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Get whatever you like. And as much as you like!

[you could have pancakes for days, casey.]

To be perfectly honest, I had an ulterior motive to asking you out with me this morning.

[Casey flips down his menu briefly to grin at them.]

I knew it! [He did not.] What is it?

[With it still so early, the diner is just empty enough that somewhere behind the counter Rosie absolutely laughs at that excited outburst of his.]

Did you? Truly? [A little fake gasp that quickly turns into a happy chuckle.] I'm losing my touch.

[Casey's cheeks turn pink at both the callout and the laugh, hiding behind the menu once more, suddenly very fixated on pancakes.]

Well... I had a suspicion, anyway. You did text pretty early.

[They lay a paw on the tabletop, all too reminiscent of their first meeting, a tiny pinch at Rue's cheek as if they were trying to frown.]

Oh Casey, I must apologize for waking you up. I had so much on my mind and I wasn't paying close enough attention to the time. I did not mean to wake you.

[Very different from their first meeting, Casey's instinct is to drop a hand from the menu to rest it against Rue's paw. The conversation isn't serious enough for him to pull his attention entirely off the menu - food needs to be ordered still! decisions to be made! don't inconvenience the wait staff (even if they laugh at him)! - but he notices.]

Oh, don't even worry about it. It wasn't that much earlier than I usually wake up. And I'm pretty good at going back to sleep most of the time.

[As long as it doesn't involve nightmares. Mom texts are so much easier to settle down from.]

[The pinch disappears from Rue's feathery countenance, eyes smiling as their server appears to drop off their drinks - proudly proclaiming she's brought Casey's 'really big glass of orange juice' with a grin - and to take their order.

Without having even looked at the menu, Rue politely pushes it back over the tabletop towards Rosie.]

I'll have a large order of breakfast potatoes and a side of bacon, thank you.

[Casey gleefully chugs his juice while Rue orders. The glass kind of is comically large in his hands.]

I'll have the breakfast platter #2 please! With extra bacon.

[Once their orders are taken and Rosie bustles off, Casey is menu-less at last and gives Rue his full attention.]

You still haven't said what we're here for.

[There's no escape now.

Rue curls a paw around their mug - hilariously, far too small for their paw in comparison to Casey's giant juice - and looks down at their coffee.]

I've been thinking of what comes after this place.

[His eyes widen at that, all trace of humour vanishing into a quiet, curious interest, waiting for them to go on.]

[Rue's gaze jumps up to Casey at that, their beak clacking together at that shift in his expression.]

It is not so serious! I promise. I just don't know what to expect. How much will have to change. Who I will have to be.

[And then, relaxing a touch into the booth cushion.]

I was there with ADI for nearly ten months. Leo for eight, I believe. Donatello and Peter for seven.

Oh... I think I understand. You're wondering if we'll end up in another world, instead of going back to New York? Or is it New York that's worrying you?

[Both sound like they would be awfully daunting, especially for someone wary of having to hide again.]

Truth be told, it is New York itself. I - [a very controlled, very long exhale at that] I try not to think of us fleeing this world only to end up, yet again, in another.

[the thought is very stressful and rue will push it right back down as long as they can]

But I would like to know what you think of us all returning to New York after this.

[A heavy question, and one that has Casey staring down his orange juice for a long moment.]

I... haven't thought about it a lot, to be honest. It was just what I assumed would happen, because it's how it's supposed to be. Being with sensei, with everyone... it's all I remember. Where he went, I went. And I guess things are different now, in their world I could go anywhere if I wanted. Their world isn't... empty.

[Could he leave, though? Split off from the only family he's ever known - even a younger, more distant version - and explore? What would he do? He'd be so lost, still just a kid out of time, in a world he knows nothing about. Maybe it would be easier for everyone if he left. Maybe it would be okay if he stayed, and was just... lost, but with them, for a while. He doesn't know what to expect, or what would be expected of him.]

New York is going to be almost as much of an unknown to me as it is to you. Truth is, I don't care that much where we go. I just want us to go together, somewhere we can be happy. I don't think Leo and the others would want to go anywhere else, so... New York it is.

They are quite determined to return home, so New York it is.

[Not that Rue blames any of them - of course they want to return to their home, their family, their city - if Rue had such strong associations and ties back in the Feywild, they'd never be able to think about ever leaving.

But the fact of it all is that they don't. Their only family is here, with these children they love so dearly.]

I imagine Leo and Donnie and Raph will return to their home with their brother and father. And Peter too, of course, he would not leave Leo's side. I don't know if you plan to stay with them as well, but if not, you could stay with me, wherever that ends up being.

[Casey nods slowly. Wherever Rue goes...]

I did think about that a little. They have their lair, and Peter would stay with Leo, under the city. Hunter wants to come back with us, too. Him, and you, and Hob too- you'd have to hide, or live in the sewer. Because it's a human world, and you're not.

[He taps idly on his glass, then looks up.]

But what if we all lived in the Hidden City?

[Though a little sensitive in context, the conversation is far from stressful or worrying, so Rue isn't trying to hide the show of their feelings in the slightest. So there's no missing the way their feathery brow jumps up at the mention of Hunter returning with them - just two weeks ago he had said quite differently, has he since changed his mind?

That is a relief.]

I hold no love for the Hidden City. A place to hide those who are different, to put them in their place and tell them to stay beneath the surface. It is roomier, but it is still a cage. And after a lifetime of living in the sun, I fear I would wilt under the ground.

[to wake up without the sun shining in their window, to lose so much of the nature that has been such an integral part of their life, it sounds like rue's own personal hell.]

-But I understand that our options are slim there.

Edited 2024-01-11 04:36 (UTC)

[The situation with Hunter is more complicated, admittedly, and Casey's made some promises in that direction, too. But one problem to be tackled at a time.

At Rue's response, Casey ducks his head, wilting a little. It was done gently, but he can't help feeling chastised for a foolish suggestion. It'd felt like a natural solution, a place where yokai and mutants and non-humans could live free. He'd heard from the yokai of his world that it had its own merit and beauty. But it's true that it had no true sun or open sky.]

I-I'm sorry. I thought- I mean. ...It's easy for me to say... I grew up underground.

[He never wants to go back to eating leaves or rats, to fearing for his life every day, to running and hiding and fighting all his life. But underground? For his family, he could live underground again. That's home. If only it were that easy for everyone else.]

I don't... know where else to go, though. I don't know what else there is.

[Too passionate? Rue sees the way Casey deflates and they immediately reach for him again.]

No, my love. You did nothing wrong. Forgive me my heated response, it had so little to do with your suggestion and more to my hurt at the idea of another world that will be so utterly unaccepting of us.

[Truth be told, there's just no winning when it comes to New York. It is either stay glamoured on the surface and be allowed to have a real life going anywhere they want out in the sun or to be stuffed into the dark but allowed to be themselves. It's frustrating and Rue has been spinning in place the last month trying to figure out which would make them not go insane.]

It has been much on my mind as well. By all logic, the Hidden City would be where we should land. And let it be said, none of that is any fault of your own. We are the ones who must hide, you even offering to come with us when you could live on the surface and be free, it is far more than anyone should ever have to choose. Besides, being with you and Hunter, and being able to see the others is all that matters. Losing you all just to live a free life would be far worse.

[That makes him hesitate, because it still sounds wrong. Being with them is what matters. Losing them would be worse. It sounds pretty enough but what sticks in his mind is cage, is wilt, is the idea of not being free. It sounds terrible, selfish, cruel to ask Rue to live like that just to be with them.]

...You don't have to... [It's a mumble at first, but when he tries again his voice is stronger.] You don't have to come back with us! You should live free... go home with Hob, be wherever you want... whatever you want. I-I don't want you to be stuck in a cage just for us.

Never.

[It is a whisper, fiercely spoken, but still said with such gentle authority.]

I told Peter months ago that I would have no choice but to choose freedom and that decision already felt so wrong on my tongue. Trust me, Casey, this is not a decision that I have made lightly. It has been on my mind for months now, just more frequently since you became mine. I went back and forth on it for so long, but I mean it when I say that you boys are my very heart. To be separated from you, I can not bear the thought.

I choose you. Every single time I will choose you.

[Alright, that was a little more emotional than Rue was expecting over breakfast, so give them a moment to shake some of this energy off of them, ruffling up their feathers. One more small sigh and their smile returns so much more easily.]

So that part, I assure you, is non-negotiable. It is just the rest I must figure out. I did, however, have an idea. I do not know how viable it truly is, but I would like to run it by you.

[Casey falls silent for a handful of long moments, looking torn and touched, worried and relieved, emotions twisting back and forth as he weighs the selfishness of asking against the urgency of Rue's words. Finally, though, rather than trusting his voice, he scoots over to the corner of the booth and leans against Rue's side, his gaze fixed to the table. He'll move back when the food comes, but the proximity helps to quell some of that mixed anxiety.

"Every single time I will choose you."

No one's done that before. No one had the luxury, and that was something he agreed with and understood. To have it now is... humbling.]

What is it...?

[Rue doesn't crowd Casey this time and drag him in for cuddling, but they keep his hand safely tucked into their paw and lean carefully right back against him.

There is not even a sliver of doubt within Rue that their decision is the right one. They know it is, no matter what hardships they might have to navigate later.]

We will be further from the Leo and the rest of the boys and it will be quite out of reach of all of this convenience that we've grown so used to, but I thought, perhaps, outside of the city we could make our own home. I traveled to New York once, back with ADI, and I remember the beautiful, untamed forests we drove by on our way. We could find our own space somewhere secluded, and I could put up spells to keep wandering humans away.

And we could still visit New York, I could glamour myself and Hob and Hunter for our trips, and Leo could portal everyone over to see us anytime - it is not ideal, perhaps, but it might feel less like a cage to have a space all of our own. My biggest concern is keeping you from your family, so you only need say no and I will banish the thought of it at all.

[This time when Casey considers their words it is with a curious thoughtfulness, rather than concern or anxiety. That sounds very familiar, actually.]

Back home, in the resistance, there was a rodent mutant named Todd. A really nice guy. He was an old friend of the turtles. Before the invasion, he had a puppy rescue out in the woods outside of the city. He said it was just him and the dogs, no one ever bothered him, he never hid what he was. Didn't even need spells for it. I bet he'd know a place for us.

[oh. Rue can hardly believe that after so many months of fretting and working themself up into fits of nerves that the answer could really be so simple.]

And you would not mind? Being there with Hob and Hunter and I? Away from the others?

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