revivalproject | Not Quite the Last Train

WHO: Shiro and Open
WHERE: Sh'ka
WHAT: Exploring
WHEN: October 15th on
WARNINGS: None so far.

Arrival
Somehow, luck was finally on Shiro's side. He'd always claim that if he didn't have bad luck, he wouldn't have any luck at all. Okay, sure, it wasn't really so bleak as that, but he could be over dramatic sometimes.

He had decided to take the train out of Temba and to Sh'ka. His intention was that he was only going to stay for one day, but that plan quickly got waylaid when the train arrived from Temba and it would not return. Further more, some of those who had escaped had reported a strange darkness that had come over Temba suddenly.

After attempting a few more times in vain to try and get the train moving since it sounded like something was happening in Temba, Shiro was forced to give up, stalking away.

Security Center
Since he now had a forced vacation in Sh'ka, Shiro decided to do some exploring. He headed into the security center to see what was there, struck by the oddly relaxing nature of the facility. Strange he thought. A building such as that wasn't normally relaxing in any sort of way.

He happened upon the video that was playing, watching it for maybe five minutes before he got bored and went exploring again. When he cam back a few hours later, he looked back at the screen and raised an eyebrow.

"Is the video repeating?" He could have sworn he had just seen that part...

Theater
Shiro went to the theater when he saw that it seemed to active like the security center had been. He had no previously interacted with the Graq and since he didn't have the communication data point, the words meant nothing to him at all, but would stand in the back watch the figures that danced around on stage, trying to figure out from what they were doing and what was actually going on in some cases.

Around
Shiro could often be found around Sh'ka, exploring whatever he could so there was not much option to go anywhere else. At least once a day, he could be found at the train, trying to see if he could get it to go back.

What was the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Shiro didn’t blame him at all for being anxious about all of this. Being away from his family, the people that he cared about from his home world, not to mention the friends he had made here. Shiro was worried about those he had met here, as he had been lucky enough for Keith and Lance to be here as well. He wasn’t going to twist that knife though…

“Yeah, that would make it rather hard. Even just not knowing the direction to head in since you could be lost in short order. Unfortunately, I don’t know what we can actually do at this point.”

Hey, TOmmy was glad for Keith and Lance being here too. He got it, man. It just... sucked otherwise.

"Back home I'm a superhero. With my speed, my specialty is getting people out of bad situations."

Did he need to even say how horrible he felt for not being able to do that now?

Still, it seemed like it would be more like rubbing it in if he said it right now even if that wasn’t the intention.

The explanation certainly did explain a lot for Shiro about why this was bothering him so much. It was pretty much against everything that he normally did as Shiro understood it.

“Ah. Yes, I can see why this is particularly hard for you.”

Tommy sighed and nodded. And then turned away from the station.

"This piece of shi isn't moving today. I don't know why I keep standing here."

“Probably the same reason that I keep checking it so often. Perhaps in the next five minutes it will actually work and you want to be here in order to not waste any time when it does.”

He certainly had felt that way with the other paladins and they were trouble and he wasn’t able to help them. Heck, he had spent months feeling that, all the while watching a clone of himself slowly destroy his team and drive off Keith. He had known he wasn’t going to be able to get out so easily, but there was still that hope in the back of ones mind that maybe the next try would be the one that worked.

Yeah, that's a point. He hates to see it so easily reflected in another's words thought. Damn but he wanted to get back to Temba. And now he had to accept this.

"I wish there was an easier way just to stand back and accept it. But I can't seem to do that.

He knew that feeling all too well; that was why it was so easy to tell someone else the reason. Even knowing the reason didn’t make it any easier for either of them. If nothing else, it probably made it harder if only for the fact that they were both aware of it now.

“Yeah, it’s never easy to just stand around. Unfortunately, we aren’t always able to act when we want to. Even knowing this doesn’t help much though.”

"Stop being so smart," Tommy grumbled. Not that he was really angry. He was just, you know, hurting. Really bad.

"Are... Are Keith and Lance here?"

He gave him a sympathetic smile. “It’s a curse I’m afraid.” More that he had way too much experience in that aspect, and he was only speaking from that. He didn’t take any offense from that. He knew that Tommy was not in the best state right now so expecting him to not be on edge would have been too much for him to expect.

He nodded his head. Since he had been asked directly, he wouldn’t lie. “Yeah, they are.”

A curse. Tommy snorts in amusement at that. Even if he was still hurting over the observation.

"Well then, you keep them safe. Because they deserve that. Safe and happy."

Sometimes, knowing too much really was a curse. He did smile faintly that at least the comment had amused Tommy. He needed some amusement right now, even if it was small and fleeting.

“I will. And I will hope that we are able to get back to the others as soon as possible so that you can look after your own.”

Tommy's hand fisted at his side, and he was definitely holding back a sharp comment. More at himself than at Shiro. He wanted his people back.

"Yeah. I need to get my family back."

Shiro could see both the determination and the frustration in Tommy’s face and he understood it completely.

“And we will. We will get them back.”

More than anything, TOmmy wants a hug. Not that he's going to ask for one. Or reach for it. Instead he just looks to Shiro and doesn't say anything for a long moment.

Being still was a mistake.

"People need to eat. Guess I should really get to that."

“If nothing else, it might be a good distraction, having something to do,” Shiro remarked, glancing at the train. “And I guess there is no reason to really wait around here.”

But before Tommy could leave, he would put one arm around his shoulders. Kind of a hug.

“We’ll get back to them. And if you ever need to talk to someone, I’m willing to listen.”

The hug earns Tommy leaning into Shiro, wrapping his arms around the guy weakly to take what momentary comfort he could. Was that wrong? No. He refused to not accept the hug.

"Thanks, Shiro. Guess I get why Keith likes you."

Tommy was too much like Keith not to like Shiro for some of those same reasons, even without the history. Dude was just good.

Shiro smiled as Tommy turned and hugged him after that brief hug. He was more than willing to offer that temporary support for someone else who needed some help right now. He knew that he was hurting right now and if he could offer support, he would.

Shiro chuckled at that. “I hope he is not the only one.” But anyway… “Let’s head back and I’ll help you with the food.”

Not Quite the Last Train

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you cool with wrapping?

Yep, I think that we can wrap it up