aterat | [OPEN] Kindness For Children

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[OPEN] Kindness For Children

Who; Tommy Shepherd, Open
What; Small Pranks and Halloween Plans
Where; Apartment Common Rooms, Courtyard Outside of Apartment Buildings
When; Week of October 10th
Warnings; None Anticipated

I. An Homage To Loki | Apartment Building Common Rooms

It was that time of the year again, perhaps the hardest for Tommy in some ways. With what would be Halloween (and thus his birthday) approaching, a black mood was settling over the speedster. He wanted nothing more than to flee, to hide, to fall back on old habits and avoid it all. But there were those who would disapprove of that he thought. Gar for one thing for caring about Tommy. Wanda and Enis as she'd been at the Sphere, who had worked so hard to realize his dream of an amazing haunted house. And the one friend he hadn't intended to make.

It was this last missing friend whose opinions kept Tommy from running from the season. This last one was the one whose opinions motivated Tommy now as he moved through the common rooms of... Well, he doesn't remmeber which apartment building he was in right now. He'd been laying his little playful traps in them all. What mattered was that right now he was busy in the reading nook, putting down a bowl of wrapped hard candies. This joke here was a simple one. They looked like peppermints, and each one was actually powerfully flavored with cinnamon. That should shock someone pretty seriously, right? And if that wasn't enough, buried under all of the candies was Tommy's best attempt at drawing Loki's face, complete with horned helmet.

"Okay, what next," he said to himself. "Too bad there aren't books here. I could put fake fortunes or treasure maps in them. Damn."

II. Making Your Own Holiday | Courtyard Outside of Apartment Buildings

Somewhere along the line of his little pranks and watching his couriers run about, Tommy had come to a conclusion.

There needed to be more little things for the kids, and Tommy wanted to give them something he didn't reliably have back home. Which was why he was out in the courtyard now, standing by large, rolled out strech of paper weighted down at the corners with rocks. In his hands was a plate with globs of paint on it: orange and black and purple and green. And on the paper below was a few words sketched out lightly in pencil.

'Fall Candy Quest!' the sign did, or would, proclaim, along with a date and time for later in the month, and little sketches of spooy things like bats and cauldrons, as well as images of different candies.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

One of what? Tommy raises an eyebrow at that.

"Dude, you really just expect me to let that hanging sentence go?"

Arthur nodded. "I have a friend that's American so you're one of his own people."

Friend was a good term although Alfred might laugh to hear it. Sometimes that one couldn't take anything seriously. They'd been through so much together and things just were complicated at least in England's mind. He still recalled the offer of friendship and America had gone running off with a whale of all things.

"Not all Americans know each other," Tommy says, very tired that it might even seem to be suggested. Feels sorta racist, bro. Which probably wasn't the intention.

"When you're like me, nationalism seems stupid."

England smiled. Sure he didn't like the idea that the other was misinterpreting his words but it suited his purpose to confuse. "I'm sure they don't."

The country was pretty big but even if this boy met America, no doubt the younger nation would treat him as if he knew him his whole life. It was one of the meant things that Arthur secretly admired about Alfred. That nation could make friends in almost an instant with his own people.

The last part got his attention though. "Like you? What do you mean?"

Perhaps he could. Or perhaps Tommy would be prickly. Authority in any form was not a friend of his.

"A mutant," he said with a shrug. "I feel more connected to British mutants than I do to most Americans."

"A mutant?" Arthur replied, unsure as to what he was hearing.

"Why do you feel more connected to the British mutants?"

That was puzzling in his mind more than the term.

"Because they're mutants too," Tommy answered, looking about ready to roll his eyes. "And we're not always liked."

So of course he likes his people over nationalism that doesn't help them.

"Because you're different. And that seems to vex others quite thoroughly." England replied with a nod.

However.

"No one in this world has seemed to care have they?"

Well there's that, and it's so succinct that Tommy laughs. It's exactly that.

"Few people in this world understand just what I am, and as their gods saw fit to bring me here, I doubt they see me as a demon or anything."

It was good to hear the lad laugh over such a serious matter. France never failed to remind him of how he was the 'Black Sheep of Europe' and so he too knew in different ways of being not accepted.

At the words he nodded. "And I'm assuming with your project here that you're nothing of that sort."

"I mean, it depends on what counts as a demon," Tommy answered. Though he wouldn't be more specific than that. It wasn't his job to tell people that his soul had been the fragment of a demon's. But that's just how life was sometimes.

England could rattle off how he thought Russia was a demon at times, as well as Germany, but he kept those things to himself. He'd been able to cover his tracks so far and wanted to keep that little masquerade going.

"Well I suppose in that case, I would count a demon as someone or something that is just plain evil. And if you're in the cause of helping others, it quite doesn't match up."

"What, not going to spout some stuff about how demons can do good acts to corrupt good people into badness?"

Tommy's heard that one. A few times.

England shook his head with a slight smile on his face.

"No, but is that what you expected me to go on about?"

"Don't know, man. But some people like to throw that stuff too."

HE was from a stupidly insane country that often said a lot of things about how people were evil.

If America was here, England would consider having a chat with him even though if they were both here, he supposed it wouldn't do much good.

So he shook his head. "I'm definitely not one of those. Tossers like that need to bugger off and go look for trouble elsewhere."

Not that they probably would.

"Yeah, they're real ponces," Tommy agreed, unthinkingly shifting to a more British slang perspective. Stupid traveling and learning things fast. He's starting to skew.

England smiled. "It does sound as if you've been hanging 'round some Brits by the language you're using there." To hell with America, this one he might keep for himself.

"I travel a lot," Tommy answered with a shrug before kneeling back on the ground to keep painting his sign. "A LOT."

England nodded. "Travel is a good thing. It teaches one about other cultures which is always a good thing to learn."

He took a sip of his tea and looked back at the sign again. The former pirate sighed and thought a moment, trying to be useful instead of just a pest. "Can I get you some tea since you're working so hard on this sign of yours?"

Tea, huh?

"What sort of tea? It matters, what kind or not."

Green eyes shifted from the man in front of him to the tea cup. "I got Earl Grey, but I can inquire if you'd like something else."

Because America liked coffee.

Earl Grey, that thing the captain Star Trek drinks. But he supposed he's not going to note that.

"I mean, whatever's got tons of caffeine."

"Tea has more caffeine than coffee." England replied with a nod.

"So with that in mind I will see what they have. Is there anything I should avoid?"

"Someone hasn't had good coffee," Tommy counters. He's had some super intense shit before, so he disagrees. Whether he's right or not he doesn't know, but he does disagree.

"I mean, I prefer kosher, but I doubt there's anyone here to give me a thumbs up or down on that."

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