revivalproject | [closed] A-MAZE-ING

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[closed] A-MAZE-ING

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.

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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.

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.

"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.

Edited 2024-12-18 23:39 (UTC)

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."

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.

"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..!"

"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."

"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.

“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?

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???

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!”

"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.

“Yeah, she was,” Leo answers easily. “The info that dumb rich kid had to give us probably wasn’t worth anything, even for the game. She was not impressed.” Leo shrugs. “I’m just glad she lied to us; she could have refused to answer, and we’d be guessing.”

But Leo isn’t guessing. He stops in front of the door, and looks back at Donnie.

“I’m sure,” he says. Though his own doubt creeps in, not about the door, but about…

“Trust me.”

"I...guess that's true," Donnie concedes. And Leo at least looks certain as he continues to the door in question.

Ugh, he can't even tell when fake people are lying. Guess that's no surprise. If it were up to him they'd probably waste their chance, unless he could have hacked things somehow.

Donnie steps over to Leo, for a moment looking like he'd reach up to pull his goggles down again, but he stops himself. He may not be able to trust AI turtles but he trusts his brother.

"Okay." He gives Leo a nod.

"Let's ditch these losers."

Leo has full confidence that given enough time, Donnie would have found a way to hack this and get through on his own. But... it feels really good to be useful.

And at the confirmation, Leo's smile gets even bigger and bolder, and he nods back.

"Heck yeah! Goodbye snoozefest!"

So saying, he'll step through the doorway with Donnie. As soon as they're through, it closes behind them; let's hope they chose correctly!

Edited (changed it so he isn't just saying almost the same thing donnie just said lol) 2024-12-19 02:37 (UTC)

That makes Donnie grin. He'll be even happier once they leave this room completely. ...although it'd suck if they ended up being trapped back in there. -yeah, not thinking about that, not thinking about that...

He tries not to tense as the door locks behind them, casting a glance and another nod at Leo as they keep going. Onward and forwards...

The hallway before them has a few gradual zigs and zags that Donnie wouldn't be surprised if they'd been purposefully so to make them doubt whether or not they'd taken the right path after all. But in the end he's figured they couldn't have turned nearly far enough to be heading backwards, and indeed the way before straightens out again.

"...I sure hope there aren't any more weird puzzles like that one," he finally allows himself to complain.

The zigs and zags do make Leo worry for a second that he might have overthought it, though he doesn't let it show on his face. But then the hall straightens out again, and they're still moving forward, and he relaxes again. He really did it!

He's got a little pep in his step as they keep moving. This is going so much better than the maze of death.

But when Donnie starts complaining, he can't help but grimace.

"Don't jinx it."

Briefly Donnie looks like he might have something to say about that before recalling the potential of their still being used as someone's entertainment. He very pointedly shuts his mouth at that, looking around anxiously as though waiting for something to happen.

But nothing does, at least...not yet.

"Wonder how everyone else is doing..." he says after a while, because the silence is kind of getting to him. He somehow doubts that they've all had to deal with rooms full of holographic turtle people.

Another doorway eventually comes into view, and Donnie can't help but feel a little apprehensive about it as they draw near. Well, not like they can just go back...

"Eh, I'm sure they're doing fine," says Leo airily. "That main group has Cayde with 'em and he's so cool."

Hargrove's no slouch with that axe, either. They're definitely okay.

Leo also looks at that doorway warily. Guess it's time to find out if there's another puzzle up ahead...

That gets an arch of a brow from Donnie. "Oh right, the robot guy... Tony's with them too, isn't he?" At least they'd have any technical problems covered there.

Worrying about how everyone else is doing isn't going to help get them through any faster. He sucks in a breath, steeling himself as they make way. The doorway yawns open upon their approach, revealing... a deceptively plain expanse of a room, to the point that it could have almost been mistaken for just a wider corridor.

The door shuts behind them once both have stepped past its threshold, and Donnie's already pulling his goggles down to look for any signs of traps. He doesn't have to wait too long as the seams of the floor panels begin to split and slide, warmth spilling up from the gaps as glowing yellow-orange bubbles some twenty feet beneath them.

"Is that...magma?!"

More panels begin to shift and pull back, leaving the turtles on a platform by the door, with only a smattering of hovering floor panels scattered about the once solid hall, the distant door beyond wavering behind the heat of the bubbling pit beneath.

The mention of Tony, as ever, makes Leo frown. “Yeah, I think so,” is all he says in answer.

Any bad feelings are quickly preempted by the state of the next room they find themselves in, though, as Leo gapes at the sudden change. This is totally different from the last one!

“The floor is lava!” he shouts, a little manically. Who knew a childhood game could prepare them for this situation?

The only reason Donnie refrains from a his gut reflex to want to swat Leo for that one is the fact that it's more or less true.

"Magma," he still feels he need to correct, but now hardly seems like the time to dive into the differences between that and lava. It's gotten hot in here pretty quick!

"Well, of course it's not going to be that simple." He grumbles as he nudges his goggles up just to confirm his suspicions before he points to the platforms and then the one before the other door itself.

"They've got the same sort of reading as the barriers I've scanned before. Those usually show up as nothing because there's something about them that nullifies being picked up by mystic readings." He frowns. "Meaning they're likely warded so you can't just portal on over."

Magma, lava, same diff!

Leo sighs at that assessment, because of course nothing can be simple. "Alright. So got any ideas for how to get across? Because I know we're good at roof jumps, but these are some big gaps even for us."

"True... And with that down there, I don't think we should risk the attempts..." Donnie mutters.

He looks across again, tapping at his goggles. "This is so annoying," he grumbles, removing them from his head so he can take out the energy crystal that he'd installed so long ago. "The null fields are messing up with the rest of my scans. It shouldn't do the same so long as I'm not using anything of supernatural power..."

Donnie replaces his goggles after he's tucked the crystal into his belt pouch, tipping them down to scan the area again. "Ha-ha! Thought so! Power's still running through the place. If these floor panels were able to move earlier, then maybe there's a way to get them back into position? Or even rearrange them... I just...need to find out where I can override the system."

Ah, hack into the system and make the jumps more doable. That's a good plan.

Leo can't see what Donnie sees, of course, but he looks around anyway, like maybe the answer will show itself if he does.

"Is there a control panel around here or something?"

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