riverviewlogs | ( open ) ; tell me about the days where your body feels nothing like a body

who: Taako + you
what: A spa day, a fight with a god, and a bad time
when: Novemeber
where: Around!!
warnings: Violence in the threads with Thor & Dodger. Vague Thor 3 spoilers in the thread with Thor.

cisco; tired little laughs, gold-lie promises

[They've all had a shitty month and it feels like a perfect excuse to splash out a little at the fanciest fucking spa Taako can get them into; he catered an event here a few months ago and made sure to keep in touch with the event manager, so the discount isn't anything to scoff at, and he's gone all out in the treatments they're getting.

But after a massage (nice), manicure (even nicer), and a dip in the pool (hella nice), Taako has dragged Cisco to try out the sauna where they can chill for a little while. He tried to bring a glass of sparkling in but was gently deterred by one of the staff, which is rude but probably for the best, since he's already on his way to decidely tipsy.

On the plus side, that helps him finally bring up something that's been on his mind for a while; once Taako is comfortable and the room is full of steam, he casts a lazy look at Cisco.]

Can I ask you a question, my man?

thor; what's a god to a nonbeliever?

[If he's being honest with himself, this is probably a very bad idea, but Taako tries not to be honest with himself and anyway, he's been itching for another fight since the tangle with the cultists, as if that wasn't quite satisfying enough. Or maybe he's just finally remembered how fun it is to wreck some dipshits, since things are so damn quiet in the Quarantine. Either way, there isn't any real danger in what he's doing here; Thor might hurt him, but he won't kill Taako, and there's not much else that a potion can't fix.

It's been a long time since he's had to prepare for a one on one, but Taako doesn't get too involved with it (a lot of his attention has gone towards studying the books he borrowed from the cultists), he gets dressed in his regular adventuring gear and makes sure he's got all his useful items on him, just in case he can use any of them. The umbra staff is in his hand, as per usual, and he has a little mental list of spells that he thinks will work for this. He can't exactly predict how the fight will go, but he knows what his personal priorities are and has a handful of backups in mind. His hair is braided out of the way and he's left most of his jewellery at home, just in case.

Between Bryn, Loki and the members if the IPRE in the Quarantine, they've got a little crowd nearby to watch the show, and that only makes Taako more into it, because he gets to show off.]

You ready to go, or are you gonna need a little more time to warm up?

[He's just being a shit, but it's good natured.]

open; now I've got you here I'll never lead you back

[The month starts of… mostly fine; there's the awkwardness with Magnus and Taako finds himself a little more irritable than usual, but he's brushed it off as a side effect of everything dredged up by the ghosts and the memories he's been forced to share and relive. He'll get over it eventually, and at least he has a project to throw himself into. The handful of books he brought back from the cultists hideout are full of weird and interesting magic that he wants to decipher, if only to make sure no one does that shit again.

By the fourth, he's starts to feel as though someone's watching him whenever he leaves the house, and he starts picking up the pace whenever he has something to do outside, eschewing taxis out of some misplaced worry that they aren't safe. He ends up on Garyl a lot, since he's faster on Garyl than he is on foot, and no one can mess with the illusory horse that he summoned. It makes of a bit of a curious look, this stupid wizard elf making his way through the streets on a unicorn, but it offers him a sense of safety that he's struggling to maintain, right now.

As more time passes the feelings start to get worse, enough that a visit from Cisco and way too many security cameras don’t help to alleviate the paranoia. He has a feeling it must be someone from the cult, having escaped during the fighting and coming back for the items he took, which makes him more eager to figure out the magic in them so he can know how to protect himself.

Every day, he carefully reinforces the wards around their house, stretching them out a little further each time, bolstering them with small spells that don't just block, but also harm anyone who tries to get past them. The magic around the houses shifts from protective to violent, something that's echoed in the way Taako conducts himself.

He's short and sharp with people whenever he has to interact with them, whether it's at the markets or clothes shopping or out at a bar. For a long time, he tries to push past the paranoia to maintain his usual routine, but that just gives him more places to feel snappish and irritated, and it paints a bigger target on his back for whoever's watching him. Even going out for a drink becomes a struggle; he picks a fight with someone because he's sure they were watching him and ends up getting swiftly escorted out after throwing a bunch of lightning around.

Despite everything going on, he's always immaculately put together, more so than usual, as if he can cover up how rattled he's feeling by making sure his outfit and hair are always perfect. The same can't be said for the state of his room; while he's not the tidiest person in the world, it grows worse during the month, as he eschews things like cleaning up in favour of practicing spells and still trying to decipher those fucking books.

It's gonna be a long month.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh.

[It's such a small thing, he and Lup rarely bother with elvish unless they're talking to other elves, not when they have their own mish-mash of a dozen different languages to use if they wanna keep secrets. But he remembers quiet nights on the Starblaster, whispering gossip in elvish so the others wouldn't understand them.]

Man, fuck Edward and Lydia. I hope Kravitz locks their asses up in ghost jail for-fucking-ever.

Yes, I'd vote in favour of that.

(It's not just the taking of things she had worked so hard to get, either, it's the absolute gleefulness with which they were taken. Lucretia makes a face like she's got a bad taste in her mouth.)

Anyway– you said the wards were because of these? (She shuts the book, handing it back to him.) What do you mean?

[Taako's demeanor doesn't shift a lot - he's safe here and he's safe with Lucretia - but he drums his fingers against the surface of the book, a small sign of his worry.]

I got this feeling like we didn't get them all, you know? That they're still out there.

(Lucretia isn't used to paranoia from Taako; she glances at him, confused.)

Really? We, uh. We definitely got them Taako, I don't think you have to worry about that.

Yeah, uh, and I fucking thought I was being followed like two days and turns out I was right, so...

[He shrugs, idly grabbing one of his journals so he can get back to work.]

Really?

(She's staring at him as he flips the journal open.) But... why haven't they come after me, then? Why you?

No, uh-- [He stops, waves a hand, tries to start again.] It wasn't them that time but I dunno, something still isn't right? Maybe they want their shit back, Lup torched pretty much everything else.

(Oh, so he's just nonchalantly dropping that into the conversation, huh. Lucretia shakes her head slowly, giving him an exasperated look.)

... Sure. Would you like to expound on that at all?

(Thinking of somebody stalking after Taako makes her skin crawl. She touches the corner of one of the cultist books, frowning as she tries to piece everything together.)

Maybe. Are... you're certain they weren't cursed? (Maybe they're monitoring Taako through the books some how, or... putting ideas in his head, about being followed.)

Just Dodger, don't tell Lup.

[He handled it fine and what Lup doesn't know won't hurt her.

As for the curse.]

That fucking ruby was cursed as shit, but I'm not getting any vibes off this stuff. If they're tracking me through 'em - [She might not have said it out loud, but he knows how she thinks] - it's not magic I can pick up.

(She doesn't know who that is but she trusts Taako, so she nods and allows him to distract her from that with what he says next.)

You took a ruby? Don't answer that.

(Because it's a rhetorical question. Of course he took a ruby. Lucretia sighs, rubbing her hand over the hair on the back of her neck as she stares at the books. Maybe if she keeps looking at them she'll see something she didn't notice before.)

Okay. Did the ruby rub off on you some how do you think? I'm– Taako, we killed all of them.

I didn't take the fucking ruby, it was super cursed.

[He took a handful of smaller gems from the forest, but he didn't touch the big pulsing ruby in the center of the shapeshifting statue. There's a limit to even his kleptomania.]

(Her eyebrows raise in surprise.)

I stand corrected.

So you only took the books?

Yeah, bubbale, I wanted to see if I could figure out their fucked up magic.

[He's spent his whole life lying about stealing, this comes easily.]

Okay, okay.

(She backs off– even though there's a little nagging suspicion that he might not be telling the truth, Lucretia's not ready to fuck with the relative peace they've found.)

I'd offer my own wards but seems you've got as much as you can give right now, huh.

Listen, maybe I'm fucking wrong and I'm just worked up over nothing, but a little caution isn't hurting. I'd rather be over-prepared.

[That seems reasonable to him.]