"Come on, Mikey! Show me what you've got!" Raphael challenges.

"You're going down this time," Michelangelo whoops.

Destiny observes from the living room pit as Raphael and Michelangelo face off one of their battle video games. Leonardo and Donatello await their turn to play, looking far more eager than the girl seated between them. Her thoughts are too far away for her to focus on the events.

Her conversation with Donatello takes priority over every other thought. She told herself that she wasn't going to get attached to the turtles and Splinter, even if she was their temporary housemate. Still, ever since Donatello's admittance to he and his brothers' feelings about having Destiny around, she's noticing more and more about her attitude. She's smiling more, laughing more, and generally feeling wanted when she's around them.

She can't decipher if her feelings are friendly or familial; that will come with experience. Her mindset was to be polite and courteous, but aloof and distant, and that's a wall that's crumbling down with every day. Every smile, every laugh, every shouted insult or teasing remark just draws Destiny closer.

She's attached already and she doesn't know whether to be scared or accept it. She's travelling a road that's she's long avoided and she's, surprisingly, enjoying the scenery that she thought would be horrible.

Despite everything, she's still thinking of leaving. Getting healed, leaving the lair, and never speaking to the Hamatos again won't work any longer. Even if she does end up leaving, she's going to keep the connection with them.

A bitterness throbs in her chest for a second, making her lip twitch. If they had minded their own business and left her to her own devices, she'd be out on the rooftops enjoying the fresh air.

Yeah, and the Foot would have you, she reminds herself. That or you'd be in pain, unable to hunt or fight, and you'd die.

Her teeth grit in response to the voice of her overactive imagination.

Leonardo glances over at her, noticing her faraway gaze and tensed disposition. He nudges her gently with his shoulder, making her jolt minimally before blinking and looking to him. She forces a tight-lipped smile that he returns before looking back to the game.

She doesn't take her attention of him even as she turns her head back to the TV, because he's another splinter in her brain; a cloud that refuses to clear. She feels so inexplicably drawn to him, like she's a moth and he is a flickering candle expelling warmth. They barely know each other, yet he reminds her of someone she met long ago, a shadowy figure that races across the planes of her memories every now and then. He is unknowingly acting as the memory of someone she once lost and that makes her want to hold onto him—figuratively.

But even as she throws the turtle another side glance, gratefulness trumps all other mixed feelings. In some weird way, he wants her to be okay, him and his brothers alike. She may not admit it, but she's glad for whatever protectiveness he feels.

The screen plays a sequence of victory music as Michelangelo's fighter goes down, snagging Destiny's attention and sending her crashing back into reality.

"Aw come on!" he groans. "Sub Zero never fails me!"

"He's failed you the past five matches," Leonardo comments, making Destiny clap a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle.

Raphael leaps to his feet and does a victory dance, shaking his butt and the controller near Michelangelo's face. The teasing smile on his face only serves to make the younger turtle pout.

"No one can take me down," Raphael boasts, panning his arm over his siblings (and Destiny) as he aims the controller at each one of them. He smirks after a moment, giving the device in his hand another taunting jiggle. "Anyone want to try?"

"I'll pass," Donatello says, fiddling with Destiny's almost complete t-phone.

"I'm good," Leonardo declines as a coy look adorns his lips. "I'd love to see you bash Mikey again though."

"Leo...bro," Michelangelo whines, thrusting his hands out as his eyes go sparkly with emotion. His voice drops to a dramatic whisper, "Have a little faith in the Mikester..."

"Could I try?" Destiny asks.

Raphael's green eyes snap to her, his evil grin growing. He snatches Michelangelo's controller and chucks it to the wolf girl, a laugh leaving him as he saunters over to the bench. He shoves Donatello aside and takes a seat next to her, earning a glare from the tall terrapin that he promptly ignores.

"Okay wolfie, whatever you say," the red-masked turtle teases, starting the game up again.

They select their characters, although Destiny takes a little longer than usual trying to figure out the buttons. At one point, Raphael leans over and presses the button to confirm her character choice, his amused smirk making her face heat up.

They begin the fight, and it's soon blatantly obvious just how different their levels of skill are. Raphael makes every move as if his fingers themselves are ninjas while Destiny ends up button-mashing and trying to figure out why she's doing kicks instead of punches or vice versa. Raphael lets the disgruntled girl take a few cheap hits on him just to give her an idea of how to attack, but in the end, the victory music plays for Raphael again.

Destiny stares at the screen, her entire face a rather noticeable shade of red. Raphael leans back, dropping his controller onto his lap as he hooks his fingers together behind his head.

"Aw, at least you lasted longer than when we do sparring," he taunts.

"I want a rematch," Destiny grumbles, her face scrunching with annoyance as she glares at the boastful ninja. "I'll bet every coin I have that I'm gonna win."

Michelangelo gasps. "Even the Canadian quarters?" he nearly whispers.

Destiny doesn't waver her stare from Raphael. "Especially the Canadian quarters."

The orange-masked turtle makes another dramatic gasping sound, scrambling closer to Raphael and grasping his shoulders. He leans closer to the red-masked turtle's ear.

"Dude...Canadian quarters have reindeer on them..." he says. His baby blue eyes stare into Raphael's uninterested green ones with a rare sort of intensity. "Reindeer," he repeats.

"Caribou," Donatello corrects.

"Gesundheit!" Michelangelo flashes a smile.

Leonardo gives the exuberant turtle an incredulous look, opening his mouth to say something before sighing and closing it again.

Raphael, on the other hand, grins. "Alright Des, I'll give you a rematch." He jostles her with his shoulder. "No being a sore loser, okay?"

"No promises," she says.

She grabs her controller, hunches her shoulders, and leans closer to the screen, flexing her thumbs over the buttons. The new fight starts, Raphael and Destiny remaining laser focused as they go. Destiny does better this time, but it's not good enough to defeat him.

As the victory goes to Raphael, Destiny sighs and chucks the remote onto the nearest beanbag chair. She crosses her arms over her chest, jaw clenched and lips pressed together. Raphael's hand claps over her shoulder, making her internally prepare for a solid teasing.

"You can keep your money, Des," he says. She pouts a little, making him arch an eye-ridge. "No being a sore loser, wolfie."

"I didn't promise anything," she reminds him. Her tail flicks as her eyes shift to him. "Can we try again?"

He smirks and grabs her controller off the chair she threw it onto, handing it back to her. They launch back into "battle".

Splinter enters the living room, eyeing the ragtag group of mutants and acknowledging the activities going on. His gaze fixates upon Donatello, his bushy eyebrows knitting together just a bit.

"Donatello, I believe that you were supposed to start your sessions with Destiny yesterday," he says, making the teens fall silent. "She rested then. What is your reasoning now?"

Raphael pauses the video game. Leonardo and Michelangelo glance at one another. Destiny looks around, gauging each turtle's reaction.

Donatello gulps, starting to ramble in an indecipherable way for the correct reason as to why he disobeyed his father. The t-phone tumbles from his shaking hands, but Leonardo snags the phone before it crashes to the ground. He breathes a quick sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, Donatello finally gets a hold of his voice. "I'm sorry, Sensei. I thought that she should rest. Her foot isn't going to get better if she makes it work too hard," he defends.

Splinter sighs, stroking his goatee. "Very well. However, tomorrow you must train her for extra time when you feel she is up for it." He casts his russet eyes to Destiny. "Understand?"

"Hai Sensei," both her and Donatello respond.

Splinter turns and heads to the kitchen, mumbling something about a cheese-sicle.

Leonardo hands Destiny the nearly dropped t-phone once Splinter is gone. She thanks him before starting to examine the completed device. It's really nice, designed to look like a shell. She turns it over to see that there's a crescent moon decal on the back, something that makes her smile.

"Donnie, will it work with my wolf ears and all?" she wonders out loud, flicking the pointed ears as she says it.

Donatello nods, puffing his chest up with pride. "I made sure that the receiver is extra powerful. You can put it up to your face like you would any other phone, and you should be able to hear it from up there," he says. "But, if that doesn't work, you can just use some earbuds and hold it up to your mouth like a walkie talkie."

"Oh...alright then," Destiny says, momentarily wondering what the function of earbuds are.

She figures that they're for listening to stuff on your phone, not wanting to ask and sound completely stupid. She returns her attention to the t-phone, unlocking it and looking through the apps. There aren't many save for texting, calling, and a game or two.

In her contacts, there's already four slots labelled with each of the turtles' numbers plus April and Casey, although Destiny has yet to meet them. She customizes the turtles' names, wanting them to be a little more unique.

Leo ☺️
Donnie 🔬
Raph 🔥
Mikey🍕

There's a camera too, something that makes a grin of a devious nature curl across her lips. She lifts the phone up, panning it around before locking on Leonardo, who's still very much occupied with watching the video games. She waits for him to change his expression before snapping a picture of him when he least expects it. He jumps in surprise, his eyes going wide as she quickly lowers the phone and goes to the camera roll.

A giggle leaves her as she takes in the photo. "Donnie, I'm so glad there's a camera on this," she says, a laugh still adorning her tone.

Donatello leans closer to see the picture as she holds it up, while Michelangelo and Raphael hurry closer in order to catch a glimpse. As soon as they start laughing, Destiny loses her composure and joins in. Leonardo crosses his arms, a small smirk on his face.

"Delete it," he demands.

"What if I say no?" Destiny asks, her wild eyes glinting with a gleeful light that the blue-masked turtle hasn't seen before.

He grabs for the phone but she reacts first. Scrambling to her feet, she takes off across the lair floor, waving the phone back and forth as if baiting a hungry animal. Her heart starts to pound with a new kind of excitement.

"I'm gonna get this on a poster!" she calls.

"Not if I have something to say about it!" he retorts, giving chase after her.

She lets out a panicked bark and dashes away. Leonardo follows, the two of them tearing around the lair in a desperate attempt to catch or escape the other. Destiny weaves around obstacles as she goes, momentarily forgetting about the brace on her foot. Leonardo never slows down, his sapphire gaze glinting with mischief.

He catches up and grabs her, pinning her arms down and keeping her secured in a tight embrace. The t-phone clatters to the ground, but he ignores that and keeps his eyes on Destiny. She squirms in his grip, panting for breath as she wheezes out laughter.

"Leo, let me go!" she exclaims.

He grins, narrowing his eyes. "Are you going to delete the photo?"

"Must I?" She frowns and bats her eyelashes. "You look so funny..."

"If you don't, you'll regret it."

She laughs at what she thinks is an empty threat. He accepts that reaction as a challenge, swinging her up and draping her over his shoulder easily. Her eyes widen at the movement and she thrashes, but his grip remains consistent.

"Leonardo, let me go right now," she demands, smacking his face with her tail.

"You asked for it," Leonardo calls as he starts walking, unfazed by the hit.

She keeps struggling, trying to get away but finding it fruitless. Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo get up and wander over to them, curiosity spurring them.

"I don't like where this is going..." Destiny squeaks.

"Maybe you should've thought about that before teasing Leo," Raphael suggests.

"Oh, Des?" Leonardo asks, coming to a stop. "Hold your breath."

"What? I don't—AGGGGHHH!" the wolf mutant screams as she's thrown into a pool of water.

She resurfaces, spluttering and gasping. She almost hits her head on the tire swing hanging above the pool, shooting the inanimate object a death glare. Three of the turtles are laughing their heads off, Michelangelo having fallen onto his shell, rocking back and forth as he giggles.

"Leo, you got her brace wet!" Donatello whines, smacking his blue-masked brother's arm.

"Oops," Leonardo says with a cheeky smile.

"You jerks!" Destiny shouts, sweeping her hand through the water and spraying all four of them.

"Hey!" Raphael snaps. "We didn't do anything!"

"You were laughing!" she retorts. "Think fast!"

Before any of them can react, she lunges and grabs Leonardo's hand, yanking him in. He yelps as he plunges below the water, resurfacing after a moment with an expression that makes Destiny giggle even harder.

"Pool party!" Michelangelo whoops.

He gives Raphael a forceful shove into the water before diving in himself. The red-masked turtle reappears with a growl.

"You'll pay for that, Mikey," he threatens, punching the water and splashing his little brother in the face.

Michelangelo squeals and fights back with the water. Donatello gapes at his brothers, unsure of how to react.

Destiny shakes her head around, her soaking curls spraying water in an arc. Leonardo sends a wave of water gushing towards her, to which she retorts with the same move. Soon, all of them are splashing each other, the floor of the lair, and whatever else is unfortunate enough as to be in the danger zone.

Donatello's lips form a pout as he thinks bitterly of the splint he'll have to fix later, but he can't stick with that annoyance for long when there's so much laughter ringing around him. He shrugs and hops into the water, joining in on the festivities.

Destiny stops splashing as her latest laugh fades. She watches the turtles wrestling and shoving one another around, her entire body warming up with a feeling that she hasn't experienced in an incredibly long period of time.

It's the feeling of breaking through a boundary that she was hesitant to cross and loving every second of it.