70 with taako and lucretia? or 5 with taako and lup for smth less angsty, either one :0
70. “You know what? Never mind, you’ll know I’m lying to you anyway.”
((random dialogue prompts - send some in!!))
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Maybe it was the inner teenager inside of Taako, but when he heard the front door open, his primal instinct was, of course, "shove your boyfriend under the bed and hope for the best". Except that Taako was in the living room and there was no under-the-bed in sight. Instead, he threw the pocket spa down and shoved Kravitz unceremoniously into it. From the hallway by the door, the Director poked her head in.
"Sorry for coming in unannounced," she said, stepping further in. "Merle forgot his arm in the cafeteria again." Merle's wooden arm was, indeed, in her grasp. It seemed to be sulking. "I was just gonna leave it on the coffee table."
"Go for it," Taako said, in a normal voice that was totally and completely normal. He cleared his throat. He stood in front of the pocket spa while she did so, carefully sidestepping so she couldn't see inside. With the arm on the table, she straightened up. Taako asked, "is that all?"
"Well," she said, glancing between him and the pocket spa. "I did want to debrief about your last mission with you. I imagine that it wasn't exactly pleasant but, uh. To put it nicely, you're a lot harder to track down than Merle and Magnus, it seems."
"I'm taking that as a compliment," Taako said. The Director tilted her head slightly like she had expected that response. She continued with,
"So, how are you?"
"How am I what?" Taako said.
"How are you feeling?" the Director said expectantly. Taako winced.
"Oh, you know," he said, waving away her concern. He backed up a little further against the pocket spa. "All good here. Taako's the prime example of good mental health, you know how it is."
The pocket spa snorted. The Director paused. Taako paused. He was pretty sure he was nervous sweating, which was both gross and not helping the situation.
"Is there anything I should... know about?" the Director said.
"No," Taako said. He kicked the edge of the pocket spa with a motion he hoped said: "shut up". There was a very quiet grumble from inside. Taako sighed. "Alright, fine. You know what? Never mind, you know I'm lying to you anyway. But you can't get mad at me! It's- it's my dorm, I'm allowed to have visitors-"
"Visitors who are part of the Bureau, yes," the Director said. She settled herself on the couch, like she was expecting this to go on for a while, which... fair, yeah.
"Uhhh, I don't remember that in the welcome pamphlet," Taako said.
"Anyone who isn't part of the Bureau would not feel... comfortable up here, due to the Voidfishes effects," the Director said. "And I take it you did not inoculate someone without permission, correct?"
"Nah," Taako said. "Well, I mean- no, I don't think so. Anyway, he doesn't need it, 'cus he's like, super undead or whatever-"
"Not undead," Kravitz said from inside the pocket spa. "A construct of-"
"Very undead," Taako interrupted. "This is Kravitz."
Kravitz poked out of the pocket spa. He rolled his eyes and came back into the living room, settling himself down on the couch as well. For her part, the Director didn't look too surprised, but she was hard to read anyway, so really who's to say. The pocket spa shrunk back down to regular size and Taako put it back in his pocket. He sat, too.
"And Kravitz is...?"
"A reaper," Kravitz said politely. "It's very nice to meet you."
"My boyfriend," Taako put in, because that was more important. "So you can't kick him off the moon or whatever, 'cus he's not hurting anyone and- and he's-"
"I'm not gonna kick him off the moon, Taako," the Director said, and she was smiling a little now. "He's not a dog. I've just- if I'm allowed, I have a few questions for you, Kravitz. Security questions, mostly, because I was pretty sure no one could sneak in after the last time, but-"
"The last time?" Taako asked.
"-but I have to make sure that we're not missing anything. Can we start with you explaining what exactly a reaper is?"
Taako shrunk back in the couch as Kravitz's eyes lit up. The Director was right in sitting down- they were going to be here for a while.
