The Turtle Charm

Eyewear

It was a few days after the Meatsweats Krangification. Mikey and I had told the others about what happened and I forked over the tendril to Donnie for examination. Since then, the guys had spent more time out, trying to keep an eye out for more Krangified villains. Meanwhile, I had been sitting around the lair trying to figure exactly how my curse worked. 

I was meditating on it, or at least trying my hardest when I felt a light thump on my head. When I opened my eyes, the turtle's other father, Baron Draxum, was placing a book on my head. "You've been looking board every time I come around," he said, "You should read."

I took the book and read the title, "A Brief Overview of Mystic Accessories from Blessed to Cursed," out loud. My body felt a bit lighter.

"I figured this should help you with...this whole situation," he said indicating all of me, "And you seemed like someone who can't sit idly by waiting for others to solve her problems like a pathetic damsel in distress."

"Um...thank you...I think," I said as the sheepman made his way out of the room. He always had a nasty bit of an edge in the way he talked to people.

I spent the next few hours squinting at the same page. Numerous groans sounded throughout the living room, indicating the return of the turtles and future Casey. Some of the guys collapsed on the floor, others on the various pieces of furniture in the room.

"Long night?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah," said Donnie, "Baxter Stockboy's upgraded his mousers again..."

"Stockboy?" Recalling the genius villain, turned flyman, I was pretty sure his last name was Stockman.

"Oh yeah, his name's Stockboy and he's literally a stockboy for his parent's store," laughed Leo who sat close to me. A little too close for comfort. "He likes running scams for money and trying to expose us to the humans...So...how was your day?" The blue-clad turtle was leaning a little to close into my bubble.

"Uh...boring...I guess," I quickly got up and started heading for the kitchen, "You guys seem exhausted...I'll make some soothing tea for you!"

When I got into the kitchen, I let a sigh go. I knew that kind of up-in-your-face behavior anywhere. I brought a hand to my cheeks, cursing the fact this kind of thing happened where ever I went with his type.

I felt a little heat in my cheek. Immediately, I turned to look at my reflection. "No! God no!" I said to myself, "You swore off guys like that after Chad!"

"Who's Chad?" I turned around to see Donnie.

"N-nobody," I said, turning to the sink and filling the teapot.

"Fine, don't tell me. I didn't really care anyway. I'm just here to escape Leo, too."

"Escape? Who said anything about escaping?" I placed the pot on the stove and sat in a nearby chair, opening the book I carried in with me and returning to squinting at the pages.

"Look. I get it. My brothers have all been invading my personal space for years, especially Leo," his tone shifted to annoyance as he sat across from me, "It's gotten even more excruciating since you got here..."

"Me? What did I do?"

"Come on," he said, "I hoped you'd be smarter and it's so obvious..."

"What?"

"Intentionally or not," the turtle shrugged, "You've seemed to have seduced him. You're literally all he'll talk about when you're not in the room."

I slowly closed the book, set it down carefully, and proceeded to facepalm my forehead hard. "Not again!" I said out loud.

"Again?"

"I have a tendency to...attract his type. You know, overconfident, reckless, and Mr./Ms. Too Cool..."

"So you are aware?"

"Yeah, I know the effect I have on people. Actually, I was pretty popular at my school..."

"Let me guess, you were the cheerleader with a different guy every other week, who didn't like reading all too much?"

"What? No! Granted, I did date a few different guys and girls and was invited to every other party, but I spent most of my time working on the farm and preferred reading in my downtime."

"Then why have you been staring daggers at that poor book whenever you open it?"

"Huh? Oh, you mean the squinting. I would normally wear a pair of reading glasses, but unfortunately, they weren't on me when I was isekaied here, so..."

"You need glasses?"

"Well, I can read breif blocks bit by bit without them, but longer text like this one are excruciating to get through..."

"After tea time meet me in my lab," said the purple-clad turtle.

"Why?"

"I'll make you a pair of glasses. Or even better, I'll make you some contacts like mine."

"You wear contacts? And you made them yourself?"

"Yeah. I've been making all my own personal belongings for a while now, like my battle shell protecting my soft shell..."

"Softshell? Wait, are you a soft-shelled turtle?"

"Indeed, as much as Raphs a snapping turtle, Mikey a box turtle, and Leo a red-eared slider."

"You're all different species? Huh, honestly, I thought there was something weird with you're mutations...Like I thought you were mutated with tech, making you a cyborg or something..."

"While that would have been cool, nope, that's not the case. Though I might consider replacing some of my biological parts with mechanical ones someday..."

"And you guys aren't blood relatives?"

"Technically no, but we were infused with Splinter's human DNA when Barry mutated us, so I guess you can consider us all half brothers..."

"Fascinating!" I said, finally understanding some creative choices, "So, I'm curious to know..." At that moment, the teapot began to hiss. 

"I'm going to head to my lab to prepare for the eye exam. I'll see you there in a while."

"Hey, Don," I said, "Thanks. I appreciate your help in making me glasses. Honestly, I didn't think you'd be a pretty nice dude..."

"Don't get me wrong," he said, "I'm doing this only because I wouldn't be able to stand that pathetic look every day as you try to get past the first few sentences in that book." Then he left the room. This kind of reminded me of my earlier interaction...