[Open]

[meanandgreen]

Characters: Raphael and YOU
Date: Catch-all for End of July and August
Location: Water, Wood, and Metal Sectors
Situation: Just a Turtle doin' his thing
Warnings/Rating: None

Things were getting better, much as Raphael would hate to admit it. Ever since they'd split his family up, ever since Don discovered his new power, things have felt off-kilter. Unbalanced. And that reflected on his own stability.

He started going to the fight ring in the Fire Sector again. Spent weeks stumbling home late at night with cuts and bruises he wouldn't talk about. Disappeared for days. Went quieter than usual, his thoughts turned inward, closely guarded. It's his own way of coping.

Lately, more than ever, he could feel things changing, feel the bones of his family shifting. The growing pains are hard to avoid.

But move on with their own cadence, building a new familiarity around him. Leo comes almost every evening, and they meditate. Talk. He and Mike spend quiet nights over home cooked meals and idle conversation about the kids he teaches at the dojo, the people they've met, and it helps. Makes the chaos in his head go quiet for a little while. The days get longer and hotter, and the heat soothes the aches.

As much as he'd hate to admit it, he hasn't felt this good in a long, long time, and it shows. After a long disappearance, he shows up at the dojo again, hoping he still has a job. Hoping he could pick a fight with Korra like they used to. He starts collecting books about building motorcycles with plenty of diagrams. Even starts gathering a handful of parts. But without Don, he doubts he'll get very far.

But things were getting better. Falling into a new rhythm that hurts a little less each day.

He has to tell himself to enjoy it while it lasts, because he knows all too well how fast these things can change.

Comments

[i_speak_softly]

"Fix that," Don says, in a low, dangerous tone.

[meanandgreen]

"Bite me," he snarls, sliding into a fighting stance. You wanna go, Einstein? Because he is so ready.

[i_speak_softly]

Don takes one step forward. "I said fix it, Raphael."

[meanandgreen]

Raph cracks his knuckles, bearing his teeth at his brother's advance.

"You gonna make me?"

[i_speak_softly]

You are such an idiot.

The thought escapes - truth be told, directed at both of them - and there's no taking it back. Maybe he wouldn't even if he could.

[meanandgreen]

Something inside Raph's head snaps. He charges forward with a yell, and he comes in swinging, throwing a punch at his brother's head with a devastating amount of force.

[i_speak_softly]

Don sidesteps, circling behind his infuriated brother and giving himself some distance. He's been training with Leo a lot lately, and his ability to read the situation and react quickly has really been coming together.

He holds that position and waits, half-hoping that Raph will burn himself out, and half-hoping he'll get to throw a few punches of his own.

[meanandgreen]

Blind with fury, Raph stampedes past him, does an about-turn and comes charging again.

Don might've been practicing a lot, but Raph has been fighting. Brawling every second he could take. Sparring with Korra. Beating kedan losers into paste in the underground fighting ring. This ain't no sparring match. This is the real deal, and Raph doesn't fight like Splinter taught them anymore.

Now, he fights for blood.

This time he doesn't swing, but rushes like a freight train straight for Don, aiming to tackle him bodily to the floor.

[i_speak_softly]

Well, yes: the element of familiarity with Raph's current fighting style is somewhat missing from Don's arsenal right now. They didn't have enough time together before the whole lantern business.

While Raph is turning around for a second pass, Don quickly arms himself with the nearest piece of scrap metal that resembles a bo. Crouching to the floor, he sweeps it across Raph's ankles as he comes into range.

[meanandgreen]

He sees the bo and the sweep, and it lights a whole new fire of rage in his stomach. So he leaps over the trap, then tucks and rolls, coming back to his feet with both sais drawn.

There's a dangerous, half-mad glint in his eye. This ain't gonna end pretty.

He charges again with a volley of kicks and jabs. One lethal blow sends the pommel of his sai aimed straight for Don's jaw.

[i_speak_softly]

Oh crap.

Don manages to block the direct hit, but the force of it still sends him reeling backwards. As he recovers his ground, he counters with a quick series of disarming strikes.

[meanandgreen]

When the strike lands, he swoops in like a predator to weakened prey, trying to sweep his legs from under him. But Don's back and fighting quick. One hit strikes a pressure point in his wrist, sending electricity surging through his nerves. His sai clatters to the floor.

But Raphael recovers fast, trying to reach past the scrap metal bo for a hold on his brother's arm. Get in close. Make that weapon useless. And if he can get him on the ground, even better.

Every hit is aimed at throwing his full weight at Don, pushing him backwards, trying to kick his knees out when he can reach. Trying to make him fall.

[i_speak_softly]

Don drops against the hold, aiming to use his weight to unbalance Raph and throw him. He only hopes the tactic doesn't backfire horribly.

[meanandgreen]

Raph feels Don buckle, rearranging his center of balance. He's going for a throw, and he can feel himself being lifted. But it's down to grappling, now, and that's where Raph's got the advantage.

He steps forward even closer, tangling his legs with his brother's to prevent him from easily pulling him off the ground. With his free hand, he tries to drive the pommel of his sai into his brother's bridge. If he can hit him once, he'll hit him there again and again and again.

[i_speak_softly]

Don is not going to put up with that for long. With the little maneuvering room he has, he bounces the bo up to smack Raph sharply in the beak. If that gives him any space, he'll get out of the grapple as fast as he can.

[meanandgreen]

The bo smashes him square in the face, and Raph's vision explodes with stars. He takes half a step backwards, blindly scrabbling for a hold of Don wherever he can before he can move too far out of reach.

Don't let him gain any space. He can't let him.

[i_speak_softly]

Don evades the hold and retreats, looking for anything else he can use as an advantage. The floor is a veritable minefield, but it's not presenting much obstacle to two trained ninjas. He could kill the lights, but that's unlikely to gain him anything either.

He does have one trick Raph doesn't know about, but he'd really rather not go there...

[meanandgreen]

There's a stream of blood trickling from his nostrils as Don moves away, Raph's fingers scraping uselessly gainst the lip of his shell. But the pain won't hold him back for long, and the blood isn't a problem.

His face is throbbing, and he can't breathe through his nose, but it only fuels him.

Raph charges forward again, still holding one sai, and makes several swipes at Don's face and upper body, trying to force himself in close again. They're mostly feigns to distract him while he aims another kick at taking out his knee.

[i_speak_softly]

Don is going to get flattened, and fast, if Raph doesn't wear himself out soon. He's always had advantages of stamina, agility, and forethought, but they're not doing him much good right now.

Don raises the bo again, letting Raph charge right into a chest strike. A wild slash reaches past his attack to open a gash just below his shoulder, and then Raph is kicking him again and he's just trying to stay on his feet. Footwork was never one of his better skills.

[meanandgreen]

So long as Don keeps letting him come at him, Raph will keep charging like a mad bull. Don doesn't move around like Mikey, making him exhaust himself with the chase. He doesn't amp him up like Leo does, pinpointing his faults and using them against him.

Don stands there, using his bo to keep everyone from getting too close. All Raph has to do is take a few hits and he's right back in his face, ignoring the pain and doing what he does best.

Don is slow and calculating, and it makes Raph have to slow down and think. Think about his next move, think about what got him so pissed off in the first place.

Somehow, fighting Don makes him a little less cheesed off in general. But that doesn't mean he's gonna let him win.

Raph takes the hit to the chest without a second thought, the strike playing his shell like a drum. But he keeps coming.

In the split second it takes for his kick to make Don waver, he reaches out and tries to grab the makeshift bo with his bare hand, sacrificing it to the potential of another strike. Simultaneously, he tries to hook the tines of his sai downward around Don's wrist in an attempt to pry him free of his weapon.

[i_speak_softly]

Don drops the bo - Raph probably won't use it, and there are plenty of other ad-hoc weapons around - and uses the moment of surprise to duck out of the attack and back-spring away.

Once again having created some distance, he quickly takes stock of the situation: they're both bleeding, the carefully-sorted piles have been kicked all over the place, he's going to lose, and it's all over a stupid argument, which he's probably also going to lose. Somehow, none of this makes him want to give in.

[meanandgreen]

No, he won't use the bo. He's too fucking mad to even consider it. He just wants to do more damage, to hurt his brother in any way he can. So he chucks the thing at one of the shelves, sending an avalanche of parts clattering to the ground behind him.

Forget the fucking motorcycle, Don. Isn't that what he wants? To forget it? To keep Raph from ordering him around? Don doesn't give a shit about what he wants. He doesn't give a shit about doing anything together. With his brother. It's not like they haven't seen each other in weeks. It's not like he's been so fucking scared to see him in person after this whole psychic crud started. It's not like this was supposed to be him extending the olive branch, to try to make things normal again.

They were supposed to do this together like old times. But Don just doesn't fucking care.

His mind is racing. They're both bleeding, the room is a mess, and blood is mixing with the sweat pouring down his face. He takes a moment to pant for breath, wiping his face with the back of his arm.

All of it just makes him more and more pissed off.

He charges again, leaps up and attempts a flying kick straight at his brother's chest, throwing his entire weight into the strike, trying to knock him off balance so he can tackle him to the ground.

[i_speak_softly]

All of that is exactly why Don is keeping such a careful rein on his new abilities: winning a not-quite-sparring match is not worth destroying his tenuous relationship with his brother.

As Raph leaps, Don dives to the side, rolling to his knees and throwing a handful of nuts and bolts at his opponent.

He's trying to gauge whether Raph would even accept a surrender at this point, and not coming up with a clear answer.

[meanandgreen]

"Surrender" has never been a part of Raphael's vocabulary, and there's no chance he's gonna add it now. A surrender is as good as a defeat, and there's no way he's gonna lose.

The kick meets nothing but thin air, and momentum has the wall coming up to meet him way too fast. He tilts himself just in time to collide with his shoulder, leaving a crumbling dent in the plaster. It only takes him half a second to recover, using the wall as a launch point to throw himself at his brother again.

This time, he's gonna throw a volley of kicks and punches, searching for an opening to grab him right where his neck meets his shoulder.

[i_speak_softly]

The spare-parts projectiles are, unsurprisingly, ineffective, and Don is running out of escape routes. Before he can dodge again, Raph hits him like -- well, like Raph when he's really angry. A kick catches him in the jaw, followed by a downward punch that crushes him to the floor, sending him skidding backwards until his head collides with the side of the bed. His vision goes momentarily black, and the jarring disorientation rattles right out of his head and into Raph's.

"Y-yame...!"