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Kravitz comes into his dorm room tired, hungry, overheated, and more than slightly still overwhelmed. To say that he thought things in Refuge would be different would be an understatement- then again, none of his adventures had really gone the way he planned besides their time in the Millers' lab. Even amidst all the strange and supernatural things there, he had expected it to be pretty terrible.
His coat is tossed on the rack beside his door as soon as he steps inside, fingers hastily fumbling with the buttons of his vest. Brian chiding him for wearing so many layers before they left replays in his head ("It's the desert! You're going to die! Just put on a t-shirt!") as he finally gets his vest open, letting out a breath. Maybe now he could try to relax. Kravitz rubs at his eyes with the heels of his palms as he fully steps into the room.
And nearly vaults out of his skin at the sight of someone already there, draped across his loveseat, looking quite comfortable in a stranger's dorm. He's only seen that flippy teal hair and long black cloak twice before, but it's hard to forget a face after the person it's attached to tries to kill you and the only people you can really call your friends.
"We've got a lot to discuss, pally." Taako says coolly, fingers drumming on a cushion. "'Cause you and your boys, you did a pretty big number down in Refuge!"
Kravitz, still looking ever so surprised to see Death laying in his room, lets out a breath. His hands go to his tie instead of the saber still tucked into his belt, undoing it instead of choking himself with it like he wants to.
"I can explain."
-
He doesn't get much of a chance to. Taako quickly brings up his limited amount of social hours ("We're still sorta dealing with that big mess from before. Don't want another one of those happening any time soon!" ) but says they're free to schedule the meeting for some other, proper time, when both of them would be available. Kravitz would love to make so many excuses about why he can't do such-and-such date; he's too busy, he needs time to rest, anything to not have any sort of talk with Death himself... But maybe they did need to discuss a few things; mostly concerning his bounty and what those loops meant for him and his teammates. If only he wasn't so worried about Taako taking the opportunity to collect.
"And it's not just gonna be some trick to give me your soul, cross my heart!" Taako pipes up, leaving Kravitz to instead worry about potential mind reading powers he may possess while the reaper marks a little "x" over his chest. "You pick the time and place and I'll be there. Wherever you're most comfy."
Kravitz is, admittedly, not comfortable in too many places outside the bureau. Even then, he's not sure he wants to be seen out and about with Taako. "Uh. Why not here?" He gestures around them with an arm. "I feel like it would be for the best of we stuck to, well. Inside, somewhere private. My room is fine."
He sits himself up, looking around the room before giving a casual shrug. "Sure! I can do that. 'Somewhere private' so you can keep me all to yourself, I get'cha." The withering look he gets in return shuts him up, but Taako keeps his grin, flashing an "okay" with his fingers. He goes back to the ethereal plane, and Kravitz is left to stress about meeting with Death for the next two days.
-
Two days pass a lot quicker than he thought they would.
Taako at least has the decency to not just warp in this time around. He knocks at the door, then dramatically throws back his hood when Kravitz answers. "What's good, my man?"
"Taako. Nice to see you again." He steps aside to let the elf come in and hang his cloak, trying to calm himself down with a quick wave of his hands and reassurance that everything's going to go fine, he planned as much as possible, it would be okay. "Please, help yourself," Kravitz says with a gesture to the small setup on his coffee table. There's a bottle of wine as well as two glasses out beside it, and he can't help the relieved breath he lets out when Taako immediately moves to get himself a drink. Pouring it himself probably would've been better, but he wasn't quite sure if undead beings had the capacity to eat or drink.
Did Taako count as a member of the living dead? He did get rather upset the last time the subject was breached. Now probably wasn't a good time to ask. The reaper sits, draping himself across the loveseat while staying upright this time, and takes a content sip.
"Before we start, though, would you mind if I dropped the...?" Kravitz waves a hand towards his face.
"The what?"
"The accent." For the first time in Raven knows how long, he speaks and sounds like himself, no phony accent or artificial deepness in his voice. Kravitz is tempted to take it back, though, at the sight of Taako's eyebrows and ears raising in shock before dipping down. His hands roll over each other, squeezing bony fingers. "Sorry, it just makes the whole adventuring thing easier, I feel. People get a tad more, uh, intimidated, if you sound--" Another wave.
"No no, it's fine! It's cool. I'm gonna miss it, probably definitely, but, whatever makes you most comfortable, my fella." He sounds disappointed- of course he does, he specifically said he liked how he sounded when they first met- but Kravitz tries to ignore that while he takes a seat. Taako scoots himself closer and turns to face the other man, head resting on a hand and his elbow digging into a cushion. "So! How've you been? They keeping you busy up here?"
"Yes, for the most part. But I'm not really interested in, uh, small talk. I'd rather we cut to the chase." He speaks while he pours his own wine, the bottle set on the far side of the table.
"Right to work, huh? You don't have time to sit and chat with your ol' pal Taako?"
"I mean, the faster we talk about this, the faster you can leave."
Taako gives a smile, pulling his head away from his hand. "I don't have anything going on! I'm free, I can stick around for a while-"
"I would prefer it if you didn't." Kravitz says, tone sharp. "I'm not especially fond of the idea of death staying in my room for more than necessary. We can sit and chat about the bounty situation and Refuge, and then you can go."
He expects Taako to look totally relieved, ready to ask about whatever he needs to know concerning the death situation, but instead... He looks hurt. Not looking at Kravitz, eyes downcast and one arm crossed over the other, he takes a slow sip of his wine and gives a little "mhm."
Maybe he was being a little harsh. Taako was just doing his job, coming over and talking about the Refuge incident. Plus... He was being a shitty host. Kravitz should know better by now.
"I'm- I'm sorry," he sighs as his fingers against his glass, still half full. "You just... You understand that there's still some underlying fear, right? Since you're the grim reaper..." Kravitz' last sentence is muttered around the rim of his glass as he finally takes a drink, looking anywhere /but/ at the man in front of him. A hand pulls away to settle on a couch cushion, fingers drumming gently.
Taako pauses to think then, and in an act of surprising gentleness, ends up setting a hand on Kravitz'. He's awfully cold, Kravitz thinks, and wonders for a split second if he could stand to warm the room up before figuring that he wasn't alive, he didn't have much of a need for body heat or flowing blood. "I know, I get it, but. Look, I said before that I didn't come to take your soul." His hand gets a pat before Taako's is moved back to help him gesture. "And I was telling the truth. I'm really just here to figure out what to do with you bunch. 'Cause it's not just you guys in hot water this time, y'know- that whole town's got a lotta 'splaining to do! And me and Istus, we're pretty stumped." Taako says with another sigh, taking a swig to finish his drink right after. Him refilling gives Kravitz time to think.
He has to admit, after the first two repeats the thought of how this added to his and the others' death counts had flitted through his head (usually just before he was swallowed up by the earth, or turned to ash, or impaled), and with it came wondering if that meant they were going to be hunted again. He presses his hands together, laces his fingers, and sits back while Taako takes a dainty sip from his now partially full glass.
"This line of work... Isn't particularly normal, even for the adventuring sort. You know that much."
Taako nods. "And that's the thing. Because of all its abnormalities, concerning, well, everything, I'm not sure... You can expect the most typical outcomes from most situations. Including an outcome like, say, death. Because everything about this is so out of the ordinary- from what all of us are doing here on this, uh, moon, to the people involved like myself, Brian, Jenkins, and now everyone from Refuge." Kravitz pauses, purses his lips, pulls his hands apart. "Does that make sense?"
"Uh."
"Right. Well, let me try putting it this way." He picks up his wine glass then, holding it towards Taako.
"So, you see this glass, and the bottom of it. You could say that's where the 'normal' people are- Those regular adventurers and people who aren't involved, who die and go right to you. The people you should try to focus on first and foremost."
Kravitz' fingers gently strike the side of the glass. "Here, where it starts to go upwards, are the people in this organization. They're... I wont say above common folk, but they're somewhat involved. I'm sure they will be, for the most part, also collected regularly by you once their time comes."
Finally, he rests his pointer finger on the rim, giving it a light tap. "And here are Brian, Jenkins, and myself. Some greater cosmic force has been keeping us alive for whatever reason, and I'm sure it intends to keep us alive for as long as we need to be. Refuge was also like that for a while, in that the people in it were kept alive by the Chalice."
Kravitz pauses and pulls his drink back, taking a second to gather his thoughts. Taako looks interested at least, though he isn't sure if that's because he's been actually listening or just liked watching him speak. "So... I guess what I'm trying to say is, you should focus on those that are going to die normally, for the most part. That is, just the one time. And that includes the people in Refuge, now. The rest of us- Jenkins, Brian, and myself- are going to die eventually, we're just... Not sure when."
There's some moments of silence before Taako hums, nodding and slowly sitting back on the couch. "I think I'm catchin' what you're throwing now. But y'know, that was a really roundabout way of saying you can't die 'cause you're special."
"I think there's a bit more to it than that-"
"But I get you! Pretty sure I do, anyway. Istus'll probably be fine with that."
"You think so?" Kravitz adjusts himself as he turns to face his guest more, hands loosely holding into the bottom of his glass.
"Dunno. But I'll try and work it so it sounds okay." Taako says with a grin and a wink, downing more of his wine. A sigh, and Kravitz runs a hand through his hair (an action the other man seems to enjoy, if him gluing his eyes to said hand shows anything) before leaning his side against the couch.
"Thank you, Taako. I'm glad I was able to help you sort this out, in a way." The elf gets a small smile, and now, visibly relaxed, Kravitz takes a drink from his glass.
The rest of their time together is, dare he say it, nice. Taako is chatty but not overtly so, mostly talking about his recent work and what he and Istus have been doing to get everything back to relative normality (and when Kravitz starts to feel guilty, he brings up how exciting it was, which both puts him at ease and makes him worry about that whole mind reading thing again.)
The conversation turns to Kravitz, and he's surprised by how easy it is to talk about himself in front of Taako. He discusses parts of his life pre-adventuring; his noble background, his want to become a conductor before circumstances led him to this lifestyle. He talks about his time with Brian and Jenkins, sharing a laugh with him concerning the very unlikely trio. When the time finally comes for the reaper to leave, he is, admittedly, a little upset. Good conversation was hard to come by on the moon. Who knew when Taako was going to stop by again?
(Not any time soon for work-related reasons, Kravitz hopes, but maybe he could just teleport himself in some time.)
Taako stands and Kravitz rises with him feeling significantly calmer than he did earlier that evening, though he isn't sure if it's from the wine or the company. "Thank you, again, for taking the time to speak with me." A beat. "And for, uh, not dragging me back with you."
"Oh, yeah, no problem." Taako replies with a wave and a grin. "Thanks for helping me figure out how to clear this all up! Istus'll be real happy this is all gonna be settled. You and your boys probably won't have to worry about this stuff anymore." That gets a quiet, relieved sigh out of Kravitz.
"I'm happy to hear that. I'll be sure to tell the others the next time I see them." The two of them walk towards the door, Taako reaching for his cloak and silently slipping it on while Kravitz stands beside him, fussing with his hands again. "I've had a lovely evening."
"Yeah, me too! You're real sweet when you're not a big pile of nerves, Krav." A nickname. Hoo, boy. "And I do like your whole everything, y'know. Like I said before."
"Ah, right. And the same goes for you. I like your whole... Free spirited reaper act." Taako chuckles, Kravitz grins. "Do you think we could do this again sometime?"
It's quick, nearly too quick to catch, but he swears he can see something flash across the elf's face right when he says that. Taako's head ducks down a tad, but he's still smiling while avoiding eye contact. "I said just a sec' ago that you don't gotta worry about getting hunted again. You don't have to keep flirting with me."
"I know," Kravitz says, reaching for his hand and gently taking hold of it. He's not sure whether he expected it to warm up any or not, but the other man's flesh is still terribly cool to the touch. Idly, he wonders if Taako can feel just how warm he is in contrast. "But I really would love to see you again." A thumb rubs across his knuckles and Taako seemingly double-takes, looking from him to their hands and then back up to Kravitz.
The silence that comes afterwards is just a second too long, long enough for him to start doubting whether he was reading any signals right or not (if there were any at all, he thinks, briefly forgetting every single compliment thrown his way by the man whose hand he's holding) before Taako gives his hand a squeeze in return. "Y'know what? I'd love that too."
And then he's pulling away, sliding said hand out from under Kravitz' while he opens the door and slips through. The escaped appendage grasps at the handle of his scythe as it appears, pulling it in close. "But for right now, I gotta go! Souls to sweep up and all. Good talk, I'll catch you later!"
"Wait- how? And when?" There's a rip as the scythe slices through air, and Kravitz squints at Taako against the light coming from the portal he's made.
"Uh." The blade rubs against his chin in thought, and with a shrug, he moves himself partially through the planar tear. "I'll figure it out! Just expect me whenever!"
Taako blows an exaggerated kiss goodbye, and then both he and his means of transportation are gone. Kravitz is left alone in his doorway, looking out into the hallway that connects his suite to the rest of the Bureau. Once he's sure that Taako's really left and isn't coming back, he steps back inside and quietly shuts the door.
Extradimensional beings were nothing to mess with, he knows, and it seemed like an especially awful idea to try and get involved with one. Kravitz rubs at his still chilly fingers with his other hand and wonders if, maybe, it would be fine to ignore that just this time.