He-Row in a Half-Shell

[rage_on]

WHO: Raphael and you!
WHERE: Around the city
WHAT: Turtle boy's been bored and mildly concerned that he was stuck alone in an abandoned city. Finding people- what a relief..?!
WHEN: 7/10 to 7/17
WARNINGS: N/A, will update as necessary


If this was a joke, it had long since wore out Raphael's patience. It's one thing finding out he was without his brothers on this forsaken planet, but it was another thing entirely to find no one else around at all. The information that had been thrown into his head from touching that strange orb had not been very reassuring, and all he had were more questions and no one to provide answers.

The rain had only lent to the depressive state of the place, and the only hope that maybe there were people around somewhere were in the few places he'd found things around the town center. Places that looked cleaned up and in recent use, power and running water. But where were all the people then?

He hated this.

There were ships still in the hangar, so no one could have left. Of course, none seemed to work either, much less open up. Days had passed, ridiculously long so far as he could figure. With little other things to do aside from scout around, the young turtle had set up a bedroll in a corner of the diner, deciding to stick close to the town center and food for the time being. Maybe someone would show up some day. Hopefully.


That possibility has suddenly gone up a hundred percent, and while he has no idea of what sort of situation the previous abductees of the Agrii have been through the past few weeks, he'll be happy to see he's not alone in this wreck after all.

Hopefully no one freaks out finding a big green turtle napping in the diner.

Or maybe one might come across him doing push-ups or going through kata by the fountain, if not doing some rounds about some sector of the city or another.

Perhaps people are just going about their business, trying to get back into things. It's habit for him to stay out of the way of people, but don't be surprised if you get the feeling of being watched as he tries to gauge what sort of people he's stuck with here. After all, aliens may think he's pretty normal looking, but people tend to scream. A lot.

Comments

[rage_on]

"Heck no! This is far from my idea of a vacation! But if there's not at least something to do outside of being reminded we're stuck in some crummy, ruined city, I think people will just go crazy," the turtle snaps, glaring at the man.

"Unless we're just expected to work all the time. That your thing?" What do people do in libraries anyway? He's never been in one and all he knows is that there's supposed to be books.

[beholding_archivist]

Jon frowns, then shrugs. “I keep busy. As do most people here.” And yes, in Jon’s case that certainly means he spends most of his time working.

“One of us is setting up a bar. Maybe that’s more up to your liking?” Do turtles drink? Not that he’s aware of, but...

[rage_on]

That sure gets an eye-roll from Raphael. Yep. Workaholic. He totally pegged the guy as one from the start.

"Eh, not really. I don't know if I'd trust alien drinks anyway. I'm guessing they don't have age rules around here though." He grins a little, imagining the looks Leonardo would be giving him then. It's a brief amusement, reminding him that there's been no sign that any of his brothers had been brought along with him.

[beholding_archivist]

Workaholic, indeed. Not that Jon sees anything wrong with that. He does raise a brow at the following comment, however.

"There aren't any set rules here. Just common sense."

[rage_on]

Raphael sneers. "Yeah, because everyone uses that," he snorts. Some people were just naturally lacking in common sense. Like Mikey.

Turning around, the turtle moves to go roll up the little pile that had been his bedding. Jon hardly feels a threat that even if the guy were hostile, Raphael wouldn't worry too much about turning his back on him as he sets to work. "Anyway. Guess I don't need to camp out here if people are back. This the only place with food? Outside of the plant place?"

[beholding_archivist]

"I'm pretty sure the only reason this place still has food left is because Eli kept it stocked." Jon points out with a sigh. "The greenhouse certainly is one of the main sources for food. And I assume some people know to hunt or fish." Not him, though. Even though he might be able to enjoy some nice meat, Jon isn't sure he could kill an animal for something he doesn't need to survive.

"The tunnels had these dispensers for nutrition paste. Which... I don't believe anyone really enjoyed having to rely on."

[rage_on]

With a roll of his shoulders, Raphael sighs. "Eh, figures. Least I've had experience roughing it. There actual stuff to hunt and catch?" He has no qualms doing the dirty work if it's needed.

He cringes at the thought of food paste. "Gross. I think traveling on the Fugitoid's ship spoiled us. It had this machine that would make whatever food you wanted just by telling it."

[beholding_archivist]

Jon shrugs at the question. "I wouldn't know. There are... Some animals. As far as I know. The glownies. Large bugs. Maybe more outside the city..." Look, he's mostly focused on making sure he's not going to run out of tea.

But now Jon can't help but wonder, so of course he has to ask. "Aren't you a herbivore...?" He just can't imagine a turtle eating meat of all things.

[rage_on]

There is a very visible shudder at the mention of large bugs. "Aw man, can't I ever go to an alien planet without freakishly huge bugs?" Raphael groans. Someone is not a fan.

Then he casts a flat look at Jon. "Look. For fifteen years me and my brothers ate nothing but worms and algae. And then we were exposed to pizza, and, you know, stuff you humans eat. Would you go back to that?"

[beholding_archivist]

Okay. Jon can take a few things away from this: One, this mutant turtle has brothers. Therefore is familiar with the concept of families. Second, he is used to visiting other planets, therefore likely comes from a world that is used to space travel. Maybe similar to Cal. And third... Pizza and human food. Probably learned about when visiting Earth.

That's something. And there have been a mention of worms- Of eating worms, which makes Jon grimace in return.

"I... I wouldn't want to eat worms in the first place." Especially not after nearly getting eaten by worms, thanks. "So.... Is there anything you are good at?"

[rage_on]

"Eh, you live in the sewers trying to keep out of sight of humans, you make do." The turtle shrugs. Most of their concerns had been proven true when they finally had been able to go above to the streets where humans dwelt.

Raphael grins at the question. In the blink of an eye he's drawn the twin weapons from his belt behind his shell, giving each of them a sharp spin before grasping them firmly in an obviously practiced fighting stance. Each weapon has three prongs, the middle one being the longest, and just about as long as his forearm.

"I'm good at a lot of things, especially if they involve fighting and beating things up."

[beholding_archivist]

Jon blinks at first, then flinches away at the unexpected weaponry display. But seeing that Raphael doesn't seem too inclined to attack him, Jon relaxes and lets his hands drop to his sides with a sigh. "So another fighter." He concludes, not seeming too impressed. Instead, he wonders just who the Agrii expect them to fight when a good part of the people they bring here arrive combat-ready.

"How about making degenerating buildings inhabitable again?"

[rage_on]

Jon's reaction is lest than enthusiastic. Raphael scowls, putting his sai away as quickly as he'd unsheathed them.

"What do I look like, a construction worker? I can clear things up, and find stuff that still looks usable. Almost all the stuff my brothers and father have and use were human cast-offs." One man's trash is anothet turtle's treasure, or something.

[beholding_archivist]

"Actually... You do look as if you can do some heavy lifting." Jon answers with a small shrug. It's not untrue, at least.

"Scavenging isn't entirely useless, though. Everyone here has to rely on it in various ways."

[rage_on]

That's not something he'll deny. He's the strongest of his brothers, after all. There's a slight smirk at Jon's acknowledgment. "I could probably bench press like, twenty of you." Sure, he's exaggerating, but Jon also doesn't look like he weighs much.

"At least we won't have to drag stuff into a sewer," he says. Alien planet, ruined city, kidnapped people- he doubts that anyone's going to complain if he just stakes a claim to a place. Not like it looks like much, but if they're going to be stuck, it'd probably be good to find somewhere better to stay than the diner.

"So yeah, I can help with stuff. Won't be as great as Donnie, but most of our life's been spent repurposing things. Guess survival skills will come in handy too."

[beholding_archivist]

"Well, thanks." Jon remarks rather flatly, though he can't exactly argue against being a bit on the unflattering spectrum of a lightweight.

But he can't argue with the rest of Raphael's observations either. "Survival, yes. That-... That's what most of us have been focusing on aside from making this place more bearable and befitting to our needs." And if he wants to get into making pizza, Jon doubts anyone will complain.

[rage_on]

Pizza needed like...ingredients. Maybe if they had something like tomatoes and could make cheese- well that still left needing to make an actual crust. Raphael has no idea what sort of things went into making pizza dough. Cooking was more Mikey's wheelhouse.

"Well, at least there's plenty of places to stay." Fixing up places that already exist is a little easier than starting from scratch, depending on the state of the buildings.

"So is everyone else who's stuck here from Earth too?"

[beholding_archivist]

Jon raises a brow. "Earth? Why, not everyone, but... Some of us? You... You aren't saying you are from Earth, are you?"

Mutant turtles from Earth? Now that would worry Jon in an entirely new way.

[rage_on]

A flat look of his own crosses his face before Raphael smirks bitterly. "Yeah I'm from Earth. New York, born and raised." So far as he knows anyway. The part that counts.

"What, you thought I was an alien or something? Don't worry, we got those too," he says, less happy on that note. "They've tried taking over and mutating and blowing the planet up. Haven't succeeded so far- that's thanks to me and my brothers, by the way."

[beholding_archivist]

"New York." Jon repeats, frowning but- Maybe looking not too surprised? He pinches the bridge of his nose with a sigh.

"...Christ, if I weren't aware yet that there are multiple versions of Earth around, I'm not sure I'd even be surprised anymore by mutant turtle heroes being Americans." Might explain a thing or two, maybe.

[rage_on]

"Oh yeah. Alternate realities are totally a thing. Probably not the greatest thing, especially when you meet your other-reality selves." He was not impressed by their other selves.

The turtle stoops down to toss his bedroll over a shoulder. "So, anything else about the...what was it, Agrii? I should know about?"

[beholding_archivist]

And there's a shrug from Jon. "Nothing the data point shouldn't have told you, I suppose." As there is very little any of them truly knows about their alien hosts.

"Well. Their grammar is terrible." Obviously.

[rage_on]

Raphael arches a brow at that. There really wasn't a whole lot about the aliens, just the crappy situation. Even that was kind of lacking in important details, and talking with Jon hadn't exactly been very confidence inspiring.

"Aliens must have a big problem with English," he observes. "The Kraang didn't seem to understand how pronouns worked."

[beholding_archivist]

"If we were being fair, then we may have similar difficulties with their languages." Jon points out with a shrug. "We may be lucky they are even bothering to try to communicate with us in a way we can understand." And yet he still hopes to find a way to help the Agrii get better at it.

"Those Kraang... Those are other aliens you have met?"

[rage_on]

"Eh, I guess that's true. But it's still on them for even bringing us here in the first place. So everyone here speaks English except for the aliens?" Typical.

Raphael nods. "Oh yeah. They're these pink brain-looking things with tentacles. They get around in robot bodies and talk in third-person. The Kraang were the ones who were trying to mutate Earth into another Dimension X, which is their freaky homeworld."