Evangeline sighed heavily, sitting at the kitchen counter with her small hand petting over Zeus' scaled head. The iguana lay contently on the marble, his eyes half lidded and thoroughly relaxed. She felt terrible for the night before, the scenario replaying over and over again in her head like a broken record. Eva remembered Raph pushing her to fight, how she felt the ever building anger welling up and burning in her veins for the first time in a couple years. Then nothing. At least, until seeing Raphael sitting on the floor with his brothers starring at her in shock. Their faces, those expressions, they were embedded within her brain along with the growing guilt. She'd ran. Raphael was right. She really was nothing but a coward. It was all she had ever been.
The sound of shuffling coming from the spare room drew her eyes from Zeus, who's own reptilian orbs came open. Evangeline felt her heart sink into the pit of her stomach upon seeing two of the four turtles standing in the spare room doorway.
"Leo...Raph..." Eva murmured softly, honestly a bit taken aback, standing from her seat, "I...I'm…"
"No..." Raphael cut in, stepping forward while rubbing the back of his neck and averting his gaze to the carpet, "I'm sorry Eva. I.. I was a real jerk last night"
Evangeline stared at the brothers, then looked to Leonardo, although couldn't get anything from his expression as the elder sibling stood with his muscled arms crossed firmly over his chest.
"Its alright Raph. I should control my temper a bit better" Evangeline replied, her eyes traveling to the floor, her hand coming up to rest on Zeus' back. The reptile still only lay there, watchful eyes staying on the turtles.
"Nah, I deserved it" Raphael reassured, a small smile crossing his expression.
"I have a question though, if you don't mind me asking" Leo now spoke up, his gaze staying firmly on Eva. He tried to watch his tone, not wanting to come off as he did before, keeping Don's words in mine.
"I guess.." Evangeline's reply trailed off, her gut suddenly twisting with anticipation. Had it been something she had done? Said? Her body became rigid and tense as it prepared for anything the turtle might throw at her.
"You said you weren't skilled in fighting, that you knew next to nothing about it. When you lost your temper on Raph, you not only hit a weak point, but used a pretty well aimed palm strike" Leonardo's gaze bore into Evangeline's, noticing a distinct ripple on her brow, "Why did you lie?"
That guilt that had originally been leaving suddenly exploded in her gut with a harsh flinch. Would he believe her?
"I didn't lie..." she murmured in a tone that was nearly inaudible, "I didn't lie, because I don't remember"
Both Leo and Raphael exchanged bewildered glances.
"Ya don't remember?" Raph asked, an eye rideg raising.
"No, I don't. I remember getting angry with you, then nothing. Next thing I knew you were sitting on the ground" she replied, letting herself sit back on the stool, the scales on Zeus' head suddenly being the most interesting thing in the world.
"You're telling me, you blacked out" Leonardo stated, an eyebrow ridge raising curiously at the young woman. She nodded.
"It happened a few times when I was younger. Someone would make me mad, then before I knew it I had landed them with bruises, black eyes and a couple even in the hospital" Eva swallowed, rubbing under her iguana's chin, "It scared me. It scared me to think that for those moments, I wasn't myself and that I had absolutely no conscious control over my actions"
"So, what? You stopped fighting all together?" Raphael asked, leaning back against the wall. Once again, Eva nodded her head.
"Yeah. I did everything I could to avoid it. I'd run, dodge, hide, anything it took"
Leo stood with his brother for a moment, thinking over what Eva had just told the two of them. Never in the short time they had known the human female, had either of them gotten a glimpse of something so personal. More than likely Donnie and Mikey didn't even know about this. If anything this sort of reminded him of Raphael, the red masked turtle having no choice but to think the same as much as he hated to admit it.
"You don't believe me, do you?" Eva's voice snapped the two of them from their thoughts.
"No, actually it sounds similar to Raphael" Leo spoke first, his brother opting to stay quiet on the matter.
"It does?" Evangeline questioned, her eyebrows knitting together. The young woman looked at the younger of the two for a moment. Were they that similar?
"In a way, though rather than always wanting to fight, you tried avoiding it, stowing it away" the blue masked turtle explained, "Its not bad, but its not really good either considering last night"
"I really am sorry about that"
"It's not your fault Eva. If you black out, or use to black out that easily, its obviously not something you can easily control" Leo stated with a reassuring expression, "In fact, I could help if you wanted"
Evangeline's face rose to look at the turtle. Help her?
"How? How can you help me with something I can't control?" She asked, genuinely curious.
"I can't help you control the actual black outs, but I can try and help with preventing them from happening in the first place" Leonardo explained, watching Eva's expression shift to something that looked almost hopeful.
"You could do that?" She asked, though let her gaze lower once again, "I don't want to cause any trouble. I know you have to look after your family"
Raphael seemed to come to a sudden realization at this point in listening to their conversation. If Leo was busy helping Eva with her control thing, he's be too distracted to ride their asses every second of the day. The red clad turtle gave a smile, reaching out to place a hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Shouldn't be any trouble at all, in fact, don't even worry about it. We've done fine before without Leo around for a little while" he stated, earning a raised eye ridge from Leonardo.
"You really wouldn't mind?" Eva asked, ignoring the odd look on Raphael's face, starring intently toward Leo. Would he really be able to help her with preventing the blackouts? Or at least be willing to?
"If you're willing to learn, then I can try" Leo replied, his arms releasing to hang at his sides.
"And I'll do my best to be a good student" Evangeline said, the smallest smile crossing her lips, "When should we start?"
"I can stop by tomorrow if you'd like"
"That sounds fine"
"Then I'll be by sometime tomorrow evening" Leo nodded, turning to go back into the spare room. Raphael did the same, although not without shooting Eva a thumbs up with a wide grin. One of her eyebrows quirked at this. What had she done to earn something like that?
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Evangeline wiped the sweat from her brow after setting the vivarium in place. Only one more to go. Looking over at the heavy glass enclosure that had to be placed on the top shelf. Damn was she tired! Slowly the young woman stooped to pick up the enclosure, hefting it up to lift over her head.
Her arms quickly started to quiver as she forced them to comply with pushing the item onto the top shelf. Shifting onto her tip toes, Eva suddenly began to feel herself lose just enough balance for the vivarium's weight to come forward on her tired, wobbly fingers. Evangeline felt her gut plummet to the floor. If this thing landed on her it could do some serious damage!
In that instant the weight was unexpectedly relieved from her fingers, the female only now seeing the larger set of three-fingered hands easily sliding the enclosure into place. Eva froze to the spot, feeling the smooth, solid plastron against her back, and the scent of incense, and a familiar musk invading her nose. When had he gotten there?
"Ah...thanks" she said quietly, turning whenever the mutant had moved from behind her.
"No problem, but you could have gotten hurt. You should be more careful" Leonardo stated, a worried expression covering his features. Evangeline felt something within her gut twist.
"I know, but I've never really had any help before and managed just fine"
"Maybe, but now you could always ask us for help" Leonardo pointed out, beginning to follow Eva up that stairs of the house. Once again, something twisted within her gut. They were actually willing to help her?
"I'll keep that in mind" she replied, opening the door to her apartment. The two entered, Leo shutting the door behind them.
"So what are we going to be doing?" Eva asked, watching Leonardo take a seat on the floor of the living room. He then motioned for her to do the same in front of him. Hesitantly, she complied.
"Have you ever meditated?" Leo asked, watching her closely.
"No"
"Do you know where your anger stems? Why you tend to black out?"
"Now that I think of it, no"
Leonardo nodded in understanding. Considering her personality, teaching her to meditate would possibly be easier than he thought. Much more than Michelangelo or Raphael at least.
"Keep your back straight and relax your arms, your muscles and close your eyes" Leo instructed, doing so when Eva had done as she was told, "Now, calm your breathing. Let it drown out any distractions. Concentrate on it"
Evangeline did this, letting her breathing slow, her heartbeat filling her ears.
"Good, now, keep this up"
She did, in fact, feel much calmer than before. There was still this sense of unease, but never the less, Eva had to admit that she felt a little better. She ignored the familiar twitch of her muscles urging her body to move in some way. It was almost like going to sleep, but still staying fully aware and alert at the same time.
Leonardo himself felt more at peace sitting in the young woman's living room. Unlike in the lair, here it was utterly silent minus the faint sounds of running water from the aquariums. There were no constant voices yelling or the pungent smell of the sewer. Eva's apartment always smelled of fresh water, lavender and every so often there would be the faint scent of sandalwood or vanilla.
After a short while, however, Leo felt something brush by his hand. Eyebrow ridges knitting together, the mutant tried to ignore this and continue his meditation. Unfortunately, moments later, there was the distinct feel of claws, and a weight pulling itself into his lap. He couldn't take it any longer. Opening his eyes, the turtle looked down and was surprised to see that Zeus, Eva's large iguana, had made himself perfectly comfortable within Leonardo's lap.
A smile couldn't resist spreading on his lips as hesitantly the blue wearing turtle rubbed a finger under the reptile's chin. Zeus' eyes closed, leaning into the affections, thoroughly enjoying himself. Glancing up, Leo noticed Eva was still deep in meditation. He used this opportunity to study her delicately placed features, high set cheek bones, and even the small, yet, plump lips. He noticed her short, pixie hair was growing out and almost completely framed her face now. Her shoulders were small, and the arms that they gently sloped into, though muscled, hardly came close to the size of his own. It was amazing how someone so strongly set, could look so tiny in such a state as this. Leonardo had hardly realized just how great the size difference between Evangeline and the four of them was.
Admittedly, Eva, in human standard, was actually quite an attractive young woman. Leonardo blinked. Where had that thought come from?
"Can I ask why you're starring at me?" Her voice pulled the mutant from his thoughts, Eva's eyes looking up at him. At this close of a distance, he could clearly see the mixture of green and brown in her hazel eyes which were lined with long, thick lashes.
"Just seeing how long it would take before you lost concentration" Leonardo fibbed, running his hand down Zeus' back.
"How did I do?" She asked, reaching over to boop her iguana's nose.
"Not bad for your first attempt. Do you feel any difference?"
"Actually, I do feel somewhat lighter"
"That's good. Now that you know the basic run around, you can practice whenever you want" Leo stated, moving Zeus from his lap to stand, offering a polite hand to Eva. Gingerly, she took it, letting the large turtle pull her effortlessly to her feet.
"Would you like to stay for dinner? Its the least I can do" Evangeline offered, fixing her clothing. Leo's eyebrow ridges rose under the mask. She was actually asking him to stay?
"Are you sure?"
"Of course! You can relax on the couch until I'm done" She reassured, waving a hand toward the sofa, "You took time out of your day to help me, its literally the least I can do"
Leonardo gave a friendly smile, moving to do as Eva wanted, planting himself on the couch and turning on the television. Evangeline wandered into the kitchen, sneaking a glance back at the turtle man sitting in her living room. Maybe her original assumption of Leo had been wrong after all.