MARCH TDM

[monstertruckers]

code

After tumbling through shadow you find yourself in a shrouded, ruined garage. It’s full of shattered windows and broken mechanical equipment, with all sorts of sharp edges to watch out for. Between that are strange symbols scrawled into the ground. Outside is cloudy weather and the beginnings of a storm flickering and rumbling.

Beyond the rundown garage is a rundown gas station surrounded by rolling, grassy hills. Close by is a Convoy of vehicles, either parked or driving up to station.

01: SUMMONING CIRCLE

This time the summoning circle and car garage is attached to retro diner, and an old wind turbine, barely still spinning and providing fading power. There’s also a broken radio playing a message about Nirvana and imploring people to head north. In fact, there’s a large amount of broken electric equipment in here and spitting sparks.

A fan circles overhead, stirring those sparks and creating a breeze. Trails of paper are attached to the fan, spinning lazily about. If Drifters choose, they can easily retrieve those paper talismans with little more than a slight static shock. While the paper is tattered and smeared with ink and blood, the following can be made out: “Broken in two […] Nothing to lose-“ “Moon mourns, call her down, ease her pain-“ “Need […] Better vessels from afar. Stronger souls-“ “Imbue with moon sigils, Give blessings of moon, share her pain. Put the ritual right.”

Hard to say what that all means, but it seems to have something to do with the summoning circle here. And there’s lingering power crackling through the building. The sort that makes the lights flash and flicker… And line up eerily with flashes of thunder on the horizon.

02: START UP

New arrivals will have a similar experience to before; a Convoy waiting outside for them, and a collection of vehicles, one of which feels like it belongs to them. The key to the vehicle may already be in the ignition, on the dashboard… It may have even been on their person, ever since they woke up in that garage. Either way, Drifters have the keys to the vehicle now.

…But there’s a few rough edges on these vehicles. Flat tires, cracked windows and mirrors, maybe some stuck doors and locks; all of them requires two pairs of hands and supplies. The garage can take care of the supplies… Now it’s just a matter of finding some extra hands.

03: STORM WARNING

There’s something odd in the sky; it shifts between a dark cloud, and a collection of birds. As the thing draws closer, it clearly becomes a mix of both. Car-sized, dark feathered birds and skeletal avians fly in a thundering flock, and turn the sky stormy in their wake. That alone is bad… But what’s worse is how the shiny chrome of the Convoy and vehicles draws the birds. As they dive towards the ground to snatch at the shiny metal, they pull the storm and bring a tornado with them. The Convoy does its best to anchor to the ground, but lighter vehicles and Drifters might not be so lucky.

The garage and diner takes it worst of all: the electric devices start spitting sparks and can even act as homing beacons for lightning strikes if a Drifter with electric abilities gets too close to them. Any remaining, intact windows shatter as the storm winds pick up, pelting Drifters with razor shards. And water starts pouring in, further shorting electric equipment and soaking anyone to the bone. There’s even a strange droning, siren like noise to warn about the storm and cut into one’s hearing. It’s difficult conditions for anyone caught up in the blow-out.

04: WEATHERING

Once the main force of the storm hits, the following happens:
Diversion: Those with Fast cars can drive away from the station and divert the birds. They’ll want a second Drifter to come along; either to snipe at the pursuing birds, or keep eyes on the terrain! Eventually the birds will tire or get culled enough that the storm disperses.
Updraft: There is the risk of getting swept up in the tornado winds. Damage, injuries… And a particular quirk this storm has. Drifters who spend more than a minute in the storm winds will find that they begin to take on traits from the Harpy monster. These traits increase in potency if the Drifter experiences hunger or violence. As the weather clears and days become calmer, the traits fade.
Downburst: If Drifters get slammed into the ground by the storm, or the dark birds flying about. They may also find themselves drenched with rain. Any injury they take mends quickly, but is replaced with scales, as the Drifters begin to resemble a Naga monster. These changes grow worse if they tell lies, but disperse with the storm.
BIRDS: The birds themselves are vicious: those afflicted with Naga traits are seen as prey, while Harpies are seen as rivals. The birds are deadly, but also clumsy if forced to the ground. The screens on the Convoy recommend crippling the wings before finishing the bird off on the ground.

04: MONSTER SHIFT, NAGA

This month, Drifters will have access to the serpentine Naga. On top of all Naga species traits being available, the following occurs:
+Cold Blooded: the rain and storms can potentially make Naga slow and sluggish, or inclined to sleep or seek out other heat sources to gain energy; this includes basking in body heat from others!
+Water Divert: With their water shaping, Naga can divert falling rain and even ground saturation to make the area or other Drifters more dry. They can also concentrate water into different areas, and can also change water into mist or ice.
+Blue shift: the scales of Naga become more vibrantly blue, or a strange mottled combination of blue and stormy gray, the more intense the rains become. These scale colors can also reflect their moods.
+Extra arms that are painful and disorienting to grow, and can result in coordination issues.
+Scale Pains: Pain and discomfort when scales grow in, as well as fangs or talons!
+Water glide: during floods from the rains, Naga find they can easily traverse deep water as though they were simply walking (or slithering) across it.
+Thermal vision, making it easy to track others in the middle of storms. Vision may also become disorienting, and eyes become slitted.

04: MONSTER SHIFT, HARPY

The storm will bring a second monster this month, in the form of Harpy. On top of all Harpy species traits being active, the following occurs:
+Storm Rider: high agility and capable of flying through the storm winds without hindrance. Even tornadoes can be mastered!
+Feather pains: itching, or full pain when growing feathers or wings. Talons may also be painful when growing from fingers or from feet.
+Wind Affinity: able to shape wind, including diverting the worst of the storm winds, or summon and focus wind into razors.
+Warbling Voice: words may waver and slip into something more songlike, or even a damaging sonic scream if emotions are heightened.
+Height Call: a need to get higher into the air, whether through perching on buildings or the convoy, or through flight. A sense of euphoria as they go higher.
+Nest Building: a compulsion to create a nest out of spare and soft objects, and feeling more safe inside that space.
+Heightened vision like a bird of prey, able to pick out details even at great distance. This may be disorienting at first, as vision becomes telescopic.

05: RAIN, SHINE, OR SALVAGE

Upon culling enough birds, the storm disperses. The monster avians dissolve as they drop into streams of energy, feeding into Drifter Sigils and providing limited healing. And handful remain intact when they hit the ground and can be harvested for meat, feathers, and possibly even talons.

There is one extra problem, in the form of falling debris. After being pulled up into the sky, wreckage (and possibly stray Drifters) are going to drop back down. It’s advised to look out for falling objects and people. It might be possible to salvage something in the form of scrap metal for any vehicle repairs, but such a task requires two.

06: STORM SHOT

The storm can be dispersed in one of two ways. One is waiting the storm out. The second is a battered collection of machines melted into the roof of the garage and gas station. When touched they burn the hands of Drifters, but also fire a jolt of lightning into the storm. One shot lessens the effects of the storm, repeated shots completely disperses the weather.

In the aftermath of the storm, something different rains from the sky in the form of glowing, quicksilver feathers. These feathers can suppress one avian or serpentine trait for a month, and can also drain away any Naga or Harpy changes from the event completely.

Alternately, the feathers will allow Drifters to temporarily access flight for one day. Doing so completely robs the feather of its magic: only one effect can be chosen from a feather.

MICRO ENCOUNTERS:

PLEASE NOTE! These are small bits of set dressing for players to include in threads if they wish, rather than full fledged prompts or events. You may handwave your exploration of these areas, or thread them out.

Windy Days: Preceding the storm are gales of strong winds, enough to stagger Drifters or send them staggering into other people or other vehicles.

Diner Is Served: While the retro diner attached to the garage has only limited food stores, curiously there is a respectable amount of cooking equipment that can be plundered. Portable stoves, pots and pans, spoons, and the like are all available for the taking.

Fading Storm: In the aftermath of the storm, the garage and diner look like they’re on their last legs, barely held up by their shelving. Anyone who wants to try salvaging had better move fast and carefully, before the entire thing comes crashing down.


NAVIGATION || RESERVES || APPLICATIONS

Comments

[purplexing]

He hadn't even realized the terrible cacophony of sounds had finally ceased until a different sort of sound cut through the stillness, the distant but clean scrape of metal. He drags in a breath, his vision hazy as he opened his eyes. Water pools around him, mixed with fragments of glass from the windows that had blown out, but at least it seems the rain's stopped, and the winds aren't as fierce. With a hiss he tries pushing himself up from beneath one of the diner tables where he had been clinging to after he'd been caught up by a sudden deluge of water that had poured in. It's almost tempting to just lie back down, exhausted as he is.

Wait, someone's there. Calling out. Donnie sees it, movement, someone just beyond the booth he's wedged between.

...not just someone.

Crawling out from beneath the table takes some effort, especially when his arms protest right down to his finger...tips. No, not thinking about that now. His everything hurts, but desperation spurs him. Deep inside he'd been still hanging onto that fragile thread of hope that this might all just be an awful dream after all, but that's his brother there, that has to be!

"L...eo..?"

It's not as clear an attempt as he would have liked, even without the pause. His tongue feels thick in his mouth, like some foreign thing. But he stares, momentarily forgetting any pain as he looks at the turtle who walks the diner floor. At first he could have thought perhaps his sight was still adjusting, but something about his brother's tone looks horribly off. But with his back turned, Donnie can see it, that crack that mars his brother's shell. It had been bad enough to look at when he'd had to treat it himself, so seeing it so bare and without anything covering it is just wrong to him. Still, Leo moves as though unbothered.

[faceguy]

The crack doesn’t hurt, and that’s the weird thing about it. Sometimes, Leo wishes it would, because at least that would conform to his understanding of reality. He’s scared of what it means, that he doesn’t feel it.

But speaking of things that don’t conform…

The voice is one he recognizes easily, even though it hesitates and cracks a bit. It hasn’t been long enough for Leo to start forgetting the faces and sounds of his family, not when he thinks of them every day and every night, pressing on the bruise of his homesickness. He knows who that is.

But it isn’t supposed to be him. He isn’t supposed to be here.

Leo turns slowly, the sigil on his right shoulder, not yet fully formed, pulsing for a moment in the dim light before fading away. He peers owlishly in Donnie’s direction, taking in his crouched form, and the fact that something seems… a little off.

But that’s Donnie. There’s no mistake.

But he’s not supposed to be here! That’s why Leo did it! So that his brothers, so that everyone could get their happy ending!

If Donnie’s here, then… then…

Leo’s brain simply can’t process it. The whole thing feels so surreal and absurd and wrong that a laugh slips from his lips, short and high and manic.

“Oh great,” he says aloud, “now I’m seeing things.”

Then he turns around to leave. Not today, Satan Evil Calzone in the Ground!

[purplexing]

That's not the reception Donnie is hoping for, much less expecting. But maybe it's fair enough. This whole place is impossible. There's no reason for any of it to be real, or for Leo to expect to see him, just as much as there's little reason Donnie should have expected to see Leo, save that someone had said he was here.

The brush off hurts more than anything he's feeling in his limbs or his back. Panic spikes as his brother turns away from him.

"Leo, no, wait-"

He lurches forward, trying to push to his feet, except there's something wrong with his legs, and his already weak arms don't do much to keep him from collapsing onto the wet floor again with a pitiful groan. "-stupid equilibrium!" he growls in frustration, although something to it comes out more of a hiss. "We should not be having any complica....tions..."

As he twists around he sees it then, the problem. His legs just...aren't legs, but some long sinuous thing and the end's still curled tightly around the table post. The frustration melts away into something colder, and Donnie can only stare, uncomprehending as his mind blanks.

[faceguy]

Leo does stop when Donnie calls to him. It’s a hallucination or a trick or something, something, and even if he knows that logically, because this place loves messing with him, he can’t just walk away from Donnie when he sounds so scared.

Against his better judgment, he turns back around.

Just in time to clock the same thing Donnie does.

If anything, the snake tail makes it feel less like a hallucination, because why would he imagine that? And it lines up with what he’s seen from others, when they get caught in the rain. So this… really is…

But it can’t be, because then what was it all for!? Why did Leo go through all that pain, why did he die, if his family ends up in this purgatory with him?

Leo feels a harsh sting in his eyes, his chest tight, but he can’t leave, not when Donnie looks so scared. No, never. Even if it turns out to be a hallucination after all, and he gets eaten by a naga.

He comes closer, holding out his hands. “Shoot, Dee… Okay, it’s… it’s okay, it’s fine, this… this is probably temporary?”

It’s probably not reassuring how unsure he sounds.

[purplexing]

The 'probably' to that is not at all reassuring, no. Donnie keeps staring, his breath quickening as he takes in the tail that by all logic should not be attached to him where are his legs?!

The only upside is that Leo's come back towards him, so far as he can tell by his voice. He wrenches his eyes from the serpentine tail, looking at Leo like he's not sure whether he should laugh or be crying right now.

"Wh...this isn't real, is it?" He finally looks at his hands and the claws that have grown out from his fingertips, a broken laugh slipping from his lips. "This isn't okay, this is far from okay, there's got to be a completely reasonable explanation for...for all of this..." he blurts, already losing steam on that argument as the words come out.

[faceguy]

Leo isn’t sure, either. Honestly, he’s still hoping none of this is real.

“It’s magic, it doesn’t have to make sense,” he says. Not to be dismissive, but it is what it is.

“Just… try to calm down, okay? Your legs will probably come back once the storms are over.”

There’s that “probably” again.

[purplexing]

Magic, of course. For all that he's gotten used to it Donnie still has his hangups.

"How am I supposed to calm down?! We're in some weird, unknown, abandoned place that is Definitely Not New York and I have a snake tail!!"

His tongue slips in and out to prove another point, making him slap a hand over his mouth. Ohhhnonono... This isn't right, magic or not.

The scales along his tail shift into dulled grays like the storm clouds that have begun to disperse above, tail itself finally loosening from the table post to coil tightly around himself. It's weird and unsettling but its still him and that makes it even moreso. But there's nothing he can do about it, and Leo's been oddly...calm? himself about the whole thing. Exhaustion reasserts itself, and Donnie slumps, loosening his aching arms just a little from the ball he'd tried to make himself.

"...I hate this."

[faceguy]

If it really isn't Donnie, the likeness is uncanny. Leo can't help the fond smile that flits across his lips, even if it feels a little mean to smile in the face of Donnie's misery. Because he gets it, really. Even if he's been lucky enough to stay mostly turtle right now, the last time he fully turned...

Better to not think about it!

He's not calm at all, not really - he's still not sure why Donnie is here, and also why Donnie isn't a little more curious about why he isn't dead (ouch, don't think about that too long), but maybe he can forgive him if the tail and the weird scenery have taken precedent. It's definitely a weird situation.

"Yeah, that happens sometimes. People here turn into freaky monsters, there's a mysterious radio message telling us to go to Nirvana... The whole thing is whack."

Not at all "cowabunga, man".

"It's gonna be okay, though. I promise. I'll... I'm gonna figure out how to get you out of here."

[purplexing]

Donnie's just having a bit of a mental equivalent of the BSoD. He's not sure why Leo's smiling but it makes him pout. But then he remembers Leo's been here longer...

He tries to straighten up again, looking miserably over at his brother as he listens to their less than ideal circumstances. It's hard to believe that things will be okay, but... Leo hasn't given up here. Has he? No, there's something wrong with those words, and for the moment Donnie can't quite work out why.

He sweeps the back of his hand across his eyes because he refuses to go through that again. Leo's here now, so that's...that's something. And he hasn't had any of them. While Donnie's not that great with empathy, his own experience in thinking he'd been alone and caught in some madness of a storm in an alien world is still fresh in his mind.

Having an entire lower half that is just tail is still taking some getting used to, but Donnie manages to loosen himself enough to try and move closer to his brother. He'd almost lost him once, and he'd never let it happen again if he can help it. The lack of coordination has him more or less throwing himself at Leo for a hug than anything else, and for once he's glad he doesn't have the extra bulk of a battle shell to worry about.

[faceguy]

Whoa, okay-

Donnie suddenly has his arms around him, and for a moment Leo feels stunned in place. Some part of his brain, the one that still suspected this was all a hallucination, or some kind of trick, wasn't expecting Donnie to be able to touch him. Maybe some part of him also thought he simply couldn't be touched anymore. It's not like many people have tried.

But Donnie is touching him, arms around him for a hug, and suddenly it hits Leo that Donnie is really here, and that he's not alone, and that he's being hugged for the first time in forever and this is really real.

He shouldn't want it. He shouldn't enjoy it. Donnie isn't supposed to be here. Donnie was supposed to be at home, getting his happy ending. Only Leo is supposed to be here, because this is his afterlife, his punishment.

He shouldn't want this. Only a monster would want this.

But oh, he's missed Donnie so much he aches with it.

He hesitates only a second longer before his willpower splinters, and he's suddenly clutching Donnie back, tight like Donnie will disappear if he doesn't. Donnie doesn't quite feel right - Leo isn't sure if it's the lack of battle shell or the weird snake traits or the time apart - but it's still the brother that Leo remembers, that his arms remember, his heart remembers.

His heart which, if Donnie leans in close enough to listen

is beating

very

s l o w l y .

[purplexing]

That slight hesitation of a response makes Donnie feel terrible. Really though, why would Leo want to hug his gross snake brother? That's totally not a sniffle that slips from him, just like the shaking isn't from him being scared or anything. He's just cold. ...that's not completely a lie.

It seems like the longest of seconds before he feels his brothers arms start to wrap around him. Something still feels off about it, or maybe Donnie's still just chilled from the storm. Leo's arms tighten around him and although he can't help for a slight wince as it sparks those annoying points of pain, but he doesn't care right now.

It's weird, how much he's missed this. Given Leo's state once they'd pulled him free of the Prison Dimension, the hugs thereafter have been far and few. That fact does tug at him, and he remembers that crack in the shell, bare and for all to see. At first the dull, slow thud that he hears doesn't register. But with the stillness that eventually follows, he opens his eyes, listening. He doesn't need medical equipment to tell him that's not a good BP reading, and its with a brow furrowed in concern that he lifts his head, looking up at Leo.

[faceguy]

Leo would feel terrible himself, if he knew his hesitation made Donnie feel like he was gross. He's not gross, and Leo would never want him to feel that way, feet or no feet. He loves Donnie. He just wishes this wasn't the way they met again...

He holds on to Donnie until Donnie starts to stir, lifting his head from where they're leaned into each other. Leo moves his head so he can see Donnie's expression, confused about why Donnie is giving him such a worried look.

Okay, well, maybe not that confused. He knows he looks... not great. Besides the pallor of his skin, his cheeks are getting increasingly gaunt, his hands bony.

He winces.

"Uh, something on my face?"

[purplexing]

Donnie would sit back again if he could, but his lower half is literally a giant noodle. Leo will unfortunately have to do the supporting for the time being, as he's pretty sure he'll just slip and smack face-first against Leo's plastron if he attempts to move himself any further.

But now he takes the details in. Leo hadn't looked nearly so bad when he'd last seen him, even if he was mainly a bundle of bandages in a bed.

"...you said people turn into monsters here." And you've been here at least a month... "Leo, what happened to you..?"

Even as he asks, it's one of those rare times when he doesn't think he wants to know the answer.

[faceguy]

Leo can support. Despite his sickly looks, he's as strong as usual.

He keeps a hold on Donnie as he moves to look, and a part of him wants to duck away, so Donnie can't see. But there's not really any point in it, when they're this close, so he doesn't, keeping his chin lifted almost defiantly as Donnie gets a good long look.

Then he asks what happened, and Leo just... stares, for a moment, because what kind of question is that?

"...Yeah, people turn into monsters here," he says, matter-of-factly, because it just is. Doesn't make it not scary, but...

"But, uh... I mean, isn't what happened to me kind of self-explanatory?"

Donnie was there, after all. Well, maybe not there there, but still...

[purplexing]

The stare only gets a confused look. Donnie had thought it a valid thing to ask. After all, who knows what all Leo's been up to and what all he's had to deal with here?

"...did...you not get dropped in with bandages at least..?" For all his gauntness, at least Leo didn't seem to have any broken bones or bruises. "We...should try closing up that crack again."

Would it help? He doesn't know. He doesn't know and that scares him, but he's not sure he's ever stopped being scared since the storm hit. ...he should probably get off Leo to have a better look at things, but his brother still feels somewhat warmer in comparison to the floor.

[faceguy]

Bandages? Closing up the crack again? What is Donnie even talking about?

Leo probably looks just as confused as Donnie does, now. What his brother is saying to him doesn't make any sense. He's talking like... like...

Leo just doesn't know. It doesn't compute. There's some missing link here, that Leo doesn't see.

"...Uh, yeah," he says, a beat too slowly. "I mean, me and Ruby - uh, one of the girls here - we tried to patch it up, but it just keeps coming undone..."

And he's really not sure what the point of it is, anymore.

"But, I really don't think infection is... like, a thing I have to worry about anymore, so it's better not to waste supplies on it."

[purplexing]

"It's not a waste if it'll close it up!" That desperate edge in his tone sneaks in again, working Donnie up enough to try pushing himself up. That proves a challenge when there's not really any good place within reach to push against aside from Leo. How do snakes do it? But then they normally don't have upper bodies to worry about because it's just...body!

"Monsters and magic and whatever or not, that's...it's no reason to be careless."

He slumps against Leo again.

"We almost lost you once. I'm not letting some stupid place take you again."

[faceguy]

The reaction catches Leo off guard, but not as off guard as...

We almost lost you once.

almost

Leo stares for a moment, his eyes almost blank, as the words and their implications wash over him. What does it mean? What is Donnie referring to?

They did lose him - or rather, he lost them, but he had to, it was the only way...

Leo wraps an arm around Donnie again, much more loosely this time, more on instinct than anything. He's staring somewhere beyond Donnie's shoulder.

"I just meant... I mean, if I'm a... zombie, or whatever I am now, it's probably not a big deal. That's all. You don't have to worry about it."

[purplexing]

In his current position he can't really see where Leo's looking anyway, much less whatever expression it is that settles upon his face. He feels somewhat better with Leo's arm over him, not so much warmer but his brother's never shied away from any such contact. Donnie just looks for anything that can at least be normal between them, some sort of reassurance that not everything has been torn, twisted and turned upside-down.

He tenses at the very suggestion. Is that what it is? Zombies are monsters, but Leo's not out chewing on brains... Something else, then? His monster lore is heavily reliant on movies, comics and video games.

"...you're my brother. It's impossible not to worry."

[faceguy]

Ah…

Leo chokes up at that, his eyes suddenly watering again. Even if he’s dead, they still…

He rapidly blinks his eyes and sighs, like he’s being majorly inconvenienced, even if he doesn’t actually feel that way.

“Fine, fine… If it’ll make you feel better, we can dress it.”

[purplexing]

Family is one of those things that just doesn't seem to need a lengthy explanation or a detailed power point presentation.

Donnie doesn't like that Leo's words and his general attitude have just been so...accepting of everything. Resigned to his fate, away from home, away from the rest of their family. That thought somehow hurts more than anything else, and it prompts Donnie to wrap his arms around Leo again, like he can remind him with another hug, how things are supposed to be, how they'll always be.

"It'll be a start," he says in some attempt at levity.

[faceguy]

Leo gives a little snort, though it still sounds too vacant. He steps back from Donnie, but still keeps one arm on him to support him, the other reaching for his sword.

“Let’s go to the convoy - I have some stuff on the train.”

He slices with his sword, and a portal opens, which will take them to one of the bunk cars.

[purplexing]

Ugh, making him move, how dare you.

Donnie grunts, trying to gather himself up. This is what he gets for never focusing on core exercises.

"The...oh, right." He'd almost forgotten about everything outside of the diner and garage. With how wobbly he still is, trying to get used to the new tail and all, he's glad for the extra hand in keeping him upright. He's even more grateful for the shortcut, which minimizes his having to figure out how snakes move. Watching it on Nature Planet is one thing, putting it into action is completely different!

"So what's the deal with all the cars and stuff out there. -if that dumb tornado carried off the one I replaced the tires on..."

[faceguy]

Leo can’t help but snicker at that. “You already replaced tires? Man, you don’t waste time, do you?”

He helps Donnie through the portal, and soon they’re at the bunk Leo claimed as his. Not that there’s much to tell it’s his - he has meager possessions, after all. There’s some fabric scraps under the bunk, a few random baubles he’s found in other cars and houses, a cap hanging off a nail that says “HOT ROD” in gaudy, flaming font, and, taped to the wall beside the bunk, the picture of all of them, come from the future and across dimensions.

Leo starts rummaging around as he talks.

“It’s called the convoy - the train thing, and all the cars that ride with it. We’re supposed to follow it to some place called Nirvana - probably a trap, but we don’t have any better ideas so far.”

He pulls out a messy roll of bandages, trying to spool them back into something manageable. “Everyone feels a pull to one of the vehicles - mine’s a sweet motorcycle, by the way! Looks like one of the shellhogs, actually. And the train has some kind of shield, so it’s the safest place to be when anything weird starts happening… Here.”

He holds the messy bandages out to Donnie.

[purplexing]

"What else was I supposed to do? You know keeping busy is how I cope!" It just hadn't been as effective since his hands and arms weren't supposed to be handling things like vehicle maintenance just yet.

It's strangely sobering to be brought to a space that isn't familiar in any way. Yet, Leo's made this bunk his own and even with its meager decorations, there's still just enough to make it obvious for those in the know. Donnie finds his lips quirking in a crooked smirk at the cap there. Typical Leo. And then his eyes find the picture, making his chest ache once again with that uncomfortable feeling.

"I guess it'd be pretty tricky trying to get any information from anywhere when there doesn't seem to be much of anything around... Although listening to some mysterious broken-up voice on a radio doesn't exactly sound ideal either..."

Nirvana? Traveling with a convoy to find it? It sounds all sorts of suspicious, if not flat-out weird. "Sounds like a B-movie plot."

Donnie glances over as Leo starts gathering up bandages, frowning although it's hard to tell it's because of the state of the roll or the vehicle situation. "A...pull," he echoes, snout wrinkling. More magic nonsense? "I think I was too busy trying not to freak out to notice."

As Leo offers the bandages, Donnie manages to turn himself around. He seems to have figured out how to balance enough, but he still looks down as he tries to work out what part of his tail should be moving first for him to get anywhere. After a bit of windmilling he makes it...a couple of inches enough to reach out and take the bandages, inspecting them before he nods.

"All right. This'll be easier if you sit down."