steepwithdead | Folkmore

Anddd this is why we're friends. Well, one of many reasons. [He is going to have a very good time talking with Caduceus, clearly.] Everyone usually groans at any puns I make or seem to hate them.

[He fidgets with his fork idly.] Not that I've flexed that muscle in a while. Guess I haven't had the chance to.

Isn't that what children are for? To make cringe and complain about terrible jokes?

[Flex dad muscles and pun muscles at the same time.]

I raised him right, he likes my jokes. [He groans as necessary!!]

Just, haven't had... as much time in the last couple of years to joke. Guess I better make up for lost time.

Good kid.

[He knew that already, but he's glad that Leonardo feels about Casey the same way the boy feels about his sensei. That part's so important.]

I know you haven't had much to joke about for a very long time. For all of its flaws, this world has plenty. Take advantage of that, and joke to your heart's content.

The best kid. [Embarrassing dad hours, yes.]

You welcome it, but I already know Donnie, and the teen versions of my brothers, are going to hate it.

Guess I'll save my best material for you.

[Well now he's made it tempting to downplay Casey's qualities in gentle ways just to see Leonardo do his dad thing. He thinks he needs the practice anyway, so may as well help. Plus it's adorable.]

What an honour. I'll see about returning in kind. [He's not a huge jokester, but he does have his moments.] I think I owe you a story, now.

[The promise does make Leo light up a little before he can tamp it down to be chill. BE NORMAL!! Someone else enjoying something he does feels nice and exciting!] I think you do. Fair is fair after all.

[he is going to pick up one of the buns to gently let it soak in the noodles broth.]

Let's see... [A similar story, maybe, to keep the vibe going.] When my youngest sister Clarabelle was still small - well, smaller - she decided one day that she needed to learn how to climb a tree. She first asked me to teach her, but big brother Colton decided he was the best at climbing, so he would take on the lessons.

[Caduceus follows suit, trying the bun with the broth as well.]

In fairness to him, he is the better climber. What he isn't better at is flora and fauna identification. So- ah, first, does your world have a creature known as a "treant"?

[He lifts his bun from the bowl, biting into a soaked portion of it. Yes, the broth does indeed work with the bun. His shoulders slump at the flavor, enjoying it muchly.]

We do not have Treants, but, I have a feeling of just where this is story going.

[Caduceus smiles. It may be predictable, but the fun is in the telling.]

They're just like what you're probably imagining: at a glance, a tree. But they're very old creatures who can speak, and often have a lot to say. The Savalirwood is home to many strange beasts and equally strange stories.

Colton was eager to show his prowess, so he climbed with hardly a glance. Clarabelle was whispering to him the whole time, don't step on its nose! Don't poke its eyes! You'll wake it up. He was in the middle of telling her that trees don't have eyes when it came to life and demanded he get his foot out of its mouth. And then out of his own mouth, so to speak.

[Leonardo already has an idea of where this is going, but does find himself laughing at the punchline all the same.] Omigosh, that must have been fun to clear up with the poor guy they climbed.

Oh, I can bet Colton never heard the end of that one. I at least wouldn't have given Raph peace if he did that.

He certainly didn't. Especially since the treant tried to carry them out of the woods, insisting it wasn't safe for them. It took about two hours of wandering into one mess after another trying to convince it that we lived there. "I know every inch of these woods!" it kept saying, yet somehow couldn't remember that the Blooming Grove or Bone Orchard existed. It'd evidently lost its mind.

A geriatric tree- oh no. [He can't help but laugh again. Working on tearing into the dipped portion of the bun. He's sure Mikey would have strong opinions about the whole bun and noodle situation, but, at this point he doesn't care. Leo is just having a good time.]

I'm glad your siblings found their way back, but, damn. Hopefully Colton figured out to look before he leapt, or climbed in that case.

He figured out that he should keep his mouth shut about things he's not an expert on. At least for about six years.

[All bets were off at that point, around when he and Calliope left the grove. He was determined to go off and be the big hero, save Mom and Aunt Corrin.]

The plus side is, 'Belle still learned to climb, and she got to hold it over his head for ages.

[He whistles, impressed by that much.] Six years? He ever beat that record, or did he manage to avoid the same kind of fumble?

Oh, I bet. She probably still brings it up between the two of them when she cans. Mikey enjoys- [He stalls for a second, correcting himself.] enjoyed rubbing it in my face that ghosts exist.

I couldn't say. That happened around thirteen years ago. Six years is the difference between when it happened and when he went missing. [He pauses, then adds, to avoid killing the mood,] Temporarily.

[That part's important.]

You didn't believe in ghosts?

Give it time, he'll have to eat crow again for something. [He's still trying to keep the mood light as well.]

When I was a kid, I thought ghosts were made up. I gave Mikey the hardest time about it. My baby brother loved watching scary videos about ghosts. Any chance I'd get, I'd scare him over it.

Suppose he already did a little, when I saved him from staying petrified forever. I get to hold that over his head for life.

[The tragedy of loss can be blissfully overshadowed by the joy of reunion. That's a real mood.]

I couldn't imagine ever doubting that. Then again, we grew up in very different places.

You'll get to lovingly rub that in his face whenever possible. I know I would. [He offers back, aware there is a gap between that and now, but... Caduceus will get to go home eventually.]

In my defense, I grew up in a place where magic isn't considered real to humans and we lived on the fringes of their society. That and, y'know, I didn't know our whole family had some weird ghostly connection to our ancestors to fulfill some great destiny our dad shirked. [He says this casually while popping another soggy ripped bit of bread into his mouth.]

His time will come again.

[Assuming Caduceus himself gets home alive, eventually. Even after he returns to his own world, his journey is far from complete.]

Destiny's a messy, daunting thing. What was it, if it's alright to ask? Or what is it, should I say.

[He doesn't know if said destiny was fulfilled, or ongoing- or failed, considering the state of Leonardo's world.]

Give him an extra hassle from me. [He has to joke about it at least a little. Both of them are middle siblings from very different families, but there are enough similarities to be comforting.

The question earns a big exhale from the turtle.] How do I even explain half of this? [He is eating some noodles real fast to give himself buffer time to think.]

If you're Hamato, you were supposed to stop an ancient evil demonic armor from being put together by an opposing clan, The Foot Clan. Even if it cost you your very life, that was your duty. My father ran from that, and in the generational lull, the armor was being put together.

Long story short, the armor did in fact come together. We had to fight it.

[Caduceus listens with a thoughtful expression, considering each detail. It's a new aspect of their family that he'd been unaware of until now. No wonder they'd put so much effort into protecting the world for so many years. They'd had that duty placed upon them long before, even if they'd dodged it as a family for a while first.]

It sounds like destiny found you, in the end. But you won.

[They wouldn't have lived to fight aliens for decades after, otherwise.]

We did, and broke the cycle our family was stuck in. [He's going to eat a bit more noodles, don't mind him. It gives him a chance to think back on that. He was just a kid then. Younger than Casey is now.] We found out that the demon armor was our a distant great great greaaat grandfather who made a deal with a demon to protect his family. He became corrupted because of the armor. His daughter made another clan, fought him, then- well, sacrificed herself to keep him contained to minimize what he could do. Foot Clan were a part of our family at one point too, but chose the demonic armor.

I wasn't even fifteen when we had to handle all of that, so, I could be mixing up a few things in my mind.

That is a while back.

[Not ancient or anything, but Caduceus has lived through enough decades to know that memories fade over time, finer details fall to the wayside. The moments and emotions are what stick, mostly.]

I'm glad that you were able to break that cycle. It must have been a great relief for your father, after running for so long.

The teens could probably give you a better idea of what happened than I can at this point. [He jokes absently back.]

I think it was, he seemed... a lot lighter. [He twirls his fork in the noodles absently.] It didn't fix his other problems, but, it made things much better.

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