Chapter Text
It was the first warm day in Neverwinter since winter began. The inside of the Davy Lamp Diner was heating up, causing its own, Ren, to be concerned.
“Why don’t you just turn on the air conditioning?” her employee grumbled as he blatantly sent a text while she struggled with a particularly finicky window.
“Because it’s April, Taako,” she replied, “And I know everyone texts on the job, but do you have to do it right in front of me?”
Taako sighed, slipping the phone into his pocket. He walked next to Ren and grabbed the other end of the window frame, muttering a countdown before he yanked the window open with her. She turned to him, nodding her head before she scanned the room and said, “Well, that’s as good as it’s going to get.”
Taako stepped away from the window, taking a deep breath. The Davy Lamp was a charming enough place. It was an old tin diner that had bright neon signs that most places along the coast were equipped with. Sure, the countertops were cracked and the leather in the seating was split, but at this point it added to the nostalgia factor. However, like most places near the beach, it lived and died by the amount of tourists they could get during the summer months. While the diner had its fair share of locals, it was always prone to long stretches of dead time. Between that and the very limited seating, it wasn’t any surprise that Taako found himself as the only person on wait staff during many of his shifts, outside of Ren.
“You’d think the nice weather would make people want to stop by,” Ren muttered as she went behind the counter. She began to shuffle around the candy and gum in the display case, wiping off any potential dust with the palm of her hand.
“I think everyone would rather just go to the beach,” Taako replied. He sat in the booth closest to her, leaning back on the chair. If he didn’t work here as long as he had, he would be worried. He knew that come the weekend, the small space would become cramped with families all trying to consume as many silver dollar pancakes and omelettes as possible. Taako brought his hands to his face, inspecting his chipped teal nail polish before he began to pick at his cuticles. Ren waved her hand, about to admonish him when the bell against the door to the main entrance jingled.
Ren and Taako turned their heads at the sound of the door opening, as a little kid slowly shuffled into the diner, his arms piled high with several massive books. He looked up at them around the books, his round glasses sliding down his nose. “Good afternoon!” he chirped, “I apologize for not checking the sign… are you open at the moment?”
Ren tilted her head before she said, “Oh, yeah, sweetie. Uhm, do you have a… parent with you?”
The boy shook his head. “Oh, no. I’m afraid not. My grandfather is not quite in the condition to be out and about! I hope that’s all right?”
Ren pressed her lips together for a moment before she nodded and grabbed a menu. She led the boy to a smaller booth, placing the menu on the table before he clanked the books on top of it. “Your server will be with you in… right now,” she said, smiling before she returned to the counter. Taako sighed, sliding out of the booth and walking over toward the boy’s booth, jutting his hip out before he said, “Hey, uh, do you want something to drink?”
The boy hummed to himself, flipping through the menu carefully. While the lack of parental supervision was a little weird, the kid looked like he was pretty well put together. His clothes were new, his face was clean, and his glasses, though smudged, were in one piece. At least there was no immediate cause for concern.
“Could I just have a coffee?” the boy asked.
Taako outright snorted. “Yeah, okay, no. I’m not giving coffee to a child.”
The boy huffed. “I assure you that I’m aware of the potential repercussions of caffeine intake at my age.”
“I don’t care if you do,” Taako grumbled, “I’ll level with you. I’ll get you some tea.”
The boy took a deep breath. “Uh, many teas have the same caffeine content as a cup of coffee…”
“Let me pretend,” Taako said, already walking away from the booth to grab some hot water from the beverage station. When he made his way back he saw Ren staring at the back of the boy’s head, her face unreadable.
Taako lifted his chin and tried to carry on like this was any other customer- with outward indifference. He went to the back, opening up the container of tea bags and filing through them, landing on one that was labelled as caffeine free. He ripped the bag open and placed it in the mug before bringing it back to the kid. The kid was already going through one of the very heavy tomes he brought in. Taako glanced at the title at the top of the page and hummed. “Transmutation? You trying to teach yourself magic out of a library textbook?”=
Angus looked up, smiling and nodding his head. “Oh, well! Yes! I wanted to learn magic, but I don’t know any magicians in this area to learn from. So I’m going to teach myself.”
Taako grit his teeth. “You’re not going to learn proper technique just reading about it,” he noted, “Like… you’ll definitely screw up the pronunciation at the very least.”
Angus took the mug and played with the tea bag by wrapping the string around his finger. “Do you do magic, s… sir?”
“Sir. Sure. Weirdly formal, but sure,” Taako replied. “And yeah, but I can’t say I’ve been practicing much.” He quickly grabbed his order notepad and said, “Well, as much as I love talking about myself, I need to get your order in.”
“Oh, could I have… a BLT and some chicken noodle soup?” the boy requested, grabbing the menu and passing it toward Taako.
“Uh, I mean, yeah,” Taako replied, grabbing the menu and shoving it under his arm. “Anything else?”
“No. Thank you, sir!” Angus chirped, and quickly resumed reading through his spell book. Taako turned on his heel, making his way toward Ren and shoving the menu inelegantly in the holder. Ren took to straightening it out, her eyebrows raised.
Taako shook his head, his jewelry jangling in the process. Even if there were plenty of risks for a kid to try to learn magic on his own, there was no way in any universe he was going to take on an apprentice. Even in the wizarding world, which was depending on apprenticeships and formal education, there was a clear definition between wizards worthy of taking on such a task and not. Taako was happy to consider himself someone who should not take on an apprentice, even if it was in transmutation, which was his specialty.
“Lup, maybe?” Ren asked, her voice just above a whisper.
Taako shrugged. His sister had happily cornered the youth market for pyromancy years ago. At first, it seemed like a horrible idea to teach literal children how to use fire, but she carefully screened every kid she took on and she emphasized how pyromancy could enhance one’s desire to do good as opposed to the opposite. It wasn’t transmutation, but the kid could at least take some magic classes within walking distance. Taako could only assume that he would pass whatever interview Lup set up for him. “I mean, worth a shot,” he replied. “Gotta put this order in, peace,” he said, walking into the kitchen to place the order before he headed back into the dining area, as if there would be more people stopping by. Instead, he found himself watching the boy, who was currently taking notes in a beaten up marble notebook.
In spite of the overwhelmingly nerdy demeanor of the kid, he didn’t seem bad. He wasn’t trying to throw his intelligence around like many kids did when they talked to Taako. He just seemed to genuinely want to learn magic and grow from that discovery. Taako wasn’t even sure he could consider anyone in his cohort at wizarding school with such pure intentions, even if it included people like Lup who he did consider a good person.
Maybe he should tell Lup about him. She’d probably be thrilled to work with him. He walked over toward Angus’s table again, ready to tap his finger on the linoleum table, but he talked himself out of it. He was never one to get invested in kids and he certainly wasn’t going to start now. Even if they looked like they were pretty lonely. Hoping his hesitation would go unnoticed, he rushed past Angus’ table, stopping by the kitchen to grab his food and bring it back to him.
“BLT and chicken noodle soup,” Taako said, placing the utensils down before carefully fitting the food around the notes and books. Angus looked up and gasped, “Thank you!” before bringing the sandwich to his mouth and taking small, careful bites.
Taako found himself spacing out until the bell at the front door rang. He looked up and saw a woman with a bicycle helmet under her arm and a man following behind her. Ren quickly sat them down, Taako walking over to get their drink orders. Angus lingered a little longer, finishing his food and a second cup of tea, and by the time he was closing out his check, the paltry dinner rush had started and four other tables had been filled. .
As Taako collected the tip from the table, he smirked when he realized that the kid tipped well. Even if he was weird, he was certainly one of the more pleasant children he served. By the end of the day, he realized that the kid was probably the most generous tipper of the day. He couldn’t tell if that was something that was more promising for the future, or just bleak for the present.
By the time his shift was over, the sky was dark and the air was cool. The beautiful day that Taako had spent cooped up in the diner had came and went, as he idly parted ways with Ren in the parking lot. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his old purple hoodie as he walked his way back home, listening to the ocean waves crash until he got several blocks toward the mainland.
There certainly was a novelty about living so close to the beach. Taako hadn’t actually ever been to a beach town before Neverwinter had become his home out of necessity,, but his aunt had romanticized the place when she took Lup and him in for that brief moment in time when they were younger. He recalled how she would let them sit on her lap as she tried to braid their hair, telling them a story about how a candy shop along the shore got flooded, their taffy stock potentially ruined. A brave assistant sampled the taffy, realizing that it was not only salvageable, but improved, because of the salt water that was worked into it.
“That’s why you need to make sure every one of your dishes is salted!” their aunt would add, pressing her index finger against their noses for emphasis, “We don’t have salt air or salt water to help us out!” He and Lup would nod obediently. The story was preposterous, but it ran through their heads whenever they were seasoning a dish.
In truth, he doubted that his aunt would have liked the beach much. She probably would dismiss everyone who spent their days on the beach as lazy. She would maybe like Ren and the Davy Lamp Diner, because Ren is probably one of the hardest working people Taako ever met. But he never would have ended up here if she was still alive, so he could never know for sure.
Taako walked down the streets, looking at all the houses. It was easy enough to spot which houses were for locals and which ones were just secondary homes. The secondary homes were always a little more gaudy and barely had cars in the driveways unless it was during the summer months. By the time Taako got three blocks away from the beach, more residential houses became apparent. They had less decorations, but showed signs of life with windows lit by the glow of living room TVs, or bedroom lamps.. Eventually, he made it to his own place, which was an apartment built on top of a small, but respectable house. He walked toward the entrance of the house, careful to evade the beautifully carved family of ducks that were placed by the entrance. He rang the doorbell, greeted by the sound of a dog barking inside and two voices trying their best to hush it.
The door finally opened and a large man stood in the doorway, one hand on the doorknob and the other with his hand wrapped around the collar of a dog with deep red fur.
Taako glared at the dog before looking up at the man and saying, “Hey, Magnus.”
Magnus shifted the dog further away from Taako before he tilted his head. “Oh, hey, bud!” he exclaimed, “You need dinner or something?”
“We have leftovers!” Magnus’s wife, Julia added. Her dark hand gripped the frame of the door to swing it wider. She reached over and yanked him in a tight hug. Taako winced, well-aware that she smelled like fried food and sweat. She didn’t seem to care, only letting go to bring him to the kitchen table as Magnus warned that he was about to release the dog.
Taako took a seat, groaning as he heard the dog skitter across the linoleum. He reached out and pressed his hand against Steven’s chest, trying to keep all his paws on the ground. “Steven… Steven!” Taako demanded, “Didn’t you bring him to a training school?”
“Can’t train his rampant love for his grunkle out of him,” Magnus replied, noticing Julia make her way toward the fridge. “You need any help, babe?”
Julia waved her hand. “Don’t worry about it! It’ll be super quick.”
Taako waved his hand. “Seriously, you don’t have to…” he started.
“I don’t want it to go to waste!” Julia exclaimed. She shoved a plate into the microwave and took a seat next to Taako, Magnus taking it as a cue to sit down across the table. Steven decided to lean himself against Julia, Julia indulging him and petting his massive head.
“So what’s up?” Magnus asked.
Taako gasped. “What? I can’t just show up at my landlord’s place at ass o’clock at night?!”
“Calling me your landlord is literally never funny,” Magnus replied.
“Is this you telling us that you can’t pay rent this month?” Julia asked, her brown eyes squinting at him.
Taako raised his hands defensively. “What? No! I mean, yes. I’m good. I’m golden. Don’t worry about me with that.”
“So what’s up?” Magnus asked.
Taako sighed, bringing his elbow onto the table to prop his head up. It was always a bad move to look directly at Magnus. Even with the rough exterior covered in coarse body hair, worn hands, and a large scar across his eye, he was able to give a puppy dog look more convincing than Steven’s. Being raised in the same household with that face during their teenage years was an absolute nightmare. “Nothing, just… thinking about a customer.”
“Someone tried to pick a fight?” Julia asked, “I’m sure Ren put an end to it instantly.”
“Nah, not a fight,” Taako replied. He smirked when he saw how disappointed Julia looked. “It was just some kid. It’s stupid, don’t worry about it.”
The microwave went off, setting Magnus off to get up and grab the plate. He passed it to Taako, bringing a fork to him, as well. Taako began to pick at the food, reaching out toward the salt and pepper shakers in preparation. Thankfully, neither Julia or Magnus seemed offended by the gesture.
“You know, if you want to talk about it, you can,” Julia said. She always had this horrendously soothing voice that could coax anyone to do anything. It was usually something Taako admired about her, if he wasn’t on the receiving end.
He took a tentative bite out of the broccoli and declared that it needed more salt, shaking some in his hand before he put it on the food itself. “It’s just… he was alone. Looking at transmutation books. He didn’t look like a runaway or anything, so like. I wasn’t going to call anyone, but it seemed. Sad. I dunno. I might tell Lup about him. He’s kinda young for her pyromancy sessions, but he seems to have a decent enough head on his shoulders.”
The other two fell silent for a long moment. Usually, the silence drove Taako mad. It was just a way to avoid inserting stilted messages of sympathy toward himself. And while Julia didn’t quite have the same backstory that Magnus and Taako had, she knew the two of them long enough to know that they were unintentionally vigilant with stuff like this.
Magnus looked particularly rattled, reaching over to Steven to pet circles around his floppy ear before he asked, “But, like. He has someone, right? A parent or… something…”
“He mentioned a grandpa,” Taako replied, “Seriously, if I felt something was up, I would have done something about it.”
“Okay. Just… making sure,” Magnus replied.
“You should definitely talk to Lup about it, though!” Julia added, “She might even know the kid for whatever reason… it feels like she knows anyone with any magic aptitude around here sometimes.”
“I think I will,” Taako replied. He resumed eating, seasoning whenever he needed to. At least the meat tasted like it was cooked rare enough and while the potatoes didn’t heat very well, he could tell that they took his comments about using rosemary seriously. It wasn’t anything like what he was able to make, even if he was out of practice, but it was good enough. He finished it, saying, “Anyway, thanks for the meal. I’ll make sure to have the rent check for you guys by Friday. Sound good?”
Magnus gave one last concerned look before he leaned back and smiled. “Yeah! Sounds good. But, like, feel free to stop by beforehand.”
“Of course,” Taako replied, putting the plate in the sink before he hugged Julia and Magnus and begrudgedly rubbed Steven’s head. He took the back door to exit closest to the entrance of his apartment, walking up the creaky wooden steps toward it. He unlocked the door and was greeted to the stale smell of his place. He tossed his keys on the TV table, dragged himself through the study, and into the weird room that was only big enough for his bed and an end table. He flopped over, realizing that he had basically resigned himself to taking a shower in the morning. He fumbled for his phone, set an earlier alarm in preparation, and closed his eyes, ready to fall asleep as soon as he could.