revivalproject | [Backdated] Storm: Our Lives On Display

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[Backdated] Storm: Our Lives On Display

WHO: Tommy Shepherd, Open
WHERE: Temba
WHAT: Two Stormy Memories
WHEN: During Storm Week
WARNINGS: CW: Child Abuse in starter 2

I. A Memory of Delight

Storms. Tommy hates the storms. In fact, if he could just have 100% less storms, he'd be very happy. The happiest a man can be. With the storms he's just... He's lesser. It's always upset him. Always hurt him. Always left him frayed around the edges. But hey, this time they were supposed to be spotty? So he tries to go about his life.

Problem is, this one hits when he's alone, and man if Tommy wasn't on his way back from the new Avengers manor or whatever Tony was calling it. Turned out he didn't like being in his room there, still a work in progress, when the storms and world felt so draining. So walking back was a thing.

And of course, that's when a storm rolled in over him. The second the rain started he felt his powers go and Tommy just cursed. Because, well, what the fuck was going on here? Why did the rain hate him in particular? Cursing one more time, this time in Polish just for good measure, he finds a bit of stone overhang and sits his ass down. If he doesn't move, logically he shouldn't have troubles, right?

Except there's something different today. Of course there is. The rain is getting thick enough that it's hard to see beyond his hand and for some reason... it almost looks like he's in his room above the diner, which makes no sense at all.

II. A Memory of Pain | CW: Child Abuse will be depicted in threads from this starter

That was an experience that was shaking, and for a while, Tommy just stays back in his room at the diner, cuddled up by the fire even though it made him too hot because it just reminded him of what was happening in the moment. It was safer. It was better.

It wasn't enough because anxiety was prone to driving Tommy out of comfortable situations. Which was why he was outside again, heading for the greenhouse. His other safe place. The one that made him feel like he was useful and had a place where he fit in. Even if he had no powers, he could help the plants, right?

What a mistake that was, going outside. Because while it was clear when he stepped out, by the time he made it across the square and was nearing the greenhouse, the rain started. And this time, well, the change comes quickly.

Too quickly.

Comes in the form of his feet stepping not on the road but on familiar worn down wood. He knows the creak his foot produces almost instantly. And there's the sound of a truck door closing.

Sure it's Tommy there, but it also isn't Tommy there, because to another person's eyes it's Tommy but younger. Tommy but with hair as dark as his brother's, not a hint of white in it. A younger, childhood Tommy who is flinching at the sound of booted footsteps nearing in the rain...

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The memory stopped, which is good. The emotions have not stopped, and oh boy Leo isn’t the best at this. This is where he would tag out for Raph or Mikey, but they aren’t here and Pizza Supreme in the Sky knows he can’t tag out for Donnie.

Very awkward arm pat. There, there…

“Hey, dude, it’s… it’s over. And if that guy ever shows up, everyone here can beat him up for you.”

He’s pretty sure most people here would be willing to do that.

Of course it's over. And Tommy's hands fall from his face he throws his head back, and bellows back at the storm.

"Fuck you Atroma, and fuck you Frank."

Because sometimes you have to get the feelings out of you. He's still shaking when he stops, and panting too. But it's in anger and not fear.

"Thanks, Leo. But don't worry. After that day, he was scared of me. Never wanted to get close. If he showed up, he'd avoid me. Like he's been doing for years back home."

Whoa, okay. Leo pulls his hand back when the yelling starts. At least he can better deal with anger than fear.

“Scared of you…?”

Well, that’s good, right? That fixes the problem. Still…

“That kinda stuff, though… It shouldn’t happen.” He rubs the back of his neck. “Kids shouldn’t be scared like that.”

Maybe he got lucky with his dad after all.

"It shouldn't," Tommy agrees. "And they shouldn't. And if it was in my power, they never would be. But..."

But it wasn't in his power. He hadn't even been able to handle his own father.

"Thank you. I didn't want to relive that memory again."

"Ye-yeah, sure."

He's actually pretty glad he didn't have to see it, too, though maybe that's a little selfish.

He glances around at the rain, still coming down around them.

"Are the storms usually like this?"

"Like this specifically? With your memories playing out? Nope. This is a new one. If you have any powers, I really suggest you be inside at midnight with your ears covered, though. Sometimes the moon has a face and it screams and shit gets weird. I intend to stuff my ears with wax. None of us need an accidental explosion from me."

Tommy least of all.

Leo just stares at Tommy for several seconds.

"...Okay, now you're just messing with me."

The moon getting a face and screaming? What is Tommy even talking about?

"Am I?" Tommy asks. Because he's not. In the slightest. He'd almost fucked a lot of shit up. "Just listen and stay inside with your ears covered at night if you've got any cool skills or something."

This is a very weird thing that no one has told him about. How can his portals even go haywire?

...Actually, dropping him out in the ocean, or somewhere up in the thin parts of the atmosphere, would be pretty bad. Not to mention if something got caught into the middle of his portal when it closed...

But he also has another worry here.

"What about special abilities people have that they don't know they have?"

Because Donnie's abilities going haywire could be a real issue...

That's a scary thing that Leo should not really explore. Who knows what would happen to his portals. It would definitely not be safe. Better to be safe.

"That's... not really something I have a good answer for if I'm honest."

“Oh. Hah. Cool. Well, it’s probably not a big deal, right?”

He says it like he’s not really worried, but he is kind of worried. Do they really need more problems here? More things trying to hurt them? If Donnie’s powers manifest in a bad way… well, he can conjure guns and grenades out of thin air, so it would be a bad time.

Almost like the storm can pick up on his anxiety, it starts trying to change around them, pulling them towards a memory. Maybe staying out here isn’t a good idea…

"It can definitely be a big deal," Tommy insists. That has to be stressed. Someone needs to take care of the problem when it happens, right? "If you're concerned, you should find whoever you're worried about."

His brother probably. But of course there's something else that is cutting in, isn't there?

"This doesn't look good. We should try and move."

Yeah, not exactly helping Leo not panic over here. Though he’s still working very hard not to show it.

“Yeah, let’s-“ Leo tries to agree, but the memory is still trying to grab them. The walls of a large, armored vehicle, Donnie’s baby the Turtle Tank, rise around them, though it looks a bit more like they’re looking at a stage than actively trapped. Perhaps running the other way is a valid option, though the rushing streets of New York City make for some intense vertigo (well, to Leo, anyway - Tommy is probably used to this).

“Trapped!?” The memory Leo cries, moving back from the tank’s window. “I knew being nice to people would get us in trouble.”

Which out of context is probably not the best thing for a “hero” to say.

Sorry man, he can't do much to help with not panicking. There really is a serious threat here and Leo needs to be aware of it.

Too bad they can't move away from the other issue here. Another memory, and this one not Tommy's, clearly. At least he's not getting anything like vertigo. Advantages to being used to weird shit going on senses wise.

"He's not wrong," Tommy mumbles as he moves closer to now-Leo. "It can get you in really serious trouble. Worth it anyway."

“It wasn’t worth it that time,” says Leo dismissively, trying to turn away.

About that time in the memory, a young boy appears on the display in the tank, gloating about his plan to expose the “mutant menace” to all of New York for the sake of social media likes and donations. The people of New York, who are presently gathering into an angry mob.

“Wait, so he wants to expose us to all of New York for money!?” yells the memory Leo in protest.

Tommy sneers at the person on the screen. Nothing like the words 'mutant menace' to work him up.

"That sort of shit happens back home plenty of times. Blackmailing mutants. SOrry you had to deal with that bullshit, man."

Leo glances back at the memory again. At least someone gets it.

He tries to break away from it again. All there is to see now is the rest of their frantic attempt to get the tank back under control, leading to a crash into the Hudson (okay, so maybe it’s a little exciting).

“I told them coming out in that was a bad idea,” he grouses. “…But I guess now I’m out in this alone and my brother might blow up if the moon starts screaming at him.”

Leo sighs and drags a hand over his face as the memory ends. Then he bucks up.

“Sorry to you, too. Guess mutants have to stick together, huh?”

"But it is a cool thing, so I guess I can't judge them completely," Tommy says. Even if he's not a vehicles guy. Though when he memory ends Tommy actually snickers into the rain.

"We really do. It's a whole thing back home. I'm usually excluded though."

Yeah, the Turtle Tank is pretty cool, Leo can’t lie. Though not so cool when it gets hijacked and goes careening through New York out of control.

“Huh? Why?” Tommy doesn’t seem like someone who would normally be excluded from much of anything.

Yeah, most things that go careening through New York out of countrol suck.

"Because we're not like other humans. We're born with powers. People don't like that because it's not like them and people don't always like what is different."

"Yeah, I get that... That's why Dad raised us in a sewer."

Or otherwise what happened in the memory they just saw might happen.

"But aren't there other human mutants where you're from? Can't you hang out with them?"

"That shouldn't have been something you had to live with, but I get why you did," Tommy says with a shrug. There's nothing a kid can do to control that.

"Lots of them. They even made their own nation recently. It's, like, the third or fourth try. That's a lot of bad luck there. I think islands might be cursed."

“Eh, it’s pretty sweet, actually. And Donnie figured out how to get rid of most of the smell ages ago.”

So it’s totally fine! The idea of a nation of mutants is interesting, but Leo doesn’t think he would want to live with most of the ones he knows…

“Oh yeah! I mean, look at Staten Island. Eeeyuck.”

The smell? Tommy cringes. Yeah, he can see why that would be a problem now that he things of it. Ew.

Though even thought thought is destroyed by the jab at Staten Island. He snorts in amusement.

"Sounds like your New York isn't far off from mine."

“Oh so your Staten Island is gross and tacky too? Glad we’re all on the same page.”

Staten Island being terrible is a universal constant.

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