A/N: tadaaaa! I finished the fourth chapter! I'm sorry it took this long. I had life for a while. As for now, I have no idea where chapter five is going so it might take a bit for that to get on the internet as well. Summer's on its way, guys! I can do things in the summer! Like write and draw and wow I have a lot of stuff to do.
Anyway, you didn't come here for my life story. You came here for this story! To let you know, there's some perspective jumping. I don't know if its obvious or not as to who the POVs belongs to, but... Enjoy!
Escape from Crater
Reni ran through fresh snow to Amir's house the next morning. On the way she debated telling him about her encounter with the other three not-hallucination turtles, or telling him that she was going to go by herself and not inform him about the turtles. On the one hand, she didn't know how the turtles, who seemed quite secretive and probably wanted to keep themselves out of public scrutiny, would take having another uninvited guest at their home. On the other, Amir had said he wanted to take her back the next morning, and it would be weird and suspicious for her to say, "Nah, it's fine, I'm gonna go on my own."
She was still undecided when she rapped three times on the door to her friends house and let herself in. Immediately, there was an explosion of noise, arms and legs as the children who lived there rushed to meet their visitor.
"Reni! Good morning, hi, I made a whole bunch of paper chains yesterday, I helped dad make dinner, Amir's in his room, I'll get him, no me!"
The girl laughed as the flurry of limbs raced down the hall, forgetting her just as quickly as they'd noticed her. She knew they'd be back. The flurry had names, of course. The two boys were Hanan and Baldev, who were only a year apart at twelve and eleven. They were often getting into trouble. Most times, with their sister, Janessa, who was three years younger than Baldev. Reni felt sorry for her sometimes because the boys liked to leave her behind when they went out to play. She was constantly trying to keep up with them. The three bustling bodies pounded on the door to their oldest sibling's room, screaming his name. Reni giggled. They went out of their way, sometimes, to make him annoyed.
Amir shouted at them from behind the door and the three mischievous bodies tittered, covering the sound with their hands. Janessa then politely rapped her knuckles on the thin wood and said in a syrup-sweet voice, "Amir, Reni is here to see you."
A soft shuffle came from inside the room, probably Amir putting away a book and getting off his cot, and he exited his room. Peering with deep brown eyes down his thin nose at his siblings as he walked past them, he gathered his outerwear and joined his friend at the door. "Are we off?"
Reni struggled with her thoughts for a half second. Were they? Or was it just herself? What reasons did she have for not letting him come? Only that she didn't know how the turtles would react to another person, and she could probably deal with that. Amir was trustworthy; she trusted him with more than what she trusted some adults with. She was pretty sure he wouldn't tell anyone about them if they asked him not to.
She'd made up her mind. Amir was coming, and she could deal with whatever leader Leonardo said about it.
"Yep, let's go." She led the way out the door and down the street. He closed the door behind him.
Mikey hummed as he put the kettle on to boil. It was an old tune that he'd heard once when he passed by the open window of a senior citizen.
"Polly, put the kettle on,
Polly, put the kettle on,
Polly, put the kettle on,
We'll all have tea."
He figured it was some sort of nursery rhyme. It was catchy, anyway.
Pretty soon, Mikey would be joined by Leonardo. He'd sure be surprised when he saw that Mikey was the first one up; that spot was usually filled by him or Master Splinter. When he heard that the girl from the day before was coming back, he couldn't quit thinking about it. New faces were what Mikey lived for! He would get to make friends with her, ask her questions, have someone to talk to other than his brothers for once! That is, if she kept her cool this time.
Sensei's robe was neatly folded in the closet, for just that reason. No kimonos for him this time around. He was determined to make his best impression, now that he knew that she probably wouldn't run away screaming. While the water boiled, he grabbed tea from the cupboard and the broom from the pantry. A good impression starts with a clean house, right?
Mikey's cleanup was half-assed at best. He was the one who cooked. Donnie and Leo cleaned, so he had never really done it before. He swept and dusted with fervour; maybe a little too much fervour. As he dusted, he knocked a set of wooden bowls off their shelf with his elbow creating a thunderous noise in the still sleeping household. Mikey cringed. With his luck, he probably woke up Raph.
Mikey heard a shuffling from inside on of the rooms near him. He crept closer, determined not to make any more noise, and sighed in relief when it stopped and he heard a snore.
"Phew, that was close," he whispered to himself.
There was a faint squealing from the kitchen. Remembering the kettle, he lightly rushed to the stove and removed it before it got too loud.
Mikey's keen ears heard padded footsteps over the sound of pouring water into the teapot and he turned to the door in time to see his sensei walk into the kitchen. "OhayĆ, Master Splinter," Michelangelo greeted his father and teacher cheerily.
"Good morning, my son," he said, stepping gracefully toward his student. "Why are you up so early?"
Mikey smiled. "I was excited, Sensei. I couldn't sleep. So I got up and made tea and cleaned up a little. I wanted to make a good... Well, a better impression than last time."
"Ah," the old rat said, stroking his beard. The corners of his mouth twitched into a smile. He had heard the story of Michelangelo's incident with the knitter girl and her friend. In fact, it had been told to him in great detail by his orange-clad son himself. "You aren't wearing my robes, then," he concluded.
"Pshh, no way. I'm not gonna make the same mistake twice." He thought for a moment before adding, "At least not that one."
Master Splinter patted the young turtle on his shell.
"It is good of you to want to make friends, but remember: being yourself is the best way to make the best impression."
"Hai, Sensei," the young terrapin said, smiling.
The two friends had walked from Amir's house to the far side of town. Even though Reni had insisted they hurry, Amir was in no rush. It was still early. So Reni shoved her hands deep into her pockets and grumbled as the boy next to her whistled a lively tune.
The fact that he could whistle made her grumble more. Mostly because she couldn't whistle to save her life. Partly because Amir only knew the chorus of the song, and kept repeating it over and over. Halfway to their destination, she clapped a mitted hand over his mouth. "Shh," she growled, a menacing look in her eye. The dark-skinned boy gulped a theatrical gulp and nodded. When she lifted her hand, Amir's mouth was turned up in a smirk. They talked the rest of the way there, but Reni didn't mention the turtles. She wanted to see how that played out, even if it was a little mean.
They reached the turtles' door just as the sun was peeking over the ridge of the crater, above their house. Dazzling yellow light cascaded from above and refracted off the snow-laden landscape. It was beautiful; enough so that Reni wished she could paint, just so she could capture it. She would look at the scene forever if she could, but right now she had a payment to work out.
Amir knocked three times on the door. He would have knocked a fourth time, but the door flew open with enough force to cause a breeze to go past the two teens standing on the threshold and his hand missed the door.
Just inside stood what Reni guessed was the fourth brother. Mikey. He was smaller than his brothers, his face was round, and he wore an orange mask that tied in the back with two small tails. He was grinning widely as he gestured for the two of them to come in.
Amir was quite pale and unusually quiet. He had really not been expecting a humanoid turtle. Especially not one who seemed to be expecting them. He'd thought that someone had played an elaborate prank on them the night before, to maybe get free stuff. This was starting to get weird.
Once Reni and Amir were inside, the blue-eyed turtle closed the door behind them. "Good morning. You can leave your coats on the back of the couch, if you want. There's tea in the kitchen. Come on!"
Suddenly, another green figure formed from the shadows wearing a blue mask. "Wait, wait," it said, holding out his hand to stop the overly excited one from advancing. "Mikey," he chastised, "don't you think that they should be informed about something before they go in there?" Now Amir was convinced beyond doubt that they knew he and Reni were coming. This was all too planned. But Reni didn't seem to be freaking out in the least. Was she playing a prank on him? He was going to kill her if this was a prank on him.
Amir looked sharply at his friend. "Yeah, Reni, don't you think I should be informed about some things before we go in places?" he murmured. Reni looked sheepish for a moment, then cleared her throat.
"Uhm, Leonardo and Michelangelo?" Wait, how did she know their names? It WAS a set up! Reni was dead. "This is Amir. Mikey, you already have met him, and you've already met me, although we never properly got to know one anoth-" the end of her sentence was cut off by a bone crushing hug from the orange-banded turtle, and Amir was worried that the affection would be shared with him soon. He inched backwards.
"I am SO sorry I scared you guys!" Mikey exclaimed, still crushing Amir's friend in his vice grip. Leonardo had a worried look on his face as he flitted around the two of them and tried to pry the baby-faced turtle away from the girl, but there was no stopping the monster hug. "I really only wanted to make a good impression but I guess I suck at those. I'm sorry, sorry, sorry."
With effort, Reni managed, "It's okay. Can you let me go now?"
"Oh." Mikey let her go all at once. She panted a bit to get back her breath before commenting on his grip. Mikey had the good sense to look bashful about it.
Continuing with her introduction, Reni said, "Amir, this is Leonardo and Michelangelo. They are brothers. Leonardo came to my house last night with their other two brothers, Raphael and Donatello, and asked me what I wanted to trade for the hats and gloves." She leaned over and whispered in his ear, as if the others didn't already know, "I fainted." Amir could see why.
Leo put out his hand for the boy to shake. "It's nice to meet you, Amir."
"Likewise," Amir said, taking his hand.
Leonardo turned back to Reni and said quietly, "Sorry about Mikey. He gets a bit over excited sometimes... But you already knew that."
"Hey!" Mikey shouted defensively.
"Anyway, back to what I was saying about informing you about something. Just going to warn you that Master Splinter doesn't really look like us. He's a rat," the turtle with the blue mask concluded.
Reni and Amir glanced at each other. "Okay," Reni said. Was he serious, or was he being figurative? Neither had a chance to ask. Mikey ushered them into the kitchen, nearly pushing them through the door, where a very large rat sat at the table with a steaming teacup.
"This is Master Splinter," the young turtle said to the duo, excitedly.
If Amir had been pale before, he was like snow now. This was no normal rat. It was huge! If he hadn't been warned before entering the warm cooking area, he might have taken a page out of Reni's book and fainted. Mikey glanced at the boy standing back from the scene, who was quivering a bit with fear and he giggled quietly to himself.
"You're a real rat," Amir emitted shakily.
"Yes, I am. And you are human," the rat master replied in a tone that wasn't as much sarcastic as it was purposefully redundant. Reni looked surprised by the quick rebuttal, but smiled. Amir guessed that she was getting used to the strange and unlikely now. Soon, giant talking turtles and their rat masters breaking into your house at night would become the societal norm.
Though outwardly, he was handling this situation far better than Reni had at her house, inwardly, he was only able to process one thing at a time. Currently, that one thing was 'giant talking rat-person.' Whatever he thought he'd been prepared for when he knocked three times on the door only minutes before, it was not this. Not giant rats and turtles that could talk.
"Well, okay," Mikey butted in. "Master Splinter, this is Renee and her friend..." Mikey paused.
"Amir," Reni filled in, seeing as Amir was too fazed out to answer. Reni knew the feeling.
"Her friend, Amir," repeated Mikey.
"Welcome. Sit. I am told to are in need of a circle loom. How would one go about making one of these, Miss Renee?" the rat asked, as if this was a perfectly normal situation and he was a perfectly normal person.
Reni liked this approach. Straight and to the point, no beating around the bush. She pulled a chair out for herself and one for Amir next to it and they sat down. She tried not to stare at the rat's whiskers and ears as they twitched. "Please. It's just Reni," she corrected before continuing, "Well, a simple one is just a hoop with knobs all the way around, about half an inch apart. This tall," she explained, holding up her fingers about two inches apart. "The little knobs should have some sort of stopper, like a ball on top, to keep the yarn from just-" she made a dramatic gesture to demonstrate, "falling off the loom." Mikey and Leo watched the conversation from their place behind Master Splinter, and with the gesture, Mikey made a lopsided smirk. It made Reni smile.
"I see," mused the rat, whiskers twitching again. "How large in diameter do you wish this loom to be?"
"The diameter of the average head, if you can, please."
"Do you plan on making hats?" Splinter questioned.
"Yes, I do," she said in a professional tone.
The rat leaned in a bit over his tea before asking, quite seriously, "Could you perhaps create a hat with holes for my ears? Tucking them in is very uncomfortable, you must imagine."
"Oh, um..." She swayed left and right, surveying Master Splinter's cranium, all the while fascinated by the way his ears followed her every move while his head remained still. "Yes, I think I could, if you don't mind me taking measurements."
"Not at all, Miss Reni."
Reni refrained from correcting the wise looking rat. The way he said "miss" so formally was a new experience. Nearly everyone in Crater called her Reni, and just Reni. Formalities were almost always forgotten in a town this small. The families had known each other for generations. No one left, no one came in. Or no one did until this mismatched family of turtles and a rat came along about four years ago.
Their arrival had been almost silent, which made sense now because of how sneakily they had gotten into her house. Through the second floor window, no less. No one really noticed they were there until they were settled in and everything. And no one had ever seen them, just lights on in the upper parts of the building, and silhouettes on the blinds.
Reni reached for her measure tape, which she kept tied around her waist, only to find it wasn't there. She must have left it on her nightstand in her rush to get out of the house this morning. She swore under her breath, a barely noticeable movement of her lips. "Could I come back another time? I don't seem to have my measuring tape with me."
Mikey's face lit up like the sun when she suggested that she should come back again. Another chance to make her his friend! The impression had been made, and he was pretty sure it was a better one than yesterday's, so he was already one step ahead. But it didn't look like this time he was going to get enough time to show off his amaze-tastic kata or his best jokes or his awesome ability to sneak up on you no matter how much you were paying attention. Oh well, she was coming back.
Just then, his honed ninja hearing picked up the shuffled steps of a zombie. Or probably just Donatello dragging himself to the kitchen for his first cup of coffee.
It was both, or close enough to it. Donnie looked like the dead walking, and it was bad. Worse than any normal day for some reason. He must have stayed up with an invention last night. The two people at the table didn't acknowledge the ghastly form entering the room. Mikey didn't think Reni even noticed; her back was to the door.
The conversation between the rat and the girl never faltered while Mikey's attention was drawn away, and he missed Master Splinter's reply to Reni's question. He never got to ask what it was either, because suddenly Donnie had yanked him out of the kitchen and into the living room again. He looked a lot less dead now.
"Why did no one wake me up when she got here?" he asked, his voice still hoarse with sleep.
"I don't know, nobody thought about it. The sun's not even over the ridge yet. Chill out, bro."
"Well, I would have appreciated somebody doing that, thank you very much," the tall turtle sassed.
"Okay, man. Next time, I'll personally wake you up. Sound good?"
"Sounds better."
A/N: Oooooooooh look who's got a cruuushh! It's Donnie! Donnie has a crush! And it's on Reni! (I love writing Donnie. He's so sassy and I just can't fathom him being any other way.)
That was a really awkward place to end the chapter, but this is the longest one I've written for the internet, so I figured I would take a break. Phew! 3000 words. Thank you all for reviewing this, those of you who did. I would sure like to have more of those. C:
And hey! If y'all want to read something totally fantastic yet slightly messed, go read my good buddy NekoShard's fic Faded Memories and give her some words of encouragement and whatnot. She's sorta having a tough time.
Gah, I wonder what I'm gonna do with the next chapter. *headdesk* oh gods.
Well, you guys write me a review, and I'll see you next chapter! R&R everyone!
p.s. In case you came here for my life story: I woke up with a tick on me today so I was mad. I was so mad. I hate ticks more than I hate anything. There you go. You learned something about me, yay!
