TAZ NC Day 6: Silly
@taznovembercelebration
Barry had no idea what was happening and, at this point, he was too afraid to ask. Not that there was anyone he could ask, 'cept for the Coin. And the Coin didn't really, y'know, talk to him. It was more of a talk at him situation. When people used to say that Barry talked to himself a lot, he was like, ninety-seven percent positive that this was not what they had meant, but here he was anyway.
Here's the thing: Barry only trusted his coin— himself, apparently, but a different type of himself— to a certain extent. The Coin was rather convincing. Barry didn't know anyone else but himself who would get distracted from giving instructions for an important, life-changing mission just to rant about the shittiness of horseback riding. Or anyone else who would begrudgingly give him a guide to get to the nearest stable to rent himself a horse. Generally speaking, the Coin was very good at embodying the fact that he was actually Barry given the nature of his hatred for horseback riding.
It's not that Barry disliked horses. It was very much that horses disliked him.
Maybe he had too much city kid left in him. It had been a very, very long time since he lived in a city (longer than he knew, according to the Coin), but maybe the horses could sense it in him? Maybe the horses had secret horse powers that made it easy to know how deep into the city Barry had been. Maybe they just disliked how he walked, or talked, or existed, because horses were very fragile and emotionally unstable creatures.
But if he was going to get to where the Coin needed him to go in a timely manner, horseback was the best way forward. So Barry brought along his gold, he brought along his bags, and he tried is very best to pretend he was a normal, neutral-about-horses man.
It did not last very long.
The ranch was beautiful. There were rolling fields of grass, closed in with a classic picket fence. Several horses were roaming the field and in far right corner, there was a group of children being taught how to ride. Barry's mom put him in a class like that once, because one of his school teachers said he needed to spend more time outdoors. If anything, the event had made Barry like indoors a sizable amount more than he had before. Still, he knew what he had to do to ride a horse, and that's what he told the elvish man who ran the ranch.
"How far away is your destination, exactly?" the elvish man, Darren, said as they walked toward the stable. Barry was trying to convince himself that walking would suck a lot more than riding.
"A three-day ride," Barry said. "Near a town called Destiny."
It was awful. Barry felt like he was the star of a shitty horse-riding film, where the main themes were trust and love and horses. Though apparently, Destiny had only really been on the map for about three years. The person Barry was looking for could have arrived before the town had even existed. None of this was making him feel any better about the horse situation, though.
"You'll be camping for the nights?" Darren asked. He swung open the stable doors as Barry nodded. "It's best you take Fate, I think."
Man, some God was really having a laugh at his expense.
The stable was warm and cozy on the inside. Only a few horses were inside. Darren steered Barry toward the closet once, a black mare speckled with white. She slowly lifted her head to greet them, but stopped upon seeing Barry. Barry didn't know if a horse could narrow its eyes, but that was the vibe he was getting from Fate.
"She's a pretty calm girl most of the time," Darren said, stepping forward to stroke her muzzle. "She can go decently fast, but she's more of a trottin' gal in your heart. She'll suit you just fine for a three day ride there and back. Come 'ere."
He gestured Barry forward. Barry stepped forward hesitantly, unsure, but held out a hand for Fate to inspect. If it worked for cats, it'd work for horses, right? Darren moved aside, saying words that didn't really make sense to Barry anymore. He was too busy trying to understand the budding hatred in Fate's eyes. This was a bad idea. He should walk. He can walk. If he needs new legs, he'll just die, right?
"I know you said it's been a while, so I'll help you saddle up," Darren said. He heaved a saddle off the wall, securing it on Fate's back. Fate looked at Barry as if to say, try your best, you awful, awful man. Barry gulped.
"Ready?" Darren asked, holding out his hand to help Barry up.
Barry would rather die again.
"Sooo ready," he said. Fate huffed, as if she could sense his fake enthusiasm. Honestly, Barry was more surprised that Darren couldn't. "Let's, uh— let's get this over with."
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"What kind of question is that???"
16. "What kind of question is that???"
((ficlet prompts here - still accepting!!))
--
Magnus was- nervous. Which, in and of itself, was pretty unusual. He couldn't be Magnus "rushes in" Burnsides if he was nervous all the time. That was more of Barry's job. Maybe Davenport, if Magnus was being real honest about it. But nevertheless, here he was; nervous, kind of sweaty, and overthinking.
It was a silly thing to be nervous about. Well, maybe it wasn't, but Magnus sure did feel silly thinking about it. Like, he felt like he should know all of this by now. They had been on this mission, what? Seven years now? He should have been at the top of his game. On high alert, super smart, super tuned in, and all that. And it wasn't his fault if he zoned out during meetings, because he really did try to focus, they just didn't… make sense. At all. Like, Lup or Barry, or Davenport would say all these fancy high-tech words and Magnus would nod along like he got it, but, uh. He did not, in fact, get it. At all.
But asking Davenport felt embarrassing. And asking Barry maybe felt even more embarrassing, considering Barry always wrapped up his part with "any questions?" and Magnus literally never said anything. Lucretia would be his next best bet, but she was currently recovering from an Infernal Spectre-related injury (turns out ghosts can hit hard) and Magnus didn't want to bother her. Merle, he was pretty sure, understood about as much as it as Magnus did but was much better at hiding it or playing along or whatever.
Both Taako and Lup would probably make fun of him. But Lup would be nicer about it and Magnus had no other sources to turn to so, again, here he was.
It was late enough in the day that everyone was back aboard the ship. After the aforementioned Infernal Spectre incident, Davenport had set a rule to have everyone back in an hour or so before it got dark, just to be safe. The sun on this plane set around four PM and stayed dark until around seven AM. It was currently around six.
He could hear Lucretia laughing from her room- Merle had said something about a "cheer-up party" and dragged Davenport into it. Last he saw them, Merle was painting a clown face onto Davenport and Magnus hadn't stuck around to see how that played out. Barry was either in the lab or in the quarters Magnus and he shared, doing some technical bullshit or notes or whatever. They had gotten the Light this cycle and Magnus had gotten back into the grove of not waking up every time Barry left or entered their room for something. Lup and Taako resided in the kitchen, which Magnus was currently standing in front of.
It smelled really good, at least. Which gave Magnus no clue on how receptive Lup might be feeling right now, because it always smelled good. But he had learned to expect the worse anytime madeleines entered the scene, so he was hoping there weren't any of those.
Confidence. He needed confidence. It was like approaching a black bear, except the black bear was an elf, and the elf remembered that time in cycle four when you ate the skin of a banana because no one had ever told you that you weren't supposed to. Confidence. He could do this. Just gotta… admit he didn't understand a thing that had been happening for seven years.
He couldn't do this.
He turned to leave, but the door to the kitchen opened anyway. And there was Taako, apron on, eyebrows raised.
"You gonna come in, homie, or you just gonna stand there?" he asked.
Elf ears. Right. Fuck. Now he felt awkward about it.
"I was, uhm, I was gonna ask Lup about a. Thing."
"A thing," Taako repeated.
"Yeah," Magnus said. Normal, he was normal. He was so regular. "Just like, a science question."
"A science question," Taako said.
"Yep," Magnus said. "So if I could just, uh, talk to Lup-"
"What's the question?" Taako said, leaning against the doorframe. Magnus tried to peer past him into the kitchen, but Taako's wizard hat was too big to see around. Taako was looking at him expectantly.
"I mean, if I could ask Lup-"
"She's busy," Taako said. And then, again, "what's the question?"
"I was just, uhm- I just-" Words. Words, words, words. It was normal to admit you didn't know something. It made you strong. That's what his stepmom had always said, anyway. He knew Taako. It was fine. He was fine. "Y'know the meeting we had yesterday where we were talking about, how the Light worked and, uhm, why the Hunger wanted to eat it or whatever?"
"Mh-hm," Taako said.
"Well, uhhh, I… didn't… understand that," Magnus said. Gods, he hated this. "At all. I mean, I got that the Hunger wants to have it, but not really why? Like, there were a lot of percentages and shit and I figured- I mean, I was gonna ask Barry, but he was busy, and then I was gonna ask Luce, but, y'know-"
"Spectre," Taako said knowingly, nodding his head.
"Yeah," Magnus said. "So I figured maybe Lup, or- I mean, you! Maybe! But I didn't wanna bother you or anything and, uh, I thought maybe-" Magnus faltered, stumbling to a finish. Taako had held his hand up to make him stop talking.
"So, if I'm understanding you correctly, you're question is: 'what the fuck is happening with the Light?'" Taako said.
"Uhm," Magnus said. "I mean, that- like I know it sounds stupid, but yeah."
"Nah," Taako said. "I get it. Come in."
He stepped aside, letting Magnus come in.
"Lup… isn't in here," Magnus said.
"Nah," Taako said again. "She's doing some nerd shit with Barry in the lab. Sit up there and lemme grab my notepad so I can, uh- so I can draw it out for you. That helps me sometimes."
Magnus sat at the kitchen counter, feeling weirdly cared for. By Taako, of all people. Not saying that Taako was mean- well, yeah, he was sometimes, but so was Lup, so Magnus didn't really know what to expect anymore. But he certainly didn't think he'd end up here.
"Chocolate eclair?" Taako said, passing one to him on a plate. More were on the counters. He seemed like he was halfway through pipping the frosting into them. Magnus didn't know what a chocolate eclair meant, emotion-wise, but it was probably okay since Taako was now rummaging through a drawer for a notepad.
Magnus took a bite as Taako returned, clicking a pen open.
"D'you not get any of it, or just certain parts?" Taako asked. "'Cus I'm not the science one here but I know my fair share of sciencey shit. You don't get a Ph.D. in physics for nothing, right?"
"You got a Ph.D. in physics??" Magnus said through a mouth full of eclair.
"Uh, duh," Taako said. "What the hell kinda question is that? You think magic is all first-grade math, Magnus? Like, cha'boy worked hard for this shit, I'm not gonna let anyone forget it 'cus the Hunger ate the university or whatever." A pause. "Though, considering you're the guy who ate an entire fucking banana peel, I'm not too sure on how you think whatsoever."
Was an eclair worth this, or should he just go get Lup? Magnus took another bite, considering.
….yeah, okay, it was worth it.
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