voidtreckernet | video/action

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[Video]

[ Della's face pops up looking... well, like everyone else - exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally. She smacks her beak a bit, before speaking. ]

... So. That sucked.

[ Fully aware that's the understatement of the century, Della draws a breath, and tries again. ]

I think we could all use a nice, long breather after everything... and, gosh darn it, as Train Mom, that is my sacred duty. Hugs? Head on the lap? Head-pats telling you that you did a good job? A shoulder to cry on? Venting out all your feelings without judgement? I'm right here.

[ She slaps her chest, then slaps a small sign on on the sports/gym car. It reads

EXHAUST PILE WITHIN

But as she does this, Tidus enters the scene - Della jumps, surprised, almost forgetting his presence.

He just smiles, holding up two cups with steam coming off them, then addresses the video feed as well. ]

We're also making big batches of cocoa too. Any of you that're gonna stress bake? There's room for that room - s'long as you don't need a nap first.

[ It's a small chide though, his smile small but sympathetic. ]

I've gotten out some incense pots from the supplies - you guys who got your head thrown into a blender by that aash-- uh, that jerk, [ he takes a swift glance at Della, then back ] --it'll help you relax. Just some, but better than nothin'. I'll set some off in Momma Duck's air nest, but if you're not doing great and you think you need a pot? Tell me. Raven made a lot of good stuff for good nights sleep if you need any in the medcar, too.

... So, yes. Cocoa. Incense. Hugging. And if you want to sleep with friends for a couple nights, we got air beds and extra pillows in here. Nobody has to get up and go until they feel ready.

And if that's not enough, that's fine too. Maybe next month we do something a little more organized, if you have any suggestions - movie night, sleepover night, big eat night, whatever, I'm listening. And I'm here for you.

[ Action ]

And inside the sports gym, the pair can be found. They have a few airbeds blown up, but there's more that still need airing up if you pop in straight after their message. There's also a tremendous amount of pillows. If you want to help, get blowing, and make these airbeds look nice and comfy!

The transgate from the standard coach has mysteriously been moved to the sports gym's outer hallway. Who did that? But it makes it easier to bring in the cups of hot chocolate from the kitchens, and for anyone who wants to bring snacks to do so. Take a seat, remember to bring your sleeping bag and whatever else you want. Plushes, your own musical instrument to offer some de-stress medication of your own with a melody.

And there's an area where small incense pots burn away, a gentle mist rising up. It won't heal the mind completely, but it will offer it some peace. And if you're worried about nightmares, a few of Raven's sachets and teas are available.

So come get a mom hug. Come and offer hugs. Just come and get something out of the company, whatever it is. Tidus and Della - and others - will be here to give a hand.

The life you had might've been fake, but the people around you aren't.

((OOC: consider this a mingling post, where everyone is free to tag everyone else! be the comforter, the one offering comfort, both, whatever!))

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In that case, he's not letting go. He's been in need of a good hug for a good while, and he'd only just realized it once he started getting them.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He can barely follow one train of thought right now, but for Della, he can try, regardless of how exhausted he might be.

Della hesitates, before opening it up.

"... I didn't have a family in that world. I wasn't even a mom. And I know it's silly, since it was all fake but... it was almost like... I dunno. Even they felt like I didn't deserve to be a mom."

"They're wrong."

Exhaustion has completely disabled Ryo's filter (and the barriers to a few things he doesn't really think about along with it) and left him unable to work with nuance, so this is going to be a very frank conversation.

"You're a good mom." All he has to judge that is how Della treats him and how much she cares about her kids at home, but honestly, that's more than enough to form an opinion. "And they made me Thanatos's older brother, and I'm a terrible older brother, so..." There's a point in there somewhere - about the illusion forcing them into roles they're not suited for in order to weaken them - but he can't quite grasp it well enough to make it. Still, Della should understand, right?

Oh, no. She was allowed to diss herself all she liked, but only she could! Ryo was not allowed to diss himself! No sir!

"Did Thanatos say you were a terrible older brother?" She pointed out, doubting Thanatos would ever say such a thing, brainwashed or otherwise.

Oh, no, she didn't get it. He's skipped a step somewhere. That didn't work.

"No, but I'm not an older brother anyway. I'm the younger twin." That's the point. He was bad at being the older brother because he was never supposed to be one.

...he should probably say that, now that he's got the thought in his head. "The illusion tried to make us something we're not."

"... Oh. Sorry." At least she did look a little embarrassed... but then she had to laugh.

"The mom in me just instantly flipped at the mere idea you were being down on yourself." Which, in a way, also proved Ryo's point that she wasn't exactly a bad mom.

He still hasn't let go of the hug, so while he doesn't see her facial expression, he hears that laugh and that admission and nudges her a little. "See? Good mom." Point proven.

A long pause, and then a soft sigh.

"Did I ever tell you how I lost my leg? And why I feel like a bad mom in the first place?"

He is probably too tired to be helpful in this conversation, but they're having it anyway. He'll do his best - he owes Della that much, at least.

"No, you haven't."

With a deep breath, and pulling back enough so they could see each other's faces, she began.

"... I've been adventuring with my brother and my uncle since I was a duckling... ah, little kid. It was amazing, every day we discovered something new. So when I got pregnant, I wanted to give my kids those experiences... but it felt like now that I was an adult, we'd already been everywhere and seen everything. So I wanted to go further... I wanted to give my kids the stars. I wanted to build a rocket-ship, and go into space.

My brother, Donald, was against the idea from the start. Once I laid my eggs, he told me it was time I started being more responsible, that I had to actually stay in place for once to be with my children. I fought with him, thinking I knew best, that he was just a coward. My Uncle, Scrooge, for his part, took my side at first. He began to make a rocket-ship in secret, to surprise me.

... But I found out anyway."

The hug may be done for now, but he's definitely still holding her hand. He listens, and oddly, it's the misplaced memories from the illusion that give him the context for rocket-ship and go into space. He nearly follows that little conversational diversion, but manages to wrangle his attention back to where it matters: Della and her story. She wanted to go, she had the means, she thinks she's a bad mom...

"So you went." It's not quite a question, but it still requires confirmation.

"So I went." With a small nod.

"I left behind a note saying I was going to take it. I tried to justify it so many times, telling myself it was for my kids and my family... but that wasn't the truth. I wanted to be the first McDuck in space. I wanted the thrill and the glory of charting unknown territory. I did all for my own pride.

... But, as it turns out, flying a rocket-ship isn't like flying a plane. I wound up entering a meteor shower, and the ship crashed onto the moon."

...she crashed on the moon.

He blinks, and then for a few long seconds he just stares. Exhaustion is preventing him from thinking as quickly as he normally would, and having context for space travel really doesn't prepare him for the idea of crash-landing on the moon.

So he needs a moment. Or several. And then several more.

He eventually gets himself a bit more under control and tries to get his brain back on track. "Oh." A moment passes. "How...?" He doesn't really have a solid question, but she can interpret that how she will.

Given the difference in space travel advancements between worlds, she's not really surprised at that being the shock factor. So she waits patiently for the information to sink in, occasionally stroking his hair every now and then.

When cued to continue the story...

"I didn't know how to dodge the meteors, how to land properly, nothing. Really, it's more of a miracle I survived at all. I blacked out on impact - and when I woke up, a large chunk of the wrecked ship was on my leg."

She didn't go into detail on that part, figuring he didn't want the gruesome mental imagery any further than necessary.

"Oh." The acknowledgement takes far less time, and is far less surprised. Della's isn't the first missing limb he's seen (here, or at all), and whether people choose to talk about their injuries is up to them - he's not about to pry.

He's quiet for a moment as he tries to follow along with the story - this explains her prosthetic, but not why she thinks she's a bad mom (which he still doesn't believe for a second). "Did you make it home?"

Now for the next big bombshell.

"... Ten years. It took me over ten years to rebuild the ship and get back to my family." She looked away, because to be fair, she hadn't even done it on her own. The citizens of the moon had done what she couldn't.

"... And while I was gone, I thought my brother and uncle would raise my boys together. But it turns out, Donald blamed Scrooge for what I did, and took the boys away with him. All that time, they didn't even know Scrooge was their uncle."

So not only had she "abandoned" her children, she'd ripped apart the rest of her family.

Oh.

His eyes widen a bit as he listens and processes. She'd made one decision, and it had changed the course of her life - and her family's lives - for a decade. She couldn't have known - she wouldn't have done it if she'd known. Ryo refuses to believe that. Della cares too much for that.

But that still doesn't change the fact that it happened.

"I'm sorry," he says quietly, leaning back in for another hug.

He's done nothing wrong, there's no need to apologize. But it's just the sort of thing one says - and the thing she's said to him before. So he really understands.

She quietly strokes his hair in the hug.

"Donald didn't tell them what happened to me. I... I guess he didn't want them to be angry at me. He just said I was gone one day. But eventually... Donald was low on money and options. He asked Scrooge to be a babysitter, and that's when my boys finally learned he was their uncle. They wound up staying together for a while, bonding, becoming a real family again... until they made Scrooge tell them what happened to me. They blamed him, instead of me, and the family was almost torn apart all over again."

He mulls that over quietly. His own mother is dead - he'd known that from the beginning, and there was no getting around it. But if she'd simply been lost, and his uncle had lied to him and Ryoga about it...he can understand feeling betrayed. It's awful, but it makes sense.

"But...you made it home, right?" She'd said ten years, not I'm still there.

"Yes, I did... which is another long story, but after those ten years, with some help, I finally came home. But... ten years is a long time. For all they heard about me, I was still a complete stranger to the boys. And I have so much to make up for... I feel like there's a gap I'll never bridge."

She touches Ryo's cheek, trailing some hair behind his ear.

"... That's why I try so hard for all of you. I messed up so badly with my own kids... I never want to do that with any of you."

He holds Della tighter for just a few moments. She hasn't messed up - she's the mom he'd never had, and he's grateful - and he's about to say as much when the situation slowly turns itself around in his mind. He's heard Della's viewpoint, but...he can't stop thinking about her sons.

What would he think if his mother suddenly came back?

Maybe...maybe that's the perspective Della doesn't have.

He sits back a bit, still holding her hand, and takes a breath. Hopefully this will help. "I don't know if I ever told you this, but...I never knew my mother. She died when I was born, and all I know about her is the stories my uncle's told me." The less said about his father in all of this, the better - he's trying to comfort Della, not make her angry. "She's not coming back, but if she did somehow, I...I think I'd just be happy to have her - to hold her, and talk to her, and get to know her." For a moment, he falls silent, exhausted brain caught up in the fantasy. What would meeting his mother be like? What would he even say to her, if he got a chance?

But there's no train in his world, no lifeline, no way for people to come back from the dead, and this isn't about him. "I don't know your boys," he says, as though that second or two of silence simply hadn't happened, "but I don't think they'd be worried about whether you're a perfect mom. I think they'd just be happy to have you back."

Della's expression softens as she hears his "retort". They really are wise words, and ones she hadn't really considered before. She's never asked anyone in her family to be perfect either, nor would she want them to be. She loves their flaws as much as their strengths.

After a small sigh comes a small smile. "When did you get to be so smart?"

He was honestly worried he might upset her more; that his words had helped instead is a relief, and he smiles back. "It's just a different perspective, that's all." He's never been a parent; he's definitely been a son missing his mother.

"Still, it's one I've needed." Della admits, still petting his hair a bit. "And one I'm grateful to hear. I owe you big time, my man."

He leans into her touch, just a bit. "No, you don't. If anything, I still owe you from two months ago." He hasn't forgotten her promise, and it's part of what's helped keep him steady.

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