revivalproject | OTA Log

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OTA Log

WHO: Tommy Shepherd and Anyone
WHERE: Graq Planet, Agrii Ship
WHAT: Harvesting seeds, capturing animals(?), and trying to learn Science! (TM)
WHEN: During the Return Journey
WARNINGS: None Anticipated?

A. Farming Boy | OTA | Graq Homeworld

Was it strange that he found this world so damn fun? Probably not. The trees were strong, the food was abundant enough that for the first time since coming to their damn level of reality he was full as he needed to be. It was a relief. And the food? Fuck the food was good. Good enough that Tommy had been poking around at the Graq trying to ask questions.

Which was silly. Who needed questions. Tommy just needed the fruits and vegetables. Or at least, the ones he can find that have seeds.

Anyone approaching will find the speedster laying out a variety of fruit on a large piece of stone, considering them before he raises his hands at them.

"You might wanna stand back," he warns, because he's going to try playing with his powers in a whole new way. "These... could explode in a juicy manner. Not sure. Haven't been able to do an explosion since getting here but... well, it's try time."

His hope was that it was just the Agrii ship and planet that fucked with his powers. Then again, if it hadn't... then he had the most awesome idea for trying to get some seeds to long term storage really fast.

B. Bacon Time | OTA | Graq Homeworld, minor Network

Meat. Protein. Fucking GOOD long term food that can be bred and brought up to size with foods that are less desirable to mainly human constitutions? Yeah, Tommy's all on that. Right from the world go on tasting his first side of bacon, he resolves a plan. One that he broadcasts out to the network as a group-text.

Listen. Some of us need meat and protein and all that shit in greater quantities. So I suggest this. A 'hunting' party. We can cure and preserve some of the meat. But I also wanna capture one or two breeding pairs? So we can, like, have more meat in the future? I'm sorry if you're squish and all that, but some of us need this.

Anyway, I'm starting at about noon or whatever noon is here. That's an hour or so. I've put a coordinate point up, and I've woven nets from vines and trip ropes and other stuff. Anyone wanna help?

And at the appointed time, Tommy will be standing at those exact coordinates, with one of those hats like you'd see on an episode of some nature documentary with a wise-cracking Aussie in it. Where he got the hat will have to remain a mystery. Just like why he's doing an Aussie accent. Horribly.

"Well get on their mate, we're huntin' food!"

Horrible

C. Learning Science | OTA | Agrii Ship

The problem with only needing to sleep four hours a day when you're travelling on a ship where the aliens operate on a thirty hour day is... Well, a lot of things. Including keeping oneself entertained when trying not to go crazy from a sense of confinement. Sure, the Agrii ship is a LOT larger than the ships the 'guests' of the Agrii have used, but sooner or later, every space feels confined when he doesn't have a whole planet to explore.

Which had led to the strangest behavior from Tommy Shepherd. All throughout the day the young man can be seen loitering in all sorts of places. He loiters on the bridge, watching the Agrii manage their consoles there. He loiters in the engine room, watching the Agrii and Stark and Tuesti and anyone else who comes in as they look at the new engine core. He crawls through the confined spaces of the Jeffries Tubes ~~and maybe nerds out a little over the idea that he's in a fucking Jeffries Tube because he just happens to be a closet Trekkie~~ and looks at where all of the wires go. He even hangs out in the hangar and watches the people who know how to do it mess with modifying their ships.

Why is he doing it? Well, Calibrations had taught him one thing, if only from the way Tony had stared at him.

Maybe, just maybe, Tommy wasn't as dumb as everyone had always told him he was. Maybe he even wanted to explore that.

So, if he happens by someone studying something, he pipes up with a question.

"How do you think that works?"

And if someone catches him staring as an Agrii is working hard, he waves them back for a second, watching a delicate process complete before looking at them.

"What's up?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Everything is clearly too smart for the Agrii. It feels rude to say it in front of them, but there it is. They both agreed. Tommy keeps up with Tony easily, while somehow still managing to scuff his shoes against the floor in a manner bespeaking nervousness over what he's saying.

"Well, data from a sensor system has to come in through the computers to be processed, so that the ship doesn't crash, right? But if you're looking into the navigation systems and nothing seems really advanced and it doesn't explain things to you enough, then they might not be using the actual ship's sensor data. Which would mean that either sensor data is being relayed in from somewhere, or there are additional sensors on the ship taking in separate data."

"Yeah, that's..." Tony started, pointing the way they were going, because he thought they were already on the same page about this, but realized he hadn't said that part out loud and was just assuming Tommy was following. They had a while to go yet before Tommy could read him like that. "No, yes, you're right about that. Separate data would be unnecessarily complex if the intent is to have control over where the Agrii are going. There's a relay, like you said, we're going to look for it. Kitchen. Green Room. Come on, that was an hour ago," Tony smirked. "Why are you sure it would be outside?"

Tommy's definitely going where pointed. Sorry, he isn't that good at reading geniuses yet. He's working on it. He'll need it if he ever gets the courage to reach out toward David again.

But he does smile at the 'that was an hour ago'. Snail that learned fast, he likes it.

"I'm not. But that's what it would be on Star Trek. Something added to the sensor array, or the deflector dish. Because mostly you're not expecting data to come in from the dish since it's there to project the shields and warp bubble."

Yeah, go ahead, Tony. Call him on the nerdom.

"Spock knows that ship inside out, though," Tony pointed out, happy to talk about Star Trek at any time and of the general opinion that everyone should have watched it, and of course Tommy could understand the reference point. Because he was a nerd, yes, but Tony thought they had both already figure that out, too. "This isn't the Agrii's ship, the guys who made it didn't have to hastily throw their relay on the exterior and hope it was camouflaged, and the Agrii know just enough to function. If the navigation looks like it's working, no need to think about it or start wondering where the information is coming from. If you're trying to fuck with the Enterprise, you already know you're on the clock, you don't build to last, doesn't matter if your ghost gets blasted off in the next dogfight." They were already near the mess hall, but Tony had his own ideas about how he would get control of a Federation starship, so continued as they wandered into the kitchen to some baffled looks by the Agrii there, "If I was trying to get the Enterprise to go somewhere specific, I wouldn't be spoofing nav systems. I'm not going toe-to-toe with Sulu on his turf. You have to get the bridge crew scrambled, two pronged attack: fake distress signal from a planet full of beautiful women, then evacuate the rest of the ship with a self-destruct sequence. Easy."

Oh man, a FELLOW. Tommy's eyes light up because Tony isn't judging him and might actually TALK Star Trek with him. Oops. The nerd is excited. Don't tell his brother.

"Just make sure you're doing the fake distress call it's early series. Because he does get a lot more mature about not just jumping after any piece of tail later in the series. And if it's the remake movies, he just cares about getting himself a ship."

Damn, it's a great plan. Tommy grins.

"You're better than Khan. And admit it, you so want Sulu's ass."

"You don't have to get him distracted for long, just off the bridge so he doesn't pull the Captain Goes Down With His Ship speech during the self destruct," Tony pointed out. He was prepared for these eventualities, his plan was smash and grab theatrics. There wasn't a good guide in the kitchen for Tony to really know what might be out of place; most of it looked alien to him, and he wasn't confident in a more familiar Earth kitchen. They did plenty of microwaving, he could see that, but wasn't sure if another appliance was for mixing drinks or their navigation bug. Probably not.

"I would enthusiastically obliterate Sulu in a fencing match," he did agree, "but if it's ass I'm after on the Enterprise, Bones, easy. Uhura is a close second, obviously, but that's more of a long term relationship, and I don't commit well."

The more tony talks, the more Tommy smiles. This? This is easy. This is fun. This makes him feel good.

While they're in the kitchen Tommy takes a quick speedster second to slap together a sandwich for himself, and while Tony's commenting on Uhura, he's taking his first bite.

"You're not good enough for Uhura, no offense. Best thing the reboot did was let Spock and her get their kiss. And don't tell me you can't commit. You and Jon have seemed cozier."

Tommy smiling turned out to be a terrible omen for Tony, because saying 'no offence' did not negate the mountain offence he appeared to be striving for with every successive statement. First, not good enough for the hypercompetent space scientist, that was the kind of thing Tony told himself, kids weren't supposed to be able to point that out to him, he had a whole public persona that a few months in this place had obviously shattered. Second, who was rebooting Star Trek, and how was a romance the best part of it? Third, and by then Tony was already looking like he had been slapped, forgetting his hunt for a disguised relay to stare at Tommy incredulously, Tony seemed to have missed when Jon and Tommy had resolved their differences, because he sure as hell hadn't been sharing how cozy or not they had been. This all culminated in Tony asking, "What the fuck are you talking about?," sharply enough for a loitering Agrii to back away and realize they had something to do on the other side of the ship.

Oh come on, Tony. Uhura was a marrying girl, like Tony said. And that won't work for him. She deserves that, someone who devotes themselves to her first.

But Tony's on to something else and Tommy tilts his head at Tony. When did they resolve? Back on the in transit planets. But now he takes the question and frowns.

"Was I reading that wrong? You two looked really cozy when I came into the cafeteria for sandwiches. Shit, did I make something up? Fuck. He's clumsy, did he trip over you? Oh man, I'm sorry. That was insensitive."

Yeah, he suddenly seemed like he was contrite. Because he was.

"Shit, I was rooting for you guys. You were clearly both miserable over each other."

That didn't nearly explain the Star Trek reboot thing, and while Tommy's smile had ended up unsettling, Tony thought he preferred it to this posture. He looked much more like Billy suddenly, when he was supposed to be the cocky asshole that snapped back at Tony; Tony didn't know how he would handle both of them becoming over-apologetic. Did Star Trek break him?

The context made it clear what Tommy meant, but Tony narrowed his eyes skeptically, not sure how much Tommy knew he meant, and not about to be tricked into revealing any more. "Yeah, we're cozy. His Earth is more normal than the one you come from, it's cozy," he said, taking the reboot as further evidence that Tommy was obviously from a different dimension than him, and not that he just didn't pay attention to movies. "Who was miserable? I'm great. I thought you hated him. Is that what this is, you hate us both so we deserve each other?" Tony could have picked up on that animosity without knowing the details of what Jon did to Tommy, right? Probably. That wasn't tipping his hand too much, especially if he turned to give the kitchen a final glance over, giving up on finding whatever he was looking for there to keep Tommy moving and not thinking about this anymore. He waved the kitchen off, stalking out for the Green Room.

Well, part of the deep apologies and all of that was that... well, Tony had something Tommy wanted. A way to make Tommy feel better about himself. An idea that maybe he's not the worst and useful only for his speed. The chance to learn. No one ever had patience for him in those areas.

"Dude, same Earth. And if not, you and me are pretty much the same one. Or enough of one. Anyway, you were. On the beach. Drinking. And he was in another place, drinking. You were miserable."

His arms come up to cross defensively over his chest. Fuck.

"Listen, Jon stuck his nose into my business and then forced me to admit something I didn't want to. SO yeah, I hated him. But it's changed. We talked. In that Calibrations bullshit. Like you and I did. It... changed things."

Come on, Tony. Not like you aren't fucking Jon, right?

"I just thought you two finally talked and were, like, together. Which isn't bad. Because he's way better than Judgmental Asshole."

Does he have opinions on Reeve? Hell yeah. But if he knew Tony was making moves on Sansa too, well, Tommy MIGHT 'accidentally' lose Tony's favorite things out through an airlock.

Tony was not under the impression he had the ability to make anyone feel better about themselves, or that he had much patience, so it still wasn't clear to him what had changed how Tommy was treating him until Tommy suggested the Calibrations. Because they had fun together, was Tony fun now? Was that all it took to override what he did to piss Tommy off so much? He would figure it out eventually.

As much as Tony did appreciate Tommy not immediately chewing him out, on this reflection, he didn't appreciate how much Tommy seemed to be aware of and have opinions on his personal life. Especially without some apparently crucial context, because he had to ask, "Cap...?," not sure who else Judgmental Asshole could be in this tale Tommy had constructed.

No, it wasn't the fun. It was the Tony asking him questions and taking Tommy's comments seriously. Prompting Tommy to try and answer things. And not sounding hyper disappointed.

"Dude, I can't really picture you with any of the Caps. Because, like, you're intense in a way they aren't and probably can't handle. And I don't have a problem with Cap Spangles beyond his clear attempts to try and Dad at me. Because that ever works."

"Intense?" Tony parroted like he couldn't imagine what that could possibly mean. Not from Tommy, anyway, who made every interaction a contest. Tony had come to a stop again in the hall, having turned from defensive and under threat of an uncomfortable exposure, to baffled, having no way to anticipate any of this insight and not sure if he should be taking any of it into consideration, or just intrigued by the way Tommy's brain worked. It definitely was weird that he didn't think Steve was a judgmental asshole, he had more reason than an idle civilian to think so, mostly because he had interacted with Steve at least once. Tony thought this trait was unavoidable. "You've met Steve, right?" Tony continued, as though those two thoughts that actually made it out loud connected, and maybe they did; Steve's intensity was mostly in his ability to be judgmental. Tommy clearly interpreted that as being kind of a dad, which wasn't wrong, Tony supposed, do this the way I would do it because I am always right, that was a strong Dad energy. "Asshole and Dad can be pretty interchangeable," he acknowledged under his breath.

That Tommy didn't think Tony was suited to Cap was...fine, fair, but still offensive enough that Tony pouted and crossed his arms over his chest. That was still his friend, Tony thought they got along pretty well, cozy even, Cap seemed to be able to handle him fine. Who else was he that close to that Tommy would call Judgmental Asshole? Was Tony fixating on this because he didn't want to know what Tommy thought 'together' meant? "Who's the asshole? Are we there, are we worried about who each other socializes with?" Apparently, he was fixating. "Because I think you're doing fine, your friends are great, don't know how you pulled that off."

"He asks intensely," Tommy mumbles as he rolls his eyes. Come on, Tony, you have to see it. "Yes, you're intense. You're not, like, similar to Billy and Teddy. You're not the sort of guy that is going to be chill about romance. It doesn't happen slow and soft, with shy looks and all of that. You're Tony Stark. You're an experience. It's wining and dining and 'hold my napkin while I put on too many pounds of metal and save the world, I'll be back by dessert.' You're like David because you clearly don't sleep enough and you're high strung sometimes, and you take observations to be accusations. So yeah. You're intense. But Steve?"

How does he explain the man? Tommy sighs, fingers in his hair.

"When he's not in the uniform, he's not Captain America. Sure, you still want to be better than you are, but he's Steve. Steve exists when Cap doesn't. Steve's the default, Cap is the stepping up. But you? You're always Iron Man, even out of the armor. Because Iron Man and Tony Stark are inseparable ideas. You can't have one without the other. It's like Vision can't turn off being The Vision, even if he tried. And Banner can never escape being the Hulk, even when he's not big and green. Like me, how even when I'm Speed I'm Tommy and even when I'm Tommy I'm Speed. There's no light switch for us like there is for them."

Or that's how Tommy interprets it. There are those that live the work, and those that live outside of it. Tony Stark, as he always saw the man, lived the work.

"And I'm a fucking Shepherd. Asshole and Dad are not the same. Frank Shepherd is an Asshole, but he was never a Dad. They're... different. I don't take my family trauma and mistake that for the way real parents that should be allowed to have kids work."

Maybe Tony shouldn't either. Cap would be a very different father than Tony's dad had been. But Tommy would argue that friendships and romantic relationships were built on different surfaces. Sure, one came with the other, but there was still a different foundation.

"And the asshole is the stuffy dude in the suit ripping off your facial hair. The one with the weird cat doll. And I don't have friends."

He has people who haven't gotten annoyed at him and walked off yet.

Tommy had constructed an elaborate fantasy about how Tony handled his dating life, and the worst part was that Tony did not have a good argument against it. If he could pout irritably any harder, he would, forced to accept that he might be undateable and he would have to figure out how to be less intense if he wanted what Billy and Teddy had, but that would also mean he was taking dating advice from this teenager. Was that what was happening? He had a hard time believing that Tommy thought 'slow and soft' were good things, but he had certainly established a strong dichotomy of Tony on one side, and the sappy engaged couple and the best thing that ever happened to him on the other.

Luckily, the rest of this explanation was ludicrous. The pout quickly transformed into a raised lip of confusion, ready with an argument then, "The Iron Man is a suit--" but it quickly felt meaningless because Tommy had to see the flaw in his own argument. Tommy, Vizh and Bruce couldn't turn it off because it was part of how their bodies, and hearts, were built; anyone could put on the suit, and be a better Iron Man than Tony ever was.

"Hey, you know how I know you don't take after your uncle? I can barely get him to say two words to me," Tony was muttering as Tommy yet continued, speaking of weird family dynamics. That thing about Frank not even earning the Dad title was probably worth digging into, if it wasn't surrounded by so much other noise apparently designed to confuse Tony. Case in point, Tony still was nowhere closer to figuring out who Tommy was talking about with the visual description, until he offered 'cat doll', and even then had to confirm, "What? Reeve? No," trying to think of anyone else who might have a cat doll and a beard and coming up blank. Of the people Tony would identify as 'Judgmental Asshole', Reeve hadn't even ranked. Tommy really must have brought the worst out in people. Pinching the bridge of his nose, trying to distill what Tommy was trying to tell him before he could keep doing it, Tony produced, "So David isn't a friend?" He didn't ever seem to come up as a friend, always to apparently specifically bewilder Tony.

Iron Man isn't just a suit. It's a mentality. And come on, he KNOWS he is like Pietro, it's just... Pietro sought approval from his twin. Tommy sought it from others.

But what throws him off is the question about David. Tony has clearly seen speedsters coming to a sudden physical stop. The look on Tommy's face is the mental equivalent.

David is...

"David's too good to be my friend. He'll figure that out."

A guy that goes to the ends of the multiverse for months to save Tommy when Tommy had known him for only hours... But the guy hadn't seemed interested when Tommy flirted, even if they'd had a kiss. And what guy was going to put up with Tommy's shit. Listen, coming to terms with his sexuality hasn't been easy. And falling over a guy that is so far out of his league is so difficult.

Finally, Tony's smile was back, a small upturn at the corner of his mouth that he covered with a scratch to his beard and knuckles press thoughtfully to his lips, like he was just scrutinizing Tommy and this answer curiously. Around his hand, he muttered, "Yeah, probably," before he reached for Tommy's shoulder to tug him closer and against Tony's side to continue their walk down the hall at a surely excruciating pace. He hadn't figured out the right code to talk himself out of that thought, either, and so far the theory had only been confirmed repeatedly, including Cap just telling Tony that he was going to walk away the first good chance he got, but to see that particular pathology reflected at him so openly scratched at a tender part of him that he thought the booze was supposed to solder. Playing well out of his league was Tony's specialty, and Tommy would have been very aware of that if he didn't have this misconception about the Iron Man; some guys had to buy their way into the right circles. "But let me worry about the future, kid," Tony insisted, free hand to his heart; that was Tony's temple, Tommy had no business in it doing any of this future worrying himself, because he was terrible at it. Tony had the experience to be making those kind of calls. "If he hasn't figured it out yet, it's up to you to draw that out. Keep him dazzled with your talents."

The pace was beyond excruciating. And Tommy wanted to run, so bad. This was so weird, to be happening and all that. This is weird. This is so weird and Tommy just glares down at his feet.

Does Tony think Tommy hadn't been hopeful about this? Because he has. But it's stupid. It's not going to happen.

"What talents? I talk fast, I run fast, I below things up. And he's... he's a genius. A genius pumped up by the whole formerly psychomimetic mutant thing. I'm just another fucking annoying speedster."

"Come on, like geniuses aren't a dime a dozen. There's five on this ship," Tony pointed out. If it was genius that Tommy found so enthralling, he wouldn't have such a low opinion of so many of them, so there had to be something less mystical about David that he saw some value in, and it shouldn't have been hard to extrapolate that. "There's only one speedster. Granted, you are very fucking annoying." For all of Tommy's anxieties about not being a beautifully unique creature, he could at least let them go a little bit in this environment, if he was ever going to get that opportunity. Having Billy around definitely didn't help, but Tommy must be able to see he fit a very distinct niche of his own in their little community. "You've got a new cooking skill," Tony proposed, palm up and open, "An absolute ass magnet of a talent. The next time you see David, you're going to knock him over."

"Not ones like him," Tommy says, unable to help himself from snapping at Tony over a perceived slight aimed at David. So yeah, he MIGHT have a bit of a crush on the guy. "They don't make geniuses like him, Stark. He's a mutant. Geniuses like him are a bit different."

Was a mutant. Tommy's mom took that away from him. And Tommy felt like shit over it. He sighs and shakes his head.

He's just an asshole speedster that likes attention and partying. He's a fucking microwavable burrito and David is filet mignon served at some fancy restaurant.

"I can barely cook, and his dad was a chef. Which means he's a fucking chef. So that's not going to impress him."

Shit, when did this turn into talking about his stupid crush? Fucking hell, Tony. Why can't he just learn to think smart from Tony? Why does it always have to turn into emotions talk?

Tony was trying to talk about Star Trek, he didn't cause this problem. Tommy only had himself to blame; it wasn't like Tony willingly bared his soul to a mirror, let alone a Young Avenger. His gesturing hand landed lightly on his chest in prim apology for debasing David in such a way as comparing him to some every day math whiz like Tommy, sorry, he should have known better. A mutant genius was different. Tommy didn't seem unengaged in the effort to impress David, though, just his typical perpetual negativity, so Tony accepted, "See, ass magnet, worked on you," before tapping at his chest thoughtfully. "Are you going to tell me his mom's a botanist? What about your plants? Some people around here just put things they find on the ground in their mouths and hope they don't die." Tony wouldn't associate with any people like that, of course.

Tommy still doesn't think he's that smart. But no, there's no botany. It's just... no one is impressed by someone who grows things. Not really.

"Some people are just like that. But, it doesn't matter. He's not here."

Sad and resigned? Yeah. Tommy knows it's worse than that. He's not even lovable in a real way, so even if David WERE here, he'd want something else.

"He's into Teddy, apparently, So yeah, totally not his type."

That was the problem, wasn't it? This relationship was never going to work if Tommy was stuck in a different dimension, and Tony didn't really feel any closer to getting any of them home. Nonetheless, he scrubbed his hand through Tommy's hair and promised, "You'll see him soon. What do you think I've been doing this whole time?" Maybe by the time Tony actually figured it out and delivered, Tommy will have figured out a fraction of self-confidence. Until then, "Hey, what about that isn't good news? Teddy's engaged, off the market. Perfect time to make yourself very available to rest his weary, pining head." Self-confidence wasn't really Tony's area in any meaningful way. Manipulating a less than ideal situation to take advantage of, that he had advice for. "Anyway, who isn't into Teddy? Look at him. Of course he is. That's a hurdle you're going to have to get over with everyone you introduce to him."

Dude, don't muss his hair. Tommy ducks the touch. Wow, that's just way too familiar.

"He kissed Teddy while Teddy was engaged," Tommy grumbles.

And he didn't INTEND to introduce the hot guy at work to Teddy and Billy. That was supposed to be something that was his and his alone. They could have just... be there. Together. But David didn't even want to go to a club.

"We've only had coffee and noodles. And the one kiss. But he wasn't kissing me. He was kissing something that kidnapped me and then bam, creepy magic shit and there I was instead."

And he'd pushed the guy away and run off to a party and kissed Kate and... worst. He was the worst.

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wow rude computer posting something not even REMOTELY done

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