Chapter Text
In hindsight, the way the whole thing started was extremely dumb. Most interesting twists and turns are like that, you forget to put your keys in your pocket as you leave your house, or you take an umbrella with you on a sunny day and your life is drastically different from the one you would’ve had. Some people have fancy names for this, like The Butterfly Effect or Causal Sequence or simply just believe it to be a joke of Fate.
But the goddess of fate had no active role in the dropped stitches. The seemingly annoying event only provoked a smile in her ageless features, and she undid her tapestry, branching the story into a new segment, excited to see where it would end.
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In his defense, Taako was more than a little sleep deprived when it happened. In fact, he didn’t even remember that particular event until much later - decades, even - as the memory was already blurry the day after.
It was one of the last cycles, not that any of them knew it then. At the time it was just Cycle 96 and the journey was getting tiring, emotionally and physically, as The Hunger was taking less and less time to catch up. The cycle before, it had arrived after 10 months, and thank the gods for the ship’s internal machinery counting the days, because the sun had never set there and they wouldn’t have been able to escape without knowing how much time had passed.
The world they were currently in was kinder, but its inhabitants were rather violent: a band of natives had taken the Light of Creation and dragged it into their impossibly complex system of underground cities. Captain Davenport and his expertise in illusion magic were essential to the mission’s success, so he left the ship, even though they knew they had only a few days remaining. As liches, Lup and Barry were now the powerhouses of the group, and if the mission didn’t end successfully, they could fly back to protect the ship as it left. Lucretia had left on the mission too, as she was the only one that had bothered to study the locals’ culture and language and she hoped to be able to get the crew out of any eventual bad turn of events.
Merle and Magnus had already kicked the bucket for the cycle, so the only one who knew how to fly the Starblaster in a pinch and could also stay alone and protect it was Taako. And that was how the elf ended up on his own for a few days, with only Fisher’s company and a bunch of free time he couldn’t really enjoy because The Hunger was going to show up any day.
So, Taako, to remain awake and alert, focused on that one thing he could enjoy doing and didn’t have to focus on: experimenting in the kitchen. Merle had brought him a bunch of local spices before falling victim to one particularly wicked plant’s poison, and Taako was taking his time experimenting with them. This wasn’t even a favorable world for the arcane arts, something wrong with the Plane of Magic apparently, so he had to stick to the traditional methods and hope he wouldn’t poison himself. He set his mind on a particular objective - that when the others got back, he’d present them the best or the worst tasting dish he ever made - and started his cooking marathon.
Out of boredom, he decided to bring Fisher’s tank in the kitchen. He’d have at least something vaguely resembling an audience to talk and show off to. The alien jellyfish hummed and twirled when Taako gave it his attention, but appeared to be otherwise oblivious to everything happening around it. That’s why, when he started singing excitedly all of a sudden and for no apparent reason whatsoever, emerging from the top of the tank and extending a few tentacles towards Taako, the chef was rather taken aback.
The tentacles seemed to be holding something, as Fisher kept singing excitedly, almost as if he was trying to communicate something.
“Watcha want to show me, Fishy?” Taako mumbled, laying down the knife and holding out a hand towards the tentacle wrap. Something round and wet fell gently into his stretched fingers and rolled into his palm. Taako grimaced at the contact with the wet slime, and blinked a few times, trying to focus or understand what the gelatinous blob was.
Fisher looked at him - or at least he assumed he was looking at him, that damn thing had no eyes to speak of - and kept chirping quietly. Taako didn’t need to be a damn xenobiologist to understand it was waiting for something of him.
“Are you...trying to help me cook?” he tentatively asked. Fisher chirped and twirled, was that a yes or no? Impossible to say.
Taako smelled the blob, scrunching his face at the distinct stink of raw fish, and finally, tentatively licked it.
And Fisher screamed. A loud and piercing sound like scraping metal that made Taako’s bones shiver and a few glasses ring. The tentacles that were up until that moment swishing and moving harmoniously above the tank, shot towards the elf aggressively and forcefully ripped the blob out of his hands, dragging him forward for a moment as well, before Fisher retreated completely underwater and apparently calmed down.
Taako stared, the complete idiocy of the whole scene dawning on him as he slowly put down his utensils and turned off the heat under a pot that he wasn’t quite sure what it contained anymore. He walked away and turned his back on the kitchen, resolving to at least meditate for a few hours.
In that moment, a series of events had just been put in motion, and Taako had no idea. He had no idea how badly he’d just fucked up.