#i hope i dont like under or overexplain anything here I fear being misunderstood

[sunnwalker]

Talk about Thomas 50000 times NOW !!!!!!!!!! my telekenisis sends everything around the room but then immediately arranges it back to normal. Because it doesn't have to be now and you also don't have to do it. But it WOULD be cool

Thank you thank you friend... I love an excuse to talk :) I am going to use this to talk abt the year-ish long window between Jack dying and Helios crashing because I have been thinking abt it all dayyy. I was gonna just spit out random facts but that felt too ermmm easy I guess. I think this is more of an outline than I really intended for it to be, but who care.

Jack dies while Thomas is on Helios. It was a hastily made decision to even have Thomas there in the first place, and he was definitely not first-pick, but he’s there.

Thomas doesn’t really have the ability to leave. Doubles aren’t expected to be anywhere but the Jackpot at this point, and as a precaution in the event that Jack dies, none should be allowed to board Helios, should one return seeking to take advantage of their status. This also applies to any departures, though this is due to oversight rather than intentional design. Either way, Thomas is trapped aboard Helios.

They can’t show their face in public now that Jack is dead, so they remain cooped up in their little apartment at first. They have nobody to confide in, because the circle of people that they’ve been allowed access to wants little to do with them (Because nobody wants to deal with Jack in any way now that he’s dead, even if “Jack” isn’t actually Jack)

He cycles between his usual highs and lows (mental illness be upon ye) on top of experiencing some level of real genuine grief for the man who had consumed much of his adult life to this point despite the abuse that he’s endured directly from Jack. Time continues to pass, and every aspect of his well-being goes mostly unchecked, by both himself and others around him. Around the two-month mark, he has led himself to truly believe that he was left on Helios to “fill in” for Jack post-mortem, as though nothing happened. That he was actually important to anyone with more power than himself. Emboldened by his (misplaced) conviction, he reaches up and directly threatens [whoever the fuck is in charge idk we’re never given this information], fully intending to get his hands on Hyperion proper, and is subsequently laughed at and shut away into his apartment (by force this time). He’s not really ready to confront it in the state he’s in at this point, but he is still forced to accept nowhere near as untouchable as Jack was, and even Jack wasn’t truly untouchable.

They spend a lot of the remaining year in hiding. They start growing out their hair on purpose. They haven’t styled it since they tried (embarrassingly) to demand control of Hyperion. They will sometimes go out to face the public, but tend to hang around less populated areas. They like people-watching a lot. This is the real start of their healing process I think (not to imply that it ever ends, but I assume you get it). They are beginning to earnestly and truly detach themselves from Jack.

A lot of his remaining time on Helios is spent going through the motions. He repeats the same half-baked routine whenever he feels like dragging himself out of bed. He doesn’t really need to worry about money.

Nearly a full year later a couple guys pull a wacky stunt of some kind, disappear for a while and holy shit Jack is back for a whole hour or so. Thomas never gets in contact. Not for a lack of trying, but rather by the time they figure out that they can just. talk to him directly without any special input (if they can find him), Helios is being dragged down to Pandora. It is a miracle they survived.

Helios crashing is like Jack dying a second time to Thomas, except this time he’s not particularly overcome with grief. He’s almost upset that he survives, believing himself too lucky. When he crawls out of the wreckage, it’s not long before he comes across a strange little man but idk who that would be. Awkward interactions and beautiful bonding experiences ensue.

And then they kiss like forever later

Maybe I'll post bits of the thing I'm writing up so I can get more familiar with this fellow but prob not because it's not great okay thank you for listening ❤️❤️