Voila! Chapter number two!
So okay it's not really all that great. I don't like rushing things so I am going to take it slow. But please...pay attention to what is being said in these seemingly uninteresting chapters. Before all the action and drama commences, I will be dropping little hints in unexpected areas.
Patience is a very golden virtue.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Ninja Turtles! They belong to Mirage Studios and were created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird in 1983. Go them!
"Come on. Can you at least try to care, Raphael?"
It was a struggle to keep his countenance under control and at this point he would willingly admit it. Master Splinter would not have been pleased, but the ninja wasn't exactly feeling like becoming altruistic towards anyone at the moment. He liberated himself in his own eyes with the notion that everyone was allowed to have a bad day now and then. The turtle-man closed the discussion further from his mind. A weakness, inevitably.
He was, however, at least able to restrain huffing an impatient sigh.
"Shuddup Leo and maybe I'll put in a lil' effort," his partner retorted with a hint of sarcasm.
Leonardo stifled his hypercritical growl, leaning against a long, pale-grey chimney. They were atop the outskirts of the city, the bustling; persistent sounds of the day had died down to the slow-moving lull of nighttime.
What were they traipsing about on the rooftops for? It appeared to be a last minute mission of said importance. Or according to what had happened just a little bit earlier indicated so.
Master Splinter had paired Donatello with Michelangelo and guess with what container of sunshiny joy Leo was left with?
Oh great, now Raph wasn't the only one being sarcastic.
"Hurry up," he allowed himself to be a little less grudging. After all, they were kith and kin.
Raphael stuffed the already-crumpled piece of paper under his belt, his face flashing with new information.
"Well?" Leo folded broad arms.
"C'mon."
"You're not being very explanatory," he reminded his brother, promptly keeping up with him with a slight flicker of irritation. He quickened his pace, leaping easily from building from building. Loving and helping to protect his family was Leo's job but it wasn't always that they made it easy for him.
Raph seized a flagpole and used it to swing over a gap and land on the desired building. Leonardo utilized an alternate route, coming to the same position by skimming along a bordering brick wall.
He sighed. At least the weather's pleasantly cool; I hadn't been able to handle the choking temperature the summer had cast upon us all. The sewers were wretched.
"We have a basic job. Lately the crime has been down n'all in the city so Master Splinter's probably jus' sendin' us on random quests," Raph was musing aloud, breaking Leo's temporary train of thought.
Leo grunted his disagreement, shaking his head. Their sensei didn't send them on worthless missions. He didn't say anything though; there needn't be a raging dispute this night. It had been a long, rather erratically vexing day. Raph had caused him to drop one of his katanas in the sewer and 'forgot' to apologize, and he retaliated somewhat by refusing to get off his back that day about certain things. Sometimes you just had to be persistent, right?
It would suffice to say, that he wasn't having the best of days.
The blue-clad ninja turtle didn't need to encourage Raph to go faster. In fact, they broke out into an impressive gait after a few minutes.
After some slight misdirection-in which both of the ninja turtles unspeakably managed to keep their temper-they were finally reaching their destination. Not without, however, a few dirty looks and Raphael muttering an audible swearword under his breath as Leo snatched the blue print away after they came to a stop.
"A bank?" The duo crouched on a buidling casting their gaze down to the space in front of them. A small parking lot and rather insignificant brown establishment sat eclipsed in a strange silence. Leonardo double checked all their directions. Normally they would've just memorized it before embarking...tonight was an exception.
"Independent Bank of Bukks, never even heard of it," Leo mused, hearing Raph pull to a stop behind him. The lights were dimmed and whatever illumination it still withheld leaked out softly through double glass doors and onto smooth white asphalt. It certainly wasn't anything fancy, and all was surprisingly quiet around the area. They exchanged glances, and behind both pairs of brown eyes was a similar conclusion.
"If Master Splinter had known there was gonna been a robbery tonight he woulda mentioned it to all of us," his brother commented thoughtfully.
"Agreed," Leo scanned the streets attentively, "I'm sure there is something else going on. Our mission was to locate the area specified and we have. Are you quite sure we went the right way?"
"Yeah."
"Bukks…" he turned his musing eyes back upon the establishment before facing Raphael. "Let's remember the name and the location."
The former Nightstalker jerked his head in a nod before waving off, "C'mon, let's get outta here. I'm hungry."
The side of Leonardo's mouth twitched up, "You know, I am a little, too."
At age nineteen I live by myself, for the most part. I visit my parents and brother a lot. Most of the time, my brother was visiting me. He was an awful gambler and I worried a lot regardless of my often sunny and flippant disposition. I loved my family, and there was a very strong bond of trust between us. Perhaps this was unusual; many a raised eyebrow and welcome disbelief I received when reciting my family background.
I inserted my only apartment key into the doorknob and pushed the door open later that night, the buzz of the TV bounced off the walls of my apartment. Juggling bags from the supermarket in my hands and brushing hair from my vision, I edged in, sending my gaze in a perceptive search for the obvious culprit.
"So what's up this time, Hunter?" I said pleasantly, kicking the door shut behind me.
I wasn't surprised. My parents, my brother, and at least two of my cousins held keys to my apartment. I wasn't even sure how many copies have been made of my apartment key. It was no abnormal show when I came home to company.
A long form emerged from the couch, tangled in my clean throw blanket and dislodging a few pillows from their immaculate positions. If only he wouldn't make such a mess when he stayed over…
"Alice," he smirked, reaching forward to pull me into a headlock after ambling comfortably into the kitchen. That was the sort of thing we did at age fourteen; then again, when ever had my brother or I grown up? I hid my own smirk as I accepted the 'embrace.' I might as well be charitable.
"Here, help me with the groceries. Have you had dinner?"
As usual, I made him help me with the dishes after he had lightened me of my food stock. He grinned good-naturedly, pretending to mope as I handed him the washcloth. My brother was a handsome man, older than myself…but not palpably so. He looked quite the opposite of me: surfer-tanned skin that was not common for a New Yorker, baby blue eyes, prominent chin, and dimples.
It was getting later into the night, and I was tired. School had been almost as long as work had been, already the walk I'd had in Central Park seemed to have been an age ago. I longed to be outside in the fresh air again without a care in the world...but alas, responsibility calls.
I stepped briefly into the bathroom to get changed; afraid to leave my clueless brother alone for too long (Seriously, I loved those plates. All of them.).
I gazed critically into the mirror at my own reflection; the lighting gave my ivory skin a slightly tinged and none-too-flattering appearance. My hair was a deep, dark chocolate, very rich in color with the tiniest tint of natural auburn. In my opinion I was too short and small. I was curvy, but not all that buxom.
Quickly I shrugged out of my clothes and into a pair of sweats and a black tank top. The shirt cast quite a contrast to my skin, but I liked the color black. My hair was a frizzy mess, but that was expected from such a non-stop day. It was curly and rowdy; people reminded me frequently how it matched my personality. I couldn't quite disagree, unfortunately. Smirking at this thought, I yanked it back into a messy bun and quitted the bathroom, making a beeline back to the kitchen.
"You need to get a job, Hunter," this came after a long pause (after I had inspected the status of my dishes; they were all intact).
There was a breif silence, most of the time I was very light and buoyant around my brother. We got along very well and he enjoyed staying with me rather than my parents because I, unlike my father, didn't get on his case as much as I should.
Not that I supported the careless gambling. He could go for months without doing it and then suddenly crack. Money that had taken months of work to get would be gone in a few hours' time. He had had a job, but it was only a matter of time before he was a fired. This recently became a pattern.
He sighed, "Not you, too, Alice."
"I care about you," I frowned, sitting on my kitchen counter. Mother wouldn't have improved, but I had a place of my own now. I kicked my dangling legs gently, bouncing my glance towards my spotless tiled floor. I took good care of my apartment. Freedom and independence is something to be cherished.
"I know," he sighed. I slipped from my sitting position, not making a sound as my bare feet hit the chilled floor. Wordlessly I wound my fingers around the handle of a kitchen draw to retrieve a dish towel. I stepped up next to him to assist; the difference between our heights was almost comical.
I had an idea. "I'll help you," I offered, "We can drive around in my car and check out a few places; you can put your application in different spots and won't even have to pay the gas for it."
He grinned, handing me a sopping plate still dripping with a few suds. I pushed it back towards him with a trace of a scowl. He grinned harder, running it under the water, knowing my taste for all-things-neat.
"Alright, I accept. Just lay off on bossing around."
"You know I won't." I grinned, "But perhaps I will if you go the extra mile. Head online and try to find a few jobs to print out on paper that we can look for as we drive. Guess we can grab a newspaper, too."
I went to bed that night feeling pretty good. There was always something to be grateful for, and not often I went to bed with an empty feeling in my stomach.
I lay awake for a long time, staring up at my ceiling and tracing the cracks embedded in it with my eyes. No thoughts raced through my mind as they sometimes did. This was just another night spent in silent contemplation about...well...nothing.
Was it time for a change? Or was I just…not adapting well to this repetitive world very well?
I didn't realize what was coming my way.