Back on Temba | OTA

[crystalmaster]

WHO: Radley and everyone
WHERE: Temba and Glitter Food
WHAT: Making food, mostly
WHEN: February
WARNINGS: None, probably

Radley decided to go back to Temba. Everything has gotten too complicated for him and he’s growing frustrated and discouraged with the increasing number of issues. He hates to think that everything they’ve been doing on Temba is for nothing in the end, and that they’re no closer to getting home than when they started. He hopes that going back to Temba will make something make sense again.

Which, it really doesn’t. If anything, it just makes it even more discouraging, seeing all their hard work and wondering if Temba will never even be inhabited by anyone who would be using all the buildings.

But he bottles up his feelings, as usual, and keeps working at the diner, smiling and greeting anyone who comes in and making sure there’s always food ready.

He does go back to the ship sometimes too. So many decided to stay on the ship or even the Agrii ship and he gets lonely. He was already pretty sad about so many disappearing, and seeing Temba even more deserted than usual is depressing. Sometimes he just stays in his room on the ship, staring at the ceiling as he lays on his bed or playing CDs and DVDs he found at the space station.

Usually, however, he tries to keep busy with food-related things. At least food is always something needed, so he never feels like he’s doing something pointless there.

Comments

[doubled_speed]

"You sent someone after me."

Of course Tommy does his usual at the diner and shows up with literally no warning. Usually, though he greets Radley brightly and pays attention to what the guy is doing as if he could learn more cooking just by watching (which, of course, he could). But now he's clearly upset as he arrives.

And oh does he ever look frazzled. His shoes look about worn through (the third pair since hitting the planet), his clothes dirty from greenhouse work, and his hair a right mess like he hasn't been bothering to comb it at all.

Needless to say, he's worse for the wear.

[crystalmaster]

Radley frowns and turns to look. "I was worried about you," he says. "I was looking too, but I thought you'd be found faster with more people looking." He sighs. "I didn't deliberately set out to ask for help, but Sephiroth asked what was wrong when he saw me looking and I told him."

Usually he tries to stay out of Tommy's business since being told Tommy really only needs a short amount of sleep at a time, but he's been increasingly concerned since they returned to Temba and things have clearly not been okay.

[doubled_speed]

No, they haven't been okay. And he still looks angry.

"Why are you even worried about me? Wouldn't you just be happy to run this place on your own? Give you the space to do what you want?"

Okay, maybe he's really hurt and lashing out. It isn't Radley's fault. It's just Tommy's way of reacting to pain.

[crystalmaster]

"I've always been happy to run the diner with you," Radley says. "We haven't had any major problems that I remember."

He's pretty easy-going and adaptable and honestly prefers having company.

[doubled_speed]

No, they haven't. Radley's been a relief for Tommy. As much as Clarice had been. He's just... Angry.

He had always been that before Billy. Angry and lashing out.

"I'm younger than you, know less about this than you, and I'm an asshole," Tommy counters.

[crystalmaster]

“So are a lot of people who are my friends back home,” Radley says. And one person he had tried to make friends with and failed to….

[doubled_speed]

Okay, that wasn't as effective as Tommy had hoped. So he grits out the plain and simple answer that is on his mind.

"It's better not to get attached to people here. They disappear."

[crystalmaster]

Radley sobers at that. "Yeah, I know. A lot of people have disappeared that I liked a lot." He sighs. "But I don't wanna be all alone. I still want to be with who's here for as long as they or I'm around."

[doubled_speed]

That's... a horrible way to put it. Good of course. Reasonable too. But Tommy's always one that met pain with anger and lashing out.

"Maybe I'm not that strong."

[crystalmaster]

Radley smirks a bit. "I'm not sure if it's strength so much as selfishness. I've always tried to surround myself with people ever since a time when I was forced to be alone. I hated it."

That said, Radley is more unselfish than he likely thinks he is.

[doubled_speed]

God, Tommy knows what that's like. To the point where he looks away in fear of being seen, understood. What else were all the parties? The always eating out? The being loud to have eyes on him.

"Yeah, well here you'll always end up alone."

[crystalmaster]

"Hope not," Radley says. "I don't know how the Agrii would get home if I ended up the only one left."

[tempredmental]

It was getting close to the month's end, and Keith made his way into the diner. No more bandages on his hands from the burns, no more crutches, the very tiniest of hint of a limp lingered... though he was still wearing the knee brace. He had Kosmo stay outside for food hygiene reasons. It was one thing for an outside cafe, but Kosmo was getting kind of big now, so keeping him inside a food establishment was getting harder. The wolf settled next to the door, curling up out of the way of anyone wanting to go in or out.

Keith gave a small wave when he caught Radley's eye.

"Hey."

It was awkward sometimes... him with Radley, or Leo, or Donnie... having a shared trauma could either bond people or push them apart, and Keith didn't quite know where he stood with them, yet. He was bad at reading people, bad at socializing and being open with others. But he was trying. He had no real choice anymore. His usual catalysts for dragging him around and making friends were gone. Shiro and Lance had been his anchors, his ways to make friends. Now, he had to try to do that on his own, despite being horribly inept.

And he had to do it while still feeling the grief of his losses. Shiro had been a long time ago, so it wasn't as sharp or painful anymore... but Lance had only been gone a few months. Keith still felt that one as if it'd been yesterday.

He sat at the counter, the higher stools a little easier to deal with for his leg than sliding into a booth.

"What's today's special?" he asked.

[crystalmaster]

Radley smiled, happy to see Keith and happy to see that it looked like he was doing a lot better. For the most part, Radley had tried to hide his injuries from the others, not wanting them to worry or to make them uncomfortable remembering all the more what had happened. And it was just his usual nature to pretend he was fine, only snapping and revealing the truth if pushed to his absolute limits.

"Hey," he greeted. "Today's special is vegetable stew, heavy on the potatoes."

He was concerned about Keith too because of Keith's closest loved ones being gone. He remembered when Shiro had left. Lance had been a complete surprise and Radley really felt for Keith going through that loss. As much as Radley wished for someone from home to be there with him, he knew it would hurt like Hell for them to be gone later and so in that way, he wondered if he preferred no one from home showing up.

[doubled_speed]

Yeah, that's a fair point. Tommy sighs.

"This isn't their home," he says at last, pretty definitively. He'd seen the stuff. Heard some people talking. "This is the plantkin's home."

[crystalmaster]

A sigh. "Yeah. And the plantkin don't need all this stuff we've been doing."

So what's it all been for?

He keeps that thought to himself. At least it's helped all of them while they've been living here....

[tempredmental]

It was hard to hide crutches considering he couldn't walk without them for a while. The brace, too, was a little bit too thick to fit under his pants, so he had to wear it over them. And, while most of his burns had been in less visible, easily covered areas (his leg and side), it was hard to put his gloves on over the bandages that had been on his hands. With the burns having healed, though, it was back to his normal look of wearing his fingerless gloves all the time.

"Heavy on the potatoes, huh?" Keith made a face, though it was more for show than actually being turned off to the idea. "I don't know. I'm not back up to my regular work-out routine, yet. Those extra potatoes might be hard to keep off."

Smiiiiiirk.

Hey, he was coping... or trying to. he didn't usually handle it well, unfortunately, but Keith was also used to the sense of loss. He was trying to do better with how he dealt with it.

Lance, though, was the hardest loss so far... or at least, close to it. Keith knew Lance wasn't dead, so that at least made it a little better than his first loss... his dad. The zombie event had ripped that 15 year old wound wide open when he saw his dad's face among the creatures, knowing that he was actually dead back home.

[crystalmaster]

Radley couldn't hide the coughing, although he tried a lot. By now that's mostly stopped, thankfully.

He laughs. "You're welcome to as much or as little as you feel like you can handle," he says.

It had definitely been hard seeing people he knew as the zombies, and worse, having to kill them. But it was comforting knowing the real people were alright. He couldn't imagine the added pain of knowing the real people weren't alright, or fearing they weren't, as with Sephiroth when he had seen many Zacks.

[tempredmental]

Keith chuckled in return.

"It's all good, dude," he said. "Whatever ends up in a bowl for a serving is fine. Thanks."

[crystalmaster]

"Then one bowl coming up!"

Radley got some and quickly brought it back. He was used to moving fast with serving food. "Here you go! You want a drink with that?"

[tempredmental]

"Um..." Keith looked thoughtful as he poked his fork into the meal to stir it around a bit. "What do you think is best?" he asked. There were options, but Keith usually just got water. He wanted something different this time, though.

[doubled_speed]

It's been for their own survival. And at least some of the plantkin seemed amused.

"Hey," Tommy says, "it's okay."

[crystalmaster]

Radley nods. "Yeah." He tries to smile again. "We'll figure it out."

Somehow.

[crystalmaster]

"I've got some root beer on hand?" Radley offers.

[doubled_speed]

Somehow. Though hey, Radley did his best to calm Tommy down. He was doing impressively well at it.