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

[spinsandneedles]

Maybe it's been long enough that the animals are starting to poke around again? Are there weird alien bunny tracks? Maybe a space moose? That'd be sick.

"How long is that list of yours getting by now?"

[thepurpleone]

Considering how crazy regular moose are, Donnie's not so sure he'd be up for an encounter of the space variety. But things have definitely been calmer and quieter on this end that the wildlife might be more prompted to return faster than say, around Temba.

...some of the local creatures in Sh'Ka are quite huge though.

"Oh, you know, it fluctuates. Gets longer than shorter though, that's for sure."

[spinsandneedles]

Sonic would fight the HELL out of a space moose!! He'd prefer it over feeling all creeped out anyway.

"I hear that. Meanwhile I just feel like I'm spinning my wheels, I have no idea how to help or what to do. Kinda sucks."

But shh it's fine.

"Are we looking for a cave? Like, a tunnel?"

[thepurpleone]

"I get it. It's all too easy getting overwhelmed just by the sheer amount of things that should probably be done but it's hard figuring out where to start, much less how, sometimes." And then if you're like Donnie, you figure that the only reason they haven't been done yet is because someone like you hasn't been here until now, in which case everything is now your responsibility. ...he's...kind of gotten over that line of thinking at least.

Kind of.

"Pretty much. It should just be an opening that goes down a bit...not too unlike the mines we went in before we met up with the Funfronds to get to shelter."

[spinsandneedles]

"Well, we have food, water, and shelter, which are kind of the big ones in terms of survival. Figuring out where to start helping the Agrii is where I'm blanking."

Problems back home are usually more straight forward, what with the more obvious threats and egg themed robots to smash.

Ah well. Now that Sonic knows what to look out for he scans the area. And okay, yes, he peels away from Donnie a couple times to go find it faster. Sorry about all the dust!! It's all pretty fast though, and soon enough he's back at Donnie's side.

"I'm pretty sure I found it? It's not far," he says, pointing in the general direction of it.

[thepurpleone]

Donnie nods empathically at that, jabbing a finger at the air. "That. It's hard to figure out how to fix a storm or whatever's causing it when we haven't even seen one."

It's been pretty frustrating. At this rate he wouldn't mind getting behind smashing the problem if it did finally reveal itself to be a physical element. Raph would approve.

Suddenly Sonic's gone but there's a hedgehog-shaped cloud of dust rising in his wake. Donnie waves his hands around as though it'd help to clear anything up before pulling his hood tighter around his face. Maybe that's what he'd look like if he were able to tuck his head into his shell.

"Oh good, let's get going before this stuff clogs up our lungs," he says as he tries squinting past the swirling ash.

The tunnel entrance isn't difficult to find, although once they get there, Donnie can't help but be a little hesitant to actually go in. He glances at Sonic before cautiously doing so. At least the ash that's blown in seems mostly concentrated around the mouth of the tunnel, so there's that.

[spinsandneedles]

Donnie hesitates, Sonic heads right inside as if he wants to find something horrible. If it's a thing they can fight, it'll make this a lot more entertaining! Knowing his luck though, it'll probably be just another dead and.

"It's easy enough to go out into a storm and see what happens, but so far it seems like everyone's super reluctant to take the chance. Plus, wouldn't we need some kinda sciency equipment to record things?"

[thepurpleone]

"That's only if anything works," Donnie points out as he drifts after Sonic. Nothing to worry about, just a big ol', creepy tunnel.

"I want to see if the crystals from the cave are affected by it, and if the cave itself can provide adequate protection from a storm in progress. Which...requires a storm."

The tunnel goes on for some length, but it's not too deep. Unfortunately Sonic's luck does hold out. It is in fact, a dead end. But this one has a door.

[spinsandneedles]

"Next time there's a storm, I'll have to see if I can make it to the cave before anything wacky happens. I've reached the point where I'm ready to abandon caution."

It's amazing that he's only just now reached that point.

Ahh, but the fact that there's a door here means it's not a dead end at all! Sonic is delighted by this turn of events, even though the only thing on the other side is bound to be more annoying mysteries or just something horrible.

"Well now, this looks promising!"

[thepurpleone]

"Uh-huh." Funny, he thought that happened with the calling out a vampire over the network.

"Hm." Donnie looks at the door. "Promising, perhaps, but it's still a roadblock if it doesn't open," he points out, pulling his hood down so he can put his goggles on. "Let's see if this one's still functioning like the other one... See any way to get it open?"

[spinsandneedles]

Psh, vampires. They can only kill you if they can catch you!

Sonic doesn't answer. Instead, he suddenly leaves. Then he reappears, having gotten a running start before spin dashing his stupid butt straight into the door. Theeen bouncing right off, and then hitting the ceiling before hitting the floor. It's fine.

[thepurpleone]

"Just as I suspected. It's- OHMYMUFFINS WHY?!"

Donnie jumps back at the sudden reappearance of Sonic as the blue one meets door before slamming down from the ceiling. He blinks before flail-flopping beside the hedgehog to check on him.

"Sonic? Hey, you okay?"

[spinsandneedles]

Sonic's a bit dazed, but he sits up almost right away. See, it's fine!

"That's a really hard door," he grumbles, rubbing his head and glaring up at the door. This is the second time he's been defeated by a door since he's been here and it's real uncool.

[thepurpleone]

Donnie sighs, relieved that Sonic's head is harder than it looks. "Well, it is made of metal," he notes, hand still on the hedgehog's shoulder to help steady him.

"As I was saying, it's shielded just like the other ones. Or at least that's my assumptions based on the fact that I get the same jammed readings I got from the other places. Which...ultimately is unhelpful but it still means something may be active here."

[spinsandneedles]

Sonic just stays on his butt for now. Not so much because he's hurt real bad, but like what's the rush to get up now that they've hit another dead end?

"Ugh, figures. Well, that means there's gotta be some kinda generator, right? Most likely on the other side of that door, which... doesn't help us any."

[thepurpleone]

"I haven't been able to figure out where they might be sourced, which is the most aggravating thing. ...I wonder if they remain functional during the storms. Something else to maybe check out...whenever the occasion arises."

Donnie slowly gets to his feet so long as Sonic's not tipping over. He looks at his tablet again, wiping off some clingy ash from the screen with a sleeve.

"For now I don't think we'll find anything else in here. Still got the rest of the city though, so...?"

[spinsandneedles]

"On to the next dead end, I guess."

The hedgehog hops to his feet and dusts himself off, no doubt sending ash scattering about as he does so.

"Ugh, that was really negative, wasn't it? This place is such a downer."

[thepurpleone]

"Might still have something interesting if it hasn't been as explored as Temba," Donnie suggests, trying not to look discouraged. He pulls his hood up again, fanning the fluttering ash with a sweep of his tablet.

"Would you feel better if you did a quick recon? I'll wait here or something so I don't get caught up in all the ash you kick up, and if you find something interesting we can just go straight there then poke around aimlessly."

[spinsandneedles]

"That's not a bad idea! Beats wandering around at a snail's pace and hoping we find something cool."

No offense Donnie, but you don't fast good.

"hang tight, I'll be right back!"

And then he's gone, off to do SPEED ADVENTURES. Or Recon. Same thing, really.

[thepurpleone]

He can fast just fine! It's not his fault he's got a souped up hedgehog pal.

Donnie grins a bit, glad Sonic's mood picks up with the suggestion. There's not much to watch for since he knows how the blue one's exits are, so he just pokes around the map on the tablet. "Too bad I don't have a tracker ready, just pop one on him and watch him go..."

And then an even more important realization. "-aw, he took the food with him didn't he..!" So much for snacking.

[spinsandneedles]

He sure did take the food! The good news is that Sonic doesn't take more than maybe ten minutes before he comes skidding back to Donnie's side. He looks positively giddy, which is certainly better than hos bummed he was just a few minutes ago.

"Dude, there's so much stuff here! There's like a whole theatre with holograms, and a huge fancy place full of robots!"

[thepurpleone]

Ten minutes can be super long when you have nothing to do and are all by yourself. Donnie's started getting anxious about five minutes in, so when Sonic does come back, the turtle's closer to the tunnel's entrance where he'd been peeking in and out of for signs of the blue blur.

Maybe that was a bad idea considering the ash floating about, once again stirred up by Sonic's return. Hang on while he tries not to die coughing.

"A wh- wait, holograms? And robots?? This place has had such things the whole time?!" Donnie sputters once he finds his works. He shakes Sonic. "Where??"

[spinsandneedles]

Don't die coughing, bro.

Sonic doesn't resist Donnie shaking him, just knock yourself out turtlebro. You you can't rattle Sonic's brain any more that he already rattles it himself by bouncing off of stuff.

"I assume they've been here the whole time? I wouldn't know! I can show you if you let go"

[thepurpleone]

Donnie abruptly unhands Sonic, hopefully blue boy is ready.

"Okay done, let's go," he says, whatever low morale he'd been hit with earlier sufficiently boosted.

[spinsandneedles]

Blue boy is READY. He dusts himself off a bit and takes off. At Donnie speed, not rude hedgehog speed.

"This way! Robots or holograms first?"