S'okay. You're okay, [Donnie...says? Hears? He has no idea; it's a voice, and it's to and from both of them. The rubble is lifted off of Raph's shell and Donnie can breathe easier now, Raph's hand in his lap, between his own, their combined light pink and red and purple and mauve, like a busted bruise.
...time to get Raph out from under it. Donnie stands up carefully, still holding Raph's hand.] Gotta pull you out. Give me that strength, Raph. Okay? Help me pull you out. [The latticework flickers; darkens purple for a moment. Too much. They have to stay connected.]
[ Gotta pull him out. It has to ping around in Raph's head for a second before it really registers. The weight is gone. That was what stopped him before, right?
Donnie needs his help. Raph can't not help him. Not when it really matters. Not when Donnie is all alone if he doesn't. ]
Yeah. Just gotta-- just gotta... [ Gotta something. Pull in another breath. Fail to come up with the words he was looking for. Raph looks for the feeling instead: the hook-tug of impulse that sends someone diving over the edge after their brother. That need and fear, the way that something sparks to life halfway down. I can catch him. Let me catch him. Let me help him. Let me save him. That feeling of being bigger than himself. Being able to take more, punch harder, be stronger.
He curls his fingers, squeezes Donnie's hands as much as he can, lets it start there and move out, up over Donnie's arms. No blueprints, no structures, no architecture, just simple physical instinct. All Raph ever has to give is himself, and he's happy to give it: an arm's framework filled out in purple, red threaded through and around it like veins, like training wheels, trying to help hold the shape.
Neither of them is alone. It has to be okay, if they're together. ]
Edited (damn thx typo) Date: 2025-02-26 02:55 am (UTC)
[Like using simple machines to exert incredible force upon an object. Easy. No complex designs, no planning periods; there's a point A and a point B and the determination to make it between the two.
All the lines are red and purple pools within them.
It's going to hurt.
Donatello begins to gather Raph up into his arms; his larger arms, arms made of light, lined red and pooled purple, curling up above him like his own avatar, sharp toothed and slim as it curls its great hands around Raph's biceps like they're the size of uncooked spaghetti. Moving Raph is inadvisable until his injuries are categorized but the latticework is already flickering, so the construct above them both pulls Raph five feet out and five more to keep him safe from the clattering of boulders as the net dissolves, Donatello acting as a fulcrum before the construct dissolves like smoke and leaves them back in the dark.
Donnie gasps, blinking rapidly; his eyes sting as if he'd had them open too long and he blinks, rubs at them, then goes back down to his knees to pat around and feel for his freed big brother. Okay. One thing at a time. Find Raph. What did they just do- No, find Raph. Focus.] Raph, make a noise, are you okay-
[ Raph can confirm: it does hurt. He can't fit a lot of being very proud of his brother into the non-pain space while he's being hauled, but he does his best.
He's mostly just LARPing as a speedbump in the dark after the connection and the construct dissipates. If a speedbump could breathe. A little recovery moment, as a treat. A little free rest. He thinks his ribs might be made of dust now? Not ideal. But where's-- aha. ]
Donnie. [ Gasped out, but very relieved. ] Dee-
[ He helpfully flops his arm in the vague direction of Donnie's voice and ground-patting. Get a brother over here. Raph needs the stat boost of knowing exactly where his little brother is. ]
[Crawling over, extremely nervous about all that wheezing as Raphael struggles to breathe. Holy shit please don't say that Raph broke a rib in there, or worse; one of his lungs collapsed. Oh fuck oh shit now Donnie is reviewing everything he's read about what happens when a lung collapses, even as he reaches Raph and takes that big hand between his own again.]
No speaking! You- will not be speaking, unless you need to, because now I'm fixating on the worry that you have a collapsed lung! We shouldn't have moved you. Okay. Okay! That was- possibly a mistake, maybe I should've- used the form to just move all the debris instead, we could've done that maybe, it didn't stick around long but moving you was not the best of my ideas-
[ Brother obtained. Everything is okay again. He's talking a mile a minute, but that means he's probably mostly fine. Hopefully. Donnie hasn't really said much about the other side of the hurting fence, and Raph's got more than half a mind to worry about it.
It's good, though. Knowing he's right here. It's good he wasn't the one who got caught under all that. And as far as Raph figures, it's good that they moved him, because he was getting real claustrophobic under there. On balance? Best-case scenario.
This party tank is not above hanging onto the adrenaline rush relief of no longer being slowly crushed to death. He can lock back in after a few minutes of rest. Probably. If that's what his little brother needs him to do. ]
Nah. S'okay. [ No speaking whomst. It doesn't really count if he's careful and slow about it, right? ] You-- you did great.
[ Pure of heart. Dumb of ass. Full of love. Not sure how much impact is lost by being laid out on the ground like a big dead fish. ]
Did you just speak immediately after I said not to speak due to very serious medical concerns?? [Donnie hisses in a rush, and if he wasn't preparing to check his big brother for broken ribs he would try and smack him around. HE JUST SAID IT. It hasn't even been ten seconds.] Shut up. Let- I'm-
Oh my Röntgen, I have x-ray goggles. [HE'LL THROW HIMSELF UNDER THE DEBRIS NEXT ITME. Why does he have no fight-or-flight and instead has a freeze function? How is that useful at all.
Donnie flicks his goggles down and twists one of the lens casings until the x-ray function engages. Thank goodness that still works. Hands careful on Raph's shell, Donnie presses his palms down along the edges to check for movement. Raph has to be okay. Raph needs to be fine, needs to be able to move, to walk. They have to get out of here and there is no reality in which Donnie leaves Raph here to get help, absolutely none.]
[ Damn. Raph's in trouble for trying to be supportive and reassuring like a good big brother. That's so unfair. He gets it logistically and all, but still.
There's not much open space for being offended about that once the poking and prodding starts, of course. He's gotta shift his full focus to trying to hold still, lest he be hissed at for disobedience again. Which is hard to do because it kinda sucks, so he whines and grumbles anyway like a big baby.
Pros: Raph's lungs yet live. If any vital organs have been collapsed or punctured, they're a lot better at lying about it than any organs of Raph's have a right to be.
Cons: their asking price did, in fact, include ribs. The economy is in shambles. Which is more to say they're bruised as hell and one in his right side might be looking at a fracture. Raph couldn't tell you the difference between one or the other. All he knows is this is dumb and it hurts. If part of him doesn't hurt from getting his bell rung so hard, he can't find it.
Wasting daylight right now, he thinks. He should be turning this floor time into getting-home time so that they can move. Get to where the painkillers and icepacks and brothers who can check on Donnie better are. ]
We gotta go.
[ In his defense he waits until he thinks Donnie is probably done with this check-up. He wants that passing grade in being a patient. ]
[Even more in Raph's defense, that "don't talk" order arrived directly on the heels of "say something so I know you're okay," so he's damned if he does or doesn't. We're all operating on the high octane of terror-fueled adrenaline rushes right now, don't even worrryyyyy about it.
Some of the noises Raph makes are...not great. But his lungs are inflating, even if Donnie can see at least one hairline fracture in Raph's ribs. Very much not good; that side must have taken the brunt of the impact and the crushing pressure afterwards hadn't done it any favors. If it hadn't been Raph under there-]
-Yes. [Donnie flicks his goggles back up on top of his head, ignoring the way his fingers tremble as he stands up again. That insane strength from earlier seems to have left his limbs rubber, though maybe that's just the comparison between Raph's strength and his own. Like night and day.] Plan. We need a plan. Hold on, let me... [Donnie stoops, a hand on one of Raph's spikes as he manages to concentrate long enough to summon a flashlight made of purple Ninpo, shining it about the...room? They'd found themselves in.
Two tunnels leading in opposite directions, water pooling in the corners. Dust in the air; not too wet, then. No sound of rushing water nearby, and no painted markers. Much more enclosed than the tunnels from above.] I...I don't know where this is, [Donnie admits, voice small.]
[ No logic no reason only terror. Sometimes that's all there is.
Raph takes the news pretty much in stride. He figures there was a good chance Donnie would know, but a good chance isn't a guarantee even for a genius. Plus it's not like Raph has any clue. ]
Hmm. [ And other such sounds of thought.
He should sit up for this. He's gonna put that off, though. This is brainstorming, not plan-actioning. ]
Probably where we were before. Just, uh. [ U know. ] Down.
[ Down some. From that. By a lot. ]
So... same basic compass. Right?
[ What's the general home direction? Can Donnie build another drill and they bust through the floor? Raph's marking that as plan B to himself. ]
[GIRL HE LOVES THE OPTIMISM (he doesn't, he has not the gene necessary to appreciate that) BUT,] It's not. We don't know the layout here; knowing where north is doesn't do us any good if we don't know where north leads! [Oh okay, maybe panicking is ok to do again. Donnie is going to just frantically flip through all the blueprints and plat maps he has for the sewers and tunnels in New York (there are....so many), wrist computer fritzing out but hanging in there.]
Leo! Of course- of course, Leo. You two are so much better at that mind meld nonsense, [Donnie you JUST did one with Raph, stop pretending like it's silly] right? Can you do it from here? [Grasping desperately at this pathetically bent straw]
[ Nonsense?? Wow. Rude. Right in front of the rubble that they saved Raph from using an incredible mind meld power.
But in the spirit of Donnie probably being really upset about all this, fine. Raph will play calvinball. ]
Never tried it like this. [ This far away, this out of nowhere, this roughed up. Nothing ventured, nothing gained?
He guesses. ] Gimme a minute. If it don't work... move somewhere, try again?
[ Damn. Actually Raph really hopes it works now. The idea of a lot of walking for a while and stopping and then having to get back up and go again sounds... bad. As much as the stops could be rests, they don't sound restful. ]
[Something far, far off in the distance rumbles, like thunder not having quite made its way over to them yet, but it's enough to make Donnie jump and swing the light in the direction of the ceiling, searching for any more cracks in the stone (besides, obviously, the huge fucking hole they fell through.
Even that is half-obscured by dust and stone, but maybe not so much that they can't get back up through their original entrance to at least one more floor up...maybe.] ...conservatively speaking, big guy, what does, uh. What does moving look like for you right now? [Because if any of those hairline fractures decide to become the real thing due to a cough, they could puncture a lung and they do not have the tools and expertise needed to keep Raph from asphyxiating on his own blood down here.]
[ Raph makes a sound that's mostly laugh-based. The humor is there. His timing for it is impeccable. ]
Whatever it's gotta look like. [ If it comes to it. Something tells him there's not a lot of not-moving plays left in the book if the answer is different. So he'll cut out the middleman himself. Ugh. ] Just maybe... we're gonna hope it don't gotta look fast anytime soon.
[ He'll do whatever he has to, but if it's "go fast" at any point, he reserves his right to complain about it. All the better to showcase that there's clearly nothing to worry about. That's how Leo and Mikey do it, right? If they're too quiet, it's a problem? Raph can use that metric. ]
You got eyes on a route?
[ Otherwise he might just randomly pick one. All roads will lead to home one way or another, because Raph refuses to let them not. ]
['Whatever it's gotta look like' isn't totally encouraging, but Donatello isn't in a position to make demands himself. If Raph wasn't here he'd have full meltdown'd himself into a catatonic state for at least the next six hours. Or he'd be a squished bag of bone jelly underneath twenty tons of rubble.
Not thinking about that.
Donatello stands up on legs only a little unsteady, shining the light up at the pile of rubble and the potential hole.] ...maybe. [Okay. This is literally the easiest part; they already fell, Raph is already hurt. What more could go wrong?
(So much more.)
But Donatello is channeling his inner Mikey optimism right now as his one single coping method, and is making his way tentatively up the rubble pile to see if there's a) enough room for Raph to fit in through this hole and b) a viable pathway for a person with rib fractures to climb without winding himself and/or falling down and breaking his ribs even harder.
It takes a couple pushes of some stone blocks that Donnie belatedly realized he should've warned Raph about for the noise, calling down his hurried apologies after the clatter, but then...there seems to be a path. Even better, it seems like a path that Raph might be able to traverse injured as he is.] Okay...I think we can get up to at least one floor higher this way.
[ Apologies accepted. Mostly on account of it meaning Donnie's not the thing falling down the rubble pile. He's nice and secure going up. Flashlight can attest.
That's good.
And Raph gets a minute keeping an eye on him to just kinda breathe. Pull his focus back together. Really run the what-can-he-manage diagnostic and have it in mind when he does whatever he needs to do anyway.
They'll be fine. It's gonna be fine. He'll make sure it is. ]
Good spot, bud. [ You gotta be supportive. You gotta be nice to your genius bro in these stressful times. ] One floor up's better than stayin' down here by a long shot. Stinks down here.
[ Mostly emotionally. Physically, there's not much to be done about the stink. They are in a sewer.
Time to commit. Raph grunts and starts getting to his feet. ]
[Raph isn't wrong, at least; it does stink down here, in a different way than usual. They've gotten pretty used to the relative cleanliness of the abandoned subway, and being back down in the darkest, most rotted, algae-encrusted pits of the sewer system is not helping things at all.
The noise of effort and pain has Donnie back over to his brother's side, metal arms emerging from his battle shell to act as additional poles and stabilizing limbs as he reaches out to brace his brother. The climb up the debris is...slow. Even if it was the most stable pathway, that doesn't mean much when you have a few hundred pounds of injured mutant snapping turtle trying to haul himself up it, ninja-grace notwithstanding, busted ribs in danger of just floating around inside his shell at the first slip and tumble back down the pile.
They make it up somehow, anyway.
Donatello hovers near his big brother, a hand near his shoulder even as he checks his wrist computer obsessively to see if he can connect to his equipment at home. Maybe if he can get a signal through, he can get his spare battle shells to attach to his brothers and home in on him! ...potentially running them into a hundred walls on their way here and killing them gruesomely. Okay. Maybe a different plan.] Auuugh, don't repeat this but I wish Leo was here with us. [Stupid...perfect plan bastard twin.]
[ Safe to say, Raph hates this. The slow-going. The needing Donnie's help to even manage that. The aches and pains that are gonna keep him off his game.
What if something else happens? What if Donnie needs him and he's too slow to react? There's no guarantees what happens out here, only what probably happens once they make it home. Classic turtle's lament, that.
He's starting to get the feeling that neither of them actually have any real idea what to do, which means that he needs to double down on acting like he does have one. Keep being stubborn, keep pushing. Just until he can make a safe responsibility handoff to Leo or Mikey or Pops or-- heck, maybe April, you never know when April's gonna swoop in like a boss. ]
Sure. Long as you don't tell him I agreed. [ Leo's ego and confidence must be tended to with highly specific methods. Like a finnicky plant, or some kinda exotic pet fish. ] Two minute break. Gonna try a ninpo thing.
[ See, he is so responsible. That's like resting but also working. Raph figures there's no shot he can just be like "hey fam here we are exactly come get us," but maybe there's a way to put "so things are not going good" into it? Gotta be an option, right? There's connection. ]
All else fails, maybe Raph, uh. Raph just punches out ceilings until we get sub-surface?
[Donnie will also try a technology thing while Raph tries the Ninpo thing, but he looks up when Raph mentions punching out a ceiling.] No ceiling punching. Multiple floors gave way just by us stepping on them; you punching the ceiling could bring the entire tunnel down on us. We'd be deader than dead.
[ Booooooo, ceiling punches shot down unfairly and unjustly for safety hazard reasons. Oh, wait. Those are fair and just reasons. Fine. ]
Draxum should've mutated us with sonar or somethin'. Supersoldier ninja turtles put on hold by bad floors. [ This is all Barry's fault actually. Every single thing that's ever happened ever. ] Waste of... waste of Raph's whole skill set.
[ NTS. Evolve sonar to detect bad floors and ceilings to punch immediately after this. There's probably a YouTube tutorial for that. ]
I don't think I'm gettin' our location out to anybody.
[ Enough bad vibes to get their ears perked up, maybe? He doesn't wanna say it's a sure thing. Sometimes it's hard to tell with ninpo, weirdly enough. But this sure wasn't a whole mindmeld, Raph can tell that much. ]
[Talk about someone being a waste! Tech genius bro who can make theoretically anything out of thin air provided he knows how to build it can't do shit because there's too much material between him and a data tower to get a signal.
The sonar is a great idea. Too bad neither of them can use it.]
We'll file an official complaint in triplicate the second we get back home. [Ha! Funny joke because if they even get back home, the first thing they're doing is getting Raph an x-ray and Donnie a tranquilizer. THEN complaints. Triplicate.
The sonar gives him an idea, though. He flicks his goggles back down and turns on the thermal vision.] Raph, can you hear any running water?
[ Raph will allow it. The joke. It's worth the chuckle. Triplicate????? What is he, an accountant? Absolutely not.
He's on that shonen jump shit. ]
Uhhhhh. [ Great question. Thing about growing up in the sewers is, you get really used to tuning out that sort of background noise. If you're not talking deadly whirlpool or lazy river gone horribly, horribly wrong, it's not usually a huge issue.
Where's Donnie going with this? Who knows. Raph's gonna try to trust the process and get his listen on. ] Yeah. From down that way, I think?
[ He helpfully nods even though Donnie might not be looking at him specifically in the moment. ]
[Raph hearing still superior hearing; Donnie turns and stalks over closer to the wall as if he had been looking when Raph gestured (leftover from that mind meld? he is not aware and would have no idea anyhow). Touches wall. Runs hands over wall like a weirdo.]
...yeah. It's colder. [As if that's going to make any sense. Donnie looks up like he's following the flight path of a mosquito, pacing across the small tunnel, around Raph and the rubble and only barely managing not to stub a toe on a chunk of old, moldy brick.] Running water's going to be colder than ambient temperatures. And running water has to be running from somewhere. We can use temperature gauging to both avoid being drowned, and to follow it 'upstream,' so to speak. Link back up with the main tunnels.
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momijizukamori
no subject
Date: 2025-02-25 05:35 am (UTC)...time to get Raph out from under it. Donnie stands up carefully, still holding Raph's hand.] Gotta pull you out. Give me that strength, Raph. Okay? Help me pull you out. [The latticework flickers; darkens purple for a moment. Too much. They have to stay connected.]
no subject
Date: 2025-02-26 02:54 am (UTC)Donnie needs his help. Raph can't not help him. Not when it really matters. Not when Donnie is all alone if he doesn't. ]
Yeah. Just gotta-- just gotta... [ Gotta something. Pull in another breath. Fail to come up with the words he was looking for. Raph looks for the feeling instead: the hook-tug of impulse that sends someone diving over the edge after their brother. That need and fear, the way that something sparks to life halfway down. I can catch him. Let me catch him. Let me help him. Let me save him. That feeling of being bigger than himself. Being able to take more, punch harder, be stronger.
He curls his fingers, squeezes Donnie's hands as much as he can, lets it start there and move out, up over Donnie's arms. No blueprints, no structures, no architecture, just simple physical instinct. All Raph ever has to give is himself, and he's happy to give it: an arm's framework filled out in purple, red threaded through and around it like veins, like training wheels, trying to help hold the shape.
Neither of them is alone. It has to be okay, if they're together. ]
no subject
Date: 2025-02-26 11:16 pm (UTC)All the lines are red and purple pools within them.
It's going to hurt.
Donatello begins to gather Raph up into his arms; his larger arms, arms made of light, lined red and pooled purple, curling up above him like his own avatar, sharp toothed and slim as it curls its great hands around Raph's biceps like they're the size of uncooked spaghetti. Moving Raph is inadvisable until his injuries are categorized but the latticework is already flickering, so the construct above them both pulls Raph five feet out and five more to keep him safe from the clattering of boulders as the net dissolves, Donatello acting as a fulcrum before the construct dissolves like smoke and leaves them back in the dark.
Donnie gasps, blinking rapidly; his eyes sting as if he'd had them open too long and he blinks, rubs at them, then goes back down to his knees to pat around and feel for his freed big brother. Okay. One thing at a time. Find Raph. What did they just do- No, find Raph. Focus.] Raph, make a noise, are you okay-
no subject
Date: 2025-02-28 02:41 pm (UTC)He's mostly just LARPing as a speedbump in the dark after the connection and the construct dissipates. If a speedbump could breathe. A little recovery moment, as a treat. A little free rest. He thinks his ribs might be made of dust now? Not ideal. But where's-- aha. ]
Donnie. [ Gasped out, but very relieved. ] Dee-
[ He helpfully flops his arm in the vague direction of Donnie's voice and ground-patting. Get a brother over here. Raph needs the stat boost of knowing exactly where his little brother is. ]
no subject
Date: 2025-03-02 08:20 pm (UTC)No speaking! You- will not be speaking, unless you need to, because now I'm fixating on the worry that you have a collapsed lung! We shouldn't have moved you. Okay. Okay! That was- possibly a mistake, maybe I should've- used the form to just move all the debris instead, we could've done that maybe, it didn't stick around long but moving you was not the best of my ideas-
no subject
Date: 2025-03-03 01:12 am (UTC)It's good, though. Knowing he's right here. It's good he wasn't the one who got caught under all that. And as far as Raph figures, it's good that they moved him, because he was getting real claustrophobic under there. On balance? Best-case scenario.
This party tank is not above hanging onto the adrenaline rush relief of no longer being slowly crushed to death. He can lock back in after a few minutes of rest. Probably. If that's what his little brother needs him to do. ]
Nah. S'okay. [ No speaking whomst. It doesn't really count if he's careful and slow about it, right? ] You-- you did great.
[ Pure of heart. Dumb of ass. Full of love. Not sure how much impact is lost by being laid out on the ground like a big dead fish. ]
no subject
Date: 2025-03-04 02:58 am (UTC)Oh my Röntgen, I have x-ray goggles. [HE'LL THROW HIMSELF UNDER THE DEBRIS NEXT ITME. Why does he have no fight-or-flight and instead has a freeze function? How is that useful at all.
Donnie flicks his goggles down and twists one of the lens casings until the x-ray function engages. Thank goodness that still works. Hands careful on Raph's shell, Donnie presses his palms down along the edges to check for movement. Raph has to be okay. Raph needs to be fine, needs to be able to move, to walk. They have to get out of here and there is no reality in which Donnie leaves Raph here to get help, absolutely none.]
no subject
Date: 2025-03-04 08:06 pm (UTC)There's not much open space for being offended about that once the poking and prodding starts, of course. He's gotta shift his full focus to trying to hold still, lest he be hissed at for disobedience again. Which is hard to do because it kinda sucks, so he whines and grumbles anyway like a big baby.
Pros: Raph's lungs yet live. If any vital organs have been collapsed or punctured, they're a lot better at lying about it than any organs of Raph's have a right to be.
Cons: their asking price did, in fact, include ribs. The economy is in shambles. Which is more to say they're bruised as hell and one in his right side might be looking at a fracture. Raph couldn't tell you the difference between one or the other. All he knows is this is dumb and it hurts. If part of him doesn't hurt from getting his bell rung so hard, he can't find it.
Wasting daylight right now, he thinks. He should be turning this floor time into getting-home time so that they can move. Get to where the painkillers and icepacks and brothers who can check on Donnie better are. ]
We gotta go.
[ In his defense he waits until he thinks Donnie is probably done with this check-up. He wants that passing grade in being a patient. ]
no subject
Date: 2025-03-13 03:49 am (UTC)Some of the noises Raph makes are...not great. But his lungs are inflating, even if Donnie can see at least one hairline fracture in Raph's ribs. Very much not good; that side must have taken the brunt of the impact and the crushing pressure afterwards hadn't done it any favors. If it hadn't been Raph under there-]
-Yes. [Donnie flicks his goggles back up on top of his head, ignoring the way his fingers tremble as he stands up again. That insane strength from earlier seems to have left his limbs rubber, though maybe that's just the comparison between Raph's strength and his own. Like night and day.] Plan. We need a plan. Hold on, let me... [Donnie stoops, a hand on one of Raph's spikes as he manages to concentrate long enough to summon a flashlight made of purple Ninpo, shining it about the...room? They'd found themselves in.
Two tunnels leading in opposite directions, water pooling in the corners. Dust in the air; not too wet, then. No sound of rushing water nearby, and no painted markers. Much more enclosed than the tunnels from above.] I...I don't know where this is, [Donnie admits, voice small.]
no subject
Date: 2025-03-14 02:45 pm (UTC)Raph takes the news pretty much in stride. He figures there was a good chance Donnie would know, but a good chance isn't a guarantee even for a genius. Plus it's not like Raph has any clue. ]
Hmm. [ And other such sounds of thought.
He should sit up for this. He's gonna put that off, though. This is brainstorming, not plan-actioning. ]
Probably where we were before. Just, uh. [ U know. ] Down.
[ Down some. From that. By a lot. ]
So... same basic compass. Right?
[ What's the general home direction? Can Donnie build another drill and they bust through the floor? Raph's marking that as plan B to himself. ]
no subject
Date: 2025-03-19 02:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-19 11:12 am (UTC)And he's gonna keep relying on it as long as Donnie needs that gap bridged. ]
North goes north, Donnie. We're gonna figure it out.
[ And probably not even die. ]
Or. Or get somewhere Leo can put a portal.
[ So somewhere he knows and somewhere with like. Signal. There's probably no signals or whatever down here? Raph doesn't get paid to know that.
But, with a reluctant breath hold, he guesses he will start working on getting back up. ]
Easy.
[ So easy. Or maybe he's talking to himself like a horse? Debatable. ]
no subject
Date: 2025-03-24 03:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-25 02:20 am (UTC)But in the spirit of Donnie probably being really upset about all this, fine. Raph will play calvinball. ]
Never tried it like this. [ This far away, this out of nowhere, this roughed up. Nothing ventured, nothing gained?
He guesses. ] Gimme a minute. If it don't work... move somewhere, try again?
[ Damn. Actually Raph really hopes it works now. The idea of a lot of walking for a while and stopping and then having to get back up and go again sounds... bad. As much as the stops could be rests, they don't sound restful. ]
no subject
Date: 2025-04-01 01:53 am (UTC)Even that is half-obscured by dust and stone, but maybe not so much that they can't get back up through their original entrance to at least one more floor up...maybe.] ...conservatively speaking, big guy, what does, uh. What does moving look like for you right now? [Because if any of those hairline fractures decide to become the real thing due to a cough, they could puncture a lung and they do not have the tools and expertise needed to keep Raph from asphyxiating on his own blood down here.]
no subject
Date: 2025-04-01 03:52 pm (UTC)Whatever it's gotta look like. [ If it comes to it. Something tells him there's not a lot of not-moving plays left in the book if the answer is different. So he'll cut out the middleman himself. Ugh. ] Just maybe... we're gonna hope it don't gotta look fast anytime soon.
[ He'll do whatever he has to, but if it's "go fast" at any point, he reserves his right to complain about it. All the better to showcase that there's clearly nothing to worry about. That's how Leo and Mikey do it, right? If they're too quiet, it's a problem? Raph can use that metric. ]
You got eyes on a route?
[ Otherwise he might just randomly pick one. All roads will lead to home one way or another, because Raph refuses to let them not. ]
no subject
Date: 2025-04-16 03:08 am (UTC)Not thinking about that.
Donatello stands up on legs only a little unsteady, shining the light up at the pile of rubble and the potential hole.] ...maybe. [Okay. This is literally the easiest part; they already fell, Raph is already hurt. What more could go wrong?
(So much more.)
But Donatello is channeling his inner Mikey optimism right now as his one single coping method, and is making his way tentatively up the rubble pile to see if there's a) enough room for Raph to fit in through this hole and b) a viable pathway for a person with rib fractures to climb without winding himself and/or falling down and breaking his ribs even harder.
It takes a couple pushes of some stone blocks that Donnie belatedly realized he should've warned Raph about for the noise, calling down his hurried apologies after the clatter, but then...there seems to be a path. Even better, it seems like a path that Raph might be able to traverse injured as he is.] Okay...I think we can get up to at least one floor higher this way.
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Date: 2025-04-18 11:57 am (UTC)That's good.
And Raph gets a minute keeping an eye on him to just kinda breathe. Pull his focus back together. Really run the what-can-he-manage diagnostic and have it in mind when he does whatever he needs to do anyway.
They'll be fine. It's gonna be fine. He'll make sure it is. ]
Good spot, bud. [ You gotta be supportive. You gotta be nice to your genius bro in these stressful times. ] One floor up's better than stayin' down here by a long shot. Stinks down here.
[ Mostly emotionally. Physically, there's not much to be done about the stink. They are in a sewer.
Time to commit. Raph grunts and starts getting to his feet. ]
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Date: 2025-04-29 02:21 am (UTC)The noise of effort and pain has Donnie back over to his brother's side, metal arms emerging from his battle shell to act as additional poles and stabilizing limbs as he reaches out to brace his brother. The climb up the debris is...slow. Even if it was the most stable pathway, that doesn't mean much when you have a few hundred pounds of injured mutant snapping turtle trying to haul himself up it, ninja-grace notwithstanding, busted ribs in danger of just floating around inside his shell at the first slip and tumble back down the pile.
They make it up somehow, anyway.
Donatello hovers near his big brother, a hand near his shoulder even as he checks his wrist computer obsessively to see if he can connect to his equipment at home. Maybe if he can get a signal through, he can get his spare battle shells to attach to his brothers and home in on him! ...potentially running them into a hundred walls on their way here and killing them gruesomely. Okay. Maybe a different plan.] Auuugh, don't repeat this but I wish Leo was here with us. [Stupid...perfect plan bastard twin.]
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Date: 2025-05-05 08:26 pm (UTC)What if something else happens? What if Donnie needs him and he's too slow to react? There's no guarantees what happens out here, only what probably happens once they make it home. Classic turtle's lament, that.
He's starting to get the feeling that neither of them actually have any real idea what to do, which means that he needs to double down on acting like he does have one. Keep being stubborn, keep pushing. Just until he can make a safe responsibility handoff to Leo or Mikey or Pops or-- heck, maybe April, you never know when April's gonna swoop in like a boss. ]
Sure. Long as you don't tell him I agreed. [ Leo's ego and confidence must be tended to with highly specific methods. Like a finnicky plant, or some kinda exotic pet fish. ] Two minute break. Gonna try a ninpo thing.
[ See, he is so responsible. That's like resting but also working. Raph figures there's no shot he can just be like "hey fam here we are exactly come get us," but maybe there's a way to put "so things are not going good" into it? Gotta be an option, right? There's connection. ]
All else fails, maybe Raph, uh. Raph just punches out ceilings until we get sub-surface?
[ One floor at a time... Surely that will work. ]
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Date: 2025-06-20 03:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-06-29 03:25 pm (UTC)Draxum should've mutated us with sonar or somethin'. Supersoldier ninja turtles put on hold by bad floors. [ This is all Barry's fault actually. Every single thing that's ever happened ever. ] Waste of... waste of Raph's whole skill set.
[ NTS. Evolve sonar to detect bad floors and ceilings to punch immediately after this. There's probably a YouTube tutorial for that. ]
I don't think I'm gettin' our location out to anybody.
[ Enough bad vibes to get their ears perked up, maybe? He doesn't wanna say it's a sure thing. Sometimes it's hard to tell with ninpo, weirdly enough. But this sure wasn't a whole mindmeld, Raph can tell that much. ]
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Date: 2025-06-30 04:14 pm (UTC)The sonar is a great idea. Too bad neither of them can use it.]
We'll file an official complaint in triplicate the second we get back home. [Ha! Funny joke because if they even get back home, the first thing they're doing is getting Raph an x-ray and Donnie a tranquilizer. THEN complaints. Triplicate.
The sonar gives him an idea, though. He flicks his goggles back down and turns on the thermal vision.] Raph, can you hear any running water?
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Date: 2025-07-09 12:40 am (UTC)He's on that shonen jump shit. ]
Uhhhhh. [ Great question. Thing about growing up in the sewers is, you get really used to tuning out that sort of background noise. If you're not talking deadly whirlpool or lazy river gone horribly, horribly wrong, it's not usually a huge issue.
Where's Donnie going with this? Who knows. Raph's gonna try to trust the process and get his listen on. ] Yeah. From down that way, I think?
[ He helpfully nods even though Donnie might not be looking at him specifically in the moment. ]
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Date: 2025-07-16 03:47 am (UTC)...yeah. It's colder. [As if that's going to make any sense. Donnie looks up like he's following the flight path of a mosquito, pacing across the small tunnel, around Raph and the rubble and only barely managing not to stub a toe on a chunk of old, moldy brick.] Running water's going to be colder than ambient temperatures. And running water has to be running from somewhere. We can use temperature gauging to both avoid being drowned, and to follow it 'upstream,' so to speak. Link back up with the main tunnels.
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