metalogs | [Open] Trying Not to Fall Apart

Entry tags:

[Open] Trying Not to Fall Apart

Who: Donnie

purplexing and you!
What: Oh you know, just an average week in the life of a teenage mutant ninja nerd
When: Early June before things start to really implode
Where: Central
Content Warnings: N/A, will update as needed

can't sleep something will eat me - Apartment
It's easier to sleep when you run yourself ragged and let yourself pass out. Then there's a seventy percent chance that you'd be too exhausted to dream. That hadn't necessarily been his plan but it had been more or less effective the night he, Leo and Accelerator had come back from their tech heist. Since then, sleep had been...elusive.

While it's not unusual for Donnie to pull late to all-nighters, he's been leaning on such practices extra hard lately. It's easier to get away with when he's got actual projects. Guy's telescoping stun baton gets done relatively quickly in this regard. The game systems they'd found at the recycling center have been reappropriated into a single gaming system and they now had a high-definition projector that freed them from the constraints of a flatscreen TV. Spare phones have been repaired, wiped and upgraded in the case that they might run into anyone who needed a phone or just didn't trust the ones the Guild handed out.

But even productive turtle teens need sleep, and whenever he succumbs to it, it's always fitful and ends up with him clawing his way to wakefulness, away from the blood-filled nightmares with the grasping, reaching hands and tendrils. Sometimes he stays in his room, other times he slips out to sit in the kitchen wrapped around a cup of coffee or huddled under a blanket on the couch, reading a book or poking around things on his phone. If his head's clear enough then he'll do some late night work dismantling something or another, or work on repairing circuitboards.

third time's a charm - Sewers
The whole point of having a lair deep in the sewers is so people can't get to it easily. The sewers are already a maze, but thanks to the flooding from all the rain last month, Donnie's managed to get a decent amount of it mapped out with the aid of his mystic-tech. They aren't as convoluted and full of abandoned places like New York, but he and Leo had finally found a promising location.

Moving things into a new lair is never much fun. They'd already had to rebuild their home once, after all. Here at least they don't have too much stuff to worry about, but then they are still basically starting from scratch. Priority had gone to hauling their ill-gained goods down there once basic setup had been handled, some tidying up (okay, a lot of tidying up), and initial security measures installed. With things stirring in the world above, Donnie's not taking any chances.

There's still a lot to do, but they've got this much done. It's just a shame that they have to do this at all after getting so used to living almost normally.

what a town - Around Central
Life still goes on, even when you're trying to play things cool after being mildly (?) traumatized, even when there've been drastic changes in the meta-world.

There are library books to be returned, after all, and if Donnie can't sneak-borrow more by using Leo's card, he can at least read things there, his earphones bumping some techno or K-Pop (it's catchy okay) so he doesn't accidentally nod off. It's an attempt, anyway.

Coffee runs go without saying, and there's something nice about being able to sit in a cafe enjoying an iced latte. It's a change of atmosphere and he can more or less blend in with others who are here tapping at their laptops and tablets. Kind of. Other times he'll just be grabbing a drink to go, so one might catch him all purple hoodied up on his way to or from.

It might be weird be hard to believe, but Donnie has other hobbies, which is why at some point or another one might come across him carrying a small cardboard box with a variety of plants ready to be repotted. The backpack slung over his shoulder holds a few pots and some potting soil. He's a turtle on a mission and nothing is keeping him from working on a balcony garden. Alternatively one can find him perusing the selection at a small plant nursery or shop.

that other option - Wildcard
(Got any other ideas/requests? Have at it or ping me on discord or the plork!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Should I get written record of that? Because that's the fifteenth time you've said it."

Despite Accelerator's half-hearted protests, Donnie hasn't taken them very seriously. After all, the esper's here, and there had been plenty of opportunity for him to have backed out. He could have just not showed up at all. The smirk the turtle wears plainly says all that he isn't aloud.

"Now then. I'm not aspiring to make you a staff-wielding expert. The whole point here is to show you what you can do if there comes a time you can't rely on your vector manipulation. It's better to think of it in general as an alternative so you can save your time for something to better put that ability towards."

He leans casually with his bō, looking Accelerator up and down. "How's your balance when you're not relying on the crutch?"

Accelerator rolls his shoulders in a shrug. Yes, Donnie absolutely should get this in writing. Especially with that smirking, he's liable to complain some more despite saying it's the last time he'll do it.

"Fucking terrible," is his reply to that question, pointedly detaching the cane from the arm cuff so he has to keep his weight fully on both feet. He looks downwards. Uggghhh, can he even walk without it?

The answer to that question is not very well. His right side is okay, but when he takes a step forward with his left foot he's having to be really cautious about the shifting in weight. There is a lot of wobbling going on, and he's visibly annoyed by this. "Before the brain injury I could manage all of this by manipulating my body's vectors. That was easy enough to do that I never consciously thought about it."

Hence his lack of muscle that even a normal kid his age would have. There was never a need to build it up when his brain unconsciously took care of everything.

Donnie's doing his own calculations as he watches Accelerator stop relying on the crutch, albeit not nearly as complicated. He tilts his head.

"So would you always have otherwise needed a crutch?" he asks. He'd always figured it had to do with the halved brain ability, and even in that regard he had no idea what had happened to cause that.

"At least you're not falling over right off the back. That's promising. Clearly you're going to be easily compromised if someone decides to take advantage of that side, but even if you end up on the ground, you won't be completely helpless so long as you know how to work with what you've got."

He shifts his own weight so he's not leaning on his staff, giving it a light kick with his foot to send it spinning as he brings it around to hold with both hands.

"Brace yourself, and hold your crutch like this. I'm going to give it a few whacks just so you know what to expect from impact."

Accelerator shakes his head. "No, I wasn't that useless without my ability. I could walk fine on my own."

Of course, it goes without saying that he only means walking. Any real exercise pre-injury and without using his vector manipulation would've had him winded in a matter of minutes. In fact, during the fight with that level 0 he had gotten so tired that his legs gave out.

...... Not that he's going to admit that.

His frown deepens as Donnie goes on. It's a pain having to listen. When you've got the title of the strongest you aren't really used to hearing about your weaknesses. It doesn't help that Donnie's extremely casual spin to bring his staff to his hands looks cool, either.

His gaze shifts to his cane, and he mimics the turtle's grip. "Alright."

"Okay, okay- I just didn't know what your baseline was." Using vectors to get around on a casual basis would have been a whole new level of lazy. Clearly their opinion of the esper working on his stamina still holds.

Donnie nods as Accelerator mimics his stance. He readjusts the hold on his bō, stepping forward to give the length of crutch a few taps in testing. It's better to start off easy, after all, but if Accelerator couldn't even keep a grip on the thing with just the slightest opposition, it'd be pointless to get right into attacks.

"My baseline is having fucked up hormones and no reason to ever put any effort into fixing the issue," Accelerator bluntly replies, though all that derision is aimed at himself rather than Donnie. Realistically, he shouldn't be putting the blame fully on himself, not when he's had hundreds of researchers working on him over the years, but this is Accelerator. He never pushed the idea of medications or taking P.E. with any of them, so it may as well be entirely his own fault.

He'll hold his cane up tightly. Thankfully, Donnie is starting out easy so he isn't immediately embarrassing himself by falling over or anything. Inwardly, he's extremely grateful for that. To the surprise of absolutely no one he quickly finds himself favouring his right foot than his left, putting more of his weight on it to compensate.

There's that whole effort thing again. Donnie can't help but frown a bit at that.

"Well, at least you're putting some effort into this. I mean, for all your complaining, you're here."

He doesn't have to look too hard to see how Accelerator's shifted. It's something he'd anticipated, and something that would be addressed as a weakness. But for now, Donnie'd let the esper use it as a strength.

"Coming down a little harder now," he says, giving Accelerator a heads-up before he actually does so, putting a little more weight into the strikes.

"...."

Yeah, he's here. Putting effort into this. Maybe that's part of the reason why he's being so negative about all of this? That he's putting effort into something he obviously isn't going to be good at?

Something to dwell on later. He tries to focus on the task at hand instead, gripping his cane tighter than before and trying to brace himself as Donnie's strikes come harder. However, the combination of the increased force and his own unstable balance causes him to have to take a step backwards as his weight is pushed in that direction.

It makes him scowl even harder as he tries to force his legs to not be quite so useless.

"Shift your weight opposite the direction you're being forced," Donnie says, even as he continues to strike. "You'll overbalance if you rely too much on your stronger leg, and if someone notices, they won't hesitate to exploit that. So you have to improvise in other ways when you can't completely rely on both feet."

He lets up a bit, if only to allow Accelerator a chance to try adjusting his stance before leading into another strike.

"Also, I know it sounds counterintuitive but try not to be so tense in your arms. You're going to need to be able to move them eventually and if you're just locked absorbing blows, it'll just make it harder."

Edited 2023-06-09 05:48 (UTC)

Shift his weight... He has to resist the urge to look down at his feet at Donnie's instructions. If he does that he's pretty sure he's going to get smacked in the head or something., so he keeps his eyes up and nods, taking the brief respite the turtle offers to adjust his stance. He doesn't feel confident at all in not fully relying on his right leg, but he keeps that to himself.

Once he does that he rolls his shoulders, trying to relax his arms without loosening his grip. "Let me guess, I shouldn't be favouring my right arm either, right?"

He'll see how it compensates once Donnie starts his strikes again. Leaning more forward on his other foot won't feel too off since most of his balance will still automatically push towards his right leg, but the stress won't be as much as when he was leaning more purposely in that direction.

Donnie could explain as much but he figures in such cases it makes more sense to experience it. He's not quite sure how well Accelerator can take to any of this, so this is the only way to really find out.

"That your dominant side? You're going to want to keep it from getting too worn out, so try to even it out at least when you're fending off like this. You'll be using it more towards a counter. Here, try hitting me back."

Accelerator gives a small nod at the question. Since he has to use his crutch on his right side he's been getting better at using his left hand as his dominant hand, though it hasn't been very long and he doesn't think he'll ever be fully comfortable switching over.

Still, he leans forward on his left foot, putting his weight on it as he brings his cane down on Donnie's staff as hard as he can.

It's really pitiful. He's weaker than a normal highschooler, and even though he's trying to put his strength behind the blow that is really, really apparent.

Wow, that's sad. Donnie had been expecting maybe at least a little more force but then again, if the guy hasn't done much by way of exercise, he probably shouldn't be so surprised.

"...again," Donnie prompts. He'd been thrown off by weak strike that he'd forgotten the point he'd intended to make. It would have been difficult to make real use of Accelerator's hit given how light it had felt, but now that he's aware of it, Donnie can adjust.

Thankfully, while Accelerator is aware of how weak he is physically without his powers, he isn't picking up on why Donnie is telling him to do a second strike. His pride would take a massive hit if he did.

As he did he just complies readily, hitting his staff a second time with the exact same pathetic amount of force. Bless him, he's trying his best here.

Probably a good thing Donnie managed to hold his tongue on what would have definitely come off as an insult, although who knows, maybe making Accelerator mad would enable him to hit harder?

...Yep, that really is the esper's hardest. Thankfully Donnie keeps his face neutral as he does a simple shift, deliberately slow so Accelerator can see what he's doing- and also so as not to let him go sprawling on his face.

The turtle angles his bō to help slide the crutch along rather than meet it directly to halt its momentum. He's also ready to grab Accelerator in case the esper looks like he's going to fall past him.

To be fair, Accelerator does see what Donnie's doing when he shifts his bō. All this weaknesses with physical activity don't affect his observational skills.

Unfortunately for him, observational skills don't do very much to help when he isn't used to moving without his crutch. He sees what Donnie is doing, but his legs aren't quite cooperating in the way they should, so he is indeed lurching and falling. Whoops.

Donnie lets go of his bō with one hand to make a grab for Accelerator's shirt to pull him back before he can potentially faceplant.

"Vector manipulation the traditional way," he grins. "It'd help if you can work more on your balance so you've got some stability but otherwise once you figure out how to redirect someone's momentum then it'll only take minimal effort on your part."

Because he isn't seeing Accelerator being able to block direct attacks any time soon.

Accelerator resists the urge to flail when he's grabbed, making sure to get his feet back under him as quickly as possible to avoid any further embarrassment. Reflexively, he plants his cane down on the ground and leans against it as he takes a small step back.

There's a scowl on his face in response to the joke. Hah, traditional, hilarious.

He's got a point, though. Already being an expert at redirecting forces using his ability, it's smarter to stick with that tactic instead of forcing one that he wouldn't be any good at.

"Minimal effort is what I'm looking for, I'm not gonna be good at anything else," he huffs exasperatedly. "Plus redirecting is easy enough for me to understand. Probably more than most people."

He is the funny one, after all.

Once Accelerator's regained his balance, Donnie lets go, setting the end of his bō on the ground. "Yeah, I figured you'd like the lazy angle," he says with a crooked grin.

"You already know how to deflect things, so applying it this way should be easy to grasp. I wouldn't dismiss it so easily. You may be a one trick pony but if you can make it effective then no one can say anything about it."

That is a very valid dunking, one he can't complain about. He's so very lazy, and while he's slowly been learning there's more to his ability than it seems, the easiest application is still simply deflecting anything that comes his way.

That consideration causes another thought to come to him. "How do you fight with your bō? I've never seen you do it without your mystic tech."

Donnie shrugs, bringing the weapon around as he straightens. "Haven't really had much need to fight since I got here," he admits, even as he takes a few steps back to give himself room so he won't accidentally whack Accelerator.

He spins the bō effortlessly, transferring it around him before giving a few thrusts and swings in demonstration. "The length gives me some range, and while it can be a little trickier to maneuver in close quarters, there are still ways to work with it, although the whole point would be to get some space again."

While he's seen martial arts movies, Accelerator has never given much thought to the actual technique behind using different kinds of weapons. Plus, those being movies, there's no guarantee those fighting styles would even be realistic to being with, so it's kind of cool to be hearing from someone who actually does this stuff to beat people up for real. It's a lot more impressive than the simple street fighting gangs like Skill Out utilize.

(Though, that makes him wonder just how much skill that level 0 had. He wasn't using a weapon, nor did he seem to be some kind of expert in fighting, but his skills had seemed so far beyond that of a regular high schooler....)

"Do you have to adapt a lot in close quarters? What - " His line of questioning is suddenly caught off as some raucous voices can be heard approaching from the main entrance of the building. There's a lot of cursing - as much as Accelerator does, actually - and laughter, which makes him glance in that direction curiously.

Tensing at the sound of voices, Donnie ceases his staff spinning as he looks as well. "Uh-oh," he starts to say, throwing a quick glance around for nearest routes of escape, or at least somewhere to hide. Unfortunately they'd opted for the biggest open space in the middle of the old warehouse.

It isn't long at all before a few people enter the abandoned facility, the first of a group so far as can be told by the other voices still sounding from outside. There's no questioning what sort of fellows they might be for their particular style and the obvious air of superiority they carry about them. The ones who'd entered first abruptly cease their joking when they realize there's someone already present. Two someones...

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? You kids get lost lookin' for the playground?"

Meanwhile, Accelerator just remains where he is. Booking it out of there doesn't occur to him, since those voice - those people, when they come into view - don't look particularly different from the thugs he constantly dealt with back home. Bigger and older, maybe, since these guys are clearly out of high school, but they're giving off the same stupid air.

Reattaching his cane to his arm cuff he then turns his head, spitting on the ground. "Fuck off," he says boredly, which gets one of the newcomers laughing.

"Shit, this punk ass bitch thinks he's tough!" He says, nudging his friend with an elbow before casually reaching into his pocket and pulling out a switchblade. "We got some bitch and, what the fuck, some fuckin' green alien in our turf? Looks like we gotta do something about that."

Unphased, Accelerator glances over at Donnie, and in the kind of tone you'd expect from someone chatting about the weather addresses him. "Hey, I want to see what you can do. Wanna beat the shit out of them?"

It's natural instinct and Donnie's not sure he'll ever grow out of it, that urge to make himself scarce the moment some unexpected people show up, doubly so when they're humans. He may not be terribly impressed with these guys either, but he still preferred to avoid trouble.

It becomes clear this is not Accelerator's line of thinking. Donnie resists the urge to face-palm at the blunt response from the esper. Not that these thugs help the situation.

"Seriously, what is it with you people always instantly categorizing us as aliens??" he sighs, exasperated. "I'm not even in costume!" What now? But Jupiter Jim doesn't exist in this Earth iteration, so the reference would have been lost either way.

Accelerator's prompt gets him a flat look as Donnie turns his head towards him. "You're kidding me." This is exactly the opposite of avoiding trouble!

>8D

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I laughed

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