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?"

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Well, Tommy wasn’t going to be completely alone for long. Not as a certain messenger boy returned from delivering what he was sure was the tenth bouquet with a note attached that day. This whole… Cherishment thing? He kind of got it, but also kind of didn’t get it. It seemed nice enough, but he also wondered why people would choose specific times of year for it instead of doing it whenever they wanted to.

Mono had mostly been keeping to himself since January, aside from working, but he was still feeling a little off balance with everything that had happened. But there was something rather lively about all this, and the chocolates had definitely put the kid in a better mood given his sweet tooth. Still, he was rubbing his cheek with a little confused pout as he entered. “Hi, Tommy. People are weird right now.” That was it, that was the statement made as he took off his little postman hat and set it down.

Edited 2022-02-16 04:00 (UTC)

Mono's back. Tommy smiles and fetches out the final chocolate that he'd been saving for the kid. This he passed over to Mono and offered the kid a seat to rest by the warmth.

"It's the season of love, Kiddo."

He hauled himself up on the seat and put his hands by the warmth for a moment, before his eyes lit up at the offered chocolate. Yes, that definitely improved the kid’s mood. “I noticed that. Everyone’s all mushy about it!”

Not that it was a bad thing, no. It was just… weird to see in such abundance. “Last delivery was to this old lady who wouldn’t stop gushing that I was the cutest little messenger of love and cheer when I delivered her flowers.” His tone shifted comically, doing a voice before he dropped it and focused on nibbling on the chocolate. “I thought she was gonna pinch my cheeks.” He mumbled around it, shaking his head a little.

"Well, hate to break it to you kid, but you're fucking adorable," Tommy answered with a shrug. He believes it. "And you're lucky to escape pinched cheeks. Someone's done that to me too, and I'm an adult."

“Not you too!” the kid responded with a dramatic little sigh. He wasn’t cute! At least, he was pretty sure he wasn’t considered cute back in his world.

The reminder that Tommy was an adult just makes him wonder if it was a weird adult thing normal in other worlds. Admittedly, the mental image of Tommy getting his cheeks pinched even as an adult gets surprised startle. “Why do people even do it? It’s weird!!”

Oh that's a great dramatic sigh. He chuckled at the look. Sorry kid, that's cute too.

"No fucking clue, Mono. It's definitely not something I'm used to either. Billy's Bubbe does it to me sometimes."

Mono frowned at the chuckle, and decide that even if Tommy was much cooler than most adults? He was still a weird adult about this stuff.

But the comment gets a curious little glance again as he finished off his chocolate. “Billy?” He liked Billy, or he had before the boy disappeared. He missed him, honestly, and it was kind of weird being the only kid who wasn’t a local. “What’s a Bubbe?” He repeated more curiously, someone of Billy’s, but it wasn’t a word he was familiar with.

Dude, Tommy's weird about tons of shit. But that wasn't hte Billy he'd meant.

And if Mono thought he missed Billy, he couldn't even understand how Tommy felt without him.

"It's a word that means grandmother in Yiddish. It's a language his family speaks."

Mono didn’t know that, of course. Or at least, his idea of weird was a bit different, so he only noticed some weird things more than others.

The kid tilted his head thoughtfully at that. He didn’t know much about other languages. He might have heard some people using them around the city, but he’d never really asked about it since he didn’t know what they were called. “Oh! So it’s a word for grandmother. That’s neat. No one really talks where I’m from anymore, so I dunno about other languages.”

"Why don't they talk?"

Tommy definitely thought that was a bit weird, a bit confused over what the kid meant by that. Clearly he spoke after all.

“’Cause they can’t? I mean… Most people can't, anyway.” Mono responded, and the kid’s words were chosen a bit carefully. Like he knows it’s weird, and he knows the answer isn’t something most people were going to just accept and move on.

“There’s a thing in the television…? Kinda draws people in. It starts by taking away what people need to talk.” Mono referred to those people as ‘the viewers.’ He was pretty sure the Man in the Hat and the thing in the television worked together somehow. And it seemed to mostly be adults, but kids were pretty rare in the Pale City at this point. Running into Six had been a surprise, but she had also been on an island further away from the city.

“Then other people are just… They’re different. They just make a lot of weird sounds when they spot you.” So that probably gave a pretty good indication of why his views were a bit skewed when interacting with people here. There really weren't any 'normal' adults left for him to turn to where he came from.

Can't? Tommy looks a bit shaken by that. It wasn't true of his own world if he's honest, and that means it makes him feel weird. Sorry kid, he wasn't going to be less like other people like that.

"Shit man, you've had some really bad stuff happen around you. Guess this place must make literally no sense."

Mono hadn’t expected him to. It was why he had felt so different from everyone else and why he had started to assume everyone else came from much nicer worlds.

But he nodded quickly, “It really doesn’t sometimes!” The place was so full of life, and people were so... Normal, and kind. “I mean... It’s confusing... But in a good way? At least now it is. I kept expecting it to change for a while.” He shrugged his little shoulders a bit before he leaned closer to the heater with his hands again.

“The only place that I’ve seen so far that kinda reminds me of home was that Limbo place of Illyana’s.” It was still different, closer than this place. Plus, it had that one pretty garden that she'd taken him to see on their little excursion, there was nothing like that in his world.

Niceness is variable. After all, Mono had been horrified by some of what Tommy had gone through. And Tommy was horrified by some of Mono's world. It was about balance at this point. Or as close to it as they could achieve.

"No guarantee it won't change. But hopefully it won't be for the worse. And... uh, that's probably not good? I think Limbo is a hell dimension."

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.”

[ooc: let me know if this is okay.]

Her time living in the city had been relatively uneventful but that didn't mean it had gone unnoticed. There was an air of mystery in her countenance that drew stubborn and ignorant callers to clamor for her attention. Enis knew of Valentine's day and was surprised when she found out that there was a holiday similar to it in the city. She decided to avoid everyone and work through the holiday but she hadn't been spared from those wishing to spread love.

By midday there was a sign on the door of the Grave Concoctions store that read: NO LOVE POTIONS!

It was around this time that a young squirrely man had approached Tommy at his stall. He had a small package in his hand that was made out to a woman named Enis. He stuttered when he spoke, asking to have the package delivered to Grave Concoctions that was located next to the cemetery. He seemed uneasy about any of the younger package runners walking alone next to the cemetery and asked if Tommy could take it when he was finished working at the stall. As long as it was delivered that day.

Jacob was familiar with Tommy's deliveries by now and while he didn't like taking breaks during work, he's come to look forward to seeing the speedster. It was more convient to have Tommy deliver the wood that came in and out of the shop than having to do that part of the job himself.

"Same as yesterday." He answered with a grin. "This Cherishment thing is making everyone busy. I hope you're remembering to take a break."

It's a weird request, but hey, Tommy would take it. If this dude was that jumpy over the fact that the kids shouldn't go there, well, Tommy would oblige. The guy was the one paying. Once payment was handed over Tommy gave control of the sall over to one of his kid lieutenants and was gone with a step.

And stepping into Grave Concoctions as he tried to slow himself down. He even opened his mouth to greet the worker until he saw...

"ENIS!" he cheered happily, blurring over to the counter in a rush to look at her with excitement. "You're here! When did you get here? Gar and I have been for months now. Oh, and Speedy of course. This place is sorta cool, you know. Yeah, no club, but also no nightmares so far, so that's awesome."

"Breaks are for March," Tommy dismissed. Too much was happening and he didn't want to overwork the kids. "Speaking of busy... Got a commission for you guys."

"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.”

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[Open] Delivery Boy Here

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I. -ish

II. Commissioning A Gift

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