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The invitation comes through the mail in the form of a very solemn-looking but otherwise nondescript scroll of parchment. At first glance, Taako thinks it’s for one of Lucretia’s many fundraising events - that’s why the loud explosion catches him off-guard. He drops it with an undignified yelp as fiery letters manifest out of thin air:
“ LUP TAACO & BARROLD BLUEJEANS REQUEST THE PLEASURE OF YOUR COMPANY AT THE CELEBRATION OF THEIR UNION”
“So, you’re trying to kill me now?”
“Oooh, you got the invitation? Pretty cool, right? I enchanted them myself.”
“Yeah, amazing, totally radical. I’m very impressed. You owe me a new hat, dumbass.”
“Oh no, is the baby mad?? I scared you shitless, didn’t I? God, I wish I was there just to see the look on your face! Did you scream? I bet you screamed.”
“Shut up, I wasn’t scared, just… surprised. And I did NOT scream.”
“Did so”
“Did not”
“Did so”
“Did not”
“Sure you didn’t, just like I didn’t break grandpa’s special pocket watch when we were fifty.”
“Hey, Lulu?”
“Yeah?”
“Congratulations”
Taako doesn’t know what he expected, but it certainly wasn’t this .
The wedding is in a secluded island just off of Neverwinter’s shore. Azure ocean meets pearly white sand in an idyllic landscape that much resembles the desolate paradise from lifetimes ago. A line of cabins stands in the divide between the beach and a lush green forest. In front of them, chairs - now empty, awaiting the guests - line up facing the ocean, forming in their midst an aisle that leads to a big, beautiful archway made of an assortment of brightly colored flowers. Everything looks picture-perfect.
Taako wonders if he’s come to the right place.
“So, what do you think? Not too shabby, huh?” Lup strikes a pose while gesturing at herself.
The sequins of her white dress catch the orange glow filtering through the window from the setting sun, making it appear to be ablaze. Her hair is intricately braided, with golden strands weaved in its midst. It all gives her an otherworldly appearance, almost ethereal.
“The dress is pretty, but doesn’t distract from your ugly mug.”
She flips him off. “We’re twins, dingus. We have the same face.”
She’s not wrong. Sometimes it strikes him how alike the two of them are.
He’s always known this, of course - only a blind man could miss it. Their resemblance was near uncanny. In their youth, the two siblings were inseparable; after all, they were all each other had. ‘Those two are joined at the hip’ their aunt would say. Taako found it fitting, for he often perceived her as an extension of himself, as if they were the halves of a same being.
Then there was I.P.R.E and their ragtag group of misfits that somehow became a family. Suddenly it wasn’t just the two of them anymore. And then there were a hundred cycles, a hundred worlds they couldn’t save. And then there was the one they did, but nearly destroyed in the process. They died, many times. He forgot her and remembered her again. They stopped an all-consuming force that threatened creation as a whole.
They grew apart. She became Lup, he became Taako. Two extraordinary people in vastly different ways.
“Helooo, Phandalin to Taako, anyone there? You spaced off, dude” She waves her hands in front of his face, breaking him out of his reverie.
“Yeah, I was just thinking about the big event” he deflects. “When you told me you were getting married, I honestly expected a light show and fiery explosions, not a tranquil beach in the middle of nowhere.”
“Well, as it turns out, people aren’t all that happy when you mail them what’s essentially a letter bomb. I got angry replies.” She looks away, embarrassed. “I decided to tone it down, you know, spare everyone from any more… accidents”
“How considerate of you.”
“I know, I’m a considerate person.”
“Barry set his foot down, didn’t he?”
“He did, very much, yeah.”
The murmur of the expectant crowd dies down as the swelling chords of a wedding march fill the air. All eyes turn to the bride as she glides down the aisle to meet the lovestruck, denim-clad groom.
She meets Taako’s gaze in the audience, and, for a fraction of a second, he sees that lost child, trying to get by in a world too harsh for her understanding.
She smiles then, and winks, and all of a sudden she’s Lup again; formidable, awe-inspiring, larger-than-life Lup. A swell of pride eashes through him.
(When the newlyweds kiss for the first time, a gasp echoes through the audience as fire consumes the flowery arch.
Lup swears it’s an accident as Barry tries and fails to look stern)