[open catch-all]

[duelkatana]

Characters: Leonardo (duelkatana) and OPEN
Date: throughout the month of May
Location: various
Situation: various
Warnings/Rating: none yet; subject to change

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{ooc; If you'd like me to write up a header for you or otherwise plot, feel more than free to PM me or catch me at throesofangels. Or you can tag in with your own starter! This month Leo will spend much of his time rooftop-hopping in the Fire Sector, lingering as near to Tu Vishan's head as he can get away with, and keeping a self-imposed vigil near damage control spots throughout the city. Brackets or prose both welcome!}

Comments

[i_speak_softly]

Don just raises a brow and keeps waiting. He wants to hear about the things that are important to his brother, even if those things are in the past. Even if he missed them. After all, he was gone from Leo's present for a while, but he hopes that doesn't mean he was set aside as no longer relevant.

[duelkatana]

Leonardo has no idea how, even after all this time, a simple stretch of expectant silence from Don can pierce through every wall he ever tries tossing up. He chuckles; the sound is mostly air.

All right. After so long, it's all just scar tissue, anyway.

"You've heard about the alternate versions of us. There was one of me - we called him Leo. He helped me keep my head on my shell the first time Raph went home." It occurs to him suddenly that Don might not know about that six-month period of time where Raph wasn't around, but he shakes his head to loosen the thought. Don will bring it up if it concerns him. Almost absently, he reaches up and touches his left shoulder, where the brown-braided tsuka of a katana has replaced its blue predecessor. "This was his."

[i_speak_softly]

Don is still piecing together the timeline, but none of this is entirely news to him. He hadn't yet heard an explanation for the switched sword, though.

"What was it like? What was he like?"

[duelkatana]

Leo's smile grows fond.

"He was young. Brave. Honorable. Still trying to figure out his path." He trails off; he's unsure exactly how to describe the Little Ninja, because he was Leonardo and yet not, a different person who shared fragments of the same soul. Quietly, he reaches up and settles a hand on his chest, listening for that ever-present hum that never did quite leave. "For a while, it was just me, him, and Mike. He was the glue that kept us together."

[i_speak_softly]

"Sounds like someone I know." One side of Don's mouth quirks up. It's good to see Leo liking and respecting someone who was almost him, in a way he had never quite approved of himself.

[duelkatana]

There's a soft, almost inaudible heh of acknowledgment. He hadn't even considered the irony a brother might see in the situation until now.

Leo closes his eyes and lets his memories run wild in his mind - a sword, a fable, sandalwood-scented dust swirling in the light of a setting sun. He almost has to stop himself from spilling it all to Donatello right here, right now: every nuance he's never seen in a mirror, every edge of duty and understanding, the sugar-sweet poison laced behind the word 'Karai'.

But he doesn't. Perhaps he'll find the strength to convey the story to Donatello through shards and streams, but the floodgate will take time to erode.

"There was a girl named Toph," he continues, his eyes sliding open again to rest on a knight. There's a very real, soft affection in his smile, not unlike the rarest ones they've glimpsed from Splinter in the past. "She was blind. While they were here, the Little Ninja and I were teaching her how to fight without her vision." His smile takes on a wry point. "Not that she needed it."

[i_speak_softly]

His brothers and cousin have all made friends with girls who can fight. Meanwhile, Don made friends with a girl who can interface directly with a hard drive. Somehow this isn't at all surprising, but he can't decide whether to be thrilled or disappointed with his own lot.

For now, he doesn't say anything, but listens with interest.

[duelkatana]

"And then..." Leo's expression darkens for a moment, overtaken by a flurry of doubt that takes a second to settle. "... there was Monet."

The last time he told a brother of the strange, dangerous woman he met, things didn't end well. He tries hard not to let his mind run away with this one, because he's had enough of it for a lifetime. But he still leaves it hanging there a breath longer than normal, gaze pushing past Donatello to somewhere far beyond. "She was my 'contact'."

[i_speak_softly]

Oh. A girl. (Why are there so many girls in his brothers' lives?) Don would have half-believed "Monet" was another Turtle from some alternate universe with slightly different characters.

"The one who left," Don clarifies quietly, recalling an earlier turn of the conversation. The one who, apparently, brought Leo most of his intel about Keeliai. Don isn't sure whether that was a strategic move - getting someone else to do the running around and deliver information in a neatly consolidated package - or if Leonardo's paranoia simply made it too difficult for him to talk to more than a handful of people directly. Maybe Don will find out, eventually.

[duelkatana]

"Raph never trusted her," he says by way of confirmation. That's not saying much, of course, but it's as close to acknowledging her similarities to Karai as he's willing to get. "But I did. She came through for me more than once."

Leonardo shifts in his chair a little - folds his arm over the backrest and leans back. He's had just about enough of reminiscing for one day, he thinks. He'd prefer to move on. "You arrived here not long after she left."

[i_speak_softly]

That's not an unusual disagreement for Raph and Leo to have, and Don plans to remain agnostic on who was right or wrong.

"That explains a lot," he says simply, by which he means Leo's mood over the last several weeks, and the generally tense air in the household. And then: "Thanks."

Leo doesn't open up easily, even to Don's gentle prying, and showing a little appreciation when he does is always a wise investment towards the next time.

[duelkatana]

Leo allows himself a small smile. The meaning behind his brother's words isn't lost on him, and more than anything, he appreciates Don looking out for him. Leonardo is just thankful that he's filled in what blanks nestled across that one-year timespan he could.

"Keep me updated on the radio system." He leans back forward and starts lining up the chess pieces. "Otherwise... I'll let you get back to your icebox."

It may be a dismissal, but there's a teasing edge to it that should say everything he doesn't.

[i_speak_softly]

"Refrigerator," Don corrects, because referring to his projects as though they're already done is just one of his many endearing habits.

Having settled that, he heads back to the kitchen to get himself covered in dust and grease again. He may have lost the chess game, but he considers the conversation a victory, and he fully intends to defeat all the electrical appliances ranged against him.

He just hopes his brothers can stay out of trouble long enough for him to get anything done.