A rooftop in NYC ...
OK, so now it was raining. So what? Raphael blinked a couple of times, eyes finally settling around half-closed as the water spattered on his snout and scalp and dripped onto his mask. It was only rain, like the dark clouds steadily pushing it their way were only weather. Y’ got that here in New York, and even if no-one was keen on analysing the crud that was likely mixed up in the city’s rain, it didn’t do anybody any harm.
He crouched where he was a moment longer before rising to his full height, stretching his legs in a few steps along the rooftop and ignoring the annoyed glare Leo threw in his direction. Aw, c’mon … they’d been up here for how long, now? Leo called it ‘an exercise in patience and observation’. Raph called it a waste of time. Sittin’ and watchin’ was all very well when you had a particular target to sit and watch for, but dropping the four of them here on a rooftop with no objective other than to … yeah. Man, he could do that just as well at home. Or in a movie theatre. At least there he’d know what he was supposed to be watching.
He walked as far as the building’s corner, one ear cast back to the voices of his brothers;
“Hey, dudes, lookit us! We’re gargoyles!”
“ … Yeah, sure, Mikey.” Donatello filled in the response that the other two left blank, head retracted just a little into his shell against the rain. “You figure we oughta go home soon?”
“It’s only rain.”
Riiight, Leo. Raph looked out over the city, rivulets of the stuff running over his carapace. Note the grim, long-suffering tone. He and Leo agreed on the ‘only rain‘, but with Leo it was like an inconvenience, a hardship to be nobly endured. Raphael simply didn’t care. “Splinter won’t be too happy if your training lands us all with a cold.”
“I don’t think that’s very likely.”
Oooh, snippy. A smirk, barely keeping his face turned away. Raph might not care about the rain, or even about catching something, but needling his older brother? That never got old. Up above, there was a quick flicker of lightning, a roll of thunder right behind. He looked up, relaxed, appreciating the scene. “That’s right overhead.”
“Uhh, yeah.” Donnie followed the gaze, by now drawn so far in that only his eyes and the top of his head were showing. “I don’t want to be a complainer, but does anyone else remember that thing about being up high during a thunderstorm?”
“Yeah!” Mikey exclaimed, jumping to his feet as another, larger flash lit the sky. “It rocks!”
Raphael couldn’t help but laugh. “Y’know, I gotta agree with him there.” Not many places in NYC you could get such an unobstructed view.
“Not quite what I was thinking of, guys.” Donnie’s barely-visible brow wrinkled a little. “Add to that, if this rain keeps up we’re gonna have to take the long way home cos the drains’ll be full, and -”
“OK, OK!” Leo snapped, raising his hands to the flickering sky. “We’ll go home. Anything to stop you guys complaining!”
“Rudimentary safety tips is hardly complaining, Leo.” Donnie likewise stood, adjusting the bo stick across his shell.
“Aw, c’mon, guys …” Mikey brushed rainwater off his front, oblivious to the fact that it made no difference at all. “What could possibly … ?” He stopped, watching in surprise as the loose ends of their masks - all four - suddenly started to lift as if by an invisible force. “Heyy, lookit that!”
Raphael shivered a little, but not from cold. It was a reaction to a sudden feeling all across his skin, a brisk, startling little prickle that reminded him of … electricity? Oh. Shit.
Raph looked at Donnie. Donnie looked at Raph. Then as one they bellowed, “DIVE!!”
Too late.