[avm] 2.3.B - Bon Jovi "It's My Life"
Apr. 13th, 2009 11:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magic_fratboyContinued from here
Better stand tall when they're calling you out
Don't bend, don't break, baby, don't back down
==========
“I don’t need a goddamn babysitter, Jay.”
The laugh that rings in his ears matches the cheery twinkle in Jeremy Kellar’s bright blue eyes. “Sure, bro, because you know so much about this shit already, right?”
Tommy rolled his eyes and sighed, knowing that the other man was right as they fell into step, walking towards the elevator. Jeremy and his brother, Mike, had already warned him the night before about what he faced in the real world. He knew he was safe, quarantined in his loft high above the mass of humanity waiting for him on the street.
Truthfully, he was nervous…and grateful for the company.
“So…what’s it like?” he asked slowly as he hit the button for the elevator.
“You tell me. Close your eyes and concentrate, tell me what you feel.”
“Ain’t that why you’re here to walk me to my car?”
Jay rolled his eyes with a smile that didn’t reassure him. It was too wild, too greedy, and it made Tommy wonder if one day he’d have that same look on his face. Would the things he could do change him, would power corrupt and make him into this confident, self-possessed person he’d always dreamed of being and secretly feared becoming.
“You’re safe at this distance. C’mon, give it a shot.”
As they stepped into the elevator, Tommy reluctantly shut his eyes after hitting the button for the lobby, then lost his way after that.
“What am I supposed to concentrate on?”
“People. All people. Except me, you’re lookin’ for humans here.”
He opened his mouth to ask what the hell that meant when it happened. It was a fleeting instant where faces passed before his mind’s eye, errant glimpses of his co-workers and business associates that were all too human…then he could feel voices. Not hear, but feel them, drops of rain sliding over the inside of his skull, coating his thoughts with feelings and dreams that didn’t belong to him.
“Holy shit, I can…I feel ‘em, Jay…”
“Careful, Tommy…”
The cool drops of energy got bigger and came faster the closer they came, and Tommy didn’t want to be careful. Not when it felt so good, not when he could see the raindrops behind closed eyelids. It was a shower now of cool colors he didn’t know existed, shades of blue and green and vibrant white he knew didn’t exist in the real world. It was a web of color and light and sounds that weren’t sounds, vibrations the ear couldn’t hear but the soul could attune to, each one resonating at his core.
“I’m warning you…Tommy, come back.”
It was so beautiful, beyond words, beyond feeling. He could feel it collecting deep inside of him, each cool drop pooling low in his body and turning to a swell of heat he recognized. It was the same small flare he felt when he caught the bullet, when he made the wrapper vanish…
The web shattered when the elevator doors opened and the tidal wave swept over him.
Suddenly threads were snapping all over the place, the steady tide was ebbing and flowing, drowning him and leaving him parched in the same moment. It was too much and too soon, and he could already feel his knees giving as his body temperature dropped. He was shivering, weak, and in the blinding sea of light he could feel the shadow lurking on the edges again, the same one that tried to kill him the night before…
But he didn’t fall. He didn’t fail. He opened his eyes and let the broken fragments of the web spill out of his vision and into the world. He was moving, being steered…people were passing them.
And the heat was pouring out of him.
Frozen now with awe instead of pain, he actively felt the web forming again as the heat moved through the air, from his body and into the flesh of every human being he passed. He wanted to reach out and touch each one, feel the connection physically as another drop fell into him with every drop he released into the world.
“Tommy. Talk to me, c’mon!”
“I’m…okay.” His own voice sounded strange, as if it were coming from far away. He felt heat leave him in the breath he used to speak aloud, saw the security guard at the door to the lobby smile as they walked out onto the street. The air was cold, but he was warm, impossibly warm and caressed by cool fingers with every human that crossed his path.
“You really are, aren’t you?”
Turning his gaze to Jay, Tommy was disappointed to see that the haze of light still touching his vision didn’t extend to his best friend. Then again, it wasn’t supposed to…they were the same, simple vessels for the energy to fill. They had no light to give.
“You can read my mind, you tell me.”
“No, I can, I’m just…surprised. I was gonna teach you to tap the pool today, safely, but you did it on your own. Not many can do that…avatars living in the dark, I mean. It’s like talking, we learn it as children. You’re sure you’re all right? The power can be a little overwhelming at first…”
Standing on the sidewalk now, Tommy looked around at the people passing around them and somehow knew that this wasn’t something he’d ever have to learn. Connecting, being connected…all his life, he’d known this thing. He didn’t know what it held, what it meant, but he’d been doing it all along.
He knew how it worked, all along.
“I’m fine.” He reassured Jay, gesturing for him to follow as he began walking again. “But when I connected to the power, I felt something else…I felt it last night, too, when that guy shot me. I need to know more about this thing you guys mentioned…”
“The Darkness?”
“Yeah, that’s it. Tell me more about it.”
Muse: Tommy Karras
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 998
Better stand tall when they're calling you out
Don't bend, don't break, baby, don't back down
==========
“I don’t need a goddamn babysitter, Jay.”
The laugh that rings in his ears matches the cheery twinkle in Jeremy Kellar’s bright blue eyes. “Sure, bro, because you know so much about this shit already, right?”
Tommy rolled his eyes and sighed, knowing that the other man was right as they fell into step, walking towards the elevator. Jeremy and his brother, Mike, had already warned him the night before about what he faced in the real world. He knew he was safe, quarantined in his loft high above the mass of humanity waiting for him on the street.
Truthfully, he was nervous…and grateful for the company.
“So…what’s it like?” he asked slowly as he hit the button for the elevator.
“You tell me. Close your eyes and concentrate, tell me what you feel.”
“Ain’t that why you’re here to walk me to my car?”
Jay rolled his eyes with a smile that didn’t reassure him. It was too wild, too greedy, and it made Tommy wonder if one day he’d have that same look on his face. Would the things he could do change him, would power corrupt and make him into this confident, self-possessed person he’d always dreamed of being and secretly feared becoming.
“You’re safe at this distance. C’mon, give it a shot.”
As they stepped into the elevator, Tommy reluctantly shut his eyes after hitting the button for the lobby, then lost his way after that.
“What am I supposed to concentrate on?”
“People. All people. Except me, you’re lookin’ for humans here.”
He opened his mouth to ask what the hell that meant when it happened. It was a fleeting instant where faces passed before his mind’s eye, errant glimpses of his co-workers and business associates that were all too human…then he could feel voices. Not hear, but feel them, drops of rain sliding over the inside of his skull, coating his thoughts with feelings and dreams that didn’t belong to him.
“Holy shit, I can…I feel ‘em, Jay…”
“Careful, Tommy…”
The cool drops of energy got bigger and came faster the closer they came, and Tommy didn’t want to be careful. Not when it felt so good, not when he could see the raindrops behind closed eyelids. It was a shower now of cool colors he didn’t know existed, shades of blue and green and vibrant white he knew didn’t exist in the real world. It was a web of color and light and sounds that weren’t sounds, vibrations the ear couldn’t hear but the soul could attune to, each one resonating at his core.
“I’m warning you…Tommy, come back.”
It was so beautiful, beyond words, beyond feeling. He could feel it collecting deep inside of him, each cool drop pooling low in his body and turning to a swell of heat he recognized. It was the same small flare he felt when he caught the bullet, when he made the wrapper vanish…
The web shattered when the elevator doors opened and the tidal wave swept over him.
Suddenly threads were snapping all over the place, the steady tide was ebbing and flowing, drowning him and leaving him parched in the same moment. It was too much and too soon, and he could already feel his knees giving as his body temperature dropped. He was shivering, weak, and in the blinding sea of light he could feel the shadow lurking on the edges again, the same one that tried to kill him the night before…
But he didn’t fall. He didn’t fail. He opened his eyes and let the broken fragments of the web spill out of his vision and into the world. He was moving, being steered…people were passing them.
And the heat was pouring out of him.
Frozen now with awe instead of pain, he actively felt the web forming again as the heat moved through the air, from his body and into the flesh of every human being he passed. He wanted to reach out and touch each one, feel the connection physically as another drop fell into him with every drop he released into the world.
“Tommy. Talk to me, c’mon!”
“I’m…okay.” His own voice sounded strange, as if it were coming from far away. He felt heat leave him in the breath he used to speak aloud, saw the security guard at the door to the lobby smile as they walked out onto the street. The air was cold, but he was warm, impossibly warm and caressed by cool fingers with every human that crossed his path.
“You really are, aren’t you?”
Turning his gaze to Jay, Tommy was disappointed to see that the haze of light still touching his vision didn’t extend to his best friend. Then again, it wasn’t supposed to…they were the same, simple vessels for the energy to fill. They had no light to give.
“You can read my mind, you tell me.”
“No, I can, I’m just…surprised. I was gonna teach you to tap the pool today, safely, but you did it on your own. Not many can do that…avatars living in the dark, I mean. It’s like talking, we learn it as children. You’re sure you’re all right? The power can be a little overwhelming at first…”
Standing on the sidewalk now, Tommy looked around at the people passing around them and somehow knew that this wasn’t something he’d ever have to learn. Connecting, being connected…all his life, he’d known this thing. He didn’t know what it held, what it meant, but he’d been doing it all along.
He knew how it worked, all along.
“I’m fine.” He reassured Jay, gesturing for him to follow as he began walking again. “But when I connected to the power, I felt something else…I felt it last night, too, when that guy shot me. I need to know more about this thing you guys mentioned…”
“The Darkness?”
“Yeah, that’s it. Tell me more about it.”
Muse: Tommy Karras
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 998
