Okay, the idea for this story is that I was doing a History project where we had to look up Renaissance artists. I had Raphael, so obviously that made me think of Raph, which made me think of TMNT, which made me think of the other guys, which made me think of the idea for this one-shot. ^^
Disclaimer~I own nothing but the plot.
Enjoy!
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"Alright my turtles." Master Splinter said, addressing his nine year olds. They had just finished their school lessens for the day and were now receiving their homework. "Tonight we shall do something a bit different than usual." He said. The four turtles leaned forward in excitement, happy to be doing something different. "You shall each research your name sake's life and works to show a presentation to the rest in two days time."
"I don't get it." Michelangelo said, with his hand raised.
Master Splinter smiled at his youngest. "Well my son, in the Renaissance, there were four very famous artists, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo. You will be researching your name and telling us about his life and his works of art." he explained. Mikey's eyes lit up with understanding, and he nodded, lowering his hand. Not a minute later did his hand shoot up again.
"Who do I get?" He asked excitedly. Raphael pulled his bandanna.
"Who do ya think, shell fer brains?" He asked.
"Oh," Mikey blushed, "Oh right."
"Master Splinter," Donatello asked, his eyes bright. Don was happy to do any learning, but he was particularly looking forward this assignment. "what would we need to tell you about?"
The elderly rat thought about it. "I would like to know where he was born, five facts of his life, and two works of art." He nodded, to himself. "Yes, that will do."
"Sensei," Leonardo said, "Would we need props or anything?" He asked.
Master Splinter nodded, "You can make a poster, use costumes or props, what ever you wish my son." He smiled. Leo nodded in understanding, he was already formulating what to do to make it great.
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Don was first at the computer, he scanned each website quickly and accurately, taking everything in. He periodically jotted down notes, that he would use to help him remember things. He often looked over his notes every time he got to a new site, making sure he had all the facts straight. He knew he did, but it never hurt to be over prepared. He also planned to improvise a little in case Master Splinter or Mikey decided to ask questions.
He also planned to make a poster, with print outs of some of Donatello's greatest pieces, so he went to Google images and typed in Donatello. The first couple of pictures were of the artist himself, so Don decided to print one. Next he clicked on a link that took him to the sculpture of David. The purple banded turtle's eyes widened as he saw that the sculpture wore only a helmet.
He shook of his initial shock and thought for minute. "I can fix that." He mused to himself, copying the image and pasting it in photoshop. He delicately placed a leave over the sculpture's, ahem, less then suitable for public parts and nodded.
Don sat back in his chair and smiled proudly. "Perfect." He said, and hit print. He printed several other pictures and got to work on his poster.
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Raph tapped his figures impatiently as he waited for the computer to load. "Aw come on you stupid hunk of junk." He muttered to it. Finally the page loaded and the hotheaded turtle skimmed it boredly. He casually scrawled down notes, not really paying attention to what he was writing. He typed in Google next. He was gonna print a picture of Raphael and one of his best pictures. He typed in Rapheal, and just like Donatello, his self portrait came up.
Raph raised an eye ridge, "That's him?" He asked himself. "He looks like a girl!" he muttered. Either way, he printed it and went on with his searching. After looking at many pictures, he finally settled on The School of Athens and Madonna of the Goldfinch. He clicked print and tightened his bandanna before picking up the paper.
"I ain't lookin' forward ta this." He grumbled to himself as he walked to his room.
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Leo looked intently at the book he was reading about the artist he was assigned. "This guy was so cool!" He said excitedly, taking in everything he was reading. Maybe he'd even incorporate a costume in it. He looked at the pile of finished books to his right and sighed successfully, he didn't really want to use the computer, because you shouldn't believe everything you read on there. But books, now books were hard evidence. Which gave Leo the confidence to believe what he was saying which helped him give a better presentation.
And he wouldn't even need the computer to print out pictures, because the books had very detailed pictures, including one of Da Vinci himself. Leo looked at the self portrait and nodded.
"Looks like a very wise man," he mused to himself. "Very ahead of his time. Like me." He nodded again, then looked around for Raph or Mikey, glad that neither of them heard him say that.
"This will be fantastic." He said, then got to work on the other parts of his project.
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The youngest of the four, Mikey was laying on his plastron in his room coloring his poster as if he were on a mission. His tongue stuck out the side of his mouth as he concentrated. He printed out two famous works of Michelangelo's and was attempting to replicate them on his poster all by himself. He was doing a fairly good job at drawing the artist's David statue, but he stopped at the bellybutton because he didn't want to draw the statue's no-no square.
He also sketched Michelangelo himself, or at least he tried to. But he was sure Master Splinter would be proud that he didn't just glue the pictures on. He sat up and looked at his very colorful poster with a satisfied nod. He started humming to himself as he put the finishing touches on it and started to jot down notes from the book Splinter had let him borrow.
"Raph's gonna be sooo jealous of my awesome project." He grinned to himself.
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Master Splinter was sitting in the recliner of the living room with three of his sons sitting on the floor around. For once, the television was off. Don stood totally calm up in front, his poster on a chair, depicting some of Donatello's greatest pieces, including Don's modified version of the David statue.
Master Splinter nodded at his son. "Proceed whenever you're ready my son." He said. Donny nodded confidently as he cleared his throat.
"Donatello was born on December 13 in Florence." Don started. "He was "He was most famous for his statues but occasionally did a painting. Donatello was and is considered the start of the Renaissance." He went on with more of his life and then lifted up his poster. "David, the guy in the bottom is his most famous statue. I edited it a little though, because he has no shorts."
Mikey snickered with Raph until Master Splinter gave them a meaningful look. He looked back toward Don and nodded. "Very good Donatello. And sense he is so keen to speak up, Raphael shall go next." Raph grumbled but got up and got his display set up. Mikey laughed and Splinter put a hand on his shoulder."And then Michelangelo." He smiled. Mikey blushed and looked away.
Raph came back with his three papers. "ahem." He cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. Once he made sure he had it, he proceeded. "Raphael died at the age a' thirty seven-" He said, holding up a picture of the artist. "and personally, I tink he looks lika girl." he muttered, "But anyway, his folks died when he was eleven and he went ta this master that I couldn't pronounce the name of to learn about art. Later, he was accused of stealin' Michelangelo's style-which I tink is a load a shell, but hey," He shrugged. "life's funny like that." he said, tightening his bandanna. Then he held up both of his pictures. "Dis one, is The School a' Athens." he said shaking his right hand, then his left, "And this one is The Madonna of the Goldfinch, don' ask me why it's called that Mikey-" He said just as Mikey was about to raise his hand, he slowly put it down, looking disappointed. "Cause I dunno." he said, then sighed. "That's all I got."he said taking a seat.
Mikey jumped up and ran to get his poster, running in with a huge grin on his face as he put it proudly on the chair. He clapped his hands together to make sure he had the spotlight, then he began.
"Okay! Well, unlike Don or Raph, I drew my pictures, instead of just printing them off the internet. " He said proudly, waiting for their reactions. He was disappointed that there was a lack of awe, and Master Splinter saw this. He smiled.
"Well done my son, please continue." he said with a nod. Mikey light up and gave his father a toothy smile before continuing.
"This dude was born on March 6th in Tuscany, he was the ideal Renaissance man." Mikey said, reading off the index cards he'd prepared. "He was payed to paint a whole punch of stuff for the pope." He said, using his hands to prove his point. "He painted the Sistine Chapel and made a statue called David, who's eighteen feet tall and butt naked!" he laughed. "Oh! Before I forget, he was pretty much totally blind when he died cause when he painted the Chapel, he had to do it on his back and all the paint dripped in his eyes, and stuff." He said. "And...that's it." He ended with a chivalrous bow.
"And last but not least, Leonardo." Master Splinter said with a nod toward his oldest. Leo nodded and got up. He grabbed the two books he used and opened to the page that he wanted. HE cleared his throat and nodded.
"Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15 in Vinci, Italy." He started. "he was way ahead of his time and even designed an early version of an airplane and parachute. His most famous works includes the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper and the Annunciation. These are found in the Louvre in Paris, France. Da Vinci also did many sketches and wrote backwards so no one could steal his died when he was 67 on May 2, 1519." he finished with a nod, then passed the books around so they could look at the pictures.
Splinter nodded gesturing for his sons to gather around. "Come my sons." He said. Once they were all listening, he smiled."A job well done my students." He nodded. "I think this deserves a reward, don't you?"
"Ice cream!" Mikey asked excitedly. Master Splinter chuckled.
"No Michelangelo. We will have..." He said, trailing off for effect. "a day of fun. No training tomorrow,no school."
A grin found it's way to each of the turtle's faces. Even Leo's.
"And we shall go to the zoo." their father nodded. Then they all tackled him in a hug.
"Yay!" they yelled in unison, then all settled in his lap, snuggling into him. Splinter smiled warmly and turned on the tv to a family movie as he wrapped his arms around them.
This is how the evening was spent, father and sons together watching a movie.
Splinter sighed.
"I would not have it any other way." he thought with a smile.
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Yea, took me a while to do this, and my sources for the artists was wikipedia.
I enjoyed writing this and I hoped you enjoyed reading it. Oh, and please pardon any typos. ^^;
Please review!
=)-Z-Z
