June-July Storm and Calibrations - OTA

[doubled_speed]

WHO: Tommy Sheperd, OTA
WHERE: Around Temba, Calibrations Waiting Room, Tommy’s Calibration Room
WHAT: The lead up to and time around Calibrations
WHEN: June 2nd to July 10th
WARNINGS: CW: Tommy’s Calibrations room potentially contains depictions of child abuse and neglect, deprivation of food to a minor, bullying, and possible references toward unintentional property destruction.. It depends on what you touch (each will have warnings in strike-through attached). One happier memory does occur, though.


Helping Hand (Around Temba - June 2nd, the 36 Hours - OTA)

The message comes and a few things happen. First, Tommy freezes. The storm had been bad the last time. The lack of powers, the way he fractured his ankle, the way he’d seen people he’d lost, the way he’d wanted to hide and never come back. The idea of it happening again scared him more than anything. Add in his new issues with lightning and it got more complicated, not less. Of course while he freezes forever, it’s actually only a minute, and then he’s moving.

While he hasn’t been to his home since things went wrong, he moves immediately there and starts packing a box with all of his things. And after a moment of thought, his brother’s things, and Teddy’s for good measure. Some clothes for them all, a few personal touches to feel comfortable. The painting Vision made for him happened to go into a box too. And once that is all left off in the mouth of the tunnel, he’s back in the city.

He stops at the Greenhouse and spends time harvesting every last thing that’s ripe that he can get his hands on. They’ll need food if they’re going to be there for a while. Then it’s off to the ships. Grabbing anything loose and useful on the ship is the goal to get things back. He then moves around the city, racing up to anyone he sees and stopping to ask an important question.

“Is there anything I can do to help you? Anything you need carried? Hell, I’ll carry you.”

Safety matters, and he’s a hero. It’s going to happen.


Calibrations Waiting Room

Here

Calibrations [CW: Tommy’s Calibrations room potentially contains depictions of child abuse and neglect, deprivation of food to a minor, bullying, and possible references toward unintentional property destruction. It depends on what you touch (each will have warnings in strike-through attached). One happier memory included.]

The room is different than the waking hours, but not much. It’s not actually emptier but it somehow manages to feel it, in an abandoned sort of way. Instead of a queen-sized bed, there’s a twin mattress on the floor, next to which there sits a half-eaten package of off-brand poptarts cw: neglect and deprivation of food. The mattress itself is resting under a window so dirty and dusty that it’s almost impossible to see out through it. Instead of the drawers there’s just a closet, open and mostly bare save for a pillow in the corner. And across from the pillow a beat-up bookbag cw: bullying. Hidden up on the shelf in the closet is a dusty high school yearbook cw: explosions, property destruction, for a school in New Jersey, Go Pumas! The last object of any real note in the room is a discarded belt cw: child abuse. Okay, no, there’s also what looks like a picture pinned to a wall, seemly drawn by a child. It’s on that level at least, it’s made of crayon, and depicts people in very colorful costumes, with something scrawled under it. Welcome to the Young Avengers it reads.

In the middle of it all, metaphorically, is Tommy, looking around the room in disgust.

Comments

[doubled_speed]

Well, if she's going to be here and be an ass... Well, he points to the closet.

"Top shelf. The book there. It'll get you out fast."

Lies. Fucking LIES.

[heeeyadora]

"About time," she grumbles, flashing him a toothy smirk and darting towards the closet to snatch the book up. "What is this anyway?"

[doubled_speed]

"Total bullshit," Tommy answers.

And then they're in a high school chem lab. The room is that sort of low level buzz of noise that comes from a busy class. Now-Tommy stands in the back of the room, grimacing at the arrangement.

"Hope you love chemicals, Sass-bot."

[heeeyadora]

The setting seems unfamiliar to Catra, who looks about curiously at all the students, sniffing the air before making a face at the strong chemical smell.

"What is this place??"

[doubled_speed]

"The worst form of torture. High school," Tommy says. And if you pay attention, there's another Tommy at a workspace in the back. Not the back back, there's still one set of tables behind him. He's the only one alone, and he's clearly having some trouble balancing and measuring the things before him, right now a powdered item.

But it makes sense, right? His reflexes are too fast and he's trying to deal with them.

[heeeyadora]

That words doesn't mean much to Catra, but looking around she gathers its some sort of training.

She wanders up to watch the then Tommy, hopping up onto the table and crouching like a curious cat as she puzzles over what he's doing. "Are you guys making bombs?"

[doubled_speed]

"Not intentionally," Tommy answers. "They're teaching chemistry. We're doing the lab on the work sheets. Not supposed to make things explode."

Not supposed to.

[heeeyadora]

That may not be the warning he hopes it to be. In fact, Catra looks down right excited at the idea that something might be exploding soon, whether it's meant to or not, an eager grin on her face.

"You're going to blow stuff up??" There's practically stars in her eyes.

[doubled_speed]

"Wow, you're not getting that is a bad thing. Look around us, Kitten. Look at all these people," Tommy hisses. Because there are people around them. And there, behind then-him: Anders. Throwing a small ball of paper at the back of his head.

[heeeyadora]

Kitten. Her ear twitches, used to a very particular person calling her that. But she shakes whatever memories that brings up to shrug dismissively, looking back to the shining example of humanity- Anders. "...Yeah, seems like it'd be a real loss."

[doubled_speed]

Dude, she looks like a cat. It's that or he'll call you Tigra. What is he supposed to use? Your actual name?

"Don't joke about that," Tommy hisses. He KNOWS what happens to Anders. She doesn't.

Another ball of paper comes flying through the air and hits Tommy in the back of the head. And Tommy, never one to stand for this shit, turns and glares at Anders.

"Stop doin-"

He doesn't even get to finish before another ball of paper is flicked against his cheek. And the younger Tommy SNEERS angrily at Anders, his hand clenching at his side as he starts to actually vibrate with anger.

[heeeyadora]

Hey, she's been called worse, Kitten's just not usually peoples go-to name of choice. She doesn't hate it.

She shrugs again, watching him continue to throw those paper balls with a pointed look.

"Who's joking?" she mutters, though she gives a little giggle as another ball hits him in the face. "Guy like that deserves whatever he gets."

[doubled_speed]

"He dies," Tommy answers. "You should probably duck soon."

Anders grins at then-Tommy, and then Tommy is clearly fed up. He moves for the other lab place and that's when Anders's knocks a bottle of chemicals over on him. And Tommy jerks back, trying to pat it off of him, pushing away at it. Pushing in a way he didn't know he could push.

And around them everything slows. Slows down to a degree that shouldn't be possible, even as fire starts at Anders' lab table, rising up and out from the spilled liquid.

[heeeyadora]

Ah. Her ears briefly slope downwards, a touch of guilt settling over her features, but that kind of vulnerability can't be displayed long, and like hell she's going to apologize.

She jumps down off the table top, and turning in confusion as everything slows.

"What's happening?" The hair of her tail stands on end, and she frowns, not liking this.

[doubled_speed]

"You're in my mind, my memories," Tommy answers. "You're seeing it as I saw it."

The explosion starts moving outwards, slowly, and only then-Tommy is reacting, fear on his face at normal speed before he's moving, running. He grabs the nearest person that isn't Anders and carries them out of the room. And then he's back, grabbing another person. The whole scene moves around them as he runs, but he looks like a normal person running through the world, and no one moving around him. Nothing moving but the explosion growing and growing every time he reenters the room.

[heeeyadora]

She's not sure if these things can actually hurt them or not, but she really doesn't want to find out, edging back from the slow moving explosion as it expanded, ears pinned back. This isn't the fun kind of explosion.

"Hey- come on- can't you get us out of here? It's your head, right? Make it stop?"

[doubled_speed]

"By my memory, we've got about another minute and a half. Which is forever," Tommy shrugs, completely unbothered by the spreading explosion. He just watches it, clearly saddened.

"Still like explosions?"

[heeeyadora]

"Well not this kind," she edges back a little more, hopping up onto a table near the front. "The kind that blow up...stuff, or...I dunno, not me." She gives an uneasy grumble.

[doubled_speed]

"Don't worry, most of the school is going to go from the chain reaction from the chemicals here. About... I think the percentage they use in the court case is fifty-three?"

He moves to join her, sitting on the desk as other Tommy keeps going and coming back. Still hasn't carried Anders out.

[heeeyadora]

"..." She frowns, crouching on her haunches, tail swishing. "So what, they blame you for all this?"

[doubled_speed]

"Well, I did do it," Tommy points out. "I did make the explosion. Didn't know I coudl do that."

[heeeyadora]

"Well, yeah, but...you clearly didn't mean to," she huffs. Besides, he's helping all those kids. Doesn't seem fair.

[doubled_speed]

"Intent doesn't matter," Tommy dismisses as he watches the explosion overtake Anders. "Mutant lives don't matter."

[heeeyadora]

"Is mutant what you call princesses here?" she reasons. That statement makes perfect sense to her, but probably exactly zero sense to Tommy, eyes flicking up to watch the explosion.

[doubled_speed]

"Uh, no?" Tommy asks, frowning in confusion. "I mean, B and I are about as close as someone comes to mutant royalty just because of who I'm related to, but nope. The Inhumans have royalty though. My cousin Luna is a princess."