[His legs feel like they're starting to cramp, shoulders slumped weirdly and arms nearly limp but he just doesn't care. He feels tired, wrung-out, knows he still isn't really done here as much as he wants to be.]
Yeah, yeah, you have full permission to kill me or something, what does it even matter. Jeez.
[Finally, he pulls himself up, takes a second to wipe at his eyes with his hand in a quick one-two fingers and palm motion to clear his face. He knows what he has to do, but he hates to do it.]
There's, uh. Look, if we're being super honest right now, there's something else, so.
[He doesn't... like this. It was one thing when it was just the loss of his beauty, just a change to himself. It's another thing entirely now when it puts a rift between them, and there's still some ugly part of his defenses that pulls this to the surface as proof she'll find him too different to ever really be her brother. This is what will out him, push her somewhere back to the right Taako, to some version of himself he's forever lost.
But he sighs, lets his shoulders fall, and drops the spell he keeps to reverse what he lost in Wonderland.
It's subtle, to most others, but considering Lup of all people will know his face, the changes are stark, and likely jarring. An extra few lines to his face, new crow's feet next to his eyes, just a little droop to his ears and eyes. He tries to make himself look at her, and can't. Focuses somewhere off to the left and downwards, to the bed.
For once, he's let the Umbra Staff sit between them, out of his grasp.]
So, uh, had a run-in with some liches pretty recently, they had taken one of the relics, but we had to, uh, give stuff up to get to them. So... this is me now.
[Me. Not us. Just him.
He laughs, but it's still bitter, and he still can't meet her eyes. He doesn't want to see the fear he knows is coming. He doesn't want to be the one that hurt her again.]
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Yeah, yeah, you have full permission to kill me or something, what does it even matter. Jeez.
[Finally, he pulls himself up, takes a second to wipe at his eyes with his hand in a quick one-two fingers and palm motion to clear his face. He knows what he has to do, but he hates to do it.]
There's, uh. Look, if we're being super honest right now, there's something else, so.
[He doesn't... like this. It was one thing when it was just the loss of his beauty, just a change to himself. It's another thing entirely now when it puts a rift between them, and there's still some ugly part of his defenses that pulls this to the surface as proof she'll find him too different to ever really be her brother. This is what will out him, push her somewhere back to the right Taako, to some version of himself he's forever lost.
But he sighs, lets his shoulders fall, and drops the spell he keeps to reverse what he lost in Wonderland.
It's subtle, to most others, but considering Lup of all people will know his face, the changes are stark, and likely jarring. An extra few lines to his face, new crow's feet next to his eyes, just a little droop to his ears and eyes. He tries to make himself look at her, and can't. Focuses somewhere off to the left and downwards, to the bed.
For once, he's let the Umbra Staff sit between them, out of his grasp.]
So, uh, had a run-in with some liches pretty recently, they had taken one of the relics, but we had to, uh, give stuff up to get to them. So... this is me now.
[Me. Not us. Just him.
He laughs, but it's still bitter, and he still can't meet her eyes. He doesn't want to see the fear he knows is coming. He doesn't want to be the one that hurt her again.]