*vibrates At A Frequency That Could Shatter* I Love This With Every Fiber Of My Entire Being 🧡💙

I’m pretty sure Donnie and I would be best friends on the fact of sticks alone, for I too cannot be trusted with a large stick 😆🙌🏼💜

I saw this thread and it resonated with me and this picture that I just had to combine them.

Like fellow purple genius would *dramatic hair flip*

So enjoy my fellow humans! Laugh with me Bwahahahahahaha *relishing evil chuckle*

Pretty Random Turtle Thunks

Just finished watching the first season of 2003 TMNT, and my thoughts are as follows *ahem* Leo: babeh boy

Raph: babe

Donnie: babyyyyyy

Mikey: bb

HOLY HONK MY MIND IS LITERALLY 🤯🤯🤯

Nothing is more fabulous than deep character analysis 😤🙌🏼💙🤌🏼

How Leo’s role as face man prevents him from confiding with his team

Watching throughout the entire series we see Leo constantly keep up with his role as the face man of the group

While on missions he can use his charisma and persuasion in order to get people to go along with his plans without letting people know what he’s really thinking

But he never seems to put it down

•Leos Emotional Guard

At first glance Leo’s entire personality revolves around being lenient laid back and chill, and to everyone else it makes him seem like a very open book, and that’s why the face man role works out for him

But it means that no one is really aware of anything beneath the surface. They never bother to ask because who would need to?

However, this also includes Leo’s family

Despite his chilled back personality Leo is one of the most emotionally guarded ones out of all of the brothers

Throughout the series we can see little moments of vulnerability from each members of the family, digging deeper into their emotions and their insecurities and then go on to discuss said feelings and gain some form of comfort or closure from their family. Most notable ones shown below

Donnie in “Donnie vs Witch Town”

Raph in “Anatawa Hitorijinai”

Mikey in “Hidden City’s Most Wanted”

April in “Always Be Brownies”

Splinter & Donnie in “Turtledega Nights”

•How Leo is Different

Similar to everyone else, Leo is shown to have these moments sprinkled in too but they never occur with his family

The two most memorable moments we have are shown in “Portaled Jacked” with Senor Hueso and during his one-on-one conversation with Casey

Why these two characters and not one of his close family members?

Because it’s easier talking about problems to strangers and people who don’t know you as they have no previous knowledge or connotations of you to fall back on and there’s no feelings of burden or guilt if you believe the topic will never be discussed with them again. There’s less feelings of consequences that comes with being vulnerable towards people who don’t know you well. Because if you open up more to the people who do, the risk that their opinion of you will change gets higher

Then we add in the fact that Leo is already extremely guarded of his emotions. He doesn’t want his brothers to think less of him because he already isn’t confident of his place in the team already and thus doesn’t confide in them

•Deflecting with Humor

And then the two moments where we do see little slips in Leo’s carefully constructed masks that occur around his family, which we can find in “Minotaur Maze” and “Many Unhappy Returns”

He ends up immediately backtracking and deflecting with humor, thus changing the subject and preventing anyone from delving into it further and reacting to the quips instead

“You know it’d really help me if you guys said that I was your champion.” “Just open it!”

“This whole situation was my plan all along. If it wasn’t, then why’d I ask your tailor to make me this outfit?” “So we could both perish looking super fly?”

What makes it worse is that Leo has such a habit of doing it that his family expects it, which  then causes them to believe there’s no underlying issues beneath the surface and thus don’t react accordingly. (with the addition that both parties had valid reasons for being upset with him at the time)

But it causes a situation of Leo internalizing his emotions, and if he doesn’t expand on the topic himself, then his family won’t see a reason to either nor think there’s an issue to begin with

•The Movie

To add onto this point, we see Raph and Leo arguing over Leo’s role as leader. As usual Leo deflects the argument with humor and avoids the situation. But we can see during the argument that how Leo privately lets down his guard and for a second the audience is able to see how he’s really reacting to Raph’s words. However, it is apparent that Raph doesn’t  see this side of him and most likely never really has

“You just don’t get it Leo”

Now as the audience it is very easy to draw to the conclusion that Leo has clear issues with his role as the leader and most likely many insecurities regarding it thus why he acts the way he does. Like any other serious situation, he copes with, he deflects with humor and tries to avoid it

This argument then implies that in the two years since Leo was made leader of the group, he never revealed his internal issues with it and never made it apparent to his brothers either because he hates being vulnerable

The face man role works for him because it requires skillful work in that you can manipulate people the way you want to without ever letting them know what your thinking. And Leo carries that role with him when it comes to his brothers and family as well. But this doesn’t work out for him anymore when he becomes the leader and communication becomes so important to the team. (I talk about this more on a different post)

Thus the events of the movie and why things played out the way they did

Naturally he learns how to trust in his team more when the situation becomes dire enough that he realizes he can no longer keep deflecting

But even after all the traumatic events that he went through. When it comes to the one time we see him really cry. He still only lets himself cry when he’s completely alone within the prison dimension

TLDR: Leo’s role as the face man is kept on both on and off duty as we find that he is really one of the most emotionally guarded out of all of his brothers as he doesn’t want to let them know what he’s really feeling out of fear that they might think less of him as he is already insecure of his placement in the group and would rather confide in people who don’t know him well over his family where he runs the risk of them treating him differently

Honestly, “Mr. Emotionally Unavailable” has some real competition ahead of him

If we were being completely blunt, all of the brothers have trouble when it comes to letting go of their real emotions, Donnie just being out of his depth with them and it being uncomfortable, Raph wanting to be strong for his brothers, and Mikey most likely wanting to focus on his brother’s emotions over his own as the Therapist of the group, but i believe the Leo definitely has the worst case out of all of them.

Pretty Random Turtle Thunks

Rating: Chocolate Milk (18+ only please)

What do Bayverse Leo + Donnie have in common?

big DICtion energy

Diction (n) the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing.

Coming outta art block swinging like…

Someone once told me that when dealing with artblock, you gotta take care of yourself first. Because the more alive YOU feel, the more alive your art will feel.

You can break the block, juts give yourself some time.

You CAN do this 🙌🏼🧡✨😊

Special shout out to these incredible ladies who have been in my corner since the beginning @holydoncakes @saspas-corner @anobodyinabog

Went looking for this one again; in a mood tonight

14. Three more hours

Hello sophia!!! 👋 Thank you for sending in this prompt! I had to sit on this one a bit, but I hope you like what I whipped up!

#14 "Three more hours." w/ all 4 turtles! (aged up Bayverse - some tension and some comfort ahead!)

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"Three more hours," you reassured yourself in a hush. "Just three more. You can do this. It's fine. Everything is fine."

What it was exactly that made you nervous in the first place, you couldn't say. You'd been more than ready to climb into bed. Eager as you crawled in under your weighted blanket, happily looking forward to sweet dreams that were hopefully waiting for you just on the other side of conscious thought. Tired eyes falling closed readily, sleep coming to quiet your mind, when suddenly, fear clutched at your chest, starting you wide awake.

Worry over four brothers flooded you. Four brothers who were out, moving about in the darkness of night, doing their part to protect this city you called home. Putting themselves in harm's way just as they did every night. Four brothers who, if you were really honest with yourself, you loved very deeply.

But why the anxiety tonight? Why the sudden stress? Sure, you worried about them all the time. Always the lingering concern for their safety and well-being. The secret life they lead was far from being risk-free after all. But it'd never shook you from sleep like it had tonight.

Something had to be wrong. Really wrong.

So here you were, pacing about an uncomfortably quiet lair, fretting over what dangers your four dearly cherished humanoid turtles had to be battling against right now. Trying in vain to occupy your worried mind. Distract yourself from your thoughts, imagination embellishing each into bleaker and bleaker scenarios.

Another glance at the clock. Another anguished sigh. "Two more hours." Could you do it? Could you remain there, drowning in perturbation, obediently waiting for their scheduled hour of return?

Your fingers tapped your phone. A quick text message couldn't hurt, right? You'd done it before. But what if that made things worse? What if they were in a bad position, injured and waiting it out for the threat to subside? And then the chime of your text gave them away? No. No, you couldn't risk it.

But surely, if there were something that serious going on, there'd be signs right? More sirens and alarms than normal. The media buzzing on the news with Breaking Reports. Chatter and static all over the guy's radios. A call from April or Jones at least. Right? Right???

A rumbling groan let loose as you slumped down onto their reinforced couch. How in the world did Master Splinter handle this? Especially when they were younger??? No wonder his brown fur was already grey, going on white. You were sure at this point you'd be joining him in that department soon yourself.

You couldn't handle this sitting and waiting any more.

You'd taken to scrubbing the floors throughout the common areas of the lair so intently that you didn't even recognize the next couple of hours slipping by. It wasn't until you heard heavy footsteps drawing near that you snapped out of it and rushed to the entrance. Nerves reaggravated and your stomach turning as you braced to be met with the terrible state they must be in.

But instead of confirmed dread, you were met with four very tired terrapins dragging themselves home. Exhaustion evident in their slumped shoulders and dropped heads. No apparent signs of injury or duress.

You could have cried in relief.

The four looked to you then glanced around to each other, then at the clock, and back to you. But there were no smiles. No hugs. No expressions of normal greeting.

Oh great, something really was wrong.

"What - what are you doing, (Y/N)?" Donnie inquired. He looked you up and down, taking in your rolled up sleeves, disheveled hair and the mop bucket just a few feet away from you. "And why are you cleaning? What's wrong?"

"Oh," you glanced back at the bucket of soapy water. "I - just - um - nothing's wrong. Just couldn't sleep," you lied.

Four flat expressions met your words.

"That's your stress cleaning," Leo stated matter-of-factly. "You only use that mop when you're stressed. What's going on?"

The four remained still in front of you. Each blinking slowly and giving slow, heavy breaths tied to weariness.

Guilt settled in where worry had currently been bedding. You twisted your fingers nervously. It was true. You were stress cleaning. And they were all looking like they were on the verge of collapsing. Yet here they were, waiting for your explanation.

You dropped your eyes. "I couldn't sleep because I was worried about you guys. Something just - just felt like it was really, really wrong. I just needed to make sure you guys were okay. That you were safe. I was scared - well - I guess I was just scared. For you guys."

No reaction.

When you raised your eyes back to the four, their expressions hadn't changed at all. Not one of them spoke to dispel your concerns.

So something was wrong!

Leo sounded off a few clicks. The other three immediately turned to their respective rooms. Leo following behind. Leaving you standing alone without a word.

Okay, you thought to yourself. Okay. They're just really tired. That's all. It's okay. It's alright. You wiped a shaky tear away from your eye. They're home. And they're all safe. That's what matters. You could talk to them about what happened later. They just to get some sleep.

Emptying the mop bucket, you tried to keep yourself from tearing up. Constantly retelling yourself that as of right now, there was nothing to stress over anymore. They hadn't meant to be outright rude. Or hurtful. Or show total disregard for your worry. They were just tired. That was it. It was okay.

Raph reemerged just as you were throwing your jacket around your shoulders. He was only wearing a loose pair of red shorts now. A heap of blankets atop his shoulder and his mattress pulled along under his other arm. He cast a look down on you under heavy eyelids. "Where you goin?"

Donnie and Mikey came into the room as Raph dropped his mattress down in front of the couch. For the first time you'd ever seen, Donnie was wearing shorts, and Mikey was in a baggy pair of lounge pants. They were carrying their mattresses and bedding as well. Leo, in silky blue sleep pants, joined right after.

Nothing was said as they began making their beds. Each mattress pressed against the other, fashioning a massive bed topped with extra blankets and pillows. You watched on, still unsure what the guys were doing.

You felt a pair of large hands on you, nearly making you jump. Mikey was carefully working your jacket back off your shoulders as Leo reached up, wrapping an arm around your waist. His pull was gentle as he encouraged you down into the middle of the bed. Donnie, Raph and Mikey climbed in right behind. The four of them settling in around you.

Raph's heavy hand curled around one of your calves. Mikey draped an arm over your waist. Donnie rested his hand over the back of your shoulder, his thumb stroking gentle circles as his tired eyes finally closed. Leo threaded his two fingers between yours and held your hand tight.

"Sorry we scared you." The words were quiet. Almost sounding ashamed.

"Hey," you soothed back. "No apologies. That's my job. To love you guys. And with love comes worry."

A gentle squeeze from Raph's hand and a heavy sigh from Mikey met your words.

"You guys are worth it. Especially to me." The five of you sat in silence a moment, taking comfort in all being together. "Goodnight, guys. Sweet dreams." You let your own heavy eyes close and snuggled in, happier than you thought having them all so close as you slept.

"G'night."

"Sweet dreams, (Y/N)."

"Night."

"Goodnight. Have sweet dreams," Leo whispered.

The lair fell back into silence. The four brothers laying still. Allowing the comfort of you being here, of them all being together, to help them drift off to sleep. Each silently resolving to themselves to not let you know how right you were. And how very terrible the night had actually been.

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@luckycharms1701 @yorshie @justalotoffanfiction @celticvix @writinandcrying @donniesgirlie @gornackeaterofworlds @thelaundrybitch @tmnt-tychou

*holding this oh so very gently*

“I liked the concept of something unreachable being seen as being very close to you :)”

This hits me harder than it has the right too

fanart for @qoldenskies's caged lungs fic 💥💥

it isn't based on any scene in particular, just my overall interpretation and visualization of things I felt. mostly bad things. but apparently human brains enjoy that. so let's go

I'm gonna ramble now, buckle up

Frankly that's the first personal piece I've drawn in months, and I'm grateful for it. I'm grateful that I was able to feel emotions and wanted to draw something again

I struggle a lot with empathy and understanding of other's feelings and displaying my own but. I hope people will feel something by looking at it, too

I've got inspired by the old tale that we used to read on literature lessons, altho I for the life of me can't remember the name of it, or anything else from the plot for that matter. There were a competition for retrieving the jug from the bottom of the river, where many men tried and failed, as they couldn't reach it. As you can already tell, it was a reflection of the jug that was hanged on a tree all along.

I liked the concept of something unreachable being seen as being very close to you :) hence the whole water situation

generally water is seen as a positive symbol in art but for me it's cold, slippery, you can't see shit in it, misleading and uncomfortable. go figure

and I really like how CL displays yellow as a color with negative connotation while it's classically being the The Most Happy Coded Color Ever.

while I'm at it I wanted to share a song I associate with caged lungs in particular

just let it die!

I would have liked to talk more about how awesome the fic is and how invested I'm in the plot and characters and how noticing details and parallels makes my brain go brrrr but I'm shy and not really eloquent with my words. I hope you will get the idea anyway. I love it <3

& textless version :0

If you spot any symbolism, it's probably there. or not. up to you really. that's how art works. have fun

ask game for fanfic writers

do you know how you want the story to end when you start, or are you just stumbling through the figurative wilderness hoping to find a road?

talk about a notable time a narrative or character has looked you dead in the eyes and said “fuck your plan, here’s what we’re actually doing.”

on a scale of 1-10 how much do you enjoy incorporating romance into the average story?

what is the plot bunny you’ve been carrying for the longest? optional bonus question: do you ever wonder why you haven’t written it yet and experience deep existential dread?

have you ever made a playlist about something you were writing as an elaborate means to procrastinate when you could have been actually writing and if yes drop a link, son

do you have any kind of consistent writing schedule or just hoping for the best?

tell us about the plot of the first fanfic you ever wrote

what’s your relationship with constructive criticism and feedback like? do you seek it out? how well do you take it?

in an ideal world where you’re already super successful and published, would you want to see a tv or movie adaptation of your work? why or why not?

at what point in the process do you come up with titles, and how easy or hard is that for you?

what’s something neat you’ve learned while doing research for something you were writing? also, how much do you worry about doing research in general?

do you ever have trouble focusing on writing? how do you get around that? 

talk about a writing experience that has pleasantly surprised you.

what’s your worst writing habit? 

where do you share your writing?

where is your favorite place to write?

what is your favorite line you’ve ever written?

what is your most and least favorite part of writing?

what are some books or authors that influenced your style the most?

what is your favorite trope to write?

pick a writer to co-write a book with and tell us what you’d write about.

describe your writing process from scratch to finish.

how do you deal with writers block?

on average, how much writing do you get done in a day?

what’s your revision or rewriting process like?

do you like to write one-shots or series, and why?

do you share rough drafts or do you wait until it’s all polished? 28. And who do you share them with?

handwritten notes or typed notes?

give us a spoiler for one of your stories.

most inspirational quote you’ve ever read or heard that’s still important to you.

tell us about one of your characters who’s an absolute joy to write

do characters influence your writing style?

do you start with the characters or the plot when writing?

how do you name characters and places?

tell us about a character who’s very different than you who you love a whole lot

do you base your characters of real people or not? If so, tell us about one.

when creating characters, what comes first: appearance, backstory, motivation, personality, something else?

how many stories do you work on at one time?

are you an avid reader?

best piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten.

what is the weirdest story idea you’ve ever had.

describe the aesthetic of a story in 5 words.

how did writing change you?

any writing advice you want to share?

name three of your favorite fanfic writers.

what time are you the most productive when it comes to writing?

what story are you most proud of?

do you reread your own stories?

do you want to be published some day?

do you plan or do you write whatever comes to your mind?

share the synopsis of a story you work on that you haven’t published yet

how many unfinished ideas/stories are you working on at the same time?

when writing, do you have an outline? and do you stick to it?

what’s a common writing tip that you almost always follow?

do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

five years from now, where do you see yourself as a writer?

what is the last thing that a fic made you google when you were reading it?

what is the last thing that a fic made you google when you were writing it?

where is the most dangerous place that you’ve read fic?

where is the most dangerous place that you’ve written fic?

what was the first commercial property (book/movie/tv show/etc) that you realized was actually professional fanfiction?

what’s the weirdest reason you’ve ever shipped something?

what’s the best insult you’ve read in a fic?

what is your favourite title for a fic you’ve read? 

what is your favourite title for a fic you’ve written? 

when have you felt the most confident in your writing? 

when have you felt the least confident?

how long will you spend on a story or scene before you give up?

how do you write emotional scenes? do you ever feel what the characters feel?

are you very critical of your own writing? how much do you find yourself editing (either during the writing or after the fact)?

how do you balance writing and life? do you ever feel overwhelmed by the amount of writing you have to do?

what do you do if a scene gets too serious?

how do you visualize scenes? do you see it like a movie in your head, or do the words just flow?

are you a planner, pantser, or planster?

do you know how your story ends before you start writing?

what is one essential thing to remember when writing a villain? 

how do you write kissing scenes?

how do you choose where to end a chapter?

are you an over-writer, under-writer, or just-right-er?

do you try to put themes, motifs, messages, morals, etc in your writing? if so, how do you go about it?

if you could go back in time and give your younger self a piece of writing advice specific to you, what would it be?

“proper” punctuation or all lowercase?

less is more or more is more?

said: overused or underused?

what would be on a moodboard for your current wip(s)?

which season best matches the mood of your wip(s)?

does your writing style change depending on the genre you write?

if you could have another author write your wip for you (bc we all dream of this occasionally), who would it be?

sarcastic narrators: entertaining or overdone?

do you notice your own voice in your writing style?

how has your writing style changed over the years?

first, second, or third person?

do you hear other people’s writing styles when they talk?

do you prefer dialogue or description?

do you describe a character’s appearance all right away or in pieces?

romantic/social sideplots: interesting or irritating?

abstract or detailed romance scenes?

what don’t you like about your writing style?

was being a writer a dream of yours when you were little? or did it spring up when your older? or is it just a hobby? 

open question to the writer.

a compiled list of asks for me to reference. they are not my own. just some of my favorite questions i’ve picked out from a couple different lists. feel free to reblog and use too!!

Holds this so very very gently.

I-I…don’t really have words…but…

Sweet Mercy this struck me, especially the lyrics of the second song. If anybody knows what it’s called I’d be forever grateful

https://youtu.be/WrsOnEEKINE?si=nMFqTOFrkpt3Ccwn

Ok so I don’t normally do this but I just found the coolest YouTube channel with stunning art and animatics for rottmnt, I cannot recommend watching them enough they are so cool!!! And super underrated!!! At the time of writing this some of their videos have as little as 80 likes and 3 comments, please go show them some love if you can!!

(Found a lil drabble I wrote a while back that I wasn't gonna share outside of my buddies but you know what? Cute Brand New Papatello be upon you.) *

It wasn’t until he was cradling his daughter to his plastron, fresh from the tube she’d been grown in, that it occurred to Donnie he had never once in his life held a baby before. The thought was equal parts terrifying and surreally fascinating.

Distantly, he knew his family was losing their collective minds over the infant turtle mutant. He vaguely recognized a coo from someone - Leo? - telling the others to look at Donnie’s expression right now (“He’s a goner already.” An affectionate laugh. “You good, Dee?” “Shhh let him have this.” “Her fingers are SO small!”). But the longer Donnie looked at the baby curled into his chest, the less his family’s voices made sense. 

Sound fell away. Hesitantly, Donnie brushed a hand - as big as she was - over the curve of her tiny shell. It was softer than his, the smooth leather surface still damp with incubator fluids. He could feel the ridge of her spine. The alien familiarity, the echo of his own shell, the smallness and fragility of her, the miracle that she was here and alive - a million thoughts and feelings simultaneously colliding - made Donnie’s breath hitch and a wave of warmth wash over him. 

Donnie had already decided he cared about this baby, and his dum dum brain had already sent out all the dum dum hormones that filled him up with more dum dum affection for her than he knew what to do with. All the researching and the planning and the prepping and the step-by-stepping so that everything would be fully assembled to help her thrive and grow had been rigorously completed. And yet. And yet and….and yet….Donnie had never been so prepared while also being so helplessly lost and overwhelmed. 

Words failed him. 

His fingers were touching lightly over her cheek, her brow, hands so small they made his heart squeeze. She was incredible. She was the scariest thing he had ever beheld. And also the most beautiful. His stomach flipped. Instinctively, she searched for something to latch on to, mouth as toothless as a koi fish on the tip of his finger. The sound she made was an unmistakeable, Donnie’s-world-altering, high, sweet chirp. Donnie didn’t realized he’d clicked back automatically until an especially shrill noise of delight erupted from his brothers. With it, the vacuum tight bubble around himself and the baby popped. 

Sound and smell and sight outside of himself and his miniature copy rushed back in. It was disorienting, but Donnie’s focus was resolute. He tried to ask for the bottle they’d prepared for her. She needed feeding and there was still some potential trial and error ahead in figuring out just what she would eat (baby formula? Turtle food? A Yokai recipe of some kind? Donnie had about a dozen different forms of nourishment prepped just in case. But he couldn’t manage to ask for a single one of them. The very thought of taking his attention off of her was absurd.  

“How you holding up, Dad Man?” Leo asked with a laugh, the sound softer than usual. All of his family had settled down after Donnie came back to himself, maybe recognizing he was toeing the line of overstimulated, maybe just genuinely soft and happy themselves over seeing whatever it was they saw on Donnie’s face. He could worry about the implications of that when he reviewed the footage for his archives later. Right now however…

Replying should have been easy. Just string together a few coherent words, Donatello. Speaking was something he was perfectly capable of. He inhaled to do so.  The rise of his chest for air, however, made the baby stir against him, peeping softly, and what little remaining rationale Donatello Hamato had flew out the window. Donnie was scooping her in closer, pressing his nose to the top of her head as he curled around his baby.

“Perfect.” He mumbled.

“Ha! Say again?”

“She’s perfect.”

Augustine Hamato, daughter of Donatello Hamato - his stomach flipped at the thought - was absolutely, two hundred percent…perfect.