Rise & Fall

Mascot Melee

POV - Cleo

In one two three four, out one two three four. Breath deeply, settle in your body and free your mind from your soul.

That's what Draxum taught them when young turtle tot Cleo and Frida discovered the homey and familiar astral plane. For some reason Draxum had never believed what they swore they saw. He'd chalked it up to wild imagination and told them to cut it out.

So they did.

They never spoke of that place again. Frida went as far as to nearly erase it from her memory to make their parent happy. But not Cleo. It was years before they revisited the place again in a moment of weakness after a particularly rough procedure, the walking proof being the device that glowed in the center of his chest.

Diving deep into the astral world. He found himself stuck with the same lady who spoke with him all those weeks ago. She didn't disclose a name. Nor did she wish to. The women simply observed and nothing more.

That was until she started to comment on the turtles they swore to capture at all costs. She sensed a great deal of misguided loyalty clouding Cleo's intentions with the turtles. For the past few weeks it's been lecture after lecture about the importance of being autonomous to oneself, the delicate balance between obeying authority and doing the right thing and the importance of family.

It was pointless lectures the young turtle never paid attention to.
Afterall, the stranger's stance was with these turtles testing them as if they were all a big happy family, and she truly meant all of them.

Their sister is their only family. No one seemed to respect that.

"My child—"

"I told you not to call me that." she snapped back, quite done with having to listen to her rant yet again. Cleo's seated form shifted to side-eye the women to her right for the third time that day.

"When will you learn you can't keep this a secret forever..." The women let out a sigh mirroring Cleo's seated form yet seemingly materializing out of nowhere.

"It's easy enough. Frida doesn't come here. She can't even sit still long enough to meditate, let alone enter the astral plane." Cleo argued.

His body relaxed, firmly giving up on meditation and instead choosing to exist in this quiet space, staring longingly at the nearly forgotten terrain. his memories foggy with stricken remembrance.

"I'm proud of you..." The woman piped up. Cleo's gaze subtly shifted, eye's wide and beak open, momentarily speechless. Their body curls in on itself after processing the information, knees to their chest and arms encircled them in a self hug.

"Why would I need to know you're proud of me?" She asked, barely able to comprehend that someone could be proud of him. After everything that has happened so far in her life it is difficult to accept such praise.

"Because." She started, "It's clear you haven't been told that enough in your life." The women tossed her a small smile that barely etched the corners of her mouth. It was weak and frail but enough to be noticed.

Cleo turned to her fully now, the maternal aura of the women at her side foreign to him. She leaned into her posture and stood up. She couldn't help but feel that her pride was unearned. They're not some great warrior deserving of praise, not yet.

"I don't." She started, her voice began to crack, "I don't need your pity."

With that, Cleo walked off into the white void that covered their backs. Barely even making out the glance of the ghostly figure crestfallen at his retreating form, leaving her there to be alone once more.

Cleo emerged from his meditative state in his room of their shoddy abatement. Taking a moment to ground himself in reality again he took in the plain walls. There would be a time where he would've jumped at the chance to decorate his own room however he wanted. Especially since the stark contrast to this place was a dank room that was probably a storage site before Draxum realized children need a space to sleep that isn't an semi-aquatic testing chamber.

When moving into this place he and his sister understood they didn't have much in terms of personal belongings and it was kind of disheartening. But while Freida had taken to collecting *cough cough* stealing *cough cough* things she liked and displaying them on shelves and walls galore, Cleo could not bring themselves to do the same.

There was a sense of temporariness to the apartment, a little itch in the back of their head that predicted they'd be done with their mission soon and will be going back to live in the lab. Back to his hutch of a room and no place to put any sentimentals. It was sullening but true. Ever since being on the surface there have been a great many things that have caught her eye. Picking up a hobby might've been nice if they were on a mission. Perhaps check out one of the local yokai businesses in the area. Maybe they could even make a new friend... or meet somebody.

Shaking his head as if to physically remove the wandering thoughts he exited his room. It was all trivial in the end, they have a mission, everything else should be set aside for now.