Twenty-seventh Theory [Action]

[i_speak_softly]

[After spending most of the past few days ensconced in his room, doing mysterious work, Don is out this morning running some errands.

He first stops by House 23, where he leaves a neatly-wrapped package on the doorstep. On top of the package is a folded note, which reads: Winry - I don't forget my promises. Sorry this one took so long to deliver. Take care of yourself. Don. Below this is a diagram which appears to illustrate how to put a saddle and helmet on a legless mouse. And indeed, inside the package are several sets of this rodent-sized equipment.

Don next journeys to Building 7, where he heads up to the fifth floor to knock at the apartment of a certain wizard named Helios.

And after that visit, he will make a detour on his way home to stop by his previous residence, Building 6, where he will call on his former neighbor, one Atsuki Saijo.]

Comments

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

Eh, he's just touchy about it. Can't really blame him.

[i_speak_softly]

Why didn't you tell me? He's been gone three months already.

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

[He shrugs] It ain't somethin' I like talkin' about much either.

[i_speak_softly]

Then tell me something else I don't know about him.

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

Ahhh...[He has to think about that one. There's plenty of not-so-pleasant things that come to mind, and Raph wants to avoid them]

I dunno. When he got back, he was fulla all these old stories he learned from the Ancient One. He must've had hundreds of 'em about Master Yoshi or old legends and stuff like that. We'd sit around and listen to him for hours.

Think it all turned out good for him in the end.

[i_speak_softly]

But what about you? What did you do while he was gone?

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

Nothin'.

[Did a lot of brooding. Punching things. Sulking in his room. Running for his life when Karai destroyed their home. Y'know. Raph stuff.]

Just waited. Sometimes he'd send letters. Nothin' too exciting.

[i_speak_softly]

What I wouldn't give for a letter right now.

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

Yeah. But things don't work that way.

[i_speak_softly]

[Don sits quietly for a minute, reflecting on everything Raph just told him. Then, suddenly, he's all movement, fumbling through the bedsheets.]

Shell, I'm so stupid...

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

Huh?

[i_speak_softly]

[Don finds his journal jammed between the mattress and the wall. How it got there is anyone's guess. He pulls it out and starts flipping pages, almost tearing them in his haste.]

When a person gets sent home, all physical evidence of their stay here goes with them. But the journals save everything. His messages are still... [He finally lands on the right page.] There. [His finger hovers over the Play button, and he looks at you questioningly. Do you want to do this?]

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

[Raph hesitates, frowning, trying to gauge how he feels about this. And after a moment, he seats himself on Don's bed, their shoulders brushing against each other as he shifts to get a better look at the journal.]

When's that from?

[i_speak_softly]

[Don shifts away, even as he angles the journal so Raph can see. Raph may have already forgotten the don't lean on things rule, but Don sure hasn't.]

When I first got here. He didn't talk to me over the journals much, but - he did then.

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

[Dammit, Don. He wants to be all up in your space. Leaning on brothers should totally be an exception.]

Play it.

[i_speak_softly]

[Don hesitates a moment longer, then touches the button.]

... You're here.

Leo! You're here too? Where are you?

[The conversation only takes a minute to play, and when it's done Don wants to press the button again and again, just to hear Leo's voice, just to feel like he's not so impossibly far away.]

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

[Something flutters in his stomach at the sound of his brother's voice.]

Makes me wish I used the books more often.

[If Don won't hit it again, Raph will.]

[i_speak_softly]

You're here.

Leo...

[Don presses the book into Raph's hands, and leans back against the wall.]

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

[Raph takes the book, fiddles around with the settings, and finds another recording attached to that entry.]

Donnie!

[Mikey's excited babbling fills the room. Raph just stares down at the open journal with a thoughtful expression. This's so bittersweet it hurts.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don jumps, the voice so close it feels real. Maybe this was a bad idea.]

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

[After that, Raph closes the book, hunches forward and turns to study Don's face. That went fairly well, he thinks. It still hurts, sure. He misses them like nothing else, but now at least those wounds don't feel so fresh, even if they do still run so deep.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don offers a shaky smile.]

I don't know why I didn't think of that sooner.

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

Considerin' we don't use the journals to talk to each other. [He shrugs.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don takes the book back and - you know, under the mattress seems like a fine place for it right now.]

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

[He's a little disappointed to see the book go, but whatever. He'll have to go dig up his own later. The room seems so quiet now without all the voices. Raph picks at Don's blanket for a moment while his eyes roam the room, falling on the desk.]

You likin' your new computer?

[Yeah, it's a subject change. Deal with it.]