And I Carry a Bo Staff

[Yesterday the village grew quiet, as many villagers were called on a draft, and many others began the anxious wait to see if their friends and loved ones would return to the village safely.]

[Also yesterday, a breath of warm weather arrived in Luceti. Don has been out enjoying it, trying not to dwell on those who are fighting on a flying island right now. He has enough other things on his mind, and around midday he does something about one of them.]

Filtered to Beast || Unhackable

Beast... I haven't thanked you properly for what you did for Robert and me. For everything you've done for us.

End Filter

[Later, he leaves a brief, unfiltered message:]

Would anyone be interested in learning how to program computers and fix cars?

((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.))

[Don has been returned from his mission with the Malnosso. In this case, that means that his guide-droid politely but firmly made it clear to him that sorry, but he had to leave.]

[His journal is returned to him, he's shown to a teleporter, and a moment later he's standing in the village's coffee shop. After getting something - well, a number of somethings - to eat, he settles into a booth and opens said journal.]

Filtered to housemates || Unhackable

Guys, I'm back. I'm at the coffee shop. [Almost as an afterthought:] I'm okay. Robert, can you bring my snowsuit?

End Filter

If anyone was waiting... I'm back.

[Some time later, he adds:] Has anyone heard of a Deadly Nadder? Or a Gronckle?

((Backdated to this morning.))

Filtered to Helios || Unhackable

Helios, I need to talk to you. About your barrier.

[After this conversation, Don will attempt to occupy himself around the house. He swore off his tools and computer earlier in the week, and hasn't quite figured out yet how to fill his time without them. While he putters, he'll wonder whether anyone will remember that it's his birthday. Probably not. It's an arbitrary date, anyway - unlike six days from now, which will mark his one-year anniversary in Luceti.]

[The thoughts put him in a melancholy mood. Or maybe that's because it's been snowing for three days straight; or maybe it's because yesterday's events have taken a toll on his energy. Whatever the reason, it is a quiet and reflective Donatello that his housemates will find if they come looking for him.]