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[othellovonryan]

"Yello yello, you're conversing with Donatello, inventor extraordinaire. Leave a message after the beep and I'll be with you soon enough."

Username: Bootyyyshaker9000

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(Probably) Day 93

[bluediligence]

[ Probably later in the day, but before the upcoming fun, fun trauma game ...

Korone sends Donnie a text ]

Nemurune: light of my life, are you busy atm?

Re: (Probably) Day 93

[othellovonryan]

Bootyyyshaker9000: Only if you count me soaking in the hotsprings as busy.

[bluediligence]

Nemurune: hotsprings??? (⊙o⊙)
Nemurune: i have something i wanna show you
Nemurune: it isnt time sensitive tho if you wanna soak longer!

[othellovonryan]

Bootyyyshaker9000: Backyard of Robin's Egg, we have a small hot spring set up. Judging by the fact no one has claimed to have gotten it, it was probably Crow.
Bootyyyshaker9000: I should probably do a brush down anyway. The layers won't get rid of themselves if I don't.

[bluediligence]

Nemurune: ooooh! crow-san, if it was him, is a genius; hot springs are a delight
Nemurune: want a second pair of hands for brushing?

[othellovonryan]

Bootyyyshaker9000: Yes please. I am hitting the want to sandpaper my front stage in hopes of ending it quicker.

[bluediligence]

Nemurune: who needs sandpaper when you've got a cute girlfriend with brushes and pumice stones and scritches?
Nemurune: i'll be there in 10 ❤️

[othellovonryan]

Bootyyyshaker9000: It is far more preferred and also better for shell health.

[bluediligence]

Nemurune: exactly

[ she's texting as she walks, one-handed, the responses coming slower ]

Nemurune: if you ever reached for sandpaper i WOULD have to sit on you

[othellovonryan]

Bootyyyshaker9000: I don't have sandpaper, we're fine. Also window is already open.

[Listen]

[Doors are still SO WEIRD when you grew up without them]

[bluediligence]

Nemurune: i would ask if you have a door allergy i should know about but climbing through windows is genuinely so much more fun

[ ... if she can even make it up when she's still recovering from her accidental multi-day coma ]

[ god. she hopes she can. ]

[othellovonryan]

Bootyyyshaker9000: Literally the only doors we had were dad's room and my lab until a few months before snekland. But also the window is a more direct route.

[bluediligence]

Nemurune: not even bedrooms had them?

[othellovonryan]

Bootyyyshaker9000: We had curtains. We did live in a sewer.

[bluediligence]

Nemurune: oooh ok yea that makes sense

[ ... and she technically did see that in his heart, right? she just. wasn't sure how 1-to-1 it was with real life ]

[ ok, she's here now, and ]

[ ... ]

[ looks at the wall ]

[ looks at the parcel she's carrying ]

[ at her barely-feathered wings ]

[ ... ]

Dee-kun? Can you help me up?

[othellovonryan]

Bootyyyshaker9000: The subway is an upgrade just for the doors.

[Spidershell appears at the window and will crawl down to pick her up and help her up the wall.]

[bluediligence]

[ Bless you, spidershell, thank you, spidershell ]

[ flops ungracefully through the window, carefully clutching a fairly large silk-wrapped bundle of something. This time it's black with purple ribbons. ]

Thanks. Moulting is the worst.

[othellovonryan]

Spring time based puberty is terrible.

[He is already rubbing at himself with a rough towel. The shedding is really getting bad now.]

[bluediligence]

[ Sets the bundle down carefully where there's some free space ]

The birdtile-life short straw ...

[ Her poor, peeling darling ]

Okay, gimme a brush.

[othellovonryan]

[Hands one over]

[Gonna lay over her legs, plastron up.]

It is the worst.

How are your wings?

[bluediligence]

[ yeeeeees it is time for DOTING ]

[ just what the doctor ordered ]

[ she gets to brushing as soon as he's settled ]

Let's just say that you are the only reason I'm happy to be conscious right now. [ she makes a face ] They're ugly and itchy and ridiculously sensitive, and preening all of the icky keratin off the pin feathers is a nightmare.

[othellovonryan]

[There is some rumbling trills at the attention and he tilts his head back, hands above his head.] Extend a wing and I can preen them.

[bluediligence]

[ She actually has to debate that for a hot minute, unsure whether or not she'd be able to stand it. ]

[ Carefully unfurls one of her wings, extending it for him. It is SUCH a mess, with way more pin feathers (some ready for preening, some not) than new plumage; she looks half-plucked. ]

Go for the ones where you can see a bit of feather poking out of the sheath. I accidentally got one too early, and - [ turns out that pin feathers are also known as blood feathers for a reason! ] Anyway. Only do one at a time, please.

[othellovonryan]

All right.

[He has a technician's hands so even with his thick fingers, he is very good at that precise, careful work. It only takes pulling a few test ones before he gets into a rhythm of finding and plucking.]

[Pattern recognition is soothing.]

[bluediligence]

[ It's simple, rhythmic work — find the feather, gently massage away the sheath to let the new feather unfurl. Korone visibly tenses through the first few, but … gradually, she relaxes into it, enough that her other wing droops down. It's not so bad. Just. Weird, and too sensitive to really be called pleasant, even if it is a relief ]

[ All without pausing in her extra thorough brushie brushie brushing ]

So, hey. Place a bet. Do you think my new tail feathers will be the same length, or longer?

[ 'CUZ THOSE SURE ARE MOULTING TOO ]

And let me know if you've got any other spots you want me to reach. [ wiggles her free hand ]