TMNT Rae/VC - 2003 Turtles

Madeline sipped hers as she looked at the feast. "I think the spaghetti will go good with the wine. Then the steak." She nodded as she started splitting the entree so that she could put it on her plate. She handed him the container, in case he wanted some and smiled brightly. "It's been a while since I've been on the rooftops. I forgot how peaceful it is up here."

"It's quiet since we're so high up besides the wind. You're not gunna get too cold are you? It's almost Halloween, which means it's almost November and the start of the super cold months," Raph chewed on his steak thoughtfully, "Halloween is me and my brother's birthday. I mean, not our /actual/ birthdays since we don't know those, but the one we picked since it's the one day a year we can go out with no repercussions. Mikey's looking forward to taking Cassidy to some haunted houses."

"She's gonna have a lot of fun with that," Madeline beamed. "We used to do it every Halloween too. I think Mikey's gonna have a blast with her running around. She's not easily scared, but...there are some houses that frighten her." She shook her head. "I think I'll be alright. It hasn't been too cold yet, though when November and December hit...well...that's gonna be a problem." She shrugged, "Can't live in the garage during those months, even if I want to. Space heaters' helpful, but if there's a black out or something? What little heat I managed to get in, will seep right out." She paused and looked at him curiously. "What about you? What's your plans for Halloween?"

"Those nights you can be with us," Raph offered, "We have a little hidden fire pit in the living room that we light up when the power goes out and we cook on it and Splinter makes hot water for tea or cocoa. It's always been just enough to keep the lot of us warm since we're cold blooded and will freeze a lot faster and easier than even you would."

He sipped some more wine, "As for what I'm gunna do for Halloween? Probably go into some haunted houses with Casey. I don't want to impose on Mikey's only day to be public with his girl. We could do the same, if you wanted? April and Donny tend to just stay at her place and hand out candy to the kids, they don't like doing things like that with us. Leo sometimes likes to take turns and go with Mikey and I into one. He's not a complete stick in the mud."

"He really isn't," Madeline took a sip of her wine and set the cup aside, bringing the food closer to her so she could twirl some spaghetti and eat some. "I got to talk to him for a bit. I think I confused him more than I was supposed to, but...I asked him about the touching thing...something else is going on. It's not that Leo doesn't want to, and it's not that Andrea doesn't want to. There's something...else. Like...a fight. But I don't know what. They never met, I know that. Because Leo's too new and Andrea is too fresh and I ran across her once and...ugh." She shook her head. "But he asked me about my magic...I tried to assure him that my magic was going to be used to protect his family. But I think a lot of things I wanted to say came out wrong too."

"Trust me, if Leo has a problem with you at any point he'd let you know," Raph rolled his eyes, and then his expression turned contemplative, "So, they want to but can't. That doesn't sound good at all." He reached out and stabbed a meatball from her plate, smirking at her indigent noise she made while her mouth was full while he pretended he was going to eat it, then offered it to her instead.

"Jerk." She said playfully as she leaned forward and took the meatball from his fork, a happy smile on her face. "Yeah it's weird," she said once she swallowed. "Normally I'd say that it's a grudge. That happens among lifebonds, if something went wrong in a last life. But like I said before, too new and they never met before." She shrugged a little. "You know, Killian wants me to be a teacher at the dojo. I still haven't answered yet. I need a hobby, and I told him that. He cracked up laughing over the phone, he asked me if you said it. I said yeah and he said you should listen to the smarter of the two of you."

Raph nearly choked on his food as he started snickering himself. When he was able to control his laughter long enough to swallow he cracked up, "I'm enjoying your sensei every time he opens his mouth. He's great." He shook his head and set his food in his lap, looking up at the stars, "Cassidy talked to me about lifebonds, actually." He could tell he piqued her interest without looking at her. "You said you crossed Andrea before? Sensei's always thought that Leo's had a past life or two because of how well he does in his training. I mean why not? He's nearly flawless in his use of ninjutsu, yet he mentioned in passing that it was interesting how she spotted him in the dark, let alone knew he was there to begin with. I think you're wrong. They're not fresh or new, they just aren't nearly as old as you are and because you haven't seen them more than once or not at all you're thinking they're new to this life entirely. How many people are there in this world you've never seen or crossed but they're old souls?"

"Hmmm." Madeline blinked a little as she leaned back some in thought. Her plate nearly empty and her wine still half full. She looked up at the darkened sky of NYC, seeing the light pollution and a plane go by with small red dots floating to tell them that it was there. She thought about what he said, and she smiled a little. She closed her eyes and just listened for a moment. "You know," she said after a moment. "You're right." She opened her eyes and looked at the sea of gold. "I never crossed Leo. Never. And I just met him, so I can't tell you his age. I can't tell you what he has seen or hasn't seen. Because I never once knew him. Not in any life besides this one. And I keep thinking in that context." She nodded her head slowly. "I ran across Andrea in Rome. She was an artisan, she was a fighter. She was skilled with a whip and people admired her and feared her because of her family. She asked me to take it all away and I did. She ran off, never to be seen in the city, and I had assumed...I had thought that she ran off to meet with a lover. But now that I'm looking back, I wonder...if she was just looking for a way, a reason to start searching and how long she must have searched before she gave up."

"I /do/ agree that they're new to /each other/ and that itself may be the problem..." Raph chewed his lip, "It's really depressing to think this, but what if that's the grudge? They've lived their lives before...without each other. Died alone maybe? Needed each other but they weren't there? Leo seemed sad to see her go back topside and all, but shrugged it off and went back to doing his thing. I get the sneaking suspicion that Andrea's gone back to her dance studio, but is no longer painting and is focused on her work, uninspired and downtrodden."

"If that's the case then I'm dealing with a fragile situation and an infuriating one." Madeline pursed her lips together as she picked up the wine bottle and filled up her cup again, regardless that it was just halfway full and took a nice gulp rather than a sip that she had been doing. "I might really will have to resort to something drastic. It can hurt them." She shook her head. "But at the end of the day, it's hurting them anyway. Sometimes you have to re-break a bone in order for it to heal. I'll let it go for now. No point in jumping down their throats. Not yet." She smiled a little. "So now that's out of the way and not so depressing, I know you wanted to get to know me, so I'll give you...five fun facts. I know last time in the dojo was kinda awkward since I didn't have anything to say, but I came prepared this time. Mikey prepped me sad to say. Fact one: My first life was an assassin sorcerer. Fact Two: I never fought with a knife until I was taught by Killian. Fact Three: I like all sorts of colors and I don't have a particular favorite. It drives Cassidy up the goddamn wall when she tries to knit me things so she started doing neon rainbows and making really silly designs. Fact Four: My favorite animal is the jellyfish so you'll see Cassidy make a lot of jellyfish sometimes. Fact five: Andrea would call me a cat, I like to be held and touched and things. How about you? What's your five things?"

"Assassin...didn't you use daggers, then? How are knives any different?" Raph blinked at her, "Why jellyfish? I like cats, and I can see why she'd call you one." He chuckled and ate some more food while he thought. "Fact one I suppose would be Casey is my first friend. Talking smack and cracking heads. That sorta leads into Fact two: I'm competitive. I really am. Mikey won something called 'the battle nexus tournament' and rubs in in my face every so often which pisses me off. Um...Fact three: I actually /do/ know how to knit. It would be a punishment Splinter-sensei would have me do when we were young. Of course, I haven't in a long time, but there's that. Fact Four: One of my favorite things to do when I snuck out? I'd go to movies. My trench coat and hat got destroyed at our last location and I haven't been able to find another one unfortunately. Finally Fact Five: While we can all fight with each other's weapons, I honestly like using Donny's staff."

"I used daggers, I used all sorts of things like that," Madeline agreed, "but they weren't primary weapons. They were just tools of the trade you know? They weren't something you used to rough and tough someone. So Killian taught me how, taught me how to use it more than just a tool." She paused. "I don't know why jellyfish. I think that they're pretty cool. They're awesome to see in aquariums and what not." She nodded after a moment, "So we need to find you another trenchcoat and undercover hat, and get you into a theater. That'd be a bunch of fun to do. I'm pretty competitive, but I wouldn't enter a fighting tournament or something like that. But there's been times I'd be in a betting mood." She mused. "I could see why the staff." She nodded, "Casey certainly is like your brother, I should hang out with him more, I'll probably more than likely tag along with you guys on Halloween if you'd have me."

"Why wouldn't we? I'd love to have you there with us." Raph finished is steak and carrots and set the plate aside before reaching out and rubbing her back, "I wouldn't miss having you there for my birthday. We tend to have our birthday parting during the day of, with cake and all, not only so we aren't tempted to grab all of the candy since the cake is sweet, but because we're usually out all night. We could all go to a bar, too, if you know any good places?"

"I know a bunch," Maddie assured, leaning into his touch. She pushed her plate away, finished and everything and scooted a bit closer so that he didn't have to reach too far. She let out a soft, pleased sound as he continued to rub her back. "I know a lot of good places too. It'll be nice to get out and about." She promised. "It sounds like a plan then."

"No...it sounds like a /date/ to me," Raph smirked a little, somehow nervous and confident at the same time. After all this was his first real date. He enjoyed how responsive she was to his touches. She had said she enjoyed being touched and rubbed, but he didn't realize how much.

Maddie laughed, happy and just as nervous. She was happy that he wanted to date her, and continue trying. She was glad that maybe, just maybe he wasn't so scared after all. "A date then." She said happily, listening to the New York traffic, and his breathing. They all went together. "Sounds awesome."