For @taakitzweek day 5, meet the family. Look at this, some actual taakitz! Mostly Lup, but ya know. It’s there. Featuring: Kravitz gets sucked into the umbrastaff for a shovel talk.
Lup’s magic vore umbrella eats the magic of defeated magic users. And Taako knows this, so he should be much more careful when he plays Uno against the literal Grim Reaper. Not that Lup’s complaining, of course.
She can pay attention if she’s putting enough effort into it. The umbrastaff is leaning against the couch, next to Taako, who is sitting cross legged and sideways in order to face the most recent addition to his life. Lup doesn’t know what she thinks of Kravitz, yet. He’s pretty, sure, mister Tall Dark and Handsome, all that. But he’s also sworn against Lup, specifically, and Barry as well. Plus, it didn’t help that the first time he’d met Taako he’d been trying to kill him. And Merle’s arm! Lup was not especially proud of her brother’s taste in men, at the moment.
But he made Taako laugh. “Careful homeboy, I’ve got Uno!” Taako declared, holding his last card up in the air triumphantly. Kravitz smiled, too, hands full of cards.
“I’d accuse you of cheating, but I think that’s impossible in this game,” Kravitz said patiently, putting down another card on the couch space between them. Taako lights up, a rare expression that makes Lup’s heart hurt.
“Cha’boy is done, son!” Taako slams the card down, making the others fly up with the force of it. Kravitz grins good-naturedly, and starts gathering up his cards.
“You’ve beaten me,” He accepts, and Lup sees this as her opportunity.
“Um, Taako,” Kravitz says, staring at the umbrastaff, which has begun to twitch closer to them both. “Does it have some sort of grudge against me?” He asks, and Taako twists around to frown at it.
“No, it shouldn’t. Sure seems like it, though,” Taako says. He picks up the umbrastaff to look at it closer, and while in his hands it turns to point the tip right at Kravitz. “Oh geez, uh-”
Taako fails his save, as does Kravitz, and the umbrastaff turns inside out, creating a vortex targeting the reaper. Kravitz shoots Taako a very surprised look, who’s too alarmed to say anything, and then Kravitz is lurching forward into the umbrella. The unbrastaff closes, and lies dormant in Taako’s hands.
Kravitz falls down in front of Lup’s form, where she stands made of orange, yellow, and red light in the shape of an elf. Cloaked around her is a robe, made entirely of red light. Kravitz’s whole look matches the decor, a small, barren room lined with black curtains.
“Taako?” Kravitz asks, surprised. “Is… there another one of you?”
“I just want to talk,” Lup says, and Kravitz gets to his feet.
“Not Taako, then.” He looks her up and down, taking in the whole form. “Definitely not Taako. You’re the lich, aren’t you? The one I sensed?”
“Yep. What are you gonna do about it, ghost rider?” Lup asks, putting a hand on her hip. “Nothing while you’re in here, that’s for sure.”
Kravitz stares at her, challenging, but Lup doesn’t back down. Finally he concedes. “Alright. What do you want?”
“What are your intentions with Taako?” She asks, right away. It’s cliche, sure, but it’s cliche for a reason. It works.
“It’s not that hard. Are you taking advantage of him? Are you just going to get close so that you can arrest him for death crimes? Or arrest his friends? Do you plan on killing him in the near future?” Lup’s hands coalesce balls of light around them, if she’d been in her physical form they would have been fireballs.
Kravitz takes a step back, holding his hands up to placate her. “No, no, of course not! Taako is… He’s the most fascinating person I’ve ever met. He’s… well, he’s unique.”
“Obviously,” Lup says, her form returning to a more stable state. “Go on,” She gestures.
“I would never hurt him,” Kravitz says, but Lup looks at him doubtfully. “Alright, the lab was a mistake. I didn’t know him. Now I’d much rather keep him safe than let him come to harm.”
“And what do you hope to get out of that?” Lup asks, crossing her arms.
Kravitz looks to the side, embarrassed. “Just… Companionship? I don’t know, my plan was to go with it and see what happens.”
“Are you and Taako dating?” Lup asks bluntly. Kravitz tenses, and his lack of immediate answer tells Lup that he doesn’t know the answer to that.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know who you are. How do I know you’re not planning on using this information to hurt him?” Kravitz asks, angry, and Lup laughs.
“I’m his sister, dummy. Taako is one of the only people I care about.”
“He doesn’t have a sister,” Kravitz says, confused. Lup gestures to herself. “And he certainly isn’t related to a lich.”
“Sorry, buddy, I don’t know what to tell you. My name’s Lup.” She holds out her hand for a handshake, but Kravitz hesitates.
“He’s never mentioned you.” Lup rolls her eyes.
“It’s complicated. He, uh, doesn’t remember me. Not his fault! But still.” Lup wiggles her fingers, and Kravitz finally sighs and shakes her hand.
“Well, then, Miss Lup, I hope that I’ve satisfied your requirements,” Kravitz says, letting go of her hand.
“I hope you understand that if you hurt Taako I’ll fuck your whole shit right up.”
“Please do.” Kravitz smiles at her, and then looks around the room. “Is there… Um, is there a way out of here?” Lup shrugs.
“Not for me. But I could probably let you out, I think,” Lup says, looking up to the top of the umbrella. Kravitz looks at her incredulously. Sure, she wasn’t entirely sure that she could reverse this, but there was a huge chance that she wouldn’t need to, so. Worth the risk. “Be quiet for a second, I need to concentrate.”
Kravitz stills, watching while Lup closes her eyes and directs her focus to the outside of the umbrastaff. She finds that she’s moved, out of the dorm room and out onto an expanse of grass. Taako is standing with Magnus and Merle out on the quad, and all three are peering intently at the unbrastaff. Lup twitches the staff, and all three lean back.
“See, there it goes again!” Taako says, and Lup can hear clear worry in his voice. She feels pretty bad about that.
“I could break it for you,” Magnus says, and Lup jerks in response. Yes, Magnus! Do that! She isn’t positive that it would work, but there’s nothing to suggest it wouldn’t, and she’s already tried everything else!
“I don’t think it wants you to do that,” Merle misinterprets her response. Damn. Well. Better let out ghost rider, then.
Lup returns her attention to her light form. “Should be safe?” She says, uncertain. Magnus and Merle have already met Kravitz, so it should be fine. Taako can explain.
“Thank you, then,” Kravitz says, with a look of relief.
“Okay, just two more things.” Lup holds up a finger. “You can’t tell Taako about any of this. He doesn’t remember, and thinking about it will only hurt him. You told me that you didn’t want to hurt him.”
“I don’t,” Kravitz confirms, and the look in his eyes convinces her.
“Good. Second,” She holds up another finger, “I have not committed any crimes on this plane. Got it? I’ll agree to let you out only if you let me stay with Taako.”
“Apologies, but you are a lich,” Kravitz looks very uncomfortable, now. Looks like Lup was right to assume that he would try to arrest her as soon as he was out.
“Hey. I could just keep you here. But I’m deciding to be nice, and the loss of either of us would hurt Taako. Let’s make a deal, yeah?” Lup remembers Magnus’s card game, and knows that Kravitz likes deals.
“You let me go and I let you go?” Kravitz clarifies. Lup nods, and holds out her hand again. Kravitz thinks it over for a while, but eventually nods. “Only for Taako.”
“Only for Taako,” Lup agrees, and the two shake hands. Lup lets go and closes her eyes again, focusing on repelling his necromantic magic from the unbrastaff.
Outside, the umbrastaff turns inside out again, and Taako shoves Merle and Magnus to the side, pointing it where there aren’t any people. He’s not taking more chances at losing more people. But rather than sucking anyone in, it spits someone out. Kravitz tumbles out of the umbrastaff onto the quad, not moving for a bit to catch his bearings.
Taako falls to his knees next to Kravitz, and when he finally sits up Taako pulls him into a hug. “Thought you were gone, dick,” Taako says, voice aggressive, but only out of worry. Lup recognizes that voice.
“I’m sorry,” Kravitz apologizes, unsure of what he’s allowed to tell him. “Your umbrella really doesn’t particularly like me. ...But I think we worked it out.”
Taako pulls back, so that he can see Kravitz’s face. “Yeah? Cool, now I don’t have to worry about it trying to shoot you again, huh?”
“I don’t think so, no,” Kravitz says. Magnus clears his throat, surprising both Taako and Kravitz.
“Uh… Heeeeey, Kravitz,” Magnus waves, smiling awkwardly. Merle holds up his wooden hand in a peace sign.
“Hello, again,” Kravitz says, waving back. “Taako, I wasn’t aware that I was going to meet your whole family on date three.” If Lup could, she’d give him a thumbs up. But she settles for just being amused.
“Hey, shut up, these clowns aren’t family,” Taako protests, while Magnus laughs.
“Date?” Merle asks. Kravitz looks to Taako to respond, but he just shrugs.
“I guess,” He grumbles.
“Do I have your... permission? I’ve gotten the shovel talk already, so you don’t have to worry about that,” Kravitz says, looking between Magnus and Merle.
“What? From who?” Taako starts, but Magnus talks over him.
“Yeah, buddy, if Death is what Taako’s into I’m not gonna judge him,” Magnus says.
“Fine by me,” Merle says, then holds up his wooden arm, making Kravitz wince. “And I’m not even mad about the arm thing anymore, so don’t worry about that.”
“I’m truly sorry about that,” Kravitz says, but Merle waves it away.
“Seriously, water under the bridge. You weren’t the one who cut it off,” Merle glares at Magnus and crosses his arms. Magnus looks at him in shock.
“I saved your life!” Magnus says, putting a hand on his chest in offense.
“That’s it! I’m out! Krav, come on, we gotta get away from these maniacs before I hear this again,” Taako huffs, pulling Kravitz up by the arm. Kravitz smiles, letting Taako lead him away while Merle and Magnus begin arguing. They both wave goodbye, but don’t stop.
“You have a lot of people who care about you,” Kravitz tells Taako.
“Yeah, yeah,” Taako waves it off. “Sorry about the umbrella vore.”
“Where did you get this, anyway?” Kravitz asks, taking the staff into his own hands. Taako looks at him warily, for good reason. If anyone else tried to take Lup, she’d never let them. But she’s decided to tolerate Kravitz, for now. Honestly, he was just a huge nerd, so apparently having a type ran in the family.
“Old dead dude in a red robe,” Taako says, the same response he gave anyone. Kravitz stops, and Lup guesses that he’s making the connection that she was there.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Did you know them?” Kravitz asks carefully. Taako turns and looks at him, a few paces ahead now.
“Nah.” He takes Kravitz’s arm again and keeps walking, Kravitz realizing that he really didn’t remember Lup. Which, obviously, was suspicious. Kravitz was sure that he’d never forget her, that was for sure. How could he forget someone like that? How could he forget family?
But there wasn’t anything that Kravitz could do about it. There wasn’t anything Lup could do, either. Nothing Taako could do.
Whoop!! It’s done!! Started out as a vent draw but then it just kinda dissolved into fluff for my own personal au, currently just called "the writing zone" pfft : P
the gist of this scene is that Krav has recently died (he was a type of angel, before) and become a reaper; the red-haired woman is named Evan and a much older reaper who is showing him around! Taako and Lup are half-elf half faerie and doing their “internships” to adjust to the non-faerie world, the first stop of their journey being the reaper realm. And the purple haired man is named Vincent, he’s a friend of Evan’s who hangs around the facility. Both Taako and Vince have taken note of Krav, except Lup is teasing Taako about it
this was rly fun tbh!! i love how this... all came out. somehow the bg just perfectly set itself up??? and krav’s wings and evan’s tattoos are some of my best : D
pls rb and help a small-time artist out!! thank you!! (and feel free to ask me more about this au!!!)
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Kravitz knows several things as truth. The Day of Story and Song happened years before he was born, and no magic has crossed planes since. People think he's odd, and creepy, and he can't seem to keep a foster family, no matter how hard he tries. He's been having a reoccurring nightmare, for as long as he can remember. Someone screaming, pain, and a struggling against an encroaching darkness.
Taako know that the demon Orcus, Prince of the Undead, waged a short and brutal war against the Raven Queen. She and all her reapers were either captured, or destroyed. All of them. He has nothing left.
Lucretia says that there is something on the Plane of Thought that Orcus is now looking for.
