#NGL the one thing that's grasping me by the throat are the fashion possibilities

[jenuinely-speaking]

19Teens: HeadCanons

It's finally happened. I finally have HCs solid enough in one of my projects to post.

My only surprise is that it's in a new AU that struck me solid in the face out of nowhere fairly recently, and not from one of the ones I've been working on for the past year.

Go figure.

•Note: This will be added on as I work things out fully.

ANYWHO -- without further ado, I give you as the title states:

HCs of TMNTs in the 1910s AU

GENERAL-Minor Backstory

The brothers are, indeed, brothers -- born from the same hatching.

Pan Box Turtles (slightly curved shells where shoulder blades would be, that tapers down flat; yellow-green colored skin/scales)

Hatched and raised by Master Hamato Yoshi

He took them with his wife from Japan to America when he was assigned to the Foot Clan branch of New York City

Just like their parents, when the brothers speak, they have a Japanese accent; they also think and write in Japanese first and English second

When at home or among family, they speak Japanese; when among strangers, they speak English

Leonardo and Don are twins; not just as say-so, but born from the same egg

They are legit identical twins (same markings, coloring and scute designs)

In fact, they had been Conjoined Twins; their tails and surface area of their plastron had been connected at one point, but since no organs were connected, they were able to be surgically removed from each other when they were very young

Leonardo and Donatello are the eldest, having hatched a few days before Raphael and almost a week before Michelangelo

The brothers view Hamato Yoshi and Tang Shen as their parents (Okan/Mama and Otousan/Papa/Oyaji), really having no memory of their original home in the Hamato Gardens they lived in during their first year after hatching, and thus not really remembering their birth mother

When the brothers were still the loving pets of the Hamato's, they were often cared for by Tang Shen while Yoshi was out; they were deeply loved by her, and they returned the affection often (see the individuals below for their own way of how they showed this)

As much as Yoshi bares hate towards Oroku Saki for slaying Tang Shen and upheaving his life, the brothers bare equal disdain for the man, as they personally witnessed him murder their Okan.

When the turtles were almost 8 years old, they had been touched by the mutagen that had spilled in the sewers where Yoshi had them hide from a truck incident above ground; within a few weeks, they looked as though they were mutated human-terrapin hybrid 8-year-olds.

As the title suggests, they are 19 years old when they first meet April O'Neil and have their long-awaited showdown with Oroku Saki, now known as The Shredder

LEONARDO

Nicknames: Lee or Leonard -- Donatello is the only one to call him "Leon"

When he was a turtle, he returned Tang Shen's daily affections by following her everywhere and nip at her heels if he thought something was too dangerous around her (if she didn't move, he would go over to the thing he saw as a threat and hiss at it until she left the vicinity)

Like most turtles, Lee did not like to be handled even by the humans he loved, but he melted for scratches and pets anywhere on his body

If he felt he was lacking attention or had a particular itch, he would bump his head or beak against Yoshi or Tang Shen's hands

He would often have fallen asleep against their hands this way

Even though he is considered The Leader among his brothers, he willingly shares the title with Donatello

Is also the Doctor/Healer of the family, having first learned from Tang Shen when he was still a turtle, and later on from both his Otousan, as well from research alongside Donatello

Due to their unique biology, Lee is considered both a Veterinarian and Physician within the family

He has written many thesis journals about his and his family's physiology over the years

When he was ten, he started learning chemistry in order to make medicine for his family (with the guidance of Otousan)

Due to his physical caring nature, he is a natural protector (and worrier) and can tend to be a helicopter son/sibling within his family

He learned meditation very early to segway his worrying anxiety over his family

Possesses GAD - General Anxiety Disorder

Very OCD, not because it's a condition he has, but because the ease of routine and order helps tamper his anxieties

Raphael often coaches him separately from the rest of the family to ease down his OCD perfectionist tendencies on being a fighter/protector for the family

Had a mental breakdown from heightened anxiety that pushed him too far around 14-years-old

After a week of mental and physical rest, he was compassionately ordered by Otousan to discover a hobby that can take away his anxieties, similar to how his twin discovered engineering

It wasn't long after that he worked with Michelangelo and Donatello on building a garden in a separate tunnel; it helps both his anxieties on taking his time and patience to grow something living, while his labors help on feeding his family

When he is not among his family, he is often found reading doctoring journals or romance novels in his garden tunnel

Even though he is considered a young adult, the one thing that still calms him down the most on the hardest days/nights is getting head and shell scratch/pets from his Otousan until he has fallen asleep

If Otousan is not available for any reason, Donatello is the only one that Lee allows to see him like this (they are often caught napping together, with Don's hands rested over Lee's shell and head while Lee is splayed across his twin, though the rest of the family does not let on that they know about this)

He prefers to listen to traditional Japanese instruments or the gagaku recordings Otousan brought with him from Japan, as they bring him the closest to mental/emotional peace that was similar to Okan's presence

Even though he is a swords master, having familiarized himself with numerous bladed weapons and fights with twin katana, he finds the most fascinated bladed weapon to be the tessen, an iron war fan, due to its multi-use purpose

DONATELLO

Nicknames: Don or Donald -- Leonardo is the only one to call him "Tello"

As a turtle, he would return Tang Shen's daily affection by nibbling on her fingers

At first, she often thought this was his way to say he was hungry--but when he refused to eat what she would put down (including his favorite fruits) she realized he was giving affection

Unlike his brothers, he often enjoyed being held and was found being cradled by Tang Shen as he had one of her digits nestled between his beak and his limbs relaxed limply over her palm

He rarely would be able to get to sleep unless Tang Shen held him for at least an hour -- no one knew why he would do this, but Yoshi speculated that it was due to having shared an egg with Leonardo

Donatello will be the first to admit he is weird because he can't sleep without either being touched in some way (usually one of his brothers sleeping on him or draping limbs) or being completely shut within his shell

Because of this, he either rarely sleeps alone or doesn't sleep at all

Even though he finds it hard to sleep alone, he prefers to be left to his own devices during the day (unless he is needing assistance in something--Lee or Raphael are usually the voluntolds)

RAPHAEL

• His secret pleasure and pass time (that he shares with Leon) is going to The Strand movie theater. The technological bounds fascinate him, and it has sparked in him to not only study filmography, but create his own cameras, from still pictures to hand-held video cameras. He is currently in the middle of a project on figuring out the intense electrical means on how to build a securer system using silent shutter cameras that could be either sound or motion triggered.

• In the back of his lab, he does possess his very own dark room to develope and effort his own films (still life and moving).

• His current pain project is working on how to accumulate sound with with the moving picture, and he is almost at the point of breaking the secrets; Mike really wants him to teach how to do the edits on adding color, cause he thinks it would be a fantastic way to do a form of painting, though Don really likes the idea of adding direct color in general to make things more life-like.

• Thanks to his works on the cameras, he's created goggles that reflect his chemistry microscopic lens, telescopic lens, and added color lens on differing chemical tints to help with invisible/old tracks and clues.

• His favorite fiction series of all time is Sherlock Holmes, though he shares a special love for War of the Worlds due to having bonded over it with Leon (and helping him find his guilty pleasure hobby of space).

Nicknames: Ale (Ael) -- Raph only by his brothers

His main nickname started to help Michelangelo on pronouncing the last half of his name

Angelo just ended up calling him "Raph", instead, which stuck and slowly was used by the rest of the brothers

Called "Raph" mainly from Michelangelo, Lee and Don usually call him Ale out of habit

As a turtle, he would return Tang Shen's affections by laying/sitting next to her when she would be doing chores

Because he ended up growing from a runt to being larger than his brothers, he would often "help" Tang Shen with her chores -- bringing the next piece of cloth that needed to be folded, pointing out a corner that was missed on dusting or washing, and even eating the scraps from the prepared meals (though he would often only eat his share so his brothers could have theirs)

Because of this, he is often helping to care for the physical well-being of their home in the sewers and helps with the prep-work in the kitchen

He's the only one out of his brothers that enjoys pickles and onions -- he enjoys the intense, stinging flavors they give

His favorite snack is pickled kimchi, he can eat an entire jar if he's left alone with it

He learned how to crochet and knit from watching Tang Shen and picked up the hobby very early after mutating

All the blankets, pillows, quilts, coverings, and winter wear were made by Raphael

He knows how to sew (just like the rest of his brothers) but has very little patience for it due to the thickness of his fingers

He is often seen walking, sitting, or laying wrapped with one of his larger made knitted blankets and his favorite pair of knitted socks when at home

He has a thing with texture, and often prefers silk or light threads over wool and cotton, even though it is hard to come by

Even though it tries his patience, he enjoys doing embroidery work as a way to ease down after a hard day when extra training doesn't fully work

He is 100% OCD, and puts 100% in everything he does, but learned early on through Tang Shen to temper it down: majority of his anger stems from this condition, especially paired with his natural passion in all he does

He works with Lee to help segway his anxieties and perfectionism, so it doesn't grow to fester like how his own OCD nearly had -- they often end up in brawls in their one-on-one training because they frustrate each other on how very much alike they are but find it hard to communicate their understanding for each other

MICHELANGELO

Nicknames: Michel, Mike/y, Ange -- Angelo by Raphael

When Michelangelo was finally hatched, it was one of Yoshi's happiest days

He was afraid that the egg wouldn't make it, but when he opened the tub that held the lone egg and saw a baby turtle looking up at him, he said "So, you only arrive when you feel you're most needed."

(Funny enough, this becomes a common theme with Michaelangelo--his family believe he might possess a sixth sense of sorts)

As a turtle, Mike would return Tang Shen's affection by bringing her things; items she might be needing, items she might not be needing, random items from her balcony garden, bits of trash he found, and more than a few times he would bring her his food (the last one confused her, as she thought he was trying to tell her something was wrong, but Yoshi discovered he only did this if she ended up skipping a meal; he legit was telling her that she could share meals with him)

When he first heard her laugh because of him, it brightened his world beyond measure, and he would do his best to bring that sound out of her whenever possible--no day was complete without hearing Okan's laugh at least once.

With the mixture of wanting to hear laughter and bringing things, Michelangelo, by trial and error, learned what was helpful, what was joyful, and what was unpleasant or at least a good item but not for that time/moment

After their mutation, Mike immediately loved to dance; movement was something he enjoyed doing, and the more he was able to do, the better

He also danced because it brought him closer to Okan; one of his fond memories was of her and papa dancing and laughing in their small home

Mike started cooking alongside papa for two reasons; to spend time with him in a way that was helpful and have another movement that was Okan's he could be closer with

He ended up falling in love with cooking, and began to experiment almost immediately -- but only after he practiced a recipe to where he didn't need to read the instructions or need papa's help

It wasn't until after Lee build up his garden was Mike able to really experiment with recipes and broaden his cooking skills; he was even able to try his hand at some requests from his brothers

His greatest passion though is sewing; Mike loves making clothes for himself and his family

He really enjoys creating clothes that are matching sets, whether its for the family, or a matching set of men and women's clothing

He would often make something that he thought Okan would really enjoy having worn, but he really doesn't share those creations as when he shared it the last time, it made everyone very, very sad

If he needs to mend clothes or make adjustments, he would quietly and sadly take apart his Okan's unworn wardrobe to use the materials -- there are at least three outfits that he never touches, no matter how badly he might need their materials

Out of all the styles, he prefers making women's clothing, and even designing for women as he often thinks of Okan and often finds himself wishing they had a female friend or relative, mutant like themselves or not, that he could share his talent with and design specifically for her

He completely geeks out after he and his brothers first save April late one night from being a victim of some low-end members from The Foot Clan. Even though she had been retired from Fashion Journaling for nearly a year, he knew immediately who they had saved

He was struck with creative passion for a whole three months after they saved April the first time and when he wasn't training, cooking, helping with chores, or patrolling, he was tucked away in his studio designing and sewing up a storm; he created over eight new female pieces in that time, two of them being part of sets that could go with variations for himself and his brothers and papa, making a grand total of 18 outfits.

He often works and cooks with music playing from their phonogram that papa had brought with him from Japan

Mike listens to more modern, upbeat music, but will also put of classical music such as Vivaldi (much to Don's pleasure) or Jazz (a reprieve to Raph)

Even though he is cheeriest and more upbeat of his family, he is the one most go to talk things out with; he is a very good sound board, and his sewing space is often left open for this purpose, as Mike often enjoys talking while he works

He has worked with both his papa and Don when it comes to his internalized anger and depression; he doesn't like showcasing it, or letting his family know about his own struggles, so only goes to one or the other if he really thinks he needs their help

Don has taught him assets on how to externalize his anger in healthy ways, something that Raph had done at an early age but that Don had to learn the hard way

Papa had taught him how to calm and swim the storm that is his depression; from Splinter having gone thought the same thing, and still does on a daily struggle, he teaches Mike the best ways that he has noticed that's worked, but encourages his youngest to test what might work for himself, as well