[Open] Transmissions Echoing Away

[purplexing]

Who: Donnie (purplexing) and you..?!
What: Weathering the aftermath of Downburst events while trying to get back into some semblance of whatever accounts for normal around here
When: End of July into Mid-August
Where: Central City
Content Warnings: N/A
Notes: Will match pose pref!


i. Lost Child (Tiny Turtle 1)
It was supposed to be a couple of simple errands, a stop at the hardware store and then an automotive shop for some replacement headlights. Sure, he might've been able to scavenge those but finding purple-tinted ones is considerably more difficult when you can't turn on cars in the junkyard to check.

Donnie tucks his phone away, a corner coffee shop catching his eye. Well, maybe a stop there on the way back. He stuffs his hands into the pockets of his purple hoodie, crosses the street...

...

The first thing that hits him is the noise and the brightness. This isn't the sewers, it's not even an enclosed space. Not to mention there are humans everywhere!

It's the blare of an impatient car horn that sends the suddenly small bundle of purple and green running for the nearest cover in absolute panic. But when you're only about two feet tall, practically everything towers over you and is that much more scary.

The purple-hoodied tiny turtle cowers under a bus bench. Just breathe, just breathe. What did dad tell them to do in a situation like this?

...he has no idea.


ii. Runaway (Tiny Turtle 2)
He has decided that the world above is terrifying. While he's been somewhat surprised that not everyone seems to freak out at first sight of a small, glasses-wearing, green child, not everyone proves to be very nice!

Case in point, a couple of thuggish bullies who have apparently decided it's good sport to chase him down.

For the record, Donnie does not think this is fun! He's in tears as he does his best to get away from them, but he has tiny legs and not the greatest coordination.


iii. What Fun is Force if it Can't be a Little Deadly
For how effectively Donnie had managed to clear out the otherwise abandoned warehouse the last time he and Accelerator had made use of it, the place seems to more or less have become a default space to use for their choice of illicit activities. The tape's probably still stuck in some places from when Leo outlined the layout for their even earlier heist.

Today, it is for the purpose of testing out weapons. Donnie's been working on a few things, one being finalizing Accelerator's laser attachment for his crutch, which Donnie can't really test out in the penthouse.

And then there's his personal project he'd decided to sink some time into ever since those Arcadian guards had popped up and power neutralization was a thing: the resurrection of his beloved tech-bō, Version 2.0. This one's considerably pared down from the original model, sleeker and more subtle. True, it was hard to convince himself that he didn't need a flame thrower, or a saw, or even a third of what his fourteen-year old self had crammed into the original design, but he is pretty happy with what he's come up with.

He's even more eager to put it through the motions.


iv. Frequency - (first come, first serve)
It never fails; you're just walking along, enjoying your fancy cup of coffee when you suddenly get hit by some several hours' worth of memories that you technically hadn't even experienced yet. The sensation's jarring enough that it stops Donnie dead in his tracks.

A foiled heist gone wrong, The Foot Clan again, April dragging some unconscious kid into the Lair, aliens--!

His coffee's all over the ground now but his thoughts are still scattered between places, eyes twitchy like he's dreaming with his eyes open. It takes him a moment before he gasps, feeling like he'd just been submerged underwater.

"Uggh that was really weird and highly disturbing, let's not do that again," he groans, running a hand over his face.

Comments

ii

[faceguy]

Leo’s also been out and about today, but unlike Donnie (who is actually being productive), he’s been to the arcade and then the magic shop Danny showed him before. He’s become something of a regular there, and he has a book about Houdini tucked under his arm. He’s got his hoodie on despite the heat, pulled up so his face is mostly obscured, and he very nearly passes right by the old parking lot when he hears laughing and someone shout, “Freak!”

And it’s not his business, but Leo is a little nosy.

He walks to any opening in the chain link fence to peek inside, and the scene becomes his business very quickly.

Because one of the bullies moves aside, and he sees a tiny child with green skin and a purple hoodie, his glasses taped to his face, and Leo shoots through the gap faster than you can blink.

How is Donnie an actual baby right now? How did he get out here with these jackasses? Don’t know, don’t care. All Leo knows is that there is a very short list of people allowed to bully his brother and these guys aren’t on it.

He grabs the first one he reaches, spins them around, and punches so hard he hears something crunch. They go down on their butt, and the others round on him.

“What the hell-“ one of them starts, then pauses when they see Leo, who grins in a way that isn’t kind at all.

“I think “pick on someone your own size” is what people usually say right about now.”

[purplexing]

His arms pulled over his head, Donnie wishes he could tuck into his shell as easily as Mikey, not that it would protect him much. He squeezes his eyes shut, hoping the mean humans would just disappear.

The sounds he hears are a little scary and he's afraid to look, except that now there's a new voice. Carefully, the little turtle takes a peek, blinking up at a pair of green legs.

The bully yet standing continues to gape at Leo before bringing a hand up, pointing at his face.

"Another one!" they sputter, taking a step back while blindly grabbing at the other on the ground who's nursing a bloody nose.

[faceguy]

"Yep, another one." Leo takes a step forward, the grin slipping into something more angry. "And that's my little brother you're messing with. Big mistake."

Donnie will probably give him crap about that later, but right now he doesn't care. He's getting these guys away from Donnie, and then he's getting Donnie out of here. That's the priority.

(Worrying about why he's so tiny comes sometime after that.)

[purplexing]

'Brother'..?

There's only one brother who wears so much blue and has red markings. But that doesn't make sense. When did Leo get so huge!!!

Right now, Donnie's wondering the reverse of what Leo was, but he doesn't care too much just right now because there's someone he kind of knows and he's taking care of these scary people, maybe he can show him how to get home too!

The little turtle scrambles over behind Leo, peering around one of the taller turtle's legs.

The humans meanwhile are doing some quick recalculations of their recent decisions, the one nearly tripping over the other on the ground, and the thought of whatever retribution Leo might deliver upon them once their backs are turned is enough to spur both of them, half on all fours until they manage to lurch to their feet, into a hasty retreat.

From behind his cover, Donnie shakes a fist after them.

[faceguy]

The humans make the wise decision, and Leo watches to make sure they don’t have any plans on coming back before turning his attention to Donnie. Donnie, who is wagging his little fist in the air, which is just…

stupid cute.

He has to resist a laugh, and thankfully his residual anger at those assholes makes that easier to do.

“Don’t think those jerks will be bothering you again.”

He swivels around and lowers down to a squat, grinning at Donnie normally now.

“Hey, Dee, you okay? They didn’t hurt you, did they?”

[purplexing]

The other turtle's attention now fully shifting to him makes Donnie all at once uncertain again, if for all of two seconds. He starts to nod at the question before shaking his head to the second question.

With Leo now at his level, he stares unabashedly at the other turtle, eventually reaching a hand out to trace the red markings on his brother's face. Then he pokes a finger at his nose.

"Why're you so big?" Because it has to be Leo. How many other mutant red-ear sliders does he know? And clearly this big turtle knows who Donnie is.

[faceguy]

Leo waits while Donnie runs a hand over his face (weird, but if it reassures him…) and then pokes at his nose (rude, but okay).

The inevitable question comes, and Leo has to think fast how to answer. If Donnie doesn’t remember being big, then trying to argue that Donnie is actually the one who changed here probably won’t get him anywhere.

He goes for a different approach, then.

“I’m… from the future!” Hey, time travel is apparently real, so why not? “You know Jupiter Jim issue 87? Yeah, I came back through a slipstream in time, because I knew you would need my help!”

i.

[levelshift]

Accelerator is out doing a quick coffee run, because of course he is, when he catches sight of a flash of purple and green across the street. His brain automatically jumps to Donnie, those are his colours, but that's all of two feet of purple and green. Donnie isn't that, he's a lot taller.

Still, it's enough to pique his curiosity, so he crosses the street and over to the bus stop.

It's when he leans down and looks under the bench that is clicks in his head. "Shit," he mutters under his breath. That is one very small turtle.

[purplexing]

Oh no, spotted?!

Donnie stays veeeery still in hopes that maybe this human is just passing by, but then he sees feet stop right by the bench. He gives a small hiccup of a gasp when said human's face appears to look at him.

He'd bolt but that's almost as scary a thought. There's cars and more people and he has no idea how to get home. Maybe if he covers his eyes the human will go away. ...except he knows that probably won't happen.

So he stares back at the strange looking person. Is he a tiny old man? But he's not wrinkly like what he's seen on dad's TV. And he's got red eyes. Is that healthy?

[levelshift]

Upon seeing Donnie's deer-in-headlights expression, Accelerator straightens back up. He needs to think about this for a second, and he doubts hovering too much is going to help the situation.

He can't very well just walk away. Even if this isn't Donnie, this is clearly some small turtle-child that needs an adult. This is the kind of kid that shouldn't be wandering around Central on his own, because there's a chance some sketchy adult could scoop him up. He should try calling Leo, though waiting around for who knows how long with the kid under a bus bench isn't a good idea either. Ugh, maybe he should just kick the bench over and grab him, but he'd probably start freaking out.....

How would he deal with this if this was Last Order?

"What a pain in the ass," he mutters under his breath, before shifting his grip on his crutch and moving to crouch down. When he speaks again his voice is a little gentler. "Yo, hiding under there isn't safe."

[purplexing]

Oh, is he going away? No, the feet are still there. Donnie squeaks in surprise again when Accelerator's face reappears.

"...."

Is he talking to him? Well, there's no one else here under the bench with him. Donnie glances around reluctantly before very slowly crawling backwards. When he's up on his feet he edges towards the end of the bench to peek at the white-haired teen.

[levelshift]

Okay, that's one step in the right direction. Accelerator gets back to his feet, frowning. There are a whole lot of things he could say, but it seems pretty clear Donnie doesn't recognize him, so most of them would make him sound crazy and/or like a kidnapper. He thinks a bit on this, then something out of the corner of his eye catches his attention.

Well, it had worked for Last Order and that nun....

He points at a nearby McDonald's over on the street corner. "You hungry?"

[purplexing]

Accelerator isn't so big now that Donnie's not on the floor. The fact that he's using a crutch doesn't go past the kid either. He stares at it a moment, fascinated by the design before he looks up at the esper.

As if on cue, his stomach gurgles, and he look down at it before looking up at the human again, giving a shy nod.

i

[atypical_echo]

Mark usually isn't the sort to get super involved in stuff, especially in Central. Hell, he's having a bad enough day of it as it is, given the fact that he hasn't been home in too long. But if there was one thing he's going to notice, it's a small green and purple form ducking under a bench he was coming up to sit down on.

He should walk away. Mark gets himself into so much trouble and gets hurt plenty with that. But come on. He's got to act. So he squats down near the bench. Not quite in arm's reach. Could be an alien cat or dog that will bite him or something. Better to have some room to get away.

"Hey under there. You okay?"

[purplexing]

Well, it's not a cat or a dog, that's for sure.

There's no denying the terrified look behind those square spectacles, tape sticking the nosepiece to the purple bandanna while string holds the frame in place around his head for lack of ears. A small, green-skinned child of some sort.

This is the first time he's seen a human up close and not on television, and he's not sure if the attention is good, but he's less sure of what to do in this case. So he does the next best thing, which apparently is to throw his arms over his head and pretend he isn't there.

no it's the most adorable thing I've ever seen omfg

[atypical_echo]

Okay, definitely a thinking creature because glasses. Mark can absolutely put together 'glasses' with 'intelligence' because you had to MAKE those. No one made glasses for pets. Probably. Hopefully.

He stays there, crouched down, not reaching out and not moving away. How is he supposed to handle this? Does the thing even understand English?

"I promise I'm not here to hurt you," he says, keeping his voice soft. It's probably some kind of Meta, right? Or maybe an escaped experiment? Which would of course make it still a Meta. And probably in need of shelter. Okay, and stop calling the poor little stranger 'it' in your own head, Mark, geez. Okay. They. They are a scared little person. Probably person.

"Are you lost?"

this is how he takes over the world

[purplexing]

Carefully, Donnie peeks between his arms at the human. He can understand him perfectly fine. Can he trust this person though? Well...he's wearing glasses and being very quiet so he can't be a bad person. Maybe... Not like he has any reference point outside of movies.

The little turtle slowly lowers his arms, still clearly quite cautious of Mark, but at least it appears he's listening. He gives a tiny nod in response to the question.

[atypical_echo]

Well, the little guy seems to understand the language, and that helps.

“Alright then, that’s sad but I get it. I get lost sometimes too. Do you know where your family lives? I could help you get there.”

[purplexing]

Oh, that's a tough one. Donnie frowns a little. He's never been topside before so he has absolutely no idea how to get home, and he knows it's practically a maze down below. They never went too far from the Lair for a reason!

And then there's the other thing about it being secret. They weren't supposed to be up here by themselves anyway! ...except somehow he is, and he doesn't know how to get home and oh no, he looks like he's going to cry now, sorry Mark. He's having a bit of a crisis.

II Late but I brought Starbucks?

[contocricket]

Pongo lifted his nose to sniff as he caught the whiff of distress and...was that Donatello? Huh. He smelled off.

He started tugging urgently on his leash, glancing back at his pet anxiously.

"What is it?"

Pongo whined and gave another tug.

Archie hopped upwards, wings buzzing so he could go airborne. Still holding the leash, he flew just over Pongo's back as the Dalmatian raced towards the not-quite-Donatello smell.

you're forgiven

[purplexing]

"Haha, where you goin'!" One of the little turtle's pursuers laughs and none too kindly. They really aren't going too fast, or they would have easily overrun him. As Donnie runs down an alleyway, they both grin at each other.

The turtle tot nearly crashes into an already overturned trash can. He scrambles around it, trying to hide, but the two bullies aren't far behind and don't take long to spot him.

[contocricket]

"Hey!"

Archie landed between the little turtle and the bullies, Pongo at his side. The Dalmatian's hackles were up, baring his teeth and snarling at the toughs.

"I think you all should go home."

[purplexing]

The sudden appearance of the winged Archie startled both parties. Donnie squeaked and ducked behind the trash receptacle, hands over his head as he cowered.

Meanwhile the two would-be thugs had second thoughts. Guy with wings- weird, kind of creepy, okay. Dog...considerably more dangerous. Grimacing, the pair exchanged a glance, quickly deciding this wasn't worth the trouble nor effort, so they turned to make a tactical retreat, although not without an insult tossed Archie's way. Too many freaks in town, what was this city coming to?

[contocricket]

Archie didn't even bat an eyelash at the insult. He'd heard worse from his own parents.

Instead, he focused on the young turtle, crouching down but making sure not to get too close so as not to frighten the kid.

"It's all right. They're gone."

[purplexing]

His eyes still squeezed tightly shut, Donnie hunkered down a little more at the closer sound of footsteps. He didn't immediately look once the human started speaking to him, but slowly he opened his eyes to take a peek.

He'd heard the other two leave but that didn't mean he wasn't still scared. After all, he wasn't used to humans or anything that lived up here. At least this one wasn't meaning to chase him, it seemed. Sniffling, Donnie finally looked up at Archie.