And a Time to Every Purpose

[thepurpleone]

WHO: Donnie-ma-tello and you
WHERE: Temba
WHAT: Being a rebellious teen or something
WHEN: Mid to late Sept.
WARNINGS: N/A
NOTES: Will match pose format!


I. A Time to Plant
It had taken... a little longer than he'd wanted but Donnie's finally found a place to plant what flora samples he'd saved before the volcano evacuation. He's picked an area in the northwestern part of the city and spent some time pushing aside rubble and setting up a rough perimeter to mark the area off, a square of dirt roughly six feet length and width.

Finally he's ready to transplant things, and with the sleeves of his hoodie rolled up, he does so. His right forearm is bandaged up and around his hand, which he frowns at once he realizes he'll have to get it changed out for all the dirt it's collected, but what can you do?

Another hole prepared, another plant eased in. He carefully gathers the dirt around it, patting it flat. When he hears someone's approach he tenses just a little, but the fact that it's day eases his guard, if just a tiny bit.

"You don't by any chance have the plant people on speed dial, do you?" he asks, though he hasn't looked up to see who it is.


II. A Time to Lose
With still no word about the shuttles, Donnie wonders that no one's gone to check. Then again, given everything that's been needed to be repaired and cleaned up, he supposes people have just been too busy.

He's prepared to be disappointed about the continued absence of the shuttles.

He is completely unprepared for an absent hangar.

"Wha-??"

The area's blank, the building... but if it had collapsed completely then it would have surely left more of a mess, wouldn't it have? So he's running up the road to where it is, or was, or should have been, and the closer he gets, the stranger it is. By the time he comes to the end of the road, which at a glance seems to stretch further along, the turtle's frowning. "Not gone..." he murmurs, brow furrowed as he brings up a hand before abruptly jerking back wide-eyed, with a jolt. Or perhaps from a jolt.


III. A Time to Cast Away Stones
He hadn't really found a space he actually wanted to claim as his own, and with the volcano and aftermath still fresh in his mind, he's a little hesitant to look. But if he wants to do more things, having his own workshop and lab is- in his mind- a necessity.

It's even harder with so many places leveled or more damaged, harder still to tell what's sturdy and what's compromised. Donnie pokes around some of the buildings in the northeastern sector of the city, eyeing the outsides before ducking into a doorway to inspect the inside.


IV. A Time to Break Down
At some point he gets tired of looking at broken buildings and decides to stick to his roots, slipping underground and into the sewer system. It'd probably be a good idea to see if the tremors had caused any damages. Well, new damages. It doesn't look like much upkeep has been done with things here, so Donnie tries to be extra careful as he makes his way along the darkened tunnels.

He's opted to wear the hoverboots Tony had gifted him, just in case there's any trouble spots. But he's lived in the sewers of New York City so he highly doubts this one has anything it can throw at him that he can't handle.

Comments

[thepurpleone]

"One would assume so anyway... Or at least they let us know things as it suits them. I'm not sure how long this has been like this though, but you'd think they'd have said something by now. Unless they're unaware that the network's back up. Or maybe there's a problem on their end? That'd be kind of concerning..."

Donnie pulls his goggles down, making a face. "Aaand just as I expected, I cannot get a proper reading on the thing because it glitches out things just like the shields underground did."

[spinsandneedles]

"Well of course, that would just make things too easy."

Sigh. Sure would be nice if the Agrii were just a liiiiittle more reliable. Though if something had gone wrong on their end that was outside of their control, that'd be pretty bad, haha.

"The ships were already gone, right? For repairs or something? What's the point of doing all this if the ships aren't even there? Maybe it wasn't even the Agrii? Not expecting an answer, just kinda... thinking out loud, I guess."

[thepurpleone]

"Honestly I wouldn't mind a little easy mode at this point. It feels like we were dropped off starting on Survivor mode. ...which I guess is pretty much what this is."

Donnie looks down before picking up a rock, bouncing it in hand before he tosses it at the shield, frowning before he shakes his head, shoving up his goggles again.

"Yeah, I think they were fixing them with the intent that the shuttles would be able to take us to visit the Agrii? Aaand then we never saw them again." And now they can't even see the hangar.

[spinsandneedles]

"Conspiracy theory time; sounds to me like someone's tryna keep us away from them, yeah?"

Like maybe the other, douchier aliens? Of course Sonic has no proof for that, that's why it's a theory!

"Alternately, the hangar's getting a super cool upgrade? I like that theory better, honestly. Some good news for once would be pretty cool."

[thepurpleone]

"Hangar upgrade could be cool, I don't know. Good thing I didn't store anything in here, otherwise I'd be really annoyed being cut off from it."

Donnie taps his fingers against his chin. "But otherwise, what else are shields for other than to keep people away? Maybe this is remnant of a double-layer defense from the volcano eruption? There's proof around the perimeter of the city that some kind of a shield had been established."

He slides a look over at Sonic. "Wonder if the hangar in Sh'Ka's in the same state. Actually I haven't been over there yet since we got out, so I have no idea what the status of the other city is. Is the train even working?"

[spinsandneedles]

"Beats me, but we can go check. The train's not my favorite, way too slow, but I haven't been able to get to Sh'Ka any other way. There's like, a force field in the tunnel? Which I also ran into. Maybe I should just try going around..."

There's probably a very good reason not to just got charging off, but that's never stopped Sonic from doing a stupid thing before.

[thepurpleone]

"Considering our only other option would have been the shuttles, yeah..." Donnie grumbles. "I'm not exactly a fan of the travel time myself but what can you do?" At least he can bring stuff to do on the train. "Why does it not surprise me that there's a force field somewhere."

Reluctantly turning away from the hangar, Donnie at least doesn't look surprised at Sonic's musings. "I'm amazed you haven't tried already. Wonder if there's something keeping us from getting there on foot. It'd be kind of weird if there was, unless there's something dangerous or important in between."

[spinsandneedles]

"The only thing that's been stopping me is the storms. I hear getting caught in one is bad news, but at this point it's a chance I'm more willing to take. ...well, that was before someone tried to eat you. I don't really wanna risk her coming after seconds while I'm not around."

And then he pissed off another guy. Its probably fine.

[thepurpleone]

"There is that..." Donnie has to concede. "But it might depend on how far you are from it. I think effects are usually localized to the area the storm is in. Of course all my information is from other people."

Being so bluntly reminded of his encounter does make him put a hand over his neck again as he glances around anxiously, like saying as much would draw the predator out.

"Appreciated," he says. "Well...we can still take the long route to Sh'Ka if you're up for it."

[spinsandneedles]

He sighs, not really loving the idea of being trapped in a metal tube after being stuck underground for so long, but he doesn't really have anything better to do right now.

"I'm up for it. Might be a good idea to... maybe get out of town for a little while, all things considered."

[thepurpleone]

"...also an excellent point," the turtle admits. "Um. Well either way, I'll need to go by the hotel and grab some things if we're making a trip of it." Hah, what is he saying, it is definitely a trip out and then it's not like they can go back right away given the automated schedule.

"Have you tried any of the data points yet, by the way?"

[spinsandneedles]

"I was thinking of hitting the one that'll let me understand the little mushroom dudes. Figured it would make thanking them for all their help easier."

That sure is what he'd use it for. I mean sure, there are other things he can do, but being nice to mushrooms is his top priority!

[thepurpleone]

It's not a surprising choice considering they'd touched upon the subject back underground. Donnie nods.

"That'd be the communications one. It's over by the security tower in the city center so we could do that and hit the hotel." He knows better than to suggest it be done simultaneously because Sonic will clearly be finished before him either way.

[spinsandneedles]

Hah yeah Sonic has no chill, BUT he's trying to stick with his turtle pal!

"Sounds good to me! I'll try not to rush you too much."

No promises, though.

[thepurpleone]

By now Donnie knows that he can only let some forces simply be. Getting Sonic to slow down would be like trying to get his little brother to quit rebounding off of things.

He turns to start back towards the main part of the city. "At least once I get my boots I won't lag behind too much."

[spinsandneedles]

To be fair, Sonic is willing to at least try to slow down for certain people! Not many people, but y'know. Donnie's made it onto the list.

"Oh yeah, that's right! Those things are awesome! They won't do us much good on the train, but that's okay."

[thepurpleone]

Woo, VIP status!

"Well, yeah that's true but I guess we're going to have to suck it up for the train ride." Sorry, if he could strap rockets to the thing to make the train go faster, he totally would.

[spinsandneedles]

Donnie.

Buddy.

Don't let your dreams stay dreams.

"It's all good. I can sit still for a little while if I really need to."

[thepurpleone]

Look, if he had parts to spare for rockets he wouldn't waste them on the train.

"Hang on, I feel like I should record that for posterity," Donnie smirks.

The way back to the main part of the city isn't that level but the road's pretty straight-forward, so eventually they get to the town square.

"We're close to the hotel from this side. Should we just stop there first? I mean, either way I think it'll even out, but at least I haven't unpacked much from when we got out from underground."

[spinsandneedles]

"To be fair, 'a while' is only about ten minutes."

After that Donnie's gonna have a bouncy blue bored boy to deal with.

"Yeah, we can hit the hotel first. If you need me to carry anything, just toss it my way."

He may have twigs for arms, but he's stronger than he looks!

[thepurpleone]

"Oh, this is going to be a fun trip."

There's a bit more emphasis to his usual tone that already defaults towards sarcasm.

Donnie nods and continues on. "Won't be much. It'll keep me from being bored at least. Not sure about you though... Think we'll need snacks or something?"

How long are they planning on hanging around over there?

[spinsandneedles]

Sonic just chuckles. Sorry Donnie, he is a menace.

"I know if I say 'no', we're gonna get hungry later and wish we'd brought some. We should probably grab something."

[thepurpleone]

"Probably," Donnie agrees. "Maybe I'll leave snack gathering to you while I grab my stuff, how's that work?"

At least that way they can knock off two tasks at once.

[spinsandneedles]

"I think I can handle that. Any requests?"

Maybe an angry vampire won't jump them in the meantime!

[thepurpleone]

"I'd say pizza but there is still a horrible lack thereof," Donnie sighs. "Honestly, I have no idea what they have so just don't overdo it."

Oh don't remind him! But at least it's daytime. Vampires don't come out in the sun, right? ...never mind that buildings are dark inside.