LEO - POST MOVIE

[semilethal]

[ nobody asks where april found the van. some mild criminal activity feels irrelevant in light of the day they just had anyway, and they couldn't exactly walk all the way back to the lair.

not with leo like...this. not just leo either; raphael couldn't hardly hold his head up, hunched and clearly wearing his 'i'm the eldest and i won't complain' face as he cradles leo so carefully on their way to the van. mikey's hands and arms won't stop trembling, even when he twists them together and presses them to his plastron. donatello is sore all over and his skin and shell feel raw, like someone rubbed him down with sandpaper.

and leo's quiet. leo's too quiet.

so there they are in the cargo van, raph tucked toward the front with a leg stretched out for mikey to use as a pillow to doze upon. april and casey sit up front, throwing concerned glances over their shoulders as often as is safe while april slowly weaves the vehicle through the half-destroyed streets toward the nearest access point. splinter sits near the doors as their only other capable fighter, though he keeps his tail curled around leo's uninjured ankle.

and donatello, he's stripping off his gloves because he's going to have to touch his brother to get a better idea of his injuries, and his skin doesn't feel like his own and that'll interfere with his judgement. the fewer layers between he and his brother, the more accurate he can be. ]

Alrighty Leon. Look alive, let's...let's diagnose.

Comments

[neonleon]

[YOU ARE AWARE HE HAS A CONCUSSION, SIR.

But it's hard to tell if Don's request is because of the emotional navigation he just spent all evening doing, or if it's because of something else.]

Fair enough, no touching. [Leo can be annoying. He can be frustrating, he can push people's limits, he can see like he doesn't care. But for his brothers, he does take care to their idiosyncrasies. And he knows Donnie requires some consideration for boundaries and requests as simple as 'please don't invade my personal space right now'. He also doesn't want to mess up this tenuous understanding they've reached.

Speaking of. He sets the now empty glass down before slowly climbing down from the counter to the floor again, one hand firmly keeping him upright.] Hey, you said, uh. Symptoms right? How's vision starting to slowly go blurry?

[semilethal]

[considering donnie's usual response to unannounced touch is to just look kinda mad about it instead of telling his brothers to stop, yeah, the consideration is simultaneously warranted and appreciated.

however. there are more pressing matters. donatello immediately puts the thermos aside and comes over to leo's side. he can touch leo and that's fine, because he's expecting it, so he takes leo's arm and starts leading him back to the medical wing.] How slowly?

[neonleon]

Since 'call instead, don't go looking for me'. Um.

[That wasn't entirely the answer to the question, and he ponders over that as Donnie shuffles him along. Leonardo instinctively wants to drape that arm around him, and Donnie can probably tell by the way his muscles tense and flinch as Leo fights it, keeping his arm firmly where it is in his brother's grasp

Think. Try not to wake everyone up as they walk past the mountain of fabric and snoring.]

Pretty slowly. Enough I can tell.

[semilethal]

[actually, that first answer was better than the second. the first one provides donnie with a definite marker, from which he can approximate a length of time.

donnie peers around the medical wing with a scowl. where is the cot. did they move it, these bastards. at least his worktable is still in here, though it's probably less comfortable, but he has leo lay down on it nonetheless and adjusts the incline to at least make it a little easier. he'll find a pillow in a minute but for now, april's discarded jacket over on the counter will have to do.]

It's probably just exhaustion, but I want liquids in you. [over the course of minutes is better than within twenty seconds. less likely to be the result of aneurysm or abrupt brain bleed.] Turn your hand over. [he's gonna get an IV in there. .......hesitates]




Do you want morphine.

[neonleon]

[These bastards really did leave the cart in the blanket fort, which Leo said Don would get mad at them for moving it. He suspects Raph will be asked to bring it back sometime in the next twelve hours.

But they do agree on that - it probably is just exhaustion (he wants it to just be exhaustion, pleading with his broken body to just let that be the worst of it). So he'll follow the instruction, turn his hand over.]

Um. [He's battered, bruised, definitely in pain. But he'd rather be aware of what's happening around him and consciously able to concentrate and process everything.] No. I don't need it.

[semilethal]

[good because he didn't wanna give it to you anyway, for MYRIAD reasons] Once you soak up this saline, you can go back to the others. [tapes it down for now, adjusting the valve for the bag and holding it up rather than searching for their IV pole, which is probably being used as a coat rack or weapon somewhere.] If you don't sleep tonight, I'm giving you a sedative. You need rest.

[neonleon]

[Leo's gaze flicks up to his brother, debating something to say. Weighing the options and... Donnie's come this far. The worst he could do is just drop the bag.]

You know those are two different things, right?

[semilethal]

What are? [not paying attention because he's hyperfocusing on this IV bag to make sure the drip isn't too much]

[neonleon]

Sleep and rest. Two different, but not mutually exclusive, things. I can be resting without sleeping.

[he's not saying he won't at some point. But he needs some semblance of normalcy here, and sometimes that takes the image of annoying his twin with pedantic nonsense.]

[semilethal]

[semilethal]

[just fkn tapes the saline bag to the wall]

[semilethal]

[PREPS SYRINGE]

[neonleon]

[Uh.

DONNIE????]

[semilethal]

You want to engage in a battle of semantics? With me? We'll see what you consider rest, ohhhh yes, we will see...!

[neonleon]

[On the one hand, seeing Donatello like this is a good sign. He's coming back down from whatever had him so upset before.

On the other hand, he's like this.

Leonardo tenses a bit on the work table watching his brother prep.]

Uh. So, just a thought, maybe I should lay back down with everyone else so there are witnesses.

[semilethal]

Oh you will be laying down, believe me. [SEDATES THE BROTHER.

donnie taps a few keys on his wrist computer and a newly modified sheldon floats in, transforming into a floating cot (which is what donnie had been spending the last few hours on while he waited for his magnets to arrive to finish the MRI). ignoring any protests leo may or may not have, donatello rolls him onto shellcot and leads it downstairs. raphael is groggily awake, but calms down when he sees donnie approach with their wayward brother.

hopefully when next leo wakes, he'll be cuddled back up with his family sans donnie and can say goodbye to april when she announces she'll be heading topside to meet with her worried parents.]

[neonleon]

What?

[And then he's out! It's a pretty heavy sleep. He does miss April saying goodbye, Mikey sitting on the cot next to him worried, but assuring April that Leo definitely will want to see her again soon, they'll set up a movie night here in the blanket fort somehow, just wait and see!

But he stays asleep for longer than probably anyone really guessed. A massive amount of sleep debt is catching up to him, and Donnie's sedation was just the first step of kicking down that door.

He does finally wake up, about a day, day and a half, later. Groggy and sore and everything hurting much, much worse. Back in the blanket fort and not with the entire crew.]

Hhhhuh? Guys?

[semilethal]

[Raphael and Mikey aren't immediately available, but Casey is dutifully on one side of Leo, with Splinter on the other as he holds Leo's mask, carefully stitching up the rips. They'll get him a new one, but backups are important when you are a mutant freak who needs to scavenge.

At Leo's groan, Splinter glances up and Casey half-stands, resting a hand gently on Leonardo's shoulder.]

Sensei! Don't move, you have a new saline IV in your hand. You've been out for over a day.

[neonleon]

What?

[That does immediately have his consciousness grasping sharply at the rope given, trying to pull himself to fully aware and awake. Over a day?]

What did he do, ugh.

[semilethal]

Donnie? Sedated you, I think. [Casey retrieves a cup of ice chips with a spoon dug into it. Don had said that Leo might have a wicked case of drymouth when he woke up, even with the IV drip.] At least, that's what he said. He said you needed to remain unmoving until he finished the MRI, and he wasn't convinced you'd stay put under other circumstances.

[neonleon]

[He hates when Donatello's right because it means either telling Donatello he's right, or acting like he isn't while operating under the reality that he is.

As it is, Donatello would be right: he does indeed have wicked drymouth. Leo eyes that cup as he start to realize just that reality, trying to decide if it's worth asking for it or not. He can't even really complain about Donnie not trusting him because he's right about that too. Doesn't mean he won't whine about it.]

Man, he really just does not trust me. [Leo, you IMMEDIATELY started moving upon waking.] What else did he say? Where's everyone else?

[semilethal]

[LMAO YEAH CASEY SAW THAT. He is also now beginning to wonder if his Leonardo ended up just taking on the traits of his brothers after their passing. He doesn't remember much about Donatello as he'd passed when Casey was still young, and even less about Raphael, but this Leo almost seems like an unfinished puzzle for which the missing pieces are the personalities of his family.

Casey just suppresses his smile and holds out the cup for Leo to take before standing up fully to adjust the cot so Leo can sit up a bit more comfortably without moving his torso much.

Splinter, having since returned to his sewing while the two boys talked, answers for Casey instead even as he uses his tail to help steady Leo's hand holding the spoon when it begins to shake from strain.] Red and Orange are meeting with April, as well as checking to see if the pizza shop you boys like is open. Purple has not left his laboratory.

[neonleon]

[Not left his laboratory... He must have at some point to hook him up with a fresh bag. Or maybe had someone else do it. Donnie's in a weird place right now, a little harder to read than he has any right to be.

Leonardo looks down at his own trembling hand, like it's betraying him. It's a spoon of ice chips, it shouldn't be difficult (nevermind the tension he feels in his hand just trying to hold the spoon, the exhaustion of moving it to lift, the fresh surge of a sharp pain in his back as he's moved to sit up and how his weight shifting with gravity is doing something weird to his back and shell).

He does manage to get a few ice chips though. Just thinking things over.]

Hopefully it is. I'd fight in the Battle Nexus again if I could get some of that pizza right now.

[semilethal]

[and that's about when the sheldon-cot pipes up with his typical surfer voice because apparently he has been SENTIENT THIS WHOLE TIME] Absolutely not, bro! You're under STRICT bedrest orders!

[neonleon]

[GLARING from his spot on the cot.]

I didn't say I was going to. It's sarcasm, expression. Joking.