lucetilogs | (no subject)

Entry tags:

[tmnt] donatello

(no subject)

Who:

poorneedyand,

i_speak_softly,

ohmykethe
What: A delicious, not-so-impromptu pizza dinner
When: evening, June 11
Where: Apt. 5, community housing building 1
Summary: Donatello comes over for pizza, as invited pre-draft.
Rating: PG
Kay has never been more than lackadaisical when it comes to housekeeping; she knows perfectly well how to keep a house clean and does, to a certain extent, but some things (dusting in particular) go undone for longer periods of time than would have ever been acceptable in her childhood home. So it is with some nervous energy that she flits around the apartment, straightening what isn't straightened and running a cloth over anything that looks especially neglected. This is, after all, the first time she's had anyone over to the place formally for supper, and for all that she doesn't care most days what it looks like, it matters a bit to her now.

When she's done, the apartment looks as good as it did the day she moved in--or nearly so, anyway--and the card table she's set for dinner, with tablecloth, places, salad, and a water pitcher seems like it'll suit nicely enough. They needn't eat out in the communal dining room, then, nor will they be sitting at the coffee table like a bunch of slobs (read: the way Kay eats, most days). Kay might not be the model housewife of her time, but she knows how to put on a dinner party.

Which leaves her in pedal-pushers and a blouse, holding a dustrag. "I'm going to get dressed," she tells Mildmay. "Can you answer the door if Donatello shows up?"

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Don arrives at five minutes to six, bearing three pizzas - too much, maybe, for only three people, but he wasn't sure what kind Kay and her housemate would like, and leftovers are never a bad thing.

If he hasn't been warned previously, Mildmay will surely notice for himself that this "Donatello" of Kay's acquaintance is a giant turtle, who wears very little in the way of clothing and carries a staff which may or may not be recognizable as a weapon.

"Ah, hello. I'm Donatello. You must be Mildmay."

Mildmay has a knife in his boot. This is not, in fact, generally obvious to the layman; he tells no one, and keeps it around as more of a pointy security blanket. He has yet to whip it out for anything in Luceti, but here it is, a small, sharp butterfly knife.

Mildmay also has a scar, red hair and, thanks to that scar, an impressive slur. So it's perhaps a bit sloppy, when he shouts back at towards Kay's room: "Kay, there's a fucking monster in here! Jump out the window, I'll hold 'em off!"

Which is a shame, really, because he was looking forward to meeting this Donatello fellow.

It takes a moment or two for Kay to put together the shouting with the fact that she's invited over a half-man, half-turtle (as she's come to think of him) for dinner. Fastening the top button of her dress as she hurries out of her bedroom, she's torn between concern and the massive desire to roll her eyes.

"Mildmay, stop--" she manages to sputter out as she crosses the room. "That's our guest!"

Don holds his hands up as best he can without dropping the pizzas. He's seen butterfly knives in action and he doesn't really like having them pointed at him. Also, this aggressive greeting is making him have to throw out everything he had unconsciously assumed about a person named "Mildmay".

In a squeaky, not-very-monster-like voice, he manages, "Hi Kay! Nice to... meet you in person?"

This catches Mildmay unawares. He nearly shouts: "Why didn't you fucking tell me he was..." Mildmay looks back to Donatello. Besides tall, green and scaly, Mildmay had not really taken much in the way of observation. After a moment, he says, in a slightly softer, slightly more perplexed, tone: "...a turtle?"

What the fuck, this place is so fucked up, everything is awful. He is blushing bright red up to his roots in embarrassment. "Sorry," he says, after a moment. The knife goes back into his boot with a quickness that betrays his skill, but he doesn't think anyone will notice. Mildmay doesn't really think a fucking turtle would know much about fighting.

"If I'd known you were liable to pull a knife on him, I would've," Kay says shortly. Donatello can't help being a turtle; she's not about to draw unwarranted attention to the fact that he is. That'd just be rude.

Of course, now that the 'pretend he's not a mutant turtle' plan has backfired entirely, she has to take a different tack. Say something to try and smooth things over and change the subject as quickly as possible. "Probably should've mentioned it. Come in, Donatello, it's good to see you."

A fucking turtle might know a lot more about fighting than one would think, and Don definitely notices the skill with which Mildmay handles that blade. Thinking it might be a good idea to keep the man's hands busy, Don offers him the pizza boxes.

"Kay tells me you've been recently introduced to pizza. I hope you'll like at least one of these."

"Why the fuck wouldn't I-- never mind." The idea of inviting beasties into your home for biscuits and gravy doesn't really sit well with Mildmay, but maybe weird fucking shit happens wherever Kay and this turtle motherfucker-- Donatello, like he's some bourgeois playing it rough-- are from. Mildmay gives up. This is stupid.

He takes the pizza with little grace to contrast the quickness of his earlier movements; he's a fighter, not a... pizza... guy. He looks up at Donatello, mumbling through his scar to cover for his own embarrassment. "Yeah, the cheese things..."

Kay just wants to get through this part as quickly as possible, ideally skipping to the point where everyone is eating and fairly comfortable with each other. She shuts the door behind Donatello and searches a little desperately for something to say. "It smells great."

Lead everyone over to the table, quickly set up a TV tray to set the pizza boxes on. "And I, for one, am famished. What toppings did you get?"

Don points to each box as he names it, so everyone will know which pizza is where. "Plain cheese, pepperoni, and this one is called Hawaiian. Hawaii is a small kingdom in the Pacific Ocean; it's going to be a state in a few years. They grow a lot of pineapples there."

He's going to act like everything is normal, and maybe Mildmay will stop seeming so eager to stab him.

Mildmay, at the moment, is not so eager to do anything save find a rock to crawl under and die. Why to they let him talk to other people? He should just become a anchorite and scare children through his little peep-hole like Theodosius Pratley down in Ramecrow. Obviously, that's the only kind of social interaction he's any good for.

Mildmay takes the pizza as quiet as hired muscle and sets it down carefully on the table Kay's so painstakingly set out, wondering if he should try to make everything look nice. He decides he's way out of his league, there, though, and so he just sits down next to the table, waiting for everyone to start eating so he can. He'll lapse into silence entirely if no one rouses him, which, let's be honest, is exactly what he hopes happens. At this point, he figures being ignored would be a blessing.

Kay, meanwhile, figures that awkward silences are probably the main enemy here. "Oh, we're making Hawaii a state? I've always wanted to visit." Hawaiian culture was actually massively trendy in some respects when Kay was a child, and so she's got a fairly rosy opinion of the place: something something island paradise, something something pineapples and ukuleles, et cetera. "So it's got pineapple on it?"

That's a clever idea--well, an interesting one, at least. She wouldn't have thought to put fruit on a pizza, but it sounds worth a try. Now, let's all sit down and eat things. "Mildmay, do they have pineapples in Mélusine?"

"Exactly." Don opens the box and helps himself to a slice, but he has just enough table manners to not start eating until everyone else has taken a piece.

After a moment-- spent largely in the confusion of having been addressed at all-- Mildmay says, "we got pines, and we got apples, but I don't know how you'd mix the two." Or why. But he's taking about cheese-y bread with an ambulatory turtle; perhaps today is just a day for revelations.

Seeing that Donatello has taken a slice, Mildmay does too. It's at random, but he ends up with the Hawaiian pizza anyway. Great. Whatever. It's food.

Kay goes for the Hawaiian pizza specifically, then takes a small serving of salad and pouring herself a glass of water. "Pineapples're a fruit. Dunno why we call 'em that, they're not really pine- or apple-related."

The sweetness of the pineapple balances out the tang of the tomato sauce better than she might've expected. "This isn't bad. So how've you been, Donatello?"

Okay, so Mike was right. Don eats his pizza and tries not to talk with his mouth full.

"Not too bad, considering. The draft was... interesting."

The real answer is less upbeat than that, but dead friends are probably not a good topic of dinner conversation.

Mildmay is happy to lapse into silence once more. He'll listen and, if he's lucky, sneak out the door when no one's looking. Slowly, the feeling of The Mirador's soirees comes to mind; people talking about shit Mildmay doesn't care about while he sits in the corner and feels like a fool. Then again, it's his fault, this time. Then again, isn't it always his fault?

Mildmay eats his pizza and listens about the draft.

"I imagine it would be," Kay says dryly. 'Interesting' seems like a massive understatement, to hear tell of the draft from the journals. It's also probably not the best topic of conversation when they're eating pizza slathered in tomato sauce. "Glad to hear you've been getting back on your feet since. It was awfully quiet while you all were away."

Don smiles into his pizza, a kind of dry amusement. "I'm not surprised. They did draft a quarter of the village."

And then the turtle talked about fighting in the war, which was perhaps one of the more surreal experiences in Mildmay's more recent recollection. At least Mildmay's getting pizza out of this.

"That's what I heard." Rupert had mentioned as much a day or two ago, and it really explained a lot. "Sounded like unpleasant business all around."

Kay's still genuinely intrigued by the idea of the draft--part of her would like to see it for herself--but there's no denying that it's not exactly a parlor game. "You know, I've gotta thank you for your book recommendations. I've really been enjoying them."

"Mm." Don perks up at the change in conversation. "Which ones did you read?"

Mildmay is just gonna fade into the background, now. If someone talks to him specifically, he'll answer, but otherwise he'll sit there eating pizza, staring off into the middle distance.

"I got a hold of nearly all of them," she answers. "Still have to find Gravity's Rainbow and a few others. I've read a few of them so far."

Kay ticks them off on her fingers. "A Wizard of Earthsea, The Once and Future King, A Game of Thrones...I'm in the middle of Dune right now. They're all--well, they're really interesting." She smiles, poking at a lettuce leaf with her fork. "I liked most of 'em."

"Dune has sequels. I'm not sure I mentioned that." Don turns to Mildmay, noticing his prolonged silence. "Did you get a chance to read any of them, or did Kay keep them all for herself?"