2753/Rooftop Pizza

Rooftop Pizza
Date of Scene:	03 August 2020
Location:	Roof
Synopsis:	Rooftop Pizza is arguably the best pizza!
Cast of Characters:	Terry O'Neil, Donatello, Raphael

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Terry O'Neil has posed:
Certain rooftop terraces were popular gathering spots in the summer. People have this annoying tendency to come up for air when the stifling heat and humidity turns their little abodes into incubators. This particular rooftop is often a place where people come to seek solace from the heat...

Not tonight, though, on account of the freak occurrence of the stairs needing some urgent repairs from where a fleeing supervillain damaged them... and the elevator also needing a bit of TLC from when said suervillain decided the shaft was a great getaway.

Terry happens to know this because... well, he was the one who, earlier today, had been chasing said minor supervillain. Knowing that the rooftop would be inaccessible to the rest of the tenants while repairs were underway, he figured it was time to have a little social time.

He'd sent a message to Don, with the promise of pizza and some R&R.
r<<You can get to the fifth floor? Or do you need special transportation?>>

The Cheshire cat sits at one of the tables, where three boxes of pizza sit, wafting a delectable aroma and some steam- these have come straight from the oven! Which is something you can do, when you can rearrange space at your convenience.

He looks at his phone, to see if Don answers, and then he decides to send a text to check on Harley. Just in case she's setting April up for another thirty Tinder dates behind her back.

Donatello has posed:
    "Of course I can get to the fifth floor," a voice comes from the shadows. It sounds very much like the source is trying to do an impression. An impression of a certain blue-bandana'd brother. After a moment, the impression shifts into a more genuine, quiet laughter. Donatello steps out of the shadows, grinning from earslit to earslit. A plastic six-pack ring holding five sodas dangles from one of his hands, held low at his side.

    "Hey, Terry," he greets. "Hope you like...soda." Donatello's smile briefly contorts to a frown, meant for himself. Hope you like soda? Lame.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Donnie!" Terry is at first startled by the voice (how the hell do they keep sneaking up on him with his cat ears? That's /skill!/) and then he returns the grin with his trademark Cheshire one. He jumps up from the table and walks over to greet the turtle with a squeeze of the shoulder and a deft relieving of the soda pack. "Let me get us some ice! Soda is always good in my book."

He walks over to the table and then opens a Rabbit Hole- the rift in reality revealing a slightly disorderly kitchen and refrigerator. Terry reaches into the rift, opens the freezer, and takes out an ice cube tray. He grabs two plastic cups from the cupboard and sets everything down, sitting.

"It's good to see ya, I haven't seen ya since before the Brainiac nonsense. What's been /up/ with you? Is Raph coming? My boyfriend met your other brother at a pizza place... Mikey? Mikey, right?"

Donatello has posed:
    Donatello falls suddenly quiet as the Cheshire grin appears. He raises his brow and smile-nods politely and hands the bundle of sodas over to Terry. Donnie relaxes once the Cheshire smile turns to walk to the table. The turtle follows behind by a few steps but then speeds up to try and get a closer look at the Rabbit Hole once it appears.

    "Amazing!" Donatello exclaims. He stares at the rift, bobbing and weaving a little bit to try and see the anomaly from as many angles as possible. "Yeah, Raph...Yeah, he's coming. Just a few steps behind me," Donnie absently replies, utterly fascinated with the hole in reality.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry raises an eyebrow, noticing Don's reaction to his grin, and looks a little puzzled. However, when the young inventor becomes mystified with the anomaly, Terry decides to give him a treat. "Hold on, I'll bring it closer to ya."

The Rabbit Hole actually /moves/ towards Donatello, and stops just a foot short of him. The scene on the other side doesn't change. "Peek at it as much as you want. If you want me to try to do something with it, just ask. There's an entrance hole..." he points to the one Donnie is seeing "And there's an exit one on the other side. I can move them independent of each other... but in stressful situations I can't really do long distance, just line of sight. This takes some focus..."

He reaches over and starts opening the pizza boxes, showing off the extravaganza.

"Is... something the matter?" he asks, artlessly, as he starts pouring the sodas into glasses.

Raphael has posed:
"What kind of sorcery is this?" comes the more gruff voice of the one Donatello was just talking about. Raphael, lagging behind just to ensure there would be nobody bothering them, approaches under cover of darkness, squinting through his eye mask at whatever it is the feline is doing with that portal. "I think I seen something like this in a video game once," he adds.

Stopping in front of the table that's set up, he eyes it for a moment and asks, "So what're we doin' up here? Just a random invite to chow down, or is there something more going on? Not that any of us are gonna complain about free food."

Donatello has posed:
    "Isn't it great, Raph?" Donnie eagerly calls over, glancing briefly towards his brother. "It totally blows the lid off of modern science. How's this work, Terry? Is it exploiting the theory that everything is connected already?" The turtle doesn't wait for a response to that, instead choosing to walk around the Rabbit Hole to inspect it from all sides. Suddenly, Donnie's glee wanes a bit. His excited expression fades and he turns his attention back to Terry.

    "Don't say it's magic. Please don't say it's magic," Donnie calls over.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Oh, just a chow down, Raph. I haven't seen you guys since before that Brainiac bull and, after being hooked up to an apparatus to psychically overload some of those invaders, I've needed some R&R. Just catchup and eat-up." He gestures to the pizza and grins, "So eat up. Don and I were just catching up..."

He turns to look at Donatello, and raises his eyebrows slowly. Ah. So that's what...

"Well, Donnie... isn't the saying that a technology sufficiently advanced may seem like magic to others? Take this..." he gestures to the Rabbit Hole, "And think of it as me tapping into a certain level of reality heretofore unknown and undiscovered by current science. Because this is something that comes naturally to me, I can't give you an exact explanation of how the gears turn, but I could grant you the possibility that what some may call 'magic' is potentially a very advanced discipline with its own rules. I certainly can tell you that back in Wonderland, the word 'magic' doesn't quite exist..."

He reaches over and offers Donnie a soda, "But the realm I come from is one that is in constant flux, and it reacts to thought on a lot more concerete levels- unlike here, where it seems to limit itself to a certain quantum level." He tilts his head, "To get this to work I do have to think of where I am and where I want to be as being already connected. Over here they call it...um..." he snaps his fingers and looks at Raph, "I am forgetting the word, but you know what i mean, right?"

Raphael has posed:
Raphael merely squints between Donatello and Vorpal, looking at both of them for a few good, lengthy moments as they go on about things that are well above his level of understanding, or caring for that matter.

His answer is a simple one, probably as simple as can be, really. "Yeah, whatever. I'm just here for the food. Glad that area's back again, though. All that was a little too close to home." Rather than linger on the point, he grabs a slice and tosses it back in one bite.

Donatello has posed:
    "Einstein-Rosen Bridge," Donatello answers matter-of-factly to complete Terry's thought. The turtle folds his arms across his chest, looking unimpressed now that it's been explained that the Rabbit Holes are not engineered.

    "Yeah, I've heard the any-sufficient-technology saying, but I meant that it's not something being engineered. It's not something that comes from the push of a button or something like that."

    Donatello shrugs and takes a slice for himself. As he goes to take a bite, a noise comes from the Shell Phone tucked into his belt sash. He bites down on the pizza slice just hard enough to let it dangle from his mouth so that he can check the screen on the Shell Phone device at his belt.

    "I gotta go. I set up some motion detectors in the dumpster behind the electronics store on 5th. They've been throwing out bulk spools of antenna wire." He looks at Raph. "For the van."

    "I'm sorry, Terry. Thanks for the pizza, dude!" With that, Donnie grabs the slice dangling from his mouth so he can eat it properly. The turtle moves to the edge of the building and leaps off of it and onto the next one. "See ya at home, bro!"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Well, it's... I'm weird. I come from a weird place... but I can tell you about it if helps-"

The alarm goes off, and next thing you know, Donnie is off in search of spool. He gives him a wave as Don leaps off, and then sits down at the table to grab his pizza.

"He sounded disappointed. Didn't he sound disappointed?" Terry asks, grabbing a slice, "I hope he wasn't. What's this van he mentioned?"

Raphael has posed:
"Yeah, later bro," Raphael answers. "Go have fun with your wire."

The red-masked one keeps a watchful, wary eye on the so-called rabbit hole, looking in the direction of whatever's on the other side. "Seeing as how I ain't a nerd, I'm not gonna bother asking you how all that works," he notes, ignoring the fact there was just a discussion about it that he was already able to hear if he would have only tried to follow along. "It's not the kind of thing I'm really here for, but if it works for you, great. And Donnie? I don't think he gets magic, if that's what this is all about."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"It kinda IS magic. But I ... tried to put it in as un-magical way as I could, for his benefit. Don't know if it helped..."

He waves a hand and the Rabbit Hole closes, leaving the space behind looking as if it never was.

"You take a different tack to that sort of thing? You know, magic." He waves his hands in the air, "And all that?"

Raphael has posed:
Raphael frowns. "I'll put it this way. Magic and me, we ain't got an understanding. So if it's magic, it's magic. If it's not, it's something else." One might get the idea he's not the sort to dig too deeply into things beyond his level of comprehension.

"So where'd you get the pizzas?" he asks instead, inspecting the selection.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Giorgio's, obviously. I mean, is there a better place?" Terry leans on the table, "Sure, Angelo's has style, and Cosmic Pizza has the cool name, but when it comes down to brass tacks you can't beat Giorgio's!"

"So... I gotta ask... how did you become ninjas? That's, honestly, the coolest thing to being... well, me." He grins. "I mean, I know a Robin and he might technically be a ninja... but he's not as cool. He can't even eat sugar without getting sick!" he adds conspiratorially, his smile turning a little mischievous, "I mean... c'mon!"

Raphael has posed:
Raphael chomps down on another slice, giving Vorpal a roll of the shoulders. "Don't tell Mikey, but I ain't all that picky about pizza. If it's got a crust, sauce, cheese, whatever else, it ain't gotta be fancy or nothin'."

There's also soda to guzzle, which he does as the cat-person with the strange coloring asks about the whole ninja thing. "We grew up with a sensei who taught us about the ways of the ninja. That's about it," he explains, making it sound as if it's a normal, routine thing to do.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Oh, that makes sense," he says. Perfectly normal, right? "I haven't met Mikey, but I know someone who has. So..." he can't help it, the reporter instict is always a step away for him, "What's life like for a ninja these days? April's known you all this time and I've just now met ya, but if April considers you good friends then it means you're cool. I trust her judgement in everything."

Pause. "Except wardrobe. Say... could I bribe one of you guys to ninja away that awful yellow jacket of hers without her finding out? Nobody looks good in yellow. Nobody," he grins.

Raphael has posed:
"Sometimes I ain't sure we're actually related," Raphael says of Michelangelo, leaving it open to interpretation how serious he is or not. He sounds the part.

Hands come to rest against the table as he looks at Vorpal with some level of suspicion. "Why do you want to know so much about us?" he asks, the question carrying a note of challenge to it to match the expression given.

"We were just in the right place at the right time and she needed our help, so we gave it. She's a good friend now but we don't let people see that much of us if we can help it. It keeps us safer." Though, the way he rolls his eyes at the last part hints at some dissent with that general philosophy. "You're gonna have to get her jacket on your own. I ain't as dumb as I look."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"You saved my 'cus, dude. I'm thankful, but more than that- I'd like to get to know you guys. You can't have enough allies in this world. And that goes for me and for you- I might need your help someday, and you might need mine- you never know what might happen, considering..." he waves his hands, "Everything apparently happens around here. And I might be a media person like Ape, but we're O'Neils, and O'Neils know how to keep secrets."

He does notice that eye roll, and he adds "Hey, a propos of nothing. Ever wanted to see a place... like, I dunno. Some city or place, in some other country? Ever dreamed of setting foot somewhere else?"

Raphael has posed:
Raphael's fingers extend toward a slice with a different mix of toppings from the others, tossed down just as easily as the others. If nothing else, the way to friendship could lie through pizza.

"She looked like she needed a hand. We couldn't just ignore that. It ain't how we were taught," he answers, a matter-of-fact note to it that suggests to do otherwise would have been unacceptable. The gesturing leads to a blunt response. "Yeah, I know. The world's a screwed up place. Why do you think we stayed hidden for so long? Can you imagine what would have happened to us if some losers managed to capture us before we could take care of ourselves? I bet we wouldn't be standing here talking to each other right now."

The question put forth results in him giving the feline a strange look. "NYC's my home, cat. Ain't nowhere else I need to be."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Mine too. But sometimes it's good to get away for a space. Flushes the mind, that sort of thing," the cheshire shrugs, and chews on his pizza for a few seconds, before saying "I know what you mean. I know someone... coincidentally, he is also green, but I know someone who was taken advantage of before he was an adult- some unscrupulous trash used his powers for their dishonest means."

He grabs his soda and sips. "You needn't be suspicious of me. Think about it- you've sort of got my future in your hands. If I ever betray your trust, all you need to do is send an anonymous tip and suddenly people would know that the reporter who hangs out with the Titans and writes about them is actually a Titan himself... and, well, you can imagine that'd be pretty much the end of my career right there." He chuckles, then he sobers up a little. "I can understand, though. Wanting to protect your family. My mother doesn't know anything. Like, at all."

Raphael has posed:
Raphael scoffs. "If I gotta clear my head, I got my ways. A good workout." What he doesn't say is there's more than one type of workout he's prone to do, with different meanings behind them. He visibly raises a brow at the description of someone else who's green. Mikey probably mentioned it, but it's easy to ignore half of what their little brother is going on about. "That sounds like some BS to do to anyone," he admits.

Crossing his arms, his eyes soon narrow. "Are you actually giving me potential blackmail material over you? You know that's whack, right?" He goes through a moment of silence as the guy's mother is mentioned. "Sensei is like a father to us. Everything we do is to honor him, but also protect him."

Though there could be a question as to just whether or not Master Splinter /needs/ their protection.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"No more blackmail material than you already have on April. You know-" he holds a hand up, theatrically, "Reporter aware of ninja vigilantes operating in the dark! Fraternizes with them, fails to report!" he shrugs, "Consider it a token of trust. I trust you won't blackmail me, and you trust I won't betray you. Cats don't like exposing their stomachs, you know."

He rubs his chin and hms, "Workouts. Maybe I could join in on some of yours, if you'd let me. I've got a lot to learn in this line of work, and Troia did say to look for training wherever the opportunity arises."

He thinks about this for a few seconds, and then looks back to Raphael. "It sounds like your Sensei may have enemies? By extension, they'd be your enemies as well."

Raphael has posed:
"Yeah, sure." Raphael doesn't react like someone who is thinking about potential blackmail situations in the future, whether in the short term or long. Subconsciously, his attention inevitably shifts toward eyeing said stomach, then he focuses on the pizza once again. Another slice.

Shaking his head, his answer is simple. "I don't do workouts with anyone else, but we patrol the area a lot." That's as close as he gets to accepting the idea, apparently, because the last thing he hears is what gets most of his focus all of a sudden.

He asks, gesturing toward Vorpal with a hand, "If you've talked to Ape at all, she /must/ have told you all about the Foot Clan?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"IF I had asked Ape, sure, but I haven't 'cause it'd have been rude. This is your story to tell, and I figured that if April had told me nothing of you guys until I crossed your path, it was because she was keeping your secrets. Now what kind of a cousin would I be if I tried to place Ape between a rock and a hard place, between the loyalty to her friends and her cousin?" the cat grins and leans back. He pats his trim stomach and sticks out his tongue, "So that's why I'm asking you, 'cause I may be a cat but I do know how to be respectful. She /has/ mentioned the Foot Clan, but not in relation to you."

Raphael has posed:
"Yeah, you're definitely a reporter," Raphael says, digging into the pizza a little bit more before he says through a half-full mouth, "Thanks for the grub, by the way."

The topic of the Foot Clan remains where it had been. Seems the remark about being a reporter is as far as he's going for the moment.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry knows enough to know when someone signals 'enough', so he changes the topic away from the Foot. "So," he gestures to the sai that are tucked into Raphael's belt, "What's the advantage of those as a weapon? I don't have much training in weapons aside from these," he says, spreading his fingers and drawing his claws, before retracting them again.

Raphael has posed:
This, at least, seems to be a topic Raphael is more interested in discussing, even if his method of doing so is to continue acting like he's anything but. Regardless, one ends up in his right hand and it's practically on the level of a magician using sleight of hand to perform a trick.

Even with just two fingers and a thumb, he maneuvers it into a few different positions as nimbly as anyone with the normal amount of digits, explaining as he goes, "You might think it's used to stab, but feel the end of it." It's blunt instead of pointed.

"The sai can be used to strike, but also to guard by catching a weapon here," he adds, tapping the prongs. "And when you use both," now the other appears in his left hand and he takes up a stance, "you can use one to defend and one to attack."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
After feeling the blunt end with a finger, Terry sits back and watches the explanation, his eyes following the weapons. He brightens, "So you can use one to trap a weapon, and the other one to give a good whack to whatever punk dares to attack you. See, I always thought these were sharp. But I'd never seen one up close until now."

"You've got the sai, and Donnie has the stick-" he knows it's a bo, but he remember Raph getting a kick out of that, "How did you end up with them? DId you train with a few weapons and then decided which one suited you best or...?"

Raphael has posed:
Raphael tucks the weapons away, only after scooping another slice from one of the boxes, following up by gulping it down, the brief demonstration over at this time. "They take hours and hours of practice to master," he says, and the way he handles them, they look like an extension of his own hands. "There are many ways they can be used to attack or defend, usually at the same time."

Sure, there's a hint of further interest at the curiosity shown in these particular tools. "After we'd trained enough with all of the weapons we use, Sensei chose which one he thought we were best with. That's how Donnie got his..stick, Leo got his katana, and Mikey got his nunchucks."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Interesting- I wonder which weapon /I/ would have, if I were a ninja." He licks his fingers, adopting a far-off look. "Man, if I were a ninja... I don't know, cats would make good ninjas, don't you think? Then maybe I'd be better at what I do."

he gives a little sigh, and shrugs. Returning to the present, he asks, "So you're happy overall with the assigned weapon, you handle it beautifully."

He reaches over and takes another slice, "Man. If a year ago you had told me I'd be hanging out with actual ninjas, I'd have looked at you like you were cray."

Raphael has posed:
"We practiced for years before Sensei made his decisions," Raphael remarks. "And we trained more before we even started using weapons. You don't become a ninja like it's going to a year of school or something." It'd appear he holds the status of being ninja in high regard, given that he adds, "The Foot sends kids out to do their dirty work with hardly any training at all. It's no wonder most of them are pushovers."

Then, he moves close enough to grab at one of Vorpal's hands, trying to squeeze fingers in such a way that the claws extend, then retract. "You'd have to learn all of them. No idea if you'd even be good with any of them. You could completely suck." Honesty, thy name is Raphael.

"And you don't exactly look like someone people would think they were normal after seeing you, you know," he adds.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Leave me /some/ dreams, why don't you?" Vorpal answers in good humor, a smile out of the corner of his eye as his claws are examined, "I can always dream. After all, it's not like anyone's going to teach me." He pauses for a second, and then grows a little quiet, "I have a tendency to end up on my own when it comes to these things. It would be nice-" he doesn't finish the thought, and looks up with a smile. Nevermind that!

"If you feel like dessert, I know a place not too far off that has killer ice cream. I could do with stretching my legs for a bit."

Raphael has posed:
Raphael retreats back to his own personal space, satisfied with the brief examination of claws. "We don't have time to dream," he retorts, as gruff as when he showed up. "Not when the Foot's still operating, and there are others out there too."

He says nothing of teaching Vorpal about ninja things or anything else in general. Too soon to make any guesses about that, one way or another.

"If you got friends, don't lose them. I go off on my own when I'm in that kind of mood, but I get how important family is. And, maybe another time. I still got some patrolling to do, and we got a Slurpee machine back home. Be careful."

He hides it well, but the turtle keeps just enough attention on Vorpal to see what his reaction is to that, then he steps back into deeper shadow before making his way down the side of the building, off to parts unknown.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry deflates as Raphael vanishes into the shadows, and then rests his chin on his hand, glancing over whatever remaims of the pizza.

"Well, now I am depressed," he mutters, one hand reaching over to close each pizza box. There's no question of what is to be done with the leftovers, as the Titan fridge is always in need of a restocking thanks to speedsters, voracious aliens, and other high metabolisms.

He leaves his seat and finds a place to sit along the edge of the roof, from where he can look down at the world below. Alone like this, some thoughts come to him, unusual thoughts that have been hitting him since the Brainiac event- thoughts that he recognizes as his, but at the same time he feels they belong to that part of him that is much older than he is.

Sometimes, the world has started feeling... /wrong/. Like it doesn't make sense when it is being perfectly logical and reasonable. Like he sometimes wants to reach over and put it upside-down, to see if it'll make sense then.

He muses and wonders if this might have been how Harley felt, back when--

"Screw that. Time for ice cream," he says, shaking himself out of his reverie and standing up. The pizzas will be fine until he comes back. Right now, he could seriously kill for some Rocky Road. Figuratively speaking, of course.