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[pocketspa]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, TAAKO. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 420.87.169.02 *** coolertwin has joined 420.87.169.02 <coolertwin> wait <coolertwin> waaaaait <coolertwin> waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait <coolertwin> made ya look lol

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BACKDATE - AUG 23

[gobo_projection]

[There is a message, just a little bit after that post bringing up the Fog and the Wasteland really starts to take off. After it seems to really get heated- or at least, busy. People are being civil it seems, after all.

...So perhaps it's surprising to see a message from Reira then.]

mister taako do you want to bake stuff

[.............................alright so something is Wrong,]

[pocketspa]

[Oh. Hm. Taako sometimes will start fights on the network when things are funny, but frankly he's been too damn tired after the whole Wasteland thing to get into it. So he's not totally oblivious when he gets this, but it's still indicative of the situation. People are saying bad things on Fantasy Twitter, huh? Yeah, he feels that.]

sure pumpkin
you wanna come over here or me come to you
if you come here you can hug a chicken and meet garyl also just saying

[gobo_projection]

oh

hugging chickens that aren't pompom sounds nice........... [Pompom's schedule is full, and she has other, better hen things to do.]

m gonna come there then

[She's probably already on her way by the time the message is sent actually- but hey, that's about expected.

Fantasy twitter is the Worst.]

<DrOsborn> - backdated to Sept. 1st

[certaininequities]

Hi, Chaboy, this is Norman - we spoke on the network a while back after I took over the soup kitchen. I hope you're well! Sorry it took me so long to finally reach out to you about your invitation, but - well, you know how things are around here. My point is: would you care for honoring that dinner invitation sometime before the fog rolls in?

<coolertwin>

[pocketspa]

[Taako is never going to correct this man. It's so funny. He's keeping this text forever.]

heeeeey my man
sounds like a date im in
ive got nothin as long as no one thinks of a new way to piss off foggie but we probs have a couple days
lemme know when ur schedule allows for lil ol me ;)

<DrOsborn>

[certaininequities]

I can always tell when people have been here for a long time by how casual they get about the start of the month ...

Would Tuesday at 7 be alright?

<KrisKringle>

[getmeoutofthedraft]

Ho ho ho! Your Secret Santa giftee is ANDREW RYAN, who uses "OnlyMan" on the network because I guess he's got some serious myopia about how this world works. Also, he seems like a real piece of work, so please, do your festive worst.

Buy or make Andy a gift by December 26, or Santa will come down your chimney and box your ears.

If you need more information, contact me C/O Hawkeye Pierce at Crowe Clinic, and I'll delegate him to tell you to do your own research.

<coolertwin> you don't have to reply i just had to

[pocketspa]

my fucking what
who did this and who are you i almost killed a santa once

at least tell me if hes allergic to anything jeez

<KrisKringle>

[getmeoutofthedraft]

Why does everyone in this place jump to implicit threats of violence so fast?

I don't know if he has allergies. Jeez.

Nattenfest Gift

[lottabones]

[Does Taako need more horrible ideas? He deserves to be irresponsible. He gets a collection of small beer kegs that can be used for holding beer, non-drinkable liquids, or just be used for science experiments.

Have fun you funky little snizard.]

[pocketspa]

[You're the best, Triffany. He's gonna fill every single one with something stupid and then try to drink them all at once, and it will be delightful.]

Nattensfest

[waitingforplayer2]

[ Taako will receive a novelty magician's kit, so that he can learn magic tricks to supplement his illusions! The partybus will also receive an assortment of sweet treats and candies. ]

[pocketspa]

[THIS IS CUTE, NANAMI, he's gonna cheat and use real magic because he sucks but she doesn't need to know that. Hope she enjoys her cookies!]

Secret Santa special delivery! (backdated)

[ayahuasca]

[A day or two before the holiday party at the Farmblaster, Taako will receive a large box in the mail. The gift box within the shipping box is neatly wrapped in blue-and-silver paper with a big white bow on top, and tucked under the ribbon is a small, handwritten card. It reads:

Dear Taako,

I hope this helps you beat the winter chill in style.

Kisses,

Artemis Dubois XOXO

Within the box are two items: the first is a bottle of high-quality whiskey. The second and far more important gift is the furry, brightly-colored winter coat. It reminded her of Taako's fantastic rainbow animal print suit from back in Felfri, so she just HAD to get it for him.]

[pocketspa]

[Alcohol is never unwelcome, but the coat is absolutely marvelous. Thank you for this Lisa Frank abomination, Artemis, you fuckin' get it.]

--> action

[restinglichface]

[Look, it isn't at all unusual that the moment the winter weather dissipates under stormy spring showers that Taako and Lup both take off to do their own thing, after months of being holed up together under one roof. So it's completely normal that Lup's been off more often than not, catching up with friends and restocking supplies and overall enjoying the fact the snow has finally melted.

But it's maybe after she's been preoccupied for the last week or so that she finds her brother somewhere lazing around the farmhouse and flops indelicately across his back.]

Hey, how's tricks?

[pocketspa]

[As much as Taako got mildly used to doing whatever while Lup was gone, he'd much prefer to hang out with her to doing... most anything else, really. So of course when Lup is around and he's around he's just gonna chill with her, especially when the penninsula has just gotten over it's latest round of bullshit. So she flops over and he doesn't even flinch, just rolls a little to the side to plop a hand on her head.]

Tricky and cool, as always. Wwwwwwhatcha need from chaboy?

[restinglichface]

Uh -

[She gives a tug on his ear in return.]

That's rude. Assuming I need something. Why can't I just come tackle my little brother to the ground and stick my fingers in his ears just for fun?

[But of course he can tell. He's always been able to.]

Okay, so maybe there was something...

Dropped off at the Farmblaster's with Lup's

[i_am_emmet]

[In a black envelope, with scratchy handwriting in white out pen is a note: FOR TAAKO'S EYES ONLY.

When it is opened, there will be an invitation to a surprise birthday party for Ingo on May 22nd, with the location to the train house in it at 9PM. There is also a note about being able to bring friends if you want, contact Emmet if it will be more than 2 people!]

[Also, 'SURPRISE PARTY' is underlined a few times, and a drawing of a Litwick is in the corner.]

morning of aug. 6th.

[gildedsaint]

[The disturbance in the night sky had already been terrifying and foreboding. An ill omen. A portent of things to come. It's been reminding her of the awful blue death, the eternal hunter, the Beast. Number Seven. It's been incredibly distracting, worrying about horrors from above. She is not prepared for earthly tragedy.

And yet.

Veritas Morgue & Mortuary receives a call. Some harried public official. Requesting a corpse removal. Normal. It is specified to be a monster corpse, which is stranger, especially when there is no current emergency situation. Still, within routine. Larger transport recommended due to species, specified as "snake," and there's the fur spiking up along the back of her neck.

Ill omen.

She cuts him off, asks for scale colors. Red, orange, sorta yellow-green, he thinks. There it is. The drop.

Inhale, speak, clipped and factual. Yes, it will be handled. Yes, today. More sharply: do not touch, move, or otherwise disturb the body or scene. Yes, she is aware it is inconvenient. No, not even to the sidewalk. Rope it off and leave it. She is on the way. His continued argument draws a lower tone from her, a snarl at the edges of her voice, as she informs him that if he or anyone else tampers with anything, she will be coming for his family first, so he had better treat guarding this body as his new life's purpose for the next twenty minutes - before she slams the phone back into its cradle.

This is not the manner in which Veritas morgue staff are meant to be speaking to humans. Ianthe knows better than to be this reactive. There may be a complaint. All of this remains idly in mind, useless like so much of her knowledge is now. Other facts: she needs a camera, a gurney, a transport van. Her notebook. Her laptop.

When she arrives, coiled stiffly in the passenger seat while their most discrete intern drives, it's to a very strange scene. There is blood everywhere. Signs of a struggle. But the body itself - the body is beautiful. As she always was. Clean, peaceful. When she leans to inspect more closely, she can smell it, whiskers twitching - the familiar work-scent of embalming fluid, the chemical fixatives they use to halt decay without the aid of necromancy. It was like that when I got here, insists the deeply-terrified man. Ianthe dismisses him. This is not the work of an average citizen. Whose work remains to be seen. Her mind is already racing along on that track, even as she stands stiff and still, moving only to allow the intern to take better pictures. She'll have to learn this one's name. They're being remarkably polite.

God, she has so much to do now.

While they finish, she sits in the back of the transport van and settles the laptop down. Taps out a message to the first person who ought to know, who must already feel it, surely--]

taako. this is ianthe.

lup was found dead this morning. my workplace was called to collect the body.

[She includes the address, and a photo of the shopfronts without the corpse itself in frame. There is, unfortunately, some blood spatter. There's only so much she can do.]

she will be in the care of veritas morgue & mortuary.

i can offer storage until we are closer to the fog, if you do not prefer immediate delivery to your home.

[pocketspa]

[The text seems entirely, completely unreal. It wasn't real, it can't be. For all the horrible things that have happened to them in this place, how they can track happenings like clockwork now, this is so far out of left field it might as well be in the parking lot. He has a thousand questions and none of them are the following text.]

shut the fuck up

[Cool okay. She'll get another text in about 30 seconds to a minute.]

where are you
did you move her
where did you find her

[gildedsaint]

[she does not even bother responding to the first. this feels like a perfectly normal reaction from him, honestly. she simply waits, in a similarly stunned state, for the rest to follow through.]

we are currently at the address i sent along.

i have not yet moved her.

we have the equipment to do so and i will bring her wherever you would prefer.

i've had photos and notes of the scene and body taken down so evidence will be preserved.

[a pause.]

i will warn you that the body was treated after death. she is clean and embalmed. wounds stitched.

not by me. presumably by the culprit.

[it grates, that she was not able to even do this kindness for her.]

Grapevine mid July pre-mash hangout!

[pageofstaves]

Childermass arrives at the agreed time, dressed in black jeans, a long gray waistcoat embroidered in silver with buckles, and a dress shirt the red-purple of a deep bruise. His hair is tied back at the nape of his neck, and he looks around curiously for the Naga fellow he'd bested in the performance in June. When he sees someone fitting the description - hard to miss, to be sure! - he touches his top hat in greeting and smiles. Does he look absolutely like he walked out of an Anne Rice novel? The more important question: does he care?

"Taako, I presume?"

hi i'm so sorry this is so late, august was a nightmare

[pocketspa]

Well, he'll be right about one thing- Taako's terribly hard to miss. Being nearly 30 feet long and with an eye-catching iridescent pale blue tail, he'll be visible in any room. But frankly, that isn't even the biggest thing about him. His large blonde hair is barely pulled back, long elven ears with the same matching scales on his lower half, and a tall pointy wizard hat making him even taller than he would need to be. He's not wearing anything otherwise except for a crop top that says 'MOVE, I'M GAY' over the chest. As Childermass approaches, he grins a sharp, toothy grin, waving his clawed fingers in his own greeting.

"Oh you got it, babe. You the man of the hour? Well, I'm the man of the hour, but you're the man meeting the man of the hour." He gestures to a seat opposite him, the table looking small in comparison with his tail wrapped around the middle.

it suuuuuure was, pfff. <3

[pageofstaves]

"We're men of our own time," Childermass said with a smile, taking the offered seat but being careful not to kick Taako's tail.

"What'll you be having? Like I said, it's on me."