steepwithdead | Folkmore

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.

I won't pry unnecessarily. It sounds like a painful memory.

[He doesn't require the nitpicky details. Broad strokes need less exploration than the emotions attached.]

There's no such a thing as a cure-all. Those who claim otherwise are swindling. Better is good. Better can always happen, it's a gradient.

If we had a cure-all, it wouldn't have been pops. [He works on his bun, opting to soak it again.] I was happy for that gradient. Before the war, we got to at least have some real time with him.

Was funny to see him make up with Draxum and Big Mama.

As much as you can with a guy who experimented on you and a woman who held you hostage for a few years. [Sorry Caduceus, Leonardo's family situation is bizarre. He will take a sip of his tea though.]

[Caduceus quirks a brow at that. One of those is familiar to him, the other...]

I know Draxum. He and I were friends, I think. While he was here. [Did he know about the experimentation of their father? He knew a little of how the turtles themselves were made, but that feels new.] Who is Big Mama? Why did she hold him hostage?

Somehow, I'm not surprised. Draxum, for his bluster, is a decent enough guy. He took me ribbing him for tossing me off a roof as a kid pretty well for a long time. [Aliens invading the planet and destroying it, that tends to change your priorities a little.]

That is- a whole other story. Oy. [He tries to make it as compact as possible.] Short summary, pops and Big Mama were in a relationship, she turned out to be a giant spider who just wanted to kidnap him for her underground fighting ring.

I did hear a little of that story. [He recalls that Draxum was working on making amends, or at least reaching some better level of understanding with the younger Leo. He's curious of how things would have gone with the older Leonardo here.

As for Big Mama... good grief. See, this is why relationships are so messy. Better to observe and not be involved!] That seems like a lot of effort just to abduct someone.

Draxum's perspective on it must have been interesting to hear. [He does genuinely mean that. He knows what he was feeling at that time]

You're telling me, like... why? A straight-up kidnapping would have been less of a damn mess. [He shakes his head.] I didn't ask a lot of questions, I had to be the first to learn they dated while she was trying to kill us.

It was, though we both know he was often cagey with his emotions.

[Not that Caduceus is one to share what those feelings were, but Leonardo is being vague and not prying, so it's all good. He'll leave it at that.]

Must have been strange to find out about your father's love life, after growing up so isolated.

Pretty sure he'd love to pretend he never had an emotion once. [he WILL joke about that readily.]

Ooh, yeah. It was weird. I was used to Pops being depressed and living on the couch while we managed ourselves, not- having a life.

Our whole lives got shaken up in a year or two? Hell, we found a city of yokai we could've lived in instead of a sewer. It was a beautiful city built underground. You would've liked all the magic there.

Edited 2025-10-11 06:23 (UTC)

[Caduceus chuckles and nods. Yes, that sounds like Draxum.]

What was the city like? The magic?

[He's not technically the magic guy - that's more Caleb's forte, arcane and science and study versus the religious-based magic Caduceus knows - but he likes listening to stories about other worlds.]

The whole place ran on magic. Different kinds of magic, as far as I could tell. Buildings were made in the side of the dirt they had dug into under New York. They had an active port town... [Leonardo describes what he remembers of the city; with this much time and distance, some things aren't perfect, but he is still fond of it.]

Honestly, I think you would've liked the giant mushroom forest there. These things were towering taller than most of the buildings in Epiphany. Everything glowed in there when you walked through. [He made his own trip there at least once before the war properly kicked off.]

[Caduceus listens as he eats, looking thoughtful and intrigued.]

It sounds real impressive. I'd love to see something like that. Giant glowing mushrooms are right up my alley, for sure.

The place was a mess in some ways, but, walking through the mushroom forest was calming in its own way. There were definitely dangerous things there too, but the quiet gave me a little time to think.

I wish I had taken at least a few more trips down there before everything went sour.

Maybe you'll see it again one day.

[One way or another. This world has ways of offering glimpses of the past, familiar places. Or maybe Casey will drag him back to the past New York he's heard handfuls of snippets about. There's potential, regardless.]

Maybe. I'll keep it as a possibility until then. [Look at him, trying for being positive. Even if he's not entirely sure if he should go back with Casey. That is something he still needs to think about.]

It'd be nice to not see New York just corrupted by the Krang. Meaty pink tendrils everywhere was not something I liked.

[Caduceus is glad to see him positive, and thinking about it. He supports people pursuing what makes them happy, and gives them the best chance at life. He won't push for any decisions, though. It's a lot to ask or hope for.]

It doesn't sound like it would be appealing, no. Though I may be biased, I haven't had the best time with tentacles, either.

Dare I ask what you dealt with, or is that not polite meal conversation? [He is trying to give Cad a bit of an out here.] Wouldn't want to ruin the noodles we're demolishing here.

Ahhh, nothing that weird or troublesome, really. Lots of monsters. An eldritch demigod stalking a dear friend of mine. I almost got eaten myself, a few times. You'd be amazed, the number of things in one world that have tentacles.

[No hesitation in eating some more noodles, though. Clearly he wasn't eaten, so, he can eat.]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject