Donatallo

[ Independent RP blog for Ｄｏｎａｔｅｌｌｏ from TMNT 2012 ] [ #donatallo ] ON HIATUS

[orenjininja]

donatallo

“Well– Well at least I try to include you in my life! When was the last time Leo came through to help you out? When was the last time he didn’t yell at you for not trying hard enough?”

“But if you want me to treat you like everyone else does – Fine! Go sulk in your dumb toy garage! What do I care?”

[donatallo]

“Oh, is this what you call ‘helping’? Because it’s kind of the opposite of helping.”

“Would you chill out? All I’m asking is that you stop messing with my stuff -- it might be hard to believe, but ‘hanging out with me’ and ‘not breaking everything you touch’ are not mutually exclusive.”

[orenjininja]

donatallo

“…Dude. Remind me not to go to you for counselling. I think Shredder’d be better at it.”

“Jealous? Ha! I don’t know what that word means I’m so… so… not jealous! Yeah!”

…

“I just, uh, kinda wish you’d let me hang out with you a bit more?”

[donatallo]

“Me ‘letting’ you hang out with me doesn’t seem to make a difference, considering you always barge in anyway. But if you’re that desperate, sure, let’s hang out... ”

“... SOMEWHERE YOU CAN’T PLAY WITH ANYTHING DANGEROUS OR IRREPLACEABLE.”

[orenjininja]

donatallo

“Well– Well maybe stop leavin’ all the breakable stuff lyin’ around when you know I’m gonna come in and hang out with you!”

“Aaaand! And and and! Think about my feelings when you kick me out! Betcha your chickens wouldn’t wanna be called “incompetent babbling buffoons” over and over again!” 

[donatallo]

“I think we all know that I have way more important things to think about when I’m in my lab than anyone’s feelings. Buffoons enter at their own risk.”

“... So what’s this about, anyway? Do my chickens make you jealous or something? Because you can hang out with them too, if you want.”

[orenjininja]

donatallo

“Weeeell maybe you should stop accusin’ me of breaking all your stuff before throwing me outta the lab!”

“…I only break some of it.”

[donatallo]

“Or. Or you could stop waltzing into my lab uninvited and playing with breakable things without my permission.”

“They may not be very talkative, but at least my chickens respect my boundaries.”

[orenjininja]

donatallo

“Dude…”

“You really need some friends.”

[donatallo]

“Yeah, it’s almost like I have a really inconsiderate family or something, and the only people I can trust to not ignore or mock me are a couple of hobby hens.”

[softerworld]

A Softer World: 1247

(the heroes we deserve.)

buy this print

[donatallo]

”I can’t wait to tell my chickens all about space!”

“Too bad I couldn’t take them with me... I bet they’d love it up there.”

[gillian-faith-deactivated202405]

AU where Donatello lives happily ever after with his robot son and robot dad and I’m not crying

[hamatodonatella]

donatallo

“Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have created a self-perpetuating quantum intelligence matrix?”

[donatallo]

“No... no, I’m pretty sure the ‘loving and losing’ bit is the problem here.”

[donatallo]

“Looks like robot friends are good for nothing but tears.”

[donatallo]

“As much as I appreciate not being disturbed--”

“Y’think you could’ve thought to wake me up before eating the last of the honey-mustard spaghetti pizza?”

[spaceheroesfan01]

donatallo

The slow progression was painful to watch. It made Leonardo’s heart clench and the old urge to run to Splinter with the irrational thought that their father would somehow magically know exactly what to do rise until the tips of his fingers twitched against his thigh in an aborted attempt at following through. It was childish and a gut reaction, easily squashed, but still the leader felt lost as to what to do. To see his brother suffering in this way, especially that it was Donatello, felt so wrong. Worse that there was quite literally nothing Leo could do about it. 

Except smile through it and be available for whatever Donatello might need.

“Some water then?” Maybe he’d push for the other to rest after he’d buttered him up. 

[donatallo]

Expecting Leo to persist in nagging him, Donnie interrupted, preempting any further embarrassment with a crabby “No more distractions means leave me alone” as he turned stubbornly back to his notes. “I’m fine. If I wanted some water, I’d--”

He cut himself off, Leo’s words reaching him only as he repeated them. Okay, a glass of water wasn’t as bad a suggestion as he’d anticipated. Staying hydrated would probably help him think more clearly, and maybe Leo would get off his back for a while if he humoured him.

He could afford him the victory of having helped, if only to acknowledge that he was actually offering something helpful instead of mocking his humiliating lapse in intellect just now. Donatello was well aware that his feelings were being spared.

“I mean... I wouldn’t mind some, I guess. Sure.” He sighed, surly for having lost face and still preferring turning through the papers on his desk to making eye contact. “... Thanks.”

[donatallo]

“Happy Pi Day!”

[donatallo]

“The character customization options for giant reptile monsters in this game are kinda limited.”

“Oh well. At least I can make April.”

[spaceheroesfan01]

donatallo

Leo watched in growing concern as his brother trailed off. His attempt to right himself, to continue a conversation he’d already forgotten, made the other’s heart ache for him. He smiled trying to play along so Don wouldn’t feel any more awkward than he already did.

“One hundred, right?”

“Why don’t we watch a documentary or something for a bit? I heard Discovery is having a special on emperor penguins today.”

[donatallo]

“Yes, one hundred. That’s...” Slowly, the lights came back on. Donnie’s faculties trickled back to him one-by-one -- the sureness of who and where he was, the comfortable din of background thoughts, the patience to exercise a vocabulary of more than half a dozen words. “That’s how many things there are in here. One hundred is definitely... the number of things... here...”

As he spoke, it gradually occurred to him what absolute nonsense he was spouting and he shut up, his mouth gone dry. On their own, the stumbles in his thinking (as embarrassingly frequent as they had recently been) were hardly worrisome; having the odd brain fart was only to be expected now and then, and as long as he still had the presence of mind to pause and collect himself afterward, it was only ever an inconvenience.

But he hadn’t had any presence of mind at all just now; his verbal diarrhea and Leo’s false, perturbed smile were proof of it.

“... That’s really tempting, Leo,” he said measuredly, and only after he had mentally repeated his brother’s suggestion to himself enough times to be sure that he wasn’t answering with more gibberish. “But I don’t need any more distractions right now. I need to focus. On my work.”

And evidently, keeping a better grip on his wits.

[donatallo]

Hi! I really like your portrayal, and your headcannon about Don having epilepsy is really interesting. Thank you for making an awesome blog.

✨ You’re welcome? idk I’m not really serious about TMNT anymore but writing asshole ninjas still comes pretty naturally. I’m glad other people enjoy me blowing steam on here.

✨ But the epilepsy thing is less of a headcanon and more just me projecting tbh. It’s cool that I can raise awareness or whatever I guess, but I’m just describing my own experiences and not really trying to represent the disorder in a way that will resonate with anyone else.

[spaceheroesfan01]

donatallo

“I also remember how hard the crash is from just one of those things. The last thing we need around here is you hopped up on ten of them and then short circuiting when the high runs out.”

“Seriously, Don, let’s watch a movie or something. If you won’t go to bed, at least lay down for an hour or two. I’ll even make popcorn.”

[donatallo]

“Let’s you watch a movie, and I’ll go back to studying this brain worm. The sooner you stop bugging me, the sooner I can finish with this and move on to the other one hundred or so things on my to-do list that no one else is smart enough to do.

“Maybe once I’m done with that stuff I can act-ually... ac-tu-al-ly...--”

Like a switch had just been thrown, Donatello’s mind suddenly emptied. A dense fog settled in the space that countless thoughts had just occupied; he could feel his mouth still forming words, but the intent behind them was lost.

“Actually...?” He stared helplessly at whoever he had been speaking to. What was he saying? Did it matter? Maybe he should just keep talking -- any words his tongue remembered would do. “A-actually, there’s one hundred. One hundred things. There’s one hundred things. Actually one hundred.”