Lup (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
necromanswers) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
faesphere2019-01-20 11:03 pm
necromanswers) wrote in faesphere2019-01-20 11:03 pm
Calibrations Text References
Just a place for dumping calibration info/writeups w/ included HTML.
UPDATE: also for storing memories for Hugtopia Memory share, for Lup and Noctis.
UPDATE: also for storing memories for Hugtopia Memory share, for Lup and Noctis.
HUGTOPIA MEMORIES: LUP
a mother forgotten (no CW)
The scene of this memory is... blurry. Bits and pieces of it are fuzzy, making it difficult to see many of the details. It looks like a kitchen of simple and uniform design. It smells sweet and the air is warm. Four chairs are placed around an old wooden table and one is occupied by you, who are quietly watching an adult female elf wrap a bandage around your small leg. Something is odd about her face, shifting and coalescing, features changing from moment to moment. One second she looks exactly like Lup, the next she looks older, then younger, then her nose is bigger or her eyes are a different colour. The child in the memory never notices the changes.
"Mama? Is Koko gonna be okay?" You whisper in a child's voice. Your shoulders hunch, fear audible in your voice.
Your mother hums. Unlike her features, her voice rings through clearly enough. She sounds fairly young. "He'll be fine, sweetie. His cut was deeper than yours, so Papa wants someone else to make sure it'll heal safe. You'll see him tomorrow."
You are quiet again, eyes shifting to the window, waiting. There's another wave of anxiety, mingling with frustration. Tomorrow is too long. He'd been crying, he'll be lonely. "Can we go there too?"
The elf woman sighs. "I'm working tomorrow. It'll be hard enough with your father…" She trails off, then looks up. Her face blurs, there and gone and back again, and she smiles and brushes a hand through your hair. Warm. "Sorry, honey. We can't go tonight, it's almost bedtime."
"I don't care about bedtime, I-"
"The answer is no." Silence follows the stern scolding, and her mother returns to quietly bandaging her leg until she can fasten it shut and relax, leaning in to kiss your forehead. "I know you want to see him. I'm certain he'll be missing you, too. But the roads are dangerous at night, and he and your father will want you safe too, don't you think? They'll be at your auntie's tonight." She's quiet a moment, studying your expression, and then sighs and murmurs, "How about sending a message, then?"
Your eyes widen, feeling instantly relieved, and your mother goes to fetch a quill from a locked box and offer it out to you. You focus intently on it for a long moment, then call out, "Taako? How are you feeling, are you okay? Is your leg gonna fall off? It better not! Um- Mama and me just wanna say goodnight! Come home soon!" The spell winks out a few words early, but you don't notice; your eyes are closed, waiting for a response. You hear a sleepy, unhappy voice in your head mumble a response, and you feel instantly better.
When your eyes open again, it's as if the world belongs to you. "He's okay! They're still with the healer. He says goodnight and that you gotta teach me how to count better."
Her mother laughs, loud and relieved, and trades the quill for a warm, soft cookie. A hand brushes a hand through your hair as you take a huge bite and grin with chocolate in your teeth.
gold and blue (no CW in the memory)
"You have the requested items?" You nod and hand the bag over, and wait as he opens it to examine its contents. Coins jingle as he fishes two small bottles out and shakes the rest. Satisfied with his findings, he passes the bag to an assistant who'd followed him inside and gestures to the carpeted floor. "Sit down. We are not to be disturbed for an hour, after which the change will be permanent. This is your last chance: are you certain?"
Silence greets him, broken only by the weak, shuddering breath you take. You open your mouth, then hesitate. Your hand clutches that of the boy beside you more tightly than before.
"Lulu, you got this," he whispers. You look over at him, eyes wide, frightened. "We got this."
You let go of his hand only to fling your arms around him, clinging tightly. While you hug him, you finally call out, "I'm sure. I'm ready."
You sit down together as he arranges the bottles, holding them in one hand while he waves a candle with the other, smoke wafting through the air. A bolt of arcane energy flies towards you and hits you in the chest, but you make no move to dodge or resist it. You close your eyes, holding fast to the boy's hand, and wait. Nothing discernable happens, but after a few seconds you gasp and hunch over, trembling. You feel different. Your body has changed, your body is-
He calls you quietly, mindful of the wizard's scrutinizing gaze. He looks defensive now, angry on your behalf. "Lulu, are you okay? Do you want to-"
"No," you mutter, and when you look up at him you are smiling, tears of relief in your eyes. "No, it's just… it feels right. It feels just like it should, I think."
You close your eyes again, content for the first time in what feels like ages. Together with him, hand in hand, you wait; fifty-nine minutes and counting.
greg fucking grimaldis
You see a spaceship, the size of a large yacht with an open deck, a soft magical shield protecting it from the galaxy beyond its border. The back of the ship thrums with energy, a circle of light with rings spinning around it to keep it moving steadily through the stars. Six people stand in a circle on the deck - yourself, Taako, two human men and one woman, and a dwarf. A gnome steers at the helm, apart but close by. Stars fly by the ship as it sails and in the distance, huge and overwhelming but mercifully leaving the ship alone, is an enormous mass of blackness scarred by countless streaks of colours, tendrils slamming down on the world they're abandoning. Everyone is quiet, the atmosphere solemn and grim as they watch the destruction below.
You are the one who breaks the silence, first with a flippant joke-]
Listen. That stuff I was saying down there — that wasn’t just, that wasn’t just talk. I believe that, one of these times, we’re gonna get it right. And we’re gonna find a way to defeat the Hunger and... save everybody inside of it. I— I have to believe that, to keep doing what we do. Because I have to believe... that I’m gonna get... those fifteen dollars back from Greg fucking Grimaldis!
[-to make them all laugh and then, more quietly, to encourage them all to do better, to be better.]
Seriously, though, it got— we got dark down there. I— I know this journey’s been hard, and it’s only going to get harder, but we can’t allow ourselves to— to get to that place again. To even think about destroying an entire world. We need to promise each other, right now, we— we won’t let one another get to that place. Never again.
[You stretch a hand out, holding it in the air towards the center of the circle, your expression firm and urgent. You won't tolerate a repeat of what happened, no matter what. Slowly, one by one, they all join their hands with yours, echoing the sentiment in their own ways, and you smile at them all. This is your family now, every single one of them, and you believe, you know they can be better. You looks at Taako in particular and something shifts in your gaze, a look of understanding and forgiveness. He'd done something to earn your ire, but in the end he'd made it right again. You're glad, the relief in your expression plain as day. You hate feeling angry with him.
You all stand like that for a while as the ship flies further and further away, leaving the ruined plane behind you, and suddenly their bodies all dissolve into threads of light, yours included, carried off to separate corners of the ship. The cycle begins anew.
Here we go again.]
grey goose
You've been dreading this part all day; it's been in the back of your mind all along, though you've done your best to suppress it and let Taako's surprises be your focus. He'd done so, so wonderfully. First that amazing breakfast in bed, then the water fight in the park, then the chance to set that shitty DMV ablaze, and now this: your favourite meal, with your favourite person. You'd never had a single doubt in your mind that he'd fail. He'd given you exactly what you'd asked him for, the best day ever. A perfect memory.
Now you owe him the truth.
"We're gonna become liches."
The words are hard to say aloud, and the reaction he gives in return - the one you knew was coming - is why. You can't blame him, because it is scary, even if you trust the research you've done, trust the method and the process and the notes and everything. Trust the memories that the two of them have given you to protect your sanity. The danger is still very real- liches are dangerous, absurdly powerful. Liches are… monsters, in the technical sense. And if this goes wrong you could put the whole mission in jeopardy, ruin everything you've worked towards for eighty-two years.
It's why this day was so, so important.
"I love him, Taako, with all of my heart, but you… I needed a day from you because you are my heart. You know that, right?"
The ease with which he agrees warms you to the core, and you smile softly as your hands entwine. Taako's half of who you are, your heart and your soul, and you know you couldn't have chosen a better anchor. Even if he's scared - even if you both are, at least a little - you trust in this bond you've carefully cultivated together over the last 200+ years. You won't ever lose him. He won't ever lose you.
You accept the bottle of alcohol from him and down the first swig without hesitation, glad to have it; with the stress of having to tell him finally eased, you can relax and enjoy the rest of your night with him. You can give Barry the go-ahead, you can retrieve the whale bone and prepare the ritual. You'll be changed, soon, but you won't be different. And long as you have him, as long as you have your other half, you know you'll be able to hold on to your soul.
It'll be fine.
music of the heart
"Aw, shit, my bad," a barrel-chested, middle-aged man in glasses grimaces, lifting his hands into the air and away from the piano as a surrendering gesture. "Sorry 'bout that."
You drop the violin from your chin to giggle at him, tucking it under your arm. "Were you looking for a key in the next room over, bud?"
"Nah, just- clumsy thumbs, I think." He gives them a wiggle. "Or just nerves. Feels like we've been at this for ages and I still have no idea what I'm doin' here."
You consider him for a moment, taking in the way he fidgets, the obviously nervous lilt in his tone, then you set down your violin and walk over to him, plopping down onto the bench at his side. "Here." You take his hands, resting them against the keys, and softly shift his fingers into position before setting your own down on the opposite end of the piano. "You and Magnus both- you love to hit hard, and I get it, but this is art, not fighting. Relax your fingers, be gentle with those ivories. They didn't do squat to deserve the beating you're trying to give 'em. The notes'll come easier and you'll move faster, too."
You work through a fresh set of scales with him, and he watches your hands move over the keys rather than his own; as you play in tandem, one high and one low, the synchronization is back, same as it had been with the violin, but softer this time. His hands on the keys become more gentle, and very soon his posture relaxes, too. The tension between his shoulders ease, the crease of his brow irons out. And you? You're... warm. As you move your hands, your arm brushes against his, and the distance when you move away again is palpable, uncomfortably so. It's difficult to focus on moving from note to note but you push through, trying not to linger on these feelings and what they imply. This is still the mission. It's always been the mission.
When you stop you find him staring at you, a confused and awe-struck gaze that you meet for barely a second or two before dropping your eyes, oddly self-conscious at his scrutiny. "You..."
You move your hands away from the keys, toying with your hair instead, fixing some unseen out-of-place lock of it as you attempt an explanation. "...There was... this one caravan Taako and I traveled with, for like, half a year- they landed a long gig in some town and decided to set up a whole tavern instead of using the wagons. They ran nightly performances, Taako did his thing in the kitchen, and I tried my hand at bartending and bouncing for a while." You give the air a few playful mock-jabs- to make it clear that bouncing was the much bigger draw for you. "On quiet nights I spent a lot of time watching the band, mostly the guy on piano. We got talking, and he showed me how."
He opens his mouth, as if to ask something, then stops to reconsider, opting instead with, "Wait, wait, wait. If you already knew the basics, why didn't you pick piano? You'd be ahead of the game here, and if we wanna get the light..."
He trails off as you shake your head, lip curving upwards. "Gimme your hand." When he holds it up, you press your palm against his, fingers stretched up towards his own, and your tips barely reach halfway. He's always been a big guy, but his expression is still somewhat surprised when he sees how much his hand dwarfs your own. "You've got piano hands, my dude. Mine are too small, can't really go from one end to the other. Doesn't suit me."
You let your hand linger against his; suddenly and inexplicably, you're reluctant to move away from that point of contact. He's redfaced and stunned until you snap out of it and pull back, at which point he stammers, "Th-that's not true. Elise, that girl always fighting with me over practice times- she's got tiny hands and she plays just fine."
"You noticed her hands? Got your eyes on her, do ya?" you quirk a brow at him, and when he stutters a protest you laugh and lean in, bumping against him playfully. "Relax, I'm just razzing you. I know I could play- it's a convenient excuse." You use one hand to slowly play another upward scale along the white keys. "I like the violin. The piano's... too big. I wanted something I could take with me, to remember moments like this."
You smile up at him, and after a moment, his cheeks pink, he tentatively smiles back. Something in your heart flutters in a way you've never felt before, and it frightens you as much as it warms you right to the core. Oh no, you think. Oh no.
How wonderful.