i_speak_softly | Forty-Sixth Theory [Voice/Action]

((Action part backdated to the wee hours of this morning.))

[The horror ends at midnight.]

[Sort of.]

[Don doesn't know how long it takes him to realize that he's lying on cobblestone instead of mud, and that the water pooling around him is only the rain running off his own skin.]

[It's still raining now, but so lightly he can't even feel it through the numbness.]

[He gets up. People are running in every direction. Someone had organized a clinic and healers, and everywhere he looks the injured are being tended to.]

[There are no provisions for the dead. There are never any bodies.]

[Don turns away from the confusion, points his steps towards home. The walk seems to take a long time. When he gets there, the house is quiet. Don finds Mike asleep at the kitchen table, gives him what may be a startlingly cold hug, inhales the plate of spaghetti at his elbow, and moves on.]

[He closes the door of his room, drops his gear to the ground. Climbs into Leo's bed and finds his brother not yet asleep.]

We lost.

[That's all the words he has energy for.]

[He sleeps for the next thirty-six hours. He wakes intermittently to whisper half-intelligible accounts of the battle into Leo's ear. He runs a low fever.]

[On Wednesday afternoon he manages to get out of bed - or at least sit up, if his family won't allow any more than that - speak to his brothers and father, listen to his messages on the journal. In the evening he'll put out some short, poorly-filtered messages to obvious people.]

*

Ms. Daisy... I lost the samples.

*

Frederic, I'm so sorry. Do you want me to come over?

*

Mr. Mulder. Did you make it back safely?

*

Kay, ah... What are you doing Saturday?

*

((Feel free to leave Voice messages, but assume Don's replies are forward-dated to tomorrow. You may also get a more-timely response from one of his journal-stealing housemates.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I know the feeling. I hated listening to the reports, and being stuck here. If I had my way, I would've been out there helping.

W-Well, I would have been e-even more useless on the battlefield... [Robert's voice audibly shudders.]

B-but...

... I-I... s-simply having the option...

For people claiming to be military, they don't act like it. Even the military know that non combatants don't belong on the battlefield. Or wounded soldiers. Like this last draft, I heard something about a blind guy being sent out there.

Y-You may be referring to Giles... he was b-blinded by the Malnosso, a-actually, as d-disgusting as that is. S-Sending out someone to fight whom they blinded themselves...

...

H-He is Helios' friend... a-and the one who told me what h-happened to him. I-informed the whole village, actually...

[Robert slowly exhales.]

Oh, I see.

Yeah, I heard of the death from him.

Is he a friend of yours too?

Y-yes, he is... [Robert has a lot of interrelated friends, actually. The intellectuals tend to gravitate towards each other, it seems...]

... And he is... v-very close to Helios.

[There's still a tiny ghost of jealousy in those words.

Robert still worries, sometimes, that he isn't a good friend for Helios - not when Giles is there, doing everything he can't or won't.]

[Leo notes the jealousy.]

Friends always appreciate any help given.

Th-that... that is what I have been t-told, yes. [Though it's evident that some part of him still has trouble believing it.]

...

I am sure that Giles and Mr. Ch-Chopin will do everything they can for Helios, but... I s-still want to be there when he returns...

[Well, he didn't have many at home, and still doesn't have many here. But Casey, April and others always seemed appreciative.]

Check with them and see if you can be there. Don't be afraid to speak up. If you don't, people will think you're not interested.

I, I... I s-suppose. B-But, I do not wish to be a bother...

[Robert is clingy and pathetic with the friends he does have. It's inevitable that he'd get all self-critiquing over it, though.]

You won't be. Talk to them. Worse thing they can do is say no, or tell you to wait a day or two.

[He's getting firm here. Trying to get Robert to straighten up a little. He's seen this before in you, like with Ami. Man up, Robert. Real friends don't tell you to get lost, and listen to your worries or requests.]

[The firmness isn't entirely unappreciated. Robert is just... very bad at this kind of thing. This may very well be a case where somebody is worse at social interaction than the TMNT.]

... I will... th-thank you, Leonardo.

...

B-besides, perhaps... p-perhaps I can make myself... useful for him, when he does r-return.

[It's ironic that this is coming from the most anti-social turtle.]

Robert... [You sound like you're avoiding.]

[He's more anxious than anything. Robert doesn't know how to relate to people without including relative worth he has to them in it.]

...

Y-Yes...?

I-is there... something...?

[He let's out a sigh. He heard it wrong, maybe Robert didn't mean avoidance.]

Nothing. Just talk to them, offer your help. Trust me, you won't be a burden.

[It's okay. Robert misinterprets stuff often enough; other people deserve the chance to screw up too.]

...

Th-that goes for your f-family too, then. If there is anything I can e-ever do... whatever is within my p-power to assist with, I shall.

...

Th-thank you, Leonardo... p-perhaps... perhaps we will s-see each other again soon? A-At any rate, please t-take care of both Don and yourself - not that I w-would expect anything less from you...

We'll let you know if we need it. Don't go spreading yourself too thin, Robert.

Perhaps we will. [A part of him was starting to enjoy his conversations with Robert, even if they were strange sometimes.] Thank you, I will.

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