#polyamorous mikey

[brightlotusmoon]

what do you think about a female Mikey? this is for any tmnt series.

I'm totally cool with it. 2003 and 2012 Mikey are practically genderfluid anyway, wearing dresses and tiaras, and 1991 Movie Mikey hung out in April's kitchen wearing a shiny pink apron.

I certainly have always headcanoned Mikey as nonbinary using whatever pronouns feel good.

[brightlotusmoon]

I never thought I'd be that into gallows humor, but a lifetime of disability and chronic illness just kind of steers you there.

Add on being queer, demigirl, demisexual, nonwhite, autistic, and still into Ninja Turtles? Pfffttt, market cornered.

No wonder Michelangelo is such a goofball optimist who is the best at Masking. His suspected ADHD since 2003 was finally made canon via 2012, 2016, and 2018, and I threw myself a party.

And now my initial Autistic Headcanon for all four turtles has been saturating the fandom for years? Leading to tons of fics and imagines exploring the leftover trauma of Neurodivergent Childhood in mutant turtles who represent all kinds of marginalization? Mazel Tov.

[brightlotusmoon]

Oh hey so I finally started writing another 2012 one-shot for Cold Fire Rising: Mind Games and I actually feel really good in a hopeful way, like it's starting to pull me out of the apparent depression. Good for me!

Also, it's angsty as fuck because it's a SAINW AU but not really because it's a shared nightmare between Mikey and Donnie. Ahh, whump.

[brightlotusmoon]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Me? Blatantly plugging my own Ninja Turtles fanfics about sexuality, neurodivergence, and physical disability that I still really really need to update? It's more likely than you'd think. (hahahaha help me)

@remmushound

@rhythmsmith

[brightlotusmoon]

Hahahaha so a few people have messaged me to tell me how they look up to me for my unwavering optimism in the face of so many painful disabilities as well as being harassed, etc etc. Sometimes they tell me how much I really do seem like a version of Michelangelo mixed with Donatello. And as much as I blush and wave it off, I really really need to hear it. Even if my AO3 fics get no comments, I get Asks and messages where people have read all my fics and got inspired and then that in turn inspires me. I've gotten requests that are bubbling in my writerbrain. But literally the only things holding me back are the chronic fatigue and insomnia issues. So, this is my thank you I'm so sorry update. Chapters are totally being outlined and written, at least from my bed! And do keep encouraging me.

Also, please remind me who takes Imagine requests particularly for ADHD Mikey and Reader, who would actually be me, because that totally inspires me.

Also, I am in desperate need of "it's going to be okay" stories.

[brightlotusmoon]

Dear TMNT Fandom,

I am a panromantic demisexual demigirl in my forties who 1) didn't even know those terms until recently, calling myself a bisexual who didn't want casual sex for a decade, and 2) found some memories from the late 90s of conversations with folks with ties to Mirage Studios, and I need to say this:

I cannot believe we as a fandom have to explain that the Ninja Turtles, fantasy creatures, can be headcanoned as Asexual not just because it is a real thing and not weird like some are saying, but because specifically the original Mirage Turtles were asexual, not attracted to humans, and as the series went on and they grew up, more concerned with their own unique bond as the only members of their kind over romantic relationships.

For example: Mike's fling with the Styracodon princess Seri was a manipulation, and Future Leonardo being with Raven Shadowheart was a choice. They're still asexual, even maybe gray or demi. We never got to know if Seri's eggs were Mikey's but we know he didn't have feelings for her.

In all the cartoon versions, we see various relationships happen which reflect some of the era and audience. Great example is 2012.

Actually, since Peter hated romance and Kevin was the one to sign off on the Next Mutation which was the straw that broke the camel's back for their split, we know Kevin is supportive of a lot of headcanons, even the actually weird ones, and thanks to my brain suddenly yelping "holy shell I remember that" I know how a lot of TMNT franchise crew members support inclusive headcanons even if they might not be canon. So someone saying "why are fan writers and artists making the turtles ace [or trans or NB], I think it's so weird" is absolutely one of the more bizarre things to come from the fandom. Because... they're turtles. They're mutants. Hell, to get super technical they're essentially genetically aliens, since the mutagen was created by aliens and fused with their DNA. They have more turtle in them than human. They're not human, the actual entire point of the characters, so the other entire point is how they learn to become psychologically and socially human, which rules to follow, which morals to have that don't need to be human. Thus, it extends to fans who create Alternate Universes and Canon Divergent worlds. And asexuality, the ace spectrum, is a real world thing that has always existed even if we didn't always know the words. To try to insist that these not-real fantasy creatures - ones that don't exist, have no bearing on real life except our imaginations, and should't be so restricted - cannot represent orientations and identities for fans who share with fans is, at the very least, disingenuous, controlling, upsetting, and exasperating.

I didn't spend nearly thirty years fighting oppression as both LGBTQIA and disabled to see my my favorite fandom pushed against by aphobia, transphobia, and bullying in general.

Although, really, I am a fool, I should have seen all this. I know Tumblr is completely different than other platforms, completely different from my Olde Fann favorites like Livejournal and the old Geocities forums, and online social communities are now faster than, say, my ADHD thoughts in a hyperfocus, but I still want to be Old Man Yells At Cloud and Get Off My Lawn You Kids when it comes to this very specific fandom thing and I totally see how weird that is on its face. I've been studying neuropsychology a lot, I usually notice my own weirds and faults more than usual.

Anyway. Aaanyway. Uh. So. *exhales*

Haa, panic attacks are the worst, aren't they? Also, I gotta stop believing the depression and anxiety monsters in my head, they take up too much real estate and I'm tired and getting too old for this weird AAAAAA-ness.

(One of my inner voices is like, "Woman, you are talking about ninja mutant turtle creatures that were created as a parody of gritty superheroes, who are you calling weird and AAAA?" and all I can do is shrug with a "you got me smile" and a long sigh. But I try, oh my god do I try, all the time, in this institution - *pause to break into song I said hey hey hey* - and I keep learning from my fictional sunshine child as I go so I can keep up with all the So Which Of My Identities Is Being Threatened In Society This Time discourse and especially the memes. All the memes.

I am a cautious optimist, after all. Nihilistic Optimist maybe? All I know is my entire life is multiple piles of junk cluttering a small room and everything is shiny even when it's hidden in shadows. Just smile until it feels better.

[brightlotusmoon]

TMNT 2016 years in the future fic scrap featuring self insert character

Another scene in which I have no idea what I'm doing but I feel proud anyway. OC, who is almost me, is in her early 20s as is the Turtles, and I don't even know where she lives or what her life is about but I know it involves polyamory, starting with her becoming Mikey's friend.

-

Massaging the burn gel into Mikey's skin had become familiar over the last four days. Watching him continue to be comatose had not. My mind wandered, as it did no matter how much meditation I did with Leo. I kept explaining that ADHD was just like that for both me and Michelangelo. Donnie would back me up with mentions of peer-reviewed studies that made Leonardo sigh, and then I would reach my arm up to hand slap with Donatello, who was over a foot and a half taller than me, and then Raph would laugh and Mikey would deliver a cheeky quip that differed every time, and Splinter would joke about putting everyone in the Ha'shi, and-

Oh right. 

I cleared my throat and adjusted the bed so I could reach Mike's torso. This was a new style of gurney, from a clinic where a friend of my other aunt worked. Donnie had reinforced it to hold the turtles and it actually had a cup holder, because Don loved his coffee and I had gotten Mikey into mocha. Right now my half empty iced mocha was forgotten. I climbed into the bed to apply the gel more. Weirdly, I fit, testing it by lying flush against Mikey. It made rubbing his plastron easier. 

"You really need to wake up soon," I murmured, kissing his shoulder. "Donnie's jokes are getting long-winded."

I considered doing another telepathic touch, but the first time after we'd gotten home had been painful and he'd needed that deep rest. So did I. I never did reach delta sleep, but Leo had been insistent, sleeping with me all night and making me drink that sleep tea. He somehow knew when I tried to send my telepathy out and would gently pull me back, saying "Later, later, he'll be fine."

Splinter keeps saying that Leo has honed his spiritual sensitivity since childhood. It's not quite telepathy or clairvoyance but it's close. Leo would become smug in front of me about it. I would remind him that I was born with mine and so was Michelangelo, whom I was training. 

I sighed and nuzzled my boyfriend's shoulder. "And Leo is becoming quietly insufferable. I'm about ready to hide in Raph's weight room. Not that I mind watching him work out. He's got good tips for, you know, disability modification."

I sat up, tucking my hair behind my ears, and rubbed the gel into his arm and hand, squeezing his fingers. 

"Speaking of workouts, you need to stop jumping out of burning buildings, your mutant healing factor can only take so much." I kissed his fingers. "It's taken you this long to heal just from glass and fire and smoke. We miss your laugh."

Something in my mind tugged at me, something that felt like Michelangelo. I blinked. 

The fingers curled around my hand and I held my breath. This was the first movement in four days. 

"Mikey?" My voice trembled. 

His eyelids shifted. 

I yelled for Donatello, out loud and in my mind. 

As footsteps slid into the infirmary and Donnie called my name, Mikey's eyes cracked open halfway and I saw a cloudy blue sky for the first time since we had jumped out of a burning building. It was enough. For the moment. 

-

[brightlotusmoon]

I want to write oc x canon for Tmnt 2012 and Rottmnt but I am always worried of writing them out of character. I don’t know who to ship the ocs with yet but I just was wondering if you had any tips on writing the boys. Hope this isn’t a bother. Thank you. :D

Something really neat about Rise is how carefree and easygoing the characters are. Writing for them in fanfic feels easy and casual. They're not quite worried or overly burdened, and the world they live in is far more accommodating and accepting with its established yokai and mutants. So you can write them as teenage non-humans with human psychology having fun while knowing how they stand out and don't easily fit it. I don't think you could write them too out of character because we as well as they are still discovering their characters.

As for 2012, out of character moments are almost canon. The series became darker and more intense as it progressed, but the boys never really got character growth that stayed, because the writers seemed to forget or backslide. By the time Season Five ended (let's ignore the Apocalypse arc for the moment) they were moving away from being teens in several ways, growing up too quickly. And I am among those fans who feel that they could easily be written in many different ways that could be Out Of Character from how the show portrayed them.

For example, in my Cold Fire Rising series and my Mikey The Lifegiver series, Mikey became much more serious and intense while keeping his light heart, and Raph completely stopped giving out those smacks and insults. They stayed in character, but parts of their mentality shifted because their circumstances changed. In CFR I introduced an OC that represented the depths of change.

My advice is to go with your writer brain and your gut. If you feel that Donnie or Leo should act a certain way in a situation, go for it! The best thing about 2012 and Rise is the fluidity of growth, seen and unseen.

I'd love to be a beta reader if you start writing. Tell me about your OCs!