#huey1

[dellacacy]

Finally being back in Destiny Isle was so surreal, Della could hardly believe it. She took a deep breath as if to take in the familiar air, hands on her hips as she observed her surroundings. Things seemed a little more different than she anticipated, but that didn’t discourage her. All that mattered now was that she returned to her family. She knew exactly how to get back to the manor, anxious to see her family and especially her sons. She wondered who would answer the door first and what their reaction would be, smoothing out her hair as she thought of her initial greeting. Should she play it casually? Spice it up and add her special Della charm? If Scrooge or Donald were to be upset by her absence, she’d have a lot of explaining to do — her mind was running wild with possibilities of how this would play out. She had no idea that she’d instead be greeted by Huey and Louie, all grown up and none of them recognizing each other. Della already flopped her first impression as the front door to the manor opened, impulsively beginning with a “What’s upppp!” until she realized she had no clue who these two were. “Oh!” Della interrupted herself, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “Uh, heyyy? I’m looking for Scrooge.. or Donald … they still live here, right?” @hubertducck @llouieduck

[ferdiefields]

@hubertducck said: “Sometimes I just get really, really mad and…but I'm working on it, okay?”

The situation in the Duck family was still tense months after the incident at the hotel. Though things had seemingly started looking up for Louie lately as he recovered and got accustomed to his new prosthetic, and for Dewey as he got a new girlfriend, that didn’t mean everything was perfect between them—hell, Dewey had even moved out to stay with Morty and Ferdie—or that other members of the family weren’t still struggling with their own emotional turmoil. Huey had the particular torment of an eldest sibling who felt he had somehow failed to protect his triplet brother, as impossible as it would have been for him to have done anything to prevent that situation.

Anyone could see that stress had been building up in Huey for a long time with no apparent outlet—probably because he continued to bottle it and push it down as much as he could instead of letting his anxiety and anger out in regular measured doses. This was a thought Ferdie had first had when he checked in on Webby a few weeks after the incident, but the word therapy kept running in his head when he saw what the family was going through. Have they sought family counseling yet? It felt intrusive to ask, judgmental to suggest, so Ferdie tried to sound as neutral as possible when he said, “It’s okay. You wouldn’t be human if you never got angry. Do you…have somebody to talk to about it?” That seemed an indirect and inoffensive enough way to get at what he meant.

[blossomu]

@hubertducck said: “My mind is so loud and I'm afraid it’ll never be quiet again.”

It was understandable that Huey felt like that with all that was going on in his family. Louie’s amputation, though of course the hardest on himself, was also hard on his loved ones—for the ones who had been witness to his injury firsthand and those who had not. Huey was facing a particular brand of survivor’s guilt for not being there during the bombing…While a rational mind could recognize that there was nothing he could have done to prevent the attack even if he had been there, and so it was better he had been apart and safe from the danger, that was wasn’t what the trauma and grief involved in such a situation said. Blossom could understand how Huey felt—as the oldest, most responsible sibling in their respective families, it sometimes felt like the weight of protecting their younger siblings (if not the whole world) rested primarily on their shoulders, and when any of them was hurt it was not only a matter of feeling their pain, but a personal failing in keeping them safe.

Not to mention the already near-constant anxiety only being justified and ramped up by the accident. What could happen the next time Huey wasn’t there to keep his brothers safe? That didn’t even touch the fact that all this had happened when Dewey and Webby had been secretly searching for the triplets’ mother, Huey’s anger at Dewey over this, the fact that he was the only one of the four who Louie would talk to for a long time after the incident and had to keep his own angst to himself in the face of Louie’s situation, being strong for him…It was all so much to process. But Huey hardly needed to explain any of it; Blossom understood intrinsically. “I would be more surprised if you didn’t feel like that,” she said, her voice full of empathy. She wasn’t going to say It will get better, because that was a given, but it didn’t help now. Huey was solution-oriented. He needed positive action to take. “Have you tried meditating?”

[dontgiveadonald]

"It’s easier holding a grudge. I’d rather be angry than crushed." - @hubertducck

Donald couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh, putting a gentle, reassuring hand on the triplet’s shoulder. He knew Huey had been taking this extra hard, unable to fix all that had been broken in recent months with their family. In some ways, Donald saw some of himself in Huey: the constant need to protect their loved ones, seeking order and control in the chaos .. and Dewey was dangerously similar to Della. Within Huey’s struggles with his brother, Donald's heart ached at the thought of feeling similarly about his own sister.

“I know it feels easier that way, but from my own experience? Holding a grudge is only going to push him further away.” Though Dewey was on thin ice between his brothers and uncle, Donald knew it couldn’t be forever. With the deep understanding of the similarities between the middle triplet and their mother, Donald just didn’t want to repeat the same mistakes with Dewey, too. No matter how infuriating he could be, Donald couldn’t lose him also. “If we keep pushing him away, he’ll just keep acting out on his own,” the uncle continued. “Whether we like it or not, we’re damage control.” Donald had been playing the role of damage control since he and Della were kids; unfortunately, Donald’s cursed luck made him not the best at the role. Huey, on the other hand, was much better at it, but Donald would never put all the responsibility on the eldest triplet. “You don’t have to stop being mad at him now, I know I’m still angry too. We just have to remember — family is family. We can’t afford to lose more than we already have.”

[deweydewdrop]

Dewey was slowly trying to make ammends with everyone after the hotel bombing, but his fight with Randy at the Halloween masquerade sort of put a halt to that temporarily. He was already on most people's shit list and was only making it worse, yet he still didn't have any regrets. He just layed low afterwards, his face almost completely healed by now but still eager to fix things with the rest of his family. Dewey and Louie were seemingly doing better, though Dewey still thinks that Louie only caved and talked to him on Halloween just to get the tea on the fight .. Unfortunately, Huey wasn't as easy to crack. Dewey had tried to apologize countless times already, tried being nice and acting like things were normal .. then, he gave his space. The holidays were his excuse to try again though, attempting a peace offering a few weeks before the holiday season as a way to test the waters with their relationship again. Talking to Huey again felt like he was walking on eggshells, but Dewey knew better than to complain; he just had to accept it as it was and keep trying, this time starting with an extra early gift: a brand new notebook and fancy compass resting in a nice, red gift bag. He had to time it for when he knew Huey would be around, lucky to catch him at the table as he sat the gift bag in front of him. "You don't have to say anything. I just wanted to give you this." @hubertducck