Was thinking about Leo's recovery journey and these sketch pages magically appeared. I'm interested in how he'd adjust if he were a bit more himself
THESE ARE SO GOOD AAAAAAA!!!! 💕❤️💞💗 Absolutely love love love each of these you made him so COOL WAAAAA!!! 😭💞❤️💕😭💞💓💗😭😭
It’s so funny you bring up Leo’s physical therapy post parasite removal—because I actually have something fun up my sleeve when it comes to Leo’s PT, and I hope to get it out soon ;w; (warning: it will be fluffy feel good teehee)
And as for Leo’s adjustment to being home once he becomes more of himself again… that IS something I want (and plan) to explore in Purgatory Paradise. While I’m having a lot of fun writing his dazed, loopy early on moments (some much earned fluff lol) there’s a lot to discuss as Leo becomes more cognizant. His relationship with his brothers and other family members will never be the same again—and there’s awkwardness and tension that comes with that. There are still a lot of difficult questions left unanswered. Like why Leo hid his identity, why he planned on sacrificing himself, or what his time in the PD was like. And on top of that, there’s the adjustment period of Leo finding his place in his family again and relearning what it was like to NOT be in the Prison Dimension.
Leo will feel like a stranger in his own home for a long time. Both wanting to keep his distance from his family (out of guilt) and from feeling left behind. He can see how much his family has changed over the years, and that will make him feel lonely. He’ll never be with the brothers he used to know, and that hurt. Despite the efforts of his family, there will be a rift between them for a while. Because the thought of talking about the really heavy stuff too soon was taboo. Especially with Leo’s mental state being unstable at first. Not to mention the addition of his Krang tail, which will also be a source of discomfort for everyone to adjust to. (Something I wanna explore more hehe).
Each brother will be struggling with their own guilt on their actions during the whole fiasco… and their relationship with Leo. And Leo himself will have a plethora of things to work out moving forward. Though in typical Leo fashion, he will hide most of his inner struggle with a smile and jokes. For better or worse, that hadn’t changed about him.
There will be times the family overcompensates. Whether to make up for lost time or to accommodate Leo, it will ultimately make Leo feel even more alienated than before. There will be times Leo will relapse and think he’s still in the PD. Hallucinations (or things that seem like hallucinations) will sometimes creep back. There will be times Leo purposefully picks fights with his brothers to make things feel like they used to… and because he wasn’t sure how to interact with his brothers now that they’ve all changed. And for a long time Leo’s family will be overly worried about him in a way that smothers him. Donnie, Raph, Mikey, and Splinter will have to navigate the uncharted waters of how to interact with Leo in a way that won’t trigger his trauma, which won’t be easy.
And then there’s Leo’s relationship with Ninpo. After being isolated for so long and having his own power ‘gone’ for a while, Leo’s body was underprepared to process feeling so much Ninpo again upon his return. Being reunited with the mystic force of his clan—the overwhelming sense of home—made him nothing short of straight up drunk. It’s the overwhelming sense of safety and togetherness that makes Leo’s brain go mushy and happy. But even though it makes him feel good, he needs to adjust to get better. Leo will have to learn how to properly harness his Ninpo again in a way that doesn’t harm him, as well as adjust to the feeling of being surrounded by it again. There will even be times Leo wants to have alone time away from his family and away from the lair to help clear his head.
There will be growing pains. Awkwardness. Hard pills to swallow. And hard conversations. But there will also be laughs, joy, and a brotherhood stronger than ever before. Maybe even a few new friends are made along the way. Though things will never be like they used to be, I do like to think that there’s a good future for all of them. Leo will slowly overcome his physical and mental obstacles with the help of his brothers and they’ll find their new normal together.
… But the thing is, the quirks Leo had as ‘Neon Void’ aren’t gone—and I don’t mean the feral parts. Leo learned new skills during his time in the prison dimension… but also bad habits. After all, he’d been playing by the Prison Dimension’s rules for the past few years. His sense of what could be a life-threatening situation has been skewed since he couldn’t die in the PD. And that was a hard thing to unlearn when coming back. It didn’t help that Leo’s sense of self-worth took a plummet after spending five years with Krang and his insults. And while Leo did a good job hiding from Krang One (for the most part) there were times Leo wanted to dance with the devil. Craving social interaction or enrichment in their empty void of a prison. Even at the risk of being caught and tormented, there were times Leo purposefully sought out Krang to provoke him. While Leo became more clever, his smart mouth got worse… and so did his social filters. There are times things are best left unsaid, but Leo will relearn that the hard way from time to time with his family.
But the thing they REALLY must be mindful of from now on isn’t Leo’s episodes or physical changes. It’s his sense of protectiveness towards them. Leo’s obsession with protecting his family and destroying the Krang Key only got more intense during his captivity. Paired with his dismissal of the potential consequences on HIS life, Leo is a short trigger away from becoming a loose cannon who will do anything to save his family. And he’ll do it with a smile and a laugh. Because it was a habit now. A spiteful habit he couldn’t shake, because smiling was the thing Krang One hated the most.
waaaa thank you again so so much for the amazing art and the super fun ask—I hope I was able to answer it at least a little bit!!! But there’s so much potential for Leo’s recovery days, and I hope to keep writing more of it 🩵