thedawningofthehour

[thedawningofthehour]

JUSt needed to tell you that thinking about "Profile in Quicksilver" got me through the day 💕💕💕

I also love how you incorporate worldbuilding details seamlessly into the narrative without being overwhelming! I love reading Gale & Draxum talking! Do u have any religion/traditions/custom headcanons that didn't show up in the fic (yet)?

thank you so much for writing!!!

Thank you! I do try to avoid lore dumps, even if they can be interesting at times. Ideally, people won't realize they're being lore dumped on. It's like, in a dance when you transition to a different blocking, ideally the audience shouldn't even notice you're transitioning, it should just feel like part of the choreography.

And OH FUCKING BOY DO I. Thinking about the background of the Hidden City and the Yokai as a whole has been so much fun. Making it fit with the lore we see in the show and the actual history of New York City has been so much fun-like, it's not that there happens to be a giant monster city under NYC, NYC became NYC because there was a giant monster city already there. And that's why NYC is Like That. Why are all the dark armor pieces in New York? Because that's where most magic is now, magical beings were driven out from everywhere else.

As far as religion, I've been keeping them pretty secular? Mostly because that's just an aspect I don't feel really jives with TMNT. I have a scene later on where Leo and Mikey attend church with April and her parents, but it's more out of curiosity than any real desire to take up religion. They see it as more of a cool cultural thing that an actual system of beliefs. One of the main things I can remember right now is Leo bitching about the smell of incense.

In the background, I think of the Yokai as following a lot of pagan religions. These people haven't been directly colonized or conquered (or more accurately, were ethnically cleansed instead of being colonized or conquered) so Christianity and Islam are much less common. Probably the same with some other religions that spread due to conquest, but I'm not...entirely sure what those religions would be. (Hellenism? Zoroastrianism? Taoism? Do those fit? I'm singling out Abrahamic religions because those are the most common currently) Also Christianity and Islam are pretty young religions. I haven't made a definite timeline, but I'm leaning towards most Yokai communities being established more than 2000 years ago. Leo mentioned in the Christmas chapter that there were a lot of bright reds and lights down in the Hidden City-pretty much everyone has a winter solstice holiday, so officially they're celebrating the solstice instead of any one religious holiday, and everyone's kind of free to celebrate however they want. Not a lot goes down in December, actually. Schools have most of the month off, a lot of workplaces cut their hours or just straight shut up for a few weeks, most people are partying and spending time with family. It's basically like their summer vacation.

Oh! One thing I will probably work in at some point, but the last of the Yokai migrations happened during WW1. The few remaining exclaves in the human world (like the one in Chongqing, where Tigerclaw was living) basically went "fuck it" and packed up shop, even in places where there was no fighting. It was the nail that drove home that they couldn't exist alongside humans, that even if they weren't warring with the humans themselves they would still get roped into human conflicts, and eventually they would be killed off.

And the thing is, up until recently, the Hidden City was still rather closed off from the human world, despite living underneath NYC. You have to get government approval to go topside, so most people were living their entire lives underground without ever stepping foot in NYC proper. It was really with the invention of television and then the internet that bridged the gap from the Yokai's side, and both those things took a lot longer for the Yokai to adopt. So a lot of human stuff that happened from the 1910s to around 1970s-1980s era didn't get a lot of attention down there.

Like. They know WWII happened. Objectively. By that I mean they knew shit was going down, so the Heads pulled down just about everyone who worked up top and they all just bunkered down for several years until they realized the war was over. It was an annoyance for most of them, a period of time where they couldn't get certain products or had their business disrupted because somewhere in their chain was a guy who worked at a human company and he can't do that now. They were able to read about what happened afterwards and knew vaguely of all the genocides, but most of them didn't look into it very hard. Just more humans bent on killing each other, what else was new? Most of them will still refer to WW1 as 'The Great War.'

And I thought of this scene before October, and I feel like I probably shouldn't use it now due to how politically charged it is, but originally I wanted to include a scene where someone mentions Israel and Josh is really confused because the last time he was living aboveground that area was controlled by the Ottomans and was officially part of Syria. Maybe independent Jerusalem, but why would it be Israel? Bella has to pull him aside and explain. He knew about the Holocaust, but he had no knowledge of Mandatory Palestine or the Nakba. The entire time she's talking and his eyes are just bugging out.

On the plus side, India is no longer under British rule, so he was probably pretty happy to find that out?

I had like several other things I rambled about and deleted because they were going entirely off the rails, I might post those at another time. I've thought about this world way too much and I've written far too little down. (also sorry it took so long to respond! I knew I'd go crazy and wanted to get the chapter done first, and the chapter took longer than I expected lol)

#doth asks #i both love and hate info-dumping worldbuilding stuff like i feel like i'm just total stream of consciousness sometimes

[thedawningofthehour]

Oh no, pay no attention, I'm just here spreading some of little bittie baby Donnie propaganda.

After his mutation, Splinter was a bit paranoid of Draxum with the turtles, so he insisted that the whole business of caring for them - feeding them, bathing them, etc. - was mostly his job, which obviously led to Splinter getting the most bites from his cute little purple boy.

Extra

Once again @thedawningofthehour it's a gret scourge of ideas

[thedawningofthehour]

#but also i'm pretty sure draxum is wearing a muzzle. why is draxum wearing a muzzle#like did he try to bite someone#did draxum bite a cop#is muzzling a high profile prisoner a normal procedure for the hidden city

I think it was supposed to be a Hannibal reference, but also yeah he absolutely bit a cop.

the dawning of the hour appreciation post

(this has nothing to do with doth, but its in my brain anyways lmao)

I just saw this screenshot of hidden city holding cell and I think it's funny how none of them even think about tilting Draxum in the right direction lmao

Also look at Draxum's little hoove feeties

#draxum is absolutely on the 'fuck cops' side #like so i went to see hairspray a few weeks ago and there's one scene when tracy and her mother are jailed for protesting #her mom is like #“if my mother could see us now. she would be so PROUD! she was a suffragette!” #that reminded me of draxum

[thedawningofthehour]

Regarding my previous question. Wait, really?

What's wrong with <eat his ass?>.

As for the new chapter, it was totally worth it. By the way, you got inspired by replica for the portal capsules?

Leo's elle wood moment was awesome! This just confirms that even when they defeat Draxum, there will still be a lot of people interested in the brothers, can't wait for book 4!

DD. The phrase you most definitely intended to use was 'come back to bite him in the ass.'

'Eat his ass' is a euphemism for oral sex performed on the asshole.

I actually did not, the portal capsules have been part of the plan since the beginning. I didn't even realize Replica used the same thing until now lol.

#doth asks

[thedawningofthehour]

New chapter is phenomenal as always, but i have to know, was galois' dizzy/sick spell because he was hanging with his bro? Like chilling with Raph in a way that he did as Donnie, the memories/familiar vibes are bubbling to the surface?? My only doubt about this 'theory' is that i dont think this happened when he was hanging out with Mikey in the library, but I feel like that was a very different setting then what Mike and Don would usually be in. Am I grasping at straws or is this foreshadowing

I mean, you could totally view it that way, but it wasn't my intention. Gale is still healing and he's pretty exhausted most of the time. I tried to put in clues with mentioning him leaning on his staff more and more as time goes on, but I ended up cutting some heavier dialogue that didn't really fit and I think those went with it.

Both Leo and Gale were fucked up at the end of Book 2. Like, Leo almost died. The fam has sugarcoated it for him but they were told on at least one occasion that he was probably going to die, and Gale was even worse. Draxum had to intervene several times to keep his heart from failing, boy had a broken spine and got the same claw-through-the-bone as Leo got through his femur. If the roles were reversed and Gale was being cared for by anyone but Draxum, he would have died. The fact that he can walk after this at all is a testament to their healing ability and Draxum's expertise. (and the fact that he straight-up would never call it quits on Gale) It's been a month, he's doing insanely good. But he's still in pain, and he's wiped out. And it's not like you can trust him to take care of himself.

#doth asks #donatello

[thedawningofthehour]

'my mom talking to the bird as he answers with little peeps'

Mom: "I'm sorry I don't know what you're saying, I still don't speak bird."

Me: 'walks up to him face-to-beak' "Other birds learn how to say human words. Why don't you try that?"

Angel: "Meep!" 'takes off flying, batting the side of my head with his wing'

Mom: "I think he just said 'fuck you' and flew away."

[thedawningofthehour]

Yoshi/Lou/Splinter "I was today years old when I became a single father" Jitsu/Hamato learning to parent is just such a wonderful idea and I want to see more of it. I've been wanting to draw Splinter related stuff for a while, but just hadn't been able to think of anything. I finally thought about this grown man in the hilarious position of trying to deal with 4 little infants that fit literally in the palm of his hand. It's even better when you think about the fact that he is also a single child who would have to try and figure out how siblings work while also having to place at least 2 out of his 4 sons in air jail for biting him on a daily basis.

We don't have a very clear indicator of when he transitioned fully into the Splinter we see throughout the series, just that it happened when the turtles were still pretty young so I kind of compromised and combined his freshly transformed design with aspects from his general appearance in the series.

#splinter has what every parent dreams of: an extra arm #lmao at donnie in the first panel #“you're all getting baths! it'll be your turn after i finish with your brother!” #“I WANT TO BE FREE FATHER” #i'd also be terrified sleeping with them but then again they do have shells

[thedawningofthehour]

the hat man

#leo: raph mikey help me! #raph and mikey: so anyway-

[thedawningofthehour]

I thought about tagging you but I wasn't going to embarrass DD.

I thought about that phrase again.... You know, the one in which Draxum admits that he doesn't regret anything that led him to Gilie,

And how is that going to come back to eat his ass later on, why when Donnie gets his memories back and confronts Draxum, how is Draxum going to confront him, how is he going to look at this kid, who essentially is still his son and tell him that despite everything, he still loves him? Knowing that all this time he refused to acknowledge that they are the same person? Knowing that this child now remembers all the things he said? Knowing that any justification he can give is not going to work.... And that he has essentially nowhere to run?

I CAN'T WAIT FOR THAT!

Fai, seriously, I'm dying!

Hey DD, you're entirely right and valid, but just to let you know...it's 'come back to bite him in the ass.'

'Eat his ass' has an entirely different meaning.

#insert joke about the stereotype of germans being prudes not being true #i'm part german i'm allowed to make jokes about that i think

[thedawningofthehour]

Oh my god finally April is here hi April we love you April

This is part 52 of The Little Prince Separated AU

Beginning | Previous | Next

#april starts working there completely oblivious to the fact she's the only human #a guy just casually uses his six arms and she's like cool he's multitasking #bean appreciation blog

[thedawningofthehour]

I thought about that phrase again.... You know, the one in which Draxum admits that he doesn't regret anything that led him to Gilie,

And how is that going to come back to eat his ass later on, why when Donnie gets his memories back and confronts Draxum, how is Draxum going to confront him, how is he going to look at this kid, who essentially is still his son and tell him that despite everything, he still loves him? Knowing that all this time he refused to acknowledge that they are the same person? Knowing that this child now remembers all the things he said? Knowing that any justification he can give is not going to work.... And that he has essentially nowhere to run?

I CAN'T WAIT FOR THAT!

Fai, seriously, I'm dying!

Hey DD, you're entirely right and valid, but just to let you know...it's 'come back to bite him in the ass.'

'Eat his ass' has an entirely different meaning.

#doth asks

[thedawningofthehour]

I don't know if it's a common problem in this part of the internet, but don't know how to deal with dark circles under the eyes?

I know what they usually say - more sleep and less screen time - but I'm trying to get enough sleep at night 7/8 hours or so, and with my new job the latter isn't like it's an option either (not that it wasn't an option before either).

Any suggestions?

idk dude concealer? I am the last person to ask about a healthy sleep schedule. If my eyes look like shit I just keep my glasses on.

[thedawningofthehour]

Afterparty

~Lil extra bonus comic doodle thing~

(:

I hope you don't mind that I borrowed your boys @/kathaynesart and @/cupcakeslushie and redrew ✨this moment✨ gah I was excited and inspired

#i thought cass was pointing a gun at him in the last panel and it didn't even raise any questions

[thedawningofthehour]

I'm GOING TO BED NOW SOUP GEEZE.

#very unhappy with how much if this is basically first draft shit but FUCK i need to get it out and stop thinking about it

[thedawningofthehour]

LMAO this is perfect.

Draxum: "They're smart boys! They know not to play with weapons!"

'pew-pew noises coming from the living room as Donnie tries to shoot Leo with a laser pistol'

given that Draxum had an entire gigantic room full of weapons in canon, i lowkey feel like he would at least own a sword cane

#he's okay donnie has terrible aim #i love how you didn't bother to draw the gun just shoved a stock image in there #i've never tried to draw a gun but apparently they're difficult

[thedawningofthehour]

I also feel like Draxum is the type of person to just leave weapons everywhere.

Like you open his fridge and there's just a .32 in the butter penthouse.

given that Draxum had an entire gigantic room full of weapons in canon, i lowkey feel like he would at least own a sword cane

#he doesn't do this in doth because there are children around #and yes they are teenagers who are old enough to know guns aren't toys #but they're also teenagers and very stupid and draxum knows that no matter how mature cass and gale are #they should not under any circumstances have unlimited access to guns #aus where draxum and splinter raise the turtles together have splinter going through the house with a garbage bag

[thedawningofthehour]

#new headline: florida man fights bizarre new kaiju in the swamps

I misread this at first and thought you were calling Raph Florida Man and thought "oh my god he would be the most powerful Florida Man in existence."

Hey rise Raph fans I know most of y’all know that alligator snapping turtles technically never stop growing but did you know that past a certain age they never go on land (with the exception of egg laying) because their bodies are just too heavy to move out of the water? Because I have been thinking about that :)

#draxum would have to admit he made a mistake #his creation was too powerful