[ If no one else has got Raph's analogy, he knows Donnie's got him. He gets the feeling that some of the yelling may be solely for his "we are not dead over here, Raph" benefit, but he won't take offense with that.
Things to think while Raph is fully going ahead and tanking hand damage for what will always be the greater good: anything that may ultimately lead to safer brothers. Also his poor impulse control.
It's a big question. If he wants a tool on Apeshitquest, what might help? Normally he'd vote for making the bad man go boom, but given this whole situation that would probably rain a bunch of acidic goop on everyone. Not optimal. What remains? What's been effective? ]
Might need some lifts in a sec if you can spare 'em! [ If not, he'll make do. Leo's the priority. ] Hunter, dealer's choice. Got a few more glyph thingies you wanna hand out? I'm gonna cover more ground.
[ And considering how much good work those glyphs are doing for them right now, having more to throw down is probably the best bet.
If Belos wants to make his brother issues everyone's problem, then fine. He can have the devoted attention of big brother Raph and his three mystic clones. Lacking the sharp thinking and convenience of a skilled strategist with portals, bullheaded spreading across surface area will have to do. ]
[The whole nest area shakes with the impacts and fight, and purple reaches out for blue.
He jostles and jerks in Donnie's arms as they fly around the area avoiding goop, but there does come a weak pulse in response. Faint but there. It pulses in time with a bottle in all their pockets.]
Glyphs - right, um - I have light, fire, and vines? Which ones do you want?
[ He'll shove a couple of each in Raph's face to be honest; he's already clinging high on the turtle's back, terrified of the room filling with acid goop. What few stray bits of cocoon that have gotten through the shield eat away at his shirt a bit, but do not hurt him at all.
Meanwhile, the acid continues to rise ... except, where those purple and blue colors intersect, it can't seem to get closer? Hell, anywhere the ninpo reaches, the goop can't get in to touch them really. Brotherly magic is much stronger than all of Belos's seething rage.
Those shapes swimming in the goop are definitely turtles. They glow dimly, and several of them try to swarm Leo and Donnie. Another one of them tries to swim up Belos's arm to Raph. There's something plaintive about them - not aggressive.
Belos himself scoffs down at all of them. ]
"My brother abandoned me. Stabbed me in the back. And every single copy of him did the same, eventually."
[ As Raph ascends, some of the goop forms into a more humanoid figure ahead of him. Hunteroid? That is absolutely a shadowy Hunter forming to try to attack him and prevent him from climbing higher. ]
[The yelling is definitely in part of Raph's benefit. A little bit to talk shit at Belos.]
When a brother messes up, you work through it, not murder! With how fast you jump to murdering brothers and children, it really becomes a non-starter for any of them to even attempt to work through things with you! Get some accountability, you're the problem!
[Clones are disposable, don't need lifts for them, they'll come and go as Raph needs.] Hunter, help maneuvering!
[A hand holds onto Leo, the other grabbing his staff, reaching deep into the ninpo. Bigger fabrication, but not too overly complex, it just needs the power. He breathes in, breathes out, pushes through the dizzying feeling. He's fine, he's connected, he's fine.]
[The pieces form after him as he flies away from the soup and any stray arms, combining together before the pieces shoot out to form at Raph's back, large rocket thrusters attaching, complete with a space for Hunter to squirrel himself away as well as controls to help Raph move with more precision and agility.]
[The bike falters for a moment, drops several feet before he gets the control back, solidifies it. He pulls back energy, cancelling the fabrications in other parts of Leo's mind, the spiderhsell, hand moving from the staff to the handle to steer. Thrusters, bike, and supply satchels left.]
[A pulse. A return.]
[A thrumming at his side. He looks down. Wait...would it...?]
[He grabs the potion, tugging off the cap with his teeth and going to try pouring it into Leo's mouth.]
[He hasn't noticed he's fallen low enough for the turtles to get close to the bike. He's a little distracted.]
[ He's straight up just gonna send most of them with the mystic clones anyway. They're not gonna get much distance, but he at least tries to get them a ways further up this arm before they start slapping glyphs down. Surface area. Very important.
Raph feels a way. About so much of this situation, and the past few days, and all the stuff he's heard about Belos to start with. He's angry in a way that goes deeper than impulse, turns to clarity. It's like Anger 2. Which is a new one for him. ]
I'll let you in on this one for free, Phil! I don't even gotta know the whole story! [ What, like he's gonna actually use 'Phillip'? No way. ] They all loved you! You turned on them!
[ He pulls together a big mystic gauntlet. These rocket donations are exactly the ideal setups right now. If Hunter can help on maneuvering, also good. There's still a throat up there somewhere, un-ripped. If he's gotta punch his way through this Hunter-shaped goop puppet first... he's gonna hate that, but it's very rock and a hard place. ]
[Amidst the punching and yelling, goop gooping and evil menacing, something does happen. Donnie empties the potion bottle into Leo's mouth and that ninpo still blips out before a massive pulse goes out from Leo, a blue wave of electrical energy washing over the entire area once.
It bounces the bike up a little higher from the goop flooding in and Leo's eyes open with a faint blue glow first before fading to normal again, his stripes glowing brightly.
He coughs into his hand, sitting up himself and looking around wildly-]
What-
[And then takes quick stock of the situation. Giant evil monster Belos. Raph and Hunter fighting melee, Donnie keeping him out of the way for now, acidic goop rising in the room like a sinking ship.
A white hot incandescent fury fills him, ripping off a last piece of the cocoon shell in his hand and flaring it into a blue-hilted katana in his grip.]
Raph! Hunter! Head's up!
[He moves his hand holding his sword measuring an angle before he swings it hard through the air. That same ozone smell erupts as a sequence of blue portals open all around Belos and countless swords shoot through from all angles at the asshole, but carefully avoiding Raph and Hunter. It's a veritable episode 39 of Utena in here.
It's his brain. He gets to go big all he wants in ways he can't in the real world yet.]
[ Hunter winces on Raph's back - that hurts more than anything else, to be honest - and now there's so much going on it's all he can do to hang in there, protected by Donnie's tech and Raph's everything. Later he can maybe unpack that but -
The giant Belos monster is VERY distracted. First by - Phil, really? That deserves a swat at Raph all on its own. The enormous claws rake across his protective red ninpo, scratching along the surface of it. But even as he claws at Raph, Raph is gearing up for ULTIPUNCH! He's able to catapult forward with Donnie's rockets, as Hunter leans hard into it, pushing them on even faster with a quick combo of ice and fire glyphs. (It's just an explosion, but then again isn't that what rockets are anyway?)
The big red turtle cleaves through the Hunter clone and Belos's neck in a horrible spray of green-black ichor. That monstrous horned face dips to one side, mostly disconnected, but not quite. He gurgles as even more horrible sounds come out of him. And the Hunter clone, well. Spattered all over the place too.
But the ooze begins to reform. Despite the gap in his neck, Belos begins to reattach his head. And then -
And then ALL OF THE SWORDS. So many swords! They whiz past Hunter and Raph safely, instead embedding themselves into Belos like the world's worst tomato pincushion. Some appear to miss ... at first, until they strike one of the many glyphs now scattered around the chamber. Fire burns along the acid pool, setting it ablaze. Ice creeps up Belos's legs and prevents him from moving. Vines block his neck from reforming properly, and the light punches UPWARDS, cracking the ceiling of the chamber as it begins to let the rest of Leo's heart in. No more prison deep away from everything and everyone.
Belos lets out one more horrible gurgle of despair and begins to collapse. ]
[Oh, the amount of relief and joy on his face, a mix of smiling and tears, a pulse of ninpo in return. He keeps an arm around his middle, to keep him stable, but ready to let him go if Leo is willing and able to move.]
[But the relief thrums through him, seeing him aware and here, that he woke up.]
[But oh, there's This Man and his Boldfaced Lies.]
[He watches with immense satisfaction as Raph tears through him, as the swords reign down, as fire and ice spread over him (and really, rockets are just controlled explosions), but he has his twin back, and now there is his own rage to contend with.]
[He flies closer, the purple energy crackling around him because how dare he do this to his twin, how dare he try to hurt Raph, how dare he claim that there was ever a moment he was going to try and love Hunter whose been through enough.]
Take it from someone who knows how you think, Phil. Love is about acceptance. The good and the bad.
[The energy forms into several laser cannons form the bottom of the bike, streaks of red, blue, orange, golden gray, and yellow mixed in with the primary purple.]
You've never accepted Caleb, never looked past him. All you wanted was a target to justify stabbing your brother in the back.
You haven't known what love was like for centuries, if you ever had at all.
[ There he is, and the relief can't be overstated. In general. Very handy in the moment considering Belos's neck reattachment agenda, but mostly in the sense that it's Leo.
Raph sends a pulse of ninpo out in response. And that's the whole point of it, honestly, just to respond. An overflow, an outpouring, warmth and relief so unrestrained that it crackles orange at the edges.
He doesn't worry about dodging the swords. Leo won't hit them. Belos and this chamber are looking on the downswing. Big plus. He doesn't worry about getting another word in. Doesn't feel the need to. Donnie hits the better points, anyway. As long as Hunter wants them, they're his.
(And the other little brothers Belos turned on, the ones who didn't make it, Raph will love too. He always has room.)
He turns his attention over his shoulder for a second. ]
Whaddaya think, bud? Take another swing or help open up that skylight?
[ He considers both appealing and probably doable.
Hunter's got a lifetime of personal catharsis to account for here, is all. If they're coming up on the endgame, he should get a say. ]
[ What DOES Hunter want? This is Leo's fight, but ... it's his uncle. he has the biggest stake after Leo, doesn't he? He should have a choice.
He hunkers down for a moment as the swords and magic and tech all fly around him. Grants himself JUST a second to savor Donnie's words there. Hunter Hamato. What a wonderful name. He's going to write it over and over again in a notebook in cursive with a little smiley face drawn into the O at the end.
Hunter Hamato stares up at his uncle's monstrous form and makes a choice. ]
Raph pulls his fist back again, pours more power into it. Its mystic projection flickers and distorts, settling back into the form of (stop him if you've heard it) a Much Much Bigger Fist. Because he is a good big brother and he heard "destroy him" and he has no objections to that directive today.
Out here looking to help decimate Belos on main with the power of punching. ]
[ That is one HELL of a fist. Combined with one HELL of a laser salvo. The lasers hit first, burning the length of Belos's goopy body. Then comes the first to splatter it into chunks. Belos manages one more scream of rage and agony before the literal one-two punch atomizes him into a fine mist of hateful green.
The acidic goop at the bottom of the chamber drains out. The light returns, above, and the shape of the place slowly begins to return to normal - whatever it is. There are still gooplets here and there scurrying about and making screaming noises, but the brothers Hamato can handle those, right? ]
[Leo still sits with Donnie on the speeder, watching the multi-colored explosion, and then Raph's SUPER ULTRA MEGA HYPER PUNCH.
He smiles a little-] Lookin' good, Raph!
[And then twist his katana the other direction, sending half the swords back the get whatever gooplets are left, and the other half to clear out the rest of the enclosure. Outside is a pleasant blue light with sharp, translucent steps up to various platforms of all the rooms they went through before. The air around is celestial, an open night sky of New York City.]
[Donnie scans the area as the goop splashes out, sending out smaller blasts for anything that looks like its going to escape the swords.]
[The bike flickers.]
[Oh, there it is.]
Hunter, Raph, banishing the fabrication! [A warning, holding it for a few seconds to make sure Hunter has a grip on Raph before banishing the jetpack, bike heading down to the main platform.]
[Donnie isn't graceful in his landing after banishing the bike, mostly making sure Leo doesn't hit the ground first and just]
[Gonna take a minute to breathe, holding onto his twin until Raph and Hunter catches up with their own affection. Trying to ignore the headache that was forming at the base of his skull.]
[ Hunter will just hold onto Raph tightly and have his staff ready for flight if necessary. But mostly, he's hurrying to Leo's side to add into the hug. ]
[Room is all cleared, space opened, and Donnie broke the fall so Leo only kind of gently hits the floor with Don taking most of the fall damage. He stays curled up in his twin's arm - while the potion Don gave him woke him up, it didn't quite refill his empty ninpo tank to start healing everything. So the acid burn scars are still all over him, the slices into his arms and legs and neck are still there. But he's there too.
And then so is everyone else. He feels almost smothered by the affection after so long alone like that.
But that chirp has tears in his eyes. He chirps back. Found.
Leo finally lifts his head enough to look at them all, lingering on Raph. His first time really seeing his big brother himself since Raph arrived in Snek and even he can't quite hide the way his gaze lingers on that bad eye.]
[ HAIR RUFFLE!! Hunter's already tearing up just from that, but now there are group hugs too. He just about throws himself on the pile too, mindful of their injuries. And - oh.
He pulls out the potion he received. ]
We weren't going to leave you like this. I'm - I'm sorry I didn't realize sooner.
[ Another day, another little bit of fuel to put on the things to have a serious talk about re: their issues fire. Raph's gonna put the eye thing to bed then. As much as it can be put to bed.
That's future Raph's deal, though. Bigger orders of business right now.
Never has the twin brand chirping stuff been more of a relief to hear. ]
Some dumb game set our schedule back. [ Fishing out the potion he received to contribute to the potion pool. What if Leo got to be even slightly less tiny and severely wounded-looking actually. (Raph he is not tiny, you're just huge and sentimental.) ] You did good hangin' in there.
[It's more of a quiet laugh, nothing super boisterous. But he takes both the potion bottles offered and sighs looking at them, feeling them pulse with his own ninpo, and the blue edges surrounding Donnie and Hunter.]
You guys found the stuff I put out. Good. [Gonna start downing one of them. The burn scars start gradually healing over with the first one.] I did what I could before he cut me off from everything.
You know how nosy I can be. [Sometimes being nosy is a strength!!!]
[But really, Donnie plans to stay right here, even if it puts him more in the center of the group hug than he usually wants. Nothing dangerous is coming near twin until everything is settled.]
[ Doublestrike of having encouragement turned into joke and being the guy who was too polite to go digging around in the brainspace for helpful hints. Oops.
But this is what teamwork is all about, really. Having people who cover your blind spots and do what you can't or, possibly, won't.
Raph is keeping his rightful place as the careful outside layer of group hugging. What if family and friends... all in arms? This turtle dares to find out. It's also a handy spot to keep an eye out just in case atomizing Belos once was not enough. ]
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Re: THE PIT
Things to think while Raph is fully going ahead and tanking hand damage for what will always be the greater good: anything that may ultimately lead to safer brothers. Also his poor impulse control.
It's a big question. If he wants a tool on Apeshitquest, what might help? Normally he'd vote for making the bad man go boom, but given this whole situation that would probably rain a bunch of acidic goop on everyone. Not optimal. What remains? What's been effective? ]
Might need some lifts in a sec if you can spare 'em! [ If not, he'll make do. Leo's the priority. ] Hunter, dealer's choice. Got a few more glyph thingies you wanna hand out? I'm gonna cover more ground.
[ And considering how much good work those glyphs are doing for them right now, having more to throw down is probably the best bet.
If Belos wants to make his brother issues everyone's problem, then fine. He can have the devoted attention of big brother Raph and his three mystic clones. Lacking the sharp thinking and convenience of a skilled strategist with portals, bullheaded spreading across surface area will have to do. ]
Re: THE PIT
He jostles and jerks in Donnie's arms as they fly around the area avoiding goop, but there does come a weak pulse in response. Faint but there. It pulses in time with a bottle in all their pockets.]
Re: THE PIT
[ He'll shove a couple of each in Raph's face to be honest; he's already clinging high on the turtle's back, terrified of the room filling with acid goop. What few stray bits of cocoon that have gotten through the shield eat away at his shirt a bit, but do not hurt him at all.
Meanwhile, the acid continues to rise ... except, where those purple and blue colors intersect, it can't seem to get closer? Hell, anywhere the ninpo reaches, the goop can't get in to touch them really. Brotherly magic is much stronger than all of Belos's seething rage.
Those shapes swimming in the goop are definitely turtles. They glow dimly, and several of them try to swarm Leo and Donnie. Another one of them tries to swim up Belos's arm to Raph. There's something plaintive about them - not aggressive.
Belos himself scoffs down at all of them. ]
"My brother abandoned me. Stabbed me in the back. And every single copy of him did the same, eventually."
[ As Raph ascends, some of the goop forms into a more humanoid figure ahead of him. Hunteroid? That is absolutely a shadowy Hunter forming to try to attack him and prevent him from climbing higher. ]
Re: THE PIT
When a brother messes up, you work through it, not murder! With how fast you jump to murdering brothers and children, it really becomes a non-starter for any of them to even attempt to work through things with you! Get some accountability, you're the problem!
[Clones are disposable, don't need lifts for them, they'll come and go as Raph needs.] Hunter, help maneuvering!
[A hand holds onto Leo, the other grabbing his staff, reaching deep into the ninpo. Bigger fabrication, but not too overly complex, it just needs the power. He breathes in, breathes out, pushes through the dizzying feeling. He's fine, he's connected, he's fine.]
[The pieces form after him as he flies away from the soup and any stray arms, combining together before the pieces shoot out to form at Raph's back, large rocket thrusters attaching, complete with a space for Hunter to squirrel himself away as well as controls to help Raph move with more precision and agility.]
[The bike falters for a moment, drops several feet before he gets the control back, solidifies it. He pulls back energy, cancelling the fabrications in other parts of Leo's mind, the spiderhsell, hand moving from the staff to the handle to steer. Thrusters, bike, and supply satchels left.]
[A pulse. A return.]
[A thrumming at his side. He looks down. Wait...would it...?]
[He grabs the potion, tugging off the cap with his teeth and going to try pouring it into Leo's mouth.]
[He hasn't noticed he's fallen low enough for the turtles to get close to the bike. He's a little distracted.]
Re: THE PIT
[ He's straight up just gonna send most of them with the mystic clones anyway. They're not gonna get much distance, but he at least tries to get them a ways further up this arm before they start slapping glyphs down. Surface area. Very important.
Raph feels a way. About so much of this situation, and the past few days, and all the stuff he's heard about Belos to start with. He's angry in a way that goes deeper than impulse, turns to clarity. It's like Anger 2. Which is a new one for him. ]
I'll let you in on this one for free, Phil! I don't even gotta know the whole story! [ What, like he's gonna actually use 'Phillip'? No way. ] They all loved you! You turned on them!
[ He pulls together a big mystic gauntlet. These rocket donations are exactly the ideal setups right now. If Hunter can help on maneuvering, also good. There's still a throat up there somewhere, un-ripped. If he's gotta punch his way through this Hunter-shaped goop puppet first... he's gonna hate that, but it's very rock and a hard place. ]
Re: THE PIT
It bounces the bike up a little higher from the goop flooding in and Leo's eyes open with a faint blue glow first before fading to normal again, his stripes glowing brightly.
He coughs into his hand, sitting up himself and looking around wildly-]
What-
[And then takes quick stock of the situation. Giant evil monster Belos. Raph and Hunter fighting melee, Donnie keeping him out of the way for now, acidic goop rising in the room like a sinking ship.
A white hot incandescent fury fills him, ripping off a last piece of the cocoon shell in his hand and flaring it into a blue-hilted katana in his grip.]
Raph! Hunter! Head's up!
[He moves his hand holding his sword measuring an angle before he swings it hard through the air. That same ozone smell erupts as a sequence of blue portals open all around Belos and countless swords shoot through from all angles at the asshole, but carefully avoiding Raph and Hunter. It's a veritable episode 39 of Utena in here.
It's his brain. He gets to go big all he wants in ways he can't in the real world yet.]
Re: THE PIT
[ Hunter winces on Raph's back - that hurts more than anything else, to be honest - and now there's so much going on it's all he can do to hang in there, protected by Donnie's tech and Raph's everything. Later he can maybe unpack that but -
The giant Belos monster is VERY distracted. First by - Phil, really? That deserves a swat at Raph all on its own. The enormous claws rake across his protective red ninpo, scratching along the surface of it. But even as he claws at Raph, Raph is gearing up for ULTIPUNCH! He's able to catapult forward with Donnie's rockets, as Hunter leans hard into it, pushing them on even faster with a quick combo of ice and fire glyphs. (It's just an explosion, but then again isn't that what rockets are anyway?)
The big red turtle cleaves through the Hunter clone and Belos's neck in a horrible spray of green-black ichor. That monstrous horned face dips to one side, mostly disconnected, but not quite. He gurgles as even more horrible sounds come out of him. And the Hunter clone, well. Spattered all over the place too.
But the ooze begins to reform. Despite the gap in his neck, Belos begins to reattach his head. And then -
And then ALL OF THE SWORDS. So many swords! They whiz past Hunter and Raph safely, instead embedding themselves into Belos like the world's worst tomato pincushion. Some appear to miss ... at first, until they strike one of the many glyphs now scattered around the chamber. Fire burns along the acid pool, setting it ablaze. Ice creeps up Belos's legs and prevents him from moving. Vines block his neck from reforming properly, and the light punches UPWARDS, cracking the ceiling of the chamber as it begins to let the rest of Leo's heart in. No more prison deep away from everything and everyone.
Belos lets out one more horrible gurgle of despair and begins to collapse. ]
1/2
[Oh, the amount of relief and joy on his face, a mix of smiling and tears, a pulse of ninpo in return. He keeps an arm around his middle, to keep him stable, but ready to let him go if Leo is willing and able to move.]
[But the relief thrums through him, seeing him aware and here, that he woke up.]
Re: THE PIT
[He watches with immense satisfaction as Raph tears through him, as the swords reign down, as fire and ice spread over him (and really, rockets are just controlled explosions), but he has his twin back, and now there is his own rage to contend with.]
[He flies closer, the purple energy crackling around him because how dare he do this to his twin, how dare he try to hurt Raph, how dare he claim that there was ever a moment he was going to try and love Hunter whose been through enough.]
Take it from someone who knows how you think, Phil. Love is about acceptance. The good and the bad.
[The energy forms into several laser cannons form the bottom of the bike, streaks of red, blue, orange, golden gray, and yellow mixed in with the primary purple.]
You've never accepted Caleb, never looked past him. All you wanted was a target to justify stabbing your brother in the back.
You haven't known what love was like for centuries, if you ever had at all.
We'll show Hunter Hamato what its really like.
[And then he fires.]
Re: THE PIT
Raph sends a pulse of ninpo out in response. And that's the whole point of it, honestly, just to respond. An overflow, an outpouring, warmth and relief so unrestrained that it crackles orange at the edges.
He doesn't worry about dodging the swords. Leo won't hit them. Belos and this chamber are looking on the downswing. Big plus. He doesn't worry about getting another word in. Doesn't feel the need to. Donnie hits the better points, anyway. As long as Hunter wants them, they're his.
(And the other little brothers Belos turned on, the ones who didn't make it, Raph will love too. He always has room.)
He turns his attention over his shoulder for a second. ]
Whaddaya think, bud? Take another swing or help open up that skylight?
[ He considers both appealing and probably doable.
Hunter's got a lifetime of personal catharsis to account for here, is all. If they're coming up on the endgame, he should get a say. ]
Re: THE PIT
He hunkers down for a moment as the swords and magic and tech all fly around him. Grants himself JUST a second to savor Donnie's words there. Hunter Hamato. What a wonderful name. He's going to write it over and over again in a notebook in cursive with a little smiley face drawn into the O at the end.
Hunter Hamato stares up at his uncle's monstrous form and makes a choice. ]
Take another swing. Just - destroy him.
Re: THE PIT
[ His closure, his call.
Raph pulls his fist back again, pours more power into it. Its mystic projection flickers and distorts, settling back into the form of (stop him if you've heard it) a Much Much Bigger Fist. Because he is a good big brother and he heard "destroy him" and he has no objections to that directive today.
Out here looking to help decimate Belos on main with the power of punching. ]
Re: THE PIT
The acidic goop at the bottom of the chamber drains out. The light returns, above, and the shape of the place slowly begins to return to normal - whatever it is. There are still gooplets here and there scurrying about and making screaming noises, but the brothers Hamato can handle those, right? ]
Re: THE PIT
He smiles a little-] Lookin' good, Raph!
[And then twist his katana the other direction, sending half the swords back the get whatever gooplets are left, and the other half to clear out the rest of the enclosure. Outside is a pleasant blue light with sharp, translucent steps up to various platforms of all the rooms they went through before. The air around is celestial, an open night sky of New York City.]
Re: THE PIT
[The bike flickers.]
[Oh, there it is.]
Hunter, Raph, banishing the fabrication! [A warning, holding it for a few seconds to make sure Hunter has a grip on Raph before banishing the jetpack, bike heading down to the main platform.]
[Donnie isn't graceful in his landing after banishing the bike, mostly making sure Leo doesn't hit the ground first and just]
[Gonna take a minute to breathe, holding onto his twin until Raph and Hunter catches up with their own affection. Trying to ignore the headache that was forming at the base of his skull.]
[Found you. Chirp.]
Re: THE PIT
[ Hunter will just hold onto Raph tightly and have his staff ready for flight if necessary. But mostly, he's hurrying to Leo's side to add into the hug. ]
Re: THE PIT
[ Boss fight: done. Mystic form: dismissed.
Hug time: now. However they get there. Small potatoes, they are Going To Get There.
(Hunter gets a bonus hair ruffle en route because Raph is very proud of him.) ]
Re: THE PIT
And then so is everyone else. He feels almost smothered by the affection after so long alone like that.
But that chirp has tears in his eyes. He chirps back. Found.
Leo finally lifts his head enough to look at them all, lingering on Raph. His first time really seeing his big brother himself since Raph arrived in Snek and even he can't quite hide the way his gaze lingers on that bad eye.]
You guys did it.
Re: THE PIT
[He's careful where his hands are, trying to avoid burns while holding him.] Potions. The potions are his Ninpo, it's why they're so strong.
[Because anything that helps is important.]
Wanted to be here sooner. I'm sorry.
But you're back now. [A pulse of relief, happiness.]
Re: THE PIT
He pulls out the potion he received. ]
We weren't going to leave you like this. I'm - I'm sorry I didn't realize sooner.
[ He offers the potion? ]
Re: THE PIT
That's future Raph's deal, though. Bigger orders of business right now.
Never has the twin brand chirping stuff been more of a relief to hear. ]
Some dumb game set our schedule back. [ Fishing out the potion he received to contribute to the potion pool. What if Leo got to be even slightly less tiny and severely wounded-looking actually. (Raph he is not tiny, you're just huge and sentimental.) ] You did good hangin' in there.
Re: THE PIT
[It's more of a quiet laugh, nothing super boisterous. But he takes both the potion bottles offered and sighs looking at them, feeling them pulse with his own ninpo, and the blue edges surrounding Donnie and Hunter.]
You guys found the stuff I put out. Good. [Gonna start downing one of them. The burn scars start gradually healing over with the first one.] I did what I could before he cut me off from everything.
Re: THE PIT
[But really, Donnie plans to stay right here, even if it puts him more in the center of the group hug than he usually wants. Nothing dangerous is coming near twin until everything is settled.]
You helped a lot. What do you need from us now?
Re: THE PIT
We found them. Yeah. Of course we did.
I'm glad you managed to do that.
Re: THE PIT
But this is what teamwork is all about, really. Having people who cover your blind spots and do what you can't or, possibly, won't.
Raph is keeping his rightful place as the careful outside layer of group hugging. What if family and friends... all in arms? This turtle dares to find out. It's also a handy spot to keep an eye out just in case atomizing Belos once was not enough. ]
Yeah, you did plenty.
Re: THE PIT
Re: THE PIT
Re: THE PIT