#anyway i love lucretia so much
Text
Oh hey I started re-listening to Balance and I had forgotten that when they find the red robe in Wave Echo Cave that Justin asks about the robe's stats and whether he could take it and god can you just imagine if Taako had shown up at the Bureau wearing Lup's robe??
And then I wrote a thing about it.
--
Lucretia thought she was prepared for seeing her brothers again.
She's had time to build up her walls, to steel herself for what she knows will be a painful encounter. She's had a decade now of secrets and privately held regrets and memories, and she's become adept at hiding her emotions, learned how to school all the dismay and sorrow from her expression.
Even so, it takes everything in her to keep her expression neutral when the three of them walk into the room.
Magnus and Merle look in many ways like she expected--though older, ten years older; and she realizes she's never seen them age before. They've been in stasis for a hundred years, always come back each cycle looking exactly the same; but now Merle's wrinkles have deepened, and Magnus has new lines at the corners of his eyes and grey threaded through his hair, even though his body is barely thirty.
The joy and and intense sorrow she feels at the sight of them, with all the changes the past ten years have wrought, is so strong she doesn't think she can hold it inside her.
But what nearly undoes her is when Taako walks in. He looks exactly the same; elves don't age the same way humans do, or even dwarves--but for a moment she thinks--
She knows it's impossible, but for a moment, every signal is telling her brain that the elf in front of her wearing a red robe and carrying a familiar umbrella isn't Taako--it's Lup.
Then she blinks, and her brain recalibrates, and she realizes her mistake.
It's not that she has trouble telling the two apart--after a century living together, the twins lost the ability to fool the others unless they were trying very hard.
But she thinks she could be forgiven for the lapse, because the robe Taako is wearing isn't just any red robe--not some ironic twist, the universe mocking her with echoes.
It's an IPRE robe. Lup's IPRE robe.
And he's holding Lup's umbrastaff, casually slung over his shoulder like it belongs there.
Lucretia has spent any moment she could spare from her search for the Relics trying to find any trace of where Lup might have gone, and has come up empty.
Taako doesn't know what he's lost, hasn't even known to look--but somehow he's succeeded where Lucretia has failed. Clearly, at some point in their recent adventure--
He found Lup.
Or at least, he found Lup's things. What does it mean, that the robe and staff were left somewhere Taako could just pick them up? If Lup left the staff behind, does that mean--
With effort, Lucretia stops her train of thought, forcing herself to take a deep, even breath and push the roil of emotions down deep inside her. Later, she'll be able to sit and think through what this could mean.
For now, she has a part to play.
She straightens her shoulders and smiles, only leaning a little bit extra on her staff as she stands to greet them.
"Welcome, you three. Magnus, Merle, Taako. Killian has told me a lot about you and your...exploits."
She glances over at Killian, who is watching her with a sharp expression. She can't have failed to notice Lucretia's reaction to the robe when Taako walked in. Lucretia wonders what she knows about how Taako got it.
"I wanted to personally thank you for your help in retrieving the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet," she continues. "Thanks to you, an enormous danger has been removed from the world."
Magnus coughs awkwardly. Lucretia knows he's thinking about Phandolin, all those people he failed to save. "Yeah, we uh. We were happy to help."
"Does this thanks come in the form of gold?" Taako asks. "I think retreiving a super magic weapon is worth a reward, right?"
"Or a job? We were told there might be job openings here," Merle adds.
Lucretia laughs a little.
"We'll get to that in a minute," she says. She glances at Killian. "First, I--Taako, I would like to know where you got that robe? It's very--"
"Red," Killian finishes.
Taako looks down at himself. "Oh this thing? Yeah, I picked it up off some skeleton in a cave."
A yawning, empty pit opens up inside Lucretia.
"I figured, he was super dead, so finders keepers." He swoops the ends of the robe a little. "Stylish, right?"
The pit inside Lucretia yawns a little wider.
It's not that she hasn't considered the possibility--probability even--that Lup is dead. And just because her body is dead doesn't mean that she is gone.
But it's the confirmation--and Taako's cavalier description of his sister's bones--that nearly undoes Lucretia for the second time that day.
She grips her staff tight, and forces herself to keep her breathing even. She places one hand behind her back, so that the others can't see the tight fist she's balled it into.
"This was the cave where you first found the gauntlet?"
"Yeah. What about it?"
Lucretia exchanges glances with Killian.
"You all have visited Johann, correct? You've taken the voidfish's ichor?"
"You mean the fish poop?" Taako asks. "Yeah, we drank it. Not my favorite thing ever, I've gotta say."
"Yeah, it was super gross," Magnus puts in.
"Salty," Merle adds. "But I dunno, it had a kinda--"
"Oh my gods, do not--" Taako says.
"I'm just saying, it wasn't the worst thing I've ever tasted."
"Please stop."
Taako pinches the bridge of his nose, and Magnus busts out laughing. Lucretia has to steel herself against another wave of emotion as she watches the three of them banter. The familiarity aches.
She raises her voice a little to be heard over Magnus's laughter. "In that case, you've remembered the Relic Wars."
Magnus sobers instantly.
"The wars were caused by the Grand Relics: a series of extraordinarily powerful magical objects created by a group of magicians that we...refer to...as the Red Robes."
All three of the boys look down at Taako's robe.
"Oh," Merle says.
"Shit," Magnus says.
"Well," Taako says.
"It is very probable that the...the remains you found belonged to a member of that group."
"But that's good though, right?" Magnus says after a moment. "If one of them is dead--that's a good thing? Isn't it? They can't cause any more harm if they're dead."
Lucretia digs a fingernail deep into the palm of the hand behind her back.
"I'm afraid the harm the Grand Relics are capable of will long outlive the Red Robes themselves," she says. "But that's why we're here. We are doing our best to right the wrongs the Red Robes did. To remove the dangers they put into the world with the Relics. And we'd like your help."
"Sounds like a good cause," Merle says. "Does it pay?"
"It does pay," Lucretia says. "Competitively, if I say so myself."
"I'm in," Magnus says.
"Can I ask a quick question?" Taako says.
"Of course," Lucretia says. "I understand if you want more information before--"
"No, no, I'm--as long as the pay is good, I'm all on board," Taako says. "But I wanted to ask--"
He gives the robe a dramatic swish.
"Would it be in bad taste for me to keep the robe? It's just so comfy, you know? Great armor stats."
Taako gives her a shit-eating grin, and Lucretia's head swims for a moment at the image, one part of her brain telling her Lup, it's Lup, while the rest replies no it's not, it's not, she's gone, maybe forever.
She forces a small, rueful smile.
"Well, I can't deny that seeing a red robe around the Bureau regularly might cause some talk, some... discomfort. But we're not in the business of dress codes here. I'll leave it up to you."
"Great!" Taako drawls. "Can't wait to be the fashion talk of the moon!"
And Lucretia can't help but smile genuinely at that--he's still Taako, even after everything.
"Very well." She sets her staff carefully against her chair, consciously relaxes her shoulders. In her imagination, Magnus's hand rests firmly on her shoulder, Merle's a reassuring presence at her hip. The memory of Lup's voice whispers in her mind. You got this, Luce.
"If that's decided, let's get you three up to speed."
She gestures widely to the reception room, putting a little bit of the theatrical flair she learned from Taako into the gesture.
"Welcome to the Bureau of Balance."
#taz balance#taz#taz lucretia#taz taako#taz lup#taz fanfic#i started relistening to balance recently and i can feel the obsession slowly rekindling#the image of taako walking into the bureau wearing a red robe was just so vivid#can you imagine#anyway i love lucretia so much#she's doing her best#and the boys are a Trial#scribblings#long post#taz balance spoilers#i did not proofread this#even a little
142 notes
·
View notes
Text
fic: you always listen carefully to awkward rhymes (18+)
summary: “Sounds good,” she says, a cute little smile crossing her face. She sets down her bag and basket of berries, and Davenport can’t help but stare at her. Not for the first time, he wishes he could draw her too, if only to capture that smile and the elegant way her fingers run along the handle of the basket before pulling away.
youtube
youtube
#stolen century#i originally wrote this in 2018.. then when i found out how much of the fandom violently hated davenport/lucretia i was too afraid to post#and the smut is a little ridiculous.. pretty gross and over the top lovey dovey.. but i'm fond of this one and glad i can finally share it#even if no one likes it#also this is titled after one of the best love songs ever written.. i included two performances because honestly rem was at its best live#the studio version is excellent too but they have some songs on their live album that are even better performances than the studio version#which is... very rare and impressive#anyway yeah... ive been in a posting rut for three months. why put writing and art online just to be hated yknow? but if anyone out there#could ever careabout these characters too it would really mean so much to me#so there is fulfillment in at least trying to connect.. i dont know....#my work might not resonate with others and how people have treated me in taz fandom makes me feel so alone.. but at least im trying..#Youtube
0 notes
Text
(ooc)
It’s been 10 years since TAZ: Balance came out and I’m still having such big feelings about Lucretia (I relistened to the entire season and it crushed me as always)
Anyways I need you all to imagine what Lucretia went through after the Stolen Century bc a lot of y’all still demonize her for what she did not realizing how young and scared she was bc y’all keep imagining her as a wisened 50-something
But she’s not actually in her 50s, that’s just how old her body ended up after her time in Wonderland
She and Magnus are around the same age, which means that before she spent that decade trying to find the Grand Relics by herself, she and Magnus were in their early/mid-20s
Imagine Lucretia falling in love with Magnus during the stolen century and not saying anything bc she spent so much of that period being shy and just taking notes on everything that happened around her and not really doing anything or actively spending time with anyone
Imagine Lucretia at 25 panicking about the Hunger and realizing that the only way to keep her friends safe was to make them forget about the Hunger and the relics they made, and make them forget about *her*
Imagine Lucretia at 25 meticulously choosing where to put her friends so that they’d live good lives, blissfully unaware of the oncoming apocalypse
Imagine Lucretia at 30 (now physically 50) learning that Taako’s career as a professional chef was cut short bc Sazed sabotaged him and poisoned and killed 40 people
Imagine Lucretia finding out that Merle was in a loveless marriage and walked out on his family, something he never would’ve done during the Stolen Century
Imagine Lucretia finding out that Magnus fell in love with someone *who wasn’t her* and got married and saved his town and then lost everything
Imagine Madame Director Lucretia looking him in the eyes, acting like she never knew him, crushed by the weight of the knowledge that he can never know who she is or how much she loves him, and that even if he remembered her, he would never love her the way he loved Julia
#( ooc. )#( mun ramblings. )#taz balance#the adventure zone#taz#the adventure zone balance#lucretia is the best npc and you cannot change my mind#and maybe some Lucretia x Magnus angst
80 notes
·
View notes
Text
King of the (bouncy) Castle
It's @taznovembercelebration day 17 and today I drew the prompt "soft"
Read below or on Ao3 if you prefer. Missed yesterday's? Find it here.
-
“Ko!” Lup yells from the hall.
“What?” He screams from his bedroom, because he’s still deciding on what to wear and if it’s that urgent she can come in.
“Do you know anyone else?”
“In general? Or?”
“Don’t be a dick. Do you know anyone who can come today?”
“Why?”
“Magnus had to drop out.”
“We can win without him.”
“A team is four people.”
“Ask Dav.”
“He’s racing today”
“Lucretia?”
“She just laughed until I hung up. It was a solid 3 minutes.”
“Merle?”
“I’m going to need you to work from the assumption that I have remembered our joint friends with whom we spend all our time”
“But seriously, Merle.”
“Taako, I have tried everyone we jointly know. He said he was going to be busy in the greenhouse, and then he said some other things. Would you like me to tell you what those other things are? Because I can. I can tell you exactly what he had planned for the onions because he told me because I had him on speaker phone and I got trapped in my shirt and he said a lot of words before I could hang up. They’re burned into my brain forever and cha’girl is happy to share that burden.”
“No! Lulu, don’t! I’ll cast silence.”
“I’ll counterspell it. Now start thinking of people.”
“Angus?”
“I also know Angus, and he’s a literal child.”
“He’s, what, 6 now?”
“He’s eleven, Taako, you baked him a cake in the shape of the number for his birthday two weeks ago.” There’s no need for Lup to slander him like this.
“Eleven! That’s basically an adult for humans, right?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Are you going to stop doing special magic boy lessons with him because he’s all grown up now?” Lup goes for the jugular. He doesn’t have to stand for this cruelty, for the implication that he actually likes spending time with the baby.
“What aboutttt… erm…” Taako changes the topic seamlessly and casts his mind furiously about for a name, any name, of a person Lup wouldn’t have already called. There’s one that popped up as soon as Lup asked and he’s trying his best to see round it but it keeps sidling into his eye line. He can’t though. It’d be a disaster. “Errrrr… Brian.”
“No. Absolutely anyone else.”
“What’s wrong with Brian?”
“He’s in a cult!”
“But apart from the cult stuff he’s lovely.”
“Taako! Do you want to win or not?”
Fine. Fine! Taako does very much want to win, especially after Lydia tripped him last year.
“Kravitz.” He says it fast, like he’s ripping off a plaster. Maybe Lup won’t put two and two together.
“The guy from work?”
“No?”
“Oh, you know another Kravitz, do you?”
“Yes?”
“Is any of that supposed to have convinced me?”
“Is it working?”
“No.”
“Fuck.”
“So… different Kravitz? How do you know Kravitz-Who’s-Not-From-Work? Why do you have a way of getting in touch with him?” Lup’s going to cling to this an unnecessary amount.
“Ooooh are we talking about Kravitz?” Barry, fucking Barry, asks. Wandering his ass right into their private conversation.
“This is a private conversation, Barold.” Yells Taako through the door of his room into the hall of their too-small shared apartment.
“Would you like me to put my noise cancelling headphones on?” Barry asks, earnestly, like he’d actually fucking do it if Taako said yes.
“Absolutely not, Barry, You live in this house and you have every right to be in this hallway.” Lup snaps. She’s still mad about last time Taako forgot to tell Barry he could take the headphones off. In his defence, he made him a cake about it. A jake, in fact, with edible press studs. Barry loved it! Plus, he was listening to one of his lectures, he was fine, happy as a clam!
“Fine.” Taako threw up his hands, no one could see him, but it felt important to do it anyway, you know, for the drama. He couldn’t argue with this, he didn’t have a choice, he may as well give in and call Kravitz, they’ve both worked together to twist his arm. “You’re making me do this though. It’s not because I want to. I’ve been compelled.”
“What?” Says Barry, perplexed. “I thought we were just talking about your crush.”
“His what?” Says Lup.
Taako springs forward and manages to flick the lock across the second before Lup tries the handle.
“You’re in love with death?” She tries the handle a few more times, as if it’ll jiggle the lock free.
“A man isn’t his job, Lup.” Taako shouts back. Denying everything.
“That wasn’t a no!”
“I have to ring him, because you’re making me. Or do you not want to win Bounce Off 2: Bounce in the City?”
There’s grumbling from the other side of the door followed by a muttered “c’mon Barold,” fakeout. Taako’s wise to it though, so he isn’t shocked by her ‘one last try’ of the door handle, or the second attempt that follows after she does fake footsteps away from the door.
“Fine! He’d better be down though and good.”
“He’s tall.” Says Barry, conversationally. He’d better not plan on telling Lup anything else.
“Good. We can use height.Is he strong?” Lup asks.
Kravitz is strong, Taako knows that for normal reasons, reasons like he can carry a lot of pastries when he orders them; and that time he helped Taako move the big table when someone spilled and he had to clean under it. Not reasons like all the time he spends staring at Kravitz’s forearms, and his thighs, and his everything else. Because he doesn’t do that. Taako would never.
“Fine. Don’t answer me.” Lup actually leaves this time, Taako pretends he can’t hear Barry telling her about Kravitz and his newfound love of coffee and baked goods.
Taako [10:23]
Yo stud got a minute to chat?
It was only polite to text first, he doesn’t want to jumpscare Kravitz with a phone call, he isn’t a sadist. The three dots flashed up immediately. Thank fuck he’s awake at the crack of dawn.
Bones [10:24]
Dear Taako,
Of course, I’ve always got time for you.
All best,
Kravitz.
Taako has been trying hard not to find his ridiculous dork texts endearing. He’s failing. Badly. He ignores the squooshy feeling it gives him and hits the call button instead.
“Hello Taako, it’s lovely to hear from you!” Says Kravitz like he actually means it.
“Hey Krav, quiiiiiick q for ya. What’re you doing this morning?”
“I’m just practising.” Of course he is. Why wouldn’t Kravitz be sat straddling his giant instrument right now? Taako’s mature though, he won’t make a joke about it.
“Can’t keep your hands off your instrument, shameful!” Fuck.
“Well, someone has to keep it in tune.”
Gods, he wasn’t supposed to play along. Why did he keep flirting back? Was this whole thing actually plausible?
“Wanna spend some time with Taako instead?”
“I’d be very interested in that.” Kravitz says, buttery and glorious.
“How do you feel about inflatables?”
There’s a long pause.
“It’s not a sex thing.” Taako says, to make it less weird.
“I’m not sure that makes what you said less weird, Taako.”
“You know, like bouncy castles.”
“Okay.” Kravitz doesn’t sound particularly convinced.
“And my sister will be there.”
There’s another pause. “...And Barry?”
“Obviously.”
“Uh huh.”
Fuck, Taako’s losing him, and it’s suddenly incredibly important that Kravitz not only agree to this, but is also enthusiastic about it. “It’s a competition.” Says Taako.
“Oh?” Of course that piqued his interest, Kravitz loves competition. He tries to help harder than any other customer, tip better than anyone else, and he races people in the street.
“We lost last year, but we’ve been in training.”
“You’ve been in bouncy castle training?”
“Obstacle course training… and also trampolines.”
“Is that what the weird squeaking is when we’re on the phone sometimes?”
“What?”
“You know, the calls where you’re all breathy and there’s the squeaking noise.”
Taako didn’t realise Kravitz had picked up on that. “You didn’t think…?”
“Well now I know it’s not a sex thing.”
“You thought it was a sex thing and you stayed on the phone?”
“I don’t judge.”
“You didn’t wanna ask Taako what he was up to?”
“I know you’re a private person.”
“Not if you think Taako’s doing sex things on the phone without your consent. In fact, that’s the least private a person can be.”
“You make a compelling point.”
Taako doesn’t even begin to know what to do with that. “So… bouncing?”
“Where is it?”
“We can pick you up.”
“All three of you?”
“Barry said he’s sorry and he’ll stop asking about the ‘secret sauce.’”
“I just really don’t think it’s a respectful way to talk about embalming fluid.”
Taako thinks it’s a great way to refer to embalming fluid, but he also wants Kravitz to be happy. “He double pinky promised.”
“Oh, well if he double pinky promised.”
“Great! Pick you up in 20, wear something snazzy.”
Taako hangs up the phone before Kravitz can object or ask anything else. He has limited time and an outfit to re-plan.
#taznc#taz november celebration#Taakitz#Background Blupjeans#Taako#Kravitz#Lup#Barry Bluejeans#TAZ Balance#TAZ Spoilers#TAZ fic#Noodyl Writes#Mild references to sex#Are these getting more unhinged? No. We've been like this from the start
58 notes
·
View notes
Note
Obsessed with how you portray father Cygnus (I hate black sisters abuse theories) please give us all your headcannons for him!
You and me both, anon! My headcanons list for daddy warbucks is ENDLESS so here are a good chunk. Enjoy!
◜ ۞ ◞ he’s a Black through and through. Tall, broad, grey eyes, black hair, classically handsome even as he gets older and older. Behind Tom Riddle he was certainly one of the most handsome boys at school despite that he’s 2 years younger than Tom.
◜ ۞ ◞ his best subjects were arithmancy, astronomy and alchemy.
◜ ۞ ◞ his magical expertise is astounding — of course it is, he’s a Black — he can recall histories of ancient lineages in his sleep and he practices rune mapping regularly. His skin is littered in runes, though admittedly, not as deeply as Orion’s is.
◜ ۞ ◞ like all Blacks he relies on his name more than anything else. They’re arrogant but they’re not show-offs like the Malfoys. They’re haughty but not snooty like the Rosiers. More than anything he knows how steeped in ancient and dark magic the Blacks are and he draws on that heavily, investing himself deeply in their unique, powerful, dark magic.
◜ ۞ ◞ he also loves hunting (muggle hunting is a favourite), wizards chess, collecting dark artefacts — which he’s been doing for as long as he can remember, having ludicrously expensive things imported from all over the world. It was a hobby of his fathers which he shared interest in.
◜ ۞ ◞ Speaking of his dad, he and Pollux had a lot in common but Pollux’s pride and joy was always Walburga.
◜ ۞ ◞ Pollux pushed him for a career in magical law with the Ministry. Irma wanted him to become an alchemist. Alchemy was his passion, a passion he later shares with his eldest daughter, Bellatrix.
◜ ۞ ◞ He excelled in magical law enforcement anyway, taking additional studies to become a magilawyer. He climbs quickly in the Ministry, moving from junior to senior within the space of about four years. By the age of 30 he’s the head of magical law enforcement, the youngest wizard in Ministry history to reach that position.
◜ ۞ ◞ For a long time he remains magilawyer primarily keeping purebloods out of Azkaban and supporting the imprisonment of mudbloods. Yes he’s a corrupt wizard, no he does not care.
◜ ۞ ◞ he’s heir (English side, Orion is the French side’s heir) to the wealthiest family in the world. He has more gold than he knows what to do with. When he returns from the continent he invests it heavily in Lord Voldemort, who he’s always thought has absolutely the right ideas about blood purity and whom he genuinely admires (despite that he was not invited to become a knight at school).
◜ ۞ ◞ Cygnus refuses to take the mark unlike many of his former classmates. Voldemort would’ve killed him for refusing him but Cygnus is useful and loyal despite his refusal to play destroy for him. Voldemort immediately uses him for keeping his death eaters out of prison if they’re ever caught, which isn’t often — and for writing new rules into the law systems of magical Britain.
◜ ۞ ◞ he and Druella were a love match, though she is his complete opposite. His father approved of the match (she’s a good standing pureblood witch after all) but his mother didn’t and wanted him to marry a Black, likely his cousin Lucretia. She relented because of Walburga, who made the point of — what does it matter? His children will still be Blacks.
◜ ۞ ◞ onto his babies!!! He’s very very proud to be a girl dad. He adores his three witches, every single one of them is the absolute light of his life and he understands them completely. He gets Bellatrix’s adventurous mind and rebellious spirit, he gets Andromeda’s academic mind and quirky spirit, he gets Narcissa’s pristine mind and sweet spirit. He adores them for their uniqueness and very much encourages them to explore and pursue their passions.
◜ ۞ ◞ baby Narcissa curled up on his chest is guaranteed to make him fall asleep within seconds.
◜ ۞ ◞ Druella definitely marks him down as the reason Bellatrix takes the mark and Andromeda becomes politically minded against their way of life. Cygnus takes none of the blame because his girls have always been single-mindedly passionate to what they believe in.
◜ ۞ ◞ Andromeda’s leaving wounds him deeply, but only furthers his closeness to Bellatrix and Narcissa, remaining very much a deep and fixed part of their lives.
◜ ۞ ◞ he’s daddy as fuck.
◜ ۞ ◞ 100% Alphard was his best friend. He did not approve of him being disowned for giving Sirius gold, though he did heavily disapprove of Sirius’s actions against the family.
◜ ۞ ◞ Walburga is the love of his life, he adores his big sister though he finds her intolerable at times (as all siblings do). He bends over backwards for her and does it without thinking twice. He is also exceptionally protective of her — cut to Cygnus decking Orion in the face for calling her a stuck up bitch and Walburga telling him she ‘wanted to do that herself!’
◜ ۞ ◞ Narcissa has done him the most proud for her family values and her integrity.
◜ ۞ ◞ Bellatrix has done him the most proud for her strength, ability, power and position in society.
◜ ۞ ◞ he approved of Bellatrix being taught magic by Voldemort when she’s 15 — after all, she’s practically a child and Voldemort is older than him what’s the worst that could happen?
◜ ۞ ◞ He didn’t realise how in love with him she was until he hears them conversing when she’s 19 and engaged to Rodolphus Lestrange. He didn’t mean to listen in, but he overhears her begging him not to marry her to Rodolphus and take her instead. He says no but that it won’t change things between them, she’ll always be his first. It stilts Cygnus entirely and he leaves quickly. He never shares what he hears with anyone, even Bellatrix.
◜ ۞ ◞ he finds out about Orion and Bellatrix’s affair first. He finds them asleep together when they’re in Orion’s home in France.
◜ ۞ ◞ if he could, he’d have had her marry Sirius and keep the Black family name. As it is, he was too young for her and also she seems dead set against having children anyway — and he doubts Sirius could change her mind, so he relents against his preferences for her marriage.
◜ ۞ ◞ as for Rodolphus I have two ideas for how this could go: either way he loves his son in-law, they have an excellent relationship and they’re both dangerously protective of Bellatrix. 1. Rodolphus and Bellatrix have been best friends since their childhood, it makes sense they marry each other. Bellatrix doesn’t mind so much, he’d make for an easy enough match and she does seem to adore the wizard. It’s an easy engagement, easy marriage, and they make a beautiful couple. 2. Rodolphus is Cygnus and Voldemort’s age, a former peer of theirs. Rodolphus never marries and never shows he’s interested in Bellatrix. Bellatrix expresses her interest in him directly to a very surprised but perfectly pleased Cygnus who agrees he’s an exceptional wizard and would make for a brilliant husband. Plus if Orion proves anything, he knows his girl has always liked her older wizards. They court for some time, get engaged within a year and married in the next — again they make a beautiful couple.
◜ ۞ ◞ he is not keen on Lucius Malfoy despite that he seems to dote on Narcissa and bend to her every whim. Narcissa deserves far better — but honestly no one would be good enough for his most precious girl, so fine.
◜ ۞ ◞ He knew about Bellatrix and Voldemort’s affair and did everything in his power to keep it from ruining his daughter’s reputation which he felt she was being reckless about.
◜ ۞ ◞ he tried to talk her out of it multiple times but it only seemed to further her closeness to Voldemort and Voldemort’s iron-tight grip on his daughter.
◜ ۞ ◞ one day when he finally confronts him, Voldemort says if he wanted to make his pretty little daughter his personal whore he would, and who would stop him? Certainly not Cygnus Black. Cygnus (in his very characteristically Black temperament) pulled all Black funding from under Voldemort’s feet and found himself on the other end of Voldemort’s wand. When Cygnus refused to relent despite the threat of death, Voldemort turned his wand onto Bellatrix. He had the choice — continue giving him the gold he wanted or lose his heiress. He didn’t think he could actually kill her given how close they were and how heavily involved with everything Bellatrix was (and quite frankly, how obsessed and possessive of Bellatrix Voldemort appeared to be) but Cygnus complied.
◜ ۞ ◞ he once more risked Voldemort’s wrath by demanding the man at least have the decency to marry his daughter when he gets her pregnant. Voldemort only laughed and Cygnus lost what little respect for him he had left after that. Though he continues supporting the cause, he actively avoids Voldemort unless he can’t. Even then, he speaks to him with a candour and freeness no one else (except Walburga and Pollux) seem able to.
◜ ۞ ◞ Despite that, he absolutely adores his little granddaughter (more than his grandson, sorry Draco). Delphini means the world to Cygnus and he’s grateful to Walburga for legitimising her.
◜ ۞ ◞ the most devoted, hands-on grandfather you will ever come across. Absolutely spoils his girl rotten just like he did her mother.
◜ ۞ ◞ he continues hunting well into his older age, almost always solely with Bellatrix. It hurts him just a little she goes with Voldemort more than him. During the height of the war he never sees her without him nor him without her.
◜ ۞ ◞ he loses his job when he fights for Bellatrix’s release from Azkaban prison. He’s disbarred and revoked of his positions and titles. He’s heart broken and inconsolable at his daughter’s imprisonment, his most beautiful, shining star chained behind bars. He misses her beyond belief and not Walburga, Druella or Narcissa are able to pull him from his grief.
◜ ۞ ◞ he dies from the heartbreak of losing Bellatrix to Azkaban and then soon after, Walburga’s death. No one is with him when he passes, but his hand is tight around the picture he keeps of Bellatrix with him all the time. Delphini takes the picture and keeps it herself.
#fuck your black sisters abuse theories#cygnus black is DADDY#cygnus black#the black family#bellatrix black was not abused#the most noble and ancient house of black#maneaters headcanons and studies#walburga black#narcissa black#bellatrix black#orion black#druella rosier#sirius black#andromeda black#the black sisters#hp fandom#toujours pur
56 notes
·
View notes
Text
Blood Moon AU!! Part 1 - Nobles
Time for a second major AU yayy!! I’m still working on Millennium AU as usual, though I want to get started on another one that’s been on my mind since years ago but never really got the chance to put on paper.
So here we are. I’m calling this Blood Moon AU. The nobles and werewolves basically have a race swap in an almost brand new setting. Lukedonia and werewolf island still exist; it’s the characters that have changed.
All characters reference their canon counterparts to various degrees. Some are similar or even near identical to the original, while some are vastly different. This could apply to names, looks, personalities, heritage/family, moral alignment… etc. It’s gonna be fun! I’m going to let myself get crazy with this and change things up quite a bit, haha.
As for the story. To be completely honest, at this point I just want to start off this new AU as more of a simple artistic approach. Right now I’m much more interested in designing and drawing the characters rather than writing the story itself. Maybe I’ll come up with something much later but it won’t be nearly as complicated as Millennium AU, and it’ll be fairly straightforward. Even then, I don’t want to rush it so that’s for the future. If I end up liking this new AU more than I do right now, maybe I’ll give the story an honest shot and turn it into more of a long-term project, but time will tell.
(Fyi “Noblesse” does not exist in the world. Too early for details but they either never existed, are a now permanently extinct special type of noble, or they simply peaced out and ditched Earth and returned to their special heavenly realm… etc. Honestly doesn’t matter. In this AU’s setting, they are absent. “Raizel” and his brother do exist but they’re both human. Actual normal human beings, with a normal life, currently students at a normal high school, stuff like that. Just your average human. The trio are also unmodified normal human beings. They are scattered across the world and never meet each other. Basically, unlike their canon counterparts, their existence is minimal and contribute to almost nothing in this universe. It’s weird, I know! That’s just how this AU is set up)
I’m going to split the noble and werewolf characters into two parts. Doing the (originally werewolves) nobles first! Posting the werewolves in a future post aka. part 2.
The characters!
Lucretia Natalina “Lunark” Drosia: Leader of the Drosia Clan. Kendrick’s twin, and on-and-off lovers with Julius. A rather carefree woman who is primarily interested in having fun, and shows little to no concern for the future of Lukedonia as a whole. When it comes to her people, she is a decent Clan Leader and manages her family efficiently. Lucretia’s efforts only apply to her clan, and her interests in other noble affairs are almost nonexistent. She has a habit of ditching meetings and whatnots. Sometimes, she even tries to ignore the Lord’s summons but ends up going anyway because her lovely daughter makes her show up. The only thing that can get Lucretia’s blood pumping with true passion is an offer to spar. Lucretia is an excellent fighter. People have to be very careful to not interrupt her fights unless they want to unleash her wrath, because she hates it when people invite themselves into her business. She also likes to flirt with her opponents during spars. Lucretia has a bit of a weird relationship with Julius, who is the father of her daughter. They seem to have positive feelings for each other, but that’s only when both of them are very bored and have nothing better to do.
Kendrick Tian-Chen “Kentas” Ru: Leader of the Ru Clan. Lucretia’s twin. A prideful, stubborn man who believes that the stronger should rule the weak. Like his sister Lucretia, he likes to fight and enjoys a good spar. Sometimes, people can choose to settle a quarrel with Kendrick by offering to spar with him and he would gladly accept. You can trust him, because he’s a man of his word. No more grudges, no hurt feelings. Done. In a way, he’s quite simple. Unlike his sister, Kendrick does care about the future of Lukedonia. He has a strong moral code of his own, but that can be overridden by his belief of submitting to the strong. That is why Kendrick is extremely loyal to their Lord and never questions him even if the latter makes some controversial decisions. As of now, Kendrick has no children.
Marcus Duruvan “Maduke” Siriana: Leader of the Siriana Clan. Erica’s older brother, and the Lord’s advisor. The only person who truly has everyone’s best interests at heart. You can say he’s the most “good person” leaning guy in this entire AU. Marcus is quite worried about the future under their Lord’s reign. Life is pretty comfortable inside Lukedonia, which is by itself very isolated from the rest of the world. However, Marcus foresees the destruction of planet earth if no one stops the Lord, since the latter doesn’t care about other races and is only concerned with the prosperity of nobles. Though, he doesn’t want to overthrow the Lord and instead wants to convince him to step away from his current path of darkness. He believes there is still hope. Simultaneously, Marcus is secretly gathering followers and supporters who all share his beliefs and formed his own organization. Together they work to transport resources out of Lukedonia and deliver them to humans and werewolves in need because the Lord refuses the share.
Marcus is struggling to plan for the future of the Siriana Clan, in case the Lord gets tired of him and decides to kill him one day for “meddling” too much, because his younger sister Erica is insane and cruel which makes her the worst possible candidate for the next Clan Leader of Siriana. Marcus loves her, but also fears her. He doesn’t know what she is capable of. Marcus is trying to look for ways to bypass his sister and hopefully be able to hand over both his position and Soul Weapon to another pure-blooded Siriana who isn’t his sister.
Marcus had a son, but he was assassinated sometime after his coming-of-age ceremony and now Marcus is once again childless and without an heir. To this day no one can figure out who the culprit is.
Erica Siriana: Marcus’ younger sister, and next-in-line for the position of Siriana Clan Leader. Wife of Lord Maximilian, and mother of Ashlynn. Erica is a ruthless, bloodthirsty woman. She is actually the person who orchestrated her nephew’s assassination. She made sure he was killed, then got rid of his killers, whom she sent, with her own hands. No one is going to suspect a thing and they’ll never find out no matter how hard they try. Erica did this to eliminate brother Marcus’ heir so she can regain her position as first-in-line. She’s been after her nephew ever since he was born, but waited for two whole centuries before doing the deed. To Erica, she’s just getting back what she’s entitled to, which is the full power, control, and privileges of a Clan Leader. Marcus is trying to be discreet but if Erica ever finds out that her brother intends to bypass her and give his position and Soul Weapon to someone else, she might actually just kill him and take over the clan immediately. Erica is truly a terrifying, power-hungry woman who will do anything to reach her goals. She does not care for anyone aside from her daughter Ashlynn and husband Maximilian, whom she genuinely loves. As messed up as Erica is, she is capable of being very loving and committed to whom she treasures. She and her husband are absolutely addicted to each other and he would let her do anything her heart wishes for, even if she continuously breaks Lukedonian laws.
Vivienne Branwen Di Ashlynn: Name means “lively and blessed raven of dreams”. Daughter of Erica Siriana and Lord Maximilian, and the next Lord of Lukedonia. On the surface, Ashlynn isn’t as straightforward as her mother despite their similarities. Ashlynn is just as ruthless and bloodthirsty as Erica, but the former puts on a facade in front of her people and pretends to be a sweet, altruistic future Lord. The perfect angel princess. And she’s very successful at it. Ashlynn is energetic, talkative, and empathetic around her subjects. She always tells them about how she wants her father to teach her power so she can protect not only her subjects, but also people around the world so they don’t have to suffer from hunger and war. In reality, she doesn’t care about any of them and she honestly thinks of them as a burden. They’re nothing more than cockroaches to her, and she’s only doing this because she enjoys deceiving her people and pulling on their puppet strings. She welcomes the love and respect they give her, and at the same time pities them for not knowing better, for she’s had them fooled this entire time. The world is her stage, and she’s the center. Ashlynn only drops her act and returns to her true self around her parents, who not only tolerate, but also accept and even encourage their daughter’s behavior. Well, their entire family is insane. Erica and Maximilian are totally overindulging Ashlynn while being completely aware of the fact that she is just as insane as them with no attempt to correct her, because she’s their little princess and hey, if she wants the world, then they’ll give it to her. Like Erica, Ashlynn doesn’t care about anyone who isn’t her family. Ashlynn loves both of her parents to the moon and back, and she might as well kill anyone who dares to speak ill about either of them. No one is allowed to disrespect them in front of her. Not a single word.
Ashlynn has a crush on Dominic and wants him for herself one day.
Eutimio Friedrich Di Maximilian: Name means “good-spirited and peaceful ruler of the greatest”. The current Lord, husband of Erica Siriana, and father of Ashlynn. Maximilian firmly believes that nobles are the most supreme beings to exist on this planet, and that they have a right to rule over every other species. Humans, werewolves, whatever… well, for now he’ll let them be for as long as they’re still useful. He won’t hesitate to unleash his power on them if he loses his patience. From a world view, Maximilian would be categorized as “evil”, but he doesn’t think of himself as such. In fact, he believes that he is doing good for his people, who are his priority. Which is true from a certain perspective, especially to the nobles who share their Lord’s vision. To them, Lord Maximilian is the greatest Lord in all of noble history. To others who strongly disagree with him, he is the most terrifying and coldblooded Lord in existence. Maximilian is only concerned with the prosperity of Lukedonia and doesn’t quite welcome the idea of distributing resources with the rest of the world. He doesn’t want the nobles to simply exist alongside other species; he’ll make sure the nobles are on the very top of the food chain. Everyone else is irrelevant and they’re all at his mercy. Generally, opinions are very divided and you either side with him, or you don’t. Life is very, very comfortable inside Lukedonia, and indeed, to some nobles, that is all they care about. Those with more empathy see beyond the obvious and are concerned with what goes on outside Lukedonia. The thing with Maximilian is that despite showing neither mercy nor any sign of remorse for his deeds in the outside world, he is actually quite lenient and loving with his subjects. You can say he has two extreme sides to him. He’s very kind to his nobles, but only them. He doesn’t mind if Lucretia skips meetings; he’d let her be. Or when his servants make mistakes, when someone does something offensive, etc... it’s alright, no big deal. In a way, Maximilian’s Lukedonia is teeming with freedom like never before under the rule of his predecessors. This is where Marcus comes in. He is just nervous and overthinking about getting killed if he says the wrong thing, but in reality Maximilian doesn’t mind voices of objection. He’s not going to give anyone a treason sentence or kill them for saying what they really think of him. You can tell him you disagree with him, he’ll just shrug it off and laugh. Say all you want, he knows you’re trying to persuade him, he doesn’t care. He’ll just keep doing what he’s always been doing. Maximilian knows he’s the Lord, and ultimately it is his decision to make. Just don’t let Ashlynn know, because she’ll come after your head if she figures out that you had doubts about her precious Daddy.
Maximilian is a very loving husband and father to his family. He is obsessed with them just as much as they are obsessed with him. On a personal level, while Maximilian himself doesn’t crave for the blood of his own kind like his wife and daughter do, he doesn’t mind letting them do whatever they want for the funs and thrills. Erica and Ashlynn are free to break the law all they want. Though, they’re smart and strategic with it and don’t commit murder in broad daylight. Still, Maximilian is aware of his beloveds’ occasional killings, and he lets them be. He’s the type of person who would let them burn down the entirety of Lukedonia to nothing more than a pile of ash if that is what they wish to do. It’s no big deal, he’ll just rebuild Lukedonia to be even grander and more luxurious than before! To Maximilian, they are the only two existences in this world to come before Lukedonia. How sweet.
Zivon Tradio: Leader of the Tradio Clan. An elderly sorcerer who is quite the hard worker, and spends most of his time studying existing spells as well as coming up with new ones. He’s from the previous generation of nobles, and he stayed behind because he’s just too damn cool to die. Just kidding, his love for magic is why he’s still rocking it. It’s still too early! Zivon’s ultimate goal is to push the boundaries of noble magic and to create what has never been seen before. A true spectacle to behold. Zivon is one of Lord Maximilian’s favorite subjects and the latter even has an entire wifi system built and set up in Lukedonia as a gift just because the former has the hobby of streaming and likes being an “influencer”or whatever the humans call it. Zivon is quite an internet celebrity and Lord Maximilian is supportive of his work of “spreading superior noble influence over humans”. Zivon is also Princess Ashlynn’s tutor, who calls him “teacher”.
As of now, Zivon has no children.
Julius Loyard: Leader of the Loyard Clan. On-and-off lovers with Lucretia. An elegant man who is well-received by his fellow nobles. Julius is a man of few words and usually doesn’t express himself beyond the bare minimum required to be polite. While Julius does admit to enjoying the lavish lifestyle that was a gift from the Lord to all nobles, he is beginning to see why this is a problem for beings outside Lukedonia and starts to sympathize with them. It isn’t easy for him immediately to give up what he’s been used to all these years, but he’s starting to steer away from that lifestyle in support of the less fortunate. Julius was one of the first members to join Marcus’ secret organization of smuggling resources out of Lukedonia to help those in need. Currently, he’s responsible as the leader of the food distribution sector. In his free time, Julius is a jewelry designer and Lord Maximilian is a fan of his work.
Julius’ heir is his son whom he had with Lucretia. He is fond of her but doesn’t entirely agree with her rather carefree personality. They seem to have positive feelings for each other, but that’s only when both of them are very bored and have nothing better to do.
Giada Agvain: Leader of the Agvain Clan. Like Kendrick, she is extremely loyal to their Lord. She’s been by his side since the beginning, and they are childhood friends. Everyone knows that Giada used to feel one-sided love for the then-Maximilian and now Lord Maximilian, but what they don’t know is that she is still in love with him. Well, maybe it’s better for them to continue to believe that she has gotten over him. It’s not like he’ll ever like her back anyway, and you’ll never know what Princess Ashlynn will do if she finds out that anyone other than her precious Mommy is “coveting” her beloved Daddy. Giada is one of the few people who knows about Ashlynn’s true nature despite the latter’s angelic facade. While Giada does love Max on a personal level and is loyal to him, she doesn’t agree with his actions. She is also one of the first members of Marcus’ organization. Currently, Giada is responsible as the leader of the money distribution sector. In her free time, Giada tends to a small spider lily garden.
Giada’s heir is her daughter whom she had with an unnamed noble woman.
Dominic Raffaello “Dorant” Blerster: Leader of the Blerster Clan. A calm and rational man who remains unfazed in extreme situations. He is also the youngest to become Clan Leader, because his mother and predecessor saw so much potential in him, she passed over her title and Soul Weapon to him as soon as he came of age. Dominic pretends to be fairly neutral, and most people think he isn’t dedicated to anything or anyone, but he’s actually Lord Maximilian’s right hand man in the shadows. On the surface, he is simply Clan Leader of the Blersters and does a good job of managing his clan. When he no longer needs to act as Clan Leader, Dominic goes to the castle and reports everyone’s moves to his Lord. Dominic is actually a member of Marcus’ secret organization and oversees the medical distribution sector… as a double agent. His allegiance is with the Lord and he’s only there to watch what everyone else is doing to report back to his master. That includes a long list of who is working with Marcus, what resources they have been smuggling out of Lukedonia, who is on the receiving end… etc. Every. Single. One. So Lord Maximilian is very much aware of Marcus’ “betrayal” thanks to Dominic. Curiously, Lord Maximilian tells Dominic to just let them be. Perhaps he finds this to be amusing. Nobody knows what he’s thinking. Dominic, on the other hand, is in total awe of his Lord for his immense generosity for the “traitors” even though they clearly don’t deserve it.
Dominic doesn’t know that Ashlynn has a crush on him.
As of now, Dominic has no children.
Undine Mergas: Daughter of the leader of the Mergas Clan. A woman with a short temper who is also easily provoked. Undine’s father, the current Mergas Clan Leader, believes that she is unfit to become Clan Leader due to her personality and tendencies to boss the knights around instead of being a responsible and respectful leader like she is supposed to, but he is hopeful that she will change one day. Undine is best friends with Mimi and the two of them are almost always seen together. On one of her travels to the outside world, Undine met a human named Michael Travis Osborn by chance and she has had a crush on him ever since. He’s pretty cute. Maybe the Lord will let her capture him and bring him back to Lukedonia, she thinks.
Mimi Elenor: Daughter of the leader of the Elenor Clan. A woman with a similar personality to her best friend Undine, but less impulsive and more calm. That’s why they get along and are best friends because they have much in common. Mimi has an older brother so she likely won’t become the next Elenor Clan Leader, but she’s fine with that. In fact, she’s glad she won’t become Clan Leader because all those responsibilities, hassles, sitting in meetings all day, blah blah blah… ew, just too much work. She just wants to have fun, so her brother better be competent so she won’t have to bother with her clan at all. Mimi, like Undine, also has a crush on Michael Travis Osborn. They chat about how cute he is. Both of them want to capture him and bring him into Lukedonia. They’re thinking about discussing this with the Lord. If Lord Maximilian hears about this, he’d approve of the capture and tell them to go ahead and enjoy themselves because of course he wants all of his nobles to get their hands on everything they wish for. Plus, these two remind him of his daughter Ashlynn so he’d be even more generous towards them.
Kushaal Kertia: Leader of the Kertia Clan. Cousin of Galileo. A respected fighter known for his immense speed and agility even amongst the Kertia. Kushaal is also honorable. He dislikes dirty fighting and is fairly open to acknowledging his own weaknesses and strives to become even stronger and faster. He has heard about a certain blonde werewolf warrior who is the fastest of his pack, and wishes to fight him one day. While Kushaal enjoys and supports the luxurious lifestyle given to him by their Lord, he believes that humans and werewolves could use some help from Lukedonia. After all, if they’re all gone, he’s not going to have anyone interesting to fight with anymore. Kushaal would love to spar with the werewolves, so he hopes that they’re doing well. In his free time, Kushaal likes to collect rare werewolf artifacts to display in his home because they feel familiar to him, for some odd reason.
As of now, Kushaal has no children.
Galileo Kravei: Son of the leader of the Kravei Clan. Cousin of Kushaal. A man who has a bit of an inferiority complex because his abilities seem to have hit a wall, and he can’t get stronger with his own strength. Galileo is probably going to get by just fine, even though he himself is more impatient than anyone in terms of wanting to gain strength. Other than that, no one really knows much about him since he tends to keep to himself. In his free time, he plays with his three supernatural pet aquatic snakes: Ramen, Ramyeon, and Lamien. Galileo has a huge love-hate crush on Kendrick, and people will tell you he’s both extra mean and extra nice to him. He sends him cheesy “let’s fight” love letters written on rose scented paper. Yeah. He’s totally in love.
And that’s it for now!
Again, very open to questions and discussion. Quite happy about my second major AU! While this post only touches the surface of what I have in mind, I have a feeling that I will grow to like this AU even more. Maybe I’ll even create brand new OCs specific to this AU lol.
Thank you for reading and stay tuned for future posts!
#noblesse#manhwa#myart#fanart#kori’s blood moon au#alternate universe#lunark#kentas#maduke#erin#muzaka#zaiga#ashleen#juraki#garda#dorant#gayare#kuharu#urne#mirai
33 notes
·
View notes
Text
there's nothing inherently wrong or unhealthy with a platonic relationship being the most intimate and important in someone's life (whether that person is also in a romantic relationship or not). this has been said before but people still treat it like its true. ESPECIALLY that a prioritized platonic relationship belies “codependency” even though no one would bat an eye at the exact same dynamic if it were romantic, because of the idea that a prioritized platonic relationship is somehow immature/unhealthy and something to grow out of/move on from.
the idea that the twins just go, well, you've been the person i felt safest loving and trusting in my entire life, our souls have been bound by fate and magic and our love for one another is one of the strongest bonds in the multiverse, transcending death and unimaginable loss, the motivation behind everything we’ve ever done, but since we're both in romantic relationships now and the story is over, the reasonable and in-character thing to do would be to split up and have separate nuclear families because that's the "healthy thing" (read: expected thing). there's no other form of a domestic happy ending than a marriage and typical nuclear family. you're everything to me, my entire world, my heart, see you later.
ok this got too long i'm putting it under a readmore.
(also why i don't really like the idea that taako adopts angus. "parent" is not the only important, loving role an adult can play in a child's life but people feel that need to shove everything into a nuclear family. also taako has too much going on to be the good parent that angus needs anyway. and magnus and lucretia are right there. but this is another post <- this is actually a fan fiction i’m writing, kind of)
i just find that frankly silly. i truly believe that the twins live together for the rest of their lives and are always each others' most important person (before anyone kills me i do think barry is there too. they also both love him so much. capacity for love INCREASES there’s no need for a replacement or a “moving on” it’s an addition). there's not any reason they wouldn't live together other than that it’s not “normal?” but why would they give a shit about that. their prioritization of one another isn't the unhealthy thing about their relationship. they do have other stuff going on that's actually codependent, but i think they eventually work past it and come to have a healthier (yet no less close) relationship. actually this post was originally just supposed to be about those codependent tendencies but i felt like i needed to compensate by clarifying that there are only a very specific few things abt their dynamic i find unhealthy and that by and large they’re fine, actually.
the main thing is, as is so succinctly put in this post—they aren't able to communicate about big, important decisions. not to say they never communicate about anything, i think they actually do communicate effectively about a lot of things—warning i’m going into a complete tangent here—i see a lot an idea that they’re not siblings who hug or really verbalize affection at all which is crazy to me (<- personal opinion alert) like they’re closed off and distrusting (taako more than lup, but she’s certainly not exempt from their trauma) to other people and the world at large but they have always always been each other’s exception, each other’s utmost safe place, the one person they could be absolutely comfortable around, who they never have to be afraid of. that’s one of the things i find so compelling about them, that they trust each other with their entire selves. they have no reason to ever feel defensive around each other. oh to be known so entirely and intimately and never feel ashamed or afraid of judgement or abandonment. augh. so i do think they hug.
also—i don't think they're unhealthily codependent in the sense that they "don't know how to be a person without each other" like that's certainly not true for lup and i don't really think it's true for taako either. they have their own distinct personalities and identities they just also both inform each others’ lives. they're an integral part of each other's identity the way your family or best friend or partner or most important person in your life is but again i think that's fine.
but back to the topic at hand anyway they DO hide their misgivings from each other when it comes to huge shit with world-changing, life-threatening consequences lol. when it comes to, like, turning herself into a lich, or leaving to recover her dangerous magical artifact, lup feels like she needs to be entirely decisive and confident for taako, and when it comes to his sister turning herself into a lich, or proposing a dangerous magical artifact plan, taako feels like he needs to be unflinchingly supportive and loyal for lup. and those both backfire obviously. because they trust each other so completely that they don't trust each other enough to not trust each other. weird paradox.
but really its not a lack of trust in each other its their own insecurities projected onto each other. lup second guesses herself but feels like she can’t express that uncertainty so she’s alone with her doubts which increases the pressure and stress and creates a feedback loop that only makes her more insecure. and taako feels like he doesn’t have anything to bring to the table other than backing up lup and is afraid doubting her would hurt her which means he never has an opportunity to find out he does actually have good ideas and that lup would listen to him constructively. but it manifests in lup “not trusting taako” to have her back even if she doubts herself and taako “not trusting lup” to take criticism even if his idea is good.
and honestly i think the solution to this codependency just comes with… not being in those lifethreatening situations anymore. the universe was saved and they have normal (magical fantasy world) lives. so now when they’re hiding things from each other the stakes are a lot lower. and when the stakes are lower they’re able to express uncertainty because they don’t feel that extreme and terrifying pressure anymore. lup doesn’t have to make impossible decisions and stick to them despite any doubt because she doesn’t have the survival of entire worlds on her back anymore. taako doesn’t have to always agree with lup and uncritically support her every choice because he’s not the only thing holding her together from oblivion anymore. so they're able to express doubts and nothing falls apart and they're actually stronger for it. and they’re already doing so much work on fixing their relationship just from being separated and kinda grieving for a decade too, so they eventually work past that.
and also because they have to face those insecurities and their consequences. lup got trapped in umbrella limbo for a decade and taako had his life destroyed. if lup had been able to overcome her need to put everything on her shoulders and expressed uncertainty, if taako had been able to overcome his blind loyalty and expressed doubt, would they have gone through with the relics? would they have even gone through with the lich plan? they realize only afterward that they should’ve talked about it, and so they learn from their mistakes.
another tangent—isn’t it so crazy how, by any standard, lup should be the strongwilled, passionate, heroic protagonist and taako her cynical, pragmatic, yet loyal sidekick? and yet he’s the protagonist and she the supporting character in the actual narrative? so subversive and intriguing. i cant believe this was all masterfully and purposefully written. anyway. (<- in the in-universe metanarrative version of the story, lup [and honestly, probably davenport] is the tragic ghost who haunts the narrative and lucretia & barry are the morally gray protagonist foils, and tres horny boys are supporting characters/comic relief who go on to have their own semi-important b-plot arcs that ultimately serve to further the protagonists’ arcs. btw.)
back to the twins. i also think they don't only grow post-canon, i think they grow a LOT during the century, because in the beginning, they're coming from a life where they have been not only the most important people in each other's lives, but the ONLY people in each other's lives. and now they're suddenly faced with more people, which they handle fine individually, more or less—lup is faster to warm up to the others, but even though taako's attitude is very much that he only cares about him and his, he is capable of expanding the people who are "his" (eventually). but they've never had to bring other people into their dynamic with each other before.
i don't think either of them are possessive, their relationship is built on deepest mutual respect and love and trust and "possessiveness" is kinda antithetical to that, but they can both be jealous on occasion. although there is a difference—lup is the only one who will outwardly display jealousy (and maybe a better word than jealousy would be insecurity), again because of the dynamic earlier: taako must always support whatever decisions lup makes without question. so when taako dies one cycle and all of a sudden merle and magnus and everyone else grieve him too, lup feels a sense of ownership over grief (not over taako himself, but over loving taako, just because no one else ever really has before, and she’s never had to think about the possibility that he might love other people too) that she initially may not challenge but does eventually let go of, because it's actually a good thing that other people love him now, and bringing new people into their family doesn’t make their love for each other any less. and taako has a similar experience but tbh i think its a little easier for him bc, like, who wouldn’t love lup, and lup loves other people way more freely than taako does (still not super freely, its a low bar). not that lup thinks taako is unloveable OBVIOUSLY (taako does think he’s unloveable tho) i just think they have different attitudes abt it, like they both have the moments of “but you don’t love them as much as i do!!” which is true, no one loves them as much as they do, but taako’s more willing to let that shit go bc he just doesn’t care as much what the others do as long as they don’t fuckin bother him about it. like lup sees the others equate (as she sees it, but oc they’re not actually grieving At Her) their (comparatively shallow) grief to her world-shattering loss of her best friend, only family, soulmate, silly rabbit, and she gets angry about it, but taako’s reaction is more like, “ok they’re stupid. who cares.” meanwhile and more importantly, all of a sudden lup is falling in love with barry, but taako's not one to throw a fit or demand that he's the only one who can love lup nor the only one lup can love. she’s made her decision. he just gives barry advice and lets it quietly hurt and draws distant, because he has a deep seated fear of abandonment that is now, for the first time, clashing with his unshakable trust in lup. and their relationship irrevocably changes but maybe not for the worse, because taako has, for the first time, doubted lup, a disruption to their typical (codependent) dynamic. but, of course, in the end his fears are unfounded and lup pulls him back in, because their capacity for love increases—of course lup still loves him just as much and yknow what, so does barry, and so does the rest of the crew. so he doubts and fears and is proven wrong. and so they grow and change, and their world increases from two to seven.
but that doubt doesn’t really go away for a long time, exacerbated and strained the more lup keeps secrets (especially with barry) until it reaches a head when lup finally doubts taako and does truly abandon him. but again, of course, never on purpose and never forever, they find their way back to each other despite everything and, again, come away stronger for it. the idea that the twins’ relationship is never as close again after story and song is so fucking tragic and heartrending but really i just think its unrealistic. because the rift between them is what caused their pain in the first place, of course they wouldn’t just shrug and move on. they would do anything for each other, including a lot of difficult emotional work and healing. for a little while they do have to deal with the reality that they’re not as close as they were. but they can be again. it just takes time and effort.
but anyway just to drive my point home—we mostly see taako's side of it since he is the protagonist in the real world narrative, but lup is always, always positioned within that narrative as his most important person. (and even then, lup says as much for taako! she loves barry of course but she loves taako so much he’s her heart!!) when thb see their lives after the hunger in paloma's prophecy, taako sees himself cooking with lup. she's textually representative of healing and joy in his future, and she's the main character present in his epilogue too. she's his greatest loss and his greatest love, positioned in exactly the same place as julia and merle's kids. there are a myriad of love stories going on in balance and a myriad of love stories involving taako that are all beautiful and significant in their own right but i really do think the main one in his life is lup!!
well all that to say they’re my favorite little critters ever and i’m studying them under a microscope forever. how do you end posts
#whateverrrrr i’m just going to post this even though its rambling#anyway. promise im still writing my fan fictions. i just have been having too many thoughts been unable to condense them#writing this shit into an actual fic is much more satisfying and rewarding but its also sooo hard#bc i have to employ ‘subtlety’ and ‘nuance’ and ‘thoughtful writing’ instead of train of consciousness word vomit. sad!#i’ll never not be insane about them btw#taz taako#taz lup#taz#taz balance#taaco twins#lup#taako#mine#the twins#analysis#also um i know i mentioned barry and not kravitz. and thats because. well. i’m not sure what to do with him.#i think its chapter 12 of solace? thats literally just about him its already written its like 6k words and it resolves absolutely nothing#i’ll figure out how i think he fits in someday maybe
15 notes
·
View notes
Text
15 lines of dialogue
Rules: Share 15 or fewer lines of dialogue from an OC, ideally lines that capture the character/personality/vibe of the OC. Bonus points for just using the dialogue without other details about the scene, but you're free to include those as well!
was tagged by @galadae, ty for the tag <3 tagging: @anneapocalypse, @lavampira, @hythlodaes, @scionshtola, @fantasmagoriam, @euelios <3
“Listen, when Minfilia died, I thought–” he looks away and rubs his eyes. “The world can go fuck itself for all I care, but I– he–” He shakes his hands around his head and hisses. “He’s my second chance at— at love, and if I ruin it because I’m a jackass–” - defense
“You’re grossly overestimating my influence. Or maybe my liking of them.” Nika makes a face. “I wanna shoot half of them in the face. Member of the Heavensward, off you go. Annoying asshole, off you go. That’s a solid chunk of Ishgard’s nobility.” - 'ajde bar noćas budi mi drug
“Bah, you’re too prim and proper.” Nika puts a foot down. The heels echo in the otherwise silent room like a battle trumpet. It may be the drink he’s had, but his next words come out offensively shamelessly. “I like the way your collarbones look.” - (you) restless son
“Alright,” Artoirel says slowly, “but if there’s anything we, or I, can do to help, do not hesitate to say. I do want our relationship to be a positive one, even though my first impressions may have led you to believe otherwise.”
Care to suck my dick? That would make me feel so much better . “I’ll be down soon, and I want to dress in peace, for fuck’s sake.” - crisis he didn't ask for but got anyway
“I bet,” Lucretia replies, with a hint in her voice that she understands what he’s hiding behind that little word. “Do Ishgardians have any board games?”
“Kill a dragon, maybe.” - how unreasonably in love i am with (everything) you (do)
“You’re afraid I’m gonna hate it or something? Is that why you sound like you’re a kid meeting your idol for the first time?” - (you) restless son
“That bad, huh?” He laughs, but it’s a choppy, insincere thing. “I suppose I am.” A moment of silence. “I’m just so fucking tired, Minfilia. I’m angry at Ascians. I’m angry at Garlemald. I’m angry at the likes of Teledji Adeledji. There’s only so many arrows I have for each of them. And only so much patience, too. Besides, fighting shit hurts. It’s hard on the body.” - to (kick your feet) strive but never to yield
“Is something amiss, Nika?” Minfilia’s voice rings in close proximity, worried.
“I’d say our Warrior of Light has yet to let go of his anger for the Ascians,” Thancred supplies and Nika’s eyes open.
“If you of all people aren’t angry at them, Thancred, then what the fuck are you doing with your life,” Nika says and he would flinch at the way he says Thancred’s name, like venom. Thankfully, he does too.
“I am angry, Nika. But I don’t allow my anger to destroy the Rising Stones.”
“Instead you destroy your fucking liver–” - to (kick your feet) strive, but never to yield
Artoirel frowns. “This House relies on me. Aymeric relies on me. Sacrifices must be made.”
“I can learn to forge your signature and sign all your documents.”
“Without reading them?”
“Naturally. Formal speak annoys me.”
Artoirel drops his nose into Nika’s shoulder. “That is not how this functions and I am not letting you forge my signature.”
Nika huffs. “Can’t blame a guy for wanting a hobby. It’s not like my body lets me do jack shit these days.” - how unreasonably in love i am with (everything) you (do)
“That you are,” Artoirel says. He then turns all serious again. “How are you doing these days?”
“Me?”
“Yes. These recent events have been.. Tumultuous for all of us. Most of all for you.”
Nika frowns. “Losing people feels like absolute shit, Artoirel.” - cold nights in ishgard
He’s quiet for a long time. Long enough to get him on the bed, to get him under the woolen covers. Long enough to sit beside him and run a hand down his arm and have him lean into the touch like it’s a gulp of water in the midst of a drought.
“I’m scared, Mom,” he croaks, and buries his head in the pillows. “Gods save me, I’m so scared.” - defense
“My actual name’s Nikita, so you can call me whatever you want. I’m all three of these fuckers.” Nika shrugs and drops the pillow. - crisis he didn't ask for but got anyway
“Fine– I think you’re not only good at aiming, but also good- looking. Is it a crime in the Brume to be attracted to people?” Nika taps a nail against the trigger of his firearm.
“Not at all.” Hilda smiles. She walks over, the end of her weapon clinks against the metal of her tall boots, and she looks up at him. Her lips are full and red from the cold and her eyes shine in amusement and pleasure. “Join me for mulled wine later? Maybe a card game, if your pride lets you?”
Nika huffs. “It’s not about pride, woman – but yes. I will join you for mulled wine. It’s stupidly cold in Ishgard.”
Hilda places a hand on his forearm. “I’ll make sure it’s all warm for you, Nika.” - 'ajde bar noćas budi mi drug
“I get it.” Nika laughs, but it’s devoid of any amusement. “We’re similar, I think. It’s why we get along. We’re both fucked up right now, we can’t talk about it, so you overwork yourself and I annoy people. Should I go to Coerthas to chase heretics?” - how unreasonably in love i am with (everything) you (do)
“Of course,” he taps the space beside him, “come, sit.” His heart wants to leap out of his chest, both easy and dragged down at the same time, and Nika thinks about the faded, long line on his face. Does she like men with scars?
It’s a useless inquiry anyway. She just asked for a song, not a love confession. He’s not sure he’ll ever be ready to give a love confession anyway. Because, Twelve preserve him, he is just a little bit in love with Minfilia. - does she like men with scars?
#tag game#tried to make them varied#but i feel like nika has like 2 moods he expresses verbally ;;;;#i am so sorry if it feels repetitive but nika's repressed as shit in a lot of ways and he has no idea how to communicate#hence *points at that*
10 notes
·
View notes
Text
Antas and Valenio 1
Summary: You set off into the woods simply for the fun traveling. Valenio follows because he wants to pick a specific flower for his upcoming opera performance. And Antas tags along presumably for the sake of keeping you company.
(Ah, been a while since I've looked at my creations! Have at them and give them plenty of compliments please.)
It wasn’t really something you planned, this hiking trip.
“So,” you jumped over a big root only to have your pants snag on a branch, “woah!”
Luckily, Valenio caught you by the shoulder, though the strength in his hand made your joint creak a bit. He helped you down on the other side, muttering a deep, “Careful.”
“I told you that you should’ve gotten some hiking boots,” tutted Antas as he floated right over your head, facing towards the foliage covered sky with his arms behind his head, as though in a private pool, “Little humans with their little ground bound selves are going to trip over nature’s biological chaos.”
It’s odd to you, really, to see him wear the face of Crowley and yet none of his usual clothing. It was a simple ruffle front shirt with the dark pants of his uniform and thigh high boots. Barely any of his usual effort, as though this really was just relaxing at home.
Meanwhile you and Valenio were pretty much sweating through your clothes. Well, more Valenio than you. It seems he’s still not used to the warmer temperatures of the surface world, especially compared to the deep sea.
“Yeah yeah, I hear you,” you waved, dismissing him as you check the damage on your pants. Nothing wrong, just a loose thread. Yes, it was dumb of you to travel this far into the woods but to fair, you were going in a straight line. And Valenio’s with you so it’s not as if you’re alone. “Anyways, Valenio, mind telling me more about the flower you’re looking for?”
“Rude,” Antas scoffed, but you can hear the amusement in his voice and feel his carapace hands patting your head. You didn’t stop him and kept walking.
Valenio hummed and reached into his bag. He pulled out a worn journal with an odd bone pen sticking out from the pages. “It’s called the Lucretia’s Wine Glass. Named not for its peculiar shape that gathers its nectar in, but after a winemaker woman that shared a glass of her most precious wine with her lover. Supposedly the drops spilled gave birth to this flower.”
“Oh my, how romantic,” Antas flipped in the air, now on his stomach, his legs swinging about as he propped up his chin, “And familiar. Isn’t that story the subject of your next performance, dear Valenio?”
“Oh so that’s the theme,” Valenio didn’t really tell you much beyond the date, “how cute. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Valenio coughed into his hand, “It’s… overly sentimental. And… I didn’t want to give a wrong impression.”
“There’s nothing wrong with choosing a romantic opera piece, though,” you said with a light touch of laughter.
Antas flew down and whispered, “he likely thought you wouldn’t like it. Tell me, how many students in this college would be willing to sit down and listen to something as overly sappy as The Winemaker’s Glass Gift?”
Not many. Not many at all.
“Don’t whisper as though I can’t hear you. Even with all the noise, I’ve learned to distinguish them just fine.” Valenio sighed out as he slide down a rock structure.
“Whoops, sorry.”
“So,” you gestured in front of you, “why the flower hunt?”
“Because…” Valenio paused and you stopped as well. Poor man had a hand pressed against the tree. He reached into his bag, pulled out a flask and poured its contents all over his head, “That’s better. Because, the story is about love, dedication, and devotion. It’s a beautiful piece, and I feel it would bring me closer to this song if I had this flower to perform with.”
Well then, no wonder so many Pomefiore students both admire him, despite this barely concealed fear.
“Well, I hope you find that flower then,” you looked up, “though, what about you? Why are you here?”
An aura of glittering butterfly scales lapsed into view, rendering the woods still for just a moment before the winds brushed past you all once more. Antas was smiling, as one would towards a threat that had no chance of touching them.
“Think of me as your invitation, Prefect, Valenio,” finally, as though tired of being in the air, Antas let his heel click on a stone protrusion, “Can’t very well have those close me be stolen away because they forgot that woods aren’t ever truly untouched.”
…you know what, that’s on you for forgetting that faeries exist in just about every part of the world. You really should curb your habit of just wandering into places. It’ll probably get you killed one day.
#twst#twisted wonderland#twst-drabbles#ask#drabble#pomefiore#antas#antas m agoria#ignihyde#valenio#valenio mara#oc#twst oc#reader insert
28 notes
·
View notes
Text
the main post was getting long but i wanted to highlight a couple of cool responses on my taz balance game posts pointing out stuff i forgot or didn't realize:
@widzi:
op forgot the new davenport glitch where if you manage to clip him into the voidfish tank he gets innoculated earlier and skips #right to the story and song cutscene
@scarlett-green-rose:
Wait, I haven't played (or really thought of) TAZ: Balance in years, and I never really got into the speedrunning scene. But do all the speedruns run in the optional chronological timeline order? I get that starting with hundred year journey lets you play around with the early faerun stats that Barry, Lucretia and Lup (or really the Umbrastaff) get, but considering the long gameplay loop I'd have thought that runners would just settle for the basic stats for those three and exploit the hell out of the tres horny boi's immunity to corruption buff to free lup and then speedrun the rest of the relics, at least for any%. Is running hyj first actually worth it despite the fact that the planar order is randomised? Or do runners use a specific seed when running that category?
Also, shame to see that Merle and John's Parleys isn't as present in the current meta. That cutscene where John monologues about his doctrine and Merle rejects him is just *mwah* incredible. Although I guess it's understandable considering how long those dialogues are.
@somelittleplacebetweenthestars:
lol speaking of the spa scene i found a pretty funny glitch there the other day #i was messing around with menu storage clipping the other day and found out if you clip merle out of bounds during the first song#his properties get all weird #so although he loses his arm to the crystal cosmetically #it just. doesn’t register? so when it comes time for him to get the soul wood arm he just straight up cannot get it #idk it’s mostly a visual glitch#doesn’t really effect game play that much it just means he’s got half an arm for the rest of your run #but rlly why are you in the crystal kingdom if you’re running another other than 100% #where was i going w this #OH YEAH #but this weird not!arm gets SUPER FUCKED UP in cutscenes #like the spa scene!#basically#like once every two seconds it’ll spawn the soul wood arm in its pot plant#without despawning the previous iteration? #and bc the cutscene’s in-engine you basically soft-lock yourself bc you can’t start the scene without overloading the game #just kind of a stupid fun thing tho #mb it can become a category #arm% or whatever#(this is all in crystal kingdom btw sorry forgot to mention)
@barry-j-blupjeans:
oh shit really??? #listen. i love magnus but all his level 1 shit is so sloooowww #i wanna rush in!! how can i rush in if i cant land a hit half the time!! #(<- i say as if mangus still isn't the most overpowered character in the game anyway) #(esp in a lotta the alpha releases. i get why they had to nerf him down but it's really funny to see a very low level magnus #fucking up absolutely Everyone he comes across) #u used to be able to do the raven roost's arc in like. 3 months max #just bc of how overpowered they originally had him sldkfsdf
35 notes
·
View notes
Text
Lucretia Propaganda Post
Did she erase her family's memory? Yes. Was it for the right reason? Yes. What is a good thing to do? No. Did it ruin all of their lives? Yes. Did she found a mysterious organization and make who everyone call her The Director? Yes. Did she save the world because of it? Yes. Does she live in constant guilt and regret and will for the rest of her life? Absolutely
Erased the memories of her closest friends, who were practically family and had traveled through the multiverse together for a hundred years. But she only did it because she couldn't deal with their grief over unleashing deadly artifacts upon the world. She also erased the entire world's memory of the violent conflicts over these artifacts. All so she could collect the artifacts and enact her own plan for fixing things, which her friends had voted against because it was an objectively bad plan. She ran a shadowy organization on a secret moonbase for this purpose. She recruited her amnesiac friends and manipulated them. One had been forced to forget his own twin sister. One was left a shell of himself, only able to say his own name. This whole plan also relied on keeping a baby creature locked away from its parent. She's definitely morally ambiguous, but I also love her because underneath it all she's a dork and a girlfailure who just wanted to protect everyone but was set on doing it her way.
First Multi-Paragraph Submission:
short answer: literally the boss of a magic secret organization on the moon. does some very morally dubious stuff with people's memories, indirectly caused some deaths, full of hubris. but also had very good intentions. and i love her so so so much.
long answer (heavy spoiler warning:) she and her found family made magical relics/weapons of mass destruction to keep a plane-eating evil at bay. this partially backfired, as the damage from people using and fighting over these relics was immense. she decided that they needed to retrieve and consolidate those relics and use their power to cast a barrier to protect the world from the evil. her found family told her that that wouldn't work and forbade her from doing that.
but she couldn't accept that. so she decided to straightup erase their memories and go ahead with her plan anyways. one of them was forced to forget (and cease his search for) his missing twin sister. one of them forgot everything but his own name and lost the ability to speak or think clearly. one of them found a loophole so that he could keep his memories, so she painted him as a villain.
she went to retrieve one of the relics herself but this went terribly. she lost decades of her lifespan and had to abandon her hired assistant to lose his body and be stuck in a place of torment. so she created a secret organization to help her collect the relics, and wiped the existence of her organization and the relics from the memory of every non-member in the world. but this still didn't quite work out that well, and members of her organization kept getting corrupted by the relics and/or getting killed. so she decided to try hiring three of her memory-wiped found family members to collect the relics for her. all the while keeping their memories wiped and making up lies about why the relics were created. they did successfully get all the relics for her (despite getting very hurt and temporarily dying) but her consolidating the relics brought the plane-eating evil back and the world nearly ended (but things ended up mostly okay after everyone got their memories un-wiped and they came up with a better plan to destroy the evil once and for all).
but at the same time, her intentions were good. she wanted to prevent the world from being destroyed, either by the relics or the universe-eating evil. her wiping her found family's memories wasn't just to prevent them from stopping her, but to take away their pain. she didn't want them to bear the guilt of knowing that they created the relics that were destroying the world, and she didn't want them to grieve their lost member. she set them up with as good of lives as she could. she tried to bear the pain alone, literally unable to to tell anyone what she was going through.
i love her so much and can't think about her for too long without wanting to start screaming and sobbing.
Second Multi-Paragraph Submission
SPOILERS for The Adventure Zone: Balance. Like Serious Big Deal Ruin The Entire Big Twist Spoilers.
Lucretia and her found family spent one hundred years running across the multiverse from a universe-ending entity intent on eating them, and when they finally landed in a world where they could put that on hold, the group comes up with two imperfect plans; they choose the plan that Lucretia didn't support. They spend about a year abiding by the plan they all voted on, but then one of the other members of her family (Lup) goes missing trying to stop a terrible thing that they put into motion with the plan they're executing. After a few months of watching the rest of her family despair and watching their plan slowly destroy the citizens of the world, Lucretia makes the decision to stop their current plan and execute the plan that she proposed instead.
To do this, she alters the memories of the entire rest of her family (and the world below), including erasing their memories of Lup and the hundred years they all spent together. She then deposits three of them (Magnus, Merle, and Lup's twin brother Taako) in places on the world where she hopes they'll be happy, while keeping one of them by her side because her altering their memories made him (Davenport) forget almost everything about himself. The last of her still-living family (Barry, Lup's husband) partially escaped her memory wipe and spent his time hiding from Lucretia and trying to find Lup while he could remember.
Over the next several years, Lucretia tries and fails to stop their initial plan on her own while preparing herself to execute her own plan. When she realizes she can't do it alone, she forms an organization focused on stopping what they'd put into motion, carefully telling half-truths and gaining the loyalty of her employees while rebranding herself as "The Director", rarely ever using her real name. Her organization's headquarters is on a secret floating base that looks like a second moon, and she altered the minds of everyone on the world below to make them think that there had always been two moons there.
Eventually, the three family members she'd found new homes for make their way to her moon base, and she employs them to stop the plan that they had wanted to put in motion, making them think that Barry (who occassionally pops up to try and stop her or get them to realize the truth of what's going on) is evil and that they should never listen to a word he says. When Barry (who partially escape the memory wipe because he's a lich, a highly unstable undead being made of magic who is driven entirely by strong emotion) learns that Lucretia has made his family afraid of him and mistrust him he almost loses himself completely, but he pulls himself together and keeps on trying to stop her (and by extension, them, even if they don't realize what they're doing is wrong). When everyone regains their memories, Taako almost kills Lucretia because she made him forget his twin sister (they were each others' only constants growing up in a tumultuous family) and all Lucretia can focus on in that moment is convincing him that her plan will save the world.
In the end, Lup is finally found and a third plan saves the day and everything is hunky dory, but that was some Extremely Morally Gray Girlbossing on her part! Like, don't get me wrong I ADORE Lucretia!! But you have to admit there was some fucked up behavior on her part, even if it was for a good cause!!! I support women's wrongs <3
21 notes
·
View notes
Text
July Showers, August Flowers
Angst, barely any comfort, AU Mouse?/Konig? mentions of child death, unplanned pregnancy, etc. More info below
So, a couple times I had mentioned how Mouse became sort of an OC to me, and for whatever reason, the angst was really hitting me last night so I whipped out this. Brief timeline/overview
Lucretia "Mouse" Jehnnings- US Marine Sniper Scout and Clandestine Insertions specialist gets partnered up with Julius "König" Doss, insertions specialist for the Austrian Special Forces in 2014. The two work well together, slow burn, they fall in love, you get the idea.
In 2015, Mouse gets shot in the field and her comrade, the newly promoted Captain Price, tells Hans "Golem" Blaustein that Mouse died in combat (so she can assume an espionage role.) Hans relays this info to König, who abandons his plans of retirement and eventually works for KorTac under the assumption that Mouse is dead. König pulls a similar stunt and 'dies' legally to continue his work. Mouse is told that he is dead as well. They both live under the assumption that the other has died.
In 2023, Mouse joins SpecGru under the insistence of Captain Price. She recognizes König in the field and this is the first meeting in years. They're like. Late 30s here, but they met at mid 20s.
Sorry for the long explanation! I promise it makes more sense in my head. Anyways, very self indulgent and has no bearing on C/M/D, but, functionally, Mouse and König are the same characters, just with identities explored.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She shuts the door behind her with a characteristic quietness, and she doesn’t so much as turn to the entryway as she redoes the locks behind her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Mouse lies.
König knows it’s a lie. This is how Lucretia lies. With her eyes cast down, her lip bloody in her teeth, her elegant shoulders collapsing in on her small frame. All these years later she doesn’t look all that much different, perhaps it’s his own age talking but there’s something so effortlessly charming in her smile lines and crow's feet. The red light leaking down onto her in the dim room creates a shadowy contrast on her face. He can still count her freckles. She never got her nose corrected, it’s still slightly crooked. Her lip scar, the one he tasted when it was fresh, has healed itself into a satisfying silver sliver.
But for every similarity to his Maus, this Mouse carries a difference. Her hair is a little thinner, it’s certainly longer than he ever knew it to be. She has a much larger scar that strikes through her right, but still unharmed, eye. She has more ear piercings and tattoos littered about what little skin he’s had the privilege to see.
She’s dressed to the nines in her combat uniform, it’s unlike any he’d have known her in a near decade ago. It’s dark, it’s stylized, she’s littered it with little insignias of herself. A dagger symbol rests on her tac-vest guarding her heart. His own heart wonders what look her face would make if she were to see the dagger he got on his own sternum, a sullen memorial to a long-dead lover complete with edelweiss insignia and her favorite poppies.
This is Mouse. Not Maus. Not Lucretia. He tries to separate them in his mind.
He fails, he just wants the woman in front of him in his arms again, no matter if she’s different than how he knew her. She’s still Mouse the Sniper, she’s still the muse of every late-night memory that haunts him, still what he fights for, still what he wants.
“Price told me,” König warns. His body starts to shake. He doesn’t know what answer, if any, he wants.
“Yeah well. He told me you were dead.” Her wonderful, honey-brown eyes pierce daggers into his. In this light, she looks like some chthonic succubus, ready to steal his soul and spit his discarded body out, bloody, but still alive.
“Hans told me the same of you.” He says. What he means is I died when they told me as much. I haven’t been alive since I found out Lucretia Jehnnings died from a gunshot to the abdomen. Krueger had to peel me off the floor. I bought a ring for you. I was going to ask you to be Lucretia or Jenny Doss, it didn’t even matter if you took my last name as long as you were mine. I haven’t felt that way since you died, hell I haven’t been a person since you left, just this monster. I want to kill Hans and put his body at your feet. He lied to me, you’re alive but I’ll never forgive myself for our time apart.
She shudders and unwraps her make-shift gause face mask from her hands and re-wraps it in an idly attempt at comfort. He remembers when she used to do the same with her bandana. So much is different, but nothing’s really changed, now has it?
“How did he tell you I went?” She asks, eyes still trained on their target. He swallows the bile rising in his throat. She is breaking apart at the seams, but he will not let her think he is too fragile to hold her together.
“Abdomen. Gunshot.” He clips out, short and breathless. A humorless laugh escapes her lips in return.
“Someone died from that all right,” she says, through tears and hiccuping laughter. She slips her sniper’s cowl off her shoulder, exposing her right forearm. She steps closer to him and, just like all those years ago, he lets her approach him, all too weary to scare such a lovely prey animal off.
She exposes the arm to him. Between the scarring, intentional and otherwise, pure black flowers curl in between themselves. Edelweiss, poppies, morning glories, forget-me-nots, and baby’s breath tangle around a name and date. Augusta.
When he looks into her now overflowing eyes for permission, he slips his hood off when she nods yes. He expects confusion, ire, resentment, disgust, and a million other things to cross her face when she sees him again, the monster that he’s been without her.
Instead, she silently cries harder and shudders when he presses a few sad kisses to the tattoo. He breathes in her smell and soaks in her warmth as if to remind himself that she really is here and this isn’t just his deepest fantasy played out in the night again. She still smells like cinnamon and mint. She’s still warm to the touch.
“Would you have told me if you knew I was alive?” Anger rises in his stomach, at Price, at Hans, at the US and Austrian governments for perpetrating such a lie, but not at her, never at her. He pushes it down, resolved to know that he will make all the conspirators pay in due time. Right now, he focuses on the bittersweet joy of having his own life back in arm’s reach.
“No, I-” she shivers and digs her nails into her arm so fiercely he worries she will draw blood. “I couldn’t face you.” She backs away from him and he lets her retreat. It pains him to lose contact but he knows chasing her will only compound the hurt.
Still, his mind reels in confusion. What reason could she possibly give to have him be upset? He wants to twine her in his arms somewhere far away, to never let her go, to shield her from every future injustice dished out by a world that has already battered her so badly.
“Why?”
“Because I failed, Julius!” She shouts, body shaking and voice trembling. “First I failed as a soldier, I put myself into some stupid fucking situation and got shot. Then I failed as a woman because I didn’t even recognize- who wouldn’t fucking know? How could any woman miss that?” Her loud voice dips into quiet pain and she sinks to her knees in front of him.
“And lastly, I failed you.” He follows her onto the floor and sits in front of her, listening to her line of reasoning, no matter how badly he wants to shout at her about how wrong she is.
“Lucre-”
“No, Julius, I did. I failed you, I thought, this is awful, but I thought-” She takes in a shuddering breath and her words find a steadier cadence. “I thought to myself, ‘at least Julius is dead. At least I don’t have to tell him how badly I fucked up. At least it’s all my fault, at least they’re alr-” she chokes and takes a moment to collect herself. “At least, you could hold her when I couldn’t. At least you could take care of her when I clearly couldn’t and didn’t deserve to.”
He cannot hold himself back anymore and he lunges at her to grab her in his arms. She knocks over and he pins both her hands above her head and steadies her gaze to his with his other hand guiding her chin.
“Don’t ever say that again!” He shouts, some new angry passion thrashing at his ribs to be let out into the world. “You did not fail, I am the only failure here. If I had known, I never would have let you suffer alone!” He hisses. She closes her eyes and more tears squeeze onto her cheeks.
“But you didn’t know-”
“And neither did you!” His chest heaves and his heavy heart hits the floor and shatters when she opens her eyes back to his. Now it’s his turn to fall apart, he lets her wrists go and he lays down on his side, maneuvering her body to lay with him the same way.
She still fits perfectly in his arms after all this time.
He cradles the back of her head into the juncture of his heart and jaw. One of her hands finds his cheek and strokes it. “I am sorry,” he prays into the cold room. She nuzzles closer to him and whispers it back.
Once her trembling stutters to a stop, she unwinds herself ever-so-slightly from his grip and traces his sightline to the exposed tattoo.
“I’m sorry, I had no clue what you would have wanted. It was August 1st and I thought, well Julius Caesar, Caesar Augustus, and…” She trails off and her gaze falls to somewhere on the floor. He strokes her cheek as he turns her eyes back to his.
“Augusta Doss is a perfect name.” He whispers, arms embracing her closer to him yet again.
“She was perfect,” Mouse sobs into his chest, shaking like a boat battered by a summer storm.
He never liked Price and was always at least a little weary of Hans. At this moment, König can think of only one thing he wants more than to rip them apart with his bare hands for what their lies have kept him from and done to his love, and it's to keep holding her until she stops crying.
“Just like her mother,” König responds, holding her steady like a rock holds steady in the sea.
#char: julius doss#mouse/konig#char: lucretia jehnnings#anyways#yeah this is so fucking sad I am already sorry for writing it :)
21 notes
·
View notes
Text
Bro May I just discuss the biggest twist in TAZ balance podcast that shook me to my core—
(Obviously spoilers for TAZ Balance podcast and graphic novel)
So— like
Taako having a twin sister was obviously wild. Like Lup was such a major presence in the entire story and we didn’t even know who tf she was which is incredible- how you can love Lup and know nothing about her.
But that was wild but it didn’t blow my mind.
Now the tres honry boys and the lot being red robes was also like holy shit but it didn’t shock me all that much either— again A MAJOR MAJOR TWIST and I was surprised but I was more like- I need answers than I could actually be surprised you know?
No what fucking shook me to my core - shocked me the most— I’m talking having to physically pause the goddamn podcast as when Lucretia said; “and then… their was our captain”
And we FUCKING CUT TO DAVENPORT
AND HE GOES “Lucretia… what have you done?!”
I WAS LIKE
W H A T
DAVENPORT? THE FUCKING LIL GNOME LUCRETIA HIRED TO BE HER PERSONAL BUTLER
The dude who could only SAY HIS OWN NAME?
THAT’S YOUR FUCKING LEADER? REALLY?
THE GUY WHO DRESSED IN A CANDLENIGHTS MASCOT OUTFIT AND WAS ALMOST TEMPTED BY THE PHILOSOPHER STONE?
THAT DAVENPORT?
Anyway I can’t wait for that to be drawn
#merle highchurch#taz#the adventure zone#magnus burnsides#taako#taako from tv#taz lucretia#the adventure zone balance#barry bluejeans#davenport taz#taz davenport#taz lup#lup taz#lup taaco
18 notes
·
View notes
Text
Day 7 - Aftermath
It was weird, still being in the world after it almost ended. They had spent a long, long time wondering what a plane would look like post-Hunger, but Lup figured that this was probably the best outcome they could hope for.
The sense of rebuilding and community here on Faerûn wasn’t completely new— there had been several worlds that actually heeded their warning and prepared for the fight. But seeing it afterward? Seeing that strength and love persist even though the Hunger had tried to destroy it? It was truly beautiful.
And, honestly, made Lup feel a little bit shitty about not exactly feeling up to help.
It was— she was a mess. To put it in simple terms. Lup had spent an entire decade imagining what it would be like when she finally got out of the umbrastaff and now that she was out she couldn’t bring herself to go through with a lot of her plans. Sure, she did most of the plans that involved hugging people, or fuckin’ talking to people, and all that. But otherwise, she just felt… shitty. And out of touch.
The crew had moved on without her, especially after Lucretia’s help. Honestly, Lup couldn’t bring herself to be mad about that. She could very easily where Luce had been coming from. Like, Taako and Barry would have kept searching for her no matter what. Hell, Barry had. And she loved him for that, she really did, but in all honesty? She was kinda glad Taako— and Barry, for the little pieces he got to— had the chance to live without her being missing hanging over his head.
But it also left her in this situation. The Hunger was gone, the world was saved, and Lup had no true connections with anyone besides the crew. And even then, they weren’t the same exact people she had left.
Merle had kids! He had been married! Magnus had married too, but it was a bit of a different story from what Lup knew. Taako found people who loved him, with his show, with Kravitz— at the very least, Barry had gotten the chance to know the world, if not many of the people in it. Lucretia had the entire Bureau and people she had met along the way. Davenport was the one closest to how she felt, but at the very least, people knew him, even if wasn’t who he really was.
Lup didn’t have anything. Aside from Cyrus, which didn’t go great for either of them. All she had was a weird, fleshy body and a family who had changed when she was gone.
“Lup?”
The door to the study opened. Barry peeked his head inside. The hallway light flooded through the small gap in the door. Lup had the lights in here down low, so the contrast made her squint a little.
“What’s up?”
“You okay?” Barry asked.
“Not really,” Lup said after a moment of hesitation.
Barry shuffled into the room, gently closing the door behind him. Lup leaned against one of her hands, turning a little so she could see Barry when he leaned up against the side of the desk. He held out a hand and she took it, squeezing softly.
“Can I do anything for you?” Barry asked.
Lup would literally never get tired of him. She got so, so lucky being stuck on a ship for a hundred years with this man.
“Mh.” She brought their hands up to her cheek, pressing against it. Barry smiled. She had missed him so fucking bad. “I’m just… thinking.”
“Well, there’s your problem,” Barry said.
“Stupid,” Lup said, but she was smiling anyway. “I— it’s just… Like, we thought about what it would be like after the Hunger for so long, but now that we’re here I’m— I just don’t know what to feel about it, y’know? It’s— it’s so much, sometimes.”
“I get that,” Barry said quietly. “It’s— it’s been hard.”
“So hard,” Lup said.
“Yeah,” Barry said. “And I— Lup, I can’t even imagine how hard it’s been for you, with the— the being trapped and everything. You’re doing so good, and I know it’s been rough. I just… it’s hard to think of what can make it feel better, y’know? Do you— is there anything you wanted to do? When you were in the umbrastaff, I mean. Like, we can make a bucket list-”
“Most of it was just wanting to hold you again,” Lup said. She cleared her throat, blinking away tears. Barry squeezed her hand again. “I— the world is just so different than how it was during— when I left. I can’t— I don’t know how to adjust to a world where I don’t know anything or anyone.”
“It’s hard,” Barry said. “We could, uhm. We could go on a road trip?”
“Go on a road trip,” Lup repeated.
“Yeah,” Barry said. “So, uh, so you get to know more of the— the lay of the land and all— and we can go places where I know someone or— or where Taako knows someone, and we can talk to them, and get you acquainted, at least—”
“I don’t wanna assume your friends wanna be my friends—”
“Babe,” Barry said. “Anyone who doesn’t wanna know you is full of horseshit anyway.”
“Yeah?” Lup said.
“Yeah!” Barry said. “Like- you’re Lup! Look at you! One, you’re hot as hell-”
“Barry—”
“Two, you’re super kickass? Like, I don’t know if you’ve been hearing the news-press, but—”
“Ugh, the news—”
“I know, right?” Barry said. “And three, you’re— Lup, you’re so genuinely kind and funny that I can’t imagine anyone wouldn’t be jazzed to meet you. You gotta— I know this is your line, but you gotta stop worrying so much about it. People love you. If you wanna go out and meet ‘em, then I’m gonna be right there with you, okay?”
Lup finally let go of his hand, if only to wipe her eyes. She was smiling, though.
“You think so?” she said.
“I know so,” Barry said. “Just… think about it, okay? Doesn’t have to be a road trip, we could just— take a vacation. Gods know we deserve it—”
“We do.”
“Just let me know,” Barry said. “And I’ll be there with you, okay? Now you gotta come eat before everything gets all cold and gross.”
“You’ve convinced me,” Lup said, pushing her chair back. “This bitch is ready for spaghetti.”
“You’re always ready for spaghetti.”
“It’s a character trait, babe, keep up.”
#blupjeansweek2023#blupjeans#barry bluejeans#lup#taz#taz balance#mine#ise cube writing#habby last day of blups week :'3#i hope everyone enjoyed these sdlkfsd
48 notes
·
View notes
Note
now that you're done endwalker, could you talk a little bit more about andromeda? im curious about what she got up to/how she grew in all that time
YES I’D LOVE TO endwalker was BRUTAL to her. and yet she still pulled through with the indomitable human spirit
Previously On Final Fantasy XIV (Andromeda Elo Version) style recap:
as you can imagine, her obsessive belief that killing zenos would instantly reinstate her as a perfect hero circa. stormblood went… poorly. the brief period when people thought she killed him and not that he killed himself in front of her did make her feel a little crazy
and then she went to the first and that kind of put things in perspective. or more accurately, gave her a fresh new slate for her hero image and an excuse to ignore her previous flop era
there was her whole thing with emet-selch. anyways
on that note, the only real canon deviation i made to shb was that when she’s dying of light poisoning she does, in fact, run off to the tempest by herself with the intention of killing them both. this doesn’t pan out and instead she spends about a week hallucinating in emet-selch’s torment nexus until some very upset scions come get her. i’ve drawn a lot about this. i will likely continue to draw a lot about this
due to a cocktail of deep rooted mental issues and also the fact that he was truly just so miserable, andromeda doesn’t feel… great about putting emet-selch down. but instead of articulating this, because she’s convinced it’s not the “right” reaction, she bottles it up for about 3 patches
…until elidibus plays on her guilt and she receives azem’s crystal as a 1-2 punch. when y’shtola asks the wol after the fact if they’re okay i decided that she immediately bursts into tears
so now we arrive at the end times
there’s really no delicate way to say it but the garlemald arc was probably the worst thing she ever experienced. which is impressive, given her spring break amaurot excursion just happened.
(i loved it though it might genuinely have my favorite writing in this whole game)
as i’m sure i don’t have to spell out, being treated as a foreign invader in the place she grew up was kind of a lot. she’s incredibly sentimental about her homeland- for as much as she hates it for how it rejected her (and the atrocities) and as much as she never for a second regretted her defection, her feelings towards garlemald are not dissimilar from the way someone might crave the recognition of a family that has only treated them poorly.
in fact, her traitor’s title of viator was never actually official- zenos referred to her as such, but never made his knowledge of her garlean citizenship public because he dgaf. and yet, despite continuing to exclusively go by elo and hide her origins, she privately referred to herself as viator caecus without much thought, in an act of blinding self-unawareness. (but as her god i know the reason, and it’s that on some level she likes that being branded a Significant Traitor still means being recognized by her former home as Significant)
anyways, speaking of her family: they sure did live in the capital! andromeda is trying really, really hard to be brave and pragmatically carry out her duty as Eorzea’s Champion but like…her mommy lives here :(
in the first of many acts that mean the jig of her supposed eorzean origins is pretty much up, she starts asking everyone they encounter if they’re aware of the whereabouts of a woman named lucretia eir caecus (for ilsabard contingent business, obviously. not because she’s terrified her mom is dead.) without much luck. the twins simply do not have the heart to tell her that this is a hell of a long shot.
(ONE person doesn’t know where she could be, but they do know of her and muse that the rumors must be true then- that this minor city bureaucrat really did have populares sympathies, if she’s a contact for the eorzeans. this comes as total news to andromeda.)
(also eventually, inevitably this get back around to their intelligence and thancred pulls her aside and grills her until he realizes what’s going on and pivots to Oh My God it’s fine that you miss your mom?! you should have come to us helping you look for her is the least we can do after everything. this is the second time a scion makes her burst into tears.)
putting a pin in that for now. in from the cold was . a lot. i don’t have much to say other than that it felt especially cruel to make her drag herself through the ruins of the city she was raised in while wearing the body of the kind of person who made her life hell. also in general that zenos knew what he was doing when he razed her hometown to the ground to get her attention. fucked up duty btw. her desire to kill him with a rock is back.
after tower of babil/the moon/zodiark i deviate from canon a little bit again- she lets the scions do their mare lamentorum side thing while she goes back to garlemald to see what’s going on. not feeling great about maybe causing the final days.
and then she reunites with her mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (<- part of her narrative that i had planned out as early as heavensward)
i want to draw this scene out in glorious detail but the long and short of it is that lucretia- who lest we forget, knows her way around a gunblade despite living as some military man’s obedient little wife for 25 years- had actually started trailing the ilsabard contingent from a distance once rumors spread that the wol was with them.
see, despite this not being officially public knowledge, she figured out that this “andromeda elo” was her daughter a long, long time ago, and it kind of snapped her out of the two-decade defeatist trance she put herself in for survival. (which is when she got involved in all manner of clandestine anti-state activities- she was rather dangerously close to getting in extremely serious trouble when civil war broke out and everyone kind of stopped caring)
so she followed them from a distance, falsely assuming that the daughter who ran away wouldn’t want to see her until finally getting caught and dragged in there
also she killed her husband in self-defense. allegedly. he was totally tempered i promise. he had it coming tho.
ANYWAYSSS that’s the chunk of edw i have the most detailed thoughts on. elpis was also incredibly harrowing due to um. her Whole Thing with emet-selch but tbh i haven’t fully digested the back half of the expansion yet because it is DENSE
(i do love it when two characters get one single transcendent moment when they're finally able to both understand each other though it makes me crazy)
two final beats that i think illustrate her mental state going into the finale:
when the final days descended, the number one thing that kept her from falling into despair was her reunion with her mother- while their relationship is far from magically fixed, the simple fact that she regained something she lost after realizing how precious it really was to her made her all the more ferocious about ensuring that she will never, ever give that up again
when zenos makes his final assertion that the two of them are the same, she rejects him- but this is because while it was once true, she has since outgrown that. she has outgrown him. and that’s why he loses.
...also she fucked drusilla at some point while learning reaper
#ffxiv#andromeda elo#THIS IS LONG. REALLY LONG but i added a bunch of pictures <3#thank you for asking anon. i love my daughter i love to talk about her
26 notes
·
View notes
Text
memento mori
When Magnus died, there was this sudden realization that Lucretia would be next.
Subconsciously, it seemed as if all the birds were waiting until the year was over. As if everything would reset, and Magnus would be back. Young, strong, and eye black from a bar fight, one which seemed like a thousand years ago now.
But, of course, he didn’t. Because this was permanent. Taako knew that, logically. But it wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair, he thought to himself, as he knocked on the door to Lucretia’s home.
The caretaker lady opened the door. She was a halfling, dressed in blue. Her ebony brown curls fell to her waist, and she regarded him with a soft, pitiful expression. Taako’s face soured, and his ears flattened down against his head. He didn’t need pity, especially not from a woman he barely knew.
She was… an employee for the Director, that much he knew. When the Director retired, this halfling woman was nice enough to take care of her… is what Taako was told. In his opinion, though? It wasn’t nice at all. It wasn’t generous or heartwarming or loyal or… anything that anyone wanted to tell themselves it was.
The Director didn’t need to be taken care of. She didn’t. She never did. Ever since her year alone, the Director was as stubborn as a goddamn mule. For better or for worse, she got things done with her head stuck up her ass. Refusing to ask for help. Refusing to let people do things for her. Refusing to admit she was ever wrong, even if her actions caused a person to forget their second half.
And yet, despite himself, Taako was in her home.
The halfling escorted him to the living room. She offered a glass of water, but Taako turned her down. He didn’t say why he was here, but apparently, he did not need to ask. The halfling just looked down sadly when he rejected her offer and turned on her heel. Taako stared at the rug. Has she always had that pattern?
The Director was wheeled in. Taako didn’t look up.
“Taako,” the Director began, but quickly erupted into a coughing fit. Taako continued to stare down the carpet like it had wronged him personally. Seriously, medallion? Who was the Director getting her style from, anyway?
“Still alive, eh? ‘S stubborn as ever, I see,” Taako laughed, not unkindly, but not familiar. The tone in his voice was distant, and the Director could tell that Taako had something on his mind. She pursed her lips thoughtfully, and she quickly dismissed the halfling from the room.
“Taako, as much as you know I always love it when you visit, more than I can properly put into words, why now?”
“Can’t an elf see his family once in a while?” Taako moaned dramatically.
“Taako.”
“It’s my day off.”
“Taako.”
“Lup wanted me to.”
“Good fucking hell, Taako!” the Director snapped, forehead creased. She sighed and her face fell, too old to argue. She sat up straight and folded her hands over her lap, her back popping as she did so.
“Don’t fuck around with me, Taako. I’m 109 years old. It’s a miracle I lasted longer than Magnus.”
Taako flinched like he’d been slapped. She continued.
“I’m too old to play games, so I’m gonna make this short.” She paused, as if considering her next words.
“I lived with so, so many regrets. I don’t want to die with just as many. It’s been years since… since the day of Story and Song,” Lucretia said. Even all these years later, none of them have been able to speak of what happened in full. “Every time I take a breath, I hope it isn’t my last. Each time I close my eyes I beg the gods that I’ll be alive to open them. It’s not fun being old, Taako, and it’s not fun dying for a final time.”
Taako tapped his arm impatiently. “So? What’s your point?”
“Wh- What’s my point?” the Director repeated tiredly. She ran a wrinkled hand down her sagging face. “My point is that whatever you want to say to me, say it, because there is going to be a point where I’ll be gone, and you won’t be able to.”
Taako isn’t one for feelings. Never has been. For two centuries he hasn’t been, and he won’t be for as long as he lives. But when he thinks back to the day Magnus left for good, all he can do is remember how it felt. How it felt to lose someone important like that again. He’s lost Magnus before. He’s lost the Director. He’s lost Lup, in more ways than one.
But there is nothing like the empty white walls of a hospital room. Being helpless as you watch a loved one slip through your fingers like water. The first time Taako was forced to face loss like that was when he and Lup were 75. The only difference is that they were alone. They held each other’s hands tightly, and Lup sobbed into his shoulder as strangers ushered them away from their aunt one last time.
They didn’t want to be separated from each other like they had been from their aunt, so they ran.
Taako can’t run from this. He knows he can’t. Magnus is dead and he isn’t coming back, and he and Lup can’t run like they did when their ears were too big for their heads and their hearts were too big for the world.
“Fuck, Luce!” Taako sobbed, wiping his face with the back of his hand. Lucretia just stared at him expectantly as he struggled to spit out his words.
“I know I fucked up, alright? But don’t pretend you didn’t either!” Taako snapped, jabbing a finger in her direction. She didn’t even blink. “You didn’t reach out once!”
“You know why,” Lucretia responded coolly, just as accusatory. The two of them stared at each other. Taako conceded and his shoulders slumped. Lucretia wheeled over and took Taako’s peticured hand in hers. For once, he didn’t fight her. Taako waited for her to say something, but she just gazed at him patiently.
“Fuck,” Taako emphasized again, this time with a laugh, his shoulders shaking. He pulled her into a tight hug.
“Oof, Taako, I’m ancient,” Lucretia laughed back, but reciprocated, nonetheless.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m sorry for… everything.”
“Hm? Sorry, I didn’t hear that. My old human ears. Was that… an apology?”
“Shut the fuck up. I’m trying to be heartfelt.”
The two stayed in silence for a little longer. Taako was the first to pull away.
“But, uh,” Taako began, “yeah. I’m, uh, sorry for… staying away. From you. Even after all this time.” He took a deep breath, gathering his thoughts, and Lucretia watched.
“I mean, I know it’s partly deserved, you know? That’s what I’ve been telling myself for 50 something years. That you… deserved the cold shoulder for this long. I mean, for anyone else, I probably would have given them the cold shoulder for longer. But then it… it really hit me. How fucking short human lives are,” Taako sniffed. He wiped his face again.
“It’s not fair that the babies of the family are the first to go. The rest of us are still kicking. Good lord, Luce, you look older than Merle, for Pan’s sake.”
“You wound me, truly,” Lucretia said, voice flat. Taako forced a laugh.
“I think I... forgave you a while ago.” His brow furrowed, like that wasn’t how he wanted to say it. “Or, I don’t know, got over it at least. As much as Taako can get over something. I just… held out this long because of principle, you know? And by the time I was over it, I didn’t know how to… talk to you anymore. I told myself you deserved it because I didn’t want to admit to myself that I was wrong,” Taako admitted. He felt uncomfortable, suddenly, like something in him came undone and everything he has been holding inside for not even a quarter of his life came pouring out. Lucretia, however, held him steady, like his words were something she had been waiting for all of hers. She waited for him to say anything else, but when she seemed to realize he had finished, she let out a sigh.
“Some things really don’t change,” she muttered, clearly intending for Taako to hear her. He smiled wearily.
“Gotta stick to what the fans love, right?” he joked, and Lucretia smiled back tiredly. He felt his heart sting. Why did everything with humans change so fast?
It suddenly hit Taako that when he becomes a pile of bones, he won’t have Lucretia. Or Angus. He won’t even have Merle or the captain. They’ll be dead, long buried in the ground. It will just be him. And Lup and Barry, of course, since they’re reapers now, but they’ll still look exactly the same. Taako’s beauty will have long since withered while his twin will be as sharp as ever, and Barry… Well, Barry’s jeans will be as crisp as ever. And Kravitz…
Taako jerked when Lucretia brought her hands to cup his face, but otherwise didn’t resist. This was really it, huh? The first and last time they’d ever have a heart-to-heart like this.
“I wish we had gotten more time together,” Lucretia professed, and Taako broke in her arms.
#I don't know if this is OOC it is mostly just projection on my part.#Self indulgence! Yippee!#post story and song#taz balance#the adventure zone#taz#lucretia taz#lucretia#taako taz#taako#taako taaco#my writing
119 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
viorpret
Vio
thewind-upbirdsings
고진감래
surose01-blog
題名未設定
death-note-imagine-that
"Let's put our best into this, shall we?"
stxrcloud
Katsumi Shimada