Sixty-Fourth Theory [Action/Voice]

[i_speak_softly]

((First part is backdated to yesterday, November 10.))

[Would it really be so difficult for John's droids to just bring Don home?]

[Apparently, because they instead leave him in a side room of the barracks. On their way out, they drop his journal on the floor, just beyond his reach.]

[He can't feel his legs.]

[He woke up this way on John's table, and while part of his brain tried to assess the situation rationally and offer the mitigating factors that it's just for a week, thank goodness he didn't get this as his death loss, the rest of his brain was screaming too loudly to notice or care.]

[And now he's back in the village, half-paralyzed, still uncertain of his speech, and completely alone.]

[It takes a while, but he pulls himself together, drags himself a few feet across the floor, and painstakingly constructs a filter in the journal.]

Voice to Beast | Unhackable

Help. The barracks. Please...

[He closes the book when he's done. Beast won't get any reply from him through the journals, but will find him prone on the floor of the barracks, just wanting to go home.]



Voice for Everyone, November 11

[By the next day, Don has rediscovered his voice, and wants everyone else to hear it too. Being couchbound, he has nothing better to do than broadcast his every thought over the journal system.]

EVERYONE. Citizens, denizens, residents and inmates of our village of Luceti. Those of you who have just arrived, please find adequate shelter, because this is miserable weather to be out in. You're fortunate, though, to have missed our recent tornado. Also an infestation of ghosts and some messy business involving zombie viruses. Never a dull moment. I advise reading the guide, which can be found in your journal.

Those of you who are already jaded by such events, please entertain yourselves on this dreary day by suggesting a topic of interest: a fascinating subject, an intriguing project, or a hypothetical occurrence that you would find truly surprising. Jokes and stories are also welcome.

[He'll stop there. Finding words is still difficult and tiring, and like exercising any other faculty that hasn't been used in a while, he should take it slowly. Full recovery will come from patient practice, not from exhausting himself all at once.]


((Initial action is locked to Beast. Friends of Don are welcome to handwave hearing of his return and come visit, yesterday afternoon or any time during the week. Today's voice post is open to all.))

Comments

[Voice]

[pherae_hope]

Is what what you call them?

[Voice]

[i_speak_softly]

I think so. I'm pretty sure. [He still doesn't trust his ability to self-monitor, but it feels right.]

[Voice]

[pherae_hope]

[You're not exactly earning his confidence here, Don.]

Do you know what they are for? And how they work?

[Voice]

[i_speak_softly]

[Right, yes, sounding like he knows what he's talking about.]

Sure. The tall one with two doors is called a - a refrigerator, and it's for keeping food cold. The one with the knobs is an oven on the inside and a stove on top, and that's for cooking. The small one with the buttons is a... is a... [Too many words, hold on.] A microwave. It's good for reheating things.

[Phew. He thinks he got all that right. The effort was exhausting but deeply satisfying.]

[Voice]

[pherae_hope]

[Well that's certainly helpful, and now Roy experimentally pokes at one of the appliances.]

How do they operate?

[Don will hear a couple beeps in the background and then a thrum of energy as a microwave comes to life. And in the next moment a thud as Roy is startled and drops his journal.]

[Voice]

[i_speak_softly]

Scientifically or functionally?

[That did not sound good.]

Are you okay?

[Voice]

[pherae_hope]

[Roy picks up the journal again as the microwave continues to run in the background.]

I'm fine. I wasn't expecting it to glow and make noise. But um... functionally.

[Voice]

[i_speak_softly]

Erm... you use a microwave by putting food in it, and then pushing the number buttons to tell it how long to cook. Learning the times is kind of a trial-and-error thing.

[Voice] 1/2

[pherae_hope]

Wait what? You just tell it how long with these "buttons?"

[MIND = BLOWN]

[Voice]

[pherae_hope]

[Roy plays around with this and a series of beepings can be heard and the microwave stopping and starting repeatedly as he sets it for like five seconds then counts down the numbers. He comes from a world where even clocks don't exist yet you know.]

This is amazing.

[Again the microwave is going. Then it stops as he opens the door, then starts again when he closes it. This goes on a few more times. Roy may have just found his new favorite thing.]

[Voice]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don just listens silently. He loves watching people discover the joys of technology.]

[Voice]

[pherae_hope]

[Roy still has many more joys to discover too! But for now, the microwave will do.]

Thank you for your help. I do have one more question, and I hope you don't find me rude for asking but... What are you?

[Voice]

[i_speak_softly]

[It's a little rude, but he's used to it.]

[... Not in the mood to give a straight answer, though.]

I'm an engineer.

[Voice]

[pherae_hope]

Pardon?

[Yeah, that's a word that's completely foreign to him. But had he known it was such a sensitive subject, Roy certainly wouldn't have asked.]

[Voice]

[i_speak_softly]

An engineer. I'm better at fixing stoves than cooking on them.

[Voice]

[pherae_hope]

I see.

[So an engineer refers to something he does. Not quite what he was going for, but he recognizes dodging a question when he sees it. Thus he'll leave it be out of respect.]

Again, thank you for your help, Donatello.

[Voice]

[i_speak_softly]

[DON'T LEAVE HIM HE'S LONELY.]

Is there anything else I can help with?

[Voice]

[pherae_hope]

[... Um.]

I don't believe so? But if I think of something I'll be sure to contact you.

[...]

Is there something you need?

[Voice]

[i_speak_softly]

A distraction?

[Really. Anything.]