Hello, all!

My name's Meg, but I also answer to SewerUrchin or "Hey, you!" on here, or "optimist that pretends to be a cynic." I'm a former English major, and thus far writing fanfiction is the only thing I've done with my degree besides lamenting not majoring in something else. But! That's not to say I don't have a blast. My old, unpolished stuff was under a different username (no2benry), it was strictly in the Ugly Betty fandom, and strictly the Daniel/Betty ship. Now I'd like to branch out into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and I'm rather rusty, so be forewarned. It's been years, y'all.

That's not to say I haven't had other 'ships in other fandoms along the way, I just haven't written about them. I always tend to root for the good girls paired with the flawed bad boys with hearts of gold: Scully/Mulder, Joey/Pacey, Rory/Logan, Buffy/Spike, Spike/Fred, Lana/Lex (don't check me into an institution), Nathan/Haley (yes, I watch One Tree Hill), Mal/Inara, Daniel/Betty, Draco/Hermione, The Hound/Sansa, Goliath/Elisa, Grant/Skye, etc. And, yes, I'm an April/Raph 'shipper. Don't stone me, I think it could work. I also like April/Don, but April with either of the other Turtles doesn't really float my boat. There's probably some psychological reasons for my particular 'shipping preferences, but perhaps I'm better off not delving too deep. :P

My main fandom is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but also Gargoyles, Labyrinth, Harry Potter, Farscape, X-Files, True Blood, BtVS/Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse, Agents of Shield, Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey...probably leaving out a few.

A Bit About Me:

Likes: Excellent television (read: scripted dramas, no scripted "reality" shows), anything Joss Whedon has ever done (even the Buffy movie had its merits), music (anything that comes on the radio--I don't listen to anything in order to seem edgy and underground. I rock out to "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" for God's sake), painting, oil pastels, woodcarving, dollhouse miniatures, crochet, cross-stitch, stained glass, 2-d animation/cartooning, Disney movies, any and all animals, historical and paranormal romance novels (Kresley Cole, Lisa Kleypas, Sandra Brown, and Kathleen Woodiwiss are my faves), biographies of just about anyone, house cleaning, sweet guys with pretty tattoos and six-pack abs, sweet girls with pretty tattoos and six-pack abs, dancing while alone, babies younger than age 1 (beyond that, they start to get annoying), the beach, napping, the smell of cigarette smoke although I've never smoked a day in my life, Coca-cola, food, Tom Felton and every last one of the ninja turtles.

Dislikes: Aforementioned reality tv, cantaloupe, olives, judgy people, puppets, wind, spiders, needles, and excessively cold weather, any and all team sports (both watching and playing, blech), the taste of alcohol and being around drunk people (not fun), animal cruelty (if you can't take care of your animals, why have them?), babysitting loud, obnoxious kids.

Update: Whelp, I'm still alive. It's been years since I've posted anything on fanfiction.net, and I figured some changes were in order. I was no2benry, but I'm now SewerUrchin. I'm hugely flattered that my old, gnarly Ugly Betty fiction is still getting views and reviews, and an enormous "Thank you and I'm very, very sorry" to anyone who has bothered to delve into it after all this time. Unfortunately, I don't have plans to update any of the incomplete fics or start any new stories. Once again, immensely sorry to leave people hanging. I don't like to make a habit of doing that. The inspiration just isn't there anymore, I was younger and slightly stupider when I wrote those, the fire is gone, etc., etc., yadda, yadda. While I will always love Ugly Betty and the Daniel/Betty 'ship from tip to tail, the show got cancelled, no sign of a movie yet (boo!), and I stopped dabbling in that particular fandom.

I'm in the process of writing some April/Raphael fic. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was really my first fandom, and I truly mean that. I was dancing around to the theme song, wearing the t-shirts, snuggling with the plush dolls and playing with the action figures while I was still in Pampers Pull-Ups. I'm 28, so I was digging on the 80's cartoon then, but I've been a fan of every incarnation since, except The Next Mutation.

I've noticed my tendency to write within my own cobbled-together 'verse, which is primarily 2K14, but contains elements from all incarnations. I tend to write the Turtles as over 21, for both character development and smut purposes, so I guess you could say I write AU Futurefic? I guess? I confess, I haven't watched the entire 2003 series yet, so I'm sure I miss some intricate in-and-outs of timeline and plot. Oh, well. I do my own thing.

Why April/Raphael? Why not? It's probably just my own fanwank, but I've always detected something simmering yet hard-edged in their interactions that fascinates me. She's attracted to Casey Jones in canon, and he and Raph are cut from the same cloth. She obviously has no objection to bad boys, aside from when the lady doth protest too much. I don't consider the pairing bestiality by an stretch. (I thought the Beast was hotter before he turned back into a prince, if that tells you anything). It's not like she's picking up a turtle out of a pet store terrarium and making out with it. The Turtles are humanoid, with human-level intelligence and emotions. They walk upright, they have human DNA, and they can give informed consent. I'd consider the age difference between April and the guys to be bigger obstacle, which is probably why I write Future-fic where the Turtles are no longer teens.

Fave incarnations of each turt, just in case anyone is interested:

Leonardo: Mirage, 2k3, 2k7 (it's complicated), and 2k14

Raphael: Mirage, 2k3, 2k7 (again, it's complicated), 2k12, 2k14...yeah, love the guy in pretty much everything.

Donatello: 2k3, 2k12, 2k14

Michelangelo: 2k12, 2k14

My favorite turtle as a kid was Leonardo, but now it's Raphael. I enjoy the 2k12 show but I'm less into it than I was; Nick's thing of showing new episodes in random clusters at completely random times really kills the momentum, and the show tends to meander a bit now anyway.

2k3 was solid, and had probably the most consistent characterizations of any incarnation, IMO.

I resisted liking 2k7 for anything but the cool visuals and Raphael's muscles for a long time because, let's face it, that movie was problematic as heck. I can understand why the team had fallen as far as it had, but I still think it would have been cooler if they'd rallied and thrived in Leo's absence. It's like, the overarching message was supposed to be "A family united is stronger than the sum of its parts", which is true, but it played out more like "We all suck without you, Leadernardo, please come back and guide us with your magical mystery skills."

2k7 Raphael...oh, boy, am I gonna piss some people off with this, but--we know you miss your brother and your soul is tormented and your biceps are impressive and yadda yadda emo-cakes, but dude, PULL UP YOUR BIG GIRL PANTIES (not the metal ones) AND DEAL. Putting on a big metal suit and beating the crap out of crooks for increasingly sketchy and dubious reasons only proves to Leo that you are completely out of control without someone to reign you in. Donatello is doing the best with what he was given, which is a leadership position he never wanted, a heavy financial burden, Splinter's cholesterol issues or some shit, and a brother that does nothing but make all of this harder, and I'm not talking about Mikey. 2k7 Raphael, you are hot and I love you, but you are a dick.

2k14: I liked it. Plot could have been worlds better, but the animation was so gorgeous that it almost cancelled out the negative aspects. Adore the new design of the turtles, they look like...well, giant humanoid turtles, which is what they are. Megan Fox really proved herself as April, I thought. Her character was just the right mix of vulnerable and tough-as-nails, the dedicated reporter and finally the unfazed everywoman. And how anyone could have such chemistry with a CGI turtle (Raph) boggles the mind, but by God, it is painfully obvious.

Anyway, if anyone is still reading, which I doubt, comments and concrit are always welcome, but don't feel like you have to. Lurkers are appreciated, too. I write because I feel like my head will explode if I didn't, so it's pretty much an act of self-preservation as anything. I have a brand new Tumblr blog, which is very sad as of yet. But fear not, I'll post the link as soon as I fiddle around with it a bit and I deem it fit for human consumption. Some of my smuttier work will probably end up exclusively there. I'm an incurable romantic as well, so even if something is mostly PWP, it'll still be an interlude between two devoted characters.

All right. Have at it.

Cheers!

Meg aka SewerUrchin

“to live in this world

you must be able
to do three things
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go” --Mary Oliver

"Don't be a dick."--Wheaton's Law