#and i think the 2012 boys would find that dimension the most comforting

[tending-the-hearth]

Turtle angst au thoughts today besties!!!

So, I’ve mentioned briefly a few times that all four groups find that their favorite dimension to visit is the mutant mayhem dimension, because it’s the dimension where (1) the lair is the biggest and therefore can accommodate everyone easily and (2) it’s the dimension where all the humans in New York know about the turtles, so hanging out together is VERY easy, because they don’t have to wait until nightfall.

I’ve been thinking about how, once everyone meets, the 2012 turtles would probably love having other places to disappear off to, where they could safely spend time with people who actually care about them. And because the mutant mayhem group is the one they connect with the quickest (mainly due to raph and splinter’s first interaction), they end up spending the most time there, like to the point where Splinter and the boys set up a room for the 2012 turtles.

there’s a point where the MM boys pretty much BEG their Splinter to let the 2012 boys go to school with them, and although they’re hesitant, it’s also like… this is an experience they’ll NEVER get to have anywhere else, where they can actually interact with humans their age, and get out of the lair, so they agree. Casey and April end up going with them, and it’s the most terrifying and exciting experience the 2012 boys have ever had. They tell the principal before anything happens, and they’re immediately on board, not just because the turtles have a fantastic reputation, but having other people from other dimensions is just very cool.

keeping in mind that, while the MM boys are around 13-14, the 2012 boys are about 18, so they walk in and immediately have the “cool older brother” vibes, and the MM boys CANNOT stop telling everyone about them. The 2012 boys are overwhelmed and honestly a little emotional, because no one is screaming, no one is looking at them with horror, everyone’s just excited, and going up to them to talk to them, and going to classes is surprisingly fun, and April and Casey are acting like excited toddlers because they get to hang out with their best friends at school, something they NEVER thought would happen. They sit together at lunch, and end up being able to make friends with other humans their age, they get to goof around and be kids, something they never got because they were always fighting and having to grow up far too fast.

it’s only for like a week or two, but it turns out that the teachers and other students end up adoring the 2012 boys just as much as the MM boys, so it becomes a thing every time they visit for an extended period of time, they accompany the MM boys and April to school, or go to RJ’s wrestling meets, or attend Tello’s science shows, sitting in the audience cheering their heads off (and ofc the parents see these boys who are just SO elated for their little brothers, so they end up absolutely endearing themselves to the parents in the school. Just… everyone loves the 2012 boys)

And i have a little image in my brain of Casey hanging off of Raph, joking around with him and RJ in the hallway (because RJ looks up to Casey and Raph SO much, they’re his favorite people every besides his own brothers), and out of the corner of his eye, Casey sees a kid around the freshman age, with hockey stickers all over his bag, and a hockey puck being tossed between hands as he walks over to his locker, and both Casey and Raph exchange a Look and not-so-subtly nudge RJ over to the kid, and they absolutely do NOT get emotional seeing their counterparts introducing themselves to each other and being able to watch their friendship being created right in front of their eyes.

[purplepixel]

Hi I saw in your pinned post that you've read over 1,000 TMNT fics. Do you have a few really good ones you would recommend?

(don't feel any pressure to respond if you don't want to)

Oh boy this is...quite an ask. Especially bc fanfic recs are so personal? What I think is a good fic will be vastly different from other people. I have a really high angst tolerance, so please double check tags with these. Also keep in mind that I mainly read donnie-centric fics.

Here are my personal favorites! My hand slipped and I have more than just a few to recommend...what can I say there are so many good fics.

CRACK BUT READS LIKE CANON

Back To School by Em_H | 10,965 [FINISHED]

Donnie enrolls in April’s school and tries to juggle his packed schedule. A shrek play is included. Do I need to say more?

☆ In Volvunt: a RotTMNT Fanfiction ☆ by kittylittersmoothie | 27,082 [FINISHED]

In which the rest of the bros continuously try and fail to rick roll donnie. A war is started, alliances are made, betrayals occur, this is a hilarious feel good fic. It’s very in line with the show tonal wise and the dialogue is very rise

Mikey's Jam-Packed, Guaranteed to Get Donnie's Memory Back, Friendship Tour! By Eyse | 92,972 [ON-GOING]

Donnie wakes up with no memory of anyone including himself. Que his brothers trying to find ways to get his memory back. Has some of the most wacky adventures and scenarios I’ve ever encountered in a rise fic. Feels like you’re reading the actual show

YOU WILL BE EMOTIONALLY DESTROYED

Quiet Your Mind by daedelweiss | 18,081 [FINISHED]

Fusion Au with the disaster twins set in the bad future timeline. I don’t cry. This one made me cry. Bittersweet ending.

Telepathy (of a Twin Variety) by vosian_nightmare | 24,423 [FINISHED] 

My personal favorite twin telepathy fic. Character study on the disaster twins.

Something Borrowed, Something Blue by Cass_Phoenix | 31,963 [FINISHED]

A Donnie from an alternate reality kidnaps Leo. Or is he bringing him home? This one will fuck with your mind. One of my bookmark notes is “Reality existentialism” 

Firefight by remrose | 94,480 [ON-GOING]

What if donnie gets trapped in the prison dimension with leo? I’m usually not a fan of changing plot points in the rise movie or suicidal leo, but this fic is the exception. It is VERY well written and has some of the best exchanges between the disaster twins. You WILL be scared for the characters and your heart WILL be crushed. Proud to say I was here for this fic since chapter 1 bc that NEVER happens with me

THE CROSSOVERS

Familiar Places, Foreign Faces by Petra4President | 36,434 [ON-GOING]

Rise/2012 Crossover Fic. The Rise Donnie & 2012 Raph fic I didn’t ask for (I read this before watching 2012) but didn’t realize I NEEDED. Donnie gets sent to the 2012 universe and must find a way home. 

A Tale of Spirits by unorthodoxx | 168,344 [ON-GOING]

Rise/Avatar the Last Airbender AU. This one is pretty popular so I won't say anything else except its really good.

I WOULD BOOK BIND THESE

All I have to say about these fics is that they’re REALLY good and BOOK WORTHY

Monsters Among Us by DanzinoraSwitch | 86,136 [FINISHED]

Violet Hues and Holy Blue by SibillaScribbles08 | 115,752 [FINISHED]

I May Be Invisible, but I Still Look Good by Dandy | 124,862 [FINISHED]

MY PERSONAL COMFORT FICS

Things will never be the same (but that's okay) by Petra4President | 14,493 [FINISHED]

Post movie aftermath fic that focuses on the changes created by the events of the movie. Idk what specifically has me rereading this occasionally, but its really well written and a little different than most aftermath fics I've read.

Corrupted Upgrade by Dandy | 25,898 [FINISHED]

Donnie Villain AU with a twist. He really gives off megamind vibes. DO NOT BE FOOLED. THERE’S A REASON EVERYONE IS OUT OF CHARACTER IN THE BEGINNING. I almost slept on this fic and it became one of my favorites. It’s the type of fic that I can read over and over and over.

Turning Purple by Lizardstuff | 48,123 [ON-GOING]

Donnie slowly gets more and more sick post rise movie and the rest of the characters must find out what’s wrong and find a cure. THIS ONE’S FOR YOU, MEDICAL NERDS. Author has done research and any inaccuracies have gone over this EMT’s head. I reread this one every chapter update and every time I’m haunted by “the blueberry french toast paragraph” No I will not explain further, go read it.

MY TOP FIC RECOMMENDATION

Spider's Web with Strings Attached by CurlySwirly | 125,661 [ON-GOING]

Donnie and Leo get kidnapped and are forced to fight in the battle nexus. This is my pick for the most well written fanfic and most in canon characterization with ALL the characters. You will HEAR the characters not just through the dialogue but also through the writing itself. As the reader, you will be beaten down and have your heart crushed mercilessly which makes the pay off the most rewarding, satisfying experience that I've personally ever felt with a fanfic. This fic lives in my head rent free and I think about it at least once a day. It is my all time favorite rise fic and I highly recommend it.

[fullofpossibilities]

Adopted Au Headcannons for R!Leo

So this is very heavily based off of the Adopted Mikey Au and the Adopted Donnie Au done by @tblsomedoodles so if you don't know the basics that would be a great place to start. (They also gave me permission to write these headcannons to thank you again!!!!).

Basically, I was at work, and absently thinking about their Adopted Aus, and thought, "who would adopt R!Leo (otherwise listed as Blue) if he went missing in another dimension?" And first some reason the first person that popped into my head was 2012 Donatello, so this is that train wreck.

Keep in mind that Blue is, like, 3-4 yr. old in this au, and happened to get sent to the 2012 universe after being attacked in the sewers of his own dimension and doesn't go back to his home dimension until right before the Rise show starts.

Purple is R!Leo's comfort color (since it reminds him of his twin) so I can see Donnie being the first person he would latch onto.

-It helps that the reason Blue is in this universe would be a highly coincidentally timed portal on 2012 Donnie's end that transported both Leo and the mutant attacking him to the sewers nearby

Donnie goes to investigate the energy surge that happened during the fight and finds Blue, saving him from either the mutant that had been attacking him prior to the portal or the krang who might have been the reason for the portal in the first place, haven't decided yet. Donnie takes him home to patch him up, and gets imprinted on by a very lost, confused, and scared Blue who just wants his twin but hey this stranger is wearing Purple's colors so he must nice, right?

Blue obviously gets most of his sense of humor and energy from Uncle Mikey. They love to skateboard together and play pranks, usually involving a lot of messes to clean up. Both get into food competitions, where whoever can throw together the weirdest food combination and eat it without throwing up wins (Donnie always gets upset when they do that though, worried about Blue's health).

Uncle Raph is probably (read definitely) the most protective of the uncles, and even though he isn't the sensei, he still helps teach Blue how to fight. He'll introduce him to Chompy and show him to use the pinball machine, and if anyone accused Raph of going soft he'd slap their head then go get Blue for their scheduled nap (because Blue will only sleep if someone else is there). Blue likes that Raph is so big, because it reminds him of Red (even if Raph is bigger than he remembers Red being), and naps with him are the best (but he'll never tell his dad that). If I do include the fact that Blue gets plushies that remind him of his brothers like @tblsomedoodles did in their au, they were made/knitted by Raph (once again, something he'll never admit, he just claims he found them randomly)

Uncle Leo, of course, is the sensei, but they still interact outside of training. Out of all the uncles, Blue probably looks up to Leo the most, resulting in another "Splinter Junior" situation, but between Leos, and less copy but no less "hero worship." Leo is like the Jupiter Jim or Captain Ryan of Blue's childhood. Leo will introduce Blue to Space Heroes, and the two will spend hours basically fan-boying over the show.

Obviously Blue is closest with his self-assigned dad, Donnie. Donnie is the reason that Blue gets so interested in medical practices and chemistry, and Donnie has a lot of practice (cough Mikey) with grabby hands in the lab, so he knows how to keep an eye on Blue while still working in a way that lets Blue stay in the lab during the day if he wants to. Blue thinks his dad is the coolest guy ever, being able to make whatever he wants (He built such a cool car! and Metalhead was awesome!) and fixing anything that breaks (like his toys). He learns sarcasm by watching his dad talk with Uncle Casey, and boy was that something that Donnie will always regret (second only to the fact that Casey also seemed to be trying to teach Blue how to flirt). (side note: this would be in a universe that did not emphasize a lot of romance. While all of that drama still happened when they were teenagers, the only couple that I MIGHT have as canon in the Au would be Raph/Mona, because it was the only ship that didn't have some kind of problematic background). When Blue decides that his dad hasn't slept enough, he'll go and sit on his lap, and just start to fall asleep. In an effort to make him comfortable, Donnie will try to move him to the bed, and when he tries to go back to work, Blue will latch onto his arm and refuse to let go, forcing him to stay "just until Blue falls asleep." Leo walks in ten minutes later to the father-son duo practically dead to the world on the bed. On the other hand, if Donnie doesn't want to be disturbed by anyone, Blue will make it his personal mission to keep the uncles out of the lab.

It's unclear when exactly Donnie became Blue's "dad," it just happened one day with Blue walking into the room, half-asleep, and asking his dad (by his now new title) if he had seen his blanket/plushies. Donnie, understandably, freaks out internally (and later externally) but can't deny that something in him was both happy and sad: happy because he had grown attached to the little tot; sad because he knew that a time would come when he would have to send him back home (dealing with alternates has left Donnie with the very real realization that this is probably a another little Leo, especially after hearing Blue talk about his brothers). Among the infinite possibilities of universes, though, that would take some time, so maybe it would be ok for the kid to call him that? He'd ask for advice from his brothers and April, and all of them, while equally cautious, would encourage him to let it happen because dangit they're attached too (although Leo would be the most hesitant, with his sense of responsibility).

I'd like to think that Blue learned Spanish by watching tv with April and Casey. Sure, he watches tv with his uncles too, but I can't see them watching anything that might have Spanish in them. I'm imagining that April and Casey were babysiting and both fell asleep with the tv on (thinking Blue was asleep too). Some Spanish drama came on and little Blue fell in love with the accent, so he started trying to copy it. Donnie caught on and set up a system to teach him some of the words instead of just copying the accent (he doesn't know spanish, but there are a lot of learning programs online he can hack into). It becomes a bonding experience between little Blue and the humans, since they take it upon themselves to help him learn whenever they babysit (April being more successful in these lessons than Casey).

Blue was seen as very athletic in Rise!, so I imagine that he fairly enjoys sports. Watching Casey play hockey probably kick started it, which evolved into skateboarding, basketball, baseball, football, etc. He couldn't play all of these a lot, but skateboarding and basketball (or at least shooting hoops) were fairly simple to set up and do constantly. He likes baseball and football simply for the fact that it gives him and excuse to throw a ball and run around a lot, but he doesn't play them often and prefers the other two. His uncles help set up a basketball hoop in the lair for one of his birthdays, and all he did for the next week was shoot hoops.

He thinks April is cool. Leo may be Blue's personal hero, but April is a SUPER hero. She had powers and a cool outfit, and in Blue's mind that's all he needed to label his new favorite aunt as an honest to goodness superhero (followed later by Mikey's alter-ego Turflytle). He's always following her around when she visits the lair and trying to get her to make him "fly."

Instead of the lair being attacked by the mutant/yokai that tried to kidnap and eat Blue, I imagine that the event that triggers Blue's return to his original world involving the Krang. The Krang attacked the lair or there was an attack outside somewhere that Blue snuck out and got stuck in, but a Krang would attempt to drag Blue through the portal to use as bait or leverage, and Blue's ninpo messed with the portal and sent him home (without the Krang for some reason, idk its fanfiction so fanon magic). He returns to the same place where he disappeared in his world, not that he remembers that that is where he left, and instead of Tello or Angie finding him, it would be Raphie (because I'm trying not to be too similar to the original Adopted AU, no more than I already am). The rest of the Rise show continues as normal.

Maybe if I get more inspiration I'll do some headcannons for when R!Leo reconnects with his family in the 12 dimension, but for now this is all I can think of.

[sundalion]

Sooooo I got inspired by another post (by @selective-insomniac) and I’ve now made a list of all my favourite rottmnt fics I’ve read that I also think you should read.

If your fic is not on the list I either haven’t read it or it just sadly wasn’t on my favourites (doesn’t mean I hated it TvT)

My list of the best Rottmnt fics

Mutant Ninja Midlife Crisis by a_platypus -Future Leo somehow ends up post Kraang invasion and meets big mama instead of the bois (uhoh)

Midnight Blue by TugboatExpress -leosagi fluff mostly and very cute

we'll meet again, soon by chiangyorange -all the turtles gets to go back from the apocalypse with Casey

I Ain't Happy, but I'm Feeling Glad by Fish -Leo gets cursed and has a lil fight, based of a comic or animatic i cannot find TvT

i think i would prefer the prison dimension by PurpleCatGhost -Leo ends up in the apocalypse instead of home after the Kraang invasion

Alpha Stage by snailsnaps -hehe tiny Donnie hehe (he just had a tiny lab accident it’s fiiiine)

Unfamiliar Familiar by Torable -Michaelangelo from 2012 gets to meet Rise turtles and deal with his trauma

but the grave's gonna have to fight for me by Pachipikachu -awesome Leosagi fic, Usagi is in the battle nexus but also in the pizza place, and Leo is head over heals hdhdjdjdn

The Aftermath by Starrcrossrose -yea this one is fucking tough, take the hurt part in hurt/comfort very seriously ow, only read for your own pain hdjfjskskfk

Ghost in the Shell by AmevelloBlue - 2003 Donatello ends in the Rise universe, gets stuck, and now lives to help the small Rise turtles grow older (hehe dad)

Last Grain Of Sand In The Hourglass by TjLockticon -Old man Leo gets through the portal instead of Leo and the boy is still stuck in the prison dimension, that ain’t stopping the older man tho

too lucky to count by iooiu -Mikey gets to go back post movie against his will and has become a feisty old man and does not want to deal with his now smaller brother Donnie and everyone else

I May Be Invisible, But I Still Look Good by Dandy -Leo gets cursed and his soul kinda separates from his body so the rest thinks his dead and Leo is panicking

Trial and Error by ApatheticRobots -yeah Casey said fuck it and dragged the old man with him to the past, none of the Leo’s really agrees with that choice

Just this once, everybody lives by TheDragonTribes -Mikey says fuck it and takes his whole family home with Casey, but ya know, it’s still the same day as the kraang invasion soooo

odd man out by cosmoscrow -this is the most wholesome you’ll get with an old man Leo being back to his past post movie

Mystic Hands by characcoon -Mikey ends up where Casey should’ve gone and now an angy old man Mikey has to deal with the invasion again

Carapace by SkeletalConstellation -Donnie and the gang messed up on a mission post movie and now Don gets to be momentarily Robot while he fixes himself

Fracturing Time by ofdogsandwriting -Mikey gets to go back post movie and decides his time has come… for retirement :) the boys ain’t having that tho

Quiet Your Mind by daedelweiss -Donnie and Leo gets to fuse in the apocalypse kinda like Steven universe but turtles hdjdjdns it’s a very good oneshot with lots of disaster twins

Rotten Reflections by Nicoforlife -something happened to the disaster twins, making them feral as a survival instinct and ending up in the tmnt 2012 universe with the 12 boys having to deal with some scary Rise twins

A Tale of Spirits by unorthodoxx -They gang touches sometimes they shouldn’t and somehow end up separated widely in the universe of AtLA with the whole Gaang, they however think that the turtles are spirits and it’s a whole adventurous journey (quite a long and amazing read)

unmaking by corvidown -it’s post movie and everything is swell, right up until Donnie starts having a little too realistic nightmares from Casey’s timeline. (Includes 2+ Donatello’s)

At My Worst by teainthesnow -the older apocalyptic version of Leo gets trapped in Leo who has yet to stop the Kraang, absolutely beautiful story hhhh (finished?)

The Eldest Brother by dEBB987 -AMAZING FUCKING RAPH FIC HHHHHH our big bro Raph gets accidentally sent through a portal on a mission into the 12 tmnt universe. Here he struggles with his past traumas while trying to heal whatever 12 has going on in their ‘family’ 10/10 cried cant wait for more.

Like Father Like Son by eternalglitch -oooh gosh Leo gets kidnapped on a pizzarun fort he family by Draxum and the scientist seems to have found one of Donnies inventions that will help him make Leo his perfect little soldier. (Cried hard absolutely destroyed me, it does get better)

Minor interference by bambiraptorx -it’s a fun little fic and the opposite of the above, where Leo and the fam takes up the offer of having Draxum train them, it’s only to absolutely to mess with him tho lol

Never better by less_depresso_more_expresso -amazing Raph fic where she’s raised by good father Draxum, her siblings however are unaware and the younger brothers desperately try to get their sister back from what they assume is an abusive father (it’s surprising lighthearted with triggerwarnings when needed and generally fun to read, feels in character too and so far 10/10)

(I’m so sorry I couldn’t get the links to work, gotta go the old fashioned way hhhhh)

[its-wabby-stuff]

For theory prompts:

-the kraang were imprisoned 1000 years, but 500 years ago gave saki the armor. How did that work?

-aprils apartment gets wrecked multiple times, do her parent(s) just... not ask questions? How hasn't she been grounded yet? Heck, where even are they?

Ooooo yes I love thèse. It’s funny you’d ask about the Krang because that is exactly what I was thinking about when I wrote this. I have a very looooong answer for that which may end up being it’s own theory. Simple answer for now, I have two ideas. A theory I read a while ago said there was a possible time dilation making 500 years, 1000 years for the krang, which is fun to consider with Leo being trapped inside. Although, it doesn’t make sense in historical context, because I find it Oroku Saki would visit such a powerful and destructive being if the events of the Krang attack had happened recently (being 100 years or less). So I’m thinking the Krang have really long life spans of at least 800 years. Which is why most of the Krang died in the prison dimension being trapped for 1000 years. I have like a whole theory with evidence and explanations using the various things we know, but it’s really long so I’ll save it for another day and not on an ask.

As for Aprils parents. We don’t really know anything about them. So there’s room to have a bit of fun. Here’s why I think, to be taken with as much credit as you give it.

Aprils father is a scientist, in a similar way to how 2012 Aprils father is. He makes a lot of money but is often travelling for work. I like to believe Aprils mother is a nurse, who works long hours in the night, sleeping during the day to be home for April after school. This allows April to be able to leave at night because her parents aren’t home, and also have the boys come and visit. But daytime, when she’s away from school, Turtles and countless jobs, is for naps and me time.

I think their family sits pretty comfortably. Her family is open, understanding and hardworking.

As for thé destruction caused by the turtles, primarily I’m thinking of the Mayhem bathroom fiasco, I think April has to pay for those damages out of pocket with money from her jobs. She has a repair man on speed dial and whatever mess is left that can’t be explained is blamed on Mayhem or an accident or whatever other lie she can come up with.

Thanks so much for the ask!

[ninjagoestogreece]

I FEEL LIKE A WOMAN

     If you want to get the best understanding of Greek fashion possible, I implore you not to hit up the shopping district of Monastiraki or the mall and risk pick-pocketing or highway robbery on a bad deal. Just ride the metro for four or five stops and you’ll run the gambit. Widowed γιαγιές in traditional, conservative layers of black upon black, Gazi residents with fluorescent accessories, middle-aged women with over-lined lips, and university students in athleisure wear and Gucci bags under their eyes (you know, like us). You’ll catch the staples: unisex black boots, white Adidas, leather jackets, a coat from SuperDry, sweatpants from Franklin and Marshall -- no, not the school -- and long, beach-wavy hair, parted at the middle of the crown. This is why you’ll find me in 0.2 seconds in the hustle and bustle of the station: I’ve had a pixie cut since 2012 and haven’t looked back since.

     Short hair is a godsend, and don’t let any salon magazine try to tell you otherwise. It’s clean, it’s healthy, the ends are smooth, it’s low-maintenance, and I look great with it. You would think that the cropped look would show my round cheeks more, making me look younger, but the sharper angles of my hair actually frame my jaw and slim it down, making me look closer to my age. It’s androgynous and unique. I can pair my hair with anything and be comfortable. It never gets caught in any chairs, I never have to look for a way to tie it back -- I barely even have to brush it. Do I miss new styles? I guess. But do I miss the struggle to actually do the styling? No. Not even a little. But I can’t help but feel like somehow I’m supposed to be.

     Greece, in part due to its conservative Christian roots and in part to patriarchal dominance throughout the millennia, has some pretty strict gender roles. Men are supposed to pursue and marry women with long, wavy hair and have children together. When going to church, you must be properly covered at all times, especially when you are a woman, because “God’s house is not a beach” (as one crotchety groundskeeper shouted after us in Thessaloniki). A Greek mother must know every dish her mother ever made and do laundry for her son until he moves out at thirty with his own wife. In Athens, some of this is lessened by modernity, urbanity, and international connections to other, more relaxed lifestyles. But even still, breaking boundaries means living on boundaries, in the avaunt-guarde scene of the Technopolis and Gazi or hidden in the arts/red-light district of Syggrou-Fix. Even Irakleio, my forward-thinking suburb with its street art and its live music and hip restaurants, is straight-laced as ever due to the gentrification that so often accompanies affluence. Very few people are willing to stand out, to break the norm, to look like me.

     I don’t look like most other women. I’m very small and curvy, and wear a lot of men’s or men’s-styled clothing to best fit my dimensions. When I don’t have to look super nice, I’m somewhere between “sweater chic with combat boots” and “confused Boy Scout ft. Chapstick”. Maybe it’s because I have a strict no-discomfort policy. Maybe it’s because, like my hair, I don’t like putting a ton of thought into something that’s well-executed when it’s simply done. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s because I’m neither straight nor exclusively feminine and men’s clothing helps me feel a little less like a stiff prop. I don’t know that I have all the answers. All I know is that half of my wardrobe once belonged to the men’s department of Old Navy once and it all fits.      The US is easier for navigating my preferences. First of all, American culture is quite a bit more casually dressed on the whole than Greek culture. T-shirts aren’t uncommon at home, and don’t have to be dressed up with extras. We’re individualistic. And, on the whole, we’re becoming more accepting of the LGBT+ community. But here, only 25% of Greeks support people like me. Looking like me, falling slightly into a stereotype of a non-straight woman and presenting more masculinely, can make me a target -- though it’s worth noting that like in many other cities of this nature, most people don’t seem to have the time to waste a few brain cells thinking about my flannel shirt or my Velma Dinkley hair. I still feel a bit of the people-watching stare the curious Athenians have perfected sometimes, and am stiffled by the silence I’m greeted with from people my age when I am out with other, more feminine women at times. Somehow though, I haven’t managed to shake off the occasional over-bearing elderly man, though. While in Thessaloniki, clad in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shirt and as many friendship bracelets as I could cram onto one wrist, one particularly forward man crossed the pigeon-flooded square to chat, then sat next to me on a bench as I read quietly by the sea and kept trying to take my hand. I’d have given anything to have had the courage to tell him off, but I instead opted to hurriedly gather my bag and my book and scuttle off back to the safety of my hotel room. I don’t know that I’ll understand the “why me” of it, and I don’t care to hypothesize about it based on how I look compared to others, but I’m glad it wasn’t anybody else who had to deal with it.

     I like how I look, and I like feeling comfortable in what I wear. Cutting my hair and wearing what I do makes me feel most like me. My own skin fits better than anyone else’s would. I’m just not so sure that the word “woman” here fits me as well as it used to. Maybe it just takes a little more breaking-in.