house #1008 (Open to anyone who lives there)

[tacosgay]

Who: Taako and Kara, and possibly the other people living in house #1008
When: Day one, after the "party."
Where: House #1008
What: Taako arrives home, and meets one of his new housemates! Neither of them are terribly impressed. (Others are welcome to join if you want!)
Warnings: Taako's mouth, and mentions of the mingle log "party," meaning blood and death will be discussed.



Taako hasn't been having the best time in Theia. Not that he really actively realizes that's even what this place is called just yet; he just knows that it's some strange kidnapping dimension where there are apparently also murderers, which has been a fun development for sure. The "party" was concerning, at best; the fact that they've apparently prepared him a "home" to live in here only compounds his wariness. He honestly expects it to be a trap, but he doesn't really have any choice but to follow the directions he's been given, and hope he can incinerate whatever it is that jumps out at him when he opens the door.

When he arrives at the described address, the house is surprisingly lacking in blood. That's cool, at least. It actually looks like a pretty decent building, though he seriously doubts it's as nice on the inside as his suite back on the moon.

Man. What he wouldn't give to be back on the moon right about now.

He sets his egg he received at the party in the basket he was given on arrival, propping the entire thing against his hip so that he can use his free hand to retrieve the Umbra Staff from its place hung at his back; he then takes several steps back from the door, and points the umbrella's tip at it. An invisible hand emerges from the tip, and slowly turns the knob and pushes the door open with a creak, Taako standing, defensively, at the ready.

Nothing terrible happens. Actually, nothing happens at all. The door swings open, and the house inside looks nice and well-lit.

Taako straightens with a cough, and glances around; no one saw that. Cool. He strolls on inside, swinging the staff up to rest against his shoulder casually, and closes the door behind him, locking it securely.

"... anybody home?" He calls once that much is done, realizing a bit late that he hasn't even checked to see if there was anything in the building with him before he locked it. He slips the lock open again, keeping a hand on the doorknob just in case.

Comments

[tacosgay]

He snorts at that answer. Yeah, no, there's no way these are from scratch. He knows the smell of processed vanilla from a thousand paces.

"I'm Taako," he answers, surprisingly plainly, compared to his previous introduction to her. "And this is straight-up boxed mix, but hey, it's chill. Stress baking, right?"

He gives her a grin, helping himself to one of the cupcakes despite his criticism.

"So, uh, I guess this makes us roomies, huh? Or, uh... housies?"

[iisupergirlii]

"Apparently," Kara says, which doesn't settle with her well. She'll protect the house with her dying breath, if it comes to that, and that includes Taako. But the fact that she knows he could help, in whatever way he can, and isn't interested...

She can't dwell on that. She pushes her glasses up her nose. "We might as well get to know each other while there's... you know, while things aren't horrible, anymore." However long that'll last.

She crosses to the counter and leans against it, casual, and plucks a cupcake out of a pan, peeling the paper down. "What did you do before being brought here?"

[tacosgay]

"Uh... well." He ponders that question, the corner of his mouth turning up in an odd kind of smirk; he honestly has no idea how, or if, he can answer that question. "I, uh, travel a lot," is what he settles on, and he promptly busies his mouth with a cupcake, hoping it'll put her off of any further questions in that line of thought.

[iisupergirlii]

Yeah, travel a lot stealing things, Kara thinks immediately, humming thoughtfully around a mouthful of cupcake so she won't voice that thought out loud.

Cupcakes, it turns out, are very convenient.

"That's interesting," she says, after a beat. Non-committal, cordial. She can do this. She made friends with Snapper Carr. She can handle this Taako guy. "I travel sometimes too. I'm a journalist, for CatCo Worldwide Media."

[tacosgay]

A journalist... oh boy, she's going to be nosy, isn't she. Dammit. At least she's not from his own world, so he doesn't have to talk about... anything about his past career.

"Cool, cool," he says, his tone even, casual, as he considers what is and isn't safe to say to an actual fucking reporter, dammit. "Got any good scoops lately? What's the news back, uh... wherever you're from?"

[iisupergirlii]

Kara narrows her eyes a little. He's really avoiding talking about himself, and all of her investigative instincts are kicking up about fifteen notches. She hurriedly unwraps another cupcake. Thank goodness for chocolate.

"Does that matter?" she finally asks. "Look where we are. Look at what's happened."

[tacosgay]

"Okay, so much for pleasant conversation," Taako half-mumbles, shoving the rest of the cupcake into his mouth with a huff. Are all reporters this difficult? Shit.

"... listen. Shit here sucks. Do you really wanna have that talk right now, though, like, for real? Or do you just want to take a second to not ponder a pile of corpses somebody left in the middle of the city and just eat some fucking cupcakes?"

[iisupergirlii]

Kara sighs. Maybe he's right. She has to remember - he doesn't know she's Supergirl. She's just this new person he's sharing a prison-slash-house with. She deflates, a little, and picks up another cupcake, offering it out to him.

"You're right, I'm sorry." She swallows, fortifying herself a little more. "That was rude. Back home, there is... always a new scoop. Aliens coming out of the sky," like herself, "or Cadmus just being... ugh, just the darn worst.

"And don't get me started on Daxamites." Mostly because she doesn't want to think about Mon-El. Or cry.

[tacosgay]

"Eh." He shrugs it off, smiling faintly. "It happens. Especially to me, but, you know."

He actually listens attentively when she talks about her world, though he does start in another cupcake-- they're pretty good for a box mix, honestly. Then again, most cupcakes are good, even when they're bad.

Not all, though. But most of them.

"Man, I have no idea what a Daxamite is, but I get the feeling that if I did, I'd totally relate. Maybe. Who knows." Another shrug, and he grins, taking another bite of his cupcake. "Anyway, aliens, huh? Sounds pretty dope. Where I'm from, it's mostly, you know, stopping magical calamity from befalling us all, that sort of thing."

[iisupergirlii]

"They tried to take over the world." She clears her throat then, standing just infinitesimally straighter. "But Supergirl ended up saving the day. She used some... invention that released lead into the air. And Daxamites can't handle lead, so." She pushes her glasses up her nose. "Day saved."

[tacosgay]

Taako raises his eyebrows at that, just slightly, and he quietly looks at her over his cupcake for a beat.

Huh. Funny, that.

He smiles, just a little, as he finishes it up, tossing the wrapper into the trash.

"Supergirl, huh? Hmm." He leans against the counter, propping his chin on his palm. "Cool. Hey, did you know that she's totally stuck here with us, too? Isn't that wild?"

[iisupergirlii]

Kara, at least, is prepared for this, and she nods. "I know, it's awful," she says. "I saw her at the party yesterday, for a second or two. She left pretty early."

With that, Kara busies herself with pouring some more batter into another cupcake tray, then pops it in the oven. The less eye contact she has to make while keeping up her secret identity, the better.

[tacosgay]

Taako stares hard at her the entire time she's talking, and even as she walks away, his eyes narrowing.

"... uh huh. You know, that's weird-- I got there pretty early, and I don't think I saw her around..." He sits up, tapping his lip idly with his finger as he watches her hurry around the kitchen to stress bake even harder. "So, hey, did you two come together or something? I'm pretty sure everybody else is here pretty much alone, like... they didn't come with anybody else from the same place."

[iisupergirlii]

Kara clears her throat, pushing her glasses up her nose. "I, um... no? I mean, she wasn't in the elevator with me," she says, after a moment, casting flighty glances around the oven. Cleaning! Cleaning is... something she could be doing!

She starts to, very normally, humanly-paced clean up the kitchen, taking out each cupcake from the pans and bringing them to the sink to wash.

"I guess it's nice to have a familiar face, but I worry about what National City is going to do without, um... without their hero, you know?" She runs the water, busying herself with filling the sink, then dries her wet hands on the red bottom half of her apron. She can't think about National City, not while she's here. Her first priority has to maintain calm for all the prisoners while she finds enough answers to piece together a rescue mission. She has to stick to the plan and not freak out. Oh Rao.

[tacosgay]

"... shit," he says, as though that reminds him of something incredibly important, because it super just has. He and his team were kind of doing a job back home, and a super important one, apparently, to boot. It's not like he's all that worried about saving the world in and of itself, and he's... pretty sure the other two can handle it, but what if they can't? What if he comes back to a fucking crater and all his nice stuff is gone?

His ears drop to his shoulders, nearly, an unusually genuine look of surprise and something that might be dread on his face. Maybe.

"... we should... probably start trying to figure out a way out of here, just saying."

[iisupergirlii]

Kara glances up at Taako just in time to catch his worried expression, the slump of his long and surprisingly expressive ears. She tilts her head, concern written on her face. "Not that you're wrong," she says because, for once, Taako is super right, "but can I ask what has you so glum all of a sudden?"

[tacosgay]

"Remember when I said I've saved the world before? Like, I wasn't fuckin' kidding, I literally saved the world. And I was headed out to do some more of that when this... whatever this place is dragged me into it."

He leans against the counter with a frown, working his fingers through the curls that fall nearest to his face.

"So, uh. That could be bad."

[iisupergirlii]

Kara follows suit, taking off her apron, her braid flopping thickly against her back. She folds her apron up, wringing it in her hands as she looks down.

"That really sucks," she says. "Um, on Earth, on my Earth, I write a lot about Supergirl, and, you know - she's the hero. But, I get the word out there, demand people respect her, you know? And um, once I found out about a missing girl and pursued the story, and Supergirl got wind of it and ended up going to a different planet to rescue a lot of humans who were being sold as slaves there. The missing girl was one of them."

She sighs, pushing her glasses up her nose. "I don't save the world or anything, but... I want to get back there, and I want to, um... to get Supergirl back there, if I can. So she can save the day, and the world, and." She huffs out a sad laugh. "Just everything."

[tacosgay]

He could call her out on the fact that he's about 99% sure that she and Supergirl are one and the same... but he lets it slide this time, given just how serious the conversation's gotten. He'll make up for it later, for sure, though.

"Well," he says, leaning against the counter with a sigh, "If I figure out how to get out of this place, you and-or Supergirl will be the first to know."

[iisupergirlii]

That's not the sort of thing Kara ever would have expected Taako to say, from what little she's interacted with him. She's so confused about him and by him. But, apparently he saves the world, whatever world that might be, just like she does. So, there has to be good in him. And he went with her to the manor! Sure, he didn't... help, or ask if she was okay, but... Well, some people just don't do that, she guesses.

It was kind of rude, but... fine. It's fine.

She smiles at him, genuinely, as she cleans up the last of the Cupcake Wars mess. "Well, that would be great. I'd really appreciate that, Taako."

She turns then, miscalculating her step, and slams her side into the sharp corner of the counter, hissing immediately, her hand going to her side. Most of her injuries from the Manor healed overnight, which already is longer than it ever takes. And it was terrifying to see giant blue bruises all along her jaw in the mirror. But her side is taking longer, the skin stitched back together already, but from her armpit to her hip is mottled bruises and a long, angry, red scar.

[tacosgay]

He's keenly aware of the fact that she didn't expect that comment; he figured she'd be surprised by it before he'd even spoken, honestly, given their history. So, before she turns away fully, he clarifies, "Look. If anybody's going to be able to get us back home, it's probably gonna be you or Supergirl, or maybe me, but, let's be honest here, it's probably gonna be one of you two. So I figure, hey, you're my best bet of getting out of here, right? We may as well work together."

-- and then she runs into the counter, and his immediate internal response is... well, a very mild form of concern, at least, until he realizes how over the top that reaction is, and the location of that injury.

Yeah. He called it.

Out loud, however, he just says, "Hey, uh, careful there, homie."

He doesn't understand the concept of a secret identity, but if that's how she wants to roll, he's not going to fuck that up for her. Not unless she gives him good reason, anyway, and so far, all she's done is try to make him be less of an asshole and bake cupcakes. Maybe she's okay.

[iisupergirlii]

Panic bells are going off in Kara's head the second she reacts to her injury around Taako. No one else would know that she's hurt there. If it were anyone else, she could laugh it off as clumsiness, but of course she has to run into something around Taako.

Granted, he's not... saying anything, pointing or going "Ah-ha!" or anything really. Kara meets his eyes, frowning in concern, her head tilted with curiosity.

Huh.

"Um... thanks," she says, straightening. Still, even if he's being surprisingly cool about it, she should probably head upstairs before he's given too long to ask questions. Besides, she has a supersuit to try and sew up. Winn's gonna kill her.

"Anyway, um. Help yourself to all the cupcakes you want. I'm going to go up to my room... Um. If you need me, just knock, I guess."

Well, this is awkward.