Day 24 And 25: Loss And Rebirth.

Moments Chapter 2: Disaster Twins

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Ao3 Link: Here

Donnie and Leo loved to get each other gifts. It started with small things when they were younger. Leo brings home a bundle of wires from dumpster diving, or Donnie finds sparkly plastic jewelry for Leo to wear around the lair. There was something about seeing an item and instantly thinking that the other person would like it.

-  

On their 8th birthday, Leo pulled Donnie aside from the celebration and towards their room. Donnie grumbled at Leo's excited giggling and yanked his hand back to sit down as soon as they were through the door and alone. Leo didn't seem to mind, still smiling like a madman.  

"I got you a gift!" Leo said, and Donnie just rolled his eyes.  

"I know you did. You're not very good at keeping secrets. The only thing I don't know is where you're keeping it." The slider glared at his twin and with a huff reached under Donnie's bed. He then pulled out a small cardboard box with a bow on it. Donnie raised his eyebrows.  

"You hid it under my bed?" He asked.  

"Uh, yeah! Why would you look under your bed?" That was a fair point, Donnie conceded, then reached under his extra pillow, and pulled out a similarly sized box. Leo grinned and shoved his box into Donnie's hand before snatching the other one.  

Leo stuck the bow to his head before ripping through the paper and rifling through the tissue paper inside. Donnie on the other hand was very careful in peeling up the pieces of tape, setting the bow to the side before unfolding the tissue paper and pulling out a white coffee mug. It was covered in designs of constellations and atoms that Leo clearly drew himself in varying shades of purple.  

Donnie blinked down at the gift in surprise and looked up at Leo, who was pulling his own white mug covered in Donnie's hand-drawn designs, these of unicorns and rainbows. Leo broke out into a huge smile and began to laugh.  

"We really are twins!" He shouted.  

"Shut up," Donnie mumbled, annoyed.  

-  

7 years later, Donnie was sitting in his lab finishing up the wrapping on his gift for his twin. He smoothed out the wrapping paper across the heavy box with steady hands, trying to dispel the nervousness that always came with getting a gift for his brothers.  

Over the years both Donnie and Leo had given a lot of gifts to each other and to the rest of their family. Sometimes it was for special occasions, sometimes they saw something that the other person would like or need and just did it, sometimes it was just because. But giving gifts to Leo always felt different.  

The thing was that, at least for Donnie, the gift exchanges were reminders of how well the twins knew each other. Donnie had a hard time understanding any of his brothers, but with Leo, it was a bit easier. He believed it had something to do with them both being people of thought, rather than action, like Raph and Mikey. Leo may have acted stupid, but Donnie knew that his true strength lay in his strategy, in his understanding and manipulation of the enemy. He tended to show it casually most of the time, but it was always still impressive.  

But the point was that Donnie understood Leo on a level that he didn't quite with the rest of his family, and each time they gave each other gifts it helped reinforce that understanding. Plus, it was an easy way to show that they loved each other, without all the complexities of emotion.  

Donnie reached out and grabbed a scrap of paper and a pen out of an old coffee mug, with purple hand-drawn constellations and atoms, scribbled a quiet "happy birthday" on the paper and stuck it under the bow. He then walked out and knocked on Leo's door.  

He heard scrambling from inside and was greeted with a bright overwhelming smile on his twin's face.  

"Finally! Why do you always say wrapping till the last minute?" Leo yelped as he pulled Donnie inside his room. Donnie didn't dignify the question with an answer and shoved the present into Leo's hands. Leo in turn put the box on the ground and shoved his own huge brightly wrapped box into Donnie's.  

It had been a tradition ever since that first 8th birthday that they would give each other their presents separate from the rest of their family just so they could have a moment with each other alone on their birthday. And Donnie always had the strangest sense of Deja Vu whenever they did it. It was always a reminder of how little he and his twin had changed as they grew older. Because Leo still ripped and tore through the paper after sticking the bow on his head, and Donnie always peeled away the tape, to the point that Leo only used one or two pieces on the whole box to make the process faster.  

Once it was open Donnie picked up a new soldering tool, remembering how he mentioned his old one was fizzing out uncontrollably, and in another box a Jupiter Jim comic book wrapped in cellophane. With a card on top that read "Mint condition ;)." Donnie felt himself start to wiggle and put down the box to flap his arms up and down, he wished he was in his wheelchair so we could spin around. He looked up to thank Leo and hug him, only to find Leo already leaning across the gap with an excited squeal, talking so fast that Donnie couldn't keep up.  

In Leo's lap was a new custom wooden chess set, with each of the pieces a different sea creature. (Except for the nights which were unicorns, because his brother never grew out of that phase.)  

Donnie hugged Leo back with a smile and patted him on the back before they drew apart.  

"This is great, Don! I love it so much! You've got to play with me later today!"  

Donnie just sighed and rolled his eyes, accepting the fact that he was going to get his butt whooped in chess because he never could be Leo at that game.  

"Later," he said. "Let's just enjoy the party." Leo smiled and bolted for the door, dragging his twin behind.  

Just like always.

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Thank you to @rise-august-art-challenge for hosting the Rise August Challenge, which this is inspired by.

Please let me know if I should improve or fix something.

Beautifully drawn!

I love this game, and you should go play it.

my take on the fellas

i imagine voice of the hero and narrator appearing like shadows, while other voices like or shadows or spirits bc they may be ghosts of previous mcs

and additionally voice of the meek bc i completely forgot about him

 Guys…I have made an amazing discovery. (Watch with sound on).

Zoozve, my beloved

Rise April Challange Day 3: Casey And Casey Jr

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Ao3 Link: here

!TW! Talk of Grief and Loss !TW!

Casey Jones doesn’t remember his mother well. He doesn’t mind too much; he’s lost so many people over his short life. Everyone in the future had, and he's still trying to get used to the idea that isn't normal here. So, he's kind of grateful that he only has vague and blurry memories of her. It means that he doesn’t have much to grieve for.  

He knows that’s shitty to say, but he thinks in his circumstances it’s fair. He’s lost so many people, he’s lost everyone, his whole world. Yeah, it was shitty, coated in blood, grime, and krang flesh. But it was his. He was born into it, it helped make him, and it held everything he had ever loved.  

Master Michelangelo, with his flowing movements and soft sparking magic lifting him high enough to see the world bathed in unworldly light and color that only the two of them could see.  

Commander O’Neil, hugging him with scared arms with a quite “Try to keep up, Jr.” Diving into battle, smiling with bloody teeth as she tore apart burning metal machine.  

The quiet and lonely shrine with a huge, spiked shell that hung on the wall with a pair of cracked purple goggles with red and blue lenses on the table below. Where his family always gathered before a mission, just sitting and holding each other, with hushed ‘I love you’s and ‘be safe’s on their tongues.  

And of course, Master Leonardo. Who had tried so hard to be a father to him, even though he was fighting a war that he knew he was losing, even as he held the lives of everyone on his shoulders. He had tried so hard to be a father that he always said Casey deserved.  

He had lost all of them.  

So... yeah. Casey was grateful that he didn’t have another person to morn.  

But... his mom was here. Alive. And he had to keep himself from panicking because he had time to figure out what to say when you're meeting a version of a mother you had never really known. He thought he had time. He didn’t.

-

Casey Jr sits ramrod straight on his spot on the couch, across from the intimating woman across from him. His mom (mom, mom, MOM!) Stares across from her with sharp eyes and narrowed in what looks like anger, and Casey's mind is very split on this.  

One half of his brain is just screaming that she’s here and alive and real! Not just a story, or a memory that he isn’t totally sure he didn’t just make up. She’s really sitting across from him, and he can see his eyes and hair on her face. And somehow this is the most earth-shattering thing that has happened to him. Or at least the only part of this disaster that he can process.  

The other half of him is trying to decide what should happen now, what he should do or say. He isn’t given the chance to figure out because she speaks first and Casey Jones the Second hears the first words he ever heard his mother say.  

“Do I need to start a collage fund?”  

It’s... it’s absurd, and out of nowhere, and said with such seriousness that it makes Casey break down into laughter that shakes his whole body. He bows over trying to get enough air into his lungs because this is so stupid and chaotic and that probably (is) the best thing you could say in a situation like this. What is his life?  

“No-No!” He says between laughs. “I don’t think-” He breaks into more laughter. “I don’t think I need that.”  

He continues to laugh as she stands, hesitates and then marches to the seat next to him, sits down just as straight as Jr had a moment ago, and stiffly hugs him to her side. He wheezes through his laughter.  

“What-what are you doing?” Casey manages to hiss out.  

“I have been told that mothers are meant to comfort their children when they are crying.”  

Crying? Was he- Oh... yes, he was. At some point his laughs had begun to turn into sobs, and tears had leaked down his face. Everything had just hit him all at once, and he just... couldn’t anymore. He leans down and wipes his nose and eyes, and just breathes.  

“Sorry,” he says. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”  

“It’s alright.” Cassandra (Mom? Casey Sr?) responds, still holding his shoulder.  

It takes a miniate before either of them can do anything other than look over each other, looking over every similarity and difference. Then Mom (Cassandra?) meets his eyes and with a stone face asks what Casey thinks she’s been wanting to since she saw him.  

“Can you tell me how I die?” The time traveler looks away.  

“What makes you think you did?” He doesn’t think he can look at her right now.  

“Because I would not be so foolish or weak as to let my son travel through time!” She says it like he just insulted her, and he wants to argue but...  

“Infection.” He answers. “Which is impressive considering that when you were found you had one arm missing and had been impaled at least 5 times. You lasted about a week after that.” It’s easier to say than he likes. There is silence. Then:  

“I am... happy that I did not abandon you.” He turns to his mom, and she doesn’t look at him, staring past him and he makes a realization. That this whole conversation is as hard and awkward for her as it is for him, and he doesn’t know why it took him so long to realize that. Hell, they're almost the same age! He smiles and faces her completely, pulling on the quiet patience of Master Leonardo.

“I know that this is insane, and neither of us had time to really think about it. But if it helps, I don’t think we need to decide what or how we feel right now.” She pulls a face at the talk of “feelings,” but does relax slightly.  

“Very well. Until we become comfortable with the reality of this situation. Would you be amenable to the title of my brother? I... am uncertain of being refired to as a mother.” Brother? That could work. Casey grips Cassandra’s hand.   Yes, it's Cassandra for now. Maybe for forever, but that would be ok too.

“Sounds good.” 

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Please check out @zee-rambles as the one who came up with this challenge. Also take a look at @rise-april-art-challenge​ for more submissions. Please give feedback if I need to work on something.

God Dammit! 

I haven’t been a fan of TMNT for long, I was only brought into the fandom with Rise but this hurt! 

I love these boys! 

Can I kick it? (Yes, you can!)

Rise April Challenge: Day 8 Boom

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Ao3 Link: Here

Donnie groaned as he woke up, head pounding. His mind was already moving through the motions of waking up and starting his day (and/or afternoon.) But his train of half thought was derailed by the weight of his battle shell that was still on his back.

He never slept with his battle shell. Leo would have chewed him out for months if he did, Donnie knew better than to challenge him on that front. Which meant that something was very wrong.

Donnie opened his eyes to find himself lying on his side, on a cold concrete floor. The room he was in was huge and empty, a warehouse of some kind. Moonlight was the only source of light, cast in from the small windows high up on the walls. As his eyes squinted, trying to make out the shapes in the dark, he just managed to see that the walls were inscribed with graffiti. Which wouldn’t have been unusual, this was New York, except for the fact it was all the same piece of art. A large explosion with the word ‘BOOM’ splashed across it. Donnie looked out over the room with growing confusion as he saw it repeated over and over on the walls, some clustered so close to each other that they overlapped and covered one another, while in other places there would be yards that were completely bare. What was happening?

Don leaned down and attempted to bring up his comm to try and reach his brothers. But when he did the screen flashed with two words that made the turtle grit his teeth: 'No Signal.' That wasn't something that happened to Don's tech. Which meant one thing, something was jamming his comms.

Donnie sighed, stood up, and took a step forward. Only to feel his toes just brush on something plastic. He froze and leaned over to see the faintest of discoloration of something close to his foot. He bent down and pulled on his goggles to see it better. It was a flat circle, plastic from what he could see. At first Donnie was confused at what he was looking at exactly, and then the horrible, fearful, realization dawned on him.

It was a landmine.

His foot was centimeters away from activating it, if he had longer legs or had leaned forward even a little further it would have exploded under him. His mind ran with images of what would have happened if it was just an inch closer. Donnie thought of taking a slow step back from the thing, when another thought occurred to him. He raised his head slowly and looked out at the rest of the floor and grew even stiffer. The whole floor was covered in mines. Like the graffiti, the small disks were spread out without any order to them, clustered or sparsely scattered all over. And Donnie didn’t have his jetpack shell!

Damit! The only good thing he could see was a door on the opposite wall from him. It wasn't an impossible distance. He just needed to...

Ok. Ok. He could do this. Donnie slid his left foot to the side and took a slow step forward with his right. He scanned the floor and picked it up right to move it to the next safe spot. Easy.

It was slow going, the mines were hard to see in the dark even with his goggles. They were painted the same color as the floor, and it was only using his glass's ability to detect them and put a glowing indicator over them that Donnie was able to move through them. It also didn’t help that he sometimes had to backtrack to avoid a dead end or a section that he could tell that he wouldn’t be able to move through.

Why were these even here? Had someone built them to try and trap him or did they have another use?

Donnie was so close to the door now, only a few feet away. The mines had grown in number, and he had to stretch to reach new safe areas. So close, so close. He had just placed his right foot when his headset let out a loud warning beep and he froze. His weight delicately held in place by one crocked foot while the other just barely touched the floor in front of him. He tipped forward, shifted his weight and yanked himself towards the new safe zone and waited.

Nothing happened.

Donnie let out a deep breath and looked at the alert that just disturbed him. It was a huge number of markers, right in front of where he was standing, huddled close together in a semi-circle around the door. 4 rows, and no space between them to step.

He felt himself start scratching his arm, his short nails leaving thin white lines on his skin. The door was right there, he couldn’t just stay here. He needed to jump for it.

No. No. That was a stupid plan, there was too much risk. Could he even leap that far? And even if he could-

He had to.

Donnie spread his feet as far as he could and squatted. He shook his hands and tried very hard not to think about what he was doing.

He jumped.

He didn’t shut his eyes, he needed to see where he was going.

Donnie’s feet hit hard. There was one split second where he was sure he was going to fall; he could feel his feet twist to keep up with the shifting momentum, and he was almost certain that they were about to slide out from under him.

He didn’t fall.

He had made it. He smiled and faced the door. Whatever trap this maniac had set up had failed. He was home free.

This was too easy.

He pushed the door and smiled at the cold night air.

Snap!

Beep.

Donnie froze and looked down at the trip wire that had been snaped by the door’s swing.

Beep.

He traced it to the wall of the building.

Beep.

He stared at a mass of wires, taped to the side of the warehouse.

Beep.

Shit.

Donnie ran.

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep!

BOOM!

There was no slow, epic, walkaway. No bright orange flashy lights. The boom was set off with waves of compressed air and noises so loud that Donnie’s ears rang. The heat was consuming and the softshell fell forward after the first wave. He scrambled to his feet and kept running.

He could stop, he had to keep moving, because-

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Donnie heard the mines inside going off and focused on keeping himself going. He ran and darted down alleyways and around corners. Finally, stopping when the light of the fires could no longer be seen. He leaned against a trash can and tried to slow his breathing.

His comm crackled to life. Raph’s worried and gruff voice barely reaching him through the ringing in his ears.

“Don! Don! Are you there? Donnie, can you hear me?!” Donnie lifted the comm to his mouth and responded.

“I’m here. I’m ok.”

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Ao3 Link: Here

Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge. And take a look at @rise-april-art-challenge to see other submissions. Please give feedback if I need to work on something.

WAIT! SO I CAN REBLOG OTHER PEOPLES AMAZING WORK, AND IT WON’T BE THEFT?! I CAN SHARE WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY WITH OTHERS WITHOUT RUINING IT FOR THE ORIGINAL POSTER?!!! YES!!!!!

I’ll be back in a few hours, I HAVE SO MUCH TO SHARE!

Is it just me or are the new tumblr users convinced there's a penalty of some kind for using this site like it's meant to be used?

A Gift for @allosaurids

Summary:

This is inspired by @cupcakeslushie Feral Leo AU.

After Leo comes back from the prison dimension scared and battered, Raph is just trying to survive the night and help Leo come back to them.

Even though he questions if there is any part of Leo left to return to them.

-

The vision in Raph's right eye is fuzzy and out of focus, and his arm on that side is throbbing and twitching uncontrollably. In fact, the whole of his right side feels wrong, alternating between numbness, and feeling like a thousand sharp needles are tearing and shredding at his skin and muscles. 

He needs rest. He knows he needs rest. But he can't, not yet.  

His mind is a field of landmines, and if he thinks too long about what could have happened, what did happen, he's going fall apart, and Raph can't afford that. Not now, when the injuries of the invasion are still raw and bleeding, still all too present. He can't rest yet; he needs to wait for his family and him to begin to heal.  

But Raph has a feeling that they never will be completely fine after this again. Especially Leo, who crouches in the corner of the dark med bay, eyes wide, wild, and unseeing.  

Raph is sitting in the opposite corner, curled inwards in an attempt to appear smaller and less of a threat, and just looks at his brother.  

His brother who spent years in the prison dimension, when for them it had only been minutes. Who has thick, jagged scars across his body that hadn’t been there at the beginning of this nightmare, nails and teeth that are sharp and cracked, and at the center of it all: a huge crack down his shell that none of them can treat because he won't let them close enough to do so.  

The two brothers watch each other in the dim light and take in each other. Leo with a scared and uncertain gaze, that shifts from Raph to the other shadows in the room. While Raph just looks and tries to take in all the changes that Leo has gone through.  

Raph wishes he could have stopped it, that he had taken Leo’s place, that none of this ever happened.  

He wishes he could tell Leo that he’s sorry.  

But he can’t. Not in a way that Leo would be able to understand right now. 

So, Raph does the only thing he could think of to calm down the scared rabid animal that had taken the place of his little brother. He hums. 

It’s a deep, rumbling, purring, hum that doesn’t come from his throat, but from the space between his lungs. He hadn’t done this in years, not since they were all tots, but it had always calmed him and the others down and he was praying it would work here. 

It didn’t seem to be working, Raph wasn’t even sure Leo was hearing it. 

Then, Raph felt a flicker of pain scatter across his arm, and he flinched.  

Dammit, not again!

He groaned and curled inward bracing for what was about to happen. 

The parts of him that had been fused with the kraang flared in agony. Burning sharp pain that made him want to scratch and tear at his skin to get it out. His whole-body shook, his eyes watered, and Raph knew that all he could do was ride it out.  

But, God, he just wanted it to stop.  

The episode went on for what was likely just a few minutes, though it felt longer, wearing down Raph’s already weak mental defenses and allowing the memories of everything that had happened to invade the parts of his mind not already overwhelmed with the pain. Why couldn’t this horrible day just be over already?! 

Raph felt something brush against his left arm.  

The snapper whipped around and pressed himself deeper into the corner to get away from whatever had managed to sneak up on him. But as he did so, whatever had touched him skittered backwards with a hiss.  

Leo hunched inwards on himself staring at Raph with fear and expectance, but Raph froze. For a few seconds neither of them moved, then Leo leaned forward and audibly sniffed the air. After a second, the slider took a step forward and made a soft clicking noise.  

"...Hurt?" Leo managed to rasp; voice uncertain but his face a mix of apathy and fear. Raph managed a small nod, too scared to make any move or noise that could frighten Leo back into the opposite corner. The younger just sniffed the air again and shuffled closer. Without taking his eyes off Raph, Leo reached out with one dirty clawed hand and placed it atop his brother's bandaged wrapped arm.  

It took everything Raph had not to flinch at the contact, as it caused the pain to spike and be brought to the forefront of his mind again. Leo ran his hand over the bandage, squinting down at it with his still cloudy eyes. He took the larger hand into his own and ran his fingertips down it and turned it over.  

He's looking for blood, Raph realized. Checking to see if the bandages needed replacing. Just like he always does when one of us is hurt.  

The thought gives him a terrible hope that maybe a part of Leo survived whatever had happened to him.  

Leo's administrations hurt more than they help, because there are no cuts to bleed, and his bandages are clean. But Raph allows it because it's the closest Leo has been to normal since they got him back, and he's not going to ruin this. He stays still, even when Leo moves his examination from his arm up to his eye, and, upon finding nothing to treat, onto the rest of him. 

When it's over, Raph is still just as hurt and tired as when they started, but Leo looks more present than he has since they got him back. The younger pulls back and faces Raph head-on. His mouth twists like he wants to say something, but he doesn't even try to open his mouth and vocalize it, which is so unlike the Leo that Raph knows.  

That's okay, Raph still has his voice, and he can talk for them both for now.  

"Thanks for the help, Lee," He whispers. Leo squirms under his gaze, then makes us sharp hissing click before turning away.  

Raph briefly panics that he did something wrong before he sees Leo moving towards the medical cot in the center of the room. The older relaxes realizing that Leo is just going back to bed now that he knows everything's all right. Or so he thought. Because Leo is coming back with the pillows and blankets that had covered the bed.  

He puts the pillow up against the wall next to Raph, then takes the large sheet and throws it over Raph's head. Leo sits down with the pillow protecting his injured and broken shell and arranges the blanket around his older brother. When he's done, he just curls slightly into his shell and stares out over the dark med bay, searching for a threat that isn’t there. 

The dangerous hope has taken root in Raph's chest, and he prays that Leo is still there.  

For a few minutes they just sit like that. Then Leo struggles out a single word.  

"Real?"  

For a moment Raph's not sure what he's talking about, then he remembers all the horrible things the kraang could make him see when it forced itself into his mind. An overwhelming sense of grief threatens to swallow him whole, and he moves to take Leo's hand in his. To try and convince his younger brother that yes, this is real, and he is safe now. But he stops himself.  

Memories of what it was like being held captive by the kraang, about how they clung to every part of you, and how their touch was unescapable, flashed across his thoughts.  

No, touch wasn't a good idea. But the idea of not being able to cling to some part of Leo was worse. 

So, Raph does the only thing he could think of, he reached up and undid his bandana from his head. He wrapped one of the fraying ends around his own hand and offered the other out to Leo.  

For a moment Leo just stared, eyes flickering between Raph and the red fabric.  

"Take it," Raph offered, and Leo's face filled with the same dangerous hope that had blossomed in Raph's chest. Leo shakily gripped the other end of the bandana, and Raph pulled it taut between them.  

They had done this when they were younger too, mostly when Donnie didn't feel that he could touch anything but still wanted to know his brothers were nearby. It feels wrong using it like this, but it's the only thing that Raph can think of. 

"This is real," Raph promised, tears flowing out of his eyes. "You're safe now." 

Leo’s empty gaze returned to scanning the dark room, but his grip tightened on the bandana, and after quiet moment Leo began to hum in the same way Raph had done earlier. 

Raph closed his eyes, pain still shooting up and down his skin and returned his brother’s attempt to soothe them with his own rumblings. 

They would both be healed soon; they just needed a little time. 

-

Sooooo, I'm kinda sliding in under the buzzer here.

I rewrote this at least five times, and still wasn't satisfied with it. But @allosaurids deserves a gift, so I just had to go with it.

Thank you to @rottmnt-secret-gifting for hosting, and to the receiver of this gift I ask permission to be able to post this on Ao3.

Thank you.

Rise April Challenge 15: Buddy

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Ao3 Link: Here

Buddy really liked his friends. They were fun, and always fixed him up when he got torn up. They were great!

Sometimes they got torn up too. But it was different than when he was ripped. A bit of tape and paper and he was fine, but his friends didn’t work like that.  

They leaked when they got a tare, apparently it was called “bleeding,” and they needed to wait a long time to get better. Thankfully Blue-Friend was very good at fixing human rips and holes, they also were harder to rip them than Buddy.

But there was another thing that was different.

He had been confused when his Orange-Friend made a huge amount of noise as Blue smeared a green cream over his fingers. When the smaller one had yelled as he ripped his hand from the hot pan, Buddy had thought that it was to call the Blue one to help. But even as he was getting fixed, Orange kept yelping and shouting. Why? Blue was already here.  

It had been very confusing.

-

He ended up asking Red-Friend. It was hard since he didn’t know how to say a lot of words, although Purple-One was teaching him more.

“Hey, Buddy. What’s up?” Red asked as he walked into the dojo.

“Buddy!” The paperman said. He found out that his name was also a used to say friend. That was very fun! He waited till he was closer before beginning to piece together his question.

“Why... do... Orange... make noise... when...” Buddy paused, trying to grab the word. “...he touch... hot?” That worked.

Red furrowed his eyes.

“When he got burned?” Burned! That was the word. He’ll try to remember that.  

Buddy nodded.

“Well, it hurt. That’s kinda what you do.”

Hurt. That wasn’t a new word, Buddy had heard it before, but he didn’t know what it meant.

“What... ‘hurt’?”

Red looked shocked, before shaking his head.

“Right, forgot that you don’t know this stuff. Hurt is... uh, like when you feel pain.”

“Pain?” He didn’t know that one.

“It’s like-” Red started but stopped and stared at Buddy. Buddy stared back. “Do you... like feel pain? It’s just that your paper and-” He stopped again, and Buddy just waited. “Pain is like when your body is yelling at you. That something is hurting- uh, that something is wrong. Do you... have that?”

Buddy thought about it. He always knew when something was wrong with his body, but it never yelled at him. (He thinks Red meant that part ‘figuratively’. (Good word, Buddy!)) It was just him knowing that it wasn’t right.  

He eventually shook his head.  

“Oh. Well, that makes sense. Don’t worry about the noises, Buddy. It’s just something we do.”  

Buddy nodded and left to go think.

So, his friends got “hurt” and felt “pain.” That did not sound fun. Buddy thought of other times his friends were hurt. He recalled their scrunched-up faces and the ugly sounds they made. He thought of the way they squirmed, trying to get away from their rips, or how they clenched their teeth. He decided that he didn’t like seeing his friends be hurt.  

But if it was bad for him to see hurt, was it worse to have pain?  

Buddy decided that he was happy he didn’t have pain, and he was also going to make sure that his friends didn’t need to get pain.

Buddy smiled tucked away this line of thought and wondered off to see if anyone wanted to play a game with him.

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Ao3 Link: Here

Please check out @zee-rambles who came up with this challenge and take a look at @rise-april-art-challenge for more submissions from other fans. Feel free to give me feedback if I need to work on anything.