If you’d like another Rise prompt, maybe something about Donnie’s battleshell? If that’s too vague, maybe its origins, or maybe what Splinter thinks about it?
this is also set in the human splinter au <3
x
When Donatello was a baby, Yoshi didn’t worry quite as much about his soft shell. He and his brothers were all the same sort of fragile, questionable mutation and its potential effects aside, and Yoshi panicked over each of them an equal amount.
They played hard. They always wanted to climb and run and tumble. Yoshi is inclined to blame the ooze that psychotic goat-man alchemist pumped them full of, because blaming him is neat and comfortable and makes Yoshi feel warm inside.
But Yoshi has also spent a not-insignificant amount of his fortune on parenting books and magazine subscriptions, and according to the experts, children are just tiny crazy people who will run at full-speed into a wall multiple times for no reason.
Which is fine. Yoshi has been a papa for almost four years now and it’s quite possible that he’ll never want to be anything else ever again for as long as he lives. His boys have secured their place in his heart and no amount of broken windows or crayon-scribbled walls or gutted kitchen appliances (???) will change that.
The problem is that Donatello’s shell doesn’t afford him the same protection that his brothers’ do. He’s as fast and strong as the other three, and easily twice as smart, but he’s just not as hardy.
Yoshi has no idea what he would do without his credit card and his talent manager-turned-reluctant-godmother. Between the two of them, he has an answer for everything.
“I don’t want to,” Donatello announces before Yoshi has even opened his mouth.
“You don’t want to go roller-skating?” he says, affecting a tone of complete surprise. It causes Donatello’s chubby face to fold into an epic pout, which is adorable, which makes up for how frustrating he can be when he digs his little heels in about something.
“No, papa, I want to go. But I don’t want to wear that dum-dum thing.”
“Your Auntie Hala is going to cry for days and days when I tell her how much you hate the present she got you,” Yoshi tells him solemnly.
Donatello considers this. Then he says, “Don’t tell her.”
Ah, logic Yoshi can’t actually find fault with. He never would have guessed he’d spend his early thirties losing so many arguments with a turtle toddler.
“You are wise beyond your years,” he says, wondering what it will look like when Donatello is a teenager, and whether or not Yoshi will survive it.
The ‘dum-dum thing’ in question is a modified back brace, meant for children with spinal disorders. Yoshi is pretty sure this qualifies. The reason Donatello hates it so much is the modifications Yoshi made to it; namely, the memory foam cover for his leathery carapace. It’s bulky and it slows him down and he hates falling behind the other three. Lately he’s taken to sitting out of their games because he would rather tinker by himself than wear the brace.
Yoshi is a little worried about that. He hasn’t come up with a way to make everyone happy yet, and he’s losing sleep trying to figure it out.
Leonardo pokes his head through the doorway. “Papa you said we were going,” he whines. “How come we’re not?”
“Negotiations have broken down,” Yoshi says, kneading his forehead with his palm.
“Dunno what that is,” Leonardo declares and visibly puts it out of his mind as not his problem. “Don-don, come on. We’re gonna skate.”
“No,” Donatello declares. His mouth is screwed up, brow furrowed, fully ready to be a little monster about it. “I don’t want to go if I have to wear the dumb fake shell.”
Leonardo tips his head to one side, considering this. It’s no secret to his brothers that Donatello has no fondness for the brace. This usually culminates in one or three of them helping him to escape it, and then hiding it somewhere stupid for Yoshi to find like the world’s worst Easter Egg hunt.
“We’re twins,” Leonardo says with all the unyielding certainty of a schoolteacher discussing matters with an obstinate child. “So we have to share. I’ll wear it, and then Donnie will wear it, and then it’s fair.”
Somehow—Yoshi can’t believe this, but somehow the logic goes to work. Donatello’s expression shifts from mullish to thoughtful. The most stubborn little treasure in Yoshi’s entire life is giving ground.
“It’s fair,” he agrees. He and Leonardo turn their big brown eyes up to Yoshi expectantly.
Honestly, Yoshi can’t believe he’s not going to have to wrestle Donatello into the brace for once in their lives. He’s a little embarrassed his second youngest child thought of this neat little solution before him. It costs him absolutely nothing to agree, and he straps the brace onto Leonardo’s back instead. When they get to the rink, one that Yoshi has unapologetically rented out for the afternoon so his kids can play freely, they’ll switch, and Donatello will wear it while the four of them turn inline skating into a contact sport.
And nearly a decade down the road, when Donatello is building advanced technology the way other kids his age are building blanket forts out of the couch cushions and Yoshi’s best sheets (re: his siblings) and he has long-since traded the brace for an armored shell of his own design, he goes from absolutely refusing to put it on to pretty much never letting anyone see him without it, ever, or else.
Because no son of Yoshi’s would understand the idea of a happy middle ground. It’s all or nothing, go big or go home in this house.
This is when the twin thing continues to save the day.
“Oh Telloooooooo,” Leonardo sing-songs, audible throughout the entire house, “Shell Time!”
“Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,” Donatello replies, but it’s a token resistance at best.
And when Yoshi wanders that way to check on things a few minutes later, he’ll find the boys in the garage. Donatello is chattering a-mile-a-minute at Raphael about the computer he’s building, and his older brother is nodding along agreeably even though he clearly isn’t absorbing a single word. Leonardo is sprawled on his plastron, head pillowed on his folded arms, letting Michelangelo go to town with glittery stickers.
Donatello’s soft shell will be covered by nothing but the blanket Raphael tossed over his shoulders, and Leonardo will wear the battle shell just long enough for his twin to relax his spine and sit without pain—because fair is fair.
These WIPs are amazing and I don’t want to be pushy, but I would like to quietly encourage you and cheer you on to keep at ‘em, whether or not you share the finished work (Though of course we’d all love to see them, cough; that cannot be denied.)
hkndjgh this actually means a lot, you guys have no idea how much it means that you’re actually interested in seeing more of these :’D this has been a really good wake-up call to how many fics I’ve left sitting around, and it’s definitely jogged the hibernating writing side of my mind, so I really do plan on keeping at them! some of these that i’ve posted are just parts of bigger fics I have planned out, and I’d like to limit myself to three of those ongoing at a time XD
Hello :] I was wondering how you feel about people tagging you in things? Specifically, I'm posting my first SPN fic today, and would like to tag you (if you're all right with that) because I doubt I'd have written it if not for reading your work. <3
I am always, always open to being tagged in stuff, especially Sam-related stuff! It’s so cool that you’re posting your first fic today! ♥ I’m excited to check it out!
I love your human!Splinter AU! If the public knows about the boys, will there be pressure for Lou Jitsu to return to the big screen with a quartet of turtle-shaped costars?
news of his four kids gets out, but the turtle-shaped secret manages to remain a secret. in part because a certain goat-man alchemist will eventually gift yoshi with some cloaking brooches, also in part because april’s mom will do anything short of physically attack reporters in the street to protect the boys’ identities
and there’s definitely pressure for more lou jitsu movies but if there’s one thing yoshi’s good at since the pit battles, it’s refusing to cave in to demands. he’s a full-time dad now. maybe he spends more time at his dojos though or pops up in interviews and stuff more often. just him being around after dropping off the face of the planet causes enough of a resurgence in lou jitsu popularity that those residuals checks are fatter than ever
You started me on TMNT2012, which has led me (among other things) to start to like Casey, which led me to your tag for him (it’s great) which led me to your Skate Bros tag and help it’s too good I hope canon doesn’t let me down on this
I am a devoted Rise fan, it’s my first exposure to ninja turtles at all and I was fully prepared to write off any other iteration because how could they possibly compare. But you. YOU. Your take on Donnie in “all the things that i could live without” got me to trust your writing enough to look at some others and! YOU! You got me hooked on the 2012 series how DARE you and also thank you so much I’ve been blessed both by the show and your treasure trove of fics.
to be fair i’ve been dragging myself back into the 2k12 pit as well, so at least we’re in it together :’) as far as i’m concerned, rise is the best iteration of the turtles we’ve got so far, so your previous stance was valid and i respect it. but 2k12 definitely has its moments too and it’s well worth a watch !!
Sorry to throw another ask atcha when you’ve said you’re catching up on a backlog bUT. When you can get to this. Who do you think would end up being the ninja’s leader if it wasn’t Lloyd? (I had ruled out Kai and Jay, but I’m in the midst of AU-writing and can no longer trust my perception of canon 😂)
asfdsg idk if my perception is much better, but I would say Cole for certain! While I think Zane could definitely handle it, Cole’s proven he can lead successfully before, and he’s just got the personality for it, you know? He knows his team’s combat potential, but he also understands every person on the team. He’s got that kind of protective energy Kai has, but it’s mellowed out enough that he knows how to divide his attention when he needs to. Apart from season 11 (and the start of season 4, sort of), we don’t really see him getting caught up in his emotions like the others do. In the true potential episodes, all four are hit with pretty personal stuff — but while it takes the others out of commission, however briefly, Cole is the one to put the mission first, and his emotional issues second. He doesn’t really falter like the others, which makes me think he’s got a tighter lid on his emotions. Whether this is a healthy lid remains to be debated, but for the most part, I think Cole is an excellent big bother, which makes him a solid candidate for leadership.
