driftfleet | Naviadna Mingle

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.

[Lup almost misses it. Her response is a quiet mmm as she weaves a section of her hair into a braid, focusing on the heavier tangles and idly listening to his reply. Sounds about right for him- blah blah, she's jealous, Belth told on her, he's-

I'm still the hotter twin.

Her hands go still against her hair, and she lifts her gaze to stare out into the water, like it'll somehow explain itself to her, like it'll clear up the sudden rush of confusion and shock running through her body. Maybe she heard him wrong? Maybe it slipped out, and he doesn't know? Did the static not catch it? Or maybe she just imagined it and it's wishful thinking and the planet is fucking with her again, it's been fucking with her all month, and the Animus Bell grants wishes so maybe enough of the light survived that she's hearing its temptation or something, which is wild because she left it on the ship but even so, how did he-

the hotter twin

He didn't ask her what the tattoo was about. He didn't ask her about her allergies. He showed up wearing shells and bleached hair and those godsdamned shorts and it's like he knows, he knows-

the hotter]

What? You- what?

[Her voice is dumbfounded, tremulous. She barely even recognizes it as her own. She stares at him, at that smug, shit-eating grin on his face, at the hair and the clothes and the mimicry from nearly a hundred years ago that he doesn't remember, shouldn't remember, but- but should remember, just like their family, just like her-

twin

TWIN

And then she lunges forward to tackle him into the sand.]

[There's no reaction for a moment and Taako knows that if he looks at her, he won't be able to keep the anticipation off his face. It'll give away everything in case she didn't catch it and he isn't willing to ruin his long con by being impatient. He's been waiting for her without knowing it was her his heart was needing for as long as he can remember. His memories are still a jumble of what is real and what isn't, but there's one clear blinding truth that cuts through it all.

His sister is back. He's had her with him ever since Wave Echo even if he didn't know it. He's had her as she truly is, how she was, since coming to this space hellscape.

And finally, he's back, too.

Her voice stutters and he can't help the grin that splits across his face even wider. She's catching up and he starts a countdown in his head to when he's either going to explode or get punched right in the face. He's on 8 when Lup lunges, slamming into him and pushing them to the sand. It's jarring, sure, but he can't help the laugh that escapes hot on the heels of a fake indignant sound. ]

You got sand in your ears, nerd? You heard me!

[His expression is at the same time endearing and infuriating, and it's such a familiar feeling that it makes her heart ache. They used to do shit like this all the time, and it's happened here too, but it was never quite the same, never quite right. They'd both had a caution to them, him by not knowing or trusting her yet, her by not wanting to say or do the wrong thing and scare him off. But this. This. Now that she's realized it, and his reactions are giving him away, she can see it so clearly.

He knows.

He remembers.

And she's so mad-!!]

You dipshit! You ass! How long have you known!?

[She grabs her hat and scoops sand up in it like a makeshift bucket, dumping it right onto his head.]

I'll show you sand-ears!

[It's much easier to be angry about it so she doesn't just start weeping or something.]

[He laughs and squirms away, trying to wriggle free of her grip. The sand, unfortunately, dumps right on top of him, but he's a freaking transmutation genius so as it hits him, he manages to turn most of it into glitter. Which is also annoying as shit, but it isn't as uncomfortable as sand dumping into his hair.]

Since about the moment I opened my eyes a brand new babe and saw you coming out second! I've always been the hotter one!

[Fucking transmuter, of course he'd cheat her of the satisfaction. She swats him with her hat instead, going with her specialization by Gusting his hair into a floofy mess and scattering the glitter all over him. It manages to get on her at the same time as collateral, but so worth it.]

You know godsdamned well what I meant!! And you know I came first, baby brother!

[Fuck, she can say that now. She can say it and he won't just hear static, won't get that confused, glazed look in his eyes as the words are erased.

Fuck.]

[Betrayal! He grabs his hair as the wind whips up out of nowhere, flinging glitter and his beach-bleached hair every which way. He's still laughing though, hard enough to snort once as she attacks him with his hat. He has to drop his hands to fend her off, trying to snatch the hat out of her hands.]

You only wish you were first! Taako's always the one in the prime real estate, Lulu, you know that. First to emerge onto the stage, first to whip out that sweet sweet magic-- [Even if it that had literally cursed him to only taste lime gogurt for the rest of his life. He was still the godsdamn first!] - first to invent surfing. I'm a pioneer!

A pioneer of being a huge turd, maybe! You basically invented the concept!

[She lets him take the hat, but only so his hands are occupied- and so she has a chance to get in close and wrap her arms around his midsection, trying to heft him up onto her shoulder. She may not have Magnus's raw strength, but she's still been training with him for months now, Taako's not that heavy, and she's had more of a focus on physical technique than him for a long time, anyway. Pre-level-1 rogue bullshit, or something like that. Barring that attempt? There's always spells.

She's gonna throw him into the fucking lake one way or another.]

[With the hat snatched away, he lifts it triumphantly over his head.

Only to find himself getting lifted in kind not a second later.

Taako lets out a less than distinguished noise in surprise and tries to fight back, but, well, his sister has always been the stronger of them. Loathe as he may be to admit it, his strength stat is definitely not the highest and while it isn't easy to lift him, it sure as heck isn't hard either.]

What the--

[She's carting him toward the water and he knows exactly where that ends and you know what? Fuck that.

He casts Blink.]

[And since she knows him, and she knows his favourites, she had Counterspell prepped for this very moment. Which she casts.

Eff you and your Blinking, you're going in.]

You've gotten too predictable in your old age, bro! Now accept your punishment like a big boy!

[When nothing happens, he knows what she's done and he curses inwardly. Fuckin' of course she'd have Counterspell prepped. Of course. They're getting dangerously close to the water despite his best attempts to flail like a chicken with its head cut off, and he has to think quick because he's not accepting any punishment for anything. He may be the older twin, but like hell if he's going to take being called "old" lying down.]

We're the same age!

[If he can't Blink, he can do something else that'll at least make this more tolerable. As they get closer to his doom, he stops struggling and starts to shift, his form becoming less elf-life, more soft and with a fuckload lot more arms. It doesn't take long for Polymorph to start taking effect and the first thing he does? Is try to attach his brand new octopus arms right onto her head.]

Ugh!

[The sudden feeling of nasty squishy octo-arms wrapped around her is gross as hell, and since the water punishment is pointless now she does the polar opposite: she drops down onto the sand and rolls on him.]

You're the worst! Just wait, I'll turn you into sushi, coward!

[Thankfully, he finishes his transformation just before she body slams him into the dirt and so it doesn't hurt nearly as much as it could. He simply compresses as she rolls over him, slapping her face and hair with his tentacles whenever he gets a chance, using the suckers to cling and mess up as much as he can.

She rolls over his body and he flattens and--

Shit.

Is that?

Wow that's an uncomfortable feeling. Is it really--

Yup. Nope, this is the worse, but this is happening.

When she rolls over again, he suddenly and violently expels a miniature flood of black ink.]

[....

....

....]

Taako?

[She sits up, her back facing him, black goo trickling down her back and in her braid. Her tone is hushed, and one Taako might find familiar: his sister's you fucked up voice.]

Remember how I have that one spell, you know, where I say a word and things die?

[And she last used that on, hmmm, let's see... an octopus.]

[He flails his arms in an approximation of waving Lup off and then gestures at himself pointedly. It's not his fault, Lup! It's biology. You're a nerd, you should understand!

It's not like he meant to explode octopus ink everywhere. She was literally squeezing him so hard he couldn't help it!

It's not his fault!!!!

Not that...he can say any of that because octopi have beaks and no tongues and aren't capable of doing anything but flopping around and squeezing themselves into tight spaces to eat shit. They're very intelligent, but they're still animals.

But? Since she's threatening to straight up kill him, Taako does the one thing he can do very well: be dramatic.

He flops onto the sand, pretending to be dead already.]

[This little turd. She glowers at him for a moment, waiting for some kind of response, but when nothing comes and she recognizes what he's doing, she reaches over to retrieve her hat, using it once more as a makeshift bucket for the sand.]

Dead already, huh? Way to steal my thunder again. ...Oh well, can't do much about it now.

[And then she dumps it on top of him, sliding her hands through more sand to shove it over his limp tentacles, feigning a mournful sniffle.]

Buried by the sea... it's what Taako would want...!

[Fuck. Well, he's not getting Power Word slaughtered (not that he thought she would), but he sure as hell is getting buried alive. Which?

Hm.

Actually?

He waits until he's nearly completely buried, turning into a proper funereal mound of sand - some of which is mixed with the octopus's ink to make it appropriately goth. Then he starts changing back, limb by limb, nearly flattened octo-body into the body of a Real Boy™, until he finally bursts forth from the sand, arms raised like a zombie. As he does so, he does his best zombie wail to drone:]

Not enough cowbell...!!!

[And since she was right under him, and hadn't expected him to do that the way he did, she shrieks and instinctively tries to grab him and suplex-flip him into the water.

Hope you're feeling dextrous, Koko.]

[Normally? He's a fucking flip wizard.

Right now?

He's shrieking bloody murder as Lup flips him into the water like a flailing pancake. He barely has enough time to suck in air before he's flopping into the sea as gracelessly as a newborn giraffe, water spraying everywhere as he disappears beneath the waves.

After a moment, he jumps up, sputtering, wiping saltwater from his eyes.]

Holy shit, you threw me like a million miles!

[She's not even listening to his objections. Even as he flew through the air she was chasing after him, splashing into the surf with her arms raised, and before he can object further she jumps at him with the sort of tackle-hug that would rival even Magnus.

This shithead, this asshole. This brother of hers. He owes her a hug.]

[He's just managed to clear the water from his eyes when he sees a Lup-colored blur flying at him and feels her slam into him, pushing him back into the water. Honestly, why he even bothered to stand up at all he doesn't know, but here he is. Back in the water. Again.

She's got her arms around him and Taako pushes off the sandy bottom just enough to push their top halves out of the sea so they don't drown, and then he laughs and puts his arms around her, too. They've been owed this for months since they arrived here, over a decade since she disappeared, and now that he's gotten his teasing out of the way, he easily accepts the (somewhat lung-crushing) affection. Quietly, so only she can hear, he murmurs into her ear.]

Missed you too, goofus.

You ass. I'm mad at you.

[Her voice is muffled, face buried against his shoulder as she clings, and it carries no real venom with it. More than anything, now that she's allowed to finally process everything, now that he's letting her do this - instead of dancing away or brushing her off or getting annoyed - she's relieved, tremulous, tearful. Her voice catches on the words, and she doesn't even bother attempting to hide it. It's been so fucking hard for so long, and the truth is she's tired. Tired of missing her family, tired of looking at him and seeing half a stranger, tired of wondering what words will be static, what memory will disturb him, what behaviour will make him feel distress rather than familiarity. She's tired of being surrounded by friends and still feeling so alone.

She's exhausted and sick of lying or hiding or waiting for something to change. She's ready to get her damned life back, thank you.

So for now she shudders and hugs him tighter, if that's even possible.]

Are you- are you okay? You remember it all? Holy shit, how-

[Her admonishment does not to quell his smile as she slowly crushes his backbone and he lets her do it. He knows now, looking back at the long months here, how alone she was. Sure, having Magnus around and, for a brief time, Kravitz, helped, but it wasn't the same. Nothing could ever fill the hole they left in each other's lives when they are apart from each other and, after seeing his life in perspective, the way he changed, he knows how big of a wound that gap left in both of them. She's had to tiptoe around him - him, her heart, his heart - for all this time. He knows now why he so readily accepted her, why they moved so well together until the static reminded him of a painful ugly absence inside of him.

But it's gone now. It's a shadow over his life, his memories, and it's hard to tell where one things starts and the other one ends, where the lies and truths bleed into each other and where they separate, but at least the distance is gone. The hole in him is gone.

He hugs her back, just as tightly.]

Courtesy of the planet's little gift - fuckin' Fisher's baby's ichor, I guess? Must've been because--

[He wheezes a little from the way her arms around him restrict his ability to take a full breath, but doesn't let go.]

I went and got inoculated twice.

[No thanks to fucking Lucret--. No. She didn't get that name anymore. She is and always would be the Madam Director to him now. She lost her place in his family the moment she stole them all from him.]

And yeah. I remember - everything.

[She barks out a quiet, bitter laugh at that.]

And here I thought this planet hated me, too.

[That had at least been the impression she'd gotten thus far- that these stupid magical planets had it in for her somehow. First the Umbra Staff, then the Animus Bell? Granted, the bell at least had its uses, since she's a lich and all, but it had felt a little cruel all the same, so her feelings on it had been mixed. Now, though? It's leaning towards neutral.

...No, that's a lie. No hardship thrown at her could outweigh the enormous gift of getting her brother back.

She's reluctant to pull away, or even consider letting go, but Taako at least needs to be able to breathe, so she eases back her grip enough to look him in the eyes and see the difference between Taako-then and Taako-now, though she keeps her hands on his shoulders as if fearful to release him lest he vanish somehow. They've both gone through so much since they were separated, hardships and pain and loss. They don't look any older, but it definitely shows in places that probably only they could find within one another.

She won't say it's worth it per se, because she'd give almost anything to have those ten years with him back, but she can still be grateful that the long journey is over. He's back. They're back.]

...Well...! It's about fucking time!

Naviadna Mingle

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