tushanshu_logs | [Open] Catch All for January

Mike arrived at the dojo at 19:30 sharp. Normally he reserves punctuality and timetables for prime-time tv viewing and baking, but he's taking this Appointment for Fun very seriously.
Probably too seriously, if he's being completely honest with himself.

He turns on the lights, makes sure the room is straightened, and then dose a couple of laps around the perimeter to get warmed up.

When you're polythermic getting warmed up means literally that.

Mike has always liked people. Even when his only exposure to them was watching them from afar, either via the television or from the shadows of a nearby alley or storm drain. And of all of the people he's watched children have been hands down his favorites. There was just something so raw, so honest, so ... human about them. He was always impressed with how they moved about in a world that was clearly not designed for them, but that they would come to inherit with time. In those few years...children weren't all that different from him, or he from them. It was a nice feeling while it lasted.

So when the opportunity came to help out at the dojo Mike jumped at the chance to work with kids. His lessons in self defense were games, and his gymnastics basics were couched in terms of elaborate obstacle courses that he'd set up and run with anyone who wanted to race.

The door was always open.

Mike's classes are still fun, and he still holds them when he says he will, but...there's something off about him. His jokes don't come at a rapid fire pace like they used to, and his smile doesn't seem to reach his eyes.

More and more he remains clothed during games, and seems almost always tired.
But he's there, and he's fun, so everything's okay...right?

He was gone for a while, rumored to have been "sent home," but more and more often these days the mutant turtle in the red bandanna makes his way to the warehouses of the Fire Sector to fight. And oh boy does he fight. He doesn't talk smack quite like he used to, and he's certainly a great deal faster than people remember, but for all intents and purposes "Raphael" has returned to the ring.

Aya has no such issues with warming up. Beyond the fact that she did not possess an organic circulatory system, the Green Energy that held her physical form together was, for the most part, consistently warm. Almost that of a human's body temperature, should one come into contact.

Ready at a moment's notice--well, at most, in 2.1 seconds. One of her stronger attributes.

As such, she did not arrive at the dojo until 19:59, allowing the additional minute for her to enter the room and do a preliminary scan. She was unsurprised to find another figure already there. Logic dictated that this was the individual she sought out, although one must always account for the unexpected anomaly.

In other words, she had to be certain: "I believe we had an appointment this evening?"

Aya entered the room just as Mike had past the door, so he doesn't realize she's there until she speaks. Which is kind of a shame, because he was so deeply in the zone that it throws him...quite literally off his feet.

"woooaaah....oof.

ow.

hi."

Her eyes widened a fraction when Mike fell, surprised, but not immediately panicking. Initial scans told her that he retained consciousness. Subsequent verbal indicators confirmed this diagnosis.

Leisurely, her petite form crossed the room, metallic boots clacking softly against the hardwood ground. When she was upon him, she kneeled down.

"Are you alright?"

Mike looked up at her from the heap he'd landed in and just smiled sheepishly.

"I'm usually better than this, you just surprised me, is all." He shifted slightly and offered a green three-fingered hand for shaking.

"I'm Mike."

"My apologies. It was not my intention."

She extended her own hand, which--despite having the advantage in terms of number of digits--was significantly smaller than his three fingers.

"Aya."

Not to worry, Aya. Mike gets that a lot, what with the puppy paws he's got for mitts.

"Nice to meet you. I...um...here I'm just going to...you might want to back up a bit."

Mike begins to maneuver himself so as to kip up back to his feet.

Though she did not immediately recognize what he was up to, Aya obliged without question. Taking several steps back, she eyed the anthropomorphic turtle with great curiosity, waiting to see what he would do.

It's an oddity, to be sure. How someone with a fixed spine can be as agile as Mike appears to be. He easily rolls and then kicks back into a standing position, his bare feet landing silently on the floor.

"There right, so okay. This is um, this is the dojo. Welcome. I kind of work here, sort of. I'm new. At working here, not at the work I'll be doing here. Well, I'm kind of new to that too, as I've never really taught anyone anything before. But I've been training my whole life.

...

I should stop talking now.

He should see the way Aya moves. For being mostly made of metal and residing in a body she built entirely on her own.

"...why?" There was a pause in which she blinked. An instinctive habit she picked up, although it was not actually necessary, simply by observing her peers. "You were in the process of explaining your work and training, correct? Please. Continue."

Mike follows her lead and also blinks.
Several times in fact, though...mostly in confusion.
Did she just...ask him to keep babbling? That never happens. Ever. He almost asks her to put it into writing so he can show The Bookends later as proof that it actually happened.

"Oh. Okay. Yeah, sure. Right. Well...I've studied Ninjitsu with my brothers since...forever. But I'm not going to teach that here. Mostly I'm going hoping to do basic self defense and like...tumbling and stuff. For kids, mostly. That's if I can get any actual students, you know? I mean...it's not like I've ever really ever had a job before."

Yes, Mike. That just happened.

No, you're not dreaming.

Probably.

Aya listened with an inhuman degree of patience (which fit, given that she wasn't even close to human). Her eyes followed his facial expressions, paying close attention to his tone as he mentioned brothers, and simultaneously accessing any and all records she possessed on the art of ninjutsu. There wasn't much, but it was enough to give her a basic foundation to work with.

"I would not object to learning whatever it is you seek to teach. Although, I confess, in my experience, rolling along the ground has proven to be a less than beneficial experience, particularly in the heat of attack."

"That's one of the reasons to practice it though, to make it more, er...beneficial. A lot of times people don't expect a drop to the ground during combat, because most people aren't trained to get back up quickly.

But...we don't have to do bodyfalls if you don't want. Er...is there something you would like to do?"

Her head lightly tilted to one side. The whole purpose of this meeting was moreso (in her mind) for him to introduce activities that he considered fun, so that she may expand in her experiential memories.

"If you find it beneficial...would it be possible to view a demonstration?"

After speaking with Evandau and having her things moved to her new suite in the Metal Sector, Korra didn't want to be home. Every twist in her gut that she had gotten from talking to Mako after he saw the future, their future, Korra wasn't ready to pretend everything was fine.

Now was she about to let anyone come by and see how it was affecting her. Especially not Bolin and Asami, not when they just got here and had to adjust to life on Tu Vishan. Korra knew she would be nothing but a hindrance in that.

Continuing to stay at Michelangelo's suite with both him and Leonardo, try and fill that vacancy in the turtle family, felt like her best option. No one knew she was there and it would give her time to pull herself together; be what she was before Mako arrived.

Avatar Korra.

When she got back, Korra led Naga inside which jingled the bells on the door. The Water Sector was radically different from Metal, even the suites, though it didn't bother Korra in the least. It was the furthest thing from her mind.

Instead of heading up to the third floor where had taken residence, Korra went to talk to Mike. With the atmosphere being down from Little Leo returning home, Korra's worn down tone wasn't too out of place.

"...Is it all right if I stay a few more days?"

"You mean aside from the one I just gave you?" his smile is rueful, as he gestures towards the place on the floor that he just so recently faceplanted on.

"Yes. Aside from that." Hers, meanwhile, is friendly and with no ill will or anything less than genuine sincerity. "I am under the impression that was not how you intended to demonstrate the full of your abilities. It would be interesting to compare the movement to one you were better prepared for."

"Hmmm," he says, his brow ridges furrowing in thought. Slowly a smile begins to creep its way across his face.

"Okay, I think I've got this."

To say that Mike strongly bonded with April O'Neil in the past year would be an understatement akin to saying the Atlantic Ocean was damp. Most nights at April's involved one classic movie or another, with Mike's particular favorites being Singing in the Rain and Some Like It Hot. It's because of this that the very first thing to cross his mind when asked to give a demonstration on the right way to fall, is the dance sequence from the end of "Make'em Laugh" number.

Complete with pratfalls, running up walls, and even the very end sequence where instead of breaking through a wall...Mike dives feet first out of a window he opened especially for this demonstration.

When Mike was home, which seemed less and less these days, he was usually to be found in one of three places: The kitchen, his own room, or cautiously eyeing the Network. Though that last one he never stayed at for long if there were other people in the house.

As luck would have it Mike is in the kitchen, attempting to make...something in the shape of a casserole.

Now normally Mike would automatically choose the offhand quip response, but more and more he's relying on a quick glance to let him know exactly how to react.

"I don't know, what with your polite ways, respectful manner, and considerate roommateyness. That sounds like a surefire recipe for trouble."

That Mike had been going back to his usual sarcasm, a big improvement from when he and Leonardo gave her the news, should have been enough to make Korra smile. And she really wanted to, but the corners of her mouth felt too heavy. In fact, everything felt heavy.

Naga stuck her nose into the kitchen to sniff before heading up to the third floor.

There wasn't any comeback or snark in her, not after what just happened.

"Can you guys not tell anyone?" They were all suffering their own losses, and she knew they didn't really go out of their way to talk to just anyone. But, she had to ask.

Having eaten nothing in the morning due to rushing out the door to give the sword to Evandau, Korra should have been hungry by now. But even Mike's casserole, which she knew was delicious, didn't tug at her appetite. Nothing did.

Okay...now that was odd. Quiet and despondent are one thing, actually asking that they conceal her whereabouts are a horse of an entirely different color.

Mike doesn't want to pry, because Korra's business is her own, but there has to be a reason she's hiding. And that reason could very well be a safety hazard.

"Of course, but...if you don't mind me asking: should we be doing anything in the meantime?"

Her eyes fall on the noodles that were barely starting to boil, the small bubbles mirroring thoughts in her head that almost seem like a good way to answer and then pop; dying before they reach her lips. Unblinkingly she watched them for an exorbitant amount of time.

"No." All that time to think of that one word. "No, let's just- give ourselves time."

Time for her, Leonardo, and Mike to adjust to Leo's absence and time for her to try and get used to the fact that her future just made itself her present. Despite all that she did to fight it, and how much all she and Mako managed together was-

useless?

No, that wasn't it either. Time for her to figure out just what it meant.

"That's all."

[Open] Catch All for January

Dojo, Wood Sector; Prior to Lil' Leo's departure; Closed to Aya

Dojo, Wood Sector; Pre Lil' Leo's Departure; Open to all

Dojo, Wood Sector; Post Lil' Leo's Departure; Open to all

Abandoned Warehouse, Fire Sector; Post Lil' Leo's Departure; Open to all

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WA-3B; Post Audience; Closed

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