ruevealing | folkmore inbox.

just gonna delete these now

[not so fast]

I hope you do not mind ice cream for breakfast, my Leo. :)

[NO HIS COOL GUY PERSONA RUINED

he will just play it cool. he is totally cool. no one read those.]

prob not the healthiest but wouldnt say no

Good! Because I found the absolute worst flavors possible and I've kept them stored in my freezer just for you.

[Rue sends over a picture of Cheddar Cheese and Foie Gras ice cream cartons. Yuck.]

I'll be there soon!

o good choices

wait what

How are we to eat this ice cream if I do not come over, hm?

i mean sure yeah
gotta ingest to eat
but feels sudden

[rue sees how this is!!]

What is at all wrong with a parent wanting to come spend special time with their darling son? :)

[Oh Rue has NO informed history about Splinter to understand why some danger alarms are going off in his head.]

nothing
doors open always for u

[Don't mind him spending the next hour trying to figure out what he did wrong that he doesn't know about]

[leo 😭

Without another word, Leo would be able to feel the wave of comfort over him - like a big owlbear hug - from Rue squeezing their bracelet to their chest. Try not to fret too badly, sweetheart, things will clear up soon enough!

With no portals to make an easy teleport, it takes the owlbear a little longer to get across Willow and then make it all the way to Epiphany, but eventually they arrive, wings heavy with bags of ice cream and other treats, plus a few extras they packed along the way. There's a firm, polite knock on the door before Rue lets themself in.]

Good morning, my darling!

[He does feel it, and it is a comfort. He shifts his own bracelet to his fingers to give a gentle squeeze. Reassurance, he's fine.

But soon as the door opens, he waves from the couch.]

Mooooorning.

[Mom is just going to come straight over to him on the couch, setting the bags aside in favor of giving their boy a giant, feathery hug and a quick peck of a kiss to the forehead.]

I hope I haven't interrupted any other plans you had this morning, but I simply had to come see you.

[Leo watches them just second before incoming hug. He smiles a bit, hugging with his one arm as he can.]

Didn't have any anyway, so nothing to interrupt.

Excellent! Then we will have the morning - and the ice cream - all to ourselves!

[Let them just pull out the ice cream flavors to set out in front of Leo, before Rue is bustling off to the kitchen to pick up spoons.]

Hmm, would you like any tea or juice while I'm up, dear?

[Leo keeps watching them before picking up his relic to do exactly what he said he was going to do: delete his messages. He hadn't intended Rue to see them and it's easy to connect the dots of him just sending his messages into the void of 2am sleeplessness and Rue deciding to randomly come by with bad flavor ice cream.]

No, uh. I'm good, thanks.

[From the kitchen, Rue hums out in response before reappearing in the living room, coming to settle in beside the teen. They hold out a spoon for him.]

I wanted to talk, my love. About your messages.

[Rue makes a gesture to open their arms, if Leo might like to collapse against them with his ice cream, but they will leave it up to him. They know how these conversations go, how difficult it can be to open up about thoughts and feelings that feel unfair to speak, but they will always be ready to wrap him up in their arms, no matter how old he gets.]

I would like to ask you a question, though, if that is alright.

[He takes the spoon easy enough but if he's honest? Nothing sounds all that appetizing right now. Still, he won't be rude. He'll settle a carton of the easiest looking ice cream between his knees and bring it up so he can get some on his spoon.

Though he pauses for only a second at their request before continuing.]

Sure, go for it. What's up?

[A gentle paw rests at his forearm, over the bracelet they both share.]

You said that when we all spoke to you before, that it went bad. Is that how you feel that conversation went? That it was bad?

[He feels that, looks down at the paw. Feels how comforting that bracelet feels even without them initiating the adoption bond between them.]

You guys all got upset and non of us really knew what to do by the end of it. So... yeah, I think it went bad. It didn't really help.

[oh.]

I never thought that in the slightest. We wanted to make a space for you to feel like you could speak up and not face such things alone, and I, perhaps foolishly, felt that we'd accomplished that piece. But if you say it did not help, then I apologize deeply. Profoundly.

[A gentle, apologetic squeeze against his wrist.]

I am very sorry, Leo. Please, if that did not help, what can I do to help ease any of your hurt?

[He feels that squeeze, feels the reassurance and care that comes with it. He takes a slow breath just sort of... sitting there, his hand in their paw between them on the couch.]

Just keep bein' you. I've- Been kind of trying to move on and move past it, y'know? It just... Feels like most of the time I'm stuck.

[If he'll allow it, Rue will close some of the distance between them, just to peck a gentle kiss against his forehead, their feathers lingering there against him.]

I understand. [Their situations are different, but Rue has often felt the shameful hurt of not being able to shake something they are trying to leave behind. Sometimes those wounds just linger.]

Tell me, darling. Everything that you sent me earlier. Please, unload all of here, let me carry some of the weight of everything you've been holding.

[He doesn't fight it at all, instead just... Tired, for the most part. He was really just wanting to send those thoughts out into a void, delete them, and no one be the wiser because he thought at weird don't-trust-your-brain-hours, Rue would have been asleep and not even noticed.]

I just-

This whole place. It's about becoming our 'best selves', and I dunno what that's supposed to be for me. Everyone else seems like they're figuring it out.

[Surprise, sweet son, but Rue is too nocturnal to sleep much through the night.

They offer him a paw to take, if he might like something to hold.]

I understand how difficult it can be to look around you and feel you are off on some entirely different level than the rest of them. To think you're ten steps behind, always, no matter what you do.

[He takes the paw carefully in one hand, thumbing along the pads there. Soft. Big.]

...And how do you get past it?

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