tushanshu | 002 ≅ [video/ENCRYPTED 100% TO TURTLES/PRIVATE NETWORK POST]

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002 ≅ [video/ENCRYPTED 100% TO TURTLES/PRIVATE NETWORK POST]

[This is backdated to the early part of mid-March, before the event.]

[Don takes a deep breath on-screen and flashes a quick, tense smile. He looks nervous, but under that a little haggard. It's what happens when he's spent the last two days going over his encryption algorithm line-by-line, repeatedly, and adjusting it for video usage. And then going over it again. And again. The upside is anyone taking on the task of attempting to hack this is going to get the full brunt of puzzling out Don's aggravated, sleep-deprived mind. This is about as full-proof as he can get with the equipment available to him. It'll have to do.]

Right, hello. If you're getting this, it's because you're a, well...[he gestures to himself, and aside from that his hands stay more-or-less abnormally still for the rest of conversation, a sign of discomfort that might only register to his own Raph] a mutant turtle, like me, and from a similar dimension. Don't worry about anyone not invited seeing this. I'm handling that.

So...you might have been told about this already, but I'll rehash just in case. This is mostly just a place to talk. No pressure or anything, but we just can't keep ignoring one another forever. There are too many of us running around already for that to be plausible, and it's not like there's any guarantee it's ever going to stop. The least we can do is know who's who. [so, in other words, if you want to make sure any of your wayward brothers showing up are pointed in the right direction? SPEAK UP.]

[Don pauses, reaching up to tug at his plastron absentmindedly] I...guess I'll start? My name's Donatello. I'm fifteen. I'm from the same universe as the more recently arrived Raphael. If you think of anything about your homes that might be useful to know, no matter how innocuous you think it is, go ahead and lay it on me. Every little bit helps. So far we've noticed that appearance and age are two of the bigger distinguishing characteristics among us, which is why I recommend using video, but if you're too nervous then it's text. Heck, covering up the camera works just as well. Avoid actual audio mode, if by some weird quirk of electronics you can actually access it. I tried to make sure you couldn't, but you never know, and I don't want anyone yelling at me later because I didn't mention it. Point is, it's not supported right now, and anyone using it could crack this thing open like a bad egg. Which would be, you know, bad.

[Leo take it now Leo take it now before he pours his uneasiness into a babble about his baby go go go someone]

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[Mike laughs.
For a good ten count Mike laughs.

...

That is until realization dawns.]

great googly moogly. he's on his way over here isn't he?

BATTLE STATIONS! DIVE DIVE DIVE!

[Mike disappears from the screen, but can be heard in the background prepping his suite for an invasion via a hostile force.]

[And in the background there is the distinct sound of a door being kicked down as Raphael tears into the apartment. He crosses in front of the shot briefly-]

GET OUT HERE YOU LITTLE-

[-before disappearing in the direction Mikey had fled. Yup, they're getting along just fine.]

[There's a crash from off screen, which is quickly followed by what sounds like a Daffy Duck hoohohooo impression, and then another crash.

Mike streaks across the screen again.]

Who you calling little, Short Stack?

Guys! Come on!

[LEO THIS IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY]

[OMG THEY HAVEN'T ALL EVEN INTRODUCED THEMSELVES TO EACH OTHER YET AND HE'S ALREADY HAVING TO DO THIS??]

Raphael! Michaelangelo!

[Raph pulls up short, and he's even angry that Leo can make him pull up short.]

What?! He started it!

[Mike lowers into the frame from above...from a rope he's apparently hanging from.

...

Think more Mission Impossible rather than Spider-Man.]

Leo?

[Raph jumps and spins around, then decks Mikey and makes him swing on the ropes.]

Don't do that!

[HALLELUJAH]

[he's just...going to go grumpily mess around with his console while this gets sorted out NOT HIS PROBLEM ANYMORE]

[have fun leo]

Ack!

[Mike isn't expecting the punch, though...he really should be. It is Raph after all.]

[Well sort of.]

[Mike leans into his next swing out, building a bit of momentum, and when he recoils back, he pulls at the ties of Raph's bandanna...tightening it.]

Ow!

[Raph is gonna tear Mikey up]

Mikey-!

[Leo freezes for the briefest second when he actually gets a look at Mikey - but he doesn't have any time to actually process it, because SIGH LITTLE BROTHERS ARE THE SAME EVERYWHERE APPARENTLY]

Okay, everybody's hands to themselves! Mikey, off the ceiling! Raph, go back to your suite before someone gets hurt! [probably mike]

Who are you supposed to be, Nanny Leo? I'll go back to my suite if I feel like it!

[Mike blinks a couple of times, because he's kind of amazed that this is working even as it...well, works.]

[But he does let go of his lead, and rolls to the floor, landing soundlessly when he reaches it.]

[But there he is, in all his red-masked glory. The little brother that apparently no one here wanted...or at very least was prepared for.]

[The voice is different, the eyes aren't quite right. Neither is his skin tone, and yet...there's something about that smile.]

Next time, Gadget?

[Mike offers his left hand in truce to Raph. The right arm is still bandaged.]

[Raph glares at Mike, but there's not a whole lot of heat to it. His eyes flick to the bandage around Mikey's arm and he scoffs, lightly slapping Mike's hand away.]

Ahh, forget it. I'm going home.

[Mike's face lights up like the tree in Rockefeller Center at Christmas.]

[Leo pinches the bridge of his nose, preparing to answer Raphael, but halts when he sees Mike drop to the floor and offer Raph his hand and a lopsided grin. Leo's eyes draw to his other arm, wrapped in bandages - Don did mention he'd been injured - then to Raph, and then finally back to Mikey as their exchange takes place.]

[Huh.]

[He waits until well after Raphael is gone; folds his hands together in front of his face, takes a quiet, deep breath. The red-banded Michaelangelo. A bit shorter. A bit stranger. And, apparently, a bit rougher.]

[Finally, Leo settles on something to open with.]

So...red, huh?

[Mike's smile morphs into an amused smirk.]

That's what you've been thinking this whole time, isn't it.

[If it were his Mikey, he'd expect some quip about wearing the color better than Raph ever did, all extravagant gestures and fake primping. There's a sort of calmer quality to this one's response that Leo would never expect from his youngest brother.]

Maybe a little. Mine is usually worried it wouldn't bring out his eyes.

HA! I was so going to make that joke, but decided against it at the last second!

[There's no stopping the peal of giggles that erupts from Mike.]

[There's a faint smile on Leo's end; now this is a little more familiar. He shifts position a little, leaning forward and relaxing a bit.]

So, Mikey. I hear you're from another world, different from the rest of ours?

Apparently. AT least if the focus on color-coordination is anything to go by.

I don't know if I've said this enough today yet, but...wow, this is so weird. I mean...you don't look like Leo. Or sound like Leo. And you certainly don't dress like Leo. And yet...you can't NOT be Leo. It's like, Chevy Chase's Ford impression.

[...who the hell is Chevy Chase?]

Do all of you wear red, then?

[Mike nods and then slips the mask over the dome of his head. It helps him to look at the mask, rather than at Leo in this particular instance.]

Yeah. It's fabric from one of Master Yoshi's kimono. We all got a square. When we were kids we'd wear them so that they covered our entire heads. These days we wear them mostly out of habit, and because of the no eyebrows thing.

[Congratulations, you have stunned Leo into silence.]

[He stares at the limp cloth hanging in Mike's hands, and even through the screen he can pick up faint traces of wear that he couldn't before - but there's sanctity in each stitch, every frayed thread carrying a blood-washed memory of the Hamato clan. It isn't their Master Yoshi, but Leonardo can't help the reverence blossoming in his chest.]

...you honor his memory, Mikey. I'm sure he'd be proud.

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