Rat Sons - Tumblr Posts

so yall. i randomly remembered a minor background moment from the 03 series. and it has spawned Thoughts....thoughts with Strong brainrot potential......

NO ONE STOPPED ME SO HAVE SOME FRANTIC SKETCHES

FOR UR CONSIDERATION

TURTLE PAPA. FEAT. RAT SONS

so yall. i randomly remembered a minor background moment from the 03 series. and it has spawned Thoughts....thoughts with Strong brainrot potential......

SHAKING YOU DO YOU SEE IT DO YOU GET IT DO Y

so yall. i randomly remembered a minor background moment from the 03 series. and it has spawned Thoughts....thoughts with Strong brainrot potential......

whelp. i zoned out in the shower and created a whole fucking dramatic origin story of the Rat Sons.

guess i will be making this au then.

so yall. i randomly remembered a minor background moment from the 03 series. and it has spawned Thoughts....thoughts with Strong brainrot potential......

SHARD IF U DRAW MY RAT SONS I WILL ABSOLUTELY CRY (/EXTREMELY POSITIVE)

Ehehheheheheheh look at the lils!!!

These little guys are made by @scatterbrainedbot look at them!!!

are your rat sons rat sized after their mutation or person sized? somewhere in-between?

an excellent question! heres what im thinking:

so despite being exposed to the mutagen at exactly the same time as Splinter, i think it takes a few years for the boys to develop any physical signs of mutation (ie size or more humanoid proportions). instead they show more signs of mutation in their intelligence, rapidly developing skills in things like verbal (and non verbal) communication, problem-solving, recognition of themselves and the concept of other people, etc etc.

basically they mentally develop like wickedly smart and chaotic little human toddlers, but in only-slightly-bigger-than-average rat bodies, up until theyre about two or so. then they start getting growth spurts. (yes this is largely because drawing tiny rat babies clamoring over an entirely unfazed happy turtle papa fills my heart with endless joy)

around age four ish is when i think theyre approaching like clearly anthropomorphized 'oh that is a child' status. theyre much smaller than a human kid their age would be, and they face a lot of mishaps in which they learn the hard way they can no longer squeeze through every tiny gap in sight (donnie def gets stuck inside serval appliances).

around seven ish they also cant all fit on splinters back at the same time anymore :(

now, while this is very much an Alternate Universe and not really gonna be more than vaguely parallel to the '03 verse, it is born of the 03 verse, and one of my favorite things of '03 is how those boys feel like absolutely massive tanks of turtles that are in fact hilariously miniature whenever on screen next to any average sized human person. in a similar vein, no one in this house is getting even close to 6ft. short kings all around.

so the answer i suppose is, eventually, mostly human sized, just very short human sized!

I AM SPINNING I AM PACING I AM FULL ON FROLICKING IM SO EXCITED

@d1sc0rd1a THANK U FOR THESE TAGS

okayokayokayokay so pretty much all of these questions will be Officially Answered properly in the character design/intro pages im working on but also i am physically vibrating with excitement about the fact that you noticed all these details and i have very little self control so! lore dump time!!!

(minor tw for mentions of leos self-harm/self-destructive anxious behaviors and unhealthy coping skills)

- mikey does indeed have curly fur! i believe he would be considered a 'rex' rat (pictured on the left) for this trait? though the curls can be more easily seen on mice (pictured on the right). or, at least it seems that way. have not delved too deeply into the details of rodent genes and husbandry, but id assume its the same sort of mutation considering curly haired mice are also referred to as rex sometimes? either way hes a extra floofy bby 🧡

-as for raphie, unfortunately being more fluff and less shell than the average rapheal comes with its downsides. especially if you and your brothers occasionally encounter things like territorial dogs, hungry cats, or sewer crocodiles while exploring places ur dad said not supposed to go. (most of his scars will have more ninja related stories, but his ear i think got messed up from something very animal. probably around age 11 ish? old enough to sneak out from dads protection but young enough to not fully know how to handle himself alone against real danger. thankfully his ear injury looks worse than it actually is for the most part, as the damage was largely to the outer ear. his hearing wasnt super affected, except that he now has a bit of a harder time being able to track/pinpoint noises origins if its on his right side.)

-also yep! dons got some glasses that just clip/rest on the bridge of his nose! theyre mostly just for home use, as they do fall off if hes knocked around. in the field he has some goggles he tends to use (theyre helpful as they have multiple additional functions like heat-imaging, extra zoom/telescoping, and recording capabilities. but also theyll give him headaches if he wears them for too long without breaks). contacts are theoretically also an option but he absolutely hates the sensation of putting them in. so sometimes when hes tired he'll just not bother with either clips or goggles and just squint and struggle. leo hates when he does that lol.

-speaking of leo, he is def an anxious baby :) he has a few patches of fur missing on his hand cos he has the tendency to tug on it while hes thinking. he yanked and chewed on his own tail a lot when he was younger too, which is why when hes older he usually wears some wraps to cover the scars left from that behavior. he finds those scars specifically to be kinda embarrassing and shameful because they werent from any battle or life-lesson, just his own 'inability to control himself'. all of his brothers have repeatedly called him out on the fact that that is not a healthy way to think about his anxiety or mental health, but leo insists hes fine. hes kinda convinced himself that a proper warrior always has control over his own body* and his own thoughts, thus he should be able to just like willpower-brute-force his way into 'being better'. (this line of thinking pisses raph off so much he has to leave and go hit something)

Splinter also tries to talk him through some of that internalized guilt/shame/everything, but splinters very metaphorical, poetic, and indirect when it comes to talking about Big Things, which combined with how much leo gets caught in his own head, makes it kinda hard to gauge how much these talks actually help

*this is made extra fun considering leos also ftm trans, so he is faced with a body that fundamentally disobeys him perhaps more than the average rat-man.

-and im still going back and forth between a few species for splinter, but im leaning mostly towards an African Spurred Tortoise! they have these beautiful if kinda subtle geometric shell patterns and are the third largest species of tortoise in the world. the only thing that doesnt fit perfectly with Splints is that (allegedly) their lifespan in captivity is around 50ish years, whereas im p sure Tortoise Splinter is well over 75, probably closer to 90 when the boys are born and hes mutated into Old Man Papa.

but maybe hes just a particularly long lasting African Spurred Tortoise.

the Hamato family has taken very good care of him for many decades after all. :)

(well. until everything all fell apart, that is.....)

here have a wip of a rat sons comic that i keep tearing up about while writing

(feat. tortoise papa splinter and his rat baby leonardo)

I need. I need more of TMSR (tweenage magical samurai rats). Please feed me I am starving

lol, not to worry, there shall be plenty more MFRoVA (mystical fighting rodents of Varying Ages)

but im afraid i am a very slow cook. so here, have a snack to help hold you over!

the babies, new to the sewers with their very first toys!!!

splints came across four off-brand carebear key chains in the a pile of trash as he was looking for a safer place to hide in new york, and well. four toys, four kids! the boys are like a couple weeks old so tiny keychain plushies are giant and perfect for them. they each kinda pick a favorite bear too which splints finds endlessly amusing.

(he actually kinda very loosely starts calling them names/nicknames based off the bears they chose lol. though around age four or so they all pick their own new names -- the new names of course being pulled from a book of renaissance artists. :) mikey was hyperfixating on the pages covering the sistine chapel, so he immediately called dibs on the name Michelangelo, and the others just kinda shrugged and went with it. (im working on that comic currently actually lol))

So uh-

Your tmnt au is so adorable especially leo!

Why is he so cute?!

So uh... I made fanart!

Hope you like it!

AAAAHHHHH DIONA HES SO CUTE WHAT THE HECK THANK YOU DIO THIS IS AMAZING

TBH I WAS KINDA DEBATING SOME OF THE DETAILS ON HIS KATANAS AND WETHER I WANTED TO STICK WITH THEM BUT SEEING HOW U DREW THEM I LOVE THEM SO MUCH???? LIKE THE TASSLE AND THE BRAIDED WRAPPINGS, U HAVE SEALED THE DEAL THEYRE STAYING

hey, question

so i just finished the first character introduction sheet for my rat sons au. buuut i havent even started on the next ones yet (im working on like six other comics/responses/rat sons content tho dont worry, just not the intro sheets) -- it'll def be a hot minute until the next sheet is done. like probably a week or two at the absolute earliest. as of right now, im planning on making about ten character intro sheets in total.

like im really excited to share more rat sons content with yall but also it feels weird to post something thats basically part of a series and not have the next part almost ready waiting in the wings?

also before anyone gets too excited, this first sheet is for a very minor background character :)

(whos story ive revamped pretty hardcore from her canon counterpart and also fallen completely in love with but, irrelevant)

AHHH we match!!!!

this calls for a puppet dance party!!!

hi copper!!! so i just wanted to let u know that i did get ur ask from ages ago, but i very boldly chose to draw out some things as way of an answer, and its taking even more of forever than expected (all this time and im like, halfway done 😭)

anywho, pls take this tiny super quick doodle as a major thank you for ur kind words, and for your patience!!!!

baby rat boys love their papa sm <3

(also, youre so freaking cool dude!! and those turtle designs!!!! wtf!!! i really love your take on hypno especially like holy shit yes mans have TEEF -- gonna have to add him to my ever growing list of things to draw 👀)

Ayyyy I'm gonna be waiting >:D

And now we match

IM LITERALLY SOBBING AT RHE SIGHT OF YOUR RAT SONS OH MY GOD THEYRE SO CUTE PATOOTIE THEIR DESIGNS ARE SO APPEALING TO ME THE LONG FACES ARE JUST HGGHGHGHGH

sobbing u say? dont worry anon, mikeys got just the thing

RAT SONS LORE DUMP #1

THE HAMATO FAMILY

okay so im looking at my first few character sheets and theres a little bit of lore/context i want to give just to clarify, specifically about the last generation (of humans) in the Hamato lineage

(long text heavy post ahead!)

so background:

in the 03 version of tmnt The Ancient One (who is not a Hamato) essentially adopts three children: Hamato Yoshi, Yukio Mashimi, Tang Shen (girls dont get surnames i guess??) They seemed to have been explicitly raised as siblings. Still, love triangle trope was hungry ig. Both boys fell in love w Tang Shen and she fell for Yoshi. to which Mashimi said ‘alright bet’ and killed her. i cant even laugh at him for his pathetic Nice Guy “i was nice to you for years and u wont have sex with me???” tantrum cos like. sir, that is ur sister. boy howdy. all of yall need to go meet some other people.

mostly i chalk that whole mess up to the fact that the writing of women in most media in the early 2000s lacking like idk?? any actual characterization?? an ounce of consideration??? not a single braincell?? they were mostly just there to be a means to some plot trope, rather than an actual character in and of themselves — like im amazed april came out as lovely as she did, with her own like life and skills and autonomy (her big sis vibes in 03 are so so nice, and tbh i love her whole character a lot — still lots of misogyny moments in her writing too but im not trying to do an analysis into that rn)

so anywho!!

for the rat sons au, i decided to go ahead and scrap all the incesty undertones (idk, are those undertones? seems p straight up to me?) and completely revamp the origins of The Ancient One, Tang Shen and Yoshi <3 (and Mashimi too ig, but he essentially got cut out entirely. sucks to suck ya entitled lil douche)

Here's the general lowdown

So, the Hamato clan is one of the oldest and well established in all of Japan. The family rose to prominence in the feudal period of Japan’s history, due to their collective skill in the art of ninjutsu, their dedication, stealth, and discretion. Like most ninja, they were assassins available to hire, either for killing or simple sabotage, for politics or personal matters – though no matter the task, a Hamato’s loyalty was always to the head of the Family over their client.

Beyond their reputation as a ninja clan though, the Hamatos also had a reputation for being extremely generous to their community and highly protective of the less fortunate. (think kinda Al Capone vibes, like oh these bitches hella dangerous. but also. will def tip over $100 soooo…) This did lead to occasional conflict of interests during assignments/contracts. Most Hamatos would then seek the advice of the head of the family, and follow their lead, be it to the benefit of their client, or not.

(This also led to several members either abandoning the clan, or being killed by their clients for failed action etc etc)

As time passes and we reach the mid twentieth century or so, there is only one final heir to the Hamato lineage. A young man, named Hamato Sho. Sho spent his youth trying to serve his family and honor their name etc etc etc. But ultimately, this got him caught up in a lot of corrupt powerful nonsense that he eventually walked away from after the death of his friend.

This friend had left behind a young daughter, Tang Shen. Since he knew she had no other family to claim her, Sho took her in, expecting to only be a temporary foster at most. Surprise! this quiet five year old kiddo melted old mans cynical heart to absolute mush. his daughter now bitch.

He only ever adopted the one child, and he adored her sm. and he tried his best to be a good papa. he nurtured her curiosity and engaged in her interests and taught her everything he knew, without ultimatums or concerns about family names. at times he could have probably been considered very lax in his parenting, or far too lenient or undisciplined, but as a kid that grew up suffocated by watching eyes and guiding hands and Destiny capital D, i think that by giving his child room to be her own person and do her own shit (especially in her teenage years) he was in fact showing her a level trust and pride than he never had been given himself. basically he did everything he could to give her the exact opposite childhood he himself had (like rise splints <3)

Because of Sho’s encouragement, Tang Shen grows up to be a very independent soul, whos never met a problem she can jerry-rig, bodily move, or roundhouse kick into being fixed. She also becomes a fucking badass ninja master (and mystic warrior, lol) though mostly all she wants in life is the maintain the quiet little farm her father has started. maybe kiss the cute boy from town who walks her home sometimes (even though he lives the other direction.)

Meanwhile, Yoshi (surname pending) is in fact not a Hamato. Yet, at least. he, however, is that cute boy from town who walks home with Tang Shen most days and has been absolutely smitten with her since like fourth grade lol

(theyre besties for like a decade before they officially start to date. They get together finally after Tang Shens been trying to figure out a good date idea (one that isnt just something they already do) to ask him on for like a month, and Yoshi just leans over and kisses her goodbye super casual one day cos he thought they already had been dating for like. six months. cue her delight and his abject horror (he never wouldve kissed her if he didnt think that was already established as okay. p sure he even like asked her before randomly like, hey is it alright if i kiss u goodbye? and she was like ????? ok??? is this cos of ur european studies class. theyre both very silly) shes gonna tease him so bad about all of this. and tell Sho. Yoshi will never know peace again /affectionate)

Mashimi doesnt make any real appearance in their story i dont think. Like he might be a friend of Yoshi’s in elementary school. probably had a tiny start of a crush on Tang Shen when they were small and tried to take the ‘pull pigtails on the playground’ route of getting her attention. what he got was a kick to the chest and a broken nose. never came near her again after that. (eventually started avoiding Yoshi too since he was with Tang Shen all the time)

All that being said though, im afraid Tang Shen is not fully free of curse of the unwanted suitor. The Hamato name still carries a fair amount of pull, after all, and there are some very dangerous people looking to make some claim to its influence.....

Rat Sons AU: Character Introductions

Hamato Sho aka The Ancient One

more rambling & sketches:

(Had a bit of fun merging 03's Ancient One with bits of Rise's Splinter and Grandpa Sho, then started working on his origin story and was like fuck it! Guardians from 03! But for the Council of Heads from rise! but who are actually kinda more like the Ninja Tribunal from 03!! if they oversaw the world like the Guardians/Utroms! but were also kinda corrupt and uncaring of the lives of mortals and

the good news is now theres world building lore happening i guess, not just character lore??? is that good news??)

anywho, this is Grandpappy Sho!!

He's a little bit of a gremlin. Kinda rude, kinda sarcastic, kinda feral, and kinda very much had it with catering to the rules of 'polite society.' Basically, dudes survived some shit and has now decided that he will make that everyone elses problem too (/affectionate)

He lowkey resents his lineage and how he was raised, in the sense that he often wonders what life he could have lived if his youth was not fully devoted to "becoming someone worthy of the Hamato name." But he's actively trying to let go of all that and focus on being whoever he wishes in the present. Hence, gremlin.

A gremlin that is also, however, a freakin fantastic father figure (he swore to himself that his girl will literally never have to think about 'earning' any name, Hamato or otherwise; if she wants it, it is already hers, and wether she choses to keep it is entirely her own choice)

lol a lot of that was in present tense wasnt it? but yall know that aint quite true.....

tho, it might not quite be wrong exactly either...

[rat sons au masterpost]

(easier to read/separated contents below the cut! (super long))

—————————

HAMATO SHO aka THE ANCIENT ONE

Page 1:

Pronouns: He/Him

Age:???

Color Motif: ~desaturated sea foam green~

Last heir of the Hamato Clan lineage (by blood, at least)

As a young man, he spent decades training tirelessly to become a master of ninjutsu, molding himself into a perfect soldier, fully dedicated to maintaining his family's status as one of the most powerful names in Japan

Was selected to become a Guardian — an elite warrior chosen by the immortal Council of Heads to serve as an agent of their will. He served them for several years, increasingly resentful of their corruption and disregard for mortal lives

Abandoned his post after the death of a fellow Guardian (Tang Shen's biological father)

Disillusioned with both the Council of Heads and the world at large, Sho shifted his priorities from serving a 'Greater Good,' to serving his own needs and desires (and those of the people he cares about). He became very openly sarcastic, cynical and crass (he also found the way this horrified the neighbors to be freaking hilarious)

Did not think he would be well suited for caring for a child and really only expected to serve as a temporary shelter for Tang Shen until a proper family could be found for her, like maybe a few months or so at most?

Jokes on u, old man. Guiding a young Tang Shen through the routines of their daily life, watching her interact with the animals of the farm, teaching her how to do tasks so mundane he'd long since stopped thinking about them, Sho found he enjoyed the role of a parent more than anything else he'd ever done

Given his own experiences with abusive powers, Sho raised Tang Shen to be a very independent thinker, encouraging her to pursue her own sense of right and wrong, and to always be wary of those in power.

Though he trained her in both ninjutsu and the mystic arts (the good kind), Sho's greatest hope was to raise Tang Shen to make her own choices, and enjoy a life free of ancestral burdens or any ghosts from his past

Page 2:

As a Guardian, Sho underwent what he would later call an 'involuntary spiritual awakening.'

This granted Sho use of the Council’s powerful mystic techniques through the manipulation of his own spirit and will. These teachings were a highly coveted secret, granted only to those in the final stage of becoming a Guardian, and they were often deadly to learn

The Council taught that a human could only access the mystic arts if granted the ability through Their own will, that the technique was one of faith, a sort of forfeiting one's own spirit in exchange for power

Sho, along with Tang Shen's bio dad (oomph he needs a name), discovered a way to refine the techniques of the Council, to create their own source of mystic power without the Council’s influence, pulling from their own faith, emotions, and spiritual connections

Naively, the two told the Council of their findings. They believed that this new method of accessing the mystic arts would be a great benefit to both current and future Guardians, as it was far less damaging to the human body and mind

The Council disagreed.

Weapons that do not depend on you for ammunition are weapons that can turn against you, after all.

Rat Sons AU: Character Introductions

Hamato Tang Shen

(aka the love of my life)

more ramblings & doodles:

(so do yall remember how in the 03 series Tang Shen was kinda just like a passing thought with no like actual characterization besides 'is pretty' and 'dies'?? and that both the boys she grew up with fell in love with her despite being raised as siblings?

yeah we're ditching that)

meet Hamato Tang Shen, official adopted daughter of Hamato Sho (and notably his only child.) Shes an absolute mountain of a woman, buff as all get out, stubborn and quick with a comeback, and a fully trained master of ninjutsu and the mystic arts.

Despite the death of her biological father when she was five, Tang Shen's childhood was largely a happy one. Hamato Sho, being a friend of her fathers, brought her to his ancestral home in the mountains after the tragedy. Sho did his best to nurture and encourage her, in all the ways he felt his own childhood lacked— with kindness and humor, free of any burdens of destiny or namesakes.

Of course, being raised by a the snarkiest old man alive who also had a major problem with authority, Tang Shen was perhaps a bit too bullheaded a child for most of her peers growing up. She didnt mind much — the Hamato farm was home to so many loud and opinionated critters, she rarely felt lonely at all. She loved spending time with the animals, and spoke to them constantly. Especially Yoshi, the family's pet Spurred African Tortoise, who they nicknamed "Splinter" after Tang Shen made a friend at school with the same name and the confusion of it all got old. She also took to calling the tortoise Jiji, as he was even more an ancient old man than her father.

By the time Tang Shen was approaching twenty, she had settled quite happily into the life she had on the farm, content with the company of her father, their animals, and, on more days than not, Yoshi, her cute best friend (/boyfriend??).

Unfortunately, no matter how hard they tried, the Hamato family never could escape destiny for very long.

lol this is way too much for a character that is mostly ever gonna be seen in sporadic flashbacks but yall i love her sm u dont understand

did u notice its all past tense :(

[rat sons masterpost] [more Hamato family lore]

(easier to read/separated contents below the cut! (super long))

HAMATO TANG SHEN

Page 1:

Pronouns: she/her

color motif: forrest green

Born in China, moved to Japan ~age 5, moved to New York State ~age 28

Daughter of a badass mystic warrior (a Guardian?) who was a close friend of Sho

Taken in by Sho after her bio father was killed in some major important mystic conflict (Sho later formally adopted her)

She grew up on the Hamato's familial land on the outskirts of a small mountain village (Gifu Prefecture??) which Sho was partially using as a small dysfunctional farm, and partially letting become overrun by nature

This overrun area became a sort of training grounds for a young Tang Shen, where Sho taught her first basic self defense, then later all forms of ninjutsu and even the mystic arts.

When she was young, she enjoyed helping Sho raise their assortment of animals: chickens (her favorites), two pigs (Sho's favorites), an old steer, a horrible peacock (Sho's sworn enemy), and, of course, the Hamato's ancient pet African Spurred Tortoise, Yoshi

As a child, she befriended a boy, also named Yoshi, whom she immediately teased for having the same name as her family pet. They became inseparable.

She was rather ostracized by other children her age growing up, both because she was a foreigner, and because she was considered too outspoken/opinionated and known to stir up trouble when she felt something wasn't fair

Other young girls, in particular, would also bully her for her appearance, since she was taller, more muscular and broad-shouldered than most of her peers. (Sho never wanted to throw hands with eleven year olds before, but here we are)

Later on, she and Yoshi (the human, that is) fell in love

Page 2:

When she was small, Tang Shen loved learning to care for all the different types of animals living on the farm— even ones that weren't necessarily meant to be there, like the occasional rat, trying to establish a nest in a quiet corner of the barn.

Sho would help her catch any such critters she found, and they'd journey together into the woods or up the mountain to find a good place to release them, since they couldn't be allowed to stay on the farm.

(It was during one of these journeys that a newly-fathered Sho finally began to find his footing and connect to the young girl he took in. He had brought along some extra feed and an unneeded towel to give the rat a decent chance at settling in wherever they brought it to (and hopefully prevent it from finding its way back to the farm). But Tang Shen, five years old and only abstractly aware of why her life had recently changed so much, insisted there was a lot more the rat would need. She spoke of how lost and frightened it must be, having been just scooped up and taken to some place new so suddenly. Sho listened.)

Tang Shen developed a love of rats in part because of these little adventures she shared with her adoptive father.

As an adult, Tang Shen (having discussed it previously lol) was gifted a pet fancy rat by Yoshi.

She named the rat Miko and carried her everywhere.

allow me to plant this thought that i've been thinking about all morning (and excuse me if this has been brought up): the rat king in your rat boys au. that's all.

..............oh

AHHHHHHHHHHHH WHAT EXCUSE ME TUMBLR WHY AM I ONLY JUST NOW SEEING THIS

MIKEY OUT HERE WITH THE PEAK BABY BROTHER BEHAVIOR!!!!!!! RAPHIE CROCHETING!!!!! LEO NOT EVEN LOOKING UP FROM HIS MEDITATION AHHHHH ITS PERFECTION

THESE ARE AMAZING 💕🩷💕🩷🩷💕 THANK YOU FOR DRAWING MY SILLY RAT BOYS

so yall. i randomly remembered a minor background moment from the 03 series. and it has spawned Thoughts....thoughts with Strong brainrot potential......

Hello :D

You're so cool

Anyway have you thought that in your rat sons au Splinter might outlive the boys?

You're very cool :D love your stuff dude

(tw for some blood, light gore, implied overdose (kinda??))

hi copper!!! this is a fantastic question!

so obviously typical irl rats have far shorter lifespans than the average irl tortoise. according to google (yes, be awed by my spectacularly in-depth wealth of research) the average pet rat lives between 2-4 years ish, and the oldest on record lived to be about 7. meanwhile, an African spurred tortoise (Splinter's species) averages more around a 50ish year lifespan in captivity, tho is suspected to possibly exceed 75 or more in the wild.

Now, the mutation does give us a lot of wiggle room for playing with these numbers. For the rat sons boys, id say their natural lifespan probably clocks in at about 45-55 years old? definitely not old by human standards, but not young young either. (though, its also important to note that the boys were exposed to the mutagen just days after being born.)

For Splinter, meanwhile, aging is slightly more complicated. He lived the vast majority of his life as a regular normal African spurred tortoise (well, non-mutated at least. there were perhaps some shenanigans of a more mystical variety going on before he was mutated, but thats a separate matter) He was about 70ish i think? when the boys were born and they were all exposed to the mutagen. so he is already distinctly an old man turtle papa. id guess he'd probably still have another eh lets say 25-30 years after his mutation. he could probably push it a little farther even with some mystic nonsense, but when push comes to shove id say his 'natural' post-mutation lifespan would put his death like a solid decade or two before his sons.

of course, the tricky part of the matter is that theres no way for Splinter to know any of this. theres no way for him to know how the mutation affected them all, or if it even affected them all in the same way. especially since the boys dont show many physical signs of mutation for the first few years, and just kinda look like normal rats, (albeit with a more human sort of intelligence) — what sort of health standard do you hold them to? what if they simply dont show external signs of sickness or old age anymore? how do you actually know if something is wrong?

for a while there Splinter is very worried that one of his babies will just essentially reach the end of their normal rat lifespan, fall and not get up again.

so mostly, he just tries to live in the moment, enjoying whatever time he does have with his little ones, taking each day as a gift <3

still,

that fear

never

really

goes

away.....