Hogwarts AU: New York City

[serinusniger]

It's been days.

She doesn't know how many. But if must have been days. There's been food, there's been the occasional sleep.

Not enough of either.

Dinah has told them... she can't remember right now quite what she has told them, but it feels like she's told them everything. Like there's nothing in her lefty to tell them. She'd tell them more, if they asked her.

She gave up trying to escape a long time ago. She gave up hoping for a rescue not long after.

Now she's just waiting, and hoping it ends soon.

Comments

[mnt_leo]

Raph disappears down an alleyway as Leo and Don quietly converse a few feet away.
Try as Leo might, he just can't seem to keep his ever schooled expression in check.

Mike, as is his way, begins to babble.

"Here. It's clean as far as I can tell, but then, it's not as if I'm fool proof, you know? There could be anything on this that I'm not detecting with my usual bag of tricks. Or there could be nothing at all. Maybe the nothing at all is the real clue. What are you thinking?"

[interrogoiterum]

"Not a lot," Renee admits, holding the paper up and squinting at the print on it. "Except maybe that there's something not magical about it? What does the footprint mean?"

It's rhetorical, mostly.

[mnt_mike]

There's something about the way that Renee says footprint that jogs Mike's memory, causes his face to drain of color, and causes him to look up and over at Leo.

There's a whistle down the alleyway, a clear sign Raph has found what he was looking for.

Don reaches out for Leo's shoulder, gives it a reassuring squeeze, and then disappears down the alley. Leo looks over, sees Mike staring at him, and turns away.

"...nothing good."

[interrogoiterum]

Renee says nothing. She gives Leo only a glance, and looks at Mike, raising a questioning eyebrow.

Is she going to have to ask the question?

[mnt_leo]

"It's a long story..."

"And," Leo cuts him off. "One best told somewhere safe. Somewhere not here."

There's a crackle of electricity down the alley, along with a flash of blue. And then a few seconds later a whiff of ozone reaches them. If they listen closely might be able to hear Raph talking to someone.

[interrogoiterum]

Renee turns her head towards the sound of Raph's voice and nods, folding the paper into half, and then quarters to stick it in her back pocket.

"Where are we going?"

[mnt_raph]

"Not entirely sure. Raph's got a friend in town. A muggle, drives a yellow cab," Mike explains, turning his attention towards the alley.

Raph comes lumbering out, with Don not too far behind, shoving what looks like the handset of a rotary telephone into a bag.

"Case is on his way. Be here in ten, five if there's no traffic." Raph turns on a dime and squares off against Leo.

"Is it true?"

"Is what true?" Leo replies.

"Oh don't gimme that, Leo. What Don says about the note. Is. It. True."
Leo looks towards Don, who shrugs sheepishly.

"Maybe."

"Maybe. That's the best you got? Maybe?"

Mike moves to put himself between Raph and Leo.
"Raph...now's not really the best time," he gestures...well the everything around them, including Renee.

[interrogoiterum]

Renee is right beside Mike, putting herself between Raph and Leo in the same way she puts herself between Raph and the object of his aggression whenever Mike isn't there. And next to Mike when he is there.

"Keep it for later, okay? You can punch him out later."

[mnt_raph]

Raph takes a step forward, and even though this puts him well into Mike and Renee's personal space, his eyes never leave Leonardo.

Mike instinctively reaches for Renee's hand.

"Oh you're damn right I can. And I will."

"Raph, back off," says Don as he puts a hand on Raph's shoulder.
A fraction of a second later Raph turns on Don, arm raised in a fist. The taller brother flinches.

"Enough!" This time it's Leo. And he follows it up with a string of Japanese.

Raph snorts in displeasure, but backs down, going so far as to distance himself from the group until Casey arrives.

[interrogoiterum]

Renee squeezes Mike's hand, and then drops it as Raph finally backs off.

She shoots a questioning look at Mike, but she doesn't expect an answer. Yet, at least.

[mnt_raph]

After Raph is out of arms reach Mike chances a glance at Renee and offers her a weak smile.

Don takes the opportunity to go and check with Leo, and the two quietly confer until interrupted by the screetching tires of a yellow cab taking corner far too sharply. The sounds only get louder, and soon there're headlights bearing down on them as well.

"Looks like Casey's here," Mike murmurs to Renee.

[interrogoiterum]

"I don't know if I can stand being around another of Raph's friends," Renee mutters. "He's got terrible taste in friends, have you noticed?"

[mnt_mike]

"I don't know," Mike whispers back, his thumb strokes the back of her hand. "Some of them are pretty hot."

The headlights stay on high, and a shape steps out of the car.

"Yo, Raph? That you?"

"Why don'cha just announce it to the whole freakin' neighborhood, fuckin' moron."

"Oh ho ho! This is the thanks I get for dropping everything to come and cart your hokey ass around?"

"Dropping everything. Really. Were you holdin' everything in your right or your left hand?"

Raph's accent only gets stronger the longer this exchange continues.

Don couldn't possibly roll his eyes any more without causing himself physical harm. Leo says nothing.

[interrogoiterum]

Renee rolls her eyes at Mike, but it's not obvious whether that's because of his blatent PDA or because Raph's being Raph.

She darts around in front of her fellow Gryffindor and smiles sweetly at Casey.

"You must be Casey. Hi, I'm Renee. We really appreciate what you're doing here. It's really kind of you."

Unspoken is especially for putting up with Raph's bullshit.

[mnt_leo]

Casey was just about to level another insult Raph's way when Renee enters his field of vision. It's almost as if his vision has been replaced by a soft focus lens and Dreamweaver has just started to play.

"Well hello, Princess," he says running his hand through his hair in an attempt to look cool.

The brothers all turn to each other, eyebrows raised.

This can only go poorly.

[interrogoiterum]

A pause, in which Renee's sweet British politeness freezes for a second.

"Yeah," she manages. "Hi. This your cab? Thanks for that. C'mon boys."

[mnt_don]

Don is impressed.
Leo is impressed.
Raph ... is Raph, and is far too entertained by seeing his friend than really giving much thought to the fact that he's just hit on Renee.

Mike, on the other hand, is trying his damnedest to NOT break out into a rather loud peal of laughter.

"For you, Toots? Any time."

Raph takes Shotgun, which leaves the other four to pile in the back of one of New York's cleanest Yellow Cabs.

Which...isn't saying much, by the way.

[interrogoiterum]

"Chaaaaarming," Renee says, propping her large umbrella up between her legs and making the space issue much worse by fumbling in her pockets.

"Welcome to America, right?"

She pulls out her matchbook, and glances past Mike at Don. Do they need to hide their magic while they're in a cab?

[mnt_mike]

"Give us your tired, your weak, your hungry, and your strong-stomached, yearning to be free," Mike says with a snicker.

"Hey! I cleaned!" Casey complains as he slams the driver's side door and checks his mirrors.

Raph, turns to smack Mikey upside the head and sees Renee thinking about the matches. "Case's cool, if that's what you're worried about."

Don turns, curious..."Those are pre-charmed, I'm assuming?"

[interrogoiterum]

"Yeah," Renee says. "I'm just wondering if we need to get one going in here or can it wait 'til we get there?"

[mnt_raph]

"We ain't goin' far," says Raph as he turns back around and puts on his seat belt.

"Nah, we're just to Hell's Kitchen. Won't take long. Ain't like we're going to Jersey or anything."

"especially the way he drives," Mike adds under his breath.

"I heard that, Mikey. You know you're always welcome to get out an' walk, if you don't like my driving."

[interrogoiterum]

Renee shrugs and puts the book back in her pocket, but not after nudging Mike in the ribs briefly with a smirk.

[mnt_don]

The rest of the ride is pretty uneventful.

Raph and Casey keep their own company by mostly discussing Muggle sporting related activities. At one point there's a play by play digression of the last Yankees' game.

Don spends most of his time fiddling with the knobs of something that looks suspiciously like a Star Trek tri-corder.

Leo is quiet, his attention focused on the buildings that pass by at a break-neck pace.

Mike attempts to be as entertaining as possible to Renee.

Until eventually the cab comes to a screeching halt outside a rather unimpressive looking brownstone.

"We're here. Casa sweet casa. Okay here's the deal. This is my Mom's place. She lives on the first floor, but I've got the whole basement apartment to myself. We just gotta get in the house without her hearing us, otherwise there'll be questions."

He shifts the rear-view mirror around to take a gander at what everyone is wearing.

"Any purple or red you got on you should take off or cover. This is Purple Dragon territory."

[interrogoiterum]

"Oooh, exciting."

Renee lives in East London, so she's used to gangs. This is proper New York gang activity though, so it's very West Side Story. She gives herself a quick glance over on her way out of the cab, and looks up at the building in front of her.

She can be quiet. And she knows her boys can, too.

[mnt_leo]

"These guys don't dance," Mike says to Renee, knowing exactly where her mind went. "I know because I've asked them."
Zing!

"Pipe down, Mikey," grumbles Raph.

Then, all suave like...so really the opposite of that, Casey exits the cab, and makes his way for the small set of stairs that leads to a basement doorway under the elevated stoop.

Normally it'd be Mike who took point, but Raph's more familiar with this place and switches on all the lights as he comes into the room. Everyone else files in one by one, until eventually Casey locks and bolts the door.

Casey's apartment looks exactly like what you'd expect a bachelor pad of someone like Casey to look like. There's a wall of quasi-functional tvs on one side of the room, a beat up fifth hand couch holding court on the other. Pizza and take out containers are everywhere, and the only cold thing in the fridge is beer.