#yellow eyes in a turtle disguise

[selfspinninglies]

Watch my artstyle/vibe change everytime I draw

(rbs very appreciated <3)

[mythos321]

second of these WoF x Persona AU character descriptions! this one in particular I feel is interesting

Turtle of the Unknown

Codename:according to Tsunami, Turt. Turtle however uses the codename Island

Arcana: The Magician

Birthdate: unknown

Persona: The Trickster hero from Māori, Hawaiian, and Polynesian Mythology, Maui(changed from Zorro that Morgana has in Persona)

Backstory: Much of Turtles backstory is unknown even to him. All he knows is his name. his oldest memory is awakening with the body of a cat in the real world, and believes that the disturbances in mementos caused him to be swept away and turned into what he is now, and so tries to fix the distortions in his hope that he may get his memories back, and for two years explores as much of mementos as he could in hopes of trying to get back what he believes he lost.

However, while exploring the distorted palace of a seawing named Whirlpool, he was captured and imprisoned, and soon after met Clay and Tsunami who were on their way out. After the two freed him, Turtle assisted them out of the castle,and soon after permanently partnered with them as founding members of The Phantom Thieves, taking the role of Clays pet in the real world(though he refuses to be outright called such)

Physical Description: Turtle has the form of a fluffy black house cat, with dark green eyes, and a slight chub, which becomes even more prominent after all the treats he gets from Clays current guardian, Kestrel(who was mildly disappointed she couldn’t name the cat).

While in Mementos however Turtle takes a different base shape, one he believes to have been similar to his true body, while also providing him a disguise similar to that of a bandit.

In both forms, he has a waterproof yellow scarf that also doubles as a pouch, and a little golden armband with 6 black gems in it

He can also take the form of a bus!

Personality: Unlike his main universe counterpart, Turtle has much more confidence in himself as a trickster(in part because he doesn’t remember nor know about his true life(if he ever even had one), outside from that he still keeps his personality in tact! Being just as friendly, curious, and thoughtful, though does have a tendency to be slightly more mean spirited, particularly towards Tsunami.

Goals:To change the hearts of the wicked and bring new shining hope to the world. His other goal is to learn of his past and regain his supposed true form, which he hopes will be done by fixing the Mementos distortions(Many of the Phantom Thieves believe he’s just delusional, mainly Tsunami)

Trivia:

-Only those who have been in mementos are able to understand Turtle, to everyone else he sounds like a normal, if whiny due to how much he speaks, cat

-He goes with Clay everywhere in a small pouch Turtle gave him, like one of those teacup pets

-Whenever The Phantom Thieves adventure to long Turtle usually piggy backs on Clay, who for obvious reasons isn’t slowed down much if at all by it

-a solid quarter of the time Turtle has no idea what the hell he’s talking about, and usually just hopes things work out

-Turtles choice of weapons in the mementos world is either cutlasses or fishhooks, as well as a slingshot(though he’s terrible at using it)

-Turtle believes(hopes) his self before he was changed was a heroic and bold figure, who never runs away, always believes in himself, is the most interesting person ever, and has the greatest Penmanship the worlds ever seen(…)

[animal-lover-forever]

And Then There Were Five.

Chapter Ten: Halloween Special; Breaking News!

“Kai! Get up! Get up! Get up!”

Kai opened his eyes to see Mikey running into his room.

“Since when are you awake before me? And why are you waking me up? What’s going on?”

“It’s Halloween!” Mikey cheered as he jumped onto Kai.

“Ow, hey! Did you have to do that?”

“Sorry, Kai, I’m just so excited! It’s Halloween! It’s the one day of the year that we can go up to the surface without any disguises or having to hide!”

“You want to go up to the surface, around a bunch of humans, and not be hidden? Are you crazy!?”

“Kai, I know you don’t like humans, but you need to stop worrying so much.”

“You fail to understand how dangerous humans can be.”

“And you fail to understand just how fun humans can be.” Kai looked up to see Leo standing in his doorway. “Mikey’s right, you’re worrying too much about this, Kai.”

“Thank you, Leo.”

“This still seems dangerous.”

“Think about it this way, Kai. On Halloween night, the surface is like the Hidden City.” Leo sipped his cup of tea before continuing. “Almost all of the humans dress up in costumes. All the humans will be so busy having fun and playing dress-up that they won't even notice us. They will just assume that we’re some totally normal humans that are dressed up in Halloween costumes.”

“Yeah! And they give out free candy!” Mikey grabbed Kai by the shoulders and started to shake him.” Free candy, Kai! Free candy!”

“Alright, enough!” Kai yelled as he shoved Mikey off of him and got up.

“What are you doing?”

“If you’re going to drag me up to the surface like that, then I will be prepared.”

Mikey and Leo watched Kai go over to his things.

“Kai, wait.” Mikey got up to his feet and went over to Kai. “What are you doing?”

Kai dug through one of the drawers in the nightstand and then proceeded to pull out a brooch. “Grabbing a useful item.”

“What is that?”

“Here’s a hint: Big Mama had one. And a bunch of her staff, actually.”

“Woah, woah, woah! You aren’t going to try and kill us or something, right?” Regardless of his question, Leo moved to be more into Kai’s room.

Kai looked at Leo as he put his belt on, attached the brooch to his belt, and activated it. Kai went from a primarily black turtle with some red on his shell and plastron and yellow stripes going down their limbs to a human with a sienna skin color and short black hair; his skin was a few shades lighter where his stripes were. Kai had on dark blue jeans and a black hoodie.

“It’s a cloaking brooch, Leo.”

“Ohmigosh! Kai! You look like a human!”

“Yes, Mikey, that is the point of a cloaking broach.”

“Oh, oh, oh! Do you have any more of those?”

“Unfortunately, no. I just have the one. But I can definitely get some more the next time I’m in the Hidden City.”

“Awesome. Does this mean that you’ll come up to the surface with us for Halloween?” Leo asked as he finished off his tea.

“I guess…”

“Great!” Mikey chirped happily. “Although, the cloaking brooch does kinda defeat the purpose of Halloween.”

Kai deactivated his cloaking brooch. “Fine, I will try to keep it deactivated, but I'm still keeping it on me just in case.” The ruins on the handle of Kai’s scythe started to glow just before it took itself off the wall and placed itself in its proper place in Kai’s belt on his shell.

“Right, and Kai, I was thinking we could put a white sheet over you. You'd be a ghost, just like when I helped you prank Don-Tron. On top of that, we could prank so many kids by having them take the sheet off of you, and you go invisible. That way, when they take the sheet off, they'll think it was a real ghost! Even though ghosts aren't actually real.”

“How can you say that there's no such thing as ghosts when there's such a thing as us!?” Mikey squawked.

“Because ghosts aren't real, all that ghost stuff can be explained. Even Donnie would agree with me!”

“Ew, gross. Why would I do that?” Donnie leaned against the doorframe and took a sip of his coffee out of a well-used coffee cup.

“Donnie!” Mikey shouted at the arrival of another one of his big brothers. “Leo says that ghosts aren't real!”

“Oh, well, I guess even morons have their moments.” Donnie muttered under his breath. “That's because ghosts aren't real, Mikey.”

“Wha-! How can you say such a thing!? Ghosts are totally real!”

“They are.” Everyone turned their attention to Kai.

“Kai, please, one would think you would be more intelligent than that.”

“Ghosts are real. Though I don't know what factors contribute to someone becoming a ghost, There are plenty of theories, but none of them have been completely proven.”

“So you’re telling me that ghosts are actually real?” Leo asked, raising his non-existent eyebrows.

“Uh yeah, ghosts exist. In fact, yokai will often go to witches to see if dead loved ones have become ghosts. And if they have, they’ll have the witches contact them so they can speak to their loved ones.”

“Woah~! That’s so cool!” Mikey chirped.

“I’m still not buying it.”

“Believe what you want, Leo, but ghosts are real. Draxum has a whole library full of books, and there are a few on ghosts.”

“Huh. Anyway, I’m going to start on breakfast.”

“Right… Well, while he’s doing that, I’m going to head to my lab. So if you need me, don’t need me.”

Kai rolled his eyes as he watched Mikey and Donnie leave his room.

“Okay then. Well, mi hermano, let’s go and put your Halloween costume together!”

“So we’re really doing this then, huh.”

“Yep! There’s no point in trying to run away from this Kai. Trust me, you’ve got four older brothers who will physically drag you out of the lair if need be. Because you will experience Halloween and all its glory!”

Kai sighed as he was dragged out of his room and into the living room so that Leo could make his costume just right. Kai didn’t understand what the big deal was; it was just a sheet. Leo ended up coloring some black circles where Kai’s eyes were with this strong-smelling ‘Sharpie’. Kai didn’t like it very much, but he delt with it anyway.

“I hope we didn’t wake you up too early, Kai.”

“It’s okay; I’m used to getting around with little hours of sleep. Draxum made sure to train me while sleep-deprived from time to time.”

“Why? What good does that do you?”

“It teaches me to focus, to be aware of my surroundings, and to not fall asleep when in battle. I was training to be in a war that would end humanity; there are bound to be times when I won’t be able to sleep for long periods of time when in a war. Draxum was just getting me prepared.”

“You don’t even know if that would happen.”

“But you don’t know that it won’t. You don’t just train to fight, Leo; you train to be prepared for any possible outcome.”

“Still seems like a bit much.”

Leo took the sheet off of Kai once he was done using the sharpie. Kai was relieved when the smell of sharpie was taken away; it was starting to make his head spin.

“Wow, you guys are up early.”

Leo and Kai looked over to see Raph and Cobalt enter the living room.

“No, you guys are up late! It’s Halloween, Raph!” Leo exclaimed.

“So? None of that really matters until it gets dark out. We can’t go topside until then, so why get up early?”

Cobalt stretched and plopped down on Raph’s feet, glaring at Kai. Kai and Cobalt have started to get used to being around each other, but the others often have to break up fights that would ‘randomly’ start between Cobalt and Kai.

“So we’ll go to the surface at night? Well, at least I’ll be able to use the dark of night to keep hidden.”

“Good, then you won’t need this!” Splinter came running in like a blur and took Kai’s cloaking brooch off of him and put it on himself, activating it. With the cloaking brooch activated, Splinter looked just like he did when he was still human. “Now, this is more like it!”

“Ohmigosh!” Leo ran up to Splinter, clinging onto him. “Dad! You look just like Lou Jitsu did in the movies!”

“That’s because I am Lou Jitsu, Blue! We went over this!”

Kai hissed, not pleased at Splinter taking his cloaking brooch. “That cloaking brooch is mine!”

“You snooze, you lose, Yellow!”

“Did you just call me yellow?” Kai chirped, confused.

“Pops!” Raph yelled.

“I am sorry, Red, I forgot!”

“Forgot what? Why did he just call me yellow?”

“So~ about that…” Leo left Splinter’s side and went over to Kai. “So you know how Dad calls us by the colors of our masks? Well, we decided to give you a mask. Except we only just decided on that, so the mask isn’t ready yet. It was supposed to be a surprise, but Dad ruined that.”

“I said I was sorry! Shesh!”

“Guys, breakfast is ready!” Mikey chirped from the kitchen.

Cobalt perked up and immediately ran to the kitchen to eat.

“OHMIGOSH!” Mikey yelled when he saw Splinter with the cloaking brooch. “Is that Dad!?”

“Yes, Orange, it is me.”

“Ohmigosh!” Mikey immediately ran to Splinter, jumping onto him and causing Splinter to almost fall over from the impact.

“Careful, Orange! I am old!”

“Has Donnie seen Dad!?”

“Of course not; he’s been in his lab since you went to make breakfast.” Leo pointed out. “Speaking of which, we should go eat before Cobalt eats all the food.” Leo took a photo of Splinter before running off to the kitchen, followed by everyone else.

…

….

……

Everyone was just finishing up breakfast– and Cobalt was trying to eat everything that Mikey was trying to put up– Stupid, greedy Beta-103! That would have never been okay with Draxum– before Donnie started making his loud entrance from his lab to the kitchen.

“Why did Leo send me a photo of– oh, my banana pancakes!”

“Hello, Purple.”

“H-how!?”

“Splinter stole my cloaking brooch.”

“I like the term ‘borrowed’ better.”

“Anyway, the cloaking brooch seems to have done its job. It picked up that Splinter was once human and gave him that form. It also picked up that he’s older than before, so it adapted his form by making him look older than he was before the mutation, which is good because it will be shocking enough that some famous human that went missing 20 or so years ago just shows up all of a sudden. An even bigger wave of shock would go down if he looked like he hadn't aged a day since he went missing.”

“Wait. What do we do about that? Dad is a famous movie star! What are we going to tell everyone when they see him?”

“That is simple, Orange.” Splinter cleared his throat and took a deep breath before continuing. “The paparazzi were vicious! They kidnapped me and locked me in a basement!”

“You expect people to believe that? I hate humans, But even I know that ‘The Great Lou Jitsu’ could hold his own in a fight. Why do you think Draxum chose to use your DNA to create us?”

“Mmmmm… Yes, good point, yellow; I am quite awesome!”

“Wait, did Dad just call Kai Yellow?”

“Why yes, Mikey, Dad did just call Kai Yellow.” Leo said in a ‘caring’ voice before talking in an annoyed tone. “Dad spoiled it just before breakfast.”

“Wait!? Dad! How could you!”

“I forgot! And I already apologized twice!”

“Dear Papa, apologizing? That’s a first.”

“Don’t make me wack you, Purple.”

“Oh, you hurt me so.” Donnie put his hand over his head as he said that in a flat voice.

“I will think about what to tell everyone. I mean, I am a famous movie star that went missing! People will eat up anything and everything that I tell them!” Splinter laughed as he said that.

“Anyway, we should go get our costumes ready! You got Kai’s ready, right Leo?”

“Indeed I did, Mikey.”

…

….

……

When it came time to head to the surface, the streets were crowded with humans. Even more so than usual. Leo was right; most of the humans were in disguises. They all had their own costumes as well. Leo was a wizard, Mikey was a mummy, Donnie was dressed as someone called ‘Albert Einstein’, Raph was a lion, they dressed Cobalt as a dog– after a few hours of chasing her down to get the costume on– they put the sheet back on Kai– which, he could still smell the sharpie on– and of course, Splinter was wearing the cloaking brooch that he stole from Kai.

April was there too, and she was dressed as a robot, and Mayhem was tagging along in a pumpkin costume. Since Lou Jitsu would be in the crowd, April offered to take Cobalt so she wouldn’t be trampled by any fans. And Kai was thankful for that because now he won’t have to tag along with the three beings that he hates– A human, Agent 64, and Beta-103.

“Oh my God! Is that Lou Jitsu!?” Some random girl on the street noticed Splinter, and soon, people were swarming him.

“Lou Jitsu!? But he has been missing for years!”

“Oh my gosh! Where did you go, Lou Jitsu!?”

“Everyone, please calm down. I know that all of my wonderful fans have many questions about my disappearance! And I will answer them to the best of my abilities!”

“Dad, are you sure this is a good idea?” Mikey asked, going closer to Splinter.

“Did he just say, Dad!? Lou Jitsu has a kid!?”

“Actually, he has five kids.” Leo said in a proud voice as he pointed to himself, then Mikey, then Donnie, Raph, and then finally Kai.

Kai immediately hated Leo for that, as as soon as he mentioned that Kai was Lou Jitsu’s kid, the humans started to swarm him.

“Oh my gosh! You’re Lou Jitsu’s– The Lou Jitsu’s– kid!? What’s your name!?”

Kai hissed, trying to find a way to get away from the crowd.

“Here, I’ll help you out; his name is Kai. But he isn’t a big fan of crowds, so you won’t get a lot from him, but hey, come over to Leon here, and I’ll be happy to answer all your questions about the children of ‘The Great Lou Jitsu’.” Leo winked as the fans started to migrate away from Kai and more towards Leo and the others.

Kai sighed a breath of relief just before he spotted an opening in the crowd. He moved past the humans and made his way to an alleyway before he started to wall-jump between the two buildings to get to the rooftops. Once Kai made it to the roof, he took the sheet off of him just before he fell to the ground. The smell of the sharpie really did a number on him. It was so strong that it throws off his senses; It made his head spin, it made it hard to smell anything other than the sharpie, and it made him dizzy. It’s safe to say that Kai hates ‘Sharpies’, but that’s just another thing to add to the growing list of things that Subject-5 Kai hates but can’t complain about– after all, ‘Silence is a virtue.’ and besides, complaining never got him anywhere– except for in trouble, complaining did get him into trouble.

“It’s just one night.” Kai reminded himself. He pushed himself off the ground and made his way over to the edge of the rooftop to sit down. Kai looked down at Splinter and his brothers and watched as they were swarmed by fans greedily trying to get answers about Lou Jitsu’s disappearance and how he ended up with five kids. Kai didn’t see this ending soon, and now that ‘Lou Jitsu’ has made an appearance after such a long disappearance, Splinter will probably need to use the cloaking brooch more often, and Kai will have to get more for his brothers. From Kai’s high point above the ground, he could see a van approaching. It had some equipment on it, and it said ‘Chanel 6 News’– News? Kai remembers that from when Donnie was teaching him about TV.

Kai watched as the van stopped near Splinter and his brothers, and a few humans got out and went over to them. Kai could hear the humans from the van ask a bunch of the questions that the other humans had already asked. He eventually saw Leo start looking around before he made eye contact with Kai– guess Leo finally noticed that he had left. Thankfully, Leo didn’t draw attention to him; he really didn’t want to be down there. Kai didn’t want to be here on the surface, to begin with, but his brothers made it clear that that was going to happen, and Kai learned a long time ago not to argue, talk back, or try to get out of something that was going to happen regardless– that only got him in trouble– so he went with his brother to the surface, but there were a lot of humans around, and Splinter was only attracting more and more of them.

Kai wondered if he could sneak off to Usagi’s. Could he do that? sure, he could, but his brothers probably won’t be very happy about that. So, instead, Kai just watched Splinter, his brothers, and the hundreds of humans that flooded the streets below him.

…

….

……

“Kai?”

Mikey’s voice threw Kai out of his thoughts. He had zoned out the commotion in the streets hours ago. “I’m here.”

“Leo said you’d be up here... Are you doing okay? You kinda just disappeared.”

“There are a lot of humans down there, and Splinter was only drawing in more.” Kai looked down to the streets again to see that the news van was gone.

“Sorry. I wasn’t expecting Dad to use a cloaking brooch. It was just supposed to be a normal Halloween, but we can still make that happen. The news reporters left. We can still go trick-or-treating. People will still crowd around us because of Dad, but now that the news has come and gone, we might be able to walk around a little better.”

“Alright.” Kai got up and grabbed the sheet that was his costume before he walked over to Mikey.

“I see that you took your costume off. How come?”

Kai stayed quiet for a moment before he spoke up. “It’s hard to breathe with it on.”

“How? It’s fabric, and it’s not like it’s compressed onto your face.”

Kai’s tail wrapped around his ankle as he looked down at the costume in his hands. “The smell of the sharpie is very strong.”

“Oh, Kai…”

Kai had expected Mikey to be mad– he was super excited about this ‘Halloween’ after all– but he wasn’t.

“I guess we forgot that you have a better sense of smell than we do– we didn’t think about how the sharpie could bother you.”

“It’s alright, I’ll deal with it.”

“You don’t have to Kai. You don’t have to wear the costume; as a mutant turtle, people will think that’s your costume. But if you really want to, you can go home…”

“I’ll stay.”

“Really? But wouldn’t you rather go back home?”

“Yeah, but this seems to mean a lot to you guys, so I’ll hold out.”

“Alright, then, come on, we’re going to hit some houses for candy!”

…

….

……

The six of them spent another couple of hours going from house to house for candy and doing their best to avoid the fans who kept showing up, trying to ask questions. Kai didn’t really understand this ‘Trick-or-treating’, nor did he like it very much, but his brothers made sure to drag him to the houses for candy. They eventually met back up with April, Cobalt, and Mayhem before they all headed back to the lair to sort through their ‘Goods’ as Mikey put it. After everything was done and everyone was settling down, Kai went to his room– he was around enough people for today. Not everyone on the surface was a human in a costume; Kai had recognized quite a few yokai up there, too.

Kai looked around his room before he crawled into his bed for once and hid himself under the covers, going to bed. Today was a long day, and the night seemed even longer. Kai sighed in relief at finally being back home before he finally fell asleep.

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[purple-space-aliens]

✮🛸intro🪐✮

mutuals please filter tag posts about and relating to the election with #tagging for goops

if you would like to avoid our posts about our non positive feelings towards winter/prewinter and holidays such as thanksgiving, new year’s day, and possibly christmas, christmas eve, and new year’s eve, please block/filter the tag ‘#goops seasonal moping’

we don’t use code names anymore because none of us gaf lmao. we have dsmp fictives so if you don’t like that then leave. also we swear. a lot

we’re a endo system who has been on tumblr for a little bit and are redoing certain aspects of our blog to be a bit more accurate! many of us are nonhuman in the headspace in one way or another (kin, holothere, etc). in addition to this, we’re all collectively a goop dog alien who also has parasites, or as we call them, “bugs”! we are physically goop, but are usually in a human form as it takes too much effort to intentionally shift so might as well stay in disguise. we are also able to rarely shift into other creatures, such as a jerboa, but we usually stay human or sometimes our true body. originally we were nervous about bringing up the whole physically nonhuman thing, but with the recent in holothere content, we decided to go ahead and show that part of ourselves to tumblr. also, we mostly use the color purple, despite the rainbow username so yeah.

dni/byi

filter tags

goopsona refenerce image

✮🛸basic info🪐✮

~ our name is goop (collective identity) or lemons (tumblr system name)!

~ collectively maverique!

~ collectively we currently use they/them (in a plural sense), it/its, and be/bim/bis/bimself!

~ we use the label holothere usually, but don’t rlly care much abt or mind labels

~ we’re probably neurodivergent so keep that in mind!

~ some of us are adults, while others are not (the body is a minor tho so don’t be weird and shit)

~ endo system (no syscourse, most of us hate discourse and all that stuff)

~ we’re still learning abt the whole parasitical bugs thing, and will add more abt that whenever we find stuff out

~ plz interact u you want, we like to try and meet new people even tho we’re bad at social stuff! (rbs, asks, comments are much appreciated!)

~ we mostly post nonhuman and alterhuman stuff, so except to see that kind of thing on this blog as we get better at writing (we struggle with writing so we’ll see how much improving actually happens lol)

~ the purple goopy alien dog designs is a more online sona version of what we look like, which was designed by a friend!

✮🛸headmates list🪐✮

codename+emoji (pronouns//non-human?//kin type//other)

~ tommy (moots and headmates can call me toms/tom)🌹(he/fae/she//existence related to tommyinnit in some way but we don’t know for sure the details//red panda and bird hybrid//polar bearkin//minor)

~ nick or nikki 🏵️(he/she//piplup and vampire//huskykin//age regressor?)

~ yellow 🍋(alien//whalekin and monkeykin//dsmp ponk but doesn’t rlly like talking abt it)

~ phil 🍃(he/him//part crow//shockingly philza,idk where he’s been tho)

~ cyan (can also call pup) 🦋(kinda dogkin but it’s complicated, hawkkin, arctic foxkin, sockeye salmonkin//minor)

~ ranboo 🫐(he/him//some kind of creature//ranboo fictive but dunno where he’s been)

~ sodalite/soda 🌀(dragon//uses translations form other alters)

~ purple(d)/finn/cosmo (moots and headmates can call me purp)🪻(ey/em/eirs/emself and he/him//dsmp purpled fictive, don’t like me? fuck off then because i like me//alien, rabbit, and jerboa (complicated)//rabbitkin, duckkin, agoutikin, maybe something else but idk)

~ iris ☂️ (they/them//alien//polecat therian//minor//age regressor)

~ pink 🌸(he/him//pig//technoblade fictive but doesn’t rlly care if you call him that or not)

~ crimson 🧣(he/him//demon dog)

~ frost ❄️ (any pronouns, including neos//bug alien//questioning sea turtle kin)

~ taffy 🎀 (any//angel)

~ lime 🍊(any of he/she/they/it//lion)

~ ube 🪁 (he/him, sometimes they, never she//eevee//luigi fictionkin(i think)//age regressor//i’m not the brightest or best at communicating sorry//trans in a kinda confusing way??? [complicated but i feel the need to specify as it is very important to me specifically])

~ forest 🐊 (he/it, maybe other but dunno//crocodilian or gator thing//maybe agre?//it types like this a lot so be patient with it)

~ ace🌙 (he/him//demon//please read his filter tag list)

~ littles 🌤️ (anonymous)

[boots-with-the-fur-club]

Chapter 10 of the reincarnation au!

@daboyau

@rottmnt-background-screenshots

Surprisingly, no memory filled dreams happened that night.

The turtles and Splinter woke up mostly peacefully. It was later in the day since they stayed up most of the night.

The time difference was pretty rough but they were trying to handle that as best they could.

Leo portaled in some food and a pot for Mikey to make some breakfast over a fire they made outside. They had grilled fish and some rice, something they’d eat a lot of in their past lives.

Splinter joined them in the nostalgia over the meal. Even though the last time he had it wasn’t actually in a different lifetime, it might as well have been.

So much has changed since then.

He was never really planning on coming back, let alone bringing his sons along. There were too many painful memories he really didn’t want to revisit.

This wasn’t about him though. As much as those memories hurt them, there were a lot more painful memories awaiting his boys.

If he could help him through them then he would.

“What are you all planning on doing now that we are here?”

“I was thinking we should find some museums.” Leo answers.

Everyone stares at him in surprise.

“To see if our stuff is there! Just because we’ve had past lives doesn’t mean I like learning. In fact, if I ever say I actually want to go to a museum that isn’t magic or about Jupiter Jim, assume I’m a clone.”

“That makes a lot more sense.” Donnie deadpans.

“We should go to whatever museum here sent the key to the New York museum. If they had that, they probably have our stuff too. Or at least know where it’s at.” Raph suggests.

“I wonder why the museum sent it in the first place. I know they called it cursed, but what could the key have done?” Mikey questions.

“Guess we’re going to find out. Ikuzo, mis hermanos!” Leo holds up his sword.

“As much as I’d love to encourage your newfound trilingualness, we still have to use disguises. I doubt Japan is any better than New York with dealing with our green complexion.” Donnie makes him lower the sword.

“Blue, come with me to the lair for a bit. I have an idea.” Splinter looks at him.

“You’ve got it!” Leo portals the both of them away.

Eventually they come back, Leo lands dramatically in a brand new outfit.

He wore tabi socks and wooden sandals with blue straps.

His matching blue kimono had a red wrap around his waist and yellow stripes on the sleeves.

His brothers stare in awe.

“Dad made them for all of us!” Leo tosses the kimonos at his brothers.

They quickly get dressed.

Donnie had a purple kimono with black blocks etched all over.

Mikey wore a yellow kimono with orange spots.

Raph got a red kimono some tiger patches sewn on.

“Thanks, pops. I really appreciate it.”

Splinter smiles at him.

“You’re welcome, my son. I will take on my radical teen disguise. I will be just one of the gang.”

“These take care of our lack of clothes, but not the green skin.” Donnie says as he looks at his clothes more.

Leo holds out some wide brimmed straw hats in front of them.

“No, but these do! Now let’s get to that museum before it closes. You can thank me later for finding out which one it was later.“

After completing their disguises, Leo portaled them to near where the museum was.

Luckily for them they came at a time where after waiting about 20 minutes, it was free to enter.

They began looking all over the different exhibits. Seeing the tools and items from 1,000 years ago brought both a sense of familiarity and foreignness.

Sure they had seen it all the time in their memories, but back then they were brand new. Now they could see just how much they aged.

The time they had been alive before was so far behind them.

Slowly, and really without realizing it, they began to drift apart to different areas of the museum.

Raph found himself standing and staring up at a case holding pieces of something. His eyes are drawn back down to the plaque in front of it.

He didn’t need to read it to know what the pieces were of.

His heart ached. Sure it had broken a few times and was always replaced, but something told him that this mask had been the last.

Aoi wasn’t there to get Tora a new one.

She could have bought her own. He knew it wouldn’t be the same. The mask itself was never really what she was attached to.

He feels a gentle bump to his arm and glances downwards.

His eyes widen when he sees Leo holding up a mask that looked very similar to the one that was currently shattered.

“Guess what I found in the gift shop! I had to hold like 50 of these to get to the biggest one in the back.”

Raph kneels down and takes it. He couldn’t help but match the big grin spread across Leo’s face.

For a moment he sees Aoi in his place, holding out that mask for the first time. Their smiles never changed from one life to the other.

“Thanks, Leo.”

“Anytime, imōto-uh, I mean, aniki, I mean-! Ugh, you know what I mean.”

Raph chuckles.

“Doesn’t matter what you call me. Family means family.”

“Speaking of family, any idea where Donnie and Mikey went? I know dad left to go grab us lunch.”

“No idea. Must have found something pretty interesting.”

Mikey and Donnie had found each other as well, in more ways that one.

“…..Donnie?”

“I know, Mikey. I know.”

They looked at the ancient pieces of clothing that slightly matched the kimonos they were currently wearing.

The ones behind the glass were torn, not because of age or time, but clearly from something purposeful.

Kosuke’s clothing had medium sized holes singed into the arms and legs.

The entirety of the back of Tomo’s top was just….gone. The fabric around it seemed torn to shreds.

There were rectangular pieces missing as well in the same areas as Kosuke’s.

“Do you think….we were together when it happened?” Mikey questions despite knowing the answer deep down.

“Yes.” Donnie lies.

Mikey appreciates it.

They decide to meet back up with the others.

The four of them are at the entrance to the museum again soon enough.

Splinter calls to them from outside to tell them that he got the food.

They all leave together and find somewhere to sit down and eat.

The plan after that is to do some sightseeing using the portals.

Whenever Aoi wanted them to go would probably rev up some memories.

The portals mainly landed them in older villages at first.

Each of this towns had some sort of inscription somewhere about warriors that arrived in their time of need.

After Tomo and Aoi got their powers, it didn’t take long for Tora and Kosuke to get them too.

The memories they saw in those villages showed them that.

For Leo and Donnie, there was some kind of pride at seeing Tora and Kosuke….grow.

It was probably more Aoi and Tomo’s feelings though.

It was hard enough surviving childhood with what they had.

Getting to their teen years? A miracle.

Being in their 20s seemed impossible.

They still made it, though.

Raph couldn’t help but be so happy about them all being heroes.

He knew eventually they’d be the great mystic warriors that their dad talked about, but this sort of journey was what he always dreamed of.

He dreamt it less when being a hero meant losing a brother, or brothers.

Still….the looks on their previous lives’ faces was so endearing. They loved helping people.

Despite everything they went through, they somehow managed to keep being kids.

It was nice.

The last place they decided to go to had way more people.

It was also filled with a lot more things than the long abandoned villages. It reminded them a lot of New York.

Bright lights, loud noises, the works.

The group kept taking pictures of themselves indulging in whatever was around.

The food stands, the stores filled with plushies, the high tech advertisements.

Donnie lifted up his phone to take a selfie in front of a Hatsune Miku billboard when he noticed something orange rush by.

“Mikey? Where are you going!?”

“I see Tora!”

Donnie quickly started running after him.

“There is no need to chase a memory! Just ignore it!”

“What if it’s important!?”

“I guarantee it’s not important enough for this! Stop already!”

“I want to know where she’s going!”

“Mikey!”

“Almost-!” He reaches his hand out.

“MIKEY!”

Donnie pulls him back hard enough for his hat to go flying off.

The hat lands in the street in front of him, almost immediately getting crushed flat by a speeding car.

Donnie held Mikey to himself as close as he could.

Mikey stared in shock at the fact that he could have been in the place of that hat.

Donnie breathes heavily and tries not to think about how if he was just a little slower his baby brother would be gone all over again.

…..Again?

Oh god.

The others run over.

“Mikey! Donnie! What happened!?” Raph kneels down to make sure they’re both okay.

“I….I almost ran into the road….” Mikey answers.

“You what!?“ Splinter shouts in a panic.

“I saw Tora-“

“And you just took off!?” Leo interrupts.

“It seemed like a good idea at the time!”

Splinter sees the crowd of people staring at them.

“Boys, we should be getting home now.”

Raph sees this this as well and ushers everyone back through the crowd.

Once they’re out of view enough Leo portals them back to the house.

It’s only then that Mikey leaves Donnie’s hold.

“Okay, so maybe that wasn’t my best idea….but I just wasn’t thinking.”

“I’ll say, that’s the dumbest dumb dumb thing I have ever seen anyone do.” Donnie crosses his arms.

“I’m sorry! I already feel dumb, you don’t have to say it….”

“No! I do have to say it! I tried to stop you! You weren’t just not thinking, you ignored me on purpose!”

“Donnie, I said I was sorry-“

“You never get it! Like when you kept trying to use your magic hands when you knew our ninpo was gone!”

“It worked eventually!”

“Only after we got it back! That’s exactly what I’m talking about! Why do you keep doing things without even giving one second to think about it!?”

“Donnie! Aren’t you going just a little too far!?” Leo gets between them.

Donnie frowns deeply and takes a breath to start up again, but as he sees the tears starting in Mikey’s eyes it dies on his tongue.

“I’m going to bed.” He rushes past everyone to another room.

Mikey tries to follow him but Splinter stops him.

“Orange, I know you want to fix this, but some things need time to settle before you can attempt a repair.”

Mikey sighs heavily.

“But he’s going to sleep angry, we’re never supposed to do that.”

“Sometimes forcing a reconciliation will just create more anger. Don’t worry. Perhaps in the morning Donatello will want to talk.”

Mikey whimpers slightly but nods in understanding.

Leo fixes up their sleeping space and everyone, excluding Donnie, sleeps together in the room.

Or attempts to.

Raph wrapped himself around them all closely, protectively.

Mikey opened his eyes and stares up at the ceiling.

Despite the warmth all around him and the ever comforting rumble of Raph’s snores, he was absolutely restless.

Donnie was missing and it bothered him to no end.

He eventually knows that he will not be getting to sleep unless he does something. So, he carefully slips out of Raph’s hold and sneaks into the room Donnie is sleeping in.

Mikey frowns as he sees him curled up, probably cold.

He quietly walks over to him and lays down next to him. He’s worried that if he touches him he’ll wake up and kick him out of the room.

To his surprise, he gets grabbed and pulled to Donnie’s plastron.

Mikey smiles and snuggles into him.

He’s asleep within minutes.

[frogonamelon]

Chompy the starchild <3

Raph’s been sneaking out as the Night Watcher for a while, even after the Shredder is defeated and his brothers are recovering from their injuries and generally taking it easy. He will don a disguise and sneak up to the surface to fight criminals and generally keep an eye on things.

On one of these nights, he sees what he believes to be a mutant dashing between shadows. He finds Y’Gythgba, a warrior from another planet who is here to recapture a creature before anyone else can hunt it down for their hyde, which is incredibly desirable both aesthetically and functionally, for it is both beautiful in a variety of colors and is so durable it can withstand magma. 

He wants to help and she needs a guide (or ‘guide’ given that Raph has never been outside of the city) and so they venture out on a mission to the Mojave desert (opposite side of the continent from NYC), defeating many who are hunting the creature and falling in love. Including a sweet moment when they’re close to the end of the journey where Raph is awed at the stars in the desert since he’s never seen so many at once.  

When they reach the creature, they find that the Volcanthian Draise (drake tortoise) has been defending her only remaining hatchling against the kraang. She is heavily wounded and being dragged away. The two leap into action and save her, getting her stable enough to be transported back to Y’Gythgba’s home planet for proper care but the wounded mother nudges her hatchling into Raph’s arms, leaving them in his care.

The couple part ways with the promise to see eachother again one day.

Due to the different environment, the young Draise becomes more bipedal than their mother was. They’re shades of magenta and lavender, with yellow eyes that reminds Raph of Y’Gythgba. He raises the draise as his own (teen dad Raphael <3) and calls them his starchild. 

The couple communicate long distance for a while before Y’Gythgba returns. The two of them will get married and move to the desert, better environmentally for their child and far enough away for Raph to get breathing room away from the stress of being a mutant ninja. He gets to paint in peace with his wife and their child in a small plot of land in the middle of nowhere under uncountable stars.

Ok! On the Chompy front: I need a name for this child. I want him to be named after an artist as, out of all the brothers, Raph is probably the most likely to continue the tradition. I’ve got two that I like.

Vincent/ Vin/ Cen/ etc- Named after Vincent van Gogh and a reference to the painting ‘Starry Night’. I like this one a lot and choosing a more modern artist than the renaissance turtles feels like a nice progression. It's got cute nicknames but it’s kind of basic since van Gogh is one of the most well-known artists in popular consciousness.

Giotto/ Gio/ To/ etc- Giotto di Bondone is another Italian Renaissance artist who had a few different paintings including stars in particular Stars of Bethlehem and on the ceiling of the Scrovegni Chapel. Also has cute nicknames including the fact that the family met on Earth. My reluctance here comes from already having a tmnt character named Gio.

[samninja18]

Turtle sisters and their human disguises

In turtle form Silviana has a darker green shade due to her species being a Musk Turtle, she has different spots and a few line marks. She’s covered in scars from her battles and has a hood cape on her at all times, she has sharpened claws and shoulder pads for armor. She used to be fully covered from head to toe with a mask, and pants with only her plastron showing, now she just has on a shorter belt and black shorts like her brothers. She wears a grey mask showing she’s the gray ninja. Her shell is brown and on the back she has a striped pattern. She has a thick short tail in a similar pattern.

In human form Silviana is a dark brown, scars still visible, mask still on, wearing a brown backpack, no claws, no spots, her plastron is replaced by a dress, and her cape is replaced by a regular gray hoodie. Her hair isn’t seen yet because she’s always wearing the hood up. Tail is gone.

Her main nickname is Silvie.

In turtle Form Venus has a mix of green and blue skin, her species is a diamondback terrapin, similar to her brother leo she has stripes all over her but in a different pattern. She wears a top that has a hole in the back for her shell to be exposed, her mask has long tails that she braided like hair, her plastron is much darker with a blue tint to it unlike her siblings. She wears black shorts just like the others. Her color is a sky blue, much lighter than leo’s, the reason for this is her eyes which are unnaturally blue unlike everyone else around her whom’s eyes are black. Her shell is a dark green with a Diamond pattern on the back. She has a very thin tail.

In human form she’s albino with VERY pale skin, and very light blond hair that’s almost white. Dark green backpack, mask still on, her stripes are now just dark spots on her skin followed by many freckles. Her plastron is now just a shirt under her top. Her hair is shoulder length and shaggy. Her black shorts are longer. No tail.

Her main nickname is Venny

In turtle form Jennika’s skin is very different from all her siblings, instead of some type of green, hers is closer to orange. Her species is a wood turtle she has a pattern that resembles scales over her. She wears a scarf and has her long mask tails tied into a bow her plastron is gold colored. she also wears black shorts. Her color is Yellow. Her shell is a mix of a dark blue, light orange, and yellow. She’s transgender in this version so her tail is much bigger and thicker resembling Raph, Mikey, and Donnie’s.

In human form her skin is light like her father Lou Jitsu. Long Black hair that goes over her shoulder. Dark blue backpack, mask still on, she isn’t seen to have any marks out in the open aside from the face paint on her face resembling her marks which is similar to leo’s human form, her plastron is now a sweater, everything else is the same, no tail.

Her name nickname is Jenna

[multi-dimensional-turtles]

Chapter 3: Apriiiiiiiil O'neil!

Short collection of stories of how they met and befriended April (we are still in the exposition of this story, unfortunately. We're almost there though!)

This ended up being over 5k words long, be warned. Ao3 link if needed

“Look! It’s an iguana with a top hat!” Mikey pulled it out of the dumpster and shoved it in Raph’s face. The older turtle wrinkled his nose at it and pushed it down. Mikey’s brightly colored nails popped against the old wrinkled skin that had real stitches in it.

“You know that’s taxidermied, right? It’s a real iguana?”

“Cool!” Mikey set it down and dived back in, no longer in Raph’s vision as he continued to search. Something tore inside the dumpster and Mikey gagged, “Oh gross, old food.”

“Yeah you’re gonna find a lot of that in there. Do not eat it unless you want Donnie to go all doctor on you. I will tell him.”

He heard a raspberry being blown at him. “Just because I’ll eat a lot of stuff doesn’t mean I’ll eat random sludge I found in a bag. I’m not that gross.”

“Sorry, I just don’t have faith in you.” He shrugged and looked back towards the street. He waited for the familiar silhouette of the pizza scooter to come into sight. He kept his hood up, a medical mask on, and his red ninja one off.

Coming up to the surface made him nervous, he never liked doing it. Yes the fresh air is nice, but it is New York, how nice is it really? It was only a little better from the sewers. Plus there are so many people, they always call for the pizza to be far away from the busier parts of the city, but Mikey loves to drop by whenever he can convince his brothers.

They’re not allowed to go out without disguises, Raph looks most similar to humans since he’s the only one that doesn’t have green skin. His skin is dark brown, but the red spots, three fingers, and shell are a dead give away that he’s not normal. Mikey has a dark green skin that you can’t really see in the dark, but up close it’s obvious, especially with his yellow spots.

If they actually went to the more active parts of the city, even the night couldn’t protect them thanks to all those billboards and lights. Which is why Raph wants to avoid it as much as possible, and why he really tried to convince the others to tell Mikey to stay. He’ll just have to be able to convince Mikey not to drag him to that part of the city.

Humans are not safe, no matter how much Mikey wants them to be.

“Is the pizza here yet?” Mikey asked. “I’m getting really hungry.”

“Not yet, I’ll let you know when. Just keep searching for… what are you searching for?” 

“Something cool for Donnie. I… may or may not have dropped my phone in the tunnels and I need him to fix it for me.” Mikey popped his head out with a sheepish smile. His mask was bright against his face, making his red eyes pop out even more.

“You really need some wire tied around that thing. How many phones have you broken this year?”

“Hey! I’m only on my third!”

“It’s not even fall yet!”

Mikey groaned, rolling his eyes. “I’ll be more careful this year. My goal is under five!”

“Yeah and Donnie might help with that by giving you an old flip phone, or no phone at all. You gotta be more careful with that stuff, or you’ll never be allowed out of the tree alone.”

“Blah blah blah, whatever,” he went back to searching.

Raph sighed and rubbed his arms, looking back towards the street. He tensed up when a door on the side of the building opened and a woman walked out, carrying a trash bag and looking down at her phone.

“Human, Mikey stay down!” he whisper-yelled, ducking behind the dumpster. He shimmied in between it and the wall, shell scraping against brick. He held his breath and heard Mikey stop rummaging around.

It doesn’t seem like the human noticed them, thank goodness they’re all so distracted by their phones. It has saved them more times than he can count.

Footsteps came closer and Raph’s heart started to race as they stopped in front of the dumpster. He heard a sad sigh and a small “Whatever,” as she lifted her trash bag and threw it in.

It hit the dumpster hard and Raph gasped when he heard a quiet “Ow.”

The human’s feet stopped just as she was turning away. A few quiet seconds passed and she muttered, “What the…?”

Mikey looked up just in time to see the human look in. She had giant red glasses and a yellow beanie on, curly red hair surrounded her dark skin. Her eyes widened when they locked eyes. He froze, holding his breath, and she seemed to do the same.

“Uh… s-sorry,” she stuttered, her eyes jumping all over him. “I uh… what- did you-”

“It’s cosplay! I am uh… a ninja kappa?” Mikey quickly came up with an excuse, waving his hands to show he meant no harm.

“Three fingers. How did you- a cosplay?” she reached in to touch his hand.

“Mikey!” Raph shouted, climbing out from his hiding spot and pointing his sai at the human. She pulled back and took a step away, her hand going to her pocket and she pulled out a pepper spray. “Back off!”

“Me?! You rushed out at me!” she shot back.

“Raph stop! She wasn’t going to hurt me!” Mikey climbed out of the trash, grabbing his brother’s shoulder. The woman’s eyes widened when she saw the shell “Sorry, he’s just overprotective.”

“Overprotective?! She's a stranger! What if she hurts you?!”

“See! Overprotective. I’m Mikey! What’s your name?” He held out a hand to the human.

She hesitated but grabbed his hand. “April. Uh… what are you?”

“What do you mean? We’re human just like you!” he pulled his hand away.

“Uh huh… Sure.” She glanced at Raph, who was still glaring at her. “So uh, where are you from?”

“Sewers,” he answered without hesitation. Raph turned his glare to him. “Uh, I mean, Manhattan?”

April laughed, “Well the city is just as dirty.”

“Prettier though! Man! You’re the first person we’ve ever talked to- outside of the main parts of the city I mean.”

She gave him a skeptical look. “Really? Well, I just moved here so you’re the first people I’ve officially met, aside from my landlord.”

“What’d you move here for?” Raph could see Mikey practically beaming as he talked longer.

“Moved out for college. I should be heading back up though, it was nice to meet you!”

“Yeah, nice to meet you!” Mikey waved as she turned away and started walking back. As soon as she was out of sight, he turned to Raph with a giant smile. “We talked to a human! A real human!”

“We’ve talked to the pizza people on the phone before,” Raph growled. “I don’t like her.”

“You don’t like anyone. I can’t wait to tell the others!”

“What?! No way, they’ll kill me for letting this happen! And you’ll never be allowed to the surface ever again!”

Mikey waved him off. “Maybe if I tell dad, but not Leo or Donnie! Maybe she can be our first friend!”

Raph scoffed. “Yeah right. Friend.”

~~~

Whenever they left the tree, Mikey would try to stop by the same alley to see if April was there. Donnie was interested, and so was Leo, but he seemed more nervous about it. Occasionally Mikey would leave on his own, sneaking out without the others knowing to see her. It took weeks for him to catch her again.

That night he hadn’t snuck out as well as he thought he did. He was climbing down a fire escape near the dumpster, sitting down out of sight. After a few minutes of nothing happening, something heavy hit the fire escape from above. He looked up to see familiar purple leg warmers.

“Did you follow me?” he asked with a huff.

“Did you really sneak out of the lair again?” Donnie asked, making his way to him.

“What do you mean again? This is my first time!”

As his brother reached him, he pulled out his phone to show a video. It was Mikey sneaking down a sewer tunnel, looking around him. Donnie swiped to show another one, and another, and again, and again.

“Okay okay, when did you get the camera system?” Mikey crossed his arms. “And where are they all set up exactly?”

“I had set them up a few months ago. And I’m not going to tell you where they all are, you’ll just avoid them.” Donnie put his phone away. “So, is this where you’ve been sneaking out to? What are you doing here?”

“Remember when I told you about that human we met a few weeks ago? I’ve been trying to see her again!” He turned back to the street. “She has to live nearby, maybe I’ll get lucky again!”

“Have you seen her since?”

Mikey deflated. “No. I hope I will soon, she was really nice! She didn’t seem freaked out that we were turtles! Though I told her it was a cosplay. She was scared when Raph pulled out his sai. Maybe she doesn’t want to see us again. He probably scared her away.”

Donnie frowned at his brother's attitude change. “Hey, cheer up, maybe you’ll see her tonight!” He looked towards the street and saw someone turn into the alley. “Maybe that’s her?”

“Yeah right, she’s not gonna be the first person to show up- oh my gosh it is her!” Mikey jumped up before leaping over the railing.

“Mikey!” Donnie shouted, going down the rest of the fire escape before doing the same.

The human- April, jumped back when Mikey landed. She seemed to recognize him and rushed over. “Oh my god, are you alright?!”

Mikey sprung back up from his landing stance. “Oh don’t worry, it wasn’t a tallfall! And I am a ninja after all. It’s great to see you again!”

April laughed in relief, “Thank goodness, are you sure you’re fine.” She glanced over to Donnie, who straightened his stance and held his breath awkwardly.

“Yeah I am! Oh, this is my brother, Donnie! He’s… also in a turtle cosplay.”

Donnie, still standing stiff, gave her a wave. “Hi?”

April waved back. “Right, the ninja… what was it?”

“Kappa! Japanese turtle monsters, but we’re good kappa!”

“Right, sounds familiar. How old did you kids say you were?”

Donnie slowly walked up to her. “Uh, I’m thirteen, Mikey’s twelve.”

“What? Oh my god, where are your parents? What are you doing out so late? Don’t you know it’s dangerous for you to be out in the dark?”

“I already told you, we’re ninjas!” Mikey took off his nunchucks and swung them around.

“I thought you were cosplayers?”

Donnie interjected, “We are! But we’ve also learned how to use our weapons. Our father is a martial artist.”

“And he’ll go all martial art on our shells if he knows we snuck out,” Mikey added unhelpfully. 

“Uh huh, so it might be best if you head on home before he notices.”

“He won’t notice! We kinda do this all the time. Once he falls asleep, that is, sometimes he stays up late and we can’t sneak off.”

“And your mom?”

Donnie shook his head, “We don’t have one.”

April stopped short. “Oh, I’m sorry.”

“No don’t be, we never had a mom. Our dad actually adopted us, we don’t really know the story though.”

Mikey opened his mouth to say something but his (new) phone buzzed. He looked down to see a message from his father. “Aw man, we did get caught.” He showed the message to Donnie.

Donnie quickly checked his own phone to see a similar one. “Guess we won’t be leaving home anytime soon.”

“Man, and just when we ran into you again,” Mikey pouted. “You’re like, our first friend.”

April frowned. “You don’t have any friends your age?”

“It’s too dangerous for us to leave home,” Donnie explained. “We’re um… not from here.”

“Oh… I think I get it. Then here, give me your phone.” She held out her hand. Donnie handed his first, and she typed something in before handing it back. “There, now you have my phone number. Just let me know if you need anything, okay?”

“Really?” Mikey bounced on his feet. “Wahoo! First friend!”

“Thanks! It was nice meeting you!” Donnie said, turning to leave. “Come on, if we’re not back home soon, dad will kill us.”

“Stay safe you two!”April called.

~~~

Over the next few months, Donnie and Mikey would sneak out to meet up with April. Occasionally she had food for them, which was great because it wasn’t always easy finding money in the sewers to pay for pizza or any other take out. They would bring home extras for the others, coming up with an excuse.

Leo wouldn’t meet her for a while until he snuck out after them one night, doing the same thing Donnie did to Mikey. He was really curious about the human himself, so he wasn’t as upset, but he made sure not to let Raph know what they were doing.

“Why haven’t you introduced her to me before?” Leo asked. “I need to make sure she’s actually safe to be around.”

“Probably because of that. We don’t need a Raph 2.0 watching us,” Mikey said.

“It also just hasn’t come up,” Donnie added.

“Oh, there she is! April!” Mikey waved over.

She laughed when she saw them, a bag of take out on her arm. “I’m here, I’m here.” Her hair has been growing out, black growing from the roots. She’s been wearing a new jacket too, a bright yellow one. Today her shirt was a Captain Mask shirt, a cartoon they watched. “Who’s this?”

“This is our older brother, Leo!” Donnie introduced.

“Ah, another ninja kappa. Why do you always come in those cosplays? I can’t imagine how much money you spend on the full body paint.” She gave them a skeptical look.

“It’s like our second skin,” Mikey giggled.

Leo looked her up and down, his eyes lingered on her shirt for a moment. “So you’re the person my brothers have told me so much about?”

“And you’re the one brother I had yet to meet. Great to finally do so, Leo. I’m April.” She held out her free hand.

Leo took it, catching sight of a bracelet with lots of charms hanging off. Batman, Spiderman, a lightsaber, a Captain Mask helmet. “So… you’re a nerd?”

“Leo!” Donnie pushed him.

April laughed harder, “I guess you could say that. You don’t have much room to speak though, considering the outfit. All of your cosplays look so real! The details on the shells are amazing, did you make them or commission them?”

“Oh- uh, I guess Mikey and I worked pretty hard on them,” Donnie said, looking anywhere but her.

“Anyway,” Leo interjected. “I see you’re a fan of Mask?”

“Only the biggest.” April opened the bag of take out and started handing it to them. Mikey plopped down on the floor and opened a box of dumplings. “I’ve seen all the iterations.”

“Even the 90’s live action?” Leo questioned.

“Which one? The movies or the show?”

“The show of course, the movies are classics! Not many people know about the show.”

“Probably for the better, but it did have some really good moments and ideas! If only they had a bigger budget and a few more writers.”

Mikey and Donnie exchanged glances, already starting on their food, this was gonna be a long night of listening to these two talk about Leo’s favorite show. They talked about their favorite iteration and characters, the worst plots and the best. The rest of the food was cold long before they made their way back home. Leo was definitely a fan of her.

~~~

Yoshi was no fool, he noticed his sons leaving their home more and more often. Earlier and earlier into the night too, which was making him nervous. Often he would stop them from leaving just to have them wait a little longer, making them nervous too.

Funny enough, Raph never seemed happy to leave. He refused to let the others go on their own though, he was always an anxious boy. Maybe he’s worried about his brothers getting into trouble.

Whenever Yoshi asked what they were doing or where they were going, they would come up with a whole array of excuses. The skatepark, a playground, food run, or just leaving to get some fresh air. It would be normal if they truly were doing these things, but most of the time they seemed to be flustered to have been caught. Leo and Donnie would always assure him that they would be safe, take the normal routes, and stay out of sight. Raph would promise to keep them from the busy parts of the city.

Yoshi still couldn’t help but worry about them. He was too old to leave the sewers as often as them, he would only leave when they were running low on food. Aside from that, most of his energy was put in training them and taking care of them home.

However with how often they were leaving to get food, he had more time to himself to relax. So with nothing to do, and more energy than usual, he followed them out one night. It was easier than it should have been, they were too busy joking with each other to notice they were being followed. He’ll have to have them train with their senses more. They may just be children but just existing is dangerous for them.

He followed them across rooftops on the other side of the street, watching them jump and do dangerous flips one after the other. They made it across each one flawlessly, and Yoshi couldn’t stop himself from feeling some pride. They were turning out to be such good ninjas, better than he was at their age.

Eventually they jumped into an alleyway and didn’t come back out. Yoshi frowned and went to the ground floor himself. Through the shadows on the other side of the street, he barely saw them sitting all over a fire escape. They must be taking a break, but they shouldn’t have been winded so soon. Yoshi has noticed they are stronger and have more stamina than any other human child. Perhaps due to their mutation?

Looking both ways down the street, he waited for a car to pass before rushing across it, running to the front of the building. He was trying to act natural since there were a few other people around. It was an apartment complex with a few stores on the bottom floor, just like the surrounding ones.

He went to the alley on the other side of the building, planning on climbing up the fire escape on that side to get closer to his sons. However there was a group of humans already in the alley, the scent of alcohol and cigarettes coming from them. He could see chains and crowbars near them, a bad feeling formed in his gut. 

Yoshi quickly ducked back behind the wall and went back to his sons, pulling on his hood. His sons weren’t safe here, they should keep moving, he needs to warn them. They were too young to defend themselves!

“Leonardo, Raphael!” he called as he ran into the alley. Those two were the oldest, they were in charge of their brothers when they were out.

All four of them turned to him, eyes peeking over the railing. “Dad?” Leo asked, climbing over the railing and dropping each level until he finally hit the floor. “What are you doing here?”

“Nevermind that, there’s a group of unsafe humans nearby. You shouldn’t stop so in the open!” Yoshi urged, “You need to keep moving, or at least rest on top of the buildings where you won’t be seen.”

“Oh, uh, sure, we’ll do that.” Leo looked up to his brothers, fidgeting with his gloves. Yoshi squinted at him, noticing how anxious he was acting.

Mikey jumped to the last level on the fire escape, leaning off the railing. “Did you follow us?”

“Is a father not allowed to worry about his children? You all have been leaving home more than usual. What is it you do here in this alleyway?”

The brothers exchanged some guilty glances. Donnie spoke up, “Well, uh, this is the spot we order our food to. We like to wait here.”

“You shouldn’t be interacting with humans so much, what if they realize you’re not normal? Besides, we don’t have a lot of money to spare, and we have food at home.”

Mikey frowned. “How do you know humans are so dangerous? Have you ever met any? What if some of them were nice?”

“Michelangelo, I will not argue about this with you. Either get to the roof of this building, or you all are coming home, now. And we will be having a talk when you do.” Yoshi folded his arms and started tapping his foot.

Raph flicked the back of Mikey’s head and they all started to climb the fire escape. They moved slowly, clearly upset. None of them were excited to have that talk with Yoshi , he may force them to tell him what they’ve really been doing.

However they were only able to climb a few flights before they heard a scream come from the street, making them freeze. “Let me go!”

“That’s April!” Leo shouted, already jumping back down.

“Leonardo! Wait!” Yoshi called, but he was already running towards the street. His brothers followed without a word, making Yoshi panic before following them.

Leo turned the corner to see April being held by her arm by one of five men. He didn’t have his swords on him, he often doesn’t because he never thinks he’ll need them, but they were trained in hand to hand combat first.

So he rushed in and jumped kicked the guy closest to him. He wore a jacket with a dragon on the back, twisting around in loops.

“Hey!” the guy next to him shouted, raising his crowbar. This one had a piercing on the side of his left ear and a purple dragon crawling up the other side of his neck.

Leo raised his arm to block the blow, but it never hit him. Instead it got stuck in Raph’s sai. His brother twisted it, tearing it from the bigger man’s grip, before stomping on his foot.

The guy holding April let her go as his friend jumped back in pain. He had a pony tail and there was another purple dragon on him, this time a piercing climbing up his ear. What was with this theme?

Before he could do anything Donnie came between him and everyone else, hitting him in the chest with the end of his bo staff. Piercing dude stumbled back, grabbing his chest.

The other two, one with a dragon on the side of his face and the other with twin dragons climbing up his jacket sleeves, came forward to grab Leo and Donnie. Mikey came in low, hitting him in the stomach with a punch, not even bothering to use his nunchucks. Leo grabbed the other guy’s arm before he could grab him, using all his weight to throw him over the shoulder onto the ground.

The first guy was getting up, but before anyone could advance, Yoshi appeared on his shoulders. He pinched a nerve on the man’s neck, making him fall down. As he did, Yoshi jumped off of him and kicked the man that Raph was facing square in the chin.

Donnie gasped as he was grabbed from behind, and arm snaking around his neck and cutting off his air. 

“Donnie!” April pushed herself off the wall where she was cornered before punching him in the nose. As he let go of the turtle, she pushed him against his shell towards his family and pulled out her pepper spray. The man screamed a curse as the red mist crashed into his face.

Leo pulled Donnie closer to himself before April turned around, grabbing his arm. “Come on!” she shouted, leading the way to the alley way. She put her pepper spray away and pulled out her keys.

“Don’t let them run!” they heard one of them say.

Another shouted, “Stop freaks!”

April reached the door in the alleyway, quickly unlocking it with her key. Everyone ran inside, including Yoshi who was watching her very carefully. She shut the door as fast as she could and locked it behind her. There was a loud bam against the door and an angry shout.

April took deep breaths, her hands shaking as she stepped back from the door. “Fu-udge,” she was about to mutter a curse before remembering the teens in her presence. She quickly turned to them, noticing the rat flinching and trying to put himself in front of them. “Are you guys okay?”

Leo and Raph looked at Donnie, who spoke up first. “We’re fine, are you?”

April nodded, but as she opened her mouth to say anything else, Yoshi spoke first. “Who are you? You said my sons name earlier, how do you know them?”

“Son?” April asked. Then as the realization hit her, her eyes sparkled. “Oh my goodness! You’re their father I’ve heard so much about, it’s great to finally meet you!”

“You… what?” Yoshi turned to the others for answers. None of them looked him in the eyes, finding the stained hallway carpet or off white walls more interesting.

“Wait, did none of them tell you about me?” April also looked at them, all of them looking more and more guilty, even Raph. “I know you guys say he didn’t like humans, but come on! He’s your father! You guys gushed about him so much!”

Yoshi turned away from them and to April as more banging came from the door. “Is there somewhere else we can talk?”

“Uh, sure.” She squeezed past everyone and led them through the hallway. It was quite cramped, only one turtle could walk ahead at a time, Yoshi just barely fit next to Raph. They went up a few flights of stairs before April stopped at a door and unlocked it.

For as small and uncomfortable the rest of the building was, the room wasn’t too bad. It was bigger than Yoshi’s old apartment. Still, the living room and the kitchen were combined, but at least the bedroom wasn’t also combined with it.

“Would anyone like something to drink? I got water, tea, and soda,” April offered.

“We’re good for now,” Yoshi said. His boys looked at him strangely, he has never turned down the offer for tea before. “What was it you said your name was, young lady?”

“Oh, right.” She stopped going through her cabinets and leaned against her counter as the boys got settled, either on the ground or the couch. “I’m April O’neil. I’m sure you have a lot of questions, and I have a few myself.”

“We weren’t trying to hide anything from you, either of you, it’s just-” Donnie started speaking, but Yoshi raised a hand to him.

“How long have my boys known you for?” he asked.

April took a deep breath to think. “A few months now, towards the end of summer? I just moved in here and started classes.”

“Ah, so you’re a college student?”

April nodded. “Yeah, just started. Freshman year so… my parents managed to keep me out of the dorms, luckily.”

“I see, and what degree are you going for?”

“A communications degree. I’m trying to be a reporter but, I don’t know, we’ll see how that goes. Oh! But I promise I have no plans of telling the world about, well, you all.” She gestured to them. “I just, I don’t know. Your sons were the first people I’ve met here and it seemed like they needed a friend? It must be hard meeting people while being… whatever you guys are.”

“I told you we’re cosplayers!” Mikey reminded her.

She gave him a look. “Mike, you should know by now I can sniff out a lie almost anywhere. I know you guys aren’t human.”

Raph scoffed. “Then why aren’t you afraid of us? Shouldn’t you be?”

April shrugged. “Should I? You guys seem pretty friendly. I like your company. It’s… nice to not be around so much normal. Though, New York is anything but normal.”

“Well, I thank you for helping my sons,” Yoshi told her. “I have much to think about, and much to discuss with them.”

“I should be thanking you guys for saving me! You all were awesome! Especially you, Mr. Hamato! I know you’re wary around humans, and I understand why. But feel welcome to come back here, okay? Just shoot me a text and I’ll bring you guys up.”

Yoshi smiled at her. “You’re a very kind girl. I won’t stop my sons from visiting you, as long as they tell me about it and any other human friends they have.” He gave them all a look, Leo laughed nervously. “Oh and, there’s no need to call me Hamato. Although it is my family name, I have no ties to who I once was. Please, call me Splinter.”

“It was great meeting you. I can show you to the fire escape, those men still might be out there and I don’t want anything to happen.”

“That would be greatly appreciated. I do not like running into that Purple Dragon gang. Nasty people.”

April laughed and nodded in agreement, bringing them back to the hallway. She opened the window to the fire escape, which thankfully didn’t have an alarm attached to it. They all climbed up, waving their goodbyes.

Raph went last and paused for a moment, giving her a look. “Thanks for helping Don. I guess you’re not the worst human.”

“That means a lot coming from you. Stay safe, okay?”

“You too.” He ducked out of the window and April closed it, watching them leave before heading back to her room.

It would be awkward around Raph and Splinter for a bit more, but after a while she became close friends with them all. She dreaded coming home for breaks, but after her first summer break, she came back to them throwing a welcoming party. It felt like her place was in New York, with them.

[undercoverbisexualfrog]

Anyone who saw ‘they’re not dudes’ for Leo and Raph no you didn’t

Anyways I had fun so here’s more characters

Leatherhead: Fluorite Mondo and Sir Malachi: Rutile Twins Rockwell: Padparadscha Muckman: Rhodonite Mona Lisa: Lars Renet: Sadie Anton: Aquamarine Ivan: Eyeball Ruby Falco/Rat King: Holly Blue Agate Alopex: Spinel Baxter: Pink Pearl/White Pearl/Volleyball Tokka (but more like 90s tokka): Yellow Pearl Yasmin (OC) : Blue Pearl

Plus some gem types and crystal gem fusions, all gem placements are the same as the su characters they are assigned

Karai/Shen: White Diamond (disguised as milky quartz) Leo: Moonstone Raph: Sunstone Donnie/Baxter/Tokka/Yasmin: Pearls Mikey: Tangerine Quartz April: Yellow Sapphire Casey: Onyx Slash: Amazonite TC: Tiger’s Eye Shredder: Black Diamond Chris: Orange/Yellow Diamond Xever: Pink Diamond Leatherhead: Tsavorite Garnet Mondo/Malachi: K2 Jasper Rockwell: Pink Spinel Muckman: Malachite Anton: Zircon Ivan: Holtite Falco: Hematite Alopex: Carnelian

Leo + Raph: Star Garnet Leo + Donnie: Tanzanite Leo + Mikey: Imperial Topaz Raph + Donnie: Morganite Raph + Mikey: Fire Opal Donnie + Mikey: Ametrine Leo + Karai: Jade Raph + Karai: Rutilated Quartz Donnie + Karai: Lavender Quartz Mikey + Karai: Golden Topaz Turtles: Zoisite All Five: Ammolite

Ask Me Stuff!

Steven Universe AU because I started watching it again

Karai: Steven Leo: Sapphire Raph: Ruby (note: they’re not fused and not lovers) Donnie: Pearl Mikey: Amethyst Shini: Connie Splinter: Greg April: Peridot Casey: Lapis Slash: Bismuth TC: Jasper Shredder: White Diamond Chris: Yellow Diamond Xever: Blue Diamond Tang Shen: Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz

Also for the diamond’s colours: Shredder is black, Chris is Yellow/Orange, Xever is Pink, Shen is White

[sketch-mer-6195]

You Sure? (ROTTMNT Leonardo Hamato x Kalani Rotasu {OFC})

Disclaimer: This is the official start of the series for those who have been trying to follow me and this series that has yet to really gain momentum. This is a little different than what I originally intended. But, there are still plot twists that I want to get in, the angst that I have been dying to write, and this complicated relationship that these two have. This is set in a not so distant future, everyone is over the age of 21, so they are responsible adults... Give the Mad Dog’s credit okay, they’re our lovable knuckleheads! For those who have just found this, welcome! I do hope you do enjoy this series.

Warnings: Slight swearing, ROTTMNT Movie spoilers (for those who have not seen the movie). Word Count: 1688

Part 1. Shove Off!!

This was not supposed to happen. But there was no other choice and he needed to get help from one person that he knew he could trust. Even if they weren’t on the best of terms. Adjusting his pants and rolling his shoulders to try and relax his own nerves, the red-eared slider mutant turtle waltzed right into the Nexus Hotel and walked to the main elevator. Yokai both in and out of disguise mingled in the vast and extravagant lobby of this prestigious hotel in New York City and in The Hidden City. How memories filled his mind of being a champion with his father. The home of the Battle Nexus: New York. Where Shredder came to life and so much more. As he made his way to the elevators, the same Fox yokai, a little gray fur sprinkled across his muzzle, stood guard at the main elevator with the same scowl that the turtle remembered oh so many years ago.

Time to schmooze and be the Face-Man.

“Hi, yes is the owner available? I’m here and I have an appointment with her. Still working on that fancy whisker mustache. Fancy if you’re still aiming to look younger or older. Entirely up to you, bud.” Leo smirked as he crossed his arms across his plasteron.

The yokai made a disgruntled sound before pulling up his walkie talkie to his snout. “Milady, there’s a pesky turtle here wanting to see you.”

As soon as he released the button, the speaker came to life with the start of a scoff.

“Tch, tell ‘em to shove off, I have more important matters.”

If he hadn’t perfected his poker face, he would have swooned a little hearing her voice again. He could feel his hands growing a little clammy at the thought of seeing her once more, but he needed to. She was his best hope.

The yokai nodded and shot a venomous glare at Leonardo. “Milady said to shove off and that she has more important matters.”

Leo groaned and rolled his eyes. “Do you know who you’re talking to?”

But before the argument could commence, the elevator chimed, signaling that someone had arrived at the main floor. As the doors opened, Leo couldn’t believe his eyes at who he was seeing. His old man was right, women do age like sweet saki. Her dark violet hair once long now in an asymmetrical bob haircut with her Kappa lilypad hat and lotus flower. A long silk kimono furisode that was a dark navy blue, complimenting her teal skin and making her yellow sclera eyes pop. Her gold yellow obi accentuated her waist. And of course, how it was off the shoulders and just peeking her bust just slightly and revealing her small shell on her back that held an emblem that he was for sure she would try and hide.

The Hamato Crest.

Leo’s heart clenched slightly and his stomach flipped a little as he saw his ex stand there with a cold stare that suddenly broke when she saw him. Mentally slapping himself, he let his colors shine as he walked up to her with his broad and brilliant smile.

“Surprise! I’m here to see Miss Kalani Rōtasu?” He looked her over and smirked at her.

But his smirk was wiped off quicker than a freak snow storm hitting the big apple as she slapped him across the head with an unamused and rather infuriated glare. If looks could only kill, he wouldn’t be there.

“Why are you here, Hamato?” Kalani hissed, her voice dripping with venom as she did her best to keep herself composed. "You know what, no. I don't want to even hear you utter a single letter out of you."

"Kal, come on. You don't even know what I'm here for. For all you know, I might be here just to visit." Leo reasoned and hoped that she would take it.

But she was much smarter, he knew that. Although she did love to play along. She was a brilliant girl. One that he couldn't stop thinking about. Kalani on the other hand was torn and conflicted but she was not wanting to cause more of a spectacle of herself. Taking a slow breath in, she looked up at Leo and pinched the bridge on her beak and waved her bellhop away.

"My office. Now, Leonardo." She said, turning on her heel and walking back into the elevator.

With a small triumphant smile, he followed her behind and helped gather the train of her kimono so it wouldn't be caught in the door. As she silently shooed the staff member out of the elevator Leo pressed the button that went straight to the penthouse and her main office. As they ascended to her residence, a thick layer of silence filled their time. Leo couldn’t help but fidget slightly while Kalani looked straight ahead. Her posture, how she held herself, her figure, her eyes. Her lips. And her accent. God did he miss hearing her voice.

"-nardo. LEO!" Her voice cut through him like his katanas bringing him back to the present.

The elevator doors were wide open, Kalani holding the button to keep the door open with a raised brow but a glint of mirth in her eyes. Staring at that moment, he was enamored with old feelings. But swallowing them down was easier right now; he smirked and walked inside the main office that was once Big Mama's. Still with many of the old furniture such as the high wing chair and large desk and safe. But lighter, and more Kalani's style. There were lighter colors, some framed pictures and her mystic weapon, her large tessen hung proudly on the wall and on full display with the Hamato crest. A sense of pride and joy filled him as he saw the crest and open on display in Kalani's office. As Kalani took a seat behind her desk, she gestured to the chair across from her to Leo who sat down with a small grunt and leaned back as casual as ever with that same smirk.

‘Why does he have to be here? And why must he be such a… Argh! This is not what I need right now. But that smile…’ Kalani shook her head to try and focus on the blue clad slider who had an all knowing smirk that grew into a broad smile.

She still had feelings for him as he did for her. So he hoped. But her eyes narrowed which made him gulp and cleared his throat to try and calm his nerves.

“So, how’s work?”

Queue facepalm.

Kalani gritted her teeth before taking a deep breath and pinching the bridge of her nose out of frustration. This was not the time to catch up. 

“I have no time for this, Leon. I have important business to attend to." She explained before standing and pointing at the elevator that they had just left out of a few minutes ago.

'Whoa whoa whoa, I didn't come here to just get booted. You told your fox man to tell me to shove off. Then you come and bring me up here just to tell me to leave again?! The hell is wrong with you!?" Leo exclaimed, rising from his seat and placing his hands on the desk as his own temper was slowly bubbling up.

"Being an absolute fool, but that's something you do on a daily basis, oh 'greatest ninja master of all time.' Casey's words, not your own." She shot back with her sharp tongue.

Letting out a disgruntled groan, Leo straightened his posture to make himself look larger and try to keep his hands to himself. "Will you drop that shit!? That was over ten years ago and you still hate me for it!"

Kalani let out a bitter laugh as her eyes grew with fire behind them. "Of course. You almost got the entire world destroyed because of your ego and stupidity only to be thrown into a prison dimension and not even care to think ho-...' She gulped and took a sharp breath in. 'To think…" 

Leo stood there, frozen in place, his nails digging into his palms and biting the inside of his cheek hard to suppress his tears. A hard lump lodged itself in his throat as he saw Kalani tremble where she stood. Her face hidden under the lily pad. His trained eye watched the glimmer of a couple tears fall from under her hat and land on the desk. His browline furrowed deeply as he did his best to stay composed and not crumble. As he uncrossed his arms, Leo pivoted on his heels and headed for the elevator only to stop a couple feet and speak over his shoulder.

"Phone number hasn't changed."

Her breath hitched and got stuck in her throat. As she lifted her head, Kalani watched his retreating figure only to vanish behind the elevator doors. Slowly like a leaf in autumn, she fell into her chair and covered her face with her hands as she finally let out a hard and choking sob out of her chest. The water that was in the lotus flower spilled down the back of the chair, soaking her clothes and chilling her skin to the point it made her body shudder with a hard shiver. As she dropped her hands down her face and onto her lap, her yellow scalesed eyes darted to her only framed photo that resided on her desk. A well ornate silver frame with her and Leo. A bright and dazzling smile while Leo looked at the camera with a kiss pressed to her cheek and that signature smirk he was still able to pull off. How she could go back to those simpler times. Be happy and not fear of possibly never seeing him again. To be with him. To rekindle the undying love for the mutant turtle she fell in love with all those years ago. Leaning over, she laid the picture face down and let out a depressed sigh.

"Those days are long gone…"

Taglist: @asmosshampoo @kitomon @raphsweapondealer @post-apocalyptic-daydream @turtle-babe83 @thelaundrybitch @mysticboombox​​ @infuriatedleprechaun 

If you wish to be added or removed, let me know in the comments bellow!

Stay Happy, Stay Healthy, Stay Hydrated and always remember. W.W.L.J.D.

HOT SOUP!!!

[selfspinninglies]

Idk I just wanted to mess with colors/lighting mission accomplished

(please rb <3)

[pra370r1an]

So heya, i have to ask for the designs of mentors and commanders because i want so bad to do doodles of it, if you have only sketches i can work with it

Well you can find the designs in the fic itself but I'll grab them for you cuz I would love some sketches (and that goes for anyone else)

Luz: has a long green pirates captain jacket (think captain hook or something) and wears a striped turtle neck with a red beanie type hat. (the whole ensemble is based on the Beta design) she wields a red cutlass and either Owlbert on a borrowed staff or her harpoon ("blade was larger than a knife but smaller than a sword, one side flaring out before curving back forming a wicked hook" with glyphs and runes running along the staff part)

Luz's Mask: "It was orange along the sides, an almost white V was between the painted orange eyes, with the rest painted in a brown and black feather pattern. Two black horns or ears were on the top of the mask." and is based on the Long eared owl specifically this picture https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/assets/photo/68647431-720px.jpg

Luz's scars: Her left ear is missing a piece in the middle "The mark from the middle of her left ear continued diagonally across her face, just missing her left eye, scarring the top of her nose and ending just through her right eyebrow. Another scar ran from the right corner of her mouth and twisted up giving her serious face a slightly amused look. And a third ran the length of her forehead, disappearing into her hairline.

Finally, her neck had a scar running its front length, but this one was covered with the angry red mark of a cauterization burn in the shape of a hand. The black collar was open at the front, the two sides hanging just below this scar, with what looked like mesh circles facing out."

Eda is in her harpy form tho I know there's plenty of art with her as a pirate out there.

Amity's disguise: "She had grabbed a vest similar to Lilith’s, this one purple to match the handkerchief, and had a gold hoop in her left ear. Her long lilac hair uncovered for once, parted to the right with an undercut of brown on the left. Annoyingly, there was still a bit of brown coming in under the lilac. Cavalier boots that almost reached her knee and her saber on her belt completed the look."

Willow: She just has the yellow jacket from her beta design and a blue bandana over her head with her great sword "The blade was almost as tall as her and was about two hands wide. Intricate vine decals ran through the hilt and handle."

Lilith: "a dark grey vest and white shirt combo with a red sash around her waist" with a knapsack

Boscha: "She had borrowed a red jacket from one of Salty’s sailors, mentioning it matched her hair. Over that, she had her bandoleer of potions and a knapsack filled with her potion tools and ingredients."

Skara: "She had a simple white shirt with a red handkerchief tied around her neck, while her earrings had been replaced with gold hoops that sailors liked." And she has her harp of course.

Gus: "It was a light-blue frock jacket, not unlike Luz’ green one. Gold buttons ran the length and the ends of the sleeves were folded back showing pure white with several more buttons decorating it."

"Cavalier boots rose up his legs, his shirt shifted to something closer to the crews makeshift uniforms, and even a gold earring showed up in his ear."

And I think that's just about everyone thats different. The twins and Salty are the same etc etc and I doubt youd want to doodle Sam and Paulsgrove

[infinitcnexus]

redemptioninchaos:

"Well, if identity preservation's really that key for you, I guess we'll have to go all out with our disguises. Not that I'm complaining." She got up from the unconscious turtle and did a backwards stretch. "How do you feel about wearing makeup?" . . . Dave Fenton's was a sizeable campus consisting of two buildings, eight floors each, connected by a long bridge with an arch-shaped glass ceiling. The exterior walls were made of reddish-brown bricks, and there were wide trees with red, orange, and yellow leaves adorned throughout the property. Instead of a flat, outdoors parking lot, Fenton's had a multilevel parking garage attached to the east wing. Colette parked her car into one of the parking spots reserved for doctors on the top level. Her DMW certainly looked the part of a successful medical professional. As for her own looks, she had an orange button-up shirt and khakis under a white lab coat, although she still had her sneakers on. Her normally tan fur was brightened to an almost off-white shade, and her black eyes were altered with green colored contacts. Her head fur was arranged in a small bun. She looked over to the demon-turned-dog. "I'll see about getting into the place's medical records. Does your phone have anything that can crack a keycard scanner?"

"Yeah, I got an ICEpick," Shrike replied, showing Colette an app icon depicting a white pickaxe with red circuit lines on his phone's screen. "Takes a bit more time and power than a cyberdeck, but I'd rather not have a mini-computer put in my head."

The mongrel, while still retaining patches of black fur around his eyes and muzzle, was now fully white. His normally intimidating red eyes were a gentler blue for the time being, accessorized with a pair of black square-framed glasses. He wore a white lab coat like Colette, but his outfit consisted of a black button-up shirt, slightly frayed blue jeans, and black leather shoes.

Juju on that Beatdown

At 6 a.m. the next morning, Shrike would have gotten a phone call from Lot. Even if the demon put his cell on silent or do not disturb, Lot had found a way to bypass all of that, the ringtone playing loud enough to wake Shrike up from even the deepest of sleeps.

@infinitcnexus

[sketchesandcoolart]

Clash of the Geniuses (ROTTMNT Fanfic)

Chapter 2

Donnie and Shelldon roam the streets of New York in the Turtle Tank. They had been searching for Mayhem for the past two hours and still no sign of the mutant cat-dog creature. They park at a reclusive area in Central Park to stop and retrace their steps.

“Okay, according to April’s text, the group who kidnapped Mayhem are short in stature and wore dark cloaks so that they won’t expose their identities, and that they all had yellow star badges,” Donnie shows Shelldon the picture April had sent, revealing the sparkling stars that were pinned to the figures’ clothing.

“Ugh, we’ve search almost everywhere, dude! At this rate, we’ll never find him,” The drone groans as they step outside, his creator wearing a purple hoodie to disguise himself.

“Never say “never”, Shelldon. Besides, maybe they left some clues around--”

Before he could finish that sentence, the turtle bumped into someone’s back and fell onto the grassy ground. “What the...!”

“Well, what do we have here? Hello again, Othello von Ryan, aka Bootyyyshaker9000, aka Donnie.”

Donnie lets out a annoyed groan and Shelldon’s eyes widen, both knowing exactly who they bumped into: The Purple Dragons!

“Geez Louise, out of everyone in this city, it just had to be you spineless doofuses,” He jeered, the three looking offended.

“Excuse us but you’re no different either, Mister Know-it-all!” Jase retorts back, adjusting his glasses.

“JASE! Shut your mouth and let me do the talking!” Kendra shouts, causing her step-brother to recoil back in slight fear.

“Look, we’re not in the mood for your hijinks. We’re looking for April’s pet who was captured by a troop of individuals who was wearing these badges,” Donnie shows the picture on his phone and the Purple Dragons widen their eyes in realization.

“Hey, we saw those badges before!” Jeremy exclaims, lifting his visor to get a better look. “They stole our tech this morning!”

Donnie and Shelldon look shock as the softshell gets up and dusts himself off. “You’ve seen them--? Wait a sec... how do we know that you’re not lying?”

“We have the pics to prove it,” Jase pulls out his phone to reveal an image of the three getting ambushed by the same group that took Mayhem. “Hey, maybe you can help us get our stuff back...?”

Kendra smacks him on the head while Jeremy pinches the bridge of his nose. “As if we need any help from those two! We can find the thieves ourselves.”

“I was about to say something similar to your request!” Donnie shouts at them as he and the Purple Dragon leader narrow their eyes with hatred. “After what you creeps did to me and Shelldon since we met, the very thought of teaming up with you would be the death of me!”

As the two kept throwing insults at each other, the other three gave awkward glances as they watch. Shelldon suddenly gets an idea. Despite knowing that his owner won’t be happy, he felt as if they had no other choice.

“Hey, D... maybe... we should give them a chance,” He says, slowly. This causes everyone to stop and give him puzzled looks.

“What?! Don’t you remember what these punks did to you a few months ago?” Donnie asks in disbelief. “They used you to win a super dangerous drone race!”

“I know...” The drone admits. “But I think we have no choice. I mean, we’re all looking for the same group for similar reasons. Besides, once we get back we needed, we won’t have to deal with each other until next time.”

The four teens blink at him, then they turn to each other. They hate to admit it but he does have a point.

“Fine... we’ll team up to retrieve our stolen items and pet. But after that, we will go our separate ways and never spoke of this to anyone,” The turtle reluctantly holds out his hand to Kendra. “Temporary truce?”

The girl looks at his hand and then turns her head to Jase and Jeremy, who just shrugged their shoulders.

“Ugh, fine. Temporary truce,” She groans, shaking Donnie’s hand. “So how we find these guys, von Ryan?”

“Well... my goggles help me see mystic energy,” He starts off. “And we might need another person to help us with our current situation.”

“Huh?” Shelldon and the Purple Dragons ask in confusion.

“Trust me, you’ll see when we get there.”

*Next chapter will have Baxter Stockboy.

Prev., Next

[luckynatured]

Drabble: Reunion

Pinwheel Forest was as peaceful as the first time Hilbert had left it. At least, it didn’t seem like anything had changed since then. Chasing Team Plasma the last time, he didn’t really get a chance to really appreciate how quiet it could be.

Which may have been a blessing in disguise; he felt like he needed some semblance of peace after the battle he just had with Virizion.

Carmen seemed to appreciate the quiet too, although it was clear there was something on her mind. 

“Virizion said that the third one is gonna be in some place that people call ‘Victory Road’,” she said. “How do we get there?”

“Victory Road?” Hilbert groaned. “That’s right before the League, and I can only get there if I have all the badges.”

“So if you wanna find and pass Terrakion’s test-”

“I gotta get Drayden’s badge first,” Hilbert finished with a sigh, “which means we gotta head back to Opelucid. Nacrene’s closer, so let’s head over there and get Turtle to-”

It was then that they found their path blocked by an Arcanine. Its yellow fur caused it to stick out in the lush greenery of Pinwheel, and it seemed to be looking at Hilbert with particular interest. 

It seemed that Hilbert recognized the Arcanine as well, because he stared back with wide eyes. And if Carmen didn’t know any better, she would say that he lost a little color in his face. 

“Mango??” Carmen glanced over at Hilbert, confused as anything. 

“You know this Pokemon?”

“Yeah, and if he’s here, then that means-!”

Almost immediately, Hilbert turned on his heel and went in the other direction, only to freeze when a harsh voice rang out; “Hilbert Dean Bailey, you stay right there!” 

It was only then that Carmen noticed the woman as she jumped off the Arcanine. She landed no problem and went right for Hilbert, who just stared with wide eyes.

“U-Uh...hey, Mom. Fancy seeing you here-!” he started when he was pulled into a tight hug. And Carmen could only watch the interaction. This was Hilbert’s mommy? 

“You’re not hurt?!” the woman asked. “Team Plasma's not chasin’ you or anythin’ of the sort?”

“N-No, not right now...”

“And what of your party? Are your Pokemon okay?”

“Yeah...we’re all okay...” 

The woman let out a sigh of relief as she stepped away from the hug. “Good, good.”

And then, it was like a switch had been flipped; the woman scowled and reached over to pinch Hilbert’s ear.

“Then what,” she demanded, “the flyin’ bloody fuck were you thinkin’?! I come back from Galar and immediately get frantic calls from your pop and your sister! And then Whitlea sends me that video wit’ that Maractus o’ yers, you’ve been puttin’ yerself in danger fightin’ those Plasma wankers this entire time and didn’t think t’ tell me?!”

“Ow! Mom! You’re the one that always said to do something when I see something bad happening, I couldn’t sit by and do nothing-!”

“I’m no’ mad about you confrontin’ Team Plasma, so much as I’m pissed ‘cause you never said anythin’ about it!” Hilbert’s mother released Hilbert’s ear and made wild gestures with her hands. “What happened to writin’ letters?! Emails?! The Pokemon’s Center’s got phones and computers by the dozen, Hilbert! It never crossed your mind to use one of those?!”

Hilbert rubbed his ear as he watched his mother’s ranting. “Everything happened really fast, though! Especially the last few days-”

“Yes I know, I heard! I just...” Hilbert’s mother let out a short noise (somewhere between a growl and a scream?) and then sighed. “Just. You try comin’ back from a trip to find that yer kid decided to pull a protagonist stunt and confront Team Rocket Lite, and maybe then ye’ll see where I’m comin’ from!”

Hilbert was silent for a moment, before he went over to hug his mother. “...Sorry.”

As the two hugged it out, Carmen looked up at the yellow Arcanine. Was this one of those ‘shiny’ Pokemon Hilbert told her about? Because she’s only seen Arcanine in pictures, and none of them were yellow. “Um...that’s Hilbert’s mommy, right? Is she always this scary?”

(Molly can be a bit intimidating, even for humans,) the Arcanine responded with a sigh. (She’s gotten good at hiding it, but she was really worried about your trainer. We came here all the way from Nuvema, and I’ve lost count of how many Team Plasma people we’ve come across on the way.)

“...Could you tell me how far away Nuvema is from here? Because I dunno.”

(Ah...I’m not a good judge of distance, but it did take roundabouts a day to get here on foot. If Oberon was out right now, he’d probably give you a better answer.)

Carmen didn’t know what an ‘Oberon’ was, but she supposed she’d have to take Mango’s word for it.

[aliaslua]

Right to live

Chapter 02 of my on going series: In broad daylight

Chapter summary: Michelangelo has a productive therapy session after his interview. April and Casey announce their wedding and in a jealousy crisis, Donatello has his first one-night-stand. Warning: This chapter contain light smut (mature, not explicit) if you're a minor please DON'T INTERACT. TW: Trauma mention (nothing too graphic or descriptive, but it does contain a short account of a panic attack).

Michelangelo started therapy after his first panic attack.

It was - maybe - the worst night of his life. At that point in time he didn’t even knew what a trigger was - and even if he did, he wouldn’t be able to identify or anticipate his reaction. If felt like he was dying in a literal, visceral sense. It was like having a bomb growing inside his shell, the beating counting down to a heart attack, he felt his lips cold, his head heavy and the touch of Donatello’s hand in his shoulders felt cold against his skin for the first time in his life. He could still remembers his brothers calling to him and his inhuman effort to look them in the eyes, just as he gazed into the house he grew up in and didn’t recognize the color of the new floor tiles.

The rest was a blur.

Dr. Miller was April’s last effort to persuade Leo and Raph that Mikey needed professional counseling. At this point, Mikey didn't have enough will to have a strong opinion on his treatment, he didn't have the will to do anything, really. All his days were spent sleeping by day and having terrible night anxiety, followed by an earth-shattering cry until morning, when he went back to sleep.  Despite their best effort to care for and protect the younger sibling, all of his brothers knew that he had become impossible to handle - and more important than that, his emotional and physical dependency got so intense that it was perfectly clear that there was nothing they could do: Michelangelo need help, professional help.

On the first day they entered Dr. Miller’s office, April had reassured everybody she had send the therapist recent photos of Mikey and explained all his possible triggers in detail. The clinic would open two hours early so that they could have privacy and that this first encounter would include Mikey, his brothers and Sara Miller only.

Mikey was so nervous he felt like this situation alone would end up triggering his next attack: his hands were sweaty, his chest heavy and the feeling in his stomach made him realize that maybe he would throw up all those recent pizza slices. When the door to her office opened, he felt an immediate relief upon looking at her.

Sara (as he would start calling her later) was a 67 years old black woman, wearing a knitted cardigan and a puffy ponytail. She looked at him with eyes free from any king of judgment: any kind of feeling at all, actually, it was very… neutral. After gazing at him and his brothers she had smiled lightly and then calmly said:

"Good morning. I am Dr. Miller. Are you Michelangelo?" Mikey just nodded " Welcome. Please, come in.”

So he did, on that Monday morning and all the next yet to come, for two years straight.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

“Did you see the interview?” Mikey asked just as he entered her office, not even worrying about greeting Sara.

“Yes I did.” She answered with the same peaceful deep voice, unbothered by the absence of a greet “You looked very handsome.”

“I sure did!” The mutant turtle seated at the large red sofa, his body melting in the comfortable cushions, he grabbed one of the small pillows behind him and held it tight against his chest “Ugh! It was so fun!”

Sara smiled. She always gave him a kind of smile that made Mikey feel like she was the perfect embodiment of a fairytale grandma and for the first time, Michelangelo actually considered she might actually be someone else’s grandmother.

“I am glad to hear that. Did you do the exercises he practiced?”

Mikey hummed “It helped. But what really made all difference was that Leo was there. And April. Oh, April is getting married!” He announced “She and Casey told us about the engagement just after we all saw the interview air. It was a great night.” He stopped for a minute and laid his head against the couch, focusing on the abstract painting that always caught his attention since the first day he sat there, he knew his voice let out a sadness he was trying to hide. He didn’t need to pretend there.

“It was… Weird, I guess… Like, I should be happy for them, right? Casey is a nice man, he treats her right, they already have a life together, an apartment with a huge TV and an aquarium… I can’t argue with that, right? Right?” Sara didn’t answer, Michelangelo laid his head completely on the couch, staring at the sealing “She was my first love…. Or something like it. I feel so attached to her and…” He sighed deeply and closed his eyes, trying to measure all the feelings filling his chest “...I think I… Should I feel happy for her? Because I felt… Huh, I felt betrayed.”

“Do you feel resentment?” Dr. Miller finally asked, gazing calmly at him.

“Yeah, I guess… I didn’t know what I expected... and I don’t want to marry April. Not anymore, I mean. She is like a sister to me. No! It’s more than that… She’s like… I- It just.. it was all so fast! Everything is so fast right now, and she decided to announce just as the interview ended and I felt so… I felt so overshadowed!”

“You felt it was your night.”

“It WAS my night. And I don’t mean to sound selfish, you know? I just… Wished they had waited.”

Sara looked at her patient making a conscious effort to avoid giving away her own feelings, the enormous man in front her had a gloomy expression and tired eyes.

“Mikey, is not the first time you mention feeling like this.”

“Like what?”

“ Overshadowed .” She quoted him.

“Yeah… I guess it's something I’ve been feeling for a while.”

“You mentioned once that you felt… Smushed, is the word you used.”

“Yeah. Smushed between my brothers.”

“Hmm” Sara nodded “What about that?”

“Well, you know about that… They are all special in their own way. Leo is the leader, Raph is the muscle, Donnie is the genius, I am the… Comic relief?”

“You sound like you are all characters of a cartoon.”

“We look like it!” Mikey said, humorous. Sara did her best  to contain a tiny smile that formed in her cheeks.

“Well, you are your own person, Mikey. You don’t have to fulfill an imaginary role you fantasized for yourself.”

“Yeah I feel like you’re always telling me that.” He sighed “What this has to do with April?”

“You were telling me about her engagement…”

“Yeah. It was crazy… I mean, me, Leo and Raph kept it together but Donnie just… Bolted.” A nervous laugh escaped him “She told the news and he just… Left. I guess it was too much for him. You know, April was the only person we knew for so long… It was only natural to fall for her, right? She’s so nice, kind, and after the expected first meeting shock she treated us with… Dignity is the world Master Splinter likes to use... But then we all grew out of it.”

A long silence followed before he complemented:

“I guess Donnie didn’t”

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

Donatello felt his feet too tight against the leather shoe and considered for the third time on that evening that maybe this was a terrible idea.

Ignoring his own better judgement, he knocked.

Alicia Ellis awakened in him two utterly contradictory and madding feelings: disgust and lust.

Many times he had tried - and succeeded- at disguising the amount of attention he paid to her body, especially since the context they first met didn’t allowed for flirtatious endeavors and despite knowing his physical body was searching it’s hormonal peak, Donatello proud himself on being utterly respectful: an effort that he felt he was making alone. Ellis never even tried to hide her indiscreet wants, playing with their encounters just enough to not be considered harassment, but clear enough to not allow ambiguity. Was that even possible? Donnie asked himself. Did it even matter now?

He felt disgusted mostly towards himself, actually, knowing full well why he had come to her apartment after that eventful night, just as the women he thought he could win over announced her engagement to the man he honestly felt he could one day surpass - pathetic, he beat himself again, cringing at the mere fact he once imagined a possible future for them, together. What a pathetic, emotional, delusional monster you are, dreaming about the pretty girl that once held your hand… And now you surrender to your most selfish desire, luring this woman who will be stupid enough to let you in.

This is going to ruin you. Was the last thing he thought before she opened the door.

She was astonishingly beautiful, with her thick luxurious wavy hair and round plump figure, pressed against a tight outfit he didn’t have enough interest to notice in detail.

“Took you long enough.” She said in a malicious tone, grabbing him by his belt. The apartment was warm, had a delicious floral smell and it was lit in subtle yellow light that mimicked candles. It was sexy, inviting and terribly scary, just like her.

This is going to ruin me . The feeling echoed towards Donnie as he willfully closed the door behind him.

It wasn’t hard for him to understand why a woman like her would take interest in being with a man like him, the internet had allowed Donnie to have a very indiscreet access to the human world - especially since people seemed really comfortable in sharing online things they wouldn’t even tell a best friend - and he knew way before they even came out to the surface that most probably wouldn’t be difficult to find someone willing to share a bed with him. Alicia was just a part of a very niche - yet not so small as one may think - group.

The thought brought him a small relief and a strike of courage that he much needed at that moment.

“I didn’t think you would come.” She said, bringing two glasses of a clear-yellow liquid. What an inappropriate move to bring a glass of white wine to a young adult not-yet-of-age , his better judgment told him as he accepted the glass, but wasn’t he 21 yet? Yes, he was... Maybe it was just judgment.

“Me neither” He answered after a sigh, too honest for his own sake.

“What changed your mind?” She mischievously asked, crossing her legs in an angle that brushed against his knee.

Donatello considered for a minute to said the truth, my heart was broken and honestly I really want to have sex, how would she respond to that? Was there a polite way of saying it? Instead, he said: “I’ve decided to change my approach on things.”

“Oh, really?” She smiled honestly “...And how’s that gonna happen?”

I will take every opportunity that life gives me, irrespective of its consequences, “I’ll stop sabotaging my wants…” He turned his body a little bit in her direction, he had planned a second sentence to follow but it seemed like he had already said all she needed to hear.

She slid her knee between his legs to climb his lap, brushing the space between the buttons of his shirt lightly. How quickly she hopped on top of him and how quickly his body responded to the feel of her warm perfumed breath against his neck. “That’s great to hear.”

It wasn’t Donatello’s first kiss but the tension of feeling the soft lips of a woman he barely knew nothing about added to the oh-so-suggestive friction of her thighs against  his zipper made it an entirely new experience. If he granted himself a moment of reason, Donnie would most likely find her too hurried and eager - but again, what was his experience in this field? Wasn’t this how the encounter should go? What else was he expecting? Independent of what his reason may have considered, the friction of her palms against the now prominent bulge in his pants added to the delicious sounds coming from her throat made every single indecision go away.

He felt his head light and dizzy as their tongues danced against each other and the urge to feel relief made him bold. She answered the squeeze he gave her bottom with an audible moan that gave Donatello’s stomach a cold wave of shock along with the first visible stain in between his paints. She felt the thickness of his fluid against the fabric and smiled against his lips.

“Such a passionate… response.” She said in what sounded like a performative tone - well, she was a journalist.

He took her incentive and slide her tube dress above her ass, stoking it as he lowered his lips to her neck. Her skin was soft and the way it reacted to his mouth - the small flinches of her body and the building pressure between his legs could only compare to the amazing feeling of her silk soft thigh skin. She used her hands to guide his head further down, lowering the piece of garment herself, he instinctively took one of her nipples in his mouth, enjoying the contrast between the soft skin of her breasts and the beaded texture of her nipples.

When Alicia laid her body against him on the couch, he followed her moves and felt the soft pillow against his head, the discreet but unmistakable sound of his zipper being opened followed by her stocked gasp at his member followed by “Oh I’m gonna have fun tonight!”. Donatello held her waist closer to his own, trying to reach her lips again, wondering if he could say the same. The warmth between her legs and the delicious feeling that jolted through his body and she aligned him to her entry - and the irresistible pleasure of feeling his tip tease her plump lips - made him think that the most likely answer was yes .

...And what an unnecessary concern the wine proved to be: he didn’t even get to drink it.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

“...you know, Raph made a friend.” Mikey had stood on his feet and now looked through the squared window. He had a regular habit of standing up during the sessions, usually as they were reaching the middle of the appointment. Sara it wrote down anyway, before adding:

“Really?”

Mikey hummed “...It’s a complicated story - but he left to buy a bear, this old man didn’t want to sell it to him, so he got really angry, so someone threatened to call the police, so he started to freak out and then this… girl appeared!”  He was switching his body height between his legs “Clara. What a name! Heh- I don’t get to say that, huh? Well, her name was Clara and he said she looked like an anime version of a character from Fresh prince of bel air … Can you imagine?” He turned to look at her. Sara just nodded.

“Wanna hear some really crazy stuff? Raph told me that they were talking and she told him she saw my interview… and she said she was in love with me!” He offered his therapist an incredulous happy smile “ME! Can you believe it?”

Sara hummed and made another note.

“I know she was kidding, I don’t think she loves me. But saying it like this sounds like… Like I am a celebrity! Like she would like to know me… Like…”

“Like you have been seen.”

“HELL YEAH!” He exclaimed, sitting down on the couch again grabbing his trust-worthy pillow “... And that sucker didn’t even got her number…” A deep sigh followed silence. Very discreetly, Dr. Miller checked her watch.

“It doesn’t matter, really, it just made me realize… That I wished I had someone…”

More silence.

“-I know I already have someone, if that's what you’re gonna say… I know my brothers are my care net and that I have friends and confidants, and bla bla bla”.

“Well I wasn’t going to…” She said peacefully.

“ I want… A lover . Someone to be my special one. Someone to cherish and spoil and share my life with! Someone who can say they’re in love with me… For real.”

More deep silence.

“... And why don’t you?” She finally prompted. Michelangelo turned to look at her with a impatient expression:

“Are you kiddin’ me?”

“I am definitely not.”

“You can’t be that cynical!”

“I am not.”

“Sara…” He sighed uneasily “... not this again.” she heard pain in his words.

“You have the right to live, Mikey.” She gazed at him with the same kind eyes, letting her strong words get to him “...Just like anyone else.”

This time, that was an anxious silence. Michelangelo rubbed his hands together as if he was facing a cold storm “What if it happens again?”

“Then you will do what we practiced.” She waited for an answer that didn’t come “... Do you wanna remember it once again with me?”

He simply nodded.

“I am more…” She started.

“...than people perceive me.”

“I’ve the right…”

“...to occupy space.”

“No one…”

“No one can deny me my right to live.”

“That was great, Mikey.” Dr. Miller said kindly.

He squeezed the tears away from his eyes, not even realizing they were there. “...Yeah… Yeah, it was.”

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

It was certainly.... Memorable , Donatello thought, staring at his brand new shoes as they made the path back to the lair. How was it again that he found himself in that situation? That sad looking, empty feeling, walk-of-shame. Oh, yeah, Alicia Ellis.

Something felt terrible wrong about that whole endeavor. He tried to think about the details, to analyze the facts: it has been clearly consensual, sober, communicative sex. So why did he feel like some part of him had been left behind in that apartment? Was it his clear shyness when they finally consumed the act or her generous overlook at his even clearer lack of experience? Had him fail his mission? Factually not! He performed… Fine - it was hard to measure, but she seemed pleased enough. He was also pleased… Physically, at least.

So why did he feel so… Empty?

He walked among the streets of New York without the concern his older brother seemed to carry. Donatello was always really good at not carrying - just as he was good at carrying too much . Oh, yes, his overthinking nature was still going to kill him, no matter how hard he tried to pretend like it didn’t matter at all.

Nothing mattered, everything mattered. What a contradictory and childish state of mind. Could he ever find balance? Would he ever be able to take risks and still be prudent? To be disappointed and not lose all faith? To love deeply and move over from it, stronger and ready to love again? Did he ever truly love her ?

He remembered her ring shining against the light, mocking his defeat. A zirconium, Casey Jones…  Can’t even buy her a real diamond . He muttered to himself and the night, kicking a small rock in the path.

The worst part, the real strike of the devil - was the fact that she looked immensely happy. Heartbreakingly happy. And there was nothing, nothing in this world that Donnie could think that could justify taking this away from her - not even the fantasy that she could be happier.

He took a deep breath and grabbed the keys in his pocket. That was no way out of it: we would have to get over her. At least now he knew that running away to unknown women’s homes was not a viable solution.