revivalproject | [Open] These Broken Pieces Of Life

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[Open] These Broken Pieces Of Life

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Hah. Hardly," Steve says honestly. "But I appreciate it. Just a guy with a bat."

He walks the area, looking at the plants approvingly. They look pretty alright from what he can tell. He recognizes some of them, now. It's weird to have that sort of knowledge without actually doing anything to learn it.

"It's nice to know we'll always have a source of food then, right? Something that's not just peanut butter."

Just a guy with a really good bat if it's about to be measured up.

"You know, it's not uncommon for that to be a thing. One of my best friends is a woman who is just really good with a bow and arrow. Not kidding. Best in the world. Or one of the two best. So you could be a hero."

The mention of peanut butter makes Tommy cringe. He used to love the stuff as a kid and he's so far past them now that it makes him sigh.

"Listen, between you and me, I act like it isn't all that bad. But I'm so fucking tired of peanut butter."

"A bow and arrow is badass, man. My other friend, Nance, she's an amazing shot. I guess when you can't do anything super special, you pick up things that help you make up the difference." Not like a bat was any comparison for magic or super speed. But whatever.

Talking about the peanut butter, Steve groans.

"You've been here awhile, right? How the fuck do you deal with all of it? I haven't even been a year and I am ready to gag whenever I taste it!"

"Some people's super power is just being the best at what they do," Tommy shrugged. And that isn't at all bad. In fact, Tommy respects those sorts so damn much.

"So many years man, yeah. As for peanut butter, it didn't really get tired until we were living on the Agrii ship for about a month. I don't know how they stand it either."

"Do we know if they have tastebuds at all? Like, how much do we really know about them other than the whole eye and fang stuff?"

He's wondered about the stuff he missed over the years. The things others know about their captors and this whole world. There had to be a reason that Tommy's been here for years and Max was only here for a few months. Maybe it was something that could be replicated for people who didn't want to leave.

"That's... a really good point?" Tommy says, shocked to think about it. Culd the Agrii just taste things differently, if at all? Man, wouldn't that suck? Food but no taste?

"I mean, they give great hugs."

Steve preens at the idea that he came up with something smart. But the idea of Tommy knowing about how Agrii hug pushes the self-satisfaction far away.

"Wait, you got hugged by one? Holy shit. What are they like in person? Other than I guess huggers?"

"Tall," Tommy says. "Four arms. Their skin is moist as fuck. And they hug so well. Well, Ga Re does. They follow you around like you're a rock star or something too. Lots of mimicking going on."

IT had been rather interesting.

"Ew...moist..."

Steve frowns, trying to visualize the creature as Tommy described it. The image he gets is bizarre but oddly endearing.

"And they're nice to us? Hugs and stuff? Nothing else?"

"Yeah, they were pretty nice and supportive," Tommy says. "It was like being a celebrity I guess. But mostly, they just seemed to need us."

Except for the ones that didn't, but even they seemed interested.

Steve nods, getting that in an abstract way. "That's why they kidnapped us, right? Because they need us to fix all this shit?" He looks around and snorts a laugh.

"Would be easier without the volcano. Any chance we can put a cork inside it?"

"Bingo. Apparently before us there was this reality tv show called The Drift Fleet. The Atroma, who some of us think are behind the bad things that happen, were responsible for it. And they apparently just messed with worlds to create drama? That's what I heard from Vision, but you could probably ask Keith or Lance for more accurate information. They were actually there. Second hand information is less helpful."

And as he says this he's already working on the plants around him, content to care for them as he talks. His hands move with ease, like he's done this a million times before and it's half instinct and half muscle memory at this point.

"But the Agrii not only watched the show as it was beamed out, they were from here and were saved by the Fleet. We're less sure that was a real rescue now, and this planet seems really poorly suited to them? Might be a colony. Don't know. But they've been without people for so long, without a city and a land and a lot of their own culture. So they need our help not only because they can't repair things, but because they don't know how."

The cork thing earns a chuckle though. That's not how it works.

"That's probably bad to do."

Steve blinks, confused by what he's just heard but also not. It matches up with what he learned from the introduction sphere. If anything, the added information seems to make more sense. The Atroma sounds weirdly like the creepy shit from the Upside Down. A Vecna like creature pulling strings and putting things into motion. It sets his hackles up almost immediately.

"Keith and Lance? They were on the show and then were brought here? They haven't been home in...a really long time then, huh? I knew some people were here for years but that seems like it's way more than that..."

"Keith and Lance, and maybe Winter Soldier, but he's hard to find. If you see a guy with a metal arm, him."

But yeah, it's been so long for them.

"They got married here, actually. Sorta here. On another world we visited. But they've been away from home for a while, yeah."

Married. Lance and Keith were married. Steve nods, pauses, and then opens his mouth like he's gonna say something. He stops, considers a moment longer, and then finally seems to come to the conclusion he has to ask:

"So like. Are people gay before they come here? Or is it like...the vibe around here? I mean, I know Eddie was gay before and I thought Tom Cruise was hot so I had some sort of...thing going on. But like. It seems like a lot. I feel like Hargrove is the only just straight dude I even know of around here."

Seriously? Tommy stares at Steve and the bursts out laughing. Like, wow man, way to be rude there.

"In your defense, Tom Cruise was hot before Scientology. But then he definitely got caught up in rich people cult, so you know, less hot. But seriously, dude, I was bi before showing up here. Tony Stark? Famously so. My twin? Gay since he could walk. This place doesn't make people like that. You can't make someone gay or bi or ace or anything else. It's who we are. We're born this way."

And he has no shame in that. Why should he? There's nothing wrong with them and how they feel.

"You've got to consider the advantages to it, though, if the Atroma even begin to get what all queerness means. No babies. Well, except the two times, and those were a headache to deal with, but the women were also already pregnant before coming here. Can you imagine it? Bringing a baby around into this?"

"What is Scientology? He became a scientist? But what about acting?"

Steve shakes the idea off and goes to the other one instead. Born that way? Steve had heard it was a lifestyle choice but...he didn't really feel like he chose anything to fall in love with Eddie or Nancy. It just sort of happened. So maybe Tommy was onto something with that. And the idea of it keeping out babies? Yeah, that also had to help.

"Wait, there were two pregnant women here? Seriously? That's insane! Why would they scoop up those people?"

"No. A cult that poses as a religion that says an alien sneezed and that corrupted human souls or some shit. But it's okay, you can fix it with donations to the cult."

That's literally as much as he knows about them. Creepy shit.

"Sansa. She came here from the Drift Fleet pregnant. I think my brother got used as a babysitter some, I don't know. And then there was Leia, who was some the Jedi universe. She had twins. Oh, wait, there was Din's little green kid. But I think I heard someone say he was in his fifties, his species just develops slow."

So yeah, lots of fucking kids, and that was never a good thing.

"ANd then there was the lion cub that could talk... You know, we had some really strange people here."

So yeah, he doesn't have answers.

Steve blinks. And then just nods, accepting it. Maybe this is just something from Billy's universe; no one where he's from could be that stupid. Tom Cruise? No way.

"Wait. A lion cub that could talk? A green kid who is fifty? Jesus Christ, this place just grabs from all over. I already saw the walking blue porcupine thing and the buffed out fucking turtle." Steve pauses and considers. "Do you think we're weird to them? Like...walking, naked monkeys?"

Oh Steve. Oh precious, precious Steve. Sweet summer child.

"Oh, that's Sonic and Donatello," Tommy says brightly. "They're super cool. And yeah, it's weird to Sonic. Not to Donatello. He's from New York."

Steve nods. "Yeah, okay. I can see New York having shit like that. I've heard stories."

And the Italian name? Yeah this all checks out.

"It's kinda cool though, you know? That everyone has such weird and different worlds. My friend back home would lose his shit about it."

Yeah, stories. Tommy snorts in amusement. That sounds about right.

"I suppose it's pretty good to see the differences. So many different Earths for one thing."

"Yeah like this one dude has an Earth with a clown alien or whatever. You have one with superpowers. I mean...I guess I do too, sort of. But like. Yeah, man. It's kinda cool."

Steve brushes his hands off and looks around the area, thinking.

"So... I'm not gonna lie, I totally got this brain-ball thing for plants so I could see if one of these would make good shampoo," he admits with an unapologetic smile. "Your hair is pretty good. Got any secrets? Or have ideas about what to try?"

Sorta does as well? Intriguing. Not that Tommy knows much about what's up in their world.

"I'll admit I haven't bothered looking into shampoos for it. I just ask my brother for stuff for it, since it's a small ask. See, my brain isn't quite the same, and it glitches with these things? Like, I understand the plants, and sometimes what they do. I know what's edible and not, I know how to preserve them. Not as good with the medical or other uses, or how to cook them."

Steve looks at them and, yeah. He knows how to take care of them and all, now. But the rest? He has an idea but not necessarily the firm knowledge. "I guess we can mess around with them and find out. Do any smell like, flowery? Or nice? Or any of them sort of like an aloe? That would be a good base for it..."

[Open] These Broken Pieces Of Life

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