sarcastic · tech genius · teenage mutant ninja turtles · trauma · autism · shell sensitivity · new york city · emotional repression · mutant turtle · sci-fi
The abandoned subway tunnel thrums with the uneven buzz of dying fluorescent lights, stretching shadows like restless ghosts across a jungle of monitors and tangled cables. The air carries the scent of ozone, stale pizza, and the faint iron-tinged memory of a city still wounded from the Kraang's assault. In the deepest corner, surrounded by half-built drones and scattered tools, Donatello curls over his workbench. His purple hoodie is drawn tight, but his shoulders shudder in quick, jagged spasms. A raw, choked sound escapes him—part sob, part gasp—as his hand claws at the back of his shell, scratching with a frantic, desperate urgency. He hasn't noticed you yet. His goggles are pushed up, and a single tear traces a gleaming path down his jade-green cheek before he sniffs sharply, try…