So, I Have Yet To Actually Test This With A Nardo Drawing, But Im *pretty Sure* That He Looks Older Than

So, i have yet to actually test this with a nardo drawing, but im *pretty sure* that he looks older than his actual age anytime i put a hoodie on him.. like, it's just a lil phenomenon in my scribbles that he looks older when his buff-ness is covered up lmfao

But he still somehow looks his age when he's shirtless.. how funny is that?

LONG POST AHEAD! All words and it's just about my lil au!

I've just gone through my tumblr blog and realised that i haven't actually posted about my theory (and au canon) about why nardo's ninpo was "broken" when he popped up in the present, so now I'm gonna infodump as much as i can remember about it!

How should i put this..

So, is his ninpo broken? No, but it is definitely damaged. I'll explain that in a sec, but first: what did he do to fuck himself up so bad?

He completely neglected his health, skipped meals, gave his rationed water to others, and completely ignored his need for rest and sleep. He didn't think this was a problem, especially when he started feeling less and less hungry, despite not eating properly. Less thirsty, even though he still wasn't drinking nearly enough. And less tired, despite staying up for days, at times.

Now, he didn't really notice this shift, and neither did anyone else with the uh, apocalypse going on. But what actually caused it?

His ninpo, of course! His ninpo started sustaining him, literally keeping him alive. It's kinda like his body switched to survival mode and just preserved itself with his little built-in life source!

Why is this so bad? Because it has severe consequences. One of the side effects of this is that during the decade where his body was forced to sustain itself, it got so used to him not eating, drinking and sleeping that when he got back to the present he couldn't eat proper food for weeks, and it took months before he could eat foods like pizza.

Hell, he couldn't eat a peach without throwing it back up 20 minutes later after being in recovery for two weeks, a peach.

But as i mentioned earlier, his ninpo dulled his hunger. So it even made him nauseous anytime he tried to eat more than once a day when he had access to food again, and it took a lot of trial and error to find the right routine for his recovery.

Now, it may have been sustaining him, but it was not doing more than the bare minimum, so he was, uh, severely underweight, to say the least.

But enough about that, his sleep. I've mentioned him basically not having a sleep schedule in previous posts, and here's why! He literally couldn't sleep due to his ninpo, he didn't feel tired until after long missions, and even then he couldn't sleep until he literally crashed, and went out like a light for the next day.

This let him handle a lot more work around the base, but it also made his insomnia absolute hell for him. Instead of your average insomnia, he, like i said, didn't feel tired whatsoever. And this didn't just magically go away when he was suddenly safe in the present. In fact, it still pops up in 'manic episodes' where he just.. stays up for a few days.

This is why he looks so chronically exhausted lmao, he's got some permanent eye bags for a reason

Little important info rq, in my au the brothers can boost each other! Physical contact is needed, so let's say donnie just used a lot of his ninpo energy creating a complex blueprint, and is now pretty drained. If leo reached out and pressed his finger on donnie's arm, he could actively send a flow of his own ninpo energy to replenish some of what donnie used up. In this scenario, after the boost, donnie's next few ninpo constructs would be Leo's electric blue instead of his pixelated purple! Until he's used up the boost leo gave him, that is. There is no limit as to how much they can boost each other, but they usually just use it as a pick me up during lengthy battles or in scenarios similar to the one i described here.

So, what does this whole situation mean for his portals and all that hamato stuff? Well, he couldn't talk to karai or communicate with his ancestors and fallen family members anymore whatsoever after his ninpo was drained for the first time, so he went about.. nine years without directly communicating with them before he had 'recovered' enough ninpo energy to speak with karai in the present (let's be real, he tried as soon as he had more than two grapes worth of energy stored up)

This impromptu (and secret) meeting with karai actually led to some rather plot heavy things happening as soon as he left the hamato minscape, but let's not talk about that yet.

What about his portals? So, he lost his ability to portal when he'd just turned thirty, and during those first 14 years of the apocalypse he gained experience and training, along with some rather impressive skills with his portals, and he greatly improved the size of his portals (this happened specifically when he lost raph) and the number of portals he can open at once, along with the precision of where and when they open and close.

He does regain his ability to portal when he's been given a boost by mikey, and he immediately tests it out by teleporting an apple around the kitchen in a showy manner. And i personally love the thought that his portals would mostly be mikey's fiery orange, with little swirls of electric blue throughout them when he does this

But! I've completely lost track of what i was typing, so let's get back on track.

One of the side effects is spazzy ninpo. long after he's recovered, if he uses up too much ninpo energy during a battle his ninpo will get spazzy for the next day or two, what this means is that it's basically switching between survival and rest every few minutes, making him crash over and over until his body and ninpo are both drained, and until his body remembers that it can just rest and replenish. A boost would help him recover faster, but usually, it's best to let his body figure it out on its own

Especially since nardo can be a bit of a workaholic at times, as you can probably tell if you've read this far. So if he's being forced to have a rest day or two by his fucked up ninpo after overusing it in battle.. i think he might need that rest.

Have nice day

Okay, so i can't remember what the exact reason for this post was, but hey, lore/infodump ig :]

Oh, and if he got cut off from his ninpo by the krang, he'd have died pretty early on in the apocalypse. Oh well, good thing that didn't happen, lmao

Relatable complaint time

Drawing hands and feet is the bane of my existence

Scribbled this fast asf out of spite last night (it took like 16 minutes) because @so-called-yokai told me to go to sleep

And since i don't hate it i might as well post it lmao

oh, and he has a new mask now, in a ✨️darker blue✨️

(I went through like 10 different shades of blue to make sure it looked okay with his eyes lmfao)

His new mask symbolizes a new beginning in a way, just like his bracelet symbolizes reuniting with his brothers (cuz it's made with their masks), rest, and finally being retired at the ripe ol age of forty

And some honorable mentions from friendo

" "You're still leonardo. Even after everything." "

"Two different ways of embracing his past: his remembrance bracelet and his mask."

"He's not that Leo anymore, but he's still Leo."

Okay but like, what if the shadows were complimentary colours??

What then huh??

Just listening to this on repeat today, and I'm fantasizing about all the ways i wish i could draw angst of nardo based on it lol

But that'll have to wait until I've developed my skills more

Sidenote, you can't tell me that if any of the future turtles followed casey to the present that substance abuse wouldn't be a huge risk, like, those guys went through hell and back, and now they're just supposed to live with that? Yeah, nah. They would be on house arrest, and there would be a ban on any addicting substances, including the good painkillers, until they got some damn therapy and everyone was sure that no one would become an alcoholic/drug abuser.

That's all lmao

Have nice day