#rise!turtles

It looks interesting but idk the art style isn't my thing and the turtles seem a little ooc compared to every other reboot

The minute April had learned that not one of the brothers, not even Donatello, knew how to write in cursive, she had jumped on the opportunity to teach them. Even if she was physically the same age as Raphael (ten at the time), mentally she scored higher than all but Donatello, but then again nobody could score higher than Donatello. Yet here she was, in the teachers spot with Donatello as her student.

“This is lame.” Leonardo groaned, propping his feet up on his desk and leaning so far back in his chair that it almost toppled over.

“No talking in class!” April warned.

“Why?” Leonardo smirked.

“Because I said so.”

Leonardo was silent a moment, but the minute April turned around to write on the whiteboard, his voice started up again.

“What if I have a question?”

“Then you raise your hand.” April answered promptly. Her marker touched the board, then Leonardo spoke again.

“What if I break my arm?”

“Then use your other arm.”

“What if I break both?”

“Oh I’m gonna break them if you don’t stop talking.”

“Understood.” This time, Leonardo really stopped talking.

April cleared her throat. “First off: The cursive alphabet!” She wrote both big and small letters on the board for each letter, “Same as the normal alphabet, but fancy~”

“What the heck happened with G?” Mikey gawked.

“We don’t talk about G.” April said, “Leo are you paying attention?”

“Yaaaawn!” Leonardo gagged.

April huffed and clutched her ruler almost hard enough to break it.

“Um…” Donnie’s eyes were even more squinted than usual and he raised a hand.

“Yes Donnie?”

“Can you write it bigger?”

April frowned. “Raph, how’s it for you?”

Raphael was at the desk next to Donatello and sat up proudly at being addressed. “I can see it just fine, Apes!”

“Me too!” Mikey piped.

“Yaaaaawn.” Leo sighed.

Donatello looked around at his brothers with a frown as he shrunk slightly into his shell to hide his embarrassment.

“That’s okay Don.” April said with a smile, “I can make it a little bit bigger for you.” She did just that, “How’s that?”

Don gave a shy smile. “Better…”

April didn't quite believe him, but didn't want to bring it up. “Hey Mike, do you mind switching seats with Donnie?”

“Nope!”

Mikey took a place in the back row beside Raph while Don took a closer place beside the indifferent Leo.

~~~

“Names!”

April scribbled each turtle's name in their signifying color and pointed to them. “Honestly, this is the most important cursive you’ll ever earn. So you can sign your name and stuff— and no Leo I’m not excluding you from learning it just because you’re tiny mutant turtles living in the sewer!” She tapped the board, “Copy this down on your papers as many times as you can!”

There was the unanimous sounds of chairs adjusting and pens clicking and touching to the paper— three of them. April smiled as she looked out over the ‘students’ but frowned once more when she got to Donnie. The year-younger turtle was squinting at the board and near tears trying to make it out. He made an attempt to copy something down a few times, only to scribble it out seconds later. Then, finally, he got up and walked over to the board instead.

“Uh… can I…?” His nose was practically pressed to the board so he could make out his name, supporting his paper against the wall to scribble a quick draft before returning to his desk and copying the rest of his attempts off of the first attempt.

~~~

When she announced for them to turn their papers in, Mikey was of course the first one in line, bouncing excitedly as he shoved his way to the front and held out his paper to April. April smiled and accepted it, yet Mikey lingered awaiting praise.

His work was surprisingly neat for someone so hyperactive, though big and riddled with far more loops than necessary. Legible, but far from perfection. She smiled down at Mikey and gave the tiny box turtle a pat on the head.

“Great work Mike! Try writing a little smaller next time so you can fit more on the paper!” She drew a smiley face on Mikey’s paper.

Mikey gave an excited squeal and snatched the paper, hugging it tightly to his plastron and churring softly before running off. Then came Raphael. His writing was also big and bold like Michelangelo’s, but without the foundation of neatness that the youngest brother held.

“Good job, Raph! Same thing as Mikey, try to write a liiiiittle smaller. I know it might be difficult since the paper’s tiny compared to you, but you’re doing great!” She gave Raphael a flaming smiley face, and Raphael was content.

Donatello was nervous— nothing unusual. He held his paper out to April and almost winced as if expecting rebuke. April let her eyes linger on the anxious softshell a moment before going down to his paper. His cursive was just as illegible as his print always was— the shape was there and she could see some familiarities in the loops to indicate where each letter was supposed to be, but the letters blended together even more than typical for cursive.

Still, she smiled at Donnie all the same. “See? You did great, Don! I knew you would.” She gave a purple smiley, but frowned as the ink dripped and made it look like the smiley was crying.

Donnie accepted the paper without talking and sulked off. Leonardo was last in line, unusual for someone always so eager to please, with a smug smile as he held out his paper to April.

“I know, I know Keep your praise to yourself. I didn't wanna do it but I pushed through it and mine is no doubt the best. That’s why I saved it for last.”

April narrowed her eyes and saw straight through Leo’s charade of confidence. The writing was big, though not quite as big as Raphael’s or Michelangelo’s. It was clear he had finished his work fast, the paper filled and whatever space left filled with tiny scribbles. At first she smiled when saw how neat the handwork was, a welcome improvement to the flipped letters that usually riddled his print writing, but then when she looked closer at the letters themselves, she noticed something else. Though the letters weren’t flipped, they were distorted— not the kind of distortion that a lazy hand would result in, but each letter was blurred together, some of them with multiple loops where there was only one or none when there was meant to be one. April looked up at Leonardo who concerned eyes, though his look of confidence never faltered.

“Uh. Good work Leo.” She said vaguely, giving him a smiley like she had to everyone else.

~~~~

“Are you sure about this…?” Donnie asked nervously.

“Trust me!” April beamed, taping the handles of the glasses to Donnie’s face

Donnie, eyes still closed, still tried to turn to face April’s voice. “Whenever Leo says that it usually ends up failing. Painfully.”

“Well I’m not Leo, so stop moving!” She snapped Donnie’s head back forward so she could finish her work. Once she was sure that they were on securely, she backed away and grinned. “Okay! Open your eyes!”

Donnie opened his eyes. His first reaction was to squint like he always did, but when his eyes were met with detail denied all his life, they shot wide and starstruck. His mouth dropped open, he sucked in a breath, and backed up against a wall as the world spun in its new light.

“Wha…”

April beamed and gave an excited bounce, clapping her hands together. Her face looked unusually empty without her glasses, but she didn't care. She could always get new ones, but Donnie…

“Whoa…” Donnie’s dichromatic eyes flicked to everything in the room in quick succession.

“Donnie are you okay?” Mikey rocked on his toes with his arms folded behind his shell.

“I… everything’s just… it’s like seeing life in HD!” Once the shock left, a smile spread across his face and he couldn’t stop it from claiming his usually shy or disinterested features.

“Woah! I wanna see life in HD!”

Mikey jumped up and snatched the glasses from off of Donnie’s face, shoving them on his own. His eyes and nose immediately scrunched up as he looked through the lenses.

“Ehh… this doesn’t look like HD…”

April laughed and leaned down to boop Mikey’s nose while he blinked away the irritation of the focused lenses. “That’s because your eyes already work, Mikey.”

“Raph’s turn!” Raph stole the glasses from Mikey’s nose, laughing as he put them on his own face. His reaction was similar to Mikey. “Ehhh…. Not for Raph.”

“What about you Leo?” Mikey asked, appealing to the older brother, “Don’t you wanna try them on?”

“What, and look like a four-eyed nerd? No thank you.” Leo scoffed, crossing his arms stubbornly.

“Excuse me?!” April put her hand on her hip and dared Leonardo to repeat himself.

“Ah—“ Leo’s realization seemed to knock him off his confidence, “Not you April—you make them look cool—“

“Just shut up and wear these.”

April shoved the glasses onto Leonardo’s face, and the slider was immediately blinded by how… not blind he was. He let his mouth hang open a moment and sucked in a gasp, looking around with the much the same awe as Donatello had, before shaking his head and taking the glasses off of his face.

“See? Told ya! I don’t need em!”

Despite his words, there was a longing hurt in his eyes as he returned the glasses to Donatello and silently reserved himself so his twin could enjoy the full experience of being able to see a whole new world.

@assanmaharielsreblogs

“Shh... it’s okay Don...”

Leo couldn’t help but overhear and, despite his better judgement, slowed to a stop near Donatello’s laboratory bedroom to listen in.

“Want some soup? Pinkies? Water?”

Pinkies? Like... baby mice? Leo almost gagged at the thought of it, but peered around the corner to try and get a visual on what made the red leader sound so tender and concerned.

The snapper was sitting on the side of Donatello’s bed beside the softshell, who was under the covers with a heating pad on his head and a heat lamp shining down on him. Raphael was carefully petting his head while Donatello laid there looking absolutely miserable.

“No.” Donatello rasped, closing his eyes at the careful massage. “Just wanna sweat it out...”

“You haven’t eaten all day, Don. That’s not good for cold blooded mutants. You need to eat something.” Raphael’s voice was soft, yet somehow managed to carry a firm tone in its words.

“I don’t want to.” Donatello coughed, “And we’re not cold blooded we just... just have a... low body temperature.”

Raphael smacked his lips together in thought. “How about this: you drink some water for me, and in an hour or so I’ll bring you some pinkies and soy so you can get something in your tummy. Is that okay?”

Donatello blinked slowly and gave a weak smile, throwing his head back with a soft moan as he imagined the meal. “Yeah, that works.”

Raphael smiled and nodded, rubbing Donatello’s stomach in soothing circles. “I’ll go get your water then, and leave you alone, okay?”

He gave Donatello a gentle kiss on the head before standing up, making sure his brother was properly tucked before walking out of the room without so much as a glance to the spying Leo.

~~~

“OOPS!” Mikey tried to catch the jar as it fell, but the slick surface slipped out of his hand and shattered as it hit the ground. The pickles were sent flying, as were shards of the glass as it fractured with an earsplitting sound.

Mikey flinched. He looked up to Raphael as the snapper got up quickly from his chair and made toward him, and Mikey’s first reaction was to cover his head to guard himself from a beating. Strong hands did grab at him, but instead of a hit or a smack or shove, they grabbed Mikey around his shell and lifted him away from the spill, placing the younger turtle safely on the table. Mikey opened his blue eyes to a concerned Raphael looking him over.

“Hey, you okay little man? You cut yourself?”

Mikey stared. “Huh?”

Raphael leaned down to look at Mikey’s feet and investigate for any bleeding. “You need to be more careful, Mike. That glass coulda really hurt you...”

Mikey frowned and hung his head. “I didn’t mean to drop it...”

“I know.” Content that the smaller turtle wasn’t hurt, Raphael stood back up and gave him a stroke on the cheek. “Just gotta be more careful next time, huh?”

“Are you mad?” Mikey winced as he thought he already knew the answer.

“Mad? No, buddy, no. I’m just glad you’re not hurt. If I had a dollar for every time my Mikey broke something you think I’d be living in the sewer?” He gave a toothy grin, “it was an accident. Let me just go grab a broom and I’ll sweep it up, okay?”

Raphael patted his knees then stood up and turned to walk away.

“You’re not gonna... hit me?”

Raphael’s blood ran cold like ice. He turned back to look at Mikey, trying not to let the horror be seen on his face, but only concern for the turtle’s well-being. He walked back over and grunted as he heaved himself onto the table beside the other ninja.

“Does... someone usually hit ya?”

Mikey frowned and looked away, wrapping his arms around himself and rubbing his shoulders for comfort. “I mess up a lot at home...”

“Just cause you mess up that doesn’t give anyone a reason to hit you.” Raphael said steadily, “um. Can I hug ya?”

Mikey gave a low grunt of approval and leaned into Raphael’s side, to which Raphael responded by wrapping a strong arm around the others carapace.

“I don’t mean to...” Mikey said softly, “I just talk too much sometimes. Or drop stuff.”

“That’s alright.” Raphael reassured, “Who is it that hits you? Your dad?”

“Nuh uh.” Mikey shook his head. “Um. Well. Sometimes. But only when he’s teaching me a lesson...”

Raphael couldn’t help but grimace at the wording. “Does he do that often?”

Mikey didn’t answer the question. He didn’t speak for a while, but eventually said, “Usually it’s my brothers...”

“They hit you?”

Mikey nodded. “Raph and Donnie. Leo doesn’t do it as often.”

“But he still does sometimes?”

“Yeah...”

“That’s no good.”

Mikey sniffled. “Do you and your brothers ever hit each other?”

Raphael sucked in a deep breath. “Well, it’s... bound to happen sometimes. During training. During... arguments. When Don or I... aren’t ourselves. But afterward... we always sit down and... acknowledge that it wasn’t... good. That we’re sorry and that’s not something family should do. And we’ll try to do things better.”

“Does your dad ever hit you?”

Raphael gave a low chuckle and shook his head. “No, never. Sometimes he... redirects us... but he’s never raised a hand to any of us.”

Mikey couldn’t help but laugh at the way Raphael said redirect. “That’s good.”

“Yeah. Very good.”

Reminder: 2012!turtles are referred to by their nicknames, rise!turtles are referred to by their full name. Love the suggestion and definitely gonna do more Interactions like this down the line 💕

“So you’re Leo, huh?” Michelangelo’s eyes were narrowed as he pointed a finger toward the dark-blue clad turtle.

The turtle was unamused, shoving Michelangelo’s hand away as if it were infected. “Yes. And if you’ll excuse me, this is a time sensitive matter.”

Leo crossed his arms and gave a smug smile as if he had just smited some invisible foe. There was a moments confusion shared between the rise turtles before Donatello walked over to scrutinize the leader of the other team. Leo was oblivious to the interaction until a touch on his shoulder made him flinch back to the reality beyond his own mind. His eyes flicked open and he looked over to the softshell. Donatello took Leo’s mask between two fingers, pinching the material to feel its fabric before running a finger across Leo’s shell and then his skin. Leo pulled away.

“Uh— personal space, much?”

Leonardo grinned and leaned against a nearby wall. “No— none at all.”

“What species are you?” Donatello asked.

“That’s a...” Leo thought for a second, then snapped his fingers, “great question. Donnie?”

“Yes?” Both Donatello’s spoke at the same time, and then exchanged looks.

“Uh, well, that’s something I’ve always wondered too!” Donnie said, “we could be diamond back terrapins—“

“No.” Donatello said, abandoning Leo in favor of examining Donnie, who seemed all too happy to comply with the poking and prodding. “Shape, pattern, color, all off. Diamondbacks are white with black spots and have spines on their shell like mine. You’re all green with Oval-like shells and no markings.”

“Oh okay.” Donnie watched Donatello curiously, “then maybe red eared slider—“

“Hmmmm. No. You’d have more markings like Nardo here.” Donatello grabbed Leonardo and pulled him close, spinning him around to show the yellow stripes and red markings.

“Stripes are where it’s at baby!” Leonardo whistled.

“This is serious! And we’re wasting time!” Leo snarled, “every second we waste here is another second Shredder could be ripping our city apart!”

“Yo, chillax my man.” Leonardo wrapped his arms around Leo and hung against the older teen like a drunkard. “We know how to handle a shredder or two!”

“Good.” Leo’s tone caught the rise turtles off guard, so serious and stoic when compared to the high-energy, jovial brother they knew and loved. “Donnie said your world’s Shredder is most similar to the one we’re dealing with; an undead demon who will destroy everything in his path—“

“You mean like Raph when he hadn’t had lunch?” Leonardo snickered, and so did both Mikey’s, but Leo only stared. Determined to make his mirror-clone crack even the smallest smile, Leonardo went on. “I mean, I don’t know how your Raph is, but when ours is hungry he’ll eat just about anything he can fit in his mouth. And that thing?” Leonardo grabbed Raphael and tugged him down, forcing his mouth open to show the fangs within, “Is ginormous! Look at the size of that thing! I could fit my entire head in there!”

“He ate glass once.” Michelangelo said.

“Hey! It’s not my fault it looked like food!” Even with the vicious snarl, the brothers of Raphael didn’t flinch. The other turtles, however, pulled back as if there were a raging beast about to rampage.

“It was a glass figurine!”

“Well you shouldn’t have made it to look like a sandwich!”

“Technically it was a sandwich.” Donatello examined his nails casually, “sand, which had been superheated to approximately 1,760 degrees Celsius.”

Leonardo scoffed. “Who even uses Celsius?”

“LITERALLY EVERYONE!” Donatello growled back.

“What in the world is going on?!” Leo’s voice fractured the argument like the glass figurine they had been discussing.

“Talking about Raphael eating mikey’s glass sandwich sculpture.” Leonardo said.

“Superheated to exactly 1,760 degrees Celsius.” Donatello added.

Leonardo pointed back at Donatello. “Can we get that In Fahrenheit please?”

“That would be...” Donatello pressed a few buttons on his watch before concluding, “3,200 degrees, exactly.”

“Thank you, good sir!”

Leo growled and pulled on the tails of his mask. “I can’t believe this— you’re all just Mikey with extra steps!”

“I take that as a compliment!” Raphael said, grabbing Michelangelo and pulling him into a careful hug, “I love my little brother!”

“I think you’re missing his basic point here.” Donatello said with a wave of his hand.

“Ugh! This is no good!” Leo turned away from them and started pacing. “Gotta think of something— gotta think—“

Donnie walked over to Leo and tried to put a hand on his shoulder, only to be shrugged away. Donatello walked over to the other Donnie and stared at the pacing turtle, though his look was more of bewilderment than the gentle concern shown by the other gangly teen.

“Splinter!” Leo declared.

“WHERE?!” Raphael looked around, holding his arms close his body as he looked around for the rat.

Michelangelo perched himself on Raphael’s shoulder and cupped his hands over his eyes like binoculars. “No sign of ‘em, Captain Red!”

“HE’S FINALLY UNLOCKED THE POWER OF INVISIBILITY!” Leonardo cheered.

Donatello held his hands to his chest and his eyes lit up. “Oh I am so proud— and so jealous!”

“What?! No!” Leo groaned, pinching his brow. “Just— just take me to him. He might be the only one with any sense in this hellhole.”