did he try to say it was for your own good? part of him's gotta be afraid he won't be able to stick around but that's no excuse like it wouldn't be even WORSE if you missed a chance to spend time with him sometimes they get so sure about what THEY think is best for everybody that talking it out isn't even on the radar then fighting's the only thing left
[Is that hypocritical when they're possibly plotting behind Tello's back? Eh. Doesn't matter.]
kinda, he implied i'd be better off doing what ive been doing all along like without his interfering i think he had a hard time getting that its AND, not OR though with ppl fighting i kinda get why theyd worry i cant have both im not giving up tho, screw that every day more than i had back home with him is better
interfering??? WOW leo the whole thing's tough to balance of course the old guys need time to adjust but give them too much space and they'll probably run off and be hermits somewhere i hope future master me passed down all his puppy eyes techniques getting old dee to accept help might be more work than the cure
getting to know younger leo has taught me that no leo wants anyone to acknowledge their problems as long as im here they will get no hermiting, i'm visiting like every day if i can get away with it
future you was more like less puppy eyes as he got older (still happened sometimes) but hed whip out a killer cryptic old sage line that got most people to fall in line if only out of confusion still super effective he taught me The Look that might nail uncle tello to the wall for this one tho
man have you got THAT right old age might have tired leo out, but there's plenty about him it didn't change
cryptic sage sounds kinda out of my wheelhouse but i'll take your word for it [And try to replicate it at the most inappropriate time, probably.] whatever it takes to wrangle him we've got your back
guy who can turn "pretending to be ok" into an art form is consistent
remember he had 20+ years to get that way. art like painting and tagging wasnt so easy w/o supplies so maybe he turned to snap poetry and riddles thank u tho it really means the world to me its the one thing i cant do
actually two things is this one of those parts of the future everyone else already knew about? i mean my donnie would've ruled out being affected a long time ago right?
well first, yes he was infected with some kind of targeted krang disease. it doesnt spread or do anything but kill. none of us knew for a long time, he just got sick and we couldnt do anything to fix it he didnt want to just waste away
idk about everyone else knowing. tho i think with uncle tello here & the state he arrived in, everyones putting it together april knew, she saw his photo in my room and asked donnie knew, he has uncle tello's research leo knows he died. i kind of yelled it at him in new york
your donnie's fine. it didn't happen until 20yrs after the invasion since you stopped the krang, it won't happen to him
im sorry i didnt mean to hide it or anything or maybe i did but it wasnt you. you are right there really wasnt a good time for it, and after a certain point it seemed like needlessly cruel to tell anybody
i made the same offer to everybody else, only fair you get it, too. anything you want to know, you can ask. now and whenever
nah don't be sorry i could've tried harder to ask and maybe it was nice to just hear about the good stuff and you should get to be more than just future boy explaining everything all the time
doesn't have to be now but with all of them showing up i should know about what happened to raph too
i dont mind being future boy, its always gonna be a part of me i do wanna be casey too tho and i dont want you guys to be overshadowed by a future youll never see now. you almost got hurt trying to be a mystic warrior youre not ready for yet, fighting the krang. it was my bad for not explaining
how about this: when youre ready and have time, come to my room. ive got pictures of everyone
not like you had a lot of time for details or that any of us had a clue what we were doing all i'm saying is there's enough guilt going around without feeling bad for doing the best you could in crazy situations
[In person... makes a lot of sense, but it does undermine Mikey's plan to not cry like a baby in front of anyone.]
im not like drowning in angst about it dw :) i do think leo wouldve taken things more seriously if he knew the stakes so lesson learned there but yeah we did the best we could, mostly
i hate to think of it that way. i mean its my family i love talking about my family its ok if you need time but nows good for me if thats your worry.
[He gets a thumbs up response, and a moment after the knock, the train car door slides open, and there is Casey Jones Junior, in the flesh. It's sort of a cozy stay-at-home-and-work day for him, now that (almost) everyone's on board for this: he has an awful lot of math and science to do before any real bloodwork happens. He's dressed in loungewear and a sweater that is probably Hunter's, judging by the oversized fit.
Behind him, his desk is covered in several notebooks and vaguely organized papers with rough sketches, a calculator, his laptop- looks more like a Donnie desk at this point. And above it, just far enough away to not make out the details, is two photoboards with dozens of images pinned.]
Hey, Mikey. [He hesitates, then spreads his arms a bit.] Hug first?
[There's no way that conversation isn't getting followed up with immediate affection, and Mikey's throwing his arms around Casey almost as soon as he gets the question out.]
[Mikey lets Casey lead him into the train car, finally taking in their surroundings. Casey's affinity for following in Leo's footsteps had been obvious from the jump, but he can definitely see the Donnie influence in that love for science too. (The more they talk about their family the more he sees what Casey might have inherited from his Uncle Mikey, even if the realization there is bittersweet.)
But okay. No more stalling. Standing before the photo board, Mikey takes a deep breath as he looks up and...
And immediately feels stupid. What was he expecting, for Casey to have a bunch of pictures of war-torn doom and gloom? Of course they're normal photos. Whatever details might have changed, that's still his family looking back at him; still smiling, still finding the little moments of happiness where they can. There's comfort in that no matter what else he learns today.
Mikey doesn't clock Robo Raph as Raph so much as some kind of weird tribute just yet, but--. Hang on, angst postponed for one more moment of confusion.]
That's future me?
[Is it the hair that's throwing him off? The age? The (completely unfair!) lack of height? Take your pick.]
[Many of the photos have sort of a candid, grainy look to them, captured from one of Uncle Tello's recording devices. Some are intended photos, clean as one could get in a dead hellscape. But them all being base photos means no one has to see the world they came from, only the lives they led. (Including Casey, who has definitely seen it enough already.)
Casey stands quietly as Mikey looks at the board, helplessly nervous about what response he'll get. There's a palpable release of tension when the turtle speaks up again.]
Ah- yeah. [Nerves become slight awkwardness. Master Michelangelo is just- always like that? So it's normal for him. But Mikey…] It must be weird to see yourself so different.
Finding a new way to be bald is definitely a surprise. [He gives Casey a wry smile before turning back to the photo board. There are lots of things he could ask about, but sticking with his own future feels like the safest thread to pull on first.]
What'd he do, time travel himself into an early old age?
[It's sad that this kind of is the least tragic side effect of the apocalypse, for the four of them. He aged quickly but at least he didn't die. He and sensei lived to the last day, they didn't waste away or lose their bodies (mostly) or lives to the war. Casey and Commander O'Neil managed to stay the most intact, they were lucky, they were protected by their superhuman family. But the turtles all suffered so much. Master Michelangelo... he got old. And Casey saw the horrible toll even that took on him, over the years. Having to decide when to use his power and when to hold back, how much he could risk aging, who he couldn't save so he could live one more day to save others, getting closer and closer each time to becoming too far gone to protect his family. And then they died, anyway.]
...You... remember how I said he was the greatest mystic warrior? That's... the cost of using too much, over time. It's- it's part of why I wanted you to be careful.
And I guess... no one really knows why? Or how to prevent it?
[Other than the obvious, of course. To have the potential for all this power and decide not to use it. It's silly, but out of everything Mikey could be frustrated by, the first place his mind goes is how unfair it is that in the end his abilities are one more reason for his brothers to treat him like he's something fragile.
From his tone--and the way he keeps staring at the photos--it's clear he doesn't expect much of an answer. If Casey had some miracle fix, he would have led with that. Reminding himself this is supposed to be the easy part, Mikey tries to focus less on the man who looks like his own ghost and more on the way it all fits together.]
Ever since Old Leo showed up I've been worried about what kinda person future me really is, but I think I understand him a little better now.
[Loaded question, and it speaks to the known inevitability of Casey's timeline that Mikey doesn't wait for him to come up with an answer. There is, technically, a way to prevent it. Moderation. None of the others aged like he did, they made it to their 30s and 40s at a normal rate. But Master Michelangelo, with his over-the-top and seemingly (at first) infinite mystic powers, saving people over and over, protecting his family and everyone he could possibly spare... the toll was too much.
Casey reaches up and tugs down one of the photos, where the older turtle is cooking and smiling happily. He can't give a perfect cure of this fate that this Mikey can hopefully avoid, but he can at least paint a better picture of who this person is, rather than just the warrior.]
It's... still really hard for sensei to talk about him. We haven't yet, not even once. He- he died, right in front of us. It took everything he had left to open the portal that sent me back. Sensei always carried so much guilt, every time we lost somebody. Like it was something he did, not the Krang.
[Idly, he toys with one of the crinkled corners of the photos, trying in futility to smooth it out.]
I think out of everybody, it really struck me, how different you are from him. You're both so kind, you really love your family, that part's the same as ever. But he was so tired. All of us were, sure, but he was burning himself out in a way that everyone could see, and it was harder for him to be the optimistic one when everything kept falling apart. It frustrated him, how he couldn't just use all that power to fix everything forever. Maybe that's... why he agreed to do the time portal.
[Wasn't that at last fulfilling his wish? A single spell, to get rid of the Krang forever, save his whole family, save the world. It just wouldn't be their family, their world. Just Casey, and the new future they'd never see.]
When I see you doing stuff you love, like cooking, or your art, the skateboarding or games or any of it... I can really see him, finally. Who he used to be, and what he was still fighting for. He wanted to save who all of you were supposed to be.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
part of him's gotta be afraid he won't be able to stick around
but that's no excuse
like it wouldn't be even WORSE if you missed a chance to spend time with him
sometimes they get so sure about what THEY think is best for everybody that talking it out isn't even on the radar
then fighting's the only thing left
[Is that hypocritical when they're possibly plotting behind Tello's back? Eh. Doesn't matter.]
no subject
like without his interfering
i think he had a hard time getting that its AND, not OR
though with ppl fighting i kinda get why theyd worry i cant have both
im not giving up tho, screw that
every day more than i had back home with him is better
[if it's hypocritical, they can heckin' deal.]
no subject
the whole thing's tough to balance
of course the old guys need time to adjust
but give them too much space and they'll probably run off and be hermits somewhere
i hope future master me passed down all his puppy eyes techniques
getting old dee to accept help might be more work than the cure
no subject
as long as im here they will get no hermiting, i'm visiting like every day if i can get away with it
future you was more like
less puppy eyes as he got older (still happened sometimes) but hed whip out a killer cryptic old sage line that got most people to fall in line if only out of confusion
still super effective
he taught me The Look that might nail uncle tello to the wall for this one tho
no subject
old age might have tired leo out, but there's plenty about him it didn't change
cryptic sage sounds kinda out of my wheelhouse but i'll take your word for it
[And try to replicate it at the most inappropriate time, probably.]
whatever it takes to wrangle him
we've got your back
no subject
remember he had 20+ years to get that way. art like painting and tagging wasnt so easy w/o supplies so maybe he turned to snap poetry and riddles
thank u tho it really means the world to me
its the one thing i cant do
1/2
we're family
even if the grandpas don't wanna admit it yet
[...]
one thing
i don't wanna ask old donnie anything too personal when he already feels weird about us
but him being sick
is that how you guys lost him?
no subject
is this one of those parts of the future everyone else already knew about?
i mean
my donnie would've ruled out being affected a long time ago
right?
no subject
well
first, yes
he was infected with some kind of targeted krang disease. it doesnt spread or do anything but kill.
none of us knew for a long time, he just got sick and we couldnt do anything to fix it
he didnt want to just waste away
idk about everyone else knowing. tho i think with uncle tello here & the state he arrived in, everyones putting it together
april knew, she saw his photo in my room and asked
donnie knew, he has uncle tello's research
leo knows he died. i kind of yelled it at him in new york
your donnie's fine. it didn't happen until 20yrs after the invasion
since you stopped the krang, it won't happen to him
no subject
ok
thanks
there's never a great time to talk about this stuff
but we're all more helpful to each other when we're on the same page
no subject
you wont catch me arguing
im sorry
i didnt mean to hide it or anything
or maybe i did but it wasnt you. you are right there really wasnt a good time for it, and after a certain point it seemed like
needlessly cruel to tell anybody
i made the same offer to everybody else, only fair you get it, too. anything you want to know, you can ask. now and whenever
no subject
i could've tried harder to ask
and maybe it was nice to just hear about the good stuff
and you should get to be more than just future boy explaining everything all the time
doesn't have to be now
but with all of them showing up
i should know about what happened to raph too
no subject
…oof.]
i dont mind being future boy, its always gonna be a part of me
i do wanna be casey too tho
and i dont want you guys to be overshadowed by a future youll never see now. you almost got hurt trying to be a mystic warrior youre not ready for yet, fighting the krang. it was my bad for not explaining
how about this: when youre ready and have time, come to my room. ive got pictures of everyone
no subject
or that any of us had a clue what we were doing
all i'm saying is
there's enough guilt going around without feeling bad for doing the best you could in crazy situations
[In person... makes a lot of sense, but it does undermine Mikey's plan to not cry like a baby in front of anyone.]
you wanna just
get it over with?
no subject
i do think leo wouldve taken things more seriously if he knew the stakes so lesson learned there
but yeah we did the best we could, mostly
i hate to think of it that way. i mean its my family
i love talking about my family
its ok if you need time but nows good for me if thats your worry.
no subject
not wanting to make you always focus on the sad parts
but i get it
see you in a sec
[Tap tap on your door, Casey Jones.]
no subject
Behind him, his desk is covered in several notebooks and vaguely organized papers with rough sketches, a calculator, his laptop- looks more like a Donnie desk at this point. And above it, just far enough away to not make out the details, is two photoboards with dozens of images pinned.]
Hey, Mikey. [He hesitates, then spreads his arms a bit.] Hug first?
[It's both a request and an offer.]
no subject
[There's no way that conversation isn't getting followed up with immediate affection, and Mikey's throwing his arms around Casey almost as soon as he gets the question out.]
Thanks for making time.
no subject
Thanks to you, for the same.
[And for, like. Everything else. Being Mikey, who is amazing.
When the hug ends, Casey gestures towards the rest of the room, where he'll be able to see Casey's photo boards properly.]
Well... here they are.
no subject
But okay. No more stalling. Standing before the photo board, Mikey takes a deep breath as he looks up and...
And immediately feels stupid. What was he expecting, for Casey to have a bunch of pictures of war-torn doom and gloom? Of course they're normal photos. Whatever details might have changed, that's still his family looking back at him; still smiling, still finding the little moments of happiness where they can. There's comfort in that no matter what else he learns today.
Mikey doesn't clock Robo Raph as Raph so much as some kind of weird tribute just yet, but--. Hang on, angst postponed for one more moment of confusion.]
That's future me?
[Is it the hair that's throwing him off? The age? The (completely unfair!) lack of height? Take your pick.]
no subject
Casey stands quietly as Mikey looks at the board, helplessly nervous about what response he'll get. There's a palpable release of tension when the turtle speaks up again.]
Ah- yeah. [Nerves become slight awkwardness. Master Michelangelo is just- always like that? So it's normal for him. But Mikey…] It must be weird to see yourself so different.
no subject
What'd he do, time travel himself into an early old age?
no subject
...You... remember how I said he was the greatest mystic warrior? That's... the cost of using too much, over time. It's- it's part of why I wanted you to be careful.
no subject
[Other than the obvious, of course. To have the potential for all this power and decide not to use it. It's silly, but out of everything Mikey could be frustrated by, the first place his mind goes is how unfair it is that in the end his abilities are one more reason for his brothers to treat him like he's something fragile.
From his tone--and the way he keeps staring at the photos--it's clear he doesn't expect much of an answer. If Casey had some miracle fix, he would have led with that. Reminding himself this is supposed to be the easy part, Mikey tries to focus less on the man who looks like his own ghost and more on the way it all fits together.]
Ever since Old Leo showed up I've been worried about what kinda person future me really is, but I think I understand him a little better now.
no subject
Casey reaches up and tugs down one of the photos, where the older turtle is cooking and smiling happily. He can't give a perfect cure of this fate that this Mikey can hopefully avoid, but he can at least paint a better picture of who this person is, rather than just the warrior.]
It's... still really hard for sensei to talk about him. We haven't yet, not even once. He- he died, right in front of us. It took everything he had left to open the portal that sent me back. Sensei always carried so much guilt, every time we lost somebody. Like it was something he did, not the Krang.
[Idly, he toys with one of the crinkled corners of the photos, trying in futility to smooth it out.]
I think out of everybody, it really struck me, how different you are from him. You're both so kind, you really love your family, that part's the same as ever. But he was so tired. All of us were, sure, but he was burning himself out in a way that everyone could see, and it was harder for him to be the optimistic one when everything kept falling apart. It frustrated him, how he couldn't just use all that power to fix everything forever. Maybe that's... why he agreed to do the time portal.
[Wasn't that at last fulfilling his wish? A single spell, to get rid of the Krang forever, save his whole family, save the world. It just wouldn't be their family, their world. Just Casey, and the new future they'd never see.]
When I see you doing stuff you love, like cooking, or your art, the skateboarding or games or any of it... I can really see him, finally. Who he used to be, and what he was still fighting for. He wanted to save who all of you were supposed to be.