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

[spellslots]

who: Taako + various others (if u want something hmu!)
what: What it says on the tin! Catch-all for the next few weeks to save spamming y'all
when: mid July - when I decide I need a new one of these
where: Arounnnnnd
warnings: None yet, will update if necessary

Comments

i've heard they play other music sometimes

[spellslots]

[The door opens with a mage hand, letting Taako in without him needing to juggle the tray at all. It's piled with a plate of french toast, syrup on the side, along with a mimosa and a mug of coffee made exactly how Lucretia likes it.]

I hope you're hungry, bubbale, cause breakfast is served.

[Everything is Fine]

not here...

[scholiast]

Wow, Taako.

(She unfolds her legs from underneath of her, dropping her phone down the side of the armchair. Wow, what a spread huh. She is definitely hungry, but she's also a little suspicious, so she settles for accepting the tray with a chuckle.)

What are you after, huh?

no, in this house we only have sad trombones

[spellslots]

[His expression doesn't quite drop, but it does soften a little.]

Uh, it's an apology. [And in the interest of ripping the band off aid, rather than making them both suffer longer.] I told Lup, about the future.

[scholiast]

(Lucretia's heart sinks.

She's paused with the coffee cup midway to her lip, just staring at him now.)

You... what?

[spellslots]

I told her.

[There are explanations and excuses on the tip of his tongue, but he decides that it's pointless to speak them out loud when they both already know everything he'd say. Lup comes first, he couldn't lie to her, Lucretia already knows those two immutable facts.]

I'm sorry, Lux.

[But he can apologize, not because he's sorry he did it, but because he's sorry that this is going to hurt her.]

[scholiast]

(Lucretia doesn't know why she's surprised: of course he was going to tell Lup. There isn't a possible scenario that exists in which he does not tell Lup. But– but she thought that he might have come to her beforehand, or that it wouldn't have been so soon. She puts the coffee mug down abruptly; her hands are shaking.

She thinks she's angry, but mostly she feels numb.)

Why? No, don't answer that. (They both know why.)

You couldn't have asked me first? Maybe I wanted to tell her, Taako!

[spellslots]

You don't even know what happened, Lucretia, you'd just be telling her the shit I told you.

[And that seems... pointless. It also would have put Lucretia directly in the line of a very angry Lup, and Taako wouldn't do that to her.]

I didn't go in there planning it, I just... I'm sick of hiding my fucking face from my own sister. It kinda spiraled from there.

[scholiast]

(It's pointless arguing this point because Lucretia doesn't even know if she would have been able to tell Lup at all. What exactly would she have done? Before all of this, she hadn't been able to think about it without feeling vaguely sick.)

This is– you don't even know why I did it! You told her all of this and you weren't even able to provide some kind of explanation?

(How could he have?? Lucretia doesn't even know why she did it. Her chest feels so, so tight.)

We– we could have told her together.

[spellslots]

You don't know why.

[It's hard not to meet her frustration with his own, but Taako keeps his voice as gentle as he can manage. He's sick of fighting with Lucretia, about anything.]

I'm not-- I made the right decision here, you didn't wanna be there.

[They both know Lup. Wrath was one of her sins, after all.]

[scholiast]

(Lucretia is dimly aware that she's starting to panic but, as always, it's a hard thing to stop once its begun; that, and Taako's stupid tray of apology breakfast on her lap is making her feel trapped. She uses mage hand to set it gently aside on her desk so she can stand.)

You don't know that. (And despite how hard her heart is beating, her voice is tight, calm.)

You had no right to do that. I know– I know that it's Lup, but you can't just come in here and make her hate me like that Taako, she's my best friend.

[spellslots]

She nearly set me on fire.

[She was so angry there were sparks coming off her, and that's not something Lucretia should've been there for. He hadn't even planned to tell her this, but he needs her to understand that this was something he had to do alone, to give Lup time to calm down.]

I couldn't lie to her about my life and I couldn't-- What was I supposed to do, tell her that someone erased my memories but not who? She was never gonna buy it for long. [He pauses, exhaling roughly.] She doesn't hate you. She's angry, but neither of us hate you.

[And he has more right to that feeling than Lup does.]

[scholiast]

(Would Lup have hurt her? It's not something she's ever considered before, and that hurts, because if somebody had asked Lucretia that question before right now she would have said, without hesitstion: no, of course not. Never.

She laughs, sharp and hopeless.)

Sure. But it's different now, Taako. Whatever you meant or didn't mean to do, she isn't going to see me in the same light any more. And that isn't fair to me. I'm not the person that betrayed you.

(Not yet. She feels sick.)

Get out of my room.

[spellslots]

[There's a moment of hesitation, Taako caught between the urge to keep arguing his point, and the knowledge that there's not really a whole lot he can say.

You will be is far too cruel.

In the end, he looks at her for one second longer, then his shoulders sink and he turns without a word, leaving her room and shutting the door behind him.

He wanted it to go better than this, but he's delivered the warning, and maybe that was the best he could've hoped for, in all of this.]