revivalproject | Video Broadcast

[Hey guys, look who it is. The bright and cheerful and constantly snarky kid. Who is smiling wide, though it looks a bit strained. Good news, his arm has healed since getting back. Bad news, Tommy looks nervous and maybe a hint of stressed as the video starts. But hey, he's in the greenhouse, which is obvious from the greenery around him. And his communication device is propped up against something, because his hands are in the shot, working at the soil around a lush Cyanana plant, clearly working fertilizer into the soil with care.]

So, like... Just because we've got the ships and stuff doesn't mean it's not important for us to maintain the greenhouse, right? We were gone for a while and not all the places in here did well while we were gone. And then I was walking around and realized that we're sorta scattered, the people working here. So maybe people with the skill should, like, coordinate? Because fresh food on the ships is good too. We can preserve shit and put it on the ships for variation.

I also wanna do, like, hydroponics on some of the ships. So if we gets spaced again for a while, we can have fresh stuff.

Guess...

[He sighs and his hand cards through his hair. Which means some dirt is now there in the perfect white strands.]

Guess I mean I'm willing to help organize. Map out the greenhouse, help us figure out schedules and when to work on different plants and that shit. Or not. Someone else can take that charge. I don't much care. It just needs done. Might also need an engineer to help with the ship part. And maybe people to okay adding it to other ships and to take care of the plants.

Anyway uh...

[Let him be useful. He failed as a hero in the storm. Disappointment and frustration flash across his face in the video and then it's gone.]

Thoughts?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[And if he doesn't want to play the third wheel who can't even ask his own brother for hugs because those belong to Teddy?

Tommy sighs and looks at the ground. Because as much as he hates how badly his brother can hurt him, he also can't say no.]

Yeah. Fine. Scout a place out you two like the look of.

[He can ask for all the hugs he wants. Billy would be happy to know Tommy actually likes them.

Billy offers a small smile, and tries to push away the tear tracks from his face.]

'Kay...We can all look.

[Like Tommy is going to ask for hugs. He's used to the things he wants being denied to him as a punishment. So nope. That's not happening.]

I don't fucking care where I stay. I can sleep on the Twin Roses. Just... you know, find a place you like.

[Billy's still a bit sensitive to Tommy's more abrasive tone, but he nods again, and tries to act like it doesn't bother him when Tommy acts as though he doesn't want or care about any of it.]

...I'll try.

[If he wants it, if he cares, he's going to be ruined. He doesn't want hurt like that.]

You do that. And B... Trying to fix me isn't the best choice. I'm not really fixable. I'm too broken for that.

[That particular phrasing seems to spark some sort of recognition in Billy, brows creasing. He remembers thinking similar thoughts in his darkest moments.]

...you're not broken. And you don't need to be fixed.

[Maybe... Tommy has a lot more dark moments than Billy really understands. He's just learned to live with his depression in the moments between seconds that no one else can see.]

You're so fucking wrong. But like you even get it.

I get it.

[There's a soft instance to his words.]

[How could he? He's had such a GOOD life. And his pain, his mental stuff, is different. Because he went catatonic. Tommy just went... feral survival.]

[It's exactly the sort of reason Billy tries not to talk about it. He doesn't feel as though he has any right, given how much worse the others have had it. He's had a good life. What right does he have to be anything but happy?

He tries to smile, and nods, giving a dismissive shrug to his own words.]

Right. Sorry.

[That's... not how the world works. And someone needs to teach them that.]

No.

[Tommy remembers him then, seeing the little shrug. Remembers how dead to the world one of the few people he loved in it had become.]

I'm... not being fair. To you. At all. I should be. You're a good person. And you deserve better than me. That's all I'm saying. I'm not good, and I pulled you down to my level again.

[Billy's quickly shaking his head.]

It's fair. [Though Billy's not nearly so quick to agree about being a good person. He wants to be. But he continues to feeling lacking. Tommy though, he's so obviously good, it kills him that his brother can't see it.]

I try to be as good as you are, Tommy.

[As good as him? Tommy's on his feet and he looks offended.]

You're the BEST person I fucking know! Don't you dare fucking insult Billy Kaplan. I fucking punch people who insult Billy Kaplan!

...

[Billy blinks, surprised by that passion and sincerity, and he pushes up abruptly after him to catch Tommy in a hug.]

Then you stop insulting Tommy.

[Of course he's passionate. Billy is... one of the few people in the world that he loves. But he's definitely shocked at the embrace and he lets himself be hugged. And after a moment he relents and wraps his arms around Billy, holding him.]

Tommy is a piece of trash. But Billy is a good man who apparently, from what David said, you're sorta god. And kind and gentle. And make everything. You definitely win.

If I don't get to talk bad about Billy then you don't get to talk bad about Tommy. That's the deal.

[Because it hurts Billy to hear Tommy talk that way about himself as much as it offends Tommy to hear Billy do the same.]

[Tommy knows who he is. What he is. He knows he's definitely a mess. But he sighs and nods. Fine. He'll agree.]

Fine. I'll agree. For now.

Video Broadcast - OTA (Post Storm)

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