hugtopia_logs | (no subject)

[Lup's been feeling chill about this whole thing up to this point; it's hardly the first time she's been arrested, and their treatment is pretty tame, so she's just rolling with it. No reason why they can't zap themselves out once the guard's back is turned. Fool didn't even really restrain them properly.

She doesn't feel it instantly, a step or two behind, so when Honerva stumbles she reaches out to catch the other woman, trying to steady her. And then she notices it, an odd twisting in her soul, right to the core of it. You can't just turn off the magic of a lich. She is magic, it's woven into every fiber of her being now. She can't support Honerva anymore, staggering to her knees at the shock of it, and twists around to stare at the guardbot guiding them in- who seems just as surprised as them.]

Hey. Hey, what the fuck?

[And that's when the guard explains, polite but confused, that the prison is protected by some kind of anti-magic field, and Lup can only stare.]

[ Honerva drops to her knees once Lup can no longer support her, breathing hard and unable to keep from shaking. She had been entwined with her magic for so long that there was no memory of a life without it, and she can't feel Lup's presence but Lup being so physically close to her, plus the woman's startled exclamation, helps draw some of her attention away from her own initial panic to trying to appraise their circumstances. Dully, she can barely process what the guard was trying to explain to them, only a few bits getting through. Anti-magic? This was just as bad as being poisoned again. ]

You must release us at once.

[ She all but hisses the words through grit teeth, one hand pressed to the ground where she had slumped and the other clutched to her chest. ]

[Lup has no such polite demand, if one could call it that; the guard is barely a few words into whatever empty placation he had prepped when Lup suddenly lunges forward. Her aim is off-kilter due to the effect of this place, so it's impossible to tell where she was headed: for the door leading outside, or the guard himself. Either way, she's caught before she can make impact, with the robot winding a sturdy arm around her and hefting her up, apologizing all the while, pleading for rationality. It's for your own safety, he says, offering his free hand to Honerva to help her as Lup thrashes and curses in the other. The walls aren't safe to examine right now.

Lup does not appear to be listening to a word of it.]

[ He might be trying to do his job and placate, but there is absolutely nothing about this that feels anything approaching safe.

So while the robot makes an effort to reach for her, Honerva does not move to take it. She's already feeling trapped without her ability to teleport--how many steps back? Not anything she could ease herself to comfortably, though she knows she can't even consider more about her own state right now. Not with how Lup -- Lup who always always tells her about patience and the long game, is in no way equipped to handle this right now. Lup should not have to --

Whatever the guard is trying to say is not important.]

No. You must release her, immediately!

[Her tone is more insistent, and she will continue to state this during her own form of protest.]

[The guard unfortunately does not comply; he sighs, shuffles forward, and lifts Honerva up with his other arm, clearly showing no struggle at carrying two small lightweight ladies through the jail to a cell, completely ignoring any struggles and not stopping until he's before the open bars, where he pauses to ask if they should be held together, or if the violence is going to continue.

Lup's response?]

I'm gonna burn this whole fucking place to the ground, you just wait till I'm loose! No more nice Lup! You are walking, talking ashes, metalhead!

[Yeah, maybe this bit better not be up to her.]

[ Honerva makes her attempts to squirm out of the guard's grasp during his stalk to the cells, but he is made of metal and tireless, while all she feels here is more layered exhaustion for every attempted wriggle. It felt wrong, and he wasn't listening to her, and she couldn't even get into his head and make him listen to her.

She barely even picks up on his question through Lup's continued tirade though it's not difficult to surmise the implication. ]

Together. Do not part us.

[ Lup might be 20 ways from reasonable right now but Honerva knew it was for good reason, and she wasn't about to risk Lup getting put away into a cell on her own for her "own good" on top of it. Of course, the guard didn't seem keen on listening to her suggestions as it was, so who knew if that request would be followed or if he'd just do the opposite as he had been already doing so far. ]

[The guard doesn't seem especially amenable to the request - particularly with Lup's continued struggling - but he doesn't seem inclined to continue dealing with said struggles, nor the collection of creative curses spouting from her lips. Finally he sets them down unceremoniously in a single cell, wrangling his way backwards and shutting the door behind himself before Lup can tackle it - or him. He does apologize again as he backs off. If Lup were in a better mindset, she might even feel bad.

Instead she just glares fire and daggers at his back as he retreats, heaving breath after angry breath from where she'd been dumped on the floor like some kind of sentient kettle about to boil over.]

[ In a way, she understood it; the people here were bound to their own rules and concepts and they were the resources. It didn't matter how powerful they were individually if they could still be caught up and stuffed away like angry wet cats. She can barely move from where she'd been set, could barely look up to take stock of the sort of cell they'd been put into.

Even if he had listened to her last statement, his reluctance to do so was all too present. They were together, and that mattered, and she tried not to think of how the decision was likely made because of the world's need for precious energy. ]

Cowards.

[ What were they so afraid of, that it warranted locking them away like this? Was it still so nebulous that they dared not say what else was stirring in the world? What good did it do to keep it hidden? But none of these questions were going to be answered in her head, a desperate flit of distraction from her physical symptoms.

More importantly, Lup was about to boil over and while neither of them were magic in this moment she knew how her anger ran. She needed a target and Honerva needed to not be that target for both of their sakes. ]

[To Lup's credit, she does not lose it immediately. As soon as her target vanishes down the hall, she slumps, peering down at her hands, clenching and unclenching them. Honerva's probably seen the gesture before- it's the movement she makes when she's trying to set her hands alight, but for the first time nothing happens, of course. There's a long silence as she considers this change alongside her predicament.

Finally she shuffles over to examine the rest of the room. It's not a stone cold hole in the wall; as far as prisons go, it's not bad. Two flat beds, pillows and blankets, a curtained portion that probably serves as something of a washroom. Not much to work with, but it's a start. She picks a bed at random and begins dismantling it, dragging the pillow and blankets off to the side.]

[ It's a familiar motion that Lup makes, as Lup's actions only further confirm the wrongness of this, that clear lack of magic; how strange it is to watch her and not feel that signature of energy. Or any.

When Lup turns to dismantling the beds instead of continuing her tirade, the silence aside from that even more pressing and noticeable, she observes her for a moment before making her way in the other direction by using the cell wall as a guide, half sliding her way toward the closed door to examine it.

She might have felt more useless in their predicament, unused to this imbalance within herself, but they were both still clever and practical women and she needed to set herself to task to try and counter everything else. There had to be some weakness to be found and exploited in this cell, powers or no powers. ]

[It doesn't take long to pick apart the bed until it's stretched out in pieces- sheets, pillow, mattress, frame. She can't do much more to dismantle it without tools, but it's solid and metal and, when she hefts it up on its side, not to heavy to move if she rotates it on a corner.

And once she discovers that, the screech of metal and her sudden, adrenaline-fueled roar is the only warning Honerva gets before the entire upright frame is slammed forward to strike the door, impacting mere inches from where she'd been standing. And Lup is going to pull it back to do it again, and again, and again, trying to hit it harder each time. There's something wild in her eyes, an unrestrained desperation beneath her rage, like an animal thrashing in a cage too small for its body.]

Lup-!

[ Oh. Oh no. She had completely misinterpreted the quiet there, hadn't she? Honerva had thought that Lup might have been disassembling the bed to perhaps try and use the parts to build something to help them get out of the situation, even if she herself couldn't conceptualize what with her own, tightly clamped down upon distress, but it's now that she's realizing, the other woman hardly even seems aware of her presence.

The frame doesn't hit her, but she flattens herself as best as she can against the wall as quickly as she can, frozen for a moment as she watches Lup struggle, that aching pained rage so raw and there in her eyes. She'd seen that before, felt it, even if right now that sort of link was beyond them, trapped in their own bodies as it were.

The sound of rage she'd heard that day, when Lup went right to her room to scream it all out in a safe place to her, these wounds that no words could comfort.

She also had to remind herself that no matter what happened, she could not allow herself to be collateral to Lup in her blind rage, because Lup cared about her and that was not something she needed right now. Perhaps their captors had considered that, but they had still allowed this. And so she carefully pushes herself along the wall once more in her half-blind exhaustion to try and get of the way entirely. What could she even do? She nearly trips over Lup's discarded blankets and finds herself stooping down and... deciding to just - gather that up for now. ]

[Lup pays little mind to Honerva at all, besides to avoid making her an active target for any of the wanton destruction that occurs during her ensuing rampage on the room. She spends most of the time smashing the frame against the door, as both are the most durable, but the bars hold fast while the flimsy frame begins to twist and bend under repeated impacts, so when it becomes too unwieldy she abandons it, letting it fall to the floor in a heap of misshapen metal. She turns on the opposite corner, tearing apart the makeshift washroom, ripping down the curtains and flinging them away so she can reel back and axe-kick the flimsy overhanging sink. The whole thing cracks and drops to the floor in a mess of broken porcelain, trickling water from a new leak; she grabs and throws that at the door as well, along with the back of the toilet. When she runs out of items that might actually work, all to no avail, she grabs her pillow and begins smacking it against the door, a futile act of rage and desperation, and she screams, because nothing is working and it's awful and it's just like that place again-

The guard makes a very brief appearance to see what all the noise is about, but upon seeing it - and seeing how his arrival puts Lup into even more of a rage - he disappears from sight once more. Honerva's not injured, so unless that changes or she calls for aid, he's just going to let the rage run its course.

And it does, eventually. Lup on any day still has limited energy, and in her lichless form she tires out through physical activity as any mortal would. When she's out of options or things to destroy she staggers back from the bar in a sweaty, panting mess, tucking herself into the corner of the cell, and collapses to the ground, curling up around herself and hugging her knees to her chest. She sits there and doesn't move, doesn't make a sound.]

[ While the destruction continues, there's little for Honerva to do but stay out of the way and watch, using the cast aside blankets and cushions to create a half formed nest from which to observe the chaos. She can tell when that surge of utterly feral energy that Lup has will give way, knowing her exhaustion of it could only lead to her curling up as small and far away as possible and so defeated. Defeated but not quite... approachable, not yet. At least, Honerva isn't certain; she's feeling her own limits, of how ill equipped she is, to help, especially seeing how Lup was now so tired and worn and exhausted and broken, and watching her, the familiarity of this tugs.

The cell around them is a complete wreck, but that does not matter. With the rage quieted, she can now move more freely within the area, if only to assess any potential for them to work at freeing themselves, any exposed bricks that might be dug out. The prospects of this are... not great. She does not know when the guards would return or if they'd even want to free them at all after all of this; with the threats and destruction threatened, might they consider them even more of a liability to roam free once more? For them to have such a system already in place and for them to have already tested it... even if her thoughts are remarkably quiet and it's only the quiet stirrings of paranoia of her own making it was still a weighty consideration.

Better not get too ahead of herself. It only - reminded her of the fleet. Of the way it had felt in that calibration room. Incomprehensible. And how would that help her help Lup?

While she mentally wrestles the considerations, she retrieves a piece of metal from the busted bedframe, and finds a brick, and begins to scrape the edge against mortar; which would win? She was already worn out from all of this movement and the wall was strong. The dull scraping sound makes for a more ambient noise in the chamber, while she could set herself to work while giving Lup the momentary space to rest and gather her bearings, where no empty words would do. She was present and visible and Lup would continue to be assured that she wasn't alone in this shitty space.

The scraping keeps everything from being too quiet, even if it is a numbing task, an exercise in futility but she must make her own efforts and she too, has frustration that must be dealt with before she can even approach functioning. However, her arms are just not used to or suited at all for the exertion; she gives a sharp hiss from where the pain blossoms in wrist and elbow. ]

[Lup shows no reaction for a while, the noise making her tighten her hold on her knees, curling up even more and looking impossibly small in her corner. Eventually she does lift her head enough to watch, expressionless and empty, a far cry from her usual lively self. Still, the silence persists, until at last she tries to break it,]

Stop that.

[It's pointless. Her voice sounds weaker than she'd like it to be, and she hates it; she keeps it brief, staring blankly at the locked door in front of them. Maybe when she's rested, she'll try again. There's still another bed.]

[ Lup speaking up takes her attention immediately, as she frowns at her own lack of progress, after another last scrape, sets down the piece of twisted metal and carefully holds her arm close. It hurt and she was not used to that sort of strain, but that wasn't important.

She didn't know if Lup going round two on the rampage would really be any more successful than her trying to pry the walls apart. She tries to think, of what else Lup might have missed, in the aftermath of her own whirlwind. ]

If... they have listened at all to anything I have said, they should... inform Taako. He can negotiate for us.

[ Unless he reacted really poorly at knowing their predicament, that was the most they could hope for. If he was informed. ]

[Lup doesn't respond, merely sits there and tries to regain some semblance of calm now that the scraping has ceased. Distantly she knows the noise is good, the company is good, but the pointlessness of it, and the fact that Honerva was hurting herself, definitely was not. Better to wait.

Even if she doesn't want Taako here. Even if she doesn't want him to see her like this.

The silence is daunting, but one sound has caught her ear, and now that she's noticed it she can't unhear it. The soft drip of the water in the corner, where the sink had been broken, creating a small leak. Every few seconds a bit of water falls to land on the hard floor, the sound of it echoing through the stone room. She holds her breath, and it falls again. Another, another.]

Stop that, [she says again, her voice barely a whisper, burrowing her face against her knees and covering both ears like that will help.] Stop, stop, stop, stop...

[Such a simple sound, but as the sound reverberates it's as if she's back there all over again: lost and alone in Wave Echo Cave, the world around her silent and dead except for one stupid, tiny, endless drip of water across the cavern from where her corpse sat, decaying slowly into nothing but bones, the oppressive prison locked around her soul as the water echoed over and over and over and over and over and overandoverandover for hours, days, months, YEARS-

She wants to scream and never stop, but she can't find her voice anymore. The umbrella stole that from her, too.]

[ Her eyes narrow, because she knows Lup's delayed response isn't in any reply to her. She can't even be certain if the words were heard; surely a statement like that warranted more than silence, even if it were to provoke more anger or annoyance out of her for the entire ordeal.

But there's nothing, but the silence, with her scraping efforts left to rest. With her own thoughts still so quiet, she eventually picks up on it too; the other sounds, more ambiance than not; only that quiet dripping and the shuffling of robot feet in the distance. Here, all they had was their exhaustion and alertness, depending on where the adrenaline took them and little else.

And Lup was... spiraling. Honerva can see her spiraling, right there before her eyes, still with a keen sense for mood even with everything else clamped down upon. Raw and vulnerable, barely speaking, barely aware of her surroundings anymore- ]

Hey.

[ She says, but she knows Lup can't hear her, not in that state; she must move closer. She crosses the distance between them, ignoring that twinge in her arm, that's not important. She moves right until she's sitting right next to her, if Lup had somehow missed her approach at all, but she's there. ]

... I am here. Lup. Do not get lost.

[The sharp call makes her jump, though she doesn't lift her head. She'd imagined someone coming to her rescue so many times. She used to daydream about it, when she regained enough sense of self to imagine anything but the cold and the dark and the empty prison holding her in. Taako would march in and snap the damn thing over his knee, he'd bitch her out for leaving alone and getting stuck like an idiot, then he'd take her home and bake her another turkey and all would be forgiven. Or Barry would come, siphon her out of the staff and grow her a new body so they could be together, and she'd kiss his silly face off until she learned to laugh about it. Magnus would rush in and break it by accident, surprising them both. Or Lucy, bold and decisive and determined to bring their family back together, she'd take the staff back and deliver the bad news and then research and write until the truth came out. She dreamed them all, at one point or another. She had so little else to do.

But no one came.

Her arms tighten around herself, nails digging into the skin to help remind her that she's real, more importantly that she's corporeal. She's not a ghost, she's not dead. Even if that sound still echoes, still haunts her every time. Don't get lost. But she is. She's lost here, in that cold, empty place, and no one finds her. She never wanted to go back, and yet.]

[ Right there at her side, now, but for all that one look at Lup proper all but said she was in another world, a dark personal hell. Honerva tries to draw her closer, carefully looping her uninjured arm around, not too tight, but carefully, gently, moving her fingers in a circular motion just below Lup's shoulder, trying to create a steadying physical presence for her.

Lup was far too wound up to be guided, yet. ]

Hey. Follow my voice. Come along.

[ But she knows Lup can't follow her voice. She's certain the words are far enough away that they lack meaning, being drowned out by whatever horrifying echoes are haunting her in that very moment. Reminders...

Too many reminders, and so little options. Talking to her like this wouldn't help. Would... that song help? She didn't know. But right now, it's the first that comes to mind, to start humming, to try and keep it all from being too quiet. That hopefully something in that would reach Lup, or at least... it was something to do until another option presented itself. She hadn't missed the way Lup was clutching onto her own arms, either. ]

[It takes a bit. It isn't so easy for the mental blocks around her to crack and fragment, but slowly, gradually, a tiny sliver of the sound breaks past the hyper-focus preventing her from noticing much beyond the dripping water. Her hands unclench a little, sliding up her arms, leaving raw, angry marks in their wake, and while her trembling doesn't stop, she lifts her head a little. Just a little. Enough to see another person in her peripheral, hesitantly allowing it to begin to ground her.

The dripping is persistent, and it's hard to fixate on anything else. But she's... not alone. Not entirely.]

...stop... make it stop... please...

[ Honerva doesn't want to leave Lup's side now that she's become more aware, and yet there's still a problem. Simply trying to talk or hum over the sound of water wouldn't help during any time she'd need to pause.

She waves her hand toward the blanket and pillow pile, but of course it doesn't rise up at her command because there's no magic there. Nothing. Worse, she's waved the sore arm at it and such habits were not going to be kind to her, it seemed. Nothing was moving toward her, there was no point in straining for anything when solving Lup's problem was more immediate. ]

I will. Don't get lost.

[ She rises, carefully, already frustrated at how unbalanced she feels physically, and slowly goes about gathering up and dragging some of the debris to the broken sink. Magic, of course, would fix this problem instantly, but she didn't even have tools to sort this out with. She would have to settle for trying to muffle it as best as she could with what was available.

... At least that process might end up making some noise while she first fiddles with it to see if there's any other way to make it stop before stuffing items around the pipe and covering the floor so that even if the water fell through, it wouldn't make that telltale sound against stone. She finally succeeds, though it takes some time for Honerva to be satisfied with this, and she finally returns to her side, knowing she'd likely have to begin the process to get her attention once more.

They'd hardly been in here for any true amount of time at all, and yet it felt so different, like this. ]

[The silence stretches on, long and uncomfortable, broken only by whatever Honerva does, whether it's to speak or continue humming. She doesn't uncurl herself, but slowly she begins to tilt, resting her weight against Honerva, until eventually a whisper is heard.]

....I'm here.

[She won't apologize; she's not sorry for what she did. And she's not sure she's ready to say much else. But... she's present. She's not lost.

This isn't the staff, or the cave.]

[ Honerva had persisted, through Lup's silence, with a combination of both methods; maintaining her humming with the occasional verbal reminder, both to Lup and to keep herself in check. Giving up was never an option, no matter how long it had taken for Lup to respond to her, she had long committed to doubling down on her attempts to reach her, and such acts could keep her own mind occupied from spiraling down.

There was nothing to apologize for. It may not have been the cave or the staff, but it was still an awful, unnatural box to be stuck in without any powers.

When Lup speaks, finally, Honerva gently shifts to press a kiss to the top of Lup's head. ]

... Yes, you're here. I haven't gone anywhere.

[Lup shifts a little, closing her eyes - briefly - before reopening them with some regret. The dark is disassociating; seeing her grim surroundings isn't much better, but Honerva's presence, both physically felt and seen, helps to ease some of her tension. She falls quiet again for a while, but gradually, her painful grip on her arms settles somewhat as well. She's not sure what to make of the kiss, but she's not going to overthink it right now. Not in the state she's in.

Slowly, slowly, she exhales a breath she'd been holding too long.]

...Think I fucked this one up.

[ She hadn't quite unpacked that for herself. The action had been impressed to her by Pyra not long ago, during a low point after unburdening. While she hadn't known what to make of it then, the ghost of the action had seemed right, in this moment, to make it their own. She'd had little else to offer by means of reassurance and words were not quite enough.

Lup falls quiet again, she hums, softly, fills out the silence, waits it out. The only songs she knows to hum are the ones Lup has shared with her when asked. Then Lup exhales, finally, and she can feel how long it had taken her to get there. ]

... We did. Neither of us anticipated this.

[ Let alone any further ramifications that getting arrested in this place might have for future endeavors. But even then, hard to think that far ahead past the sensations of the magical block. ]

They cannot keep us. They are foolish to try.

I think they are in fact in the process of keeping us, bud.

[Perhaps not for long. She hadn't really caught the guard's words, in the midst of her rager, but he had made it sound like it wasn't a long sentence. With no magic and no foreseeable escape route (and no magic to make one more directly), she's right back in the same position she'd been for over a decade: trapped, with no way out on her own.]

[ Lup was right, but more importantly, Lup was at least speaking now. That alone was better than where she had been, moments before. ]

It only makes whatever they do not want us to learn more suspicious. Of course their priority is to contain their ... batteries.

[ To her, the surprise was more that they hadn't been so forceful to begin with. ]

Stop it.

[The words come out as a snap, angry and volatile.]

Don't call us that.

[ ... Yikes. She hadn't expected a snap so suddenly, even with Lup's obviously fragile state. The reminder that they were resources was an ugly truth of the world--but perhaps not comforting when left to be helpless in it. The layers of implication hit far closer than she could realize, to her own history.

But perhaps Lup knew better than she, the perils of thinking that way. They were already stripped of parts of themselves, that additional degradation wasn't helping. ]

... Okay. That is a path best not tread now.

[ Even if there were so few others. ]

[She's been a battery, trapped in a small space like this. Powering and supercharging spells for the Umbra Staff, lending her slots to wielders who don't even know that she's there. She knows.

This place isn't the same thing, and she hates that comparison. Right now more than anything.

Too ruffled to speak, she curls in more closely, and refuses to look at Honerva.]

[ Lup shrinks away, doesn't look at her, and once again they're faced with this silence, because she doesn't know what to say, now, without furthering this misstep.

There was nothing more that can be said, until Lup was willing to speak; her state of mind came first.

After contemplating this, Honerva takes to the hum again, to fill the silence and to aggressively divert from her own encroaching unproductive thoughts by instead creating variations in the melody, for distraction. ]

[His first reaction to hearing his sister and their roommate were trapped in jail was frustration.

Well, no.

His first first reaction was to laugh out loud at their dumbasses for getting caught. For two people who could literally teleport away from danger to get caught was a hilarious level of fuck-up and he allowed himself a second to snicker. He reassured the city guard that he'd be right along to pick them up and then waited to see when the two doofuses would Dimension Door home, tails between their legs, and how long he'd have to hide them in the house until the guard gave up looking for them. Frustration set in as he waited because these idiots had finally told him that they were going to go do something dumb, but they hadn't bothered to set up a concrete escape route which was the first rule of going out and doing dumb shit? Always have an ace up your sleeve so you can get the hell outta Dodge the second things went ass up - which they always did.

Only Lup and Honerva didn't suddenly appear and after twenty minutes of waiting, they still hadn't appeared which is when Taako knew something was horribly wrong. Since the city guard were still waiting outside to take him to their visiting hours, he poked his head out and had asked if there was anything weird about the jail that he should know about.

And that's when the frustration and amusement gave way to panic.

"The jail has a dampening field, so you can't bring anything magic in."

Taako had to bite his tongue from screaming at the top of his lungs, but after a wild tear through the house to stuff some non-magical items, some comfort foods, and to transmute a couple puzzle boxes that should keep Lup's hands busy for at least...maybe? Minimum? Fifteen minutes? into a basket - he was out the door. Thankfully, though he had no idea where he was going, the city guards were hot on his heels as they tried to direct him the right way.

When he stepped into the jail, it was like a wall hit him. The lack of magic was stifling and oppressive and he felt the panic rising in his throat as he imagined what his sister had to be going through. He didn't wait for the guards to finish signing him in, he pushed past them, barrelling down the cell hallway with them calling out that he had to follow procedures please!!! But fuck procedures because he could hear someone humming and that definitely wasn't Lup.

The scene in front of him is honestly the best that he could hope for when he arrives - the cell is in absolute chaos. The bed is ripped apart, the sink broken, water dripping into a makeshift buffer of linens, Honerva is dejected on one side and Lup is curled in on herself in a posture that rips Taako's heart right out of his chest. He should have been there. He should have gone with them and then maybe they wouldn't be in this stupid mess! Fuck!

He drops the basket he was holding, realizing his white-knuckled grip on it was twisting the handle, and grabs the jail cell bars, ears pinned back against his head. He probably looked like a mess with his hair falling out of his braid, but that was nothing compared to what they had to be going through. Taako swallowed once, trying to keep his voice as even as possible, forcing it not to crack as much as he knew it probably would as he called out to them.]

Hey- Hey, Lulu, Honerva. I'm here.

[It takes a few seconds - she'd gone deep into herself as a coping mechanism, somewhere between meditating and trancing, something she knows to do because how else would she have survived over ten years in an umbrella? - but Lup stirs, lifting her head to look towards the bars and find Taako there. The worst of the panic has passed, leaving her mostly on edge and... tired. Very tired, a sort of bone-deep weariness that sleep won't cure. A tiredness of feeling, of understanding what it is to be in a place like this.

She thought she was past this, and yet.]

...Hey, Koko. Was kinda hoping they wouldn't bring you here.

[The last thing she wanted was for him to see her like this.

Well, okay, that's untrue. The last thing she wanted was to be like this in the first place, to be stuck in this fresh familiar hell again. Taako looking at her the way he is now is one step removed from that misery. Gods, she must look so pathetic right now.]

[ As soon as she hears Taako's voice, she stops humming, but she does not speak, first watching and waiting for Lup to acknowledge him properly. Lup shifts and responds, and... And that's good. Taako is there; he can offer her so much more of what she needs, right now.

She doesn't let go of Lup, though she's finding it a little difficult to speak, words half-caught in a rasp after all of that humming and nothing to drink. She was unused to having to persist in it. ]

... Hi. Will they release us now?

[Gods, but they both look and sound rough. Like absolute shit, that's for certain. But even if Taako is usually the first to point that out, even he knows when it isn't the time or place. He'd glimpsed something like this in Calibrations, when he'd...briefly remembered her. But the joy of having his sister back had overshadowed the horror of realizing just what had happened to her. Now, it's here, staring them all in the face and he can't look away even if she wants him to.

He won't, actually. He's not going to just leave her in here. She might have Honerva, but it isn't the same. He has to be here. He has to be.

Taako tries to scoff at her, but it comes out weakened as his hands tighten around the bars.]

Why? 'Cause then I really could gloat about being the prettier one in the moment?

[He slides down a little, crouching so he's more on their level, noting how hoarse Honerva's voice is. Just how long did they wait to inform him of their situation? Fuck! He was going to burn this entire place down!]

Not yet, Snow White, but they said probably by the end of the day. Or they will once I get through laying into them for this shit.

[Because if there was one thing Taako could do for them, it was to make the robot guards' lives a living hell until they were released.]

But I brought some stuff, in case you all got uh...bored or if you're hungry or just want to, I dunno, throw shit at them until they let you out.

[Lup really doesn't want to move, but she really wants to see Taako, so the one desire manages to override the other. She slowly shuffles herself closer to the bars, scooting over without standing - she doesn't trust her legs yet, and she's not about to let either of them see her fall on her face. As soon as she reaches the bars she winds both hands around Taako's, leaning in to rest her forehead on the cold metal.

Having him here has an immediate calming effect on her, more so than anything else could give her. Like the moment that her endless silence had been broken by his voice in Wave Echo Cave, like something out of a fever dream. It's hope, warmth, the potential for freedom. All that cheesy shit she feels to bursting but can't bring herself to say.

It's Taako, though. He knows her, he's her heart. She's certain that he can tell.]

...I didn't think it would be this bad. Sorry, 'ko.

[She knows he must be wondering what happened - how the two of them could have let themselves be captured. Let themselves is the key phrase there, and that much, she'd like for him to understand. It's a mistake that she won't easily repeat. One day is more than enough to teach her that lesson.]

[ They had allowed it, believing more in their ability to escape, but they could not have known the cost would be this. Knowledge was often costly, however; they knew that more than anyone could.

Lup shuffles her way forward, and so Honerva follows her, similarly not trusting her own legs and navigating as she had earlier.

If it were any other time, she might have wholly dismissed herself to the quiet; Taako was here and so she was no longer required, to fill the silence, to fill the space. The thought passes, but luckily finds no purchase; even if she has naught to say at the moment, not wanting to interrupt their reunion. Instead she is able to see the way they connect, sees the expression on Lup's face change in a way it hadn't been able to while they'd been trapped here. Good. That was... good.]