riverviewlogs | (open) i made a sucker's prayer

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(open) i made a sucker's prayer

who: lucretia & you
what: tdm prompt + catch-all
when: late march/early april
where: oot n aboot
warnings: warnings for violence re: monster fights

01 everybody was monster fightin' (ota)

(Lucretia has always fought better in pairs than alone.

Its to do with her defensive capabilities; she's extraordinarily good at buff magic, at covering those with more destructive power, keeping them safe as they dive in head first. She can at least hold her own when she needs to but it's trickier. It isn't as fun, either! She likes being in a team.

Regardless, she's grouping creatures together with lightning spells and the odd fireball, trying to keep an eye out for other fighters or innocents about to be caught in the line of fire, anybody who needs a hand or a quick shield. Her elemental magic isn't at the same level as her abjuration work; eventually she falls back, starts to conserve her higher level spell slots.

Anybody who has just found themselves in a sticky situation or just looks like they need an extra hand will suddenly find a neat shield of faith being cast about them.)

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I looked, no fucking joke, I looked everywhere.

[This isn't like last time, where he was mistrustful of Lucretia and wanted to keep her at a distance because it felt safer that way. He needs her help, he wants her to trust that he's doing the right thing.]

The whispering won't stop, Lucretia.

[There's a little desperation in that and despite how things are between them, he reaches out a hand for her, as if somehow that will help.]

(She takes it automatically, smoothing her thumb over the back of his knuckles and tries to think. The whispering, the... back in the room, where they'd fought all the cultists and something had been murmuring in the shell of her ear the entire time. Where had that come from?)

Okay, (she says, distracted,) okay. Uh...

(It had, she presumed, been coming from the room that they were standing in. Some kind of trap, present only to serve as distraction while they had been fighting. More than a few times she'd almost lost herself to listening to it and nearly been hit by somebody.)

The two that we left behind must have triggered something. I can– I'll find them, put them down. (That should make it stop.) D'you think they'll still be in the same place as before?

We levelled that place, if anyone's still there it's cause their fucking ghost is haunting it.

[He's gripping her hand tighter than he really should be and there's a tension in his voice that doesn't quite ease even though he's talking shit. It's hard to focus on anything that isn't the incessant whispering. It feels as though it's gotten worse since he showed up here, and he hates that he can't tell if it's real or imagined.]

I dunno what to do.

[If there are some of them left, they have to find them, but he has no idea how to go about it and even if he did, he's not in any state to fight someone right now.]

I know.

(She's not sure what to do. If they're out there somewhere, Lucretia has no idea how long it will take to track them down. They've proved themselves more than sufficient with magic, they could lead her about in circles for days if they wanted and from the way that Taako grips her hand so tightly he probably can't stand to have the whispering around for that long.

She makes up her mind.)

I'll find them, (she reiterates,) I'll be quick. I could– we could ask the others for help.

I'm so fucking sick of making Lup worry.

[He promised things would be fine after Kravitz arrived, that they'd cut down on the bullshit for a while and sure, it's been at least a month and a half since then. But... still, he just wants to handle this quickly and quietly so that Lup and Kravitz never need to know.]

Can't you-- gods, isn't there a spell to make them shut the fuck up?

[She's an abjuration wizard, surely there's something.]

Gotcha.

(She undestands without having to ask: Lup will tell Barry and Kravitz, and if Taako takes it direct to Lucretia instead he knows she won't say a word if he doesn't want her to. She'll just have to figure it out by herself.

A quick mental flick through her wheelhouse does, at least, produce something that might be useful.) Mind blank, (she supplies, taking her wand out with her free hand. Sbe gives him a quick, nervous glance.)

It might work. You trust me, right?

[Though he hasn't mastered it himself, he's familiar with the spell in passing, which is probably lucky considering the name is somewhat unsettling, especially considering... everything.

But Taako nods.]

I-- just do it, Luce, it's gotta be better than this.

[He trusts her but he doesn't, it's complicated and he isn't ready to get into it right now.]

(It's fine. All she needs is enough trust to get away with casting something on him she hasn't used in a long time; she gives his hand a gentle squeeze, and uses the point of familiar contact to help ground herself.

It should hopefully feel like a warm blanket settling across the top of him, muffling all the sound in his brain. It's a careful, complicated bit of protection and it takes Lucretia a solid minute to set it properly.)

There. That should buy you twenty-four hours, (she says eventually, yawning hugely.) Did it work?

[For once in his life, Taako waits patiently, though his grip on her hand stays tight until the spell finally settles over his thoughts. His hold loosens at the same time as some of the tension in his shoulders drain away.]

Shit, yeah, it's good, it worked.

[It's quiet, which almost feels weird after so long, but he's grateful.]

I can fucking think again.

Oh, good.

(She relaxes too: this has bought them time to figure something more long-term out, and she's never become accustomed to seeing Taako in genuine distress. Never will. Not even after one hundred years of shenanigans has she ever been able to weather it.)

Good, okay. Next step is finding the cultists.

[He needs a moment to sort of get himself fully out of it, shaking out his hands and running a hand through his hair, as if he can brush off that leftover ickiness from the whispers.]

Okay, uh, okay... [thinking! he can do this!] If this is some revenge bullshit, maybe we can lure 'em into a trap with me as the bait?

(She wants to give him something to hold like a glass of wine or even a hot drink but all her stuff is smashed. She pauses awkwardly in the middle of reaching to magic a cupboard open.)

Um. Sure. You know, I feel like I want to protest you putting yourself out even further onto the line but I was just considering that if I tried to do this alone they could fuck me about for days, so. Let's do it.

Gimme a good shield and I'm not gonna be too worried, you're better at that shit than I am.

[It's easy to tell he's a bit rattled because he's complimenting Lucretia without hesitation.]

You think they'll know their shit isn't working on me right now?

I can do that much.

(Lucretia will take what she can get.)

If they're keeping close tabs... we may have a very limited window in which to pull this off.

[He nods at that assessment, still obviously a little too tense, because even though the whispering is gone the effect lingers, putting him on edge.]

Not that I give that much of a shit about collateral damage, but I guess we should lead 'em somewhere quiet so no one dies or whatever?

(Lucretia shakes her head, for once more than happy to get her hands dirty.)

I think we have more than enough reason to put the both of them into the ground.

(Sure, it's not her style but... they're both stalking Taako and deliberately messing with his emotional safety so, uh, it's a no-brainer.)

Oh, that shit was non-negotiable on my end, but I'm talking like making sure no one else gets caught up in it. There's a few abandoned places near the edge of the wall or uh, we could head back to where we found 'em in the first place, like we're looking for them there?

[To throw the cultists off the fact that Taako isn't under the influence of their spell anymore.]

Oh, gotcha.

(thinking too many ugly thoughts about people hurting her friends lol)

I think the temple would be good; it's got that real, uh, how do you put it? Fuck off vibe to it. I doubt anybody would be there out of general curiousity at this point so...

If we loop around and get them back there they may come because they feel they have home advantage too.

[Taako is with it enough to look faux taken aback at her cussing, but moves on without comment.]

Right, right, that all checks out. Should you like go invisible for the walk over, cause I can toss that shit on you easy as, so they don't spot you?

(She appreciates that.)

Perfect; I'll ward you six ways from Sunday and together we should be more than enough for them.

[Taako taps a finger on Lucretia's shoulder, casting invisibility on her so they can get to work.]

Hey, shit, you're moving out for good, right? You care if a put a hole in the wall? Make it look as if I couldn't find you and got real mad about it?

[If they're gonna sell this, he'll go all in.]

(Oh– geez, it's happening right now. Okay. She'll text Beverly, let her know what's going on, and then come back later to get the rest of her boxes sorted. Taako is, naturally, top priority.)

Um, (she says distractedly, still looking at her phone.) Sure, that should be fine.

(she doesnt have a deposit, right???? so its whatever)

Best news I've heard all day. Stay close.

[He doesn't want to waste too much time and risk the cultists realizing that he's no longer under their influence, so as soon as Lucretia gives permission, Taako casts a level three bunch of magic missiles at one of the out walls.

It blows out a small portion of it, not enough to do structural damage but enough that Taako can shove his way through the rumble back out onto the street. He looks left and right a few times, as if paranoid he's being followed, then takes off in the direction of the wall and the forest. It's going to be a boring walk, but he doesn't want to risk summoning Garyl or teleporting if it means losing the cultists.]

(Wait what– oh, okay.

She startles at the explosion, looking up from her half-finished text and watching her wall slowly crumple under the force of the spell. I mean. Yeah, it probably doesn't... matter, not in the long run? It's not like she's coming back here. Glancing up at the wall she belatedly notices there's a single coffee mug stuck very firmly to the ceiling, right in the corner.

Down on the street, she follows Taako mostly in silence, her hands in her pockets, fiddling with her wand. She's trying to prepare herself for whatever they're going to find out there; though it can't be anything more than two desperate people, trying to get a third to join them. Surely they don't want to outright kill Taako, it's an awful lot of bother... but she shouldn't lower her guard either way.)

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(open) i made a sucker's prayer

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