Taako did not see Magnus again over the next few days, and he suspected that was intentional.
There was not a whole lot to do, so Taako had gotten into a kind of routine of waking up, making breakfast, wandering the castle, having lunch, wandering some more, and having dinner before wandering back to his room and going to bed.  The residents of the castle were very friendly, and he often found himself being caught off guard by a talking chair or wall sconce as he wandered.  But he did not see the massive beast again.
Taako was mildly impressed that someone so big was so good at hiding.
“I wouldn’t take it personally,” Lucretia said to him one day as he remarked on the absence of the creature.  “He’s very sweet, but he has trouble opening up to people.”
“Relatable,” Taako laughed.
Still, it was a little unsettling.  He knew Magnus was around, and he had the feeling he was a lot closer than his lack of appearance made it seem.  He was pretty sure he was catching glimpses of him out of the corner of his eye.  And that wasn’t all.  Taako had woken up the second day to find his clothes folded again and his boots tucked under the piano bench.  When he asked Lup about it, she had said that none of them would be able to fold clothes without hands, so he looked and saw that there was a few brown wiry hairs on his clothes.
It was possible he just picked it up from walking around in this place… but Taako had a feeling that Magnus had been checking in on him in the night.  He might have even come to see him the very first night, before they had been introduced.
He didn’t know what to think about that.
There were things that Taako had started to take in about the castle that he had not noticed the first day.  For one, that rainstorm outside still hadn’t stopped or even let up for a moment.  There was a constant torrent of water pouring outside of every door and window, and Taako wondered if he had ever seen so much rain in his entire life.  The residents of the castle did not seem to find it unusual though.  Taako wondered if the sun ever shined on this bleak castle.
Another thing he had noticed was that even though they lived in this castle, none of the residents really cared for the way the castle was laid out and decorated.  Taako often heard discussion as he walked around the castle, a chair complaining about a placement of a table, a dish grousing about the layout of a room.
“You know if you guys didn’t like the castle’s decor you could always change it,” Taako mentioned one morning to a frustrated washbasin fretting about some stairs that it was having some trouble navigating.
“We didn’t have a choice,” the basin replied, and Taako wasn’t really sure how to interpret that.
“Did you guys not live here?” Taako asked Merle when he saw him later.  “You guys act like you didn’t have the power to do anything different.”
“Hell no we didn’t live here!” Merle answered as if he was offended, and it took Taako by surprise.  “If it were up to us this castle wouldn’t even be here!  Lord Kalen was the one who lived here.  He’s the one with the terrible taste in furniture.”
Taako thought about asking who Lord Kalen was, but that was stumbling dangerously close to “giving a shit” about these people, and he did not want to do that.  So he did his best to pass the days with minimal questions, waiting out the rain and the guilt that had followed him.
On his fifth night in the castle, Taako found himself transmuting his last ration of jerky into a meal.  The residents of the kitchen had showed him which pots and pans were not enchanted, and he had set them aside so he would not confuse them with someone who was alive.  This had made his cooking experience a lot more enjoyable, and Taako was actually finding that having a full kitchen to work with was very nice.  It would be nicer if he had anything besides dried meat to work with, but it was something.
“Could really go for some veggies though,” he muttered to himself as he fried the transformed meat in the pan.  He looked over at Lup, who was laying on the island in the kitchen much like she had been that first morning he had cooked here, while Barry sat folded up next to her.  “No chance there’s some overgrown potato field out in the town, is there?”
“I don’t know?” Lup replied, tilting her head.  “Maybe?  I can’t really remember what’s out there.”
“Really?” Taako laughed.
“We haven’t been outside since we were transformed,” Barry said, shrugging his denim legs like shoulders.
“You haven’t even tried to leave and get help?” Taako asked.
“The castle is surrounded by an empty city, and from there it’s surrounded by a dense forest,” Barry explained.  “You really think a pair of jeans and an umbrella would be able to get anywhere out there?”
“Especially in this weather,” Lup agreed.
“You’re an umbrella?” Taako replied.  “A little rain isn’t going to hurt you.  Besides, it has to stop eventually, right?”
“It hasn’t stopped raining since the day we were cursed,” Barry sighed.  “And we’re pretty sure the rain is what started the curse to begin with.”
“Holy shit it’s been raining for five years?” Taako cried, turning his meat over in the pan.  “That’s fucking insane, it’s not raining in the next town over!”
“Yeah this rain is our rain,” Lup insisted.  “It only rains here, and it never stops.  It’s magic of some sort, and given our track record it’s probably not the good kind.  Up until you showed up we thought the rain was the reason nobody ever found us.”
“I walked in it just fine though?” mused Taako.  “I wonder why that was?”
“Who knows?” Barry answered.  “I’m still not sure you haven’t been cursed too.”
“I don’t recall being turned into a talking pair of slacks,” Taako hummed in annoyance.
“Maybe not,” Barry said.  “But you sure seem to be trapped here like the rest of us.”
Still, it surprised Taako to learn that not a single resident of the castle had tried to leave it except Magnus, who went out to hunt for his food once or twice a week.  Everyone he talked to had a similar response as Lup… how could a piece of furniture make it to safety in a rainstorm like that?  Taako did admit he had wandered in the forest for a lot longer than it seemed like he should have, but he was certain that there had to be a town somewhere close that even a small clock or candle could hop to with enough gumption.
Taako was also getting sick of all the dust settled onto the non-living furniture of the castle.
“I get it, none of you use it and the furball is his own walking dust rag,” Taako scoffed as he brushed off a place in the dining room to set down his newly cooked meal.  “But maybe it wouldn’t be so fucking depressing in here if y’all cleaned up once and awhile.”
“Nobody wants to clean this damn place ever again,” Merle explained.  “We were forced to do that when we were alive.  We aren’t about to keep it up now.”
“No, he’s right Merle,” Lucretia sighed.  “Maybe we should clean up around here.  It will help us keep in touch with our former lives.”
“I ain’t cleaning up after any messes Magnus made,” Merle huffed.  “He can do those himself.”
“No but… Maybe we could help out with some cleaning of the rooms,” she reasoned.  “There’s the baths, and the main parlor… If we want to hold onto our lives we should really be doing more to act living beings and not passive furniture.”
“Not that I care or anything,” Taako mused as he cut up his slab of ham, “but what did you guys do before you were cursed?”
“You went through an empty village to get here, right?” Lucretia answered.  “Those were our homes, before this happened.  After we were transformed it became much safer to stay in the castle than to try to go back out to them.”
“Hachi machi,” Taako huffed.  “What about the big guy?  He live in the village too?”
“We… we don’t actually know much about where Magnus is from,” Merle admitted.  “He just showed up one day with Julia and asked to help.”
“Wait back up, who is Julia?” Taako cried, almost choking on the bite of ham he was chewing.  “Where is she then?  Were they friends?  Why isn’t she talking some sense into him?”
Lucretia and Merle nervously looked at each other, then back to Taako.
“She... died,” Lucretia finally said.  “Right after we were cursed.”
Taako could immediately sense he had stepped into a hornets’ nest and tried to backpedal his way out of it.
“I, ugh, I don’t actually need to know anything about it, alright?” he stammered.  “That shit seems real personal and I don’t want to become y’all’s sounding board for personal crap.”
Lucretia actually laughed at Taako’s response.
“No… no of course you don’t,” she answered.
Still, that night Taako found himself talking to Davenport about it anyway.
“I mean… this is some pretty fucked up business you got yourselves into,” Taako sighed as he flopped onto the bed, the mirror in his hand held high above his head.  He had taken to talking to Davenport every night just as a way to destress.  The mirror hadn’t been able to say anything beyond his own name, but Taako appreciated having someone to listen to him that couldn’t talk back.  “I get it, this is some bad magic.  But I’m in a bad way too.  I’ve got my own problems to deal with.”
“Davenport!” the mirror cried sternly.
“No, no, I’m not selfish,” Taako continued, “but if I don’t take care of myself who will?  I’ve been looking out for number one my whole life, and it has not been easy.”
“Davenport.”
“I just… I feel like everyone hopes I can do something for you guys,” Taako sighed.  “But that’s not me.  That’s not me at all.  I’m only here because I have to be.”
“Can’t help but overhear,” came a voice from the hallway, and Taako almost dropped Davenport on his face in surprise.  He sat up to see Lup’s handle peeking through a small crack in the door.
“Shit Lup maybe knock sometime?” Taako huffed.
“Yeah whatever I’ll do that with my hands,” Lup sniped back.  “Listen, Barry and I have been talking about what you said... about leaving this place.  I wanted to ask a favor of you.”
“Shoot I guess,” Taako replied.
“Well, I don’t think we’d get very far if we tried to leave,” Lup explained.  “But you… you have legs.  You could carry one of us to a town and explain what happened, and then maybe we could get someone who could help us!”
“Couldn’t you ask Magnus to do it?” Taako asked.
“He’s not exactly the most welcoming sight,” Lup answered.  “I think he’d get shot on sight if we tried to go into town with him.”
“You did just overhear the part where I said helping you guys is really not my deal,” Taako scoffed.  “Or maybe when I said it yesterday.  Or the day before.  It’s not in my best interest to leave this castle.  I’m hiding out from-”  He stopped himself before he could say anything more.  Lup seemed to have the uncanny ability to get him talking about himself.  He hated that.
“Did you steal something?” Lup laughed.
“No!” Taako cried, indignant at the suggestion.  “And I’m not going to tell you so stop asking!”
“Well, I think you’re not as much of a stone cold bitch as you say you are,” Lup said.  “And I’m not saying you have to, but we would make it up to you.  Most of us were pretty powerful magic users before we were transformed.  If you need protecting, we’d be happy to do it after we’re changed back.”
“Thanks, but Taako’s good right here.”
“Whatever,” Lup groaned, ducking her head back out of the room.  “You know where to find me if you change your mind.”
Taako tucked himself into bed once again, listening to the rain for the fifth night in a row, but he was having trouble falling asleep this time.  He tossed and turned in bed, trying to get comfortable, before finally deciding to give up and go for a walk.
He was only wearing his shirt, and the castle was a little cold, but he figured he was already up anyway so a little cold wouldn’t hurt him.  He grabbed a blanket off the bed to put over his shoulders, and then padded out into the hallway to wander.
One other thing Taako had learned over the past week was it was very easy to get lost in this place.
There were a lot of similar rooms and the hallways provided very little in the way of landmarks because of their sparse decoration.  Taako was pretty sure he had walked past the same sitting room three times in just this one hallway.  Eventually Taako found himself wandering past the staircase in the main entryway.
Just as he was about to duck into another hallway, he heard the front door of the castle creak open.  Taako pressed himself into an alcove where he could see the entrance without being seen, but he was greeted by the sight of a wet and hairy mess stomping through the door.  There were bits of leaves and other foliage stuck in his antlers and in his fur and mud caking his paws.  He was carrying something in his mouth, which he dropped onto the floor as he sat up on his haunches.  It wasn’t an animal, but Taako wasn’t sure what it was.  It looked like a bundle of some sort.
“Merle!” Magnus shouted.  “Merle come here, I need your help with something!”
When Merle didn’t immediately appear, Magnus gathered up whatever he had brought into his paws, and went off into the castle to find him, a trail of water and mud dripping onto the stone floor as he went.
Weird.
Taako’s curiosity got the best of him, and he quietly descended the stairs to follow him.  He was easy enough to follow this time, since he was leaving large wet footprints in his wake.  Usually the beast was much more stealthy.
“Merle, you used to work with plants,” Magnus said, his big voice echoing through the stone hallways.  “Are any of these poisonous?”
Taako stopped in his tracks.
This was a troubling question to be asking, and Taako felt something cold slip down his spine.
He had got the feeling that Magnus wasn’t too happy with Taako’s insistance he stay, but he had been pretty sure he could still trust the guy.  Then again, it was weird how he was creeping around Taako and coming into his room while he slept.  But then again… Everyone insisted Magnus was a really nice guy, and he had no real evidence to prove otherwise.  Still, the incident at his last show made him nervous about the idea of poison being discussed.
Taako caught wind of a slight muttering which he was sure was Merle, and he carefully crept towards the sound of the clock talking, just barely unable to make out what he was saying.
“No… no not for me… they’re for him,” Magnus growled, and Taako felt his heart freeze.
Shit.
Almost slipping on the pooling water on the floor, Taako scrambled to run back to his room as fast as he could, dropping his blanket as he did.  When he reached the staircase, he saw Lup hopping through the entryway, and he motioned to her.
“Hey, Lup?” he hissed, snatching her up as she got close.  “You wanted to try leaving?  Well I’m leaving.  Right now.”
“Whoa really?” Lup answered, a little shocked by the sudden reversal.  “What changed your mind?”
“Nothing,” Taako lied as he bounded up the steps two at a time.  “I just don’t want to stay here anymore.  Getting… stir crazy, you know?”
“Oh trust me, I know,” Lup laughed.
Within twenty minutes, Taako had gotten dressed and packed up his bag, taking a non-living coat he found in the dresser and a warmer pair of leggings.  He went to grab his blanket, but realized he had dropped it somewhere downstairs, and didn’t want to go and get it now.  Magnus had probably heard him running back to his room.
Grabbing Lup and his bag, Taako rushed downstairs to the front door.  Sure enough, Magnus was there, holding the blanket Taako had dropped.
“Taako?” Magnus asked, sounding concerned and confused all at once.  He had puppy dog eyes, which was weird on a monster like him.  “What are you doing?”
“What’s it look like?  I’m leaving,” Taako snapped, throwing his pack over his shoulder and popping Lup’s canopy open.
“It’s the middle of the night,” Lup said, and Taako wasn’t sure if it was a statement or a warning, but he didn’t care.  He threw his cloak on.
“Listen, I’m not about to hang around in this place when I know I’m not wanted,” Taako answered, grabbing the handle of the door.  “Thanks for the bed, I’ll get out of your hair big guy.”
“Taako, you haven’t-”
Taako cut him off with a raise of his hand.  “It’s been real, but I’m out.”
“Taako wait!” Magnus cried, and Taako didn’t know how to read the look on his face but he wasn’t about to start caring now.  He flung open the door, and dashed out into the rain, Lup clutched tightly in his hands.