riverviewlogs | [closed] There is a terrible cost to dark magic, but you know what they say

[It's been a handful of days since Magnus arrived, long enough that Lucretia has returned him from her work trip, long enough that Taako and Lup have tossed a few ideas between themselves, without settling on anything definite.

He gives Lucretia a few hours to get settled back in, letting her shower and unpack and do all that fun post-trip stuff, but he finally calls them both into the sun room, where there's a light dinner and two bottles of white wine, on the assumption they'll definite need it.

The flask of ichor is on the table, too, though it's a little less obvious what, exactly, it is.]

So, uh, this sucks.

[Good start. Nailed it.]

It's nice to see you too, (she says, and takes a seat, shooting Taako a grateful look for the dinner.

Half an hour home and she's greeted with a warm shower, clean clothes and the promise of good food and wine. Despite the topic of the conversation they're about to have, Lucretia is pretty content right now. She's missed these dorks.)

But yes, by all accounts this blows. This looks amazing by the way, (she adds, helping herself to a set of cutlery set out beside the little stack of bowls,) may I start?

[Lup serves them some food and pours the wine before sitting down in her chair with a sigh.]

Sucks isn't a strong enough word, my dudes.

[Magnus not knowing any of them was just painful. She had been so happy to see him, only to realize that he was just... someone. Not their extra large 'brother' or even Taako's future fighting buddy.

Just some dude from a town she never heard of.]

He looks good, though.

[Safe.]

Dig in, that's what it's for.

[Dinner and wine won't solve their problems for them, but having an empty stomach isn't going to help, and anyway, it kept him busy while he was giving Lucretia time to get settled back in.]

He looks young. [Most of Taako's memories of Magnus are from around that age, but the most recent ones are when he was a decade older, with a decade more worth of scars.] I kinda wish he actually was. Like, if this was Magnus before he signed up for the mission at least we wouldn't to make a fucking decision.

[At which point, he gestures to the flask.]

We've got ichor from Fisher Jr.

[He casts a glance at Lucretia, wanting to see her reaction to this. If they give Magnus the ichor, he'll remember their one hundred years, but he'll also remember the Lucretia took them.]

(Hey, Lup ends up serving for her anyway. Nice. Lucretia accepts the plate with thanks and gets started while Taako and Lup talk, one elbow propped up on the table. She didn't see Magnus' video post to the network; still hasn't. She doesn't know if she wants to see it, knowing what... what point in the timeline he's at. After she erased his memories.

If she could go one day without having to think about the fallout regarding this future shit, that'd be greatly appreciated, actually. But today is not that day, especially not with the introduction of the flask. Lucretia stares at it, forkful of food halfway to her mouth.)

Oh.

(It's... all she can think to say right now, but her mouth is curling into a little grimace as a familiar wave of dread washes over her.)

[Lup picks a bit at her food, frowning a little as she thinks about the big bumbly friendly guy that Magnus is and always has been. At least that didn't change, but...]

He's gotta make one, though. He's living in some kind of dream, and he's lost so much of all the things he's done. The stuff he's learned, the people he's met. Not just us but the Power Bear and other dudes, too.

[Lost the real Magnus, however weird that was to say.]

...but it's his life, you know? He doesn't know anything else. His past is a fucking blur but he seems happy with who he is. So it's gotta be his choice.

[She finally starts eating slowly.]

We can't take that decision from him again. We'd be just as bad as... uh. Yeah.

[The way Lucretia responds matches what he expected, and Taako reaches out to rest his hand over hers, because even if he still stands by his previous decision, with Lup, he wants her to know that he isn't taking this out of her hands. They can decide together.

But Lup's right, about all of it, even if he shoots her a bit of a look at that "we'd be just as bad as" because really. Even it's the same line of thought he had, the last thing they need is to get into shit between themselves.]

We got one problem with that, we can't explain jack shit to him without it staticking out.

[And how can he make a choice if he doesn't know the stakes?]

Just as bad as me.

(She supplies, voice calm enough. She puts her forkful of food back down, untouched. The twins really have to stop bringing up heavy stuff around meal times, she's never gonna eat again at this rate. She sighs.)

It's okay. (Like, on top of everything else? This might as well happen too. She's so tired.) Lup's right. We should let him decide.

Can we... I mean, could we maybe write it down for him? (She only just got Fisher after all, and she vaguely understands the way the memory-eating works, but she hasn't had much time to play around with it yet.)

Sorry, Luce. I didn't mean it like that. [She really does look sorry, reaching to put a hand on Lucretia's.

...the she's mildly confused, frowning. The static thing was really weird in general.]

Are you shitting me? That's messed up.

[It meant he couldn't really know what they were offering.]

Can we... talk around it somehow? Or does writing it work, like Luce said?

Reading voidfished stuff is like, uh... it's like you know all the letters, but if you try to hold the words together in your head you lose it.

[He's the only one who has experience with this, and the only one that ever, really, will. Lup will get a little of it, but that's only spoken words, and it's only the shit Fisher ate on his homeworld. She won't lose anything, because she'll be a lich stuck in an umbrella, and Lucretia won't lose anything because she's behind it all.]

Here, uh,

.

[He tries to say Boyland's name, since it's something he remembers being fed to Fisher, but, well.

Static.]

(She gives Lup a little smile to let her know that it's fine, and takes her hand back. And then the declaration that Taako delivers swiftly after is probably supposed to be serious, but it just ends up being kind of funny to her because... nothing happens? Lucretia makes a face.)

Who's Boyland? (What a name.

Why didn't she bring her stuff with her again? She has a quick glance around for something nearby that she could write on, then pulls her phone out of her pocket as a plan b. She brings the notepad application up and makes a new entry so she can quickly jot down what Taako had just said about trying to read information that has been... 'voidfished'? 'Voidfished' immediately gets a squiggly little red line underneath it.)

So writing is... out. Okay. Could we possibly let him know in the simplest terms without triggering the effect? Something along the lines of: we have this ichor, and if you drink it, it will fill in the gaps of your memory. Something about how this could be... um, traumatic for him. (She's typing this all as she goes, expression weary but focused.) But that we want to let him decide, and that we would understand if he chose not to drink it.

Umm, what the fuck was that?

[That was just screeching static to her, which makes Lup frown. That was what Fisher's secrets sounded like?

Still, Lucretia is right. also Lucretia is very Lucretia-ing with that phone, which makes Lup smile fondly. At least that was the same.]

He already know a little about us knowing him from his past and all, we could build from that. Just... 'we can show you your past, but if you're comfortable with who you are right now we're cool with that and just make you our friend again.'

[That sounded lame and she feels pretty lame, too.]

I'm really glad we remember each other.

That was Fisher.

[There are more examples he could give, but he feels like he's gotten the point across. He's... honestly not sure how all the time travel bullshit interacts with Fisher, and that makes things more complicated as well, but for now they should probably just work on the assumption that there isn't all that much Magnus will be able to hear.

So he nods at both Lucretia and Lup's suggestion.

He doesn't address the I'm glad we remember each other because if he gets back into that frame of mind, thinking about how awful it would've been if he hadn't remembered Lup, he'll be angry and upset all over again. They don't need that right now.]

Feels like that's the best we're gonna get, as much as it sucks. Would you drink some weird ichor from a bunch of strangers who are going on about knowing you? I mean, I drank it at the Bureau, but like... that was kinda different.

(Lucretia doesn't say anything, just hunkers over her phone and types everything in. She's not as fast with her phone as she is with her journal, but that suits her just fine. She feels very tired and guilty and tired of feeling guilty. It figures that this wouldn't just blow over the moment she managed to patch everything up with Taako and Lup, but still. It sucks.

And now she's about to put Magnus through this, too. Lucretia would give anything to stop hurting the people she loves the most like this, over and over again. She sighs, and scrolls back up her notes, giving them a quick re-read.)

I think this is going to be our best bet. Short of miming the entire thing out, I mean.

I would fucking mime it out if that helped in any way.

[Lup pokes at her food again, frowning.]

He seems... comfortable around us, though. Like he has some kind of feeling left? A little more than a normal Magnus thing, at least.

[She glances at her brother, stabbing a piece of potato with her fork as if that would somehow help her frustration.]

Did you... feel anything when you first met up with Maggie and Merle back when Fisher still had eaten your memories?

[Honestly, he's not sure if miming it out would help. He remembers seeing the drawing of Magnus in a red robe, and how wrong it felt in his head, like something he couldn't grasp. Remembering the things hidden by the voidfish is an uncomfortable feeling.]

I, uh, yeah? I guess? I mean, I trusted them.

[And that was a lot, for the version of Taako who thought he'd spent his whole life alone. He trusted Merle and Magnus to look out for him, and it was the first time since Sazed he'd felt that way. It had been some weird thing, unexplained, until he'd drunk the ichor.]

Maybe there is something there, then.

(Why does this subject have to be so complicated, personally? If this were about somebody she didn't know, Lucretia would be really interested in it. She returns to slowly picking at her food as she thinks, lowering her phone for a moment.)

I guess our best shot is coming to him with as much information we can provide and... seeing what happens. (She shrugs a shoulder, and abandons the piece of carrot she had been considering for her wine glass instead.)

If he doesn't want to drink it, there's nothing we can do short of forcing him and I– I won't do that. No matter how hard it gets.

There's gotta be. If you trusted them...

[They had an issue about trusting people before the IPRE, after all. If Taako thought he grew up alone, she can only imagine how much worse that must have been.

Maybe a stray subconscious memory was still there, even for Magnus. He had been nothing but sweet and accepting since he arrived, after all.. but that was also very Magnus.]

Maybe he will feel that he can trust us enough to listen and try to understand. We're not forcing him to do anything.

[That's she's adamant about.]

So who gets this shitty fucking job? Cause I'm the only one that knows any of this first hand.

[Which means he's probably the best bet; they could all do it, but he's not sure if that might be a little overwhelming for Magnus, to have three near strangers try to explain that they've known him for years.]

Taako.

(Lucretia's finished her glass of wine and has finally decided to commit to her food, chewing as she points her fork at the elf in question.)

For reasons already stated: plus, if we rush him, he'll get suspicious. He knows you the best considering the current circumstances, and you're charming, so that will probably help.

You could get him on the right track and we'll follow up if he needs more convincing that we're not about to poison him.

[Lup, too, finally gets on the chow.]

[closed] There is a terrible cost to dark magic, but you know what they say

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