driftfleet | Libuscha IV System Mingle (no. 1)

[He gives a short bark of laughter and shakes his head.]

If I thought I could get you to do your hair properly every day? I'd be suggesting a lot more than just "hair accessory" and leaving it to your imagination.

[At least she's joking again. They're back off the nasty topic of the Relics. He honestly wishes he could ask her about because those things were insane, but seeing her reaction marks that entire section of history as determinedly off limits.]

For all I know, you'd make it a hair scrunchie and wear it around your wrist.

[She laughs right back, giving her head a shake, a tail of hair sliding over her shoulder. She'd done it up neatly to come and visit him, but it's still hit-and-miss how fancy it ends up on a daily basis. It's never looked rats-nest worthy as it had the first few days (she'd still been adjusting to having a body again, so she has an excuse!) but she still likes it best in a quick and simple ponytail.]

Oh shit, you read my mind! I actually considered doing that for a minute there. It would be rad, right? I could fling spells at stuff like the most fabulous slingshot.

It's still a scrunchie, Lup. It's basically the lazy-man's fashion accessory.

[He is unimpressed, but then he is more than happy to spend a good fifteen minutes a day weaving beads into his locks or doing a fancy braid when he had the time. When he was adventuring on the regular, he'd rarely had the time he wanted to preen what with the other two always on his ass about something or another.]

Please tell me you'll do something other than a scrunchie.

Awww, but it would be such a unique focus! No one would forget the fearsome Scrunchie Wizard.

[She sticks her tongue out at him. She's not married to the concept - it's true, a scrunchie would be incredibly lame and not at all intimidating - but it's more fun to razz him instead of thinking about what would be better to use. Mostly because she keeps thinking about how fucking cool a fire gauntlet focus would be and how much it irritates her that she couldn't handle wielding it regardless. Damn Taako for making her think of it.

Maybe something along those lines, though… some kind of light armor would be rad.]

Yeah, they couldn't forget because they'd be too busy laughing at you until the end of time.

[He rolls his eyes and his head follows. He knows she's just teasing, but there is no way he can risk people mistaking him for her if her dumb focus becomes a damn scrunchie. He has standards and that goes against them. He can use a scrunchie. He can wear a scrunchie. But he is not allowed to be seen using a scrunchie as his magical focus. Even if it isn't him, but her doing it. If Lup has his face, she has to uphold his standards.]

Even a charm bracelet would be better than a scrunchie.

Hmmm. That would be cute I guess, but it wouldn't annoy you nearly as much.

[To the surprise of probably no one, that's her main motivator now.]

But don't worry. I'm sure some amazing inspiration will strike me one of these days, and then I'll have the most rad and fantastic focus you've ever seen.

[He should have known really that her new goal would be to find the one thing that annoyed him to turn into a focus. He has a feeling she's only teasing, but he still groans anyway, slumping in his chair as his nails are finished. Taako holds them up and alternates between blowing on them and sticking his tongue out at Lup.]

I mean, you made the umbrella [And a badass but horrifying death gauntlet] so fingers crossed inspiration strikes twice.

But honestly, anything would be better than a scrunchie.

"Anything", he says! I'll remember that.

[He might reconsider the scrunchie idea if she showed up with a jockstrap for a focus. She giggles at the mental image and rolls sideways off the chair, lightly tapping the pad of her thumb against each finger to make sure they're no longer tacky, then saunters over to the steaming water of the bath, nudging her shoes and socks off as she goes. By the time she reaches the water her feet are bare enough that she can sit at the edge and dip her toes in, gasping softly at the heat.]

Oh my goooooods this place is the best. I wish I'd gotten a Pocket Spa....

Just remember; you're the one who has to suffer using it.

[So yeah, go for the jockstrap, Lup. He fucking dares you.

She leaves to dip her feet in the water and Taako dismisses Raoul, who goes to stand unobtrusively elsewhere. Then he watches her relax into the spa and regards her back for a moment. They were just fighting awhile ago and now they're back to this. It's weird, but not in a bad way. He's finally had a fight that didn't result in someone dying or leaving or hating his guts forever and he doesn't know exactly how to handle it, other than to roll with whatever she's up to. It's weird, definitely, and puts him on edge as he waits for the other shoe to drop, but for now? Equilibrium.]

Praise be to Taako for picking the right shit to ask for, huh?

Is that the trick, then? Being real specific about it? Fuck me, then.

[She sloshes her feet back and forth in the water, quiet for a long moment, internally debating whether to just come out with it. Will it help? Will it hurt? She doesn't know. She hates not knowing.

Today of all days, though, he deserves her honesty.]

I went there... looking for something to give you. I didn't ask for that, but it's why I ended up with the staff, I guess.

[He has no idea - all he knew was when he got the spa, he'd been wanting a fucking vacation from all the shit going on in his life. And? Voila, the Pocket Spa appeared. To anyone else, it was just folded up canvas, but after traveling with it in his literal pocket for so long, he'd known it at a glance.

He gives her a shrug in response to her question, then lets her fall into a contemplative silence as he continues to blow on his nails. He's not inclined to follow her to the water right now, keeping to the lounge chairs and inspecting the polish as it dries.

When she speaks again, he glances up, then stares as she confesses why the staff appeared in the first place. That....is unexpected, honestly. Why go through all that trouble of finding the tree and doing all those insane, stupid tasks to get something that wasn't even for her?]

You get one shot at a magical, gift-giving tree and you waste it on me? Not to be ungrateful or anything - because Taako's never gonna say no to free shit - but why?

Dummy. Why do you think?

[Not that she expects him to know. Taako wouldn't have the answer, not as he is now, and she knows it because the fact that she'd do this for him is such a shocker. If he remembered, he would know that she'd turn the world upside down for him. That giving up a magic item to help him is nothing to her. They've both given up worse for one another. At least once they've given up their own damn lives, which is a lot even if it's just temporary.

She sighs softly, lifting a leg out, stretching her toes. Maybe she should paint those too, at some point. Another secret tucked away where it doesn't matter.]

I thought it might give me the voidfish juice.

I dunno, goofus, that's why I'm asking.

[Because he honestly doesn't know. It's not like Taako wasted his wish on anyone else but Taako. The whole point of the tree was to get something nice for yourself for this planet's freakishly long version of Candlenights, not for someone else. Taako's not entirely sure why someone would give up that unique opportunity for someone else. She had to know he would make his way down there eventually.

And then?

Voidfish juice.

A little something for him, a little something for her. Taako drops his head back against the lounge chair cushion and sighs. Of course she'd been hoping for that. If he could remove the block on his memory, maybe he could remember who she was and they could actually have a real conversation without him cringing every time he tried to think.

It was a nice sentiment.]

Ah, that. [He stalls for a moment, rolling the words around in his head before letting them tumble out his mouth anyway.] Yeah, like they'd ever allow that. I think those bastards are enjoying watching us suffer. Or me suffer. Both of us, probably.

...Both of us, probably.

[She's done her share of suffering over it, the last few days, and because of her apparent inability to not be an asshole about it, that suffering had bled over onto Taako's side. He probably wouldn't have to suffer at all if she stopped accidentally letting it show or reminding him of it. She really is the worst at this.

With a quiet sigh she leans away until her back hits the floor behind herself, hands folded together on her stomach.]

Whatever, it was just an idea. I didn't really expect it to happen, anyway.

Mm.

Not that I'm super pumped for having to taste that shitty water again anytime soon, but, uh...

[Taako frowns, zeroing his attention on his nails like they're the most interesting thing in the room. This is bordering on something that might be misconstrued as a feeling of gratitude and that wasn't what Taako did. He was selfish and self-centered and didn't think of telling people "thank you" for anything, even if it's a favor. He's owed everything in life and he'd had to fight tooth and nail to claim it, steal it, hoard it away.

Someone just giving him something? ...It's weird, but not in a bad way. Just a weird way.

It seems like a lot of what Lup does falls into that category - weird, but not bad.]

I guess? I should say thanks? Or something. For the thought; the ol' college try and stuff.

I mean, you could thank me for the Umbra Staff. You did technically still get that.

[Even though it was also technically part of her apology... though he'd accepted it before she gave it to him so hah!]

But you're welcome, anyway.

[Taako gestures at the Pocket Spa around them and raises an eyebrow.]

Why do you think you got an invite in here?

[Exclusive club, limited membership, Lup.]

I thought it was because you demanded that I fix your nails.

[But yeah, she knows this is sacred land, here.]

We can both benefit from me being benevolent.

[No, that's not how thank yous work???? But it is for him now because like hell if he's going to get caught in a lie.]

[That's how Taako thank yous work, so she just grins and examines her nails. They look pretty done, at this point. No more tackiness.]

Yeah, guess I can't complain. I definitely got something out of it.

[The company means more to her than the nail polish, but he doesn't have to know that.]

Mmhm, so take care of those nails huh?

[Because he's not always going to be so welcoming to having people come over. Or, rather, that's the impression he wants to leave. Honestly, if she asked? He'd probably, maybe? Let her in. Maybe.

The anger he felt earlier has all but dissipated now. Weird. Normally he's all for grudges.]

Because poor Raoul worked so hard on them.

Oh yeah, really broke his back over it. What a trooper.

[Things feel... normal, now. More normal. About as normal as they'd been before she'd blown up at him, at least, and the shift isn't lost on her. She should probably get going before his goodwill runs out, or she accidentally ruins it again. The Umbra Staff still has her wildly on edge, twitchy and more gloomy than she likes, and she needs some time to adjust to the idea of it being in her life again- of him having it, of her not always being around him. She's gotten used to feeling somewhat secure in its absence, and now the last thing she wants is for her darker thoughts to make her snappy again and shove them both right back to square one.

Reluctantly she sits up, stretching, and tugs her legs out of the water, giving them a shake.]

Welp... I should head back. Believe it or not, you're not the only person I owe an apology to.

[She doesn't think she was an asshole to Kravitz, just, like... an inconvenience maybe, but she definitely fucked things up with Haggar. Running off like that after the tree wasn't kosher at all, nevermind all the fire and death and craziness stuff.]

Yeah?

[He spares a glance in her direction as she moves, before laying back on the lounge chair, arms pillowed behind his head. They might be back to an approximation of equilibrium, but that doesn't mean he's letting her go without a few jabs.]

So drunk Lup pissed a bunch of people off, huh? What a surprise.

Shocking, right? Might have something to do with the smashing and the punching.

[She flexes her hands, knuckles still visibly bruised, then scoops up her shoes. With her feet dripping from the spa she's not about to stick her feet in them, even if the water probably won't follow her out of the pocket dimension. The feeling of soggy shoes suuuucks.

With that done, though... she's out of excuses to stay, so she gives him a casual wave and heads for the exit.]

I'll see you around, Taako. Happy Candlenights.

[Once she's back in his room, she pauses for a moment, glancing at the Umbra Staff where he'd left it. She twitches, just for a moment, once again feeling that vicious temptation to snap it into a hundred tiny pieces.

Instead she flips it off and marches out. Fuck that, it won't get her again.]

Libuscha IV System Mingle (no. 1)

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