(no subject)

[polyturtle]

Who| Closed to Donatello and Clara
What| Don drank the water. Oops.
Where| Somewhere on the third floor
When| Week 5!
Warnings/Notes| Death and injuries. And a turtle tripping balls.

Drinking the water had been a bad idea. A bad, bad, bad idea. Even if he had known, at least originally, why he did it. However, at this point his memory of that was a bit shot. Or at least he was too distracted by the giant roombas that were chasing him to remember that.

Yes, giant roombas. They had started out small. But then somehow the Capitol made them very large. Large enough to flatten him like a pancake. So he was running. Running to find a hiding spot. Hiding spots which were looking to be increasingly less likely to find.

So he ran. And heaven help whoever got in his way.

Comments

[seestheman]

Clara doesn't know why she keeps hiding out in the store based on the Detroit she left behind. Maybe it's to find that one little last bit of comfort and home this place has left to give. Maybe it's because the life-sized, creepily accurate replica of Alex's armor lets her imagine that he's still here and keeping her safe.

Whatever it is, Clara's coming back to her current home base with some food she grabbed for overnight. She knows the gates won't be closing for a little bit, but better safe than sorry.

Which is when a turtle runs into her. "Hey! You should watch where you're going."

[polyturtle]

When he ran into her, it was like being hit by a car. It would hurt, a lot.

It took him a moment to recover from his own staggering. Upon recovering and seeing her, however, his bloodshot, dilated eyes widened, and instantly his knife was out.

"...You." The figure on the floor is hazy, difficult to define. He didn't know who it was. But its someone who wants to hurt him. "Get out of my way!"

[seestheman]

It hurts like hell and she's pretty sure she'll be sore in the morning. Of course, that is if she survives until the morning, considering the fact that his knife is out and he seems less than stable.

While she doesn't get back onto her feet, she does sit up. She's seen Don around, of course. Hell, she thinks he might have been there when everyone was worried that Elsa was going to do something dangerously foolish. But she doesn't know him. "Hey, hey, I'm not going to hurt you. You just need to calm down, okay?"

[polyturtle]

'Stable' was not a word in Don's vocabulary this time. He continued to move forward, eyes staring at whoever this figure was. This figure who was very clearly allied with the roombas.

"You want to kill me. You want to feed me to those things." He clenched his knife, and quickly went to take a swipe. "I won't die like that!"

[seestheman]

Clara's sitting upright when the swipe comes up at her, making her fall back onto her elbows. There has to be some way to reason with him. This doesn't need to end with one of them dead, right?

"No, I don't, I promise. Now can you please put the knife away so we can talk about this like sane, rational people?"

[polyturtle]

"I am," at this, Don drew himself to his full height and thrust a finger at Clara. "PERFECTLY SANE! Which one of those things sent you here? Which. One?"

Then, when he got no answer.

"ANSWER ME!"

[seestheman]

"None of them! I promise, no one sent me. You're the one who barreled into me." She pushes herself back a little bit, placing her hand on the hilt of her saber, which sits in a sheath on her hip.

"No one's saying that you aren't perfectly sane, but you're refusing to listen to reason and I can't help you if you don't try talking to me," she says, mostly lying through her teeth.

[polyturtle]

"...Fine." Glare. "You have ten seconds to explain yourself."

[seestheman]

"I was just heading back from grabbing dinner while you ran into me. No one sent me and I have no reason to target you. Now, if you'd just back off, we can both walk away from this. Alright?" Her voice is low, quiet, and as soothing as possible, as if she's talking to a small frightened child instead of an angry, overgrown, bipedal turtle.

"If I stand up, will you let me walk away?"

[polyturtle]

At this point, Donatello might as well have been a small child, so affected by the water he was. Those eyes were still wide, and angry. A sign he didn't believe her, even now.

"What's to stop you from killing me with my back turned?!"

He didn't even stop to think about how illogical that question was.

[seestheman]

It takes all her willpower to not facepalm at his question. Is there a way to answer that without sounding...speciesist? Is that what it'd be? Or something else? No matter, she still protests.

"Your back's much better protected than mine would be if I turned around to walk away from you." That's a classy way to put it, right? "Just trust me, okay? I would never kill anyone in cold blood."

[polyturtle]

"No..." A growl came from Don's throat. "LIAR! Everyone that's left is a killer here! EVERYONE!"

And with that, he was done, and he lunged at her, eyes wide, snarl on his tongue.

[seestheman]

Clara doesn't even think about what she's doing when she draws the saber, all she knows is that her brain is screaming 'He'll kill you, do something!' when it comes out and sinks into the first soft spot that she can think of: his throat. The moment the tip of the blade sinks into his skin, she realizes exactly what she's done. "I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry, please forgive me."

cw: blood

[polyturtle]

Don's eyes almost bulged out of his skill as he felt the sword lodge into his throat. He let out a gurgled gasp as his blood began to pour out.

His carotid artery. She got it. He was going to die; he...he'd been right. But he'd failed.


His legs wobbled from under him, and he fell to his knees. He shut his eyes, tears of shame falling from his eyes at failing Shepard in his promise to her.

"Gnnra..."

[seestheman]

Back in the Capitol, they're probably commentating on how it's a lucky shot or something like that. She doesn't feel lucky, in fact she feels anything but right now. Maybe more like a monster or something like that. She knows that by removing the blade, he'll bleed out faster. Or he should if turtles have veins and arteries like humans. She can't be sure right now.

She quickly debates it. Either way he's going to die, it's just a matter of whether she wants to try to save him and fail miserably or let him go as quickly as possible so he can just get back to the Capitol. Really, the answer's a no brainer.

Clara pulls the sword out with a horrified look on her face before dropping the weapon on the ground as she climbs back to her feet to try to help him get down on the ground as gently as possible. "I'm sorry. I swear, I didn't mean to, but you didn't exactly give me another choice." Of course he did, but it was a choice that she still isn't quite ready for yet. "I'm so sorry, please forgive me."

[polyturtle]

He needed to breathe, but he can't. He needed to say something, anything, but all that came out was a gargle. He looked up at Clara as she let him down, looking more like a frightened kid than the crazed, hallucinating threat he'd been before. But, then again, he still was, in comparison to Clara, a kid.

His hand still held onto his neck as all the blood left his body, until, at last, his hand loosened and went limp, his eyes staring up at Clara with an unspoken fear and shame that he would carry with him to the grave. He died at last.

Again. Again, and again, and...

[seestheman]

Clara wants to scream, to properly mourn him even if she doesn't know him that well, to be able to do anything other than just leave his corpse in the middle of the hallway where anyone can find him. But she can't, the mall will be closing down for the night sooner rather than later and she doesn't want to be left outside.

Instead she grabs her sword and gets back onto her feet, giving the corpse one last apologetic look before sliding the sword back into its sheath. She'll find a way to apologize to him once she's back in the Capitol in a day or so, she decides. But right now she can't focus on that, she needs to get moving before someone (or something, considering the roombas) comes and finds her.