driftfleet | Naviadna Mingle

( a. rainbow waters of Naviadna - Sing me a song )

[On a planet like this, with her magic supercharged, Lup would normally be out practicing her spells, flinging them wildly at targets out in the middle of nowhere, expending her energy, trancing, doing it all over again. Like many others, she's aware of what might be coming soon, and she wants to prepare. But… the song. Something about it calls to her, and she responds the only way she knows how: following the voice, wading out into the water, listening to the song she hears, and echoing it on her violin. The sound of it is soft and willowy, uncharacteristically so for her, and something about it gives the impression that a part is missing. Lup doesn't mind, though. She can hear the other half.

Maybe, just maybe, this time, if she indulges in the music of this world it'll give her what she needs. So she plays, sometimes a variation of the tune, sometimes other songs. Somehow she always goes back to that same song, though.]

( b. not what she'd expected… )

[For those who reach the rainbow pool around the same time Lup is there, they might feel a different sort of pull- an uncomfortable tug on their heart. It's not painful, and ultimately harmless, but it is accompanied by a low-pitched jingle of a bell.

Lup is sitting at the edge of the water with her toes dipped in, holding a small and simply-decorated bell in her hands, occasionally flicking it with a finger to make it ring and glancing around to see if anything happens. When she notices anyone approaching, she immediately clamps a hand down on the bell to silence it, eyes wide.]

Oh balls, shit, are you okay?

( c. tapestry of skin - text, LOCKED TO MAGNUS )

hey burnsides

I need some legit Protection, call me when you're free for an afternoon

( d. Beach shenanigans )

[A bit later on in the month, Lup has shifted her attention to a local beach, clad in a flame-bright bikini and an enormous floppy-brimmed sunhat. She's sprawled out on a towel, laying on her stomach, her top undone to indulge in the warmth of the sun and darken her tan without the suit getting in the way. Is it a public beach? Is nudity even allowed? ...Does she care? (Nah.) She might even be Trancing, appearing asleep to those who pass by. Maybe wake her up before she starts to burn…?

One thing that's noticeably new is a tattoo drawn on her back- a set of seven black birds of varying sizes and arrangement, flying along her right shoulder blade, soaring towards an orb of white light near her neck. It looks pretty fresh, and the way she's laying makes it easy to assume that she's showing it off.

When she isn't sunbathing, she's futzing around in the water, chucking a beach ball at passerbys or kicking water in their direction.]

Hey! Play with me, nerd!

( e. wildcard )

[prompt me! She'll be all over.]

[It's later in the month and it's been hard to keep this under wraps, but he had to. He had to. It took him awhile to find the right materials after all - the puka shells, the right illusion spell to make his hair look that sort of beach bleached blonde, the honestly terrible swimming shorts reminiscent of the ones he wore nonstop for a year. He makes sure to change the designs just enough that it could be a coincidence, some random happenstance that makes him look like a shadow of himself from, gods, decades ago. It's hard to forget though (ironically), seeing how it was the last time they all had a year to honest to gods relax before everything became a constant horrifyingly slow descent into the monotony of watching worlds get swallowed over and over again.

But now? Now it's beach time and Taako finds Lup sunning herself with a new tattoo that is seriously too well timed. With a grin, he flops down next to her on the sand, crossing his arms behind his head as he lays back.

Time to absolutely fuck with her.]

Nice ink - when'd you get that?

[The voice jars her out of the trance easily enough, her initial reply half-muffled by a yawn.]

Few weeks ago. Mags helped me scope the place-

[And that's about when she lifts her head and tilts her sunhat up enough to see him, at which point she cuts herself off to just. Stare blearily at him.

Thaaaat's eerie. Is she still dreaming? She pinches her wrist.]

[She stops abruptly and it takes all of his considerable willpower not to grin like an idiot. Instead, he opens one eye to glance at her curiously, as if he doesn't know what she's staring at.]

You call Magnus and not me? I feel like I should be offended.

Edited 2019-06-10 20:30 (UTC)

[Oookay, pinching does nothing, which means this is real. She stares for a moment longer then hastily glances down again, reaching her hands back to try and tie up her bikini top. This would be a poor time to forget about it and sit up, and it seems like this is gonna be one of Those Days, where his unintentional reminders are likely to trip her up.]

You sporting a tat somewhere that I don't know about? Because he's the expert between the two of you.

[That, and this particular design had been... y'know, emotional, and Magnus at least wouldn't need her to explain herself.]

[So far so good - no indication that she suspects anything. Why would she? It's been...gods, it's been too long. It's almost painful remembering everything he forgot, knowing that he's been living right beside her without a clue for this long. His heart, the reason why he'd survived, the only person other than himself that he ever implicitly trusted for over a hundred years until he found that stupid ragtag group on that dumb ship.

He almost loses it when she asks about tattoos, but masks it with a derisive snort.]

And mar this beautiful skin? Hell no. After seeing Merle's Kenny Chesney disaster on his ass, I've sworn off any and all ink that I can't wipe off after a day or two.

Yeah, thought so. [Piercings are one thing, but he's never shown the inclination to mark his body in a way as permanent as tattoos. She herself had only considered it a few times before, but that was during their plane-hopping journey, and ultimately she'd opted not to bother. There was no point when their bodies reset at the start of the year, anyway.

At last she sits up, dusting bits of sand off her skin from where it'd gotten past the towel barrier, and gestures in his direction, giving him another onceover.] What's with this get-up?

[When she sits up, Taako closes his eyes, letting the calm of relaxation overtake him. He needs to be completely relaxed or he'll give something away in an accidental twitch of his lips or a nervous shake of his hand. He lounges so he can make sure this goes well, so that he can surprise her, and so he can calm his nerves. If she sets him on fire for lying to her, he'll deserve it, but it might be worth it just to see her face.]

Dunno. Figured I was coming to the beach, might as well look the part. Resort town, white sands, big waves - thought they might have some water sports going that I could use to kill time.

Looks good on me though, right?

It definitely looks like something.

[Something ridiculous, something familiar. It'd been absurd eighty years ago and time has done it no favours.

But it's also very... Taako... so she can't deny the fun of it, either. She just isn't going to say it out loud.]

You're just jealous. I get it.

[He waves a hand dismissively before slipping it back under his head. The sand is warm and the waves crash and other than the fact that there's no Barold making gagging noises as he swallows a gallon of seawater in a foot of actual ocean or the lack of Magnus screaming his own name every ten minutes to scare someone, he can almost believe it's that time again. Gods, it's weird to remember. 80 years ago and yet it's all fresh in his mind like it was yesterday - and technically he'd only just remembered it a few days ago so it kind of...was?

He also could remember how Lucretia, now the Madam Fucking Director, stole everything from him. Reduced their Captain to some gnomish Pokemon, changed everything for the worse. It boils his blood, causes his fingers to curl involuntarily into his scalp in anger until he remembers he's here for Lup and relaxes.

Lup, who got trapped for over a decade in his damn umbrella - which is exactly why he doesn't have it with him right now. Lup, who was always there for him so he was never alone. Lup, who is here, whole, and alive.

Well, as alive as a lich can get.]

I was thinking I could go scrounge up some grub though. Was on my way there when I saw you. Smelled and saw some a-may-zing peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies on my way here.

[He pops one eye open and smirks at her.]

Not that, y'know, you can eat them, but maybe they got something else there too.

You wish.

[She scoffs, tugging off her hat and setting it in her lap to fix her hair during the moment of quiet. At his comment about food, though, she glances sharply at him, that same suspicion roused once more.]

...Belth told you about that?

[Because that sounds like... a weird thing for him to mention. But she's certain that she hasn't brought it up to Taako yet- mostly because there hadn't been any reason.]

About you bein' jelly of all this awesome? Oh yeah, it's hot goss right off the press.

[His grin widens and he closes his eye again. It's hard to keep the smile off his face with the way she's looking at him. She's suspicious - why wouldn't she be? - but she's still giving him the benefit of the doubt against her better judgement probably. And he? He will milk that for all it's worth until she catches on and catches his head on fire.

At least they're close to the water so he doesn't need to worry about burning to death.

Maybe drowning if she pushes him in and holds him under? Maybe that one. Especially as he lets his bomb finally drop.]

Even in this beach bum look, I'm still the hotter twin.

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d. ufufufu

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b!

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