Wow. let me tell you. I never expected the reaction i got to the first part. I was blown away. thanks for the reviews.
real quick, one of my friends came up with the glass of water analogy. so i can't take credit for that. but anyway, here's the second part
Raph's POV
He's like water
There's this thing about Leo. Sometimes it's kinda hard to describe him. He's got many things about him that don't always fit together under one description. But I think I finally figured out the perfect way to do it. It fits him. He's water.
It's not just that though. He's really like water. He moves like it, he talks like it, heck, he even thinks like it if you could say it actually thinks. Because everything about him seems to go with the same flow. It always seems to control the way he acts and reacts to things. It seems to work for him.
Have you ever watched water? Watched the different ways it moves? Go to a park or something. Anywhere with a pond really. And look at the surface of the water. It's smooth. Reflecting everything off of it. This is Leo on a normal day. He's calm. Always calm. Just hanging out with us and letting himself relax a little. Calm, cool, and collected. Like water in a pond.
Now get a glass of water. Set it down somewhere and leave it. You come back the next day or so and there's less in it. You keep doing that and there will eventually be none left. That's Leo on a hot day… nah, I'm just kidding. Seriously though, this is his tendency to give himself away to others.
He isn't hesitant with making friends. And to each new one he gives them his honor. To some, his complete friendship. To us, his love. He's always making sure that he gives us comfort if we need it. He's always giving. Never taking. And he's always making sure that he gives us what we need, even if it causes him trouble.
That's the thing about Leo. He's always there. Like water. You can't escape water. Just like you can't escape Leo. He's always there to help, whether you want it or not. Always there to ask you what's wrong or what he can do to help. And sometimes it's a good thing. Always being there for us means we never feel alone. And it's good to have a brother that will be there when you need him.
Back to the pond. Find a very small pebble. Throw it in. Get a bigger rock. Throw it in. And another a little bigger. Throw it in. What happens? What do you see? Ripples roll away from the source. This is Leo when he senses danger. He starts out only a little cautious. But as the disturbance gets closer, or bigger, he gets more and more tense. His energy waves get bigger.
You won't be able to throw a rock big enough, but if you threw in a huge rock, what would happen? There would be a huge splash. That is Leo in a war. He's the splash of water going all over us. Making sure to protect us all. Jumping up to defend us. Drowning out all around that are threatening to hurt us. He overtakes them. Like water overtakes a rock as it sinks to the bottom.
As you keep watching, what does the water do after the splash? It waves. Then it reduces to smaller and smaller waves. And soon it's just the whole body of water lightly moving at the top. Eventually it will become still again. This is Leo after a fight. He doesn't calm down until we are all safe at home. It takes a long time for the waves to disappear. But when they do, he's relaxed again.
Now go to a beach. Watch the waves come in and out of the shore. The bigger ones. The smaller ones. Always changing. That's Leo's moods. Even his moods are smooth. They come crashing down with a vengeance sometimes, but mostly all we hear are the sounds. The constant rush of water going in and out. And as the waves have inter sizes, he has inter moods. They're very rarely extreme. Because that's how he is. Always adjusting. Even his breathing is always steady. Just like the waves.
Watch the sunset at the beach. As the sun goes down, what does the water do? It reflects those colors. What colors? Red. Orange. Purple. Blue. That's what Leo does. He keeps in tune with us. He connects with us. While keeping his own rhythm like the waves crash onto the shore, he connects with us like the water reflects the colors of the sky. As the leader, he blends us together.
And as the colors of the sunrise fade to the sky's natural blue, the waves turn back to their original color. Leo's color. It's perfect for him. Blue is a calming color. Just like he's always so calm. But it's also a leading color. The sky is naturally blue. Which makes the water blue. And so it is leader over all of the other colors it can be.
Now go to a waterfall. First, go to one that is twisted or only slightly slanted so the water goes over many rocks. Watch the way the water goes down all of them. It ricochets off of them in many directions. This is the way he thinks up a plan going into a mission or battle.
Leo's mind works in many ways. Like his moods are like waves, his thoughts of planning are like a splashing waterfall. Going all different directions, his mind thinks up all of the different ways this could go wrong, go right, be altered, kept the same, easily changed to get the same effect, etc. It thinks off all of the different paths things could lead down like the water droplets spray different directions.
How about a smooth waterfall? Where the water falls straight down into the waiting water below. This is Leo in freefall. Where something goes wrong and he goes into leader mode. Where he starts coming up with things off the top of his head. He's not calm then. He doesn't like to improvise. He's nervous.
He likes plans. And without one, his mind is doing the ricocheting thing again. Like the water at the top of the waterfall before it goes down. And on the way down, through the fight, there are many waves of nervousness. Like the waves you see in the waterfall that gives the water a rough look. But underlying all of the nervousness, Leo is always calm. And that's what gets us to the bottom of the waterfall safely.
Leo is amazing. And so is water if you think about it. Water can change to fit into any shape container. You keep pouring it from container to container and it will change. Leo does that. He changes to the circumstances. He fits to them, doing whatever's needed to get the desired outcome. Because he's flexible. And let me tell you. That can be a real challenge. But it's also a great skill to have.
There's one more thing to do. Look at a desert. What do you see? Sand. Dust. Dry, cracked ground. Any green? No. It's all brown. All dead. There's no water to keep any plant life alive in the driest places. Because water is life. And without it, it's all become a desert and will stay that way. Unless water somehow makes its way into that desert. Then it can be green again.
Do you know what that desert represents? That's what it would be like without Leo. Without Leo, there is no family. There is no team. Just dust. Blowing in the wind because there's no water to keep it down on the ground. No water to bring happiness. No green. Just brown.
Without Leo, we'd be devastated. We wouldn't be able to function. Like a plant can't live without water, we can't go on without Leo. It's just not possible. Though it doesn't seem like it at times, it's a fact. No Leo equals no team. Because Leo is what keeps us safe and together. Helps us function as a single unit.
He's our leader. Our strength. Our weapon in war that will drown out all opposition with his quick reactions and control. He's part of our love. Part of our team. Our flow. Our water. And without water, there's nothing to quench our thirst.