Storms Make Cowards Of It All

[doubled_speed]

WHO: Tommy Shepherd, You
WHERE: Diner, Around Temba
WHAT: Storm related panic attack, Heroics both good and failing
WHEN: October 10th-12th for first prompt, October 13th otherwise
WARNINGS: TW: panic attacks, blood, mouth related body horror, 'animal' attacks

I. Cowardly Behaviors | CW: Panic attack

Storms are the worst. Storms mess with Tommy's head like nothing else does. His powers are who he is, and the amount of times they've been taken away lately have been pretty upsetting. Which of course is why Tommy does the only thing he knows how to do. He hides. Hides in a corner of his new apartment over the diner, hiding under a blanket and shaking.

He's powerless and that scares him. Always scares him. Keeps getting him injured. Keeps reminding him he's worthless without what he can do. So he hides and tries to breathe because his whole body seems like it wants to shake out of his skin. And that's just how it goes.

This is just how his sanity goes.

II. Being A Hero | CW: 'animal attacks', possible explosions, possible blood

Power surges into his system and Tommy does the first thing he can think of. He takes off into the city, running at full speed.

Simple fact of the matter is that he wants to be a hero. More than that, you can do a hell of a lot of damage with speed. Force equals mass times acceleration. A lot of force happens when even someone wiry and slight like Tommy was bowls into something with an outstretched fist at sixty miles an hour. He's heard at mach three you basically turn a person into paste.

Really, the demodog deserves it, and Tommy has no issue at all booting it away from it's intended victim like he's a fucking... Whatever the name for the dude in football who kicks the ball when they kick it is called. Don't ask him. He doesn't watch sports.

"Well, that was fun," he says as he watches the creature go sailing limply through the air. No way it would get up wherever it landed. Then he looks to the person he rescued. "You okay? See or hear any others around?"

Because there always seemed to be others around.

III. When The Hero Needs Saved

What Tommy wasn't expecting once the powers came back in was for them to suddenly fail him again. Especially not when he had been hunting something. Something taller than him. Something with a big, screaming, flower-petal face.

"Shit," he curses as he feels it all flee him again. And he tries to back away.

"Shit," he says again as he throws himself at a tree, trying to haul himself up into it.

IV. Wildcard
[OOC: Tommy's heading into the Upside-Down on the 14th through the Fountain Gate. And he's a hero that specializes in emergency rescues. So if someone needs a rescue during the Mindflayer fights. If someone needs to be rescued and taken out for a doctor, we can wildcard Tommy showing up to rescue.]

Comments

[doubled_speed]

Okay, no, that's a hilarious comment to make and so yes, Tommy has to laugh.

"Dude, my dad is actually a machine, so maybe I'm not so human as I seem."

[fatedsacrifice]

Noctis took in the information after Tommy started laughing.

"Really?" This was interesting news.

[doubled_speed]

"Yeah, sort of," Tommy says. "Synthezoid specifically. But it's basically the same in a really general sense."

[fatedsacrifice]

That had him confused. "So it's a human like machine..robot?"

A pause. "Were you guys close?"

[doubled_speed]

"Yeah, that's exactly what it's like."

Close, though, is a complicated question.

"Not really. I was probably the kid my parents cared least about, both times."

[fatedsacrifice]

The king nodded. This was new information, even if it wasn't happy.

"Both times? What do you mean by that?"

He's clearly confused.

[doubled_speed]

Dammit. He shouldn't have said it.

"I am not drunk enough for that, man. I'm fucked up. My whole life is really fucked up."

[fatedsacrifice]

Noctis shook his head. "Another time then, no worries."

But he had at least temporarily gotten Tommy's mind off of their current problem.

[doubled_speed]

It really had worked. And Tommy was thankful for that.

"Shouldn't you go looking for your big guy?"

[fatedsacrifice]

Noct nodded. "If that's your way of telling me you're gonna be alright I'll go."

[doubled_speed]

"I'll try," Tommy promises. "I swear, I'm not always so pathetic."

Noctis is just good at finding him when he's vulnerable these days.