driftfleet | Libuscha IV System Mingle (no. 1)

[Sounds like it was a lesson learned, so Taako shrugs and nods. Yeah, this Thor definitely doesn't feel like the kind of guy who'd just go buckwild for war and attack a different people.

But it's still something to keep in mind. People, even gods, had an inherent nature. It could be tempered, it could be shifted, it could even be changed, but it could never be erased. Traces of what made you as a person always clung to the edges, ready to rear their ugly heads the moment things got desperate.]

Far off 'cause you're, yanno, stuck here? Or far off 'cause of shit going on back home still?

Because if the former - totes get it. If the latter? Thaaat sucks.

The latter. There are more important things I must do first, since Asgard is--

[Thor cuts off with surprise as a loud splash rings out from the pool beneath the tree. Whipping around, he can see the ripples spreading out from a point just next to the shore. With a uncertain glance back at Taako, Thor approaches the disturbed water. Something's in there where there was nothing before. He reaches down and pulls something out from under the surface - then barks a startled laugh.]

Oh my god, I haven't seen this in years.

[In his hand is a silver, winged helmet, all sweeping lines and flawlessly polished. He spins it up to hold it in both hands, frankly astonished that this is what the tree chose to give him. Seven years wasn't that long in the grand scheme of his life, but it felt like an age ago.]

[Taako actually jumps when something crashes into the water, instinctively sliding behind the biggest shield in the room - Thor. The ice caves had been safe so far, but with his luck a giant worm or kruthik or something would pop out of nowhere ready to devour them. But when no monster appears and Thor glances at him, Taako shrugs and motions him forward.

Something was there in the water and?

Thor's laughing? Taako takes a step forward and peeks at the thing he's got in his hands now, puzzled at the appearance of a silver helmet.]

That thing belongs to you?

[He glances up at the ceiling, but there's nothing by softly glowing ice and crystal stalactites. How the heck did it end up--

Oh.

Taako looks back at the tree which has reduced in its brilliance and frowns. So that's the game, is it?]

Neat little nostalgia bomb, huh? God of Luck's luck holds out yet again.

It does, yeah. I haven't worn it since my coronation a few years ago.

[And it was lost in the destruction of Asgard, same as anything else. Flipping it over, Thor raises it and puts it on his head. It's ostentatious as hell, but it does look good.]

I don't know what I was expecting from this tree, but it wasn't this.

[It's ostentatious as fuuuuuck, but it works and Taako loves it. It's like a shiny crown and who doesn't want a shiny crown on a coronation?

He gives the helmet an appraising look, then claps in appreciation.]

Not bad for a tree gift then, not bad at all.

[Better than whatever Lup got that sent her into a depressive spiral.]

Looks good on you, bud. You gonna wear it around?

[It's a shame he doesn't have the more elaborate armour he used to wear to go with it. Asgard always was good at blending their highly stylised fashion sense into everything they did, battle-gear included. Thor grins brightly at the applause before he chuckles.]

Maybe if they throw a suitably important feast. [With a shrug, he reaches up and takes the helmet off again, shaking out his hair.] But I haven't worn this thing into a fight in a long time, so I probably won't start doing so again.

Curious to know what would be considered "suitably important" for a god.

[He isn't sure if he could figure out how to make a meal that would fit that moniker. A feast for the gods? He might cook for one, but that wasn't really a "feast" per se.

When Thor shakes his hair loose from the helmet, Taako bites his lower lip. It's like a Fantasy L'Oreal commercial. It's both weirdly attractive and just plain hilarious.]

Well, unless we have some kinda Candlenights fight coming up, you might have to set it on a shelf for awhile. Sadly.

I did already say coronation. That's fine, though. [He regards the helmet in his hands again with more seriousness, rubbing a thumb long the edge of one wing.] I don't know that it suits me anymore regardless.

I dunno; I thought it looked pretty good.

[There's something there in the way Thor looks at that helmet. He'd been about to say something earlier when it fell into the water, too. Something about his home, Asgard. Maybe something bad, judging by the look on his face.

That's no good. If all the things this tree gives out leaves people feeling shitty afterward, Taako isn't sure if he wants anything anymore. Except that no, he does, he really really does. He isn't even sure what the tree could give him that would make him feel like crap. Merle's arm? Gross. Not hi fault. His one and only regret had only been cleared up with the Chalice, and now he just wanted a place where he could be alone - away from everyone here for a few minutes to an hour at a time. Just so he didn't have to think about it all.

Taako clears his throat and tries to lighten the mood, shrugging a little.]

Maybe we can crown you king of your ship or something and give you a big ass feast that way. I have no idea how ships work. Is that how ships work? They have captains not kings, right?

Captains, yes. And I could do that but I think Riona is doing a fine job of it already.

[Not that Riona had wanted the captaincy. It had gone to her after Sokka left, and Thor took the First Mate role she had vacated. Truth be told, he isn't keen on being a captain either. Thor's taken his own responsibility by the reins ever since Odin's death, but there's still a part of himself that wishes someone else could do the job. A private part.

Thor settles the helmet under his arm and grins.]

I wouldn't say no to a feast though. The end of the year is coming up, surely that deserves one.

This entire planet is in Candlenights mode so a feast is bound to happen.

[Although making a feast for Thor is still a sticking point. He's only recently started making food for people he actually cares about again. And a feast? Well, he'd need help to create it and letting anyone else in his kitchen still makes him twitchy.

He considers for a moment, then gives a noncommittal answer.]

You'll have to keep an eye out for what's going on. Considering the time of year, I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of people got some ragers going on.

Oh, they have feasts all the time here, I'm not worried about finding one.

[Joking aside, Thor's ship isn't quite big enough to warrant a feast of any sort these days. If the planet is going to throw them every day, he'll make use of that.]

You must be busy doing cooking for your own ship as well.

Mmhm - them and the Melting Pot.

[People he doesn't have to worry about. Loki and Haggar are made of magic and Tyrion is generally cool with pies and tarts, which he can source the materials from. And Akeldama? He's a freaking immortal vampire. It makes cooking for them fairly easy.

None of them seem to care much about food so he hasn't really had to think too hard about them. It's the Melting Pot where he has to be careful - but also where he doesn't have to care as much since he doesn't have to see who's eating.]

Taako keeps himself busy, but I'll make an exception and come see you in your fancy helmet if you make an appearance.

[Thor hasn't been over to the Melting Pot in a while, so he blinks with surprise.]

You took over the Melting Pot, did you?

[Since Jarvis left Thor hasn't frequented the place as much. It's really only in drift times that he goes over to the Iskaulit for any reason other than visiting his office. Even that has tapered off now with his mounting frustrations.]

[He shrugs with an incline of his head. He didn't exactly announce it since he was still on the fence about how he felt running a restaurant, but seeing as no one had had any trouble so far? He was slowly putting it out there.]

I am indeed. Mickey, that invisible seraphim dude? I got the job from him.

I take it you haven't come by and noticed the significant uptick in food quality, huh?

Not in a while - I'm only really on the Iskaulit when there's nowhere else to go. I had wondered if anyone took over for Jarvis now that he's gone.

[It's good to know someone did. Jarvis had put a lot of effort into that restaurant and it was a little sad to think of it lying abandoned without the man.]

You should drop in sometime then - see how I've changed it up.

[Not that he's done too much, but the more people who come into the restaurant and leave alive, the more his confidence rebuilds.

Taako is quiet for a moment and then tilts his head to one side, his ears flicking back.]

Everyone talks about this Jarvis guy though - who was he?

I should! I'll be sure to do so.

[At the question, Thor hums and scratches his neck in thought.]

He was someone from my universe, from Earth. He had worked for one of my friends there. I only ever met him in the Fleet though, as he was taken from some sixty years earlier than my own time. [And humans just don't live very long.] I believe he was something called a butler.

[More timeline shenanigans, huh? Taako rolls that idea in his head and then makes a face.]

You mean I missed an actual butler being here? As in a suit-wearing, do whatever you say, walks around all disapproving of your ill manners sort of butler?

He did wear suits. Not sure about the manners thing.

[As Thor was never rude to him, maybe he just missed out on that aspect of Jarvis's personality.]

Maybe another butler will come sometime.

All butlers are snobby about manners in my experience.

[Taako sticks his tongue out at the idea of another one showing up.]

So as much as I'd love to be waited on hand and foot, I don't need someone harshing my vibe with "proper procedures" or whatever. Taako's a live and die free kinda guy. Nothing and nobody to tie him down, going wherever I want whenever I want, yanno?

[It hadn't always been the easiest life, but it was his and he couldn't allow regret to factor into it.]

Mostly. I think. [He frowns, the flair and ease dropping from his voice for a moment, ears flicking back. The unease is there and gone in an instant and Taako tries to cover it up with an easy shrug of his shoulders.]

Yeah, pretty sure no matter what Taako's been Taako the entire time.

[When a personality as big as Taako's wavers, it's not hard to notice. Even though Thor snorts with amusement he's wondering where that 'I think' came from. Then again maybe it's a simple matter of not knowing. It was only a few minutes ago that they were speaking of deaths unremembered.]

Sometimes those procedures have their place, I must admit. [Even if that place is to be broken. Thor's no stranger to flaunting the rules or committing treason.] Mostly?

[It's open-ended enough, repeating what Taako had said.]

[Taako glances at the tree, ears flicking momentarily as he considers and weighs his options. As Lup said, he's never been a sharing is caring sort of guy. But right now it irks him that she's right, and that the tree wants this of all things from him. He could have pretended to be nice easily enough. Hee could have thrown any number of objects into the water lickedity split, no water off this wooden duck's back. But no, it wanted honesty, which was not on brand for the wizard Taako.

He lets Thor's question hang in the air for long enough it seems he won't answer, and then lets out a defeated sigh. ]

Mentioned it before, I'm sure, but I'm missing huge chunks of my autobiography. And Lup? She's a big ol' blank-a-roo. Never met her until I got here, no idea who she is or why she stole my face.

[He manages to keep his tone light, shrugging easily like this is a joke of someone else's life, not his. It helps with the panic he feels rising like a stone in his stomach, an easy and practiced disguise of not caring when he cared the most.]

Weird, right?

Edited 2019-01-02 15:49 (UTC)

[Thor had shifted back on his heels a bit, getting ready to fill that gap of silence with a subject change, when Taako finally answers. He blinks at the unexpected change and finds himself dismayed. There was more to Taako's lack of memory than just those deaths?]

You said about the deaths, but - more than that? Lup as well?

[He had thought from the wary way Lup answered him that they merely had some complicated sort of family relationship. This... would certainly count as complicated. Not the alternate reality that she had shot down as a suggestion either.]

That is indeed strange. Do you have any idea why you can't remember?

[Unwittingly, Thor helps replace Taako's panic with something far more familiar - a budding sensation of rage every time he thinks about the voidfish. He doesn't know why or the details of the how, but he has put together the overall picture and every time he thinks about it, the rage gets a little sharper, a little more dangerous.]

Oh yeah, I got an idea. We have this thing on our planet, no idea where it came from, but it's call the voidfish - supposedly only one of them in existence. It eats memories. Like, erases shit from reality. It gets all replaced with static. Any mention of it - written, drawn, spoken, whatever - all turns to static, too.

[Taako's tone turns bitter as he watches the tree start to light up. Of course this is what that fucker wants.]

Pretty much all of my memories? Have static somewhere in them up to twelve years ago. And Lup? Yeah, if I even try to think about her or who she's supposed to be? All static. It's annoying as fuck.

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