She was clad all in black from tip to toe. Most was a black so dark that it was nearly impossible to tell shape and form within it. She wore a white porcelain mask with a carmine bow of painted lips. She was unreal. She was real. She was the goddess to whom all must answer.
She was Death.
She was not taking her sibling if Sno could fucking help it.
“You can’t take him,” she argued. “He’s not dead.”
The thing that looked like a woman tilted that unearthly pale mask that could have been her face. “He is close,” she whispered. The spectre of Death never has to shout. It has never needed to. “He lives… only because it is too much bother to die.”
“True,” said Koko, held safe in her arms.
“You’re not helping, baby bro,” said Sno. “We’re fighting for your life, here.”
The man known as Kravitz, lately revealed as a Reaper stood between them. “My Queen. Please. He has paid enough and more than enough for what he has wrought. What would taking him to the Eternal Stockade remedy?”
“He has disrupted the flow of life and death,” she whispered.
“Rearranged,” said Koko. “I rearranged it.”
The white mask turned. Its empty eye holes failed to intimidate. “You. Dare?” she whispered.
“Yeah. You got it wrong, there, birdie.” Only someone who had no emotion could dare talk to the Raven Queen like that. He could not fear because he had no love left. Not for his life, not for anyone else’s. “I rearranged the flow. Like. Weirs, dams, and canals kind’a thing. Listen. Everyone alive still has the chance to donk things up so bad they beef it. Meanwhile, if they look after themselves, they could live as long as an Elf. It’s not immortality. It’s… It’s making everyone’s race the same distance.”
The living shadow moved, and Sno flinched him away. “He’s only thirty. He’s practically a baby! If you take him before he dies, you’re just as bad a criminal as you say he is!” Sno took out her wand. She’d seen what had happened to all the others who tried to use their powers to fight the Raven Queen, but she took it out anyway. If this bitch was going to take Koko, it was going to be over her dead body. “Back. Off.”
“Why’re you even fighting for me?” said Koko. “It’s not like I could ever be happy anyway…”
There was the sound of knitting needles…
Another figure was present in this space. A figure of veils and rainbows and eternally clicking needles that ravelled together the threads of fate. If she had eyes, none could focus on them, yet she saw all.
“Do not snap this thread, Raven. My weave has changed. So many paths are altered. He is the crux.”
Those who were conscious there all said, “What?” in turn. That included the Raven Queen.
“He has forestalled the end of the world. He has reversed the path of the great ruin. We must help this child.”
“What?” said Koko.
The bristle of onyx feathers around the Raven Queen’s collar flattened and the gigantic shadow shrank. “You claim him as yours?”
“I do,” said Istus.
“Then we shall see the echo of the wound in his soul,” whispered the Raven Queen. “We shall see what can be done… to heal it.”
Sno still had her wand aimed at the black figure. “You hurt him, I kill you.”
“You… may certainly try…” She had long, black talons instead of hands. “I will not harm him. I will not take him. You have… my promise.”
Istus said, “I shall keep him safe.”
Of the two, Sno trusted Istus a little more. She lowered her wand, and relaxed her guard on Koko. The kid remained where he was, as apathetic as he had been for five entire years.
Threads sprang out of both Istus’ knitting and Koko’s body. Beautiful things of every hue, in a tangle that was impossible to follow with a mortal eye. Long black talon and elegant finger both traced the knots. A discussion occurred in a language Sno could not comprehend.
They were… bickering? It was certainly an animated huddle. Fingers pointed to one crucial spot, just as Lulu recovered enough to shakily sit up. Istus summoned something that looked almost like a crochet hook and made a few deft moves.
“What’re you doing to my baby brother?”
The threads returned to their origin point. Koko was weeping. “Lulu… Lulu, you’re okay?”
Lulu launched herself at him. “You’re back! You’re back, I can feel it! You’re back…”
“I’m back,” he said. “But… the spell? Did you break it?”
“No,” whispered the Raven Queen. “Your work is intact.”
“All I did was stop the source now that it’s no longer needed,” said Istus. “Mortals. You all think it’s all or nothing with things. Don’t. Remember that you need to stop and breathe.”
Kravitz was murmuring in the Raven Queen’s ear. Or maybe the side of her head. It was hard to tell. “Yes,” she breathed. “You have not had any time for yourself… you may go, though I may call on you if I have need.”
Koko breathed. Shaky, uneven breaths. Loaded with emotion. His mismatched eyes were heavy with tears. His face didn’t know what to do. “Mom… Mama… Mags… Everyone… Is everyone okay?”
Sno almost crushed him in her hug. Lulu was right. He was back. Back to the sensitive, caring, loving kid he had been when he became so upset with mortality that he wanted to change the entire world.
Sno had never been so happy to have that Koko back.
[TAZ Prompts Remaining: 3]
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The Stone in her hands said, “Hello, sirs. Hello ma’am.”
Aw shit. It was the baby nerd from the train. Wait. If he was here, what had happened to her mother? Noth that she actually cared that much, but… There had been a few moments, in-between fighting like Orcs and Elves, when Minmin actually showed that she cared enough about Nono to make sure certain things happened.
Like… not telling anyone that Minmin was Nono’s mother. Or that they were both underage.
Nono’s concerns had answers in less than a handful of seconds, because a door opened for the big reveal. The baby nerd was there, of course, in his fancy lad clothes, and behind him was Minmin. She was using the name La’ming as part of her ruse, the same way Nono was trying on Salat’krou for size. It was too complicated… and too late to change it now.
On one hand, she was relieved that her mother was still alive. On the other hand, those were fading bruises on her blue face, almost blending in there, but still perceptible. Thirdly, though, she was here. Nono didn’t know whether to be happy, upset, or furious.
From the looks of things, Minmin didn’t know whether to be happy, terrified, or furious, either.
The air started to crackle with the energy between them as they decided on a common emotion… and it wasn’t ‘happy’.
*
It had taken some time for Angus to become friends with Salat’krou, the mysterious Druid/Rogue accompanying the Reclaimers on most, if not all, of their missions. She was vulnerable to the Thrall of the Relics, but also smart enough to stay well away when it came time to scoop them up for retrieval.
There was something… off about her. Something all the Elves and half-Elves in the Bureau knew and carefully did not talk about. A conspiracy that Team Sweet Flips was somehow also in on. Angus tried training with them to see if he could work it out, or at least glean something involving a clue from their collective behaviour.
What he got was… some very good training.
There was always an Elf or a half-Elf in the stands. Watching. Supervising. Like Madam Director or Taako would watch him when it was his turn for the rough and tumble. Almost like…
…Oh…
Like a wary guardian making sure their kid didn’t get hurt.
Like La’ming was always there, always lurking out of immediate view, watching and flinching like a parent forbidden access to their child… but watching from afar…
But. Wait. Both La’ming and Salat’krou claimed to be one hundred and one years of age. Angus knew it was a lie in the case of La’ming, because he’d found her out on the train. The paperwork had a few subtle errors that most people would miss…
She and Sal could almost be sisters…
But La’ming was a Sea Elf and Sal was a Beach Elf. You only got a Beach Elf if a Sun Elf and a Sea Elf…
The clues slotted into place inside Angus’ dome piece with a click that should have been heard across the entire moon. Not sisters. Mother and daughter.
There had to be some hinky stuff happening - what, sixteen, seventeen years ago? Because La’ming would have been seventy-one when “Salat’krou” was born.
Angus decided that, for the sake of everyone present, plausible deniability had to be the order of the day. He could keep a secret just as well as anyone else on this base. Heck, he was certain Madam Director knew and didn’t say because otherwise those kids would be out in the gutter or worse.
He decided on being friendlier. Trying to give “Sal” a few more chances to act her age. Therefore, he invited her to show him some moves on the ‘agility obstacle course’ that the Bureau had set up. What it really was was a play gym and everyone knew it, but nobody said.
He waited until she was laughing with him and having fun before whispering, “So what’s your real name?”
“You know my name,” she evaded. “Salat’krou. Everyone knows.”
“No, I mean, your real name. The one that isn’t fake?”
She glared at him. They were both hanging upside-down by their knees and, for an instant, the beanpole of an Elf looked like she was considering murder. “Of course you worked it out. World’s greatest detective.”
“To your credit, it was everyone else that eventually gave it away.”
She righted herself, and said, “You going to do anything about it? Make it official? Tell the director?”
Angus flipped up to the vertical as well. “Miss? I haven’t even told Davenport.” Which was next to pointless since Davenport didn’t say much past his own name. “And I promise I won’t, either.”
There was a long moment in which Angus felt like he was being weighed in thee balance and calculated as to his worth by the ounce. Or, perhaps, the karat. She took a deep breath and whispered. “Nono.” A sigh. Another deep breath. “Nono… Ton.”
It was the best-kept secret on the moon. One never spoken, even by those who were in on it. Angus was proud to be a member of the conspiracy.
[TAZ Prompts Remaining: 3]
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The Lonely Hearts Cantina…
“Say, are there any teens here?” said Merle.
“You really aught’a not say that,” said Nono. “You’re giving off like a million creepy vibes.”
The Elf in the corner transmuted his table into meat. “DAMNIT!”
“Whoah,” said Magnus. “We should sign that wizard up! He just made the entire table be meat!” Aiming to at least hack off a slice and eat it, he rushed in to the corner… and recognised the Elf. “Taako? Oh my gods, it’s Taako… I loved your show, what happened?”
“…got cancelled…” he said. “D’ruther not talk about it.”
“Cancelled? But you were like the best! I still remember when you came to Ravensroost. You did this thing with the local cave slugs? Man, I never tasted anything so good…”
Taako seemed supremely disinterested. “Yeah, life goes in weird directions…”
“Okay, so… this job over here in Kreg’s List? It needs a wizard, a cleric, and a fighter, and… You could be our wizard.”
“What about the blue bean pole over there?”
“She’s a druid,” said Magnus. “Come on. It could be fun. It’s at least profitable. Last job you’ll ever need.”
The opposing party challenged them. “We got all the ones we need. How good are youse guys? I bet none of you ain’t shit.”
Taako stood up. “Oh, it’s on.”
*
“We only need the three,” Gundren complained. “Who’s the Druid?”
“She’s with me,” said Merle. “You want me, you get her.”
“Yeah, we’re kind of a BOGO deal,” added Nono.
“How old are you?”
Nono went for the default lie of every underaged Elf pretending to be an adult… I’m… I’m uh… I’m a hundred and…. one.”
Taako knew the lie well. He had used that exact lie in his own checkered past. What she needed was a grown-ass Elf to back her up. “It’s true,” he lied. “She’s a hundred and one.”
Nono opened her mouth to challenge him, then wisely shut it again. She would thank him later.
*
“…turns out Steven is a Rogue,” joked Magnus.
“I’ve got it,” sighed Nono, and busted out her thieves tools. She had the lock open in seconds.
“I thought you were a druid,” said Taako.
“I multiclassed.”
[TAZ Prompts Remaining: 4]
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The coffeepot in the fantasy percolator had been allowed to boil almost to dry. Merle stared as Taako refreshed the coffee grounds and filter, and filled the boiler with more water. It was nine at night, and Taako shuffled towards his bedchamber.
“Uh. You didn’t clean out the pot,” said Merle.
“Shyeah. Duh. I want some really strong fuckin’ coffee, my dude.”
“That’s gonna be almost boiled dry by the morning,” he warned.
“That’s my plan.”
He got up early enough to see Taako stumble out of bed and refresh the grounds and filter again before adding even more water to the fantasy percolator before re-crashing onto the couch.
“Just how many more times are ya gonna do that?”
Taako gave him the finger.
Snocoun Ton, rooming with Magnus for reasons, emerged from her bunk and busied herself with some seemingly random things. A middle-sized pot, some tea leaves, herbs and spices, a healthy chunk of lemon. All of that went into the pot and she added a lot of water.
She set that on the hotplate to boil.
“That’s… not how you make tea,” said Merle, feeling weak at the knees.
The fantasy percolator finished its current round and Taako rose from his near-coma. He stirred up the hellaciously caffeinated mess and poured the resultant thick, black mess into a large mug with the legend, Yes, I do need this much coffee.
Next, while Sno was poking herbs in her boiling water, he approached the sugar bowl. He extracted two lumps with the delicate tongs and poured the rest of the cubes carefully into his pitch-black mud.
Sno’s concoction was so aromatic that it offended the wallpaper, and she poured hers into an equally large mug that read, Warning: undertow.
Neither Taako nor Sno looked at each other as both raised their mugs to their mouths, and drank.
The world closed in as Merle’s legs gave out from under him. He never felt the fall. All he knew was that his head stung and Magnus was leaning over him. “You okay, old man?”
“I dunno what’s got him fussed,” said Taako from the kitchen as he put on a new pot of coffee for the same cycle all over again. “I’m just havin’ my coffee an’ Sno’s having her fuckin’ tea.”
“…the horror…” Merle gasped. “…the horror…”
[TAZ Prompts Remaining: 2]
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[AN: That you did. I am a dummins]
It was a beautiful town. High-class folk. Lots of beautiful things. Lots of nicely portable, small, shiny, valuable things on display for any light-fingered person happening by to help themselves.
Which was what Lulu and Koko had just been caught doing by the City Watch.
“We were just lookin’,” Lulu lied. “We’re gonna put ‘em right back.”
One of them slit open her poke. More glittering tchotchkes spilled to the cobbled streets.
“Oh my gods,” Koko attempted. “Sir, we’ve been selected as some vile footpad’s patsy! We had no idea those things were in there…”
“My babies! Oh, my babies!” A glittering, glimmering vision descended on them from a set of stairs like a cloud of glamour wrapped in feathers, rich velvet, and gleaming gold. She sailed over like a conquering galleon. She had pearls at her throat and what appeared to be diamonds in her hair.
The twins almost didn’t recognise her as shy, mousy, softly-spoken Mak’arune.
“Oh you found my poor innocent babies,” she cooed, sweeping the twins into her arms and kissing them both heartily. “Have they hurt you, my darlings?” she wheeled on the guard with the knife. “How dare you accost my babies and damage their property! Do you have any idea who I am?”
Her arrogance sold it, the guards immediately bowed and scraped, tugging at their forelocks. “No, m’m. Our apologies, m’m.”
“Your Grace,” she hissed. “I demand immediate recompence at once for your astonishingly ignorant behaviour. My babies are clearly distraught at this grievous insult.”
Lulu and Koko took the hint and burst into crocodile tears, with cries of ‘Mommy!” and accusations of gross violence.
In less than five minutes, the guards were falling over themselves to press the purloined pieces on her and the twins, and hustling them towards a fine clothier so the twins could be outfitted appropriately, “So the same mistake can’t happen again, your Grace.”
Koko had a panic attack in the changing room, cushioned against Mak’arune’s bosom and listening to her soft, parental purring. “That was so close,” he kept saying. “We nearly lost our ears. Lost our hands. Lost our lives…”
“Close only counts in Horseshoes and fireballs,” Mak’arune soothed. “Just breathe, now. We’re safe. Safe and sound.”
Lulu was still shocked and awed. “That’s the most phenomenal scam I have ever seen. What the fuck, Mak?” She smirked, “Or should I call you ‘your Grace’?”
“Mommy works,” she smiled. Luume’irma had been milder to her, but she still counted the twins as her babies. “Mommy works very well indeed.”
All the same, they didn’t even try shoplifting for the rest of their time in that town.
[TAZ Prompts Remaining: 5]
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Sometimes… it’s good to get away from the kids. Kustaad, La’ming Ton, Mak’arune, and Montgomery Pithon were glad enough to leave the twins with Kri with Tri’fel and Exandria as the grownups took a break from their combined shenanigans in the Varmvale Inn.
Montgomery was enjoying things slightly less, since he was used to parenting two of the remaining three whilst they were on the road. It took him a good percentage of the evening to get drunk enough to relax.
Kustaad, on the other hand, was well into his cups. It took a lot to get an Elf drunk, and the Varmvale ale was thick and strong and potent as hell. “Tha’ li’l Koko,” he rambled. “He’s goin’ be trouble.”
“I know he’s a rough diamond,” said Mak’arune, who could not hold her ale. “But he’s… he’s real sweet. Th’ poor boy’s been through lots… Lots ‘n’ lots ‘n’ lots ‘n’ lots….”
La’ming took the tankard out of Mak’arune’s fingers. “I’m pretty sure you’ve had enough, there, dear.”
“I think,” said Kustaad. “I think… I think… I think I’m starting to think… That poor li’l boy might… just be sweet on me a li’l.”
Montgomery was glad he couldn’t roll his eyes. Everyone in the circus knew that Koko was fully occupied with pining for Kustaad. Happily married Kustaad. Old enough to literally be his father Kustaad. Also ripped, more than a little bit of a nerd, and thoroughly beautiful even for an Elf.
“I think you might be right,” he announced. “You’re kind of his type.”
“I’m also… approaching… Threehunnerd an’ fi’tty…” Kustaad belched. “I gotta… I gotta… uh… I gotta baby… tha’ss closer to his age’n I am.”
La’ming chuckled. “Babies always gotta get crushes onna grownups,” she said. “I remember this one time? In Freeport? I was only a hundred and thirty, but that didn’t matter… This li’l fifty-year-old squirt tries to sneak into my tent after th’ show…”
Mak’arune latched on to Montgomery’s arm. “Y’r th’ bess’ boss inna wholewide worl’… di’joo-di’joo-di’joo-di’jooo… know that?”
“You’re very drunk,” said Montgomery.
“…didn’t notice until I was halfway outta my costume, y’aw’msayin…”
Mak’arune’s eyes began to mist over. “Are you mad at me?”
“I’ll be less mad if I have my arm back, thankyou,” he allowed. I’ll be really mad at you tomorrow, when you can appreciate it. To add to the freedom, he gently tipped Mak’arune towards La’ming.
“…so there I am in tights and skimpy little panties, my bra half off… More’n half off if you get my drift… And he pops outta the clothes basket like, ‘tah-dah! You gotta love me’… so o’ course I– Hey!”
“Y’re ver’ preddy,” said Mak’arune.
“You’re kind’a adorbs yourself,” slurred La’ming.
The worst thing about tonight, Montgomery reflected, was that none of these Elves would remember any kind of progress they might make tonight.
Damn it.
[TAZ Prompts Remaining: 7]
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Another village, another attempt at keeping the Bail Fund intact for another fortnight. This time, at least, La’ming Ton was there to help keep the twins in rein.
Allegedly.
“I’ll have your strongest ale,” said Koko.
“He’s having a mild cider shandy[1],” said La’ming. She wheeled to face Lulu, “And so are you, young miss.”
Lulu switched to Street Elven, “These are Humanmen, they can’t possibly know.”
“Elves already have a reputation for being duplicitous, deceptive lawbreakers. The last thing we need to enforce that reputation. So you two under-age Elves are drinking shandies. End of.”
The twins grumbled, but suffered to drink shandies.
Raucous laughter erupted from a card table across the inn.
“That’s what I like to see,” roared the most obnoxious one. “Tame Elves.”
One of his lieutenants laughed even louder and said, “Rather see ‘em hangin’ in a ‘pothecary to dry!”
“Hey, hey. Careful. They can hear us,” said another lieutenant. “With ears like that, they can hear your hand!”
The twins were growling under their breaths. La’ming, with her ears docked and her disguise on, rested a hand on one each of theirs. “Okay,” she said in Street Elven, “Now is the time we run the kind of scam where we let them walk home in their breechclouts.”
The twins turned to assess the quartet of boozy card players. “We have three… We could run the Winterheim Two-step.”
“I was thinking of the Passholdt Handshake.”
“How about somewhere in-between? The Goldcliff Warm Welcome.”
The twins grinned like sharks. “Goldcliff. I like it.”
La’ming sighed. “I don’t know whether it’s more disturbing that I know what all those are… or that you do.”
The game, known to hustlers as the Goldcliff Warm Welcome, was also known as skin the guys who are going to learn better. It began with La’ming airing a little more cleavage and hiking up more than a mere corner of her skirt.
The twins insisted on speaking only in Gutter Elven, a language that La’ming insisted was their twin talk. She also gave them the story that the twins were found wild and didn’t understand Common. A ‘fact’ that emboldened the Humanman quartet to be louder and more boisterous than they had been before.
It took only a few hours to rid them of every coin they had on them, all their jewelry, every single weapon in their possession, and most of their clothing. They were also getting the message but, as Koko and Lulu gathered up the spoils, Koko had to twist the knife.
“Just so you know,” he said to their astonished and gaping faces. “It’s really bad luck to insult an Elf.”
La’ming hurried them out of there and back to the safety of the Circus campgrounds. Haul and all. There, she made the twins vow that they wouldn’t leave the grounds until the Circus left with them.
Three weeks later, when they left for another town, La’ming noticed that her savings jar was a lot more full than she knew it had been a mere week ago. Of course she confronted her adopted kids the instant she found it.
“Did you two have anything to do with the extra coin in my restoration fund?”
“Depends,” said Koko. “Are you mad about it?”
Lulu elbowed him. Hissed a stop-talking noise with some urgency.
La’ming took a breath. Parenting these two was a constant negotiation. “I’d only be mad if you took any risks. Like going into the town when I told you it was dangerous. Especially going into the town without an escort to make sure you’re,” not arrested, “safe.”
“We never left the circus grounds,” said Lulu truthfully.
“We gave all that stuff we skinned off’a those dudes to Monty so he could hock ‘em for us,” added Koko. “And we put all of it into your jar.”
“No Elf should have their ears docked,” said Lulu. “It’s painful and limits expression and…” her voice fell to a mumble, “…’n’ I read of how it can cause problems in y’r dome piece…”
They could have blown all that coin on fashion, luxuries, ingredients, or even treats for themselves. They could have wasted it on potions and pipeweed. “You… really put all that profit into my restoration fund?”
The twins looked at each other, and joined hands. “Every last copper,” they said together.
She swept them up in her arms and smooched the heck out of their adorable little faces. “Thank you, thank you. I’ve got the best babies in the world.”
“Stop it…” whined Koko without much conviction.
“You’re embarrassing,“ added Lulu without any honesty.
[1] Shandy: mixing small amounts of alcohol with large amounts of lemonade or sweetened soda water.
[TAZ Prompts Remaining: 5]
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The longer Alter-Sno remained on the moon, the worse she seemed to be. Her mood just kept on dropping to the point where there was a guard set up around the edges of the moon. Not that it was needed, she seemed determined to remain alive no matter how much hell she had to go through to do it.
Taako couldn’t fathom how she could be so bummed out. He had never needed anyone or anything, and failed to see how anyone else could need more. However, he could feel the sadness oozing off of her like a chill, cloying fog. Such as right now.
He didn’t even know she was passing behind him until the gooseflesh overtook his entire body despite the footie pyjamas, the shawl, and the hooded cloak he was wearing against the morning.
“Brrr… I dunno about you guys, but she is bumming me out.”
“Yeah, that’s a definite cloud of doom she’s got, there.”
“We should do something,” said Magnus.
“Naaaah,” said Merle, “Put three drops of Dreamroot extract into her ‘lion and she’ll be fine. Right as rain.”
Taako glared at him. “Just one question,” he said. “What the FUCK?”
“I have the same question,” said Madam Director, apparently manifesting spontaneously behind Merle. “You don’t mix Dreamroot and smoking weeds, Merle.”
“Well, maybe you don’t,” Merle began.
Taako tuned out of the incipient argument. Things were headed down the tube, for sure. The only question was how deep and how fast.
*
Merle sat down beside Alter-Sno as she stared up at the stars. “Thoughts of home?”
Tears remained unshed in her eyes. “Yeah. My baby’s waiting for me. I dunno how much time is passing back home. She’s gotta be so worried… I promised her… I promised…”
“Here,” he offered a rolled-up cigarette paper that was lumpish in odd places and smelled… familiar. “Smokee this, you’ll feel better.”
She knew that stink, and tried not to inhale very much. “You shove that in my face again, I’ll shove your entire arm up your own asshole.”
“Oh… kay…” Merle quickly made the joint vanish. “I’ll keep it handy in case you need it.”
*
Magnus had thought hard about this. Obviously getting her a puppy was a bad idea. Dogs wouldn’t remain on the moon. Giving her a puppy that would only run right off the dang thing would not help her overall mood.
He had spent quite a lot of time working on this. The creature inside the travel cage just had to make her smile.
“Hey,” he said. “I know this isn’t your kid, but… it’s company.”
She lifted the cloth. “It’s a pigeon.”
“It’s a homing pigeon,” said Magnus. “It won’t take fall damage if it wanders off the moon and it’ll always come back to you.”
Sno stared at him. It was a look Magnus was used to. It was a Look that said, he can’t possibly be as dumb as he seems right now. She said, “Thanks… I think.”
The pigeon just cooed and rolled ones at comprehending the world.
*
Taako launched straight into his thoughts the instant Alter-Sno opened the door. “So I can’t give you the baby of the base, right. He’s like annoyingly smart and shit. He’d come up with fifteen different reasons why it’s illegal. So I didn’t bother.” He swanned into her apartment. “Then I thought - food basket? But I have no fuckin’ idea about your favourites, so that’d be a wash. Then - a stroke of genius.” He started making tea.
“Genius,” echoed Alter-Sno.
“Yeah. See. You know a younger version of me, and you’re… so very worried about how my other self turned out. So I’m gonna tell you my backstory. Any step forward from where I wound up is bound to raise your spirits about my other self.”
Alter-Sno fussed with giving some seeds to a pigeon. “You figured that out, huh?”
Taako poured some tea. “So let’s start at age three. The genetic donor responsible for fathering me was a superstitious shit and took my heterochromia as a sure sign that I was both bad luck and demon-made. He and Mom fought a hell of a lot before her an off…”
Considering what she knew of her Koko’s past, there were a few key points in common. Absentee father who suffered under the burdens of superstition and immaturity, a mother who died too young, some portion of life with relatives, some of whom were assholes. And, as she listened, a lot more of life on the streets.
Taako had nobody and nothing, and he still managed to become something of a hero. The Koko she knew had a much better foothold on a better future.
The Koko she knew had a sister. He had a family who cared. He had an education. He was… he was doing okay. Further, he would be there to help Lucretia when Sno couldn’t return home.
For the first time, she was starting to feel like things could be okay.
[TAZ Prompts Remaining: 6]
[Be sure to visit internutter (dot) org for details on how to support this artist]
She had thought that she had stronger willpower. That she was immune to spells like Friends. Apparently, mourning can bring those defenses crashing down.
She didn’t know about that until Brian had the staff within reach.
“Zhat’s it, my dear. Chust a liddle closer… and I vill have all ze power in ze relics!”
“And then I go home?” It was the one desire more powerful than the whisperings of the staff itself. The need to get back to her little girl.
“Vhat? No. Zhen you die. Zhis is Brian’s time to shine, darling.”
The sure-fire end of Friends is when the caster causes damage to the victim. That particular statement was at least five psychic damage. Sno shook out of the spell, backing up away from this… this fiend.
She had the staff. She could…
She could protect everyone…
No. This thing had different wants to hers. Right now, she wanted to see this fiend suffer. As a cop, she had numerous spells that could delay, capture, or otherwise render harmless a purp. There was one that was desperate circumstances only, and this fucking counted.
She cast Circle of Death.
Frankly, Brian was lucky that she didn’t cast Tsunami.
The ravens of the Reapers swarmed the area and Sno heard other people talking for the first time.
“Hey, babe. Can’t even get one day off, can we?”
“Now is not the time, Taako…”
Sno blinked her tunnel vision of rage away. Tres Horny Bois and Team Sweet Flips were there. So was Director Lucretia.
“I’ll take that, now, thank you.”
“Sure,” Sno handed it over without a second thought. “They were lying, weren’t they? About that thing being able to send me back home?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” said Lucretia. “This staff… can’t do that. We’re still working on a solution to your needs, I promise.”
Back where she started, then. In a strange world without a friend and without a hope. Sno broke down on the spot. “I just wanna go home…”
[TAZ Prompts Remaining: 6]
[Be sure to visit internutter (dot) org for details on how to support this artist]