HOME | DD

Description

Brudo stood over the place that once was his house after his forced removal from Castle Avarius. The land was now free of debris. Brudo leaned over it, dazed in the heat. He was so tired from all the rubble removing.

Spikeballs: Lord Brudo sir.

Brudo wakes from his daze.

Brudo: What?

Spikeballs: Look what I found in the burnt wreckage. It's your crown!

Brudo: I don't want anything from this old house, thank you. And guys, call me Brudo. Enough of this "Lord" nonsense. I'm no "Lord" anymore.

Spikeballs: You can't be serious.

Spikeballs breathes on the crown and spits on it, using his elbow to rub the soot off the crown, doing a lazy job, he then gently, using his spike balls, places the crooked, dented, and still dirty crown on Brudo's head. Brudo looks at him with a droll look on his face.

Spikeballs; Dunh duDUNH! Lord Brudo, back in all his glory!

Brudo angrily takes the crown off of his head and tosses it as far as he can into the distance.

Brudo: You guys should go. You've helped me wrangle all this stuff together. As promised, you are all paid. You will say nothing to Lady Avarius, not one, single word. You will not speak to my son, or any of my children about what you did for me. As far as you know, I'm still in the void, understood?

The gang all looks at him in confusion, but nods in acceptance.

Brudo: I don't deserve to be Lord.

Brudo got to work hiring various people to work on his new "project". He got the best professionals around, begun contractual work, and included in the clause agreement, that none of them shall make known to the rest of the family, his work. He was to work anonymously.

Meanwhile, back at Castle Avarius, there's a knock at the door.

Ludo: What?!

Ludo goes to answer it. Behind the door is someone struggling with a large, cumbersome box. All Ludo can see is his legs underneath the box.

Ludo: Why is there a living package standing at my door?

Marco: It's me, I brought you something.

Ludo: A gift, for me? Goodie!

Marco: It's, um, okay so my mom wanted me to do something with this, and I honestly had no idea what to do with these, and then I figured, you! You're perfect!

Ludo: Look, Marco, we can stand here stating obvious things like that but what's your point?

Marco: This is a box full of clothes I don't need anymore.

Ludo looks at the box.

Ludo: Who is Marco Jr.? Gasp! Are you and Star?... ya know.

Marco: What? No! Marco Jr. is, or, well, was... it's a long story, and anyway, my parents like to jump the gun and do things without thinking. Yeah, they do that a lot.

Ludo just stares at him.

Marco: They're baby clothes.

Ludo: What in the world am I supposed to do with baby clothes?

Marco:... Wear them?

Ludo: You want me to WHAT?

Marco: Look, these clothes aren't even worn, and they're really nice, see.

Marco puts the box on the ground, takes his dimensional scissors out and cuts the tape open on the box.

Ludo pulls out a toddler's baseball t-shirt with Marco Jr., looks at it curiously, and puts it out. Then digs deeper and is really shocked.

Ludo: What in the world is this?

Ludo pulls out a really dopey dinosaur costume for a little kid.

Marco: They even got Halloween outfits.

Ludo: Why don't your parents need these anymore?

Because Marco Jr. isn't Marco Jr. anymore. I'm having a baby SISTER.

Ludo: We'll that's embarrassing.

Marco: Please tell me you'll take this stuff. I don't know anyone else this stuff will fit.

Ludo takes a deep breath, trying to ignore the presumption that Marco basically called him a baby, for desperation to stay in he and Star's good graces.

Ludo: Sigh... Marco, I accept your generous gift of baby clothes.

Marco: That's great. Here I'll just.

Ludo stops him.

Ludo: Marco, I got this.

Marco: I was gonna just take this indoors for you, where do you_

Ludo: Tut tut, Marco. I am a strong lad. I got this.

Marco: It's really heavy, I don't want you to_

Ludo: Marco!

Marco: Okay, okay, if you insist, here. Don't go getting a herniated disk.

Ludo: I don't see what discs have to do with any of this.

Marco shrugs, cuts open a portal and leaves.

Ludo: Okay box, lets get you in-OOF... side. Hmmm.

Ludo can't make the box budge an inch. He steps back and runs face first into it, gathering momentum and struggling, and very slowly the box scrapes the ground. He grunts and grinds his teeth as he makes the box go slowly towards the stairs. Dennis comes up to Ludo, drinking a shake.

Dennis: Need help with that?

Ludo: No Dennis! Why does everyone always think I need help with things?

Dennis: Whatever.

He walks away. Ludo struggles obsessively to get the massive box up the stairs. Everyone that comes up to him he shoes away. It takes Ludo nearly a half an hour, stair after stair feeling like a mountain til he reaches the top. He gets up there and collapses at the foot of the stairs, gasping for breath and sweating profusely.

Ludo: Dear sweet Lord, why do we have so many stairs in this blasted castle?

Ludo gathers the last of his energy and angrily pushes the box into his room, kicking it finally into its final resting position. He lays there, panting and sweating.

Lady Avarius: I heard all this ruckus going on in the hallway. Is everything okay?

Ludo: Yeah mom, everything's fine.

Lady Avarius: Ooh, what's this?

Ludo: A gift from Marco.

Lady Avarius: Can I see?

Ludo: It's a box of clothes.

Lady Avarius lifts a small t-shirt out of the box.

Lady Avarius: Who's Marco Jr.?

Ludo: Don't ask.

Lady Avarius: Well, that was a nice thing he did. I hope you thanked him.

Ludo: Yeah, anyway, I'm heading out.

Lady Avarius: Hey, you mind helping me with something?

Ludo: I can't.

Ludo just wanted to get out of the house and couldn't really think of any reasons to want to stay.

Lady Avarius: Oh... well, have fun then.

Ludo sensed disappointment in his mother's response.

Ludo: What's wrong?

Lady Avarius: You've just been so distant lately.

Ludo: I've always been that way mom.

Lady Avarius: I know, but I thought we were, you know, growing closer... as a family.

Ludo: I've just had a little too much family. I don't want to talk about it.

Lady Avarius sits on Ludo's bed.

Lady Avarius: Ludo, you know that you can talk to me about anything.

Ludo: Anything?

Lady Avarius: Yes.

Ludo thinks for a second and looks up at her.

Ludo: Your eye. What happened to your eye? You used to keep it closed all the time and now you have it open all the time and I noticed how weird looking it is. It makes me uncomfortable.

Lady Avarius: Oh... well. If you must know. I'm blind in this eye. It happened a long time ago. When I first started dating your father, which I guess we were about your age, we did something really stupid.

Ludo: What?

Lady Avarius: This might come as a surprise to you, but you're not the first Avarius to take the Butterfly family wand.

Ludo: You and dad tried to take it?

Lady Avarius: Well, yes and no. It was a prank. Your father and I were good friends with Queen Comet and we wanted to take the wand and see what the big deal was with it. We'd use it for a bit of fun, then put it back, nobody would ever know.

Ludo: Did you succeed?

Lady Avarius: Unfortunately, yes. One day, in the castle, there was a party. Everyone that was anyone was at the castle for delicacies and all sorts of lavish indulgences. Brudo and I, we snuck away from the party, upstairs, trying to stay quiet but giggling the whole time. We snuck into her room and right on the dresser was the wand. It was as easy as that. Queen Comet was quite distracted by the party and had no idea we had left. We grabbed the wand and ran outside, giggling. We couldn't believe we did it. We couldn't believe it was that easy.

Ludo felt a bit offended that his mom just called the deed he had the most difficult time with "easy".

Lady Avarius: We go outside and we start contemplating what to do with it. But, we felt different than before. The wand, it changes you, makes you feel... different. I didn't like the feeling, but Brudo did. He started talking, crazy talking, about how he was gonna overthrow the kingdom, and how he would start a war... things I never once thought of him capable of doing. He scared me. I told him to give me the wand, he refused. We struggled for it, and suddenly, a flash sparks from the wand. A spell. It hit me right in the eye. We both fall back. Brudo drops the wand and comes to his senses. He runs over to me, apologizing. "I'm so sorry so sorry!!!", he said it over and over again. Picking up the wand in a hand cloth, he takes it and throws it right back into Comet's room window. He took me home to my parents' castle and rushed me up to my room. From that day foreward, I was blinded... at least, to regular sight. I still haven't figured it out yet, but I can see "things" with this eye... terrible things invisible to the naked eye. I feel like that spell otherwise enhanced me to see unseeable things, but otherwise left me blind. It scared me for the longest time, and I was ashamed at what had happened, and horrified. So I kept my eye closed. People must look at Brudo and I and think we had some sort of really abusive relationship, but, no... it wasn't like that. Not til much later did our relationship start to sour.

Ludo: I miss dad.

Lady Avarius: I only miss the man he used to be, before we had kids. Back when he had spirit left. I miss his handsome face, his athleticism, his social awkwardness.

She laughs.

Lady Avarius: Did you know that your goofy father used to put shoe polish in his hair?

Ludo: No way!

Lady Avarius: Yes, He used to take a whole bottle, run it through his hair and slick it all the way back into a ponytail. He thought it looked so cool. The day you were born, it was raining heavily, and he was out and about when a servant notified him that I was going into labor. He sprinted home, in the rain, and he bursts through the castle doors, marathon sprinting all the way up the castle stairs, he comes in, he has all this shoe polish running all down his face and all over his clothes and the floor and he's panicking. It was not pretty. But we went through it together, and you were the tiniest, cutest little egg of the whole bunch. He looked at all of you with this big smile on his face, soaked to the bone and covered in black. That's the man I miss... but we all know, that person is gone.

Ludo: I think he's still in there mom.

Lady Avarius: I want to believe it, but I just don't, not after all these years.

Brudo had wanted to be things, and to live up to his father's expectations. Lady Avarius at one point wanted freedom from her own life in her castle. He fell in love with the caged bird yearning for freedom. He set her free. But as the bird experienced freedom, something unexpected happened. She grew up. Her motives changed. She wanted a family. Brudo still wanted to be a free bird, but he loved his wife. He could have done things. He could have been a great leader and solved many crises, instead, he sold his freedom for her happiness. They settled down, had children, and tried to raise them. As he experienced frustration in his situation, he bred his children towards independence. He gave up trying to be free and instead focused on making his children strong and equipped for the free world. Taking care of the toughest ones had taken its toll. He wanted them to be strong, and as Ludo proved to be the toughest to breed into independence, he would prove to be Brudo's greatest challenge. Brudo didn't hate his son, but expressed disappointment in the results of Ludo's upbringing. Brudo had become a selfish man. He had chosen to see his children's failures as his own as a parent. This had ultimately scarred his relationship with his children. It wasn't until Brudo was stripped of his children, his family, and his wife that he would come to see what kind of person he was becoming. Brudo finally gotten what he wanted after all these years. He got his self-reliance and independence, but Brudo had not forseen what would come of him once he did. Brudo thought he would be happy. He thought freedom from his wife and kids would claim him to be a free bird. Now he's a free bird, a tired, lonely, middle-aged free bird. A free bird with no destination is a lost bird. Brudo gained independence, but lost purpose. He wasn't young and fit enough to be a warrior anymore. He wasn't skilled in any sort of way or equipped for anything but parenthood, so now he's just a dad without kids. Gone are the days of wonder and whimsy. Gone are the days where he could have those free days and have the energy to do everything. And yet, he mustered all the energy he can, using his father's will to build a better future for his family. This is what he'd use his freedom to do. Brudo begun erecting a new home for the family. He met with all sorts of people behind the scenes to get things done. He was busy. Brudo had finally gotten his freedom, and he's use it. But he knew what he wanted to use that freedom to do. Brudo had gotten something he hadn't had in his whole life and that was a purpose.

Lady Avarius: So, you wanted to go do your thing right?

Ludo: I thought you wanted me to stick around and do something.

Lady Avarius: No. The last thing I'd want is to keep someone against their will when they have other priorities.

Ludo: Mom?

Lady Avarius: You're a man, Ludo. I've treated you like a baby all this time and, while you'll always be my baby, you're an adult. You can come and go as you please. Go do your thing. You've had no trouble doing it before.

Ludo climbs on the bed and kisses his mother on the cheek before running out. Lady Avarius merely smiles. As he leaves. She thinks about her own words, and thinks about her husband. Today was the first time she thought about him in months. She then looks at the bouquet of red man-eater plants.

Lady Avarius: Red man-eaters, secret admirer. Looks like my husband isn't the only one to get the essentials right but the details wrong. Would've preferred the white ones, but hey, its the thought that counts.

All Characters c. Disney and Daron Nefcy. Story c. Me.

Description

Brudo stood over the place that once was his house after his forced removal from Castle Avarius. The land was now free of debris. Brudo leaned over it, dazed in the heat. He was so tired from all the rubble removing.

Spikeballs: Lord Brudo sir.

Brudo wakes from his daze.

Brudo: What?

Spikeballs: Look what I found in the burnt wreckage. It's your crown!

Brudo: I don't want anything from this old house, thank you. And guys, call me Brudo. Enough of this "Lord" nonsense. I'm no "Lord" anymore.

Spikeballs: You can't be serious.

Spikeballs breathes on the crown and spits on it, using his elbow to rub the soot off the crown, doing a lazy job, he then gently, using his spike balls, places the crooked, dented, and still dirty crown on Brudo's head. Brudo looks at him with a droll look on his face.

Spikeballs; Dunh duDUNH! Lord Brudo, back in all his glory!

Brudo angrily takes the crown off of his head and tosses it as far as he can into the distance.

Brudo: You guys should go. You've helped me wrangle all this stuff together. As promised, you are all paid. You will say nothing to Lady Avarius, not one, single word. You will not speak to my son, or any of my children about what you did for me. As far as you know, I'm still in the void, understood?

The gang all looks at him in confusion, but nods in acceptance.

Brudo: I don't deserve to be Lord.

Brudo got to work hiring various people to work on his new "project". He got the best professionals around, begun contractual work, and included in the clause agreement, that none of them shall make known to the rest of the family, his work. He was to work anonymously.

Meanwhile, back at Castle Avarius, there's a knock at the door.

Ludo: What?!

Ludo goes to answer it. Behind the door is someone struggling with a large, cumbersome box. All Ludo can see is his legs underneath the box.

Ludo: Why is there a living package standing at my door?

Marco: It's me, I brought you something.

Ludo: A gift, for me? Goodie!

Marco: It's, um, okay so my mom wanted me to do something with this, and I honestly had no idea what to do with these, and then I figured, you! You're perfect!

Ludo: Look, Marco, we can stand here stating obvious things like that but what's your point?

Marco: This is a box full of clothes I don't need anymore.

Ludo looks at the box.

Ludo: Who is Marco Jr.? Gasp! Are you and Star?... ya know.

Marco: What? No! Marco Jr. is, or, well, was... it's a long story, and anyway, my parents like to jump the gun and do things without thinking. Yeah, they do that a lot.

Ludo just stares at him.

Marco: They're baby clothes.

Ludo: What in the world am I supposed to do with baby clothes?

Marco:... Wear them?

Ludo: You want me to WHAT?

Marco: Look, these clothes aren't even worn, and they're really nice, see.

Marco puts the box on the ground, takes his dimensional scissors out and cuts the tape open on the box.

Ludo pulls out a toddler's baseball t-shirt with Marco Jr., looks at it curiously, and puts it out. Then digs deeper and is really shocked.

Ludo: What in the world is this?

Ludo pulls out a really dopey dinosaur costume for a little kid.

Marco: They even got Halloween outfits.

Ludo: Why don't your parents need these anymore?

Because Marco Jr. isn't Marco Jr. anymore. I'm having a baby SISTER.

Ludo: We'll that's embarrassing.

Marco: Please tell me you'll take this stuff. I don't know anyone else this stuff will fit.

Ludo takes a deep breath, trying to ignore the presumption that Marco basically called him a baby, for desperation to stay in he and Star's good graces.

Ludo: Sigh... Marco, I accept your generous gift of baby clothes.

Marco: That's great. Here I'll just.

Ludo stops him.

Ludo: Marco, I got this.

Marco: I was gonna just take this indoors for you, where do you_

Ludo: Tut tut, Marco. I am a strong lad. I got this.

Marco: It's really heavy, I don't want you to_

Ludo: Marco!

Marco: Okay, okay, if you insist, here. Don't go getting a herniated disk.

Ludo: I don't see what discs have to do with any of this.

Marco shrugs, cuts open a portal and leaves.

Ludo: Okay box, lets get you in-OOF... side. Hmmm.

Ludo can't make the box budge an inch. He steps back and runs face first into it, gathering momentum and struggling, and very slowly the box scrapes the ground. He grunts and grinds his teeth as he makes the box go slowly towards the stairs. Dennis comes up to Ludo, drinking a shake.

Dennis: Need help with that?

Ludo: No Dennis! Why does everyone always think I need help with things?

Dennis: Whatever.

He walks away. Ludo struggles obsessively to get the massive box up the stairs. Everyone that comes up to him he shoes away. It takes Ludo nearly a half an hour, stair after stair feeling like a mountain til he reaches the top. He gets up there and collapses at the foot of the stairs, gasping for breath and sweating profusely.

Ludo: Dear sweet Lord, why do we have so many stairs in this blasted castle?

Ludo gathers the last of his energy and angrily pushes the box into his room, kicking it finally into its final resting position. He lays there, panting and sweating.

Lady Avarius: I heard all this ruckus going on in the hallway. Is everything okay?

Ludo: Yeah mom, everything's fine.

Lady Avarius: Ooh, what's this?

Ludo: A gift from Marco.

Lady Avarius: Can I see?

Ludo: It's a box of clothes.

Lady Avarius lifts a small t-shirt out of the box.

Lady Avarius: Who's Marco Jr.?

Ludo: Don't ask.

Lady Avarius: Well, that was a nice thing he did. I hope you thanked him.

Ludo: Yeah, anyway, I'm heading out.

Lady Avarius: Hey, you mind helping me with something?

Ludo: I can't.

Ludo just wanted to get out of the house and couldn't really think of any reasons to want to stay.

Lady Avarius: Oh... well, have fun then.

Ludo sensed disappointment in his mother's response.

Ludo: What's wrong?

Lady Avarius: You've just been so distant lately.

Ludo: I've always been that way mom.

Lady Avarius: I know, but I thought we were, you know, growing closer... as a family.

Ludo: I've just had a little too much family. I don't want to talk about it.

Lady Avarius sits on Ludo's bed.

Lady Avarius: Ludo, you know that you can talk to me about anything.

Ludo: Anything?

Lady Avarius: Yes.

Ludo thinks for a second and looks up at her.

Ludo: Your eye. What happened to your eye? You used to keep it closed all the time and now you have it open all the time and I noticed how weird looking it is. It makes me uncomfortable.

Lady Avarius: Oh... well. If you must know. I'm blind in this eye. It happened a long time ago. When I first started dating your father, which I guess we were about your age, we did something really stupid.

Ludo: What?

Lady Avarius: This might come as a surprise to you, but you're not the first Avarius to take the Butterfly family wand.

Ludo: You and dad tried to take it?

Lady Avarius: Well, yes and no. It was a prank. Your father and I were good friends with Queen Comet and we wanted to take the wand and see what the big deal was with it. We'd use it for a bit of fun, then put it back, nobody would ever know.

Ludo: Did you succeed?

Lady Avarius: Unfortunately, yes. One day, in the castle, there was a party. Everyone that was anyone was at the castle for delicacies and all sorts of lavish indulgences. Brudo and I, we snuck away from the party, upstairs, trying to stay quiet but giggling the whole time. We snuck into her room and right on the dresser was the wand. It was as easy as that. Queen Comet was quite distracted by the party and had no idea we had left. We grabbed the wand and ran outside, giggling. We couldn't believe we did it. We couldn't believe it was that easy.

Ludo felt a bit offended that his mom just called the deed he had the most difficult time with "easy".

Lady Avarius: We go outside and we start contemplating what to do with it. But, we felt different than before. The wand, it changes you, makes you feel... different. I didn't like the feeling, but Brudo did. He started talking, crazy talking, about how he was gonna overthrow the kingdom, and how he would start a war... things I never once thought of him capable of doing. He scared me. I told him to give me the wand, he refused. We struggled for it, and suddenly, a flash sparks from the wand. A spell. It hit me right in the eye. We both fall back. Brudo drops the wand and comes to his senses. He runs over to me, apologizing. "I'm so sorry so sorry!!!", he said it over and over again. Picking up the wand in a hand cloth, he takes it and throws it right back into Comet's room window. He took me home to my parents' castle and rushed me up to my room. From that day foreward, I was blinded... at least, to regular sight. I still haven't figured it out yet, but I can see "things" with this eye... terrible things invisible to the naked eye. I feel like that spell otherwise enhanced me to see unseeable things, but otherwise left me blind. It scared me for the longest time, and I was ashamed at what had happened, and horrified. So I kept my eye closed. People must look at Brudo and I and think we had some sort of really abusive relationship, but, no... it wasn't like that. Not til much later did our relationship start to sour.

Ludo: I miss dad.

Lady Avarius: I only miss the man he used to be, before we had kids. Back when he had spirit left. I miss his handsome face, his athleticism, his social awkwardness.

She laughs.

Lady Avarius: Did you know that your goofy father used to put shoe polish in his hair?

Ludo: No way!

Lady Avarius: Yes, He used to take a whole bottle, run it through his hair and slick it all the way back into a ponytail. He thought it looked so cool. The day you were born, it was raining heavily, and he was out and about when a servant notified him that I was going into labor. He sprinted home, in the rain, and he bursts through the castle doors, marathon sprinting all the way up the castle stairs, he comes in, he has all this shoe polish running all down his face and all over his clothes and the floor and he's panicking. It was not pretty. But we went through it together, and you were the tiniest, cutest little egg of the whole bunch. He looked at all of you with this big smile on his face, soaked to the bone and covered in black. That's the man I miss... but we all know, that person is gone.

Ludo: I think he's still in there mom.

Lady Avarius: I want to believe it, but I just don't, not after all these years.

Brudo had wanted to be things, and to live up to his father's expectations. Lady Avarius at one point wanted freedom from her own life in her castle. He fell in love with the caged bird yearning for freedom. He set her free. But as the bird experienced freedom, something unexpected happened. She grew up. Her motives changed. She wanted a family. Brudo still wanted to be a free bird, but he loved his wife. He could have done things. He could have been a great leader and solved many crises, instead, he sold his freedom for her happiness. They settled down, had children, and tried to raise them. As he experienced frustration in his situation, he bred his children towards independence. He gave up trying to be free and instead focused on making his children strong and equipped for the free world. Taking care of the toughest ones had taken its toll. He wanted them to be strong, and as Ludo proved to be the toughest to breed into independence, he would prove to be Brudo's greatest challenge. Brudo didn't hate his son, but expressed disappointment in the results of Ludo's upbringing. Brudo had become a selfish man. He had chosen to see his children's failures as his own as a parent. This had ultimately scarred his relationship with his children. It wasn't until Brudo was stripped of his children, his family, and his wife that he would come to see what kind of person he was becoming. Brudo finally gotten what he wanted after all these years. He got his self-reliance and independence, but Brudo had not forseen what would come of him once he did. Brudo thought he would be happy. He thought freedom from his wife and kids would claim him to be a free bird. Now he's a free bird, a tired, lonely, middle-aged free bird. A free bird with no destination is a lost bird. Brudo gained independence, but lost purpose. He wasn't young and fit enough to be a warrior anymore. He wasn't skilled in any sort of way or equipped for anything but parenthood, so now he's just a dad without kids. Gone are the days of wonder and whimsy. Gone are the days where he could have those free days and have the energy to do everything. And yet, he mustered all the energy he can, using his father's will to build a better future for his family. This is what he'd use his freedom to do. Brudo begun erecting a new home for the family. He met with all sorts of people behind the scenes to get things done. He was busy. Brudo had finally gotten his freedom, and he's use it. But he knew what he wanted to use that freedom to do. Brudo had gotten something he hadn't had in his whole life and that was a purpose.

Lady Avarius: So, you wanted to go do your thing right?

Ludo: I thought you wanted me to stick around and do something.

Lady Avarius: No. The last thing I'd want is to keep someone against their will when they have other priorities.

Ludo: Mom?

Lady Avarius: You're a man, Ludo. I've treated you like a baby all this time and, while you'll always be my baby, you're an adult. You can come and go as you please. Go do your thing. You've had no trouble doing it before.

Ludo climbs on the bed and kisses his mother on the cheek before running out. Lady Avarius merely smiles. As he leaves. She thinks about her own words, and thinks about her husband. Today was the first time she thought about him in months. She then looks at the bouquet of red man-eater plants.

Lady Avarius: Red man-eaters, secret admirer. Looks like my husband isn't the only one to get the essentials right but the details wrong. Would've preferred the white ones, but hey, its the thought that counts.

All Characters c. Disney and Daron Nefcy. Story c. Me.