Donatello Hamato (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
purplexing) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
metalogs2023-06-04 09:51 pm
purplexing) wrote in metalogs2023-06-04 09:51 pm
[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!)
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!)
no subject
Donnie grimaces, but forestalls further questions, mostly because he figures that's enough information to digest. Of course Accelerator gives the rest of the details quite freely, and the turtle tries not to make too many faces even as his shoulders tense up while he sits back, folding his arms tightly in front of him.
"Oh, that's...uh. Yikes. All the things I did not know and never wanted to think about." His own response makes him wince after a moment.
"...sorry if that sounded careless. You got off really lucky. Brain injuries are not anything to shrug off."
no subject
... Even if what happened was horrible.
"No, you're right," he replies slowly. "It's not like anyone ever thinks 'hey, I wonder what it's like to get shot in the head.' It was fucking insane. I should be dead right now, but I'm not."
no subject
Donnie's not much for knowing how to offer encouragement, much less how to be reassuring, so he always defaults to facts, and there's enough he's gleaned from observation to plug together. Pros and cons. You just ignore the obvious cons because in this case, the other party's well aware of those.
no subject
His expression shifts to something less annoyed, more somber. "... Well. I can't."
He can't leave Last Order alone, not in a dangerous world that's still out to get her. And he can't leave the remaining Sisters when they still may need him. It'll never make up for what he did, but someone needs to be there to make sure they aren't used again. The attempted theft of the Tree Diagram's remnants and that night with Kihara proved that.
"I've got shit I still need to do back home," he continues, vague as hell and not providing any details.
no subject
Donnie arches a brow, about the most to suggest an invitation to expound on that response, but otherwise he isn't really pressing for it. It's still a valid enough reason given, vague as it is.
"Fair enough," he nods. "That's as good a motivation as any."
no subject
He does sigh, eventually, finishing off his coffee. "Anyways. It only happened a month before I got here, so I'll quit dwelling on what I lost eventually. And I'm not about to let it happen again, which is why I'm trying to do what I can to manage the half hour of reflection that I still have."
no subject
They're on the same page when it comes to not wanting to let something happen again, though. The turtle's expression darkens briefly before he nods, echoing Accelerator's sigh.
"Well, just remember, you don't have to tackle things alone." Hypocrite. "I know, I know, effort and payback, etcetera, etcetera, but the offer's there anyway, okay?"
no subject
It's hard for him to. He isn't used to hearing this, people don't offer him help. Once again, Donnie is being way too kind towards someone who doesn't deserve it.
He looks away, remembering how their conversation in the library had gone. Pushing back hadn't made the situation any easier, so he resists the urge this time. "Tche."
It's... better than him telling Donnie off for being nice? He moves to stand, grabbing his empty coffee cup. "Come on, let's get out of here."
no subject
For all the indifference and the roughness that the esper puts on display, Donnie knows he's not heartless. And in a strange new world, even the emotionless bad boys can get lonely.
"Yeah," he agrees then, picking up his own cup as he pushes his chair back. Accelerator saying nothing is already better than him arguing. Donnie takes this as a win, hiding a tiny smirk.