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[The day has been exhausting.

That's the real word here. Exhausting. Physically, sure, but emotionally? Unparalleled exhaustion. April, Splinter, and Casey got a van from somewhere that they all quietly piled into, the brothers half carrying Leo in, and the ride back is quiet. Leo's a fucking mess of bruises, some broken bones, busted up face, who knows what else under the shell. Not that anyone else is in stellar shape, but it's enough when April has to take a sharper turn than expected, Leo ends up shifting against Raphael's shoulder while they ride.

He doesn't say anything, but he doesn't make any motion to move away either. He's too tired, too much in the feeling of 'oh god everything hurts make it stop' to try consciously moving himself.

It isn't until April pulls to a stop at one of the larger entrances to the sewer that Leo starts forcing himself to move, pain shooting up his nerves like fire. But he keeps one hand clenched on one of his katana that Casey had returned, the other out... somewhere. He'll find it eventually once he has the strength to portal himself to it again.

But he stops to make sure the others are coming along.]

Almost home, guys. [Maybe if he hopes and crosses fingers, that didn't sound as bad to them as it did to his own ears.]

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[ Raph has already derailed the shower plan. Donnie wants blood and to "swab residue" and "if you get tap water in that eye right now I'm wiping your Nintendogs data, go sit down."

But Raph is the boss of Raph. Raph doesn't want to sit down and think about anything or feel like his skin is crawling or worry about if something is gonna grow back or-- non-issues. Not thinking. Raph is the boss. So he decides to start hauling in pretty much all the pillows and blankets he can wrangle. The living room is going to become public sleeping space. Almost definitely. Teddy bears? Yes. In case of emergency, break out T-Bone 2: the sequel to T-Bone, tragically lost to time in the old lair. He sets that one down for Mikey to grab after he's gotten his arms cleaned and wrapped. Special privilege.

There's a lot of Draxum-calling in their future, probably.

Leo, he sees, has become one with the pre-existing pillow pile. Still breathing. If everything weren't what it is right now, this would be business as usual. It's not business as usual, so it's-- a relief. If there's been a big invisible fist clenched around Raph's heart, it loosens the fingers a little.

Casey is cool. For getting a start on that first aid. Raph doesn't know all that much about him or what he's like, apart from what he'd consider high-risk behavior encouragement earlier on. Which looking back? Should've accounted for that. Apocalypse future. Maybe the kid needs some outlets.

He keeps what he would consider a reasonable, non-startling distance when he drops his bedtime supplies mountain. Startling not necessary. No... accidental looming? ]

If you're gonna nap, you have to tell me or it's entrapment. [ Is it?

Doesn't matter. It's the principle.

Leo's probably not gonna get a good long stretch of uninterrupted sleep until he's out of the concussion window anyway, because of his whole situation, but just in case. ]

[The initial response that gets is an otherworldly groan into the pillows. He's right, though. Leonardo knows he isn't going to get any uninterrupted sleep any time soon. There are too many things - clean up of the lair, clean up of them, first aid, food, getting April back to her parents, they gotta figure out what the heck to do with Casey (did he have parents? It didn't seem like he did, where is he staying, who will he stay with, does he just live with the turtles now?) there's too much.

Even the soft pillows he's piled doesn't feel right. The weight of responsibility and his own injuries is overpowering. They'll all have to take turns in the med bay one by one. But for now?]

Only if you suspect it, big brother. [As deep a breath as he can manage. He's probably bruised or cracked a few ribs. Well. He didn't. Krang did it. Same difference. And then lets that breath out carefully.] Just need a few minutes.

[ Conscious: check. Noise of complaint: honestly kind of reassuring. ]

It's my job as a big brother to suspect everything.

[ Except when his baby brother is about to self-sacrificially seal himself away in a prison dimension with a big angry impossible to beat outright enemy that'll have a huge grudge to take out on him, assuming that the exploding creepy spaceship didn't kill him first. When his baby brother is about to do all that and probably knows he's about to do that and sends him away first.

Is it even as easy as that, sends him away? Raph's the one who listened. He's the one who left him.

(But who catches Donnie and Mikey if he doesn't listen?

This is the problem, this is the whole problem, this is his whole problem, it's the whole literal nightmare scenario, where it feels like- like picking between everything and everything and everything, all three everythings--)

Maybe he's losing his touch. Maybe he should go back to the blanket quest. Clean some stuff up. Maybe he'd feel more settled by channeling some sharp-edged energy into his surroundings, by going through the rooms, securing the perimeter. Because stewing will turn into spiraling and spiraling won't do anyone any good, and he's not even that bad off, and there's probably a million things on the docket, and, and, and.

Raph fishes out a Preferred Blanket, chucks it on the ground between his blanket mountain delivery and Leo's pillow pile, and carefully flops onto it like he's some kind of big weird guard dog. In sight. In reach.

Because ultimately heavier than anything on the scale is that he hates the idea of leaving Leo in here by himself. If by "hates the idea," one means "briefly thought about that conceptually and it made him wanna gnaw a cinderblock into crumbly little pieces."

Which is, at least, a routine baseline emotion for Raph. It's actually very calming for him. Enough knee-jerk anxiety to pull his attention away from the other billion emotions trying to get processed all at once, but not so much that he can't soothe it just by staying put. ]

I wanna yell at you so bad. You know that?

[The idea of being alone right now might be Leonardo's worst nightmare. Not one he would acknowledge consciously, not one he may even realize he has. But it is. He'd been so sure for those brief moments-

The idea of moving is one step below that. Not quite a nightmare because he is awake and aware of it, knows that he will have to move eventually. But everything is sore, and laying down in any capacity may have been the worst mistake he could have made. There's stuff to do, and he's fairly certain he's not getting up again. He will, however, turn his head to face his brother, only one eye visible from the pillow-pile he's started sinking into.]

No, I did not, but now I do.

[He can guess why. His brother was likely as scared as he was through the whole thing. That shitty one liner he gave over the radio was not his best move, looking back. It likely only made him more upset. But then again, Leo was sure at the time. While he hadn't had the conscious plan when he portal'd Raph to go after their brothers, it was something he realized there wasn't a choice in. Not as he watched the Krang start to stalk toward him, coming right back from the edge of the portal. No, Leo knew that moment there wasn't any escape from it. Running away would have meant the end of their world.

He wonders a lot of idle things, did the whole way home. He has questions he wants to ask. But asking would open the door for a lot of hurt and conversation Leo isn't ready for.]

Probably gonna be here a while. [An invitation? Or just an observation.] I don't think I'm moving again until I have to.

[ Raph huffs. Which is like sighing for someone who operates on 110% emotional intensity. It's basically exactly the same.

He tries to gather up some yelling energy. Flexes his fingers a few times. What would it do right now? Heck, where would he even start? All those thoughts he was thinking on the walk home, about the arguing and the getting on Leo's case, the great-granddad versus Pops energy of it all, still very important. ]

Yeah.

[ Yeah, Leo will be here, yeah, Leo's probably not gonna be on the move for a while. Yeah he thinks he does want to yell? Yelling happens with most of his feelings, so it's a safe bet. Yeah, yeah, and yet.

Raph makes a frustrated noise and runs a hand down his face, and whether or not that's a little bit painful is his business. ]

I love you. [ He found a slight percentage of yelling energy after all, and he's applied it.

There's a world where Leo's not here. There's a world where he's gone and none of them said it in the moment. Technically that was this world for a couple of minutes. ]

Don't you ever do that to us again.

[ Raph would feel around for a blanket or a teddy bear to throw, for emphasis, but dare he say, even a thrown bear might not be ideal with all the bruising. Not with as hard as he usually throws, anyway. ]

[There's probably some very real symbolism to think about regarding himself and Krang being locked away together forcibly separated from their siblings and how they both reacted to it. But it's so far from his thoughts as Raph's words sink in: I love you. They do, they all love each other. He doesn't doubt it for a second, nor would Leo ever hold that back from his brothers either. He wonders if the Krang siblings actually cared about each other? It almost seemed like they didn't. He could swear he never remembers hearing anyone's name spoken between the three either.

Nothing like him and his brothers.

No, his brothers care about each other, fight about and with each other, yell at each other. It's why he, despite never really enjoying being yelled at, appreciates it now. He relishes Raph yelling at him, trying to make him swear never to put himself in danger like that again. Because it means he cares. He knows that now; had an idea before but it never really sank in until that fight on the bridge. If his brothers didn't care, he wouldn't hear Donnie fussing over Mikey's hands and forearms in the other room, wouldn't have Splinter and April in the kitchen trying to put literally anything edible together they have left right now knowing these boys need something simple in their stomachs.

No, despite not enjoying being yelled at, Leonardo cherishes it right now. Hell, he half expects Raph to find a teddy bear or blanket to throw for emphasis.]

And what was I supposed to do, let him take over the world? [Another half-breath that he can manage, a slow controlled exhale. He starts to shift, roll over and his hand grips at his side. Leo puts some pressure on the spot - the same side that had bothered him after the subway collapse, the soreness having gotten only worse since Krang taking out his grudge in that dimension - just to relieve some of the pain.] Look... I won't. All right? Hopefully, it won't ever come to that again.

[ "What was I supposed to do," he says. "Hopefully," he says. The tone of it all.

Ugh. Teenagers.

Raph refuses to let the fact that he too is a teenager surface in his mind palace. It wouldn't serve him right now. ]

Hope-nothin', sassyshell! Won't. End of sentence. You think Raph won't come over there and give you the most medically unsound noogie of your life?

[ He absolutely will not, for myriad reasons. One of them being that it would just end up being a non-noogie-shaped very careful hug, which he has no issue with, apart from the fact that he'd have gone over there with noogying intent.

In hindsight, the fact that he simply chooses to not acknowledge the world-destroying first half because he gets it makes Raph feel a way. Mad. Extremely, viscerally sad. Terrified. So several ways.

He fishes around for a bear after all, but it's just for personal reasons. ]

[Yeah, as if they have any control over all the weird shit that keeps happening around them. Hopefully it'll just still be low level mutants they're familiar with committing petty theft from here on. No more world shattering fights, no giant dinosaur themed aliens or anything. Just what they're familiar with and know they can handle.

He huffs out a sigh, burying his face into those pillows again. And then takes a breath so he doesn't let out the agony of pain noises he wants to make when he starts moving. Leo reaches to his other side and grabs a pile of plush in his hand and holds Captain Cuddles out to Raph.]

Grabbed him when I grabbed the pillows. Thought you'd want it.

[ Exactly. A hundred percent. No kaiju-sized dinosaur war races or government agencies trying to catch them for experiments or mystic time cops turning them into fugitives on the run through multiple realities until they pull another world-saving stunt and get pardoned. It's all weirdos who mutated and got really amped up about how they think they deserve to do petty crimes now.

In the meantime, this explains why Captain Cuddles was nowhere to be found when Raph went around grabbing blankets.

Scientific fact: hard for a turtle to look appropriately stern when he's very relieved to be accepting a teddy bear. Raph is not immune to that struggle. The relief wins out.

And it's such a Leo move to say that like it's so obvious, like it wasn't even a whole active thought he had, that Raph would want this and Raph would end up nearby sooner over later, which is like. Infuriating. It's fondness so intense he feels like it could crack his chest open. He exhales, hard. ]

...

Gimme thirty seconds. [ A nice reasonable amount of time in which to de-scramble and then try to have an actual Talk About Things with his little brother, who he loves very much.

Lying on the floor with a stuffed animal doesn't make his problems disappear, but it also never makes them worse. It's good to just-- have something familiar sometimes. Squeeze, on and off, predictable rhythm.

They're still his hands. They only do what he wants them to do.

Everyone is here and everyone is safe. They're all close enough to keep that way. They'll take care of each other.

They got through the scariest, hardest parts. Now it's down to the just scary, just hard parts.

Scary and hard are easy. You just run into them until they're done. ]

Uh huh.

[Leo lays there, watching his brother from his one visible eye now that he's settling again. His brother who protected their other brothers. Their big brother who nearly killed him. Not of his own wishes or volition, of course, but he was used. Leo can never express the relief felt when he saw Raph's eye clear and recognized him on that bridge.

Everyone else is still busy. He has something he just - he needs to ask. So he's patient. He waits the requested thirty seconds, and another fifteen just to be certain.]

Hey, Raph. [His voice is quiet. Fully intended just for the two of them, hoping Raph's answer doesn't echo through the lair.] Before. When the portal closed. After that, did you guys hear anything?

[ Forty-five seconds is practically a whole vacation. Apart from that quick stretch of time earlier, the uncomplicated little bubble that popped up where something big was over and he had all three brothers in his arms, it does Raph more good than pretty much anything else has so far. More than blanket quest, more than a normal non obsessive amount of headcounts.

Forty-five seconds to breathe is something that can be so personal.

Leo doesn't open on a question that he's expecting. Not that he guesses he was expecting any particular super specific questions, if he's honest, but.

It's kind of a big question.

Raph hesitates. Looks away for all of two more seconds. ]

The radio cut when the portal did.

[ Which is, of course, not strictly a direct answer to the question. ]

[Raph looking away is probably not good. Usually not. But that the radio cut out is.... Better. Better they didn't hear the Krang screaming, better they didn't hear the alien trying and nearly succeeding beating Leo to death.

Better to know they didn't hear Leonardo not fighting back. Leo's taking the answer for what it is on the surface.

Quietly:] Okay. [And then more sure:] Okay. Was just wondering.

[Nevermind what he's forgotten they can do. That Raph could have easily heard his thoughts - At least they're safe. I want dad. Raph will take care of them. I'm gonna die here. It's not a thing he's considered after they managed to do it once and not since.

No, instead he tucks his face into those pillows he's buried himself in and sighs relieved.]

[ Of course he's relieved. Of course he is.

Who in their family wouldn't be, right? If they thought nothing got through. That at least their family didn't hear whatever awful stuff happened, at least they weren't there to see the worst. He knows the thought. He doesn't want Leo to know the thought. ]

You mean just worrying. [ Which is supposed to be Raph's job. Rude.

(He should've pushed back when Pops first put Leo in charge. He should've put his foot down, he should've asked him to wait for a while, because Leo is his kid brother, he's a kid, it's Raph's job to watch out for him, so he should've argued it, should've figured something out, a way to talk to Leo about this stuff that wasn't breathing down his neck, or trusted him more or trusted him less or should've, should've, should've--

It's not about him. It's not about him.)

Raph hauls himself closer with a grunt, solely for the sake of being closer to the brother consigned to his pillowy fate. He can't simply scoop Leo up and hug him until they're forced to separate, at least not without some medical safety risks? He's not totally sure. Better safe than sorry.

But he can sort of curl half-around the pillow pile and nudge Leo's dumb flopped-over hand, and press his forehead to one of the bottom-tier pillows like it's basically the same thing. ]

This whole operation falls apart without you in it.

[ He's gonna have to tell him. That it happened. The mind-meld stuff. Some wrenching desperate scramble for anything that managed to work. It's the responsible thing, and the fair thing, which means it kinda sucks to need to do it.

Can't outweigh the benefit of being able to tell Leo he can talk about it, though.

Just a matter of figuring out how to start. ]

['Worrying'. Like worrying they might've heard something he wouldn't want them to ever hear. Worrying that Raph is scared of what the Krang did to him. Worried about the long term affects of whatever it was Mikey did, worried about what controlling the ship looked like for Donnie.

Yeah, sure. 'Worrying'. Just like he can't help the instinctive jerk away when something foreign touches his hand. Raph, it's just big brother. An exhale before he settles again and turns his head to face his brother.]

Same to you. It did kinda fall apart for a little bit.

[But Leo got them back together. He did whatever he had to so he could understand and do it right. And he'd do it again, any number of times it takes, and hell take whomever tries to do it to them next.

He's prepared for that. He's prepared for whatever comes their way because he will keep their family safe. Even if it means he's in a position like he is right now, knowing he needs to get up and clean himself up. He can still taste the blood in his mouth even. But every breath is aching right now, his lungs shuddering in his ribcage.

(But it isn't about him. It's not about him.)]

Whadd'you need right now? [And even Leo winces at how that comes out.] I mean - do you need? Anything? Just- Tryin' to get a good picture of where we're all at.

[ In hindsight, Raph will own that one. What if he didn't surprise the resident turtle who just nearly got beaten to death in the prison dimension, actually. File it away in worried big brother notes, some of the only notes that he's ever kept diligently.

All things considered, probably not personal. All things considered, probably not in a position to be offended if jerking away was a little bit personal. He doesn't have free space to spare for that anyway.

Leo's starting fumble to the question drags out a quiet amused noise in spite of everything. The question proper is both valid and hard to pin down an answer on. Raph vibes on it for a while.

To know that he's safe to be around long-term, that he ripped everything terrible out of himself or burned it away and it's not waiting to grow back. To know a hundred percent for sure that everyone is gonna be alright. To get April home safe.

To fill in some of the gaps he's working with.

Some floor time with Captain Cuddles, which Leo did already make an important contribution towards. For Leo to simply not be out of sight again until he's forty years old? Maybe.

A good cry. But that's for later.

Nothing he can't deal with. ]

I gotta talk to you.

[ Understatement is a vital ninja skill. ]

...Yeah?

[It would be foolish to think they all wouldn't want to talk to him about what happened. His almost final words to his brother was smug, shitty, and throwing Raph's own actions back in his face for... what? To prove a point? Honestly looking back, Leo can't figure out why he'd said that.

But he also knows he isn't going to take it back.

Leo finally squirms a bit in the pillow pile and rolls to lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling now. He's glad for his plastron and shell - way way less likely to see all the bruising underneath.]

What's up?

[ Well, he doesn't sound not here for it. Awfully casual. But casual's always sorta been Leo's comfort zone. At a certain point, Raph needs to stop being surprised about it. Leo got mutant oozed and hogged all the face man.

It makes it hard to get a read on him. He knows him, he loves him, but they speak different languages sometimes. Usually about really important stuff. In other news, the sky is wet, the grass is blue. That's not right. Whatever. Raph knows what Raph meant to think.

There's a lot he wants to get into. Thinking about it. Like, he touched on the most important things, the "I love you" and "never do it again" and "it falls apart without you." It wouldn't hurt to really drill those in, though. He definitely needs to lay out that there was no hero move to what he did at all, just him being the most terrified he's maybe ever been in his life. Needs to-- not put off the Responsible Disclosure, because it'll be easier on Leo to know what they know, and everyone isn't gonna be busy in other rooms forever.

But first, maybe something he knows from experience is probably a Leo-need right now, not simply a want. ]

It was some big mystic portal energy thing. Mikey's arms. I mean, you probably picked up on that. But I guess he can just do that now? Rip through dimensions?

[ He never got the memo about it. Not that it was a bad thing to have suddenly on the table, at their lowest. ]

It kinda-- ate at him. Started to. So me and Donnie hitched up, took some of it on. Between Dee and Draxum, we'll probably know what the situation is pretty fast. What's gonna help him most. He can boss the rest of us around about bein' his hands for a while. Take it easy. [ And if Draxum has to go out and do some villain-adjacent activities to secure things that will be helpful, well, they're all on lair lockdown for the foreseeable future anyway, so they wouldn't know about it and wouldn't be looking if he did.

Raph idly scratches at the floor a little bit with his thumbnail. There's something meditative about it. About feeling it. If he's honest, there's also a tiny bit of a selfish comfort to laying out a status report. Like a mental checklist to ward off worst case imaginings, only saying it out loud. Another form of doing headcounts. ]

Donnie's banged up. Big hit. Rough landing. I think he's movin' alright, but he's kinda cagey, even for him. I dunno if it's a stress thing or what. So maybe don't poke the bear too hard when he's fixin' you up. [ Because 'fixing up' sounds better than 'assessing how much of a jigsaw puzzle you are right now.' ] Pops and April and Casey look way tired, but they seem solid. Nothin' a nap on the good cushions won't help. I mean, I'm guessin' with Casey, I don't really know him. I feel like a nap wouldn't hurt the guy.

[ Pops and April always have good cushions dibs. Casey can have third dibs because he's a guest. Or possibly lives here now? That's a later thing to figure out. For now, he can have some guest privileges as a treat. ]

We're all here. We're good. You did good.

[ Obviously apart from the stuff he yelled about already, which he was totally the most right about and not biased about at all! Source: he said so. Obviously. ]

[Oh?

OH!

Yeah. Of course, Raph would want to give him a run down. It's good to hear. All the details and vague ideas of plans to move ahead are good to know. Leo almost visibly relaxes by the time Raph is talking about Donnie (and he really should check on the two of them, his other brothers, they left to do their own thing and haven't come back yet-) letting his head sink back down into the cushion.

And by the time he finishes, Leo's eyes are closed in utter relief. So it sounds like they all made it. Good.]

We'll figure Casey's situation out tomorrow. Should probably find a way to contact April's parents and let them know she's all right.

[Even falling apart, Leonardo can't stop his brain from thinking. No, he has to make plans, even one step plans, to scratch the itch.]

I figure delivery's out with half the city busted up, but think we have anything we can make here?

April's probably got leads on how to reach 'em. Could start there.

[ Humans are supposed to be into family plans for disasters, aren't they? He hopes so. If they gotta ninja buddy system escort her home or to a meetup spot safely, so be it.

"Figure Casey's situation out tomorrow" is a good plan. In his opinion. A little bit because it's nice to know he didn't miss out on like, any "yeah of course you can stay here with us or whatever" developments.

Would've been a weird night if they got to that mid-alien-invasion, but you never know. ]

And we always got somethin'. Leftovers. Like a hundred boxes of noodles. [ Many already open and only half-full even though some are the exact same types of noodle, for reasons beyond Raph's comprehension. ] We can do food. It just won't be anything fancy.

[ But he doubts Leo's really fussed about comprehensive and fancy as much as doable. Two steps ahead thinking about stuff. Raph doesn't mind being those couple steps back, honestly.

He hesitates. ]

Anything else on your list, boss man?

[ Raph's ready to big brother, right-hand turtle do his best to round up whatever Leo needs rounded up, but also he knows he's kind of pushing off the hard topic. If he keeps on that, Leo might hear it from Mikey or Donnie, which could be... messy. Messier? Maybe be mad that Raph didn't tell him first even though he asked him about it more or less directly.

Raph's always had problems with that. The breaking not-exactly-great news. ]

[Hearing that confirmation about the food - even just noodles - has his muscles loosening up a bit. Though he wants to go do it himself, stretch out and do something. Mikey's usually the one in the kitchen, but Leo's no slouch either. They could both probably spruce those noodles up into something more than the sum of its parts.

But Mikey's hands are likely fucked given what Raph is telling him, and Leo isn't sure how high exactly he can lift his arms. He felt something in his shoulders tear mid-fight (or mid-beating? He doesn't want to think about it, don't thįnk̀ ͢abou͜t̨ ̸it̴ s̸t͏op th̛i̸nk̀in̕g͢ a͢b͠ǫu͢t ͡it̨

A deep breath. Slow exhale. Maybe not so deep. His whole chest hurts, even more when he tries to breathe and move and he should just walk himself to the med bay and start doing damage control for himself.

Later. He'll do it later when everyone's finally asleep. Not like he'll get a wink anyway, when does he ever?]

Figure everyone's handling first aid already. So... Nah. Nothing else. Not unless you had something, Boss Brother?

[ They'll have to rely on the non-turtle fam to make the noodle dream a reality. Or, pending nap status, Mikey can Ratatouille Raph around and simply force him to do better.

He just doesn't see the need to evolve cooking skills past the complexity level of "I have sometimes in the past made grilled cheeses or boxed macaroni." For reasons only partly related to having hands so big he can palm their dad like a basketball, and the complications therein.

But. Okay. Rip the band-aid, Raph. That's your opening. It's as much of a brotherly duty as any other, aka a privilege not to be taken lightly.

Boss Brother absolutely gets a snort, though. Dork.

(He misses being a bunch of dorks. Sneaking into pools and gardens and arguing about stuff that doesn't even matter. He misses when being scared of what else they might lose if the next Shredder-sized thing cornered them again didn't take up so much space.

He doesn't know how a person works on balancing that, but maybe he should start trying harder. After this stuff starts settling down, anyway.) ]

There's, uh... there is somethin' you should know. And you're not gonna like it. [ Nailed it, nailing it, definitely the reigning champ of being good at giving his brothers news that they will almost certainly hate. ] I think it'd be worse not to tell you, though. So. I'm gonna offer you Captain Cuddles for emotional support first. If you want him.

[ Touching Leo unannounced seemed like a bad time. In general. It's no hardship to forewarn that he's about to hold a teddy bear up to the pillow pile. ]

[Leo's still on edge. His nerves are still on fire both from pain and that brush with not-death because it certainly wasn't death he was welcoming, it wasn't his only perceived exit from that dimension after doing what they needed done. No, it wasn't that. The empty silence in that place, only the sound of being slammed into cement and foundation crashing into his shell, the cracks he heard splintering across his plastron and through his chest-

Breathe. There's a bear in view that he's fairly certain he had just handed to his brother.]

Sounds like you might need it more than me. ['You're not gonna like it'. Hard to say given the everything they just got through. He's certain he would be thrilled to hear any more news, because it means they're still alive to get news.] What is it?

[ Not even differentiating of bears enough to be sure which one he handed over. Cruel and unjust. Well. It's not like Raph's not right here if Leo changes his mind about that.

In the meantime, oh Cap'n, we're really in it now. ]

Do you... remember a couple years ago? When we all got real gung-ho about traditional Hamato training for a minute?

[ Or what they all thought was traditional Hamato training but it was kinda a step to the left of the true heart of it, skewed by their dad's childhood trauma and perception, and everyone learned a valuable lesson about being who they really are. He guesses.

Which could happen to anyone trying to improve as ninjas, honestly. ]

[That's.... an interesting start to whatever it is Raph needs to tell him. Leo listens. Even if his nervous energy is kicking up, hands needing to be doing something. So he picks idly at the threads of this one pillow; it's a little loose and just this one specific thread of stitching that's started to come loose, if he just picks and tugs at it gently maybe he can -

Wait, right, Raph is asking him something and he should respond. Not get caught up in his own thoughts of ...]

Yeah? I remember. It was cool, but it wasn't us. Whhhhy, what about it?

[There has to be some reason Raph's bringing this up. They're all kind of weird sometimes, but Raph wouldn't just use this as a lead in topic for no reason.]

[ He drops an affirmative little mm-hmm in the middle there somewhere.

A guy really has to stop to think about how weird their lives are that this is where he's starting, sometimes. They were weird before all the heroism and ancient clan arts and aliens and saving the world, but like... man. ]

It turned out we could do that ninja mind meld thing, right? Reach each other?

[ What were you even worked up about, Raph. Easy. Straightforward. Next part's the big one, but you're the biggest brother, so just keep carrying. ]

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