Gotta Live Fast

[doubled_speed]

Who; Tommy Shepherd, OTA
What; Tommy Adjusting to the town and work
Where; Markets, Hunters Lodge, Residence Square
When; Early to Mid August
Warnings; Tommy is prone to swearing

1. A Taste Of Family | Markets
Some days it was hard not to miss the people you loved. This was something Tommy was more than used to after his time as a captive of the Sphere. Most of the time he didn't know what to do with that tension that bubbled up in him, but today, he had an idea. Which was why Tommy, completely with Speedy's bag over his shoulder, was moving slowly through the markets. Slowly because he didn't really know what all he was going to do about sufficient food. So for now it was about conserving energy, walking the line between too much energy use to stay slow and too much energy use by going fast.

For now he was at a spice merchant, looking over some of their stocks. He needed to find the right spices, but he couldn't always remember the names, which meant a lot of careful sniffing. He had to figure out which ones went into paprikash so he could save up a bit of money and then buy what he'd need. Later. Because he couldn't indulge in spices right now.

"I can't tell if this is normal paprika or hungarian," he sighed as he straightened. This was impossible.


2. Do You Want Fries With That? | Hunter's Lodge
There was a new level of efficiency at meal times at the Hunter's Lodge. A young man with snow white hair and silver googles holding orange tinted lenses on. There would be only the space between a blink between someone settling at a table and Tommy's arrival, unless he was talking to another customer. And at his arrival there was definitely a mug of water set down in front of the person that wouldn't have been in Tommy's hand wherever he was before.

"Hey," he greeted. "Wanna know the specials? Or do you have a specific thing in mind already?"

When he wasn't serving tables he did hover by the kitchen door, though, waiting for new arrivals or people needing assistance, or just food that needed to go out.


3. If I Had A Quarter For Every Time I Counted These Coins... | Residence Square
Money. That really was always the start and stop of all problems wasn't it? Well, he supposed in this case it was less money and the fact that his stomach was... really needy.

These thoughts occurred to Tommy as he sat in one of the chairs that existed in the central courtyard between all of the colored residential buildings. Unloaded into his hand was a pile of coins, which he was counting in frustration not for the first time.

It was like being in high school again, before he stopped going to high school. When there was never enough, no matter how much he wanted there to be enough. He needed something more if he was to sustain himself here. The Sphere had done so much to take care of them...

"Not that I'm very good for being anything other than fast," he lamented to himself out loud. How was he supposed to make this work?

Comments

3

[dorkasaurus_rex]

Billy was trying to get the lay of the land, wandering out to the courtyard. The figure sat out there quickly caught his eye, Billy trying to get a better look while looking like he wasn't. Only he was ten, so it was VERY obvious that he was looking.

Because how many people had hair like that? Billy could only think of his Uncle. Or not-Uncle... whoever he really was.

He tried to take a seat near enough to maintain his cover, tapping his fingers together and starring straight ahead when he thought he'd been spotted, realizing he didn't have a very good cover at all.

[doubled_speed]

Oh come on kid. Tommy might be caught up on the fact that he's going to have money issues (and soon even more because there was no way that he wasn't adopting his brother), but he's got eyes. And the boy staring at him was a thing.

Fine, time to deal with that. Tommy moves. In less than a second his money was in its pouch, the pouch in his pocket, and Tommy's chair literally put down next to Billy with Tommy sitting in it.

"You eyeing me, kid?"

[dorkasaurus_rex]

Billy started in surprise, but his face broke into a wide grin at that display of powers. Was white hair a speedster thing? Was Tommy going to have white hair one day too?

"No-" he lied automatically, cheeks flushed.

[doubled_speed]

Dude, are you enjoying this? Of course you are. Tommy's amazing.

"Yeah, you really are. What's up with that?"

[dorkasaurus_rex]

"You just look like someone I know," he explained, looking a bit sheepish, but still not able to shake that smile.

[doubled_speed]

Look like someone he knows? Tommy frowns at that. Then shrugs it off.

"So your parents taught you it was cool to stare at someone because they're sorta familiar?"

[dorkasaurus_rex]

"I wasn't starring," Billy argues petulantly, "Did yours teach you it was cool to-..." Damn. He started that comeback without an ending, and now he falters, lips pressing into a thin line.

1

[faithfulsupport]

Ignis was in the market place looking for some more of those delicious crabs he'd gotten. Nida had thoroughly enjoyed them and he'd also come across a recipe for something called clam fritters. So as he was perusing the fish market, he knew he'd have to come up with a breading for the fritters.

After making his selections regarding the crabs and clams, the seafood vendor wrapped his purchases and held onto them for him as he had mentioned that he needed to get over to the spices. Moving over there he spotted a familiar head of silver hair and overheard what was said.

Taking a look at it, Ignis nodded. "That is actual paprika."

Re: 1

[doubled_speed]

Who was weighing in? Tommy looked up and finally saw the man, understanding what was happening. The dude from the talking about cooking. Huh, that worked.

“Well, I’m looking for the stuff that’s like that but hot.”

[faithfulsupport]

"I see." Ignis said, as he started to help the youth look around. Not that it was his own personal quest as such but the advisor had a penchant for helping. So he looked up and nodded with a smile to the spice vendor.

"Ah Mister Ignis. You have returned yet again to my humble shop. How might I be of assistance to you today?"

The advisor smiled and gestured with his head to Tommy. "My companion here is in search of an ingredient, and I would appreciate if you could see about helping him out." And that's when the spice keeper turned to the youth. "And how might I help you out today lad?"

[doubled_speed]

It really was him then. The guy that seemed, like, intense about the whole thing about the chef there. Oh boy. This was awkward, right? At least he's got a name now.

"Uh," he said, caught off guard, and then gestured to the paprika. "Do you have something like this but it's, like, hot on the tongue?"

[faithfulsupport]

The elder shopkeeper looked at Ignis who nodded once. So the man led him behind the little stall to where he had every spice that he didn't show to the general populace. "If I have what you're searching for young sir, it will be among these."

In the meantime, Ignis was busy purchasing flour and other ingredients from the shop for his upcoming fritter batter.

[doubled_speed]

Weird, that Ignis was just butting out when he's already but in. HE had to look to Ignis.

"You're not even curious about what I want it for?"

Fries

[areasontohope]

Yuki had been exploring the town after work and had decided not to bring Haru with him. So he went wandering around, his head full of thoughts between his training lessons and what he should do next. He was still serious about maybe getting a classroom together especially for the young kids who didn't seem to have anywhere to go.

It would be a little tough too because maybe some of the kids (going by the looks of them) didn't have enough food and even if his high school provided lunch, well he'd have to figure that out. And he was going to need to do a harvest soon anyhow.

So as he pondered that, his gray eyes looked up at the hunting lodge. And while he wasn't Uotani with her two or three jobs, maybe it wasn't a bad idea. So he decided to open the heavy wooden oak door and peered inside.

He still had plenty of coins and luckily he thought to bring them with him today in his blue pouch. Looking around it didn't seem as if he needed to wait to be seated, so he sat down and picked up a menu.

Re: Fries

[doubled_speed]

There wasn’t very long at all between when Yuki sat down and the moment that there was a glass of water being put down in front of him.

“Hey, nice hair. Wanna know the specials today?”

[areasontohope]

It seemed he no sooner sat and a water appeared. But then he blinked up at being told he had nice hair. Did Tommy just really say that to him?

"Ah.."

So his face turned a bit red and he looked down at the glass of water on the table as if it was his only anchor to reality at the moment. And when he spoke in his usual soft tone, it was to the object on the table.

"Uhm..yes please..if you don't mind."

[doubled_speed]

"Alright," Tommy said, pulling out a notepad to read it off.

"Looks like today he's got a bean salad with some sorta mint sauce. Um, something called Mother Child bowl, I think it's eggs and chicken and rice? Then there's the soup of the day, it's a cream of mushroom and hte mushrooms are super fresh. The meat option is a filet of something beef-like with a side of green beans which is really good, and even some new potatoes. I seriously recommend it."

[areasontohope]

Beans weren't bad because he liked natto which was fermented beans. But he ruled it out with the mint. And he didn't pay much attention to the Mother Child bowl until he heard the magic word of rice. So that's what he was about to order that when Tommy went on about the mushroom soup with fresh mushrooms but he had no idea what to make of the 'something beef-like'.

Thinking on the 'beef like' comment was the reason that made him look up at Tommy and his grey eyes blinked. Somehow he really just noticed the colour of the other's hair and made a connection in his mind.

Oh

Then he looked back at the table. "I'll just..have that bowl thing you mentioned, and some of the mushroom soup too." Whatever he didn't finish, he'd bring home.

[doubled_speed]

Tommy really needed to learn the menu better so he could, you know, take care of the customers better.

"Awesome, one mother child bowl and the mushroom soup for appetizer. That comes with some bread. White or wheat?"

Sorry Man, I Got Us Some Kids - Closed to Gar

[doubled_speed]

Tommy... Didn't know how to explain this. It had happened, though, and he knew it was something he was going to have to talk to his boyfriend about. Of course Tommy had been pacing through his apartment ever since he had realized this was a conversation they needed to have.

A quick text to Gar to ask his boyfriend to come by when he could spare a moment, and then Tommy started spiraling into thinking too much about worst possible scenarios. What if Gar hated him for this? What if they broke up? What if Gar decided this was too much work? Or didn't like Billy? Or the other way around?

There was way too much time fr a speedster to sink in to his mind. And Tommy was worked up bad.

[garrrr]

Gar is a bit confused by the text. It's not the way that Tommy usually texts really and so there's an inkling of worry as he makes his way to Tommy immediately.

"Tommy?" he asks, once he's inside and can go to his boyfriend. "What's wrong?" because Tommy looks distressed.

[doubled_speed]

Oh boy. Oh boy. Gar's there. And Tommy is still pacing nervously as he looks at his boyfriend. This is a moment, isn't it? A telling one for the relationships. Or so he thinks. Is he right? Is he wrong? Fuck.

"uh, so you know how I told you I have a twin, right?"

[garrrr]

"Right," Gar isn't sure where this is going or why Tommy's acting so jumpy. "What about it, Tommy?"

[doubled_speed]

"Well, uh... he's sorta here," Tommy explained, still clearly fretting.

How did he really make this okay?

[garrrr]

"So... what's the issue, Tommy?" Gar says, looking even more confused.