904/April's new roommate

April's new roommate
Date of Scene:	01 April 2020
Location:	Turtle Lair
Synopsis:	Leo and Raph begin the healing process, and resolve to check out Harley Quinn. Also to check out Null Mutants.
Cast of Characters:	Leonardo, Raphael

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Leonardo has posed:
Leonardo currently has the unenviable task of looking for his grumpy brother. The other two have been easy to find, when he wants to find them, because they welcomed him home fairly happily. So, it's off to find the grumper. Because an issue has caught his attention...and after the research Donnie did, well...it's concerning. It's not an emergency, because of what else Donnie found, but it's definitely a problem.

Raphael has posed:
Raphael's been scarce since Leonardo's return. More time spent out on the surface as the Nightwatcher, coming back to the Lair mainly to sleep and eat when others are off doing other things. Not even the gym shows the normal signs of use. Raph is known to be distant from time to time, moody on a good day, but it's stuck out more like a sore thumb over the past few days. He has not participated in anything with the rest of them, and Splinter seems to know that trying to force all of them into training together right now is not the best thing for the brawler of the group. 'He will be ready when he is ready,' is something the wise rat would likely say.

For one, Raphael rarely meditates, if ever. He carries chips on his shoulder like few others, and some of that is what fuels him. But today, it happens to be he's about to exit his room when he spots Leonardo moving about. This leads to him moving to shut his door again, but there he is.

Leonardo has posed:
Leo approaches, as he does. Because when Raphael can ACTUALLY be found, this is an opportunity! ...But the other things between them will have to wait on the more pressing matter. "...I don't know if you knew already, but April has a roommate. Her name is Harley Quinn...Donnie did some research..."

"Well, there's bad news and good news. The bad news is, she was with someone called the Joker for 2.5 years, and committed every crime you can think of." Which is very bad.

"The good news is, she was apparently legally released, has a job at a tech firm called Starrware, and stopped a couple crimes so far. We...haven't been able to fully figure out if she's gone straight, or how straight she's gone if she's straight at all." By straight, Leo is referring to ethical, not anything else.

"...We may need to talk to this Harley Quinn."

Raphael has posed:
Spotted! Raphael mutters something under his breath, something that isn't all that nice for a teenager to be saying under most circumstances.

"Yeah? A roomie? Well, good for her. Glad ta hear it. Rent ain't cheap," he says through the door, his words and tone short, clipped. The mention of Harley Quinn draws nothing out of him, though he scoffs when told of Donatello looking into things. "I bet he did." Joker and crime also draws little more than a grunt in reply, but the lack of further sound inside his room suggests he probably hasn't moved much.

More? Released, has a job, stopped some crime, and so on? "Sounds like ya got it all figured out, Leo. Why don't ya just go over there and be your usual charming self? Welcome her to the neighborhood? I'm sure you'll make friends with her in no time. No need for me ta be there."

Leonardo has posed:
Leo...actually shakes his head here. "...I think she'd respond better to you. Or maybe Mikey. I'm the sort of personality she probably wouldn't fit well with at all. Even when she fought off the thugs that assaulted the antique shop, she was a little...well, you'll see when you meet her."

Leo, seemingly, thinks his disciplined nature isn't actually the best thing for Ms. Quinn. She's...chaotic. He's very not.

Raphael has posed:
The sound of a chuckle from the other side of the door. "Oh, I see how it is. I think, but I'm not sure. Could you be a little more specific for me?" Raphael's testing Leonardo, poking at him verbally, clearly trying to get him to say something.

Leonardo has posed:
Leo's diplomacy may or may not have recovered in time. "...She feels more like you than me. Some Mikey mixed in too, to be fair. But...I kinda think I might rub her the wrong way, if I approached her first." Notwithstanding they're all giant turtles with bandanas.

Raphael has posed:
"Not th' answer I was lookin' for, but what do you mean she's more like me or Mikey? We don't break th' laws any more than the rest a' you," Raphael answers from the other side of his door. It has no lock. Any of them could just waltz on in whenever they felt like it, but for the most part they have respected the idea of privacy when in one's room. "It sounds like you're tryin' ta say somethin'."

Leonardo has posed:
Leo refuses to bite, so to speak. "I'm trying to say you should meet her first. I might be...too boring, or too much a stick in the mud for her." That might do it, Leo figures. Put himself down a little in a reasonable way. "...she is more accustomed to fun, I think." And poor old no fun Leo is the guy asking.

Raphael has posed:
Close, but no cigar. Although Raphael almost laughs - it comes out sort of like a caught breath mixed with a snort of some sort - he clears his throat and says, "At least you're right about that, but that wasn't what I was looking ta hear. Sounds like she an' Mikey would hit it off on the spot, though." Leonardo might get one more chance to say the magic words.

Leonardo has posed:
And Leo seems to consider that settled then. "Great. You can come with me. We'll all go, but you'll probably do more talking than me." At least this time. This is not the sort of conversation Leo is best at.

Raphael has posed:
Raphael's answer is more flat than ever. "You haven't said it yet." There is still no movement from the other side of the door.

Leonardo has posed:
Leo...tries to determine what Raph wants him to say. An apology, then? He could try that. "...I'm sorry I abandoned everyone. I hurt you and everyone else by leaving." He won't offer any reasons or excuses.. Apologies don't work like that.

Raphael has posed:
The door opens, enough for Leonardo to see Raphael's narrowed eyes. "Close enough, shell-for-brains." Still apparently not what he was after, but the apology itself was going to be needed sooner or later. He might have one of his own to make soon, but now is apparently not the time. "We got by the best we could with just the three of us and Master Splinter, you know." The way he says it suggests there was still a void left behind, an empty hole of some kind. "Still dunno why you had to go off like that," he mutters as he brushes past. "Just when we'd finally won." The mask is already in place

Leonardo has posed:
Leo thinks about it, but..."...I don't know what to tell you, because pretty much anything I say is gonna sound like an excuse. I wanted to clear my head, to find peace in myself. I wanted to be better. Better for everyone. But...most of all, I wanted to be better for me."

But the story of how the 3 got by with Splinter is...a little heartbreaking. It hurt more than he thought it would. "...I missed everyone, while I was gone." But that darn discipline of his caused him to stick it out.

Raphael has posed:
"You couldn't handle the fact that we needed Splinter's help to finally defeat the Shredder, bro," Raphael says, sending a glance over a shoulder. "The rest of us were just glad we finally did it, but it wasn't good enough because we couldn't do it all on our own. You can deny that if you want, but I know you and I know the way you think."

So, in Raph's eyes, that led to Leo ditching them for whatever he needed to find, and the more time that went by, the more fractured it left the rest of them. "Some nights, I was the only one out on patrol. I'll bet you didn't know that, did you?" He crosses his arms, putting on that strong front they're used to seeing out of him.

Leonardo has posed:
"...Really?" Sigh. Things were really worse than he thought, then. Because if the other two weren't going with Raph, than...they must've spun off to do other things. Donnie's inventions, and there were a bunch when he got home, tells him what Donnie did...and Mikey...he was probably hurting even more than Raph here and won't say so. "None of us should patrol alone if we can help it."

"...We need each other. I need Donnie and his inventions, Mikey and his athleticism and joy for living...and you and your strength too."

Raphael has posed:
Raphael frowns. "Yeah." the answer serves a few things at once, confirming the way things had become, general agreement that solo patrols can be a bad thing, and that they work best as a foursome. "And you need someone willing to knock a little sense into you once in a while. Splinter's not the only one who gets to do that. I swear, sometimes you can be as nerdy as Donnie but as foolish as Mikey."

Turning away, he exits the room and strides over toward the kitchen. "And when you showed up, I was just about to have a talk with Splinter about something important, and you come prancing in all like 'Hi everybody! I'm back!' and it pissed me off."

Leonardo has posed:
"...that was badly timed. But I'd been gone so long, I didn't know he was planning to talk to you that day. Sorry about that." Normally Leo has a better clue of when Splinter needs to talk to one of his brothers, and makes sure not to interfere. It's just courtesy and respect.

"...And I can be as hotheaded as you too. There's pieces of all of my brothers in me. And there's pices of all of us in you. That's...how were raised." Pause. "And there's lots of Splinter in all 4 of us."

Raphael has posed:
"Don't get all mushy on me," Raphael replies, turning away from Leonardo. "Maybe I shouldn't have tossed my towel at you, but whatever." He dismisses it with a wave of the hand, then a general scowl marks his face. "Look. I know it ain't easy tryin' ta be a leader. I couldn't keep everyone together while you were gone, and I was trying. Mikey and Donnie listen to you in ways they don't when it's me saying something. I can't figure out why." He must have a blind spot when it comes to different methods.

"Anyway, I was just about to tell Splinter the other day that I've been seeing some other mutants out there and we need to keep an eye out. Sounds like there's a group out there makin' 'em, called Null."

Leonardo has posed:
Leo smiles then...he's sort of feeling that the tension has lifted quite a bit. And that's a great first step towards restoring the peace of the lair and the family. That which was severed must be woven anew. "...It isn't easy trying to be strong, or smart, or happy either. We all struggle with all those things." He nods at the towel thing, simply accepting the pseudo apology.

"Null? What've you learned about this group? ...And which kind of mutants? Like us, or like the ones who can live above?"

Raphael has posed:
Raphael is not very good with apologies, so saying maybe he shouldn't have done something is about as close as he usually gets. He doesn't bring up the 'favorite son' comment, though. Not yet. He might not be ready to make amends there. Not everything going to be right in one talk.

"You know me," is all he adds to that before he shakes his head. "I dunno anything about them, just that it sounds like there are some who escaped. Some dog, a fox, and a lion, and there was this dinosaur mutant trying to capture them. They also had these dinky little robots on wheels that had some kind zappy tentacles and laser beams. This was all up there." He points to the surface.

Leonardo has posed:
Leo isn't bringing up favored son either, because that's an apology Splinter needs. He's the one that got insulted there...and yeesh, the pain on his face when that one got said out loud.

But, the Null mutants...that sounds like their style of mutants. "...Did you talk to any of those that escaped? Where did you see them?"

Raphael has posed:
And who's to say Raphael hasn't already spoken to Splinter? Maybe they have. Maybe it was all said in the heat of the moment during a stressful situation and Splinter understood. Raph handwaves a bit. "It was up in some alley. I was waitin' for a pizza and this dog mutant was digging around in a dumpster, then the others all showed up before the Barney reject left. Guess she got called back."

Clearing his throat, he adds, "So when are we doing this April visit anyway?"

Leonardo has posed:
"Soon as I get the other two. We'll go together. Just because my instincts say she'll respond best to you and Mikey doesn't mean I'm right. And we need to impress upon this roommate the need for secrecy. We don't want to be discovered by the outside world...a world that hates even human mutants, let alone us."

From there..."Should probably also look into those thugs who attacked her to begin with. Something about April writing a story they didn't like. I left them unconscious to wake up in trash dumpsters, but that doesn't mean their boss knows to back off."

Raphael has posed:
Raphael digs around in the fridge, and a few things begin flying out. "What the hell? Who's leaving the pizza crusts behind? Don't tell me that was you." Finally, he comes up with something he must consider edible, as he gulps it down with only a bite or two. "We'll get all this stuff figured out. Let's grab the others when they show up and get over there."

Leonardo has posed:
Leo never leaves pizza crusts behind. "...No. Donnie is my bet. If Mikey were eating it, there'd be no survivors." Not even the crust survives Michelangelo. No part of any pizza survives Michelangelo. If Pizza had a grim reaper, he'd wear an orange bandana. "Yeah."

Raphael has posed:
Raphael only had a nibble, because he's now on his way toward the gym. Might be time to use it again after not stepping in there for a few days. "I'm gonna hit the weights. And you have some butt-kickings due in the dojo. Don't think you're gettin' outta that. April stuff first, though." All may not be completely perfect just yet, but they're better than the night Leo returned.

Leonardo has posed:
Progress was made. He'll take it. Rebuilding a family can't be done in one evening, but it's taking less time than he thought it would. Grudges aren't being held as long as he thought either. As for the dojo? "Anytime." If a challenge was made, challenge accepted. He wasn't exactly slacking off in South America.