#SOMETHING SOMETHING MIKEY BEING THE SPIRIT OF WAR | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sweaterrat · 7 months

Text

Portals Plus ✦ PROMISE

════════⊹⊱≼ ✦ ✧ ≽⊰⊹════════

════════⊹⊱≼ ✦ ✧ ≽⊰⊹════════

Silence drifted around the resistance camp like a noiseless fog, thick with tension and grief. Winter was nearing which only made it worse for everyone. Winter in the apocalypse was frigid and unforgiving, especially way up north where they were. Right now, everyone was getting a preview of the harsh storms to come.

Being underground helped a little bit. It was warmer here and much safer versus the freezing, kraang-ridden world on the outside. Niyah sighed as she felt herself sink into the well worn out couch she laid on. Her eyes glazed over the half of dozens of kids on a mat, all huddled together under a thick blanket. Niyah had the privilege to look after these bundles of energy while their parents were out fighting a losing battle against the kraang.

Niyah’s expression fell into a meager frown as she watched over the children. Her heart broke for the children who no longer had parents. Their parents had passed while fighting the war. They were all far too young to be forced to go through something like this.

A sigh heaved from Niyah’s lungs; the kids weren’t the only ones who lost loved ones. It’s been a few days since Raph passed away. It’s been affecting everyone, even the kids! But of course, It hurt his brothers the most. Leo has been MIA, spirits know where the hell he’s been, and Kat had to step up as leader for a while (being his second in command, it was kind of her job to do so). Mikey was helping Kat take care of everything and everyone but there was an obvious lack of energy in his step. He wasn’t as bubbly as he was but he hid it well. And then there was Donnie. He had been shut up in his lab for the better half of a week.

The door to his lab was always locked and rarely opened. Niyah has never seen it open but sometimes she leaves food out for him and when she comes back, the whole plate is gone. She suspects that Donnie opens the door to take it but then again, anything could’ve taken it. She worried if Donnie had been eating at all. She had begged him to come out or at least let her come in, but she was always met with silence.

She couldn’t blame him— he was grieving just like the rest of them. Niyah only wished that she could see him and help him. He didn’t always have to do things alone (and frankly, she was feeling a bit lonely without seeing him).

With a small groan, Niyah sat up and stretched, finally getting off the couch and started walking to the food court. It was about time Donnie should eat.

As she entered the cafeteria, she was greeted by Baron Draxum. When Draxum wasn’t a warring warrior scientist, he was (once again) just the lunch lady. With the help of Daxum’s leftover mutagen, he could mutate fruits and vegetables into way bigger versions of themselves, helping to feed the hundreds of people who joined the resistance. Thank the stars, the food was still edible and Mikey sometimes helped out in the kitchen (Donnie was tasked with growing all the mutated crops because of his not-so-secret love for botany). Things were looking pretty good food wise.

“Greetings, human. Finally coming to eat?” Draxum was behind a counter, already preparing a plate of tonight’s dinner. It was baked potatoes!

“Hey, Drax,” Niyah greeted. “Nah, I’m just getting Donnie his fill.” She feigned a smile as she leaned against the counter Draxum was at.

The other slightly frowned. “You have to eat too, you know.” He grumbled, placing baked potatoes on a plastic plate.

“I know, I know. Not hungry, though, I’ll be fine.” Niyah halfheartedly chuckled, “It’s not like I do much around here anyways. Everyone else is fighting for a meal and I’m just… doing nothing.” Her eyes were downcast, feeling guilt twinge in her soul. She could’ve been doing so much more than babysitting, she thought. Don’t get her wrong, she loved hanging out with the kiddos, but she could be doing things actually useful.

“Don’t act as if you don’t help around a lot. You do so much more than you realize.” He reassured while handing her two plates of baked potatoes.

“Draxum,” She sighed, “I said I’m not—”

“I know what you said, I’m not deaf.” He grunted, going to the back to do whatever he was doing. “Now, go eat.”

Draxum may seem big and scary, but deep deep deep down, he’s a pretty great guy. Niyah smiled a little while rolling her eyes. “Alright, alright. Thanks, Drax.”

He only hummed in response, “Just make sure that boy takes care of himself too. You know how he can be when he gets upset. Losing someone you care about is not easy.” Niyah’s smile dropped and she nodded almost robotically.

“I’m off,” she said, waving goodbye to him. He returned the wave halfheartedly and went back to cleaning up.

Niyah treaded down the quiet halls. Most people would be asleep right now after dinner. It was pretty late out anyway (she thinks. It’s hard to tell time underground), but Donnie would definitely be awake. He always was for the past few times she’s brought him food.

Niyah approached the door to Donnie’s lab, slightly hesitating before giving it a knock. “Hey Don, I got you food.” She spoke somewhat hopefully, but, like usual, he didn’t respond. She sighed, “Can you knock to let me know you’re here?”

A moment or two later, Niyah heard shuffling on the other side of the door. First, the screech of a chair against the floor, something beeping then shutting off, soft footsteps… two soft knocks sounded from the inside. Niyah smiled, he’s here.

“I’m gonna leave it out here, okay? In the front.” She placed one of the plates of baked potatoes in front of the door. Usually, she’d leave after dropping his food off, but something told her to stay.

A minute later, the lab door creaked open just a smidge. Niyah’s eyes instantly darted to the opened part of the doorway, freezing in place when she made eye contact with…

“Donnie.” She sucked in a breath, staring at nothing but his eye (the other was hidden by the door). He looked just as shocked to see her. For a second, they just stood there, staring, but Donnie snapped out of it and snatched the plate of food.

Niyah flinched at the sudden movement but blinked and shouted “Wait!” But she was too late. The door quickly shut, leaving her stunned. She tried putting an ear to the door to hear something— anything, but it was silent. Niyah frowned and let out a heavy sigh. She’s not gonna lie, she’s missed Donnie a lot. He started sleeping in the lab (if he’s even been sleeping at all) rather than the usual room they shared. It was harder to fall asleep without him there and it was a lot colder as well.

She didn’t want to be a bother to Donnie, but damn, did she miss him. She missed their ‘Good morning’s and their ‘Good night’s, she missed sharing meals together or just being in each other's company, she missed how he’d call her stunning and how she’d get to call him beautiful every day. She missed their hugs and their kisses, she missed their cuddling when it got cold and her dragging him to bed when he was so obviously tired.

Damn, did she miss him. Niyah wondered if that was what Donnie was feeling about Raph— missing everything they did together.

She sighed, pressing her back against the door and sliding to the floor. Sure, it’s only been four days, but it felt like it’d been four years. Donnie was a big part of her daily routine and most of her day involved him. But now that he wasn’t here, her day was suddenly empty. Niyah squeezed her eyes shut at the familiar stinging in her nose. She cried way too easily.

It was a silent cry, something rare for her. Maybe she just didn’t want to be heard or she was embarrassed for crying like this in front of a door that she couldn’t open. She still did that annoying hiccup-gasp-sob-thing that she hated doing. All she could really do was scream internally into a noiseless void where no one else but she could hear.

She tried to tell herself that she was acting like a child. Everyone else was going through something much worse than her and here she was crying on the floor. With that thought, she quickly wiped her tears away.

‘Stop crying, damn it,’ Niyah repeated in her head until her body obeyed. She took some deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself and wiped the already drying tears from her eyes. She just sat there with that extra plate of baked potatoes in her hands, deciding that she might as well eat them so they wouldn’t go to waste (even though she wasn’t hungry).

This was the closest she’d get to eating next to Donnie again, so she enjoyed what little she had. Pressing her back impossibly closer to the door, Niyah pretended (hoped) that Donnie was just on the other side doing the same.

Niyah perked up at the soft shuffling on the other side of the door. It was closer than she had thought. Like earlier, two soft knocks sounded from inside. He wanted to know if she was there. Niyah nearly cried again. She debated whether she’d knock or not (what if she didn’t knock and he’d open the door again?) but she decided to be honest and gave two soft knocks back.

She smiled. At least he was here.

Suddenly the door creaked open— Niyah nearly fell back, but she caught herself last minute.

“Donnie…?” she called, but was once again met with silence. Cautiously, she stood up, leaving the empty plate of potatoes on the floor (for someone so un-hungry, she sure did tear up that plate). She put her fingertips to the door, unsure of whether to enter or not, but she took a deep breath, pushed it open and quickly closed it behind her.

It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the dim lighting. Her eyes surveyed the dark room, spotting messy piles of blueprints and books littered around. A jungle of scrap metal was scattered across the room. She noticed the walls had scratch marks and cracks that definitely weren’t there before. In the corner of the room, she spotted an empty plate of baked potatoes. Well, at least he ate.

Niyah’s eyes landed on a disheveled Donatello who was sitting at his desk. He didn’t acknowledge her but he definitely knew she was there.

“Donnie?” Niyah echoed, taking a few slow steps forward, unsure if she should be close to him or give him space. Donnie blinked tiredly and turned his head to her, his eyes flitting across her face. All the staring was making Niyah a bit flustered.

When he saw her fidgeting, he smiled and signed a slow ‘Hey.’

Niyah smiled widely. He was talking to her (well, signing, but she’ll take what she can get)! “Hey,” she copied and walked closer to sit in the chair next to him. “Are you doing okay?” She asked, subconsciously signing the words she was saying.

His little smile faded. He hesitated, lifting his hands like he was going to sign, but he never did. He only sighed through his nose and placed his hands on the desk again. Niyah stared at him, head tilted and brows drawn together in worry. Instinctively, her hand moved to hover over his. “May I?”

He looked over to her, his gaze flickering between her hand and her eyes. Eventually, he nodded bashfully.

Niyah let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and let her hand rest on top of his. Donnie’s hand was cold, it always was, but not like the harsh cold of winter. It was a refreshing kind of cold and it almost felt nostalgic to Niyah. She let the warmth of her hand seep into his as she watched him relax with a soft sigh. Slowly, he turned over his hand and let her palm touch his. They were calloused and firm, good for holding.

Niyah couldn’t help but feel giddy at the feeling. She was always giddy when it came to Donnie, no matter how long they’d been together. Everything they did felt like it was the first time again, from cuddling to kissing to holding hands. That spark was always there and Niyah admired it. A nervous smile made its way onto her face and the breathy laugh she let out caught Donnie’s attention.

He smiled warmly at her (spirits above, his smile was so beautiful) and moved his hand up her arm, to her shoulder, and finally let it rest on her cheek. Niyah leaned into his touch like she always did. She was so, so happy to see him again.

“I missed you,” she whispered, her eyes falling closed as Donnie cradled her face and let his thumb glide over her cheek softly. He exhaled and brushed a loc behind her ear affectionately as if he was saying ‘I know’.

“Why haven’t you talked to me all this time?” She suddenly asked. She felt Donnie’s fingers twitch anxiously. She opened her eyes to look up at him, a desperate tone in her voice, “Why are you trying to go through this alone?”

Donnie stayed silent, his eyes darting to the floor to avoid her persistent gaze. With a sigh, she whispered, “You’re not the only one who lost Raph, y’know.” This made him flinch and look up again. “We all did. We’re all sad and grieving, Donnie. Of course, not as heavily as you are, but you can’t just— you can’t push everyone away.”

She searched his light brown eyes desperately, feeling the sting in her nose again, but she ignored it. “Mikey and Leo need their brother right now. And I need my…” she trailed off. She had nearly called Donnie her husband even though they weren’t married. But it felt wrong to call him her boyfriend— they were so much more than just that. They practically were married but the title never stood anywhere. Niyah internally shook her head— why did that matter right now?!

“I-I need you too,” she stammered out, not knowing what else to say. Donnie just sat unmoving. Niyah searched his eyes for something— anything! Niyah had become better at reading Donnie’s expressions over the years. It was difficult at first (and sometimes it still is) but she caught onto all his tics and habits that determined his mood. Right now, however, Donnie was blank. He just slowly (and almost reluctantly) let his hand fall from her face. He no longer looked at her. Niyah nearly cried at that.

“Can you please say something? Or sign?” She pleaded but Donnie never responded or even looked her in the eye. She just wanted to help him in any way she could— it was what she was good at! Helping people was her thing! So why couldn’t she do it now? For a moment, she wondered if her being here wasn’t helping at all.

“Donnie,” she sighed, cupping his face with her left hand which made him let out a shaky breath and look up at her. “I’m here. And I’ll always be here when you need me. I love you and I want to help you, so please, just let me.” She pondered for a second and pulled her hand away, “Unless you want me to go?”

A look of alarm flashed in his eyes and he quickly grabbed her hands. “Stay,” he said hoarsely, his voice barely above a whisper. Niyah’s eyes widened a bit at his voice— hell, even Donnie looked surprised. He sounded like he was in pain, she knew he was, and it hurt seeing him like this. “Please?”

Well, she couldn’t say no to that. “Okay,” she whispered back. Donnie held her hands firmly as if she’d run away if he didn’t hold her tight enough. Swiftly, he pulled her into a hug.

Donnie initiating things like this wasn’t rare but it was uncommon even though they’d been together for years now. Hugging in this position was a bit awkward while they were both sitting down. Donnie acknowledged this and effortlessly picked Niyah up and placed her down on his lap where he could hug her tighter.

Niyah giggled as he nestled into the crook of her neck (he knew that it was ticklish to her). His arms were wrapped around her waist comfortably and he felt like putty in her hold; completely and utterly vulnerable.

She petted his head soothingly, trying her best to comfort him. “You’re okay, Don. You’re gonna be okay,” she muttered to him. He stayed like that for a long time, taking long inhales and quivering exhales. Niyah couldn’t even imagine what he was going through. She’s only known Raph for a few years, but Donnie’s known him all his life. Sure, Niyah has lost family members before, but she was never close to her family like that. She couldn’t even begin to comfort him because she’d never been in a situation like that before.

Niyah then wondered what it’d be like if she had lost her own brother who was safe in her original universe. She wondered if her brother was feeling like how Donnie was feeling, like he had suddenly lost a sibling. God, it’s been years since she last saw her family.

“There’s just… so much going on.” Donnie let out a shaky breath. It sounded like he desperately needed to cry. He held her tightly, refusing to let go as if she’d vanish if he did.

“I know, love, I know.” Niyah continued to snuggle into him. His breathing was heavy and ragged, he sounded strained like he was holding something back. Niyah frowned.

“You can cry if you need to, Donnie. It’s okay.”

And with that, he finally let all his walls down. He sobbed in her hold, hugging her tighter and tighter. It was a little hard to breathe, but that was okay. Niyah’s heart broke at the sound of his sobs. At times like these, she honestly didn’t know what to do.

Donnie doesn’t cry often (at least not in front of her) so when he did cry, it was devastating to her. He was usually a silent crier, just letting tears roll down his face while keeping his expression fairly neutral, so seeing him sob like this hit so much harder. Niyah pressed a small kiss to the side of his head, whispering over and over “It’s okay.”

When Donnie calmed down a bit, Niyah pulled away from the hug, but just enough to see him. She held his face in her hands and finally got a good look at him. His caramel eyes were glossy with tears. With her thumbs, Niyah hooked the bottom of his mask and gently lifted it up and off his face, revealing his beautiful, purple markings and his tired eyes. She wiped under his eyes as if to wipe the dark circles away.

“I miss him.” His eyes flashed with an emotion so deep that even Niyah couldn’t understand what it was. It looked like he was whirling around in a sea of depression and grief so deep that he was drowning in it. His eyes were filled with so much pain, it almost made Niyah cry too.

“I know you do. I miss him too.”

He closed his eyes and sighed as he leaned into her touch. “I… I’m scared,” He mumbled, voice wavering. Niyah’s eyes softened.

“About?”

He hesitantly opened his mouth to speak, “Who’s going to be next? Mikey? Leo? You?” Niyah couldn’t possibly generate a response to that, so he kept going.

“What if I get too close to someone, and— and then they die? What if you…” He trailed off, the tears in his eyes returning but not falling.

“No one lives forever,” She said honestly. “And yeah, someday I will die.” Donnie flinched at her words, but it was the truth.

“But living life is about making connections— memories with people you never thought you’d meet! Would you rather you’d never met Raph, wishing that you got to know him when you had the chance, or would you rather be happy that you got to know him and you have these good memories of him so he could live on in your mind?”

Donnie fell silent, mouth agape as if to say something, but that something never came. He just exhaled loudly and rested his head on her shoulder. “I don’t want anyone else to die,” he muttered in her ear.

Niyah’s hand made laps running from the top of his head to the base of his neck. “I’m afraid you can’t control that, Don,” she whispered back.

“I know I can’t,” he growled, gripping his hands at the bottom of Niyah’s jacket. He let out a breath and his grip relaxed. “I just… I don’t know what I’d do if you died.”

Niyah’s heart sank at that. Her hand paused in her soothing rubs for just a moment, before stuttering and starting up again.

“I won’t,” she said sternly (not realizing how stupid that sounded; she wasn’t immortal).

Donnie all but scoffed, “You can’t possibly promise something like that.”

“Maybe not.” She trailed, “But,” pulling away from Donnie just so he’d look at her again. With one of her hands, she cradled his face. His beautiful brown eyes looked up at her and she had nearly gotten lost in them.

“For as long as I live, I will always be there for you. Every step, every breath. That I can promise.” Her voice was filled with so much confidence and yet it was soft; reassuring.

Donnie seemingly searched her eyes for any sign of deceit but in the end, found nothing but truth. She meant to keep this promise.

He exhaled, letting his expression soften. “Okay,” he mumbled. “Same for me.”

Niyah only smiled, glazing over his features again. “Have you slept at all?” She asked suddenly. Donnie blinked and shook his head, seemingly ashamed. Niyah sighed gently, “Donnie…”

He darted his gaze to the floor and started fidgeting with the hem of her jacket. He looked so drained; so tired.

“Wanna take a nap?” She suggested, making Donnie perk up a bit. Shyly, he nodded again and Niyah smiled. She carefully climbed off him and held out her hand. He took it in an instant and she led him up and out of the lab.

Donnie closed the door behind them before they continued their trek to their room. On the way, Niyah had spotted Draxum walking past. He raised his eyebrows at the sight of Donnie, smiling slightly and Niyah sent him a wide smile back with a small thumbs up.

When they had finally reached their quarters, no one spoke. They didn’t need words anyway.

Niyah set Donnie’s mask down on a small nightstand and put her various other things away while Donnie mindlessly followed her around like a sleepy duckling. She turned to her lover and helped him remove his battle shell (that's been on for god knows how long), exposing his soft shell to the elements.

A small shiver ran up Donnie’s spine in the absence of his armor, but he didn’t feel one bit panicked or anxious. He felt safe. Niyah treated him so softly, she was impossibly gentle with him and it was so… different. Living with 3 other brothers, gentle was almost nowhere in their vocabulary. Donnie didn’t like the idea of being treated like glass, but Niyah never made him feel like that. She made him feel like he was precious, not fragile; knowing his strength but still taking the time to treat him softly. This was something new and sure it’s been years now but it still amazed him.

God, he loves her.

“I love you,” he whispered as she put his mechanical shell away to the side. She nearly flinched at how random it was, but she smiled all the same.

“I love you too.”

And with that, they both settled into bed (it was much warmer with Donnie here even if he was cold-blooded) and Donnie nestled in the base of her neck. Niyah traced gentle patterns of stars and hearts on his shell, letting him relax into sleep. She whispered sweet nothings to him, kissing his forehead and listening to his soft churring. He was out like a light.

Niyah pulled him closer once she heard his calm breathing and small snores. She felt so protective over him seeing him like this. She wanted nothing more than for him to be okay because he deserved to feel safe and happy. Niyah swore she was going to do everything in her power to make sure he was okay.

That was her promise.

Matching Donnie’s breathing pattern with her own, Niyah was soon washed over with a wave of fatigue. Finally, she closed her eyes and succumbed to sleep.

════════⊹⊱≼ ✦ ✧ ≽⊰⊹════════

WOOOO YAYAYYA I FINALLY FINISHED THIS WUAGHDSAJL oh my goodness. This was a nice little hurt/comfort fic to write :] I hoped yall enjoyed this! Don’t be a silent reader! I love comments so much it makes me so happy ^^ Love you all!! Have a great day <3 🍋

Big thanks to my beta readers @yourlocalartsonist @yosajaeofficial and @oleander-nin !!! 💛💕💛💕💛💕

✦ Master List

142 notes · View notes

theyhavetakenovermylife · 4 months

Note

Can you write about the Last Ronin where we were his girlfriend before everything went to shit and we meet him again but he also get to meet his child as well? Btw I frickin' love your fanfiction, I hope you keep expanding you work.🥹

16 Years: part 1 (Angst)

TLR!Michelangelo x reader

Part 2 (18+) Part 3 (18+)

---------

A/N: Thank you so much🖤 I feel like writing for TLR has opened whole new world of writing for me, and I will love to do more, even if I cry every time😭🖤 I had “Tout L'univers” by Gjon’s Tears playing on repeat as I was writing this, so when I tell you I was bawling my eyes out, I was BAWLING. For some reason I just had to make everything worse for poor Mikey😭

---------

Warnings: Spelling, The Last Ronin and The Lost Years spoilers, loss of loved ones, loss of child, mentioning of suicide, trauma, self hatred, crying (not just in writing, omg), and probably a lot more.

---------

For 16 years, Mikey had tried to live with the spirits of those he had lost. Trying to find peace with them, and let them be. But he just couldn’t. Mikey just couldn’t rest with all these faces he used to love surrounding him, knowing that he could not help them. Raphael, Leonardo, Casey, April, the Fugetoid, Master Splinter, Donatello, Gerel, Shaka. All of them haunted him, speaking to him, telling him what to do. His brothers even went so far as to belittle him for his actions and failures. Every. Single. Day.

But if there was one face that Mikey couldn’t handle around him, it was yours. He dared not to look at you, nor the child you carried on your hip. The pain from seeing the two of you, in complete silence, not speaking a single word, being the only ones that actually did as he asked - staying quiet and letting him think. He looked at you once, the pain of seeing you and the young child in your arms, was almost enough for him to end it all before he even made it to Korea.

But though Mikey never looked at you, he felt your presence with him everywhere he went. You always followed closely behind, carrying your little bundle of love, just like you did the day he lost you…

Mikey hated how clearly he remembered it. It had been absolute chaos. They never had a chance. Leo had told him to bring April and the Fugetoid, all making sure nothing happened to you. You, Mikey’s girlfriend, who had been in the second stage of your first pregnancy. You, the only woman that Mikey had ever loved. You, the only person who was willing to let him think of something, other than his horrible war of a family feud, and his so-called destiny. You, the love of his life, and the only reason Mikey has seen a reason to fight in the first place…

Mikey had lingered for too long. That’s at least what he told himself. He should just have done as Leo had said, and gotten you out of the building. He should never had hesitated. If he hadn’t, then maybe you wouldn’t have been caught in the explosion. Then maybe you, April… and the kid would still have been alive.

Mikey still remembered how strangely numb he had been when he woke up from the explosion. His body ached all over, but it was as if he felt nothing. You were all gone. There was no way any of you could have survived that explosion. Leo, the Fugetoid, Casey, April, you… and them. That was what Mikey referred to the long lost life as - them. Giving them a name would just slowly kill him over time, making everything harder than it needed to be. Almost as hard as it was so leave the ruins of your grave, without trying to look for your body. But as much as Mikey wanted to stay and look for you, he had to leave for the last family he had left, before they too were gone.

But like always, he was too late for that too. Donnie and Master Splinter was already far gone when he made it to Japan. That was Mikey’s breaking point, and the first time he wished to end his suffering. Everyone was gone. His friends, his brothers, his father, the love of his life and his unborn child. Mikey was angry. Not just at the world around him, but himself. He could just have stayed with the two of you. He could have found you and laid you to rest. Giving you, his brother, his friends and his child a proper burial. But he didn’t, and he hated himself for it.

Mikey hated himself everyday. He hated himself for not being able to protect you, and he hated himself for not taking care of you. And taking care of his own damn child. As he forced himself through the snow of the Japanese mountains, as he trained under Master Yip, when he momentarily went blind in Mongolia, and when he had to fight for his life in Ukraine, before finally defeating Death Worm in Italy, all Mikey could do was think about you and how hate himself. But soon he learned that there was only one way to make up for his mistakes. Revenge. Revenge for all that had been done to his family. Oroku Hiroto would have to feel the pain that Mikey had been feeling for the past 16 years. And that was what Mikey came to New York for. Revenging all of his family, especially the one that didn’t even have a name.

But as it has happened so many times, Mikey’s plans did not go as he intended. His first assault on Oroku Hiroto was a failure to put it frankly, leaving him wounded as he had to retreat to the sewers he once called his home. Here he intended to do what any honorable ninja would do - take his own life before the enemy could get him. But then, for the first time in 16 years, life had better plans for him, the universe deciding to keep him alive once more. Mikey’s wounds were so great, that he passed out of blood loss before any harm could be done to him. That was when Casey Marie found him, calling out for her mother, telling her to help.

Mikey woke up in a warm bed a few hours later. Confused, he scanned his surroundings, wondering if he was dead. It looked like the lair - his old home. But then he saw April, and for the first time the world shone a light upon him. April, his dearest friend, was alive. In all these years, she had been alive. He learned that she was not alone. Her daughter was there too.

“Is it just you and your daughter down here?”, Mikey asked as he slowly swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

“No”, April answered calmly, a smile spreading over her face. “We do live with two others. I really think you should meet them, Michelangelo. Right now they’re out in the sewers, looking for stuff to bargain with on the Black Market, but I think they could be home any time soon”.

And as if April’s words were magical, distant clatter of metal could be heard, alerting them to people entering the lair.

“Aunt April!”, the voice of a young man yelled, the volume of his voice getting stronger as he approached the room. Then he barged in, proudly holding up something in his hand. It looked like a little metal lump with wires sticking out all over the place. “See what I found! Can you believe it?! Someone just dropped this into the sewer! Don’t they know how much this is worth?! Idiots! Imagine the comic books I can get out of Tinker with this! I can finish father’s old collection!”

Mikey froze at the sight of the boy. It was not his impressive height he had for a teenager, nor the muscles on his arms that shocked Michelangelo, but it was the color of the boy's skin. It was green. Light green to be specific. Mikey’s eyes wandered over him, taking him in, ignoring the growing smile on April’s lips, or how the boy suddenly seemed to notice the large turtle’s presence in the room. Mikey’s mouth was dry as he saw the three slender fingers on his hands, his lack of hair, the outline of what looked like a plastron on his front, and the unmistakable shell-like shape on his back. And his eyes, strangely recognizable.

The boy’s hand fell to his side, the metallic object suddenly not seeming interesting anymore. His eyes wide as he took the stranger sitting on the bed. Mikey in turn just stared. The two of them looking with their mouths agasp.

“Yoshi”, a voice sounded out in the hallway, breaking the silence. Mikey’s heart almost stopped. He knew that voice. It was the voice he had longed for so long. The voice he had blamed himself for silencing. Yet there it was. Just outside the door. “Be nice to your aunt. She might be working…”

You froze in the doorway. Mikey almost broke down. It was the face he had forced himself to look away from for 16 years. The face of the silent woman that used to carry a baby around wherever he traveled. You looked older, but still as beautiful as the day he first met you. Your eyes sparkling with the same light he fell in love with, all those years ago.

“Mikey?” you whispered, holding back a sop as your eyes began to water. The mentioning of his name caused the boy’s eyes to flicker.

Mikey could only nod, feeling his heart pump his blood so fast that he was starting to get dizzy. You ran to him, hugging him tighter than you ever had before. His hands tightened around you, his throat knotting up, making him fight for air. He buried his face against the crock of your neck, feeling all of your muscles move as you sobbed against him. You cradled his head against you, holding him against you, tracing his head, shell, shoulders and arms.

“I’ve missed you so much, Mikey”, you sobbed, bringing his head up to look at you, before placing a quick kiss on his lips. That was what broke him. He returned your quick kiss with urgency before he broke down in tears, hiding his face against you once more. 16 years of fear and pain finally boiled over, Mikey could finally let it go. At least for a short while. He almost clawed at your clothes in order to get you closer to him. It was as if no physical connection was enough.

“I’ve missed you too, (Y/N)”, he choked out, letting the tears fall as your comforting hands made shapes on his skin.

“Mom?”

Still holding on to Mikey, you turned to look at the boy. The poor guy looked so confused, but Mikey had a feeling. The boy most likely also had. Both of them just waiting for her to confirm what they had already guessed.

“Yoshi, sweetheart”, you said, wiping a tear away, before reaching out a hand to him. “Come and say hello to your father”.

Neither Yoshi or Mikey said a word, staring at each other as he made his way over to you. April wiped one of her own tears away, before she left the room with a smile, closing the door behind her. It was time for the three of you to catch up.

You slowly moved out of the way, letting Yoshi stand in front of Mikey. None of them knew what to say. All they could do was look at each other, trying to calm their erratic breathing. Then suddenly, Yoshi launched forward, wrapping his arms around his father in a tight embrace, the tears rolling down his face. Mikey hugged back immediately, finally getting a chance to hug the kid he thought he had lost.

“I’m sorry, Yoshi”, Mikey choked out, trying his best to keep calm. “I’m sorry I couldn't take care of you and your mother”.

“It’s okay, dad”, Yoshi said, smiling even though his eyes were overflowing and his body was shaking. “I took care of her while you were gone”.

96 notes · View notes

yes-i-write-fanfiction · 5 months

Note

TFA X ROTTMNT crossover imagine Idea:

What if back when Splinter was Lou Jitsu he got spirited away in the TFA universe as a cybertronian thanks to a magical artifact long time ago before the first autobots-decepticons War, became a Gladiator against his will, meet Megatron and end up becoming "Friends" with him, build himself a reputation among Cybertronians and became a Well known History figure After managing to get his Freedom back and managed to get all the other Gladiator, Megatron included, free?

What if years After Lou Jitsu managed to get back to his universe and the ROTTMNT canon happen the turtles found the Magic artifact, end up in the TFA universe turned into cybertronians and two of them are warframes while the other two are civilframe?

I got way into this AU crossover the more I wrote about it and I just want to say that you, my friend, are a genius for coming up with it.

-Lou Jitsu's alter ego when he was a cybertronian was Splinter. Yeah, I'm basic like that. His alt mode would have been either a jet or a race car though I'm a bit partial to him having a car alt mode, simply because I could really see him turning into some flashy 80's sport car.

-Becoming a really popular gladiator not only for his fighting skills but also for bringing in his theatrics to the ring. They don't know that but whenever he wants to seem cool he says a one liner from one of his movies. The crowd ate it up every time. He's also really handsome as a bot so he's got a ton of fans.

-Ok but wouldn't be really cool if Splinter kinda revolutionized the cyber-ninja scene??? Like, up until his appearance it had kinda stagnated but when he shows up and shows up his amazing moves all the cyber-dojos go "YOOOOOO, THAT'S FUCKING AWESOME" and he basically starts the cyber-ninja renaissance. He also probably gets offered to become the leader of his own dojo but he declines the offer because he doesn't wanna abandon his new gladiator-buddies.

-Young Yoketron being his pupil??? Showing up one day like Genos in One Punch man and begging for Splinter to become his master??? YOKETRON YELLING "HOT SOUP" EVEN THOUGH HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT IT MEANS???

Prowl: Master, is it true that you trained under the master Splinter?

Yoketron: Yes, my pupil, I indeed did.

Prowl: Amazing, I've heard so much about him. What was he like?

Yoketron: He was... very wise. *flashback to Splinter forgetting how to use his brakes while in alt mode and crashing into a wall*

-Also, as for the brothers, if two of them are warframes then I imagine it being Raph and Leo. Raph because, well, he's built like a brick, it makes sense, and Leo because his weapons are the most lethal, made to kill. Also, Raph would be a tank while Leo would be a jet. Meanwhile, Donnie's alt mode would be like a microscope/telescope or something while Mikey would be a racer, either a motorcycle or a race car. I just want Mikey to have wheels on his pedes and rollerblade around while fighting.

-I also want some cyber-ninja dojo to 'discover' Mikey's talents, both as a ninja and spiritually, and taking him in. And Mikey can't tell them the truth, that he's already trained, so he has to pretend to be a newbie but instead he comes off as an actual genius, a prodigy only seen once every eon (he is a prodigy though so they're not too far off). Mikey shows them his 'magic hands' and the old coots practically faint.

-Meanwhile, Donnie gets similarly 'discovered' by the autobot Ministry of Science when they take notice of his remarkable intelligence and honestly? Donnie eats up the attention and praise. Perceptor and Wheeljack are fighting over who gets to mentor him and Donnie just does "Gentlemen, please, the answer is obvious; You both teach me everything you know. I want to know it all."

-Splinter, after becoming a mutant, turns into a cybertronian again but he looks really different so no one recognizes him. He's a beast-former now with a rat alt mode, about the height of Bumblebe (maybe even shorter). He kinda radiates this mystical air though, only perceivable to those with more spiritual senses, like Prowl.

Edit: Added some ideas of what Bot-Splinter would look like, both before and after mutating.

#transformers imagine #transformers animated #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #AU #crossover #art #lou jitsu #splinter #tfa/rottmnt crossover au

93 notes · View notes

teainthesnow · 1 year

Text

Whoops I did it again and have written another piece inspired by the last Cass Apocolypse Update (my previous piece)

@somerandomdudelmao

----

He feels it the moment that it happens.

There’s a faint wind that brushes over him. A feeling, a memory, and a lingering sensation of a hand letting go.

And he knows with heart wrenching clarity that this is it.

It’s over now.

He’s not... he’s not a twin anymore.

Well, okay, that’s not exactly true. He knows with complete certainty that he will always consider himself a twin. One half of a whole. No matter how many years pass, and no matter how long he must now live without him, he will always, always be a twin.

Of that he is confident in.

But it is different now.

He knows that he felt something break. Something that he had never really noticed before had snapped. Had broken irreparably.

He is cold. Empty. Numb.

He feels so many emotions yet so little at the same time.

His thoughts are a mess but painfully silent.

This can’t be it.

It can’t be over.

But he knows he’s just in denial.

He clutches tightly at Donnie’s arm once again and tries to pretend, even just for a moment, that things are the same as they always had been.

That Donnie would wake up.

They would find a cure.

Win the war.

And live the life that had long ago been ripped away from them.

But the lie, the hope, cannot last forever in this moment.

He hears the pounding of footsteps, the panicked voices of April and Casey. He can feel as Raph shifts to a more upright position, as Mikey frantically begs for his brother to wake up.

He gets to his feet and stares at his brother cradled within Raph’s hands.

He’s so thin.

So different to how Leo remembers him to be.

And here, in this moment, as he lays limp and lifeless, he has never looked more small.

And Leo’s heart breaks all over again.

He can’t deal with this. Doesn’t want to deal with this. He want to continue living in denial where they’re all happy and healthy and not... and not... this...

There a sudden warmth against his plastron, a pair of arms clenched tightly around him. Numbly, he tears his eyes away from- away from Donnie, and looks down.

Its Casey.

His face is buried into his plastron and Leo can just about see that his eyes are pressed tightly shut. He can feel the growing damp spot as the tears flow unbidden from his eyes.

And somehow, that is what gets him to break. The numbness slowly washes away, the reality really begins to sink in.

It’s over.

Really truly over.

The tears begin to drip down his own face, his vision blurs.

And then another realisation hits him.

He’ll never see Donnie again.

Because he doesn’t have his ninpo to fall back on. He lost that ability a long time ago. It had never been too bad, that he could not see the spirits of their ancestors or Splinter. Of course it had hurt, and there had always been a slight lingering bitterness but he had also never really dwelt on it.

Because, to him, Mikey having that ability had been enough. He had been content to just ask Mikey to say hi for him.

But now... Now it stings with a fresh wave of bitter agony.

So even that, even just the ghost of his brother remains far, far away from him.

The dam really, truly, breaks at that and he collapses to his knees, taking Casey down with him. He buries his face into Casey’s hair and sobs. He thought Splinter’s and Raph’s deaths had been painful, then thought losing Raph the second time was the worst that it could get. But this, despite knowing that it was coming, is a whole knew agony that he had hoped to never experience.

There really was no going back from this.

No second or third chances.

Just another new loss that will carve another deep scar into his heart.

So he cries, and grieves. Not caring an ounce about being strong, about being brave.

He is distraught and in pain.

And so very, very angry at the world.

He wants to go and fight the Krang. Make them pay for what they did. Wants to rage and scream and yell until his throat is sore and his voice nothing but a raspy croak.

But even that seems too much.

So for now all he can do is cry.

His cries are coming out in hiccupping sobs at this point, and he can hardly even catch his breath. But he cannot stop. Nor does he want to.

A hand on his shoulder has him looking up through watery eyes.

April smiles down at him, her own eyes red and so incredibly sad.

“It’ll be okay.” She reassures softly, voice breaking as she does.

She kneels down beside him and takes him in her arms.

“We’ll be okay.”

Another set of hands join them. These ones smaller than his own and April’s.

It’s Mikey, cuddling up next to them, squeezing himself between Leo and April and crying softly as he does.

And then finally he feels the cold metal of Raph’s arms, enveloping them all.

And there they remain, lost in their grief, and locked in a desperate and soothing embrace.

But all the while each one of them knowing, each of them starkly aware, that there’s a gap, a missing piece, that will never be filled again.

#little do they know though that it will be TT~TT #cass apocalyptic series #rottmnt #rise of the tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #once again #thanks cass #for an amazing series #tarts&crafts

71 notes · View notes

bambiraptorx · 7 months

Note

FANTASY AU??? MY FAVOURITE REPTILES SHOVED INTO MY FAVOURITE GENRE??? TELL ME MORE PLEASE?!? <3

Okay, so the setting is more or less Generic Medieval Fantasy Land, but instead of having the standard fantasy races, yokai and humans pretty much coexist alongside each other. The land is currently in a time of peace. Sure there's some conflicts, but those tend to be more based on issues between nobility/ landed gentry than widespread war. Many cities and villages are fairly isolated, and there isn't really an overall ruler, just a scattering of city-states that occasionally try to conquer each other.

That being said, let's get into actual characters!

Leo is something of a traveling bard who wanders from town to town, with a 'magic flute' that can turn into a sword. (It's worth noting that the flute is not actually magic and it's actually Leo's ability to magically transform objects into swords that's at play here. He is not aware of this.) Nobody knows what exactly he's searching for, but he consistently takes an interest in unusual magic and strange occurrences, often offering the villages he stops in to help with their mystic problems if he can. Sometimes the issue is that a slumbering dragon under the hill that the town is built on is waking up, sometimes it's that everyone in town is turning into frogs because their main well got enchanted somehow (and seriously guys, just dig a new well at this point? please?)

Raph is his main traveling companion, often seen as the brawn to Leo's brains. He's actually more of the impulse control to Leo's hare-brained schemes though, except when the hair-brained schemes are coming from him lol. Between the two of them, they've earned a reputation as something of a pair of folk heroes, to the point that people will occasionally seek them out to ask them for help. Raph isn't as fond of the traveling as Leo is; he doesn't like the constant inconsistency and change. But until they find what they're looking for, they have to keep going.

April is something of a travelling storyteller, who's crossed paths with Leo and Raph enough to know that wherever they go, crazy things follow. Sometimes she travels with them, sometimes they split up. Occasionally she does odd jobs in villages, especially if she wants to keep a low profile. Half of storytelling is gathering information, after all, and if there's a shady merchant selling bad potions or a count whose servants keep disappearing, you can bet that April is going to find out about it. (She's kinda like the fantasy/pre-movable-type printing press version of an investigative journalist.) She may or may not be under an oath to never tell a lie.

Donnie doesn't travel with his brothers, partly because he prefers the city life to the open road and partly because, as the youngest master craftsman of his guild, his work is constantly under demand. He's known for having a special touch when it comes to his creations, whether clockwork, iron, or precious metals, and his precision and focus are something to behold. Unlike many metalworkers, he refuses to make weapons (something the rest of the guild is fine with because of the demand his work receives). Rumor has it that the trade coming to his city has doubled since he started selling his work. Also, he draws his eyebrows on with charcoal. They tend to get smudged.

Mikey's just stuck in a magical amulet lmao. Leo and Raph have spent the last several years trying to figure out how to get him out without having to go back to the person that put him in it initially, but hope running slim on that front.

Draxum is... interesting. He lives in a massive forest known for its mystical wildlife and properties. They say that he lives in the exact center of the forest, twenty days' journey from any side, in a decrepit tower as old as the trees themselves. Some call him the forest's witch, others its guardian spirit, still others its god. All anyone knows for sure is that he's been there longer than any of the villages built tentatively on the forest outskirts, and that no one wants to get on his bad side. There are rumors of trophy hunters travelling a bit too deep and coming out irreversibly changed, both physically and mentally. Forest fires may rage for decades, then extinguish themselves in a single night. Paths seem to open between the trees and close at random. There is a saying in many towns on the fringe: as crazy as spending a week in the forest. Locals never explain the meaning, apparently finding it self-evident.

And almost everyone who's spent any length of time within the forest boundaries reports a tall shadowy figure that lurks just outside the boundaries of torchlights and campfires, never engaging, just watching. Sometimes, upon close inspection, the shadow is revealed to simply be a tallish pillar of stone, one so covered in moss and vines that it can't have been touched for centuries. It's unwise to get too close to the pillars, though.

Sometimes they'll follow you. And that's never a good thing.

#asks #bambi's rambling #rottmnt #rottmnt au #rotmnt leo #rottmnt april #rottmnt donnie #rottmnt raph #rottmnt baron draxum #rise of the tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt fanfiction #also nobody trusts the water in the forest (whether stream pond lake etc)#for some reason most of it's enchanted to turn people into various types of animals #(the reason is that draxum got bored)#(guess who enchanted that one village's well to turn people into frogs) (it was draxum) (he was bored)

15 notes · View notes

yellowhollyhock · 3 months

Text

What do y’all think the turtles favorite kids movies would be (not their favorite movies as kids but their favorite kids movies that they still like as adults. If that makes any sense)?

Leo: Treasure Planet

Because he loves adventure! And it’s literature! (He loves the book itself and the Muppet adaptation as well). And it’s about space! He’s been to space! And the actual reason is the father-son themes. The way Jimbo so desperately needs a dad would 1) remind Leo of himself, not because he lacks that but because it resonates with him how important that relationship is and 2) make him want to adopt this angry teenager trying to save his family and the world by himself not that it reminds him of anyone.

I do think Jimbo would remind him of both himself and Raph. He’s 15 when his adventure starts too. He would love that there are elements that would make him think of each brother (Mikey probably said ‘go Delbert, go Delbert,’ to hype himself up for literally everything for at least a couple days every time they watched it, Donnie would simultaneously love Delbert and find him annoying, wow it’s mostly Delbert huh). Besides let’s be real Captain Amelia is his idol. At 12 he wanted to be just like her when he grows up and he still wants to just like her when he’s 16, 24, 30 etc.

Raph: Brother Bear

This one took me the longest to settle on, but I do think this is Raph’s movie. Coming of age, what masculinity means, sibling bonds, the devastation of losing a family member, being afraid of other people wanting to hurt you and your loved ones only to have to face the monster within yourself. The fact that Denahi blames Kenai for Sitka’s death, I think would cut Raph deep (he’s afraid of failing to protect or maybe even accidentally hurting people he cares about, he’s also afraid of rejection and judgment). Kenai facing up and taking responsibility for his mistakes (which are really the mistakes of his entire people) would hit a chord with him for sure, and overall the themes of forgiveness. He would find Koda soooo annoying and also immediately love him soooo much. The themes of the spirit world would secretly make him think about Hamato Yoshi and the connection he and his brothers have with him.

He would pretend to hate the two moose, but yet he is the one who keeps picking this movie… (squints suspiciously)

Donny: The Iron Giant

This was my initial thought and I tried to dismiss. I said to myself, girrrl that’s so surface level, he wouldn’t just pick the movie with a cool robot, dig a little deeper and find something with jokes he’d laugh at and themes that’d resonate with him.

But the thing is. It’s Iron Giant. Themes of greed vs innocence, war vs peace? Donny always gets those types of side quests, like how close he is with Fugitoid and the aliens him and April found Augie. He’s the dreamer; the possibility of a peaceful world is on his mind and in his motivations. There’s also Hogarth feeling socially isolated because he’s so smart, which you know Don’s situation is pretty different but still, there’s definitely some relatability there. And plus guys, the Iron Giant not understanding where he came from, not knowing if he has a soul or not—super relevant to the turtles, and particularly Don who was the first to recognize the TCRI initials (and therefore in my heart the one who has been most consistently curious about his origins). Interesting thing too—Donny does seem to worry about Splinter and worrying about his mom is definitely an important thing going on with Hogarth. Then there’s Dean, who I think would remind him of Kirby. It’s a movie that invites further research too, it really places itself in history. Don would love both researching and lecturing whoever makes the mistake of watching it with him (poor Angel lol she is not prepared).

And in the end, it’s a cool freaking robot. He would absolutely be obsessing over the design and doodling ideas about making his own.

Mikey: Lilo and Stitch

I think our monster movie connoisseur would love the idea of Stitch. Jumba and Pleakley is his otp of all time. He tells everyone he loves the movie for Pleakley’s head getting eaten and Lilo’s photography and voodoo and Stitch taunting Captain Gantu with his butt against the window, and yeah it is very much his brand of humor. But everyone knows he cries at the ugly duckling scene absolutely without fail, and usually the wishing on a star theme, and definitely the “this is my family.” Found family is something all the turtles would appreciate in art but I think especially Mikey. That and, he loves quoting entire scenes. Especially the tuna fish sandwich scene, Bubble’s first visit, and Jumba’s chase down with Stitch (“oh good, my dog found the chainsaw”).

Also he loves the music. I mean who doesn’t?

#tmnt #tmnt 2003 #2003 donnie #2003 raph #2003 leo #2003 mikey #did I just rant about my fave movies? why yes. yes I did #iron giant #treasure planet #lilo and stitch #brother bear

4 notes · View notes

xaracosmia · 10 months

Text

ꕥ — WELCOME TO MARE COSMIA, KIANA KASLANA. 🌗

ꕥ — OOC INFORMATION;

name / alias: Mikey age: 27 pronouns: he/him ooc contact: @4everfall4ever other characters in xc: None

ꕥ — IC INFORMATION;

name: Kiana Kaslana age: 19 pronouns: She/They series: Honkai Impact 3rd canon point: Latest chapter

app triggers: Youths in dangerous positions, war, death, experimentation, PTSD, depression, suicidal ideation.

personality:

YOUR IDEALS CAN NEVER BE REALIZED. BECAUSE THIS WORLD.. HAS ALWAYS BEEN UGLY.

. . .

“You’re wrong! It sure ain’t all sunshine and rainbows, but there are people who taught me to never give up. They’ve been guiding me, and showing me all of the beautiful things in the world. I love them, and I love what they love. We’re connected by this sword. It will burn up the darkness, to make way for the light! This will be our path forward!”

Kiana Kaslana was the sort of tragically pained and scarred girl, who hid such terrible truths behind a deceptively blissful smile. The sort of girl who would try and carry the weight of a world upon her shoulder until it broke her, even should it risk to kill her. Self-loathing and guilt plagued her due to the nature of her existence, the circumstances of her birth. Walking around like a ticking time bomb… a husk of a human, dread had made a permanent home within her. She walked the world fearful of her own self, keeping it all far beyond arm’s reach. Indeed, that bright smile, beaming heroism, and burden of responsibility concealed a dark turmoil.

So much has changed over the years.

She's come to take more mature and confident steps into the future, fully accepting her situation and the power she has been entrusted with, but it's a never ending journey, isn't it? When free of those angsting worries, she's a playful young lady, often up to some kind of mischief or another. Social, brave, and full of vigor, you can find her thriving out in the world when the pressure of reality doesn't test her. And when it does? She meets the challenge head on, and shines bright as a shooting star to show the world the warmth of every heart. For the sake of everything beautiful in the world, she’ll take up gun, blade, and whatever other means of fighting that can grab a hold of. It’s not a burden, either… her positive outlook allows this to be a privilege; the chance to write a happy ending.

something your muse struggles with: Restraint.

your muse’s greatest strength: Fighting spirit.

history / background:

Pre-Phase 1:

Kiana Kaslana… in truth, K423. The 423rd clone of the original Kiana, and the bearer of the cursed core of the being known as Void Herrscher. Herrschers are calamitous beings, a violent mixture of mortal and concept… soaked in the Houkai’s desire to bring about entropy to all life via Honkai Impacts, or Eruptions. Her “father”, Siegfried Kaslana, stole her away from the scientists at an organization called Shicksal, thinking her to be the original. After finding out the truth, he kept her at a distance knowing that she was in fact a capsule for Sirin’s consciousness, and a vessel for the HoV’s core. Neither of these indicated, by any means, that she was his true daughter. Eventually, over time, the distance closed between them and a father-daughter relationship was formed until the core inside of Kiana erupted time, and time again in order to lash out and kill Sigfried. At the end of their time together, he left her side and swore to watch from afar instead. So, she led her own life, finding her way to the city of Nagazora where she made her first friends in her lonely life, and eventually… to the true beginning of her tragic epic as a Valkyrie, in St. Freya’s Academy, and ironically as a member of Shicksal.

Phase 1 ( ch 1-9 ):

Kiana lived a peaceful life, training to become a strong Valkyrie just like her mother, Cecilia, whom she had heard countless stories of heroism from her father. At this time, things were sweet and simple, albeit a bit dangerous. She knew little about the true nature of her existence as a clone, though certainly understood the danger lurking within her.

The awakening of a Herrscher is absolutely disastrous, a tragedy she knows well… so, as a part of her duty as a Valkyrie, she sets out to suppress one such threat known as Wendy… and ultimately, had to put down that friend.

After complicated revelations and discoveries about the muddled influence of her own persona, and Sirin’s influence, she is kidnapped by the very organization she thought she had been working for! The leader of Shicksal ( Otto ) captured her with the help of an undercover agent known as Fu Hua, and then began to use her in order to awaken the being lying “dormant” within: Sirin. All this, of course, to try and resurrect a long lost love. This, unfortunately, backfired… and the Herrscher of the Void was truly, finally awakened, creating this world’s 3rd Honkai Impact.

This tragedy rent the earth asunder with chaos, Honkai Beasts summoned at practically every corner of the world. In truth, the Void Herrscher’s threat was great… and Kiana was forced to take a back seat as she lost control of her body, and watched as the world and her friends suffered. Eventually, she was saved from the Houkai’s influence -- but at the cost of her teacher’s life, a mother figure known as Himeko. It was at this moment that seeds of self-loathing and hate began to bloom and shroud her heart.

Phase 2 ( ch 9EX - 28 ):

For months, she wandered alone in a self-imposed exile, constantly fighting the endless attempts of brainwashing from the HoV within her. Constantly, their destructive and genocidal will clawed and tormented Kiana in order to regain control of the vessel. At a point, she is nearly driven to madness and suicide, until Fu Hua arrived to subdue the Herrscher’s influence.

With Fu Hua’s help, thanks to the special function of something known as a Divine Key, she is able to reside within Kiana in a similar fashion as the Herrscher’s persona. Thus, in this way, she trains Kiana how to control the Honkai energy within her. Unfortunately, the toll taken on her body remains a dire issue, even if Kiana can utilize the energy poisoning her and threatening to overtake her will.

After absorbing the Honkai energy of a bomb threatening the city she had exiled herself to, and then sworn to protect after claiming ownership and giving meaning to her tragic lot in life, this direness only grows. Following the self-sacrifice, she’s abducted by Shicksal once more before escaping from the invading forces of a competing organization known as the World Serpent.

It’s here that she once again runs away, and exiles her to the abandoned city that had been ruined by a previous Eruption… the city she had grown up in after being abandoned by Sigfried, and the city where she had met her only friends. In this fateful city, she ends up once again moving to sacrifice herself in order to absorb another Honkai threat despite knowing she had a mere 2 months to live. Before she could act upon her lack of self-worth and preservation, her hero-complex was thwarted by one of her most beloved friends, “Mei Raiden”. The two face off in a battle between Herrschers, parting ways after Mei accomplishes what she had set out to do… sparing Kiana from self-sacrifice, for now.

Then we see Kiana, she’s gone to Fu Hua’s old home in order to learn how to better control her Herrscher powers. Eventually she masters the martial art Edge of Taixuan in order to wrest better control of her Honkai energy, and direct it into an offensive attack.

Then it’s on to the battle against a Herrscher known as the Herrscher of Dominance, a hive minded god that seeks to dominate and crush humanity with despair. This is the ultimate test for Kiana’s growth as it has her face the Herrscher of the Void within her, come to terms with her mentor’s death, and to defeat the overwhelming force of the Herrscher of Domination. Valiantly she took on the torch that Himeko had passed to her, and unites the Honkai gems of her allies to overcome the odds and defeat the Herrscher of Dominance. Kiana Kaslana, now the Herrscher of Flamescion, emerges with a renewed determination and maturity. Finally, she can move onward towards building a future for the beautiful world around them.

A time anomaly in Kolestein, a mysterious plot being hatched by the Overseer Otto - the one who had created Kiana to begin with. These are things that must be faced, and face them do the young Herrschers. Over five hundred years of planning, culminating in one final end to his schemes. In the end, Otto is defeated, but his goal is achieved. Unbeknownst to Kiana and the others, he manages to create a new past… one where the love of his life, his dearest friend, lives.

Phase 3 ( 29 - ongoing ):

Secrets are revealed in the discovery of Kevin’s ultimate plan: the Stigma Project. In order to save the world from a recurring act of the universal law of Finality ( essentially an ultimate, unstoppable end. A universal demise before being reborn. ) Kevin forces the Earth into a dream realm, free of worry, but also sheltered from reality. Currently she is working together with the other Valkyries, as well as her newly liberated father. Sweetly, a reunion has occurred between herself, the original Kiana Kaslana, and their papa Siegfried. All that remains is to fight against Kevin’s plot, and take control of Finality.

Tldr: Young girl grows up with a monstrous, world-ending threat living inside of her. Many forces work to kill her, or to use her, and she - as a vessel for this horridness - has to watch from a back seat as that power causes unimaginable suffering and loss, killing people she loves and threatening to do the same to all of existence. Her journey has been one of acceptance of her burden, and a struggle to control it and succeed against the Herrscher’s will. Beyond that, it’s a matter of fighting for all that is beautiful in the world, protecting it no matter what.

powers / abilities:

Core of the Void: Kiana can alter the space and time around her, creating portals, teleporting herself, creating gravitational vortexes, summoning void spears, and causing time dilation effects. Very neat. (The Core of the Void also houses the persona known as Sirin. A vile, sadistic entity beaten into submission… for the time being.)

Core of Flamescion: As the name suggests, she can create fire and manipulate it! Whether its in small ways as lighting a torch, or rendering her foes asunder with a blast of fire, she’s got it covered.

Gem of Serenity: The Gem of serenity is an object embedded into her body which grants a ludicrous amount of bodily regeneration. It’s one of the only reasons she has been able to get back up and fight, over and over again.

Core of Reason*: Allows the wielder to recreate anything the user fully understands, such as a gun or a sword. Requires deep knowledge of the object.

Core of Sentience*: Ability to manipulate minds and create illusions.

Finality: Kiana’s ultimate form which forms the basis which all other Herrschers are born from. Mainly, this form includes every other Core and develops the manipulation of Time. There’s also telepathy! ( Cannot be gained without achieving all other points of progression. )

inherent abilities:

Herrscher Vessel: When Kiana gains access to Honkai Gems, Cores, and other keys to Honkai powers, she is able to claim authority over their respective realms of influence. Also, her form may change depending on the gems being used.( Gems / Cores noted with a * indicate limited authority. )

Martial Prowess: Trained as a Valkyrie from a young age, Kiana is an expert fighter with peak reaction and agility. When bolstered by Honkai she is also very strong!

Taixuan Eminece: Along with her martial skills, she has been taught the ways of Mental Fortitude. Having learned to manage and balance chaotic forces within her own very being, she is quite skilled in honing her mentality and other foreign forces that might affect her psychological and emotional state of being. Though… her brash and emotional nature can sometimes impede this.

Good aim: An excellent shot with handguns specifically. Very dexterous in general.

items / weapons:

Twin Guns: Even if they change form depending on her Herrscher form, Kiana always has a set of twin guns in her possession.

Himeko’s Sword: An heirloom and a passed torch. This greatsword also can serve as a host for the Cores and Gems that make up her Herrscher of Flamescion form.

starting ability: Core of Flamescion starting item: Himeko’s Sword

extra: um watch honkai impact animations <3

discord id: kkfinality

#xc application #mun: mikey #mare cosmia

0 notes

well-its-not-human-anymore · 3 years

Note

Ok so like......a little bit ago you did some general headcanons for the TMNT boys in a relationship and I just love to imagine donnie with an s/o who's also a huge star wars fan like......picture sparring but the two of you just start making lightsaber noises and quoting lines as a form of banter.....and sometimes you start little fights about it because it's just fun to be like "you know I think Greedo shot first" and hear him go "whAT" three rooms over and rush to wherever you are......or having marathons every so often and needing pause every 10 minutes because one of you has another rant/theory about what's happening........and like cosplaying together and raising both your confidence and just having fun with it.......and the general shared fan behavior over merchandise and characters.....sorry your headcanons just inspired me and I wanted to share some of my thoughts. Anyway have a great day :)

Hey guys I'm back! Sorry for such a long hiatus, had some life shit I needed to work through. School's out and summer has been pretty okay so far, but if you've got any college tips for me please message me, I'll take all the advice I can get.

Anyways- I'm doing what I can to get back into writing, TMNT was a mild hyperfixation that I had a while ago, I never expected to gain so much traction on here for my writing. I hope you can understand my surprise when I got so much positive feedback and I do feel a little guilty for all of the requests that have sat in my inbox for months.

But no matter- I'm back now with a vengeance and I will be doing my best to push out more content. So thanks for being patient! Now that that's out of the way, let's get this show on the road.

TMNT Headcanons

In which everyone is afraid to ship people in the Star Wars universe in fear that they might be siblings (aka, Donnie's s/o is a huge star wars nerd and everyone else is fucking sick of it)

Donnie was dead on the floor the second you made a Star Wars reference in front of him

dead in all capitals

dead in italic font

dead™

thing was, he'd already thought you were cool before you made the reference, you were Casey's friend and you weren't scared of him or his brothers

he had the very vivid memory of you yanking a crowbar out of a discarded toolbox in an alley when you'd first met and using it to hit a foot soldier over the head

that hadn't surprised him too much, it was the noises you were making with your mouth

"are you-"

"yeah," you shrugged, "making lightsaber noises makes me feel better about rocking his absolute shit with this thing."

Donnie was a little wary of you after that

but it admittedly turned into admiration when you'd started dating

well, most of the time, you jumping at him at 3am screaming "you were the chosen one!" because he'd accidentally eaten your leftovers wasn't what he'd call endearing

it did make him careful not to eat your food however

and god knows you two couldn't get 5 minutes into a movie without pausing it to dissect the plot, much to everyone else's annoyance

the worst times were when you didn't pause it, the others would watch you talk for 15 minutes as the movie went on before you stopped and had to rewind

what should've taken only 3 hours ended up lasting 5 or 6

the others eventually banned you two from watching star wars with them

you were fine with it, more time to talk anyways

sometimes it was extremely helpful, spirit-lifting if you will

you wouldn't, it sounded really cheesy and you were lactose intolerant as fuck

but it did help when the mood was a little sour

you'd walked in on the entire family moping about, you didn't have to ask what happened, you knew they'd had another fight

your eyes landed on Leo first and you decided to roll with it

"I did it."

they noticed how low your voice was first, and when they looked at you your expression was dark

"Uh... did what exactly?" Mikey was the first to respond

"I killed them- I killed them all. Not just the men. But the women and children too."

maybe it was your face, maybe your horrible impression of Anakin, whatever it was it made Raph snort so hard he fell into a coughing fit

Donnie did that near imperceptible giggle he always did whenever he found something funny and hearing that sent Mikey into a fit of laughter

Leo cracked last, not laughing entirely but he gave you that amused side smile and shook his head

yeah, you were pretty good at lifting the mood

sometimes it served very helpfully as a method to get Donnie out of his lab

one day when you were over having lunch with the others you immediately noticed your boyfriend's absence. you didn't comment- usually he came out on his own accord

but he didn't

Raph had sighed and rose to retrieve his younger brother

"hang on a sec Raph," you were mumbling through a mouthful of sandwich and waving at the wall of muscle. it took a moment for you to swallow your food before you winked at the others

then you raised your voice just a little and announced-

"yeah- that's an interesting take on that, but I still say that Greedo shot first"

you counted on your hands, your eyes twinkling with amusement

3-2-1-

"YOU WHAT?!"

"there we go."

all six and a half feet of the purple genius came tumbling down the hall and into the kitchen, gaze landing on you in complete and utter shock

"Works like a charm, hey darling, it's lunchtime and you need to eat."

"But-"

"You can chastise me later, now sit down and put food in your face."

he managed to shut his mouth and sit down at the table and at that moment the rest of the family burst into rambunctious laughter

Donnie was halfway through his second sandwich when he looked up at you again

"you don't actually think that, right?"

You snorted into your apple juice

"Of course not Donnie, I'm a dumbass, not an idiot."

I had SO much fun writing this, forgot how much I missed doing it. I hope you like it! And thanks for being patient with me!

-Mars 🌠

#tmnt bayverse #tmnt headcanons #tmnt x reader #tmnt donatello #tmnt 2016 #tmnt 2014 #ask response #askbox #submission #answered

274 notes · View notes

thefaceman · 3 years

Note

📒

That's a good question!

I actually plan to write fanfics for almost every TMNT AU that I've created. And I'm also have a one-shot book in the making as well. So allow me to introduce these said AU's for planed fanfics (vague summaries though because I'm still figuring them out):

Teenage Ninja Girls- This is a genderbend and species swap AU. Basically all girls are boys, boys are girls, mutants are humans, and humans are mutants. Something's changed such as names and how the mutantagen works, but the story is relatively the same. (2012 AU but has a ROTTMNT version)

Teenage Mutant Survival Team- The Turtles work for the government and mutants coexist with humans. This universe has some major changes such as Splinter taking over the Foot, the Turtles origin story, and a role swap. (2012 AU)

Girl Power Unleashed : TMNT Next Generation- An alternate universe based into the future where the Turtles have children. Leo has a pair of twin daughters named Rin and Izami but, after an unfortunate accident, Leo passes away and Kairai takes custody over the two girls. Raph and Mona have a daughter named Sukera and Mikey has a daughter named Guri with Shinagami. Donnie, however, is in a complicated situation with his kids since he's technically the step-dad of April and Casey's son and daughter, Jackson and Pollian. Since this AU has coexistence, the kids go to highschool where they meet new friends and deal with mean girl drama. (2012 AU)

Teenage Mystic Gem Turtles- In this AU, while Drax was working on the mutantagen, he accidentally knocked over a tray of gemstones into it. This makes the turtles not only mutants but also magical gem beings as well. The story of this AU is still the same after that but with one exception: instead of weapons they use a set of magical powers stored within themselves. (ROTTMNT AU)

The Legend of Leonardo: The Lost Spirit- Long ago, the world consisted of one piece of land. It was peaceful and the people lived in prosperity. Until one day war broke out amongst the people of the world, resulting in the land splitting into four countries: Altruis, Liberty, Gallant, and Acute. Now, eight-hundred years later, the world is in danger of being destroyed again by a deadly spirit. Leonardo, a 14-year-old anthropomorphic turtle, lives in the country of Selflessness. However, he's always felt out of place there. Wishing to explore more of what the world had to offer, he heads out towards the center of Altruis in search of Master Splinter, the leader of the country. Taking his best friend Usagi, this begins Leo's journey. (ROTTMNT AU)

Ready Set, Let’s Go- It’s April’s birthday and the Mad Dogz are out looking to get her a special gift from the Hidden City. Going into the Hidden City was usually really fun. Markets buzzed, Yokai and mutants shopping and bustling about. But this time, things didn’t end up that way.To cover more ground, the gang agrees to split up and meet back at a pet store. But that was a bad idea. A very bad idea. Lost and confessed, Mikey makes the mistake of stumbling into an illegal Yokai traffic ring and ends up in a situation that changes the future of Yokai and Mutant kind. Kidnapped and sold to an illegal underground brawling organization, Mikey must do whatever it takes to stay alive and devotes his time to not only release himself, but release the other fighters from their lives of servitude and pain, constructing and organizing a revolution. All while Leo and Raph protect the life of a little girl and Donnie looks endlessly for his missing brothers. (ROTTMNT AU)

Runaway (currently being written)- What if Leo got tired of feeling like he had no place not only on the team but in his family? What if a failed mission, caused by his own mistake, was the last straw for him? Failing time and time again, Leo can’t help feeling incompetent. Having no necessary role and believing everyone would be better off without him, he runs away to the Hidden City where he lives peacefully until a Nigawarai starts causing trouble in his neighborhood. While Leo battles tooth and nail to help a new friend from the yokai, Leo’s brother’s work day and night to find him. (ROTTMNT AU)

Searchers- Siblings Leo and Donnie discover their destiny to fight untold evil as the two crisscross the country, investigating paranormal activity and picking fights with yokai, mutants, ghosts and monsters. (ROTTMNT AU)

Enchantment High- Life was great. The Shredder is officially gone, the Council of Heads have wavered Draxum’s former crimes in favor of his contribution to save New York, and the turtles have a new home located in the Hidden City. Now months after the defeat of Shredder, Leo and his brothers receive letters to attend the most prestigious school in the Hidden City: Silverpond Academy of Magic. There, the Hamato siblings make new friends, make enemies, find love, and face the biggest challenge of their lives: High school. (ROTTMNT AU)

Outlands (very underdeveloped)- A futuristic cowboy dystopian AU (ROTTMNT AU)

From One to the Other (in development stage)- The Kraang are trying to rebuild in the Rise universe so out of desperation, Donnie brings in the 2012 turtles for help to stop them from recreating their empire. (TMNT 2012 and ROTTMNT AU)

TMNT Legendary Heroes (TMNT Reboot)(in development stage) - My own version of the TMNT story.

Different (in development stage)- A collection of TMNT one-shots.

#tmnt au #tmnt crossover #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #ask me some stuff

58 notes · View notes

room-of-torture · 3 years

Text

Oh, it’s Haunted all-right!

“Knock.Knock. Miss Pena, I have a question to ask?”

“Yes come in, pero por favor call me Sam.” Short strands of dark brown moving back and forth as Sam shook her head with a soft sigh. Raising her head from her paperwork to smile at Gabriel. “I consider you a good friend of mine, Gabriel. Feels too formal otherwise.” She raised a brow at him as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Niña, you may be ok with it but we’re at work. We must be professional at all time while working!” He waved a finger at her in a fake disapproving way. Though he was sure she could see he was only teasing and pretending to sound like her uncle when he got strict with them.

That got a chuckle out of her. “Professional my ass. Me tratas como si fuera tu sobrina that you like to pick on. Just like my mama’s brother-it’s like you two could be related...” She sighed, but smiled once again while watching the older man place his hands on his stomach as he belly laughed. He sighed deeply afterwards as he calmed down. She took note of his energy. It was different today-well much less then it usually was as of late. This man usually had a lot energy but, he looked a bit drained.

Something was definitely up but, she was going to be patient until her friend was ready to tell her.

“Mira Sam, I don’t know if you noticed the...como te lo explico? Strange?” Gabriel scratched his chin, pronouncing his words in his thick accent. “Yeah. Strange shit that’s been happenin’ in this house and wanted to ask if you’ve been noticing them too?” He asked with a tilt of his head.

Sam stared at him curiously for a moment, and was honestly a bit amused at her friend’s question since when isn’t there strange things happening in this house. Honestly with four giant mutant turtles roaming around the house, that was strange enough. Though she had a feeling that she knew what Gabriel was trying to explain but-she had to make sure what he meant. “Strange as in what exactly, Gabe?” She asked, eyeing the man’s fingers as they tapped his cheek. Shoulders were tense and a foot was tapping on it’s own. He almost looked...nervous to just spit it out? Which was rare to see from him since he seemed so brave and confident all the time.

“Have you...ever heard voices at night when you are trying to sleep? Had the feeling that someone was in the room with you when you are physically alone? Things falling on their own? Like even some of my stuff in my room was moved to a different place and you know I don’t let anyone go in my space!” He sighed deeply, crossing his arms once again. Glancing around the room. “It’s like this house is-“

“Haunted?” Sam interjected, keeping her smile as to not to worry the old man. Sitting up and leaning back against her seat, her hands neatly clasped on one leg that was crossed over the other. “Yes sir, it’s definitely haunted.” With the all the death that was brought about in this house, she would be surprised if it wasn’t flooded with the souls of the dead. But she knew that Gabriel didn’t know about the number of people that were killed in this house and maybe it was better that he doesn’t...

He wouldn’t like that one bit.

Clearing her throat, “I am too a witness to the paranormal activity that happens here. I feel like I know too much at this point and that might piss off the ghosts.” She laughed, though a part of her felt bad that some of Gabriel’s color drained from his face. Sam wasn’t afraid of the paranormal but-she knew better never to mess with them because that in itself would send this house into flames! “Mikey, and some of the boy’s clients have also witnessed a bit of activity for themselves from what they told me.”

“Ah so we’re not the only ones?” The older gentleman pulled a chair and sat across from Sam. Curious now.

The brunette nodded. “Do you remember Miss Vivian, the tall blonde veterinarian with two cats?” She asked.

“Smart woman that one and she seems like a good person to have around la tortuga gruñona. Doesn’t take his words to heart, and it’s as if they almost understand one another in a way.” Gabriel chuckled a bit as Sam nodded in agreement about that last part of his statement for Donatello.

“Well, she told me that she would sometimes hear things being dropped at nighttime but, guessed that maybe it was her cats getting into things they shouldn’t be.” Sam shook her head before tilting it back as she remembered the others. “Another was with Ms. Beauregard aka Blossom, the blue-eyed brunette with a southern accent?”

“Kind woman with a good head on her shoulders as well. I’ve seen the way she and ol’ blue boy look at each-other from across the room...kind of like when you and Mikey do that too. It’s precious!” He teased with a grin.

She gave him a stare like she wanted to burn a hole through his head. Doing her best to ignore the heat growing on her face as she moved on. “Anyway- she came to me confused one day asking if I or someone moved around her things at night. Same to you Gabriel. Every once in a while they would end up in a different spot then where they usually are before. She thought someone came in to clean up her room and would move her stuff. Thing is, we don’t do cleaning services until after the client moves out. Clients are responsible for their own space until the job is done.” The two nodded in agreement with that last statement.

“Another was Miss Immogene Waters, the red-head biker same height as me. Remember her?”

“I like that girl’s spirit, she has a lot of spunk and a good taste for good food. I can see why Rafael is growing a bit soft for that one.”

“Yet he doesn’t know it. We gotta knock some sense into that boy till he understands.” Sam shook her head with a sigh before she continued. “Immogene had mentioned once or twice about some very odd but soft whispering that she hears at night at around midnight. But, has put it up to maybe stress making her hear things. That or Raphael is trying to get her attention and sneak into her room at night.” She rolled her eyes at that. “Wouldn’t be the first time with a client but I for sure know it’s not him since that boy can’t stick to a schedule ever in his life.” She sighed but chuckled as she straighten her position and leaned forward against her desk.

“But honestly Gabriel, I’ve been through all of these rooms enough to know that spirits are playing around in them since before they moved in. So it’s no surprise that you’ve experienced paranormal things too.” She nodded, giving him a reassuring smile. “You’re not alone.”

“Hmm...” That didn’t seem to ease his nerves completely but, knowing he wasn’t going crazy and wasn’t alone in this matter made him feel a tad better. “...So tell me niña, none of this bothers you nor creeps you out? At all?” He asked with his brows furrowed. Raising one of them as he watched the young woman shake her head with a still smile on her lips. One of few things he has learned about this kid was she was able to stay unusually calm for many situations. Ghosts being one of them apparently.

This child was full of surprises. Odd ones at that...

“Gabriel-I’ve seen enough horrors in my lifetime since the day I was born so not a lot scares me nowadays. Not even when I see shadow people in the corners of my room or over my bed during my sleep paralysis. Breathing in my ear and speaking in words that I hardly understand half the time. This place is haunted-” Sam stood up from her seat while fixing the wrinkles on her uniform. She glanced up at her friend with her hands clasped behind her back. “But it doesn’t scare me.” She shrugged. “I do my best to tell them to pass on or I don’t bother them at all. Especially the most violent ones.”

“Shadow people? Violent ones?-Ah cheez, no me digas que también tenemos demonios? Because if we do I’m fucking packin’ up!” He frowned. “I’m calling a priest.”

Sam walked around her desk and patted the chef’s shoulder. “Cálmate. Honestly I don’t know if there are demons in this house or not because I’ve never actually seen one.” She shrugged once again and sat on top of her desk. Hands gripping the edge of the mahogany wood. “But I do know those specific spirits are bad and overall angry-hence they are consider violent. That’s why it’s best that you stay away from the rooms marked with red tape if you see them Gabriel.” She looked up and stared at the door for a moment while thinking. After a moment of silence she turned back to her friend. Facial features hardening, eyes sharper as they narrowed. “Definitely stay away from the basement floor...That’s the worst of them all and please keep that to yourself as to not scare the others. Especially clients.” Voice was firm as to show she dead serious.

“Wouldn’t it be best to war-”

“Please.” She stopped him but with a soft voice.

Gabriel stared at Sam for a moment while taking in her warnings. Nodding slowly as the new information settled in. “All-right...but if heads start spinnin’ and they crawlin’ up the walls I’m callin’ a exorcist. Got it, Niña? I’m here to only feed bellies and not throw hands with demons.” He slouched in his chair and grumbled to himself.

Sam tilted her head back in a light laugh before giving a sigh of relief. “Loud and clear, chef.”

#Sam Pena #Gabriel the chef #Hired chef of the headmaster and everyone in the house knows him #Why wouldn't the mansion be haunted?#Gives it a fun little twist but it's not the main point of the story #Just to give more of a creep feel to the mansion #Mentions #OC Vivian #OC Blossom #OC Immogene #mythigal1966 #southernblossoms #waterstar2016 #Clients I have so far...hope to have more soon!

34 notes · View notes

ckneal · 3 years

Text

You know, it's a shame that Lilith and Adam didn't get to talk in 15x08. I have a personal belief that Lilith once played a role with Lucifer that was similar (though not identical) to the one Adam had with Michael in the cage. Obviously, Lilith was never Lucifer's vessel, since that ability comes from being descended from Adam and Eve and Lilith would have been a touch too old for that. Nor do I mean to imply any kind of romantic relationship between Lilith and Lucifer. What I'm getting at is, after things started falling apart at home but before getting locked away in the cage--during the period just after Lucifer dragged his first human soul (Lilith) off to Hell and started playing with it like a mean-spirited little kid tearing the wings off a butterfly until the poor thing broke and became the very first demon, thus prompting Michael to chase Lucifer out of the house in retaliation--Lucifer and Lilith, and Ramsey, were the sum total of Hell's entire population. And as per any episode featuring Lucifer, that dude is chatty.

Lilith was probably stuck sitting around for Chuck knows how long, listening to Lucifer rant about his family while he was drafting out his big revenge plans, featuring horsemen, a demonic plague, the Whore of Babylon, and binding Death itself, because her only other option was to go up to earth and be immediately smote by Michael and his army of obedient siblings the second she possessed one of the twenty humans in existence.

Lucifer would have just been there, squeezing the soul who would become Azazel like a stress ball, saying "Can you BELIEVE Michael sided with Dad? After all the shit Dad's put both of us through? It's like Michael doesn't even realize that this shit's messed up, and he SHOULD! He gets it almost as bad as I do!”

There's a little popping sound as the soul breaks, and Azazel turns yellow, murmuring something that sounds like, "Daddy?

Lucifer tosses the soul over his shoulder and whistles for Ramsey.

"I mean, you have no idea. Dad was shameless about playing favorites. The second we opened our eyes, it was all 'Lucifer's so pretty, he's so great at everything.' And I always knew Mike had to be jealous. I never thought he blamed me though."

Ramsey comes trotting up, tail wagging, and Lucifer reaches for the soul she's holding in her jaws--the soul who will eventually become Ramiel.

"Maybe that's why Mike's siding with Dad. Maybe it's just easier to think that I'm the bad guy than to consider that maybe Dad's not all that 'all loving' after all. That's it, isn't it? Mikey's still jealous!"

Lucifer and Ramsey start playing tug of war until there's a tearing sound, and Ramiel turns yellow.

"Well, you know what? GAME ON! It's not my fault that Dad got the design better the second time around, and I'm not going to let either of them punish me for it!"

Scowling, he picks up Dagon's soul and starts molding it like playdough. "You know what, I SHOULD go back home! I'm going to march right in there and tell them both off! What are they going to do, lock me up?"

Meanwhile Lilith has her face in her hands, not even pretending to be listening, because Lucifer has been on this rant for roughly 20 years Hell time.

#their dynamic was different but #lilith was lucifer's adam #and that's probably why she was zero percent intimidated by michael in the diner #she heard every embarassing michael story there is #she knows!#she knows he's secretly a poor little meow meow!#she just forgot he's touchy as hell too #my thougths #supernatural lucifer #supernatural lilith #michael and lucifer are about to arm wrestle each other submission while lilith and adam are off drinking tea on the sidelines #lilith: ugh they're so dramatic #adam: just hug it out already!

16 notes · View notes

blue-lamento · 5 years

Text

This post was written for the user @j-penny, who insists that Leo is the most unexplored character compared to his brothers. We are going to prove this statement wrong.

We are using the 2003 cartoon as the example not only because it’s known among most fans, but also because we consider Leo-03 to be one of the best versions of the character.

Introduction

Usually those who write analysis of a character use two terms – character development and characterization. However, people don’t usually use the same meaning for both of them. For instance, some people believe that characterization is the part of character development, because we, the audience, discover more details about our character and thus he develops in our eyes. And other people believe that character development and characterization exist apart from one another, because character development implies the change over the story, while characterization implies a particular set of traits in a particular time of the story.

We have decided to choose the second model because it’s more common and because the story of 2003 usually puts the plot on the first place rather than the characters, which is why they develop slowly and their personality becomes more flashed out with time.

Part 1. Leo’s first traits.

At the beginning of the first season we were given some of the most important traits of our character.

Dedication. This trait was unfolded in the first episode, when Leo has passed Splinter’s challenge. Leo loves to train and study; his outstanding physical (and spiritual) strength is noticeable through exercise and combat; it was also observed by the Shredder.

He trains for the sake of self-improvement and he takes ninjitsu seriously.

‘I'm not striving to be perfect, only perfectly proficient’*

‘Ninjitsu is not a game!’*

However that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t like to have fun. He loves to hang out with his brothers, play with Raph, ride a Sewer Slider or a scooter and poke fun at Mikey.

‘With that aside, I do realize the need for fun and relaxation. While I often disagree with Raphael, he is my brother, and I enjoy the times that we spend goofing off’*

The abidance of Bushido. Bushido (honor) plays a huge role in Leo’s life, because it shapes his personality. One’s actions are a reflection of who one really is and Leo’s actions reflect:

His devotion to his family.

His respect for others.

His kindness.

His mercifulness.

This makes him a pure-hearted person and sometimes his purity shows in other ways)))

Introversivness (or isolation). Leo demonstrates his isolation when it comes to his own problems. He doesn’t seem to be eager to discuss his distress (for example, when he was spending all his time out in the barn in the twentieth episode of the first season) and sometimes even refuses to get help (as it was shown in ‘Samurai Tourist’). The only way to get something out of him is to start talking first, because he is never going to be the one to do it.

Leo also has a trait that needs to be cleared up.

Leadership. This part of his character has created a lot of trouble before rotTMNT came out, which is why everything should be addressed.

Firstly, he is not an official leader.

That means that he didn’t have any ceremonies and he certainly isn’t pressured by Splinter, (like he was in the 2007 movie and 2012 cartoon), although the latter does like to leave Leo in charge when he is away.

He has chosen the path of the leader himself simply because he understands that his family doesn’t have a peaceful life.

‘I try to be the leader of the team, since someone has to be and I'm the only one who seems to be interested in order’*

‘I train diligently and read up on strategy to better prepare my family for times of duress’*

‘I guess this may seem a little hard-nosed, but if you were in my shoes, I think you'd agree that someone has to play the ‘heavy’’*

‘I love my family more than life itself, so I feel responsible to ensure their protection’*

Secondly, while Leo can worry about his incompetence as a leader (the conflict of the fourth season), he can also torment himself over something more personal (the conflict of the first season; ‘City at War’), which proves further that his character doesn’t only revolve around his role in the team.

Thirdly, Leo is not a control freak. When his brothers know more about the situation, he has no problem in letting them take the lead, while he takes part in solving local problems.

We also shouldn’t forget that some of his orders exist because of Splinter and as someone who values security and peace, Leo also values his master’s wishes and wants his brothers to follow them, even though he sometimes goes against them as well.

Fourthly, unlike the 2012 cartoon, in 2003 Leo’s brothers respect him and listen to his orders, although they do tend to go against Splinter’s instructions, but that’s a big difference, mind you.

And lastly, Leo doesn’t have any fights with Raph because of his leadership nor is there any hatred between them. Their arguments are usually focused on different opinions, not on the ‘I don’t take orders from you’ line (ex. ‘City at War’).

In ‘Tales of Leo’ Raph showed that he understood that Leo was more suited for the role back when they were kids, a period, when he thought that being a leader was all about bravery and strength, but seeing Leo taking out the huge alligator by using his brains he was exposed to another side of the role.

Overall, Leo and Raph have a good relationship that goes beyond the ‘a leader and a hothead’ shtick. An excellent opinion on this topic can also be read here: (1), (2).

Curiosity. This trait is actually ignored by fans, which in result makes them portray Leo as Splinter’s loyal puppy and it’s not correct.

Leo, as we said before, values Splinter’s opinion, but that doesn’t stop him from wanting to explore and participate in his brother’s intrigues. In the third episode of the first season Leo mumbled ‘Splinter is going to kill us!’ and immediately went off on an adventure and this didn’t happen just once.

At first Leo acts careful, however it is really easy to convince him to take part in anything, even if Splinter would be against it.

Part 2. The outlived trait.

Some fans tend to think that Leo is arrogant. Do these fans have a point when it comes to Leo in 2003 cartoon? Well, yes and no, because he did in fact have the similar trait, although he outlived it pretty fast.

The trait was shown in the tenth episode of the first season, ‘Shredder Strikes Part 1’, where at the beginning Leo was talking about his swords being superior to any other weapon. But where did this thought come from? Well, it was written in some book, so it must be true, right? Splinter, however, said the complete opposite, which Leo genuinely didn’t understand and he was frustrated about it. So was Leo really just plain arrogant? Not exactly.

Next we are taken to a talk between Leo and Oroku Saki and the latter has almost convinced Leo to join to Foot clan. We see that Leo has done the same mistake when he believed the half-truth about swords written in the book – he believed Saki’s half-truths.

In both cases Leo acted gullible (almost naïve) and thus he acted imperious in the first situation and vulnerable in the second. He wasn’t arrogant for no reason and that helped him get rid of the characteristic. After that episode he has never shown the flaw again.

Part 3. The ‘failure’ theme.

Every turtle has a weakness, be it Raph’s inability to control his anger or Mikey’s immaturity.

After Shredder’s second strike we are told in ‘Tales of Leo’ that he has a hard time dealing with failures, which escalates to a real fear that opens up Leo’s insecurities and anxieties throughout the first four seasons. Every conflict that is connected to the character has a word ‘failed’ or ‘failure’ in it, which makes it his inner theme.

All in all, his constant battle against his fears flashes out his character and adds more to it, which will be discussed in next parts.

Part 4. Northampton.

This is an introduction to Leo’s ‘failure’ theme.

After Leo has woken up he was straightway upset. While talking to Raph, who visited him at the barn, he explained what was bothering him so much: he let everyone down, got ‘his shell kicked’, lost his swords (and moreover he developed a fear over the Elite Guard). In short, not only did he feel like a failure, but he was also humiliated.

The one who helped Leo recover was Raph, which again proves that both of them have a great and deep relationship and that Raph, even though he often acts all grumpy and snarky, has enough kindness in him to support his brothers when they need it.

Part 5. The cosmos.

When the boys were stuck in other galaxy, Leo was upset as well. We saw it two times; when the turtles were told about their location and when they thought they have lost the Fugitoid to Triceratons. During both instances the situation seemed to be dead-end, Leo clearly didn’t know what to do next and for him it automatically meant that they have failed. This affected his spirit similarly to how he was acting in Northampton, however Raph couldn’t help him the second time. Leo needed something else. He needed hope. And when he has it he is unstoppable.

Leo was really active during the cosmic arc; he was doing the job that every leader should when his team finds themselves in unknown circumstances. The arc has listed out the reasons why Leo is a good leader:

1. Because he uses strategy.

2. Because he can think fast under pressure.

3. Because he is ready to take risks.

4. Because he is resourceful.

Part 6. City at War.

Leo (and Karai of course) has always played an important role in ‘City at War’ arc.

Before we dive in Leo’s character we have to briefly talk about the conflict. Leo felt responsible for waking up the mafia and turning the city into chaos because of Shredder’s death and he wanted to do something about it.

However his family found the idea of staying at home and doing nothing about the war more appealing, which Leo didn’t like. And even if Mikey said that he understood where Leo was coming from, it wasn’t enough for him to go with Leo to fix their wrongdoings. No one supported Leo, but that wasn’t a problem for him, because he didn’t need an approval from his family; even Splinter, who Leo respected the most, couldn’t change his mind and couldn’t stop him from running away.

‘City at War’ was always known for its main theme of revenge, but this time the writers decided to create a new theme to keep the story different and this theme revolves around, as Splinter has said in the end, following your heart. During the whole arc Leo was acting according to his own views and he always stayed true to himself, which means that his beliefs are strong and he is ready to act independently from his family if needed.

Part 7. Leo’s fear.

In the third season there was an episode about turtle’s fear. At first glance the story doesn’t give us a complex explanation to work with, but with more research more details rise to the surface.

There is a good analysis of this episode on the site, so we are going to link it.

Overall, while Leo does hate the idea of failure, his deepest fears are connected to other issues and it’s great, because it indeed makes him more complex.

Part 8. The fourth season.

It’s the culmination of everything we have learned about him.

The conflict is in one way the opposite of the conflict in Northampton. In the first season Leo was the only one who got heavily injured, but in the finale of the third season everyone in Leo’s family was injured. While talking to Usagi and April in ‘Sons of the Silent Age’ and ‘Samurai Tourist’ Leo described his feelings the following way: ‘the only thing that I could think of was to blow up the ship’, ‘I couldn’t save them’, ‘I was useless’, ‘I wasn’t good enough’. Most of his thoughts were connected to his family and because of his sense of responsibility for them Leo felt guilty for not finding another way to solve the problem. This brings us to the conclusion: while in the first season Leo’s distress was only about him, in the fourth season it was about his family, which is why he was traumatized so deeply.

Just like in the ‘City at War’ Leo have decided to fix his failure by doing everything to protect his family.

Firstly he had to fix himself. He started to train more, forgetting completely about having fun with his brothers (in other word isolated himself). He also became more ruthless with enemies.

And secondly he had to fix his family. He started to train them himself and by accusing them of being immature demanded his brothers to take threats and tasks seriously.

However that wasn’t enough. His self-hatred, him not wanting to talk about his trauma openly, the need to be stronger and his non-acceptance of defeat pressured Leo and as a result he lost his grip and took his anger out on Splinter.

With the Ancient One Leo has learned to accept his failure and to not feel guilty over something he couldn’t control.

After that Leo has fully developed, he didn’t have any more room to grow. He was finished and the writer understood that as well.

The conclusion.

Turns out that Leo was actually a well explored character with rich traits, but why then people like j-penny love to say the opposite?

The first reason is that people simply don’t find these traits interesting. The other reason is that people don’t think that being kind, committed to an old code of honor and showing dedication towards one's family or studying are worthwhile qualities, which is why the only thing that some people notice about Leo is the fact that he is the leader and that he has some insecurities. That creates a limited image of the character, not to mention that some fans twist the image and make Leo a controlling, cold and boring leader, which he is not. Is this Leo’s fault? No way.

So… can you not like Leonardo? Of course, it’s just a matter of taste. But can you belittle Leo in order to put another character on the pedestal? No one is stopping you, but would that make you sound smart and your statement sound true just because you have learned some buzzwords that don’t hold any real evidence? Decide that for yourself.

We were actually thinking about analyzing other incarnations (especially Mirage's Leo, since he is also one of our favorite versions), but we didn't have any time or power to do so...

(*) - These quotes were taken from the archive of an official Mirage studios site

#tmnt #tmnt leonardo #leonardo #tmnt 2003

478 notes · View notes

aurora-the-kunoichi · 4 years

Text

For The Love of Shell

It’s time for the battle nexus championship!

Read it in its entirety here

Chapter 39

After a few inquiries, Leonardo managed to locate Usagi who was talking to a man who resembled a rhinoceros. The man was big and burly, muscled yet lean and Leo noticed quickly it looked like the male’s horns had been cut off. He could only imagine that was the Gen, Asuna had been talking about. Before Leo could approach Usagi looked up to see the blue banded turtle making his way over.

“Leonardo son!” Usagi yelled hurriedly making his way over to his turtle friend. Their hands shot out clasping each other’s forearms in a firm steady handshake. “My friend I’m glad to see you. I hope all is well with you and your family.”

Leonardo smiled back at his rabbit friend watching as the rhino man made his way up behind Usagi his deep onyx eyes fixed on him.

Usagi heard his heavy friend come up behind him huffing through his nostrils. Turning slightly Usagi ushered to the man wearing a white kimono with red paw prints on each breast. “Leonardo son this is my friend Murakami Gennosuke, he will also be joining us in the tournament.”

Leo waited for a curt or rude comment from the intimating Rhino but the thin line of his lips parted revealing a bright smile. His hand shot forth gasping Leo’s in a firm handshake. “Please.” Gen started. “Any friend of Usagi is a friend of mine and my friends call me Gen. Usagi has told me much about you and brothers and everything you’ve done for the Daimyo over the past year. It is an honor to meet you Leonardo. I will say I am a little worried to face you in the arena, I don’t want to put you off when I beat you in combat. By the way would you like to make a small wager on the tournament? It’s a good deal.”

Leo studied Gen and gauged his facial expressions finding them genuine and light hearted. The rhino was cocky but actually friendly. “I appreciate the offer Gennosuke….err sorry Gen, but I’m not a gambler but I look forward to facing you in the arena. We’ll see who beats who and please, Leo will do.”

A large belly laugh came from Gen who patted the back of his carapace shaking his hand once again. “I like you turtle, you have spirit.”

“Leonardo son please tell me how things are with you and your family? How are your brothers and how is Aurora? Where is she? I thought she’d be traveling with you.”

Leonardo took his time telling his friend what had transpired in the past year in their lives including Asuna’s inappropriate advance that had just happened 20 minutes earlier. He watched as Usagi’s happy demeanor soured as Leo explained the scene, his fists clenching in anger.

“I am sorry my friend, what she did was horrendous, I am ashamed for her. I will talk with her and urge Asuna apologize.”

“There is no need Usagi son, her actions do not project onto you and it is not your place to make her apologize. I just wish to keep her away from my family for now. I have no idea how much damage she’s done and I have not have seen Aurora in a year so I am unsure how to approach her now. I just want her to know I wasn’t a will participant.”

“Women are nothing but trouble my friend!” Gen laughed wrapping his arms around both Usagi and Leo’s shoulder pointing them towards the arena in the distance. “Delightfully soft and delicious trouble! Now my friends no more talk of such distractions, let us get something to drink before we battle!”

Being stubborn, Gen wouldn’t take no for an answer and drug the two to a nearby tavern filling their glasses with cool amber liquid that burned. They spent an hour sharing stories and a few laughs but Leonardo and Usagi refused any further mead wanting a clear head for the tournament.

Usagi and Gen followed Leo back to their room to gather his brothers. It was time to register for the tournament and get ready for the qualifying round. Opening the door to their shared suite they found his brothers sitting on their beds going through their purchases. Mikey and Raph were examining each other’s new blades when the door swung open. Donnie’s head shot up seeing his brother walk in with Usagi and a massive Rhino.

All three of his brothers made their way over to the door greeting Usagi and meeting Gen. Raph and Gen hit it off rather quickly flexing as they clasped hands and soon began talking about their work out regiments. As the two brutes chattered on Donnie could see something was up with Leo; he wasn’t making eye contact with any of them as he ushered them out of their room and towards the arena. His eyes were searching the crowds frantically for someone.

“Leo, who are you looking for? Master Splinter said he’d meet us at the arena?”

“She’s here.” He said softly his eyes never leaving the swarm of contestants.

“WHAT?!” all three of his brothers yelped closing in on their leader grabbing his arms to stop him.

“You saw her?! When? Did she say anything to you?” Raph’s hands pulled him to face him, his large hands hooking around his carapace almost bringing him into a hug.

“Yeah I did, but the reunion wasn’t a happy one due to the compromising position Asuna had me in.”

“What are you talking about Bro?” Mikey chimed in.

“Asuna found me in the market and was going to bring me to Usagi since she knew where he was but on our way there she started acting funny. She pushed me back against a building and kissed me and of course just as she did Aurora came around the corner and saw it. There’s no doubt in my mind Asuna saw Aurora coming and did what she did to make Aurora jealous or angry. She was successful in her pursuit. There was a mixture of surprise, hurt then anger. Either way by the time I pushed her from me, Aurora was gone. But at least we know she’s here to compete. I need to find her and tell her I wasn’t willingly kissing that manipulative rabbit.” He could feel the anger rising within him again, “I can’t even imagine what’s running through her mind right now.”

“I am sorry my friends.” Usagi sighed. “She has talked about you quite a bit over the last year. But I didn’t think she would be capable of such a callous act let alone the assault to you Leonardo son.”

Raphael growled low in his throat as they started walking again. “You need to keep that bitch on a leash or I’ll do it for you. She’s messing with my family.”

Usagi didn’t respond moving alongside the four turtles and Gen to registration.

Leo could feel the tension from his brothers pulsate around him; it was almost to the point of excitement. They could possible see her or maybe fight against her in the tournament. That itself was a sobering thought. That was not the first way they wanted to see her after a year, but it was at least better then how he first saw her with Asuna pressed into him……. Lost in thought Leo almost ran into the line to register but Donatello’s hand came out to stop his momentum.

True to his word Master Splinter met them at the arena, watching proudly as his four sons registered for the tournament. After completing their enrollment Leonardo told his father of his quick and unpleasant interaction with Asuna and Aurora. He could tell by the darkened expression his sensei was also upset at Asuna’s behavior.

“We will deal with his turn of events after, now is the time to prepare my sons. Concentrate on your goals and your strategies. See your opponent and anticipate his or her next move but most of all have fun. Enjoy this glorious one of a kind experience. You honor your father by continuing this tradition.”

A large gong was rung indicating the beginning of the tournament and all contestants poured into the large arena waiting patiently for the Daimyo to make his appearance. The four turtles began searching the mass of contestants looking for that one face they longed to see. Leo’s gaze drifted and unfortunately found Asuna, who was several feet from them, trying her best to gain his attention but Leo ignored the troublesome female.

There were so many different species and aliens, large and small from the vast universe that had come to attend this battle of skill. It was a bit mind blowing seeing what was out there past the stars. So many colors and shapes it boggled the mind.

“Dudes! Do you see the big triceratops man over there?” Mikey squealed in enthusiasm pointing to the behemoth that oozed danger several few to their left. Just like most of the contestants he stood on two feet carrying an oversized ax that rested on his broad shoulder. He was adorned in some sort of uniform no doubt part of some kind of military. They hoped they didn’t need to defeat that monster, well maybe Raph wanted to test his skills on the warrior.

“There she is!” Donnie called pointing to the opposite side of the arena they were standing. Their eyes moved through the bodies and finally saw her. She was in black pants with a band around her upper right thigh with an assortment of Kunai. Her top was covered in dark plum, long sleeves pushed up to her elbows and a neckline that plunged down her sternum ending just at her breasts.

Her hair length seemed to be the same length but what drew their attention was the purple streak of color in her hair running down the left side of her face. Eyes moving to her side they saw both of her mystical katanas hung securely at her hip by a leather strap, their four colors still interweaved into the hilts of the ancient blades. She looked healthy but foreboding with an ominous scowl displayed on her full lips. She was ready and waiting to prove herself to the Daimyo and the rest of the warriors.

Another gong rung bringing their attention to the top of the arena, where the Daimyo, Ue-Sama, and surprisingly Master Splinter had appeared looking down at the eager crowd of contestants. Somehow sensei had gotten a front row seat to the tournament; it was good to be friends with the Daimyo.

The war staff clutched in his hand the Daimyo raised both hands high in the air gaining a thunderous cheer from the crowd. Leo noticed Ue-Sama’s gaze trained in on someone in the crowd. Following his sight line down to the arena, Leo found the Daimyo’s son practically drooling as he looked down upon Aurora who was currently unaware of the lustful stare. The leader hands clenched at the flaring anger, digging the tips of his nails into the palms of his hands.

As the crowd quieted down it gave the Daimyo the chance to speak. “Great warriors from near and far, we welcome you to this year’s Battle Nexus Championship! We welcome the new and the returning contestants; you honor us with your presence and your skill that you put to the test today. Each of you will battle each other until there is only one left. The lone winner will become this year’s Battle Nexus Champion. This is a non lethal combat so before the final stoke can be delivered the loosing combatant will disappear from the arena and be brought to the medical wing of the palace to be checked over by our healers. Now the first fight will be a qualifying round and you will be paired by random. If you pass this round you will move to the first round of the tournament. If you fail, you are done until the next championship. All victors please wait in your partition patiently until all matches are finished. You will be presented to the rest of the victors before the next round commences. Now everyone let the tournament begin!”

As the final gong bellowed indicating the start of the tournament Leo looked back to where Aurora was standing and locked eyes with her violet iris’ making him suck in a mouth full of air in surprise. She was staring at him and he could see the hurt and anger behind her eyes and it tore at him but the walls of the tournament rose ripping her from him once again.

Aurora could see them from across the arena, all four of them standing there watching the Daimyo hype up the contestants before this whole thing started. Besides witnessing that painful scene of Leo and that damn rabbit pressed together earlier today this was the first time seeing the four brothers in a year. They looked good, healthy and from what she could tell, happy. It took every drop of willpower she had not to run over to them and wrap her arms around each and every one of them….well maybe not everyone.

Leonardo had obviously come back to the nexus for little bunny foo foo. Maybe that was the real reason he ended it between them, to come back here for Asuna? To be with someone like him? From what she could see earlier today they seemed rather content to be in one and others arms. But to be fair she didn’t stay long to analyze the situation, the moment she saw her lips on Leo’s she saw red and left before she could do anything stupid. Leo wasn’t hers anymore and no longer could get mad when that little bitch touched him. Now wasn’t the time to think about such things, the tournament was about to start and she needed to focus. She just hoped that she would end up in a match with Asuna so she could blow off some steam. One final glance and she would be done with it. Returning her sites back to the four brothers Leo’s gaze met hers. Those deep blue pools almost looked sad as they held her gaze. She swallowed the sob that rose in her throat; she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. Why was there so much longing after all this time, she didn’t want to hurt anymore? As his lips parted and hands rose the walls shot up engulfing them in the white light of the war staff, it was time.

It felt like a dry liquid as she was rushed up into a small partition of the arena ready to test her skill against the best in the universe. She didn’t expect to win but it would be fun to see how far she could get. There was a lot of intimidating competition from what she could see, even weird looking aliens.

As her competition rose from the liquid a wicked smile spread across her face, karma was sweet this day.

Asuna was ready to win this fight as she rose into the competition, her sword already pulled from its sheath ready to strike but her confidence fell like a lead balloon as she saw her opponent. Aurora stood triumphant a few feet away, her one hand already gripping the hilt of one of her twin katana. If looks could kill she would no doubt be dust on the ground with only her sword as evidence she was there. She had to think fast, needed to mess with the superior opponents mind, throw her off her game. Leo’s brilliant blue eyes flashed across her vision and the taste of his lips flooded her mind. She would use the heartbreak of loosing Leonardo to her advantage and get inside her head. All was no lost….yet.

“Little bunny foo foo….. I am so glad to see you.” Aurora cooed almost seductively slowly pulling one of her katana from its black sheath. The sing of her metal as it slipped free of its confines echoed in the chamber. “I was hoping we’d meet in here. I have so much anger to unleash and to dole it out to one of the very sources of it would be so appropriate and gratifying.”

Asuna stepped tentatively forward as she began to circle Aurora, her eyes never leaving the human. Think, make her angry. “You mean about me finally getting Leonardo and his delicious lips. You know his tongue is so soft and nimble, it tastes like peppermint.” If the woman was affected by her taunting she wasn’t showing it. She needed to hit harder, deeper. Time for the big guns. “Do you know who planted the seed to the inevitable end to your doomed romance with Leonardo?” Oh that peaked her interest. “I did, I told him you would grow tired of being in the shadows and want a normal life with a normal human man. That you would yearn for marriage and children of your own and he could never give you those things.”

Her vision suddenly became very clear zeroed in on the female rabbit with the very smug look on her face. “It was you?” Aurora hissed between clenched teeth pulling the other katana free from its confines. She could feel every muscle in her body coil ready to strike, the heat of her power beginning to stir within her, the power she had rarely used in almost a year. She was the spark that grew into the flame that burnt her life to the ground taking everything that she loved from her?

Asuna swallowed the sudden rising lump in her throat as Aurora’s eyes swirled with a purple light of her rising powers. She had forgotten about those. She had definitely awoken the beast within but in for a penny in for a pound. No turning back now. “Now he and I can be together, I can make him feel normal because he’s with his own kind. I can give him what he needs. Leo doesn’t need to hide below the surface in your dimension anymore. He and his brothers can walk in the sunlight and buy wares like normal people here. ”

Red, all she could see was red. Asuna was the cause of her pain, the loneliness she endured for a year, banned from returning to the lair from seeing the turtles, kept Leonardo from her. All because little bunny foo foo had a lady boner for Leo. So she could take her place and hop right into his awaiting lap? “Breath” she whispered to herself. She was trying to get under her skin; the rabbit was just trying to throw her off her game, so she could gain the upper hand. Well not today bitch!

Spinning her extremely sharp weapons in her hands Aurora was tired of this game and screamed lunging forward bringing her weapons down on the overly confident rabbit knocking her to the ground.

Somehow Asuna managed to block her attack as she stumbled back the once smug look on her face was replaced by sheer panic. With all the finesse of her training Aurora kicked off the wall and spun kicking Asuna in the gut as she got to her feet making her tumble to the floor once again.

“Get up!” Aurora growled advancing on the rabbit both katana gripped in her fingers, her knuckles white from the force. “You were the catalyst that took everything from me! I had finally found my family, someplace to belong and you played on Leo’s insecurities and took them from me! Just so you could get a chance with him! You hate me so much then prove it! Fight me! GET UP!”

Asuna grappled to her feet once again readying her blade hearing the agony in the Aurora’s voice. She had struck a nerve with the woman but she didn’t falter or show any signs of losing control. She was just angry, very very angry and looked extremely terrifying. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea? But Asuna wasn’t ready to give up this fight, she wanted to compete, and she wanted Leonardo. “He’s mine now! You lost him, now move on!” The white female rabbit attacked with vengeance defending herself, but her skill level was nowhere near Aurora’s. Before she knew it, she was struggling to keep up with her, stumbling as Aurora moved with precision each blow she brought down hitting its mark. Asuna could see just how sharp those blades were and was suddenly very thankful this was a non lethal competition.

The hilt of Aurora’s blade connected with Asuna’s abdomen adding to the growing aches across her body. She arched back at the force of the hit and leaned back just as the long blade came up across her right side catching the tail of her harness slicing a section free.

Somehow Asuna managed to keep the scream that threatened to burst free at bay and brought her katana up meeting another swing of Aurora’s weapon. The woman moved quickly dropping down swinging her leg out bringing Asuna to the ground.

Asuna rolled backwards away from the seething female and got to her feet defending herself once again.

A few short moments later Aurora stopped, the anger and venom had drained from her face, all that remained was emptiness and grief. She sheathed one of her weapons and adjusted her top resting the dull side of her remaining katana on her shoulder, “I-I can’t keep holding on to this. You’re not worth my energy anymore. This is taking away from my peace and I don’t want you to hold that much power over me.”

Aurora shifted on her feet and flipped over the rabbit and brought her katana down and before the blade came in contact with her skull Asuna vanished in a defiant scream in a swish of blue light.

Landing where Asuna once stood, Aurora dropped to one knee, trembling from the adrenaline coursing through her. How could Leo have let her influence him, he had let her get into his head doubting what she felt for him, that she needed nothing else but him. She would have died for any of them, hell she still would, a sobering thought that made her heart beat faster than it already was.

The walls started to lower signaling the qualifying round was over, she had made it and was onto the first round. Standing back up she looked around the arena and found each of the turtles still inside the arena but now in different places far from each other. She noticed Donnie was only a few feet from her his eyes trained in on her, his leg muscles tense ready to close the distance between them but he remained in his place when the Daimyo began to speak.

“Congratulations to those who made it passed the qualifying round, you have now made it to the first round of the tournament. Good luck to you all!”

Donnie reached out as the walls came back up, “Auro…” and he was gone again, and the liquid feeling returned bringing her back to herself, away from her feelings. Deep breaths let her regain her composure just in time for her to reappear in a new partition staring up at a giant squid thing with nine tentacles and purple slimy flesh. Its four eyes narrowed in on her rumbling an unmistakable bout of laughter and shot four of its nine long appendages towards her ready to ensnarl her limbs.

“Fuck.”

Raphael roared launching himself towards the female alien that had just nearly handed him his shell on a silver platter. She was quick and nimble moving faster than his eyes could follow. Somehow, he was managing to sidestep each of the thrusts of her unique circle blades. He could hear her displacing the air as she moved around him and he decided to try the trick Aurora taught them back at the cabin in the woods. Gripping his sai in each hand he closed his eyes and listened letting everything else fall away. To his left he heard her moving just enough to evade her blow. She was getting louder easier to pin point. Behind him she was coming and fast, whirling around he brought his sai out and heard her gasp. He opened his eyes just in time to see her floating in the air millimeters from the business end of his sia. She mumbled something in her native tongue and smiled before disintegrating into blue dust. He had won; with a deep bellow he lifted his hands into the air in triumph.

Having won his match Leo re-sheathed his katana and waited patiently for the wall to retract hopefully revealing his equally successful brothers and Aurora. After about 20 minutes on waiting the wall disappeared and he searched the dwindling mass for his brothers. Quickly he found them all with victorious smiles on their faces, his heart swelled with pride. Then his eyes landed on Aurora and nearly burst out laughing from the sight, she was slicked up with some sort of slim covering her from head to toe. The look of utter annoyance painted her face as she returned her katana to their sheaths and tried to wipe off as much of the substance from her arms as she could.

“You have passed the first round warriors!” The Daimyo voice broke over the arena pulling their gazes back to the large ruler. Leo could see his father sitting on the edge of the ridge looking down on them, his eyes filled with pride. A small commotion next to their sensei made them look to the Daimyo and Ue-Sama who was pointing down to the slippery Aurora below. The Daimyo chuckled and nodded waving the war staff above his head.

Turning to Aurora they watched her yelp in surprise as she was lifted off the ground and suspended in a red light. After a few moments she reappeared and seemed to be bone dry, no trace of the slippery substance anywhere. Her gaze went to the old man high above and waved a quick thank you before checking to see if her blades were clean as well. Finding all her gear was clean and dry she readied herself but didn’t give the turtles another glance.

The wall rose again engulfing each contestant in the liquid sensation. As Donnie was lifted into his partition a familiar low laugh made him turn on his heal. There stood Raphael ,his sai out ready with a shit eating grin on his lips.

“Welcome to the thunder dome Donnie boy.” The large red banded turtle rumbled again lunging forward towards his brainiac brother.

“Bring it Raphie!”

The electric staff swung out catching the hurdling red missile in his gut stopping his momentum instantly. Raph grunted as the wind was knocked from him and toppled forward from the force of the blow. When did Don learn to hit like that?

Donnie flipped backward when Raph’s arms swung out trying to tackle him as he fell forwards.

Raph got to his knees looking at his tall brother, “Looks like someone has been working out. That blow had some power behind it Don but in the end, it won’t help you!” Flexing his colossal calf muscles the red turtle lunged forward again grappling for Donatello but came up empty yet again.

Donnie was slimmer more agile then his older brother, not to mention he had a quick mind. Being a genius was always a benefit when it came to ninjutsu. While his hothead brother relied on his brute strength for his strategy Donnie relied on his big brain. Always thinking about how he could outsmart his enemy using what he had available to him to meet his goal. Raph would no doubt try to bum rush him stabbing wildly with his sai but Donnie knew how to win against Raphael. It wasn’t the nicest approach, but it would definitely work. The rage that constantly bubbled from within the large turtle was his ultimate downfall, a few well-placed verbal jabs and the colossal turtle would be swinging blindly with fury. He wouldn’t be thinking about sneaky Donnie and his bag of tricks when he was seeing red. Narrowing his eyes, Donnie bounced lightly with his knees as Raph began circling him, his sai swinging in and out of his palms as if it were a nervous twitch.

“Here goes nothing.” Donnie smirked readying his sharp tongue.

Aurora put away her katana and knelt with her palms out preparing for her next battle. Taking a deep breath she centered herself. This alien she had just beaten was a bit perplexing and terrifying. It was about half her size, small, fluffy and adorable. That was until it screamed for glory and sprung for her throat with its once tiny smiling mouth, it opened wide nearly engulfing half its face with jagged blue teeth dripping with yellow saliva. Several chains shot forth from its claws wrapping around her limps pulling her towards the large snapping mouth. If Aurora wasn’t in compete shock by the horrifying transformation from cute to terrifying she would have screamed at the top of her lungs. To say it was fast was an understatement but luckily for her wasn’t that strong. Thankfully Aurora already had her katana in hand and was able to bring the metal down on each chain that held her arm and break them with ease. As reflexes took over she ducked, dodging the mouth full of teeth and rolled forward away from the furry creature. Getting to her feet Aurora dodged another flying attack catching the back of its body with a handful of fur. Hoisting it into the air she flung the small thing high into the sky and it howled with anger sending its chain rushed towards her again. This time she was prepared and dove away just as the chain bit into the hard floor of the arena.

Aurora’s hand shot forth and grabbed the chain and began swinging it around in a circle above her head like a cowboys lasso. The furry being screamed as it was flung around getting angrier and angrier the faster Aurora went. Finally finished Aurora pulled down hurtling the thing to the ground and swung her blade just before it hit making the alien disappear. Jesus that was weird.

Just then the walls began to lower and as the last of the contestants were revealed a loud bellowing yell came from the palace.

“DONNIE!” There was no mistaking it was Raphael.

Looking over to the genius he was leaning against his bo staff with a sly smirk on his face and Raphael nowhere in sight. He had beaten Raph in the nexus championship and by the sounds of the hotheads scream he was not happy about it. Good for Donnie though, he deserves to be seen not as a genius but an excellent fighter.

Making sure not to catch his eye she stood from her kneeling position and faced the castle waiting for the next match. The contestants were dwindling and Donnie, Mikey and Leo remained of the turtles. There was no way she wasn’t going to be matched with at least one of them before this thing was over with. She just hoped it wasn’t Leonardo. She didn’t think she could handle that, at least not after what she saw in the street a few hours ago.

The Daimyo stood along with Ue-Sama who looked down at her from above with a large smile on his face. She knew that look; she had seen it the last time they were here. It was the look she couldn’t reciprocate with the Daimyo’s son but she gave him a warm smile back nodding in acknowledgment. After this was done she would head back home, the more time she spent with the man the more uneasy she became. There was something not right about him, like he was scheming something behind his father’s back. It made her skin crawl and she hoped she was wrong.

Again the Daimyo raised his war staff and the walls began to rise engulfing the remaining warriors in its power. Aurora closed her eyes taking quick solace in the feeling of being weightless even if it was for only a few seconds. As she rose into the next battle she let out a small sigh before opening her eyes. Pulling her katana from her sheathes she heard a shaky breath just a few feet from her. Without a second thought she opened her eyes and her blood turned cold as her body froze in place.

“Leo.”

@bluesakurablossom @alonia143 @imthegreenfairy88 @ravn-87 @blossom-skies

#tmnt #tmnt leonardo #tmnt donatello #tmnt michelangelo #tmnt raphael #tmnt fandom #tmnt fanfiction #tmnt fic #TMNT TMNT fanfiction #Fortheloveofshell #chapter 39 #the battle nexus #aurora

16 notes · View notes

current-mcr-news · 4 years

Text

Carry The Fire Podcast with Gerard Way: Full Transcription

Welcome to Carry The Fire, a podcast where we explore the big questions of life through the lens of the good, the true, and the beautiful. I’m your host, Dustin Kensrue, and my hope is that through these conversations with people of diverse and divergent backgrounds and beliefs, we can glimpse the world anew through each other's unique perspectives.

Gerard: Fiction is something to a degree that you'll hide behind in a way, and it allows you to expose yourself… I always saw the characters that I've played as some aspect of myself turned up to 12... Overall, I considered The Black Parade to be a death fantasy… death and rock and roll were kind of intertwined… Every time you get onstage you have to be prepared to die.

Dustin: Hey everybody. It is episode five of Carry The Fire podcast. Today we are joined by Gerard Way who is the singer of the band My Chemical Romance as well as also having released some killer music on his own. He has spent the last few years though, spending most of his time writing comics, including the very popular Umbrella Academy comics which have recently been adapted into a great show on Netflix. In our conversation, we talk about creating worlds and inhabiting characters, we talk about the beauty and the difficulty of creative collaboration, the complexity of trying to incorporate time-travel into a story, and we also get into Gerard’s spirituality a bit, and I want to give a brief heads up for some of you regarding that.

Gerard is going to talk a bit about magick and witchcraft. While I’m no expert on either, I do know enough to know that these words in this context probably don’t mean what most of you think they do. Some of you might not bat an eye hearing them but a lot of you probably came up inside a worldview where someone who was interested in these things was considered very evil. Gerard is very far from that. If I can try to provide a new framework for you it would be this: Generally, modern practices of magick and witchcraft, while being diverse in form, incorporate various insights and rituals from animistic pagan and folk religion, as well as incorporating some psychological intuitions from different fields and traditions. Practitioners generally tend to be very concerned with the earth and our connection with it. While this is not my spiritual tradition or practice, I recognize that we all have things to learn from each other. I think especially the ideas in these traditions about finding our place within the natural world are a helpful corrective to a lot of the western traditions’ tendency to want to dominate over nature, rather than seeing ourselves as a part of an interconnected web of being. I had no idea we’d be talking about any of this going into this conversation, but in the spirit of this podcast, I was so excited to hear from another unique perspective on the good, the true, and the beautiful, and I hope you will be too. Let’s get into it.

Dustin: Thank you so much for doing this.

Gerard: No problem.

D: It's super good to see you.

G: You too!

D: I'm trying to think of the last time we even saw each other and I- it was probably on tour.

G: Was it on the arena tour?

D: That's what I'm thinking.

G: It's been a long time.

D: And we were playing a bunch of World of Warcraft.

G: Yeah! That's my strongest memory. I have a lot of great memories of you guys, obviously, but the one that sticks out in my head the most is when we're all playing Warcraft in this big room and you had to go onstage, and you literally had your rig hooked up, you had your in-ears, they weren't in yet, but you were wired up, and I believe you even had a guitar, and you were still playing. You went literally from the keyboard from the computer right on stage.

D: Dude, I got way too addicted to that game. It's your guys' fault.

G: It was our fault, yeah!

D: Oh dude, it was so fun. It was probably like, what? Eight or nine of us playing in a room.

G: Yeah!

D: I don't know if it was the tour after that or two, and I had started just dreaming in Warcraft, and I went onstage one day and I was onstage and I had this moment where I was like, "I'm done! I can't," because I had tried to wean a little bit and it wasn't working, so I was like, "I gotta go cold turkey."

G: Yeah.

D: And I got offstage and I gave someone the Warcraft and I said, "Don't give this back to me. I'm done. I deleted it." Yeah. Which is funny because I seriously hadn't played video games since then until I just bought my kids a Switch.

G: Okay!

D: And they're playing Zelda.

G: Zelda, yeah.

D: And I decided to treat myself.

G: Nice, nice.

D: That's why I got a Switch for the road because Zelda's the best.

G: Yeah, I play Zelda with my daughter and it's so big though. We're having a really hard time getting a handle on the game because it's so vast.

D: Yeah, it is crazy.

G: I had to quit Warcraft too. I had to go cold turkey because it was still in my life when I wanted to write The Umbrella Academy.

D: Oh.

G: And I actually had this- I was at the crossroads and I had this moment where I was like, "I can either play Warcraft or I could write this comic."

D: It's a time sink.

G: Totally.

D: That game especially.

G: Yeah.

D: The social aspect, it just ends up being enormous.

G: Yeah yeah, so that was it. I quit and never looked back.

D: So, I was gonna ask you, prompted you earlier to think about it. What was something that gave you a feeling of wonder as a kid?

G: Okay so, I have a couple really obvious-

D: Or multiple things.

G: Multiple things, yeah, I have a couple real obvious answers.

D: That's alright.

G: And I know this is such an obvious one but Star Wars was really big. It just was and I know it was for millions of people. Once I saw that, it was like the first movie my parents ever took me to see and I was really young, but the thing back then was they were running these in theaters for like three years.

D: Oh really? I don't think I realized that.

G: Yeah. So Star Wars had come out and then they just kept running it until The Empire came out. I must've been two or something and they brought me to the theater.

D: Oh wow! I think I remember, I think my first memory of going to a movie was seeing- Was Jedi '84?

G: '83, yeah. I think it was '83.

D: So I remember going to see that, standing in line with my dad.

G: Me too!

D: That's the first, I don't know, there's just those moments where you have those- I remember listening to certain records in my dad's car.

G: Yeah.

D: And he'd turn it up loud.

G: Yep. That's one of my favorite memories of my dad is him picking me up from school early and then taking me to go see Jedi.

D: Oh that's cool.

G: Yeah, we waited in big lines that wrapped around. Even back then, there were a couple people ordering pizza. That's one of my favorite memories of being with my dad.

D: That's super cool. What about Star Wars specifically created that wonder? Was it the world?

G: The world, I think. It was the world, the scope, just this world you wanted to live in, that you wish existed and there was only three movies back then, so your brain would kinda fill in the gaps like, "What is it like? What are their supermarkets like?" And your brain would kinda- and later, that would come into play when I would RPGs, which is another thing I'll bring up in a minute. There was a time where I was in college, or right before college, where we were playing a Star Wars RPG that I was running, and it's just such a rich world.

D: Like a tabletop one?

G: Tabletop, yeah. And it was a really great game and it was super epic because the one thing about it was everybody already had a sense of that world in their head.

D: Yeah, you don't have to build that already.

G: Yeah, you didn't have to build.

D: You just add onto it.

G: Yeah yeah, so they all knew the world so when you would describe something, everybody had a vivid picture in their head, and then anything you hadn't seen before, you would just describe, but people had a point of reference so they would know.

D: That's pretty cool.

G: But yeah, Star Wars was like the first one and I was just obsessed with that for my whole childhood, playing with the action figures with Mikey, and we had our own sarlacc pit which was a dirt pit, and stuff like that. And then the other thing that was really important to me were tabletop RPGs. So, I was in the 3rd grade at a new school, but I still hung out with my best friend who was still at the old school. Anyway, basically he had an older brother- his friend had an older brother in college and he was way into D&D and he would run D&D for us, and we're all 3rd graders. That was a major moment for me.

D: That's pretty cool.

G: Yeah, it was. And to have a college-aged Dungeon Master who knew the game inside out was a really amazing way to play.

D: That's pretty cool.

G: Yeah. And that really opened up a big world for me. So then I would go on to- so I never stopped playing since the 3rd grade and then I took a try at being a Dungeon Master, and even just from playing and Dungeon Mastering, I learned how to tell stories, and I was really into that. You'd learn things even about leadership if you go to become the party leader, or if you're the DM, you learn how to keep people engaged. You learn how to keep momentum, things moving.

D: That's interesting. I feel like that's something that maybe a lot of storytellers are not paying as much attention to as they used to. There's the book I brought you, it's called Invisible Ink.

G: Oh, cool!

D: This guy, Brian McDonald, who's kind of like a story guru. He consults at Pixar all the time, teaches screenwriting, he's very cool. But he grew up watching a bunch of the classic movie directors coming up in the '60s and '70s or whatever, and they all had this vision of what stories were and really paid attention to how- they thought about how the audience would react, imagined them in the theater, or whatever. And then, something he was talking about is he just feels it's dropped off, that interplay of trying to connect and let that influence how you're actually creating the story.

G: Yeah. I'm excited to read that. I'm a big fan of structure and I'm a big fan of outlines.

D: Okay.

G: Yeah.

D: You'll like this.

G: Yeah! Good! I'm a big fan of those things because the way I see it, if you know your whole story, and I always feel like you don't need to know all the details, you don't need to know all of it, but you should know kind of- you should have some kind of outline or a structure, and then you get to have fun because you do know the beats you need to hit, but all the spaces in between, you get to fill that in.

D: I think it's rare that anyone doesn't do that and does it well. Stephen King's maybe the only one that I can think of that just doesn't write that way, and somehow he just has internalized it or something, and it ends up working itself out.

G: Yeah.

D: That's cool, man. So would you say those kinds of things, these imaginary worlds, these built worlds, are the things that still bring you the most wonder and joy in a sense?

G: Yeah! And it's something that I wanted to do when I grew up. I wanted to build my own worlds that people could share and be a part of, and that was something I did all throughout the band was just kinda- and building all these different worlds and the people that inhabit those worlds and the details down to the stickers on the Trans Am for Danger Days, those were all planned out. So my favorite thing to do is world building. And I've done it for projects that haven't come to fruition as well. Like I was working on this sci-fi TV show for a while and I just went deep, and I just came up with- with my friend Jon Rivera, we just came up with this whole world. So world building is something I'm a big fan of. And it's something I've noticed people talk about when they're talking about either my work with Umbrella Academy or My Chemical Romance, is the world building aspect, so. World building as a job title isn't a job, but I think it's- that element is, I feel like, one of my strengths.

D: Yeah. As far as the world building, I feel like you've not only built those worlds, but with MCR, you lead in inhabiting them in a way.

G: Yeah.

D: It's fun to watch. It's scary for me a little bit, watching it. Is it scary for you or is it safe for you? To be in that character.

G: That's a good question. I think there's a bit of safety that comes with being a character, and obviously, I was looking up to my heroes when I was constructing that. I was looking at David Bowie, especially around Black Parade, that's when I was like, "I'm gonna be a character." Early Black Parade stuff was like, I had written this line out that basically said, "What if Death had a rock band?" It obviously changed from that and we all became Death in a way, the whole band, but there was a safety with inhabiting a character, and the character I was during Black Parade was fun because I think in an entertaining way or a positive way, there was this level of disdain that you would have for you audience as playing as The Black Parade. But it was, to me, a healthy kind, because you were just playing really. And I thought that was a fun aspect of that character. But then there's a lot of you in the character and it's kind of- I always saw the characters that I've played as some aspect of myself turned up to 12. It's interesting when I would meet people afterwards and stuff, they would be like, "I didn't think you were gonna be so normal when I met you," just because the way I would act onstage. And I met a lot of kids who were like, "I thought you were gonna be such a jerk."

D: That's funny.

G: Because I would play one, you know. And it was just part of the drama for me.

D: Yeah. That's cool. Have you read any Ursula K. Le Guin?

G: I love her! I just reread Earthsea, the first one.

D: I haven't read it. I've heard it's amazing.

G: Yeah, it is.

D: I just got into- I read The Left Hand Of Darkness.

G: Oh, I've not finished that, but I loved what I've read.

D: It is a very slow book, in a sense. It's not exciting, in a sense, but it's got this patient movement and by the end, I was just floored by it. It was fantastic.

G: I have to finish that one. I love her and her work, especially Left Hand Of Darkness, it does have a patient movement, I think that's the best way to describe it. And I've also loved the way that she talks about storytelling in writing, and one thing I've read from her recently that really stuck with me, this is a quote of hers, and I'm paraphrasing it, I don't know if I'm getting this exact, but she basically said, "Not every story needs to have a message. It could just be the act of telling a story. You don't have to lecture your readership or your audience, or hit them over the head with this big message. It doesn't have to have one."

D: Which is interesting because I feel like she is a very message orientated writer in a certain way, but maybe that's coming in in a very natural sense.

G: Yeah.

D: [C.S.] Lewis talked about that too, where he was like, "The last thing you wanna do is write this thing that's just trying to tell something." He's like, "Whatever truth that you actually believe, those things are coming out if you just write."

G: If you just write, I agree with that.

D: Like Narnia, apparently, started from- he had a picture in his head of a faun in a snowstorm holding a parcel with an umbrella. That's the whole world built out of that, and he loved that image, and his love for it blossomed into something.

G: Yeah! That's awesome!

D: It's super cool. So, the beginning, in the intro of Left Hand Of Darkness, Le Guin says, "I am an artist, and therefore a liar. Distrust everything I say. I am telling the truth. The only truth I can understand or express is, logically defined, a lie. Psychologically defined, a symbol. Aesthetically defined, a metaphor." So even when you're making music, you were talking about you're making these fictions, you're lying as it were. I was watching something the other day, you said something like, "Sometimes fiction is closer to fact," or something in that range. Is that accurate of how you feel creating, that sometimes by- you're getting at a deeper truth by telling a fiction?

G: Yeah yeah. That could happen, and I think it's kinda magical when it does happen. Black Parade especially is filled with a lot of metaphors and maybe the fiction is something to a degree that you'll hide behind in a way, and it allows you to expose yourself. Because exposing yourself is really hard and one of the- just allowing yourself to be vulnerable is really hard and one of the things that Rob Cavallo said to me when he was producing Black Parade was, "Making a record, a great record, is you're almost pulling open your insides and you're pulling all your guts out," and things like that, and it's a brutal process because of that, but I think I did that on that record a lot. There's a lot of self loathing and there's the Catholic guilt I grew up with appears in stuff like Mama and House of Wolves, how you think you're destined for Hell and things like that, but it's cool, yeah. Fiction gives you a way to express these things and make yourself vulnerable and open yourself up and that's the way I like to use it, and then sometimes, there's stuff that's just straight fiction or fantasy. Overall, I considered Black Parade to be a death fantasy. A rock and roll death fantasy because I thought death and rock and roll were kind of intertwined in a way, because I think Mick Jagger had said once, "Every time you get onstage you have to be prepared to die."

D: That's amazing.

G: Yeah! So, it was this rock and roll death fantasy, Black Parade.

D: That's cool. I have the worst memory. So, I was preparing for this and somebody was like, "Hey, ask Gerard if he really wrote the treatment for the Image Of The Invisible video," and I was like, "Holy shit!" I totally forgot that-

G: Oh my god!

D: That you did that.

G: Oh my god! That was so fun too! I totally forgot! I gotta rewatch that.

D: What's funny too is I watching your videos and I was like, "This is so cool, these characters. We've never really done anything like that. I guess Image Of The Invisible is kinda like that," but didn't even make the connection, but it's totally that way because you were building that world!

G: That was so much fun.

D: And I got to live in it and it was cool.

G: That's cool. Yeah, I was really honored that you asked me to conceptualize a video for you guys.

D: It was fun. I don't think we've ever had another one where it was such- well, definitely not such a developed story.

G: Right. Didn't we do something too where we had lights on their helmets?

D: Yeah.

G: Their eyes were supposed to be lights or something?

D: Yeah, maybe it was like a single eye was a red laser-y light.

G: Yeah. That was cool. I'm gonna rewatch that when we're done.

D: So you grew up with the Catholic guilt, you said. Did you ever feel like you inhabited that world, or was it something being kind of thrust on you that you didn't- I mean, it's hard as a kid.

G: Right.

D: You don't even know, but I'm curious about that and then where you'd feel like your kind of big frame worldview is now on like, "What are we all doing on this rock?"

G: Right, right. My family, my parents, they weren't super religious. I come from this Italian Catholic background though so it was the kind of thing, my grandmother would go to church sometimes, but never would push us to really go. But for Christmas or something, my mom would go with her. But I think they thought, my parents thought, "This is the right thing to do. We should raise our child with believing in God and raise them Catholic because we're good. Even though we're not always there, we're good Catholics." So, they kind of put me on that path and I think the first thing I learned from being Catholic, or just religion in general, maybe it's somewhat at times specific to Catholicism, is this fear. And this fear of Hell, that's they really instilled in us. I think I was in the 1st grade or something, really young, and there was this thing that would happen where they would talk about death and Hell and all that stuff, and there was this period which, because of these classes, these after school classes, I would have these bouts of just crying. I guess I was coming to terms with the fact that my parents wouldn't be there forever or I would lose them and they would die. But then the additional fear of, "Well, if they behave bad, they'll go to Hell, and I'll go to Hell too," and so, there was this period where it was really upsetting for me, and I channeled that. I tapped into that stuff on a couple records, and on Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, I borrowed a lot of Catholic imagery, and that second video for Helena being in a church, and things like that. So I kinda started- and in some of our merch designs too. I remember we had one with a cathedral and a rosary and all this stuff, and then that would come to a head in the song Mama on Black Parade but, yeah, my journey in terms of spirituality and where I came with that. Obviously, at some point, I was confirmed in the 5th grade, so I did that. But then after that, my parents didn't have any more requirements out of me, because it was all about baptism, communion, and confirmation. And if you did those three things, you were good, then you could go as you wanted. So they never pushed me to go. And then, over the years, obviously I got into punk rock and I didn't believe in God for the longest time, and then I just started to really need spirituality in my life as I got older. And I'm more of the sense where I believe in there being some- I don't know if it's a God, but I do believe there's something.

D: Something, yeah.

G: Yeah. There's something out there, there's some kind of reason. I also believe we come from- because we do, we come from star stuff.

D: Yeah.

G: We come from the universe. We're birthed from the universe. I'm a believer in the fact that the universe is chaos and born out of chaos and it's uncontrollable, and there's kind of no rhyme or reason to anything, and tragedies and accidents and bad things happen and good things happen, and it's really just chaos being this constant true thing in the universe, and I came to those discoveries through my study of magick, occultism, and things like that, which I was inspired to do by my friend Grant Morrison. He's kind of like a big brother to me, mentor, he's really supportive and he's very into magick. And so I became interested and he's given me some lessons, and I actually wanted to do a podcast one day with him where I literally just sit down with him and have him talk about magick, because the way he describes it is, you would almost need it to be recorded to fully explore all the theories and things like that. So, I started to need magick, high magick, chaos magick, and eventually witchcraft, and witchcraft is something I felt more comfortable with because I always felt like, when I was reading about chaos magick, it felt like it was about making the universe bend to your will, whereas I was looking for something more that you were in service to the universe.

D: Interesting.

G: I think I got this from reading Crowley's book on magick, but basically, I don't know exactly what he said, but basically reality is your perspective. And that was kinda one of the key points of magick, your brain builds your reality.

D: Yeah.

G: And I thought that was a really great take away from all that. So, yeah, I've been interested in spirituality and things like that and studying shamanism, and all that stuff. We, with our daughter, we didn't raise her with religion, but we, Lindsey, my wife, is really spiritual too. Not like a practicing witch or anything, but she's just naturally adept at those kind of things. She's really in tune with nature, she knows a ton about herbology, a lot of the founding cornerstones of witchcraft is just kinda part of her life. And so, we do raise Bandit with- Lindsey teaches her all about herbs and plants and we have a witch's garden, and communicating with nature and trees and animals and things like that. So we're teaching our daughter that there is a kind of magick to life and magick does exist. It's not Harry Potter magic, but you know.

D: A lot of that seems like it's about an embodiment, a connectedness to everything, to other people.

G: Yeah, connectedness, for sure, yeah. And just teaching her that she's connected to the universe. And if she grows up and wants a different kind of religion, that's great too, and I know I explored those. I was looking for a religion in art school, because I had a class where we had to study all the religions, or most of them. And I kept going from each one and I was like, "I like bits of this one, but I don't like that." I couldn't find one that I landed on until I got later in life into more spiritual things like magick and witchcraft.

D: Cool. So with something like witchcraft, which for a lot of people are gonna hear it and have not at all the idea that you're talking about I think, so something like the idea of goodness in that, where does that derive from? Is that coming from the inter-connectedness? It seems like there's a moral view to it rather than morality being a decree maybe. It's something that arises out of those connections?

G: Right right, yeah! I think the positivity in it, to me, and here's the thing. I don't consider myself a practicing witch or anything like that, I just read a ton of this stuff. And that's one of the things they kinda warn you about with magick and everything, you could read all the books you want and some people spend their whole life reading books and never practice, but the thing they tell you to do is practice. And I think yeah, the goodness comes from being in service to the earth. Being connected to that and also, what I've learned about witchcraft, or at least the kind of witchcraft that I like, is it's very gray. It's not black magick, it's not totally white magick, it's just understanding that the universe and all things in it are very gray, there's no black and white to everything. And I've really liked that the most, because I get older- when I was younger, I was very black and white about a lot of things. Especially in the earlier days of My Chemical Romance, everything was really military and rigid, and black and white, and this is right and this is wrong. You kind of get older and you start to realize, "No, things aren't that simple. Not everybody's all good or all bad. There's a grayness there."

D: Which, I think, I have a song of the latest Thrice record called The Grey and it's dealing with that idea of deconstructing the black and the white, and I think the biggest danger there is the idea that even if there was straight black, straight white, you are betting a lot on your ability to discern it at any given moment.

G: You are.

D: And then if you are actually holding to it, and you're basically betting on your ability to discern this thing and now it's of the most ultimate consequence and you filter out everything that doesn't fit into that, which is basically a bunch of yourself and a bunch of everyone around you.

G: Yeah, exactly, yeah.

[ad break]

D: So I have a couple questions I’ll pepper in here from some of the Patrons. James Corvit said, “What is the purest form of goodness you’ve experienced as a human being, and how do you explain it?”

G: Purest form of goodness.

D: I don’t know, it’s deep.

G: Yeah.

D: I don’t know if that’s from someone or just internally.

G: The purest form of goodness. It’s a tough question but it’s a great question. I think the purest form of goodness is forgiveness. Or that would be something I would say is a very strong form of goodness. Even when you see people that the most terrible things happen to them, like a serial killer murders their loved one and then some of these people, not all of them, and I don’t blame the ones that don’t find forgiveness, but some of them find forgiveness and are able to forgive people for the most atrocious things, and so that feels like a really powerful form of goodness.

D: Yeah, I feel like in the middle of me deconstructing a lot of that stuff, something I was like- the idea of grace and forgiveness is something that goes deep there and I’m not willing to let go of that. Over the centuries, there’s been countless efforts to define beauty. Aristotle defines beauty as having “order, symmetry, and definiteness.”

G: Hm.

D: But it’s always struck me as a fairly anemic version of beauty. And then I saw on the cover of the My Chem single Sing, there’s a question on there that says, “Would you destroy something perfect in order to make it beautiful?”

G: Right.

D: This makes me think that you probably also take issue with that definition a bit. I wanted to ask, is there something about brokenness that’s near the heart of beauty for you?

G: Absolutely, yeah. And that, I was trying to remember that phrase a couple months ago too, that was on the cover saying, yeah, “Would you destroy something perfect to make it beautiful?” And yeah, I think beauty is way more complex than symmetry and I think there is a brokenness to beauty. I think, you look at a lot of musicians, you could arguably say from a certain perspective, if you subscribe to symmetry and things like that, a lot of musicians or front-people, men and women in bands, some of them you could say they’re not traditionally beautiful, or not what you would think is beautiful, but something about their vulnerability or their confidence and things like that, make them beautiful. And that’s in any case, even non-musicians. Like people that just go to work in the world and have normal jobs, there is something about beauty that is much deeper than just what you see visually.

D: One of the Patrons was saying that, “My Chem’s music reinforced to me and my friends that being an outcast was okay.” Was that something that you wanted people to feel? What were things growing up that made you feel like it was okay to be an outcast or a misfit?

G: I think by the time I was definitely not in elementary school- well, I didn’t have to struggle with being an outcast in elementary school. I actually went to a really cool school, it was just a normal public school, but the one thing I thought looking back that was very interesting about those years is we all got along, we were all friends, even the weirdest kids, and a lot of kids would just have these parties back then and everyone was invited. And then my first real experience with being an outsider was going to middle school, and then so, you aren’t all friends anymore, and there’s all divisions and cliques and things like that, and then I found myself to be one of these outcasts, one of these weird kids that listened to heavy metal and wore flannels. There were only a handful of us in the school that were like that. But it wasn’t until high school where I fully embraced being an outcast. The first year, freshman year was really hard because I was really an outcast and I didn’t even know where to sit at the lunch tables, because I didn’t fit in with any of these groups. And it turns out I ended up sitting with a table of metalheads because they saw me sitting by myself and they were like, “Why don’t you sit with us?” And that’s where I would learn about certain bands that they were into, like Murphy’s Law and the kind of things they were listening to back then. But it was important for me to have something that spoke to outsiders with My Chemical Romance because when I was that age, there wasn’t anything that really spoke to me like that. Or there wasn’t something so specific to being an outcast. There was lots of stuff that if you were an outcast you listened to like The Cure or The Smiths, so of course, I found all those bands. But there was nothing specifically geared to somebody that feels invisible or is an outcast or rejected and things like that, so when we started My Chem, it felt very much like we were channeling the energy of being an outcast onto whoever listened to us. And in the early days, it wasn’t a lot of kids. I mean, there weren't any kids that really listened to us. It was kinda older punk rockers, it was very interesting in the beginning. And of those older punk rockers, a lot of them were actually outcasts as well.

D: Yeah.

G: Within a scene so. And maybe they weren’t even full-on punk rockers, they were just a guy with a leather jacket at a bar who just saw something in us.

D: Yeah. That’s cool. The Patron Jonathan Clark is asking, “Do you have any rituals or practices that you do to find your center, wait for yes, get connected, see the good, the true, the beautiful in others, or let go a bit?” Basically he’s kinda asking if you have any meditative, mindfulness, something to practice.

G: Right right. I really enjoy T.M., Transcendental Meditation. Actually, I’m in an interesting spot with this though.

D: That’s where you’re chanting.

G: A mantra, yeah. You have a mantra and you kind of just repeat it in your head. It helps you, basically when you’re doing it, it releases negative energy and tension and things like that, and it’s very good. But sometimes, at least in my experience, and this is why I’ve kinda paused my practice at the moment, sometimes it could release trauma and things like that, and sometimes you end up reliving that and it makes it- and granted, your body is letting go of it, but sometimes it’s hard and I found when it would get its most intense, I would catastrophize things in my head and be- so I would be focusing on the mantra, but then things would happen like I would be thinking about the worst things that could happen to my family or my loved one, or something bad happening to them or getting hurt.

D: Is that something that happens to you? Do you tend to catastrophize in general?

G: Sometimes. I do tend to catastrophize sometimes, and it’s something I work on in therapy. I’m a big believer in talk therapy and, I don’t try to push medication on anybody, but I always just share my experience, and that it’s helped me.

D: Yeah.

G: I was somebody who was extremely imbalanced all through the years of My Chemical Romance, and go through these extreme highs and crushing lows where I wouldn’t get out of bed for like three months, but then I would be in a manic phase, and I would be up until 4am working on zines all of the sudden, and I would say to Lindsey, “I don’t need to sleep. Why do people sleep? I don’t get it.” So there was a lot of that, and then Lindsey found me a therapist and we did a lot of really hard work and I faced myself a lot, I looked inward. And at the same time, before we were able- before we explored and did the work, we stabilized my brain chemistry. That was the key. Once we were able to stabilize my brain chemistry-

D: You were able to actually…

G: Do the work, yeah. So, I am a big believer in T.M., it’s just that sometimes I struggle with it, but I know all I have to do is check in with the T.M. center and explain what I’m going through, and actually my therapist had found me this woman who’s one of the heads of, I’m not sure if it’s the David Lynch Foundation or something else, she actually said, “You should come in, I’ll talk to you, I’ll walk you through the trauma stuff and all the hard stuff.” But I’m a big believer in it because when it was cooking, and there were two months this year where it was totally changing my life until some of the negative came out. It was, I was a more productive, more focused, calmer, more engaged, more present. I’m a believer in it and a big believer in therapy and just having somebody to talk to.

D: Yeah. That’s awesome. On the drive up, I was thinking about Umbrella Academy and I really love it in general. I remember getting the comic when it came out. The show turned out so great. Are you really happy with it?

G: Yeah yeah! I’m totally happy. At the end of the day, it was somebody else’s vision and I was able to let go of that. I think I needed to. When the process first started in making it a TV show.

D: That’s gotta be hard.

G: It’s hard.

D: That’s your baby.

G: Yeah yeah! But I was really upfront when I was talking. I went in to meet with UCP and Dawn and the people there. I was with Dark Horse and they said, “What is your goal?” And I said, “My goal is to make great comics because I already went through a whole big thing with Universal trying to make this a movie and it just drained me.”

D: Oh okay.

G: And it was full of really difficult things, it took up a lot of my time, and disappointments, and I really turned my focus back to comics because I was like, that’s where you’re in charge. Nobody can- you have an editor, obviously, if you have a great editor, you’re doing great work together and you’re making changes, but it doesn’t feel like something creative is being ruled by committee, and that’s what it feels like in Hollywood. I was really upfront with Dawn and I said, “I want to make great comics so you guys have good material to make a good show.” I ended up being more involved than that. The extent of my involvement is giving notes, especially about things like wardrobe, costumes, the look and feel of the world, the fact that it’s kind of an alternate reality, and I give notes on scripts and I give notes on edits and things like that, so I am involved for sure. But I was able to realize this is somebody else’s baby and I’m happy with the results for sure. My whole thing is the proof is in the fact that everybody loves it.

D: I like Klaus a lot and I can’t remember, because I read the comics so long ago, how true to the book that character is.

G: Right.

D: Do you feel like it’s capturing what you were trying to get out with it? G: It is capturing, yeah. It’s capturing, to me, what Robert who plays Klaus, he’s capturing this kind of sadness and tragedy to the character. Also obviously, the humor. In the comic, Klaus is a little bit more of what I call a dry goth. He’s very nihilistic in some ways.

D: Not quite as whimsical, maybe.

G: Yeah, not quite as whimsical as what Robert ended up doing. But the way Robert approached the character really ended up working and he adds a lot of humanity to the character, that maybe there’s not so much of it, or you don’t see it very often in the comic with Klaus. Klaus just does bad things and makes bad decisions and obviously, a lot of that is coming from a place of trauma that he experienced as a child, and in the show, it’s cool because the drug use is there to help him quiet the voices in his head. They explored that a lot deeper and I thought that that was really cool.

D: Is that less of a focus in the comic?

G: A little bit. I never really explored the fact that he’s constantly seeing and hearing and talking to ghosts, and so these drugs kind of quiet his mind. I’d never explored that really deeply.

D: Which is cool because you, it’s another evidence of you’re building a world and someone else was living in it, and then they were like, “Well yeah.”

G: Yeah!

D: “Of course he’s like that,” and you’re like, “Well dang.”

G: Yeah! That’s a cool thing. They’re able to point at things you weren’t seeing because sometimes when I’m doing stuff like creating a world like Umbrella Academy, a lot of it is running off the subconscious. A lot of it is, some things you don’t realize you’re putting in there. And when they look at making a TV show or a movie, they really kinda deconstruct it and look at it and say, “Well, this makes sense because of this.”

D: Some of the beauty with the comic is that the concise kind of form makes it to where you don’t always have to trace down all of these rabbit trails, but when you're trying to blow it up into something else, you’ve gotta figure out how to make sense of it all.

G: Mhm. And to bring it back to the question of a sense of wonder. That was the other thing I thought about this morning when you asked me the question was, “what do I get a sense of wonder from,” and comics were a big one. Because to me- and then I would later reinforce these feelings when I started making them and writing them. You could do anything in them and that’s really what’s beautiful about them. I also love the mechanics of them, because there’s definitely things you could do in comics that you can’t do in film and TV and I love that. So I’ve really learned to embrace the medium when I’m writing them. I think I’m writing comics that are definitely comics, and they’re not just a TV show playing out in a comic.

D: Yeah. How much do you draw your own stuff just to get your ideas going? Or is it more conceptual?

G: Quite a bit. No, I do- well especially for something like, less so on Doom Patrol but Umbrella Academy, Gabriel Ba, the artist and I have this really cool relationship and I think the ideas kinda need to start with me, and I’ll do a sketch and then Gabriel will completely reinterpret that and kinda make it much cooler and much better.

D: That's because that’s your complete world from scratch, whereas with Doom Patrol you’re reinventing something?

G: In the beginning, Umbrella was definitely my complete world from scratch and I had this idea, but Gabriel, especially even in the early days, he helped build that world. I was able to give him a couple references and I’m like, “I don’t know, maybe it’s the ‘60s, maybe it’s the ‘70s. People are dressed like the ‘60s and cars look like they’re from the ‘60s, but there's modern things too.” And he loves drawing architecture, which you don’t find a lot of in comics. A lot of people try to stay away from the buildings in the background and the architecture, but he embraces the architecture so he really built that world with me in the beginning. But we still have our process and the process usually, not always but usually is, especially if it’s a villain or something like that, I’ll do some kind of sketch, even if it’s bad, and then Gabriel will take that and make it something.

D: That’s cool. Collaboration is terrifying and super fun when it’s working.

G: Yeah! When it’s working, it’s amazing, yeah. I love collaborating, and I’ve learned to really embrace it over the years. Delegating and collaborating were two skills I really needed to get really good at, and I think I got better at collaborating after the band. Although, we were pretty good about collaborating in the band, I just got better at it though.

D: Yeah. It’s definitely for Thrice, the most fun but also the hardest thing for sure, and it causes the most tension.

G: Right. Yeah, for sure.

D: Just because you care.

G: Because you care, yeah! You care, and sometimes you do see or hear a complete vision so you want that realized.

D: I think that’s the hardest part. You’re like, “I see all this,” and you’re like, “Okay but there’s three other people.”

G: Yeah!

D: Every single time that I’m set on something, and then everyone else is like, “Dude, no,” every time by the end, I’m like, “Wait, what was I stuck on?”

G: Yeah.

D: It didn’t matter anymore.

G: Yeah!

D: It’s totally a psychological issue at that point.

G: It is!

D: “It has to be this way.” No, it could be a million ways and they’re all different and cool.

G: Yeah. And that’s what I learned too when collaborating on music, is exactly what you just said. You don’t even remember what you were hung up on.

D: Totally.

G: Because it’s just much better after everybody's worked on it.

D: It’s very similar to being super upset about something in the moment and you’re just not thinking clear, and you sleep and you wake up and you’re like, “I was real upset about that. It doesn't seem like a big deal anymore.”

G: Yeah.

D: Time travel is a big thing in Umbrella Academy.

G: Yeah.

D: Which it’s notoriously troublesome to write stories with time travel.

G: Yeah.

D: And not have it just fall apart. If you’re trying to get a specific future, you have to have a bunch of people constantly fixing these things.

G: Right right!

D: I like that way of interpreting because usually it’s, “Oh, we fixed this one thing,” and you expect it to just keep going straight, but no way.

G: Right. I really like that the show took that from the comic and really explored it. All these people making these little corrections, sometimes they’re violent corrections, but sometimes they’re very simple. But time travel is such a pain in the ass. I did not envy them when they were starting to do the writer’s room for Umbrella Academy.

D: They try to make it all work.

G: Try to make it all work. And they’d have to put up these big timeline boards and be like, “Alright, this happens this year,” and that’s what I was doing when I was writing the second volume, Dallas, because there’s not much- I don’t think there’s any real time travel, besides Number 5 coming back, there’s no real time travel in volume one, Apocalypse Suite. But Dallas is all about it, so that was the hardest volume I’ve ever had to write, because time travel is just, it’s so hard.

D: Are there any stories that you like that you feel do it really well?

G: I don’t know if I’ve read enough time travel stories. I mean, I thought Back To The Future did it really well.

D: But then I always get stuck on the idea that you have to, there’s an endless cycle of Martys that have to go back.

G: Oh right!

D: And keep- my brain breaks when I try to be like, “But what if he doesn’t? Then none of it works anymore?” It all breaks.

G: Yeah, it can break very easily, and I think almost every time travel story has the possibility of completely breaking, or at least in some person’s mind out there, it is broken.

D: Yeah.

G: So sometimes you have to take time travel stories almost at face value and be like, “Alright, this works.”

D: Yeah, you can’t- well I think part of that is on the writer or whoever’s making it to address and deflect. The Brian McDonald guy I was telling you about, he talks about that somewhere where he’s like, “You gotta spot the problem and then you just need to have some character address it, and then sweep it away,” just so that it helps whoever’s watching or whatever, it helps them be like, “Oh yeah, what about this?” And then, “Oh, they thought about it.”

G: Yep.

D: And it’s not like it’s making it perfect, right? But it gives you permission to let it go, I think.

G: Yeah yeah. And you do have to address these concerns. I realized my answer might have been possibly a little lazy about taking things at face value, but one of the things I had to do in Dallas was address every concern that I thought the reader would have.

D: Which is great. When you do the addressing, it lets the reader or the watcher or whatever, it lets them let it go and enjoy the story.

G: Yeah, exactly. I’m about to start volume four of Umbrella Academy and I’m really happy because I don’t think it’s gonna have any time travel in it, so I think we’re a little bit away from more time travel in Umbrella Academy.

D: Alright, this is a question from Mike Morale, he says, “In his recent arc, Cliff Steele aka Robotman, regains his humanity, at least in outward form. But on Gerard’s latest, ahem, cliffhanger, Steele burns it all up after facing the painful inhumanity of someone with power to hurt him. I suppose my question is, how do we protect the precious beauty of our humanity while remaining vulnerable to those who have meaning in our lives?”

G: Oh wow. How do we protect that humanity? Well that’s a big question, because especially with given how the world is now and the toxicity out there online and things like that, how do you protect your humanity? Because toxicity, like the kind that Cliff experiences when he goes to visit his mother in that nursing home, it’s a very real thing and it’s something you have to deal with. I don’t know how you hold onto your humanity, it’s hard sometimes.

D: While being vulnerable too.

G: While being vulnerable, yeah exactly.

D: Which I guess is almost synonymous to holding onto your humanity.

G: Yeah.

D: Because you could close off but that’s not good.

G: Yeah exactly. I know this isn’t the healthier, great answer, but I think one of the things I did was to kind of remove myself from certain social medias. But it wasn't unhealthy because what I did was I decided to look inward at that point. Instead of, and I could tell you as many harsh people are on the internet, I was much harsher on myself. I looked in and I asked myself tough questions, I really asked myself what’s right and wrong. I think about these things deeply when I’m writing, but holding onto your humanity is very hard. And Cliff, obviously, he doesn’t hold on to that humanity, and he goes back into his cage because that makes sense to Cliff.

D: His follow up question was, “And does skin make the man, or can metal reflect who we really are just as well?”

G: I believe metal can reflect who we are just as well. I think Cliff Steele is very much Cliff whether he’s a human or a robot. He’s still Cliff and I think that’s one of the things that’s great about the character and why he’s so fun to write because no matter what, he’s still Cliff.

D: I wonder if there's anything you’ve been listening to, watching, reading, that you think people should check out?

G: Let’s see. What have I been reading recently? Well, this is old but I just decided to reread Lord Of The Rings from start to finish, and I made it through the books rather quickly and they’re just such a joy to read. They’re so relaxing, but there is a real build up to Lord Of The Rings. It gets so dark at one point, and horrific, but there’s a calm and a peace to reading it. And the way Tolkien writes, you’re just thinking about the greenery and the trees and the rivers and all of those things, and so it’s a real relaxing read for as much as it ramps up. I have a hard time watching TV. I feel really trapped when I’m watching it so I tend not to watch it at all, which is interesting about having a TV show. I bring a different perspective when I’m giving notes because I don’t watch a lot of TV. And more or less the only TV I watch is edits of Umbrella Academy. But every once in a while, Lindsey will rope me into a show that she feels like I absolutely have to watch, and she did that with Breaking Bad, and I’m really grateful she did. She literally rewatched the whole thing with me, made me watch it, and it’s still one of the best I’ve ever seen. And then she got me into Cobra Kai, have you seen that?

D: No, is it good?

G: I think it’s really good, yeah. Especially the first season is really amazing.

D: I had huge doubts about if that would be good at all.

G: Yeah, watch the first season and one of the things that actually helped hook me into the show is the episodes are a half hour, so it was really cool. I didn’t feel as much of a prisoner of the television when I was watching them, because you can watch a half hour and be done.

D: But books don’t make you feel that way? They expand.

G: Books are my favorite thing, yeah. Books are- you know how a lot of people will use a television to kind of tune out and shut off and relax? I use books to do that, so there’s piles of books next to my bed.

D: Thanks so much for sitting down. It’s been so good to talk to you.

G: You too! It’s been a long time. I miss you.

#gerard way #dustin kensrue #carry the fire podcast #full transcription

113 notes · View notes