#harleo

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Okay but what if I grab Harleo and turned them into dough and then bread

Do it you coward. /silly

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Harley to Leo, Lyric Analysis of Never Love an Anchor by The Crane Wives

Buckle up buttercups this is gonna hurt. The Crane Wives - Never Love an Anchor (Lyric Video)

On some level, I think I always understood That these hands of mine were clumsy, not clever And I tried to do the best that I could But try as I might, I couldn't bring myself to hold you

Harley hasn't ever thought of herself as smart. She works WITH her hands. She's a hard worker, and knows how to build and make things. Physically and metaphorically. That's what she does. What she's good at. She's not strategic like Leo. Not brilliant like Donnie, not passionate like Raph. Not bright like Mikey.

She doesn't even see herself as better or more impressive than Casey. Because he may not be smart but he CARES. He's GOOD even if he stumbles.

She is clumsy with her words. How she expresses herself.

And try as she did, come season 3 and into season 4, Harley reaches, she tries to connect, but her fears keep her from really…. bridging that gap with Leo. That's where this like pining/tension element of their slow burn comes from. Because they complement each other so well. They get along SO WELL, she knows so much ABOUT him and about his life, but she doesn't know him. Won't let herself reach out. Won't be that vulnerable.

It's a secret I keep tucked inside my chest With this heart of mine that's guilty, not remorseful There is love that doesn't have a place to rest But it would have buried you if it had settled on your shoulders

literally i have art for this, we have all seen it. It's Harley realizing she's got stronger feelings for Leo than she ever even realized. And far more than she'll ever let herself express.

Guilty for it, but doesn't regret it

No place to put it because that would mean crossing that line and being vulnerable enough to be hurt by his rejection. Which she wont let herself do.

On some level, I think I always understood That a ship could never really love an anchor So, I did the only thing that I could And severed the rope to set you sailing from my harbor

oof this. Post season 3 into season 4, where Leo is more far away from her emotionally than ever, and she's come to terms with the fact she's in love with him and realized it, but knows he's not in a place to receive that. So she doesn't tell him.

She DOES tell the turtles about her visions, she exposes herself, becomes vulnerable in that way and tries to reach out and connect to Leo and be there for him, but he is, as she feared, rejecting her at every turn. He's been changed, his priorities are different and he can't see her. And she comes to the realization that as he is she can't reach him.

So instead of trying to hold on, trying to fix him-- she's the one who suggests to Splinter that Leo should leave. Maybe not forever. But for a while. That he needs space from all of them. From his family. From her. From all the things that are reminding him of the fear that he's not enough.

She sees him as the brilliant adventurous ship setting sail to great heights, and herself as the anchor holding him back.

So she initiates the severing of that more finally. She lets him go. It's the only thing she can do for him at this stage. Because she knows she can't help him.

There are times when I still wonder about you You are someone I have loved, but never known And you'll never see the reasons I had For keeping my claws away when they were close enough to hurt you

This breakdown is interesting, this is in the months/and final month that he's gone and trianing in Japan. Harley commits to and succumbs to her own hatress and bitterness. And puts all her focus into vengence against the Foot and against Karai. Particularly after Karai attempts, again, to kill the turtles and presumably succeeds.

She wonders about Leo, if he's well. If he's getting better. She wonders what he'll become when he returns to find his home destroyed, his family gone and his enemy living large. And she decides that she won't let him fall any further. That even if he ends up hating her for it, she's going to take revenge into her hands. She's going to end Karai.

For Leo. For her friends. and For herself a bit too. Because she doesn't want Karai to take him too.

All of these things are why she dedicates herself to basically, solo-leveling a plan to kill Karai and bring down the Foot Tech company. And she formulates an actually pretty solid plan of local business terrorism. Had she succeeded, even if she didn't kill Karai, which would've been a suicide mission anyway, she most assuredly would've erased years of financial and business records and invoices. It would have CRIPPLED Karai's business and tied her up in who knows how many lawsuits and database issues. Like Harley's intention was 'If this family of high skilled ninjas can't kill you then i don't stand a chance. But I can bury you in so much paperwork and litigation that you'll be feeling it for the next thirty years.'

And Leo will never see the reasons for all of this. The reason why, when he does return and is trying to connect to her, her first instinct is to reject him. To keep the new claws she's made to carve out her revenge away from him. To avoid poisoning him. Because she loves him, but doesn't know this new Leo. This Leo who's no longer angry, but clear, and remorseful, and trying to apologize, and trying to grieve, and trying to handle the worst news of his life the MOMENT he got home.

And she can't bear to see him suffer anymore because of her.

I am selfish, I am broken, I am cruel I am all the things they might have said to you Do you ever think of me and my two hands? And wonder why they never soothed your fevers? And wonder why they never tied your shoes? And wonder why they never held you gently? And wonder why they never had the chance to lose you?

How she sees herself. All the things his family said about him when he was at his worst, when he was suffering. Because he was, broken, and selfish, and cruel to all of them. And Harley sees herself and realizes she became that too.

Does he ever think of her? Is what she wonders. Does he think of her clumsy hands that only know how to till earth and plant seeds and be simple.

And those hands DID ALL THOSE THINGS. She soothed his fevers, she held him when she could, she was there for him in so many small and meaningful ways but she intentionally stifled herself in such a way that it wasn't until he saw what his life was like WITHOUT IT that he even realized it was missing. She never LET HIM SEE those moments. She loved him with so much dedication and care but she did it all in secret. Because she was too afraid to expose herself.

Those hands that never had the chance to lose him, because she never really reached for him in the first place.

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Hey gang how would we feel iiiif I cleaned and colored the spin-hug animation and maybe added some more scenes to it 👀???

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So I just saw the post about 2003 Harley in 2003 Karai what about 2012 Harley and 2012 Karai or the Rise versions?

Ohh! @khlegacynexus what a great question! Sorry this is SUPER LONG!!! ----------------- When it comes to 2012, I wasn't planning on getting too in depth with it for an AU inside that series, mainly because I haven't seen past season 3 and it's not my favorite iteration. Karai is one of the reasons why-- mainly because I really don't appreciate how her character was handled in some regards, but that could be said for much of the female cast. It didn't feel like the people telling the story had a lot of respect for female characters which was a bit discouraging. I was in highschool at the time that series came out and so, It wasn't an impression I appreciated at the time-- THAT SAID; Keeping kindof in line with it-- Harley most likely would feel a lot more sympathetically with Karai than any of her AU counterparts. I'd even go so far as saying in 2012 that they could become fairly good friends. The problem, interestingly enough, would be Leonardo. I don't think Harley would get jealous of Karai in terms of Leonardo, even if she herself developed feelings for him later on. Actually, if anything, I think she may be all the more determined NOT to tell him about her own feelings after knowing his history with Karai (which im not gonna get too into the whole siblings thing cuz in the plainest terms I have-- it's just a fucked and unfortunate situation. Like imagine finding out your crush is actually your half sister. Imagine being 16 and that's your FIRST CRUSH EVER, and being a mutant who's almost guaranteed to never get any sort of romantic affection from a human ever, and imagine by some MIRACLE your crush actually liked you BACK-- and then you find out that's your half-sister. And she's deeply and emotionally loyal to the madman who like, ruined your family, broke your kneecaps and killed your dad. Literally, my deepest sympathies cuz that would shatter me psychologically. I'd never be able to trust a relationship again cuz like 'What if?' Would literally never leave my mind.) And so with that in mind-- Harley is very perceptive and emotionally mature, she's able to have these kinds of conversations WITH Mikey and he's about the only person she can voice these concerns to without worrying about if he's gonna tattle on her or judge her for them. And he's as comforting as he can be, tries to make her smile and worry less. But I think with all of this-- Harley would be all the more determined to be a support system for Leo, but would keep him at arm's length for fear of overwhelming him or triggering that deep psychological wound. Even as the series progressed past the Farmhouse Arc (Which is where they meet.) Now-- if the series proper handled this, they'd probably turn it into a Kikyo-Inuyasha-Kagome situation where it's just a really weird and uncomfortable love triangle thing. But in my version Harley would take a much less active role on any sort of romantic front and probably keep her feelings to herself for a very very long time and let Leo come to the realization on his own-- if he ever did. He might need the push from one of his brothers who-- after 3 whole seasons of her quietly pining for him they'd have had enough. ---

For Rise!Reflections AU

Harley doesn't meet the turtles until after the movie and I haven't fleshed the story out well enough to include Karai yet outside of just sort of... a concept I started nicknaming The History Arc, which is where Splinter gets a very concerning letter from a relative in Japan and disappears. And the boys-- April, Cassanda, Casey Jr and Harley, all hitch a portal to Japan but get separated and splint up. It's Raph, and the Caseys, Donnie and April, and PortalBros and Harley. Because of where Leo's portal takes his Team specifically (a temple shrine) something gets triggered and his portals stop working. He can teleport but only a very short distance and it's more akin to how he was at the start of season 2. So they can't contact their family, are lost in another country and can't use their main mode of transportation. The clue in Splinter's letter mentions a particular town/village and so they all separately decide that that's where they need to go and so all start making their way there from various locations around Japan. And along the way they come across humans, Yokai, good, bad, and are basically following the history of the Hamato Clan in their own individual adventures as they converge on this one single location to uncover their past. Harley gets to learn about Karai kindof alongside the brothers, and probably the most intimately because as they get closer-- Harley starts having dreams, visions of the Hamato's past, of Karai, and is able to help guide them and uncover cool secrets with them-- while Mikey and Leo have the Ninpo to activate some of these ancient artifacts and things, Harley is the one who sorta starts leading them to them. And then ofc there's the other teams who are also having similar experiences, April is able to directly speak to Karai's spirit when she meditates and her and Donnie argue at times about that because he doesn't like being in the dark about stuff, but he also isn't really good about meditating and connecting to that inner spiritualism so he struggles with it a lot on this journey. Raph's development is more emotional as he struggles with retaking a leader role being in charge of two humans and apart from his brothers. His natural instinct is to step up, but Casey Jr. ends up taking the reigns far more naturally, and they do butt heads occasionally, which reminds Raph of Leo, and reminds Casey Jr. of his own past. It's Cassandra who helps them build that bond back up stronger than ever. It's kindof bittersweet for Casey Jr. because Cassandra is both very different, and yet in moments like those reminds him SO MUCH of his mom. At one point Raph goes down protecting the two Casey's and they both step up and absolutely wreck their opponent and look after Raph as he recovers. And I'm trying to decide if it's Casey Jr, or Cassandra that end up being the 'Spiritual Guide' of this team group. I think I'll go with Cassandra tho most likely. And that's the basis of the Rise!Reflections AU!! Hope you liked it~

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He’s struggling (this is them flirting. I think..)

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Fleeting relationship Rambles and some story spoilers under the cut!

What’s fun for me to imagine (cuz I’m on a fluff kick rn and I NEED IT)

Is the small soft ways that Harley and Leo— and really that the turtles in GENERAL communicate affection particularly with Harley.

Because this kid is *touch. Starved* and she’s not really good with like…. The average ways people communicate because she hasn’t had it for a minute. And you remember how we all had that phase like somewhere in our childhood where we realized animals were easier to talk to than people and wanted to be one, and so just kinda…. Acted like a creature sometimes???

Harley isn’t in the ‘kid who barks at you’ phase (anymore) but when it comes to a situation of a person requiring comfort or closeness she just sort of defaults to what I call ‘Cat Mode’

In which she will just sorta…. Bump up against somebody.

And the turtles are kinda like floored by it at first until they realize it’s her way of showing she’s comfortable with them. And so it sort of just becomes like… part of hanging out. And they realize it’s how she most appreciates affection. More than hugs or your standard words of affirmation. Sometimes just, nudging against her shoulder or squishing against her is all she needs to regulate. (Unless it’s Raph. Harley seeks Raph out SPECIFICALLY to throw down. They’re funny that way. She is, still a Jones.)

Mikey seeks Harley out for this kind of affection the most. He also sees the most reciprocation of it throughout the series.

Harley will sometimes just kinda, push Raphael over??? And when he yells at her why she just says ‘Fight me. Nerd.’ And they race or make up some kind of competition or perform some sort of dramatic death match with rubber knives in the round corral. Whoever gets ‘stabbed’ has to fall dramatically to the ground, probably swear vengeance. And then someone, (usually Donnie and Mikey) judge on whose performance was the most moving. All of them participate in this. Harley and Raph just started it.

Donnie isn’t super big on touch either? But he doesn’t mind the occasional weight against his s if he’s at his work bench.

Sometimes she’ll quietly look over his shoulder a bit, or just sorta sit there for a bit, doesn’t always have to be touching just late company when neither is sleeping. And then she’ll wander away. Sometimes brings coffee. She is the most Cat with Donatello.

It’s interesting to note that it actually took almost a full like…. Two seasons before Harley offered this kind of affection to Leonardo. The closeness took a while. Because he is rather reserved and doesn’t seek that connection for himself very often.

It doesn’t really change until the Triceriton Invasion right at the start of the 3rd season where Harley and Donatello are both taken hostage that things get a little more serious in Leo’s mind.

The probe, for spoiler reasons, doesn’t work on Harley either, but she passes out mid-attempt. And wakes up just in time for the other 3 turtles’ plan to start, where they sneak into the throne room and take over the ship. Etc.

They of course, run right over to Donnie and Harley— who’s helping Harley sit up since she just kinda regained consciousness.

Leo does a quick assessment of his brother first, they’re all worried, but Don assures he’s fight he just really wants a nap. And Harley’s still out of it— Leo leans in and places one hand on her shoulder to steady her and the other on her cheek to get her to focus. And they lock eyes for a second and she finally starts to come to.

Once she’s acting somewhat aware Leo goes into Mother Hen mode and is like ‘what year is it? What’s my name? What color is the sky? How many fingers am I holding up???’ The whole cognitive assessment. The tension breaks when he holds up a hand and she squints like

‘You’ve only got three fingers.’ And Mikey chimes in like ‘Yep. She’s fine’

And from that moment on it’s like… there’s like a switch goes off between them and Harley starts treating Leo with the same sort of closeness and affection she gives Mikey? It’s just much less frequent than with Mikey.

Leonardo’s initiative in touch and his communication of affection and closeness increases INCREDIBLY. I think bro was developing feelings for her a whole year before it even OCCURRED to him that’s what it was.

Touches on her shoulder, poking at her more and being playful and comfortable. Nudging her with his shoulder, patting her head, checking her over if she was ever involved in a situation that put her safety at risk. (looks as you The Darkness Within, Time Travails, The Ultimate Drako Arc 👀👀👀👀) And a few other original ‘episodes’ that explore some more of those moments.

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Tiny man In Love 🩵🌸💕

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i am drawing harleo kisses but should i stream them hmmm i dunnooo