#Raising A Tello AU

[imagionationstation]

do you have any ocs?

*looks at roof* *rocks awkwardly* I've had... So many OCs over the years. For basically every single series that I've ever enjoyed🫠*clicks tongue* I wrote fanfiction in notebooks for them for yearsss before I started writing solely for the main characters.

I've honestly never been asked before.

Pretty much never thought I'd be asked... Heh.

They're. They're all, uh. They're fun. And cringe. Robots, humans, mutants, aliens. Um. Whatever interests me and fits a narrative? That I come up with. Sometimes to fit a series, sometimes to create a new season. Been working on some new OCs recently :p

The most recent OCs that I'm working on are Yoshi and Cam. They're both in development for the Raising A Tello AU. Next Gen vibes.

(Spoilers for Raising A Tello)

Yoshi is Karai's strong-willed, slightly entitled, and genetically half-human and half-mutant son. He's an only child and, subconsciously, very, very jealous of the attention that Donnie gets from Leo, considering the Karai is often neglectful bc of her duties with the Foot. (He was an unexpected pregnancy. She kept him and loves him, but she's not up for being a mom). He and Donnie often butt heads even while (in the far future) they lead their team together. (Even though Donnie is still the tech guy, he wants the honorary title/some control. Comes with being raised by your bossy leader of a brother. Children copy who they admire. Classic child psychology)

Camela (renamed by Leatherhead, but everyone calls her Cam) is a Kraang experiment who finds her way into the Mutanimals care and becomes a part of their group/family. She's the oldest on the Next Gen team but also the quietest (which benefits her talents) and considers Donnie her best friend. Cam's a chameleon (yes, I know, the name is cringe because she was named by a child mkay) and, while she's not a martial artist, her family taught her how to embrace her reptilian nature. She's a natural in speed and stealth, and this makes her an expert in both retrieval and distraction for the team.

(Yoshi has already been introduced. I'm still figuring Cam out. Other OCs in progress but not ready for an introduction yet)

[bringingourrealitys2life]

Raising a Tello (A03 Link)

After the events of “A Big Blowout”, the turtles agree to assist Bishop in cleansing the city of what’s left of Kraang chemicals and tech before any unsuspecting humans can stumble upon it. Along the way, they come upon a hidden base that isn’t as empty as it should have been, and obviously, battle ensues.

Other than Donnie getting knocked into a table of the Kraangs’ latest experiment, it goes without incident, and the brothers return to the lair, mission successful! Eager to examine his alien prizes before handing them over to the Utrom, Donnie disappears into his lab, and his brothers head to bed. Everything is normal…

…Until it isn’t.

Screams awaken the lair, and frantic brothers follow them, horrified to find an infant Donatello sobbing his heart out on the lab floor.

Several hours later, Bishop reports that they might be able to reverse the change, but there will be no way to return the lost memories. And so, the brothers are faced with a tough choice.

Introduce a stranger, or raise a brother.

Well…

How hard could child care really be?

[bringingourrealitys2life]

(“These” sounds like more than one cup, so- box of them)

He’s a little shy, but very grateful!

Despite barely being able to voice a stammered “Th-thank you” and dashing back to their sides at the first opportunity that presented itself, they couldn’t get Donnie to shut up after he returned.

“She’s the nicest turtle girl I’ve ever met!”

“She’s the only turtle girl you’ve ever met.” Raph chided as he took the box, letting Mikey rummage through it. Donnie was not to be deterred. “Which makes her the nicest!”

“Do we drink it?” Mikey asked eagerly. Raph rolled his eyes. “It’s some kind of competition. Do you wanna get poisoned?”

“Awe.” Mikey set it back down as Donnie argued, “No, she’s too nice for that! She would never ever poison anyone! Wasn’t she nice, Leo?”

“Yeah. Nice.” Leo muttered absently as he searched the crowd for the missing child, his mind on the devices on her neck and ankle. He wondered if the person responsible for putting them there is nearby.

He slowly collected his younger brother into his arms, tearing his gaze from the crowd. “Let’s… Let’s just focus on the fashion show.”

“Alright.” Donnie consented with a subtle disappointment as Mikey chimed in, “Oh, I found the perfect thing!”

Leo and Raph exchanged a silent look, sharing in a mutual agreement to keep a closer eye on their youngest brother. They didn’t know who was out there and they didn’t want to find out.

“Come on.” Leo brought a smile to his face. “Let’s go see what getup Mikey dug up this time.”

@tmntausummit

@bringingourrealitys2life

[sad-leon]

Masterpost :D

Previous Masterpost contents under the cut, but I'll likely be more active over on @leons-art-pit from now on

thank you everyone who has supported me over the past nearly two years <3

!! Please don't repost/dub my comics!!! !!

Art Tag: #sad•leonart

Instagram || BlueSky || Ko-Fi || Patreon

RedBubble! || Doe Keychain <3

Finding Home: (#finding home au)

Summary: Leo was dropped and left behind when Lou Jitsu escaped Draxum's lab. He was then raised by Draxum and Big Mama- finding a name for himself in the battle nexus to prove himself worthy to Draxum

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10 (WIP)

Galileo

Kraang Leo: (#k!leo au)

Summary: Leo faces off against Prime in the prison dimension and gets infected, and while he regained control of his mind, his healing journey has only just begun

Fic Link

Two Shades of Blue: (tag: #rise2012crossover)

Summary: Leon accidentally portals himself to the 2012 universe in a moment of panic and has to learn to love himself to get home

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23

Lonely Leo: Leo is kidnapped by Draxum as a kid. Five years later, he escapes, but believes he needs to redeem himself before he can go back home

Main Post, Fanfic, AU Tag

Shadow Leo: Leo is hit by a crystal that curses him to become part of the shadows. He lives in Donnie's shadow until the invasion

Main Post, AU Tag

Animatics

Devil Town v2, Fireworks Beneath my Shoes (Swanatello), Saline Solution (Death Wish), Angel Eyes and Basketball (Death Wish)

Animations

Future Leo and Little Leo, CAS Casey, CAS Uncle Tello, Donnie (unfinished), Gemini Twins

Stickers!!

AroAce Future Leo, Leo holding a Pride flag, Undercooked Leo, TSOB expressions

[colibrie]

Fang AU DTIYS: Compromise

What's this? Me showing up late with a project that was meant to be short but then got way out of hand and became huge...couldn't be me. This is my submission for the wonderful @trilobitepunch DTIYS. I can't draw beyond stick figures, but trilo is a wonderful artist who deserves to be celebrated, so I decided to write something instead. For full context, I highly recommend checking out the full Fang AU tab on Trilo's page. Having said that, congratulations on your milestone trilobug, lets do this!

"Uh...Raphel?"

"Hey CJ," Raph grunted, reveling in the burn of well worked muscles as he pressed the barbell up and away from his chest. Even with the events and marks of the invasion fading further into the past with each day, he didn't think he'd ever again take for granted the ability to control how he moved his body. Whether through the familiar burn of pushing his limits like a boss or fiddling with the puzzles that he'd been assured would help him regain better depth perception in his damaged eye, all of it was beautiful. All of it was...

"It's Raph, remember? Or Raphie. You're pretty much part of the family now kid and pops the only one who regularly bothers with the ael part."

"Oh!  Right, sorry Raphae...Raph..."

"Eh, don't sweat it," Raph rumbled, heart squeezing fondly as he set the barbell on its stand and sat up to give the now rather awkward human his full attention. "Didja need somethin?"

"I was just wondering if you'd seen S-Leo around," Casey Jr asked, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

Their future boy was doing a decent job at settling in and moving with the chaos that made up the Hamato family line, likely a benefit from having been raised by alternate and older versions of them. But that familiarity was a doubled edge sword, and ingrained honorifics like "Sensei" and "Master" were slow to fade from the kid’s vocabulary. That went for personal titles too. Raph still had to bite back the urge to laugh when he remembered the fish-eyed stare Donnie had given the first time CJ had slipped up and called him "Uncle Tello". Somethings were just too priceless, and April had been happy to print him a copy from the security stills. While that version of Raph hadn’t been around to raise Casey Jr, the habit of calling him by his full name was one this version of himself was determined to break.

"Raph hasn't seen him," Raph replied, leaning forward to snag his work out towel from its usual spot next to the dumbbell rack. "Have you checked his room."

“Mhm. I also checked the kitchen, the arcade, and the comic nook. There’s no sign of him.”  

"Huh. Maybe he's on his skateboard?" Raph pondered as he wiped the towel across his face and neck.

As a family of awesome, world-saving, kick-butt ninjas, it wasn't odd for them to disappear from time to time. No matter how close they were, sometimes space was needed. Mikey would bake, Raph would organize his plushies, Leo would read comics. Donnie had made an art of disappearing from chaotic or boring situations, starting from when they were kids. The soft shell often needed periods of quietly productive tinkering before he could fully join in on the rough and tumble fun preferred by his harder shelled siblings.

What pushed it into the territory of weird, borderline concerning, however, was the lack of heads up. While they currently didn't need permission to leave the lair, the events of the invasion, and more recently the disaster with the GDF lab, had been weighing on all of them. There was a tension in the lair, a near tangible need to see each other, to be close enough to reach out and touch to confirm that, despite everything, they were all still alive. Mikey was alternated between fine and stage five clingy, constantly draped over Raph’s shell, slinging arm around April, or leaning into Casey Jr as he taught the young man how to cook. The twins had been all but glued at hip throughout their recovery. For Raph, it was a constant effort to not give in to paranoia every time he woke up from dreams of pink slime and pleaded apologies, a herculean effort of will to not lunge forward, ninpo ready, whenever one of the twins turned to fast. Heck, even Barry had all but moved in for a while, choosing to engage in his and Splinter’s endless bickering rather than be separated. It had taken a full month before he was fully confident that the serum was working as intended, and another month and a half before the Yokai had been even semi comfortable returning to his apartment.

When they had had to leave, it had never been without a thousand heads up and an iron clad enforcement of the buddy system. So, for Leo to apparently just disappear...

"Have you asked-?"

They both jumped as the front door to their home slammed open, and a loud, irate voice filled the air.

"Alright, where is he?!"

"April?"

Sure enough, the petite form of their adopted older sister was stalking towards them, drenched to the bone and nearly steaming with irritation.

"Whoa, what happened to you Comma...Apirl?" Casey asked, raising his hands and backing up toward Raphs greater bulk as the pissed off eighteen-year-old girl came into swinging range. CJ was a smart kid.

"Donnie was supposed to meet me at the park this afternoon to run some code tests on our tracking system," April growled, wet shoes slapping the concrete as she stomped over to stand by them, water rolling from clothes and hair alike to form a small puddle. "I figured the fresh air, and space would do him some good. And I told him to be on time, cause the weather app said it was supposed to rain at three."

"Wait... are you saying Donnie never showed up?" Casey Jr asked, trepidation clear in his tone as April tried to fruitlessly squeeze the moisture from her hair.

"Uh huh. I'm not trying to turn "soggy" into the next street style," April affirmed, sarcasm thick as she peeled off her sodden backpack and jacket. "Oh, when I get my hands on that boy! I know he's been in hermit mode the last few days, but not even a heads-up text?! He better build me a new laptop if this one kicks the can! I... wait... what's with the look’s boys?"

"You haven't heard from Donnie at all?" Raph pressed, something in his gut sinking as he and Casey Jr looked first at one another, then at April. "No texts, or calls? What about social media posts? Has he made any ta day?"

"No... now that I think about it... it's been kind of quiet on that front too," April replied slowly, her previous scowl rapidly shifting to a concerned frown as she looked at them. "What's going on?"

"I can't find Leo," Casey Jr sighed, one hand running nervously through his hair. "I didn't want to freak everyone out by sounding a code red if he was just chilling somewhere... but if he's missing, and now Donnie's gone radio silent..."

"Crap," April muttered, eyes widening in realization.

"I'll send out the code," Casey Jr said, the kids face and body language shifting into what they'd all come to call his "super soldier" mode. "Raph, find Mikey and send him to the Hidden City. We can't risk them revealing themselves by targeting unsuspecting Yokai. I'll head to Tío's and get him to shut down the portal there.  Have Splinter call Draxum, then start sweeping the sewers in-"

"Whoa! Slow down now," April cut in, quickly stepping forward to lay a restraining hand on both boys’ arms. "Let's not overreact yet."

"We've lost the twins April, this ain't an overreaction!" Raph rumbled, hands clenching as anxiety for his brothers burned hot and acidic in his veins. "They'll have a head start, and if they've gone rouge..."

"If they'd gone rouge, we would have heard about it by now," April countered, her touch sympathetic as she squeezed his bicep reassuringly. "It would have been all over the web if two rampaging mutants were murdering people downtown, and Hueso is on high alert for anything that might resemble the virus in the Hidden City. Since we haven't heard either, that means they are probably still safe for now. And if they are having a tough time, the last thing we should do is spook them by overreacting, hear me? "

"Yeah, I hear ya," Raph breathed as Casey jr simultaneously deflated with a muttered "yes ma’am".

"Cool," April confirmed with a nod, huffing as a bedraggled clump of curls flopped across her forehead. "Alright, here's the new plan. I'm going to hunt down a towel and my spare set of clothes. You two are going to calmly find Mikey and Splinter, fill them in, and meet me in Donnie's lab. It looks like we're going to test the new tracking system after all."

"On it, Commander!" Casey Jr replied sharply, snapping into a full on salute before taking off towards the kitchen.

"...Dang," April muttered after a few seconds of shocked silence, "He hasn't done that in over a month..."

"Kids stressed. Not gonna lie, Raph gets the feeling."

"I know big guy," April replied, stepping in to hug him as best she could. "Go get Splints, and then we'll find those dumb-dumbs and give them what for."

"Yeah, Thanks April," Raph replied, arms lifting her in an quick bear hug before moving to find their father. Pizza supreme, they were lucky to have a big sister like April.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, how does this new system work again? I mean, Donnie said he already had trackers on all of us, so why did he make a new one?" Mikey asked from his spot perched atop Raph’s shell as they all huddled around Donnie's computer, watching Aprils' fingers fly across the keys.

"Think of it less as a new system and more of a super charged expansion pack," April replied as her right thumb spammed the space bar. "Donnie wanted a better way to not just track but get ahead of his and Leo's flair ups. Their new chips are, in theory, supposed to transmit bioinformation like cardiovascular rate, respiratory rate, and core temperature. He wanted to include brain waves and neurological patterns, but we agreed to hold off on brain stuff until the base enhancements are out of beta."

"I don't care if they make it all the way through omega. Absolutely no "brain stuff"". Splinter cut in sharply, tail lashing back and forth in an agitated way that had Raph instinctively scooting them back and out of said appendages strike range.

"MmmhmyeahtotalyANYWAY," April quickly agreed, though Mikey watched as a swift click of the mouse swooped several files into a file labeled "Unfolding Genius".

"Point in being is that with this, I can both track the twins and monitor their bio signs for indicators that something has triggered them into a hunt. I had it set up for the trials we were going to run today, but as soon as I disengage that protocol, we'll be able to find both in no time."

"What were you testing today?" Mikey asked, leaning forward to watch as wave after wave of purple binary code rolled across the screen.

"Just some technical stuff, attunement to baselines. Nothing very interesting," April replied nonchalantly.

"Uh, how were you going to get a baseline without-" Casey jr started to ask skeptically, only for the computer to cut in with an obnoxiously loud sound of triumph.

"We got our boys!" April cheered.

"Where are they? Are they hurt? " Raph asked, nearly knocking Mikey from his perch as when the big guy lunged in towards the screen.

"It says they're at... the old lair?"

"Donatello said the area was unstable. Why would they go there?"  Splinter asked.

"Who cares? We gotta go get 'em before they move," Raph replied, and Mikey quickly adjusted his grip as the gentle giant lumbered to his feet.

"I don't have access to the full biometric spectrum yet, but their heart rates suggest they are calm and stationary for now. Mikey, are you getting anything on the mystic end of things?" April asked, wheels screeching against the labs concrete floor as she pushed away from the desk and reached for her bat.

"Not really?" Mikey hedged, lips puckering as he turned his attention inward to poke at their collectively connected ninpo. Their family tapestry was whole once move, thank pizza, blue and purple once more interlocked with red, orange, green, silver-gray, and aquamarine. Yet...

"They're still here, but they're...looser than they should be. Duller. Like they're missing some of their pizazz."

"Then let’s go pizazz things up!" Raph barked, making warmth bloom in Mikey's bones as the big guy turned and stalked out of the lab. Though his biggest brother still had moments where he defaulted back to treating Mikey like a baby, Raph always took his opinion on mystic things seriously.

"Dad, you and April and Casey Jr stay-"

"Hey now!"

"I can help!"

"You guys stay here and prep the lair and the med bay," Raph pushed on, deep voice rumbling across the protests. "They may not need it, but it can't hurt to be prepared."

"We'll call you once we've got them," Mikey promised, tossing his remaining a family his warmest smile as he and Raph headed for the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The path to the old lair was painfully familiar, walls and tunnels covered with Mikey's once flawlessly colorful art, now shot with deep cracks and cavernous crevices that still stood as silent testament to the Shredders ferocity. Seeing it, even years later, made something deep in Raph’s heart burn with the urge to either cry or hit something.

They didn't come back here often. The four of them had never discussed it out loud, but the consensus hung like a shroud, a silent accord they'd all secretly signed in their hearts the day they'd scavenged the last of their possessions from the rubble. This place, even for all the happy memories they'd shared with it, was where they had both gained and lost their grandmother. Where home had been forever marred by devastation too painful to be near. The old subway station had been unfamiliar, rough and raw with new potential, but it was their future and all four had leaned into gathering, shaping, and modifying it with every conceivable comfort and curiosity to make that future their new home.

So why would the twins have come here? Had something happened? Were the bio-what-zits wrong? Why hadn't they come to Raph for help? They had promised they'd would, in those family talks with Dr. Feelings (and a rougher session or two with Dr. Delicate Touch). Both Donnie and Leo had sworn to be honest, to tell them if the krangy parts of them were taking over again. Maybe they'd...

"-ph...aph...RAPHAEL!"

"Gah!"

Raph nearly jumped a foot into the air as his baby brother’s shout was accompanied by dexterous fingers prodding at a soft, ticklish spot at the juncture of his neck and shell. 

"Aaaaaye! Mikey, what the shell was that for?!" he hissed, jaw flexing as he twisted his head to glare at his passenger.

""I've been calling your name for like the last five minutes!" Mikey scowled in reply, dark eyes returning the heat as they scanned his face. "You missed the turn off for the side door.”

"Oh...Raphs bad," he mumbled, turning away to pretend to look around and "reorient" himself before turning to head back the way they'd come. It was a stupid thing to do. Even half blown to smithereens he still knew these tunnels like the back of his hand, and so did Mikey.

"Soooooooooo...want to talk about it?"

"What "it"?"

"The "it" that's turning your Raph chasm into a Raph crater," Mikey pressed, leaning in closer. "You aren't subtle Raphie. Come on, spit it out."

"Nuthin. I'm jus worried bout the twins," Raph replied, grimacing at how weak and defensive the excuse sounded.

"They haven't moved at all in the last fifteen minutes. Aprils been sending me updates every few minutes to confirm it," Mikey pushed. "What else is rolling around in there?"

"Raph...doesn't like that they went off on their own. I mean, doesn't that bother you too? After all those talks and lectures. After that near miss with April! They oughta know better than to just up and disappear on us!"

"I mean, yeah, you're not wrong. They should have told us they were going out...But they probably wanted their own space, and none of us have been really good at giving them that as of late."

"It's for their own good! They know that! They agreed to it!" Raph growled, agitation growing in his gut as he turned left and stomped down another cross tunnel.

"That's probably why it's taken them this long to pull a Houdini. They've put up with a lot. Draxums checkups, restricted surface time... heck Raphie, we're like, super-limited-edition-mint-condition-lucky that they just went to the old lair instead of the other side of the city."

"So, what do you want us to do Mikey?  Cut'em loose in the Hidden City and hope to pizza supreme that they don't lose their cool and maim a whole bunch of Yokai?! Let'em go out with a "have fun, try not to kill any humans on the way home?!"

"I want my family back to normal Raph! I want to be their brother again, not their jailer!"

"And you think I don't?!"

"I think you-"

The happy jingle of Aprils ring tone cut through their budding argument, bouncing and rebounding off the concrete and rebar. Raph turned his head away as Mikey fumbled for his phone, the muscles in his jaw rhythmically clenching as he chewed over what to do or say next.

Deep down, he knew Mikey had a point. The twins couldn't spend their lives locked up at home. And if he was honest, neither could he. As close as their family was, and as reassuring as it was to have them near, the frustration of being continuously chained to one another was a steadily rising tide under the surface of forced calm. Donnie wanted to go out to the junkyard. Leo wanted to bother Hueso. Raph...Raph really missed hanging out with Casey, the nights were the two of them would meet up to spar and end up gushing for hours about the latest wrestling match and which moves they wanted to try out for themselves. The decision to limit both the information about what happened to a few and limit the family's contact with outsiders who weren't Casey Jr or April had made a lot of sense months ago, but...

"Alright, yeah. We're almost there. Tell Barry to hold off for now, we'll call if we need a portal," Mikey said, pulling Raph’s attention away from his thoughts and back to the dimly lit reality of the tunnel. "Uh huh...yep...I'll text you the level once we get to them, promise. Gotta go Apes. Love."

"Everything good?" Raph asked as Mikey ended the call.

"Yeah. She said she did some techno-thingamagiggy with the trackers and got a better signal. Both icons are in Donnie's old room."

"Oh..."

"Dad also called Barry but told him to stay on standby. And Barry agreed, so we have backup!"

"Cool big man..."

"And...um...I'm sorry-"

"Raphs sorry-"

They blinked at each other for a moment, before bursting out in soft peals of laughter that bounced down the path, warming the space around them.

"J-jinx!" Mikey wheezed, "you owe me garlic knots!"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll tell Hueso ta add'em next time we go...An we'll go soon."

"Soon?"

"Mhm. You're right big guy. We can't live locked up forever, and Raph's sorry for bein a jerk about it."

"You're not a jerk Raphie. You've been doing a lot to keep us safe. I'm sorry if I made it seem like I don't appreciate that."

"Already forgiven. Now, let’s go get our bozos back."

The original entrance to their old home had remained staunchly buried under tons of rubble, but the side entrance that had once served as the garage was still blessedly accessible to Raph's bulk. Water dripped from the ceiling, a softly rolling symphony of drip, plip, plop that beckoned them further in. It was not hard to find and follow evidence of the twin’s passage. Footprints, two sets, disturbed the thick layer of dust on the ground, and pieces of rubble had clearly been moved to widen the path.

Their bedrooms had suffered various degrees of damage from both the fire and falling rubble, and while his lab had been utterly destroyed, Donnie's bedroom had somehow maintained the most structural integrity. The hollow maw of the open door loomed as they approached, what little metal Donnie hadn't stripped when they moved ragged and rusting, hanging like broken teeth that warned against casual approach. Raph felt Mikey shrink back into his shell slightly as he crouched to peer past the door jam.

The twins were scrunched against the far wall, curled around one another on whatever was left of Donatello's bed. Donnie lay with his head in Leo's lap, long legs tucked to his chest. His goggles sat askew on his head, knocked off center by the hands were loosely pressed over his tympanum. Leo sat slumped against the wall; body curved protectively around his other half. The wicked claws of one hand drummed random patterns across the purple titanium of the battle shell Donnie wore while the other hand toyed with the tails of his mask. Soft hisses and churrs filled the air around them, words replaced by more instinctual vocalizations broken every now and then by a higher whistle or a deeper hum. Neither looked up at or acknowledge Raph and Mikey's intrusion.

Raph opened his mouth to call his brothers, but a quick tap on the shoulder redirected his attention to the other brother sitting on his shoulder, and the phone screen that was promptly pushed towards his face.

"They feel weird, lik thy rn't all there. Don't want to startle thm in here." Mikey had hastily written.

Raph quickly ducked back, tucking them against the outer wall before pulling out his own phone.

"R they full gone?"

"No, just loose. Think they're slippin in an out of it mentally."

"Any ideas? Raphs open."

"Operation BF-Prime?”

"Wow. Pullin out the big guns. Raph likes."

";D"

Raph stifled the urge to chuckle as his thumbs flew across the screen of his phone.

"Alright. Text Apes and CJ the plan, then head back the way we came. We're luring them out to the Atrium."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was easier to breathe here in the dark. The dark protected them, far away from the smells and the sounds and the eyes that always watched, always saw. It concealed their weakness, hid away the urge to lunge and claw and...

tap, tap, tippity-tapity tiptiptiptip…

He hissed weakly as the tapping broke through the buzz of their thoughs, tightening his hands as though smothering the ability to hear could smother the thoughts that raced round and round and round inside his head, wobbling nauseously between he, me, they, we, him, us at what felt like breakneck speeds. 

A reassuring purr rumbled from their...from Leo's throat in reply.

That was Leo. His twin. One of four brothers. He was Donatello. A genius. A scientist. He loved fashion and dancing and Atomic Lass, and Leo loved the dramatic twists in soap operas and winning and basketball. He had to remember that. Had to organize and amend and enforce it on the thrashing, howling thing in his skull that though in plurals and endlessly chased and craved connection... to be together...together…

Taptaptaptap-CRASH.

They were on their feet in an instant, claws unsheathed, and teeth bared as they warily looked around. The shadows had not changed, but new smells had entered the safe zone. Familiar, so familiar. Family.

Togetherbite...

Nono...no....nobite…

They hissed in displeasure as they stumbled from their den, disapproval and discord swirling in their heads as they followed the path, and the scents, towards the open space in the center.

Those who belonged together...togetherneeded...theyneeded...Bite? No. Nobite. Promised. Promisedwho? Significantpromise? Yes! Promised...

Something sprang from the shadows, arms the size of trees pinning their arms down before hauling them back and in, lifting their feet clear off the floor.

"Mikey now!"

They screamed as fire exploded in their synapsis, thrashing and snarling as bright marigold and blazing red crashed into that thing in their skull, slamming it down with a devastating suplex before binding it in smoldering gold chains. The colors peeled the thing back, pushing it down, down, down and out of their precious space. His space, his mind...

"Donnie!"

 "Mikey?"

The orange flames did not burn this time, permitting only the gentlest heat as they flew back to joyfully whirl around him. His little brother, happiness and sunshine and power incarnate. Their family's true north, constant and sure. He reached for that light, hazy purple seeking relief and finding it offered with open arms. Filaments of marigold wove a gossamer net, pulling him in and up until his head broke the metaphorical surface.   

"...be home in five. How they lookin?"

"I got through to Donnie, but he's kinda woozy. I'll work on getting through to Leo next!"

"I sure hope April is ready for us, because we are comin in hot!"

His body was hanging from something, limp legs swaying weakly as whatever held him moved forward in a run. His hands pawed mechanically at something firm and leathery, finding insufficient purchase against whatever held him still. To his right something akin to a lawnmower dying could be heard, high pitched keens sliding down to incoherent rumbles that might, if one were to be extraordinarily generous with the definition, be classified as words.

"Got him! Lee, can you understand me? Blink once for yes, and twice for no!"

Leo...

"GerOooooofffff," Leo moaned, voice guttural as it warbled on the edge of a growl.

His blue-clad brother was tucked under Raphs other arm, hands weakly plucking and scratching at their older brother's forearm in much the same way he had. Slitted pupils glared at their brethren, their...his fangs on full display, a silent warning, and ultimately a hollow one.

 Donnie could see it in the light that gleamed from behind those predators’ eyes, feel it distantly echoing from that thing in his skull that was still pinned down by red and orange energies. Leo was awake and rapidly regaining control over their-his, for the love of shell, his-mental faculties. He wouldn't be a threat to the family. If only Donnie could feel so confident of his own self-control. The world still felt...watery for lack of a better word, like it was contained in the cup Mikey used to clean his brushes. Colors and lights bled, melting down in big looping swirls as his mind fought to preserve the tentatively won separation of turtle and monster. The thing wailed, tugging desperately at the barren threads of his thoughts and powers, trying to pull him back in and down. It needed him. It was him. It was...lonely? Scared? Angry? Confused?

"Almost there Lee," Mikey's assurance pulled his attention back, the familiar sight and scents of their new home drifting into view. "Don't worry, Aprils got operation BF-prime ready to roll, so we'll have you feeling better in no time!"

Operation BF Prime... he knew what that was. He helped design it. With April. It had been his way to apologize, as funny enough, Hallmark didn't make a "sorry my freaky genetic makeup and unpredictable virus-based mutations made me hunt you down and almost kill you" card. So instead, he'd spent hours with her, first on the phone and then in person, coming up with safety procedures that covered the serious, the strange, and even some that were downright whacky. They had talked about what happened, and eventually even laughed. She'd promised that they'd fix things to...toge...

"Special delivery!"  Raph called, charging through the front door without slowing down.

"Main area. April’s getting the last piece."

Casey Jr's scent hit his nose hard, and a strangled hiss slipped through his teeth before he could stop it.

"Easy Dee. Hold your breath for a minute."

He did as he was told, desperately squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to force himself to think about the code. BF-Prime. BF-Prime. Prime. Part of the Alpha series. Top protocol, used for their "bad days" as April put it. B, not A. Not something they'd need Draxum for.

BF stood for...

He squawked as Raph’s arm suddenly disappeared. Limb’s flailing, he dropped into a nest of...pillows? Yes. Feathery soft, well-worn pillows and felty blankets that smelled of the family's detergent.

Oh right... BF stood for blanket fort.

He churred as instinct had him burrowing down, swiftly burying himself in the ocean of softness as Leo hit the pile with an undignified yelp. Gentle fingers tugged off his goggles, smoothing down the creases in his mask before slipping his noise canceling headphones into place. Something big, heavy, and luxuriously silky covered them both, trapping Leo against his back as divinely weighted warmth infused his tight-strung muscles.

Voices, blessedly muted by the protective cone of his headphones, rumbled overhead. Like the burble of water through the pipes, there but easy to ignore.  Less easy to ignore were the fingers that worked their way beneath the blankets and pillows to pry at the safety latches on his battle shell. He growled, mouth opening to snap at the intruder only to be met with something cold and semi-hard being pressed between his teeth. He instinctively bit down, and his mouth was quickly flooded by the refreshingly bland taste of cucumber.

"I know, I know," someone soothed, silky fur tickling the edge of his jaw as that someone adjusted the layers around him. "Bear with us Purple, you and Blue will be more comfortable if they take it off now."

He whined, fangs shredding pleasantly through the cucumber as the latches at his shoulders and hips flipped open. He dipped his head to chase that familiar touch as the weight of his armor was taken away, leaving the softest parts of him open and vulnerable.

"It’s alright, my clever purple. You can rest now; your papa is here."

Weight settled in around him, above and below, side to side, careful not to crowd, but close enough that he could feel their warmth. Leo shifted, rotating until he was laying fully across Donnie’s back, a reassuring pressure protecting his soft shell.

He sighed as cheerful tangerine tugged at the edges of his consciousness, wearily relinquishing his hold on wakefulness as he turned inward, following his little brother’s lead. The supernova that was his family's collective ninpo burst into life, rippling bands of color rich enough to put the aurora borealis to shame eagerly reaching out to draw him closer. Silver-gray, summer green, and vibrant aquamarine joined red and orange in holding back the thing, quieting its incessant howling until it was barely a whisper. He sagged in exhausted relief, swiftly followed by washed out blue as their family bundled them up and held them close.

"You dumb-dumbs," Red buzzed, worry and affection pulling them into its protection. "You scared the shell outa us."

"Sorry Raphie," Leo's blue slurred, sticking close to Donnie's purple even as Casey Jr's aquamarine stubbornly wedged himself in on his other side. "Didn't mean to."

"Why did you leave?" April asked, green sidling in, silently nudging him in gentle recognition when he buzzed in apology.

"Now is not the time for questions" Their father declared, silver-grey stretching to surround them all. "You boys need to rest and regain your balance, we'll talk when you wake up." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He wasn't sure how much time had passed before he woke, pulled from the loving tangle of his family’s network by his body's irritating biological needs. His mouth was dry and tasted of stale cucumber, eyelids itchy and gummy as he tried to blink sleep away from his eyes. His headphones had been knocked off at some point, leaving his tympanum free to begin picking out pieces from the low conversation flowing around him.

"So, who is going to..."

"Hueso said about an hour. Probably accounting for Leo time. So-"

"Dad's going-"

"-been down for a while. Should we wake them?"

"Donnie? Doooooonie. You awake?"

"No," he huffed, shoving his head further into the cradle of his arms when the voices cheered.

"Awake and talking! Good going Dee!"

"I am neither. It's a figment of your imagination."

"Uh huh. Come on big baby, sit up. I've got some flavorless juice here with your name on it."

Warm hands pulled at him, ignoring his grumbles of protest as he was propped upright. A straw slipped between his lips silenced him, but the intrusion swiftly forgiven when his preferred beverage washed the staleness from his tongue and throat. 

"There you go. Feel better?"

"Mmmm," he hummed, hand rising to take the cup as he gave up pretense and blinked his eyes open.

He was propped against Raph's plastron at the center of a frankly massive blanket fort. What appeared to be every cushion, pillow, blanket and quilt that the family owned had been piled into the living room, couches and chairs rearranged to provide a stable framework. April knelt to his left, dressed in the spare clothes that she kept in his lab. She seemed to hear his silent question, giving him an exaggerated grimace before replying.

"SOMEONE forgot to meet me at the park, and I got soaked on the walk here."

"Sweet Marie Curie, that was today?!" he gasped, his stomach twisting unpleasantly when April nodded. "I am so sorry April."

"It's alright man. I'm guessing you've been kind of out of it lately."

"Eh, not much more than any other day," Leo chimed in sleepily, and a quick glance to his right found his twin propped up against Raph's legs, firmly sandwiched between Mikey and Casey Jr.

He tried to frown, but like the drowsy smile he got in reply, it lacked any of the real power it should have held. Not when he honestly felt like he could easily fall back asleep if he blinked for too long. His mind was so blessedly silent, the thing muted by the collective weight of his family ninpo, and he was only prevented from drifting by a finger softly poking his cheek.

"Nuh uh, eyes open D. You can go back to sleep after you've eaten something," Mikey nudged, unrepentant as he forced Donnie to open his eyes once more. "Dad is on his way to pick up our favorites from Run of the Mill now. You don't want to miss that!"

"And, while we wait, you two can finally tell us what in the world made you two think disappearing like that was a good idea," Raph groused.

"Oh, yeah...that," Leo replied, voice carefully light and nonchalant as Donnie cringed. "It was really all a big misunderstanding. Dee had an idea, and we wanted to test it out first before we brought it to you guys. Must have lost track of time."

"Leo, you two were basically at alpha level coherence. That's a bit more than "losing track of time"," Mikey countered, his face dressed in earnest concern that border lined on distress, and Donnie felt vindicated when even Leo flinched away from it. "We were really worried about you."

"I'm sorry Mikey. We didn't mean for it to end up like that, I promise," Leo repeated, pulling Mikey in closer for a one-armed hug.

"What were you trying to test?" Casey Jr asked.

"Something, something, big-brained nerd stuff?" Leo replied with a wave of his hand. The attempted deflection fell flat amongst the cushions as all other eyes turned to stare at Donnie.

"I... was testing to see if it were possible for me to "reprogram" the mutations caused by the lingering Krang influence," Donnie answered stiffly, ducking his head as the atmosphere within the fort went tight with tension.

"You what now?!"

"Donnie!"

"And you didn't think we needed to know that?!"

"That's impossible!" 

"No, it’s not!" he snapped, neck muscles cramping as he jerked his chin up to glare at the last person to speak, Casey Jr. "Let us recall that I was the one temporarily bonded to the technodrome, and thus I have a far better understanding in regard to its functions than any of you! It was as technological as it was biological. It had functions and subroutines, and it processed information as data. Even if this thing isn't a full technodrome, it still processes information the same way and it is integrated with my ninpo. The same ninpo that lets me replicate any technology I can comprehend?! If I can study this thing, if I can understand its functions, then I should be able to use my ninpo to rewrite them!"

"If it were possible to rewrite krang matter, Uncle Tello would have-"

"That version of me didn't know what I know. I can do things he never even dreamed of."

"Ooookay, let's put that bit aside for now," April cut in quickly as Casey Jr's face darkened. "What were you specifically testing?"

"Nothing complicated," Donnie shrugged, trying his best to ignore the way Raphs unhappy objection vibrated through his leathery carapace. "I was trying to establish what kind of interface the thing requires to send and receive commands."

"And you couldn't have done that here?" Raph prodded.

"No," Donnie replied, shoulders rising as his tone unintentionally turned irritated and snappish.

"Why?" Mikey pressed.

"Because you are all-"

"-distracting," Leo cut in smoothly, one foot nudging Donnie's thigh under the blanket in a clear signal to shut up.

"Oh..."

"It's nothing personal Mikey," Leo soothed, "it's just with everything happening in the lair, it gets loud, and that makes it kind of hard for Donbon to concentrate."

Even after sixteen years, the ease with which Leo pulled together plausible explanations from strands of truth and slivers of fact astounded Donnie.

"That still doesn't explain why you didn't come to us with the idea first," Raph chided, tenacious as a dog with a bone. "Raph isn’t kidding when I say you scared the shell out of us. We nearly called Draxum to find you two!"

"Because you would have listened to us anyway."

The words were bitter on his tongue, and he dragged in another sip of flavorless juice in the awkward silence that followed.

"What do you mean? Of course we would have listened!" Casey Jr protested.

"No, you wouldn't," Donnie shook his head hard, sitting up as he curled his knees up to his chest. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the fingers on Leo's free hand begin to subtly flutter.

"Yes, we would have Dee," April rebutted. "We would have worked with you, just like you and I have been working on the new protocols."

"Any time the thing in my head comes up in conversation, you all shut us down!" Donnie snapped, fingers flexing and flicking as hot irritation filled his chest. "You ask a million questions about what it feels like, what triggers it, how Draxums’ medication does or doesn't affect it, but you don't ask me what I think about it, or what we want to do about it. You act like we'll go rabid if someone sneezes too loud! I can't even be in my own lab without someone watching me. If we'd told you my idea, you would have treated us like invalids, shut it down, and forbidden me to even try!"

"Donatello, that is not fair. We're just trying to-"

"Hang on," Mikey cut in, tone firm as he raised one scarred hand, "Donnie is asking to be heard here, so let's give him the floor and hear him out without interruptions. Go ahead D,"

"It's...I..." Donnie fumbled under the attention, fingers now frantically plucking at handfuls of the blanket as he strained to form some kind of coherent thought from the twisted mess inside of him.

This wasn't right. This wasn't how he wanted to approach things. He needed time to organize his preliminary data, and make a PowerPoint complete with charts and tables. Something visual, and respectable. Something that would make his family understand. Something to tame and order and hold back these gross emotions that stuck to his lungs like tar and gathered along his lashes like pine pitch, burning and stinging and making it hard to breathe or blink. He just wanted...

"We get you guys love us, and we get that you want to keep us safe, but we need you to back off," Leo spoke up, gracefully shifting attention to himself.  Donnie shivered in relief, leaning over with silent gratitude when Leo stretched out to tangle their legs together.

"We need you to treat us like us," his twin continued, shoulders thrown back as a spark of leadership entered his eyes and voice, "like Donnie and Leo, not patient x. We need you to include us in the conversations, not hide them behind closed doors when you think we're not paying attention. You see it protecting us, but all it does is make us feel isomalated."

"Isolated," Donnie corrected, hiding a slight smile of affection in the crook of his elbow when Leo nudged him playfully with his ankle.

"What he said," Leo joked, flashing Donnie a smile and a wink before turning back to the others.

"Raph...didn't mean to make you guys feel like that," the giant of their family replied uncomfortably, one hand rubbing at the edge of the scar that stretched over his eye. "We just didn't want you to have to think about it."

"That ship sailed a while ago for both of us Raphie," Leo replied, a hint of sad frustration sneaking in between the syllables as he spoke. "You heard what Drax said, there is no fixing this, only managing it. This thing is with Donnie and me every second of every day. I wake up fighting the urge to bite something. I walk around the lair, and sometimes I have to stop to sort out which are things I'm seeing and feeling, and what things are from Dontron. Sometimes I dream about hunting and...and that's our lives now. We can't go back, and we can't ignore it.  We have to figure out how to live with it on our terms."

"Is that why you went to our old place? So, you could face it on your "own terms"?" Mikey asked, his usual sunny face solum as Leo shrugged.

"Maybe a little," the red eared slider allowed, raising one hand palm down before tilting it side to side in a so-so gesture. "We also wanted to have some proof of concept before we got everyone's hopes up, and the lair being so crowded does make it hard to concentrate. We figured the old lair was isolated enough that no one would be in danger if we experimented with the thing, but close enough that we could be back before you guys noticed."

The blanket fort was silent for several minutes, and each second felt like it was drilling into Donnie's brain, winding his muscles into tense springs as he waited for his sibling’s judgement to fall.  He could feel the same tension coiling inside Leo, and from the way his fingers were fluttering Donnie had little doubt that if his twin still had his katanas he would have already teleported out of the room.

It was their big sister who finally broke the silence.

"I'm sorry you guys."

"It's fine Apes,"

"No, it's not," she shook her head, one hand landing on Donnie's shoulder as she reached out to Leo with the other. "You guys shouldn't have to feel like you need to hide things from us in order to have a say, and you shouldn't feel ostracized in your own care either. We did that, and I'm sorry for my part in it."

A chorus of "Me too," "Our bad," and "I'm sorry guys", closely followed her statement.

"Aww, you saps," Leo teased, but the smile he gave as Mikey and Casey Jr pinned him a hug was his genuine smile, big and warm and a little crooked.

"We'll do better. Raph promises," Raphel added, and Donnie allowed himself to be swept into his big brother’s arms with only a minor theatrical groan.

"Yes, yes, acknowledgements and apologies given and received all around. Now please loosen your grip. I don't currently have the proper equipment to withstand a full force Raph hug."

"Yep, that's our Donnie! Sensitive as a soaked cat."

"I beg your considerable pardon! I-"

"-am gonna quit stalling and tell us the results of test you guys ran. Come on, I'm dying to know! " April redirected the conversation with teasing poke to his ribs.

"Sadly, the results were less than conclusive," Donnie reluctantly admitted, resuming his slumped posture against Raph’s plastron once he was released from the hug. "It does seem to have some form of OS, but one that doesn't respond to scripts like java, python, or R."

"Did you really think it would?"

"It was possible," Donnie shrugged, new energy sparking through his thoughts as excitement for his ideas blossomed. "It is part of me after all, so theoretically it could have altered itself to fit my cognitive process the same way it altered itself to my biology. And it has, only it hasn't altered to fit my way of thinking, but rather to fit my ninpo!"

"Wait, you think in code?" Mikey interrupted.

"Sometimes. It saves time."

"How does that even-"

"Shhhhhhhhhhhh, don't question the nerd logic," Leo counseled as he casually covered Mikey's mouth. "Just roll with it. It's way easier, trust me."

"Are the interruptions done?" Donnie sniffed primly, holding down a smirk by sheer will as his blue and orange dumb-dumbs nodded in tandem.

"Right, as I was saying, I was able to ascertain that the thing is adapted to receive signals from ninpo, which is likely why it can be effectively suppressed for short periods of time by our collective network. We are likely overloading its command center."

"Okay, it takes commands from ninpo. Can that help with you guys going all hissy and bitey on us?"

"Theoretically? The issue is that while it might be responsive to ninpo, there seems to be an additional code needed in order to deliver and process commands. Some combination I have yet to determine. It also seems that the thing is very sensitive regarding the specifics of the delivery method."

"I'll say," Leo chimed in, "that thing is more sensitive than a diva on a bad day."

"Something you'd know nuthin about, right Lee?" Raph teased, sending the whole fort into riotous laughter as Leo gasped with playfully theatrical afront.

"Hey now, don't come crying to me for secrets when you start getting dry scales and crow’s feet while my skin is still dewy soft and gorgeous!" Leo jabbed back, batting his eyes as their big brother roared with laughter.

"Okay, okay, focus guys!" April giggled, leaning over Donnie to swat at Leo's knee. "Finish telling the story."

"Not a whole lot left to tell," Leo shrugged, covertly glancing at Donnie as the others reigned in their mirth. Something pulsed between them, a bundle of wordless intent and questions that Donnie could not parse but understood all the same. The nod he gave was minuscule, barely a dip of his chin, but Leo seemed to read it all the same.

"The thing got all riled when Donnie tried to feed it his nerd script. I think it tried to eat us again, but I kept a grip on things while DonDon here played scientist. It worked pretty good for a while, but I guess it kind of crept up on us without us realizing and won out when you guys startled us. Which, on that note, good call going with the main room for the ambush."

"That was Raph! I was the one who initiated operation BF-Prime" Mikey chimed in, beaming when Leo playfully rubbed his knuckles across the top of Mikey's head.

"Whoa, the big brain over here is coming for my job!" Leo praised.

"So, you were able to keep control, even as Donnie was messing with the thing?" Casey Jr asked, a thoughtful look crossing his face as he looked between Leo and Donnie.

"It appears so," Donnie nodded, the tips of his fangs needling the skin of his lower lip as he searched for the correct descriptive words. "It was like...like being in an ocean. As long as Leo stayed at the surface, I could dive under and still find my way back up."

"If that’s true then...maybe we could use that as the basis for some new protocols."

"Oh?" Donnie replied warily, barely resisting the urge to pull away as the attention zeroed in on Casey Jr. "What kind of protocols did you have in mind?"

"One's that let us help you guys’ figure this out, on your terms," Casey Jr assured, shifting away from Leo slightly to better face the group. "We were wrong to shut you guys out, but we also can't risk what might happen to you guys if we don't proceed with some caution. So, as a compromise, what if we set up a new system, using parts of your old home as a central testing ground. If we outfit it with security features, then you and Leo could have a stable place to both get space from us and to test out your control of the thing. The security could link to your computer here, and one of us could monitor it and be prepared to respond if something goes sideways."

"If we get the new tracking system working, we could even be collecting other lines of data that could be used for comparison later!" April chimed in, excitement growing in her voice. 

"And if something did go wrong, we could be there in no time!" Mikey added, nodding enthusiastically.

"Hmmmm...doesn't sound like a terrible idea," Leo slowly nodded, another indescribable pulse pressing against the back on Donnie's mind as he too slowly nodded.

"Indeed... though I have some thoughts. Like, how you would get in to assist us should we need it. Baring the side entrance, most of the old lair is too unstable to provide an additional access point."

"Simple, we'll portal in," Casey Jr replied.

"Wait...you mean I get my katanas back?!" Leo perked up.

"You both said you were able to stay anchored while Donnie poked the krang hound," Casey Jr nodded, fingers drumming back and forth across his knee as he spoke. "Your portals, in combination with the proposed alert system, should mean we'll be able to reach you in time to prevent the situation from devolving to alpha levels. What do you both think?"

"I could definitely handle the security measures so long as we keep it to portions of the atrium, and perhaps my prior abode," Donnie hummed, his mind already whirling through possible schematics and upgrades. "It would necessitate a trip to the junkyard."

"Okay. How about the day after tomorrow? Raph can help you carry back whatever ya need."

"Now that I have portal privileges back, we can drop supplies directly to the old lair and still have time to go to Hueso's!" Leo boasted, the joy from the return of his weapons turning the atmosphere of the fort tangibly sweet as they all continued to throw out ideas and suggestions for what Donnie quickly dubbed the "Theta" protocols. The conversation rolled on, slowly morphing from serious planning to outrageous boasts mixed with increasingly hairbrained proposals and double dares. The soft walls of the fort cocooned them in the warmth of and joy of their laughter, blocking out the world and its many problems for at least one night. Nothing, not even biology altering aliens, could pull them apart. "Heeeello?! Is anyone hungry or will I have to eat these pizzas by myself?"

Well, maybe not nothing.

"Pizza!"

Their fathers voice led to a stampede as the aromatic scent of cheesy, grease goodness filled the air. They all scrambled to find and exit, dirty tactics and old tricks liberally employed as each member of the family raced to be first in the kitchen.

"I call first go!"

"Keep your mitts off my meat lovers!"

"Hawaiian all the way baby!"

"It doesn't matter how many times you say it Nardo, pineapple on pizza is still an affront to decency!"

"Oh yeah? How about you decent deez-"

"Boy, do not even finish that sentence!"

Their father was waiting for them, already tucking into a slice as they all scrambled to grab their plates and divy up the spoils.

"Mmmmmmm is there anything better than the boneman's pies?" Leo moaned as he sank his teeth into a perfectly gooey slice.

"It's no hot soup, but I suppose it will do," Their pops teasingly grumbled, ears swiveling to lay flat as his words garnered rather loud protests.

[stickynotelovers-art]

Rottmnt Masterpost

Here's a list of all my different things. I've realized I have a lot of stuff that kind of gets lost in the shuffle of everything.

#non turtle art and #reblogging myself are where you can find my other art.

Also, I do have a RedBubble shop in case you're interested!

Family Connection AU

This my own au of what happens after the events of the movie. It's only been a few days following the invasion and everyone still has a ways to go to recovery. During this time Mikey starts being able to see and communicate with the Hamato ghosts of Casey Jr's future timeline versions of themselves.

Flares

Flares Bonus

Eventually

Chapter 1

Chapter 2: Part 1

Chapter 2: Part 2

Chapter 2: Part 3

Extra

Future Leo and other sillies

Future Donnie Design

Future Donnie Updated Design (2024)

Mikey's initial response to the ghosts

Future Donnie finds out about the Present Donnie becoming a spaceship

Baby Casey Jr Things

(I feel all my bad future stuff belongs with my au)

Get Dadded Leo

Get Dadded Leo Bonus

Baby and Uncles 1, 2, 3

Redraw of Baby and Uncles

He Tiny

Death of Cassandra Jones

Mama Casey

Future Donnie (Uncle Tello) doodles 1, 2

Squish the (face) Baby Cheeks

April Fool's Day

Chaotic Uncle Donnie

The future kiddies

Asks involving future versions

Donnie has been given Uranium

Donnie was given Uranium: The Sequel

Donnie being bribed for a hug

Donnie possibly stealing nuclear launch codes

Meow meow meow

Other People's AU

Cass' Apocalyptic Series

Baby Mutant Casey

Between the Raindrops Animatic

Emotional Damage Crit Shot

Peepaw Multiverse

Freshly Tramatized

Peepaws Get Wrecked

Other

thegunnsara's future Mikey design

burgersaucee's adventuring in babysitting, but it's the apocalypse

Mutant Mayhem x Rise

Donnie

Leo

Mikey

Raph

The whole fam meeting their Rise counterparts

One Shot Comics

Who's Older (Disaster Twins)

Watch Your Language (Brains and Brawn Duo)

Donnie's Social Tolerance (Brains and Brawn Duo)

What If Mikey Just Picked Raph Up? (Sunset Duo)

Raise Your Standards, Leo! (Baja Blast Duo)

Don't Mess With Mikey(Smarts and Crafts Duo)

Raph Knows (Raph Centric featuring Draxum)

Raph Meets Princess Peach

That's Not How Food Allergies Work (Raph Leo Duo)

Everything Else (I think)

#color palette challenge

Baby Raph AU

Local turtle Dad and his teenage self

Memes

In your fit art challenge

First sketchbook doodles

They share a voice actor

Find the Keyblade

Shadows tutorial

Yoshi/Lou/Splinter "I was today years old when I became a father" Jitsu/Hamato: 1, 2

Volatile Raph

[nardos-primetime]

I got the Donnie 'tism and the Leo 'DHD.

Asks are always open (I love asks they're so silly)

Requests are currently closed. (Just be aware I might not always finish them </3)

Call me Rain/Rainy, LED, Leon/Leo/Nardo or Don/Donnie/Tello.

I go by He/Him/His/Himself.

I may or may not be a kinnie of both Leonardo and Donatello. (Mainly Leo though.)

Mainly makes horror and angst aus, but I happily dabble in sillier things as well, there's some lighter things even within my dark aus normally.

(These can contain GORE AND INJURY (MENTAL AND PHYSICAL), PLEASE be warned and take care of yourself first and foremost!)

I normally don't do a ton of romance with the turtles unless it's for lore reasons within a story or something (other than leosagi, possibly donsagi and jasonnie). I do ship some of the adults on occasion for fun Mainly Barsonjitsu? (I Think thats the name I forgot) I absolutely don't do nsfw with the turtles. I might make something like a dick/sex joke here and there or a reference to sex within a story but nothing greater than that.

Feel free to message/ask me about shit, I need to get better with being social and love hearing shit about things I like/make! Just don't be a weirdo, y'know?

(Aka tc*st dni)

Tags:

#nardo's primetime.txt - Thoughts and Rambles mostly

#nardo's asks.txt - asks answered

#Writings - More concise rambles. Like minifics or mini fic ideas of some kind. Or story stuff in general. Normally not full works.

#practice makes perfect! - Specifically my adventures practicing drawing turtles

#writers wips - Clips and stuff from my fics what aren't done or whatever

#rottmnt fanart - most of my art is under this :]

#not turtles - other fandom stuff (mainly Gregory Horror Show rn)

#rainposting - IMAGES AND VIDEOS AND GIFS OF RAIN I FUCKING LOVE RAIN GOD FUCK YES RAIINNNN

#Scary Turtles - Physicalogical or Direct horror

Au Tags: (I don't have them all here but maybe one day I'll make a masterpost)

#Natural Disasters AU - WIP WIP WIP the turtles are all natural disasters/elements and such

#League of Single Fathers AU - Leo is raised by Hypno, Mikey is raised by Meatsweats, Raph is raised by Ghostbear, and Donnie is raised by Repo Mantis. Shit happens.

#Villain Mikey AU/#Broke a Million Dollar Box AU - Wow this bitch has FAMILY ISSUES surely he deals with it in a HEALTHY WAY and does NOT kill people and go crazy!

#Villain Donnie AU/#Viral Donnie AU - Local boy causes apocalypse and then runs the apocalypse more at 10

#Four More Villains AU - Tied in w Villain Mikey & Villain Donnie, shared with @midwesternvibes

#Identical Identities AU - Who am I Anymore?

#Nonsense Apocalypse AU - A Rise au focusing on a robot turtle and zombie turtle trying to find their brothers in a weird apocalypse, and vice-versa.

#Draxum's Side of The Family AU - AU that focuses on Clones of the turtles that have a lot of problems. Don't worry, the original turtles have more problems too! Equal opportunity angst! [Semi hiatus]

#Teenage Mutant Magical Boys AU - Local mutants are used to save the world and are idols on the side. Aware that they're related. All struggling soso hard.

[pixxelcatt]

TMNT: Impostor Syndrome

edit 11/11/24: if u somehow find this randomly for the first time, these are not their current looks! I have updated references in my master post :)

Oh boy oh boy info post for my au :)

Synopsis: four mutated turtles wind up in an alley alone and are found by 5 year old April and her mother, they take them home and raise them as a part of their family. They are immediately fittingly named after their parents’ favorite childhood characters, the teenage mutant ninja turtles. And as they grow up they become massive fans of them as well, even going as far as deciding to be just like them in every way. But now that they’re older, and something evil is lurking, they come to realize that it’s not as easy as tv makes it look.

And now time for some additional info about the turtles I didn’t add on their new refs bc I was lazy and ran out of room:

Leonardo (also called Leo, Nardo, Stars, Lee, Blue boy)

Diamondback Terrapin

Voice claim: MK (Lego monkie kid)

Has really bad claustrophobia

Writes fan fiction as a hobby and regularly self inserts himself as Leo in almost all of them

Definitely not special best friends with that bunny boy a few houses down

Favorite TMNT character: RotTMNT Leo and 2012 Casey Jones

Donatello (also called Donnie, Don, Tello, Deedee/Dondon)

Fly River Turtle/Pig Nose Turtle (same thing, different name)

Voice Claim: Hunter (the owl house)

Has an official driver’s license somehow

He’s tried multiple times to recreate various Donatello machines, has not succeeded

Pretty much legally blind

Favorite TMNT character: RotTMNT and Bayverse Donnies

Raphael (also called Raph, Rafa, Red, Raphie)

Black Knobbed Map Turtle

Voice Claim: Axel (Minecraft story mode)

Actually hates Pizza

Voted best cook by whole family

Likes Cardcaptor Sakura, but is too embarrassed to admit it

Favorite TMNT character: RotTMNT and 2012 Raph

Michelangelo (also called Mikey, Angie, Angelo, Mike, Jello)

Big Headed Turtle

Voice Claim: Darwin (the amazing world of gumball)

Has a really weak immune system

Will put anything in his mouth, he’ll go stir crazy if he can’t bite anything

Don’t let him cook unless you want a fire

Favorite TMNT character: 2012 Mikey, and Todd (rottmnt)

I’m currently working on refs for April and others, so hopefully those’ll appear soon

And ofc if you have any questions or anything I would LOVE to answer them :)

[delicatechildwitch]

HEM Mike, Spirit, & ICE (3 AUs from Cabin 14) knock on your door. Mike: a 2k3 Michelangelo in his late 20s, Spirit: a ghost Rise Leonardo looking 3 years old, ICE: a teenage Rise Donatello with one arm. "My cabin made sparklers for the science fair, and we kinda maybe sorta went overboard," Mike admits cheerily. "Would you guys want a few? Just light 'em outside and away from flammables and whatever. Or don't. We're not the boss of you!" He holds out a bag: what color sparklers would you like?

Casey looks through, not sure what color to pick. Blue for his sensei? Orange for his master? Red for the father he lost first? Purple for the dad he still had? Could he have one of each?

"How about pink?" Tello says, having noticed Casey's hesitation. He smiles in an attempt to be supportive.

"That's the Kraang's color." Casey says, looking away.

"It's your color too, kiddo." Tello says, "And if you ask me, it suits you better."

Casey trains his eyes on the sparklers. "It's not my color anymore. I'm not one of you."

"Not one of ...?" Tello asks with a raised brow. He knew, he just wanted Casey to say it.

"I'm not a Hamato." Casey says moodily. "I'm not part of your family. So I don't get a color."

"Casey ... Kiddo ... You're still my kid. You're still family. You can't do anything bad enough to change that."

Casey looks at the sparklers, mutely taking a pink one and walking away.

Tello watches him leave, worry and grief evident in his eyes. "Sorry about that. Thanks for the sparklers." He grabs a purple one and the small turtle child(???) runs to catch up to Casey.

@tmnt-fandom-family-reunion

[retro-stars]

I do not have the time to physically draw this concept out, but I had an idea about @somerandomdudelmao Apocalypse AU raising the dead situation and I had to write it out.

Casey: Wait, how many people are we planning on reviving?

Future Donnie: Eh, basically as many people as we can, though the rest of my siblings and Casey Senior take priority— we’ll see how many more the timeline can take before reality folds in on itself, but the of the crew should be safe— Why?

Big Raph: Wait. You’re bringing back Cassandra??

Professor Donatello: Obviously????? Why are you surprised at this information???

Future Raph: Well- Raph kinda assumed Casey were bringing back Hamatos because we become spirits?

Uncle Don: Eh, none of you guys ever passed on because of certain circumstances, such as the timeline itself kneeling over— and I absolutely would’ve revived you first anyway— but just because your Ninpō made you easier to find and shove into a physical body doesn’t mean I’m not going to revive the rest.

Baby Jones: But now they don’t have spirits for us to revive?? How are we bringing them back?

Tio Tello: Conservation of Energy and Mass, kid.

Papa Dinosaur: Conserving of what now???

Smart with (some) Common Sense™️: Y’know the whole “Energy cannot be created of destroyed, only converted” spiel I gave you when you asked why I couldn’t make electricity to power my inventions?

Reverse cyborg: I remember feeling scared for my life, yes.

Got Infected by bubblegum: Choosing to ignore that- Souls, from what I can tell, are just mildly mystic energy. Therefore, while they don’t pass on to any known afterlife—

Magical Girl Spirit Collector: —They can’t be destroyed, just found in a different form! So they should still exist and can be found!!

Future Purple: Exactly. It’ll just take a lot more math to figure out the where and some bribery of Barry to create new bodies for April and Cass. Then again, we could just make them mutant-

Everyone else: NO.

[imagionationstation]

Incorrect Raising A Tello Quote:

Leo: I wanted you to live up to your potential.

Donnie: I just wanted to live up to you.

[bringingourrealitys2life]

There’s just something about babies and Leo’s mask tails…

It’s colder down in the sewers than on the surface and Donnie’s body is no longer understands how to manage its cold blooded/hot blooded mutant temperatures anymore.

With his inability to stop sticking things in his mouth and a distinct lack of human clothing that fits properly over a shell in mind, they keep him wrapped in a fluffy blanket whenever he gets too cool, hoping to prevent his small self from getting sick.

For More Content

[mythica0]

We’re in this together

Chapter summary: Tello and Raphie are starting to remember their time in the afterlife, and the teens get curious about certain scars. (Not in that order)

A/N: wohoo update time! I’m getting ideas for plot slowly but surely, but mostly this is a slice of life fic incase you couldn’t tell. (Which means minimal angst! :D) any questions about the AU? Ask!

TW: swearing, mention of past self harm and other forms of violence. Discussion of scars(including SH)

Chapter 4: Discussions of Memories long.. future?

After a long cry with his dad, Nardo emerged from the medbay with a newly wrapped stump.

Angelo floated over to the two of them. “Oh thank pizza supreme I don’t have to look at a bare stump anymore.”

Nardo rolled his eyes, but there was still a fondness behind them. “Yeah, yeah, you happy?”

Angelo makes a noise of confirmation and nods.

While the rest of the table talk, Tello looks at Raphie.

“Have you been getting… memories?” He whispers. He doesn’t want to draw attention.

Raphie nods. “Yeah. I don’t know how, we were taken from before we…” he clears his throat. “Yeah.”

Tello furrows his still drawn-on brows in thought. “It is strange… do you think Karai has something to do with it?”

“Gram-Gram? Maybe… hmm. We should discuss this later, you know.. alone.”

“Mm-hmm.”

They stop their whispered conversation just as the attention of the group turns back to the table.

“Yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking! of course Mikey wouldn’t-,Tello, Raphie, were you even paying attention?” Angelo calls to them from their loud conversation.

“Oh, uh- yes?” Tello lies, very badly. He never got over his inability to lie well.

Raphie just rolls his eyes. “No, we were talking to eachother, what’s up?”

“I was wondering whether or not Mikey could float yet, cause I learned to at about that age, but then I realized how dumb that was! I was about to tell the story of when I first flew!”

“Wasn’t that the day you got the scar on your arm? The non-burn scar, obviously.” Tello questions, brow raised.

“Mm-hmm. The kids wanted to know about the scars anyways!”

“Alright, we’re coming.”

For the next hour, the four of them told tales of their scars.

Angelo got his big gash in his arm from trying to fly and falling down, scraping his arm on metal. That was so long ago and yet the scar hadn’t faded.

Nardo lost his arm in an incident with a Krang hound. He got bit just above the elbow, and it had to be amputated lest he get infected. He also had several other scars from battle, claw marks, mostly.

Tello had lost his vocal cords in a collapsing building. A piece of debris fell on his windpipe and vocal cords, causing him to have to make himself a technological copy. He had to communicate in entirely sign language until they were done, and also had problems breathing for months.

Raphie’s black eye was a whole…other thing. He didn’t know exactly how it happened, but the Krang did something to him on a mission one day, and then his pupil grew larger until it took up his whole eye. That eye can see in the dark very well, but can’t handle bright light at all, so often during the day Raphie will wear an eyepatch to keep the brightness at bay. He also had a long scar along his tail from where a Krang hound had dragged him, a chip in his shell from a strong impact. And…. Tiny thin scars littered his arms.

Donnie recognized them immediately. “Those are-“

“Self harm scars, yeah.” Raphie spoke and smiled, bittersweet.

“…I started to feel a lot of guilt, anger and sadness about five years into the apocalypse. I felt as though I could never protect my brothers, and all of those negative emotions made me turn to a.. less than healthy coping mechanism.” His words were hesitant, but not sad or fearful .

“I ended up cutting my arms almost every night for two years before Nardo caught me in the act one night. He and the others helped me overcome that obstacle in my life, and now I wear my scars proudly as a way to show how strong I was to overcome it, and as a reminder that even the strongest of people need help sometimes.”

Raph spoke up. “That um- that was very brave of you, bigger me.” His words had some implications that Raphie picked up on. He had some of the thoughts at about Raph’s age, after all. “Hey, don’t worry big man. Your family is here to help you, you will never need to resort to that. Come talk to someone if you need to, okay?”

Raph nods, “t-thanks.”

A tense silence filled the air for a moment, but it wasn’t long before Mikey silently stood, walked over to Raphie and Raph, and pulled them into a huge group hug.

Raphie smiled as him and his younger version were pulled together by Mikey’s tiny form, followed by the rest of the crew gathering around the two snapping turtles.

They stayed like that for a while, then slowly pulled away one by one.

After that, everyone separated off to their own spaces to relax, however, Donnie and Raphie both went into the kitchen to have a private conversation.

“Soooo,” Tello draws out the word, “we have confirmed that both of us are getting memories from the spiritual plane.”

“Yup. I definitely remember looking over our brothers and Casey. And all the emotions I felt during that time.”

“Yeah… I remember seeing you up there, once I joined you.”

Raphie nods again. “It’s… strange. I don’t remember my actual death but I remember everything after it.”

“The main question is still, why. Why are we getting these memories if the Angelo’s portals took us from before our death. Time line shit is just wild.”

“You said it.” A pause, then a smile.

“Do you remember the time when we watched Casey completely wreck Kraang prime.”

Tello breathed out a chuckle, “fuhuckin, yeaha. He was all like: ‘come here you rotten strawberry lookin motherfucker!’”

Raphie smiled more, “and then my response was-“

“Language!” Both turtles replied in sync, before bursting out into laughter.

Through his laughs, Tello tried to speak, “ehe-Ehevehen thohohough yo- yohou knehew he cohohou- cohohouodnt hehear yohou!” Sending them both into further hilarity.

After a minute the two calmed down.

“Woo, man,” Raphie spoke, wiping a forming tear from his eye, “that was a day.”

“You bet.”

Maybe they would be fine. All of them. Together.

—————————————————

Next chapter ->

Prev chapter <-

Chapter one <-<-

[katanakiwionline]

plucked out of the abyss au arc 2 coming soon

Meat Sweats let out a laugh as he danced out of Mikey’s reach. “I can’t believe you two miscreants got sent out to fight me! You’re weaker than usual.” Tello and Mikey both gritted their teeth before kicking the pig in the belly. Meat Sweats grinned as he snatched up Mikey with his tentacle hand. Tello slid back, the impact of the kick pushing him a few feet away. Shit. We fell right into his plan. I didn’t even know he could come up with plans. He mentally kicked himself. Dad once told me to never underestimate my opponents.

Before he could dwell in his thoughts any more, Mikey cried out as Meat Sweats absorbed some of his energy. Luckily, he managed to get himself free before he was entirely drained. But now he could only groan on the floor while Meat Sweats swung Mikey’s chains around.

This sparked a new fight in Tello, choosing to forget his earlier qualms about using his ninpo. Raising his staff, he summoned another missile, heading directly towards Meat Sweats. 

The pig simply maneuvered the missile with the chains, causing it to explode somewhere behind him. “Don’t get too cocky now, Purple. I could easily launch one of your missiles onto your dear brother.”  Tello gritted his teeth, standing down. “How about we pen out a deal, then?”

wanna read arc 1? read here!

if people want spoilers before i drop the first chapter of arc 2, send me an ask! i love giving out little hints to what’s to come, like the blurb above.

Arc 2 arriving on June 15!

[interests-with-no-outlets]

okokokok so earlier today i had a plot bunny for a rottmnt au. lee constantly jokes about dee being possessed by a demon but. what if

dee was a demon.

IT GETS BETTER

i just had the thought "what if draxum made a deal with a demon and got donnie out of it?"

shredder is a demon, and theres a fucking witch town. demons exist. draxum was laserfocused on destroying humanity, so what if he

asked a demon for a "lifeform that can annihilate the human race when given my mutagen in exchange for the souls of the human race"

and the demon just. popped homicidal turtle tello into existence

this got draxum interested in turtles and he grabs the others from a store or unattended nest or smth.

but draxum didnt just want warriors, he wanted loyal soldiers so. aprt of the deal was control over dee/his powers, but when lou jitsu breaks the tots out tello cant be molded into a perfect soldier, making the deal null and void and taking any demonic properties/outside control from tello that mightve been imparted in the first place. not his homicidal tendencies.

and the demon just, dipped out like "yeah that gremlin's the world's prob now good fucking luck" rather than try to salvage the deal.

but hes been raised with three loving and affectionate brothers that do their best to understand and accomodate him, and he loves them and tries to understand and accomodate them in turn.

so he listens when they say "no murder"

THIS IS IN NO WAY MEANT TO DEMONIZE AUTISM OR OTHER MENTAL ILLNESSES. IT IS SIMPLY A FUN LITTLE SPIN ON DONNIE'S CONSTANT CRAVING FOR LETHALITY

[bringingourrealitys2life]

Fashion what-now?

It's not every day that they find themselves plucked from one reality to be literally dropped into another, but if Leo had a nickle for every time that he's appeared in the air of unfamiliar territory while mid-kata, he'd have two nickles.

Which isn't a lot. But if it were anyone else, it would be weird that this happened twice.

He has a pamphlet in his hand for a reason that he can only guess, bold letters of TMNT AU SUMMIT with (2.0) in smaller font underneath. He stands from the crouch he'd landed in, a bit unsteady, and then checks on his brothers. "Everyone here?"

"Yep." Raph is right across from him, lying on his plastron and looking slightly green. The last time that the eldest had seen him, their hothead was using the punching bag, so the fact he seems to have thrown himself forward brings an amused smirk to his face. He always did put too much force on that poor bag…

Donnie's bracing himself on his carapace, peeking behind Leo with wide-eyed stare. He doesn't say anything, but the five-year-old is the only one not used to interdimensional travel, so he gives him a moment to process the tingles still lingering in their bones.

That will never not be weird.

"Here." Mikey groans as he rubs his head.

Leo worries for a moment, but then he opens his mouth, and the leader understands that his misery is not from a head wound. "I got pizzas in the oven, dudes. They're gonna buuuurn."

"Not much we can do." Leo admits sympathetically.

"Where are we?" Raph grumbles as he sits up. Donnie scrambles to allow him room, but Raph latches onto him, pulling him under his arm and looking around blearily.

Their youngest brother leans into his side, relaxing enough to whisper, "Leo?"

"Everything's okay, Dee." He reassures instinctively, opening the paper and looking inside curiously. All he finds are bold words proclaiming, Round One: Fashion Show!

Huh?

"Leo." Raph's voice takes on a hard edge.

He looks up. Donnie points behind him.

Leo looks over his shoulder and realizes what's spiked their anxiety, stepping closer to his brothers when he spots the large crowd of-

Holy Chaulpa…

When the other-dimension Donatello said that there were multiple dimensions of hundreds of different versions of them, he never actually assumed that they’d be this many.

There some chatting or holding up outfits, and others standing or sitting in their groups, looking as uncertain as Leo feels. All around, there are racks upon racks of clothing, and a massive banner in every corner of the room, written with the same words on his pamphlet.

Fashion show…?

He steps back, suspicious and tense, trying to figure out whose crazy idea of a joke this is. Donnie continues scanning the crowd. Raph tightens his grip. Mikey opens his eyes and sits up at the sudden silence, surveying the room.

His eyes shine with interest, pizzas all but forgotten. "Woah! Where are we?”

Leo glances at the pamphlet and then back to the room warily. "That's... An excellent question."

@tmntausummit propaganda!