After the capital-F-Fiasco with Angus, Taako had been pouting nonstop. He moped about the human's kitchen, using what little magic he had recently been able to access to do self-pity cooking. Not like they could actually eat, but Lup knew better than to stop him; besides it's not like the human did much cooking, and he seemed to appreciate having well-cooked food greatly.

Throughout the four weeks they stayed with him, the human continued his repairs on their new bodies whenever a new glitch popped up, which, in Taako's case, happened often. When Taako was on the table, Lup would hover over the human's shoulder as he worked; part curiousity, part protectiveness for her sibling. He would sometimes look over his shoulder when Taako made a particularly distressed noise and flash a tired smile at her and...

And by the gods, it set her circuits on fire.

Her brother didn't take to the human like she did; he tolerated his presence, but would sometimes make remarks about him, mostly directed at his appearance, and Lup couldn't help but jump to his defense. Taako then started teasing her, poking fun at how she always seemed to develop crushes on older human men.

It wasn't as though elves didn't— hadn't propositioned her for her services in the past; she just liked older humans more. Elves her age were still young, but believed themselves to know everything, and to be far above humans. Humans, as they neared the middle of their tiny lifespans, often became a lot wiser than elves, like they had more knowledge acquired by virtue of not living for almost a millennia.

You're thinking loud again, Lulu. Bronze for your thoughts?

Lup looked up from the book she'd long since stopped reading, draped over the armchair she'd designated as her own by now. Thinkin' about humans, I guess, she beeped, twisting around to look at him. About my old life. About all that we lost.

He snorted, focusing on preparing a chicken roast. I lost ten years with Sazed. He almost ruined my show, and made me forget you. This? This ain't nothin'.

Says the shakran who's been pouting for days now, she teased, sticking her tongue out at him. Still, it always unnerved her to hear about the life he lead when she had left for the war; Sazed, one of Taako's exes, had knocked him around so badly he had ended up with some pretty bad amnesia. Though he had recovered and built a name for himself with his up and coming TV show, it always pained Lup to see those journals he'd kept to keep track of his memories during his time alone.

Look, it was a moment of weakness. I… just miss my magic boy.

Lup climbed out of the chair and crossed over to Taako, hugging him close and kissing his temple. We'll get through this, Koko. I promise.

Whatever Taako wanted to say next was interrupted by the sound of the basement door opening and the human's footsteps coming down the stairs. Lup unwrapped herself from her brother, patting his shoulder.

The human was carrying a bag and looking very excited as he gently took Lup's shoulder— he probably expected Taako wished to finish cooking— and guided her to the workshop table. She always hated when she had to have her new body cut open again— it always brought memories back of the scalper— but it was worth feeling a little more living after the fact.

The knife cut carefully into her skin, and she tried not to scream again.

For Taako's sake.

Kravitz adjusted his tie and took a deep breath, inhaling the awful smell of necromancy before him. It wasn't… evil necromancy, per se. The smells came in different forms, based on intention and usage, and this smell was probably the rosiest of all of them, and the rarest. It was the smell of someone who practiced necromancy simply to learn, to study.

And so, the reaper knocked on the door of Harold James Hallwinter.

There was a shout from downstairs, the sound of falling objects, and cursing. Kravitz held back a smile, trying to keep his professional demeanor in check. One of his old contacts, Julia, had recommended he take in one of the man's bots to take care of the temple/funeral home when he was out on an excursion for his Queen. Besides, he had no shortage of coin to spare for one.

A harried, balding man opened the door, his glasses askew and shirt covered in grease stains. "Mr. Kravitz!" he said, gasping for air. "I- I didn't expect you to be- be here so soon!"

Kravitz flashed a tight smile, tugging on a skull cufflink. "You said come any time, if I recall."

"Right, right, I- I said that," he muttered to himself, stepping aside. "Please, come inside. I was just working on one of the bots that I… acquired a bit ago."

Kravitz followed the stout man down the creaking stairs, listening to him give him a sales pitch about his bots. They seemed quite competent so far— a bot that was capable of making something better than takeout was incredibly tempting, too.

"Mr. Harold, if I may—"

"Barry is just fine. My mother actually wanted me to go by Sildar, my father's name, but it was too close to my, well, dead name, pun not intended in present company," he added nervously, waiting for Kravitz at the bottom step.

"Right. Mr. Barry, you said these bots were having some technical problems?"

"Uh, yeah, they have a few more repairs to do, especially the bot that cooks. It suffered some pretty damaged when I found it, like it'd been knocked around by a gang of kids. It has some issues with mobility, tics, the like, but all that needs to be done for either of them is one last check-up after installing the audio processors, then they'll be good to go. They, uh, won't let me crack open their mainframes to get at the underlying problems, but it shouldn't be detrimental."

Kravitz nodded, walking side-by-side with the engineer towards a workshop table with a body lying on it. "As long as the problems don't ruin a loved one's face, I won't force it under the knife."

"I'm sure it'll be happy to hear that. Oh, this one isn't the one with the problems, really, but it's the one I started first. The other one is over in the living area," he said, pointing towards a blocked off area. "I let them run around if they want."

And out stepped an elven bot with brightest glowing soul Kravitz had ever seen.