Finally, I present my favorite fic right now by @unorthodoxx-page , A Tale of Spirits!

This is my favorite scene tbh 👀 with my two favorite characters

A Tale of Spirits Status and Other Updates (Long Post)

I've gotten a lot of questions about A Tale of Spirits and its hiatus status over the past few days (months lol). I've been mulling over this post for a while now, avoiding it if I'm honest, but I've gotten to a point where even I can't avoid the writing on the wall.

So, let's start with what's holding me up. Over the last ten-eleven months, I've been dealing with a nerve issue in my wrists and hands (both, if you can believe it). Now it's nothing super serious (we haven't had any surgery talks, thank God), but it bothers me constantly throughout the day, and having an office job doesn't really help. It's crazy to go through some of these older Tumblr posts because my hands were bothering me even then, but I didn't want to admit it.

Long story short, I feel like I'm caught in this...loop of trying to heal. I'll have really good, consecutive days, and when I think I'm on the right track, something happens, and I'm pulled right back into it. It's frustrating, demoralizing, and terrifying all at once. I try not to spiral into worst-case scenarios with this whole thing, but my hands are numbing while I'm typing this. So....yeah, it's slowed my writing practically to a halt. I can bang out a couple hundred words here and there and focus on one-offs since they don't feel so...daunting, but chaptered anything mentally makes my hands twitch. My long sessions are gone at the moment and this leads me to that writing on the wall I mentioned earlier.

I don't know when A Tale of Spirit will return.

Man, that hurts to type. ATOS has been a part of my life for almost two years now. I've grown so much from this story, and my writing has evolved so much from this story. I have so much fun with ATOS. I mean, that's the point of fanfic, but I have fun with ATOS. I go back and reread parts, and I laminate past narrative choices as if those words are written in stone. I snicker while working out dialogue and really (and I mean really) let loose with action choices and experiment.

Hell, I have AUs of this AU on my drive lol. I owe a lot of my growth and confidence to ATOS. I mean, I read every comment and every Tumblr message (and I mean every comment). The support and love this story has received makes me believe that I'm not as terrible of a writer as I thought, that I might actually hack it in the literary world, so it's devastating that I can't put all my energy into this or my personal work.

To be honest, I'm still halfway in denial. I know I'm going to finish this story eventually. I love it too much, but I can finally admit that I'm not sure when that 'eventually' will be. Geez, I should've written this a while ago, but denial is a blinding thing.

I tackle writing when I can, but the nerve thing has thoroughly pulled me into a slump.

I'm going to update ATOS to say indefinite hiatus and put this same message on AO3.

I'm not saying goodbye to ATOS. I was deep in my unposted arcs before all of...this reached a peak even I couldn't ignore. I was really doing something with April, Zuko, and Suki (fun dynamic, by the way). Azula's been fun to play with, and angry, fed-up turtles have been a challenge in a half, so I want you guys to see that one day.

So, there it is. I know this is closure for some of you, and you all deserve to know what's going on with ATOS. I know this update will be a relief for some of you because now, there's no more guessing. The dreaded 'indefinite' has been typed and sealed in digital ink (dramatic, I know).

I'm going to leave it here because I don't know how to end this post. I'll be around, lurking in possible (short) one-shots and slowly chipping away at ATOS. So, until then, rest, rehabilitation, and copious amounts of books and music to listen to.

See you soon.

Hello!

We haven't met, but I've seen a bunch of fanart circulating for your ATOS fic and came to your tumblr to get a link. I'm still excited to read what's posted, hiatus or not. ❤️💙🐢🐢🐢🐢🧡💜

But what moved me to comment here is that I'm another disabled writer. Neurological issues, too--though not the kind you describe. We don't have to get into all that, but I struggled to write because of similar symptoms. Fatigue, in my case.

That's just to frame my suggestion. Please know it comes from a shared place of frustration and grief. I am right there with you. Your hobbies shouldn't be taken from you. It shouldn't be this way. It's unfair. And I just want to help.

Many computers come with an accessibility feature that takes dictation. Speech to text. If your computer doesn't have it, there are apps and extensions that will give it to you.

It is imperfect! It won't spell the names right. It may take time to adjust to your accent. Unusual punctuation can be hard to trigger. You will have to go back and find-replace the repeated errors. And editing for all the little weirdness remains.

But if you are interested in minimizing your key strokes, I find it very helpful.

This is not to pressure you into writing. This is not to dismiss your pain. And i am certainly not a doctor. But I am disabled. And getting a tool that gave me back some of the ease I used to have was a game changer for me.

I hope it brings you comfort. I hope you find even more tools and apps that I didn't know about. I hope your condition improves. I hope you do whatever is best for your peace of mind and your situation.

--Kya

awooga awooga awooga awooga awooga awooga i mean sorry i'm really normal about her SMASH who said that

does anyone know if she has a canon name or anything please she's so hot to me.. i know she has no speaking lines and serves no role in the plot but like. but like. look at her

@mooncalfe-art

Did you have a name for her? Teleportzz is right, she absolutely rocks! Thank you for drawing her into your run on the turtles comics. ❤️🦇❤️

I wonder if other iterations would be confused at all about the '03 boys going by "Splinterson" instead of "Hamato". Some of them would probably be like "Well, yeah, we're Splinter's sons but we didn't make a whole identity out of it" and others like '87 would be like "Wait, you guys have a surname? We don't even go by short form nicknames"

always an interesting thought, the ways Splinter does (or doesn't) pass down identity to the boys

87 Splinter was Hamato Yoshi, and he still sometimes goes by that, but his mutation becomes a big part of his identity. To the point that when he's able to be human again, he doesn't like it. He calls his students The Turtles rather than Hamato or any other surname, just like he conceptualizes himself as The Rat. He's had other students before and seems to try to keep a respectful emotional distance with the turtles, since they remember life before mutation. They very clearly act like a Family, but without necessarily giving themselves or each other traditional (human) familial labels.

03 Splinter wasn't a Hamato, at least not officially. Yoshi never knew about his mutation, and he seems a bit shy to claim the familial bond. He does claim it, visiting The Ancient One to honor Yoshi together and fighting in the Battle Nexus to continue his master's legacy, but he's kind of secretive about it. TAO is the only being to ever confirm to Splinter that he's considered part of the family, and the turtles don't remember the visit. Family is a deep core value for him, but he isn't sure where to place himself within one, except--the turtles are his sons. He calls them that often, whether as a group or individually. 'My son' is the phrase I can most easily hear in his voice; it's very natural they would start calling each other 'Splinter's son(s).'

2012: probably the most Hamato Yoshi of the Splinters. He's still deeply in mourning for his late family. The turtles are just as much Hamato to him as Miwa would have been, they're his. And that also comes with a legacy of violence, which he is aware of and seems unsure how to navigate, but that's a whole other post. The 2012 turtles were the most socially isolated, but they also are in some ways the closest to a 'normal family," with a dad who remembers being human, never emotionally rejected his own humanity, fully considers himself their dad, and passes down a last name, as dads do.

Rise: Yeah Splinter still very much thinks of himself as Lou Jitsu I mean Hamato Yoshi. The title and legacy are borne with some reluctance, but it's who he is, so naturally it's who his sons are. They're Hamato more because he never thought/bothered to change it, though, not because he purposely teaches that identity. Leo thought it might be Tamato. (Although, Leo also thought being wrongly accused of something was 'just like the Salisbury Witch Trials' ..)

Mutant Mayhem: No sign of Hamato Yoshi, no last name. They could have gone by Splinterson, but Splinter doesn't go in with a strong sense of human family structure and naming traditions (he wasn't a pet). He does bring a sense of loyalty, staying together as a pack, and scavenging to survive. They take the names he could afford and split them in half

silly little boys

also tik tok is back WHAT

crashed out for a 12 hour ban.. 🌝

FINALLY the set is COMPLETE

(I plan on selling these as prints online, stick around for more information)

this is the last thing the kraang saw in an alternate universe

Experimenting with different pallets and styles

Dropping this here,,, there we go...

Now I'm off to hide again <<; 🫥

thinking about 07 kitchen scene and realizing Raph is trying to keep them off his trail. Like I knew that already, that's his whole thing, but the one moment where he really seems focused on it is 'Yeah, I do nothing. You're right. You got me all figured out.' Which come on Raph. could you be any more obvious

But

Mikey is watching Nightwatcher on the news. He can't come out and change the subject right away (too suspicious), but he needs to as soon as possible. He needs an opening, and Donnie gives him a perfect one. Nothing to keep his family's minds off Nightwatcher like starting a fight

Easy, effective. Has everyone's attention, enough truth in his words to keep them satisfied that they're seeing him. You guys are a bunch of has-beens, why do we sit around doing nothing all day. Leaves out enough obvious points (doesn't say he's mad about how everything came to a screeching halt when Leo left, doesn't have to) to keep their minds occupied: being upset about Leo is his cover story for Merryweather

Donnie gets right back on topic. 'What do you do that's so special.' This is where Raph felt painfully obvious, but actually. He knows how curious both Don and Mikey can be, knows he's dangling an irresistible mystery right under their noses day after day. So he gives them what they're expecting. The startled pause while he scrambles for a cover, the sudden backing down. He's not expecting Donnie to buy that. He's expecting Donnie to be so tantalized by the obvious cover-up that he over-analyzes and overthinks and assumes any number of things much less straightforward than what's actually happening. 'you already got this all figured out wink wink' is cheese under a mousetrap for Donatellos

It kind of works. The Nightwatcher isn't part of the conversation anymore. But Donnie's playing too. He knows there's more going on with him, and if 'figure this out' is Don bait, 'you just want people to be afraid of you' is absolutely Raph bait. Okay, so there are some things you haven't told us. But I bet you'll tell us if you have to defend your character. Go on Raph, explain what your real priorities are and how your actions aren't hurting the team.

and he does get angry exactly as expected but he doesn't blow up with the truth, he stays in control, and gets out of the situation quickly by going too far in earshot of Splinter.

also there is the aspect where part of him does want them to realize it's him but I don't have spoons to tear it apart quite that much

also I do think they already know but that's also a whole other post or two

A sibling duo I love / wish that we had seen more of in the show- 😔✨

I haven’t had the energy for a proper drawing, so sorry for this hastily colored sketch ＿|￣|○

They're so cute

"HE ASKED FOR NO PICKLES!!!!!"

Art collages of 2012 Leo and Mikey ! ⚔️🍕