Chapter 7: Observations

Raph and Mikey were sitting in the grass, casually playing a game of Crazy Eights, when the door slid open, and Donnie entered, carrying three take-out containers. "Hey guys! I got the mess all straightened out, and I brought you both chimichangas from the cafeteria. Apparently it's Mexican food today."

"Donnie!" Mikey immediately leapt up and pounced on him, eager to share the news. "Leo liked the muffins!"

Donnie shifted the food to one hand so it wouldn't get squished and glanced up at me. His face brightened considerably when he saw that I wasn't hiding anymore, but was now observing them curiously from a safe distance. "Oh, good! That's definitely a... um..." he blinked at his brothers as he noticed that his little-brother-hug was more then a little soggy. "Why are you two absolutely soaked?"

Raph shrugged, picking up the cards to put them away. "Mikey pushed me in the pond earlier."

Donnie heaved a resigned sigh. "And you returned the favor."

"Of course!" Raph grinned at him, standing up and dusting the grass off of his pants. Both he and Mikey's clothing were visibly disheveled and covered in dirt and grass stains. He and Mikey both took the container Donnie offered them.

Donnie just rolled his eyes and walked over to a flat rock off to the side. To my surprise, he took off the lid of the final take out container, the one I assumed was his own, and set it on the rock, backing away while giving me a friendly look. "I picked you up some steamed salmon as well, Leo, if you want it."

I eyed him warily, still sitting out in the open but not acknowledging that I understood him. I did give a tentative sniff. I could smell the salmon from up here, and it did actually smell really good. As long as they didn't expect me to get too close to them, I might just go down there and try some. The chimichangas smelled amazing as well, but apparently I was only getting fed turtle food for now. Eh. That didn't bother me too much. It just meant my act was working.

Raph glanced at Donnie as he began digging in to his food. "So, what was the big issue?"

Donnie groaned. "Oh, it was so stupid. Xever apparently couldn't find some of the materials needed for Dad's room from our normal supplier, and instead of expending the effort of actually searching other venues, he just ordered different parts that looked similar. Of course, that doesn't work, and when the contractors brought it up that it wouldn't work, he insulted them and tried to tell them to MAKE it work. They got upset, and I had to not only source out the proper materials and have them rushed over to make it in time, but I had to soothe some very ruffled feathers." He sighed and fingered the bridge of his nose. "I'll bring up his incompetence at the next council meeting, again, but I'm sure Dun will wave it off once more. I don't see what Darius sees in the man. He's clearly not management material."

Mikey sighed and set aside his half-eaten food, obviously seeing a greater need at the moment. He stood up, walked over, and grabbed Donnie's head, massaging it carefully. "Dude... just relax. You're with your bros now. As we're trying to show Leo, this is a stress-free zone."

"Mikey, you had better not be getting cheese in my hair." Donnie warned him darkly.

Mikey paused, and examined his fingers for a second, before licking them clean. "Okay, we're good now." He reached for Donnie's scalp again.

"Nope! Nu-uh. Thanks but no thanks." Donnie danced quickly out of his grasp, throwing Mikey's fingers suspicious looks. "Just... eat your food, Mikey. I'll destress in my own way." He walked over and eagerly picked up the box he had left behind earlier, looking through the components with giddy glee. "I can finally make Leo something neat!"

He spread out a blanket and began emptying out the box, laying wires, screws, electronics, tools, and pieces of metal casing in a neat and organized system around himself. Once the box was empty, he turned it over, using it as a makeshift workbench.

"So what's the end goal on this project?" Raph asked him curiously, taking another bite and chewing. I was glad he asked, as I was wondering that myself.

"Well," Donnie's tongue was stuck out as he began piecing things together. "I realized that Leo might benefit from some form of music therapy. Studies show that it can reduce stress, promote communication skills, and enhance cognitive functions." He paused for a moment, fingering through a pile and searching for a particular screw, then, after finding it, leaned back down and resumed working. "Plus, you know, it gets rather quiet in here. He might enjoy it." He gestured with his screwdriver towards a small but neat pile of electronics. "I'm going to make him a simple but sturdy and waterproof portable music player. It will have an easy to use, basic interface for him to interact with along with high grade digital speakers." His nose wrinkled as he concentrated on a particularly tiny edit. "To make things as simple and effective as possible, I've programmed an advanced AI program that will access a database of three terabytes of music and audio files to create playlists based on songs and/or podcasts that seem to hold his attention."

Oh. Master Splinter had loved listening his radio. I supposed music would be nice, as long as I could use it without revealing too much of my turtle act. But why didn't he just buy a radio from the store? Wouldn't that be a lot easier?

Raph studied him for a moment, then merely nodded, going back to take another bite. He didn't seem to see anything unusual in his brother building me a device that sounded like it belonged in a spy novel, only its singular purpose was just to play me music I liked

I continued to observe these confusing humans as the afternoon wore on.

Donnie was obviously in his zone, humming to himself as he worked.

Once his red brother and orange brother finished eating, they began lightly sparring with one another. That definitely got me staring.

It wasn't like their wrestling and chaotic chases from before, but more like the structured practice that Master Splinter used to put me through back in our little dojo. But whereas I had to run through my katas and lessons alone, these two worked together to practice their martial art moves.

I watched, mesmerized despite myself.

That... that looked amazing, and I found myself itching to practice myself. Oh, it was so hard to remain hiding and still! I wanted to play too!

But I had to hold back, to keep up my act. I was a mutant, after all. I learned the hard way a long ago monsters couldn't play with humans.

But still... it was tempting to watch and dream.

It was odd, though. As I watched them, I could see some similarities in style to what I had been taught, but, strangely, their martial art seemed to be a mix of several different styles, but very little of the signature Hamato style that was prominent in what Master Splinter had shown me. Master Splinter had based all his teachings and his own style on what he had learned from his Master Yoshi, and passed it onto me. Didn't their father teach them? Why was their style so different?

Of course, it looked like they were sparring pretty casually, so maybe I was just reading too much into it.

Finally, Raph glanced behind him, and held up a hand, signaling Mikey to hold on. "Aaaaand there he goes. Figured it was going to happen soon."

I glanced over to see what he was talking about, and quickly sat up a bit more, nostrils flaring, when I saw Donnie face down on his makeshift workbench, screwdriver still in hand as he snored lightly.

Was... was he okay?

Raph walked over and carefully took the screwdriver out of his sleeping brother's hand, moved the more delicate items out of the way, and then shifted him a little so he'd be more comfortable.

"Poor Donnie." Mikey sighed, coming over to kneel down beside him sympathetically. "I don't think he's slept more the a few hours since we found Leo."

"Wish we could do more to help." Raph agreed. He stood up and glanced at Mikey. "You brought one of your Space Heroes novels, right? Let's read it to Leo for a bit while we let the genius nap."

"Deal!" Mikey eagerly grabbed a dark blue paperback book with a picture of a spaceship on the front from one of the bags they had carried in earlier.

Raph carefully sat next to Donnie, wrapped a strong arm around him, easing him up against his side. Donnie murmured something, then fully accepted the offer and curled up against his red brother, using him as a pillow as he passed back out. Mikey snuggled happily into Raph's other side, and the red brother draped an arm over him, before opening the book and beginning to read in a low but surprisingly clear voice.

I watched them quietly for a long while.

Listening to the red brother reading gently out loud, I suddenly found myself missing Master Splinter with an intensity that it made my chest ache. He used to read to me like that when I was little. I would snuggle into his warm fur and listen to him for hours, usually until I fell asleep knowing that I was completely safe under his strong arms. The world around us wasn't a cruel, cold place in those moments, but instead, we were where the story took us, his gentle voice conjuring up fantastical worlds in my young imagination where I could be a hero. Where I could belong.

Sitting down below me were three brothers who obviously loved each other, and would do anything for one another.

I had known what it was like to have a family like that once.

I exhaled, and then, forcing myself to move on to other thoughts, I slowly got up, moving to pick at the salmon.

Donnie had been right about one thing. I was shamefully underweight. If I was planning on traveling thousands of miles down to another continent in the middle of winter, I needed to take advantage of the free and plentiful food while I could. I only had three weeks at most to get myself back to a healthier weight.

I carried the fish off further into the trees, and tried to ignore the reminders of what I had lost and would never have again snuggled together against the wall.

It was getting late in the afternoon, and, despite myself, I felt myself getting drawn into the story being read. It sounded like this story was part of a much larger series, but I was still able to understand enough to be slowly enthralled. Raph was just getting to a rather exciting part where the protagonist, a 'Captain Ryan', had just gone down to an ocean planet in search of a rare seaweed to cure some mind control poison plaguing his crew, when suddenly the phones of all three brothers buzzed loudly, startling Donnie awake with a snort.

"Crud!" he rubbed his eyes groggily, looking around. "Did I fall asleep?"

"Yup." Raph affirmed casually, glancing at his phone.

Mikey's face fell as he looked at his own phone. "Wait, Bradford wants us to train already?"

Raph grunted, and then put his phone away and stretched. "To tell the truth, we're lucky that he's given us a few days off as it is." He shook himself, then glanced at Donnie. "You okay, bro?"

Donnie cricked his neck and winced. "Yeah... the nap helped." He sighed and looked around for a second, before spotting me sitting on a low tree branch. "I just wish I could've worked on Leo's project a little more."

"He ate the fish you brought him, if it makes you feel any better." Mikey offered him a hand up.

"Oh, good." Donnie smiled up at me, then sighed. "Come on, help me put this stuff away. I'll just have to work on it later."

The brothers quickly put all their things, including Donnie's project, away in the box, and set it off to the side again.

"We have to go to ninja training now, Leo!" Mikey waved to me. "It was great hanging out with you today, and we'll be back in the morning! I'll bring you more treats!"

I remained crouched in the tree, watching him quietly.

Donnie smiled up at me. "Sorry I wasn't very good company. Perhaps I'll be able to be around more tomorrow, brother. I hope you're comfortable in here."

"Later, Leo." Raph waved casually.

And then the three brothers walked up to the glass doors, Donnie pressed his hand on the lockpad, the doors whooshed open, and they walked out.

I watched the doors close securely behind them, and exhaled.

These Hamato brothers were confusing and I didn't understand them at all.

I climbed down from the tree. Suddenly, the three story tall room with a giant indoor garden felt... empty.

I wondered absently if Raph would read more of that story later. This 'Space Heroes' sounded interesting, and I would at least like to know if he ever managed to save his crew in the end. It wasn't like I'd find many books down in the jungle, and I figured I'd enjoy it while I could.

Deciding to explore a bit more, I began poking around, examining each tree, plant, and decoration, trying to continue to learn every inch of this fancy turtle bowl I found myself living in.

Suddenly, the scales on the back of my neck bristled, and I slowly looked back behind me.

On the other side of the entrance, visible through the clear glass doors, was Dr Stockman, standing there and watching me with his hands clasped behind his back.

Author Notes:

Silly Leo. Donnie would never let one of his family settle for something as plebeian as generic radio. It's no good unless there's a risk of it accidentally gaining sentience and try to take over the world.