[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]

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...!"

[meanandgreen]

Nothing hits him, but for a split second Raph's vision skips to black, and the world tilts nauseatingly to the side. But Don is down. Right where he wants him. Instinct can take over the rest.

Yame, he says. Stop. That one word would pull the plug any other fight during training. But if Don thinks this is some kind of sparring match, he's got another thing coming.

With stars still spattering drunkenly across his eyes, Raph dives to pin Don to the floor like a bug. A black torrent of hurt and hatred is erupting in his chest, and every part of him is aching to bury it deep in his brother's face.

He'll stop when he wants to. When Don's hurt enough to never, ever do this to him again.

[i_speak_softly]

Don doesn't expect that, and he barely has time to guard his head before Raph is on him again.

The impact hits him square in the middle, and he's pretty sure he'd be suffering some serious internal injuries right now if he were human. As it is, he's definitely going to be hurting when this is over.

Why isn't it over? What's it even about at this point?

Don protects himself as best he can, and hopes Raph's rage will exhaust itself soon.

[meanandgreen]

Raph just pounds on him, over and over and over again. Hits every part of his brother he can hurt until the blows start to weaken and slow. Until the anger bleeds out of him.

He's done enough damage. A feeling like nausea coils deep in his guts.

Too exhausted to get up and run, he rolls off his brother, his shell leaned against the bedroom wall, and tries to catch his breath.

[i_speak_softly]

Finally, the blows come slower than the pulses of pain that radiate through him with every heartbeat. And then, they stop.

All he can do is try to hold onto consciousness, and hope his attacker doesn't come back. He's not even certain now who it is...

[meanandgreen]

For a moment, he just sits there sweating and panting. He feels... not better, but empty. Numb with the the last humming vestiges of adrenaline. Beating Don so mercilessly doesn't feel good, but it does make him feel vindicated.

He stares at the wall, thinking of what he'll do next. Buy a bike with what little money he has. Fix it up himself. He doesn't need Don for anything.

[i_speak_softly]

After a few minutes, brain functions begin to come out of hiding, and Don uncovers one eye to look around. He's badly beaten all over, though nothing feels broken, and he's bleeding sluggishly from his shoulder. The only person around is Raph, who hardly looks like he just won a fight.

"Wha... What hit me?"

[meanandgreen]

Raph's glare slides to the floor.

"I did, Einstein."

Rang his bell pretty good, too. Though there's a little guilt, it's hard to feel completely sorry. Don so asked for that.

[i_speak_softly]

"Okay..." Don sits up gingerly, expanding his survey to the trashed state of his room. "Remind me why."

[meanandgreen]

"You're lucky I'm even talkin' to you," he snaps. "Don't act like you don't remember."

[i_speak_softly]

"I think I have a concussion," Don says, just a little bit testily. "Give me a minute to remember where I am."

[meanandgreen]

Now that makes Raph feel a little closer to terrible, gives him this horrible little push to just run and not come back. But that'd leave Don all alone like this, and he can't do that either.

"Shit," he curses lowly, rolling himself onto his knees to face his brother. "C'mere."

If Don lets him, he'll grab onto either side of his face and check to see if his pupils are the same size. "You're talkin' fine."

He didn't mean to give his brother a freakin' concussion! But maybe Don's wrong. That's possible, right?

Leo is gonna kill him.

[i_speak_softly]

Don leans forward, a little unsteadily, to let Raph check him out. His pupils are even, but just a little bit too dilated. There's no visible head injury, and his pulse is steadily coming down from the adrenaline of the fight.

"Whatever I did," he mumbles, "I'm sorry."

It's such a cop-out apology, and yet coming from Don it always sounds so genuine.

[meanandgreen]

Raph hisses a slow breath through his teeth, his eyes snapping away the minute he's sure his brother is fine.

"Think you can get up?" He asks tonelessly.

[i_speak_softly]

"If I had to."

The floor is seeming like a pretty good place to be right now, though.

[meanandgreen]

"We should get cleaned up before Leo gets back."

It takes him some effort to get to his feet, but he doesn't show it. His face is a grim mask as he offers a hand to help his brother up.

Maybe he can clean up, leave, and pretend this whole thing never freakin' happened.

[i_speak_softly]

If Raph can get up on his own, Don can too. He rubs his head and tries again to fill in the blanks.

"We were talking about building motorcycles. I want to try to build a techno-organic bike, and you'll build a conventional one, and then we'll race them at the track." He wrinkles his beak, trying to see what's wrong with this scenario. "And then... ?"

[meanandgreen]

On his way to the door, Raph freezes in his tracks. Of course that's how Don remembers it.

"That's not what happened."

Don't freakin' try to turn this around on him!

[i_speak_softly]

Don doesn't move to follow just yet; his head is still spinning just from standing up.

"Help me out, Raph. What did I do?"

[meanandgreen]

"I don't want to talk about it," he growls, glaring at Don from the corner of his eye. He impatiently nods toward the bathroom door. "Now come on."

[i_speak_softly]

Well, okay then. Don moves slowly in the indicated direction, picking his way around the mess on the floor. Something is not right in his head, and the rest of it he doesn't really care about right now.

When he reaches the bathroom, he sits heavily on the toilet, resting his face in the heels of his hands.

[meanandgreen]

Raph takes care of himself first. He looks like something straight out of a horror movie with all the blood on his face and plastron. But it cleans up easy, splashing himself with cold water from the tap, the red giving way to rusty trails swirling toward the drain. It hurts, but he doesn't care.

When he looks halfway decent, he wets a cloth and grabs Don's injured arm, roughly wiping away the blood.

[i_speak_softly]

"Ow." Don knocks Raph's hand away, reflex trumping pain for the moment. "I said I'm sorry."