hadriel_logs | Intro Log: Busy Little Bees

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Intro Log: Busy Little Bees

Who: New arrivals and everyone else!
What: The intro log for July
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: July 10th-16th
Warnings: Fun for kids of all ages!

Another day, another mysterious transportation to a strange and alien city inside a cave surrounded by monsters. Or maybe that's not normal for you? Weird! You awaken on the ground of a large arena, a stone ceiling stretching high above you. Welcome to Hadriel! Oh, but you aren't alone. That 'surrounded by monsters' bit? Yeah...

Do you hear a buzzing? Better start running now. Along with all the newbies, the Door has brought in quite a few tracker jackers. Wasps are already horrible, and these things are even worse. Bigger and much more dangerous than the insects they were genetically modified from, tracker jackers will sting anyone they think is a threat. Their stings cause extreme pain and hallucinations, and if you're stung too many times - well, that's it for you. You can try to calm them down with smoke, fight them, or just run like hell. Maybe you'll get lucky.

It's hard to fight if you don't have a weapon, though. But hey - you're in luck! Rage, who usually supplies the city with weapons, is currently gone, but the Door has provided you with some instead! That's right, you might find a sword, a gun, a bow and arrow, or an exotic foreign weapon to defend yourself with! Of course, they're all made of plastic and completely incapable of hurting anything. Have fun!

Let's hope your legs are faster than those wasps, and you survive your first few minutes in Hadriel. After you've find your way out of the colosseum there's plenty of other distractions. Feel free to go explore the rest of the city! Find a house, a new monster, a project to help with, or simply scavenge for supplies. Good luck, and enjoy your stay in Hadriel!

► This log covers July 10th-16th.
► Feel free to make your own logs as well!
► All characters arrive with phones that have network communication and the newbie guide installed.
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[For Taako, it has been ten years since he last saw his sister. But for Lup, they've only been apart for a few minutes.

The last thing that Lup remembers before arriving in Hadriel is their abrupt leave from the conservatory. Magnus had rushed in, as usual, leaving Lup and the rest of their crew to fend off The Hunger for as long as they possibly could. It had been close--she could still feel the heat of her fireballs blasting into the thing's tendrils just inches away from where they made their stand--but somehow, miraculously, all seven of them had managed to make it back to the ship and get away.

Lup can still vividly recall the way her legs were shaking when she finally collapsed safely inside of the Starblaster's walls, giggling from the intense rush of adrenaline, her limbs weighed down with exhaustion after shooting off spell after spell. But after sucking in a few breaths to calm down her giddiness, the woman moved to crawl over to her brother, gracelessly flopping onto her back with her arms spread out wide. Lup tilted her head to the side and shot Taako a quick grin as she spoke, "I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have" before sticking out her tongue teasingly at him. Another aphorism to add to his stupid book.

And then it had been nothing, the usual sense of blankness before the next cycle began, when their bodies were remade. But then she had appeared here instead of on the Starblaster. And for a brief, frightening moment, Lup had thought she might have been alone.

So for all of Taako's intense struggling to make sense of his new memories, Lup only feels a sense of right when she spies his familiar frame across the distance, like her heart is back in it's proper place, all fear gone in an instant. Wherever they were, whatever they had to face, they'd be just fine together.]

Taako? [There are people around them, fighting off giant wasps and screaming in pain, but Lup's attention is stuck on her twin as she moves forward, dodging wasps and human alike in her quest to close the distance between them.

But, even from this distance, Lup can see something is very, very wrong.] Taako! What are you-- [A man crashes into Lup in his effort to wave away the wasps buzzing overhead, leaving the elf to stumble momentarily. Lup sees Taako clutching at his head, staggering, and she yells for him,] Taako!

[Taako's still trying to reconcile the fact that the buzzing he's hearing isn't actually in his own head when she yells his name, and truthfully, he misses it the first time, brushing it off as a stray memory, as something he doesn't have the energy to fully explore. But it comes again, and again, until he looks up and actually sees her.

For Taako, she's the same as he remembers-- or now remembers-- exactly, the same person who was just here as a ghost, and he must have remembered her more than he thought for her to appear like that. For her, no time passed. He doesn't even know how he lost her, when it happened, just that she was in his life and then wasn't, and suddenly now here.

But for him, it's been 10 years. Ten years of travelling shows and betrayal, of finding his way back and forth to friends he didn't know, to sacrifices in Wonderland, and when he looks at her, he suddenly realizes they won't look quite the same and takes even the smallest step back. He was steadying himself. Of course.

But this matters. He can't deny this fucking matters and he wants to be angrier about it than he is.

In the end, he barely speaks. It's almost like he's seen a ghost.]

Lup? Is-- fuck, Lup?

[By the time Taako looks up to her, Lup barely has time to acknowledge the frenzied look on his face in her rush to reach her twin. Worry twists sharply in her gut, but the elven woman just elbows her way through the crowd, not stopping until she's standing there, coming to a shaky halt right in front of him.]

Taako, it's me. [Familiar hands reach for his face immediately, warm palms pressing firmly against his cheekbones. Why does he look so in disbelief at the sight of her? What the hell had happened in those minutes they'd been apart? Her relief at being reunited is a little tainted with concern for the person who matters most in her life.] It's just me. [There's something off about his face, more than just the awfully intense look he's giving her, but with the wasps buzzing overhead, this isn't the moment to find out what's wrong. They need cover, to get away from the screams of those who were already stung.]

Hey, it's dangerous here, bro. We should really get moving, to at least get out of the open.

[He doesn't need to say a word. Lup already knows that something very wrong is going on here.]

[She touches him and everything in his brain is conflict. He wants to flinch back, and can't help but tense when she's close, because letting anyone close feels like an intimacy he can't cross. But Lup was always that exception, that person who could do anything, and he hasn't had time to process any of that.

And really, he doesn't have the damn time to process more of it in this second anyway, because there's some horrifying buzzing and those things look serious. Without missing another beat, he takes a half step back, partially to give him some room to breathe but also to smack one that was heading right for her with the side of the Umbra Staff, sending it flying like a baseball swing.]

Yeah, we-- uh, they won't follow outside. Come on.

[He doesn't have the peace of mind to grab her wrist, but part of him also knows she'll always follow, and he leans into it as much as he can as he ducks out of the way of the swarm, starting into a run towards the edge with little of his usual flair.]

[Taako doesn't need to flinch away for Lup to know that something is horribly wrong with her brother. Try as he might to hide it, she can see the conflict there in his eyes. And it fucking hurts.

Miraculously, Lup doesn't respond. She doesn't grab for his hand. She doesn't stamp her foot and demand immediate answers. Instead, the woman just follows, running as close as she can to Taako's side, dodging wasps and stumbling people alike as the two make a mad break for safety. But as terrible as it was inside of the colosseum, Lup couldn't help but worry about whatever she was about to face outside of it.

Luckily, even without their usual flair while in combat, the two manage to make it to the edge of the colosseum breathless, but undamaged. Once they cross that threshold into safety, Lup cranes her neck behind her and watches as the wasps retreat back into the center of the arena, refusing to follow them outside of it's walls. Huh. Lup looks back to her brother, a questioning look crossing her face. How had he even known that?]

Okay, so spill. What the hell is going on? [She wanted to offer reassurances or comfort first, to ease into the conversation, but Lup's nerves are too on edge after catching his odd reactions to her. It puts her on edge. Makes her foot tap as arms cross defensively over her chest.]

[He barely even registers the running, the movement, letting reflex take over as he dodges and eventually just extends the umbrella around him and driving them off in waves. But god, she speaks to him, it's accusatory, and it's worse. He doesn't know what those bees do, doesn't know what horror Hadriel would've dug up for him, but it couldn't be worse than this.

God, this is what he wanted, isn't it? He spent a few seconds of panic as he looked at the umbrella in Lucretia's office and her words rung in his ears I'm so sorry, Taako, there was nothing I could do, but he hasn't had enough time to do any of the remembering. He can't remember why she was even gone, and the thought physically hurts, like a knife sinking into his frontal lobe, so he stops. What does he remember? What does she remember?

He remembers being kids. He remembers them doing their hair the same and swapping clothes and forgetting who's who and fooling everyone. He remembers being too small in their aunt's kitchen, piled on chairs to reach the oven, lifting her up to stir a bowl. He remembers her pulling him off a burning caravan almost almost too late, the way she hugged him as he shook, barely adults, just barely. He remembers studying with her at the university, he remembers the press conference and the way it felt to smile as she yelled out GREG GRIMALDIS, the Hunger-- god, that's it's name, the Hunger, what's happening back in their plane-- and the pain starts again, this time the wince becoming visible as he smears his hand over his face in a motion all too ungraceful.

Lucretia said remembering too fast would kill him. But he doesn't even know where to start.

He can't get Lup back just to lose her again.]

I'm gonna be as honest as I'm capable of being right now, this is, uh, this is much longer of a story than I think you're thinkin' it's gonna be.

[She might know something more than he does, but god, he's so sick of remembering right now. Let's stick with the thing that absolutely shouldn't be there, which just so happens to be the place they're goddamn standing.]

This... place is another plane, kind of, but mostly its just an entirely new existence. No ins, no outs, unless the gods in charge want it. It's called Hadriel and I've been here before. I mean, I was, for a month or two, it sucks. They manipulate emotions for power, and again, it sucks.

[That's... the easy part. He tries to think his way through this, tries to even begin, and continues to draw a blank. So he has to ask her, has to bring her in somewhere.]

When was the last time you saw me?

Edited (will i ever proofread my own shit? signs point to no) 2017-07-13 01:43 (UTC)

[Lup is not a woman known for her patience. She's always preferred action to inaction. When she sees the end of the world coming, she doesn't make a run for it, she bares her teeth and shoots off fireballs in (what she assumes) is it's face. When her friends decide it's their right to take lives just to keep their enemy from growing stronger, Lup doesn't just sit back on her hands and let it happen. She jumps to stand up against them, refusing to change her mind for the sake of appeasing their fear. So standing here, waiting, while Taako is trapped inside of his own head, wrestling with new and old memories and trying to find the words he needs, Lup feels like she must be in hell.

But she bites her tongue and presses her lips together into a tight line, waiting. Her foot may be tapping impatiently and she may be holding back a few choice words in telling Taako to hurry the hell up before her worry eats right through her, but the woman gives him the time he needs to collect himself.

--Until she sees that wince, the physical pain tearing at her heart and taking some of the defensiveness right out of her posture. Even if she's trying to give him space, Lup has to cross the distance between them to put a hand on Taako's shoulder. Whatever was going on, they were there together. They'd always make it through.

When Taako finally speaks it isn't much better, but at least it's something. Him saying 'as honest as I'm capable of being right now' though, really doesn't even come close to making it on the top hundred list of reassuring things he's ever said to her. The conversation moves fast after that. A new plane. A new existence. Hadriel. Gods. Emotions. It all sounds like bullshit, but watching her twin barely holding it together, Lup can't take it as anything but the truth.

Her eyebrows knit together at his question.]

It's only been a few minutes. I dunno, like, ten? Maybe fifteen? [Don't press her for time. Time hasn't been any of their friends since they left their home world.] We were all in the Starblaster, just taking off from the conservatory in Legato. [Lup's head tilts to the side, her gaze burning so intensely it was almost as if she was looking straight through Taako. In reality, she was just trying to read him, something she hasn't ever had to try to do before.] Don't you remember presenting in front of that cave? Davenport singing and Magnus' wooden duck. And your--your fucking stupid book--[She laughs, but the sound isn't at all like her. Her laugh is strained, nervous.] We couldn't--We fucking tried to save them and we couldn't but at least we managed to all make it out of there together. One minute we were on the ship and then we were here. [A thoughtful pause before she revises,] I was here.

[Her sharp gaze searches his face, before Lup quietly asks back,] So, how long has it been since you saw me?

Edited 2017-07-13 05:23 (UTC)

[He listens, and tries to concentrate on what she's talking about. The conservatory. The-- that's where the Voidfish came from, okay. He's got that much. But without knowing the ending, without knowing the rest of the context, he has no idea how long that's actually been proper. He needs an anchor of some kind. Lucretia had said something about how long they were traveling but his head's a mess and pulling one piece of intel is impossible right now. He needs something solid, he needs...

Six years. It's been six years since he fled from Glamour Springs with Sazed. And the show ran for longer than that, at least two successful years, there had to be time before that too.

Nine. Could be ten.

Fuck.

He wants to scream. He wants to find Lucretia, he wants to make her feel this, this pain in his chest that feels like a fire burning behind his heart. He doesn't even know why she was gone. He doesn't know what happened, and he hates that he has to trust Lucretia's word now because it's all he has.]

Would you accept a guess? 'Cause, uh... eight years, at least. Could be up to ten.

[He sighs, because god, he can't fight her now, he can't lose her again.]

It's all pretty messed up, if we're bein' real here.

[Wow. As much as it pains her to even think the words, Taako wasn't exactly wrong. This clearly wasn't the kind of conversation that could be completely resolved in one sitting. Whatever all of this was, it was a lot more than a reassuring hug or even the promise to stick together could easily fix.

Double fuck.

Because it's been One Fucking Hell of a day and because it's Taako, the rush of conflicting emotions to crash over Lup are all too easy to identify in the flashes that cross her face. She's silent until the number finally comes out, which elicits a soft gasp from her, the hand on Taako's shoulder dropping in surprise.

They'd been alone before. They may be top-tier wizards and cunning in a way that most people never had to learn to be, but nearly fifty years of fighting The Hunger had meant that they'd both hit at least one unlucky streak or gotten a little too cocky in combat. As much as she's always tried to push those memories away, Lup vividly remembers every minute of the ten months she had to live without Taako during one particularly awful cycle. It had been the first plane they'd arrived to where the inhabitants hadn't been generous and welcoming upon their entrance. Instead, they'd been greeted with aggression and outright threats, stubbornly refusing to give up the Light of Creation.

What could they have possibly done? Sat around and waited for The Hunger to swoop down in a year and eat the plane up? No fucking way. But Taako had been the first and only casualty of that year after another negotiation attempt had gone horribly, horribly wrong.

But after the aggressors and their entire village had gone up in all-consuming flames, the Light was practically shoved into their hands by the remaining survivors. But Lup was already gone.

She'd withdrawn, quickly drawing away from the only people alive she knew and going cold. She stayed in Taako's room and refused to leave for weeks at a time, stubbornly clinging to the bedding and clothing that still smelled like him. Eventually, as months passed and he still wasn't back, she learned to move on, even if her day-to-day movements felt so devoid of life compared to the Lup that they all knew. And by the end of the ten months, she'd found her tongue again and had learned to live and laugh a little, taking comfort in the friendships surrounding her, forever grateful for them all. But it wasn't until the year passed on and Taako was back that Lup felt like her heart was beating again.

They weren't two halves of the same whole, forever incomplete people unless they were together. But he was her heart and she could never be the best version of herself without him.

So if ten months had been pure hell to her, what the fuck could ten years have done to her brother?

Lup blinks her eyes, refusing to submit to the tears wanting to pool up there in the corners. When she finally speaks, having to clear her throat twice to get anything to come out, Lup's voice sounds strained.]

Heh. Guess you really wanted to play the older twin card that bad, huh?

[He looks at her for a little while once he speaks, time that feels like an eternity before she finally talks, waiting to hear some kind of judgement, some horrible blow, some determination of you're not my brother anymore or that he's the wrong one, the one set out of time. And she... fuck, she jokes. That's always them, isn't it? Bullshit and laughing and garbage.

And fuck, his mind is killing him, but she's here and they're alone and something in him just snaps.

He swears his hands are shaking but he just reaches forward and grabs her, pulls her close, and he's not crying, he's too numb for that now, but he just needs to know she's real. She's real, and here, and not somehow gone, not there was nothing I could do, not I'm afraid no one else will have me.

God, he just needs something real, and he's almost mumbling into her shoulder when he speaks again.]

Lucretia erased you. The mission. I didn't even know who you fucking were until five minutes ago. I don't remember it all yet, it's shit, I still don't even know where you are.

[Taako has never been a hysterics person, an outward emotions person, even to Lup, but this is the closest he can get. He just can't do this alone right now, and for a moment, just a moment, he's slipping.]

[Shit shit shit. Goofing and poorly-timed jokes had always been their go-to when the world was weighing heavily down on them.

Before she can react, Taako is reaching out to her with shaking hands and pulling her close, leaving Lup frozen in momentary shock. Almost immediately, a tiny fire lights within her, a quickly rising anger towards whoever the hell thought they could fuck with her brother like this. But before it can fully engulf her, he's clinging to her like a drowning man, his head pressed against her shoulder, mumbling in near hysterics and looking so much more vulnerable than she's seen in decades. Lup's arms slip around Taako's shoulders, hugging him just as tightly to her, the rage within her quickly shifting to worry for her brother instead. She'll still kill whoever did this, but taking care of her brother and seeing him to the other side of this is so much more important than vengeance right now.

Taako's words don't make sense. Nothing makes sense. Lucretia's name buzzes around in her mind and Lup tries to put together just what 'Lucretia erased you' could possibly mean but it just doesn't connect. What did Lucretia have to do with it? He hadn't even remembered who Lup was? How does that even make sense? How could ten years pass by without Lup showing up to kick his ass for forgetting who she was?

So where the hell was she in his timeline?

These were all questions to be talked about more later on, even if the answers would just raise more questions that couldn't be answered right now.]

You're wrong, Taako. [Her own grip around him tightens, head tilting to rest against his as her hands drew comforting circles against his back.] You know exactly where I am because I'm right here. I'm right fucking here and I swear to whatever shitty gods run this place that I'm not leaving you again. Ever. I don't--I don't know what the hell is going on wherever you came from, but you know I wouldn't break that promise.

[He can feel his heart beating fast, mind buzzing between the panic of vulnerability and the fear of letting her go. Fuck, he wants to fall back into this. He wants to just go back to being her brother, to having this second half he didn't know he was missing and the explanation to why he was always so empty. He can't tell why he's so scared she'll disappear, but he got stuck here before Lucretia explained what happened, and no matter how hard he tries, he still can't remember what fucking happened to her.

Then again, he can't remember forgetting everything, either, even though Lucretia swore that happened- and of course, it had to for him to have regained anything in the first place. But he doesn't have the capacity for specifics right now, not when he's threatening to shake to pieces in her arms.

He can't think of anything else to say as everything crashes around in his mind, and the remembering starts to hurt again but he won't stop thinking of her. He can't forget her again. He won't. Even if that's going to mean answering tough questions, and making himself weak, and those thoughts still ring like fear. There's two sets of memories colliding in his head, of his actual childhood and her and then coping for all those years without it. He can't trust anyone. He can trust her implicitly. Both of these things are equally true.

Finally, he's got himself, lifting his head up to lean back against the wall, but kind of dragging her back with him, so his hands can stay fisted just below her shoulders in her robe.]

Alright, alright... sorry, that wasn't, uh, very with the ol' brand as it were. Guess you just got a little exclusive.

[Back to jokes. Back to stupid, stupid shit. That's always been their way.]

Well this came damn close to being the worst day of my life.

[Ten years is still floating around her head, new worries rising up the longer she lets herself think on it. Are their friends even still together? Did they manage to save the world? What has Taako even been up to in the last ten years? How much of his life has she missed?

--Is there even a place for Lup in his life now? If he'd managed for ten years without even remembering she existed, was there even room for her to slip back into it now that she was back? Or would they be off-kilter now, Lup always just a few paces behind? It hurt too much to think about.

But Lup follows Taako to the wall easily when he moves, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and simply letting him cling to her. Worry eats at her gut, but a comfortable silence stretches out between them, the two siblings simply holding onto one another until Taako's breathing evens out and Lup can push her numbing concerns away. If there were any other people out and about in the city, strolling on by the pair, they certainly don't exist to either of the twins. It was just Lup and Taako, the way it had been since they were children.

When he finally speaks again, things are clearly not perfectly fixed, but Lup will take whatever small victories she can get today.]

Whatevs, [Lup responds with a slight shrug. Normally she'd give him shit for getting so emotional, but this was a Big One, so Taako gets a free pass.] Like I have anybody to tell. You're the one I gossip most with anyway, dingus.

[And god, there's still worry in her gaze, but Lup shoots Taako her biggest grin anyway and playfully jabs him in the ribs with her elbow.] And just who turned that day around? C'mooon, say it.

[He snorts with laughter, and it's ugly and undignified and too wet of a sound that betrays how close to tears he actually got. He shoves her with the palms of his hands, but his fingers are still tight in her robe, and he never quite lets go.

Not yet. Not... not yet.]

Great, you're back five minutes and I already owe you something, goofus.

[Sounds like Lup, he thinks.

Maybe they'll make it back in step after all.]

So now's the point where you, uh, where you grill me for information or whatever, right? If I gotta be the damsel in distress you've really gotta gimme a sec to get into the role. I'll get a real good swoon goin', extend the ol' umbrella, get a fan or something. C'mon, gimme five minutes prep time to really sell this.

[Despite the tense emotions still swirling around them, Lup laughs at that lame shove, her grip around Taako's shoulders tightening before she was pushing a little closer into his personal space to rest her forehead against his. Lup's eyes close, but she smiles, expression full of fondness. There's no sign of her concern shining through in this brief moment.]

Duh. Just add it to the list of crap you already owe me. Gotta be in the hundreds by now.

[Maybe he hadn't moved on too far ahead without her after all.

But then Taako sounds so much more like himself, joking casually as if he hadn't been in near hysterics just moments before. Lup's eyes open and she wastes no time in rolling them at him.]

Okay, okay. Take all the time you need, not like I'm going anywhere. You're pretty much stuck with me. But, before we move on, you owe me the answer to at least one question.

[There’s still a tightness in his chest at her closeness, as something he tries to push back again and again continues to bubble to the surface. He doesn’t want to be scared of her. He doesn’t want to be scared of being close to her, but he’s stuck in a feedback loop of muscle memory, continuously going up and down as his chest clenches. He’s never wanted something like he wants this, like he desperately wants something not to be broken.

Doesn’t want him to be broken. Want him to have broken this. Semantics, really.

So he grins, and would tilt his head back, but he doesn’t have the heart in him to move her. But he does loosen his right hand from her to drape over the top of his head and rolls his eyes all dramatic, making a very bad approximation of a Fantasy Southern Belle, complete with Bad Accent.]

Oh no, whatever shall I do. Pent up in this scary, scary town. How can I ever survive?

[But he drops it quickly. There’s no point to this, and it’s not as funny as he wants it to be, when there's still tension in his body and she's undoubtedly about to ask something important.]

Go on, ask your thing. It’s gonna be better than me just, uh, throwin’ out stuff I know, ‘cause that’s all kind of a mess right now.

[It's not much, but the awful accent has Lup laughing against him, chuckling enough that she has to push her knuckles against her mouth to keep from busting up even harder. The heaviness between them remains, worries that they would have shared easily before being held back now, but they were together. The rest would come in time.

Lup shoves Taako back for that and lets out a feigned, exasperated sigh.] Workshop that bit before you go public, bro. I think your accent is slipping more into mongoose territory than damsel.

Okay so-- [Lup points a neon pink fingernail down at Taako's Umbra Staff.] I'm living for this. It makes you look like a major dweeb, but think of how sick I would make it look. Lay down the deets. Where did you get it and can I get one it every color?

[A very important question, indeed.]

[He can’t help but laugh when she does, trying to keep the memory of that emotion close to his heart. Keep that. He wants to keep that about her, that easy way she makes him smile without trying at all.

But then she asks her question,and he... well, maybe that was a bad one, because nothing’s coming to mind from his new memory set at all. That was back when they were going after the first Relic, wasn’t it? He picked it up from that skeleton, that--

That skeleton. In a red robe. That looked at him when he took the handle.

Well, fuck.]

Found it off some dead dude in a cave somewhere. It’s been like a year or something. Broke my wand at one point and it turned out this biz was way better, so. Adopted it to the ol’ brand. Artificer seemed really jazzed with it too, uh, said it was called an Umbra Staff.

[Lying comes easy, and the words roll off his tongue, because all of it is truth. He doesn’t know how to reconcile the things he’s missing, how much he feels himself making connections, because Lucretia said the red robes made the relics, and if he’s part of that, if she’s part of that, it would stand to reason the woman who throws fireballs for fun would be with a relic that--

Another pang of pain runs through his head, and he lets it go. No. Not now. Not now.]

Dunno if you can get another one, hombre. This one’s a Taako original.

[Whatever other emotions are still lingering there unsaid between them, some of the tightness in Lup's chest lessens at Taako's accompanying laugh. Something about her question is throwing him off more than it should, she can definitely tell despite that casual air to his answer, but she lets it go. She said he'd have a little time to wrap his head around all of this and she intends to keep all of her promises to him.]

Lame, [spoken with an eye roll, though the Lup's still all smiles, no matter how intense her gaze may be on him.] Well, I guess I gotta give you the one up somehow, since I'm the hotter, smarter twin.

[There's no letting go of him, but Lup shifts a little and finally tears her gaze away from Taako to take in the layout of the street they're on, eyes trailing along the unfamiliar architecture and then up, up, up to where no sky can be seen above them.] So, what's up with this place? [There's no hiding the hopeful lift to her voice.] Anyone else here?

[Because, of course, Lup would want to have all of their friends in the same place, safe and together and working through things as a team, but even more than that, she needs the reassurance that Taako hasn't been here in Hadriel completely alone the last two months.]

[He rolls his eyes the same way at her comment, a matching set ‘till the end.]

You’d just look like a clown and you know it. I make it look great.

[But finally, the focus is shifting from him and his memories, just a little, and this information flows more freely.]

It’s a place called Hadriel. Some sort of pocket dimension or plane or something? But it’s totally cut off from everything else. People who run this place call themselves gods, but they don’t know how people keep showin’ up or leaving properly either. Anyway, they’re emotion based, but they can actually make you feel that way, not just get power from you feelin’ it, like a fuckin turbo lich or some shit.

[Except… eugh, actually, he might have to explain, because he just realized he’s the one who came back. He went home. Magnus didn’t drink, Merle… was that even really him? Fuck, this is complicated.]

But uh, Mags is here, so’s Merle. But, uh, don’t be offended, but…

[Hhhhhow does he say this without explaining everything. He’s just gonna do the long story short.]

Really long and complicated shit short, everybody on the crew forgot each other for like, uh, a while. So they might not… remember you? So much.

Yeah, [Lup shoots her curling grin at her twin, the response familiar, automatic. Them teasing one another has just been such a constant in their life, neither has to really think about what they say. It's as natural as anything.] Like a real cool clown. Whoop whoop!

[Fantasy juggalos are the worst.

Thankfully, the tension between them eases significantly as the conversation shifts, Taako talking about Hadriel, the gods who run this place, and their friends. It's an honest relief that Taako hasn't been completely alone, but only having four of their seven here is worrying. How exactly does this place work? Are there other versions of themselves back home so that their friends aren't completely alone? Or does this little pocket dimension exist outside of the concept of time that they've been running on back on the Starblaster, so their disappearance wouldn't even be noted? Lup imagines that she isn't going to get much of a better answer from anyone in this place, but it's a hard concept to just completely drop.

Emotion-based gods is fucking weird, and Lup could probably come up with a lot of questions about just that, but then Taako drops that bomb. If he hadn't remembered her, it probably makes sense the others hadn't either, but... Yeah, still crappy.

Lup shrugs as casually as she can, her arm still wrapped around Taako's neck, pressed up against his side. She's just as reluctant to let go as he is.] Hard not to be offended by being forgotten, but whatevs. What, uh, what should we do? [Because Lup was all for stomping right back into their lives whether they know her or not, but if Taako thinks that may be unwise...]

[She just believes him. She doesn't question, doesn't pry, doesn't take. She just flows into him again like water, the breaking of a dam between them as they reach back to something he had long forgotten. He doesn't know how to describe it, what this means to him. He doesn't know if he could.]

I should, uh... I should probably talk to 'em. We kinda, said some stuff last time I was here? Magnus might still be kinda pissed.

[Considering the state they left him in... either he's never going to forgive them or he's going to barrel in sobbing. But Taako's not an optimist, and hedging a bet on anyone's kindness, even Magnus', is a little foreign.]

Not that I'm, uh, trying to kick you out or anything. You're staying with us, I don't give a shit what the boys say. But also, uh, just charging in like 'hey surprise I have a twin sister' might not be great if they don't know stuff, you dig?

[Of course she does. For him, it's been over a decade having forgotten what an unbreakable, unshakeable bond between twins meant, but for Lup no time has passed. Taako's changed and there's some uncertainty as to what her place is in within his new life now, but Lup's belief in him is unchanged.

Lup's brow arches curiously at him at the mention of the conflict with Magnus, but she leaves it. They'll talk more later, privately, off of the street and in his--no, their home.]

Cool. [And she doesn't let go of him, not yet, but Lup's hold loosens, arms hanging around him instead of clinging.] I'll just look around a bit, give myself a tour. Go chat with the boys and kick 'em in the butt till they remember me, 'kay? [Unlikely, but saying it makes her feel a little better.]

[He doesn't want to let her go. He knows he has to, knows she won't just disappear when they separate, but god, he doesn't want it. One of his hands is still fisted in her robe near her collarbone, gripping tighter than he probably should.]

Oh, please, they don't stand a chance. 'Sides, gives me a few minutes to get the place all cleaned up or whatever.

[He needs to let her go. He has to. There's things to be done and she'll come when he calls, now. He knows where she is.

Gently, his grip begins to loosen.]

Here, uh, you should've gotten this thing when you showed up, uh--

[He digs around in his pocket for his phone, pulling it out.]

It's a fancy stone of farspeech. Sends messages, got everybody's name in the city in there. I'll call. Uh, when everything's ready.

[If he won't do it, Lup pushes herself to be the first, to make it easier on her brother. The arms wrapped around Taako drop unceremoniously, like it isn't one of the harder things she's ever had to do. It takes most of what she has, but Lup just shoots him an unwaveringly bright grin, complete with thumbs up. She's not going anywhere. All he has to do is call and she'll be there. Just like before.

Lup tuts before reaching out back out to him, to fix his hair and straighten up his appearance. Their friends don't need to know how emotional this was for him.] Wow, really rolling out the red carpet for me, huh? I'll bask in this star treatment while it lasts.

[When Taako fishes out his phone, Lup follows suit, pulling out the strange device she hadn't had a chance to tinker with yet since her arrival. She presses a finger against the screen and it lights up, the time flashing at her. While he's gone, Lup can figure this shit out and be ready to impress with how quickly she got it down.] Sweet! That makes finding one another pretty easy. I'll keep an ear out for you.

Intro Log: Busy Little Bees

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