thom summer (terseness) wrote in valloic, @ 2023-03-28 20:25:00 |
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Entry tags: | !: action/thread/log, ~plot: future vallo, ₴ inactive: kate danvers, ₴ inactive: thom summer |
Future RP Log: 2033 Kate and 2023 Thom
Who: 2023 Thom meets 2033 Kate
What: ANGST. SADNESS. WOE.
When: Today (in 2033)
Where: The Outpost
Rating: PG
Subconsciously she knew they were supposed to be coming today, but Kate also didn’t believe that it would work. Even if it did, her mind would not let her focus on what that really meant, and who might be showing up among the resistance from ten years in the past. Kate couldn’t think of it. The idea of Thom or Adam arriving at the base today wasn’t something she wanted to focus on.
So she had spent most of it outside of the base with her medkit. All through the forest she could find rebel werewolves, and she spent her free time helping them out when she could. Some ran in packs, some were on their own. Not all of them could heal rapidly, especially now, so she made herself available if any of them needed her. There were a few wolves she had treated a few days previous that she needed to check on, and at least one pack that she knew had sent some people into the city. She would want to check on them to make sure they were unharmed, and to see if they had anything worth trading.
It was later in the day, close to evening when Kate finally made it back to base. Her mind had sufficiently been distracted by what she needed to refill in her kit, and the nasty injuries on a young wolf who had got into a fight with one of the Thralled. He was lucky to be alive. She would have to go back out tomorrow or the next day to check on him.
It was their scents that caught her attention. She could pick them out now, the scents of people who couldn’t be here unless the insane time travel plot had actually worked. Kate tensed for a moment, flexing her fingers and forcing herself to stay calm, and not focus on individual scents. Thinking about it would bring her to a place in her head that she did not want to be.
Steeling herself, Kate drew back her shoulders and set her sights on the path that would get her to the medial area as quickly as possible. All she had to do was drop off the supplies and then get back to her room. Dealing with the past felt like a tomorrow problem.
Thom Summer was also dealing with a tomorrow problem, in the literal sense that he had been asked to travel to the future to help prevent said future from being a total asshole. It was all very overwhelming to think about, and most, taking a glance at his stoic face, would assume he was not thinking about it. But he was. Thom was unused to grand heroics; the reality that his name was on any list of potential heroes was something that seemed like a clerical error at best. He was also none too thrilled with the notion of returning to a horrible location that reminded him of his start in Vallo and the Snow Globe he’d been stuck in.
But hell, here he was anyway. Surprise surprise, future Vallo looked like it sucked.
He kept to himself in the Outpost, lighting up a cigarette and observing things. He recognized some folk - ten years older, but still themselves. A few people gave him a wide berth. It was fucking weird. He and Kate had talked a little about what he’d encounter when he was there, of course, but how do you prepare for something like that? He had no idea. So smoked, and lurked, and kept to the edge of things, radiating a sort of chill “don’t bother me” energy that had worked so well to put people off way back when in school.
Kate didn’t know if it was the smell of cigarettes, or the smell of Thom himself that had caused her to freeze. Even though she had been warned that this was happening, and who could potentially show up, nothing could have prepared her for the assault on her senses. It was just how she remembered, smoke included. Any and all emotional training she had over the years slammed into place at once, refusing to let anything have a visible impact on her.
So much for escaping without paying anyone any attention. The scent was fresh, but part of her hoped that when she looked around, he wouldn’t be here. She would have just missed him, and could get away with putting this off.
But there he was, looking like he had before Everything Went To Shit. She hadn’t laid eyes on him in years. Her last memory of him was one where he was already gone, first as a Thralled, then as a Wendigo. The arrival of this Thom didn’t change any that. It will still be her last memory, because this wasn’t her Thom. Her’s was never coming back.
Kate wanted to run. Kate also wanted to run toward him. But Kate didn’t do either of those things. In fact, she couldn’t seem to make herself take a step in any direction. So instead she cocked her head slightly and observed him, waiting to see if he noticed her at all. After what felt like at least a minute, but had probably only been seconds, she spoke, pitching her voice to be sure she got his attention. “You should really give that shit up sooner, rather than later. Do you know how long it took to get a reliable stock of supplies going here?”
There was a reason why Thom smoked, and it wasn’t just because he was addicted as fuck to nicotine. Sure, that was part of it, but the reason he’d kept it up so religiously was because it deadened his sense of smell. That was pretty awesome when your sense of smell kept reminding you that your friends would probably taste delicious.
So he didn’t notice Kate. That was by design. He recognized her voice immediately, however, and experienced a split-second thought of ‘wait, Kate came?” before remembering that no, this was a different Kate. A future Kate. Not his Kate, not really.
He was torn between disappointment and curiosity, and so he returned: “Hey, lay off. From what I hear, smoking’s like the only fun thing this place has got going for it.” Thom’s eyes swerved to Kate, and he grinned. “‘sides you. Still hot, I see.” Aw shit, was that cheating? Nah, it didn’t feel like cheating. He had no intention of like, following up on that. But poetic reunions were for other people; Thom just said what he thought most of the time.
For the most part. Because what he was also thinking, under the bluster, was that Kate looked exhausted.
At one point in time she would have had some sort of sarcastic remark to fire right back, or some flirtatious comment about his ass or pretty-face. But Kate did not smile, any sign she registered his words at all was only a brief twitch that might be interpreted as pain. She jaw clenched and relaxed several times before she looked away.
“You’re in luck.” she finally said, “There’s a couple of decent supplies among the Outlanders, in case you didn’t bring enough with you.” Between the Sanctuary and Sutton Cottage they did a decent job.
“I wasn’t sure you were actually going to show up. Or anyone at all, given how shit magic is right now.” It had been an ambitious plan, and Kate didn’t possess enough hope to think it was going to work. Even now, with the people from the past actually here.
Thom blinked, and tilted his head toward her to get a better look at her. He hadn’t considered apathy as a potential reaction from Kate. Of course, it had occurred to him that they might’ve broken up - it was ten years down the line, yeah - but she wasn’t acting like someone who’d decided she was done with his bullshit. She was acting - well. He’d seen her at work before, when someone was getting under her skin and she didn’t want them to know it. Efficient, but cold.
He considered the options from here, and stabbed his cigarette out with his shoe. “We brought what we were told to bring. I got to borrow a mace.” He was all teeth, grinning about that, but the expression faded after a moment or two. “Honestly, sure, the magic’s shit, but it looks like you guys are doing….” He couldn’t lie. He’d never been able to lie. “Well. Doing shit as well, but like, okay too. You’re still alive, working together.”
Give me context please, was his unspoken cry.
Kate met his grin with a continued blank stare. She didn’t find any humor in it, though part of her wanted to scream that a mace just simply wasn’t enough, and might be difficult to use on faces he could potentially recognize.
“There’s not many other options.” It wasn’t like they could run very far, they were all trapped in Vallo. “With magic and healing being unreliable, running would be a fucked up thing for me to do.” Not that life wasn’t fucked up all of the time. But it gave her some sort of reason to get up in the morning.
Even if Kate couldn’t read body language as well as she could, she would have caught that look. “Did they tell you what happened to you?”
He winced. Thom had never considered himself a hero, not in a self-deprecating way, but in a “I mostly consider myself a normal dude with a weird little wendigo problem” kind of way. But Kate had always thrown herself into the thick of things. There were always people who needed medical help. It didn’t surprise him that she’d work herself until her heart had thinned even if the worst must have happened to him.
And about that worst.
“I read a little about it,” Thom hedged, looking away for a moment. Morgan hadn’t given details but there had been enough to make it clear that whatever had happened to him, it was likely to be permanent. He didn’t want to know more, honestly. What would have been the point of rehashing it? “I know it’s uh. Bad. I guess I probably need to know if a version of me’s walking around causing problems right? Maybe I should wear a sandwich board. So people can tell us apart.”
Kate knew she had lost him the second the thralled version had turned full-Wendigo, but there was always a small , dangerous part in her mind that wondered about a possibility. What if they did beat this thing, magic returned, and the Thralled came back to themselves? Would there have been something in the vast Vallo possibilities that could have brought Thom back to himself? Kate tried to keep that thought shut tight in a box in the back of her mind. There was no way to find out now.
“He’s gone.” she said, voice falling flat. “You don’t have to worry about running into him. He was taken out by another Outlander. There’s no coming back.” Kate didn’t let herself think too much about it, because every time she did the fury she felt about his death brought her dangerously close to losing herself. Her version of Thom had been robbed of his own mind, his own choice, and then murdered for it. It wasn’t something she’d ever get over, and it wasn’t something she was able to confront either. So she shoved it down and kept that locked away to, otherwise she’d try to tear everyone responsible apart.
“Maybe just don’t make any jokes about eating anyone while you’re here.” At least he’d stand a chance of getting back to where he belonged.
It confirmed the worst. Thom had been expecting it, but it nonetheless moved over him strangely: the confirmation that yes, he was gone in all the ways that mattered, that Kate had been left behind to become this near-stranger in tragedy’s wake. He regarded her with a silent nod, because yeah, okay, sarcasm about eating people wasn’t going to help anyone, particularly if it had happened, which… I mean, honestly, sure, at the rate his luck was going today, why not.
“I got another ask,” he said after a moment, “and you’re probably not gonna like it. But…”
He rearranged his jacket, and brought out his injured arm. “You’d want me to get this looked at, so. Is this a job for you, or do you want me to go find someone else?” He didn’t know which was the most kind. Which would hurt her the most. Thom just wanted to help, in whatever small stupid little way he could.
Kate’s stomach nearly dropped, but it was almost a relief to see him pull out his injured arm. Injuries she could do. If she hadn’t been so distracted by him standing in front of her, she might have picked up on the scratch through the scent of his blood. That smell was burned into her memory.
She narrowed in on the injury, reaching for his arm to carefully assess for damage. This was the only way she could get out of her own head these days, even if it was a different version of Thom.
“For me. I’d never forgive me for not keeping you in one piece.” Pulling her hands back, she motioned over her shoulder with her head. “Come on, medical is this way. I’ll get that cleaned out and make sure that isn’t more serious than it looks. You might find you're not healing as fast as you normally should be in this place.”
“Okay,” he said, peering at her out of the corner of his eye. In her professional guise, Kate suddenly looked more familiar. Less of an iron-facsimile of his girlfriend. “I don’t think it’s broken. I just landed like an asshole.” He offered her a sort of smile, and stubbed out his cigarette with his boot.
“Lead the way. I’ll try to look like I don’t wanna eat anyone.”
Kate paused half way through turning to lead them toward the medical area, and looked him dead in the eye. “Don’t. I’m serious. People are more likely to shoot first, and not bother asking questions.”
Turning back around, she adjusted the bag on her shoulder and started toward her original destination, assuming Thom would just follow her. If she kept her mind focused on her work, she’d navigate herself through this shit storm that was probably about to rain down on all of them in the coming weeks.
Thom tried not to look chagrined, ducking his head and nodding. “Yeah. I read you. Sorry.” That sarcasm was going to be a problem. Especially since it wasn’t sarcasm really, right, if it had actually apparently happened here.
And so he took a breath, tried to achieve the vibe of ‘unassuming’, and followed her without further comment.