4161/Here Mall Along

Here Mall Along
Date of Scene:	17 November 2020
Location:	Landmark Mall (TMNT Base)
Synopsis:	There's a gathering in the Mall, things are talked about, stuff is figured out. There's a spooky subway station downstairs that needs more security, Raph's a jerkface, and Harley turns the
Cast of Characters:	April O'Neil, Alopex, Harley Quinn, Raphael, Donatello

---

April O'Neil has posed:
Harley and April had been on a rather interesting adventure and needed to get out of the trashed apartment for awhile, so the natural choice was to head on down to the mall! Almost like it were the 1980s or something... except its decidedly not, and the Mall is decidedly closed.

Inhabited now by the Turtles-and-Allies the Mall is still lit up and bright on the outside, but the parking lot is mostly empty of vehicles. April's vehicle pulls up outside, a Chevy Camero, and the two women exit it. April is explaining the situation at the Mall as she escorts the other toward the row of front doors that lead in to the food court.

As they pass through the doors, keys jingling in-hand, April looks back over at Harley. "But yeah, we're the guardians of this place, at least for the time being. And its needed, because my god, its massive."

They step in to the food court, and it's like a time capsule back to 80s 90s and early 2ks, all mixed together.

Alopex has posed:
    Having claimed a store for her (and Kai's) own only a couple nights before, Alopex has been taking in the layout of the mall ever since. TODAY, however, the arctic fox is rummaging behind the counters of the food court, seeing if anything was left behind, if any of it is still good (ha, doubtful), and taking inventory of anything she considers edible. (VERY LITTLE). At least the Panda Express had a whole lot of fortune cookies left over. Those don't go bad, right?"

    At the time the pair come in the entrance, the fox is deep behind a drink place. There's actually quite a bit there that isn't bad.. and that's good!

Harley Quinn has posed:
A closed mall? The 80s? Everyone knows what it needs... Roller skates! Harley brings two pairs of course, slung over her shoulders for them to roll about if the occasion shows itself (or she beats the occasion into happening), blue eyes peeking up at the ominously quiet mall. "Ya know..." she is saying while on her way out of the car, pointing, "If ya weren't my bestie I'd think ya'd be draggin' me into an ambush foh someone ta take my kidney oouh somethin' like that." another look around. "Cos it's certainly creepy...!" says the clownette who lived with the Joker in worse dives back in Gotham.

She whistles when they step into the food court. "Damn ya weren't jokin' when ya said this was massive. Gosh!" She opens her arms up for emphasis.

Truth be told though she was glad to just come somewhere to air out. She still wasn't the same after their ..., adventure. But improving at least.

Raphael has posed:
The mall has been closed down for so long that nothing still in the food court is probably what most would consider 'edible.'

Unless you happen to be Michelangelo, or maybe Kainashi.

Raphael took one look at whatever was left, whatever wasn't just hauled out for distribution elsewhere when the mall shuttered, and could only shake his head. "I ain't got a death wish," he'd said at the time.

At least by now, a couple areas have been set up to hold fresh food, new canned items, various liquid refreshment, and of course the pizza place there was fixed back up first. It had its own wood-fired oven! They could get their own dough, their own ingredients, their own cheese...or just keep ordering out because most of them were too lazy to put in the effort.

The red-banded turtle watches Alopex from a distance, calling over, "Don't pull something straining for food that ain't there. Try.." He finds a spot in question, one of the deli sandwich spots. "..that one. I think we got some stuff for it."

He quiets down as April and Harley show up, just looking on from the second floor landing overlooking the food court itself.

April O'Neil has posed:
April would've, of course, mentioned the roller rink in the sub-level of the Mall but she's also smart enough to know that the Clownette probably intends to use those skates very much not in the rink space that skates were intended for! Such is the way when there's no Mall Cops to bark at you, per-se.

The Pizza Place was definitely the one that got setup to store food, and be brought back to a place of nice living too. The Mall has suffered some looting and break-ins but those tend to be near the other exit/entrance areas. Some of the stores were looted, and a lot of glass had been shattered by punk kids for instance, but that was all on the agenda to get cleaned up.

Near the food court, things look pretty much just like they did the day this palce shut down at the end of the first decade in the 2000s.

"Harley." April says with a soft smirk. "You've definitely lived a traumatic life. No ambushes. There are /fake/ bushes here in plenty though." April says, motioning to one of the planters that is filled with fake greenery.

Her eyes go up to where she sees Raph first, then down to where her 'senses' just pick up movement from Alopex. "Are we in need of more food already?" She calls out to the both of them.

Alopex has posed:
    "This place is all drinks! They don't usually go bad unless their juice!" The fox calls back, just before ears flick toward the entrance being unlocked to allow April and Harls into the mall. Hearing it sets her quiet, only barely peering out beyond the edge of the backroom she had been investigating.

    Thus far she'd investigated the entirety of the Hot Topic she and Kai had claimed, the FYE next door, the Suncoast beyond that, and the fox had plans beyond plans for all of the spaces. It was only a reminder from her stomach that had sent her, finally, to the Food Court. Pizza place? Fine. The burger shop across the way? She was going to put time into that, too. Hmph. Mikey's single food group of pizza? No. She didn't accept that. Burgers and Burritos were also good, blasphemous as it may be to some others..

Harley Quinn has posed:
Harley using things where they are supposed to be used? Hah! Though she hasn't put the roller blades on just yet, they continuing to dangle harmlessly from her shoulders. "Bah, I hate fakes. Down with the plastic and get some real trees and bushes in heah!" see? Already suggesting changes!

She was perhaps expecting to be alone with April here so she wasn't particularly paying attention, not noting the other figures until April visibly looks their way. She catches sight of Raphael first, squinting her eyes. "Hey, grumpy! How long has it been?" she waves enthusiastically his way, her manic little smile showing teeth. "Oh man, what a fantastic place!"

She has yet to spot Alopex though, just the movement on the shadows so she asks up to Raph. "Yoh brothers about too? Mikey still owin' me some Dawnson's Creek reruns." she perhaps assuming it's another turtle skulking about.

Gaze then returns to April, "Have yoh picked a spot foh yohself by now?"

Raphael has posed:
With Alopex going a little more silent and stealthy for now, Raphael chooses not to give away her exact location until she's ready to do it herself. This leaves him considering April and Harley further, listening to what he can make out of their conversation so far. Thankfully, the mall's control room hasn't been used to pipe in any background music yet.

Or if it was, maybe Raph already went in and shut it off one way or another.

He calls down to April, scoffing, "Do we need more food? Did you already forget how many of us are around here now? It ain't the usual load."

"Not long enough," he adds under his breath before giving Harley a more proper reply, "What's up? They're around. They'll be seen if they want to be seen."

April O'Neil has posed:
April only caught a glance of Raph looking toward where Alopex was, but hadn't noticed her yet either. So she shoots her stare back up to where Raph is and smirks at him. "We need to get some ambient stuff goin' in here, the fountains maybe. Trickling water always makes a place feel more relaxing, and less... creepy." She states back to Harley, not really wanting people to find this place creepy though... that can be hard not to sometimes, especially down in the subway station area.

"I picked a place to move my podcast studio too. It has an exterior facade that I can access without coming in to the Mall itself, which lets any guests I have just come in through that way. And... well, it lets me save on rent from that other place, so I can..."

April motions toward Raph. "HELP FEED YA'LL!" She calls up to him before smirking and looking back to Harley. "You wanna explore and pick a place for yourself? They need more friends hangin' out here, I think."

Alopex has posed:
    In all honesty, the fox had just seen an unfamiliar face. When Raph is ... well, Raph, and April seems to be alright with showing her around, the fox decides she'll rummage the back a little more, grab a couple water bottles that AREN'T EXPIRED, and then she turns and slips into the food court proper with them. Enough for everyone! "Visitors already? Are we that popular..?"

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Ow, my heart..." Harley replies when Raphael gets grumpy with her. Really! She even does a dramatic little twirl and almost seems as if she will fall right onto April's arms to faint before she catches herself up with a grin. "I see ya ain't changed at all." this to Raph. When Raphael speaks about his brothers only being seen if they want to it seems as if she takes it as a challenge.. Catch the ninja! So she is peeking about attentively when Alopex decides to pop up. She 'ahhhs' in surprise, eyes widening. "Wait. I thought ..." she looks at the turtle, then to April. "Theah's moouh?!" She then smiling at the fox. "I am Hah'lee." all polite of a clownette!

Looking at April and her suggestion of exploring she beams. "Do I?! O' course!" but then she sits on the ground. "Not without the roller blades though!" because that's how exploring malls is done apparently. She slides the other pair to April if she wants to get them on and again glances at Raph and Alopex. "Damn this place is super huge, different from Casey's farm I am suwah!"

Raphael has posed:
"You sure that's a good idea, April? Having your studio around here?" Raphael asks. "I thought the idea is not to draw attention to the fact we're all living here. Random people you interview coming out here is gonna look a little weird."

Whether he has a valid point or not, his thoughts about the security and integrity of the mall are shared. He's still trying to find a balance between not living in secrecy in the Lair, and being completely out in the open. There's a middle ground somewhere in there.

He quips, "Yeah, running water's a great way to bring back that sewer feel, without the stink. But if anyone starts playing Christmas music all day and night, I'm finding every speaker in the damn place and putting a sai through it. That's a threat /and/ a promise."

He vaults over the second floor railing, landing in a crouch before rising, crossing his muscular green arms. Someone's already been making use of the gym he took over. Harley, he just watches. It's not that he doesn't like her. She's just..still very much an unknown to him. Mikey's unpredictability is one thing. Harley's is another. "Yeah, go have a look around, but don't break anything that ain't already busted."

His answer to Alopex is simple. "Popular? I'm here, ain't I?"

April O'Neil has posed:
April looks over to where Harley spotted 'moowh'. She smiles ato Alopex and offers her a wave, then nods to Harley. "Yes indeed, nice people too. Good hearts, tired of having trouble finding a footing to stand stable on in life, ya know?" The skates are looked at as they're slid over to her and April smirks. She pulls out one of the food court chairs and sits down in it as she takes her messenger bag off and sets it o nthe table then starts to unlace her shooes.

Her eyes go up to Raph as he jumps down and lands all super hero-y in front of them. "That's why I chose the Army recruiting center. It's got an exterior store front, and I can black out the windows in to the mall. None'a the people I interview will even go in to the mall itself and if ya'll... I dunno... are hootin' and hollarin' inside the mall, I can just tell them that there's an event going on. They won't see nothing." She says with a soft smile shown to him.

With her shoes off, April starts to sort out of the roller blades. "God, I haven't worn these since I was like 9." She looks up to Alopex.

"You wanna go skating with us?" She asks. "There's gotta be more skates downstairs, right?"

Alopex has posed:
    With a smirk, "Oh, I'm sure Master Splinter would be so proud if you are -that- popular, Raph," It's just a jab, though. She means nothing by it! She gives a nod, to the Christmas music sentiment. "No, we will be having none of that. Until after thanksgiving, at least.." she muses before peering at the skates. "Eh. There are, but those kinds of things don't really fit things that aren't.. you know. human." She isn't upset or offended, just pointing out a fact she discovered one day.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"It's like ridin' a bike!" Hopefully. Cos there will be some bruises in the morning if not. "But we'll go slow..." which may mean anything considering it's Harley? Slow? It's all so relative... Her sneakers get taken out quickly and she slips the roller blades on, tying them up in that practiced manner of someone who does this often. But she has told April before about her playing with the Brooklyn Queens down at the roller derby from time to time. Violence on wheels, that's right up her alleyway.

And then the blades are on. She gets up to her feet, rolling around slowly just to test the floor before nodding her approval. "Just perfect.." followed by a pirouette, all grace as an harlequin should be. It's only after this little ritual is complete that she FINALLY turns her attention back to the others, "Yea! Come on and have a look with us!" she suggests, "And nothin' wrong with some christmas carrolls is theah?" she starts humming a little one to herself.., it's audible though. Hopefully no sais come her way though!

It lasts just a bit though because soon enough she looks at April. "I wanna see the new place ya gettin' foh yoh podcasts." she announces. "Last place was cool, but this one .., think it will be havin' moouh feelin'"

"So what's yoh name?" She finally asks Alopex, curious.

Raphael has posed:
Raphael grunts once and shifts a shoulder in April's direction, as much of an admission that she's got the right idea in mind as she's probably going to get out of him right now, but that's still more than he often gives. He will be keeping an eye on things, though. Oh yes, he will.

Alopex gets the barest hint of a wince from Raph at the mention of Splinter, and his mouth draws to more of a thin line before he palms the top of his head and says, "Yeah, something like that." Someone's still trying to work his way through the matter of Splinter having been taken control of by the Rat King, even if it's been weeks now. "So I was trying to follow up on a lead about the Rat King in Gotham, and I'm pretty sure I saw the real Batman after I came across some gun and gang stuff going down at the docks."

He approaches, but no move is made to get a pair of skates for himself. "I'll stay on these," as he points to his bare feet.

April O'Neil has posed:
April is in food court sitting at one of the tables and pulling some roller blades on to her feet with Harley in front of her doing the same. Alopex has just approached them and Raphael is already there looking grumpy.

April frowns at Alopex. "Sorry, I hadn't thought about that." She admits, not having considerd Alopex's foot shape might prevent her from slipping on skates as well. "Have you ever done any skate boarding? Or like one of the scooters? I have one of those, I could bring it for you. You know its like a skateboard but it has handlebars." She says with a soft smile.

At the talk of her podcast studio being setup here, April can /feel/ Raph's glare. She glances between him and Harley. "It'll be fine, I promise. It's on the far side of the mall here, it's the south entrance. This is the north entrance. The south entrance is the one that got all the vandalism done to it, its not even fun to go down that way."

On the subject of Batman, April just exhales and shakes her head. "Be /careful/ try to take some of your brothers with you. Gotham is a rough place! Way worse than Brooklyn."

Donatello has posed:
    Suddenly, a rope drops down from the mall's vaulted ceiling and bunches up with excess just a few feet from the group. A green figure -- with a splash of purple, of course -- emerges from the rafters and grips the rope. There's a growing *zzzzzziiiiiiiippppppp* sort of noise as the figure, now obviously Donatello, slides down the rope. After landing at the bottom, the turtle lets go of the rope and gives the group a wave of his three fingers.

    Donatello is wearing a pair of custom welding goggles and has a skateboard strapped to the back of his shell. From his belt, a canvas bag of electronic odds-and-ends dangles. "Hey..." he greets. April and Raph get a smile. Alopex gets one, too, but it's layered with some fear. Harley, on the other hand, gets a quizzical look. Was this really the first time he's meeting her? Sure, he's heard her ridiculous accent coming over April's headset while they were adventuring in Azeroth, but never in the flesh.

Alopex has posed:
    The fox just grins, "It's not something folks need to think about often, no worries," she insists before glimpsing aside toward Raph. Gotham? "Huh, out there? Let me know what you found out sometime, if you can. Heck, I imagine all of us should-" Zipline? Oh. Don.

    The brother in purple gets a friendly wave back. No intimidation, no rawr, just a nice wave. If she noticed the fear, she isn't making an indication of it. "How's the roof?" she asks, a sort of double question since she isn't sure what he was doing up above them all.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Batman?!" That's a topic that can get any clownette ANGRY, or at least altered.. too many years playing cat and mouse with that one! It has her hmph and shake her head. "What does Batman know...?!" a lot. "If ya need some actual help in the futuuah ya should talk ta me. I know all the nooks and crannies out in Gotham." she nods. "Includin' all about otha villains!" like her (former) self.

But then there's commando-turtle coming down. Zipline? Impressive! It even gets a small clap out of the harlequin. But this one ....

Purple, goggles. Mmmmm. And the missing brother sooooo.. "Wait, am I finally meetin' ya?!" she asks. Adventures in Azeroth? That's a bond for forever! "It's Bloodypompons!" the fabled rogue assassin, ganker extraordinaire.

Raphael has posed:
Raphael shrugs. "I handled it. Ran into some little kid all dressed up in red and yellow and stuff. Not a bad fighter, though. We kicked a little ass, sent some losers running off crying. There was some real screams from somewhere, though. I never got a good look through all the fog."

He holds a look of mild amusement at Harley Quinn's reaction. "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind. I do know Batman's put your ass in prison a few times, huh?" He's with it enough to be aware of her history there and beyond, and he needles her over it just a bit. It's a primary reason why she's low on the trust scale, even still, even with her being April's roomie. Little by little, that could still be changing for the better.

One thing he doesn't appear to be is afraid. "I didn't get anything on the Rat King. Not yet. We're gonna have to go back soon with more of us."

He's already waved off April's reassurances about the studio by the time Donatello is making his entrance, and he gives his purple-masked brother a round of mock applause. "Yo."

April O'Neil has posed:
With the roller blades on now, April moves to stand up. Her yellow leather jacket is taken off and draped over the table over her bag, leaving her with the black hoodie on over a light blue tshirt. She zips the hoodie up as she listens to the all of them talk, her eyes rising up with Donnie's dramatic arrival.

Donnie gets a smile from her. "Heya." She says at him. "Look how tall I am in these things." Roller roller roller, she almost falls down but catches herself on the chair, then starts to roll around the food court, spinning around Raph, then around Donnie, and over twoard Alopex. "It's like de-aging yourself a decade or more!" She states with a happy laugh to follow her words.

Donatello has posed:
    "I was just adding more sensors," Donatello explains, giving Alopex a nod. "We got a nice warning about the attack last time, thanks to all this stuff, but the mall has significantly more space to cover, at least vertically. Plus, I added some antennas to get the Shell Phone network to work better in here." Donnie gives April a brief glance as he says so. "De-aging a decade?" he questions, a smirk growing across his face. "...That'd make me six."

    The blonde's enthusiasm causes Donatello to bend forward at the waist and slap his knees. "Of course!" he cries out. Though he knows that Harley knows it already, Donnie won't leave her and her nerdy demonstration hanging. "...TeslaTurtle, in the..." Flesh? Leather? Either way! TeslaTurtle, the Pandaren Monk, who always got whispers from strangers pointing out that he's a Pandaren and not a turtle. Still, in real life and in his fantasy life, Donatello is a humanoid animal martial artist who uses a bo. Wow.

Raphael has posed:
Raphael stands still, lest April accidentally bump into him. "Yeah, you almost look like a little kid right now," he points out, literally extending a finger to do so. "Except for the wrinkles." Oh no he didn't!

Glancing higher as the talk of sensors follows, along with antennas, he can't see anything obviously different. Maybe that's up on the roof, or he doesn't know what he should be looking for. Pulling out his Shell-Phone, he does check it to see if he notices any difference.

"I dunno what you guys are talking about now, but it sounds like some nerd stuff to me." It usually does whenever Donatello gets into techy talk, or some of his gaming stuff, or when Raphael wants to tease his brother.

Once he's sure he won't be getting in April's way, he casts a wave over a shoulder. "I'm gonna go hit the weights and chill down in the arcade. You guys have fun with your skates and your pompoms and whatever else you're talking about." That he clearly doesn't understand.

Alopex has posed:
    Sensors, towers, hey hey, signal! That's a good thing! The fox nods at this, "Oh that's all pretty good, then. Glad to see we're all working on getting this place into order. I have plans for that FYE..."

April O'Neil has posed:
April, on her skates, wheels around toward Harley to put her hands on the back of the other's shoulders for support. She peers over Harley's left shoulder to look at Donnie. "Have you done much with the subway station downstairs?" She asks. "It seems like the biggest security risk to this place, and well... what do I know though about security really?" She says with a smirk. "I'm gonna take Harley down there though to show her around a bit, so I'll be back up in just a few and we can figure out what we're going to order for dinner, if the coffers are already emptied out."

Raphs little quip about her gets a smirk and a glare. "I'll be bringin' you your dinner personally, Raph, for that comment."

As she skates back around Harley she looks to Alopex again. "FYE, really? Wow, I haven't seen one of those in forever." She glances down at her skates. "Probably around the time I last wore these." A look is sent up to Donnie again then. "When you were six'ish." She states to him with a grin.

"Come on, Harls." April says as she starts to skate onward deeper in to the Mall. "We'll have to take the ramp down to the bottom level... which would be fun with wheels on our feet..."

That's gonna go great!

Donatello has posed:
    "Warcraft," Donnie explains to Raph. "We all play together!" He knows it. He knows he knows it. But, Donnie explains, anyway. The turtle gives April a worried glance. "Be careful out there, April. Your bones are basically dust at this point, right?" he adds with a grin, giving Raph a little bit of a side-eyed glance as he joins in on giving April a hard time.

    The comment about the subway station does earn a bit of a worried glance. "I haven't yet," he admits, bringing his hand to gently rub the back of his head. "I'll take a look later today. Thanks for the tip." Donnie's eyes shift to Alopex. The turtle turns around to reveal the skateboard attached to his shell. "Wanna use it?" he asks, gesturing towards April and Harley. He had heard the bit about not fitting into skates, from the rafters, it would seem.

Alopex has posed:
    "Eh, it's alright, Don. I have a few stores I still want to check out," the fox replies, turning down the board. Not that she's really ridden a skateboard much, to be honest. "You two have fun!" For April and Harls.