3: If you could get a Sharpie tattoo on your back, what would it be?
this one is a no-brainer, because I’ve thought about it so much; I’d get Stitch, sitting down, or walking with a palm leaf, because him and me have something special.
6: What kind of smoothie sounds really good right now?
mmmmmmhhh, I could really go for a apple/blueberry/pomegranate blend right about now
13: If you could have any pet in the world, illegal or not, what would you get?
I’ll think of a new one here, erm. I really like pot bellied pigs, they are so precious. Axolotls are awesome too!
14: What’s your most favorite part of your body?
Desi! I am a lady! *wips out fan* no but really, I like my hands and smexy legs
15: What’s your most favorite part of your personality?
although I get really insecure sometimes, I really am quite grounded and have always had a great sense of who I am and what I will and will not take from people around me.
43: Coolest thing you’ve ever been for Halloween?
HA! Hands down, Ursula last year! although I am infamous for ruined parties, I will always go all out on my costume!
NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! WHY DID YOU MAKE RAPH STUPID????? HE'S NOT STUPID!!!!!
AAAAAAH WHY ARE WE YELLING????
I’m assuming that it’s the new interlude you’re flailing about, and had I made Raph stupid in it, I would share your righteous indignation, flaily anon! Except…. I didn’t.
Settle in, kids, this is going to be a director’s commentary on subtext and why this interlude was really hard to write…
First off, Raph isn’t stupid. Nor did I make him so in this interlude. But here’s the thing: there’s a reason why Leo is my go-to turtle for viewpoint characters. His whole thing is that he sees things very clearly. He’s easy to write from because he sees things as they’re happening, and he sees subtext.
Raph is the HARDEST viewpoint character for me because he’s got this Raph-filter on, so anything I write from his point of view has to be written through that filter. He’s got that vulnerable core, and he underestimates himself a lot, especially when comparing himself to Donnie, whom he secretly admires. But here’s the things that are in the story that poke holes in the Raph-filter and let you know that Raph isn’t actually stupid:
Donnie wants Raph to come with him. And it’s not to lift heavy things; Donnie tries to get the bag himself, he just can’t quite manage it. He likes having Raph around. There’s a reason.
Donnie talks over EVERYBODY’s head. It’s just that Mikey doesn’t give a damn and Leo knows enough to know when Donnie’s gone above everyone’s head and calls him on it. Raph is in this weird place where he can’t recognize that point the way Leo can, because he’s not giving himself enough credit, and it ends up making him feel dumb. Even though he’s not, Donnie’s just too smart.
The thing is though, as Raph points out himself, Donnie stops when he knows, like with Mikey, that he’s got no hope of getting through. This is important. Donnie DOESN’T STOP TALKING with Raph.
Donnie homeschooled his brothers (at least in part — see the prequel comics). He knows exactly what his brothers have the potential to learn, even if they themselves don’t.
The other important thing — Raph keeps Donnie talking. And yes, it’s largely to use Donnie’s babbling as sonar to keep track of where he is. But he knows exactly what questions to ask to set him off again. Raph listens when Donnie’s talking. Even if he doesn’t think he does.
Notice that he recognized that the toaster coils would be useful?
There are other ways he could track Donnie. The fact that he sets Donnie off with technobabble to do it is significant. As much as he complains? He likes it.
A better-edited version with actual proper author notes will go up on ff.net later, but I don't know when I'm gonna get back to my home computer, and I wanted to make sure this birthday present got up before the end of the day....
Sonar
“…but the life cycle of the common Blatella species is really quite fascinating; the incomplete metamorphosis enables the growing instars—"
Donatello stared at him for a moment, one hand toying with the tape on a finger of the other. And then a look Raph knew all too well spread across his brother’s face. “But if you understand them, then you’d come to see that they’re really an incredible…”
Groaning, Raph tuned him out, knowing from experience that he had a good ten, fifteen minutes maybe to let Donnie babble before he realized that Raph had stopped paying attention.
Cockroaches. Seriously. He hadn’t liked them before the whole ratroach thing, and he certainly didn’t like them now. But Donnie just couldn’t take the hint sometimes when someone wasn’t into the same stuff he was. Frowning, he walked around a junk pile, letting Donnie continue to dig through the one he currently occupied with. Case in point. If Donnie found something, he’d show it to Raph and explain all about what he was going to turn it into. Nevermind the fact that half of what Donnie said sounded like a different language sometimes. He never slowed down enough to know when he’d lost Raph. Mikey, at least, he stopped for. But for Raph… Donnie just expected him to understand.
He noted that Donnie’s stream of chatter had stopped, and he poked his head back around the pile. His eyes widened suddenly. “Stop. Right. There!”
Donatello stepped back from the rusted-out framework of the minivan he’d been prodding thoughtfully. “What?”
“No,” Raph said, planting his hands on his hips. “The washer/dryer was bad. The Kraang droid was bad. But if you think I’m helping you drag a van back to the lair, you are sorely mistaken, pal. You already have a subway car! Leave the van alone!”
“Oh, come on—“ Donnie began to protest, but Raph had already retreated around the junk pile again, shaking his head. Donnie always asked for his help on these little field trips. Whereby ‘help’ usually meant ‘carry this heavy thing home.’
He kicked a can sitting in his path and looked up, frowning. The stream of chatter had stopped. “What exactly are you looking for, anyway?”
“Oh, I was hoping to find a drive casing to replace the cracked console—“
Ah. There you are. Below and to the left. Fastest way to get there is over the top of that pile there.
Satisfied, Raph let the chatter continue and resumed his poking around the junkyard. As Donnie’s voice rose, indicating that he’d found something particularly important, Raph noticed the shadow ghosting around one of the piles to his right.
Quietly drawing his sai, he slipped around the trash tower from the other side and took care of it.
When he returned, the chatter had died down again, and he rolled his eyes in exasperation. “So. Any good messages from your girlfriend lately?”
“She’s not my girlfriend, Raph, and as a matter of fact, she sent me this fascinating article on the nutrient cycles of—“
Got you. Ten o’clock, behind the bulldozer. Go around the pile clockwise.
Figuring that would keep Donnie going for a while, Raph poked at the pile in front of him with a sai. Maybe he’d find something useful in here one day. Maybe a motorcycle. He’d always kind of wanted one. Not sure what he’d do with it, but it seemed fun. Maybe if—
Two shadows moved around the wreck of another car on his three o’clock, and Raph slipped away again, sai in hand. A few minutes later, he returned to his position, yanking out an arrow from where it had wedged between the scutes on his shell. He scowled. Dammit, Donnie. “So basically, she’s an even bigger dork than you are.”
“She is not a dork! She’s smart, and wonderful, and I can’t help it if she understands the importance of mold cycles unlike some people I could mention—“
Ahead of you on the right. Fastest route through the van.
He shook his head, picking up an old, broken toaster and toying absently at the exposed heating coils on the top. After a minute, he tucked it under his arm. Might come in handy, you never—
Three shapes, closing in on the source of the chatter.
Raph set the toaster down. An instant later, three shuriken flew silently through the night, and a blunt strike to the head brought each shadow quickly and efficiently down. No fuss. No mess. Donnie’s busy. He doesn’t need to be distracted.
Scowling, Raph dropped the last of the three new ones on top of the growing pile of Foot soldiers he’d hidden behind the biggest trash mountain. That had better be the last of them. It was getting really annoying, trying to spot them while still keeping track of—
Wait. It’s quiet.
“Donnie? Find something interesting?” He struggled to the top of the pile, scanning the junkyard. “Donnie?” His eyes growing wide, he searched in growing desperation. Where? Where the hell?
“Donnie!”
“What? Geez, Raph, why don’t you yell a little louder, I think there’s some folks out in Jersey who didn’t hear you. Might I remind you that when practicing the ancient art of--”
Six o’clock. Straight down the hill. Found you.
Raph slid down the hill, picking up the toaster on the way and handing it to Donnie as he joined him. Donatello took the toaster, eyeing it with a discerning glance before stowing it in the bag he’d been using to collect his spare parts.
“What about you?” Donnie grabbed the bag, tugging on it. “Did you…find something….interesting?” He managed to budge the bag about an inch. Raph rolled his eyes. Donnie was hopeless sometimes.
“Nothing much. Some pests. Got some target practice in.” He shouldered Donatello aside and grabbed the bag, wheezing as he tossed it over his shoulder. “Cripes, Donnie, whaddya got in here, bricks?” Donatello said nothing, but his expression said it all. Raph’s eyes widened. “Oh, for the love of pete, Donnie.”
“They’re good for holding up the patrol buggies when I’m doing maintenance,” he protested.
Raph glared at him, a low growl forming in his throat. Hurriedly, Donnie backed away, his hands up. “We can leave them if you want. I just thought— Oh! Hang on a sec…” He dug into his shell and pulled out a small electrical device. “Look what I found! I think I can get it working pretty easy. Was this the one you were talking about?”
Sighing, Raph looked at the thing in Donnie’s hands, and his eyes widened as a look of astonishment spread across his face. “Is that the new Captain Cadaver game? What the heck is it doing in the trash?”
“Faulty connection leads is my thinking. Easy fix.” Donnie grinned at him. “Thought you might like it.”
“Donnie, that’s awesome!” Raph smiled, shouldering the bag more securely. “Thanks, man.”
“You’re welcome,” said Donnie, looking incredibly pleased with himself.
“And hey, this one’s handheld. You can carry that one. Unlike the table hockey game… or Space Heroes, or Atomic Robo-X…”
“You like those games,” Donnie said, leading the way back through the junkyard.
“I’d better. I’m the one who had to carry them all the way to the lair.”
“I said I’d help!”
“You try to help and you end up making things— Whoa!”
Donnie paused, about to head around a tall pile of garbage. “What?”
“Not that way. There’s trash on the other side of it. Go the long way.”
Donnie raised a brow at him. “It’s a junkyard, Raph. It’s made of trash.”
“This is bad trash. Just shut up and go around.”
Donnie shook his head, but did as Raph said, and Raph heaved a sigh of relief. The pile of Foot would remain safely hidden. Not that Donnie couldn’t handle it, but his brother was in a really good mood right now, and it would be a shame to spoil it. Because he was the kind of brother who deserved better than that.
Donnie was the kind of brother who deserved the best. And had to make do with the garbage that society threw away. And then he made the best out of it anyway.
Because that was the thing. As much as he talked over Raph’s head, Donnie also listened. Donnie remembered that Raph had made a comment about the Captain Cadaver game weeks ago after coming across an ad in one of his comics. And Donnie was the one who thought nothing of spending hours, sometimes days, fixing old, hopelessly broken-down games and getting them up and getting them working again. Not because Donnie particularly enjoyed them. But because his brother did.
Even if that brother was the one who usually had to carry the heavy ones.
And if Raph could keep Donnie safe and uninterrupted while he worked? Then he was happy to do so. And he’d do his damndest to make sure Donnie never found out.
The talking wasn’t so bad. Sometimes, it was actually really useful.
Raph looked around and bit back an exclamation. Donnie had gotten ahead of him again. He couldn’t see him. “Whatsa matter, Donnie? Get lost?”
“No, I did not get lost! And I’ll have you know, not only is my sense of direction impeccable, but the tracking application I installed on the Tphones—“
Five o’clock, above you, go through the valley.
Smiling in satisfaction, Raph followed the stream of chatter back to his little brother.
check yo mail, gurlfriends! The goodie bags were sent last week and should be at your doorsteps any day now. I was really hoping that they'd get to you by today, but alas, you all live, like, way too far away. The cards are all really short and not very profound, the lady at the post office was looking at me and I panicked and scrambled something down in a hurry. So just read between the lines and imagine that it's really deep and meaningful! OH and the magnets are wrapped in decorative café table cloths for no specific reasons, it was what I had to work with
And yeah. Desi has kind of an idea of the kind of writing output I can produce, and in university, when I was working on the next-to-last book, I ended up typing so much I got carpal tunnel in both wrists. When I showed up to work at my admin job with wrist braces on both hands, that was kind of it.
I was on a writer's forum at the time, and the writer who ran it strongly recommended the DVORAK layout for precisely that problem. I've always touch typed since I took keyboarding in high school (half the class learned on typewriters, which dates it), so I was kind of petrified. I changed my keyboard (you can do it from the regional and language options on your control panel -- you don't actually need a new keyboard for it, especially if you touch type and never look down anyway) and stuck a printout of the DVORAK keyboard over my monitor. It took about an hour to memorize the new layout, and about three months to get back up to speed.
Now I type faster than I ever could before because the most commonly used keys are right in the homerow under your fingers and you don't need to move them much, and for the same reason, I haven't needed the wrist braces since.
Which is good, when your idea of a great Friday night is to sit at a keyboard and type for five hours. :o)
tagged by: loolaa and elleseren (cheating and doing both in one post)
Rule 1: Post the rules
Rule 2: Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post then make 11 new ones.
Rule 3: Tag 11 people and link them to your post
This time I'm tagging the last 11 people on my dash who haven't been tagged already by me. Except Desi, who is probably the only person on the list who has a chance of identifying which question merited the double tag.
Rule 4: Let them know you’ve tagged them
———
1. Where in the world would you most want to visit?
I really want to go back to Italy and finish the Grand Tour I started with my friend when I lived overseas -- we stayed longer in Florence than planned, so never made it to Venice. I'd also really like to go on safari.
2. Favourite toy when you were a kid?
It was a pink bear with bunny slippers named Nanny. I still have her. She's on my bookshelf.
3. Favourite toy now?
My two Totoros that double as bed pillows.
4. What are you afraid of?
Leaving the world without having made a difference in it for the better.
5. Do you collect anything?
Do books count?
6. April or Angel?
April all the way.
7. What was the last thing you bought?
I had to buy clothes today because I've dropped about 30 lbs and don't fit into my old clothes anymore. I had three shirts that actually fit and were suitable for work.
8. How awesome are TMNT?
The awesomest.
9. The Hobbit or The Fellowship of the Ring?
Book? Hobbit. Movie? FotR.
10. How does Batman use the bathroom when he’s in a hurry?
He doesn't. He has iron control over his bladder. He's Batman.
11. How does Iron Man use the bathroom when he’s in a hurry?
He goes in the suit.
AAAAnd part 2
1. Do you have any siblings?
Yes.
2. If yes -Do you get along with them? If no -do you wish you had siblings?
Absolutely. My sibling is one of my best friends in the world. My favourite thing about going home for Christmas was marathoning TMNT with him.
3. How do you feel about marriage? Would you get married?
Yes, if it's because I found the person who is my best friend in all things and who I want to spend the rest of my life with. But not for the sake of getting married.
4. What is your favorite season (fall/winter/spring/summer)
Spring. I love watching life return to the land, and the smell of spring is my favourite thing ever.
5. Have you ever been to any sort of convention?
I go to a lot of the local SF/F cons, but only the ones that are more-or-less book-based rather than media-based.
6. If you had the option of talking to a younger version of yourself, would you want to warn them of anything, or do you have no regrets for the way you turned out?
I'd assure her that one day her weight will not matter to her or to her friends, but she can make her life a lot easier by cutting out sugar and grains before her digestive system shuts down rather than after.
7. What’s your current OTP?
I don't really have one. I think the only one I ever had was John Crichton and Aeryn Sun. My god, I love those two.
8. Who is your favorite artist (of any sort)?
I love Loreena McKennitt's music. It speaks to me in a way that not a lot does.
9. What would be the most difficult thing to live without in your life?
The ability to write.
10. Do you speak any other languages? Are there any languages you want to learn?
Really bad high school French. I would like it to be better.
11. Do you want to be a popular author and/or artist one day?
Oh, yes. Creating a story people love and is so popular it never goes out of print has been my plan for achieving immortality since I was thirteen years old. I was a little fuzzier on the logistics back then. :o)
To those of you I’m tagging -I know I probably don’t talk to most of you…but if I tagged you I probably think you’re amazing and I’m just too shy/awkward to start a conversation.
Had to respond to this -- just wanted to float out there that I'm an introverted geek with insomnia, and am often up late at night doing a chair dance of glee because somebody asked me something and now I have SOMETHING TO DO AND PEOPLE ARE TALKING TO ME OMG!. ;o)
——-
Here are my 11 questions for those I tagged:
1. Which Avenger would you most like to have adopt you as an honourary-but-much-loved younger sibling, and why?
2. You get a mythical creature as a pet -- hooray! What is it, and why?
3. What is your favourite Literary Object That Is Practically Its Own Character? (To explain: My roommate's is a tie between the Key from the Secret Garden and the Barricade in Les Miz. Mine is the Auryn from Neverending Story, or the actual book).
4. Coffee or Tea?
5. You've just had a terrible, horrible, no-good, very-bad day. The book you grab off your shelf and open up because it always makes you feel better is...
6. You magically get anime hair when you wake up one morning. What colour is it and why?
7. You're walking around a department store and hear someone say the words "Hocus Pocus Alamagocus." What happens next?
8. The Doctor arrives in the TARDIS to offer you a ride on the same day you recieve your letter to Hogwarts. Which do you choose? (Due to the fact that it's a fixed point in time, you CAN'T use one to be able to do the other -- it's either/or).
9. You are wandering through the museum and come across a mysterious artefact that connects you to and imbues you with the powers of any one ancient god or goddess from any pantheon. Who is it, and why?
10. Which Miyazaki movie would you most want to live in, and why?
11. Which muppet would you most want to be friends with, and why? (Anything made by the Henson Company counts, except for the TMNT franchise).
