i_speak_softly | Seventy-Second Theory [Voice]

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Seventy-Second Theory [Voice]

[Don has been living in the tunnels since the beginning of the last experiment, and for that time he's been almost entirely absent from the journals as well. Today, he finally re-establishes contact with the outside world.]

Has anyone ever considered building another village elsewhere in the enclosure? [...] Don't we have an organization that's always looking for that kind of volunteer work? The "Blue Viscera"?

[The transmission ends there, but later in the day there's another one:]

If anyone is willing, I would be very honored to have a new sensei. I'm fourth-dan in bojutsu but I haven't been formally trained in two years.

[After dark, he seals up his lair and goes home. When he reaches House 55, he doesn't announce himself, but goes silently to the winter room and re-closes the door behind him.]

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[No answer, again. Don doesn't know what he wants, right now.]

[If Don doesn't know, then Robert definitely doesn't. The man hesitates just inside the doorway, not getting any closer yet, before slowly dropping into seiza where he stands in the halo of light cast by the open door.]

[Don reads this as an invitation - or more of a command - to talk. He hovers around the dark corner a minute longer, then reluctantly comes to kneel before his partner. What do you want him to say?]

[He doesn't have to say anything. That's the beauty of it.

Robert is not good at body language, not even after two years of living amongst the highly-socialized Turtles. He knows he pales especially in comparison to what Don must remember so clearly. But he tries his best to communicate with his eyes how much he's missed Don, how happy he is for him to be home... and how sad he is, that this loss is once again fresh.]

[Unfortunately, Don is staring at his knees, so all of this is lost on him. It doesn't help that he came home not expecting a very warm welcome.]

[It only takes a few seconds for Robert to realize all the intense emotion he's beaming Don's way is being completely missed, so after a moment he tentatively extends a hand into Don's field of vision, intending to place it on his knee. He doesn't yet, though.]

[Don's eyes flick up, just as far as Robert's fingers. His own emotional confusion makes it harder to read the intentions of others, and he doesn't know what the man wants. He trusts him, though, and makes no move to interfere with whatever Robert is trying to do.]

[Robert decides to break the silence, just for a moment.]

... I... I am... s-sorry that this happened...

[He rests his cupped hand on the Turtle's body, and curls them gently around his knee.] ... And I will... do what I can...

[Don watches that hand dispassionately, and his tense shoulders slump a little.]

Don't pretend.

Pretend what? [Robert blinks a little, confused by this sudden-seeming statement.]

That there's anything anyone can do.

...

[He's right. Robert exhales quietly and bows his head again.]

[Don's gaze drifts away, and after a moment he asks:]

You weren't affected?

Edited 2013-10-12 21:47 (UTC)

No. [A pause.] ... For once.

[He supposes the Malnosso took pity on him or something. His life hasn't been the easiest as of late.]

[He twitches his fingers against his lover's.]

I'm glad.

So am I... had I f-forgotten everything, I believe I would have spent the week... w-weeping.

[Or worse, though Don had it just as bad. He doesn't need to say as such, though.]

[The great thing about Robert needing a hug, is that Don can get one without admitting how much he needs it himself. He leans forward a little, inviting.]

[Robert, realizing what is being offered, seizes on the opportunity. He throws his arms around Don almost immediately and presses himself lightly against the Turtle's plastron.]

[Don circles his arms around his partner, holding him close. As much as he tries to hide it, his fragile emotional state might be given away by the tears rolling off his snout and dripping onto Robert's lab coat.]

[Robert doesn't comment, but his softened expression when he looks up suggests he realizes what the sound was connected to. Lifting a delicate hand, he traces slender fingers across Don's pebbled cheek.]

[Busted. With the secret out, Don finds he no longer has the will to restrain himself from sobbing into Robert's shoulder.]

I miss... everything...

[The man clutches the Turtle against him in an embrace that suggests he fears the loss of Don as acutely as he feels the renewed loss of the Hamato family.

What can he possibly say? He misses them too. He's wept over Leo's bonsai, felt pain as he held Mikey's old comic books or stroked Carbon in memory of Klunk's presence, ached at the silence of Splinter's garden... even pausing in front of Raph's weapons case, more than once he has missed the Turtle who hated him the most.

He doesn't know what to do. Robert hoped he could help Don to bear the burden of being alone, as he always had, but evidently his strength is not enough.]

[Very, very softly:] I want to go home.

[Oh, Don.]

... I... I w-wish you could. [Even as he says that though, Robert's voice nearly breaks. The idea of Don going home, without him... and him forgetting Robert forever...]

[He's not even sure whether he meant for Robert to hear that.]

[He pulls himself together and sits back, sliding his hands to his knees and looking at the floor between them.]

I'm sorry. I'm tired and I'm not being rational.

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