[closed] A-MAZE-ING

[faceguy]

WHO: turtle bros
WHERE: the Warrens
WHAT: maze time!
WHEN: maze time!
WARNINGS: maze time!

If Leo's being honest, he doesn't have the best track record with mazes.

And he and Donnie haven't exactly been... okay, lately. And Leo is still worried about Donnie's leg.

So all things considered, maybe they weren't the best choice to volunteer to trek down one of the routes that opened after Keith's group went ahead.

But the thing is, Leo doesn't know if either of them would have been happy sitting around waiting for something to happen. Donnie always wants to fix things. And he would have gotten too anxious the longer they sat there.

So here they are, in the maze. Leo supposes, in good news, that nothing scary has happened yet. The maze isn't full of monsters or deadly traps. It's just big and confusing. The most dangerous hazard so far is the threat of running out of food, but at least they thought ahead on that front.

So they're exploring, and trying not to have to double back too much. This has been going on for awhile now. Leo hasn't been paying attention to how long, but he's sure Donnie knows. At least tech works down here.

"I wonder who built all this?" he asks. "Was it just for... a-maze... usment?"

This is hardly his first maze pun since they came in here, but now he's really stretching for what even counts as a pun.

Comments

[thepurpleone]

The whole process seems much too tedious for what Donnie figures gets them not much farther than what they'd started with. He drums his fingers against his arms as he waits for Leo to finish up.

"Okay, so we primed them up for info exchange. Now what?" he asks as they step away.

[faceguy]

"Then we do the info exchange!" Leo says cheerily. "But first we gotta get the info."

He turns back, surveying their last two options: the uncooperative holoturtle they talked to before, and the only one left.

"Let's hit up the new one first. Then we can try again with that one with the fan."

[thepurpleone]

"But of course," Donnie nods. He doubts the other holograms are just going to conveniently spill the information they're looking for, but at least now they have a bit of direction.

"All right then." He starts towards the turtle in question although he'll drop back to let Leo take the lead once they're close enough. "Hopefully this one's not as annoyingly evasive as the other one..."

[faceguy]

Leo has a feeling that it will be annoyingly evasive. But he fully intends to crush it!

"Hey there," he greets, stepping into the holoturtle's sensor. "How are you enjoying the party?"

"Hmm, well... It's just as humdrum as ever," says the turtle, sounding uninterested. "If this were happening at my grandfather's estate, it would be far more grand."

"Your grandfather's estate?" Leo repeats, sounding impressed. "Oh yeah, he was that real hotshot... What'd he do, again?"

The turtle seems torn between being affronted that Leo doesn't know and being excited to talk about his family('s money).

"He was the richest oil baron this side of the nation!" the turtle explains, without qualifying what "nation" they're talking about. "He had business sense that took him from rags to riches! He was unrivaled by all others... until I was born, of course."

This is crap, but Leo just nods along. "Oh yeah, you're way more accomplished," he agrees. "Like when you...?"

"Why, just the other day-" the turtle starts, and then launches into a tale that is surely embellished and still doesn't say much. Leo just nods along anyway, like this is the most interesting thing he's ever heard.

[thepurpleone]

"Oh, here we go," Donnie murmurs under his breath, but he puts on his best fake smile as the holoturtle indulges Leo, trying not to scoff as he can't help but think of the actual state of things beyond this weird little sci-fi haven.

He's not sure if any of what they get is worthwhile. If anything, he just figures this guy loves to hear himself talk. Donnie's not trying as hard as Leo to look interested, although at the very least he can appreciate how his brother can schmooze with fake rich people so easily.

[faceguy]

If only he could leverage this ability into charming real rich people. Maybe they could get some money. (Or Tony would actually like him.)

The guy does love hearing himself talk, and boy is it boring. Leo still pretends to listen until the end, indulging the infodump like he actually cares.

Finally, in a break in the conversation, he says, "So you'd say you have your ear to the ground when it comes to all the financial news, right?"

"Oh, of course!" agrees the holoturtle, all buttered up now. "In fact..." The turtle leans in, glancing this way and that before cupping a hand to his mouth, like he's about to tell Leo something quite secretive. "I actually have some top secret information that can really net someone some money if they act fast. If you want to know." The turtle straightens up again. "But only if you can keep it secret."

"Oh. We wouldn't tell a soul! Cross our shells and hope to die." Leo glances back at Donnie. "Right, Dee?"

[thepurpleone]

Pay no attention to how Donnie's fake eyebrow twitches. It's an impressive feat though, to be sure!

Of course he's not upset that all that had just been so that they could get to the actual meaty part of things! Hopefully the holoturtle can't read murderous facial expressions.

"Absolutely!" Donnie replies between grating teeth. "There will definitely be death involved!"

[faceguy]

Leo elbows Donnie, all without letting his smile slip a millimeter.

Thankfully it seems whatever AI program is running the holoturtle does not take what Donnie just said as a threat.

"Alriiiight... Just because you seem so trustworthy."

The holoturtle leans in again, hand over his mouth, and gives Leo the secret info.

"The Rothschild factory's latest shipment... sank. At sea." The holoturtle giggles, like this is funny. "Their stock is going to plummet when it's announced next week!"

"Ah, such a shame." Leo shakes his head like this information about a fake company going under is of real concern to him. "Good thing I was already planning to sell all my stock tomorrow anyway."

He winks at the holoturtle. The holoturtle winks back.

Info successfully gathered, Leo will quickly extricate them from this conversation. One down, one to go!

[thepurpleone]

At least if it were a video game he could just read things fast and hit the skip button!

Donnie's...smile sharpens just a touch at Leo's elbowing, but he refrains from adding anything more as he lets his brother carry on.

He's all too happy to be away from the hologram once Leo's secured the information. "Eyew, is this how actual rich people parties go?" Maybe he'll ask Tony if he ever sees him again.

"That had to be the most pointless character script ever written." Yes, he's going to complain all the way to the next turtle, not that he is looking forward to this one.

[faceguy]

"Who knows? Not like we'll ever be invited to one."

Well, maybe Donnie will be, since he has the sugar daddy and all that.

"Hey, it's alright! We got the info we needed." He leads the way to the uncooperative first holoturtle. "Let me just wrap this up reeeaaal quick."

He steps up to the turtle, and she springs to life again, giving a flutter of her fan as she does. "Still trying to find the right door?" she asks.

"Nah," says Leo smoothly. "We're over the door; we like hanging with you guys." He folds his arms and grins. "So how's the party going?"

"Oh, well, if that's what you're asking about," she says, and starts into another infodump about fake gossip. Hope Donnie is ready!

[thepurpleone]

"Did we? I hope the other NPCs think it's worthwhile then." Because he sure didn't!!

Donnie doesn't even try to look like he's enjoying himself but the only reason he does keep at least somewhat tuned in is because he doesn't want to have to go through all this again- and doubts that they'd conveniently repeat themselves like your average games might if you just run back to talk to them.

[faceguy]

Meanwhile, Leo is just gently prodding the NPC about different conversation topics. Most of this sounds pretty useless - you can’t blackmail someone for wearing out of style heels - but he knows there has to be something buried in here…

“-and then I noticed that Lady Ornate Boxshell wasn’t sitting with her husband! Ah, but then I nipped off to the powder room, but it was occupied…”

“Was Lady Ornate Boxshell inside?” Leo asks, raising an eyebrow.

The holoturtle pauses and flutters her fan. “Is that unusual?”

Leo thinks over the tidal wave of information before this… remembering another mentioned party guest who seems to have disappeared.

“Was Lord Asian Boxshell also in there?” he asks, giving the turtle a conspiratorial wink.

She flutters her fan even more aggressively. “I never said anything of the sort,” she says, but her voice sounds tinged with glee.

Leo grins. Bingo. Time to end this conversation and get out of here!

[thepurpleone]

This sort of gossip is tedious to listen to, especially when he has no investment in the person doing the talking. Donnie's glad Leo's handling it because he's getting exhausted just being there, thankful that it isn't an actual party because he's not sure he'd be able to engage in this much small talk if more people decided to assault them at once. How do people do it?

He tilts his head as Leo homes in on...something, he'd missed it and the insinuations that follow go right over his head. But something had come up, otherwise Leo wouldn't be grinning like that.

Once they're away from the fan-turtle, Donnie gives his brother a look. "I am assuming you got what you were looking for..."

[faceguy]

Leo grins and gives Donnie fingerguns.

"Sure did, mi hermano. All that's left to do now is exchange our info for the door we need and we're out of here."

He's already angling back toward the holoturtle in the hat. He can tell Donnie's patience for this ran out awhile ago, so he's not bothering to ask for his input on which one first.

"So, info on one Lady Ornate Boxshell for info on a door," he says as he steps back into the holoturtle's sensors again. "Are we good with this trade or what?"

"Lady Ornate Boxshell?" says the holoturtle, tapping his cane. "Now that is interesting... What is it?"

"She was seen in the powder room with someone... not her husband." Leo winks. "If you catch my drift."

Probably making out in there. Gross. But Leo doesn't show his distaste for the situation.

[thepurpleone]

His arms are still folded as they make way back towards the be-hatted holoturtle, waiting to see what all Leo's got to share. He drums his fingers, arching a brow as his brother dishes.

Oh.

Oh.

"Gasp, the scandal!" Is he acting or is that his actual response?

Yes.

[faceguy]

"The scandal!" agrees the holoturtle heartily. "Oh, but this is some tantalizing information you've brought me." He taps his cane again.

"Yeah, and a deal's a deal: which door is the way out of here?"

"Right, of course." The holoturtle nods. "It's the door to the right." As he says this, he lifts his hand and scratches at his head under his hat.

Leo blinks. "The right?" he repeats.

"Yes," the holoturtle says with a nod and another scratch. "The door to the right will lead you where you want to go."

"...Alright," says Leo with a grin. "Thanks! See ya, then."

And he'll back away from the sensor for that turtle.

[thepurpleone]

Donnie nods as Leo pushes for their half of the deal. He holds back a sigh- finally! -once the holoturtle gives them a straight answer.

"If he told us we needed to talk to someone else I think I would have had to hit something," Donnie huffs once they've moved away. "Let's get out of here before we end up having to be indebted to NPCs."

[faceguy]

Leo snorts at that, throwing an arm around Donnie.

"Ah, but you see... we do have to talk to someone else."

Leo quickly drops his arm and dances back before he ends up in hitting range.

[thepurpleone]

"Haha-I'm sorry what?"

Donnie's brow twitches, hoping Leo's just making a horrible joke as he tends to. It's kind of hard to tell given the response from his brother goes either way, and justifiably so for the swipe Donnie takes at him.

"-wait, seriously?? But he just said..!"

[faceguy]

"I know what he just said, but his body language totally changed!" Leo flaps a hand. "I'm telling you, Dee, that guy was all kinds of shady."

He starts to back away towards the woman who wanted info about business. "Look at it this way: we know which door it isn't. So now we just have to narrow it down between the other two."

[thepurpleone]

"I'm pretty sure they're all some kind of shady," Donnie notes, reluctantly following after. He frowns. What about body language? The guy hadn't been nearly as fidgety as fan-girl.

"Okay, so he lied. Great!" Not great, he still looks like he'd love to kill something.

[faceguy]

“He was especially shady,” Leo assures Donnie. But it’s okay - one more to go.

“Helloooo,” he greets as he steps into the sensor spot of the final holoturtle. “We got that info for you.”

“Did you?” She remains as cool as calm as when they talked to her the first time. “Well, if it’s interesting, maybe I’ll talk.”

“Try this one on for size.” Leo draws himself up, like this fake insider info is very important. “The Rothschild factory’s latest shipment is dead in the water. Literally! Apparently it sank.”

“Hmm…” She lightly crinkles her skirt with her fingers, but makes no other movements. “I see. So their stock is sure to crash.”

“That’s right!” Leo grins. “Pretty helpful, right?”

“Hmmm… I suppose.” The holoturtle hums, then turns and points.

“The door you want is the one to the left.”

“The left…” Leo nods seriously. “Alright, thanks!”

And then he steps back and smiles at Donnie. Well?

[thepurpleone]

At least this exchange is quick, but so far as Donnie can tell... Well, that's just it. He can't tell much, and after the last one, he frowns at the conflicting information drop.

Leo had said something about body language but there hadn't really been much to go off here. Did that mean she was just better at lying or was he just boringly sincere?? When his brother looks back at him, Donnie gives an exasperated shrug. What???

[faceguy]

Ah, of course Donnie didn’t get much from that.

“Well, let’s go,” says Leo, and he turns and leads the way… to the center door.

“Alright, let’s get out of here!”

[thepurpleone]

"What-"

Donnie follows Leo again, pace slowing as they head for neither of the doors that had been indicated. "Wait, she was lying too??" Can't even trust any AIs, imagine that!

He hesitates. "-you're absolutely sure?" They only have one shot, after all. But they've also spoken to every turtle and wrapped up business with them all. Or did they? Not that Donnie wants to get stuck talking to any of them again.