#*points at sazed* SOMEONE HUG HIM FOR ME

[egginfroggin]

I like rereading books for the first time in like half a decade.

Like, it's just fun to reread Mistborn with Certain Events ingrained in my head but everything else just kind of not there. Like, things happen! I know that much!

Just looking at characters as they appear and being like

you live

you do not live

better men die before you, unfortunately

you live!

and you live!

by all intents and purposes sir you should be very very dead

I'm 90% sure that you die and I'm really sad about that :<

you die

you get to live

as I come across characters and tread onward in the plot, remembering as I go.

I have literally giggled and kicked my feet (violence is fun) as I reread this trilogy it's great.

Also my eyes feel like raisins and my brain hurts. Too many words. I binge-read this trilogy in like a week the first time and now I have even more stuff to do but I'm still reading it in like a week so my brain is being stretched.

[ma-lark-ey]

Hi!! I've seen other people make posts about why they love TAZ,,and I figured I should add my two cents. I also just wanted to share this experience somewhere. (Spoilers for Balance and Amnesty!!)

For a bit of background; in December/early January, I got dropped by some of my closest friends. I'd already been doing bad mentally for the last few months, and that sent me into a complete spiral.

I was quarantined, couldn't see my friends, couldn't leave the house, couldn't make any attempt at things that used to make me happy. I was (quite frankly) at my lowest point. I'd heard rumors of the Adventure Zone for years, and even seen content of it on my socials.

In mid May, I said fuck it and listened to episode one. MBMBAM (as good as it is) wasn't my cup of tea in podcasts, I needed something with plot. I knew the McElroys were a genre of entertainment I could get behind, but I needed plot to get invested.

TAZ Episode 3 was when I really became hooked. Magnus latched onto my heart, and Griffin's voice brought me a comfort I'd long forgotten.

Its important to note at this point in my life, I hadn't picked up a pencil to write or draw in almost six months.

I was honestly inspired to watch after a cosplayer I really admire began to cosplay Lup! I loved the personality I saw in her videos and photos of Lup, and I wanted to know more about her.

I listened to Here There Be Gerblins, and it made me smile. I listened to RockPort Limited, and I remember cleaning up my dresser and folding clothes when I found out Jenkins was the killer. I listened to Petals to the Metal, and I remember standing in my living room laughing during the whole Trent scene. I listened to Crystal Kingdom, I remembered standing in my yard in shock when Mangus sliced Merle's arm. I listened to Eleventh Hour, I remembered sitting in my chair and crying during the flashback and throwing my stuffed animal in rage at the Taako flashbacks. I remembered listening the Lunar Interlude where Lup carved her name in the wall and screaming joy at the introduction of the character who inspired to check this amazing show out. I remember playing Minecraft while listening to the Stolen Century (I was building a Ravenloft in my world!)

My favorite memory from listening to it though, was the scene Lup finally entered. I'd been listening to this podcast nonstop since I started. I remember listening to that scene and just *crying,* i remember clutching at my heart when her death was described because I'd fallen absolutely in love with her during Stolen Century.

I remember listening to Magnus' death scene while sitting at my kitchen table. My mom asked me why I was crying. "MAGNUS GOT HIS DOG!" Was all I could compute, she had no idea what I meant.

After i finished Balance, I started drawing again. It was simple, at first. Just a headshot of Lup with my favorite quote from her. But it was a start! I picked up my materials for the first time in months.

Then I started Amnesty. In minutes I was absolutely smitten. It was like Aubrey personally grabbed my hand and told me I was gonna be better soon. I latched onto Aubrey just like I did Magnus (Travis has always been my personal favorite brother.) I remember feeling guilty for skipping the last half of Commitment, but given my religion trauma that I was still processing at the time, I knew I needed to just role right along into Amnesty for my own sake.

My fondest memory of Amnesty was sitting in the car during a road trip and scribbling down things on my sketchbook.

Another prominent one was when Ned revealed to Aubrey he was the burglar. I fell to my knees when he said the sentence, and no I'm not being dramatic. I was cleaning up my room, and i collapsed onto the floor and laid in a fetal during the whole scene, ugly crying. I love all of the Amnesty characters, its my personal favorite campaign, and Ned and Aubrey meant everything to me. That scene *destroyed* me. I also remembered crying on my road trip when Ned was killed. I'd never felt so much emotion from a piece of media before.

After that I actually digested all of Balance. And the one character who's stuck out to me is Taako. And I know he's a cliche character to latch onto. But, its not his personality or his appearance or whatever that makes me love him. It was his back story. When I found Balance, I was working throufh the betrayal and loss of my fourth set of friends. I'm the kind of person who takes in people I know are toxic in hopes of helping them. And Taako was the perfect mix of myself, and the people I found myself befriending.

His history with Sazed hit close to home, in the betrayal aspect. And his betrayal by Lucretia. I understood his heart felt in those moments, and I latched onto him. I thought, "You understand how I feel right now." And I've *never* drawn so much in my life.

In just three days I made two whole pages of sketches, in just the last three weeks I've done ten pages of my brand new sketchvook (averaging it to 4-5 full drawings a page). I hadn't picked up a pen in months, and now I couldn't Put one down.

There was one night a couple days ago where I just sat in bed, grinning and crying while I looked at all the art I had accomplished, the countless pieces of writing I'd presented to my friends proudly. I rejoined roleplay groups, which I had also dropped after my mental health dropped. I came out to my IRLs as nonbinary!

The characters the McElroys created have given me this... This inspiration I've never felt before. I've hyperfixated on things before (like Undertale! That was my biggest.) But, no piece of media has ever made me feel like a character reached out of my screen and grabbed onto me.

I remember Istus telling the Gang the iconic line of "You're going to be amazing" and to me, it felt like Taako and Magnus just reached out of my phone and gave me a bear hug. Hell, just a few days I translated that feeling into a sketch.

I just bought the graphic novels, and have orders merchandize. I've *never* gotten into something, and had merchandize for it three weeks later. I've never loved something so much I sent my friends literally novellas of just me recounting my favorite scenes to them.

The Adventure Zone has literally brought the most joy into my life I could ever ask for out of media, its helped me in so many ways.

These stupid little DnD campaigns mean the absolute world to me, and I could never be happier that I found them when I did.

So, if you've read this far, there's one last thing I wanna say; even if you feel like you're at literal rock bottom, like you could end it all tomorrow and no one would care. That not even your greatest passionate with bring you joy, youll find something or someone that will pull you out of that point so fast it makes your head spin. In the emphamis words of "Zeke Owens" (Griffin) "One day, youre gonna laugh at a joke. You'll go swimming, and you'll smile in the sunlight. You're gonna pet yourself a good dog and its gonna feel amazing."

[raineydaywrites]

working on from then til now (part 5/5)

link to part 1 (x), part 2 (x), part 3 (x), part 4 (x), ao3 (x)

Taako's heart was beating hard, anticipation keeping him ready to move, to act in whatever way he needed to in order to get Angus back.

Seeker Maya had briefed them on the situation and wished them luck, before leaving them outside of the the building where they believed Sazed to be.

Taako wanted to burst in immediately and make sure that he wasn't hurting Angus, but Maya had feared that rushing into the situation would make things worse. She would check it out ahead of them, comfortable with the task as a rogue as she was.

His Stone of Farspeech buzzed once- twice- and Taako tensed as he waited for a third that, thankfully, didn't come.

Maya had told them that she would contact them like this- one buzz if Angus was not present at all, two if he was present and in danger, and three if he was hurt- or worse.

After a pause, there was another, longer buzz, and Taako knew that they were good to go.

"Come on," he said to the others.

Magnus immediately opened the doors and made his way in, having been struggling with the 'staying back' even more than Taako had, and clearly relieved to be done with it.

When they got inside, however, the doors closed behind them with an audible 'click.'

"What're the odds that it's just one of those auto-lock doors?" Merle asked.

"Probably not great, I'd guess," Magnus said, poised on his toes to move as soon as he saw something to attack.

They moved deeper into the building, and they eventually found Sazed holding a knife to Angus' neck. They were standing over Maya's body, collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut underneath them.

"Hello, Taako," Sazed said, voice the same perfectly bland tone it always had been.

Taako growled, low in his throat at the sight of him with Angus, but didn't move closer, understanding the threat well enough to be unwilling to risk it.

"Get the fuck away from him!" Taako shouted back.

"Not yet, no," Sazed said, nervousness clear, but he still seemed far too confident in his position for Taako's comfort. "I'll let him go when I'm certain that you will let me go."

"Fat fucking chance of that," Taako snorted.

"So you're saying you don't care if I kill the brat, then?" Sazed said, raising an eyebrow at Taako as if he was being ridiculous when Sazed was the one using a child as a hostage.

Sazed began walking slowly toward the back door as he spoke, clearly well aware of the fact that they weren't going to do jack shit to stop him when he had Angus in such a vulnerable position.

The three of them inched after them, carefully, unwilling to take action and unwilling to let Sazed and Angus out of their sight.

Angus was watching them with wide eyes, and Taako absolutely hated this. He felt so helpless that his hands were shaking with it, but he could see no easy way out of this.

"What do you think is gonna happen here, dude?" Magnus demanded. "You're just gonna get away scot-free?"

"Yeah. Not the first time I've managed that, after all," Sazed said, and then he sneered at Taako. "If someone like him can escape capture all this time, it's gonna be a breeze for someone like me."

Angus' fingers were twitching and he had an expression of concentration on his face, and then, suddenly, there was a small flash of light in front of Sazed, and a little piece of metal clinked to the ground from Angus' free hand.

Taako wasn't sure what was happening until Sazed's hold loosened a fraction as he glanced down in confusion, but before he could correct his grip, Angus was slamming his foot down on Sazed's and slamming an elbow into the guy's stomach.

Sazed choked and Angus wriggled out of his hold, and Taako immediately shot off magic missile. At the same moment, Magnus rushed forward with Railsplitter raised above his head, only to be stopped by Angus shouting "wait!"

Magnus wasn't an easy guy to stop in his tracks, even for himself, and he clearly couldn't stop his momentum entirely, instead turning and slowing his hit enough to crack Sazed in the side of the head instead of getting him with the sharp of the sword. Sazed still went down, unmoving.

"Ango, what's up?" Magnus asked, frowning down at the kid. "I was gonna take this asshole to Pound Town."

"You can't kill him!" Angus insisted.

"Agnes, he- this is the guy that killed your parents. I thought you- came after him for that," Taako said, crouching in front of Angus and very definitely not scanning his eyes over the kid frantically, seeking any sign of injury.

"Yes, but not to kill him! To hand him over to the authorities!" Angus insisted.

"Baby, that's real sweet and idealistic of you, but I'd like to just kill the fucker and get the hell out of here now, mmkay?" Taako asked.

Angus shook his head emphatically. "No, you don't get it! It's not about following the laws- it's- he's the only person that can prove you innocent, sir!"

As Angus looked up at him with big, worried eyes, Taako felt his heart flip in his chest strangely. He did not fucking deserve this kid's love. But he was selfish enough that nothing was gonna get him to let it go either. By this point, he was pretty sure that trying would only hurt Angus' feelings anyway.

"Right! Good thinking Djangus!" Magnus said, digging into his bag and pulling out some rope. He promptly started to tie up Sazed, and Angus watched carefully, before apparently deciding that Magnus was doing an acceptable job.

Angus' mouth made a little 'oh' of realization, and he darted back to where Seeker Maya was still collapsed, reaching a hand to her neck to check for a pulse.

"She's alive! Mister Merle?" he called back.

"Huh?" Merle said, frowning.

"Heal her, dipshit," Taako said, pushing Merle in that direction and watching Magnus finish tying up Sazed. Now that Angus had stopped watching, Magnus was tying him tighter- a little too tight to be comfortable, clearly, and Taako smirked in satisfaction at the sight.

After a moment of that, Taako glanced back over to Angus, fighting the urge to grab him and hug him. He could see that the kid was fine. He didn't need to be a sap.

He did still feel a sudden flash of jealousy when Magnus finished tying Sazed and immediately ran to scoop Angus up into a hug. Angus giggled happily at the action, but Taako still lightly punched Magnus in the shoulder, saying, "Great idea. Swing the former hostage around without even checking if he's got any injuries first. Can't possibly go wrong with that."

"He seemed pretty okay when he kicked the shit out of his captor, so I figured he's fine," Magnus said, though he still set Angus back down on the ground carefully.

Angus used the freedom of movement to dart over to Taako and wrap his arms around him in a hug too. Taako returned it instinctively.

"Um, we should probably tell Madame Director what's happening," Angus said, after a moment, pulling back slightly.

"She can wait," Taako said, tugging Angus forward again. Angus giggled again, and Taako would never admit how much he loved the sound because it would completely ruin his too-cool attitude if he even tried to explain it.

"Okay, but I want to go home, and she's the person that can send us the mode of transport we need for that," Angus said.

"Good point," Taako agreed, pushing the button on his bracer without letting Angus go, not all that surprised when his Stone of Farspeech started to ring almost immediately after.

He did pull away at that, accepting the call.

"Taako? Did you find Angus?" the Director's voice came through, urgent and afraid.

"Yeah, brat's right here," Taako said, casual.

"Hello, Madame Director!" Angus chirped eagerly, and Lucretia sighed in relief at her end of the line.

"Yeah, so, get one of those bubbles on it's way. We're heading the fuck home," Taako said, and he didn't even register the fact that he'd started to see this place and these people as home until he was on his way back up, Magnus and Merle in two of the other seats, and Angus sitting next to him, fighting the urge to fall asleep in order to keep mumbling about how much he loved the three of them.

He was heading home.

[skip-to-my-lup]

that’s not my name pt. 5

Previous

The fifth time hurts a bit.

It's been over a month and Taako has yet to hear from this Lup girl.

He shouldn’t be all that disappointed. There was also a part of him that understood all of the logical reasons why. They didn't even know if they were really related.  They were effectively strangers. And, if they weren’t actually related. Then, there was no real reason for them to include each other in their own lives.

It's just... there's another part of him, a small part mind you, that's almost worried. Did something happen to her? Did she second guess all of this?

Is he not worth her time?

No matter how much he's tried to reign in his hope, it had grown ever since that first old man first mistook him for this Lup girl. And while he has gotten used to forgetting about his childhood hopes to find his family (a family, really). The thought that he isn't completely alone in this world has rooted itself deep in his heart and refuses to let go, despite his doubts and attempts to get rid of it.

Waiting it out takes a lot out of him, though. And Taako was already tired from his job all of the time. So he does his best to forget about all of it.

Kravitz and his son, Angus, fill a lot of his time, which helps. A lot.

If Taako is being honest, involving himself with someone who has a child scared him quite a bit at first. He's more of the free-spirit type. And he didn't usually do the whole kids... thing.

Much to Taako's surprise, though, Angus is easy to get along with.

It helps that the kid is smart. And not even just book smart, which he very much is, he is also, oddly enough, quite street smart. He's always looking into mysteries and his ability to suss out a situation could be downright terrifying if the kid wasn't also kind of cute.

And, to top it all off, he only got annoying when Taako was tired. Which, all things considered, isn't because Angus was actually annoying. It's not like the kid can help Sazed's worsening attitude or something.

And Kravitz...

Kravitz is a godsend.

Granted, their first date alone had been pretty... awkward to say the least. Not like he could really blame the guy. He loves his kid with all of his heart. It was only natural that he had to make sure Taako wasn't going to just waltz in and out of their lives leaving a brokenhearted kid behind. It's something that Taako respected immensely that night and can't help but admire more and more as the days go by.

Once he knew that Taako wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, though, he warmed almost immediately. Now he gushes about the things he loves (mostly Angus). And, to top it all off, he isn't afraid to give Taako the best hugs that he's  ever received.

Best part was that they didn't have to do the whole song and dance thing that usually came with dating someone. No awkward kiss after the third date. No posturing to appear to be so much cooler than either of them really were. Since Kravitz and Angus are a packaged deal, skipping to just chilling at the McDonald house just... made sense. And felt so much more natural than any sort of dating formula that Taako used to follow.

They did go on a fancy date or two. But it was probably going to be an infrequent thing. Which would make them special. And Taako adores the idea of planning a special night instead of worrying about if he can afford lavish dates. Not that he wouldn't take Kravitz on as many wonderful dates as he could. There just wasn't any rush.

Today, though,Taako is out and about with Angus.

Kravitz had mentioned needing to find a baby sitter for the kid so that he could go to an event or something for his job. He'd also mentioned how he'd love it if the two of them bonded on their own. Now, Taako isn't a genius, but sometimes he comes up with baller ideas. And, the idea of killing two birds with one stone was almost too easy to come up with.

Kravitz was ecstatic when he mentioned it to him

Taako had been so proud of himself for coming up with the idea. But, now that he's out with Angus, by himself. It scares him a bit (a lot) to be wholly responsible for another person's well-being. Also, impressing this kid seems super impossible.

But, in the end, it's surprisingly easy, all things considered.

All of the places they visit are places that Taako normally wouldn't go to by himself: the park by the lake, a local cafe, and the library. Taako'd had no idea how to entertain a kid, so he'd asked Angus to take him to all of his favorite places. And the kid had delivered, quite enthusiastically. And, while they're all in wildly different places in the city, he couldn't bring himself to be annoyed. Despite how much his feet hurt from the day before...

The kid's excitement is far too infectious for its own good.

They're in the library now. Angus can't stop talking about the latest book that he wants to read. He looks around as he gestures wildly. And while Taako can only follow along so far, he’d have to read one of these books to really get what this kid was saying, it's still pretty adorable to see how excited it makes him

After a while, Angus turns to Taako, smile wide. "I have to show you a book, sir!"

Taako tries to tell him that he can drop the sir shtick, but Angus is suddenly pulling him towards the back of the library with more force than he’d expected from such a small child. He can't help but notice that, while the kid is still talking excitedly about this book, his posture is stiff and there’s an urgency in his steps that wasn’t there before. It's quite suspicious.

Once they're in a secluded part of the library, Angus picks up a book at random. Then, under his breath, he says:

"Someone is following you, sir."

Taako goes to check for himself, but Angus shoves the book into his hands and mimics pointing something out on the page. Taako look down at pictures of plants, unfocused on the page.

"Don't be so obvious," the boy chastises. As if he's done this before. Which, he probably has, from what Kravitz has said about his sleuthing escapades.  

"Who is it?" Taako asks. He pretends to be interested in what's on the page. Something about poisonous plants, he half notices a picture of bella donna in the corner.

"I've never seen her before. But, she's been following us at least from the cafe.

Which had been two hours ago, half of which they’d spent riding a bus from the other side of town.

Taako turns to Angus, was this kid nuts?

"Why didn't you say something earlier?!"

Angus shushes him and mimes pointing to another picture, bell flower.

"I wasn't sure if it was a coincidence or not until she followed us into the library." Angus looks up and nods. "You can look now, sir."

Taako follows Angus' gaze and find a woman pretending to be overly interested in a book. There's a shock of white hair on her head (he'd kill for a dye job that good) and her clothes are conservative in a way Taako could never wear, but this woman pulls off really well. Maybe a business professional?

"Sir."

Taako turns. "Yeah, Ango?"

"I think I can cause a distraction if you want to make a break for it."

Taako's blood runs cold.

Was this kid suggesting that he just leave him here?!

Ok, he's definitely going to have a discussion with Kravitz about allowing Angus to read any more detective books. Didn't matter that the kid wasn't technically his, he really didn't like that his first response to a would-be stalker was to run interference for him, the adult, leaving him, the child , vulnerable to bring abducted.

"We're not chancing a kidnapping today, kid."

"I can take care of myself! Besides, she's not paying any attention to me. She's only been watching you the whole time, sir"

Taako frowns. If that's the case...

The likelihood that she's a part of that weird-ass group of people that he keeps running into seems pretty likely the longer he thinks about it.

Well, if she wasn't going to seek him out, then it's on him, he supposes.

Better to get it out of the way so that he and Angus can get back to hanging out.

"Yeah, well Taako can take care of himself, too."

He doesn't give Angus any warning before he walks over to the odd woman.

"Can I help you?" He asks once he's nearby.

This straightforwardness throws her for a loop. She looks to be the type to not be easily flustered. But she's obviously never met Taako before so...

She clears her throat and composes herself in record time.

He'd have been impressed if she hadn't been stalking him all day.

"I'm not sure we should really do this now," she says, looking at Angus, pointedly.

"Pretty sure the kid can handle hearing about whatever beef you have with me. Right?"

Angus nods.

The woman sighs. "Alright. I wanted to handle this with delicacy, but if you insist..."

Taako raises an eyebrow, inviting her to continue.

This ought to be good.

Giving up all pretense of pretending, she shuts the book in her hand and places it carefully back on the bookshelf. She takes a deep breath and turns to Taako anger burning coolly in her eyes.

"I have to admit. I thought better of you. Did you know that Barry's actually been planning to propose to you? Do you even care about his feelings, Lup?"

Hachi Machi.

It takes everything in Taako not to laugh in this lady's face. He can feel a stitch in his side form from the effort, but valiantly keeps his composure. Mostly.

"And all of your friends!" She continues. " Did you even stop to think about how your... your adultery would look to them? No one is going to side with you on this!"

She takes a deep breath and collects herself. She hadn't yelled, but her composure had broken.

"Did you... Did you even think of how I would feel?" Her voice breaks on that last one.

He really should stop her before she goes much further. He can't fully empathize with what she's going through, but he does feel some semblance of pity. Also it’d probably be a dick move to ruin this Lup girl’s life without reason.

And he doesn't need boy-wonder here getting any wrong ideas.

"I think you've got the wrong tall, blonde, good-looking person here, lady," he says, not unkindly.

Her brown eyes narrow, but he cuts her off before she can ingest any more of her foot via her open mouth.

"When was the last time you talked to... what'd you say his name was? Barry?"

"Last week."

"He ever mention meeting a Lup-look-a-like named, Taako a couple months back?"

Her face scrunches up. "No... Lup. I really don't think—"

"Give him a call."

"Lup. If you just promise to break things off with that man and promise not to meet up with him again, then I won't—"

"Call him."

The woman sighs. She pulls out her phone and presumably makes a call.

"It's your funeral, Lup."

"Pretty sure you're the one that's going to be embarrassed to death here, but go off I guess."

Taako looks over to Angus. He's furiously taking down notes. Great. He really hopes the kid is objective with his note-taking.

"Yes. Hello, Barry?" She starts. "Yes, I'm okay. I was just calling to see if you couldn't help me debunk something. See, I have Lup here, pretending—"

The woman's eyebrows knit together.

"What do you—" She turns to Taako. She looks him up and down.Trying to make sense of him and whatever Barry must be telling her.

Then, mortification settles on her face.

Bingo.

"Oh. I see."

Taako can't help but burst out laughing. He laughs so hard that his sides start hurting again and everyone stares at them.

"Well, tha—" He can see the embarrassment morph into annoyance. "Yeah. Yeah he is."

She rolls her eyes as she extends her phone to him. "Here."

"What?" He asks, staring at the proffered phone.

"Just take it," she says.

He does.

Then, a voice that sounds familiar, but not too familiar speaks.

"Hey, we've really gotta work on this whole phone number thing.

[bastionkeeper]

Taako Day Chapter 4

Taako was not enjoying his jail cell one bit.

For starters he was sharing it with a rather angry human who wouldn’t stop beating at the bars and screaming to be let out.

Then there was the general comfort level: the lumpy bed, the leak in the roof, the smell.

He was playing it cool and polite until he was served lunch, then he threw a tantrum.

“What even is this?” he gestured towards the gray mush on his plate. “I-I-I cannot believe the injustice in our prison systems! You serve…you serve THIS to living people??”

“LET ME OUT OF HERE, I’LL KILL YOU ALL!” his cellmate roared, drowning him out. Taako couldn’t have that, he wanted to be heard.

So he cast knock on the door and let the guy out.

“Seriously, what is this?” Taako asked, leaning in the doorway of the cell as the guards struggled to force the angry man back into another cell.

“Sit down, and shut up,” a guard told him as he locked the cell again. “Anymore magic and we’ll sedate you.”

“Promise?” Taako asked. “It has been such a long day, I could go for a sedative or two, maybe a screwdriver.” He winked, but the guard just scowled.

Taako sighed, tossing the plate to the ground in a bit of childish rage and flopping back down on the bed. He wondered if Angus had started detectiving. He knew no one could stop the kid once he put his mind to a mystery, and he sort of felt comforted by the fact that the kid was no doubt clearing his name right now.

 Angus woke up outside the warehouse, laying on his back in someone’s lap. For a moment he thought it was Kravitz, but a closer look revealed a pair of elven ears under the black reaper hood.

“You alright, Ango?” Lup asked. “That was some nasty stuff in there, Barry’s having a field day getting rid of it.”

“Auntie Lup,” Angus said, for Lup had insisted he call her that, “how did you find me?”

“We…uh…” Lup shrugged and gave Angus a grin. “…we felt your life force flicker there, buddy.”

“Oh…” Angus swallowed. He had been dying.

“Oh thank god!” Kravitz landed nearby, transforming back into his usual shape in a puff of black feathers. “What did I say? I said to call me once you found him!”

He grabbed Angus and hugged him close, and Angus realized for the first time that Kravitz was really attached to him. He wondered why he hadn’t figured it out sooner being a detective…but somehow he’d completely missed the fact that living with Taako and Kravitz had sort of made a family out of them.

Angus hugged Kravitz back, feeling safe in his found father’s embrace. “I’m sorry…I thought I had him…”

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” Kravitz sighed. “Did you catch him?”

“He was gone by the time we got here,” Lup said. “If he’d been here, he’d be dead. Just saying.”

“We need him alive, Auntie Lup,” Angus said. “So we can clear Taako’s name.”

“I don’t see why we can’t just go bust him out and tell them to fuck off,” Lup said. “He’s one of the seven birds, he helped save the whole fucking world and they’re gonna hold him there on food poisoning charges?”

“Hun, you know Taako wouldn’t have gone with them if he hadn’t wanted to.” Barry appeared, walking over to the group. “I think he wants to do this by the book. For once in his life.”

Lup sighed. “He would get difficult now, wouldn’t he.”

“He still blames himself, even though he knows it was Sazed who actually did the poisoning,” Angus said.

The group sat quietly for a moment, thinking about their situation, when suddenly Lup’s stone of farspeech crackled to life.

“They’ve got him on trial right now! And things aren’t looking good,” Carey’s gruff voice came through the stone. “I think you better get over here.”

“We may as well, Sazed is long gone by now,” Lup sighed. “We should go see what we can do for Taako.”

Angus felt ashamed and angry tears well up in his eyes. He’d blown it. He’d had Sazed and he’d let him escape. Now Taako was in trouble and he…

It was all his fault.

As they teleported over to Glamour Springs, Kravitz noticed Angus sniffling and pulled him in close. He kept his hand on the child’s shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly.

The reaper trio and their plus one showed up in the Glamour Springs town square, where an angry mob had assembled in front of a large stage where Taako was currently being pushed out by a pair of angry guards.

“Easy there, buy a guy dinner first,” Taako snapped at them. When he noticed his family in the audience he shouted over to Kravitz. “Why did you bring Angus? This isn’t a birthday party you know.”

“Court is now in session!” a man stepped up to the podium on stage and addressed the audience. “We bring to you the one responsible for the tragic deaths in our town six years ago.”

The audience booed, some people even threw rotting fruit at Taako. To his credit, Taako didn’t even flinch when it hit his legs and splattered on his clothes. Kravitz growled and Lup looked ready to go full fireblast, but Barry put a hand on each of their arms to calm them.

“Since this is such a serious offense, we’ve decided to do things differently today,” the man said. “The accused may provide one witness to prove his innocence, and if we don’t like what they have to say then we move on to the punishment.”

“What the fuck?” Taako said. “Uh, yeah, okay, who am I gonna call? Taako was a lone wolf back then, baby, didn’t exactly have any friends to vouch for me.”

“I’ll vouch for him.”

The audience gasped and parted for Lucretia as she approached the stage. She looked fierce and regal, even though her hands were shaking as she held the temporal chalice.

Kravitz grinned, sure that this would save the day.

Lucretia came up on stage and held the chalice out for the audience to see. She closed her eyes for a moment, channeling her magic into the relic. Then she opened her eyes again, and they were glowing with white energy. When she opened her mouth to speak it wasn’t her voice that came out, it was the voices of the dead.

“We died that day, at the unwitting hand of the elf,” the voices said. “fed poison by a man who was supposed to die by it. His assistant, wronged, conspired to take his life and ours with it. He is guilty only of hubris and cruelty.”

Taako flinched and looked down at his feet, his face contorting into a frown. Lucretia’s eyes closed again and she collapsed to her knees, groaning and clutching at her head. The audience watched in awed silence, until finally the judge on stage raised a hand.

“This is magic trickery,” he said. “How can we take the word of the dead? We have no way of knowing this is true or not!”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Lup yelled. “That’s a fucking relic! Are you that stupid? Let my brother go!”

“We will have justice for the dead!” the man shouted, and the audience cheered with him. Angus’s eyes grew wide, and he realized that he was running to Taako. The guards tried to block him, but he cast blink the way Taako had taught him too and reappeared next to his mentor’s side. Taako was non-responsive, kneeling on the stage with tears in his eyes. Angus grabbed his shoulders and shook him, yelling his name and begging for him to free himself and escape.

“You have to go Taako, you have to go!” he said.

“Only death can pay for death!” the man said and the audience cheered again, hungry for blood. Lup, Kravitz, and Barry summoned their scythes, Carey and Killian appeared from the crowd with their weapons drawn too. Lucretia was still recovering from the chalice, and Taako and Angus were still kneeling on the stage in a tearful conversation when someone shouted.

“Stop!”

Everyone turned towards the voice, and saw a nervous man clutching at his own hands and trembling as he approached.

“Stop…please…” Sazed said. “I…I’m tired of running…”

“Sazed?” Taako looked up in disbelief.

“I’m tired of running…” Sazed repeated himself, sniffling and wiping tears from his eyes. “It was me. I killed those people. I did it to kill Taako and give him a bad name. I wanted…I just wanted him to share the show with me…I wanted him to love me back…”

The man on the stage looked down at Sazed for a long silent moment. Then he sighed and nodded to the guards.

They unlocked Taako’s cuffs, and the elf only collapsed further on the stage, steadying himself with his freed hands. Then the guards cuffed Sazed and dragged him back towards the jail cells behind the stage. As Sazed passed Taako the two shared a glance full of so many emotions and thoughts it was impossible to tell what was going on between them. Finally, Taako whipped his head away, and Sazed whimpered at the motion before being dragged out of sight.

“You are free to go,” the man said to Taako, not looking directly at him.

“I think you owe him an apology!” Angus said, surprised at how his voice didn’t tremble.

“…” the man sighed. “We apologize for your treatment and the false accusations you are now free to go.”

Lup ran up to her brother and fixed the man with a glare so fierce he stumbled backwards a few steps. She helped Taako up and then Lucretia. She took their arms, one in each hand, and led them down towards the rest of the group.

Taako gave Lucretia a look, the same kind he always gave her ever since he’d pointed the umbrastaff at her two years ago. However, despite his eyes saying he would never forgive her, his mouth said “thank you.”

Lucretia gave a tired nod, and let Lup lead her towards a portal.

[strawbebbynya]

Body and Soul, Chp. 12

AO3 | FF.net | Patreon

FIRST CHAPTER | PREVIOUS CHAPTER | NEXT CHAPTER

After the capital-F-Fiasco with Angus, Taako had been pouting nonstop. He moped about the human’s kitchen, using what little magic he had recently been able to access to do self-pity cooking. Not like they could actually eat, but Lup knew better than to stop him; besides it’s not like the human did much cooking, and he seemed to appreciate having well-cooked food greatly.

Throughout the four weeks they stayed with him, the human continued his repairs on their new bodies whenever a new glitch popped up, which, in Taako’s case, happened often. When Taako was on the table, Lup would hover over the human’s shoulder as he worked; part curiousity, part protectiveness for her sibling. He would sometimes look over his shoulder when Taako made a particularly distressed noise and flash a tired smile at her and…

And by the gods, it set her circuits on fire.

Her brother didn’t take to the human like she did; he tolerated his presence, but would sometimes make remarks about him, mostly directed at his appearance, and Lup couldn’t help but jump to his defense. Taako then started teasing her, poking fun at how she always seemed to develop crushes on older human men.

It wasn’t as though elves didn’t— hadn’t propositioned her for her services in the past; she just liked older humans more. Elves her age were still young, but believed themselves to know everything, and to be far above humans. Humans, as they neared the middle of their tiny lifespans, often became a lot wiser than elves, like they had more knowledge acquired by virtue of not living for almost a millennia.

You’re thinking loud again, Lulu. Bronze for your thoughts?

Lup looked up from the book she’d long since stopped reading, draped over the armchair she’d designated as her own by now. Thinkin’ about humans, I guess, she beeped, twisting around to look at him. About my old life. About all that we lost.

He snorted, focusing on preparing a chicken roast. I lost ten years with Sazed. He almost ruined my show, and made me forget you. This? This ain’t nothin’.

Says the shakran who’s been pouting for days now, she teased, sticking her tongue out at him. Still, it always unnerved her to hear about the life he lead when she had left for the war; Sazed, one of Taako’s exes, had knocked him around so badly he had ended up with some pretty bad amnesia. Though he had recovered and built a name for himself with his up and coming TV show, it always pained Lup to see those journals he’d kept to keep track of his memories during his time alone.

Look, it was a moment of weakness. I… just miss my magic boy.

Lup climbed out of the chair and crossed over to Taako, hugging him close and kissing his temple. We’ll get through this, Koko. I promise.

Whatever Taako wanted to say next was interrupted by the sound of the basement door opening and the human’s footsteps coming down the stairs. Lup unwrapped herself from her brother, patting his shoulder.

The human was carrying a bag and looking very excited as he gently took Lup’s shoulder— he probably expected Taako wished to finish cooking— and guided her to the workshop table. She always hated when she had to have her new body cut open again— it always brought memories back of the scalper— but it was worth feeling a little more living after the fact.

The knife cut carefully into her skin, and she tried not to scream again.

For Taako’s sake.

Kravitz adjusted his tie and took a deep breath, inhaling the awful smell of necromancy before him. It wasn’t… evil necromancy, per se. The smells came in different forms, based on intention and usage, and this smell was probably the rosiest of all of them, and the rarest. It was the smell of someone who practiced necromancy simply to learn, to study.

And so, the reaper knocked on the door of Harold James Hallwinter.

There was a shout from downstairs, the sound of falling objects, and cursing. Kravitz held back a smile, trying to keep his professional demeanor in check. One of his old contacts, Julia, had recommended he take in one of the man’s bots to take care of the temple/funeral home when he was out on an excursion for his Queen. Besides, he had no shortage of coin to spare for one.

A harried, balding man opened the door, his glasses askew and shirt covered in grease stains. “Mr. Kravitz!” he said, gasping for air. “I- I didn’t expect you to be- be here so soon!”

Kravitz flashed a tight smile, tugging on a skull cufflink. “You said come any time, if I recall.”

“Right, right, I- I said that,” he muttered to himself, stepping aside. “Please, come inside. I was just working on one of the bots that I… acquired a bit ago.”

Kravitz followed the stout man down the creaking stairs, listening to him give him a sales pitch about his bots. They seemed quite competent so far— a bot that was capable of making something better than takeout was incredibly tempting, too.

“Mr. Harold, if I may—”

“Barry is just fine. My mother actually wanted me to go by Sildar, my father’s name, but it was too close to my, well, dead name, pun not intended in present company,” he added nervously, waiting for Kravitz at the bottom step.

“Right. Mr. Barry, you said these bots were having some technical problems?”

“Uh, yeah, they have a few more repairs to do, especially the bot that cooks. It suffered some pretty damaged when I found it, like it’d been knocked around by a gang of kids. It has some issues with mobility, tics, the like, but all that needs to be done for either of them is one last check-up after installing the audio processors, then they’ll be good to go. They, uh, won’t let me crack open their mainframes to get at the underlying problems, but it shouldn’t be detrimental.”

Kravitz nodded, walking side-by-side with the engineer towards a workshop table with a body lying on it. “As long as the problems don’t ruin a loved one’s face, I won’t force it under the knife.”

“I’m sure it’ll be happy to hear that. Oh, this one isn’t the one with the problems, really, but it’s the one I started first. The other one is over in the living area,” he said, pointing towards a blocked off area. “I let them run around if they want.”

And out stepped an elven bot with brightest glowing soul Kravitz had ever seen.

[bastionkeeper]

Taako Day Chapter 3

I haven’t seen anyone make the connection between the title and the reference I’m making so now I just feel stupid using such a simple title lmao. Two chapters and an epilogue left!

Tracking down a near nobody from six or so years ago was not an easy task, but if anyone could do it Angus could.

They made use of Kravitz’s reaper powers to teleport from town to town, visiting each stop on the old Sizzle it Up With Taako tour to ask around about the elusive Sazed.

In some towns the mention of Taako being jailed brought people to tears and anger, they wanted to help however they could. Unfortunately, no one seemed to know a thing about Taako’s old assistant.

They were visiting their fifth town, and Kravitz was starting to look hopeless, by the time they got a lead.

“Yeah, that guy passed through here forever ago.” The dragonborn woman said around a mouthful of bread. “I remember cause they stopped in here a lot, and the guy was always glued to Taako’s side like a little tumor. It was weird seeing him alone.”

Angus and Kravitz shared a hopeful look. “Did he stay in town?” Angus asked.

“For a night or two,” the dragonborn woman bit into the loaf of bread and tore off another piece. “Then he was headed out towards Goldcliff. That was forever ago though, I don’t know if he’s still there.”

“Thank you,” Kravitz shook her hand, and looked like he might hug her too. “Come on, Angus, let’s get to Goldcliff.”

Angus went over his notes as they walked through the portal and entered the dark cold space between planes. He was used to teleporting like this by now, so he was able to read what he’d written down without distraction.

The notes didn’t exactly paint a pretty picture of the person Taako used to be, but Angus didn’t really think much of that. Everyone knew Taako wasn’t the nicest person when it came to strangers, but if he cared about you he made it known.

Angus touched the silver wand in his pocket, and felt a surge of sadness run through him. He shook it off, this was no time to be sad. What would Caleb Cleveland do? He would focus himself on the case, not the person affected by it.

They arrived in Goldcliff, not too far from where Hurley and Sloane lived in their cherry blossom tree.

“We should split up, this is a large city and we need to cover a lot of ground fast,” Angus said.

“I can’t leave you alone in Goldcliff!” Kravitz said. “You’re very mature and capable but you’re still twelve and there’s dangerous people here.”

“I have my stone of farspeech, I can call you if I run into any trouble and you can be there in a second!” Angus insisted. “Please, sir, we need to do this fast. We don’t know how long Taako has to prove himself.”

Kravitz looked very torn, but eventually he gave a reluctant nod. “Call me the minute you find him, or if anyone so much as looks at you funny!”

The reaper wrapped his raven feather cloak around him and with a popping sound transformed into a raven. He took to the skies, leaving Angus to his investigation.

           There was definitely a lot of ground to cover, but Angus managed to narrow down the search area after talking to some people around town. Most had never heard of Sazed, but a small few were familiar with Taako’s show and the quiet assistant that had joined him.

“I think that guy lives down in the alchemist’s distract,” one man said, pointing the distract out to Angus. “I’d be careful, that place is no good.”

“I’ll be fine, sir.” Angus tipped his hat to the man and took off in that direction.

The alchemist’s distract was literally darker than the rest of town. It was set into a lower section of the cliff, and there were many curtains draped between the rooftops leaving the area in dark shade.  There were potion and bomb shops in every direction, and reagents grew wild between the cobblestones.

A goblin actually yelled at Angus for almost stepping on a bit of deathroot growing in the middle of the road, and he was careful to watch his step after that.

Asking around got him mostly silence and suspicious glares, but one tiefling woman was helpful enough.

“He lives down in the old warehouse where they used to work with lead,” she said. “Back before Goldcliff found another way to get rich. He’s been squatting there for years.”

Angus thought about calling Kravitz, but decided against it. He looked less suspicious on his own, without a terrifying reaper man looming over him. He could sneak up on Sazed and cast hold person on him before he knew what was happening. He could save Taako and clear his name, all before they cut the cake just like Taako promised.

The warehouse door was locked, but that was fine as Angus knew better than to go through the front door and alert Sazed to his presence. Instead, he went around to the side of the building where a wall of crates had been stacked, and climbed up the sturdiest ones to peek in through the dusty and cracked window.

Using his enchanted magnifying glass, he could see that someone had been in the room recently. There were footprints dotting the floor, and he could also see a tripwire by the front door that would have released several incendiary bombs if Angus had been fool enough to enter that way.

Suddenly there was movement, and a man entered through the back door of the warehouse. Judging by his protruding lower teeth and the nubby horns on his head, he had some orc or maybe tiefling blood in him. He was short and stout, with messy brown hair and unkempt facial hair. He looked perpetually nervous, not so much in his face but just in his eyes. They were always peering around as if expecting someone to jump out and surprise him.

Angus pulled his wand from his pocket and cast knock on the window, unlatching it so he could sneak inside. He was able to land on the floor without being noticed with a quick featherfall charm that Taako had given him. Then he cast silence on himself and began creeping up towards Sazed.

He had done so well, sneaking in and casting cautionary magics, it was almost worse that he was found out by chance alone.

Sazed turned around, not because he had heard Angus or suspected his presence. He just turned around and saw him by luck alone. Angus froze, still too far away to cast a spell.

“Stop right there!” he said, voice quivering. “Sazed, I’m bringing you in for the murders at Glamour Springs!”

Terror gripped Sazed’s body, and his eyes went wide. He reached for a vial at his belt and threw it in Angus’s direction. Before Angus could decide what to do, the vial cracked on the ground and filled the room with a thick smoke. Angus coughed, it felt like his lungs were on fire. It was toxic, he didn’t know what, but he knew he was dying by breathing it in.

“…K…Kravitz…” he called out weakly, but there was no response on his stone of farspeech.

The world’s greatest and youngest detective collapsed to the floor, and Sazed made his escape.