her fingers in Lady's fur again, her voice softer. "I don't like dogs either. I've been hunted before."

[doubled_speed]

Oh. Tommy comes to a stop. Someone else who might get it. He pauses for that moment, still shaking slightly.

"The worst part is the barking. Because the noise carries, right? They can be so fucking far away, and you can still hear them."

[theladyofwinterfell]

"They're at your heels long before they find you," Sansa agrees. She remembers fleeing from Ramsay's hounds and praying she wouldn't be captured and dragged back to Winterfell for more punishment. She wouldn't wish it on anyone, much less someone who has been nothing but cordial to her.

"Lady doesn't do that," she promises, her voice a little shakier than it normally is. "Lady is different. She doesn't hunt people."

[doubled_speed]

"Yeah. Mostly people hunt people," Tommy agrees, looking at the wall, and not at her. "And the dogs are never gone, even when you can't hear them anymore. They just keep coming."

[theladyofwinterfell]

"She won't hurt you. I swear it," Sansa says, voice a little firmer. "I swear it on my crown as Queen in the North. She will never, ever hurt you."

As if in agreement, Lady makes a movement to lay down, her head on her paws. "See? She listens. She isn't like those brutish animals."

[doubled_speed]

"I believe you. Because Mom wouldn't put up with someone who lied a lot."

That much he has absolute faith in. If Sansa knows Wanda, if they trust each other, Tommy trusts her too. Doesn't have to know a person to have faith in them, not if the people he trusts believes in them.

"Can... I try petting her?"

[theladyofwinterfell]

"Of course you may," Sansa says, gently encouraging Tommy to do just that. Lady cautiously sniffs him, wanting to get a sense of him, and Sansa gently ruffles the fur at the scruff of her neck.

"She likes behind the ears best, actually."

[doubled_speed]

He hesitates briefly before reaching out. His hand is, of course, shaking.

"Dogs are supposed to sense fear. Do wolves?"

Yeah, he's REALLY scared.

[theladyofwinterfell]

"They do. Lady is well aware you're afraid," Sansa says softly. As if on cue, Lady herself sniffs delicately at Tommy's hand before nuzzling against it. She likes affection and if her mistress isn't afraid of this man, she doesn't have anything to guard against.

"See? She wants you to pet her. Wolves are more intelligent than dogs."

[doubled_speed]

Oh. That's... really nice.

"Her fur is so soft," Tommy says in an awed whisper, reaching out to really stroke that fur. She's so nice. "She's sweeter than I expected."

[theladyofwinterfell]

"My brothers' wolves were always wilder. So was my sister's. Lady was the kindest of them all," Sansa says. She tries not to let emotion rise up in her throat as she thinks about all her years without Lady because that isn't relevant now. Now, she has her back.

"Lady would never hurt anyone unless they sought to hurt me. She only seeks to protect me. I wish I had her always."

[doubled_speed]

Had her always? That's a story, Tommy thinks. But he doesn't want to ask. Would rather not ask ever. But he kneels and starts to pet more around her ears.

"She's a very good girl," he says, a bit nervously. Like he doesn't fully believe it. "Thank you. For correcting me."

[theladyofwinterfell]

"It's all right. A full grown wolf would frighten anyone, I think, even if the owner asserts she's tame."

Sansa grows quiet. "Especially someone who has been hunted before. It's no way to feel, cornered and afraid."

[doubled_speed]

Hunted. Yeah, he wasn't hunted so much as afraid to be.

"Could be worse. Could be chained up and drugged so you can barely think straight. That's a different sorta terror. I hear."

[theladyofwinterfell]

"I imagine that it would be," Sansa says, shuddering at the thought of it. Throughout her imprisonment, she'd kept her mind, and it'd been the only good to come of it. Her mind is her weapon and imprisonment had only served to sharpen it.

"We're safe from that here, I hope, but there were...things in the Fleet that caused us to show our inner thoughts. I hope they do not happen here."

[doubled_speed]

"My thoughts aren't all that complicated."

Such a lie. But he likes to not be seen as weird, right? He worries about a lot of things, and when he's got as much time as he does to think, it's easy to have a lot going on up there.