hadriel_logs | [OPEN, MINGLE] 'cause not all who wander are lookin' for the exit

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[OPEN, MINGLE] 'cause not all who wander are lookin' for the exit

Who: Taako, Lup, perhaps you-- invited or not?
What: Taako's been trying to think of a good way to have a party now that ice hell is over, and the disappearance of his sister's husband and his brother in law sounds like as good a time as any to start denying bad feelings and cheering up his goddamn twin.
Where: Around Horny House, aka Imported House 5-1
When: April 11th
Warnings: Alcohol, food, some stupidity most likely.

The night of the 10th, anyone who's friends Taako or Lup-- especially if you're friends with Lup-- will get a text from Taako. It reads:

hey
come over tomorrow at noon
i took down a totally massive animal and im having a barbecue
also bring a gift for lup
dont tell her dont ask questions dont care what it is just do it
your prize is a significant amount of roasted whateverthefuck that i have tested to be sure it will not kill you
also if you dont show up im going to come get you so see ya then

And sure enough, the next day, behind horny house is a large pit filled with rocks and... something or other spit roasted over it. Whatever it is happens to be very, very big, but you can probably see the smoke before you see the animal. Most of the tables in the house have been dragged out onto the lawn around it, covered in mismatched cups, containers of water and plates of fruit, and something lovingly labelled 'SPACE JUICE (CONTAINS ALCOHOL)' that is being served in a large punch bowl. It's bright blue and smells like lighter fluid, so it's pretty unlikely you needed to be warned that there's alcohol in it. One table simply has a sign that says 'PUT GIFTS HERE', which is pretty self explanatory. There also seems to be music coming from discernibly Somewhere, though it's completely unclear as to where-- seeing as the guy running it is magic, it might actually just be coming from the sun. None of that is especially important right now. What is important is this:

Everyone here is legally required to go care about Lup, or Taako's going to punch you in the head. And not even with magic- just with his little fists. So do it, punk.

OOC: This is a MINGLE LOG- please put up toplevels and tag around! While Taako had people he invited, it's pretty damn easy to see this going down, and if you play by the rules and say nice things to his very sad sister he won't kick you out. Have fun!!!

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[ ... Yeah, that sounds like a lot of bullshit to Angus. Taako gets one of his patented flat looks, and a skeptically raised eyebrow. ]

I know sleep is more or less optional for you, but you still do it. Besides, no sleep doesn't mean no rest...

[ He's squinting at him now, looking for telltale signs of exhaustion, and oh boy, Taako doesn't look great. Angus is half tempted to ask him how many fingers he's holding up, but he has a feeling the elf wouldn't take that very well in his state. ]

[See, this is the problem! People care about him and he starts to care about them and then they start knowing things or something. That absolutely shouldn't be happening. It's gross. Angus starts getting the Detective Look on and Taako squints in disdain his direction, the sort of expression he gives when he knows Angus is right but REALLY doesn't want to admit it.]

It's fine, okay? Elves can like, not do that. I've had way worse, little man, you ever been at the hands of Magnus' idea of survival training?

[But he's not like, shoving Angus aside or anything, so progress...?]

Why are you worried about me, today isn't a day to be worried about me.

[ Angus is very familiar with that expression, and it usually means that he's on the right track, but should dial it down a few notches before Taako gets really irritated. There's a thin line between being helpful and being annoying, and he's slowly getting better at making the distinction. ]

I can multitask.

[ That said, he's still kind of a smartass. ]

Do you need any help with stuff? I can come right back after the cookies.

[Of course he can, the little jerk. Taako rolls his eyes, not wanting to be alone but also not wanting to be vulnerable.]

You think I'm just gonna let you hang around while I'm stopped up in here all day? If you're the world's greatest detective you should've detective-d that I was gonna put you to work by hour one, little man.

[He can find something for Angus to do that keeps him in his vicinity, but isn't like a... unreasonable reason to do so. Kind of. Don't think about it too hard, that's a command for everyone largely including himself.]

Go get that set up and scurry your butt back, come on, use that kid youth energy or whatever.

You're absolutely right, my keen investigative instincts have been getting rusty lately!

[ He chirps, making a mental note to be a bit more subtle with his inquiries next time. Taako's frazzled enough, he shouldn't have to ask for stuff like this when he's already stretched thin.

Angus gives him a thumbs up and trots upstairs, returning a few minutes later minus one plate of cookies. ]

'Kid youth energy' at the ready, sir!

[He knows Angus is hamming it up, but he's kind of stopped caring. As much as Taako doesn't want to be babied, he does want to have people around, and if he sends Angus off he won't have that. It's a delicate dance wherein he behaves mostly like a cat- come exist around him as like, a concept. Tell him he's pretty. It's fine.

At the very least, he has time to think of what to do by the time Angus comes bounding back down, and he's already setting out materials.]

Can I trust you with a knife without you takin' your hand off, little man? Got a lotta fruit to cube up.

Yessir! I have a pretty good track record when it comes to sharp, pointy things, and I never had any accidents with the mini-crossbow.

[ Granted, crossbow bolts are much different than literal knives, but hey, he's careful! ]

What're you making? Salad?

I dunno my man, does cubed fruit look like a salad to you?

[He takes just a second of pause before speaking again.]

Don't say fruit salad. This is gonna be better anyway. You know how a chocolate fountain works, we're gonna do that, but with weird fruit cubes. Half decoration half functional.

[Taako scoots over, putting the knife down on the cutting board while he works on breaking open something that looks vaguely like a pineapple.]

I'd do chocolate if I could, but of course we don't get to go to fuckin', chocolate planet or whatever. Just the sweat death of the universe featuring weird juicy shit. Figures, right?

[Angus has probably been around long enough to know Taako's rambling for what it is; covering dead space, the emptiness he's trying so desperately to avoid. At least he isn't talking to himself anymore now that Lup's back.

Funny, how quickly he reverts to old habits in any degree of her absence.]

[ He was absolutely going to mention fruit salad before Taako cut him off, good save there buddy. Angus recognizes that coping mechanism for what it is, and takes up his position at Taako's side, ready to chime in with conversation and questionable kitchen skills.

He takes one half of the weird not-a-pineapple and starts carefully cutting into it - he's almost painfully slow and meticulous, much like he was in the early days of magic lessons, and the fruit isn't so much in the process of being cubed as it is 'rectangled', or maybe just 'chunked'. ]

Have you been to a chocolate planet? When you were traveling on the ship, I mean?

[Of course he is. Little nerd, doing things by the book. Taako's getting to work peeling the skin off something that could maybe be a mango if you squint, but the question makes him quirk an eyebrow.]

Uhhh, wouldn't you know little man? Whole story beamed into your head? You gonna ask me to regale my stories you already know without even appearance fees?

[He doesn't want Angus to pity him, but... this is the only way he knows how to reach out. Sometimes that just happens to be to a kid. But Taako sighs overdramatically, putting down what he's doing to walk behind Angus and put his hands around the boys', showing him how to cube it out evenly.]

Wasn't a whole planet, no. Not like jelly world or whatever. But I've had some bomb ass sweets across the multiverse, for sure.

[ This isn't pity on Angus's part, this is 50% him genuinely trying to help, and 50% him genuinely being down for storytime, any time! ]

Sir, money isn't a thing here, you can't charge appearance fees, especially not in your own house.

[ His tone is drier than the fantasy sahara desert, and there's a certain amount of good-natured eye-rolling going on before Taako comes up behind him. Angus squeaks in surprise at the hands-on instruction, but he responds pretty well to it - he's a quick learner, and after a little while, he gets the hang of things. He's still pretty slow and careful with the chopping, but at least the results are more cube-shaped. ]

Which ones were your favourites? Can we try making them, once we're back home and actually have markets to shop in?

Money can be a thing anywhere if you're really persistent about it.

[People should give him things, all the time! Come on Angus, keep up. At least he does physically, like Taako assumed he would, with just a little instruction. He's always been fast at picking up new skills. Cooking would be no different.

He should've spent more time here teaching Angus how. He can always use a skill like that. Means he'll never go hungry. Taako's not naive enough to assume that they'll always be together, and he should have thought more about that.

Thankfully, his face betrays none of this.]

Favorite what, sweets or food? Because there was like, so much. I mean... the noodles in Tesseralia were completely insane. There was one place that was like, ice planet kind of? The rotation was so fast it swapped seasons every day, so the stuff that grew there, uh, grew and died just as fast. It took forever to figure out what would hold, but some of the plantlife was super nuts. They had these raspberries, or like, raspberry things? I don't even know. Pretty sure we just called them raspberries because we were running out of names and it was close enough.

[ For his part, Angus is just enjoying this moment while it lasts, not thinking about the future beyond the happy ending back home that he's been told about. Right now they have this, and that's enough for him. ]

You should try to recreate the recipes once we get back home! You might be able to transmute the raspberries into the, um... 'not-raspberries'.

... They really could use a better name, sir. How much fruit do we need, by the way?

[It's nice to think about. Some kind of future for them both. Certainly nice to think of anything that's a far cry from the anxiety of today. But Taako is focused, or at least focused enough to stay the course here and chuckle at his response.]

Look, they just weren't raspberries, but everyone understood that they tasted like those. Like, do you know how hard it is to come up with names for everything across a hundred years? You can't just call shit things when you're trying to classify.

[He continues to slice some stuff up before he sweeps over to Angus and uses his arm to scoop his already cubed bits into a bowl.]

Eeh, I was just gonna go until I was sick of it. You tired of cutting yet? Trick question, you need practice and aren't getting out of chores that easy.

[ WHY!! ]

Sir, you can't just ask trick questions like that, this is technically entrapment! And I wasn't trying to get out of anything!

[ One day Angus will not be so ridiculously easy to goof on, but thankfully, that day is not today. ]

[Oh, Taako hopes he literally never figures it out. It's just delightful to watch Angus squirm and try to figure out the literal meaning of his words, and it makes a laugh bubble out of his chest, not even one he's just doing for show.]

You think criminals are gonna give you real questions, Ango? Your people you track down gonna be honest with you?? It's time to learn, little man. Also, it isn't entrapment because I own you, get it right.

[Is this supposed to be reassuring? Is it helping?? Who even goddamn knows by now. But there is a little grin on Taako's face, a better sway than nothing.]

C'mon, there's gonna be lots of people out there. Someone comes to see you, you feed 'em. You got that?

... I got it, and I'm not a hundred percent certain you know what 'entrapment' means in a criminal context, but sir, it feels like you're trying to impart some Serious Wisdom here. Are you dying?

[ Is Ango being serious? He looks legit concerned, but the words coming out of his mouth are pretty deadpan, so there's a good chance that Taako's just being goofed on. ]

Everything I say is serious wisdom Ango, I'm a goddamn savant, get with it. Why d'you think people come to me to learn stuff. Made an entire philosophy book once with just some, some pearls off the ol' dome. You should be honored I'm not charging by the aphorism.

[It was a little bit of a serious wisdom thing, but no one's here to call him out on it. That line was his aunt's- some of the last tips she gave the twins before her passing. It's what family meant. It's important Angus knows it without actually knowing it; as close as he can get.]

Better pick up on that chopping, my man! We got get everything set up perf, huh?

[ Angus tactfully doesn't mention the fact that half of those aphorisms were plagiarized, he has a feeling that would ruin the moment! Besides, Taako is a good teacher when he wants to be, even if the lesson isn't always obvious right off the bat. It'll take Angus a while to figure out the significance of this one. ]

Yessir!

[ For now, he's back on chopping duty. They've got people to feed! ]

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[OPEN, MINGLE] 'cause not all who wander are lookin' for the exit

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probably wrapped yeah?