3404/Homecoming turtle edition

Homecoming turtle edition
Date of Scene:	17 September 2020
Location:	Turtle Lair
Synopsis:	Pinball.
Cast of Characters:	Raphael, Leonardo

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Raphael has posed:
Mark it down: Raphael has gone fifteen minutes without bashing the pinball machine. It must be a good run, without a bunch of balls being lost due to BS in his mind, but he's been steadily building up multipliers and hitting the right loops to score some big points en route to a possible new high score.

This is it. Last ball, trying to land that multiball for the big jackpot that will take him to the top of the leaderboard. "C'mon, c'mon.." He ducks and dodges with the path of the ball, as if he was the one getting sent around on the table.

See the ball. Be the ball. Become one with the ball.

Leonardo has posed:
Leonardo has only been back for a day now. His two week long sojourn had taken him to the otherside of the planet, across most of Japan, in search of some missing truth he hoped to find walking the path laid out for him by the ancient Samurai who came before. The places he'd visited had given him a sense of calm that had been long frayed by the constant pressures of his position within his family, but with the weight lifted in small degrees, he felt refreshed when he returned.

After meeting with Donnie and April, he'd found a quiet garden where he could rest and center himself. Seated upon a bamboo shoot mat with his legs folded beneath him, his swords laid crossed at the blades infront of his knees, themselves resting on their square guards so the grips were elevated. Laying across the fine razors edge of the weapons, he looked serene in a way he hadn't in years.

All at once he stood from his seat and grabbed his weapons, gently clicking them in their habaki tucked into the leather wrapped belt on either side of his shell. The trip home was a quiet one, moving across rooftops and escape accesses to a hidden grate beneath a beatup old dumpster in an alleyway near the abandoned subway station. His entrance into the lair was silent. Standing with a dark blue METS baseball cap tucked low on his brow, he grinned slightly at the image of Raphael playing pinball across the open common area.

"Did you know there's a built in tilt function? That's where the metaphor going on tilt came from. People learned just how much they could rock the machine before the alarms started blaring and the game cut off.. you could tell a good player from a bad one by just how much pressure they applied without setting it off."

Raphael has posed:
Building up points, Raph sends the ball toward the multiball lock, missing it by millimeters a couple times before restarting his path, keeping it in play. Leonardo's been gone, but Splinter saw fit to tell the red-masked turtle - the mask is down around his neck at the moment - where Leo went because he knew it would soothe some of Raph's concerns.

And now, Leo is back, for Raphael can hear his voice. So intent is he on the game, so focused, that Leonardo's words prove very prophetic, almost /too/ much so. Just a moment of hesitation leads to him being a split second slow with one of the flippers, the ball sliding off the end of it to end the last turn. "What.." he says hoarsely, watching the multipliers tally up the final score...coming up just shy of the machine's all-time high. Just one more good shot probably would have done it. The multiball would have destroyed it.

"Tilted? You wanna talk about tilted, bro? I was just about to finally beat the damn high score when you showed back up and had to open your big fat mouth, and..and.." He bores holes through the machine's backglass, breathing deeply, raggedly. In case anyone forgot how much of a competitor he is, he lashes out. "You really suck, Leo, you know that? You go off to Japan for whatever, and you /know/ I've been trying to beat the high score for ages, and just when I'm about to you just happen to show back up and distract me? What the hell is that about, huh? And you know what else? Meditation is bullshit!"

He slams a fist down on the bar at the front, causing the legs to shudder.

Tilt.

Leonardo has posed:
There are times when Leo regrets how deeply he can get beneath Raph's skin with just the smallest of barbs, but the same is equally true in reverse. No two people have such a shared talent for discord as Raphael and Leonardo... This, however, is not one of those moments. Seeing his brothers reaction to the aforementioned 'tilt' then immediately going ON tilt?

Nope, that was poetic.

He was already formulating a heiku about it in his head.

"~Raph expresses anger
Causes great discord with fists
My high score remains~"

Grinning, he stays where he's leaning with his shoulder pressed gently against one of the stone pillars in the commons. "I'm sorry that I left without telling you, Raph." Leo is not wearing his mask, but his hat is blue... which was almost certainly an intentional choice... not that he's not a METS fan, he absolutely is..

Raphael has posed:
It was predictable, and that's the worst part about it. In the back of Raphael's head, he just knew something would happen to ruin everything. He just didn't know what, when, or how. He should have. Leo probably had a camera trained on the pinball machine at all times, just so he could know when to show up to protect the score.

This leads to Raph looking around, up, to the left, and to the right, as if he's tracking something visible only to him. "Where'd you hide it, Leo? You knew I was about to wreck your high score somehow!" he accuses, before throwing up his hands in frustration.

"Oh, we're doin' haikus now? I got one for ya," he adds.

"Leo is a dummy!
Always thinkin' he's the best!
I could kick his ass!"

And it looks like he's going to come over and deck him, wipe that grin off his face, the apology only slowing him down marginally. "Yeah, whatever. How come you're the one always going off to other places without warning and leaving the rest of us behind to deal with shit, huh?"

Leonardo has posed:
There's a moment where Leo considers playing into Raph's comical paranoia by pointing out some random place in the room that has a view of the machine, but it is entirely within the realm of possibility that it would lead to that section of the wall being utterly destroyed in search of the imaginary camera. He doesn't point, but he does keep grinning at the mounting frustration growing into a fireball ready to rocket off and burn down the whole house of cards.

His arms slip across the front of his shell, one finger hooked against his bicep, and his left ankle crossing out over his left.. It's almost cocky, but he probably doesn't think Raph is going to actually attack him.

At least not until the Haiku.

Don't do it.

"Uhh..." Don't, "That's six... Six seven five is not a Haiku.." Wrinkling his face around a mock, but not mocking, expression of disapproval. "You're clearly behind on your meditation or you'd have remembered that."

That's right, poke the bear.

"Raph, listen.." Hands unfolding now that it is a very real possibility that he could get clocked, "I didn't leave anyone behind to deal with shit alone.. I left them with you." Is he patronizing? Probably not,

BUT...

Raphael has posed:
Thing is, it's so easy to push Raph's buttons, but usually he struggles to get Leo to react in turn. All that calm, cool, and collected zen stuff. So annoying!

All this is what keeps them at each other's throats, if more in the figurative sense than the literal, but it also drives them to constantly improve and do better. Neither really wants to lose to the other, as much as it leads to bruised egos from time to time.

"You know what? I don't care. Maybe that's my haiku and if I want it to have thirty then it's gonna have thirty, you feel me?" Thirty zero zero? Ten ten ten? Five twenty five? Raphael flexes his right hand into a fist, looking like he's really going to just haul off and try to punch Leonardo, but he pauses and eyes his brother with high suspicion. "And why would you do that?" Deep down, they both know how aimless the remaining brothers became when Leo was off in South America or wherever it was following Shredder's apparent death.

Leonardo has posed:
Both of the blue brothers hands go behind his rounded shell, feet apart just at shoulder width, but with his right arm facing more towards Raph than the left. It's a guarded stance, but relaxed. Some of the fire is cooling, he can see it even if others can't, and threat of actual violence is behind them now.

He hopes.

"It would certainly be 'something', but it wouldn't be a haiku." Back to poking the bear, at least it's just gentle nudges instead of grand swings. Sometimes the smallest needles sting the worst.

"I was in no condition to lead." It's simple, precise, and forthright. Also calculated. "My perspectives were out of balance, Raph, and it was causing disharmony.." Now he's just being flowery, grinning just a touch knowing the colorful language will /also/ get at his brother. "I don't need to be here to tell you all to brush your teeth... that Donnie should clean his computer desk and Mikey should, if not clean, at least stop growing new forms of fungus in his room.. But I was doing that and become harsh. I had to evaluate myself and find some calm that had been disturbed."

His hands unfold from behind him, pointing up in a little shrug, "I regret going, but more than anything, I regret that I /had/ to go."

Raphael has posed:
"It's a Raph-ku," the other brother answers, crossing his arms to take on a defiant stance. A thing about the defiant stance is it is not an 'I'm about to attack you' stance, so as angry as he is over the pinball game being ruined, Leonardo is apparently safe from the wrath of Raphael for now, at least physically.

His eyes narrow as Leo seems to share that he was unfit to do something. That isn't what Raph's used to hearing, so it gives him reason to pause. "Yeah, you're always just /so/ calm, aren't you? I got stuff I like to go do by myself, but I've never left."

Leonardo has posed:
Raph-ku.

Leo grins at that and cants his head with begrudging acceptance. He was never actually worried about being attacked, but it could always go either way. Even if it rarely went /that/ way. His readied stance was more habitual than deliberate, at least where it pretains to Raphael. If they fight, they fight..

"I know." Calm as ever, grin falling off from his lips at the direct jab, "I would probably give you hell if you did." He doesn't mention that his brother often does go off and do his own thing, but it's very rarely for lengthy periods of time. Leo does so less, but for longer when he does... the similarities are obvious, however.

"It's something I had to do or I'd have been gone anyways. It would have been worse, acting like everything was okay, when it wasn't."

Raphael has posed:
And they do fight, whether it's sparring or moments of anger from a sibling rivalry - and mostly from one side with the anger - that boils over, but it always ends peacefully somehow. Brothers...fight. It's what they do here and there. Raph, for all his tough, gruff exterior, sometimes just needs to /sound/ threatening and that's enough. Sometimes, it's not.

More than all that, Raphael just doesn't understand Leonardo and all the stuff he thinks about. Raphael is not a thinker or a planner. He's impulsive. He reacts. He's driven by emotion. He's raw and unfiltered. And, it clashes with each and every brother sooner or later, only to strengthen their bonds in the long run because he /is/ pretty much always there when it matters most. He's put himself in danger to keep it from being one of them more than once.

"We all got things we gotta do," he mutters, as much an admission or agreement as Leo is apparently going to get for now. "The others worried too, you know. I thought it was gonna be like after Shredder, and now there's a lot more stuff goin' on up there."

Leonardo has posed:
There are few people, brother or otherwise, Leonardo trusts to leave the two younger siblings with than Raphael for that precise reason. It seems odd, objectively, for him to think that way, but they all serve their purposes.. Leonardo isn't so much a guardian of the quartet as he is a ... guide? The guardian is Raph, the gargoyle standing vigil over all of them.

"It didn't though." End up like after Shredder. The swords worn on his belt are removed and laid on a rack just outside the entrance to the training area, his ballcap is hung on a hook near the commons. Crossing quietly to join his brother near the pinball machine. "I heard... I heard several of our friends were potentially lost, including April's cousin." His expression sours, if only a little, at that bit of news.

"I also heard that Mikey went to join in the fighting and there is footage of him doing so." This being where he breaks off into a tangent about how they HAVE to remain hidden. Something said a hundred, if not thousands, of times.

"I couldn't be more proud of him."

Raphael has posed:
Raphael has hung out with the gargoyles more than once. The stone ones. What, as if Gotham City had a monopoly on them?

"Yeah, that's what Donnie said. Something up in space, I guess." He /had/ encountered Vorpal a few times, whether with one of his brothers or alone, doing..whatever he was doing at the time. "Ape's cousin, right. The cat guy. He got Mikey thinkin' all about being some superhero or something." Is that a good thing? A bad thing? Who knows? It did seem to motivate Michelangelo beyond just letting him be directed by whatever had caught his attention at the moment.

He frowns, body language clearly showing discomfort with all of this. He doesn't know what to say, what to think. It's outside his zone of familiarity. "I had some stuff I was trying to keep an eye on at the time, too." It was a good time for the Nightwatcher to be out and about, Raphael hidden in public, none of his brothers knowing anything about it...right?

He squints at Leonardo's praise of their youngest brother, however, and he reaches to rap him upside the head with his knuckles. Maybe it's a little rougher than needed. "Hold on. Did someone replace the real Leo with a cheap imitation? You almost had me fooled."

Leonardo has posed:
"I guess, I'm not sure I've met him." Vorpal, Terry, whatever. "He's April's cousin though, so it's an unfortunate loss." Lips pressed, head bowed just so, he leans on his elbow resting atop the back glass of the pinball machine watching Raph sort through the uncomfortable topic out of the corner of his eye.

Until the wrap against the side of his head. His hand comes up to swat, but it's late, "Hey, cut that out.." Almost laughing, not so much because of the smack as the commentary that follows. "Yeah, I'm proud of him..."

Seeing that this requires context, "The fate of the entire world hung in the balance.. a war fought for the survival of everyone and Mikey, our younger brother, who we have to tell to clean his room, made the conscious decision to drive over and fight?" Leo tilts his head, sucks at the back of his teeth. "It's impressively self motivated and his intentions were pure, I'm proud of him."

THAT SAID, "I do wish he hadn't been recorded doing it though."

Raphael has posed:
"I hear he's one of the Titans. I don't know any of them but I guess Mikey met another one too, and so did Donnie. So..I mean, I hope they ain't like /gone/ gone, you know? Because that would suck." Raph isn't very good at expressing his more sensitive side, and don't laugh - it does exist.

Even if Leonardo tries to avoid the bapping, Raphael weaves his fist through the weak defenses to land a couple hits before withdrawing. "You know there's a whole lotta shit up there that ain't ready for us. Splinter taught us to strike from the shadows and fade away before we're seen, but it ain't always gonna go that way. Everyone's just gonna have to accept people are gonna find out about us, so we gotta make sure we don't lead anyone back here that we don't want to."

A beat goes by, arms crossing again as space is created between the two once more. "But I guess Mikey did all right."

He quickly shifts gears toward something else, looking around again. "So don't tell me you probably froze your ass off on some plane I don't even wanna guess at how you snuck onto just to fly to Japan by yourself, and you didn't bring us back anything good, 'cause I'll be pissed if you didn't."

Leonardo has posed:
The weak defenses grow increasingly stronger as Leonardo's own competative, at least where Raph is concerned, nature takes hold with more slaps touch his face and head. He doesn't lash out hard, but he does bob his neck side to side, weaving his hand in beneath his brothers elbow or around the back of his wrist to get in a few taps himself. Playful in the way two boxers shadow boxing is playful.

"Mm... I know." He agrees with the notion that eventually they'll be discovered, replacing his elbow on the back of the pinball machine once distance has been reestablished between them. "It's just moderating when that happens.. I don't want it to be a surprise, is all. Caught on camera like that, it's different, there were a lot of people there... but if it's just us? It invites trouble. When we make ourselves known, and eventually we'll have to, it should be on /our/ terms, not someone eleses." That's his two cents on the matter.

Because Raph is asking the tough questions. "Oh, it wasn't that hard. Just said I was a wealthy businessman who favored discretion over comfort.. it's surprisingly easy to smuggle a man sized turtle across the globe." Joking aside, he nods toward his canvas bag in the kitchen. "Of course I brought you something." Moving away from the pinball machine, he kneels down at his bag and pulls out a simple box which he sets down on the table. "It's not much, but I figured you could use it when you're out patroling."

DOES HE KNOW?!

Either way... it's an old 80s style handheld pinball game.

"Huge market for vintage gaming systems in Kyoto."

Raphael has posed:
Raphael goes through a little of the back-and-forth until it's over, a ghost of a smile threatening to almost form for less than a split second. He's still steamed over the high score thing, but he's not letting it rule the conversation when there are bigger fish to fry.

"Then we do it on our terms. Maybe we put something up. A video. We can be all dark and shadowy, maybe just our masks for some color, and let everyone know that there's someone else out there looking out for them." It could be a good idea. It would definitely turn some heads. "And don't forget we had that thing in the sewers with those drones and the two chicks who saw us." If Lara Croft and Natasha Romanoff can be called 'chicks.' They just were.

He wears a skeptical look at Leo's explanation of how the flights were handled, but shakes it off as the doubt is replaced by no small amount of curiosity, peering in the direction of the bag. When the game is shown off, he raises a brow. Is everything connected to pinball today? "I dunno if I should take that out with me. I might chuck it off a rooftop one night. But..thanks. I mean, for looking for something. And shit." Because he doesn't do gratitude very well.

Leonardo has posed:
"That's not a bad idea." Leo confides with a nod, "Something we can all discuss, anyways. We're not going anywhere, so it would be beneficial if people were, at the very least, aware that someone is looking out for them from the shadows. They don't have to know exactly who or what that someones are..." The subterfuge is really the selling point here.

"We'll bring it up with Mikey and Donnie, get their opinions?" WE. He's including Raph in the decision. Which SHOULDN'T be surprising, but given how he'd been before going to Japan, probably is.

Speaking of, a ghost of a smirk snakes onto his face seeing his brothers reaction. "Well, please don't throw it. It's vintage and difficult to replace... besides, how else are you going to to beat my high score if not by doing so on a device I'm not allowed to touch?" And there's the jab. Standing up in a smooth motion from his crouch.

"It's good to see you, Raph." Out of nowhere. There's no attempt to hug him, since Leo knows the audience, Donnie he could get away with it... Raph? Ehhhhhhh maybe.

Raphael has posed:
Don't think there wasn't a notice that Leonardo included the others in the discussion of the potential idea. He's just not bringing it up, as he turns on the game to check it out real quick. It's..rudimentary compared to full-scale pinball, probably glitchy as it gets given how old it is, something better off left on a shelf as a bit of flavor rather than actually used with any regularity, but Leonardo /did/ get it for him.

The answer to all that, to talk of high scores, is just a grunt. "Whatever. I'm gonna wipe that high score out one of these days, and then I'm gonna wipe that big smirk off your face and you're gonna have to admit I'm the best pinball player here."

Unless Splinter decides to beat it first.

To the idea of being glad to see him, Raphael retorts, "You're just lucky I didn't decide to go over there myself, find you, and drag your sorry ass back myself. Another day and I would have." He keeps up the front for now, not willing to let down his guard and admit anything else at this time. Instead, he takes the game toward his room and adds, "Now I have a craving for sushi. I'd offer to bring you back some but that's probably all you ate over there."

Leonardo has posed:
Leo actually does laugh this time. Raph's bolsterous claims to beating the high score has always been of a particularly delight to Leo, now watching his brother turn on the small handheld device and give it a little glitchy spin. Nothing will ever beat the hands on standing model, of course, but it's something!

The last, Leo nods to this, "A lot of fish, yes. I wasn't usually in places where you can easily get sushi. Maybe one day I'll tell you about it." His sojourn hadn't been in major cities until the end, mostly provinces further north in the cold or south west near Mt. Yue. He had gone to Okinawa, at the behest of their master.

"But if you wanted to bring back some pizza... I haven't had a good pie in weeks." This time he does put his arm around Raph and walk with him towards the exit. "Actually, I'll just come with you. My treat. We can bring some back for the guys, too."

And so it goes.