#could magnus have convinced lucretia to let them take the light? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

patriciasage · 3 years

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Dawn Patrol

Author: Patricia_Sage

Fandom: The Adventure Zone - Balance

Summary:

Magnus blushes and he looks at Taako with stars in his eyes. He looks at Taako the way Barry probably looks at Lup. And Barry realizes how fucking stupid he’s been.

[a Stolen Century story - Barry thinks Magnus is flirting with Lup. He's wrong.]

posted in full under the break but you can find me on A03!!

Barry Bluejeans has a crush on Lup the moment he sees her on his first day with the I.P.R.E., but he falls completely and permanently in love with her around Cycle 10.

He speaks the mongoose language with her and Taako like they’re a secret club, and her soft, mischievous smile makes his heart flutter. Barry and Lup combine their expertise of science and arcana, respectively, staying up late into the night drawing diagrams on the Starblaster’s wall. She tells him about her childhood, about how she views the world. She’s vulgar, bold, impulsive, but also incredibly soft and sweet. She remembers what he likes and doesn't like to eat. They play fetch together in Puppy Town and that’s the first time Barry imagines her as his wife. He tells his brain to slow the fuck down; they’ve only known each other for a decade.

When Taako dies for his first time in Cycle 12, Lup prefers to spend nights with Barry in his lab, curled up in his desk chair. Barry gladly provides his company and cozy blankets to her in solace, and she barely leaves his side that year. It’s nice to spend so much time with her, but it also hurts him to see her so sad and trying so hard to hide it. When Taako materializes next to her on the deck as they speed away from another consumed world, she hugs her twin for at least two full minutes, and Barry resolves to do his best to protect her…and protect her heart.

Barry thinks he might have a chance. After all, they are a crew of seven, and one of them is her brother. He figures that Lup might want him, even if it’s just for a night (and although he wants more with her, so much more, he would take anything she offers). But it seems he’s not the only one carrying a flame for Lup.

Magnus Burnsides is a huge, handsome, kind young man who has never half-assed anything in his life. So, when he begins to flirt with Lup it’s pretty obvious. He’s constantly showing off, doing ridiculous and dangerous things to impress her. He attempts to learn more about elf culture and magic, talking animatedly to Lup and Taako while they cook supper. He’s courteous, charming, and brave in ways that Barry could never mold himself.

Magnus also notices how Taako’s death affected his sister, and he seems to make the same resolution as Barry. From that day forward, Magnus always has Taako’s back, even going so far as to put himself in danger to protect the wizard. In Cycle 16, Taako is retrieving the Light of Creation and sets off a trap. Before Barry can even react, Magnus leaps forward and pushes the elf out of the way. Magnus is impaled by six spears. When the fighter appears on the Starblaster with his signature black eye months later, Taako punches him hard in the arm. “Don’t do that again, you big idiot!” There's a stone in Barry's stomach as Lup kisses Magnus on the cheek and quietly thanks him.

Compared to Magnus, Barry feels small and boring and incapable.

It’s not even possible to hate Magnus, though, because he’s so damn hospitable. Instead, Barry resigns himself to the fact that Lup will likely choose the fighter over him. He enjoys her company, tries to keep everyone out of trouble, and finds contentment in this seemingly endless time with his new family.

The Beach World on Cycle 21 is a welcome reprieve. They find the light very early and everyone just relaxes for once. Even Merle enjoys himself as he recovers in the med bay; the others visit him often and begrudgingly help him work on his book of poetry. Davenport practices self-care, Lucretia gets lost in her art, and Taako learns how to surf. But things aren’t too leisurely because Magnus decides he’s going to “train” them to be ready for surprise attacks.

Barry is sitting on the beach next to Lup one hot morning. She’s lying on her back on their beach blanket with a large, floppy hat covering her eyes. She’s resting her arms under her head, telling Barry about a festival her aunt took her to when she was a kid. Barry is trying very hard not to be completely distracted by the sight of her armpit hair, her stylish bathing suit, and her beautiful, brown skin shining in the sun. Barry, in contrast, is sitting under a huge umbrella, wearing a white T-shirt, jean shorts, and a thick layer of sunscreen.

Suddenly, a huge shadow covers the sun and a loud voice shouts, “Magnus!”

Barry yelps and drops his glass of lemonade on the blanket. Magnus sinks to his knees in the sand so he’s eye-to-eye with the scientist. “You gotta be ready, Bluejeans. Anywhere, anytime.” He smiles over Barry’s shoulder. “I didn’t get you at all, did I?”

Lup has lifted up her hat a little to look at them, but her relaxed position is unchanged, unbothered. She smirks, “You’re going to have to do better than that, Burnsides.”

Magnus winks. “Challenge accepted.” Barry feels like a jellyfish blob on the sand between them.

And then Magnus takes off his shirt.

It takes all of Barry’s self-control not to throw himself into the ocean and let himself drown. Magnus has these ridiculous broad shoulders, an even patch of hair across his chest, and his stomach protrudes over his waistband only slightly in that sexy way. His skin is browned and freckled from long days in the sun and his ridiculous biceps flex as he throws his shirt on the blanket next to them. Barry, in contrast, is a pale potato of a man.

He’s ready to get up and leave them to their flirting when Magnus speaks up. “Well, see ya later!”

Magnus hands Barry his now empty lemonade glass and then stands up, brushing sand off of his hairy legs. He sprints across the beach until he’s met with the resistance of the water, making a huge splash. “Hey! Taako!”

Caught up in conversation with Lup, Barry had forgotten about the wizard. Taako is sitting on his surfboard, floating on large but gentle waves about thirty feet away from shore. He’s retying his long blonde hair up into a messy bun. “Hey, big guy. What’s crackin?”

“Just doing some training, you know?”

“Yeah, you got Barry good.”

“How’s surfing today?”

“It’s going off. I’ve only been in the soup a few times but that was early in the morning. Dawn patrol, am I right?”

Magnus laughs. “Yeah, for sure.” Taako has been almost creating his own language at this point.

Beside Barry, Lup snorts. “What the fuck does that even mean?” she says. “Magnus shouldn’t encourage him like that but, eh, you know how he is with Taako.”

“How he –” Barry looks back over at the fighter and it’s like a crisp breath of air enters his lungs. Magnus has sat himself on the sand with his feet in the water. He rests his chin on his hand and watches Taako prepare to carve another wave. Magnus cheers when the wizard stands on the board and laughs when Taako falls into the water. Taako’s long hair is out of its bounds again, cascading over his bare, dark shoulders. As he climbs onto his surfboard, he flips Magnus off. Magnus blushes.

Magnus blushes and he looks at Taako with stars in his eyes. He looks at Taako the way Barry probably looks at Lup. And Barry realizes how fucking stupid he’s been.

Magnus hasn’t been flirting with Lup. Barry has only seen him flirt when they’re both with Lup and Lup is with Taako. And Barry was so immersed in his own insecurity that he didn’t stop to actually observe what was going on around him. Some scientist he is.

At the end of the day, Barry watches Magnus offer to carry Taako’s surfboard back to the cabin. Taako, forever dramatic, convinces Magnus to carry him back as well. It doesn’t take much convincing. Barry looks at Magnus’s pleased and flustered expression with Taako latched onto his back, complaining, and Barry internally ridicules himself for being so dense.

A few days later, Barry asks Taako to teach him to swim. They work on it every morning for a few weeks. It’s brutal in the beginning – Barry flounders whenever he tries to go horizontal and Taako has a tendency to point and laugh rather than help. But they both get better at it and soon they have an amicable and productive routine. Barry goes from indiscriminately splashing to a solid doggy paddle to an almost front crawl. And Taako claps and coos at him like a proud mother.

On the last day of their morning swimming lessons, Barry thanks him and gets up the courage to have an honest discussion. “There have been times where I haven’t been able to hang out with everybody because y’all go swimming and there are times where there’s people I, like, you know, want to hang out with and I just haven’t been able to do it and that’s not a good look and it makes me look like a big nerd and I um… It’s just that— I just, like— I don’t know. It’s… Never mind, it’s stupid. Thanks for teaching me how to swim.”

“Who are you afraid of looking silly in front of?” Taako asks. They’re both standing waist-deep in the water and Barry tries to make his anxiety dissolve. Taako’s approval means the absolute world in this situation.

“I look up to Lup a lot…” he admits.

And Taako is graciously chill. He places his hand on the scientists’ shoulder comfortingly and speaks with rare seriousness. “Barry, you’re locked in and this wave’s crashing all around you, my man, and I— I don’t begrudge you anything. You know, we’ve lost a lot, uh, and there’s a lot more we might lose...but the one thing we do have is the thing that people in love rarely ever have enough of – and it’s time.” This is a side to Taako that he doesn’t show often, someone genuine and wise and openly affectionate.

The wizard’s words echo in his head often – “You got all the time in the world, my man.”

Barry is feeling relieved and grateful as he walks from the beach that day with his sunhat on. Lup will tease him about his sunburn but it will be worth it to be able to swim with her. As he reaches the part of the beach where sand transforms into foliage, something stops him in his trek – the sight of a hulking figure sitting on a rock. It’s Magnus. “Is this another training thing?” Barry asks cautiously as he approaches.

Magnus doesn’t look up. He seems dejected. “No, it’s not. I’m just thinking.”

“Um,” Barry fidgets with the string on his swim trunks. “You alright? What’s going on?”

“I dunno, you tell me, Barry!” Magnus says, gesticulating with his large hands. “What’s going on with these morning swimming sessions?”

Magnus looks disappointed and self-conscious; a combination Barry is very familiar with. He has to remind himself to close his mouth.

Magnus Burnsides is jealous of Barry Bluejeans.

Barry begins to laugh. This just makes Magnus’s cheeks turn red and his eyebrows furrow even more. “Fine, okay, you don’t need to –”

“No, no,” Barry interrupts, approaching the fighter. He places his hand on Magnus’s huge bicep. “Magnus, I don’t know how to - … Okay. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“I’m not worried. You’re a good guy. It’s fine. I just thought that maybe…” Magnus shakes his head, and his expression clears. “I asked him if he could teach me to surf and he said he was too busy teaching you to swim so I guess I was just disappointed because I really wanted to…learn how to surf.”

“Magnus. Taako doesn’t want to…swim with me. And I only asked Taako to teach me because I wanted to swim with Lup.” Magnus looks up at him with hopeful dark eyes. “I really want to swim with Lup. I think I want to swim with Lup for the rest of my life.” Barry chuckles. “For a long time, I thought you wanted to swim with Lup!”

Magnus lets out a startled laugh of his own. “No, I… I want to, uh, swim with Taako. But I’m not sure he wants to swim with me.”

“Well, he doesn’t want to swim with old Barry, that’s for sure.” Barry shrugs. “I can ask Lup, maybe? She’ll know.”

Magnus stands up from the rock. His shoulders are relaxed now. “No, it’s okay. I think he needs more time. I’ll ask him myself one day.”

The Beach World is a gift they didn’t know they needed. They grow closer as a family. Lucretia commemorates it through portraiture. Lup and Taako continue to be firecrackers, burning bright, loud, and dangerous. And Barry and Magnus continue to stare with stars in their eyes.

Merle, Lucretia, and Davenport make bets.

In Cycle 25, Merle wins.

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raineydaywrites · 3 years

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take the big hits

ao3 link in the source!

Summary: Febuwhump day 5: "Take me instead."

There was a reason that Magnus had, thus far, at least, died the most often out of everyone on the ship.

He could take a lot of damage that the rest of them couldn't handle as easily, but he certainly wasn't indestructible. And the knowledge that he would wake up at the start of the next cycle if he died really only made his self-sacrificial tendencies even worse.

There was a reason that Magnus had, thus far, at least, died the most often out of everyone on the ship.

And the rest of the crew was sick of it.

They loved Magnus, and hated when he was gone. They didn't like to see him suffering or hurt, and it was starting to seem like he was going to get badly injured or killed every cycle.

They'd lost Magnus early last cycle, when they'd been ambushed by a group of people from a region other than the one they'd found the Light in. They'd communicated with the leaders of the region where they found the Light, and gotten an agreement to bring it back to the Starblaster, but apparently that information had gotten leaked somehow, and it turned out that the other regions didn't feel that they should be left out of that decision.

It would have been easier to communicate with the other region earlier and explain their reasoning for taking the Light, but instead they'd had a tense stand off between the crew and the plane's natives.

Eventually, they managed to convince the natives that it was in the best interest of everyone for them to take the Light back to the Starblaster, but the natives had groused at the idea of losing out on the knowledge they could gain from the Light.

When it had started to look as though they might decide to attack and keep the Light for themselves despite everything, Magnus had intervened.

See, the thing about Magnus is that he understands people. He's a charmer and he likes to be social and he worries about everyone. And a large part of that empathy and extroversion comes from understanding what people want and what they've been through. What motivates them.

He figured out what motivated the natives and offered it to them before any of the rest of them could protest.

"Take me instead," he'd offered, to the confusion of the other crew members. Why would the natives want Magnus?

But the fact of the matter was that the natives weren't fools. They understood that something unusual was happening, and they were unwilling to risk the idea that the IPRE crew were lying about the importance of the Light leaving this plane.

They didn't really want to keep the Light itself after that. They just wanted something to sweeten the pot before they let the rest of them go.

And the chance to study a real live alien was a sufficient sweetener to these scientifically minded monsters.

When they'd understood Mangus' offer, the crew protested, of course, but they were not standing in a safe spot. And the longer they argued, the more they risked the lives of the rest of them, and the opportunity to bring the Light back to the ship and escape at the end of the year.

In the end, Captain Davenport made the call to retreat. It broke his heart to leave Magnus to the devices of these beings, but it wasn't worst the risk that they would decide not to believe them about the Light, or to decide to look for a different way to preserve their world from the Hunger that didn't require the crew of the Starblaster.

They'd communicated with the leaders of the region they'd found the Light in, hoping for help in retrieving Magnus, which they did receive, but by the time they worked through all the legalities and diplomatic necessities, he'd already been killed.

There was nothing to do but grieve and wait for the next cycle to begin.

Magnus was greeted with a round of very enthusiastic hugs when he reformed.

"Hi guys!" he said, smiling brightly at the rest of them. It had been a rough cycle from his perspective, and he was so glad to see his family and to be out of that situation.

He was a little concerned about how upset and angry everyone looked past their enthusiasm at seeing him again.

Lucretia was clinging tightly to his side, so he leaned down to her and spoke.

"What's wrong?"

Lucretia gave him a shocked look, and said nothing, glancing around to the rest of the crew as if asking what she was supposed to say to that.

"You fuckin' left us, is what's wrong!" Taako said, extricating himself from the hug to punch Magnus in the shoulder. Even after getting out of the hug, though, he didn't go far, hovering nearby but safely out of hug range.

"I- I had to do something. I knew I'd be okay," Magnus said, uncertain why they were all taking this so badly. Sure, it had sucked, but he'd gotten through it. And everything was fine now.

"You didn't have to do that. We could have found another solution," Captain Davenport said, sternly, but Magnus could see that he was worried behind it. He'd participated in the group hug for even less time than Taako, but that was okay. They were still working on getting him to let go of his shell of professionalism, and it had made Magnus happy that he'd joined the hug at all.

"I know it wasn't the best plan, but we didn't have a lot of time to find a better one," Magnus argued, a tiny bit annoyed at the stern tone that he was being met with. "I knew the risks and I was willing to take them."

"You can't just throw yourself in danger without even telling us what you're thinking," Davenport admonished.

"I'm the security officer. It's my job to do that," Magnus retorted, and now the hug was starting to break up in light of the argument. Magnus missed it, but he was too upset to let go of the fight. He knew that he was young for this position, and that everyone else on the crew save Lucretia was years and years older than him, but that didn't mean that they could treat him like a child.

"What kind of security officer leaves a bunch of magic users to defend ourselves for a year, huh?" Taako said. "Not a very good one."

Magnus felt a little taken aback by the words, and shrunk in on himself a little.

"I have to protect you guys," he said. "I don't try to die early, but sometimes-"

"You don't always get a choice, I get that," Lup interjected, "but Taako has a point. You want to protect us, but you can't do that when you get yourself killed and leave us without you."

"And you had a choice this time, buddy," Barry said, softly. "You offered to go with them, even though you knew what would happen."

"You guys don't need me that much," Magnus argued. "I'm good and everything, but you have offensive spells. And Merle and Barry can fight alright, if they gotta."

"Of course we need you Magnus! We need everyone. But we also just like you and like having you around," Lup said. "You're a lot of fun, big guy."

"But I'm not as important as the rest of you," Magnus said.

Everyone else stilled, and he wasn't quite sure why.

"What's that supposed to mean, bud?" Merle asked, his tone as careful as he was capable of.

"I can't help with the engine or studying the Light or the science stuff. But I can protect people. That's the- I mean, I'm good at other stuff yeah, but that's the thing that's relevant to the mission. The rest of you- I mean, like I said, Merle and Barry can fight, but Merle is a healer too, and Barry knows the engine and the science. Nobody else can take over those jobs as easily as they can take over mine," Magnus explained. It seemed pretty obvious to him. He wasn't trying to be self-deprecating or anything, it was just about the relevance of their individual skill sets. His skills were largely less useful than the rest of them.

"Magnus-" Merle said, in a extremely soft tone, but he couldn't seem to figure out what to say and he stopped talking.

No one else really seemed to know either, and the room went very quiet, until Lucretia broke the silence.

"What about me? I'm just the chronicler, and there's no one to record the mission for anymore. I'm even less useful than you. Should I start sacrificing myself at the drop of a hat?" she asked.

"No!" Magnus said, horrified that she'd even ask it. "That's not what I meant!"

"Then why is it okay for you?" Lucretia demanded.

"It's my job-" Magnus started.

"No, it isn't. Your job description does not ask you to get killed for us," Davenport said, body tense and tail twitching angrily.

"Security officers do accept certain risks, though! And this mission has even more of them than more security jobs!" Magnus said.

"This mission has gone completely ass-over-tea-kettle, my dude. I don't think your job title really matters that much anymore," Taako said.

"But my job still does! You guys do!" Magnus responded. They had to understand. He wasn't trying to be reckless, just practical.

"So do you," Barry said. "We missed you."

"We aren't asking you to stop doing your job, Magnus. We just want you to be more careful," Davenport said, stepping closer and giving Magnus a quick hug. "Please take care of yourself too."

Magnus melted into the embrace, and, seeing the reaction, the rest of them rejoined the hug, even Taako, offering whatever comfort they could.

"Last cycle was some real bad shit, guys," Magnus finally said, quietly. "Did not like it. Do not recommend."

"It's okay, buddy. You're safe now," Merle offered.

Magnus let himself drop to the floor, and the rest of them followed. He let himself think about all the awful shit he'd been going through, and he didn't try to stop the tears that fell after that.

Surrounded by his family, he let himself break. He was safe. He was loved. It was going to be okay.

#taz balance #magnus burnsides #ipre crew #febuwhump #febuwhumpday5 #my writing

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glow-worm · 4 years

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On the Ruins of Raven’s Roost

Desidirium (noun) : an ardent desire or longing, especially a feeling of loss or grief for something lost

Everything had been perfect. Magnus had been so happy. He had lived in absolute bliss—Lucretia couldn’t have dreamed of a better happily ever after for her dear friend.

But that was gone now.

She watched from afar as Magnus collapsed near the ruins of Raven’s Roost. Debris from the support column and the colony that had been atop it were piled in a broken mess where the Craftmen’s Corridor had once stood, pieces of cabins and chunks of stone were scattered below at the base of the cliff.

He was wailing.

Her heart panged with sympathy as she watched him keen with an unparalleled grief. Suffering that she had never seen from him in their hundred years together. Torment she had never seen in her entire life.

It was unbearable.

She had to fix it.

“Lucretia.”

A deep, chilling voice beckoned from behind her. She recognized it instantly, and was immediately filled with both joy and dread.

She turned around to see the dark phantasmal form of her friend and rival, Barry Bluejeans.

Any shred of hope that had sparked within her upon hearing his voice died out, as she felt the unmistakable sensation of someone prying into her thoughts. She tried to push him out of her mind, but his lich form was too powerful. But as quickly as he had come in, he relinquished. Barry held his skeletal arm outstretched threateningly and aimed point-blank at her. Crackles of red energy flashed around it, ready to fire.

“Barry,” Lucretia began. “I—”

“I won’t let you do this, Lucretia. This is where I draw the line. You’ve taken our family’s bonds. You’ve taken our Captain’s very soul. You have taken their memories and their pasts. I will not let you take his future, too.”

His words stuck in her like a knife.

“The relics would have destroyed this world,” Lucretia explained. “And they destroyed our chance of happiness. I’m giving us that chance back.”

“You can’t. I don’t want to fight you, Lucretia, but I will. Magnus found love. I won’t let you take that away from him. I won’t let you make him forget about his wife like you tried to make me forget about mine.”

As he spoke his last few words he struggled, his spectral form flickered as the red electricity of his lich power charged around him.

Lucretia desperately, angrily motioned back towards Magnus.

“Is this happiness, Barry?! Is this peace?!”

“No. But it is part of life. Grief is necessary. You have not erased their pain, Lucretia. You have only buried it. And by doing so, you have condemned them to suffering.”

“How can you say that?! Magnus was happy. Merle has a child. He’s on the beach where he always wanted to be. Taako is on tour, he’s far happier than I ever dreamed he could be without his sister. And Davenport…I know how it seems, but he’s okay—this is only temporary—I wouldn’t let him go on like that if he wasn’t at least at peace, I promise—I know it looks bad but as soon as I have the Relics and I’ve put everything right—”

“You are wrong, Lucretia.” Barry’s form quivered briefly. “You can’t possibly begin to understand how that constant sensation of presque-vu torments them. It is torture. It is why I cannot bear to be in my body.”

Lucretia swallowed her guilt. She held her tongue and let him speak.

“Merle grew listless with monotony and ruined his marriage,” Barry began. “He has abandoned his home, his child. And Taako—he knows something is missing. I see it. He is tormented. He pours two glasses of wine at a time and doesn’t understand why. He leaves space for her when he rests at night. He leaves space for her, and he doesn’t even know who she is. He doesn’t even know she ever existed.”

He floated closer, and Lucretia took a step back.

“I watched someone ask him about his childhood, and he said “we”. And he could not grasp why he had said that. Because he believes he’s been alone his whole life. Lucretia. To have a bond as strong as theirs, only to have that bond ripped away—torn from his memories and from very existence itself—it leaves an empty space. And that space has made him bitter and cold.”

He grew closer still, his spectral form popping and fizzling slightly, so Lucretia reached for her staff.

“And as for Magnus—he was plagued with nightmares he could not see or explain. He had Julia to comfort him, but now…”

“Barry, you’re losing yourself,” she warned. “Your voice, your manner of speech, you—you don’t sound like yourself. Work with me. Please. We can find the relics and end this. We can look for Lup together.”

“You know I can’t do that, Lucretia,” He replied sternly. “You need to stop this. Your shield will break all the bonds of this world. It will suffocate.”

“Surely that’s better than being completely consumed by the Hunger,” Lucretia insisted.

“We have had this argument often enough for me to know I cannot convince you to stop,” Barry said. “I came here for one reason only: to protect Magnus from you.”

Barry raised his arm again, red static energy building up around it.

“Do not take his love from him. He will be nothing but a shell. He will be consumed with grief from empty spaces he cannot make sense of. He is already suffering enough, I won’t let you augment that suffering with desiderium.”

Lucretia balled her hands into fists, clenching her teeth as she spat, “You really want me to just leave him like this?”

“It is not your decision to make, Lucretia. None of this has ever been your decision to make.”

“I did what I had to do, Barry. To keep this world safe. We promised Lup—”

“Don’t talk about Lup. Wherever she is, she never would have wanted this,” Barry shouted, his lich form sputtering again, much more so than the last time. Barry nearly lost control—Lucretia quickly threw up a Shield of Faith in front of herself as a bolt of red energy shot off of him and hit a nearby tree, scorching it.

Barry took a moment to collect himself, then quietly continued. “Promise me you won’t erase Raven’s Roost. Promise me you won’t erase Julia Burnsides.”

Lucretia dissolved her shield with a heavy exhale.

“Promise me.”

Her throat felt tight, and her voice trembled as she spoke: “If that’s what you want, Barry—fine. I am not giving up my quest to restore the Light of Creation, but I promise you. I won’t erase anything more from our family’s lives. No matter how bad things get for them.”

Hearing this, Barry vanished into thin air—but Lucretia continued to hear his voice as she turned and scanned the area for any sign of him.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Lucretia, but know this,” Barry’s voice echoed around her. “If you break that promise. I will kill you.”

She gripped her Bulwark Staff tighter, her heart heavy.

Before his voice faded out completely, he left her with one last quiet plea. This time, his speech sounded a little more like his own—it still was a harsh whisper of a lich, but it rang with the distinctive compassion and deep baritone voice of Barry Bluejeans.

“Please don’t make me do that. In spite of everything, I want to believe…I have to believe…we can all be together again someday.”

She could no longer feel his presence, the intense arcane power of his lich form gone.

She took a deep breath and looked back over her shoulder off into the distance, to see Magnus still doubled over on the ground near the ruins of Raven’s Roost, weeping loudly.

“I’m sorry, old friend,” she whispered.

Barry was right. She could not just erase any and every hardship that came to her family. A line had to be drawn somewhere. A life without pain was no life at all. They had worked so hard, and suffered for so long—they deserved normalcy. She simply could not prevent her loved ones from feeling pain forever.

No matter how much she wanted to.

----

Come read this on AO3!

#lucretia #barry bluejeans #taz #taz balance #the adventure zone #magnus burnsides #julia burnsides #taz fic #post-stolen century #pre-adventure #whump #angst

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desiree-harding-fic · 5 years

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Cold Hands, Warm Heart

Based on that one post by @thepensword about how Taako is always cold. Can be found here. Plus an idea I’ve had for a long time but never written about.

Cw for swears, kids. Be safe out there. But other than that it’s light angst with a fluffy chaser and a dash of Lore.

Enjoy!!!

*~*~*~*~*

Positively stomping through the streets of Neverwinter, Taako, for the thousandth time, curses the city for its positively idiotic name.

“Neverwinter”, his ass. Maybe they should have gone with “UsuallyWinter,” or “JustAsMuchWinterAsAnywhereElse,” or “CanWeReallySayThatAnythingOnThisOneSunnedPlanetIsn’tWinter.”

Because, you see, Taako is cold.

Taako is always cold.

It’s a holdover from a plane long behind them. Two-sunned elves have different traits than those of Faerun. Ears that move. Different colored eyes.

Different body temperatures.

Taako is a sun elf. A sun elf from a planet with two suns. He was made for warmth. More warmth than here. And even on two-sun he ran a little colder than the other elves he knew. But there, the extra warmth was enough to compensate. He’d tan in the summer, he’d soak up the rays and wear sleeveless shirts and live for the suns.

Faerun has one sun. On Faerun the long sleeves and pants, the heavy coat with the dozens of pockets he wore adventuring were more than just good sense - they helped him stay fucking warm.

It’s not even fair because Lup isn’t even cold all the time. Lup feels fine. Mostly. She gets a little chilly but it’s nothing a jacket can’t fix, and now she’s a Reaper and something about that helps too (Taako doesn’t know what). Taako’s body doesn’t work that way. And to top it all off, ever since Wonderland, when those fucking liches stole some of his vitality, it’s gotten even worse.

The snowy winter days in Fucking Neverwinter are hell to the multiverse’s favorite wizard, because no matter how many layers of coats and scarves and gloves and enchanted wizard hats he throws on, he can’t get warm.

He turns off the road, starts making the hike up the hill to his house which looks out on the Stillwater sea. He liked the walk when he bought the place. Lined it with trees and flowers that Merle and Pan blessed to grow big and beautiful.

He bought the place in the summer.

Magic should help. It doesn’t. First lesson he ever learned on the road with Lup: no matter how good a wizard you think you are, you never directly influence body temperature using magic. It’s too powerful, too volatile. Transmutation on the body was a risk they were willing to take. Watching your sibling’s blood boil just because you got a little chilly was not.

He finally makes it up to his front door, pushes inside, and sighs in relief.

Ever since the first chills of autumn in the city, every fireplace in Taako’s home, of which there are many, has been running almost nonstop. Is it a fire hazard? Probably. Does Taako give a shit? Maybe ten percent of one. He’s got more money than anyone else in the damn planar system. He can buy a new house.

(But he likes his villa-styled sprawling house by the sea. Likes the herbs in the window boxes and the flowers in the front and back. Likes the view of the water. It would be a shame if it burned down.)

The fireplaces help. But not enough. Never enough.

He takes off his outermost layer for the sake of the snow caked on it, but keeps on everything underneath it. Stupid, he thinks, to wear a full coat and scarf inside of his own house. But he doesn’t know any other way.

He walks through the foyer, and there.

The man of the hour.

Kravitz.

He’s reclining on the couch, close by the fire, book in one hand and glass of red wine in the other, wearing his usual suit without the jacket and shoes. He looks...

Well.

Taako knows how he looks (miraculous).

The worst thing about the winter is the space it’s put between him and his boyfriend.

Six months after Story and Song, and Taako, against all odds, is living with Kravitz. As in, Kravitz lives in his house. Kravitz drinks his wine and moved in his books and plays piano here and sleeps in Taako’s bed.

Well, most of the time.

Kravitz, who’s hands were ice cold on his and Taako’s first date, who tried to warm himself up for their first kiss, is fucking freezing to the touch in the winter.

It’s been a solid couple of months since Taako and Kravitz have cuddled without at least three or four layers between them, and by then Taako could pretty much have just bought a weighted blanket for all the good it does him. It’s hard to satisfy that craving for skin contact from the person you... care about when said skin contact feels like hugging an ice sculpture.

Kravitz looks up, puts down his glass of wine.

“Evening,” he says, mildly, as though testing the waters. And that’s what does it for Taako.

“Hey,” Taako says, immediately turning into the kitchen, not looking at Kravitz, because he just can’t.

Ever since the winter started, and Taako, out of necessity, started shying away from Kravitz’s touch, things have been... weird.

Taako knows that Kravitz isn’t the kind to speak up about this kind of thing. They’re working on it, but it’s been so long since he’s been in a relationship, so many mortal things are new to him. Taako knows this. And yet... breaching this issue, to which Taako has no solution, trying to communicate to Kravitz that he wants him while constantly having to push him away is... frustrating. What Kravitz wants is for Taako to be happy, for Taako to be comfortable. He says it constantly. He insists. And it’s the insisting that’s the problem.

Because Taako knows that even if he’s not saying it, Kravitz isn’t happy either.

And now when Taako comes home, and tries to spend time with his boyfriend, there’s all this horrible... space between them. When Taako’s cold, it seeps into his words and his actions, until all of him is cold, not just his body, not just his skin. Until he’s cold to people he cares about, and apologies come slow and with difficulty, and then the damage has been done.

Taako starts on a simple soup, no energy to make anything flashier, and still refusing to use magic in the kitchen. He hates the way all the extra clothing gets in the way of cooking. Hates the way the warmth of the stove only does so much.

Kravitz eats with him that night, and they talk, but it’s a weird, shy conversation, both of them anticipating what comes after.

What comes after is Kravitz sitting on the other side of the couch pretending to read while Taako shivers and pretends too.

What comes after is Taako going about his evening routine before slipping into bed in a full onesie and under about five blankets. It’s Kravitz dressing in flannels to try to shield Taako from the coldness of his skin, and then the two of them, side by side. Lying on their back and staring up at the ceiling, as they wait for sleep to come.

It’s a long wait, when one of them is an elf and the other doesn’t sleep naturally.

And there’s the thing about Kravitz: he’s not just without warmth. He’s actively cold. His body radiates cold like a living person’s radiates warmth. It’s only been a few minutes and Taako’s already shivering.

“I’m sorry,” Kravitz says from his side of the bed. And he sounds so fucking defeated and sad and Taako feels bad but he also feels annoyed. Because he’s cold. Because why can’t Kravitz just be a normal fucking person. Because Kravitz won’t talk to him and he won’t talk to Kravitz and this whole situation is just a goddamn nightmare.

“Not your fault,” Taako says, but the words have been said so many times they hardly mean anything anymore. He can feel how flippant they sound. He can feel the way they don’t sink in, how they bounce off Kravitz’s skin like Taako doesn’t care.

I do, he tries to broadcast. I promise I do.

“I think maybe it would be better if I stayed up tonight.” Kravitz says, like it’s an idea he’s only just had, not something he’s been saying nearly every night these days, like it’s not the new normal, like he truly believes that they still sleep in the same bed and touch each other and they aren’t on the verge of -

Kravitz slips out of the bed, pads gently out of the room and shuts the door behind him. And Taako turns over in bed, ignoring the tightness in his throat and trying, desperately, to get warm.

*~*~*~*~*

Candlenights comes, as it always does, despite the coldness in Taako’s house and his heart.

And Taako’s happy for it, really. He didn’t harbor any delusions about everything being beautiful and shiny and sparkly so close to the apocalypse, and in the aftermath of it. The world is still healing from a colossal wound. But he’s hosting, at least. He’s always been a good party planner. Lup is there and so is Barry. Merle comes up from the coast with his kids. Magnus and his dogs. Angus, visiting on his break from school. Davenport is still abroad, and Lucretia is conspicuously absent (no amount of begging from Lup could convince Taako to let her into his house), but it’s... good. Cozy, almost.

Taako even cooks for everyone, Lup assisting, and ignores the careful distance Kravitz keeps from him and from most of his family. The meal goes off without a hitch, save Taako’s shivering. He can see the sympathetic eyes Magnus keeps making at him, wants to glare and snap and tell him to fuck off, but he doesn’t. Just because the cold makes him crabby doesn’t mean he has to be an asshole.

He has a thick will blanket wrapped around him elegantly, like a shawl, while they’re unwrapping presents. Lup smiles brightly at the diamond earrings Kravitz got her, and Taako’s heart swells a little. Angus loves his books. Kravitz gets Taako a set of jewelry done up in gently curling silver and sapphire and pink tourmaline, because he’s a romantic, and Taako tries to ignore how... wiggly it makes him feel.

He wants to kiss him. He doesn’t.

Taako saves Lup’s gift for last, as is tradition.

It’s a tiny little box, which Taako had first been terrified was from Kravitz and then relieved wasn’t, and it’s as light as a feather.

Because, Taako discovers, there’s nothing inside.

Nothing, that is, except a tiny ivory card with scrolling golden text on it. It reads:

Command word: flambé.

Love, Barry and Lup! :)

“What the fuck, Lulu?” Taako asks, turning the card over and over in his hands.

“Oh fuck off, Taako,” Lup says good-naturedly from Barry’s lap. Gross. “You’ll thank me later. Well, thank us.”

And isn’t that fucking cryptic, he thinks. But Lup is Lup. His sister is fucking weird, and he brushes it off in favor of drinking more wine.

It’s a good day, mulled wine and carols and gift-giving, but as all good days do, it winds down sooner than expected. The guests go off to their many rooms, Taako’s house big enough to host them all (by design), and before he knows it, he and Kravitz are headed to bed.

It’s the same old charade. Kravitz goes through the motions, and Taako does too, and it’s awful and stilted and he just wants it to end.

It’s not fair, he thinks, staring at the the bed while Kravitz is still futzing around in the bathroom, a charade of mortality. Kravitz is good. Taako likes him. He’s nice to talk to and doesn’t make Taako feel like he has to perform. He’s a big old nerd and actually really compassionate and sometimes an entity of absolute chaos and he’s perfect for Taako, he really is. So why can’t he just have this? Why does there have to be fucking... roadblocks in the way?

Taako expected things to be hard. He expected having to make things work. Sometimes Kravitz is gone for days going after bounties and Taako can deal with that. There are elements of mortal life Kravitz has to re-learn, and he doesn’t know how to interact in just.. normal society sometimes, and Taako can deal with that. Sometimes he’s a real asshole and gets prickly and offended and impatient after a bad day and Taako can deal with that.

He doesn’t know how to deal with not being able to touch him for months at a time.

He’s shivering just standing there. He needs cover.

But when he pulls back the comforter the sheets are a deep fuchsia. And while it’s a nice color, it looks nothing like his usual ones.

There’s a piece of paper like a letter, there, on his side of the bed under the comforter. It’s the same as the card he found in lup’s gift, and all that’s on it, in that same gold ink, is a winky face.

Taako sighs, long and deep. Because with Lup these things are always a gamble. Is it a gag gift? If Taako says the command word, will his bed explode? He has a horrible flashback to the memory of his first conversation with Kravitz, which was about tentacle porn, and Lup heard it from the umbrastaff, and now she’s given him enchanted bedsheets. Taako pales at the thought.

But here’s the thing: it’s late, and he’s tired, and he can always shut it off because he’s the best wizard in all planar systems, and he’s curious.

He stands, contemplating, cold as balls, for another minute.

And then he says, very deliberately,

“Flambé.”

And for a second it looks like nothing happened. And then it really looks like nothing happened. And then...

Taako can feel the warmth just from standing next to the bed.

It takes him about 0.04 seconds to hop in after that, to pull the sheets up around his shoulders and bury himself under the covers up to his chin.

It’s heavenly. Warmth from all sides, and Taako sighs, long and deep, as he feels tension in his muscles all over his body, held from weeks and months of being cold all the time. Already he can feel the chill in his veins slipping away. He can feel the warmth reaching the core of him, strong and comforting.

He can feel his face flushing, and the warmth rushing up into his long ears.

And then it gets warmer.

And warmer.

Uncomfortably warm.

Taako’s sweating, he realizes. He’s flushed, not in the comfortable way of sitting by the fire. He’s hot like a beach day, hot like a desert plane. He throws the covers off above the waist. It’s not enough. He’s too hot. Much, much too hot.

The door to the bathroom opens up and Kravitz steps out.

“Oh thank god,” Taako says, without thinking, “get the hell over here.” He holds up the blankets on Kravitz’s side of the bed, gestures for him to get in. Kravitz is staring at him like he’s grown an extra head. He slides into bed, slowly, tentative, and Taako practically throws himself on top of him.

The relief of his cold skin isn’t enough through the flannel pajamas Taako’s wearing. He goes for his shirt buttons.

“Taako,” Kravitz says, “what’s happening here?”

“Damn enchanted sheets from Lup are too fucking hot,” Taako grumbles, pulling his shirt off and squirming around with his pajamas pants until those are off too. He tosses them across the room.

Laying across Kravitz’s chest is such a relief. It’s like cold water on a hot day, and Taako spends a luxurious moment running his hands over his chest and shoulders, nuzzles into his neck and revels in the coolness on his face. He sighs, goes boneless against his boyfriend. He feels wonderful.

Kravitz’s arms come up around his back, tentatively holding him, and it hits him.

“Oh shit,” he says, half sitting up. Kravitz looks him in the eyes, questioning.

“That was Lup’s Candlenights gift. It was...” he licks his lips. Why is it so much harder to say things than it is to feel them? “It was this,” he says, running his hands over Kravitz’s chest again.

Understanding dawns in Kravitz’s eyes, and he smiles at Taako, and his smile is like the sun on a warm day.

“Glad I can be your ice pack,” he says, smiling.

“Shut up,” Taako says, resting his head back down, feeling more than hearing the happy little hum Kravitz makes. He snuggles a little closer. Kravitz’s arms tighten around him.

“I missed you,” Kravitz whispers.

And what can Taako do in response to that but kiss him?

“I missed you too, handsome,” he whispers into Kravitz’s lips.

#taz balance #taakitz #taz taako #taz kravitz #taako taaco #kravitz #my fic #desiree: the tumblr sessions #thepensword

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morningpagesmp3 · 5 years

Text

The Last Person On Earth

Words: 7685

Pairing: Taagnus

Rating: Teen+

"No! Ugh, I wouldn't fuck Magnus if he was the last person on earth."

Ao3

Cycle 7

Taako eyed the confusing contraption that the locals of this world liked to smoke a peculiar blue herb out of, as Magnus' thick hands almost snapped one of the delicate appendages clean off.

"Be careful!" Taako shouted, feeling his body lean towards Magnus. "Don't ruin Lance's handiwork!" Even though his brain—and his entire body, actually—was rippling with a static haze from the drug, he could remember the lovely person who had sold them the weird giant pipe.

Magnus and Lup shhhhh ed Taako violently. They weren't supposed to smoke on the ship, and their perch on the roof was closer to Davenport's sleeping quarters than they liked.

Taako tried to press his mouth shut but ending up sputtering out a bout of giggles, too lost in his own head and his own laughter to even notice when Magnus and Lup started laughing with him. Lup's eyelids were starting to droop. Magnus was slouched a bit, relaxed, with his hands holding still around the contraption.

Taako wasn't even thinking, just found himself shuffling his crossed legs closer to Magnus and taking the pipe out of his hands. He held it up close to Magnus' face. He was staring at Taako. Just to show off, Taako snapped to make a small flame appear and held it to the herb.

Taako watched Magnus put his mouth overtop the large hole and breathe. Blowing baby blue smoke off to one side, Magnus leaned back down to the pipe with a quick glance at Taako before breathing in again.

Taako just held the pipe for him. He watched Magnus' big, wide-open eyes, his face that was soft beneath the sideburns and battle scars when you looked closely.

"So Lance, huh?" Lup said, startling Taako out of the silence and stillness he had just been lost in.

Taako jumped a bit. He leaned back and looked at Lup. As Magnus coughed out blue smoke, Taako asked, "What?"

Lup sprawled backwards a bit, wearing the mischievous look on her face that Taako didn't like when he didn't know what she was thinking. She nudged him with her shoe. "You're being pretty protective over that pipe, bro."

Knocking her foot away with his knee, Taako looked between Lup and Magnus with shock. "I don't like him," He explained. He huffed out a breath and brought the pipe up to his face, before changing his mind. "I'm don't like—I'm not gonna do anything with any of the locals."

It seemed like Magnus was just staring at Taako, or maybe the pipe, but Lup looked up at the stars. They were extremely bright in this plane. "It's been six years," Lup said, and didn't elaborate.

"More like six and a half," Magnus clarified. He reached for the pipe, but Taako pulled it away and started to smoke again.

Taako heard Lup say, "Okay, no locals for Taako. Us, then. The team."

Taako started to cough and cough and cough. He was actually grateful that Magnus took the pipe, as he could barely prevent his insides from spilling out of his mouth, let alone concentrate on staying still. Taako coughed until the smirk on Lup's face became too much to bear. " What? "

"Come on," Lup goaded, "You wanna get down and dirty with Davenport?"

Taako choked on his own tongue for a moment before promising, " No . No I do not."

Lup laughed, probably louder than she should, and even Magnus chuckled before sucking some leftover smoke out of the maze of intertwining tubes. Lup was calm and cool as she said, "Magnus, then."

And all of a sudden Taako was anything but calm and cool. He was, he was...full of some emotion that he couldn't control, that spilled out of him as words: "No! Ugh, I wouldn't fuck Magnus if he was the last person on earth."

Lup sat and stared at Taako, looking almost confused.

Magnus nodded. "Good thing the feeling is mutual."

Taako's heart thumped. " Please , I know you want this." He shook his hands around a bit, panicked, and snatched the bong from Magnus. Taako almost took another inhale of funny blue smoke before thinking better of it and passing the pipe to his sister.

Lup held a large, steady flame against the small glass bowl of herbs as she inhaled for 3 seconds, 5, 7. Just when Taako started to feel out of breath, Lup turned her face to the sky, and blew out an array of perfect, quick smoke rings across the black and starry sky.

Magnus slumped forwards, still keeping his eyes wide open, and it looked like it was taking way more effort than it should.

"You good there big guy?" Taako asked.

Magnus didn't answer, but said, "None of us should do anything with the locals." He blinked twice, hard, and strained to open his eyes again. "It's not fair."

Taako could barely think in words but he felt like he understood Magnus' point and agreed. "Well, maybe you'll convince me to change my mind one of these years."

Lup looked between them, adding an uncharacteristically small amount to the discussion. Magnus wordlessly took the pipe from her.

Cycle 10

"Fucking…of course!" Magnus raged, balling his stone of farspeech up in his fist and shaking it as he paced around the deck of the Starblaster.

"Magnus—" Taako started to say.

"Of fucking course I get stuck on this hell-planet with you ."

It was suddenly a little harder for Taako to breathe. Oh . It surprised him that that was what Magnus was focusing on, when the rest of their team was now missing on this strange, scary planet.

This world had no people, or at least none they could find. It was just covered in extremely diverse terrain, and constantly barraged by a range of extreme weather. They had flown over dust storms and dark clouds and tsunamis. Everyone other than Magnus and Taako had gone off to explore the quiet mountains for any sign of the light of creation, but it had been days since they were supposed to return, and days since they had answered their stones of farspeech.

Magnus had chosen this moment to freak out about it. And he had chosen to freak out about the fact that he was stuck with Taako.

Whatever , Taako told himself. He turned his attention back to the intense storm brewing in the distance. It looked bad. "Storm's on it's way," He said, and then turned to find Magnus glaring at him.

"We have to wait for them."

Taako glanced despondently at the mountain range they had watched their friends disappear into, knowing that they were lost now, to a storm or a mudslide or whatever. The anger in Magnus' face was scary, but the angry clouds threatening to destroy the final two of them was scarier, as they were the last two that could pilot the Starblaster safely to the next plane. If the other five were truly gone, Magnus and Taako had to keep themselves and the ship alive for almost a whole year. That could only happen if, before the storm tore apart the ship, they returned to the canyon Davenport had originally set them down in, protected from the lightning strikes plaguing the forests above.

Taako gauged the sight of the clouds in the distance. "We leave tomorrow morning." He went inside before Magnus got freaked out thinking about the rest of the year too.

Cycle 5

Lup shoved Taako out of the way and darted up the gang plank of the Starblaster.

"Hey!" Taako shouted. He ran after her, listening to her laugh and cackle. They bounded all the way up to the deck, bursting back out into the sunshine where Merle and Lucretia were relaxing on the deck.

"Will you kids slow down?" Merle grunted and turned his copy of Pan-tastic Clergydom up to the sun. "I'm spiritualizing here."

Lup ignored him, going up to them and leaning over their chairs. "Are Barry and Davenport back yet?"

Lucretia shook her head. "They're still talking to the locals."

Taako took two steps closer towards them, which was two steps closer to the door leading down inside the ship, and he froze. "Do you smell that?" He asked in a rush, eyes instantly connecting with Lup's. He could just detect the smell of food—food that waS burning.

"Where's Magnus?" Lup asked, sort of starting to panic like Taako was.

They both bolted to the door closest to the galley. The smell grew stronger as Taako pushed Lup along through the skinny corridors, until it finally grew a bit smokey just outside the last door on the right. Lup slammed open the door, and Taako shoved himself into the doorway as well, so they could both survey the burnt-smelling scene.

"Holy fuck," Taako cursed. There were sacks of ingredients and utensils and dishes strewn across the counter. A tray of blackened food sat atop the oven, which was open and still spouting smoke. In the middle of it all, Magnus stood, looking defeated.

"I was trying to cook—" Magnus started.

"Fuck! Code red! No, code black!" Lup hollered. "Code black, get out of here!"

Magnus' confusion turned towards panic—so Taako grabbed Lup. "Shut up!" He said.

"But—the codes—"

"You're scaring Magnus," Taako explained. He looked between Lup's upset and Magnus' concerned faces.

Magnus tried to say, "I'm not—"

"This is very fixable," Taako interrupted. "I'll clean it up." He wouldn't trust anyone else but Lup, who never did well dealing with other people's problems. Taako found himself surprisingly calm.

"I will help," Magnus promised.

Lup glared at Taako. "But, but, the spoons—"

"I'll put the spoons back the way you like them," Taako explained as he ushered her out of the galley. He was relieved to hear her take a deep breath. He tried to breathe himself before re-entering the kitchen. I could be fighting for my life against an extremely powerful, soulless evil. Cleaning the kitchen isn't that bad. "Let's go big guy—you aren't hurt or anything, right?"

"A tiny kitchen knife isn't gonna hurt me," Magnus proclaimed confidently. His arms were crossed tight over his chest.

Taako was not impressed with that attitude, not in his kitchen. "You cut your hand, didn't you?"

Magnus' brow furrowed a bit and he released his hands from under his arms, inspecting the back. He was uncharacteristically quiet, saying, "Just a little bit.”

"Let me see," Taako asked, and then, "Oh that's horrible," when he saw the makeshift bandage wrapped haphazardly around the cut. Taako removed it, pulled the hand over to the sink to rinse it, and then cast a quiet healing spell so it was as good as new in no time.

Magnus mumbled a thank you.

Taako barely had to look up at him to meet his eyes. “Better?” He asked, even though he knew it was.

Magnus looked away and nodded. “I was just, cooking, I couldn’t remember—”

“It’s cool, big guy,” Taako said, leaning into his field of vision. “We all miss home.”

Magnus just stared at him.

“Alright. I’ll deal with the food. Throw everything else in the sink,” Taako instructed, and watched Magnus get to work expediently. He surveyed the dishes of black gunk, and then looked back at the large man gingerly setting glass bowls into the sink. Cleaning the kitchen...definitely not that bad.

Cycle 10

Magnus was doing what he usually did those days, sulking on the deck of the Starblaster with his stone of farspeech somewhere nearby, when Taako sauntered out of the cabin and set a plate down in front of him. For one second, and then another, Magnus looked like he had seen a ghost. With Taako sitting calmly next to him, he acted confused. “What’s this?”

“Well Magnus, these are called cinnamon buns.”

Taako watched Magnus swallow and stammer, “Why—I don’t—”

“The day you destroyed the kitchen wasn’t that long ago,” Taako teased.

Magnus shook his head. “I was cooking.”

“Buddy, I’m a cook and a pastry chef, I know cinnamon buns when I see them.” He hadn’t expected Magnus to put up so much of a fight. He pushed the plate across the table a bit.

Magnus’ brow furrowed as he stared at the plate, at the 6 golden pastries waiting for him.

“It’s okay,” Taako said, hearing himself talk in a softer tone now. “We all miss stuff from home.” It had been ten years. But he still couldn’t say home without hurting over the world they’d lost for a second.

Taako was distracted when he realized Magnus was looking at him, and almost smiling. He smiled back. Magnus kept his gaze still. Okay, weirdo, Taako thought.

“Well I’ve been smelling this cinnamon for days and it’s driving me crazy, so.” Taako picked up a cinnamon bun and took a bite. Nice .

Magnus finally took one for himself too. Taako felt like he shouldn’t watch him eat, like he usually did when people tried his food, but did anyways. Magnus made a hm noise, and then said, “I’m not going to tell you how good they are because you already know.”

Taako actually chuckled.

“Just…thank you.”

“Of course, buddy. Hey, it’s just you and me,” Taako explained, “Any requests and the chef is on it.”

Then they sat and ate cinnamon buns in the shadow of the canyon, listening to the lightning strike the forest above.

"Are you serious? Why didn't you lead with that?" Taako chided as he and Magnus trotted down the side of the canyon.

"I don't know, I just—"

"Okay, rewind, you're standing in the kitchen and you've made a huge mess," Taako instructed, "Me and Lup walk in. What do you say?"

Magnus sighed a bit and concentrated. They were almost at the floor of the canyon then, a stone's throw from the Starblaster's extended gangplank. "I'm sorry I made a huge mess," He started, and as Taako nodded him along, "My mom…used to bake me cinnamon buns and I miss them a lot?"

Taako started clapping as he jumped down into the dirt. "Yes! That was beautiful! All is forgiven, can you believe?"

Magnus just rolled his eyes, unable to hide a tiny smirk. He entertained Taako's shenanigans more often now that they'd spent months together, alone. Taako entertained Magnus' too, even climbed out of the canyon to check if the stone of farspeech got better reception higher up with him. Every day.

"I didn't realize how late it's gotten," Magnus pointed out as they walked slowly towards the ship. Taako hadn't realized either, and looked straight up, seeing the blue sky turning pink with the sunset. He hummed.

They walked in silence for the rest of the way, and Taako thought about what he was going to wear tomorrow. He had brought too many clothes to obey Davenport's rules about always wearing the uniform. Taako's red robe and jacket hadn't seen the light of day in a while, and he enjoyed the chance to forget about being on a team that wears a uniform and just be Taako, who wore whatever the fuck he wanted. It appeared that Magnus, on the other hand, hadn’t brought any clothes at all, and in Davenport’s absence just walked around shirtless most of the time. Yes, Taako was pleased no one was enforcing the dress code.

Tonight, Magnus was wearing his jacket, so Taako just watched his feet as he climbed up the gangplank behind him. Magnus stopped on the deck of the Starblaster and just looked at the sky a bit. Taako stopped too, leaned around to inspect his strange behaviour, and then turned his head to the darkening sky as well. It would soon be black, and filled with billions of tiny stars packed so close together Taako thought they must be friends with each other.

Then, Magnus spoke so softly, Taako thought he might not have spoken at all. “I want to sleep under the stars.”

“Huh?” Taako replied instinctively to the sound, and then regretted it. He was too loud, too in-his-head for this strong-hearted man.

“I’ve always wanted to sleep under the stars,” Magnus said normally then. Looking around the ship, he explained, “Out here on the deck.”

It didn’t take Taako long to decide, “Magnus, that’s the best idea I’ve ever heard.”

Taako knew that Magnus was the last person on earth.

But he started realize that it was just the two of them left in a new way, as they laid on the deck of the Starblaster under thick blankets and a thick curtain of stars. It was just Taako, next to just Magnus; there was no calling out for long-gone teammates through enchanted stones, no shadows threatening to devour them. Taako was way too comfortable wearing his favourite sweater, lying next to a man he was way too comfortable talking to. He’d never thought he’d bond with Magnus like this. Without an end to the run from the Hunger in sight, however, it must've been bound to happen eventually.

“I can’t believe I left my mom behind,” Magnus told the stars quietly.

Taako looked over. After a moment, he said, “I’m sorry.”

Magnus rolled his head over too. He didn’t accept Taako’s words, just asked, “Who did you leave behind?”

Taako choked on air for a moment.

“I just…worry about everyone. We lost so much .”

Feeling his heart thump, Taako nodded. “I mean, Lup and I didn’t really have anyone else.” He paused, thinking about life before the IPRE more than he had in a long time, and then thinking about thinking about that. Then, “Would you believe me if I said I'd always had a bad feeling about this trip?”

Magnus answered only with his eyes, wide and twinkling as they reflected the multitudes of stars above them. Taako realized he had rolled mostly onto his side, towards him.

Taako said, “It was almost a year before we left, it was only supposed to be three months…but I knew it was a good time to be alone. Broke up with my boyfriend. Told my friends I loved them. That kinda thing.”

“Wow,” Magnus said, very quiet.

Taako shifted a bit, and then realized he’d shifted closer to Magnus. Oh well . “Lup broke up with her boyfriend too. They had a fight, the morning before the press conference.”

“Wow,” Magnus said again.

“So yeah,” Taako said, “Don’t worry about me. Yknow, I have Lup. Don’t worry about me.”

Magnus was quiet for a moment, and Taako waited for him, but he took his time. Taako wasn’t even sure if they were still talking about the same thing when Magnus finally broke the silence again. “I think we have each other now.”

Taako had a lump in his throat, and he tried to swallow it. “Yeah, we do.”

“I—I mean,” Magnus started, suddenly louder and more present in a way that killed the innocent sleepover mood. “All of us, have each other. The team.”

Oh. Taako thought he might make a joke to break the awkwardness Magnus had just introduced into the conversation, but didn’t, and just nodded a bit. He was staring at Magnus. He rolled a bit closer, and then looked up at the stars. Taako let the awkwardness dissipate in the silence. He breathed the cool, fresh canyon air and pulled his blanket closer to his body. “This was a good idea,” He reiterated.

Magnus waited a long time before saying, "Thank you." Taako offered a look that was sufficiently confused enough to prompt Magnus to start stammering, "For being… You—… I didn't think we would survive this long, just the two of us."

Taako gave him a big smirk; he earned it. "Me either, buddy."

Magnus stared at Taako; it felt like he was still trying to figure him out, even though they had figured out how to not kill each other so far. They had gotten surprisingly close, and Taako felt surprisingly fond of the rough but kind man he had known for over ten years. They were surprisingly close, physically, in that moment they were lying very close together. Taako's heart beat a bit off-rhythm. There was nothing in Taako's brain but how lovely this moment was, this man he was sharing it with.

One millisecond, Taako decided what to do, and the next millisecond, he was doing it. He was leaning over to close the very small gap between him and Magnus and pressing a kiss on his mouth. He held it for a second, to let it stick, and when Taako realized Magnus was frozen against him, he pulled away.

Taako pulled his hands into his body as he looked at Magnus, who seemed mostly just surprised. "I'm sorry," Taako spat. Fuck .

He had started to shift away from him when Magnus said, "It's okay."

Taako froze. He glanced back over.

Magnus was staring up at the stars. "I need a minute."

" Okay ," Taako whispered, and settled not too close but not much farther either. He didn't watch Magnus, but could tell when he brought his hand up to touch his mouth where Taako had just kissed him. Fuck . Then he thought, This is bad. I'm gonna die here after all.

Taako almost jerked away when he felt a touch, but relaxed when he realized Magnus was just putting his hand over top of Taako's. The touch, the feeling of Magnus' giant warm hand over Taako's spindly one, it made his throat dry and head run wild a bit.

Magnus tightened his grip on Taako, and then loosened it. Then he said, "Do you want to do that again?"

Taako looked over and he was already nodding. Magnus was leaning in, pulling Taako's hand, so Taako wasted no time pressing another kiss to Magnus' lips.

It was solid and soft. It felt so good, so right, to finally be doing this. It had been years. It had been months. It felt so right to be doing this then, with Magnus. Taako pressed his mouth in deeper, his pointy chin brushing along Magnus’ beard. He kissed him again, and again, feeling Magnus lying so close to him, kissing him back, holding onto his hand for dear life. Pulling him closer. Taako let himself get lost in the blankets and Magnus’ hair, touching his face and leaning on him as they kissed.

There was a moment when they both paused against one another, and then broke apart. Taako caught his breath. Magnus was looking at him, still holding him close. Taako asked, “Was that okay?” He brushed a shaggy curl out of Magnus’ face.

“Yeah, it—” He stopped, and then cleared his throat. “It was…good.”

Taako’s heart warmed a degree. He felt like that was a massive understatement, like he could fly, like he would live for a million years. But he didn’t say that. He tried not to smile at Magnus and said, “Yeah, it was.” And before he could stop himself he tucked his face into Magnus’ neck and shifted right up against him. He wasn’t sure what had just happened, and he wasn’t going to count on it happening again. Taako decided to just be still and enjoy the memory of it while he could. Feeling Magnus tighten his arms around his body, Taako could see white threads spinning around them when he closed his eyes.

They laid still and quiet for so long, Taako thought Magnus had fallen asleep when his gruff voice spoke up once more, "Do you want to do that again?"

The rest of the year passed in a haze of pale red, the walls of the canyon and Magnus’ hair, as they lazed around the ship having given up hope of finding their friends or the light. They opted instead to sleep in, kiss, touch each other, bake and cook and watch the baking and cooking with small smiles. Some days Taako felt like he was buzzing with unused magic, missing his sister to spar with and a journey to fight through. Other days were so red, they made Taako feel rusty, tired, and thankful that Magnus was content to hug him from behind and enjoy the sun together.

At night they would hole up in one of their darkened bedrooms, kiss until their lips hurt and wonder out loud if they were only doing this because they were lonely. Taako started to tell Magnus he loved him. He didn’t know in what capacity or kind, and he tried to explain as much, but he knew that he meant it. “I love you,” was the only thing Taako could whisper that he was sure of those days, in the pale red haze. It was so good to be close and quiet in the dark together. Magnus seemed to think so too. He seemed to like Taako’s face near his, Taako’s hand pulling him around the ship, Taako’s words in his ears. He somehow always knew when Taako just wanted to be wrapped up in his arms. It was good, and it was love, and they were happy, but all those words they tried to say about it sort of felt like a massive understatement.

“Tell me the one about the evil merchant,” Taako asked as he pulled Magnus around the deck of the Starblaster in a close, lazy, slow dance.

Magnus just sort of smiled and asked back, "Again?"

Taako nodded. "It's my favourite," He said, and squeezed one of Magnus' shoulders.

Still smiling, Magnus sighed. "Once upon a time, there was a little town with a little merchant's shop."

Taako felt Magnus' feet slow, but he kept guiding him around the deck, swaying back and forth as they held each other.

"The merchant employed a nice girl named Esther. And I thought Esther was quite attractive, so I went to the shop. Every. Day," Magnus said, making Taako giggle at how he poked fun at himself. "I noticed that I was falling in love with her. But since I bought something every time I visited, I noticed something else too."

Taako prepared for the plot twist he'd heard a hundred times with anticipation written on his face. He held fast around Magnus' shoulders.

"The merchant was a liar and a cheat."

Taako gasped.

Magnus smiled and shook his head, making Taako happy to fluster him. "I know ," He empathized. "The merchant was selling fake goods, and he had been swindling everyone in town out of their hard-earned money for years. One day I went to see Esther and some of my neighbours were there confronting the merchant."

Taako just watched Magnus' face now, happy to be swaying in his strong arms and to know how the story ends.

Magnus said, "Out of nowhere, the merchant drew his sword. So I grabbed my axe and dueled him right in his own shop. I fought him until he agreed to leave town and never come back."

Taako was smiling, about to comment on Magnus' heroism, when the story continued.

"And as the duel was ending," Magnus said, his grasp on Taako tightening and shifting a bit, "Esther was knocked backwards, and I caught her like this ." Magnus instantly swung Taako down until he was almost horizontal, cradled in his arms.

Taako's heart was pounding through the shock and excitement over what was happening—what was happening? I've never heard this part of the story before.

"And I kissed her like this," Magnus explained.

Taako let himself be lifted up so his face met Magnus' in a strong kiss, clumsy and passionate with how they clung to each other. Taako's hands tensed on his shoulders as his lips pressed up against Magnus'. Magnus was surrounding him, holding him and kissing him so deeply Taako felt like he was on a totally new plane of reality where nothing existed except the two of them and these feelings.

Magnus ended the kiss gently, and then lifted Taako up. In a rush of flexing muscles and wind through Taako’s hair, he was back on his feet, clutched tight against Magnus’ body. Taako smirked. “My hero.”

Magnus seemed a bit flustered, and looked down. Taako just took one of his hands and started leading him around in a dance against, coaxing his clunky feet to and fro. “Hm,” Magnus hummed as his toe knocked against Taako’s boot.

“If I worked for an evil merchant,” Taako posed, grabbing Magnus’ attention, “Would you visit me every day and fall in love with me?”

“Of course I would.”

Taako stared at him. They slid together across the deck, hands clenched together.

“There wasn’t much else to do, the town was tiny,” Magnus said, now joking and jovial though he had just been deeply sincere. Taako took a second to start giggling along, still appreciating the sentiment. He leaned in and kissed Magnus. Magnus kissed back, and before long they stopped sliding and swaying, and just held each other, kissing on the deck of the Starblaster.

Taako trusted Magnus. He trusted him to be strong but kind, to eat whatever Taako placed in front of him, to get them both back to the ship safe and sound whenever they ventured off of it. Taako trusted himself, too...mostly.

That should have been all that mattered, in this reality where it was literally just the two of them.

But Taako didn’t trust the universe. He didn’t trust the planes, in all he had learned over the years of researching and exploring them. He didn’t trust the black shadows that attacked all the time. He didn’t trust whatever was beyond what they could see, moving and working in ways to make them suffer that their elf and human and dwarf brains couldn't understand.

Taako wished he could approach the end of their year on this crazy, terrible planet with grace and dignity (because those were ALWAYS his strong points), but he didn’t trust the universe not to ruin this spot of happiness he had found—they had found.

So Taako had to ask, one night near the end, when they were out sleeping under the stars again. He was under a mountain of blankets, while Magnus just had one, and they laid on their backs, holding hands, staring up at the sky.

“What's gonna happen when we leave?” Taako asked, not quiet enough to be unintentional.

Magnus was breathing so quiet, Taako couldn’t hear it. There was no sound. Magnus didn’t move an inch, didn’t make a single noise. Taako waited and strained to hear him answer, but time passed and passed…

Until Taako knew what Magnus wasn’t saying. It washed over him softly, with the sound of the wind far away, slowly sinking in that the answer was nothing. Nothing was going to happen once they left. They couldn’t keep doing this once they were back with the others, in a bright new world. It was over; how could Taako have thought it wouldn’t be over? It washed over and over Taako, until the knowledge made him ache and hurt.

"I'll protect you. I'll never watch you die again," Magnus said, holding Taako’s hand even tighter.

That did not make Taako feel better. "And, how—how many times are you gonna make me watch you die?"

Magnus took another moment to think about that, apparently. Taako really caught him off guard with that one. He didn’t expect Taako to fight back, did he? He didn't think—

Magnus said, “As many as it takes to stop this thing."

Just like that, Taako remembered the millions of people that had been swallowed by the shadows, the thousands of people living on the next world they would visit, and the 5 people they would share the Starblaster with once again in a few days time. He pulled his hand away from Magnus.

Taako remembered that they weren’t the only two people in existence, and he felt very, very lonely.

The way the colour drained from the world made Taako's stomach uneasy. He looked up at the graying sky from the deck of the Starblaster and felt like shit, seeing the clouds hanging motionless above, knowing the evil darkness would be descending soon. It felt right that Taako had shrugged on his red robe and jacket that morning. He was this person again. He had to worry about this fucking ridiculousness again.

"Magnus!" He yelled back into the cabin of the ship. "Come check this out!" Taako picked lint off his sleeves and adjusted his wand in his pocket, trying to remember how it used to feel as he waited for Magnus. When the lumbering steps alerted him that he was almost here, Taako looked up. Magnus proceeded slowly out of the cabin, staring at Taako. Taako felt started at. "What do you think?" He asked.

"Uh—you—what?" Magnus stammered.

Taako jerked his head at the sky and then looked up.

"Oh. Right,” Magnus said behind him. He sighed a bit. "Uh. Let's, let's just get out of here."

Taako looked at him, wondering if he might change his mind.

Magnus looked away. His head was hanging. "I know you miss Lup," He said weakly, and went back inside.

Taako didn't know what to say or how to say it, so he just piloted the Starblaster out of the canyon and out of the atmosphere, with one eye watching Magnus standing sentry outside the helm.

Cycle 11

Lup looked at Taako with wide eyes that actually held a degree of awe or confusion, something Taako rarely saw, something he couldn't quite identify. He just knew she wanted answers, or an explanation or something, as she had coaxed Taako away from the rest of the IPRE reunion where Lucretia and Davenport were fussing over Magnus and Barry was arguing with Merle.

"What?" Taako asked Kup.

She frowned a bit. She looked back, right at Magnus, and then turned back to Taako. She spoke quietly, "You and Magnus survived a whole year alone?"

Taako swallowed all his feelings and mumbled, "Yeah."

Lup softened a bit. "Was it…hard?" She asked once she found the words.

Taako knew she was asking if it was hard to get along, if it was hard to avoid the dangers of the planet, and if it was hard to escape the black shadows. "Yeah," He lied, because it had only been hard for some very different, very sad reasons. He shrugged for good measure, to abate his lie.

Lup just stared at him, knowing there was something he wasn't telling her, because she always knew. Thankfully she didn't ask. She nodded and—very gently—punched Taako's shoulder. Then gave him a quick hug. Ugh , Taako thought. He just wanted this to be over.

"If you'll excuse me," He said, "I'm going to go take a long nap."

"Of course bro, you earned it." Lup smiled a bit and it hurt Taako's chest. "I'll make you something nice—" Her face lit up, and she said, "I'll bake cinnamon buns."

Taako wondered if she would notice if he cast Blink right then. His whole body was stiff for a moment, before he heard himself spit out, "Nah, don’t do that…cupcakes would be great?”

Lup shook her head, bemused. “You got it, Taako. Go get some rest.”

Taako retreated, feeling kinda bad, but retreating nonetheless. He glanced back as he stepped into the cabin and saw Lup back amongst their friends—and Magnus staring in Taako’s direction.

He pulled the door shut firmly behind himself.

Cycle 12

“What about Magnus’ plan? Heading south?” Taako said.

Davenport spoke against it immediately, “No, Taako, the light is definitely in the north.”

“I agree with the captain,” Lucretia admitted.

Barry and Merle chimed in, saying, “Yeah,” and “It makes the most sense.”

Taako glanced at Magnus, who just looked tired and frustrated, and then he turned to the one person who would surely agree with him: Lup.

But his sister just shrugged. “Dav has a point.”

And so it was quickly decided that the team would split up. Davenport would take the ship to the northern mountains with Lup and Merle, Lucretia and Barry would explore the northern valleys, and Taako and Magnus would head south.

It wasn’t the next year, after they had been stuck together, but the year after that, long after the team had stopped joking about “getting stuck with Magnus for a year” and “getting stuck with Taako for a year”. Apparently, it had been long enough that they all forgot about the planet with the crazy weather, because they had no problem kicking the two of them off the ship insisting they go look for the light together. Taako stood next to Magnus, on the ground, watching the Starblaster fly away. Taako watched, and watched, the sun hurting his eyes as it reflected off the brilliant silver hull.

Taako could tell that Magnus was looking at him. He didn’t want to look back. Taako tried and failed to swallow the lump in his throat, and then offered, “Let’s just get this over with.” He glanced over as he turned towards the south and tried not to feel bad at how Magnus was hanging his head.

It was a hard journey. It was long and hot, with villages and settlements rapidly growing smaller and sparser as they went. They traveled for months, asking locals about the light, searching for the place Magnus thought it might have fallen.

Taako would have liked to say they didn’t talk and they didn’t work together, but they did. Taako knew he would go crazy without prattling on just a tad bit too much. He talked about recipes and spells and Lup just to fill the silence, and Magnus listened, pretending to be interested. He sometimes contributed what seemed like a measured explanation about stuff he liked, his weapons and shit. Taako didn’t ask him about his life. He’d heard all of Magnus' stories at least twice already.

And of course, they made a fine team. Maybe the ease was only because they were trying to get it over with, but Taako already knew how well they worked together.

They had left the Starblaster well into the year, and as the weeks passed Taako started consciously thinking about the effort to physically retrace their steps back up north. At every sunset, Magnus reported back to Davenport on his stone of farspeech, "No luck today, but I've got a good feeling about tomorrow." Over and over Taako heard these words, without any indication of stopping, or even slowing. Taako brought it up one day when they were departing from a village, still traveling south. “So, when do you think we’ll head back?”

Magnus glanced quickly at Taako, but was focused on navigating the rocky half-beaten path they were told to follow. “When we find the light,” He said, verging on sounding condescending, like Taako should definitely understand this.

Taako waited a moment to speak, avoiding almost tripping on a clump of skinny roots sticking up from the ground. Then he just stated, “We only have a couple months left, to find it and bring it back.”

“No,” Magnus said firmly, “We have two and a half months to find it, and then Davenport will bring the ship to us. Way faster.”

Taako didn’t want to say. He didn’t want to say it at all, but he had to. “ If we find the light.”

Magnus actually stopped to look him in the eye. “Taako, we’re going to find it. I know I’m right.”

“So, you were wrong,” Taako pointed out, two months later, once they had overturned the last rock that Magnus swore the light would be hidden under. He looked across the small abandoned fort they had found in the deep, deep south of the main land mass on this planet.

Magnus sighed and leaned his head back against the wall of woven tree branches. “I know.” He waited a long few seconds, as Taako watched beads of sweat form slowly on his forehead. The structure of branches and leaves provided shade and thus some relief from the sun, but they still couldn’t hide from the heat and humidity. Magnus said, “I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t apologize,” Taako pleaded, “It’s alright, big guy. We did our best.”

Magnus looked at him, and didn’t look away for a minute. Taako wondered if they would have found the light if it had been Magnus and Lup, not him. Magnus took out his small stone and tossed it around in his hand, before holding it up. "Magnus to Davenport, come in Davenport."

It took a couple seconds, but then the stone played sounds of shuffling and mumbling, and then Davenport's voice. " This is Davenport ."

Taako didn't realize it at first, but this report was so different from the reports all the days before, and it started when Magnus paused. In silence, there was an unnatural emptiness, and Taako didn't quite know why but it felt wrong.

"I'm sorry," Magnus said, sounding so sad , and it was horrible. It was so far off from his optimistic tagline. Taako just looked at him, wishing he was hearing Magnus say what he had always said before so he could feel sick of it again, not sick to his stomach with sympathy for the poor guy.

" Hey, Magnus, it's okay, " Davenport started, reacting to how down Magnus sounded. " I think we're getting close. The sun's going down…but I've got a good feeling about tomorrow. "

Magnus smiled a bit, and Taako's heart lifted at the sight. "Thanks Dav," Magnus said.

" You boys take it easy. There's, uh, not much time left to come pick you up… "

"Don't worry about it," Magnus said. He glanced up at Taako, who nodded. They both knew it was a waste of the precious last few light-hunting days for Davenport to fly the ship down to bring them on board, given they would end up there one way or another.

" You sure? "

"We're sure."

" Stay safe. We'll see you soon ."

The rest of the year passed in a haze of bright green, the leaves and trees surrounding the abandoned lean-tos they stayed near. There was no point venturing too far in any direction anymore. They sat amongst the plants, relying on spells for food, water, and a cool breeze.

To pass the time, Magnus hummed a whole record of songs, some Taako knew and some he didn’t, while carving the bark off branches with his knife. Now and then, Taako offered to braid Magnus’ hair to keep it up off his neck, and he always said yes. He sat behind him and twisted and tied his hair slowly, as Magnus held a stick still in his hands. Simple, meaningless tasks filled their time until the end of the year—the end of the world.

They laid down to sleep on opposite sides of a small stick structure for the last time, just like every other night for the past couple weeks, except this time Magnus spoke and broke the silence.

“I wish we could sleep under the stars again.”

Taako shivered as his brain overreacted to that statement. That wasn’t...an opening, was it? That wasn’t a gentle reminder of their brief time together…was it? It took a lot of self-control to stop himself from raising his wand and burning a hole in the forest canopy so he could give Magnus his wish. He settled for rolling over, closing the space between them halfway.

Magnus looked over.

Taako lost his nerve, and just stared at him.

Magnus barely whispered, “I’m sorry.”

“You already—”

“About what happened to…us.”

Oh...oh. Taako stomach turned, in a good or bad feeling he wasn’t sure yet. “You don’t have to apologize.”

Magnus didn’t say anything else, which made Taako think he really meant it. He rolled and shifted a bit.

It was so dark where they slept, but Taako’s pale blue skin was still just visible when he raised his hand up. He watched it, avoiding Magnus’ eyes, as he pushed some strands of pale red hair back into the braid.

Taako moved his hand slowly down and watched it slowly too, not daring to look up.

Magnus shifted in place and the noise startled Taako’s eyes up.

Then it was so obvious, he saw it before it happen so plainly, and yet did nothing to stop him; Magnus leaned in and softly kissed him.

Taako was so sad .

It was so lovely and sweet; it was so sad that it was happening on this fucking planet with this fucking person at this fucking time, at whatever time or day or year it was really happening.

He barely kissed Magnus back, but he still did, because there was nothing he wanted more than to kiss and kiss and kiss him. Taako tried to think about nothing, or anything other than kissing Magnus. They were both reluctant to pull away, but it happened eventually, like tides rolling out gradually until the waves no longer crashed against the rocks.

Magnus couldn’t look at Taako for more than a second before his face twisted with emotion and he tucked his head down to his chest. Taako’s heart ached. He slowly wrapped his arms around Magnus’ body and laid his face against his hair. “I know,” He said. I’m sorry too , He didn’t say. “It’s okay,” He said. Taako kept whispering until they both fell asleep.

When heroes have nothing to do during the end of the world, they stay in bed. They stay in bed and stay in each other’s arms, growing sweaty with the slow heat of the morning, but unmotivated to move with the apocalypse around the corner.

They don’t want to let go of this moment, this last world where it can exist.

They roll around and stretch, but stay close by, and lay on the ground and stare at each other.

They stay in their beds with their hands locked together until their bodies dissolve into white threads. And they are gone.

#taagnus #magnus burnsides/taako #taz balance #birbtext

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lichlover · 6 years

Note

Here’s a prompt. Post-story and song, everyone is sitting around talking about birthdays, and angus says he never really had a good one. So taako, being the best dad ever, throws angus a huge party and he loves it and loves his giant weird family even more

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“Y’know what must’ve sucked?” says Taako. “Being born on Story and Song.”

He’s nestled comfortably in Kravitz’s lap, one arm slung over the back of the couch and the other balancing a half-empty cocktail. His glass isn’t the only one that looks like it’s about to be in need of refilling. Lup is about to reach the bottom of hers, and sitting against her, Barry holds a drink that glows eerily whenever he so much as shifts his grip. Magnus is the only one who’s drinking something Angus actually recognizes. His tabard of ale borders on the stereotypical, threatening to overflow with foam and making him red in the face, despite his insistence that he’s completely sober because “C’mon, you guys, I’d never get drunk in front of a kid!”

As if the man could convince anyone his tabard is brimming with a Shirley Temple.

But tonight isn’t about calling Magnus out on his bullshit. It’s about coming down from the aftermath and escaping from the world. They’re all sitting in the Bureau’s Reclaimer suite, because reporters haven’t quite figured out a way to get to the moon just yet, and it serves as their sanctuary away from the glitz and bright lights of fame. Angus, who has reached adolescence in theory but not in practice, appreciates the opportunity for a breather. The most recognition he’d received for his detective work had been a medal from the odd mayor or two; the rare commendation from a police commissioner. Garnering a worldwide fanbase—well, it should go without saying, but that’s another thing altogether.

As much as the Birds make a show of revelling in stardom (particularly Taako, who insists it’s his birthright), Angus can tell they’re feeling as relieved as he is. Why else would they be drinking like their lives depend on it?

Speaking of which. His mentor takes another gulp, effectively draining the cocktail, and goes on. “What the hell are you s’posed to do when your birthday is the fuckin’—fuckin’, when-the-world-got-saved day? You think anybody’s gonna pay attention to you then? Nah, they’re too—too busy gettin’ smashed and partying in the streets to worry about little Timmy or whatever, over there with—with a pair of commemorative socks, or whatever. Lame.”

“I thought you didn’t like birthdays,” Magnus points out.

“I don’t. They’re a big fuckin’ inconvenience. I’m makin’ conver—conversa—” Taako rolls his eyes and nudges Kravitz’s shoulder. “What’s the—?”

“Conversation,” his boyfriend provides, patiently. It had, admittedly, taken Angus some time to get over the man’s Grim Reaper status, because there is no amount of logic and common sense that keeps a child from feeling uneasy in the presence of death. But Kravitz, for all his awkward, outdated mannerisms and omnipresent exasperation, is a good man. He loves Taako, Angus knows; even if the L-word is something both of them insist on dancing around like they’re doing a quickstep on hot coals. And he’s kind to Taako’s family and everyone he cares about. Angus approves.

Taako reaches out to set his glass on the side table, misses, and lets it drop harmlessly to the carpet. “Yeah. That. Who even celebrates birthdays anymore?”

A murmur of consensus ripples over the room, and Angus readjusts his hold on the hot chocolate nestled in his hands. “Right!” he says, breaking into the conversation with a tentative smile. “They’re not a big deal, right?”

Fourteen pairs of eyes settle on him instantaneously. Despite the fact that he’s never known such a thing, Angus imagines it’s to the effect of fourteen parents staring him down. He isn’t a huge fan of it. “What?” he says, and takes a nervous sip of his hot chocolate because there’s nothing else to fill the silence. “What is it?”

“Ango,” says Magnus, in the tone of voice he uses when one of the Hammer and Tails’ dogs has wandered off. “Tell me you’ve had a birthday party.”

“Even a weird kid like you’s gotta have at least one of ’em under his belt,” Merle interjects. “Right?”

The discomfort in Angus’s expression is reaching Kravitz levels of obvious. “Uh… no? I mean, I got presents from my grandpa when he could afford it, but most of the time we just—”

“Okay,” Taako interrupts. “This is ridiculous.”

He gets up from Kravitz’s lap, which looks a bit like a spider unfolding its tangled limbs, and sways precariously on his feet before he regains his balance. “You dipshits know what we gotta do now.”

Magnus is already perked up. “Oh, yeah.”

“Sorry,” says Angus, “what are we doing?”

Taako levels a finger at him. He’s actually pointing at something just over Angus’s shoulder, but the sentiment is there nonetheless.

“We’re givin’ you the fuckin’ birthday party of a lifetime,” he says. “And you’re—you’ll never see it coming.”

Angus does see it coming.

For one, he catches Magnus creeping toward the residential dome with a crate full of fireworks. To his credit, Magnus stays mostly poker-faced as he explains that he’s gathering explosives for one of Lup’s post-regenerative experiments. He’s so taciturn that Angus doesn’t have the heart to say anything about it.

For another, the Reclaimer suite’s availability evaporates into thin air. The Birds hem and haw and claim it’s an administrative decision, and Angus nods and politely agrees because he really is touched by the amount of effort that’s going into keeping him out of the loop. They even put up caution tape—RENOVATIONS IN PROGRESS! it says. He assumes it’s a clever means of explaining away the occasional drilling, grating, and scraping sounds he can make out behind the door.

They do the best they can to keep him away from it. Lup and Barry invite Angus to their lab for a day, which granted is a privilege Angus can’t bear to pass up, so he goes and learns an inordinate amount about something that is definitely not necromancy, especially if Kravitz asks. Davenport takes him sailing, and Angus learns how to steer a ship with confidence, even if he can’t quite keep up with the captain’s rapid fire nautical-speak. He leads his first seminar at Taako’s Amazing School of Magic. The students snicker until Angus politely but ruthlessly shoots down their proposals for new spells, and suddenly their young professor is deserving of significantly more respect.

He’s out on the lawn one day, practicing some spells of his own, when he feels a hand on his shoulder. Angus jumps and almost loses his footing on the artificial grass, and the Director—Lucretia—winces and jerks back. “Sh—sorry,” she stammers. “I knew sneaking up on you was a bad idea, and… well, funny thing, I just did it anyway.”

She looks different, he thinks, especially now that he knows how young she used to be. The bags under her eyes are more pronounced—she’s been working day and night to kickstart the newly established Bureau of Benevolence and, Angus suspects, to avoid confrontation with the Birds. Even Magnus, who’s forgiven her unconditionally, seems a little touchy when Lucretia’s name is mentioned. Angus doesn’t blame her for wanting to stay away.

“Hello, ma’am!” he says, because he hasn’t quite figured out how he feels about Lucretia’s decision, but he knows she’s a good person, and there’s no reason why he can’t spare her some common courtesy. “Can I, uh… can I help you with something?”

Lucretia balks a little at that, and her hand tightens almost imperceptibly around her new staff. It’s considerably simpler than the Bulwark Staff; made out of smooth, elegantly polished red wood with a subtle gloss. The tiny outline of a duck sits at its base—a Burnsides Original. “Oh. Um—mind if I sit?”

Angus doesn’t. She lowers herself to the grass, and he sits cross-legged beside her and looks through the transparent dome overhead as she situates herself. The sky is pale and bright, starting to fade with the gradual advance of evening, and the shadows around them grow longer as the sun sinks toward the horizon.

It’s a lonely hour of the day, he thinks.

Lucretia looks over and smiles faintly. “You know about the birthday party, don’t you?”

“Yes, ma’am,” says Angus, truthfully.

Her shoulders slump as she breathes out a small sigh of relief. “Thank the gods. I realized as soon as I said it that if you didn’t know, I’d be spoiling the surprise, and… well.” She shakes her head. “I should have known, anyway. You’re too smart to be caught off guard like that.”

“Well, ma’am, I am the World’s Greatest Detective!”

“That you are.” Lucretia’s smile returns, softer; lacking the weariness he’s so accustomed to seeing. “Anyway, I, uh… I’m not going to be there, because—”

It isn’t polite to interrupt, but Angus wants to spare her the agony of explaining. “I know,” he says.

Something like gratitude shimmers briefly in Lucretia’s eyes before she continues. “I just wanted to give you this.”

She reaches into the folds of her robe and produces a parcel, neatly wrapped in holographic paper and topped with a tiny bow. Angus takes it, and she nods encouragingly at him. “Open it.”

He does. It’s a journal—the cover is a deep, vibrant blue inlaid with white thread, which glimmers subtly when he tips it from side to side. Angus thumbs over the creamy paper and cradles the cover in his palms, and as he does so, it falls open to the first page. There, in Lucretia’s delicate calligraphy, is a message.

For your observations.Happy birthday to the smartest, bravest young man I know.

Madam Director

He looks up at her, struck dumb. “This is…”

“It’s just a little something,” says Lucretia, who looks suddenly but unmistakably shy. “I saw that little notepad of yours and I just thought you could use something a little nice—”

She breaks off when Angus hugs her. His arms, he notices, can now fit comfortably around her midriff, and the ridges of tiny ribs poke into his chest.

“Thank you, ma’am,” he whispers.

He can feel her nod against him, and slowly, hesitantly, she returns the embrace. “Of course.”

Taako rouses him bright and early with a shower of sparks over his bed. “Up and at ’em, Agnes!” he says. “Early morning magic lesson! We’ve got work to do!”

Angus is still bleary-eyed when his mentor drags him from his dormitory on the Bureau. He stops to tap one shoe against the pavement, fitting it completely over his foot, and then he’s off again, struggling to keep pace with Taako’s long strides.

“Sir,” he says, around an inadvertent yawn. “Where are we going?”

“I just said it was a magic lesson. Keep up.”

“But,” says Angus, peering under the brim of Taako’s enormous hat, “we usually practice on the quad, and we just passed the quad.”

Taako thrusts a hand at him and practically bats his inquiry away. “Less questions, more—more walking, let’s go!”

And that’s how Angus knows.

They arrive at the Reclaimer suite not five minutes later, and sure enough, the caution tape is gone. “Just need to pick up some shit,” Taako mumbles, digging around for his keys. “Won’t take a minute, and then we’ll—we’ll be off to the races, yeah?”

Something shuffles behind the door, followed by a bit of muffled whispering. Taako looks a little bit like he wants to die, but credit where credit is due—he soldiers on, undaunted. “C’mon, kid.”

The key slides into the lock, the door swings open, and an explosion of light and sound nearly knocks Angus off his feet.

“Happy birthday, Angus!” several voices shout in unison, and then the roof explodes.

A flurry of fireworks swirl around them, and Lup’s scream of delight almost drowns out the chorus of popping and fizzing. “Look at that!” she yells. “Perfect execution! Boom! Hope you were filming that, babe, ’cuz that’s never happening again!”

Barry holds up a Lucas Miller official patented Fantasy Camcorder™. “Got it!”

Angus blinks the stars out of his eyes and looks around the room. Apart from Barry, Lup, and Taako, he spots Magnus, Davenport, Carey and Killian arm-in-arm, Ren, Avi, and Merle, with a suspiciously plant-shaped gift sitting next to him. The room is draped with fantasy fairy lights and streamers, but what catches Angus’s eye isn’t the decor, or the mountain of presents in the corner of the room. It’s a cake—mounted at the center of the room, taller than he is, with a fondant rendition of a very familiar-looking hat and magnifying glass at the top.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE WORLD’S GREATEST DETECTIVE! it says.

“Oh, wow,” says Angus. “This is a complete surprise. I never expected—”

“We know you knew,” says Taako.

“Oh, thank gods.” Angus drops the facade of shock, but his smile stays put—it’s wider and brighter than the plane of magic itself.

“Thank you,” he says, and can’t quite swallow back the emotional break in his voice. “Thank you guys so much.”

“Anytime, little man,” says Lup. Her hair is slightly singed, but her grin is almost as large as his. “It was our pleasure.”

“Speaking of which,” says Merle. “It is your birthday, right?”

The room goes silent.

“Shit.”

“Fuck—”

“Watch your fucking language!”

“How could nobody check, how did we miss that—”

A late firework shoots into the air, the Birds devolve into squabbling, and Angus McDonald laughs.

#bircjosta #ask #the adventure zone #taz balance #angus mcdonald #ipre #kravitz #fic #mine #I FINALLY FINISHED A PROMPT ARE YALL PROUD OF ME

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suddenrundown · 6 years

Text

All the Time in the World: Chapter 5

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Its what’s on the inside that counts.

A cheesy saying, but one that Barry strived to live by nonetheless. He wasn’t one to make snap decisions about people upon meeting them based of first impressions or appearances. At least, he tried not to. There was some amount of decency in most souls, he believed, and even if it wasn’t obvious immediately, he’d give them a few chances. Obviously, some people really were just miserable beings; he’d run across some, both in his former life and in the past eleven years. But most proved his theory, given the chance, and he’d met and become friends with so many different and interesting people in his lifetime. It made life more fulfilling.

Which was why this particular world made very little sense to him.

Continued under the cut, or you can read it on ao3

“Have you tried wearing something other than jeans?”

“No. I mean, I don’t really have any—wait, what’s wrong with my jeans? You don’t like my jeans?”

“Did I say that? No, your jeans are rad. I’ve never met anyone who could pull off dad jeans as well as you can.”

“Dad jeans? Lup, they’re not-”

Lup looked up from the map she was studying, smirking. “I mean, if you weren’t wearing jeans, how would I even know its you? Oh my god, wait!” she gasped. “Are they like, a talisman or something, that holds in some super power? If you take them off, do you become like Super Monster Barry?”

“Yeah, actually,” Barry confirmed, voice hushed now. “I was trying to keep it a secret all this time, but you caught me. At night in my room, I take them off and I get super buff. Bigger than Magnus. Bigger than that ripped guy who kept throwing boulders at the Starblaster all last cycle. It’s terrifying.”

Lup snorted at that. “Holy shit.”

“Right?” Barry chuckled. Then he sobered, rubbing the back of his neck. “Uh, is there actually something wrong with-”

“Of course not!” she interrupted, looking serious now. “No one who matters thinks there is. It’s just that this place is…judgmental.”

She wasn’t wrong. They’d been in this world for two months now, but it was blatantly obvious that they were being judged the moment the IPRE landed here.

The crew had seen fully functioning cities and humanoid beings as they flew the Starblaster down into the plane, and Davenport had deemed it safe to venture out soon after the ship landed in a wooded area just outside of town. They didn’t make it very far before they were visited by a group of well-dressed individuals demanding to know who they were and what their business here was. Davenport had tried to explain, but he was immediately cut off by a man in the middle, who seemed to be the leader of the group.

“Not you,” he’d basically sneered, pointing at Davenport but not sparing him a glance. His finger slid across the line until it made its way to Taako, and the man’s face had become instantly friendlier. “Him. Or her.” And at this, he pointed to Lup next to him.

The crew had gone silent, and they all stared in the direction of the twins. Barry could see Lup attempting to form words through her surprise, but Taako had gotten there first.

“We’re the IPRE, my dude, and we’re gonna be here for a while.”

Surprisingly, this made the man laugh. “That will be just fine. I would like you to come with me just for a bit, my friend, uh…” The man waved his hand as if beckoning for a name.

Taako cocked his head a bit. “Taako?” It sounded like a question.

“Taako, yes. Just for a bit. I’d like to know more but I’d rather not stand here and chat.” The man looked around as if the scenery of the woods offended him. When Taako didn’t immediately move, the man turned to smile at Lup. “You can come too, Miss.”

“Lup.” Lup offered, hesitantly.

“How lovely,” the man sighed. He then turned around and his group began to walk away “Anyway, come along,” he called over his shoulder.

The twins had glanced down the line back to Davenport, who gestured for them to go ahead.

“Careful,” he warned them. “We’ll be here.”

When the twins were out of sight, the rest of the crew continued to stand in silence, rooted to their spots, until Merle let out a low chuckle.

“What a dick.”

They all laughed at that and agreed, and with the tension broken, they made their way back into the Starblaster to wait for Taako and Lup to return. Barry’s stomach churned with anxiety, but he tried to comfort himself with the fact that if the man had wanted to hurt them, he probably would have done it here instead of taking them elsewhere. Besides, he seemed impressed by them for some reason. Thankfully, his worries were for nothing, as the twins came back in one piece a few hours later with a story to tell that made the everything make sense. In context, at least.

The man they’d met, Delman, was in charge of the city they’d flown over, and he was more than willing to share with Taako and Lup the way things worked, provided they tell him exactly why they were here. The twins were completely honest and took the opportunity to summarize the IPRE’s mission, about the Light, and about the timeframe they had to save this world from the Hunger. When they finished, they sat in awkward silence as Delman seemed to consider their explanation. Then he laughed.

“If that’s the story you’re sticking to, my friends, that’s quite alright with me.” As the twins tried to convince him, he shook his head. “Really, you look nice enough. I’m not sure about this Hunger nonsense, but I won’t stop you and your…associates from conducting whatever business you deem necessary, provided that you all understand how we operate.”

And with that, he told them briefly about the world. It sounded similar to home, except for one key difference: society was basically split up based on beauty.

“He didn’t really say so out right, but I sort of got the impression that if you didn’t have looks, you didn’t have much,” Lup explained, shuffling awkwardly. “People without them have harder jobs and worse living conditions by extension. Apparently, even the ‘pretty’ people spend large amounts of time and money trying to make themselves prettier, whatever that means. Didn’t really ask.” She paused then, clearly uncomfortable. “I mean, isn’t it like, a subjective thing? I don’t really get why-”

“Lup, I’m not offended by what happened earlier,” Davenport interrupted kindly. He gave her a smile. “Not everyone can appreciate such a dignified mustache,” he added, twirling the end of his. “Clearly this Delman fellow didn’t.”

“Sounds like an…interesting culture,” Lucretia said. “I don’t know what the standards of beauty are, but from the welcoming we got today, I’m guessing we might have a hard time.”

“Then again,” Taako spoke up from beside his sister, noticeably posing just a little. “You do have the two of us, and we evidently did pass the beauty portion of this little pageant show, so maybe privileges extend to you by association.”

Oh, well thank God. Barry stopped short of rolling his eyes. It’s not like Taako was wrong. Or not objectively one of the prettiest people he’d ever met.

And luckily, as Taako had predicted, the crew had had a relatively easy time of it so far. As Delman promised, they were left to their own devices as far as looking for the Light went, and they were granted access to the better parts of the city, including job positions, which was necessary for basic necessities and part of the expectations of living here. It wasn’t much of a burden, and in the case of some of them, entertaining. Taako had found a high fashion clothing shop and spent most of his time there, though he didn’t necessarily need to. Lucretia worked in a library, but Barry suspected that she spent most of her time there reading about the world for her own records. The rest of them found part time work in various shops, which allowed them time for their own personal activities. Like finding the Light.

Barry had taken up the endeavor himself this cycle, and as usual, Lup had volunteered herself as well. Luckily, they’d seen it falling this time around, so they had a direction to head in at least. And now that they’d gotten a detailed enough map of the area to search for it, they wanted to start as soon as possible. They hadn’t found it last cycle, and the IPRE had watched as the Hunger consumed the entire plane, growing bigger as it did. Given the resources they had, Barry had a feeling it wouldn’t be too difficult to find this time, so he wasn’t that concerned. His biggest concern was just making it through the year.

And maybe it was a silly thing to worry about. As far as he could tell, this place wasn’t all that dangerous. There were functioning societies, safe living conditions, and nothing that wanted to hunt them down. It’s just that the people here were….

“Judgemental’s a good word for it,” Barry agreed, watching as Lup circled an area on the map.

“My point is that people here are weird. And if you get snubbed, its nothing to do with you, its just them.” She looked up from her map again. “Personally, I think you’re pretty great, jeans and all. Wouldn’t change a single thing.” She winked.

He felt his cheeks turn red, and bent down to pretend to study the map in an attempt to hide it. “Gee, thanks,” he mumbled.

He didn’t do a good job of it. “Nerd,” she grinned.

The urge to say something cheesy and embarrassing was strong, but fortunately he was saved by a shouted greeting from Taako from behind him. Barry turned to find both the elf and a smartly dressed man he didn’t recognize approaching them.

“Playing hooky, Taako?” Lup asked her brother.

“Hell no, who’d play hooky from heaven itself? Nah, me and Flynn are just on break. He’s showing me the best place to eat lunch. The soup’s to die for, apparently.”

“Bring me back some, then.”

“Only if I don’t eat it all.”

Lup made a face, then turned to Flynn and smiled. “I’m Lup.”

Barry held up a hand. “Barry.”

Flynn’s eyes briefly slid to him before focusing on Lup. He smiled at her. “Nice to meet you.”

Barry couldn’t tell if he was mishearing the emphasis or not, but chose to believe it was in his head.

“Well, we’re off to have this life changing soup,” Taako announced with much emphasis that Barry did not make up as he turned to leave. “See ya, suckers.”

Barry watched Flynn as he turned and trailed after Taako, then turned back to the map on the table. “So we mostly have a plan of attack here. I think we should pack a backpack to get us through maybe a day or two, and we can set out tomorrow. And maybe Davenport will let us take the Starblaster at some point if we need to go super far, but we’ll play it by ear.” He turned to Lup. “Shit, all that talk about soup is making me hungry.”

Lup didn’t respond, and in fact gave no indication she heard him at all. She stared off in the direction that Taako and Flynn had gone.

“You there, Lup?” he asked, confused.

At the sound of her name, she turned towards him quickly. “What? Oh yeah.” She gave him a light punch in the arm. “Soup, I hear you!”

Day after day spent trekking further south from the main city, and Barry and Lup had nothing to show for it but tired feet and questions that they could answer if they only had time to stop and experiment with the world around them. No trace of the Light, but now they knew where it definitely wasn’t, so neither of them could really write off the month as a waste. Not that Barry could ever consider time spent with Lup a waste anyway.

With no sign of their prize anywhere, they decided to head back to civilization to regroup and gather more supplies before heading back out again. As they entered the city, they spotted Davenport walking through the square.

“Hey Cap’n Port!” Lup called.

Davenport turned at the nickname, and immediately looked relieved to see them. “You’re alive, I see. No luck, huh?”

“Not yet, but we think that based off the Light’s trajectory when it fell, we just have to adjust our course a little,” Barry reported. “According to the map we have, its in the direction of the other city.”

“Sounds like a good place to start. Be sure to rest up a day or two before you go. I’ll see you two in a bit, I’m off to find Lucretia,” Davenport said, giving them a small wave.

Lup saluted him. “Bye, Cap’n Port.” She then turned to Barry. “Let’s stop by and see Taako. Gonna beg him to make some food for us to take.”

“Sounds good.”

As they made their way to the shop, Barry quietly watched the passerby going about their business, feeling the judgment emanating from them. He’d forgotten about it over the past month away from them, but he’d try not to let it get to him while he was here.

“Afternoon, Lup,” came an unfamiliar voice.

They both turned to find an only vaguely familiar face as a tall, well dressed man came walking towards them. Barry remembered meeting him, but couldn’t for the life of him remember-

“Flynn!” Lup exclaimed with an incredible amount of enthusiasm. She then winced slightly, seemingly embarrassed about it.

At least she could remember the guy.

“Haven’t seen you around in a while,” Flynn said.

“We’ve been looking for the Light,” Barry told him.

Flynn glanced at Barry briefly, then looked away. “Ah, Taako mentioned something like that.”

“Do you know if he’s at work?” Lup asked, noticeably quieter now.

“Yes, he is, and I was on my way back there now. I’ll walk with you.”

As the three continued on their way, Barry fell silent as Lup and Flynn talked, feeling awkward. He didn’t see a point in speaking up, as anything he said might be ignored by the latter. Might as well spare himself the effort. When they reached the shop door, Lup turned to Barry.

“Coming in?”

“Nah, I don’t go into clothing shops I can’t buy dad jeans in,” Barry joked.

Lup laughed, and then reached up to pat his head. “That’s cute, good one,” she giggled.

Barry blushed slightly, and Lup laughed again as she headed inside. He smoothed his hair back down as he watched her go. The sound of a scoff behind him reminded him that Flynn was still standing there, and the smile he didn’t know he was wearing faded away.

The man was slightly taller than him, and he stared down to look directly at him now. Scrutinizing, Barry could tell. Like everyone else in this city, he was good looking in an other-worldly sort of way, but it didn’t seem like he’d had enhancements to make himself look like that. He looked like he might be friendly person, if he wanted to be.

He looked Barry up and down once, then smirked in a decidedly unfriendly way. “Yeah right,” he snorted.

Barry watched, confused and uncomfortable, as he opened the door and followed Lup inside.

Against the urging of Flynn, who said it was “absolutely awful” there, Barry and Lup travelled in the direction of the other city, where those who had been deemed not worthy of living in the main city lived. Both of them were apprehensive, but upon their arrival, they found that, despite looking a little more run down there, everyone was perfectly nice and welcoming. Barry tried not to take it to heart that their worst crime was looking as plain as himself and put his efforts toward searching for the Light.

After a few weeks of searching and asking around, they got a lead that someone on the outskirts of town had possession of an object that sounded like what they were looking for. They followed the directions of the townsfolk to a crumbling little house and found an older woman there, who gladly showed them that she did, indeed, have the Light. She was unwilling to hand it over for free, however, claiming she’d “found the funny thing fair and square, kids,”, but she was willing to hand it over if they worked for it.

With no other option, Barry and Lup spent a few more weeks helping the woman, Myra, fix and clean up her house. Neither complained and they found it fun at times, although Lup occasionally seemed to stress over it.

“We really need that Light, Barry. We need to get it back.”

Barry thought that was obvious and unsure why it needed restating, but he continually assured her they’d have it soon and be back with the rest of the IPRE. They had plenty of time left in the year, after all, and the Light was practically theirs already.

True to her word, Myra, with a safer and more livable house, handed over the Light, and sent the two on their way. Barry and Lup returned to the Starblaster late one evening, and Magnus rushed them both, blubbering and thanking them profusely for “not being dead”.

After untangling himself from Magnus’s bear hug, Barry, exhausted, brought the Light to Davenport for safe keeping, and then made his way back outside the ship to look for Lup. He found Taako hanging out by the entrance instead.

“Barold,” Taako said, drawing out the end of the name.

“Taako,” Barry replied, nodding. “Nice…hat?”

“What, this thing?” Taako adjusted the hat slightly. “Got it at the shop. Someone requested this thing specially made, and then had the gall to say they didn’t like it. But their loss is Taako’s gain. It’s beautiful.”

Barry stared up at it. The bottom of it expanded a few inches passed Taako’s head, and the top of the hat probably reached a foot taller than the elf did, the tip of it bending sharply down.

“It’s very…” Tall? Pointy? Purple? “You,” he finally decided.

“Thank you!” Taako smiled, pleased, then pointed at him. “You looking for Lup?”

“Yeah, actually.”

“I saw her go off with Flynn somewhere.”

“What? He was here?” Barry asked, surprised.

“Sure was,” Taako replied, already sounding mentally checked out of the conversation.

“Is he-I mean, will she um…come back?”

“Well yeah.” Taako turned and stared at him blankly. “Eventually.”

Barry decided not to wait up and head to bed instead, feeling vaguely uneasy for no particular reason.

The next morning at breakfast, Barry saw Lup walk in. Taako waggled his eyebrows at her, and Lup gave him a shove. She made a face at him, then grabbed a plate and sat down across from Barry.

“We gonna science the shit out of the Light today?” she asked.

Barry attempted to shake off the uneasy feeling in his chest. He smiled, but wasn’t sure if it looked right. “Definitely,” he managed anyway.

The IPRE couldn’t bank on much, but one thing they could say for certain was how much time they had. All of them knew at any given moment how many more months were left, how many days they had to get through, and if they were feeling really precise, how many minutes had to pass before the Hunger came to chase them off to a new world. The other guarantee was the seven of them. After eleven years together, they knew that they were the only permanent relationships they could have, and they knew how to work together and rely on each other.

This of course did not mean they didn’t form connections with the creatures they met, and it made it all the more important to find the Light to save them. They found it impossible to go through life never forming relationships with new people, so they allowed themselves to do so, knowing that there was an impermanence to those relationships. No matter what the type.

Davenport had once or twice gone for tea with a very pretty gnome a few cycles ago, and had come back much bubblier than his usual serious self. Merle had been awfully popular back in the second cycle with the dwarves, Barry remembered, but no one knew any details and definitely didn’t want to ask. Barry knew that Lup had not been the first of them to find a little more than a friendship with someone from one of the different worlds. It just had never been Lup.

And nothing really changed. She was still around, and they still talked and laughed and worked together. It wasn’t like Flynn hung around them, but Barry suspected that he had no desire to be anywhere that Barry was. On occasion though, Lup would be absent, and Barry would work by himself while he tried to shake off the uncomfortable melancholy that seemed to tighten his chest. Still, he had a job to do, and he wasn’t going to sit around and mope just because Lup had a life.

“Barold, buddy, why the long face?”

At least, he tried not to.

“I’m fine, Magnus.”

Magnus sat down across from him, resting his chin in his hands as he studied him. “You sure, man?”

“Yeah, just taking a break. What are you doing here? Don’t you have work?” he asked, trying to change the subject.

“Yeah, but I’m skipping out. Got someone to cover for me.” Magnus leaned back in his seat. “I’m sort of tired of it,” he added.

“What, work?” Barry asked with a chuckle.

“Nah, this place.”

Well that made two of them. “Why’s that?”

“Everything’s like, so clean here. There’s not a spec of dirt on anyone. It’s so weird.”

That would be something that bothered Magnus, who liked working with his hands. Who didn’t need everything to be so damn pretty and perfect. “That’s fair.”

“Also if some guy looks down his nose at me one more time today I might slug him. Or challenge him to arm wrestle me.”

Barry laughed loudly. “Do you think that would work?”

Magnus put one elbow out in front of him and opened his hand toward Barry. “Do you want to arm wrestle me?”

“No thank you,” Barry said, chuckling nervously. “The only possible outcome would be pretty embarrassing.”

Magnus folded his arms and leaned back in his chair again, looking slightly smug. “Yeah, I think it probably would.”

“It all looks good to me. I checked out the Starblaster pretty thoroughly a couple times now, and we should have no problems taking off in a couple weeks when the Hunger comes.”

“You rock, Cap’n Port!” Lup cheered.

“Oh, well I’m…thank you.” Davenport averted his gaze, looking slightly embarrassed by Lup’s enthusiasm. He cleared his throat. “Anyway, continue to go about your lives for the next few weeks, and try not to do anything...life threatening.”

“Hey, I’ve stayed alive so far!” Merle argued, gesturing to himself for emphasis.

“I wasn’t calling out anyone in particular,” Davenport replied innocently.

“To be fair, Merle,” Lucretia chimed in, “you do have a bad track record.”

“And there’s still a few weeks left, so who knows what could happen,” Magnus chuckled. “Hey, do you need a bodyguard?”

“No, I don’t need a bodyguard,” Merle retorted with a pout.

“Just everyone be careful, please,” Davenport sighed, dismissing them.

Poor Merle; five deaths in eleven cycles was quite a feat. He really should be more careful.

“I think he should take Magnus up on that offer,” Lup interrupted his thoughts, sidling up to him with Taako in tow. “Sounds bad ass.”

“Yeah, it might do him some good,” Barry agreed with a chuckle. Then he sobered. “There has to be some sort of consequence to this whole dying and coming back to life business.”

Taako rested an arm on Lup’s shoulder, leaning into her. “Other than the dying part?”

“Well, I mean…maybe,” Barry said.

“I guess it’s the suffering those of us that are left behind must endure in your absence,” Taako replied dramatically. “Speaking of leaving behind, is there anyone you’ll miss in particular here, Lup?” he asked his sister teasingly.

Barry suddenly wished he was anywhere else but here being a part of this conversation, the familiar unpleasant feeling flaring up in his chest.

Lup shoved him lightly off her shoulder. “No, not really.”

“Not even a certain gentleman, Mr. What’s-His-Handsome-Face?”

She studied her fingernails nonchalantly. “You mean Flynn? Nope. Stopped hanging out with him. He did something I didn’t like.”

Taako’s face quickly morphed from playful to dangerous. “Should I go kill him?”

“Chill out, don’t go wasting a spell. He didn’t do anything, he just said something about somebody I care about.” She made a fist with the hand she was studying. “But I showed him what for.”

“You punched him?” Barry blurted, slightly too loud, suddenly interested.

“A little,” she confessed. “But that’s the thing.” She turned to Barry suddenly, the intensity of her expression demanding his attention. “No one gets to say something bad about the people I care about.”

Taako whistled. “God, what a bad ass, you’re so scary.”

He was clearly joking, but Barry agreed with the sentiment wholeheartedly anyway. He’d thought it since day one, although those feelings had morphed into more of an admiration than anything else. It also helped that he knew one simple truth about his friend.

She’s on my side he thought as Lup smiled at him.

Barry stood outside the Starblaster, watching the sky with the rest of the crew. They’d take off as soon as they spotted the Hunger. It was always anxiety inducing waiting for the dark tendrils to appear, but it made it slightly awkward that they had some doubting onlookers this time around.

“And you just happen to know that this hungry thing is going to come any moment now, is that right?” Delman asked, flanked by a few higher ups of the city.

Davenport sighed. “The Hunger, yes. As we’ve said countless times before, it’ll come. Thankfully, we have the Light and are taking it with us, so it’ll chase us down, but it might cause some problems for you here, so I do urge you to get somewhere safe. You do have time.”

“Doesn’t seem all that necessary.”

“Why are you out here, then?”

“You all look rather ridiculous,” Delman laughed. His friends followed suit.

Barry was alright with the year being up.

“Where are Lup and Taako?” asked Magnus beside him.

That was another cause to his anxiety. “Lup said she was going with Taako to his shop so that ‘he could say goodbye,’” Barry told him. At least it was only a few minutes away from the ship.

“That guy’s not right,” Magnus said.

Hard to argue with that. Barry fell silent and fell back into watching both the sky and the distance for his friends to return.

Thankfully, the latter came first, as he saw both Lup and Taako sprinting towards the ship. Lup slowed as she approached, but Taako ran right by him and through the Starblaster’s door.

He poked his head out. “I’ll be here if anyone needs me!”

Magnus shook his head. “Not right,” he repeated as he turned and headed into the ship himself. Lucretia and Merle followed suit.

Barry turned back around to find Lup standing in front of him now, hands held behind her back.

“Did Taako pay his respects?” he asked.

“Hugged every last one of those gorgeous shirts,” she replied. “He’s keeping that hat though.”

“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”

“Me neither. Speaking of keeping, I actually got you something,” she added.

She pulled her hands from behind her back, producing a dark blue piece of folded clothing. “So I saw this suit and thought of you. I mean you wear jeans exclusively and that’s awesome, but maybe one of these days you’ll have something you desperately need a suit for, and I figured you should have one. If you need it. Or it can hang in your closet. Doesn’t matter, I just want you to—”

“Lup,” Barry interrupted quietly, stopping her rambling.

“Yeah?” she asked hesitantly.

“Thank you. It’s great. I’ll definitely find a reason to wear it someday,” he promised, feeling a little choked up for no reason.

She was quiet for a moment, then punched him in the arm, a little harder than normal. “You better. I bought it for you. Well, bought’s a strong word.”

Barry winced as he rubbed his arm. “What do you mean?”

A distant shout caught both of their attention, and they turned to see Flynn running towards them.

“I actually kind of stole it and he may have seen me do it.”

Barry laughed despite himself. “Oh my god. You should probably…”

“Yep, see ya!” She turned and ran back into the ship, carrying the suit.

Barry watched her go, then turned towards the approaching Flynn, who slowed his stride panting heavily. Davenport looked toward Barry with concern, but Barry waved him off, and the captain continued to watch the sky.

“Morning Flynn,” Barry said when the man was in hearing distance.

“Did Lup just go into that hunk of junk with a suit?” the man asked irritably, ignoring the greeting.

“I don’t know, she’s really fast,” he told him, unable to stop the smile that spread onto his face.

Flynn held a hand to his forehead, exasperated. “Whatever, I can’t be bothered with one suit. It wasn’t expensive or nice anyway, not a huge loss.”

“Sure,” Barry replied innocently. “Seemed nice though. You know, from what I saw,” he added when the man gave him a look.

Flynn continued to stare for a moment, saying nothing. Then he shook his head. “I really don’t get it.”

“Get what?”

“You. Her. Have you seen her?”

“Almost every day for eleven years. What’s your point?” Barry asked, a little irritated now.

“My point is that you and her do not make sense.”

Barry sighed, trying to be civil. “Well, it’s been just the seven of us all this time. I sort of doubt we’d be friends in any other life, but I can’t imagine anything else at this point.”

“Friends,” Flynn echoed, smiling disbelievingly.

“Yes, friends!” Barry shot back too loudly, over it. “I don’t understand your confusion.”

“No, I suppose you wouldn’t,” he laughed. “But I think I now understand yours.”

“What does—”

“Time to go, Barry!” Davenport suddenly shouted.

Barry looked down. He hadn’t noticed how the world looked desaturated until now.

“Shit, what the hell is that?” Flynn asked, panicked, looking up at the sky.

“That’s what me and my friends saved your ass from. You’re welcome,” Barry replied. He found he sincerely meant it. “You have a few minutes, so get yourself somewhere safe. Hopefully there won’t be too much damage down here,” he added, backing up.

Flynn turned and ran, as did Delman and the others, and Barry and Davenport did the same, back into the Starblaster. Davenport headed for the wheel.

“I’d say buckle up, but it doesn’t matter that much!” Davenport called back to them. “Just hold on to something!”

Barry grabbed the bar next to the window and closed his eyes, breathing deeply and trusting that their captain would fly them safely out like always.

“Do I need to go back down there and kick his ass?”

Barry opened his eyes to see Lup in front of him. He smiled at her, the mounting fear he felt dissipating a little. She looked actually willing to do it.

“No, I don’t think he deserves that and the Hunger.”

“He’ll be fine,” she said.

“I think so.”

They both fell silent, concentrating on not being thrown around by Davenport’s maneuvers. The anxiety and fear gripped his heart once more, so he turned to Lup again.

“Lup.”

“Yeah?”

He breathed in deeply, steadying himself. “Thanks for the suit.”

#all the time in the world #the adventure zone #taz balance #blupjeans #taz fic #barry bluejeans #lup #barry x lup #lup x barry

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ohhgingersnaps · 6 years

Text

TAZ Balance Pacific Rim AU

this got away from me a bit, oops

Threats from other planes of existence, coming through an inter-dimensional portal to level cities and consume all life? A small group making a last-ditch attempt to save everything through technology Powered By Friendship? Which piece of media am I talking about, the world may never know

PPDC (Pan Planar Defense Corps)

Taako is the jaded former jaegar pilot. He and Lup had one of the strongest neural links in the history of the PPDC, until a mission went awry and their jaegar was violently torn apart. The neural link overloaded and shorted out, and when Taako woke up from his coma a week later, he found that Lup had vanished into the ocean without a trace.

He waited weeks. Months. She didn’t come back.

After Lup’s disappearance, Taako tried drifting with someone else. Once. An entire city was destroyed. His partner Sazed, who fell out of sync first, blamed him in the aftermath. Taako, convinced that he could never drift with anyone else again, resigned and vanished from the public eye.

Two years more and Marshal Lucretia is on his doorstep, asking him to come back for one last-ditch attempt at closing off this plane from the Hunger forever.

“You expect me to come back?” he snarls. “She died on your watch.”

Lucretia doesn’t have anything to say to that.

He comes back anyways. It’s what Lup would have wanted.

Magnus and Julia are both pilots: strong, protective, and unshakeable. Under their watch, the perimeter of Raven’s Roost hasn’t been breached for ten years.

Barry is a cryptozoologist, and has a complicated relationship with the monsters the Hunger produces; he used to think they were so intriguing, but after Lup’s maybe-death, he can’t quite work up the same enthusiasm.

Kravitz’s family died in an attack from the Hunger many years ago. He was subsequently adopted by Raven, one of the jaegar pilots who rescued him. As a result, he’s grown up in Shatterdomes. He’s seen pilots come and go; he’s seen cities destroyed; he’s become very familiar with death.

Davenport supervises the neural links, monitors the Breach to send up warning the second the Hunger emerges, overlooks repair and maintenance of the jaegars... As always, the mission is his life.

Merle drifts with the Hunger at least once.

Lucretia is the only living human to have piloted a jaegar by herself.

...

It’s entirely chance that she sees their jaegar.

She who washed up on a shore three years ago with no memory of herself or who she was. She with mysterious, circuit-shaped burns. She’s at work when she catches a glimpse of a documentary, an old battle on the television, and just. Stops.

The jaegar is fighting all-out with fireballs in its hands and gold glinting on it shoulders and it’s so uncannily familiar, but she can’t quite remember, it’s from the wrong angle, somehow--

The jaegar takes a hit to its right arm and she instinctively flinches.

When the battle is over, they interview a man with her face.

And they interview her.

...

The Shatterdome is busier than she remembers.

She thinks it’s busier. She’s not sure if she remembers.

As Marshal Lucretia leads her into the Shatterdome, she says: “Taako will be absolutely elated to see you again.”

Lup tilts her head in confusion.

“Who?”

...

Merle drifts with the Hunger at least twice. Maybe three times.

...

Taako is glad to have her back, of course he is.

But she’s not the same Lup.

She doesn’t remember their rhythm; it’s like everything’s been moved left by three inches. They cook together, but it’s not a dance like it used to be. She curls up in her own bunk, and the bed feels strangely empty without her brother, but it wouldn’t feel right having him there, either.

She’s sorry, but it’s uncanny, that there’s a stranger with her face.

...

They try drifting, but he chases the rabbit.

Or she chases the rabbit.

Really, it’s the same memory, and it’s hard to tell.

After that, though, he’s a bit less of a stranger.

...

(The cryptozoologist keeps staring at her like she’s an angel. Or a ghost. She waves at him, and he gives a surprised half-wave back. Her heart is weighed down with a longing she doesn’t quite understand.)

...

“Hey, babe. Wanna drift?” she asks one night, curled up in a sleeping bag next to Taako’s bed. It’s not perfect, but it works.

He seems surprised, almost, but: “Ch’yeah, of course!”

It becomes a nightly habit for them, sneaking into their jaegar to drift together. It’s a process of remembering. There’s a whole lifetime of memories to walk through, piece by piece, and the techs always say that you shouldn’t chase the rabbit, but Lup thinks it isn’t quite so bad if they’re chasing it together.

...

By the end of the world, there’s just one memory left.

The memory of their separation.

It’s one they’re ready to face, finally, if they’re facing it together.

...

Lucretia leads them to the rift high in the air, where the nothingness is pouring through in tall columns like waterfalls, rooting itself into the earth.

Taako and Lup drift again, a bright blaze of fire and gold.

In Raven’s Roost, Magnus and Julia hold their own.

Around the world, other jaegar pilots fight, too. They struggle, but they hold the darkness off. Light is bursting from the heart of the jaegar called Starblaster, almost too bright to hold.

“If we seal ourselves off,” she says, “we can at least save this world.”

And then Davenport’s message, crackling through miles of static:

“Merle’s drifted with the Hunger. Cutting ourselves off won’t be enough.”

...

Lucretia takes a deep breath and allows herself to fall.

...

Taako and Lup fall out of sync, briefly:

“If she wants to sacrifice herself, let her do it.”

“We can’t let her go.”

There are flashes of electrical sparks, maybe real, maybe in their memories, it’s hard to tell in the Drift.

“She left you to die!”

“It’s not her fault, Koko.”

"But it’s not fair!”

“I know. But we have to do this. It’s the right thing to do.”

She looks at him, at the tears streaming down his face, down her own face, and distantly though the neural link sees herself through his eyes. She feels his resolve: He won’t lose her again.

They smile in unison.

“Alright, cool. Let’s cancel the apocalypse.”

...

On the other side of the portal, the Hunger is overwhelming. There are dark columns stretching into infinity with veins of glittering red and gold, monsters and Judges and shapes that are hard to make out in the slanted light of a dim, half-setting sun.

They scan the horizon desperately and-- there!-- a pinprick of light, a glimmer. A silver ejection pod.

“It’s Luce!” she cries. “She’s okay!”

They grab onto her and hold on tight as the glow of white light from the Starblaster’s chest envelops them.

...

One huge figure staggers through the rift between worlds, cradling a small silver box in its arms. It sets the box down and then collapses, as though exhausted.

Two figures stumble out of the head of the thing, feeling small beside their giant skyscraper of dead armor, clinging to one another and crying and also maybe laughing. They are glowing in the light of a sunrise they thought they’d never see again.

The portal behind them folds inwards and inwards and inwards until it collapses on itself, vanishing with a quiet shimmer.

#taz #taz balance #taz spoilers #taz balance spoilers #lup #taako #pacific rim au #this kinda turned into a sorta-fic oops??#thezonecast #the adventure zone

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clonerightsagenda · 6 years

Text

Good morning everyone, it is time for a very cursed post. This was a lot funnier in the middle of the night when we were hysterical on Gill's floor. I am now bathed in the harsh light of day and regret, but I promised I would write this up.

This post will make zero sense without the context of reading this other post and the tags. All of the tags. Did you do that, and come back? I'm not sure why. But here we are. And after posting that, we hung out on our floor for like an hour in the middle of the night and hashed out an actual plot for this trainwreck. Because it was better than going to sleep, I guess. I have no excuses that can truly justify this.

So. A semi-functional explanation for all of this. The Light lands on a new prime material plane and due to a weird type of magic the inhabitants have going on, it gets sucked in the land and spread out throughout the plane. Neither the Hunger nor the IPRE can get their hands on it, which means they can't kick off a new cycle. They're just stuck. So eventually they parley with John and make a deal - they will work together to use the transmutation magic of this universe to suck the light back together again and then return to their typical pattern of vying for it and moving between planes. It's better than staying here forever. Cooperating means they can both keep an eye on each other, rather than worrying that one of them is going to make a move behind the other's back. But this plan is going to take a while to carry out, so John does... Something, to keep the humans alive for the long haul and to help them and himself blend in. Look, we were kind of working backward and had to come up with an explanation for why they're all filling the homunculis' positions, and that ended up being 'John uses evil opal ductape to stick ensouled artifacts on people' because again, it was the middle of the night, and we were hysterical.

Things work out for a while. But Lup has always been the super moral one, and she's not thrilled with how things are going. "Look, I love Luce with all my heart," she says, " but I think her problem is that she always thinks her morally dubious plans are to pop off a lot faster than they do. And the longer you wait, the more they get dubious. 'Yknow what I mean?" Taako and Barry are not sure they do, but naturally they follow along when she blows off Central to go start a bar, although they keep sort of in touch with Lucretia and Davenport, who have infiltrated this plane's government. Mrs. Bradley rolled a critical miss on her perception check. Magnus is uncomfortably caught in the middle. Merle has been digging a hole for the last 50 years. "You're a dwarf, right?" John asks. "You dig." "I was a BEACH dwarf," Merle protests. He has been hitting on tree roots to pass the time.

While they're hanging out in their bar, Barry hear about some cool new way to preserve souls without bodies, and Lup is like, "Sure babe I'll go borrow that kid for you and you can check him out". "Sounds GREAT" says Taako, who has gotten kind of bored even if he gets to wear a cute crop top and he has unlimited polymorph spell slots. It's not morally dubious if you're just borrowing him, right? So Barry's going over Al's armor with a magnifying glass and saying "Hey, I'm just curious about how this works, but if you want your real body back, if you can get me a DNA sample, I could probably grow you one a few months" when John finds out two of his sacrifices are being meddled with and sends Davenport to straighten them out. (He is Fuhrer President Captain Davenport now. 'That's a lot of titles,' observes someone. 'No,' Magnus says, completely convinced. 'Captain is his first name.' 'That can't be right, Magnus,' Lucretia says. 'Are you SURE,' Magnus says. Lucretia is silent. She isn't sure. It has been like 60 years. It's too embarrassing to ask now.) I'm not sure how things go down - maybe whenever John did to them has some unfortunate corrupting side effects - but Lup ends up dead, with her soul in her umbrella, which ends up back with John.

Shit happens. God knows I'm not sure what's going on here. Barry ends up getting his ass burned to hell in the lab (he probably just wanted to see what sort of weird science is happening) and here's where we go even more off the rails, because according to Gill (who knows a lot about this fandom having been in it for a decade or something) apparently Lust!Roy was/is a big thing? And the concept of him running around with haunted jeans duct-taped to his ass was Compelling. I must specify here that John did not force him into wearing the jeans on his legs, as one might expect. He duct-taped them to his ass. Possibly over the coat.

Fast forward. Magnus vores Taako and some civilians accidentally. Taako's pissed but also has to fight vague adoption urges when presented with a Small Magic Boy. He's uninterested in the other one until they get spat out and John's like, "We should probably get Lup back", leading to the aforementioned 'taping an umbrella to someone'. Lup's not wild about being a 15 year old dude. She's also not wild about not being able to flirt with her husband, considering he's currently a 30 year old ranking officer and that would be weird. Ling is not wild about the entity possessing him trying to wheedle him into letting her brother transmute his body into something she's more comfortable with. "We could change you BACK later" she says.

This leads us to the great switcheroo. It was probably inspired by some of Gill's Undying Middle School Ships but who am I to deny her some small satisfaction. Anyway, Lup gets wind of some sharp shooter lady upstairs and is like, "Hey, hey, can I have THAT one". Barry thinks this is a great idea. Roy does not think this is a great idea. First of all, he does not want to explain to his subordinates that he’s holding hands with his Lieutenant because they are possessed by married liches. Second, if Riza gets fire powers then he's entirely irrelevant. "I can do necromancy," Barry says helpfully. "Raising the dead is impossible and forbidden by god," he is told. "Not the way I do it," he says. (Besides, once the Hunger shows up, the celestial plane is blocked off. The Truth just has a sign saying god can't hear you in their living room.) This is. Tempting. Everyone shutting up about how tragic Maes Hughes’ death was is but one Raise Person spell away. But Ling's not giving up his free superpowers for *nothing* so they're like... look, we've got a dog here. Throw the dog at Magnus to distract him, then rip his sideburns off. (We decided the sideburns were his soul vessel because that was the worst possible option.) You'll do great. You'll be best friends. ("Do you have to put the sideburns on your FACE" I asked. This led to a period of silent contemplation.) Magnus!Ling feels a terrible compulsion to rip Ed and Lan Fan's automail arms off.

I feel like I missed something, but this is all I remember. Oh, Barry feels bad that they're leaving a trail of infertility in their wake so he gives various people little Necromancy-inspired Make Your Own Baby Kits and is like 'Add a little blood, put it in the oven for 5 minutes, let it rise, it'll be fine.' He's got the theory down for whenever he and Lup decide they can settle down and parent. The Curtises seem appreciative.

Also the nationwide transmutation circle sucks the Light back together and John goes Full Hunger until an angry fifteen year old punches a hole through him. Taako is So Proud.

Merle missed like everything.

#hey gill i wrote it up I'm Ashamed #holy crossover batman #the amestris cycle

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quest-draws · 6 years

Text

Excerpt from The Story of the Seven: Reconstructed, an archival initiative seeking to recreate Madame Lucretia’s original notes with as much accuracy as possible. The following has been compiled by comparing post-Story accounts from dozens of dedicated chroniclers, with oversight from Madame Lucretia and the available members of the Starblaster’s crew.

Excerpt begins

Cycle 36, day 6

We’ve finally found a sign of civilization, as well as plausible evidence that we are all blind idiots. As we flew over yet more icy foothills, Merle (Of all of us!) noticed that one of the mounds appeared to be smoking. Under more careful examination we realized that these ‘foothills’ were actually snowed-covered buildings, meaning it is quite likely the other foothills we’ve seen the past few days were also actually buildings.

We, the best and brightest of our deceased world, saviors of multiple realities, the last and only line of defense against the relentless malevolence of the Hunger, wasted nearly a week looking for signs of life when there were entire cities directly under our hull. At the risk of sounding pessimistic, I think this world may be fucked.

Now that we’ve realized our mistake, Captain wants us to backtrack and see if we can find a settlement closer to Lup and Barry’s original prediction of the Lights trajectory. However, Lup’s trying to convince him that we should do some reconnaissance in this village first.

LT: Look, there’s no point going backwards in this fuckin’ blizzard if we can just-

CD: -We are way, way off, the- they’re your calculations? Do you-

BB: [crosstalk] They’re our calculations, Lu

LT: [crosstalk] I know.

TT: [crosstalk] You calculated ‘em. calc-calculated the shit outta-

[LT puts up a hand to silence the others]

LT: Look I’m not dunking on my calculations, cause they’re tight as shit, ‘natch; outside looks like someone put a flock of doves through a woodchipper. You wanna fly through that?

CD: [crosstalk] I’m not-

MB: [crosstalk] Gross?

LT: [crosstalk] Been flying six days straight, you wanna keep, keep flyin’-

CD: I don’t wanna fly through the scenario you just made me visualize, no. This is just snow.

[MB raises his hand kind of awkwardly. Mags, c’mon, you’re not 12]

MB: Uuum, Cap’nport? No offense but you look kinda beat, are you sure?

CD: Wh- excuse me. Are you questioning my piloting abilities, Magnus?

MB: [crosstalk] ‘Course not, just-

CD: [crosstalk] I’ve flown us through, through literal eldritch death pillars -

MH: [crosstalk] ...do look a little tired -

MB: I know!

[captain gets out of the pilots seat, oh dear]

CD: What was that? Merle?

LT: It’s been nearly a week, Captain. You haven’t slept.

CD: Neither have you!

LT: Yeah, and I’m pissed about it!

BB: look everyone’s a little frazzled-

MH: I’m fine.

BB: [crosstalk] Merle, oh my-

LT: [crosstalk] Merle!

TT: [crosstalk] Hahaha holy fuck Merle! Not the time?

CD: You know what, okay, fine! Okay, we’ll vote. Let’s vote. Who thinks we should go down there?

[Lup, Mag LT, MB, and BB all put up their hands]

CD: All right, and who says we should turn back?

[CD, TT, and MH put up their hands]

CD: Lucretia.

TT: Lu- Baby-Lu, fuckin’ put dowait I forgot to put myhandupfuck

LC: I’m not answering to that, but I do thin k

[TT attepts to take my fuckin

Taako tried to take my journal, and while I understand his intentions it’s imperi

BABY LU NEEDS TO STOP WRITING OUR CONVERSATIONS IN REAL TIME AND PAY ATTENTION TO THE WORLD AROUND HER

BABY LU WILL GET HER JOURNAL BACK WHEN THE GROWN UPS DECIDE WHAT WERE DOING IN THIS FROZEN FUCKING HELLSCAPE

After my journal was so rudely stolen, we decided that it would be best to have some of the crew investigate the settlement while the others got some rest. Captain landed the Starblaster just out of sight (not far with the weather) and Lup, Magnus and I made our way into town on foot. We were ushered into the smoking building Merle first noticed almost as soon as we were in sight of it. It’s apparently some sort of tavern/town hall, with one long, open room punctuated by tables and some truly massive support beams.

Chiana, the innkeeper (or possibly Mayor? Chief? They are definitely some measure of authority figure) was quite unsettled by our sudden appearance. It’s apparently unusual for people to travel between communities at this time of year, especially in the middle of the night (which it apparently is. We seriously lost track of time with the storm blocking out the suns). They’ve insisted on putting us up until the storm settles some. We have of course accepted, but we decided that it might be best not to mention our true intentions here. They were spooked just by us appearing in a blizzard, we don’t need to bring up the rest of it. We notified Capn’port that we’ll be staying a few days to gather info, and since then Lup and Magnus have been having quite the time chatting with the assorted patrons/guests.

This really is quite a spectacular building. The ceiling is only about 7 ft. high (Lup and Mags can both touch the ceiling), but it’s so wide and long it doesn’t feel cramped. It’s hard to estimate how large it is exactly; the hall is a patchwork of additions, none of which quite match up. Here an extra nook were the hall was widened, there a slight indent were an old support must have collapsed. Wood flooring giving way to tile, tile being overtaken by carpet, and then carpet receding back to wood again. The support beams are the only consistent element, solid blocks of wood punctuating the room at even intervals.

But the room’s really dominated by the kitchens and the dance floor. The kitchens are spaced along the northern wall about 50 ft. from one another, one in each corner and the last right in the center. The latter is the only one operational at the moment, and Chiana’s not making anything more complicated than some mulled cider (which, for the sake of accurate chronicling, I must say is delicious). I thought at first the stove here was heating the hall, and while it’s fairly large on closer inspection that doesn’t seem plausibe. It’s far too warm, even in the farther corners. I suppose the surrounding snow might provide some insulation?

Besides that, there’s a raised dance platform in the center of the hall, in front of the middle kitchen. Lup’s dragged Magnus and a two middle aged women onto it, though there isn’t any music at this hour. She's currently waving at me to come join them. I’ve been nursing the drink Chianna gave me so I’d have an excuse to stay seated, but I think I’d better relent before Lup tries to physically drag me up there. They’re really acting silly tonight, but I suppose we all needed to blow off some steam.

Alright. Okay. I probably should have noticed this when I first started drinking, but the alcohol here seems to be quite a bit stronger then I’m used too? Or what Lup and Magnus are used too. I didn’t notice until I went out on the dance floor and I kind of tripped but at first I thought that was just me being clumsy or tired, but then when I started actually dancing it was worse like, I’m usually a good dancer. And Lup was acting especially silly and so was magnus, even though he should have a better constitution than us because he’s not a squishy wizard he’s a beefcake. Lup said that.

Fuck okay I am definitely a little tipsy here I should stop writing. But I was going to write somethig down it was important? we were dancing, and then I was stumbling and I said like Lup I feel kinda tipsy but I only had one drink and she said Aaaaaww ‘Creesha, you are suuuuuuuuuch a lightweight lol but then she fell over and Magnus laughed and one of the ladies we were dancing with asked how much she’d had and shed had three, which made them laugh because apparently threes a lot here. And then we all sat down for a bit and we were talking about travelling and it was kind bullshit because we are trying to blend but we mentioned THE LIGHT THAT

THAT WAS IT LIGHT LIGT light the light what was that aaaaah what was OH MY GOD I CAN’T REMEMBER THE REST FUCK I [[handwriting becomes illegible]]

okay okay I went back to talk again and I had a few more drinks because chiana gave me more drinks they are actually super sweet i mean chianna. Chianas super sweet. They actualysaw the light when it landed sorta they saw a flash through the storm but not in the direction we came. Lup’s been trying to redo her calculations on some napkins she thinks the blizzard had something to do with it but shes still really smashed I dont think now a good time for math Lup

Lucretia darling are you gonna nag me or are you gonna oh my god I dont know how to spell half those words Lup Im a fucking drunk journalist dont pull the fucking jargon out on me

Barry please tell me what Lups saying in words drunk journalist understands

A drunk? Lucretia? Whats going on?

Lup: Baaaaaarrry holy shit did you remember to to do the thing for the storm

BB: Lup? Lup you’re- Lucretia give your stone to Lup I can hardly understand her

LT: hiiiiiiiiiiiii barold, hiiiiiiiii, we fucked uuuuuup

BB: oh wow youre super smashed

LT we fucked up Barry! we didnt-interference! the storm created interference and we fucked up the direction and

BB Lup that doesn’t make anysense? our equipment relies mostly on magical energy unless the storm has arcane origins

LT: oh hey, MORRISON DOES THE STORM HAVE ARCANE ORIGINS?

Morison: MS: (shes one of the dancing ladies) I dunno where arcane is but the storms local. amma constein cursed the whole country side bout 20 years ago after liddy halloway dumped her

SEE BARRY

BB: okay yeah that would definitely throw off our readings but its not like we could have known that beforehand. I mean we know now, so I suppose its a good thing you guys went down there even if you also got fucking wasted, for some reason

?: whose fucking wasted (oh its taako

TT: heeeey chucklefucks whats this about you getting crunk on your uuuuh super important potentially, world saving info gathering mission?

MB taako taaaaaakoooooooo booze is super cool down here? I had a bunch

TT: eh yup I could guess

MB: but not like a super bunch? A little bunch. Its suuuuper strong its great

TT hahaha oh. oh you are so lucky cap’nports asleep. What about you, baby lu? tell me-tell me you, at least are treating this mission with the uh, gravity and maturity it fucking-fucking nesessitates fuck you taako im 58

TT whelp haha BB please just give m emy stone back

im 5 fucking 8!!! Im not a baby godamnit. Im a grown ass women ill get as crunk as I fuckin wanna on this sweet ass booze and you cant have any taako you bitch hahahahha oh my god lucy someone please tell me shes still writing this down I nee

taakos a jackass im a grown fucking ass women an he wasnt even really a hundred when he joined cause hes a LIAR and A JERK comparatively in terms of relativ ageing im more an adult then him but he still calls me baby lu he could call me lucy or creesh like Lup calls me that i love her she? so nice Lup brought me another drink and we danced more but not well cause everthings floaty and I lay down so my head wouldnt float to high the ceilings still really low Lup lay down with e and magnus came in he was screaming cause he went out in the snow he was trying to do the dip thing were you go in a hot spring right after but theres no spring only cold magnus. everythigs only cold magnus why do you do this to yourself?magnus. chiana is making him sit by the stove in the kitchen and they wont give us any more drinks i told them i was 58 and also an alien but that didnt convince them which is probably fair. they dont know. taako knows he has no excuse

chianna gave us a room and its really dark its in the basement it super warm I think there actually is a hot spring but like underneath sorry mags that probablywhat you were thinking but still. super dumb. god Im gonna be so bad in the morning. the storms clearing up a little so well probably go then I hope captains not mad Im not sure he knows but we proly found the light so he cant be too mad. I need sleep. I need to sleep. good night journal Ill miss you love Lucretia

Cycle 36, day 7

Firstly, I am never drinking again. Ever. Secondly, as soon as I get back to the ship, I am burning these pages. Posterity is not worth this level of embarrassment.

Cycle 36, day 8

Lup, Magnus and I had some trouble getting back. Though we weren’t nearly as intoxicated as the previous night, we weren’t precisely sober either. Between Magnus stopping to puke every five minutes, Lup’s persisting lack of balance, my truly excruciating headache, and all the motherfucking, goddamned snow, we nearly got lost on the mile-long hike back to the ship. The others had a field day teasing us, and I can’t even be mad at them for it. Looking over my own notes is literally, viscerally painful. To reiterate: I am never. Drinking. Again.

I am not going to destroy those pages, however. It’s the only written account I have of what Chiana and the others told us about the Light, and it would be irresponsible to get rid of them before we’ve properly found it. Besides, Lup and Taako both practically begged me to keep it in. I don’t understand why Lup want’s this reminder of our idiocy to remain in tact, but damn she is hard to argue with. She’s also tried to insist that “baby-Lu” is a compliment, but won’t explain how so. I take back all the nice things drunk me said about her.

Maybe later I’ll go back and just stick a summary were those pages are, but for the mean time they’ll have to stay.

I spent most of yesterday just resting, once we got back. I don’t think I honestly realized how tired I was until then. It’s only been 8 days since the last apocalypse, most of which we spent searching, frantic and blind in a literally cursed blizzard. Much as I hate to say it, I may need to take Taako’s advice and stop chronicling in real time. Just for a bit. I’ll pick it up again when we find the Light.

Time to go save another world.

End of excerpt.

[editors note: Can I just formally request that, should we ever see Fisher and Junior again, I be permitted to feed these pages to them, in hopes that they might be erased permanently this time? Please?

- LC ]

[editors note: Madame Lucretia’s request is noted and denied.

- TT ]

#lucretia #madame director #taz #taz balance #lup taako #Taako Taaco #davenport #magnus burnsides #barry blujeans #merle highchurch #ipre crew #adventure zone fic #The Adventure Zone #i wrote a fic for once!!#I have no idea if it's good!#but also if you read this i need you to please imagine #the staff of the bob having their elegant regal directors drunken rant #about taakos stupid nickname for her #injected directly into their brains

182 notes · View notes

mystery-moose · 6 years

Note

do u ever think about ravens roost not getting destroyed, and julia and magnus keeping on living in their town? how long do u think it would take for magnus to get his memories back like that? what if he never met merle and taako and it wasnt until the day of story and song?

I don’t know what prompted this but THANKS ANYWAY

/////

“Magnus?”

He was sitting in the mud room, strapping on his boots. The good ones, not the ones he usually wore to town. Rich, thick leather that the salesdwarf had insisted was drakeskin but was probably closer to salamander. Julia had gotten them for his birthday.

“I’ll be back,” he said, not looking up from the buckles. “Soon. I promise.”

“Let me come with.”

He grimaced. Of course she knew where he was going. It had beamed straight into her head, too, hadn’t it? “Jules–”

“You don’t have to go alone.”

“I know, I know that,” he said, standing and grabbing his duster from the the coathook. Stiff and heavy, it was one of the first things he’d purchased when he got to Raven’s Roost. It frayed at the sleeves, the elbows had nearly worn through, and its rust color had long-since faded into a creamy tan. He hadn’t thought anything of the color before today. “But this is – it’s personal.”

“It’s personal for me, too,” she argued, folding her arms. “Or am I not involved?”

Magnus shrugged on his coat and turned to face her. She glared at him like she did whenever he was being particularly stubborn – or when she was about to do something particularly reckless.

He wanted to throw his arms around her, lift her up and kiss her the same way he had for years. But he’d been afraid to, since yesterday. He wasn’t sure what he looked like to her anymore. He wasn’t sure what he looked like to anyone.

Those monsters – the Hunger – had nearly brought down the entire Craftsman’s Corridor. He’d helped fight them off, save lives, and when the Song came, he’d been too caught up in the fight to stop and gather himself.

Once it was over… he’d seen how people were looking at him. His friends. His neighbors. Stephen. Like they didn’t know him at all. Confusion and awe and fear and sadness and even some anger. He’d made one of the relics, after all. How, exactly, was still a bit of a mystery to him; sifting through the massive information dump in his head was still a trial.

He’d slept on the couch last night. Julia hadn’t asked him to, but he had anyway. It didn’t feel right. Nothing felt right. He hoped this would help sort things out in his head.

“Please,” he begged, standing there helplessly. “Please, just – let me do this. I can’t – I don’t know if I could do it, with you there.”

“Do what?”

Magnus opened his mouth, closed it, and shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. I just know that it’ll only be harder with you there.”

Julia frowned and opened her mouth to argue, but whatever she was about to say caught in her throat. Her hand went up and touched the wooden charm hanging from her necklace; it was a duck.

“I’ll be here when you get back,” she mumbled. “Alright? That’s a promise.”

Before Magnus could answer, she turned and walked away. He felt sick, watching her go. But he knew she always kept her promises.

Magnus picked up the old battleaxe he kept by the front door, unused for years before yesterday, and hooked it into his belt. He turned up the collar of his coat and left the Hammer and Tongs behind him.

There were agents from the so-called “Bureau of Balance” down in Raven’s Roost now, helping to shore up the weakened pillars before they collapsed. They had come down in those glass spheres, in the hours after the attack had ended. Magnus figured he could convince them to let him hitch a ride.

/////

As nervous and uncomfortable as he was, as the sphere drifted slowly up and away from Raven’s Roost, Magnus couldn’t help but gawk out the windows. He wasn’t a wizard, and had little experience with magic, so the whole “flying” thing still held some measure of awe for him.

(No, not true, he was surrounded by wizards on a literal spaceship for a hundred years. This was nothing. This was less than nothing. Wasn’t it?)

“Drink?”

One of the Bureau people held out a flask. Magnus considered the offer for a moment before he decided, fuck it, why not. Maybe it’d calm his nerves some. “Thanks, uh–?”

“Avi,” the man said with a nod.

“From Brandybuck,” Magnus said without thinking.

Avi grinned. He seemed like the type who smiled easily. (Was that part of the Story, too?) “Yeah.”

Magnus took a swig from the flask – it was sweeter than he expected, and didn’t have much burn. Not quite mead, but close enough for jazz. “Magnus,” he said, handing it back.

“From space.”

He should have smiled at that. Instead, Magnus winced. “Yeah.”

Avi winced back, sympathetically. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s–” Magnus sighed. “I guess it’s something I’m gonna have to get used to, now.”

“Your family make it out okay?”

“Yeah.”

Avi blew out a breath, relieved. “That’s good.”

“How’s the, uh. The whole moon-based secret organization doing?”

“Busy,” said Avi. “Lotta cleanup. Lotta work left to do.”

“Still working?”

“Yep.” Avi took a swig from his flask and screwed the cap back on. “Of course, some folks don’t exactly have anywhere else to go, y’know?”

Magnus settled back in his seat. He looked down and watched Raven’s Roost rapidly shrink away beneath them.

“Not really,” he mumbled.

/////

Even in the wrecked and ruined state it was in, the Bureau was a marvel of arcane art and magitechnology. From the cannons that fired their glass capsules, to the alchemical lights that lined every wall and corridor, to the sliding doors to every room. Magnus marveled at the grass (pockmarked with smoking craters) and the trees (several of which were burned or broken or uprooted) and the smooth white dome-shaped buildings that lined the quad (half of them with massive structural damage). Any other day, he would have spent hours exploring the place.

Today, he just felt sick.

Avi led him, without being asked, to one particular dome with its ceiling blown out. It had an atrium with a dais and a throne, a door in the back, and a glass window on the right that showed a blank white chamber with an empty metal sphere inside. The floor and walls were scorched almost pitch black, only a handful of spots left unburned.

“She’ll be here in a second,” Avi said, and left Magnus there to wait.

Magnus spent a minute pacing around the room, toeing at the rubble and kicking at debris. He was a little surprised no one had cleaned up the place yet. But he guessed that there were more important things to do.

There was a broken wand in the corner, by a charred and mangled set of furniture that might have been a table and chairs, once. It sat in a clear patch of ground, and had survived whatever fire had flooded the place. He wondered how that happened.

(Lup loved fire. She sculpted it like fine art. It danced around her friends and engulfed her foes, without fail. Never even singed a hair on his head – unless she wanted it to.)

“Oh my god.”

Magnus turned around, and his whole world went sideways.

She was so much older, now. Older than he’d expected. Older than she should be. Her hair was still white, but shorter, cut close. Her robe was the wrong color, and her eyes, still big and expressive, were edged with wrinkles that spoke more of worry than laughter.

(She should be his age, even younger, with longer hair. Not too long, she always hated a high maintenance look, but longer. And blue wasn’t her color, he can’t remember ever seeing her in blue; reds, of course, greens or purples or yellows, but never blue.)

“Lucretia,” he said, and it sounded so strange in his voice. Like he was out of practice.

She rushed forward and threw her arms around him. And Magnus, who had never once turned down a hug in his life, simply stood there and took it.

And that’s when he realized he was angry.

“I didn’t know if you were alive,” she said into his shoulder. “I hoped, but I didn’t–”

She froze. His lack of reciprocation had not gone unnoticed. She pulled away and took a step back, concern and uncertainty all over her face.

“What’s wrong?”

Magnus almost couldn’t believe she had the nerve to ask.

“How could you?” he growled.

“Magnus, I–”

“You threw me away. You threw all of us away.”

“I didn’t, I–”

“How could you?” he repeated more forcefully.

Lucretia stared at him, examined his face. And now she didn’t recognize him anymore, either.

“You were miserable,” she said quietly. “Dying. You were all dying, watching this world crumble around you and I just wanted to–”

“You took me from my family!” Magnus shouted, smacking his hand against his chest. “You took me from everything that mattered to me!”

Lucretia’s mouth opened and closed, searching for something to say. “…I just wanted you to be happy.”

“And I was!” Magnus shouted at her. “I was happy! I was so fucking happy there were times I couldn’t even think straight! And now it’s gone!”

Her eyes widened, and the color nearly drained from her face. “Gone?”

“Gone,” he said, and jabbed his finger at his head. “Because now I know I spent ten years in my own little world while the people I loved suffered. Ten years! I could have helped you research the Light, or Taako and Barry find Lup, or – or – something!”

“Magnus–”

“Do you have any idea what that’s like?” he said, pacing away from her towards the windowed chamber. “To just suddenly know that there are people out there that you love, who needed you, and you did nothing? For everyone else, who thought they knew you, to look at you and suddenly see a complete stranger?”

“That’s–” Behind him, he heard Lucretia stifle a sob. “It’s not your fault, Magnus.”

His hands became fists, nails biting into his palms.

“You’re right,” he said. “It’s not.”

Silence. Magnus saw Lucretia’s reflection in glass. Hand over her mouth and one arm wrapped around her waist, like she was holding herself together. He closed his eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath.

(They were friends, dear friends, and they relied on each other a lot in those early years. He was take-charge while she was overly cautious, and she was calm and rational while he was anything but. But for all his bravado, and all her composure, they were still just a couple of kids in over their heads. They understood each other when it seemed like no one else did.)

“There’s a room in the dormitories for you,” Lucretia said, her voice distant. “Avi can show you there. If you want.”

Magnus felt his stomach churn again. He crossed his arms and scowled at nothing. “I’ve got someone waiting.”

“Oh,” she said, sounding somewhere between surprised and relieved and despondent all at once. “That’s good.”

Another silence. Magnus hated this. Magnus hated himself, for coming here, for saying what he said, for failing to remember even though he knew it was impossible. Magnus hated her, too, but with every passing second, that hate was waning. He wasn’t sure he wanted it to.

“There’s work to do,” Lucretia said slowly. “If there’s anything else you need, then… you know where to find me.”

Magnus said nothing. He opened his eyes and watched Lucretia’s reflection turn away, towards the door in the back. She stopped, looked over her shoulder – not at him, but at some spot on the ground a few meters to his left.

“I’m so happy you’re alive, Magnus.”

And then she left.

/////

Magnus walked the Bureau aimlessly. Tight, winding corridors led to large, open-air rooms. A large cafeteria was wrecked and empty, the wall-spanning picture window out to the quad shattered. Dozens, maybe hundreds of people went about their business around him. Some of them stared at him as he passed, whispered to their companions. A few even followed him for a bit, though they didn’t try and talk to him. But most were too consumed with their own business to pay him much mind. The world was a shambles, and there was work to do.

He had done what he came here to do, he thought, but he wasn’t ready to leave. He realized he should probably ask for directions, but he didn’t; he was in a terrible mood, and he always shut up and refused to talk when he was in a bad mood. Jules gave him hell for it, because clamming up and stewing in your own misery never helped anyone, but it was a hard habit to break.

(He’d done it for years before anyone noticed. Taako, of all people, had been the one to get him to quit it; every time he’d go quiet, Taako would needle him relentlessly, building up pressure until he either exploded and felt worse or gave in and confessed what was bothering him. Taako took either outcome in stride, of course, and was a better listener than Magnus expected – his disaffected air and general lack of tact let him cut right through the bullshit.)

What kind of person was Magnus Burnsides now? What habits did he have, and which had he already broken?

“Magnus?”

Magnus blinked and realized he was on the quad, over by a still-intact railing at the edge. Beneath them, the Sword Coast stretched out from horizon to horizon. You could almost see the curvature of the planet from up here. He looked over his shoulder.

“Holy shit.”

He looked like hell. His beard was tangled, the hair he still had on his head pulled back into a messy bun. His hands were dirty, covered in something dark that Magnus hoped wasn’t blood but knew probably was; healers were likely in high demand at the moment. Clutched between two of his fingers was a lit cigarette trailing a thin stream of smoke (he would smoke cloves or tobacco, but preferred whatever equivalent of weed he could find on whatever plane they landed on) and the old sandals on his feet were coming apart.

And he was missing an arm and an eye.

(They were about forty years in or so. Some creature, a shapeshifter or doppelganger, had tried to impersonate Merle, get its way onto the ship. Magnus had seen through it immediately – Merle’s eyes were unmistakable. They blinked happily and twinkled with mischief and lit up when he was about to tell a particularly awful joke. There was a light in there that couldn’t be replicated by anything without his spirit.)

Magnus was shocked. Scared. He was trying to find words when Merle bounded up and yanked him down into a hug.

“My god, kid,” Merle said, sounding like he was about to cry. “It’s good to see you.”

“Merle–” His voice caught in his throat. “I didn’t know, I’m sorry–”

“Sorry?”

Merle pulled away, brow furrowed. And Magnus realized he hadn’t just lost an eye – the other was dimmer, duller than before. The color faded, just enough to notice. His nausea returned in force.

“I didn’t remember,” he said. “I couldn’t help you, and I wasn’t here, and I would have been if I’d known, I swear–”

“Hey, hey, heyyyy,” Merle said soothingly, squeezing his shoulders. “Calm down. Shit. What’s got your goat, big guy?”

“I just–” He looked down at Merle’s wooden arm. A small branch with a leaf on it quivered in the breeze. “If I’d been here, maybe–”

“What, this?” Merle regarded his wooden hand, the fingers flexing, creaking gently. “You can’t blame yourself for this one, Magnus. This here was a classic Merle fuck-up.”

“But–”

“I said quit it, kid,” Merle said with a shove of his shoulder. He grinned and shrugged. “I’m alive, ain’t I? Can’t ask for much more than that.”

You really can, Magnus thought, but didn’t say. “What happened?”

“Oh, long story,” Merle drawled. “Long and dumb and a little embarrassing. C’mon, I’ll fix us some drinks and fill ya in. You still prefer whiskey?”

“Yeah,” Magnus said, surprised even though he shouldn’t be.

“Well, too bad, because all I’ve got is bourbon!” Merle said with a laugh, clapping him on the shoulder. “But we could raid Taako’s stash, if you picked up a taste for wine.”

“Taako’s here?”

“Think so,” Merle said, leading the way across the quad. “He might be out right now, helpin’ Barry and Lup deal with some, uh, negotiations that gotta take place.”

Magnus reeled. “Is everyone – what about Davenport?”

“Oh, he’s definitely down on the surface. Talkin’ with that Neverwinter big-shot, Sterling, about where we should be helping next.” Merle shook his head and sighed. “Cap’n hasn’t given himself a moment to rest since the shit hit the fan.”

Merle led him into a dome, and crossed a corridor to an elevator. The music that played as they descended reminded Magnus distinctly of the Song, and he realized he knew the source.

“Johann’s dead, isn’t he?”

The smiled disappeared from Merle’s face. He nodded solemnly. “Yeah.”

“And Fisher?”

Merle reached over and squeezed Magnus’ forearm. “Fisher made it out just fine, kid. Them and their kid ghosted after they sent out that broadcast. Not sure where to, but Barry said they were alive and well.”

A small weight lifted itself from Magnus’ heart, only to be replaced by another pang of regret. He wondered if Fisher had missed him.

The elevator doors opened and Merle stepped out. Down a short hallway was a single door. Merle fished around his pockets for a key, then gave up and kicked it in.

“Lock’s been half-busted since the attack anyway,” he explained, leading Magnus into a large suite. He kicked off his sandals by the door and headed further in.

There was a carpet half-covering a glass porthole in the floor that looked down on the Sword Coast below. The window was cracked, but intact. It was in a small pit in the center of the room, surrounded by a pair of curved sofas and with a glass coffee table sitting atop it. In the back, a dining table with seats for eight next to a short hallway leading to what must be the bedrooms, and to the right, an open-air kitchen that Merle was walking towards.

“Think Barry’s got beer in the fridge,” he said. “That alright?”

“Fine,” Magnus said, hanging by the door. He always felt a little awkward in someone else’s home.

Merle noticed. “Sit down, Magnus,” he called out from beyond the counter. “Get comfy. This story’s gonna take a while.”

Magnus walked over and plopped down onto the couch. Before Merle could return, one of the hallway doors opened.

He walked in in a set of bedraggled pajamas – a white, long-sleeved dress shirt that was a bit too big on him, and a pair of neon-yellow shorts. He had no jewelry, which threw Magnus a bit, and his hair was tied back too messy to be anything but an afterthought. And there was something about his face… something off, something changed, impossible to place but undeniably different.

(Magnus’ first impression had been vain and arrogant and self-absorbed, and to be sure, all those things were true. But there was a surprising charm to that prickly facade that didn’t take long to reveal itself. He was confident, yes, but that confidence was earned. Vain, sure, but not for anyone but himself. And while he was slow to trust, Magnus learned that once someone wormed their way into his heart, there was no one more loyal – or more viciously, violently protective – than Taako.)

Magnus got up from the sofa as Taako stood frozen in the hallway, eyes wide. Magnus forced a smile and waved awkwardly.

“Hi.”

Taako didn’t react. He started walking towards him, around the sofa, gaining speed until he reached Magnus and threw his arms around him. Distantly, Magnus was aware that this sort of open display of affection was uncommon for Taako, and that made it worth far, far more.

“Hey, buddy,” Magnus said quietly, arms wrapped around him.

“Hey, dullard.”

Magnus laughed a little. Taako pulled away and put his hands on Magnus’ face, turning his head this way and that.

“God, you got old. And what’s this?” Taako said, indicating the scar over his eye. “You go off and do something stupid without us?”

Another pang in Magnus’ gut. He ignored it. “You should see the other guy.”

“’Bout time you woke up,” Merle said, returning from the kitchen with a pair of bottles in his hands. “Gonna play a little catch-up. You wanna join in?”

Taako leaned past Magnus. “Not if you’re drinking that shit. Get the wine. It’s in the cabinet.”

“You get it! I just got these!”

“And I’m overcome with emotion after this touching reunion!” Taako said, pressing a hand to his chest. “You’d really tear me away from this beautiful moment?”

Merle rolled his eyes and sighed heavily, setting down the beers and wandering back to the kitchen. Taako smirked, smug and victorious. Magnus laughed again, a little amazed at how easy it came.

“It’s really good to see you again, Taako,” he said. “Like, really.”

Taako’s smirk softened around the edges. “Likewise, my dude.”

He held up a fist. Instantly, Magnus knocked it with his own, sending them into a short routine they’d perfected somewhere around their thirty-ninth year. It wasn’t as smooth as it used to be, but Magnus figured they were both out of practice.

“Alright, numbnuts, here’s your wine,” Merle said, setting the bottle and a wine flute down on the table. “Pour it your own damn self.”

Taako grinned and snatched them up, then plopped down onto the sofa, taking up the maximum amount of space possible. Magnus had to sidle over to sit back down, and Merle hopped up next to him and handed him a beer.

“Lup and Barry still out?” Merle asked.

Taako uncorked the wine with a pop. “Yeah, the boytoy’s still workin’ things out with his boss.”

“You found Lup?” Magnus asked.

“More like she found me,” Taako said cryptically, pouring himself an altogether too-full glass. “But oh no, I ain’t startin’ this train. That’s on you.”

“Me?”

“Shyeah, my dude. Where you been? What’s your life been like?” Taako crossed his legs and lounged back against the cushions. “Guarantee it hasn’t been worse than mine.”

“Hey, I lost an arm!” Merle protested. “And an eye!”

“Still think I’m in the lead.”

“Yeah, you would.”

Taako flipped Merle the bird as he took a swig of wine. Magnus laughed, again, even though it wasn’t that funny. Even though he should be sick with shame, with regret, with worry, with anger, with all sorts of things.

But he had found his friends. His family. After all this time. And despite absolutely everything, if he closed his eyes, it was almost like nothing had changed at all.

/////

He told them everything. About Raven’s Roost, and Stephen, and Julia. About Kalen, about the rebellion, about how he’d almost lost everything. About his life there, simple and happy and unassuming, now a bit upset by everyone knowing he was a heroic space alien. And they, in turn, told him – about the relics, about the lie of the Bureau of Balance, about the cave with the vault and the boy on the train and crystal kingdom and the time-sick town. About Wonderland – and he nearly was sick when they told him about their sacrifices – and about their final fight, and their final victory.

The sun had set by the time they finished. Magnus knew he couldn’t stay. He told them to come and visit, soon – preferably with Lup and Barry in tow, and this boy detective that Taako seemed surprisingly attached to – and they promised they would. Magnus left the suite pleasantly drunk, almost giddy with happiness, the exact opposite of how he’d felt that morning.

He knew who Magnus Burnsides was, now. Or he was starting to. It turned out he wasn’t that different.

And on his way out, he realized he had to make up for something.

/////

Magnus opened the door to the Hammer and Tongs. “I’m back,” he called, shrugging out of his coat.

Julia was there in seconds, charging down the stairs. “What happened? How’d it go? How’d–”

She went quiet when Magnus stepped aside to hang his coat on the hook. He followed her gaze past him to Lucretia, standing awkwardly in the doorway, hands clasped by her waist.

“I, uh, probably should have called ahead,” Magnus admitted with a nervous smile. “Is a guest for dinner okay?”

#the adventure zone #fic #asks #should have been writing nano #wrote this nonsensical and incoherent thing instead #it was supposed to be short #ha ha haaaaaa #Anonymous

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raineydaywrites · 3 years

Text

struck by the cupid’s bow

ao3 link in the source!

summary: Febuwhump day 4: Impaling

The excursion to get the Light should have been easy. It should have been just a nice day out with Lup's two favorite humans.

It wasn't.

It wasn't supposed to be a difficult excursion. The Light had landed at the top of a mountain, in an isolated region that was hard to reach by foot but easy in a ship like the Starblaster.

As far as they could tell, the isolation of the landing point meant that no one had gotten a hold of the Light, and very few were willing to try. The Light tended to draw people in, but that effect lessened the further away from it one was, and the danger of the climb combined with the distance meant that most people were able to resist the desire to acquire it.

So it should have been relatively easy. They weren't going to be stupid about their approach, of course, but they didn't have as much to worry about as usual, and they all had a lot of survival experience by now. This wasn't anything that they couldn't handle.

It was decided that Lup, Barry, and Lucretia would go after the object, while Taako, Magnus, and Davenport stayed on the ship. Merle had already been killed, and therefore couldn't help either way. An even split like that would ensure that both the excursion team and the ship were safe, and both parties were balanced, with each having one of the two heaviest hitters on the ship.

That kind of thinking was habit by this point, even if they weren't expecting major danger. It was just better to be safe.

Lup was excited about the mission, and who she was going on it with. She loved everyone on the crew, but they all had different personalities and senses of humor, and, while she certainly enjoyed a good party or low-brow joke herself, she liked to spend time with the two nerdiest members of the crew as well. Barry and Lucretia both had a tendency to be quieter and more serious, even if they definitely had their moments to the contrary, and while they weren't exactly overwhelmed by the louder voices of Magnus, Merle, Taako, and Lup herself, they didn't often fight to be heard either.

And Lup could admit to some nerdy tendencies in herself, (unlike Taako, who definitely had nerdy tendencies but refused to acknowledge them) and she enjoyed having time to discuss more academic and theoretical topics in depth from time to time.

Besides which, she always liked going places with Barry, even if this particular occasion wouldn't allow any alone time. It was nice to spend time with her boyfriend without the incessant teasing they had to endure at the hands of the rest of the crew. Lucretia might tease a little, but she was far less prone to teasing them about this than the rest of them were.

The Starblaster couldn't land right by the Light of Creation, given the rocky landscape, but it could get them fairly close, and it was a long but relatively easy hike from there. Lup had brought food in a picnic basket for when they got hungry, and there was a light breeze breaking the heat of the day. And when they were done, they'd be able to stop worrying about the Light for this cycle and just enjoy themselves and work on things they were interested in.

It had all the makings of a great day.

As they walked, they'd discussed the most interesting things that they'd noticed about this plane. When she and Barry started to discuss more sciency topics, Lucretia listened intently, scribbling in her journal every once in a while. Over the years, she'd developed her understanding of the scientific discussions that she, Barry, and Taako tended to delve into, but a lot of the time, she still preferred to listen in rather than contribute.

Lup wanted to encourage her to participate more in these conversations, but she could understand that Lucretia might just plain not be interested in the discussions. She hadn't studied science in school, and only minored in magical theory, so it was totally possible that she just didn't have fun talking about this stuff, and Lup didn't want to pressure her to do something she didn't like.

But every once in a while, Lucretia would chime in with a joke or suggestion, so Lup didn't feel like they were making her third-wheel too badly, and it was fun.

They got the Light without issue, but they took longer walking there than they'd expected, and they were only about halfway back when it started to get too dark for human eyes to see clearly.

Lup took the lead, as both the person with the most offensive magic of the three of them and the only one who wasn't hindered by the darkness around them. Lucretia and Barry had flashlights to carry, but those weren't nearly as helpful to them as Lup's darkvision was to her.

Their conversation died down a bit as they were making their way back. There wasn't much to be afraid of, really, but the dark was always a bit unnerving to most people, and almost everyone on the crew had at least a small degree of fear of the dark, after everything they'd experienced.

Poor Barry was one of the worse off though, and he kept jumping every couple minutes as he heard something or other rustling around.

"Here," Lucretia said, softly, to Barry, and Lup turned back curiously at the words.

Lucretia had grabbed Barry's hand to help keep him steady and moving forward, and the touch seemed to be helping to calm him a bit as well. Lup felt a quick wave of affection for both of her sweet humans, before turning back to keep a look out.

Even though there didn't seem to be any people coming after the Light, wild animals could still be a threat. And it was all the more important to be prepared, now that they had the Light in their possession.

It had an unfortunate habit of drawing people in, after all. And even monsters and animals could be affected by it at times, even if they were less prone to it, with their lower levels of intelligence. It was still a big, glowing ball of thrall to them, even if they didn't have the smarts to understand the potential it held.

It happened when they were taking a quick break to rest and get some water. They couldn't keep walking forever, after all, but still, Lup would be cursing the decision to stop there for weeks to come.

They were swarmed, suddenly, by some creatures that Lup had no name for, but they were clearly dangerous, with their giant claws and teeth. And they were bearing down on their group with a quickness.

Lup immediately moved to create a line of fire between them and the creatures, which would at the very least slow them down.

"Come on!" She shouted, and grabbed Lucretia's hand to pull her along, while Lucretia grabbed for Barry's hand.

Running through the dark with humans who couldn't see in the dark was not how Lup had wanted this day to end, but hopefully their linked hands would keep the other two a bit safer. She kept hearing hisses and exclamations of pain from Lucretia and Barry as they landed a bit off, but they hadn't fallen down yet, so they must be okay.

And then Barry made a sound that was much, much worse than the earlier ones.

Lup turned as soon as she heard the choked gasp from her boyfriend, only to see that he had been impaled through the chest on the claws of one of those creatures.

Lup and Lucretia immediately began firing off offensive spells, and the creature was downed before long, but that didn't fix Barry.

Lup dropped down to her knees to grab him, trying not to look at the wound too much. She'd seen enough to know it was fatal anyway, so she'd rather not have it burned into her memory any more than it already was.

Lucretia stood behind them, watching for any more of those things, but so far none had appeared. She kept her hands ready to fire off a shield spell, just in case.

"Sorry," Barry managed to say.

"You weren't aiming for this to happen, were you?" she said, with a teary laugh.

"No. Would rather not be doing this, actually," Barry chuckled. "Don't recommend. Still sorry though."

"Just two months left," Lup said. "It'll be fine. I'll be okay, don't worry."

She wasn't sure which of them she was trying to convince.

"Lup! I see more of them!" Lucretia warned, starting to cast.

"You gotta go, Lup. Get the Light back to the ship. I'm not gonna last much longer; don't risk it for me," Barry said.

"I'm not just gonna leave you, stupid!" Lup said back.

"I'm sorry, babe. But you have to. I'll be okay, you know that. I don't want to get you or Lucy or this whole plane killed over me," Barry insisted, tone taking on a pleading note.

"I can't," Lup said, tears starting to slip down her cheeks.

It was the first time in a long time that she'd had such a hard time leaving when somebody was dying. It had been hard, at first, to accept that they would come back and that it was best to get yourself to safety, but they'd all come to relative terms with it.

But this was Barry. And it was the first time he'd died since they'd gotten together. And the thought of spending the next two months without him just killed her. What kind of person just left their boyfriend to die?

"Luce..." Barry turned his head. "Take care of her, please?"

"Of course," Lucretia agreed, her own voice a bit choked up as well, but still keeping her eyes on the approaching creatures. "We'll miss you. See you next cycle."

"See ya both soon," Barry assured them, and then he reached down and yanked the claw out of his chest, bleeding much faster now.

"No!" Lup screamed, but he was gone before she finished the word.

Lucretia moved then, grabbing Lup's hand and tugging her back toward the ship urgently.

Lup let herself be dragged along, but she didn't turn, staring back at Barry's body and crying.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Lucretia was murmuring as they ran, and Lup barely registered it.

They kept running, and eventually Lup stopped crying, but she still felt numb.

The creatures must have stopped chasing at some point, because they weren't behind them anymore. Maybe they'd only wanted a meal.

The thought of those things eating Barry made Lup feel sick, but she was too numb for the thought to sink in far enough for that.

Eventually, they slowed, and Lucretia wrapped an arm around Lup's shoulders in the closest thing to a hug they could safely allow themselves while they were still out in the dark with unknown, dangerous creatures everywhere.

Lup realized that Lucretia was still softly murmuring comfort to her, and she buried her head in Lucretia's shoulders and let herself be guided and comforted.

Lup barely registered it as they arrived at the Starblaster, but at least it was warm and bright in here.

Lucretia shouted for Taako, who arrived grumpily, but rushed to Lup immediately when he'd had a moment to take in the scene.

Lucretia extricated herself from Lup's grip, and Lup whined at that, until Lucretia pushed her forward into Taako instead.

"I'll take the Light to the lab," Lucretia said, softly, and Lup felt Taako nod in agreement.

Taako started to lead Lup to his room, probably understanding that she wouldn't be able to bear the sight of her room, that was now basically her-and-Barry's room most of the time. Lup appreciated it, because it was hard enough to just keep moving with the images running through her head on repeat.

She fell asleep that night curled around her brother, and it helped, but she knew that nothing would fix the whole in her chest until Barry came back. Maybe not even then.

#taz balance #blupjeans #blupcretia #lup adventurezone #lucretia adventurezone #barry bluejeans #taz lucretia #lup taaco #febuwhump #febuwhumpday4

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