It should be simple. Or at least, that's what Donnie keeps trying to remind himself.

Settled in his room on the floor of his closet with fingers stroking over the soft fur of a kitten, the tot continues to encourage the young feline to take a nap curled up on the blanket in the cardboard box. The way those eyes close a little longer with each blink is certainly a good sign. Still, getting the kitten to sleep just long enough for him to approach his brother regarding the concept of adopting a pet seems like the easy part.

While Mikey had been out training, he had heard the wailing out in the alleyway, and a mixture of curiosity and worry had summoned the tot from his quiet seclusion. He wasn't supposed to go out alone, but he had only strayed long enough to retrieve the lone creature and return inside. The kitten seemed simply thankful to be out of the rain, and after toweling them both off, a drink of warm milk had settled the noisy one right down.

As he rubs a finger behind one large ear of the kitten, Donatello puts his mind not on how he came to this point, but on how to proceed forward in a manner that would maximize the chances for the desired outcome. Mikey as a kid himself would have jumped at the opportunity, but his brother has much more to consider these days. While he could always anticipate Mikey at his own age, Donatello often finds himself unable to even guess at how his much older brother will respond to new situations. His brother already worries about keeping them both safe, and there is a real possibility that the kitten could draw attention at the wrong time if anything should happen at the next reality storm to involve them.

He would have to find a solution if he could convince Mikey to give the kitten a chance once he returns home from training.

Personal Information
Name: Kiriani
Age: 26
Personal Journal: dreamscape_rebirth
Email / AIM / MSN / Plurk: Rain_Demi
Current Character(s): Previously played Sqwydd, Jetfire, and Ambertwo; No currently active characters

Character Information
Character Name: Donatello
Fandom: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 series)

*Note: The history section covers all episodes during season 1-5 of the series that include information with specifics regarding the childhood of Donatello prior to the timeline point in the first episode of season 1 as well as additional information presented in dialogue. Once Donatello goes home and returns as a teenager, character history, personality, and abilities will be updated as appropriate.

Character History: Life for Donatello began as it would for many other turtles, but it quickly changed. Hatched in a pet shop, Donatello and his three brothers were bought by a young boy. That young boy carried the four infants in a glass jar, and while standing at the edge of a street corner, a blind man began to cross the street as a large truck labeled TCRI sped towards him. Another bystander rushed passed the boy, knocking the jar from his hands to save the old man as the truck swerved. A metal canister was thrown from the back of the truck in the move, and it followed the turtles as all were swept down into the sewers in water flowing in the gutter. The canister smashed open, covering the four turtles with glowing ooze. Luckily for the four turtles, a rat originating from Japan had witnessed the event and followed them down into the sewers. Splinter took pity on them and gathered them in an old coffee can, and in the process, was exposed to the ooze himself. With the turtles collected, Splinter took them to his burrow for the night and slept.

The next morning, the turtles had doubled in size and Splinter had changed in both size and intellect. All five of them had been mutated by the ooze and made quite different from what they originally had been. Still very young, the four turtles followed Splinter everywhere except above ground and began to demonstrate dexterity that Splinter found impressive. Not long after, the turtles began to speak. As the turtles grew older, Splinter began to teach them ninjutsu. He also selected names for them from a renaissance art book he fished out of a storm drain. For his son with olive skin, he chose Donatello, and his brothers were named Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo.

Barely into their training in the art of ninjutsu, the four turtles were taken by their father on a trip to Japan after Splinter had managed to finally obtain the ashes of his beloved master Yoshi. It took all of Splinter’s skills as a ninja to keep the family from being discovered during the long trip on a cargo ship, but he managed it and led the children to the home of Yoshi’s adoptive father and master, the Ancient One. Arriving safely, Donatello began to play with his brothers in a game of tag while Splinter spoke with the Ancient One. While running about the grass, Raphael stopped the game when he spotted someone hiding just outside the gate behind a bush. Raphael asked if he needed help, and in response, a skeletal figure cloaked in red with an amulet hanging from its neck came out of hiding and scared them. All four children ran to their father to alert him, but when Splinter checked, he found no presence. From there, the four brothers were taken inside, and day passed to night. Once more, the skeletal figure showed himself to the children to frighten them with the intent of silencing them about his presence, only to send all of them screaming downstairs to their father. Splinter dismissed their fear as being unused to sleeping alone and stayed with them to help them sleep.

Sleeping through the rest of the night without further interruption, the time came to leave and return home. When parting in the morning from the Ancient One’s dwelling, the children once more saw the skeletal figure; this time it was stalking the Ancient One as he headed for the monastery of the Ninja Tribunal. Although Splinter could not see it, he could smell that something was not right. Not wanting to see any harm befall the Ancient One, Splinter and the four turtles trailed him all the way to the monastery. When the Ancient One emerged from speaking with the tribunal, the children alerted him to the skeletal presence and finally understanding, the Ancient One led them into the building that housed the Pool of Sorrow. There, the bone demon disguised by the amulet from only the world-weary and wise attacked Splinter and the Ancient One, promising the four turtles that their end would be even worse once he finished with their masters. Leonardo grabbed a rock and threw it at the bone demon, and the other three followed suit. It was Donatello that picked up a rather large stone and hurled it right into the amulet, shattering it so that the spell hiding the bone demon from being detected was broken. Splinter and the Ancient One made short work of it after that. Rather than allowing the children to retain the memories of their trip and the encounters with the bone demon, the Ninja Tribunal purged their minds of the memories for their protection. Before departing through a portal back to Splinter’s burrow, the Ancient One gifted each of the turtles with a ninja mask. It was then Donatello received his purple bandana.

Donnie spent all of his time near his family, whether with his brothers or with their adoptive father Splinter. As he grew older, Donatello began to tinker with things and delve deep into reading any books he could get his hands on whenever he was not in training with his brothers. He craved knowledge, and by a young age, had learned basic electronics.

At one point, Donnie built a remote control car from pieces taken from discarded electronics and toys. While showing off the creation to his brother Leonardo, Donatello miscalculated the turn radius and distance to the edge, and drove it off the walkway along the side of the waterway in the sewer. Handing Leo the remote controller, Donnie ran after the floating car to retrieve it. The rains the previous night had been heavy, and grabbing a stick that had been washed down, he caught the car and began to tow it in only to have other debris pull the stick and the car alike with a heavy force. Unprepared, Donatello lost his balance into the water and was swept along the channel and down into a basin. Dunked down by the drop, his leg was caught at the ankle between stone and a beam of wood, and unable to pull free, Donnie called for his brother as the water continued to collect around him. Quickly, the water covered over his head, and just in time, Leonardo moved the beam to get him free and carried him up and out of the basin to safety. Of course, Donnie wondered about his lost car.

As his curiosity drove him to seek knowledge, it also spurred him into joining his brothers in venturing top-side when their father had explicitly and repeatedly forbid it. At least, they finally did once they had grown large enough to work off a heavy manhole cover together. Coming out onto the surface for the first time, Donatello thought the alley was beautiful despite the piles of garbage and junk littering it along with graffiti tags and strings of drying laundry. After looking around some, Raphael started a game of king-of-the-hill on a dumpster, and booted Donatello off with a kick to the plastron when he climbed up to challenge. While Leonardo was successful in usurping Raphael, Donatello heard a commotion coming their way and warned his brothers to hide. Hiding together beneath that same dumpster, the four watched on as Arnie, a local kid, was cornered by a group of street hockey playing bullies. As the bullies began to beat him up, Leonardo suggested they help, and with Raphael in agreement, it was Donatello who reminded his brothers they could not be seen while doing so. As ninjas in training, they managed to keep at least some attention off of the poor kid.

Once the alley was clear, Leonardo convinced his brothers that they should teach the boy self-defense, and devising a plan to use a disguise of discarded clothes, they agreed to take turns teaching him important parts of self-defense. Donatello once more warned his brothers, reminding them not to let Master Splinter find out. While Leonardo began the teaching, Donatello went with his other two brothers back home. Donatello and Michelangelo were paired up to spar by Master Splinter and practiced while Raphael sat watching TV with a doll wearing a blue bandana to be a decoy for Leo. Apologizing for poor performance when he was put on his shell by Mikey, Master Splinter decided it was time for Leonardo to practice. Attempting to stall, Donnie and Mikey begged for more time to practice, but even beginning a new sparring was not deterring Master Splinter from his decision for Leonardo to begin work. Just in time, Leonardo returned and began practice, allowing Mikey to slip out to take up teaching.

After Mikey had sent Arnie into battle against the bullies without yet learning any proper self-defense training, Donatello switched off with Michelangelo. Instead valuing planning, Donatello attempted to teach the boy chess. Sadly, Arnie never managed to make his first move despite Donnie’s patience. With time up, he switched off teaching to Raphael to return to their home and resume training with Master Splinter. Although their father did not immediately notice that Raphael was not present, he decided to pair the turtles up to use what they had learned, placing Donatello with the missing Raphael. To cover for him, Donatello offered the excuse that Raphael was in the shower. The three dashed to find him, and Leonardo doused him with water before Master Splinter found them just in the next area. The cover appeared to work, though Master Splinter had noticed their strange behavior.

Following training, the four went topside once more to check on Arnie and send him for a third time to fight the bullies. It was then they realized none of them had taught him any actual fighting skills with Leonardo focusing on inner strength, Mikey on a battle cry, Donatello on planning, and Raphael on weapons. Intending to start over and do it correctly, the four turtles were caught by their father and escorted back below ground. As punishment, they were put through 78 hours of straight training. Sadly, they never learned the fate of their unlucky pupil.

Still, Splinter did not always deny them access to top-side following that experience. The four turtles were given the freedom to participate in trick or treating on Halloween with Splinter. The candy would last three of them for months to come, Michelangelo tended to eat his haul the next day and get sick as a result.

Character Personality:
Donatello is the most gentle and soft-spoken one amongst his brothers, preferring reasoning to fighting. Level-headed is a description that suits him well as he isn’t easily riled up or angered, and his ability to stay calm allows him to act as a peacemaker between his brothers when there is need. He is naturally caring, always keeping the wellbeing of his brothers and father in mind even when he tends to neglect himself. In the episode ‘The Lesson,’ two examples (one while a teenager and one while a child) show that Donatello will elect to go last to see to it that his brothers are happy. Caretaking is natural to him, and the young turtle assists with both medical needs and everyday needs. He even likes to help out with cooking, especially when it comes to baking cookies.

While keeping things in balance and peaceful is important to Donatello, making things better and finding ways to improve are just as driving for Donatello. Somewhat compulsive, Donatello will become very focused on whatever new topic or building project has grabbed his attention. A book must be read from cover to cover, and the quicker the better. Although some topics he learns about are obviously helpful (such as electronics), others are merely for the pleasure of learning (such as about dinosaurs).

Still young, Donatello is subject to the same pressures as a child in any family. As both the slowest and weakest in has family physically speaking, Donatello is sensitive to his failures and shortcomings especially in regards to his ninja training. Lacking the natural abilities Mikey and Raph possess while also electing to improve his mind rather than his body while Leo trains constantly, Donatello struggles not to disappoint his father. With this difficulty and his focus on his brothers and father, Donatello can often be left nervous or worried with his rapidly developing mind offering numerous possibilities of how things could go wrong. Although troubling, this worry can also push him to be firm as needed, and gives him reason to challenge himself.

Powers and Abilities:
Like his brothers, Donatello has been granted abilities far beyond that of any normal turtle by that glowing ooze, and his training from his father has enhanced his skill sets. As a ninja-in-training, Donatello has already been trained to use a bo staff as his weapon and to fight with various hand-to-hand techniques. He has also been trained in the art of stealth, and can hide himself very quickly. Even at his young age, Donatello shows strength as he and his brothers are able to do a single back flip from a still standing position.

Differing from his brothers, Donatello has an impressive intelligence that in time will grow to rival other genius minds. Mostly self-taught, Donatello readily absorbs and memorizes knowledge he reads from books or from tinkering, and has already learned enough to construct toys or repair things like televisions. Although he still has a lot to learn at his young age, Donatello can understand concepts generally beyond children and wrap his mind around ideas that might escape his brothers.

Additionally, due to the mutation, Donatello and his brothers show better thermoregulation than the typical reptile. While still cold blooded by definition, in extreme heat, mechanisms to maintain homeostasis kick in as seen when Donatello was profusely sweating in the episode ‘Return to the Underground’ when exposed to baking levels of heat. The turtles also tolerate winter conditions far better than a normal reptile as seen in ‘Tales of Leo’ and ‘Monster Hunter’.

Samples

Network:
[The screen initially appears covered by an olive green, but the color pulls away as the young turtle lowers his arm. Having set the communicator on a flat surface to keep it steady, he takes a couple steps back to make certain he is in the shot as he addresses the network with a shy smile.]

H-hi. I was just wondering…does anyone have a soldering tool I can borrow? I was trying to fix a circuit board I found in the junkyard, but some of the parts are too loose and falling out.

[He pauses for a moment, then reaches up to rub nervously at the back of his neck.]

I’m trying to make a toy… But if anyone has a tool I can borrow for just a short while, I can bring cookies in exchange. My brother and I made chocolate chip cookies yesterday and we have a lot.

Third Person:
In New York City, snowfall is commonplace in the winter time. On this night in particular, the snow is falling so heavily that visibility clouds the next street block from sight and makes venturing out particularly dangerous. However, out in this heavy snowfall, a trail of odd footprints left behind a small figure in the darkness is fading as fresh snow fills the depressions. Traces still remain leading all the way back to the dead end where he had initially woken, sprawled out over a soggy and crushed cardboard box. He had fallen onto it, but his memory of the landing is brief and unclear.

Wandering aimlessly through the spaces behind the two rows of buildings, Donatello keeps his arms curled tight against his front as he trudges through the snow with his numb feet beginning to drag. They feel heavier than they should. Being caught out in the snow as a turtle without the scarf Master Splinter had given him last Christmas is bad enough, but he had woken up in the snow soaking wet. With the tips of his purple bandanna frozen, he can barely still feel part of his hands, and the tip of his beak has long since lost feeling as well.

So cold, the turtle is having trouble thinking. He knows he needs to go back underground. He needs to find some way down. Under all the snow however, he doesn't know how to look for a manhole cover, and even if he could find it, he knows he would be unable to pry it up by himself to open the way. Looking out from the alleyways, he had seen the snow pushed onto the sidewalks from the snow plows, leaving piles of heavy white covering over any potentially broken storm drains.

The only time he has been out of the sewers prior to now had been to explore with his brothers and train a child suffering from bullying not so long ago. In fact, it had not even been a month since that first venture and the resulting training bout that served as punishment. Donnie had never seen snow before except in books and on the television set in the burrow. While he had been hoping to see it first hand in the coming winter, the young turtle is already regretting ever making that wish.

Suddenly his foot catches on some discarded bit of refuse hidden under the snow, and Donnie trips to fall flat on his front in the snow, only barely getting his arms apart in a failed attempt to catch himself. Lying in the snow stunned, he opens his eyes to look up into the seemingly endless white all around him, his breath escaping in trails of vapors in front of him. Drawing his arms forward through the snow, he picks up one foot only to drop it again.

No...no he shouldn't stop moving. He has to keep moving. He has to keep warm.

But his eyes are already starting to close.