#taako bell grande

[sliceroftpeirweirisles]

"I'm one seventeen-inch waist away from being Scarlett O'Hara" - Taako, Petals to the Metal

After having the Emilio Pucci Fall 2015 Galaxy Boots live rent-free in my head for ages, I finally found the perfect reference post to match. A day and a half later, and the sacrifice of my drawing shoulder from every tiny detail, this was born. I'm so elated with the results. In my personal headcanon, I'd like to imagine Taako has "100% That Bitch" energy after The Day of Story and Song. He doesn't let it get to his head, (he knows his humble beginnings) but he absolutely will give the Fantasy Paparazzi one hell of a show at any given moment.

I'd like to once again thank mellon_soup on Patreon for the use of their incredible catalog of pose references (Pose reference (public) | Patreon) which I link here so all you cool babes out there can see their work too.

[liltaz-asatreat]

Anyone up for Grand Relic Analysis?

I think the power and destructive capabilities of each Relic corresponds to each person's understanding of magic and the Light of Creation really well. Like, in order of least destructive and powerful to most destructive and powerful, we have the Animus Bell, the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet, the Philosopher's Stone, the Oculus, the Gaia Sash, and the Temporal Chalice, which may seem like a weird order considering I put the Animus Bell first and the Philosopher's Stone third, but let me explain.*

*I'll get to Lucretia's at the end and why it wasn't listed above.

The Animus Bell, while it's horrific and powerful enough to knock someone's soul out of their body and allows the person wielding it to take over the victim's body and live in it themself, it only targets one person at a time. All of the advanced magic and everything else that happened in Wonderland, the Wonderland twins were already doing themselves before the Starblaster crew got there and made the Relics, so that was the only thing that we know of that the Bell was capable of doing. So all in all, not a super powerful destructive force in regards to destruction on a large scale, and because it only did one very specific thing, it couldn't be used for other purposes to do further damage.

The Phoenix Fire Gauntlet also only had one thing that it did, and it was just to produce fire and be used as essentially a very powerful flamethrower. As Taako said, it couldn't be used to do anything else like the other Relics could, and it did actually mitigate a lot of potential damage by just being an effective flamethrower because even when the wielder lost control, it only destroyed the area in a half mile diameter circle.

It was Barry and Lup's job to study the Light and know everything about it and to study magic and science, and they were both basically the best ever at that. They're also the ones who came up with the plan in the first place, so they knew the most of what they were doing and how to use the Light in a way to dampen its effects and curtail the damage it would be capable of causing. They also knew the best on how to make sure to focus their artifact into doing only one thing because of their extensive background in magic knowledge and because they knew if they made their power too broad, it could be used in a number of ways that would spiral out of control.

The Philosopher's Stone, while it did have the capability of doing a lot of damage (re: the threat of turning the whole world to crystal in the Crystal Kingdom), it really only had one power too. Sure, that power was a bit broad in being able to transmute anything into literally anything else, but that was the end of it. And honestly, it could be argued that the threat of turning the whole world into crystal was a fluke because it was basically just constantly turned on during that arc because Maureen's mind was gone and she had a bunch of different spirits also possessing her in a way, so there was really no one controlling the Stone except to channel it like if you were to turn on a light switch. Most of the time though, it couldn't have been that much of a threat to the entire world because during the war and while people were still going after them, even the girl we heard about losing control of it only turned a town into peppermint. And whoever else had the Stone obviously also didn't destroy the whole world with it.

Also, Lucas and Maureen were pretty lucid while they were in possession of the Stone. They had to be for them to have had it for that long and had only used it to make planar mirrors and nothing else. So the general thrall of that Relic couldn't have been as strong as the other ones, or at the very least, even if it was, it would take a really long time for the wielder to be completely taken over and might have only happened if they felt like they were threatened, whereas with most of the other Relics, it didn't really take as much for them to take over their wielder.

Taako is also basically the best magician ever, and he'd know and understand how to make magic items and how to control how powerful they are in general and to narrow down the range of that power, but he didn't work with the Light as much as Lup and Barry did. He probably a little less prepared for how powerful the Light really was and didn't know how to work with it in a way to mitigate it as much as Barry and Lup did, but he still knew what he was doing more or less.

The Oculus and the Gaia Sash could honestly be probably tied for second most powerful and destructive because their powers are so broad in very similar ways.

The Oculus could literally make anything the wielder could imagine without any limit, and it was able to destroy whole towns and let loose monsters across the continent. With the power to make anything, it could and was used to bring the impossible to life, and honestly, things probably could have gotten so much worse if it kept landing in the hands of warlord after warlord who had the kind of imagination to bring a black hole to reality and a willingness to use it. Or literally anything else just as, if not more destructive. Imagination is a very powerful thing.

The Gaia Sash had a broad power over all of nature, which you could say at least it was narrowed down to just nature, but that's still a very broad domain. It sank an entire island chain in minutes, and if it was possible to survive wielding it for a long time while completely taken over, it could have destroyed the entire continent within the week at least.

Davenport and Merle knew magic, obviously, but they had very little to do with actually studying the Light hands on at all. They knew enough about magic to make magic items and to make them cool, but they had no way of knowing how powerful the Light was going to make them because all of the information about it they would have gotten second hand and probably only the amount of information Lup and Barry felt was necessary to share for the mission in general, not every single detail of the inner workings of the Light. Davenport was a pilot and engineer and Merle was a biologist and healer. They both weren't astro-arcane-physicists. So they probably just focused on what would be a cool thing to do if their artifacts were used right. Like, with the Gaia Sash, you could fix droughts and help crops grow and with the Oculus, you could fix poverty or create fun, harmless things or even advance science and arcane studies like how the IPRE used the Light to build the Starblaster in the first place. The broader their powers, the more good they had the potential of doing.

They just didn't think about how opening up that freedom also gave them even more potential to go horribly wrong.

And then the Temporal Chalice, well. It has such a broad dominion over time that on the less effective end of the scale, it can put up its own brand of protection bubble and rewind time over and over again until the wielder shrivels up and dies. But its main power of being able to rewrite time completely is absolutely terrifying. The fact that it can play with the strings holding together reality itself, because if you think about it, if someone were to have taken up the Chalice's offer and use it for its intended purpose: to fix a mistake in the past with the expectation that you have to want everything to happen after that to keep the new timeline intact, they would have eventually experienced something in the new timeline that they would also want to fix. And they already have the Chalice, so they just go back and fix it and rewrite the timeline again.

And then they do it again.

And again.

And again.

The Relics eventually take over their wielders outright, so if the Chalice completely took over someone's will, it would just completely break timeline after timeline until time got so broken that it would be unfixable. There wouldn't be any way to come back from that. Istus certainly can't fix it because she would have stopped existing by that point according to what she told the boys herself during the Eleventh Hour, so reality itself would be lost.

Magnus knew fuck all about magic in general. Sure, he was surrounded by wizards for a hundred years, but there's a difference between being able to define what a spell slot is and recognizing what his family's individual styles of magic looks like and actually being able to work with magic himself. He probably also didn't do a whole lot of studying magical theory by himself, so literally the only things he knew about magic going into this was what he passively picked up from his fellow crew members and the one year they spent at the Hanging Arcaneum. The one year of study he did there, seven years prior to actually making the Chalice. Did he keep up with practicing artificing during those seven years? Maybe, but I sincerely doubt dedicating an at least decent amount of time studying and practicing artificing during those seven years was something he would have decided to take up.

And on top of basically not knowing what he was doing, he probably was really focused on what would be really cool to do and didn't spend a single second to stop and think about should he do this. At least, not until it was too late, and he saw the power the Light had inside the artifacts made by the people who actually did know what they were doing way more than he did.

As for the yet to be mentioned Bulwark Staff, we don't really know if it was destructive at all because Griffin never described it being circulated, and it isn't 100% clear what its general capabilities were supposed to be. We know it must have some general magic capabilities like a wand because she used it to put the tres horny bois asleep before the Test of Initiation and to channel the pieces of the Light of Creation out of the other Relics. She mostly did save it though for casting protection bubbles, and as abjuration is her specialty, it's safe to assume that that was the main focus for the Relic in general. She honestly, might have made it solely for the purpose of eventually enacting her plan and refrained from making it explicitly with the intention of making people want to use it, so it had less of a thrall effect, which made it stay hidden during the war and unused by anyone. That's why she was able to find it so quickly and easily and without any trouble.

[nelyoslegalteam]

Assigning Each Son Of Feanor A Grand Relic From The Adventure Zone: Balance Because There’s Seven Of Each Of Them And Also I Do Not Want To Be In This Work Meeting Right Now

Maedhros - The Bulwark Staff. The Relic of abjuration, the school of protection magic. Created out of pure, fierce determination to protect one’s family, the Bulwark Staff allows its wielder to cast powerful spells of shielding. Perfect for the consummate older brother whose entire thing is very much about holding the line (see: all of the emotions I have about Himring as a concept), and also the parallels between Maedhros and Lucretia are so much. They’re both such Bright Clear Line people, taking it all on themselves to see the mission out and stand in the way of the existential horror threatening everyone, and the worst things they do are driven by such a genuine desire to do what they feel they must for the people they care about the most. (For those familiar with both, does it surprise anyone that I love Lucretia so much also?)

Maglor - The Temporal Chalice. The Relic of divination, allowing its wielder control over the flow of time, it sways and corrupts with a promise: You will have the power to undo your greatest mistake. Heavily associated with decisions and regrets, it would be quite wonderfully reflective of Maglor, whose awareness of how wrong his actions are, clear regret of them, and yet simultaneous inability not to continue down the path decided for him is what makes him most compelling.

Celegorm - The Gaia Sash. Okay this one is low-hanging fruit, but it fits so extremely well. The Relic of conjuration, the Gaia Sash gives one the ability to create, control, and communicate with nature. Celegorm deserves godlike plant-bending abilities. As a treat. Let him have this. I also definitely have feelings about Merle being this wonderfully irreverent cleric, specially chosen by the God Of Nature across every universe, and Celegorm’s whole deal as a chosen/paladin of Orome.

Caranthir - The Phoenix Fire Gauntlet. Powers-wise, the Relic of evocation is the most straightforward of the seven, and I feel like that fits Caranthir very well. Lup is associated with fire on a literal level, yes, but also because she’s warm, she’s the connection point for the whole group, and I can see this on Caranthir too, being the one to befriend the dwarves and the humans and to establish this empire of connections everywhere, and Lup’s bright, fierce protective rage is such a good interpretive filter for Caranthir’s fiery temper. Also, the imagery of the Gauntlet burning everything around it down into a perfect circle of black glass just fucks severely on him.

Curufin - The Oculus. Curufin needs to be associated with the Relic whose ability involves summoning illusions so powerful that its wielder can make them reality, because he is a smith and a creator and this aspect is very fitting for him. Curufin also needs to be associated with the Relic of illusion for thematic being a pale imitation of Feanor reasons. Curufin also needs to be associated with Davenport, the character who loses his entire sense of self with the mission because his entire sense of self IS the mission, even if these things happen in extremely different ways.

Amrod - The Animus Bell. The Relic of necromancy, capable of tearing a soul from its body. Thematically perfect and wonderfully dark for the character called the Fated, and as I am a crispy Amrod truther at heart, the associations with violent, abrupt, unfair, being quite literally torn away by death, are in fact very necessary.

Amras - The Philosopher’s Stone. The Relic of transmutation, capable of turning anything into anything else. It’s nothing if not a metaphor for the way that Taako masks, tries to mold himself in wherever will fit him while remaining deeply convinced of the extremity of his isolation, having lost his twin and having become lesser for it. I am a crispy Amrod truther, and extremely obsessed with Amras also as a character who feels like half a person after losing his twin, and transmutation is so wonderfully reflective of the undefined nature of his place in the narrative.

[imagine-an-3gg]

I get so mad sometimes that Taako wasn’t the one to create the Animus Bell, because first of all, it ended up a place that Taako, at first, thought was pretty cool. Second...

It could’ve been called Taako’s Bell.

[taz-quotes]

Griffin: Magnus, you’ve just had the singular sensation of having your soul knocked out of your still-living body. It was as soon as you heard the Animus Bell ring, and it felt like getting kicked by a horse, followed by this absolute numbness that, if you had any breath, would take it away. And you see the back of yourself for a moment? Which is fucking weird. And then your vision goes grey and, in fact, the world goes grey. You are floating backwards into the ethereal plane and the scene around you is still there as it was moments ago.

You see yourself kind of catch yourself from falling? You see Taako and Merle looking at you. You see some other stuff too, you see other figures in the room. Small, white humanoid figures that are hidden behind the mannequins and clinging to the ceiling. And as you start to look around at them, they scurry away and out of sight. 

You also see a tear in the fabric of space, and it looks familiar, because you saw something similar to that during your time in Lucas’ lab. It is a rift open to the astral plane where the souls of the deceased go after their death in the material plane. And you are drifting into it, Magnus. Because you’re dying.

[adventuresloane]

And truth be told, I never was yours

The fear, the fear of falling apart

Oh my god it's finally done dfgesdbhbgffv

(As usual please click for quality <3)

[ID: A full-color, six-page comic featuring the IPRE, using lyrics from "This Is Gospel" by Panic! At The Disco. It shows scenes from the end of the Stolen Century, beginning with Lup's skeleton and the abandoned Umbrastaff. It then shows the members of the IPRE losing their memories, starting with Davenport and Merle, followed by Taako and Barry. The last page shows Magnus walking in on a tearful Lucretia, gathering books to give to the Voidfish in the tank behind her. Full description under the cut.]

[ID: The comic begins with the Voidfish, a large jellyfish-like creature with what appears to be stars and a nebula inside its purplish bell. A speech bubble coming from it says in large letters, "This is gospel." Below are two panels, the first showing a skull tucked into a red hood and the second showing a red umbrella. The text in these panels reads, "for the fallen ones locked away in permanent slumber." On the next page, Magnus, Merle, and Taako, all in red robes, are shown at the top of the page from behind. They have their backs to the viewer and are facing a sunrise over a stand of trees. The words "assembling their philosophies" are written in the yellow sky. Below each of them is a panel in black and white. Each shows one of them from behind in different clothes, and "from pieces of broken memories" is written below them.

The next page has three panels, the first two square and the third rectangular. The first panel shows the glowing Starblaster surrounded by white eyes. It flies against a mostly black background with spots of bright, chaotic color. The next panel, in black and white, shows all of the grand relics surrounding a white sphere. Finally, Lucretia, in a red robe, is shown from the neck down, holding a blue book to her chest. The text on this page reads, "Their gnashing teeth and terrible tongues/Conspire against the odds/but they haven't seen the best of us yet."

The next page starts with a horizontal panel showing a close-up on Lucretia's face in profile, with her eyes cut off by the top of the frame. A tear is running down her cheek, and her speech bubble reads, "If you love me..." Below this panel, Davenport is shown clutching his hair and screaming. He is sitting at a table with playing cards in front of him, and he is surrounded by massive black letters reading, "Let Me Go." A small panel in the lower right of the picture shows Merle looking on with sadness and confusion against a background of static. Next, there is a panel showing Barry and Taako. Barry is crying, grasping Taako's shoulders, and shouting something in desperation. Meanwhile, Taako is looking back at him with concern and pity. There is a wand in one of his hands. The text in the panel reads, "If you love me." Below this panel is a scene showing the silhouette of the Starblaster. Taako, also in silhouette, is standing on the deck and blasting Barry off the side using a burst of red lightning magic from his wand. "Let Me Go" is written in huge letters behind the ship.

The final page is split in half by a vertical light. On the left, bright, harsh light hits Lucretia as she looks toward its source. She is in tears and appears frozen with one book in her hand and another held against her chest. Behind her, the tank of the Voidfish can be scene. Its tentacles are hanging down, and pages and books are floating in the water. The right side of the page shows Magnus standing in a brightly lit doorway. He is staring forward in shock and conclusion, holding a carved wooden duck in his hands. The text on this page reads, "'Cause these words are knives and often leave scars/The fear of falling apart." End ID.]

[jerreeeeeee]

lineup with the relics

[id: 4 images. the first is a lineup of the seven birds and their grand relics. it is on a dark gray background and the birds are colored light gray. from left to right: taako is a tall, slender elf with short hair and wearing a cape. he holds a tiny stone in one hand and is gesturing with the other. lup is a slightly shorter elf with a similar build and longer hair. she is holding up one hand with a flame above it, and the other is in an ornate gauntlet. davenport is a very short gnome with a tail, wearing a jacket, and holding up a monocle. magnus is a tall, fat human man with some facial hair, holding a chalice in one hand. lucretia is a tall, thin human woman with her hair up wearing a blouse and robe, holding a long, thin staff. barry is a shorter, fat human man wearing glasses and jeans. he is holding a small bell in one hand. merle is a short, fat dwarf, wearing an aloha shirt, with a wild beard and holding a woven sash. the next three images are closeups of the first. end id]

[batmanofthewestcoast]

I've seen the response from last night, and I'd just like to say thank you to everyone. I've decided to continue posting my thoughts on The Adventure Zone: Balance.

Currently on The Suffering Game Chapter 3, Taako just Blinked into the Ethereal Plane and found the Eye Creatures again.

Obviously, the Animus Bell is the Necromancy Grand Relic; does that mean that the two Hosts are Liches, or Ghosts? They're not really there, and it seems more likely they can be in multiple places at once. Cause there's two parties going through Wonderland and both Hosts are with the player characters. Unless there's another two Hosts for the other group?

Why doesn't Taako just call Kravitz? I'm sure "Hey I found some Liches or Ghosts or whatever" would get his attention.

Based on the wagers of Wonderland, and considering they can generate creatures at will, maybe the end goal of Wonderland is to create an organism?

Also, considering what happened in the previous Lunar Interlude, I'm wondering if maybe The Umbra Staff is in fact a Grand Relic. Because it seems to have a mind of its own.

[fandomsnstuff]

Angus figures everything out and fucks up Lucretia’s whole Thing AU

Lucretia hires angus, innoculates him, and is like this is the deal with those missing people cases you were investigating

Angus says oh okay! This totally and completely satiases my curiosity :)

Internally angus says this is sus as hell

So he does what he does best, he snoops

So angus is snooping and somehow, cause he's a little crime boy who can sneak around real good, he finds the starblaster

He's like what the fuck is this

He gets in, and it's.....odd. he doesnt linger in any one room too long, he just kind of pokes his head into the bedrooms and moves on (he figures he shouldnt stay here too long, lest he get caught)

But the most peculiar thing is how lived in this place looks. There's mismatched furniture with throw pillows and blankets in the common area, a chore chart on the fridge, the bedrooms are all cluttered with knick knacks and clothes, beds unmade, theres a lab with papers scattered around tables and taped to the wall

But one room catches his attention

It's... fairly simple, and emptier than the others. Bookshelf with some books missing, a bare desk, but what catches his attention is the pile of red on the bed

He goes to investigate and finds robes and jackets, all with an odd patch and names embroidered on them

He finds, in this order:

A robe with "lucretia" embroidered on it

A jacket and robe, together as if someone had been wearing them at the same time, with "lup" and "taako"

A jacket with "davenport"

A robe with "merle"

A jacket with "magnus"

(there’s no barry robe cause he fell off the ship with it, these are the robes/jackets lucretia took off of the crew members as she sent them off to their new lives)

Now. This is after crystal kingdom and angus was at the candlenights party. He knows the director's name is lucretia

He knows who Davenport is

He knows who taako, magnus, and merle are

This is pre-LUP incident, so he doesnt know who lup is

Angus, appropriately freaked out, puts them all back and BOLTS

Angus vacates the premises

Runs back to his room

He tries to figure out what this all means, but his thoughts dodge around the obvious conclusion that's right in front of him

Hes too nervous to go back, it's not until the L U P incident that he decides okay. I have to go back

So he goes back. He goes into the room labeled Captain's Quarters (although "captain" has been scratched out and changed to "cap'nport". Angus doesnt think too hard about what that means)

In the desk he finds some folders with the same weird logo as the robes and jackets. He doesnt look in them. Not yet. He can do that back in his room. He cant spend too much time here.

Then he goes to the lab. He doesnt know what hes looking for, but he grabs ones that seem important. A notebook or two. Some papers clipped together. He just grabs and shoves them into his bag and he fuckin bolts again

he looks at what he grabbed and some of it he can read, some of it he can't

They lived in that ship. They were going on a mission for something. They made the grand relics to stop something. Theres a lot of notes on the planes.

Angus recognizes the way some stuff is redacted, and he kind of figures out that there must be another voidfish. And if the directors name was on one of those robes, maybe she has it.

Refuge mission comes and goes

Angus, cause he's so fucking good, is able to sneak back into lucretias personal quarters and finds junior. He fills a water bottle with the ichor and gets the fuck outta there

He gets back to his room, innoculates himself and is like AAAAAAAAAA

Cause he can finally put it all together properly

And he basically pieces together the whole hunger situation himself with the notes he grabbed

The stuff he grabbed from davenports room was the crew's like profiles or whatever from when they got hired on to the mission so angus now knows who lup is

So angus is like oh i GOTTA fix this

So he heads down to the reclaimers dorm with his bottle of ichor

Angus: i need you to drink this Merle: what is it? Angus: voidfish ichor Taako: *laughs* hate to break it to you kid, we already drank the voidfish juice. Angus: just- please? Magnus: yeah alright

So magnus drinks it. His breath catches and he kinda goes weak and he's shaking and he drops to his knees. After a minute or two (or more) he looks up at angus. "Holy shit," he says. He grabs the bottle from where he dropped it and holds it out to taako and merle. "Drink it." He says.

"Yeah alright," merle says. Same deal as with magnus.

Once merle collects himself, they both turn to taako.

"Yeah, alright. Sure. Let's get taako in on this weird party," he says, taking the bottle and drinking

This time, magnus is ready and he catches taako when his knees give out

"Im gonna fucking kill her," taako mumbles into magnus' shoulder, his knuckles white as he grips his shirt.

"You're not gonna kill her."

"Im gonna fucking hit her so HARD, i swear to god."

Taako keeps his face in magnus' shoulder, but magnus and merle watch as angus crosses the room to where taako had left the umbrastaff, and he walks back over to magnus and taako on the floor

"Sir?" Taako looks up at angus. Angus holds the umbrella out, "i think i know where your sister is."

(Lup, meanwhile, in the staff: HEEEEELLLLL YYYYYEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH)

It takes taako a second, but he realizes what angus is saying and scrambles out of magnus' hold and to his feet. He takes the umbrella and lifts it, about to snap it when angus says, "wait!"

Taako glares at him. "Ive waited ten years, kid. Make it snappy." "Madame director had a holy symbol in her office. I think it would ward against your sister, if shes a lich." "Uuugggggghhhhhhhhh LUCRETIAAAAAA"

The four of them go down planetside under the guise of a magic lesson and not wanting to burn any more "cryptic messages" into the walls

Taako snaps that fuckin umbrella as soon as his feet hit solid ground

Lup's back!

Lup does some magic shit to summon barry, so barold shows up, happy reunion, and then a Discussion on what to do re: davenport not being innoculated and re: lucretia

Their plan boils down to this: thb and angus will go back to the moon and act as if this never happened. As far as lucretia knows, thb are still under junior's influence

As soon as they can get davenport alone without rousing any suspicion, they bring him to their room and innoculate him. Once he's got his memories back, he'll be powerful enough to a) get his bracer off/disable the tracking spell in it and b) get off the base undetected

Davenport will definitely not want to go back to playing butler, so he'll sneak off the base and hang out with lup and barry until lucretia sends the boys to wonderland

When the boys get sent to wonderland, theyll meet up, get the bell all together, and THEN confront lucretia, cause at that point theyll have the whole light, and they'll have Options

So they do just that. They go back and innoculate davenport a few days later, a week at most

A panic ensues once everyone realizes davenport is missing

AND the tracking in his bracer is turning up nothing

Lucretia's blood pressure has never been higher

But everything goes as business per usual

Lucretia, oddly enough, suspects nothing re: the boys ‘cause surely they wouldve confronted her if they remembered

The boys get sent down to wonderland. They meet up with blupjeans and dav at the entrance. With the six of them with all their memories and full access to their skills they take edward and lydia down in like 30 minutes. Tops.

So edward and lydia get their asses thoroughly handed to them by the six of them

(Davenport has the time of his LIFE)

They head back to the lich cave, barry gets in his new body and gets innoculated (the boys brought some ichor with them for him)

Lup possesses barry, then barry-with-lup and dav get in the pocket spa and back up to the moon they go

Lucretia is in her office when avi comes knocking "Uh... director? The boys are coming back." "Already?" "Yeah." "Are you sure it's them?" "Yep."

Lucretia is.... stunned. It's been... an hour and a half. Two, maybe. She has full faith in the boys but they took down wonderland in two hours?????

Not even two hours

She goes to meet them, highly suspicious

But they arrive and, sure enough, it's them. No magic. No tricks. It's them, for sure.

taako has the bell and hes just holding it casually from the top as if it isnt one of the most powerful magic items in existence. And she can tell he isnt thralled, that's just how hes decided to transport it.

Lucretia: ive got to admit, you boys took care of that...much faster than i expected Magnus: ah, it was no big Merle: piece of cake! Taako: yeah, luce, shit was easy. Dunno what you were talkin' about earlier.

And lucretia just freezes. Luce. Thats what taako called her. It’s what they all called her, really, but it’s the nickname Taako took 4 whole cycles to give to her, officially cracking the door of friendship open to her. And she looks him in the eyes and she knows that he knows. And she looks at merle and magnus and she can tell they know, too.

And taako gives her a venomous smile, all teeth, and says, "why dont we go have a little chat, madame director" and she flinches at the way he spits out her title

She doesnt know what to do but nod and turn to leave. As she turns, there's angus, looking up at her with a determined set to his brow, and she knows he knows too

They head back to her office, and taako pulls the pocket spa out, and before lucretia can ask him what hes doing, out walks barry and davenport. And barrys eyes have got that red glow about them, so she knows lup's here too.

"Take down the lich ward, lucretia," barry says.

She does, and now there's a firey, red robed lich among them.

Now this is where things get a little iffy for how they work out but here's what i got

They have a similar confrontation as canon where theyre bickering about staying or going, shield or no shield, and im thinking this is where taako has his "there's a third option" realization

And, because they did extreme wonderland speedrun, and they didnt take a whole extra day to travel to the lich cave and just used fuckin magic to get there, theyre a whole day ahead of where they were in canon

The hunger is close enough at this point tho that they can enact the plan like. Now.

But magnus insists on returning Fisher's baby to them first

As magnus takes junior, lucretia works on getting the base secured and getting the bureau members ready for if the hunger touches down before they can cut it off

Magnus goes down to fisher with the baby, he takes his axe and swings, breaking the tank open

Johann, still alive and now soaking wet, is like dude wtf

Magnus returns the baby and out goes the story and song

Now johann is REALLY like DUDE WTF

Magnus is like im off to save the universe. Peace.

So since theyre a whole day ahead of the hunger, all seven of them go up in the ship

And then they fight and they win and they cut the hunger off and it's rad

The end

[herbgerblin]

Tonight in Things TAZ Balance has Fucked Me Up About™ (spoilers):

The fact that the one Grand Relic that came the closest to tempting the tres horny boys—most notably Magnus—was his own. And the implications that, yes, the IPRE were the only ones able to withstand the thrall of the relics, but the ones to which they are most susceptible are the ones of their own making. The thrall would speak to them best, knowing their deepest desires. Like the promise of Julia.

What if by chance, Lup was heavily tempted by the gauntlet. Promising peace, a quell to its ferocious nature. It could have been speaking to her from the moment she got it back, and had distracted her. Which is why she got caught unawares and was killed. Other case in point—Lucretia, who had never let hers out of her sight since she got it back. It promised her that she could help her friends, help the universe, as long as she kept it close. 

For the brief moments that the Gaia Sash encounters Merle, it promises an environment better than the hectic life of his estranged wife and kids. Something he has control over, something he won’t walk away from. The philosopher stone promises Taako riches. Promises him security, and comfort, and a well of ways to fill his loneliness. The Oculus, in the brief moment it is near Davenport, promises him the truth. It promises answers to the questions he can’t bring himself to ask. The Animus Bell promises Barry strength, life everlasting. More power to break into the BoB. More time to search for Lup. 

The Light promised John a way to rise above eternity. Ascension.

And he fell for it.

[sliceroftpeirweirisles]

IDK why but this panel:

I'm obsessed with the way Taako is drawn here. So happy and blissfully unaware of the pain he's about to endure.

[guthrie-odonto]

Sturdy, Denim, and Shocking

Steven hadn’t needed as long to take a situation in since he found out that his mother was actually Pink Diamond the entire time. It wasn’t his recently-acquired corruption scars, he had already gotten comfortable with those—he didn’t even have any trouble walking on his now-digitigrade legs, which looked more like those of a dinosaur or Carey Fangbattle’s legs than any human. What was so incomprehensible to him was the interior of the cave this red-robed lich led him, Taako, Magnus Burnsides, and Merle Highchurch into after the four had obtained the Animus Bell and left Wonderland, that veritable torture chamber.

Within what seemed like a natural opening in a mountain from the outside was a a messy and chaotic room, featuring a desk littered with a checklist of the seven Grand Relics, numerous notes about what Steven and his friends had been up to since they joined the Bureau of Balance, a photo of two hooded figures in red robes standing together, their backs facing the camera, and myriad notes and sketches that Steven clearly make out, but just couldn’t wrap his head around what they were. He had so many questions about all of this, not the least of which being about the green, test-tube-looking device on the other side of the room. The red robe said it was to regenerate his physical body, but what was with saying he forgets everything when he returns to physical form? And why did the body growing in there, obscured into a silhouette by the thick fluid surrounding it, look so strangely… familiar?

“Hey… you’re Steven, right” Said the red robe, turning to the half-gem. “Would you be a bud? I’m uh, I’m gonna be naked as a Jaybird when I come outta here. Can you fetch me a change of clothes from that chest?”

Steven obliged, walking over to the chest and removing the crimson garb draped over it so it could be opened. He had no idea what that twelve-circled patch with “I.P.R.E.” embroidered on it was about, but that was among numerous other questions that he had; given how urgent and dire this spirit had said the situation was, Steven wasn’t going to ask any of them yet. Besides, the red robe did say that there were things that he didn’t know and that Taako, Merle, and Magnus “couldn’t remember yet”… whatever that meant.

The contents of the chest weren’t anything to call home about, save for one typically-ordinary item. Steven pulled out a white cotton shirt, a studded leather belt, and most confusingly, a pair of denim pants, colored with the cerulean hue of the deep ocean. It wasn’t the jeans themselves that were mind-boggling, Steven was wearing jeans just then (albeit with a new hole at the rear to accommodate his new draconian tail)—what confused him was what a pair of jeans was doing here. At no point on his adventures on the other side of the planet had Steven seen anyone wearing jeans like these. Between the presence of literal magic, the lack of gems or gem influence, and the numerous non-human beings that inhabited this side of the globe, this was a more minor thing that made that hemisphere seem like some fantasy world to Steven, like something out of a tabletop RPG he would’ve played back in Beach City. So what then, through Stars know what circumstances, was this pair of blue jeans doing-

And then it hit him.

He did not make any sudden movements, but the slight glow of his horns, cheek protrusions, and spines betrayed the utter disbelief he was feeling at this realization: he knew who this was. He had no idea how this could be; the last time he saw this man, he was vaporized in the same fiery blast that rendered Phandalin into a charred, obsidian wasteland. He had no idea what this meant, the fact that this innocuous person was secretly connected to all this stuff he couldn’t even comprehend. But now, Steven knew exactly who the red robe was. And he knew that it was also the answer as to who was in that green pod.

“… Guys?” Steven said, turning to Taako, Magnus, and Merle, who were observing the red robes little chamber. “… look at these.” He held the jeans up, hoping they would make the connection as easily as he did.

Taako, looking confused, said, “Yeah, those pants? Wwwwwhat about them? They’re just jeans; hell, you’re wearing a pair of jeans right now!”

Steven knew he had to start pushing back the subtlety. “Yeah, they’re a pretty nice pair of jeans. Sturdy… denim… blue… all the fixings.”

Merle, contested only by Taako in bringing up the snarkiest rhetorts, added, “I’m with Taako on this one, you seem pretty fascinated with what amounts to just a pair of jeans.”

Steven remained calm, although a keen eye could shed the frustration growing within him. “Not jeans. Jeans that are blue. That sound familiar? A pair of blue jeans???”

“Yeah,” added Magnus, who was without a body and was stuck inhabiting a mannequin with a crudely drawn smiley face (courtesy of Steven), “like the ‘blue jeans’ you just so happen wearing!”

Taako added, “Yeah, that’s what I just said a second ago! What’s going on, Stev-o?”

Good grief, was this how it felt for him? Trying to tell these guys something that he knows already and that should be blatantly obvious, but they remain completely oblivious to? Steven was having enough of this. If they couldn’t figure it out at this rate, he needed to spell it out for them in bold, italics, underlined, and all caps.

“Guys, you don’t understand what I’m going at here: these aren’t just blue jeans…”

… Barry’s back.

[overdramatic-queer-antagonist]

I really love thinking about the repercussions of what happened to the 7 Birds so I wanted to write a Thing^tm. Sorry if this sucks, I have no memory of writing half of it. 

Taako: He’s constantly writing the names of his crew down any chance he gets. If you give Taako a piece of paper eventually you’ll see him writing, Lup, Barry, Lucretia, Merle, Magnus, Davenport. The word “who?” haunts him. He doesn’t like heights. ESPECIALLY when it’s just him and Barry. He always leaves KrebStar at home when he visits Barry and Lup. They pretend not to notice, they do. He hates the smell of garlic and berries. He hasn't made chicken since that day. Everyone ends up in therapy but Taako endures strenuous physical therapy. Fuck that washing machine dudes. Sometimes he forgets he’s even wearing glamour. Kravitz once walked into a room to find Taako standing over shards of glass, he looked terrified. It takes a long time for him to stop worrying when he cooks for his friends, it takes even longer for him to stay calm when his friends get sick. He’d never say it aloud but he’s so grateful that his sister is already dead. She can’t get sick. He, Merle, and Davenport go hiking every summer. He used to pick up pretty rocks at the side of the trail. He doesn't do that anymore.

Lup: She’s deathly claustrophobic. She doesn’t like being unable to speak, or hear, or see. One time she did one of those sensory deprivation tank things with Lucretia. She came out ten minutes in and spent the rest of the time in the lobby, waiting for Lucretia, trying not to cry. She doesn’t let people walk behind her. One time, on a reaper mission, Kravitz tried to get her attention by poking her in the back with the blunt part of his scythe. She nearly killed him with a sixth level fireball. If she thinks about it too long, she can still feel the knife piercing her, she can feel the poison burning through her veins.

 She doesn’t like it when Barry gets near fire. If Lup goes to an event wearing gloves, they’re off before she leaves the house.

Barry: Barry’s scared of the dark. He’s always been scared of the dark but now he can hardly take it. When a reaper mission takes them into a cave Kravitz tries to give him an advance. He holds onto Lup the entire time. He doesn’t like gold coins. Usually, it’s not too bad if he doesn’t think about it, but one time he and Magnus were out and Magnus owed him a GP. He sat outside the bar they were at just staring at it. Later that night, Magnus came out worried. What he said was, “Barry? It’s getting dark.” But what Barry heard was, “Your name is Barry Bluejeans and you're afraid of the dark” He had to lean on Magnus walking home that night. He used to be a pretty chill guy when it came to death. He accepted that it was just a thing that happened. Now he’s terrified of it. When fantasy Wheel of Fortune started, The Birds decided to check it out. It didn’t stay on for more than 5 minutes. Lucas’s school has a big bell that rings at noon each day. The first time Barry did a lecture there and the bell rang, he walked off of campus without another word.

Magnus: He always has a vase of lavenders in his home. He would never admit it but sometimes he just closes his eyes and takes the smell in. If he tries hard enough it almost feels like he’s in the Hammer & Tongs. Sometimes, when he’s home alone, he swears to Istus that he can hear Julia laughing, calling him for him to check out a project. There’s never anything there when he follows the noise. A few years after The Day of Story and Song, Magnus took Angus to see the races in Goldcliff. They were in a VIP spectators box (one of the perks of being friends with the owners) and when the race started, along with the normal explosive sounds of the battlewagons peeling off, the box shook. Magnus grabbed Angus and tried to shield him from- nothing. He had to get some air. Lord Artemis Sterling invited him to dinner once. He had these fancy, gold, chalices. Magnus didn’t drink a thing.

Lucretia: She used to be the most reserved of the Birds now she’s almost clingy, she doesn’t do alone time anymore. One time Taako caught her staring at her face in a mirror. He sighed and dropped his glamour. He leaned against her and whispered, “You’re still the second-best looking, don’t worry.” She leaves excessive reminders that would be infuriating if the others didn’t get it. She keeps a scrapbook (something that she would never admit too because the only thing lamer than keeping a diary is keeping a scrapbook) just in case. Barry found it once. She was mortified but he just quietly flipped through it, smiling as he did. The Birds have a strict “no staff unless it looks like something else” policy because prolonged exposure, even if you can resist the thrall, to a Grand Relic is no joke.

Merle: It might be silly but, he doesn’t really like getting handed things. He’s moved on from the incident itself, he forgave Kravitz the moment he remembered how too but… The idea of someone being able to do it again makes him sick. The name John became taboo, even more so around Merle. Merle hates that. He likes the name John. If he was young enough to have another kid, he’d probably name them John just to spite those people. He and Dav had to find a new game to play. Dav wasn’t even finished suggesting chess before Merle shut down the idea. It just didn’t feel right. There’s a rumor around Bottlenose Cove about the Eral. They say he talks to himself as he watches the sunset. When confronted with this, Merle just laughs and says it’s just his way of de-stressing. He checks in on Sloane and Hurley constantly. They hold no grudges, of course, but Merle doesn’t think he’ll ever fully be able to forgive that mistake.

Davenport: Nobody really calls him that anymore, per his request. Usually, it’s Captain, Merle and his kids call him Dav, and then there’s Magnus’s ridiculous nickname, but he doesn’t mind what people call him as long as it’s not that. He says it’s like saying a word so many times it loses its meaning. One time Angus asked, very politely mind you, why Dav didn’t celebrate his birthday. He never did get an answer but that told him all he needed. Let’s just say that Fantasy Euchre (Yooker) lost its charm. His Grand Relic didn’t change his mannerisms. A fool might think that he doesn’t care about the casualties but it’s quite the opposite. He feels like feeling remorse for mistakes that he had no control over would be disrespectful to his victims. Instead he and Lord Artemis Sterling arrange for the day the Birds were separated (Cap’nport’s birthday) to be designated as a day of remembrance for The Grand Relics’ victims.

[hail-to-the-scrale]

THERE ARE SEVEN GRAND RELICS. THEY ARE ENTHRALLINGLY DESIREABLE.

THERE ARE SEVEN OF THEM. THR LIGHT OF CREATION IS DESIRABLE.

THE PHEONIX FIREGLOVE FOR LUP. THE MONOCLE FOR DAVENPORT.

I guess magnus made the chalice cuz he was the red robe in refuge?

Uhhh.

The philosophers stone is Taako's cuz transmutation.

The sash is Merle's because plants.

Wait. Google says there are 7 relics, but only the bell is left? Is one gone already?

[anistarrose]

Summary: Angus leads a virtual book club meeting. Kravitz connects the dots. Taako makes significant updates to the list of people he trusts and things he believes.

Characters: Kravitz, Taako, Barry Bluejeans, Angus McDonald, Magnus Burnsides, Merle Highchurch, Noelle | No-3113, The Raven Queen, The Director | Lucretia, misc. BoB cameos, Julia Burnsides, Garyl

Relationships: Taakitz, Angus McDonald & Taako, Barry Bluejeans & Kravitz, Kravitz & Angus McDonald

Bit by bit, we’re inching closer to the endgame! Lots of plot and angst in this update, but also I think I might’ve implied that Minecraft exists in Faerun, so it evens out, y’know?

By virtue of their trance state replacing sleep, elves were supposed to be good lucid dreamers. Taako had always experienced mixed results, but never moreso than tonight, with a dream that started out all saccharine romantic fantasy — fishing with Kravitz and sharing a kiss after falling into the lake together — before a clap of thunder and an unholy scream plunged the world into darkness and left one single source of light, one last surviving star, cradled in Taako’s unassuming hands.

Then a ripple in the darkness, the invisible maw of some ravenous entity, closed around that final star — and Taako screamed, as loud as he could muster yet still not loud enough to drown the ringing in his ears, as he flailed in the dark against the invisible monster that stole the world from him —

At once, two hands closed around his own, one cold and the other warm. On Taako’s left was Kravitz, aghast but holding himself together, a steely composure to his posture despite the fear in his eyes.

On Taako’s right was a Red Robe — but not Barry, and in fact not anything like what Taako had started to accept as normal for Red Robes. Where Barry had a clouded darkness in place of hands and a face, this lich had pure static escaping from within her sleeves and beneath her hood, crackling and constantly changing shape like lightning, or… like fire.

Taako sat up in his bed covered in cold sweat, heart pounding as he realized his legs were hopelessly tangled in his sheets, and only slightly slowing when he realized there was nothing in his bedroom to run from.

Elves were supposed to rarely awaken late, but Taako’s wizard hat-shaped alarm clock — a gift that Angus that he’d quietly appreciated, even though it should have been redundant — indicated that it was mid-morning, and when he trudged out into the common area, he found no sign of his doormates besides a note written in Magnus’s distinctive scrawl.

I know you were busy last night, so we’re letting you sleep in while we go play Fantasy Kickball on the quad! Killian and Avi are team captains and their rivalry is fierce, so we’ll probably be playing all day if you want to join us! Love, Magnus! (And Merle)

Taako didn’t realize how relieved he was until he felt himself let out a sigh.

He had a sinking feeling that the same dream — or at least, a similar dream — had played out more than once that night, looping over and over again as he repeatedly failed to remember, much less control, where it was going. He felt too exhausted to be operating on even a single minute of dreamless sleep, and didn’t even want to think about holding a conversation with anyone…

Well, with most people. There was someone he’d really been meaning to chat with, before he’d been distracted by haircuts and Kravitz and pottery and stargazing and Kravitz.

He transmuted a mug of lukewarm tap water to a piping hot, high-caffeine tea, then picked up his Umbra Staff, and conjured a familiar phantom steed with twin horns that nearly grazed the ceiling as he reared and whinnied.

“Yooo! Mornin’, Taako!”

“Morning, Garyl.” Taako yawned. “Could you do me a favor, and tell me literally anything you know about the liches you said I used to hang out with?”

***

CalebClevelandFan#2045: All early-installment weirdness aside, I really do think it’s a great introduction to the series! Because of the retcons you’ll encounter later, there are some conspiracy theories that the most recent arc of Caleb Cleveland was ghostwritten to maximize the publishing rate (which I think is hogwash, because continuity errors are going to be inevitable no matter who’s writing) but I guess I’ll let you decide for yourself when you get there! Do you need to stop by the moon again to borrow Book 2?

ReaperAwMan#1672: No thank you, Angus! I think I’m going to try and download the “digital” version, now that I know I can do that on my Stone! Taako told me about that feature and a lot of others last night, so if I can’t get it to work, I’ll just call him and ask him to walk me through it. :)

ReaperAwMan: Did I use the smiley face correctly?

CalebClevelandFan: Yes! :) You’ve picked up on technology a lot faster than my grandpa did.

CalebClevelandFan: Did Taako also choose your username on this app, though?

ReaperAwMan: How did you know? Is it a reference to something? :)

CalebClevelandFan: Um

CalebClevelandFan: Yes, but it’s a long story. It’s not mean-spirited or anything, though! I think it’s pretty funny!

ReaperAwMan: Okay! :)

CalebClevelandFan: Is that all for book club today? If it is, Mr. Kravitz, I just want to say that I’d be happy to talk to you again about Caleb Cleveland anytime!

CalebClevelandFan: It means a lot to me, but I understand if you’re too busy (message edited)

ReaperAwMan: Oh, there’s always time for book club, Angus!

ReaperAwMan: But I admit, I have had a lot on my mind…

CalebClevelandFan: Is it the liches? Since the Reclaimers aren’t in trouble anymore? (By the way, I went to tell Noelle she didn’t have to worry about getting reaped, but apparently she’s visiting family, so I left a message with her teammates Carey and Killain..)

ReaperAwMan: Excellent deduction. (And thank you for that. I hope she gets the message soon.)

ReaperAwMan: You’re right, I’m still hunting Lup and Barry Bluejeans, but… I just can’t shake the feeling that they’re connected to Taako and the others.

CalebClevelandFan: Really? What makes you say that?

ReaperAwMan: Well, I didn’t think much of this for a long time, and now I’m kicking myself for it, but their bounties registered in our system at the same time as Taako’s, Magnus’s, and Merle’s. We figured it was just a widespread detection glitch, which has happened before on a much smaller scale, but now it feels awfully suspicious. The Reclaimers have also encountered Barry at least four times now, without even seeking him out the first three times, whereas finding Barry is my job, and I get a lead on him about twice a year, if I’m lucky.

CalebClevelandFan: That is odd. Did any other bounties show up at that same time? Do you know if they have any kind of connections to Barry?

ReaperAwMan: Only two others, for a couple of people named Lucretia and Davenport. They must be living like hermits, because it’s been 12 years and I know as little about them as I do about Lup. Not a lot of leads there, I’m afraid.

(CalebClevelandFan is typing…)

(CalebClevelandFan is typing…)

CalebClevelandFan: Hmm. Huh! I wish I could say those names meant something to me, but I’ve never heard them before in my life! Truly unfortunate, that. But, I do suspect that Barry appearing to the Reclaimers is because the Red Robes made the Grand Relics, and it’s the Reclaimers’ job to track those seven relics down!

ReaperAwMan: You mean to tell me that Barold J. Bluejeans made a Grand Relic, and the Reclaimers all knew that information, but didn’t think it would be important to tell me?! This is simultaneously the most and least surprised I’ve been at any point in my afterlife.

CalebClevelandFan: Well, I guess there’s a reason I’m the moon’s resident boy detective and they aren’t, sir!

ReaperAwMan: Wait. Angus.

CalebClevelandFan: Yes?

ReaperAwMan: Seven relics. Seven bounties.

CalebClevelandFan: Sorry, sir, I’m not following. What’s the connection?

ReaperAwMan: I know this is going to sound impossible, but…

ReaperAwMan: Taako is a transmutation wizard. The Philosopher’s Stone can transmute any material into anything else. Merle is a nature cleric, and the Gaia Sash offers control over natural disasters and the wilderness. Then of course, Barry is a lich like no other, and the Animus Bell is the most dangerous necromantic artifact I’ve ever been tasked with monitoring. I don’t know exactly how Magnus fitz into this, or how the other three bounties have managed to hide from me, but…

ReaperAwMan: I think Taako, Merle, and Magnus made three of the Grand Relics!

ReaperAwMan: Angus? Are you still there?

CalebClevelandFan: Sorry, I just rebooted my Stone, but I still can’t read your second-to-last message! It just looks like static, but I was inoculated, so that shouldn’t be possible!

ReaperAwMan: I’m not sure what you mean by “inoculated,” but if the app is glitching, then do you want me to call you?

CalebClevelandFan: It may not be the app, sir. And if it isn’t, I fear a phone call won’t make any difference… but I just got an idea! I’m going to go check if Noelle is back yet — she should be able to help with this. Please bear with me for a few minutes, sir!

ReaperAwMan: Okay, then… good luck!

Head in his hand, Kravitz scrolled back up to the offending message, reading it over once more.

I think Taako, Merle, and Magnus made three of the Grand Relics!

It made sense, but it shouldn’t have. Despite all the questions it answered, it raised more in their place — and Kravitz had been ready to accept that he was wrong, ready for brilliant little Angus to chime in with a piece of evidence that refuted it all...

Except that message, and that message alone, hadn’t made it to Angus in the first place — and wasn’t that the most damning, of all the so-called coincidences aligning before Kravitz’s eyes?

The Reclaimers made Grand Relics and consorted with liches. The Reclaimers can’t remember making Grand Relics or consorting with liches.

Someone is hiding the truth from the Reclaimers, and from Angus. Someone is hiding the truth from the entire Bureau of Balance.

Is it Barry? Does he have that much power? Is he working with someone? With Lup?

Kravitz summoned his scythe with the full intention of warping straight to the moonbase, and bringing his four friends from the Bureau directly back to the Astral Plane — not to take them prisoner, but simply to get them somewhere safe, somewhere to talk without Queen-knows-what outside forces eavesdropping or interfering. Yet before he could open a rift, Kravitz’s vision flashed blue, and a faint yet familiar tug directed his focus towards a much different region of the Material Plane.

A voice echoed in his head, too distorted to identify the speaker, but the words themselves were clear enough:

Kravitz, help!

Kravitz’s Stone of Farspeech clattered onto his desk as he raised his fingers to his temples and closed his eyes, honing in on the location of the summoning arrow. It was surrounded by undead presences of several shapes and forms, but one aura outshone all the others — one unmistakable red aura, crackling with power, and… desperation.

There was a very short list of people on the Material Plane with access to this kind of summoning beacon — and no matter what dark secrets their pasts held, Kravitz couldn’t bear the thought of any of them being left alone with an incredibly powerful, secret-keeping, Relic-crafting lich who had finally, finally snapped.

With a frantic swing of his scythe, he ripped open a jagged portal to the arrow’s location, and leapt through without even pausing to retrieve his Stone.

Hang on, boys! I’m coming!

***

“If you wanna hear anything about liches,” Garyl declared, “that information comes with a price. Which you know is gonna be oats, ‘cause what would I even do with gold? I’m just a funky little 80’s horse remix, so you gotta hand over those spectral oats, dude.”

Taako sighed. “Garyl. I know you’re not gonna like this question. But before you whine, please consider the fact that I’m not in the fucking mood. Now: does it have to be oats?”

“A pound of spectral oats is worth two spectral carrots or one spectral sugar cube! That’s the conversion rate. If you offer a spectral salt lick, I may be willing to negotiate.”

Taako conjured two floating, semi-tangible carrots with a wave of his umbrella, and levitated them over to Garyl, who took a bite out of both at once.

“That’s the stuff!” he whinnied. “Okay, so. Liches. Whatcha wanna know about ‘em?”

“You said, like — like two days ago now — that you used to get spectral oats from liches that I hung out with. Garyl, I need to know: was that true, or were you just guilting me for not spoiling you with enough treats?”

Garyl’s response was rendered completely indecipherable by the fresh bite of carrot in his mouth, part of which splattered across the floor and narrowly missed Taako.

“This is serious, Garyl! I’ve been meaning to ask you about this for a while, but it keeps getting more serious.” Taako groaned. “I… I didn’t even realize it, until I was talking to Kravitz last night, but… it’s just… okay, look. He remembers his whole life crystal clear, right down to how many stars you could see from this planet eight hundred and twenty years ago, but…”

He lowered his voice, glancing towards the door. “My past has always just been… fuzzy to me. I never really worried about it, but… I’m just now realizing that this might not be normal. And that if it isn’t, then I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

Garyl swallowed the last of the carrots. “Yo, your past isn’t fuzzy to me. You really don’t remember your lich buddies — your lich family? Your literal sister and brother-in-law?”

“No, Garold, I don’t remember the sound of getting electrocuted in a fantasy garbage disposal!” Taako rubbed his forehead with increasing vigor, futilely attempting to massage away the sensation of an approaching migraine. “I don’t know how you made that noise with your nasty horse mouth, but it sounded just as bad as the static Lich Barry was speaking when —”

He gasped — and in the ensuing silence, the static kept ringing in his ears, but not as an audible echo. It was coming from within his own head, like a misdirected electric current leaping from neuron to neuron, generated as his mind repeatedly tried and failed to process what he’d just heard… and Taako knew exactly where he’d felt that sensation before.

“Oh, fuck.”

He bolted for the door, locked it, then frantically emptied his pockets until he found his Stone of Farspeech, which he powered down and then magically silenced for extra insurance. “Shit. Shit. Fuck.”

“Yo, what’s the rush?” Garyl asked. “Didja just remember you owe the unicorn mafia a whole bushel of oatsss?”

“What the hell? No!” Taako cradled Garyl’s snout in his hands, standing on his tiptoes to stare at Garyl in the eyes. “Promise me, promise me right now, Garyl, that you’re not gonna fucking snitch.”

Garyl’s expression turned as serious as a binicorn’s expression could turn, given two horns, technicolor eyes, and glittering lashes to work with. “Taako, you gave me life. I’ve always got your back, man.”

“There’s a second voidfish,” Taako blurted out. “And you’re more ghost than horse, I guess, so you’re immune to it, but I’m not. And I — I think I lost something big to it.”

“Huh.” Garyl snorted. “Damn. Geez, yeah. That would explain some things about, man, musta been…” He closed his eyes, nostrils twitching. “The last twelve years? That sound right?”

“Please, Garyl. You — you might know me better than I know me, at this point, so I need you to tell me — who can I trust?”

“I can’t decide that for you, Taako.” Garyl arched his majestic equine neck, as a single tear rolled down his face, and his mullet billowed in a wind that simply shouldn’t have been possible indoors. “Look at what you know to be true in your heart, and begin the journey towards your truth by trusting yourself.”

“I’m not here to listen to your poetry, Garyl — I need names!” Taako pleaded. “Like, I — I can at least trust Kravitz, right?”

“Look, man, I’m sorry! I could tell you who you used to trust, but if someone took a Voidfish-brand eraser to your chalkboard of a brain, that means someone had to betray you, and I dunno who it was! Kravitz is probably chill, because he seems on the level and you haven’t known him long enough for him to be the culprit — but I’m still juggling like six suspects, and I’ve only got four hooves, man! I’m trying my best to —”

Abruptly, Garyl’s voice died out, and he lowered his eyes. “Well, okay, it would be… five suspects. ‘Cause… Lup definitely went missing before any memories got…”

Taako clapped his hands over his ears. “Can you try not to do that? I’m already on the edge of a migraine without —”

A knock at the door interrupted him, and the next thing he knew, he was brandishing his Umbra Staff — never mind the fact that he’d locked that door just a minute ago, and it had since remained closed.

“Taako?” Lucretia called from the hallway. “Are you alright in there?”

After what must’ve been a suspiciously long pause, “Fine!” was the only word Taako could force out.

“Just dandy!” Garyl added in a terrible Taako impression, and Taako elbowed him in the equine shoulder.

“You’re sure?” The quizzical tilt to Lucretia’s head was downright audible. “You don’t sound like yourself.”

Taako bit back a reply of golly, I wonder if that’s because I don’t who I am or how much of myself I’m missing! but managed something more civil, clamping a hand over Garyl’s mouth as he spoke.

“Just had a late night last night! Took some… personal hours. May or may not be nursing a mild hangover now.”

“Oh, we’ve all been there. Merle did mention you were sleeping in.” Lucretia sounded like her suspicion had been sated — unless, of course, she just wanted Taako to think that — because in a much more casual voice that carried far less gravitas, the next thing she asked was: “Do you mind if I come in? I feel like we haven’t talked since Candlenights.”

“No problem!” Taako replied, probably much too quickly. He uttered the word ‘unlock’ under his breath in Elvish, to magically undo his little paranoia-induced security measure before swinging the door open, and hoping Lucretia wouldn’t notice the door had been locked or go on to question why. “Mi casa es tu casa — ‘cause, y’know, mi casa is technically part of your moonbase.”

If Lucretia did notice the unlocking door, she only questioned it silently, because her attention seemed understandably drawn to the binicorn trotting in place in the middle of the dorm.

“Oh, Garyl! Good to see you too.”

“Haha, yeah!” Garyl chuckled nervously. “Imagine meeting you, here, in a place like this! What are the odds?”

Lucretia lowered herself onto the sofa, glanced at Magnus’s rugged hand-crafted coffee table, and pointed to her feet. “Do you mind?”

Taako shrugged. “Uh… knock yourself out, Luce?”

She kicked off her heeled boots and slung her feet onto the table, laying her staff down in her lap. “Let’s get to the point. I did come here for a particular reason —”

“Oh?” Taako forced a smile. “Do tell.”

“Well, Merle and Leon got into a bit of an argument over — actually, let me start from the beginning. At some point in today’s second game, the kickball went over the edge of the moon, and has probably hit the planet Earth at terminal velocity by now.” Lucretia grimaced. “I hope no one was standing beneath it. Yikes.”

“Home run, baby!” Garyl cheered. Taako simply attempted to nod along.

“Actually, by our rules, it’s a foul with a sizeable penalty. Leon was pitching and Merle was kicking, so naturally they got into a fight over whose fault it was, and Merle threatened — let me see if I remember this all correctly — to ask you, Taako, to ask your ‘new friend the Grim Reaper’ to come up here and ‘reap Leon’s ass’ like said Grim Reaper purportedly once threatened to reap Merle’s own ass. So I was just hoping to get to you first, and stage an intervention to make sure the Bureau’s only artificer doesn’t take a one way trip to the heavens above — not to mention, maybe, ask if you had any idea what the hell Merle was talking about?”

“Well, bold statement saying Leon would go to heaven, first of all. Pretty sure he’d head the way of the plummeting kickball and smash through the planet’s crust. Second of all, um, I guess you could say I know the Grim Reaper? Look, we haven’t been seeing each other for very long, but I think we both feel a connection —”

“Oh! Well, good for you! Don’t get me wrong, that’s fucking wild if you mean it seriously rather than as a goof, but I’m still happy for you!”

“Not a goof. That is the whole story there, though. I’m dating the Grim Reaper, what more is there to say?” Taako grinned from ear to ear, and it felt slightly more sincere than every other smile he’d put on in this disaster of a conversation. “But as a… as an aside… uh, Garyl, do you remember those… six, no, five people you mentioned to me, just before Lucretia showed up?”

Garyl blinked at him with a downright hostility, as if to say You’re circling back to this topic NOW?

“Your, um, suspect list?” Taako clarified. “Of… people on the moon most likely to give you oats? I guess it was more like a power ranking, actually, let’s definitely call it a power ranking instead of a suspect list — but my point is, um, was the ‘Director’ here on it?”

“Yee-esssss,” Garyl replied slowly, still giving Taako the evil eye. “You know what I always say about Lucretia: she… she totes got the oats!”

“Okay!” Taako replied, knuckles turning white as he gripped the handle of the Umbra Staff. “Thanks! For letting me know! About those oat facts!”

“Um,” said Lucretia, which was probably the best reaction that Taako could’ve reasonably hoped for. “I… think I misplaced my oats today. Also, maybe my supply of oats for this entire year?” She reached for her boots. “Is this a hint that I should go back to refereeing kickball?”

“Yes!” Taako blurted out. “Oh, I mean, no, it’s not — I mean, you can leave! But you don’t have to. We don’t mind you being here!”

“We don’t not want you to leave but we also don’t not not not want you to leave,” Garyl added, as if it were a verbal Fantasy Rosetta Stone that would clarify and explain all of Taako’s anxious floundering. “Because we trust and cherish you. And oats! Mostly oats.”

Lucretia slipped her boots back on, then rose from her seat in a regal manner that probably wasn’t intended to intimidate the living daylights out of Taako. “No, you have a point. I should go make sure our secret society doesn’t fracture into warring kickball factions — but I’ll be back to chat more, don’t worry. Hopefully on a day you’re feeling better, Taako.”

She winked at Garyl as she turned to leave. “And I’ll try and remember to bring oats. Gotta move up in those power rankings.”

“It was actually more like a tier list!” Garyl called as she closed the door. When Taako magically locked it behind her, Garyl began pacing around the dorm, his tail swishing with enough force to knock several paintings and decorative vases onto the floor.

“Taako! She never has oats and she knows it! She’s onto us!”

“Yeah, you think?” Taako sunk into the couch Lucretia had vacated, burying his head in his hands. “I need backup who can hear through the static, before she puts it together and comes back to throw me in the brig. I’m calling Kravitz.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you do that. I’ll keep working on the tier list.” As Taako began to reboot his Stone, Garyl accelerated his nervous pacing to a nervous trot.

“Garyl, if this turns into a canter, I swear to gods —” Taako muttered, tapping the Stone’s unresponsive screen with a shaky thumb.

“Sorry.” Garyl slowed to a halt. “Hmm. You trust Davenport more, less, or the same as Lucretia?”

“What, you think he just pretends he can only say his own name to disguise his role as the evil mastermind?” Taako’s stomach churned. “Shit. You might be onto something. Put him below Lucretia on the tier list. Or above? I dunno how —”

“Wait, I’m not following you, man. Since when can Dav can only say his own name?”

Taako groaned. “I’m gonna take a wild guess and say since twelve fucking years ago — alright, finally! Here we go!” His Stone of Farspeech flickered to life, and he navigated to Kravitz’s contact page as quickly as his trembling fingers allowed.

When he hit Call, an eerie silence filled the dorm as he and Garyl listened to one, two, three, four short rings — then, a beep, and a horrendous pre-recorded Cockney accent.

Hullo, greetings, and top o’ the morning! You’ve successfully reached the desk of Kravitz, Emissary of Her Majesty the Raven Queen, but I’m away right now, so if you have a zombie outbreak to report, press 1. If you wish to subscribe to our mailing list of anti-necromancy resources, press 2. If you’re dead and in need of an escort to the Astral Plane, press 3. If you just wanted to have a friendly chat, please leave a message after the caw, and I’ll get back to you once I’m able.

A raven cawed, and Taako started talking:

“Hey, babe, it’s me! Your boy. Um, don’t let me take you away from saving the world from necromancers or anything important like that… but if you’re not busy, I could really use your help, so if you could swing by the moonbase, and — and maybe not tell anyone you’re coming here or that you’re coming to see me — then that would be just swell! Everything’s cool, nothing’s wrong — well, no, you’re a perceptive guy, you can definitely tell something’s wrong — but I’m sure you and me, and Garyl, and maybe Angus will be able to figure it out, no problem! Except, now that I think about it, maybe not Angus, because I’ve put him in enough danger to solve my own problems already — but uh, thanks in advance, love you, see you soon, bye!”

Then he dropped his Stone, grabbed the nearest couch pillow, and screamed into it.

“Hey, hey, relaaax,” Garyl told him. “You heard him — he’ll get back to you soon.”

“Yeah. I know.” Taako took a deep breath, letting the pillow fall to the ground. “He’s just a busy guy, with an important job. He’ll be here as soon as he can…”

Garyl nodded sagely. “And you’d do the same, for him, because that’s love. Unless…”

Taako’s heart skipped a beat. “Unless?”

“Unless someone on the lower end of the trust tier list knows about his connection to you, and to keep hiding the truth, they capture him before he can get here!” Garyl sniffed. “Just like the unicorn mafia captured my dear ol’ uncle…”

Taako pressed the Call button again, and when he was once again directed to voicemail, he picked the pillow back up and resumed screaming.

“Hey, take it easyyy, man. It’s not like they can kill him,” Garyl soothed. “And b’sides, haven’t you got that… that whatsit-called, that magic arrow? You can still check in on him that way, even if the bad guys stole his Stone!”

“Right!” Taako sprung up from the couch, and bolted towards the quiver of arrows that Magnus had casually slung onto the doorknob of his room. “I mean, I’m sure his phone didn’t even get taken from him — he’s eight and a half centuries old, for crying out loud! He probably just misplaced it, or accidentally put it on silent, or… gee, we really don’t have a lot of traditional surfaces to jab arrows into here, do we?”

He glanced around the dorm, gaze finally landing on Magnus’s homemade coffee table. “I’ll just… wedge it in one of the seams in the wood, so it definitely won’t be noticeable, right?”

“You asking me? I’m apparently an amnesia-immune ghost horse, man — what makes ya think I’d ever want or attempt to understand woodworking?”

“Guess you’ve never attempted to understand a rhetorical question, either,” Taako muttered as he crouched on the ground. Clasping the arrow between two hands, he took a deep breath, then plunged it into the coffee table. “Kravitz? I could really use your help, I won’t lie, but — but mostly, I’m worried and just checking in to make sure you’re okay —”

For a sliver of a second, everything seemed to proceed as it should, with an electric blue glow flickering to life inside the arrowhead — and then, it exploded, spitting out fragments of crystal and tongues of vicious astral fire. Taako reflexively turned his head and dropped to the floor, but still felt something sharp and burning prick into his biceps like a red-hot needle, and he held his breath until the sound of shattering crystal halted and the sound of burning wood faded to a faint sizzling.

“So, uh…” Garyl slowly backed away from Magnus’s poor table, which was already more ‘smoldering pile of ash and sapphire dust’ than it was furniture. “This ever happen before?”

“No,” Taako whispered. He raised a hand to touch the stinging point on his arm, and pulled away with a droplet of blood and a tiny pointed crystal both resting atop his index fingertip. “Never —”

“Okay, cool, that narrows down the possibilities,” Garyl concluded. “Either he’s really busy, or we’re really fucked.”

This time, Taako didn’t even bother to grab a pillow before he started screaming.

***

End Notes:

thanks for reading, comments welcomed as always!

next chapter: Ghost Fight (or in other words, we get to see what Kravitz has been up to in the meantime)

[journalofimprobablethings]

Summary:  Lup's back! This chapter is somewhat shorter than usual; not a lot of action but many Feelings are had by all.

Preview:

Lup is so used to numbness, to fighting for sensation, that the moment of breaking out of the umbrella almost overwhelms her.

There is a tearing and an explosion and suddenly her black-curtained prison is gone, torn apart, and she is free, feeling the full scope of her power crackling through her like she hasn’t in years. She is engulfed in flames, in pure sensation and power, and there is a moment, just a moment, where she teeters, in danger of going from one extreme to the other, of being consumed completely by magic and emotion.

But then the moment passes, and she pulls herself back. The flames still burn around her, but she has control of them, they are a part of her, and she laughs in sheer joy at the feeling of it.

She looks around for whoever got her out--she hasn't been very aware of the outside, since she used up all her energy burning her name into the wall for Taako to see. Did he figure it out somehow?

She looks, and then she sees Lucretia.

Lucretia, who tore their family apart and scattered them to the winds. Lucretia, who banished Barry to who knows where and left Lup stranded, with no one left to look for her. Lucretia, who made Taako forget her .

The fires around Lup burn bright with her anger. She keeps herself in control--just. But she knows she looks terrifying right now, and she is glad of it. She spreads her arms and lets the fire in her hands grow and she lets all her rage flow into her voice as she shouts her question at Lucretia.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO, LUCY?"

Lucretia cowers and ducks her head, her hands clutched tight around a white oak staff that Lup recognizes--the Bulwark Staff. Lucretia's relic.

“Lup, I’m sorry," Lucretia says. "I’m so, so sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Lup looks down at Lucretia kneeling in the grass in front of her, a century of love battling with her satisfaction at Lucretia's fear. She looks, and she really sees her for the first time in almost ten years.

She’d been able to perceive a little, from inside the umbrella. Enough to tell that Taako and Magnus and Merle had changed--that they had forgotten. Enough to tell that Lucretia, when she appeared, was different, somehow.

But she hadn’t realized how different she was until now.

Lucretia's curls are bright white; her hands clutching the Bulwark Staff are worn. She’s so much thinner than Lup remembers; she has never seen Lucretia look so small. The fires around Lup dim a little at the realization.

Lup leans down, and takes Lucretia’s face in both of her insubstantial hands. She has to stifle a gasp when Lucretia looks up at her, hide her surprise and horror at the years that have drawn lines across her forehead and at the corners of her eyes.

Lucretia looks a full thirty years older than she did on the Starblaster--their baby sister, now a grown woman, middle-aged.  And more than that--she looks so tired. She can't be older than fifty-five, physically, but her face seems to hold the weariness of all one hundred and thirty of her actual years.

And as Lup looks at Lucretia's newly old face, the lines of fatigue and sorrow etched there along with the lines of age, all her anger--the fire that had burned in her at what Lucy did, everything she took from them--dissipates. Or at least is banked for now, buried under this new shock.

“Oh, Lucy,” she says. “What happened to you?”

Lucretia just shakes her head. "I don’t know,”  she says. “I didn't mean for it to go this way, Lup, I didn't want--"

“No, I mean--” Lup hesitates. “You’re--you--”

And of all things, Lucretia actually laughs. It's not much of one, but it's still a laugh. “Oh. That.” She sighs. “Wonderland. It’s a--a couple of liches got hold of the Animus Bell. They made themselves a torture chamber, to keep themselves going off the suffering of the people they lure in. I went there to get the Bell and I...I failed.”

Lup pulls back, her hands dropping to her sides. A part of her is thinking about Barry--how it must hurt, to know that his relic is being used to torture people. Where is he now? Does he know? Last time she was near him, he was a lich; so he, at least, remembers everything.

But before Lup’s mind can go too far down that track, she forces herself to return to the more immediately alarming part of what Lucetia said.

"You were trying to get the Bell back. You're collecting the relics? You know what that will do.”

"Of course I do. But I have to get the Light back in one piece to cast the barrier. It's the only way."

Lup huffs a frustrated sigh. “We already told you that won’t work. It’ll kill this world, Luce. A different kind of death, but it’ll kill it all the same.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do, actually. Think about it--what will happen if the bonds of this plane are cut off? Not just from other systems, but from the rest of the planes in this one? Souls couldn’t get to the astral plane, Merle couldn’t get to Pan; gods know what it would do to magic--is that what you want?”

“It’ll just be temporary, just while we starve out the Hunger--it has to be weak now, we’ve kept it away so long--”

The fires around Lup begin to burn hot with her frustration. Ten years later, they are still having the same argument.

“Lucretia, come on! You know it doesn’t work like that. You can’t just mend those broken bonds once your wall comes down. If you cut this plane off from the others, that’s it. For good. You can’t do it; we can’t do it this way.”

Lucretia shakes her head, pushing herself to her feet with the Staff. It doesn't escape Lup's attention, the effort it takes for her to stand.

"I have to do this, Lup. I have to cast the barrier, I have to protect them." Her voice is rising, almost frantic.

“You don’t, it’s not--” Lup stops suddenly. She looks, not at Lucretia’s face, but at the Bulwark Staff in her hand.

"Hey, Luce? That staff. That's your relic, right?"

"Yes."

"Can I see it for a second?"

Lucretia's grip tightens instinctively on the Bulwark Staff. "Why?"

"I just want to look at it. Just for a moment."

Lup holds her hand out, and Lucretia takes a step back, her eyes fixed on Lup's hand.

Lup freezes. Then she sighs.

"Okay, how about this? Set it down, and I'll pick it up. How's that? You can set it down, right? You don't hold it all the time."

Lucretia shakes her head.

"I--I--"

Her brow is furrowed, that tiny crease that always appears when she is confused or worried. She seems to be having difficulty processing what Lup is saying, and the dreadful suspicion in Lup's mind grows stronger.

She holds her hand out again, this time palm out, like she's calming a wild animal.

"Come on, Luce," she says softly.

Lucretia shakes her head again. She puts a hand to her head, to her ears, like she's trying to block something out--Lup's voice, or something else.

"I--I don't--"

"This is me, Luce. It's Lup. I promise I'll give it right back," Lup says.

Lucretia nods, slowly, and her grip behind to loosen on the Staff, her knuckles no longer white.

“That's it. You can do it. Just set it down.”

Lucretia holds the staff out in front of her and then she inhales sharply and lets go, all at once, as if she's been suddenly burned. The Staff falls with a soft whump into the grass and lies still: an innocent, unremarkable piece of white oak.  

Lup leans down, and hesitates only a moment before she picks it up. She gasps.

It’s been a long time since she held a Grand Relic, but she remembers what it felt like: that pulse of power, the--what was it Magnus called it?--the “cravability” of the Light.

This is so much more powerful than any of them ever felt. Lup is a being of pure magic, and when she touches the Staff, the power of it crackles through her like lightning.

And then a voice twines through her head, a voice that, if she doesn't listen carefully, sounds almost indistinguishable from Lucretia’s. You wanted to save the world . It says. You know the price the world has paid for what you did. You can still fix it. You can save everyone. You can save your brother, your love. You can make sure no one else dies because of you.

It is so seductive, that voice: all the things that it promises in the tones of her little sister.

Lup closes her eyes, and thinks of Barry, of every conversation they had in their tiny room on the Starblaster about their plan, and Lucretia’s, and ways to save this world that didn’t take such an awful toll. She remembers every detail of him, the warmth of his arms, the sound of his voice, the weariness and resignation in it as they went through, again, why the barrier would never work. She lets his voice wash over her and drown out the voice of the relic in her mind.

If she hadn't been so practiced at remembering, at making those memories so real in her imagination, she's not sure she would have won. She can only imagine what it has been like for Lucretia, living with this voice in her head for the last ten years.

The thrall of the Staff doesn't explain all of it--it was still hidden when Lucretia made the decision to feed the memories of their journey to Fisher. That decision, that first betrayal, was all her.

But Lup can see how the Staff must have blinkered her since, has turned her ordinary determination into an obsession. The Staff has kept her on the path she started, even as things have gone wrong.

And then she started collecting the relics, and she made it stronger .

Lup opens her eyes.

"Oh, Lucy."

Lucretia stands watching Lup, her shoulders hunched, somehow looking even smaller without the Staff.

"I'm so sorry, Lup," she whispers.

Lup sighs, and places the Bulwark Staff gently, carefully back on the ground.

“Lucretia, what were you thinking?”

The question seems to break something in Lucretia. Her whole body starts to shake, and she presses a hand to her mouth to hold back a sob. For a moment, it seems that she might just collapse.

Then Lucretia drops her hand, and takes a breath, and steadies herself. It's a routine that seems born of long practice, and when she speaks, her voice is almost calm. Lup sees, for the first time without the distance of the umbrella dimming her perception, Lucretia as the Director.

“I had to do something. The relic plan wasn’t...we couldn’t go on the way we were. You know how it was. The way we were pulling apart. We were dying, and the world was dying, and we couldn’t see a way out. And then you left and...it just got so much worse.”

Lucretia's composure wobbles, and her voice begins to shake.

“You were gone, and Barry and Taako were killing themselves looking for you, and I was so afraid that they would--that we would lose them, too--and then--then--” She takes another breath to try to steady herself, but she is losing her careful Director mask. “Someone figured out how to use the Bulwark Staff to--to imprison people, to keep them contained while they--it was supposed to be for protection, but they were using it to do such awful things--”

“Babe…”

Lup reaches out to her, but Lucretia shakes her head and steps away from Lup's embrace.

“The wars kept getting worse and--and I needed to talk to someone, I wished I could talk to you, but you were gone and none of us--we didn’t talk, anymore! We didn’t do anything anymore. We just sat up there while the world destroyed itself with the weapons we created and I--I couldn’t--I had to do something and--Fisher was there in my room and I--”

“You erased it all.”

Lucretia nods. “But it--it’s gone all wrong; it was only supposed to be for a little while, while I got the relics back, but it’s been so much harder than I thought it would be and--and everything I tried to do to keep you all safe and happy has--it’s all gone so wrong, Lup. Magnus and Merle and Taako--everything fell apart for them, and you and Barry were missing, and Davenport--” She presses a shaking hand to her mouth, trying to hold herself together, but she’s disintegrating, falling apart, just like everything she’s tried to do over the past ten years. “I made my choice and I had to keep going but I--it’s been--”

And then she’s gone. Lucretia falls to the ground, her head in her hands, and Lup's heart cracks in two. She watches as Lucretia collapses in on herself, a decade's worth of suppressed emotion all flowing out at once--and the banked embers of her anger dim and go out. She can't stay angry at Lucretia, even a little, when she's hurting so much.

She has never wished more fervently that her lich form could be a little more solid, so that she could reach down and take Lucretia in her arms. But she can't; her body remains frustratingly insubstantial. So she does the next best thing. She lowers herself next to Lucretia and wraps her arms around her as best she can, and stokes the fires within her so that her whole form emanates a gentle warmth. She leans her head as well as she can against Lucretia's, the space where her cheek would be against Lucretia's temple.

“It’s okay, babe. I’m here. You’re not alone anymore. I’m here.”

Lup’s words seem to only make Lucretia cry harder. The sobs that wrack her are so strong that she barely has a chance to draw breath between them. Lup wishes she could cry with her, could have some sort of release for the sorrow building inside her. But her lich form has no capacity for tears. Lup can do nothing but wrap herself as close as she can over Lucretia’s shaking form, and whisper soothing words into her ear.

They stay like that for a long time, so long that by the time Lucretia calms, her sobs subsiding into hiccups and sharp breaths, the sun is low in the sky, the shadows of the grass casting long, skinny stripes across their bodies.

Lucretia finally pushes herself up. Her movements are so slow, so tired. She looks up at Lup with eyes red from crying.

"Where did you go, Lup? Were you in the staff the whole time?"

"More or less." She pauses. "I went to hide the Gauntlet."

She thinks back to that moment of decision, to sneaking out of bed while Barry snored, unaware. To standing in the shadowy kitchen, placing a careful kiss on her note before leaving it on the table--the note that she now knows was so false, so inadequate a thing to leave behind.

She wonders what might have happened, if she had made a different choice.

"What you said, about us sitting up there while the things we made destroyed the world--you're right. I felt it too, and I couldn't fuckin' stand it. It was tearing me apart. Taako shut down and Merle was trying to be positive through it all and even Barry--Barry tried to help, but what could he say? We were the ones who proposed this plan. The blood of this world was on our hands and--there was nothing we could do."

"Oh, Lup."

"So I decided to do what I could to take one relic at least out of circulation. I didn't tell any of you about it because I didn't think you would agree. I decided I could fix it on my own."

"Sounds familiar," Lucretia says, with a wry twist of her mouth that is almost, almost a very bitter smile.

Lup laughs, a small, bitter laugh to match.

"Too bad we never tried to talk to each other about this, huh?" she says. "Maybe things would have been different."

"Yeah." Lucretia looks down at her hands. "Maybe."

The wind hisses through the field, rattling the tops of the grass.

"So what now?" Lucretia asks.

“Now?” Lup says. “We’re going to do what we should have done in the first place. We’re going to talk to each other. We’re going to figure out how to fix this. And we’re going to get our family back.”

She smiles at Lucretia, a fierce smile that she thinks is probably a little terrifying.

“You and me, Luce. We’re gonna save the world.”