#give it to the people who made D&D Honor Among Thieves damn it

[gikairan]

Looking at every name that has been announced for this live action Zelda film and....

Oh boy thats a lot of mid-to-bad films all these people have made 😬

This is not going to be good......

[tmntreasures]

Honor Among Thieves Ch.14

Note: It’s another long one, so I’m putting it under “Keep Reading!” Hope you enjoy! ;P

With the help of Raphael, Aida was able to wrestle Bonnie to sleep after about thirty or so minutes. Aida turned in for the night soon after, but the turtles stayed up doing their nightly activities. Once it was morning again Aida left for her family, but Bonnie was lost in deep sleep. Her eyes flickering, as her mind dreamed. It conjured a scene believable to what she was currently living in real life, except there was one thing out of place...

"Drake?" She narrowed her eyes in disbelief when she saw the rapper waltz into the main room of the lair with a baby in his arms.

"Yeah… Long time no see." He answered while staring down at the baby.

Bonnie grinned happily and clasped her hands together. "You remember me from the two thousand and sixteen concert? I stole my way into the backstage meet n greet!"

"Yup," He finally looked up at her as well as gazing around the room. "Sooo...This your crib?"

She scoffed and laughed nervously. "Nah… Just some stupid boys I know." She stopped and licked her lips. "Sooo... Can we have sex?" She asked.

Drake clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes. "I got a damn baby in my arms!" He gestured to the child.

"Well, just give 'em to the rat! He's old like a grandpa and stuff..." She shrugged.

"There's a rat here?" He raised a brow.

"Mhmm, and four turtles." She nodded and shrugged.

Drake couldn’t help but to laugh a little. "What the fuck?"

"I know, but you get used to it." She laughed with him.

He stared at the baby for a while in thought, before clicking his tongue again. "Alright." He sighed and put the child to the side.

"Yay!" Bonnie clapped her hands happily and quickly ran over to him. He put a hand to her check and leaned forward to kiss her. Right as their lips were about to meet, she could feel herself being shaken out of her dream. At first, she thought Drake was calling out her name, but after a few seconds the voice started to alter into someone else’s.

“Bonnie… Bonnie… Bonnie wake up!” Leonardo ordered as he shook her shoulders lightly.

She opened her eyes slowly as she was dazed. It took her eyes a few secnds to adjust and when she saw who was standing over her, she growled. "You're not Drake." She pulled her covers up and over her head.

"That is correct." He huffed and grabbed the blanket, yanking it off her.

She gasped a little and latched onto it, pulling it back to her. "Leo, fuck ooofff!" She grumbled as her head began to pound. "I mean- What time is it anyways, you shouldn't even be awake."

"It's seven in the morning, and you wanted jiu jitsu training. Remember?" He said before grabbing her by the ankles and pulling her off the couch.

"No!!" She cried out and dug her claws into the furniture, trying to hold on. "I was just kidding! I'm good!" She whined.

"There's no escaping now. Not even if I have to drag you to the dojo." He smirked and promptly did so.

Her hangover was starting to settle in hard, making it hard to resist him. "No, Dojo Daddy please!" She begged and she was pulled across the floor.  "Don't punish meee..."

Meanwhile, above the surface, Aida was prepping lunches for her siblings again. Riqui and Rosa were both sitting next to each other, their eyes glued to the comic book Michelangelo had lent to her.

"Aida!" Rosa looked up and pointed at the one of the pages, "What's this word?"

"Gonna have to spell it out for me," She responded as she began to make PB&J sandwiches. Breakfast took longer than usual to make since the twins got excited over the comic book. She had to tell them they were only borrowing it and told them to be gentle with it; of course then she had to scold them when they almost ripped a corner, which made them cry and then she had to calm them down. For six thirty in the morning, they were already being so emotional.

"D-o-u-c-h-e," Riqui answered for her.

"Oh, that's 'douche'," Aida replied.

"Well, what is it?" They both asked.

She hesitated, but before she could make something up, Montae hopped down the steps and answered. "It's a weird thing girls use to clean their coño."

"Montae!" Aida snapped at him and shook a finger, "Language! They're eight!"

"So?" He shrugged, snagging an apple from the fridge and dodging her slap. "I heard worse things from--" He stopped when he saw the comic book and snatched it from the table, ignoring the twins' cries. "W-where did you get this!?" His eyes were wide as he flipped through the pages before staring at the cover.

Aida furrowed her brow before answering, "A friend lent it to me so the twins could read it. Why?"

He snapped up at her and pointed at the thin book, "This issue is worth two grand and he let you give it to some babies?! Es un maldito idiota!"

"Hey!" She growled at him. "He's not an idiot, he's just nice!"

He huffed and shook his head. "Nice people are idiots, hermana," he clicked his tongue and shook the issue. "Betchu he's trying to get in your pants. Better watch it~."

It was her turn to scoff and she rolled her eyes. "Yeah right," She argued. "I'm not his type." She finished packing their lunches and snapped her fingers. "Go get Orlan and give me the comic book, it's time for you guys to go to school."

"But we're not done reading it!" Rosa complained.

"And you will finish reading it tomorrow," Aida explained. "There's no way I'm leaving any of you alone if that comic really is worth that much!" She held out her hand and glared at her brother.

 He hesitated and finally clicked his tongue, handing it back to her. "Fiiiine..." He stomped up the stairs and soon the four of them were ushered off to school before the girl returned to the lair below, the comic issue tucked safely in her bag.

"Stop it." Leonardo said sternly as he dodged the kisses Bonnie was trying to put on him.

"What?" Bonnie giggled and grinned. "C'mon, you can't say this wouldn't catch you off guard in a fight." She fidgeted trying to get out of the hold he had her in.

"No one would fall for this in real life!" He argued.

Bonnie clicked her tongue and smirked. "Your brothers did!" She perked her brows at him.

Leonardo growled and sat up on his knees. "If you're not gonna take this seri-" He stopped when he saw her trying to crawl off and he grabbed her by pants and pulled her back. "Listen!! Ugh... You're worse than Mikey, I swear."

"Uggh! We've been at this for hours! I haven't even eaten breakfast!" She groaned.

"It's called discipline! Once you actually participate, you can have food!" He responded.

---

Raphael was watching them from the other side of the room, chuckling at the torture Bonnie was putting his brother through. It was fun seeing Leonardo get frustrated and flustered; it showed the fearless leader had weaknesses after all.

"Wait, she's actually doing the training?" Aida piped up as she entered the lair.

"Yeah," Raphael answered, his eyes never leaving the girl's form as she struggled beneath the blue-clad turtle. "She's really putting up a fuss. It's really cute."

The latina girl raised a brow at him and smacked his arm. "Ooooh. The big one does like chocolate~." She teased.

"N-not like that!" He defended himself, shrugging away from her. "It's just...i-it's funny, okay? Leo says he can do sooo much better than all of us, but even he's having problems with her!" He grumbled and began to walk off. "Where's my egg? I need to keep practicin'..."

---

Bonnie huffed as she sat up on her knees. "If I manage to punch you in the jaw, will you let me go eat then?"

Leonardo scoffed, "You can tr-" He stopped and moved out of the way when she swung at him. "Like I was saying-" He moved again.

"Hold still will ya?" She growled and swung at him again. This time he caught her fist and countered her with a punch back in the arm. "Ow!!" She screamed and immediately tended to her shoulder. "What the fuck?" She hissed.

He shrugged. "What? I'm not allowed to hit back?"

---

"Yo, it's too early for this..." Michelangelo yawned as he strolled into the kitchen of the lair.

Donatello noticed Michelangelo walk in; the noise had awoken the tech-loving ninja as well, but he spent his time making some coffee and checking out the police chatter. "Mornin' sunshiiine!" He teased his little brother.

"Mmm" Mikey grumbled and dropped a pair of poptarts in a toaster. "How long have they been at it?" He yawned again.

"For a couple of hours," Donatello answered before turning to the monitors. "I kinda got good news though. I've been keeping tabs on gang activity and it looks like whoever was after the girls got bored." He frowned a little and shrugged. "So...they won't need us anymore."

---

Aida shook her head as she watched the two spar. "Go for his elbow!" She hollered at Bonnie. "He's ticklish there!"

"Nah, behind the knee!" Raphael added as he walked back to the viewing area, the egg in his hand. "He hates it there!"

---

"Look," Bonnie said in a hushed tone. "Let’s make a deal. I let you win, and you let me eat. Everyone will see how high and mighty you are. That's what you want right?" She nodded.

Leonardo smirked and shook his head. "You say it like you could actually beat me. Also, I'll get more satisfaction out of it if I can actually break you."

She groaned. "I'm not a fighter!" She whined.

"Well what would you do if ran into somebody while stealing?"

"I would run! That's what I do! I run! I could out run you!" She nodded.

He scoffed. "No you couldn't."

She narrowed her eyes at him, but an idea came to mind and she raised her brows. "Wanna make a bet?"

Leo mimicked her expression and crossed his arms. "I'm listening."

"We race, I win, you let me eat. If you win-"

"You will call me sensei. No more Dojo Daddy…" He interjected.

She smirked and shrugged. "Deal."

---

"A race?" Raphael echoed.

"I feel like I've seen this before..." Aida mumbled as she recalled the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. She looked at Raphael and held out her hand. "One hundred pesos says she wins."

He gave her an incredulous look and huffed. "I don't have that kind of money! Besides, I know how fast she is. Of course she'll win!"

Aida smirked and shrugged, "Dude, one hundred pesos is five bucks."

He furrowed his brow in disbelief, "Wait, seriously? Why didn't you just say that then?"

She wiggled a finger at him. "Because it's fun to see people who don't know get flustered."

---

"Alright," Leonardo stood up on his feet and held out a hand to Bonnie to help her up too. Bonnie huffed and stood up on her own. Leo sighed a little and walked out of the dojo. He nodded in the direction of the exit they used for the turtle van. Its pathway was clear since the van was currently waiting outside the sewers. "There." He said. "Well start at the entrance, go all the way down, and then circle back."

Bonnie laughed mischievously and walked to the couch to get her shoes. "You about to get schooled boy."

---

"Don't look so sad Donnie!" Mikey responded as he waited on his poptarts to be cooked. He leaned back on the counter and crossed his arms. "This just means we don't have to worry about them as much, aaannddd-" He pointed a finger at him. "It also means we can visit now!" He grinned.

"Visit?" Donatello furrowed his brow and smirked a little. "You really think they're gonna let us visit them?" He nodded off in the direction the girls were in. "Aida's got a large family, so good luck staying hidden from them. And Bonnie..." He paused and frowned, watching the girl getting ready for her race with Leonardo. "...I don't know if she'll want us to visit."

"Aww, c'mon. Bonnie?" Michelangelo looked over in her direction as well. "I think she just plays hard like Raph, but deep down inside she's got a creamy center."

“You ready for an ass whoppin?!" Bonnie taunted loudly as she bounced back and forth on her feet.

Michelangelo cringed at her remark and licked his bottom lip. "Uhh.. Besides! If we can't hang out with them, we'll just take them out! Go to the Statue of Liberty,  watch a basketball game or something." He finished and just as he did his poptarts popped from the toaster. He immediately went after them and flinched back when they burnt his fingers. "Ow!" He hissed and stuck them in his mouth.

Donatello hummed in thought and shrugged. "I guess so..." He was a little hopeful the girls would still want to be friends with them; after all, their three other human contacts did.

---

"All I hear is a lot of bark. No bite." Leo held out his arms and shrugged. "Aida! Count us down," he ordered and then got into position.

Raphael sat on a ledge and grinned, still fiddling with the egg. This was going to be great! Leonardo could finally get a taste of just how tricky this girl was; then he would have to admit it was never his fault she got away in the first place! He tapped Aida's arm and grinned, "Be sure to record the ending. I wanna re-watch Leonardo's face when he loses."

Aida giggled and nodded before holding her hand in the air. "Five...! Four...! Three...! Two...! One, GO!" She slapped her hand down, signaling for the two to begin.

As soon as the final word left Aida's mouth, the two were off. They were head to head for a while, sometimes one advancing the other, but neither of them ever got too far behind. When they were coming up to the turn, Leo glanced over to Bonnie for a moment and saw that she was looking right back at him. She gave him a mischievous grin before looking forward again. This was where she kicked it up.

Instead of touching the floor with her hand and turning back, she kicked off the wall in front of her, using the moment to give her a boost. She dashed off when she touched the floor, and it was double the speed she was running before. Leonardo cursed under his breath when she cut the turn so cleanly; wondering why he hadn't thought of something like that himself. He thought about how he might make it if he pushed himself into a sprint, but realized it was an useless effort. She was fast, really fast. Faster than him, but he was gonna finish this race. Even if it was after her.

Bonnie cackled when she crossed the finish line. Taking in a deep breath and grinning at Leo when he came in several seconds after her. "Dojo daddy for life!!" She pointed at him.

He stared down at her and thought about excuses he could make to justify his lost, like how she was smaller and thinner than he was, and how in a real race if she didn't touch the ground she would be disqualified, but he knew there was no glory in being a sore-loser. Instead he stood tall and smiled at her. "Good job." He patted her shoulder and walked past her. "What would you like to eat? I'm cooking."

Bonnie blinked in surprise at how well he was taking the loss. It was definitely not the reaction she expected, or the reaction she wanted. "…Wait, what?" She called out to him.

---

"Aww what? Leonardo's gonna cook?! I would've waited if I knew that!" Michelangelo whined and tossed down the half eaten-poptart in front of him.

Aida grinned and cheered loudly, "Yeaaah! Kicked his ass puta!"

Raphael was grinning widely and threw his arms in the air, inadvertently throwing the egg across the room. "Yeaah!" He cheered and ran up to Bonnie, scooping her up easily before setting her on his shoulder. "Ya did it! Ya beat his smug lil' face!" He held on to her legs as he spun around, laughing and grinning.

Bonnie gasped a little when Raph picked her up, though she smiled when she saw how excited and proud of her he was. She giggled and puffed out her chest, placing a hand to it. "Well, ya know. Somebodies gotta do it~"

Leonardo rolled his eyes and went to the cupboards. "Do you like pancakes?" He hollered out.

"Hell yeah, I like pancakes! Oh!--" She snapped her fingers and pointed. "Throw in the nutella we got!"

Leonardo chuckled and sighed. "Fine."

"Ooh! And we still have some strawberries left I think!" Michelangelo added.

"Woohoo! Pancakes! Pancakes!" Aida began to cheer as Donatello rose from his seat.

"Wow! You actually beat him!" The lean turtle beamed, clearly impressed. He knew she had been fast, but not that fast. The girl really was like a rabbit.

"I told you guys," Raphael huffed, still carrying the girl as he walked over to their little dining area. "But did you guys listen? Nooo!" Very slowly he squatted down and slid her to the floor, smirking proudly when he noticed he didn't hurt her this time around. Bonnie stood up proud, placing her hands on her hips and grinning widely.

Michelangelo walked over to the kitchen table and pulled out a chair for him to sit in, He leaned back in it and crossed his arm. "I always knew she could do it." He smirked.

"How?" Leonardo asked as he mixed the ingredients together for pancakes. "We just decided to have a race."

Mikey shrugged and kicked his feet up onto the table. "I could see the urge for a challenge in your eyes." He clenched his fist at his brother. Leonardo rolled his eyes.

"Man, I forgot how good that felt." Bonnie put a finger to her lips and smiled more. She glanced around at the other turtles and raised a brow. "Anyone else wanna go? I can wear heels if it would make it easier on ya." She teased.

Donatello laughed and raised a hand, "I'll go! But, please don't wear heels. I see April wear those and don't know how she does it..." Without thinking, he pulled out a chair for Bonnie to sit in.

Raphael, of course, jabbed his thumb into his own chest. "I'd like a rematch! This time, I won't get stuck in no alley!" He grinned, loving the idea of a second chance to catch her.

"Okay, we watched the same race right?" Aida gestured between herself and the giant turtle, sitting next to Michelangelo. "She fuckin' flew!"

"Well, yeah..." He shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck. "But I still wanna try!"

Bonnie couldn't help but grin ear to ear from all the praise she was getting. It reminded her of her younger days in high school when she was on the track team. "Try all you like big boy, but you ain't gonna beat me~" She said, sliding into the chair Donatello had pulled out for her.

"Oooh, I'll try," He grinned playfully. "And one day, I will!"

"I'm good." Michelangelo replied. "I know when I'm beat." He nodded.

Donatello rolled his eyes but smiled, sitting down at the table. "Better get used to it," He told Bonnie. "In case you haven't noticed, Raphael is stubborn. Once he's got his mind made up, nothing will change it."

The large turtle huffed, "Damn right!" He paused and began to search frantically for a particular item. "H-hey! Where's my egg at?"

"You threw it, remember?" Aida answered. "Right before you picked up Bonnie."

He grabbed his head and groaned. "Arrggh! Damn it! I was doing so good!"

"Well, you managed to pick Bonnie up without crushing her," Donatello grinned. "So I don't think you need it anymore."

"Wait, that's why you were carrying that thing around?" Bonnie raised a brow at Raph. "Practicing for little ol' me?" She teased and poked him in the arm with a finger.

He blushed and shrugged away from her. "W-well, you know. I was sick of making you cry..."

"Aww!" She cooed and squeezed his arm. "You do have a heart afterall!"

"Or a hard on..." Michelangelo mumbled.

Raphael punched Michelangelo hard in the arm but kept the smile on his face. He took the spot in between the girls. The five of them talked as they waited for the food, laughing and having a good time.

After about fifteen minutes, Leonardo came to the table with two stacks of pancakes. One shorter stack coated with nutella and strawberries, and a larger regular stack. He sat the nutella pancakes in front of Bonnie, and then the regular pancakes in the middle of the table for everyone else to share.  He passed out plates and silverware before setting down next to Donatello. "Dig in." He said.

"Oooh!" Bonnie cooed and grabbed a fork. "This looks so good! I can't believe you act-" She stopped and shook her head. "Thanks."

Leonardo waited with his fingers intertwined for everyone else to dig in before he did. "You're welcome." He smiled and nodded.

Donatello took four pancakes while Raphael grabbed six. Aida only took two and nodded at their stacks. "Better be happy you boys work out so much. Otherwise you wouldn't have six-packs," She nodded, taking a small bite.

"Well, Leo's cooking is really good." Donatello said around a mouthful of food. "But we get so exhausted from training we hardly ever have time to cook."

She frowned a little, "Is that why you guys order so much pizza?"

Raphael shook his head. "No. We order pizza 'cause it's great."

She clicked her tongue and shook her head. "You clearly have never had good tacos."

Mikey jabbed his fork into the stack, pulling three pancakes back to his plate. "Tacos are so messy though." He argued.

“What about sushi?" Bonnie chewed on her food. "Seems like something you guys would be into."

"Sushi's great." Leonardo nodded and grabbed him a plate of pancakes. "But it takes long to make, and fresh fish is better than frozen. Which we aren't going to get any of around here."

Aida chewed her food quickly in order to argue. "But wait. You guys are turtles. You can swim!" She gestured to the room, "Just go for a swim and find some fish in the river or something!"

"Are you talking about the Hudson River?" Donatello pointed a fork at her. "You do realize that river is disgusting right?"

"And you guys live in a sewer," She shrugged.

"Sure, but we're clean about it," Raphael counted on his fingers. "And we're not eating the shit people flush down."

"Not to mention all that pollution might mutate us more than we already are," Donatello chuckled before taking another bite.

"Speaking of which..." Bonnie swallowed. "Is it-gonna rub off on us?"

"What?... The mutation?" Leo raised a brow.

"Yeah." She shrugged.

Leonardo laughed. "No." He shook his head and smiled. "Well, at least I don't think so?" He looked to Donatello for reassurance. "I mean, April and the others have been around us for a pretty long time and no mutations yet." He laughed again.

Raphael shifted in his seat and swallowed. "Well...April's thumbs are kinda wide actually." He pointed to his own thumb, "I don't remember them bein' that way when we first met."

Donatello shook his head, "No, they were like that. It's called 'clubbed thumbs'." Aida cringed a little at the confession, but sighed of relief when the purple turtle corrected him.

The red turtle turned to Bonnie and nodded. "Okay, you're good."

"What's wrong with a little mutation? You guys could be the first giotles!" Mikey chimed in.

"Giotles?" Bonnie repeated.

"Girl turtles!" He grinned and laughed as well.

Bonnie closed her eyes and shook her head. "I should've known." She sighed.

Aida huffed and pointed, "If I had a choice to mutate into something, it wouldn't be a turtle. I'd be a mongoose."

Raphael snorted and shook his head. "A what? That sounds ridiculous. How is that better than a turtle? Can it even swim?"

The girl shrugged, "No idea, but mongooses fight and eat snakes for breakfast. You gotta admit, that's pretty bad ass."

He wiggled his fingers and acted impressed. "Oooh, snaaaakes! So scary~."

Leonardo chuckled and sighed. "Sooo, you girls must be excited to sleep in your own beds again, huh?" He raised his head.

Bonnie's eyebrows perked, and she didn't realize what he had meant right away. "Huh?"

Leonardo blinked and returned her confused look. "Uh...You guys get to leave." He said slowly.

Her eyes grew wider and she was quiet for a few seconds before speaking again. "O-Oh! Right!" She stared down at her plate in thought. Somehow, this place had felt like a second... She frowned at the thought, not wanting to admit it.

The thought didn't shake Aida too badly since she was able to return to the surface every morning. However it still made her frown a little. "Well, sure but...we'll still be allowed to visit right?"

The question took Donatello off guard so Raphael answered instead. "What's this? You sayin you're gonna miss us?"

"I figured I'd ask so I know if I gotta steal something first to get down here." She grinned.

"Of course!!" Mikey jumped in happily. "Visit us whenever you want!"

"Just try not to bring anyone else back with you... We'd like to keep our status unknown to the public." Leonardo added.

"Aww darn," she snapped her fingers, "I was hoping to bring my whole family!".

"Oh, speaking of which! How'd the kids like the comic?" Mikey asked.

"The twins loved it!" Aida beamed. "Montage says the issue is worth a lot of money..." she frowned and nodded off deeper into the room. "I brought it with me so they wouldn't ruin it."

"Yeah, Donatello said it was worth a good amount but-- There's not much we can do with money so I never really worried about it."

"Wait..." Aida looked at him and narrowed her eyes. "You knew it was valuable. And let a bunch of kids read it anyway?"

Mikey smiled a little and shrugged. "Why not?"

"W-well..." she started, completely caught off guard by his selflessness. "Most people wouldn't let kids look at something worth that much..."

"Hmm, it is worth a lot isn't it?" He tapped a finger on his arm and looked up in thought. "You guys don't have much either... Why don't you sell it?" He looked back down to Aida.

Leonardo blinked in surprise and nearly choked on his food. He bumped his fist to his chest to clear his throat. "Wait, what?"

"What?" He looked over to him innocently. "Like I said before, we don't really have much use for money. Practically everything down here we either found, or made." He shrugged again.

"Y-Yeah, but Mikey.." Leo fumbled for words.

Aida's eyes widened and she smacked her head on the table. "No way! I'm not selling your comic book!"

"Well technically, it's not even mine, I just found it." He stuck out his tongue. "Just do it! I want you to have the money! You need it!"

Aida was conflicted. On the one hand, the issue was worth enough to keep her family in the house and fed for a month or two. On the other hand, guilt made her hesitant. They had caught her stealing numerous times, hadn't turned her in, and kept her and her friend safe from a mad man. If she accepted, she would feel like a bum.

"I'm not going to sell your comic book, Michelangelo." She stated firmly. "I...I'll get a job instead!"

Mikey went to speak again, but Leonardo jumped in before he could. "That's very admirable of you Aida." He nodded. "And we're gonna hold you to it." He pointed at her and smiled a bit.

Mikey huffed and leaned back in his chair with crossed arms. He was disappointed when she wouldn't take his offer, and thought he was doing a good deed, but he couldn't force her to do something if she didn't want to. He hummed and tapped his finger on his arm again. "Well... If you ever really need it. The offer still stands."

She nodded at Leonardo before turning to the smaller turtle. "Thank you," she squeezed his arm a little and smiled. "I mean it."

"You're welcome." He said and returned the smile.

---

Bonnie was still fixated on her plate. She touched her food with a fork every once in a while, but didn't put anything in her mouth. She couldn't believe this was really happening. Right now, she was sitting at a table with four, teenage mutant ninja turtles; eating a home cooked meal with them like they were family. Her heart skipped a beat when the thought crossed her mind. Soon they'd be taking her back up the surface and saying their goodbyes... She thought she'd be happy when she left this place, but now she was unsure.

Raphael frowned at Bonnie, noticing the change in her mood. Before he could say anything, Donatello spoke first.

"You okay Bonnie?" The leaner turtle asked, genuinely concerned.

"Huh?" Bonnie perked up. "O-Oh! Yeah, I'm good. My stomach just hurts a little cause I ate so fast." She clenched on to her gut, trying to make the lie a bit more believable.

"Oh," Donatello shrugged, "Well, we should have some medicine if you need it..." he trailed off.

Raphael stared at the girl, knowing she was lying. He knew that tone and that look before. Though he didn't know why she was lying, he still felt a little upset. Things were starting to get good and feel normal. What happened to change that for her all of a sudden?

"Nah, I'll be alright." She waved him off and stood up from her seat. "I'm gonna hit the shower... If we're done with training, Dojo Daddy?" She raised a brow at Leonardo.

He shook his head but smiled. "We're done for the day."

"Good." She nodded, and left the table.

Raphael wanted to go after her but figured she really did need a shower to let whatever she was feeling out. He took another bite before standing. "I'm gonna read some comics."

Inside the shower room, Bonnie had the water running, but wasn't in the shower just yet. She was sitting on the toilet with the lid down, thinking about the conversations they had at the kitchen table. She was going to be leaving this place soon, so why wasn't she happier about it? When she thought about the four turtles and how she got to know them her eyes watered and she clenched back the tears. "What the fuck? This is so stupid!..." She hissed and wiped at her eyes. She sighed and looked up to the ceiling, thinking how she didn't want to say goodbye. Somehow the creatures imprinted on her; though she didn't want to admit it. She wouldn't... With a nod of her head, she had made up her mind and decided that she'd would leave tonight, without saying goodbye.

[carpeomnisgames]

Last week, I ran a poll asking people which of the projects I’ve been working on they’d be interested in, because I’m basically just waiting on the manufacturer to move forward with No Honor Among Thieves right now and figured I could put a little time into something else. I put five of my project ideas into the poll, and a box where people could enter their own ideas and comments. I was expecting thirty responses or so, which would give me a good idea of what I should focus on for what I try to publish next.

At the time of this writing, I have 223 responses to the survey, which is providing me with some really good data. I asked people to rate each option from 0 to 5, where 0 is not interested at all and 5 is very interested, so looking at the graph for each project can give us a good idea of how much people are interested in it.

The first option was an expansion for No Honor Among Thieves. As the graph shows, there’s a lot of interest in this. However, a not-insignificant number of respondents used the comments form to tell me that they wouldn’t know how interested they’d be in an expansion until they’d played the original game, which is a fair point. Despite the amount of interest, an expansion likely won’t be my most immediate next project, since people do deserve a chance to play the base game first. That said, I’m definitely going to put making one on the schedule somewhere in the next few years.

The next option I put into the survey was a tabletop roleplaying sourcebook that I’ve been writing for running games in the sort of criminal low-fantasy genre that No Honor Among Thieves is set in. This wouldn’t be a full roleplaying game system for the genre–that already exists, in the form of Blades in the Dark and Dusk City Outlaws–but it will contain a lot of random tables, tools and mechanics that can be slotted into any system, and some general advice for playing the genre, as well as some Open Game License content for D&D 5e and Pathfinder. I’ve got 68 pages written thus far, in the two months I’ve been working on it.

As you can see from the graph, interest is split pretty evenly on this one. I assume the people on the left are the people who don’t play tabletop RPGs, and the people on the right are the ones who do. There are significantly less people interested in this than are interested in an expansion, or in the project I posted next (see the entry on Station Nine below). However, the budget for this project is also about ten times less than either the NoHAT expansion or S9. From the quotes I’ve gotten and the calculations I’ve made, I could publish this book with a budget of $2000. If I charge $10 for a PDF copy, and everyone who set this at 3 or above in the poll backs it at that minimum level to get the book, then that’s 48.5% funded from an audience that consists only of the 223 people who responded to the poll. For reference, similar calculations for the expansion and S9 put the expansion at 34.2% and S9 at 20%. Which are both great numbers, and mean that the projects are very likely to succeed if I go to publish them; it’s just that the sourcebook is most likely to succeed.

I think this could be a great interstitial book to publish in between larger board game projects, and I’m definitely going to move forward with it. It’s not taking up too many resources and I’ve been really enjoying the process of writing it, so why not? I’ve been using it as an excuse for some interesting research and watching Leverage, which is always a good time.

This was the next option in the poll. “Station Nine” is the working title for a game I’ve been developing since just before launching the Kickstarter for No Honor Among Thieves, and which has come together very quickly when compared to my previous game. It’s about fiddling with the life support systems on a space station to favor your alien species over the ones represented by the other players. Essentially, it’s passive-aggressive thermostat changing on a much larger scale. I posted up a few cards that I did the graphic design on (which someone used the comments form to tell me looked “like a chemistry text book”), and people seemed to really respond well to the scientific art-deco design and the brief description I included. Interest in this project isn’t as fervent as interest in the expansion one, obviously, but it’s definitely there. With this level of interest, Station Nine will probably be my next big board game publication.

When I was reading the manufacturing quote for NoHAT, I misread the section on the metal coins, and it looks like they’re going to cost me a lot more than expected. So I’m not going to be able to afford to produce many extra packs of them for sale at retail after the Kickstarter, which was something I promised during the campaign that I’d have available. This poll option was to see how interested people would be in a campaign to fund the manufacture of more of those metal coins. As you can see, the response was kind of mediocre. The result of this poll means that I’m going to at the very least put other projects ahead of this one, and possibly delay it indefinitely if no one expresses more interest in it later on.

For our final poll option, we get to see that not many people give a damn about merchandise. Which is about what I expected, really. I’ll still probably put together some shirts or something at some point (someone used the comments section to request patches as well, which is a cool idea), but I’m not exactly going to prioritize it, and I’m going to look into using a print-on-demand company instead of stocking inventory.

Trends in the Comments Section

There were a couple of noteworthy trends in the comments box on the poll that I found interesting.

First was the one that I mentioned earlier, the people telling me that they didn’t know yet if they were interested in an expansion or not. Honestly, I feel like this is something that I should have figured out before anyone told me. It’s a very good point.

Second were people not quite understanding what the Gutterpunk Fantasy option was. Some people asked for clarification, while others seemed to be assuming it was a full game system. I edited the poll option halfway through to be more clear, but just in case anyone is still confused, this is meant to be a book of tools and advice that can be used with any game system, not a system in itself. It’s a sourcebook, not a core book. I am working on a tabletop roleplaying system, but it’s something I’ve been touching on and off for two years and will likely continue working on for the next five, and this isn’t it.

Third were the commentators that I found the most interesting. A lot of people (as in, multiple people telling me almost the exact same thing) gave me suggestions for a game about different underworld factions competing over control of a city that sounded to me an awful lot like an idea I’d already been toying with. I have a collection of game concepts that I want to make at some point, ideas that only have a few pieces of theme or mechanics attached to them and which I want to flesh out at some point–for example, a noir mystery game where one player is the detective and one of the other players has secretly committed the crime, but everyone else playing also has unrelated secrets they’re trying to hide from being discovered, and it’s all The Resistance and Werewolf and whatnot. One of the ideas in that collection is a fantasy city intrigue game based on a well-received forum game I ran back in 2012 on the GiantITP forums. I honestly wasn’t sure what game idea I was going to pull out of that collection of half-formed concepts to work on after I finish with the projects I’ve currently got running, but since there seems to be interest in that one…

I also had one or two requests for a smaller-scale more swashbuckling kind of game, which I quite like the idea of. I’ll see what I can do with that.

Thanks to everyone who submitted a response to the survey. Collecting this data has been very helpful to me in analyzing what I want to do next.

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