Leonardo and Tori ended up sitting in the kitchen for hours.
"Uh, What's better than Pizza?" Tori wonders aloud.
Mikey picked that moment to pop in. "Nothing is better than pizza."
Tori smiled and thought for a minute. "York patties."
The two stopped and stared at the girl.
Leonardo spoke first. "What are York Patties." His face skewed a bit at the unfamiliar term. Tori found it strangely adorable.
Michelangelo heard his video game calling him and sighed. The young turtle looked torn. He glanced between Tori, and the living room, where his game awaited him.
He left his game in order to hear about this new miracle food. Michelangelo bounded toward the table, and took a seat as Tori began to explain the mysterious food. "It's like a mint… but it's covered in chocolate."
At the mention of chocolate, Raphael walked in and decided to rummage through the fridge. "What are ya talkin about?"
Michelangelo took it upon himself to cover what his brother had missed.
"A mint covered in chocolate?" The turtle scowled. "Who would wanna eat that?"
Tori rolls her eyes. "It's not actually a mint. It's minty. With a chocolate shell." The trio looked at her and all their heads tilted to the side. Tori threw her hands up. "Well, I can't explain it to you!" She gestured to the world above. "You'll have to find out for yourselves."
Her arms returned to the surface of the table, "You could go get them yourselves," a conspiratorial smirk engulfed her face. "Or, I could get some for you."
Leonardo started. "N-No. We couldn't let her out…" He looked to Raphael. "Could we?"
Raphael's smile reminded Tori of a wolf. "I don't see a problem with it. We could follow her easily."
Tori flinched. She didn't want them following her, but she didn't see any way to get to the surface otherwise. After all, she was up against four ninjas, not to mention the guy...rat that had trained them all. Leonardo smiled. "Let's get Donnie. We've got a girl to trail." Tori began to protest, but then Michelangelo reminded her of the 'mission.' "Don't forget to grab a few boxes of those York thingies."
Leonardo looked at Tori before leaving the room. "We'll talk later."
Tori nods. "Good."
Four turtles watched from a nearby rooftop as Tori walked into a candy store. She glanced at them, and glared. I don't need a sitter. They could see it on her face. Unadulterated loathing. She walked in, and emerged a few minutes later with a bulging plastic bag. She held it up, and stretched. She walked a few blocks, and into an alley.
"'Bout time you showed up." Tori says. She turns her head and glared at them from the corner of her eye. "Ready for a rematch?"
The thugs behind her smirk. One pulled a knife from his belt, and rushed the girl. She dropped the bag of sweets, and pulled her own wicked blade. Her hair covered her eyes, but her smile was feral.
"Think I go around unarmed, do ya?" She lashed at the thug, and red crept across the edge of her blade. She licked it. "Tastes like fear. You scared, Kid?" The thug looked at his arm. A neat line of red dripped onto the pavement, and his face showed only rage.
One of his buddies grabbed his arm. "C'mon dude. She's crazy."
Tori's feral smile widens. She tilts her head, revealing crazed brown eyes. "That's right, Alice. I'm the Mad Hatter." She watched them take a step back. "I could use a new wig." The goons turned and ran.
Tori calmed her features. "Can't have them run too."
She didn't notice the turtles drop to the ground. They stared at her. "Does that happen often?"
"What?" Tori is nothing but cool.
"Do you always go crazy on guys in an alley?!" Michelangelo screeched.
"No," Tori sended an offended look their way, "I wasn't always like this."
"Like what? A raging psycho?" Leonardo asked calmly.
"Exactly." Tori turned away from the turtles, and picked up the bag that lay at her feet. She took one of the silver wrappers and peeled it apart. "In the meantime, you should try this." One treat is tossed to each turtle. They watched as Tori opened one for herself, and shoved it into her mouth. They nodded to one another, and one by one, tried the small circular sweet.
Their minds were blown. Expressions of bliss eased onto their faces, and they sighed.
"You like it?" Tori asked.
Four pairs of eyes shot to the bag in her hand. Tori caught the look. She turned to run, but the bag was snatched from her grip. The girl turned, and glared down the turtle who was currently wolfing down the sweets. She didn't take the time to recognise who it was. All she cared about was the thing that was taken from her.
A few minutes later, Tori lay sighed. She had been beaten by a bunch of turtles. A smug Raphael dangled an empty bag in front of her defeated form.
"We should head back." Leonardo said, licking chocolate from his fingers.
Tori nodded, and followed the turtles into the sewers.
LINE BREAK
The walk back is much less eventful. Five splashes were heard. Leonardo motioned for Tori to go first. The guys followed her into the sewers. Raphael was the only one to walk next to her.
"Does that happen often?" He asked.
"Not really." She looked at the ceiling. Lights flickered. "Sometimes I get like that. The best thing to do is get away as quickly as possible."
Raphael faced ahead. "It's not gonna happen anytime soon, right?"
"Hopefully. I don't have control over it."
They returned to the lair. Leonardo tried to strike up a conversation.
"So, Raph let you out?" Leonardo asked, just as straightforward as ever.
"Yeah. We had a little heart to heart." Tori said. Leo looked at her, bewildered. She caught the look, and clarified. "It was mostly me crying."
The terrapin nodded in understanding. "What did you tell him?" Leo asked. He noticed her glance downward.
"I think you'll find out soon enough," she said. Leonardo's eyes narrowed at her evasiveness.
They spent a few minutes in silence. Tori started twiddling her thumbs. Yes. She folded her hands, and twirled one thumb over the other and repeated the motion on the other hand.
"I didn't know people did that." Leonardo stared at the girl and her strange thumbs. "I thought it was an expression."
Tori continued to twiddle her thumbs. "It's just an expression for most people. I'm the only one I know of who actually does it." She looked at him. He was still staring at her fingers. Tori smiled. "You wanna give it a shot?"
The turtle hesitantly wove his fingers together, and tried to twirl his thumbs, as Tori had. His thumbs kept hitting the skin between two of his fingers. He sighed. "My hands are too big for this." Tori laughed. "You just need a little practice. I've been doing this for years." This time Leonardo rolled his eyes. "Sure you have."
Tori looked at the turtle. "Of course I have. It's entertaining when there's nothing else to do."
He stared at her hands, and turned his thumbs. His eyes widened, and he stared at his hands. He repeated the movement.
"I did it." He cried. Leonardo lept to his feet, and stared at his hands.
Tori smirked. "Congratulations, Leo. You can now twiddle your thumbs." The turtle lept to his feet and began dancing around. Tori stared, blinked, and burst out laughing.
Leo froze, and stared at her. "What's so funny?"
"I never thought… I would see… a turtle….do a victory dance…" The girl gasped for breath. "It's not... something... people see... every day." The turtle beamed. "That's good."
"Why?" Tori's head tilted. Leonardo's innocent smile changed. Tori wasn't sure she really wanted to know… but her curiosity got the better of her.
"I'll tell you if you tell me what happened." The brunette sighed, her short hair covered her eyes. "I suck at this." She lifted her head and stared at the turtle. He looked at her expectantly.
"Fine. I ran away." Tori said. Leo motioned for her to continue. She glared at him. "We moved here, and Dad decided to start a new business." Leonardo sat in the chair next to Tori. "He was secretive, and I thought I couldn't help. After all, I am his daughter. He told me that's exactly why I couldn't help." Tori paused.
"Whenever I asked him about it, he said I shouldn't get involved. I was too young, too innocent. A few weeks ago he caught me snooping, and decided I was ready to get into the new 'family business'. After I found out, he told me that a lot of the people I knew were already involved. I wanted no part in it, so I convinced them to cover for me as I escaped." She glanced at the turtle, whose eyes had widened.
"Then what?" Leonardo asked. It was less of a question, but a question all the same. Tori didn't like questions to go unanswered.
One of her eyebrows rose, "I'll tell you if you tell me what I want to know."
The turtle sighed. "If you saw turtles dancing on a regular basis, people would think you're crazy."
Tori stared at him. "That's it? Really?"
Leonardo glanced away sheepishly. "Yeah, that's it."
The girl threw her hands in the air, and shook her head. "What am I going to do with you."
It wasn't a question… more like thinking out loud.
Leonardo answered anyway. "You're going to tell me the rest of that story?" Tori looked over, and the turtle was sitting on the floor in front of her chair, waiting eagerly for the story to continue. His eyes were huge, and his hopeful smile made Tori give. He stared at her the way he would watch 'Space Heroes'. Tori looked at him again. Big mistake. She rolled her eyes for the upteenth time that night.
"Alright, fine. I ran into an alley, and they starting trying to get me to come back with them. I screamed, and you guys came running."
It's Leonardo's turn to look bewildered. "That's it?"
Tori nodded. "That's it. You know the rest."
The turtle stood, and slumped in a chair. Tori leaned toward him, and lightly punched his arm. "You thought it would be more interesting?"
"Yeah. You seem like the kind of girl who loves trouble."
"Trouble, huh?" Tori leaned back in her chair.
"Yeah." Leo smiled. "Sometimes we call Raph Trouble. The hothead either gets angry when we call him that."
Tori nodded. "I can see that happening… Trouble follows me like bad news. It doesn't just go away. Sometimes I would rather leave it all behind." Leonardo looked at her face. Tori smiled sadly, "I'm not fond of trouble, but people love calling me a troublemaker."
Leonardo opened his mouth. Before he could say anything, Michelangelo popped into the kitchen. "Hey Leo, Master Splinter wants to see us."
Michelangelo looked at Tori and beamed. "You can stay in here if you want, or we have more movies in the living room. Help yourself."
Tori nodded. All signs of melancholy erased from her features. "Sure thing, Mikey." She stood up, and put her hand Leonardo's shell. "It was good talking. Have fun with your Dad."
The turtle nodded, and followed his brother out of the kitchen. Tori folded her arms onto the table and slumped into them. Her eyelids became heavy and she fought sleep. She managed a glance at the clock on the stove. "Man," she sighed. "Been up for twenty hours already." Her head drooped further into the crook of her arm. She muttered, "Might as will get some sleep." before she knocked out.
A few hours later Tori kind of gained consciousness. She was being lifted from her position on the table. She was still tired, so she didn't bother fighting as she was tucked into a pair of strong arms. Her eyes closed again as she was carried into another room.
What a weird dream. No one would carry me anywhere. Her muscles relaxed again, and she was set on something soft. A blanket covered her limp form.
"We'll ask her about it when she wakes up." Do I know that voice? Oh well. I'll deal with it later. She didn't notice the four turtles that surround her as she slept.
"Dude, she looks so peaceful." Michelangelo whispered.
"Maybe we should let her sleep." Raphael said.
"Go ahead."
The bulky turtle left to lift more weights. Michelangelo sat down, his chin in his hands. His elbows rested on his knees and he smiled at the sleeping girl.