revivalproject | [Open] We're Going Down Down In An Earlier Round

WHO: Tommy Shepherd and You?
WHERE: Temba, The Warrens
WHAT: August Volcano Event Catch-All
WHEN: August In General
WARNINGS: Panic Attack in second starter

I. Heroics Of Course | August 10th, Temba

There are just some types of people made for emergency situations. One of those, likely to the shock of very few, happens to be one Tommy Shepherd AKA Speed. Who was absolutely putting on a full showing of why he had been given that name by a good friend back home. From the moment the first warning comes in from Jon, Tommy's a rush of activity. It's not hard to spot him in the city, given he's a blur of green and silver racing everywhere.

Usually when he shows up he's even got something in his mouth that he's chewing on, or something in hand about to go into his mouth. There are a lot of calories that are going to be burned during this period of time, getting all of their stuff ready to go.

But now they're down to merely hours rather than days, and that's got Tommy on extra edge. No matter who it is, he stops by every single person he passes in the streets.

"You going to be okay to get down on your own?" he asks as he appears at their elbow. "Anything I can do to help?"

II. Walls Closing In | August 10th, Path to Warrens, CW: Panic Attack

Truth of the matter is that Tommy's one of the last through the door the little Mushbros open for them. Coming down into the mines, over and over, to help move things or make sure people arrived safely had been trouble for him each time. And now... Now he looks at the door and the darkness and shivers.

"You can do this, Tommy," he mumbles to himself. What other choice does he have? He takes a deep breath, hikes up one pack on his back, grabs bags under each of his arms filled with all the preserved food he could squeeze into them, and starts into the darkness. And he's fine, at first.

But by almost a half an hour in he's clearly shaking and shivering as he moves with uncharacteristic slowness down the steps. And by the time they get to their break point and the little Mushbros are happily taking things from another bag Tommy had brought of what fresh produce he could grab to spread out to people, he has to sit. Sit right down on the floor, knees pulled up to his chest, head pressed against them. He isn't eating. He should eat. He's blown so much of his body's reserves and he's shaking and he cannot breathe.

Fuck. Fuck.

III. Episodes of Manic | Rest of August

All confinement and no distraction make Tommy Shepherd... Well, go crazy was not exactly the proper term for it? Because, like, he was distinctly not crazy. Probably the sanest Maximoff alive. Probably. He'll ask Luna some day (he will in fact not ask his empathic cousin some day are you mad?). But damn, he'd barely been out from under the ground for a month when things went wrong and now here he was.

And at least in Calibrations there had been something to do. Showers to take. Game boxes to rifle through. Dressers to break (or watch really fit dudes break for him). And most importantly, a distinct lack of his powers. Which, strangely enough, was a benefit when he was trapped underground. Because at least he could experience it all at normal human speeds and not have a seemingly infinite amount of time to think about it. And you never had to question whether you'd get a full night of sleep.

So yes, he's desperately in need of a distraction. Which would be well and good if he knew how to find a purpose while trapped down here with the Engineers and the Funfronds doing all the work or something.

So yeah, all confinement and no distraction make Tommy Shepherd very annoying. Like, distilled down to his most annoying qualities. Which include curiosity, a need to be around people, and something like ADHD to deal with. So he might apologize later to whoever it is that he's currently following like a curious puppy, with his hands in his pockets, a dried piece of jerky hanging out of the corner of his mouth.

"Whatcha doing?" he asks, tapping them on the shoulder. "Is it interesting? You need help? Need me to find someone to help you?"

IV. Episodes of Depressive | Rest of August

All confinement and insufficient food makes Tommy Shepherd... Something something. Not a good something something either. At least at the moment he isn't following people around aimlessly. Probably because it's closer to a mealtime now, and so he's sitting just around the corner from the large open space the Funfronds had brought them to.

He sits on the floor, carefully placed so he's not blocking any of the Funfrond constructions or burrows or whatever, fingers tapping on his knee in a deliberately slow rhythm matching the slow swing of a pendulum set in front of him near the other wall. Focusing on the moment, clearly. And maybe his body is shaking a little bit.

His stomach? It's definitely growling. There was a reason he wasn't helping out with the cooking right now after all. He couldn't trust himself the raw ingredients, or to serve out fair proportions, not when there were other people who needed to eat and he couldn't create more food.

When he hears someone approaching, though, he does look up from his seeming attempts at self-hypnotism. Though he might flinch a bit before he does.

"Sorry, I can get out of your way," he mumbles, something... fragile about his words. Nervous even. From Tommy?

Weird shit.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah, that was the problem wasn't it? Tommy's usual methods of fixing things were useless here too. Which was eating at him almost as much as the hunger was.

"I will," Tommy promises. And then Sonic's closer to him. Tommy sighs.

Stupid quills. Meant Tommy couldn't lean against the guy. He didn't need space. Tommy would always claim to need space but it was never true of him. Not a single damn time.

He makes a mumbly noise and nods in affirmation, mimicking Tommy's posture and hugging his knees to his chest. His brain's still running at a mile a minute trying to come up with some kind of game plan. It's not going well, but the awkward silence that sets in is pretty impressive.

Or maybe it's not awkward and they're just vibing, that's possible too. And honestly, as long as Tommy doesn't approach the hedgehog from behind, the quills won't really be a problem. get your lean on, bro, everybody wins.

"You know you don't have to stick around just because I'm mopey, right?" Tommy asks, voice soft. But he does love the company.

"What else am I gonna do, find a real fun wall to stare at? We can hang out and be mopey together, that's way more exciting."

Certainly more so than staring at a wall, at least.

"Being mopey is never exciting," he says, but he is chuckling a little. "Thanks man."

"Still better than the wall."

Kind of. Not really. Either way, Sonic reaches over and playfully thumps Tommy on the arm with a fist. True bros mope together!!

Yeah, there's that. It is better than a wall. Tommy laughs bitterly and stretches his legs out.

"I'd rather the walls than a room. How weird is that?"

But he smiles at Sonic because what else was he going to do? The guy gets it, a little.

"Who would have thought the person here that might get me best would be a bipedal blue hedgehog?"

"That's not even a little bit weird."

Rooms are stifling, walls are just kinda there.

He can't help but chuckle a bit. It still feels weird that so many people see him as a strange thing that doesn't exist where they're from, but he's kind of used to it at this point.

" From my point of view, that's not such a wild concept, y'know?"

Rooms are really stifling, halls can lead to other places.

"It sorta is for me? Like, we meet a lot of aliens back home, but none like you. So it's... strange in its own way."

[Open] We're Going Down Down In An Earlier Round

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