revivalproject | Connect This Space Between

Entry tags:

Connect This Space Between

WHO: Donnie and you..?!
WHERE: The Warrens
WHAT: Taking things one step at a time...
WHEN: Post volcano eruption
WARNINGS: N/A
NOTES: Will match tag format.

i. hanging in there
The trip down had more or less been a mechanical process. Just follow everyone down, one foot in front of the other. For all that he's observed, the whole matter of a volcanic explosion happening somewhere overhead was still a difficult thing to process, or perhaps it was just everything else with that just topping it all off. He'd traveled in uncharacteristic silence, just waiting for that last straw that would possibly make him snap.

Thankfully he's been able to hold it together. Fresh water helps, and having other things to mind has kept his thoughts from spiraling completely out of control. It might be an odd sight to see a humanoid turtle carrying a makeshift tank with some kind of local alien turtleish creature in it, but Donnie's clung to it like a lifeline. And then there's DATA, Tony's strange little robot-spy-camera who's apparently been demoted to a cantaloupe as Donnie's chosen method of carrying him along is by a net-like bag. But now there's space and they can rest, so they're set down while the teenage turtle tries to get some feeling back in his fingers as he slowly allows himself to start assessing their new surroundings. Data collection usually helps him relax.

ii. like mapping out dungeons
Being underground isn't really a problem for him. He's more or less lived underground all his life, and compared to the sewers of New York, this is far less complicated to navigate.

Donnie takes to mapping things out, wandering the strange tunnels. He hasn't yet managed to cobble together a replacement computer for the one he sorely misses wearing on his arm, so he's doing things the old-fashioned way, with pencil and paper. He's tackling things in sections, intent on working out every possible direction down one way before he'll commit to the next. Which will explain his absence from the main area at given times. This may not be some technical project to work on, but he's approaching it the same way, completely caught up in his findings.

Someone might want to make sure he remembers to eat or you know, sleep.

iii. no time for idle hands
If he'd been completely without some sort of access to tech he might have lost it by now. At least here the atmosphere is much more inviting than Calibrations. But it also means there's no doors he can close when he wants to keep to himself and work on things. Not that he's finding himself too bothered by people.

His main concern is potential fire hazards, and what with moss and mats everywhere, at times Donnie gathers up some of his things and relocates himself down some tunnel or another where there's less of a risk of burning anything when he tries to do some circuitry work or welding.

iv. aces wild
Choose your own adventure! Throw me a starter or whatever.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Once you throw down with someone more than three times, you're kind of in the nemesis bracket," Tony pointed out, because Donnie had said 'usually', somewhat apologetically. There were a few idiots who couldn't seem to help themselves that Tony would find incredibly humiliating to call a nemesis as well. Belatedly, he sat up with attention, hands on his knees to look even more dubious as he acknowledged, "You do have friends." Either here or back on Earth, Donnie hadn't made it sound like he had a flourishing social life.

He was ticking off encounters in his head as Tony spoke. "They're a high school tech club that I may or may not have tried to join on the account of their glorious purple satin jackets but that was before I found out that they were delinquents!"

Huffing, Donnie folded his arms. He was still a little sore about that. The jacket, that is, he absolutely adored that jacket.

"A few, I guess. I can count them on one hand, it's not a huge list. And April's our only human friend but she's basically family by this point."

Tony repeated, "Our friend," under his voice with an exaggerated nod of understanding, which he would have to come back to because Donnie had slipped in another phrase that Tony was led to believe he shouldn't expect. "You're in high school and the worst thing you can think about Earth is bad pizza? I did high school for less than a year and I was lonelier then than when I was homeless. Than I am here."

"What, no, it's April's high school, I just sneak in now and then to help her with homework but ohmygosh I'd love to go to high school! Or any school! How could you not like high school, you get to learn things!!"

Either his belief of how school should be was highly skewed or Tony just had terrible experiences. Then again Donnie wasn't really wanting to go for the social part of it. Well, maybe that factored in too. After all, if you did amazingly in high school then you were bound to be acknowledged for your superb intellect, right?

He promptly deflated as Tony's words sunk in. That was a lot there, even if it was one sentence.

It was possible that Tony could understand how that might sound fun to a very curious person living underground. It might even be possible to manufacture that idealized experience, so after Tony gave another soft laugh, watching Donnie narrowly, he offered gently, "You wanna go to high school?" It wasn't a terrible idea; it seemed like another kid was showing up here every day, and Donnie wasn't the only one who had a particular feeling about it. "I'll even do you one better, if there's someone you want to 'help with their homework'," Tony added, eyebrows raised expectantly.

"High school, maybe college- would high school be too easy? I don't know... I guess I'd technically need high school experience to go to college, is that how it works? Or is that just for jobs..."

Donnie's mood had picked up a bit, although only slightly because school was still a far concept, much more so, here. He blinked before eyeing Tony suspiciously.

"Whaaaat are you getting at exactly."

Tony gave another soft laugh and hoped it would help Donnie catch on as he said, "It can work any way you want it to. You could even teach a class or two, if you don't get too much homework."

He held up his hands innocently at Donnie's pressing, though, not any more forthcoming as he said, "Just an offer."

"I don't know, the me-teaching part kind of defeats the purpose of going to school, doesn't it? ...also is P.E. mandatory?" Sports were not Donnie's forte, as much as he didn't mind playing them.

His lips twisted in uncertainty as he continued to eye Tony. "...are we still having the same conversation?"

"Fine, okay, you can be a an obedient, little pupil, just like everyone else," Tony allowed, waving his hands then to discharge any other suggestions he might have had that would intrude on Donnie's incredibly typical educational experience. "We'll get you uniforms and everything, you'll look very smart, sweetheart."

As for his questions, Tony was still committed, and only said, "It's an important part of the high school experience, you won't be getting the full effect without it."

Donnie doubted everyone was obedient and wasn't so naive to think that everyone who went to school loved it, but he still very much wished he could go. "Bonus points if the uniforms have purple in it," he had to add. What, it was his thing!

The arch of his brow suggested he didn't believe whatever Tony was getting at despite still not quite having an idea of what exactly that was.

Although he had no way of guaranteeing any colour selection, Tony nodded sagely as though Donnie was making important structural requests, and said, "Those kind of decisions are one of the perks of getting in on the ground floor. You have strong business instincts." Obviously, Tony would not make a very good educator. In fact, he was going to figure out who would actually listen to him to get the kids something to do with their days down here. His options were pretty dire, and all of the playful confidence he had while teasing Donnie seeped out of him, leaving him slouched against the wall and picking at the seams of his clothes. He had to find some way to rally, and landed on, "I'm sure your crush looks great in purple."

One's appearance was always an important structural decision!

"Well, Atomic Lass does look pretty good in it, I'll admit," Donnie sighed, somewhat melodramatically. "Unfortunately she's fictional and the one I got to dance with in Times Square was just one of the mascots who turned out to be a mutant roach."

"Hate when that happens," Tony muttered, trying to look very composed and worldly despite a very visceral reaction to the idea of a mutant roach the size of a dance partner. He couldn't help it and shuddered, lip raised and all of his fingers finally stilled for a tense moment in his horror. "Hate roaches," he added, as though that wasn't obvious. He couldn't let that moment of vulnerability stand, though. "How do you expect to do high school without an embarrassing crush? We're not finding a cockroach for you, I won't have it."

"Oh man, they were the worst, there were several of them and they were stealing people's wallets!" Donnie was in full agreement there, little roaches were bad enough but not unbearable at least.

He paused then, giving Tony a flat look. "Okay, I appreciate not going the roach angle- not my type anyway but don't you need to actually be in high school first for that sort of thing? Look, you already know my social circle pretty much consists of the fam."

Naturally, the giant cockroaches were not doing anything galaxy-ending enough to justify just how much Tony didn't like them, either. That sort of thing could really ruin a person's life, though, so in this case he could see the argument for sending every one of them to the Negative Zone. "I take it I have you to thank for never having met the things myself," Tony acknowledged with a respectful bow of his head. That was true heroism.

A hero wasn't always the most attentive, though, so Tony wasn't that surprised that he had to ask, "What do you think we've been talking about this whole time? You and the rest of these kids can't just miss out on learning calculus because you were kidnapped, getting back to your normal life is going to be hard enough."

"Sure, just don't get too cozy with the street mascots out in Times Square," Donnie advised. Just in case. He and his brothers hadn't since had encounters with any mutant roaches, but then they hadn't had to scrabble some money together to buy their dad any new clothes lately either.

"...I thought we were talking about school-school, like...classes and learning and I don't know, I guess smelly gym socks? But mostly the learning! -do they teach beyond calculus level?"

"I'm sure we can rustle up someone here that's willing to teach you dynamical systems," Tony said, not sure if Donnie understood still yet, and if he did, whether he was actually on board despite the non-traditional experience they would be limited to. "There might be at least one person with more practical experience than you back in that room. The population here is extraordinarily brilliant, as if being beautiful wasn't enough for them."

The connections were still in progress, his tendency to overthink knotting itself in this nebulous potential of going to school. He followed the tangle instead of obvious, but was finally forced to abandon it, pick up the limp thread he'd overlooked, study the potential there, albeit with perhaps a little less enthusiasm because once again, there were limitations, given parameters to work in.

But it was something, and that was better than lamenting about losses. Donnie grasped that thread hard, pulling himself out of another dip in his mood. Emotions were annoying.

"I guess anything's possible. Not like I've had extensive conversations with people about potential teaching credentials or scholarly interests in general."

What enthusiasm. Tony snorted, and suggested, "Try not to intimidate them too much," because they didn't have that many people willing to take on the teaching task in the first place. With a flick of a finger toward the machine, he said, "First big project can be figuring out how to get hands on this thing. Or maybe that can be your club activity. I don't know, there's going to be some crossover, better keep an open mind."

"I'll try," Donnie said in a way that suggested this was not a promise. He looked back over at the machinery, mouth twisting in an annoyed frown.

"Well, to be fair I don't know that getting our hands on some of this machinery is ideal. A lot of it's for practical operations so far as I've been able to tell. Clean running water, possibly air filtration, climate control. But getting rid of this shielding is definitely on my list. There's a door with the same thing going on and no controls on this side of things to open, but something's got to be generating it all. I'd look for some main wiring, a control panel or something but it's not really obvious where to start looking, and if it's on the no-tamper list, my goggles aren't going to find it."

Another taunting door was worse news than this machine. A door was supposed to be a simple mechanism, literally designed to be bested, and Donnie had proven he wasn't terribly bothered by a door. Tony frowned, unsettled by its existence, when it was provably easy to hide from them. Either it was yet another detail meant to send them spinning, or being down here really wasn't part of the game.

All of that tapped into his chest, and the only part he said out loud was, "Good thing you know they aren't going to find it." That was effectively a big, pulsing target.

"No, but the fact that the shields exist means something has to be generating them, and something's been keeping this entire place powered. My goggles would make it easier to trace but since someone doesn't want to play fair-" Donnie, you're the one that was technically cheating- "Then we'll just have to do things old school."

He got up, wandering over to the machinery there, looking where the shields started and for where they might be coming from.

"No, yeah, I..." Tony started, because he had understood what Donnie was saying about the wiring the first time, but then Donnie was up and seemed to have figured out what Tony had been trying to tell him about a decade ago. Maybe he'd figure out that his goggles telling him nothing was telling him exactly what he needed to know in his own time, too.

"Okay, walk me through it," Tony invited instead, not following this time but finally untangling, sitting up with his legs crossed where he could balance his hands on his knees. "Power isn't ever 100% efficient. There's going to be heat, maybe vibration, and if you can't find either of those, look for what's managing them."

It wasn't anything he hadn't figured out already from Calibrations, but he was mostly still sore about there being any hindrance at all, particularly when his tech was supposed to help with figuring things out. What was the point when none of it worked when it counted? It was a sore spot when you identified closely with your technical prowess.

"...power efficiency, huh. Well, the shield itself isn't blocking off any more space than it needs to. I however am not seeing anything relatively suggesting a source," he muttered, stooping down as his hands followed the curve of the shielding down to the floor. "Not much by way of temperature difference where it connects, or at least nothing suggesting it's emitting from the floor itself. The machine's already outputting its own vibration and noise so if something's built into it or under it, it's masked."

"Or it's somewhere else," Tony proposed. "It's not the only shield. Benefit to keeping them isolated to their target is that a compromise is localized as well, but that's about it. Is there a benefit to keeping them centrally located? Better question, roll it back, how is this place supposed to be used, if we're not the ones that are being kept from touching their stuff?"

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