[ They're starting to narrow down the options of who is a "safe" pod to look at and who might cause the first domino in the Boiz II Men two domino meltdown parade, but Carey and Killian seem safe and easy to talk about. Also their banner won't be hard. Taako simply brushes past Lucretia's pod without stopping to look, holding onto his Umbrella just a little bit tighter. Cold shouldering someone who's already frozen might be a feat, but he's managing.
It's getting to the point where they have to rip a bandaid off eventually. He pauses a pretty awkwardly long time before he closes his eyes for the Magic GPS again, clearly trying to make his mind up on something. He takes a few steps in one direction - casting this is an act of focus on a person, and apparently deciding against wherever it was taking him the first time, he whips immediately 180 and starts marching the other way. To Carey and Killian for now! He doesn't have much to say right now, honestly. He mostly just wants to be mad for another minute.]
[Magnus presses his head up against the glass, first for Carey, then for Killian, then for the girl next to them, who they can recognize as Noelle back in her human body. Magnus draws a smiley face in the frost of the glass for all three of them.]
There we go. Hi, guys. I don't have that much shirt left, so we should make them a group banner. I think they'll understand, right?
So they just hand out free bodies here like a Harvest Festival Grabbag, huh? You'd think they could toss Taako a new one, just for kicks? Yeesh.
[ Okay, he's over his brief emotional attack. Thank god. That was terrible. Also they sorta forgot N0-3113, or, just plain Noelle now that they've magically given her a new body too, but hey, convenient that she's here and can be included on this banner, or they would have looked pretty rude. Anyway, Taako isn't volunteering any of HIS shirt to the cause, so. Yeah, economizing sounds good. ]
[Well this one has a busted bumper (face) and Taako's just been driving around with it duct-taped on. It's not super street legal. Whatever though, it's fine. Bigger problems. Such as the fact they are maybe officially out of non-traumatizing procrastination friends, unless they really want to start digging deeper cuts. ]
I think we gotta, uh, rip the band-aid off, my dude.
Let's check oh Johann. No, just kidding, dude's dead.
[Yeah, it's time. Hanging the banner, and then holding his palm out.]
Rock papers scissors, winner picks who's next. [He doesn't actually know whether Taako would prefer to do his dead sister first or last, but at least figures he'll give him the opportunity to cheat for his preference, like a gentleman.]
Johann's dead? When the fuck did that happen? Did I miss something. Whatever, get into it later, I guess.
[ HE DIDN'T . . . actually know that. What a way to find out. A goof. I mean, he's not like cut to the core about poor old Johann kickin' it, but. Yikes? That's a little bit of a bummer. Still, there are better dead people to visit first - Taako himself isn't actually sure whether he wants to visit his dead sister first or last. Holding out a fist while he waits to do the countdown. This is the easiest game in the world to cheat, but for once in his life, he leaves it up to fate. A little joke there. Istus might get a chuckle out of it if she weren't total Hunger-toast.]
[Magnus the Rock Burnsides, predictably, always chooses rock. It's just the one that speaks to his heart. How can a scissors or a paper hope to defeat the mighty rock? So, yeah. He throws down rock. And of course, he pounds the rock on Taako's measly scissors.]
Crushed ya. Let's go check on your sister, okay?
[He's not sure whether he's being gallant or selfish with that choice. On the one hand, he wants to be emotional support for Taako, and he's not sure how he'll feel, after, well... On the other hand, maybe he just doesn't want to have to be brave afterwards, and this saves him the responsibility. Either way.]
[ If anything Taako would respect a selfish choice. He gets it. It's a selfish choice to make Magnus pick who's emotional turmoil they step into next. It's a selfish choice to make Magnus be his entire emotional support right now. And it's a selfish choice to knowingly throw himself into Magnus' dead wife reunion tour while knowing he's not exactly great at being emotional support himself. Magnus kind of owes it to himself to be a little selfish about this one, maybe.
Taako just nods, taking a second to prepare. Casting the spell isn't exactly a challenge - but for the first time since he's been here he has to stand there and concentrate on Lup, on what she looks like (a lot like him, so, easy enough), and holding that image in his head while the spell searches. It's been kind of a meandering path to the others when he's looked for them, letting his mind get distracted and wandering off the path, or forgetting what he was doing for a few seconds, but this time he's making an extremely fast beeline for somewhere. His eyes are closed, so better be on point with the whole making sure he doesn't run into things, Magnus. ]
[Yes, of course. Gripping him by the shoulders and steering him every time he comes close.
He honestly doesn't know how to feel about this. It's confusing. He empathizes with Taako's feelings at losing a sister easily, but since he knows nothing about her, he can't exactly process those feelings, either. And it's Taako - who isn't exactly impervious to pain, but who always puts up such a defiant front in pretending he is. He just doesn't know what to make about Taako like this, or how to imagine he'd feel in this type of situation. So, he's nervous, and not only because eventually he'll have to process his own pain.]
[ He slows down once the signal in his head gets loud enough - stopping out of the blue and simply staring at the pod she's supposed to be in for a few seconds. It's kind the last moment of (slightly comforting) uncertainty he has - at this point it's obvious she's in there, but actually having to confirm it with his eyeballs suddenly seems like a hard task.
Also he can't think of anything to put on her banner at all. It's gotta be good though, doesn't it, or he'll never live it down. "Gone Leavin' - Taako and Magnus."
He only glances back briefly to check if Magnus is still there and able to judge him, which he obviously is, before breaking down and just jogging over to the pod to press his face to glass. It's not very chill or graceful, but no one here is gonna say shit to him about that - mostly because the person who would give him shit about being unchill about it is, yup, in that tank and taking a hardcore superfreeze powernap. They really are generous with the new bodies here, aren't they. Anyway, time to figure out what the first thing you say to your un-undead sister, when she isn't even awake to zing you back. ]
Hey, dingdong, wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!
[Oh that's bad. Is he trying to annoy her awake. It might work. He pauses like something might happen . . . and nothing does.]
[He's here but he's not able to judge him, no. Just following after, a little awkward, because he doesn't know this person. He also has to peer in around Taako's head, so he can only get a glimpse of what she looks like. But he needs to do something, so he just starts speaking in a loud obvious voice.]
Come on, Taako, let's bail. We're going to go hang out with the cool people who didn't get frozen.
[Softly stomping his feet to make walking away sounds.]
[ Well, she looks pretty darn similar to Taako, so nothing he hasn't seen before really. Magnus' insanely stupid plan is extremely bad, but. You know what. Stomping his feet too, fuck it. Waiting on tenterhooks to see if that very good idea worked.]
Yeah, we're gonna go crash Barry Bluejeans friggin' rager of a party without frozen losers!
[Leaning back in to check. It clearly did not. I mean, obviously, but it was worth a shot. Fuck this. Pressing a hand to the front of the pod and mumbling some magic mumbo-jumbo, resulting in a LOUD knocking sound, and then . . . Nothing. He's clearly frustrated by this failure, stepping back to level the umbrella at the pod door instead, and preparing another spell, since trying the same thing over and over is bound to be a smart plan.]
I know what I'm doing, I have magicked my way around way worse shit than this.
[Shrugging him off, trying another Knock, which, yet again fails. He makes a clearly frustrated noise - not sure whether it's his own magic failing because he's rushing it or something is (pretty obviously) blocking him, firing off Magic Missile instead. All three of the projectiles bounce right off the pods and . . . directly back at the boys. Roll to dodge?]
[Yikes. Fortunately, he carries his shield with him everywhere like a sensible person, so he holds it up against the magic missiles while shoulder-tackling into Taako to knock them both out of the way. Fortunately they're a level one spell, so they don't pierce his armor class even when he's shirtless.]
[ Honestly the magic missile might have hurt less than getting shoulder tackled, but it worked - off they go bouncing down the hallway to . . . wherever. Not their problem anymore and hopefully they fizzle out eventually. That babyfit didn't make him feel any better and he wasted three spell slots on it, but at least he seems to have it out of his system for the moment. Maybe. He is still gripping that umbrella pretty hard. ]
. . . Barriered up pretty good.
[ Apparently that's all he's got to say on the matter. ]
[Pulling him back upright and dusting him off a little. Not that he got dusty, he just - feels bad. He hasn't ever seen Taako like this before. It completely fucking sucks. He's silent for a moment while he decides what to say.]
We'll get her out of there, though. I don't know anything about her, but I just, I can tell you care about her, and that means that it's going to work out. I'm not even trying to stay posi, it's just definitely going to happen like that. I mean, I once saw you project yourself out of your body to drag me back from death? So I'm pretty sure you've got it. And if she's anything like you, she'll also be doing some insane magic despite being frozen to meet you halfway?
[Okay, well, the big hero anime speech was stupid, Magnus, god, but it does . . . actually make him feel a little better. Though maybe you shouldn't have reminded him about the Magic Jar thing, because he's already got different Planz to bust into that pod. If he can do stupid shit like drag Magnus out of the gaping maw of death, why can't he wake Lup up from a fuckin' nap? Seriously. It really calls into question his credentials here.
What if, for once, instead of being an abrasive jerk, he just sorta accepts Magnus' posi attitude vibes and rolls with it.]
Okay? Okay. [Reaching out to sort of. Extremely awkwardly pat Magnus on the arm. That'll do pig. They can only pig each other so many times before the Joke is run into the ground.] You want to hear some stupid shit? For like, uh, 2 minutes there before the whole lights out thing, I thought she was in the umbrella.
Oh. Uh. Like, like Jenkins? [That's weird, Taako. It's weird that you think your sister is hanging in your wand with the soul of Jenkins.] That seems magic. I probably don't have any input here to give...
Not exactly, my dude. Jenkins was super dead - twice! [ Lup was only mostly dead, but Taako's abovePrincess Bride references. I'm not, however. This is too complicated to explain, especially coming down off a weird emotional high.] I'm just saying, it seemed like a thing there for a minute? Kind of heavily hinted in the series that is my life.
[ You wanna know what else is weird? Looting your sister's corpse for her wand. That's weird too. This is all getting a little bizarre. His hands tighten around the Umbra Staff - I mean, she's obviously not in there anymore, she's right in front him in that friggin' stasis pod - but. You know? What if? Still, it doesn't seem like a grand enough storytelling epoch for that to work right now. He pauses.]
I mean, I did do an amazing job of yanking you back from the brink of oblivion, right? That was, in my opinion, pretty great of me. So this whole deal, yeah, is definitely going to be a cake walk. And, no offense, she is pretty dope at magic so it won't even just be me working my ass off to carry you boners. [ Looking at Magnus, not asking for him to just nod his head along with this little emergency egomania trip to make Magnus have to compliment him twice, but definitely implying. ]
It was! [Nodding. No ego boost required? It was legitimately extremely cool and also saved his life?] I know everything went dramatically sideways pretty much immediately after that so we never got to talk it out, but it was some good magic! I'm partial to it. Like, if we made a mixtape to represent all our most balling adventures, that would be the album cover for sure.
Cool. So, it's just not a big deal right? [ A little desperately? Trying to convince himself?] So she's taking a nap. We know where she is - and, uh, just knowing her, here's the thing, she's definitely not gonna wake up until the moment has done got sufficient dramatic weight. I mean, that's just her thing. We came in here expecting to rouse these lazybones with what, a few dope banners and some quips? That was never going to work - there's not even anyout else around to see it. We're carrying the weight of the narrative now, Mags, we've got to set up an entrance score for these chumps.
[He seems to decide on something, pulling out his spellbook and flips to one of the back empty pages to start scribbing a note in glitter pen - kind of turned away from Magnus so he has no chance of catching a glimpse of any emotional outpouring. Sorry, bud. Then he rips it out - tucking it into the handle of the pod. Then he leans the Umbra Staff against the pod, stepping back to admire his very sincere display of sibling devotion.
Wait.]
I actually, uh, need to borrow the umbrella though, otherwise you know, Taako's out here trying to do his thing with no wand and it's not gonna work out super great for anyone. Maybe next time pack your own severely magic items?
[Then picking it back up again. Cool. That was probably the best way to handle that. I mean she's asleep right.]
[Cool. He's awkwardly hanging back while Taako does all this, though his eyes narrow slightly when he sees that Taako had paper on him this whole time.]
You're probably right - they'll expect us to get some fights under our belts before they unfreeze any of our dudes. Prove our mettle. Think we can handle that!
[It's not exactly PAPER it's part of his very important spellbook that he uses to cast spells to save this team's ass, so, maybe don't expect him to rip too much more out of it when there's expendable shirt to be had? Anyway, Magnus never asked for paper. He just ripped off his shirt.]
Sure, that - or at least get ourselves trapped in a convenient moment for us to dramatically not need healing before Merle can waltz in.
[He seems settled again - being a little bit mean to Merle has let some of the steam off, and there isn't really much else he can do right here, right now, except sink further into a pit of despair about it. Which. Isn't a good look. Glancing over at Magnus, checking.]
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It's getting to the point where they have to rip a bandaid off eventually. He pauses a pretty awkwardly long time before he closes his eyes for the Magic GPS again, clearly trying to make his mind up on something. He takes a few steps in one direction - casting this is an act of focus on a person, and apparently deciding against wherever it was taking him the first time, he whips immediately 180 and starts marching the other way. To Carey and Killian for now! He doesn't have much to say right now, honestly. He mostly just wants to be mad for another minute.]
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There we go. Hi, guys. I don't have that much shirt left, so we should make them a group banner. I think they'll understand, right?
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[ Okay, he's over his brief emotional attack. Thank god. That was terrible. Also they sorta forgot N0-3113, or, just plain Noelle now that they've magically given her a new body too, but hey, convenient that she's here and can be included on this banner, or they would have looked pretty rude. Anyway, Taako isn't volunteering any of HIS shirt to the cause, so. Yeah, economizing sounds good. ]
Regulators Drool, Reclaimers Rule.
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[He's scribbling a big 'Regulators Drool, Reclaimers Rule' on the banner in various different sparkle pen colors.]
Pretty good, yeah? Anything else to add?
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I think we gotta, uh, rip the band-aid off, my dude.
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[Yeah, it's time. Hanging the banner, and then holding his palm out.]
Rock papers scissors, winner picks who's next. [He doesn't actually know whether Taako would prefer to do his dead sister first or last, but at least figures he'll give him the opportunity to cheat for his preference, like a gentleman.]
Oh no. How sad. He died.
[ HE DIDN'T . . . actually know that. What a way to find out. A goof. I mean, he's not like cut to the core about poor old Johann kickin' it, but. Yikes? That's a little bit of a bummer. Still, there are better dead people to visit first - Taako himself isn't actually sure whether he wants to visit his dead sister first or last. Holding out a fist while he waits to do the countdown. This is the easiest game in the world to cheat, but for once in his life, he leaves it up to fate. A little joke there. Istus might get a chuckle out of it if she weren't total Hunger-toast.]
Uh, three, two, one . . .
[Throwin' down Scissors. ]
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Crushed ya. Let's go check on your sister, okay?
[He's not sure whether he's being gallant or selfish with that choice. On the one hand, he wants to be emotional support for Taako, and he's not sure how he'll feel, after, well... On the other hand, maybe he just doesn't want to have to be brave afterwards, and this saves him the responsibility. Either way.]
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Taako just nods, taking a second to prepare. Casting the spell isn't exactly a challenge - but for the first time since he's been here he has to stand there and concentrate on Lup, on what she looks like (a lot like him, so, easy enough), and holding that image in his head while the spell searches. It's been kind of a meandering path to the others when he's looked for them, letting his mind get distracted and wandering off the path, or forgetting what he was doing for a few seconds, but this time he's making an extremely fast beeline for somewhere. His eyes are closed, so better be on point with the whole making sure he doesn't run into things, Magnus. ]
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He honestly doesn't know how to feel about this. It's confusing. He empathizes with Taako's feelings at losing a sister easily, but since he knows nothing about her, he can't exactly process those feelings, either. And it's Taako - who isn't exactly impervious to pain, but who always puts up such a defiant front in pretending he is. He just doesn't know what to make about Taako like this, or how to imagine he'd feel in this type of situation. So, he's nervous, and not only because eventually he'll have to process his own pain.]
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Also he can't think of anything to put on her banner at all. It's gotta be good though, doesn't it, or he'll never live it down. "Gone Leavin' - Taako and Magnus."
He only glances back briefly to check if Magnus is still there and able to judge him, which he obviously is, before breaking down and just jogging over to the pod to press his face to glass. It's not very chill or graceful, but no one here is gonna say shit to him about that - mostly because the person who would give him shit about being unchill about it is, yup, in that tank and taking a hardcore superfreeze powernap. They really are generous with the new bodies here, aren't they. Anyway, time to figure out what the first thing you say to your un-undead sister, when she isn't even awake to zing you back. ]
Hey, dingdong, wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!
[Oh that's bad. Is he trying to annoy her awake. It might work. He pauses like something might happen . . . and nothing does.]
No? Thought that might work.
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Come on, Taako, let's bail. We're going to go hang out with the cool people who didn't get frozen.
[Softly stomping his feet to make walking away sounds.]
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Yeah, we're gonna go crash Barry Bluejeans friggin' rager of a party without frozen losers!
[Leaning back in to check. It clearly did not. I mean, obviously, but it was worth a shot. Fuck this. Pressing a hand to the front of the pod and mumbling some magic mumbo-jumbo, resulting in a LOUD knocking sound, and then . . . Nothing. He's clearly frustrated by this failure, stepping back to level the umbrella at the pod door instead, and preparing another spell, since trying the same thing over and over is bound to be a smart plan.]
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[Lightly putting a hand on his shoulder, not to the point of stopping him from umbrella quest, but maybe just a mild suggestion to slow it down.]
This machinery looks kind of complicated, sure you want to magic it all up?
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[Shrugging him off, trying another Knock, which, yet again fails. He makes a clearly frustrated noise - not sure whether it's his own magic failing because he's rushing it or something is (pretty obviously) blocking him, firing off Magic Missile instead. All three of the projectiles bounce right off the pods and . . . directly back at the boys. Roll to dodge?]
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. . . Barriered up pretty good.
[ Apparently that's all he's got to say on the matter. ]
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[Pulling him back upright and dusting him off a little. Not that he got dusty, he just - feels bad. He hasn't ever seen Taako like this before. It completely fucking sucks. He's silent for a moment while he decides what to say.]
We'll get her out of there, though. I don't know anything about her, but I just, I can tell you care about her, and that means that it's going to work out. I'm not even trying to stay posi, it's just definitely going to happen like that. I mean, I once saw you project yourself out of your body to drag me back from death? So I'm pretty sure you've got it. And if she's anything like you, she'll also be doing some insane magic despite being frozen to meet you halfway?
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What if, for once, instead of being an abrasive jerk, he just sorta accepts Magnus' posi attitude vibes and rolls with it.]
Okay? Okay. [Reaching out to sort of. Extremely awkwardly pat Magnus on the arm. That'll do pig. They can only pig each other so many times before the Joke is run into the ground.] You want to hear some stupid shit? For like, uh, 2 minutes there before the whole lights out thing, I thought she was in the umbrella.
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[ You wanna know what else is weird? Looting your sister's corpse for her wand. That's weird too. This is all getting a little bizarre. His hands tighten around the Umbra Staff - I mean, she's obviously not in there anymore, she's right in front him in that friggin' stasis pod - but. You know? What if? Still, it doesn't seem like a grand enough storytelling epoch for that to work right now. He pauses.]
I mean, I did do an amazing job of yanking you back from the brink of oblivion, right? That was, in my opinion, pretty great of me. So this whole deal, yeah, is definitely going to be a cake walk. And, no offense, she is pretty dope at magic so it won't even just be me working my ass off to carry you boners. [ Looking at Magnus, not asking for him to just nod his head along with this little emergency egomania trip to make Magnus have to compliment him twice, but definitely implying. ]
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[He seems to decide on something, pulling out his spellbook and flips to one of the back empty pages to start scribbing a note in glitter pen - kind of turned away from Magnus so he has no chance of catching a glimpse of any emotional outpouring. Sorry, bud. Then he rips it out - tucking it into the handle of the pod. Then he leans the Umbra Staff against the pod, stepping back to admire his very sincere display of sibling devotion.
Wait.]
I actually, uh, need to borrow the umbrella though, otherwise you know, Taako's out here trying to do his thing with no wand and it's not gonna work out super great for anyone. Maybe next time pack your own severely magic items?
[Then picking it back up again. Cool. That was probably the best way to handle that. I mean she's asleep right.]
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You're probably right - they'll expect us to get some fights under our belts before they unfreeze any of our dudes. Prove our mettle. Think we can handle that!
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Sure, that - or at least get ourselves trapped in a convenient moment for us to dramatically not need healing before Merle can waltz in.
[He seems settled again - being a little bit mean to Merle has let some of the steam off, and there isn't really much else he can do right here, right now, except sink further into a pit of despair about it. Which. Isn't a good look. Glancing over at Magnus, checking.]
You ready?
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🚨 Sad Boy Alert 🚨
🚨 please send help trapped on sad boy island SOS 🚨
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