[open + starters] Take a look inside my book of recipes

[mydude]

Who: Taako and all you good good boys (with a starter for Lup)
Where: The magic study room thingy, the kitchen, wherever Lup takes Taako,
When: The week of October 23rd
Rating: PG???
Summary: Taako fucks around with some magic, experiments with kitchen appliances, and Lup forces Taako to spend quality time with her.
The Story:

A | The Magic Study Room | Open

So he hasn't exactly been earning like, tons of EXP or whatever lately, but he can still practice his magic like, the normal boring way. Which admittedly is pretty much the ideal way to do it, given how often he almost dies or definitely makes other people die when he goes adventuring. Still, doing awesome magic shit when nobody's around to see it feels like a waste.

Which is why it's a good thing there's this magic study room for him to just casually do awesome magic shit in in the hopes that somebody comes by and sees him being totally baller. Like right now? He's just repeatedly shrinking and expanding the same vase over and over again. One second it's teeny tiny! The next it's taller than him! It's! So impressive!

Or it might be to anybody walking in. But if Taako's vague waving of the Umbra Staff is any indication, it's boring the shit out of him...


B | The Kitchen | Open

Now this is actually interesting. Taako hasn't gotten a chance to cook much since he found out he's not a mass food murderer, and he'd sort of forgotten in the intervening years since that bullshit happened that like. He really likes it? Like it's a fucking blast, with or without magic, and right now he's not even bothering with spells. There's too much normal non-arcane shit to fuck around with.

"What even is this thing?" Taako's got a pile of appliances and foodstuffs surrounding him on the counters, but for right now he's got his eyes on this...pitcher? With blades in it? Like, what's the point of them? Maybe they mo--

"Hachi machi!" Yeah, those are definitely blades and he is bleeding. Damn. So they're definitely not just for show. That's one theory crossed off the list, anyway.

Taako sticks his bleeding finger in his mouth and starts shaking the pitcher, trying to get the blades to spin that way.


C | Taako's Room | Closed to Lup

As much as the Taako who is living his truth is the Taako who actively avoids danger and complications, Taako is not an anxious guy. He's a guy with a penchant for denial and definitely has his problems to deny, sure, but he's not anxious about them because he's just that good at the denial thing. And when you've literally got no real way to think about something properly thanks to a fucking fish eating your memories or whatever the hell is going on, you'd think you could just go on pretending nothing is wrong forever.

But Nope. This Thing that is Wrong has a name apparently and she just made a date with him. And even Taako recognizes that this is probably a Thing that will become Less Wrong if he addresses it. But that doesn't mean he has to be pleasant about it.

So when she knocks at his door, he opens it. But he already looks kind of miserable.

"Alright. We're hanging. The hanging has begun and we are doing it." Maybe that's enough and he can just...close...the door...

Comments

SWEET CAUSE TIME TO CRY

[restinglichface]

Taako mentions growing up and Lup's head turns to him immediately, watching the man's face with an intense look, checking to see if even the smallest touch of recognition blossoms across his face. There's something there, but it's over before anything really comes from it. So Lup, uncharacteristically, drops it.

She doesn't want to chase Taako away again. She's trying to take this at his speed. Anytime spent with him is better than no time at all, even if she has to pretend that he isn't her everything.

"Same. When you never know where your next meal is coming from, you learn to appreciate the little things." Like a magical pantry.

"Whoa, what?" Lup leads the man ahead at a leisurely pace. She has a destination in mind, but there's no rush. She just wants to talk to him right now. "Back up a little bit there, my man. Making it out of us? How's magic different here? No one else has brought this up, but I doubt any of the bozos in this place understand magic like we do, so hit me with the deets."

HOO boy

[mydude]

Taako waves his free hand. "Something about why you can die five times but not more without help. Each time you get closer to this 'core' thing. It's why when events happen, people lose their--"

And he pauses again. It didn't seem like a big deal at the time. After all, he understood why the Director erased everyone's memories of the conflicts the relics caused. It didn't feel like a loss so much as a blessing, honestly. The world was more peaceful without all that. Right?

So being here, and having people say they're losing memories or words or whatever when events happen, it didn't seem all that big of a deal. You could lose a lot more, and hey, maybe it was for the better.

But now, with this living static holding onto him...

"People lose their memories. Because this place is using them as fuel."

[restinglichface]

Even being apart this long, Lup can still read her brother, can feel what he's thinking just by the slight shift of tension in his body next to her. He may be different in some respects, colder and so much more distant from the world, but he isn't not Taako. So his silence speaks volumes more to the woman than his words do, Lup's intense gaze not wavering, so much more focused on him than on the path they're idly walking along.

He's bothered by the static in his head around her. Taako has to know what it means.

And even if it may be too much for this stage in their barely there relationship, Lup doesn't stop herself from asking carefully in return, "Do you think you've lost anything?"

[mydude]

Taako's eyes immediately cut to Lup, widening slightly. But then he realizes she's not going there, not yet anyway, and he relaxes slightly.

"No, I don't think so. Haven't been here long enough, and I don't...think there's been anything that was taken from my memories. Or from Magnus's."

There was that one thing where he was an orc for a bit but that was someone else's, right? Weird as that was, given how clearly rare their kind of world is, here.

[restinglichface]

Taako probably means that nothing has been taken from their memories while in this place, but Lup's heart drops a little anyway. It just sucks. All of this sucks.

But instead of digging for more, she just shrugs, gaze turning back forward. "That's good, then. Most of the people I've talked to knew they lost something, so you'd probs know if you had. Either way, this placed is just fucked up."

[mydude]

Taako manages a light snort. "You said it, sister. I mean, did you ever see the Wonderland in our world? That place was fucked up to the extreme, but at least it was rapid-fire and like, you had a goal. Here it's like..."

He shakes his head. "Slow fucking torture."

And with that, he gestures vaguely in the direction they're walking. "Speaking of, where are we going, exactly?"

[restinglichface]

This has to be the first time in over two hundred years where Taako calling her sister left Lup with an unpleasantness coiling in her stomach. Ouch. If only he knew how true that was.

Her expression remains casual, arm looped in his. "Another Wonderland?" Lup's travels had taken her all over the continent, but she hadn't stumbled that far yet. "Nope, can't say I have, but sounds like that's a good thing. That place probably had an easier escape than this place too, I bet. What I wouldn't give for an exit right about now..."

But Taako asks where they are going and Lup can't help the grin that curls at her lips. "The kitchen. Thought we could do a little cooking together." Maybe he'd see how easily they fell into step in the kitchen and some memories of her might spark. Angus and Lucretia seemed to think it was impossible, but that won't stop her from trying.

[mydude]

"The Director got out of there, at least, yeah."

Taako's eyes widen a little when she reveals their final destination. "Really? How did you--"

No. Dumb question. He manages an awkward laugh. "Right. My memories are fucked. I forgot."

He basks in the irony in silence for a moment, eyes dropped to the floor.

"Uh, that sounds. Fun. You cook?"

He's...beginning to realize how fucking cruel these sorts of questions are.

[restinglichface]

Definitely cruel, but Lup manages to keep her smile this time. It's not much, but she's felt a little emboldened since Lucretia's arrival, which is the first good thing Wonderland's done for her. Sure, their relationship may be a little messy given what the other woman had actually done, but she knows Lup and that's really all the elf needed to feel boosted.

So Taako's question is a little cutting, but it's nothing Lup wasn't already prepared for. "Yep, even better than you, which is saying something." And maybe it's a step too far, maybe all he'll hear is static, but she tries for something innocent enough to maybe bypass the Voidfish's censorship. "We used to cook all the time together. I always had to clean up your messes when you'd fuck up, but most of the time we kind of kicked all of the ass together."

And sure enough, they aren't too far from the kitchen now, just a few doors down. "Sound alright? If not, I've got like a million other things planned."

[mydude]

Taako smirks at her description of the culinary shenanigans. "Uh, yeah, kicking ass and not doing dishes is like. My jam. That and Mambo No. 5."

He nods as they finally enter the kitchen. "This is great. I've been meaning to practice since, like, kinda don't need to adventure in the traditional sense anymore. So long as I don't forget how to cast fireball I should be fine. Or I'll just die because I can't do magic in whatever event it is. Y'know."

He shrugs lightly and breaks from her grasp in order to lean back against the counter, facing her.

"Did you plan a recipe or are we winging it?"

[restinglichface]

"Pfft, c'mon" Lup grins over at her twin, waving a hand vaguely in front of her. "No one as talented as us needs recipes. We can go wild on whatever we want. Or throw some shit together and see what happens. That's always makes for a pretty baller time."

She steps away to move towards the pantry, throwing open the doors and quickly assessing the plethora ingredients in front of them. It's so strange to have everything she's ever needed right there at her fingertips. They've always just had to make due with what they could find, conjuring what they needed or transmuting when they could. Wonderland sucks in a lot of ways, but the kitchen has been the one exception to this place for Lup so far.

"So, if you haven't been doing much around the kitchen, what kinda stuff do you do here?"

[mydude]

"Feel sorry for myself, mostly."

It's said flippantly, but it's...pretty honest. He sets his hat aside on a counter and starts rolling up his sleeves.

"It's not like we get a lot of time to ourselves before shit's, like. A different reality for a few days."

[restinglichface]

Taako, why are you like this?

Lup's expression doesn't change, but she does turn to look at him, eyes dancing over his face. She looks at Taako like she can see right through him. He's speaking flippantly, but she can see that it's too truthful to just brush away. It's not a response she's particularly pleased with.

But she finally breaks her gaze to pull out a couple of aprons from where they're hanging, tossing one to him. "C'mon, there's gotta be more to do around here than that. Don't you and Mags get up to shit together?"