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nebulous-library · 1 year

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how they fall in love - tokrev boys

aka the april 14th "i made it through valentine's day AND white day without any romantic attention" special. happy singles day to all who celebrate. hcs for a selections of my personal tokyo revengers blorbos, including: Mikey, Draken, Baji, Chifuyu, Kazutora, Hakkai, Taiju, Koko, and Inupi.

Mikey falls in love with uncertainty. He’s used to feeling so much all the time at once that he isn’t sure he could pinpoint love in the middle of all of it. But until he knew you, it didn’t matter. As you get closer to him, he becomes more acutely aware that he definitely has positive, pleasant feelings toward you. He may even get himself in trouble by picking fights with others who steal your attention from him. It probably takes Draken, Takemichi, or Emma to be like, “So, about this crush you have….” and he’d be like, “...the what.” Be patient with him, he’ll come around, and when he realizes both his own and your feelings, he’ll be the sweetest boyfriend. Please do not accept anything he cooks for you though. No chance in hell that he can cook.

Draken falls slowly. He starts by noticing how cute you are when you do mundane tasks, or the little things that make your eyes sparkle, and he finds himself wanting to know more. He’s very observant when it comes to details, and might surprise you here and there by bringing you your favorite drink or a treat of some sort, but his love language is definitely quality time. Whatever your hobbies are, he’ll definitely start feeling a stronger attachment to you if you do that thing in his vicinity while he’s working on fixing up a bike or something. It’ll take him some time to come to the conclusion that it’s love, but in the meantime he’ll settle for the warm swell in his chest that he feels when you’re around.

Baji falls quietly, behind the scenes. If he doesn’t know you like him back, he’ll operate under the assumption that you don’t and just be content with just being by your side and will express his feelings via little gestures that show he cares and listens to you. This can range anywhere from noticing you’re warm and turning on the AC, or torching a vending machine that ate your change. Depends on his mood. Another way he’ll show his affection is by sharing things with you; food, beverages, etc., yes, but also hair ties. And he won’t even ask for them back. If you keep the hair tie he gave you and wear it on your wrist? He’s as good as gone. Please confess to him soon, this boy is down worse than he lets on.

Chifuyu falls in love like an idiot. He doesn’t fall for just anyone, but when he does, he’s immediately head over heels. In a borderline insufferable way, too. We’ve seen how clingy he was with Baji. He is gonna make himself your personal guard dog, whether you want it or not. He’s gonna go out of his way to bring you tokens of his adoration like a courting magpie. I’m so serious, this is the boy who will bring you a really fucking shiny rock he saw that made him think of you. If you try to talk to him normally, though, you’d better be prepared for him to get all flustered and formal about it. But once you get him out of his own head about it, he’s loyal and dedicated and affectionate.

Kazutora falls in love like he isn’t sure what love really is. Sweet boy has been through so much, especially growing up in a family situation like his. He doesn’t know what love looks like, and he worries that if he were to be in love, he wouldn’t do it right. He’s one you’ll really have to take initiative with imo. But if you show him your love, he’ll slowly but surely follow suit. Show him that love can be gentle and playful and fun. Show him that it can be tender or sweet or passionate. Show him the love he’s never gotten, and he’ll learn to show you his love in return.

Hakkai falls hard and fast, but you wouldn’t know it. He knows he likes you the moment he sees you, but if you so much as make eye contact with him, he freezes and is immediately beet red. It will take at least three people shoving him directly at you and coaching him through what to say to actually ask you out.

Taiju falls in love stubbornly. When love isn’t what he thought it would feel like, when it ends up making him feel all mushy in his core, he rebukes it. He denies it. He tries anything in his power to keep this weakness from entering his body. He’s never known what it is to be soft and doesn’t understand why you make him feel this way. He might be cute and a little tsuntsun about it, but you’ve already cracked his shell and he can’t deny it forever.

Koko falls hesitantly. He’s nervous when it comes to vulnerability, but devoted nonetheless. Think toned down and bottled up version of Chifuyu. On the surface, he seems like he has mad game, but we all know he’s a weenie at his core, and he knows it too. He’ll seem calm and collected around you, he may even be a little flirty, but just know he’s dying inside. I suggest putting him out of his misery and confessing first, but c’mon, we all know it’d be so much cuter if he accidentally blurted it out and then was all surprised when you tell him you feel the same way. But he’s most definitely gonna keep it bottled up until he bursts.

Inupi falls in love quietly, similarly to Baji. He trusts quickly, and when he knows, he knows. He’s not going out of his way to make some big, dramatic confession, though. But he will absolutely be glued to your side. Just existing near you. He won’t be the chattiest person, but you’ll find that he’ll always have something meaningful to say. You’ll probably get more out of him if you can get him alone, honestly. Let him take you for a ride on his bike to someplace you can just enjoy each other’s company and he’ll bare his soul to you.

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dodgeballstuckonthegymceiling · 1 year

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Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo x chaotic crow-mutant Reader

Idea: so the reader is a mutated crow. Gremlin behavior ensues. Made this with the 2012 series in mind but can be read for the rottmnt series. I made something for a magpie reader awhile ago but I made this one different.

Put wayyy too much effort into this. Take the content you filthy animals.

★ Like them, you were born as a normal animal and got mutated later in life. However unlike the turtles you remember your life as a wild animal and still have some traits you picked up from your old life.

★ One of those things is that you eat from the trash. Why wouldn't you? The food that gets thrown away is perfectly fine and often delicious. None of them, not even Mikey, can stand to see you eat literal garbage.

★ trying to eat something that's clearly gone bad is where they draw the line. Raph and Leo's job when this happens is to chase/pin you down while Donnie uses his (gloved) hands to open your mouth. All while Mikey makes you a sandwich.

★ You steal things, much to Leo's dismay. Although it's not really your fault that you have no concept of personal property. Still you collect shiny things and neat trinkets you "borrow" from people.

★ Due to the whole "mutated animal" thing you can't really go outside (at least during the day) so you chose to move into one of the many abandoned areas in the subway system. Making you the boys only and worst neighbor.

★ It's a short walk from the lair, about 15 or so minutes away. Mikey's named it "the nest" and, honestly, the name is accurate. Everywhere you look there's something to take up the once empty space.

★ There's posters and tapestry's over the walls, covering up the boring color of concrete and plaster. Wall mounted shelves where installed with help from Donnie, stolen trinkets atop each one.

★ Floors covered up with various mismatched carpets. There's an entire corner of your bedroom stacked to the ceiling with a pillar of stuffed animals. It's a strangely cozy area.

★ Donnie hid a camera in your home by replacing a stuffed animal eye with it.

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lackablazeical · 9 months

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❤️‍🩹🧪Inago Hamato🧪❤️‍🩹

Specific Trigger Warnings -

Animal abuse/cruelty/death/experimentation, child neglect, child abuse, experimentation

Specific boundaries w/ this character -

Do not ship Inago. At all.

General info -

Inago's birthday is May 21st. He is a Taurus-Gemini cusp ♉️♊️

Inago's love language is Quality Time.

Inago is a psychopath.

Personality traits -

Inago has very few personality traits, he is much more like a husk then a real being.

Inago is very vengeful, obsessive, and withdrawn.

Inago will seek revenge for actions he feels are wrong, or that he just simply does not like. Often, this would be against anyone who insults or belittles Usagi (AKA, Mikey).

Inago, just like Leo, is extremely obsessive. This is especially seen within Usagi. He will follow Usagi around, and wants to be around him whenever possible.

Inago is quite withdrawn. He is often 'in his own head' and rarely speaks unless spoken to. He keeps to himself, and stays out of the way.

Important details -

His mental underdevelopment -

Inago is not properly mentally developed.

Because of how quickly his body was developed in the tube to be around age 8, his brain couldn't form the same in time along with it.

This leads to him acting with baseline instinct, not being able to develop things like empathy or compassion, as in his development, his brain basically completely skipped that part.

His relationship to Usagi -

Inago absolutely adores Usagi. Usagi hates Inago. Inago is aware that Usagi hates him.

Inago will follow Usagi around, sometimes closely and sometimes from a distance. He's never very far from Usagi unless he is in Donnie's lab.

Inago gives Usagi 'gifts', which can range from buttons, glass shards, dead animals, etc. Often whatever Inago can find around (or catch).

Inago usually eats off of Usagi's plate, or will take Usagi's snacks when he can. Inago does not mind if this results in Usagi lashing out.

Inago is protective of Usagi, and takes any sort of insult to Usagi very personally. This is seen especially with Mikey. Inago is known to destroy his things, make him late, leave animals or trash in his bed, etc. No one knows Inago does this.

Inago calls Usagi his Otousan, Papa, or Touchan.

His relationship to Leo -

Inago loves Leo and they get along well.

They both bond over wanting to be around Usagi, and that is most often when the two are together.

Leo is very supportive and sweet with Inago, and Inago is okay with that (even if he doesn't often understand WHAT Leo is talking about.)

Inago calls Leo his Papa, Dad, or Papi.

Fun facts -

Inago's favorite food is cucumbers.

Inago's favorite animal to kill is birds, specially magpies.

Inago's favorite past time is staring at the stasis tubes in Donnie's lab, or being with Usagi.

Inago adores his uncle, Jotaro.

Inago has a tiny lisp, from his missing teeth.

Tags that include Inago -

#addams! Inago, addams! husk

#addams! inago #addams! husk

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tangledinink · 1 year

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Have these doodles of ideas, wanna do mikey too later but until then

I was tryna out different ideas and i like some of these

So anyway, Peaconardo anyone?

(and the above one is Leo but as a Magpie bc have u seen those shiny blue feathers? Holy shit)

ahhhh lookit them!!! they're so pretty!!!

#leo DESERVES to be fancy and shiny #swanatello fanworks #asks #kiwi-smug-silvanlina

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peach-moths · 11 months

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If the turtles were types of birds what kind would they be?

Ok I have thought about this a lot in my own free time because I absolutely love birds ("let sam name 5 famous people and I'll name 5 birds, I'LL NAME A HUNDRED BIRDS")

I am personally a big fan of the corvid family so I think for simplicity sake I'm going to focus what kind of bird each of the brothers would be from the Corvidae family specifically also going to focus on mostly the ROTTMNT boys rather than an over all tmnt boys analysis

Let's begin

Starting with big Raphie Raph, he would be a raven! Specifically, the common raven (Corvus corax) Ravens are the largest member in the Corvidae family, they're also very defensive and protective of their young and others and will chase off large predators if theyre deemed a threat. Theyre also very social and usually spotted with another bird of its species. Ravens are also goofy!! Just like Raph, he loves his family, can be very scary, but at the end of the day he's silly and will pull pranks on his brothers. (Raven photo credit, The Cornell Lab, Christopher Lindsey)

Leo would be a blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata) this one is sort of self explanatory, blue jay=blue turtle but it also goes beyond that! Blue jays are clever birds and Leo is an incredibly clever character who can outwit his opponents easily when push comes to shove. Not only that but blue jays are known to be pretty loud and talkative and Leo is pretty chatty! (Blue Jay photo credit, The Cornell Lab, Scott Martin)

Donnie is one I am conflicted on, I could see him as either a black-billed magpie (Pica hudsonia) or a Steller's jay (Cyanocitta stelleri). The magpie is due to the fact that they are some of the most intelligent birds out there and Donatello is incredibly intelligent they're also both dramatic and bold. The Steller's jay is also an intelligent bird but I really only picked the stellars jay for the purpose of it'd match the "disaster twin" shtick the rise fandom likes with Leo and Donnie. I personally think that Donnie would most likely be a magpie if I had to pick between the two. (Black-billed magpie photo credit, The Cornell Lab, Kathryn Keith)

Mikey my favorite and sweetest most unhinged little guy he would be a Clark's nutcracker! They're one of the more smaller corvidae family members but that doesn't make them any less notable! Clark's nutcrackers are very social birds and usually travel in flocks of the same species fledglings will follow their parents around for several months and usually stay within the same flock, similar to how Mikey is very attached to his family. Clark's nutcrackers are also pretty clever and so is mikey. I could also see Mikey as the Steller's jay as Steller's Jay are very chatty and some of the most social corvids. Also the Steller's jay fabulous feather crest is so future mikey coded (Clark's nutcracker photo credit, The Cornell Lab, David Hollie) (Stellers Jay reference, The Cornell Lab, Jeff Maw)

Anyway those are the four (technically 5 birds stellers jay is there twice) birds (corvidae centric) that I think the rise brothers would be! I also have a list of what moth each of the brothers would be too if you're interested in that

#peachmoths ask tag #rottmnt #birds #rise of the tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles

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mad4turtles · 2 years

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Ninja Turtle prompt for your consideration. Things get a bit chaotic at the zoo when a villain gets their hands on a device that allows them to control animals. Things get MORE chaotic when it turns out that it also works on mutants. It's up to the human cast members to put a stop to this. Or whatever nonanimal yokai is feeling up to the task of heroing on the surface?

You know, this was supposed to be a goofy little one-shot. I literally cannot understand how it ended up like this XD

But hey, I enjoyed writing it! Hope you enjoy reading :D

---

In the few seconds she has to get a look at the artefact, April is stunned to see that it's a whistle.

A small, intricate, shiny whistle with engravings shaped in the familiar characters of a yokai spell, but still a whistle. A wooden one that looks and feels easily breakable in her hands right before the asshole snatches it from them, distracted as she is, and shoves her off the Bethesda Fountain.

She tumbles in the air for a hot second, weightless and breathless, before Donnie slams into her from the side, and then they're rolling along the asphalt. When they (and the world) stop spinning, Donnie leans back to look her up and down. “You good? You get the thingy?”

April takes a second to breathe. “I'm good. And no, I lost it.”

Donnie curses softly. Then he curses louder and covers her with his whole body as a tiger lopes towards them with dripping fangs. A circle of vibrant blue opens up between it and them just as it pounces, swallowing it whole before winking out of existence. Another portal opens up over the lake and drops the tiger into it with a splash.

Still pinned under Donnie, April rolls her head to where she'd last seen Leo. “Thanks!”

She can't see him, but she hears the grin in Leo's voice. “No prob. It looks like I just prevented a—”

Donnie lifts his head with a vicious scowl. “Nardo, I swear to god—”

“Catastrophe!”

“You're dead to me.”

“Guys!” Raph grunts. April pushes Donnie off her, and he pulls her to her feet by the arm. She sees the snapper wrestling a blank-eyed grizzly bear with his bare hands, arms wrapped around its neck in a lock as it bucks and thrashes, trying to take a bite out of him. “Can we—whoa!—please focus! We gotta get that stupid whistle!”

“You freaks will never reach me!” the madman crows from atop the fountain, the mystic whistle held high over his head like it's the ring of power or something. His stupid cape billows in the soft breeze over his zookeeper uniform, his plastic crown barely sitting upright on his head. “I am the Animan, the beasts of this world bend to my will! And once my army is complete, no one shall stand in my way! The age of man is over! The reign of the beasts is nigh! Mwahahaha!”

Donnie stares. “Did. Did he say 'mwahahaha'? Are you kidding me?”

April has to agree. Warren Stone has more class, and he's a worm. A freaking worm.

Admittedly, April can understand where this guy is coming from: animal cruelty is a plague, cutting as deep into the earth as deforestation and pollution, all things that April has and will forever fight for. But this is stupid. Stupid, cliché and annoying.

She should be studying for finals with Sunita. And yet here she is again, out in Central Park on a Thursday night to stop another ego-maniac with another mystic doo-dad from ruling the world. Or whatever.

She almost misses when the most exciting thing to happen in a week was visiting her mutant friends in the sewers. Almost.

“Seriously, how did this idiot get his hands on a freaking mystic whistle--?” Leo dances away from a stampeding herd of zebra and deer hell-bent on squashing him. “--from a charity shop?”

“Humans are just grounded magpies!” Mikey chimes somewhere in the trees. Last April saw him, he was running rings around a pissed-off rhino and his warthog friend. They all agreed to call him Pumba. “They love shiny things! They see a shiny, take the shiny, sell the shiny for ridiculous prices to get shinier—oh shit—!”

“Language!” Raph shouts, now riding the bear like a bull. At least he's having fun.

“No, Raph, the monkeys!” Mikey cries. “They're organized!”

April spins just in time to watch as a troop of monkeys of various species grab and toss a shrieking Mikey into the air, only to be caught by the feet of another as they swing from the lampposts and treetops, throwing him back and forth like a football.

Donnie stares. April drops her head into her hands.

Leo is in hysterics. “Oh my god. Hurry, hurry, before they take him to the singing CGI Christopher Walken—wah!” He's cut off when one of the troop snags him by the arms and tosses him into the air, flailing until he's caught by a hooting orangutang. “Hey, no no no no, get off, lemme go—guys!”

“Oh frick, hang on!” Raph hops off the bear, power smash jitsu's it into a bush—“Sorry, Yogi!”—and hurries after the screaming box and slider still being tossed about like footballs. “Don't worry, guys! Big Raphie's comin'!”

Donnie rolls his eyes heavenward. “Sigh. Alright, I'm ready for this to end.” He snaps his arm out, his bo crackling with mystic energy as the tip forms into a rocket-boosted drill, smaller than what he'd used on the Shredder but no less devastating. “Hey, Steve Irwin knock-off! Animal activism is cool and all, but some of us have places to be and finals to study for—”

“Hear hear,” April drones.

“—so why don't we call it a night, okay? I am very tired, and not above using lethal force—”

“Donnie.”

“—semi-lethal force to get that whistle away from you! Seriously, will none of you let me shine?”

The Animal man (or whatever) turns with an overly dramatic swish of his cape. “Never! I have the power to rule the animal kingdom in the palm of my hand! You will all kneel before—!”

He stops himself. He looks—really looks—at Donnie now. April can see the cogs turning behind the big dorky frames of his glasses.

Donnie stares back, marker-drawn brow raised. “Yes?”

“Are you... are you guys all turtles?”

“Uh, obviously?” Leo snaps, resigning himself to having imaginary fleas picked from non-existent fur by a gorilla that refuses to let him go, hugging the turtle to its massive chest like a teddy bear. Its biceps are bigger than Raph's head.

“Aren't you supposed to be a zookeeper?” Mikey shouts from where he's being fought over by Raph and a screeching chimpanzee in a sick game of tug-of-war.

“Yes, we are turtles,” Donnie sighs. “Four different species if you're looking for specifics, being a man of your... expertise—and I use that term loosely—for as I am a spiny soft-shell, Leon is a red-eared slider, Michel is an ornate box—”

“And the big guy is an alligator snapper?” Animan interrupts. He's dropped the showmanship, his narrowed eyes thoughtful.

April feels a coil of dread pool in her stomach for the first time tonight, and she wraps her fingers tighter around her bat.

Donnie must sense the change too. He widens his stance. “Yes. That is correct. Though I fail to see why this is at all relevant to my earlier threat of using lethal—ahem, semi-lethal force to stop your dum-dum plans so we can go home and play video games until our eyeballs melt—”

Animan holds up a hand. The monkeys drop Mikey onto Raph, and the gorilla gently deposits Leo back on the ground. The other animals cease their pointless rampaging, freezing where they stand. The unnatural stillness, the blank whites of their eyes staring into nothing, sends a chill down April's spine.

Okay, she thinks as she shuffles closer to Donnie. Now I'm freaked out.

And then Animan smiles. “I do wonder...” he says slowly, eyes locked on Donnie. He lifts the whistle to his lips and blows.

April winces as a high-pitched, tinny sound echoes across the park, much sharper and louder than the previous times he's used it. She covers her ears. “Damn! Cut that out, you're gonna liquefy my brain!” Gritting her teeth, she turns to Donnie. “Donnie, can you please just—!”

She freezes. Donnie's bo clatters to the ground, useless and forgotten, as he falls to his knees, clutching and all but clawing at his head, hissing and spitting and crying out in agony—

“Donnie!”

She reaches out, then hesitates. This isn't a meltdown—she knows the signs, and for all that it looks like one, this isn't it. No, he's in pain, bashing his fist against his skull like he's fighting something rooting around in there, trying to force it out, and he's growling now, bent forward and scraping at his face—

Then Leo screams.

April whips around. Leo is on his knees, too, hands flapping before he follows suit and pulls at his face, mask tails, the base of his skull. Raph is on his back, teeth gnashing at nothing in distress through his cries, hands pressed against where his ears should be. Mikey is fully sobbing, hands over his eyes as he bashes his head against the asphalt and wails. “Stop it! Stop it stop it stop it make it stop—!”

Rage boils like molten lava in April's chest. She spins to glare at the bastard still blowing into his whistle, a gleam in his eyes that's smug and nasty.

She's going to rip it off his face.

Bat glowing, mystic energy thrumming through her in familiar waves, April lets out a cry as she charges, arm pulled back—

A solid wall of flesh and bone blocks her swing, the bat bouncing off and nearly braining her in the face instead.

The whistling has stopped. So has the screaming.

Something breathes heavily above her. Slowly, April looks up.

Raph's blank eyes stare back.

No.

“... Raph?” she tries. “Raph. Can you hear me?”

Snaggle-tooth peeking from a peeled-back snout, a deep growl rumbles from Raph's chest, loud enough that it rattles her bones. It's not the comforting sound she's used to hearing in mounds of blankets, stuffed animals and pillows. It's a warning. A threat.

No, please.

He takes a lumbering step forward. And April, nerves alight with a fear she's never felt—not for him, never ever for him—takes two steps back.

God, not again.

“Raph, Raphie, it's me,” April pleads. She looks up (and up) into his eyes and sees nothing, no recognition, none of what makes Raph Raph.

And his size had never been an issue before—she's known him since he was ten and the size of an average thirteen-year-old human. Watching her little brother outgrow her had filled her with pride, adoration and sparks of jealousy. It's only hitting her now why most thugs piss themselves at the sight of him. He's huge, and when he snaps his jaws inches from her face, stomping closer, he's—he's—

Something hisses behind her. It's her only warning.

She leaps out of the way, a reflex instilled in her through years of living around ninjas, as Donnie's jaws snap shut where her head had been.

She should've known better—she does know better—than to ever turn her back on Donnie. But even then, he's only playing.

There's no playfulness in how Donnie spins on her and spits out another gurgling hiss, teeth bared, body hunched low like a prowling raptor. His eyes are as blank as his big brothers'. He has his bo again, the weapon pulsing purple to the beat of his heart, always in tune with him even when he's not... there.

“Dee?” she whispers. Donnie hisses back.

Another hiss and a chirp. April is ready this time.

She cartwheels out of the way of Leo's swiping claws and backflips over Mikey right as he leaps for her. He goes flying into Raph's chest instead, and the snapper barely budges. He doesn't even look at Mikey. None of them looks anywhere but at April.

Leo's claws flutter, panting hisses through his teeth. Mikey scrambles on all fours, crouching as if rearing for another pounce. Donnie snaps his jaws again in her direction. Raph is still growling.

April stares at her brothers. She hears the real, maniacal laughter of a power-hungry idiot with said power at his fingertips, and thinks, shit.

“I knew this magic whistle was powerful,” the man muses, idly fiddling with the glowing instrument between his fingers as he grins at April. “But I had no idea it'd extend to mutants. This is honestly awesome.”

April takes a page from Raph's book and growls. “What. Did you do. To my boys.”

The bastard has the gall to smirk. “I freed them,” he says. “They walk, talk and parade about the city pretending to be human. They've forgotten their roots, their true place in the natural world.” He throws his hands up and cackles. “I have reminded them what they really are! I have freed them from society's chains! They are no more than the beasts they pretend they aren't inside and out! And I will do the same to any and all mutants that cross my path! I will save them all! And together, we will rid this world of humanity once and for all!”

The animals lift their heads as one and shriek, hoot, screech and roar with his laughter. The turtles throw their heads back and roar with them. It's a haunting sound she didn't know they could make.

Double shit, April thinks.

Then Animan points the whistle at her. “Let's start with you.”

The turtles slowly turn in unison to face April.

To inshititty and beyond.

And the thing is, April is scrappy. She's won plenty of fights. She beat a legion of girl scouts trained by Cassandra and helped take down the Shredder and a Krang. She's no master by any means, but she's good.

Here, she doesn't think twice. April turns and runs.

The boys—her boys, her little brothers in every way but blood—run after her.

They launch themselves at her with reckless, violent abandon like a pack of dogs, hissing and spitting, growling and biting the air as they circle her or try to back her into corners or the edge of the terrace. She barely dodges them, barely avoids their gnashing teeth and swiping claws.

There's no form or grace in their attacks, no thought beyond the one being fed to them: Kill.

They're not trying to fight her. They simply want her dead.

April has never been scared of the turtles, not even when she first came across them by accident all those years ago. Most can't see past their whole situation, but April did, and she does. This isn't them, they would never.

But there's nothing behind their eyes. Nothing that makes them more than the creatures the rest of the world would see. And to them, she isn't their best friend and sister.

She is their enemy. She is prey. She is food.

Aril has never feared them. But Leo's claw draws blood from her cheek, and for the first time in her life, she's terrified.

But more than that, she's shaking with fury, red in the corners of her eyes. She's already lived this nightmare, already had to look at the warped face of her little brother right before he sent her flying with a punch that cracked her ribs, already had to soothe him as he wept apologies into her chest in the aftermath. She can't live it again.

She has to get that whistle and break it, preferably against Animan's skull. But the boys won't let her get close unless they're dragging her carcass to him. She needs backup.

She can't call Splinter, and the Caseys are out doing mother-son bonding activities (knowing Cassandra, it's probably violent). Who else do they have that isn't a mutant or an animal yokai—?

Oh. Oh hell no.

April groans to herself. She would rather drink acid or step on a Lego. Barefoot. Anything but him.

But the boys won't stop. They're fighting it, she knows they are—it's the little moments of hesitation, a blink and a hint of colour in their eyes before the whistle pierces the air and pulls them back under, in the stray tear that drips down Mikey's cheek when he throws her against the tree. They're fighting. Her boys are in there. But they can't break it alone. April can't break it alone. Animan won't stop until they tear her apart, and even then, the rest of New York—the Hidden City, the world—will be at his mercy.

In hindsight, maybe they should've taken this a little more seriously. Preferably before the guy found out he could control mutants, too.

She needs help. But god she's going to hate every second of it.

She scrambles up the tree Mikey had thrown her into and hides in the branches—it'll give her cover for now, assuming the boys have forgotten how to climb. She whips out her phone with shaking fingers and dials the one number she never thought she'd ring, holding the phone to her ear and quieting her breaths.

After a tense thirty seconds, it connects. “Hello? Who is this?”

April swallows her pride. It's for her boys.

“Baxter, it's April O'Neil. I need your help.”

~0o0~

To his credit, Baxter's Mousers work wonders as a distraction.

Cackling like the mad scientist he wishes he could be, Baxter sends wave after wave of Mouser bots after the rampaging animals. April was adamant over the phone that no harm was to come to the animals or the turtles—“And no, you are not taking a tiger home with you, I swear to god!”—but it's more than enough to send them into a frenzy. Not even Animan can control it, no matter how much he screeches and blows into his whistle. If anything, it only agitates them more.

It's too chaotic for April to get close enough to snatch the whistle without getting trampled on the ground, so April follows the monkey's lead and hops across the treetops. It's actually fun.

“Keep 'em busy, Stockboy!” she calls into the comms over the racket. The quality is rusty, nothing like the polished Genius Built, but it's pretty damn close. “I'm goin' in!”

“Rodger that! And don't forget your promise!”

April rolls her eyes. Her heart ached to give up her Switch and lose all her progress on Persona 5 Royal—woe to the un-romanceable Yusuke—but Donnie has wanted to make her an upgrade for ages. And he will, once she gets him back. She'll get them all back. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. I got eyes on the freak. You see the boys?”

“Not yet, can't make them out in the chaos. Maybe they've taken cover for now.”

That's... a concern. Feral or not, they're still ninjas. Their disappearance makes her nervous, but she's so close. The whistle is right there. If she's quick, she can grab it before the boys grab her.

She takes a breath. “Okay. I'm goin' in. Cover me!”

“That's a copy! Kick his ass!”

(The little twerp is growing on her. Maybe he's just playing nice with the promise of a free Switch, but hey, at least he's behaving.)

Letting out a Tarzan yell, April leaps off the last branch and collides with Animan. They roll across the dirt in a tangle of limbs, and April scrambles to grab the whistle. The maniac hisses and struggles against her. Like, actually hisses.

“Give me,” April snarls as she pulls him into a lock Splinter would be proud of, “the goddamn whistle!”

“N-Never! The world will tremble before—ow! Quit squeezing you mean little thing—!”

“Let my family and these animals go, and I won't bite your freakin' head off!”

“Family?” He bucks her off, smashing his forehead against her nose and sending her sprawling, blood spraying. Massaging his throat, her leers at her. “You think those monsters are your family? And you call me crazy! They're turtles, mutants! Humanity shuns them as easily as they abuse god's little creatures. But I can give them a place to belong! I can rule them, and in turn, we'll rule this planet! We—”

“Shut. Up.”

Wiping her nose with her sleeve—she can clean the bloodstains out later—April glares through streaming tears of pain.

“They're more than animals,” she snarls. “They're not monsters. They're more human than anyone I've ever met! They're worth a billion of you, and for all the bullshit and hate they get just for existing, they don't go 'round rantin' about changing the world or rulin' the world or whatever. They haven't 'forgotten their place' in the world, they made their own, and I'm honoured to be a part of it! They don't need another power-hungry asshole tellin' them what they can or can't be, and I don't need some trashy, wannabe supervillain tellin' me where I can or can't belong! That's our choice! And you certainly do get to use ad abuse 'god's creatures' for your agenda! None of them asked for a ruler, they don't need one! If anything, what you're doin' is worse! Also, can we talk about the genocide of the entire human race?! What is wrong with you?!”

She gets to her feet, blinks away the tears and bares her teeth. “I'm not about to let you use my little brothers to kill innocent people or let you live your stupid-ass fantasy! I'm tired, I'm pissed, and I need you to give me the freakin' whistle and let my family go before I break your goddamn teeth!”

Animan stares at her, wide-eyed. April glares back, chest heaving, eyes burning. On the comms, Baxter is silent.

April hadn't planned on expressing any heartfelt truths tonight, but hey. It's been a night.

Animan smiles. “Little brothers, eh?”

“April, turtle at three o'clock!”

Baxter's warning comes a beat too late. April turns, but Leo is on her with a shriek of primal rage.

Shit!

He slams her into the dirt, and stars dance across her vision. His claws pierce her arms where he's pinning them to the grass, spots of blood soaking through her jacket. She bites her lip against a cry, turning her head away as his jaws snap at her nose. His blank eyes bore into her, cold and lifeless. He doesn't lunge for her. Not yet.

“Leo,” April whispers. “Baby, please, you gotta fight this—”

“He's mine now.” Animan stumbles to his feet. Behind him, Donnie, Raph and Mikey emerge from the shadows. “Preach about 'family' and 'embracing their differences' all you want, but they still fell under the mystic spell. They'll always be beasts at their core. Nothing you do or say will change that.”

Leo hisses above her, fangs glistening. April sees herself in his eyes, pale and frightened beneath him.

A part of her prays he's not conscious behind the walls of the spell. He doesn't need to see this.

She swallows the lump in her throat. “Oh, Blue...”

Animan chuckles, bringing the whistle to his lips. “Farewell.”

The whistle cuts through the air. Leo opens his jaws wide and lunges.

April shuts her eyes and screams—

“I'll take that!”

“H-Hey what the—?!”

The whistling stops. Silence falls.

April dares to open her eyes. Leo's own wide blues stare back.

“... April?”

April blinks once, twice. “... Leo? Are you... back?”

“Think so.” He leans back, carefully retracting his claws from her arms. He looks down at his fingers, stained bloody red, and pales. “Oh. Oh my god—“

He scrambles off her, away from her, and vomits into a bush. April can only watch as she sits up slowly, still trembling, arms stinging and twitching beneath her.

“What the hell...?”

“What happened? Where are we?”

“April...?”

April looks over her shoulder.

Raph rubs his head, swaying on his feet and blinking rapidly. Mikey is sitting in the grass, looking around. Donnie is on his knees looking right at her, a horror in his eyes she hasn't seen since Raph was taken over by the Krang. He looks seconds away from following Leo's lead and hurling into a bush.

The breath leaves her lungs in a rush that renders her boneless. They're back. They're back.

“But, how...?”

“I told you,” Baxter's voice in her ear startles her, “I got your back.”

She looks past the boys. In a scene oddly reminiscent of the Lost World, Animan struggles against a small army of Mousers jumping and biting at him, keeping him pinned to the floor. He screams bloody murder as he fights to fling them off. A lone Mouser approaches April with the whistle held carefully in its mouth. Numbly, April puts her hand out, and the little robot drops the artefact into her palm before hopping away.

“I figured you could send the animals back to the zoo using that. You can destroy it afterwards, just in case some other crazy guy decides to go Planet of the Apes on our butts again. You're welcome!”

April stares at the whistle. Another lump, too big to swallow, forms in her throat as her fingers close around the mystic artefact. “Baxter,” she says thickly, “thank you.”

A short, startled silence crackles on the other end of the comm. “... you're welcome,” Baxter says again, less smug. Then he clears his throat. “Just—don't forget about the Switch, okay? I expect it delivered to the listed address as soon as—”

“Kid,” April says with a watery laugh, “if I had the money, I'd buy you a new one. I owe you that much. Now get going before your parents ground your ass for sneaking out to fight crime. I've got it from here.”

Baxter wordlessly recalls his Mousers, all stampeding back to wherever his master is hiding, leaving Animan panting and staring wide-eyed at the sky, freshly traumatized. How a ten-year-old builds this many robots and keeps them a secret from his folks, April will never know.

“And, um, for the record?” Baxter adds awkwardly, “you... you and the turtles seem like a pretty cool family. Despite how annoying you are.”

April smirks. “Bet we are.”

With that, the connection cuts off. April tosses the comm away, stuffs the whistle in her pocket and rushes to her boys.

They've shaken off the last of the whistles' effects and have formed a circle around a shivering Leo. When April approaches, they jump, startled, and to April's horror, they shuffle away from her. Mikey and Raph have tears in their eyes. Leo hugs himself and stares at the grass. Donnie covers his head with his arms and rocks back and forth.

“... April,” Raph croaks. The poor boy looks wrecked. April can only imagine what he's feeling, taken over and forced to fight his family again. “April, I—we're—we're so sorry, we—are you okay? Did we hurt you, did we—d-did I—?”

Nope, no, absolutely not.

She doesn't let him finish, stomping the distance between them. They flinch again, but they don't go far as April lifts her sore arms to gently cup Raph's face between her palms. He stiffens under her touch, gaping. April looks deep into his eyes—bright and alive, as they should be and always have been—and pours every ounce of love into her smile.

“It's okay, Big Guy.” She caresses his damp cheeks with her thumbs. “You're okay. I'm okay. It'll be alright now. It's over.”

Raph's face crumples. His giant hands grab her wrists—careful, always so careful—as he leans in fully against her, bumping their foreheads.

“But—but we nearly killed you.” Leo's quiet whimper draws her eyes back to the younger three still huddled on the grass. Leo's still pale, still shaking, blood-tipped fingers twitching and flapping in distress as his breathing picks up. “I—I almost killed you, April! I hurt you, I—oh my god, I tried to eat you—!”

“Shh, no, no baby, you didn't,” April lets Raph go and drops to her knees to pull Leo in for a crushing embrace. He goes limp against her and shudders against a sob. “You didn't. It was the whistle and that asshole who made you do it.” She draws back enough to take Leo's chin in her palm and bring his head up to meet her eyes. “What did we say to Raph all those weeks ago? It wasn't him. Not then, and certainly not now. I know you boys. You would never hurt me. You would never.”

She looks at all of them. Donnie has stopped rocking, lifting his face from his knees to look at her. Her eyes stinging again, she beams at them. “I dunno if you heard my incredibly emotional speech from earlier, but I meant every word. You're not monsters. You're my boys. We're a family, no matter what. Ain't nobody can tell us otherwise, and there ain't nothin' in this world that can keep me from loving the hell out of you.”

It takes a second longer than she'd like, but sure enough, they launch themselves at her for the hundredth time tonight, this time to squeeze the life out of her in a crushing turtle group hug. Even Donnie gets in on it, nuzzling his snout into her tangled hair. She giggles through her wheezing, nosing Mikey's cheek until he's giggling, too. Leo chirps against her chest. Behind her, Raph lets out a soothing rumble.

There, in the centre of her bale, the family she found and made space just for her, she feels safe.

Then Animan groans behind them.

She feels the turtles twitch, their heads whipping to stare at him as he tries to find his feet, dazed and confused. He freezes when he meets their gazes.

The turtles narrow their eyes.

Animan sweats. “... um... shall we let bygones be bygones?”

Raph growls. Leo hisses.

April, however, grins. “Hey, Donnie,” she says casually, craning her neck to look up at the soft shell—they haven't let go of her yet. “Remember what I said about non-lethal parameters?”

Animan sweats harder.

“Forget 'em. Go rip his spleen outta his ass. I'll round up the animals.”

Donnie grins like the Grinch on his way to steal Christmas. “Nothing would make me happier, dear Apricot. However, I believe my brothers also have a bone to pick with this good fellow. What say you, brethren?”

Animan slips on the grass, soaked with his sweat, to get to his feet.

Raph and Leo beam. “Oh, absolutely,” Raph chuckles as they all rise to their feet, letting April go.

“There are two hundred and six bones in the average human body. Why stop at one?” Leo adds, rolling his shoulders. “In fact, why not double them.”

April's pretty sure Animan just pissed himself.

“Aw, don't worry, Mr Animan! Dr Delicate Touch makes house calls!” Mikey chimes.

April turns just as the turtles lunge. She doesn't look back as she gathers up the confused animals wandering the park with a soft blow of the whistle, not even when Animan starts screaming bloody murder.

“Mercy!”

“Nope! You nearly made me eat our big sister!”

“Where the hell do you think you're—get yer pasty ass back here—”

“Dr Delicate Touch ain't done with you yet, I gotta reset your arm—!”

“Sit still! I have to beat you 'til you have a birth of cactuses outta your asshole!”

“That's physically impossible!”

“Ooh, then guess what!”

“Help me!”

April grins around the whistle and leads the animals back to the zoo. Her wild little brothers can wait a bit longer.

---

Reblogs are appreciated!

Feel free to send more requests! I love writing for these boys <3

#rottmnt #rottmnt fic #request #my writing #HOW THE HELL DID THIS TURN INTO SUCH A FREAKING BEAST I DO NOT UNDERSTAND #Also i'm not too happy with this but I like the ending XD

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midnightcreator12 · 7 months

Text

And We'll Keep Marching On Chapter 7 - Fractures and Cracks

AO3 Link

Gonna...just establish some stuff here real quick.

Apparently, ‘setting up a signal’ wasn’t as simple as making a phone call to a mother ship.

Because apparently, Raven had tried to do that when she first landed in the woods and she hadn’t heard anything.

Which found Mikey sitting on the roof with her, watching as she hooked Scrap up to the old satellite dish in an effort to make the signal stronger.

“Why don’t you guys just use cell phones?”

Raven paused, frowning over her shoulder, “Use what?”

“Uhhhhh,” what had she called it when Mikey showed her his T-Phone? “Communicators?”

“Oh, we do,” Raven turned back to the satellite. “But all of my weapons, equipment and armor were confiscated when I was captured…and all of it is likely destroyed by now.”

“Bummer,” Mikey said. “Soooo, how does giving Scrap over a hundred channels help?”

“The idea is to boost a signal for him,” Raven explained as she finally managed to get the stem on the dish open, revealing a bunch of wires and circuits. “Every droid has a short distance distress beacon built into it, how short that distance is depends on the model. Scrap, since he’s a BD-unit, has a longer reach than the average droid but, since it’s been two weeks with no sign of anyone, it wasn’t enough to reach the Paragon. So if I can use this satellite to bonce the ping off any other satellites in the system, it should reach the Paragon no matter where they are.”

“Cooool,” Mikey nodded along, not fully getting what Raven was trying to do but, hey, she didn’t use as many big complicated words as Donnie did to try and sound smart. “What’s a Paragon?”

“It is the Venator of my battalion.”

Mikey blinked, tilting his head.

Raven glanced over when he didn’t reply, hands still fiddling inside the satellite, “A Venator is a class of starship, specifically a battleship. They are built to be, in essence, a mobile home base for the battalions to operate out off.”

“So it’s a flying Lair?”

“Sure, yeah,” Raven carefully pulled some wires out, twisting them together with some of the ones she’d brought up before patting the spot next to her. Scrap trilled, sitting himself down like a little bird.

Mikey’s beak wrinkled when Raven opened a panel on Scrap’s back, “Does that hurt him?”

“No, not at all. Giving a droid pain receptors would be pretty counter-productive.”

Scrap beeped, ears wiggling happily.

“Ok,” Mikey was silent for a moment, watching as more wires were hooked up to Scrap. “What’re they like?”

“Who?” Raven asked.

“Your friends. Er, brothers? Are all of you on the same ship?”

“No, not all. The GAR has over one million troopers on active duty, the two-forty-fourth only has roughly five-fifty. And it not uncommon for batch-mates to be split up over several positions.”

“Batch-mates?”

“Clones were usually made in units of five hundred, give or take a few if…something happened. The first-gens formed a lot of the vocabulary for how we all refer to each other and ‘batch-mate’ was among the first thing.”

“So…the brothers you’ve mentioned aren’t on your ship.”

“None are my batch-mates, no. But they are my brothers,” she nodded at the collection of wires before holding out a hand. “Could I borrow your…uh, cell phone?”

“Oh, sure,” Mikey handed it over. “So what are your brothers like?”

“There’s Jay, he’s the battalion Commander,” Raven turned the phone a few times, frowning at it. “He tries to act all serious and no-nonsense, but Magpie’s favorite pass time is dragging us ARCs into trouble and Jay doesn't exactly put up much of a fight.”

She seemed to figure the phone out. Mikey frowned when the screen went black and lines of numbers started to scroll down the screen.

…well, if something broke, he was pretty sure Donnie could fix it.

Raven kept talking as she worked, “And Crow is technically an honorary ARC. He’s a Medic so he can’t get ranks like that but he usually gets put with us since he’s the lead medic.”

“So, he’d fix Leo?” Mikey asked.

Raven nodded and tapped at the phone, “Yeah. Even if he wasn’t the lead medic, he’s the only one who’s done extra training with surgery and post-op care. And General Ader would probably insist that you all stay on the Paragon until Leonardo was back to full health.”

“They’d let us do that?” Mikey asked. “Aren’t you guys fighting a war?”

Raven hesitated, “We’re…technically operating independently at the moment.”

Mikey tipped his head again, curiosity now fully peaked.

Raven paused again, glancing at Scrap before going back to the phone, “About…five years ago, we were assigned to track down a group of mercenaries that had stolen these things called kyber crystals. We…still aren’t fully sure what happened but one minute we’re dropping out of hyperspace to assist Commander Verd, the next we were drifting in unknown space and running on emergency power.”

“Whoa,” Mikey whistled.

“Yeah, whoa. We managed to fix the Paragon, did some exploring, figured out we couldn’t make contact with the Republic so we’ve just been helping with smaller scale conflicts while we try and figure out how to get back.”

“Why don’t you do the thing you’re doing with Scrap?”

“We did,” Raven nodded to Scrap. “But nothing we tried has made contact so far. So, yeah, you could all stay on the Paragon until Leo is patched up and ready for redeployment.”

“Cool,” Mikey peered over her shoulder to watch the numbers scrolling down his phone screen. “What’s your boss like?”

“General Ader?”

Mikey hummed, “Is she that thing you called April? Force-senative?”

“Yup. She’s a Jedi, all the GAR generals are Jedi. They have this connection to the Force that gives them abilities like telekinesis, telepathy, and heightened awareness just to name a few.”

Mikey gasped, stars in his eyes, “So your leader is a space wizard?”

Raven paused, “...yeah. She’s a space wizard.”

“Cooool.”

Raven chuckled, tapping out a long string of numbers before turning to Scrap, “Alright, send the ping.”

Scrap beeped, antennae flipping straight up in the air and little body trembling lightly.

Mikey watched, expecting to see some kind of indicator that the signal was sending.

But both human and robot sat in silence for a minute.

Raven frowned and put another string of numbers into the phone, “What the kriff?”

“What?” Mikey asked.

Raven hummed, tapping furiously at the screen, then seeming to catch herself and breathe in deeply, “Do you happen to know the range this can get?”

“Uhhhhhhhhh,” Mikey blinked. “That’s a Donnie question.”

“Ah, right,” Raven turned back to the phone.

“....do you want me to get him…?”

“He didn’t seem happy with the decision to let me contact the Paragon. I doubt he’ll want to help me do that.”

“Phs, he’s just grumpy ‘cause he hasn’t slept in a while,” Mikey stood on the roof, stretching both arms over his head until his spine gave a satisfying pop. “I’ll go get him for you!”

“Wait, Mikey-”

Nope! His mind was made up. He didn’t know exactly why Donnie hadn’t voted to call in some help but he’d been outvoted so he had to help Raven set up her cell signal thingy.

So he launched himself off the roof without waiting to see what Raven wanted to say. He landed into a roll down the porch cover, slowing his momentum enough to do a clean flip and land perfectly on the muddy ground. He spun around, beaming up at Raven and waving, “Just hang for a bit dude! I’ll be back in no time!”

Raven didn’t verbally reply…and he couldn’t see her face from the ground. So he gave one last wave before trotting towards the barn.

Donnie had pretty much moved into it, in Mikey’s option, only coming back inside to check on Leo. Which sucked because Mikey wanted all his bros close by…just in case.

He didn’t know in case of what but he knew he felt better when all his bro’s were under the same roof.

Plus, it was a lot colder on the surface then it was in the sewers. He was pretty sure mutant turtles weren’t supposed to stay in the cold for long spans of time.

Maybe he could convince Donnie to come inside after he helped Raven? He hadn’t been kidding when he told Raven that his brainy bro hadn’t slept in a while. Donnie would come in for naps and go right back outside to do…whatever his project was now. Always gone before anyone was up and back after everyone went to bed.

So, get Donnie to help Raven, then maybe Raven could help him convince Donnie to take a nap. Or they could get Scrap to knock him out.

But when he got close to the barn, he frowned.

There was talking coming from the cracked door. And not the usual back and forth that Casey and Donnie had been doing lately.

Nooo, that was definitely April’s voice coming from the barn. Which was odd, since April never went into the barn.

Mikey slowed his pace, almost tip-toeing up to the door to listen in.

“-what is with you? Why did you vote no?” April’s voice sounded mad. “You’re the smartest one here, if anyone should’ve suggested having Raven call help it should have been you!”

“Clearly my option doesn’t hold much weight. I technically didn’t get to vote.” Huh, Mikey wasn’t used to Donnie sounding so…short with April. He usually tripped and tumbled over every other word and wormed in as much terrible flirting and flattery as he could.

Than again…Mikey couldn’t really remember the last time Donnie had gone full ‘heart-eyed babbling dumb-dumb’ when he talked about April.

“Why are you being stubborn about this?” April huffed. “We have a way to actually get Leo help and you wanted to pass it up?”

Mikey peeked into the barn in time to see Donnie spin around to glare, actually glare, at April!

“As much as I hate to admit it, Casey had a point. We are banking solely on you reading her mind to know if everything she said was the truth and we already know she has a way to completely lock you out of her head.”

“I saw her memories, I felt the things she was feeling, I could sense that she was telling the truth! What more proof do you want?”

“Yes, let us rely completely on your powers that you just got a few months ago, which, by the way, have a worse track record than Mikey’s cooking experiments.”

Oh, okay, ouch…but also, what?

“My- you- my powers are not unreliable!”

“Whether or not you can sense danger changes almost everyday, you’ve had random outbursts that break things more often than not, oh, and you conveniently didn’t notice the Kraang in your school until you brought him to our home!”

Oookay, Donnie was doing that thing, the thing where his tone got angrier and angrier the longer he rambled. And…okay, the inconsistencies with April’s powers weren’t fair but Mikey kinda agreed that April never sensing something off about her friend was weird. And she knew the rule about bringing other people to the Lair-

“You’re seriously holding that over me?! I’d known Irma for-”

“I. Don’t. Care.” Donnie gritted out each word, slowly standing up from his chair. “You want me to use my brain? Here’s what I know. We have no concrete evidence that anything good will come from calling down more aliens. Raven is clearly not the Kraang but what if her people are willing to trade us to the Kraang for resources? Or to keep the Kraang off their planet? Or maybe they’ll be just like every other human here and just lock us away like lab rats. Or maybe she just figured out how to trick you so she can escape and leave us high and dry and still in the exact same spot!”

Mikey jaw dropped in shock. Partly because of how harsh Donnie was being but also because he never thought he’d ever see Donnie yelling at April.

Clearly, she didn’t either because she was slowly backing away as Donnie ranted on, “I have been helping Leo! I patched him up and got him stable! I have been handling everything related to his care since we got here! I don’t need help from some random alien person who just showed up out of nowhere that we all suddenly trust for some reason!”

Donnie was breathing hard, glaring down at April and growling, too low for a human to pick up but Mikey could hear it plain as day.

Man, Donnie must be pretty upset if he was growling like that.

April stood, frozen as the silence rang between them.

Mikey almost missed when she muttered, “She figured out Leo’s leg was broken before you did.”

And…no, Mikey cringed when she said that because he knew how torn up Donnie had been about that. Why did she say that?

The effect on Donnie was instant. The anger on his face fell, leaving a slack, shocked expression. It was only there for a second but if Mikey saw it, April definitely did too. Then it was gone and Donnie's face was a mask of indifference as he spun around and sat back at the bench.

April seemed to realize her misstep, because she started to follow, lifting a hand, “Wait, Donnie, I-”

“No, that was fair,” Donnie murmured, dragging a stand full of vials closer to himself. “I was out of line. Now we’re even.”

“No, Donnie-”

“I have stuff I want to do. Alone.”

“I’m-”

Donnie growled again, this time at a tone humans could hear.

It worked because April suddenly jerked back.

Mikey could feel how tense the silence was.

And then she spun around with a sound of frustration and headed for the door.

Mikey squeaked, scrabbling out of the way and diving around the corner of the barn. He listened to April stomping by, peering out to watch her retreating back as she returned to the house, slamming the door when she went inside.

And now, he faced a very serious dilemma.

Raven needed to know the range of her improvised super cell phone, and Donnie probably knew what that meant and what she needed to know.

But Donnie had just had a fight with April. April! If something bothered him enough to snap at her, Mikey didn’t stand a chance.

…unless he pulled out the baby brother privilege!

Mind made up, Mikey stepped out of his hiding place and matched into the barn.

Donnie was bent over the old workbench that was now doubling as a lab table. He’d dug up lab equipment from somewhere, where Mikey had no clue because he was pretty sure Donnie hadn’t brought any of it from the Lair. A few had multi-colored liquids in them and, when Mikey got close enough, he saw a very large canister was also taking up surface space.

“Whhhhy do you have mutagen?”

Donnie startled, head whipping around, “Jeeez, Mikey.”

“Dude, I wasn’t even sneaking.”

Donnie huffed and turned back to his test tubes. “What do you want Mike?”

“Well I was gonna ask you something but now I wanna know about this,” Mikey started to reach out to poke the mutagen canister.

Donnie’s hand snaked out and effectively blocked his hand, “Do not touch.”

“Are you making more anti-mutagen stuff?”

“Nope,” Donnie pulled up a vial, tapping the side. “I’m making something to help Leo!”

“Uhhhh,” Mikey looked from the vial to the mutagen, the back to the tube. “I thought doubling up on mutagen was bad? Like when I got shellacne.”

“You messed around with an experimental compound without any testing,” Donnie muttered. “I am using my expansive knowledge about mutagen and our mutation to create the perfect solution to all our problems! If I can isolate the right chemical compounds in mutagen that regenerate cells and adjust the ratios before combining it with the right cocktail of vitamins, anti-inflammatories and anabolics, I can have Leo back to full health in less than a month!”

“Uhhh,” Mikey reached out to poke at the mutagen again. “With the ooze?”

Donnie smacked his hand away again, “We don’t need anyone else, I can fix this! I’ve already given a list of the medications I need to Casey and he assured me that he would go to the closest town soon. Once I have all the right materials I can create a compound to accelerate Leo’s healing! No unknown alien races needed!” He looked up at the last sentence, grinning widely up at Mikey. “See! I can fix this! I can fix everything so we don’t need to take any risks!”

Aaaand his eye was doing that twitchy thing. The one that happened when Donnie started going full mad scientist because he hadn’t been sleeping enough.

“Dude, I think you need a nap…in a bed.”

Donnie scoffed, turning back to his chemicals, “No I don’t, I need to finish this. Preferably before your ‘friend’ calls down her friends.”

“....why do you not want Raven to call help? She was just telling me about the doctor on her team, he’s her brother! Actually…I think all the clones are technically siblings?”

“Clearly not,” Donnie waved a hand. “She’s a girl, and brother indicates that some of these clones received their genetic material from a man. Ergo, these Kamanoians used a large number of donors to create their army, likey sourcing a number of different people with varying skill sets to cut down on the time needed to tamper with the DNA. Plus, how confusing would it be if they all had the same base doner? You could never keep them all straight if they all looked the same…but then again, she does have tattoos, perhaps that was how they would tell each other apart? Or maybe it’s a ranking system! The stripes could be-”

“Dude!” Mikey interrupted. “Okay, seriously, when was the last time you slept? You’re going off on tangents.” Mikey tugged at Donnie’s mask, making him squawk indignantly. “And you’re trying to make medicine outta ooze? And you snapped at April! Since when do you snap at April?”

The mention of April made Donnie freeze, which meant Mikey had the perfect opportunity to pull his mask down.

He couldn’t help but hiss at the dark circles under Donnie’s eyes, “Dude, just an fyi? I don’t think a few hours every nigh counts as ‘sleeping’.”

“I’ve been sleeping!” Donnie snapped back. “But I’ve also been working! The house needs work before winter sets in, the heating still isn’t working as well as it could be and it’s going to get cold up here. I would also like to add a heating system to the barn so I can keep working in here, then there’s insulating the water pipes or they’ll burst on us, making sure we have wood in case the central heat fails, I need to do a lot more experimentation with the mutagen medicine, especially when Casey gets the things I need, and I have to make sure all the electricals are sealed against any potential water damage-”

“Bro, you already did most of that.”

“I did a quick checks that were, in no way, meant to be long-term fixes. Of course, I can’t do most of those until someone goes into town for more supplies and I still have a few places to scavenge from. So in the meantime, I can work on this!” He gestured to the work table.

Mikey frowned, crossing his arms, “You know, I asked you why’d you snap at April.”

“Did you?” Donnie blinked. Very, very purposely.

Mikey frowned harder, “Aren’t you, like, all goo-goo eyes for her? How little sleep have you gotten that you’re not even thinking about running to make up things?” Not that Mikey thought he should. They both had said things but, honestly, Donnie was always the one reaching out when he and April had spats. It was way past her turn.

Donnie huffed, leaning away from Mikey as he snatched and retired his mask. He crossed his arms, eyes turning down to stare the the floor, “...I haven’t felt like that in a while.”

“Wha- Seriously?” Mikey knew Donnie hadn’t been as star-struck but he’d thought- “But you’re crazy about her!”

“Yeah, I was but-” Donnie sighed, entire body suddenly slumping. “I don’t know. I guess for a while I was just…seeing what I liked about her. But…when she stopped talking to us?”

Oh, Mikey remembered that. Donnie had been super depressed for days when April said she never wanted to see them again.

Donnie sighed again, rubbing his face, “Yeah, well, I don’t know but when she did finally start coming back things were… different? I don’t really know but I didn’t feel the same. I still liked her but the feeling wasn’t as strong. And then when the powers started…”

He trailed off but Mikey nodded. He couldn’t really deny that April had gotten kinda…pushy after they found she had powers, especially with Donnie.

“Soooo,” Mikey tilted his head curiously. “You don’t have a crush on her anymore?”

“No Mikey, I don’t have a crush on April anymore.”

“And you’ve slept in an actual bed in the last seven days, right?”

Donnie gave Mikey a flat look, “I thought we were having a heart-to-heart.”

“We can do that later,” Mikey reached up, poking between Donnie’s eyes. “But your eyebags have eyebags dude.”

Donnie growled, a deep turtle-y growl.

“See? You need some sleep bro.”

He seized Donnie’s arm, pulling his brother out of the chair. Donnie growled again and tried to pull his limb back.

Mikey just tightened his hold. His brothers always forgot how strong he actually was, which worked out great for him in training. And in dragging Donnie to bed when Leo couldn’t do it.

But they both paused when Mikey shoved open the barn door.

Because in the time Mikey had been in the barn, it had started to snow. Fat flakes of white drifted down and, while many melted as soon as they touched anything solid, small piles had started to form on the ground.

And Mikey couldn’t help feeling sad. Because this was their first winter on the surface. He’d always dreamed about it, experiencing a snowfall topside, playing in the snow that wasn’t melted enough to slide down a grate or in tiny drifts.

He didn’t think they’d be able to experience snow in broad daylight…and he wasn’t sure if he liked all the reasons why they could at the moment.

But he had other things to worry over right now. Plus, Leo was awake so maybe he’d be well enough to enjoy the snow with them when it actually started collecting on the ground.

So he kept tugging Donnie along towards the house, intent on making sure he made it to bed and stayed there.

And completely forgetting the clone watching the scene from the roof.

--------------------

Sorry to any Apriltello shipers who thought I was gonna fix this! But the show just kinda....spoiled that ship for me. Plus, I don't think April and Donnie really...click.

#tmnt #tmnt 2012 #lone hunter and turtle #tmnt au #fanfic #oc

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starsinthenigth · 11 months

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★BLACK BILLED MAGPIE!DONNIE

★once more, it is based off of @peach-moths bird list

★oh, another mutant birb★

★Clarks Nutcracker!Mikey is next..★

#rottmnt #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt fanart #★steren's art★#★I can't draw wings for shit★

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sunlitmcgee · 2 years

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some demon slider chommy and mikey b. for the soul

@tobi-smp @jewishdainix @prophecy-anon @vivyainou @oranboo @a-magpie-with-attitude @flamedoesart

#my art #& tubbo is there too for a moment

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redbulltropical · 2 years

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mcr as birds cuz why not

Frank: magpie

Got a purple/blue hue to them. Sorta iridescent and fancy. You could probably make a connection there to Frank having tattoos.

They are Fucking Loud and they will shout at you.

Fucking steal shit. All the time. Not even just food they just take stuff.

Will bully literally every other animal in it’s vicinity.

They eat literally everything - including other bird’s eggs and chicks which is like. Probably a better choice than half the shit I’ve seen Frank post on instagram.

Ray: red kite

Gentle (sorta) giants

isn’t uncommon to see them being bullied by corvids - particularly magpies.

Loooooong boys with a five foot wing span. Pretty much dwarfs all other birds in the areas they live in.

Very smart opportunists.

Also just look at that guy. Tell me that’s not Ray.

Mikey: dunnock

Largely solitary bird

Wary in nature

The easiest way to spot them is by their “nervous shuffling movements”

Also look at the eggs they lay cuz it’s just. Yeah. That’s it. Mikey lays eggs and those are them.

Tiny little freaks.

Gerard: budgerigar

Woohoo! The first bird on the list not native to the uk.

Anyone who’s ever had a budgie will know that they are small but they are fucking loud. As I type this I can hear mine downstairs talking to himself.

I cannot express how much these birds are fucking drama queens. These bitches will spend literally all day preening themselves.

Flock animals. Live in massive flocks in the wild, love the company of other birds and people and will get very emotionally attached to them.

Autistic ass bird. Straight up will adopt weird as hell routines when kept in captivity.

Bonus round: my weird ass bird.

Is terrified of cameras. Will literally not let me take a decent picture of him.

I know I said budgies were a Gerard thing but he honestly just gives me Way brother vibes in general.

Inexplicably in love with his disco ball??

Will literally only eat green vegetables. Broccoli, cucumber, green chilli peppers, green bell peppers. Sure why not. But god forbid you give him red bell pepper.

Will shout at me if I don’t change his food at the right time.

Waits until I’ve changed his water so it’s nice and fresh and then immediately launches himself into it and takes a bath.

Has to have his cage covered with a blanket at night. Will shout at me if I forget.

For literally no reason, will chirp when I wave my fingers in front of him.

Will scream back at you if you scream.

Might be evil?? Idk. He giggles when bad things happen.

Literally an autism creature.

#I’m not explaining myself this makes sense in my head #also is mainly an excuse to talk about my bird #his name is Big Bird btw :)#gerard way #ray toro #mikey way #frank iero #mcr #my chemical romance #birds

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effectsdatabase · 1 year

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