[HP AU]

[mnt_raph]

"An' you're sure this is the right address?" Raph asks again, for what Mike thinks might be the millionth time.

"Yes, I'm sure Raph. For like the millionth times. I told you," the smaller boy says sighing. "I read the map. I followed Donnie's instructions to the letter. Just...be still, look tough, and try not talk so much. Your accent kind of a dead give away that we're tourists, okay?"

"Bite me, Mikey."

"You'd probably like that too much," he says with a waggle of his eyebrows as he presses the doorbell of the Montoya's East London home.

Comments

[interrogoiterum]

Renee looks at him over a pair of imaginary glasses.

"Dinah?"

Self-centered much, Raph?

[mnt_raph]

Why yes. Yes he is. It's so good of Renee to notice.
He blinks in a moment of confusion, and then realization dawns.

"Right. Yeah, that too."

Though you know, this is what happens when you start working for The Man...

[interrogoiterum]

Thing is, though, it shouldn't, which is why Renee's going to figure out how it did.

She swallows the rest of her water.

"Yeah?"

As in, is he on board?

[mnt_raph]

Raph sighs loudly as he turns to look in the direction of the table. Now granted, he can't really see the table, but he knows its there.

Truthfully, there was never any question about whether or not Raph would go. Of course he'd go. Not only would he never leave his brothers, but...give up the opportunity to kick someone ass? Especially when they deserve it?

Not a chance in hell.

It's just...he really hates it when Leo makes decisions for him. Really hates it. Asking. Would it have been too fucking hard to ask.

"Leo'd get his ass handed to him without me."

[interrogoiterum]

"Mmmmm hmmm."

Renee agrees. Because from what she's learned of Leo these last two years, he'd totally rush in and get himself killed.

Raph would too. But Raph has her to keep an eye on him

"Wait there."

She hops down from her barstool and walks over to the table.

[mnt_leo]

Mike has yet to return with the map, but Don and Leo have taken over the majority of the table and are in full on logistics mode when Renee returns.

Leo looks up at Renee as she approaches.

"How is he?"

[interrogoiterum]

Renee shrugs with one shoulder. He's Raph.

"Did you mean it when you said he was right and you're sorry?"

[mnt_leo]

Leo gives her an appraising look before answering.

"Of course."

There's precious little Leo says that he doesn't mean.

[interrogoiterum]

Grabbing a chair at the table she jerks a thumb over her shoulder.

"Then go ask the question."

To Don: "What have you got so far?"

[mnt_leo]

Leo can't help but just...blink at her. Did she just tell him what to do?

And yet, even in the midst of his confusion, Leo finds himself getting to his feet and heading towards the bar.

It's only when Leo is outside of the bubble that Don looks up from his notes.

"I can't believe that just worked," he says turning to watch Leo go. "And...Leo can't believe it either. Nice work."

He leans back in his chair, stretching as he does so.
"Well, not a whole lot, to be honest. But it's better than nothing."

A roll of parchment has been spread across the table. On it there are numerous arithmancy equations chickenscratched in the margins. In the center, a hand written note from Dinah to Leo.

It's the vaguest love letter to have ever vagued a vague.

[interrogoiterum]

"You'd be surprised how far common sense'll get you," Renee says.

She leans over and reads the note, then wrinkles her nose.

Ew, straight people.

"I feel like a creeper just reading that," she says.

"I think that there are charms that'll find the person who wrote that. It helps that it's, um.

"...that is a love letter, right?"

[mnt_don]

"Honestly? I'm actively trying my level best to not comprehend the contents of the letter, and would appreciate it greatly if you'd assist me in that endeavor."

Don reaches for what's left of Mike's chocolate milkshake.

"But as for the charm, yes there are. I'm attempting to write out the specific parameters we'll need to make sure we get the reaction we want, but I'll need Mikey to help me with the bulk of the casting. Little anklebiter's always been the best at charms."

It's said with love.

"So you're coming with us, I take it?" She did say five.

[interrogoiterum]

"Looks like," Renee says levelly. She's still looking at the letter, but it's with a thoughtful expression that has nothing to do with the words on it.

Mike is the best at charms. Mike is also the best at human emotions. He'll be able to work it.

"I mean, someone's got to level out the sausage fest, right?"

And to make this whole thing a proper five-token band.

[mnt_don]

"Good. I can scratch that off the large list of Narrative Concerns." The way he says it, it almost sounds like he really does have a list with that as a title.

"This is nice," says after silence descends over the table. "Not the circumstances, of course. But this area seems nice."

[interrogoiterum]

"It's not as nice if you're a Muggle," Renee says, distracted. "Wizards kind of see it as quaint, and there's this place to hide from the muggles."

She shrugs. "It's home. I like it. Do you have a quill?"

There's notes she wants to make.

[mnt_don]

Don, having grown up in the Foster Care system, understands completely.
Don, being Don, not only has a quill, but several colors of ink, and even a couple of ball point pens.

Because seriously, quills? SERIOUSLY?

He reaches into his bag, a reach that seems to go much further than the bag's geometry should really allow, and retrieves several.

"For the record, I tried to talk them out of it. Just showing up unannounced, but...they never listen to me."

[interrogoiterum]

"I'm not mad at you," Renee says. She starts to write on the back of her hand, then writes on some spare parchment Don's also left on the table.

Just a few charms notes.

"I'm hopping furious at those two, but I'll get over it."

[mnt_don]

"They excel at eliciting that kind of response from people, always have," he says with a sigh.

He's just craning his neck to see what she's taking note of, when another small jade turtle figurine catches his attention. This one glows purple.

"Here he comes." And sure enough Mike can just now be seen heading into the bar area. He's just about to walk towards where he knows the table to be, but pauses...no wait double-takes at Leo and Raph seated at the bar next to each other. It appears like they're talking civilly, so Mike moves back towards the table.

"Mike, over here," Don calls.

"Oh there you are," he says entering the protective bubble. "SO they're not killing each other. That's a bonus. I have maps. All kinds of maps. Maps of places we've already been, and others we've never dreamed of! So many maps I need another map just to find them all."

[interrogoiterum]

"I just wanted one," Renee says, holding her hand out. "Largest New York City possible?"

She also now looks over her shoulder at Leo and Raph.

She wasn't expecting it to take this long.

[mnt_mike]

"But they were on sale," he says grinning his most innocuous grin. "And I thought it'd be kind of fishy if a random stranger in a map store just up and bought a really big map of New York City right before a group of overly-ambitious young men decided to descend upon it for the purposes of wreaking havoc and fucking things up."

Don even looks up at this, raising a single eyebrow.

"What? You don't have to look so surprised that thought of that."

[interrogoiterum]

"It's a muggle store. Tourists go to New York all the time."

She opens up the map, flicking between Brooklyn and Manhattan.

"Alright, give me your wands."

She holds the book in one hand, and holds out her own wand hand to the boys.

[mnt_mike]

"Aren't you going to buy us dinner first?"

Don rolls his eyes. "Might I ask why?"

[interrogoiterum]

"Cause they're the best things to mark you onto the map with," Renee says. "you can have them back in a second."

[mnt_mike]

Mike looks to Don.
Don looks to Mike.

"Just give us a second."

Both of them reach for their wands and whisper a spell in a language that is most certainly not Vagueness and Latin.

Why yes, they have booby trapped their wands. Why do you ask?

[interrogoiterum]

Renee rolls her eyes at both of them, and takes the wands, and hers in the same hand. Mutters something that is vagueness and Latin and jabs the ends onto the page of the map.

Three question marks: silver, orange and purple, appear where she made the marks, and then disappear in showers of sparks.

Then she hands the wands back.

"Pumpkinbrains."