#Donnie doesn't have time for the bench

[tmnt-tychou]

Inspired by a comedy short that’s been bouncing around in my head. I may write it one day.

There’s this bench in the lair where, when the boys were kids, they would have to sit when Splinter put them in time-out. As adults, if they feel like they’re being punished in some way, or they’re just being cranky, they’ll go sit on the bench.

Mona calls it their “Sulking Bench.” When she “grounds” the boys from certain...privileges, she is amused to see they’ll go to the bench and frown.

To be clear, they absolutely do not have to sit there and can leave any time they want. But they will put themselves in time-out when they feel like they’re being punished and just sit there and frown.

[dilucsflame33]

I just had this idea! Though um if you up for it. It can be NSFW. Its how the turtles will react to an innocent S/o who unknowingly made a naughty joke. She never makes these jokes as she had no idea how!. Also she had accidentally texted the joke!.

Well oops on her part👀

This be how they react after that almost awkward text chat when she arrives at the lair. Thats all i can think of for now. This is gonna be good. Work your magic!

Innocent Turned Naughty 🔥

Ohh, honey, I have been waiting for this! I decided to do it head cannon style, so we're going with that. I hope this to your liking. Some of these aren't really jokes, just messages that could go into two ways. Obviously they took it to the deep end because they're men. 😂

🔞 Warning 🔞 NSFW 18+ Only

Dirty talk and some crack because we all need humor. 👌🏻

Your turtle terrapin was relaxing in the lair when his phone buzzed at a random. He would usually do his favorite type of activity during these times, so relaxing on the couch was a new norm he would get used to.

When he opened the message, however, was when his eyes widened at the message you've just sent to him.

• "Wanna go to the dojo and give me a private lesson?"

• Mouth dropped, eyes wide

• Went complete shut down

• This poor man doesn't know what to do

• But he will admit that he's intrigued

• You are his innocent, little blossom. Why did that line made his heart race?

• He doesn't text back

• That man calls!

• When you picked up, however, you were all cheerful as ever.

• "You do realize what you have done, right?"

• Confusion on your end, until he told you about the message you've sent. You started panicking.

• "O-Oh, my gosh, I am so sorry! I was actually wanting to do some training since you have an off day. So I thought that you could teach me."

• Awkwardness falls.

• Leo rubbed his face, completely embarrassed about thinking of such things of you like this.

• "I apologize, blossom. I kind of went to the deep end." He chuckled nervously as he looked around the room, hoping no one heard their conversation.

• "Oh, no, you're fine! I mean," you paused as you brought up the last bit of courage you have. "I was actually like to have a lesson, if you know what I mean." He could hear that teasing tone, even though your voice wavered a bit.

• *Que Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen* Mother, I've just killed a man.

• He took in a deep breath, exhaled slowly. "I was going to let you off the hook but, since my little one wants to tease, I expect you down here in 20 minutes. Do you understand me?"

• He laughed when he heard you scurrying around your apartment. This is going to be fun.

• "Bench press me?"

• The man was shooketh to the core!

• Had to placr his phone down just so he could breathe.

• That text can go into different ways and he's thinking of the naughty kind.

• Oh, he can bench press you alright. He'll press you into a mating press, that's what he will do!

• Another vibration was heard and he looked the text. It was from you.

• "I'm so embarrassed. I just realized on what it sounds like and I'm so sorry!"

• He ain't having it. Oh, heck naw! You've poked the bear and you're gonna get the grizzly.

• Eat you up until there's nothing left, babe!

• He called you.

• "H-Hello?" You spoke with uncertainty. He hasn't responded until he called. You're a little nervous right now.

• "What kind of pressing are we talking about here? Cause all I'm thinking of is you, in a mating press, and you screaming my name until my brothers complain about the noise."

• You've just died happy.

• "Teach me some anatomy, love? 🥰"

• Donnie raised a brow as he read the message you've just sent.

• Anatomy, huh?

• "Which part of anatomy?" He replied back as he continued to read until you've messaged him back.

• "Reproductive system."

• His brain short suricated.

• "And the muscles and tendons. To see what they do if they go passed their limits."

• Oh, he's trying so hard not to go to the deep end. But it's hard to when the conversation is like this!

• He called.

• "Darling," he replied when you've picked up his call. "Re-read what you've just said to me."

• You were confused until you've spoke the message out loud. He can't help but smirk when he heard your voice being covered by your hands. "Now, to answer your question. I will teach you, but it's best if I could demonstrate. If you don't mind."

• He laughed when he heard you scream out away from the phone. Oh, this is entertaining.

• "Which type do you prefer? Sweet or spicy?"

• Mikey pondered in thought. "I like sweet!"

• "Sweet is nice, but I like to have some spicy. ^^"

• Oh, you all know where this is going.

• This man has a dirty mind, so don't be surprised when he replied something naughty in return.

• "Ooh, spicy, huh? I will definitely spice things up, if you know what I mean." He sent a smirking emoji after that.

• You were a blushing mess when he sent that smirk emoji.

• "That's not what I meant!" You replied with a blush.

• Mikey chuckled as he called you.

• When you answered however, he groaned deep from within his chest. "Angel, if you want spicy, I definitely got the spice! Come over here and have a taste!"

• But what shocks him was when you replied back.

• "Oh, really? You're big talk, baby. Give it to me then."

• Now it's his turn to blush. He didn't expect you to counter back like that.

• "Come over and I will!" He challenged.

• He could hear keys and a door slam. Oh, you're serious!

• Let's just say the man rushed to his room and done a quick clean up.

Tags:

@turtle-babe83 @post-apocalyptic-daydream @happymoonangel @hotredphoenix @pheradream15 @scholastic-dragon @tmnt-tychou @thelaundrybitch @leosgirl82 @turtlesmakemehappy @nittleboo @fyreball66 @akesdraws-blog @rin-rin-winter @ashleighclark98 @sharpwindow

Here's my Master List!

🔞 REBLOGS ONLY, NO REPOST 🔞

[phoebepheebsphibs]

Double-Mutated Mikey

Chapter 10: Neural, Divergent

Continued from the short story written by @boots-with-the-fur-club

Prev || Next

Mikey is unable to answer. He just keeps looking at the three of them, eyes begging for help and watering quickly. His mouth opens and closes several times over, though no sounds emerge.

At long last, his hands -- shaky and trembling -- desperately sign a message.

'Purple... Blue... Red... brothers. Knows, Mikey KNOWS. MIKEY KNOWS, MIKEY KNOWS -- BROTHERS, BROTHERS, BROTHERS, BROTHERS...'

Mikey starts crying, simply signing that one word over and over again. Brothers, brothers, brothers...

Donnie rushes to his side and holds him closely.

"It's okay, Angie. You know us. You remember us. That's good, that's very good, you're okay... I'm sorry Angie, I didn't mean to --"

Mikey starts hiccuping and grabs at Donnie in despair, clawing at him and wrapping his tail around him tightly, as if getting closer to him will reignite some missing link in his spotty memory. He refuses to let go. His cries are wet, wobbly, uncontrolled. They sound like they belong to a child ten years younger than Mikey.

Donnie halts for a moment. He trembles. He grips Mikey tightly, rubbing his back. He notices the ridges on his shell start to raise. The scales on his tail begin to lift up. Mikey is highly uncomfortable. Donnie needs to calm him down before his 'instinct' can take over.

He gives him quiet shushes and waves his brothers over, who immediately come close and wrap their arms around him as well, Leo rubbing circles on his head while Raph takes Mikey's hands.

'Sorry,' Mikey signs against Donnie, his eyes squeezed shut as he suck-up cries. 'Mikey... broken. Mikey knows Mikey broken. Doesn't want to be...'

"You don't have to be sorry, Michael, it isn't your fault," Donnie assures him. "I promise, I will fix you. You won't stay 'broken', you're not 'broken' at all! You're just... just..."

Donnie doesn't know what term to use. Mikey can't be broken...

...But he is. Donnie will always hate himself for admitting this, if only in the deepest part of his subconscious, but Mikey is broken now. His shell looks like it was literally shattered and then glued back together. His hands and feet are reformed, disfigured talons. He can't speak. He can't (or at least, has yet to) walk upright. He can't remember things that are highly important, like the past week or what his father looks like. By his own admission, he sometimes isn't even in control of his own self.

Mikey forgot what their names were.

That is not normal. Especially for him.

Mikey isn't himself anymore.

Mikey's breathing starts to slow. It's been a few minutes, and he's calmed down. He's still shaking slightly, but otherwise...

He's not fine. None of them are 'fine'. But he's finished crying, at least.

Donnie sighs and asks Mikey if he'd be willing to do one more test quickly. He feels Mikey nod against his chest.

Donnie lets the others go get breakfast while he prepares the final examination. Raph carries Mikey into the kitchen, where Casey has taken over as head chef in Michelangelo's absence. Apparently, future Mikey taught him some recipes, including deep-fried rat... which, actually, doesn't taste that bad. Though today, Casey has opted for pancakes and bacon. Mikey smells the bacon first, and his tail starts to weakly wag, though his expression is still exhausted from the crying.

"Good morning, Michelangelo!" Casey Jones Jr. says with a smile. "Ya hungry?"

Mikey nods as Raph lowers him down on the bench by the table.

"I'm guessing he wants strawberry pancakes?"

"Those are his fav, how did you know --" Raph stops and rolls his eyes. "Right. Future. You know everything."

"Well, maybe not everything," Casey chuckles. He turns back to the flapjacks, hiding the shift in his expression. "...I didn't know this would happen..."

Mikey signs something to Leo, who nods and turns to CJ.

"Mikey wants extra bacon with his pancakes. New diet, he needs more meat."

"You got it, sensei -- I mean, Leo."

Casey inhales, balling his fist up in soft frustration before exhaling and going back to focus on the food. He's been doing better at not calling them by their future names, but every once in a while he slips. It doesn't seem to bother anyone... apart from Casey Jr.

And Leonardo.

Casey finishes Mikey's meal first, handing a plate stacked full of pancakes and bacon to him. Mikey's eyes go wide, his pupils huge. He starts to drool at the food, sniffing it once before ravenously devouring it. Mikey doesn't even use a fork or knife, which at this point doesn't surprise anyone. But he does cause a bit of a mess, smearing the syrup all across his face and splashing some on Raph, who has the misfortune of sitting directly besides him.

"Mikey, calm down! There's plenty more where that came from," Raph says with a soft chuckle as he wipes the sticky sauce off his arms.

Mikey slows down a bit, but continues to eat like a feral creature, tearing the bread apart with his teeth and using his hands to hold the food down. He follows each pancake with two slices of bacon, chewing loudly and growling in contentment between bites.

Leo grimaces at the sight.

"Mikey, bud, maybe try eating with your mouth closed?"

Mikey stops suddenly and looks up at him, a pancake dangling from his jaw and his entire face covered brown with molasses. Casey has to turn away to keep from laughing at the sight. Mikey slowly muches the pancake back up into his mouth, and tries chewing with it closed.

"Better," Leo says with a weak smile.

The boys continue breakfast, Mikey watching the others and how they eat to get an understanding of what to do. He sees the silverware being handled, how there is an unused fork and knife by his dish. He picks the fork up slowly. It feels awkward in his hand, his fingers are too long for it now. His hands can't remember how to hold it properly. He fumbles with it, pressing it against the pancake, stabbing it several times and trying to lift it up to his mouth. He is utterly offended when the pancake falls off the fork and splats on the plate again, splattering drops of syrup across his plastron.

Mikey grumbles softly, discarding the fork and going back to just using his hands and teeth to eat with.

He knows they are watching him struggle. He knows they won't say anything just yet. He knows that they feel just as uncomfortable watching him try to eat as he feels being watched.

Ten minutes later, Raph and Leo's phones ding. Donnie is ready for them.

Mikey quickly gets wiped down and then walked back to Donnie's lab, where he has apparently set up a whole CT scanner. Mikey stares at the big machine with anxiety.

"Mikey, this is the last test for today, I promise," Donnie says, smiling kindly at him. "Nothing else after this one. It will only take 15 minutes, won't hurt you at all, you don't even have to do anything other than just lay still for a bit. You can even take a nap in there, if you want."

"When did you build this?" Leo asks, running his hand along the machine's mouth and peering inside.

"A long while back... after the whole incident with the mind-reprogramulator..."

"The what?"

"Nevermind. I've definitely not been scanning your brains on occasion when you were asleep. Mikey, can you handle this one last test for me? All I'm gonna do is look at your brain for any injuries or traumas," Donnie asks, kneeling down to look his little brother in the eyes.

Mikey stares at the machine nervously. He signs at Donnie.

'Safe?'

"Perfectly safe," Donnie promises. "Can you do it?"

Mikey doesn't sign back, but moves over to the machine, jumping up and crawling inside.

"I'll take that as a yes," Donnie mumbles, going to help adjust Mikey's position for the scan to work properly.

"Just lie back nice and easy and try to relax. You can listen to music while you wait if that helps," Donnie offers.

Mikey reaches his hands out and signs 'yes please'. Leo grabs the headset for him and lets Mikey choose what music to listen to.

Fifteen minutes of silence go by. Mikey does eventually fall asleep, the early rise compounded by the profuse sobbing from earlier having exhausted him, and the music is the icing on the cake. Once they hit the ten minute mark, Mikey's eyes slip shut. By the thirteenth minute, he's snoring softly.

Donnie's monitor beeps at him, a black and white image of Mikey's brain showing up on the screen.

"Okay, here we go..." Donnie says with a deep exhale, rolling his chair over and studying the scan thoroughly.

"Well?" Leo asks, leaning over his twin. "Survey says?"

Donnie is quiet for some time, hands folded under his chin as he makes certain of what the machine has deduced. He points to an area of the brain with a slightly whiter marking filling the grey matter.

"See this area here?" he says softly. "The white means he's had head trauma."

"The white?" Raph repeats. "Donnie... there's a heck of a lot of white on that scan."

"I know. Look at these markings here," he says, pointing around the image to several parts of Mikey's brain that are slightly discoloured. "These indicate electrical injury."

"...Electrical?" Leo questions, his tone irritated and voice hot with anger.

"Yes," Donnie says, his tone also getting quite unhappy. "Electrical injury. I'm going to kill every one of those TCRI dunderheads..."

"Donnie," Raph says sternly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "The injuries aren't permanent, right?"

"There... there is some slight scarring," Donnie answers quietly. "But it should heal. Leo would know better."

"With Draxum's mutations making us virtually indestructible and quick-healing, I'd say he'll be fine," Leo says with a nod after giving the scan a once-over. "But the scars do affect his brain with things like short term memory... probably why he doesn't remember much about his captivity," Leo works out.

"So, he's got amnesia basically?" Raph asks.

"No, not amnesia, just head injuries," Donnie clarifies. "It's a symptom of any kind of trauma. It could be he blocked the memories... or if I am correct about the dissociative identity disorder, then he wasn't fully cognizant when certain things occurred -- almost like sleepwalking. Or, it's possible that the contusions he received knocked them loose, in a manner of speaking," Donnie suggests. "He has the memories, but can't access them yet. As time goes by and he heals properly, the memories will find their places and he'll be better."

"There have been all kinds of stories about this kind of thing," Leo chimes in, "where someone was in a car wreck and forgot everything -- even how to talk or eat or read, and needed to relearn their whole life from scratch. As time passed on, they got better and eventually their memories returned."

"Exactly," Donnie concurs. "It happens all the time with trauma patients. So I'm sure Mikey will be fine..."

Raph hears the hesitation again. He squeezes Donnie's shoulder. Donnie places his hand over Raph's, patting it in recognition of the comfort.

"So... what do we do in the meantime?" Raph asks.

"I can look up a list of ways to treat memory loss," Donnie says, quickly typing on the computers. "Or you guys can take over on that while I work on the anti-mutation cure."

"I can handle it," Leo volunteers. "No prob, bob. No problem, Boblem. No probert, Robert. No 'probbles' at all."

Donnie rolls his eyes, which are starting to look rather bloodshot. Raph doesn't let that go unnoticed.

"Dee, maybe you should get some rest now..."

"I'll be fine," he refutes, pushing Raph's hand off his shoulder. "I just need to work on a few things and then I'll take a siesta..."

"Don, seriously, you promised --"

An alert from the computer interrupts Raphael's scoldings. Donnie pulls up the security feed from the surroundings of the lair.

"April has arrived," he announces. "...Let's go break the news to her."

Prev || Next

[lackablazeical]

💜💉Donnie Hamato💉💜

Specific trigger warnings -

Animal abuse/cruelty/death/experimentation/consumption, sensory meltdowns, unethical experimentation, medical malpractice, objectification, sadism, murder, violence, heavy gore, minor/moderate body horror, needles, blades, electrocution

Specific boundaries w/ this character -

Do not ship Donnie unless it is a QPR and you ask for permission.

General info -

Donnie's birthday is October 28th. He is a Scorpio ♏️

Donnie's love languages are Gifts and Acts of Service.

Donnie is Aromantic/Asexual. He identifies as Voidpunk, with his gender relating to robots, spiders, bugs, and needles.

Donnie has ASPD (Antisocial Personality Disorder).

Donnie has Autism.

Personality traits -

Donnie is sadistic, anti-social, controlling, intelligent, protective, innovative, practical, apathetic, logical, and determined.

Donnie enjoys seeing others in pain, especially if he deems them as weaker. While he enjoys the sound of things screaming in pain, he dislikes the sound of crying. Donnie is the most likely to stretch out any torture he is doing on his subject for an extended period of time.

Donnie is anti-social, and doesn't care to talk to people outside of his family and Ishida. Any other communication is considered a burden to him, and he is always short and curt.

Donnie is a control freak, and wants everyone and everything to bow to his every command. He hates when his things are broken as well. He will lash out if not listened to, typically at Ishida.

Donnie is extremely protective of his loved ones and his things. He constantly tracks them and will do everything in his power to keep them healthy and working.

Donnie is the main tech guy, and is always constantly improving his inventions and research. He has security all throughout the Lair, tracking systems for all of his family, an extremely advanced battleshell, and more.

Donnie is extremely determined, bordering on stubborn. He never gives up on a project once he has started it, no matter how many sleepless nights it takes.

Important details -

His prosthetics -

Donnie's prosthetics are all made by his own hands and scrap he's found. He's always reworking them to make them better.

They are waterproof, fireproof, and bullet resistant.

Donnie rarely takes off his prosthetics, only when completely necessary, such as upkeep or when he is going to be submerged in water for a long period of time.

Donnie's hearing aids have multiple volume sessions, from complete mute, to white noise, to regular volume, etc.

His hearing aids also have fins. Those both allow Donnie to connect to wifi/internet, and they are sensors to detect new people, objects around him, danger, etc. They also react to how he is feeling. The fins will retract if his hearing aids are muted, off, or charging.

His blindness/hearing loss/amputations -

Donnie's hearing loss was gradual. It started when he was 8 and was fully gone by time he was 13. It was caused from a mix of explosions, too-loud music, and lack of ear protection around loud machinery.

Donnie fully lost his hearing in a land-mine accident in the lair games at 13.

Donnie's left knee was severely damaged in the same accident, AKA his leg below the knee was completely blown off. Donnie ended up being able to reattach it, as he was too emotionally connected to leave it behind.

Domnie lost his right finger at 12 years old from a broken bench saw flying at his face. He got his eye scarred/lost vision in it in the same accident, when the blade subsequently lodged into his head.

His relationship with Big Mama -

Donnie dislikes Big Mama, but also deeply wants Big Mama's praise and approval. Big Mama does not care about Donnie, and finds him somewhat annoying.

Donnie often will attempt to make technology that BM can use in her Battle Nexus, but most of it goes thrown out.

Donnie dislikes Draxum, because Big Mama heavily prefers his technology and research to Donnie's.

Donnie folds to almost anything Big Mama asks him to, with the promise of approval and appreciation of his work. Then afterward, he will be very upset he fell for the manipulation. He will fall for it again, though.

His relationship with Ishida -

Donnie sees Ishida as his friend. Donnie would never admit this to anyone intentionally.

Donnie is Ishida's doctor as well, and works hard to keep up with his health and work to help Ishida function as efficiently as possible. He takes great pride in his work with Ishida and gets incredibly frustrated when Ishida does not follow training routines/diets/schedules assigned by him.

Donnie is very controlling of Ishida. He wants to be listened to, and gets extremely angry when Ishida blows off his instruction, or doesn't drop everything to respond to Donnie's call.

Donnie is extremely jealous of anyone Ishida chooses to be around, and Donnie often threatens/harms anyone he believes does Ishida wrong (which is most people).

Ishida is one of the few people Donnie let's touch him, mostly as a 'reward' system for things Donnie wants Ishida to do. This same logic applies to words of affirmation.

Donnie is also very sadistic to Ishida, and he enjoys running experiments/flat out torturing Ishida for research or his own amusement. This includes breaking bones, electrocution, laceration, sleep deprivation, and more. Donnie abuses Ishida's people-pleasing and masochistic tendencies.

His 'mind my own business'/peacekeeping mentality -

Donnie doesn't care for drama, and goes out of his way to avoid any issue between his brothers and the rabbits.

This means he keeps certain things secret, such as Usagi's self harm.

Another reason is that he doesn't often care about the problem, and figures that certain things 'aren't his business', so he doesn't care to share it to people that it may effect or involve until it's all boils over.

This makes Donnie very unlikely to snitch, though, and he's often the one the others go to to tell him their secrets. Donnie dislikes this.

His relationship with Shelldon -

Donnie, while he may not act like it, absolutely adores Shelldon.

Donnie is very proud of his work on Shelldon, and treats him similar to a puppy, or his child.

Donnie is also not above smashing Shelldon and restarting on his wiring if need be, but that hasn't happened anytime recently.

Donnie spoils Shelldon a lot, and will defend him vehemently from his brothers trying to smash him.

Fun facts -

Donnie has a very picky, yet somehow wide pallete. He has a strong stomach, and he uses it to eat anything from sour candy, to pet dogs, to iron nails.

Donnie's favorite food is kimchi, and his favorite drink is lemon juice. He loves all sour/tangy things.

Donnie's teeth are like a shark. They are constantly falling out and being replaced by new ones.

Donnie's need to build things often overpowers his need to seem aloof and apathetic, and he often makes things for the people around him that make their life easier, such as noise-cancelling headphones for Mari.

Tags that include Donnie -

#addams! Donnie, #addams! Donnida, #addams! Hamatos, #addams! Disaster twins

[blissfulraine]

I need fluff/funny in my life...

Maybe like imagine how guys react when Y/n not answering texts only to find out later when she arrives back to find out her phone just died due to forgetting to charge it or playing games on it too long that it died-

Enjoy writing this lmao

sorry it took legit a thousand years to reply to this one but her you go this is based off of bayveres tmnt.

warnings: grammer and spelling mistakes, and angst( mention of death).

-LEO-

he wasn't all to concerned at first with you not texting him back. your a busy person with a busy life, but its now officially 7:34pm and haven't answered a single text message from him. you haven't even read it.

starts by telling himself that you must just be busy walking or still doing things to be able to text so therefore he calls. no answer. he try's again, and still no answer

begins to start span calling and texting you, even using your emergency contact to make sure there was a ring.

mind is racing right now going to absolute worst case scenario.

did you get mugged? are you hurt? are you kidnapped?

blood runs cold at the thought of you dead in an ally way somewhere because of the foot or a random gang.

its 8pm, the time you usually get here, and yet after checking the entirty of the lair, asking around frantically if his brothers, even Splinter has seen you.

after figuring out, no, you were not there he sprints back to his room.

hes throwing on his gear, sheathing katana about to leave but halts right in his track after seeing you, confused eyes and face tilted upwards to meet his frantic gaze.

"Leo, whats wrong?"

bro drops his stuff, as the metal clatters to the floor as he reaches out to you.

your face is met with his hard plastron, heart hammering behind it.

" Y/N, i thought something happens to you, you weren't answering your texts or calls and-" he was cut off by your explanation.

"ooooooohhhhh. i'm sorry i made you worry. my phone hd died because my ( best friends name) wouldnt stop bothering me about this new hobbie they picked up."

the sigh he exhaled as he kissed the crown of your forehead seemed to trail all of that pent up anxiety with it.

"im just happy your here and safe my love."

-RAPH-

hes just working out, sweating up a storm, and thinking about you.

finally, after what felt like an hour, he finished his final rep on working out his fabulous biceps.

walking over to the bench you would always sit, he picked up his towl and whipping is face and neck in one fowl swoop.

speaking of you, weren't you meant to be here by now? you were almost always around when he was working out, even when you were running a bit late from work.

he picks up his phone, looking almost microscopic in his hands, even though it was modified just specifically for his large hands.

8pm. your (place of work) closed an hour ago.

even if you were taking the bus or metro its not that far.

did you walk? he doesn't take you to be stupid, especially with the crime wave wit gangs that have been happening recently.

then he remembers vividly the argument you two had last week; when he had been following you home and asking Donnie to check your location constantly. how you told him rather angerly that you could take care of yourself and how he scoffed.

you wouldn't put yourself in harms way just to prove him wrong would you?

that temper h was so famous for began to bubble in his chest, but an even greater feeling beat it. Fear and guilt.

as he explored the lair, in persute of trying to find you in your most frequent of locations he began thinking.

if you gut hurt out there, it would be all his fault.

looking in the kitchen and the moving his gaze to the dinning room.

the idea of you being hurt made him cringe as those feelings swelled and filled him. the pure grotesque imaginary of you trying to defend yourself from someone twice your size and being hurt in disgusting and morbid ways. maybe even being worse than just hurt.

his tooth pick snapped in half. he looked down at its broken pieces.

chucking them to the trash, not even checking if they made it he makes a dash to his room, heavy footsteps thudding as he went.

he stopped at seeing you placed on his bed plugging your phone into the charging port on his desk.

"oh hey raph," you say to him not looking up.

he runs over to you and smashes his rough lips on yours as your eyes widden in surprise. it was a hot minute before he let go.

"what was that for?" you asked breathless.

" it thought something happend to ya tiger."

you giggle, quirking a brow" i'm fine! Vern and i were talking about some business deals, and so he drove me home after work cause my stinking phone died."

next second Vern passes by the door asking whoever was in the hall where the remote went.

raph kisses you once more " love ya babe."

you give him a slight punch to the arm "love you too big red."

-DONNIE-

working in the lab as per usual, didn't actually realize what time it was till he looked over at the clock. 10:30pm.

his brows furrow, as he looked around for your presence, the couch he set up in the corner didn't seem to have you on it, just an immense amount of blankets and pillows on every surface.

he grabs his phone and texts you. no answer. he assumes your somewhere you cant text or maybe your notifications are off so he calls. again, no answer.

he told himself he would only track you in case of emergency but at this point his mind was panicking.

its so late where could she be? hes running through possible locations as he pulls up your phones GPS log. but theirs nothing showing. a slow chill runs down his spine, under his shell and through his whole body as he realizes your completely off the grids.

he checks the lair but you're nowhere to be found.

fully panicked he begins hunting for his gear and boa in his lab. it causing such a racket you wake up from your nap, as you move the blanket off your head.

"Donnie? what are you doing?" you ask sleepily rubbing under your tired eyes.

he does a full 360 turn, coming to look down at you buried fully under all the blankets. turns out you didn't add to your collection. you were the collection!

" Daring! you scared me, i thought you were still out. because you weren't answering any of my calls" he says rushing over to you an smoothing out your hair as he sat down.

you rolled your eyes at the tall dork.

" Donnie, i told you i was here when i walked in like three hours ago. my phone died and has been charging for that entire time." you finish with a wave of your hand to the desk right next to you, filled wit books, mugs ,and sure enough your phone fully off, on the charger right there.

you giggle at his face "oh." was all he could make out as you burst out laughing, kissing him on the cheek.

"your so goofy."

-MIKEY-

lazily twirling a nunchuck in one hand while reading an old comic book in the other. mikes latest trick was the ability to flip pages with his nunchucks and by gods was he ecstatic to show it to you when you got here.

he looked over at the alarm clock you got for him, an orange one with black and green stripes. it read out 8:45.

his brows furrowed and his smile drooped as his nun chucks expertly came to a halt in his grasp.

picking up his phone he texted you in the most serious manner he could, beginning to worry. it was just simply asking you where you were and when you would be down. a few minutes go by and nothing happens, you don't even read it. so he sends a few more and waits for a reply. again no answer.

he dials your number frantically, and yet after calling twice threes still no response.

refusing to let his mind wander to anywhere dark, he thinks maybe your just here?

sitting up he looked around and called out for you.

"Y/N? you here angel cakes?"

there was no answer from anyone, that was until Leonardo entered his room.

"they're not in here with you?" he asked confused. Mikey shook hsi head no, his eyes wide and panicked as he jumped up, abandoning his newfound talent.

" i thought she was out there?" she should have been her an hour ago dude!" leo nodded to his younger brother who started throwing his gear on.

"did you call her?"

"Yes dude!" he said picking up his second nunchuck from up off the floor. "i called and texted her, and she didnt respond at all!"

leo accnowleged this new information with another nod" ill go see if donnie can track her phone."

"i cant see to find her guys." Donnie states anxiously turing around to face the entire inhabitant of the lair, including Splinter whom sits in the corner silently stroking his beard.

"shes completely off the grid." everyone murmurs and turns to Leo for the next move.

"gear up guys." he says un-sheathing his katana," lets go find Y/N."

as they were all just about to run out, fully geared up they here a small voice.

"guys? where are you going? if you leave now your pizza will get cold." they turn, almost all in unison to see you holding 5 extra large pizza boxes smiling up at them.

mikey is the first to move out of the four as he reaches down placing the pizza on the nearest surface and swooping you up into a bear hug.

" BABE! OH MY GOD! we thought something happens to you and we were about to go try to find you!" you looked at him confused." what do you mean thought something append to me?"

Donnie stepped forwards, explaining how they couldn't contact you or track where your phone was.

" yea i was playing games on my phone while waiting for pizza, and it died cause it took forever."

" oh thank god your safe," mikey sighed ourt swaying back and forth.

" y/N, please tell us if your phone is going to die soon so late at night." Leonardo states heading in the direction of his room." it will save a lot unnecessary stress if we know your not hurt."

( photo of all of the turtles after realizing your not dead)

okay thats all! hope you enjoyed. now, remember to drink plenty of water, eat bot body and soul nourishing foods and get plenty of sleep. ta ta lovleys!

:)

[thmadwolf]

ONE-SHOT; scythe.

TW; vulgar language, violence, blood (?

She was angry, oh man, she was furious. Usagi could tell by watching how she paced around the gym like a damn caged lion.

''Gin... I'm sure you heard wrong. He's your friend, right? I don't think he said anything like that, maybe you misunderstood.''

Here's the thing, Ginny had been walking around the Resistance base, she had received the excellent news from Leo that he wanted to have her as his second in command after she had shown some surprising tactical skills in the last refugee rescue mission.

She had been elated when her old best friend told her the news that, and she almost managed it if it weren't for Leo's size, she crushed him in her arms.

While she was walking around, on her way to meet Usagi, she had managed to eavesdrop on a thread of conversation that included the three turtle brothers.

''You can't be serious, Leo. She?''

''Don, we've already talked about it, even Draxum and April said it was a great idea.''

Ginny would have frowned if she had eyebrows, she leaned a little against the wall. Mikey talked:

''Yeah, she deserves it. If it weren't for her plan we would still be in the concentration camp.''

''If it weren't for her, Raph would be here.''

Ginny held her breath, letting out a choked gasp when she heard that. Donatello's voice sounded cold and cruel, so much so that she felt herself freeze.

''Donnie that's not-''

''Don't tell me it's not true, Leo. If it weren't for her clumsiness, Raph wouldn't have had to-''

''Enough!'' Mikey cut off his older brother with an angry expression, now they were taking him more seriously. ''That theme was buried, and it will remain buried.''

Ginny did not stay to listen anymore, going like a fury to meet the samurai, who was scared when she entered the place like a bull.

''I know what I heard. He did not hesitate to say it out loud.''

''But he didn't seem to mind that you were there when we all hang together.''

''He's a great actor then.''

The rabbit snorted, the tangle of fur on his forehead ruffled a little as a result.

''It wasn't your fault...'' The calm voice of her comrade made her stop her steps. ''I know you know, everyone does it, what happened was inevitable. I don't understand why you care what Donnie thinks.''

Because she had always been worried about what he thought, ever since they met so many years ago.

''Let's leave this conversation.'' Ginny responded, her tail giving a small flap in the air.

The short-necked turtle approached the bench where Usagi was sitting, and copied him.

''Come on, I need you to cheer me up when Leo kicks my ass.'' The turtle laughed. She and Usagi were going to train a little some convate tactics that the ninja had learned in their youth so that they would know them too. ''It's not fair tho, you practically lived with them before this whole apocalypse thing'' He complained to her.

They talked for a couple of minutes about the first thing that crossed their minds, Usagi and Ginny had forged a great friendship after everything they had experienced together.

''Ah, here you are. Good.'' Leo entered with a smile that grew when he saw the samurai in the room, Ginny rolled her eyes when Usagi's pompous tail wagged.

''Poofy.'' She teased him, the rabbit smacked her on the shin.

''So, Scrabble.'' Ginny groaned when Leo used her old nickname. ''Mikey has uhm... mystical things to do? Or something like that, it doesn't matter. Dontron here will be your partner this time.''

Usagi made a small hiss as he got off the bench and looked askance at her shelled friend. Ginny looked at him out of the corner of her eye and smiled in a way that he didn't like at all.

''What's wrong, Baby Blue? Don't you want me to kick your shell?''

Leonardo gave a low growl, and faked a laugh with his hands on his hips, then told Usagi to go get his sword while he drew his own.

''Let's get started at once.'' Donnie had arrived stealthily at the dojo, he spoke with that neutral tone that had characterized him lately while typing on his wristband.

''Donatello.''

''Ginevra.'' He materialized his bō with his ninpo. Leo looked at Usagi and vice versa.

The red-eared slider drew his weapon, the bright red cloth, Raphael's mask, that was now tied to his greatsword caught the attention of the other two. Ginny narrowed her eyes a little, not realizing that the fight had started. She received the first blow to her stomach.

''Ouch! Hey, what the hell is wrong with you?!

''The fight has started, let's go.'' When Donnie charged again, Ginny was quick enough to slide her feet across the floor and grabbed a metal bar she had found. ''First lesson, which you should already know, pay attention to your enemies. Or you might regret it.''

That was a pretty direct taunt, Ginny felt it more than when the purple turtle kicked her in the face. Ginny groaned, gripped the bar tightly in her hands and attacked as well, hitting him on the arm, but he stopped the next blow with his staff.

''You're predictable.''

''Shut up''

After a few minutes, she was gasping, her lip split and bleeding, a cut on her thigh that she had given herself with the metal bar that had gone flying who knows where, a blow to the top of her face and he would probably get a bruise in various parts of his body. Donnie on the other hand, only had a couple of scratches.

Neither of them realized that Leo and Usagi had stopped their training to focus on the two of them. Usagi moved to help her friend, but Leo stopped him by grabbing his wrist.

''No. They need to fix it on their own.'' He told him in a whisper.

Donnie was standing with the staff on his shoulders in a serious manner, Ginny was hunched over slightly trying to catch her breath.

''S.H.E.L.D.O.N told me you heard us.'' Ginny froze, looking away from the ground to look at the soft shell. ''So?'' '

''You are idiot''

Donnie laughed, his tail cutting through the air like a whip. He separated from her when she made a move to straighten up.

''Give up, Ginny. You're going to hurt yourself.''

But Ginny ignored him and attacked him again with empty hands. Donnie turned the bo in his hands to block the attack, and with them he continued to comment at the female.

''It was your fault. "You were reckless and didn't think about the consequences, and that's why Raph is dead." He told her with venom in his voice, it was enough to make Ginny tackle him as she screamed in rage.

The one in purple dodged her, and when he raised his hands to hit her with his weapon, he realized. He didn't have a weapon.

''Holy shit...'' He heard Leo, his twin's eyes were wide open, Usagi's jaw was on the floor. They were both looking at Ginny, she was kneeling on the floor, and he followed their gaze.

Surprised, he imitated their expressions. Donnie saw how the purple color of his mystical powers with which he had created the staff was disappearing and changing to a cream color, the tip taking the shape of a scythe in the hands of the short-necked turtle.

Ginny had stolen his staff, and turned it into her own weapon. She had used his ninpo, to...forge her own?

Her eye marks, and the lines of her shoulders and legs glowing, as did those of her chin.

In his stupefied state, Ginevra took advantage of the opportunity and jumped at him, too furious to notice what she had accomplished.

Donnie screamed in pain as he felt the scythe's blade embed itself in his battle shell, which fell to the ground, split in half. Leo ran to his brother's rescue, grabbing Ginny by the arms, trapping them behind her shell.

''Ginny!''

''It was my fault.'' She spoke with bitterness in her voice. ''Raph died for me, and I will always live with his death on my shoulders, there will never come a day when when I go to sleep I don't see those last minutes crossing my mind. And do not doubt that more than once I have thought that I must have been the one who died that day. I've tried to...'' Ginny stopped talking as tears threatened to come out of her eyes. ''Raph died for me, so that I could live and help this war end, and that's what I'll do until my last fucking breath.''

Donnie looked at her, his drawn eyebrows arched in an expression of compassion. He stood up with a whimper, there was a strip of blood traveling from his soft shell to the tip of his tail.

''Ginx-''

''Don't. You. Even. Dare.''

Ginny wriggled out of Leo's grasp, the scythe having fallen to the ground and evaporated. She marched out the door. The three of them stood there in silence, Usagi tapped his hips a couple of times with his fists.

''Someone explain to me, what the hell just happened?''

[green-lotus]

Raphael making out headcanons, part 2

• You and Raph had sex or at least a fun makeout in every possible place you can get to and settle relatively comfortably. You've done it on the table in the lair, and almost broke it in the process. You've done it in their entrance water slide, cause who said water can't be a fun addition. You've done it in Donnie's lab, and almost killed each other with whatever the bottles were containing. You've done it under Splinter's bonsais, being extra careful not to break them in the process.

You've done it in the truck, and shit, did he love that. You've done it in the sewers. You've done it on every nice, secluded enough roof in the city. You've done it in their spot to watch basketball matches. And funnily enough, his bed generally serves you more for just sleeping at this point

• You've both gone into some... Fun spacious ideas. You, stretched on his workout bench like a romantic model, while he ate you out. You, hanging from the chandelier in the main area of the lair, and letting him lick you down below

• God, does he have nimble hands, those giant three fingers of his. From things like simply massaging your back to pinpointing and cherishing, cradling and playing every spot on your naked body that'll make you moan

• His sai? Your best seduction tool. You often surprise him naked just playing with those damn daggers in your hands and keeping them all too close to your skin. He literally can't stop watching you, as you swiftly draw them from your crotch up your belly, as you lick them and kiss them before handing them back. And no matter how his hands are itching to go and take you, magnificent and all for him as you lay down, he cannot stop just looking and admiring

• Raph adores IT when you dance for him. Deep down he is a sucker for more artistic forms of display. Whatever music is playing, more or less to his taste, it makes him feel absolutely blissful to watch you act and show off for him to appreciate. It's such a gift to him

• You have this little game of heading off to a quickie without explicitly making it known to anyone. You excuse yourself for a moment, go to the nearest secluded spot and go for a small, casual orgasm without letting the rest of the company know, only to come back all innocent & perfectly content.

• Raph gets flustered & hyped during movies you watch together or music that comes on, and even if he'd also never admit it out loud, you lost count on how many times you proceedes to cherishing each other in all the possible ways. Doesn't matter where you start, it can be an annual rewatch of any Fast & Furious film or just some random pop love song when he's in a more soft mood

• You bet your ass he absolutely loves being in between your thighs and getting all worked up by them. In every position available

[melancholysway]

TMNT Headcanons - Allergies!

Things the boys are allergic to because I’m lactose intolerant & I still need time to do my requests yet stay active so I'm posting my drafts for the time being LMAO

Leonardo

Eggs. I don't know why, but I hc that all Leo's are allergic to eggs.

Not that it has a big impact on him, he usually eats traditional Japanese meals. However, some of them do include eggs, so he uses the plant based egg alternative as a placeholder.

Since 2012 Mikey cooks for everyone, he's conscious of the ingredients he puts into the food. If a recipe is egg dominant, like a cake or pasta, he makes a special desert/meal for his big brother. He might make a flourless/egg-less cake, and use chickpea pasta instead of the regular.

Bayverse Leo just omits everything with eggs. For breakfast, he usually reaches for toast anyway.

2012 Leonardo eats a struggle meal at breakfast. Since they're limited to breakfast foods, he usually eats cereal.

P.S: He really likes Special K vanilla and almond cereal. <3

Rise!Leo is the first to actually try and eat it to see how bad his reaction would be. Spoiler: he has to bench in the bed for a week. Yeah, it's that bad. Mix that in with a rash and he's never trying that again.

2007 Leo is more plant-based anyway, since he lived a year in the jungle. So, he's used to not eating anything but fruits or nuts.

Raphael

This boy is sensitive to milk. It may be because I wanna pass the lactose intolerant torch down to one of the turtles, but I seriously think Raphael does not like dairy milk anyway.

Bayverse & 2007 Raph are seriously into their physique. They have a good balance of meats and veggies, but can’t have dairy milk.

He likes Almond milk.

Not only is almond milk a great alternative for non-dairy drinkers, but you get much more calcium that way!

I also headcanon that although the guys eat pizza all the time like in the shows, Raph is the one who doesn't eat it as much. He's way too into his body to mess up his progress. He eats it in moderation. Plus, cheese is a dairy product, but it doesn't mess him up like dairy milk does.

Rise!Raph is massive, so I imagine a tiny little ounce of cow's milk messing him up to be very fitting.

2012 Raph tries to thug out his milk intolerance, but it never goes well. Long story short, after many days of feeling lethargic and throwing up, he knows better.

Donatello

SHELLFISH YALL

turtle shell puns aside

Donatello is allergic to shell fish and I feel so bad because I LOVE me some crab.

I just know Raph clowns him for it to and they bicker over which allergy is worse.

R: Don try this Cali roll, oh wait, ya cant!

D: Wow this milkshake is great! have a try raph! oh wait...whoops! I'll just give it to Mikey.

Always always always!

Do not invite him to your takeout sushi shindig, he will not be able to eat anything.

Leo is the one who usually eats fish, so whenever Mikey makes his special plate, Donnie audibly gags. It's not just the fact that he's allergic, it's the smell.

2012 Donnie really hates fighting FishFace because of the smell

it makes him wanna throw up.

So a lot of the times he just wants to get in and get out when a mission involves fighting Xever.

2007 and Bayverse donnie live off of small snacks, so they don't ever have to think about their food containing fish

Rise!Donnie makes this joke everytime he eats goldfish crackers

"Guys look, I'm eating fish," *wiggles eyebrows*

everyone else: :|

Michelangelo

GLUTEN

Now here ya'll go in the comments

bUt MeLanChOLY, MiKeY'S AlWAys EaTinG PiZZa!!!

OKAY!?!!?!?!

Gluten free pizza ;)

No i swear it. He has some sort of intolerance. You know how sometimes you may eat a certain food so much that after a while your body just rejects it?

It's not pizza his body's rejecting though, it's gluten.

So now, he's in a frenzy, when Donnie told him, he gave him a sad puppy-eyed look & said

"So...I can't....have...pizza anymore? For forever??"

He's happy when Donnie says he still can.

They have to order gluten--free pizza now. But rejoice! Times are changing, diet culture is changing, the world is changing! Gluten free options are pretty much everywhere! Woohoo!

I feel like Rise!Mikey is PISSED he can't eat bagels. I feel like he would love a mean everything bagel with cream cheese.

But, do not fear, there are gluten free breads available!

2012 Mikey just gets gluten-free everything now. It's mainly the gluten from bread, but just for fun, he'll get gluten free snacks

2007 & Bayverse Mikey go on strike and try to not eat anymore pizza to see if it'll "reset his body,"

Raph bursts his bubble and let's him now that's not how allergies or intolerances work

"Take it from someone who ain't had milk in years, mikey."

Taglist:

@bee-1n-space Masterlist

[weird-rottmnt-headcanons]

Headcanons That Bounce Around In My Brain Like The DVD Logo

Raph

-Taught himself Japanese after the Shredder arc. Is actually really good and is more fluent than Donnie. Loves to brag about this to Donnie. In Japanese.

-Loves to sew. Even though he has big, meaty hands he's surprising good at it.

-He has a very rigid sleep schedule. He goes to bed at 8:30pm and wakes up at 4:30am. His brothers tend to find this kind of annoying.

-He is the most animal-like of his brothers. He growls a lot, though most of the time he doesn't notice it. It's just a fun quirk of his.

-Can bench 345. Is super proud of this and will rant to you about lifting if you ask.

Leo

-He has a skincare routine that he refuses to ever break or tell people about. He wants to be the prettiest brother.

-He's far-sighted but 100% refuses to wear contacts or glasses.

-A HUGE Queen stan. He has posters, a lot of vinyls, and even dressed up as Freddie for one Halloween. His favorite song is probably Killer Queen.

-Has an amazing memory but plays dumb half the time. He'll pretend not to remember your name, but will absolutely remind you of the dumb thing you said 6 years ago.

-His favorite video game is Slime Rancher. But, if you ask him he'll say it's actually Portal 2. This is a lie. It is not Portal 2. He has never played Portal 2.

Donnie

-That is a KPOP stan if I have ever seen one. He runs a secret stan account on Twitter. Only Leo knows of this. He also teaches himself the dances in his free time.

-Randomly screams out of nowhere. It is a stim and his family understands. Do they think it's weird? Yes. But, they let him do it because it makes him happy.

-Watched Crash Box as a kid. While it scared the rest of his brothers, he was obsessed. (He did skip the Revolting Slob segments.) His fav segment was Phsyco Math.

-Chronic Picky-Eater right here. For most of his life he never even touched spaghetti.

-Actually is the only one of his family who doesn't get really bad seasonal allergies. He says it's cause he's simply better than everyone but really he just takes Vitamin C gummies.

Mikey

-Gives himself sharpie tattoos in their bathroom. Once gave himself an entire sleeve that sadly smudged when he was forced to go out in the rain.

-Had a horrible Warrior Cats phase (along with Raph but his was not as bad.) He has a warriorsona named Rainbow Paw. He was 8 when he made it.

-His favorite movie is Finding Nemo. He once made Raph sew him a Nemo costume for Halloween.

-Watches Drag Race religiously with April. His favorite queen was Crystal Methyd.

-Steals Donnie's contacts when he's mad at him. (ok I can admit this is based on what my brother does)

[jinlizz-dragondrama]

Chapter 13

Pizza Puffs and Future

I paced back and forth in my room, contemplating if I should go or not.

Who wrote this mysterious note? Never mind, how did they get in without being spotted? No, no, back to the issue at hand here, Y/N!

"Fine, I'll go, but if I suspect something is up, I'm ninjaing myself out of there faster than you can say smoke bomb," I say while looking and talking to my reflection

"I need to stop doing that... wait a minute." I look at the note again and realize that the dumb-dumb who wrote the note didn't specify a time or where exactly to meet. I sigh inwardly, grab my phone, wallet, and pepper spray, and grab Donnie's hoodie I stole....borrowed. I changed out of my PJs, pulled on a pair of sweatpants, tied on my sneakers, and zipped up the hoodie. I push my galaxy curtain out of the way of the doorway, looking from side to side to make sure the coast is clear. Knowing Donnie is more than likely up tinkering away to distract himself, and luckily, his lab is in a different part of the lair. I'm home free, just have to sneak past the pesky security cameras.

I tip-toe past the brothers' rooms, loud snoring is coming from Raph's room, and I giggle quietly. Making my way to the exit, I slip out into the sewers and jump out from a manhole. Looking at the time on my phone, it was around 2 a.m., but even though it was so early, people were still shuffling around to wherever they needed to go. Kicking my heels together, my wheels activate, and I start skating towards Central Park. Once I get there, I deactivate my wheels and start walking around the park with pepper spray at the ready.

"Well, it's about time you showed up," a feminine voice said from behind me

"Eh, what can I say? I like to keep people waiting," I say while turning around and looking into the darkness smugly but shaking in my sneakers silently.

"OH tough guy huh, let me see what you got," the woman counters as she steps into the light of the park lamp. Her body is covered by a dark cloak.

I smirk and gesture for her to come at me, but she comes at me fast. I barely see her, I grab her and toss her onto a pile of leaves. She giggles and comes at me. (Insert kick-ass fighting sequence)

"It's as if the person all my attacks and dodges them easily. Well, I'll show her"

At the last second, as she punches, I hit a weak spot in her shoulder that makes her arm paralyzed. I swing and kick her feet, and she falls onto her back with a thud. I catch my breath, and I hear her giggle.

"Man, you got me. Well, this time was different than the others." She pulls back her hood, and I see myself but older.

"Wait, what? Huh? How?" My brain shuts down for a brief moment while she watches my struggle.

"How about we sit down for this?" The future me says, and all I can do is nod my head and sit on a park bench next to her.

"So I get it. You have a lot of questions and i have the answers but since i know what you will ask I'll just word vomit and cover all the bases."

I raise my pointer finger as I am about to say something. She puts her pointer finger on my lips to shush me.

"Alright, well...I'm sorry. I have had so many years to prepare for this, and so many time parrapels to do it in but it doesn't get better each time I do it."

"Wait, what?" I say, shocked and confused

"Moving on..." Future Aqua says after quickly clearing her throat.

"Obviously, you've realized that we aren't exactly normal human beings...."

Flashbacks of all the times abnormal things happened to me, and it clicks just as the words come out of my future self's mouth

"We're part alien,"

"I'm a freakin alien, how? what?"

So many thoughts race into my head, Neither of my dads explained my adoption process, nor was I too interested in knowing.

"Yes, we were created by a very powerful alien society to destroy the world as we know it," future self says while anxiously fidgeting

There is a very long silence before I speak up.

"Am I able to control my "other" self? I don't want to hurt anyone. "

"With training and discipline, you can control your powers. But unfortunately, I'm not able to teach you or I will change the future of this time. I've gotten this part wrong so many times. Even telling you this information is risky, but I know that the unknown is just as scary."

A beeping noise goes off from my future self-arm communicator.

"I don't have much time left before I have to leave, but there are some things I can teach you. You did pretty well moving your soul to your water form, and with practice, you can transfer it to other forms of elements. But for now, we'll focus on your mystic magic.

"Wait, so there are other dimensions? My mind freaking blown!! My science teacher owes me an A+ now for my theory, which had a plethora amount of factual evi-"

I see my future self looking at me with an eyebrow quirked up.

"Oh my God, I hang out with Donnie too much,"

"It gets worse,"

"What was that?"

"Nothing, now let's begin"

After a couple of hours of meditating and astroprojecting, my mind is fried, and I feel extremely tired.

"You've done well, young padawan."

Lying on the ground, I roll my eyes and smirk.

"Thanks, I try,"

Again, her communicator starts beeping

"Alright, kid, gotta go."

Soon, the air starts to crackle and pop, an orange crack starts to form in the space next to the both of us, and a portal starts to open. Once it's fully open, an older version of Mikey (around 20 ish) is on the other side he smiles warmly at me and winks. He has HAIR too what the f*ck.

"No freaking way...." I say as my jaw drops

Future Aqua and Mikey laugh at my expression, and she looks into the darkness and shouts.

"Alright, Vi, come on, it's time to go,"

A flash of green flies past me and a small shell lands in her arms out pops a Turtle tot with a silver-colored bandana tied into a bow, a heart shape on her shell, and vitiligo spots in YSC (your skin color) adorn her light green colored skin, she's wearing a white colored skirt and black shorts underneath.

"Aww, no, fair, I was almost done with my drawing."

"You can finish it when we get back"

We hear a crash coming from inside the portal, some shouting ensues.

"Leo, I'm tired of you taking my inventions and using them on test runs without my permission!"

"Aw, come on, bro, you know I'm the best test dummy."

"That may be true, but you somehow end up breaking them!"

"Enough you two we have bigger problems than this" Raph heavy footsteps stomp after the twins.

"You destroyed a priceless Donnie invention without me! We had a deal!" yells what sounds like Cass.

"Guys Jupiter Jim marathon is starting soon and I'm not missing it again because of your squabbles" April's voice shouts over the chaos.

Mikey and Future Me shake their head, and the little tot jumps out of her arms and runs into the portal.

"Dad, uncles, aunties wait up!"

"See you on the flip side, kid," future Aqua says

"Wait....Are we happy.... in the future?" I ask hesitantly

Before the portal closes, she smiles and says happily as something shiny catches my eye on her ring finger.

"Yes."

The portal closes, and I grab my backpack. I turn to start making my way home. Taking a step I hear something crunch, looking down I see a piece of paper. Reaching down to grab it I see a drawing of little Vi holding hands with what looks like Future Me and Donnie next to him are the future counterparts Leo, Raph, and Mikey, Splinters, April, and Cass. Over each person was a name but what shocked me to my core was my name was Mommy, then D was written but the rest was torn off not thinking much of it because it was probably Donnie's name and onto Master Splinter it says Grandpa.

"Mommy?! Grandpa!? No way that would mean" A blush creeps across my cheeks and I shake my head back and forth.

"Nope, that's not possible there have to be other mutant Turtle men in the hidden city somewhere. It is also possible for humans to create hybrid children, that's amazing!"

Thinking about telling Donnie about it, but deciding not to tell him not wanting to destroy the time and space continuum. Smiling down at the picture and start walking home.

I walk into the opening of the theater room, I see all the boys and Raph is giving them his usual older brother scolding. When I fully walk into the room I see Leo with a blue flame encasing his head and he's jumping up and down, Donnie's stomach has a face and is alive and Mikey is a limp snake noodle on the floor.

"What happened!! You know what it's too early in the morning for this" I say while quickly walking into my room.

They watch me leave and Raph suggests that he will drive.

I fall onto my bed with a sigh. Going over what happened this morning a lot of thoughts rush through my head.

"I'm a badass and a mom in the future. I have to train and get better"

Sitting on the floor, I start to meditate. It almost feels like I fall asleep and wake up but I'm still in my meditating state of mind. I see small chubby hands, cubby squishy legs and toes, and diapers. Tentacles grab me and pick me up. My vision is blurry but I can see blob-like creatures jabbering about something I'm placed into soft comforting arms I snuggle into arms and coo. A sweet soft voice speaks to me while stroking my hair, the woman starts to feed me. Then the memory starts to glitch to the blob creatures holding me and laughing, then UT goes back to the woman holding me. When I'm finished she starts to sing.

Shimmering little river

Babbling and splashing

So beautiful and true

My little stream ever growing and changing

A sweet little tidal wave

Strong and brave

Baby Dewdrop your mommy loves you so

After she finishes I'm yanked from her arms, I start to cry, and the blobs start laughing evilly.

I woke from my meditation in a cold sweat, wiped the sweat off my brow, and checked the time. Several hours have gone by, sighing and deciding to hop into the shower.

"I have a mom, this day has been a very emotional rollercoaster...but I didn't know if what I was seeing was true..." sighing somewhat defeated.

I dress in shorts and a tie-dye tank top with my hair in a messy bun. Walking into the kitchen to make a sandwich I see Raph eating one, while covered in bandages and sporting a fresh black eye.

"Alright, which Raph won this time?" I say while smiling at him

"Hard to tell, think it's a tie for now" he chuckles and awkwardly rubs the back of his neck.

"Did the boys learn their lesson?" Finishing up my sandwich

"Pfft who knows"

Punching his shoulder gently I wave and make my way to Donnie's lab. Knocking our not-so-secret knock, the lab door opens and I see Donnie hunched over something and tinkering away.

"You know your "secret" knock isn't needed I can see it's you," He says not even looking up at me

"Duh, but it makes me feel like I'm a spy so let me have my fun"

Cutting my sandwich in half and offering him a half which he gladly accepts.

Clearing my throat before I start to speak, "Hey, I wanted to talk to you about the time I was unconscious."

That got him to stop tinkering, and flip his goggles up to his brow, he pinches the area between his brow and snout but doesn't make eye contact with me.

"What do you want to know?" He says quietly

"Well I kind of say everything thanks to my new power, but I want to know more about myself and test my limits. Think of it as an experiment..."

"Sigh, as much as I would like to test out what happened during your unconscious state, I think your body has been through enough trauma to last a lifetime" He slowly turns his computer chair towards me and looks up at me with sadness in his eyes. Flashbacks of the last couple of days run through his head, a tear rolls down and splashes onto his thigh as he clenches his fists.

"I won't make you do something you don't want to do, but I need to know more about myself so I can better help the team. After being captured and well...I just feel so weak and useless." Tears roll down my cheeks and I wrap my arms around myself squeezing tight, not knowing what to say Donnie gets up and holds me tightly. We cry for a bit, once we calm down he chuckles. I love his laugh so much and it made me laugh as well.

"Well if you insist on asking the Great Othello Von Ryan for help, I'll do it," he says very sure of himself but his expression becomes serious and he says. "But if you feel any negative emotion, anything at all let me know and we'll stop, ok?"

"Ok," I say assuringly

"Right, well shall we"

"Let's do this, right after I grab some snacks and drinks" Quickly running out of the lab I end up dropping the picture from my pocket

Donnie sees it and picks it up, curiosity is peaked he opens it and sees the drawing. Hearing my footsteps draw near again, he hastily folds the paper and places it back on the floor while he runs to get some supplies he'll need for the extensive experiments.

My arms are full of snacks and I grab a blanket for good measure, seeing the paper on the floor, snatching it up, and stuffing it in my pocket. We start small with the experiments seeing how quickly my body heals after fighting. Mostly missing chances to block on purpose to create bruises from Donnie hitting me, he made sure that I was OK afterward and that he had my consent. We'd take the data and add them to categories in the degree of injury, length of time injury was healed, and how they healed.

During every mission, I'd mentally note each injury I'd receive, and then when we returned to the lair, we'd scan my body and see what was happening.

"Well, my sweet Aqua dare I say you are almost indestructible, although there is still room to prove it you've had everything thrown at you-"

"Literally, dude she got hit by a bus today and lived!" Leo says with stars in his eyes

"Raph is still recovering from his panic attack," Mikey says while trying to comfort Raph

"The bus...came...out...of no where" Poor Raph with his big self is in the fetal position mumbling to himself

"Yea, I need to watch where I'm going. But now we know I can survive a bus hitting me" I say excitedly with a thumbs up

"However we don't know if you can survive anything bigger, but I don't back down from a challenge so I'll take our findings and see if I can find a limit to your ability"

"Woah check it out that tooth got knocked out of her mouth, the space is growing a new one"

"What?" Donnie rushes over to look over Leo claim and sure enough another tooth is growing

"I lost all my baby teeth, we even did an x- ray to see all my bones. That was my adult tooth I lost" I say while rubbing my tongue on the squishy pink gum feeling the tooth slowly make its way in.

"To the lab" He pushes me towards the lab, quickly placing me on the lab table.

"Are you OK, shall we continue?" He asks noticing how I'm tensing up. I've done that each time I got on the table, no thanks to Draxum.

"Y-yea we're cool" I say hesitantly

"I need an affirmative or negstive, before I can continue" Donnie says while looking over at me with a soft expression

"Yes, we can continue"

He starts up the machine, as it zooms into scan my bone structure and he enhances the image. We can see that my bones are working over time producing calcium to construct a new tooth however it's growing much sharper than the original.

"Looks like you and Raph are going to have signature snagle toithe grins"

"But why is it growing that way and not like the original tooth" I think about my alien blood and the conversation I had with Future Aqua. I still haven't told him about that day but I know he's suspecting something at least.

"Only one way to find out with SCIENCE!" he sings the science part which makes me giggle

"Raph we're gonna be snaggletooth buddies!"

"Raph approves"

Donnie rolls his eyes, sits in his computer chair and rolls his chair over to his computer and starts to input the data. I come up behind him and whisper.

"I want to suck your blood"

He jumps a bit and I giggle as I sit on the desk

"Gotta keep you on your toes Von Ryan"

"Scoff I'll get you back for it" the blue light from the computer illuminates his face and he continues to type

"So hypothetically if I wasn't fully human would that change your view on me?" I ask hesitantly

"No of course not" he looks over at me suspiciously.

"Is there something that you're not telling moi?"

"Noooooooooo" i say clearly not being convincing

"What are talking here, yokai or Jupiter Jim kind of alien?"

"I guess a JJ kind of-"

"I knew it, you were keeping something from me"

"Well, I um, pfft, alright Mr Know it all what do you think it could be?"

"The list is extensive as we are unsure about the alien life that's out there, but we can just give it a name"

"Eh let's call it alien X"

"Alien X it is, so tell me what you know"

He spins his computer chair around and looks at me with his hands clasps and folded

"It's not what I know it's what I can do, it's probably best to not show you in here"

We go into the skateboard rec room and I stand in the middle of the room.

"Alright now let's keep an open mind here ok..." I say my voice quivering with nervousness

Sighing I concentrate and feel my body transforming, my pupils become cat like, my tooth grows fully, the rest sharpen and elongate, my skin turns pinkish purple with splotches of YSC (your skin color), my arms become tentacles, legs elongate and nails grow pointed and sharp.

"Holy truffle Mac n cheese" Donnie says shocked then he smiles his signature evil scientist smile as he pulls his mystic goggles over his eyes.

"Let's get to work"

[sukipershipper]

Joe/Kaiser

<3

Don/Aran

Don’t have to do both of course! Just one or the other lmao

HAHA THAT'S WHAT YOU THINK IMMA DO BOTH NOW- Joe and Kaiser are that gingerly old couple that sit on benches together and look up at the clouds.

Yeah I know they aren't that old but they got those vibes

Everyone thinks that Kaiser is the uptight one or the one nervous to do anything new but no it's actually Joe. With his track record with love, he doesn't have any confidence in himself when it comes to these kinds of things, so Kaiser being so chill and accepting is so refreshing actually- Kaiser loves crafts. Knitting, Clockworks, Sculptures, anything that keeps his hands busy. Thankfully with having a partner like Joe who loves to decorate the house with weird little knitted crafts or wooden things, he's always making something new as a gift

Joe is a great baker and he packs little sweet treats for Kaiser every day when he goes to train the kids, as well as some treats for them! Hugs are always a challenge cause both are awkward as fuck and don't know how to hug That said, Joe loves to tackle Kaiser from the back in a hug and just jumps on his back and demands him to take him for a piggyback. Both end up in fits of laughter as they walk around like that like they're little children. NOW onto the Lucky Rose content- These two are so fucking chaotic as a couple- Like, I reckon they show affection towards each other by literally throwing shit at one another and shouting "I LOVE YOU YA FUCK!!" Aran is defo the more vocal of the two, he's CONSTANTLY trying to show his affection to Don with large gesture and over the top conversations that provoke the most flustered and flattered laughs out of Donny. It's also funny when Don is the more vocal one cause it catches Aran so off guard that he just kinda sits there and laughs a little awkwardly, flustered and giggling like a mess They may be chaotic and over the top but there isn't a single thing that says these two don't love each other. They will hug and comfort each other when they're going through shit (which is pretty much all the time) and give good and meaningful pieces of advice for them Don is defo the main source of comfort. Aran won't ever admit he's a an emotional wreck to anyone else but Don and Don will gladly comfort and reassure Aran if he's ever in doubt about himself or their relationship.

[matrixxsystem]

Luck Runs Out Part 4

Leo pulled back the curtain to Donnie's lab with April following behind him and was immediately met with Casey's uh, interesting, music playlist. It was no wonder him and Donnie got along so well, they both liked the kind of mechanical dubstep Donnie always played when he was working on something. Casey was sitting at Donnie's work bench with a pair of goggles on as small sparks flew. He was doing something with the tech inside the mask it seemed.. Leo gave April a look like he wasn't sure if he should bug him or try and wait till he was done. 

"Hey guys. What's up?" Casey called from his seat, causing both April and Leo to look a bit surprised. He turned the music off and lifted the goggles off his head, swiveling in the chair to see them with an awkward smile. "Okay-" Leo started as he took a step forward, "How in the would did you hear us over that?? You were across the room with loud ass music and you were fiddling with your mask thing-"

"I think you forget I grew up in a bunker during the apocalypse Leo-"

"....Fair 'nough- Anyway, we're all going out to get lunch and I'm dragging you with us cause we need more humans to make it look less weird"

"Less weird..? Please tell me you aren't going into town for lunch.. I don't- I mean I just- Y'know-? I'm the last guy you want in your group to make you look normal-" Leo rolled his eyes and threw his arm over Casey's shoulder, "Yes we're going into the city, and you are coming cause we can all use some fresh air. And me and Usagi kinda have this idea.. We want to use the cloaking pins Donnie made and we know my brothers have been kinda weird about using them.. And since you haven't disappeared yet like in those Back from the Future movies we can only assume you're just, here now.. So you have to learn how to be a human in the 2020s" 

"Well, I guess" Casey sighed a little, "I mean Donnie feels pretty bad about sending you alone and then.. You kinda snapped in the government facility and... y'know, killed two people, and wont talk to them about it- And you lost your arm and almost died, like, I helped stich you up after the.. Invasion, and I mean I've seen blood before but that.. It was just a lot for everyone." 

"But I feel bad too-! Like it sucks and I get that, I really do, I'm literally forced to look at my mistakes in the mirror everyday- But those pins don't represent what happened to me and I mean.. If anything, shouldn't the pins represent that I made it out alive, and that we did it? I guess.. I dunno... I just don't want them to feel stuck in the lair like we failed when we didn't. Donnie wanted to go to school and he still hasn't even applied to places around here! Mikey was looking at art schools. It's just.. It's not fair." Casey gave Leos hand a sympathetic pat and pulled away, starting to clean up his space, "I get it, I really do.. It's hard watching the people you care about struggle, or hold themselves back because they don't want to hurt you. Sensei was like that a lot when I was young, I think cause I was really little he kind of, held back when he was around me for some reason, I think he didn't wanna scare me or he thought I was fragile or something? I don't really remember the reason, and I guess it doesn't really matter now.. But the only real things that fixed it between us was time and communication."

"...I don't like how smart you are sometimes haha, but yeah I'm sure part of it is my fault too, maybe that's something we can talk about before we leave, cause I'm sure by now they're onto my plan-" Casey nodded, setting his mask aside, "Yeah, that might be good, I am kind of excited to try some more food from around here, even if that means having to deal with people I guess.. Where are we going again?"

_____

"So.. Where are we going exactly?" Donnie asked, tilting his head at Usagi. "It's a surprise, but you will need your cloaking pins." The air was suddenly a lot more tense when he mentioned the pins, Mikey hesitantly glanced down to the pouch on his hip where his pin was kept. "I uh... Well uh..." Usagi went over at sat on Leos beanbag chair, "It was Leo's idea" He said with a little shrug, "He said he felt bad you guys never use the pins you all worked so hard to get. So we were gonna go have lunch in the city, our treat."

"..He does?" Raph asked, giving his brothers a little glance before sitting in his own beanbag chair, "What... Did he say exactly?" Usagi sat up more and thought for a moment, "Just that, since his little accident and the near invasion where he got hurt again, it feels like you guys tip toe around the pins and he feels bad that you feel like you can't use them, he mentioned that Mikey was looking at studios for various hobbies and Donnie was looking at colleges, even that you Raph might've wanted to get out of the house too but that no ones really done it. And it makes him feel a little sad, since he uses his pin to hang out with me and it doesn't bother him so much." Raph sighed a little, "I-I mean... Yeah we've looked around- Of course it'd be nice to y'know, go do stuff and make friends outside of the hidden city.. But it's dangerous, even if.. I just mean like... Oh- Have you ever seen the Spider-Man movies? Peter Parker is the main character and he has these powers to stop bad things and bad people, so he starts wearing a mask and fighting crime. But because he's always off saving the day he never has time for a normal life, his family, his girlfriend, his school, his job.. He's always ditching without an excuse and messing up his normal life because he's trying to do the right thing and protect everyone.. We can't have both normal lives and ninja lives. We know that.." 

"Did this Peter Parker also have three brothers and a sister and one of their siblings partners able to support him?" 

"Well no.. He was always kind of alone, that's part of what made it so hard. He did have a friend helping him eventually and like being on the computer for him while he was out so the friend could hack stuff and find things for him. But besides that one person no one else knew"

"-Till the second Spider-Man Miles came into the story! Then they fought together for a while!" Mikey chimed in. Raph nodded. "Right. But even then Miles was always avoiding his family and making them worry and Peter didn't have much family left after his uncle was killed-" Mikey pouted a little, "I mean yeah I guess, but in the newest installment Miles finally comes clean to his family after this big battle with the other spider people who disagree with him and they all accept him and he gets the girl and his friends who understand him! It's not about pretending to be normal, it's about finding people who accept you for you! And there's no weirder place than New York, I mean April is a human raised by humans, and she's super chill and is even dating a mutant, there's no way she's the only one" Usagi nodded a little, "All things take time, but just as April understands you, others can too. This is merely a step towards that, you all deserve lives outside of this, and no matter what happens, or where you go, you'll always be family and you'll always be there for each other. You can worry about being Spider-Man when the time comes, but today it's just lunch. And I think a big tough guy like you can handle that without too much overthinking right? If anything, do it for Leo. He's been putting a lot of thought into asking you all to wear the pins more often. He wants to see you all being happy and doing the things you talked about wanting to do before all this happened.."

"I know you're right but.. Raph just has a bad feeling- I don't want to stop anyone or myself from doing stuff, and I don't want them to feel bad either. I just, I can't stop seeing it when I think about the pins." Usagi reached over gently patting his shoulder, "Well, lets face it together then. Okay? I've known you for what, three years now? There's nothing that you, or this family, can't do. What do you see?" Raph let out a small defeated sigh and rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah.. I've heard that before.. But you're right. I can't over think things that haven't even happened yet." He paused for a moment giving another glance to his brothers before talking again, "When you brought Leo home. His arm had been torn apart, there was so much blood and.." He paused again, thinking back to Usagi stepping into the room with Leo in his arms, tear streaks staining Leos face that was masked with blood.. His arm broken to nothing and bleeding out the whole way into the medbay. There was bits of.. someone, stuck in his teeth and he couldn't stop throwing up till Donnie gave him a sedative.. Usagi gave him another sympathetic pat on his shoulder, Breaking Raph out of his thoughts, "It was hard." Usagi spoke quietly, "I understand, really. I know we don't always see eye to eye but Leo is... He's my everything. I have never cared for someone so deeply, he makes me want to be more than I am, and makes me feel so.. Seen. I wanna protect him with everything I have as long as he'll have me, probably as much as you do. And seeing him there in that hallway, bloody and weak.. And all scared and beaten up. It was jarring to see, and I can only imagine how you felt when I brought him back and you had to clean him up. And even now, two years later, it's hard not to get a little panicked when he insists he can go off alone somewhere. But the one thing I've learned about Leo is that he's so much more capable than anyone realizes, and sometimes even when you're unsure you just have to trust him, even when he doesn't have a plan, or doesn't know if he can win, even when he gets caught. You just have to trust him." 

"I do-" Raph said as he stood up, "And.. I don't hate you or nothin' y'know, I could never. You're a good guy, and I know Leo would've been in real trouble without you around to help him out with all the stuff he had goin' on. And we're real lucky he has you. " He paused a little and took his pin out, "Alright, I think we've had enough mushy stuff for the week, let's go have lunch" 

-_-_-_-

Leo, April and Casey walked into the room a moment later, seeing Usagi help fasten Mikey's pin on his hoodie. Casey gently pushed past the two to get a good look at how they all looked. "Oh wow, you guys look so.."

"Different?" Raph asked, tilting his head with a little smile. "I'm really not used to having hair-" Leo said as he put his pin on, "No no, I mean you look.. Like you. Its not bad, its just so weird to see you guys as human." Leo nodded a little, "Yeah I didn't think Donnie's hair would be in locs- It suits him though, less day to day maintenance and all." Donnie rolled his eyes and pointed back to Leo, "And you having those long bleached dead end dreads certainly fits your aesthetic dear brother." Leo rolled his eyes and decided just this once he'd let Donnie's comments slide, they didn't have time to wrestle right now. "You're just jealous I'm the hotter twin~" He said with a little laugh, "Are we all ready then?" 

Everyone nodded and followed Leo and Usagi outside, everyone looked a bit nervous, which was to be expected. No one wanted to get caught, or mess up on any first impressions on their first group outing topside since they all almost died. Usagi took Leo's hand with a little smile, "We aren't going far. Just up the block, figured a pizza place might suit you guys" 

"Pizza?!" Mikey repeated, pushing past April and Donnie to look at Usagi with stars in his eyes, "Ohmigosh you read my mind!!" Usagi chuckled a little as they walked, "Well you have said before how much you all love pizza, and I think a place with options might be good for Casey who doesn't have a lot of experience with the food of our time." Casey nodded a little, "Heheh.. Yeah, we didn't have very much there, and definitely not this kind of variety. I recently got to try something called ramen though- It was amazing!! Michelangelo was always a pretty good cook, even when we didn't have much he always found a way to make it enjoyable, or at the least, easy to get down." Raph tilted his head a little, wondering what kind of food they had in the future. He knew it was hard for stuff to grow, but was it really that bad? "No wonder you're so thin," Raph said with a little chuckle, Donnie raised his hand to pull the attention towards himself, "We should have a night where we all make our favorite foods and share them. I'm kind of interested now to try some of the food Casey was subject to- I mean, grew up with." April and Mikey both nodded, "Yes yes yes! I wanna try the pasta April's mom always makes for holidays! It sounds sooooo gooooood!!" Usagi slowed down for a second turning to Donnie, "Everyone's favorite..?" He asked in a quiet but serious tone. Leo stopped too, looking between the two. "Because, I wouldn't want to be invited to something like that only to make you all uncomfortable. Or well, most of you at least." Donnie hesitated for a moment but then nodded, "It's been about three years, I'm sure well be fine- And I mean, even if we don't eat it I know Leo and Casey will." Casey nodded, "I'm all for it" He said with a little shrug, "I don't know how well you're gonna like my cooking though-" 

"What's the main stuff you guys had to eat?" Mikey asked, ready with his phone to look up what sort of meals they could've made with whatever ingredients they had available. "Well.. When we had the mass greenhouse in the abandoned buildings we had a lot of vegetables, mostly tomato's, potatoes, and carrots I think. So we had a lot of soups, things that were easy to take with us in any container and could be had hot or cold. That kinda stuff. Oh but, we did have these crunchy like, candied flowers that Draxx always brought when he came to visit. But he never let just anyone eat them, it was special, he brought them when someone died, or when someone was born. But on a normal day we had cold soup left overs and Autolyse, which is kinda like bread?"

"I'm sorry, auto what?" April asked, more confused than ever. Donnie raised a finger, "It's flower and water, it's the most basic and bland version of bread, commonly made when people are lacking supplies. But as a side to other foods or when packed with things like protein it can be a pretty good survival food." Casey nodded, "I wouldn't call it my favorite food but if you really wanna know what food was like that's a pretty good start."

"So we're really gonna do Donnie's idea?" Leo asked, "Cause I mean, I'm all for it I just.." Raph gently patted Leo's back as a reassuring gesture, "I'm down, how bad could it be? Look Leo, I know you've been trying really hard lately to keep your side of things out of the house in trying not to freak us out and we've been really weird about all this but we're all grown ups here, I think it'd be good to do something fun like this. I mean Usagi's like family now, and I wanna get to know that side of him." Leo blushed a little as he looked back to Usagi, then smiled more and nodded, "Heh, since when did you get mature huh- Fair enough. Think tomorrow would be too soon? The new JJ movie is hitting the internet and Donnie said he could put it up on the projector for us to watch, might be a good activity to warrant having so much food."

"That's a great idea, I don't know how easily it'll be to get pops out of his chair though.."

"Eh, we can burn that bridge when we come to it."

"...Uh, Leo? Don't you mean.. Cross that bridge when we get to it?"

"Hm? Oh- No, no I did not."

"...I-"

"Oh look-" Usagi chimed in, pointing across the street to a fairly decent looking restaurant. "We're here." And now look, when I say decent, I really just mean decent by New York's standards, which in this case really just means there's no bugs in or on the food, there's still people inside who haven't choked or ran out screaming, and all of their lights work. You can't really ask for a better place in this of corner of the town when you're looking for cheap food and a table of 7.to just be ready when you walk in.  LRO Part 1 Part 5

[sibillascribbles08]

18

im feeling angsty >:D

Jason didn't like his texts being ignored.

Well, maybe they weren't being ignored per se. And in a lot of cases he would be fine with a delayed or late reply, but such things were very odd when it came to Donnie. The turtle had his text notifications hooked up to at least seven different devices and assuming he wasn't busy, replied within seconds.

So it was particularly frustrating to not only not get a response from five separate texts, but when all those texts were reminding him that "hey yeah we had lunch plans today remember? I have been standing in your room waiting for you to open the magic door for almost thirty minutes!"

Jason spammed seven more texts, all of them just saying "HEY" to hopefully get Donnie's attention. He prayed that it was nothing serious. That his music was going too loud or he got caught up with a client. Not it being something like a device exploded and knocked him out cold.

Jason would almost just try go down there himself, but wandering around the Hidden City without being with the turtles was a massive risk.

He was about to kick the wall when, finally, the portal opened.

No Donnie, not at first glance at least. He peeked his head through before entering the building.

Then he spotted Donatello near his desk. The whole thing was scattered with parts, blue prints, and a half finish device. All the spider like limbs from his shell were out, picking through objects as he muttered to himself.

"Donnie?" Jason spoke as he approached.

"What?" The turtle hissed through his teeth.

"Busy day?"

"Yes. Very. Which is why I find it very unnecessary for you to blow up my phone."

Jason sighed, blowing the air upwards so that it moved his bangs. "We had lunch plans today."

Donatello froze, snapped out his phone, scrolled through their texts, then put it away. "Right. So we did."

"You forgot."

"I have a lot on my mind." Donnie whirled around, baring his teeth. "In case you didn't already notice. I have three jobs that have a deadline at the end of the week, two more that need blue prints, and one other that I cannot manage to get past testing stage because something keeps going wrong."

Jason wanted to comment that was all the more reason for a break, but bit it back. "Do you want any help?"

"I do not need help. I need some space to think. I need to focus." Donnie pressed his palms to the sides of his head. "I need you to not insist on coming in here and distracting me."

Jason grit his teeth, forcing his temper from getting the better of him like it was getting the better of his boyfriend.

Still, he stood his ground. "Hey. You made lunch plans. You didn't respond to my texts to tell me you had to cancel due to work. I get that you're stressed out, but don't you dare take it out on me."

Hopefully that was the right thing to say. Donnie's aggressive expression relaxed, then came back as he paced around. Eventually he just sat down on the floor near his desk, still holding his head, trying to breathe.

Jason gave him a minute to cool down. He busied himself by heading to the mini fridge and grabbing some waters. He opened one and put the other near Donnie in case he needed it before returning to pacing.

He hated when Donnie got like this. He understood it, but he hated it. The turtle was always a lot more callous with his words when he was upset, and sometimes it reminded Jason way too much of Kendra.

At least, unlike her, Donnie would come around to apologizing.

He kept pacing, kept looking at what some of the work benches had going on, when a soft hiccup distracted him. Jason glanced back to Donnie whose hands now covered his face, shoulders shaking.

Okay, maybe now would be a good time to interrupt.

He stepped over and sat down, close but not within what Donnie considered his 'personal bubble.'

His boyfriend must have heard him, trying to curl up more and hide his face.

"Hey." Jason frowned. "It's okay to cry..."

"I know it's okay." Donnie snapped, still rubbing his eyes. "Doesn't mean I have to enjoy it. Especially over something dumb like this."

"It's not dumb. You have a lot going on right now." Jason leaned over to pick up the unopened bottle he left earlier, bumping it into Donnie's knee.

The turtle took it and cracked it open, taking a few long sips. At least that stopped the tears.

"Sorry." Donnie rubbed his eyes. "For yelling at you earlier."

"As you like to say, it was a bit of a jerk move, but I know you're stressed out so I'm not taking it personally." Jason put his hands on the floor behind him as he leaned back a bit. "You know, when you asked me out you talked about plans to expand your business to the surface but--"

"I know." Donnie sighed. "I can barely handle the work load down here anymore."

"Have you guys not thought about hiring someone?"

"We have but it's..." Donnie cringed, clutching the bottle a bit too tightly, making the plastic bend. "Sometimes it's hard to know who to fully trust with a job like this when it comes to this city. Not long after I got this job we... Someone who had a grudge against Holly Blue used their magic to take over my lab, turn all of my tech against me."

Jason raised an eyebrow. Somehow he hadn't heard about all of this before.

Donnie must have noticed his expression. "Sorry. I don't like to talk about it much. It was... even though we defeated him the whole thing was... terrifying."

Jason nodded. Didn't ask further for the time being. One of those conversations to have late a night when exhaustion made Donnie's walls so much thinner.

"Anyway." The turtle straightened up. "Point is, finding someone to hire is tricky, but I really should buckle down and work on it."

Jason hummed in agreement. "In the meantime, let me help."

"Jase..."

"Look, I know how you are with your tech." Jason pointed to the desk. "But I don't have to be that hands on. Just tell me what to put where, or what tools to get for you, or literally anything so you aren't doing it all yourself."

Donnie sighed, that long kind that meant he was admitting defeat. "Fine. You win." He started to get up. "Let's get back to--"

A low growl came from Donnie's stomach.

Jason shook his head. "No. We're getting lunch first, even if it's short."

"But--"

"You should take a second to breathe. We'll get everything done on time, okay?" He fixed his stare on his boyfriend, hoping this didn't turn into another argument.

Thankfully, Donnie looked to tired for that. "Okay."

[bootyyyyshaker900]

The afternoon had started as a family photo-scavenger-hunt. April had gathered you all up, including Draxum to your ceaseless delight, for a day of bonding and gaining familiarity and comfort with the city in which you now lived.

You had already begun stretching your touristic knowledge of the city and its landmarks, bouncing on your feet as you descended from the viewpoint when- New York wasn't usually this desolate, was it?

Donnie. What did you do?

You don't have time to exclaim in offence at the accusation before a familiar cackle fills the air, several large mystic screens alighting the streets with the human visage of Big Mama.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's the moment you've been waiting for - my long promised fantastic wizbang. Battle Nexus New York!

You blink.

Sorry. Wizbang New York what what what?

Smile, turtley-boos! My bloodthirsty audience is paying top didgeri-dollar to watch you get destroyed by my Battle Nexus champion.

Uh, we didn't sign up for this!

You see Leo shrug and lean over to ask Mikey a question, away from Big Mama's ears.

(Did April sign us up for this?)

April, did you-?

Michael turns to ask her, but he cuts himself off. You take the cue to look around, ice flooding your extremities at the realization. You hardly hear his next words.

Wait, what have you done with April? And Draxum?!?! And dad?!?!?!

You hadn't even noticed their disappearance. The three of them had vanished beneath your snout, somehow, and you hadn't even noticed!

Not to worry, dear! The people of New York are in the palm of my hand, all properly pacified inside this mystic thingamajig!

She holds up a glowing orange orb, slightly smaller than a bowling ball by your estimates. It's a containment sphere, one meant to keep occupants docile and unquestioning of their predicament through manufactured mental disorientation and generally pleasant stimulus. You know this, because you built it on commission for her in exchange for her assistance and transportation, back when you were still trying to resurrect the Shredder.

Your task is simple: defeat my champions, and you win your city back. Fail, and you lose it all.

What?

Mama! You promised!

Mikey whines. You think you're going to throw up. How could you have forgotten all the trinkets you'd made her? How many other tricks does she have up her spidery sleeves that have just slipped your mind?

It's okay, guys, We got this. As long as the Mad Dogs are together, we can work through anything.

Big Mama laughs. You really think you're going to puke.

Well, of course you silly billies can work together, just not how you think!

She snaps, and one-by-one you're all whipped up by a transportation spell. You fling yourself at Raph, hoping to confuse the streams into taking you together, but you're gone before you can get close enough.

You yelp as you make contact with the ground, an electric weight making itself known as a tug on your wrist. You dry heave, and another familiar voice commentates.

Yeesh. That doesn't look good. You alright, mate? Donatello, was it?

You groan.

Hey, Ron. You get those-- urk-- those letters of recommendation I sent over?

Can't say that I did. Been a little bit occupied lately! Didn't you lot notice?

I thought you and worm-man just retired. No?

Nope.

Oh. Sorry.

You lift your head and notice where you've landed. Central Park. The air is dim and dour - much different from the cool and crisp feeling it had when you'd gone for that walk with Neon. You get to your feet with the hippo mutant's help, and spot a pair of benches, one being occupied by some kind of kraken Yokai. He leers at you as you both take a seat across from him, and Big Mama's voice booms to life once again.

Cortex is the smartest yokai in the Hidden City, and the cruellest. Lose, and he keeps the turtle in his collection of game pieces!

You groan. You've only ever lost to Leo at chess, but the stakes are high. You crack your knuckles and throw on an uneasy grin.

Alright Hypno, I've got this!

At least, that's what you think before you're hit square in the plastron with a transformation spell. Your world shrinks and divides, and you find yourself taking the place of every white piece on the board.

Ah. I see.

If any of you somehow win your battley-bing, come to my hotel and set your people free. Do be sporting chaps and put on a fantastic show for us. My subscribers are paying me a fortune to watch you all suffer. Now, on with Battle Nexus New York!

[superbpastanickelzonk]

If you’re bored, tell me about your AU. I have only seen the “Raph in my AU” post which sent me here.

first of all: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH THANK YOU SO MUCH I LOVE YOU SO MUCH/p

second of all: it's a rise au where the boys are different mythical creatures. Leo is a siren, Donnie is a gorgon, Raph is a Charybdis and Mikey's a scyla (but I'm thinking of changing him to a kikimora) They use seaweed as masks and coverings. Donnie's the only one whose seaweed/mask doesn't have eyeholes. He really doesn't want to turn his brothers to stone and he can still see through his snake-hair's eyes, although a little blurry. He only turns people into stone when he both looks them in the eyes and when he is even the slightest bit pissed, so he usually just covers them. (I don't have anything of note for Mikey yet since I'm not even sure what he would be) Leo has 2 sets of vocal cords, he can use both at the same time but only one can properly speak at a time. He uses the other one to hum melodies, those then work like hypnotizing. He mainly uses it to get his brothers to fall asleep and to lure people into the lake. The hum from the second one sounds clearer than when a human hum since it comes through the gills on his neck. Raph is gonna be really big and monstrous and thus very insecure, he'd never stand at full length and never speak louder than a whisper. Charybdis her personality in mythology is described as a whirlpool (that's gonna be savage Raph) His mouth would be similar to Ocho from the IDW comics. Stan Ocho, she's amazing!

They live in an underwater cave in a lake. Rumours say the lake is inhabited by a dangerous creature. They say that anyone who visits is doomed to get dragged to the bottom and drown. April, who lives in a nearby town, decides to go check it out. She's doubtful that the rumours are true, but wouldn't the 'dangerous creature' be lonely if they are? Leo, he's the one who goes outside the most, sees her sitting on a bench next to the lake. He tries to use his super cool siren powers on her but they don't seem to work. He walks up to her to see for himself why it didn't. April notices something coming out of the water and is shocked at first, it's the reason why she came here but she wasn't expecting to be right! She asks him: "Who are you? Are you the creature they're talking about?" Leo is absolutely perplexed but introduces himself and tells her that he lives here with his brothers. Leo sits down on the bench next to her and they talk for a while. They decide to keep hanging out and Leo says he'll invite her over if his brothers are okay with it. They're reluctant but decide it's fine. (Raph hides in his room the whole time she's over the first many times.) Leo drags her to the bottom of the lake while she holds her breath. Their lair isn't waterlogged so she's fine once they made it in. That's all I have for now! I hope I didn't ramble to much haha

[floopers]

Journey of Four

Series: Octopath Traveler II Pairing: Throné/Castti Word count: 5,330 Rating: T Summary: "Does she have a name yet?"

Throné looks up to see Ochette standing in front of her now, holding the dog out. Their tails are wagging the same way even.

[AO3]

takes place post game, throne finally gets to adopt her dog

If there's one thing New Delsta is good for, it's the park. It's the only place Throné can think of where she can take both Ochette and the dog that's been following her without worry. She watches them now from where she sits on the bench, the corners of her mouth trying to twitch into a smile. They've been chasing each other around the grass for a while, and Throné's more than glad that Ochette's willing and that she's got the energy for it. Must've been because she had to sit through Agnea's performance of their journey—Throné's caught Ochette's leg thumping several times to the point to the point she's felt bad for Castti having to sit next to her.

"Does she have a name yet?"

Throné looks up to see Ochette standing in front of her now, holding the dog out. Their tails are wagging the same way, she notes.

"I don't know. I've never really named anything before," Throné says. She's more than perfectly fine with keeping the dog nameless—seems to suit her all the same—but if anything were to happen to her... she'll need a name for people to call out. And well, it wouldn't look good to keep referring to it as her dog, in any case.

"Easy! Just name it something you like! Like Castti."

Throné chokes.

"... let's not," she says.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll have to say Ma Castti or Dog Castti." Ochette nods, as if that's the main problem here. Sometimes, that innocence of hers can be... troublesome. Ochette releases the dog and sits down on the grass by Throné's legs. "I like jerky, how about we call it Jerky?"

"Sounds like we're going to eat it later."

"Oh! No, we can't do that," Ochette says with a shake of her head, as if she hasn't caught several monsters and prepared jerky out of them that same night. Throné tries not to think about that.

Ochette crosses her arms now though and closes her eyes, deep in thought. As deep a thought as she can, at least. The way she thinks is so simple and honest but to Throné, it's a refreshing breath of air. Almost like... a dog, that same eager honesty.

The dog whines suddenly and moves to bat at Ochette's hand. Ochette opens her eyes and grins, moving to lay down on the ground. The dog pounces on her and she rolls over, growling back at it. Through it all, both their tails are wagging. Throné's hand twitches.

She watches the entire scene though feeling... something nice. She's not sure, but it feels warm and nice, like she could sit here and watch them keep play with each other for hours and never get tired. There's just something about the way they're both so happy and doing something so simple like playing with each other that makes Throné feel... content.

"Say, how about someone you know?" Ochette chimes up even as she's wrestling with the dog. "Like your friends before you met us! Some humans name their pets after people they know, right?"

"My... friends?" Throné looks at the dog. Definitely not Scaracci. Donnie or Pirro, then? But a tightness comes to her chest when she thinks about the pointless way they had died, how needless it had all been. Even as Blacksnakes, they didn't deserve that. "I don't think that's going to work," she says.

There's no answer. Throné looks over and while the dog is gnawing away at Ochette's fingers, there's a distant look in her eyes that Throné hadn't expected.

"Akalā," Ochette suddenly says. She doesn't say anything else, absently batting the dog back and forth.

"What's that?" Throné asks, voice soft.

"Just... something I think I might have named a friend," Ochette mumbles, her ears drooping slightly now. Mahina trills and nudges her head against Ochette's arm.

"... I think we should go with something else," Throné says. No use in naming the dog something that'll bring them awful memories.

"Yeah." Ochette reaches into her pack and pulls out a piece of jerky. She rips it a small piece of it, grinning when the dog jumps up onto her hind legs and paws at the air for it. Throné watches them, smile tugging at her lips, the thought of figuring out a name temporarily banished from her mind.

"Ochette, Throné, there you two are." Castti comes to them then, a smile on her face as she greets them. "Ah, and your little friend, too, Throné?" Castti sits on the bench next to Throné and bends forward, petting the dog on top of her head even as she tries to bite at the jerky Ochette's still holding out of her reach.

"She hasn't left me alone since seeing me. I think I might just have to take her," Throné says.

"I'm sure that's a tough decision on your part," Castti answers with a smile. Throné answers back with a quick laugh.

"We're just figuring out a name for it though."

"A name, huh?" Castti sits back against the bench as she thinks to herself. "Ochette, you can understand animals, right? Do you think she has a name in mind?"

"Oh, I guess I could try! What kind of name do you want, little one?" Ochette finally gives the dog the piece of jerky, which it eagerly devours within a second. The dog barks at her afterward, and Ochette growls back. The dog tilts her head at her, floppy ears waving as she does so. After several more minutes of them communicating this way, with Ochette nodding every now and then, she finally looks up at them. "She said she's fine with whatever you want to give her!"

... so back at square one. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. Throné sighs while Castti laughs.

The dog turns to Castti then and starts to nudge her leg with her head. Castti smiles, leaning forward to ruffle the dog all around her head to scratching all around with her fingers. "Ooh, who's a good girl?" she coos to the dog, laughing again when the dog jumps up to try to lick her face. "Now you're just being naughty!"

Ochette takes the opportunity to scratch the dog's body, cooing to it too. Throné leans back, watching everything. Yes... this tightness growing inside of her... She likes this feeling, wouldn't mind if she feels more of it.

The dog barks suddenly and Ochette's ears perk up. "Ooh!" She looks over at Throné. "She's asking for some of that food you always give her."

"... hm?" Throné wonders what it might be until she remembers. "Ah, the dried strawberries?" Does she even have some? She might need to pick up some more at the stands. With Castti and Ochette around now though, she'll have to get them through... honest means. At least her leaves pocket are rich from all the things she's "found" at Roque Island and Timberain.

"Oh! How about the name Strawberry?" Castti suggests. "Since she likes that fruit."

"Sounds... a bit silly, doesn't it?"

"Not at all," Castti says with a firm nod. Even Ochette nods, grinning when the dog barks.

"Whatever you wanna call her!" Ochette says. And, well... it looks like the other two have already decided on her name for her.

"Strawberry, then?" It's... not exactly a name she would've thought up by herself but... well, that's what friends are for, she supposes. The dog barks—Strawberry now, and Throné reaches down, petting her head, smiling. "All right then, sounds good to me."

———

"You really don't have to do this for me," Castti says once Ochette runs off somewhere further into the trees.

"It's fine," Throné says, digging through the bushes the same way Castti is. "Not like I've got anything else to do."

"Why, you don't want to be back at camp, tending the fire with Temenos?"

"You don't want me here, then?"

There's no immediate answer from Castti and Throné continues with her task, crawling through the ground and sweeping aside the greenery to squint at the plants on the ground. The herbs Castti's looking for look just like the common plants all scattered here on the ground of the Crestlands but their leaves are jagged. They all looked the same to her in the beginning but she's getting better. They'll have to hurry though, since the sun's been steadily descending and Throné doesn't feel keen on sweeping through the ground by lantern light.

She hasn't heard any movement from Castti though, and she glances back—and finds Castti standing up and watching her instead. She has a hand on the side of her face, and a smile that Throné can't quite decipher.

"... what is it?" Throné asks, unsure of what Castti is looking at. Is she watching Throné fumble her way through the greenery?

A corner of Castti's lips twitches and she turns away. "I didn't mean that, Throné. Your company is"—her eyes dart down for a quick second—"very much appreciated," she finishes, turning away now with a smile on her lips. Throné blinks, looking down at herself, the slit of her dress revealing her leg—oh.

Throné quickly returns her attention to the ground, more than glad that the moderate winds blowing through the Crestlands can cool her face.

Once it gets too dark to continue, Throné rises from the ground, frowning at the small armful of herbs she's managed to gather. It doesn't feel like much, and she wishes she were able to find more. She doesn't know what Castti uses these herbs for though, she should ask and see if she can keep an eye on her supply for her so Castti won't need to forage out alone by herself.

"Throné? Are you there?" Castti calls out, just a little ways off from where Throné is. Throné follows the sound of her voice, arriving at the clearing where Castti is. She's holding a larger armful of plants, some Throné doesn't recognize from what Castti had told her to look for. She must have been looking for other herbs as well.

"Sorry, it's not much," Throné says as she hands over the herbs she's managed to gather. Castti shakes her head, smiling patiently at Throné.

"Don't think like that. I might have stayed out longer to gather more if you weren't here."

"Ma! Néné!" Ochette bursts into the clearing then, with Strawberry bounding behind her. She rubs her nose and grins, holding out a whole armful of plants. "You can't beat a Beastling's nose!" Strawberry barks. "And a dog's!"

"Oh! This is... certainly a lot!" Castti looks down at the dog, eyes widening slightly. "You've managed to teach her its scent too?"

"Yeah! Berry's a quick learner," Ochette says, leaning down to ruffle her head. It's funny that Ochette had insisted on the name and now she's doing anything but using her actual name. Strawberry licks her face and pounces on her and when Throné blinks, the both of them are rolling in the dirt now.

"What a good girl," Castti says with a slight giggle. "You're going to be such a great help in the future!" Her arm's full of plants now though so she can't quite lean down to pet her. She jerks her head back in the direction of the camp. "Let's head back for now, I can sort it all out there."

Throné frowns slightly, watching everything. She can't believe she's feeling incompetent next to her own dog. Is it even her own dog at this point? It might as well belong to Castti and Ochette too at this point. She doesn't mind that.

"Néné, hold up!" Ochette shouts before she gets too far.

Throné turns around. "What is it?"

"She wants you to tell her she did a good job!" Ochette says, stepping aside to reveal Strawberry, staring up at her while wagging her tail furiously. Just like Ochette's is—this is far more distracting than Throné cares to admit.

Oh, how can Throné resist? She gets down to a knee, the smile spreading across her lips when Strawberry dashes over to her right away, licking her hand as she tries to scratch it. "Good job, you," she says, scratching under her chin and all around her head. Somehow, her tail wags even harder, as if that could be possible. Something tight forms inside of Throné, seeing how happy she gets when she praises her like that. She looks over at Ochette, giving her a nod too. "And you too," she says, and Ochette's tail seems to also wag just as hard.

They get back with their armfuls of herbs that even Temenos raises his brow at them. "Are we planting a garden before we leave tomorrow?" he jokes.

"We can," Castti says with a slight smile. She's put down the plants on the ground and picks up a few of them, looking at the stew they have simmering over the fire that Temenos' has been watching. She pulls free some of the leaves on some and throws it into the pot. "Some extra seasoning for us," she says as she mixes it in.

"Smells better already." Ochette's eyes are sparkling and she wipes her mouth before the drool can fall out. Throné can't quite smell the immediate difference but if Ochette, enthused meat-eater, is excited for it, then it must have done something.

The rest of their dinner is quiet, which makes sense since they're now missing half of their group. Agnea's taking the chance to travel with her family around the continent and both Hikari and Partitio have offered up their services as bodyguards. She suspects more that Partitio's egged Hikari into going into one last leg of a journey with them before he gets stuck back at his country doing... whatever it is that kings do, Throné doesn't know. He's going to be the busiest out of all of them though, she can't imagine he'll be able to take time off whenever he wants to see or travel with them. She hadn't been sure what Osvald's final plans were but seeing as he's with his daughter, the last thing she wants is to take away time from that.

Nothing more precious than time and memories, she thinks.

But now it's just the three of them, escorting Temenos back to Flamechurch.

"The path back is so dangerous and the monsters are so scary when I'm just one cleric on my lonesome. Why, if I get ambushed, it'll be the end of me!" he told them and even Throné has to roll her eyes at his theatrics.

"... you can't really say that after you've gone and blasted a god in the face with magic," Throné points out. Still, she appreciates his attempt in giving them one last way to travel together, escorting him back through the Crestlands. It feels almost surreal though, just being able to move through the path at their own leisure rather than the urgency that pushed some of them with their own goals.

It reminds Throné of when they first began traveling, when it had been Castti with Ochette in tow at New Delsta and they had been joined by Osvald and Temenos, then the rest of them in due time. The feeling is much different now compared to then, though. She can't believe that she'll admit this but... she'll miss this. Even now, it doesn't feel quite the same without hearing Partitio's rowdy laughter at least several times throughout the night, Hikari's quiet murmurs amid Osvald's grunting, and watching Agnea practice and perform one of her dances.

... this is a level of sentimentality that she's never expected from herself. She had wanted to run off to new and different lands, where she wouldn't be known, to use her newfound freedom to explore to her heart's content, and... the urge is there, to pick up her feet and go where the winds will take her, but as she looks at Ochette and Castti... maybe she can hold off the urge for now.

Something nudges her leg suddenly and when she looks, it's Strawberry, now awake after resting at Throné's feet for a bit. She smiles at her, trying to reach down and bring her to her lap but she runs off suddenly, as if deciding otherwise. She keeps looking at Throné though, as if expecting her to come after her. When Throné doesn't move, Strawberry turns her attention to Temenos instead, taking off for him. She tugs on his robes and he quickly gets to his feet, eyes wide in mock outrage.

"Oh, no, little one, my robes are not your plaything!" Even as he says that though, he swishes the bottom of his robes around. She clearly takes it as a challenge, and Temenos dances around the dog, a slight smirk on his face. "You're going to have to do better than that!"

Ochette claps along, cheering the dog and trying to get Mahina to distract Temenos too. Throné watches him, more than amused at how quick Temenos suddenly seems to be on his feet. He had grumbling earlier of sudden dire pains to his feet after a day of walking, which everyone took to mean that he merely wanted them to spend one more night out before arriving to Flameschurch, and well, who could deny the request of a holy clergyman such as Temenos? Even though resting in a bed would have been much more preferable to the ground, it adds a certain... charm, Throné will say, when in a group of friends and companions.

Satisfied that he's going to be keeping the dog company, Throné skulks her way to the other side of the fire, where Castti is sorting through all the herbs. She holds out her hand before pausing, her hand hovering in the air as she hesitates before she pushes forward, placing it on Castti's shoulder. Castti turns around, blinking up at her.

"Need a hand?" Throné asks, gesturing to the piles of greenery before them.

"I think I might," she murmurs, resting her hand against Throné's for a quick moment before resuming her task.

Everything goes well, until Throné notices the dog at the edge of her vision, her mouth moving rapidly. She looks to be chewing on something. A creeping feeling of dread settles in Throné. "Ochette, did you give Strawberry any jerky just now?" she asks.

"Huh? No?" Ochette looks down at the dog. Even Castti looks over, all of them slowly piecing the puzzle together.

"Castti, are the herbs... poisonous to dogs?" Throné asks slowly.

"I... cannot... say..." Castti returns, just as slowly. As if realizing something's wrong, the dog stares up at all them, just as still.

Chaos erupts. Throné lunges forward but the dog is faster, darting away just as Throné moves. Castti tries to dive after her but she scrambles away with her tail between her legs. Even Temenos tries but he's no match for her speed. Ochette races after the dog, shouting.

"C'mon, little girl! Give that up! Rrrrgh!"

With the four of them, they manage to corner the dog (Throné knows they're more than lucky that she hadn't thought to scramble off into the forests instead) and now she's trying to pry open her mouth. She's learning that when a dog doesn't want to give up what it's got in its mouth, it really doesn't want to give it up.

And once Throné pries her jaw open, there's nothing inside, Strawberry already swallowing down the remnants of whatever it is she's eaten. Throné looks up at all them, grim-faced—and yelps when the dog licks her face.

Temenos claps his hands together in prayer. "Dear Aelfric, may her stomach be as iron willed as her owner."

———

Stumbling back to their inn room after a few drinks isn't exactly the funnest thing to do, especially in the middle of the night.

Stumbling back while Castti keeps giggling into her ear and letting her hand wander as Throné valiantly tries to get them up the stairs without them falling on their faces is... someone should reward Throné for her efforts. Preferably Castti.

She manages to get the door to their inn room open, hopes Ochette down the hall is already sleeping and can't hear them through the walls.

Ah, wait, but the dog.

Strawberry had curled up on the bed when they left to the tavern for a few drinks, and now that they're back, she's awake, springing off the bed when she heard their footsteps coming up the stairs, tail wagging furiously as she moves around them. Throné finds herself laughing, and even Castti pulls herself away from Throné, picking up the dog and nuzzling her close to her.

"Ah, you're so cute... just like your owner..." Castti mumbles. Throné chokes, more than glad Castti isn't looking at her. She can't solely blame alcohol for the sudden flush on her face.

Castti sets Strawberry on the bed, giggling even more when she keeps trying to lick her face. "Oh, not there! That's—oh!" She stands up, wobbling for a moment—Throné catches her with an arm around her waist. Castti giggles again.

"Thank you, Throné," she murmurs, her voice far too low to be anything but purposeful. Throné swallows, focusing her attention on Strawberry instead. It isn't as if they can really do anything much anyway when she's also just as excitable.

Until she lets out a giant yawn and hops off the bed, moving to a corner of the room and plopping down right on the floor and closing her eyes.

"... hm." Throné watches her for a moment before looking back at Castti, and nearly chokes, because Castti's managed to free herself of most of her outfit, giggling to herself where she's laying on the bed now, clad in just her undergarments, hair also pulled free from its usual bun. Her fingers are clearly far defter than Throné can give her credit for—and Throné knows exactly how dexterous those hands can be.

"It's warm, Throné," she says, as if that'll explain everything. Throné sighs and gets to work on removing her boots and corset at least, even when she sees Castti pouting impatiently at her. By the time she settles back on the bed though, the heat inside of her has simmered down to something cool. Castti reaches out for her but only to pull her close, resting against her now. It's comfortable, being here like this, with Castti. Never would she have thought she'd be able to have a moment like this.

"Throné?" The sheets start rustling. When she opens her eyes (when had they fallen shut?), Castti is looming over her, eyes half-lidded and dark. Throné smiles, reaching up to place a hand over Castti's face, gently cupping her face. She hears Castti's breath hitch before she turns her face slightly, to press a kiss to her palm.

Throné pulls herself up into a sitting position and Castti does so too. She sees Castti's eyes flicker down to her bare neck and back up, the question in her eyes. Her lips push together in slight trepidation but she slowly nods. Castti leans forward, pressing her lips to the corner of her mouth before she raises a hand.

Fingers trail down Throné's neck, nearly reverent in their touch. Castti is gentle; she always makes sure to be for her neck, the ghost of fingertips brushing against her skin that make Throné shiver. She releases a breath, and her eyes flutter shut when she feels a soft press of lips against her skin. Throné reaches out and pulls Castti close, leaning her head against her shoulder.

Castti returns the gesture, smoothing her hands over Throné's back. It's quiet, the only thing filling the air between them their breaths, the proof that they're still alive despite everything, and that they're here with each other. Throné sees the web of blackened scars that had once comprised the poison Castti had been carrying until she released it all in Timberain... and likewise, Castti can feel the scars carved upon Throné's own body, a testament to what she had clawed out of for her freedom. These scars will never leave them so long as they breathe... but when she holds Castti like this, the marks feel fainter. She hopes Castti feels the same way; if not, she'll have to remind her.

Castti pulls back suddenly, craning her head up to press her lips against Throné's forehead. The gesture brings an indescribable warmth to Throné and she tries to reciprocate though in clumsier fashion, awkwardly brushing her mouth against Castti's cheek. What she gets is a small laugh from Castti and a hand on her face as she pulls back, catching Throné's gaze.

They lean in at the same time, a timid press of lips against each other. She can feel Castti smiling against her lips though, and it makes her smile too, and when Castti pulls away, Throné follows her. A firmer press and Castti sighs into the kiss and grabs her face to pull her further in. Throné's more than willing and they fall flat onto the bed, Castti pulling Throné on top of her. The expression she's giving her is nothing short but salacious, and the heat pools inside Throné—

And Throné abruptly looks up, seeing the peek of furry ears poking over the edge of the bed. Castti blinks at her, following her gaze, and Throné can feel her stiffen, especially when Strawberry jumps up and sticks her head atop the bed to look at them.

"... hm." All the heat disappears from Throné and when she glances at Castti, she's covering her face, the tips of her ears red that isn't entirely due to what they've just been doing.

"It's, ah, a little embarrassing when she's looking at us like that," Castti mumbles, and Throné wants to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. Strawberry is just a dog but at the same time, continuing when she's looking at them with her beady eyes like that is disconcerting, and... well, maybe now she can understand what Castti's feeling.

She moves off of Castti. When Strawberry has their attention, she gets noticeably more excited. She starts pawing at the bed, trying to jump and when she can't quite make it, she starts to whine.

"All right, all right!" Throné moves quickly, lifting the dog onto the bed, and she repays the favor by taking a swipe at her face with her tongue. Throné laughs, and now the dog is running to Castti, stepping all over her now in her haste to get to Castti's face.

"Ah!" Castti is trying to turn away from her but Throné can see the hint of a smile from behind her hands.

The dog is lucky she's cute, Throné decides.

———

If there's a present that Throné's never thought would be one in her future, it's this: being forcibly woken up in the middle of the night by an overactive dog that's suddenly decided she wants to play.

Throné sputters, rolling around as she tries to fend off Strawberry's attempts to lick her face. When her arms prove too much of an obstacle for her, she starts pawing at Throné's arms, whining slightly. Even now though, despite being woken up like this, Throné can't help but laugh. The dog is suddenly gone, and when Throné finally opens her eyes, it's because Castti's holding her up in the air now, bleary eyed from also being woken up. Nearby, Ochette snores but in the trees, Throné can see Mahina, staring down at them as she keeps watch for them as they camp out for the night.

"Thanks for the help." Throné sits up, rubbing at her eyes. The dog is squirming in Castti's grasp, trying to wiggle her way out of her hands. When she sees that it isn't working though, she tries to turn her head to nip at Castti's hands.

"... so energetic at this time," Castti says with a small sigh, still managing to hold the dog in one hand as she tries to avoid the dog's teeth.

"Puppy energy, I guess?" She doesn't know if that's a thing. It isn't as if Throné's ever had this experience before. She's not even sure how old Strawberry is actually, but she's certainly a lot bigger since the last time she's seen her since going off on her journey. Will she get even bigger? It comes up to just under her knees right now. What size is she going to be, anyway?

She gestures for Castti to put the dog down and once she does, the dog springs away from them. She stares at them warily, as if afraid that Castti will scoop her up and keep her hostage in the air again. When no such circumstance is happening, Strawberry skips back to them, making way for Throné's fingers now to gnaw on. "Hey, come on, not those, I need them," she says, trying to pull them out of the dog's mouth faster than she can put them in.

Throné plays with the dog while Castti leans against her shoulder, mumbling something that Throné can't quite make out. She must be tired; they both are after a day of traveling, but something about waking up and seeing this puppy being so playful with her makes Throné feel awake too. She's free now, and there are no more obligations for her... except to make sure this puppy doesn't bother Castti, at least.

She scratches the dog behind her ears as she looks over at Castti, now dozing off. She cranes her head slightly, pressing her lips to the crown of Castti's head. She hears a sigh from Castti and it makes her smile. Seemingly, as quick as that burst of energy had come, Strawberry is settling down too, moving in circles around in Throné's lap in that strange way dogs do right before they curl up their bodies and go to sleep. Throné watches her, trying to make her lap comfortable even though she knows she'll be sore if she sleeps like that in the morning. She'll stay like this just for a little bit, for both Castti and Strawberry.

Strawberry closes her eyes, curled up one moment before stretching her body out across Throné's lap, resting her head atop Throné's knee. She's still small enough to fit but Throné wonders if she'll grow bigger still and she won't be able to fit anymore. Considering how much this dog throws herself around though, she's sure that won't stop her in any case. Throné can hear Castti's breath evening out now despite the awkward position... but she's still wide awake, listening to Castti's quiet breaths accompanied by Ochette's loud snoring, and still running her hands through the dog's fur.

If someone were to ask Throné what her future looked like, she would have said only blood and death awaited her. It had seemed like a far off dream that she would be freed from the collar. And now, she can still hardly believe it, having her neck bare. It still terrifies her at times though, that she'll wake with a new collar on her neck, one forged out of cursed blood instead.

And she finds herself wondering as well, what Father would think of her, if he were to see her like this. Would he... would he be happy for her? She won't be able to ask him now. She doesn't know but... when she thinks of how happy he'd been at his end... she wants to think so. He'd probably like her dog, too.

Throné releases a breath. She still doesn't know what the future will bring but... that's what being free is about, she thinks. The freedom... to simply live her life the way she wants, and this is what she's choosing for her future, to have this needy dog in her lap, Castti at her side, and to listen to Ochette's snoring.