#all those mutants loosing their homes and loved ones

[roseraintears]

X men 97 episode 5…………….I didn’t expect the show to get so emotionally devastating…………

[forestdeath1]

Canon Sirius through quotes

Part 3. Harshness and toughness (and how Sirius Black differs from James Potter). It's long. Really long.

Sirius isn't a soft crybaby. His harshness (and even cruelty) goes beyond the silly teenage pranks we usually see in fanfiction. Sirius is often either whitewashed by newer fans or overly demonized by anti-Marauders fans. Sirius has a tough exterior but a heart of gold. He's not childish and had to grow up early, though he can still be quite fun.

‘Do you know, I still have trouble believing it,’ said Madam Rosmerta thoughtfully. ‘Of all the people to go over to the Dark side, Sirius Black was the last I’d have thought ... .’

"Of all the people to go over to the Dark side, Sirius Black was the last I’d have thought" – this shouldn't be taken literally. Rosmerta saw many others regularly, Dumbledore, Lily, Remus, and many others, and out of all of them, Sirius Black was the last who could turn to the Dark side? Seriously? Did Sirius walk around with a halo and angel wings?

One trait that is always emphasized in his appearance is his haughty, bored look.

Rosmerta speaks metaphorically, not literally. She saw Sirius once a month or two when they went out to Hogsmeade to have fun and drink. In those moments, Sirius was lively, funny and noisy (especially lively after running away from home), and perhaps he even flirted with Rosmerta in a childish manner, melting the heart of the adult woman.

Sirius can be funny, although his humor is always edging towards dark:

"Imagine wasting your time and energy persecuting merpeople when there are little toerags like Kreacher on the loose.’ 

Ron laughed but Hermione looked upset. 

‘Sirius!’ she said reproachfully. ‘Honestly, if you made a bit of an effort with Kreacher, I’m sure he’d respond. After all, you are the only member of his family he’s got left, and Professor Dumbledore said –’ 

‘So, what are Umbridge’s lessons like?’ Sirius interrupted. ‘Is she training you all to kill half-breeds?’

Moreover, he interrupts Hermione, not letting her finish her point. He sharply outlines if he doesn't want to listen.

"the stuffed elf-heads on the hall wall wore Father Christmas hats and beards"

Dark humor.

‘Kreacher is cleaning,’ the elf repeated. ‘Kreacher lives to serve the Noble House of Black –’ 

‘And it’s getting blacker every day, it’s filthy,’ said Sirius.

Here he responds with a clear "Black" shade. His mother also loved to talk about filth.

‘Sirius – it’s me ... it’s Peter ... your friend ... you wouldn’t ...’ Black kicked out and Pettigrew recoiled. ‘There’s enough filth on my robes without you touching them,’ said Black.

And again. And here’s his mother:

‘Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, begone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers –’ 

‘Stains of dishonour, filthy half-breeds, blood traitors, children of filth ...’

Sirius desperately wants to be unlike the Blacks, but he is still Sirius Black.

‘I thought it was the perfect plan ... a bluff ... Voldemort would be sure to come after me, would never dream they’d use a weak, talentless thing like you ... it must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him the Potters.’

Sirius's humor isn't the only harsh thing about him. Even though here he has a reason – after Azkaban he met James's traitor – his way of speaking reflects his overall personality. The way one speaks is a mirror of personality, even if Sirius has PTSD, it only exposes even more vividly what he might control in a calm state.

‘Nasty temper he’s got, that Sirius Black.’ (Peeves)

At the same time, yes, he can be cheerful and infect everyone around him with his cheerfulness. If he's in a sombre mood, he creates a quite oppressive atmosphere around him that everyone feels. Just as with a good mood – everyone feels it.

Harry could not remember Sirius ever being in such a good mood; he was actually singing carols, apparently delighted that he was to have company over Christmas. 

-

Sirius tramping past their door towards Buckbeak’s room, singing ‘God Rest Ye, Merry Hippogriffs’ at the top of his voice. 

-

Sirius’s delight at having the house full again, and especially at having Harry back, was infectious. He was no longer their sullen host of the summer; now he seemed determined that everyone should enjoy themselves as much, if not more than they would have done at Hogwarts, and he worked tirelessly in the run-up to Christmas Day, cleaning and decorating with their help.

But the ability to be cheerful is in no way connected to being very harshn at the same time. This is precisely the case with Sirius.

Of all the Marauders, only Sirius is really harsh and can be truly dangerous (the author wrote about him, “The best-looking, most rebellious, most dangerous of the four marauders”). James was also a bully, but he's not harsh, despite the fact that it was he who pulled down Snape's trousers. Why? I think Sirius was already aware of what they were doing. James – not. Without awareness, it's too early to speak of any harshness and cruelty. Sirius had this awareness and still continued to do it.

Let's consider the reactions of Sirius and James in comparison.

‘Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I’d leave, wouldn’t you?’ 

Sirius did not smile. ‘My whole family have been in Slytherin,’ he said.

‘Blimey,’ said James, ‘and I thought you seemed all right!’ 

Sirius grinned. ‘Maybe I’ll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you’ve got the choice?’

A small note: Sirius didn't even react to James's "I'd leave", even though he knew his whole family was from Slytherin, and he was likely to go there too.

James lifted an invisible sword. ‘“Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!” Like my dad.’ Snape made a small, disparaging noise. James turned on him.

‘Got a problem with that?’ ‘No,’ said Snape, though his slight sneer said otherwise. ‘If you’d rather be brawny than brainy –’

It was Snape who starts the confrontation on a personal level. James in his insults in this memory refers to moral qualities. "Who wants to be in Slytherin?" Only bad people. He is prejudiced against Slytherin because Slytherin is evil. Voldemort is gaining momentum. The first Muggle-born Minister was recently ousted. Attacks are happening here and there. Dark forces are growing. More and more of the pure-blood society talks about "Mudbloods" not belonging in this world. And "amazingly", they all turn out to be from Slytherin. James sees himself as a noble knight "James lifted an invisible sword", and he is against Slytherin not so much personally as against the moral component of Slytherin.

‘Where’re you hoping to go, seeing as you’re neither?’ interjected Sirius.

James roared with laughter. Lily sat up, rather flushed, and looked from James to Sirius in dislike.

Sirius immediately strikes at Snape's personality. Sirius is sharp-tongued, self-assured, and likely accustomed to considering others below himself. He probably assessed James as his equal right away. Brave, cheerful, sincere.

'Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment.'

'Oooooo...'

James and Sirius imitated her lofty voice; James tried to trip Snape as he passed.

'See ya, Snivellus!' a voice called, as the compartment door slammed...

James tried to trip Snape. James most often uses physical/magical force. He trips Snape, he pulls down Snape's trousers, he uses most of the spells on Snape in SWM. But it's Sirius who goes after Snape's personality. It looks like James has concocted a "noble justification" for his behavior and attitude and punishes Snape for existing just as he is.

Sirius, on the other hand, hardly uses magical/physical force in memories; he finds painful points in Snape's personality – from character to appearance, intentionally demeaning his personal traits.

Moreover, it was Sirius who focused on Snape's appearance. No one, except him, places such an emphasis on Snape's unattractive appearance and his untidiness.

'Snape's always been fascinated by the Dark Arts, he was famous for it at school. Slimy, oily, greasy-haired kid, he was,'

Very vivid epithets. Sirius is very eloquent when it comes to demeaning someone he dislikes.

Moreover, it's James who's the attention seeker. It's James who plays with the snitch, drawing attention, glancing at the girls by the lake, and ruffling his hair to show everyone how cool, strong, brave, and awesome he is.

After five minutes of this, Harry wondered why James didn’t tell Wormtail to get a grip on himself, but James seemed to be enjoying the attention. Harry noticed that his father had a habit of rumpling up his hair as though to keep it from getting too tidy, and he also kept looking over at the girls by the water’s edge.

While Sirius, likely, isn't much interested in societal validation. Sirius is more reserved, with firmer boundaries, he's not as interested in public adoration as James might be.

Lupin had pulled out a book and was reading. Sirius stared around at the students milling over the grass, looking rather haughty and bored, but very handsomely so.

This is a typical expression for Sirius – bored and haughty. He spent nearly five full years in Gryffindor alongside James, and the bored and haughty expression is still with him. It's not just a random trait in his character – it's one of the pillars of his personality, reflecting his attitude towards random people around him.

‘Put that away, will you,’ said Sirius finally, as James made a fine catch and Wormtail let out a cheer, ‘before Wormtail wets himself with excitement.’

As I've said, Sirius cuts with his words without a knife. They've been studying together for five years, been friends with Peter, and he jokes about Peter like this. I think they all joked about each other in the same way, just James's "jokes" are blunt and probably he just says whatever comes to mind, whereas Sirius's are more subtle and hurtful.

Moreover, when people say this is the only episode we know of bullying by James and Sirius and that it's the worst in their history, that's not correct. This episode is the worst in Snape's life. And not because they pulled down his trousers. But because he lost Lily forever that day. This episode, likely, was quite typical for the Marauders. They were in a good mood, had finished exams, Snape just happened to pass by, there were no obvious reasons for this bullying. Harry sifted through their detention records, and there were many, very many, and how many more when they weren't caught?

Sirius got bored, and there they decided to "have some fun."

‘I’m bored,’ said Sirius. ‘Wish it was full moon.’ 

‘You might,’ said Lupin darkly from behind his book. ‘We’ve still got Transfiguration, if you’re bored you could test me. Here ...’ and he held out his book. 

But Sirius snorted. ‘I don’t need to look at that rubbish, I know it all.’

I won't discuss The Prank here, many have written about it. In general, Sirius doesn't show empathy in everyday interactions even with Remus. Sirius has a heart of gold, but his shell, especially as a teenager – tough, harsh, sharp, and cutting. The grown-up Sirius interacts with close people much more politely, though he still occasionally shows his harshness (for example, with Hermione).

‘This’ll liven you up, Padfoot,’ said James quietly. ‘Look who it is ...’ 

Sirius’s head turned. He became very still, like a dog that has scented a rabbit. 

‘Excellent,’ he said softly. ‘Snivellus.’

I don't want to justify Sirius and James, but for context – Snape is fascinated by the Dark Arts, hangs out with future Death Eaters (= fascist), and they have mutual dislike from the first year. No, the act is immature, but James justifies it in his head exactly like this – Snape is bad for him, so anything goes, and anyway, "so what?" Sirius doesn't need justifications. He's just bored.

Even when James uses all the spells on Snape, he still glances at the lake:

Snape lay panting on the ground. James and Sirius advanced on him, wands raised, James glancing over his shoulder at the girls at the water’s edge as he went. Wormtail was on his feet now, watching hungrily, edging around Lupin to get a clearer view.

Why look at the girls by the lake when you're humiliating someone, if you know you're doing something really bad? James genuinely sees himself as a noble knight, deserving of admiration. Moreover, many do admire him (''Students all around had turned to watch. Some of them had got to their feet and were edging nearer. Some looked apprehensive, others entertained. Several people watching laughed''), and Lupin mentioned several times that James was popular at school.

‘How’d the exam go, Snivelly?’ said James. 

‘I was watching him, his nose was touching the parchment,’ said Sirius viciously. ‘There’ll be great grease marks all over it, they won’t be able to read a word.’ 

Again, Sirius harshly targets Snape's personal traits, including his appearance.

‘You – wait,’ he panted, staring up at James with an expression of purest loathing, ‘you – wait!’ 

‘Wait for what?’ said Sirius coolly. ‘What’re you going to do, Snivelly, wipe your nose on us?’ 

And again – Sirius strikes with words.

Snape let out a stream of mixed swear words and hexes, but with his wand ten feet away nothing happened.

‘Wash out your mouth,’ said James coldly. ‘Scourgify!’

And James responds with a spell to what? Snape's insults. He says ‘Wash out your mouth.’ He appeals to the moral side of the issue.

‘I don’t need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!’

‘Apologise to Evans!’ James roared at Snape, his wand pointed  threateningly at him. ‘I don’t want you to make him apologise,’ Lily shouted, rounding on James. ‘You’re as bad as he is.’ ‘What?’ yelped James. ‘I’d NEVER call you a – you-know-what!’

This also proves that James is sure he's doing everything right. James is like a volunteer in the allies' army against the fascists, a brave Gryffindor, and his sword is to cast spells on anyone he deems not fitting his moral standards.

‘Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you’ve just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can – I’m surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK.’

And from the outside, it looked like this.

‘What is it with her?’ said James, trying and failing to look as though this was a throwaway question of no real importance to him. 

‘Reading between the lines, I’d say she thinks you’re a bit conceited, mate,’ said Sirius.

And Sirius understands it all too well. Who he is, who James is, and what Lily thinks about it all. Sirius knows about James's crush on Lily and finds it even funny that she rejects him. Likely because Sirius understands that they often cross the line. I don’t think Sirius could have stopped Potter. I don't even think Sirius wanted to stop Potter. He found it all funny. Azkaban, on the other hand, softened Sirius in his interactions with others. It knocked down his pride and arrogance. Showed him that life can be unfair and you don't need to act like a haughty jerk who thinks the world revolves around them.

At school, Sirius was more about psychological bullying, while James was about the physical. Given that James and Sirius were very popular at school and within their house, their bullying was likely directed mostly at Slytherins or at arrogant jerks like themselves who they just "didn't like."

And the adult Sirius understands that they were “arrogant little berks.” And he’s “not proud of it,” but his next words speak for themselves:

“ I think James was everything Snape wanted to be – he was popular, he was good at Quidditch – good at pretty much everything. And Snape was just this little oddball who was up to his eyes in the Dark Arts, and James – whatever else he may have appeared to you, Harry – always hated the Dark Arts.”

Sirius justifies James while simultaneously praising him. Justifications always imply a partial denial of guilt. Someone fully aware of their guilt doesn’t seek to justify or be justified. Of course, Sirius said this for Harry's sake too. To ensure Harry didn’t think his father was just a bully for no reason. His father was actually “on the side of good,” is what Sirius wants to convey. About himself, he remains silent. But he doesn't miss the chance to insult Snape again “little oddball.”

Even Remus, as an adult, sincerely justifies James.

‘She started going out with him in seventh year,’ said Lupin. 

‘Once James had deflated his head a bit,’ said Sirius. ‘And stopped hexing people just for the fun of it,’ said Lupin.

 ‘Even Snape?’ said Harry. ‘Well,’ said Lupin slowly, ‘Snape was a special case. I mean, he never lost an opportunity to curse James so you couldn’t really expect James to take that lying down, could you?’ 

‘And my mum was OK with that?’ 

‘She didn’t know too much about it, to tell you the truth,’ said Sirius. ‘I mean, James didn’t take Snape on dates with her and jinx him in front of her, did he?’

Lupin finds a genuine justification for James. The concept of “violence in any form is bad” isn’t fully grasped by them. They follow an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Lupin even was ready to kill Peter, and he insisted that war is not a playground and that killing is sometimes necessary in war. Remus, though gentler and kinder, and preferring not to engage in conflict, genuinely wished Sirius and James hadn't bullied anyone at school, but yet, he still reconciles with all they do and even justifies James.

In Sirius's mind, James may have acted like a fool, but Sirius doesn’t genuinely condemn it. He just thinks they were too arrogant. And Sirius’s behavior after Azkaban (how he became gentler with others) indicates he truly realized – you don't need to belittle everyone you dislike or even like. Yet, Sirius’s harshness, even after Azkaban, didn’t disappear; it was just redirected towards what he genuinely hates.

‘Professor Snape was at school with us. He fought very hard against my appointment to the Defence Against the Dark Arts job. He has been telling Dumbledore all year that I am not to be trusted. He has his reasons ... you see, Sirius here played a trick on him which nearly killed him, a trick which involved me –’ 

Black made a derisive noise. 

‘It served him right,’ he sneered. ‘Sneaking around, trying to find out what we were up to ... hoping he could get us expelled ...’

Remus's reactions are much softer, but Sirius’s reaction, even years later, is harsh and even a bit cruel. ‘It served him right.’ Because it's an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

However, Sirius’s harshness still occasionally breaks through even towards his close ones when he slightly loses control over himself after Azkaban.

‘You’re less like your father than I thought,’ he said finally, a definite coolness in his voice. ‘The risk would’ve been what made it fun for James.’ 

‘Well, I’d better get going, I can hear Kreacher coming down the stairs,’ said Sirius, but Harry was sure he was lying. ‘I’ll write to tell you a time I can make it back into the fire, then, shall I? If you can stand to risk it?’

Sirius calls themselves “arrogant little berks,” but the peculiarity of Sirius’s arrogance is that it's due to his personal qualities, not external “glamour”.

 ‘I, a spy for Voldemort? When did I ever sneak around people who were stronger and more powerful than myself? But you, Peter – I’ll never understand why I didn’t see you were the spy from the start. You always liked big friends who’d look after you, didn’t you?’

He despises Peter for groveling, for weakness, for the same reasons he despises Regulus, considering him a soft idiot. Sirius’s arrogance was never built on finances or blood purity, on popularity, on playing Quidditch, not on his name, although the family dynamics undoubtedly influenced his pride. But overall, his arrogance is of a different level – that of a rebellious spirit, a very strong person, not like the Malfoys. Lucius Malfoy is intentionally depicted as the complete opposite of Sirius Black (in character – the most rebellious of their pure-blood circle and the most sycophantic, and in appearance – black and white).

Sirius and Kreacher's story demonstrates that Sirius does not forgive those he hated and can carry hatred through the years. People usually soften over time, but Sirius has an excuse – Azkaban. Nonetheless, the behavioral pattern remains unchanged. Azkaban does not change the essence of people, it makes certain traits more vivid and pronounced. Sirius became calmer towards the people around him who help fight against evil, he toned down his arrogance and pride (even towards Snape, he no longer hurls insults first, it’s Snape who insults Sirius first), but Sirius became even harsher towards those he hates.

‘Sirius was horrible to Kreacher, Harry, and it’s no good looking like that, you know it’s true. I’ve said all along that wizards would pay for how they treat house-elves. Well, Voldemort did ... and so did Sirius.’

Harry had no retort. As he watched Kreacher sobbing on the floor, he remembered what Dumbledore had said to him, mere hours after Sirius’s death: I do not think Sirius ever saw Kreacher as a being with feelings as acute as a human’s ...

And he himself demonstrates this repeatedly:

At which Sirius, ignoring Hermione’s protests, seized Kreacher by the back of his loincloth and threw him bodily from the room.

Dumbledore believes Sirius showed cruelty to Kreacher through his indifference and neglect. That is, Sirius could shut off his empathy towards a being, despite generally being friendly towards house-elves.

‘He (Sirius) regarded him (Kreacher) as a servant unworthy of much interest or notice. Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike… Sirius was not a cruel man, he was kind to house-elves in general. He had no love for Kreacher, because Kreacher was a living reminder of the home Sirius had hated.’

Sirius was not evil. But the neglect emanating from him was very cruel, harsh, and cold. Sirius can shut away all the good within him towards anyone he despised – “And whatever Kreacher’s faults, it must be admitted that Sirius did nothing to make Kreacher’s lot easier –”

‘– comes back from Azkaban ordering Kreacher around, oh, my poor mistress, what would she say if she saw the house now, scum living in it, her treasures thrown out, she swore he was no son of hers and he’s back, they say he’s a murderer too –’

‘Keep muttering and I will be a murderer!’ said Sirius irritably as he slammed the door shut on the elf.

However, Sirius likely never killed anyone, even while serving in the "Order."

Regarding his family and even Regulus, Sirius is also harsh. Even if he, like any child, deep down loved his family, it doesn’t matter because his real words and actions are very harsh and aimed at severing ties. The possible love for them deep down only further highlights his harshness and readiness for confrontation.

“I hated the whole lot of them: my parents, with their pure-blood mania, convinced that to be a Black made you practically royal ... my idiot brother, soft enough to believe them”

Likely, he’s ashamed of them, and his hatred also builds a wall between them and himself.

‘Does it matter if she’s my cousin?’ snapped Sirius. ‘As far as I’m concerned, they’re not my family. She’s certainly not my family. I haven’t seen her since I was your age, unless you count a glimpse of her coming into Azkaban. D’you think I’m proud of having a relative like her?’

And at the same time Dumbledore about James:

‘I knew your father very well, both at Hogwarts and later, Harry,’ he said gently. ‘He would have saved Pettigrew too, I am sure of it.’

I don’t know how true this is (though likely, the author speaks through Dumbledore here), but considering that Harry himself is a character whose main traits include the ability to understand and forgive others, perhaps James had this to some extent too. But Sirius lacks the ability to forgive, and this is deliberately shown in the book – that he suffered precisely because of his excessive harshness.

In conclusion, Sirius's harshness and toughness is not just teenage arrogance; it's directly a trait of his personality, something that cannot be overlooked when talking about the canonical Sirius, not his sugar-coated substitute in fandom. Sirius had to grow up very early, and all this left its mark on him.

Of all the Marauders, only Sirius is really harsh and can be truly dangerous.

But Sirius was not cruel in a moral-ethical sense, or more precisely – ideologically. There's no reason to believe Sirius is constantly drawn to the dark side or that he's amoral. His constant fight against his family suggests instead that he formed high ideals within himself. No, Sirius is not amoral; he has difficulty with empathy (especially in childhood), a tendency towards aggression and cruelty (mostly in childhood, he controls himself quite well as an adult. Well, for Sirius Black quite well), arrogance, but he very well understands what is right and what is wrong.

‘She’s got the measure of Crouch better than you have, Ron. If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.’

[docdetective]

In The Woods Somewhere

Although Logan had initially found a sense of safety, not from others, but from himself, and now that stillness was turning sour, quickly. The books left behind in the cabin had offered him a brief distraction, something to occupy his mind, but they weren’t enough to keep the edges from fraying. The nightmares had lessened in frequency but not in their intensity. He could manage a few hours of sleep now before jerking awake, heart racing, sweat dampening his skin. When they did come, they were brutal; Jean's face flashing before him, her nightdress soaked in crimson, Marie, her wide, terror-stricken eyes staring up at him as his hands— his hands—coming away wet with her blood. Those memories wrapped around his brain like barbed wire, tightening each night until he could barely breathe.

The wilderness here had been a refuge, a place where the world couldn’t reach him, where he couldn’t hurt anyone else. The icy, vast landscape mirrored the cold inside him, a perfect place to vanish. No one asked questions here, no one pried. He remembered his meeting with the forest ranger, Andi, but she had not bothered him in the two weeks since, so it was just him, the mountains, and the snow. Out here, he didn’t have to think, didn’t have to remember.

He knew he could leave. Any day, he could walk down to the town, catch a bus, and disappear back into civilization. But that thought terrified him more than the isolation. Because Logan knew, deep down, if he went back…what if he wouldn’t be able to control it. There was no hiding in towns, cities, full of cell phones and mutant hating people. He had come out here to get away, to keep the world at a distance, to stop himself from hurting anyone else. In the city, it was only a matter of time before something triggered the rage inside him. A wrong word, a bad memory, and he’d snap. He could already see it; fists flying, blood splattering, faces twisted in pain. The regret, even if they had deserved it, knowing he would be hunted himself.

The wilderness had given him space, a way to control himself. Out here, there was no one to hurt, no one to accidentally destroy, and he could let loose when he needed. He found satisfaction in hurting those that were breaking the law, and there was no telling on him. But it wasn’t enough anymore. He could feel it growing again, the old anger, the old instincts. It scared him—how easy it would be to fall back into it. To let the claws come out and feel the rush of violence take over. He’d lashed out at trees more than once, the feel of his blades tearing into wood, bark splitting under his fists, just to stop the tension from overwhelming him. But even that was losing its edge.

He paced the cabin, hands itching to draw the claws, to do something to stop the restless energy from spiraling out of control. Staring out the frost-covered window, he knew it wasn’t just the wilderness trapping him. He was trapped by his own fear, by the knowledge that he was a ticking time bomb that simply couldn't die, as much as he may want it. 

He snatched the small radio off of the bedside table and ran into the woods, stopping at the edge of a riverbank and stripping his shirt. The icy water shocked his head and instantly he felt relief. He lay down on a shallow rock and let the cold fill his senses as the northern lights danced above.

The nights stretched endlessly as winter dug its claws deeper into the wilderness. For Andi, the isolation wasn’t a punishment—it was a blessing. The cold, the snow, the silence all felt like home. 

As the dark winter months passed, Andi settled into the routine of nights that reached far below freezing temperatures and days with no sun. It was so highly unlikely anyone would ever survive without a set shelter, she thankfully put humans out of her mind and got to focus on the part she loved most, nature in its most unblemished state. This was when she felt true peace, stepping outside and filling her lungs with the crisp air that came with the negative temperatures. The only sounds were the soft thumps of the snow falling from the branches, the swoosh of a bird’s wings, and the rush of water flowing down the river. 

She stepped carefully through the snow, her breath misting in the freezing air, as the colors of the Aurora flickered above her. The energy in the lights danced across her skin, teasing the edges of her control. She could feel it building, the same way it always did, a pulse in time with the shifting lights in the sky.

Suddenly, she stopped. Her heightened senses tingled, and she turned in a slow circle, scanning the trees around her.

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw him, the hulking shadow that was undeniably familiar- the man she had met a few weeks prior, Logan. He stood at the edge of the treeline, half-hidden in shadow, his bare chest catching the faint glow of the lights above. 

Andi blinked, caught off guard, not sensing immediate danger, but taking in the scene for a second. The man radiated a primal kind of intensity that made her skin prickle—not fear, but something else entirely, as he looked at her through his eyebrows. He could be dangerous, she could tell, but not the same kind of dangerous as humans usually were.  

“Didn’t think I’d see anyone at this time of night,” Logan said, almost apologetically, his posture relaxing as he stepped towards her. 

Andi took a breath, forcing herself to act casual despite the thrum of energy buzzing beneath her skin. “I wasn’t expecting to see anyone either,” she said, her voice steady. “But that seems to be a running theme with our encounters, because nothing screams normal like someone shirtless in freezing temperatures.”

Logan huffed, his breath coming out in steamy clouds in the cold air.  “Normal? I think you’ve got the wrong guy for that. Let’s just say I’ve got a high tolerance for freezing my ass off.”

Andi gave a little laugh in return. The guy was funny, too. Certainly didn’t explain how it was physically possible to ice bathe in the winter, but he definitely wasn’t a greasy poacher. 

Logan's gaze was intense, sweeping over her like he was trying to figure her out, too. “And I could ask you the same thing, you’re walking in the woods, alone.”

Andi shrugged, pulling her jacket tighter around herself, though it wasn’t the cold she was trying to guard against. “I like the quiet. The sky’s beautiful tonight.” She glanced up, letting her eyes flicker toward the Northern Lights. 

“Yeah,” he muttered, following her gaze. “It is.”

For a moment, they both stood in silence, watching the lights shimmer and pulse in the dark sky. The colors twisted and bled into each other, casting faint reflections on the snow around them. 

She turned back to him, studying him for a moment. “You live nearby? I’ve only seen one other cabin from my plane, and it's about 5 miles north of  here.”

So she’s the one with the damned plane. “That’s mine.”

“Hmm,” she said, her curiosity piqued. She couldn’t help but be intrigued by him. There was an air of mystery, something deep that he wasn’t saying. And despite herself, she wanted to know more. “Seems like we’re neighbors then.”

“Guess so,” Logan replied, and let his lips twitch into the barest hint of a smirk, surprising himself. It was fleeting, but it caught her attention. He had a nice face when he wasn’t scowling.

Andi studied him for a second longer, her eyes flicking over the hard lines of his shoulders, the rough edges of his jaw. She caught herself, her face warming in spite of the cold. He was handsome in a wild, dangerous way that she hadn’t let herself notice before.

He shrugged on a flannel and started buttoning, his large hands surprisingly nimbly doing up the buttons, too fast, in Andi’s opinion. She had no company up here, and especially no views like that.

He finished and nodded in her direction, the scowl back. “I’ll leave you alone.” 

The words resonated with both of them, him, realizing he couldn’t get attached, and her, sad to see him leave. It had been some time since she had had a conversation with someone other than a sketchy hunter, and although their interactions had been short, she found herself hoping they would run into each other again.

Previous Part Next Part

[twignotstick]

Broken Brothers (and How to Fix Them)

Part 4 ❤️ | Part 1 <- 🧡 | Part 2 <- 💙| Part 3 <- 💜

Note: This story is based on @cupcakeslushie 's Empyrean Weeping au. These characters are not my own, and this story is in no way canon to the main story. I wrote this as my love letter to the story and the characters. Especially April :)

Tags: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, ROTTMNT, Raph & April, April & the Turtles, Splinter's there too, NOT MY CHARACTERS, Empyrean Weeping AU, guilt, talking it out because we're adults, basketball(???), turtle pile(!!!)

Warnings (if there's anything I should add here, tell me please!): yelling, small physical injury

Words: 3,015 (i may be insane🤪)

Summary: April was able to figure out her first brother easily. Now, she gets three more, with a couple more issues to worry about.

----------------------

When Splinter told her where Raph was, April couldn't help but want to go home. To leave. To act like she didn't know.

But that isn't what big sisters do.

So, instead, like the brave pre-teen she was, she went to the dojo. She went to the shrine, where Raph was already kneeling. She paid her respects (for as long as a hyperactive kid could) to those kids she had never met.

“Do you think I would have been a good big brother?” Raph asked, staring at the family photo in front of him. One of the only remnants he and his father had of his little brothers. 

“You are a good big brother,” April responded without hesitation. “You're still looking for them, aren't you?”

“...well, yeah…”

“Then you're being the best big brother that you can be!”

Raph rubbed his knuckles. “But, what if, when we find them, I don't know how to be a big brother? Maybe I won't want to be a big brother then…”

“You can just follow my lead!” April said, puffing out her chest. “I'm already the best big sister, aren't I?”

“Course you are!” Raph said. “But I can't do everything you can do, y’know?”

“Like what?” April asked suspiciously.

“Like…” Raph pondered. “Like putting your hair up! Raph ain't got no hair.”

“Hmm…” April rubbed her chin in thought. “True. But you don't need to do your big brother-ing exactly like I do my big sister-ing. You do Raph! Besides, who cares about hair when you do have the cutest, coolest, most spikiest shell ever in the whole world!”

The girl hopped on Raph's back, climbing on his spikes and tickling under his armpits in just the right spots, leaving both of them laughing blobs on the floor.

Raph was going to be the best big brother ever. April just knew it.

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

“DONNIE! GET DOWN FROM THERE!”

“NOW I WILL BE THE BALL!”

“NO!”

“I MEANT B-BALL DON, NOT- JUST LISTEN TO RAPH!”

Mikey’s hand wandered over to April’s fries, trying to snag one without looking away from the action in front of him. April decided to help him and angled the box so he could grab one.

Donnie had somehow managed to get himself on top of the basketball hoop, with one foot hooked over the backboard, one entangled in the net, and both of his hands wrapped around the hoop itself. Both Raph and Leo were beneath him with their hands up, ready to catch him when he inevitably fell. It was amazing he hadn’t already, honestly.

“April, tell him to get down!” Raph begged, shooting the bystanders in the stands a sideways glance.

“He doesn’t listen to me,” she responded helpfully. “He’s your little brother.”

“At this point, I don’t think he knows how to get down,” Mikey added from his spot on the bleachers. “You might have to cut his foot loose.”

“What do you mean?” Donnie asked, scoffing. “I can get myself down from this contraption just fine!”

Mikey smirked, squinting his eyes. “Prove it.”

Donnie unhooked his leg from the backboard behind him and tried to jump forward, only to discover that he had, in fact, tangled his foot a little worse than expected. He yelped when all of his body weight was suddenly put onto the small space of his ankle as his body inverted. Raph and Leo rushed up to help him down, but found that they could only push him up to lessen the pressure from him dangling. 

Raph’s eyes were blown wide. “What do we- MIKEY! DO SOMETHING!”

April and Mikey both came up quickly, and Mikey clambered up Raph’s shell. He pulled a small pocket knife from his hoodie and started sawing at the net while Donnie winced and flailed. Eventually, they got him down, and April could feel the collective relief across the brothers.

Today was supposed to be an easy day. Go out to the surface, pick up some fast food, and show the boys how to properly play basketball. For the most part, it was an easy day. But of course, it couldn’t stay easy. Stupid turtle luck and all. So when Leo just happened to say the wrong thing for Donnie to misconstrue, it all fell apart.

“What were you thinking?!” Raph shouted, looking at Donnie on the ground who was massaging his irritated ankle. “You could have gotten seriously hurt! You did get seriously hurt! I warned you!”

“Chill out, Raph.” Leo tried to place himself between the two. “It's not that serious. No need to get your mask in a twist-”

“Not that serious?” Raph got up in Leo’s face. “You’re telling me it’s not that serious?! You were just as worried as I was!”

Leo pushed Raph’s plastron lightly. “Yeah, when he was dangling from a basketball net. Now he’s on the floor, and it’s fine.”

“We’re all good, bro!” Mikey sat down next to Donnie, looking at the injury himself. “Yeesh, that is not pretty, though…”

April was starting to feel like she wasn’t supposed to be here for this conversation.

“All good?!” Raph stomped on the ground, leaving a small crack on the court. “If we hadn't caught him, he could have broken his leg, or smashed his skull open! If we weren’t here, he could have just sat here, waiting for some human to find him! What happens then?!”

April tried to step forward. “Raph, you need to calm down.”

Donnie looked up with pitiful eyes. “I'm sorry, Raph, I didn't-”

“WHY DON'T YOU GUYS EVER LISTEN TO ME?!”

Raph threw his hands up, only to freeze when he looked down.

Mikey had his hand firmly in his hoodie pocket, ready to take out his pocket knife again. Leo had readied himself into a defensive position, one he had practiced many times in the dojo. Donnie held his arms braced in front of his face, neck turned away, ready for impact.

Donnie's eyes were clenched shut, but Mikey and Leo kept theirs trained on the threat.

The threat.

The threat.

Raph's breath got shaky, and he stepped back slowly. His eyes kept darting across the brothers beneath him. He picked up his pace and hurried out of the basketball court, walking with purpose down the sidewalk under the New York moonlight.

April walked up next to the boys on the ground. Leo looked at her, with despair and guilt in his eyes. “April, we didn't…”

“I'll find him,” she promised. “You boys just stay here, alright? If anybody walks by, put your hoods up. Sound good?”

The brothers nodded solemnly, and April hurried to catch up with the eldest. 

The New York streets were, thankfully, empty due to how late it was. The only lights showing now were the light of the moon, the stars, and the streetlights. The air felt thick, but April couldn’t tell if that was because it was humid or because of the nervousness she felt. April was able to see the large form of the snapper quickly moving down the sidewalk. She jogged to catch up, only for Raph to turn and start scaling a nearby apartment building.

The turtle got up to the roof quickly because of course he did, he's been training as a ninja his whole life. April sighed and strained her neck up to where he had vanished. “You know I'm not good at this stuff, right?!” She called up, not expecting a response. Sighing in defeat, she moved toward the fire escape.

She scaled up, having to toss herself up when she reached the top level, and hefted up onto the roof. After recollecting her breath, she looked up to see Raph curled in a ball in the far corner of the rooftop. His arms were wrapped around his legs, knees held close to his chest. He had his beak stuffed down, hiding his face, with the hood of his hoodie haphazardly covering his neck and the back of his head.

April settled down silently next to him.

His breaths were deep, but they had a relatively normal pace. April wasn't worried about that. She was beginning to worry about how deeply he was shoving his face down. She rested a hand on his arm softly, ready to pull away if she needed.

“...did you see their faces?”

April almost missed the whisper. “Raph?”

“Their faces, April,” Raph sighed, lifting his face to reveal his reddened eyes. “There was so much fear in their faces. They… they were scared, April. They were scared of me.”

He choked back a sob. “They were scared of me, April! They thought I was gonna hurt them! Little brothers don't get scared of big brothers! Big brothers are supposed to keep their little brothers safe!”

He placed his chin on his knees, looking blankly into the air. “Raph ain't no big brother. I just… ain't built for it. They deserve more than what they got.”

April put a hand on the side of Raph's face, making sure he was looking at her. “Do you want a hug, big man?”

Without hesitation, Raph wrapped his bulky arms around April's much smaller body. April knew he was holding back, but the squeeze around her core was still strong. She didn't mind.

Over her shoulder, she heard the whimpering voice of her little brother say, “...why can't I do this?”

April rubbed the turtle's spiky shell through the hoodie he was wearing. The spikes were threatening to poke through the fabric. “You're still learning how to be a big brother. Just like they're learning how to be little brothers.”

“If I had done something, maybe they… m-maybe they wouldn't have gotten hurt. I-if I'd stepped up as a big brother, maybe none of this…”

Raph's breath hitched as his tears started to fall.

“...you're not talking about the hoop anymore… are you?”

Raph squeezed her tighter, rubbing his face on her shoulder.

“None of that was your fault, Raphael. You were a kid.”

“I was supposed to protect them, April!”

“Maybe you were. Maybe that's what you should have done, and you didn't. But you can't change that now.”

Raph leaned back, and April wiped a tear from his face. Only one; she didn't dare wipe them all. He needed this.

“You can't beat yourself up because of things you didn't do. That's not what big brothers do.” April lifted his chin, just a bit. “What big brothers do is help get through the aftermath. You have to be there for your little brothers when they need you. And sometimes, they have to learn things the hard way. It's your job to make sure they truly learn, and heal.”

Raph leaned into April's palm. “I don't know if I'm all cut out for being a big brother anymore, Apes.”

April huffed through her nose. “Well, that's too bad.”

“What?”

“You don't get a choice no more, Raphie. You wanted to be their big brother. Now they need their big brother. So either you leave your baby brothers without a big brother to take care of them, or you tough it out and make them feel loved.” April lightly punched Raph's shoulder. “I didn't put all this effort in for nothing, either. I'm trying to be a big sister too. And with brothers like yours, it ain't easy.”

“Mikey's easy,” Raph laughed.

“Sometimes, maybe, but other times, he's a perfectionist and a doormat! And Leo's always got a stick up his butt, and don't even get me started on Donnie!”

“Hey!” Raph shoved April's shoulder back. “Don't be talking about my little brothers that way.”

“And there's that big brother.” April smiled, patting his arm. “It's like you don't even have to try.”

“Well,” Raph said, grabbing April's hand to hold, “I learned from the best.”

April's chest puffed proudly, and she pulled Raph in for one more hug.

The sweet moment was interrupted by April's ringtone coming from her back pocket. She pulled her phone out and answered Mikey's call.

“Hello?”

“Hey April! Did you find Raph?”

April looked at Raph in front of her, then back at her phone. “Yeah, I found him.”

“Sweet! Well, uh, we were going to just head back to the lair, and you guys can meet us there? I think there's a Lou Jitsu movie, a bowl of ice cream, and a turtle pile with Raph's name on it. If he wants it, of course! And I think I can convince Pops to get in on it too…”

Raph met April's eyes, then inched closer to speak into the phone himself.

“I'll hold you to that, big man.”

Mikey immediately cheered up on the other end of the phone at the sound of his big brother's voice, and April handed Raph the phone so they could talk. She sat back and watched Raph apologize to Mikey, all while smiling and promising the biggest hugs he could possibly give.

He had grown so much. Physically, that was obvious. But ever since his little brothers came back into his life, April had seen Raph grow as a person. He was better for it. He was stronger for it. Because now, he had something to protect.

Raph was going to be the best big brother ever. April just knew it.

----------------------

Apologies were given, ice cream was eaten, and Lou Jitsu movies were watched. The four brothers were left sleeping in a pile of limbs and bean bags, and it was the happiest sight April had seen in months. Raph at the base, with his arms wrapped around Donnie and Leo at his sides, and Mikey tucked into a ball on Raph's plastron. Each of them, just a picture of bliss.

Splinter had gotten up to make tea, which he had done quite easily with his ninja dexterity. April, on the other hand, had struggled for a full 3 minutes to get out from her wedge between Leo and Raph without waking them. It was worth it, anyhow. Even if just to see the brothers like this. (And to talk with Splinter, but the boys being cute took priority.)

The rat filled his absurdly skull shaped kettle with water and began boiling it. He turned around to see April and smiled. “Would you like a cup?” he asked softly.

“Sure!” April affirmed. “I'd love that.”

The tea brewed, and the two enjoyed each other's company in silence. April had never felt quite as close to an adult other than her parents as she did with Splinter. And sure, he was a giant rat man who often did strange things like singing to get his back popped into place and bragging about how hot he was in his past, but he was one of the kindest people April knew. Human or not. And coolest, of course. He was a ninja warrior, what did you expect?

Once their cups were filled, they returned to the living room. April sat on Splinter's couch, while Splinter himself stood to the side. Both looked at the slumbering turtles as they sipped their tea.

“Thank you.”

April looked down at Splinter, whose eyes were filled with pride. “Me? Why?”

“They would have never been like this without your help. Usagi's and Cassandra's as well, but especially yours. It is because of you that they can be so peaceful like this.”

“A rare sight,” April snickered.

“Yes,” Splinter agreed wistfully. “When you have four teenage boys, you learn to appreciate moments like this.”

April looked fondly at the rat, then at the boys, with a strange fullness in her chest. A familial feeling. One growing stronger by the day.

“You have done more than help them,” Splinter continued. “You have encouraged me to come into my role as their father. You have reminded me, time and time again, that I am their father, and I must act as such.”

“‘Reminded’?” April teased. “You don't need reminding. You're, like, the best dad ever. No offense to my actual dad.”

Splinter laughed, a smaller version of that hearty, old man laugh he had. Quiet enough not to disturb his sons.

“I'm serious! You should get some sorta reward for this. Maybe a plaque- ‘World's Best Father Who Got Turned into a Giant Rat and Accidentally Got Four Impromptu Turtle Sons’.”

“Oh, April.” Splinter placed his small hand on April's arm, looking over at his sons with shining eyes. “I have my reward.”

April fought laughter at the cheesy remark, but she kept silent. The rat put his empty cup down and climbed back into the turtle pile, carefully nestling back into the perfectly sized space between Raph's plastron and Mikey's. Even in his sleep, Mikey's arm instinctively curled around his father.

April suddenly felt a wave of fulfillment in her core. A feeling that told her she had done something right. That she had truly made a positive impact on something.

And maybe that something was a family of mutants. Four boys forced to grow up too soon and a father with haunting memories in his mind.

They weren't perfect. They never would be. Not with the hand they got. But, even so, they were trying. They were improving. That was all April could ask of them.

Some things would never be fixed. In certain ways, her brothers would always be broken.

They just needed someone to help carry them when they shattered. 

April finished her tea, placed her cup next to Splinter’s, then stepped as quietly as she could to return to her place in the pile. Donnie scrunched up and rubbed his face at the disturbance, but fortunately didn't wake. When he calmed back down, he placed his cheek on the crest of Mikey's shell contentedly, drooling just a bit.

As April settled back in, Leo rubbed his face in her hair. Raph churred softly at the feeling of pressure returning to his chest. All of the mutants let out a calm breath as their bundle became complete once more.

She was always happy to pick up the broken pieces, especially if they brought her warmth like this.

○●○●○●○

Behold, the finale. 8,776 words total. I had to rewrite some parts of this a couple times to get it right. Originally, I was just going to end it with Raph agreeing to go home, but that didn't feel like a proper way to wrap up this whole story. And with the lack of Splinter throughout, I figured that last scene would be the perfect way to wrap it up. 🐀

Shout out to @cupcakeslushie again. The EW comic was actually the thing that finally made me get a tumblr account instead of watching from the sidelines. Now I get to enjoy one of the coolest communities ever, thanks to that. Thank you, slushie <3

(also, i may or may not have something for venus in the works,,👀🩵)

I plan on writing more @tmntaucompetition propaganda stuff while the comp is going on. There are so many skrungly aus i want to get my little paws in,,,, But after that, ive got some aus of my own that i cant wait to share!

Check out the tmnt au comp, follow EW (THE NEXT PART OF THE LEO ARC COMES OUT TOMMOROW, AH), and thank you for reading! :)

[cloudbattrolls]

And We Hold On

Hazard Ailaht | Selatak | Present Night

Selatak: sweltering by anyone’s standards, especially Hazard Ailaht’s as he wiped his face and walked into his hive at the edge of the city.

He sighed in relief as hive’s air conditioning blew over his warm skin and his lusus slithered up, tongue flicking. The blueblood locked the door behind him, bent down to give the animal a few scratches on the snout, then hurried onward.

Goh Tat didn’t take kindly to lateness, after all.

He grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen, settled into his home office chair, and flicked open his laptop. It took only seconds to click the link and join the video call - good thing, too, he only had a minute to spare.

“Haz.” Said the older blueblood, usual crooked smile adorning his face. 

No one else called him anything but Hazard, which Goh Tat knew perfectly well. But the nickname was one of the most minor things he had to put up with, and he couldn’t afford to show dislike, so he only nodded.

”Good job making buddies with that Velour kid - can always use the publicity. Though he did get into a scandal not too long ago, and not the fun kind….watch your step. Cut him loose if he puts his foot in it again.”

He ended the request with a laugh, as if what he’d said was incredibly hilarious.

“I’m aware, sir.” Hazard said. 

He wasn’t, really. Viltau had alluded to it, but he didn’t want to know more - unlike Goh Tat, personal gossip just wasn’t that interesting to him most of the time.

Besides, it was none of his business.

“Great, love to hear it…now about those hemoanons, whoof! You know better than that, huh? Velour, fine unless he fucks himself again, and Espino seems legit - heard he offed some old fleet hag, but who cares about that? She probably had it coming.” He said with a yawn.

Hazard went still.

“I don’t see why it matters.” He says slowly. “The library allows hemoanons.”

Goh Tat laughed again, but there was no humor in it.

“Sure we do, for whatever fucking reason…but they’re not fit company, Haz. One of them thinks he’s real fucking hilarious coming to yank my dick and mess with my guards. I admit - it has been kind of funny and it gives those meatheads something to do, what else do I pay them for? But it better not go beyond that.” He said, voice now dangerously soft and intent, blue eyes gleaming.

Unlike Hazard, his pupils were split into four - hard to see unless you were up close. The signature trait of the Ailaht bloodline. The marker of vision fourfold - when it had properly developed.

“So why don’t you spend some time with your real buddies.” The actor said, tone still soft. “Ditch ‘em.”

The librarian’s heart beat horribly fast, and he had to struggle to not breathe too shallowly.

He couldn’t think.

He knew what he should do. He should back down. He should play it safe. The things Goh Tat could do to him were many and terrible.

Still the words forced themselved past his gritted fangs.

“No.”

He said.

Goh Tat blinked, like he couldn’t believe Hazard had actually said it. He squinted, waiting for the punchline, and when none was forthcoming he smiled sharp and without any joy.

“Oh, kid…you fucking know better. We both know you know better. You’re not a stupid guy, are you, Haz? You’re smart. That’s half of why you’re still alive.”

Goh Tat examined his claws idly. “Apologize and I’ll forget about it. I’m in a good mood tonight.”

It would be easy. Just say sorry. Swallow his pride. Swallow the insult.

Fail his new friends.

The older cerulean, nobody’s fool, raised his eyebrows at the hesitation.

“You think they’d like you if they knew what a freak of nature you are?” He said, tone so low and calm, so pointed.

No. They probably wouldn’t. 

He wasn’t a mutant, legally speaking. His blood was as dark and healthy as any normal troll’s.

That mattered nothing to Goh Tat.

“I won’t…” He choked up, his hands shaking. “I won’t stop…talking to them. They haven’t hurt the library. I’ll owe you a favor.”

Goh Tat’s eyes glittered. He wasn’t pleased, exactly, but he was listening.

“Look at you, bargaining like you have power…but you know what, I’ve been bored for a week or so, my girl’s off taking a break. I could use some entertainment. Sure, you owe me a favor, anything I want - or I’ll march right into that library and start setting the books on fire.”

Hazard’s eyes narrowed.

“No.” He said, eerily calm now. “You won’t. Or you’ll die.”

He hated it the moment he said it, hated saying something like that even to Goh Tat, hated it as much as he hated his ancestor because -

-because briefly, almost imperceptibly, the older man’s eyes were afraid, and he shied back the barest inch from his screen. 

Then the actor recovered, his sharp smile sliding back into place.

“Aw, you think you can threaten me, isn’t that cute.” He drawled. “Take a fucking hint and let it go, Haz, I was kidding. You’re such a hardass.”

Saying so, the older blueblood ended the call, and Hazard wilted into his chair, wracked with nerves and guilt. 

They both knew it was a lie. They both knew why Goh Tat almost never saw him in person, and if he did, Hazard had to come to him, not the other way around.

For all that Goh Tat was older, stronger, and much better at fighting, the elder Ailaht was highly aware of one thing.

He knew just how easily his descendant could kill him.

[ice-o-fon]

Okay so I’ve been seeing people redesigning the tmnt boys, and I wanted to put my own spin on it.

(These are just my extremely altered versions of the turtle boys)

So here they are!

I thought that it’d be cool if each turtles respective colour was gained through their actual species. And yes I’m aware none of them are green anymore, which is something I also thought was weird but another part of me really digger the idea of pushing the limits of these redesigns. So.

A bit of origin of these turtles

Basically splinter was a loyal member of the Hamato clan, however after falling in love with Tang Shen. He moved to New York with her and they had a child, (ya know her, ya love her) Karai. But life in New York can be extremely hard, and so in order to make some more cash on the side, splinter decided to take on underground fights. One day he looses a guy a lot of money and said guy basically kidnapped splinter. And the rest is kinda based mainly off the the rise origins.

Splinter is given to the foot clan by this guy, who at the time said foot clan is experimenting on animals. Trying to make them into mutants, they use splinters dna in this and produce the turtles. But in the same night, a fire is started which causes splinter to both get accidentally mutated into a rat and also allows him to escape with the turtles. As he felt personally responsible for their existence.

However, when it came time to return home to Tang Shen, he couldn’t do it. Being a rat and all. So he went and hid away in the sewers, as ya do. And decided to raise his turtle children in hopes that one day they’d be able to track down the foot clan and find a cure for his mutation.

Here’s some info one the boys too

Leo

Leo is a leather back sea turtle, he is the eldest (according to himself). He remains as flamboyant as he is in rise, but is definitely got a sprinkle of the 2012 Leo too. He tends to listen to splinter the most out of his brothers, as he’s splinters favourite he feels a constant need to live up to that standard. Becoming a little egotistical in the process of this.

Being a leatherback turtle he often just swims around. He is one of the better skilled fighters/strategists of his brothers and takes that with pride (he ends up being a bit of a jerk), but also tends to laze about when splinters not around. He is not the leader of the group as the group doesn’t really have a leader and takes on whatever roles fit best for each mission. He’s still heavy into sci-fi and comic books.

Raph

Raph is an albino forest turtle, due to his albinism he has rather bad eyesight. Donnie made him some glasses for it but most the time he doesn’t wear them. Raph tends to be the best in terms of leadership, but strategical thinking is often left to Leo. He is the one who encourages his brothers to keep training, often butting heads with Leo.

Raph is not as quick to anger as he is in 2012 but he still is more susceptible to it compared to his brothers. Although, he is always there for them when they need him. Being a heavy emotional support for his family (in the big brother tuff love kinda way). He’s also got all the sass of the original Raph too.

Mikey

Mikey is a western swamp tortoise, however all his family keeps telling him he’s a turtle. They’re scared his world will be crushed if they find out he’s not a turtle. Why did I make him a western swamp tortoise? Because i love those little guys and their faces are just so Mikey. He’s the most artistic of the group and is extremely into the old masters (painters). He often forces his family to help him with poses for his paintings.

He is just as energetic as all Mikey’s are. He still has ADHD (like in rise, cuz it’s good rep). Mikey is often the one sent in to get info out of people, he’s a real sweet talker. Like Raph he’s also an emotional crutch for the family, being somewhat of a therapist to his brothers and father.

Mikey’s little bag holds his art supplies

Donnie

I really liked that Donnie was a soft shelled turtle in Rise so I kept him like that cuz don’t change what ain’t broken. Donnie’s practically just rise Donnie for the most part. However, like in 2012 he’s less cynical then rises Donnie. Plus less of a god complex, he still believes he’s the best but doesn’t say it as much as rises Donnie. He maintains his autism form rise Donnie.

Donnie mostly works on new gear for his brothers and himself to make things easier. Leo often points blame at Donnie whenever he’s called lazy because Donnie apparently “set a bad example with all his automatic machines”. Donnie always points out flaws in Leo’s logic, but still loves his brother dearly. And always pops in with a sarcastic remark when needed.

Donnie’s headphone things were def not inspired by the cat earphones.

[fantomcomics]

What's Out This Week? 11/8

Upcoming Events: Life Drawing! MtG Beginners Lesson!

Count Crowley: Mediocre Midnight Monster Hunter #1 (of 4) -David Dastmalchian & Lukas Ketner

A dead werewolf would have made Jerri Bartman feel victorious just a few days ago. But this deceased beast was her friend and our beloved monster hunter is shocked and depressed. The return of her predecessor brings no consolation and now there's a ghoulish child-snatcher on the loose in Beloit... Holly Halloween, Count Crowley! Things are really getting batty!

What If...? Dark: The Tomb Of Dracula #1 - Marv Wolfman, David Cutler & Giuseppe Camuncoli

Legend MARV WOLFMAN returns to TOMB OF DRACULA and the character he co-created! WHAT IF...the legendary Dracula transformed BLADE the vampire slayer...into a vampire?!

Petrol Head #1 (of 5) - Rob Williams & Pye Parr

In a climate crisis-ravaged future metropolis, an old, grumpy, obsolete, smoke-belching, cigar-chomping, HOTROD-RACING ROBOT is one 12-year-old girl's only hope. Together, can they outrace the chasing Robo-Cops with an invention that might just save humanity?

Punisher #1 - David Pepose, Dave Wachter & Rod Reis

Is this the return of Frank Castle - or the start of something else? Frank Castle has disappeared, but evil will always need to be punished. With all-new threats rising to claim innocent victims, criminals will need to beware of a dangerous vigilante hunting them from the shadows. Who is the new Punisher? What put him on his path of vengeance? And when the smoke clears, will he even make it out alive?

Star Wars: The High Republic Phase 3 #1 - Cavan Scott, Ario Anindito & Phil Noto

A year after the destruction of STARLIGHT BEACON, MARCHION RO and THE NIHIL stand victorious! The galaxy is in turmoil: The once mighty JEDI are outclassed, the REPUBLIC is on its knees. On the edges of the galactic frontier, JEDI MASTER KEEVE TRENNIS leads a desperate assault against an invading force! The odds are stacked against her, but a Jedi always clings to hope. THE FORCE is with her...right? Not so fast!

Superman '78: The Metal Curtain #1 (of 6) - Robert Venditti & Gavin Guidry

When the planet Krypton exploded, its last son was rocketed across the cosmos and came to settle in a small town in Kansas. But what else came with him, and what if a piece of his home landed somewhere we never knew about? As Superman has become a symbol of strength and pride for America, the Soviet Union looks to crush that image with a creation of their own, built by their own might and forged by their own power!

Thanos #1 - Christopher Cantwell, Luca Pizzari & Leinil Yu

THANOS VS. THE ILLUMINATI! The Mad Titan descends upon Earth to retrieve something he has lost. And the Illuminati must band together to stop him, because they're the ones who hid it from him!

Zawa & The Belly Of The Beast #1 (of 5) - Michael Dialynas

Trapped inside her mountain by pollution-spewing factories, the guardian spirit Zawa only has industrial waste to eat, leading her to a bitter existence of paranoia and destruction.

But when two siblings from a nearby village help her escape, they'll quickly learn that the way to calming Zawa's heart is through a well nourished stomach!

GLAAD Award-winning and Eisner Award-nominated cartoonist Michael Dialynas (Wynd, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) crafts a charmingly macabre eco-fable about nature, greed, the dangers of retribution, and good food shared among friends.

5 Centimeters Per Second HC - Makoto Shinkai & Yukiko Seike

Based on the award winning film by Makoto Shinkai, 5 Centimeters per Second is now compiled into a beautiful hardcover collector's edition! Love can move at the speed of terminal velocity, but as award-winning director Makoto Shinkai reveals in his latest comic, it can only be shared and embraced by those who refuse to see it stop.

Black Night Parade GN Vol 1 - Hikaru Nakamura

A slightly creepy Christmas comedy by the acclaimed creator of Saint Young Men that inspired a live-action film! Hino Miharu spends Christmas the same way every year, working alone at a dead-end part-time job at a convenience store. He'd do just about anything to land a full-time gig, but when he runs into a shadowy Santa Claus dressed all in black, he has no idea he's encountered the real deal. Well, almost. While the normal Santa Claus who dresses in red and white oversees Christmas for all the good boys and girls, his dark counterpart is in charge of handling the bad children-and Miharu just wound up on the naughty list. Gobbled up by a slavering, talking sack, he's spirited away to the Arctic, where he finds himself the newest employee of a massive Christmas operation. Yeah, the pay and benefits are great, and his coworkers sure are cute, but is this the dream job he's been hoping for, or the beginning of a Christmas nightmare?

The Complete American Gods HC - Neil Gaiman, P. Craig Russell, Scott Hampton, Colleen Doran, & Glenn Fabry

Shadow Moon, fresh out of jail, finds his wife dead, his life in shambles, and nowhere to turn. But a chance meeting with the mysterious Mr. Wednesday thrusts him into the center of a conflict between new and old gods, where the future of human and divine life is at stake. The Hugo, Bram Stoker, Locus, World Fantasy, and Nebula award-winning novel and hit Starz television series by Neil Gaiman is adapted as a graphic novel! Collecting the complete American Gods comic book series, along with art process features, high res scans of original art, layouts, character designs, and bonus art by Becky Cloonan, Skottie Young, Fabio Moon, Dave McKean, and many more!

Don't Spit In The Wind TP - Stefano Cardoselli

One man's trash is another man's living.

Since earth became inhospitable, humanity escaped ages ago to live in a space station floating above the atmosphere. Now Travis and his crew of garbage men are tasked with cleaning up mountains of toxic waste, working for a company called Atomic Bros INC., to create a 'Clear World'. But when one of Travis' crew members goes missing near an old nuclear facility Travis' job becomes a bit more complicated.  Collects issues #1 - 4.

Duel GN - Jessixa Bagley & Aaron Bagley

Sixth grader Lucy loves fantasy novels and is brand-new to middle school. GiGi is the undisputed queen bee of eighth grade (as well as everything else she does). They've only got one thing in common: fencing. Oh, and they're sisters. They never got along super well, but ever since their dad died, it seems like they're always at each other's throats. When GiGi humiliates Lucy in the cafeteria on the first day of school, Lucy snaps and challenges GiGi to a duel with high sisterly stakes. If GiGi wins, Lucy promises to stay out of GiGi's way; if Lucy wins, GiGi will stop teasing Lucy for good. But after their scene in the cafeteria, both girls are on thin ice with the principal and their mom. Lucy stopped practicing fencing after their fencer dad died and will have to get back to fighting form in secret or she'll be in big trouble. And GiGi must behave perfectly or risk getting kicked off the fencing team. As the clock ticks down to the girls' fencing bout, the anticipation grows. Their school is divided into GiGi and Lucy factions, complete with t-shirts declaring kids' allegiances. Both sisters are determined to triumph. But will winning the duel mean fracturing their family even further?

Ghostlore TP Vol 1 - Cullen Bunn, Leomacs & Reiko Murakami

What ghost stories do ghosts tell, and what can they tell us about ourselves?

An estranged daughter and her father wander a haunted land; they only have the restless spirits, each with its own story to tell, as company along the way.

After a deadly accident of which they are the only survivors, Lucas and Harmony Agate can see the dead-an overwhelming amount of the deceased, all with their own warnings, cries for help, and malevolence alike.

But Lucas and Harmony aren't the only ones with this ability; there are other nearly-deads, some of which have malicious motivations...

Good Girls Go To Hell GN - Tohar Sherman-Friedman

From political protests to personal struggles with school, body image, and relationships with family and friends, Tohar Sherman-Friedman's life is an inspiring story of conflicting convictions, rebellion, and personal growth. Tohar recounts her experience as the youngest of seven children in a conservative Jewish family, navigating a life buffeted by high expectations for school performance and religious adherence at home and tense conflict in the world outside. With utter sincerity and through detailed panel-style drawing, she relates what it's like to be on a journey that ultimately takes her far from how she was taught to think and what she was expected to believe. A coming-of-age graphic memoir set in the West Bank, Good Girls Go to Hell depicts the reality of growing up in a region split by religious tensions-and sometimes violent conflict.

I Am Only A Foreigner Because You Do Not Understand GN - L. Nichols

Some books take the whole of a lifetime to write. I Am Only a Foreigner Because You Do Not Understand continues Flocks, L. Nichols's graphic memoir of growing up trans in the rural South. These comics document L.'s further transition, from living as a man to walking the middle path, facing depression, disease, divorce and death. Healing leaves scars, things fall apart, and pronouns change until there is no I, there is only us.

I Did It! SC - Michael Emberley

Learning to ride a bike is hard. Can I do it? Yes, I can! A fun comic that kindergarteners and first graders can read on their own. Can I do it? I can't do it. I want to do it. I did it! Simple text that new readers can read by themselves, along with delightful pictures in a comic format, show a little creature trying and trying again as they learn to ride a bicycle.  All their friends help with supportive words of encouragement. "You did it!" their friends exclaim.

Keeper Of The Lost Cities GN Vol 1 Part 1 - Shannon Messenger, Celina Frenn & Gabriella Chianello

Twelve-year-old Sophie Foster has never quite fit into her life. She's skipped multiple grades and doesn't really connect with the older kids at school, but she's not comfortable with her family, either. The reason? Sophie's a Telepath, someone who can read minds. No one knows her secret-at least, that's what she thinks... But the day Sophie meets Fitz, a mysterious (and adorable) boy, she learns she's not alone. He's a Telepath too, and it turns out the reason she has never felt at home is that, well... she isn't. Fitz opens Sophie's eyes to a shocking truth, and she is forced to leave behind her family for a new life in a place that is vastly different from what she has ever known.

The Lesbian Experience With Loneliness HC - Kabi Nagata

A beautiful hardcover rerelease of the critically acclaimed manga that won the Harvey Award, with a new cover and bonus chapter. My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness is a raw and heartfelt account of one young woman's struggles with her sexuality, mental well-being, and feelings of alienation in our modern age. Told using expressive artwork that invokes both laughter and tears, this intensely personal and insightful work was previously released in a single volume paperback edition. This hardcover special edition features new cover art and an all-new bonus chapter by the author.

My Pancreas Broke But My Life Got Better GN - Kabi Nagata

The latest diary manga from the Harvey Award-winning creator of My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness and My Wandering Warrior Existence. In this new autobiographical manga, Nagata Kabi has quit drinking in an attempt to get healthier-or she's trying to, anyway. Her former struggles with alcohol led to pancreatitis and a serious hospitalization, and now she has no choice but to give up drinking. Follow the author as she details the quest to improve her health during a global pandemic.

The Nightcrawlers HC Vol 1 - Marco Lopez & Rachel Distler

When things go bump in the night, they bump back.

If you think aliens replaced your teachers or your neighbor might be a vampire, then there's only one group to call for help: The Nightcrawlers.

The Nightcrawlers take on their first case when a friend from school believes werewolves replaced his parents. They get more than they bargained for when their investigation leads them right in the middle of a confrontation between their caretaker William Jones and a former Nightcrawler out for revenge. This story is about the unlikeliest group of friends coming together to help others...with a spooky twist!

Office Gods GN - Catharina Octorina & Hiikariin

Gods, demigods, and true romance? Office Gods, based on the hit webcomic, is an addictive rom-com set in the corporate HQ of the Olympians themselves! Iris, a young human woman, is swept into the world of divine bureaucracy when she's recruited to work in the office of the gods, in the department of Hermes. The gods and goddesses may be beautiful beyond human comprehension, but she quickly learns that they're every bit as petty and quarrelsome as they were thousands of years ago. Can she survive Eros' antics, Aphrodite's temper, and getting caught between a love triangle with the demigod sons of Athena and Hades?

On The Way GN - Paco Hernandez & Jose Angel Ares

Emma, a newly single cartoonist in her thirties, impulsively finds herself standing in Roncesvalles with her gaze fixed on Santiago de Compostela. Following the pilgrimage route known as The Way of St. James, she realizes the path she is traveling is bringing her closer to and somehow farther away from everyone around her, that the weight of her backpack is more than the clothes and pans inside, and that what she believed to be a simple walk to get some miles behind her (and her past) is a chance to learn not only about the people she meets along the way, but also herself.

Osamu Tezuka's One Hundred Tales GN - Osamu Tezuka

One Hundred Tales is a story about being careful what you wish for. Ichirui Hanri is an ordinary accountant serving his master. Though innocent, he is ordered to commit hara-kiri after being entangled in some trouble in his master's house. Just then, a witch named Sudama appears. She signs a contract with Hanri to obtain his soul in exchange for fulfilling three of his wishes. Hanri gets what he wants...but the price he pays is too high.

An enchanting supernatural fable from Osamu Tezuka, known worldwide as the "Godfather of Manga" and the most influential person of the past century in the development of Japanese manga and anime.

Skip GN - Sarah Burgess

Jay is always scribbling poetry in their notebook. When they come across Skip, a Double Dutch team, they befriend the members-and decide to join, too. For the first time ever, Jay has a place to belong-and friends to confide in. But Jay's friendship with their new bestie Beah is intense, both in and out of Double Dutch. As Beah and Jay help each other grow into the people they will become, it challenges their friendship and their own identities. This charming "slice of life" graphic novel is about accepting yourself, navigating "first love" friendship, and finding your own voice. It's rendered in debut author-illustrator Sarah Burgess's gorgeous art style ribboned with playful humor and sports drama.

Soleil: Illustration Lookbook GN - TANAKA

The illustrator Tanaka's second art book is finally out! This illustration collection is based on the concept of the Look Book. Designed and bound like a fashion magazine, this book stylishly showcases Tanaka's characteristic fashion-focused worldview. Starting with Tanaka's new work "Sunflower (SOLEIL)," this book introduces the illustrations thematically through 10 motifs including "flowers," "seasons," and more. This special collection is full of cute and pop dress collections for boys and girls, covering all styles from classic to street attire.

The Tale Of Princess Kaguya Picture Book HC - Isao Takahata

"Why did she choose to come to earth? Why did she long for this world? An old bamboo cutter and his wife find a tiny girl inside a bamboo shoot and raise her. The mysterious little princess grows rapidly into a young lady, enthralling all who encounter her-but ultimately, she must face her fate and be punished for her crime."

The Cliff GN - Manon Debaye & Montana Kane

Schoolyard outcasts Charlie and Astrid meet up after school near a cliff at the edge of the woods surrounding their sleepy town. They make a blood pact to jump together in five days time, before their thirteenth birthdays. With a deft use of colored pencils, Debaye captures childhood's last pivotal moments as it teeters on the edge of adolescence with startling honesty in this devastatingly well-crafted debut.

Virgin Love GN Vol 1 - Tina Yamashina

Six strangers, one house, one shared goal: love. What could go wrong? "Looking for love, but afraid you'll never find it?" Come Live at the Love House! Shoko Shoji, intelligent, reliable, beautiful, has a secret: she's a 26-year-old virgin, and mortified by her non-existent love life. Every day she checks out the self-help and beauty section of her local bookstore, but never works up the courage to go any further. Pushed on by her friends, she moves into the Love House, a social experiment putting six lovelorn strangers under one roof to see what sparks may fly! Will Shoko, and the friendly bookstore clerk she convinces to join her, finally find love? Or will rivalry, lust, and lies bring it all crashing down?

Whatcha snagging this week, Fantom Fam?

[dhampiravidi]

X-MEN OC: Kylie Landry/LeBeau

template taken from here

General Information

Name: Sébastien Kylian Landry Alias(es): Achilles [codename], Kylie [preferred name], Ky LeBeau Age: (see this) 22 upon enrolling in Xavier’s; late 30s as an adult Species: Homo sapien superior aka Human Mutant Ethnicity: Cajun (White/European American) Gender: genderfluid/nonconforming (he/she/they) Sexuality: Pansexual (& polyamorous) Affiliation: the X-Men

Physical Appearance (FC: Taylor Kitsch)

Kylie is a 5'10" (177.8 cm) male who engages in regular physical activity. He has brown hair that tends to look blond in certain lighting, and he keeps it shoulder-length. If he needs to, he’ll tie it up, but he typically wears it loose. His eyes are a dark green, which tends to get mistaken for dark brown. Both ears are pierced, usually for small hoops or studs. When he’s not on missions or anything serious, he wears black eyeliner and nail polish in solid colors. His outfit depends on how he’d like to present and usually includes muscle tees, jeans, bralettes, rompers, and the occasional dress–all casual, as he’s not a fan of formal events. His X-Men suit, which is brown and black (ignore the helmet) with silver accents, resembles lightweight plate armor. It’s lightly padded where he’d typically have trouble guarding (below the waist, ankles, butt, etc.) His gloves are fire-resistant.

Personality

Many view Kylie as prideful, but he simply lacks the insecurities that others believe to be important to a normal sense of self. In other words, he doesn’t care much about what others of him, because they are not his family/loved ones. He’d rather have a tight circle of close friends than the approval of everyone. When he loves (in a familial or romantic sense), he loves hard, doing the most he can to keep those people happy. He also views all people as equal, so if he overhears a bully antagonizing someone, he’ll jump in to end things (his words and his fists are both fair game in his eyes). This, as well as his deeply ingrained loyalty, can easily be seen as weaknesses of his. He’s a lot better with high schoolers and adults than he is with kids (they make him a little nervous).

History

Kylie is the younger twin brother of the mutant known as Remy LeBeau. They were born in early November, to Alison Broussard and Tom Landry of Metairie, Louisiana. Alison was only 19 while Tom was 24. She’d run from her strict Catholic family to be with him, spurred on by how much they feared her mutant ability to manipulate her own gravitational field. So when she died in childbirth, Tom was overwhelmed by the prospect of raising two kids by himself, not to mention heartbroken. He took one and abandoned the other, reasoning that it would be even harder trying to raise a child who was clearly a mutant. Tom was an unconfident father who worked two jobs to support his family, leaving Kylie to spend most of his childhood in the streets with his friends. When Kylie’s mutant abilities manifested at the age of 13, he accidentally caused a lethal car crash while trying to save his friend from being hit. He later would get kicked out of his first high school, because his powers allowed him to win every fight he got into (even though he was usually defending someone else). Then, at 17, he accidentally hurt his then-boyfriend and girlfriend with his powers while they were making love. Ashamed, he joined the Army where he learned to control his powers to deadly effect. Even then, he was medically discharged after injuring his Achilles tendon & being shot several times, then developing depression. Once he returned home, he couldn’t adjust to civilian life, so he started wandering the country, taking odd jobs to make ends meet. During this time, he got a woman pregnant, though he wouldn't find out until months later. Eventually, he learned about Xavier’s from a mutant he met and went there, hoping to find a place where he belonged.

Powers / Abilities:

Like his famous brother, Kylie can manipulate the kinetic energy of solids, both organic and not. He typically uses his ability to absorb it from attacking enemies or projectiles (forcing them to slow down), then uses the energy to temporarily increase his speed and strength as he retaliates. It is also possible for him to take energy from one moving object and use it to direct another. He’s punched through brick and steel with ease and halted multiple bullets in midair. He can also reduce temperatures to put out flames and freeze water. If he needs to, he can use his ability to stop a person’s bodily functions completely, killing them in seconds. Kylie’s limits are mostly determined by how fast he can react (without prior augmentation) and how far he is from whatever he wants to take energy from. For example, it would be dangerous for him to stand in directly front of a person who’s shooting at him, because he’d need to have a few seconds to absorb the kinetic energy of the bullets before they hit him. Kylie could theoretically move a football during a professional game while he sits in the stands, but it would be difficult because of how far away he is from the ball. The intense concentration this would take would leave him with a headache, if not a migraine. And when he uses stolen kinetic energy that isn’t redirected, he tends to become unfocused and hyper until it “wears off”.

Trivia:

Kylie didn’t graduate high school until he went to Xavier’s, because he ran off to the Army in the middle of the school year after he hurt his then-BF & GF. Recruits are supposed to have a GED or high school diploma, but strings were pulled when he revealed his mutant abilities.

He learned to play guitar at a friend’s house, which was easy since he’s always done well in his Music classes. Kylie’s also pretty good at anything English-related & he likes reading classic novels (it helps him feel like he actually had a good time at school).

Has a tattoo of 2 fish (representing his estranged parents) circling his calf, to hide the scar from his tendon surgery.

He knows some basic Persian (better at listening comprehension than speaking) and Louisiana French (conversational), in addition to his native (American) English.

More than 1 kid has said that he dresses like a pirate. Kylie finds it amusing & doesn’t disagree.

In the past, Kylie’s worked as a: server, bouncer, janitor, landscaper, cashier, sign flipper, dog walker, barber & massage therapist.

When he went to basic training for the Army, they taught Kylie a succinct combination of BJJ, judo, Muay Thai, and boxing. But in actual fights, he does whatever works, AKA punching + shoving + using his powers.

He tends to fall for men more often than other genders, but he often finds women and other genders of people to be more tolerable/platonically interesting.

He sends the mother of his child money every month. The two of them are amicably separated, friends more than anything else.

Verses*

Brotherhood AU: he’s recruited either right after the multi-car crash (when he’s 13) or when he’s coming home from the Army. He’s loyal to Magneto until he’s told to kill a non-mutant who’s been separated from their family.

Origins/Wolverine: Logan either is accidentally directed to meet him instead of Remy OR he hears & checks out their fight.

The Movies: he’s been at the school for a couple years & he’s in his early 20s by X1. He barely survives Jean’s disintegration wave, using his own powers (but he’s rendered comatose doing so).

General/Comics: he’s always ready to go on a mission, partly for the adventure, partly to redeem himself, partly because fighting is all he’s good at. He plays his guitar, tutors for English & serves as a voluntary punching bag for whoever needs it. Kylie’s also probably fawning over whoever he’s in love with.

IRL AU: after an honorable discharge from the Army (due to injuries received in battle), Kylie works to become an action star who specializes in fight scenes.

*I don’t want to write any threads dealing with live-action movies made after The Last Stand. I just don’t like their plots & some of the casting (plus the timeline confuses me SO MUCH) –anyway, I’m still down to RP with canons from then!

[ducknotinarow]

Shredder, the second your back is turned, your son, Casey, immediately runs to the Hamato-clan; he believes they are his friends. Surely, such disobedience, and blatant disrespect, has earned punishment...

Or were you unaware of Casey's lying and deceitful ways.

| Anon Asks @aflockoffeathers

Saki returned to his quarters after his talk with Casey. Claiming his mind of blank and free of any linger doubts of their conversation so convinced he always held control over everything going on. From his foot soldiers to his children to the world around him. Saki held control over every last part of his life. Those days back in his old home where he was powerless and left with no say on anything. Despite his potential always over looked, despite his strength and power it was never enough. Always no matter what there was someone better. A better choice the better option. Yoshi.

It always came back to those old bitter feelings between them. meant to be brothers but the bond between them was never going to work that way. He was always from the Foot clan even if he was taken in by the Hamato's. The same clan that took everything away from him when he was nothing but a child. It was still for a time his home, more a prison by those who took from him and continued to take from him. Even the love of his life was taken from him. The life he could have had was taken from him. And now that rat was still trying to take from him!

Helm was removed from his face as he looked to the reflection in metal eyeing scared burned flesh around his eye. Some called it obsession, Saki called it getting what he was due. Thinking he finally had a control over his life, power, money and fear to his name. All was well his clan was well known and his name cared respect and fear to it. His influence so spread out any of the worlds dark undersides knew not to cross the foot. less you wanted to meet the demon he was feared to be. Saki even ensured to seal his legacy.

But then it was in his so called legacy where everything was going to start coming apart at the seams. It was merely on a whim that Saki went to the foster home that day. but recruiting for his ranks was just part of his job. Children were a good resource he should know he had been molding Karai since she was an infant herself. That was when he met Casey. A young boy so fuel by a their hated. Firey, blinding heated rage. Saki could notice it from the start how those flames needed to be tempered how under the right conditions Casey's anger could be shaped into Saki's plans.

So why is it his son has failed him so miserably? Saki cared not for a lot of what his kids did as long as their loyalty to the foot clan and more importantly himself came before all. Aware of his son's loose actions among the soldiers. Mattered not. Casey still did as he was meant to do seeing his worth in what he was brought up to do alone it was all Casey needed to do. To fall inline and do as he was told. So why? thier confession brought nothing but past memories back to the forefront of his mind.

"Yoshi" He speaks their name as if it was a cruse and to him it was. A cruse that never stops or fades away. Worse grows as that literal rat seemed to crawl back around into Saki's life how he came to be a rat or to be raising four turtle mutants he didn't care to know. If they trained under Yoshi and called him father that made them enemy of the foot. His enemy. Casey enemy. Yet they claim love one of them. The red one..Raphael right? That anger was too much like Yoshi's.

Should he take in the fact Casey despite it all did in the end go through with the plan? Saki had all four of them where he wanted locked away in the cells below their hideout. Sooner or later that Rat will come for them and he'll have all of them. Despite his sons idiotic remarks and claims, he had a point in the end he picked the clan. He picked Saki in the end.

Expect.

Shredder, the second your back is turned, your son, Casey, immediately runs to the Hamato-clan; he believes they are his friends. Surely, such disobedience, and blatant disrespect, has earned punishment...

The doubts were hard to ignore because it was so easy to read on the boys face. That look in thier eyes. Saki knew that glance.

Or were you unaware of Casey's lying and deceitful ways.

No, it was something je was nearly sure could happen.

The second Casey felt he had an opening that is when he'll do it, isn't it?

"You were always bad when it comes to tests boy, I guess will see if that has changed at all." Saki says to himself," Helm returned to hus head and turns on hus hills and stepped out the door. Ordering two of his men to stand near the prison. To keep an eye out for Casey the moment they saw him they were to report it.

Saki couldn't trust casey not as long as they held that look in their eyes. A look Yoish held when it came to her no matter what he carried it even when they fought in fire ruins crumbling around them. Turning to a third he order them to head to Baxtars lab. If Casey did fail this test and he knew they would it seemed Saki would need to correct his son.

It always such a shame that when your children take for granted, all you are done for them after all.

[wow-its-me]

IM HOME FROM WORK ITS TIME TO TELL YOU ABOUT

Parker Peters AKA the Midnight Spider

(Holy shit buckle up this is gonna be long)

Parker Peters never knew her biological parents, they died, or went to jail, or abandoned her, when she was far to young to remember. Frankly, she didn’t care. She had two loving parents who take care and raise her to be the kind and confident person she is. Those parents being her Aunt April, and her Uncle Benji.

They live together in a small farmhouse in a small town in the White Mountains region of New Hampshire. April spend most her time tending to the farm while Benji works from home, doing projects shut in his shed. Parker loves her home more than anything. She spends her time hiking, identifying, and studying the animals she comes across. She wants to be a wildlife biologist like her Uncle, who focus in arachnids… but spiders where never Parker’s thing.

Overall Parker is your average seventeen year old, She likes history, vintage cars, retro video games, and comic books. She also has a slight interest in engineering which she shares with her Uncle Benji. Together they’ve been working on making webshooters,,, well they have been for the last couple years (their still in beta)

One spring weekend Parker tags along for Benji’s work trip to NYC, where he’ll be meeting with different scientists from Alcamax. And Parker will get to see what it’d be like to work in a real lab. During the visit Parker quickly realizes that things aren’t what they seem. Obvious shady shit. She’s fault certain that they’re hiding unethical animal testing… and she’s pissed. She brings this up to Benji on their ride home Sunday, which sparks an argument between the two. Parker puts her headphones on and they don’t talk for the rest of the long drive.

Once they get back Benji goes to his work shed to put away the new supplies gifted to him. April asks about the trip, and soon the three are hashing it out. Benji and Parker yell at each other whil April attempts to calm them down. Parker accidentally knocks into a table, chemicals spill, a candle tips over, Aunt April pulls them out of the way. And the shed goes up in flames.

Aprils glad the three of them are safe

So is Benji, but he won’t admit it yet. He perderesti to work analog. He watched his life’s work burn up before his eyes. He couldn’t muster a scream or a cry. Simply uttering, “goodnight” before walking off to bed.

Parker was mad at first. But the anger quickly turned to guilt once she realized what’s she’d done. Benji was right. She doesn’t know anything. She’s just some irresponsible kid. He could loose his job without that work. He was trying to be a good parent, trying to help her future. And she through it all away! Why? Because of a hunch?

Once the fires out Parker makes her way to the shed. Attempting to clean, or salvage whatever’s left. This is where she gets bit by a spider.

The next morning she goes to school and realizes that something’s different. She’s stronger, faster, and oddly sticky. She of carouse tries to use this to show off and cue the ‘trying to figure out if she’s superpowered at school’ montage

She tries to confide this in her best friend Stacy (Stacy Gwendolyn more in her later,,,, tldr bubbly punk rock girl) who isn’t quick to believe her. That night Parker goes into the woods by herself to try and rest the extend of her powers. Strength, agility, endurance, the ability to stick to walls, and night vision.

Over the course of the next week, she practices her powers in shows them off while wearing various work in progress costumes, soon both rumors and videos spread of the ‘Midnight Spider-Man’ and she becomes a sort of cryptid.

But not everyone who hears of her has good intentions. Doctor Connor from Alcemax, recognizes her abilities immediately. He’s been trying for similar results for months. He assumes that Benji must have been experimenting with her, in there attempt to creat Human-Animal mutants. He knew he specialized in spiders, but he didn’t think it would be anything like this.

By Saturday agents are braking down the Peters’ door. Parker’s out with Stacy, Benji tries to quit refusing to go with them. Parker comes home to a wrecked house, April badly injured, and Benji no where to be seen. After bringing her aunt to the hospital, Parker takes the webslingers, and her WIP suit. And heads for NYC. She knows what she needs to do.

It’s the next night by the time she gets there. She’s able to break in and finds Benji, but on her way she finds evidence of human testing. She breaks him out, and he explains more of the situation, how he became more involved than he ever wanted to be, and how they can stop Dr. Connor.

First they go all the way to the top floor, where they find an override passcode. Benji jots it down, and goes to leave the room.

“Wait!”

“What is it?”

“I just, I’m sorry”

“It’s okay!”

“No, no, you don’t get it, it’s me” she pulls off her mask, “I’m the spider”

“Yeah, where you trying to hide that?”

“You knew!! H- how?”

“The voice, the shoes, OUR webslingers, the yards of April’s blue fabric that went missing”

They head down to the basement to insert the code into the backup systems.

Once they leave the office they are Immediately discovered and chased down by security guards, scientists, and Dr. Conner himself

“You didn’t tell me your boss was Godzilla!”

“I didn’t know!”

“What do you mean you didn’t know!”

“I mean it’s recent, Okay!?”

They pass through the building and Benji notably Steals small vials and containers of chemicals, and matches.

After a fun montage of family bonding and running from imminent death, they make it to the lower level.

A final battle against the lizard.

He gets his villan speech and he explains how he’s going to “save humanity” by making them part animal. He has a mutagen bomb set up to go off in X minutes, she is the perfect example of what they could be. Isn’t she being selfish? Keeping all that power to herself? She could join him, they could create a better society, together.

She refuses, obviously

Benji is hit, hard, being thrown across the room into a wall. (bet you didn’t see this coming)

Parker takes him around if the corner, hiding and shielding them from the battle.

“Hey, hey, Parker, it’s okay”

“No, don’t, you don’t say it’s okay I say it’s okay, and it is! It’s gonna be okay just-“

“Shhh shhhhh kiddo”

“We gotta go, I gotta take you to a hospital”

“We don’t have time”

“No!”

“You gotta finish the mission, the bomb”

“I can’t disable a bomb!”

He hands her the crumpled paper, the matches, and some chemical mix he made in a vial

“You don’t need to, now go”

“I am not just going to leave you here”

“Stay in school, don’t do drugs, tell your auntie april that I love her”

The room rumbles rubble fall around them

“Kiddo, your not a child anymore. You have this power. People will come after it, after you. You’re not going to have a middle lane in life. Use it for good, protect people. With such a great power comes great responsibility. I love you”

“Love you too, dad”

Rubble falls separating the two

Parker fights the Lizard one last time, putting the code into the computer, and using the vial and matches to light the place up before escaping.

She waits outside, but there’s no sign of Benji

Cut to her making it home. She bursts in the room. April knows. They hold each other and cry.

Parker vows to use her powers to protect others, and save people, because she couldn’t save him.

Little does she know that some security footage survived, and the media praises and debates over this new vigilante.

The Midnight spider

[first-and-last-neocount]

WHO'S READY? :D

I did not end up dropping teasers or anything before now because I wasn't sure, right up until a couple days ago, if my writer's block was going to come back. XD However, the first week is fully written and I've made substantial progress on many later fics, so I think it's safe to say that we are doing this!!!

Whumptober 2024 Planned Outline

I am planning fills for all 31 days, all for the Deadpool and Wolverine fandom and most of them strongly Poolverine flavoured, though some are non-explicit or pre-relationship and could easily be considered genfic. These fics are grouped into four different series, which I've outlined below!

Series: Won't Somebody Come Take Me Home

Fic Count: 12

Days: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 14, 20

Series description: A soft, angsty post-film AU of loosely connected scenes where Logan and Wade gradually drag each other up the slippery slope of mental health. A whole bunch of dealing with pain and trauma sandwiched in between exactly the kind of sappy shit you all probably expect from me by now, lol.

Series: Yeah, You Bleed Just to Know You're Alive

Fic Count: 8

Days: 10, 12, 15, 17, 19, 25, 26, 28

Series description: On the other side of the coin, a collection of post-film scenarios where Wade has taken up mercenary work again, and Logan has opted to join him in the line of fire instead of having to deal with his issues. Not a chronological narrative like the other series this year, but rather just a set of unrelated fics that share that basic premise.

Series: Farewell Song

Fic Count: 7

Days: 13, 16, 21, 27, 29, 30, 31

Series description: A series of fics exploring Wade's murky past, Logan's uncertain future, and the story of my own mutant OC where it intertwines with them both.

Series: You Want a Revelation (Some Kind of Resolution)

Fic Count: 4

Days: 18, 22, 23, 24

Series description: When mysterious circumstances actually do bring the X-Men of Logan's original timeline back to life in Wade's universe, it initially seems like a miracle. As Logan struggles to adjust to the collision of his old world with his new one, though, he struggles to reconcile his own damaged recollections of the past with the facts he is now observing with fresh eyes. Unable to trust his memories and unwilling to accept what seems too good to be true, Logan digs deeper, and uncovers a shocking truth about the night he let his family down.

...

I have re-watched X-Men (2000) and absolutely loved it, so expect some references to that film; I also plan on seeing X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand before writing some of the later fics, and incorporating some plots points from those films, though I won't get any more specific so as to avoid spoilers. :P I am absolutely winging it on a wild mix of film canon, tidbits from the comics, and pure Vibes though, so don't expect any great consistency when it comes to the setting or timeline, lmao.

Also, as is tradition for me at this point, none of these series are confined solely to the parts that I am writing for Whumptober: I plan to expand on all of them, at least to some extent, after the month is over with additional not-strictly-whump-themed content. I even have a couple of multi-chapter fics where the additional chapters will be added after Whumptober, which I don't believe I've done in the past but proved necessary this year, most of all for the fics which will eventually be explicit; I simply do not have time to write a lengthy sex scene when I have so much angst left to write, ROFL. So, if you like these fics, stay tuned for more once the event is over!

It feels SO good to be writing again, and I'm very excited to share these fics with everybody, so I hope you all enjoy!

Right. Let's do this.

Whumptober2024 Roadmap

I didn't want to get ahead of myself this year, so I held off on the announcement until I was sure I could fully commit. That being said, fic #1 is already complete and I have a full stack of outlines sitting in front of me, so we're in business!

All 31 days of this year's Whumptober will be dedicated to Deadpool & Wolverine with the vast majority, if not all of them, being Poolverine ship fics. All of my existing WIPs will be temporarily on hold, because it's not like I was making much progress there anyway, and I'd much rather ride my new wave of inspiration and come back to my Coldfire projects with fresh eyes. :D

I will be pre-writing like a fiend all through September, so if I'm absent for stretches of time and/or absolutely binge-reblogging Poolverine content, you know why. XD If this ship is not your cup of tea you might want to block the Poolverine tag now, if you haven't already, because that brainrot is not leaving me anytime soon.

I also intend to watch most if not all of the X-Men films over the course of September, so some elements of those might make their way into my fics. So far I'm working with the knowledge of the first two Deadpool movies and a handful of X-Men comics back in the day, though, so don't expect too much accuracy on the wider setting necessarily, lol.

Might add to this later with my customary list of which prompt I selected from each day and related teaser material. :P

[dakotafinely]

I am emerging from my little void to come in and insert myself into rise fandom business yet again. Today's topic of interest: Mikey and Raph's dynamic

I don't think those two are talked about enough, especially their dynamic. And I could talk about why that is and what factors into why those two are often on the back burner of the fandom. But my aim of focus is not on that today.

My focus is purely on them as separate characters, and how it plays into their dynamic. And how being the oldest and youngest of their siblings plays a huge part in that as well as Splinters parenting.

Splinter, as well all know, is an emotionally neglectful parent. Most of time being completely unaware of what his boys are even doing until plot decides to reveal it to him. It is also shown in a turtle tot short he was also fairly that way when they were younger. Even if he still tried to keep an eye on them he often would rush away to watch shows. I'm saying this so no one tries to be like "well we don't KNOW if he was really emotionally neglectful when they were BABIES" because, yes, he was. The proof is in the pudding.

But I'm saying this because he's parenting is something that heavily effects Raph and Mikey's dynamics and characters. Both of them being very emotionally intelligent and in tune with their family in very similar ways. Despite being a two-three year age gap between them.

That's because Raph, as we all knew, was leader. But he was also his siblings "parent" the one who got them out of trouble, kept them together, probably even cooked meals and helped them with nightmares at some points too. They all lean on him for support and advice. Because he is the big brother, the one who is the biggest. And he's fulfilled the role that Splinter lacked in their childhood. Especially for Raph. Being the caretaker of his siblings is no easy task and it made Raph grow and mature a lot faster then his brothers have. He became very emotionally intelligent and in tune with his family because he had to be.

Now look at Mikey, age 13 in the show (almost 15 in the movie if I'm not mistaken) and also very emotionally intelligent for his age. Well I do also believe it is in part to having Splinter as his parent. I also think it has to do with Raph. Raph, who was basically fulfilling the parent role where Splinter failed to. Raph the big brother who Mikey could rely on to be supported and who Mikey could trust would get him out of whatever pickle Mikey found himself into. Raph who cooked meals and helped Mikey when he was having nightmares. Raph, who helped guide Mikey when he was having trouble.

Honestly I won't lie when I say this is more of a head cannon but it's based off cannon evidence. But it wouldn't surprise me if Mikey sort of idolized Raph when they were younger. As this sort of "he can do anything and everything" sort of figure in his life. I mean, back when they were kids I'm sure it really seemed like it.

But then you get older, you realize the people you used to idolize are flawed, are human (or mutant in this case) are imperfect and can't actually do it all. You realize you have to become self sufficient and independent, you realize if you love someone you won't expect them to be at your hand and foot to protect you at all times anymore.

But you also have Raph. Who spent basically his entire life protecting and caring for his brothers. That he doesn't fully know who he is outside of that. Because, even if he isn't fully aware of it, he is doing his best to let his brothers have the childhood he was robbed of.

And then you have the conflict. Between Mikey, who wants to be independent and grow and be his own person. And Raph, who doesn't want Mikey to be that because, in his own experience, that is when you loose your childhood.

And despite growing up in the same home under the same circumstances. Their views of life, and family, and everything ends up seemingly completely different from each other. They are different sides of the same coin.

I feel like this dynamic isn't talked about and used as it should be. It is such a unique dynamic between Raph and Mikey that we don't really have in the other versions that I feel like should be given more attention.

And I will make another post later about why I think Mikey has idolized Raph when they were younger (as well as episodes where I think it shows him doing so and episodes that have a sort change in perspective with this idea in mind) and how/when that changes in the series.

But yeah, thems the thoughts, thanks for reading!! If you have thoughts you wanna add pls do I'd love to hear them!!

[whooambouttamakeanameformyself]

Shock (NSFW, 18+)

Dano! Riddler x Mutant! GN! Reader.

Summary: the reader is a mutant with Psychokinetic powers (sort of like Eleven from stranger things). The reader had kept their powers hidden from everyone their whole life until one night.

On their way home from a date someone decided to try and mug Edward and the reader. The reader uses their powers on the mugger, killing them.

♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~

You and Edward were laughing and joking around as you walked back to his apartment after a date. Edward had decided to take you to see a movie since it was his turn to plan the date for date night, he chose a movie he knew you really wanted to see and since it was a warm night in Gotham the two of you decided to walk. A horrible decision in hindsight.

Though there were two of you and you felt safe with Edward, you still felt uneasy, like you knew something bad was going to happen.

You weren't wrong either.

You blinked and there he was infront of you two, a masked man with a gun... oh shit.

You stopped in your tracks, Edward stepping infront of you protectively as the guy began to calmly demand anything of value from the two of you. Edward shook his head no, sizing up the man as you weighed your options... if you ran you'd be leaving Eddie by himself to deal with this man who was a great deal larger than him, but if you stayed the both of you will most likely end up dead... the thought of watching Eddie get shot, suffering and possibly dying because he was trying to protect you caused tears to prick your eyes.

You knew what you had to do. You didn't want to do it, but you had to, you had to protect your Eddie.

And so you did. Before the man could react you'd gotten infront of Edward, holding out your right hand as you let loose the powers you'd kept hidden for all those years. Lifting the mugger up into the air, you began to choke him, watching him thrash around in terror knowing he's going to die.

After a few minutes you dropped the limp corpse of the mugger, breathing heavily as you began to panic. You just used your powers, and infron of Edward no less! He was going to leave you for sure, you're a monster, why the hell would he want to be with you after that?

"Wh-What the fuck was that?" You heard Edward's voice, his voice was shakey but he didn't sound scared. You didn't respond. "Y/N... what was that?" He placed a gentle hand on your back, rubbing circles on your back soothingly. "Psychokinetics.... I'm a mutant... I-I didn't want to tell you because I was afraid you wouldn't want to be near me, I understand if you don't like me anymore.." you didn't look at him, you were too scared to, you knew what was coming next and you didn't want to watch. He stopped rubbing your back and you tensed up, but instead of leaving like you expected him to do he pulled you into a near suffocating hug "oh, sweet angel... why do you think I'm going to leave you? That was amazing! You didnt even have to get near him to kill him!" He said excitedly. You looked up at him with tears running down your cheeks "Y-You're not scared of me?" Edward shook his head chuckling softly "absolutely not. We should make you a persona though, with powers like those we could clean Gotham up in no time."

You chuckled softly, wiping the tears away with your sleeve "H-How about 'the judge'? Or is that too dull?" Edward smiled brightly "I love it!" He began peppering your face with kisses making you giggle.

The Riddler and The Judge, an interesting, but terrifying duo.

○~○~○~○~○~○~○~○~

NSFW ahead! 18+ only!

"Oh come on, please Y/N? Just once?" Edward begged, giving you puppy dog eyes in an attempt to get you to say yes. "Why do you want me to do it so bad? Do you have a death wish?" You chuckled softly, brushing off his begging as you get back to folding his laundry. "I just want to know what it feels like! Please Y/N, you don't have to do it hard!" He wrapped his arms around your waist, pressing his forehead to your back. You folded the last bit of laundry and let out a deep sigh "Fine. But we have to have a safe word, okay? I don't think I could live with myself if I hurt you." Edward nodded excitedly, agreeing to use the word 'yeild' if you went too far (though he probably wouldn't use the word anyways, being killed by you is the only way he wants to die.)

Sighing you hold out your right hand, using your powers to lift him into the air. You waited for him to give you the signal and when he did you began to choke him like you did the mugger, just with less force. He tilts his head back slightly as his cheeks began to burn red. "C-Come on, you can do it harder than that, I can take it!" He urged, causing you to roll your eyes and oblige, adding a bit more force. The noises coming out of your boyfriend were concerning but he didn't use the safeword yet so you kept going, adding a little more force. You only stopped when he made a loud noise, sounding like a noise a dying animal would make. You dropped him onto the bed, rushing to his side with a panicked look on your face "Christ, Eddie! Did I go to far?"

Edward laid there for a minute, panting heavily "N-No, quite the opposite actually." You stared at him until it registered "You... You got off on that?! Fuck, Ed I thought I'd hurt you!" Your panic was gone, replaced by nervouse laughter "All I did was choke you, and you got off on that?" Edward nods with a huge grin on his face "Do it again?"

You shook your head "Absolutely not."

[bay-did-nothing-wrong]

Tell All (Donatello x Reader)

Synopsis: Don and the Reader had been hiding their relationship from his family but they decide its finally time to come clean.

Genre: Fluff mostly, some crack, literally one sex pun

Word count: 1946

Soft.

So soft.

Wasn't his skin supposed to be rougher all together? How were his lips so soft and smooth then? Just another mystery.

Your mouths split with a tiny wet sound, but neither of you was in a rush to go anywhere.

But you should have been.

"Dinner's ready!" came Mikey's energetic shout from somewhere withing the lair. Probably the kitchen.

A soft longing sigh left your lips, and you felt a warm current of air hit your face - Don felt the same.

"We should go." you state, convincing yourself as much as him.

"Do we have to?" he whined breathlessly.

Yes, yes, you did. And he knew that. You both did. Otherwise his brothers and his very observant father will notice you're acting suspicious. They'll probably figure out he wasn't just helping you study for that AP Statistics exam. That is, if they hadn't already.

Your hands slid down his shoulders in an attempt to separate you two but instead they fell onto the top of his plastron, thumbs running softly over the last uncovered skin there, where you knew he was sensitive.

"Hmmm..." it came out as a low growl and it surrounded you on all sides. "You're not helping."

"Am I ever?"

"DONNIE! (Y/N)! DINNER!" at least Mikey stuck to the strict "No entering during study-sessions" rules. That's good to know that he can be intimidated into compliance. Or blackmailed... Point is, it worked.

Donnie's head falls in defeat, forehead leaning on yours for support.

So glad he took those goggles off. You can see more of him this way.

He sighed again, defeated - he was too smart to not figure out that at some point your behavior will raise suspicion. His head lifted back, and turned to the door.

"Coming!"

And your cheeky ass giggled at that.

"Oh, Donnie." you teased, "I haven't even started."

"Pfft. " chuckle, and a snort.

He really did like your dirty puns.

The man took your hand into his cool giant one, somehow providing comfort like no other, as he pulled you to the lab entrance. But once at the door you had to split. It's part of the arrangement.

His family shouldn't know about you.

You two decided at the early stage of your budding romance that keeping the whole thing on the down-low for a while was the smartest choice. It would prevent his brother's jealousy, it won't incite any fights, it won't change their relationship with you and you'll get to feel things out at your own pace - no pressure or prying eyes.

Just you.

But there was a list of downsides too. For one, neither of you was a great actor, Don was even shit at lying, so you'd had to take extra steps to remain as friendly-looking as possible. Then there was the trying-to-set-you-up-with-Vern thing that April was doing and every time the topic came up you could act regular-disgusted but not in-a-happy-relationship disgusted, and so would your favourite turtle. And then there was the hiding, coveting each other in the lab or in small stolen moments in the lair, and the lying about going topside to do recon or install something somewhere, the covering up - no, of course Donnie wasn't with you at your place, he must have gone somewhere else.

You were quite honestly sick of it. You were ready to tell his brothers. You were ready to tell the world.

"We should tell them." his voice was once again low, quiet as if to preserve the last few moments of the secret to yourselves.

Once again you were entirely in sync despite being vastly different.

He was a genius, you, decidedly, weren't.

He was really into sports, you weren't.

He was a 6'8 ninja turtle raised underground by a rat dad, and you obviously were not.

And yet somehow, you clicked.

"I agree."

At that point you knew that your approval would kick into gear the most destructive process in Donnie's mind - overthinking.

Your hand immediately darted out and grabbed one of his pulling it up to your lips and kissing the knuckles in reassurance.

"We'll figure it out."

But still, you had to split. Even if you did plan to tell them, there would be a time and a place for that.

"What took you so long? The lasagna got cold." Mikey was positively outraged - as much as he could be - by your lack of interest in his usually excellent cooking.

"Sorry, Mikey." you butted in, trying to save the day, "There's just something about Inferential Statistical Analysis that I can't wrap my head around." Bullshit, you knew exactly what it was and how it worked - it's part of the basics but he didn't need to know that.

"Still smells great though!" Don sounds cheerful enough even though you'd just agreed to break the fragile peace in your relationship just a minute prior. He was getting really good at the lying part. Too bad it won't be needed for much longer.

Dinner was as uneventful as it can be around five mutant ninjas. Master Splinter asked about your day, you told him about the nearing finals season and he offered some comforting words after which the conversation bounced around the rest of the family in a natural progression.

Once you were full, and once all of Mikey's delicious food had been virtually inhaled by the four giant men around you, you got up to get the dishes to the kitchen and help clean up. It was only fair, after all.

Apparently it was Ralph's turn to wash dishes and there was no wiggling out of that because Splinter said so. Well, at least you can dry them.

And dry them you did, meanwhile casual conversation about whatever kept flowing and you figured you won't be able to go back to the lab and do some more 'Statistics'.

You were just drying and putting away the last plate when a thiqq arm stretched over your head to reach a cupboard you couldn't even get to in your dreams.

Your head whipped back, eyes landing straight on some hard looking chest plates under a pair of suspenders. And then you looked up and saw Donatello, the cheeky shit, with a pop tart in his mouth and a shit-eating grin around it.

"Oops, sorry, (Y/N), didn't see you there."

Oh, I'll give you Oops, didn't see me, my ass. You'll see.

He was being unusually open about his closeness to you and that was less then an hour after you'd decided to come clean.

He was ready then.

"I was planning on checking out the meatpacking District tomorrow." Leo was going on about that idea he had to check out some building or another, Mikey was wiping down the table, and Raph was finishing up the dishes, and for once Don was just there chilling.

His treat was gone, meaning he ate it all, he seemed relaxed, his shoulders loose and shell leaning on the wall.

No time like the present.

"You guys, I'm gonna head out. I've got work tomorrow and after that I've got a study group to attend so, I should head to bed."

"You need us to walk you home?" Leo asked more out of courtesy, he knew you lived close and would usually decline.

"No, no, that's okay." you replied, looking for your bag and jacket where you'd left them near the kitchen table.

"Aaaw, you're leaving already? Well, at least you ate." Mikey quickly swept you into a hug goodbye and turned back to sorting his ingredients in the cupboards.

"Thanks to you, Mikey Steward." to which he giggled in response.

"See you tomorrow, shorty." Raph waved as he turned to get a beer from the fridge.

"Stay safe out there, okay?" Leo always the guardian, warned you for the hundredth time, again just out of courtesy.

And then you walked to where Don was leaning on the wall, took his chin in your hand and pulled him down.

Oh, shit, am I actually gonna do this!?

Your lips met, your heart pounded, the room became super hot and that wasn't just because of the brilliant piece of man-candy in your hands. You could feel their eyes but then again that was the whole point.

A loud dramatic intake of air was heard, a drop of something metallic and then silence.

Your face pulled away from him, eyes opening slightly to look at him, as your weight fell back onto your heels from standing on your tiptoes. His face had that same dazed, satisfied-yet-hungry look that he usually had whenever you'd had to break apart.

He tasted so sweet, you just had to lick your lips at the memory.

"I'll see you tomorrow." you whispered, that was all you could force out in that moment.

"See you tomorrow." his voice was as soft as yours even though his brothers could probably hear.

You fully pulled away from your man, now certain that there'd be no secrets between you and the ninja clan.

You were not an actor, you quickly got embarrassed with your performance, however brilliant it may have been, and speedily scammed to pick up your belongings and jogged outta there.

You turned one last time, because something in you said you should and what you saw was truly a sight.

All three of Don's bothers with their mouths hanging open and Splinter peeking out of the door to the dojo with his eyes like saucers and then there's Donnie - the image of peace, hands in his pockets, a soft smile on his lips, now shiny from your lip gloss, and looking you straight in the eye as you retreated.

"Bye." you shout to no one in particular and scramble for the exit.

-_-_-_-_-

Phone - charging

Alarm - set

Pajamas - on

What's missing then?

Ding!

Your phone notified you that someone was requesting your attention and you were more than happy to find out it was your man.

'Hey, Laika' Oh lord it so got you giggling like a schoolgirl when he called you that.

'Hey, Tyson' and then he told you that he loved to be compared with the biggest name in astrophysics today.

'How did it go?' you felt super bad for bailing on him but at the same time there was this relief that came with the cat being out of the bag.

'Surprisingly well. No one was mad that we kept it a secret.' well, that's good. You won't have to jeopardize your relationship with the boys. 'Dad still wants to talk to you tho'

Ah, well, that's to be expected. Even though Donnie is an adult, the were still a very tightly knit family unit so, you supposed that something like that would be a pretty big deal.

'That's fine, I'd do whatever'

'I wish I could kiss you rn'

It honestly shocked you how chill about it he was. Probably because he wasn't being grilled for information anymore, neither of you would have to lie anymore, and because he could now tell Vern to fuck right off, with no worry about how it would look.

You were so looking forward to being solely and entirely his.

'Tomorrow we start anew'

He had a point, things would change. But hopefully not between you.

'Can't wait to meet you for the first time again lol' you didn't know if you were being funny or just cheesy but it felt right.

Despite your smile, your eyes started drooping, your breaths slowing and you felt the exhaustion of the day slowly hug you like a blanket.

'Goodnight'

'Goodnight, (Y/N)'

[earnestly-endlessly]

ah and I was looking for something like Charles Linda of lost control over his powers and Erik is the only one that can help him

Hi anon. I have got a good list of fics where Charles loses control over his powers and gets help from Erik. I hope you find some fics you enjoy.

Anchor Me – brilliantdreams

Summary: Charles is awake in the kitchen having telepathy troubles when Erik finds him. Cuddling ensues.

Cotton Walls – walrusface

Summary: In large crowds, Charles finds it difficult to control his telepathy. While they're on their recruitment road trip, Erik tries to help.

Aches and Pains – i_know_its_over

Summary: Constantly using his powers gives Charles a debilitating headache.

Idiot Control Now – cygnaut

Summary: Hank screws something up in the lab and everyone's powers increase tenfold. Not knowing how to control them like this, they all try to cope and not kill each other by mistake while Hank tries to find a way to reverse the effects. Charles has a particularly hard time of it.

With Your Kindness – helens78

Summary: Cerebro takes a lot out of Charles; a warm bath complete with washing his hair feels like the least Erik can do, but if it's all he can offer, he will.

Know That It’s True – luninosity

Summary: Using Cerebro gives Charles headaches. Erik is not happy to discover this fact.

Catch me when I fall – isabeau

Summary: Charles overdoes it on Cerebro, and doesn't learn his lesson, but Erik is there for him.

You want blood, and I promised – hllfire

Summary: When Erik kills Shaw with that coin, Charles doesn't come out of it unharmed.

Say Your Fault – seperis

Summary: Charles hasn't spoken in twenty-two days.

Honest Bone and Burning Thought – Black_Betty

Summary: And so sometimes, his mind buzzing away, bright and brilliant and humming with pure expansive energy, Charles speaks without thinking at all. Without censoring himself. Without realizing that his brain has reached out and snatched something that was never his to know, or take…

Don’t Let The Bedbugs Bite – Pillow_Bee

Summary: Charles goes around the mansion that first night he brought the mutants there to tuck them to sleep while trying his best to hold back a bitter childhood memory. Erik has his book confiscated for refusing to go to bed, and he is not happy about it.

Let your anger anchor you (your peace will bring me home) – anthora09

Summary: Charles takes an unnecessary risk and winds up in the infirmary.

Erik is not happy. (His exact words are "I told you so.")

Count to Three – Harleydoll 

Summary: Charles is psychologically damaged after experiencing Shaw's death in his own mind.

I can’t leave him – sasha_b

Summary: The plane ride back from Russia.

In the Sky Tonight – luninosity

Summary: Part five of the holiday fic involves Easter, which obviously meant obligatory sex-pollen-trope fic. Recruitment road-trips, mutants with interesting abilities, sex with complicated emotions, protective Erik, boys figuring out that they’re in love.

Veiled Truths – ikeracity

Summary: Erik has dreams of a dark room, of being pushed down into the floor and violated in a way that makes him scream until his throat is raw. But Shaw never, ever touched him like that, so Erik wonders if he somehow repressed memories of Shaw's torture. Either way, he hides the dreams from Charles, intent on suffering through it alone, as he always has.

And then one day, the nightmares come when he's still awake, and he realizes that these aren't his nightmares, they're Charles's. It's Charles projecting in his sleep, and then Erik realizes that they aren't nightmares at all, they're memories from Charles's hidden past.

The Keeper on the Other Side – RyuuzaKochou

Summary: Charles Xavier's long lost step brother is back in town and it...doesn't go well. Charles and Erik find out they are still bonded and still friends from the hospital bed aftermath.

Northern Lights – garrideb

Summary: Erik experiences a frightening new aspect of Charles's telepathy while rescuing him from captivity. But while it might frighten Erik, that doesn't mean he'll run away from Charles.

Five Days – cerebel

Summary: Charles is captured. And then he is rescued.

Come Home to Me – ami_ven

Summary: “Focus on my voice, Charles, on my mind.”

Room and Board – smilebackwards

Summary: "How long had you been banging your head against the wall before I arrived?" Erik asks curiously after the resident nurse has lain Charles down on a cot and given him two ibuprofen to swallow and an icepack to hold against his head. Boarding school AU.

Enervate – tokidokifish

Summary:  Charles had an abusive childhood (like in the comics, but worse) and when he finally got away, he repressed everything behind mental walls, to the point he doesn't really remember anything about it. After the events of the movie, his mental state deteriorates, and those walls come down.

In These Shadowed Halls – InkDippedFingertips

Summary: For Charles, the mansion was plagued with nightmares.

Waves Can Sink and Carry – Somnambulist

Summary: After a solo recruiting mission goes horribly wrong, a drugged and disoriented (and VERY cold) Charles shows up on the Xavier mansion doorstep. Erik patches him up as best as he can.

Third time’s the charm – Gerec

Summary: XMA ficlets and missing scenes

I’ll be your haven – inoue6

Summary: After Apocalypse used Charles to deliver his message to the world his powers grew beyond control. When Battle of Cairo was over, Erik helps Charles to cope with his telepathy let loose.

[auroracalisto]

in life and death

summary: in the events of dark phoenix, the reader is reunited with her twin brother charles, even though she tried her hardest to stay away from him after their mother sent her away and explained to charles that she had died, all the while trying to not let erik freak out when he realizes that he is, indeed, in love with someone else related to charles.  

pairing: erik lehnsherr x female reader, twin! charles x twin! reader

word count: 2k words

warnings: canon divergence, reader is charles twin (i said she vaguely looks like him, but i don’t describe any physical appearance other than that), cussing, typical jean grey shit, not any actual violence, sibling banter towards the end, lots of death mentions, usage of mutation abilities (reader is able to manipulate anatomy, and in a way, place “blocks” in people’s minds for certain things, therefore manipulating their anatomy to block off certain parts of their memories), abusive relationship with reader’s mother in this for sure, talks of funeral and gravestone.  

a/n: i still haven’t watched dark phoenix so i took some creative liberty and loosely read the wikipedia page.  also, this was written as a request for @nuclearpizza84​.  i hope you enjoy :) if it’s not to your liking, please be sure to let me know and i’ll see what i can do!

The red haired woman had just appeared, introducing herself as Jean Grey.  Erik immediately welcomed her into your home, without batting an eye your way.  An uneasy feeling washed throughout your body, but you thought nothing of it until Jean started asking Erik for his help—that she had once again done something bad, and she didn’t know how to fix it. 

Your fingers tapped repeatedly on your leg as you watched Erik from where you sat.  “I don’t think this is a good idea,” you mumbled, watching him.  Erik always tended to help any of those who came to his door.  While not necessarily a bad thing, sometimes it was.  With times like this, you knew that there was something wrong. 

Jean knew what you were thinking—your discomfort with her was practically radiating off of your body.  But she didn’t care.  She didn’t come here for your help.  She didn’t even know who you were, other than the fact that you looked strangely similar to Professor Xavier.  She had come for Erik, knowing that in the past, he had been rogue himself and had dealt with Charles.  She had nowhere else to go, other than Genosha.  The only place where mutants could go for refuge, if they were running from even the school. 

Erik sighed softly at you.  He reached over and gently took your hand.  “I know Jean.  I’m going to help her,” he said.  “I’ve no reason to turn her away.”

You just nodded, casting a glance towards the woman.  Nothing more was said between you and your fiancée.  You just watched, listening to them talk.  Jean kept looking in your direction, and you didn’t quite understand why.  Perhaps it was best that Charles did not know where you were—then, people like Jean wouldn’t come knocking on your door, asking for your brother’s help when you hadn’t been around him in years.  You stayed in your mind for some time, eventually standing up to go and sit your glass of water back in the kitchen. 

That was, until the sound of helicopters came from outside of your home.  You tensed.  That didn’t happen often, unless something was wrong.  You looked straight at Jean. 

“What are they here for?” you asked the woman. 

She didn’t answer, going to the door.  She opened it up, looking at what was going on.  Your heart pounded in your chest. 

“Erik,” you spoke, walking over to your lover. 

The speaker attached to one of the helicopters, proclaiming that Jean needed to peacefully surrender—or else, of course, they would use force. 

When Jean attacked, you knew it was over.  Erik wouldn’t help—something that you were hoping would happen, but you never knew how soon it would have happened.  Fate just seemed to be on your side at that moment, but you knew that it was only a matter of time before Erik decided to uproot you and return to America, helping your brother out with yet another deadly endeavor—even if Erik had no idea that the two of you were actually related.  With your ability, you had made it to where Charles would not recognize you, and you made sure that Erik would never be able to make out the similarities that you and your twin shared.  It was only right—after years of your brother believing you were dead; you did not want to bring that raining down on his shoulders.

—

The news reached the mutant refuge, and Erik did not talk to you for some time.  Raven was dead, and she had been killed by Jean herself.  Erik was angry.  He had once loved Raven—you knew of this.  It wasn’t hard to see how he still cared for his friend, especially in a moment like this.  Who wouldn’t still care for someone they spent so long with?  You understood where his anger came from, and you stayed there, waiting for him to say something to you—anything. 

In his fit of rage, Erik looked you dead in the eye.  “I’ll kill her.”

You parted your lips to talk, but you didn’t know what to say that would calm him.  You reached out and took his hand.  “We can’t go alone.  You saw how powerful she was…”

There was no point in trying to stop him.  Once Erik had something in his mind, it took him a long time to detach himself from it. 

“That’s fine by me,” he snarled, taking in a deep breath.  “Pack a bag.  We’re leaving, tonight.”

—

Being surrounded by other mutants, you never once thought that you would have to look out for familiar faces.  But Charles stood there, trying to stop people from fighting. 

“There is no point in it,” you heard him say from a distance.  “You’re only hurting yourselves by fighting each other.”

You scoffed.  He was always like that—even when you were children.

That being said, it had been years since you last saw him.  The mental block you applied to him made it to where he would never be able to recognize you as his sister.

At a young age, your mother had split the two of you apart, recognizing that two children exactly alike had not been something she wanted.  So, she kept the boy, and got rid of the girl, quickly explaining to Charles that his sister was dead.  But now, standing there, you wondered why he never came to find you.  You were obviously alive, and you knew you weren’t making it easy on him—but why in the world had he never even tried? 

Charles never once came to Erik, asking for help to find you.  You were alive and well, that much was given.  A part of you also remembered how your mother was.  It was likely that she decided to make things easier on Charles and instead of saying she just gave you away, you had died.  In a moment of self-pity, you wondered if your mother had made you a fake grave.  Maybe you should visit it one day, see if Charles visited it often. 

Erik had long run inside the building that Jean had ran into earlier.  Charles had tried to talk some sense into him, but to no avail. 

And for a moment, you felt your block on Charles slipping.  You were tired.  And the fact that you were so close to him did not help.  Your block was breaking.  His eyes locked with yours and immediately, he recognized you.  Of course, he did. 

“Oh shit,” you breathed out. 

“[Your name]?” Charles blinked slowly, staring at you in disbelief.  “How are you here?  What—”

“Don’t.”

“What—what do you mean, don’t?  How are you here?  I’ve—you’re dead,” he squeezed his eyes shut.

You sighed softly.  “I’m very much alive, Charles.”

“But mother said—”

“—mother said a lot of things.”

Charles pursed his lips.  You were right. 

“Alright.  We can talk about this later.  But please.  We need to help Jean, not hurt her.  She’s scared.  She doesn’t understand how to control what’s going on.  She hasn’t meant to hurt anyone—”

“—she killed your sister,” you said.  You knew all about how Raven was his adopted sister.  Nothing against her, of course.  It was all your mother’s doing.  Who knew that Erik always had a thing for people related to Charles?

He took in a deep breath.  “Yes.  She killed who I grew up with as a sister. But she did not mean to.  We did not know how to handle her.”

“Oh, and what changed?”

“Being this way is not going to help anyone.  She is going to kill Erik, unless we all agree to stop—”

“—sorry, Charles, no can do.”

—

Time seemed to speed up, and hours promptly passed by.  The alien, Vuk tried her hardest to get everything from Jean.  In the process, disaster struck. 

You had just reunited with Erik when you were struck in the shoulder with a stun weapon.  As you fell to the ground, you heard Erik shout.  Then, everything went black.

Waking up, you slowly took in your surroundings.  You were on a train.  Without a clue where you were heading, you took the time to breathe deep.  Erik was to your right.  You could feel him moving around—he must have already been awake, and now, he was struggling to get out of the restraints. 

Charles sat straight across from you, his eyes dead set in a glare pointed at the ground. 

You cleared your throat, resting your head on the wall behind you.  “Charles.”

He said nothing.  

You looked over at Erik, who shrugged.  “He’s been silent ever since we were captured.”

“Were you not shot—”

“—no.  Collar.  You’ve got one now, too.”

You squeezed your eyes shut.

“They put it on me while I aided you,” he chuckled softly.  “I suppose it is my own fault…”

“None of this would have happened had you allowed me to talk some sense into her,” Charles spoke, looking up at his old friend.  “Had you not attacked her; she would have been calm.  She was scared, Erik.  I’m sure she still is.  I can feel her.  She is at war with herself, and you have only aided in making her feel worse.”

“Could you feel me?” you asked.

“Quite impossible when you make it difficult for me to recognize you,” Charles immediately recounted.  “How did you manage that?  You’ve the ability to just manipulate minds?  Nothing more, nothing less?  I only felt you when your block dissolved.  What does it take for it to do that?”

Charles was angry.

You stared him down.  He returned your gaze.

For a set of twins that had been apart for decades at this point, you acted as if you had never once been split up. 

“I can alter anatomy.”

“Can you now?” he scoffed.  “You know.  I would have thought that perhaps you would understand that not everyone is inherently evil.  She is still good, [Your name].”

“Why would I understand that?”

Charles sighed.  “Despite not being able to recognize you while you still had that going on, had I just focused, I could read your mind.  You’ve been engaged for how long, Erik?  To my sister?”

Erik blinked rapidly.  “What?”

This, was of course, news to him.  You never said anything about it.  Charles was about to open a new can of worms that would blow up in your face after all of this was said and done. 

“Nothing,” you shot at Erik.  “It’s nothing.  Don’t worry about it.”

“You’re siblings?” Erik asked. 

“Stop it,” you groaned. 

Charles clenched his jaw and he looked away from you. 

“Look,” you began, frowning.  “I’m sorry.  I should have reached out to you sooner.  More specifically, when I heard that mother died.  But I didn’t.  I didn’t know where to start looking—”

“—I never left the house.”

You looked towards the floor.  “Now I know that.  I should have come sooner.  I should have told Erik and allowed him to tell you.  But I thought that it would hurt more, knowing that mom just lied to us.  To you, really.”

“She told me that you died.  She set up an actual funeral, fit with a coffin and a headstone.  She really played the part,” Charles said.

“I wondered that earlier, but now that you tell me that, it hurts a lot more,” you tried to laugh, as the realization that your mother probably hated you with every fiber in her ran through your head.  “I’m sorry.  I’m sorry it took… whatever the hell this is for you to realize that I’m still very much alive.”

“Perhaps we can speak about this later,” Charles began.  “We should focus on getting out of here, before something worse happens.”

And of course, Charles had to speak it into existence.  A loud, deafening bang nearly made you scream. 

The aliens were back—and this time, they weren’t about to go easy on anyone.