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(Bless him. She takes the glass gratefully, and has to resist the urge to pour herself a glass right to the brim. It's probably sad that she's more comfortable with a glass of wine in her hands, but she's examine that later.)

Oh, that's sweet. (She smiles briefly, and raises her glass to her lips.) When do I get to meet him anyway?

We'll have dinner sometime? If you think you can handle me being all gross and sappy.

[It feels too easy, the same as it did when Lucretia first arrived, as if nothing bad has ever happened between them.]

(She makes a face.)

Hmm. I'll have to get back to you, the jury's still out on that one.

(It does feel too easy. But she doesn't want this to get away from her before she can real talk; her smile fades slowly as she props an elbow up on the counter. Despite having had nothing other than this to dwell on for the past couple days, she struggles to find the appropriate words for a moment. Eventually, she just sighs.)

Taako, I'm... I'm sorry.

[He feels it coming and decides to hold off on the jokes until she can say what she wants to say, no matter how much he wants to pretend that this is fine.]

I know. [He sounds tired, and he can't quite look at her.] So am I. This shit is, uh, I'm not good at this, but I didn't mean what I said, about not caring.

[Those weren't his exact words, but it's what he implied by saying he only give a shit about Lup and himself.]

(It's cool, she can't look at him either. She's sorry right down to the very center of her being, but the whole point of apologising is that you learn from your mistake and adjust your actions to reflect that, right? And they both know that what is going to happen is practically set into stone.)

I know. (It may have hurt at the time, but she'd never be able to take something like that personally. Not from anybody on the ship.) It's okay.

(She deserves it, really.)

It's not. I don't- I dunno if we can bullshit ourselves that any of this is gonna be okay.

[Everything that the future holds for Lucretia can't be changed, and whatever is coming for Taako is up to him to fix, not for them to solve now. Maybe they need to acknowledge that fact, instead of trying to dance around it.]

But I saw... [He stops, exhaling slowly and leaning back against the countertop, needing the support.] There's someone here who can see shit from people's futures. They saw me and heard Lup's voice. I dunno what it means except that she's not gone.

[And that's everything.]

(She blinks, finally looking at him instead of down into her wine glass.)

They... heard Lup? (That flicker of hope in her chest feels cruel: she resolutely ignores it. If it ends up being true she'll be pleasantly surprised, but there's no way she could handle losing Lup twice over. The look on Taako's face tells a similar story, and Lucretia finds herself gently covering his hand with her palm, giving it a soft squeeze.)

[For a second, the only thing he can do is nod, trying to find the words. Explaining the lich thing is... a lot, and he's not sure he's ready.]

I have this stupid bracelet that lets me cast telepathy without, you know, casting it. I put it on and I heard Lup. Something bad happened to her, but I don't think she's gone.

[It's hope, warm and bright and terrifying, but it's his.]

(Lucretia doesn't know if she can bear to hope, feels like she's intruding on a feeling that shouldn't belong to her. She just nods slowly, and smooths her thumb reassuringly over the backs of his knuckles in lieu of having to agree with anything out right.)

That's... that's great, Taako. (She does at least, mean this. She gives him a tiny smile, and takes her hand back.)

[He wonders if she believes him, and isn't sure what to do if she doesn't. The fact she gives him that moment of comfort is enough to reassure him for now.]

There's a lot coming at you in the future and it's not... it's not shit I'm okay with, but I don't want that to mess up the fact we're both here and safe, now. And you're family, Lux, that matters more.

[That's enough for him.]

(It should be enough for her too, and maybe in due time it will be. But for now she's still struggling with reconciling with her future actions and how that comes to affect the people closest to her heart. At least he isn't going to stay angry with her. Lucretia is sure she wouldn't be able to take that.

She exhales in a rush, and picks up her wine glass, taking a very, very large sip from it.)

Me too, Taako. I... (She rubs the back of her neck.) You matter very much to me, and I'd... I loathe to think that something might change that.

This is gonna sound cheesy as shit, but even when we couldn't remember, you gave us a home.

[Taako has a lot of complicated feelings about the Bureau, now, but it's hard to ignore the fact that after years of loneliness and guilty, after Glamorsprings, the Bureau became home.]

I did?

(Her voice is small.

That's... very good to know; she seems visibly less tense already. So much of her anxiety over all of this has been hinging on beating herself up over whether or not she ends up doing this because she wanted to cause them all harm.)

Yeah, totally. You have a cool secret moon base and everything, we're all a little intimidated by you, which I bet you fucking love.

[He can separate them a little, Lucretia who betrayed them and the Director who tried to build them back up.]

A... a secret moon base.

(Lucretia stares at him this time, lifting her wine glass resolutely to her lips.) Uh. Intimidating? Me? Are you sure?

(... She kind of does love the idea of that, actually.)

Yeah, I guess the Millers helped with it? Big shock that you befriended a bunch of nerds.

[He says it fondly, and the more he talks the better he feels, reassured that they can make this work no matter how awkward it might be.]

And you've got a fucking dias, I love it.

[His sweet little awkward nerd all grown up.]

A dias...

(He sure is painting a pretty great mental picture. Lucretia snorts, amused.)

That- well, that does sound like me, huh.

Oh, for sure, you're the most regal and shit of our lot.

[Actually... considering the rest of them that's almost true, but the competition is hardly the greatest.]

(Lucretia grins quick, like she isn't sure she's allowed to, but one look at him confirms that Taako seems to have relaxed. She's so glad for it.)

Well, I already knew that.

[He has a feeling there will still be minefields for them to step in as this proceeds, but for now things are calmer, and he feels lighter for it.

Taako starts fussing around the kitchen again, talking as he puts the last touches on dinner.]

Magnus would make a pretty good knight, I bet. But I dunno where that leaves the rest of us chucklefucks.

[In this high fantasy AU they're constructing.]

Surely you're a high wizard?

(She watches him bustle about the kitchen, and it is like everything has gone back to normal. She's surprised how much lighter she feels for it.)

Merle is... well... (She can't imagine Merle in a high fantasy setting. He's too casual Friday for that.)

I see your point, but I wanna counter with some kinda royal concubine because that life sounds sweet as hell.

[Taako....

He's just kidding.]

Merle ends up leading some army of peasants in a revolt cause he's mad about capitalism or something.

Yep, that sounds about right. To all of it, I mean.

(She stretches her arms up, over her head with a sigh.) Do you need a hand with dinner?

Maybe I should be writing the books.

[That sounds like a terrible idea. Possibly the worst idea?]

If you wanna grab plates and shit you can, but I'm also done.

Mmmm, pass. It's cute that you think you could, though.

(She's the writer not u thanks!)

Good, I'm really hungry. (She does get up to go and find plates and cutlery and napkins, keen to speed the process up.)

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