Chapter Text
It was winter in Neverwinter, and the irony of that was not lost on Magnus. Every time he looked out their windows down to the planet below he would make some kind of bad joke about it, even in the middle of the night when he was the only one awake. More than once Taako heard him laughing to himself, too loud for the hour, and opened his bedroom door to glare at Magnus wordlessly, a small windstorm whirling in his palm and waiting to be deployed, until the man backed down and went to bed.
It was one thing to see the snow from their windows high high up, dusting the mountaintops and roofs of the larger buildings like some kind of living snowglobe and another thing entirely to be in the snow. Nasty stuff. Taako wasn't built for this, and neither were his clothes; sidewalk slush could ruin his good good boots and stain the hems of his skirts and that was a heinous crime if anything was.
But Candlenights presents had to be bought, so on their day off from training, Magnus, Merle, and Taako planned to collect Angus and go planetside for the day. Taako turned up his nose, his ears twitching agitatedly, but put on his most boringest boots and a skirt that wouldn't trail in the gutters, with a thick embroidered shirt that reminded him of his auntie’s carpetbags. Next came his cloak and hat, and he frowned at himself in the mirror when he realized that his hat covered his ears. How would his companions know he was annoyed if they couldn't see his ears twitching? … Would it be too petty if he cut slits in his favorite hat for just that reason?
“Taako, let’s get a move on!” Merle called from the living room. Taako made a face at himself and tugged his hat further down on his head.
“You can’t rush beauty,” he called as he collected his Umbrastaff and coin purse and left his room.
The rest of the boys were standing by the door ready to go, all bundled up except for Magnus who wore nothing more than a flannel shirt and jeans and fantasy tennis shoes.
“Can’t rush what you don’t have, douchebag,” Merle responded, looking so very… Dwarven in his fleece jacket and fur lined boots and trapper hat.
Taako put a manicured hand to his chest and gasped. “It’s bad enough that I’m being forced to go outside in this horrible weather and you go and insult me , too?”
Magnus snickered and shooed everyone out into the hallway. Angus trotted along next to Taako while they walked to the hangar, chatting in a way that was not at all endearing, not this morning.
“I think if I have any extra money after I buy presents,” the kid said, practically vibrating in excitement, “I'm going to buy the new Caleb Cleveland book.”
“Why dontcha wait to see if anyone gets it for you?” Magnus asked from the back of the party.
“That's a good point, sir!” Angus chirped.
Taako cast a glance back at Magnus and saw him mouth, “dibs!” while pointing to himself. Taako huffed and Angus turned his bright eyes back up at him.
“What do you want for Candlenights, sir?”
“A fuckin’ nap, pupik,” Taako said.
Angus looked shocked as they entered the hangar. “B-but sir! You’re an elf! You don’t sleep!”
Avi, prepping the cannon that would blast them down to the planet, laughed. “We can sleep, Ango. We’re just supposed to meditate.” He looked at Taako, his ears twitching like an admonishment.
Taako shrugged. “Too much work, not enough blankets, if you ask me.”
Merle stopped abruptly and turned on his heel, and Taako almost stepped on him. “So you’re the one who stole my good quilt.”
Taako flicked his fingers dismissively as he sidestepped Merle and climbed into the glass ball. “I have no idea what you're talking about,” he said, rolling a middle-of-the-road bluff check. Merle squinted suspiciously at him but let it go.
“Neverwinter, right?” Avi asked as Magnus climbed in the ball.
“Yeah,” Magnus replied, sounding jazzed as hell.
Angus froze in the seat next to Taako. “Neverwinter?” he asked worriedly.
“For sure, kiddo, where else would we go? Phandalin?” Magnus asked.
“Neverwinter has that hardware store Maggie likes,” Merle said.
“Clyde’s Dell isn't just a hardware store,” Magnus said. “It’s an experience.”
Taako snorted. “Yeah, an experience of buying doorknobs and electrical tape.”
“Everybody good?” Avi asked, waiting for a thumbs up from Merle before shutting the hatch. They felt the glass ball being moved into the mouth of the cannon.
“I-I thought we were going to Rockport,” Angus said.
Merle frowned and turned his head as well as he could to peer between the front seats at Angus, but everything went dark in the barrel of the cannon a moment later.
“What's wrong with Neverwinter?” Merle asked, his voice sounding like he'd faced front again.
The cannon blast interrupted Angus’s reply and there was a solid ten seconds where no one could say anything. When everything quieted Merle turned around again, watching Angus.
“It’s nothing,” Angus said, waving a hand dismissively, though Taako could see his other hand clutching his hat tight in his lap.
When they touched down in a little copse of trees that for some reason had stayed undeveloped while Neverwinter built up all around, they split up, pairing off with plans to meet in the square by the bell tower in two hours to get lunch and trade partners.
Angus went with Taako first, and the latter spent the two hours indoors as much as possible and brushing off the boy’s nervous energy as much as he could.
Their first stop was Clyde’s Dell to shop for Magnus, and Angus had the bright idea to get him a set of fantasy wood burning tools. Taako claimed dibs on the idea and Angus happily picked out a flowerpot that claimed to grow to fit any tree planted in it, while simultaneously slimming the resulting tree magically so a full-grown redwood could fit in the average Rockport apartment bathroom, and he had the shopkeeper (Clyde, Taako assumed) plant a fantasy Brazilian rosewood sapling in it.
“Good idea, muffin, but how’re you gonna get that back to the moon without Mag seeing it?” Taako asked at the register.
Angus smiled a toothy smile up at him (when had the kid lost that tooth?) and pulled a small, shimmering black and silver package out of his pocket. He unfolded it an inordinate number of times and held out what looked like a backpack.
Taako raised an eyebrow. “Now where did a little baby like you get a Handy Haversack?”
Angus puffed out his chest and opened the top flap. “The Director gave it to me on my birthday. She said it would be useful if I ever go to fantasy university, but I've used it a bunch just at the Bureau, like when borrow books from Johann or Leon.”
Taako hummed, impressed, and helped the kid wrestle the potted tree into the extradimensional backpack.
Next they shopped for Merle and the Director, and Taako felt very satisfied with the galaxy print headscarf and supernova brooch he got for Lucretia. When they’d both gone through the Fantasy Kohl’s checkout line and shoved their purchases in Angus’s Handy Haversack, they trudged back out into the snow to meet the boys for lunch.
Well, Taako trudged. Angus… also trudged? Weird. He was usually more of a fancy horse trotting from place to place. Taako frowned when he saw Angus deflate as they left Fantasy Kohl’s. His shoulders hunched and he paused each time they came to a street they needed to cross. He seemed to peer around the corners of buildings and then hurry across the street, and Taako, master of observation, even saw him jump when someone shouted across the square at a friend.
And then Merle and Magnus were there, whining about how they’d waited for ten minutes, and Taako was swept into an argument as they scouted out a lunch place and forgot all about Angus’s deal.
After their, hmm, colorful lunch at Fantasy Buffalo Wild Wings, Magnus joined Taako and waved goodbye to Angus and Merle, reminding them to meet up at Fantasy Baskin Robbins in another two hours.
Taako was still in a bad mood. It was far too cold to be outside, and his toes were frozen and wet in his most boringest boots, which didn’t even manage to make up for their boringness by being watertight. His cloak wasn’t warm enough, and Magnus Fucking Burnsides had the gall to look warm in a flannel shirt and jeans, without even a coat or a hat.
Magnus chattered away at Taako about the gifts he’d bought Angus and Carey and Killian, about the hilarious joke he’d told Merle, about his plan for Carey and Killian’s wedding gift…
Taako wandered ahead of him in the men’s casualwear section of Fantasy Dillards and cast Prestidigitation, making a sparkling line of script appear on the back of his cloak.
“Please Stop Talking :)”
Magnus huffed and went silent, and Taako marveled at his newfound ability to go twenty minutes without talking until he looked up and realized Magnus had left at some point.
And then he returned as though nothing had happened and showed Taako the flask he’d found for Avi and Taako sighed.
When they emerged back into the snow, Magnus carrying both of their purchases, they saw Merle and Angus coming out of the building next door, a cooking supply store. Angus sputtered excuses but Merle just shrugged.
“Candlenights,” Merle said, and Taako nodded sagely.
As they sat in the not-quite-warm-enough sitting area of Fantasy Baskin Robbins, all eating ice cream except Taako (“Aren’t you going to get anything, sir?” “Pollito, you couldn’t pay me to eat anything colder than boiling in this weather.”), Angus started listing things.
“I have gifts for the Director, all of you guys, Carey, Killian, Noelle, Johann, Avi, Davenport, and the Voidfish… I think that’s everyone,” he said, counting on his fingers.
“You got something for the Voidfish?” Merle asked.
“Yeah!” Angus exclaimed. “I go in there sometimes to hang out with Johann and study the Voidfish and it just seems so bored in there when no one talks to it, so I got some big stickers for its tank!”
Taako, master of his own emotions, did not find that adorable. Not adorable or endearing whatsoever.
“What about your family, Ango, you gonna get them gifts too?” Magnus asked casually before shovelling a maddeningly huge bite of Cherries Jubilee ice cream into his mouth.
Angus flinched and dropped his spoon onto the table. Magnus frowned around his bite of ice cream and Taako mirrored the expression sans frozen dairy. Merle wordlessly got up and got a couple of napkins and a clean spoon while Angus recovered from whatever conniption the honest question had sent him into.
“N-no, I’m not getting them anything,” Angus said finally, sounding unsure.
“Okay then,” Magnus said, and started grilling his companions for gift ideas for the Director.
Angus stayed silent and Taako watched him every now and then. The boy ate little more of his cotton candy ice cream before it melted, and sat withdrawn and staring into the paper cup, stirring the blue and pink ice cream slowly until it was a featureless lavender soup. He only rejoined the conversation when talk turned to plans for their Candlenights party, and Magnus looked relieved at not having broken him.
When Magnus and Merle finished their ice cream and Angus tired of playing with his, they parted ways again, this time Angus and Magnus striking out together and Merle and Taako trudging back into the wintery hellscape. Unless they needed more time, this would be their last excursion, and they would meet back at the glass ball in two hours.
Merle was happy to not chat about anything and everything while they shopped, which Taako was enormously grateful for, unless he was accused of having any sort of positive feelings about anyone or anything in which case he would complain that Merle had refused to strike up a conversation and left him bored and lonely. Merle did sing Kenny Chesney songs under his breath, though, which was almost enough for Taako to send a Sleep spell his way.
The only person Taako had left to shop for was Angus, and Merle was done, so they headed to Fantasy Books A Million. Merle wandered the aisles and Taako found the Caleb Cleveland: Kid Cop display. Magnus was getting him the new book, so that was out, but Taako had an idea. He definitely hadn’t read the installment of the series given to him last Candlenights, and he definitely didn’t like it (shut up), so he definitely just grabbed one of the books at random and flipped to a random page to remind himself of something he definitely didn’t already know.
Totally New Information obtained, he collected Merle and they wandered a couple of blocks until they found a large children’s clothing store. Taako grinned proudly to himself as he gathered all of the pieces for Caleb Cleveland’s school uniform in what he guessed was Angus’s size: grey and black checkered breeches, long black socks, teal leather loafers, a dark brown belt, a tan short sleeve shirt, a teal and brown spotted tie, and a grey blazer. It was an ugly outfit, but it would make Angus happy, he guessed (not that he cared).
The cashier took one look at the items piled on the counter and smiled widely. “Your son’s a Caleb Cleveland fan, huh?”
Taako didn’t have the energy to correct her. “Sure is. Won’t leave me alone about it.”
She laughed as she started ringing everything up. “You should give them a try, they’re surprisingly good. My daughter has the whole series, all forty-seven of them.”
Something started making noise in Taako’s pocket, and he clapped a hand down over it in annoyance. A moment later the same sound came from Merle’s bag, and Merle excused himself and walked away to answer the Stone of Far-Speech.
Just before Taako handed over the money for the outfit Merle came hurrying back to the register, looking alarmed.
“Magnus lost Angus,” Merle said shortly, and Taako’s eyes widened.
“Tell him we’ll be right there,” Taako said, and quickly counted out the correct number of coins, not even bothering to get change before he yanked the bag off of the counter and strode out of the store, leaving Merle practically running to keep up.
Magnus was pacing the perimeter of the square when they found him, looking nervously down each alley and street that connected to it.
“What the fuck happened?” Taako demanded without greeting when Magnus noticed them and jogged over.
“I don’t know, he just--one minute he’s right behind me in Fantasy Yankee Candle’s and the next he’s gone, nowhere in the store,” Magnus explained in a rush, looking close to tears.
“You buffoon,” Taako sighed, and cast Locate Creature.
A thin golden line shot out from his feet and every couple of seconds it pulsed in a sort of ripple. Taako followed the line, leading the way because the others couldn’t see it, and Merle and Magnus fell in. At one point he stepped in a deep puddle but ignored the chill that soaked through his boot and halfway up his shin in his haste. They only traveled three blocks on the main streets before the golden line took a sharp turn into an alley and they were greeted by a sight that stopped Taako’s heart for a fraction of a second.
Angus was cowering in the corner of the alley, glasses broken and a mitten missing, with four teenage boys towering over him. Two of the boys were humans, one was an elf, and one a halfling, and all wore relatively nice clothes.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve showing up here,” one of the boys spat at Angus.
“We thought we’d run you out of town years ago,” another sneered.
Angus held up his hands nervously. “I’ll leave, that’s fine, you’re right, I shouldn’t be here,” he babbled. “Please, Vasad, Alred, just let me go.”
The second boy hummed as if in deep thought. “Nope,” he said brightly. “I don’t think you’ve learned your lesson just yet.”
Three of the boys took a menacing step towards Angus, hands reaching.
“Wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Magnus said, his voice low and deathly serious.
The four boys spun around and were greeted by the sight of Magnus holding Railsplitter loosely in both hands, Merle with Smoosher the Warhammer resting casually on his shoulder, and Taako tossing a small flaming orb into the air over and over with one hand.
The boy who hadn’t stepped forward to grab at Angus, apparently the ringleader of these young ruffians, turned white as a sheet.
“Uh, we weren’t--we weren’t gonna hurt him,” the boy stuttered, his eyes nervously following the path of Taako’s little flame.
“Just, uh, scare him,” another said.
Taako turned his attention to Angus, still backed into a corner and crying. “Did these boys hurt you, mijo?”
Angus wavered, glanced at the backs of each of the bullies, and shook his head. He rolled a horrible bluff check, though, and Taako saw right through it.
Taako made the flame turn a bright green and cleared his throat as he turned back to the boys and cast Suggestion.
“How about you boys go straight to the closest constable,” he said, “and tell them that you were about to purposefully maim a little kid. And whoever picks you up from the jail, if you do get let out, tell them that you were being a nasty little bully boy. That sound agreeable?”
The ringleader gulped and his eyes went unfocused. “Uh-huh,” he said, sounding terrified. As Taako looked at each boy, their eyes unfocused and with a slight incline of his head they started walking out of the alley.
Merle, Magnus, and Taako stepped out of the opening of the alley to let them pass, and when the boys were gone Angus darted forward, now sobbing openly, and threw himself at Taako.
Taako hurriedly dismissed the flame in his hand and patted awkwardly at Angus’s head. “It’s okay, pits’l, they’re gone,” he murmured.
“Are you hurt, Dango?” Merle asked, putting a hand on Angus’s shoulder
Angus flinched and his arms tightened around Taako’s waist for a moment before he pulled back.
“A little,” he said. “And my glasses are broken.”
Merle patted Angus’s shoulder again and a flash of blue light blinked through his skin for a fraction of a second. Merle held out a hand, palm up, and Angus took off his glasses with trembling hands and put them in Merle’s palm. A flash of white light and the glasses were fixed, and Merle handed them back.
“Thank you, sir,” Angus said quietly.
Magnus put away Railsplitter and kneeled in front of Angus, his facial expression intense but compassionate. Taako couldn't help but notice that he was kneeling in a two inch deep pile of grey slush. “Who were those boys?” he asked.
Angus closed his eyes and shook his head, wrapping his arms around his chest.
“You can tell us,” Magnus said softly. “It’s okay.”
Angus hiccuped and then took a shaky breath. “Just some bullies,” he mumbled. “We went to fantasy high school together.”
Magnus hummed, satisfied with that answer, and stood. He offered his hand to Angus.
“How ‘bout we go home, short-stop?” he asked quietly. Angus took his hand cautiously, and Magnus looked at his other companions. “We need anything else?”
Taako shook his head.
“We got it all,” Merle said.
The trip back to the moon was quiet. Angus hugged his backpack to his chest in the glass ball, staring through the floor at the city of Neverwinter getting smaller and smaller. Taako chewed at a manicured thumbnail, his mind racing. Magnus got out Steven the goldfish and turned the globe over in his hands, lost in thought. Only Merle made any noise, humming Bohemian Rhapsody to himself.
They were met in the hangar by Avi, who was significantly more tipsy than when they’d left that morning. Everyone except Magnus left the hangar immediately after exiting the glass ball. Merle headed to the dorm with his purchases, and Taako accompanied Angus as far as the boy’s own dorm near the Director’s office. Then, after prying Angus’s arms from around his waist and saying goodbye, Taako took a detour to the Director’s office.
She was sitting at her desk, writing on a big piece of parchment with a comically large feather pen. Davenport was reshelving a stack of books on the far side of the room.
Taako cleared his throat when the Director still hadn’t noticed him standing in the doorway after half a minute. She finally looked up, startled to see it was Taako who had entered so quietly.
“Taako,” she said. “I didn’t hear you come in. How was your trip?”
Taako came all the way in and collapsed dramatically in one of the chairs in front of the Director’s desk.
“I don’t want to sound dramatic,” he said, “but a jolly old trip to Phandalin might have been a better idea.”
The Director looked mildly amused. She set down her pen and folded her hands in invitation for Taako to explain.
“First off, fuckin’ snow,” Taako complained. “Bad, bad stuff. Next, shopping for people who aren’t me. And then Boy Wonder went and got snatched by some old bullies.”
The Director’s eyes widened just a touch. “You brought him back, though, I hope?”
Taako waved a hand. “Oh, yeah, he’s fine. I’m just a little bit miffed that we unwittingly took Ango back to the city he grew up in.” He didn’t hold back the hint and the Director looked vaguely guilty.
“You’re wanting to see his personnel file,” she guessed.
“No,” Taako said. “I’m going to see his personnel file.”
The Director’s eyes flashed with indignation, though her expression didn’t change, and Taako distantly wondered how he could read her so well. Then she composed herself and got out of her chair. She walked gracefully over to the cluster of file cabinets in the corner, the end of her silvery headscarf trailing as if in a light breeze behind her. She pulled open a cabinet drawer and produced a file folder.
She returned to the desk and handed it over.
“Is there anything else?” she asked, formal and cold.
Taako got to his feet, his purchases in one hand and the file folder in the other. “Yeah, Candlenights is in a few days,” he said.
“I’ve already gotten your gift,” the Director said pointedly.
“Return it,” Taako said bluntly. “I want something else.”
She raised an eyebrow in question.
“A four bedroom apartment,” Taako said.
The Director nodded. “Done.”
“Great,” Taako deadpanned, and headed for the door. “See you in the Icosagon tomorrow.”
The morning before Candlenights the boys woke up to construction noise very early. Taako stumbled out of his room angrily preparing a Chill Touch in one hand and a Ray of Frost in the other, but he couldn’t see anyone in the living room. There wasn’t even any indication of actual construction happening, yet the unmistakable sounds of hammering and sawing wood were permeating the apartment.
Merle came out of his room, too, rubbing his eyes and blinking quickly. He looked around in confusion, seemed to accept what what happening, and went back into his room and closed the door.
Taako stormed into Magnus’s room to tell him off for not respecting that other people need sleep, idiota, but when he opened the door he saw Magnus sitting upright in bed, yawning and swiping at his eyes sleepily. Taako huffed and put away the spells gearing up in his palms, and went back to his room.
Even with the door closed the construction sounds weren’t muffled whatsoever, so Taako angrily gathered his pillow and best blankie and stomped out of the apartment entirely. As soon as the front door was closed behind him, though, the construction noise stopped and the halls were as silent as they usually were at half five in the morning. He grumbled to himself and headed for the only other place he knew he would be welcome so early.
Angus answered the door sleepily, but smiled brightly when he saw who it was, and Taako’s heart didn’t melt at all.
“Some beheymah is building in my apartment,” Taako said by way of explanation.
Angus looked confused. “Magnus is building something? This early?”
“No, conejito, not him,” Taako said tiredly. “I’m just gonna crash here if you don’t mind.”
Angus blinked and then held up a finger. “One second.” He closed the door in Taako’s face and Taako heard some shuffling and a faint crash before the door opened again. “I had to put away your Candlenights present.” He stepped aside to let Taako in.
Taako was still mostly asleep, so he trudged in on autopilot and had lain down on the floor and closed his eyes before his brain processed that Angus’s dorm room was spotless. He opened his eyes and glanced around, taking in the neatly organized desk, the perfectly organized bookshelf, the spotless floor (he couldn’t see a single dust bunny, not even under the bed, which had plastic underbed storage bins neatly lined up side by side). The only thing out of place was the bed covers, and Angus climbed back in bed after snapping the light off.
“Goodnight, sir,” Angus said, already sounding sleepy again.
“Night, pupik.”
Taako woke up sometime later, though in the absence of light (Angus didn’t have a window) he wasn’t sure what had woken him. He could see just fine, darkvision and all, but daylight was usually what woke him up. That or Merle throwing pillow after pillow at him until it was either wake up or suffocate in a beautiful pile of down.
The room was dark and quiet, and Taako almost closed his eyes again but heard a whimper. Angus was still asleep, but his face was scrunched up and his hands were clutching his blankets tight. As Taako watched, his little feet kicked under the blankets and he cried out.
“Leave me alone!” Angus mumbled.
Taako sat on the edge of Angus’s bed and reached out to stroke gentle fingers up and down Angus’s arm.
“Ango,” he murmured. “Agnes.”
Angus’s brow furrowed in confusion for a moment, and then he kicked harder. “No!”
Taako tapped his arm a little firmer. “Come on, zeiskeit, open your eyes.”
Angus’s eyes flew open and he sat up with a gasp.
“Shh,” Taako whispered, and he made a little ball of light hover in the air so Angus could see him. “Just me, chiquito.”
Angus looked around frantically, his lip quivering, and when he saw Taako he lunged forward, arms wrapping around Taako’s middle. He hiccuped and trembled.
“Oh, oh, oh,” Taako whispered, more for the sound than to convey any emotion. “Ven aquí, mijito.” He pulled Angus into his lap and cradled the shaking boy close, murmuring soothing nonsense in fantasy Spanish.
In time he calmed down, but refused to tell Taako what his nightmare had been about, and Taako tucked him back in bed. He fell back asleep in record time, but Taako couldn’t sleep anymore.
Ango Dango, greatest detective in the world or whatever, was a bright kid. Much smarter than Taako. He was a bundle of thinly masked admiration and excitement, and he was very, very scared. Of that much Taako was entirely convinced.
He amused himself for a couple more hours coming up with new Prestidigitation tricks, until he thought to check the time and saw that it was almost time for training, so he woke Angus and headed back to his own apartment to change.
The construction sounds were still going, and Magnus and Merle were sitting at the kitchen table scarfing down cereal like they were entirely unbothered by the invisible jackhammer echoing through the room.
Their training was horribly tiring, but given that it was the eve of a major holiday the Director let them go at lunchtime, and Taako spent the rest of the day hiding out in the basement of the Icosagon working his magic (wrapping presents).
The construction noise persisted until midnight on the dot that night, but before then Taako was so on-edge because of the noise that he told Magnus and Merle to tell him via the Stones of Far-Speech if the noise stopped, and sat out in the quad to wait. The moon base’s weather was the same year-round, so it was a pleasant sixty-five degrees despite the snow covering much of Faerûn.
When the noise was gone he went home and directly to bed, refusing to look for any kind of difference.
In the morning, though, much earlier than Taako was wont to awake on a normal day, Magnus woke him up.
“You gotta see this,” he said, sounding like a kid on Candlenights mor--oh. It was Candlenights morning.
Taako grumbled but got up and pulled on a fluffy bathrobe, his lacy nightgown not warm enough at this juncture of the morning.
Magnus led him out into the living room and pointed at the wall. There, half-obscured behind the bookshelf and blocked at the floor by several pairs of shoes piled up, was a door. A new door. It looked the same as the other doors in the apartment, but it was new.
Taako smiled.
“That, my large friend, is a new bedroom for our dear boy Ango McJango, and you’re welcome,” he said, turning to go back into his room in a way that whipped both his long hair and the hem of his robe perfectly.
He didn’t know how the Director had managed it, but given that the construction had only taken one day, hadn’t gotten in their way, and they didn’t have to move, he wasn’t going to question it.
Nearly everyone showed up to their Candlenights party that night.
Merle blushed and huffed when Taako gave him the fantasy Hawaiian shirt, and Magnus clapped a heavy hand down on his shoulder when he opened the wood burning tools. The Director beamed when she opened the package containing the galaxy print headscarf and brooch, and she disappeared into the bathroom for a few minutes and returned wearing the new items, really pulling together her whole look.
Angus literally actually cried after opening Taako’s gift and hugged him for a solid three minutes, then gave him his present, an ornate hand mirror enchanted so it said, “stunning,” when Taako looked into it and, “eh,” when anyone else did. Taako laughed and pressed a loud smooch to the top of Angus’s head.
When the rest of the presents had been given out, Magnus got Angus’s attention and he and Merle shoved aside the bookshelf, revealing the new door. Taako had folded a huge blue and white striped bow and stuck it to the door above a nameplate Magnus had spent the day carving and mounting at eye level. In a sturdy serif font the nameplate read
ANGUS MCDONALD
WORLD’S GREATEST DETECTIVE
Angus started crying again and dragged all three of them into a hug, sobbing gratitudes and horribly emotional expressions of fondness.
Taako grinned when he had made sure no one could see his face doing that embarrassing and decidedly un-Taako thing.
Another Candlenights success.