Working Through Some Issues

[othellovonryan]

[The room is darker than normal rooms. Still plenty of light to see, but there is no large centralized source, instead coming largely from various displays around the room. Computer screens, holographic displays, boards with tools or parts on display. Allowing for easy location of various things. Many projects in some state of complete.]

[Its a laboratory. A little hard to track the full parameters of the room, as it does seem to shift at times, always compensating for something new.]

[Some things will be familiar to Tryse with a look around. She'll see the dagger given to Eggs when they arrive, with the basic hilt design in the center, but other configurations in half states around it.]

[There are charts that track the number of resources inside Egg House, from their food, to furniture, medical equipment, how many bottles of Tryse's concoctions and estimate of how many bottles are likely empty and an estimate of when to make more. What supplies are in the junk pile, and what's in the bunker, what he needs to finish up in rooms and what improvements he can make.]

[Displays with Egg names and the names of his friends and family.]

[Displays with words of caution.]

[And many more screens with various other prompting words like 'public' 'pr' 'community' 'cult' 'health' 'education,' and more besides.]

[A display with the Genius Built logo on it. Another with the Hamato symbol.]

[There other than moving text on the screen, there is a constant movement of a rolling chair.]

[In it, there is a young Donatello, looking around ten, with glasses taped to his head, in a grey hoody with rat ears, constantly kicking himself from one station, checking over something, maybe altering something, and then kicking himself to another to go over something else, and yet again.]

[And then there's the one warm light in this place, a young woman made of soft yellow light, sitting next to the Hamato monitor, kicking her feet in the air, watching as Donnie movies form place to place.]

Comments

Before the Mindscape

[othellovonryan]

[Its the early morning when Donnie approaches Tryse, waving a hand.]

Re: Before the Mindscape

[tryse]

[Early morning for her means that she's been up for a while. Training with Catherine. Studying. Cooking for everyone.

She's prepared for this. Unfortunately, that means skipping her own daily 'maintenance.' It's hard to tell if how she feels is actually a difference or simply her mind playing on some sort of reverse placebo. She'll beg Claudine or Aloy to help her after this.]

You're ready, then.

Re: Before the Mindscape

[othellovonryan]

[Sometimes it be like that. He has himself. It's harder to sleep through the night when he's stressed, so he's been up since two.]

[He nods, not looking at her directly. He has to keep in the headspace. All other stressors are thrown out.]

Re: Before the Mindscape

[tryse]

You've eaten? We'll be at this for possibly the full hour.

Re: Before the Mindscape

[othellovonryan]

[Opens his mouth. A pause a moment. Frowns, and just pulls out his phone.]

I'm not hungry.

Re: Before the Mindscape

[tryse]

[Back to this, then?]

Then let's begin.

Re: Before the Mindscape

[othellovonryan]

[High stress has it's costs. Better to rely on the fallback techniques and keep himself in acceptable stress parameters for the question.]

[He nods and points to the pillowfort. Gives them some measure of privacy.]

Re: Before the Mindscape

[tryse]

[Not where she would have chose, but it's his show. She follows him on in. No kneeling this time, she learned that lesson with Aloy.]

Re: Before the Mindscape

[othellovonryan]

[Feels more like a neutral ground.]

[Going to crawl in and sit down with crossed legs. Closing his eyes, breathing a few times to try and settle in the right spot mentally.]

[Holding out a hand.]

Re: Before the Mindscape

[tryse]

[She'll take his wrist and activate the boon. No need for talking about what she won't do, he already knows how she feels about meddling in the first time emotionscape visits after her own experience.]

Re: Before the Mindscape

[othellovonryan]

[He lets her in, keeping his mind focused.]

[For a brief moment, Tryse will see a sea of robed figures, all with a crest Donnie has on a jacket. There is a choppiness to them, like an unstable connection, with figures in the forefront burning more distinctly. Orange, grey, and yellow are the same choppiness, but the blue, red, and greygold are far more distinct, and more familiar figures.]

[And if she's perceptive, she may just noticed the pink tentacles on the floor, kept under the feet of the crowd. Contained, at least.]

[There is a feeling of trust and love.]

[And then she's in the lab.]

[tryse]

[Tryse folds her arms behind her back as she looks over the place.

It takes her a moment to move. She's replaying the previous scene in her head. Tentacles under the feet of his ancestors, she supposes. She's had enough memories of the ninpo, and enough context, to grasp that those were what they were. And she knows that tentacles aren't good for the turtles. But if they're contained, they're contained.

The fact that there's people here is interesting. Of the hearts she's entered, Claudine's is the only one that has had facets of her personality represented like this.

She considers a Focus ping, but he doesn't rely on that tool the way Aloy does. Probably doesn't even know how it looks with that function, outside of Aloy's memories. It likely wouldn't turn out much here. No crutches, just her own detective work and intuition. Then again, what he wants is a sort of repair job for their relationship. Or at least a start on it. That's not going to require digging through every little nook and cranny of his soul.

The young turtle doesn't get much of a thought. If he hasn't noticed her, he probably won't notice her until she interacts with him.

The young woman-is that April? She's seen her in some memories, at least, if it is. Her being made of yellow light, though... Either she's a weaker echo than normal, an external input of some sort, or, like GAIA, an artificial intelligence. Speaking of, since it's probably going to be her main source of information here...]

Computer.

[...She's never used a keyboard in her life.]

[othellovonryan]

[Silence.]

Dee hasn't used computer in years. Usually its SHELLDON these days.

[The young woman looks over, offering a friendly wave.]

[tryse]

Ah. I hadn't thought he'd have his son set up for data retrieval.

[She'll give April a little nod.]

[othellovonryan]

He made SHELLDON to operate all the home systems. The whole actually becoming a person thing was a surprise for him later, but Shelly likes helping the family, so he keeps doing it. Makes him way better at it too.

Like locking Donnie out of the systems when he's been up for three days straight. [She laughs.]

[tryse]

Mm.

You'd be April, of course.

[Which part of Donatello does she represent? He doesn't seem the type to laugh at himself so freely. Certainly not a level of self-loathing. Is she connected through his ninpo, a shadow of a girl supported by memory and magic rather than the real thing?]

[othellovonryan]

Of course. [Nods her head.] April O'Neil, at your service!

[tryse]

What kind of service do you do?

[Hey, it's important to know when someone offers.]

[othellovonryan]

In this case, helping translate Donnie. Dr. Feelings is for when Donnie needs to make a general emotion course correction.

I'm the one whose good when Donnie is being a jerk too into his head, or when he's dealing with a hurt heart. Or both, in this case.

[tryse]

A defense and a support all in one, then. I can see why you'd appear in this instance.

Well, then. Rather than having me poke about blindly, where do you think I should start?

[othellovonryan]

Depends on your actual question.

Do you want to know what Donnie thinks gives a person value, what makes a person good, or what does Donnie value of himself? Donnie goes for literal, but you know, people aren't always as literal as he thinks.

[tryse]

Part of it was to see where he took the question. Personally, I was having a hard time coming up with one.

Normally when I do a heart dive, it's instant and immediate, with no goal other than to look at what's shown to me and understand what might be fixed from there, whether in reality or in a secondary run. Or to fulfill a request like "Let me forget this" or "Make me feel like living again." I'm not used to someone taking prep time, but it's what made him comfortable, so...

[othellovonryan]

Yyyyeah, part of it is because his emotions work differently. It's why he hasn't offered to do the Egg Mindscape Journey even though he had no problem with you guys doing it.

He wasn't joking when he said it'd just be puzzles and a hole. Which would tell you he takes a while to process things and what his current stuff is, but not a lot else. That's his default emotional state. That's why his face is all... [Does her best face blank expression.] Most of the time.

And he didn't want to throw you into his hurt feelings or his insecurities. He thought that'd be manipulative.

[tryse]

Mm.

[Inconvenient, that. So she really only gets a curated experience.]

It might have been honest, but certainly not the most positive impression to make. So, probably the best route at the moment is to go down what you just said, in that order.

[othellovonryan]

Honest emotions. Not honest choices.

[She points a thumb at the Genius Built logo screen.] That one then.