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 Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 11:42 am
It was damn cold outside but Raphael didn't even really notice. He had a single goal in mind and that was to get the hell away from the lair. Things had been getting stifling lately with the lair's resident couples filling every waking moment with cuddling and... whatever else they did. It wasn't that he wanted them to be unhappy, but did they have to be so damn happy around him? Every day seemed to be a reminder of his own failed attempt at a relationship. He knew they didn't mean it, and he knew that to this day L felt bad about what had happened but that didn't do anything to dull the memory. The pain was indeed fading but he had a feeling it would always be there, a dull spark in the very bottom of his heart that would flare up from time to time. That's what these walks were for.
Tired of merely wandering the tunnels Raph decided to hit the streets. He kept to the shadows, hopping across roof tops and heading nowhere in particular. When he finally stopped to realize where he was he was actually a little surprised. It was her house, Violet's house. Leo would probably say that his subconcious brought him there for one reason or other but Raph wasn't so sure he would have believed him. Still there was a lot of questions the girl had left unanswered either out of her own desire to keep her secrets to herself or their lack of desire to hear them. Maybe paying her a visit wasn't such a bad idea.
He hopped down to ground level and debated the best way to make his grand entrance. There was no way he would have been able to pick the lock the same way Don did, and it was a fairly safe bet to assume that Violet would have no unlocked windows. Having no desire to break in Raph eventually decided to simply go the "easy" route. He looked for the lone window with a light on and peered inside through the blinds. There she was sitting in a chair reading a book.
He took a deep breath, wondered what the hell he was doing and tapped on the window.
((I'm not sure if Violet would be more likely to have blinds, curtains or both. I prefer blinds and they're easier to take care of, which Violet may take into consideration living on her own so that's what I picked. *L*))
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 4:31 pm
Violet paused from where she'd been reading her Earth's Children Series book, her body freezing in tense anticipation.
She knew she'd heard it.
There came another light tap on her window.
What the hell....
She shoved her book aside and struggled to get up as quickly as her sore body would allow, walking over to the window. Her front light was off and something told her not to flip it on. And she'd forgotten to draw the heavy drapes over the blinds at sunset like she'd been doing.
She made it over to the blinds and peered through them. It was quite late and she was used to being a night owl, so it was very dark.
It took a moment but suddenly she could just make out a shadowy figure. Her first thought was that the Purple Dragons had traced her but she dismissed that idea immediately--they'd not have bothered tapping on her window.
And as she squinted, she could just discern the fact the figure wasn't quite human.....and her mind swiftly correlated the shadowy image with what she knew.
Oh no.... after what happened? Why is he bothering?
****
Raph, though he was in the shadows, could see from the expression on her face that she'd swiftly come to a conclusion of who was there, and she wasn't thrilled.
Still even he was surprised when she made an almost impatient gesture for him to go over to her doorway.
Violet didn't know which one exactly had decided to suddenly darken her doorstep, and after the implication to her had been they wanted nothing to do with her.
But she doubted she was in any real danger. They weren't that type.
He could hear her drawing locking bolts on her door aside before she opened the door.
"Unless you want to stand in the shadows playing peeping tom, I'd prefer it if I can see you," she said tersely.
"Yer mouth leaves somethin' to be desired, ya know that?"
He saw her eyes widen as she realized which Turtle she was talking to.
"Oh, it's you." She sighed and opened her door wider. She wasn't afraid of him. "I'd never thought to see you again."
"Yeah well, here I am. You an' I need to talk. And not in yer doorway."
She scrutinized him for a moment, then realized that the light from her open doorway was like a beacon to anybody passing by. She gestured for him to come inside, and swiftly shut the door behind them, using her good arm to relock it before going over to the drapes and struggling to yank them shut, no easy feat with her injuries.
She noticed his inquiring glance.
"You wanna be seen? You were looking in at me, it means someone could look in at you. I forgot to draw the drapes tonight." She succeeded in pulling them shut at last and turned to face him, back to the wall, leaving him to explain why he was here.
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 4:42 pm
Raph watched her close the blinds with a smirk. She was a proud little thing, that much was clear. Just what he needed, another proud woman to deal with. Why didn't they ever run across women who just wanted to be rescued?
"I coulda helped you with that y'know," he said once she'd finished. "But I'm guessing you woulda said no even if I offered."
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 4:46 pm
Raphael looked around the living room for a moment. This house was too damn big for one person. He finally glanced at Violet again.
"Do ya mind if I sit down?" he asked.
She gestured to the couch.
"Go ahead," she said.
He made himself comfortable on the couch. She remained standing.
"Aren't ya gonna sit down?" he asked.
"I prefer to stand for now, thank you," she replied.
"Suit yerself," he shrugged.
There was a few moments of tense silence between them before Raph began to speak again.
"So I was just around in the neighborhood," he told her, "And I thought I'd drop by, to, you know, talk to you or something."
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 4:58 pm
Violet had decided to largely ignore his remark about the drapes. She'd heard enough of his mouth the last two encounters to realize at least part of his personality, and she wasn't afraid of it. Parts of it were quite familiar.
"Somehow I doubt 'talk to me' isn't just the core reason for your visit, but I'll take it as such for now," she answered. He noticed her sizing him up and realized that this was perhaps the first time she could take in who he really was without any threat lurking around the corner.
Finally she said, "The way I was returned here last time left the unspoken implication that your group wanted nothing to do with me."
"An' yer right, mostly. You've got Foot Clan ties, it's too damned obvious, and I've never been really convinced ya weren't a threat."
"So you boldy stride up to where I live despite my alleged 'threat'. You got guts, I'll give you that. But what I told you from the first was the truth. I am not a threat to you."
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 5:07 pm
Raph gave her a slight glare.
"Why do you think I'm here, princess?" he retorted, "I didn't come to waste my time 'socializing'. Next thing I know, you'll be offering me tea and crumpets. I want some answers; a straight story."
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 5:23 pm
Gods, not the 'princess' thing again....
Violet decided not to remark on the nickname issue.
"I'm not the most social person you'll ever meet, don't worry about that," she said tartly, finally sitting down in a chair opposite him. This wasn't gonna be easy. That took gall, what he did. Practically barging up to her door.
"All I spoke of was the truth, and I didn't exactly get to elaborate on our last little....encounter....." Raph saw her shudder visibly, as if hurriedly suppressing something.
"An' I say yer story sounds weird enough for me to question it. Yer not bleedin' to death right now, not that I can see, so you can go ahead and give it to me straight."
Violet could feel her hackles rising despite her promise to herself to ignore his damning attitude. She erupted before she could stop herself.
"I know the Foot technique because of my father, damnit! Oroku Saki forced him to join the Foot Clan years before I was born, to teach his other subordinates the Foot style! Daddy took a risk in having a family, because it seems Saki's famous for using their loved ones to keep his 'slaves' in line! That is why he faked our death and fled! That is why I've spent my lifetime looking over my shoulder! That is why he taught me, to protect me!"
Violet shuddered violently, struggling against the tide of images that overwhelmed her. She didn't allow Raphael one opening. "Two and a half months ago, more or less, the past DID catch up with us when I found him murdered! That cloth scrap was in his hand, his throat was slit, and he'd been stabbed for good measure, with weapons I know were of asian origin!"
She stopped abruptly. She went any further at the moment, she'd be throwing salt onto wounds she desperately tried to keep buried. She stared at him, breathing hard, letting him digest what she'd said.
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 5:45 pm
Raph was quiet as he absorbed her information. There was no mistaken the emotion in her voice, her very demeanor that she was telling him the truth, and he believed her now. He could see it had been difficult for her to get it all out, and for a moment, he felt a little guilty.
"Hey, I'm sorry," he finally spoke, his voice softer, "I sort of know how you feel. Leo, my oldest brother, his... girl suffered at the hands of the Foot. Ya see, that's why you weren't exactly welcome. She has nightmares, and other spells when triggered."
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 5:54 pm
Violet stared at him, and stared at him hard. Dare she believe that he might actually start to realize she was telling the truth?
"I am sorry," she said quietly. "I am sorry that happened. What happened with that cloth was an accident on my part. I got careless one day with it and that's the pure truth of it. I did not mean to cause such trouble."
The guilt from that was going to hang with her for a long time too, she knew it. "I'd apologize to the girl if I could. I don't know what else to do. You sound as if her life was ruined by the Foot Clan as mine was."
"Damn straight. Her whole family, although I don't know details."
Violet shuddered violently at this, feeling pain and another stab of guilt. What a reminder it must have been then for this girl....
She drew in a deep breath. "Trust me I understand what she's going through then. If there is any doubt left in your mind at all as to the truth of my words, and their depth, I have plenty of proof on hand. I've got my own vendetta against the Foot Clan at the moment, and I don't want to drag you into it even by accident. I came damned close once with my carelessness."
"What proof?" Despite himself, and his believing her Raph was intrigued.
"It's in my basement. And I'd be happy to show you if it'd fully convince you that I'm telling the truth. And it may help me in a way if you've run into the Foot constantly. Come on."
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 6:02 pm
Raphael followed Violet through her house, and down the stairs to the basement. She flipped the switch to turn on the light. He was surprised to say the least when he saw all the boxes.
"Damn," he whistled, "And I thought Donny was a pack rat. This is all Foot stuff?"
Violet nodded.
"Yes," she replied, "My father kept everything from his past."
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 4:15 pm
Violet had had a very difficult time descending the stairs, though she'd tried hard not to let on the pain it'd caused her to bend her legs to the steep staircases. Bad enough her spandex shorts came just below her knee and her bruises and scratches were still visible.
"Well," she sighed, hiding her discomfort as she walked further along into her basement, "perhaps that is a tad exaggeration but there's no denying my father has stuff here I wish he'd burned. The only reason *I* haven't burned some of the stuff is that now," she strugged to pull what looked like a heavy photo album off a stack of them with her good arm, "it's evidence, maybe of who Daddy's killers were. And of the past. What's in here isn't all that I've found, but it's a start."
She hefted it onto a nearby dusty table. "And if you're used to dealing with the Foot, this should prove my words to you, and in a way, you could perhaps help me."
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 4:27 pm
Raphael blinked. She actually wanted his help? A half sort of friendly smile spread across his face at this. He felt important.
"Sure," he agreed.
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 4:44 pm
Violet flopped open the album. "Five weeks ago when I first found this I about got sick," she said dryly. "I was horrified that my father hadn't bothered to burn this stuff when it was a reminder of a time in his life he'd rather forget. You'd think he would've erased all reminders the Foot forced into his life, or mine. They're evil. Demonic evil."
Raph didn't say anything, but he knew she'd nailed it right.
Violet pointed to some early photographs. "That's him. And my mother."
There were a few older photos of a rather handsome young man with longish black hair tied back and deep green eyes and a pretty woman with the same golden curls Violet had.
"Looks pretty typical," Raphael commented.
"He was already forced into the Foot as a ninjitsu sensei when she first met him. But those aren't the pictures here that matter."
She turned a couple pages and pointed out some very different pictures indeed. Some of them obviously had her father in them but.....
Raph felt a cold stab. Holy s**t!
"Are any of these faces familiar to you, any at all?" came Violet's voice quietly, and from a distance all of a sudden.
Raphael didn't answer right away, but the look on his face was enough. One of the first pictures he'd focused on was one that contained a hugely-built blond man with an obvious purple tattoo about his upper arm.
Violet's father was in the same picture. This was an older photo, and it was more than obvious right here....Violet had been telling the truth about her father.
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 4:52 pm
Raph was positively boiling as he studied the pictures. One hand rested instinctively on a sai.
"Yeah, I know 'em," he replied, his voice cold and dangerous, "That big behemoth is called Hun. He's the leader of the Purple Dragons, and Shredder's right hand man."
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Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 5:05 pm
Hun. Shredder.
Raph saw Violet go white as a sheet.
"Those names....I know I've heard those names before." She whispered, and her voice sounded almost afraid. "Except for Oroku Saki my father rarely spoke their names to me. When he spoke of the Foot Clan he told me things but really told me nothing."
She felt distinctly sick. "Some of these faces I have a feeling I've seen before, but I was just short of five when we fled. In my memories, most of what I remember is the dojo. A sense of fear. My early training. People, but their faces are always in shadow."
She was trembling visibly. "But....Hun....I know I've heard it before!" A memory rushed back. "Daddy....hated him. I can't....recall if he ever strode into the dojo but...."
Her face was bloodless now. She laid a hand on the photo. It was obvious how reluctant Violet's father was being posed next to the evil man.
Even Raphael had to admit Violet looked visibly sickened, as if she could not bear to look at this stuff, but she doggedly kept turning pages.
"Hold it!" Raphael's hand slammed down onto another one and looked visibly angry.
Violet gave him a blank stare at his sudden growl.
"Saki!" He growled. "That's Saki! The Shredder!"
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