Jesus Murphy. I meant to finish this and have it done by 7, but after my job interview I ended up sleeping. Oops. Anyway, I wrote half of this during work on receipt tape, I kid you not, so this could be very dumb. Uhh. I thought it would be good to get to know this little creature before getting her down to interact with, gasp, more turtles. Sorry for the lack of April in this one, seeing as it is her apartment. I promise not to ignore her too much, but I keep sending her out on errands. Anyways, enjoy, maybe even follow it, or perhaps review it?!
For several weeks after his run in with Dana; after his ear ringing lecture and a week of every chore imaginable (his honesty, mercifully, had spared him time in the hashi), and the world had returned to it's usual dulled pulse, Raph would stop by April's apartment. He'd gained a good friend in April and he wasn't going to let some doe-eyed girl keep him away.
Raph had not, however, expected to get to know Dana. She was persistent, like a child wanting to know her big sister's secrets. She had a new round of questions every time he came into the house; what was his family like, why hadn't they visited, what his hobbies were, interests, everything. She wouldn't shut up.
At one point, when she was asking some long winded question about his sais, he got fed up with her pestering and couldn't help himself.
"Do you ever shut up?!" He was louder than he expected to be, and Dana jumped back farther from her perch on the counter, a little of her coffee spilling to the floor. She paid no mind, keeping her frightened attention on the large turtle seated at the table.
He honestly felt a little bad now; he hadn't meant to scream, just get her off his case. He leaned back as she suddenly took a deep interest in her nearly empty mug, leaving the room quiet, with the exception of the shower running in the adjacent room. After a few agonizing seconds, Dana piped up, gently.
"I'm sorry. I just, you seem really interesting and I wanted to know more about you. I guess I got a little too excited." She sighed, sliding toward the sink to dump the rest of her coffee down the drain. Now he felt like a jackass. Deciding quickly that he wasn't going to leave her in awkward misery, he said the first thought that came to mind.
"Hey, Princess, how about you tell me about you." She furrowed her eyebrows confused. Hadn't he wanted her to stop talking a few minutes ago?
"I thought you didn't want me to talk. That seems a little counter-productive." He rolled his eyes; was there no pleasing this chick?
"Well, I wanted you to stop talkin' about me. I don't like playin' 20 questions. Now come on, tell me somethin'." And she was off. She spent the next week telling him things about her life. At first, she struggled to come up with things to talk about; someone had just asked her to talk about herself without any guidelines. That was a lot to ask of a person. After the first two or three days, it became easier to just say more things about herself in passing. He had this way of telling her he was ready, as well, leaving the talking up to his decision.
Raph hadn't expected to ask to hear about her after the first day; he did, after all, only use it as a way to stop being asked stupid questions. But, the more he came over, the more he found himself waving a hand in her direction, signaling her to continue. He learned that she'd just graduated high school, and was barely 18. He learned she was from a small town in Pennsylvania, where she took dance lessons and played an instrument, which she said she'd show him later. He learned she moved to New York to get into Juilliard, but she just wanted to get into some dance school in the city. He also learned more about her personality from letting her talk. She got over excited sometimes, which explained why she was so determined to know him and see him; he was a new, fascinating thing in her life and she wanted to keep that interest. Once she settled down and seeing a nearly seven-foot turtle became normal, she was much calmer. She was very cool and collected, and her jokes were very dark and often sarcastic. One time, she actually had him guffawing when he asked if she was drinking coffee and she looked up, muttering, "No, I'm drinking the blood of my enemies." It was a dumb joke and they both knew it, but it was made funnier by a wide eye roll from April. Dana was also very easy to frustrate. One particular night, Raph waltzed into the apartment to find Dana lightly punching her fists into her keyboard.
"What'sa matter with you?" that was oddly violent of her, as weak as it was. She muttered something about at least not having to learn to roller skate, and shoved her laptop to the side of the couch.
"This is my third job rejection and I really need money so I can, y'know, live?" She slumped into the cushions, grabbing the rest of her coffee and chugging it down. He still couldn't figure out why she had coffee so late, but that wasn't the focus right then. He moved her laptop to the coffee table and sat down, peering sideways at her.
"You'll find a job. Plenty of places need people; give it time." He spoke gruffly, folding his arms over his chest as she huffed, heaving her shoulders forward. It was silent, but she very quickly leaned over and hugged him; as if he was going to disappear if she wasn't fast enough. Her arms came around just under his own, across his lower chest, and she couldn't even get halfway to touching her fingers together.
"Thanks, Raph." She mumbled quietly, almost like a child. He briefly considered returning the hug, but opted to pet down her long hair, which had wildly managed to find it's way into his face.
"No problem, princess. Now, do you mind getting' your hair outta my face? It don't taste too good." She snorted, leaning back and simultaneously taking all of her hair into her fist. She grabbed a tie off the table and pulled it back into a high ponytail, her blonde locks still falling halfway down her back. At that point, April entered the door with pizza and a liter of coke, and the conversation was abandoned in favor of stuffing faces, of which Dana did excellently.
