[He'd told Raph he was going alone. Where to find him, when the meeting was, and how long to wait before coming to look for him. He didn't expect anything to happen, exactly - and even if things did go wrong, he honestly doubted it would get so bad as to end in him crossing weapons with his alternate self - but to err on the side of caution comes as natural as breathing. Reason, location, time. Don't come looking before then.]
[Two hours before midnight, Leo sets off for the place he first met the alternate Donatello. The streets are deadly quiet as he travels, thick with an old, lingering trepidation brought about by the curfew that had been enacted by Evandau's police force. The kedan are terrified to lose their meager supplies even after the threat has passed. And it's a terrible thing to fine them for. But tonight, that particular injustice isn't on his mind. Not by a long shot.]
[Finally, hidden in the shadow of a taller building stretched across the rooftops, Leonardo arrives at the meeting place and slinks to the edge in order to peer down into the alley. It's empty, as he'd suspected it would be; it was chance that brought Donatello to him that day, and unprepared, Leonardo had been in the disadvantageous position at the time. No ninja worth his salt would put himself in a place like that with the foreknowledge to warn him otherwise.]
[He drops soundlessly into a fire escape on the side of the building, still cloaked by the zig-zagging shadows that reach into the alley like long, spindly fingers. His eyes scan the far wall of the building opposite. It isn't midnight quite yet, but if he's here early...well.]
[He very nearly passes over the roundish figure settled in the balcony, but something about its slightly off shape draws his eyes back to it. It's almost impossible to make out in the dark, and the shadow is still as the night itself. He finds himself studying it long after what would typically be appropriate; perhaps because he's steeling himself, because after this, there really is no turning back. Final curtain call.]
[Eventually, Leonardo finds his nerve. He isn't sure whether he's been spotted himself yet; all the same, he slowly brings himself into a standing position, stepping out of the shadows and halting just behind the moonlight-bathed railing. Carefully, he quirks what he hopes is a disarming grin.]
You're early.
[He also vaguely hopes he isn't talking to a bush. Though he's fairly certain he isn't.]
[perma-action]
[Two hours before midnight, Leo sets off for the place he first met the alternate Donatello. The streets are deadly quiet as he travels, thick with an old, lingering trepidation brought about by the curfew that had been enacted by Evandau's police force. The kedan are terrified to lose their meager supplies even after the threat has passed. And it's a terrible thing to fine them for. But tonight, that particular injustice isn't on his mind. Not by a long shot.]
[Finally, hidden in the shadow of a taller building stretched across the rooftops, Leonardo arrives at the meeting place and slinks to the edge in order to peer down into the alley. It's empty, as he'd suspected it would be; it was chance that brought Donatello to him that day, and unprepared, Leonardo had been in the disadvantageous position at the time. No ninja worth his salt would put himself in a place like that with the foreknowledge to warn him otherwise.]
[He drops soundlessly into a fire escape on the side of the building, still cloaked by the zig-zagging shadows that reach into the alley like long, spindly fingers. His eyes scan the far wall of the building opposite. It isn't midnight quite yet, but if he's here early...well.]
[He very nearly passes over the roundish figure settled in the balcony, but something about its slightly off shape draws his eyes back to it. It's almost impossible to make out in the dark, and the shadow is still as the night itself. He finds himself studying it long after what would typically be appropriate; perhaps because he's steeling himself, because after this, there really is no turning back. Final curtain call.]
[Eventually, Leonardo finds his nerve. He isn't sure whether he's been spotted himself yet; all the same, he slowly brings himself into a standing position, stepping out of the shadows and halting just behind the moonlight-bathed railing. Carefully, he quirks what he hopes is a disarming grin.]
You're early.
[He also vaguely hopes he isn't talking to a bush. Though he's fairly certain he isn't.]