milliways_bar | (no subject)

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!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"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.

"Typically, the kind that make one smile rather than run away screaming," April quipped in reply, and gave Lando a quick wink.

"And should someone wish to offer you that kind of surprise, would that be welcomed?" He can never quite tell from her body language just how engaged she is. And while he has never shied from the chase, he has learned when it's better to know the territory, lest there be the wrong kind of surprise waiting.

"I'm assuming you mean the kind with the smiles and not the kind with the screaming," April laughed, eyeing Lando carefully. She had no idea what he was getting at, but she didn't mind flirting. He was Lando Calrissian, for crissakes.

He could respond with something a bit lewd. But that isn't his way.

"I always like to make my friends smile, April. Always."