(closed) god, it’s been a hell of a week

[scholiast]

who: lucretia + others (hmu if you'd like a starter!)
what: catch all for a couple things + canon update time :)
when: end of aug start of sep
where: here there everywhere
warnings: will be updated if they occur

Comments

(im not)

[scholiast]

(It takes her a little while to get herself under control again.

It would be so easy (even desirable at this point) for her to sink into herself and attempt to start untangling this but Taako's gaze on her burns like fire and she can't– she can't afford to do this right now. Later, later. She's held herself together over worse than this. Lucretia is well versed in suffering alone.

Finally, the tears stop, and she wipes them away with her thumbs while sucking in shuddering breaths. It's so strange to think that this Taako not only knows who she is, but is far enough ahead to have broken through what was left of her plans to the other side of it, towards the... the end.

How far along is this? She can't remember if he ever told her.)

What did you see? (She manages, eventually. Even her voice sounds different: quieter, calmer. She isn't quite ready to look up at him. Will he even want to tell her what he saw?)

i know

[spellslots]

[Lucretia cries and Taako reaches shakily for the bottle of vodka, wanting to do literally anything but look at her, and right now he doesn't trust himself to walk away, so drinking it is, while he stares at the coffee table.

Her voice cuts through his thoughts, but he still can't look at her.]

We won. Your stupid fucking plan was never gonna work, but Istus reminded me there was a third option. We put your shield around the Hunger and cut the bonds.

[We died.

He remembers white, whiteness and nothing, and surely that's what death is. He remembers kissing Kravtiz, before leaving for one final trip on the Starblaster, and wonders if he'll see him again in the astral plane.]

[scholiast]

(When she does look up at him finally, her vision is a bit blurred even with her glasses on. Figures that her prescription would have become worse over time: she just lost, what, twenty years of her life? She remembers throwing it away easily, even gleefully, seizing the opportunity to change her appearance to better suit how old she truly feels which is... one hundred and twenty-eight years old, give or take a few. Wow.)

I– did you say around the Hunger? ... Huh. (She blinks, sitting up straight in place and receiving her canister from the ground. She turns it slowly in both hands, palms tracing over where her name is etched into the side.

Around the Hunger. That... makes a lot of sense, actually.)

[spellslots]

Yeah, it's almost like we had some good fucking ideas when we know what we're up against.

[He can't help the anger bubbling up beneath the surface, now that she's here, the version of Lucretia that hurt him.

It isn't the first time he's faced her, it was just different during the mess with the chalice when he knew it wouldn't be permanent, when they had other things to focus on. There's no changing this, though. From here on in they have to live with this.]

[scholiast]

Okay, okay.

(It's going to be like this now, isn't it.

A familiar wave of guilt washes over Lucretia; her expression remains careful, neutral. She doesn't know how she's supposed to address this; she's assuming that in the time that he's from, she has explained herself to him already. What else can she do? She reaches a hand up and rubs her shoulder slowly.)

But we– we won. You said that we won.

[spellslots]

[It's not even remotely okay, but he knows a dismissal when he hears one, even if part of him wants to keep pushing it.]

I mean, you cast the spell and the world fucking dropped away to some white bullshit. Kinda guessed that's a success.

[He doesn't remember being killed; he definitely took more than a few hits, but it wasn't like dying from bleeding out, more just... a sudden nothingness. Maybe from being trapped in the bubble with the Hunger.]

[scholiast]

Okay.

(It sounds positive enough, but does she dare to let herself hope for a victory over the Hunger from her respective point in the timeline? Lucretia glances at the coffee table and picks up the second shot that Taako had poured for her earlier (during a moment that now feels like it was a lifetime ago), downing it in one. She's dealing with a lot of conflicting emotions right now and knowing that she will successfully cast her altered shield spell when the time finally calls for it is adding excited into the mix, something she feels a bit badly for.

Her next statement is tentative, testing the waters.)

That's... good, then.

[spellslots]

[He can't do this.

This isn't the first time he's run from something, it isn't even the first time he's run from this, and he's sure it won't be the last, but right now he can't sit here and talk about - about any of this.

There's just one thing he has to know.]

When? When is it, for you?

[scholiast]

(She can sense that he's close to snapping. He's locked up on the couch beside her like he's torn between fight or flight and since she won't allow him to come at her, the second option is the only one that stands. He'll be gone soon, and who knows when she'll next see him face-to-face? He is part of her heart, and Lucretia has known him for far too long to not know exactly how this will go. If he truly doesn't want her to see him, then she won't.

It's so hard. The ache of knowing he's here after so long without contact from any of them burns her in the most complex of ways. She has missed him, so dearly.)

Wonderland. (She supplies, and folds her hands in her lap.) I just escaped from Wonderland.

[spellslots]

Barry's fucking bell.

[And Cam, and the liches who now remind him of himself and Lup in all the wrong ways. Like what they could've ended up if Lup wasn't as kind as she was, if he was a little more selfish, if things had ever been a little more desperate.

But now he knows, and that's all he wanted. That's all he could handle, right now.

Without another word, only one last glance at Lucretia, Taako disappears.]