8441/Topside Training time

Topside Training time
Date of Scene:	22 July 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Pippi, Alopex, Leonardo

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Pippi has posed:
     Pippi had once let it out that there was a place she found top-side that she liked to hang out and train. Not a place that even Alopex knew. And she would totally be willing to show it if she could go topside because although the Lair is very nice and everything Pippi was beginning to wail a little too hard on the 'industrial strength super bag' that Donatello had hooked up for her a few nights ago.

    So, the moment that the manhole cover was moved aside in an alley, Pippi was up and out of the hole, giving a soft cry of "freeedooooom!" -- as she headed immediately for a fire escape to ascend even higher! "C'mon c'mon c'mon this place is pretty cool it's very useful and I promise like no one ever goes up there ever and it's really great for training and I can't wait to show yoooou!"

Alopex has posed:
    The pup's enthusiasm was palpable, so going along to find this training area seemed like a nice idea. AS SUCH, Alopex is coming up in Pippi's wake. She was visibly amused by Pippi's energy, "I'm right behind you, Pippi, just keep going!"

Leonardo has posed:
The turtles like going topside, too. For years, Splinter forbade it as he taught them what he wanted them to know, but boys will be boys and they snuck out from time to time. Yes, even Leonardo, and while the punishments and extra chores afterward sucked, it was never enough to keep them from dreaming about life on the surface.

Now, things are different. He's gone to the Flatbush area of Brooklyn, a short jaunt from the Lair, and while Pippi is moving the most excitedly of the three, Leo has no real trouble following them. She's not exactly being quiet. Besides, if they're going to go out with the issues the turtles and company are dealing with, an extra pair of very capable blue-masked eyes wouldn't be bad to have on their side. "Stay in sight!" he calls ahead, leaping over a rooftop obstacle, then flipping past another.

But, really, they had him at 'training.'

Pippi has posed:
    Once they hit the roofs, Pippi was more like herself, and she got to show off just a little. She was fast, and the extra strength in her legs helped her vault over alleyways (even though she tripped once or twice), but didn't have to be told to stay in sight -- she wanted to lead them somewhere. Somewhere that was super cool, and she was genuinely thrilled to have both Alopex and Leonardo tailing her.

    Where they're going is a building that looks like it's seen better days. It's an old, inner-city school where the lower floors have been rehabbed into a community center, but since there's no way for good access to the rooftop playground, it's been left to the air -- and occasional visitors. Pippi leads them up, drawing up the fire escape (and now minding her noise), she checked for any occupants inside (and Pex might see a tell-tale Pippi-drawn White Spider graffiti with an arrow pointing up as they go) -- and as Pippi strong-arms part of the fence out of place, well enough room for even Leo to slide in comfortably, they could see why she liked it.

    The playground is old fashioned, before people got worried about metal bits. There's a huge jungle gym of strong, welded metal. There's a slide that someone's bent bars to replace steps. There's swings (mostly broken), and one of the push-powered merry-go-rounds that if you didn't hold onto the bars it'd throw you right off. There's even see-saws up here.

    "I mean, just look at this place!" Pippi states excitedly, spreading her arms. "It's built for agility training!"

Alopex has posed:
    It was a fair journey to Pippi's little playground, but once there she can see why Pippi would enjoy it. It just seems like a good place to let loose, for one, no one really around, and... well... it's a playground! Why not? "I like it, it's open, you can do a lot with the stuff here," she noticed the spider mark, "Maybe even meet people here, hmm?"

Leonardo has posed:
Leonardo catches Alopex's attention long enough to give her a questioning glance as the path they take continues along with no clear end in sight, then he shrugs and keeps going. There's no reason not to trust that this will be fine, though Pippi's idea of what's safe may differ from his. It almost surely does.

"So where are.." he begins to ask, just as the mutant dog is getting to the school building with the fenced-in rooftop, which he soon sees for what it is: an old playground that would probably never be built today, neither in the style it's in nor the location. Too much of a liability concern.

Ducking his way through, he straightens on the other side and immediately goes about a visual sweep of the area. "Not what I expected," he admits, "But if it ends up being a safe place to fall back to..I don't know. You could get trapped up here pretty easily if you aren't careful. How much have you used it?" In other words, how much damage has Pippi caused to the run-down equipment?

Pippi has posed:
    "Ah, a lot. I came up here sometimes when I wandered too far from the place Alopex found me. I slept under the spinny-thingie a few nights before I went back to the parking garage." Pippi explains, and she gives a wry little smile. "It's safe. You can't get in unless you can bend the fence bar up." Pippi bends the bar back down most of the way, and gives a grin. "I fixed the ramp on this side with one of the bars from the chain-thingie-seats, had to bend it into place but it holds pretty good. One of the up-downs was broken, an' I kept on tripping on it so I bent it down a bit --" and she gives a soft 'eeh-heeh...' "an' yeah. You can get in over the fence. S'wat Ghost Spider did when I met her here. I figured it was the safest place. It's up high, so you can't get in unless you can go over, and the stairs can rattle on the lower floors."

Alopex has posed:
    It appears any concern Alopex may have had is satisfied. "Safe, high vantage point, hard to access without an ability to fly or 'sling', I suppose, it's not a bad place as long as you aren't being chased or tailed, I figure," Alopex muses as she roams a little, giving the 'spinny' a little push. May be the first time she's really interacted with anything in a playground like this.

    "Good spot, Pippi," is added before Alopex takes a seat on the 'spinner' for a moment, "So you mentioned agility training, is that what you work on up here?"

Leonardo has posed:
Leonardo moves over to inspect the fencing that was pointed out, the tail ends of his mask fluttering in the breeze up here. "High vantage point as long as nobody else can see down here from another area," he points out, eyes sweeping over the area in all directions. "I'd still be careful about accidentally leading anyone over here if you need to get to a safe place quickly. It's not impenetrable." That may or may not be a too-big word for Pippi. "But it's good for other things. Not bad, Pippi." It's some kind of praise, at least.

Next, he checks out a few of things making up the playground, inspecting them for strength and integrity. A push here, pull there, tapping of the metal with a knuckle to see if he can find any weak points. "Yes, what kinds of agility training did you have in mind?" he wonders. The swords are at his back, safely stowed.

Pippi has posed:
    "Inpene... in pena... isn't that a kind of spaghetti?" Pippi questions at the big word -- she's trying, honest! -- and she gives a nod, rubbing the back of her head. "I'm tryin' to be careful. I don't wanna risk anyone." she admits to Leo, and she watches. The spinner spins. Whee. The equipment is, surprisingly, pretty stable considering its age.

    And at the question of training, Pippi's ears prick forward a moment, and she looks like she might have forgotten something.

    "Oh, well, I figured it'd be a good place ot train for anything, kinda... mostly 'cause I thought the place was pretty cool and I'd been setting up stuff 'cause I used to do training before and I remember some of the stuff I did..." she trails off.

Alopex has posed:
    The fox gives a little smile. At least the pup is trying! "It means that it is hard to get into this place," she offers before standing back up. "Hmm, well, how do you use the equipment then? It certainly isn't typical equipment, but there are different ways to use everything. Just walk us through what you do up here when you are training?"

Leonardo has posed:
Leonardo steps back away from the various playground aparratus, crossing his arms as he takes on a stance with his legs slightly wider apart, helping with his balance. "Right. It doesn't look completely safe to me, but for most things I don't think it'll be a problem. I still wouldn't make too much noise if you can help it." He comes from the school of thought preferring silence and quiet over all else, something he's determined his brothers don't always fall in line with.

"But, yeah. How about you show us the ways you like to use it all," he suggests, nodding as a follow up to Alopex's encouragement for a demonstration. "Mikey would probably like it up here, but all he needs is a good skateboard park to keep him happy."

Pippi has posed:
    Pippi gives a nod, and then takes a deep breath. Her tial wags slightly as she glances around, and then she takes off!

    It's clear that hse's a little rusty, or that she's more used ot doing it on four legs. She weaves in and out of the hanging chains of the broken swings first, bobbing and ducking through like a boxer before she swings to the see-saw, one arm out for balance as she wobbles, then travels up towards the fulcrum, then down as the board swings down. Clamboring up the slide is no trouble, and she wobbles slightly as she slides down, on her feet (most assuredly against playground rules!). Her eyes are wide open. She's got a big grin on her face, her ears flapping in the wind as she runs, and baseball-slides under the lower rungs of the jungle gym, reaching out and grasping one of the vertical bars and swinging herself around she skids to a stop, and then pulls herself up on the bbars, jumping from a couple until she gets to the tower in the center of the mass of metal, and she pants slightly, and gives a thumbs up.

    "There's no tunnels or anything, but it's good for a warm up!"

Alopex has posed:
    There's a lot of different paths that Alopex could visualize but Pippi still takes one that isn't quite what the fox had considered. Still, it's a good route and it's easy to see how it could help with Pippi getting more nimble if she kept at it. "Not bad, not bad at all. There's room for improvement, but we all have that in one way or another. I'm thinking balance may need nudged a little. I can show you some kata routines that focus on that, as a start."

Leonardo has posed:
Leonardo changes positions as Pippi goes through her run, giving him a better view in a few places. He's clearly watching attentively, neither saying nor doing anything to interrupt the pup from her attempt to cleanly clear the obstacles she's made up for herself. Once it's over he's now near the see-saw, nodding slowly. "I can see what you mean. It could also have things mixed up when it comes to what you need to do, and the order to do them. That's one way to keep it from getting too stale or easy."

Pippi has posed:
    "Yeah! Runs aren't supposed to be the same way twice, they'd put little things down an' Nate's mom would walk different depending on what the squiggle on the thingie was." Pippi explains. "There's always a lot of yelling though. I'm not used to it being so quiet." she explains, and then she climbs down from the jungle gym.

    "Alopex said it was probably time to increase my training though, 'cause I'm getting really good on the katas I've been shown."

    Her tail is wagging pretty hard. "... probably because I've been behavin' and not coming up here."

Leonardo has posed:
"Everything is based on proper form and technique, so if you can master your katas you're ready for the next steps," Leonardo explains based on his point of view. The fox and the hound will be able to account for that one way or another, given their own experiences. Something from Pippi sees his head leaning toward one side. Did she do those dog show competitions? He'll have to ask another time. For now, he scans the rooftop location again and says, "Let's spend a little more time up here then go get something to bring back home. I want to map this out from above."