". . .and bring me home, at laaahhsst." Karai held onto the last note, letting it fill the living room. Weiss, perched ladylike on the couch, frowned.

"Are you sure you've never had singing lessons?"

Karai laughed. "Shredder wouldn't even let me get a dog. You really think he'd pay for private singing lessons?" She plopped down on the couch and looked over her script. Do you want to run lines now or after lunch?"

"After. The chicken should be done around now anyway." Weiss headed to the kitchen. "Can you set the table?"

Weiss took the chicken breasts out of the pot. They were seasoned with lemon and some Alisian spices. Grandmother was returning home later that week. The girls, who had keys to the house, decided to spend the Saturday together and rehearse for the play.

"Didn't you have servants to cook growing up?" Karai poured two glasses of water. She set the silverware down and placed the bowl of salad in the center.

"Yeah, but I wanted to learn so I could cook for my own family one day. My husband and children and I, sitting down together, talking about our day." Weiss served Karai and herself.

"I don't think I want kids."

"Who's going to pass the Tang name and emblem? I'm already the Schnee heiress; I can't do it."

"I don't even use the Tang emblem. I didn't even use the Foot symbol when I was on Earth." Karai cut into her food. "But that does sort of sound like how I learned singing."

"How?"

"If you tell anyone, well, actually no one here would know the movie, but I'd still kill you." Karai looked down at her plate. "I kind of watched The Sound of Music like fifty times."

"The Sound of Music?"

"It's this old musical film from like fifty years ago. A woman becomes a nanny for a rich widower's seven kids and ends up marrying him. It has this song called Do Re Me. I used that to start to learn how to sing."

Weiss raised her eyebrows. "Why is that embarrassing?"

"Because the movie is all sweet and warm and fuzzy. Which is kind of why I liked it. I wished I was part of that family, with tons of siblings and loving parents. I would never be lonely."

"Can you sing something from the movie?"

Karai stood up. "Again, you tell anyone about this, I kill you." She closed her eyes.

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. . ."

"Hold still."

Donnie smirked but stayed leaning against his worktable. Mikey and Casey got some of Alopex's stuff from his ship last night. He immediately grabbed his sketch pad and started drawing Mikey, who was thrilled. He captured Leo in his meditations; he didn't mind. Now Alopex was trying to draw Donnie's head. Casey was under the car, fixing the transmission of the car. They would hopefully have it up and running by next week.

Donnie used this opportunity to study Alopex. He was wearing his black T shirt now, and blue jeans and black boots. They looked pretty normal. But his blood red jacket, which hung over a chair, wouldn't be out of place at a steampunk convention, with silver buttons everywhere.

And then there was his weapon. This guy may not have built a spaceship, but he did build a sword that turns into a steel crossbow with combustible, environmentally friendly arrows. There was even a compass in the hilt. Alopex said he would let him study it later.

"So Alopex, do you think you could draw me after? Nothing says picture perfect like Casey Jones."

The mutants laughed. "Sure thing."

"So what's the coolest thing you ever faced?" Casey rolled away from the car and stretched his arms out.

"Well, I guess that depends on what you mean by cool."

"Like, most terrifyingly awesome, badass. You know."

Alopex stopped drawing. He flipped through the pages until he found the right one and held it up. A large crow with four red eyes stared back at them.

"It's called a Grimm. This one is about the size of the barn."

"May I?" Donnie took the notepad from him. Studying the picture, he frowned. "Where did you see this?"

"Oh, that's from my home world." Casey came over to see the drawing up close.

"Wow."

"Yeah. They've been attacking my people for as long as anyone can remember. They take up most of the world, except for the four kingdoms." Alopex took back the notepad and flipped to another drawing. This one was of a sort of steampunk knight, with a glowing blue sword. "There's this whole order dedicated to protecting the people from them." He smiled at Donnie. "If you lived in my world, you and your brothers would totally be part of it."

Donnie grinned. "Really?"

"Yeah. And they're like, the noblest and greatest warriors in my world. Actually, in all the worlds I visited I don't think I've ever come across anyone as great as the Huntsmen." He went back to drawing.

Donnie leaned back against the table. Ninjas weren't really inherently good or bad-after all, Splinter and Shredder were ninja masters. Being skilled was one thing. To use those skills for good is something else. He didn't really know who these Huntsmen were, but from the way Alopex talked, it seemed like quite the compliment.

"What about me?"

Alopex laughed. "Casey, being a Huntsmen takes four years of school. And most people go to combat prep schools beforehand. Do you really want to do that?"

Casey headed back down under the car. "Nah. Regular school is bad enough."

"But I am your sister. You have to believe me."

"I don't have to believe anything. And even if that was true, do what? My stepmother just tried to kill me."

"Well we'll stop her. We can save our kingdom, and-ah."

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Well, it's obvious you never had acting lessons."

"I was fine up until the scream, alright? Surprise is hard to fake."

"That was surprise? I thought you were yawning."

Karai threw her script at Weiss, who threw it back. The staple broke and the papers scattered over the Oriental rug like white rose petals.

"Real mature." Weiss put a hand on her hip.

"You started it." Karai mirrored her gesture without even noticing it.

"You started it? What, are we in grade school now?"

"Great comeback, Ice Queen."

"Same to you. . .um, Evil. . .ita."

"Evilita?"

Silence, then the two girls started laughing at the exact same moment.

"Man, I can't believe Mikey left us with this mess," Leo said, sweeping the living room floor as everyone tried to fix the damage done by Mikey's earlier "outburst."

"He totally ditched. I haven't seen him for hours," Casey added, taking a break from scrubbing the windows.

"Yeah, maybe because you guys were total jerks," April snapped. "You guys never appreciate him. Especially you, Raph."

Raph opened his mouth, all defensive like, but Leo cut in. "He threw food everywhere, April. That's wasteful, irresponsible and now he left for us to clean it up. He's just. . . he needs to grow up."

"I'm going to have to agree with April," Alopex said, scrapping pizza from the walls. "It can't be easy for Mikey, being all cooped up all the time. Not being able to have a lot of friends."

"That goes for all of us, not just Mikey," Raph said.

"Yeah, but it's pretty obvious your brother is way more extroverted than you." Alopex got up to get a glass of water from the kitchen. "Ever heard of the Arousal Theory?" he called back.

"Arousal?" Raph turned to Leo, disturbed.

"That's our baby brother you're talking about." Leo glared towards the kitchen.

"No, not that arousal."

"Yeah, my dad explained it to me once." April leaned over the back of the couch. "It means everyone has a different optimum point of stimulation, physical and mental. You know, some people need quiet to concentrate, like Donnie, while others need a lot of noise. It's related to the extroverted-introverted scale. You guys ever took those personality quizzes online?

"Yeah, but I forgot our scores," Leo said. "Anyway, what does this have to do with Mikey throwing food everywhere?"

Alopex came back in the room and plopped down on the couch. "Michelangelo probably has a low arousal level, and naturally wants to raise it. If he went to school, that probably would mean a lot of friends, extracurricular activities, etc."

"In fact, in school with a lot of other people, Mikey would probably be better able to concentrate than he does now," April added.

"Psychologically speaking, only being able to interact with a very small number of people is pretty bad for him. Especially since the rest of your family seems pretty introverted." Alopex took a sip of water. "So to reach his optimal level, he needs some sort of outlet."

"Dude, you sure know a lot about this stuff."

"I read this book once while living at a librarian's house on this one planet-"

"So wait, are you saying that we're not enough 'interaction' or something?" Leo looked at Raph, frowning.

"Well, I mean-"

"So this whole thing is our fault, right?" Raph threw down his rag. "Mikey's a nut because we don't spend enough time with him."

"No, no." Alopex held his hands out in a peaceful gesture. "You guys can't help being introverted any more than Mikey can help being extroverted. If you guys went to school-"

"You don't think we want to go out into the world? You think we like the fact that our brother had to find friends online because he couldn't find any in real life?" Raph stomped out of the room, only to nearly run into Donnie.

"Guys, I think I know where Mikey is." He set down his laptop on the table and clicked a link to an article. "Check this out. . ."