othellovonryan | Seasons Inbox

Kiddo...

[ Macaque inhales like he might have explained at length why he's not a good person, but this isn't the time to get into all that. He exhales instead, slowly. ]

I'm glad you think so.

Don't speed along, though. The last thing you need right now is pressure.

[ He chirps patience and calming. ]

[You can TRY, Macaque. You can try real hard, but you're gonna have to deal with Donnie Logic which is surprisingly a lot more forgiving than one would think.]

I do. Choco does too and she's a lot better at judging characters by vibes than me.

Friends are important. I don't want you to lose a friend.

[ He peels away just enough to look Donnie in the eye. Keeping his arms tight around Donnie, still. ]

I'm looking at you so you'll know how much I mean this: nothing that happens is your fault, okay? If I lose someone then it's because of what I did.

[But meeting eyes hard.]

[He]

[He does his best.]

....still.

I wish to try and prevent that if I can.

Its...important that I try.

[ When Donnie struggles to meet his eyes, Macaque tugs him close again so he won't have to. ]

Then we'll try. I know you'll need to feel that you did everything you could. But you have nothing to prove with me, because I already know that.

[Donnie curls in again and]

[God, this is a lot.]

[His arms actually move to wrap around him and cling.]

I'm....

Really glad you agreed to teach me. [There is a lot of weight in those words.]

[ The clinging feels like a victory, even if a wistful one. ]

I am too. You brought a lot of good to my life. You and Choco both. [ Yes he got Choco rights. ]

[It is. Clinging rights are earned.]

And you think you're not a good person when you got Choco Rights.

...Is that unusual? [ He has no concept for how often it happens. ]

Her older brother, Eve, and I are the only one with Choco rights from what I last took stock. Presumably Kaito would also have them, but Kaito is complicated childhood friend.

I see.

...I'm not sure whether that proves anything about me being a good person.

Of course it does. She doesn't trust people who don't deserve it.

...though she does have a love for shady people who are actually good people, life just happened. Her brother is super soldier special ops, so you know.

He's absolutely assassinated people.

Yeah, well. My history isn't much better. There wasn't much for six-eared monkeys with shadow powers to do back then.

Exactly.

And Wash is like...the only other parent aged adult I've met in a long time who takes it as seriously as you do.

Hits that balance of not being patronizing, but also gets...we're kids. Like I've never seen someone try so hard to get Raph to actually talk about his issues, but also not totally scare him off about it, which is not an easy needle to thread.

You're kids who have been through a lot. Anyone who wouldn't try to help, I question how their mind works. [ Macaque still isn't sure he's the right one or the best one for the job, but these kids chose him, he can't and won't go back on it or give up. Unless they decide they're done with him. ]

I'm not a good person, I just like you two. You're easy to like.

People easily buy into the adultification of kids and believe it applies to all aspects of life and not just the parents they had to get good at instead of developing in a more univeral manner.

She's easy to like. My batting average is a lot lower.

You're forgetting that I liked you first. [ He's just saying. Korone is great, he cares impossibly much about her given the relatively short time they've known one another, but Donnie was what pulled him in. ]

You don't need to worry about being more adultified for now. Just let me take care of you both. Eve too.

[Oh no, being liked. TOLD he's liked.]

[There's another sniff.]

I'm just saying. Some of that is you. That you care.

I have a feeling we could go round and round for a while about this. But you do believe me, I hope. That I care, and nothing's going to change that.

Why would you say you like someone and not mean it?

Why, indeed. It seemed like you needed a fair amount of convincing, so I was making sure.

You're the one who needed convincing that the care you act like is a foregone conclusion is easily felt by others.

If someone doesn't like you or care about you, they're an idiot.

[He shrugs.] I'm abrasive and difficult to understand.

I haven't found you difficult to understand, even when you're not talking. Some people just don't try very hard.

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