Donnie was in the process of disinfecting his arm, a grimace plastered on his face, "Oh no no I'm fine, really, It's not like I got a first class ticket into the stomach of a stranger while scoping the borders of the property for possible dangers or wildlife, really, I'm doing great." Leo rolled his eyes and gave a little nod to Vee, most of his torso was covered by some kind of poncho, or blanket maybe? The only thing she could see from the hem was one hand that slowly raised out to hers, "Don't worry about him, Donnie's just cranky.. It... Its been a slow morning and a long day. I guess we're gonna be neighbors? I'm Leonardo, my brother Donatello you've already met."
"Charmed." Donnie said flatly, glaring as Leo as he came back to his feet and dusted himself off. Leo stuck his tongue out at him, a playful, teasing gesture before turning back to the Phrogs. "We got two other siblings back at the house, we would've come to say hi sooner but.. It's a long story and we've been busy fixin' the place up." He gave a weak chuckle, glancing to the brace around Donnie's leg, then to the cover draping over where his other arm would have been. His accent was different too, there was so southern draw, so twang or hint of the towns influence. They didn't exactly look fit for farm labor either.. "No worries, I'm just surprised anyone would be able to make that old place into a runnin' farm again, it's good to have some new faces around"
"See Donnie, they're friendly- It's our pleasure to meet you guys-"
"Maybe it shouldn't be-" Leon elbowed Sandro in his side to shut him up. "Seeing how my brother tried to eat your brother-" Sandro huffed as he glared at the two strangers, paying no mind to Leon's warning gaze as Vee eagerly shook Leo's hand. She was so excited she was croaking up a storm and she seemed to be bouncing with enthusiasm. New neighbors, and they were yokai!? This had to be the best day of her life. Vee gave another silent 'sorry' to Donatello, really feeling bad for the arm swallowing thingy. Leon tipped his hat to the brothers and gave them a friendly smile. "Ain't that something, I'm also Leonardo, these are my little siblings Vee, Lisa and Sandro. We heard whispers of havin' a new residence but I wasn't expecting this! Welcome to town fellas, you're gonna love it here."
"Minus the coyotes!" A new voice from behind them strolled into the conversation and she immediately leaned on Leon with a grin. Seems like the gang is all here and they are ready to meet the new faces. She looked them up and down and raised a brow at them. They moved here for what? If they moved near them they had to be planning on growing something right? Eh, its none of her business really.. "Lisa! These the new guys you were telling us about right?" Lisa chuckled as she patted Leon on the shoulder, placing a hand on her hip in a relaxed manner. This was a good enough break for her to take, they had enough time to kill anyway since they got everything together for the festival coming up anyway. She extended her hand to Leo for a greeting. "Yeah! Didn't think they would be good lookin though~ I'm Lisa-"
"Shit the fuck up you're literally a lesbi-"
"OH MY GOSH WE NEED TO GIVE THEM A GIFT!" Vee had shouted abruptly as she started to pace around. Leon sighed and walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders as they walked around together. Sandro put his hands in his pockets and tried to walk away but Lisa caught him by the scruff of his shirt to holdhim in place while they got aquainted. "How do you guys feel about cherry tarts? Or blueberry pie! We need to welcome you properly, we've been so rude!" Leo glanced to Donnie, who gave each Phrog a moment's glance. Looking them each up and down before turning to Leo, who started at him with a shit eating grin as of to say "C'mon Dee we can't ignore the social courtesy of free food~" He let out a little huff and a nod to Leo, "Alright Dons in! We just gotta go get Mike and Red and we'll be all set. Though if I tell them we're getting fed they'll wanna fix up somethin to bring too... Oh well we just won't tell em haha"
Donnie pulled his phone out, apparently adding coyotes to the list of things they needed to protect the house from, the first few things of course being spiders, termites and rabbid locals... "It's alright, you haven't been rude or anything- We're all kind of... We're used to being hermits I guess? Or well, used to not having visitors?" Donnie shrugged, "Maybe you were. ..I'm kidding. But we are also all still in a period of recovery which someone, cough, Leo- Shouldn't even be out of bed yet considering the stitches I worked very hard to resew after the first three times you decided you just *had* to go for a walk." It wasn't any real venom in his words but it was obvious he was annoyed as he lightly punched Leos shoulder. "Agh- Okay jeez I get it-" He turned to Lisa to shake her hand too, "Eithers fine, we'll eat anything, Red especially haha. How about tomorrow? Give us some time to talk our siblings into it and we can all.. uh... Do whatever it is you do for fun in the middle of nowhere"
Lisa grinned and placed her hand into her pocket after Leo let it go, Sandro having given up fleeing the scene and just started scrolling on his phone as Leon kept calming Vee down from the sudden realization. They had not had anyone over for food ever given.. well everything but Sandro knows that their father probably wouldn't be coming out of the house...Barbecue was the safest option if they were going to have people over. He sent a mass text to the family groupchat with the suggestion. Lisa giggled at the antics from the brothers, it reminded her of Leon way back when. She gave Leo a hum of aggement about the date. "Tomorrow sounds great, but take your time ya hear! Don't want you passing out during the meal. Vee, Leo, ya hear that?" Vee stopped walking and took a few deep breaths as instructed by Leon and looked over to Lisa, smiling now that she was calm and collected and gave her a nod. Leon let go of Vee and gave her a brotherly pat on the head before she walked over to Donnie, phone in hand and ready to take note of some things for the barbecue. "What food preferences do you all have? Allergies? Sensory no nos for texture, would food separation be okay? What's your favorite meat, and how do you like it cooked? How much food should I make and how big should the portions be?"
Vee was spouting out question after question to make sure that she accommodated for their new guest they were gonna have over. She was in full hospitality mode and no one was gonna stop her from making a meal to feed an army. She was excited to possibly make new friends and since they planed for tomorrow she could buy them some stuff for their house too! Leon walked over to Leo, taking off his hat since he wanted to see Leo better. "There is a festival starting tomorrow. They have a lot of different activates we can do so we could head over after food, Sound good?" Donnie raised his eyebrows a bit, the hint of a smile threatening the corner of his mouth at the questions. "Ah, we do in fact. Our eldest sibling, who we usually call Red, had a peanut allergy, it's nothing lethal but it does get ugly fast. Our youngest brother Michaelangelo has hand tremors, I've been developing an all encompassing utensil for him but I doubt it'll be out of beta by tomorrow. And of course, Leo-" He featured to his brother in blue, "Recently lost his right arm. So not that I think you would, but no chopsticks or things that are so tough they require knives to cut." Leo rolled his eyes, "let's not forget that Donnie won't eat anything with red dyes, hes acoustic"
"Been there, This guy over here hates eggs with a passion. Lil artistic bitch." Lisa teased with an almost evil grin as she looked down at her brother, almost challenging him to say something back to her, knowing that he wouldn't say anything but rather croak at her. And he did, a high pitched threatening croak later him as he bared his teeth at his older sibling. Vee continued to note down everything the two of them were telling her. All good, everything. Vee muttered to herself the things she would need and the things that she already had on hand to give them to eat before she looked up at Donnie, mentioning offhandedly a solution to the utensil problem
"Oh no worries there, Sandro made some for Leon since he fucked up his hands and won't rest." Leon whined at the out playfully but didn't deny the claim. He had terrible carpal tunnel from the time he used to do art, and it has not gotten better since he won't rest his hands properly, especially when it comes to yard work and whatnot. Donnie narrowed his eyes, looking back to Sandro, "So he tinkers? Hmph.." Leo pushed Donnie back towards their house, "So tomorrow! Great! We'll see you then!" He waved to everyone the poncho raising enough that the bruised nub was barely visible. The stitches ran up past what was exposed, and though it was sewn up well anyone could tell the scars were fresh.
He might've only been able to keep bandages off just recently. There were still bruises marking tender skin around the incisions. It couldn't have been pleasant to walk around with it unless he was on some good ass pain medication.. He gently nudged Donnie again, walking with him back towards the house, yapping about all the festivities and how nice it would be to see the town, to get a chance of pace, and maybe finally feel how busy it can get here. But Donnie had much more on his mind, anxieties and paranoia enough for the both of them. They left the city because of the noise, because of the busy rush everyone was in, because it reminded them all of everything they'd lost not so long ago... How was everyone going to feel, to react? How could he prepare for the worst case scenario without letting the rest of his family catch on to his worries..
As the night set in the Hamato brothers gathered around the island counter in their kitchen thinking about what exactly they wanted to make for their new friends and if they were even ready for such an interaction.
"I'm tellin' you cookies are the way to go!"
"And I'm telling you that we don't know if they like cookies, and that those are SO easy to mess up! That's why I'd rather just make something like cake!"
"Mikey that's the same thing but just in a loaf-"
"The fact that you think those two are the same actually gave me psychic damage and I'm gonna need you to never use this kitchen again."
Raph, or well, Brick, one of his alters, rolled his eyes and reached over the table for his drink, "I'm jus' sayin" Mikey narrowed his eyes in a playful way as if to say he had no intention of trusting his opinions on this matter. "What about a pizza..? Mikey's really good at those"
"Leo we have like 2 ingredients with us that could be used for that, we don't even have a can of sauce-"
"Yeah but there's a town pretty close isn't there?"
Everyone froze at Leo's mention of a town, they hadn't dared to venture into the town at all yet since they'd sort of left New York because it was to populated and such. "What..?" Leo asked, "It's not like where short on money-" The other three gave each other quick glances, maybe it would be good to do a little test run of how Leo reacted to being in a town, after all, these past few months had gone by pretty smooth so maybe he'd be okay.. "Sure." Donnie said, already making a list of all the small things they would need. "Tomorrow morning why don't we all take a trip and see what the towns like. We can get stuff for a pizza if it goes well."
"And if it doesn't?" Leo asked, a little confused why the mood had suddenly gotten so tense over something as small at a 5 minute drive for groceries. "Simple." Donnie said, "I'll fake an injury and tell them we couldn't make it."
"Drama king.." Leo muttered, rolling his eyes as he stood upright, "You guys worry way too much, c'mon, we used to fight crime and mob bosses and ancient evils or whatever, it'll be fine everyone will be fine. It's *fine*"
If this story had a narrator, he'd say something like "*But it would not be fine*" right about now. That's because the Hamato's are terrible at social interactions, and the Phrogs are terrible at picking up the small clues of a bigger picture. None of them are really at fault though it's how they were raised, both families were sheltered in some form, only now in their adult life were they cursed with the freedom to become their own people. They do sort of compliment each other though, their weirdness goes hand in three fingered hand.
The night went by as usual, and the morning came the way it always did. Only Leo seemed truly excited about their little trip but he couldn't place why? He was about to leave the house but figured it might be more appropriate to cover up, so he grabbed the poncho he usually wore when it got chilly and left with that. It was long enough to cover his entire torso, but he really liked that it covered his arm.. Stump? Nub? It covered his missing arm is the point. They piled into the car Donnie built into the tank, having modified it so there was no roof, that way they could all fit.. Okay, so Red could fit. He was nearly 7 feet tall now, that's 213 centimeters! He's just a big boy okay!
Donnie drove this time, with Red on the front passenger seat so on the very slim chance that Donnie had an episode while driving Red could take over. Leo was behind Donnie and Mikey next to him behind Red. "I wonder what kinda stuff they'll have there? I know it's a town not a city but like.. Think they got Starbucks?"
"Leo, I highly doubt a Midwestern small town that still uses farm technology and has more horses than cars would have any modern establishment or commodities more advanced than a single cathode ray tube television."
"He means those big old box TV's! Right?"
"Precisely Michael." Leo slumped back in his seat with a light-hearted 'tsk'
The car found a place to park on the edge of town, Leo was a bit confused why they stopped so far away and he could feel the tension from everyone and decided not to push it. He'd been told they left New York because it made them uncomfortable, and reminded them of something bad. So it was possible they all had this lingering fear of populated areas..?
But if they did, why didn't he? Everyone got out of the car and stretched, listening to Donnie go over their "game plan" for navigation, and assigned themselves into pairs, "shopping buddies" he called it. Raph would be with Leo, Mikey with Donnie. Not that they were going to split up, but on the slim chance they got separated that's who they would go with.
"Hey so uh, you know if you guys are like, scared or something you don't have to come right? Someone can just sit in the car and take it easy if something's buggin you?"
They all exchanged glances then looked back at Leo, Donnie shrugging and turning to head into town, "We'll be alright, but the same goes for you Nardo. If you feel overwhelmed at all we can always take a break." Leo nodded and picked up his pace, it looked like something out of a movie. There was an old bar that still had Saloon style swinging doors. There was a grocery store that just said "General Store" Leo couldn't help but chuckle at that.
As Leo looked around he saw a mix of Yokai and humans wandering around, chatting with each other, buying and trading goods, bickering about sale prices.. It almost felt like home.
As they got closer to the store Leo started feeling a little nauseous, he had no idea why though. His pace slowed as he felt his balance shift, "H-Hold on guys" He held a hand up, trying to give a visual signal that he needed a moment. Everyone stopped, Raph put a gentle hand on his back, "You okay? If it's too much we can-"
"It's fine. I'm fine, I just.. Got dizzy for some reason, I just need a second." Raph nodded trying to keep Leo steady but his vision only got worse, noise faded out. The local chatter and turning of wooden wheels creaking faded like it was sinking under water. His chest felt tight, like his shell was closing in on his lungs making it impossible to take a full breath as his vision began to blur, in and out of focus. His hand clutched the poncho tightly, like pulling the fabric might give him room to breath, but to no avail of course. He tried to take a step but his legs shook with every movement, making it hard to find his balance.
There was a sudden crash and the sound of horses neighing. Leo perked up, the fog lifting as the piercing sound broke though whatever was threatening to drag him down.
He turned to see a horse rushing towards him, frozen in place as the chestnut colored mare skidded to a halt just inches from him. It reared up on its hind legs and let out another sound. His brothers had all stepped back if not jumped out of the way completely, but Leo just stood there in awe as the creature came closer. Sniffing the pockets of his sweats, up to the tassels on his poncho then around his head, probably looking for a treat of some kind. He slowly reached his hand out, running his hand through the silky black mane with wide eyes, she was so much kinder than he'd thought horses would be, hed only seen movies of course, so he didn't have much knowledge on horses to start with..
Mikey and Donnie simultaneously grabbed a shoulder snapping his out of his amusement, "Are you okay? Nothing trampled?"
"Please don't make it a habit to lose limbs."
"I'm.. I'm fine, really. I was just.. I don't know..."
The man who owned the horse came running up, "Goddamnit buttercup! Get over here! I'm so sorry about her y'all, she's still gettin used to being attached to the cart, she's still easily spooked too so you can imagine the trouble.."
Donnie nodded, "Of course! We too know the hassle of equine ownership. Of course... Because we are farmers"
"Bum ba dun dun, dun dun dun!"
