It took another day to gather the things April would need for her cover, but Lavi didn't mind the delay really. Her new friends easily kept the younger turtles occupied in that time while they waited. When they weren't working anyway. She was really enjoying herself to be honest. It wasn't often they had a chance to make friends and now she rapidly was making quite a few of them.
The bots were just the same as she remembered, from what she could remember anyway. She actually had a grin on her face earlier when she was exploring, had found Ratchet's med-bay...only because Sideswipe came hauling ass out of it, laughing, while a wrench was rapidly following him. That she definitely remembered.
And of course Hide. She remembered Hide. And Bumblebee. He drove by as she now sat outside in a little park area, honking his horn at her in passing. "Hey Bee! I'm still waiting for my ride!"
He honked back, but didn't stop to give her one. Probably because he was busy helping with gathering the things they would need.
She settled back in the bench she was sitting on, watching the bustling of the base around her. She was alone at the moment, a rare occasion really considering she usually had one of her family members nearby. But her brother and cousins were all off doing their own thing, drawn out by the allure of being able to wander freely for once, and the parents were all busy prepping for the mission tomorrow.
"What? You ditched the rest of your nutty family?" Kyle asked her with a smile as he drew closer.
"I think we all kind of ditched each other." She smiled back. "Not often we can go do our own thing. It's usually best to stick together, mainly because most of the times when we go out it's on missions." She looked back out at the now setting sun. "It's kinda nice to be able to wander around like this."
"Oh...I know the feeling, trust me." He grinned back. "Grew up with three brothers and two sisters. I can completely understand your frustration. Quiet time was a luxury." He sat down on the bench next to her. "Enjoying your stay so far?"
"Yes." She smiled at the sight of Hide yelling at the other set of twins, then he gave one of them, Skids, a good kick that launched the smaller bot quite a distance away. "This place is very entertaining."
"Not the word I'd choose. Nuts comes closer."
She laughed. "I'm used to nuts. You should see all of us when we get together."
He gave her a wry grin. "Not sure if I'm brave enough." He told her. "Your dad, and the others, have quite the reputation around here. We shoot at Cons mostly, they charge 'em head on with hand combat weapons. And more than often than not...win. That's pretty badass."
"Jealous?"
"Hell yeah! I wish I could do that."
She laughed again. "I didn't do so well with my first encounter with them." She told him, turning her head to look at him. "My weapons aren't really specialized for beating up on giant robots."
"You can use them though, right?"
"Of course. You don't grow up in my family and not learn how to fight."
He looked at her, and another smile found it's way onto his face. "Show me."
"What?"
He got up from the bench and held out his hand to her to help her up. "Show me what you can do."
"I...don't know..." Suddenly she was embarrassed. Showing off really wasn't her style. That fit more into Ari's or Thane's area of expertise.
"Come on...what's the harm in it?"
One of her brows came up in amusement. "Depends on how many bruises you want."
"Hey now!" He laughed. "We get trained in hand to hand combat too. I'm not exactly a pushover."
"Alright then." She crossed her arms, a wide grin now on her face. "Hit me. You get one free shot."
"And if I manage to tag you?" He faced off with her.
"You get the bragging rights and can tell all your friends." She grinned back at him. "That's usually a good man ego boost."
He grinned wryly back. "Not so sure me hitting a female would be something I'd brag about."
"Have to do it first. Hit me."
"Why do I have a feeling I should have kept my mouth shut..." He laughed, then his arm shot out unexpectedly, straight for her face.
Her arms came up and caught that wrist, inches before it hit her, then she turned a little and easily flipped him up, over, and onto the grass by the bench. He blinked a few times as he laid there. She leaned over him, her braid hanging over her shoulder as she looked down at him. "Good enough for you?"
"Ok...compared to you I am a pushover." He accepted her hand as she helped him back up, his eyes meeting hers. "You've got some pretty eyes, you know that? Never seen any quite like them."
Lavi's face was heating up as she quickly let his hand go. "Thank you...I guess." She was now suddenly unsure of what to do. "They tend to freak a lot of folks out."
"No...I meant it. They are very pretty."
She smiled at him, and he gave her an answering smile as he still stared in her unusual two toned eyes.
"Are you two about done here?"
Lavi and Kyle both jumped at the sound of the newcomer and spun to see her father standing there, his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed a bit before he walked closer.
Suddenly Kyle seemed very nervous. This was his first close up look at any of the elder turtles, and Leonardo was obviously making an impression on him. Kyle was tall, but still not quite as tall as the blue masked turtle and Lavi's father still outmuscled him. By a lot. Add in the effects of the katanas strapped to his back and the fact that he carried numerous hidden weapons as well, he could seem a bit scary if you didn't know him. And Kyle didn't know him.
Blue eyes watched the man with a level gaze as Father stopped by Lavi's side. "And who might you be? And why is my daughter throwing you around like a rag doll?"
"Kyle Richards. Honored to meet you sir." He offered a hand, that was slightly shaking Lavi noticed with amusement. Father looked at that offered hand with that same level gaze before he brought his eyes back up. "And she's throwing me around because I was dumb enough to prod her into doing it."
"I see." Father said slowly before he took the offered hand. Then his blue eyes narrowed a bit again as he shook it. Firmly. Kyle winced and tried to hold back a squeal as that handshake happened. "Leonardo. Lavinia's father." He let his grip go and Kyle almost snatched his hand back. Lavi glared at her parent, who didn't even notice as he studied the man in front of him. "I'm going to assume you learned that that might not be the best thing for your health if you keep that up."
Kyle looked like if he wasn't sure if he should rub his ass where she dropped him or baby the hand Father shook. "Um...yeah...I figured that out real quick."
"Good. Then further demonstrations shouldn't be needed...right?" Lavi noted that Father didn't mention who was going to be doing the demonstrating if it was needed.
"No sir. Curiosity is all settled now. She can fight good. Trained her well."
"Yes...I did. You would do well to remember that fact."
Kyle winced again at the double threat.
Father didn't seem to notice it as he turned his attention to Lavi. "Your mother wants to know if you felt like eating with us tonight, since she hasn't seen you all day."
"I suppose I should."
"I suppose you should too. Pleasure meeting you Kyle."
She rolled her eyes as he turned away, then looked at Kyle with sympathy. "Sorry. He gets like that sometimes. Catch you later?"
He looked wryly back at her. "Sure...after I go get my hand checked out..."
Lavi then turned and jogged to catch up with her Father. "You didn't have to do that."
"Do what? I just introduced myself is all."
Lavi just shook her head and sighed. Then she smiled. He said her eyes were pretty...
.
.
I was waiting for them when they came through the door, meeting my husband with my hands on my hips and my eyes glaring. "Really?"
His look quickly turned to one of feigned innocence. "What?"
"You know very well what!" I snapped. Lavi had by now made her way to the bathroom to wash up while Ty was sitting in the sitting area, an amused grin plastered all over his face. He caught on through his sister just as I caught on through Leo on what had happened out there. "Will you just let the poor girl make some friends!"
"She can make all the friends she wants."
I kept that glare up, fully telling him he wasn't fooling me one bit. Then he gave me a big cheesy ass grin and I laughed. "You are a bully."
"I am not. I'm just a concerned father that doesn't want my daughter throwing everyone around."
Ty cracked up laughing. Obviously seeing through the excuse just as I did. We both knew him better. I rubbed my forehead...this was going to be one long stay.
.
.
We got up early the next morning, before the sun even, and loaded up. You know I was thrilled about that. Not.
We had some discussion on what vehicle to take. We could have driven our van, but that was one more vehicle the Bots would have to cover if they got ambushed, and even though Donnie put a lot of work in it...it couldn't transform and defend itself. Now there's a thought... A big van that was remote controlled stomping down the streets in some kind of bot form, weapons and all...
'Nevermind.' Leo came across from where he was sitting in Hide's driver's seat. 'We have enough problems with him blowing crap up. Don't need to add to it.'
I cracked up.
The drive was long, and boring. Which again didn't settle well with the twins in the back seat. Hide turned the radio on this time before even being asked and soon the cab was filled with Lavi's singing voice. She actually had a pleasant voice to listen to. Ty's enthusiastic drumming on seats however still didn't go over well. I smirked at Leo who was getting a backfull of it this time as he began pounding away.
Leo just gave me a level stare before he slowly turned around and looked at his son. "If you don't knock that off, I'll have Hide pull over somewhere, then I'll drag you out of the truck, hogtie you and toss you in the bed. You can then spend the rest of the trip trying to find away to drum my seat from back there."
Ty's eyes grew wide a bit, his hands stopped in mid drum as he met his father's no nonsense gaze. Lavi was in her seat, quietly laughing her ass off as Ty's hands came down and Leo turned back to look at me. "See how easy that was?"
"Bite me."
"Maybe later."
By this point the whole truck was shaking...because Hide was laughing.
