[Open] These Broken Pieces Of Life

[doubled_speed]

WHO: Tommy Shepherd, Open
WHERE: Young Avengers HQ, The Diner, The Greenhouse, The Beach Cave Hot Springs
WHAT: Returning to Temba, Broken Down Home, Farming, Failing To Hide Emotional Pain.
WHEN: August 1st through 15th
WARNINGS: N/A

I. Another Ruined Home | Young Avengers HQ

Freedom. Sunlight. A sandwich made of greens and beautiful vegetables from the greenhouse. A meal that was doing nothing to make what was before him any better. Home, for the last several years... Broken.

"Fucking hell," he grumbled around his mouthful of baconroom wrap. "Because when it fucking rains..."

It fucking poured. The roof was busted open, the door fallen off, and he could already see through the opening that their shared living room space was fucked. And now Tommy had no choice but to hope that things would be fixable. That he could bring out the things that mattered until such time he could have his home and his life back.

"Fat chance that, with my luck."

II. Moving In Day | The Diner

It's only temporary, Tommy tells himself as he pushes into the Diner and puts the heavy box in his arms on the table. He's so tired after all of the work of cleaning the HQ out. Fuck, he just hadn't wanted to deal with that today.

"Tea," he decides, moving to the counter to fish out the kettle so he could fill it with water. Once he's got the thing full and his hand near it to start heating it, he looks to the door in the corner that he never really used. One of the two sets of stairs that led up into the apartment that was once Eli's. A space that hadn't been used in years.

"Home sweet home I guess. But damn, how am I supposed to get a new bed up the stairs? They're narrow!"

III. Whistle While You Work | The Greenhouse

Stressed? Frustrated by the turn of events? Need to feel accomplished in life? Have you ever considered Farming(tm)?!

Tommy groans at the voice running stupid infomercials in his head as he enters the greenhouse, grabs a basket with pruning sheers and gloves from the door, and looks around. The green, the smell of plants, the familiarity of this place... It's strangely soothing to Tommy. Like coming home. Perhaps it was, given no one had put as many years of care and attention into this place as he had.

And this? This was the place he remembers. Tommy immediately moves to the first area where he should have been harvesting already and sets into it. And he pauses only when he hears motion.

"Someone there?" he calls out, looking around. Strange. Not many people came here like he did.

IV. The Calm Is A Lie | Beach Caves Hot Spring

He didn't come here often. There was always the risk he'd turn the wrong way and end up in the crystal rich parts of the minds. Super charging his powers right now was not something Tommy was particularly keen on. It would only make all of this decidedly worse.

Caution was the watch word as he moved through the caves, hand on a wall, until he could hear the water and feel the heat. The springs. A place to soak sore muscles, and he'd been sore as hell since they'd headed underground. No amount of sauna could have helped with it. Now Tommy didn't hesitate for even a second to strip out of his clothes and slip into the almost too hot water.

"Fuck," he mumbled once he was settled into it. It felt so good. So freeing. So nice.

"Fuck," he repeated as he felt a sting in his eyes. It's just from the heat of the water. It's from how hot it is, turning his skin a little pinker. That's it. He's not crying. He's not crying.

Comments

[thepurpleone]

BUT 80s POP.

Donnie grimaces. "That's what's exactly wrong, the whole messing with our minds. Could do without it happening physically when there's already enough around making us question things in general."

He hates that even the facts he's thought he'd established might not exactly be well-grounded, the conversation he'd had with Tony in the Warrens still sitting heavily on his shoulders. The turtle pushes it away from his forethoughts with a snort.

"Physics are common, this whole brain-slash-information syphon thing is not."

[doubled_speed]

Yes. But 80s Pop.

"It is pretty common if you're from a world with telepaths," Tommy says with a shrug. "Like, there are different things that are common in different places. This is just what's common here. Probably."

[thepurpleone]

"...I'm glad I am in fact not from a world of telepaths in that case," Donnie notes dryly. He's already figuring his version of Earth is weirdly normal in comparison to Tommy's, and that's even from the perspective of a mutant turtle.

[doubled_speed]

"You really should be. It's shitty. My only advantage is that apparently my brain is awkward for them?" Tommy says with a shrug.

[thepurpleone]

The turtle quirks a brow at that. "Yeah? How so?"

[doubled_speed]

"It's the speed. Because of my abilities, I think at a different speed than most people. And sure, telepaths thing faster than most people too, but I apparently do it in a way that can hurt the head?"

It makes them hard to find, hard to connect to without really intense focus. Which in turn limits the amount of things that telepaths can otherwise achieve.

[thepurpleone]

"Ohhh that does...make sense, actually," Donnie muses, stroking his chin. "It's easy assuming it's just a physical matter, but if it's just speed in general, then of course it would include everything. You'd need the ability to process movements that fast, let alone have your brain relaying everything to keep up with the rest of you."

[doubled_speed]

"Bingo," he says with a smile and a not. it's nice when someone gets it. That you need to think really fast to make sure you don't crash.

"Basically time is a whole relative thing for me, depending on how fast my brain is going."

[thepurpleone]

"Huh." The turtle arches a brow. "So it's not working overtime twenty-four, seven? Just on a need-to-speed basis?" It's fascinating to think about, really. There's so many things going on on the other side of having super powers.

[doubled_speed]

"I mean, if I don't pay attention I can slip into faster speeds," Tommy says with a shrug. "It's hard. It's like... Fuck. The best metaphor a guy I used to date had for it was like ADHD but worse."

There are plenty of super powers that just don't fit in with the construction of society that most people interface with.

[thepurpleone]

"Oh. That's..." Donnie chews on his lower lip. "Yikes." He knows how hard it is to pay attention on a regular basis sometimes, so having to consistently be doing so? Gross.

[doubled_speed]

Bingo.

"I do my best to balance it out. It's just something you have to learn to navigate."

[thepurpleone]

Donnie arches a brow at him. "Well, in your case there's not much choice there," he notes dryly.

He looks back at his notes, doing some quick math before jotting down a day before noting his plant observations. "You ever just...let yourself go all out? See how fast you can really go?" he asks as he tucks his things away to get some water for the plants since he's there.

[doubled_speed]

No, there isn't much of a choice. Literally zero choice. Though he laughs at the question.

"Yeah man, but it's been a few years. But doing it without a sonic boom can be hard so it's better not to mess with it in a place like this."

[thepurpleone]

"Hah! Well at least you're considerate about stuff like that. Try convincing the hedgehog to do the same," Donnie laughs.

At least Sonic hadn't done anything within the city itself, but he does remember their cave trip when he suggested the hedgehog run off the crystal energy build-up.

[doubled_speed]

"I'm not convincing Sonic of anything. I want to race him. I want to have our exciting races," he says with a smile. "It's fun man."

Though Tommy v Sonic on crystal energy could be a mistake.

[thepurpleone]

Not that Donnie had meant it seriously. He'd simply wanted to make a point.

"Sounds exciting but I think only for the participants. An audience would get bored real quick for lack of being able to see anything happen or finding out that the race was over before they even knew it had started," he considers as he waters his plants. Sure, he could let the thing handle it automatically whenever it was timed for, but he enjoys the simple care tasks when it comes to plants. Maybe once he figures out a place to set up shop, he'll have proper space for an actual garden and nursery.

[doubled_speed]

"Yeah, but we're not racing for other people," Tommy points out. Just for themselves. That's the joy of it.

Still, he nods approvingly at what Donnie's doing. The automated sprinkler system doesn't always give the plants exactly what they want.

"You like plants?"

[thepurpleone]

"I've always loved plants. I may be a tech guy, but botany's still one of my favorite subjects," Donnie says. He stoops down to tug a bit of shriveled stems off from one plant, resuming his watering.

[doubled_speed]

Huh, that's cool. It's nice that he's not the only person that was into other things that are totally agriculture people.

"I sorta fell into enjoying this. Like, helping things grow."{

[thepurpleone]

"Growing is only part of it. You can learn a lot from plants if you study them enough. I'm sure my darlings here would have still managed without me. Maybe not as well against a volcano, but even in the aftermath, things can thrive. They'd just need time."

Donnie finishes up, setting his hands on his hips as he looks over the plot again. Doing some gardenwork is always satisfying. "Although speaking of volcanoes, we can probably make good use of the soil that's been exposed to all the lava and ash."

[doubled_speed]

"Learn from them?" Tommy asks, confused. He doesn't really learn a lot from them actually. That's probably his own fault.

"Why would we do that? Wouldn't it just be all rock and dust?"

[thepurpleone]

Donnie gives Tommy a look then, managing at least not to sigh although his expression might suggest he'd love to.

"They're a visual barometer for the environment. Not counting any abnormal effects of storms, you can otherwise tell a healthy environment from the state of its plant life. An extreme example of this is when there are droughts and everything's all shriveled up. If plants aren't doing that great, then chances are, we won't do any better."

If he had a chalkboard or some kind of pull-down charts, one can just imagine him using them right about now. For lack of either, he still takes up the posture of someone ready to do more explaining, resting a hand behind his shell as he gesticulates with the other.

"Ah, volcanic activity can result in an abundance of nutrients for the minerals it leaves in its wake. Soil that has had apt exposure is rich in everything plants need to grow. In certain volcanic regions on Earth, they make extensive use of such resources for farming."

[doubled_speed]

"So we... should bury the volcanic rocks and that will make the plants better?"

He's not really getting the time scale on this, Donnie. Help him out here. He didn't study botany or geology back home. Or much of anything.

[thepurpleone]

"....."

Donnie stares at the speedster long and hard. This is just like trying to explain things to his brothers. It'd be nostalgic if it wasn't just plain annoying.

"No, we're not burying rocks. The dirt- you just. Look, just use it like fertilizer."