TMNT Rae/VC - New Magic

"I wouldn't be anything less, and I know she is...which is why I figured anything I pick out for her she won't say no to," Raph shifted, "You say she won't fight me, but I'm worried she won't accept them anyway if they're from anyone other than her friends."

Cassidy was thoughtful for a moment. Raph did have a point, Maddie was skeptic of taking things that weren't given to her by friends. She blamed the whole school-wide flower giving thing that they sometimes did. Where people were given presents and from secret admirers or not. "Well you're kinda more than friends right now if I'm honest...and not to mention you're going to be my brother-in-law by the time spring comes around." She beamed proudly. "So she'll accept them on that. Maybe a bit reluctantly, since she's not all that used to getting things from others who aren't me and Andrea...but..." she smiled warmly. "I think as long as you stay sincere, and as long as you don't go overboard with the cheese you'll be alright. "I saw these and thought of you" "I noticed your hands might be cold while working so I got you these" and if they're a Christmas present, don't say anything at all." She smiled. "Though if I'm honest, you should get her the gloves and I'll help you find something for her for Christmas as well as everyone else. Since you're helping me and all."

"I'm not Mikey," Raph rolled his eyes, but filed that away for future reference, "Spring next year, huh? So you're giving me about four months? We better finish eating and get to it, then," he teased her.

Cassidy's eyes twinkled in mirth, "Believe me I wish I could make it sooner." They finished eating as much as they could before they decided to toss away the rest and start their shopping adventure, or hell if one were to ask Raph.
()

It still felt weird not being the leader anymore. It wasn't like a weight had lifted or anything of the sort, but it felt more like a crushing blow. Raph was doing a decent job at being the new leader, doing his best to make sure that everything could run as smoothly as possible, with a bit of recklessness here and there. He commonly sometimes asked for advice, which made Leo feel both proud and ashamed.

He huffed a breath of white and stuffed his hands into his pockets. He listened to the kids shouting, throwing snowballs at each other with lack of accuracy. He smiled thinly as a few kids chased each other, doing their best to stuff as much snow down the other's back as possible. There were a few who were quitely making snow angels and a couple who were just pleased to make little things. A little girl with dark brown hair and freckles and a boy with sandy blonde hair ran right past him, holding hands and daring each other to go down the metal slide to see if they could handle the cold.

His attention was only distracted for a moment when he felt something wet smack across his cheek. He blinked and looked over to see a couple of kids gasping in fear and horror, with a bit of panicked amsuement as well. They shouted their apologies before running off, clearly not wanting to get yelled at, or fearing that they would.

He heard laughter and he looked across the park to see a beautiful woman covering her mouth. She was dressed warmly and fashionably, like it was apart of her job or maybe just her sense of style. Her hat was covered in flakes of snow, her hair tumbled down her shoulders in beautiful waves and her clothes were just crisp and clean. She wore finger less gloves and had a sketchbook on her lap.

His lips quirked up. It was kind of amusing. It was something Mikey would do anyway. He waved over at her, and she waved back.

Wondering just how long he'd been walking, she flourished her hand and arm to offer the bench she was sitting on as he wouldn't come across another one for a while. If he didn't take it that was fine by her. While there was snow on the ground, it was in the forties today so it wasn't too awfully cold and she didn't need to drown herself in heat charms on top of multiple layers of clothes. She was taken by his lost expression before one of the children got him with the snowball, but decided that would best be left for later when she could take more time to recreate the image.

Leo was thoughtful, it was kinda cold and he wasn't really wandering anywhere specific. The kids were having fun, and since he was distracted by them, his thoughts weren't going so deep and dark. He decided that there was nothing to lose and he picked his pathway carefully to get to the bench, not wanting to be in the middle of a snow ball fight, and having to defend his honor.

He sat down, brushing some of the snow off of the bench and gave the woman next to him a kind smile, which she returned. He noticed that she was drawing, so he could assume that she was an artist of some type. He knew what it was like to have people badger, so he leaned back and he looked back at the kids who were playing, feeling safe that he wasn't going to be in their way.

If Mikey and Cassidy had a kid, he was going to have to endure a lot longer in the cold. He didn't know why that thought popped into his mind, but...it was a genuinely nice thought. Maybe his magic was fucking haywire because of the wedding stress and moving stress. Too much change in little time.

The soft scratching of the woman's pencil was comforting to listen to. It was like listening to a song, or just meditating a candle. She sometimes would make soft sounds, thoughtful or frustrated when she was trying to get a difficult part done and over with, and sometimes she'd pull back, look at it in a different perspective, sometimes even lifting the sketchbook to eye level so that she could see what she needed to do before going back to the picture.

It was nice, to let time stop even for a moment. He noticed a vendor selling hot chocolate and he carefully patted his wallet to make sure it was still there. He got up and went to the vendor, getting a couple of hot chocolates. He set hers next to her, smiling when she looked at him in surprise, and turned back to the scene, letting his mind blissfully go blank with snow and watching the kids take the moments as it came to them.

It took a few seconds for Andrea to stop staring at the chocolate like a dumbass and she flipped her sketchbook closed, setting it so the solid back was on the bench in case of any ice that way it wouldn't ruin the paper, and held her foam cup with a soft sigh as the warmth seeped into her fingers. She hadn't realized they were so cold. "You can look at it if you want." It was a simple, short sentence and she let the silence drift between them again as she took a soft sip, careful not to burn her tongue. She didn't need to say thank you, because that was a given and unnecessary.

Though, now she wasn't focusing on drawing anymore and it was her turn to watch the children and the snow as the soft breeze blew the loose particles around, she thought about Madeline. She really should send her a text and see how she was doing after that massive storm. Maybe she should bake something and take it to her, too. Their sensei would be proud of her for that, anyway, as cold weather usually laid him up and he couldn't go anywhere much besides to and from the dojo to teach, the chill settling into his injuries and making it hard to move.

Leo knew how much trust that was given for him to flip through a sketchbook. He quietly picked it up and started flipping through the pages, sipping at the hot chocolate when he smiled at a picture. It was of a dance studio, with a bunch of kids facing away from the sketcher, their features obsured from the mirror so that it would keep their privacy. It was well shaded and beautiful, he could almost see how in sync the girls were with each other, and how well the teacher taught. He flipped a few more and saw a picture of the boy and the girl that ran past, sitting on the snow with a pile of snow creatures surrounding them.

"These are really good." He said, gently setting the sketchbook down and careful not get it wet. "Do you paint them after you're done sketching? Or color them in someway?"

"If I really like something," Andrea nodded her agreement, "I have a lightbox and depending on what medium I want to use I trace them on watercolor, mixed media, or drawing paper compared to the sketch paper that's on. If I want to put it on a canvas I gotta basically redraw it, but that's okay. It's a lot easier the second time, especially if there's changes I end up wanting to make," she patted the pad affectionately. "Do you look at art at all or do it?"

"Occasional pieces, but I don't go out of my way to a gallery or something." Leo admitted, "My little brother, he does art. He wants to do comic books or video games when he gets older, he's super talented on the digital art forms. He sometimes does commissions, especially around this time of year since he wants to get gifts and what not. My sister-in-law or about to be sister in law sews. She also makes something called Kandi...some sort of method of bracelet making that she's super good at. She makes masks and all sorts of stuff with it. So they're the crafty ones in my family. Everyone else is technological, really good at fighting, or...well...I don't know."

So it wasn't her imagination. He really was lost. He didn't know where he stood in his family. "This may seem a bit stereotypical because of your appearance, and I'm sorry if I offend, but do you like oriental things?" Andrea asked as she fished her phone from her pocket.

"I do. I'm half-Japanese." Leo admitted looking over at Andrea curiously. "Why do you ask?"

"There's watercolor and then there's ink wash," Andrea explained to him, "I enjoy /color/ way too much to play with ink washes, but this is something recent I did when it was a gloomy rainy day this autumn and I was in one of those moods where I just was.../blah/ but still wanted to do /something/." She blew up the picture she found and handed it to him. It was a gorgeous painting, three or four layers of mountains that grew bolder and darker as they came forward, with water reflected among them and a smaller island at the very front with a couple trees that just wound and branched in whatever way. Then, besides the white highlights, what made it stand out the most was the red specks that were supposed to be the leaves. "You'd never know I was in a bad mood when I made that would you?"

"Not a bad mood, but I can certainly tell that you weren't happy." Leo said, looking at the phone and the beautiful picture. He smiled softly, "maybe it's something that I should try. I used to do Calligraphy, so I have some practice with a brush. It'll be interesting to try or to do." He gently gave her the phone back and stood up, taking the cup with him. "I think I'll check out a craft store, or ask my sensei if he knows anything about it." He smiled warmly at her. "Thank you for giving me some inspiration." He bowed, "It was wonderful meeting you. I hope we meet again."

"You can usually find me in this spot," Andrea nodded with a soft blush on her cheeks that had nothing to do with the cold, "Canson's got more bang for your buck, but if you don't want to waste paper in case you don't like it, Strathmore's cheaper for less paper," she offered, "I hope you find what you're looking for. Have a better day," she smiled softly.

~+~
Leo had spread out his new crafting supplies, deciding that trying two rather than one was probably a good idea, just in case one didn't take. He had the supplies for a minor ink-washing project, but he also had gotten some supplies for wood carving, since he heard from another customer that it took a lot of patience and perfection. Something that Leo was both familiar with.

He was trying to figure out which one he should try first, when he heard his door knock and he saw Mikey enter. He furrowed his eyebrows, a little confused since Mikey only sought him out for two things. Advice, or to play with him if Raph and Donny were busy.

Raph was...

Probably busy.

"Hey Leo! Saw you get home and wanted to check out what was in your bags," Mikey beamed at the eldest, "Whatcha got there?" he came further in after closing the door and plopped on the bed, "Ink stuff? Gunna do calligraphy again?"

"I thought about it, but I was thinking of doing ink washes. There was an artist in the park who showed me something that she did, so I got inspired to try it." Leo replied with a bit of a smile. Just as he had been praising Mikey for his artistic abilities, Leo should've known that he was going to be curious about this. "I was just telling her about you and your crafty-sense. Same with Cassidy's." He looked at his brother curiously. "Still no dice about finding an apartment?"

"We've set up a few appointments to go check out some places before we slap down the deposit to hold it until after Christmas," Mikey explained, his tone chipper, "One that's my pick and one that's hers and we'll see what happens. It's getting super close to the holidays so it's going to be back to back on one day, make a decision, then give them a call the next day to decide." He tilted his head at Leo, "An artist in the park? Did you get her name?" he smirked a bit.

"That sounds really cool." It sounded awfully terrifying and they were moving so fast, and they were getting married in the spring, or at least that was the plan last time they had a marriage festival talk. Leo wondered if Cassidy or Mikey or both would make another one, try to hash out more details before he realized he was asked a question. "The artist? No...I just bought her a hot chocolate and made small talk with her. I was a little distracted with other things..." Mostly the kids in the park and the snow ball to the face, but he wasn't telling Mikey that.

"Awwww, here's to hoping you run into her again! I mean, Leo, if she's got you /inspired/ to do /something/ than that's amazing, ya know?!" he jumped up and came over to see exactly what it was his brother had gotten his hands on, "You gunna try woodworking, too?" he blinked, "That sounds a lot like you. I don't wanna hack and shave at wood and hope something close to what I want comes out of it."

"I don't know. I think I might try them both and see which does what." Leo smiled, "She told me she goes to the park often, so I think we might meet again. She told me about the ink wash, but when I was in the crafting store, I saw the wood and I thought about doing that. So maybe they're both crafts for me, or maybe one's more than the other, I have no idea yet. But...maybe it's something I can do. I'm going crazy not having much to do as leader anymore and I'm certain that Raph's getting tired of my nitpicking."

"It's Raph, he always wants to do things himself," Mikey chuckled and nodded, "You do you, Leo. I'm really, super pumped that you found things to try. If you need brushes you know who to ask, I've dabbled in ink wash for Inktober this year, if you remember, so I got your back," he winked.

"I forgot that you decided to do that challenge." Leo admitted. He wondered if this was too out of bounds for him to ask, but he decided to take a leap anyway. "Are you and Cassidy going to plan on having kids after you guys tie the knot?"