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?

[Luceti is a cruel and perverted world. That's the only possible explanation for why Don revives from his death-by-drowning at the bottom of the lake. He thrashes for the surface with none of his usual graceful movement, and crawls ashore, panting and trying to figure out what happened.

He knows he died.

He remembers there is a price for being restored to the living world.

He lies in the rain, wondering if it will ever end.

When he has enough breath back to sit up, he does so, and carefully checks himself over for what the Malnosso took. Limbs, senses, memories… all seem in order. He stands and walks, and his legs work. He speaks a few words, and his voice is still there.

It doesn't seem possible that the Malnosso brought him back for free, and he's scared for what hidden deficit might reveal itself later.

He has his mask, belt, and pads. All his other gear is absent, hopefully still at home where he left it.

He starts walking.

He knows it will take some time to travel from the western lake to the village, but he knows the way and he's not in a hurry. It will be good to get his thoughts together before he sees his housemates.]


((Don's death penalty is a language disorder called aphasia. Reference post is here, and linked from the index post at the top of his journal. Meet him anywhere on his way back to House 55.

Plotting note: In the near future, Don will want to go to the clinic to find out what's wrong with him. If your character works there, and especially if they would recognize aphasia, please hit me up via PM.))

Filtered to Friends and Love Interests of Hamatos || Not Up to His Usual Standard

Raph is back.

[It should be apparent from his voice and his merely-mediocre filter that he has been up all night. After his brief message, the recording continues for a few minutes, possibly transmitting the muted voices of other Hamatos in the background, before the feed cuts out.]