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This morning was much like the previous: Raphael woke up late and the village was already booming with activity. He cursed quietly, swearing that he'd get up earlier next time. H stretched his arms then rolled his shoulders, sighing. He wasn't nervous, he couldn't be. He was Raphael, a time traveler and galaxy hopper and a fiery fighter. Being nervous wasn't something he was known for, yet it was as if a rock sat in the pit of his stomach.
He marched straight past the women cooking and the children that called for him to come play with the inflated bear stomach they called a ball. Gibson sat next to his tent, smoking from a pipe and speaking with another man, an aye aye. The other man seemed in distress, his huge eyes constantly rolling to the sides, as if looking for escape. The ninja turtle stood a few feet away, tapping his foot impatiently, making it obvious that he need to get in a word. As it turned out, the aye aye man suspected of his wife sleeping with another man and wanted to know how he could know for sure if she really was or not.
Gibson nodded, listening closely. The devil dragon tapped the mouth of the pipe against his temple, keeping his head bent low in thought. His tail thumped on the ground as he spoke, kicking up dust particles and dirt, "Go find five Kaska Berries, each from a different bush. Let them sit in water for one hour then bring them back to me so I may bless them. Tonight, give them to your wife and have her eat them. If she remains in good health, she is innocent of adultery. However, if she is to get chills and a fever, she is guilty. If you wish to let her suffer her fate, leave her be, but if you wish to forgive her, give her a single berry picked no more than a half hour before, and she will be well." He sucked in a deep breath from his pipe and blew a single ring, letting it disappear into the air.
The other man thanked Gibson and left to do the task. The lizard turned his head to Raph, patting the ground beside him as a motion for the ninja to sit, which he did, "I want to become a man." Raph got straight to the point, "I want to go through the rite of passage or ceremony or whatever you guys do." He didn't stop when the children began to notice their conversation, "I don't care what it is, I'll do it."
Gibson didn't make eye contact with him, simply turning the pipe upside down as he tapped the ashes into his palm before dropping it on the ground beside him, "If you wish to become a man, you will face a difficult challenge that you must overcome with the other boys. Are you certain you want to do it?"
Raph didn't even think, but only blurted out his answer, leaning towards Gibson, "Yes, whatever it takes." He spoke quickly. At this point he could only think of one thing: becoming a man in Claire's eyes. He didn't care if they tied him to an ant bed and let the ants feed off of him for an hour; he wouldn't care if the Shredder himself challenged him to a fight. Nothing would stand in his way.
The lizard pondered on this for a moment before standing, "If you wish to become a man, you will need to accomplish the rite of passage. I will gather the other boys and us all meet at sundown. Meanwhile, spread the word and help the women prepare for the ceremony."
For the next half hour, the ninja turtle told every mutant he could find in the village of the coming of age ceremony. He was so excited that he could hardly contain himself. Finally, Claire would see him no longer as a child, but as a man. His excitement stopped when he told some men skinning a few rabbits and laying them out in the sun.
"What are you getting so excited about?" a beaver mutant asked, placing the rabbit's innards into a clay pot for stew later in the day, "Nobody ever looks forward to the ceremony." The other men nodded in agreement.
This made Raphael pause, "What do you mean?" He knew that he would have to do some type of a test, but surly it couldn't be that hard, right?
"We are not allowed to say. But we will warn you that it is not something so get excited about." The other men said no more and went back to their duties.
Suddenly, the ninja turtle wasn't so certain about the ceremony anymore. He didn't even think of what could be so horrible that they're not allowed to talk about it. If he only had internet out here, he could look up some rite of passage stuff. He tried not to think too hard about it and did as Gibson instructed him to do earlier: help the women.
"So you are the one who I've heard of getting so enthusiastic about the ceremony?" one of the older women, a badger, used a knife to carve a sapling into thin strips.
"Yes, I know." Raph rolled his eyes, watching as the women worked, waiting to be told where he was needed.
"You know, my son is going to be in the ceremony." The woman continued, as if not hearing him, "His name is Seraph. He's a nice boy, but I'm not sure how he will handle the ceremony."
Maybe he could squeeze some answers out of her, "So what are they going to do to us anyway? I mean, I'm going in kind of blind here." He was handed a sapling and a carving knife before instructed to take all of the bark off. Raph grumbled to himself and sat next to the badger woman.
The woman smiled, gathering the shavings from the sapling she was just working on, "Your guess is as good as mine; women aren't allowed to watch the ceremony."
"Really?" The turtle looked at his reflection in the knife. He was surprised it was stainless steel and even said 'Made in the USA' and not a homemade tool like everything else here, but he didn't ask. He was more worried about what the ceremony entailed for him, "Why's that?"
"It's just the way we do things." She said nothing more and made her way to a nearby fire with a pot of water standing in the hot coals. The woman scattered the shavings onto the coals, keeping them burning.
The women seemed to know what they were doing as they worked vigorously. They would take the young tree and take all the bark off before whittling the wood down to the thickness of a pencil. Then with Raph's help, they would steam the saplings over a pot of boiling pot until they became flexible enough to bend. Next they instructed the turtle to hold the saplings into place so they bent slightly. He did this until they cooled and held the shape.
They spent a good two hours doing this and eventually had eight lengths of wood, about three feet long and slightly curled. Next came the food, which was delivered by Claire. She came with a large basket filled to the brim with meat and berries and vegetables of all colors. She smiled at the ninja, but said nothing. A certain sadness seemed to overcome her after their talk the previous day. All the memories came flooding back to her. All the fights, all the blood and the flying organs filled her dreams. She knew it was not the turtle's fault, but she couldn't help to be more cautious around him, "Good afternoon, Raphael." That didn't mean she couldn't try to be friendly, "I heard the news and I hope you do well at the ceremony."
He smirked, standing in front of the tigress, "Of course I'm gonna do well. Hell, I'm gonna do great!" He took the basket from Claire, putting it on the ground beside them, all without breaking eye contact, and took her hands in his, "I'm doing this for you, Claire. I just want you to know that." He could feel his stomach churn at the thought that now it was him that was being all emotional, "I want you to see me as a man, not a boy."
The tigress smiled once again, "Oh, Raph, you're sweet, but you do know that things will change for you when you become a man, right?" she could feel his grip tighten, "You won't be having so much downtime and you'll have to work and hunt and even put your life on the line for the sake of the village, and-" she added in a low whisper, "You'll be able to take a bride."
"Claire, nothing would make me happier to work in this village with all these amazing people," he corrected himself after a second, "mutants. And anyway, I put my life on the line every damn day when I lived with my brothers and Sensei." Just speaking of them left a strange taste in his mouth. Sure, he missed them to a certain degree, but living here for a little while made him begin to feel differently about the world; he didn't need New York and all the crime and trash. He's been able to get along just fine here, with these mutants. Such a simple way of life seemed to be calling him and the only person he thought about since he got here was Claire, and he would hate to leave her behind.
Finally, night fell on the village, consuming everything in darkness. The women and children were all miles away at the watering hole with two men to watch over them. Only a hush lay over the other men present. Total, only three other boys were willing to take on the challenges of manhood; one was a black bear mutant with long claws on his fingertips and sharp teeth protruding from his lips. He was strong in stature, but had more fat on him than the other two boys. The next boy was a wolf. He was pure white with smokey grey patches around his eyes. His ears constantly flickered back and forth, listening. The last boy was more timid looking; a badger with a pink nose and black and white stripes going from his snout to the back of his head.
The four of them were painted with white clay, not in any patters of any kind, just covered from head to toe. These other boys were naked, just like the turtle was, but they showed no shame. A raging fire was going on in the middle of the camp, casting shadows on the men and boys. The boys were sitting in a line before Gibson, who held the sapling Raph helped carve earlier, in his hand, "Gentlemen," he turned on his heels to face the men, the fire casting a shadow on his front and making him look bigger than he was, "Tonight, these boys will wake up tomorrow, no longer boys, but as men." The mutants cheered, raising their fists in the air. Gibson held up a hand to quiet them, "But first we must give them a Blood Lilly flower and let them eat it, to widen their throats for what is about to come."
Raph couldn't help but feel nervous, but at the same time, rejuvenated. Finally, he would prove to everyone, and himself that he was worthy of being called a man. One of the men held four small purple flowers with white dots on the petals in his claws. He gave each of the boys one flower, which the boy would then put in his mouth, before the other men would say a chant, not in English, stomping their feet.
The ninja was at the end of the line, waiting his turn. He could feel his hands shaking with adrenaline. He almost felt like he wanted to jump out of his shell and do a victory dance, but he didn't think that would be appropriate. If only my brothers could see me now. Just as that thought came into his mind, he could see a reflection of light in the corner of his eye, to his left. He turned to see what it was as the men chanted for the wolf mutant. It looked familiar somehow. It looked kind of like… Katana blades?