IT was most unwelcome.
The turtle known to his companions by the Human word 'Raph' had re-entered Klunk's awareness not long ago and following him came IT.
And Klunk had been most displeased.
That THING carried a smell very similar to other such terrorists that Klunk had encountered as a kitten, before her turtle had recognized her innate qualities and taken her from the Out to the In. Klunk had been very fortunate to minimize her contact with such monsters during her time in the Out, but if one were to be here in the In… that would be most distasteful.
From her place upon the warming lightboxes, Klunk observed IT's entrance into her domain and suppressed the urge to growl. Growling was not a queenly response and might just draw IT's attention. Rather than draw IT's attention to her, Klunk preferred to watch. And she did.
Over the course of the next couple of hours Klunk watched IT follow the 'Raph' turtle through the various rooms of the In. It and the Rat did not appear to like each other, but for some reason beyond Klunk's understanding the Rat did not exercise his superiority and have the monster banned immediately. Did not the Rat smell the blood that came from the turtle's hand? The smell was tainted with IT's foul odor so there was no mistake in the origin, what was wrong with the Rat?
The cold-handed one who liked to stick things where they did not belong but apologized with delicacies, the 'Don' not only accepted IT, but had the audacity to give Klunk's delicacies to that filthy creature. IT even attacked him and he still gave the delicacies to IT! The outrage Klunk felt was worse than a hairball.
Klunk was forced to dispel her anger… and an uncomfortable blockage in her throat… in a corner of the 'Don' turtle's space. Upon relieving herself of the undignified difficulty Klunk slipped through the In and sought comfort at the hands of her turtle.
IT found her turtle first. Her turtle was in the Food place, working with food as he often did. IT had entered the Food place with the 'Raph' and not only had IT attacked her turtle in the same manner that IT had attacked the 'Don', but after the attack her turtle reached for her cupboard and withdrew a bowl. The bowl was filled with water, which IT proceeded to drink with the most undignified sound. After the water had been placed her turtle returned to her cupboard and withdrew a can.
Klunk's breath caught. She dare not breathe. Her turtle wouldn't possibly lure her in while IT was splashing water over the stone ground. He wouldn't dare!
But… sure enough… he began opening the can. Klunk trembled as her nose twitched and caught the scent of liver. He was determined, opening her favorite to lure her in. He reached into her cupboard again and removed a plate. Her turtle then spread the can onto the dish. Not a third as usual, or half as on days the turtles were in especially good spirits, but the whole can. Klunk crouched in her hiding place just behind the door of the Food place. A whole can of liver. Liver! She ran her tongue over her mouth, loosening it for the feast. She could deal with IT and even the wet floor for a whole can of liver.
The plate touched the ground and Klunk stood. For liver she never played disinterest. But before she could emerge from her place IT turned IT's ugly snout from the water to Klunk's feast.
Horror.
Absolute horror.
NO ONE touched Klunk's food but Klunk and her turtle. On rare occasions when her turtle was not home the Rat or the Human Woman might give Klunk her food, but NO ONE else touched it and certainly NO ONE but Klunk ate her food.
Shocked, Klunk looked from the mongrel to her turtle. Her turtle was smiling and even gave a little laugh. Behind IT the 'Raph' leaned against the counter, talking softly with a smile as well. Slowly Klunk realized the awful truth of it all.
HER turtle had given HER food to IT… and he'd done it on purpose.
Overcome, Klunk turned and darted to the safety of the sideways forest behind the light boxes.
Klunk intended to stay behind the lightboxes amid the black vines until her turtle came to her with HER rightful food and apologized most appropriately.
But there was no water behind the lightboxes. It was very warm there and grey fluffs broke apart and made Klunk cough. Before she felt enough time had passed to make her turtle truly regret his actions, Klunk was forced to leave her place long enough to seek her water.
Her water was unusually shallow. The bowl was covered in a layer of slime and the distinct scent of Liver told clearly who had contaminated her water. Klunk turned her nose up and moved to the Food place. It was empty now save for a large puddle on the ground. Klunk easily leapt to the cliff which she was not permitted on when others were in the Food place. She moved to the watering tub and sniffed the water giver. Sure enough, it was giving just enough water that Klunk could lick what she needed.
Once her thirst was quenched, Klunk meant to return to the forest behind the lightboxes and hide until her turtle apologized. Upon her return she hesitated, noting the turtle with the two great claws upon his back. The great claw turtle did not have the same interest for the lightboxes that the others showed. Usually he only observed them alone when he was upset.
Klunk cast a longing glance to her hiding place, then turned. Delicately she hopped onto the soft cliff the turtles all spent so much time on. The smell that rose to greet her was pleasant, all four turtles and happy, calm feeling. She delicately moved to where the great claw turtle sat and placed a paw upon his leg.
He smiled at her and began to gently rub that stiff spot between her ears. Happily, she settled down flush with the great claw turtle's thigh as he gently massaged the tension from her.
"I bet you don't like Mask either." The great claw turtle said.
Half asleep, Klunk considered his words. 'I' was the Human word for self. 'Mask' was some kind of ribbon or something. She sometimes heard the word when her turtle was letting her practice battle with the orange ribbon on his face.
Giving up her attempts to translate the rest of the words, Klunk drifted off and dreamed of orange ribbon. Some time later the great clawed one stopped massaging her head and left. Klunk woke up just enough to move to the warm depression he'd left on the soft cliff. She then curled up for a full nap, still dreaming of ribbons and liver.
Klunk's sleep was violated just as suddenly and horribly as her home. Something cold, wet, and revolting, shoved her from her warm perch on the soft cliff to the stone floor.
Klunk landed in a crouch and stared in horror where IT was standing on the soft cliff. IT stared at her with IT's unnaturally stiff tail swinging from IT's behind. Klunk remained tensed and crouched for a moment, bracing herself for battle. IT tilted it's head in curiosity, then began to tremble as if possessed and stepped down from the soft cliff with such lumbering, ungraceful movements that Klunk had to scramble out of the way or be crushed.
Just in front of the soft cliff was a wooden platform which rested low enough to provide Klunk protection. She scrambled beneath the platform and remained crouched, panting. IT shoved It's muzzle beneath the platform. At first Klunk felt relief, IT's blocky head was too big to fit beneath the platform. But relief turned again to terror when the entire platform groaned and shifted. IT was pushing the platform! Panicked that her refuge had been rendered so useless, Klunk struck out, clawing at IT's bare nose with a yowl.
It stopped pushing the platform. Points of dark liquid beaded up slowly on the thing's nose for a moment.
And then it barked.
Klunk leapt back, fully leaving the safety of the platform when she landed. IT proceeded to push the platform again. While pushing the platform with IT's head It pawed under the platform and made a high noise from somewhere in IT's throat. Rather than wait to see if IT was smart enough to realize Klunk was no longer under the platform, Klunk darted around the lightboxes and returned to her haven among the black vines and fluff. Soon IT followed. IT had chased her with enough speed that it hit the wall pretty hard, but then IT tried to push between the wall and the towering lightboxes. Klunk sidled back away from IT and huddled in the thickest grouping of black vines, hissing. Rather than take heed of her warning, IT continued to make the high throat noise and tried to claw at the vines with IT's clumsy paws.
And just as quickly as it began it was over. IT was pulled away from the lightboxes by a rope tied around IT's neck. The 'Raph' turtle said something in Human, but Klunk didn't know what he meant by "Leave her alone, Mask. She don't want to play."
Now that IT was gone, Klunk remained hidden, trembling. That creature had tried to eat her. The 'Raph' turtle had brought that monster into the In and the rat was letting it stay. The cold handed one was giving IT delicacies and her turtle was feeding IT with her food. It seemed her only refuge now was in the company of the great claws turtle.
Suddenly In was a horrible place.
Fanfiction of fanfiction/fanart of Mask (the IT) belongs to Teratophilia over on DA. Everyone else belongs to Nick now. The style of this particular story was inspired heavily by another TMNT fanfiction titled; "WE ARE THE KLUNK".