Magnus was- nervous. Which, in and of itself, was pretty unusual. He couldn't be Magnus "rushes in" Burnsides if he was nervous all the time. That was more of Barry's job. Maybe Davenport, if Magnus was being real honest about it. But nevertheless, here he was; nervous, kind of sweaty, and overthinking.
It was a silly thing to be nervous about. Well, maybe it wasn't, but Magnus sure did feel silly thinking about it. Like, he felt like he should know all of this by now. They had been on this mission, what? Seven years now? He should have been at the top of his game. On high alert, super smart, super tuned in, and all that. And it wasn't his fault if he zoned out during meetings, because he really did try to focus, they just didn't… make sense. At all. Like, Lup or Barry, or Davenport would say all these fancy high-tech words and Magnus would nod along like he got it, but, uh. He did not, in fact, get it. At all.
But asking Davenport felt embarrassing. And asking Barry maybe felt even more embarrassing, considering Barry always wrapped up his part with "any questions?" and Magnus literally never said anything. Lucretia would be his next best bet, but she was currently recovering from an Infernal Spectre-related injury (turns out ghosts can hit hard) and Magnus didn't want to bother her. Merle, he was pretty sure, understood about as much as it as Magnus did but was much better at hiding it or playing along or whatever.
Both Taako and Lup would probably make fun of him. But Lup would be nicer about it and Magnus had no other sources to turn to so, again, here he was.
It was late enough in the day that everyone was back aboard the ship. After the aforementioned Infernal Spectre incident, Davenport had set a rule to have everyone back in an hour or so before it got dark, just to be safe. The sun on this plane set around four PM and stayed dark until around seven AM. It was currently around six.
He could hear Lucretia laughing from her room- Merle had said something about a "cheer-up party" and dragged Davenport into it. Last he saw them, Merle was painting a clown face onto Davenport and Magnus hadn't stuck around to see how that played out. Barry was either in the lab or in the quarters Magnus and he shared, doing some technical bullshit or notes or whatever. They had gotten the Light this cycle and Magnus had gotten back into the grove of not waking up every time Barry left or entered their room for something. Lup and Taako resided in the kitchen, which Magnus was currently standing in front of.
It smelled really good, at least. Which gave Magnus no clue on how receptive Lup might be feeling right now, because it always smelled good. But he had learned to expect the worse anytime madeleines entered the scene, so he was hoping there weren't any of those.
Confidence. He needed confidence. It was like approaching a black bear, except the black bear was an elf, and the elf remembered that time in cycle four when you ate the skin of a banana because no one had ever told you that you weren't supposed to. Confidence. He could do this. Just gotta… admit he didn't understand a thing that had been happening for seven years.
He couldn't do this.
He turned to leave, but the door to the kitchen opened anyway. And there was Taako, apron on, eyebrows raised.
"You gonna come in, homie, or you just gonna stand there?" he asked.
Elf ears. Right. Fuck. Now he felt awkward about it.
"I was, uhm, I was gonna ask Lup about a. Thing."
"A thing," Taako repeated.
"Yeah," Magnus said. Normal, he was normal. He was so regular. "Just like, a science question."
"A science question," Taako said.
"Yep," Magnus said. "So if I could just, uh, talk to Lup-"
"What's the question?" Taako said, leaning against the doorframe. Magnus tried to peer past him into the kitchen, but Taako's wizard hat was too big to see around. Taako was looking at him expectantly.
"I mean, if I could ask Lup-"
"She's busy," Taako said. And then, again, "what's the question?"
"I was just, uhm- I just-" Words. Words, words, words. It was normal to admit you didn't know something. It made you strong. That's what his stepmom had always said, anyway. He knew Taako. It was fine. He was fine. "Y'know the meeting we had yesterday where we were talking about, how the Light worked and, uhm, why the Hunger wanted to eat it or whatever?"
"Mh-hm," Taako said.
"Well, uhhh, I… didn't… understand that," Magnus said. Gods, he hated this. "At all. I mean, I got that the Hunger wants to have it, but not really why? Like, there were a lot of percentages and shit and I figured- I mean, I was gonna ask Barry, but he was busy, and then I was gonna ask Luce, but, y'know-"
"Spectre," Taako said knowingly, nodding his head.
"Yeah," Magnus said. "So I figured maybe Lup, or- I mean, you! Maybe! But I didn't wanna bother you or anything and, uh, I thought maybe-" Magnus faltered, stumbling to a finish. Taako had held his hand up to make him stop talking.
"So, if I'm understanding you correctly, you're question is: 'what the fuck is happening with the Light?'" Taako said.
"Uhm," Magnus said. "I mean, that- like I know it sounds stupid, but yeah."
"Nah," Taako said. "I get it. Come in."
He stepped aside, letting Magnus come in.
"Lup… isn't in here," Magnus said.
"Nah," Taako said again. "She's doing some nerd shit with Barry in the lab. Sit up there and lemme grab my notepad so I can, uh- so I can draw it out for you. That helps me sometimes."
Magnus sat at the kitchen counter, feeling weirdly cared for. By Taako, of all people. Not saying that Taako was mean- well, yeah, he was sometimes, but so was Lup, so Magnus didn't really know what to expect anymore. But he certainly didn't think he'd end up here.
"Chocolate eclair?" Taako said, passing one to him on a plate. More were on the counters. He seemed like he was halfway through pipping the frosting into them. Magnus didn't know what a chocolate eclair meant, emotion-wise, but it was probably okay since Taako was now rummaging through a drawer for a notepad.
Magnus took a bite as Taako returned, clicking a pen open.
"D'you not get any of it, or just certain parts?" Taako asked. "'Cus I'm not the science one here but I know my fair share of sciencey shit. You don't get a Ph.D. in physics for nothing, right?"
"You got a Ph.D. in physics??" Magnus said through a mouth full of eclair.
"Uh, duh," Taako said. "What the hell kinda question is that? You think magic is all first-grade math, Magnus? Like, cha'boy worked hard for this shit, I'm not gonna let anyone forget it 'cus the Hunger ate the university or whatever." A pause. "Though, considering you're the guy who ate an entire fucking banana peel, I'm not too sure on how you think whatsoever."
Was an eclair worth this, or should he just go get Lup? Magnus took another bite, considering.
The sight of Taako had set Lup stumbling to a momentary halt, but now that they are out of the cannonball, standing in front of him, she is filling Lucretia's head with such a heady mix of joy and sorrow and regret and longing that Lucretia can barely think straight.
Lup–
Lup doesn't respond–at least not in words. Instead a jumble of images and emotions and fragmented words appear in Lucretia's mind: Taako-family-finally-home-Taako-freedom-please-Taako-home-please.
I don't know if it's in your blog's aim to do long posts like this, but if it is, have you seen this one yet? https://catchymemes.tumblr.com/post/705443101126295552
Yes, that's actually in my queue to do when I have a little time :) It should be up tonight or tomorrow! And don't worry, that's exactly what this blog is for.
took me until the second time i scrolled past your reblog of that duck stealing tinder post to realize that you were tagging stan as in stan pines and not stan as in 'we stan this person' HFSJFHSJ
asdfdDEWFDS that IS a risk I constantly run by virtue of being in the GF fandom
davenport's just walking past the gym or something, and the memory blast comes on, and he processes everything the fastest bc it's memories to him. / davenport: bad news everyone-- / killian: YOU CAN TALK? / (pause) / killian: YOURE FROM SPACE??
god lucretia has so much explaining to do in this au
OH WORM???? ive seen polar express multiple times in my childhood but that song is like, a gap in my memory, it isn't real, i've never heard it. i adore that post but i have NO idea whats going on
to be fair i honestly don’t remember much about the polar express in general other than some really aggressive ticket punching but most posts about it it i can just, yknow, understand as a thing that happneed in it. but. hot....hot cocoa?? what?
