[closed] and since we've one place to go

[nonscriptum]

Who: Nathan Drake, Elena Fisher, Agent Washington, Agent Maine, Kyna Midha, Staci Pratt, Poe Dameron, Taako Taaco, Lup Taaco, Peter Parker
What: Nate leads a polar expedition out to the mountains.
Where: Out on the tundra; at an undisclosed excavation site in the foothills.
When: February 1-14
Warnings: PG-13+ for swearing, descriptions of dead bodies/science torture. :(




[source]

WELCOME TO SNOW HELL

the journey | the door | the bunker | the lab

Comments

im doing two prompts oops

[pocketspa]

i. on the road

[So as much as Taako loves Nate and will apparently do things when he asks them, all of this? All of this is kind of the worst. Of course he came prepared for this trip; his hat is magically affixed to his head so no amount of wind is going to get that one off, and it and his cloak seem to be covered in little magical licking flames to at least keep himself warm in this experience. But lord, it's just going so slowly. He needs to kick this up like, ten notches.

He tilts his head back and doesn't bother to hide his voice as he speaks to the sky, and inadvertently to everyone around him.]

So like, does someone have party games, or wanna be a bear or whatever, chaboy's bored as hell with like thirty spell slots.

[And hey, who wants to figure out what that means?]

ii. at camp

[It's about time he handled a watch shift, a number of days in. Even if Lup is taking the vast majority of them, elves don't really need to sleep like people do, despite being prone to wanting them. He can get his 4 hours in sitting on the sled while they travel, or just lie about it. Really, that's not what he wants out of this.

What he does seem to be doing is curled up by the fire, looking up.

He's got a notebook behind held in front of him by a spectral hand, using his actual one to scribble something. Every couple of seconds, he seems to look up, then back down, write, and repeat.

He's certainly up to something... and maybe not keeping 'watch', really, as strictly as he should.]

camp prompt heyoooo

[itsnotaonesie]

[Snow? Check.

Bored teenager who can't sleep? Check.

Oblivious elf who is farting around in a notebook instead of doing his job? Check and check.

So yeah Peter totally just threw a snowball at Taako's back. Not hard enough to hurt him, because that would be rude, but definitely hard enough to annoy him.]

ayoooo

[pocketspa]

[Peter, you're a boy after Taako's own heart. Ironically, he is watching in a sense-- there are wards and magic sensors in a perimiter around camp, an invisible eye he's got right now feeding him audio from about two meters out of camp. Of course, this means he's tuned out of anybody sneaking up behind him and pelting him in the head. He sputters as the hit connects, coming back from the spell and whipping his head around. I hope you don't think you can hide Peter, because elves have darkvision and his eyes are glowing a little like a cat. He can absolutely find you.]

Hey, what the hell was that for? Get back to bed, you're like, a human that needs that shit.

[itsnotaonesie]

[Peter instantly feels bad about pelting Taako with a snowball because he's too goddamn nice like a loser 8(]

That was uncalled for, wasn't it. Yeah. Yeah, it kind of was. Sorry. I can't sleep though, so I'm just... gonna. Be here.

[And bugging Taako isn't Taako lucky]

[pocketspa]

[Aw c'mon kid, don't just crumple. Taako rolls his eyes, because now he's gotta be responsible for this water bottle like an adult or something. Gross. Instead, he just scoffs.]

C'mon, either be real sorry or not, just-- jeez, sit down or something.

[Why can't this be an adult so he can be nasty to them and not feel even vaguely bad about it??]

Why are you even up? Not tired enough from hiking across garbagetown iceville?

[itsnotaonesie]

I'm like, medium sorry.

[That works, right? Probably not, but Peter does as he's told and sits his butt down beside Taako.]

I'm tired, I just can't sleep. I get that sometimes, but it's kind of starting to get old.

[pocketspa]

[Okay Medium Sorry is like... acceptable, he guesses. Whatever. He's honestly completely stopped caring, and he's pretty sure nothing's going to happen out here tonight anyway. This place is a wasteland, and one of his barrier wards will go off before they even reliably see the damn thing. Let's entertain the kid, sure.]

I mean, do you wanna be asleep? I can't promise it'll stick, but like, I can deffo slap you out for a minute.

[He should probably explain it doesn't actually involve slapping. He thinks it's funnier if he doesn't.]

[itsnotaonesie]

...I'm assuming this is some kinda magic thing? Because that was all super weird otherwise.

[That or Taako's peddling NyQuil. Which would also be really weird somehow?]

[pocketspa]

[Do not give Taako access to NyQuil, he'd magically turn it into Quil in no time flat and send you to space. He just looks at Peter with a jokey little grin, like he's said something very stupid.]

Do I look like a guy who could just deck you unconscious? Yeah, it's fuckin' magic, come on. Spell only lasts for a minute though, so you might wake up and I'm not blowing all my slots on you just to get less than 10 minutes of snooze.

[itsnotaonesie]

[DO NOT and also Peter's just staring at Taako like he just grew a dick out of his forehead like what are you ON dude]

That's. Fine. I guess? What do you mean slots? What slots?

[pocketspa]

[He's on magic motherfucker!! That good magic juice! That dank shit!

Taako mutters a little 'aww' and reaches out to pat Peter on the cheek.]

Tiny boy who doesn't know magic. Adorable. You're cute so I'll uh, I'll give you this one for free.

[A slight pause.]

It's magic, babe.

[For a few seconds it genuinely seems like that might be all he says, and then he just laughs harder.]

Oh man, your face. No, oh my gods, it's shorthand for how many spells I can cast in a day, holy shit.

on the road

[hardwearing]

[ Wash glances over at Taako curiously, at his magical flame covered cloak and his mention of spell slots, and wonders. He's in full armor and helmet so his expression is hidden, but the curiosity comes through in his voice clear as day. ]

What kind of bear?

thank god

[pocketspa]

[YES, SOMEONE WEIRD ENOUGH TO TAKE HIS WORDS. Taako almost instantly snaps his head Wash's way, a big ol' grin on his face, which probably does nothing to assure Wash that this is safe or wise. Frankly, it's a great idea in this cold and it's possibly the thing Taako's best at in the world, so he could definitely do a better job of selling it as such.]

What kinda bear do you want? You can pick anything.

[hardwearing]

[ LET'S NOT GET AHEAD OF OURSELVES TAAKO ]

Oh... I don't know anything about bears, I was just wondering how big it'd be.

[pocketspa]

[MMMM HE IS ALREADY FAR AHEAD OF HIMSELF,

Somehow though that was not the answer he was expecting, and he barks out a laugh.]

You've never seen a bear?? Not one bear? No, seriously, not-- okay okay wait, no, here's how we're gonna do this. You tell me how big you think a bear is.

[At least there's a variety?? Bears come in many sizes if you count like, koalas.]

i

[storyseeker]

What's a spell slot?

[Elena looks up from blowing warm air into her hands. Hey, she's learning magic now, she should get to know these things.]

[pocketspa]

[Damn right she's gotta know this stuff! Taako won't say it, but he's glad Elena's along this time- they weren't as close when he went out on that boat expedition with Nate, but even then her lack of presence was felt. Now it would've felt wrong to be out here without her.

Ew, that's gay, let's not feel those feelings and talk about magic. He slides up a little closer to her so he's not shouting across the group.]

Spell slot is the term for like, how many spells you can cast in a day. Spells are, uh, classed by how hard they are to cast, how much energy it takes to cast 'em. So for weaker spells, you can do 'em a bunch, but strong ones maybe only one per day, or at least once per takin' a nap long enough to count as like, real sleep and not a 2 hour coma on a couch.

[Good job Elena, that was a clearer explanation than he's given about most things.]

[storyseeker]

[Weed friends are friends for life. Elena feels a special fondness for Taako now that's unrelated to his status as "my best friend's twin" or "the guy who wants to bone my husband (because he has good taste)."]

Taako, you sound positively academic. [She grins.] Is that why I've been taking more naps after our practice sessions? Are the freaky dreams because of that too, or just a me thing?

[pocketspa]

[She saw him emotionally vulnerable and didn't hurt him so like, they're bonded forever now. This is the only way Taako makes friends with anyone, because he refuses to drop his emotional barriers until they're shattered for one reason or another. But he chuckles in response, reaching over to poke at her temple.]

That ones on you, my gal. Unless you've really been huffin' that good ol' magic shit behind my back, or decided warlock was more your speed. No idea where you'd find a proper patron out here though.

[Is he gonna explain that? Probably not.]

But like, magic's hard! People think it's just talking, but your bod is involved too. You tap out your slots, you're gonna feel tired. 'Ss just what's up.

[storyseeker]

[Magic besties!!! She just laughs at the temple tweak.]

Makes sense to me. Mind, body, soul, it's all linked. Man, in my world, you could probably make a killing touting magic as some kind of new-age wellness lifestyle.

[Maybe even more than he'd make teaching actual magic.]

[pocketspa]

[It's so much more fun to laugh with her than it is to think about this ice hellscape. Especially since she's actually getting it and giving him incredible ideas along the way.]

Uh, I'm pretty sure I could do that now. Come one, come all, use magic to cleanse yourself of mental toxins or whateverthefuck, give me one million dollars.

[storyseeker]

[Elena is always fun.]

Except for the part where we know you're full of shit right now. [She elbows him playfully.] Good thing we like you anyway, for some reason.

[pocketspa]

[He giggles a bit, elbowing her right back.]

We just established I knew what I was doing. Or I mean, you did. I always did.

[He winks.]

Look, I'm just saying, that's a fantastic post-Hadriel plan. Hop a few worlds over, make a ton o' money, hop on back. Lup n' I can figure it out.

[storyseeker]

If anyone's capable of that duality, it's you.

[She believes in him!]

You think you'll be able to keep world-hopping? Gonna come visit us?

[pocketspa]

[Of course he is, he's basically a god. But he looks almost smug when she asks that, like he's been waiting for someone to ask him that exact string of words for a while.]

Oh yeah, all that's already worked out my dude. Lup 'n Barry figured out the tech back home pretty easy. We used it to rob a guy who was an asshole to us like uhhh hundred years ago.

[As she can see, they have priorities.]

Duration's limited but we can figure it out. Now all we have is remembering where we're goin'. As long as we keep uh, all this city stuff in our heads, we can see anyone we want.