Don't Stop Moving

[doubled_speed]

WHO: Tommy Shepherd, Open
WHERE: Around the Agrii Ship
WHAT: Fast Boy Do Work And Be Anxious
WHEN: Feb 12 - 24th
WARNINGS: Panic Attack In Prompt III

I. Speed To The Rescue | Halls between Engineering and Medical

Good news, this was actually Tommy's specialty. Gotta appreciate a guy who knows what to do in the sort of instance where everyone's running around like chickens with their metaphor completed. While others are still being shuffled to the disaster area, Tommy's already there, gently pulling Agrii back from the hole. But he doesn't run them back. There are burns, and those are... delicate. His vibrations can make those worse, and he knows it. So as other people are approaching Engineering he's gentle guiding a burned Agrii, holding the large body easily in his arms, talking softly.

The person needs help, and he doesn't know how to make it better.

"Any of you medics?" he asks as he walks past his approaching fellows. "She's really hurt."

II. High Speed Shelf Stocker? | Cargo Hold

Perhaps in Tommy's previous previous life he worked in retail. Because the effeciency that he's moving around the cargo hold with speaks to competency in this area. He moves like a blur, between one crate and the next, opening them up and jotting down copious notes onto his communication device. The real thing that's slowing him down is the fact that he's clearly limited by the responsiveness of the device he's working on.

And the fact that he can't share the information as fast as anything else that he's doing. Dude's not communications, so he doesn't have that option. He could stand to have a shared file structure to offer people. But whatever. It is what it is.

When the doors whoosh open (seriously, that's the best part of space, you get the cool whooshy noises), and Tommy's head snaps around immediately to gaze at whoever is there. There's a moment where he looks unsure, like he might not be prepared to see someone. Or maybe that look isn't really there. He's smiling though.

"Welcome to the quarter master or whatever shit you'd call this. What ya looking for?"

III. When The Beat Drops | The Green Space [Warning: Panic Attack]

Life for a Hero or a He Row is full of crises. They happen so many ways, so many times. It's tiring, and Tommy hasn't been sleeping well since they left the planet and, well, there's a whole list of ands. Is it really that shocking that he's found himself overloaded? Maybe it's the explosion specifically, the sorts of damages and how they get to him and his past. How he hadn't been there to help.

More than that, it's the fucking things he saw below. The beds that left him shaken. Or maybe it's just that a hundred little things have built up. So it's no wonder that Tommy's gone to the sort of place that gives him the most comfort these days. Who would have ever thought that green spaces would be Tommy's source of comfort.

But here he is anyway, on a bench in a place where the greenery is thicker, legs pulled up to his chest, heaad pillowed on them, eyes slightly zoned out but clearly nothing about him saying 'sleep' at this late hour.

Comments

III

[newmemorywhodis]

Link sees Tommy, pulled up like a ball on the bench. He wouldn't know what the words 'panic attack' meant if they were spoken to him, but that doesn't mean he's unfamiliar with this kind of reaction.

So Link silently comes to sit next to Tommy. Exists, for a moment, in silent companionship.

And then he takes out his ocarina, and begins to play. Perhaps the song will help to ground Tommy.

[doubled_speed]

Someone's there. Tommy knows that, processes that, but that doesn't mean he's ready to engage with whoever it is. And then the music starts.

Talk about something fucking soothing as hell. He manages to lift his head just enough to look around, to see Link. Doesn't say anything of course. The music is nice and he doesn't want to let it go. Especially since music is one of the better ways for him to ground into the traditional perception of time. So he's quiet. Just quiet.

[newmemorywhodis]

That's the thing with Link. If you don't want to engage with him, you don't have to. He doesn't mind. He's happy to just sit there, quiet as a mouse.

Eventually, though, the song comes to an end. The last note rings out into silence. Link lowers the ocarina, and just lets the silence extend.

Then he looks over at Tommy, ocarina half-raised. Does Tommy want to say anything? Or should Link play more?

[doubled_speed]

The song ends and Tommy takes a deep breath. It was nice, but he doesn't know what to do now.

"You ever... feel powerless to help the people around you that you know need help?"

[newmemorywhodis]

Immediately, Link thinks of Zelda. Falling from his grasp, forever changed into the Light Dragon. All while Link was unable to help.

"...Yes."

[doubled_speed]

Too slow. Tommy kept running into the barrier of being too slow. But here it was a whole different feeling of being powerless. This wasn't something he could fix.

"I hate it. I hate feeling like I don't know what to do. I'm just supposed to be the quick guy on our team. Pull people from the crisis, let other people solve it. This... When everyone's pulled out, what am I supposed to do?'

[newmemorywhodis]

Link was silent for a long moment. Did he know the answer? He didn’t know. He was the Hero of Hyrule, but so much of what Link actually did wasn’t really directed by him. It was other people who pointed him in the right direction, who told him what he needed to do.

(Zelda. He needed Zelda, to be the light that guided his way. But she was gone. Lost, maybe forever.)

“…I don’t know,” he says. “Maybe…find someone. Who can tell me.”

[doubled_speed]

"Find someone to tell you what can be done so that you can tell me?"

Fuck, that's convoluted. But he guesses he gets why the guy says it.

[newmemorywhodis]

...Oh.

Link hadn't been suggesting it in that way. He'd just...talked about what he tries to do. But communication has never been Link's strong suit.

He's much better at being silently reassuring in someone's general area than he is at actually talking to them.

"...Yes?" He says, with an air of vague sheepishness. "Or...you ask."

[doubled_speed]

Yeah, he was masterful at hte silent reassurance. Which was what Tommy had needed in that moment.

"Ask. I guess I can try again. I just... I don't want to go back down there."

[newmemorywhodis]

Link can understand Tommy’s reluctance. He’d seen those beds, and felt…upset. Very upset.

But Tommy didn’t need to go and subject himself to that again. Not if he didn’t think he could.

“…Ask for something else,” he says

[doubled_speed]

Yeah, but...

"I'm fast. I can deliver things quickly, you know? So maybe I just need to man the fuck up."

And he doesn't know that it's easy to do.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link shrugs.

"Not the only one." Link had seen Sonic run. He didn't know which was faster, but either way - Tommy wasn't the only speedster in town. It didn't have to be just him.

II. High Speed Shelf Stocker? | Cargo Hold

[madginger]

Max seems offset by the whoosh, looking behind her when it closes. She adjusted before, but the current situation has her a little on edge. Still, when it mattered, she got herself together to look at the damage and get an idea of some of the stuff they need. It's definitely only a start, though.

She manages to give Tommy a quick smile, as she hands over the list.

"That...for a start. If any of these things are in here. We probably still need more, but that was all I could think of right now," Max admits to him. Then she looks around her.

[doubled_speed]

Damn, people keep bringing lists and he keeps having to consider them. Having to figure out just what is wrong and how to make things meet.

"You know, in another like I'm pretty sure I was a put upon stock boy. But..."

Yeah, he can look into this.

"Give me a moment on some of these."

Then, before he goes, he bites his lip to consider whether he should even ask.

"You seen your brother recently?"

[madginger]

"I want to say take your time, because we still need to figure some of this out, but...probably don't take too much time," Max is honest with him. It's sort of a big deal, after all. At least for some parts.

If he has to ask.... Max tilts her head, "Guessing that means you haven't." Then she shakes her head. "No, I haven't. Why? Should we be worried?"

She hadn't really thought about it. Hadn't had time to, really.

[doubled_speed]

"I've got more time than you can even begin to fathom, Scarlet," he says with a shrug.

"Not since we got back onto the ships," Tommy admits with a shrug. "We spent a lot of time together on the surface because of the fireworks shit. Made a pretty impressive pillow fort for him if I do say so myself. But..."

Well, he worries about Hargrove. He always worried about Hargrove.

"It's sorta chaotic here? Lots of people running around, fear, loud noises. I'm worried it's not good for his head."

[madginger]

She wants to focus on the time issue, but gets hung up on, "Scarlet?" with a scrunch of her expression. "Most people just call me Red. But...that stands out. I kinda like it." It's not a bad thing, at all. It's just different, and makes her wonder how Tommy got there.

Max starts to nibble on her thumb. "Someone should check on him, then." But she has things to figure out, and fix, that doesn't mean she isn't concerned.

"Pillow fort, huh?" She doesn't have much to say to that, beyond, she's not done anything like that since her dad. It's been a long while.

[doubled_speed]

"Yeah, but Red's such a low hanging fruit there," Tommy points out. "I don't want low hanging fruits. Like, my twin? I call him Billiam. Just for chuckles."

And maybe he has some parallels he's thinking of. At least he didn't call her Siryn, right?

"Guess I'll keep my eyes open for him, but I'm really busy here." And Billy doesn't listen to his comm messages. Idiot.

"You know a better way to comfort a dude faced with memories of his death?"

[madginger]

"It's okay, I like it. 'Cause, you're right about the low hanging fruit. Besides, I know if someone's calling out 'Scarlet' instead of 'Red', it's you and not, say, Eddie," she gives Tommy a real smile as she speaks.

But that fades, pretty fast.

She can't help the dark response, as it leaves her lips before her brain checks it, "I'm still trying to figure out that for myself." Pause. Her eyes widen. "Not that I died." She doesn't look at Tommy as she waves it off.

"If I figure it out, though, I'll let you know. He was taking some pills to help him sleep. But I don't think that's going to help here," she admits with a sigh. Her eyes dart around the counter. What can they do for him?

"There's always distractions."

[doubled_speed]

There were distractions, but Tommy's out of those.

"His car isn't around, I don't have an ocean, and I sure don't have music for him."

God he's so frustrated. How is he supposed to help Billy. Grumbling Tommy takes a moment to think. Which means he's a blur and a rush of wind around the room before returning to Max and holding out a box with some of the items.

"Okay, I thought about it for a bit longer. Maybe he stayed on the ship and is just staying in the water. That's for the best."

[madginger]

"There is water here, as long as it's not hot or cold, should help...." Yeah, Max isn't even sure about that, watching Tommy flit around.

She can't remotely keep up with him, either. She catches just enough to be confused.

"Okay, Speed, I give you this - you're really fast." Beat. "In fact, I'm kind of jealous."

[doubled_speed]

It's not the same as water Billy can swim in and surely they both know that.

"Thanks," Tommy says with a smirk. "I'm faster than sound. It's useful sometimes. Not always in situations like this. You can't save this sort of problem with speed alone."

[madginger]

"You can still get things faster and cut back on some of the time for the rest of us," Max points out. It gives her more time to figure out what else they might need.

[doubled_speed]

"Exactly what I'm doing here," he agrees. "I tried checking out the lower level and..."

The red forcefield. The energy barrier. The way it broke him down. No. He won't think on it.

"This is better."