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[He scampers in at once, giving one full-bodied, exaggerated shiver as if trying to shake off the cold itself. Once they've closed the door and turned back to him, he lifts himself to rest his front paws lightly against their dress, reaching up. Hug, please and thank you, he's ready when you are.

The envelopes are 1) the format of his usual letters, labelled with today's date, and 2) a simple cardstock that is sealed and has written across the front:

owlbear lessons?

do not open until I go home

<3]

[Rue loves a good surprise.

They'll just tuck both envelopes into their pocket so they can turn their full attention to the owlbear balancing on two feet, a delighted laugh already bubbling up out of them as they wrap Casey up in their wings. After so many months of scooping this human boy up for hugs, it's still such an odd feeling to feel these downy feathers and such strong, broad shoulders.

But it's a feeling Rue loves, if their soft trill in greeting means anything.]

My boy.

[Casey in any form is their favorite, but maybe seeing him like this alights something especially warm in their heart.]

Feel ready for a few lessons, do you?

[Casey returns the trill eagerly, melting into the hug and butting his head affectionately against Rue's. He's definitely ready! As soon as they're ready to close up shop and give him their full attention. (RIP to whatever customer might've wanted a custom order tonight.)]

[Rue has never been the type to take an early afternoon off in their life, but there is just no way they can wait the last half hour of the day before giving their son their full attention.

So they return those headbutts with a few affectionate preens at his feathery cheek before Rue's releasing Casey with a squeeze and turning to flip the boutique's 'open' light in the window off.]

I imagine the movements will come easier than the speaking, but with consistent practice, you'll get there in no time. You already have a leg up considering you've spoken before. I imagine my difficulty in learning laid greatly in my lack of practice. Oh! And here -

[Just a few things to tuck away and Rue is his entirely, but while he's waiting, they hum out a quick tune and cast Speak with Animals.]

There! I should be able to at least understand you through owlbear chirps now.

[Casey follows them along on all fours, dutifully watching the closing-up steps with interest and sharp eyes, just in case. You never know what knowledge might be useful in this world. Occasionally when Rue is standing in one place fiddling or fussing with something, he'll push himself up onto his back legs, seeing how long he can balance himself without falling. (Harder than it looks, turns out.)

When Rue hums and casts their spell, his ear tufts perk up, recognizing the tune. The turtle spell! Oh, that's smart. He trills and chirps curiously.]

Understand? Me, understand?

There you are!

[Rue turns back from locking up the register to catch Casey up on two feet, so they cross the short distance to grab each of his front paws in their own, helping to hold him steady.

Though the memory of learning to speak is a little more fuzzy in their mind, they do remember how physically strenuous it was to learn to walk exclusively on two feet. Bears just weren't built for that kind of continued balance.]

I understand you perfectly, darling.

[He sets free a series of quick, happy chirps - the owlbear equivalent of "yaaaaay" more or less - and curls his claws around Rue's, toddling forward with more stability now that he has their weight to lean on if he starts to lose balance.]

Hard. Bottom... heavy.

[He's got more junk in the trunk like this than the scrawny human mode. It is way harder on two legs than four.]

[With their paws curled around his - and what a feeling that is, to feel another owlbear's feathery-soft, taloned paw within theirs - Rue gives a playful squeeze, laughing as they take a small step backwards, leading Casey along with them.]

Now you know how I feel!

[I'm sorry, Casey, but you've got a Pixar mom.]

Even with such practice, owlbears were never made to walk for such extended periods on their back legs. But still, you will learn in time, just as I did.

[Casey hums, amused and apologetic.]

Mom is strong. Underestimated! All the time, like this!

[He's impressed. Even with practice, it's such a strange feeling that it's hard to imagine getting used to it. But Rue makes it look so effortless. If he had a thousand years, he's still not sure if that would be enough.]

[Rue has been called many things before, but strong? It feels like it may be a first for them.

But they are, aren't they? That's something that they've finally learned about themself in this world, while fighting the fae and allowing themself to run on all fours, a piece of themself they'd tucked away for too long.]

All of the time, like this, [Rue repeats with a smile, happy to keep leading Casey around on two legs until the strain begins to feel like too much.

Though they can not help but ask,] Would you say that again? Mom?

[Casey blinks his big owl eyes at them, then seems to smile, chirping extra loud. He was about to run out of steam, strained muscles in need of a break, but the request gives him a burst of joyful adrenaline, taking more stumbling steps forward.]

Mom! [And a few more times, for good measure.] Mom! Mom!

[So that's what it sounds like as a chirp... he hadn't noticed, but now he'll never forget.]

[oh. That is what it sounds like.

Casey must see it, the way Rue's lashes flutter as they blink rapidly, their backwards steps around the shop slowing to a gentle sway in place, their gaze a million miles away...]

I remember that. Calling out for my own mother using the same chirps. I - I didn't realize I even had any memories of her still. I thought they were gone.

[Casey pauses, standing still as Rue stops. He tilts his head to the side, trilling quizzically.]

Want to talk? Share?

[He didn't know this was possible, either, but that's so important! As someone who's also lost most of his memories of his mother, he's extra invested in this.]

[It takes Rue only a moment to shake themself out of that brief spell, their attention fluttering right back to Casey. They gently help him lower back to the ground, as they try to understand just what their swirling thoughts mean.]

I don't know if there is much to say.

I remember in flashes, in fleeting memories of senses. The press of her body curling around me, the tickling of feathers against my beak, the way her rumble was so powerful it shook me to pieces... She was warm and, for an owlbear, she was soft and caring. I remember calling out to her, and while I can not remember what she called me back, I can recall feeling the power behind her call. That is all, but it's more than enough.

Edited 2023-12-23 06:31 (UTC)

[Once he's back to all fours, he sits down to rest his back legs, listening quietly as Rue remembers. Warm, soft, caring... that sounds like a good mom to him. He shuffles closer once Rue finishes speaking, leaning against their skirt and the leg behind it, pawing his way gently into an attempted hug.]

Missed you...? Wanted you.

[They are so kind and caring and at peace more often than not, it's easy to forget that Rue was stolen. Surely their mother cared for them and wanted them safe, especially as a baby. To have lost a child and be powerless to find or bring them home, perhaps not even know where they went at all, must have been so terrible.]

[Rue is hardly aware of the soft hoo, hoo that slips from their beak as they slip down into a kneel, to make it easier to wrap Casey up in a proper hug.]

I think so. She must have. I only hope she did not look too long.

[To disappear without a trace like Rue had, no scent trail to follow, not even a body to find, without the intelligence to understand where her child might have gone.

It pings a newer memory for Rue, their grip around Casey going just a touch tighter, more desperate, their head nuzzling against his.]

To think that could have been you...

[Casey makes a soft, sad chrrrr noise, learning to manoeuver his arms to hug them in return. He's clumsy with it, but getting there.]

Sorry, so sorry. Glad you are you, sad you lost her. Saved me...

[If Rue hadn't been stolen, they wouldn't be the wondrous owlbear they are today, the one they're all fortunate enough to know and love. But it's hard to be entirely happy about what happened when he knows how terrified he'd have been if he had never been able to go home from the feywild of this world, if Rue hadn't found him and brought him back. With everything he'd have lost in the process, how would he feel? Would a thousand years be enough to change his mind? Would he forget them?

The thought of it is too wretched. He feels the same ache Rue does, frightened by what they'd both come so close to losing.]

[There isn't even a second of hesitation before Rue answers,]

I will always save you. I am no feral owlbear mother. No matter what, no matter where you go, I will track you down and bring you home. Always.

[A clumsy hug is still strong, feathery arms wrapped around Rue, the strange familiarity tugging at their heart in a way they aren't at all prepared to process.

They take just a moment to press against Casey and breathe, before finally huffing out a mirthless laugh.]

Forgive me, little cub. I did not meant to take this down such a dark path. It just struck me, both the memory and the realization, but I am quite well, especially right here with you, in my beautiful shop, getting to spend this lovely afternoon learning to owlbear. I am alright. I did not scare you, did I?

[Casey trembles a little as those words hit home. He knows, of course, knew beforehand. But to hear it with such conviction is nonetheless touching. Going forward he'd like to be wise enough not to get himself in trouble and make them worry for him, though knowing this world and the sort of life he leads, it might be inevitable. Still, he can try.]

Not scared. [He shakes his head, nuzzling against them, his head bumping over and over not unlike a cat.] Sad for you. Feel, yes? Feel. Lessons wait.

[His speech is clumsy even with the auto-translation, made worse with his eagerness, and he knows he's fumbling his way through it, but hopefully they can get the gist. They so often rush through their emotions and end up waving them off before too long, while the rest get to languish and explore in depth under their tender and loving attention. Pressed close like this, with hundreds of bare and sensitive feathers feeling everything around him, he can sense their tension. He's no stranger to dark paths, and he's not afraid to walk them with Rue.]

[Making mistakes is all part of being alive and having the agency to make choices. Even Rue, with many millennia worth of wisdom has made more than their fair share of them.

Sad for you.

It breaks Rue's heart even more than thinking of their lost family does. Back in the Feywild, being Taken was seen as a gift, to be blessed with fae magic and an immortal life. It was a Kindness sneered back down at them, to take in an animal and not leave them behind in a cage.

But Casey says he is sad for them. He recognize the heavy feeling welling up within them, is trying so hard to make space where Rue has always been so determined to not take up any.]

I hardly know what to say. It is so long ago, I feel numb to the grief. Perhaps I am shaken by the memory because for the whole of my life, I've imagined the family I left behind as nothing but animals.

[Casey pats a gentle paw against Rue's chest, over their heart.]

Animals feel. Animals love. Love you.

[He doesn't have a lot of experience with animals, admittedly. Most of them were dead on his world and he's never had a pet. Still, he can't help feeling wholeheartedly that it's true. The way they feel may be different, but they experience it, too. Love doesn't have to come from sentience.]

Remember turtle? Liked where he lived. Felt it. Turtle can like, turtle can love.

[A paw presses over their heart, short talons tickled by their feathers, just as gently placed as any touch Rue would offer.

Maybe Casey understands being an owlbear even better than they do.]

I - [It's true. The turtle, the kraken, the cats down at the cat cafe - Speaking to them was just like speaking to anyone else. Why wouldn't they assume an owlbear would be exact same? Why does that realization feel like a punch to the gut?]

I don't know why I never thought of it before. I feel foolish. It must have been easier to deal with that loss thinking otherwise, believing she was only a beast. [Their own paw, massive in comparison, rests over Casey's.] I have worried briefly of what would become of me if the magic that changed me left, if I returned to what I was before.

[At the very least, he has truly learned from the best, even if this is technically their first lesson. More than an owlbear, he is their son, to the core.

His eyes widen at that admission, gently resting his chin over their joined hands. Could that even happen? Could that magic be stolen away, leaving Rue as they would have been if raised by wild owlbears... its so strange and terrifying to imagine. No wonder they worry. How much of them would remain? It's an unfair thing that could be taken away, after all they've done to become and accept who they are today.

His beak nibbles gently at the feathers of their paw beneath him.]

Still know us. Still family. Would help you come home again.

[Rue is Rue, no matter the form. If their intelligence and sentience was stolen from them, the whole family would sweep in and do everything in their power to bring their mother back. But mother they would remain, even so.]

[They can't help but think of their own admission just some weeks earlier.

I would rather be dead.

But Casey promises they would all bring Rue home and fight for them, do whatever they could to bring them back, and the promise is a mix of sweetly heartwarming and utterly terrifying. The very idea that they may hurt one of their own sons while feral would absolutely devastate them.

- But maybe they would recognize their smell as their own children, maybe the magic of the vows they've made would persist still, even after the rest of it had fled from Rue completely.

Without warning, Rue huffs out a sigh and shakes their big, feathery head, ruffling up their usually neat feathers. And they they lean in to nibble a preening kiss into Casey's heart-shaped feathers, tender and familiar and adoring.]

I believe you. But ultimately, it has not happened yet, so certainly, it never will. I feared being cut off from the Fae Realm's magic might trigger such a change within myself, but it's been well over a year now and I am still perfectly myself, magic and all.

[Casey trills softly and leans into the fussing gesture, eyes closing contentedly. He's learned the appeal of preening, and he somewhat understands how Rue must have felt when he'd helped them during a moult. (Gosh. Would he do that now too? Is he going to feel itchy in his skin one day and need to have Rue free his feathers? What an interesting day that would be.)]

Mom is mom. Glad you're still you. Have faith that you will stay, have faith that we will find you if anything happens. There's nothing to fear.

[His chirping tone is firm, confident; his speech is even less clumsy and stilted as a result. They don't know what the future might bring, and maybe Thirteen will do something terrible for a trial, as she has before. But this is a test he believes wholeheartedly that they could win no matter what. Just as Leo brought Raph back from the Krang, they would bring Rue back through the magic of their bonds.]

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