[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

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.

[atypical_echo]

Yeah, that's... fair.

"You know... you sorta remind me of this guy I kinda know. He's a friend of my friend Huvrye. His name is Leo. But he's a bit bigger than you."

[purplexing]

That certainly gets the kid's attention as he visibly perks at the name. Leo? This human knows Leo? Donnie cautiously crawls forward a little more.

...but how can Leo be bigger than him? That makes him frown a little. But at least the tears have been averted.

[atypical_echo]

"I could call him if you want. He's... An emergency contact for a friend of mine. So if you want, I could call him."

Not that he knows if Leo knows how to handle a little kid like this. They could be a whole different species. The kid isn't... communicating well. Which is okay because the little one is scared.

[purplexing]

Maybe it's a trick. There's no way Leo's bigger than him. And why would he know anyone up here?

Now Donnie looks...well, as suspicious as a little kid can manage to express, nose wrinkling slightly under those glasses. He starts scooting backwards again. Should he run? But where will he go? And even if it is a trick, how does this person know his brother's name? Aaah, what should he do, what should he do?

...guess crying is back on the table.

[atypical_echo]

Oh no. Oh no. Mark winces at the tears. Please no.

"Hey, hey I promise I'm not going to hurt you. Listen, should I call him? Let you talk to him? Maybe you guys share a language or something?"

[purplexing]

Share a language??? But the man's talking to him now so what's the problem? Other than that it's not helping Donnie not cry! He backs up so he's not really directly under the bench anymore but sitting behind it, huddled in a miserable little purple ball. He rubs at his eyes, his glasses knocked askew as he sniffles.

"Don't want to talk, I want to go home!"

[atypical_echo]

Oh! Oh the little guy speaks. Mark scoots back too, trying give the kid some space.

"I want to help you get home. I just... Sometimes people understand you here but they can't talk back to you. Listen... I know this really cool and good superhero. He's got wings and he can fly. What if I ask him to help you find your family? He's super nice, he's saved me a few times."

Maybe Huvrye is better with kids than Mark is? Fuck, what is he supposed to do?

[purplexing]

He's still furiously trying to wipe away tears that won't shut off, his sleeves all damp and his glasses more across his forehead than where they should be. Still, he looks up, peeking between the balled up sleeves around his hands at Mark.

"A...a real superhero?" Like in comics? Donnie sounds hopeful at that. After all, superheroes are supposed to be able to do anything!

[atypical_echo]

Mark wasn't going to point out he was one too. No one was ever impressed by what he did.

"Yeah. He's amazing. Really pretty, and his wings are made sorta of light. He saved me from being lost in the desert."

[purplexing]

Well that's sure one way to get a kid to stop sobbing! Mark has used distraction! It's super effective!

"Ooh..." Donnie tries wiping the rest of his leaky face off, but he's finally gotten a handle on those tears it seems. He has an important question though.

"Why were you in a desert?" From what he's read about deserts they sound like the worst place to ever want to go!

[atypical_echo]

Oh, that. Mark sighs. It's something he supposes he can summarize.

"I accidentally got magically banished there by an evil wizard."

A glaring simplifications, but it did cover the situation.

[purplexing]

"That sounds fake." As fascinating as this terrible misadventure sounds, this story has one huge flaw.

"Magic's not really real." Maybe the human is trying to simplify things because Donnie's a kid? Despite being all of, what, four, maybe, he feels he must correct Mark on this matter.

[atypical_echo]

Yeah, it does, and Mark laughs. Of course it sounds fake. He wishes it had been.

"I really want it to not be real, but I also don't mind it as much because most magical metas I don't... Well, my boss at the theater, he's a whole god with magic. It's all weird, but that's how things go."

[purplexing]

Blink. Yeah, that's a lot of information that he has no idea what to do with. Donnie does perk up at one key word however.

"You work at a movie theater?" That's what that means, right? Otherwise why would he have a boss? Magic or not, not an important fact here, he decides.

[atypical_echo]

Oh man, no. He sighs.

“A playhouse actually. That sort of theater.”

And he has plenty of work to do there actually.

[purplexing]

"Oh." He's not sure if he's disappointed by that or not, he has no real opinion of live theaters yet. But they're basically real-time movies, right?

"...are you an actor?"

[atypical_echo]

Ouch. No, that's... definitely a bit no there.

"Not really. But you know how movies have really cool posters and commercials? I do stuff like that for plays."

[purplexing]

Okay, color him slightly disappointed. But Donnie perks up at the mention of commercials. His dad loves commercials.

"Ooh..." Posters are cool. And commercials can be cool, he supposes. So this human can't be all that bad. He's pushed himself to his feet, still keeping the bench between them, but he edges around it, hanging onto the armrest.

[atypical_echo]

"I start by taking pictures," he says. "But I guess that's not that exciting like people actually performing is."

[purplexing]

Not nearly as exciting, no, but hey, picture-taking sounds cool. That means gadgetry is involved. He inches closer with a tiny hop.

"Do you have a camera? How does it work?" he asks, bouncing. Maybe it's a video camera, or those big ones with the film loaded from giant disks!

[atypical_echo]

"I have a few at this point, and lots of different lenses. So I can take pictures up close and pictures far away. Pictures that are still and pictures where people were moving."

He took his art seriously and each time he bought new gear for himself he could do better work for the theater.