Forty-Fifth Theory [Voice/Action]

[i_speak_softly]

[Donatello doesn't notice the announcement when it's made, and even after someone shows it to him, he won't bother addressing the 'commandant'. Instead, he'll send a locked message to someone much more important.]

Robert...

[Some time later, he'll add one more locked message.]

Kay, I think I'm going to have to reschedule.

Comments

June 2

[the-mikester.livejournal.com]

[When Don gets home, he'll find Mike in the kitchen, as per usual, streaked with flour. This isn't a time for video games. It's also time for breakfast, so if you time it right, you might get a plate of something hot set in front of you wordlessly.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Whatever it is, Don eats it. He ships out tomorrow, and who knows what he'll be eating for the four days after that.]

[He won't say anything, though. Any chance you won't notice he was gone all night?]

[the-mikester.livejournal.com]

Where were you?

[No.]

[i_speak_softly]

[No point in lying now.]

... With Robert.

[If you dare to look at him, the unfamiliar state of his chi might give you a hint what they were doing.]

[the-mikester.livejournal.com]

[Ew.

Ew ew ew ew ew.]

...studying?

[Please say you were studying. Pleeeeease say that's why you seem so relaxed and settled and... calm. Way more calm than you should be before a battle.]

[i_speak_softly]

[He can't bring himself to tell that outrageous of a lie, even if you're asking him to. Also, he cannot even begin to do the chi equivalent of a poker face.]

[Sorry, Mikey.]

[the-mikester.livejournal.com]

[Mike is just.

He's not.

No.]

[i_speak_softly]

Mike -

[How is he going to explain this?]

[the-mikester.livejournal.com]

[He just shakes his head, buried in the work of making food. He doesn't want to know. He doesn't want to know. He would really like to stay ignorant of these kinds of goings-on, thank you very much.




Not like it's ever going to happen for him anyway.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don dithers for a moment, then clears his dishes and slinks out of the room. Mike may not want an explanation right now, but Master Splinter probably won't let his son off the hook so easily.]

[honorthecode.livejournal.com]

[Well, Mikey might not want an explanation. But Leo does. It's impossible to miss the fact that your roommate is gone all night. Leo's probably been up most if, not all of, the night with worry. Thus when Don comes out of the kitchen, he's standing in the entrance to the hall to the rooms, arms crossed.]

Where were you last night?

[And why didn't you call to let them know you were there?]

[i_speak_softly]

[Uh-oh.]

I was at Robert's apartment.

[Did he really forget to tell everyone before he left?]

[honorthecode.livejournal.com]

[Uh oh indeed.]

You weren't doing any stratagizing for the upcoming fight. [It's not a question. He just has a feeling that that wasn't anywhere near what they were doing.]

[i_speak_softly]

I'm not a strategist.

[And if you guessed that what they were doing was completely irrelevant to the impending battle, you'd be wrong.]

[honorthecode.livejournal.com]

[Leo's not you, Don. His brain doesn't think like that. For him, the time could've been used differently. Not for personal things.]

You can't go into that fight without a plan.

[i_speak_softly]

My plan is to find someone who has a plan.

[That's what he's good at: following orders, doing support work, being part of a team. You know it as well as he does.]

[honorthecode.livejournal.com]

[He does, even if you have helped on a few stratagies over the years.]

Have anyone in mind?

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

[Once he hears Leo and Don finish they're little discussion, Raph will shuffle into the kitchen as stealthily as possible, looking for Mike and some info. You still around, bro?]

[the-mikester.livejournal.com]

[Mike is beating an innocent wad of bread dough into submission with a grim determination which is actually close to panic.

You are one of those people around here who has\might\eventually may get laid, so don't expect too much out of your little brother. He's a little freaked out right now.]

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

[Raph wanders in when he sees the coast's clear, then goes to lean on the counter by Mike, watching him pound the crap out of that dough.]

What'd he say?

[the-mikester.livejournal.com]

[Shifty eyes. Don't make him say it.]

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

[Silence and Mike are never meant to mix. Not in a time like this. But he knows his brother well enough to not even need the words. Raph can already feel the bile rising in his throat.]

He...?

[He just. Cringes.]

[the-mikester.livejournal.com]

[Pound pound pound.

You know, bread that has been kneaded as much as this has is not good for eating. What Mike is wrestling with is probably nothing more than a big wad of gluten by now.]

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

Holy shit. Seriously?

[the-mikester.livejournal.com]

[Mike hunches his shoulders, an uncharacteristically closed-off gesture for him.

He does NOT want to talk about this.]