#what's donnie thinking though???

[apritellointeractive]

Sworn to Devotion: Chapter 2 - Part 1

>>Tie-breaker winner: FABRIC

>> Readers select a potentially abandoned cave with foot-branded boxes in it.

(Art by @lovelyladylavie)

As April looks around the cave, she notices that the walls are made of familiar dark grey stone. Wherever they were portaled to, they’re at least within the borders of April’s kingdom.

However, that is a small comfort given their current predicament. 

Lining the stone walls are unlit torches, with some cobwebs wrapped between the wood and the rusty metal mounts. Blackened ash mars the stone above the torches, but it’s flaking off, leaving crackled patterns behind. 

As April’s eyes drift downward, she notices several wooden boxes littered along the sides, all bearing a red footmark. She furrows her brow—she doesn’t recognize that symbol. Does this symbol belong to the group that ambushed her convoy and attempted to kidnap her?

April turns her head, and she notices that the cavern continues to tunnel deeper into the earth, the path downward shrouded in unnerving darkness. The air coming up from the deep tastes almost stale; if this cave was used as a base for this mysterious group, it seems to be abandoned.

“Wherever we are, I don’t think we should stay.” The yokai guard informs as he helps April off her feet. “While this wasn’t their target destination, the two grunts appeared to know where they were. The longer we stay here, the more likely the rest of their group is to find us.”

The yokai guard tugs April toward the entrance of the cave, but April tugs her wrists out of his grip. “Wait!”

The purple-clad turtle turns to face her. “We don’t have time, Your Highness. Your safety is my highest priority, and I cannot guarantee it here.”

April gestures toward the boxes. “But there might be supplies! Something we can take so we’re not completely screwed trying to get back home.”

Well, her home, her true home. Not his. 

“You raise a good point. Alright.” The guard reaches for something behind his back, and in a flash of purple light a metallic pole appears seemingly out of thin air. “I’ll make quick work of the boxes so we don’t linger here longer than necessary.”

However, April’s staring in awe at the staff. “Wait a second, what is that? And where did it come from?”

The turtle pauses, looking at the staff in his hands. “It’s my titanium bō staff! A feat of scientific innovation, and my preferred weapon of choice. And it was just hidden within my armor, as it's collapsible.” The guard places one of his hands on the end of the staff and pushes, and in a flash of purple light the staff condenses back down into a thick, hand-sized cylinder in the palm of his other hand.

April’s eyes sparkle for several seconds, but then she blinks and tilts her head. “Wait, why were you using a sword? And why didn’t you use it against my kidnappers.”

“My b—Prince Raphael asked that I use a katana. He said it would be symbolic if our weapons matched your guards, something about showing respect and camaraderie.” The guard shrugs as if the reasoning is trivial and something he doesn’t quite agree with. “As for why I didn’t pull my beloved staff out earlier, I wasn’t confident that I had enough time to pull it out and use it to protect you. Using the lowly dagger to dispose of our enemy was logically the best option.”

Well, April certainly can’t argue with that. The kidnapper had a knife on her neck, so every second counted in saving her life. 

“That makes sense, but–” she gestures to the staff “–how can that cut open a box?”

“Ohohoho! Excellent question, Your Highness.” The staff extends outward and the guard fiddles with something in the center of the staff. “As I mentioned previously, this staff is a feat of scientific innovation, and there are a few tools packed into it.”

April has to hold back a gasp as the yokai guard presses a button and a small saw flicks out at the top end of the staff. Then the teeth of the blade start moving.

“Tada! A motorized saw, powered by my ninpō.” He places a hand on his puffed-out chest. “Impressed?”

April looks at the guard. This is probably the first time he’s appeared, well, happy, in front of her. He’s not scowling, or giving her dirty looks. And while he’s doing his very best to hide it, she can see a hopeful look in his eyes that she approves and admires his scientific accomplishments.

Does he not get enough praise back home or something?

Still, she indulges him. “Oh, it’s amazing! Ah–” April fiddles with her fingers “–I don’t think I ever learned your name.”

“It’s Donatello, future co-captain of the Royal Guard, Your Highness.” 

“Thanks! Well, Sir Donatello, how about you demonstrate how your saw can annihilate the boxes?” April asks, a smile dimpling her cheeks and a glint in her eye.

“With pleasure.” 

The saw makes quick work of the tops of all the wooden boxes, allowing April to riffle through the stored goods. As April searches through the first box, her eyes land on one particular item and she dives for it. 

“Sweet! A pair of pants!” She holds up the pair of black pants like a trophy. “This will make our journey much easier.”

Without hesitation, April manages to slip the pants underneath her dress, though it takes a bit of effort to get the pants on with the ruffles of her foofy dress getting in the way. 

Though her stupid dress will not be a problem for much longer. 

Once the pants are on, she turns to Donatello who’s cutting through the last box. “Sir Donatello. Do you mind cutting off the skirt portion of my dress?”

The guard immediately stops his saw and seems to choke on air. “I-I beg your pardon, Princess?”

“Can you cut the skirt portion of my dress?” April motions to the annoying garb. “It’s only gonna get in the way.”

Donatello looks mortified. “I don’t think that would be wise. You’ve already been separated from the convoy, and I am positive that your King would not be pleased if I returned you in such a poor state.”

“I really don’t care what my father thinks,” April shrugs, “Besides, I’ll just say it was my idea, or that the dress got ripped on a tree stump or something. You won’t take the blame.”

The turtle yokai hesitates, but eventually walks over and takes a small knife out of his staff. “If that’s what you wish, Princess.”

He makes quick work of the annoying skirt, cutting around her mid-thigh and turning the dress into something that reminds April of a summer chemise. He then cuts a ribbon from the discarded fabric and uses it as a makeshift ribbon, tying it around her waist so that the remaining portion of her dress is secure.

“There, how’s that, Princess?” He asks as he slots the small knife back into his staff.

“Oh, this is much better.” April stretches her legs, the first time she’s been able to do so this entire journey. “I hated that stupid dress.”

The guard pauses, tapping his bō staff before looking at her quizzically. “You… don’t like your clothing?”

April considers whether she should be telling the guard of her woes, but then shrugs. What’s he going to do, snitch on her?

“No. It’s… it’s what my father wanted me to wear when I met with Prince Raphael and the Lords and Ladies of your kingdom.” April shrugs. “Didn’t have much say in the matter.”

Donatello hums and nods. “I see.”

There is a pause, not quite awkward, but not quite comfortable.

The guard clears his throat. “Well, I think we should search the boxes and get a move on. We’ve stayed here long enough as it is.”

Together they ransack the abandoned goods, grabbing any supplies they thought might be useful. Sir Donatello ends up carrying most of the equipment while April takes a sheathed serrated dagger and slips it behind the makeshift ribbon on her waist. 

“Are you ready to go, Princess?” Sir Donatello asks, holding out a hand toward her.

April nods. “As ready as I will ever be.” 

Together they leave the depths of the cave, only stopping at the mouth to take in their surroundings. 

“I’m afraid I am not too familiar with your territory.” The yokai guard states as he looks around. “Do you have an idea of which way we should go?”

April bites her lip. They’re up high on one of the mountains, though she thinks she can see the path that winds through the terrain in the distance. It will take more than a day to get there, assuming they don’t get lost or sidetracked.

But how are they going to get there?

April looks immediately in front of her. To her right, she spots a rough dirt path with some weeds and plants starting to grow back along the path’s edge. To her left, she sees a more treacherous terrain, with stones and fallen branches littering the forest floor.

April decides… >> To take the dirt path.

<Ch. 1> <Ch. 3>

[exhaustedwriterartist]

Next (soon)

Masterpost

Here it is! The beginning. Oh my word... it took me... so many months to finally get enough motivation and post this... but hey! It's here. Just a note, the art style for the next part is going to look fairly different, because my artstyle has changed since I drew the line art for the panels. Plus I will be changing art apps for the rest of the time I do this comic. We'll see if I can get some more OOH stuff out by the end of the year. Love y'all. :]

People who wished to be tagged:

@bowandbrush @allyheart707 @lokiwaffles @nyaboshi @untitled-tmnt-blog @jadetheblueartist @ferniforest @banana-pancake5 @poetique823

Title/cover page art without text:

[skelenova]

we'll meet again

don't know where, don't know when

but i know we'll meet again, some sunny day

love @somerandomdudelmao's apocalyptic series, and am just as heartbroken as anyone else

i'm a sucker for the bittersweet, and as a way to cope with ~emotions~ i sat down and redrew my favorite hugs (so far, i'm sure)

edit: i didnt realize i forgot raph's eypatch ffffff

[beannary]

HEY WE'RE BACK BABY here's TLP part 14!!! and we're doing a silly little flashback woohoo!!!

Beginning | Previous | Next

[turtleblogatlast]

I honestly love the clothing styles of each of the turtles in this show and I love how these styles really incorporate their personalities as well.

Like, obviously Donnie has the best sense of style, yeah? Think that’s something pretty agreed upon here. Everything we see him put together is very meticulously crafted and clean. That goes with his personality because Donnie is a very meticulous person in general, and he knows what he likes very, very well, and knows how to flaunt it in turn. Him commenting on colors he enjoys or disapproving of outfits that the others see no problem with also shows how he just generally has an eye for this kind of thing. He doesn’t just know what looks good on himself, but also what looks good on others - and I think this ties into his love of gift giving too. Donnie also has a flair for making sure that his things have his “mark” on them, and his clothing is no exception. All that he wears and how he wears them screams “Donnie.”

Mikey is really fun because his styles are honestly a pendulum between super simplistic and incredibly out there. And often, you’re going to see a lot of color or patterns to both. And in my opinion I think that all reflects really well on Mikey’s character - he’s got a colorful personality but even more than that he’s incredible sure of who he himself is. Mikey’s style, I feel, is less what looks good as clothes and more what sparks joy in Mikey himself. His bright stickers he wears are a testament of that! He’s comfortable in his own skin and his style reflects this perfectly, whether he goes for a more out-there look or a more toned down one.

Now, for Leo. Okay, I think I’m actually in the minority here I feel because Leo’s style isn’t really that bad? Hear me out- if you actually look at what he wears, try taking out, like, one accessory. Suddenly, that outfit works! He even manages to put together many good outfits in the series, but his “bad” ones are the ones that tend to stand out, alas (just like how his mistakes tend to be big ones oop-) Basically, my personal look at him is not that he’s inept at styling at all, but that he has a “too much” gene. And like everyone else, this sense of style is completely like him, too. Going too far to impress when all he needed to do was slow it down some to think things through. (And funnily enough, a lot of his outfits take random aspects from his brothers too - “nothing without them” huh?)

For Raph, I feel bad for him since pretty much all of his clothes are inevitably going to be ripped, but he makes them work pretty much each time. Like Leo, Raph tends to go more sporty with his looks, but I also noticed that his stuff often goes in that in between of comfy, cool, and cute. His pajama suit in particular comes to mind in terms of “cute” as it’s more something you’d see younger children in rather than older kids, and I think it can be a subtle nod to the fact that for all Raph tries to seem older, he’s still just a kid too.

I could probably go on, but these are just all off the top of my head - I love how the boys’ personality’s come out in so many different ways.

[thankchaosforspellcheck]

rottmnt crossover with the 2003 series where Angelo accidentally teleports himself into the 03 universe & has to stay with the guys for a bit.

He gets along best with Mikey, surprisingly well with Don and Raph, but is constantly butting heads with Leo.

The guys go from a little surprised by this to extremely surprised when it comes out that this is because Mikey reminds him of his Leo, while 03!Leo reminds him of his Raph.

[qoldenskies]

Legitimately I feel like Leo would be that meme in therapy.

“While you were getting therapy I was studying the blade—what do you mean I need better coping mechanisms”

Or he says something as a joke and then he gets read for filth by the therapist going “actually that’s a symptom of C-PSTD” or some shit and then he just sits there doing the Kubrick stare for a couple minutes

BAHGHDGHFH HONESTLY WHAT'S FUNNIER IS THAT I THINK HE WOULDN'T BE LIKE. SURPRISED? his actual reaction to hearing he has PTSD would be like "yeah that tracks" it's just being CALLED OUT for it that would freak him out. what leo hates the most is getting read like a book. he does not want that shit Perceived. like he knowssss he knows this already do you really have to make a big deal out of it JEEEZZZZZZZZ

(deep down leo takes it as a critique, and he thinks he has already handled that himself by preparing for every bad thing that could be said to him. by saying it to himself. he thinks that's better than being in denial and being unprepared, when it's really not.)

[ceruleanterrapin]

Every time I'm reminded that Mikey is the actual eldest I want to punch someone

[dandylovesturtles]

I actually like several AUs that take the exact opposite philosophy of what I’m about to say here but I really truly feel like in a world where Draxum kept some/all of the turtles he would consider Donnie his biggest success.

First of all I think it’s kind of weird when people act like Draxum would be surprised/disappointed by Donnie’s softshell. Like yeah I guess it’s funny to think he grabbed 4 random eggs without knowing what would hatch, but actually if your goal is to make a bunch of super soldier turtle tots it makes sense to get a softshell. They’re predators, they’re aggressive, they’re fast (for a turtle) on both land and in water, their soft shell affords them more agility and flexibility than other turtles, they can stay under water basically indefinitely, and they have strong chompers for chompin’.

Donnie himself is hyper intelligent, morally gray, indifferent to the plights of people he doesn’t personally care about, unafraid of physical confrontation (he gets right in Draxum’s face in episode 1 and he swings that bo like it’s a battle hammer half the time), and his love for his family is the only thing keeping him from his villain arc anyway. Add all that to his need for Parental Approval at All Costs and you have the perfect recipe for a little murder turtle tot all your own.

Sure, he’s not so good at mystic stuff, but lbr Draxum probably wasn’t expecting any of them to be and that would just come as a bonus.

tldr Donnie is Draxum’s truest son and everyone should be glad Splinter got him in the divorce

[lothbats9000]

:D

[elmuvahva]

is now a good time to mention im halfway through writing a casey song?

[miksykat]

so you know how future mikey has hair?? what if thats not a mikey exclusive thing. what if all the turtles started growing hair around when they hit their 20s, and the only reason future leo is still bald is because if he feels even a little bit of hair on his head he gets flashbacks to the evil hair incident, and he has to shave it all off or else he wastes all his energy on aggressively distrusting his hair

[seagull-scribbles]

Just the two of us~

[bambiraptorx]

here's a quick post of a wip I have going on. I haven't colored or added the background yet, but the pose is nice

edit: the finished piece if anyone wants to see

[bisexualmultifandommess]

When I’m going through Mutant Mayhem fics and some refer to Donnie as the youngest brother:

[donnie-and-their-backup-turtles]

i kinda think part of why people treat donnie as less caring than he is is like. sometimes not knowing when he's joking? like that time he threatens to be "semi-lethal" when splinter's in the truck with meat sweats. like i'm sure most of you knew he was joking but like. do some of you realise he like, would not have done that? like remember how he was sad? when splinter actually got hurt? same with leo in the movie? and all of them at every other time?

like he's self proclaimed funniest. and also a mad scientist aesthetic doesn't make a character a villain by itself it's what you actually do with that (yes he has done bad things within that area (haunted stare towards mind meld) but you have to admit he like. did fix those. and feel bad and hopefully learn his lesson but hey that's another analysis)

i have mixed feelings on villain donnie stuff, as an example, because like. ANY character put in a situation where they lose their way is really fun and if in character is really interesting as to what could cause that.

but when it's treated as like. inevitable. who he is, or phrasing his brothers are the only thing stopping him being evil. it's like hm. ugh. kind of hurts a bit actually but that's probably because i relate to him ghfdjk

like the seen in snow day with the tech bo chainsaw like. all he really DOES is cut a snowman there but he's just like. leaning into being "evil" with the chainsaw but like he's just being silly with it. acting like that's proof of anything is wild to me, without any other data points.

also kind of separate but i think there's a dissonance between what is like. seen as evil? between me and like most people lol. like the scene in the movie as well with like "finally, man and machine, entwixt in perfect bionic synergy" someone i watched it with was like "haha evil moment" or whatever where i was just like. yeah real that would be rad as hell. honestly gender also.

not saying he's never done anything wrong but i am saying he immediately tries to fix all of those things

anyway he does have a really interesting relationship with morals in my eyes but like, at his core he really cares about people, you know?

this isn't hate to anyone btw i just care about donnie a lot as a character and as really layered autistic representation