You're not the only one refusing to back down

[erhabenheit]

Characters: tic-tech-turtle and erhabenheit [CLOSED]
Location: Deck 4, Carnival
Date: Present, Wednesday night
Rating: PG13 for violence and swearing

Comments

[tic_tech_turtle]

Donatello wasn't looking for trouble, but he was looking for Bass.

He'd shadowed the man's footsteps since he'd run across him wandering - no, not wandering, there was definite purpose in his steps - the halls.

Bass was headed to Carnival.

Don couldn't, of course, know this for certain. He didn't make it a habit to wander in the direction of Carnival, and had only bothered with it to mark it on his mental map before leaving it be. Still. The path was vaguely familiar. And that worried Don.

It felt too much like confronting an enemy on their own territory, honestly, if he ended up having to follow Bass into that apaprent death trap. A hostile place for what Don was hoping would be only a simple talk.

So, Don had three choices. He could follow Bass and see if he veered away from Carnival, he could leave and hope that he ran into him at a later date (which, really, wasn't much of an option considering Don was just angry enough to want a confrontation), or he could make himself known now.

"Bass."

And now it was.

[tic_tech_turtle]

"I can't do that," Don said softly, automatically lowering his voice. He considered asking about the bears, but decided it probably wasn't worth it.

"My little brother was hurt, and I need to know why. He passed out from shock, you know, while I was splinting his hand. Shock and a lot of pain. I spent most of the night making sure he didn't stop breathing on me, and didn't injure his hand any worse because of nightmares. I...realize you may not care about that, but I do, and I need to know what happened to it doesn't happen again."

[erhabenheit]

"Your little brother is a fucking pussy if he passed out over a broken hand," Bass snapped back, famously short fuse already considerably burnt down. "A little pain tolerance will do him good. And I already told you why I did it, so maybe if you don't want it to happen again you should fuck off."

[tic_tech_turtle]

Something in Don hardened a little. That sounded like, that was, a threat on Mike.

"No."

The next words on Don's tongue are more probings about what had happened, because he doesn't quite believe that it was only because Bass felt like it. Oh, it might have been. It was entirely possible that it was. But that was too simple, all at the same time. It didn't quite fit.

But those aren't the words out of his mouth.

"Do you know what a broken bone feels like?"

[erhabenheit]

Ha ha, he struck a chord. Though the threat had been directed more toward Donatello than Michelangelo but it didn't matter; Bass just wanted to aggravate him. "I know what pain feels like. But you're more than welcome to try and re-educate me if you're not convinced."

[tic_tech_turtle]

"I'm not interested."

Yet. The threat may have been targeted at himself, but that hardly registered with Don. It was Mikey he was concerned about.

"But you don't know the type of pain, then? Have you ever experienced shock?"

[erhabenheit]

"How would I know?" Maybe if he headed further into Carnival, this idiot would either get mauled or leave.

[tic_tech_turtle]

"You'd know."

Don went quiet for a few moments, glancing at his surroundings idly as his brain churned away at this.

"Why did you pull my brother back up?"

[erhabenheit]

"None of your Goddamn business." He wasn't moving nearly as fast as last time. The music from the merry-go-round was audible, but still a ways off. Killing the horse hadn't brought any satisfaction, but maybe if he tore the entire thing down he could work out some aggression.

If he didn't decide to turn on this annoyance instead.

[tic_tech_turtle]

Don cocked an eye ridge, filing that reaction away for later.

He didn't say that it was to avoid punishment.

"All right, then. What was Mikey doing that made you feel like goading him into throwing a punch? And then hanging him over the side of the boat?"

[erhabenheit]

"Making too much noise. He was annoying, I fixed the problem and got even."

Bass turned to fix Don with a sharp look. "You like to know how things work, don't you? Question after question after question; drives you nuts when you don't understand something. I know someone like you." He hates someone like you.

[tic_tech_turtle]

"He was outside, where noise is expected. You didn't like that he was playing."

Don ignored the analysis of himself for a moment to make that statement, then shrugged, narrowing his eyes at Bass in something that wasn't-quite a glare. "Perhaps, though in this situation it's more concern that motivates me. Not a lack of understanding."

Though the whole "not understanding" didn't help either, really.

[erhabenheit]

"Right. I didn't like that he was playing within earshot of me, so I stopped him. Then I said a few mean words, and he punched me. If you don't like it, put a leash on him or teach him to walk away." Which Bass was about to do.

[tic_tech_turtle]

"Why didn't you like that he was playing?"

Don resolutely ignored the way Bass had said that, like it was the end of a conversation. He could be stubborn too, when he wanted to be.

He had brothers.

[erhabenheit]

"Look, are you retarded? Because he was loud, he was within earshot, and he annoyed me. What about this isn't getting through your thick fucking skull?

I thought you were supposed to be the intelligent one." Somebody's been creeping on you, Don.

[tic_tech_turtle]

"You said yourself that he should learn to walk away. Why didn't you? What about that bothered you so much?"

Don easily ignored the insult. He had more important matters to pursue.