9353/Winter Wonder Laaaan--crap

Winter Wonder Laaaan--crap
Date of Scene:	29 December 2021
Location:	April and Harley's Apartment.
Synopsis:	Casey and April share a bit of time together, some Christmas cheer, and a lot of rusty pipe work!
Cast of Characters:	April O'Neil, Casey Jones

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April O'Neil has posed:
The kitchen sink pipes froze last night and one of the pipes downstairs burst. It only had an hour to leak in to the basement bathroom before April found it by chance as she was going downstairs to get something she left in the antique store. She turned the water flow off and just grumpily went to bed after sending Casey a text message.

< The pipes burst. Can you come over in the morning to fix it? >

Now, it's morning and April is down in the Antique store with the bathroom door to it open, where the water had flooded the floor. She has towels on the floor and a space heater in the room to warm it up.

April is wearing a large sweater jacket over a Muppets Christmas tshirt, and some sweatpants and running shoes. She has her large framed reading glasses on and her hair is loose around her shoulders as she waits for Casey to get here, reading her phone and listening to some music on the radio in the old closed-down Antique store that used to belong to her deceased mother.

Casey Jones has posed:
As usual, the man lets himself in. He hums a bit to himself as he hefts a large box of the supplies he figures he'll need for the job. The handsome lug is wearing jeans, work boots, a faded Nirvana shirt and a flannel. He's not old enough to remember the grunge era, but Casey was honestly made for it. He has a fresh black eye, and his knuckles look cut and bruised.

"April! Knight in shinin' armor is here." He follows the sound of music and grins a bit when he spots her. He sets the box on the floor and rolls a shoulder, as if it might smart a bit.

"I'd fix the pipes so they didn't break no more, but then you'd have no excuse to call me over all the time."

April O'Neil has posed:
April had left the door open for him, and she looks up when he strides inside. She is about to smile until she sees his injuries. Her phone is dropped in to the pocket of that baggy sweater jacket. "Oh crap. Did you get back in to hockey?" She asks him as she is clearly eyeballing the shiner.

She pulls her eyes from his and motions to the open bathroom. "Can they BE permanently fixed? I mean, I can find other excuses to call you over here. Like... Misses Fergusson has thrown out a bunch of old food in the alley and there's an army of wild dogs I need chased off." She says with a smirk. "True story..." April mutters.

She steps toward him then and reaches up to try and touch his black eye. "What happened?" She asks him then. "Have you been putting anything on this?" She 'mothers' him, which is her nature.

Casey Jones has posed:
He heads into the bathroom with her to take a look at the damage. He chuckles as he does so. "Nah, I don't think they could be fixed for good. I was just tryin' to be funny."

The man stands still while she examines the wounds, and he won't look her directly in the eye when he answers. "Police horse thought he was being a smart guy, so we went a few rounds. ACAB. Even the horses..."

He trails off, wondering if she'll accept the jokey answer.

April O'Neil has posed:
April just smirks at his response. "Sure...." She says to him, clearly not buying it.

"Well, either way. This should help..." The young woman turns then and reaches in to a box before she lifts up two bow-adorned presents for him. A twelve pack of his favorite beer, and a bottle of expensive bourbon. "Merry Christmas." She says with a smile for him as she offers them over.

. "I wasn't going to have you come all the way over here the day after Christmas and not make sure you got something good out of it." She says with a big smile. "And hey, Harley has me joining her Derby Queens team, so I might be the one with the shiner next time we see each other..." She says with a unsure look upon her face then as she leans against the bathroom doorframe and folds her arms across her stomach.

Casey Jones has posed:
He takes the six pack and bottle and whistles. "Wow. I hit the jackpot. Thanks! Uh, your present's in the mail...," the man responds with a small wince. "...But it'll be here."

He clears his throat and sets the beer and bottle down where he won't forget them. He turns back to her and grins wider, then. "Derby? No shit. I bet you'd look hot as hell in one of those uniforms. Need any help learnin'?"

April O'Neil has posed:
April just smiles at his comment about her present. She remains leaned there against the doorframe and just shrugs her shoulders a little at the bit about the Derby. "I dunno. To be honest. I used to skate when I was young, so I still kinda remember the basics. I don't know if I'll ever be as good as some of the women on this team are though. My god, they move around at like eighty miles an hour out there. But... that's my goal. I wanna be one of the ladies that races around and tries NOT to get attacked." She says with a light laugh and a shake of her head.

"I'm still learning the names... and, Harley has been my teacher up to now, so... I'm not sure she's teaching me the ... you know... official names for these positions. 'Killer Bitch' and 'Racy Bitch' probably are not on the League rule books." She says with a big smirk.

Casey Jones has posed:
He laughs loudly at that and shakes his head. His laugh is like all things for him...all the way. Loud and boisterous. Why live half way?

"Naaaah, I don't think it is. Well, when you get a game scheduled you let me know. I'm definatly gonna come and watch."

He turns and slips into the bathroom, then, bending down to examine the frozen pipes. "Can you get me the wrench from that box I brought?"

April O'Neil has posed:
"There actually was a game already. I wasn't on the roster yet, but Harley had me skate in place of an injured team mate. It uh... well it started with a giant fight in the locker room, in fact. So... I'm not sure how this is all going to play out."

April walks over to the box in question, gathering up the tool that he asks for... she's no dummy about tools, even if she doesn't know how to do all this stuff with them. She comes back in to the room and offers the tool over his shoulder to him.

"But we'll see, and yeah. I've been to your games to see you get beat up, it's only fair you come to mine, I guess." She says with another smirk.

Casey Jones has posed:
He laughs and takes the tool. He turns to begin working, idly keeping up the conversation as he does so. "Damn. Missed that? Well, sounds like Derby to me. Those girls could really show some of the tough-ass hockey players I grew up with how to take a punch..."

He trails off as he removes a piece of pipe and sets it aside.

April O'Neil has posed:
April lowers down to sit on the old chair in the corner of the bathroom then, setting a stack of towels aside that she'd put on it last night. "Yeah, well, it was the gals from the Tenderloin district. I dunno what they're feeding their women over there, but my god, I might have to do some investigative journalism to find out if there's a evil hormones lab putting stuff in the water." She says with a small snort.

"But yeah. my biking to and from work has me fit, at least. So I'm not worried about that part. I'm more just worried about the falling part." She states with a wry grin at him as he works.

"So... are you back on the streets at night? Have you gone to see Raph or Donnie, or anything?"

Casey Jones has posed:
He chuckles and nods as he listens to her. He stands, eventually, and heads out to pick up his tools and just bring them all into the bathroom. He kneels again, then, and gets back to it.

"Biking'll do that. And..." He hesitates for a moment at her last question, and he shrugs. "I don't know. oi, y'know Li? Old guy? Runs the little dim sum place next door to my shop? Some wannabe tough guys came by last night to try and pressure him into paying some protection money. I sorted them out. Kinda worried it's just the start of somethin', though."

April O'Neil has posed:
Apirl stares at Casey as he says and explains this. She looks more worried then, which is probably what he didn't want her to do. "They're gonna retaliate on you now though." She says softly. "That's what assholes like that do. Trust me. I've had my fair share of it this year myself..." She grumbles that last part out.

"Hey, I got some security cameras left over from the ones that Reed Richards donated for our sewer security project... If you'd like, we could set them up around your place. Might help give some fore warning if they got stupid enough to try anything..."

Casey Jones has posed:
"Hm. Maybe. I dunno. Way too much on those cameras I wouldn't want you seein'," he says with a smirk, glancing back. Seeing the serious look on her face, though, he sighs and turns back to his work.

"Alright, some cameras might be good. And...retaliation? I think that word'd be too big for these guys. But yeah. They all had these green bandanas. Some new gang in the area, probably."

April O'Neil has posed:
April gives him a amused look and a "Hah." At his remark about the cameras. "Green bandanas...." She then mutters. "I will ask around, see what I come up with. In the mean time, I'll text Donnie and Mikey about bringing the cameras over to set them up at your place. Mikey is pretty good at getting them up to the difficult to reach places." She shows a quick smile then.

"But I'm serious. If these guys are organized, they can do a lot of damage, even if they're all a bunch of individual idiots... So be careful. Call the guys to have your back on stuff.... you know how they are good at scarin' people off..."

Casey Jones has posed:
"Alright. Alright, sounds good." He seems reluctant about asking for help, but what else is new? He does a bit more fidgeting with the tools, looking at the work in front of him while he talks.

"Hey, so...uh. Off-topic? Way back when...y'know...we decided to see other folks? What happened exactly? It was...I mean..." He pauses and glances back. "What went wrong?"

April O'Neil has posed:
When Casey shifts topics to something more... akin to the serious side of things between them. April leans back in the chair and puts her arms over her stomach again. "You don't remember that trip to go skiing?" She asks him. "Where you told me you thought I should quit my job and focus on 'us'?" She asks him with a grin. He may not have put it exactly that way, but thats the route it took to spike up an argument.

"We just fought a lot, Casey. I think you want that classic American Family stuff, and I want... I dunno... To focus on my job, and watch assholes get exposed and put in prison." She shrugs her shoulders again as she looks across the bathroom now.

Casey Jones has posed:
"Wow, yeah. I was a jackass."

The man shakes his head and stands. "Turn your water back on," he tells her, before he turns to look at himself in the mirror.

"That seems like a damn lifetime ago, doesn't it? World's changed so much since then. Guys in tights and laser eyes and aliens..." He trails off and shrugs a shoulder. "Just makes ya think, I guess."

April O'Neil has posed:
April stands up when he tells her to turn the water back on. She does just so. When it comes on she laughs happily before turning it off again. She looks over at him as he says those words and her right hand reaches out to stroke his shoulder. "Casey." She says. "You're still a wonderful guy. You just want things, I want things, and the world is nuts. Like you say. Hell, I got /shot/ this year." Had she ever told him about that? It was right before she went to Themyscira.... which she may also have not told him about.

"We live in a crazy world. I mean.... half our neighborhood sees me buying stacks of pizzas, and taking them in to the sewers... Everyone thinks I'm a crack pot around here." She says with a small smile. "We're still young though, at least. So who knows what tomorrow might bring." There's that sunny persona of hers.

Casey Jones has posed:
He doesn't withdraw when she puts her hand on his shoulder, and he chuckles a bit as he listens. "Eh, you are kinda a crackpot," he teases. "Just not about that." He reaches out to lightly poke her stomach.

"Yeah, fair, I guess. Just been thinkin' a lot, lately. I know, weird. Don't hurt myself, right?"

April O'Neil has posed:
This garners a smirk from April as she shakes her head at him. "You're very smart, Casey. Don't pretend otherwise." She leans in and gives him a peck on the cheek, then rubs his shoulder again. "You're a heck of a handyman too." She states then with a grin as she moves to turn and walk toward the door. "You want some Christmas left overs?" She asks. "We got a lot of turkey and ham upstairs, and a bunch of other stuff to. Could go good with that beer?" She says from the doorway now with a smile for him.

Casey Jones has posed:
"Naaaah. I was gonna grab a pie on the way home." He hefts the beer and booze into his toolbox and lifts it, starting slowly towards the door.

"Tell the boys about the bandana idiots when you get a chance, alright? I dunno. Maybe they've seen somethin'. If they ARE more then lone idiots, I wanna know."

April O'Neil has posed:
April gathers up his gifts, the big red bows still on them as she offers them to him. "Okay. Fair enough." She says with a soft smile. Her head nodding to him. "I'm gonna go check on that right now, in fact. I'm curious about it. Sounds like something new... and green.... kind of an odd choice, ya know?" She says then. Her eyes glance to the restroom again before she looks back at him. "Thanks for this. I promise to have you over soon for food and drink, and no work soon. We got a mad house here, with Hyenas and a Turkey, and a Harley. Half the time I think people wouldn't want to even come over." She grins lightly.

"I'll let you know about the Derby too... I need people to cheer me on."

Casey Jones has posed:
"I was always good with dogs. Can't be that different, right?" Oh poor, dumb Casey. Yes it can. He takes the gifts and hesitates at the door for a moment, glancing back towards her.

"Always here to cheer you on, girl. Anyways, I gotta redo some stitches. One of those assholes stabbed me..." He trails off and turns, mentioning it for the first time as he heads out into the chilly evening air.