[LN] Raphael is cool but rude, Michelangelo is a party dude...

[othersdestructive]

"Jus' - jus' five more minutes, Master Splinter."

Come on, it'd been a busy night. Couldn't he sleep in just a little bit longer?

Except...except he wasn't in the lair.

As Raph opened his eyes, he realized he wasn't even in the city.

New York was New York and after spending the majority of his life under it, and exploring every facet of it from above after he and his brothers had started exploring at night, it was practically in his blood.

Wherever he was now, it didn't look like New York, it didn't sound like New York - it definitely didn't smell like New York.

And his head felt like it'd been cracked open and...something was rushing in. Something unnameable and shifting. It was making even his memories fuzzy. It was almost like something that wasn't himself was trying to push in and make...something else into himself. For a moment, all he could do was push himself up onto his knees and hunch over, holding his head in his hands.

"Ugh, my head."

Comments

[bedazzledmyface]

"They're a little busy being transfixed by wonderment to discuss vacation plans," Mabel said, waving her hand at Nico. As Mikey pointed to the cookie table, she trotted over to start helping him get the immediate best out of his Santa's Workshop experience.

"Wanna help me decorate?"

[spellitonce]

"I'm going to let Bunny and Jack know that we're back and that they should come give these two the run-down, Nico said instead of answering. She shot Raphael a sympathetic look. "Like I said, you guys are safe here. So 'look around' all you want, I guess."

[bestnamer]

Mikey was out of the gates the moment the "look around" was fully out of Nico's mouth, from one table of working yetis to the next, screeching in unbridled delight. The occasional shout of "SANTA'S WORKSHOP" reached them from somewhere deep in the bowels of Santa's workshop.

[othersdestructive]

Raph lay there quietly as Dipper worked on the collar, sighing in relief as it melted away into dust, feeling a strange energy flow back into him. With it came that strange feeling of feeling fragmented, like there were reflections of himself in his head, but he also started to feel better immediately.

They weren't dead. They weren't dead thanks to these two kids and witch girl there.

"Hey, Glinda," he called out to Nico, before she managed to walk away, his voice still slightly breathless. "Thanks."

[bringinghopewithme]

"When did she get a new name?"

Bunny burst through the wall of the workshop, trailing Jack, the one directly embedded in the cliffside.

They'd been on a mission, but judging by the grins on the pair, this one had gone much, much better than prior ones.

"G'day Nico. We got the artifact." Bunny's grin widened, as he held out a black lump of something that looked half like coal, half like an elephant in agony. "Think you can whip up a spell to get rid of it? Who's the turtle - sorry, turtles?" Bunny asked, sniffing the air, catching Mikey's scent (and the sound of him, as another echo of "SANTA'S WORKSHOOOOOP" filtered up from below). "They the new folks y'went out to pick up?

[spellitonce]

Nico paused, glancing back at Raph. He already looked better, now that the the collar was off and his myth healing abilities could kick in.

"Any time," she answered with a small smile, just as Bunny and Jack came through the wall.

"I'll figure out something," she said, eyeing the black lump in his hand. She hadn't heard all the details on this thing, but she knew enough to know that she didn't want to touch it in case she accidentally absorbed it the way she'd absorbed the Staff of One. "This is Raphael. We got him and his brother Michaelangelo out of a government lab. I wiped all their data on mythical things and set the place on fire before we snow-globed out of there."

She turned back to Raph. "This is the Easter Bunny and Jack Frost. Yes, it's weird, but they know what's going on here and can give you the run-down better than I can."

[letskicksomeice]

At Nico giving their names, Jack looked over at the turtle on the floor, his eyes going wide with surprise and then with absolute delight.

There was no way you were a Guardian that played with kids without picking up on the fact that the Ninja Turtles were pretty much some of the most beloved children's characters of all time. What had it been, the late eighties, most of the nineties, and another series in the 00's? And he was pretty sure he'd heard some kids gushing about a newer series. And a movie.

Three decades. Three whole decades, barring a few gaps.

He laughed a belly laugh, the kind of laugh that was borne of delight and happy surprise, when something unexpectedly wonderful came along.

He bit his knuckle for a moment, as if he couldn't hold his delight in, then exclaimed, "Ninja Turtles!" He turned to Bunny. "I should've seen this one coming." He turned back to Raph. "Of all characters everywhere of course it'd be a few of you guys. I'm surprised we didn't get the full set! But then you two were always the fan favorites."

Leaping into the air and bouncing off the back of the couch he landed next to Raph, gently helping him up.

"Here, let's get you to the couch, big guy, that'll be more comfortable. Dipper, can you go wrangle his brother?"

[captainbuzzkill]

"On it." Dipper gave Raph one last reassuring pat on the shoulder, and went off to find Michelangelo and redirect him.

[othersdestructive]

"Thanks for everything kid," said Raph. "Sorry about, uh. You know. Your face."

With Jack's help, he dizzily climbed to his feet, so that he could be helped to the couch.

"We're characters here, right? That's what the creepy guy that nearly got us killed said. He said in this world we were fiction, like - like we somehow got pulled from ours because of the kids here. People recognized us."

[bestnamer]

Mikey's voice preceded him, unintelligible in his enthusiasm.

"-ster Bunny? That's a real thing? And the dude from the song? Are you seri-"

Mikey stopped short at the top of the stairs, staring at Jack and Bunny with the wide eyed wonder of a child at heart.

"YOU WERE SERIOUS!"

Mikey flat-bolted at the Easter Bunny, showing only the slightest self-restraint in pausing beside him.

"He's so fluffy! Like, just as fluffy as I imagined! Less pink than I imagined! That's okay, though! Nobody said you had to be pink!" he threw it in, you just know, just in case he accidentally hurt the actual real life Easter Bunny's feelings. "But it would be cool if you were! I'm gonna hug you now!"

And he did, throwing his arms around Bunny, burying his face into the thick fur on his shoulders.

"So fluffy!"

[bringinghopewithme]

Bunny had a moment's gut reaction of "why is this kid touching me" before remembering, he was appealingly fluffy.

He glanced at Jack, with a wry "I can deal with this, it's cool" glance, and patted Michelangelo gently on the carapace.

"Good t'meet you too. Michelangelo, right?"

[letskicksomeice]

"We're all fictional to the people here, Bunny and I included. The difference between us and you is that we're native to this world. All of you guys, on the other hand, were pulled in by all the weird stuff going on."

He paused, looking at Raph concerned, "But wait a second, what creepy guy almost got you killed? And what people recognized you?"

[othersdestructive]

"Nuh uh, you go first," Raph demanded, crossing his arms. "I wanna know what's going on and I wanna know now."

First he wanted answers. Then they could get theirs.

[bringinghopewithme]

"Uh."

Bunny raised his hand, because Mikey was starting to cut off his airflow. Not that he needed to breathe, technically, but still, breathing was nice.

"Think you could get your brother off me first, mate? That'd be ace."

[othersdestructive]

"Mikey! Stop hugging the Easter Bunny so he'll answer our questions!"

He paused.

"Now there's a sentence I never thought I'd say..."

[bestnamer]

"But he's so fluffy-"

Mikey backed off, though, still nearly biting the fingernails he didn't have in glee.