othellovonryan | (no subject)

[The choice is made and it is being Processed, but Raph will still be in this room so he can continue his exploration.]

[ Hmmm.

Ominous.

But if he has to deal with that later somehow, then he will. Right now it's mainline quest to find Selfishness.

After he checks out that armoire because it has Mikey colors and he misses his little guy. ]

[He can't genuinely say what Mikey's moral compass is. He knows Mikey is a good person. He's a forgiving person. He wants people to be happy, but desire is not necessarily morality. Though maybe it doesn't matter. If any of you have anything to say about it, Mikey will never have to make a hard moral choice himself.]

[It is a beautiful mural, it brings a sense of happiness and peace and inside are just...so many clothes of different styles. Some Donnie's style, some less so.]

[Processing complete]

You are sitting on a board on top of a tree with your brothers and April. You are watching Raph and April talk with concern. He's put so much pressure on himself, and what's worse is you don't know how to help the problem.

"Its not all on you Raph. We're here for each other. Trust that," April said, voice that kind way you know is meant to be encouraging and reassuring.

"I do trust my family," Raph said with confusion. Which is fair. Raph does trust them? What does she mean?

"No. Trust us the way we trust you. Remember the first time you unlocked your power?" April continues.

"I caught Leo when he fell," Raph said.

April nods and uses that tone that means she knows she's about to be understood and she's usually a good judge of that. "Trust us."

"Raph, its gonna be okay. You'll figure this out," Mikey said encouragingly as all of you stand up. Still on the boards balanced on top of trees. There is a smile on your face because you trust that. April got through to him. Raph can do this.

"I know. Because I'm not alone. None of us are. We're here for each other," Raph said and there is something in his smile because this isn't take charge Raph, which is not expected. "Always." He's smiling, but dread fills you, what conclusion did he come to, what is he about to do?

"Raph?" You ask, uncertain you like where this is going.

Then Raph steps off the board, to fall off the tree and off the cliff-!

The three of you are already moving after Raph with thinking, shouting his name as you jump off the cliff after him.

There is fear, but determination. You are not losing your brother, you'll figure out the landing strategy when you get to him, you're going to save him like he's always saved you-

There's a spark.

A guttering.

Its like you're just on the edge of a signal, a few steps forward, and as your arms reach out for your eldest brother, the signal is there and its-

Warm.

Safe.

Powerful.

And-

The mystic has always eluded you. No matter what you did, you could not understand it. Your brothers did, to varying degrees, but they understood it enough to make it work. It didn't matter how much you studied it. No matter what scanning or testing or observation, it never made sense. The best you could do is recognize where it was and maybe determine a vague power level.

You still don't understand it as much as you would like.

But its in that moment that you finally have the first step. A force of the heart, is it?

Connection.

The fear is gone, replaced by certainty, as power radiates from the three of you, hands reaching out and out and out, far beyond your own physical hands.

"Saving like a boss!"

Because really, its how Raph deserves to be saved and he is more than happy to take your hands, the energy surrounding you as you land at the bottom of the waterfall, safe and sound. Celebrating as you realize you unlocked your family Ninpo.

[Mystic Powers: Online]

[ Step one: stop for a second to feel a LOT OF WAYS ABOUT ALL OF THIS, from the Mikey based vibes to the wondering how selfishness ties into all this moral compass stuff to, you know.

A fresh POV on his trust fall: x-treme edition.

It's weird to experience. Not for the feelings themselves, because he knows those like the back of his hand. The worry, the wanting to help and not knowing how, the panic, what it is to throw himself without a landing strategy because the most important thing is to be there and then figure it out--

It's weird because when he thinks back on that moment specifically, from his side, it's all highlight. Like "contender for the defining high point of his life to date despite all that led up to it" highlight. Certainty, love, pride, trust all the way down to the roots, finally understanding that they'd catch him. If he needed it, if he asked for it, someone would be there to catch him. It wouldn't be too much.

(He'd kinda forgotten what that certainty felt like. He doesn't remember how long ago.)

So gonna do processing of his own. Gonna take a second to be in his feelings because this is A Lot. ]

[ Only for a second, though.

Things are clearly happening. Mystic powers are back on the table, big fan of that.

Someone else is here, and it's someone Donnie cares about, and Raph will bet on that trust enough to assume she's got the same end goal he does. Therefore they are a Team now. (sorry Catherine no team opt-out in the Raph playbook)

So he's gotta keep working from his end.

There doesn't seem to be a Donnie Aspect in this room. He guesses if he was in here, there'd be less problems with the other guy? Or that would be a step to getting there.

Politely closes the armoire again and heads out the door. Maybe he will poke at the other morality-assigned bits and bobs some other time. ]

[Donnie understands the important character growth of the moment, appreciates Raph's trust, but dear god, it was also a heart attack at the time.]

[Door closes and he heads outside and-]

[This is not the normal outside of Donnie's room.]

[In fact, despite the room being the subway room, Raph now finds himself out in the sewers. The path is familiar though, not far from where their old lair used to be.]

[ The plot thickens. The map gets more convoluted.

Familiar don't hurt, so Raph will head on down that path. ]

[Down the sewer tunnel and the world is]

[Quiet]

[There is a peace in that. There is quiet, only the soft sound of moving water, and the occasional drip. Far enough down its hard to hear the city street. Its dark, but not pitch black.]

[Its lonely]

[But]

[Sometimes everything is too much and this is what you need]

[For Raph specifically, he will probably realize this is the tunnel that Donnie would often disappear down when he was younger, when they were still figuring out all his ticks and neurosis, and he would just hide away for a time until either he came back, or someone (usually Leo) found him to bring him back.]

[ Oh.

Man.

It's been a while, huh.

Well, maybe if part of Donnie is doing a little brain hideout--

He thumps a mystic fist on the ground twice. A little Raph Is Here without, uh. Yelling.

Better if he rules out the most straightforward option first, after all. ]

[Been a while.]

[Sadly the knock does not yield any turtle brothers.]

[ That tracks. Worth a shot, though.

In that case, he's gonna keep heading down this tunnel on his Donnie hunt. ]

[Further down the tunnel, about where hidey holes start to be, turn a corner and-]

[Tunnel full of Kraang tentacles!]

[ There are no upsides to the fact that Donnie was out there in the real world very much manifesting entire Kraang tentacle things. Objectively. Having seen that is gonna live with Raph for a long time.

But in a roundabout way, it at least makes this straight-out-of-nightmares moment not paralyzing. He doesn't have to fight back the reflexive Nope quite so hard.

He'd fight it anyway, of course. He'd do anything for his brothers. But it's good not to waste valuable time with his own issues right now.

Gonna pull up some mystic gauntlets for the double effect of extra light and self-defense. It would probably take forever to simply rip all the tentacles out of his brother's heart himself? He feels like it would take a long time considering he's trying to do team stuff.

(Later. Later, Raph, come back later and take as long as it takes, you're not gonna leave him like this.)

Very very carefully proceeding. Keeping an eye out for. He's not really sure what. Donnie hints. Non-Kraang stuff. ]

[He won't get to proceed far. The tentacles are thick here, very thick and there, one of Donnie's hidey holes, is a thick nest of them-]

[There is also something grey in there that is definitely Not Kraang tentacles.]

[D20 roll for any retrieval attempts.]

[ !

THAT'S NOT ALIENS THEREFORE GOTTA TRY TO GET THAT OUTTA THERE STAT

(with a boa-bestowed 17) ]

[Oh those tentacles are definitely coming for Raph. Luckily he's got mystic energy to keep them at bay. They're also not as fast for some strange, Catherine-shaped reason.]

[Raph gets to the grey and it's very kid-shaped with green peaking out of the grey.]

[Another roll]

[ KID, KID-SHAPED, SMALL AND GREEN

Absolutely gonna keep at it.

We got an 18, boa said canonical big brother powers. ]

[Boa says Big Brother rights over Yandonnie rights]

[Have one small kid shaped object, freshly ripped from Kraang tentacles]

[Tentacles that are still coming for Raph and very small figure in his arms and starting to get some ground through the c
Mystic energy.]

[ So... so little. Tiny guy. Lil. Brain function overloaded by Tininess.

Raph's gonna try to become this little guy's small-scale mystic gundam and book it back the way he came. ]

[Big bro gets to be even bigger]

[The tentacles pursue! Or try to. They have been severely hindered and are in fact turning more....teal? The further he heads down the tunnel.]

[Trust exercises are power, Catherine absolutely cut down their threat level.]

[There is now one unconscious ten year old Donnie in his arms, complete with glasses and one grey rat themed hoody.]

[ 1. teal better than the original format, Raph does not know Catherine but he would lay down his life for her. He's taking this all the way back to the morals room bank and not stopping to think about other stuff until he's in there and back to a normal bigness level.

2. immediately sits on the floor with tiny Donnie and loses his whole mind HE IS SO LITTLE LOOK AT HIS LITTLE GLASSES HE'S SO SMOL HE IS A BABY

WHY IS

HE NOT AWAKE

this is the nightmare scenario ]

You're okay. Raph's gotcha, we're gonna get you set back up, you're gonna be fine-

[ gently? taps lil Donnie's face? ]

[Teal are still Bad, but it looks s standard bad over Super Bad, home trauma addition]

[There is a groan and shift in his arms. Child is alive at least!]

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