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[faceguy]

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[purplexing]

[Leo's not wrong in his sales pitch; Donnie's been steadily trying to adjust to things here but what he needs are projects to keep him actively busy.

And sure, he has a few in mind and hasn't quite had the means to really put them into a production stage, but having specific things to plan for and be on the lookout to acquire helps a lot more than just deciding to pick up things that might come in handy.

Not that he's going to outright say that what Leo's said is basically true because why would he? So instead he just gives a noncommittal shrug as he continues to make notes on his computer.]

Building a new one from scratch is better than doing a quick slice and adjustment of your current one. Don't worry about it, I'll shop around and try to have something before we go on our excursion.

Round...two? Back to the other side of the building, Leo?

[levelshift]

[Wrecked by logic and facts. He doesn't want to be a killjoy here, even though this is a lot. What had Yomikawa called relationships? Give and take? Shit, he isn't even sure if that applies here, because that whole so-called lesson from her and Yoshikawa went over his head.

Whatever. He doesn't want his original crutch to slow the turtles down, and he doesn't want to take a project away from Donnie. He'll have to dwell on this some more after they've liberated the equipment from the recycling facility.]

....

[Looking between Leo and Donnie uncomfortably, he doesn't argue with either of them. Instead he finishes fixing his hair silently, and once he's done that he reaches up to hit the switch on his choker.]

Ready.

[faceguy]

[Leo nods at Donnie's suggestion and waits for Accelerator to get himself ready. Once he's done, Leo flashes him another grin.]

Alright. Then back again, boys!

[And with that, he'll lead the way, slinking through the shadows and paying attention to how Accelerator is doing.]

[purplexing]

[Donnie lets the two have a head start on things, hanging back once again if only so Accelerator won't feel too pressured if he were right behind him.

He sets the crutch over his shoulders as he slips along after, not as accurately as Leo's lead but he's not the one taking lessons here. It's not difficult for him to be quiet though, and he's mainly watching to see how Accelerator handles himself with the replacement crutch.

At least something like that, Donnie can manage to maintain longer than other mystic-tech facsimiles. A crutch isn't too much different from his bō and much simpler than a battle shell, so he's confident it's not going to snuff out and leave the esper without support.]

[levelshift]

[It goes only slightly better this time. Accelerator's a fast learner, though there's only so much one can do when you're lacking years of built-up muscle, flexibility and balance that normal people would've developed from athletics. The crutch being retractable makes his life a whole lot easier, though - it's much less cumbersome and partially retracting it makes balancing in a crouch or on his knees go a bit more smoothly.

It's still kind of pitiful how bad he is at this, but he at least isn't hopeless.]

[faceguy]

[They get to the end, and Leo turns around with a grin.]

Well, you're definitely gonna win "Most Improved." But your execution was still clumsy.

[To say the least!]

It really would help if we built up your core muscles more... Did they have you doing any kind of physical therapy?

[That's probably an invasive question but Leo doesn't really think of it like that - he may be pretty social but he was still raised as cut off from society as the rest of them.]

[purplexing]

Agreed, that was definitely an improvement. [There is a heavy implication of 'because of my help' hanging at the end.]

I do not say this often but Leo's right- in this instance, it would benefit you to at least do some basic strength training. If you did have physical therapy it seems like it was the bare minimum if that.

[They're helping. ....]

[levelshift]

[God, he's pretty sure he's never going to get this. Getting only an 'improved' when he's who he is is like some kind of sick joke. No doubt the universe is laughing at him right now.

At least Accelerator doesn't really care about the subject of physical therapy. It's relevant, and the whole recovery process isn't something he feels like he needs to hide. It was basically one more medical event to add to the pile that makes up his life, just with more complicated reasons behind it.]

I did it when I was in the hospital, but after I got out I didn't bother keeping up with it. Once I got the hang of walking around with the damn crutch it didn't feel like I needed anything else.

[Obviously he was fucking wrong about that.]

I'm not about to start doing fucking gym class at school - [He's going to get a doctor's note to avoid that nonsense if he needs to] - but I can start walking around more.

[faceguy]

[Leo doesn't have anything readily available to throw at Donnie's forehead and so he just gets a tongue stuck out at him for that specification.]

Eh, I don't think gym class would give you what you need, anyway. It's mostly just playing games.

[Leo loves it, don't get him wrong, but it's not really what he's thinking of for Accelerator.]

Walking's good! Regular stretching would be great. Maybe fit a few sit-ups in there somewhere?

[purplexing]

[He'll throw a smirk back at Leo.]

Yeah, that much is obvious. [Just bluntly confirming they'd figured as much after
Accelerator admits he hadn't kept up with his own physical therapy.

There's just a small frown as the things dip into school talk, which Donnie plays off by busying himself with his computer.]

...mmhm, walking, stretching, sit-ups, maybe some arm work. Doesn't even have to be heavy weights or anything.

[levelshift]

[This. This is how he's going to die, doing sit-ups because these two recommended them. He is one hundred percent sure of this. He scrubs a hand down his face, taking a moment to accept his inevitable demise, before glancing between the two turtles. What's with the sudden interest in his computer? He can't really tell if that's Donnie being Donnie.]

Fine. When this kills me I'm going to blame you two.

[faceguy]

[Leo notices too, but unlike Accelerator, he has a guess. Sure, it's normal for Donnie to drop out of a conversation to play with his phone or computer, but Leo has a feeling that he's doing it this time specifically because school got brought up again.

He's still determined to get him there, but he's not going to talk about it with Accelerator here. Good thing there are other avenues of discussion.]

A few sit-ups won't hurt you, you big baby. Yeesh, for a guy who can allegedly tank a nuke you sure aren't intimidating.

[purplexing]

Believe it or not, this is to minimize the possibility of dying by embarrassingly mundane means.

[What's the point of being able to brush off a bomb when you couldn't dodge a punch?]

So how's the crutch working for you? Anything it needs adjustment-wise?

[levelshift]

.....................

[It's probably never not going to feel weird that neither of them are intimidated (though the noogie didn't help). And in the interests of not wanting to argue that point (despite knowing he should), he just goes silent and looks down at the crutch, fussing with it a bit more.]

It's fine. It could stand to be a little more stable where it hits the ground.

[faceguy]

[Leo nods along with Donnie's assessment. It would definitely ruin Accelerator's reputation if he died from something boring like that.

Crutch adjustments are not something he can really help with, though, so Leo pulls up the blueprints on his phone and gives them another look over while Accelerator and Donnie talk about it.]

[purplexing]

It'd probably make more of a difference if it has some actual weight to it, but I shall make note of it.

[He flips his goggles down to get more supplementary information from its readings, mostly measurements.]

Anyway, that's about all I can do on my end for now. Then you'll have to make do with this thing until I fabricate something you can actually use practically. But for now, work with that.

How 'bout it, Leo? We do an actual run-through? [He look over at his brother.] Or maybe a once over so we have a feel for where things are going to be before we try ninja-moding it up.

[levelshift]

Alright. [Donnie is already doing a lot here, so he isn't going to complain and will just keep fussing with the crutch to get used to it. It's a pretty damn decent substitute, so he doesn't have too much more in the way of feedback.

More interesting is that Donnie will be able to pick up on a field that's concentrated a few centimeters above Accelerator's skin before dissolving. It's sort of similar to his reflection, in that its effects seem to be a bit of a force pushing away from Accelerator.]

[faceguy]

Yep, once through and then we'll ninja it up. [Leo puts his phone away again, headed toward where he's set up his fake tape walls. Anything weird to be seen here? He doesn't know her.]

Don't use your collar for this, Accy, we'll save it for the final run.

[purplexing]

[Donnie's briefly paused in his computer tapping, his attention having been caught by something else. His brows go up before he frowns to himself, his focus shifting more towards Accelerator than the mystic-tech crutch although outwardly he doesn't change his position.

Well, it's not a weird glowing fireball ringed in creepy red arrays but whatever's emitting from Accelerator is subtle at a glance but has a lot more going on there once he fixates on it to get the readings.

He almost misses what Leo says, but at least he's not the one being addressed then. But he'll bring up the rear again, if only to get a bit more time to not at all creepily study Accelerator's mysterious energy aura while they head back.]

[levelshift]

Yeah, fine. [Even though he'd love to use his ability this time, because he's getting pretty tired. Complaining about it is only going to get more dunking though, so he decides very wisely to keep quiet about it.

It's definitely going to start effecting his performance this time, though. That, and his focus on the mystic tech crutch and trying to suss out any minute improvements that he could give to Donnie. Splitting his attention isn't great, but he figures he needs to right now.

Meanwhile, the readings Donnie is picking up will remain steady and consistent the entire time. There are no fluctuations at all.]

[faceguy]

[He should probably tell them if he's getting tired because Leo has no idea how to account for differences in stamina otherwise... but since he does not Leo forges ahead! He doesn't pay much attention to what Donnie is doing, because Donnie focusing on random things and typing away at his computer? Normal Tuesday.

They get to the start point, and Leo spends a second regaling them with what he thinks will be the best path inside without having to run into too much trouble. He can only hope he's right about this, but outwardly he's all confidence.]

Alright, follow me!

[He's not really doing anything super fancy this time, other than keeping his steps quiet and moving carefully around the "walls" of the fake building. He doesn't want to go too fast so Accelerator can't keep up.]

[purplexing]

[It's been surprising as to just how much Leo's been studying the building layouts, and with the care he's put into this setup, Donnie's willing to trust that his brother has things as nailed down as can be possible. There will be time to reconsider and adjust plans once they actually have a look at the place, but for now, this is fine.

...he might even be a little proud of Leo but he's not going to say something embarrassing like that to his face.

Like Leo, unfortunately Donnie's not paying too much attention to Accelerator's lack of stamina. Donnie keeps his goggles lowered to keep taking readings. It'll also somewhat hide the additional weird glow of his eyes whenever he accesses his bracer computer. It helps that since he'd programmed the thing, he knows it intimately enough that he can interface without getting completely lost in things.

That's kept to the minimum for now, his attention shifting to playing follow-the-leader again as they make their way along the set layout.]

[levelshift]

[He's stubbornly quiet as he listens to Leo's plan. Not having experienced anything else, Accelerator is assuming that strong leadership qualities just come naturally to him. Donnie is scientific-minded, and Leo has his leadership - that seems especially obvious what with all the confidence.

He's going to do his damnedest to keep up, in particular trying to keep the sound of his crutch quiet. There's probably a way to add that to the list of improvements, but for now he's acutely aware of the clacking his normal one makes when it hits the ground, so he'll try to mitigate by being more gentle with it.

It's all very tiring. He has no idea how the two of them do this on the regular.]

[faceguy]

[Not having significant brain injuries definitely helps!

They get to the end of the run through, and then Leo turns around and gives his hands a clap.]

Okay, so that's it! I guess this is the part where I ask if there are any questions, so... any questions?

[This is what leaders do, right? Is he even doing this right? He sure is trying!

This will be his first attempt at a mission without Raph around to cover for him if things get dicey, his first attempt at a mission where he's actually trying to lead (and there aren't world-ending stakes). He wants everything to go right and for them to get what Donnie needs without incident. He wants to at least look like he knows what he's doing in front of Accelerator. So he tries.]

[purplexing]

[Donnie's instantly gone back to tapping at his holo-interface again, adding in some notes on observations he'd made whenever he was watching Accelerator, like how the esper angled himself or the crutch, the force he was putting on the implement at given points. He's not aiming just to make a new crutch just for a stealth mission, after all.

It also keeps him from giving weird looks at Leo because he knows that probably won't help when his brother is clearly trying to take the lead on this. It's a huge difference from how they've usually run missions, and not only because Raph isn't there calling the shots.]

I think for the most part it's pretty straight forward. What's going to throw it off will be guards and security camera placement. The latter won't be a problem though, at least, although it'd still be good to keep in mind the locations.