#thought about doing draxum but then thought of this

[familyofpaladins]

@tmaynt Day 27: Favorite Mutant/Alien Villain

There's so many good villains it was really hard to choose. So I decided to give a shout out to Tokka and Rahzar from TMNT II: Secret of the Ooze, because this part made me laugh SO HARD, I had to pause the movie and take a couple minutes to calm back down lol

bonus:

[daboyau]

I was watching lilo and stitch and that “you can never belong” scene came on and I got this idea in my head for that, but with ROTTMNT. So since I don’t do edits or draw, I wrote it out instead. Don’t think too hard about the logistics. :)

It is cold, when Leo slips out of the lair. He can feel Mikey’s gaze on him as he leaves, raising goosebumps over his flesh. He can’t bear to turn back, knowing that his resolve would crumble immediately if he did. His footsteps are too loud in the loneliness of the sewers. His heartbeat pounds in his head. He keeps expecting to hear a voice calling out for him, or the soft sound of footsteps following him. 

But of course it never comes. Mikey had been so hurt. So sad. Of course he wouldn’t follow him. 

When Leo finds a portal into the Hidden City, he doesn’t hesitate to throw himself through it despite the danger it puts him in to be there. The sounds and the sights are familiar to him, yet nowhere calls to him as loudly as the lair had. It’s only been two weeks since he was first brought into their home. They hadn’t even wanted him there, and yet the urge to go crawling back is so strong. He had messed everything up from the moment he’d manipulated his way into their lives. Of course they wouldn’t want him. 

(Why don’t they want him?)

Leo wanders the back alleys and the side streets, letting his feet guide him to nowhere in particular. The picture he had swiped on his way out of the lair is stored safely in the pouch tied around his waist, and between steps he’ll reach in to slide his fingertips over the stiff paper. Just to make sure it’s still there. It soothes him.

He doesn’t stop walking until he’s far outside the city, tucked away in the scraggly rock forests that surround the Hidden City. The aching in his chest has turned into more of a twisting knife, the small knot of sadness becoming more like a gaping chasm. An open wound. A bottomless pit of longing and loneliness that he had never felt before he forced his way into the lives of the Hamatos. 

He hadn’t had anything to lose, before. He hadn’t known the kind of pain that loving something would bring. He wishes he could go back to not knowing. He wishes he could return to a life of never having to make the choice to walk away, to spare them all the pain his existence brings them. 

Leo settles on the ground, curling into himself, shoulders trembling under the weight of everything. When he closes his eyes, the image of Mikey’s face as Leo made his choice haunts him. Donnie’s quiet voice rings in his ears in the silence of the forest, you ruined everything, again and again. Raph’s soft squeeze on his shoulder lingers like a phantom. Leo trembles, tucking his knees to his chest. Then, he pulls the photo out. 

Raph, Donnie, and Mikey grin up at him. It’s almost mocking, how happy they look here. A reminder that they are better without him around. He hadn’t seen them smile like that since the first five minutes they’d found him, back before they learned the truth of how much of their lives he can ruin. 

He runs a careful finger over those smiles, then he squeezes his eyes shut and holds the photo against his chest. His throat burns, and the ache in his chest feels like a black hole that will swallow his body whole. He does his best to breathe through the pain and when he opens his eyes again, the light speckled ceiling overhead is blurry and indistinct. It reminds him of the stars they had taken him to see, wind tickling his skin as they sat on the rooftop of the tallest building of their strange human city and stared upwards at something beautiful.

“Lost,” he whispers to the open air, and he can almost imagine that single word floating upwards, towards the city and the sewers. Finding its way into the only place he’s ever found that might have one day held happiness. But only for him. Not for them. There was only danger if he stayed.

“I’m lost,” he repeats, words like some trouble confession, and hot tears roll down his cheeks.

Some small, selfish part of him hopes they’ll hear. He wants them to come for him, and to bring him back home. It is a stupid, foolish wish. It’s better for everyone that he stays gone. He can’t hurt them this way. 

He falls asleep with tears drying on his cheeks, and body curled tight around the only evidence he holds of a dream he knows can never be. 

When he wakes hours later, it’s to the sound of heavy footsteps over gravel. He jolts upright, heart pounding, eyes wide, and for one foolish, terrible moment he really believes that his family has come for him. 

But no. Of course not. When Draxum emerges with a weapon pointed at his head, Leo can’t find it within himself to feel surprised. He stares back blankly, shifting slowly to stand, halfway wishing that Draxum would just take the shot and get it over with. He doesn’t think he has the energy to raise a hand to defend himself. 

The gravel has left his legs peppered with indents and marks from where they’d pressed into his flesh as he slept. They sound like something breaking as they shift and crunch beneath his feet. Draxum’s eyes dart between those markings and Leo’s tear streaked face, before his expression twists into something complicated. Almost pitying. 

“Don’t run,” he says, voice low. If Leo hadn’t heard what true kindness sounds like these last couple weeks, he would have said that’s what he hears in Draxum’s tone. “Don’t make me hurt you. You were difficult to make. No need to ruin a perfectly acceptable specimen.”

Leo shuffles, eyes darting between Draxum and the stacked stones surrounding them. He makes a sound low in his throat, hurt and uncertain, but he does not bolt. Draxum smiles, already assured of his victory, and steps closer. Leo watches with wide eyes. 

“Yes. Yes, that’s it,” Draxum murmurs, careful and soft, like he’s trying to soothe a scared animal. “Come quietly.”

“I…I’m waiting,” Leo admits, and he watches Draxum’s brow crease. His head tips, curious. He’s not used to this side of his creation — quiet, yet resisting his orders. Leo shuffles a half step back, heart pounding so hard in his chest that he feels a little dizzy. 

“For what?”

“For…for my family.”

“Aahhh. There is no use in doing so. You don’t have one. I made you.” 

Leo shakes his head, hands trembling, photo creased from how tightly he is clutching it in his fist. The thought of ruining the only evidence he has hurts, but the fear of Draxum getting his hands on it, of him finding out about the others, it terrifies him in a way he’s never felt before. He can’t let Draxum know about them. 

“Maybe…maybe I could—“

“I don’t know what yokai fool you found, or what nonsense they’ve been filling your mind with, but banish the thought of family from your mind.” His voice has lost that careful, gentle farce. It is harsh and cutting now. A familiar sound that Leo had hoped he’d left behind forever when he ran away. “You are built to destroy. You can never belong. Now, come quietly and we can begin your reeducation once—no! No no, don’t run, don’t—!”

His voice fades as Leo darts through the towering stones, vines curling at his heels and snapping at his shell as Draxum tries to recapture him. The picture flutters from his fingertips as he trips, lost amongst the shadows of the stone forest. Leo sobs, but he does not turn back for it. It is better if it is lost; at least then, he may be able to move on. 

[thedawningofthehour]

Do you guys think Casey Jr. knew that mutants and Yokai were supposed to be like...in hiding, or do you think he came back and was super confused why the guys didn't have like licenses or why cloakers were a thing?

[red-rover-au]

Trying sooo hard to keep my mouth shut rn seeing my Splinter getting a general higher parenting grade than my Draxum

Splinter has chapters from his POV in the fic while Draxum doesn't so i guess it's to be expected.

Splinter originally wasn't going to have a POV either, but then I got the double mutation idea and Raphael lost all self awareness so he couldn't have a POV anymore. I had to choose either April or Splinter to take over and Splinter seemed like the better choice cuz he's more involved in the immediate story, and I figured seeing his POV would help readers understand how tf he became so much worse than canon

Anyways me defending a yokai war criminal cuz he has 3 kids:

[untitled-tmnt-blog]

Hiii!!

For the TMNT ask game:

18) favourite villain?

I read your latest Draxum piece today (so flipping good oml ✨) and it got me curious!

18.) Who is your favorite villain?

Oh yeah, Draxum is definitely up there for me! I'm always unsure if he counts as a villain or an ally in these sorts of questions, because... he's like, both?

But when Draxum is a villain, he's a suuuuper good one! The fact that he was the one responsible for mutating both the turtles and Splinter just gives them such an interesting dynamic! Like, when he first meets them after believing they had burned up in the explosion 13 years ago, he's confused why they're not on his side. And when it becomes apparent that they're obstacles for him instead of allies, he has no problems just... dropping Leo off a roof. No attachment whatsoever. And then at some point that begins to change, and I could go on and on about Draxum for ages, so I'll just leave it at that!

(I also really like Big Mama as a villain, too. Rise has some REALLY good original characters! And Krang Prime in Rise is SO intimidating, I love it!!)

(TMNT Ask Game)

[tizeline]

Haha yeahhhhh no so it exploded. Because what else would you expect. Not the worst situation for the Draxums though, they still managed to get the oozesquitos, and they were gonna release them anyway. Still, gonna be annoying to clean up the mess....

And also everyone managed to remain unharmed from the blast..... hold on though are we not forgetting anyone?

In all the chaos Donnie, April and Mayhem managed to regroup and they understandibly teleport out of there as soon as possible because fuck this whole situation. So YAY they managed to escape! :D But also aw man Long Lost Little Brother ran off... :(

(and don't worry about Huginn and Muninn they're alive!..... probably)

And GODDAM that's the final part! Finally got episode one of the AU over and done with yippee! :D

Of course, we do still have some plotpoints left we need to adress. For example, dunno if anyone has thought about this, but Donnie never got to explore Draxum's fancy mystic weapon room in this version fo events, which means he never got that mystic crystal! And if he doesn't get that crystal, then how is he gonna get the ability to detect mystic energy, I wonder 🤔🤔🤔

Also, Donnie's only gotten one side of his Secret Backstory and he's gotta go get some answers from Splinter, but either way we'll get to all of that in future updates!

<- Previous I << First

Family Secrets part 1 (follow up comic) ->

Mini epilogue lol:

[our-happygirl500-fan]

Something that I have kind of noticed is that Leo often sometimes seems to be the one trying to keep his family on track with whatever task they are trying to accomplish.

Leo: So where’s the dog thingy?

Something that I kind of noticed was that as early as the first episode of Rise 'Mystic Mayhem', Leo has sort of been the one that seems to try to keep his family on task, with Leo asking about Mayhem when April & the Turtles first discovered the Hidden City as helping Mayhem was one of the reasons for the Hamato Clan's first adventure in Rise.

Leo: Yeah, yeah. Mistakes were made. Lessons were learned. We got a video game to play. So vamos hermanos.

It also kind of seems that Leo seems to try to keep his family on track even in the Turtles more 'day to day' adventures as during the episode 'Hot Soup: The Game', when Mikey & Raph are clashing over Raph's over protective nature & Mikey's need for independence, Leo interrupts their argument by pointing out that they originally all just wanted to play a video game in the first place.

Leo: Hey, so Gram Gram, it is Gram gram right? We thought we were getting a weapon from the Twilight realm and not a... you?

Something that I kind of wonder about is if Leo's tendency to try & keep his family on track might possibly be a kind of form of compartmentalisation as during the episode 'Shreddy or Not' even when Leo is reacting to Karai's sudden appearance in the lair with the rest of the Hamato Clan & asking if Karai being their ancestor makes Karai their 'Gram Gram', Leo also seems to be the one to remind the family that they had originally been trying to find a way to defeat the Shredder before Karai appeared.

Leo: Hey April, cool if you don't, but do you still have that orb with all the people of New York in it?

Something that I have also kind of been wondering about is that Leo sometimes being the one that seems to keep his family on track of whatever task they are trying to accomplish might possibly have something to do with Leo's ability to keep track of multiple different things happening around him at once, that we usually see when Leo uses his portals in battle, as during the episode 'Anatawa Hitorijanai' even though the Hamato Clan had to deal with the fact that both Draxum & Splinter had been captured & also had to deal with trying to figure out how to defeat the Shredder, Leo also took the time to ask if the people of New York were still okay as well.

[lactoseintolerentswag]

Rise Characterizations

Last month I did an in-depth re-watch of rottmnt s1 to take some notes on writing the characters of rise from their perspective and such. Figured I'd share what I found, but I'm also posting this bc my docs have a nasty habit of blipping out of existence.

We'll start with Raph bc he's the oldest of course, but I'll post the others sep. bc this is gonna get long!!

Raph Character Notes

Language Habits:

Catchphrases: "like a boss", "smash"

Verbalizes his attacks such as "smash", "knuckle sandwich", "power smash jitsu", "tonfa power jitsu", "mystic punch jitsu"

Uses older song titles for surprised exclamations or in place of cursing, most notably "jumping jack flash!"

Uses aave/bae, For example: 'em instead of them, 'ey instead of they, 'cause instead of because, forgoes the g in ing words (going becomes goin')

Uses less and less grammar the more he's stressed, and his voice will come to a higher pitch

Will speak in a softer tone to his little brothers if he's concerned about hurting their feelings. Aka babying them

Mixes up both metaphors and idioms. Would be one to say how the turn tables unironically

Does say "hero" a lot, lost count, especially in phrases like "hero town"

Refers to his brothers as "boys" or "fellas"

Refers to Splinter as "pop(s)" most often

Refers to strangers he's directly talking to as "bubs" or "hoss"

Personality:

Protective of his family

Plays up the hero act/has a strong sense of duty and justice

Impatient, rushes in without a plan (pre-movie), doesn't finish books until the end, falls asleep during "boring movies"

Oblivious, doesn't read into things beyond surface level. Struggles with empathy when something is beyond his understanding, but is still very emotional

Center of responsibility for his brothers, but also has a reckless sense of fun. As long as it's him doing the stupid unsafe thing it's fine

Carries the weight, in a literal sense he piggy backs his brothers, but will also use his body as a shield from danger. Unfortunately this also means he takes his brothers a little less seriously (Mikey the most common victim), and will try and either protect them from everything or as an oldest sibling everything has go "his way"

Doesn't do well in solitude. Needs to be looking after people to feel functional, and needs to be around people to feel safe

Clumsy, "takes horrible pictures", isn't very good at hiding, he's a big guy so it probably took a lot of time to find balance

A sweet guy who still won't shy from making fun of his family. Leo tends to be the brunt of his teasing since he is the most annoying, but he will also poke Donnie on his dramatics

Likes cute things!!! Has a teddy bear collection and loves animals. It's so cool how this isn't played off as a joke and he's still just as masculine for liking pink and cutesy stuff

Likes fighting!!! Gets a lot of energy out defeating bad guys (where he directs his anger towards), the one who is shown to train the most, and also weight lifts in his spare time

Doesn't do well under pressure, here the anger comes out the most. He gets stressed when it's all on him, especially since he tends to mess up the most in these moments

Miscellaneous:

Second to unlock mystic powers

Nicknames/codenames: "raph-a-doodle" by leo, "red rover" by april, "red king" by donnie

Teddy bear names: Doctor Huggenstein, Captain Snuggles, Cheech

Stinks: fear stink, amazement stink, sneaking up on people stink, victory stink

Seems to be less afraid of rabbits and more afraid of puppets

Went on his first solo mission at 13

Cannot lift a bus, at age 15

Thought about discussing fighting style, but I'm not as familiar with that concept and I've seen a couple posts dissecting such topic. So we'll end here for now. Hope this was helpful!!! I'll post the rest of the boys later and link here

Leo is up!!

Donnie is up!!

Mikey is up!!

Splinter is up!!

April is up!!

Cassandra is up!!

Baron Draxum is up!!

[love-all-tmnt-equally]

Holy shit this is amazing!!! I found this AU after this recent update with the lab collapsing.

This character sheet is very well put together. I have the same problem with my own handwriting. Reading the transcript first before taking a closer look at the images made it easier for me personally.

I’m going to have to check out some of your other work. This is all really well done.

This boy is no loger living rent free on my head

I tried to make my writing legible but it got worse the more I wrote, so traslation of all my notes under the cut

Main notes:

"Leo" gets raised by Draxum to be his first warrior

Doesn't really like his new "brothers" but Draxum wants him to persude them into joining them

Hates humans

Draxum calls him Number One, as he is his #1 experiment, it gets over his head and he thinks way too high of himself

Draxum's big expectation of him drive him to always be pushing himself to meet very high standards (Draxum's and his own)

Very good fighter, Draxum has been training him since he was very little. Can and will kick anyone's ass

Raph and Donnie don't like nor trust him

Mikey loves him

Mikey is the one to suggest calling him Leonardo/Leo. He doesnt like it but they call him that anyways, Mikey out of love and Raph and Donnie just to annoy him at first, then out of love too

Has a "I have my shit together" mask always on, it slowly falls off as he grows more comfortable around his brothers.

Takes a long time for him to realize he is on the wrong side of things and he struggles to actuall leave Draxum and his old life behind

Other notes:

Full "armor" for when he is with Draxum

Down scaled outfit for when he starts to fall more confy with his brothers

Starts with katanas. Moves on to the odashi after Mystic Mayhem events

Mask closes like pro-wrestling masks

Scars! from training and missions (most are hidden) Doesn't like people knowing how much damage he've got

Draxum put a seed on his neck to grow vines from him if he even misbeheaves too much. Seed is hidden kinda inside his shell

[tblsomedoodles]

Here's an art/info dump about this stupidly cute idea that's been rotating in my brain for three day.

(the first comic here is just how they first met. they ended up in the same alley, pestering the same cat without noticing. Then the cat left and they notice they're not alone lol)

(Second is Donnie 'talking' with Mikey for the first time. He only uses Mind Mend to communicate and is just as surprised as Mikey to find it worked on him. (it has only worked with Leo before this))

I'll put the rest under a break b/c i will be going off about this and i don't want it to take up your entire feed.

I'm jokingly calling this "Mikey's Imaginary Friends" though that might change if i continue this.

Basically it's this, the twins grew up with Draxum while Raph and Mikey grew up with Splinter. Neither set knew about the other (b/c splinter though they were dead and didn't want his two remaining kids to worry about it, and Draxum was too focused on fixing his lab to pay much attention to the twins.) So, imagine Mikey's shock when, at age 8, he's out exploring topside (having snuck out) and runs into two more mutant turtles (who also snuck out and are exploring.) Thus begins an ongoing sneaking out to meet up thing between the three b/c Mikey's excited to have new friends and the twins are just as fascinated with Mikey as he is with them.

And before you ask, "hey, why doesn't Mikey tell his family about the two other turtles?" he does. Raph thinks he just made up some imaginary friends so he plays along but doesn't believe they're real. Splinter, on the other hand, thinks he's talking to Hamato ancestors due to some very big miscommunications (that i'll probably draw out at some point b/c it's silly)

Twins background wise, i'm still thinking through a lot of it, but i'll put my thoughts down anyways.

Draxum knew that training the twins at a young age would be counterproductive, so he doesn't train them beyond some basics a few times a week. Other than those sessions, he leaves them alone with their less-than-stellar caretaker, in favor of rebuilding his lab. The caretaker doesn't do much for them beyond give them food and very basic school like lessons. Beyond that the twins are left on their own.

they come to the conclusion that the only people that will care for them is themselves. They discover Mind Meld very early as a result of this and will not talk verbally b/c they found out early on with their caretaker, that if they tried to talk, they were just ignored anyways, so what's the point.

(I'm also thinking Donnie might be deaf or hard of hearing in this, with the pair of them using Mind Meld as a way for him to temporarily hear through Leo and thus keep Drax from finding out. but i'll have to do some more research before i decide for sure/figure out the specifics)

as for Meeting Mikey

That's why they became so fascinated with mikey. B/c mikey was the first person that treated them like a person and not a job or an incomplete experiment. (He's also so happy and bright, they can't avoid getting drawn to him lol)

Mikey's probably the only one they verbally start talking to, even after they teach him mind meld. (though Leo's the one to pick up on that more than Donnie. Donnie doesn't do much talking at all outside mind meld).

They also come out of their shells (hehe) a lot as they interact more with Mikey. Before they met him, they acted more like automatons, even when alone. The more they socialize with Mikey, the sillier these two get. Leo learns about puns and starts going mad with them, Donnie starts happy stimming about thing (which he has either been suppressing or just never had the urge to do before.) Basically they stop acting like little creepy statues and start acting like kids.

Honestly, it's just a cute idea with the kiddos meeting each other and Mikey inadvertently socializing his not-well-socialized brothers.

(also, the twins wear masks b/c Donnie doesn't like the smell of the city and he's worried about germs. Not for any ninja reasons, what so ever.)

Alright, that's it for my info dump. maybe more later? Maybe not? Depends on how much longer these kids keep my attentions (though right now, they're doing a pretty good job at it lol)

[trilobitepunch]

Inktober(ish) week 3?! Chill out, October!

Okay, these prompts took a dip again...

Day 13: Spiral/Raven

I really enjoyed doing this one. Based off a thought of how a Japan arc would've gone with these boys. ...terrible by the looks of it.

Day 14: Hollow

Was kiiind of a follow-up of the previous but I don't know where it was going from there XD

Day 15: Blind

Also kind of going with the Japan experience I guess??

Day 16: Tar Fang

And now for something totally different and not at all terrifying!

Day 17: Twisted

Something something about built in hunter instincts in Draxum's genetics for an ultimate warrior + exposure to something that happened to mutate into some kind of virus that set all that stuff he forgot about, off. 8];;;

Day 18: Eye

I see you...

Day 19: Visceral

Can't forget to play with Mikey now, can we?

*flails around*

[somerandomdudelmao]

I must know if you ship Cassandra and Raphael romantically! What are your thoughts on the shop and do you plan on bringing back Cassandra, since she's Casey's mom and he probably misses her.

(P.S. also how do you feel about Sunita X Mikey?)

Nope. I don't ship anyone in this fandom.

Except maybe Draxum and Splinter but more..like..jokingly? I dunno haha

And no, I'm not going to bring Cassandra back to life. There are already more characters in this comic than I'm comfortable drawing. I don't want more haha

[goodlucktai]

16 for the dialogue prompts?

dialogue prompts

16. “God, I’m so sorry, it’ll be over soon, I promise.”

@dandywonderous im so sorry about this in advance 🥹

x

When they were little, and they started wearing masks because Mikey wanted to be like the heroes he watched in Saturday morning cartoons, Donnie asked Splinter to cut the tails of his short so they wouldn’t get in his way.

Leo thought that was a crazy decision, because if the tails were short they wouldn’t match Raph’s. 

“So?” Donnie said, unscrewing the bottom panel of the oscillating fan he stole from Splinter’s room. 

“So what?” Leo said. 

“So what if I don’t match Raph? I don’t have to,” Donnie pointed out, a seven year old at his most reasonable.

His twin blinked, then his striped cheeks puffed out, brow furrowing, fully not understanding the question. He wanted to do everything Raphie did, but denied it when anyone told him so. 

This certain proof of that behavior made Donnie smile, quiet and indulgent the way he only ever was for his other half, but only when it was just the two of them. 

Leo whined and kicked his feet but Donnie wouldn’t tell him what was funny. 

Those long blue mask tails are sodden and heavy as Donnie shifts them out of the way, leaving a sickening trail of red where they drag against Leo’s neck and shoulder. 

They’re pinned down, what’s left of the tunnel groaning and shifting around them, at least three Technodromes filling the sky outside. Donnie can feel the hum of impending doom in his teeth. 

“Hush, Nardo,” Donnie whispers, hand clamped over Leo’s mouth hard, even though it cuts him to have to do this. “You can’t scream, mellizo. Hush.”

His twin writhes, digging at Donnie’s grip with desperate fingers. His chest is heaving, eyes wild with pain. The rosy glow of Raph’s ninpo is all they have to see by as the projection hovers above them in case of another collapse. In the dim light, Donnie can almost pretend it’s mud he’s kneeling in, warm and slick and pooling at an alarming rate from the slab of concrete that Leo’s right arm has been crushed under.  

The safe zone has been compromised. It’s devastating, but not at all surprising. Two of their scouts didn’t report in when they should have, baseline humans who didn’t have a hope of resisting the Krang’s method of interrogation, so it was only a matter of time before the enemy came knocking. 

April, Mikey and Cass have been evacuating their people and transporting supplies in and out of sunny orange portals all morning while Draxum, Hob and Usagi guarded their every move with eagle-eyed vigilance. 

Donnie, Raph and Leo were holding the Krang at bay for every extra second that they could, but they stayed out there a second too long. 

Now Leo is bleeding and the Krang hounds are prowling, their horrible faces scraping the ground as they sniff out that rich source of life, and Donnie’s mind is blank with panic. They’re trapped, and if he lets go then Leo will scream and bring death down on them, and if he doesn’t then death will come anyway, with teeth and venom.

“Shhh, Lilo,” Donnie tries to soothe, imagining Leo’s sweet, bright ‘shhh yourself, Dodo!’ in place of the uncomprehending whine he gets in response. “God, I’m so sorry. It’ll be over soon, I promise.”

Maybe we should pray, he thinks wildly. Not to god, because that would be a spectacular waste of breath, but to one of the people who left the party early and might be willing to toss a miracle or two in their direction. Papa, or Gram-gram, or April’s mom. 

The red projection surrounding them begins to shrink. Slowly, making sure the rocks above and around them won’t shift, until the ninpo is just a warm glow beneath Raph’s skin. Donnie feels a rush of relief and anticipation—Raph has a plan, Raph will tell him what to do. 

Raph puts one arm around Donnie’s shoulders and cups Leo’s face with his other hand, stroking his cheek with the pad of his thumb. Blood smears beneath his fingers. His expression is hard to read in the dark underground. 

“You’ll be alright, big man,” Raph murmurs, all conviction, as if he can make it true out of sheer love. If anyone could, it would be him. Then he says, “Donnie, can you cut him out?”

The question makes his stomach lurch with nausea, bitter and acidic, but it’s a question that he can answer. After fighting in a three-turtle team for the better part of two hours, Donnie’s ninpo feels like coffee dregs left in the bottom of an empty pot. He has enough strength left that he could summon a tool for an emergency amputation, but only that. 

“Not quickly,” he says pointedly, “or quietly.”

Raph nods. He just sits there for a minute, holding them. They don’t have a minute and Raphie knows that but he’s just holding them. Donnie’s heart begins to race in a brand-new direction, some frightened thing in his very center sitting up and taking notice. 

Donatello has always been an incredible number of things, not all of them good or noble or worth bragging about, but above all else, at the end of each and every day, he was Raphael’s little brother. 

Donnie didn’t imitate him when they were kids—didn’t wear his mask tails long or find reasons to follow him around—but he was every firm hug Donnie needed to keep his skin from itching when life got too loud. He was an attentive, listening audience when Donnie had to talk about the things pingponging around in his mind without being interrupted or he’d scream. He was the large hands that held Donnie’s, the snaggle-toothed face that smiled in encouragement, when Donnie learned to walk. 

Donnie knew him fundamentally. Intrinsically. A textbook he never had to study, knowledge that grew up with him from the first moment he opened his eyes to the big, bright world. That’s how he knew what was about to happen the second before it did. 

“No,” Donnie says hoarsely. “Please don’t.” 

“Raphie’s gotcha,” Raph says warmly, the last steadfast and solid and remarkably kind thing left in the apocalypse.

He reaches down and presses the panic button on Donnie’s gauntlet. The alert activates with a bright pinging sound effect, echoing twice in their little disaster-made cavern as it’s received by Leo and Raph’s comms, and the Krang hounds nearby whine and bark in excitement. Their claws churn up earth and rock as they start to run.

Raph spares a second to press a kiss against Donnie’s temple, and another to Leo’s forehead, and then he’s gone. The light goes with him. Donnie shakes like a leaf, unreasonably cold, unable to think. 

Leo is half out of his mind by now, sobbing and jerking at his trapped limb, but all his agony is soundly drowned out by the brutal battle Raphael is leading far away from them. 

“Hush,” Donnie whispers, eyes stinging so badly he can hardly keep them open, tears dripping endlessly down his face. “It’ll be over soon.”

[red-rover-au]

Im fighting the internal battle of wanting Splinter to be allowed to say the N word but not wanting to imply he had a stereotypical absent black father SJSKSJWKS

The struggles of being black in fandom 😩

[kathaynesart]

What’s this??? A second Replica update in the same week? Yes I’m trying to get faster with these.  We got a lot of ground to cover haha.

BEGINNING || PREVIOUS || NEXT MASTER POST 

I always found it very interesting that future Mikey’s spots did not glow in the opening of the movie as they do when he’s using his Ninpo.  This got me thinking and led to a long thread discussion on my Twitter feed months ago (thank you to all my twt moots for the wonderful ideas). 

Ironically the esteemed Andy Suriano was kind enough to answer my question about Mikey’s spots not glowing just this morning.  It seems that the decision was made for mostly aesthetic reasons to help keep the focus on the chains and his glowing eyes… though he did mention there were a few other “reasons.”  Regardless, even if it was a decision made with absolutely no lore inference, I’m still going to chase this thread of thought haha. 

Also for the record, Omega does not DISLIKE Draxum.  After all Draxum and Donnie worked together a lot in the past, but he’s very protective of Mikey and is not super excited about Mikey diving deeper into mysticism. He's still pretty suspicious of mystic powers in general and what it could do to his brother (as he should be).

[turtleblogatlast]

Don't think about how Draxum created the turtles to destroy humanity...and in the original timeline, Leo's actions caused the apocalypse. Like, do you think Master Leonardo thought of that? About how he indirectly ended up causing the end of humanity? Which is what he was technically created for?

Sidebar, I wonder if Draxum in that timeline, saw what the Kraang did and ever had a moment where he went 'this isn't what I imagined.'.

[ cw: apocalypse / bad future timeline / self blame / self hatred / ]

Anon you are destroying me 😭😭😭

The thought that at some point in the bad future timeline, maybe more than once, Leo would realize this and think ‘oh. I was always bad.’ oh that hurts horribly. Of course he’d be quick to throw that away, because his brothers are too good to be bad. This is something unique to him…I think, horribly, he’d be more comforted by that thought. That it was just a coincidence, or just him fulfilling that old purpose, and not his good, heroic brothers. Gosh…

And Draxum, wow, yeah I bet that was definitely not what he had in mind. To see a truly ruined humanity must be a sobering thing for him. Doesn’t help that yokai aren’t exactly freed from the destruction either.