And I Carry a Bo Staff

[It's been an extremely frustrating month. First he was kidnapped and experimented on by the Malnosso, while everyone else in the village - as Don learned later - got to fly, with their own wings. As the long-vanished Raphael would say, "Turtle Luck runnin' true to form".]

[When the droids returned him, he was invisible for a week, and spent most of that time watching his partner have a serious substance abuse problem, while the Turtle himself was powerless to do anything about that or the underlying issues causing Robert's addiction to resurface.]

[When Don became visible again, Robert tried to explain himself, but the Turtle had seen too much of drugs in his own world to want to hear any more about it. As a result, for the past few weeks relations have been strained at best in the Hamato-Hastings household.]

[Today Don heads out to the beach, seeking to clear his head and reconnect with his Filial magic. The Malnosso's experiments had had strange effects on his control of the elements, and he thinks he'd better spend some time re-establishing his bond with the spirits, the true source of these abilities.]

[In the afternoon, he happens to check his journal and finds a long, privately-filtered written message from Robert: another attempt to explain his behavior. Part of Don doesn't want to read it, but another part knows he owes that much to his partner of over two years.]

[That doesn't make it easy, though, and Don can only stand to read the manifesto in small pieces over the next several hours.]

[When he's done, he stays at the beach, watching sunset, watching the stars come out. When night and solitude have made him invisible again, he opens his journal.]


Have you ever learned something... that made you change your perspective... on something you thought you would never change your mind about?

((Trip journal, for reference. Still locked ICly.))

[Donatello rose with the sun this morning, struck his camp, and then started covering miles with single-minded purpose. He came down from the mountains as only an energetic young ninja in love can, then settled into a steady ground-eating pace to cross the remaining distance back to the village.]

[His path only wavers in the final stretch, when he curves west across the river instead of going straight to House 55. He needs to make a brief detour to C3 to tuck a note under the door of his favorite scientist.]

Happy Pi Day. Want to celebrate White Day also?

[Then it's directly home, where his first order of business will be to track down Michelangelo and apologize to him properly. Once he's made up with his long-absent brother, it's time for a more sober reunion.]

[Master Splinter, your second prodigal son is home.]