So decided to just kind of have a 'padding chapter' of the characters just doing stuff with a hint of things to come
The next morning Ichabod and Marzipan woke up to a delicious smell! Jonathan was making fried eggs and bacon for them.
They climbed out of the sofa bed, not bothering to change out of their sleeping clothes before coming to the kitchen table, they ate with gusto!
'Ichabod's Humanimal friends have really rubbed off on him…' Jonathan thought to himself as he took a sip of his tea and he watched Ichabod pop entire fried eggs into his mouth '...He ate so much more delicately when he was actually ate years old…'
But upon reflection Jonathan realized that maybe this was better back when Ichabod was actually a child Jonathan and Pamela thought it was a blessing that they had such a well-mannered obedient child...But now that he had realized just how strict they had been with Ichabod even though back then they didn't think they were being strict but Jonathan now saw they had made Ichabod into a little butler! And the Humanimals had done him a great favor in teaching him how to play and be rambunctious like a normal boy...Children are supposed to poke and prod at the boundaries parents set for them, usually without full-on breaking them, that's how they gain independence!
"So…" Jonathan asked "...What do you think you'll do today?"
He saw Ichabod blush a bit "Well...I was thinking we were just going to take it easy for today...Maybe go for a walk…"
That blush told Jonathan Ichabod had something else planned that he didn't want to divulge but knowing Ichabod he probably was just planning a surprise for Marzipan and he didn't want to spill the beans in front of her, so Jonathan smiled "I suppose I would do the same if I were in your situation...But...Are you planning to tell the rest of your...Herd?" Still felt weird for Jonathan at times calling the crew Ichabod was part of a herd...That a human could become part of an animal herd…
"Bill was there at the farmer's market when I took the potion," Ichabod said "And later we went to Kong's I'm pretty sure they all know about it by now this isn't the sort of thing they would keep a secret!"
"No, I suppose they wouldn't." Jonathan sighed remembering the Herd basically treated each other as a family as well as a crew, it was much more emotionally intimate than humans are used to.
Meanwhile Donatello had woken up from deep dreams caused by Belladonna having the AC on full blast and her body heat being the main thing keeping him warm, these moments of the contrast between mostly cold and a little warm, caused him to have very deep dreams that almost felt like the edge of true hibernation...Where he dreamed of swimming through the Cosmos past stars and planets, towards the very edge of the universe...And in the morning he woke up feeling very refreshed and feeling a sense of clarity he didn't feel before
After breakfast he went back to Third Earth to confront Leo about his call yesterday.
"Hey Don…" Leo said Don could already see Leo was sheepish
"Why are you calling my wife?" Don asked "You know you can call me on my jumper, why you calling Belladonna and telling her you need me back here on Third Earth? She was suffering a heat migraine, I was out getting more tonic for her!"
Leo knew he had been caught being 'passive-aggressive' but some recent new information had just been revealed so he cut to the chase.
"Look I'm sorry Don!" Leo said "You're right I should have called you instead, but new information about what I was calling you about just came up! I was calling about one of the students, Stripes…"
"I'm sorry Leo," Don said "I'm not familiar enough with all the students to know them by name."
"Stripes is a female Bengal Tiger…" Leo said
"Oh...Should have been able to guess with a name like that…" Don muttered
"She's pretty sure the humans who named her were not feeling particularly creative when naming her…" Leo said "...But to the point! She didn't come to class today and when we went to the tree she lives in we found this note!
He held a piece of paper in front of Don he read it…
'If you're reading this, this may be the last you hear from me, I'm sorry but you can't solve my problems for me, I have to face my destiny…
As you know I was created to be a combination of nurse and therapy animal, I ran away because I learned some secrets I wasn't supposed to have so I can only say this
If you see a man with a light bulb for a head run as fast as you can, he is too dangerous!
Love Stripes'
So this is a chance to finally do a 'Doodle Story' idea I had where a mutant OC faces a villain who has a light bulb for a head, which was an actual comic book villain at some point which was parodied in The Tick with 'Chairface Chippendale who has a chair for a head