lucetilogs | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Who:

semper_cogitans and

gaijin_ninja at first, with

i_speak_softly ,

the_mikester ,

honorthecode and

ninjacane probably joining in afterwards
What: Robert desperately needing his butt rescued
When: Backdated to yesterday (March 23), after the events of this thread
Where: Near the riverbank of the stretch of river between the bridges near Community Building Four. Will probably move to House 55 later
Summary: After an extremely short sprint away from Yuber (thanks to Litchi), Robert's pretty much passed out on the riverbank. Then he has a rather unlikely knight-in-shining-keratin come to rescue him. Shenanigans follow.
Rating: Gods, I have no idea. Tentatively saying R because Raphael is involved and things will likely get awkward later, but it'll most likely only be for language and/or violence - two things you can't really avoid with the TMNT

Robert is not doing well at all, by anybody’s standards of “well”.

Sprawled out on the ground with his forearms streaked with mud from where he’s collapsed on the sodden riverbank, shaking with utter exhaustion and terror; fear’s still coiling in his gut and driving him to get up – except he can’t, because he is so totally demolished physically from even the short sprint from the fountain’s perimeter to the riverbank. Adrenaline spikes through him even now, enough to make his hands tremble – but he still can’t will himself to get up. It’s useless. He’s useless. Litchi is there, in front of the angry Yuber – possibly even dying for his sake, dear gods - and he’d been too useless, he had needed to run...

He sobs softly, losing himself to the feeling of panic that threatens to overwhelm his rationality, even when it still sits there in his mind, quietly, coldly; surveying the situation, making notes. Yuber wasn’t attacking before I left. I sent out that message on the journals.

The question is... had anybody actually heard that message?

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Footsteps approach, squelching in the soft river mud after days of spring rain. But spring brings other things to the reptilian mind, making them restless, and sparking the likes of Raphael with an almost incurable wanderlust. And today, he's indulging it with a run through the wet woods, paying no attention to the mud caked on his feet and splashed up on his legs. No, this's good stuff. Turtle heaven, if only it was warmer.

Running is almost mechanical, and he switches off his brain to everything but the rhythm of it. Which is exactly why he doesn't notice the struggling scientist at first. Not until a sob carries over his trudging and he has to double back, catching sight of a familiar lab coat on the ground a few meters away. Not good.

He moves closer, running faster when he sees it isn't just a coat, that's Robert lying there face-down in the mud. Shit.

Some deep, dark, spiteful part of him living somewhere in the pit of his stomach says Leave him there. He's the cause of all your troubles. No one will ever know.

But another, louder part says he can't just let the pathetic guy rot. Most of their troubles with Don probably have more to do with Don being a bastard than Robert himself.

When he approaches the heap of a man, he toes him gently in the ribs, looking for any sign of blood.

"Hey."

Are you still conscious?

Edited 2011-03-24 21:36 (UTC)

Robert's too out of it, at first, to hear the soft sucking noises of broad reptilian feet parting the veritable ocean of mud near the riverbank. The combination of his own soft sobbing and the exhausted state both his body and mind are in are enough of a distraction to override the pounding beat of Raphael's footfalls. But being toed in the side? Not quite so much.

It takes a lot of effort - far too much effort - for Robert to half-raise his head enough to meet Raph's gaze. His eyes are bleary, blurry with tears, but it's still obvious whom it is.

"R-Raphael...?" Robert's voice is small, quiet, thinner than usual. He can't even muster up enough energy to sound terrified. He's nearly entirely gone, physically. It's evident by his posture and the obvious trail Robert left in the muddy ground that this is where he collapsed after running away.

After a moment, Robert continues speaking, every breath a laboured effort but needing to communicate it anyway. "... Nu... w-was attacked... I... t-tried to assist her, but... Y-Yuber showed up, and then D-Doctor Faye-Ling... pr-protected me, and..." He shakes, sobbing a bit. He can't help himself. Litchi's in trouble and largely due to me.

The scientist doesn't make any move to stand. He can't, right now.

Raph runs a hand over his sweat soaked face, barely listening to Robert's story. All he can think of is how he's never seen a human look this pathetic. It reminds him more of the sick cats and pigeons he used to find stranded in the sewers as a kid. There was just something that miserable that compelled him to sneak it home and try to secretly nurse back to health before Splinter could make him get rid of it.

It's that same sense of compassion for things weaker than he is that makes him stoop down and haul the quivering man over his shoulder, heading for home. The entire time he's questioning himself - Is it really worth it to help this guy? Would Don blame him for hurting Robert? - But the more he does, the more he doesn't seem to care.

Don better thank him for this. For now, he'll just try to keep the nerd conscious.

"The hell were you doin' messin' with Yuber?"

Maybe he really is retarded.

Edited 2011-03-24 22:03 (UTC)

Robert lets out a soft questioning sound as Raphael picks him up and slings him over his powerful shoulder like Robert weighed about as much as a sack of feathers. But he doesn't protest - he doesn't have the energy or ability to. If Raphael is going to go throw him in a ditch or something, there isn't anything Robert can, or would try to, do to stop him. And, for whatever reason, he gets the impression that this isn't an aggressive act. Raphael isn't hurting him, anyway.

"I... c-certainly wasn't... doing so w-willingly..." Robert just barely shakes his head, gaze fixed on the ground. Where is Raphael taking me? "... He... simply showed up out of... nowhere... and... I-I didn't realize he was associated with Nu... Nu and I h-had... only spoken... once b-before then, and..." He hesitates to cough a bit, clearing his throat of some of the water that had gotten in it. "... She... was... a-attacked, by someone. I... c-could not simply... ignore that."

She was a sapient. Robert wasn't quite sure if she was a human or a non-human sapient, but that didn't matter. She had been attacked for no reason, and injured, and she'd deserved help.

He just... hadn't expected Yuber to be part of the bargain.

Raph just grunts and easily shifts Robert's weight. Luckily the journey isn't too far back to the house. As he keeps talking, he just focuses on getting there, playing through his mind everything that might happen when he walks through that door.

All he knows for certain is Don is going to freak.

About fifteen minutes later, he arrives at the house and lets himself in. He moves to deposit the stricken scientist on the couch, yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Don!"

Donnie better be home. This's his boyfriend. He can deal with it. But either way, that yell is sure to draw all sorts of curious company.

Mike glances up at the door from where he's rolling out the dough for cinnamon rolls, and then does a double take when he sees who Raph's carrying.

"What the hell, Raph?" His voice is mainly curious, carrying tones of, What is that guy doing here? He grabs a towel to wipe his hands off with and comes into the living room.

Then he stops. Freezes. Eyes go wide.

"What. The. Hell."

Robert has no chi.

Robert, only barely fitting the definition of "conscious", looks up from where he was placed on the couch. ... The couch? He's on a couch? When did that happen? Was he really so out of it that Raphael could take him to a strange house - he wonders if it isn't the house the turtles live in, and the thought of Donatello is briefly enough to make him perk up and look around - without him noticing?

That shout rises Robert into a state where he's at least capable of discerning what's going on. Yes, this is where they live, if Raphael is calling for Donatello.

... Oh, and that other one - That's Michelangelo, isn't it? - who just arrived in the living room... ... Well. That wasn't the kind of reaction Robert was expecting.

He looks questioningly up at Michelangelo, glasses askew and still smudged with dirt and rainwater. "...?" That's really all he can manage, no words yet. Just a questioning little sound from the fuzzy half-consciousness he has at the moment.

That yell is enough to draw Leo out of the work out room, where he'd been meditating.

"Raph? What's going on?" He asks as he comes out to the living room, though he stops when he sees the guy on the couch. That's that guy from the journals. Robert.

"Raph, what happened?" He asks his brother, since the scientist seems to be in no shape to answer.

"I found him like this."

At this point, Raph's looking almost frantically for Don. He's afraid to touch him before he knows what's going on.

"Out in the woods. Said he got in a tangle with Yuber. And if that's true, I got no idea why he survived."

A shout like that always gets Don's immediate attention - but on this occasion he was in the shower, and in the seconds it takes him to turn off the water and fling the door open, Mike and Leo have already beaten him to the scene.

It's not a scene that seems to merit that kind of shout, anyway. From where he's standing Robert isn't visible over the back of the couch, so all Don sees is Raphael covered in mud, Mike looking like he just saw a ghost, and Leo wearing an expression as baffled as the one Don is sure is creeping across his own face.

Clearly something is going on, but no obvious course of action presents itself.

A thin puddle of water collects at his feet, and he asks, "What's going on?"

All Raph does is point to the couch. "You dropped something."

Robert was about to clarify what Raphael said to Leonardo, and therefore answer Leonardo's question, when he hears the unmistakable voice of his purple-mask-wearing pseudo-boyfriend.

Okay, screw being passed out. Robert makes a move that is probably an attempt to pull himself up - oh, wait, he forgot how exhausted he was. That fails in short order, and he collapses backwards with a weak little noise of frustration. Still, he manages to call out softly, "D-Donatello...?"

All he can rationally think of is that this is the worst possible moment for him to meet Donatello's family.

Something is terribly wrong with that voice. He sounds like he's dying.

Better stay down, Robert, because Donatello is coming to you the quickest way he can. That is, by vaulting over the couch. He lands with a light pat of feet and a heavier thump of knees, and it should be immediately apparent that he is not wearing his purple mask, or anything else.

"Robert?" He reaches out, not touching yet but searching visually for the cause of this worrying state. "What happened?"

"Donnie!"

Donatello's sudden movement breaks Mike out of his horrified reverie and he follows his brother as quick as he can, grabbing onto his arm in an attempt to hold him back.

"Don, I don't think that's Robbie!"

Robert would have normally jumped at something like that - as it is, the concern Donatello obviously has, the relief of Donatello's presence - he makes me feel safe - and the fact he's feeling... steady enough to focus his gaze on the turtle who isn't wearing anything and is wet like he just came out of non-muddy water and - okay, why is Michelangelo grabbing onto his arm like that?

Never mind. The explanation is the most logical thing.

"Nu... w-was attacked in the central plaza... I... a-attempted to give her medical assistance... But, I was a-attacked by Yuber..." He pauses to breathe slowly, to reduce that panic in his chest at the memory of those sharp stabbing implements pointed directly at his vulnerable, slender chest. "... D-Doctor Litchi Faye-Ling... i-intervened on my behalf... and... she... t-told me to get away..." He stops, clearly bothered by this.

Michelangelo's panicked sentence cuts into the fog of his mind a moment later.

"... what...?" Seriously, what? He is indeed Robert. Isn't it obvious who he is? Is there anybody else who looks and acts anything like him?

Mike, all you get is a flabbergasted look. You haven't even met Robert before; what makes you think you're qualified to identify him?

After that his attention is entirely on Robert. Nu and Yuber he doesn't know, except by reputation, and Dr. Faye-Ling he only met once (under similarly distressing circumstances, as it happens). Not being familiar with the participants, he focuses instead on their actions - attacking - and asks the logical question.

"Where are you hurt?"

"Don, listen to me!" For once in your life. "Whatever this is, it's not Robbie. I know it looks like him and sounds like him, but... but it can't be him." Mike gives Don a look of barely contained panic, and then realizes he has to say it. Out loud. "He- It. Doesn't have any chi. None. At all."

Ignoring Mike at first - "I... w-wasn't attacked directly, though... Y-Yuber was about to, I assume... h-he had these... bladed metal implements out and was definitely threatening me with them... but... I-I had to run, and..." Well, that was enough, obviously. Even the mere act of fleeing, combined with the panicking, had been enough to destroy him.

Then, at that completely illogical diatribe from the other turtle, he turns to Mike.

Robert may be utterly exhausted, still bruised on his legs and arms from where he collapsed on the ground, smeared in mud, soaked from the thighs down, shivering, cold and terrified...

But this? This earns Mike his best Skeptical Scientist Face.

"... What is chi and why exactly should I have it?"

"Chi can simply be explained as the life-force that flows through all things, from the largest of whales to the smallest of pebbles." Splinter speaks from the edge of the room; how long he had been there, he gives no indication.

However, he has been there more than long enough. This Yuber, whomever he was, sounded like a danger to his family. Enough that it put him on edge. That edge awoke his senses, enough that he could feel what Michelangelo had about their 'guest'.

"A true master of ninjutsu can sense the chi around him during battle, and there are those that sense it the same as breathing," He continues to speak as he walks forward, fixing Robert with his gaze, "Everything, and everyone, has chi."

His eyes narrow. "Except you."

Edited 2011-03-25 02:31 (UTC)

The whole Yuber thing had him on edge and tense. He briefly shoots looks at the door and windows. But sees nobody so far. Roberts lack of Chi isn't helping either. Leo moves to put a hand on Mikey's shoulder, when he sees the panic building.

"Mikey's right, there's nothing there." Here's there, he can see him, but he can't feel him. He looks up at Master Splinter's voice, as their Sensei confirms it. He's eying you Robert. Who was this guy?

Raph folds his arms, feeling suddenly like there's a ghost in the room. His family's anxiety is creeping into his nerves, and he doesn't like it one bit.

"I knew there was somethin' off about him."

He did, he knew it. He's never been as sensitive to this stuff as the others, but he definitely felt something was wrong. At first he wrote it off as just Robert's general weirdness, or the way he broadcasts his pathetic weakness to everyone. But this makes a lot of sense too.

What is he, some kind of demon?

Robert's head swivels to catch the foreign new voice. From a logical reduction of possible sources... "M-Master Splinter?"

His tone is respectful despite the exhaustion. Or so he hopes. There's no way he's sitting in any special manner for him right now, though - he can't even sit upright.

Donatello had said not to argue with him. But... but, what exactly is "arguing" in this context? What Splinter was saying... made no sense. Not to any logical sort of physics. Not to Terran physics. There was no such thing as a "life-force". Unless he was talking about nerve impulses...? But that didn't make sense either, because Robert's brain cells certainly had that or he would be dead.

And then Robert remembered the experiment with Helios, and suddenly everything made perfect, logical sense.

In as clear a voice as he can muster, he replies, "That may b-be true for your universe's physics, Master Splinter, sir... b-but, I assure you, my multiverse is a f-far different place." He shifts cautiously; he's recovered enough to sort of tiredly sit up, bracing himself against the back of the couch. It's slightly more dignified than nearly falling over, at least. "I-In my world, chi - as you d-describe it - does not exist for anything, just like the m-magic of many Lucetians' worlds does not exist in my world. It is... m-merely my physics, and I cannot h-help those any more than you can help having chi in yours." His voice is surprisingly clear for somebody who's in such terrible shape, but he's busy expostulating. "I-I... could prove this for you via an experiment with a magic-using friend of mine, were you to ever wish for me to demonstrate it." He would, too. And he's sure Helios would be willing to help him on this point.

"B-But... I mean n-no harm from these differences..." He looks down then, submissively, remembering what Donatello said about being quiet... surely an explanation was alright, though? Even if it wasn't, Robert thought it could hardly worsen the situation.

When Robert sits up, Donatello puts a hand on his knee - a steadying gesture for both of them. He's been silent, listening to the accusations, listening to Robert's reply. Being chi-blind, there's little of any value he could add to the debate.

So he simply says, in a soft voice: "Master Splinter, everyone -- This is Robert."

It's both an introduction and a declaration. This is Robert. Physically weak, socially awkward, prone to monologuing, and apparently devoid of chi - the man on the couch is what he is, and he is the person Donatello has fallen in love with.

There is no doubt in his mind about that.

How can it be possible--an entire universe without Chi? It is the energy that binds everything together. A universe without Chi... He glances away from Robert.

Perhaps the energy is simply different from what he can normally sense. Yes, that must be it. Any other possibility is impossible in Splinter's mind, and this "realization" seems to calm him somewhat. Even if Robert says that he can prove it doesn't exist by experimentation, Splinter would rather not go down that path. Everything in the multiverse has chi. It means nothing if they are searching for the wrong thing and not finding it. Or so he tells himself.

His stands straighter, hands resting on his cane, and regards Robert less intensely. Which really isn't all that much less, but it is at least not a death stare anymore. You'll have to start with baby steps, Robert.

It also helps that the man is physically exhausted and obviously physically weaker than any of them. It is therefore his mind and not his body that is the only immediate threat to his family. That will be what Splinter will gage.

But now is not the time for that. As much as he does not trust the man, he is still not one to "kick them while they're down", as they say. It is not honorable, nor is it respectful to a guest in their house.

"We will discuss the particularities of Robert's condition later," Splinter states, not looking at Robert directly but instead looking at Donatello, acknowledging the introduction with a barely there nod. "Keep him resting. He is in no condition to be exerting himself."

And then, to his sons as a whole. "Who is this Yuber, and is he a danger to our family?"

At Splinter's words, Mike relaxes just a bit. Splinter isn't freaked out. Splinter doesn't even seem that concerned with Robert, just assessing the most immediate and biggest threat like the hole of a person sitting there on the couch doesn't even show up on the radar.

Perhaps unadvisedly, with the curiosity of a cat, Mike sends out a tendril of energy and just barely touches the edge of the void.

It disappears.

Mike can't help letting out a squeak.

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