You are hereby thought to be the most senseless and fit man of the Watch

[i_speak_softly]

Characters: Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michaelangelo
Date: June 5 and after
Location: Leo and Don's suite in the Metal Sector
Situation: Testing out this lantern business
Warnings/Rating: None


After the initial visit, Raph and Mike had managed to stay in their own suite for an entire day before drifting back to Leo and Don's building. Don had certainly been glad to see them again - the place didn't feel right without them - but his enthusiasm for the situation waned sharply when it became clear they didn't plan to leave.

It's not their continued presence that Don has a problem with. It's the whole business with their souls being bound to lanterns, and the strongly-worded advice - delivered just days ago - that they not stay away from their lanterns for too long.

In calm but certain terms, Don suggests that Raph and Mike go reunite body and soul for a little while. No one listens to him. Mike seems determined to put a shell-groove in another couch, while Raph simply claims territory in his own inimitable style.

By the third morning, Raph and Mike are decidedly sluggish, and Don appeals to Leo to put an end to this reckless - if extremely intriguing - experiment.

"I think we should take them home," he says, despite Mike and Raph's increasingly-incoherent insistence that they want to stay. "Whatever they're trying to prove, it's not worth it."

Comments

[i_speak_softly]

"Not as much as I would have liked," Don says, but sits back on his heels to relate what he knows. "They give off some sort of energy signature, but it's hard to identify. There are strange fluctuations in the readings." He bites his lip, then adds: "The hypothesis that the lanterns contain our souls is creating serious confounds in the form of observer bias, but... Leo, I think they do."

[duelkatana]

So does Leo. And while his suspicions are grounded in intuition far more than the scientific method, it makes him more determined than ever to figure the lanterns out. If being away from these things for too long can really be that debilitating... he wants to know boundaries.

It's no secret that Leonardo is more attuned to the spiritual arts than his brothers. If he's careful, takes it slow, he should be able to handle it. And they can't just take Raph and Mike back to their suite, dump them there, and take off. The solution seems obvious. His eyes narrow slowly as he tries to figure out how to put it in a way so that it seems obvious to Donatello, too.

"This might be your chance to find out. We can't take them home and just... leave them there." His gaze flickers off to the side. "I'll stay with them for a day or two."

[i_speak_softly]

Don gets where Leo is going, but he doesn't think repeating the experiment in the other direction is much of a plan. He shakes his head vehemently.

"I'll stay with them and watch their lanterns," he says. "When they're recharged and I'm empty, we'll all come back. Then we can start trading off."

He surveys his packing again. "Anyway, the security system here is just about done. I need to install a second one over there."

[duelkatana]

The way Leo's jaw tightens is probably a good indicator that he's not a big fan of this particular amendment to his plan, but he doesn't have much of a leg to stand on. At this point they're just be arguing over who gets to throw themselves further into the line of danger than the other.

"We'll figure it out when we get there," he concedes with a hard note.

[i_speak_softly]

Fair enough. Neither of them can carry both Mike and Raph on their own, if it should come to that.

Don zips up his bag and pulls it over his shoulder. "Are they both still conscious?"

[duelkatana]

"They were a minute ago." He looks over his shoulder at the door. "You should check on Raph. He might have pushed himself a bit too far."

[i_speak_softly]

It sure sounded like it.

"Any chance he'll let me near him?"

Raph is a terrible patient at the best of times, and in one of his don't-touch-me spells it's not even worth it for anything less than a life-and-limb-threatening injury.

[duelkatana]

His mouth thins.

"I think he's running on empty. But you might want to watch your hands just in case."

[i_speak_softly]

"Will do," Don says, as he turns to head downstairs. This is sure to be a delightful evening.