In a humble house within the New York city suburbs, the hulking testudine by the name of Raphael sat in his kitchen. He was soon met by his oldest child, who came rushing into the room. Nerves nagged at Frida as she anxiously awaited the arrival of her boyfriend. She was already sixteen, and the turtle in red couldn't believe how fast the years had flown by. This was the first of her many suitors to agree to meet her...interesting...family. All those who came before broke things off with her upon learning of her parentage.
"Dad, remember, be nice." Raphael grunted with displeasure at his daughter's request.
"I make no promises." His stern eyes narrowed into a glower.
"Daddyyy, please! I really like this guy a lot...Can you at lease be civil?"
"I suppose that I can try dat." He grumbled in agreement to her terms.
Hearing the commotion coming from downstairs, Lucas wandered out of his room. He stopped mid-way down the stairs, and peeked through the wooden railing. His thin, almost alligator-like tail curled into his lap, and he clutched it out of nervousness. This was the first guest they'd had over since he'd fully grown into his mutant traits. He ran his hand over the mohawk-esque tuft of reddish-orange hair on the top of his head before scratching at his scales. When a few flaked off, he sighed.
"Shedding...again..." He was already fourteen years of age, and looked exactly like his father, only with a much thinner frame. When he was born he appeared mostly human, with hair and pale cream colored skin. His only distinctly terrapin characteristics being his three fingered hands, two-toed feet, and tail. However, unlike his sister, he went through some dramatic bodily changes when he hit adolescence. It happened so rapidly that it almost felt unreal...almost.
His plastron and scales came first, followed by his snout, with his shell having only just recently begun to grow in. The protective shield still wasn't fully developed, and plagued him with growing pains. He reached over his shoulder and rubbed the top of it gently, as if that would ease the discomfort. Mutant puberty was the worst! When the doorbell rang, he scrambled to his feet, and raced back up to his room. Once there, he rummaged through a drawer until he located a baseball cap with the Maryland Terrapins logo on it, and donned it backwards.
"At least this'll kinda hide my freaky mutant dandruff." He huffed in dismay. Hearing his mother call for his presence, he hesitantly proceeded downstairs to greet the visitor. Thankfully, Frida had well informed her suitor of her "special" family, to avoid shock and panic. That did little to alleviate the teenager's nerves as he trudged down the steps. He was met at the bottom of the stairwell by his mother, sister, and their guest for the evening.
Lucas' eyes widened upon first sight of Trevor, the small hoop ring on his lower lip caught the light as the charming young man grinned a hello. Tall for his age, Lucas was already 6ft even, almost at height with him. The young terrapin's heart thumped in his chest when their eyes met. He was speechless, enamored by the handsome stranger that stood before him.
"Huh-Hello-HI!" in almost robotic movements, the awkward young man closed his eyes and extended his hand, inviting a friendly handshake. He would understand if the human didn't return the gesture, most didn't want to even go near Lucas, let alone touch him. But when he felt a light squeeze in his palm, he reopened his eyes to find Trevor's in his. It wasn't long before the mutant teen quickly withdrew his hand, suddenly self-conscious about his scaliness.
"S-sorry my hands are pretty rough..."
"It's okay, Dude, you're fine."
The fawning lad's hazel eyes sparkled, he was unaccustomed to being treated so kindly by a human he'd only just met. Sure, mutant's had since been assimilated into everyday society, but that did little to change how they were viewed. The road to acceptance would be a long and arduous one. Lucas sighed as he thought about the world's state of affairs only to have his concentration shattered by the boisterous entrance of his father. The behemoth eclipsed the doorway separating living room from kitchen, swiftly lurching forward to come face to face with his daughter's beau.
"Nice ta meet ya, I'm Frida's fatha." He wore a jovial expression before lifting Trevor up off of his feet and into a hug. The protective father then whispered into the young man's ear. "If ya hurt my lil' baby girl, I will pummel you within an inch of yer life," before setting him back down. The boy shuddered, but kept his composure. Both siblings groaned at their beastly dad's embarrassing actions. Meanwhile, Raphael's wife shot him a glare at which he smirked and grunted. Putting on a happy face, the matron led evenyone into the dining room to take their seats.
It wasn't long before the food was ready, and plates were handed out. The young terrapin fidgeted at the table, occasionally peering up to steal glances at Trevor before darting his eyes back down at his plate. He'd never felt this before, his heart was now in this throat, beating faster with each passing second.
Just as the twitterpated lad asked himself that question, a chirping sound began emanating from his body. He jolted in surprise, and the entire table focused their attention onto him. With a red face, he slowly sank down in his seat. His father immediately knew what it was, and wasted no time in speaking up. As if the evening hadn't been awkward enough already, it quickly went from bad to worse.
"Son, we should go to tha bathroom."
"NOW." the imposing growl of a command was impossible to disobey. Grabbing his son by the hand, Raphael led him upstairs to the bathroom, chirping continuing all the while.
"Dad, what's happening to me now?!" His blush worsened, he hated his body for what it was doing. As he became increasingly flustered, the sound only grew louder.
His father stifled a chuckle, "It's a churr."
"I'm sawry that I didn't tell ya about dis soona, but I honestly didn't think ya would have it. Lessee, how do I tell ya dis...Jeeze, why hasn't Donnie taught ya dis yet???" His Dad racked his brain trying to find the right way to explain.
"When a male turtle becomes...excited...he makes a churring sound to let the ladies know that he's...ready..."
"Oh my God, Dad, STOP!" Lucas reflexively covered his ear flaps. "I didn't know this was gonna be a birds and the bees thing."
"So...who's the lucky girl?"
"The one that ya were thinkin' about at the table."
"B-but...I wasn't thinking about a girl..." Sure, Lucas had dated a girl and fantasized about the opposite gender countless times before, but that wasn't the thing on his mind as he sat at the dinner table.
"Sure ya weren't." Raphael winked at his son and shrugged. "But if ya don' wanna tell me about it, I undastand. If ya calm yerself down, it’ll stop." His son nodded, and proceeded to take deep breaths, just like his uncle Leo had taught him to do when feeling anxious.
The two returned to the dinner table and Raphael met his wife, whispering in her ear to fill her in on what was going on. She smiled wide and looked over at her son lovingly. He noticed, scowled, and returned to staring at his plate. All he wanted in this very moment was to disappear completely.
"So, Lucas, what's it like being half turtle? It seems pretty cool." Trevor smiled at the anxious young mutant. Jerking at the sudden inquiry, the flustered turtle struggled to even form a sentence in response. Floundering, a myriad of expressions ran over his face in mere seconds: surprise, confusion, nervousness, and finally, happiness. He couldn't find words, mind still stuck on the specifics of the question.
"It's not so bad, I gUesS." His voice dropped over a year ago, but it still refused to settle on a tone from time to time. So, in the perfect timing, it decided to fail him. Instead, his attempt at a cavalier response came out in the form of a squeak as his voice cracked. Lucas was mortified. At that moment, it dawned on both his mother and father, and the two exchanged knowing glances from across the table. Once Trevor left the house, and Frida went up to her room, Raphael turned to his son.
"It was Trevor, wasn't it?"
"Daaad! Wha---NO!" but the churr that followed gave him away.
"Okay...M-maybe, I dunno...I'm so confused." the bright red color on his cheeks was telling, and his father grabbed him in a bear hug.
"It's okay, son. You like whoevah ya want, yer motha and I will love ya not matta what."
Here’s a link to Frida’s introduction --> (x)
