[Li isn't used to being comforting in any capacity. There's a lot of reasons for that, from being around people who don't require comfort to being around people who would reject it if she offered it. With Donnie, however, she seems to be able to say the right thing sometimes, and it feels surprisingly nice to be someone capable of helping others in this way for once.]

I'm not used to it, either. I had the other Lis, but we didn't really talk much. We did watch TV with each other, though, and sometimes we patched each other up after fights.

[It's not a lot of past experience she's drawing upon as she does this, this attempt at trying to be there for someone else. Would she be better at this if she had grown up normally? Undoubtedly, but she thinks she's doing okay at this regardless. For someone with as little experience as she has, this is all she can manage. It's enough. And even if it's not enough, Li knows Donatello won't be annoyed with how ineloquent and blunt she is. He just doesn't seem like the kind of person to get irritated by such things.

Is this what having a friend is like?]

I'm trying, [she says softly, looking as caught off-guard as she feels by that comment. The idea that she might be good, even if only for little chunks of time, makes her feel warm all over, like coming into a heated building after a cold night in Harbin.] I - I know I'm probably going to make mistakes. All of this is very new. But I'm doing my best.

[Granted, her best had involved dropping a lot of people. That, though, was just training. It wasn't malice. Li hopes he understands the difference between the two and can see it in her.]

That sounds good. I don't think I've ever gotten to go to a cafe with someone like that before, just because I wanted to. It sounds nice.