milliways_bar | (no subject)

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It wasn't quite summer yet in New York, but it was close enough. The weather had been clear and hot, but thankfully hadn't quite reached the point where it was oppressive. That said, a change for the cooler wasn't unwelcome, and when the front door opened to reveal the t-shirt-clad form of April O'Neil, the wry quirk to her lips suggested she was pleased enough to step over the threshold into the familiar confines of Milliways Bar.

She'd been around, but rarely for more than a few minutes together, generally simply checking in or using the bar as a way station between her New York and late-1800s London. Today, though, April thought she'd linger awhile, if only to take note of the growing sea of unfamiliar faces, and perhaps see a few familiar ones, as well.

Seating herself at the bar, she ordered coffee -- Large, with lots of sugar and cream, and Bar still knew just how to make it -- and opened the copy of the New York Times that had been tucked under her arm.

[OOC: It's been awhile; please feel free to interrupt her!]

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"I am very well, April. Life has treated me well, here and at home. And you?" He takes a seat next to her, his smile same as it's ever been.

"I can't complain," April answered, and that much was decidedly true. "Things have been pretty quiet, but you know how life is. One day you turn around and months have gone by without you even realizing it."

"Yes. Which would probably explain why I haven't seen you around of late. Surely there must be something interesting that's kept a woman like you busy, though. I doubt you let life just sneak up on you." He keeps on smiling, and orders a stim tea.

"Ah, well." April chuckled, and gazed down into the pale brown of her coffee. "Sometimes, it's nice to be normal for a little while, you know?" Even if your interpretation of normal was as skewed as hers.

"I suppose I know what you mean. The stars know, being the war hero has made me appreciate merely being a businessman again. But you've always seemed quite normal. Is there something you haven't told me?" And unlike many, he doesn't consider normal to be either compliment or insult. It's merely how most people are.

Had she never told Lando about the boys? April considered, but couldn't remember. "I thought for sure I told you about my family," she replied, her eyes lifting to his as she took a slow sip of coffee.

"You've mentioned that you have one, and I got the impression that they are a bit unconventional, but I don't think you ever went any further." Lando is of course interested, even if family dynamics are not his field of expertise.

April had to laugh, the sound bright. "Unconventional is a good word," she grinned. "They're giant, talking, ninja turtles. Well, some of them." Her smile quirked. "Maybe you know Raph or Mikey? Raph's on Security, and Mikey bartends from time to time."

"Turtles..." Lando considered this. Having met Snowball, he knows it's not beyond the realm of the possible that she really means turtles and not members of a turtle-like alien race. Then again, that could also be the case. "How are you related to giant talking turtles? You're far too pretty to be a turtle yourself.

"Besides, I've met Raph and Mikey, and both seemed quite human."

"They used to be turtles," April laughed. "Got turned into humans, here." Perhaps not so unusual. "And we're not related, but they're still my family, you know?" Her fingers went instinctively to the small, golden locket at her throat.

"Turned into humans...well, that's different." A pause, to absorb this better. "And how did you end up adopting them...finding them in the first place?" At least Lando does understand a little about found family, or expects to understand as the years pass and he gets to be Jaina's "Uncle Lando".

"Well, that's-" April hesitated, laughing. "God, it seems forever ago. It's a weird story, actually." Weren't they all? "In short, I was working for this guy who turned out to be evil. Typical, megalomaniacal, you know?" Right, because obviously those types were commonplace. "He had these machines, and was using them to rob banks, and when I put two and two together, he decided it was time to-" She paused, making a slashing motion at her throat. "The boys saved me."

"There are droids on your version of Earth?" That grabs Lando ahead of the rest of the story, so he reviews it and tries to imagine this pretty young woman in harm's way.

"And how did they get involved?"

"Yeah, they were a lot like droids, actually." April would know, since she helped program them. "The boys were living in the sewers, and that's where I ended up when I was running." It was strange, to think to back then, and being so inherantly helpless. "It was a pretty lucky coincedence, for me." She cast Lando a sheepish smile.

"So a group of sentient oversized turtles emerged from the sewers to rescue you..." Lando can't help but grin. "I've heard stories just as strange. The entire rebellion was apparently saved by a farmboy who rescued a senator and rebel leader. Or so I've been told.

"Are hyper-evolved turtles common on your world?"

April laughed, and shook her head. "No, they're not. Which was why they were living in the sewers." She paused, her smile quirking. "Still do, actually."

"That doesn't sound like a pleasant way to live. Which would explain why two of them work here, I guess.

"So what made them into talking turtles? Magic as well?"

April snorted. "Well, the amenities are a bit better here, but you'd be surprised how nice they've managed to make the sewer." She felt a bit like she should ask Bar for one of the comics, but relented. "Well, radiation is the popular theory, but since I wasn't there, I can't say for sure. I think it was a combination of things, actually, but the bottom line is when they were babies they got mixed up with an icky chemical. It changed them."

Lando makes a face. There is no weird science in his world (aside from the Force). There isn't even much in the way of popular fiction about such things in his era. "How is that possible? A genetic mutation that radical would have to be in vitro. At best."

"Ahhhh..." April shrugged, sheepish. "I don't know. That's a good question, but unfortunately not one I have the answer to. I just know that's how it went down."

"I guess I'll have to accept it, then. Or just call it magic." He smirks, though is uneasy.

"Anyway, your family stopped your former boss, and you fell in with them? No wonder you seem comfortable here, after that sort of...weirdness."

April chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose I've gotten used to the weird. Although this place still surprises me, sometimes."

"But I think neither of us would want it any other way. What's life without a few surprises?" Lando flashes the kind of grin that says he could be one of those surprises, or could just as easily let her wonder about that.

Still as charming as ever. It was good to see that some things never changed. "Boring," April answered with a coy grin. "I think I'd much rather have the surprises, myself."

"And what sort of surprises do you like?" It never hurts to ask.