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umbraastaff · 1 year

Text

There are two figures silhouetted against the iceberg's eerie glow. Both humanoids. The first is curled over the second protectively, and the second seems to be reaching back, trying to do the same.

Barry contemplates this for a minute. He's for sure not powerful enough to bend the ice apart, and even if he was, there's no guarantee he could do it without hurting them. Assuming they're alive, anyway, which is a long shot in itself.

But he's out here alone, and this floating mass of ice might float away if he leaves it alone to go get help. So, feeling a bit like an idiot, he starts whacking at it with his club.

A few hits later and he's being blasted in the face by pressurized air. Oh, shit, the ice was hollow. With that knowledge, he smashes through more of it, to where the two figures have now fallen limp to the ground.

They're nearly identical, and they've both got long ears, like… elves. Like air nomads.

He hovers awkwardly over both of them, trying to figure out what the fuck to do. They are both comically underdressed for the weather, in elven wear designed for the light, free movements of airbenders, not for the warmth needed by earthbound (icebound) peoples. But he can see their breathing, so shallow and fragile; they're both going to die if he doesn't do anything.

Barry pulls his coat off; adrenaline lets him ignore the frozen air for now as he starts shifting them so he can get it underneath, keep their backs from lying flat against the icy ground. But as he lifts the first one, she groans, and he startles, jostling her slightly.

Her eyes fly open, and she punches him in the gut. It's definitely not at full power, being in an awkward position and half-frozen, but she clearly knows where to aim: the breath is knocked out of him, letting her shove him away and scramble to her knees.

Then she sees her twin, and she grabs his shoulders. "Taako! Taako, wake up," she hisses desperately. Her eyes only flick over to Barry once more, making sure he's staying back. Slowly, Taako comes to.

"Five more minutes," he says faintly.

"No! Get up! We're at the fucking– what pole is this?" She asks Barry sharply, pupils in slits.

"The– We're– South pole," he says, wide-eyed.

"We're at the south pole!"

That seems to wake Taako up more; he sits up of his own volition, at least. Then he twists and stretches a little, and hops to his feet with unnatural dexterity: the grace of someone being lifted by the air itself. A staff flies into his hand from the ground. "Who's this clown?"

"I don't know, I literally woke up five seconds before you. Where's my staff?"

She climbs back into the broken iceberg to look around, and Taako looks at Barry. "So what's your deal, Bluejeans?"

"Barry– I'm Barry," he says. "I'm, like, I live here. What were you doing in a fuckin' iceberg?"

Taako shrugs flippantly. Lup stands triumphantly, a bright red umbrella held up above her head. "Fuck yes!" It's in impressively good condition for apparently being frozen in this iceberg for however long. As are both of the elves.

Lup looks down to see Barry gathering his outer coat up from the ground, and her gaze softens a little in realization of what he must've been doing with it. "You should put that back on, dude, it's cold."

"I mean– I've still got thicker clothes than you without it, s-so–" Barry starts, clearly shivering. He tries to hold it out towards either one of them, but she shakes her head and nudges it back to him.

"We're good, but thanks. You should get that on before you get pneumonia."

He clearly doesn't find that a satisfactory explanation, but he can't find the words to object in the moment, either. He awkwardly starts pulling his coat back on.

"Barry, yeah? I'm Lup," says the one that isn't Taako.

"You're elves, right?"

"Uh, yeah," says Taako, ears a-twitch. "What, you can't tell?"

"Uh, how… How long were you guys in there?"

Lup frowns, turning to Taako with a furrowed brow. "Uh, like… a few days? However long it takes to float here from the Southern Air Temple? Speaking of, they're probably suuuper worried, so as cute as you are, we should probably be getting back–"

Barry's too shocked to even react to being called cute. "There's people there?"

"Yes?" Taako says; even he's letting concern color his voice now, though his ridiculously large hat covers most of his expression.

"Why wouldn't there be?" Lup asks, rounding on Barry as her expression hardens.

Barry covers his mouth with a hand.

#taz balance #the adventure zone #taz au #atla #lup #taako #barry bluejeans #mine #writes #balance #atla au #guess what ive been rewatching!#i have a whole thing with vague placements of characters n stuff but this one might be more of a prompt fueled oneshots au than a #whole massive story #im already committed to one huge gd crossover au ok so help me god #this is fun though

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writer-or-whatever · 26 days

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Training Montage

Wrote a little TAZ Amnesty piece featuring my beloved Aubrey & Duck friendship. Read under the cut or on AO3

Summary: Aubrey decides she wants to expand her skillset and asks Duck for help. Set between Season 1 and Season 2.

Rating: G | Word Count: 1.3k | Fluff & Humor

Duck opened his apartment door at 12:15—Aubrey was only 15 minutes late, which was a personal best for her—to find her holding two paper grocery bags. He didn’t manage to get a word out before she shouldered her way past him into his apartment, making a beeline for his kitchen.

“Nice to see you too, Aubrey. Why don’t you come in?” He muttered to himself as he shut the door.

“Yeah, yeah, niceties. Get in here so we can get down to business, Duck!” Aubrey called back to him. When he walked into the kitchen, she was in the process of up-ending her grocery bags onto the counter.

“What the hell could you possibly need that many frozen burritos for?”

“Training,” Aubrey said without even turning to look at him.

“Training for what?”

Aubrey turned to him with her giant stage-worthy smile and flourished her arms about. “You are looking at the future title-holder of the record for the fastest time to eat a single burrito.”

Duck just looked at her dumbly for a moment before speaking. “This is ridiculous.”

It was clear that the short minutes of Minerva’s visit last night that they’d spent coming up with a training plan for Aubrey were wasted. Which disappointed him a bit. Minerva had sounded so proud of him for ‘Taking initiative. This will aid you well on your journey, Duck Newton!’ Not that he particularly cared about that. At all. But it was a nice change of pace from her usual scolding.

“Well, it’s not like we get any recognition for the whole pine guard thing,” Aubrey said with a shrug. She quickly continued before Duck could remind her that they were supposed to keep that a secret for a reason, “Which is fine. But Mama also said I can’t do any gigs until I get my powers under control better. So, you know, gotta get a little recognition somewhere.”

“And so you chose to become the Joey Chestnut of burritos?”

“Well, his whole thing is eating a lot of things really fast, and I just want to eat one thing really fast. But yeah basically.”

“And you need me for this because…”

“Well, you’ve been training every day and I thought ‘hey, if there’s anyone who knows about discipline and determination, it’s Duck Newton,’” She said, still smiling winningly at him, though he could see little sparks from where she was fidgeting and snapping her fingers.

“And?” He asked, raising an eyebrow expectantly.

“And you have a microwave,” Aubrey admitted sheepishly.

“Well, at least you’re honest,” He said with a laugh. “Go ahead and heat one of those up and we can see what you’re working with, I guess.”

“Yes!” She said, pumping a fist. She unwrapped the first of her many vegetarian burritos while he questioned his own sanity for agreeing.

He and Minerva made a plan for Aubrey’s training and improvement, which he could probably modify for this, and he already set aside his afternoon, so he may as well go along for the ride.

Once Aubrey had her burrito (and let it cool for a few minutes—she already had enough burns, she didn’t need to add the roof of her mouth to the list), she pulled a stopwatch from one of the pockets on her vest and handed it to Duck. “Just tell me when to start, coach.”

Duck nodded. Step one: establish a baseline for performance. “Alright. Ready? Set? Go!”

The next 2 minutes and 38 seconds was one of the strangest moments in his life—he spent the time looking between her and the stopwatch and tried to ignore the sound of Aubrey chewing. He’d never be able to watch ASMR with mouth sounds again.

“2 minutes, 38.2 seconds,” He said as she swallowed her last bite. “That’s not bad? I think. What’s the record anyway?”

“31 seconds,” Aubrey burped out.

“Okay, gross. I draw the line at talking while burping. It’s just bad manners, Aubrey,” He said sternly.

“Aye, aye, captain,” she said with a salute as she stood up to make another burrito.

It was time to move on to Minerva’s Step 2: make small changes towards a goal and measure Aubrey’s progress.

“Try taking bigger bites this time,” Duck suggested when Aubrey returned with burrito number two.

“Alright. Just tell me when,” Aubrey said as she wiggled her fingers and leaned over her plate.

“Ready? Go.”

It was just as gross the second time. But Duck was starting to get invested in Aubrey’s ridiculous goal, despite himself.

“2 minutes, 29.4 seconds,” He said when she was done. “Maybe try smaller, faster bites?”

Aubrey gave a thumbs up as she headed back to the kitchen.

The third attempt clocked in at 2 minutes, 45 seconds, so clearly big bites were the way to go.

Aubrey continued to work her way through her burrito supplies and experimented with the technique. She tried varying sized bites. She tried chugging water just before she started—”For maximum lubrication, Duck.” “Gross.”—and in-between huge bites as well. After 7 burritos, her time was hovering around 1 minute and 40 seconds and she was starting to look pretty green.

“Duck?” Aubrey said as she slumped over and rested her head against the table.

“Yeah?”

“I think I’m gonna be sick.”

Duck reached down for the little trash can from his bathroom, complete with a fresh bag, which he’d gotten while she was heating up burrito number four. “Here.”

“Thanks,” She said, sitting up and clutching the small bin to her chest.

“Let’s get you to the couch to lay down,” he said gently as he took hold of her arms and helped her up and guided her to the living room. Once she was settled on her side on the couch—laying with her legs stretched over Duck’s lap so he had a place to sit in the small living room other than the floor—he switched on the TV and let Golden Girls reruns fill the silence.

After 2 and a half episodes, they were startled from their stupor by the sound of Duck’s landline ringing from the kitchen.

“Let me up,” Duck said, patting her legs gently.

Aubrey moved her legs with a groan and said, “If that’s Mama with a pine guard emergency, kindly inform her that I’ve passed on.”

“You got it,” Duck said with a laugh.

A few moments after he answered the phone, he yelled back to Aubrey, “It’s Ned. He wants to know if we want to go to dinner at the new Mexican place.”

Aubrey groaned again. “Tell him I’m never eating again! And that I hate him for even asking!” She yelled back.

Duck relayed the message to Ned, who started laughing so hard he sounded like he could barely breathe.

“You knew about her world record aspirations then, I take it,” Duck said once Ned’s guffawing eased off.

“She might have mentioned it.”

“You’re evil,” Duck said with a laugh of his own.

“Perhaps,” Ned conceded. “I also wanted to check that she’s still alive.”

“Well, she is for now, but I better get back before she decides to keel over,” Duck said before saying a quick goodbye and returning to his spot on the couch.

A few hours later, when Minerva made her nightly appearance, Aubrey had fallen asleep on top of him.

“How was training today, Duck Newton?” Minerva said quietly, clearly trying not to disturb Aubrey, which made Duck smile.

“It really took it out of her,” Duck answered with a soft laugh.

Minerva nodded her approval. “And did she acquire any new skills today?”

“Oh, I think she learned a lesson or two.”

“Very good work, Duck Newton. I will see you tomorrow,” Minerva said with a smile before she flickered out of view.

#taz amnesty #taz #aubrey little #duck newton #aubrey little & duck newton #taz amnesty fic #taz fic #the adventure zone #the adventure zone amnesty #the adventure zone fic #the adventure zone amnesty fic #James writes #100 prompt challenge

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ceilingfan5 · 8 months

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#30 Taakitz

read here or on ao3!

It starts as a normal enough day, although Taako fell asleep before taking out his contacts last night because he was so worn out he just crawled into bed at like 7:30 and then it was game over, so he wakes up in his undies and his work undershirt and has to fuckin’ scramble to shower, and spotify chooses to play four ads in a row about the same stupid credit union, and then the song choice? Hey, the song choice? Heat of the Moment.

But whatever.

He trips over some shit he left on the floor, a bag with stuff that he finally moved from his car to his apartment, random asses and ends, and smacks his elbow on the wall hard enough he has to drop everything to find a bandaid, and he’s combing his hair with his fingers on the way out the door, stomach rumbling because he missed breakfast, and he speeds to work the backway and hits a pothole and his car makes a funny noise, which, you know, bodes well. He parks and rushes, clocks in, and bumps into the handsome manager from another department, who smells like a man candle, and smiles like a stock photo, and gives Taako a pat on the shoulder that just slightly lingers.

“Hey, Taako,” he says, already with his customer service glow turned on too bright. He gives his obnoxious green polo shirt a tug, and Taako imagines being given the opportunity to kiss that tummy. He imagines taking it. “How’s your morning going?”

“Ehhh, y’know, blood, chunks, the usual.” Taako intentionally says something concerning and then doesn’t elaborate. He likes getting Kravitz’s attention. But another employee comes in after Taako and shouts for Kravitz, who’s instantly distracted.

“Haha, uh oh. Sorry to hear it. Well, here we go again, right?”

Kravitz glances back at him kind of apologetically, and then starts to say something else, but Taako shakes his head and moseys to the cheese counter, tying on his stupid lime green apron and putting up his long hair.

And it is truly a work day from hell. Ren spills the mozzarella juice on the floor, and when Taako goes to get the mop, the stock manager yells at him for taking the wrong one, even though they all know Robbie busted the other one. Some old lady asks Taako for a cheese that isn’t spicy, and when he jokes about that, she tells on him. And then Lucretia is on his ass, and asks him if he even cares about the Grocery Adventure Mission Statement, and he has to say yes ma’am of course he cares ma’am so he doesn’t lose his fuckin’ job, and when he gets back from being yelled at, again, some other idiot is at the cheese counter trying to return a basketball, which gets dropped, because it was taken out of the packaging of course (but why would that disqualify a return. To the cheese counter. God, isn’t the customer ever right anymore?) and it knocks over Taako’s sign that says don’t tap on the glass, it scares the cheese, which he secretly worked really hard on, shh, don’t tattle, and it gets nasty and they have to throw it away, and when he is having five consecutive quiet seconds for a joke funeral, the alarm goes off because someone went out the wrong door, and security busts ass through the cheese zone, and Magnus socks Taako on the arm but misses his shoulder and hits his sore elbow. Some idiot watches tik-toks at full volume in the breakroom, over top the sports news nutwork, which is also at full volume, and also Taako forgot his lunch. And doesn’t have any cash on him for the vending machine. And no one will give him any, and he gets caught with his arm up ins, and has to play it off all cool like a joke and not like he’s a wet tiger about to start eating faces.

And when he goes back to the cheese counter, Kravitz is standing there, but when he opens his mouth, nothing comes out, and he gets real embarrassed, maybe because Taako’s giving him the Kubrick stare, unfortch, and he just goes, “See you tomorrow?”

And Taako goes, “What, you’re done?”

And Kravitz goes, “Yeah, sorry, wish I could hang out longer.”

And Taako goes, “No you don’t.”

And Kravitz laughs awkwardly and walks away. And cheese business continues as per usual, including a horrible Karen that gets real mad at him for telling her that her crumbly pick ain’t gonna grill her any cheese awards, and her kids won’t like it anyhow, and he gets tattled on again. And when he finally gets to go home, he notices one of his tires is low, and he has to go home via the gas station air machine, which makes the worst noise he has ever paid two dollars for the privilege of enjoying for five minutes. And he resolves to go to the tire store tomorrow, if he makes it, and goes home, eats an entire bag of chips in one sitting, and falls asleep on the couch.

And wakes up in bed, with his contacts still in.

He peels his eyes open, and tries to math that one, because he knows he was wiped, but not like…that wiped, right? But the time makes him frantic and he forgets it in favor of a shower…which is 4 consecutive credit union ads…and Heat of the Moment.

And he trips on the thing and busts his elbow.

And then he sits on the floor, even though he doesn’t have the time. Because there was no bandaid on the wound, and there was no wound to want a bandaid, until he tripped. And today is yesterday and he is in hell, actually.

“FUCK!” he hollers at the top of his lungs. But he hurries to work anyway, because what the fuck is he supposed to do?

Avoid the pothole, at least.

“Hey, Taako, how’s your morning going?” Kravitz smiles at him, all plastic and ready for a day of retail Barbie, and Taako squints at him.

“Uh, you know, little bit of blood, little bit of horrendous de ja vu?”

And Kravitz winces, but someone shouts for him, so–

“Haha, uh oh. Sorry to hear it. Well, here we go again, right?”

“Right,” Taako says slowly, rolling it over in his head.

Kravitz starts to say something else. But Taako shakes his head and fucks off to cheese alley, and has the same, exact, fucking, day, again. It’s nightmarish, and not even in the normal retail way. Like in a literal fucking time loop way.

He catches the basketball, though.

By the end of the day, he’s hungry and he’s ready to lose it, and Kravitz comes by again, and Taako snaps at him-

“What the hell do you want?”

And Kravitz shuts his mouth, shakes his head in apology, and just walks away. And Taako his ice cream and chips and freezer mac and cheese and all of the chocolate chips in the baking bin for dinner.

And when Taako’s last chance phone alarm goes off again, and he wakes up in bed with his contacts in, he screams bloody murder when he sees the date.

He doesn’t shower this time. He dry shampoos his hair and ties it up, and just puts on two coats of deodorant and hopes for the best. He does beef it, (who put that shit there!!!! fucker!!!) but he knows where the stupid bandaids are now. He eats fucking breakfast, even if it is a protein bar that kind of tastes like toothpaste. It’s fucking something. And he drives the long way to work, and he gets there on time, instead of truly last minute.

And instead of bumping into handsome man candle Kravitz, who could be a model, or a kiss instructor, or keep a heart shaped locket warm, he seeks him out, and when Kravitz looks up from his locker and sees Taako standing there with his you-can’t-say-it’s-greasy braid and the dark circles under his eyes and the intense intent within them, he lights up like a fluorescent oasis.

“Taako!” he says, delighted. “I’m surprised to see you- not that you’re never early, it’s just…” he clears his throat lamely. “You’re never early.”

“Yeah, only why would a guy like Taako wanna waste his time here if he wasn’t gettin’ paid?” Taako says, leaning back so so so casually against some other fucker’s locker and folding his arms. His elbow hurts. He wishes he’d picked out a pikachu bandaid, but the shuckle one will do.

“True,” Kravitz says, sheepish. “I just- you know, punctuality- it builds…a reputation, um. Anyway. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Nothin,” Taako says, sooooo casual. Achingly casual. “Just wanted to say hey.”

“Hey,” Kravitz says a little more softly.

“Hey,” Taako says, with an intense smolder, and Kravitz grins and bites his lip with his perfect teeth. Fucker could afford braces. No no, no resenting. Not yet. “You got any plans for lunch?”

Kravitz brightens somehow, which is a real surprise, given how bright he’s already acting. But…It’s more real, somehow. “I’ve been meaning to show you my secret spot, would you want to-?”

“Is it quiet?” Taako says, maybe far too urgently.

“Yes,” Kravitz says, firmly enough that Taako knows he knows about the tik-tok guy. And Taako nods very seriously.

“It’s a date,” he jokes.

“Is it?” Kravitz’s eyes widen a little behind his pretty glasses. Taako’s cheeks get hot suddenly.

“I mean what I say, and I say what I mean, unless I categorically don’t. Anyway, bye.” And he bolts, before Kravitz can figure him out.

He glances back though, and sees him smiling to himself. A real one, not a customer service one.

Taako moves the mozzarella tub so it won’t spill, and he catches the stupid fucking basketball, and recommends a mild cheese, not a spicy one, and when Grocery Adventure Radio plays Heat of the Moment, he only flinches a little. And when the alarm goes off and Magnus barrels through, Taako high fives him so he doesn’t hit his elbow. And Taako is handling some other dumb shit without bristling too bad when Kravitz shows up at the cheese counter, looking kind of nervous and excited in equal measure, and Taako takes his lunch break with him, and Kravitz shows him the boiler room roof access, and the broken padlock, and the chill spot outside the view of the cameras.

“I thought you were a rule-follower,” Taako accuses, eating the premade sandwich he swiped when stocking the gruyere and only complaining about the lack of a dimensional profile a little.

“Yeah, well,” Kravitz grins. “I get bored. I enjoy a game here and there, you know, to make things a little more exciting. As long as I get my job done at the end of the day, what does it matter?”

And Taako nods, grinning.

“You’re better than I gave you credit for, Krav.”

And Kravitz beams.

Their lunch break isn’t nearly long enough, and Taako ends up standing at the edge of the roof looking down past the bird fence, wondering about a billion things, about time loops and capitalism and gravity and exhaustion. The sun considers setting, and then jumps right into it.

And Kravitz, handsome Kravitz, who smells like a man candle and whose face could sell paper towels and who showed a secret side of him just because Taako asked, puts a hand on his shoulder.

“You know, it’s hard?” he says, and takes a breath. “It is, it’s hard. But there’s good bits, you know. Things that make the day worth it, rather than the same can of beans dumped in your lap every day.”

“Yeah?” Taako says, staring at a brilliant, flaming orange-magenta grocery store parking lot sunset. They’re always prettier than they have any right to be. And he has to be here for three more hours. It isn’t fucking fair.

“Yeah,” Kravitz says, honestly. “I like seeing you every day.”

“Yeah.”

“And I liked having lunch with you?”

“Yeah?” Taako tears his eyes away from the sunset, and looks at an even prettier sight. Kravitz pushes his hair out of his eyes and quietly resolves to tie up his long locs better before he gets back to work. Taako thinks about the day before, and the day before, and the day before, and hopes that tomorrow can fucking be tomorrow, and that this was the lesson he was supposed to learn, and not some other stupid dumb fucking bullshit, because he’ll just let it loop at that point, fuck it, he’ll stay home and learn how to play guitar and speak four languages and perfect his auntie’s applesauce cookies through trial and error, finally, because he can’t find the damn recipe card.

But no, no. This feels right.

“Let’s do it again tomorrow.”

Kravitz’s relief is palpable.

“Oh good,” he says. “I didn’t have a chance to share my Michael Winslow style sound effects, and we’re definitely late.”

Taako has to laugh.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Mmmm, the mystery continues. Bye!” And Kravitz races him down the stairs, Taako laughing right on his tail.

And when Kravitz comes to visit the cheese counter before he leaves, he slides Taako a slip of paper with his number on it. Taako dreams of kissing him under the moonlight. Or on top of the cheese counter. He’s not that picky. He winks at Kravitz, and Kravitz turns and ducks his head like he knows he’s blushing, and Taako laughs, feeling a lot less heavy than he has in a while.

And Taako goes home after work, and showers, and makes the best damn grilled cheese, twice, and puts on his actual fucking pajamas, and takes out his contacts, and right before bed, he just texts Kravitz,

thanks

And he crawls under the covers, and for once, is ready for tomorrow to come. Maybe he’ll even pick up that bag.

Maybe.

#happy groundhog day #sorry you found out. im actually a huge dork #taz #taakitz #tazb #the adventure zone #the adventure zone balance #fan5fics #taz balance #taakitz fic #thank you!!#prompts

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barry-j-blupjeans · 1 year

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key to the storage unit/ oh but I gotta know? thank you!!!

object + emotion prompt list here! still accepting!!

19. Key to a storage unit.

20. OH BUT I GOTTA KNOW??? I GOTTA

Kravitz could have sworn that being sneaky used to be a lot easier. Maybe people— necromancers, in particular, because that's those are the only people Kravitz had been around for a good while— had just been stupider in the past? It was possible, considering the amount of necromantic knowledge that just got fuckin' blasted into everyone's heads thanks to Story and Song. People had definitely been more dumb when he was alive at least.

But maybe he was coming at this from a weird point of view, considering that he was still getting adjusted to having two people with him on every single mission. The two people who, in particular, had done most of the necromantic research that got blasted out to everyone. And the two people who had multi-classed in so much shit that Kravitz wasn't even sure what their main class was.

Kravitz missed when he only had to worry about Lup and Barry in abstract. Like, "wow, these folks have died way too many times, that's fucked up!" and not "if I say one wrong thing, they will immediately swarm me like over-eager dogs and demand to know where I'm going and if they can go with me".

Unfortunately, Kravitz was bad at saying the right things. So here he was, swarmed, just trying to get his work done.

"We have a storage unit???" Lup said, stepping out of the portal behind him. He heard Barry trip, but he didn't turn to help, because one: Barry should know better by now, and two: Kravitz had to mentally prepare for what was coming next.

"Yep," Kravitz said, walking up to the building. "Well, it's more of a warehouse, if we're being honest, but same difference." It was bleak and cold outside, but it always was in the astral plane. He'd given up asking for a heater long, long ago. Lup and Barry followed behind me.

"And you never told us because…??"

Kravitz stopped at the door, sighing. He turned to face them. Barry's glasses had begun to fog up due to the temperature.

"I need you to promise," Kravitz said, very seriously, very professionally, "that you will not take anything that is in there back with you. Okay? Just like, a little promise—"

"A prommy," Barry said. Lup nodded in agreement.

"A prommy, sure," Kravitz said. "You gotta prommy you won't take any of this shit home, okay?"

"What happens if we do, though," Lup said. She paused. "By accident."

"The Raven Queen will be very, very mad at you," Kravitz said. "Also, depending on what you take, it could fracture the connections between planes, or like, your mind, or your body, or someone else's mind or body, or— a lot of bad shit, is what I'm trying to say. Do you promise?"

Lup and Barry shared a look. That was never a good thing.

"Cross my heart," Barry said, drawing an X across his chest and holding his hand up, like a boy scout.

"Hope to die," Lup said sweetly.

That's… as good as he's going to get, probably. Kravitz turned back to the door, using his pinky to slice another portal through realities and reach his hand into it. He really needed to clean out this pocket dimension, because the minute and a half he spent rooting around in it did not help his cool factor, even like a little bit. He found like, fourteen pens before he found the key.

"What's even in there?" Lup asked as he dug around the pocket dimension. "I gotta know. For science reasons."

"Mostly pens," Kravitz said, embarrassed.

"No, the storage unit, babe," Lup said. "I couldn't care less about your fucked up pocket dimension. Taako's got a whole ass spa in his pocket, it can get worse than that."

It can, but Kravitz wasn't going to say that.

"Oh," Kravitz said. "I knew that."

"Sure you did, bud," Barry said.

"Well, uhm, it's a lot of different stuff?" Was that the key? Aw, fuck, nope, that's a fifteenth pen. "Mostly confiscated necromantic stuff— which you promised not to take!" He could practically hear their disappointment. "Mostly books, but there's some huge ass bones and a few like, cursed objects? It's hard to— You'll— you'll see what I mean."

At long last, he pulled the key out. The key itself was black and sapphire blue, with a raven skull as the bow. Behind him, Barry snapped in appreciation. He slid the key into the door, unlocking it, and then placed the key back in the pocket dimension, so future Kravitz could deal with it. (Future Kravitz would not.)

The room was large and, much like he said, mostly filled with books. There was a loft up near the rafters and rickety stairs that led up to it. Most of what was in here was dust, if he was being honest. Dust and spooky, illegal stuff.

"Alright," Kravitz said. "Much like the Eternal Stockade, this room is mainly a waiting chamber. We're trying to outlast the magical energy these objects have, basically. You should just be able to like, feel if the curses or enchantments have worn off already. If they have, we can start a pile right ov— and you're not listening anymore. Great. Stellar."

Barry and Lup had immediately split off behind him. Lup was headed towards the big bones, Barry was poking around at some of the books already.

Kravitz sighed again. It was going to be a very long day.

#kravitz #lup #barry bluejeans #taz #taz balance #mine #ise cube writing #asks #ceilingfan5 #thank u for the ask larissa!! and for the prompt list lskdfsdf

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crinkle-cut-pickle-bucket · 1 year

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Inktober- Day 7: Drip

You know she’s wearing this to get ice cream from Walmart at 11pm

image description:

A mid-detailed black and white drawing of Lup, a female elf with a mischievous smile and long, dark, shiny hair. She also has one large circular earring visible, as the other is obscured by hair. The picture is cut off just above the knees, and she is posed with her left hip jutting sideways, with both arms hanging relaxed at her sides. On her neck are two necklaces: one a thin chain, and the other a chunkier, more intricately beaded style. She is wearing a flower patterned dress shirt with a low cut v-neck that reaches nearly all the way down to her waist. Underneath the shirt, she is wearing a dark undershirt with leaf-like edges. Her pants are high-waisted, and nearly all black, excepting for a horizontal corduroy pattern that overlays any highlights on the fabric. Lastly, cinching her waist is a dark belt with a rectangular buckle that reads “LUP”.

End description.

#inktober2023 #inktober #art challenge #drawing challenge #drawtober #art prompts #taz #taz fanart #taz lup #lup taaco #the adventure zone #the zone cast

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mongeese · 11 months

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arms outstretched fucks so hard to this day. it's incredible

#im not gonna buy the gn probably but i am really excited to see that scene drawn professionally. man #the music fucks too that's what i was listening to which prompted this #taz balance

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noodyl-blasstal · 8 months

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Prompt list number 29 and blupjeans please? :3

Thank you so much for the prompt! It’s from this list and I’m still open to requests. 29 is: “Someone is deeply impressed by skills you weren’t even that proud of…until NOW”

–

“Have you seen the Cups Guy?” Lup shouts over the music. Taako definitely mishears her.

“You’re supposed to be here with Taako tonight, remember. Taako, your brother, your beloved twin who just wants to spend quality time with you because he loves you so much. Nto a random cute guy.” He clutches his hand to his chest, bats his eyelashes and looks devastated for all of a second before grinning and reaching for his drink.

“I love you too, Koko, but look.” Lup nudges Taako again and gestures to the retreating back of the denim clad mystery.

Taako shrugs. “Nothing to see.”

“No, you need to… c’mon.” Lup grabs his arm. “We’ve gotta catch him.” There’s no way she’s going to be the only one bearing witness to this feat of engineering.

Taako engages his deadweight powers immediately and flops limply. Thankfully Lup’s spent a lot more time in the gym than he has.

“If I drag you it’ll ruin your outfit and you’ll be sad.” She tugs his arm again and starts pulling.

Taako lets her for a moment before he sighs, stands, brushes himself off, and starts walking ahead of her. “Fine. This had better be good.”

Lup waits to move long enough for Taako to have to pause because he doesn’t know where he’s going. They’ve lost valuable seconds, but honestly, he deserves it for being a brat. “This way.” She strides towards the corridor Cups Guy disappeared down, dodging flailing dancers and stumbling drunks, stepping to the rhythm of whatever bullshit is on the shit phone poking out of the solo cup in the corner. She’s never going to get guilted into one of Taako’s parties ever again, she left the noise and the sticky floors, sticky everythings really back in her early 100s.

Lup tries to keep her voice down, it’s quieter as they move away from the main room.“There!” she hisses and gestures to Taako.

“Wow! Look at that back.” Taako says far too loudly for their stealth mission.

“Shut up, Goofus.” Lup elbows Taako as Cups Guy looks round and his eyes widen.

“You’re the one who’s pointing.” Taako slaps her hand down.

“I’m not pointing loudly am I? You need to see what he’s holding.” Lup hurries after him, drags Taako with her.

“Just tell me, then Taako can get back to the dancing portion of the evening.”

“You won’t believe me.”

“Taako has never in his life accused you of lying.” Taako says in a voice which almost means he thinks it’s true.

“Uh huh.”

“Well sometimes you are.” He huffs. “But fine. Hurry up then.” Taako speeds up too, uses her grip on his wrist to drag her along even faster. “We don’t have all night.”

They both come to the realisation at once.

“It’s really weird to…” Lup starts.

“...chase a guy.” Taako finishes.

It’s too late though.

“Are you two okay?” Asks Cups Guy. He’s stopped and turned around and generally seems unimpressed at being loudly followed, which is completely fair.

She should apologise. “See!” Lup elbows Taako.

“What?” The man looks less mild in his irritation now.

“You’ve, er, got a lot of cups there, kemosabe… a loooooootta cups.” Taako nods towards the pile of cups in Barry’s arms.

“What my brother means to say.” Lup cuts in, as the man’s frown deepens. “Is that we wanted to know if you needed any help carrying everything.”

“Yeah… yeparooni. Definitely that. Exactly what Taako meant.” Taako says in a deeply unconvincing voice.

Lup smiles extra big and hopes it balances out Taako’s whole deal.

“Oh.” Cups Guy says. “That’s, uh, that’s actually really nice, thanks. But, well, I, I’ve got it.”

“You sure do…?” Lup waits for a name. She figures it’s only good protocol to find out what he’s called first because she needs to study this man. He’s calmly carrying 10 cups in an unnervingly stable pile - what does he do for work? Knife juggling? Orphaned puppy balancing? Double backwards upside down tightropes?

“Barry.” Replies Barry. Still not entirely friendly, but looking less pissed off than before.

“I mean… that’s just so many cups, my guy. It’s really impressive.” Lup nods towards the perfectly balanced stack and Barry looks down as if he’s not aware of his superhuman abilities.

“I… uh. I guess. Yeah.” Barry’s face tinges a warm pink and Lup tries not to laugh at how adorable it is to see. His face is nice when he’s not thinking about how irritating they are.

“What’s the secret? Is it magic? If you tell me will you have to kill me?” Lup definitely doesn’t wiggle her eyebrows, she’s not flirting with a guy because of cups and no one can prove otherwise.

“You actually want to know?” Barry’s smiling now. It’s good. She’d like to make him smile more actually.

Lup nods enthusiastically.

“Okay, er… we’ll walk and talk, I promised Krav I’d bring snacks.”

“Wait, hang on, Taako’s here on the premise they’re all liquid. I want my money back!”

Lup and Barry both ignore him. Lup’s busy staring intently at Barry’s hands. There’s not even the slightest shake, he’s just steady. She could use steady…

“So they’re roughly half and half. You’ve gotta pack the snacks carefully so they don’t shift in transit and change the distribution of the load.” Barry relaxes into the lecture and Lup mentally pulls up a chair and a desk so she can take brain notes. There’s no way she isn’t practising this later.

“You’d like to help distribute his load.” Taako mutters behind her.

Lup coughs loudly and hopes it’s enough to ensure Barry didn’t hear. He’s interesting, she doesn’t want to scare him away.

Barry keeps going. “It’s, uh, pretty simple really, but I mean, I guess you’ve gotta consider a lot of factors?”

It’s sweet, the way his voice creeps into a question at the end. Lup can’t resist teasing. “Oh, is this the origins of your super villainy? You’re just realising the depths of your powers.”

“Hey wait, why am I evil?”

“Why am I here?” Taako mutters beside her.

She doesn’t even bother turning round, just elbows him. There’s a satisfying “oof.”

“How would you use this for good?”

“I’m literally using it for good right now!”

“Uh huh, sure, not luring a sweet innocent woman into your evil lair?”

“It’s a pool room that we’re guessing no one else knows about, but I’m sure Kravitz will be glad to share, he’s won the last five games. Although maybe it’s evil to subject you to him… Fuck, am I a villain?”

Taako’s suddenly much more interested. “Pool, you say?”

“I think we might be able to help.” Lup just manages to stop herself nudging Barry playfully with her shoulder. He seems stable, but there’s no way she’s going to be responsible for testing the limits of his balance.

“Really?” Barry looks genuinely delighted. “Ah, here we go.” He turns slightly, opens the door with his elbow, doesn’t even wobble, and shouts “honey, I’m home! I brought friends.”

The man Lup has to assume is Kravitz looks curiously towards them. Or, he would, but seems to be entirely stuck on Taako - which is for the best because a quick glance to the side confirms Taako’s staring right back.

“Here’s your drink, bud.” Barry has somehow deposited everything safely on the table and holds a cup out to Kravitz.

Kravitz doesn’t move.

“Okay… uh.” Barry turns back to Lup. “Are they?”

“Gimme one sec.” Lup nudges Taako with her elbow like she’s the Fonz.

It works well enough to unjam him. “So, Kemosabe, I hear you’re gonna rock me like a hurricane?”

Barry snorts out a laugh. “There’s no way…”

“Ssssh, let him work.” Lup taps Barry’s hip with her own. There’s no way she’s getting the blame for anything going wrong here.

“I… uh.” Kravitz looks slightly panicked. Hmmm… That might not bode well.

Taako nods to the table. “I hear you’ve been on a winning streak, but the future’s in the air, handsome, I can feel it everywhere.”

Kravitz’s panic morphs into a smile. “I’m not convinced the winds of change are going to be blowing here tonight.”

It’s going to be okay, he sticks the landing! Lup grins at Barry who just looks perplexed.

“Taako reckons his odds are good.” Taako’s using his sultry voice. Kravitz must be passing muster.

“Don’t make no promises your body can’t keep.” Kravitz punctuates that one with a long lingering look.

It’s going well. Kravitz has promise, and actually that means Lup and Barry need to leave immediately.

“Scorpions… Scorpions is working?” Barry asks, incredulous.

“Yep, don’t think about it too hard, it’ll hurt, and cha’girl super doesn’t want to watch this so what about a cup stacking lesson?” Lup smiles a desperate smile as Taako does some unnecessarily graphic cue chalking. “A really intensive one.”

“Yeah, uh, right, follow me.” Barry ushers her out in front of him. “Don’t look that way.” Barry’s hands blinker her eyes so she can only see the path to the door. They’re warm against her temples. “Nearly there. Can you, uh…”

Lup opens the door for them.

“... thanks.” Barry’s right behind her, hands still bracketing her face.

If she just leans back slightly…

“Oh, sorry, I er, I didn’t mean to… no need for blinkers any more!” Barry moves his hands away and starts walking. Lup links her arm through his (because it’d be best not to get separated) and neighs her thanks.

Yeah, fine, maybe Taako was right and she did need the Taako School of Flirting, it was only 27 low low instalments of 10 gold... Not that she was flirting right now, not that she was trying to or even thinking about it. She was just gonna go get a cups lesson from the very nice man who also happened to be very handsome and kind enough to help her avoid seeing her brother doing crimes against romance who was also passionate about science.

Barry, to his credit, doesn’t unhook his arm and run from her. “I’ll see if I can find you some sugar in the kitchen.” He pets her twice on the head.

There’s a pause. Lup bounces her eyebrows.

“I meant cubes! Sugar cubes! I…” His panic is palpable and wonderful. She definitely shouldn’t delight in it, but how can anyone resist teasing him at least a little?

“Sure you did. This was just all part of your evil plan.”

Barry pauses, considers her for a moment. “Is it working?”

Lup smiles her biggest smile. “Consider me lured!”

Lup’s glad she ran into him. It’s nice to make new friends.

#Prompt list #Prompt requests #Blupjeans #Barry Bluejeans #Lup #Taakitz #Taako #Kravitz #TAZ Balance #TAZ Fic #Noodyl Writes #Cup stacking king

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fandomsnstuff · 10 months

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We're moving so i did So Much today to prep my room for staging or whatever, i didnt even get to writing until like. 9:30 or 10, so it's short and sweet today, posted with just over an hour to spare

@taznovembercelebration

Day 12: coworkers au

Lup's just trying to help Magnus out and make a little extra pocket change. Why does shit always have to go sour?

Read it on AO3

When Magnus first proposed his idea for a winter time side hustle, Lup didn't think it'd really get off the ground. Who was going to pay to have someone put up their outdoor Candlenights decorations for them? Decorating is half the fun of the season. But she agreed to help when she could.

Turns out, a lot of people will pay for it. They had to introduce a service to just put lights along the eavestroughs. People hate doing that shit, but she and Magnus run like a well oiled machine. Neither of them necessarily need the money, but it's a nice little bonus to end the ear. Plus it gets them outside during the few hours of sunlight. Take that, seasonal depression.

Lup's up on a ladder, adjusting some of the attachments along one part of the house. Magnus is somewhere nearby, fiddling with another string, trying to untie the knot it tied itself into over the past ten months in storage. “We wrap these up nicely, don't we?” He says. “Every year, we bundle them up so we don't have to do this, and every year they're impossible!”

Lup attaches a few extra hooks to the house. “Just give it a good shake, they'll sort themselves out.” She hears the jingling of little lightbulbs clinking against each other, and Magnus exclaims happily. “Told you.” She snaps the string she's working on into the new hooks. “Alright, Mags. Give that a tug.”

Magnus plus his untangled string into the end of hers, and pulls gently on the join. The droops in the string pull taut, and the lights hang perfectly straight down. Lup nods, satisfied.

She's taken two steps down the ladder when her foot slips. She tries to throw her hands out behind her, but she lands hard against the frozen ground. “Holy shit!” Mangus runs over and drops to his knees by her side. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she says unconvincingly, “just waiting for the sky to stop spinning.”

Magnus inhales sharply. “Alright, uh, I'm gonna call 911.”

“You don't have to do that.”

“No, I super do. Because, one, you just fell off a ladder onto dirt that's been frozen solid, without any snow to break your fall, and two,” he pauses, and she can see him cringe, “I, uh, don't think your elbow's supposed to bend like that.”

She cranes her neck up to look, and she really wishes she hadn't. Her arm is laying in a way it really shouldn't be. She drops her head back against the ground. “Why doesn't it hurt?”

“Shock, probably? Just- don't move.”

“Roger.”

By the time the ambulance shows up, it hurts. The paramedics do whatever tests they have to. She wiggles her fingers and toes, she knows her name, where she is, the date, the president, all that good stuff. They stabilise her arm and load her up. Magnus stays behind so he can drive his truck and meet her at the hospital.

Once there, they do some x-rays and it turns out she fucked up her arm real bad. No concussion, thankfully. They set the bone, which hurts like a bitch, but she gets a pink cast out of it.

“I always wanted to break a bone when I was younger,” Magnus says as the nurse wraps Lup's arm in the hot pink material.

The nurse laughs. “That's pretty common.”

“I dreamed of having a red cast. Like, firetruck red. And everybody at school would see my cool red cast and sign it.”

“I'm living my dreams, babe,” Lup says. “Hot pink cast for the win.”

“Hell yeah.” He high fives her good hand.

She looks back at the nurse, “how long do I have to wear this anyway?”

“With the complexity of the break, it could be six to eight weeks."

“Eight weeks?!”

“Maybe more, if an x-ray shows that it's shifted or not healing properly.”

“It didn't feel like kids had casts on for that long in elementary school,” Magnus says.

“Simpler breaks don't need as long.”

“Damn.” She looks at Magnus, “I don't think I'll be going up any ladders any time soon.”

“Yeah, god, please don't.”

#taz #taz fic #lup #magnus burnsides #taz lup #this honestly only fits the prompt super loosely but who gives a fuck #it's all for fun and flavour #i might reuse it tho if i pull it again and i have an idea

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