Author's Notes: Again, it's all about Donny.
Donny: I'm her favorite. :buffs fingers against shirt:
I maintain that I have no favorite, but I will say that the majority of the changes made in this chapter, formerly chapter three, center around Donatello. Mainly his appearance. Upon watching the movies I decided that I didn't give him the proper look, especially by making him the shortest, so I changed things up a bit. Sorry for any inconvenience, but hey, what can I say? I love this guy.
Donny: Told ya so.
Anyway, onward, and standard disclaimers apply, because if I owned these characters, I'd think of better ways to use them (no offense to any intended).
So far they'd been gathered around for an hour, talking about seemingly nothing. They somehow managed to answer all of April's questions, despite a considerable lack of knowledge amongst themselves. This much could be said for calling their friend down to them in their hour of change; she raised questions that they would never have considered to be justified. Some of them might not have been necessary, but she asked them nonetheless. Perhaps it was caused by the shock of the situation, or perhaps it was just common for her train of thought asa reporter. Nonetheless, interesting and almost unanswerable inquiries popped forth from her mind into their laps.Each one was debated and pondered over until, after an exhaustible and almost unnecessary length of time, they reached a decision.
One of these questions was, "Where will you stay?"
"Stay?" Donatello offered a confused expression. "What are you talking about? We'll stay where we belong: here. Underground." It was painfully apparent that for once he hadn't even thought over what he'd said, just blurted out an answer that had been firmly ground into his head. For almost eighteen years now they'd lived in their subterranean home, a place that offered protection from their enemies, both everyday people and the twisted criminal minds they fought to rid the world of.
Leo rubbed his chin, a gesture that displayed the five long, strong fingers on his hand. April locked her eyes on them, studying them with a fascinated curiosity. How was it that this liquid-gas they had discovered had been able to bring about this change in them, when the people at TGRI had not even been able to tell them the actual contents of the "ooze" that had been created by accident and had resulted in their half-turtle, half-human form? What genius-or maniac, depending on the situation-had come up with this mixture? Too bad they couldn't get any more, or even find it's creator, so they could answer some of these questions.
"Perhaps she has a point. I mean we're given an opportunity to join the people above-"
"Opportunity?" Raphael jumped on the word, practically shouting, his voice the same if not a few notches deeper. "I would hardly call this an 'opportunity,' Leonardo." The full name of his brother signified his irritation.
"Calm down!" Mei jumped to her feet, April's clothes on her slight, if not strong frame moving with the jerk of her motion. She placed one hand on Raphael's chest, the other on Leonardo's. The gentle touch of her mind on theirs was noticed by all, since Mei could not use the powers of her Shin obi training without giving away the concentration required in the way her body tensed.
Raphael wrenched away from her, as if the breaking of physical contact could stop the bond of her mind to his.
"First of all," April could hear the barely-held tension in his voice, "this is a curse, not an opportunity. We were born and raised turtles. Granted, we may have been mutated to a more half-human form of turtles, but our origin was that of a turtle. This-" and with a sweeping gesture he took in his person as well as the others, "is an unnatural condition due to an accident that we are now paying for. It is not natural for turtles to become human-"
"Just as it is no more natural that five baby turtles and a rat were mutated to think and react, to walk erect and grow to human proportions. To have human minds and human tendencies." Leonardo said tersely, white teeth grinding together, fists at his side. He ignored Mei's presence, practically shoved her mind from his by blocking whatever calming influence she might have had with another wave of anger.
"Natural is hardly a word you could use to describe us." Michelangelo said, oddly and uncharacteristically subdued, wallowing in a self-pity borne of the tragedy that plagued his rag-tag family.
Final decision came from an unexpected source as Splinter stood, calming both boys with a mere look.
"Whatever the cause of our current condition, and whatever may have been in the past, those were different situations and this is not then." He pointed firmly downward with a knobby finger, the muscles on the back of his hand flexing with the motion. He may have been old, but whatever this thing was, it was renewing Splinter in a way that was akin to the fountain of youth. Granted, his visage was that of an old man, near his late fifties, but April and the others could plainly see the strength and energy that almost radiated from his person. "Now we are no longer a half-man, half-turtle." He smiled ruefully at his 'children.' "Now we are wholly, completely human. And as such, we will no longer have to remain beneath the surface of the world we protect. I know it must be scary, being something different, in a different body. But remember that; it is only your physical form that has changed. You are still the same, soul and mind, and that is truly what makes a person. Not the Earth suit, as it were." He took a deep breath. "You once fought me at every turn, however subtly, about remaining underground. Your forms of rebellion were different; pizza, befriending April and Casey, going to movies under the guise of a trench coat and hat..." He sighed as he glanced at Raphael but covered it by looking at all in turn. "Even you, Mei, with your early years under the protection of a village, were spoiled by being able to walk about among people who thought you their goddess. In your own ways, you've longed for a world above that I have been forced to keep from you, as much as I possibly can. So don't look at yourselves now as drastically changed, my sons, but rather now without the hindrance of your visage to keep you from the world above."
And with that, he sat down, and the atmosphere in the room dramatically changed.
"So, with our newfound freedom, where should we go?" Donatello restated April's question.
"Well, I suppose we should find a place to stay...a place with room enough for all of us."
"In order to find a place and keep it, you need money." Raphael pointed out antagonistically. "At least this place is free."
Mei looked thoughtful, and then spoke. "And in order to get money, you need a job, which requires a degree of some kind."
"And in order to acquire a degree, you need to go to school."
"And to get into school, you need things like an identification card, social security number, and proof of existence in general." Raphael's cynicism was in truly good form that evening.
April sat up straighter, looking hard at each of them in turn, examining their features to see if her little seed of a thought was justified enough to be planted firmly in the minds of the others.
"I think I have an idea that would work, but it'll take a while for us to initiate it."
"How long?"
"What's the idea?"
"Why don't I like the sound of that?"
April scooted forward in her seat, hands on her knees. "Okay, so you need a place to stay, right? You can stay at my place." She referred to her new condo. She'd recently gotten a well-deserved raise and used the surplus in cash to get a bigger condo. This one wascloser to where she worked andin a better part of town.
"Hold on!" Leonardo stood up, palm of his right hand resting on the tips of the fingers of his left to form a "t". "Time out. Remember the last time we stayed at your place? We drove you nuts! Not to mention the fact that there's one more of us now."
April waved away his protests, too caught up in her plan to be put down by his good points. "First of all, this place isn't nearly as small as the other one. Three bedrooms and two baths, with a living room and kitchen."
"Why did you get such a big place?" Mei inquired, pulling her legs up to her chest, resting her chin on her knees and wrapping her arms around them.
April shrugged. "It was nice, near where I worked, and fairly priced. All the room was just an added bonus. Anyway, it'll be cramped for you boys, and Mei can room with me.Then we can begin registering you, after you look more...well, normal."
"Even more so than now?" Raphael shot back, arms crossed, tilted green eyes flashing. As much as he privately wanted to give in to the excitement he felt welling up in the room, his pugnacious, pessimistic half was having too much fun trying to rain on the gathering parade.
"Yes, Raphael. As you're all aware, immigrants from other countries come over from native lands to the land of the free all the time. I can say that you're immigrants and we can register you as to-be residents. All that's really required is that you pay U.S. taxes and live here for a year. You can apply for a social security number, and all that's required is a fee. After that, you can take the G.E.D. test, which will give you a high school diploma equivalent, and from there you can go to a community college or get a job." She shrugged and leaned back in her chair, smiling at the looks on their faces. The plan was beautiful in its simplicity, and while some of the facts may not have been entirely accurate, her point couldn't have been truer. After all, wasn't New York City a picture perfect example of America's open-arm policy. Home for the underdog, all mutts welcome.
"That might actually work." One could almost see the wheels turning inside Donatello's head as he worked through this idea, going over possible results and events, and liking the general outcome it produced. "How did you come up with it?"
"I'm just that damn good. It will take time before you can say, 'I'm a member of the United States' but you should be able to get jobs, get a G.E.D., go to school, all that whatnot, almost immediately."
"Well then, now what? Do we start packing?" Michelangelo was eager to move back in with April. They had a better time when in her company. They usually ended up showing-off for her, pulling outrageous stunts that theycould have donewithout her around, butthatwere alwaysbetter with an audience.
"Can I make a suggestion?" April grinned broadly as she pointed at them. "How about some decent clothes? I mean, you guys can't continue to run around in those awful pants, and Splinter, I think you're going to need more than that piece of rags."
Splinter looked down at his clothing and then nodded. "A wise observation, Miss O'Neil."
"I'll take you shopping, buy you some decent attire." April said decisively, brushing her hands together.
"Whoa, April." Donatello stood up. "We have some money and besides, you're already housing us and helping us. Giving us money is where we have to-"
April held up a manicured finger, shushing Donny in mid-sentence. "You guys have saved my butt more than once." She added as an after-thought. "Besides, once you all get jobs, you can take me out to thank me for all my help." She grinned and motioned them to start packing. "I'll help, but first I'm going to rent a truck, so we can make as few trips as possible."
The entire move took two days, one to pack, the other to transport and begin the stages of unpacking.
Leonardo had never known there were stages to unpacking. Call him crazy, but he'd envisioned this thing being a one-day venture. After all, it had never taken them that long before. Yet now here he was, in the middle of the afternoon of the second day, and only now was he dragging the stuff into April's condo.
He could tell the others were just as tired as he. Why did she have to rent the top floor condo of a six-story building? There was a condo on the first, third, and fifth story, the second, fourth, and sixth being the second story to each individual condo. So they ended up walking up five stories to deposit the boxes and bags in front of the door of her apartment for Mei, Splinter, and April to drag in, identify, and place in the proper rooms.
They'd been able to forgo bringing many of their things, leaving them for safe keeping in the subway area until they got their own place. So in all they didn't have as much junk as they could have, but enough to make the truck sink slightly on it's wheels as they had loaded it up. Not a good omen.
Leonardo pushed a hand through the tangles of curly black hair that had already appeared on his head. He could only pray his hair wouldn't always grow so fast. If it did he'd have to get a haircut every day just to keep it out of his eyes. He noticed that Michelangelo was having a similar fight with his wavy blonde tresses, finally ending the humorous looking battle by retrieving an orange bandana from a box and securing it around his forehead.
Raphael had more hair then all of the guys, the fiery red locks falling to below his ears. Right nowsome of the strands were standing on end due to static electricity. He was grumbling to himself, as he often did, but accepted the bandana from Mikey, who was balancing one box marked "Donny's FRAGILE" on all sides on his shoulder, another box under his other arm. He started up the steps, stumbling only once as he miscalculated the distance between stairs and got thrown off balance. Donny, coming down the stairs, lunged to aid Mikey, taking the "FRAGILE" box and walking back up the stairs with a less burdened Mikey on his heels.
"Do you possibly think that we could have any more junk?" Raphael asked in an annoyed voice, launching a bag full of who-knew-what into the air. Leo caught it easily and put it on top of the pile they were making in the driveway. The next bag caught him square in the chest, followed rapidly by an errant lampshade, which knocked him in the nose and tumbled to the ground.
"Ow." Leo's word was more out of instinct than actual pain. Raphael ignored him and instead picked up a stereo and prepared to toss it to Leo.
"Don't even think about it!" Mikey pounced on Raphael, ripping the stereo from his grip and hugging it to his chest protectively. "You can throw anything else, but the second you release my stereo to the will of gravity is the second I nail your ass to the ground and make your nose match your hair."
Michelangelo was smart enough to say this quickly and retreat out of arm's reach. Raphael glared atthe blonde boy'sbare back, which was already more tanned than the rest of theirs. Idly and almost absently, Raphael stretched, his hand reaching back and rubbing on the scars that had once been on his shell and now, instead, had transferred to his back. Odd how that worked. He maintained the scars on his back, but all of them had lost the spots that had patterned their skin. Raphael found that fascinating but wouldn't admit to it. Besides, he doubted Donatello could take another enigma-his head might explode.
He also found it interesting how they had all acquired distinguishing characteristics. Raphael paused to reflect, leaning against a stand of cardboard boxes.His own hair was red and straight, his eyes deep green and tilted slightly. His jaw and shoulders were broad, while he was kind of stocky in build, his muscles clearly defined under his olive-tinted skin. His nose was broad, a theme that seemed to be recurrent throughout his body. In short, his physique resembled that of a body builder, he admitted to himself, silently proud.
Leonardo, though, was tall and lean, his muscles not as prominent as Raphael's by any means. He had picked up a couple of bags and boxes, and while the muscles in his arms and back clearly flexed, they were not as obvious as Raphael's. Though as he began climbing the stairs Raphael had to grudgingly admit that he had good legs. Raph thought he looked more like a track runner or soccer player. His hair was all tight curls and dark as a raven's wing, right now tangling and bouncing in every direction due to its length. His eyes flashed dark blue; so dark they were almost black, with a straight nose and strong chin. Secretly, Raph thought the shape of his mouth was odd; perhaps the upper lip wasn't fully developed yet. His upper lip was fairly thin, the dip in the middle not very well defined, while the lower lip was fuller.
Michelangelo looked rather humorous, which matched his personality perfectly. His blonde hair was so light that it was almost as white as Splinter's, and wavy, forever tumbling in front of his eyes. His eyes were at some point's brown, and others green. His nose was broad, his lips full, his skin dark from both tan combined with the skin tone he'd been granted. He was shorter then Leo was but taller than Mei, with strong legsand a well-defined abdomen leading down to a narrow waist. His chest wasn't as defined as his back. His chin was pointed, his eyes wide and thickly lashed, giving him an oddly innocent, young look. He had a high forehead too, Raphael noted as the energetic Mikey bounded down the stairs and picked up more stuff.
Donatello's hair was a combination of chocolaty-brown and dark as night black, which waved down to his ears and away from his face, displaying intelligent, tilted brown eyes. He was taller than Michelangelo, about even with Raphael. He was tough looking, since his shoulders and neck were well formed and the jerk of his muscles beneath his arms and legs was apparent with every movement. His nose was straight and narrow. His lower lip was fuller than it's mate. Donny's most distinguishing characteristic was his dark eyebrows, which came to a point right in the middle.
Mei was mildly attractive, Raphael conceded.Her pale,straight brunette hair was still growing too quickly and now hung below her shoulders. Her icy blue eyes were almond-shaped and thickly lashed. Her figure was perfect, though, her abdomen flat. The muscles were not apparent, which set the theme with the rest of her body. She was built small, her frame hiding her strength, with long, delicate fingers and long legs. Raphael grinned to himself as she swung around the banister at the bottom of the steps and walked toward him with a bottle of what was probably cold water in her hand.
"The others are upstairs with theirs, but I figured you were too wrapped up in your work to stop for much of anything." She smiled and, as she made her way back up the stairs, actually winked at him.
Thank God she had a better sense of humor now. Or a sense of humor, he should say, since when she first came she had none to speak of. Too many years living with them had had some adverse, if not welcome, effects on her personality. Raphael figured she'd picked up most of her "humor" tips from either him or Leonardo, since she didn't lean toward outlandish pranks like Michelangelo, or puns and wrong-word usage like Donny.
He looked at the bottle in his hand, which was already beading with condensation, and was touched that she had thought of him. Part of him had always felt something toward the female, though since he rarely paid attention to that particular part of himself he didn't bother identifying it. Buthe had a feelinghe wouldn't be able to ignore his feelings for much longer, whether Raph liked it or not.
That evening, the things had finally all been transferred upstairs and the group all slumped into the various pieces of furniture in the living area. Too tired to even begin unpacking all those bags and boxes, too tired to get up and go to bed, they all merely fell onto whatever was available in the nearest vicinity.
April was kind enough to first bring food, then ice packs and heating pads for the over-exerted guys. Each was accepted with no more than a grunt of gratitude, but April took the meaning as it was intended and felt a touch of sympathy for the guys. After all, that was a lot of junk to haul first up to the street, into a truck, and then back out of the truck, up five flights of stairs, and into a condo where it went up yet another flight of stairs. She could only imagine how their quads felt.
Splinter was sitting on the edge of the couch, Raphael kneeling on the drop cloth covered floor in front of him. The old man was calmly and neatly arranging his hair into a shorter mass on his head, the red locks drifting either onto his back or shoulders or onto the ground. Raphael's legs and shoulders were killing him, and sitting still in such a position only made it seem worse. Still, he knew it wouldn't take long, and frankly would look worse if he fidgeted.
Donatello sat beside Splinter, but was right now stretched out as much as he could. Hislegs were sprawled in front of him, hands clasped over his stomach, head tilted back on the couch. His mouth hung open,and he was cutting down the Amazon forest by the sounds of his snores.
Michelangelo, perched on a bean bag chair, immediately took up both an ice pack and a heating pad, placing the source of warmth on the back of his neck and the frozen blue pack on his bruised knee. Groaning with what was taken as relief, he leaned back in his bean chair and relaxed.
Leonardo stirred restlesslyin his seat on the floor across from Michelangelo, where April sat in her Lay-Z-Boy. Mei, who'd been carefully distributing drinks and plates of nuked food to everyone, noticed the fidget.After handingLeo his food and drink shekneeled behind him and began kneading the giant knots out of his neck and back. Leo was startled at first, given that it was a new sensation, feeling human hands kneading at his back (his back- he didn't have a shell anymore, and was having a hard time adjusting to it). Still, after a second he relaxed into it, finding the repetitive pressing and rubbing effective against his sore, strained muscles.
Michelangelo looked up long enough to feel a stab of jealously, then muttered something about his oh-so warm and compliant lover and moved the heating pad lower on his back. Had it been any other day he might have asked Mei if he could be next, but he was tired, too tired for much of anything except-yawn-sleep. And with that he was out like a light, the ice pack falling to his feet, forgotten.
Splinter ran his fingers over Raph's shoulders, brushing errant clips of hair from them, then placed the scissors on the coffee table. He motioned that Raphael should inspect it to see ifthe haircutwas to his liking. Since Raph really didn't care what his hair looked like it didn't much matter, but he admitted that Splinter had done very well and told him so. His hair was now cut close to his head all around with barely an inch left. The tresses were just long enough to still feel soft under his hand, but short enough to stand straight up, daring gravity to oppose it.
"You'll do well to take a shower." Splinter suggested, though knew there was no chance any of them would hit the showers tonight. Which of course meant a fight over it tomorrow, and a lot of cold showers for those last few that had decided to sleep in.
April was eating and watching Mikey with amused interest, then gazed for a moment at Donatello, who was in the fifth movement of his "Ode to a Chainsaw" medley. Mei currently had Leo on his stomach and was kneeling with her knees on either side of his hips, massaging at a particularly stubborn knot while Leo appeared to doze.
"Tomorrow I suggest you take the boys clothes shopping." April said to Splinter, who was deftly picking up the corners of the drop cloth and walking to the balcony door to shake it out.
"I take it you'll go with Mei?" He said knowingly, flashing a smile at April, who returned it.
"What, let her go with the guys? No offense, but there's nothing cute about a girl that wears clothes that scream of testosterone."
Mei looked up and said calmly while applying such force behind her palms that Leo grunted in pain, "It is very rude to talk about someone as if they are not there." As an afterthought, she patted Leo's shoulders and muttered an apology, to which her return reply was a grunt of acceptance. She went back to her gentle kneading, sending calm thoughts to Leonardo lest she inadvertently hurt him again.
"Very well. What time should we plan to be home for lunch? Or will it be dinner by the time you two are done?"
April tossed a look at Mei, who offered an excited grin. "Shopping should take much of the day for us girls, so let's say about six? That gives me time to make dinner."
Mei immediately offered her assistance as she eased away a knot, her fingers lingering idle on Leo's bare back as she spoke.
Raphael looked at Donatello, the snoring beginning to grate on his nerves. Good thing he wasn't rooming with him, or else Donny would be rudely awakened to a pillow in the kisser every time that log-splitting snort of his began to fill the air. Raph only hoped the walls were thick.
As it were, he, Splinter, and Leonardo were sharing a room, the one closest to the guest bathroom. Donatello would room with Michelangelo, who apparently wasn't affected by the snoring. Mei was going to stay in April's master bedroom, giving the two girls access to the big bathroom.
Probably for the best, too, considering girls take forever to get ready. Raphael thought, unaware of the generalization.
The conversation, which hadn't been going too strongly to being with, dwindled to silence, until they finally hauled themselves up and off to bed. Donatello seemed tosleep-walk while Mikey yawned behind him. Three doors clicked shut, seven sheets were turned down, and seven very tired heads fell victim to the cool comfort of their pillows as they drifted into sleep.
To Be Continued