#𝗥𝗔𝗣𝗛𝗔𝗘𝗟 𝗕𝗔𝗬𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗘 : tough as the crust of the earth is.

[mutagn]

@retromutagn 𝗦𝗔𝗜𝗗 026.   a large penthouse overlooking the city . / bayverse twins...they are sneaking...

neither of them are the best equipped for the stealth portion of most missions, but they make less noise than mikey and don't need to talk aloud to understand. raph complains less when he's paired off with donnie. leo can get all self-righteous and uptight when they're alone, and nobody can corral their youngest brother into anything resembling discipline, so it's better this way, the two of them cutting hulking, shadowy figures in the moonlight.

raph stops by the huge windows, looking at his skyline in silence. he spends so much of his time on top of skyscrapers, and yet from here everything looks smaller than usual. "check it," he hisses, jerking his head in donnie's direction. there's so much stuff in here that donnie can pour over - raph can hear his feet shifting on the carpet by the couch, an excited twostep he's been seeking out since they were kids - but he wants donnie to see this.

[mutagn]

@retromutagn 𝗦𝗔𝗜𝗗 "does your muse play a musical instrument? did they play one at some point?" for all the raphs please are they all drummers...

boy are they. under the cut because there's seven of them:

1987 raph: actually not a drummer - i believe mikey drums in this iteration if i'm not mistaken! he messes around with other instruments though. he loves things he can shake around and make a whole lotta noise with. 87 raph is majorly impatient, and the more delicate instruments would not hold his attention for very long. catch him with like. a tambourine or a trumpet or something. tonally it sounds BAD but is he having fun? yes

2003: drummer to his BONES. he doesn't really have an interest in picking up anything else - he's not immune to seeing a keyboard/piano and immediately needing to press as many keys on it as possible all at once, but he's not learning any other stuff. catch him banging out a beat for mikey to freestyle to or something though he's probably the most rhythmic of the raphs

2007: ah see. he drums sure but he also picked up guitar for something to DO before all the nightwatcher stuff started happening in a major way. he found an acoustic one down an alley while on one of his brooding solo patrols and he's been slowly upgrading ever since. he's still not very good, has a tendency to be clumsy and lacks precision, but it's a lesson in patience as well as a way to hone his mind. get used to not winning. that kind of thing

2012: little drummerboy <3 he's probably the most musically inclined of the raphs (save mayhem but i'll get to that) so it is an interest of his as opposed to something he picked up because he likes to hit stuff. he knows mikey fights musically and he's really interested in that, in fostering that characteristic in his own style, and how better to do that than actually start figuring out how music works, to get into the details of it and cut and paste at will. he sings, though not often, and mostly under his breath to himself when he's busy or in the shower. makes up little tunes just as he's going about his day, not really out loud or for any reason, just because he be singing

bayverse: this guy doesn't even really know how to drum. he knows how to label a kit pretty successfully, knows the difference in the sounds produced, but there's no real technique to it. he's a noisemaker rather than a musician, very similar to '87 raph in that respect. he does have a little banjo on his bed that he will strum at on occasion <3 but again he's clumsy with it, nowhere near proficient

rise: drums AND plays the ukulele because i think that's a very rise raph instrument. he has to be very careful with them because he's a lot bigger than they are and sometimes he doesn't even know his own strength and can snap the strings :(

mayhem: MY BELOVED. as stated he's up there with the most Musically Inclined of the raphaels. he's freestyling, making up songs about what he and his brothers are doing, beatboxing to himself, and yes playing the drums. he only started to really care about being good at the drums recently, and he'd loooove to pick up bass at some point. he's also keen to start mixing beats, so expect donnie to be harassed about that very soon

[mutagn]

i see a raphael. i add a raphael. it really is that simple

𝗥𝗔𝗣𝗛𝗔𝗘𝗟 𝗕𝗔𝗬𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗘 : tough as the crust of the earth is.

𝗥𝗔𝗣𝗛𝗔𝗘𝗟 𝗕𝗔𝗬𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗘 : movie one.

𝗥𝗔𝗣𝗛𝗔𝗘𝗟 𝗕𝗔𝗬𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗘 : movie two.

[mutagn]

anonymous 𝗦𝗔𝗜𝗗 : Raph, how come you’re so cool? (Any Raph of ur choosing <3)

"i'l take this one, boys.

you see, when two co-creators love each other very much..."

"oh-kay, wiseass. that's enough outta you. pretty sure they meant me. it ain't easy, let me tell you that. it's all about-"

"keep talkin', hothead! what do you know about cool? i could out-cool you in my sleep, arms tied behind my back, dipped in lava!"

...the other two just share a glance. "motorcycle?" "motorcycle."

[mutagn]

@retromutagn 𝗦𝗔𝗜𝗗 "are those your tattoos? do they have a meaning?" mm don and bay raph...

he moves his arm and his head in tandem without saying anything, automatic and easy. the kid's too polite to outright yank at him, but he does tend to get in his own way - this just makes it easier on the both of them. "i guess you could say that. it's not really a tattoo, dig?"

patting the skin next to the raised lines, raph shoots the kid a look. "it used to be, but then everyone else started doin' it. a couple of us got matching ones, that kind of thing." it's not the only reason, but one he spins out whenever he's asked. the branding is a little dramatic, sure, but it felt right. he stands by it, and he's rarely embarrassed these days. "it's kanji. means shield. i got sensei to check over it. he said it translates to grudges, too. i liked that. went over it with somethin' hot a couple years back. you're a little young for that kind of thing, so don't go gettin' any ideas."

[mutagn]

𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙣 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙙𝙤𝙢

[mutagn]

i miss comedian raph and so i'm deciding to do something about it. of course in the 87 show we get his little asides, his bits and quips, the entirety of 'raphael knocks 'em dead' (<3), so i don't have to do anything there thank you for making my life so easy. 87 raph is just so lovely

2003 raph isn't so much of a jokester as he is an insult comic - wouldn't describe himself as such because i don't think he knows what one is, but it's a distinct difference from 87. he really enjoys making his brothers laugh especially in battles or other tense situations - it's that sometimes, because he's so emotional, the drive to do so just isn't there. it's not a defense mechanism or something he hides behind, it's something that comes naturally to him when he's able to be the most himself

2007 raph is just like that. he's too miserable to really tap into his sense of humour anymore but we do see shades of it, when he's by himself or when he's hanging out with casey. i think it's being coaxed out of him again but we shall see

2012 raph is all about pranks babey. his affinity for pranks is mentioned in his official bio and i really like that the most physical form of joke is handed off to the most physical raph so far - '12 is so rough-and-tumble, so hands-on, so in your face, i think it's only natural that he takes to practical jokes rather than to any traditional joke-telling. he, of course, is still full of snide little comments, and a lot of the time they're to amuse himself, but he does play it up on occasion in the hope of amusing his brothers

bayverse raph is NOT funny and this is what makes him funny. this man cannot tell a joke to save his own life and he knows it, leans into it.

rise raph is similarly not very funny <3 bless him. he's more of a sucker for really cheesy jokes, has about one thousand knock-knock jokes that his brothers have all heard before and that's why he can't pull them out as often as he'd like

and to round off mayhem raph, with him being the most modern interpretation we've got, is like. loves his memes loves his references loves his observational humour. he's the type to think of a joke while you're still talking and hold onto it desperately until you're done because he knows it's going to KILL

[mutagn]

@retromutagn 𝗦𝗔𝗜𝗗 : ❛ congratulations, you have survived! ❜ also bayverse don and raph but no villainy he's just being annoying

when donnie claps raph on the back, he winces. it's subtle and small, but by itself an indicator of the beating he'd taken. usually he's unshakable and he knows it, the mountain on their horizon. now, his shell is cracked.

"you expect anything else?" he huffs, rolling his shoulder. while he's there, he thumbs over the searing on his skin, tongue pressed tightly behind his teeth. he'll get better. he's never not gotten better, and donnie hasn't let him down yet. "what's the damage, don. will i still have a pretty pattern back there when i'm all fixed up?"