TMNT aren't mine.
Huh, so I lied about it being a one-shot. I decided I wanted to play a bit with Shadowpuppet's universe, maybe one day I'll turn it into a multi-fic with a complete story and everything but for now, I'll just write short stories for it. While this one is all nice and cheerful, there's a good chance that the rest won't be. This ficlet would be set very early in the Shadowpuppet storyline.
If Leo knew what he was up to right now, he'd be dead several times over.
Raph yawned and rolled over the grass, relishing the golden warmth of the sunlight on his limbs. It wasn't often that they got to enjoy the sun; trips to Casey's farm were few and sporadic and part of him felt guilty that he was indulging himself without his brothers.
But damn, this felt good. Soaking up the heat was sending warm fuzzy feelings to his reptilian brain and he was in a surprisingly good mood that not even the presence of so many humans had driven his paranoia crazy.
An eye cracked open and he watched the many people milling around Central Park, enjoying the warm sunny day. Voices flowed, a constant background chatter of friendly conversations, casual banter, not a single person screaming in horror at the sight of a lone mutant turtle basking on the grass.
This was truly was freedom.
His fingers curled slightly, it had taken months to gather the nerve to carry out this particular venture. Months of watching the park, running small test trials of wandering into small crowds on the dark streets of New York at night, meditating daily, studying objects, studying humans, paying attention the smallest of details, taking art lessons from Mikey of all turtles, all to fine tune the small gift he'd discovered.
The rewards were worth it. So long as he kept away from places with security cameras, he was free to blend with humanity in any way he wished.
He hadn't known what to do with his new found freedom. Even just this, his first step in exercising this independence was cautious and meticulously planned, he'd never been more careful in his life, ready to head back into the shadows at the slightest hint of danger. But as time passed and no one had reacted to him, success had emboldened him to the point he was actually enjoying himself out in sun.
Raph inhaled deeply, the scent of grass mixed with greasy food and cigarettes was intoxicating. If freedom had a smell, he decided it had to have grass as a key component. Just being out here, out in the open, not hiding in the shadows or the bushes or the trees, but out on the grass, able to lie and bask, feel the soft earth beneath his feet, soaking up the heat, the experience was liberating.
It wasn't anything complicated; it had absolutely nothing to do with humanity accepting them like they sometimes wished. It wasn't being able to go wherever he wanted, do whatever he wanted without fear of the repercussions or Leo's nagging mother-hen complex.
Freedom was the ability to lie in the sun.
