Again, Absolutely Perfect! I Love How You Write So Much! ^^

Again, absolutely perfect! I love how you write so much! ^^

(Quick note, nardo is embarrassingly weak when it comes to puppy dog eyes)

More crossover shenanigans, because being able to write silly drabbles like this is great for scratching that writing itch, and @lukas6246 is amazing for letting me play with their blorbos. Peepaw Leon and little brother Leo are theirs, Eshra is mine.

Of course they met while shopping for clothes.

"That color would look great on you."

The rumbling baritone nearly makes Eshra drop the length of fabric he's been examining and look up in surprise, his shoulders tensing and his crest flaring on instinct. Usually he's more aware of his surroundings, but apparently he's been focusing so hard on whether or not he likes the shimmery white wrap that he hasn't even noticed the approach of the, uh… Woah.

Eshra looks up. And up. And up some more. The yokai(?) standing next to him is huge in all senses of the word, easily over seven feet tall and built to match, with lime green skin and a… a shell on his back? Eshra takes a step back, both to put a little distance between them and get better idea of what he's looking at.

A turtle, he realizes. There's a giant, bipedal, talking turtle standing next to him, browsing the clothing racks without a care in the world. The Hidden City really does have everything.

"You think so?" Eshra drops his gaze back to the cloth in his hands, and that's when he spots the pair of eyes narrowed suspiciously at him from around the giant turtle-man's shell. He leans back just a bit to get a clearer view, and his brow ridges lift when he sees those eyes belong to a miniature version of the big guy. His kid?

As though oblivious to the impromptu staring contest going on behind him, Big Turtle replies, "Sure, it'll stand out really well with your feathers." Bold as you please, he plucks the wrap from Eshra's fingers and holds it against the iridescent blue and green feathers adorning his arm. "See? And it goes all rainbow-y when the light hits it. It'll look great."

"Leon." That comes from Little Turtle, who is still watching Eshra like the feathered yokai is crafting some nefarious world-ending plot right there in the clothing store. "You said we'd get boba."

Leon, huh? Eshra files that information away for later.

Big Turtle -- Leon -- glances under his arm at his fun-size companion. "We just got here, champ," he says with some amusement and obvious affection.

"Yeah, but I'm literally dying of thirst. Look! I'm wasting away!" Little Turtle slumps dramatically against his… uncle… big brother… whatever and turns the biggest puppy dog eyes Eshra has ever seen up to the big turtle. It takes everything in the yokai not to snort at the theatrical display.

"Okay, okay, we'll go get boba." Leon seems entirely unaware of the little con artist's manipulation, or maybe he's just used to it. He looks at Eshra then and gives him the biggest, warmest smile Eshra has ever seen, and it promptly turns the little yokai's insides into mush. Oh no. "Seriously, get the wrap."

Then he's letting his seven foot, several hundred pound bulk be dragged out of the store by a kid not even half his size, a kid who is still tossing suspicious glances in Eshra's direction. Suddenly, on impulse, Eshra hurries after them.

"Hey, hold on!"

Leon stops, despite his Mini Me's attempts to continue to tug on his arm. He cocks his head at Eshra, whose crest ruffles in sudden bashfulness.

"Would you, uh. Would you like to get coffee sometime?"

There's that smile again. "Sure. Actually… how do you feel about boba?"

Beside Leon, Little Turtle looks borderline apoplectic, but the expression vanishes the instant Leon looks down at him. Interesting. "That okay with you, little bro?"

The answer is obviously reluctant. Equally obvious, however, is the teenager's apparent inability to say no to his older brother. "Yeah, that's fine, I guess."

"Great!" Leon offers a hand to Eshra, and the yokai only now realizes that the turtle's right arm is entirely prosthetic. "I'm Leon, and this is my, uh… little brother, Leo."

Taking the offered hand and giving it a polite shake, Eshra blinks. The same name? Okay, kinda weird… but now his curiosity is piqued, and he's going to chase it down no matter how hard the little one, Leo, is trying to set Eshra on fire with his eyes.

"Nice to meet you both. I'm Eshra."

CHECK OUT MY FRIEND! HE'S DOPE!

THEY WROTE THIS TO TORMENT ME ABOUT OUR SHARED AU (Semi-Feral Polaroids) AND IT JUST BROKE ME

(This specific text isn't canon to our shared au that he writes snippets about, but as an alternate possibility it sure was nice :,] )

Have nice day

Maybe he sees an older yokai back then. Fifteen, twenty years on him, maybe? Hard to tell these days, with the war making everyone old before their time. Still pretty, though. Still vivacious. But starting to show his age just a little. Maybe he wonders what this little yokai was like… before. Before time and war wore him down and dulled his feathers, muted his smile. Maybe he wonders what it would be like to see the pretty yokai dancing for himself, for the sheer joy of it, and not just trying to distract and entertain the little ones from the hell they live in, wearing a smile that never quite reaches his eyes. Years later, but also years before, maybe he sees a pretty, vivacious yokai dancing for the sheer joy of it near the fountain in the Hidden City. Dancing like nobody's watching. Dancing like he doesn't care if they are. Their eyes meet across the square, and Leonardo knows those eyes, even if they don't yet know him.

We all know I'm never going to actually write this fic, but the concept is living rent-free in my head now.

👀

‼️‼️My lovely friend made wanna draw him hehehe‼️‼️ I have fun drawing these, plus my friends had a blast seeing em 🙄🙄/pos love you pookies

That moment when art block hits when you're 3/4th done with your next post

Never thought about it like this before

"Draw for yourself" is such bullshit.

Do actors act for themselves ?? No, they act for the applause. The validation. The encouragement. The feeling that they're doing a good job. The thrill of performing to people.

So why do artists get shoved in the box of not deserving validation ??

"Draw for yourself" is a terrible excuse. "Draw for yourself" indicates unwillingness to support an artist. "Draw for yourself" because I, saying this to an artist, am too lazy to boost their creations.

"Be okay creating for nothing". No. Entire capitalistic systems are beginning to collapse because people don't like doing shit for no reason. It's not even like anyone's demanding money ; just a pat on the head & a reblog here & there.

"Draw for yourself".

Why ??

Why not, instead ; "show your true colors, & we will appreciate them".

I've been pestering my sibling about drawing rottmnt fanart for months now, and here's their first attempt! FIRST!

This is one of the cooler designs ive seen ngl

Heyo! Have this really self-indulgent piece I made just now :]

There is no lore whatsoever behind this picture, I just did what I thought looked cool lmao

I've been part of this fandom for a little while now, but I haven't made any art related to it until now. (scandalous, I know)

I think it's pretty obvious that I didn't stick 100% to his canon design, but took a few creative liberties regarding things like his markings and shell.

One thing I had a lot of fun with was choosing which colours to use, and how to then shade each colour later on :]

It's really cool to see a character that I relate to so much in my own art style, I'll definetly be creating more fan-art in the future! ^-^

(and I don't doubt these green dudes will re-appear in my art, it was fun to draw something that isn't quite human :])

Turtles aside, I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day! ^-^

Yours truly, Stickbug 🪲