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

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!

Okay, this isn't the time to ask, but costume? Accelerator raises an eyebrow and puts in a mental pin in that, because what the hell? Does he have an alien costume somewhere? Is that just a thing he and Leo have? So many questions.

Anyways, he shrugs. "I'm completely serious. A real life demonstration of what someone can do with a staff in a fight is good learning material." And it would be cool, but he isn't going to say that part out loud.

The thugs look a bit confused at suddenly getting talked about like they aren't in the room, so the one with the knife starts advancing. "Are you stupid kids fucking with us?"

Donnie ignores the look, although he can't ignore the esper when he's saying things like that.

"Uh, look just because these guys happen to be here and may or may not have done plenty of things worthy of a minor thrashing at the very least, current fashion crimes notwithstanding, I am not using them as am example!"

"What the hell kid, you're in for it now!" another thug growls before pointing. "Get 'em!"

By then, word's been passed around to the few others who hadn't come in yet, and they've all scattered to enter from other parts of the building, expecting...well, more than a couple of teens, even if one is weirdly green. At least several more slip from the other side, chuckling as they bring up an assortment of classic street weapons, chains, lead pipes, more knives.

As soon as one makes his move, they all do, Donnie looking mildly annoyed despite the fact that he's the one that just insulted them all. He gives a sharp jerk of his bō to catch one guy under the chin before he can even swing his pipe, pulling back to give it a thrust towards the man's gut and sending him crumpling to the floor.

Wow, someone certainly has more morals than he thought. Or maybe Donnie is just being practical? Whatever, Accelerator stands by his idea. These guys are obviously scum, so who cares if they get knocked around a little.

There's more of them than he thought, which is fine. As they converge Accelerator glances around and steps back to give Donnie more space, not even bothering to change his choker's mode. It looks like regular humans, and as far as he can see no one has a gun, so he's fairly sure he can just sit back and watch the show.

That one guy clutches his stomach on the ground, though it isn't enough to deter the others. A few more launch themselves at Donnie at the same time, aiming to overwhelm him, since obviously one-on-one doesn't look like it'd be that successful.

None of the turtles intentionally looked for trouble or people to beat up on the basis that they possibly deserved it. Now, if they did something in front of them, that'd be a totally different story.

Donnie scowls at Accelerator as the esper looks content with just letting him handle this mess. He can't really do much about it now, and he suspects the gang members had been itching for a fight the moment they'd seen them.

He throws a quick look about as he notices the movement, making it a point to sigh heavily even as he spins his bō around and drops into an at-ready stance. His staff is spinning again as he steps to engage the nearest thug, bringing it down over they guy's head.

Reversing the spin once it connects, Donnie twists and brings his weapon in a broad arc around to catch the next two coming at him, stopping their charge long enough to follow up with quick strikes to keep them off balance. He knocks one back with a firm kick.

What!! Clearly Donnie has this covered and he can be lazy.

Accelerator does notice one asshole approaching him out of the corner of his eye. All he does is switch his choker on before his focus returns back to the turtle and his very sick martial arts moves. There's a noise behind him as a chain bounces off his reflection and smashes into the guy's face, but he pays it no mind.

This is a lot more interesting than some movie on tv. Donnie's moves are really, really controlled and deliberate, which he supposes makes a lot of sense when he's working with such a large and unwieldy weapon. It'd be easy to lose your balance or not put the right amount of force into a strike if you aren't careful with it. Compared to like, an axe or something, where all you need to do is swing it around and make sure it hits.

He's pretty sure he's never given weaponry this much consideration before, but it's kind of fun.

This is a new level of laziness! Except Donnie's attributing it more towards Accelerator's jerk-tendencies. Really, this kid!

He does notice one guy go falling back, well away from his range, and it has Donnie look over to see that the esper's not budged much else otherwise. Oh, the nerve! He doesn't feel particularly sorry as he thrusts the end of his staff behind him, slamming it into one of the other men.

The clear threat the turtle teen actually poses has become apparent to the others by now, and now it's not merely about being casually insulted or their turf being invaded. There's just no chance they're getting schooled by an alien freak! While they have no idea what happened to the other guy with the chain, so far as they're concerned, the kid with the crutch is collateral, although if he's in the way they won't bat much of an eye about it.

A knife flies through the air, deflected with a sharp ping as Donnie whips his staff about, shooting the man a glare. In that instance someone else manages to close the distance, trying to grapple him from behind. The sudden contact makes him visibly freeze, if all for two seconds before Donnie yanks his bō towards him to clock the guy over his shoulder, and he follows up by elbowing the guy viciously and finishing off with a solid backwards swing of his weapon.

He abruptly sidesteps at the sound of another swinging chain, letting it catch around the end of his bō before giving it a sharp tug to pull the other off balance. Advancing, he meets the man low with his weapon brought parallel between them, using it to flip the guy over his shell.

He feels like he should be taking notes or something, though he supposes he's memorizing everything just fine without a pen and paper....

Damn, actually, would video recordings be good to have? That way he could study them or something. Maybe he should bring that up afterwards. That idea is getting filed away as there's a loud crack and a yelp, this time from directly behind him, but Accelerator just tunes the noise out.

(It's some other ruffian having tried to revenge for his knocked out friend by way of punching Accelerator in the back of the head. He's now curled up on the ground, his arm bent at a very uncomfortable angle.)

He does notice that freeze, despite how brief it is. It's probably just because Donnie isn't a very touchy person (compared to, say, Leo, who is endlessly aggravating about it), and it causes more gears in his brain to turn. A staff is going to be at its most effective at a range rather than up close, so not only would that probably be the turtle's preference but he'd also have to make up for the weakness the weapon has with close combat through other martial arts and getting creative. Accelerator can't exactly make up for this weakness with physical strength... he'll have to ask about that afterwards, too.

Unexpected contact of any kind is still making him more jumpy than usual, and he hates it. His movements have a little more force than earlier, a touch more anger than when he'd first started. He tries to calm himself down, like he's grasping on a slippery line as he starts to feel himself go on edge. His moves are getting desperate and he doesn't want it to show.

But it's no longer about teaching these guys a lesson, it's about getting them out of his personal space!

His bō cracks across some unfortunate thug's wrist, followed by the clang of a knife being dropped. Donnie rams his staff into them and throws them into another, leaving yet another pile on the floor. As he scans the remaining thugs, at least the ones still able to move, he homes in on one as their movement gives away their intentions.

Neon violet lines flash through the air above him, outlining a massive laser cannon-looking thing. It's definitely overkill, and it's trained right on the thug who freezes in the middle of wrestling with his holstered gun.

"I'm giving you one warning. You all let us leave and you'll hopefully never see us again. Or you'll just never see us again."

Notes as still piling up in Accelerator's head as he watches, figuring this is all very normal fighting behaviour. Most of his actual fighting experience is dealing with thugs like these guys, so it's all totally normal for him anyways. Most people in Academy City (and his world in general) rely on either esper powers or technology, after all.

That is, right up until that familiar light flashes and good lord, that's a big cannon. Accelerator looks down and sees the gun. And he is absolutely delighted.

Switchblades and pipes are one thing. You can get away with only roughing someone up with those. A gun, though? A gun means there's an intent to kill. It means these idiots are worse than some random gang scum, and that the air they're breathing is worth more than they are.

(Those guys are also very clearly terrified of the giant laser cannon out of nowhere, but.)

A grin is splitting across his face and he can't help but laugh. It's cracked and sounds more like a broken whistle than a normal person's laugh. "Holyyyy shit! Why're you bothering with a warning? Afraid of being a loose cannon?"

Get it? Get it?

The tense moment is broken by the alien sound of laughter coming from Accelerator. The ragged assortment of thugs look at him in horror while Donnie looks over as though the esper's just sprouted a second head.

"Ohmyg- I cannot believe you!" Donnie sputters, cutting himself off as he stares, brow twitching. At least it serves to help him break that building tension and reset himself. It's sadly hard to say whether he's more upset about Accelerator's suggestion to open fire or the awful pun.

The men however don't care for the crazy laughter (is that what that was?) nor this twig of a kid egging the alien on to blow them away. Some of them have already started to scramble, the ones who can still move not even bothering to try dragging their deadweight pals along. It might help that they've heard rumors of a previous incident involving some green-skinned kid and purple lasers from months ago, but regardless, they don't intend to find out how effective that fancy cannon might be.

"A hah hah hah." He's still - giggling? Yep, that sure is some squeaky giggling. Contrary to popular belief, he is apparently capable of doing that. He doesn't look the least bit bothered by Donnie either, and jabs the end of his crutch at the goons who are starting to scramble away. Even the guy with the broken arm behind him is choosing to book it out of there rather than stick around.

"Don't get pissed off, you still intimidated them. Look, they decided sticking around's a bad idea," he says lightly. "It was probably the giant gun in their face that did it."

Given all Donnie's previous experiences with Accelerator, it's still difficult to believe those sounds coming out of his mouth.

He doesn't immediately banish the mystic-tech cannon, just in case anyone has the wild idea to try something stupid. Finally the sounds of fleeing thugs diminishes, leaving only Accelerator, Donnie, and the guys who were knocked unconscious and scattered about the warehouse floor.

With a sigh, Donnie dismisses the cannon in a shimmering of pixelated light.

"Probably. Still way too much effort on guys like that. Come on, let's get out of here. You owe me a real coffee, by the way." Because coffee sure helps with frazzled nerves.

With the remaining thugs running with their tails between their legs Accelerator lets out a long sigh, switching his choker back to normal. The grin on his face drops away, as well.

"Yeah, fine. There's a coffee shop a few blocks away at the edge of this district." Does he have all the coffee selling establishments in the city memorized? Maybe. He heads towards the closest exit, stepping around the unconscious thugs, his crutch clacking on the ground. "How come you made that cannon, anyways? Because of the gun? You could've handled that."

I laughed

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I'm so sorry

sob rator why

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