[That's the nice thing that Lucretia gives him sometimes. There's a time for him to be denying himself where he needs to suck up and accept something for goddamn once, and then there's time where he's just giving himself shit in an already stressful situation. It's hard to say which one this is, but considering they're both anxious, it's probably better they don't push themselves further than they need to go.

There will be time to address Taako's encroaching nihilism, but it's not necessary to do it right now, not with so much looming on the horizon.]

So basically, all I have to do is whine and sleep and I'm getting my due? Could be worse in that case.

[He shifts his fingers from picking at the scales to shift through the fluff at the end of her tail with his claws, like one might mess with the hair of a stuffed animal. He's not pulling, just... feeling. Something to interact with while he speaks, something to remind him that he has a body and it's his despite whatever stupid god would say otherwise.]

I dunno. Whether it's really a cycle of not, can't keep us here forever. We're gonna make it out one way or another, just gotta... live that long. Or don't. Heard we get at least one freebie death around here.