i_speak_softly | Forty-Third Theory [Mostly Action]

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Forty-Third Theory [Mostly Action]

((General post for the next two weeks or so. Preemptive tl;dr, find him anywhere, though suggestion of day/place/activity is appreciated.))

[As May begins, and as a fairly large percentage of May goes by, Donatello can be found doing the following things:

-Jogging through the woods, tracking down any signs of life detected by the departed Mr. Scott's not-really-new-and-not-exactly-improved-either tricorder. ((New Feathers, feel free to jump in here.))

-Hauling huge loads of books to and from the library.

-Studying these books - in and around House 55, at the library itself, by the fountain, at the coffee shop, alongside the river... pretty much anywhere.

-Copying diagrams from the books into his journal.

-Working at the smithy, trying to create physical equivalents of these diagrams.

-Digging through bins at the item shop.

-Practicing wind magic or good old-fashioned ninjutsu in various open areas around the edges of the village.

And a few more specific actions:]

[Don needs a few minutes of your time. If you don't dare to approach him while he's working, he'll come looking for you.]

[Some rainy evening, Don will show up at Robert's door with a duffel bag and a goofy grin. You owe him a nanocomputer demonstration - and he brought you a gift.]

Frederic, a question, if you have a minute...

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[There are very few people Robert would trust to touch his nanocomputer, and Don sits squarely in this category. It helps that he's a quick study and has almost no problems finding the programs.

It helps that the screen is mostly touch-sensitive (though there's an optional peripheral for those who'd rather not touch the screens, but Robert doesn't use it much), so that probably makes it simpler to use.

Most of the programs on the computer are pretty much geared for scientific pursuits - data compilers, analyzers, tools for building mathematical charts, diagrams and the like, text-handling programs... there's also programs for handling the holophotography/video. ~~Don might get a few awkward surprises if he pokes through that.~~]

You seem... highly enamoured of my nanocomputer.

[Robert almost nuzzles Don gently, arching a little into the strong arm resting against the curve of his spine.]

... And perhaps of me, at the moment? After all, we are... quite close.

[Not that Robert seems to mind. If anything, it's the exact opposite.]

[Don doesn't bother much with touchscreens either - most devices seem to have trouble reading his thick digits as fingers. At any rate, he prefers text commands over icons. GUIs are for wimps.]

Huh? [A vague sideways glance. His eyes don’t really leave the screen.] Mm-hmm.

[Sorry, Robert, your boyfriend is leaving you for a computer.]

[He would find this touchscreen to be remarkably responsive, actually. It's, after all, designed to be used by non-human sapients too...

Robert just smiles at how absorbed Don is by his nanocomputer. It's so much like him that he's almost struck, again, by how similar-and-yet-different they are.

So he just snuggles into Don's side and watches Don explore the nanocomputer's functionality, enjoying the closeness and the obvious interest and affinity Don has for Terran technology.

Clearly they are now in a polyamorous relationship with the nanocomputer.]

I reiterate how much I would love to take you to Terra. You seem so engrossed in the technology.

You would be a wonderful engineer there... quite possibly a candidate for the Head Institute.

[Robert is excited just thinking about that.]

[That's what he gets for not experimenting thoroughly.]

[At Robert's words, a burst of static in his head. He freezes momentarily, then slowly slides the nanocomputer back to Robert's lap.]

An... engineer?

[Robert takes that reaction as a negative one.]

... Ah, you... wouldn't wish to be a Terran engineer?

... Really, you could go into any branch of the sciences or mathematics that you'd wish... With your aptitude and penchant for learning? Why, I wouldn't be surprised if the top Linden universities sought you out as a potential student...

[Robert seriously isn't exaggerating this, either.]

[He reaches over and gently closes the lid of the nanocomputer.]

Stop.

[Robert falls silent immediately, though he goes to say something else, catches himself, and then just slumps painfully.

Why is this bad? What's wrong with what he's saying? Does Don not want those things?

After some silence, Robert mumbles a soft apology.]

I'm s-sorry.

[He doesn't know what he said wrong, but he is deeply sorry that whatever it was hurt.]

[He bites his lip, mental fingers almost but not quite touching the still-locked box in his mind.]

Was I an engineer? During the experiment?

Yes. You were a magitechnological engineer... The finest engineer in the district. Better even than myself, and I was the owner.

It was a heirarchal, nepotistical system... That was really the only reason I owned the company at all.

I remember I tended to handle the paperwork and environmental-impact-statement side of things... though I worked alongside you, of course, but never quite to your abilities.

I... admired you greatly, for it.

[And Robert exhales slowly, looking at the floor. He loved his... brother-at-the-time's remarkable achievements and how he was the only person in the world who'd always support his experimentations and how he had helped Robert with... pretty much everything ever.]

[Don's fingers curl in the back of Robert's shirt. His other hand moves to his belt, tracing the outlines of his concealed gear.]

I haven't looked.

[Robert looks up at Don and lets a small, pale hand meander over his plastron a bit, more questioning than anything. His hair brushes the turtle's side due to their close proximity.]

I... have extensive records, if you wanted to see them...

... B-But, it's... of course up to you.

[He almost seems confused, like he doesn't know why Don is suddenly morose. Because he doesn't.]

[His hand moves unbidden to Robert's, pinning it in place.]

Not yet.

[He stares into space for a moment, then looks down. Blinks. Realizes what he's doing. Snatches his fingers away.]

Sorry...

[Robert looks down at the hand pinning his, surprised more than anything. Sudden displays like that come out of left field for him, because he still doesn't understand the automatic nature of the ninja training.]

...

Was... was my touching problematic?

I apologize.

[He withdraws his own hand after a moment, just sitting there with an awkward expression.]

[Don looks at the floor another minute, then twists to face Robert as best he can with his arm still pinned, his demeanor abruptly serious.]

Rob, we need to talk.

[Sudden serious demeanour indeed gets Robert's attention. He sobers and nods, moving the nanocomputer aside so that it won't be jostled too much.

That nickname... yeah, Robert has things he needs to talk about, too.]

... Please feel free to, Don.

[Get in line; this might take a while.]

[He extricates his arm, using the moment to order his thoughts.]

Rob, I - I love that you look at me like I'm a normal person. But I'm not, and it's important that... that you understand.

[He takes a deep breath.]

If I go to another world, or become an engineer, or anything, I'll still be a ninja. It's in everything I do and I can't turn it off. You need to know about it. You need to know where the triggers are.

[Robert blinks, slowly. "Not a normal person"?] ... You... have never seemed like anything other than "normal" to me.

I mean, yes, you... can fight, but... [As much as it hurts to say it:] ... That seems to be closer to the usual state than the alternative...

How does being a ninja make you "not normal"? Is... Is there some psychological component that prevents you from being neurotypical, like my condition? Or... [He's really baffled right now.]

Because you won't see it. [Part of it is your condition, he's sure, but he suspects that some of it is willful ignorance.]

Being a ninja... I've been trained to it since before I can remember. It affects my senses and my thought processes and how I sleep. Even when I'm not fighting, I'm never really normal.

[Actually, the vast majority is simply not noticing. Beyond the occasional rare sudden movements, Robert has never really picked up on Don's ninja reflexes. Any behaviour that could have been even vaguely construed as odd was either simply accepted as normal for Don, or missed entirely.

And why would Robert notice? Ninjas no longer exist in his world. Nothing like them exists. Nothing like the kind of training they have exists. He would have no idea where to even start looking.

He is definitely usually consciously ignoring the fact that Don can fight... but, he does that with his other fighter friends, too, and until now had no real idea that there was any kind of lasting psychological difference.]

What is normal, in this context?

Don, I do not mind. Your differences are part of you. They are therefore part of the person I love, inextricably. ... I'm only sorry that I didn't appreciate these differences before.

But please tell me more about them, that I might give them the respect they deserve.

[He has... somewhat come to accept the fact you have killed people, Don. Learning about your reflexes isn't going to scare him off now.]

You minded when I was wrestling with Mike.

[Robert exhales softly at that.]

Because that was violent behaviour... or, maybe "fighting". [Robert remembers that Don had made a distinction between the things, even if he doesn't get why.]

I would have minded if anybody had wrestled anybody. It was just... especially jarring, considering it was you and your brother on his birthday...

... And like I said, that seems to be normal. Typical. It is my world that is the strange one.

[Robert isn't sure why that is, and it still bothers him that that seems to be true...]

We weren't fighting. Mike likes to wrestle. It's just something siblings do. [... He's pretty sure that even non-ninja siblings wrestle with each other.]

Nobody on Terra would ever do anything like that... [Robert actually recoils a little at the idea.]

... Not that I ever had a sibling. But I know I would never do that with a sibling... what would even be the purpose...?

[The whole topic seems unsettling for Robert. He's racking his memories of the alternative universe, trying to think of times where he might've... done something like that, towards Don...

... Don did hit him that one time, didn't he? And... he didn't mind? His mind at the time called it "playful", even.

Robert suppresses a slight shudder.]

... Your idea of what siblings do is very different from what mine is.

[Terra is starting to seem like a frighteningly sterile place.]

It's fun. And good for us. [He is adamant about this. Truthfully, he's never liked wrestling all that much himself, but he recognizes that his brothers derive a variety of benefits from the practice, and he imagines that at least some of the positive effects apply to him as well.]

I do everything with my brothers. They're all I have.

[And now this conversation is reminding him how much he misses Raph.]

[Starting?]

... Fun? [Robert looks like Don just suggested something fundamentally impossible, like saying Robert could beat Raph at arm-wrestling.] I... can't see why...

[And that part makes Robert kind of bite his lip gently. He suddenly wonders if he qualifies as something "Don has", here...]

... I apologize for having difficulty understanding.

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