I'm fudging late!!!
Posting the 5th on the 12th because… because…? 😭
Anyway, here’s Charm! I drew my baby, my son, my favorite creature in the world, baby Raphy. I've wanted to draw him for so long, and the opportunity finally came up.
Maybe I’ll post the next one later 👀
I need to develop Raph more, I mentioned him a bit before but it was mainly like an accessory for Leo specifically and since I have this thought of future Raph being transfem its giving me the ick not working on him so lets do it !!
Raphael thinks, he thinks a lot. Unlike what his brothers think of him, he remembers when he was happier. When he found a nice rock or Donnie fixed a toy for him, he would flap his hands around and jump about. He remembers being so excited he couldn't thank his brother for the gift, his throat would close up and he could only chirp and churr happily. At first, his brothers understood, Mikey barely could form a sentence so of course Raph would rely on turtle noise instead of words. Of course, time changed, they learned how to properly speak, but whenever Raph got really happy his throat would close up again. He would get happy, he would stop talking and not thank them, not share the happiness, not speak.
The first time they didn't understand him was when Leo started to act more strict, he had found one of those parenting books and took it upon himself to teach them manners. He also planned to do it by giving them things and expecting a “thank you”, that was fine, it was easy when he passed Raph the salt or something so mundane. That time, Leo got Raphael a sketch book and markers, art, something he wanted to try for years, a hobby that was different from what his brothers did, something that called to him. Raph, of course, got happy, excited to draw, he’d say he got happier than ever, he doesn't remember greater joy, he flapped his hands, punched the hair, jumped, did a little jog around the room, churred and chirped to his heart's content. Then, Leo asked for a “thank you”. That’s fine, that’s a reasonable task, I mean, it was just words, surely he could say them easily, but when he tried, nothing came out. He couldn’t speak, he was stuck with his brother’s gaze fixed on him, pinning him to the floor.
And then, Leo, looking him in the eye, ripped the sketchbook. Destroyed the markers. In front of Raph, on the ground, a parallel to his happiness, bound on the floor and, like him, never able to fly again. As Leo harped on about consequences of his actions or something of the like, Raph could only stare, only think, stuck in his head. He wanted to cry, to have his dreams, that he told Leo in confidence, ripped so easily from him, for not being able to talk. He balled his hands into fists, moving them back and forth moving faster with each second. He couldn't cry, certainly not in front of Leo, so he did the next best thing. He got angry and fought.
That wasn't the last time they fought, it kept happening, for the tiniest of reasons to the most important ones. Slowly, he never got as happy, he only got angrier. It started with shouting and then, Raphael wouldn't be able to scream anymore, his throat got that familiar sensation of shutting down, so he fought instead, brought his hands up and punched Leo, square in the face. He remembers Leo laughing and saying something along the lines of “Back to growling again? How dumb do you need to be that you forget how to talk?”, that alone keeps him awake, silently sobbing away from prying eyes. It makes him so angry, so upset, he can't do anything at all but ride it out.
