#sizzle it up with taako

[fandomssaremysoul]

Not to be in my Taz Balance feels but..

Sometimes Taako, before Accident during his show, would totally zone out while cooking and ends up preparing the table for seven people, but he doesn't remember why,,,, sometimes he'd encounter a new animal or a beautiful plant and muse about how they would have loved this,, but who were they??

Sometimes Merle would get bored and start shuffling a deck of cards, only to split it and realizing that no one was coming to play, and what were even the rules for this game? (bc he and davenport would come up with new games, with wild rules just to fuck around with the rest of the crew) Merle once bought a beautiful pastel blue journal bc he thought that she (she? Which she?) would appreciate the craftsmanship,, he got really confused while wrapping it into a godawful wrapping paper,, who was he gonna give this? (later the journal would find its way to Lucretia, not without a crude joke about plants, a badly drawn dog and a motivational quote, she sobbed when she saw it, but only after sending the three to their next mission)

Magnus always carved ducks, he didn't know why or how he learned he just knew how to. Sometimes he would finish a particularly good duck and smile, then he'd stand up, Intending to give it to... To whom? Nobody really wanted the ducks, except for kids usually. Sometimes he would wonder the forest, looking for some good wood, when he'd suddenly think, I need to go back I was supposed to stay on the.. On the what? No wait that doesn't make sense, he's not supposed to be anywhere and no one is gonna be annoyed bc he forgot he it was his turn to wait... To wait for what though? sometimes he read a book and called out for an explanation but the man? Person? Didn't answer and Mangus who did you call out for? You're alone (months, years later he'd pick up a book from his friends Taakos collection and get an explanation,, but the feeling of rightness but not quite, expecting someone warmer and someone more patient to explain it to him,, it didn't help when Taakos first instinct was to say "don't ask me idiot do I look like a nerd ask,.." and then he stopped only to shake his head bc who else could Magnus ask if he was the only wizard here)

The trio doesn't know why or how but finally, when they met, finally someone understood that the days were somehow not hot enough, that they were always just a bit too chilly

[vedlei]

taako deserves the world. I hope he’s having SUCH a good day right now miss him dearly

[miko5200]

Taako

Yknow, from TV?

[fuckin-flip-wizard]

Seething with jealousy over this fictional character's imaginary cookware (/hj)

[auricdrake]

EVERYONE STOP

Go vote for Taako, you know, from TV? Yeah, that's the one!! He needs you to help him give a resounding Abraca-f**k-you to a catboy.

VOTE NOW!

[foxy-alien]

T - A - double K -!

Thank you to @fioblah for letting me steal your boy! Here he is back all safe and sound

[argonaut--keene]

Okay fuck it, even if I don't finish it anytime soon or ever, I have 40 chapters of this fic that have been waiting to see the light of day for years and you know what, they're good, so I'm going to share them. Get ready, it's time to find Another Way

[somelazyassartist]

Don't tell me how long it will take to cook a meal. I WILL take longer

[warraigoe]

@timewontwait sent :

👋 Do you and the mun agree on something? // FOR TAAKO!!!

❝  other  than  the  fact  that  while  we  both  may  be  twins,  we  agree  that  our  sister  is  the  coolest  person  ever  ?  ❞

❝  i  mean  --  nothing  else  really  matters  !  well,  other  than  the  fact  that  we  both  know  that  i'm  amazing  and  beautiful. ❞

[anistarrose]

I've both written and read TAZ fics where Barry, regularly or semi-regularly, attends Taako's Sizzle it Up performances during the voidfished decade — and obviously, I like the trope, but I never thought before about how much sense it could make. the way I previously conceptualized it, and the way I've seen others conceptualize it, works well in its own right — Barry needs emotional anchors, and seeing Taako even when he's amnesiac helps provide those anchors for when he inevitably dies a few days or weeks later. as a bonus, he gets to check in and make sure Taako's doing well. this is all intuitive.

however, a third reason for Barry visiting Taako has occurred to me recently. see, Barry's looking for Lup. but himself, Barry has to spend the majority of his current existence hiding. surely, he realizes — if Lup were to free herself on her own, from whatever's trapping her, she wouldn't know where to look for him.

but you know who is a very public, well-advertised face? a celebrity, in fact? Taako. I'm sure Barry had unshakeable confidence that if Lup were freed, she would find Taako faster than anyone — so checking in on Taako is itself an act of searching for Lup. in fact, I can think of nothing else that Barry would hope for so desperately, so stubbornly, to keep him going in spite of all his own failures — the hope that somehow, the twins will find each other. (and, it goes without saying — it didn't happen how Barry thought it might, but eventually, the twins did.) in other words, this premise is now even more canon in my heart than it had been previously.

[jerreeeeeee]

Balance fic recs

some of my favorite balance fics. various ages, popularities, and lengths. i’ve been wanting to do a rec list for a while!

caramel by nevereverever

The first time Taako is left alone, it isn't pretty. But their lives are stuck in a loop and people come back and die again and again and he wonders if there will ever be a time when he doesn't have to fear being left alone.

2.7k, Taako & Lup Lup dies one cycle and then, years later, she dies again. But she always comes back. Hurt/comfort of the best kind.

Warmth by noxic

"It was a well-known fact among the residents of the Starblaster that Lup, Barry, and Taako slept in the same bed more often than not. It was one of those things that they just did without really talking about it."

2.1k, Barry & Lup & Taako The BLT fic of all time. Quality platonic adult sleepovers.

Taako the Matchmaker by @fantasysamsclub

In which Taako tries to set up his sister. Events take place during Stolen Century.

11.1k, Blupjeans & Taako Taako tries to set up blupjeans. Miscommunication ensues. Very sweet and funny.

red fishing line by @anistarrose

A routine performance of Sizzle it Up goes nightmarishly wrong, and at Lup’s bedside, Taako feels helpless. And when a red-robed guest appears before him, Taako doesn’t know how or what to feel at all.

3k, Barry & Lup & Taako Also the BLT fic of all time. Excellent subtle Taako characterization, and my favorite depiction of the familiarity-but-not of being voidfished. Warning for major character death.

Sunny-Side Up by @barry-j-blupjeans

And the world? The world loved Taako. For once in his gods-damned life, people loved him. They didn’t care about all the flaws, they didn’t care where he came from or who he was before. They loved his food and they loved him. No one would ever quite be at Taako’s level and that was something he thrived on. There would never be anyone who could measure up. Taako deserved this happiness. He worked for it. He wasted his fucking life away for it.

5.7k, Taako A wonderful character study, revolving around the role food plays in Taako's life. Fairly minor but impactful characters like Sazed and Taako's aunt are utilized in a very meaningful way. So well-written and warm. Warning for brief suicidal ideation.

On the Deck of the Starblaster by @papergardener

“What the… what are you all doing? We have work to do!” It’s a justified reaction, Lucretia thinks, to finding your entire crew literally lazing about on deck not an hour into this new cycle. “This one's on me,” Taako says. “It’s a new trend I like to call: taking a fucking break.” Cycle Nintey-Five. Everyone’s maybe not doing so good and could use a little warmth.

6.5k, Lucretia & Taako Near the end of the century, Lucretia is feeling rough. Taako pulls her out of her funk and initiates a much needed rest. Fantastic characterization, of Lucretia as a whole, and the loyal, warm side of Taako. Warning for mentions of a suicide attempt and suicidal ideation.

leaving, as an injustice by @anistarrose

When Mavis is eight, she starts finding her Dad asleep on the couch in the morning. Sometimes, he’s even all the way out on their tiny patio, with his head slumped onto a pillow atop the chess table, and bags beneath his eyes. In one of their following games, he tells her about tactical retreats.

4.7k, Mavis & Merle A study of Mavis and her relationship to Merle. Incredibly insightful into criminally underrated characters. Excellent Merle characterization.

Permission by vaguenotion

She’d been doing this on and off for the last hour, as if daring the men to catch up to them. Daring them to fight her. Every time seemed like a final stand. Here is where I will meet them, her shoulders said, hiked up around her ears. Here is where I’ll make them pay for what they’ve done. But then Taako would grab her hand, and she would turn and see the bruising on his throat, the blood drying on his brow, the tear in his shirt. And she would grip his hand in hers and together they would keep running.

12.6k, Taako & Lup My favorite depiction of the twins as children, both in character and realistic. Beautifully atmospheric, with so many small details that make the setting feel so real. Warning for assault and harm to children.

Come Hell or High Water by @nillial

“Taako,” Hurley asks, “where’s your magic umbrella?” Taako looks behind him. He had tossed the Umbrastaff in the path of a neighboring vehicle, which was beginning to catch up to them. He sees them now, far in the distance, and he sees his Umbrastaff, too, lying dangerously close to its wheels. As if on cue, he watches the tires crush it to pieces. “Whoops,” he says. - Lup is trapped. And then she isn’t. --- In which Taako breaks his umbrella during the Petals to the Metal race, unknowingly freeing Lup, who is almost immediately captured by Kravitz. After becoming a member of the Raven Queen's retinue with Kravitz as her trainer, she has two missions: 1) find her family, and 2) ruin Kravitz's afterlife. A story about enemies becoming friends and lost families finding their way back to one another.

197k (currently), Lup & Kravitz Incredible characterization. I love the way Lup is written. Hilarious shenanigans, sweet friendship-building, and terribly sad sometimes, because it dives deep into the reality of Lup existing in a world that's forgotten her.

Very cold water on a very hot day by @keplercryptids

Sometimes a family is a nerd who can't swim and the crunchy-haired watersport inventor who teaches him how. Surfer lingo required.

3.1k, Barry & Taako Deep dive into the beach year. Excellently in character, well-written dialogue, and a beautiful depiction of their growing friendship.

Children of Atlas by @papergardener

They’ve survived the apocalypse and now as far as they know, they’re the only ones left. Perhaps it was inevitable that they’d consider… repopulation. Lucretia writes up a weekly schedule to try and address that. Absolutely no one is happy with this.

76k (currently), IPRE crew The premise for this one is incredibly offputting, but I'm so glad I gave it a chance. The characterization and quality of writing is absolutely wonderful. I also love the attention to detail of the realistic difficulty of just surviving. Fantastically atmospheric, this fic dives deep into the uncertainty and fear of the first cycle, when the crew are all strangers, and the love that turns them into a family. Warning for extensive discussion of sexual assault.

Emissary Davenport by DragonWrites

A series of stories where Captain Davenport is secretly an emissary of Garl Glittergold, Gnomish god of pranks. And when you're a serious-minded captain on a mission to save all of reality, having a cheerful trickster god as your unexpected patron can get a little strange...

300k, Davenport A series of four works set in an AU where Davenport is an emissary to the leader of the gnomish pantheon. My absolute favorite depiction of Davenport, ever. The first three works are explorations of Davenport as a character and the relationships between people and gods in a DnD world. The last, Lost Gods, is the best fanfiction I've ever read. I can't express how good it is. The attention to detail among myriad plot threads, the building of themes, the characterization across just about every single character in Balance, all come together to create 223k words of a genuine masterpiece.

[fuckin-flip-wizard]

Also another liveshow doodle :]

[wizardbracket]

Round 2: Match 2 of 32

Why they deserve to be the ultimate wizard according to YOU:

VR-LA:

Vanquished (so far): Baradun

"VR-LA is so so angsty and sad and doing inadvisable magics about it"

"He got high on a curse from the abyss and various other factors and looked through the weave itself"

"He is so autism wizard I LOVE him! He has a hat and he also wants to sue Arcadia!"

“He's a robot archivist with a pet sphere exploring the multiverse on a magic spaceship”

Taako:

Vanquished (so far): Lup Taaco

"Because wizard (and cooking while wizard) is his whole deal"

“Um. He's Taako? Y'know... from TV? ”

“Specializes in transmutation, which he used in his traveling cooking show Sizzle It Up with Taako.”

“He said abracafuckyou once that was funny.”

[penbattles]

Taako at the launch of Sizzle it Up

.

COMMISSIONS ARE OPEN!!

[yardsards]

the main adventure zone trios and their ability to survive the dungeon meshi dungeon:

tres horny bois: they'd take to the dungeon pretty naturally. these motherfuckers are eating monsters, touden party style, without it even being necessary. magnus "double barrel unicorn special" "ate a rock once" burnsides would be like "hey taako i bet you can't make walking mushroom taste good" and taako "sizzle it up with taako" taaco would be like "BET". these guys are used to exploring and surviving in unfamiliar worlds. they're also used to dying and being revived but that means they might get a bit reckless. also either taako or magnus would need to learn a healing spell bc merle cannot stop getting got by dryads or man eating plants. thus is the struggle of such a small party.

pine guard: the dungeon is just as much about survival as it is about fighting, and this group is pretty skilled at survival. exactly how well they fare is contingent on if they have ned or if they have thacker here, though. thacker would be an absolute natural in this environment cuz exploring unknown weird magical environments is His Whole Deal, but ned wouldn't do so well without his social connections or access to his base.

thundermen llc: they're not super cut out for this kind of thing, as their skills lie more in interpersonal and business, but they still ARE powerful fighters in their own right, and have good teamwork. the firbolg would absolutely be carrying the other two survival-wise though. also fitzroy would complain the whole time.

coriolis crew: not great. they're adapted for ocean adventures, not dungeon crawls. also, zoox would keep trying to mind-meld with monsters, and amber and devo would get into a huge fight over who would get to be king if they reach the bottom of the dungeon and if the prophesy is true.

poppy's pals: these are just guys. they might be able to survive like cockroaches on the first floor by doing some shady business deals but any deeper and they'd fuckin beef it

vs dracula: honestly not totally caught up with this season but i have on good authority (my friends in my phone who ARE fully caught up) that these three would do reasonably well. makes sense from the episodes i did listen to, they seem like a strong and balanced party and mutt's survival skills could come in handy.

feel free to add or disagree

[ceilingfan5]

🎻you keep asking if your practicing is bothering me but honestly I'm so swept away. play something for me. haha I mean freebird not a like, romantic song, that would be, wild

They smack into each other, literally, like some kind of Hallmark movie. Taako’s got his enormous fluffy cat with the face like a broken human man on a harness leash, and Kravitz was looking at his phone and not the stairs, and luckily they fall off the bottom two and not the top two, because the sun has boiled the pavement and it’s hot enough to fry whatever viscera could’ve erupted from such an impact like sausage and hash at a greasy diner with a stupid name. Waffle Lot of Love. Achin for Bacon. Maybe Kravitz should be worried about how to extricate himself from this situation unscathed, socially or physically, and not thinking of bad diner names. 

Passion for Hashin. No one give him a predatory fried egg loan. 

“Taako!” He manages, after the shit- fuck- sorry he couldn’t hold onto. 

“Kravitz!” Taako gives him a big grimace. There’s a gap between his front teeth, and Kravitz notices it anew every time they run into each other. He’s so pretty. He’s so pretty, and he’s got a cat on a leash, and he’s wearing a purple paisley blouse with billowing wizard sleeves, and booty shorts that Kravitz can assume from experience say something obnoxious on the ass. And flip flops. Okay, maybe one flip flop. The other is on the ground, and his weird cat is sniffing it. “Shit, are you okay, man?”

“Never better,” Kravitz says, struggling deeply. He wasn’t ready for a conversation, let alone one with his hot neighbor with the gap in his teeth and the freckles like a starfield and the long messy hair and the dangly, flashy earrings and the glitter in his dark eyes. “You?”

Taako laughs. 

“I’m here,” Taako says, like it’s kind of a private joke. “Garyl, knock it off.” And he steps down, past Kravitz, to get the other flop. And he leans on the bottom of the stairwell to put it back on. Garyl levels his laser eyes at Kravitz instead, and doesn’t blink for a very, very long moment. Kravitz is sweating, and not just because it is Satan’s Asscrack degrees. 

“I’m glad you’re here.” 

“What, runnin’ into you and shit?” Taako snorts. “I wasn’t looking where I was going, my bad. And Garyl, I mean, look at him. Little man needs his walkies.” 

Garyl sniffs, and curls his tail around himself. 

“I wish I had some cat treats,” Kravitz admits, and not just because he wants Taako to fall in love with him. “It’s not every day you see a cat on a leash.”

“Guess you should open your blinds more often, dude.” Taako snickers. “Or your balcony, even. Taste the sizzling grill of modern day life.”

”Oh, I don’t want to bother people with my practicing!” Kravitz laughs awkwardly. This interaction has gone on much, much longer than he expected, but also now he’s not sure how to leave, and also he’s not sure how to talk to Taako again. He’s run out of excuses a long, long time ago. “I hope it doesn’t annoy you. I got those sound proofing panels, but they’re not cheap, and I think the vents-”

“It’s fine, Krav,” Taako says, leaning on the stairwell again. Garyl yawns so widely Kravitz has to wonder if that many teeth belong in a cat, even a big one. “I like it.” 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Taako nods, slow, chill, easy,. Kravitz imagines ever having any of that kind of energy, and has to come to terms right then and there with the theory that he would not know how to handle it. “You should play something for me. Not like, romantic, like uh, Freebird.”

“Romantic?” Kravitz says, instead of fucking Freebird, are you serious? Maybe he shouldn’t have. He’s stupid though. 

“Not romantic, I said!” Taako looks hot, all flushed in the sun. 

“Oh,” he says, instead of, but why did you bring up romance anyway?

“Cause that would be wild,” Taako adds, looking harried. “Playing me- romance songs through the walls.”

“Yeah, wild,”  Kravitz laughs, so, so incredibly sweaty. “I mean I know a lot of romantic songs, for weddings and stuff, but, I don’t think they’re your style.”

“Yeah?” Taako bends down and picks Garyl up. Garyl seems completely fine with this injustice, and only makes a gentle mrrrp about it. “What is? My style, I mean?”

“Uh,” Kravitz, who will not admit to having a motherfucking Romance My Hot Neighbor Playlist, scrambles. “Yankee Doodle.”

“Fucking Yankee Doodle, dog??” Taako is startled into raucous laughter. “For why?”

“You’d rock a feathered cap,” Kravitz says, dying on the goddamn spot. 

“Fair,” Taako snickers. “Maybe I’ll have to come over and hear you play that shit on your cello sometime. Not have to experience it through the vents.” 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Taako winks. “If you like.”

“I can play better things-” Kravitz starts, desperately undigging this hole. 

“Nah,” Taako says. “I wanna hear it.” 

“Yankee Doodle and Freebird?” Kravitz isn’t here. He’s gotten heat stroke and passed out and died or something. 

“That’s the mix,” Taako says, voice pitched up trying to hold more giggles in. “Add in that Lazy Town song about baking a cake, and you’ve got a hit on your hands.”

“Only the remix version,” Kravitz says gravely, resigning himself to this fate. 

“Obviously.” 

Both of them nod. Garyl yowls. 

“Gotta take my mans potty,” Taako says, as an exit strategy. 

“For sure,” Kravitz says. “I gotta go, find sheet music for Freebird. And make a blood sacrifice to my printer.” 

“I’ll let you go then.” Taako grins at him. Kravitz is melting, just knowing Taako’s looking at him. “Until our concert?” 

“It’s a date?” Kravitz!! No! What have you done!

“Yeah,” Taako decides. “It’s a date.”