lifeaftr | [closed] nothing is perfect, for that there's no cure

Entry tags:

[closed] nothing is perfect, for that there's no cure

Who: Kravitz, Ren, Taako, and Lup
What: Ren has had a Bad Time and Kravitz has a lot of favors he didn't have at her birthday.
When: Backdated to the end of September
Where: Camp BASE on Enso
Warnings: Just a bunch of cuteness.

It's been uncomfortable, since Umui. Dying is a lot, but even after everything had smoothed over, there'd been more emotional conversations and cutting words. And while Kravitz is pretty sure everything is fine, it's hard to say if everything is really okay.

His first idea wasn't this, to be honest. He had approached Taako with an idea about teaching, letting her in on the cut of what was possible for them, but it seems that wasn't going to be the case. So instead, he approaches the Storyteller with a different request, and a favor granted.

He's already let Taako and Lup know what's going down, so all that's left is to present it, causing the three of them to track her down one quiet morning in camp.

"Ren? Can you come over here for a minute?" Kravitz has got them assembled in the large tent, having wrapped the wand in a nicely provided box that he's got hidden close by. "We have something for you."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Look, Ren's not harassing the lobster. It might look like it, by the way she's trying to tetris some forest junk into its little habitat, avoiding the pincers by using all her concentration to maneuver her fingers in there, but it's not harassment. It's interior decorating and bribery, with little pieces of oatmeal. There, there, Lobstar. Don't scream. It's just your cousin, Ren.

ESP's at her feet, trying to get her attention by rubbing on her legs, and that's great, but she's on a mission and she-

Barely misses getting pinched. That was close and she quickly, quietly, scolds it with a don't be mean. And she's about to go in for round two hundred, when Kravitz's voice pulls her intense focus away and she quickly leans back like she was doing something wrong, which she wasn't. She's pretty sure it's impossible to get in trouble in here.

"Is it lunch?" Because she is like, game for that, and hurries away from her lobster task, cat in tow. "Is it spicy?"

Ren would be forgiven for being wary, with a summons like that, but luckily she seems relatively immune to ominousness of that particular brand, if few others. Why wouldn't she be? From her horrible interplanar family, 'we have something for you' is always going to be an actual gift of some sort, and never a restriction or obligation, attempts to curb her pocket-food proclivities notwithstanding. Not that Taako himself has ever made any such attempts.

He isn't actually responsible for this either, though he was certainly in favor, and is more than happy to steal partial credit for it regardless. Kind of a miracle he's letting Kravitz spearhead the magic cat committee at all, honestly, but they were his storyjuice tokens, and though Taako would capsize the entire island before admitting it, any instance of Krav and Ren bonding is a sorely needed restorative to his shitty elven soul.

So he's very uncool-ly psyched about this, sue him in the court of image maintenance. "Nope!" he sings out with poorly concealed glee, "Not spicy OR lunch, keep guessing!"

The real miracle here, actually, is the fact that Kravitz just up and offered Lup a part in this? He could've kept the glory to himself, or between these two gay fucking uncles, but he let her in on it and she kinda really appreciates that. Plus, it's kind of impossible not to approve of the care he takes with Ren just like, all of the time?

Not that she's going to admit to any such feelings any more than her brother would ~~although she would NOT sooner die~~, because this is a camp full of shitty assholes. It's gonna look like she had a hand in this gift and that's what counts.

And while the surprise can't be anything short of perfect, Ren absolutely deserves a hint. "Defs dope though, for sure!" she adds, just as gleeful and elbowing Taako for emphasis. "It's a-- you could say it's an outpurring of our love! Right, boys?" Better guess quick or there's more where that sheer comedy gold came from.

Kravitz has absolutely made some attempts to make her stop eating lint, but this isn't here nor there. No, he had the thought to keep this to himself, and enjoy the smug look he could place towards Lup as soon as Ren would hug his leg and call him her favorite and he could just have that for the rest of his now-lively undeath. But... this isn't about him. This is about Ren, and Ren sees Lup and Taako as family. He would be remiss to try and come between that for a petty squabble.

Thankfully, the elves have set him up perfectly for this, and he grins as he reaches over to produce a long, thin box. "Well, we thought you should have something since everything's been a bit rough lately. And I did miss getting you a present at your birthday, so I spoke to the Storyteller to get you something."

He'll hand it towards her- inside the wrapping is a wooden box, which within rests a simple wand. But he'll let her open it, since she's likely got 204837 guesses as to what it is, and all of them getting to explain it's scope will be much better than all of them (or so he hopes).

Well, if it's not lunch, not spicy, or wiggling around like a kitten, she has no idea what it could be. This is a real mystery. Even Lup's incredible hint goes over her head-dope outpurring is repeated under her breath, as if that'll solve the problem at hand. She doesn't understand what's happening. Everyone in this camp tends to be an unpredictable wildcard on the best of days, but it's noticeable now more than ever.

She doesn't take her eyes off the three of them as she opens the box, feeling the contents with her hand, before dropping her gaze to see what it could be and-

It's a treasure-that much is certain. Judging by her expression, this is the best stick she's ever seen in her life, because it was whittled and given to her by people she loves. Even The Storyteller helped find it? How good. It makes any protests about how In fact-

She grips it in her hands like a pro baseball player heading to bat. Fucking throw a ball at her, punks. She's gonna make her family proud and hit a home run right here, right now. But first, she must express her gratitude for this beautiful little gift. Instead of saying thank you or good job like a normal human, she starts glancing around the area for her terrible little bag. She's got Paint in there and she needs that.

"I'll put gold stars your faces. You did a very good job-this is a dope and baller treasure."

Sometimes Taako suspects that Ren is actually the more eldritch of the kids he's run into here, and make no mistake, her staring them down while opening a gift is one of those times. It's just impossible to know what's even her deal sometimes, and that's incredible, considering her audience and their incalculably varied life experiences.

For example, this spectacular and innovative new wand stance she's invented, right off the dome. It's just so much. Her gratitude is off to a vaguely threatening start, but she actually nails the landing very gracefully, and his back straightens with pride even as he's thinking of a way to head off her imminent distraction.

"Now hang on, hold the applause, that's-- this isn't the Fantasy Pier 1, here, we didn't just gift-wrap some driftwood." He takes a deep breath, preparing some careful navigation, both factual and emotional. "This is an important rung on the apprenticeship ladder. Technically, it's a wand."

Oh my god she's going to fucking play baseball with it. This is a delicate magical item that cost real story dollars to get and can do real ass magic and she's just gonna fuckin, bat some projectiles with it. Which, Lup probably didn't even know that was a thing before Ren came into her life? Is baseball an interplanar constant? Who knows. She's absolutely delighted. Gold stars all around.

But Taako's right, it's time to explain how this thing is even better than a baseball stick. "Like, for magic? Kinda like the one Uncle Taako has, only less shitty?" Lup grins, so psyched for Ren's reaction. Getting your first wand is a big deal, even if this one's limited in use.

Kravitz had done his best to prepare himself for whatever Ren Shenanigan was coming, and he still lost in what she's doing with it. Is she going to swing it? Goodness, no, don't do that. He suppresses a nervous chuckle as he readdresses her.

"Now, it's-- it can't do all magic, but it is charged with a spell I-- well, we wanted you to have. I know this place can be rough, but we thought this could be something to help you out." He's trying not to overwhelm her out of the gate here, but he's also a little nervous she won't like it (even though he's pretty sure she will), so he laces his hands and tries to stay quiet before the questions inevitably hit.

Shockingly enough, that does register as a special item, despite not being baseball related, and she stays quiet long enough to hear that it's imbued with some kind of magic spell. There's a second where she looks visibly surprised by the wand, moving back and forth between her hands, twisting it around her fingers and finally-

Something clicks and she lights up, grasping it the same way she's seen Taako do it, pointing it outside of the tent, towards the trees, and exclaims-"This is kick ass! Taako's wand isn't shitty either and-"

Taako's wand. Taako's magic. Circuits come together, nyas turn to plans, memories and thoughts twist and turn until it's clear she's got a terrible idea, staying completely still as it comes together with such intensity that it almost feels like magic itself.

Because you know what else is kick ass? The beautiful thing about being given a powerful gift that has yet to be explained and never will because-

Off she goes, busting back towards Lobstar, without a care in the world or giving a second thought to that this wand has [1] unknown spell in it. "I'm going to turn you into a frog! Frogstar!"

She's gonna transmute this shit.

Once again, their treasured goblin does not disappoint on the shenanigans front. Everything was going so well, so normally, Ren even felt compelled to issue a defense of Taako's shitty wand (take that, Lup) and her reaction is straightforwardly positive right up until she bolts for lobsterland, hollering about frogs. 'Frogstar' is the last straw and Taako is cackling, surprised and gleeful and kind of secretly proud. That's his threat! That's his goblin apprentice! Technically that is also his lobster!

But oh, poor Kravitz. Poor, bewildered Kravitz, almost as much fun to see baffled as to do the baffling himself. And Ren is always the obvious choice for outsourcing bafflement work exactly because of this kind of shit right here. Covering his face with his hands does nothing to stifle his laughter or assuage his (very slight) guilt, but at least it gives him kind of a visual break from it all. He leans on Kravitz both for support and as a kind of pre-emptive reassurance. This is fine, this gift presentation is operating as intended, everyone is doing great.

It's at least a good thirty seconds before the uproar tapers into giggling, interspersed with the odd awed whisper of 'Frogstar...' Someone should probably save that crustacean.

Somebody probably should, but it's not gonna be Lup, that's for sure. This elf erupts into the same kind of shocked, gleeful laughter as her brother, absolutely losing it when Ren hares off with no warning to threaten their most delicious pet. This is, it's total chaos, it's beautiful, it's artisan. It's exactly the kind of shit either of the elves would've done with this new power. Lup couldn't be more proud.

"Holy shit! Get 'im!" she wheezes, collapsing on her back and wildly flailing a hand at Taako's leg. "Quick, do the-- Frog that bug while she's casting!" Because what's there to do but to pretend like Ren can absolutely do some hella powerful magic with that thing, right? Like, what other choice of action even is there?

You know, all things considered, Kravitz is trying his fucking best. He hasn't dealt with other people in so goddamn long, and now for some reason he is basically raising three children with the way his boyfriend is handling this. Maybe to his benefit, Kravitz' whole life is just getting mercilessly dunked on, so he's at least 20% prepared to deal with this.

He can't move, seeing as the elves have collapsed on top of him in various ways. Instead, he sighs with the weight of a man who is Dying, Actually, and reaches out his hand. Very gently, Ren will feel herself lifted just slightly off the ground, turned around 180 degrees, and pushed back towards the caterwauling elf squad and the bedraggled half elf trying to fucking live in this universe.

"Ren, it's-- Ren, it doesn't work like that." He's struggling with words, but mostly he's just worried he's about to sincerely disappoint her. "It only has one spell, but it isn't-- it isn't a frog spell, I'm... sorry?"

Someone please save him, this is the limit to which he can save himself.

Cast Frog, Summon frog, roll for frog-she's realizing incredibly fast how complicated wands are because flicking it, smacking it with the palm of her hand, and waving it around like some kind of lobster beacon doesn't work. Lobstar ain't ribbeting. She actually doesn't know what she's doing and simply copies how she's seen the elves pose, with whoooosh and pew and all kinds of sound effects to go with it. Even as she's slowly levitated and turned, her body twists back to attempt the great Frogstar tramsmutation 2k19 fwooosh one more time.

And then she's nudged back to the tent, facing two laughing elves and nervous looking grim reaper. His no amphibian admission doesn't seem to upset her in the slightest. That's probably a Taako specific spell anyway. She looks more thrilled, in fact, at the possibility of what it could be. Thankfully, she doesn't run off for round two-she just kind of kneels in front of Kravitz, tapping his knee with her free hand with Great Anticipation, like he's going to forget to tell her if she doesn't keep tap, tap, tapping-

"What is it? What does it do? Is it a spell they know too?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[closed] nothing is perfect, for that there's no cure

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject