aterat | [Open] Delivery Boy Here

Entry tags:

[Open] Delivery Boy Here

Who; Tommy Shepherd, Jacob, Open
What; Cherishment Deliveries and Tommy's Market Stall
Where; Markets
When;
Warnings;

I. Business Gotta Business | Open
Valentine's, but it wasn't really that. still, Tommy had seen this shit before, and honestly, he'd made some spare bucks at this time of the year, going abroad to get certain gifts for people who wanted to impress their partners.

Here at least he had better reasons to do it. The city was full of the joy and gifts and everything else. And Tommy? He had a fleet of messenger girls and boys to help provide for. So their little stall in the market got a minor remodeling with samples of different business's work. Some cloth flowers from that former King's booth, which Tommy had a sign with that explained where to find that stall. There some nice candles with directions to the chandler's shop for those and nice soaps. And of course there was a box of chocolates. or what had been a box of chocolates because Tommy did nothing to stop his courier kids from taking food from the stall if it wasn't a delivery bound to happen. That one had a sign that said 'chocolates so good they didn't last' and directed to the chocolateer's.

"Deliveries," Tommy called out, sounding more bored than anything. "Wanna send something to a secret admirer? We'll get it there, perhaps even in the next second. Surprise them with flowers appearing in front of their eyes."

He knew the kids were mostly out delivering notes and flowers and other gifts as fleetly as their little feet (all booted because Tommy had put no small amount of the business's funds into getting shoes and warm winter coats for his kids), leaving him alone to manage the stall. He hated being alone. Even his smallest kid, a little girl named Jenica, had gone rushing off with a love note, so all he could do was keep the brazier in the covered stall going and try not to go mad with boredom.

Who knew being a responsible adult could suck so much?

II. Commissioning A Gift | Closed to Jacob
If Tommy had one regular business as a customer that wasn't the lodge, it was Gary's. Wood was always needed. Supplies for sealing carvings mattered too. He absolutely had to do regular deliveries, but it was fine. Fine because Jacob was there, and he called out to the young man who was often there to officially 'receive' deliveries from the cart Tommy was hauling behind himself.

"Hey Jakey-boy," Tommy said with a smirk. "You good today?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It was true; it had been both an upsetting discovery to see Tommy going through something so terrible and disappointing to realize that all worlds had terrible things in them…

“Yeah, I know it might… But at least it’s not like my world. I don’t wanna ever see it get like that. I don’t like to think people might become like they were there.” He responded with a small frown. He didn’t want to lose all the nice friends he’d made, and he definitely didn’t want to see them all slowly turned into monsters. Mono nodded though, “That’s what I was told about it. I stayed really close to Illyana, but I think if I’d have wandered I’d have found a lot like my world. I don’t think my world was always like that, though… I think it’s just something that happened over time when the signals got all corrupted.”

"You and me both kid," Tommy said with a shrug. "What you've been through sounds like a hell dimension too. I mean, not glad that you're here when you don't necessarily want to be, but also sorta glad you are."

When the signals got corrupted? Tommy wondered what that meant.

Mono shook his head a little, “Thanks… I don’t really mind being here, ‘cause it really is nicer. If my friend Six was here, I wouldn’t even mind staying… But I gotta go home and get her back, ‘cause someone really bad got her.” And it was his own fault, he was pretty sure… So he had to make that right, he had to save her because they were a team… She was the first friend he’d had in a really long time in his world.

As for the signals? Well, it was complicated. More complicated than even Mono could explain, especially since it was more connected to him than he realized.

"I wish I could help you save her," Tommy said, sighing. He was a hero like that. No, this wasn't something he could do for the kid, even if he wanted to.

"Well, if she shows up, I'll hire her too."

“Thanks Tommy…” He responded, glancing up at the man. Mono really appreciated that, especially since he knew Tommy was a hero and had already helped him once before. But… “I wouldn’t want you to see my world anyway, even if I think you’d probably be able to get her back really fast.” He responded, shrugging his shoulders a little. There were too many bad things there, and there was a small part of him that was worried about what being in his world might do to adults who hadn’t been exposed to the draw of the signal before.

Plus… As fast as Tommy was? The man in the hat could do some really weird stuff, and the kid wasn’t sure how that kind of confrontation would work out.

He brightened a little at that. “Yeah? That would be great. Then we could work together.”

"Yeah, no, chances are something in your world would fuck me up a lot. Probably better not to try," Tommy answered, but he sounded sad.

He wished he could make it easier for this kid. A lot easier.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to ya.” He responded with a serious nod. He was going to deal with all this on his own… At some point, he supposed, when he went back. At Tommy’s rather sad tone, though, the kid tilted his head up again. “But some people say thoughts count, right? So um… I appreciate that you wanna help, even if you can’t.”

"Yeah, that's a bullshit statement," Tommy sighed, shaking his head. No, he didn't think the thought counted. "Thoughts counting is like, a way to cop out on doing shit."

“I guess…?” Mono blinked, a little uncertainly. “But like, you can’t do anything about it even if you want to. So that kinda counts, I think…?” At least he figured as much. It wasn’t like anyone could do anything about his situation. At the end of the day, it came down to him fixing things on his own or not fixing them… Tommy couldn’t help that.

Tommy was just an angry man, hating when he couldn't make other people happy or safer. This was so stupid.

"I guess I just hate feeling powerless."

Mono shrugged at that. “It’s kinda annoying, not being able to do stuff... I know that.” He did. Goodness knew he wasn’t sure what he was actually going to do when he went back. Knowing what you needed to do, and knowing how to go about it, were two very different things.

“But you help me here! Like now I got shoes and a winter coat, and a job.” These were all very important things he’d done without them the prior winter, after all. “And you said you’d help my friend too, if she shows up.”

"Of course I help you here. If I gave shit to my other employees and didn't give it to you too it'd be unfair, right? People that have been through shit like us? We gotta stick together. Other people don't get it."

Hell, he doesn't fully get it either, but he was trying.

Mono fell silent again, thinking about that a bit. “I guess that’s true... They try to get it, but I think it’s hard for them to understand.” And even if Tommy didn’t fully get it, he seemed to more than some other people. Mono had started to pick up on it with a few people, people who understood more easily than others based on their reactions. Which made it a bit difficult sometimes to figure out how to talk to them.

But it was weirdly comforting to have the people who did get it, even if he sometimes felt a bit bad. Because going through bad stuff like they had...? The kid wished they hadn’t, especially people he cared about.

“And it’s important to stick together, stuffs easier when you got people than it is when you’re alone. Six and I kinda figured that out after a while.” The kid added with a little nod. Though it had more been her that hadn't been as keen on the idea at first. He had to win her over... Mostly by being useful. But to be fair, Mono knew he his people skills hadn't proved to be good.

"Well, I've learned that a while back. It was a hard lesson for me to learn. But I can do my best with it," he said, shrugging.

"You learned way younger than I did."

“Yeah? Well, you probably didn’t have as hard a time reaching doorknobs and stuff as we did.” He responded with a small, tilted grin. “Eventually, you kinda realize having someone to boost up or push heavy things around means making progress easier.” At least that was how Six had eventually warmed up to the idea of having him around, that and saving her from the hunter...

But probably mostly help the reaching stuff thing.

"I mean you're not wrong, I definitely have that. But I can't reach the top shelf all the time."

So yeah, even he can't always reach stuff.

Mono knew he wasn’t wrong. Things were scaled very differently in other worlds from what he’d seen between this one and those in people’s memories. But he tilted his head. “Then that’s when you need someone to help ya. Like you can ask your boyfriend to help, or if ya wanna boost me up I can get stuff you can’t reach like I did with Six.” He nodded, tone amusingly serious.

"Gar isn't tall either," Tommy laughs, trying to picture it. That said, all the guy had to do was learn new forms. He could see his love turning into a monkey to go up to a cabinet and open it for Tommy. That would work.

"But I can definitely boost you. Hold on, here let me show you."

He offers a hand out to Mono.

“You’re all taller than me!” He responded with a little childish amused huff, “And you’re all not too tall, which is good.” He added with a nod. There was such a thing as too tall. The people who were too tall were people he was too nervous to talk to generally. Harry had only just made some progress with the kid, even if it had taken a rather awkward encounter to get there.

Mono blinked a little, wondering at the idea of a demonstration right then and there. Was it different from what he knew? Probably, the kid supposed a lot of things were different. “Yeah? Okay, show me!” He responded, taking the offered hand.

"Yeah, we are, most of the time at least. You're about as tall as Gar is when he gets smaller. But that's another matter entirely."

That said, when he had Mono's hand, he smiles.

"Nope. Wrap both of your hands over mine and hold onto your own arms REALLY tight, okay?"

Mono looked a little confused by that, tilting his head before he did as instructed. Shifting his hold to how Tommy had suggested, hanging on tighter. “Just like this, Tommy?”

Something of note that might strike one as surprising was that Mono was definitely stronger than he looked for a kid his age and size.

Yep, definitely like that. And Tommy, with a smirk, started doing bicep curls, easily lifting Mono. Like it meant nothing ot him. Like he was too strong to even notice Mono's weight.

"To be fast, my muscles are all different. Means my arms are stronger too. Not, like, super strong, but stronger than someone my size."

Mono’s mouth popped open in a surprised ‘o’ as Tommy started doing bicep curls and lifted him like it was nothing. “That’s really neat!!” He responded, eyes wide. “I knew you were fast, but I didn’t know you were strong too!” He responded, sounding a little awed.

It did make sense, at least based on how Tommy had explained it, but it wasn’t something the kid would have thought of himself.

"It's all in the muscles, kid. I'm a speedster, yeah, but I'm the only speedster other than my uncle whose powers come purely from my body's abilities."

There were plenty of speedsters who gained their powers from other things, or were powered other ways. But Tommy and his uncle Pietro were powered only by their bodies.

“A speedster…” He repeated carefully. Mono hadn’t heard the term before, but it definitely fit with what Tommy could do. “That’s really neat, though. So you’re really fast and strong! That must make you really good at being a hero.” He responded, remembering one of their last conversations. Mono wished his world had heroes, people who could have stopped everything before it got as bad as it did.

Maybe things would have been different if people had been around to fight the signal before it corrupted everything…

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