Chapter Text
The little turtle splashed around happily in the small tub of water that was provided for her and her playmates. One had a soft shell like she did and the other had curved stipes over his eyes. All three hatched on the same day; the soft shell hatched early in the morning, the striped one hatched around noon, and the little turtle hatched to the setting sun.
A clatter and a grumble distracted the little turtle from her play, as the man she called 'Mr. Grumpy' came back. The little turtle splashed at her playmates, drawing their attention to the person that was dragged in. He was wearing a shiny blue suit and had something on his face that the little turtle couldn't make out from her spot in the water.
The new guy was placed in a cage nearby her and her playmates. The guy, that the little turtle decided to call 'Sir shiny', picked up two of her playmates, Stripy and Spiky, the latter of which was the largest of her playmates (and also a biter). Mr. Grumpy and Sir shiny had a short conversation before Spiky bit Sir shiny below the nose. Sir shiny pulled Spiky off his face before some sticky ropes began to wrap around the little turtle and her playmates. Then, they got shoved into slimy bubbles high up.
Suddenly, there was a bunch of loud noises, a bright flash of light, and an intense, burning pain in every part of the little turtle. Shortly thereafter, the slimy bubbles popped, and the little turtle fell into a pile with the others. The burning still riddled the little turtle, and her world was quickly taken over by darkness.
The little turtle didn't know how long it had been when she awoke to her striped playmate nuzzling up against shoulder. Blinking sleep from her eyes, she quietly chirped and looked down at the ground beneath her little feet and at her changed form. The ground was cold, hard, rough, and very dry. She realized that her small flippers were gone, replaced with what Mr. Grumpy called hands. Looking up, she saw Sir shiny, but he looked different; His nose was longer, sort of like Softy's snout. When he noticed the little turtle looking at him, he smiled, though his eyes looked a little sad.
The little turtle began looking around, trying to find a pool of water to swim in, when a fishy smell reached her nose. It took her a while to reach the source of the smell, as she learned how to move with her changed limbs. The smell came from a pile of fish guts next to a dumpster. Her small stomach grumbled as she leaned closer to the pile. Before she could take a bite, she was picked up by Sir shiny.
"Please do not eat those," He said. "They do not look safe."
The little turtle frowned, before a tangle of colorful strips caught her eye. When she was set back down, she clambered to the strips. The strips were some type of fabric that felt nice on her skin, and she really liked the very light one. As she played, her playmates also joined one by one, each one choosing a color they liked. Sir shiny then tore off a length of the fabric, tying it around the little turtle's middle.
"There," He said, smiling, "White, this color can be your name for now."
The newly named White looked at the band around her middle and squealed in delight. She then watched as Spiky was renamed Red, Softy became Purple, Stripy was named Blue, and the smallest turtle became Orange. With a small grin on her face, White looked around until she caught sight of a large metal circle near the street. It was very interesting to her, but the few people that were walking by didn't spare it a glance. Purple noticed what she was looking at, and gave a high-pitched chirp, telling White to wait until it was dark.
When night fell, White and Purple approached the metal circle. They could hardly move it with their little arms, but they moved it enough to get a small look at what it hid. The area was dark, smelled a little odd, and the sound of running water echoed upward. Blue started chirping at them, so they went back and laid on top of him. The three small turtles quietly talked about what the metal circle was hiding until they fell asleep.
~~~
Three months after the turtles got their color names, they spent more and more time in the place underneath the metal circle, and ended up fully living there. The sewers, as Sir shiny called it, were dark and really big, so White and her brothers could run around to their hearts content. Her favorite part about it wasn't the large open space though, it was how much water there was. It was almost everywhere, and it was usually deep enough to swim in. She didn't understand why Red and Orange didn't like the water as much as she and the others did. Before they ever entered the sewers, White, Purple, and Blue all loved rainy days, as the three of them had skin that dried out very easily, becoming red and itchy.
Their new home was along one of the cleaner streams in the sewer, with a net placed downstream to keep the triplets from floating away when they swim. Their home had six smallish rooms, one for Sir shiny, one for Red and Orange, one for the triplets, a bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen. The triplet's room has a small bathtub half filled with water and a little bed. White always slept in the tub, as her skin dried out the fastest, with either Blue or Purple joining her, alternating each night.
White was playing with a piece of colored paper when she heard the sound of feet on the ground and soft rustling. She smiled, knowing that Sir shiny had returned with food and other things. With a squealing chirp, White stumbled to the entrance, with Blue and Purple trailing behind her. Red and Orange were already there when they arrived, digging through one of the bags to see what they could get.
Orange found something he liked first, a slightly stained blanket covered in teddy bears. Red kept digging as Blue and Purple reached the bag. When Purple and Blue started digging, Red pulled out a tattered elephant plush. Purple pulled out a cracked, glass rectangle, and Blue pulled out a action figure that was missing an arm. White tried to pull up on the bag, only to pull it down with her, spilling the contents over the floor. Looking at what was spilled on the floor, White found a small, medium thick, warped, water-stained book.
Back in her room, White took a closer look at the book. The cover had some pictures of human hands in different positions over some letters. She could recognize and replicate most letters, but she couldn't consistently name them. Opening the book, she began flipping through the pages. Each one had pictures like the ones on the cover, with one or more letter underneath it. Holding the book open with one hand, she tried to use her other to replicate the pictures.
'What are you doing?' Purple chirped, startling White slightly.
White leaned to the side so Purple could see the book. 'What was the thing you grabbed?'
Purple picked it up and turned it to White, showing the lit up glass. 'I'm not sure how it works. Wanna learn with me?'
White nodded excitedly, setting her book to the side.
Over the course of the week, the duo learned how it worked, what it required to function, and what they could do with it. Taking advantage of the tablet's text-to speech function, they looked into the contents of White's book. When they figured out that it was about a nonverbal language, they were excited. Because they didn't have any other ways to easily communicate with Sir shiny, they began working to modify the sign language to fit Purple's three fingers and White's four.
When they realized that it would be too big a task for just the two of them, White used her puppy dog eyes to rope Blue into their plan. It took them a couple weeks for them to gather enough words for basic communication and practice the signs, but once they were satisfied, they began to set up a presentation board to show Sir shiny.
After they filled out the board, they realized that they didn't know what some of the words meant, and looked them up on Purple's tablet. As they learned the words, they decided to add one more word to their presentation, dad. Orange found out about their plan and insisted on decorating the board with stickers and doodles. Red also joined in and eagerly practiced the signs.
Once they were satisfied with the board, they showed it off to Sir shiny. At the end of their presentation, tears were faintly streaming down his face. The siblings began to panic until he hugged them. They calmed down and hugged their dad back.