#a lot of how draxum ends up training the turtles becomes highly dependent on how his neurodivergencies interact with theirs

[bambiraptorx]

Part One

Draxum and Mikey:

Similarly to Raph, Draxum struggles quite a bit at first with adjusting to Mikey's nigh-on ridiculous learning speed. However, Mikey's main 'barrier', so to speak, is that scheduling specific times for lessons as Draxum prefers to do doesn't work well for him. Sometimes it works out, and Mikey progresses in leaps and bounds, but other times when his focus is exhausted? Sure, he can kind of force himself to pay attention during their lessons, but that only works so well and for so long. It is not, by any means, an effective way to learn.

The real issue isn't Mikey's ability or potential to learn, but that he's never really had to learn how to consistently engage with something even when he doesn't feel like it. He's never really had to force himself to keep working on something when he isn't really feeling it. Which isn't inherently a negative trait, but it makes it harder for Draxum to teach him, as Draxum has most definitely learned how to force himself to do things and doesn't immediately realize that that's not a universal thing.

The problem Draxum has here isn't so much about getting Mikey to focus, but rather not only figuring out how to create an environment that is continually engaging enough that Mikey can focus, but also knowing when to just call it quits. Some days are fantastic, others just don't work out for training, and there's nothing wrong with that. He might end up kinda just showing Mikey a wide range of the ways that mystic powers can be used and hoping that some of it sticks.

Draxum and Leo:

This might seem a be counter intuitive, but Leo is actually the one who Draxum can train most effectively (at least, given the specific context of Minor Interference). See, based on the point in time that this story diverges from canon, Leo is still struggling to figure out how his powers work and, although he doesn't want to admit it, deeply insecure about his place on the team because of that.

That, combined with his tendency to latch onto paternal figures (see: Jupiter Jim and Tim Dunkman) means that Leo actually really does want to learn from Draxum and sort of starts looking up to him. "Sort of" being the key phrase here, as Leo doesn't want to admit to himself that he craves the approval Draxum happens to be offering. So Leo wants to learn from Draxum, but at the same time, he doesn't want to get too close, if that makes sense.

On Draxum's end, Leo's training is the easiest (at least in terms of technique) because Draxum is teaching him a skill set that he himself actively uses: portals. Draxum knows from first hand experience how tricky portals can be to use and how hard they are to learn, so he actually has more reasonable expectations for Leo than Leo himself does.

However, what makes training Leo difficult is that Leo continually ignores the safety rules Draxum tries to teach him. This is partly because Leo's already broken most of those rules with little to no consequences and doesn't see why it's such a big deal, but also because he can tell it's extremely frustrating for Draxum when he breaks those rules.

What Leo doesn't really realize is that Draxum's frustration comes from a place of concern about his wellbeing, because portals can be very, very dangerous, especially when you're as reckless with them as Leo is. You can get lost somewhere, you can get portal-jacked, you could portal chop yourself, etc. Portals are not a form of magic to be taken lightly, and Leo's a bit too cavalier about how he uses them.