Okay, I know you AHM fans out there (however many of you there may be) are going to kill me for not updating, but I DID say that I would be putting it on the backburner. It's hard enough to write anything while your brain is fencing with a Hunger Games plot bunny. Send in your Tributes!
Second, I never answered you ComicLover12/Derpy Loco. I realize that their fights aren't very violent. One reason for this is to prove how little violence Fay can tolerate (when she's not a rage-induced psychopath). The main reason though is that I'm not a professional writer and I SUCK at battle scenes.
And lastly, I would like to notify everyone that after this update ATTWE will officially be moved to the Ninja Turtles category opposed to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles category. Without further ado, Chapter 8!
Fay ran until she stopped leaving red footprints. Fay ran until her legs wanted to give out. Fay ran until her lungs wanted to burst, and still she kept sprinting. Away from her sisters, her father, her fear, everything. She ran until she was sure she was far enough away so that her life couldn't catch her, and still she ran along.
She shoved her way past human and animal alike, seeing nothing, hearing nothing, feeling nothing but the wind against her skin and the ground against her feet as she blindly dashed away. It took a concerned human grabbing her arm for her to stop.
"Whoa! Chillax, girl! The party's not till eight!" he exclaimed.
Fay stopped and looked back at him curiously. "Party?" she asked.
"Well, yeah! The cosplay party?! That is where you're headin', right? All dressed like that and stuff?" he answered.
Fay's mind snapped into gear as she realized the human was seeing her for what she truly was, green skin and all. Seeing, but not suspecting. She took advantage of his belief that she was costumed and declared, "Yeah, that's where I'm going. I thought I was late. Thanks."
"Don't sweat it." He said, "B-T-dubs, what are you exactly? Alien dinosaur with a shell?"
"Mutant turtle actually." Fay replied instinctually.
"Nice. Way to be original. See you there!" The man strolled away, laughing and drinking from a brown long-necked bottle.
"He's gonna get mugged." Fay thought.
Her eyes followed him until he vanished from her view. The moment he slipped from her sight, she crumbled in an exhausted heap on the sidewalk, panting. The adrenaline that had kept her on her feet that far had dissipated, leaving her a weakened shell of herself (in more ways than one, for the bone of her carapace felt malleable to the touch.) She slowly inched into a shadowed alley and watched the passerby pass by.
For the longest time she sat staring at the people flitting up and down the streets, oblivious to the fact that there was a mutant in their midst. Her tongue felt dry and cracked, as if she had sweated off all the water in her body. Fay spotted a drinking fountain on the other side of the street, unoccupied, but shiny new and obviously in working order. She unwillingly edged her green fingers to the barrier of shadow, her parched mind finding it perfectly reasonable to sprint through traffic for a drink. Somehow she stopped herself before someone saw her. Even though her first sighting had turned out okay, she didn't want to test her luck. "First I'm invited to a party, next I'm dragged to one, and then someone figures out that I'm not wearing a disguise." She thought.
She scanned her surroundings tiredly, hoping for a nearer water source. While she didn't find that, she did find a table outside a tall brick building covered in clothes, sporting a paper 'Lost and Found' sign. She thought back to her earlier statement. "Not wearing a disguise." She murmured aloud, "We'll see about that."
Moments later she was decked out in a loose beige trench coat and fedora to match. There had been plenty of clothes to choose from, but for some reason, those felt familiar, felt right. Fay attempted to find shoes, but everything there seemed to either be toddler's footwear or one half of a pair. Not that Fay could have fit her misshapen foot into any of them. She glanced back at the table and snorted. "This is New York, idiots." She thought, "Do you seriously believe that any of this is going to go to its rightful owner?"
She slowly edged down the walkway, clinging to the storefronts, until she realized she was drawing more attention like that than she would have if she'd walked purposefully without a disguise. Fay inhaled deeply, tilted the brim of her hat over her eyes, and nervously made her way to the crosswalk.
The horde carried her across the street without a moment of thought. Fay had to grab the fountain and literally tear herself out of the crowd to stop. Once she had gotten to her destination safely, she abandoned all safety measures and gulped water from the small stream. She soaked the brim the fedora to the point where she could've turned off the machine and just drank the liquid pouring off her hat, but she didn't care.
Once she had quenched her thirst, Fay stared blankly at the silver device, struggling to remember anything past her need for water. For one long moment nothing passed through her mind. She felt trapped in the thoughtless silence of her barren mind. Then a wave of horror from the night's events rained down on her and brought instant tears to her eyes. She collapsed under the fountain and dragged herself out of the way of foot traffic, curling herself into a ball. She noted the tickle of grass beneath her shell, but thought nothing of it. It wasn't until a soft fuzzy head butted up against her hand that she noticed where she was.
Perfectly trimmed grass, a rare plant on the island of Manhattan, covered a short section of land. Three people lying down could span the green property's width. A tall condominium stood with a small space on either side atop a hill. A tall white picket fence surrounded the space, slightly too high to be climbed over comfortably. And between the pasty wooden bars of the fence stuck out the head of a little bunny.
Five baby rabbits and two adult ones ran free in the fence, the smaller ones hopping all over each other in excitement. Six of the bunnies leapt around in their expanse and nibbled on grass. One little baby bunny insistently nuzzled Fay through the fence.
"Aww…hey, little guy." Fay murmured, stroking the animal, "Why aren't you playing with your family?"
In response, the bunny grunted and tried futilely to shove its head through the bars. Fay giggled and pushed its head back so it didn't get itself stuck. Much to the rabbit's displeasure, she stood and strolled over to the front of the property. A sign was tacked to the gate of the fence, but some stupid gang had painted the placard purple and written 'Purple Dragons' on it. Fay then noticed the white paint on her hands. Obviously, the fence had recently been repainted.
On a whim, Fay bound over the gate and walked the dirt path to the door. She hesitated on the veranda, then knocked quietly. The door swung open to reveal the poster boy of hillbillies, complete with overalls, a denim ball cap, a red plaid tee, and a strand of wheat sticking out of his mouth.
"Hullo there. You need summin?" he asked in a country accent.
Fay cleared her throat and meekly asked, "Um…I was curious about…the…the bunnies? Are they for…sale…perchance?"
"Sale?! Shew! I'm givin' 'em away!" he exclaimed, stepping out of the doorframe, "I brought my rabbit Ronnie up from my farm with me, and whaddya know, she finds herself a daddy rabbit! Now I got more of the critters than I know what 'ta do with! You gots to be an idiot to keep a rabbit in New York!" He realized his mistake and quickly added, "Not that you are, miss, an idiot. I'm sure any self-respectin' New Yorker can handle one of these here bunnies." He paused awkwardly. "So…would ya like to see 'em?"
"Yes, please." Fay answered sharply.
"Well alrighty then!" he proclaimed. He slammed the door behind him with a bang and stuck his fingers in his mouth, whistling loudly. Instantaneously, the seven animals bounded up to the house. "Whelp, these are my bunnies." He decreed. The man gestured to the two larger rabbits. "That brown one there is my Ronnie. You can't have her."
"Of course not." Fay replied.
"That there other one I've taken to callin' Rascal. I guess you can take him if you really want, but he's kinda grown on me." He stated, pointing to the black and white lop-eared adult, "I'm pretty darn sure he's one of those Holland Lops, and my Ronnie-girl's a Netherland dwarf. So the babies are gonna be small their whole darn life and are always gonna look kinda babyish like Ronnie."
The man then turned to the five smaller rabbits, which had returned to jump-tackling each other, and stated, "My daughter named these ones here." He picked up each in turn. First, a small overly puffy black creature. "This one here's Jasmine. She's my daughter's fav'rite, so I'd 'preciate it if you looked at someone else."
Fay smiled and nodded agreeably. "Thank ya, missy." He said. He swapped the black rabbit for the white one with big blue eyes. "This here's Jezebel." Next a pure chestnut brown one, slightly bigger than the others. "Jordan." A black and white one that perfectly resembled the father. "Joanie." Lastly, the brown and white creature with that had greeted Fay. "And this one's name's Delilah." He stuck out one hand and added, "Mine's Jeffry. No fancy second 'e' or anythin'."
"Fay." Fay replied, taking the hand.
Jeffry released Delilah and she immediately scampered over to Fay. Fay knelt to greet the animal, who now wriggled in happiness like a dog might. "Looks like Dellie there likes you." Jeffry said.
"Apparently." Fay laughed. She glanced up from the bouncy rabbit to the man above her.
He smiled and said, "Oh, go 'head and take her. She's obviously yers."
Fay returned the smile and replied, "Thanks. What do rabbits need, in terms of care?"
"Whelp, fer one thing, make sure she can't get a hold of any cords and stuff. There's a few diff'rent household plants that are poisonous to them if they chew on them too." He stated. He noted Fay's grimace and added, "Oh, got a lot of those, do ya? Don't worry; you can cage rabbits. The cage's got to be at least five times bigger than they are, and you gotta let them out 'casionally too. I know it sound stupid, but you might wanna get her a leash and take her to a dog park or summin."
"She'll learn to use a litter box, but you can't use kitty litter or hamster chips or stuff. It's s'pposed be organic crap. Newspaper works just fine. Bunnies like to lie in their boxes, so make sure it's bigger than them." He droned, "They eat this stuff called 'Timothy Grass Hay', plus lettuces and stuff. You can give 'em pellets if you want, but I don't. They like fruit, but use those as treats. Make sure you give 'em water too. And stuff to chew on, but not summin they could chew up and choke on. If you can, you should get her fixed and take her to a vet once in a while."
"You sure know your stuff." Fay said in awe, staring at the cute but daunting task ahead of her.
" ." he answered, "Rabbits like company, so feel free to bring Dellie back here any time ya like. The others might be gone, but Ronnie'll still be here."
"Thank you, Jeffry." Fay declared, holding Delilah like Jeffry was.
"No, thank you, missy…I mean, Fay." He replied, "Whelp, guess I'll see ya 'round."
"Buh-bye!" Fay chirped, hugging her baby close to her plastron. She practically skipped to the fence and soared over the gate, softly singing to herself, "I've got a bunny. I've got a bunny."
It took Fay much longer to get back to the laboratory she called home than it had to run from it once her family had toted her unconscious body there. Stopping to take a 'sample' of some rabbit pellets and romaine lettuce from a pet store didn't improve her speed. But Fay was content to slowly wander down the sidewalks, feeding her pet leaves of lettuce and murmuring "Good Dellie. That's a good girl, Delilah." Somewhere around the halfway point she realized she had somehow run across the whole town, into the fringes of New York suburbia.
Eventually and somewhat unfortunately, she ended up standing across the road from her front door, a heavy metal garage door that inconspicuously hid her family from prying eyes. "I wonder if they have a door like ours in the sewers." She mused as she strolled up to it.
Fay checked her reflection in one of the small windows in the door. Her emerald cheeks had a reddish hue that must have been windburn from her terrified flight. She swept her long hair over them, not wanting to worry Stockman more than he probably was going to be. "He won't be worried; he'll be angry. I'll bet he'll kick me out, make me live on the street, or worse, hand me over to some alien hunters or something." She thought, "Oh, well. At least I'll have Delilah."
She noticed that her signature red ponytail was missing, as well as all of her grip-wraps. She remembered using her wraps to staunch Elle's blood flow, but she couldn't place where she had lost her ponytail. Absentmindedly, she stared into Delilah's onyx eyes, as if they held all the answers. Then she remembered. Her ponytail was around Mikey's ankle. The ankle of the enemy.
Slowly she turned around and let her shell screech against the metal as she slid to the ground. For sure Baxter would kill her now; if he had found out she had shown Mikey kindness. And why wouldn't he have? He probably had the whole Maze of Doom under surveillance. Fay traced the cinnamon-colored spot around one of Delilah's eyes as she thought. Maybe if she acted like it was all a joke, the whole pacifist thing, he would spare her. If she pretended that she'd known the turtles were on the steps, and had said that to trick them, only to attack them later. No, that'd never work; it was Dogpound and Fishface she's beaten to a pulp. Plus, how would she be able to justify fainting when she had them right where she wanted them? She shivered at the memory. Or the inability to think about it without shuddering?
She pondered a bit more. What if she pretended she was a rebel, someone with no regard for other's feelings or rules, like Leonara? She could stroll right in like she owned the place, give her dad a piece of her mind, and maybe even give Lea a taste of her own medicine. She'd already stolen, hadn't she? Rabbit food, nonetheless. She shook her head and mumbled, "No no no." According to Stockman, her blood said she had to be the OPPOSITE of Raphael, and that's the exact sort of thing he would've done, though she didn't believe he'd be the type to like bunnies.
Even though she knew it was irrational, she once again held up Delilah and peered into her eyes, hoping she had somehow fatedly stumbled upon the world's only bunny-seer. Almost the second she did so, an idea came to her mind. Be herself. If she blubbered and wailed and whimpered enough over how sorry she was, Baxter, Elle, Mika, even Lea would be sure to fall to her will. Delilah would probably be enough to win over Elle, and maybe Mika if she had a soft spot for rabbits.
She sniffed softly twice and tears sprung to her eyes. Fay smiled as the small salty drops rolled down her skin, the smile of one who is sad trying to be brave. This was going to be too easy.
"Wherever may possibly Rafayela be?" Mika asked, "It was exceptionally inane of her to scuttle off in the vein of that."
"Translation!" Lea shouted.
"Umm…big fancy words with big fancy meanings." Elle answered.
"Oh yeah. Our Robot Translator isn't here. Where is she anyway? It was kinda stupid of her to run off like that." Lea said.
"You reiterated what I dictated of late!" Mika cried in a whiny tone.
"Hey, if you're gonna whine, at least whine in English!" Lea shouted.
"I am remonstrating in English!" Mika retorted.
Lea snorted. "Yeah, well you could've fooled me."
"Girls, girls, stop fighting! Your sister will come back." Baxter intercepted, "Do you think she wants to return to you squabbling over her absence."
"Squabble!" Elle interjected, "That's a funny word!"
"Well, of COURSE not! She's a pacifist, numskull!" Lea exclaimed, ignoring her sister, "But if she's gonna hang around us, she's gonna have to get used to a little arguing."
"Pacifism is not comparatively near to be in use flippantly, Leonara. It is a cordial credence and your frivolity a propos it is odious." Mika stated, "In addition, 'gonna' is not a factual utterance. I deem the axiom you necessitate is 'going to'."
Lea stared at Mika and blinked twice. "What…the heck…did you…just say?" she asked slowly.
"I avowed, 'Pacifism is not comparatively near to be-'" Mika repeated.
"No, no, we got it the first time!" Lea interrupted, "I was asking you what it…Do you hear something?"
The four froze and strained their ears. Their eyebrows (eyebrow ridges in the case of our reptilian friends) rose as they realized there was indeed a sound: crying.
"Hey…someone's crying!" Elle declared.
"SHHH!" Lea whispered, "No dip, Sherlock!"
"The question is, who? Or…what?" Stockman added softly.
Mika facepalmed and sighed. "Have you earnestly not located the font hitherto?"
"No, Mika, we haven't found where it's coming from yet." Baxter said, becoming annoyed with her robotic speech patterns, "Would you like to enlighten us?"
She sighed again and answered blatantly, "It instigates commencing the entry."
"You mean the door." Stockman suggested.
"Door, entry, exit, they are tantamount." Mika replied.
"Not really." Baxter answered.
"Just be silent and depart perceive!" Mika exclaimed, shooing him towards the door.
"I'll do it!" Elle shouted, running to the door. She threw it open and cried, "Hello!" Two jaded eyes stared wearily up at her. "Fay!" Elle exclaimed, wrapping her arms around the reddened-eyed turtle, "Where have you been?! You've been crying!"
"I…I know." Fay whispered hoarsely, water droplets prickling at the corners of her eyes, "I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what, Fay? You didn't do anything wrong, silly!" Elle laughed, playfully punching her sister's arm. In response, Fay buried her face in her hands and wept. "Oh, Fay! It's okay!" Elle whimpered, hugging Fay tightly, "I forgive you. You didn't do anything but I forgive you!"
Fay coughed softly and answered scratchily, "Thank…you. I'm…so…sorry."
"Fay, get your sorry little shell in here this instant or I will drag it in here!" Lea shouted.
"Co…coming." Fay said softly, slowly scooping up Delilah from the enclosure she'd made with her legs and trudging into the lab.
Lea stared at the rabbit like it was a Martian. "What is that?" she asked.
"A Leporidae Lagomorph, otherwise within colloquialisms, a-" Mika prattled.
Elle butted in and cheered, "It's a bunny rabbit!"
"No, I get that part. I'm just very curious as to WHY THE HECK DO YOU HAVE A RABBIT?!" Lea yelled.
Fay sniffled quietly and mumbled inaudibly, sparkling tears rolling down her cheeks. "Hey hey hey, don't go crying on me now. It's alright. You can have the bunny." Stockman said, patting Fay's shell, "Lea's just been worried about you."
"Worried?! I have been anything but worried!" Leonara argued, "Flaming mad, more like it! So stop your sniveling and start your explaining!" She spun around and glared angrily at the people around her. "You don't see it, do you? She's playing you. She's playing you like a Les Paul guitar!" she exclaimed.
"Am…not." Fay disagreed.
"Are too!" Lea retorted, "You bloody two monsters that WE couldn't even handle, and then you crawl back here actin' all innocent?! No frickin way. Not possible." She stared at the ground, clenched her hands into fists, and walked with calm control down the hall.
"Where do you think you're going?!" Baxter called.
Lea answered, "Wherever she isn't!" A loud door slam followed her response.
For the longest time, the remaining four stood there in silence. Mika cautiously set a hand on Fay's shoulder, flinching from the contact, and stated, "You are exonerated. You are not liable for what ensued. I apologize for Leonara's loutish and uncouth conduct. We are jovial to boast you and your domesticated beast now amid us."
"Thanks…I think." Fay replied softly, causing her family to laugh.
"I'll go set up a hutch for the little cutie in your room." Stockman decreed, tickling the little animal's nose, "Does it have a name?"
"She." Fay said, "Delilah."
Elle gasped. "That's so pretty!" she exclaimed. She ran up to the bunny and squished its face in her hands. "Oh, you're so darn cute!"
"She is abiding the cosseting rather composedly." Mika decreed.
"Yeah, she is being really calm about it." Fay said.
"Loud banging erupted from down the hall as Baxter, who had slipped away, set up a rabbit hutch.
"DONE!" he shouted after a while.
"WITH WHAT?!" Elle asked.
Stockman replied with a loud, frustrated groan.
"Quickly, let's go see your new home before Daddy breaks it!" Fay baby-talked excitedly to Delilah.
I have decided this chapter is better off split in two, since it would be ridiculously long otherwise. For those of you curious about AHM, I swear I'm trying! Writer's block is being VERY CRUEL!
I'm leaving this story under Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the rest of the day. Tomorrow I'm switching it to Ninja Turtles. Happy Easter!