#there may be things about donnie i forgot to mention

[techn0tony]

I present to you: Donnie's design from my Future AU (that still does not have a name-)

Okay so a few things I should mention:

It's hard to see these details, but he has a robotic hand and eye (and one of his legs as well)

He is so fucking tall, he is taller than Leo even (but shorter than Raph of course). And yes he does tease Leo about it

He is the second brother to die, but I haven't decided his cause of death yet

There is a lore reason for places on his skin being blue, but it would be spoilers for my Separated AU if I told the reason x.x

This is the same Donnie from my Separated AU, my AU's are connected

EDIT MONTHS LATER LMAO:

Augh okay so actually I updated this recently: He does not die after Raph anymore, now Donnie is the first brother who dies

And the AU has a name now! It's the Genius Built AU

[cupcakeslushie]

Hello,

HOLLY SH*T (about the last update)

When Leo gets his memories back does he also remember those (f*cking)400 days?

How would Leo have grown up to be like, if his memories weren't taken from him? (would he have become kind of like Donnie?)

will he ever open up to someone about this?

Does he have some kind of triggers left from the experience, even though his memories wee taken from it?

I adore your work and Have a great week 😁

1. 🤗

2. So, Leo’s issues are like a leak in a dam constantly trying to be held back. Kitsune’s magic can suppress or manipulate his memories, but a lot still manage to get through. Hence the need for the repeated sessions, and then later the Empyrean, to act as a booster to her magic—as Leo has built up a tolerance over the years, making it less and less effective. Leo does remember some things. Unfortunately, every time he starts to ask questions, he’s been so conditioned to seek out Kitsune to ‘fix’ his mind and suppress his emotions. But some of his memories were impossible to erase completely. They followed him around like little shadows, haunting him, and his choices. Leo is not stupid. He more discerning than he let’s on, and like Saki said, fear can be a powerful motivator. By the time Leo’s managed to claw his way up to a better position, he’s been fed so many lies that he doesn’t even trust his own reasoning. It’s just easier, and less painful to follow orders, no matter what his brain is constantly trying to tell him.

3. Tbh Leo probably wouldn’t have been very different from how he is. Shredder is a lot more…calculating in his abuse of Leo, than Draxum was for Donnie. Draxum was so unpredictable and volatile in his abuse. Everything that Donnie tried to do better, never seemed to help lessen his torture. It was just pain for the sake of pain. Shredder may be a monster, but his abuse had a goal—to make a warrior he could puppet into killing Yoshi. Saki didn’t just provide constant trauma, he gave positive reinforcement when Leo did something right, and used careful manipulation to bend Leo over to his side. All Kitsune’s spell did was make it easier and faster. If Shredder hadn’t had magic at his disposal, then it would’ve just taken more time and effort to break Leo and remold him, or Shredder might’ve just cut his losses and killed him.

4. Leo doesn’t want to burden his brothers with things that have already passed, and that feeling only gets stronger after he’s been saved from the Dark Armor. He’s constantly insisting that he doesn’t feel one way or the other from those days. It happened, but he says he feels so disconnected from it all. Leo’s earlier return to his family had already been filled with so much fighting, thanks to his withdrawals when he was first brought home causing him to act so erratic. Leo thinks as long as he’s not shouting at his brothers, or trying to attack Splinter, that he’s dealing with everything pretty well. Obviously that’s bullshit. But he’s gonna do a lot of healing during his trip with Usagi.

5. Leo’s worst triggers are when his family is in danger. Those times are when he falls back into either total bloodlust, or a more ruthless mentality, in order to protect them. Leo getting recaptured and thrown back into a cell will be like a wave of memories and trauma hitting him at full force. Like I’ve mention in point 1. He never totally forgot certain things, but the months spent free of Kitsune’s influence makes his second capture so much worse. He’ll be feeling all that fear and panic unfiltered, for the first time in years, and he’ll be able to recall the true horror of it—not the watered down, warped simulacrum Shredder wanted him to remember. Which loops back to point 4 about Leo’s lack of admitting his feelings being a coping mechanism. Once he gets rescued, unconsciously, he’s trying to mimic the dampening effect of Kitsune’s spell, by insisting through sheer force of will, that everything is fine. He can only convince himself that he’s unaffected by everything he’s experienced for so long.

6. Thank you!!! I hope you have an amazing week as well!

I’m sorry if this is kinda rambling, all these ideas be more clearly implemented in the comic, (at least I hope lol).

I also can’t remember how long ago I’ve even talked about Leo’s memory problems in one of these replies. I might be totally backtracking cause I think I’ve said before his memory was wiped completely, but I’ve been thinking it would give more complexity to his choices, if it was revealed his memory was actually more intact than Mikey’s this whole time. Mikey brain just needed a little boost from Raph, because his issue came more from him being so young that things faded over time. With Leo, it’s like a battle where his brain is trying to latch on to what it can to fight the effects of Kitsune’s spell. So his memory may be full of holes and beaten with a stick over and over, but it’s still knocking around in Leo’s head.

[nerves-nebula]

Remember when you mentioned about older but not THAT old Donnie and Leo forming a suicide pact? Each person coming up with an upcoming event or some other reason why to leave it till later (despite Donnie eventually trying it alone)? Did the others ever find out about that pact? Is there anymore can say about it. Scenes and whatnot. Just curious

(guy who forgot about this and is now coming up with new shit for it) hmm yea so thing is that it's not like. a SERIOUS suicide pact. since the point was always to force each other to stay alive.

mostly i think it'd just come up as a bit every now and then. one of them would feel miserable or have to do something really hard and the other would bring it up. it's like, something they bond over (which may or may not stop after Donnie actually makes an attempt cuz he kinda broke the pact.. but also it's not as funny anymore. they might still do it tho idk. it'd be nice if it was a consistent thing)

so any scenes where it'd be brought up wouldn't be ABOUT the suicide pact, they'd just be about other stuff and the pact is mentioned.

idk if it was ever, like, super duper hidden from the others. they just weren't there when it was formed. they probably noticed it at some point cuz donnie and leo will reference it and so maybe after that they make jokes about it too. but otherwise, idk.

[britt-kageryuu]

A stream is starting with Leo hosting, his starting soon screen is him snoozing whole laying on a pool float in the water, with some turtle shaped toys floating around him.

The scene switches over to Leo's model dressed in a royal blue yukata with scattered white rabbits, his bandana in an fancy bow with a 'hair ornament' that has the Hamato clan symbol hanging down, black tabi, and blue zori. His model is sitting in the same background of a traditional Japanese home with the shrine to Gram Gram, that Donnie used. River and Shelldon are seen sleeping in the shrine room.

Lots of cheering in the chat, and appreciation for the outfit.

"Hey guys! Sorry for not posting anything in 2 weeks. I think Dee already covered were we went, and some stories, but I can fill you guys in on things they may have not mentioned." Leo smiles, and grabs a tablet to read off some Notes, and questions.

"Okay first off, 'Why didn't we post anything on our Socials?'... do you take us for fools? We're very aware of the fact people would try to track us down based on what we post, I've heard of other content creators who heard from fans 'Hey based on that photo you just posted you're 15 minutes from me! LOL!' Really... Why?" Leo has a disappointed look as he says this. "It would be more weird with an UwU, or OwO, but hey some people are different."

"Second, 'Why didn't you mention a family emergency, or vacation?' We didn't want to accidentally mention where we were headed, but we also kinda forgot to post anything, and didn't think it counted as an emergency." Leo pauses and looks to the side while thinking over the 'drama' that happened, he says some quietly but it's still picked up by the mic, "Pretty sure some random Aunt throwing a fit over her son not wanting to follow a long dead tradition doesn't even count as a family emergency anyway."

Those is chat who heard and understood what he said are spamming for clarification.

"Third, 'Did you have any problems during your trip?' Well, yeah. Red is pretty big, and he had to duck down and squeeze through places alot when we went just about anywhere." Leo brings up a chibi cartoon of Raph deside a door much shorter and thinner than him, and Chibi Raph trying to squeeze through, "I don't know how much Dee went over, but Red was very sad he couldn't fit into some places, and couldn't go on alot of rides. We made up for it by going to some really awesome outdoor locations. We even found some local Wrestling league that were very excited to have Red join them for a couple short notice events."

Leo grabs his drink, and shifts his position. He takes a drink as he looks at the next question, chokes, and starts coughing.

For the next minute chat is asking what's wrong, is he okay, and asking if they should message one of the others.

Leo gets his breathing under control, takes a couple deep breaths, turns his head to the side, and "WHY DID YOU IMPLY I WAS ASKING FOR HIS HAND IN MARRIAGE!?!?!?!" He yelled at the audience could only assume is Dee.

Faintly you could hear "I didn't~ They just assumed~"

Leo still annoyed continued, "ugh, 'Did you ask your boyfriend's family if they will let you marry him?' No, we haven't been together, what we think, is a long enough time to get married. Plus my Samurai hasn't even asked Pops yet... I think." Leo's model now has a look of suspicion, and he thinks it over.

Chat is going nuts with Rabbit, Turtle, and Blue Heart emojis. And some ring emoji being snuck in, and hidden.

He shakes off the idea, reads over the next few questions or notes. " 'Who are the other turtles in the opening screen?' Those are two cousins of ours Cass and CJ, they live nearby and also have their own space here. Though CJ is currently planning to travel the country and further, so He isn't going to show up very much. They didn't really ask to be turtles, we just figured Cass is a common Snapper, and CJ is a Map, and Mandarin drew it up for us. 'And is the other Girl, April?' Yeah, she has changed up her personal style, but we draw her how she looked in years ago with some changes. She has some ideas for her full online persona. Her current picture is just a placeholder."

Leo scrolls through the list with little nope, no, too personal, and why did they bother? After a minute or so he just puts the tablet down with a sigh.

"Well, I don't want to go over any more questions, so let's start a poll on what we do next. Everyone ready here's your choices!!"

The stream continues with Leo playing a couple small games, and alot of small talk, and avoiding questions.

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

Masterpost

[nardos-primetime]

what's the most fucked up thing/AU/whatever you made? I wanna desensitize myself to your work before diving in.

Starting out with saying I wouldn't condone any of the bad shit within my stories, often times these are just what ifs I find interesting to look into. I wouldn't look at an actual murderer irl and go "Awesome" but I'll joke around with my villain Mikey like "He hasn't done a thing wrong heart emoji" when he has actively killed and enjoyed the murder of multiple people.

A lot of my aus are more toned down from my regular more personal works, solely because I can't help but go a bit easier on the turtles since they are a comfort for me and I wouldn't find my more personal topics appropriate for the turtles.

Overall, I'd say body horror, disease, self harm, suicide, murder, and mental/physical abuse/child abuse/neglect is something to look out for in a lot of my works, along with gore and injury in general. I also have a tendency to write cannibalism (an interesting motif to me, I would not condone it irl, obviously) and/or autocannibalism (to cope with personal issues I am not comfortable elaborating on, it's some Mental health stuff.) Overall I like putting the turtles through it, lmao.

(Forgot to add animal abuse/death)

I will never directly delve into the topic of sex within my works (as in you'll never see me write any of them doing such acts), but I have a handful of somewhat older Leo's who specifically deal with unhealthy romance, one of these is within my magical boys au where all four experience some level of inappropriateness due to their fame, not once is this a good thing, and this is meant to be a bad thing within the story. The other has a Leo who dates around a lot but always falls short due to his anxieties and commitment issues. He never goes through with it, though he likes to joke about more sexual topics. (He's crude.)

The magical boys au, priorly mentioned, contains underage drinking and smoking, mental health issues, self-harm, and the boys being mistreated and abused within their own workplace, one way or another.

One of my oneshots currently has a younger child get murdered in it, though I've deliberately made the death surrounding it not as detailed, as even if younger children die in my stories it makes me uncomfortable to focus on it the same I would other characters, unless it's an injury a child survives, then it's a 50/50. This is a situation that is conflicting for the main character, but is done out of survival's sake. (In his eyes.)

Viral.Donnie has evolved into a character that focuses on addiction later on, and I do tend to give the turtles addictions depending on the story.

Million Dollar Box/Villain Mikey has hallucinations, vivid, probably not 100% accurate, but these are not his real brothers. Story wise, they are a way to delve into his mental state and look at his conflicting feelings about his family.

Villain Raph is less developed, but he actively is mentally (and physically) abusive to his brothers in his own way.

A lot of the time, my writing style mixes with the thoughts and personality of the main focus, and a lot of these times, the characters are not rational nor moral. Untrustworthy narrators are fun.

You will see I don't like actively splitting up the turtles entirely very much. Normally, I'd be able to do it easily, but I have a soft spot for them. Hell, Viral Donnie, Villain Raph, and Million Dollar Box Mikey's follow-up story gives them a family after losing theirs. Most of the time, if one turtle falls, I take the others, or at least one others with them. For fun.

I try to not go for just shock value, even if I like describing the horrors I like having a reasoning, whether it be some insane deeper meaning I made up, it fitting a character/their personality, or just being interesting for me. I do my best to tag all potentially triggering topics within my works, but I may slip up at times. Apologies for that.

Horror is my main fixation overall outside of TMNT, and I like various types of it. The Nonsense Apocalypse AU is supposed to be a mixture of slice of life and horror, resulting in a world that just doesn't make sense, with some more... serious aspects on top.

I hope this helps, I kinda went on a ramble, but I didn't want too much confusion since most of my actual aus aren't fully out yet in any way.

Hope it helps again, Anon.

[tangledinink]

Hello! I love your art and I had a few questions for the Swannie AU you have created. I have a lot so I separated them into sections if that helps.

Inventing at the Lake

1: In your April comic, she mentions a bracelet project and I don't think it has been mentioned again yet so... what is it and does it get added to the ensemble upon completion?

2: Aside from the directly mentioned bracelet, what else has Dee created?

3: Does Dee still create things for his brothers and if he does, does he just forget why it was made until he has a good day?

April Specific

4: What does April and Dee do when he has a really good memory day rather than just a nonviolent day?

The Birthday Fight

5: After the birthday fight, does Dee have a slightly more aggressive reaction to Lee on bad memory days?

6: Since Donnie won't remember said fight, does Leo try to celebrate their b-day again (without lying about the date) or does he decided to just not celebrate until they have Dee back?

6: Have any of the brothers visited when the board was destroyed and if so how did they react? (Espically Nardo if he saw it after that fight.)

Gifts and Holidays

7: Have any of the brothers baught gifts for Dee? If so, how would he react? Would they leave it at the edge of the lake if it is an aggressive day?

8: The last comic mentioned that a birthday had passed without Dee recognizing Leo. How have other holidays gone such as Christmas and New Years (being the first ones that came to mind)?

I know Swanatello started as a joke sona, but I think that your world creation is outstanding, especially since you mentioned that you tent to come up with answers on the spot. I may have been taking notes for my own AU world creation and the questions some readers could have. I hope you continue creating because your art is truly inspiring. Thank you and have a nice day. :)

Ahh thank you! ; w ; Answers are under the cut because it's a little long.

This is now answered! :D

He's mostly been working on the Research Board and on trying to figure out how the magick of the lake works and how he could reverse it. He's also been working on a generator so he can more reliably have electricity out here, as well as something that could boost signals so they could get reception at the lake.

He does when he's able! Most of them right now are very small things, as he currently struggles with any large projects given his memory issues. Anything he makes right now, ideally, should be able to be finished within a day or less. It is currently very easy for him to stray off-task or get distracted or sidelined, given that a majority of the time he's not able to fully understand the purpose, nuances, or importance of his 'main projects.' Some days he simply doesn't understand why he would want to work on a dumb research board that doesn't even make sense to him when he could make something badass for his family instead, or go do lake shit. And the research board will still be there later, right? As a result of the above, he has a ton of half-finished projects squirreled away that are intended as gifts for his brothers, but that he wasn't able to complete before he forgot and then later couldn't identify, or projects that he DID complete, but he then forgot about it before he was ever able to gift them to their intended recipient, so now he just... has them, and isn't really sure why.

Leo was terrified of this, but he really doesn't. It's really like it never even happened. Donnie doesn't seem to remember it at all or hold any resentment or ill will towards Leo in the least, and it's honestly almost worse. Donnie doesn't remember what happened, so Leo can't really apologize to him for it, or talk about it with him, or make proper amends. He almost wishes that Donnie WOULD hold a grudge over it so he didn't have to feel so... guilty. But he doesn't.

Leo just decides to let it go and wait for their next birthday, and hope that the next one is better. Trying to celebrate this one, now, feels wrong somehow.

Since the board was destroyed and Donnie relied on it in some ways to aid him with his memory issues, there is a gap between Leo's visit and the next time Donnie is able to recognize one of them enough to not chase them away. About a week and some change. It's Raph who finds the board, and it sort of helps him realize why things have been the way they have been lately, which is... a relief, kind of? But also it's heartbreaking, and it kills him to think that Donnie was hurting so bad and that he wasn't around to help. Not that Donnie understands now what happened to the board or even what its significance is... But that's okay. Raph focuses on comforting Donnie that day, because so much progress has been undone and he's confused and scared, and calmly helps him to rebuild the basic foundations of the board. And they all slowly help him repair it day-by-day after that.

They bring Donnie gifts all the time! Anything from tool kits to books to research documents to stim toys to food to clothing are on the table. If it's an aggressive day, they'll just wait for a day when he recognizes them to give it to him, because they can't really trust that he'll find and accept things that they leave, and they want to be around to make sure he understands what it is and that things are alright. There have been times that they've brought him gifts-- an old blanket, a hoodie, a drawing from Mikey-- and it ends up tripping something in his brain or triggering a memory and ends up leaving him in a very fragile emotional state. It's not always a bad thing, but sometimes he won't realize anything is wrong with his current situation until he's presented with a stuffed toy from their childhood, and then it all hits him. They've realized it's much better if they're around should something like this happen so they can help explain things and provide support.

He's missed quite a few holidays. When they can, they'll come celebrate with him. For Christmas, for example, everyone who visited around that time explained to him that it was Christmas (even if it wasn't the actual day) and they did their best to celebrate, depending on Donnie's current emotional state at the time and what that allowed for. There was some gift-exchanging (Donnie was devastated he didn't have anything prepared to give back!!!!!!), some candy-and-cookie consuming, some snow-ball-fighting, and some Nutcracker-dancing. But overall, the entire thing was bittersweet, because they were so limited in what they could do to celebrate and they all knew Donnie almost certainly wouldn't remember any of the things they did together. The holiday felt very hollow without him home with them.

Ahhhh thank you ; w ; THATS SO SWEET,,, AND MAKES ME HAPPY,,, I AM GLAD YOU ENJOY IT,,,,

[mimastuff]

M,kay so like, may I request the 4 turns finding out that they were Y/n's pet before draxum stole and mutated them.

(this can be romantic if y/n got them when they were so a baby or platonic if y/n got them when they were older)

Thank you!

ILYSM this is a good one 😌

Pet teetels

——————————————————————————

Raph❤️ - non established relationship

- your family owned a very cool breed of turtle

- As a kid you used to adore him

- He was your pride and joy :)

- That was until one fate full day your aligator snapping turtle was snatched up by some tall goat freak show of a man.

- You wanted revenge

- but since you weren’t even old enough to go out on your own you waited the day you set your eyes on your beloved turtle

- Now things have changed

- You met April though your new school in New York

- You both took a photograph class and now you guys have been great friends since !

- She soon introduced the turtles when she was ready

- Now you stood in front of four human sized turtles.

- Except for one.

- This one looked vaguely familiar…

“This one is Leo and this is raph!” You waved sheepishly at them all which the one in orange soon returned. “It’s nice to meet you all finally! April has been bragging about you guys for weeks !” You felt a small hit to the arm as you all chuckled. The brothers even let you stay for dinner ! As the pizza boxes were being put out you couldn’t help but stare at the turtle. “Hey , do you need help with those? Also I couldn’t help but notice your cool fighting skills! April showed me a video of you fighting some feet clan or something?” Raph looked up at you with sparkles in his eyes. No one had ever had full interest in who he was beyond his green skin and stink. “Oh yeah ! I think you mean to foot clan but yes , our dad splinter taught us how to train . Well as most he could anyway heh” you chuckled and picked up the rest of the boxes and brought them to the group. “Jupiter Jim anyone ? “ the blue one shouted. Everyone lit up as you nodded with a smile. You say the pizza boxes down and everyone took a slice. You and raph talked throughout the whole movie. Whispering of course 😊. As the last scene finishes you couldn’t help but ask for raphs number. He was super interesting and not to mention handsome as all hell. Once you got home he texted you first.

“Hey it’s Raphael! I’m really glad I met you today , it was fun :)”

“Yes it was ! Hey I forgot to mention that you look really familiar to me. I can’t stop thinking where I have seen you !”

“Heh , that’s weird. Maybe did you have a pet turtle or someone you knew did ? “

“ I actually did , but he got taken by some funky goat man when I was little . The turtle was older than me by like 3 months lol”

“Umm well I think I might need to do some explaining but I think I was your turtle”….

Donnie💜 - non established relationship

- you couldn’t help but realise how your friend Donnie looked vaguely familiar

- Could it be his eyebrows ?

- Or maybe his mask?

- The question replayed in your head but a ding in your phone shut your thoughts up

Ding ding. Your phone went off. The smooth ring tone you had set for Donnie rung loudly in your room filling up the lingering silence and loudness of your thoughts. You expression changed when you saw the picture he sent you. Rather the selfie he sent you. It was him in a fight with some , goat man? Omg ! The same man that had stolen your soft shell turtle has a kid !!! You text Donnie back quickly.

“ that goat man stole my turtle as a kid :(“

“What.”

“Yeah. He was the family pet we had. But he stole my angry little soft shell turtle.”

“ you know he mutated us right ? And umm I’m a soft shell … surprise I might be your childhood pet …”

Mikey🧡 - established relationship

- mikey was your sweetheart of a boyfriend

- But he had a familiar feeling about him

- You felt as though those same hands you held that you have touched before

- That same cheek you have kisses , you have kissed before

- Mikey feels the same , that’s when you both realise something …

You and your turtle boyfriend are cuddling on the couch and watching Jupiter Jim. You turn to him with a smile on your face. He looks down at your sparkling eyes and pauses the movie. “Are you ok baby cakes ? You’re looking at me with stars in your eyes:)” you look into his eyes once more , holding eye contact while you spoke. “You know , when I first met you, you seemed really familiar to me. Now that we are dating I can’t help but feel that it’s getting stronger. I just don’t know where it’s come from !!” He looked at you with a sudden surprised expression. “No way , man ! Me too. Like when you hold me it feels , nostalgic.” You looked at the tv again. A goat had been mutated to an alien on screen. “Hey I knew someone who was kind of a goat man. He stole my turtle when I was younger! “ oh. Mikey finally clicked. You had heard of his past and how he was mutated. You both smiled at the same time and in sink squealed! “You were my pet as a kid !! I loved you , still do !! <33” mikey felt the need to hug you in that moment.

Leo 💙

- your blue boyfriend was swinging his swords in training.

- You looked up at him to feel an unknown sensation

- As if , you knew him before ?

- Like maybe in a past life ?

- No , too far.

- But his laugh felt too nostalgic to be a coincidence….

Leo turned to you as you gave him a curious look. The way his sword swooshed in the air , the way his bandana tails swayed with every hit of the air around him. He felt kinda like home. You really loved your boyfriend. He meant the world to you. Before when you were just friends, in the early stages of your guys relationship it really felt as if that you had know each other for years. It was a spark that ignited into a forest fire of warmth. His stupid witty jokes and smirks felt all too familiar in this moment. You clearly have a horrible poker face as he came and sat next to you. “You good babe ? You have been weird all day, any guys ass I need to kick ?” You chuckled , always with the jokes to lighten the mood. “Nah I’m good just can’t shake this feeling that I have met you before we properly met.” He thought for a second. “Maybe in a past life ?” Definitely not. “No it feels more now. You know I had a red slider turtle just like you as a kid. Some one ended up stealing him tho :(“ Leo’s face lit up , draxum ! You both giggled at the fact of fate working its magic again. You two will always be connected wether you like it or not.

——————————————————————————-

Two tonight , woop woop I’m on fireee

Seriously tho I had no ideas for this so it took ages bug I just love you guys so much I pulled through 😍😋

[umhuhwellthen]

JUST WATCHED THE S2 FINALE OF TMNT 2K12 AND

DONNIE WHERE'D YOU GET NUCLEAR WASTE????? WHERE WERE U KEEPING IT AND THE MECH???? CAN APRIL HAVE HER DAD FOR 5 FUCKIN MINUTES???? HOW THE HELL DID KRANG SUBPRIME GET SO GOOD AT IMITATING TEEN GIRL???? AHHHHHH COMA ARC/FARM ARC INCOMING FUCK

OH ALMSOT FORGOT MY FAV FIGHT SCENE BETWEEN SHREDDER AND SPLINTER SO FAR??? MAN'S STARTED HISSING AND FUCKIN BITING THATS HIS BOY!!! HIS SON YOU FUCK GET FUCKED STOP HURTIHG HIS FICKIN KIDSSSS SPLINTER WENT APESHIT YESSSSSS GO FOR THE FACE YESS TEAR HIS THROAT OUT MAIMING KILLING CLAWING AND BITING

ah so this is one of the legendary multiple times splinter died

Miscellaneous thoughts on my watchthrough:

Also skipped episodes becasue of Donnie being..."enamored" with April like bruhhhh they way they wrote it....why

Did not know Casey was introduced s2, also why such the huge fuckin gap, did they not want him to have look same as Donnie???? Like just put the gap in a different place also are his teeth yellow?????in one of the zoom ins when they were group hugging April compared to her and Donnie's his were tinted????? Like damn y'all are cruel to the humans when you design them like the Hamatos and mutants get all the love in design but fuck everybody else

Also don't recommend binge watching the series because the back of your head will always be like damn those kids cannot catch a break just whammy after whammy,like they'll get a week or two(at best!!! Mostly maybe a day or two if at all!!!)of nothing much happening, maybe fighting lowtier grunts but that's it, but a week or two is just 7-14 days which is not a lot in the grand scheme of things

Also Leo stop trying to kys challenge pls and thx 🙏those eps with him remembering splinters words of complete the mission no matter what/who the cost like sir/ma'am??????

Also was sit just me but in the ep 'into dimension x ' was Mikey's voice deeper??? Like for a lil bit??? See why the head canon of it not being months but years is popular also people always mention holy shit kraang skin helmet but what about kraang limbs lasso? Kraang arms armbands? Motherfucker made them into pelts holy shit

Speaking of Mikey I thought the hidden blade in his nunchunks was something added??? Like an upgrade after a fight?? But no he always had it??? God no wonder y'all say these version of the turtles are down for murder yeah after seeing s1/2 they deserve it I love them so much this is why you should(not) give teenagers dangerous ninja skills and weapons

Blue eyes same shade as mask seriously??? I thought it was a darker shade but fanart tricked me, brown eyes Leo supremacy indeed

Once I finish space arc I'm gonna draw half-kraang April because she deserves spooky eyes and sharp teeth she's a little bug eyed freak/affectionate anime girl proportions tiny nose

May add more as I go along

[thedawningofthehour]

If they had succeeded in getting Donnie/Galois to the Lair, how would things have played out in chapter 26 when it was the twins' birthday? Would Leo still have been sulking or would he have tried to get Donnie to remember via trying to get him engaged in some birthday activities (trying to get Donnie/Galois to make a birthday wish/eat cake together, try to goad him into watching Jupiter Jim and Lou Jitsu movies, offering Galois/Donnie a gift, etc.)? I may want to write a fanfic on it.

Well, Leo kind of forgot his own birthday. Partly because of the 'gestures to everything happening so much in his life' but also because of his general refusal to acknowledge the passage of time and accept that it's been a year since he's last really been with his twin. So by the chapter 25 reverse-kidnapping attempt, (their birthday was on a Tuesday and I think the actual event was the Saturday before? I do take notes but they're often incomprehensible even to myself) their birthday wasn't even on his radar. And he would have been so busy taking care of Donnie-making sure he was comfortable, trying to gather materials that might jog his memory, just hanging out near him and talking, reassuring himself that his brother is home and safe-that he probably wouldn't have thought about it.

(also consider when and how the reverse-kidnapping succeeded-like, did they get Cass too? Was this before or after his power surge? Because Gale was still pretty zonked out at that point and might have been even worse off if Draxum wasn't helping him recover. [though the fam could have conceivably called Bella and friends for help, Josh would have been able to give them stuff to help him] Not to mention if the HCPD didn't succeed in arresting Draxum and Tigerclaw, they would be frantically searching for the kids and trying to take them back)

The fam probably would have reminded him a little earlier, wanting to really celebrate because they had both the birthday boys home this time-but would have toned it down because they'd know that wasn't what Donnie needed right then. They would have convinced Mikey not to make the massive meals and cakes he'd have been planning in his head for Donnie's birthday/homecoming extravaganza, (he gets that it would be overwhelming-he's just excited) maybe making a small layer cake or just a bunch of cupcakes. Which Gale probably wouldn't have eaten, since he doesn't see this as his birthday and knows he's not allowed sweets aside from very special occasions. (he probably wouldn't eat anything they gave him, honestly-if Cass was there she'd demand to try it first, just to be sure they're not poisoning him, and even then Gale would be wary)

I don't see any gifts or elaborate birthday plans, honestly. Leo would probably try to entice him into doing something chill together, like watching movies or a marathon. (they'd already be showing him JJ and Lou Jitsu movies, hoping to jog his memory) But he wouldn't push it too hard. The day would have still been pretty quiet for the fam, and still tinged with sadness because Donnie would still be insisting he was Galois and very resistant to all their attempts to bond and make him more comfortable. But much, much happier than canon.

Go ahead! This fic has so many points where the plot could have turned and veered off in a completely different direction, there's a lot of little oneshots I've thought about doing but ultimately just came back to the main fic. You guys can do whatever you want with this AU, so long as you link back to me. I'd love to see it!

[geekgemsspooksandtoons]

Okay, spoilers for Marvel's Spider-Man 2 to my followers who haven't played the game or if you don't mind. I'm going to...vent in a sense or suggest a crazy idea because I want to talk about this.

Despite the fact they would have to rehaul the game's story.

I still don't like Harry as Venom. But I swear, if the developers had to somehow really tie Eddie into it without making it overcomplicated. Even if this idea seems crazy. Here's this idea they could've done.

Take out the hints and mentions of Eddie from the first two games. Mainly Eddie's name on that one card here.

If the developers are Hell bent on the idea of Harry being Venom. Here's what they could've done. They could've done this story where Harry as he's had the symbiote off for a while. As he's remembering his mother. He somehow finds out he isn't actually an Osborn; he was actually adopted. His real name is actually Edward Brock. But his name was changed to Harry after his birth father straight up abandoned him. Including learning his birth mother died giving birth to him.

Norman and Emily were going to one day tell Harry he was adopted. But when Emily died, Norman essentially forgot and decided it wasn't worth telling Harry. Because Harry developed the same sort of disease which we are going to call it "Cancer" and take elements from Eddie Brock's later years as a character. This information distraught Harry. Along with everything else around him going wrong.

He's slowly dying, his best friend isn't giving back the symbiote, the Emily May Foundation is destroyed, he doesn't feel like he's good enough for his father. And one of the worst things he's now discovered is that his "Mother" who he idolized wasn't actually his mother. And his birth father actually abandoned him to die.

When getting the symbiote back, all that anger built up, he seeks to "Heal the world" in his own way. But killing the ones who have wronged him and others. Yet also, to protect the innocent from those. Possibly any surviving villains that Kraven had not killed. And keep Kraven alive towards the end. Venom is killing villains that should've survived till later, hunters, cultists and whoever else.

Harry or Eddie in this case has become the "Venom" to all those people that needed to be punished. As "Venom" has been used in medicine sometimes to treat pain and other sorts of things that people have talked about.

Maybe you can still have the symbiote invasion stuff. But I'm not sure about that. Because while it's visually awesome and cool to play. I feel it doesn't fully fit the story or it becomes...less personal in a sense. And taking elements from Donny Cate's Venom run without putting in the substance. And sadly, not paying him any royalties too.

And let me be honest. This honestly sounds SO MUCH WORSE if they went with this. It sounds like a bastardized amalgamation of Harry and Eddie. It's much better when these two are separate characters. Especially Harry's time as the Green Goblin which I know they're building that character up with Norman. Yet Insomniac pretty much screwed up Venom. Even if they were to make that Venom game with Eddie in it.

Also, despite how much I love Kraven in the game. I feel like they could've maybe used Sin Eater in this game if we're going to have Venom but...that's a whole other discussion.

[octolingkiera]

May I request more info about the rise au so I can better suggest additional characters?

yeah of course!! i honestly forgot to mention what kind of au it is in the post itself (i made the post and then got off tumblr for hours like i was trying to forget i even made it in the first place dlkgfjsdljg) but i'd be happy to provide more info on the au!

(the post in question)

so the au is the separated au i've been working on for over a year (first chapter is posted on ao3 as sunset hues, jetpack blues) and i'm looking to add more characters into the fic to spice things up a little

the general premise is that splinter was only able to save raph and mikey, leaving leo and donnie (known in the fic as lee and dee) with draxum. the fic starts about where the series does, around the events of mystic mayhem, and after raph, mikey, and april destroy draxum's lab, lee and dee use this as a distraction to run away.

i intend the fic to follow lee and dee as they forge their new life away from draxum, and along the way they meet their brothers and splinter and april and end up becoming heroes. i'm going to loosely follow canon (a retelling, sort of, as a lot of sep aus tend to) but i don't want to follow canon 1-to-1. i want to add some new arcs, some new adventures, and change the existing things to match the change of circumstances

the foot clan are still planning on bringing back shredder, that's a given, and some things might still happen along the same lines as canon (especially stuff that happens off screen and some of the stuff with raph/mikey/april) but i hate when fics just rehash canon, so i'm trying to add some excitement

some characters i've already considered are:

tigerclaw (he's a bounty hunter here)

miyamoto usagi (he's an adult here, and he owns a dojo in the hidden city)

bebop and rocksteady (i'm thinking they're battle nexus competitors)

mona lisa (i'm going to make her a yokai, possibly late teens, early 20s, and tweak her name to be ramona, with "mona" as a nickname)

miwa (borrowing this name to create a snake yokai that's friends with mona lol)

i jokingly thought it would be funny to add in the frog mutants from tmnt 87 lol

but i've been really stuck on how to add any more characters, and which characters to even add. i don't want them to be big characters or very important, mostly just characters that the cast can interact with to fill the world, but i'm not a big fan of OCs so i figured adding (semi) recognizable tmnt characters would be a fun workaround lol

adding some more characters to make yokai would be fun i think, bc rise has this whole city full of them and we only ever get to meet a handful and it leaves soooo many possibilities

i hadn't really considered adding more antagonists before (barring tigerclaw, who i have Plans for) but it might make for some interesting plot threads to add more of them. rise has a fun mutant cast but most of them get reused a lot and

sorry if this doesn't really help much but thanks for asking!! i'm very excited for this fic and i wanna make it the best it can be. i wanna talk about this fic so much but also i dont wanna spoil everything before i get around to writing it so it's a fine balance between explaining enough to be useful and not explaining too much lol

honestly, any suggestions would be helpful. just giving a place to start would help. i don't mind doing some research but i don't have firsthand experience with characters outside of rise, mutant mayhem, and anyone in the first three-ish seasons of 87

thanks again for the ask!!

[ducknotinarow]

[07 Casey and Summer]

He stood by his bike, waiting, with a grin. He always made sure he was here when the bell rang and the kids were finally freed. Casey stood when it happened, smiling more when he saw Summer, Case immediately walking forward, grabbing her and pulling her into a tight hug. Lifting Summer straight off her feet, Casey held her close,

"There yer are!" Casey exclaimed, "'Ere I was thinkin' I'd never see yer 'gain."

He knew that wasn't true, but Casey hated spending time away from his family. Being the usual lame, dorky dad he was, he pressed a kiss to her cheek, not caring for any level of embarrassment she may be feeling in that moment,

"I missed yer Dumplin'."

Not like he doesn't see her all time. Casey puts her down after a second, moving to ruffle up her hair now, chuckling,

"Yer 'ave a good day?" He asks, walking her towards his motorcycle, "Those assholes give yer anymore trouble?"

| Muse interaction

Summer, had to admit for the first time she could recall she just felt nervous. She was more used to the old school building, even the water fountains here were different from her last school. Teacher names she didn't recognize, the Gym and music room were connected. They had a computers class add in along with their specials rotation for every week. And she was thrown into this school just after they finished the week for gym putting her into learning to play a recorder? They displayed kids in art the week previous in a display case by the library. You could opt out of eating in the cafeteria during lunch to be in the library instead? Who want to spend their time in there though? Uncle Donnie would be that kid heck Ariel probably would even. She wished her cousin wasn't a mutant right now then she could maybe come to this new school with her.

Heck if she was in school with her chances are Summer never would of had to leave the last school to come here. She knows it was cause the school wasn't doing a thing to help with what was going on but at the same time, everything was just so weird and different here compared to her last school. But, guess it also didn't have kids calling her names and worse. So one point there. It was further away from home though.

In truth Summer was in a far better school than the previous one she had kept to herself most the day. Outside the usual 'hey this is the student be nice to them' speech her teacher gave. Or how she had to introduce her self to the music teacher and would have to do the same with the gym, computer, and art teachers and eventually the libraries maybe the office workers to. Not that Summer was planing to be in the office anytime soon. Summer honestly outside those few times had decided to keep quite. She sat in her seat and kept still, she didn't mention a like for turtles or hockey once. So no one looked at her or thought of her weird. It was the longest day of her life. Just waiting for lunch and recess to end felt like the worst part of her day. When most kids looked towards that time the best. Summer just wanted to go to bed. Which said something if Summer willing wanted to go to bed. When it finally came time to pack up and go though she was happy to be just a step closer to that want of hers.

Crowd of kids swarmed the building the second the bell rang out and kids made there ways out. Teachers in a futile attempt tried yelling to their classes to not forgot about an assignment they forgot to mention before the kids booked it out. Summer just wanted out of here she felt miserable if she was honest. No one was mean to her, but she hadn't talked and she didn't understand why that bugged her so much. If she kept quite then no one would know she was a freak and pick on her for it like at the last school. She just had to keep that up for well forever. Till School was over she guesses.

That didn't make her feel any better. Staring down at her shoes as she held the straps of her backpack. She could hear some murmuring from kids staying by the front doors of the building. Head lifting up when a few buzz words hit her ears. 'motorcycle' 'cool guy' and such. Smiles frown seemed to crack second she saw the so called cool guy in the 'drop off' lane. The only parent on a motorcycle mind you. Her lame dad. Skipping down the front steps and going straight into a sprint so she could get to Casey faster. Casey moved forward and easily scoop her clean off the ground her feet were once attached to as he pulled her in for a hug.

"There yer are!"

Casey exclaimed, as Summer slightly let out a playful shriek weakly trying to push free from the hug she found herself trapped in now.

"'Ere I was thinkin' I'd never see yer 'gain."

Course he was messing around Summer knew that, it's not like the school would trap her forever. It was just him being a dork as he went and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Ew Dad don't be gross." Giggling as she spoke breaking her words up between her laughing breaths. Trying more to get free from her sappy Dad, made worse because eyes were already on them from the fact Casey showed up on his bike to pick her up and well. Casey didn't exactly look like your typical parent beyond not driving some sort of van like most of the other parents in the 'drop off lane'. Meaning she was be subjected to the kids seeing how gross and lame her Dad was. Though she didn't hate it of course, but it was still very embarrassing.

"I missed yer Dumplin'."

"Daaad, you see me all 'he time dummy." Summer points out as she rolls her eyes. Finally set back to the ground. She felt lighter now seeing her Dad. The affection while gross and too much clearly was both the literal and figurative pick up she needed. Near forgetting how much she dreaded being in the building just seconds ago. As his heavy hand lands on top of her head no ruffling up her hair. Summer laughs and grabs at his hand trying to pull it away as she step out from under his hand. "Stooop" She squeals out a bit keeping her hands wrapped around his wrist despite her resistance.

"Yer 'ave a good day?"

"well" Summer starts with as she keeps her hold on her Dad's wrist, following his lead as he walks back to his bike now. Nothing much happened for her after all, since she never said a single word outside when she sort of had to do so. So she didn't get made fun of for knowing so much about turtles or hockey. She wasn't told she was too loud either. So that stuff was good right? That just made the weird feeling return though. She thinks school would be more fun if she could just do that instead.

"Those assholes give yer anymore trouble?"

Summer lifts her head up to look at Casey before she shakes her heads suddenly. She didn't want them worry anymore about her being bullied after all. She knows how upset well both her Dad's got when the truth finally came out. Moving to step beside her Dad's motorcycle though she stops before they get ready to go and looks at people looking at Casey. She knows that look the kid give it to her but they weren't aimed at her. Parents were aiming that look to Casey. It was cold and stiffing. He grip on Casey sort of tighten but could be easily missed. Chances are Casey wouldn't miss it though. She quicker her mouth and looked away looking at her Dad's bike.

She knows her family isn't normal. No one in her family was normal. Four of them were turtles, her grandpa was a rat, she had a mutant aunt and sister even. But, somehow even among all of that Casey was seen as not normal despite being human. But he wasn't normal with humans either. Sure Summer was just a kid but she knew her Dad stood out himself. She just didn't think anyone could look at him the same way? Her Dad was great though. That thought stayed with her as they got on to Casey's bike and he drove off making sure she was safe in front of him. Frown sat on her face. A bit ticked off by it waiting for the first red light they came to before she looked up to speak up.

"Hey Dad?" looking up to him easier to be heard when the engine was cooling down well stopped. "How come 'hey stared 'ike that?" She wasn't that dumb she knew that look she just didn't understand why Casey got the look. "Ya jus' pickin' me up too?" Casey didn't seem to care though even when giving the answer she kind of figured was the reason. Even if it was something so normal to here, she'd been on her Dad's bike tones of times, hell even rode with her Pop's. But the other parents didn't ride them so she had some idea it was why. But Casey blew it off like nothing. Might not been the first time even from how her Dad answered. Summer lowered her head back to look forward as the light switched and they were on the move again.

Quite the rest of the ride, her little head full of thoughts a bit too complex for a young kid her age to really have to think about. Things she knew but didn't consider. But for some reason started to make sense as well. Casey was weird, and Summer was also weird. Her dad might be far more weird than she was but it was also true. He was the reason her other Dad was a mutant turtle after all, and he dressed up to go fight purple dragons. Summer hadn't even realized they were home yet till Casey went to help her off the bike when she pipes up again.

"Hey Dad your a giant weirdo you know?" not even phased by the expression shes given. "' ike the biggest werido in the family, ya all of 'em." Shes smiling though as things seem to start making sense though. Casey was the biggest werido even among mutants. Soon moving to starting heading up to the apartment. Looking up at him as they moved up the stairs skips steps two at a time trying to get ahead of Casey. She smiles brightly before taking off spirits lifted from this thought alone. She wasn't a freak well she was. But maybe it was okay because her Dad was too but because he was? She had the life she had only more fact given as she pushed the door open and ran in to crash into her pop's hugging him the second she could. "Pops! Dad's a freak!" She relies getting the turtle to simply burst into a loud laugh. Before turning to look back at Casey when "But ya know what Dad? 'hat's okay." Which meant it was okay for her too. "Cause ya cool!"

[unscapedgoat]

SEE the thing is I feel so strongly about this because 6 months is. a LONG time. and I understand feeling distant from someone because you just recently witnessed the death of people you love, but they really should've at least TOUCHED on the topic. Felya and I have been talking about this for so long and I may have something in store for this specific reason :D I just need to find the motivation to draw it out...

I still believe that the other teens should've been much closer to Honeycutt than they were in actual Space Arc, because from a writing perspective isn't it so much more fun for every one of them to have a dynamic of some sort. It just doesn't ,, make sense really. It's like they spent two weeks together not six whole months.

Space arc just makes me so mad HHHHHHHHH

edit I forgot to mention that Honeycutt is Splinter's replacement not only for the characters, but the WRITERS treat him as such. The thing is that they use him as a Splinter replacement, so when Splinter is back they don't need him anymore so that's why they didn't even bother to bring him back with a new voice actor.

They could've even used the fact that he was blown up to get Donnie to install a voicebox/voicebank for him so he would sound different, it's insane how easy it is to solve their non-problem

I have a question and I'm not sure if it was really touched upon in the series, or if I'm nitpicking a cartoon with cartoon problems, but if the black hole generator can only be destroyed with a 'combination of fusion and dark matter', couldn't honeycutt leave it on the ship (powered by dark matter) and fly it into the sun (fusion)? (assuming the ship can be set on its own course without somebody operating it)

was this ever brought up??¿¿ is it a writing problem? am i forgetting something? did they not have enough fuel or time left to do this? did the writers need to quickly conclude the space arc in some way and so decided this was the best case scenario? discuss w me plox

[lazypanartist]

Hi im Already Back but please imagine for ROTTMNT:

[This one is kind of angsty with a nice end but talks about child neglect, so if you dont think its something youre up for, its A-okay if you toss this out!!]

Big ol Punk Reader, Super Intimidating, Mean AF looking dude.

The boys had all long accepted thats just how they Look, it doesnt mean theyre terrible or anything. Reader is actually really chill and funny. Emotional vulnerability from themself however, never really seems to happen. But theyre a good listener, and have shockingly good advice usually! Mikey has tried Doctor Feelings-ing it up with them but it just lead to them talking in circles.

(The two ended up having a whole conversation where the youngest found himself venting about how he wished his brothers wouldnt let problems bottle up and build. It still mystifiedhim about how it turned around on him.)

One night though, when most of the teens had crashed in the living room after a movie marathon, Leonardo woke up thirsty. It was late, everyone was asleep as he picked his way around snoozing lumps wherever they laid and made way to the kitchen where he heard...Talking?

Quietly, the red eared slider peeked his head around the doorway to see Reader and Splinter, quietly chatting over tea.

('Oh yeah,' the ninja thought, 'Reader mentioned having sleeping issues and that smells like valerian, mint and chamomile. Nice pick dad.')

The teen was going to duck in, grab some water, maybe his own cup of tea, in and out real quick. He was going to, really. But...he happened to catch a bit of conversation and found himself... accidentally eavesdropping.

Whoopsie.

"-and he fell off the board. Slid down the whole ramp on his back. You would have thought someone beat him with a pipe with how bloodcurdling his scream was. I nearly had a heart attack!"

Leo remembered that day. That was how the gouge in the ramp's wood happened. Leo himself was bawling his eyes out when Raph took that tumble.

Reader laughed softly, lightly patting the old rodent's hand at the story. "Oh I bet New Dad Splinter never ran so fast in his life, eh?"

"I swear, you'd mistake me for a cheetah mutant for how quickly I booked it. Luckily my son was fine, physically, but that slip shook him up."

"Poor dear..." You murmured, taking a sip.

" nng...Nardo..?"

Leo hushed Donnie, covering his twin's mouth and glancing back, making sure they weren't caught.

...Coast Clear.

"Mmh, he had nightmares the few days after it. "

"Yeah, I remember having something like that happen to me.-"

Donnie couldnt help getting wrapped up in the two's conversation himself. Something about the trip through memory lane just cemented him to the spot.

When Michelangelo found them both, the twins were easily able to convert the youngest to their cause of listening to old stories about themselves and occasionally one told by Reader here and there. Raphael was dragged over and the four of them watched the scene play in the late night haze.

And then...it happened.

Splinter was laughing, paw covering his mouth to stifle himself as Reader almost sprayed tea from their nose, coughing and snickering about a story involving Leo and him thinking he was a Big Boy and staying up and watching a horror movie far too young and sleeping in his dad's bed for a week.

(The blue clad turtle wanted to melt into the shadows and never return. It didnt help that Raph kept patting him comfortingly and Donnie made a snide comment about zombies passing him over.)

"Did you ever do something like that? None of my other sons have. I wonder if its an ego thing..."

"Nah...I um...well I was never close with my folks."

Raph felt Mikey start bouncing in place. Here it was. This was it.

"Oh, dear...I'm sorry to hear that. May I ask why..?"

Reader sighed finally, using a napkin to sop up the spill on the table. "You know...I ah..I don't talk about it much, s-so...I'm emancipated from my parents. Have been for a while. My folks just kinda...Forgot I was there a lot. Weren't ever around. It's. Not really um. A fun memory or story. They just never wanted a kid and, when I was old enough to take care of myself, well...I was sorta left to my own devices."

Their father's whiskers twitched with his frown. "Oh child...may I ask, how old-"

"Six."

The brothers felt cold.

Michelangelo wanted to be sick at the thought of a little Reader running a house by themself. Using a stove far too young. Battling with unweildy kitchen knives.

Leonardo remembered the walks to Reader's apartment. The few nights they crashed there. No wonder they never seemed worried about getting caught.

Donatello felt his hands shake at the idea of being all alone like that. No one to help you. No one to support you. Alone, well and truely, and having to rely only on yourself.

Raphael's mind was barreling a mile a minute as tears pricked his eyes. He hoped they would be okay. He hoped this would be what the punk needed.

Splinter felt his blood boil, and he couldnt help his nails digging into the table.

Six.

/Six./

He listened politely as Reader talked a bit more, trying to skirt around such an obviously heavy topic like the White Star cruise liners skirted around misfortune. He listened as his anger forged fires that couldnt be tempered. The thought of any of his sons being left at so young, it made him sick...!

Ooh, those wretched people better hope he never meets them...

"-Splinter..?"

His eyes snapped open, locking back with their own. Silently they squeezed his hand, tears welling up but not falling.

(He wished they didn't have to be so strong. Strength could be it's own weakness.)

"Are you okay? I'm sorry, I shouldn't have talked about it-"

('Even now, you try to instead comfort others than seek it out yourself...-')

"Tell me."

They blinked, glancing down as his other paw came down, sandwiching the human's before simply clutching it between both.

"Please, if you wouldn't mind. Tell me. I will listen."

They stared quietly, before, shakily, continuing some of the story. Splinter could tell they ducked and dodged sea mines and ice bergs and rocky cliffs as they quested for harbor, longing to finally find port in the cold storm of their emotions with no light house to shine through the dark.

Splinter and his sons found they would all gladly stand out on that dock, lanturns in hand, in order to guide them home. Back to them.

They listened. Reader didnt need to tell everything, but they would listen to what they would part with, tucking it away in their memories and hoping that this one hard, difficult vulnerability would open you up to many more easier ones.

Finally, when dawn broke, the Reader's dam had too. They listened as their friend cried, Splinter never letting go of that hand. This had been a lot. They needed this.

When all was said and done, they sniffled loudly and wiped snot and streaked make-up on their hoodie sleeve. Gross, raw, an abolute mess.

Docked safe, lead by lamplight through the fog.

"Thanks, Splinter."

"Anytime," the rat murmured, giving their shoulder a squeeze. His hand still cupped their own, tea long forgotten.

"You're a good dad."

The mutant huffed, patting their head. "I try."

"I doubt it."

He fought to keep a grin off his face. It didn't work. "You're just trying to butter up your future Father in Law."

The brothers, proud of showing so much restraint not barging in the kitchen as soon as your sobbing began, felt a bucket of ice water get dunked metaphorically down their spines. All eyes flicked to Leo's who shook his head and shrugged. He must have missed this conversation.

The reader scoffed lightly and sneered, batting the hand away. "Oh I get it. See if I ever ask you for dating advice again, old man."

What a hell of a story to miss. The brothers all felt their brains whirr with ideas and conspiracy about which of them it could be. Why it would be him, why it couldnt be them, why it couldnt be him but it might be another.

Splinter barked a laugh, yanking on one of their piercings tauntingly. "Careful. My son might think you're a new training dummy with all these holes in your ears."

"Oh, shove off." They gave a warbly smirk, before it fell into an easy, soft smile.

The four eavesdroppers found, regardless of who it was, no matter what, they would be there for the Reader. It was easy. It was them. They'd do it in a heartbeat.

"Thanks again, Splinter."

Notched ears flicked idly towards the doorway. He needed to teach his sons how to eavesdrop better. And maybe get another hug sometime soon.

The old master gave a softer smile in return up at the punk. He knew he'd pluck up a lanturn for you. He longed for the day your lighthouse lit, but he understood that would take time. But until then, he'd take up the light.

"Anytime, dear."

He and his sons would light your way, anytime.

Oh, wow!

I actually don't think there's anything I could add to this.. really succinct!

(Sorry for sounding like a 10th grader English teacher, but this is Perfection™)

[britt-kageryuu]

The guys are sitting around a large table that has a long grill through the middle, with a couple metal plates on some parts that act as griddles. The table seems to be on a rooftop somewhere, but the skyline is blocked by canvas sheets painted to look like a New York City Skyline.

The guys are all dressed in color coded shorts, their masks, and shirts with different graphics on them. Raph = an Aligator Snapping Turtle holding a barbell in its mouth wearing sweatbands, Donnie = Reboot Process Interrupted Current Mood: Murderous, Leo = a turtle covered ing glitter with a unicorn horn on its head, Mikey = I have a Psychology Degree and am Eager to Use It! (Threat).

They were having Yakiniku, with a few other things on the grills and griddles, chatting among eachother, and answering questions from the chat. On one end Mikey was experimenting with 'steam baking' a cake on the griddle.

Shelldon is flying around the area announcing the questions, while River is in stand-by/sleep mode on a box in the back charging. Shelldon is also acting as a speaker playing music as he floats around.

"So we had to send someone to grab some more ingredients, the poor new guy was so confused by the list, so I volunteered to go with him." Mikey says as he checks his experiment, "This guy apparently never went shopping in the marketplace before, and I swear he almost overpaid on ingredients, so many times. Senior Hueso gave us a budget, and I wanted to make sure we stuck to it."

Shelldon swerves around next to Donnie, "Hey Dad, TechnoTurtle, wants to know how you have so many 3D models in such a short amount of time. Got any answers Dude-Dad?"

Donnie was in the middle of eating so it took a minute for them to answer, "Well to be honest, I have planned to make numerous games with 3D models in the past, and then lost interest for various reasons. So I had all the Models saved on a spare memory bank." They pause to take a sip of their drink, "And before we get a question about the many outfits, I left some odd videogame clothes/costume data attached to the models so it's very easy to add new outfits. Think of our Models as videogame avatars instead of VTuber models. Also I don't know what programs others normally use for making VTuber models, Mandarin and I have been using a mix of my programs, and some free to use art programs."

Mikey is seen moving his cake experiment to a counter near the table to cool under a netted cube, "I may have made our original model concepts, and done some minor rigging for them, but once we discovered the mix of programming we use now, yeah definitely better for us. I may love doing art, but making models for VTubing was more complicated than I wanted to deal with." Mikey quickly grabs a few pieces of meat and veggies from the grill with tongs, "Heck, once I told everyone I designed our models, I had to emphasize on my commission page that I don't do models. But I have been making 2D, 2.5D model Assets, with a wide variety of skin tones, and even different species variants." Mikey says with some pride in his voice.

Leo was about to say something, but stopped to stare as Donnie starts to eat a sandwich, he made with grilled meats and veggies, whole. It wasn't an unusual sight for the guys, but it's been a while since he last saw Donnie do this. And that's not to mention the audience who are all very confused and concerned by this.

"I don't know why I'm surprised to see you eat like that Dee, but Wow. I forgot you could-" Leo paused for a sec, "That almost came out very wrong. And not in a way I would want to say."

Sadly some of the audience was able to pick up on the almost innuendo, thankfully they didn't mention it in chat, but they did make memes out of the clip.

Donnie looked at Leo with great offense after finishing his sandwich. "Annoyed Huff. Rude. Dear Brother, you can not fault me for my softshell instincts!" They say with a huff and crossed arms. Their tail seen whipping around behind them.

Raph just lets out a sigh with a shake of his head. "You two are always so chaotic with eachother. But you're my knucklehead brothers." He uses some custom chopsticks to flip the meat he put on the grill before eating it after a few seconds.

The stream goes on with more chatting, and eating, though after a bit of time they're joined by April, Cass, and CJ. With a note that their Dads are on vacation, to get away from some the guys chaotic antics recently.

The chaotic antics in question were not mentioned, much to the audiences great disappointment.

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

Masterpost

This was at least partly my original idea for their 4th of July post, but I decided that the guys would rather just enjoy the festivities instead of streaming the entire time.

And yes Donnie is swallowing the sandwich whole. I just realized how wrong/weird it sounds to describe that hence the 'unspoken innuendo' line.

[scrapyardboyfriends]

No, they've not made a single decent storyline choice. NOT A SINGLE ONE. Ryan's exit wasn't a total calamity and that is literally the ony thing that can be said about them. Everything has been steady stream down hill for the show from their first day on. It is so depressing because yes I came for Robron but I did genuinely love the show as a whole and now it's basically a joke.

Just like...so many bad choices. Haha

- the whole Cain thinks he killed Joe saga that dragged on for months only to just abruptly end because they finally got Kim back on the show

- of course bringing in Nate as Cain's long lost son to have an affair with Moira, creating the least sexy affair ever that dragged on for months and then they forced him to try and learn to be his dad

- bringing Donny back to do...something? only to end up hurting Vanessa who he had never met and kidnapping her son just to get a Lachlan return that was absolutely pointless and went nowhere

- bringing Andrea and Millie in for Jaime

- deciding to do a story suggesting that Millie could be Graham's daughter and dragging that reveal on for ages only for him to just...not be her father

- that whole Lydia is really Jenny Finn story (which admittedly I didn't actually watch) but using that to then introduce her family who showed up long enough to be annoying and tell her she might have the Hutchinson's gene only to drag that out forever and ever and then she just didn't and we've never seen her family again

- the Maya stuff was going along kind of fine until the big reveal and then they promptly made it all about David and had him be upset with Jacob for sleeping with his girlfriend until he calmed down enough to realize she had groomed him but then they couldn't even be bothered enough to really resolve Jacob's trauma and feelings over all of it so it just sort of went away until they decided a Christmas Day baby was the way to go and then it was just...David's for...reasons??

- And speaking of the Maya reveal, having that whole insane thing on the Big Night Out with Leyla, Tracy and Priya only for it to amount to absolutely nothing other than that they I guess couldn't testify in the trial but then it was never mentioned again

- the entire concept of Bear Wolf (being named Bear Wolf and never getting a proper name) and him being Paddy's father. And not only did Paddy not need a father figure on the show, he definitely did not need to be regressed even further, if that's even possible, to try and desperately suck up to him for attention

- ruining Kerry and Dan's relationship for good and thereby kind of pulling Kerry out of the comfortable comic relief role she was great at

- bringing Amy back just to basically immediately make her partially responsible for Frank's death along with Kerry and then proceed to make them really unlikeable while they dragged that story out forever until it just ended because Kerry got a bump on the head. And they just never properly resolved it so it's still there hanging over their heads and people still get mad at them about it

- the whole Factory Fire in general because it was terribly done what with the comedy of errors that you could just feel setting it all up in a way that just felt totally contrived and ridiculous. And honestly Frank's whole exit in general because all he did was just run around and be weird and cryptic for weeks beforehand just to leave them and the viewers with an unnecessary mystery to unravel afterwards

- Robert's exit may have been fine but Vic's side of things certainly was not after the initial part. Just constantly throwing her under the bus to facilitate his exit. Bringing Wendy to live in the village. Luke being Lee's brother, which was just wholly unnecessary

- Billy and Aaron's whole feud that went absolutely nowhere

- Billy and Ellis's feud that was just like Walmart Sugden Bros and then they just like...forgot about it and we never really found out why Ellis was so mad at him to be so threatening when he first arrive and later try and arbitrarily run him over

- Jessie's constant refusal to believe that Billy might not be perfect, which all culminated in that random Max guy holding them all hostage at gunpoint and Jessie getting shot, but then she found out some truths about Billy and was mad at him for like five seconds so it wasn't even worthwhile and then everyone was just like...cool

- honestly...Marlon and Jessie's whole relationship

- giving Chaddy a second pregnancy

- Paddy locking Aaron in his own home

- Will stalking Harriet and then the two of them getting together in what could be an interesting story on paper but the two of them are so boring it was just dreadful

- Mandy showing up with Vinny and them doing that whole "is this Paddy's son" fake out

- the whole insane Arthur bullies Archie thing that went on forever so that it couldn't even be resolved before Covid and then it was just never mentioned again

- that excruciating scene where Amy and Eric treated Kyle like he was a two year old instead of what...7? at the time and hemmed and hawed for way too long over telling him that she was his mother

Honestly, the fact that Robert's exit was decent is a damn miracle. But I also think they just lucked out because they were able to tack it onto another story so it was actually given importance and build up and then had to have consequences that mattered inherently because it was an exit story. That and just Ryan and Danny's chemistry and character history added to the investment. Plus...we're biased. Haha.