Mundubbera Valley follow the stream.

Chompy is happily munching! little tail waggling -


And Randal is making happy sounds, and hilarious - to Big M - wounds like he agrees whole heartedly with Raph's tease! wriggling his little toes and hands busy holding the crackers he had!

Raphie paaaauses and haha as Lee mutters.


"oooh for sure it says I have lost my mind.... So before it becomes total I better finish the story..."


Big M laughed and is happily just sharing with kiddoes and sitting close to them in their dads arms. " yes! Please - surely that far gone you don't have much time." giggling at Lee making rude hand gestures and pointedly at his Raph, Raphie and Big M.

Raph can't help but chuckle at the kids response to his tease. Sure, pleased it had gone over well, but the kids are adorable!

Yes, Raph is a sucker for them.

And he sniggers as BigM piles on and Lee gives them a dirty hand gesture.

"I am definitely not accepting blame when Randal repeats that one."

And grinning while waving for Raphie to continue!

It's a great story! And he's definitely wanting to hear the rest as they finish up this meal. Every once in a while he remembers he's supposed to keep a bit of an eye on Lee, but for the most part, he's no longer concerned.

Raphael2012 wrote:Raph can't help but chuckle at the kids response to his tease. Sure, pleased it had gone over well, but the kids are adorable!

Yes, Raph is a sucker for them.

And he sniggers as BigM piles on and Lee gives them a dirty hand gesture.

"I am definitely not accepting blame when Randal repeats that one."

And grinning while waving for Raphie to continue!

It's a great story! And he's definitely wanting to hear the rest as they finish up this meal. Every once in a while he remembers he's supposed to keep a bit of an eye on Lee, but for the most part, he's no longer concerned.

Lee chuckles and shakes his head, pointing at BigM. " naaaaah thats what a Mikey is for am I right?" it's whsipered and a tease and he sniggers when the big orange clad turtle heeeeeys and pokes his tongue out at him.


Soft because there is a breathless encouragement from Erica, whom only understood half the story from here on end for Raphie to continue, to tell them how the arm, the man made and yet spiritual weapons, how it went with Karai... and the turtles! the turtles in this point of the story...


dead?


Well thats how it had felt to Raphie if he had to describe it. But... it had not been horrible. He doesn't know if he believes there is a heaven, or a hell, but for a few moments... and he doesnt share this even though he is explaining and enjoying the cliff hanger he has left them on in that moment he and his brothers might have been... at least spiritually... defeated for the moment lying on the ground... but in those moments he recalls he felt... or dreamed... he had been somewhere safe and warm and quiet. Then drawn back into the fight by his grandfather, Yoshi. As a dragon...


Not just an avatar... a flesh and bone and powerful beast... he grins drawing the story a bit longer and carefully scooping Randal closer for a moment, then carefully adding him to Raph's lap. He was as much a sucker for those adorable little ones. And there Randal grins up at Raph and offers his little Chompy friend his lastest handful of flatbread, his other hand stuffing the other bit into his own mouth.


Raphie sees Erica sigh in relief the story was moving on and their alive, still fighting.


BigM phews a hand across his forehead, relieved too. And Now Raphie can describe, and didn't need to embellish upon an all out Dragon battle, four younger dragons against the massive older demon dragon Shredder.

Raph sniggers as Lee blames BigM for Randal learning the lewd hand gesture! HA! Though Raph would be the first to shatter that little illusion if Lee actually tried!

Because Randal learning it from Lee is hilarious!

As for Raphie's story, Raph is on the edge of the seat.

Wait...? Did they die? Or...? He's not sure from Raphie's description. There is a little more reading between the lines for Raph to actually fully jump to that conclusion, and unless he's straight up told otherwise, he will simply assume that this other group of turtles was merey very injured. And he will quash the brief questioning.

Obviously they didn't die if Raphie and his brothers are here in the Nexus now!

When Raphie puts Randal in Raph's lap, Raph is sort of torn between watching the adorable babies, and Raphie's incredible, unbelievable story! But Daaawwww! The little guys were cute!

"Aww, good sharing!" Raph rubs the little guys' heads and is back to being enthralled by Raphie's story!

Randal beams up at Raph! nuzzling into that hand! - and in the perfect spot Chompy decides to slide down his dads shoulder, plastron to land on his buddy - making his little friend squeak and giggle, the two wriggling like a pair of kittens for a moment in Raph's lap until both are comfy... and eaten the shared handfuls of food then their just lounging, Randal curled up and Chompy happily spread on his plastron both very happy and well fed babies listening to Raphie tell a story even in they didn't understand much of it to be honest.


Lee chuckles at the sniggering because teasing aside he would probably dob himself in!


And those cute little ones!


He wonders briefly for a moment what it had been like for Raphie and his brothers, if they were dead for a few moments, just... how it had been. Leo too had been dead a few moments, drifting out in space, gone. Somewhere safe and warm and so quiet. Though was immensely glad he had been brought back, still with brothers to care for.


Raphie is totally giving a blow by blow at this point of the great battle with the monster demon dragon. He and his brothers had to learn fast how to fly, some without visible wings, and work together using their smaller agility against an immensely scarier more powerful opponent. Recounting just how they dived and swooped and when they figured out how to pull the massive beast apart back to the things that had brought him back to the realm of the living. Happy to see the others on the edges of their seats!

Even if Raph hadn't been done eating, he would be done eating now that both of the babies are playing adorably in his lap! As they settle in after Chompy dropped off his shoulder, Raph can't help but pick them both up and snuggle them! They're soooo darned CUTE!

"You guys are such good sharers, and all snuggly and adorable!" He continued, but it was more babbled sounds than words.

Sucker.

Complete. Sucker.

But there is also a captivating story being told, and Raph doesn't want to miss a word!

Raph is no longer contemplating the possible death of Raphie and his brothers in that moment with the demon Shredder. He's not thinking about times he thought any of his brothers were dead. Or... times that for a moment, maybe they were? He's not thinking about when they lost their father.

No. Raph isn't thinking about any of that. Almost by sheer force of will. The kids being absolutely innocent and such wonderful little characters in his lap is also helping! He can't h

Instead, he is very much focused on shifting, wiggling babies in his lap until they settle. Then he's perfectly demonstrating how one should avidly listen to a storyteller as Raphie gives his blow by blow description of the fight.

Raph is absolutely hanging on every word! Part of him is certain that Raphie and his brothers prevail in the end, as Raph does know that all of them are in this world now, but the story is intense!

Almost a sniff! a total melting - and almost what would have been far too over-emotional nawwwwwwwing at Raph and the babies Lee manages to though compose himself and only appear to melt a little. And he is glad to have kept his composure cause he was not succeeding as he'd hoped on this front, gasping and covering his mouth at the moment in the storytelling Raphie is describing him and his brothers grabbing a hard mouth hold of gauntlet and helmet and body and having to pull the larger dragon apart!


Raphie squirmed a little internally describing the dismemberment of the larger dragon. Sure it had to be done and it was not like he and his brothers, like all of them he supposed hadn't done terribly violent things to win a battle. He guessed the day it didn't bother him at all he will worry about that. For now he just takes the squirming with the totally enthralled look on the other's faces he is absolutely enjoying! Oooooh yes very much!


" eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!" BigM started out with a ewwwwwwwwww and it went to an awwww and at the thought of the dismemberment and then immediately back to being torn between googly eyes at the little ones all snuggled in Raph's lap and very happily playing a odd version of peekaboo where Chopy would vanish into his shell and pop out randomly - and listening to the ending of this story...


Where those humans they thought they had lost came back. And the tenuous sort of truce they managed to form with Karai out of the situation...


Erica breaths a siiiiigh finally the evil in the story was gone!!


BigM woooos and flops back " yooooou guuuuuys ruled....!"


Lee smiles, still revelling in the victorious ending, kissing Raphies cheek.

Did Lee just melt apart at the seams for a moment there? Just for a moment? If Raph hadn't been quite so distracted by the kids, he might have noticed. As it is, he doesn't have time to fully process it because the babies are being adorable!

Raph should probably be mildly concerned that everyone else is more squigged out by the dragon pulling apart than he is, but he hasn't noticed this! BigM's response is matched with a "Cooooooooooooooooooooolllllllll!" from Raph! "That's an awesome story. And glad your Karai isn't totally evil anymore." Because even though Raph's initial relationship with Karai had been rocky, he's glad to have her on their side now.

Even if Lee's whole attraction to pseudosiblings thing is still sort of weird.

Raph is once again distracted by the playing kids, but definitely enjoyed that story. He snuggles the little guys and can't help but laugh at Chompy's little game.

" Glad your family made it through all that, and soooo cool yous became literal dragons throughout that. Wait does that mean that that Shredder can come back?" Lee asks as Raphie shifts and pulls him closer, tucking him into his side. Churring. The whole moment made Lee feel a little sleepy, but he refused to rest just yet.


Erica grins, "powerful magics and painful transformations are rumored to be able to achieve becoming a dragon in Nexus." she says thoughtfully moving closer to Raph and giggling over the little ones playing.


Though there was a nawwwwwww when because Raph snuggled them they broke off momentarily and just hugged him back their little snouts finding a shoulder each little hands on his shell. On in Chompy's case a paw.


Awwwwwww BigM laughs, " That would be soooo cool to be a dragon!"


" Hey you and your brothers are weirdly elemental like mystical benders." Raphie grunts chuckling looking over at the little ones and reaching over to rub little shells grinning at Raph, that had to be just the most wonderful feeling after flying... or just before flying. Being so snuggled and trusted and loved.


" I know thats incredible... I mean I sooort of guessed when the icy travels didn't bother Leonardo as much as the rest of us. And Raphael didn't get crushed under the rubble of our first bachelor pad... But you know I couldn't have actually guessed elementals really." chuckling.


" Well that would be scary, giant dragons with more than just firepower." Raphie laughs.


Lee mmmm is in agreement watching the kids and Raph with that melty expression.


Giggling Erica stretches a little, " I'll do a quick fly up - but we should probably follow the kiddoes example and snooze a bit." she nods to them on Raph's shoulders and eyes closed.


" Fine, but I should give it an hour or two to see if brothers contact us." Just encase.


" Scarily awesome - ooooh yeah man bet they have stories for us. And now that we have heard that story we soooo gotta hear one from yous." BigM stretches out happily he wont argue with a nap or chilling for a bit.

"You destroyed the summoning bits, right? He can't really come back, right?" Surely that monster couldn't come back, right!

Okay... maybe Raph had been getting just a little bit caught up in the story.

He grunts slightly and puts back on that gruff persona of his. Or... tries. Maybe a little melty with snuggly kids still in his arms!

He looks up at Erica's comment about strong magics being able to allow someone to painfully turn into a dragon. Raph has only turned into his plant thing on the astral plane, so no idea if it would hurt to do it in real life.

CAN they do it in real life?

Part of Raph sort of hopes that they never have to find out. Though with the way this trip is going... he sort of has a feeling that they're going to have to try it sooner or later.

"Did it hurt to turn into a dragon?" Because that sounded pretty insane!

As they start talking about the others' astral beings, Raph mutters something that probably contained the words 'damned plant' but it's pretty hard to understand, and the kids probably didn't get much out of the mumble.

When Raphie reaches over to run little shells, Raph does offer the kids to them for awhile. He's had the little ones for a bit now, and while he's definitely not in a hurry to give them up, it does seem that they're ready for a snooze!

And so is Lee...?

Well, the guy probably had one too many watch shifts lately. That's probably all.

Probably.

Raph isn't necessarily ready to sleep, but like BigM, he won't pass up the opportunity to at least chill for a bit.

"I don't know that we've got a story quite like that..." At least nothing Raph's ready to tell. "Maybe the time the Triceratons destroyed the world? That was just time and space travel though. We didn't turn into dragons or anything." Raph is definitely acting like the story isn't really worth telling. It turned out okay in the end, but it had definitely sucked at the time. "Or I guess when Tiger Claw and his whack jobs summoned Kavaxas..." Not that Raph is eager to tell that story. Just that it's probably the closest thing he can think of to what Raphie just told.

Raphie looks guilty, " that would have been my reaction too, all the bit together, destroy them, in dragon fire... I don't know if their destroyed yet though... you know what when we get back I will have Leo follow up - about time we gave orders to those folks, we are not acolytes any more, all but full blown dragons." he nods to himself and shifts both kiddoes into Lee's arms, " And yooooou will nap with these little guys our turns to keep watch." he encourages. And well tiredness will help explain the almost fainting before, even Leo needed a rest now and then, a proper non distirbed rest.


So feeling he had solved that mystery for now and content with the conclusion he gives Lee a glare when the guy looks like he was going to protest. The sleeping not the snuggling the little ones, Chompy on Randals belly inside his shell and little Randal spreading himself out in Lee's arms.


Lee is reminded of the time he had all but jumped up and down to hold Miwa when Shen had offered her to them. He churrs and gives up under Raphie's glare in arguing back, snuggling the little ones and nods. " fiiine I will snooze... mmmm maybe start with our first time out at the farm house Raph." it had been a rough time for the family, but also Raph had really stepped up to the plate and for most the part lead the family with firm guidance, kept DonnieBoy and Casey from hurting each other competing over April, kept Mikey and Casey from doing stupid things, kept all of them busy and in shape, even after Lee had awoken and still been mostly unable to be in charge physically. So if any one deserved the chance to tell that story of their first winter out of the city, it was Raph whole heartedly.


Big M thumbs up this idea. " yes please! and I will tell of my brothers and I first and so far oooonly trip outside of the city too." offering.


Erica grins. " then I will make my scouting quick, I definitely want to hear."

Raph is nodding agreement. Heck yeah, Raphie and his brothers deserve some actual respect for what they did! They're dragons that took down the demon, not babies anymore!

And amused at Raphie basically putting Lee to bed. And he miiiight have sniggered a little about that. Just a little.

Raph grumps for a bit. It gives Lee just a moment to fall asleep with the kiddoes tucked in against him. The little ones are adorable. And sleepy babies are the best sleep aid around. So Raph has learned from little Chompy being around!

It also gives Erica a moment to scan the skies with a quick patrol before he gets too far into the story.

"The Kraang found our lair, invaded the Earth. Them and the Foot kicked our butts, and chased us out of New York. Karai, April's dad, Casey's family. Master Splinter... We thought them dead or mutated. Maybe both"

Raph doesn't feel as good about he role he played while they had been out at the Farmhouse the first time as Lee does. In part, because Lee was unconscious for those first three months. And sure, Raph had kept them fighting fit. He had kept DonnieBoy and Mikey training, as well as April and Casey. Everyone had made it through that time. Sure.

It still sucked at the time. Even after Lee had woken up, it had been horrible watching his brother struggle like that. He waits until Lee is really asleep until he really continues the story.

"This idiot went up against the entire Foot Clan alone and nearly got himself killed too. He was unconscious for three months. Kept him hydrated as best we could in a bath tub." And Raph hadn't left Lee's side unless it was to deal with the others in the house. There was training to be done, and keeping Mikey from doing something really stupid. And keeping Casey and DonnieBoy from killing each other over April.

Or killing themselves with some of the stupid ass stuff they thought might impress her.

Raphie hears the sniggering, if Lee did by now he was too far gone under the kids spell to complain or resist and had snuggled up around the little ones. Annnnd he chuckles too unable to help it amused with his own tucking in of a Leo.


Not the first Leo he tucked into bed. Though last time he had mostly been helping tuck his brother down to recover and rest on a couch.


Erica landed quietly on the rooftop and they could see her tail, her wings open and draped over the cart top, listening to them. To Raph's words. " Sounds like a Leo. Mine had a similar run in with our Foot and Dragons and almost got himself killed. It was our first time out of the city too. How did you guys handle it? -what of your only time out of the city BigM?" a chance to share and waste time on keeping watch and sharing some.


BigM grins. "We crashed a cargo plane."


Erica doesn't know what that is but she rightly has the same shocked sort of look at BigM that Raphie does.


"oooookay that story I want after hearing Raph's."


Cause that sounded wild! Chuckling a bit at the large goofy grinning turtles nod nod.



But he is sure like his own families first winter out of New York Raph's learned that isolation didn't mean a perfect quiet time.

Raph sort of shrugged when asked how they handled Leo being down. He already said they kept him in the bathtub.

"Turns out, making sure he keeps breathin', and Mike doesn't kill 'imself doing something stupid with the chickens, and that Casey and DonnieBoy don't kill 'emselves trying to win over April, and try to keep everyone training once in awhile is kinda a full time job." Basically, Raph kept himself busy and really tried not to think too hard about what had been going on.

"And once he woke up..." Raph takes a moment to glance at his brother, make absolutely certain he's asleep before continuing.

"He was hurt, and weak after that long unconscious. Lee was super down on himself, and really needed encouragement to give himself the time he needed to heal." Or at least mostly heal. Raph knows that Lee still has trouble with his knee from time to time. And that he probably always will. "Still has some trouble with his knee."

Raph chuckles at the information that BigM and his brothers crashed a plane the first time they went out of the city.

"We were out there for a long time. Waiting for Lee to wake up, then giving him time to recover. Several adventures. And for having left the city, and the Kraang mutations there, we dealt with an awful lot of mutants..."

Raphie leaned over and grabbed his counterparts knee in a brotherly sort of gesture squeezing the spot and smiling, " sounds like you really really had a tough time, but you came through for the family in the end, geeze I feel a surge of pride about that - but we ARE Raphaels we always come through for our family." Bit of playful ego there just to take any awkwardness off the moment of pride and complimentary for his fellow Raph.


And well it was definitely true.


" your not wrong man, first time the foot attacked our home we thought Raphael had been crushed by the ssewer rooftop, or blown up in the explosion they set to destroy our home. We were dragged to the fancy part of the mountain living above the city and were being bled dry by a lunatic and suddenly bam! Raphael comes crashing through the doors with super hot April back up and the human nerd friend Vern." BigM agrees. Yep crazy times but Raphaels coming through big time was a familiar theme in those crazy moments.


Raphie grins and nods, sounds like they had plenty of stories to share on the ride. And he looks back to Raph, nodding, " During our first winter out, Leo was not down as long... but he had the same by the sounds of it depressed down on himself attitude for a while... I mean I asked Dad and April about it in a grump cause I wanted him to stop moping about in the barn, they both said his spirit and body might be all but healed but his mind needed some time, and probably was our first real encounter with a form of PTSD. Wanna share one of those adventures?" so yep he definitely felt that. And encouraging sharing some stretching out beside Lee and the snuggled little ones.


A finger points at BigM - " Yooooou have to tell us about that plane - like what the... how?!"

"That's what brothers do." He still stands by that! He really, really wants to never go through anything like what happened back then again, but he would absolutely do it 100 times over for a brother.

It's as slightly derisive chuckle when Raphie asks if Raph wants to share any of the mutants in the woods adventures.

"Heh... Which one, Man? Lee threw up his meds and I wound up mutated into a plant. Not that I remember much of that, but apparently it stuck." Raphie still needs a bit of extra sun baking, and damnit if his avatar isn't a plant!

"I don't know if Bigfoot was always there or not. I guess so. Whatever. She had a thing for DonnieBoy. Then there was the army of mutant frogs that wanted to take over humanity. Oh, Speed Demon the mutant car. That was weird. And the chimera. Yeah... we got a bit of a mutant problem."

He's not really heard much in the way of mutant stories from the others...

"You guys got mutant stories? And I definitely need to hear about that plane! That sounds badass!"

There was not hesitation. "oooooh absolutely, anything for family." Rubbing Lee's shell with a big hand and feeling... He grins and shifts into his proper posture for meditation.


" and anything over again even if didn't like it the first time." Big M agree noting Raphie moving about and points a finger at Raph, "I wanna hear about BigFoot that sound hilarious... And yes I will explain our plane crash... Um... maybe after that.." he adds. "looks like we going to have a mind meld session.... Um should we wake him?" nodding to Lee.


Raphie looks at Raph but felt he would probably agree with his head shake. " naaaah let him sleep we will catch him up when he wakes." and well how cute he was curled up around Randal and Chompy.


Erica grins, " I will keep an eye out whilst yous are busy."

Raph is sort of nodding at Raphie and BigM's words. He would absolutely go through all of it again for his brothers! Even if he really doesn't want to. They're his brothers, and they're worth it.

There's a bit of a chuckle at BigM wanting the Bigfoot story! Yeah, it was sort of hilarious! And Raph is definitely looking forward to sharing it! And even more looking forward to the insanity that has to have happened to lead to BigM and his bros jumping out of a plane!

There's a very slight frown at the mind meld session starting without Lee. Raphie knows that his brother would want to be part of that, but they can definitely catch him up! And Lee never takes naps like this! If he's sleeping mid-day like this, it must be absolutely necessary, and Raph definitely doesn't want to wake him!

Even if he's pretty sure that Lee will be frustrated with them for letting him sleep through an astral contact, Raph is certain that it's best to let his brother sleep!

There's a slight shake of his head fraom Raph too in response to the question. Nope, definitely best to let sleeping Lee's lie.

Their back!


Raphie siiighs a little, he is not entirely sure how to or how he feels about the knowledge that Don was now, Donnie, their youngest brother.


Relieved?


Yes, sounded like he was alive and well as could be expected and not fighting for every day as he had been since before Nexus.


Sad?


Absolutely. If only because he doesn't know if it is still their Don, or if he is in there somewhere. Maybe it will just be time before that part of him that grew along with them is there again. Or perhaps not gone and is just taking time to adjust to the newly younger form. Or maybe that Don was no more.


It was kinds a mix of a lot of emotions.


And he doesn't really want to think on it any more for now, a check over of Lee knowing Raph will probably do the same, the guy and the two kids are fine napping hard and looked happy. " thanks Erica for watching over them and us, our brothers want to try finding us as we head towards this slave trading capitol. To meet up. We should do a check of map and stones to calculate how far we are from the river their on." he tells her and smiles at Raph and BigM.


The large Mikey was at least relaxed. And leaned over himself to check their sleeping companions, and then gives Raphie a light bump, a sort of 'that news was crazy, you got us dude if you need us.'


and it was sweet, still Raphie doesn't know if he needs to hug or something.


A nod and Erica waves a hand. " I'll get it out, but you guys should probably nap sometime with Lee for a bit too. Am curious though, how did the visit go?... is Mike okay?" just encouraging relaxing whilst they all can and a bit of a waiver in her tone at Mikes name, she had managed not to think about him too much being kept quite busy, but in moments when it was quiet she did and she missed the friendly loving champion a lot, it showed when she wasn't busy and distracted.


Raphie manages a smile, " he is doing well he will be glad to see you when we all meet up.
" of that they can be sure and huh they will have to try other ways of keeping their alone time mooostly pg.


She missed the speculative glance at the end, smiling widely her gaze going from Raphie to Raph and BigM, " and all your brothers? the rest of the young ones."

Once they're back, Raph glances over at his counterpart. He'd found his brothers, maybe a little injured, but mostly okay or at least on the mend. It's not exactly a new situation for them.

He can't imagine what he'd be feeling in Raphie's position.

Raph bumps his own shoulder against Raphie's, a similar message to the one from BigM.

And Raph does, indeed, check on Lee. He's sort of surprised that his brother is still asleep. It's rare for Lee to take a nap in the middle of the day like this, and even rarer for him to sleep for any real length of time.

"How long were we..." Raph sort of waves vaguely with one hand. He's not even sure what to call that sort of contact they'd just had. And he's not sure time moved the same way for them as it did out here. Or maybe it did. He has no idea.

Raph sort of nods at the questioning and Raphie's response as he does take the advice to sort of settle for a bit of a nap while Lee and the kids area already sleeping. Raph has mostly recovered from the drugging, but he is probably still getting tired a little more easily than usual. Not bad, barely noticeable, especially in the weird surroundings, but it's there. His endurance isn't quite back where it should be either. A little more travel, training and movement will be plenty to get him there.

Though he did notice that Raphie didn't really answer the question about how the visit went.

"It was mostly good. They're all safe. My Mikey and BigM's Donatello are a little banged up, but they're cared for and healing. Just..." Raph glances to Raphie.

If Raphie wants to explain, it's really his prerogative. If Raphie doesn't want anyone to go into that, Raph would consider it fair. If Raphie wants Raph to explain as best he could, Raph will do it. But he will leave that decision up to his counterpart.

"Everyone's safe, sorta. It's just... weird." That's all he'll say without permission. Just enough to reassure Erica.

Lee and the little ones seemed to respond to the brief check ups. Not in a way that suggested they will wake soon, more just a stretch and yawn for Chompy and a waggle of tail for Randall, and a half open blue Lee eye that took the two little ones curled up and them briefly.


It did say they would probably all stir in an hour or so.


Raphie managed a shakey sort of grin at Raph for the bump, acknowledgement of the comfort, knowing that he and BigM understood the crazy of his family's situation helped him just focus on the  here and now of their journey. Still worry for his brothers especially Donnie, but focusing on the here and nodding adding to Erica's quick glance his way. "As well as they all can be, Mike is doing just fine. It's my brother Donnie, a spell was cast and it changed him, reverted him to a younger age... is such a thing permanent?" he asks Erica curiously.


Not as in eager to have Don back to his very unwell older self. Just curious. He is glad that Donnie is a much healthier brother. And alive. Immensely glad and grateful.


Erica is relieved and relaxes smiling at Raphie and Raph and Big M in turn then thinking over the question. "it really depends on the wording and if the spell is object dependant or not. If it is a firm consider spell, the only way he is return to his former age is the natural process of aging. If object dependant or not worded firmly enough in definite terms he may sporadically regrow. Or mentally return if not physically." she says this slowly and with a nod or two as she thinks carefully over it.

Erica glances up at the sky next, Yous were in that state for at least half a sun drop." to Raph

Raph is sort of perplexed by this whole Lee napping and even going back to sleep after being checked on! Maybe he's getting a cold or somthing?

"Do you guys have the flu here?"

Okay, so they typically didn't actually get human diseases, but aches and fatigue? Sure, that could happen.

Raph is struggling to follow that explanation from Erica about whether the age thing is permanent. And it takes him a moment to come to the conclusion of...

"So basically, you don't know." It's gruff, sort of frustrated, because not knowing is sort of worse than a straight yes would have been. But he's also nodding in a way that suggests that he thinks that's fair.

And there's a blank stare when she says they were meditating for half a sun drop.

"Yeah, I got no idea what that is." But he will take it to mean 'awhile'.

The talk about their brothers was definitely important, and maybe Raph's question should really wait until Lee wakes up, but Raph never had that sort of patience. They can talk about it again later if need be.

"They also mentioned being tracked by a Shade or somethin'? You know anything about those?"

Erica shifts guiltily and looks all the more and sheepish when Raphie recovers from the sort of huh? faced frown he had in answer to her response and the perplexed tilted head look from BigM turned into a snort of amusement. " yeaaaaah, sorry, wish I knew more about it really but that basically it... I am not sure. Cause even if I heard again the words of the spell its possible some on thought words under or behind it and it wove into the spells framework... so its... yeah really just unknown."


And a nod at Raph, " if by flu you mean seasonal or the sort of regular illnesses that come and go and whilst not pleasant are not exactly life ending or altering most of the time. Yes." She glances down at Lee and sniffs a little, tail moving to touch his forhead. " he isn't showing signs at the moment aside a unusual... to you all clearly and even me... tiredness." But a bit of a shrug. " other symtons are fevers and sweats and sore throats and head aches. If he gets those ...mmm maybe I should do a little scouting about and get some herbs just encase."


Raphie waved a hand, " honestly considering our past with magic thats the standard." Siiiiiiiiigh and glance at Lee. And then nod at Erica. " That could be helpful... but after an answer about Shades."


She blinked and looked alarmed, " They are beings that have chosen to allow the infestation of restless spirits... they essentially die in the hopes of reigning those spirits in for magical abilities, and it sort of works. but their dead and usually Fae or Dragon magic are the only things that can stop them." She answers with a shudder.


BigM ewwwwed, " ick that would have been gross fighting it for sure."

Raph sort of grunts a "Typical" under his breath as Erica explains that even with the wording of the spell, the thought behind it could change the intent too! So even if they knew, they wouldn't know.

There's a nod, yes, Erica is explaining what he means by flu. And... she was absolutely right that any other sort of indicator was definitely not there. "Maybe this is just the first one." Even though they could usually smell an oncoming illness before there were symptoms showing...

Maybe Nexus bugs are different!

Raph doesn't actually 'ewwww' out loud at the explanation of the Shade, but his thoughts on the matter are pretty clear on his face!

"Yup, that's disgusting. So if fae and dragon magic can stop them, can fae and dragons hide from them too?"

Erica hummed in thought.


Lee stretches - he felt...


" wow that was some nap!"


Slightly alarming -


To all that are not used to Leos and their weird perkiness when they wake up. A normal turtle wakes up... normal - Raphie is sure of this. Has to stretch and yawn and scratch... maybe tug a bit of wood... or go loo -


but Leos just seem to be asleep - then sort of spring upwards and be all cheerleader. So maybe this sudden awakening of Lee makes him breath a tiny sigh of relief. He is acting normal.


Little ones curled up in Lee's arms yawn and stretch. Both Raphie babies of course need a moment to wake. Randall stretches as Lee gently lifts Chompy, nuzzles him, and offers him out to Raph to get some snuggles in too - and carefully nuzzles Randal and Raphie as Raphie reaches over for the stretching Randall.


Big M giggles at Erica's sort of alarm look, her scales all sort of sticking up on her skin, He pats her tail in commiseration, more than once in his life time a perky 'why the heck is he up at this time!?' Leo has shaken him out of bed or popped up suddenly.


" ah y yes fae and dragon magics should be able to at least disguise travels of those hidden from Shades, though where they originally cast might still be a point for starting to look and magically concealed things, objects or people are hidden but the magics still give off resonances that a skilled Shade miiiight be able to track. But that's not easy even for them to do." Thank goodness and she offers the looking refreshed Lee a drink. " hope you don't mind that we were thinking of a brief nap." she tells him.


Lee  can see the kiddies are not really ready to stir yet, happy to snuggle against their dads once in their arms, Chompy right up against Raph with happy soft squeaks and Randall with a yawn snuggling under Raphie chin and turning him into a giant puddle of goo. " oh? - oh! yeah yeah thats okay, I mean I just napped..." maybe a tad puzzled why he needed to, but he must have needed it.

Raph looks over as Lee wakes up just as perky as if he'd never had to sleep!

Grump.

There's a half snort laugh at Erica's sort of startle at Lee's style of waking.

"Yeah, he does that. You get used to-- No you don't. It's annoyin' every single time he does it."

Is he glad Lee popped up from his nap in his usual fashion?  Absolutely. Raph had been a bit worried by the mid-day nap himself. He will actually nap a bit better now knowing that Lee is awake in his usual manner. Surely he cleared whatever caused that, if he woke up normally. Raph can put it out of his mind now! Or so he is content to tell himself.

Raph accepts the still waking Chompy, and settles back a bit to listen to Erica's explanation, and sort of consider a little rest himself. Chompy will be ready to play in a bit, but Raph will happily dump the kid on Lee for worrying them like that! And Chompy still needs another moment of snuggling before he will fully wake. Raph will take advantage of the time!

"Cool, so fledgling fae and a couple dragon avatars should be fine, right?" He glances toward Raphie, it really did seem that it was probably his brothers in the most danger. "I'm still on team 'let's get our brothers first'." Raph commented.

"Oh, Sleepy Head missed that contact. We're gonna go get our brothers first then attack Slave Trade Central. That cool? They're close. Sorta. Probably."

So, soooort of asking permission, but also sort of a Raph style heading out on his own. The sort of move that tends to make Lee follow him to make sure he doesn't get into trouble. Raph is tiptoeing close to that line where he miiiight be almost giving Lee an order. Not quite an order, but very close. He wouldn't really leave Lee alone for the battle he plans to walk into, but Raph will threaten a bit if it gets him to their other brothers sooner!

But after that? Oh, he's definitely looking for a fight! And the Slave Trade Central seemed like as good a place as any to find one!

Erica drops further out of being startled with a laugh at Raph's words and Lee's ooooh face!


It's part indignant and part a waking up yawn! " tis not annoying it is awesome being this cheerful!" Lee rebukes in possibly another fail of clapping back with words.


Yep definitely so when BigM laughs and pokes him in the side, " but its soooo weird - you Leos I swear, dead asleep one moment snug as bugs in rugs the next right there like your juiced on ten double espressos!"


Raphie shudders, " even after a night's training - liiiike dudes!" he grunts a laugh and nudges Lee when he pouts.


But the playing sort of indignance fades as Lee listens to Raph's words, he is not bummed he missed the contact. Okay he is and for a moment there is a Mikey look of ooooh nooo with meeee? sort of chibi eyes...


then serious and a slow grin as he thinks over the words. Sure it's an acceptance that Raph laid the law this time, but Lee has come to trust Raph's decision-making processes over their many adventures. So he sits up straighter and grins. : I couldn't agree more with this idea, yes... I - I miss our brothers. And their brothers and more to help us..." the better.


Erica smiles, " yes whilst there is napping and kiddies playing. We will travel and change course a little to aim for along the river to meet up, and yes a couple of dragosn and fae should be able to find a way to hide themselves a bit on their journey."

"You just keep telling yourself that." Raph added in when Lee insisted that beeing cheery on waking was awesome. No, definitely not a successful verbal clap back from Lee! Raph is shaking his head at the sort of typical response from his brother.

On the bright side, Raph has almost forgotten that he was supposed to be worried that Lee had taken a nap at all! At the moment, he's not the least bit worried about his brother.

And Raph might be just a liiiiiittle bit smug about the whole Lee accepted his idea that was pretty close to an order so very easily! And sure, it was probably Lee's first inclination to get their brothers back too, but Raph will take the wins he can get!

He snuggles Chompy as Erica confirms that dragons and fae could certainly find something to hide their magic at least for a little while. He's content with that, and the intention that they're going to head back t the river! DonnieBoy and Mikey are just that much closer!

Lee is not just content for Raph to take it as a small win, he drops his pout about failing to properly trash talk back to implications being able to wake on command being totally cool!
"It is the best course of action, good thinking Raph, and thanks Erica you should rest up too your role is still crucial to the plan though now I can add to it... And run it by others."



Raphie silent laughs as Lee sort of accepts his failure at trash talk with a point, and grins at his counterpart, yep total win man! And he also looks pleased with Lee's words. It's a big thing for a Leo to relinquish so much control and take more input. He knows. He has watched his Leo learn it in the early days. He lifts a churry wriggly Randal up and nuzzles him on the plastrons making the little guy giggle and cackle and squirm, Annnnd over into BigM's arms goes a giggling, squirming stiff tailed little bundle of red joy -


Eeeep! BigM barely manages to control his dawwwww face and move to hold the little turtle out so he can - still giggling - pee right off the edge of the cart!


Erica sniggers, it's a awwwww snigger -


Not helped by Chompy all but kitty like making happy meal sounds and rubbing on his dad's face!

Raph is perhaps a bit smug when Lee gives up and realizes that his trash talk was... well... trash.

And Lee went along with Raph's suggestion! Even had a good thinking for him! Raph is sort of smugly thrilled with this for a moment.

Then sort of wonders what has possessed his brother... Lee almost never agrees with his suggestions that easily. Unless they're both going against a worse suggestion. Usually from Mikey.

But Raph is distracted from this line of thought before he can get very far down it by Chompy being his adorable, baby self! He snuggles the little fire turtle!

Though he's pretty sure that Randal isn't the only one who has to pee after a nap, and like the red, gemstone tot, Raph will have Chompy pee over the edge of the cart too.

A Chompy happily unloads with a big happy sigh and following limpness like Randal.


Much to BigM's amusement. " you think they were holding that in a bit?" he laughs and helps wee kiddoes give the goods a shake, as in reminds him to before pulling everything back up into his tail.


Lee beams and he eagerly waits for kiddoes back ready to play a little with them now he is awake and ready. Maybe encourage a little flap and maaaybe some fire practice.


Erica is laughing softly and placing map to be gone over by Lee.


Raphie relaxes back, for him everything was back to mostly as normal as it could be given it was this group and he is amused by BigMs words, chugging the little ones under their chins. " it's a Raphie thing, we can hold on for Evers and are impressive when letting go!"

Raph chuckles at BigM. He's making sure Chompy is fully finished and tucked away before bringing the little guy back into the cart for a snuggle.  He will then set the baby fire turtle down to play for a bit.

He glances over at the map that Erica is laying out for Lee. A little curious about where everyone is and how their paths are tracking.

"That sounds like a challenge." He comments at Raphie's boast! And even if it wasn't, it is now!

Hey, they've got a bit of time to kill on this ride, might as well make it fun!

" hah! It is now!" oh yes. BigM is up for that challenge!


Erica doesn't know why this makes Lee palm his face with his hand and mutter something about pissing contests as he rolls the stones with the other hand, one at a time, focusing on DonnieBoy and Mikey and immensely relieved even if had expected it to be so when the stones landed close together and it appeared to be on mostly an intercept course as long as they kept to the river side.


And she is amused he puts out a fiery hiccup of surprise from the unleashed Chompy with a hand without looking.


Chompy's tail waggles and he pounces on his uncles hand making his adorable grrr sounds of play fighting! Squeaking when a equally playful Randal hops towards him and Lee's hand to join in!


Raphie laughs and points at BigM and Raph, " your both on, are we getting points for duration, distances and flow?" standing up and stretching as if he was preparing for a fight.


"" all the above?" teases BigM they both look at Raph grinning and amused by Lee's grumbles that's not necessary!

Raph is rather amused that Lee is facepalming over this!

"What's the matter, Lee? ...Chicken?" Because of course he's going to try goading his brother into playing!

Raph also has a sort of automatic response to Chompy fire hiccups, though this time he did let Lee get it.

He's amused by the kids playing, but definitely getting caught up in the bed.

"Aaaand the first to give in loses points for holding time." Because that was actually what started this in the first place.

And well, they'll probably all be pretty desperate before someone gives in.

...it will probably be only because someone finally wet himself.

Raphie laughs and nudges Lee, " yeeeeah come on man... though you Leo's seem good at controlling your bodies so perhaps you have an unfair advantage already." he teases, half serious because yep Leos he suspects in general are mostly in control right?


Erica laughs and uses her tail to gently encourage playing wrestling popcorning about kiddoes off the map and encouraging BigM to give the stones a toss, more of confirming the brothers are together that their on the right track than really needing to. Reaching for the water skins and holding them out with a grin, " will need to make sure yous get a good starting point right?" chuckling.


BigM tosses out a stone for Leonardo and Raphael and grins, rather excited that their on the right track - and more importantly... together and where it had last landed soooo soooon he will have four, and a bit, other Mikey's to cause mayhem with!


Woooo!


Snorting and taking the offered skin that came his way and chugging it. " bring it on we Mikes are gooood at over indulging then hanging onto it for dear life only to let rip at the best time." like getting stuck in a pipe the opposite direction to his brothers... hahahaa


Raphie makes a face as he accepts his and liiightly shoves one at Lee, as long as he and Raph kept the light teasing and conjoling and pushiness up he will cave for sure! " there is a story behind that one." sure of that and wanting to hear! though he suspects it might be pretty gross and he might feel sorry for his and Raph's counterpart.


Lee hesitates, iiiiif Raph applies a bit more chickeny teasing yep he will cave! And well generally speaking it is true he can usually control himself really well.

While Raphie is trying to convince Lee through other means, Raph is making quiet chicken noises.

They continue, and get just a little louder as he senses that he might just convince his brother!

Though he does pause at BigM's comment. Like Raphie, he's certain there's a story there, and it won't end well for someone. Knowing Mikeys? Probably BigM's Raph.

Gross.

But he accepts the skin and shakes it off.

"Mikeys are noxious. Everyone knows that. We question your control though!" Emphasizing the word 'control' because he knows that's a Lee thing! Another prod at his hold out brother! Come on, play with us!

And he accepts the offered water skin, chugging it!

BigM laughs and like Raph does tips his head back and chuggs his water skin, right down the hatch! Oooooooh it did feel good and the satisfying burp at the end earns him giggles from Randal and similar giggle squeaks from Chompy he assumes -


A seat from Raphie too! " UncleBigM forgot to say excuse me." he reprimanded with a growl, not that he and his brothers could be equally as gross in sometimes. Buuuut if they had kids around all the time he supposed he should set an example. Especially with Mikey's around. A smug grin at BigM and jostle against Lee, consoling, lifting his skin up and sucking it down too!


Buuurrrrlp! " 'Scuse me." pointedly for BigM and over the kids giggling again patting his plastron.


Lee tried to not give into.... Then with a muttered siiigh of fine swipes his skin politely from Erica and looking dubious for a moment tilting head back and chugging as BigM -


" my brother's and I were trying to get home, got wedged in a old Crouch way worker access pipe and I landed the opposite way and saw an opportunity to let loose of the cart I had been hanging onto. Ahhhh Pepperoni." offering smug Raphie a shove, a mock 'clinking' of bags to Raph when Lee finally gives in.


Raph groans for those past big brothers of the BigM. " that was just mean." he informs chuckling and little ones climbed in and out of laps in a funny chasy game.


Erica was making a playful face at the short story agreeing, yep poor big past genio innocuo.

When BigM belches, Raph is quick to put in a comment.

"My point exactly."

That BigM hadn't said 'excuse me' just added to it. And when Raph joins the others in having to belch, he does say an only partially muttered "Excuse me."

And there is a definite snigger as Lee joins in their game! HA! Can't be a real competition without all of them! There might be a bit of a smirk toward his no longer holding out brother! That one that says Raph has every intention of beating Lee at this game!

Raph is definitely making a face at BigM's story.

"Hot boxing a pipe like that is uncool, Man." Though Raph is struggling not to snigger at the story. Because it's actually hilarious!

"Though I guess it's not worse than that time our Mikey gassed out the lair... for weeks"

BigM laughs, rather manically in Raphies opinion and looks gleeful. " It was the hottest Dutch oven." he disagrees and gets a swat from Erica's tail to the back of his head which makes him laugh, then throw back his head to skull the skin of water again!


Chompy happy squeaks bouncing from Raph lap to Raphie! Chasing a scrambling over to Erica Randal who was busy laughing his little tail off!!


Erica giggles laying still for the playing kiddoes, even if they pause to have milk, which they do snatch a mouth full on the way past -


Meeting Raphs look Lee has every intention of winning!! - but even as he turned his sips to a skull he was wondering if he had in this one bitten off more than he could chew here!


And making his own face as that reminder thanks Raph! - whilst an eager BigM laughs and nudges Raph with a toe!


" tell us!"

Raph sniggers at Erica swatting BigM like that. Dude deserved it.

There's a bit if a pat to Chompy as the little guy rushes off to play. Have fun, little one.

Raph will keep up on the competition! He might be smaller than Raphie and BigM, but he's going to do everything he can to keep up with them! And he grins at Lee's look! And he thiiiiinks he saw a moment of hesitance there! HA! Lee's going to lose! He's sure!

There's a laugh at Lee's face for reminding him about Mikey gassing out the lair! HAHA! Oh, he's definitely telling the story now! Sure, the prodding from BigM was probably enough, but it was Lee's reaction that sealed the deal!

And Raph starts the tale.

Sure, he sort of glossed over why there had been quite so much spoiled food in the lair in the first place. He had sort of left it at them having been out of town for awhile.

But Raph is sparing no detail of Mikey's consumption of said spoiled food. The incredible speed with which their smaller brother had put away an appalling amount of food.

And not only had the quantity been unbelievable, but Raph will go on to describe the smell of the food in the first place. Molded pizza crust is only the beginning. The potatoes had turned. The fridge had already reeked of rotting food. Every once in awhile, he can still pick up what he is pretty sure is a remnant of molded potato.

And Mikey. Ate. It. All. He ate the cans that some of the food had been contained in. It had been the worse, biggest and most disgusting binge that Mikey has managed to date. Honestly, Raph isn't quite sure how Mikey had survived, but he eats things he probably shouldn't all the time.

And appalling amount of appalling food. It had truly been something impressive and horrendous.


And yes all had been terrified Mikey would die, though when it was clear he was fine and then gassed them all out Lee was plenty sure he wasn't the only brother half wishing Mikey had croaked and given there reason to be such a stench in the lair. He pauses mid looooong drink though he was already slower than the others. " I don't know how he survived before yous ask... DonnieBoy thinks Mikey may have had a parasite as a hatchling that has stayed with him and make his immune to eating crap as it help digest whatever he eats. DonnieBoy seems very certain of this through doesn't say how he came to that conclusion." DonnieBoy will discuss with them topics like sex, sexually transmitted mutatism, sperm, vomit, all with important to be accurate terms and descriptions but how he came to think Mikey has a mutant parasite he is firm lipped on.
Although that could be its is just a guess.


And just now he notices with a chuckle that both Raphie and more impressively BigM look paler green than usual!


Raphie's look on of horror. " ooooh man I don't think I will complain about our Mike's stank again..." shifting his water skin out of the way of bumbling about playing babies as they bounce and chase each other into his lap and out!


BigM is a disgusted horrified at the story. " don't think my bros would complain any more if I could do it!"

It's sort of amusing that this story of their Mikey even grossed out another Mikey!

"It was truly foul. You really don't want to do anything like it." Truly disgusting. Not the usual Mikey having fun disgusting. That's not even in the same ball park.

He nods agreement with Lee as he chugs a bit more water, keeping up with Raphie and BigM. When he takes a moment to breathe, he adds on to what his brother said about DonnieBoy's suspicions.

"He'll talk your ear off about anything else. Not that though."

Raph can only assume that however DonnieBoy figured it out must have been at least as traumatizing as them being gassed out of the lair.

It's about this time that he notices that Lee is behind in his water consumption! That's cheating in a contest like this!

"Hey, bro. You giving up or slacking?"

Lee glares over his water skin but it's a weak glare and comes with a pouted " Noooooo I just - was busy chatting!" with as much dignity as he could and purposefully ignoring the snorts from BigM and Raphie at that! And makes a display of swallowing down much as he could....


actually less than he usually could and for some reason the moment made him feel a bit queasy in the belly! and for a moment perhaps he does swallow a few times but disguises it as choking a bit on 'water gone the wrong way down!'


Raphie buys it and slaps Lee's shell a few times helpfully, with a bit of a small affectionate rubbing at the end.


Chompy and Randal purr growling playfully tumble into Raph's lap as they play the little game of chasey!


BigM laughs and nudges Raph and Lee, " suuuure you couldn't guess how DonnieBoy came to such a guess... my Donatello can't help but come scrambling over to share when he discovers something." he wonders curious and yep still a little disgusted and awed by his fellow Mikey. Like kid sounded like a serious up-the-pong weapon all on his own.


Lee hums a little and shrugs, maybe DonnieBoy sprouted something to Raph, but he tries to think back on the conversation he had asked how Mikey wasn't dead after clearing out their fridge in the least advisable way possible. " Heeeeeee didn't say anything to me that would tell me anything really... at least I think so... like just said that he couldn't explain how else Mikey survived. Of course as babies and toddlers and early kid years we had a worm and algae diet on top of garbage food for a while but dad said he stopped that when we got further underground to limit chances of being caught and once he had a steady farm of worms and algae to feed us on with mushrooms and occasionally washed up cartilage for calcium and salt... Donnieboy suggested we all might have a stronger stomach for past due date and bad foods, but Mikey being that much stronger... said could only be from a parasite or parasites helping him able to digest and be safe from toxins." Shrug all the while sipping and gulping... and fighting down the way his stomach rebelled, leaning back into Raphie's shell rubs. A glance at Raph to see if he got a similar tale from DonnieBoy and he might have if he asked like Lee figures he might if Mikey was going to be okay.

There is a moment. The briefest fraction of a second where Raph doesn't believe Lee's ruse! A hint of picking up on Lee's deception.

But Raphie had accepted it readily enough and Raph is distracted from the topic. So this time, Lee gets a reprieve.

"Could guess. Don't want to. Whatever it is is probably worse." Raph grunted in response to BigM's words. Yeah, he could come up with a guess based on DonnieBoy Blather he's heard on other occasions, but...

No thanks.

Raph grunts again during parts of Lee's explanation, seemingly unperturbed by the water he's had already! "Don't miss that. If I never eat algae and worms again it will be too soon." Now that Raph has had a taste of real food, he never wants to go back!

Though he does suppose he would do what he has to in order to survive, just as their father did years ago.

He's making a disgusted face at the explanation.

"Just that he's got gut bugs." Raph shrugged. And, sure, DonnieBoy had probably explained more to him, but once Raph had pieced together that DonnieBoy was basically talking about Mikey having bugs living inside him, he really didn't want to know anymore.

And he won't admit to threatening to punching the green of DonnieBoy if he didn't stop carrying on to Raph about how not all gut bugs are bad.

Raphie senses that talk went down like a lead balloon in regards to his fellow Raph and DonnieBoy, he can't help grin and knuckle the smaller fiesty guys shoulder playfully, " If your Don is like ours he was waaaaay to enthused to share the thoughts even if he was traumatised or not sure and like wise you had to give some brotherly taps to shut up." amused and pretty sure he would have wigged out.


He is slightly wigged now but hey those bugs live inside a Mikey so its fine he will never see them.


And he is gulping the last of his skin, encouraging Lee who seemed to have to control his deep drinks on his. " I think... for all our sanities we are all going to have to find a way to make visiting each other more often a regular thing. If nothing else, but for our individual Donnie's... I mean... maybe if my Don had had fellow intellectuals up to his speed to bounce ideas..." he stops himself, forcibly because as Leo would have told him the what ifs can be a dream or nightmare and neither as good to dweel on and forget to do the living - or something much wiser sounding his brother had learned from the Ancient One. And yeah its partly cause he wanted to keep seeing Lee -


But also be good for his Donnie. The true depth of all he felt about his now younger brothers transformation and healing probably wouldn't hit home to him until face to face with it.


Lee makes an agreeable noise between his latest gulps, trying to just get this damned drinking part over with and fight the uncomfortable belly roiling feeling.


BigM sniggers. " Oooooh I thinks thats a given, our Leos will all consider each others turtles as all theirs and must check in from time to time like the mother hens they are." all playful tease -


but now Raphie thinks about it probably fairly accurate...


Then a bit of a horrified look, " Thooooooooooooough not sure having you Mikes together is a good thing... for anyone." taunt -


BigM melodramtically puts hand to plastron in a oooooh! face and all, " how could you say such a thiiiiing! we would be an awesome pack of M and Ms." Finishing his own water with a laugh and a loud burp after wards that makes both kids pause in their game to gap at him...


the flop over backwards giggling their little tails off!


Erica laughs at this.

Raph nodded at Raphie's description of how he expected that conversation had gone down. And Raphie was pretty much right.

"Threatened to beat the green off 'im." And Raph had backed up that threat often enough in the past that he hadn't actually had to do it this time.

And Raph is smirking at Raphie saying they'll have to figure out how to visit each others' dimensions regularly.

"Uh huh. Yeah. So the Donnies can see each other. Mm hmm. Right." Alllllll tease for the turtle crushing of Raph's brother! Even if there was some fairness to the statement, and Raphie did seem to have a bit of a moment there. So the tease might have been a bit of a distraction from potentially darker thoughts there too.

And chuckling at BigM's comment.

"Checking in. Is that what they're calling it now?" And that tease might have been a bit more leveled at Lee. Who weirdly seemed to be struggling with the water. Yeah, it was quite a bit, but it wasn't that much! At this point Raph finds it more curious than concerning though.

And maybe a bit of a face agreeing with Raphie that a group of Mikeys sounds a little scary.

"We'll just have to make sure they're off in a different dimension from the rest of us." Again, teasing. He knuckles BigM in the arm.

Raphie manages as sheepish a smug sort of grin as a Raphie could being called out and swatted with no real malice even if it looked like it and more sound than any real omph behind them as they land on Raph and BigM -


The former of which laughs out loud!


"we coooooould say Portal Booty Call, Traveling Tail Rub.... Spot Hop Co-" and that's when the seat had landed and cut him off and made him laugh out loud scooping up giggling little ones and nuzzling their plastrons innocently. " Fiiiine we will call it Dons Need Outs."


Whilst Lee makes him bury a further laugh into the nuzzling her is doing to the little ones when he says thoughtfully. "I kinda like Travel Tail Rub...." earning a tap of his own on the lowest edge of his carapace, as Raphie couldn't spank da butt seeing as he is sitting on it.


Raphie shakes his head. " I think Raph and I should think up names for these check ins." grin and Raph and squirm a bit.


And is Erica deliberately pouring more water into empty skins from that barrel slooooowly on purpose to tease their ear holes and soon would be full bladders?


Indeed she is whilst being verrry entertained by them all.

"Even if it is Raphie wanting in." Raph is sniggering at BigM's names, and he's pretty sure he's next in line to get swatted at. And he'll take it with... relative grace.

He figures he's earned it.

Raphie might regret thinking that Raph wouldn't just go along with BigM's naming.

"He picks better names than Mikey does." Well, Raph isn't actually certain of that, but at least in this instance he's amused by the names! And he's used to just letting his own Mikey name things.

So far Raph isn't bothered, and actually hasn't really noticed what Erica is doing with that water.

Soon enough he will, but for now he's busy messing with Raphie and Lee.

Big M squirms, vaguely hearing the humming quietly, chuckling and filling up water skins Erica and it is... sort of ambiently playing on his mind and his body but he is valiant for now ignoring most of it. Most. " mmmmm what about TurtleTapThat?" he offers waggling his brows -


This time Raphie doesn't even bother with the swat after Raph, and just laughs, shifting a little himself not subconciously aware of Erica's ploy but boy does he sense soon it was going to be impossible to ignore?


Especially as she so helpfully offers everyone a new skin after the first.


Lee gulps a bit behind his

" you know what... fiiiiine fine yeah I kinda can get behind that one and it would cover my purposes of dimensional hopping." he is at this point not even going to pretend anymore, cause yep he probably would be sneaking across the divids to go play hook up with Lee.


Said blue turtle blushed a little but looked absurdly pleased even if he does complain a bit accepting his new water skin and wondering just how he was going to make himself drink it all and trying even more than the other three to ignore Erica seeming to play with water now, filling one of the large wooden wash bowls and oh so casually deciding now was the time to give herself a clean. And of course offering to them too. Little boys of course hurried over and she sits them in the shallow large basin with water barely covering their butts, well Randals butt where he sat and Chompy's feet hahaha " do we have to be so.... um... well craass?.... can we like say international dating?" looking between Raph and Raphie and at BigM.


The slightly larger and larger turtles grin back and glance at Raph and each other giving him a chance first to point out its best to be blunt - and importance of the naughty names of the visits.