metalogs | [Closed] Water, Water, Everywhere

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[Closed] Water, Water, Everywhere

Who: Donnie

faceguy
What: Two idiots skulking around the sewers during the torrential downpour
When: Eeearly May?
Where: Somewhere under Central City
Content Warnings: N/A

Donnie might be forced to admit that this is not one of his better ideas.

Rain's usually never a problem, but while even New York saw its share of storms, they'd never been anything compared to this.

The waterways below the city streets flowed like rivers, the sound of it trickling and at times pouring through grates. It masked anything else, which Donnie had figured to be both a boon and a liability. But so far he hadn't come across anyone else down in the sewers, and he doubted most would be inclined to roam them during a storm.

Things have more or less been within reasonable expectations, and for someone who had lived in the sewers all his life, he hasn't worried too much about a little extra rain.

There's this niggling feeling that maybe he should check in with Leo, or head back up, but Donnie's always been stubborn about things and when it comes to focus on a task at hand, then there's not much he allows to get in the way of its completion. Recent talks have only spurred him to spend longer scoping out possible spaces to set up a new lair and he doesn't want to put it off just because of a storm.

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Donnie...is panicking, and he knows it's not good. This isn't an accidental turn off the lazy river, this is being stuck in white water rapids so far as he's concerned. Things are happening too fast and all of his thoughts are on worst possible outcomes.

He's already taken a few knocks, thankful his battle shell can hold up against that much, but it's a jarring feeling either way. His fingers brush the rungs of a ladder but by the time he realizes what it is, he's been pulled away again.

The space must have widened some as Donnie's able to bring his head above water and manage to stay that way a little longer, gasping for a breath as he tries to simultaneously look around. He has no idea where Leo is or how far he's even been carried. One of the lights on his battle shell's been knocked clean off, but the other's still functioning, more or less, although not providing nearly enough illumination to see where the water's going.

And it's still flowing, the levels lower but with a current strong enough to continue to drag them along.

The lowered water levels help Leo get his own head up above water, and in that time he just manages to see the remaining light from Donnie’s battleshell before he’s sucked under again.

It’s enough to orient him a little when he resurfaces next, taking a big breath before calling out, “Donnie!” and going back down. He tries to maneuver against the crush of water to get in Donnie’s direction, but everything is moving so fast…

He can't catch a glimpse of Leo, but Donnie's sure he'd just heard him. Figuring out exactly where is going to be difficult with all the water. He can't exactly access his computer right now, and with how disorienting things already are, accessing his computer the other way doesn't seem wise when he needs all his focus in the moment.

"Leo?!" he does manage to call out the next time he finds his head above water. It's slightly easier to keep so, which means less being thrown around by underwater surges. But the current's going faster, which has Donnie look in the direction everything's going.

...he knows that sound.

"Drop!" he warns, wherever Leo may be, hoping his brother can at least hear him before the water shoots them out and into the darkness below.

"Hey!" he shouts back when he hears his name, surfacing again. Like Donnie, he's able to stay above for longer now, but he's having a hard time seeing anything.

And he also recognizes that noise.

Not good not good not good-

He spins, looking, looking, looking for any way out of this. If he could just find...

"Is there anything to grab!?"

Donnie has a light, maybe he can see... a ladder or some exposed piping or something.

His tech's waterlogged and he can hardly see three feet in front of him, a distance that shrinks all too quickly for how much faster the water's flowing. Donnie's remaining light catches a glimpse of what might've been a grating that originally would've kept things from getting swept out past the drop-off, but all the water must have forced it open. Unfortunately it's nowhere near his reach.

Something to grab...

"-!" Oh, he's such an idiot. Leo's point helps him focus. He doesn't need to find anything when he can just make something. A familiar magenta light brightens the passage, outlining the rectangular markings on Donnie's skin and tracing across his battle shell as he taps into his ninpō. "Leo, hang on!" Lines blaze out just ahead of them, stretching from wall to wall and not a moment too soon as it also happens to illuminate where the tunnel ends and the water goes over.

Naturally there's a technical flare to something otherwise relatively simple, an extended bar that might resemble in some ways his old tech-bō. Donnie grabs a hold of it, glancing back to look for his brother.

Oh, smart - Leo feels a rush of gratitude that Donnie's powers can make actual, physical constructs.

Now if he can just grab it...

An eddy whips him around, disorienting him in the dark, and he loses sight of the bar momentarily. It's enough that he gets pulled out of easy grabbing range, and with a jolt he realizes if he doesn't do something then he's going to get swept too far away to grab onto Donnie's mystic tech.

He does have one idea, but it's not, he would say, his best plan ever.

But it is A Plan and it may be his only shot.

Leo fights the water to stay up long enough to pull his good katana from its sheath - then he yells out, "Dee, catch!"

Yes, throwing a sword at his most athletically challenged brother in the middle of a flood is a catastrophically stupid idea, but he did angle it so it should get to him hilt first and won't take his head off his he misses.

Leo would appreciate if he doesn't miss, though!

As though seeing Leo be unable to make the grab isn't already launching his heart into his throat, hearing that word directed at him and then seeing what's being thrown at him is nearly enough to make him panic again. Donnie doesn't have the luxury of freaking out however, perhaps for the better.

He flings his hand out, the hilt glancing off the side of his palm. Forgetting everything else for a moment, he swings his other hand out to try where the first had failed, an almost comical display of sword juggling before he somehow finds the katana grasped in both hands.

He's also bent awkwardly over his mystic-tech, his victory short-lived as he has to haul his head up above the current that still goes against him. But he's still hanging on to that sword!

Well, he got it, though his fumbling sent Leo's own heart straight into his throat. But he caught it and he has it and he's still hanging on to his own mystic-tech.

Leo is getting further away - he needs to do this fast, before he can't thanks to his stupid broken ninpo.

The problem is that his swords have been a set since he finally awakened his full strength, and trying to teleport to just one when he doesn't have the other one... it's difficult. It's hard to explain, but it's like he can't aim with the other one gone.

But Donnie was right in what he said; the swords are just conduits, he's the one with the power. Which means even with one sword missing, he should still be able to pull himself to the other one if he just... focuses.

He takes a breath and tries to grab at the core in his chest, the one that gets yanked every time he teleports himself. Tries to find that link between himself and the sword. Unfortunately, he goes still and disappears under the water for a moment, which probably isn't doing much to keep Donnie from panicking.

But the focus works because he can feel it - weak, but there. It hasn't left him yet.

With one big, internal tug, he pulls himself toward his sword-

and with a jolt of blue electricity he's suddenly right in front of Donnie, flailing to grab this thing.

"Leo!!"

Donnie's trying to pull himself back, but he freezes as he sees his brother vanish. He has half a mind to throw caution to the wind and go after him, and looks halfway to doing so.

Suddenly there's a flash, and there Leo is, right in front of him. He's pretty sure his heart hasn't yet made its way back down where it's supposed to be but it hasn't stopped his brain from kicking the rest of him into motion. Donnie throws a hand out towards Leo to grab a hold of whatever he can to help pull his brother in.

Leo reaches for that hand and Donnie will end up grabbing his arm as a result, but it's enough that he gets pulled in and grabs onto the bar, holding tight as he can. He reaches his free hand out to grab the sword before it gets dropped, then holds on and tries to breathe.

"Well... let's take a second... to assess... the current situation."

Yep.

Probably a good thing considering it's taking everything for Donnie to hang onto Leo and the bar, on top of trying to maintain said bar. He looks at his brother exasperatedly then, and the only reason no words are launched in immediate retaliation is because he's just trying to catch his breath. Oh, but that glare.

He's still got one hand around Leo's arm in a death grip, the other hanging on to his mystic-tech. That's about all he can do right now as he struggles to keep that bar solid.

"...not sure how long... I can keep this up."

Hey, let him have his coping mechanisms.

“Okay, just… try as long as you can.” Leo looks around, trying to spot anything in the dark. “Leon will find us a way out.”

Easier said than done.

The purple glow from the mystic-tech helps just a bit. Leo looks around the dimly lit space, frantically looking for…

“Hey, there! Maintenance ladder.”

It’s about five yards from where they are, but it’s back upstream. Getting to it will be difficult… Leo looks around, trying to think of a plan.

Donnie tries to look where Leo is. Getting there wouldn't have been a problem if his tech was working. Trying to fight against the currents had been exhausting, and it's taking everything just to hang on and make sure they don't get swept away again.

"Don't know if I can construct something else and still hold this one together," he admits as he tries to gauge the distance and work something out. It'd be a gamble to release it and make something new, especially if the water is rushing as it is.

His ability to generate his mystic-tech is what everything hinges on so far as he's concerned, as estimating the current's speed and the distance it could carry them closer towards the edge will be pointless if he can't pull it together in a timely manner.

Edited 2023-05-14 03:27 (UTC)

Yeah, that’s a problem. If Donnie can’t build something to get them closer then they’ll have to find a different way.

This would be so much easier if Leo could just…

“…I’m going to portal us back upstream.”

He says this like he’s confident he can accomplish it.

He’s not confident he can accomplish it, but stay positive, right?

“Don’t know… if I can get us right to the ladder, but if I get us close can you be ready to grab on?”

It shouldn't be something that isn't certain. Donnie's hand tightens around Leo's arm, and not particularly out of fear. His brother's just managed to portal himself within reach, he can do it again.

He looks at Leo, meeting his brother's eye as he nods.

"You've got this." Because he's not doing this alone, right?

He's not doing this alone, and Donnie's confidence in him helps build up his own. He did teleport earlier, so he can do it again. He just has to focus. He almost made one big enough to fit through easily before, so he just has to get a little bit bigger and they can both go through.

He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, trying to tune out the sounds of the rushing water. He knows he needs to move fast before Donnie tires out, but he has to center himself just a bit first.

Then he opens his eyes and pulls up his sword, dangling from Donnie's mystic-tech bar while he pulls on his power to open a portal.

Just five yards away. Just big enough to get the two of them through. He's portaled the tank before, he can do this.

Leo draws a circle, and the shimmering blue portal opens - half in the water, but it's big enough. It's matching half opens up away from them, about four feet from the ladder they're trying to reach but close to the edge.

Leo pushes Donnie through first, and he'll be barreling through right behind him.

Donnie's holding his breath in the meantime, as though doing so would minimize any further distractions while Leo prepared himself to open another portal.

As soon as he sees that familiar blue light flare to life he tenses, watching it expand into a size more expected of his brother's abilities. But there's no time to think about that, and already Leo's shoving him through.

Once he is, Donnie makes a lunge for the ladder, his fingers just barely snagging one of the rungs, but he clings long enough so he can hook his other arm around the ladder. Swinging to the side to give Leo space, he throws out his other hand to help pull his brother.

This time Leo does catch his arm, the portal snapping closed just behind him. He grips Donnie back and throws out his free arm to wrap his hand around the bar of the ladder, wincing at the bite of the cold, wet metal on his skin.

But he has it. Finally.

“Go up!” he says to Donnie. He has no idea where this will come out at, but it has to be better than here.

Nodding, Donnie starts to climb. It's a lot harder when you feel like your arms are ready to fall off, more so when you finally reach the top and need to get the cover open. Eventually it budges enough that he can slide it aside.

Normally he'd be more picky about where he collapses but the moment Donnie manages to clear the opening and haul himself out, he flops, only moving enough to give Leo some space to get out as well. Not the most ideal place to do so, especially when you have no idea where you are, but hopefully the rain's keeping places clear.

The ground here is wet but not flooded, the manhole access nestled between a couple of warehouse structures. Water dribbles steadily from the edge of the slanted, overhanging rooftops, but at least it provides some cover from the continuing rainfall.

Leo climbs up as fast as he can behind Donnie, scrambling out of the manhole with the last of his adrenaline. Then he collapses right on the ground next to Donnie, panting from exertion.

“Well… that was… a wash.”

It’s a struggle to get that many words out right this second, but he had to.

He summons enough energy to give Donnie’s arm a light pat. It’s as much to reassure Leo that he’s there and okay as it is an attempt to comfort Donnie.

The groan from the other at least helpfully confirms he's okay, more or less. Horrible puns aside, Donnie's relieved that Leo's there. He is not going to think about how much worse it could have been, let alone what might've happened if Leo hadn't come to find him when he did.

...so he fails in not thinking about it, but at least the present outcome is more than enough to focus on. It's cold and wet but he's just trying to catch his breath.

"Okay... Maybe scouting sewers... during a storm...not... the best idea."

If Donnie is alive enough to groan at his jokes then he’ll be fine.

Leo rolls up into a sitting position, pulling one leg to his chest so he can lean on his knee. From here he can just see the water in the sewer through the open manhole.

“…I don’t remember a sewer flood like that back home,” he says between pants. “Do you… think that’s normal?”

The water is still raging down there.

He might envy Leo slightly for even being able to get up at all. Excuse him while he just continues to lie there as he's convinced if he tried to get up now, he'd just end up falling flat on his face.

"...we've had our storms but nothing like that..." Donnie frowns as he tries to think of any instances but events like that would be easy to remember if anything of the sort had ever occurred back home.

"Normal? No idea... Has it ever rained this much in the time you've been here..?" Three months isn't enough to establish a solid idea of what to expect of this place's weather patterns, but maybe when it rained, it just really rained?

Do more cardio, bro.

“It’s never rained like this, but… not long after I first got here, it got… super cold.” He shivers like the memory of it alone is chilling him, although it’s not like he’s very warm at the moment anyway. “I know New York winters can be tough but it was worse than that. Like, hurt to go outside worse.”

Their human DNA may regulate their temperature better than a normal turtle, but it still wasn’t pleasant for Leo to experience.

“Maybe they just get extreme weather like this…”

Man. He wants to take a nap.

Eyew.

The thought of it getting even colder than what they've ever been used to is not a pleasant one. Being cold and wet right now only emphasizes that.

"Gross, does that mean we need to consider hibernation when it's wintertime?" Donnie's kidding, mostly. "If it gets that cold then I wonder what we'd be in for come summer..."

Equally unpleasant to think about. Being warmer is better sure, but turtles don't want to fry either.

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