Pick Me Up, Dust Me Off

[helpdesk_hero]

Life hadn't gotten easier after Utopia. Not by a long shot. Where, after that, does a human being go? Sure, one of the greatest geniuses in the world, but that doesn't mean he has a place in it. Instead he'd gotten to shore, dressed up in casual clothes, and mostly hitchhiked across the country. All the way from San Francisco to here. Chicago. Home.

It's taken two months to get this far, and he's in no great shape. There's a bit of a beard on his cheeks, his clothes are torn up, and he feels like shit. Do you... how do you get comfortable enough to go home in this sort of state? How does he go back and hope they accept him? He feels... miserable. David sighs and sips lightly at the cup of coffee in his hands, keeping them warm. Some person bought it for him, and he's still got to figure out how to get over to Hyde Park and his family's house. To figure out a story.

Two nights he's been in Chicago and he doesn't know what to do. He feels so weak. So useless. Such a broken man after the fall of mutantkind, yet again.

Comments

[helpdesk_hero]

David watches, quiet and contemplative, as Tommy moves. And when he sits he takes a cookie, still thoughtful.

"Have any of the X-Men speedsters tried to contact you about how to get proper supplements for you?"

[zoomandboom]

Tommy swallowed an over-large bite of his cookie and shrugged. "Nah. Quicksilver and me don't talk really, and I don't know any of the others much." He'd seen them here and there, talked to one or two. But Tommy had his issues and he didn't really like to spend much time around other speedsters if he didn't have to. It just reminded him that there were faster people who could do other things he couldn't, too. "Mostly I just eat a ton whenever I can. Sometimes I do like ... protein powder or something, but it sucks, so not usually."

[helpdesk_hero]

"I could talk to Northstar for you," David offers. He still knows the man's number.

[zoomandboom]

Tommy shook his head. "Nah. I don't even know if we run the same way, I don't think he can blow shit up the same way. Plus he's kind ofajackass." Or at least he was smart and snobbish and seemed educated to Tommy, which made him automatically uneasy.

[helpdesk_hero]

Wait, jackass? David laughs.

"Yeah, most Quebecois are jackasses. But he might know anyway. I have an in with him, but I don't with Quicksilver."

[zoomandboom]

"He's, yanno. A snob. I could probably ask Quicksilver, pretty sure he'd take a call, but no idea where he even is. Plus I hate asking him for shit. I alreadygotallmypowers from him and people think I'm him half the time so, yeah." Tommy shrugged again. "I don't want to ask them for stuff," he admitted after a second. "Like they'd probably have some complicated way to make it and want me to come get it and I don't want to take stuff from them." He didn't want to act like he couldn't deal on his own, since everyone took away the option of not. "But thanks. I do okay. Only really crash if I run a shitload."

[helpdesk_hero]

"He's not a snob," David says, his voice firm and yeah, he's defensive on that. "He's been through a lot of shit. We all have."

As for where, David knows where Quicksilver is. Or at least the last he heard, which was Mutant Town. Still, he thinks he might look into it. Mostly as repayment. If nothing else, he's got connections.

[zoomandboom]

Northstar was faster than Tommy, smarter, and not Jersey trash who'd been through juvie a few times. Tommy saw him as a snob because he was envious, and didn't actually know him. He saw Quicksilver the same way, mostly. Just with more complication. He eyed David and shrugged. "Idon'tknow him really."

He finished the last of his cookie and then bounced up when the bell dinged to say their order was up. He went to gather the bags of food and carried them over. "Ready? Goodtocarry this, while I carry you?" he asked.

[helpdesk_hero]

Northstar was Quebec trash that had been a terrorist so yeah, maybe not so different as he thinks. But he's very not going to have a fight here. Not from the guy who is going to help him.

He takes everything in his arms and nods to Tommy

[zoomandboom]

Tommy steers him outside and out of view of the guys at the counter and then gathers him up again and speeds off.

The apartment's not far, even by not-Tommy standards. It's a walk-up on the fourth and top floor of a modest but decently kept building. David didn't really get a chance to see it before he's inside though and set down in front of the door so Tommy can unlock it.

It's a one bedroom, like Tommy said. Bland with furniture that got supplied with the place. Small and drab - but it's clean and the sofa looks decently comfortable. "Bathroom, bedroom," Tommy said, pointing to each door. "TV works, but I didn't hook up anything since I don't watch much so it's probably just local crap channels. There's not much in the fridge but you can have whatever, and use whatever you want in the bathroom - just don't take the pills in the green bottle in the cabinet in there, they'd probably kill you."

[helpdesk_hero]

At least there is a sofa for him to crash on.

Still, he frowns as he looks around. And he's glad he can resist asking about the bottle in the cabinet. But that's Tommy's business and his alone. So he marks which cabinet it is so he can ignore it.

"Nice enough place. What brings you to Chicago."

[zoomandboom]

One of the egghead types, Tommy didn't know which one since Billy had gotten them for him, had given Tommy some painkillers that would work on him after Tommy had been burned helping do rescue from an explosion, a while ago. He'd hoarded them ever since, just in case he needed them now that he was mostly on his own.

He shrugged. "It's fine. If you need something or want to move anything or whatever, just go ahead. Just try not to break anything I'll lose the security deposit over."

He made a face. "People running alien weapons. Locals wanted some help with it, but they thought it'd take way longer - it was just a few dumbasses, not any real operation."

[helpdesk_hero]

Interesting. David looks at the couch and doesn't dare sit on it. He's too... dirty.

"Do you mind if I get cleaned before food?"

[zoomandboom]

"Sure," Tommy said readily, shrugging. "Uhh ... Hang on, I only have a couple of towels. They're not dirty or anything, I usedthemwhen I got out but I was clean so ... not too bad?" he said, going into the bedroom and snagging one off of the dresser he'd had it draped on, then handing it to David. "You need to borrow something clean to wear, oryougotstuff?"

[helpdesk_hero]

He looks to his bag and sighs.

"I mean... I have to sets of clothes left. My X-Men uniform, and some nice clothes to wear home. I don't... have good things to change into."

[zoomandboom]

"I've got some sweats and a tee shirt or something," Tommy said, vanishing again and coming back with a worn pair of blue sweatpants that might be a little short on David, and a tee shirt with a muppet on it that he'd stolen from Billy.

Tommy handed them over. "There's laundry downstairs if you wanna do some later. Machines don't cost anything. It'sfuckin'freezing down there though."

[helpdesk_hero]

David looks very thankful for that. But he's not sure the clothes he has right now will stand up to washer. They might just fall apart.

"Thank you. You're very generous."

[zoomandboom]

Tommy shrugged. "Laundry doesn't cost me anything either." He knew David meant more than that, but Tommy didn't want him to feel like he had to make too big a deal about it. He just ... had room. If it'd been him, he probably wouldn't have let anyone try to help him. But he'd have wanted someone to offer, too, and to mean it, even if he couldn't believe it.

"Shampoo and stuff is all in the shower," Tommy said. He flashed David a smile. "Don't fall over or anything though."

[helpdesk_hero]

"I probably can't use your shampoo," David shrugs. But hey, he'll figure it out. And he heads for the bathroom. It's nearly half an hour before he comes back out and he sits down to get some food. Yeah, the pants don't fit well, but it's something.

[zoomandboom]

"Oh, yeah." Tommy shrugged. "Sorry, I only have cheap white guy shampoo."

Tommy went to get some paper plates and plastic spoons and then plopped down to dig into a sandwich, pushing David's toward him when he sat down. "Feel better?" he asked around a mouthful of turkey.

[helpdesk_hero]

"Not fully," David admits. He'll probably want another three showers before he feels that, but he definitely eats when it's offered.

"Do you make a habit of picking up destitute mutants when you're traveling?

[zoomandboom]

"Well eat, then you'll probably feel better."

He leaned back, shoving a couple of chips in his mouth and shaking his head, swallowing before answering. "Nah. You're the first. If I did it regularly I'd probably have an extra blanket or something. So you can feel special." Tommy smiled at him. "Look, Iknowit'sweird. But it just sucks to have a team and somewhere to stay and then not. So I figured I'd help out."

[helpdesk_hero]

He felt anything but special. He's just... a human. Terrorist. David frowns as he thinks about that. He has to seem pathetic. Tell him he's pathetic and he'll believe it.

"I lost my team on M-Day. More or less."

[zoomandboom]

Tommy tilted his head, watching David for a second. "Yeahwell. That's kind of on my family too. So you could probably tell me tofuckoff if you wanted to." He shrugged uneasily.

[helpdesk_hero]

On his family? David doesn't really know about that. He heard of some of this, but he wasn't certain how much to believe.

"You're the only guy giving me shelter, so that would be a waste."