Voices from Heaven (
thespaceopera) wrote in
driftfleet2019-01-20 07:25 pm
Entry tags:
- !event,
- !mingle,
- adrian "alucard" tepes,
- baku,
- bentley "ben" douglass,
- ciel phantomhive,
- connor,
- felix gaeta,
- glenn rhee,
- grievous,
- haggar,
- james tiberius kirk (au),
- kaname buccaneer,
- katherine "kitty" pryde,
- keith,
- krolia,
- lance,
- libra,
- loki,
- lorden gesh,
- lup,
- magnus burnsides,
- manji,
- messer ihlefeld,
- mikleo,
- nico di angelo,
- pavel chekov,
- prompto argentum,
- remy lebeau,
- sorey,
- taako,
- the vision,
- thor odinson,
- tyrion lannister,
- vash the stampede,
- veronica,
- victor frankenstein,
- wanda maximoff
dreams in digital
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(last updated: 1/21/19)

no subject
And then the answer comes and Taako jumps, almost used to the silence everywhere. The voice is so familiar, but it's...not. When he sees the lich behind him, he almost feels relief until he realizes something is wrong. He'd gotten used to Lup being a lich over the years, but there was always that fear in the back of his mind of what would happen if she ever lost control. Liches were insanely powerful and very unstable. Seeing her dab right after becoming one had done wonders for Taako's nerves, but seeing her here like this?
He feels all that fear and worry come rushing back in, leaving a copper watery taste in the back of his throat. He has to be strong though, especially now. If Lup is losing herself here, then having him lose his shit will only make it worse.
Deep breath in, slow and sure, then he steps forward, hands out.]
Lulu...? Are you okay? What's going on?
no subject
You weren't supposed to be able to come here. I didn't- [Another flash of arcane energy, and she backs up a step, away from his hand.] I didn't want you to get hurt.
[A sudden wind rushes through the room, brief and brutal, carrying with it an angry howl, a scream of desperation and terror. The sound echoes, Lup's voice but... not. There's something wrong with it, something alien. She's never made a noise like that before--
nononononoNONONONONONOnonono
no one knows
where are they?
please let me go
As if summoned by the wind, faint lights glimmer at a series of points around the room, wisps of energy, not yet formed. There are five points in total, and their presence lends some light to the place, though there's nothing else to see aside from the room itself and the two of them.]
no subject
When she backs up though, he lurches to a halt, frowning.]
I'm not hurt. I'm--
[He claps his hands over his ears as an inhuman howl rips through the room carrying despair in Lup's voice. She's afraid, she's in pain, and it rips Taako's heart straight from his chest. He's only just gotten her back but it feels like he's losing her already. Panic rises in him again and he reaches for Lup, brings his hand back, then does it again, holding her hands out to her reassuringly.]
I'm not hurt, Lulu. It's okay. You're safe. I'm back, see? I'm not going anywhere.
no subject
You're not back. You're not. As soon as you leave here, you'll forget again, won't you?
[The lightning comes again, bolts of it shooting off her body and striking each one of the little dots of light now decorating the room, and as each hits that light becomes an object. First comes the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet, then the Umbra Staff, then the Animus Bell. Aside from the relics there is also a human skull and a paper note, folded and sealed with her kiss. They don't have the same call as the objects in the other room, but they still cast that same light, making themselves known.
The lich in the room calms again, the sparks fading, but she's trembling, the robe rippling softly in the air.]
You'll forget, and I'll be here. Like always.
no subject
He jumps at the bolts of lightning and sees the objects form out of that spooky energy, and realizes that this? This is still a part of his sister's mind; something in her that is full of fear and uncertainty and loneliness. And it hits him like a brick wall: this must be what she's been feeling since he can't remember her.
Is this all his fault?]
You aren't. I won't. I--can't promise it, but I can... Fuck, Lulu, do you think I want to forget again? You think I won't fight back? We'll figure something out, like we always do.
[And fuck everything. Even if he gets blasted through time and space he's going to hug his godsdamned sister when she's having a bad fucking day. Taako reaches for her again, trying to grab her hand.]
I'm not going to lose you again.
no subject
[Her voice is growing increasingly torn, grief mixed with regret mixed with sorrow mixed with pure unfiltered pain, the sound reverberating through the room like the echo in a cave. It bounces off the curtains and brushes past his ears, weaves around his hands, lifts his hair. She's always had a hard time hiding how she feels, when she's a lich. The form itself is raw arcane power bound together by emotions, and just because she'd chosen joy and love as her centers doesn't mean she feels nothing else.
This place is... a collection. Ten years of sorrow and loneliness and impatience all wrapped up neatly into one angry package, and he's been thrown into the box.
When his hand touches hers, it phases right through and the chill returns tenfold; it's almost like when he touched Kravitz in the Chug & Squeeze, her body little more than the absence of warmth and tangibility. She hesitates, lingering close to him as if drawn to the heat and vitality he holds within him, then hastily backs away, instability coursing through her lich form with another jolt of lightning.]
It's not... it's not your fault. I never blamed you. And- and I'm okay. I'm okay, Taako.
no subject
This place is horrible. It drowns in its negativity, like a neverending spiral that draws every speck of light into an unseen center, funneling it through itself over and over again until it's like there's no escape. He can't imagine being in this place for more than a few hours before it drove him insane, but Taako gets the feeling Lup was here...a lot longer than that.
When she draws back, he chases after her, desperate to keep hold of her in case she somehow vanishes again. Especially since he can see that paper note out of the corner of his eye. He has a feeling he knows exactly what's written on there and with his memories freshly returned, that pain is back again as clear as the day he found it and she didn't come home that night. Or any night after that.]
How is this okay? How is any of this- [He gestures to the room around them.] -okay? You were just fine a minute ago and now you're--
[He waves both hands at her.]
What happened?
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[A ripple passes through her body, shaken to the very core by something unseen, and she retreats from him until her back hits the curtains and she can go no further. Despite her incorporeal nature, the fabric is impermeable, blocking her from moving beyond, until she has no choice but to face him directly. In the darkness of her hood, her face is beginning to form some definition and features, or at least the illusion of one, and she looks kind of scared. Her red eyes dart back and forth, looking anywhere but at him.]
You know what this is, don't you?
[It's not rocket science, and he's a smart guy. She knows that she can be grim on occasion but this… her heart shouldn't be this dark. She doesn't think it should, anyway.
She's growing less sure over time.]
no subject
The letters L U P burned into the cafeteria wall.
He'd found her. It'd been a decade of not knowing she even existed, but even so, he'd found her. If he'd known, if Fisher hadn't stolen his memory of her, he could have saved her so much sooner. Taako pulls his hands back, looking at the darkness in this room, the impenetrable wall of inescapable grief and loneliness pervading this space. It pains him to think of her trapped in a place like this. It has to haunt her nightmares even now.]
...I can guess. Y-you know that...Even if I can't remember? You can talk to me, right?
[He can't let her feel this alone ever again.]
Because, I- well, I'm still an asshole, sure, but even then I can't exactly refuse you. You know that, right?
no subject
He has to understand that.]
Taako... would you trust me? If you knew what I am, if you knew where I'd been while you carried the staff? Without these memories, would you still want anything to do with me?
[She chose this life- or unlife- and it's a decision she'd make again, if she were forced to. The fact that she and Barry were liches and basically got one free death each cycle had saved all of their asses a few times, until they made it to Faerun. It helped them to survive and it meant that she could still exist back home, even if it was just as a spectre, after she died. Otherwise she'd just be a corpse in a cave, and Taako might be dead, too, without her to control the Umbra Staff when he needed it most.
But the thought of telling him here, when he still doesn't trust her- the thought of him rejecting her? She can't. She can't.]
no subject
But...without those memories, without the safety that Lup provided, the assurance that she wouldn't leave, wouldn't hurt him, wouldn't betray him? He can't be so quick to jump to that conclusion, which is a realization that hurts him worse than the cold in this room. She's been reaching out this entire time and he's been treating her with suspicion and mistrust, which is how they treated everyone, sure, but never each other. It was always the two of them against the world, but without that memory of her, he'd become callous and hard and withdrawn. He is slow to trust and even slower to like people.
He'd been afraid when she'd turned into a lich, not because liches were scary, but because he was worried for her. He didn't want her to lose herself in the pursuit of a safety net to keep all of them alive. He didn't want to live in a world where his sister was dead or lost or gone forever, pulled apart by arcane energies too powerful for him to comprehend or fight. And with all of Lucretia's stories about the Red Robes being dangerous and deadly only to find out that Lup was a lich?]
I mean...
[But did that matter? Lup had been there when he woke up in the First Breath's infirmary. She'd made him laugh when they pranked the junk planet. She'd taught him how to use Fly. She'd made him that bangle. He'd bought her a Candlenights gift without saying as much. They shared clothes. He worried about her in his own way when she was upset. He brought food to her ship. He spent the days after their fight angry because he thought he'd lost someone he'd started to care about.
Even without the memories, Lup was still Lup.
Taako shrugs a little and waves his hands in the air, trying to chase away the bad air.]
I'm literally dating Death right now, so it wouldn't be that weird to have a lich as a bestie? Memories or no, Lulu. It might be awkward as fuck for awhile, but with all the other messed up shit I go through, do you think having you be a lich would be the weirdest thing I deal with?
no subject
Lup hesitates, taking a small step forward, moving back again a moment later. The air coalesces around her, her form slowly gaining more features; the brightness of her eyes flickers like fire, bright and dim, bright and dim, a candle in the wind. With each tiny flare her face becomes visible before vanishing again, and the conflict between what she wants and what she fears is all too visible on her expression.]
I can't... Taako if I lost you again, I don't think...
[Tentatively she lifts a skeletal hand to her chest, pressing it over her heart as if it hurts. After another moment of hesitation, she reaches her other hand out towards him.]
no subject
If he truly will forget in the morning, he wants it all to burn him so deeply that something in him will remember. He wants the memory of his sister to scar his psyche so he can't help but reach out to her again when they meet in the morning. He can't let her think she's alone in this. They were always outcasts, but they were never alone.]
Dummy. You never lost me.
[He reaches out for her hand, his warm fingers pressing to her skeletal ones. It's a shock of cold, but he's used to it. He can endure this and give his heat to her for once.]
Do you think I share my closet with any yahoo who shows up asking for a spare skirt? Or that I bring your dumb ship food because I accidentally made too much? When have I ever accidentally cooked anything?
[He looks up at her now, floating, daring to hope, and smiles at her in the most genuine way he can muster, trying to push the darkness in this place away.]
You've never been one to give up, Lulu. Even when it pissed me off, you always stood your ground. So I know you and me? We'll figure this out.
[A sudden thought strikes him out of nowhere, bubbling up unbidden. It isn't a memory per say, not something he can really put a finger on except to say that it's right. This is a feeling that the Taako without his memories has and he has to tell Lup.]
He wants to remember you. I want to remember you. We're gonna get through this if I have to give myself head trauma to do it.
no subject
Hope.
When the tremor halts a sudden burst of fire and heat flares up around their joined hands, traveling up her arm, to her body, down each limb and towards her head. Tongues of flame surround her, burning away the robe, the shadows, the cowed nature she'd possessed since he found her here. It burns with a heat almost too intense to endure but for some reason it doesn't cause him any pain at all.
She burns away the cold. She burns so brightly that every corner, every shadow flees behind the curtains, and the items that had appeared around them are pushed outwards, as far as they can go without vanishing entirely. Soft, twinkling stars begin to appear along the surface of the black cloth, traveling up towards the ceiling. The whole room has come alive.
And Lup? Her heart is pure arcana, and she's been set on fire. And she smiles, and he can see it, now.]
Dingus, wait until we find ourselves a cleric before you go and do that. [It sound more like her again, as she was in the kitchen, rather than the scared miserable creature she was just moments ago. Her fingers tighten around his, tangible for real, now, but still with a lingering desperation in her grip.] ...Listen, it... it might be bad for a while. If this is all we get, if I remember this tomorrow, my lichy tether's gonna get fucked up for sure. I've been... kinda toeing the line for a while.
[It's not his fault, but she'd bound her soul and her sanity to their connection, and it's frayed right now, a rickety bridge across the chasm of unknown that lies between them in the waking world. She doesn't want to tell him, but he needs to know- while she can still tell him here, while it's safe to say it. While he remembers enough to understand.
She'll need his help and his patience if she's going to make it through this without losing her mind.]
I won't give up, though. I promise- I'm not going anywhere. So if you're gonna wake up remembering anything, then remember that you can trust me, okay?
no subject
She's back.
She clings to him and he squeezes her fingers back, the feel of her a reassurance that he didn't just fuck this up and hurt her. She told him once that she was his heart, but Taako never really got to say it back to her, never thought he'd ever need to say it. But this past decade, the life he lived without her, however false it might have been, shows him that she's as integral to him and he is to her. Without her, he'd become cold and callous, hard and uncaring. He'd leaned hard into thinking everyone was dust, even when he lived among the people. Without her, he'd been incomplete.
He listens as she warns him of the dangers. Losing her anchor - him - is going to majorly fuck her up for awhile. A frown flickers across his face before he forces it away, moving back toward a smile that's meant to reassure her even as fear starts to creep back into his mind.
If she loses it completely here, would she be able to come back? Magnus is here and Kravitz, but it isn't the same. If Barry were here, he could help, but... Taako bites his lip and nods once, decisively.]
It's not gonna be easy, Lulu. If I forget-- [Gods, the very words coming out of his mouth make him sick to his stomach. He can't bear the thought of forgetting her again. She's been ripped from him once, how could he survive a second time? How could she?] --do you have someone? Can anyone here help you? Keep you safe? I know-- I know you won't wanna come to me. But you have someone, right?
no subject
So… think, think. They've been here for a while, and she's made some solid connections, but it's also them, and they've always been bad at trusting people- it takes a long, long time for that to build. Not something they can change all at once. Those she could depend on with all of this is a pretty short list.
She frowns tightly, worried, but trying to work through it. The list is short but not empty.]
Might steal Mags for a bit. And if Kravitz can still be convinced not to kill me for this, he might have some ideas on how to contain it. Um, tell your other self not to get too jealous for borrowing your dudes, okay?
[She thinks of the tree, then, spilling out her secrets to a particular audience and then, after, that same audience helping her work through it.
Not as short a list as she would have thought. ]
I can… talk to Haggar. I think she'll understand.
[At least she hopes so.]
no subject
[Not just from Taako, but from Lup. There's that future thing going on, the part that he neither wants to ask nor Kravitz wants to tell. It's the same problem he has with Magnus. They're both from a time where...well, it seems like they know things about Taako, about Lup, about everything. And right now, that's fine. Taako knows things too, maybe not the outcome of whatever is waiting for them, but he knows the past now and has a more complete picture so it doesn't bother him.
But when he doesn't? Gods, he's been pushing Magnus away since he arrived and he realized that he spouted static the same way Lup did. It hurt and it wasn't a hurt that was going to be healed anytime soon if he forgot as soon as he left Lup's dream world.]
I'll do my best to keep from being all green-eyed jealousy monster. But uh, definitely talk to Mags, huh? I've- [He frowns, hating how his memory loss has created such a phenomenal gap between him and everyone else. He might pretend not to care about any of them, but how could he not? Over a hundred years together makes you more than friends. Taako lets out a slow heavy breath.] Fuck, I've been kinda being a jerk to him without realizing it.
[But Haggar? That's...surprising? Not really? Sort of? Taako's ears perk up at the mention and he's confused for a moment. But then again? It's not for him to judge. It's weird, sure, but Lup has always been better at making those precious connections than he has. Maybe that was why Haggar had come to his rescue after his massive fuck-up: Lup.]
And if you think she, if you think Haggar can help, go for it.
[He wishes he could help, but if he could, they wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.]
...Do whatever you need to be safe, Lup. Please, just- don't let this [Don't let me] be what breaks you, okay? I'll kick your ass if you do.
no subject
[She uses their joined hands to pull him closer again, her free hand lifting to touch his face as she presses their foreheads together, closing her eyes and just breathing in his presence for a moment. She had needed this, in her heart and soul- to be with Taako, to have him know her again, to feel their bond pull tight and strong again, the way it ought to be. They'd both been adrift and alone for far too long.]
I promise… I won't break. If the Umbra Staff couldn't do it this sure as hell won't. And… you're here. Even if you don't remember me yet, it means a lot that you're here.
no subject
He hopes this leaves something behind in him like he's remembered other rooms he's been in. He wants to remember this more than anything. This is important. She's important.]
...Yeah, just- I know we don't say it a lot or like...ever? But uh...I'm sorry. If I don't remember for awhile. If-- [Taako sighs and finally closes his eyes.] If I'm an asshole to you of all people. It's hard to be...well, me when I don't have you.
no subject
[It's almost a sigh, and she holds him all the more tightly, the heat rising up to envelop him, as if the whole room is trying to hug him and keep him close, keep him safe. The knowledge that she has to let him go eventually is ever-present, but it's drowned in the quiet echo of not yet, not yet.
let me have this a little longer.]
Koko, you don't have to apologize. You know that, right? It's not your fault. If I hadn't been such a dingbat I'd have been with you when you lost your memories. We'd have lost everything else, but at least we'd have had each other.
[The thought of forgetting her family is gut-wrenching, and she can't imagine how things would have gone if he hadn't been protecting them as the mysterious Red Robe, or if she hadn't been in the Umbra Staff to protect him with her full power. More than that she can't imagine having to choose between losing her life with Barry in exchange for regaining her life with Taako.
But it would be temporary, and... she hates the state Taako was left in. He deserves so much better, and they deserve the balance they'd always found in each other.]
Sometimes... it's difficult to be me without you, too. Learned that lesson hardcore. I... I miss you. I missed you so much, for so long.
no subject
[The dismissal is quick and automatic. It's not his fault his heart was ripped from his chest, leaving him hollow inside. He filled that space up with barbed wire so nothing could hurt him again, even though he never knew what had been there in the first place.]
But it's, it's not really your fault either. You did a stupid ass thing going off by yourself, no denying that, but-
[It wasn't her that hurt him. It was Fisher, and whoever fed Fisher the record of Lup. There's really only one person it could be and that? That's a betrayal that stings Taako to his core. She's been lying to him all this time. Looking him straight in the face and flat out fucking lying to him for the better part of a year. Lup holds him and he clings back to her to ground himself away from his anger. It boils under his skin now, threatening to burn him alive if he thinks too much on it.]
-it doesn't matter. You're here. And you're sappy as fuck and I missed you too, goofus.
no subject
[She draws back just enough to look at him, lifting her hand to adjust his hat and then poke the corners of his lips with two fingers.]
You made me smile again, for real- here, of all places. So fuck yeah I'm sappy. I love you, you dork.
no subject
[He bats at her hands when she pokes him in the face, feigning at being annoyed. Even if his face is frowning though, he can't stop the smile in his eyes. This is normal, even here in this black room, closed off from the warmth of the kitchen they'd spent so many decades in. This was a normal he hadn't had in longer than he could remember.]
Besides, it's not my fault my family is goth as fuck, mkay? If you didn't want me being fine with you going all spooksville, maybe you shouldn't chosen a less ghost-y form.
no subject
You love it. There's no denying we've got style.
[She's glad that Taako ended up okay with... all of this, though. It's been years, but that never ceased to be a relief to her. His rejection would have wrecked her, truly and absolutely. And it's not that she doubted him, as she wouldn't have chosen to become a lich with Barry if there'd been a risk of losing Taako in the deal, but... still. It's a comfort she's never forgotten or taken lightly.]
no subject
[Except for that 'Halloween' costume. That had been a good choice in the end. Kravitz had liked it. A lot. That thought makes a smile flash across Taako's face unbidden, which he's quick to chase away with a tongue stuck out at Lup.]
Black's more of an accent for me, ya dig?
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