[Heart Game] From the ashes we can build

[castaside]

WHO: Macaque, Red Son, Wukong, Korone, Donnie, Cole, Wash
WHAT: Soul fixin'
WHEN: March 9
WHERE: Red Son's house, Blossomcrown
WARNINGS: will be marked

Comments

Re: Lobby

[castaside]

The shadow makes a gesture that somehow says "don't mind my crushing fears of inadequacy".

Re: Lobby

[othellovonryan]

[He taps the desk a few times.]

Put a pin in that for right now.

[Ice skate now.]

Re: Lobby

[castaside]

You are Macaque, and you're taking Choco ice skating. But not just that... probably. It might not be the perfect time, but one thing you've learned in your centuries is that there is no perfect time.

Koronai said that every part of Choco's heart wants you to be her parent-figure, and you're only too happy to comply -- but she also insisted that you had to tell Choco. Makes sense, it's the sort of thing anyone would care to be told, versus just winging it and assuming. You've never been a parent-figure, to anyone, and honestly you're not sure you'd be a very good one, but if she wants it, then it's hers. Already you can't deny her anything.

So you ask her, and she tears up and falls against you, sputtering on her words. By the way she clings, this isn't a "no". You hold her, and kiss the top of her head, and tell her that you've got her, from now on. For good.

You know that Donnie has a father, a family. (So did Choco once, but what you saw of her father in the heart is what made you decide to do this.) But you can't help wondering if maybe Donnie would want you to be the same to him.

If he did, you'd be thrilled, and honored. Other than this moment with Choco, nothing would make you happier.

Re: Lobby

[othellovonryan]

[OH NO THESE FEELINGS.]

[It kind of blindsides him, with the guilt he's been feeling. Like he doesn't deserve it. He shouldn't deserve it, not with how he messed up.]

[(Its not like having dad negates new dads. Draxum is proof of that. And Leo keeps attaching to older male figures. Really, the biggest obstacle there is making sure Macaque doesn't fall for Splinter's rizz, Donnie is not sure he could take that.)]

[He]

[He]

[He]

[Grabs the bloodstained cloth.]

Re: Lobby

[castaside]

You are Macaque, and you're standing in a waiting room with a bleeding arm, holding a shadow blanket.

Donnie exited stage left to wash his hands -- understandable, you'd love to do the same if your arm wasn't basically hamburger right now. You wait patiently, breathing deeply and willing yourself not to lose it. He needs you more than you need to lose your mind.

When Donnie gets back, he only gives you a look in response to your insistence that your arm is fine. At least he lets you put the blanket on him before his oddly ingenious robot hands start fiddling with your arm.

You tell him that was hard, but you're proud of him. And then come the tears you expected, and there's a twisting inside your chest. He needs it, he does, but all the same it hurts.

His robot hands tug you into the chair, and you're smart enough not to touch. You just sit, and wait, and feel frantically helpless. Until finally those mental hands tug your arm around him, and eventually he chirps for you to squeeze him tighter, and that's how you learn that you can do this without words.

You chirp back: protection, affection, commitment.

You're not going anywhere, not as long as they need you.

Re: Lobby

[othellovonryan]

[YOU KNOW WHAT]

[He goes under the desk]

[And just pulls into his shell with a fuckton of chirps because his brain is going AAAAAAAAAA and there are no blankets to burrow in, so he's just]

[Gonna do this for a Fucking Minute.]

CRASHING YOUR PARTY

[noodleboi]

MK had excitedly moved to chat with Donnie. He wanted to speak with him about an idea he had. Then he saw the turtle had withdrawn into his shell and was chirping like crazy. He blinked and watched. Oh that didn't look good.

He found himself chirping in concern just once. Just to alert Donnie he was here.

Re: CRASHING YOUR PARTY

[othellovonryan]

[It is a lot of AAAAAAAAA chirps. Not necessarily BAD, just]

[There is some over stimulation of emotions.]

[Some crying in the shell.]

[There is a pause at the chirp.]

[A chirp in response. Patience.]

[He'll be a minute to wind down.]

Re: CRASHING YOUR PARTY

[noodleboi]

Mk blinked as he stared. Okay. Patience. He could do that? Yes? Uh...right. No staff. Can't fidget without it. Can't fidget with the laser sword. That's not...oh! The keychain. He took it out and started to spin it on one finger. That worked.

Spin. Spin. Spin. Wait. Spin.

Re: CRASHING YOUR PARTY

[othellovonryan]

[It takes a few minutes, but he does manage to finally slowly pop out of his shell. Wiping at his eyes.]

....

[He waves a hand.]

Re: CRASHING YOUR PARTY

[noodleboi]

Mk came out of his focus on the keychain and smiled a little.

"Hey," He waved back. "Can I ask you a smarty smart guy question?"

Re: CRASHING YOUR PARTY

[othellovonryan]

What. [His voice catches.]

[He holds up a hand.]

[A deep breath. Let's it out.]

What is it? [The words are slow, but they do come out.]

Re: CRASHING YOUR PARTY

[noodleboi]

Mk swallowed. Oh he heard that crack.

"It's okay," He said softly first. Then cleared his own throat as if he didn't just say that. What?

"If you had to uh smart guy science reason, which level is the block on? For the elevator? Would it work like that?"

Re: CRASHING YOUR PARTY

[othellovonryan]

"Smart guy science reason wouldn't really say how the elevator operates," Donnie said. "It would be Macaque reason. I'm kind of surprised he has any associations with elevators at all. Maybe he picked it up from Choco's heart."

He's seen the elevator.

He just knows the elevator was Bad, but maybe Macaque didn't.

"This is a Heart and Hearts all have their own kind of logic. Like mine didn't have a way deeper into the heart that was a door you could find. People had to build the door. Because that's how I connect to the world and people. I build things," he said.

"So for what level, it depends on what level Macaque would put the block, from conscious to subconscious reasoning."

Re: CRASHING YOUR PARTY

[noodleboi]

Welp. Science failed him again. As usual. Same with math. This is why he didn't trust science and math. They always let you down when you needed them most. Except in the Cloud. Then it was awesome. A story for another time. MK shook his head to focus. Okay. So the elevator didn't work on big brain logic. It operated on Macaque logic. Shadows. Stories. Theatrics. Wait. There were shadows everywhere. Okay. He looked around for a moment. This eyes widened. He had an idea.

"Okay. OKAY! Right! It's all Macaque logic. And Macaque logic is about lessons and things that are kinda hard to get at. And being all dramatastic. For me, anyway. But he isn't like that with you, is he? That's the trick! Maybe we should put in the memories that fit best how he uh opened up to us! If we do that, it'll open the elevator and let us go through faster. Better maybe!"

Re: CRASHING YOUR PARTY

[othellovonryan]

Science is GREAT, this is just isn't a well documented scenario to science properly.

"He did put me under pressure for our first lesson, but level of dramatics is hard to gauge as someone who is naturally dramatic and not the best at reading rooms," he said. "But opening up memories aren't a bad idea. Likely the consequences will not be too bad, and it just might help us move faster."

Re: Lobby

[castaside]

From out in the trees, a few chirps of concern and reassurance and comfort.

Re: Lobby

[othellovonryan]

[At least his chirps aren't exactly distressed. More overstimulated. A lot of mental screaming.]

[The chirps do help, his chirps getting some words like patience and will be okay]

Re: Lobby

[castaside]

The monkeys quiet down and will leave him to his coping mechanisms.

Re: Lobby

[othellovonryan]

[Okay. Okay. OKAY.]

[Just]

[CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP]

[Chirp Chirp Chirp]

[chirp chirp chirp]

[Then slowly pulls out from his shell.]

[Rubbing at his eyes.]

[Going to just]

[Open the drawer and pull things out. Keep his hands busy for a few moments.]

[Oh]

[Shadow blanket]

[He'll just pull that around himself as he calms down.]

Re: Lobby

[castaside]

The shadow blanket feels even more like pleasantly warm water than usual here.

Re: Lobby

[othellovonryan]

[Yes, good. This is helping.]

[Looking at the water bottle.]

Re: Lobby

[castaside]

It is full of cool, clear, delicious water. Hydration is important, please water your aquatic turtle.

Re: Lobby

[othellovonryan]

[Oooooh]

[Yes, this is good.]

[He's gonna take a long drink. Gotta recover from tears.]

[He'll get up to go to the supply closet.]

Re: Lobby

[castaside]

The kitty will continue purring unabated.

In the supply area, there is a variety of things:

> Weapons of all kinds (mundane only, sorry), including all Wash's stuff that Macaque observed in Choco's heart game
> First aid supplies
> Note taking and art supplies
> Snacks of varying kinds
> Extra clothes in everyone's size and for a variety of weather conditions
> Miscellaneous items that might be useful (you'll have to look around for something specific if you want to check those things out, here's a lot of stuff in here)

There are some computer and machine parts and basic tools if Donnie wants to get his science on and his robot stuff isn't doing the trick.

Macaque was clearly trying to be as helpful as possible.