Thirty-Ninth Theory [Action]

[i_speak_softly]

[The house is too quiet today. With April sent home, Derek hiding out who-knows-where, and Leo gone to battle, it's down to just Don and Raph again - and not in their little apartment now, but in a house that feels suddenly too big.]

[Fortunately, Don has some things to occupy himself with. After making sure Raph is all right to be left alone for a few hours, he heads out to visit some friends.]

[He goes first up the path to C7, to visit Frederic - to check on the man in his roommate's absence and to deliver a certain package.]

[After that he'll circle back to C3. He needs to see a certain resident that he's been visiting frequently of late. This time, however, he won't go around to the door of the apartment. Instead he'll knock on the window. There's something they need to talk about, and this seems like a more apt way to begin the conversation.]

Comments

[i_speak_softly]

Most people don't reason very well when faced with a giant turtle. [He lowers his head.] I also have a habit of running into people who are just insane.

[semper_cogitans]

[Robert bites his lip gently. It's so very difficult to understand. Terra has been free of obvious war, obvious violent conflict - save for a few publically reviled cases where the people involved were instantly banished to some jail - for centuries. Certainly nothing of the kind Donatello is describing.]

... On Terra you would be treated with great respect. It... I don't understand, Donatello. [And when Robert says that - genuinely says that with the weakness evident on his face, in his body, in his voice - then one knows he's really run into a mental impasse.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Sincerely:] I wish I could go there.

I needed to tell you this before - before things went any further. I understand if you want to change your mind.

[semper_cogitans]

[A heavy sigh from Robert.]

... Well, Donatello...

I... you are one of the most... [He struggles for a word that doesn't sound stupid. This is so much harder to do when Donatello is right there and Robert isn't running off of love-event emotions anymore.] ... awe-inspiring intellectuals that I have met in a long time, and... [He inhales, slowly, then hesitates.]

... You don't mind that I'm a human? I... I thought you... I thought you wouldn't be... interested.

... B-But... Regardless. [His cheeks are burning a little again.] I... I can't say I understand a world like that, Donatello. Not yet. I... cannot fathom why you would need to fight, why someone intelligent and kind and personable like yourself would be threatened with bodily harm. It... It makes no rational sense.

But if it is your world... well, I am glad that you are not in it right now. You and your family hardly deserve a world like that.

[i_speak_softly]

[He hesitates, then slowly says:] Robert... I don't think you understand. My brothers and I are the only ones.

[It's both an explanation of why people would want to hurt them, and an attempt at very indirectly hinting why he might be interested in a human.]

[semper_cogitans]

[...

That explains everything, very suddenly. Like the final twist of a Rubik's cube, everything falls into place.]

... Ah...

[Robert looks up at Donatello with an expression of surprise and - now - curiosity, mixed with what might be traces of anger. At humans. At the disgusting pre-Terran humans who would be willing to be such abominations toward a perfectly wonderful being.]

... Proto-Terran humans. Disgusting. Barely worthy of the species name, "sapiens".

Bloody hell, Donatello. I had no idea... I thought, I thought perhaps you were a member of a whole species. [Genuine anger flickers across Robert's face, directed clearly at humans from Donatello's time.] Barbarians, treating you and your family that way. I... I apologize for my pathetic excuses for ancestors. They prove time and time again that they cannot be trusted with anything important.

[Robert sighs a little, more to vent excess rage than anything.]

... But... how exactly did your family come into being? Were you perhaps a product of black market genetics? [Robert knows that dark underbelly of Terra better than he'd care to admit. He'd seen entire departments fall to it.]

[i_speak_softly]

[He risks a crooked smile.] I think you'd find our origin story very interesting, if you want me to stay and tell it.

[semper_cogitans]

I... I would like to hear, if you wish to tell. [Robert scoots a bit closer to Donatello - both as a reassuring gesture and because part of him, despite the fear that twists in his stomach again, wants to sort of hug the turtle. Prove that there are humans out there who aren't total bastards.]

[i_speak_softly]

[He quickly shifts his bo to the floor, then settles again.]

We started out as ordinary pet shop turtles. But there was - an accident, and we were exposed to a chemical with mutagenic properties. We -- [He hesitates, then decides to leave his father out of the story for now.] Many years later we found out the source of the mutagen. It was a byproduct of an alien teleportation device. The aliens had been in hiding on Earth for a thousand years, since their spaceship had crashed, leaving them stranded in a technologically-primitive world.

[He pauses again, looks at Robert.] Our world still doesn't have contact with extraterrestrials. These aliens are in hiding too. No one knows about them. They help us when they can, but... they can't change human nature.

[semper_cogitans]

[Robert listens soberly, seriously. Of all the things he's heard about peoples' worlds so far, this is probably honestly the closest to "understandable" that he's heard. It's something that he can comprehend, at least, even if he isn't sure what kind of mutagenic chemical would result in an anthropomorphic shape.]

And so you are essentially the sole representatives of your subspecies - so to speak. [It... it was something that should have made them prized, something like a spontaneous crystal generation - something rare and wonderful. Instead, it made them reviled.]

I... [Robert forces down his anxiety and reaches over to the turtle's weathered green hand. He kind of gently catches the two fingers with his own slender hand - it's a weak, timid handhold, but it's an attempt to be genuinely reassuring. The touch makes fear flare up inside him. You're getting close, Robert. Probably too close.]

... I am sorry, Donatello.

[i_speak_softly]

[He nods silently, looking away, stiffening a little when Robert takes his hand. He makes himself relax again and look up.]

We're - still friends?

[semper_cogitans]

Yes...

[Robert steels himself for the next part, because it's been gnawing at him and he can't be subtle. He can only be painfully, horribly blunt about his feelings.]

A-And, and I wouldn't be opposed to... to eventually going b-beyond that, if... if you were willing.

[He blushes fiercely then and looks away, but doesn't let go of the turtle's hand.]

I-I... it's... it's just been a long t-time, for me. A long time being with... anybody. [He stammers, far too much - he sounds ridiculous, he knows he sounds ridiculous -] N-not that I was ever with a non-human before, b-but, just, at all.

I-I... I don't know if I would... be acceptable for you, anyway. [He wasn't good enough for Benjamin. He wasn't good enough for anybody else.]

[i_speak_softly]

[He looks down shyly.] I think I am.

[And after a long pause:] I've never been with anyone.

[semper_cogitans]

[That just makes him profoundly sad.]

You... you deserve to be with somebody. Somebody wonderful.

I-I... I'm hardly that. [Robert's gray eyes are misty.] B-But... you would still... consider it? [Hesitantly, because Donatello shouldn't be saddled with Robert when he could probably do so much better.]

... you... You will need to explain so much to me. About your world. About... about being a ninja. I won't understand it well... But... I can... try.

[i_speak_softly]

[His free hand fiddles with his kneepad.] No one else has offered.

[Another little smile.] I'd like that.

[semper_cogitans]

[Robert leans a little more into the turtle. Damnit, he's terrified - his heartbeat might even be loud enough to hear - but he wants this and maybe Donatello wants it too. He can't tell.

It's been way too long since he's felt these kinds of feelings - real ones, not ones given to him by the Malnosso - and Robert's afraid, afraid of what they mean. Afraid of what they might lead to.]

... Ah, Donatello... ... Don. [The name sounds foreign but Robert says it anyway, because he remembers quite well that Donatello liked it better.]

... I... I just hope that, that if we do... if we do become partners, that I don't... ruin things again. [And he stares at his feet because the memories there are painful.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don lets himself be leaned on. He might even try putting an arm around the man, but his hand is pinned and he can't figure out what to do.]

[Thinking that Robert is referring to the morning after the experiment:] You didn't. It's better this way.

[semper_cogitans]

[Now that the possibility - the very real, terrifying-but-enthralling possibility of having somebody who might actually want him is there, Robert can't help but be thinking of the ways in which it could fail.]

... there are still... issues, though. Like your brothers. Raphael especially - he seemed to dislike my very existence.

[... And there's still Helios. Helios, who isn't back yet - but Robert hopes he will be soon.]

[i_speak_softly]

Raph dislikes everybody. [- he answers immediately, though he knows there's more to it than that, and it's something he'll have to deal with. He'll put off the thought just a little longer.] Something else is on your mind?

[semper_cogitans]

Ah. Yes.

Somewhat. [Robert knits his fingers.] I am not sure if you recall, but...

... There is the matter of Helios. [Robert's gaze flickers downward.] I, er, have... never been p-polyamorous before and I don't know how to deal with it, nor do I know anything about how he or you would feel about that sort of thing. Or... or if it w-would even work at all. [And Robert sort of devolves into a blushing mess at this.]

[i_speak_softly]

You - what? [He pulls away, without even quite meaning to. He's never heard the term "polyamorous" before, but he gets the gist.] I - thought you had worked that out. [Or maybe he really had just forgotten about it.]

[semper_cogitans]

[That pulling away hurts because it's an obvious negative reaction.]

Ah, Don. I... I suppose that means you're monoamorous yourself? N-not that I'm not, usually, but... [Robert's voice is fearful.] ... I... I apologize. I should have said something beforehand.

... I doubt he'd be interested in this anyway and I've never been in a polyamorous relationship before and I'd probably ruin it worse than the one time with - [And he cuts himself off there because that nearly went to a very bad place. But he's still obviously apologetic.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don can't hear the last part over the confusion of words that are falling out of his own mouth.] Robert, up until now I've been nonamorous. I can't even think about more than one. I don't - [About here he realizes he's talking over you, and shuts up to let you finish.]

[semper_cogitans]

[Robert cringes at the words - both because they drowned out his mumbled diatribe and because they have what feels like a force behind them. Like they're pelting him.]

D-Don... I...

[He tries to explain the feelings as best as possible.] I-I, I haven't felt th-this way before. But you're both... w-wonderful. Both of you. I... perhaps, perhaps it's strange to hear that - but... ... I have been alone for so long that I'm sure I have the capacity to love more than one person. Truly love.

... though... I-I... maybe I'm just, not good enough for either of you. [Robert audibly sobs, just a little bit.]

[i_speak_softly]

[He hunches back against the arm of the couch, burying his face in his hands.]

No, it's - it's okay. I'm not interested in Helios, but if you are... I'm used to sharing.