i_speak_softly | Luceti Appointments

[Sometime around mid-afternoon, Raph goes searching for his brother. He doesn't have much else better to do but sit on the front porch with the journals for entertainment, so it seems he's the first to hear about the Draft list.

He's not going to react to this. He's already schooling his features into a hard frown. He's mad at Don, and has been mad at Don for months now. It's been a long time since he's fought with a brother for this long, not since he and Leo used to butt heads when they were younger. But this's different, and it still feels so wrong that it's Don. But he tells himself this Don isn't the Don he used to know. His brother has changed, and it hasn't won him any favors.

So with all of that in mind, Raph's planning to get in and get out. See if he knows, then go back on the porch to sulk the rest of the day away.

He won't let this bother him. He won't give Don the satisfaction.]

[It should be pretty obvious that Don doesn't know. If he knew, one would hope he would not still be sitting in the bathtub with the door open, playing with a plastic cup and a drinking straw, and possibly looking more than a little like a slow-witted child.]

[... Really, one might hope he wouldn't be doing that ever.]

[But nevertheless, that is what Don is doing. Will you interrupt his bathtime fun?]

[Yeah, he's not gonna ask. He just stands in the doorway, journal in hand.]

They just announced the draft again. They called your name.

[He looks up, alarmed. The cup somehow remains stuck to the bottom of the tub.] And who else? [He means of their family, of course.]

[He shrugs, still feigning apathy.]

No one. Just you.

[Your tone and your words don’t match. He must be misunderstanding something.]

Just -- Huh?

[Then Raph goes to leave, because another second longer and he'll crack his facade. Then he'll get angry. Then he'll start caring. And in his mind, Don doesn't deserve that much.

You didn't back him up with Derek. He tells himself it's only fair. Maybe now they're even, at least in that respect, but it doesn't make Raph feel any better.]

Raph, wait - [As Don scrambles out of the tub, the plastic cup rockets into the air, ricocheting off the ceiling before falling back with a wet smack.] Give me that...

[Raph stops and lets Don catch up to him, handing him his journal without even glancing up.]

[Don takes the journal and scans down the list of names, his jaw dropping further and further as he reads.]

No...

[Then Raph tries to walk away again, leaving his journal behind. He heads for the porch, planning to collapse there, sulk, and stare off into nothing for the rest of the day.

Useless. Helpless. Still angry. All these things play through his mind. Fester, as Splinter has accused. And maybe he is. Maybe he's rotting from the inside-out. Don may have changed, but he's never felt so numb.]

[Splinter sometimes overhears at the worst of times... when he needs to overhear the most. He knows about the draft and what it means, and there are a million emotions going through his mind as it tugs painfully at his chest.

But for now, he is needed by his son. He does not go after Raphael, not yet, instead reaching out to put a hand on Donatello's shoulder.

Splinter can have a heart attack later.]

[Don half-turns, tilting the book so Splinter can see the list of names.]

All my friends... none of my family.

[Splinter reads the list quietly. He doesn't speak immediately.]

... Tell me what this means.

[Your father can read just fine, but he has to hear it from you.]

Everyone on the list has to fight in the Malnosso's war. Whether they want to or not.

You cannot refuse?

[He shakes his head.] You can go to the teleporters on your own, or you can resist and get dragged there by robots.

Then you have no choice.

[It's not a question.]

Not much of one.

[He presses the button to play the Commandant's message again.]

[Splinter frowns more as he listens, and by the time its finished, his body is stiff and angry.]

They play with our lives as if we are their pawns.

At least they bring us back if they kill us. [Bitterly. It's not really a consolation - not to mention this "True Death" thing makes him nervous.]

[A Spartan keeps her promises. Normally, she would refrain from talking with a xenotype, but the more she learned about this place, the more resources they would all have. If things got better, the Malnosso could slip up.

Oddest of all, she is without armor. She got in an agreement with Charlotte, and the later most likely forbade her from wearing her suit while cooking. That, and she had noticed that the social aura of the village was... different.

And what she felt was not so much awkwardness... but fear. Social fear, to be precise. Odd.

She awaits near the gardens. A choice that would've been odd, at first sight. She was a Spartan, but she loved flowers.]

[Don, still blissfully unaware that his family has been struck by An Experiment, arrives at the gardens a few minutes later, and looks around for the armored giant he promised to meet.]

[He doesn't see one, but he does see a very tall woman standing amongst the flowers.]

... Ms. Daisy?

[That comment alarms Splinter in such a way that it remains with him, and does not get expressed on his face.]

Under no circumstances are you to put yourself in such danger while you are away.

Believe me, Sensei, I'm not going out of my way for the Malnosso.

Luceti Appointments

[Action] // June 1st

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Pretend this is a quietly worried face. /iconfail

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[Action] Morning of June 13th, before she's fully affected

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