revivalproject | [Open] Where There's Smoke There's Tommy

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[Open] Where There's Smoke There's Tommy

WHO: Tommy Shepherd, You?
WHERE: The open space just south of the Diner
WHAT: Building A Brick Oven
WHEN: Early March
WARNINGS: Explosions possible, which could lead to injuries

I. The Build Phase

This shouldn't be that hard. It was what Tommy told himself as he looked at the materials he'd been gathering for a while now. Some of them were scavenged, some of them were hand made the best he could from a book he'd replicated about construction, some of them were... Well, he'd just got things together, alright? But the goal had been there for a while now, and filled with nervous energy like he was, Tommy needed to be active. To be doing something. To be anchored in the here and now rather than letting his brain run wild.

That was always the danger with being a speedster. The way that his mind worked he could easily mentally live weeks in a few minutes, utterly alone. It was terrifying and in this moment he needed anything but that. So here he was, stacking chunks of rock and packing the space between them with a mixture of wet mud and sand.

"Keep slow," he reminded himself, a mantra whispered under his breath. "Keep slow."

II. The Testing Phase

It had taken nearly a whole week of work for Tommy to get his work done. But hey, there it was, it looked more or less right, and Tommy looked proud at his creation, comparing the details of it to the details of the book he'd been working from.

"Alright, so... This will make Pizza."

Considering it for a moment, Tommy finally nodded and moved to the pile of wood stored by the diner.

Only then did he notice someone approaching.

"Hey! Wanna help me make pizza."

III. Oh, That's A Fire

Shit. SHIT. SHIT!

"It's not supposed to do that," Tommy said to himself, cursing under his breath. Actually, that was getting a bit louder and faster as he started working.

Because there was smoke coming from all the wrong places of his little oven. Which meant everywhere that wasn't the chimney.

"Fuck!" he shouted as fire leapt from the door of the thing.

"Shit fuck," he added creatively as he started picking up handfuls of snow to throw at the flames.

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A robotics expert, huh? That’s something to keep in mind.

“A lot of things start with accidents.” Wesker has to agree as he pockets his phone and crosses his arms instead. “But what remains important is that we don’t make our own frustrations the problem of others.”

“Also allow me to clear up some of these assumptions Mr. Shepherd likes to make. First: I am no cop. I worked special tactics and rescue missions. Second: Not everyone here knows what everyone here has been doing during their entire stay here. Just as I know very little about Mr. Shepherd, he knows hardly anything about me. And lastly,” He tilts his head slightly, now rather addressing Tommy himself. “I am very well capable of detaining you if necessary. But I believe that particular assumption is based on the fact that up until now no one here has been able to keep up with your superhuman speed. Is that correct?”

"I'll get it right next time," Tommy tells Ash. "You and your Pika can have pizza when it's fixed."

Clearly Wesker can't. That's the implication. Pizza is too good for him.

"Don't call me that. It's insulting. You can call me Thomas. The kid can call me Tommy. And you can't catch me."

Billy could, Jon could. They have the powers for it. This dude? He's just a cop wannabe.

"Really? You mean it?" Ash is immediately distracted by the idea of food. Pikachu is of a similar mind it seems as both their eyes seem to shine in interest. It's short lived though and Ash looks at Pikachu.

"Pika, Pikachu." Pikachu states and then touches Ash's cheek with his paw. "Pikapi."

"Pikachu says his name is Pikachu." Ash offers. "And my name's Ash. Despite the misunderstanding-it's nice to meet you. But, why do you not like the police? Where I'm from Officer Jenny's always super helpful."

Oh, Wesker understands the implication, but he couldn’t care less. He still makes a mental mark that Tommy apparently likes to abuse his power over the diner to punish people he dislikes for whichever reasons by barring them from accessing basic necessities such as food.

And yet somehow Tommy remains convinced he’s the good guy here. Self-righteous, indeed.

It’s Ash’s reaction that stirs up the lingering tension, leaving Wesker to cast a glance between the boy and the young man that still tries very hard to antagonize him. Even if his behavior has now shifted to a more passive aggressive tone, which Ash appears to be oblivious to, unsurprisingly. Why dd I’d be even bother trying to help this child?

This entire encounter certainly has taken various odd turns. And to think Wesker’s own involvement in any of this is the result of him responding to a call for help. No good deed goes unpunished. He shall keep that in mind.

Without bothering to say another word but with various things to consider, Wesker uses his own inhuman speed to disappear as abruptly as he has initially appeared.

Okay, that was... weird. The guy's gone and Tommy had watched him go, and he hadn't expected that. But he's still pretty sure he's a lot faster than that guy. He's Speed after all.

"Listen," Tommy said, left alone with the kid, "just because you know the one good cop doesn't mean they are all good. A lot of them become cops not to help people, but because it gives them power. Power they abuse. Cops aren't inherently good people."

Ash did notice things were still tense but he was trying to keep things from escalating any further than they already had. And then Wesker just... left. Ash feels a little bad since things certainly didn't go well.

He turns his attention back to Tommy and blinks a moment before something clicks. "Oh! I guess it's different for you, but where we're from there's an Officer Jenny in every town and they're all related to each other in some way- like I'm pretty sure the Jenny in Saffron City is the second cousin of the sister in law of the Jenny in Cerulean City." Ash explained. After a moment he glanced off in the direction Wesker might have left in, it's really difficult to tell since he left so abruptly.

"You know, I really do think he was just tryin' ta help. But he did ask me if Pokémon were weapons and in our experience, people that think like that, never turn out to be good."

"Pika." Pikachu nods in agreement.

"But I don't like to just assume people are up to no good- people can always surprise you."

"So you're saying all law enforcement where you're from is one family? That sounds a bit iffy. I mean, they are good now, but if all power is with one family, it's easy to get corrupted."

Still, Tommy's looking hard at Pikachu now. Interesting. He thinks he likes the thing, especially if seeing it as a weapon means the guy is evil. Tommy already thinks the guy is fucked up.

"A guy that wants to arrest me for trying to improve the food offerings at the diner I have been working hard over for everyone's sake for years wants to arrest me for improper building, I don't trust them. That's someone who is going to throw their authority around in bad ways. I hope he surprises me, but seriously, it's attempted pizza. Never heard that being against the law."

"Maybe, but most of the Officer Jenny's we've met were only patrol officers. We did meet one Detective Jenny but honestly, she was jumping to so many conclusions my head was spinning by the end of it." Ash states as though just thinking about it is making him feel dizzy, Pikachu also looks a little dizzy but shakes it off with a subject change.

"I don't really know how it works, but I do know if things are really bad the gym leaders get called in, and if they're really, really bad then the elite four or the region's champion gets involved." Ash paused to try and think about how exactly law enforcement worked back home. When did the Rangers and the G-men get involved? He must be missing some steps.

"Anyway, I think he was more concerned that you seemed to be losing your temper than anything else." He supplies helpfully. "And hey, if you two had never met before, how was he supposed to know all you've done to keep everyone fed?"

Yeah, Tommy still thinks that is suspicious.

"Maybe people in your world are just nice. And it's not all ACAB all the time."

No he isn't explaining ACAB.

"Back home with things go wrong it's people like me that deal with it. We're superheroes. We protect people. And I hadn't even begun to lose my temper until he got high and mighty."

As for the food thing, he rolls his eyes.

"Not my fault he decided to declare himself the law and not learn about people."

He MIGHT have asked about what ACAB was but he is a ten year old boy and Tommy just so happened to tell him something he finds really exciting.

"Whoa! Really? A Super Hero? That's so amazing!"

"Pikachu!?" Ash's and Pikachu's eyes seem to sparkle with excitement at that admission.

"Pikachu and I have met a couple of super heroes before but they didn't actually have powers since humans just don't have them where I'm from. Well, except for the Aura Adept, I guess but there's only one Aura Guardian Left and he's off on a journey somewhere." Ash is, of course, neglecting to mention that he is Aura Adept, but since he's not a Guardian and never will be, he's not technically lying when he says there's only one left.

However, Pikachu does give his trainer a quick glance and rubs against his cheek as a means of comfort.

Woah, that was not what he was expecting and he likes it. Tommy smiles at seeing it. Not that he gets what an Aura Adept is. Sounds like a mage.

"Yeah. I had a team and everything. I go by Speed. Even got my uniform here and everything. My brother Billy and me, we were on a team together. That's also why I know you can trust Tony. He's a super hero too, has been for a really long time. He's called Iron Man. He's pretty cool, for an old guy."

Ash isn't the best one to explain Aura anyway, he knows it's the life force everyone has and he knows exactly what happens when you channel too much of it at once. It's not something he really likes to think about.

"That's so cool!" He's still excited to hear all about Tommy's super hero life and team. "But wait, I thought super heroes didn't like for other people to know their real identity."

That's fair. It's not like Tommy would get it either. It's fine not to have answers.

"Dude, you see my hair, right? It's rare. Rare enough that everyone would figure out who I am."

"Is it? It doesn't look that rare to me." Ash frowns and then looks at Pikachu who offers a small shrug of its shoulder.

"Pika." He voices.

"Although, I guess I never really thought about it. Hair's just not something I think about much." Clearly from the mess of untidiness tucked under his cap.

"Maybe not in your world. But at my age, looking like I do? I'd stick out."

So he doesn't even care to hide it much. That said, he runs his fingers through his hair. He's losing patience.

"Listen, you going to be okay? Because I need to be getting back to work."

"Huh?" Ash gives him a look. "Yeah, I'm great." After all, Ash isn't the one that was upset by everything that happened. Confused, but not upset.

"I don't mean to keep you. But it was nice meeting you.. despite how things turned out." He offers. "Guess we'll see ya later."

"PiKachu." Pikachu says, giving him a small wave as if to say 'goodbye.'

Tommy nods and then he's just gone. That's just how speedsters roll.

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[Open] Where There's Smoke There's Tommy

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