idk much about Feudal Japan but it’s the vibes.
My inspo idea was: Leo’s crescent markings mark him as the ‘Prophesied One’ an omen that threatens to destroy his relationship with his family and the world. Clearly one is more important than the other.
so it’s old school Japan and the Mad Dogs are still turtle mutant created by Draxum with mutagen magic or something and Splinter takes them and runs. But Yokai are regular in this world so the only reason they have to hide is their lineage as Hamato clan (which they don’t know much about) and that they’re mutants and might be killed for being abominations. Naturally they aren’t great at this. I’ve got 2 locations for this:
‘New York’ is actually a walled city thats really really packed in, with bustling streets, crowded everything and very difficult real estate with racism galore.
Splinter takes them to a secluded isolated village (like their real lives in the sewers kinda) and the boys help out on April’s parents’ farm.
Idk which yet. Anyway Mikey is an artisan and paints stuff to sell for his family. He makes paintings, paints some kimonos sometimes, dabbles in pottery & beading, anything and everything really. Because of this he has to do less manual labor than his bros. Raph is the local strong boi who helps out with stuff all around. In #2 location he frequently helps out with the farm work.
Leo is the town gossip and knows just about everything. He’ll claim he doesn’t know how to speak Traveler’s Tongue but he’s lying. He learned to speak it like Donnie so he could get more news. And they definitely don’t trash talk their brothers behind their backs. Mostly Leo is forced to help Raph help April at the farm. But if it’s location 1 I think Leo does odd jobs for money and plays games with some of the local kids.
Donnie is a craftsman and develops some questionable weapons using gunpowder. Keyword being ‘gun’. It’s in beta, but it’s being made. April in both locations wants to be a messenger. Go places. Do important things. Be important. She and Leo go running to places sometimes—travel buddies~ it’s safer that way.
at night they all go to the Fight Club (cuz wrestling) if they feel like it they compete and Raph & Leo are particularly competitive in this sport. One day 3 dudes show up, 2 with flames on their heads and a girl— ya know, Foot Lieutenant, Brute and Cass. They spot Leo and immediately try to grab him. But Cass jumps into the ring and Leo just thinks it’s a regular fight since fighting dirty with weapons and such is normal in Fight Club. She starts screaming about the prophesy and stuff getting in some nice exposition and it’s revealed: Leo is at the center of a prophesy that states: The one with crescent marks will burn the world for pride and bring the Krang back.(whether it’s Krang or Shredder I’ll decide some other time) they manage to get away and demand answers from Splinter who finally fully explains their heritage.
maybe as a side thing another clan of kappa or something comes and claims that Leo has to come with them.( None of them have crescent marks but they are red eared sliders with stripes.) they say that he’s really part of their clan & he was taken from them at a young age by someone. But is that really the truth?
Really this is just a blurb of an idea I had a while back.
