The next day, Don examined Randall's eyesight and it was terrible with seeing long distances. He could only see good up close.
But, in order for the glasses to be bought, Randall needed to meet their human allies too.
That evening, April and Casey were invited down for dinner and they brought dinner too. They were told they were meeting a new friend. They liked many of the turtles' friends. Another one on their side was always good.
Randall was real hesitant about revealing himself to the two humans. He saw the man had weapons on him and he wouldn't reveal himself until he put the weapons down.
Casey put his bag of weapons at the door and he was far away from them before Randall finally revealed himself.
April and Casey were surprised indeed with what Randall could do with appearing like that.
"I'm April O'Neil and this is Casey Jones. It's nice to meet you, Randall." April said.
April's voice did have a motherly tone to it. And it wasn't like the voice of the Cajun woman who had tried to kill him with a shovel.
"Hi." He said, a little shy of her, still keeping his distance just yet.
"I'd have to say that is really awesome, dude, being able to do that!" Casey said, a little too outgoing. He came toward Randall.
Randall backed up. The man kept advancing on him. When he didn't take the hint that he was being too much for Randall, Randall vanished and tripped him.
"Hey!" Casey cried out.
"Casey, you were too aggressive on him. He was backing away from you because he's afraid of you." April said.
"He doesn't trust humans." Don said.
"Some humans tried to kill him a while back." Mikey said.
"Give him some time and he'll learn to trust you, but he does need glasses and contacts, April." Don explained. "I examined his vision and it's pretty bad."
"I'll be happy to get him some glasses and contacts." April said.
"Come on, Randy, I won't hurt ya." Casey said. "I just wanted to say hi."
Randall had not liked that name since college. He was on a pillar at the moment, but came down.
"No one, calls me Randy!" Randall growled when he showed himself again.
"Okay. We won't call you that, calm down." Mikey said.
For the first time, even Raph had seen Randall's grumpy side. Now he knew of something that irritated the lizard. A nickname.
Within a short time, they sat down to dinner together, Randall staying well away from April and Casey. He glared at them, but more so at Casey.
Some things were told about Randall since he had joined them.
April and Casey left with a little hesitation on trusting the lizard monster or not.
Randall had a sense of almost trusting April, but he didn't trust Casey a whole lot. But then, he was Raph's best friend.
After all the harsh treatment from other humans, Randall was just weary of them and especially one of such confidence. Casey had been a little too outgoing for him to handle the first time meeting him.
The family assured Randall that he would be able to trust these humans. They just needed time to get used to each other was all. And April had promised to get him those glasses and contacts.
Randall was grateful for that. He needed them. Although he hoped he could get corrected vision. None of the turtles, Splinter or their human friends wore glasses. Leatherhead did when he was working in the lab. But Randall had yet to meet the croc too.
Randall was mainly sleeping on the couch now, just until a bed could be found for him.
A few days later, as promised, April brought down some glasses and contacts. He tried them out and they worked really well. He thanked her for it.
"I'm happy to oblige, Randall." She said.
Now that he could see with his new glasses, he did open his eyes more. They definitely weren't like the glasses he wore as a young monster. They had a more square shape to them. Randall found them satisfactory that they didn't make him look like a little kid.
He read the instructions on how to use contacts, but these had to be kept in the bathroom. It was just one of the places that wasn't bound to be trashed as much. And when he cleaned his teeth in the mornings, he could remember to put them in.
Back in the monster world, he knew his old rival, Mike had worn a contact lense. He had just never had a desire to wear them, but it was time he started wearing them, for his own safety.
He managed to get them in carefully. They were a pain to deal with. And it had so much risk of poking himself in the eyes. The sooner he had corrected vision, the better.
But now, during training, Randall could see clearly what they were doing and he didn't have to worry about glasses coming off his face. He would wear the the glasses when he had more relaxing things like watching TV or reading.
Randall mostly hung around Don and Mikey, but curiosity got to him and he did finally approach the leader, Leonardo. He had mostly avoided him since Leo would mostly give him the cold shoulder.
One night, Mikey was watching some action shows and he snuck away. Don was in his lab, Splinter was in his room, and Raph was out with Casey. Leo was in the training area, practicing with his katanas.
Randall just stood on the elevated floor, watching the lead turtle move. He cleared his throat.
Leo had sensed he was there, but ignored him before. But when he heard the cleared throat, he knew there was something going on. "Can I help you?" Leo stopped.
"Why do you do that all the time?" Randall asked. "You train more than any of the others, other than Raphael."
"I'm the leader, Randall. I have the main responsibility of looking out for this family. If something happens to them, I feel like it was my doing to have done better. My father tells me this all the time when I'm with him." Leo explained. "There's so much you have to learn about being part of a real family."
"As I have told you, I grew up without a family. And no one's ever really been there for me, except just one real time in college, before me and this roommate turned to not being friends."
Leo felt that Randall was trying to break the ice between them. He had mostly ignored or watched the lizard carefully. Just like Splinter, he felt there was something behind Randall's friendly side. Maybe he was just troubled? But Leo was going to get to the point of what it was.
"Come with me, Randall." Leo said. He put his swords back in their sheaths on his back.
Randall followed the blue masked turtle to his room. Leo closed the door behind him. This made Randall nervous.
Leo saw that Randall had some nervous habits at times,such as clutching his hands. Just to clarify that he meant no harm, he took his swords off, but would stay close to them.
"Randall, even though you have only been here a short time and you have been friends with Mikey and Don, there's just been something that I find troubling. We know so little about you. Master Splinter is concerned about what it is that's troubling you." Leo said.
Randall was looking at the turtle with the biggest concern. "I can't say what it is. I just can't talk about it. I just want to move past it." If he revealed what he did in the past, he might not be able to stay. The way these turtles protected humans was just beyond him.
"Alright, I won't push you if it's that bad, but you're free to talk about it. But I do also sense a restlessness in your soul. You seem to have a bit of the same kind of fire that Raph often has. I could help you in some ways to try to stay calm." Leo said.
"How?"
"There is such as a thing as ignoring things that annoy you. But sometimes, some thoughts and certain others I know can push your buttons too much."
"Like when someone can't get a job done fast enough, or they talk too much."
"Don can get carried away on explaining."
"I was talking about someone else I used to know." Randall said, remembering his old assistant. "Although your youngest brother gets carried away with childish behavior."
"He's always been like that. It's like his mind never really grew up. But he knows how to try to make us happy, when we get over stressed, he tries to cheer us up. Even Raph can be sometimes intrigued with playing with him." Leo said.
"I have yet to really see him calmed down at all. He's always yelling."
"It can seem like it, but he does care for this family too. He just needs his space when he gets angry. He nearly did do Mikey in once if I hadn't interfered."
"I saw that for myself when he blew his top."
Randall knew all too well when he felt like killing someone for ruining his plans. Before that, he had never killed before.
Leo began to try to get Randall relaxed enough that he might be able to meditate too.
"Have you ever done meditation before?"
"No. I just like to be alone when I need to be alone."
"Meditation is like a way to free your mind from troublesome thoughts too. I can help you achieve this."
Randall had been overstressed a lot in his life. Maybe this was something that could help.
"Alright. What do I do? Do your brothers ever do it?"
"Usually when Master Splinter wants them to." Leo giggled a little. "But yes, they know how to do it. It starts with deep breathing."
Leo went and sat down on his mat. "Come on. Sit down with me."
Randall heard a different tone to Leo's voice. It was inviting. He walked over and let his legs lower him to the ground. He put his tail on the ground too.
Leo saw that Randall had a very unique way of sitting. His special anatomy made him sit that way. He saw the front legs were still ready to pull himself up should he need to, while the back ones were bent forward.
Leo got him started on taking many deep breaths.
"I don't know if this will work." Randall said.
"That's why you have to train your mind to let go. Clear your thoughts. And concentrate on breathing."
"Once you reach the deep state, what happens?"
"Your mind can seem to leave your body, like dreaming when you sleep. It's called the astral plane. Sometimes new ideas come to you. You can just reflect on things."
Randall was so nervous about doing this.
Leo could see how tense Randall was.
"Just relax your mind and body." Leo encouraged. "Close your eyes. It might help. Just listen to my voice."
Randall closed his eyes and Leo encouraged more breathing. His mind did seem to clear, but some thoughts began to pool into his mind as well. Reflections of his past.
Some harsh treatments from the orphanages and foster parents, other kids, some college days after his embarrassment at the Scare Games and being kicked out of the fraternity, being used and manipulated by his old boss, and his banishment.
Randall's eyes suddenly snapped open. "NO!"
Even Leo opened his eyes. "What's wrong?"
"I can't! I can't do this!" Randall got up and ran out of the room.
Leo saw he was upset. He didn't know it was that bad. He got up and followed.
The other turtles had also heard Randall's cry and they all turned to see him come flying out of Leo's room. He ran for the sewers. The turtles came beside Leo.
"Leo, what did you do to him?" Mikey demanded.
"Nothing. I was just trying to help him learn meditation. He seemed to be doing well, though he was nervous doing it. He must have seen something that was very hard for him. I swear, Mikey, I had nothing to do with hurting him." Leo said. "He wanted to talk to me. I was just trying to help him learn something new."
Master Splinter came up too. "Perhaps he is not ready for that, Leonardo. Whatever it was, he needs to face it first. Find him."
"I'll get him." Mikey said.
Leo hadn't meant to hurt him.
Mikey went out into the sewers. "Randall!" He called. He went down the first way to find him. "Randall, are you down here?"
Mike found Randall down at the end of the tunnel, sobbing.
"What's wrong? Did Leo do something to you?" Mikey asked.
Randall opened his eyes. He hadn't cried like this in a long time. "No. It was just my bad past that came back to haunt me."
"Master Splinter says that you should face it. Don't let it wear you down. But Leo can see what it did. He feels bad for what happened. He won't make you do it unless you're ready."
"I wasn't ready for that." Randall dried his tears. "I'll get over this. It was just something I wasn't ready to face again. I don't want to talk about it."
"Talk about what?" Raph then came up. He had come back from his run with Casey.
"Nothing, Raph." Mike said.
"Are you really trying to play us for idiots, Lizard?" Raph demanded.
"I don't know what you mean."
"You know what I mean. You are not part of our family. I'm on to you! You're trying to get us to drop our guard so we will let you stay."
Randall growled.
"Raph, stop!" Mikey said.
"You really think you know me? Well, you don't! You have no idea what I can be capable of!" Randall said angrily.
"Just as I thought. You are evil."
"No. Just someone who wants to fit in somewhere for a change." Randall retorted. Then he vanished and the next thing Raph knew, he was on the sewer floor and there was a big THWACK!
Raph held his face. Mikey was surprised alright.
Randall reappeared. "I can do worse than that." He then proceeded to walk off.
Mikey helped Raph up. "You provoked him, bro."
"Has he done anything like this to you, Mikey?" Raph asked.
"No. I haven't provoked his temper like you just did. He was already upset about something."
"About what?"
"Something to do with his past. Leo tried to get him to meditate for the first time and he saw something in his mind that upset him."
"So now he's hanging with Leo too?"
"He's trying to make this work, Raph. Why do you have to make it so hard for him?"
"Because he's hiding something, Mikey. I don't trust him."
"If you give him time to get to know him more, then maybe he might tell us what is hurting him on the inside."
"I just hope for your own good Mikey, that he doesn't betray us."
Randall was invisible and he heard them talking. Why would he betray them? He had no reason to. These guys were the first reptile beings to allow him to be around and they, at least they were trying to, treat him like he was one of them.
He had had his fun with them, but he just hoped they wouldn't betray him. It had happened all too often in his life sooner or later.
Mikey helped Raph back to the lair.
Don was heading toward his lab when he saw Mikey helping Raph. "What happened?" He asked.
"Raph provoked Randall and Randall tripped him up and slapped him." Mikey said.
"Raph, you know better than to do that." Don said.
"He may he cozying up to you, but he avoids me. How would I know him?"
"Because of your hotheaded nature, maybe." Don said.
"Something in meditation upset him. That might have also set him off at you." Leo said, coming over. "But are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Just having been tripped and slapped." Raph said.
"Take it easy on him, Raph. He could be a good ally for us. You've seen what he's capable of." Don said. "Think about it."
"Your brothers have a point, Raphael." Splinter said, joining them.
Raph hated it that his family was taking this outsider's side rather than his. And he thought Leo had been on his side.
"I thought you were concerned about what he's hiding too, Leo?"
"I am, but I'm not trying to provoke it. Give him time to come around to telling us. It must now be that I saw that hurt him." Leo said.
"So you're no longer as hard about it as before?" Mikey asked.
"Not at all." Leo said.
They were all going to let Randall come to any of them on his own terms.
…
Randall didn't stray too far from the lair. He just had to have some time for himself after that upset him. But he came back. He just avoided the others for awhile.
Mikey was in his room drawing his own comic, so Randall saw the couch was available to him. He got on it and laid down. He had thought about it. He definitely wasn't proud of his past. But he still wasn't ready to talk about it. He needed the family's absolute trust in him first.
Just as he was about to drift off to sleep, he heard a voice. "You know, it would help to talk about it."
"Ah!" Randall jumped. He looked up and saw it was Splinter.
"Why do you do that?! Sneak up on me?" Randall held his chest. He hated when others snuck up on him like that.
"Sorry, Randall. But I just wanted you to know that you are welcome to come talk to me about what it is that disturbs your soul so much." Splinter said. "You have some kind of inner turmoil going on."
"Maybe, but I just can't talk about it right now." Randall said.
"Alright, but I hope you find the courage to face it." Splinter said. "Leonardo was only trying to help you. He wouldn't lead a friend astray."
"Where is he anyway?"
"He is meditating right now. And Raphael was told to think about what he does around you. He often just jumps right to conclusions without getting facts first."
And then, maybe Randall himself had done that so much when it involved his old rivals back in his old world.
"Thanks for your concern, Splinter, but I just need to think this over before I can even say what this is. Aside from just very bad past memories."
"Alright. We won't push you." Splinter said. "I see that you are in need of friends that support you as well."
"Yeah. I have just always never truly trusted others, because way too often in my life, I trust someone and then someone turns and betrays me. I just don't want to go through that again." Randall said.
"We try to give everyone who has been a guest in our home a fair chance to be a fair ally. And especially if they were someone who saved one or all of my sons." Splinter said.
Randall smiled at that. "Thanks."
"You are welcome. Good night. I am going to bed."
"Night."
Randall went to bed soon shortly after. It had been a long evening.
So does everyone think Randall is fitting in with the turtle's clan so far?