[the lucky 7s] 4.7 - the most powerful force on earth...
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NOTE: Sal is we_standalone and is used with utter devotion to his mun.
“Yyyyello!”
“Sal, s’ me.”
“T? What’s up, bro?”
“The sky.”
“Hardy har, yer a fuckin’ riot. Seriously, whatcha need?”
Tommy frowned as he stared across the casino, watching Channing standing in the middle of a cluster of humans. She’d been pale and touched with sorrow until they congregated, now she simulated the necessary energy and joy that was required of a celebrity.
“It ain’t me who needs something from ya, Sal…it’s her.” He replied simply.
The silence on the other end told Tommy that Sal knew who he meant.
“Is she okay?”
“No, but that ain’t ever stopped her before.”
“Look, T…”
“Don’t, man, I get it.” He replied without missing a beat, watching as Channing’s sallow cheeks filled just a little as a teenage girl asked for her autograph. “She don’t. And she won’t ‘till you come back her and make this right.”
“Make what right?”
Tommy walked slowly, watching Channing move with her new entourage. With every passing second, light touched more of the shadows on her features, slowly filling her with the fire that usually lived inside.
“Avatars are calculating, Sal. We live human lives for a reason…to survive, we gotta form families, friendships, love other living beings. The people whose lives we touch, who touch ours in turn? They’re like our heart-lung machine. I know this shit you heard before, but you don’t understand how vital those pieces of the machine are. We can’t work a machine with its parts spread across the countryside. The parts come together with us, around us…and we can breathe.”
Channing’s laughter rose above the casino crowd, filling Tommy’s ears and making him smile. Over the phone, he wondered if Sal could hear it at all, even across the casino.
“You break the machine, and you might find a few after market replacements…but they never work as good as the manufacturer’s parts, brother. So it breaks down, and we start to fade.”
“I…Tommy, I can’t…”
One of the fans left, glowing and filled with Channing’s light. He watched that tongue of fire leave with the brilliantly lit young girl.
“You’d be surprised how those other parts start to go, too. They work so much harder when the rest of the machine is broken…”
“I got Immortals all over my ass out there, T, what the fuck am I supposed to do? Die ‘cause she’s blue?! She didn’t even fucking say goodbye!”
One by one, the humans left. Channing got colder with each one. When she stood alone again, the embers glowed only for a short while before she was as pale and touched by sadness as she was a few moments before.
“No, I’m sayin’ stay away.” Tommy replied quietly. “It’s keepin’ you alive, she needs that. “But for the love of God, call her once in a while you dipshit. You know why she didn’t say goodbye…stay away to stay alive, but don’t stay gone too long or else she won’t be.”
Tommy didn’t wait for an answer before he hung up the phone and sagged against an empty slot machine. Shutting his eyes, he drew a deep breath and held it, calling on the pieces of his own survival network…Zee, May, Effie, Sizz, Ryder, everyone in the city that he’d marked as his.
But where he turned to his best friend, there was a void…one that touched him with the same shadows that were overwhelming Channing.
The fire of their energy warmed him up again, but he knew it wouldn’t last. Not until the missing piece of the puzzle found its way home.
Muse: Tommy Karras
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 602
NOTE: Sal is we_standalone and is used with utter devotion to his mun.
“Yyyyello!”
“Sal, s’ me.”
“T? What’s up, bro?”
“The sky.”
“Hardy har, yer a fuckin’ riot. Seriously, whatcha need?”
Tommy frowned as he stared across the casino, watching Channing standing in the middle of a cluster of humans. She’d been pale and touched with sorrow until they congregated, now she simulated the necessary energy and joy that was required of a celebrity.
“It ain’t me who needs something from ya, Sal…it’s her.” He replied simply.
The silence on the other end told Tommy that Sal knew who he meant.
“Is she okay?”
“No, but that ain’t ever stopped her before.”
“Look, T…”
“Don’t, man, I get it.” He replied without missing a beat, watching as Channing’s sallow cheeks filled just a little as a teenage girl asked for her autograph. “She don’t. And she won’t ‘till you come back her and make this right.”
“Make what right?”
Tommy walked slowly, watching Channing move with her new entourage. With every passing second, light touched more of the shadows on her features, slowly filling her with the fire that usually lived inside.
“Avatars are calculating, Sal. We live human lives for a reason…to survive, we gotta form families, friendships, love other living beings. The people whose lives we touch, who touch ours in turn? They’re like our heart-lung machine. I know this shit you heard before, but you don’t understand how vital those pieces of the machine are. We can’t work a machine with its parts spread across the countryside. The parts come together with us, around us…and we can breathe.”
Channing’s laughter rose above the casino crowd, filling Tommy’s ears and making him smile. Over the phone, he wondered if Sal could hear it at all, even across the casino.
“You break the machine, and you might find a few after market replacements…but they never work as good as the manufacturer’s parts, brother. So it breaks down, and we start to fade.”
“I…Tommy, I can’t…”
One of the fans left, glowing and filled with Channing’s light. He watched that tongue of fire leave with the brilliantly lit young girl.
“You’d be surprised how those other parts start to go, too. They work so much harder when the rest of the machine is broken…”
“I got Immortals all over my ass out there, T, what the fuck am I supposed to do? Die ‘cause she’s blue?! She didn’t even fucking say goodbye!”
One by one, the humans left. Channing got colder with each one. When she stood alone again, the embers glowed only for a short while before she was as pale and touched by sadness as she was a few moments before.
“No, I’m sayin’ stay away.” Tommy replied quietly. “It’s keepin’ you alive, she needs that. “But for the love of God, call her once in a while you dipshit. You know why she didn’t say goodbye…stay away to stay alive, but don’t stay gone too long or else she won’t be.”
Tommy didn’t wait for an answer before he hung up the phone and sagged against an empty slot machine. Shutting his eyes, he drew a deep breath and held it, calling on the pieces of his own survival network…Zee, May, Effie, Sizz, Ryder, everyone in the city that he’d marked as his.
But where he turned to his best friend, there was a void…one that touched him with the same shadows that were overwhelming Channing.
The fire of their energy warmed him up again, but he knew it wouldn’t last. Not until the missing piece of the puzzle found its way home.
Muse: Tommy Karras
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 602