[FINISHED-Honesty] Someone Will Start to Notice (LL & BC)

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She hadn't touched her glass of lemonade since her mother had made it for her thirty-some minutes ago. Those green eyes were completely unfocused and half-lidded as she "watched" the condensation drip from the side of her glass, the ice melting in slow motion in her drink. She'd been thinking about her future again. Or... More accurately, what her future would not hold for her. She'd been about as close to finding her purpose in life as a snail was to crossing a salt road to get to beautiful green grass. Banana Creme just couldn't cross that important bridge-- Couldn't even take the first step, and the fact weighed on her every single day she bothered to come out of her room. Most days, the filly sat in her windowsill and watched the sky, wondering if she'd been born a pegasus, she would have been able to find her calling in the starry atmosphere, thousands of twinkling lights decorating the most finely crafted piece of art there ever had been: The Galaxy.

She wished she'd been able to paint it, but much to her dismay, that was not her calling. She was terrible with a paint brush to say the least, and even worse with a pencil that held less room for "abstract bs". No, art was not her thing, but sometimes she wished it had been, just so she could capture those tiny details of the things she loved so much.

Sliding off of her stool in the kitchen with a sigh, Creme left her lemonade at the counter without even touching it, ready to head back up to her room for another day spent wishing that the answers would just come to her already, and she wouldn't have to be put through this agonizingly long process of figuring out just who she was and what she stood for. She was starting to think that maybe, perhaps, she was defective.  

[Hopelessly Pretty]

Lemon Lime had noticed when Banana Creme didn't even so much as touch her lemonade, but the filly's mother had decided against saying anything about it at first. She knew that her youngest daughter was having some troubles at this point in her life, and the tennis player honestly didn't feel like it was her place to just butt in and start asking questions. She and Candy Cane had raised their foals to be mostly independent, and while family was undoubtedly there to love and support you, it sort of was an unspoken guideline that most obstacles were expected to be overcome on your own. As an adult phony, Lemon Lime knew that there wasn't all that much she could do to soothe her daughter's heartache. Cutie marks came whenever a foal was truly ready for it, and not when they just 'wanted' it... but today, she had finally cracked from watching Banana Creme sit there at the counter without a single word. She needed to do something, or else this moping might just continue on forever, and that was not healthy for anyphony.

"Hey, Banana Creme. Why don't you come here for a minute? I want to talk to you." She called from her rocking chair in the living room, making sure she caught Banana Creme before she went upstairs. Once the girl was out of sight it would make things a lot harder for her mother to strike up conversation; she wasn't exactly the best emotional coach out there, but she'd be damned if she didn't make at least one attempt to cheer her baby girl up.  

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Huh? Her mother had called her. Not that it was strange for her to speak to Lemon Lime, but mostly, the grown phony would just let Banana Creme do what she wanted and be on her way. It wasn't like her mother to announce that she wanted to have a chat. It almost reminded her of the times Fruit Punch would get into trouble as a kid, but she knew she hadn't done anything wrong. Stopping herself before she completely left the kitchen, the filly did an about face and moved into the living room where her athletic parent sat, focusing her gaze somewhere past Lemon Lime's face when she spoke up.

"Yeah, Mom? What's up?" Creme tried to put enthusiasm into her voice, but didn't quite muster up as much as she had wanted, though she sincerely just hoped this conversation would be over soon so she could go and lie down in her own room.  

[Hopelessly Pretty]

"You've been hiding out in your room a lot lately, and uh... I think you should come out more." Well, that was off to a great start. The normally blunt blonde had tried to be direct about the issue of her daughter's depression, but she didn't want to sound like an accusatory jerk. Things would only get worse if Banana Creme felt like she couldn't perform even basic tasks like socialize up to standard. L.L. was quiet for a minute after that, just looking her foal as she wracked her brains for what she really wanted to say.

She started off a second time, figuring she could make a better attempt this round. "Actually, what I really want to know is, do you trust me, B.C.? Do you think that you could tell me whatever's on your mind and not be scared about it? Just take a second, and think about it." Lemon Lime felt like she was coming closer to saying what she wanted, but was taking a little bit of a different route to get there.  

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Well, that had been a bit blunt. But then again, Lemon Lime always operated in a straight-forward manner, so Creme hadn't really been thrown that far off by her comment. What surprised her was the fact that LL actually decided that this was a topic worth discussing... Which meant she felt something a little deeper than just suggesting that her daughter come out of her room more often. Banana Creme's ears twitched cautiously, not really understanding what direction her mother was going with this conversation, and just as she was about to open her mouth and say something to the effect of 'Yeah, sure, okay, I'll show up more,' the tennis player was talking again, but this time proposing a question that Creme wasn't sure she could answer at all.

On the surface of it all, the answer was an immediate yes. Yes, she trusted her mother. End of story. Wasn't everyone supposed to trust their parents? But upon further examination of the words, Creme wasn't so sure she could answer 'correctly'. To the first part of the question, the answer was yes. She trusted Lemon Lime, but it was the 'speaking your mind' part that hooked her every time she went over the question, and she felt her heart sink into her gut with frustration, knowing full well that if given the opportunity to let all her feelings off her chest... She would keep herself quiet instead of talk to LL. But it wasn't because she didn't trust Lemon Lime-- No, no. It was...

Maybe she just didn't want to hear the truth, herself. Banana Creme already hated thinking about how miserable she was watching the world around her grow as she stayed stunted. Why would she want to willingly face any of that? Especially while burdening her mother with it? At this point, her answer had already been delayed long enough to give her away, but still, she answered, her voice quiet and frustrated.

"I trust you, Mom. ...I just... I just don't know about all the other stuff. I don't want to think about the other stuff..."  

[Hopelessly Pretty]

Lemon Lime waited patiently for her daughter's answer, knowing the girl really would take a minute to think about what she wanted to say before speaking. While Banana Creme wasn't all that talkative to anyone in particular, her mother was thankful that the filly did know how to voice her thoughts clearly when the occasion called for it. "It's okay, Banana Creme. Whether you can tell me everything or not, there's something even more important than that you gotta learn someday. It's being able to trust yourself. You know I'll always listen to you and give the best advice I've got, but you've also got to rely on yourself as a power source. Sometimes you hit a bump in the road and the only phony that can get over it is you." She did her best to illustrate what she was trying to say, but again, the tennis player wasn't quite sure she was hitting the nail on the head yet. She scratched her head with a hoof as she tried again to be more direct about this issue's solution.

"You need to learn to be able to make decisions by yourself, and to talk out all the possible consequences. If you're more honest with yourself, you'll learn to tackle every challenge that comes your way, and even if you scrape a knee on the way down, you can get back up no problem. That's a really important part of growing up, you'll see. All that 'other stuff' will be nothing once you've got the hang of it." Lemon Lime smiled down at her daughter, pretty certain that she'd finally made her point get across clearly. She hoped that advice would be enough to encourage Banana Creme into finding the courage to face every day instead of hiding behind a locked bedroom door.  

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It was the most reassuring thing she'd heard in months, and it had come from her mother which made the little speech so much more powerful than it would have been otherwise. So she had to be honest to herself about her own shortcomings and fears and face them accordingly... Otherwise, they'd never be fixed at all, and they'd be sitting there, taunting her for the rest of the time she was alive. She couldn't have that any longer. It was time to own up to her worries and get some damn help.

"... Thanks, Mom. I, uh. I really needed to hear that today." Banana Creme smiled, her tail flicking gently behind her in a wordless thanks as she placed a hoof on Lemon Lime's leg. "I'm gonna... I'm gonna go outside for a walk then. I'll go pick up some sweets from the bakery and bring 'em back for us to share later, okay?" The filly, with renewed purpose, turned to head out of the house, knowing that her mom would understand that even with that short talk, she felt like the world had re-opened for her.

"I love you, Mom." Creme called from the front door, confident that if she could start to be honest about anything, it'd always be her feelings for her family... And now she'd just use that as a starting block, thanks to Lemon Lime.