Has Ell ever met the triplets? If so, how did it go?
AHAHA... ok so like. me n phy have discussed this before, and its complicated right? cuz for him to do that he'd have to be present in the story for wcs. and the fact is thats sooooo rough right? like, he's another parent figure for the boys, and he promised to keep them safe. and then the very thing he promised to keep them safe FROM happened? rough. very sad.
his presence in the story would be like. well.... realistically it would change things, cuz he wouldn't have let them get into that whole mess, and he WOULD have crushed those eggs himself if it came to it. but to keep it in line w the kids still winding up alone w big mama the lores gotta account for that. (cuz ell would smell a scam like that for sure)
so raph post escaping is in peak mental deterioration mode anyway, but adding a part where seeing his alternate self who NEVER went through anything like that, who would NEVER have degraded himself the way raph did... like he utterly thinks he's failed both his brothers AND him. to the point he would deny really being him at all like he's FUCKED UP over it. and obviously ell feels like he's failed those kids cuz YEAH... so that would kind of lead to a bit of a blow up on raph's part where he'd just tell him to leave cuz he cant look at the NON failure version of himself. and ell really sees himself making that worse so he would do as asked. get outta the lair to give them some space cuz theyre asking.
and then that would of course lead into him coming back to the kids just being GONE post big splinter blowup. but on his part he's really tryina track down where tf they went, calling and texting 'where did you go what happened are you okay WHERE ARE YOU' cuz all they'll tell him is that they're fine but getting raph help w the abortion situation... and hes tryina be all supportive but meanwhile really tryina figure out WHERE the fuck they went cuz they're on their own and something sounds FISHY!!!
eventually (post them being BORN...) he would clue together between update texts from donnie and info from april that they're at some hidden city hotel with big mama, and rush in there demanding his kids back. she'd put on some big show, saying he's not their LEGAL guardian so she doesn't HAVE to tell him anything does she? gets himself kicked out after causing a scene. she totally WANTED him to have said scene to justify kicking him out. yknow how she is.
so he'd get kicked out, be outside the building trying to figure a way back in during which time... uh?? is that raph? no. no that's a HUGE ass turtle yokai who just looks so much like raph.... and he's staring at him too..... HMMMM..... sinking feeling sinking feeling...
and then there'd be the part of how that changes that situation for the triplets. well, here raph would have said enough about ell in therapy, like insecurity in letting down his alternate self who feels like his dad and all... so they'd know who that man is. they'd know the kids DO have some more stable adult, so at that point their goal might be less to act as guardians, and more get those kids back home with their dad.
so. you know. the fun of having ell and kirby with the exact same goal in mind of 'get those kids out of there' staring at each other like '...is that raphael?' HJKFDH
then there's the OTHER weird part of like.... mmmmn, they're all ell's alternate universe kids as well. which. that's a lot more age appropriate and weird on its own. very very strange.
ell's probably cursing just how fucked up everything happening to his kids has been, fucking furious with himself for not stopping it and having no one around to properly take revenge on. anger and self loathing bubbling under the surface the whole time. kirby's pretty quiet but relates to a lot of that self loathing and stuff, he's been there. with kirby figuring 'this guy wants to take his anger out on someone im probably the best target'. kirby would offer to let him hit him, but fuck he looks too much like his kids.... cant do it. plus, hey that guy didnt do anything wrong.
i think after the initial shock wore off and him and all 3 of them are together, the triplets would be a lot less cryptic with him than they are with the kids, explaining where they've been, what big mama's game is... but they can't really trust him to keep his head on straight to get them out when he's going to go in loud and obvious, so that leaves a lot of events to play out the same. but with the caveat that ell is just kinda seething at being left out of it all. till it hits everyones self spiral sessions and then the end result is kinda bringing their dad in to help w that.
but you know, ell's opinions of the triplets is very much that he thinks theyre good people and he can tell his kids appreciate them and love them. so as weird as he also feels he doesn't hold animosity towards them. plus they all remind him enough of his own brothers a bit. which is weird enough but yOU KNOW....
