revivalproject | [OPEN] The Day Grandfather Invaded

WHO: Tommy Shepherd
WHERE: Sh'Ka
WHAT: Shadow Fears in the Storm
WHEN: During Storm Event
WARNINGS: Possible Violence

I. Stone Leaf Issues | Storm Day 1

Going out into the fog wasn't something Tommy had intended to do. Tommy hadn't even realized it was a storm when he woke that morning, not at first. Tommy had a migraine, sure, but he didn't associate it with the storms. Which was stupid. He had been through so many now that he should know the warning signs.

As it was, This was a busy time of the year for Tommy. The last rush of harvest and prep of food for the winter was serious. He split his time between Temba and Sh'Ka, bringing in all he could, loading up the train, and riding back to get it all stocked up. That was the plan. That was why he was in Sh'Ka over night, working in the greenhouse. That was why he was walking outside now with a crate of harvested food that felt heavier than it should have been, and stepping into fog.

Only then does he realize what he'd failed to notice before. The weakness in his arms, the lack of his mind racing, the fact that he couldn't FEEL the energy in his body.

"No," he whispered to himself, but then froze when he saw a flash of movement. Tommy's eyes went toward it. He knew better than to chase things in the storm but this was...

Shit, it looked like Shiro. And fuck if Tommy wasn't going to run after someone he KNEW was here.

"Shiro, hold on!" he shouted, putting down his box and then racing off at human speeds after the shadow. He was so focused on the chase that he missed the sound of a branch swaying, a snapping, and then a harsh whistling of a leaf falling.

II. Killer Robot Attacks | Storm Day 2 On

He got lost. That's the only explanation for Tommy still being out the next day. After all the issues he'd had with the fog the day before, all he could do was find shelter in a mostly fallen building that evening. And, without his powers, well... Simply put, it was one of those instances where sleep actually held sway over Tommy for a lot longer than normal. He slept the whole night through, as if his body was angry for years of what a normal human might consider insufficient sleep.

Since he wasn't in Temba he wasn't affected by the screaming of the moon. It meant sleeping without his powers going on the fritz again (he didn't want to experience that once more). And since he slept through the night, when he woke it was with a crack of lightning. A flash of crimson lightning. Tommy yelped as he jerked awake, and soon his eyes were casting about in the shadows.

Turned out there was another downside to being a superhero here other than the stress of being powerless. Tommy had heard tons of stories over the years of things that had attacked the Earth. Was it really that shocking something should manifest now of shadows and memory? Something that already had crimson eyes? Something that wasn't one something but a whole wealth of them starting to land behind him.

"shit," he said before scrambling to his feet and running into the thick fog. "If anyone is near, run AWAY from my voice."

Because it turned out Tommy's other grandfather was here, and he was hardly friendly.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

What was there to be enjoyed about this, really? Felwinter certainly did not miss having to be on extra alert.

"I do not recall such, although I'm not sure what you mean by that," he said as he rested the gun over a shoulder. He felt as tired as Tommy sounded, but he wasn't about to rest out in the open. They needed walls, an easier space to defend.

"I mean you kicked his ass pretty well," Tommy said as he moves tiredly away from the quarry. With, of course, far less of his natural speedster grace. "I was... I thought he'd kill me. I don't think he ever approved of dad being with mom. Not that Mags much approved of it either. Or Uncle Pietro apparently."

No one really seemed to approve of it.

"Well enough, I suppose. Thankfully they were not as in great a number as the frames I've encountered back home." Those ones at least didn't talk, but then perhaps that is what made them harder to really gauge.

"It sounds like a complicated matter." Having a robotic branch in the family seems complicated in itself. "Do you require assistance?"

"Yeah, it was a SUPER small amount of them, we were lucky," Tommy agreed with a nod. Normally there were, like, worlds more of them.

Though he sighs at the idea of just how complicated his family was.

"I don't think you can help me fix a fucked up family."

"...ah, I hadn't meant that, specifically." Felwinter figured he was the least likely person to be able to help with such things. "I meant more this current situation." The speedster looked about ready to collapse after all.

Oh. That. Tommy looked like he might fall over from the very reminder. And he's so damn tired. So damn worn out. He just wanted to sleep.

"I'm not okay," he admitted.

"The hotel should be just past this structure ahead," the warlord pointed. "...you may lean on me if you wish." He'd learned that most humans objected to being carried despite it seeming the more practical solution in some cases.

"Thanks" he says, even if he doesn't want to have to do this. He does lean against Felwinter and does his best to keep up walking.

"Sorry man. For all of this."

Felwinter shook his head. "It is hardly your fault. We need to find a way to break this pointless cycle. We have not accomplished anything that we have been called here to do, and the storms seem to be catered more towards tormenting the Agrii's supposed heroes. It seems like a very roundabout way to set a trap."

Pointless cycle. That sounds about accurate. Not that Tommy really knows how they do that.

"Problem isn't here I think. It's the damn Atroma."

And they can't find the Atroma.

"I am aware of this." He'd been told about this other party and its meddling. They sounded like a dangerous group that lacked in anything better to do, which seemed a terrible combination.

"We must stop them."

"Hard to plan a way to stop people that are probably watching your every step. Like, how do you even do that?"

He had seen how hard it was to deal with Shield when the Registration Act went live. It wasn't good to chase the watchers.

"If all they are capable of is watching, then they can only react," Felwinter noted. "They force us to react by inflicting such trials and obstacles upon us. We must find a way to turn things back upon them. Then perhaps they will reveal their hand."

"Of course can't they react to intercept our actions if they know what is going on?" Tommy asked, frowning.

"They are going off of existing data," the warlord said lowly. "Ultimately we decide the response of anything. They cannot possibly anticipate what has not been done."

Yes, that is true, except...

"Can't they anticipate it if we're planning? Couldn't they see us?"

Felwinter shrugged as though this were inconsequential. "If our plans are being formed physically, then the potential is there, it is true."

Wait, what?

"How the fuck else are we supposed to form them?"

"There are always other ways, Thomas."

The warlord didn't look inclined to say anything more as they neared their destination.

Yeah, you say that, but Tommy doesn't know what they are. What he does know is that he flinches away from the name.

"Tommy. Never Thomas."

[OPEN] The Day Grandfather Invaded

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