3884/A Home Away From Home

A Home Away From Home
Date of Scene:	21 October 2020
Location:	Brooklyn
Synopsis:	Vanessa shows Raphael her old place, and gives him keys for the gang to have to use it as a safehouse.
Cast of Characters:	Vanessa Carlysle, Raphael

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Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Vanessa had been out to the farm every few days, delivering supplies. She'd mostly met with Donatello, Kai and others, having missed some of the other Turtles and their friends on her visits.

While there she had offered the use of her old apartment in New Lots. Not too far away from April's, but a place that would be even less likely to be known to any of the Turtle's adversaries. Though she warned it was pretty much empty at the moment.

Tonight she'd arranged to meet up with whichever of the group decided to come take a look at the place. The building itself is a slum, that the owner spends as little on maintenance on as possible. And it shows. The elevator is always broken, lights need replacing, there are holes in the wall here and there.

The apartment is up on the third floor. Vanessa unlocks it and goes inside to wait to see if anyone shows up. She hadn't really done a thorough cleaning when she left, but the place was in better shape than most in the building, thanks mainly to some contract work paid for by a friend. It was repainted a year ago, the hole in the wall fixed that she'd once covered with a flag. She walks around the place, with feelings of nostalgia. Though at the same time, not wishing her back into the place compared to her life now with Oliver Queen.

Raphael has posed:
Raphael was not being especially social out at the farm, and that's saying something for him. He spent hours off by himself, brooding, thinking, practicing, preparing. For what? Undoubtedly, something focused on dealing with the Rat King.

However.

There was a non-zero possibility that the Lair would never be safe again, much as he didn't want to admit it. Fortunately some of his /other/ stuff was safe in an undisclosed location in case he needed it, but most of his valuables had been evacuated when they left.

This meant the chance that an alternative place to lay low could be needed, even if it was just temporary. It would be a lot closer, being in the city. So, Raphael agreed to go see the place, to check it out, to determine whether it might work or not. He's doing so in as much of a disguise as he can manage, consisting of a somewhat oversized ski jacket and mittens, jeans, shoes that somehow work, and a knit cap tugged low. Of course that part is red. "So this's the place?" he asks upon arriving.

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Vanessa comes over to the door to admit Raphael. She motions him inside what is truly an empty apartment. Just floors. After he's in she closes the door and locks it. There are three deadbolts, plus a chain. She locks each of them and starts to turn away from the door. Then turns back and unlocks and relocks each one after another.

At the end of the little ritual she gets a mildly troubled look before shaking her head at herself and turning back to him. "Yes. It's empty but I can pick up some furniture from a consignment store, stock a few non-perishables in the pantry," she tells him.

"The building is fairly quiet. Mostly good people in here. I miss them actually," she says, glancing up as if at an apartment up above somewhere. "But, well, it's New Lots. A lot going on outside. I've begun patrolling the area trying to clear it up though," she tells him. "Speaking of, I might keep a few quivers and some other equipment here. But it's available if you guys need somewhere, short or long term," she tells him. She turns to look back to him. "What do you think?"

Raphael has posed:
"Hey," Raphael nods on the way in, slipping the beanie off once Vanessa has shut the door and locked it not just in triplicate, but one beyond that. "Thanks. Think you got enough locks there? One more and I'd ask if this was an apartment or a bank vault or something," he asks, trying to make it sound a cross between casual conversation and cool confidence.

The question of furniture is waved off. "I ain't no interior decorator or nothin', so I wouldn't worry about any of that just yet. We can always scrounge up some stuff if we gotta go that route. I mean, for the furniture. Any food you feel like donating, that's a different story." Just to be clear.

As she shows him around the place, he looks toward the windows, the corners, places others might not be thinking of. "I gotta couple questions, at least. What kinda window access you got? Landings? Fire escapes? You know we ain't the type to just use the front door all the time. And what about roof access?" The mention of equipment of hers draws a nod. No doubt it'd be looked after.

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
The comment about the locks draws Vanessa's attention back to them. "I used to have some... personal safety hang ups," she tells him. Her eyes on the locks she habitually relocked, she says, "Though mostly got over them with changes in my life," she says. Still eyeing them. Maybe not all gone as she had thought?

She turns back to Raphael though, pushing the thoughts out of her head. "Fire escape, though the ladder at the bottom should probably be tested. It's stubborn about going down. One of many things the super won't spend the money to fix unless he gets taken to court," she says, glancing around the apartment. "Though I'd think you guys can make the jump to it from the ground anyway."

She walks over to the kitchen, checking the empty pantry. "Roof you'd be best going up the fire escape. It's 8 stories and we're on 3. There is a door up there, but then you're going up five flights with other people coming up and down. The elevator almost never works, not unless the city is coming for an inspection, and then it might last for a few weeks before it breaks down again. I don't really trust it even when it's working. So anyway, the inside stairs see a lot of use is what I'm saying."

She looks over to Raphael who she hasn't really ever gotten to speak to before this. "So are you guys holding up ok? I know it's a lot, what you're going through," she says.

Raphael has posed:
"Sounds like it'd be the fire escape," Raphael says, satisfying that bit of wonder. "And the latter probably needs a little grease, or maybe it's rusted a little. Nothin' we couldn't fix sometime." Just, probably at night, nobody else around, all covered up.

He moves off toward the kitchen area, perhaps to imagine it piled up with pizza boxes and other remnants of chow. "If we end up staying here at all, we won't be getting spotted in the halls. It's more people around than I'd like, though. You gotta understand what we'd be comin' from and how hidden it...was."

There's a frown across his face, none of it hidden by the red eye mask he normally wears as his shoulders roll in a shrug. "An' right now I dunno. I'm a little worried about everyone, but you can't tell them I said that. That place has been our home forever, and if we can't go back..." The eyes give away the disturbing thoughts that produces.

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Vanessa moves over to one of the kitchen counters, leaning back against it in lieu of anywhere to sit besides the floor. "Yes, I mean you'd be welcome to stay here whenever you want, but I imagined it might make more sense as a safehouse than a normal dwelling," she agrees.

She crosses her arms as she looks thoughtful. Vanessa's wearing a pair of jeans and a sweater, with boots visible at the bottom of the denim leggings. It's all fairly nice clothing, much nicer than someone would probably wear who lived in a slum apartment like this.

"So, I haven't really had a chance to get the story on what's going on. Who was behind the attack. April had just told me that night she had friends who needed help, expected an attack. I wasn't quite expecting what resulted though," she says. "Any idea who is behind it? What the motivation was for it?"

Raphael has posed:
Raphael doesn't crouch or sit, rather standing a respectable distance apart from Vanessa. "Right. As a place to crash for a day or two, sure." They may still need to find something that's more of a home and less of an emergency spot if the heat is on.

He looks her over. Maybe it does register with him that she's dressed better than it seems someone with a place like this ought to be, but it isn't for him to question when there are other things to go over. The ninja turtle grimaces briefly and slides his focus off to one side, crossing his arms. In here, the mittens have been removed. "I'm still trying to figure part of that out. Never saw the guy before, but somehow he got his hands on some real mutated creatures and they were packing some serious firepower." As Donatello could attest to firsthand.

"He got splashed with some mutagen and we thought he was dead. Next thing we knew, he was leading an army of rats into the Lair and he even.."

Can't say it. Can't bring himself to describe what it looked and felt like to be fighting side by side with Splinter, their mentor, teacher, and the only father figure they'd ever had, only for him to attack them. Can't tell her how close he came to hitting Splinter with all he had, right before..

"Aahhh," he exhales, letting out a long, uncomfortable breath.

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Vanessa's expression is sympathetic as she sees the pained look cross Raphael's expression. She gives him something else about it to focus on. "So he got mutated by something and..." she says, trailing off rather than taking the thoughts back to taking control of Splinter. "You said he had serious firepower? I only saw the rats he used. What else did he have? Maybe there's something there that we can track," she suggests. "Try to get at where he might be working out of."

She glances at the fridge that she'd left behind. She goes over to plug it back in and let it start cooling towards whatever she might buy and bring back later. "So this first time when he got splashed, was he fighting you then? Or is he after you because of what happened then, maybe? Revenge for having changed, something like that?" she asks.

Raphael has posed:
"Before," Raphael clarifies with a shake of the head. "We got tipped off to some activity in an area we keep an eye on, and it was pretty much an ambush. Donnie almost got killed and the place caved in by the time we got outta there. There were these energy weapons of some kind, drawing some heavy power."

He goes on to say, "There was a canister of the ooze, and it broke while we were in the middle of fighting. Some of it got on him, and I dunno. Next time we saw him, hell, I didn't even get a clean look at him myself, but he was controlling more rats than I could count and they found our home."

Before he forgets to say it, he asks, "So you and April are pals, too?"

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Vanessa listens carefully to the tale, arms crossed while she leans back against the counter. "Hmm. Energy weapons. Well, those are definitely harder to get, though we'd probably need a bit more, maybe capture one of them to try to trace it," she says quietly.

Her eyes lift back to Raphael from where they'd drifted to the side with her thoughts. "Yes. Known her for, oh a year now? Ran into each other at a diner and just became fast friends after," she tells him. "I used to live here, and she's just a couple of blocks away. Let me crash with her when the air conditioning would go out in here in the summer."

Vanessa glances back around her old apartment. "I live in Starling City now. Met a guy. He's been good to me," she says, looking down and getting a soft smile. "And he got me out this place. When I had bad people coming after me to stop me from testifying against them. Got me to a better life. And a better me," she tells Raphael.

"Well, April though. Yeah, she's like a sister. So when she said she had friends who needed help, I told her I'd do what I could," she says. "And you guys are pretty cool too. Still getting to know you. Haven't met Mikey yet, nor really talked much with some of the others."

Raphael has posed:
Raphael doesn't look the most comfortable just chatting like this, but he's getting through it. One might guess he isn't the most talkative one around. "All I know is if he comes sniffing around me or any of my family again, he'll be lucky to make it out in one piece."

And he's protective.

"We met Ape around the same time you did, then. It's been about that long. We never been away from New York City, really. She hooks us up with food a lot. If she never told you about how she met us, ask her sometime." He's going to leave that story up to her to decide just what to say, which details to include, which to leave out.

He leaves the kitchen to check out any other rooms, giving the fire escape a closer look while still talking. "Good you got in a better spot, at least. You got some better opportunities than we do for that, anyway." Just because of the way they both look. It's a thing.

"An' if you think I got a winning personality, wait until you have to deal with Mikey, especially if he's had too much sugar." Satisfied with what he's seen of the place, he starts tugging stuff back into place in preparation for being on his way. "If it's all the same to you, I think I'll give that ladder a try."

Vanessa Carlysle has posed:
Vanessa nods as Raphael indicates he's going to exit through the window. She pulls out a small key chain and offers it over. "Keys for you guys. You can probably get in without them I realize, but less suspicious should someone step into the hall as you're working on the door." There are a lot of locks after all. Would take awhile to pick.

She glances around the apartment and says, "I'll get some furniture, beds and things, just in case. And the food. Nice to meet you more fully, Raphael," she tells him with a smile before following him to the window to lock it up after, then head out herself.