3512/Confrontations in the Rain

Confrontations in the Rain
Date of Scene:	22 September 2020
Location:	Alleyways: Brooklyn
Synopsis:	Leonardo confronts former Foot Clan mutant Kainashi, about her intentions with his family. Kainashi immediately breaks and states Donnie is, indeed, her (very gentle) squeeze.
Cast of Characters:	Leonardo, Kainashi

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Leonardo has posed:
Donnie is acting odd. Leo has only been gone a few weeks, away in Japan, and home even less still... in that time, his younger brother has started acting more like Raphel than the Donatello he remembered. Out late nights, bloody knuckles, filthy work station.. It's disconcerting, to say the least.

And the denomenator here is Kainashi.

Who he's learned was recently injured, playing strongly into his belief she's somehow the catalyst for this aggressive change in his brother, AND that there's some odd relationship that's certainly less juvenile than Donnie would have him think.

So... since Don wont tell him what that relationship is?

Maybe Kai will.

Leaping across buildings, Leo has replaced his mask and strapped his swords to his shell by a leather harnass. Rolling through a puddle into another running start towards the edge of the building into a great leap across the gap of an alleyway. A flash of lightning in the late summer rainstorm illuminates him against the dark sky. A shadow in shadow.

Brooklyn... Makes sense. It's close to home. Close to April's apartment... Just have to find their patrol pattern. Stopping in a crouch to survey his surroundings with a cant of his head and slow sweep of his gaze across the dark horizon against the constant drown of rain.

Kainashi has posed:
    Kainashi ordinarily would be hard to find. Her normal patrol route only cuts a little bit through this part of Brooklyn -- where she normally meets with Donatello, near (Where else?) a pizza shop -- before she continues on her solo rounds.

    The younger canine, at least, was punctual as she hops a building; she's been regular in her habit. The young canine brings herself to a stop, pausing to look up at the rumbling, gray skies above, her nose twitching a moment as she draws the hood of her hooded sweatshirt down a moment, shaking out her head and her ears. Her scarred-up face is relaxed, the old scar tissue from her days in service to the Foot catching the light off the city below as she drops her pack against the half-wall, separating the rooftop from the drop to the street below. Her tail curls a little.

    She doesn't seem to have noticed that she's being watched by the protective elder brother.

Leonardo has posed:
Leonardo isn't a detective.

Truth is he got lucky in finding Kai.

Suffice to say that it adds to his neigh mystical status of always seeming to know. Know what people don't want him to and know where people are.. Happenstance? The eldest brother is crouched on the halfwall one second, and then gone after a sharp crack of lightning.

Quickly crossing the alleyway by way of a few body flips and a quick climb up a side ladder... swinging up onto the roof across from where the canine is shaking out her hood. Walking towards her, through the rain pelting against his rounded head and shell, he has his hands out, open, and empty at an angle away from him.

An obvious attempt to defuse any potential startle or accidental attacks. "Hey, Kai."

Kainashi has posed:
    Sometimes luck is all you need. And Leonardo is, arguably, a lucky turtle.

    The rain is beginning to pelt down against the city, and she brings her ears up, feeling the droplets strike her face. Her tail draws up as she sits, a moment, suspended between the world.

    And then Leonardo speaks up.

    HEr ears perk up, her eyes opening up a moment and her tail drops down. She turns, and gives a small squeak, rubbing the back of her head.

    "Oh-- ah... g-good evening, Leonardo... how are you?" she questions, clearly intimidated by the turtle.

Leonardo has posed:
There's a lot of that going around, people being intimidated by him. People he'd never thought were, people who definitely shouldn't be. His brother, Donnie... possibly Mikey? Not Raph though... Raph isn't intimidated by anything.

Leo stops a few feet away because he's grown to know that look. Possibly realizing in that moment that everything he suspected was probably true, even before he's asked it. "Huh." He says as start, inclining his head to let rain splash against his face, drawing a hand forward across his rounded skull to flick water off to the side.

"Wet." Answering her question, wry grin. "How are you? I heard you got hurt."

Kainashi has posed:
    It's different. Kainashi wasn't family. And Raph was a little intimidated by Kai.

    "I did. They hit me with a truck, and I hit a guard rail. A-Alopex said I had a con-cushion." the young canine replies, and she rubs the back of her head. There's still a bit of a bump on her forehead.

    "Donnie and Alopex rescued me though." she replies stiffly, and she turns, and raps her fingers against the little half-wall, and she takes a deep breath, and then blurts out:

    "Please don't be mad at Donatello! He was working really, really hard on trying to figure out a good time to say anything!"

Leonardo has posed:
Leo tilts his head one way, then the other, watching Kai go through the paces. It's not amusing, it's not even predatory, but that's thing about him... people fill in the blanks for themselves. His arms cross over his shell as she explains how she was injured, nodding to the last about the pair saving her.

"That's wh-" He's partially interrupted by her suddenly blurting out the comment about Donnie. Standing quietly, tongue running along the front of his teeth.

Eyes down at the roof, puddles of water forming around his feet where they've displaced gravel to create a small hole into which rainwater can accumulate. "Huh." Blinking once, glancing off to the side in a thoughtful manner.

"You know.. The part about this that actually bothers me is how hard he's gone to keep from telling me. If there's nothing to hide, why keep it a secret? And if it's a secret, then how enjoyable can it possibly be?"

The eldest brother squints, looking fully back on Kai. "Mikey went to Metropolis to fight in the invasion.. something I imagine everyone assumed I wouldn't agree with, but he dit it.. and his reasoning and motive were right.. I'm very proud of Mikey for that."

There's a huge unspoken but, "I'm not angry at Donnie. I'm disappointed, sure, but I'm not angry. You shouldn't be the one telling me.. and on some level, maybe I shouldn't have come seeking you out so you would."

Kainashi has posed:
    "... I'm worse at keeping secrets." Kainashi replies quietly, and she digs her toes into the rooftop a moment, and she rubs the back of her head a moment.

    "He was scared you and your Master would be angry with him. That you would stop him from comin' 'cause I was... 'cause I'm..." she gives a soft sputter of breath out, and she rubs the back of her head again, then pulls off her hood in nervousness. She's clearly fumbling. Nervous. She drops her gaze.

    "I... didn't even realize that I was made to fight you until Donnie mentioned it. I'm not smart." she states, and the scarred-up mutant looks up at Leonardo with a hesitant gaze, and then she looks back over the city.

    "I couldn't hurt him. He's smart. "

Leonardo has posed:
Leo looks onto Kai curiously as she starts to, then doesn't, elaborate.. it would be fairly easy to put some pieces together, but.. He doesn't. Not really, he's willing to let her fill in blanks. With him standing silently on watching with his arms over his shell.

"I would have been very displeased if you had hurt him." Understatement. Understatement in his tone too. The displeasure is not being effectively sold by his tone, which is substantially blunt, or his word choice, which are particularly pointed, but in his expression.. it leaves no wiggle.

Leo loves his brothers.

He might not be Raph, who is their guardian and vengeful fist.. but it changes nothing.

With a deep breath and a long sigh, he looks up at the sky and lets rain wash over his face. "If he's happy.. then.. I guess I'm happy. He's a ..." Teenager. "... well, he's smart enough to know if this is something he wants. He doesn't need his older brother lording over that constantly. I /have/ to learn to let him be his own turtle..."

Looking back at Kai, "Please don't make me regret this."

Kainashi has posed:
    Kainashi's ears go down, and she turns back up to Leonardo.

    "I"m /not/ Foot. They did... they did horrible things." her hands shake. "Donatello is kind. He helped me when I cut my foot. He made sure I was okay, and he explained how radios work. He gave me his time, an' his trust. Trust... that's something special, isn't it?" she states quietly.

    "... I trust him. He trusts me. He lets me take his hand, even if I could crush every bone in it." she gives a smile.

    "Would you beleive it? He thinks I'm smart."

Leonardo has posed:
Leo watches Kai closely, not so much because of past association but because he's trying to actually see her rather than see through her. There's always a bad habit of that, where he's concerned anyways. See what he wants to see... for all his wisdom, he gets focused and makes judgements when it comes to his brothers.

He's genuinely trying to get better about that.

Then there's Kai, saying such things about trust, and while he would usually frown at the notion of her crushing Donnie's hand, it never quite forms.. in lue of the grin that actually does. "Trust is very important." He concedes with a bow of his head. Slowly lowering down into a crouch, arms draped over his canvas kneepads.

"I don't know you very well, but you have a wisdom about you for sure." Said with the smallest, but most genuine, of smiles. "I can see why he would thinkt hat."

Kainashi has posed:
    Kai seems a little surprised by Leonardo's actions. She's still against the half-wall, but as he crouches, she dips down too, to stay slightly eye-to-eye with the larger turtle.

    "... well. What's to know? I'm so dumb the Foot Clan didn't want to use me as anything but practice. I can lift a truck. I'm not a very good ninja yet, but I'm trying very hard." she states quietly, and she gives a small shrug.

    And then she rubs the back of her head.

    "... you're not as scary as I thought you'd be."

Leonardo has posed:
"I'm not?" Leo asks quietly, somehow managing to summon up a little innate menace that was otherwise hidden behind the slight grin he was wearing. The expression having fallen off his face, tumbling down into the water puddle in which he's crouched, but it's short lived. It comes back, if still as demure.

"I'm not trying to be scary, Kai. I don't want to scare our friends and allies... I definitely don't want to scare my brothers." His hands extend out from where they dangle on his knees.

"It's never been my intention. Only people who should be afraid of me are the ones trying to hurt those I care about. You're not." As to her commentary about herself.

"I wouldn't judge your self worth or intelligence by what the foot clan deemed worthy, Kai... It's not a suitable metric for success."

Kainashi has posed:
    "Oh, no, I really am dumb as a box of rocks. It's the honest truth, I used ta pretend I was even dumber by not talking but Raph isn't the sharpest lightbulb either so I had to give that up after we got into a bit of a fight -- but it wasn't the one where I hit him with a dumpster -- and we crashed into an underground pool when the alley cracked open and then 'boom'." she states, spreading her arms wide and flicking water out. She's trying to not mind the raindrops still falling on her head.

    "And I don't mind being dumb as rocks, it's okay 'cause poor Donatello gets all worked up trying to overthink what he wants to say and stuff just comes outa my mouth and even I'm surprised sometimes." she shrugs.

Leonardo has posed:
"Okay." Leo is trying to parse this, dancing between amused and uncertain, with a little half grin on his face. "I don't think that's a true classification of dumb as rocks.. so much as ... I mean Raph isn't the smart brother, for sure, but..." There's just no good way to take this.

So he stop strying.

Hands up in a shrug, "You're right there, anyways. Donnie thinks about everything entirely too deeply for his own good, but it's endearing. Someone has to see all the angles... I'm glad it's him."

Kainashi has posed:
    This is a yappy pitbull, but by the time Leonardo gets to say a full sentence, she seems happy enough. Her tail wags a bit, though it's still low. "No, Raphael says he's the pretty one, not the smart one. An' I can't argue that." she states, motioning to the criss-crossing scars on her face and neck.
    "I'm obviously the pretty one." she jokes at her own expense, leaning a bit back against the half wall as the rain falls around the two mutants.

Leonardo has posed:
Leo is a hard turtle to make laugh, at least beyond a silent chuckle... Kai's self revelation of her position as pretty one, that comes pretty close! Rubbing an arm across his mouth, he pushes up from his crouch.. Still shaking his head with that same grin in place.

"I can confirm that is probably true." Nodding to her, a glance back over his shoulder in the direction he'd come. "I should get back home.. I'm glad we had this talk, Kai. Do me a favor, don't mention we talked? Obviously if Donnie asks, you're free to tell him, I'm not asking you to lie... I just want to surprise him."

The grin becomes a smirk, "Bust his chops a little, ya know?"

Kainashi has posed:
    The canine blinks, and then draws up to a stand. "N-no! Don't bust anything on him! He'll be upset! He tries so hard not to get busted!" she protests -- and then it clicks.

    "Oh. You're going to make fun of him, but not hurt him." she states, and then she rubs the back of her head.

    "... I'm not sure if that's worse."

Leonardo has posed:
"I'm not going to make fun of him." Leo waves his hands, shaking his head, "I'm just going to make him think it's worse than it is... and then reveal my clever deception at an appropriately timed, dramatically humorous, moment for the singular purpose of seeing him go wide eyed.. it's a brother thing." Both muscular shoulders curl up in a shrug, like the corners of his smile.

"At the end of the day, there's a lot of boredom. We have to get creative to find fun sometimes!" Stepping backwards, another glance behind him. "See you around, Kai. Be careful, yeah?"

Kainashi has posed:
    Kainashi stands up straight, and stretches her back a little as she gives a wave. "Take care, Leonardo! I'm gonna go continue my patrol. Tell Donnie I said hi! ... or.. ah..." she hold sup her hand again "Don't until it's them-mattedly 'propriate!" she follows, and then she gives a sigh like she might just be exhausted, and tilts her head back into the rain "That went so much better." she admits to herself, turns, and disappears down the side of the building.