#ꕥ OC: Roselyn Brooks | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

selinas-ships · 1 year

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⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ Girl’s Day Out (Gone Sideways)

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ While on their biweekly coffee shop hangout, April notices something up with Rose. Not on her watch!

(Potential Content Warnings: Mentions of trauma, the description of a near meltdown, and heavy Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie spoilers)

“-And then, she snatches it straight outta my hand!”

Rose gasps over her strawberry milkshake. “She did not.”

April nods vigorously, swallowing her last sip of espresso. “She did! I mean, who does that?? Could have at least said please, damn.”

Running out of breath from her furious rant about incredibly rude classmates, April O’Neil, investigative reporter in training and self-proclaimed best big sister in the world (no offense to Rose or Jocelyn), leaned back into the soft cushioning of the beloved window booth.

Ever since they met, April and Rose met up every two weeks in the same little coffee shop in Manhattanville. The owners had been running the place for longer than the girls had been alive. The cashiers have well since memorized their faces and orders and always leave their favorite booth by the gorgeous round window open for them. In return, they keep coming, and leave gracious tips. April knows firsthand how much of a hell food service can be.

The literal alien invasion two months ago did nothing to detract from this tradition. Despite the rest of New York rebuilding... and the ever growing memorial wall in Central Park... Rose and April found time between licking their own wounds to have a nice, normal time at their favorite coffee shop.

As normal times can get with a literal Faerie princess and a weirdo magnet.

“I don’t know what it is with these popular kids, but someone needs to put them in check before I do. And it will not be kind, I’ll tell you that,” April said with a laugh. Taking another hearty sip of her espresso, she sighed in bliss and let herself lean further into the cushion behind her.

Oh yeah. She needed this. Just her, coffee, relative peace, and one of her best friends-

“They’re only popular because they’re white and rich and that’s the only thing they have going for them in life.”

-One of her best friends who got very quiet, very monotone, and very blunt at reading people (accurately) to filth very quickly.

Eyes snapping and narrowing, April settled her mind into what she called ‘investigative reporter mode.’ She’s been training herself to look for little things, things that get overlooked in extensive investigations. Nothing is gonna get overlooked while April O’Neil is on the case.

Rose’s foot kept tapping against the tiled floor. Both feet actually, if she’s hearing the mistimed taps right. She’s bouncing her legs. Both of them, furiously. Not a good sign. Leg bouncing is one of Rosie’s go-to anxiety stims.

April’s eyes zeroed-in on her friend’s face. Aha. Go-to anxiety stim number two spotted; lip chewing. Not just a corner either, the whole bottom lip. Sometimes both corners at once. Oh boy.

And she’s pointedly not making eye contact. Ro-Ro’s pretty blue eyes haven’t so much as glanced past April’s coffee cup.

Rose rarely has issues with eye contact. On the verge of overstimulation, maybe? It has been a long day. (For both of them, really.)

She’s got her observations. Now for a hypothesis. (And maybe less time spent with Donnie.)

Let’s see. Furious leg bouncing and lip chewing, avoiding eye contact, and an out of nowhere monotone and quiet voice?

Something’s up. Something bad. She needs to get to the bottom of it before it gets to a meltdown. Rose always feels worse after a meltdown.

Not the way she wants to end their hangout.

“Girl, you okay? Are ya gettin’ overstimulated?” April finally asked, lowering her voice and leaning into the table.

Rose shook her head, but... it took her a second longer than it should have.

“No. Not yet.”

“Then what’s goin’ on?”

Rose didn’t talk for so long, April worried she went nonverbal.

“I’m worried about the boys,” She finally said.

April sighed, staring down at her expresso. “Yeah, you and me both.”

Ain’t that the truth. She hasn’t stopped worrying about the boys since they retreated from the Kraang the first time, before the invasion had even begun. Being a college student in New York City is hard enough. Worrying about four little brothers who almost gave their lives protecting this city from a threat they all might have died from anyway? It frays on a girl’s nerves.

“I just...” Rose’s frustrated whines brought April back to the present. Her hands clenched like they wanted to turn into fists. Instead, they flapped, and the tapping on the tilt floor got even more intense.

“Hey,” April said, reaching across the table. She didn’t expect Rose to respond to the physicality. She just needed her attention away from her frustration. “Breathe. Take your time. The words will find you when they find you, remember?”

Once again taking longer than it should have, Rose nodded. She closed her eyes, still tapping and flapping... and breathed. Deep, and calming. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Just like she was taught.

Opening her eyes but refusing eye contact, Rose finally found the words. And boy did they come out.

“I feel guilty. About not being able to do more during the invasion, and not being able to do more to help Leo’s recovery, or be there for Donnie and Mikey and Raph. They got the worst of everything and we got away scotfree? Raph got, Raph got Kraangified for fuck’s sake, and what? I’m sitting here pretty, any scratches artificial, unable to do a damn thing while my- our brothers risk their lives?”

Rose gestured sharply with her hands, and all April could think of was the early days of their friendship. When Rose was still shifting from Katerina to Roselyn. When she was still living with her piece-of-shit mother and unconsciously hid a lot of herself.

“Woah, hey. Ro. That’s your mother talking. You know that, right?”

Rose blinked, like April snapped her out of a stupor.

“What?”

“That guilt. That’s your mother telling you that because you physically could not do more, and people still got hurt, it’s your fault. It’s not.”

Her shoulders sagged. She must be getting through to her.

Yet still she fought. “I could do more physically though.”

April couldn’t help the sigh. “I didn’t mean physically as in literal, I meant it as metaphorical. You, me, and Splints, we worked with Casey against a threat we barely understood because our boys needed backup. We couldn’t go with them for the big fight, we would have only slowed them down. Besides, we saved so many more people than we would have if we hadn’t split up. You were the first to get to Leo, didn’t you?”

Rose hummed in question. Her eyes, seemingly brighter and more like Rosie, drifted up. Not quite at April’s face, but getting there.

“You were the first to get to Leo. Right?” She repeated.

“Yeah.”

“And what did you do?”

“I healed him. I couldn’t heal all of him, even though I should have-“

April held up her hand in a stop. She had to remind herself to breathe before her hands reached across the table to grab Rose by the shoulders and shake some sense into her.

But no. Not only is that not what she needs... trauma doesn’t go away that easily.

“I’m gonna stop you right there. Even magic has its limits, you know that better than anyone.”

Rose’s eyes drifted down again. April’s heart just about broke. Had she been holding all of this in for the past two months? She wished she noticed sooner.

But she noticed now.

“Hey,” She said, voice softer. “No one’s blamin’ you for not being able to do more. You think Splints doesn’t beat himself up every day for not being able to be there for his sons? You think I don’t go to sleep every night trying to keep my thoughts from floating into ‘what if’ territory to keep the nightmares away?”

“... No.”

“I don’t say this to take away from your pain, Ro-Ro. I say this because I need you to know you’re not the only one to feel this way, and no one is blaming you for not being able to do more than you did.”

Rose wrapped her arms around herself, still chewing her bottom lip. Some of the shine managed to stay in her eyes though.

“Really?” She asked.

April nodded. “Really. I take it you’ve lost a bit of trust in yourself with all’a this?”

Rose exhaled sharp through her nose, a humorless smile on her lips.

“A little, yeah.”

“Do you trust us?”

“Of course.” It felt easier to breathe, to smile reassuringly when Rose replied without hesitation.

“Then trust me when I say we trust you a whole lot more than I think you realize. We trusted you to heal Leo when you got there, and you patched him up a hell of a lot better than any of us could have.”

April looks back down at her now-cold coffee. Oh well. She had bigger things to worry about.

Like getting a proper smile back on her girl’s face.

“Of course the resident medic had to be the one grievously hurt.”

Her eyes drifted up just in time to see a genuine smile grow as Ro laughed. April’s own smile grew in turn, and she didn’t know about Rose, but she was feeling better already.

“There’s that smile. You wanna get out of here? I’ve got a few classic movies callin’ your name back home~”

Rose’s smile grew as she finally locked eyes with her friend. “Yeah. Let’s go home. Thanks April.”

April winked, already climbing out of the booth.

“No problem, girl.”

Rose followed suit, leaving a decent stack of cash on their table to cover the bill and the tips.

The girls made eye contact again, and, tentatively, April outstretched her arm toward Rosie.

A silent invitation. No expectations. She didn’t know how she felt about physical contact right now, so... better safe than sorry.

It did feel good when Rose stepped into her space and let April lovingly crush her in a side-hug though. And when Rose laughed and draped an arm over April’s shoulders.

She would be okay.

They all would be.

•·.·' BONUS SCENE '·.·•

The girls, still arm in arm, talked the whole walk back to April's apartment building.

Right up until the last two blocks, at least.

"Hey. Race you."

The words left Rose's mouth as she untangled herself from their hug.

"Huh??" April's brow quirked up, staring. The words hadn't quite processed yet.

"Three two one go!!"

With a shriek of laughter, Rose bolted down the sidewalk. April blinked, her brain finally catching up to what the hell just happened.

"Hey!!" She called. "Get back here you little-!"

She couldn't help the smile as she raced after her friend, trying to catch up to her million year head start, O'Neil you dumb-dumb.

Still. What's a little childish fun in the wake of a near apocalypse?

#༊*·˚ shippy community #༉‧₊˚. Selina’s Penwork #✧˚ · . Selina’s Piece #*:･ﾟturtle family *:･ﾟ #ꕥ Selina’s OCs #ꕥ OC: Roselyn Brooks #two in one day whoo!!

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selinas-ships · 1 year

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˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Autism to Autism Communication (Romance Edition)

₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ Donnie asks Rose about her relationship with her boyfriend Joran. Or, moreso what it’s like being in one.

Rose and Donnie have an Understanding, as she likes to call it. Sometimes, when life or family gets to be too much, Rose will seek solace in Donnie’s lab. He allows it, so long as she doesn’t touch his stuff. She doesn’t; she knows better after Leo pressed one button too many and she got to see the mad in mad scientist first-hand.

This time wasn’t because everything was Too Much. But she wanted quiet before things got Too Much. The lab isn’t always quiet, but it’s soundproof, and Donnie doesn’t fool around with noise-canceling headphones. He even made a pair just for her, built in her favorite shade of pink. He passes them to her without a glance, trading them for the fresh cup of coffee and a plate of still-warm pancakes (courtesy of Mikey).

She got on the floor in an empty corner and laid down, headphones on, but not playing. For how long, she doesn’t know. But at some point, the perpetual song in the back of her head shifted. The tone she’s long since associated with Donnie crescendoed. Slipping her headphones off her ears, she heard the shuffling of someone moving behind her.

Tilting her head back to look, she made eye contact with the purple-clad turtle, now on the floor with her. (She held back the cringe at the accidental eye-contact. She hated when that happened.) He raised a single eyebrow. She shrugged. He nodded, and they sat in silence, staring at the dark ceiling.

She didn’t slip her headphones back on. The harmony in her subconscious tickled her brain in a welcome way, and she wanted to relish in it. Her fingers tapped against the back of her hand to the tempo. Both of them seemed content to lie in silence together.

But then Donnie broke the silence.

“Rose?” He asked. Not in a jarring way, but a little surprising.

“Yaya?” she answered without hesitation.

“What’s it like? Being in a relationship?”

The question had her head jerk in a double-take. Whatever she had been expecting, that wasn’t it. Nobody associated Donnie with romantic entanglements, as he’d most likely call them. Flirting, sure. Convoluted fantasies regarding his fictional crushes, yes. But actual romantic relationships? He just didn’t seem interested. Which is fair, but… it feels odd for him to ask. “How do you mean?”

“Like you and Joran. What’s it like?”

Rose couldn’t resist a gleeful giggle at the mere mention of her boyfriend. “It’s fucking magical. And that says something coming from me.”

“Yes, the literal fairy. What makes it magical?”

Oh, well now he’s making her think. “… You know, I’ve never thought about it before. But… Joran, really. He’s attentive, and the definition of a gentleman.”

“You deserve nothing less.”

“Thank you, thank you,” Rose said with a giggle. He said it so matter-of-fact, like her deserving nothing less than the best from a partner was obvious. Katerina wouldn’t have believed it. Hell, at the beginning, Rose wouldn’t have believed it. How lucky is she to get a chance at the love she lacked in her childhood?

Speaking of love… God, she loved Joran. “He’s beautiful inside and out. He makes me happy. I’ve never once questioned how much I mean to him, because he shows me and tells me every chance he gets. He’s very cuddly.”

Having a cuddly partner is a godsend for her touch-starved soul.

Donnie, however, shuddered hard enough for her to hear it. She couldn’t help the laugh in her chest. Not at him, but at their differences. They really were on two different sides of the spectrum.

“Yeah, definitely not your thing, Donnie. But what makes it especially magical, I think… is that his care and his love inspire me to show him the same love and care. We reflect each other.”

“Fascinating. And… you like it?”

A smile grew on Rose’s lips; soft and wide. “Yeah. I like it a lot. Can I ask what brought this on?”

“No, you cannot.”

“Fair.”

His response was quieter than he had been before. More thoughtful sounding, in her opinion. “… I was just curious. Sometimes I wonder what it might be like. And then I remember I am shit at emotions, and that it just isn’t a good idea.”

“Eh, I dunno,” she countered with a shrug. “You have a good relationship with us, and even a decent one with Draxum. You still show you care about us. April in that Donnie-Blocker on her phone, me in the noise-canceling headphones and everything about my diagnosis and mental health, your brothers and father with your inventions. You did build a whole-ass car for them.”

“True. But… everything tells me that romance is something different.”

“Yeah, for every person. But the core of every good relationship is the same; love, trust, and respect. It just manifests in different ways for each type of relationship.”

His response is quick. But if she’s hearing things right (and she usually does)… then it sounded a bit too wobbly for his usual emotionally unavailable bad boy act.

“Scoff. You’ve been spending too much time with Dr. Feelings.”

Rose couldn’t help the laughter again. “Yeah, probably. But Joran and I have been dating for two years now, remember?” She sighed through her nose, her voice matching his quiet tone from earlier. “If a romance is something you want, you’ll find a way. You always do.”

Donnie’s quiet for a minute. Rose doesn’t mind. She never does. Sometimes the quiet is nice.

For a second time, his voice broke the silence between them.

“You have a love song playlist, right?”

“Like you have to ask,” she replied with a playful scoff in her throat.

“Share it with me.”

Pulling out her phone, she wordlessly found her music app and the exact playlist. “Sending. Sent.”

Without a word from Donnie and the audible click of a button, the soft accordion and guitar of Ma Belle Evangeline floated in the air. Rose took a deep breath, letting the air of the lab fill her lungs as her chest bloomed with warmth and another smile tugged at her lips. Of course, her mind went to Joran, and his freckles, and the way he smiled at her. God, she’s a sap.

#༊*·˚ shippy community #༉‧₊˚. Selina’s Penwork #✧˚ · . Selina’s Piece #*:･ﾟturtle family *:･ﾟ #ꕥ Selina’s OCs #ꕥ OC: Roselyn Brooks #holy shit i'm actually publishing a thing i wrote #it's a new years miracle

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