semilethal | general psl

[That's the other thing too, is when they communicate like this, Donnie gets more than just Raph saying words. He likes to think he has a reasonable understanding of the people his brothers are, but this is something else entirely. Leo and Raph had only mentioned the 'ninja mind meld' thing in passing, and never really went into the specifics.

Donnie, in his hatred for all things mystic, had dismissed it at the time. Arrogant.

But here he can feel the worry pulsing through Raphael as if it's his own. What if he can't check on Raph? What if someone tries to take him again, do something to him? What if Donnie is once again only good for running away?]

That is a conundrum, [Donnie murmurs, keeping a hand on Raph as he rubs his beak and peers down into the hole.] Then there's nothing for it. We both go together.

The together plan, Raph likes.

[ Better to investigate an endless void toaster trap as a team than to have one of them falling in eternity while the other one stands back at surface level not knowing what's going on. By his humble mental calculations.

Raph'll have to figure out some other way to un- too much this jam for Dee. He has literally no idea what that looks like, but he's willing to slam his face into the effort until it clicks. Proximity is the big thing. Knowing if something happens.

Take ur bo staff back bro, return to your normal levels of the demon inside telling you to bonk brothers. ]

If I can make another Raph, we could jump him down there to check for a spike pit?

[ He hasn't actually accomplished clone Raphs since the big Shredder fight- animation budget, you know how it is- but still. ]

[Normal levels are at an 11 on a scale of 1-10. Donnie takes back his staff but doesn't detach the wire from his belt because he doesn't have a lot of faith in this particular plan. Not Raph's forte, bless his big, bleeding heart.]

Can you do that? [Leans against his bo, hanging onto a brother shell spike now instead of just like. Hand on the chest. Maybe he is also leaning over to look into the pit. Strange, lately Donnie's been the one lending himself to caution, but ever since Leo and Raph worked out their issues he's finding it easier and easier to be reckless. Mikey doesn't need to be looked after anymore because Raph's back on it.] Maybe I could make a construct and send it down. A floodlight or something. Ooh, I bet I could add constructs to your constructs! I've always wanted to try ninpo integration.

[ The audacity of the reckless lean. The shamelessness.

He is a trained ninja, though. And Raph is literally right here if something happens. And he trusts him or whatever that character arc was about. The one that's easier to remember now that it's not directly at odds with Leo's character arc buildup. (How much he wishes that kind of stuff made for lessons that didn't have to be learned the hard way notwithstanding.) ]

It would be easier to see what's goin' on in there if Raph 2 could actually, uh. See. [ Jumped a shadow clone into the infinite abyss to check for traps, couldn't report back because I forgot he wouldn't be able to see anything in there. ] Let's collab, brother!

[Okay this is very cool. Their ninpo is already cool, if infuriatingly difficult to analyze, and getting to play with the concept is almost worth being trapped in some pocket dimension whatever/wherever.

Donnie switches his hand to hold onto one of Raph's spikes instead, leaving his brother's hands free for whatever he needs to do to make a clone. At the same time he taps into his own powers, a purple glow bleeding over his brother's back and shoulders. A set of shoulder-mounted floodlights, similar to those in his own battle shell, begin to build onto Raphael's shoulders block by block. Time to see if those clone with him.]

[ If doing some weeb-ass Naruto hand sign shit is part of Raph's process, that's Raph's business. And now Donnie's. It's the whole pocket dimension's business, technically. Whatever. This is for a good cause. (Like "getting home alive.")

He gives the cool floodlights process the appreciative oooooooooh they deserve, of course. Brains and brawn club, brothers with mystic powers that are kinda pixel-y and manifest as physical constructs club, love that for them. ]

Slick stuff, Donnie! And now, one bonus Raph!

[ The incredible power of being able to manifest a version of himself to do canary in the coal mine duty. ]

[ POOF. Or kzzzzzzt hologram sound or whatever that we didn't get time to figure out how it works in the series finale, but was probably very cool and awesome. ANOTHER RAPH.

Pros: it's a Raph.

Cons: Raph 2 doesn't know the safe and secure feeling of having a Donnie-created mystic construct directly attached to him. Stinks to be that guy. OG Raph is hogging all the sincere reassurance that comes with this, he guesses. ]

Great.

He's mid.

[ Insert offended clone Raph gasp here. ]

Now now Raphael and Raphael-mid, nobody throws a one thousand ball run goal. [That's how that saying goes right] A plan B is in order. Barrel of monkeys, with Raph clones.

Or my favorite, plan C where I go down myself like I wanted to from the beginning.

What...

[ We bring a "say something almost a hundred percent wrong or nonsensical with full confidence and move on without stopping to check" energy to the family dynamic that the haters don't like to see.

It's back to square one of the struggle. Need to do something to make something happen because if nothing happens then they're not gonna get out of here. The barrel of Raphs is like, sounds fun ngl, still not ideal for a possibly bottomless pit. Who knows how many it would take? That's a time-sink.

But he doesn't want Donnie down there alone any more than before, either. What if there's a weird sound barrier and then neither of them could hear each other at all, what if something happened too fast for Donnie to signal--

(What's the point of anything if he can't keep him safe?

This is why fights are so much easier.)

Hrrrghrrhghrhrgh, and etc. ]

Take Raph-mid with you.

[ He'll do rappel anchor for both of them, it'll be fine. ]

Of course, of course. [Uses his proximity to his brother to also make a purple light construct shoulder-mounted multiple missile launcher while he's at it. A lil boom boom backpack, if you will. For funsies.]

Come along, brother, [Donnie says breezily, flicking his goggles down and reattaching the wire to himself. Is he being arrogant because his powers are coming so easily to him, or is he pumping up his own confidence in response to Raph's obvious concern? Or is it a defense mechanism so he doesn't panic again?

...whatever! Donnie tosses his staff to Raphael to hold and jumps down into the hole.]

[ The boom-boom backpack is a vital component to this mission. An element of fun, sure. A reassurance of maximum property damage potential as needed, which is something that can be so personal.

It also helps that Donnie is willing to accept the clone-escort compromise without pushing back. Big positive. Raph puts a note to self in the back of his brain somewhere about doing more clone practice. It would be cool if he could make them tiny enough to hitch rides on his brothers. Like, grow in case of emergency.

Mystic stuff is so weird, he could probably do that. ]

Just be careful! Double-careful!

[ TRIPLE CAREFUL!!!! ... WHATEVER THE THING FOR FOUR TIMES CAREFUL IS. Etc.

Raph catches the staff and takes on his sacred anchor point duty while clone Raph gets a hand on that cord and just kinda slides down after Donnie.

This is fine and cool. Not creepy. And he is not alone because his brother is literally physically tethered to him right now, sort of, so it's clearly great all the way around. ]

[Donnie and the double both disappear down into the hole, and for a while their combined purple-red glow follows them down the wire as the swing into the pit. Donnie keeps up a steady commentary (that amounts to little more than "Still going...hm nothing visible, no walls or obstructions, keep going") until, quite suddenly, there is silence.

Not just silence either; the respective light of Donnie's constructs and Raphael's clone suddenly vanishes, as if sucked into a box and shut. Donnie's voice disappears as well, though the weight on the end of the line still attached to the staff in Raphael's hands is there, same as ever. It's not even pulling at the staff as if something had snatched Donatello up and tried to pull him away.

However the quiet is still obvious, and the darkness maybe almost seems as if it is climbing up from the hatch, and Raphael is extremely, very much, alone up on the surface.]

This is fine.

[ See. It has to be fine now. He said that it's fine. ]

Not gonna lose it, Raph. He's right there. You can tell he's still there. And if you freak out and drop him he won't be there, so don't freak out. Donnie needs the opposite of freaking out. It's fine. You're not even really alone, it's fine, everything's fine.

[ The way he is not even going to remember this stretch of time later. There it goes. Into the fight or flight insta-delete filter. Part of the creeping darkness.

It's probably not even creeping. His eye's been weird all night, it's probably just-- more illusion stuff. Brain tricks. Brain tricks in the pocket dimension away from home where he can't see or hear his little brother anymore and it feels like something is watching them and he doesn't know how bad the bad guy is and they can't reach their family.

Keep it down, Raph. Hold the fort. Big brother first, everything else second. No one is allowed to be thinking of crying right now. That's all energy that gets tunnel vision focused on trying to perceive any tiny shifting of weight on the other end of this tether.

Donnie you're cool with the vague perception of you being the only thing anchoring your anchor's mental and physical wellbeing right. ]

When we get home we're not goin' out again for two months!

[ Cool things to yell into the void. ]

[look who came back, summoned by the whisper of punishment]

Don't you dare threaten me with house arrest! This isn't my fault!

[Donnie has returned! It must be so reassuring, except that there seems to be some sort of strange threshold that makes him look like a severed torso, as if his lower half is submerged in a pool of the deepest, blackest paint.]

[ Brother spotted off the port bow! Half of brother. (Don't think of Donnie actually severed at the torso, don't think of Donnie all twisted and Krang-y, we are having a normal one.)

Why couldn't he hear Donnie, if Donnie heard him? Donnie's hearing was on the fritz, too. (Maybe don't think about that either, we are having a normal one and a real one.) ]

It's not house arrest! It's-- [ A MUCH DIFFERENT THING THAT'S GOT MORE VALIDITY AND WILL MAKE EVERYONE AGREE WITH RAPH. Like uhhhhh ] Preserving your big brother's lifespan arrest! Look at yourself, you're a half-turtle right now! We're shavin' off months as we speak!

[ Points! Dramatically! For emphasis!

Ignores the many many times he has done dumb reckless things that would probably make their dad go bald if he'd been aware of them happening!

Fails to realize he's narratively setting himself up to get his ass handed to him! ]

There is obviously more of me out of sight! Ugh! [Reaches up and grabs Raph's ankle to start pulling him.] Just get down here and see!

[Not that Donnie could hope to move Raph on his own, but if Raph allows himself to be moved and pokes his head through that shadowy barrier, he'll see what Donnie's been exploring for those few minutes he's been no-contact.

An underground city. Not unlike the Hidden City in theory, but very unlike in appearance. A severe lack of wandering citizens, for one, missing the Hidden City's usual bustling air traffic of flying beasts and scuttling yokai. It almost seems abandoned, though still lit.

Also strange is the way that they have appeared in a hole on the ceiling, but are not falling to their (likely) deaths, instead suspended with the slightest force trying to push them out, as if dipping their heads beneath the water.] You see?

[ Raph allows it in the way that a very large dog might allow a kitten to bat at its ears while it chills on the floor. Like, okay fine, Donnie would probably not be yelling and bossing him around if he were actually Hypno-style sawed in half.

How many gotdang secret underground cities are they gonna find in this lifetime? It's getting out of hand.

You can really just see anything in New York. The internet was right. ]

...

Droppin' a toaster on a town could be seen as a good-faith gesture, right?

I'm seventy-two percent sure it isn't, but who cares. Go push one of those fridges in here, I want to see which way it falls. [the gravity here is so fun. let him postulate]

Edited 2023-07-06 07:39 (UTC)

[ Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. ]

I will if you put a helmet on.

Safety first.

[ In what world would a helmet save him from a fridge-- actually they're mutant super soldiers maybe that just means they work like looney tunes. ]

I cannot wear a helmet while conducting a questionable gravitational experiment! It'll ruin my image. [he will go get a fridge his own damn self! climbs back up the demon hole]

What image?! You're like twelve!

[ GOTTEM...

Oh he's climbing away. Rude. Raph would start investing in little brother leashes but he knows full well all his brothers are too wily for those to work. ]

[HE IS LITERALLY SIXTEEN AND YOU ARE ONLY SEVENTEEN??? DO U THINK YOU ARE IN UR FORTIES WITH A MORTGAGE JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE BEEN DISPROPORTIONATELY RESPONSIBLE FOR MOST OF YOUR LIFE????? get over it

Donnie may have screeched some of that at Raphael but no one will ever know, because he's already crawled back through the hold like a possessed boy. Eventually the line still attached to Raphael via Donnie's belt goes taut, then seems to continue spooling as he presumably goes in search of a refrigerator to shove into the hole.

The city below is unnaturally still and quiet, a veritable ghost town (or perhaps a literal ghost town, who knows with these underground mystical metropolises. Metropoli. Whatever. There is nary a sound to be heard-

CLATTER

Oh except for that sound, followed only by what looks like a metal trash can lid rolling into view from a darkened alley far below.]

[ raph, eating wet floor salami and (realistically) some paper pulp that was a semi-sentient soldier a couple minutes beforehand: why am i the only mature mfer here

Donnie's incensed screeching is like whiny music to Raph's ears. Or more accurately it's generally reassuring for as long as it lasts. It's brotherly sounds. And brotherly sounds, especially 'secure enough to be bitching about something annoying Raph said or did to them' ones, are second banana perhaps only to like. Like.

'Woke up earlyish and can hear Pop humming in the kitchen' sounds.

Raph absorbs these screeches while he can since his little brother has now ONCE AGAIN YOTEN HIMSELF THROUGH A MAGIC HOLE AND OUT OF PERCEPTION!!!!!!!!! LEAVING RAPH ALONE! TO DIE!!!!!!! TO DIE AND/OR TO WORRY!!!

He misses having the whole squad. The fearsome foursome. Then there's always a guaranteed buddy system split instead of all this solo investigating. Raph's detective brain is on vacation to Fearville. All he wanted was to have an easy little errand run with his brother. Was that so much to ask for? Universe?

Anyway he probably also said literally all of that out loud because he's Raph and he likes to narrate to himself to calm himself down. He is king of telling himself how fine he is. Because he is. He's fine.

Barring one totally valid high-pitched oOoOoOoOooooo-! noise when he gets jumpscared by a distant trash can. He is literally in the distant super secret cave ceiling area in a post-invasion world, and yet he is intimidated. ]

Donnie! Donnie! [ The world's most dramatic pointless stage whisper, back at it again. ] Science this, science that, 'oh I wanna observe gravity stuff' and then all the real stuff to observe ain't even up there.

[ Raph what do you think gravity is, if not real stuff. ]

Well maybe tonight Raph observes and doesn't tell Donnie what's up. Show him what he misses by not makin' himself a helmet.

general psl

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1/2

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im back from the void also

we are so powerful and so brave

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