certified turtlefied

last line game: share the last line you wrote (and tag as many people as words, or however many you want).

I haven't written anything that's not acadmic articles in several days, so it took some searching but from an original novel:

“Okay,” Seven breathed even though it wasn’t. “Okay, that’s…” She swallowed heavily. “I guess that means we didn’t do as good a job in Chicago as we thought we did. But that just means we have to do better, right?” She wiped away the tears building in her eyes. “How many people died? Maybe– if it was only twenty-six miles, it could have been a forest, or a really big cornfield, or–” “It cut through the city-state of Esgan. There were no survivors.” “Oh.” Seven covered her mouth with her hands, doubled over, and sobbed.

I don't have a ton of writing friends on tumblr right now, but I'll go ahead and tag...

They don’t talk much after that, simply sharing in the mundane beauty of a moment that happens every day for lifetimes, before and after them. It’s not much in the grand scheme of things, but she has survived on less. Made a hearth out of meagre dregs. Hope is no old friend of hers, but it fuels anger hotter and richer than any spite or hatred she’s ever used before.

uhhhhh I'm tagging wildly since I dunno who's up for it

Patience wears thin. “Apo, you clearly have something to protest, so please, for my own peace of mind, just say what it is.” “I just don’t get why you want to meet any of them again,” Apo mutters bitterly.  “We’re meeting each other, aren’t we?” Legundo asks. Apo blinks at him before turning their head to the side. “I guess. Whatever. You can do what you want, but…” “But what?” “Since when are you two friends anyway?” Apo finally asks incredulously. “From what I saw, she went from telling me we should turn you to saying she trusts you and that you know she’s a vampire. Then she went back to saying she’s eating the townsfolk and against everyone but Pearl. But then she’s crying about some conversation you had and saying we need to talk to you. What am I supposed to think from all that?”

"What have you been doing with Owen?" Cleo asks, eyes narrow, pinning Legundo in place. Their tone is one of a parent who just caught their child sneaking out at night — a tone Legundo has not heard used against him in many many years. "I know you can tell I'm not actually a vampire, Cleo. Many in the town trust me, and if they can trust me as a vampire, they may be more willing to trust others who have been turned as well." He tries to keep his tone nonchalant, as though deflection has ever been an effective strategy against a determined Cleo in the past. They growl — it is not aggressive, but somehow chastising. "Don't pull that shit with me. I know that bite is real. You smell like him."

it's finally happening

"Legs," said Owen, feeling an urgency that he hated. "Wake up." Legundo did not wake up. Owen set him down, arranged him into a more comfortable position. A light breeze was following the river downstream with the falling night, and it played at a few stray hairs. What had he said? The airway? Legundo was breathing. It was a shallow thing. Owen imagined it painful, too. ... The smell of blood was strong enough now to sit, bright and metallic, like a fishhook against Owen's tongue. It was whetting his appetite.

The soldier doesn't know where the officer planned to meet the mortal, but that's no problem. The bond between them, now thrumming, acts as an anchor, drawing him in by instinct alone. And then, as the distance between them vanishes, even that is unnecessary.

He can smell the smoke.

“I’m sorry,” Scott murmured as he held eye contact. “This is going to hurt.” His hands hovered, trembling a hair above the wound. He cleared his throat. “Do you want a countdown?” Pyro shook his head, closing his eyes and digging his teeth into the bandage. “Ok.” Scott took a breath, and gripped the crossbow bolt.  He’d heard people scream before, he’d heard and seen his fledglings in pain, he’d felt every wound they suffered during the attack that left him the only confirmed survivor of his old coven.  The familiarity didn’t make it any easier.

I think this is what I wrote last? idk it's been a minute.

(Also, how have I not followed you up until now? It seems I have a major flaw in my decision making skills)

anxiety curls in my chest like something charred and burning

a ball of paper, shrivelled under the light

I write a lot of little tidbits like this, let them simmer and see if anything more comes of them, otherwise they can just exist on their own as I first wrote them trying to go to sleep 😂

Tagging wise, hmm…

The heady alcohol that was near enough to vodka as to make no difference went down as smooth as any top shelf liquor, and Legundo couldn't help but think whether the spirits had anything to do with speeding up the brewing process. If Ren had found some sort of book to allow him to speed up fermentation, he had never said— but if there was a way to speed the growth of plants, surely the bacteria involved in the consumption of sugar and the release of alcohol was similar enough?

I'm going to tag @badalloc !(unless you already did it! I'm having trouble keeping track lol.) Also @yoshiintheweb !

Okay so I've checked I can't actually do the most recent without spoiling Everything but I can give this instead!!

“Okay, we need a plan,” Raph said. Leo laughed. “When did we start planning?” Raph blinked. “Since we’re co-leading now, remember? We gotta be on the same page to work as a team.” “It’s just one guy,” Leo said, glancing at Raph. “And a jellyfish guy at–” “Eyes on the road!” Ghost snapped. Leo swerved out of oncoming traffic and recovered. “-At that.” “So your plan is no plan?” “Exactomundo, big brother!” Raph opened his mouth, then shut it, puffing out an irritated breath. Ghost eyed them both, but didn’t push. They could have a conversation after they handled the mutant.

Toweled off and wrapped in soft, warm clothes, he could have toddled over to the couch and fallen asleep in an instant if not for Lois intercepting him again. She stopped him before he could lay all the way down, instead brusquely prodding him into sitting up, only to press a warm plate into his hands.

Scrambled eggs—what might have been half a dozen eggs, actually, and two pieces of toast. The simple thing, knowing that he liked breakfast for dinner and getting out of bed to make it for him at four in the morning, brought tears to his eyes immediately. He balanced the plate in his lap and kept his gaze trained on it so she wouldn’t see.

Mikey rushed forward to support Leo’s shoulders as Donnie re-arranged his grip to steady Leo’s head and neck. They knew these stairs intimately; they had traversed them dozens of times in preparation for this moment, and their feet were steady and sure in the darkness as they descended down, down into the cool void.

Here's where I left off while writing Burdens yesterday:

Raph opened his mouth to whisper to him, but Mikey cut him off with a heavy tidal wave of warning injected straight into his brain through a Mind Meld. Mikey didn’t think in words like Donnie did, he thought in big waves of feeling. And right now, Mikey was feeling way too many things. Raph was on the beach trying to wade out toward him, to ask why, and the water kept pushing him back, back, back. And he couldn’t move.  The sensation slowly became familiar. The smell of rotting fish and seaweed. Vines. Krang. Sticky, slimy, and always moving. Pulling at his scales in the worst way. He dropped his gaze down and followed the shadow of them twisting over his plastron, across the floor, straight into Donnie’s mouth.

THE GASP I GASPED WHEN I SAW THIS LOGO OH MY GODDDDDDD

I need a animated intro for this and it’s the pages of a year book getting burnt or smth

I am working on something along those lines, but I can't show all of it yet because of spoilers. Here's this in the meantime:

Cold warmth.

Last Ronin petting some cats. Nothing else >w>

Alts below vv

testing a new brush, if we all hate it I'll go back

(Before we get started, I will warn that there is some language in this update. The characters are all aged up.)

Okay. Let's begin.

First some context; the last update showed us the aftermath of the big fight between the turtles and Bee Bop and Rocksteady. It showed everyone... except for Leo, whom Raph admits he saw run off once the fight was over. After calling April up like a good older brother he is, Raph allows his dear human friend to care for his remaining siblings as he goes out to find Leo.

That brings us to now. The first panel of this update shows us Leo, battered and bandaged, sitting alone. The expression on his face isn't just anger or physical pain-- there's also some sadness to it. He looks absolutely exhausted here which just breaks my heart. It makes me realize just how much pressure he's under and how much of that pressure comes from the world around him. Every day is a battle whether it be fighting against a bully at school, an evil passerby threatening he and his brothers to leave the "human" city-- or an actual physical battle between those they used to think were allies.

It's too much for anyone to carry on their shoulders. And I appreciate the talented artist of this comic showing us that.

The next panel reveals Raphael hiding in the shadows, Leo's glare trained on him like a possible threat waiting to attack. It's already been said BY Raph in this comic that Leo is "excellent at his job"; he's become extremely skilled in his ninjitsu. So it's correct that he would sense his scarlet-adorned brother in the shadows.

The two argue immediately, but something is very different about their roles in the fight. Leo's face is always sharp and angry, while Raph's is more often than not CALM and RESERVED. Leo chides his brother for leaving, to which Raph throws the rebuke straight back to Leo whom left first. Leo counters by clarifying "Yeah, I left them with you." And-- a part of my heart actually swelled hearing that. As much of a tussel these two are having right now-- Leo just admitted that he totally trusts Raphael to cover for him and protect their family. Raph shrugs it off, but I wanted to mention it cause it meant a lot to me. :)

The one-sided anger doesn't last, though. Raph goes off on Leo about leaving-- about abandoning himself and his brothers to sulk-- and for yelling at their dad as soon as they returned home. He even goes as far to defend their father's reaction to their broken, bloody bodies after their fight.

Raph mentioning Splinter sets Leo off all over again. The eldest begins listing out everything his father has said to him-- how many times he's been rebuked by his dad for the good he has done in trying to defend and fight for their family and against the public's distain for mutants. Like Raph mentions, it's sad that Leo has memorized by heart all of the angry and concerned words of his father. He has them written on his heart like sentences etched into a grave stone; the only thing he thinks will be remembered of his life, and the duty and responsibility that took it away from him.

Then Raph cuts him off-- actually defending him, his beliefs, and his actions. He says to the eldest that he's on Leo's side, and the blue-masked brother's response says so so much. "I'm trying to do a good thing-- the right thing-- and he acts like I'm the problem! ... You think we're doing the right thing... don't you?"

I love how gentle Leo becomes when he says this question-- a question that has burdened his heart even more than the battles, the blood, and the backlash. And Raph's response is just as calm.But also just as potent. "I think it's the right thing, yeah. And I think we're the wrong people to do it."

Hearing Raphael, the brother LITERALLY KNOWN IN THE SERIES for his love of fighting, is now tired of it. If he could "quit" he would. That says so much and it makes my heart twist for him. His love of fighting has completely disintegrated, replaced with maturity, exhaustion, and worry for his family. He's growing up-- but not in the way anyone would ever want.

This leads to my favorite panels in the whole update. The two brothers sit, watching the city below in silence as the wind whips their mask tails. They're shell-to-shell, using pressure and presence to bring safety and comfort to each other without a word being said. The cuteness factor is chucked to an eleven when Raph goes as far to rest his head onto Leo's-- Something that's famous for siblings to do if they want to comfort each other without getting all "emotional and sappy". And Leo-- at this very moment-- looks SO CLOSE to breaking. There are no tears, but dang it all I can imagine his tear ducts working overtime and him using the last of his strength to keep them from falling.

The silence ends as Raph brings up their previous fight with the Foot. Leo throws back a few defenses again, but they are no where NEAR as vicious and angry. And not once does Leo pull away from his brother, either. <3 But when the eldest begins to discuss the Shredder looking for them, the angle changes. Instead of being far away, we're right up to Leo's face, the "camera" getting a pretty good angle of the deep scar adorning his side from their evil foe all those months ago. Leo's hand even begins rubbing it, most likely not aware of his self-soothing actions.

The final panel shows Raph getting up, his expression tired and worried, as he tells Leo they need to go home. And Leo's face-- he's so sad. He's so tired and hurt. We don't see his response, but I think it's a safe bet by his more calm and regretful expression that he'll listen to Raph.

This story has been amazing so far, and I can't wait to see more. :) Might even try my hand at fanart if I get the time. <3 A HUGE thank you to @rheadanai for all the hard work and dedication and heart that they have put into this masterpiece. Well done. :)

Very true, the flipping of “roles” is significant. For once, Raph is very chill, and is able to use his anger in targeted, intentional ways during their conversation to get his points across. Leo, who isn’t usually considered the “angry one,” is trying to justify/put logic to his emotions. His trauma from the window event and his craving for justice are crashing into each other.

And Raph’s admission that he’d rather not fight is motivated by his fierce love for his family—he would be willing to let Shredder continue his murder spree if it meant his family stayed safe. Leo, though, is willing to make sacrifices, subliminally feels guilt about that, and, yes, the pressure from many different directions is exhausting him. He doesn’t want to fight either. At the same time, he really really DOES want to fight. It’s a pickle.

While they’ve flipped roles here, their core personalities and their separate motives stay the same.

Also, I’m so glad you picked up on my intentional camera angle choices. aha composition is important 👍

Rules: Share a line from your story with zero context.

Thanks for the tag, @jacky-rubou, this is a fun idea! :D I have a few current projects going on!

My next fic for the TMNT Pure Fluff Bingo:

Funny how when someone told him not to think of something, that made it ten times harder not to think about it.

"A Looking Glass Darkly" Chapter 8:

It stung his eyes just as much as it soothed his heart; for the length of a few more strides, he wasn’t sure why, until he rounded the corner and spotted them.

My WIP for the AU Roulette 2026:

He should have thrown himself down the stairs.

Here's one from an upcoming story of mine:

“You’re taller,” Mikey rasped accusingly. “You’re taller.”

Mikey told him that eating Ice Cream Kitty was not an option and that cannibalism was considered against the law in like most countries probably, dude. 

One that may never see the light of day:

“And then,” Donnie added in a sing-songy voice, “they’ll give us a call and say, Our condolences on the death of your dear brother Michelangelo—oh? What’s that? Your brother is still alive? Then who, praytell, is in our morgue?”

And one from an upcoming chapter of Burdens, specifically for @punctuated-equilibrium-t33la who is very worried about Rise Dee’s physical health right now:

He propped Donnie up against his shoulder. “This is me asking for consent to remove your battle shell. Oh? Nothing to say? Okay, I’ll take that as a yes.”