4312/Dog on Wheels

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Dog on Wheels
Date of Scene: 05 December 2020
Location: Radical Roller Rink
Synopsis: No description
Cast of Characters: Kainashi, Donatello




Kainashi has posed:
    For a while, Kainashi had been content to just wander around, getting used to the new digs, meeting the neighbors, and being terrified of April's roommate to the point of 'not showing'.

    Today, though, it was a dangerous day. The canine mutant was in a dangerous mindset -- she was bored.

    So, she had managed to figure out how to get the DJ booth working, and there were some hard rock tunes bumpin' from the booth. A flashlight was fixed to the discoball as the canine attempts to figure out a pair of normal roller skates. They were bright blue, kid's size to try and make up for her small 'footprint' and digigrade legs.

    It's not going very well. She's got the balance, she can move forward -- a little -- but being bearings that needed work and the ill-fitting boot it was difficult to get momentumn, let alone keep them on!

Donatello has posed:
    Donatello, meanwhile, had been ultra busy. Since the move into the mall, he had been on a non-stop regimen of installing systems to keep the group safe. Having blamed himself for how they had been surprised by the rats, Donnie decided that the mall would receive a much beefier security treatment. The cameras had alerted them, yes, but it could have been sooner. The skating rink, however, was mostly blind-spots. The entrance was covered but little else. The first bit of motion got the turtle's attention and then the image of Kainashi walking through the entrance was enough to bring Donnie to his feet, gather his backpack, and press on with a skateboard.

    "Hey, Kai," he calls over as he slides to a halt, just outside the skating rink's low divider. "Whatcha doing?" He knew what she was doing, but, no one likes a know-it-all, right?

Kainashi has posed:
    Kai looks up from where she had been cocentraiting on not falling over, and she gives the brightest smile and a wave to Donatello as her tail wags "Hi Donnie!" -- and then the scarred-up canine looses her footing, and comes crasking/skidding to a stop on her butt with a surprised sound.

    "Eh... trying to learn how to roller-skate. I was flipping channels and saw a... a roller-derby... and thought it might improve my speed to get around in combat, y'know?" Kai comments from the smooth cement, and her tail stops wagging.

    "I'm having difficulties."

Donatello has posed:
    "Yeah, I see that," Donnie admits with a grin. He reaches over the railing and offers a three-fingered hand to help her up, if she wants it.

    "It's not your fault, though. I overheard Alopex saying how her feet and legs don't work with the skates, so, I got to thinking..." Donnie begins as he shrugs off his backpack. He lowers his eyes and unzips it carefully. Pinched between two fingers are a pair of rollerskates that have been heavily Donnied.

    "I guessed that you'd try this out once you saw it was here, so I made some modifications," he explains, holding the pair out and over the divider, for Kai to take. They look like rollerskates, for the most part, but the soft flaps that would normally go over the ankle have been reinforced and seem to have a locking mechanism. Heavy plates have been welded to the rear of the skates, just above where the heels might be. And then there are some electronics sewn onto the outside material of the skates for some reason...

    "I filled in the empty space of the skate and added a ratcheting system to grip your ankles," Donnie goes on and on. "...And there's a counter-weight on each of them, on the back, so you can bend your legs comfortably."

Kainashi has posed:
    Kainashi accepts the hand -- not too proud to accept a lift, and she carefully goes to the divider to lean against it, then hops up on it to sit.

    Leave it to Donnie to bring absolute joy through nerdism. Or the fact that Kai, being a dog, is just happy he's happy. Either way, Kainashi's eyes light up when Donatello opens his pack and produces the ARMORED SKATES -- all right, they might not be really armored, buto the canine they look seriously cool.

    "One hundred percent punk-rock!" she gleefully exclaims in affection and excitement, and she begins to untie the skates she was wearing. She's stuffed them with socks to try and get them to stay on the right way. Who knows where she got the socks.

Donatello has posed:
    With a happy smile, Donatello reaches a hand out to the divider and uses it to vault over. He kneels down to untie the other skate while Kainashi works on the first. He was excited to see her try the dogskates and didn't want to wait further. "I made a pair for Alopex, too," Donatello mentions as he works on the laces. "Those are back at the store." His workshop, really.

    Donnie gives the human skate a toss and carefully brings the dogskate up and over Kainashi's ankle. "Is that comfortable?" he wonders, waiting for her say-so before he locks the ankle.

Kainashi has posed:
    "Which store? There's like, a hundred of them here!" the canine chides gently, though she knows well which one Donnie's taken up in.

    The dogskate is brought up over Kai's foot, and she feels a bit like Cinderella, her ears pricking forward, her tail giving a wag.

    "Yeah, that's pretty comfortable, feels a little odd after the skate with the socks..." she trails off, and wriggles her toes inside of the skate.

Donatello has posed:
    "Eighty-two," Donnie answers as he fusses about with the skate. Eighty-two stores. His eyes are fixated on the work, though, he looks up at Kainashi when she describes the dogskates as feeling a little odd. Hrm. In this case, his brain had won the battle against his heart and Donnie had only considered function over form. "...I'll add some memory foam, I think, once we know they work," he promises with a nod.

    "As long as they're on, /this/ button will lock them in," he explains, giving a small green button a push. He had put a little picture of a smile on it, too, since he wasn't sure about Kainashi and color. The ankle part of the skate starts to slowly ratchet shut until it comes in contact with Kai's leg -- it stops there.

    "/This/ one will open them back up," Donnie adds, pointing at a red button with a sad face on it. The turtle looks up to see if Kainashi had been watching, smiling up at her as he does.

Kainashi has posed:
    Smiley-face-green-button-on. Sad-face-red-button-off. Good on Donatello to consider Kai's eyes! Her tail hadn't stopped wagging as Donatello fusses and fits the boot on Kainashi's foot, and she lifts the foot (very, very gently -- didn't want to kick Donatello after all!) and she gives the biggest grin, smiling so hard that her eyes are closed.

    "They're wonderful, Donnie! Thank you!"

Donatello has posed:
    "You're welcome," Donatello answers simply, grinning from ear-slit to ear-slit. "I mean, it's no big deal or anything..." Still, his grin does not fade as he attempts to downplay the invention a bit.

    The second dogskate goes on easier, faster, as the turtle now knows what to expect, and it gets locked into place just like the first one. With that done, Donnie stands up and offers a hand to help the doggie down from the ledge.

    "Try to just stand normally. Because your legs are digigrade, there's a counter weight in each skate to cancel it out. Should feel pretty normal," Donatello explains, watching Kainashi's movements carefully. He was excited and hasn't even shown her the best part, yet...

Kainashi has posed:
    Donnie's leand over, his dome showing, and Kainashi (in a moment of boldness), leans forward and presses her cold nose and muzzle to his head in an approximation of a kiss as the other skate goes on, and tries to look nonchalant about it as she straightens up.

    She accepts his help down from the divider, and she tests the skates out. They do move better, not shifting on her feet at all as she gives a few test pushes on her feet.

Donatello has posed:
    The kiss to his head earns a faint laugh from the turtle, smiling as he does. It was a happy afternoon, one that had been earned the hard way in these trying times. Once Kainashi was off on her own, Donatello rises to his feet and tilts his head to the side. "There's a switch on the right one... Just on the side, there. Give it a flip..."

    And if she does, both skates start a fun light show -- random RGB LED blink patterns and laser pointers start up, turning the little area around the dog into a 1980s Friday night at the roller rink. After a few seconds, they let out a small puff of smoke to give the lasers something to refract through.

Kainashi has posed:
    Kai reaches down, pleased that balance has been restored, and indeed gives the switch a flip.

    Donatello has given her *Personal Party Skates*.

    "Eeeeeeeee!" comes the pleased sound from the canine, and she skates a couple more feet before the smoke comes on.

    "THese are the freaking coolest things!" she calls back to Donatello with a bright grin -- right before she hits another divider, goes over, and the skates are flashing and shining with her feet in the air.

    "I'm okay!"

Donatello has posed:
    Donatello's eye ridge rises as he watch the party mode activate. He grins again, chuckling a bit as he admires his handiwork from the other side of the rink. With a contented sigh, Donatello leans over the divider to grab his skateboard and bring it into the rink. Wait. Oh no. He had made a miscalculation.

    The counterweights could make engaging the front-mounted brake a little difficult. Kai would certainly have the strength to engage it, but he had said to just go normally. Donnie turns, holding the skateboard, to find Kainashi going off towards the divider and on a collision course. "Kai!" he shouts before tossing his skateboard onto the rink surface and jumping onto it. His leap is converted into forward momentum, but Donnie brings a foot to the rink to try and push forward and gain speed.

    Donatello would be too late to stop her before Kainashi crashes into the divider and goes over the side. He winces as he scrapes to a halt and moves to help her up. "Oh, Kai, I'm /sorry/! I messed up!" he exclaims.

Kainashi has posed:
    "What? What no you didn't mess up! I wasn't looking where I was going!" Kai protests from where she was laying, and she laughs merrily, rubbing her head a little bit.

    "You just looked so happy with the work you did on it, how could I not look at you?" she grins, and grabbing the divider, she hoists herself back up into the rink.

    "You can't fix me!"

Donatello has posed:
    "Oh, no, I just meant that stopping is a little weird because of the counter weights," Donatello explains as he reaches out to offer help if needed. "I didn't take that into consideration." He closes his eyes and scrunches his face up a bit, causing a series of wrinkles to appear on his snoot, just about where the bridge of a nose would be if he had one.

    "I wouldn't want to fix you," Donatello adds with a shrug. "Because there's nothing wrong." With that decided, he steps back onto the skateboard.

Kainashi has posed:
    The canine pauses a moment, and she takes a deep breath, steadying herself a moment as she smiles at Donatello, and then she's back on the skates. She's moving smoother, now. "Well, most of the time when I saw people stopping during the derby, they would kinda swing themselves and stop with the skates being... per... perpan... with them facing one-half-the-opposite-way from where they were facing before. And they bent their knees." she draws up. "I'll get practice in!"

Donatello has posed:
    "Well, I don't know much about all that," Donatello admits with a grin. He pushes off with his skateboard and tries to follow along without getting too close. It eventually turns into just standing casually on the board as it rolls along.

    "I think the roller derby is kind of like a fight while skating, isn't it?" the turtle points out, retreating a bit into his thoughts. "I think so..."

Kainashi has posed:
    "Yep! It's a knock-down drag-out fight between two teams of people, and they are absolutely /vicious/!" Kainashi confirms as she skates along, her tail shifting and acting a bit like a rudder.

    "And they play loud music and have names like 'Whip-her-Snap-Her' and 'Her-A-Cane Bobbi'. It looks like a lot of fun, but I know I wouldn't be allowed to enter into one, but I figured 'hey, why not learn how to roller skate'?"

Donatello has posed:
    Donnie skates along, hrming to himself as he glides across the rink on the board. "Sounds like your thing..." Donatello comments, bringing a hand up to scratch against his chin. "You know, maybe we could figure out a way to get you into one? I mean, with the right disguise..." The turtle raises his browline again and smiles. "I do have some favors to call in from SHIELD. Agent Lara Croft gave me her info but I haven't bothered her, yet. I bet they have some radical stuff we could use..."

Kainashi has posed:
    "i... don't think Alopex would approve of me getting involved with human sports... especially when I could accidentally one through a wall..." Kai trails of, but she does give a smile.

    "It's good that you're making friends! I met Spider-Man. He's pretty much more man than spider, he doesn't have mandables or anything. But he's nice!" she confirms. "Got to sue the smoke bombs and helped him get someone bad." her tail wags, which is no longer making her wobbbly.

Donatello has posed:
    Spider-Man. Really? Donatello looks away for a second, unsure about that. "Oh, Spider-Man?" he begins. "That's...cool." And he was nice! And wasn't gross like a spider! The mutant, ninja, and turtle parts of Donatello have no issue. The teenager, however, decides to test the waters.

    "...Y-Yeah, well, Lara practically begged for my phone number," he fibs. "But I didn't have a phone, other than the ShellPhone. I guess I have one now, now that April gave me that...thing." He glances over to see Kai's reaction.

Kainashi has posed:
    "Yeah, he's really smart, like you are. You'd be a good friend for him, since you're both really smart. He knows about computers." Kainashi continues, unpeturbed about Lara asking Donatello for his phone number.

    She turns, and attempts to skate backwards, shifting her weight and looking over her shoulder.

    "Did you give her your number?" she asks curiously, "Is she as scary as April's roommate?"

Donatello has posed:
    The turtle's mouth practically hangs out of his mouth as this Spider-Man is being described with qualities that had previously been used for him. He'd have to double down and lay it on even more.

    "I didn't..." Donnie says. "...But maybe I should." His browline rises as he watches.

    "April's roommate? Harley?" Donatello asks. A grin forms. "She...she's not so bad. We play Warcraft together, sometimes. She plays a rogue, but that's no surprise."

    The attempts to make Kai jealous, however he could, and the conjecture about Harley Quinn all fizzle, just a bit, as the turtle watches Kainashi start to skate backwards. "You're getting pretty good, Kai...." he points out with a forming smile.

Kainashi has posed:
    "I dunno, she's loud. She hurt my ears when I heard her, so I think I might just stay out of her way -- for now. What's a Warcraft?" she questions, finding she can't keep her speed up backwards, she attempts to turn again and wobbles a bit before -recentering.

    "Is it fun? Does it require a lot of reading?" she asks, her ears coming up a bit.

Donatello has posed:
    "Yeah, well, she's kind of weird," Donatello agrees with a shrug, content to just skateboard alongside Kainashi. He was adept with the board, no troubles here, but made a point to go slow and give the other mutant suitable distance to try out the skates.

    "It's a video game that April and I play together. Sometimes Harley plays. Casey tried to learn..." Donnie's face sours, remembering that fiasco. "But...Does it require a lot of reading?" Donnie repeats, thinking on that. "Not really, no. I don't think so. Most people ignore all that." Donatello grins and shrugs his shoulders. But then, he perks up and looks over at Kai.

    "Do you...Maybe want to play with us?" he asks, cautiously.

Kainashi has posed:
    "... well, I could... I could try?" she questions cautiously, her expression going throughful as she skates.

    "I'm not very good at videogames... Casey tried to teach me to play one, but I... didn't think I could do it. 'Cause there are words on the screen... and... y'know." she gives a soft 'heh' sound.

Donatello has posed:
    Donnie answers with a simple shrug. "No one really reads the words in Warcraft," he admits. "...They just click the button to skip all of the reading, to be honest." He flashes a grin, which then fades a little.

    "Hey, Kai...?" he begins, cautiously. "...Do you...Do you ever think that maybe you'd like to learn to read?" His voice sounds like he believes in her, not that he views her illiteracy as a flaw. "...I mean, it doesn't matter that you can't, but, if it's something you'd want to ever learn..."

    "You know I'd help, right?"

Kainashi has posed:
    "Well that's boring. How can you get the story if you don't read it, or have someone reading it to you?" Kainashi complains, bringing one hand up, wobbling slightly, and correcting. Her tail moves with her, and she turns to Donnie a moment, and she frowns, her shoulders rising up.

    "I'm too dumb to read. I don't even know all the letters. They just all wiggle about and look like random lines to me." she states quietly.

Donatello has posed:
    "Eh, well, we don't play it for the story. It's more about trying to work together to beat the game. They kind of make it so you have to cooperate. It's just sort of fun to fight things that can't feel pain, you know?" Donatello explains, trying so hard to make World of Warcraft make sense.

    Kainashi's words bring a look of curiosity from the turtle. "Wait..." Donatello says, sliding his board to a halt. He kicks the board up and catches it with one of his hands. "Are you saying that the letters look like they're moving and changing?" His tone suggests that he's going somewhere with this.

Kainashi has posed:
    "I... I wouldn't know. Everything that's ever fought back felt pain." Kainashi states, and then her lips purse. "Except a robot. Pretty sure that one didn't feel pain--" she touches her face. "I sure did, though."

    She then turns to Donatello, and her ears pop up. "Well, yeah, sometimes they just look like a bunch of little worms squirming around, or weird squiggles. Like I know that 'A' looks like a tent, but sometimes it doesn't, if that makes sense." she shrugs.

Donatello has posed:
    Suddenly, Donatello smiles. He takes a step towards Kai and extends both of his hands, having left the skateboard back down on the ground. "Kai!" he exclaims. "Don't you know what this means?" The turtle is excited.

    "You're not /dumb/... You're dyslexic," he explains. "It's a condition just like what you're describing. It doesn't mean you're dumb, not at all -- but, yeah, probably can't read."

    He's thrilled to be able to say this next part. "You know who else was dyslexic? Albert Einstein."

Kainashi has posed:
    "... the weird guy with the hair and the tongue?" Kai asks.

    She at least is trying to understand. Her ears go down though, and she rubs the back of her neck a moment.

    "N-no, Donnie, I really am dumb. Well. I was dumb. Now I'm just kinda not smart. And that's okay! Being smart isn't my talent. Being strong is." she states, and she rubs the back of her neck with her other hand, and narrowly avoids being taken out by the barrier again.

Donatello has posed:
    "Well, yeah, the guy with the hair and the tongue..." Donatello agrees. "But... He's pretty much the smartest person who has ever lived. His theory of relativity is the foundation for all modern science!" He smiles down at Kai and nods his head with enthusiasm. He wasn't going to let her spoil it.

    "I'm not going to expect to win this disagreement, I know I'm not, but... I just..." Donatello stops, trying to find the right words. "...I don't like when you call yourself dumb." By now, his enthusiasm had fizzled out and his true feelings on the matter were made plain. Sadness.

Kainashi has posed:
    "... but... why don't you like it? It's... not anything towards you." Kai replies, and her face scrunches a moment before she hops up onto the divider to sit. Her tail droops slightly. "Is... this going to be like when you found out what I was named in the Foot?" she questions, trying to understand, her voice turning nervous.

Donatello has posed:
    "Because it's something against /you/, silly..." Donnie explains, giving her a faint smile. "I care about you. I know you shrug this whole 'dumb' thing off, but ... It's not a nice thing to say about someone, even if that someone is yourself." Donnie pauses, allowing his gaze to go long for a moment as he thinks further about it.

    "If someone /else/ called you dumb... I'd probably hurt them," he admits, almost surprised by his own words. His feelings for this pup have led him into a dark place in the past. Dom the Bomb.

Kainashi has posed:
    "... you don't need to hurt anyone on my behalf, Donnie." Kainashi replies softly. She shifts her weight on the divider, and makes room for him to sit down too.

    "What... what would be a better way to explain that I'm not smart? I mean, I'm good when it comes to fighting. I can think on my feet 'cause sometimes I even surprise Alopex. And she's a way better at fighting than me when it comes to smarts. And I'm okay being me. I draw good! I lift things that are really heavy, and I can track people differently than you and your brothers can. Alopex says my nose is even better than hers." she gives a little smile, her head coming down but she's looking up at Donatello.

    "But... I don't understand all the science stuff. Sometimes, I have trouble with words. I dunno if it's because I was four when I was mutated, or that they put me through it more than once... but... you don't need to hurt anyone on my behalf. *Especially* if it's just a word."

Donatello has posed:
    Donatello considers a better way for Kai to express her intelligence if she had to for some reason. "You know, Kai..." Donatello begins, tilting his head to the side. "Maybe just say all of /that/? That you're strong. And you're an artist. And you can lift and track people. I only remember that you're 'dumb' because you say it. You don't have to." He gives the dog a smile and then a nod.

    Always the more empathetic turtle, Donnie tries another way to get through to Kai. "...Kai..." he begins. "...How would you feel if someone said something bad about me?"

Kainashi has posed:
    "I'd probably be pretty mad, because you're kind, and smart, and you try to see the best in others. I mean, every time Rpahael says something mean about you I threaten him with a forced dumpster dive. And then he gets all huffy 'cause he knows I'll do it." Kai gives a bright grin, her tail wagging.

    And then it clicks.

    "Oh... yeah, I guess it would bother me if people said mean things about you if I'd throw them in dumpsters for it."

Donatello has posed:
    Donatello smiles a little, his eyes lowering in slight embarrassment as Kainashi describes him so positively. He doesn't bother refuting, disagreeing, or being bashful about it, though. It would unravel the point he was trying to make here.

    "...And what if /I/ was the one saying something bad about me?" he adds, looking up to watch her reaction to that.

Kainashi has posed:
    "... you'd be wrong." Kainashi states, and she reaches for his hand. "Because even if you get distracted, it's 'cause your brain is going so fast with so much stuff in it. you /are/ smart, and kind, and courageous." she comments gently, her ears perking up.

    "I'll try to be less mean to myself."

Donatello has posed:
    Donatello takes Kai's hand in his own and smiles. "And you'd be wrong, too..." he replies quietly, though winces at the end as he anticipates her protest.

    Donnie nods his head to Kai's promise to be less mean to herself. "That's a great promise to try and make," he agrees with a smile. A great way to put it, too, he figures.

Kainashi has posed:
    "I make the promise only because you asked me nicely." Kainashi gives a grin then, and takes a deep breath.

    "So, how have you been adapting to the new digs? I haven't seen you about much..."

Donatello has posed:
    Donatello returns the grin before looking around at the mall, even though they were in the sublevel and really couldn't see much. "It's okay," he admits. "...I prefer... Home." Donatello glances down and sighs softly. "There's a lot of ground to cover, here. I've been busy working on security. They got the drop on us last time. It's not going to happen again."

Kainashi has posed:
    Kai reaches over, and puts her other hand on Donatello's shoulder.

    "... it's freaking huge. I went from living in a cage to the Den to a mall. I have no idea what to do with so much space. It is literally 'too much room'." Kainashi confirms with her own contending.

    And she looks down, and looks around. "Well... didn't malls have security guards? Like that movie?"

Donatello has posed:
    Donatello turns his head to face Kai and nods. "Yeah... It really is," he agrees, his eyeridge rising a bit to reinforce the point. "Too big. Too big to keep safe, I think..." Donnie sighs softly and shrugs his shoulders.

    "Yeah... they have security guards. I mean, they have people who call themselves that...." The question, and his answer to it, get Donatello thinking. "...Do you mean...We should patrol the mall, shouldn't we?"