Billy Hargrove (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
playingtough) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
revivalproject2024-01-13 12:54 pm
playingtough) wrote in revivalproject2024-01-13 12:54 pm
Come Sail Away - Styx
WHO: Billy Hargrove, Tommy Shepherd, & everyone else!
WHERE: Agrii Village
WHAT: to the New Tick! AND BEYOND!
WHEN: Jan 10th - Jan 17th
WARNINGS: Silent Lucidity by Queensrÿche Section contains spoilers! Any other spoilers will be marked, along with content warnings ♥︎
"I thought that they were angels
But to my surprise
We climbed aboard their starship"
WHERE: Agrii Village
WHAT: to the New Tick! AND BEYOND!
WHEN: Jan 10th - Jan 17th
WARNINGS: Silent Lucidity by Queensrÿche Section contains spoilers! Any other spoilers will be marked, along with content warnings ♥︎
"I thought that they were angels
But to my surprise
We climbed aboard their starship"
Thriller - Michael Jackson
"You try to scream
But terror takes the sound before you make it"
January 9thIt’s pretty known amongst the Hawkins crew and some others in the city, that Billy Hargrove is pretty awful at keeping up with comms from the phone thing that rarely leaves his pocket. He’s maybe communicated on it…twice? Maybe. That’s not the strange part.
And being lured back onto the ship, flying up through a portal and all of that, that’s not the strange part either.
Getting down to the snowy planet with these multi-armed aliens is the strange part. And after his dealings with the Upside Down back home, Hargrove isn’t sure he wants anything to do with them. Were they friendly? Was it a trap? Mostly the blond tries to keep others between himself and the Agrii as they head into the village.
Major trust issues.
He glides this way and that around people before finally ducking into one of the cabins. On his person, there’s not a lot. The Walkman for certain, with a couple of extra tapes shoved into his pocket to change it up.
[Hargrove can be approached coming out of Peanut Party, dodging around your character, or going into the cabin!]
Surfin’ U.S.A. - The Beach Boys
"A bushy bushy blonde hairdo
Surfin’ U.S.A."
January 10th, PresentsWell, Billy doesn’t like it here. It’s too cold. He hates it. He keeps the cabin very warm, when he’s in it, needing a safe spot from the cold and the memories that threaten him in it. But when the Agrii open the mysterious… barn?
Either way, it feels warm, so he goes in. He’s surprised by the sight of presents. Sure, he’s gotten gifts before from his family, but he’s not expecting anything great. Practical, maybe. That’s what Neil would get him. It’s when he comes across not one but two for him, wrapped and set to the side. One is huge and immediately Billy knows what it is. So he goes for it, pulling down the long, thin package to unwrap the paper from it.
It’s a surfboard and those pretty blue eyes light up at the sight of it. He had been in Hawkins for a year or two and figured he’d never go surfing again because of… well, things. Things that happen. But now he had a brand new one, with what felt like a fresh coat of wax on her. She was ready for the waves and suddenly Billy wanted to hop on the shuttle and go back to Temba, everyone else be damned, to take her on the water. But he doesn’t. Because Billy Hargrove knows it’s too cold for surfing there right now.
So he sets the board aside and goes for the other gift. It feels heavier, but it’s a familiar weight. When it’s unwrapped, Billy says nothing. He stares. Stares at the blue vase in his hands filled with sand and shells. The memories flood back like an incoming tide as he holds it. Doesn’t even realize he’s tearing up silently as he looks at it. The memories of the woman on the beach with him, collecting the shells and ocean’s stars from where they washed up on the sand.
One tear manages to get past his defenses to streak down his cheek.
Silent Lucidity - Queensrÿche [Stranger Things S3 spoilers]
"You're lying safe in bed
It was all a bad dream spinning"
January 10th, Fireworks
CW: PTSD, possible violent reactions to other characters, descriptions of past incident, self-harm in the form of scratchingHe’s just left the… not-quite-a-gingerbread house when they start. Bursts and flashes of color in the sky above, raining down colorful sparks in the air. People usually see something beautiful and fleeting during events like this, and enjoy it, but Billy isn’t.
The first burst of light above gets him to stop dead in his tracks. He looks up, eyes wide but instead of being filled with awe and joy, it's terror. He can see the sparks turn into neon in his vsion, lengthening until they look like the neon signs of the mall. Billy's entire body is shaking as a vision of the creature from the mall looms up and blacks out the neons, the sparks, and everything until it's just that thing.
The thing he was controlled by until he was saved and defied it.
The shaking intensifies before it's hitting him and he screams. Doubles over, arms going around his body to hold where he knows he's bleeding. One hand scratches hard at his arm. Billy doesn't want to be possessed again, can't let it happen again, he has to keep living here—
The blond screams again, pained but... defiant, too. Doesn't realize that none of what he's seeing is happening, that he's just curled up in the snow trying to keep from dying to a creature that's not actually there...
Live And Let Die - Wings
"When you were young and your heart
Was an open book"
January 12th - 13th, White chocolateHe figured having a little bit of chocolate before going to sleep would be a treat. After the ups and downs of this whole ordeal, it was a wonder Billy was functioning at all at the moment. So a bit of white chocolate and the guy tucked himself in for a night burrowed under blankets.
That's not who emerges out of the cabin the next morning.
The clothes are big on him, this scrawny kid that hasn't hit being a teenager yet. The wind tosses his dirty blond curls as he walks around in too big clothes (he had found shoes that sort of fit at least).
"...Mom?" This wasn't San Diego. They didn't get snow in southern California, not like this. And he's never been in a cabin before. He can't even smell the ocean here. "Mom, where are you?!"
Never calling for his dad. Always calling for his mom because there was a little part of him still beating in his heart for her.
But whirling around in this strange place, he starts to jog, trying to find her. "MOOOOOM!!" he calls, feeling very alone and very small, like he did at home.
The Kids Aren’t Alright - The Offspring
"The kids are grown up, but their lives are worn
How can one little street swallow so many lives?"
January 10th, Closed to TommyStars aren't anything new to Billy. They were all over in Temba, and Billy had snuck off more times than he had fingers and toes to go to the beach to look at them there. But now out here, there were so many. Like a pinch of a universe displayed before them. He pulls his sweater closer and straightens out the blanket he had brought before laying back on it. There were some snacks from the dining hall that Billy had swiped before leaving. The aliens gave him the creeps. Made him think too much about the Upside Down bullshit.
This was... nice. Billy's spot was over by the Glitter Food's shuttle, nearly out of immediate view. Almost like he wanted to be left alone as he stargazed. Something that was just familiar on this planet filled with aliens and people that he tolerated and shit.
Though the snow made him miss California.
no subject
"Sounds like something someone from my world might call you for being my friend of all people." But Billy is glad he was given a chance with room to make mistakes and grow. "Did it get better?" It sounds curious, rather than a tone trying to find the good of a bad situation.
no subject
Did it get better? Tommy works on lining Billy's little pillow fort to be with blankets.
"I guess, after a while. I didn't... handle all of it well. Or right. My brother needed me and I ran because I didn't know how to deal with his grief or my jealousy. Cassie's not dead anymore, so that's good, but that version of Vision is, and Vision as he was and is now isn't... Well, he's not there for me like he probably should be. He cares more about our sister Viv."
Which is a whole other thing and it makes sense, but it still leaves Tommy feeling stranded most of the time.
no subject
How old were they again?
Then he thinks of the fireworks and realizes the age requirement wasn't really a thing anyways. "Well if he doesn't enough about you like a parent should, doesn't that make him a shit parent? And I know you've had others and that makes Vision look good, but being better than the worst doesn't make him good."
no subject
Well fuck.
"I'm sorry, three parents, that's fucked up and weird, I know. And he's not always bad. He's just... He's not what he should be. And I guess I just want recognized. Want acknowledged. Viv doesn't hesitate to call Billy and I her brothers, but fuck if he's ever there for me. My uncle Pietro is more reliable. Hell, Erik is more reliable, and he's off being some big political leader and I don't see him much either."
no subject
"Three parents can exist. I just think of it as stepparent where I'm from." He leans back on his heels to look at the fort. He wonders if it's done now. He's never made one that he can recall, so this was new territory. "Man, no wonder you never mentioned your family before outside of the loosely family-related Frank and Mary. Seems a little messy. Who's Erik? Another uncle? Sister's niece's cousin twice removed on your great-grandmother's side?"
no subject
"I have two parents, Frank and Mary Shepherd. But..."
Okay. Deep breath. Very deep breath.
"Thomas Maximoff has two parents too. Wanda Maximoff and Vision. Erik Lehnsherr is kinda sorta but not Wanda's dad. It's sorta complicated when your birth is sorta fated and you die the first time around. I'm both Billy's twin and not at the same time. But we know we're actually twins. Brothers of soul."
Sorry Billy. Your new friend has baggage.
no subject
He sits down in the entrance of the pillow fort, allowing himself comfort while he processes this whole family tree. Mentally, he’s trying to draw it out, but how does one die and become alive again?
He remembers that Tommy said someone named Cassie did it. Maybe that meant Tommy did too.
He frowns, trying to piece it together to make sense. It doesn’t. Wasn’t there some religion out there that believed in reincarnation or some shit? Did that mean Tommy wasn’t good enough to get to Heaven? Maybe he was thinking too hard about it. "Well. That was a whole thing. I think I get it but I really don’t. It sounds like reincarnation but not really and man. No wonder you never told me before.
no subject
A day when he isn't already keyed up. A day when he is really ready to admit how much he feels like he has to work harder to earn good things because the universe decided he would get the poor, abusive family. How he's older and still second fiddle to Billy. It sucks.
no subject
"So Mr. I-Have-Two-Birthdays, when is yours? So I know what day I can harass you like a good friend? And if you don’t tell me, I’ll go ask Kaplan."
no subject
"Red fruit alcohol not good enough for you? Fine, I'll get something else. Just let me know what you drink."
Though the other question earns a laugh. With all of the complications, that was the best part.
"October 13th," he says, because why not? People know it. It's not weird for people to know it. "What about you?"
no subject
He carefully lays back, cushioned by blankets and pillows. "March 29th. I’ll be nineteen." Maybe he’ll get to see his legal drinking age while he’s here, too. "With your birthday being on October 13th, people better not treat you bad when it falls on a Friday."
no subject
Because if Tommy can't handle him, Billy definitely can't. But beer.
Fuck. He's going to have to replicate that. Though the whole birthday on a cursed day thing makes him laugh.
"Man, it's fine. Trust me. But maybe we'll make sure you have a good birthday this year."
He knows enough about Billy to know he hasn't had a good one lately.
no subject
He grins at Tommy‘s laugh, and drinks in the brightness of his eyes when he does that.
"Any birthday I have now will be good." Billy will make them all good because one of them will be the last. It’s a tough existence, living on an unknown timer like this, but Billy can do it. "Good pillow fort by the way. No fireworks or anything in here."
no subject
"Yeah, well, I'll make sure of it," Tommy says with a grin. "I replicate a mean cake."
He moves to get up and move to stretch out on the bed to look at the guy.
no subject
He turns over on his side before pulling a blanket over his body to keep the chill off. "The best cake, huh? I’ll have to hold that to you, Shepherd. Don’t think I won’t! Do I get to pick a flavor or is it whatever’s available?"
no subject
And it should be good.
no subject
He sounded drowsy, and Billy’s fighting to keep his eyelids open to watch Tommy in the quiet dark.
no subject
Oh well, they'll live with that.
no subject
Yeah, Billy sounds exhausted. But it was a night filled with terrors in fireworks after eating and being out in the cold. Terror will exhaust someone like that he supposes.
no subject
That's what friends are for.
no subject
"Chocolate…ice…cream…" The word 'cake' gets lost as he finally succumbs to sleep, all comfortable and orienteered in the pillow fort thatTommy made for him. For him. No one else.
What a way to make a guy feel special.