driftfleet | Naviadna Mingle

[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!

[When she pulls back, he takes the opportunity to get a look at her. His first real one since they've both been on the same page. She doesn't let him go and Taako doesn't want her to, reaching up with one hand to hold hers where it sits on his shoulder and resting his cheek against it. She's been so tired lately and he can recognize that now, see tension he might have missed before draining out of her, leaving the hollow impressions of it behind. The little details that tells him just how hard it'd been for her, living without him, without any of them, for so long.

It a burden he both did and didn't share with her now, something more to set them apart along with all the little scars he's picked up from a decade without her. The lifetime lived all in his head where she never existed still hangs over his memory like a shadow, but seeing her here, feeling her hands solidly on his shoulders, and finally knowing what happened to her all those years ago, lifts a weight off him. Now, if only that doofus Barry were here, they could actually be at peace.

He chuckles a little at her exasperation and shrugs.]

Maybe you should do a good deed here and there to make it like you. Plant a tree. Pick up some beach litter. Uh...put a starfish in the ocean or whatever.

[He doesn't even know if there are starfish here, but couldn't hurt to say it. Rule of three said he needed a third option.]

And you can't blame me for taking forever. That's one hundo percent not my fault.

Yeah, yeah. I guess I'll let you off this time.

[She might still give him flack for being such a dipshit about not telling her right away, but she knows how he can't resist a good con, even to his own sister, so to some degree she gets it. If their roles were reversed she can't say for sure what she'd do.

...She wouldn't have waited as long as he did, though! So she's gonna hold on to the "I'm mad at you" card for a while. At least until it's inconvenient for her.

With a soft sigh, she leans in and rests her forehead against his, just... holding it there for a few seconds. Contentedly, quietly drinking in the familiarity of it. Of being allowed.]

Welcome back, you dingus. Missed you.

["This time" she says, as if he'd ever let there be a second. He makes a show of scoffing at her so-called generosity until she leans her forehead in. It's been so long since they've been allowed a moment like this that he doesn't even care that they're still technically on the beach. She went missing without a word and then he up and forgot she existed for a decade. It's still hard sometimes, especially this soon after getting his memory back to peel apart the layers of what was real and what was the voidfish trying to fill in the massive blank she left in his heart and soul. But with her here, the very real weight of her in his arms and the feel of her forehead against his, cooler than it should be but familiar still, it's a little easier.

He luxuriates in the ability to touch his sister and know that it's her. Plus, he doubts anyone's watching them anyway, so he closes his eyes with a smile and huffs out a quiet laugh.]

Yeah, yeah, we all know how bereft you are without me. Adrift in a sea of endless monotony that is the little people around us. Glad I could grace you with my glowing presence once again.

[He tries to be grandiose, but his tone is soft and the teasing is perfunctory as he clings to her just as much as she to him.]

[She hums a somewhat non-committal response, at first, satisfied by keeping him close like this. She knows he's being indulgent - both for her sake and for his own - and she also knows better than to call attention to it. They're both fine like this, and pride... well, it doesn't mean a fraction as much as what he means to her. She meant it. She missed him, even while he was standing right in front of her.]

Shut up, you're just as much of a sadsack without me. We've always been better together. And we'll be better than ever from now on.

[Nothing can change that. Not the staff, not Fisher, not the Hunger... not even Lucretia.]

I take offense at being called a sadsack. I'm at least a sadclutch, maybe even a sadpurse, but I'm better'n a sack.

[He chuckles at his own terrible joke and then reaches up, flicking the tip of her ear.]

And if we're better together - you should totally join me in this beach look. I'm the height of surfer fashion and you know it.

A sad reticule. Stylish, decorated, and currently hanging off a lady's shoulder.

[She snags the rim of her hat between her toes and flips it up to catch it, shaking the sand out of it before plopping it back onto her head.]

What, this isn't beachy enough for you? I was never the surfer, remember, I'm no expert on the "look" that you invented.

I mean, it's [He runs his hands through his hair, squeezing some water out of the locks before flicking his fingers at her in air quotes.] "adequate" if that's what you were looking for.

But you could do so much more, y'know. Get a floral lei, grab some shells, get a nice sun bleach going.

Hmm... I'll consider it...

[She looks him up and down thoughtfully, then grins, her expression shifting to one of playfulness.]

...If you finally teach me how to surf.

Naviadna Mingle

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