"There are all kinds of addicts, I guess. We all have pain. And we all look for ways to make the pain go away."
Sherman Alexie
Tommy stood at the edge of L'Crater, hands in his pockets and breath puffing out grayish smoke. His toes curled against the glass that kept people from falling to their deaths when they stared down at the graveyard of a broke dream. The smell of gunpowder was trailing around while thick smog clung to the grass. The sky was a saturated blue, almost gray, the aftereffects of several large scale explosions never having a proper clean up. It was silent for the most part, the distant groans of zombies and hisses of Creepers filling some of the quiet night.
"Tommy." A whisper that sounded like a yell. He turned around with a heavy sigh, knowing where this was going but wishing he didn't. Some part of him knew that Karl would be back. He came a week ago or so, and he had a strong distrust of Clara no matter how much either party tried to hide it. What Tommy didn't expect was Hannah Rose to be at his side, her arms folded against her chest and body tilted away from both Karl and Tommy. "We're here to help."
"I wish I could get a nickel for every time I heard that. I'd be rich. I wouldn't be a beggar, at least," Tommy murmured, uncharacteristically quiet. He was loud to get attention, but now that Clara doted on him, Tommy didn't want anyone else looking at him. Didn't want their barely concealed thoughts shining through their glaring eyes and twitching smiles. Tommy didn't need to pretend that he couldn't see their fingers crossed when they said they cared. He had Clara. She gave him genuine smiles and affectionate promises.
"Tommy, the Egg isn't who you want it to be. It's manipulating you for it's own gain. It doesn't care about you," Karl spoke first, slowly moving towards Tommy. The action startled the blonde, his foot slipping from the grassy overhanging to the crystal clear glass. His breath hitched as he remembered that his foot was on something solid.
"So what if it is? Clara's nice. I don't care if she's manipulating me like you say," Tommy snapped, eyes glaring at Karl like it was his fault that Tommy was scared of holes. Small ones or gaping ones, his claustrophobia and PTSD wouldn't let him stand around holes with telling his mind to charge up the adrenaline.
"Tommy, the Egg is going to destroy the entire Server if we don't stop it. It'll do whatever it wants to achieve that end. It's dragging you along, Tommy," Hannah spoke up, grabbing Karl's shoulder to keep him from moving forwards. By the way her knees locked, she must have used him to steady herself as well. Tommy could see the roses in her hair losing color, the saturated pink giving way to white like a Wither rose.
"I don't mind. Clara said she wants to bring peace to the Server. If I need to be sacrificed or whatever, I'll let her," Tommy let the ghost of smile drag his lips from where they rested upwards. "Do you know what they called me during the war? Wilbur's loyal mutt. I was his loyal mutt until he died, and after that, I was Dream's songbird. Techno and I were business partners. Now, I'm Clara's. I don't know what I am to her, a weapon or puppet or toy, but I really don't give a damn. She's nice to me when so many people aren't."
"Tommy you can't seriously be saying that you're willing to give up your life to someone who is only hurting you," Karl argued, voice raising in pitch. Hannah pulled him back with a withering glare, her face showing that she didn't like how heated Karl was getting. The man displaced in time merely returned the glare before turning back to Tommy with calmer expression than before.
"She treats me like a person. She tells me that she's proud of me, makes sure I eat, holds me when my nightmares get to much, puts up with my annoying attitude because somehow she knows that it's my defense mechanism," Tommy shrugged, looking away from the two as they had their moment of tension.
