[Open]

[i_speak_softly]

Characters: Donatello and OPEN
Date: April 27, and some number of following days, depending how this goes
Location: All over the city, but starting at ME-3B and hopefully ending at WA-3B
Situation: Leo ordered Don to get off the networks, so the brainy Turtle sets out to find his brother the old-fashioned way.
Warnings/Rating: Probably nothing exciting.

It takes Don the rest of the night to pick over the components of his console, put them back together again, and boot the machine in his best approximation of safe mode. This still doesn't solve any of the issues - unsurprising, since Mike Weston had told him the problem was in the network - and he checks his messages as carefully as possible.

Leo has left him a cryptic instruction. Not daring to reply, he memorizes it, then shuts down the machine and hits the street.

Where the water meets the steel. A shipyard? Don heads toward the edge of the city, where one is likely to be, but inquiries direct him westward towards the Water Sector.

As he walks, Don wonders if the sector border is what Leo meant. But the border is a long one - it took Don an hour to get across the city by car, and he can tell he hadn't crossed nearly all of it - and he doesn't know which side of the line his brother is on.

Or wait! What if Leo meant a weapons forge? Submerging a steel blade in water is a critical step in the sword-making process, and that's just the kind of thing Leo would think of when giving coded orders on short notice. But a place like that would most likely be in the Fire Sector, and that's really a long way… Maybe he can hitch a ride?

Comments

[i_speak_softly]

"I will," Don promises. "As soon as I get things figured out."

Which, as far as he's concerned, constitutes a normal bedtime. He'll eat something right now, though. The sandwich is quickly identified as the vegetarian one, but Don doesn't care anymore. He inhales it without comment.

As far as Raph's question...

"Um. A few days until I found Leo on the consoles. A few more until I found you all in person."

[duelkatana]

Raph shoving his way into Leo's personal space seems to send a jolt through his system, a bucket of water poured over him. He's tired, but it's a good tired - the kind you feel after going for a long run. He blinks down at Mike, then over at Don, and feels the warmth from Raph pressing into his side, and it all seems... complete. As though he's just now woken up from a long, long sleep.

It takes him a moment to process Don's answer, but once he has, he nods faintly in response. That doesn't surprise him. "What Sector did they assign you?"

[michaeljangelo]

Mike steals a glance at each of the other turtles in the room in turn. Leo. Raph. Don. There's four of them again. Not a matched set, thanks to the intrusion of Mike, but close enough for his momentary needs. And that's nice.

Damn nice.

He knows that they're only here at all through the grace of some power he doesn't understand, and so he takes the easy way out...as usual: he doesn't even try.
At any moment, in the blink of the proverbial eye, any one of them could be gone for no discernible reason what so ever. Then the horrible rollercoaster would begin again.

Grief for the loss of another cousin, alternating with hope that he'd be replaced with a brother, followed by grief again for wishing this place on them just so he'd have company.

But that's all...ways off. Miles off. Leagues off.
Right now there's just four of them in a room together, and that's good.

Mike allows his eyes to fall shut as he sips his tea and leans his head against the back of his shell. If he lets his mind wander enough he can overlook the difference in voices and pretend he's back home. Let his mind wander further and that home is beneath the streets of New York, rather than on top of them, and that they're talking low so as to not disturb Master Splinter as he meditates in the next room.

Before his next sip he inhales the smell of the tea, not because he likes the taste of it, but because the smell of it takes him further.
It takes him home.
And thoughts of home are something that will always bring a smile to his face.

[meanandgreen]

Raph says nothing, only focuses on his brothers' voices, and the pull of exhaustion tugging him hard in the direction of sleep. He's not gonna be able to stay awake for much longer, but he wants to be right here, right now.

Part of this doesn't even feel real, and the other part... it feels like he has to remember everything about his brother all over again. Even the smallest mannerisms. The way he carries himself. How he talks with his hands.

It's not that he's forgotten. Far from it. It's more like looking at an old photograph, dusting off thoughts and memories that have gone unvisited for way too long.

So even as his eyelids are getting heavier, Raph never takes his eyes off his brother. Because the smallest part, the tiniest, most carefully guarded part of him that's just a scared and homesick little turtle, is afraid that he won't be there when he wakes back up again.

[i_speak_softly]

Don finishes the sandwich and wipes his fingers against the bandage on his leg. He probably shouldn't do that, but his focus is busy keeping track of the fact that the vial in his other hand is not a refreshing chaser, and he should not drink it to wash down his food.

With everyone else settled in, Don sits on the floor, shifting a little closer to Raph as he does so.

"Metal," he says quietly. "Though I mostly didn't do anything they told me to do."

[duelkatana]

Metal... figures. The corners of his mouth twitch upward at that, but he doesn't go into the topic any further. It's no wonder Don hadn't followed mysterious instructions from potential kidnappers. Sensei didn't raise no fools.

But that's a conversation to save for another time; from the way Raph's weight is slumping a bit further against Leo, he must be falling asleep. Good; they all need it. He tips his head back against the sofa to stare at the ceiling.

"We'll fill you in on everything we can later. There's some things you need to know about."

Isn't there always?

[michaeljangelo]

A quiet, yet completely undignified snerk, erupts from Mike.
It's one part Telling Donnie Something He Doesn't Know, and two parts Bringing cousins up to speed? Must be a day that ends in Y.

[meanandgreen]

Sleep is getting harder and harder to resist as the pounding in his head keeps making itself known.

As Don scoots closer, Raph takes a second to put his still-full teacup on the coffee table before it spills, throwing his brother a wan smile before settling in again.

This is how it should be. Even with one brother short, he feels like an immense weight has been lifted off his chest. Like he can finally breathe a little easier. It's not home, and he misses his father and Mikey so much it hurts to remember, but at least this freakin' mess is one step closer to right.