[ cw: death mention / strangulation mention / stabbing mention / blood mention / self-sacrifice / codependency mention in tags / ]
I think a lot about how common it is for Raph to be the one to have direct focus put on him when Leo gets into all his near death experiences.
Like, when Leo is thrown off a building, it’s Raph who’s right there jumping after him, not even thinking about the consequences to himself when he does. When Leo almost gets skewered by the Krang, Raph’s right there to take the blow and send Leo to safety without a second thought. When Leo’s being strangled to near death, it’s a Krangified Raph doing the job, doing exactly what Raph would never, ever want to do. When Leo is telling Casey Jr to close the portal, it’s Raph who tries desperately to convince Leo otherwise.
Likewise, Leo is consistently very single minded when Raph gets forcibly separated from them. Both when in the sewers and by the Krang, Leo is dead set on finding Raph first and foremost.
I also think it’s interesting that during each of Leo’s near death experiences, the lightheartedness of his words during them goes directly hand in hand with both how close Raph is to him physically and how much danger Raph is also in in that moment. From a literal “I told you so” as Leo’s falling away from Raph to a soft joke about how “hero moves” are Raph’s style - both of these are on the more morbidly carefree side and both of these notably take Leo farther away from Raph and, in turn, have Raph not in immediate danger.
On the other side of things is the apology from Leo, heedless of the danger he himself is in as he seriously and genuinely speaks to a Krangified Raph face to face. Then there’s Leo’s freezing and desperation as Raph takes a hit meant for him and sends just Leo to safety, leaving Raph himself behind. Both of these involve much closer proximity and Raph being directly harmed - these together make Leo much more vulnerable in his words and actions, something not even the threat of death can make him.
These two care about each other so much, and they’re way too much alike for their own good.
289 notes
·
View notes
Oh you so desperately want to be a rabid animal. You put on a violent act, snarl and bite anyone that comes into contact with you, pushing away everyone you can, putting on an act that the people want to see, playing into their expectations of what disease truly is.
You so deeply wish there was some simple explanation for it. Some easy-to-define reasoning as to why you act the way you do. Why you can't stand the way their hands reach out to you in kindness. Why it makes you feel sick. You so desperately want to call it a disease, a malady, a virus, when you're just scared. You've been scared all your life. You've been gnashing your teeth before they can bite you first for as long as you can remember.
But I know what a rabid animal looks like and it is not you. You are not fatal. You are not doomed. You're acting because it's all you know how to do anymore, and I can see right through it.
169 notes
·
View notes
Chapter 10: Knowledge is the cure (also here on A03)
Vimes knelt by the bed and leaned in. “Please, think, Mrs Crewe. Boys in the Shades keep secrets from their mothers. They don’t want them to worry. The violence and the hunger and injustice sits in their bodies like a fever, growing, festering, driving them mad. But they don’t want their mothers to know. If Danny was a good boy, he must have felt the anger. He must have kept the secret.”
He was aware, suddenly, of the three women all looking at him with different eyes.
[ID: a digitally colored pencil sketch of commander Vimes, Mrs Palm, and Tilly, around a bed with Mrs Crewe in it. Mrs Crewe is a pale and fragile older woman with greyed hair, lying on a large pillow. To her left is Tilly, a young blonde woman in a low cut pink dress with a corset, is holding her hand with both of her own. On Mrs Crewe's right is Vimes, in full uniform looking tense but earnest, kneeling by the side of the bed and reaching out a hand to her face. In the foreground facing the bed with her arms crossed is Mrs Palm, a larger middle-aged woman with light brown skin and black hair in a fancier and more purple version of what Tilly is wearing, including purple leather gloves. The room is small with has grey/pink walls and one window lighting the room with golden afternoon sunlight. There is an iconography of Danny and a seamstresses guild plaque on the wall. End ID]
28 notes
·
View notes