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[hellawrath]

Need something set on fire? Leave a message with Taako at Fantasy Walmart in the temple ruins and Lup might hit you up!

But you better bribe Taako or it'll go something like this
[3:02:15 PM] Jazzy:
"some dude wanted to talk to you"
[3:02:29 PM] Laura:
"was he hot"
[3:02:37 PM] Jazzy:
"nah"
[3:02:51 PM] Laura:
"nevermind then"

Comments

end of august

[catpiper]

Nothing seems to brighten her aunt's mood lately and it doesn't take glance at the remaining flower petals to figure out why. The final days of the plague were a hazy mess, but she remembers, vividly, the frantic tremble in Lup's voice as she tried to reach her, the loving, gentle melody that calmed her terrified heart in those final moments.

She doesn't want to think about it-not again, but it's hard not to be reminded of those horrible weeks whenever she catches Lup's gaze. The memories must be stuck in her head too, if her tired eyes are any indication, and she wonders if her dreams are causing her problems. Wonders if she's able to rest at all or if the onslaught of thoughts keeps her up at night.

It's why she wants to help, in her own way. It's too hard to ask outright and tear open a wound that's only begun to heal for all of them, so she starts off small, by placing tiny, shiny stones under Lup's pillow before she goes to sleep, wakes up in the middle of the night to cover her with that special yukata 'cape', makes sure her hair's braided first every morning and requests to brush it with that special, charmed brush Barry let her use while Lup slept for a week.

But nothing works. The temporary smiles don't ever reach her eyes and she escalates her efforts to telling her nonsensical stories about fire princesses and space princes who like berries, drawing pictures of her and Hot Boi and Taako and Barry and Chara and anyone she's ever cast a smile towards and-

Nothing. It doesn't change anything for more than a few minutes, at most.

And that's when she tries her newest trick-a special power bestowed on her by Kravitz and one she hasn't gotten the full mileage out of yet. The next time she's able to catch Lup alone, she becomes armor. It doesn't matter if Lup's laying down to rest or trying to accomplish some kind of task-it's happening right now. Her arms wrap around her aunt's whole body and she squeezes as tight as she can.

"This is called 'Ren Armor'-I think this kind of thing will help your heart."

[hellawrath]

Alright well this is a lot to process all of a sudden. Going ass over teakettle through the air is bad enough, but being deftly caught in Shepard's muscular arms and bounced around like she's some kind of, of cotton candy fluff?? Unacceptable. And then there's a glint in the other woman's eyes and a soft smile on her lips that Lup doesn't think she's seen before, and she's just gonna-- Now she's blushing, pretty sure, great. How is she supposed to stay mad like this! Fuck!

She's definitely speechless for way longer than can reasonably be waved off as shock from the fall and her heart won't stop racing and-- there was something about coconuts? Get it together, Lup, damn! Anyway attack's still the best defense, so Lup converts all flusterment into drama and flings her good arm across her eyes, nestling further into the crook of her arm in the process.

"I'm afraid it's terminal for sure. The life is draining from me as we speak... Won't you take me up, up to the tallest mountain... so I may be close to the stars... one... last... time..."

[tenthstreetbred]

Lup just kind of stares up at her in a way that sort of reminds her of Garrus, though she can't put her finger on why. She's silent for a long moment, just long enough for Shepard to start worrying that perhaps she is injured when she throws her arm across her eyes and burrows deeper into her eyes. Shepard rolls her eyes.

"Terminal. How awful. I guess I have no choice but to fulfill your dying wishes."

She grins again and begins to walk away from the trees... in the direction of the Elf Camp.

"But first let me bring you to your brother so that he can see you one last time before I sacrifice you to the mountain. After all, I'm sure he knows exactly where you are and is wondering why you haven't come back yet, right~?"

Commander "Sass" Shepard, reporting for duty.

LATE APRIL DELIVERY

[catpiper]

[Their birthday likely passes without much fanfare since ages are apparently subjective and everything is 1% more chaotic than normal right now.

However, she didn't forget and one afternoon when everyone's relatively themself, she manages to coerce Kravitz into helping her make, what likely is, the worst cake of all time. No one privy to this baking session knows what ingredients to use and everything's terrible. Also, what icing? But she seems proud, especially of the leftover sparklers dotting the top, lighting up the terrible, barely edible mess like it's a festival all its own.

And you know what else is terrible? The First Gift.

A Cantrip.

A literal can, with chalk covered salt in varying shades of red and orange and yellow, mixed with some colored, crushed leaves. "Hot Boi let me take this from its nest" probably makes the creature sound as willing as the lobster had been, meaning it wasn't and also, it's terrible. The phoenix is probably pretty offended and who knows how long it'll take to get back into its good graces.

Thankfully, her eye off with Hot Boi doesn't last long because Lup gets a Thing-one she doesn't throw, because it's a lot smaller. The fire opal necklace is handed off far more delicately than the hammock. The Storyteller found this special treasure for you.

But is that it?? No?? It's never it, honestly. Alongside these humble offerings, she offers a cryptic message to "not go anywhere scary until you get the last gift".

And that?

What a mystery.]

8/12

[postictal]

Smart kids.

Way too smart for him, not that it's ever hard to be. Smart kids with a dedication that's pathological and irreversible. They've altered entire worlds. They're the most determined creatures in the universe.

And they knew him well enough to know that if they didn't force him to get up and do this, he never would.

They said to wait a week. He's just...not sure he can do that. Not when he's already breaking at the seams, and someone's bound to notice, and the news is bound to reach her anyway.

It's better that she hear it directly.

So he makes the trek to the camp where the elves stay with one note in hand, the other in his pocket. He knows the route well enough by now. His face is still stiff and wet, and his free hand keeps compulsively jerking up over the heart-shaped lump underneath his shirt.

"L..." The word is rusty, croaking. He needs to do this. They wanted him to do this. They wanted him, specifically, to do this in person. He's just not sure he can.

Swallow, and try again.

"Lup." Louder. She's gotta be here. Right? "L...Lup?"

let's do this

[hellawrath]

At this point, the location of elf camp is probably the worst kept secret on the island. Plenty of folks know where to find the twins or Ren if they're not at the store, come over to hang out, trade gossip, get hustled at Blackjack or whathaveyou. They still change the wind chimes around from time to time, as just like, a fun prank? But a real security system hasn't really been necessary since the early days. So Lup's not worried when she hears somebody approach, isn't in any hurry to stop tidying up in the big nest tent in the center of the campsite.

That changes when she sees Tim. He's not one of their usual visitors, keeps his business at the store or the Denny, unless he's looking for-- the kids. With a cracked voice and tear-stained face. Dread settles in her gut like ice as she rushes out of the tent, ears twitching forward nervously. Something tells her she doesn't wanna know. Not like that's ever stopped her.

"Tim? Is-- What's wrong?"

[postictal]

It's a dead giveaway, isn't it?

He looks like he's been crying. He looks like a fucking wreck. He's got a note in his hand and he looks like someone who shouldn't have been able to make the trek all the way here, with how little he's taking in his surroundings.

"I...they, uh." They. He can't say it directly, can he? He doesn't - what's he supposed to say?

In the end, he doesn't say anything.

He just holds out the note they left for her.

[hellawrath]

Yeah he's not subtle, somehow. He's fucking devastated and Lup can guess what it means, refuses to see the loss in his eyes even as she wants to shout at him to spit it out already, get it over with, just fucking say it--

Instead, a note. Brief, neat, except for a few words struck out, remaining unsaid. Her gaze flies over the words and by the end, her eyes are swimming with tears. Their goodbye is-- a call-out post for her unlife choices, concern coached in a dressing down she's more than deserved and she would fucking give anything to hear it from their mouth right now, and not, not this uncertainty of when she'll ever see them again--

The whole thing's so fucking Chara it hurts, an answering anguish in her chest for the child who shared their soul with her but couldn't finish those words, as if their feelings aren't burning bright in their stern request - don't leave yourself to chance - in their promise to Ren, in their dunking on Kravitz to fucking make her chuckle even through the tears. In the existence of the note itself. She knows them as well as they know her and-- They're gone. Wiped from this plane, scattered in whatever other reality, with or without Frisk, no way of reaching them--

No.

Her eyes meet Tim's, wide and desperate for something to do.

"How long-- When did they--"

[postictal]

"When I woke up. This morning." They asked, their note asked, specifically, for him to wait the week before going to Lup with the knowledge of this, but what the hell else was he supposed to do? Was he supposed to keep it together for that long? Was he supposed to keep it from her for this long?

(How well did they know him, if they expected him to do something right for once in his life, even this?)

"I didn't know..." I didn't know what else to do. And yet, that's not just it, either. "I thought - you'd wanna know."

[catpiper]

[She knew it would be hard.

Knew the second the word sis left that woman's mouth, while she was in the throes of her own grief, that it would hurt. She thought it would happen the day she found out about her illness-that it would end in rejection and a different sort of hurt than the one consuming her that day.

But-

Sis is what hurts the most now. It weighs on her heart as she picks up chores she used to ignore. Sweeps dust out of the tent openings because it won't be comfortable for her to dig the bits of sand out of her long hair when she comes back to sleep and-

She won't come back. Ren knows that. Doesn't really think much about it as she sets on this mindless task. As she sits around a fire that's too empty and flips a phone in her hand that goes unanswered no matter how many times she tries to say her name.

No matter how many times she thinks of her sis-of her aunt. It doesn't change anything.

It's hard to do her hair now and more often than not, she doesn't bother. Kravitz tries-makes tiny little braids and strands and tries to put little trinkets, but-

Sometimes she sits in a corner and tries to do it alone-reaches back behind her head to get those loops pulled tight- they were always hard to reach, but the little bands to keep her hair up are in short supply and it's not worth her accidentally flicking them. She could ask for more, but-

It wouldn't be the same.

She thinks about her family sometimes. Thinks how they made this a family. How Lup made a family here, out of nothing. Out of sticks and leftover fabric and stolen goods from islands that no longer exist and-

She calls for Aunt Lup now, because it's hard without her. Because Umui is back and they took care of her and now they aren't here. Because it's not a family without them all and-

She calls for Sis sometimes, when it hurts more than normal. When the flowers twist and dig into her heart and she wants to hold someone's hand and she needs to be there for Kravitz. Muster some of that strength Sis had-a woman who won't answer, who isn't answering, and she's not sure she can do it. Be anything like her, keep this last piece of home safe and-

She brings the fresh water back to camp sometimes. Drags it by the pail handle and looses more than she intends, because Kravitz shouldn't have to do everything and maybe if they see she's trying, they might come back.

She knows it doesn't work like that, but-

She hopes it might.]