Stretching his back as he wakes, Donnie rises, expecting the familiarity of his lab, to no avail of course. He rubs the sleep from his eyes, taking in his surroundings as his hazy vision focuses. A dull ache begins underneath his shell. He reaches to feel for what might cause it, and his fingertips meet with the smooth exterior of his battle shell, rather than the leathery surface of his natural shell. Shit, he left it on, AGAIN. He debates removing it, but reason defeats discomfort when in a new environment. The ache can be dealt with later, right now, his brothers are probably relying on him to make a way home. Donnie hauls himself up from the desk, accidentally stirring his alternate, who he had forgotten was in the lab with him.
"Casey, fuck off.." Donatello mumbles, sounding sour, yet the smile that creeps onto his face says otherwise. 'Interesting' Donnie smirks to himself. He is definitely no expert on romance, being aroace and all, but the look on his counterpart screams crush right at him. He contemplates staying until Donatello wakes, but decides against it. Instead, he vacates the lab, roaming in search of a kitchen and/or meeting place. Honestly, he regretted holing himself up in the lab like he would back home, because he now had no clue where anything was. The rest of his family had been given a tour yesterday, as they were all well enough after 2 days of laying low. He sighs, continuing his search for the kitchen, still trying to wake himself up- he hadn't had his morning coffee yet, which explained his, well, everything. In fact, he hasn't had a coffee at all, in the whole 3 days they had been here! He trudged towards the kitchen, hoping that his alternate also needed a caffeine fix.
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Michelangelo woke to the sound of boiling kettles. Not unusual, considering Donatello's caffeine addiction, but he decided to investigate anyway. He pried the oh-so-warm bedsheets off his body, then swung his legs off the bed. As Michelangelo heaved himself up, he slipped on some rogue comic books. Shit. He landed with a loud thud, wincing as he noticed his 'Mini-me' stir. Mikey pushes up off the pillow he was resting on, blinking a few times before mumbling-
"You need to clean your room... aren't you like, old?"
"Hey!" Michelangelo retorts, plastering a hand on his plastron, feigning offence. "I'm only 25! But you're right- I do need to clean my room, and I am kind of old. We have been occupied with some surprise guests recently." He grins as his counterpart, who's smile falters slightly, but it quickly returns when Michelangelo offers him a hand, pulling him from the bed and tugging him towards the kitchen. The duo enter the kitchen to see the two Donnies sharing a large, dark pot of coffee, talking about something sciencey; Michelangelo heard the word 'particles' and gave up on eavesdropping. The Donnies both turned from their current conversation to greet the newcomers, Donatello giving a toothy grin while Donnie used one of his metal arms to wave in their direction, although his expression morphs from broody to slightly less broody at the sight of his little brother. Michelangelo uses the silence to ask the first thing that comes to mind.
"So are you a robot or what?" He questions, tilting his head to glance at the metal limbs protruding from his shell. "And why does your shell look like that? And why do you have EYEBROWS?!" Michelangelo's pitch and loudness raises at the mention of the elusive eyebrows residing on Donnies forehead. It confuses him, turtles don't have hair? Nor do they have magic powers or the ability to talk, but here they are! He watches Donnie take a breath, smoothing the crease between his 'eyebrows' with his thumb and pointer finger. "Sorry Other-Don, too many questions at once!" Michelangelo smiles, he still hasn't quite learned to control his rants, but he is good at making up for them!
"It's... it's ok. I'm just not a morning person" Donnie grimaces, sending an 'I'm sorry' smile in the direction of his younger brother from another dimension.
"Hey Don, do you want me to answer the questions instead- I'm always a morning person!" Mikey beams, receiving a nod from his purple clad brother. "Oh, and do you have any requests for breakfast? I feel like cooking!" He smiles. Donatello immediately turns his attention to Donnie, who shoots him a confused look. Why is he confused about Mikey cooking? Is that not how it is in every dimension??
"You let your Mikey cook for you... on PURPOSE??" Donatello shrieks, repulsed by the idea. Mikey and Donnie simply shrug their shoulders, the former reaching for a pan while the latter uses a mechanical hand to turn on the stove from his stool.
"Yes of course I cook! I take example from the great Rupert Swaggart himself!" Mikey grins. His smile turns sour when he realises just how much his hands are shaking; the pan he was holding clatters loudly to the floor, spilling eggs everywhere. "I'm sorry- I'm sorry- I'm so so sorry!" He blurts, rushing to clean the mess his tremors made. As he rushes, his hands begin to shake more and more, causing the eggs to spread even further. "FUCK" He whisper-shouts, clutching at his wrists, gently rubbing the cracks in his hands and massaging his joints. "Donnie, can you please clean that for me, I can't do this." Mikey grimaces, getting up from the floor and rushing out of sight.
"Donnie, what happened?" Raph mumbles as he enters the room, his voice muffled by a stifled yawn and a hand over his mouth. He stretches his arms up into the air, yawning once more then rubbing his good eye and slumping down at the table. The ground shakes as he plonks himself into the chair, creaking due to the unforeseen weight.
"Mikey tried cooking, but the tremors in his hands made him drop it." Donnie replied, his monotone voice laced with concern. "Someone should go talk to him, I vote Leo when he arrives."
"What am I doing Hermano?" Leo grins as he saunters into the room, carefully plopping himself onto the chair next to Raph with a flick of his mask tails. Not far behind him trails an energetic Leonardo and Raphael. Their arms are linked as the practically skipped into the room; they were definitely planning something.
"Leo, can you go get Mikey please, he tried cooking but his tremors made him drop it, and now he's upset." Raph murmurs. "He went that way", he says, gesturing towards the exit to the lair.
"Yeah of course Raph, I'll go get him- WHAT IF HE WENT TO THE SURFACE?!?" Leo cries. Leonardo quickly unlinks arms with his brother and rushes up to him.
"Lets all go get him. We can get breakfast on the surface and meet up with some of our friends for a nice day out. I've been sensing some tense emotions, which, fair enough, and being cooped up in here won't help at all." He smiles.
"I'll call Casey! And April!" Donatello interrupts, rubbing his hands together maliciously, clearly scheming for the humans to do or get something for him on the surface. "Casey can get me some of the GOOD energy drinks!" He smirks, but his eyes soften at the mention of the humans. Which both Donnie and Leo notice. They turn to grin at each other, they didn't even need to use their mind meld OR 'twin powers' to know what the other was thinking. They needed to interrogate Donatello.
"I'll invite Mona!" Grins Raphael as he enters the kitchen.
"Well then what are we waiting for guys! Vamanos Hermanos!" Leo shouts, ushering everyone back out of the kitchen and towards the sewer tunnels.
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Leo shivers as he makes his way through the sewer tunnels in search of Mikey. He has long since given up on running his hands along the walls of the slimy tunnel walls, instead opting to tap away on his arms and plastron. He leads the pack with Leonardo, Donnie and Raph, trailed by Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello. Raphael and Michelangelo have a spring to their step, while Donatello sluggishly drags his feet, falling slightly behind but still keeping up with his brothers. Leo turns his attention to the trio behind them, observing the dynamic of the group. He noticed that Leonardo, despite clearly trying to relax and become less overbearing, still doesn't interact with his siblings in quite the same way. Similar to how Raph used to act, he is rather withdrawn from the group, preferring to stay out of the conversation most of the time. He notices Raphael typing away on a shell-shaped phone, a loving smile lingers at the corners of his mouth, threatening to take over completely, but he fights it down. Michelangelo is humming away, tapping away at various parts of his body similar to Leo. Donatello is also on his phone, presumably messaging this universes April and Casey. Leo's April and Casey decided to stay back at the lair to recuperate, April having decided that Casey deserved to experience a 'Spa Day'. Honestly, Leo agreed- the apocalypse did the poor dude DIRTY!
After 15 minutes of comfortable silence, they reached the ladder that lead to the surface. Leonardo went first, then Leo, then the rest quickly followed behind. Poor Raph struggled to get through the manhole with his spikes and broad shoulders, but after some manoeuvring he managed to squeeze through. Raphael followed him, grumbling away about wishing he was big enough that manhole covers were a problem. Donatello scoffs as he pulls himself up, partly sleep deprived, partly jealous of the amazing tech in display as his counterpart followed him. Donnie used his metal arms to avoid touching the sensory nightmare that was the slimy, damp manhole cover, smirking at the reaction brought about by his creation.
"WOAH OH MY GOD" Donatello shrieks in awe, "HOW, WHEN, WHAT? I need to know, and what is that thing on your back??" Donnie visibly shrinks at the question, but replies with his usual bravado.
"This, my not-quite-so-amazing friend, is my battle shell!" He grins, "I'm sure you have noticed that my brethren and I are different species, I myself am a soft-shelled turtle, which means my shell isn't strong like a, quote, 'normal turtle'. I built it to protect my shell, and if you're anything like me, my purple brother, you would've incorporated some amazing tech into your battle shell if you needed one!" The conversation dwindles to small talk after that, while the two Donnies compared notes; actually, Donatello looked at Donnies notes while Donnie basked in the positive attention he was getting. Leo grabs his phone and calls Mikey, and to his relief it gets picked up after four rings-
"Hey big bro." Mikey says dryly.
"Mikey! Hermano where are you? We are on the surface getting breakfast, I- We have been worried sick! Any more stress and I'm going to get a Raph-Chasm!" Leo swoons, pretending to faint in shock. He receives a chuckle on the other end of the phone before adding a "No offense Raph" and patting his big brother on the shoulder.
"I'm on a rooftop to a building, it says TCRI on the front? It's pretty big, but I used my mystic chains to get up so it was no biggie!"
"Mikey you know you're not supposed to- Y'know what, never mind, I'm gonna send you the address to the restaurant, can Raph and I trust you to make your way there? We just got to the surface."
"Yes DAD" Mikey giggles over the phone, and some shuffling can be heard in the background while Leo groans in response.
"And don't think you can get out of talking about this morning- I will make my own Dr. Delicate Touch AND Dr. Feelings COMBINED and FORCE you to talk!!"
"Yeah, yeah OK Leo, see you soon, love you."
"Love you too, little man!" Leo starts laughing loudly as he hangs up, cutting off a shriek from Mikey. By the time the phone call is over, they are on the rooftop of a nearby building, slowly making their way to the mystery destination. The walk is peaceful, the wind flowing past his ears (?) and through his mask tails is a pleasant change after being stuck underground for so long. To the approval of his brothers, and the shock of his alternates, he uses portals to traverse from rooftop to rooftop, ensuring that he doesn't strain his healing body too much. He relishes in the shocked expression plastered on their alternates faces, beckoning Raph and Donnie to use their mystic powers. Donnie immediately uses his purple energy to surround his tech bo, attacking Raph who quickly blocks with his forearms, covered in his signature red shield. The snapper and softshell continue to banter with each other, teasing as they make their way across buildings. Leo continues to use his portals, flitting from one side of the fight to another, wisely choosing to yell in support rather than try and join. His shell was WAY too damaged still, and the thought saddened him, but he quickly perked up when Leonardo announced that they arrived at their location.
"This is one of the few places we can sit like normal people, because it is pretty quiet and the owner is blind." Leonardo explains as he slides down the edge of the building, scaling the fire escape before launching himself to the ground. Leo portals to the ground while the others follow Leonardo's example, scaling the side of the building and landing in the alleyway beside the restaurant, Murakami's.
"Does he know you are turtles?" Questions Raph, his eyes drop to the ground while he twiddles his thumbs anxiously. His good eye darts around, taking in the alleyway and the surrounding street; his damaged eye sits still, opaque and unmoving.
"Yes he does, but he doesn't care because we have saved him many times before, and he was introduced to us by April, so he knew we weren't evil or anything like that." Leonardo smiles reassuringly, angling his head to glance at his tall companion. He approaches the entrance to the restaurant, "are we ready to have some amazing food?" He receives various nods and excited 'YES's, turning to give a thumbs up to his company then pushing the door into Murakami's.
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The rest of their large and rather peculiar group arrived not long after they entered Murokami's. Mikey shuffled through the door first, immediately swarmed by his rightfully concerned brothers. After some awkward negotiation, he promised to talk to them once they got back to the lair. For now, he just wanted to enjoy some food without his family trying to pull a Dr. Feelings on THE Dr. Feelings. About 5 minutes after Mikey arrived, Casey and April came bustling through the door. Aprils red hair was loose, flowing down her shoulders and roughed up by the slight wind outside. She wore a simple yellow cropped shirt with low rise jeans and a baggy black zip up hoodie. Caseys' hair was similarly tousled and he had his phone in hand, midway through showing April something as they entered the building. He was wearing loose black jeans, combat boots and an oversized shirt with 'SLIPKNOT' written in bold writing across the front. Upon noticing Donatello, he quickly unlinked arms with April. Casey made his way over to the purple masked turtle, who was completely entranced by Donnies' tech. After being interrupted, Donatello and Casey quickly became a gay mess. Donnie scoffed, shifting his attention to the doorway to the restaurant, paranoid that humans were going to see them out in the open.
Last to arrive was Karai, who trailed behind an excited Mona Lisa. The girls were dressed comfortably, donning hoodies and baggy jeans. Mona grins when she spots her boyfriend, sneaking up behind him and lightly shoving him before wrapping her arms around his neck. "RAPHAEL!" She gushed, and the sentiment was quickly returned as Raphael turned to plant a kiss on her cheek. She smiles, the dark blue scales on her face turn even darker as she flushes. The couples loving reunion is interrupted when a large figure appears next to Raphael, looming over the duo and casting an ominous shadow. Mona reaches for her sais out of instinct, preparing for a fight. What she doesn't expect is for the giant figure to quickly lean down with a snaggletooth grin and start rambling about how excited it is to meet her.
"Hiya, I'm Raph! Well, obviously not the Raph you know but a quick explanation is that I'm from another dimension and I am an alternate version of this Raph!" He smiles.
"Hello, I am Y'Gythgba." She replies, pausing at the baffled look on the large red turtles face. She subtly gulps as the notices all the spikes he bears, and the sheer size of him. "Although you can call me Mona, as my Salamandrian name is quite hard to pronounce! You are very... large compared to the turtles of this universe, but I sense that it does not affect your soul. You are kind, just like my Raphael." She says, sincerety floods her voice.
Raph starts to sniffle, tears form in the corners of his eyes but he quickly wipes them away, desperately trying to cover his emotional tracks. "That means more than you could ever know, Mona." He smiles, "I've been judged for my size for all of my life. People are scared of me simply because I am 'big and scary'" he air quotes, trying to emphasise his point. "You are one of the first people to greet me without judging me, and I will forever appreciate it." Mona gives an understanding smile, shifting from her embrace with Raphael to pat the snapper on the shoulder.
"I also know what that is like. When I first came to Earth to visit my Love, humans and mutants alike judged me for where I came from. I have since found my place in this world, and I'm sure you will too." Raph starts to wail at that point, although it quickly dies down to the occasional sniff.
"I hope there is a Mona Lisa in my universe too."
"I'm sure there is." Raph and Mona smile together, leaning in to share a brief kiss before resuming the conversation with Raph.
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Casey rushes over to greet Donatello as soon as he spots him across the restaurant. His eyes drink in the appearance of the purple turtle, and he basks in the little details that he has grown to love; his toned shoulders, that have become broader over the years, now filled with the confidence that he lacked those years ago. The slight gap between his two front teeth, the little scars scattered across his body, that remind him of all the adventures they experienced together. Well not together, together- Donatello was his best friend of course! He strides towards his friend, plastering on a false bravado that resembles the one he actually has when not around the turtle. To this day, it still confuses him how his self confidence can go so quickly from a solid 10 to a 0.6 in the few seconds it takes to reach his friends side. ANYWHO, he greets the turtle by poking his upper arm then elbowing his plastron, taking him by surprise.
"CASEY!" Donatello grins, quickly shoving Casey in return before fist bumping him. They exchange a secret handshake before turning to face the table. Casey greedily eyes off the many food options covering the table, the pizza gyoza in particular catches his eye, and he tries reaching over before accidentally bumping into Donatello. Casey gets caught in an awkward situation when he leans too far over and his chair comes out from underneath him. He immediately tumbles towards the ground, grabbing firmly onto the top of Donatello's plastron, and he uses it to pull himself up. Casey sheepishly glances upwards at his friend, then quickly averts his eyes when they meet Donatello's.
"Sorry bro, this is SO embarrassing!" Casey gushes, his face flushes red as he looks to his companion.
"No probs Case! But I was going to ask a favour of you..." Donatello taps his index fingers together, glancing towards Casey. "Can we go get some energy drinks, just the two of us? The lair is pretty full at the moment, and I need some space." Casey's expression turn blank before a slight blush creeps onto his face. "OH BUT ONLY IF YOU WANT TO I MEAN-" the purple turtle panics, rushing to apologise for the 'out of pocket' question, but he is interrupted by Casey's reply.
"Of course Don, lets go." He smiles. And with that, the pair let April know that they were leaving and snuck from the restaurant.