8579/Pepperoni Junction

Pepperoni Junction
Date of Scene:	07 November 2021
Location:	Giorgio's Pizzeria - St. Martin's Island
Synopsis:	April, Mike and Vorpal get together for some pizza and to catch up. Mike's intent to turn auteur is well received- better received than his unintentional double entendres.
Cast of Characters:	Terry O'Neil, Michelangelo, April O'Neil

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Terry O'Neil has posed:
<<Mikey- It's Pizza Saturday and my boyfriend is out of town. That means I can actually /afford/ more than one pizza. Wanna come share? I'll open a Rabbit Hole for ya if you want to join me at Giorgio's>>

The text had gone out out to the shellphone thirty minutes ago while Vorpal got dressed. Gar being out of town means that he is spending a lot less in food- even if Gar is wealthy enough to pay for everything, Terry will hear nothing of it, always isisting to share in fifty-fifty of their expenses. With the green Titan out for a week in California, Terry's wallet has a lot more room to breathe!

Girgio's is its multicolored, bright self, and there is a sizable crowd. Fortunately, the booth in the far corner is reserved for the establishment's best clients: The Titans. Vorpal is sitting there, although his power of illusion shows an empty booth for now- he's not quite ready to interact with The Public until his friend in a half shell is ready to hop over.

Michelangelo has posed:
    Mikey doesn't get down to Metropolis nearly as much as he should, and he should, because the city has some /great/ pizza. Case in point: Giorgio's. It may not be the home of the standard New York slice, but as he's getting older Mikey is starting to appreciate pizza in a deep and intricate way, to learn the wisdom of pizza, to plumb the depths of all things pizza-related. He's going to need to visit Italy someday, to try pizza marinara just to say he has. So he's happy to meet Terry down there, replying over the shellphone <<Duuude haven't been to Giorgio's in a hot minute, toss me a Rabbit Hole!>>

Terry O'Neil has posed:
<<Your wish is my command!>> Terry sends the text, <<Sending the hole to the food court in the mall. Be there or be pizza-less!>> He waits for a few seconds for Mikey to get to the rendez-vous point, and in the meantime he fires another text, to another close person:

<<APRIL. Mikey. Me. Pizza Party at Giorgio's. You in? I'll send a Rabbit Hole. Come as you are!>>

He grins and leans back on his booth eyeing the menu. Even if he knows exactly what he wants to order. Then, counting to ten, he opens up the Rabbit Hole for Mikey.

April O'Neil has posed:
April was outside of a electronics store when she got the text. Sitting on her bike she looks down at it and responds with <Sure, portal me there.> And then puts her phone back in to her yellow jacket pocket. She grips the handle bars of her bike and bites her bottom lip as she looks around the mostly empty street....

When the portal opens, April feels the atmosphere rush from the other side over her, moving her loose dark hair across her shoulders. She smiles and kicks off, riding her bike through the portal in to the pizza place.

Ding ding. April rings the bell on her bike as she comes through andskids to a stop to dismount her bike. In blue jeans, black sneakers and her yellow jacket over a black hoodie, April reaches up to take her helmet off and run a hand through her hair. "Hey." She says over to her cousin while parking the bike on its stand and smiling at the Pizza Place clerk. "Sorry about that." She says of riding her bike in to their store...

Michelangelo has posed:
    Mikey runs on up to the food court and jumps through the portal when it arrives, just in time to be there when April comes through on her bike. He grins at her. "April! Terry didn't say you were coming!" He's clearly delighted though. "Great entrance. Wish I'd thought of that! I could've busted in on my skateboard!"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
A bicycle is not the most outrageous thing that people in this place have seen. They can take J'onn J'onnz in his briefs and harness in stride, after all.

"I thought it'd be a nice surprise. April, you're looking very sporty. Siddown and let's get down to chow!" the Cheshire cat scoots over to let his cousin slide in. The Titans' booth is extra spacious, enough to accomodate individuals of non-standard builds, after all. There's enough room for Mike and his shell.

"It's been a long time since we've been out together, you know. I figured it was about time. Specially since Gar is out of town and I am not bankrupt from feeding him all the time," the Cheshire cat winks and he dismisses the illusion. The staff takes that as the cue to come and deliver the menus, and leave them for a few minutes for them to make up their minds about their oders.

April O'Neil has posed:
April is hanging her helmet on her bike handles when Mikey comes through. She grins at him then and walks around her bike to give him a quick hug. "Good to see you, Orange Crush." She says with a grin before she walks over to where Terry is making room for her. The young reporter whips off her yellow leather jacket and sets it on the chair behind their boot, then adjusts her hoodie and tshirt beneath it around her waist as she sits down beside Terry.

I've not been here before..." She says as she looks around, out the window. "Is this Metropolis?" She asks. "Been awhile since I came all the way out here... I Interviewed Aquaman at a bar here about a year ago... He was ... very pretty." She smiles then as a menu is picked up. "This place as good as or better than Angelos?" She asks, of the Brooklyn pizza joint they always go to while there!

Michelangelo has posed:
    Mikey returns the hug and then goes to sit, peering over the menu. "I dunno that I'd say it's /better/ than Angelo's. It's /different/. Like... can you really compare New York pizza to Delware pizza? Well, I mean, you /can/, I just mean it's not really... /fair/, y'know? Angelo's is Angelo's. Trying to compare anywhere else to Angelo's is like... I dunno, comparing a star to the sun or something." He's trying to be profound. Really. It's not his fault the sun is a star, and a smallish one at that.

    "It's been forever since I saw Gar," he adds. "How's he doing? Does he /really/ eat as much as you say he does? Like, dude, does he /eat all the pizza/ 'cause that's just rude."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry grins, "Aquaman? Pretty? .... I guess." He leans on April to tease her, "I guess I prefer my guys either green or alien. Aquaman's too mainstream pretty boy for me- but hey, if he ever breaks up with his queen, you can always learn to hold your breath!"

He quickly shields himself with the menu to fend off any April attacks.

"This place is just as good as Angelo's. In some pies, it has the advantage, in others, Angelo is ahead. I think the two are very dignified representatives of their cities."

April O'Neil has posed:
April sets her menu down to watch Mikey, she even puts her hands up with her fingers curled against the sides of her cheeks to enjoy the turtle as he tries to be poetic and insightful with his words. She seems to soak it up like basking in the sunlight. "I get what ya mean totally, Micheal." She says back at him with a soft smile as her hands drop back down to the menu. She looks then to Terry as he bumps shoulders with her.

"Ha ha...." She says with a tongue-out gesture in his direction. Her eyes then drop down to her menu. "Well. I am excited to try out their best Pineapple pie then." She says, having clearly already made up her mind. "Hawaiian it is." She looks between them both.

"So whats the haps with you two?" She asks as a finger goes up to dab at a itchy spot beside her nose. "Skateboards and Green boyfriends aside."

Michelangelo has posed:
    "I met a guy who knew all about us because of some kind of weird cosmic radiation stuff," Mikey comments as he ponders the menu. "I think I'll get the supreme." Olives! Peppers! Veggies, April! "Anyway, he had a whole theme song he sang for us. I think I'm gonna suggest to the guys that we get a theme song. Most superhero teams have themesongs, right?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"And yeah, Gar eats about as much pizza as you'd think. It's the metabolism. Changing shapes burns up a lot of energy, which is why he can eat so much and yet still pull off the jumpsuit," Terry chuckles.

And then stops dead on his verbal tracks. "Wait. Wait. Back it up. Cosmic radiation? Mikey, Mikey, you can't. You can't just leave that hanging there and not give us enough details. Tell me more. Who is this guy?"

April O'Neil has posed:
April spends a moment looking around the store at its decor, absorbing the style of the place while she listens to the two of them. It isn't until Terry reacts to Mikey's words that the dark auburn haired April looks back. "Wait. What?" She catches up, her eyes bouncing from Mikey, to Terry and then back.

"Cosmic ... radiation? Isn't that that stuff that made the Fantastic Four... uh ... fantastic?" She asks then, her eyes quickly looking over Mikey to see if anything about his physical appearance had noteably changed....

Michelangelo has posed:
    "Uhhh..." Mikey looks up from the menu. "I... don't know? His name was Wade Wilson, he's a mercenary? He was out with his girlfriend and we met in the park while I was coming back from a Cowabunga Carl gig. We got pizza, it was cool. He's kinda weird, wanted to meet Master Splinter."

    There's a moment and then Michelangelo's eyes widen. "Dude... does... does this mean I'm gonna get like... /extra/ powers? Super powers? /Magic/ powers? Terry, do you think I could open /Turtle Holes/?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry frowns, "Wade Wilson, cosmic radiation. I'm going to have to look into t-"

And then Mikey -

Mikey goes and says the thing.

Mikey is seventeen. He's innocent. He's pure. God bless him, he probably has no concept of double entendre, right?

Unfortunately, he just happened to say that in front of Terry. The Cheshire cat, suddenly, appears to have a massive case of the coughing fits, because he grabs a handful of napkins and shoves it up to his mouth while muffled sounds (like laughter?) come through. He even leans against April, hyperventilating into the napkins, his eyes beginning to tear up.
5r

April O'Neil has posed:
April tips her chin up some so the light above their booth comes down upon her face more fully, she just kinda sucks her lips between her teeth and just bares through the laughing fit that she knows Terry is unable to control. She leans her head against the top of his and just rolls it back and forth. "Let it out. Get it out of your system." She tells him with a grin appearing before she raises her head up and just looks over at Mikey. "I think you're gonna stay just the way you are, Sweetie." She says to him. "Which is the way we all want you too."

She gives Terry a smirk then before she looks over to the waiter and nods to them. "Lets just order, shall we?" She asks then to the both of them with a smile.

Michelangelo has posed:
    Michelangelo stares at Terry for a long moment. "What did I...?" He /really/ doesn't get it. Not that he's /that/ pure and sweet and innocent, but he's just not the guy who thinks about those sorts of jokes. Yet. Maybe not ever. Raph would've gotten it, at least. Maybe Leo, maybe even Donnie. Not Mikey.

    But finally he grins. "Well, look, /I/ wanna hear what April's been up to, but first--pizza!!"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Yes!" Tery finally says, once oxygen has been replenished and he has stopped laughing. "April. Up. Tell." And then he waves a waitress over so she can take their orders. With much interruption from vestigial giggles, he orders himself a personal pizza margherita. And copious amounts of peach tea.

April O'Neil has posed:
April just smiles at the both of them before the orders are placed, she ordering a personal pizza for herself and then tells the waitress that she's picking up the bill for all three of them. Her eyes going to Terry then who she figures is the most likely to argue with her on that. "My internet presence has officially taken over my paycheck at Channel Six. So... I'm inching ever closer to quitting that damn thing." She tells them both then. "So this is celebration for the internet being wildly more lucrative than legacy media."

Their drinks are brought soon after, and April holds up her lemonade then. "A toast." April calls from them both.

"To good friends, good food, and good times." She pauses before drinking. "Oh, and good money too." She adds with a self satisfied smile.

"Beyond that... I dunno. Things are pretty good at home. Harley is ever fun to be around.... the Hyenas are better trained now than they were a year ago, so that is very good too. And... well... hey. Bask in the good times, right?"

Michelangelo has posed:
    Mikey holds up his own soda. "Cowabunga!" is his own toast. "Things are looking up! That's /great/ to hear, April! Patrols've been quiet lately, no news from the Foot, I've been getting a lot of gigs. And, uhm... I'm thinking I might try publishing some potry if I can figure out how to do the internet publishing thing."

    He looks a little bashful. It's an idea he hadn't told anyone about yet!

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal reaches over and taps Michelangelo on the wrist, "Mikey, you should talk to Ape about it. She's all about that side of the internet. I'm more the social media manager/reporter type. So when she helps you publish, I can run the buzz about it online!" He grins and raises his lemonade, "Alright, to better things- and maybe getting published for the first time? It's a big step, Mikey, but April will totally help you with that."

And then, a pause. "Just... don't let Harley convince you to let her write the introduction. Trust me."

April O'Neil has posed:
April definitely spends the next half hour at least talking about self publishing and the ins and outs of it as their food arrives and they can all enjoy the dining experience together!