#it’s only when donnie FINALLY makes it to the end of the recordings that he confronts leo to continue the story

[somerandomdudelmao]

CASS! YOUR BRAIN! IT'S SO... HUGE!!!!Okay, okay. So, to recap what you have confirmed to us-

The robot that we see is NOT controlled by Donnie's spirit. We see that Donnie is able to control it via headset, etc.

Also, the reason this "Plan B" did NOT work is because Casey got possessed by Don's Hamato spirit in a memory from the future on accident.

It was going to work. He was literally mid-crawl before Casey swooped in and tried to help him but ended up somehow bringing his spirit into the past and cloning him a new body with plot serum.

We don't know if this robot would have worked. We don't know if Donnie even had enough equipment to make a robot body like the one he made for Raph. Maybe it would have failed. Maybe everything would've been okay. I just don't know.

But that's the beauty of this series. You planned this since you first decided how Donnie was going to die. Yes, you've said that you're kind of as clueless as we are at times when it comes to "what's next." But the amount of detail you put into this is ASTOUNDING!

Even with your VERY FIRST COMIC, you used Don's failed experiment with Leo and turned it into another chapter where we found out that Donnie was trying to find a cure for Mikey's peepawed body!!!

The fact that Donnie not only didn't say anything before he died because you knew that it "wasn't the end for him," but he also had a plan B that he didn't tell anybody about hence the guilty faces, the reasurrences, and ignoring Leo's "we don't need to worry" talks. And he couldn't simply tell them that "everything was gonna be okay" because his plan possibly wouldn't even work!!!

AND THAT'S WHY HE HAD A BREAKDOWN WHEN HE LOOKED BACK AT ALL THE RECORDINGS OF THE RESISTANCE FAILING BECAUSE NOT ONLY IS HE WATCHING EVERYONE HE TRIED TO PROTECT WITH EVERYTHING HE HAD DIE BEFORE HIS EYES, BUT HE ALSO REALIZED THAT HE FAILED THEM AND LEFT THEM WITH NOTHING!!! HE FEELS SO USELESS AND GUILTY FOR SOMETHING HE HAD NO CONTROL OVER!!!!

Even since we first met Raph, we got Don's theory about how storing spirits into mechs worked. He probably used the rest of their most valuable resources to even BUILD that thing.

I don't know if when they all realize that Casey is actually the reason Mikey couldn't sense any of their spirits because he snatched them up and brought them to the past/different timeline that they're either gonna feel angry or like "Oh!....oh." You know?

It seems to me that they still don't know the answer to that question. With all of them back, I thought they would have by now, but I guess we'll see pretty soon.

A lot of things could happen in this chapter. Good things, bad things, it's quite a toss-up. Let's just hope this whole big misunderstanding comes to a big finish soon. Donnie deserves a comeback. Everyone deserves to have a breather where they can all just...talk. Cause' by GOD there is a lot to talk about. I know they had some downtime before Miwa showed up, but Donnie's still working. If Donnie doesn't finally open up to his family by the end of this, I'm bringing out the beach balls, I swear.

[deathsbestgirl]

after reading this post by @randomfoggytiger and a whole mess of @carefulfears words forever rattling around my brain — i just need to talk about unruhe.

i tweeted a simple thought, that isn't really so simple at all. unruhe, to me, is about scully learning a lesson mulder intrinsically knows.

i think scully lays it out in her final voiceover as she writes her report after being kidnapped and nearly lobotomized. she spent her time with gerry trying to keep him talking. she has to take the time to understand this man to have a chance of escaping with all her faculties. scully asks him about his sister and his father, who mulder had questioned him about earlier. as mulder was putting together a profile, he said the man was either really tall or wanted to be — and this little piece of information let scully connect the dots that she was speaking to their suspect. gerry, on stilts. (in the interrogation, scully is angry & forceful — as a doctor and as a woman. mulder is more curious.)

so in her report, she's recording her musings about her experience. and it's something she dismissed earlier:

(unrelated to this post, but this scene always reminds me of their final scene in leonard betts. the disconnect between them, mulder's confusion but acquiescence.)

scully's voiceover:

in the end, scully knows that understanding gerry saved her life. it gave her the time so mulder could get there and intervene. and not just understand, but empathize. something mulder is able to do with just about everyone. even the worst criminals. in beyond the sea, it makes him stubbornly disbelieve boggs. here, mulder ends up shooting & killing gerry. he understood gerry believed he was helping these women, because he couldn't accept what happened to his sister. mulder doesn't over-identify this time. but i think scully's intimate insight into mulder allowed her to look into gerry. (edit: and i don't really mean samantha, though it's part of it. mainly mean the way his mind works. she hates gerry but she tucked away everything mulder said about him & his analysis.)

one of my favorite things about scully is the way she values mulder's mind & empathy. something i think she believes she isn't capable of. she tends to talk about relying on his strength, but she also depends on his empathy so much. when she was in this situation, that's what she drew on. scully rarely has empathy for men committing violent crimes against women. she knows the world is full of predators, as she once told karen kosseff in irresistible. it's a comfort to her to have a hand in bringing these men to justice.

after mulder kills gerry & releases her, scully takes one moment to look back at him before leaving. after this near death incident, scully takes the time to read gerry's diary. like she wants to understand him more. "for truly to pursue monsters, we must understand them. we must venture into their minds." lesson learned, and new fear unlocked: "only in doing so, do we risk letting them venture into ours?"

i actually think this was a silent fear lurking in irresistible. scully's horror at the case was layered. yes, it was the violence against women & the haunting of her own abduction, but also that donnie pfaster would kill women to "scavenge from the dead." she's a pathologist, she understands the curiosity. but she does it to bring victims' justice, to put away predators, to try to make the world a safer place.

over time, i think scully adopts mulder's desire to believe in people. a lot of the series is about scully being radicalized, more and more. to the point of paranoia and immediate distrust of anyone who isn't mulder. but she still goes off with csm in en ami, needing to take the chance he's telling the truth despite knowing he is a liar and responsible for the most reprehensible crimes. she still leans on skinner, doggett, reyes, the lone gunmen. she tries desperately to save cassandra spender. she goes to diana fowley when there's no other option, hoping there's a shred of decency in her, believing the woman really does love mulder. so many moments. the ways mulder changes her, helps her, gives her strength & courage to face her fears. (something about scully killing donnie pfaster feels like a culmination of this — and in the reverse, mulder doesn't kill donnie pfaster. the flip side of scully's lessons?)

kae pointed out to me the reverse here is true too. mulder learns a lesson scully already knew intrinsically. but a post for another night maybe.

all of this, in my mind, deeply intertwined with this post (aka required reading <3)

[britt-kageryuu]

The stream is welcome to the sight of a large greenhouse/warehouse with multiple raised garden beds, large pots, multiple metal racks, and a large tank of water, all with multiple fruit bearing plants, bushes, shrubs, a variety of flowers and various produce. The pool has visible reeds, and some water vegetation, but it's not clear what else is in it.

Donnie is wandering around checking the plants, his model dressed in dark overalls with knee pads, combat boots, his mask, and a purple flannel under the overalls. His tail swaying contentedly behind him, visibly longer than the last time the audience saw it. He was also carrying a large basket that he was tossing various plants he picked into.

The audience can hear him muttering and talking to his recording device, about the plants conditions, and calculating when some would be ready to harvest. Donnie obviously wasn't paying attention to the stream even though he set up the stream to basically just watch him tend to his greenhouse, while still wearing a mic.

Donnie does pause every now and then when notifications go off, but otherwise hasn't acknowledged the stream, too absorbed in his data collection.

Some of the audience is happy to see both Shelldon and River going around in the garden helping out. River is carrying a watering can and stopping every now and then to pour a bit of water on some plants. Shelldon in floating around the bee boxes that are scattered around, scanning for possible problems.

"Shelldon can you turn on some music? If I remember correctly, some of the plants loved when I left some playing before." Donnie calls out, while looking over a coffee plant.

Shelldon perks up, "You got it Dude! Some mondo awesome music coming right up!" What sounds like an 80s jam starts playing through speakers around the warehouse.

Now while Donnie was walking about his tail is wagging and flicking to the beat of the music. Then slowly Donnie just starts to dance, and groove about, skillfully dodging around the pots and planters, and gently puts down the basket before outright jumping about dancing to the music.

The chat is now spammed with music or dance based emotes and emojis.

Donnie while still grooving, goes over to the water tank, and checks out the conditions of the plants. Then plunges his head under the water... leaving many confused, until he pulls out and starts excitedly talking about some plants in the tank looking close to a good harvest point. Then he shakes off the water before moving to some monitoring devices on the tank.

Then back to dancing about while check more plants, only to pause at a plant just out of veiw, let out a loud gasps before running to grab his collecting basket to start picking what ever plant he was excited about.

"Shelldon, River, we finally have a new ingredient ready to use in our coffee and tea making! Go prepare the equipment, I want to run trials on this ASAP!" They announced loudly while speed walking towards the stream camera. "Sorry viewers, but I need to put you in the basket while I move the set up to the work station. Then you can watch how I make our tea and coffee!"

The next few minutes were a view of the mix of leaves, berries, and flowers in the basket, before being moved to a shelf close to a modified kitchen/science workstation.

The rest of the stream was mainly just watching Donnie go about the process of preparing the ingredients to turn into the tea and coffee blends.

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

Masterpost

I honestly didn't know where I was going with this, but the inspiration struck, and I ended up writing this.

[snappedsky]

ROTTMNT: You Are Not Alone Epilogue

The End.

*Reblogs appreciated*

--

Epilogue

One month later

Casey walks through the lair. He’s dressed in recently bought clothes, cleaner and more relaxed than he’s been in years.

He goes into the med bay where he does his usual, daily routine. He makes sure everything is clean; he checks the IV bag and changes it if he has to; he records the vitals, making sure they’re stable.

Finally, he sits in his chair and takes a deep breath.

“Hi, Sensei.”

Leonardo lies in the bed, completely unconscious. He’s been in a coma since the Krang battle ended a month ago. He had received a much needed blood transfusion immediately after and all of his injuries have long since healed- even the nasty crack down his shell is now just a scar. Most of the healing was done during his power surge from the Hamato ninpo, but everyone figures that’s also why he’s comatose. His body is beyond exhausted.

“So, today we went to Run of the Mill Pizza again,” Casey says, “Señor Hueso finally agreed to put our picture up on his Wall of Champions for saving the world. Leo wouldn’t stop hugging him. And he said he’d give us free pizza when you come to see him, mostly just to prove that you’re real. He still doesn’t believe that you’re from the future.”

“Cass got mad at me again today when I accidentally called her Mom. I’m getting better about it, but I still forget sometimes. I told her it’s just because I’ve gotten so comfortable around her that sometimes I forget. She said that it’s fine if I only do it once in a while. Then Leo and Mikey made fun of her for blushing and she punched them. She really is the same.”

“April and Sunita showed me around the city some more. They took me to Central Park, and Times Square, and we did a bunch of shopping. I’m getting better about being around people. And I’ve found out I like buying clothes. I got a nice pair of boots and Sunita painted my nails black. They look really cool.”

“April said I should go to school to learn more about the modern world. Donnie said there’s nothing he can’t teach me, and Cass said there’s nothing I can’t learn on the street. I told them that Master Donatello taught me all kinds of things so I think I’m okay.”

“The guys showed me another Lou Jitsu movie last night. It’s even better than the stories you used to tell me. And Master Splinter had a bunch of stories about the productions. Then we watched a Jupiter Jim movie, but Splinter didn’t like that one as much. I think they’re all great.”

[thedo0zyslider]

Sacrifice - 3k Words

Donnie was quick to notice his brothers quirks, all of them, but Leo's manner of self-deprecating behavior ends up getting filed away, because everything always turns out okay in the end. Until the Kraang show up.

A03 Link

Over the years, Donnie ended up noting a lot of things about his dearest brothers. A natural byproduct of his analytical brain, of course. All four of them had their little quirks, some weirder than others, but quirks nonetheless. There was Raph’s rather obvious one of speaking in the third person, which had annoyed his younger self to no end. There was Mikey’s silly litter personas, who were always persistent but strangely helpful. Donatello himself even had his own quicks, ones his brothers would always be quick to point out.

And then there was one of Leo's quirks, one of his more concerning ones. He liked to joke about self sacrifice when the going got rough. Jokes of that manor, that self-hating humor were very common to hear from his twin, so much so that it was normal most of the time.

It was a more….concerning mannerism of Leo's, and Donnie always wondered if he should look into it. Try that feelings stuff Mikey is so big on. But the chance never came up, and the issue went slightly forgotten about for a while.

It was probably fine, and also entirely possibly one of their other siblings would mention it. He didn't know if Raph or Mikey noticed it, but surely they had! Surely they'd tried to talk to Leo about it! Donnie could already count three instances of said self-hating moments happening, ones where Leonardo basically told a villain to kill him instead of his brothers. Because that was perfectly normal behavior.

The first time was in the maze with that living minotaur statue. When Leo said he should take all the punishment because he cheated. Well, it probably wasn’t the first time, just the first time Donnie noticed. He had to wonder how many other times it had happened without any of them noticing. Though Donnie was sure to take note of it nearly every time after, now that he knew the jokes were even occurring.

Leo always acted as if these things were jokes when he made them, not meant to be taken seriously. If there was an sincerity behind it, the sentiment had probably been lost on Donatello and his..…lacking social and emotional conversation skills.

He cracked a joke similar to one of Leo’s own, the day they had gotten stuck in the sewers searching for Raph. They were just jokes, so it was surely okay for him to make a similar comment, surely. It didn’t seem like it was too impactful, so he’d made it and just moved on with his day.

Donnie had been trying to stay calm all day, the sudden change of plans having greatly upset him. So to avoid his whole mood being thrown off, he had acted as if nothing was wrong. It made him seem a little uncaring, and probably annoyed Leo to a certain degree; but it was better than one brother missing and another having a small breakdown at the same time.

Maybe that was what prompted him to make the joke, even if it was a little tasteless with hindsight. But still Leo had done nothing, other than give him an annoyed glance and move on with his day. Mikey, trying to regain his own sense of normalcy, similar to how Donnie was, had said nothing, and went ahead with the mission without any comment on it.

Leo makes the jokes two more times around all of them, in particularly dangerous situations too. And though he would like to, Donnie has only no real record of any other time the jokes were made, even when it was just the two of them. Maybe they were only made when the going got bad, he didn’t know. But boy did he want too.

The third time was on their beloved, yet tragically interrupted, little snow day. Leo had told that dastardly bear to take him, but a plan had been made instead. Like it always was. The fourth, and final time to Donnie’s knowledge, was when their weird fish-sister had worked with Splinter to teach them a lesson. But Leo was never in any real danger that time, so it didn’t register as a red flag. Or anything to be worried about ever, but hey, hindsight is twenty twenty. So the issue went slightly unforgotten once again, like it was always going to, because everything had turned out okay in the end. It always did.

Until the fight with the Kraang.

And here they were, both Donnie and Mikey being flung back in the air by a rather strong hit from the leader Kraang. With one snap, two of the four of them had been set hurtling away from the Technodrome, and their best shot at saving the whole world. Dammit. Though the alien's ship was heading back through the portal, they still needed to shove the leading Kraang and the rest of the army back though as well, a plan that was now thwarted by that stupidly cool suit the alien leader adorned.

Donnie turned in the air best he could, trying and failing to turn on his battle shell’s jetpacks. With how fast they were falling, he wasn't able to get a hold of the activation button. Or any of his shell’s activation buttons for the record, not just the one for the jetpack.

He cursed to himself, and decided to somehow turn his attention to Mikey while they fell. The fight had been pretty high in the air, leaving them with maybe a minute or less before they hit the ground. If his calculations were correct, that is, and hopefully they were. Not a lot of time to work with, but he'd worked with less before. This was fine, it was gonna be fine .

Donatello reached for his younger brother, both of them catching on falling debris in the air next to them. He let out a yelp of pain, arms still reaching for Mikey as god knows what hit and scraped him in the air. Not enough time, they were gonna fall and splat in the ground and both die to the Kraang, shit, shit, shit -

“Don't worry Donnie! This is not a hug, it's a rescue!” Raph’s voice suddenly filled the air, and before he knew it the oldest turtle had caught both of them in his mystic form. Donnie muffled a noise of surprise, not even caring how Raph’s arms wrapped around him. He appreciated the sentiment, but he would really rather a hug than falling to his untimely demise. So the rescue-hug gets a pass, especially because it was a very good barricade when the three of them finally did hit the ground below, and stopped him from going splat.

Raph’s mystic form vanished a few seconds after landing, leaving all three of them safely deposited in a large pile of rubble. Donnie lets out a groan, head and limbs still pounding with pain despite his rescue. Remind him to never fight aliens again. He sat up with a barely stifled grunt, looking around for his siblings. Mikey was beginning to stir himself, shaking a few loose debris away from his limbs. Raph sat in between them, a hand resting on his forehead in pain, and one of his eyes permanently shut. A nasty reminder of the day's previous events, one Donnie had to look away from after a few seconds.

“Where are we? Staten Island?” Raph asked, right as all three of them were taking in their surroundings. And it surely seemed like Staten Island to Donnie, judging by the shoreline's shape and the overall distance from edge to edge, that he could see anyways. Which, woohoo, Staten Island! Best piece of land to ever almost splat on! Not . A few feet away, Mikey made a face, and Donatello was glad to see that their condition didn’t affect any of the brothers' opinion of the island. That it was horrible.

“Oh gross.” He said, slowly but shakily getting to his feet. He needed to collect data fast, it would calm him down. And being panicked in the apocalypse isn’t a great idea per say. “So how would everyone rate that rescue experience? Unsatisfied? Very unsatisfied? Wish Donnie would have done it?” Though his brothers didn’t respond, Raph’s face one of stern unamusement and Mikey looking up at the sky in true horror, at the still receding ship. It seems they had noticed something Donnie hadn’t in his panic.

Unfortunately he couldn’t stay on his feet for long, and felt himself fall back to the ground before he realized what was happening. Either from the pain or what he was told next, Donatello didn’t know, and didn’t want to find out.

“Donnie,” Raph said, his voice more scared and broken than any of them had ever heard it; the sound breaking both his younger brothers in turn. “Leo's still up there.”

Donatello felt his stomach sink, and he quickly tore his gaze back up to the sky. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck . Leo was still up there with that….with that thing . His twin was still up there, all by himself, fighting that thing all by himself and probably getting destroyed. His brother was still up there, fighting to save the world, and Donnie had just left him alone to do it. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He tried to stand again, despite the pain, and a whole whirlwind of thoughts racing through his head. He was the smart one, the analytics guy, and he hadn’t noticed one of his brothers was missing!? Until it was pointed out to him, too!? He was the observant one, that was his whole job! What kind of brother , what kind of teammate , was he if he failed that!?

Before either of them could speak into their communicators, like they all so desperately wanted too, Leo’s voice came through first. The very first emotion was palpable relief, that he was alive and well enough to speak into the device. The second was fear, once the words finally processed in Donnie’s head.

“ Casey? Casey come in. ” Leo's voice was a little static-y over the communicator, but he sounded mostly okay. Maybe a little winded, but okay. For now anyways.

“Sensei, I'm here. And I've got eyes on the key. Just tell me when you're home free, and I'll pull the plug.” Cassy responded, also covered by a similar layer of static. Donnie would really need to fix up these things when they got home, that was for sure.

Leo’s voice came through again, calm and determined. “Casey, listen to me. When I get to the other side, you close that door”

Donnie felt his breath hitch and the words, his mix of guilt and whatever else had formed dissipating quickly. Instead it was replaced by a ball of fear, fear that spread across his whole body and felt strong enough to leave him paralyzed. He could hardly believe it, that Leo was seriously about to sacrifice himself. But unfortunately there was no time to process the words before they were already happening. Casey was also shocked, his next response coming out in a gasp. Beside Donnie, Raph said nothing, just stared down at his wrist in horror. Mikey simply made a muffled sound of what had to be terror.. “What? Sensei, no!”

“Casey, it's the only way. He's too strong. He's not gonna stay on the other side unless I keep him there.” Leo huffed, sounding like he had just taken another hit. Oh god, he was still up there fighting, while trying to save them all too.

“There has to be another way!” Casey’s voice was full of desperation, unwilling to lose his mentor a second time. And everything in Donnie’s soul was mirroring that feeling. He was not willing to lose his brother, if only he had stayed up there, or gotten Leo out with them…

“We tried everything, Case. This is the only way.” Donnie stared down at his wrist band hopelessly, trying to think of any way to stop this, to change Leo’s plans. There just had to be another way, there just had to be. There was never usually one possible outcome to a situation, not in his world. Donatello ran through all the options in his head faster than he thinks he ever has, desperate to find one thing they didn't try. Maybe the Kraang had a weakness they didn’t know, or had forgotten about. Maybe they could-

Raph’s voice cut into his panicked thoughts, now pleading into the communicator like he never pleaded before. “Leo! Please don’t do this! Leo!”

Leo chuckled, dry and humorless as his final response to his brothers. “You're one to talk, big bro. Hero moves are totally your style.” The communicator fell silent, just as the Kraang leader began to say something, and presumably to attack Donnie’s brother again. The bastard.

Donatello had continued to run through options in his head, barely paying that exchange any mind. And, for once, Leo was right. They had no other options. Leo was right instead of Donnie. And if his brother's life wasn’t in danger, Donnie would be frustrated that he was right in the end. Leo would love that Donnie had been wrong for once, and for the second time today too. His brother would’ve gloated about it and been smug for the next week, reminding Donnie of those two times he’d been wrong whenever he got something right, which was ninety-nine percent of the time.

Donnie was pulled out of his thoughts by Casey’s voice, and turned his attention back to his communicator once again. “Leo, please! I can't lose you again.”

Again. The words hit Donnie like a train. He was losing his brother, Raph and Mikey and April were losing a brother, Splinter was losing a son., and Casey was losing his mentor and father figure for the second time. “ Hey, future me would be real proud of you. I'm proud of you” Donnie wanted to say something, anything as he listened to the exchange, but couldn’t force his mouth to move. Even if it wasn’t really his moment, he wanted to say some last words to his twin. But his tongue tragically remained locked in place.

“Weak words, weak actions. I have forever known what you fail to understand. Strength always prevails.” Donnie’s heart sank in fear all over again as the voice of the leading Kraang could be heard. The creature that tried to kill him, tried to kill his brothers, and it was still up there with one of them. The alien that was trying to kill Leo right then and now, and Donnie wanted to do nothing but tear it limb from limb just at the mere thought of it.

“What you fail to understand is I missed on purpose” Leo remarked, sounding so cocky and sure of himself like he always did. He was the face man, after all. His voice was then directed back at the communicator, urgent. “Casey, close the portal now!”

“ What!?” The Kraang leader snarled, rage barely contained in his voice.The fight was still going on, but the communicator’s sound had gotten more broken up. Meaning the two of them had probably entered the prison dimension already, and it was too late to save Leonardo.

“No! Let go of me!” The Kraang snapped. Donnie had to wonder if the beast had realized what was happening, and was now being held back. Not like he would ever know, but still, a turtle could wonder in his newfound grief.

“Casey, please!” Leo begged, sounding more desperate than he ever had before. Almost like he was pleading, like he wanted this . And the rest of them could only guess that Casey listened, because there was no further response from either side..

That was the last thing Donnie heard before the communicator cut off, and his twin went into the portal forever. He looked up at the sky, and despite it being the logical outcome, watched in dismay as the technodrome went through into the Prison Dimension, and the portal closed, taking his brother with it. He looked at the sky and wished for his twin back so badly, regretting all those stupid little jokes he made before about just this. Even if they seemed so small back then, and now compared to the pain.

Donnie felt everything go numb, like the world had stopped moving just for them. He looked at Raph, part of him hoping to find some sort of comfort from the eldest like he so often did, like he always did when things had gone wrong before today. But Raph already had tears in his eyes, and was crouched on the ground with his fists balled tightly. Mikey was standing to Donnie’s right, seemingly despondent.

Donnie just stared at where the portal had been, not really seeing anything. He felt part of his soul, his very being, was taken through that portal with his brother. Leonardo was gone. He was too late, he couldn't protect his family and keep them safe with his tech and genius mind and Leo was gone. His twin, his other half, was taken away just like that. And he’d gone in willingly, too. Like he had wanted to die.

Donnie blinked a few times, feeling something warm and wet sliding down his cheek. He brought a hand to his face, and stared down numbly at the liquid on his fingers when he pulled it away. Oh . He was crying.

He hadn't cried in years.

And next thing, before he knew it, Mikey was making a damn mystic portal. He was crying his little eyes out, but he was making a portal. He was trying to save Leo, even though their brother should be dead. Mikey shouted something about not giving up on Leo, or any of his family, and strained his powers further. His hands and arms were cracking with dealy, golden light, yet he still made that portal.

Donnie grabbed onto one of Mikey’s shoulders without even thinking, while Raph held onto the other. They both said something, something that was in lost in the moment, and lended their brother the aid he needed.

And by golly it worked .

Leo came through the portal, landing in a heap on top of Mikey, and the portal was closed right in Kraang Primes's stupid ugly face . All four of them flew back a bit from the force of the closing portal, Leo right in the middle of them. He was beaten up pretty bad, but breathing. And that was all that mattered. He probably needed an ungodly amount of medical attention very quickly, but he didn’t die. He was still alive. And that was all that mattered.

Upon seeing his brother was alive, a lot of things lifted off Donnie’s shoulders. Some he didn't even know he'd been carrying. Grief, guilt, anger, and a whole bunch of other things in between. The confusing ball of feelings unknotted themselves, and Donatello thought he would have to hold back more tears.

Leo groaned, lifting his head up. Already, not even five minutes after being saved, there was a stupid grin on his face. “Ew, are we on Staten Island?” He said, head falling back against the ground nearly as fast as he had raised it. None of them could help the giggle that escaped them, and Raph couldn’t resist pulling all three of his brothers into a spine crushing hug.

Donnie huffed, feeling Leo’s presence next to him as they were squashed together in Raph’s arms. He was badly hurt and probably bleeding all over them, but he was alive. And nearly losing him had been the worst feeling ever, Donnie never wanted to feel like that again.

So yeah, no more self sacrifice jokes ever, ever again. Not from either of them.

[pianocat939]

Can i request a yandere rise!turtles blurb of Y/N being invited to the lair games, but what they don't know is that the turtles agreed that whoever wins can go on a date with Y/N. How would the turtles react to winning? would they be more competitive?

I LOVE THIS IDEA SO MUCH THAT I CANNOT RESIST

Tw: mention of possible injury, sabotage

First of all, the lair games is going to be straight up war. They’re all going to go for each other’s throats, to the point some might end up in med bay.

They’re going to be their upmost best, to the point many games will have ties with each other.

Out of the worst rivalries out of the four, I would say it’s Leo + Donnie and Raph + Mikey. Leo and Donnie make sense since it’s canon they literally are so fucking competitive with each other. For Mikey and Raph, the reason I say this is 1. canon details 2. Raph is Mikey’s least favorite brother, which can only mean his extra disliking.

You’re helping April + Splinter record the whole thing without knowing what the final prize is. And just when you think one of turtaleles are about to lose, they’re right back on their feet.

In the end, I would assume a 4 way tie between them. With the final game being something related to you. Perhaps a “who flusters them first” or “knowledge test” about, of course, you.

But whoever wins in the end, the other three are going to mope really bad or plan revenge.

Now let’s talk about how would they react if they won?

Raphie is going to pick you up and swing you around, so happy he gets to romantically hang out with you. But not without some “In your face!” to his bros. Mikey is not happy with this at all. “Woohoo! I get to show how much I love you!”

Leonel is SO fucking cocky. He’s going to literally sling an arm around your shoulder and give you a peck on your cheek (if he knows you’re ok with it) and give his signature shit-eating grin to his bros. Especially Donna. “Oh won’t you look at that~? Looks like I won, again.”

Diana is first going to have a little stim moment before aggressively screeching at his brothers for how incompetent they are. Definitely dances in a menacing way at Leo. “Aha! Othello Von Ryan does it again! Now if you’ll excuse us, we have a date to go to.”

Maple Syrup is a dramatic ass bitch who will kneel and hug your knees and expresses how thankful he is. The world has seen his effort to please his divinity and has rewarded him! “I love you so much. You’re so kind to me, the world doesn’t deserve you *more blabbering*”

Meanwhile the losing ones are devising plans in their head to either ruin the date or glorify themselves so that you’ll rather pick them.

I wanna write an actual piece on this ahhhhhh

[psychologicalwarclaire]

Asking some writers/artists I follow:

Is there anything in your fic/comic that you as the author know about, but won't end up in the actual story?

There is. a lot.

Spoilers for Spider's Web With Strings Attached (and a really long rant) below the cut

When she took Donnie's mask after Heinous Green bashed his head in, she kept it in her vault in case she needed to perform some sort of magic that required his DNA some day.

Big Mama never intended for Donnie to die.

That being said, she still recorded and sold copies of Donnie's death. It's her most sold recording ever.

Viper requested to fight Leo. Big Mama only agreed if she kept him alive and able to fight.

Like she got the orb that she captured all of New York in from Draxum, Big Mama got the spider brooches from Draxum many years ago. She only had two; she was lying about the other two for Raph and Mikey.

Before he knew where the twins were, Mikey kept having visions of them fighting people and getting hurt. He thought they were just nightmares.

Heinous Green was in the arena because Big Mama often partners with the Hidden City police. Criminals can work of time by serving the community. In this case, they serve the community by providing entertainment Roman Coliseum style.

Big Mama's family introduced arena fights to the humans.

There was going to be a fight where Tyrian fought a scorpion and writhed with agonizing poison for a chapter, but I forgot about it until it was too late to add it -_-

Raph and Mikey's arena names would have been Rouge and Terracotta.

Big Mama was panicking the majority of the fic. Because she kidnapped them very illegally, she had to manage their food, housing, medical care, and fight arrangements herself so none of the people who normally do that (legally) would get suspicious. Honestly, Big Mama didn't expect them to become SO well loved, and then worried about keeping audience interest by putting the twins in harder fights, but not killing off her greatest assets. She, like everyone else, thought that Leo would snap first. When Donnie snapped first and proved to be a very effective killer, some of the audience grew worried about what was happening behind the scenes and raised questions Big Mama couldn't answer. Panicking, she set up the death bracket, hoping that becoming the champion would turn public opinion of Tyrian positive again. She miscalculated, and Donnie died. She also didn't intend for Leo to get mixed up in the bracket. A LOT of people lost a LOT of money, and her stocks dropped. At that point, it became less about business and money making and much more about getting revenge via torture. By the time she offered Astros the 'out' that was one final fight, she was stressed out of her mind with upholding her reputation. Had Leo been in his right mind, he would have seen how much she was unraveling.

Todd turned his non profit lemonade into a fundraiser to find the twins back when they were first missing. There were a LOT of posters and Big Mama had a FIELD DAY trying to take them all down.

Mikey and Raph tried for DAYS to get the trackers back online, but it never worked.

After hearing that Donnie had died, Hypno, Warren, Meat Sweats, and Repo got together and made the Hamatos a gift basket.

April is failing most of her classes right now.

At some point during the recovery arc, Donnie snuck out to secretly turn every blinking red light in the Lair green. You know exactly why.

Raph was wrong when he said crime had been way down since the invasion. Casey Jr had been handling it without anyone knowing. The Purple Dragons hate him a lot now.

Draxum learned slang words from school, but April taught him what they meant

[siri-ike]

2500 hours of audio

Authers note: to be completely honest I forgot about this until I got a notification that someone rebloged it. So I guess have a part two.

Part 1

reasearch links: affects of isolation

Donnie's nice and accurate account of events in exact detail and order of occurrence, category 6: severe injuries and illnesses. Part 172: Leo's recovery from the prison dimension part 1.

"Mission log. I've managed to avoid the enemy for now"

"Enemy? He must be talking about Kraang."

playing hour 59.

"59? No, Shelldon. Rewind to the start."

If Donnie didn't know better, he'd say Leo had been listening to these himself. Even if we accept that he'd been stuck for a bare minimum of 2500 hours, assuming he hadn't talked to it the full week he had it before the prison dimension, and also assuming that he was talking to it 24/7 from capture to rescue. Which is unlikely, even for him.

104 days is just so hard to even comprehend.

Donnie looks over at Leo, sleeping peacefully.

"I'm... sorry you had to endure that, Nardo."

rewind complete.

"Play recording."

"Leo's notes: found some jewelry that fell into the sewer. Mostly, engagement rings, wedding rings, and class rings. None of them fit me, of course, so I'm gonna sell them for pizza money."

Click.

"Shelldon, skip to when he got sent to the prison dimension."

=]

Right, gotta reprogram his artificial intelligence.

"Fast forward 10 minutes."

He could probably get a solid 10 minutes of rambling in a week.

"I don't know how to lead. Raphs, the oldest, why couldn't he just stay leader? Or if it had to be someone else, why not pick April? She's just as good at rushing in without a plan. Maybe even better. Or Mikey, he can get anyone to like him. Remember when he got all the kids in the mystic library to follow him?" Leo shudders audibly. "Maybe I should just ask dad. Or maybe I should wait for Donnie to finish rebuilding Shelldon so I can ask him and then have him erase his own memory. Yeah, that's it. Don! Buddy! Tello. What's up?"

Click

"I remember this. He asked me about my progress rebuilding you. I thought he actually wanted to hear about the process of, ugh never mind, it's not important. Shelldon, fast forward 2 minutes."

Click.

"Leo's notes: Pick up 125 pizzas, any toppings."

Finally.

"Leo's notes: uhm, sorry I haven't talked in a while, things got really crazy for, I think it was a few days. Anyway, Kraang got bored of kicking my shell for so long. I could have sworn I'd be dead by now, but it's like no matter what he does to me, I can't die."

"OK, I've been fiddling with the wrist comm for a while, Donnie put a bunch of 8 bit games on it like frogger, snake, and pong. At least I'll have something to do. At least until I run out of battery... I definitely need it too, It's barely been, what 8, 9 hours? And I'm already talking to a photo."

Click.

Donnie looks up from sanitizing his surgical equipment (ok, so it's really Leos, but it's not like he's using it right now) to remark snidely

"As if I would make a machine that runs on batteries. These babies run by replenishing quartz energy converters. You just have to move it around to charge it. I got the idea from these old watches, you know just because an idea is old doesn't mean it can't be utilized by my extreme gen-"

He stops as he looks over at his unconscious brother.

"Some other time, perhaps."

setting reminder for "other time"

"Shelldon, disregard previous order."

reminder canceled

Donnie sits back down and presses a button on his console.

"Update. I beat snake. Turns out if you manage to make the snake fill the whole screen, the game just ends. And it only took me like- 178 hours according to the time log... I can't believe I've been playing snake nonstop for 178 hours. I'm not even tired or hungry. It makes sense kind of. I mean, they were in here for a thousand years, weren't they? Probably don't need food or sleep"

"Dear wrist comm, Kraang found me again. spent a couple hours getting thrown around, totaly ruined my frogger streak. I could have sworn he cracked your screen. Can things also not 'die' here?"

"I think I've been here for about 8 to 10 days. Hopefully, the next thing Don adds to the wrist comms is a clock. Maybe he's hearing this all the way back home. Are you? Are you listening in on me? Sneaky pancake."

"Kraang ruined my rock sculptures of you guys! Can you believe that? He's suck a jerk. We have an entire dimention! It's not like I go around breaking the stuff he makes. Even if he did make things, I wouldn't destroy it! I almost feel bad for the other two Kraang. I can't imagine having this guy as a brother."

"I ran into some people here. They looked somewhat human. Like the aliens in the first Jupiter Jim film: the 1968 classic Jupiter Jim's Atomic adventure in space. Before they had the budget for alien costumes or a full 20 minutes of film. So they just hired some college students and heavily contoured them. Exept the guys I met were also short. So, short. Like. Shorter than me, anyway, I'm gonna follow them to see what's up."

Click.

"That's strange I didn't pick up any other life signs. Check again."

the only signs of life picked up by Leo's wrist comm were his own and kraang

"They got a flying car, it looks so 60s. I half expect it to have lava lamp floors."

"Reminder: ask Donnie to make the floor in my room a lavalamp."

"Wait, no, a waterbed floor. That way, the whole floor is a bed."

"I got even closer, and they use 60s slang, too. Like daddyo, check and far out. I'm pretty sure I heard one of them say the word splitsville. I'm gonna try to talk to them. How do I look... yeah, like a homeless person, I know, I meant more like. Do I look approachable?... No, no raving loonatic is not my idea of approachable. Hang on."

"Ok, I dusted off my bandana, harness, and wrappings. Is this presentable enough?... too bad, cause it's the best we're gonna get."

Click

"Maybe it's a robot? Inorganic life wouldn't be detected on the scanners. That would explain why we can't hear a response. It's just communicating through text." Donnie denies.

"They call themselves Neutrinos. Their people are the original inhabitants of the prison dimension. Which means that somehow, they have been avoiding the Kraang for generations. Isn't that great, I'm not alone."

"Is there such a thing as interdimentional ethics?"

"If I had a nickel every time our world sent genocidal balls of over-chewed gum to the neutrinos dimention, I'd have two nickels. It's not a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice."

"It happened, I've officially survived a whole month in the prison dimension. Wooo." Leo says flatly. "Should have had the foresight to bring a cake, no; pizza... who am I kidding? If I had either, I would have eaten it by now."

"I met the Neutrinos again. Currently following their directions to a village inside a meteor. I can't wait to spend some time with people. I was about to start losing it."

"They've got everything here. Plants, technology, people, a religion. I guess those just pop up whenever you have a group of people living together."

"They're no teenage mutant ninja turtles, but it's a community. And if I'm being completely honest, I think I would even take the company of Meat Sweats right now over nothing."

"I guess this place isn't without strings attached. If I want to stay, I have to join a religious faction. I thought it was all one belief system, but it turns out there are three major ones and, like, 20 small ones. All of them want me on their side, and I suspect that whichever one I choose will try to use me to 'sort out' the others as they put it... but... I can't be alone again. I was alone for 36 days, and it was,-" Leo's voice breaks. "... I can't do that again." He stutters.

"Ok, what would Lou Jitsu do? Dad would probably pick the cannibalism faction. So I can rule that one out. What would Leo do?... I would pick the most powerful group because they've been offering me the most. I can't do that, I'm pretty sure they are evil. They wanted all neutrinos shorter than 3 feet to classify as property. That's like, almost half of them. The second most powerful is no better because they want all neutrinos who have antena to be executed. What is wrong with these people? What would Donnie do? The permanent social distancing faction. Eh, ruling that one out, too. Raph, probably the solving everything with love and snuggles faction. Nice but impractical against Kraang. Plus, their leader tried to make me assassinate the leaders of other factions so they might be messy. April would try to expose each of these dangerous liars, but it seems like everyone already knows they're corrupt. Mikey... he'd just take them over. I guess I could do that. I mean, I'm much bigger and stronger than all of them put together. No, then I would be ruling through force, and I've only lived here for 3 days. I can't decide what's best for them when they've survived well over a thousand years on their own. I think the best choice would be to leave. I can't be of any help here."

"Donnie! Time for breakfast!" Mikey shouts from outside the room

Click.

"I'll be right there"

"Was that Leo's voice? Is he awake?" He asks excitedly.

"No, just some recordings. Could you bring my dinner in here? I can't leave him alone."

"You look awful. Did you sleep? And, no, you can't have breakfast here because Draxum said he needs to look at your wounds." Mikey waves his arms around, showing off the new bandages and braces.

Donnie looks guiltily at Leo, still sleeping.

"I'll stay. I'll even snuggle him. He won't miss you a bit, " Mikey said teasingly, clearly trying to get a response.

And usually, that would get a rise out of him. But right now, Donnie doesn't want to be missed. He just doesn't want his brother to be alone anymore.

Donnie hasn't even left the room before Mikey's gotten all cuddly in bed with Leo. Turtle shells aren't exactly the softest blanket to wrap yourself in, but Leo probably wants to be touched way more than he wants to be comfortable. Besides, it's well past time for Donnie to get the cracks on this arm examined. Yeah, that's it. It's not like he's avoiding the other 2489 hours of Leo's mad ramblings.

"Hmn," Leo purrs,leaning into Mikeys affectionate embrace.

"I knew you'd appreciate a good cuddle 😘. Even if you sleep for a thousand years, I'll still hold you tight." A realization dawns on Mikeys face. "I might be dead by then, so you'll just be nuzzling a skeleton 🤭. But at that point, you really can't be picky."

good morning, donnatello. would you like to continue playing the recordings

"Shelldon, I'm Mikey. Donnie left the room."

do any of us truly leave the room

"What?"

playing recording

"Wait, no -"

"Nothing is real! All of it, it was a hallucination. The Neutrinos, the flying car, Barbara Walters, the village. It was just my imagination... is anything real? Is Kraang even real? Are you real?!"

"Leo?"

"IS THIS ALL THERE IS? Just wandering around forever, talking to myself, and making up others to talk to?"

"Leo," his voice fell flat this time.

"They're really not coming to save me. I probably told them not to. That sounds like me. But, I still thought. *sniff* This is so selfish. If they tried to get me out, they'd risk releasing Kraang. It's better this way. *sniff* They're better off without me. Sure, they'll be upset at first. But, then. Raph'll be less stressed, Donnie will be free to focus on his own projects instead of constantly building stuff I ask him to." He inhails unsteadily. "Someone else'll be team medic, probably Don or April, and they'll figure out that Mikey needs glasses. Real glasses. Which means he won't crash into stuff anymore because they'll actually deal with it instead of putting it off to avoid sneak attacks from doctor feelings, doctor delicate touch, and doctor positive." He sounds out of breath. "Dad finally won't have to deal with me either. He won't have to admit he was wrong to make me lead. And April can finally graduate without me constantly distracting her. *sniff* Th'this is b'better."

"Shelldon, stop the recording." Donnie says from the doorway.

"He, he," Mikey blubers out. "How long was he..." he's too mortified to finish.

"By this point, at least more than a month and 3 days. If we assume every 11 hours is another month. That means it would have taken 227 months to fill up the whole thing." Donnie pauses to see the horror in mikeys eyes. "That's 19 years."

[donnies-low-empathy]

@loser-swag Oh I guess I can talk about him. I guess. It’s not like he’s constantly in my head always it’s not like I’m thinking about him every second of every day. I can do that. (sarcasm)

Where to begin.

Ough okay so the death messages specifically. Let me copy paste a text I sent to my friend while I was coming up with that idea:

“God what if he records a special message for when the prosthetic or the scanner or weapon detects that its wearer is dying. What if they get a message in his voice being like “I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve this. None of us did. We’ll fix it, in the end. It will be okay. I hope.” And nobody ever finds out about this until they’re literally on the brink of death and resistance members who have gone their whole lives thinking Donnie was cold and heartless and actually enjoying the apocalypse in some way will get slapped in the face with his sincerity and won’t even have the chance to reform their opinion of him before they die.”

Since then I’ve been thinking about it a lot. Usually it would consist of him apologising (because he sees this as a failure of his tech, because it was meant to protect them), some short “you didn’t deserve this”, and then finally a promise to make things better. To try, at least. To do whatever he can. To give them some peace of mind before they die.

I don’t know how much value he thinks these messages will actually have. He was very tired when he first recorded it and decided to implement it. This would be at least a couple years after the initial invasion, when the Earth is already so unfamiliar to everyone. He just felt like the least he could do was help them die peacefully if he couldn’t prevent them dying in the first place. Either way, it’s probably appreciated more than he knows.

I wonder if he’s thought about whether it would be selfish to make the last thing they ever hear be his voice, but in the end it’s probably better than whatever they were hearing before. Must be awful to die to the sound of the Krang killing everyone around you. Must be awful to die alone on the cracked ground, bleeding out, and the only thing you can hear is your own struggling breath.

I don’t know. Anyway. It’s not like he tells anyone about this. It’s not necessary. Nobody needs to be consciously aware that he’s thinking of the moment when they’re going to die.

…

I think the Resistance has mixed opinions about him. No matter how valuable you are to the group, being “rude” means people will typically have a bad opinion of you. And this man is so exhausted from his constant workload, he really doesn’t have the energy to waste on deciphering the correct responses with the correct tone at the correct times. So he tends to snap a bit. And brush people off and tell them he’s busy, because he is. He learns to manage this better later on (when he adapts and is less overwhelmed) but it’s still there. Listen having low empathy in the apocalypse when you’re working with so many other people is difficult. But he prioritises getting work done over being pleasant to talk to and very few people actually understand how he works. So. It’s not worth it, you know?

Despite that, there’s a good amount of people that respect him more than anything. They know his tech is the only thing keeping them alive, and they know how much he works and how much he does to keep them all safe, so they can see past the fact that he forgets to greet people or respond or make eye contact. I’d say the percentage of people who dislike him overall is like. 40%. The rest are fine.

[tblsomedoodles]

What Leo probably had never realized is that as strange as the thought mat seem, Donnie probably took comfort in hus visions of doom and death, just as much as Leo had taken comfort in Donnie's visions of joy and happiness. Donnie, as a person, is someone who appreciates cold, hard facts and dislikes the unknown, and doesn't take unexpected change well, fearing it even. To hin the knowledge of what's to come, what to prepare for, how and when the people he loves will die... even the method of which he himself will die!? All of those are, in some strange way, a comfort to him. He can prepare, and he can take steps to ease the blow. He would have the foreknowledge to possibly even prevent such tragedies, if not ib the moment, then in the future.

More importantly, if all, though, it brings him comfort to know that Leo trusts him with this knowledge. To know that his twin isn't hsut bottling these terrible dreams up and is going to someone, anyone with them is an immense comfort to Donbie. Although Donnie would never admit anything of the sort to Leo.

I liek to think that... in addition to creating the self-destruction switch to ease the burden of having to be the oen to end his own brother's life from Leo's shoulder, Donnie had left recordings of every one of his visions right up until the moment Leo threw CJ into the portal as well as a more personal message somewhere only Leo would find to be seen only after his death. A final gift for his twin.

Yes! This is exactly it! Donnie does take comfort from Leo's visions as much as Leo takes comfort in his. He appreciates all that knowledge and though he knows he can't change a lot, he still can still prepare and even change things in small ways to make it easier.

And oh that last idea is is brilliant. Leaving his dreams recorded for Leo so, even though Donnie is no long there, he can still take comfort in the few good things coming his way. And I leaving him a message, probably telling him as such, is so painfully heartwarming. I love it.

Thank yoU!

[nights-flying-fox]

Deep (Purple) Thoughts (and Realizations)

Chapter 2: Big Brains Never Stop Thinking

Donnie can't sleep, because he can't stop thinking about the recordings. At least there is someone to comfort him, even if it's midnight.

AO3 Link <3 | chapter 1 | chapter 3 (tba)

 Sleep, before the invasion, had been an easy task. Something Donnie would look up to unless he lost himself in one of his projects. However, in the last months it had became much harder. He knew it wasn’t like that just for him. Leo had always been the insomniac of the family, but it had gotten worse for him. Raph and Mikey had nightmares often and would end up calling for a turtle pile most of the nights (Donnie would be grateful for them, one could ask to not sleep alone only so many times before losing his emotionless bad boy image). He also knew that April was having a hard time sleeping, and she most of the nights would stay for sleepovers. Heck, even Dad was having trouble. Donnie would have missed that if Leo hadn’t mentioned that a few weeks ago.

 Tonight was one of those days. April had come for a sleepover, and they were in the living room. They had brought their pillows and blankets like how they always did, made a pillow fort and watched movies till they fell asleep. Raph was snoring loudly in the middle, blankets all around him, with Mikey sleeping peacefully on his shell. Leo was laying next to Raph, hands reaching and holding his brother’s hand, had fallen asleep recently. April was lying between Raph and Donnie, she seemed to be sleeping as well. Which left Donnie the only one awake.

 He wouldn’t mind it if his thoughts wouldn’t be so tiring. 

 He was still thinking about the recordings. 

 Getting over the shock, and making sure Shelldon won’t secretly look into his recordings, Donnie finally had the time to think about that clearly. But the problem was that he didn’t want to think about that. He wanted to forget it all. Every second of battle against Krang was a nightmare. And he wasn’t just talking about the hideous tentacles. He meant everything everything , from Raph’s corruption (aka Krangfication, as Casey Junior had mentioned) to Leo sacrificing himself ( that dum-dum how dare he do something so stupid and dangerous —). It didn’t help that he learned what would happen if they had failed. Just thinking about that and remembering everything that happened with Krang was enough to make Donnie feel sick. He definitely wasn’t ready to see the recordings.

 But he had to eventually, right? 

 Donnie huffed in frustration. His thoughts won’t let him rest tonight that was certain. He carefully got on his feet, being as quiet as possible to not wake up others. 

 “Donnie?”

 Ah, so much for not waking anyone up. Donnie looked to where April’s whisper came from. She squinted at him, “What are you up to?” April asked, a bit grumpy because she was still sleepy but caring and worried.

 After a brief second of considering, Donnie gestured to her to follow him into the kitchen. She did as they walked quietly and carefully there. While April opened the light and closed the door, Donnie approached the coffee machine. 

 “So? What’s bothering that big brain of yours?” April yawned.

 “Do I start alphabetically or—”

 “ Donnie .”

 “Yes, sorry.” He took a mug from the cabinet and filled it with hot coffee. “It is… Other than everything going on, something else. A new find.”

 April nodded, “That is why you’re awake after all.” Donnie was sure she had guessed that much, she knew him well. She knew all of them well, and she sure deserved her #1 Big Sister mug.

 Donnie leaned on the counter and took a deep breath, “April, remember when Leo told you about me recording everything?”

 She nodded again, “Your brothers had made a fuss about how much of everything you recorded and you had promised you’d stop. At least limit it.” She recalled.

 “I didn’t.” 

 “No surprise, but what has it to do with what’s going on?” She walked towards him.

 Donnie looked at her eyes. “April, I recorded everything back there .” 

 Her eyes widened with realization, “You mean the invasion?”

 Donnie nodded. “And not just that, I got it all recorded from everyone’s point of view! I know I never got into the details of how it worked, but along with the trackers I had to put cameras and microphones to make sure of your safety.” It didn’t matter that he had started doing that so he could know who stole his pizza slice, this was still very much true. 

 “I remember you talking about that— safety and tactics for future plans and in case failure.” April said, “Which you have a point, with how your tracker found Raph, and they would still be useful if CJ never came. You probably saved our lives more than a few times in another timeline.” She added, waking up more with every realization. 

 “Yes… yes I could. Oh pizza supreme in the sky…” Donnie shut his eyes. This was so much.

 “By the way, we still need to have another proper talk about privacy.” She said, which Donnie ignored as he tried to keep his thoughts in line. Everything was a mess, a mixture of stress and relief. The silence prompted April to ask, “Did you look at them?” 

 He opened his eyes, staring at the mug. “No. I am not sure I am ready, but at the same time I have to see them.” He huffed.

 “I get it.” She also got a mug of coffee for herself. “Have you told anyone else?” 

 “Only Shelldon knows, he was the one to bring it up.” 

 “You’ll have to tell them.”

 “I am aware.” Donnie groaned. “They won’t like it.”

 “Definitely.” April smiled slightly. “It will be the trackers situation all again, probably a bit worse.” 

 “ Groan , I will have to hear it all again from Raph.” Donnie was never a fan of Raph’s long rants of why he shouldn’t be doing something and shouldn’t be keeping such information to himself. They were the worst. He’d even consider eating pineapple pizza, it was that bad.

 “We can watch it beforehand together.” April offered. 

 Donnie smiled with a bit of relief, “If you’re okay with that, it would be good.” 

 April smiled and opened her arms, Donnie without any words placed the mug down and hugged her. He may not be a fan of hugs as much as Mikey, but he really needed one right now. He wanted to hide and disappear and get away from all the problems he has created with his own hands. A hug sounded the closest thing to that right now, other than locking himself in his lab and never getting out of there. 

 …The lab that he would have the easiest access to the recordings…  

 He broke the hug after a while. “We should go now.” He said. Donnie wasn’t sure if he would have the motivation to do so later. April nodded, and so they walked out of kitchen.

 The way to his lab was short. Donnie wished it would've been longer, as he began reconsidering his decision. 

  He was still working on the lab, rebuilding everything took a lot of time. It was his job to majorly rebuild the lair too, so he wasn’t able to work on his lab properly. So when they arrived, he wasn’t that surprised to find the door open. He didn’t have the time to fix the door, it still malfunctioned at times. This was probably one of them.

 Except it was not.

 Opening the lights, Donnie and April found Leo sitting lazily on the chair, looking at them. “I thought you’d never come!” He grinned.

 “Nardo? What the shell are you doing here?” Donnie asked, curious and equally irritated. 

 “You first.” Leo didn’t seem bothered at all.

 “This is literally my lab.” Donnie hissed.

 “And I am simply paying a visit.” 

 “I doubt it is just that.” Donnie crossed his arms, he was considering different ways of throwing him out of his lab. 

 April stepped forward before Donnie decided and took action. “Is it insomnia or something is on your mind?” She asked.

 “Why not both?” Leo shrugged as he got on his feet. 

 “Ah, why am I not surprised.” Donnie commented. “So what are you up to?”

 “Can’t a turtle hang around in his dearest twin’s lab with no reason at all?” Leo asked, a bit dramatically.

 “No. Not you.” Donnie answered with a glare.

 Donnie kept staring at Leo, who didn’t stop smirking at all. “Either you tell, or I’ll kick you out in the most ungracious way. I really wanted to try out my new defense systems.” Donnie smiled, maybe a bit evilly. He genuinely was considering the option.

 “Okay, okay, calm down you mad scientist.” Leo grinned.

 “So, what are you up to?” Donnie repeated his question from earlier.

 “Same as whatever you are up to.” He said, less happier. He still had that lazy posture but Donnie knew what Leo meant. 

 The softshell walked to the slider, glaring. “You eavesdropped?” 

 “To be fair I was wondering when you’d bring up the recordings.” 

 “You knew?” April asked. 

 “When the genius himself tells you he records everything, you don’t forget easily.” Leo said then glared at his twin, “Especially when you figure out this is how he uses blackmail against you.”

 “Trust me, I don’t need to watch my recordings to find blackmail against you.” Donnie glared back.

 “Alright, alright, cut it boys. You’ll wake someone up.” April stepped in between before the twins got further in their usual bickering. 

 As if on the cue, a yawn made them all turn and look at the door.

 “What is going on?” A very sleepy Mikey asked.

 Ah, great. At this rate, it was a matter of time this became a family meeting. “Nothing, absolutely nothing.” Donnie lied while he pushed Leo to the side and headed towards Mikey. “You can go back and rest, Angelo.”

 Mikey stared at him for a few seconds. “You are still terrible at lying, Donnie.”

 Donnie huffed, “ Ugh ! Fine, come and join our midnight meeting.” 

 The youngest rubbed his eyes, “What are you three doing here anyways?”

 Donnie looked away, his stress building up more and more with each passing minute. Thankfully Leo and April were ready to answer Mikey’s question.

 “Remember how Donnie recorded everything?” Leo made his way towards Mikey.

 “Uh, yes?”

 “He remembered that as well, so we were planning on checking them.” April continued. Then she pointed to Leo, “And this guy wanted to be included in the party.”

 “Hey now, I couldn’t miss that!” Leo grinned.

 Donnie wondered what was in his head, for certain Leo was up to something that he was so demanding to stay to see the recordings. There were many possible reasons for that, and yet Donnie couldn’t place a finger and come up with a proper explanation.

 Sadly, Mikey followed Leo’s steps on the situation. “And you were not even gonna tell me?” He exclaimed.

 Which in return the three shushed at him.

 “Sorry.” Mikey sheepishly smiled. Then he had a more serious face, “But really, you wanted to watch them alone?” 

 “It was a last minute decision.” April commented.

 “And none of you considered that maybe it would be better to share it with the whole family?” Mikey asked, genuinely. 

 Donnie kept looking away, and this time nobody said anything. Which left Mikey to do the talking again, “Guys, I know the invasion still hurts, but you don’t have to do it alone.”

 When Donnie dared to look at him, Mikey had an encouraging smile. “I don’t think you should go through that again.” Donnie explained.

 “I know you mean good, Dee, but I don’t think it is fair. Or else you’ll hear the same from me.”

 Donnie sighed, he knew when it came to such stuff he could never win against Mikey. Emotions and feelings, eww. “Fine, fine.”

 He wondered if Mikey also understood why Donnie preferred to watch them alone with April. Maybe if he had tried to explain, he’d understand. But he doubted Leo would let him. It didn’t work in his favors after all. Maybe Mikey would figure out what Leo was after too. This was another reason that made Donnie feel better about Mikey joining them.

 Leo cleared his throat, “Soooo, shall we?..” 

 “I’d think you’d be less excited about this.” Donnie said. Which to be honest, Leo’s eagerness was truly a surprise to him.

 “What, can’t I be a little curious about what I’d miss back there?”

 April looked at him with doubt, “Oh, you’re definitely up to something.”

 “Aw, come on guys!” Leo whined. He looked at Mikey with dramatic gesturing and pleading eyes. He said, “Tell them how wrong they are, please, I am getting all the wrong accusations here.”

 Mikey grinned, “That’s all your doing, Leo.”

 “Boo.”

 Donnie walked towards his computers and sat on his chair. He felt anxious again, with what possibly they’d see. 

 He heard April approach, “You okay?”

 Donnie shook his head. “This will be no fun.” 

 April squeezed his arm for support. Donnie was grateful.

 Then he noticed something. 

 Files Removed.

 Donnie froze with realization. He should’ve guessed that—

 As he typed to his computer to confirm his suspicions, he heard Mikey say “Shouldn’t we tell Raph?” 

 And once again, as if on the cue, they had a very sleepy turtle standing at the door:

 “Can’t I trust you to rest just for one single night ?”

[boots-with-the-fur-club]

Chapter two of The Teenage Mutant Phantom of the Opera!

@daboyau Helped out with this chapter a good amount! I recommend reading their amazing works too!

Usagi walks into the theatre bright and early. It’s a far cry from how it is at night. People are walking around in a flurry to get things prepared. Usagi looks at the stage where several people are already there and reading lines with a bit of envy.

Still, he carefully balances the several different orders of coffees, teas, baked goods, and other drinks he was sent to get. As several people take their items without even sparing another glance at him, he’s extremely glad that they don’t make him do this every day.

The last order would definitely be the more difficult one though.

Donnie.

It had been a problem the moment he was even just getting the order. The barista, a lynx yokai, went nuts when Usagi mentioned wanting flavorless juice.

He thought she was going to drag him over the counter.

Apparently she’d driven herself half mad trying to find out what that actually meant and how to make it. She had complained and complained about how a kid keeps coming in, orders flavorless juice, and always called in later to say it wasn’t made right.

Never to get anyone in trouble, just to state it for the record he’d say.

She wanted to end him she had said.

Now, Usagi walks towards Donnie with the last cup.

Donnie notices him and hops off the stage.

“Finally, I was dangerously close to dehydration. Although I suspect this will be disappointing.”

Usagi smiles with determination as he hands it to him.

“You might just be surprised.”

Donnie looks at him like he didn’t believe a single word, but takes the cup and sips it anyway.

His eyes widen.

“It can’t be….”

Usagi crosses his arms proudly.

“But it can be! And it is! Flavorless juice, boom!”

“How did you do it?”

“My aunt and I used to live on a farm, I didn’t learn a lot, but she knows her stuff. I called her up and asked her for advice. The result is: unripe dragon fruit and soaked chia seeds! Flavorless, and full of nutrients!” Usagi’s hands went on his hips and his ears shot up, pointing outwards in pride.

Donnie’s eyes follows the happy movement of the ears before quickly darting away.

“I suppose you’re expecting a thank you? Or a “good job”?”

“Uh….just a thanks is fine? Everyone else is kind of treating me like I don’t exist so it would be nice.”

Donnie considers this for a second or two.

“That’s what happens when you let them. That’s why you didn’t get a lead part. You need to be more memorable. Make them notice you! Or else you’re just going to keep vanishing in the background and losing to singers with more stage presence, like me.” He smirks slightly.

Usagi’s ears drop down and to the back of his head as he pouts.

“Being an understudy nothing to be upset over! They’re important when things go wrong!”

Donnie starts to look away from him.

“Stop giving people the benefit of the doubt. It’s already put you in a bad position. The role you’re playing up isn’t one that exists. It’s not even the one you really got. Can’t you see that?”

Usagi tightens his fists.

“…..It’s the only chance I have.”

Donnie looks back at him, slightly surprised that Usagi was so…..polite in this situation.

He would have been swinging his tech bō at him already.

Although, he also wouldn’t have put up with what they were making Usagi do either.

“There’s other chance out there. Don’t stay somewhere bad for you just because you think you’re stuck.” Donnie advises before beginning to walk away.

Usagi relaxes slightly in surprise at what he had heard.

“And…..thanks.” He mumbles as he goes up the stairs.

Usagi’s smile returns slightly before he was pulled away to help with something else.

The hours until he’s alone were exhausting. They had him do everything except his actual role.

He ended up just laying on the stage, staring up at the catwalk.

One long blink later and Leo was staring back down at him while leaning on the railing.

“You came back.”

He had been watching the production all day so he already knew that, but it still filled him with joy that he could talk to him again.

Usagi smiles up at him.

“Hey! I’m really glad to see you. You would not believe the day I had.”

“Maybe I would.” Leo makes his way down to the stage.

“Care to join me on the floor?”

“It hasn’t been cleaned yet, do you know that?”

“It’s too late for me. I’m one with the dust bunnies.”

Leo stares down at him.

Usagi stares back, feeling incredibly awkward about the joke he just made. He had no way of knowing if he hated puns like that or not. Donnie very much did, if looks could kill he’d be dead a hundred times over.

Leo covers his mouth slightly, turning away as he chuckled softly.

Usagi smiles in both relief and absolute joy that he actually likes the dumb attempt to be funny.

Leo soon took his place next to him on the floor after he was able to stop laughing.

“Why the floor?”

“I like looking over at the painting on the ceiling over the seats.”

Leo rolls his eyes back in order to look towards the painting he was talking about. It was bittersweet for him. He tended to avoided staring at it for too long.

He remembers when Melyna painted it. A ceiling filled with stars. Leo already had anxiety just leaving the theatre, so ever going on the surface above the Hidden City would probably be near impossible for him.

He’d never see real stars.

It made his heart hurt to remember how much she did for him. How much she cared. How much she loved him.

“Hey….are you okay?”

Leo turns his head towards Usagi’s gaze and then quickly touched his own face to make sure he wasn’t crying.

He’s surprised that he’s not.

How did he know he was upset with part of his face covered?

“I’m fine, just thinking about something.”

“Are things alright for you?“

“I thought we were going to talk about your day.”

“We don’t have to. If there’s something bothering you, I’d want to hear it. I really appreciate what you agreed to do for me, and I like to think it makes us friends. Friends listen to each other.”

Leo’s heart flutters.

Friends, so soon?

Surely, he must also feel the connection between them.

That doesn’t mean he can be honest with him about everything though.

“I….knew the person who painted the ceiling.”

“Really? No wonder you like coming here-….I’m sorry, knew? Past tense?” Usagi sat up on his side, arm pressed to the floor to keep himself steady.

Leo doesn’t move.

“Past tense, meaning….she isn’t here to do anything now.”

Usagi frowns.

“I….won’t say I’m sorry for your loss, or that I understand how you feel. I know that it probably won’t help. I got told that a lot when I lost my parents. There was only one thing that made me feel better, and it was my aunt who said it.”

Leo finally sits up.

“What did she say?”

“That there was never going to be one thing that was going to make me feel better. That it was….a process. No easy solution. One she’d help me through. She said I wasn’t going to be doing it alone. She was right….hearing that didn’t fix everything. What helped was that she was there every step of the way.”

Leo looks down.

That was easy to say when there was someone to be there.

“I know I’m lucky I had someone….but if you don’t have the same, I’ll be that person.”

Leo stares at him in shock.

“Are….are you sure? This is our second time meeting, and….you don’t even know my real name.”

“If you were a bad person you would have done something bad already. And if you’re not a bad person, then you deserve someone to talk to. That’s what I believe at least.”

Leo looks back down, feeling his face heat up slightly.

Him?

Not a bad person?

Oh, how naive he was, but still, that was so flattering coming from someone like him.

“I’d be very happy to keep talking to you.”

“You kind of have to in order to help me with my singing, right?” Usagi chuckles.

“That reminds me, you still haven’t talked about your day.”

Usagi sighs.

“Ugh. Donnie was being kind of a jerk, and everyone else treats me like I’m doing something wrong. All I want is to practice my role in case they need me. I don’t think it’s too much to ask to actually do what an understudy does.”

Leo stands up and offers his hand to him.

“Let’s do what they’ve been robbing you of then.”

Usagi takesnit, letting Leo help him up.

“My first chance to sing all day.”

“It must be torture to be around music but never be able to join in.” He kept Usagi’s hand in his until it slips out of his grasp.

“It’s like holding in a sneeze. The songs in this opera are so much fun, who wouldn’t want to?”

“They shouldn’t deprive that joy, that’s for sure. It’s why you should sing your heart out now. Let’s start with your favorite song first.”

“I am not judging how you want to teach me at all, but can I ask why not start with the first song?”

“It’s a good question that I don’t blame you for asking. It’s important to put your soul into every song you sing, but that’s easier to practice with a song you’re already attached to most.”

“Alright then I guess….” Usagi begins to sing.

“Hold on, not yet.”

Leo hops off from the stage and goes all the way to the back of the seats.

“What are you doing?” Usagi shouts.

“I’ll tell you after! Start again!”

Usagi’s ears twitch a bit in curiosity before he starts singing again.

Leo says nothing until he was finished, walking back onto the stage.

“So….how was I?”

“Is this the first opera you’ve done?”

“First opera, play, first anything theatre related honestly…..is it that obvious?”

“It’s obvious when anyone does anything for the first time. It’s not your fault and it’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s why I’m helping you.”

“How can I do better?”

“To set yourself apart from everyone else, you need to do something that takes more effort. Anyone can get the attention of the front row, maybe even the middle row, but the back row is often forgotten by actors who don’t care. What you’re going to accomplish is getting all the rows to be unable to take their eyes off you.”

Usagi looks at the back row nervously.

“Am I really going to be able to do that?”

“Yes, you are. I know you have it in you.”

“Why didn’t you audition for the opera? Your voice is way better and you seem to know a lot more than I do. You even have part of a tragedy mask on your face. It’s like you were born to perform.”

Leo turns away from him.

“I couldn’t audition. I can never audition. This mask…..I have to wear it. Nobody would want me on stage without it, and I can’t show my whole face to emote with it on.”

“I….I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to be so insensitive.”

“No, it’s okay. You have the right to be curious. We just met yesterday. There’s a lot of questions to ask each other. You don’t even know my name.”

Usagi’s ears shoot straight up.

He really hadn’t asked.

Why did he just accept him introducing himself as “the phantom”?

That was so rude, and probably a little dumb too.

“C-Could you tell me your name?”

Leo turns back to him.

“Let’s make another deal. I’ll tell you something new about me every time we practice, but you can’t give up.”

“Wow…..these deals have just kind of been in my favor. Don’t you want something?”

“…..I want you on this stage, Yuichi. I can’t be here, but you have a chance. When I listen to opera, it’s like I’m there too. I can feel the emotions of the people who worked so hard to be there. I know that it’s the most important thing in the world to them right at that moment.”

Usagi starts to feel like his eyes were burning. When he sang a song with lyrics already there, already made to get across a message, he couldn’t mess it up. It was hard for him to communicate right sometimes. He accidentally made a lot of enemies.

Music is supposed to bring people together.

“I….I understand! I’ll be on that stage, I’ll do what I can!”

Leo smiles softly.

“Thank you. Let’s start again.”

This time as Usagi sings, Leo taught him to put all the emotion he has into his voice and movements.

Usagi couldn’t help but be in awe in the purpose with which Leo decided how he moved.

It’s like every single thing he did was chosen so carefully.

Usagi couldn’t say he couldn’t be as graceful or purposeful, but he liked to think that he did his best as they practice.

Leo would graciously and carefully show him how to make more of a presence. He would lift his arm higher, turn him, have him in a better position.

It also helped that Leo would play the other lead. Usagi could respond better to the movements he would have to just imagine otherwise.

This went on so long that their concentration was interrupted by Usagi’s phone ringing.

He had taken it out of his pocket and made the face of someone who knew he was going to get a sandal thrown at him the moment he got through the front door.

“Oh no! I really have to go, I’ll see you tomorrow!” He answers the phone as he runs off, shouting coming from the speaker.

Leo watches him leave the whole time, gaze never stopping.

Usagi stops for just a second and turns his head back.

“Thank you, I mean it.”

Then, just like that, he was gone.

This time, loneliness didn’t fill Leo’s heart.

It was excitement.

[mysticlibraryhushbats]

So! Mutant Mayhem is finally here and I took the day off work to go to the first showing this morning like a weirdo! I just wanted to share my initial thoughts on the movie now that I'm fresh out and haven't unblocked the Mutant Mayhem tag to see what others have been saying.

(Most of these come down to personal preference so, if you read something you don't like, don't come for me!)

First things first, the turtles!!! I love, love, LOVE them!!! This is honestly the first time I've had difficulty picking a fav. They were the highlight of the movie for me.

I don't think I've ever said this about Leo, but OMG he was adorable!! Such a good boi! I'm glad they cut that whole 'holier than thou' attitude he often gets lumped with. He was just out here doing his best and trying to have fun along the way.

Raph is my son. I have adopted him.

Donnie is hands down the cutest Donnie ever to exist. 2003 Donnie is still my fav, but I can have two, right?

I have to say that of the four, Mikey was the biggest surprise for me. And in the best way possible! I much prefer when he's not singled out as the stupid one acting dumb or the "funny" one. Sorry to any Mikey fans out there but I find most iterations of Mikey to be insufferable, and there're only three I actually genuinely like (including this one)! I like that he's on equal footing with his brothers. They are all dumb and funny together, and Mikey isn't fighting for their attention.

I was also super happy to see that no one turtle had the spotlight. They were very much a unit.

Return of the batman voice, this time ft. Leo!

The turtle tots were cute little chicken nuggets!! Really makes me want to get back into writing turtle tot fics!

This Splinter was really leaning into the stressed single father side of Splinter's persona more so than any other version. I'm here for it! He still kicked ass!

Another teen April. I'd prefer an older April that looks out for the turtles like an older sister tbh. I miss those days. But still, she was a great April all things considered!!

I could have done without the Leo/April stuff. I get that as teenagers they're going to have crushes, but any Turtle x April ship gives me the ick.

On that note, is Raph the only turtle to not have a significant crush on April in the whole franchise?!

The other mutants were enjoyable. None of them really stood out to me personally. Though, every Ray Fillet scene had me creased thinking about Postie in the recording booth. I'm glad that in the end they all sided with the turtles and they have a nice little found family going.

Splinter and his girlfriend!! 😂 It's about time!

WTF happened to Splinter that had him so concerned about them being milked. I mean, he was right in the end but, who hurt you child?

The animation style took a little getting used to but I thought it was very creative and interesting. The random shots from "real-life" like Ferris Bueller and the Chris' were a bit jarring, but funny nonetheless.

The whole "No Diggity" montage...*chef kiss* The 4 Non Blondes part was hilarious too!

I loved all the pop-culture references, but I think maybe it was a little excessive? I would have preferred if they left those primarily for the turtles. Instead, every character was a pop-culture connoisseur trying to out do the other characters.

Related to that point, I'm in Japan, so I felt bad for the non-English speaking Japanese watching this movie because there's only so much you can do with subtitles. 90% of the pop-culture references would go over the average viewers' head here, and yet, most of the comedy was contingent on these references. No one laughed. No one. (tbf, that's common in theaters in Japan regardless of how funny something is, but even so, I can't imagine it being very humorous to a non-English speaking adult here.) I might try the dubbed version just to compare. There's more freedom in dubbing but I can't see it being too much better.

That's all I got for now! I'm sure I forgot to mention a bunch of stuff. I will be going to see the movie again next week, and I'll probably have more to add after a second watch. But for now, I really enjoyed it. As a fan of the darker versions of the TMNT, I know I'm not the target audience for these things anymore. Coming to that realization today was a depressing thought. I had a great time watching for sure and I'm excited to have a lot of new fans joining the fandom!

I'm not sure if this movie cracks the top 5 of my favorite turtles but it's up there for sure. I give it a solid 7/10.

[anon-of-the-void]

Meeting the MutantCity! family pt.1

Meeting Donnie was a shock to both, first and foremost. After Aden's portal opened right over Don's table where he was working on a potion, the yokai crashed right into his table, breaking it (it was government funded, Don's take on a table would not have budged an inch).

Startled he managed to jump back, but lost the grip on his potion as remaining balance and keeping his undevided attention on the intruder was far more important.

With a huff, Aden rolled off of what remained from the once perfectly fine table.

"Ugh, I really need to learn how to work that thing...", Aden mumbled, still out of breath from the sudden impact.

Donnie had regained his composure and approached the yokai cautiously, his work long forgotten.

"Who are you and how did you open this portal?", the soft shell turtle inquired in a stern voice.

Finally taking in their surroundings, Aden realized she was in the lab of no other than a younger Donatello look-alike.

"Uncle Don?", she asked in disbelief.

"Uncle?! What do you mean 'Uncle Don'? You must be mistaken. Maybe a concussion? The fall was pretty hefty-"

"Is your name Donatello Hamato?", Aden asked in a more certain tone, confident that her head was fine.

Unsure about what to make of this situation, Donnie nodded his head yes.

"What year is it and what planet are we on?"

"It is Tuesday, May 3rd, 2066 on earth. Now could you -I dunno- fill me in on the details so I don't look like some dummy dum dum in my very own significantly underpaid government funded research lab. You know, just an idea-"

Being cut off again, Don'd rather kick the yokai out but curiosity was eating away at him rapidly.

"Did you fight in the Kraang invasion?"

"As a matter of fact, we did. It was traumatizing sure, but we won and maybe single handedly changed the entire world's view of mutants and yokai. Now would you explain yourself?!", the genius pressed, kneeling before the young yokai and holding onto their shoulders with his insect-shell arms. His intense stare stressed the importance of the details to him.

"I think I just travelled to another dimension...", they mumbled moreso to herself.

They just stared at each other for about 3 awkward seconds, faces blank trying to process it all.

"For science's sake, child, I need answers!"

"Ok! Ok, geez just give me a second." Aden got up, making the turtle fall back and land on his butt, spider arms letting go of the familiar purple hoodie.

Sitting on the ground, Donnie was turned around to face the fire salamander who now stood before him with arms extended, wildy gesturing to help him visualize just what happened in her reality.

"So, to keep it simple, there was a Kraang invasion in 2022 on earth, your family fought but ultimately, the resistance failed. The aliens wanted revenge so they enslaved everyone on this planet and introduced a 'holiday' where they'd go on a killing spree. Eventually, you escaped in a space ship and found an earth-like planet you made your new home. The mystic warrior powers within you grew stronger and served as a protective shield around the planet. More people found your planet and lived together in harmony. So did my family. One by one you grew too old to keep the planet safe and each one of you entered a freezer thingy you had invented for that purpose alone. I come from the year 2107 from our new home planet SaHea where at last, Michael-Angelo joined you in your eternal sleep to protect our home. I am here to stop the Kraang from attacking SaHea. I can't do it alone. I took this gem the young Donatello found. It is filled with portal magic according to your AI's records. I used it to find people that could help put an end to the aliens. The fact that it not only sent  me to another place in another time but a whole other reality-"

"... incredible."

"Wait, you said you have defeated the Kraang before! You could do it again! Oh I am so releaved I found you!"

But when Aden's eyes fell on the turtle still sittig on the ground, her happieness was short lived. "Y-you would help me, right? You wouldn't just leave us to die, would you?"

Donnie turned away. He hated those ugly feelings, the bad emotions. Swallowing the lump that has formed in his throat, he looked back at them. Eyes glossed over just thinking about what he had just heard.

"Look, kid, we did defeat the Kraang but-but we were lucky. We are old now. Not to mention what would happen when we met ourselves in another reality. The fact Casey Junior did not throw our reality out of balance was lucky enough but then again he did not exist in our reality at that time and with the course of it, he never would have. We can't help you and I hope other me's will say the same thing."

Tears stung in her eyes. She has only heard stories of the brothers. Who knew Michael-Angelo was sugar coating his genius brother's words in the story times. Or was it the raging hurt what losing hope felt like? Whatever the case might have been, they decided, they didn't like Donatello very much but he was also her only link connecting them and the new world they stumbled into.

Donnie dropped his lab coat over the yokai's shoulders just like he has seen in Raph's sappy rom-coms when the girl was in distress.

"Come on, kid, I am  sure my brothers would love to meet you. Be prepared for at least three heroic speeches and too many terrible puns from Leo, Mikey's home-cooked meals that will melt away your worries and a new outfit made by Raph. And a shower. You look rough and you smell aweful." With that conclusion, Don left a meter between them during the walk home.

Maybe he was right, nobody would put their happy life on the line when their alternative versions were already practically out of the picture and they had no bonds with whoever was part of that doomed world. After all, it was not their own to worry about.  Now, Aden just felt guilty.

Meeting big guy Raph was a blessing to Donnie's nostrils.

On their walk, Don had already filled the family in on the details and asked them to prepare a warm but not overwhelming welcome.

On entering the small yet cozy corner house on a vacant little side street in the heart of New York City, the smell of pizza gyoza and jasmine tea hugged them like a soft blanket.

"We are home! Pops, get off of that TV, those ads do your heart no good."

Around the corner, a round head with an orange bandana peeked out. Aden just froze in her step, staring at her former care taker's younger self. Dinner is ready in 30. Raph is prepping a bath for you, just up the stairs and left. I'm Mikey, by the way but I am sure you know that already."

Aden nodded her head while whispering an introduction. Don gave her a gentle push towards the stairs.

Once she reached the top, she turned her head to the left and was met with a giant spiky shell of a snapping turtle with the tail wagging happily.

"Raphael Hamato?", they asked timidly, feeling a bit out of place intruding on their life like that.

"Oh, you must be the kid from another dimension! Just call me Raph. I was not sure what you liked so I just prepped a bunch of my favourite bath salts and stuff. Looking at you, Leo's hoodie might be a bit big. But we can fix that after dinner. Uh, you know how to work a bath tub? (He was not sure if she even knew what a bath tub was. Did they have them where she comes from?)"

"I do. We did have them at home too.", Aden informed him, struggling to keep a straight face.

"Ah, good. Just checking. Leave your dirty stuff by the washer and no need to rush. When you are done, join us for dinner?"

And with that he left her standing in front of the open bathroom door. Watching him leave, Aden had wanted to thank him but just couldn't get a word out.

With a bummed outlook on life at the moment, the slamander yokai ran themselves a bath and sank into the warm bubbly water. It smelled like citrus and flowers.

Aden came down to what they assumed was the kitchen and a joyful mess of the four brothers, three women, a man, an old yokai and an old rat. When they were noticed, standing there, buried by Leo's hoodie, the banter quieted down significantly. "Ah just in time!", Mikey cheered at the sight of them. "Help me lay the table, dear?", the old yokai inquired as he placed a good amount of plates in her arms. "Follow me."

At the dinner table, it was obvious everyone held back on questions so Aden decided to take the initiative and thank them for everything.

"Not a problem, really."

"This is the most exciting thing happening in a while, I tell you."

...

"So, Aden, what do you think about finally meeting the Leonardo Hama-"

"Nardo, seriously."

"Dude, you can't just jump on that topic like that!"

"Leo, they have just escaped a second Kraang attack. We are heros unable to help her, be sensible for once."

"No, really, it is alright. The aliens were my standard tuesday for years. It is nothing new and; I am sorry, Donatello, for my reaction. You are right. It is dangerous and I should have known."

"You couldn't have, since other me has already left before your arrival. Although, I have a proposition. We take our time figuring out together how your gem stone works since time seems to be of no importance in your case and y-" "You be part of our little family for the time being!"

Aden jumped up, waving her arms in the air in panic.

"No, I couldn't ask that of you! I am forever grateful for everything already I could never-"

"WE INSIST!", everyone encouraged in union.

After everything was cleaned up, Raph invited her to his walk-in dresser to take measurements for a more fitting look (and because Leo wanted his favourite hoodie back for a sleepover planned later that week at his boyfriend's place).

"Wow those designs are really pretty!"

"Oh uh, thank you! Would you like to help me make your clothes?"

"I'd like that. Thank you, Raph!", Aden beamed at him.

"I mean we are technically family in another reality, so don't mention it. Anyway, what color were we thinking?"

"Surprise me."

[selfless1978]

<previous

next>

TURNING INTO A MARTYR

Leo put the paper down on the desk. A sigh of frustration escaping him. Nothing here could tell him anything that he didn’t already know. There had to be something missing.

“Leo?” Donnie walked up, new papers in his hands. “I was finally able to dig deeper into her background. Sorry it took me so long, some of the information was difficult to come by. Especially school reports.” He handed them over to his older brother.

“Thank you.” Leo murmured and began to read.

And his frown deepened as he did. What was on these papers explained a lot to him. The more he read, the more he shook his head in disbelief. “God dammit.”

“What?” Donnie had walked up and brought two mugs with him, one full of coffee for him and tea for Leo. 

“Have you read through this?” Leo asked wearily as he leaned back in his chair, or Donnie’s chair rather since he was using Donnie’s desk.

“Not the specifics.” Donnie replied, handing Leo the mug of tea before sitting on the edge of the desk. “Just browsed to make sure it was documentation I needed on her.”

Leo rubbed his face. “Donnie, I have to say, after reading through all of this, I’m not surprised at how she turned out.”

The genius raised a brow at that. “Mind elaborating?”

Leo sighed and dropped the papers on the desk. “How much can one person take before they snap.... Donnie, she was just six years old when this all started. She was molested by a family friend. He didn’t get caught until after her family moved away. He targeted a friend of hers, and when she refused he killed her with a hammer. She testified in the murder trial. But he was never tried for what he did to her.”

“Good god....” Donnie mumbled.

“It doesn’t stop there. He was found guilty, and got a life sentence. But she most certainly did not have the best life afterwards. School was very difficult for her.” Leo leaned forward and started to sort through the pile of papers again. As if he tried to send some of his calm influence through to the troubled girl described within. “She was bullied relentlessly. Apparently because she was one of the, if not the, poorest children and her grades were just enough for her to graduate. It was never properly dealt with and went on for years”

Donnie nodded slowly. He could easily see how the two could be connected. “What happened after Highschool?”

“She joined the Army. Military Police. There isn’t a stain on her record, except for a court martial she had to testify in. She was raped by one of her leaders.”

“Oh no....”

“It gets worse, he only got three months in prison, and it wasn’t even because of her case. They found him not guilty in her scenario.”

“I’m beginning to see a pattern here.” Donnie sighed.

“I thought you might.” Leo said with a frown. “Anyway, she left the service after 3 and a half years. From what I read, she has a seriously messed up ankle. Bad enough to where she couldn’t run. There was even a suggestion from one of her physicians that she receive a medical discharge. She had just started her physical therapy appointments when the paperwork came in to release her from the service. No medical. They threw her out for ‘failure to adapt’. She got nothing. No medical help for her ankle whatso ever.” Leo looked at his brother again. “That killed any dream she may have had of becoming a police officer, or staying in the military.”

“I’m almost scared to ask what happened next.”

“She worked.” Leo replied. “First as a security guard, and was laid off when the company went belly up. She bounced around after that. She did get married, and it fell apart when her daughter was just over two.”

“She the youngest?”

Leo nodded. “Her son was born a year and a half earlier. Her ex was the one who actually filed for divorce, after leaving her with no money or vehicle. She ended up getting fired because of that. She bounced around, I’m not sure why exactly. But her jobs from then on weren't the greatest. Convenience store clerk, low paying warehouse employee, etc. After awhile, she got laid off again and she just disappears from all the records except for state assistance. Until almost two years later. That was when her kids were taken from her.”

“Which brings us to now.” Donnie was running his thumb over the handle of his mug thoughtfully. “Dad ever help out with the kids?”

Leo’s face took on a mild tone of anger. “Not enough to make a difference. And the child support she got from him was laughable.”

“Leo, a few of these things alone is hard to deal with. But it seemed nonstop with her.”

“And that’s just the broad outline. She had also deployed, twice. Both in high risk areas. Who knows really what she experienced there.” 

“She does.” Donnie replied somberly. “You said she seemed hateful towards everything. I think I can understand why.”

“Not everything.” Leo corrected as he looked at another piece of paper. At the two small children pictured with their mother. “She follows no laws but her own.”

“Dangerous life for a mother.” Donnie was also looking at the picture.

“Even more so if she believes this path is the right way to challenge things. Those kids will end up with a martyr for a mother.” He stood up suddenly, his face determined. “And I’ll be damned if I let that happen.”

@infuriatedleprechaun @raisin-shell

[plum-pitt]

More rottmnt headcanons!!!!

This time for my silly billies, or more accurately, the main cast outside of the teetlz. I’ll probably have less to say on them than the core four, but there’s a few things about these goobers i’ve just GOT to throw out there. Oh also go look at my previous post in this series (this is where i talk about the turtles!) if you haven’t it’s pretty neat. psst! i’ve got another in the works going over character dynamics so keep an eye out for that

Casey Junior: Typically goes by CJ to avoid confusion, whether the J stands for Jones or Junior is up for debate. Trans fella, He/Him. I think about elderqueer!Future Leo helping him figure his egg shit out in the middle of the apocalypse all the time and it brings me great joy, (Watch Future!Donnie whip out old recordings of leo’s crackly ass second puberty voice whenever CJ gets insecure about his💀). Spends half his time in present day NYC seeing people’s faces and going “Damn, did i watch that person die as a kid or am i trippin?”. Since his name got shortened to CJ, a lot of people have taken to shortening it further to “Cee-j” which ended up inspiring his vigilante name; Siege. (I’ve literally never seen anyone try to give any Casey’s vigilante persona an actual name before so there ya go, no further reasoning beyond ‘it sounds cool’). Got adopted by Future!Casey, after being taken to a resistance base camp by his mortally wounded Bio!dad who basically dropped dead on arrival. (Hey it’s like Links backstory in ocarina of time but like- he gets a mom and 4 turtle dads instead of a tree)

April O’Neil: bisexual but with a strong fem preference, and She/Her! Naturally gravitated towards the field of journalism because unlike her previous jobs, being surrounded by weird shit is actually pretty beneficial when you’re trynna report on interesting stuff! It’s actually this shift in career focus that helps her feel less insecure about how weird her life, and by extension, she, is. I mean hey it’s payin the bills, hard to resent that. The first turtle she met was Donnie, the guys were playing basketball when Don missed a pass and the ball bounced away so he had to go get it, only to run into April for the first time. Ofc the first thing she pointed out wasn’t his emerald complexion or stinky sewer smell, but that he was wearing jupiter jim merch, and the rest was history. The turtles all feel bummed about how busy she is since going to college, but want also support their big sis too much to make a stink about it, they know she misses them too. I like to think Leo just portals into her dorm sometimes and her completely normal ass roommate who came from out of town just had to deal with that with 0 explanation given.

Splinter: This right here is a textbook example of an eternal disaster bisexual in action. Jesus fuck this rat can fit so many mental disorders in him. His combined mommy and daddy issues ensured he’d only romantically pursue the most red flag ridden mfs on earth for all time *cough cough* BIG MAMA *cough cough* Because he had bad vision problems post mutation (Rats actually have really bad eyesight irl so i feel like that could be a side affect of being mutated into one) he went out of his way to properly color code the turtles early on so he wouldn’t mix them up. When he first took in the turtles his ass did not know they were sentient (his only points of comparison for them were Draxum’s feral lab experiments) and basically treated them like more like pets up until Raph started talking and he realized “oh shit i’m a father of four now fuck” (this is also why he called them colors to begin with, their names didn’t matter too much if they couldn’t understand them) Once he figured out they were actually kids he finally gave them real names, but he still calls them by color out of habit and now they’re more like silly nicknames. Everything his kids think they get away with without him knowing he 100% knows about. He may be past his prime but his ninja instincts and dad bullshit detector are sharp as ever.

Cassandra Jones: Raging, feral, She/Her, lesbian. Adhd, emphasis on the H. Has at least 1 parent but they are not very active in her life, i mean at least i hope not bc goddam if they’re knowingly letting their kid lead a gang of girlsscouts and get wrapped up in a murder cult then i’ve got some serious questions. Look to Lieutenant and Brute as pseudo parental figures, though it’s largely unreciprocated even if they do somewhat care for her safety at the very least. One of the very few people (outwardly at least) to not at all be changed by the apocalypse. She’s still just as if not more trigger happy and crackheaded during the end of the world than she was before, she is nothing if not consistent. Willingly signs off on Future!Donnie giving CJ the chainsaw hockey stick at like 5 years old, it’s only Leo stepping in to nip that at the bud that prevented that disaster waiting to happen. Adopted CJ basically onsight. She was the one there when his bio-dad showed up and died right in front of the base, saw the baby, scooped him up, and that was that.

Draxum: This man a walking queer coded disney renaissance villain and u think i’m NOT gonna hit him with the gay stick? blasphemy. He/Him, also i read this fic that made him Tamil and i fucked with it heavy so now it lives in my brain rent free. (Go read the But First They Must Catch You series by mudlarkspur on ao3 it’s like my favorite separated au of all the ones i’ve read and i’ve read A LOT of those mfs). Definitely was a lil bit smitten w Lou Jitsu, at least before he rocked his shit and destroyed his life’s work weather or not this starts rearing its head again following his reconciliation with a certain rat man remains to be seen. Began training Mikey in the mystic arts post movie to help him control his powers but eventually somehow also acquired Donnie as a protege (They bond over their shared love of terrorism). Hes not very good at dad stuff like showing affection, but his way of showing it definitely entails giving them the knowledge and skills to take care of themselves should the need arise. Made peace-ish with Leo post movie, after a lengthy dr feelings sesh, Leo still brings up the roof incident all the time though just to fuck with him bc he’s a petty cunt whom i adore.

Aight that’s all i got for now, lmk if you wanna hear about any other characters or just share your own headcanons!! It brings me joy

Have a good day :3