#tried real hard to tame her focus glare lol

[robo-dino-puppy]

mark of pride

hfw face(paint)s 44/?

[taakofromtaz]

ticky tacky chapter 1

Summary: 

"Yeah, elf kids go to elf practice. Humans don't do that?"

"Uh... no?"

"Huh. No wonder you're all disasters. We can't really say anything, though. We're both dropouts."

(WHY WEREN'T YOU AT ELF PRACTICE?)

little boxes

Notes: (transposed from AO3)

title from "little boxes" specifically the version by walk off the earth

I want to thank the taz fic writers discord for the wonderful ideas. also, specifically @anonymousalchemist for the original idea

Chapter notes:

this is full of personal hcs and stuff that will (probably) eventually be touched on in a future fic I have planned. then again, this might also be just for fun lol.

What you need to know going in:

Taako is also trans and the twins realize at about five/six years old.

They switch names right before going into school for the first time.

The twins have heterochromia (one eye green, the other silver).

Taako, as a child, is very quiet, empathetic. As he gets older, he closes himself off and puts up walls and defenses and becomes distant and aloof. He learns how to put on a persona in front of other people.

Word count: 723

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Every day, for about six hours, Taako and Lup are sent off to play nice with other elf children. The school has a long and prestigious name, something that glorifies the elven race, surely, but it’s too long to remember, so the twins just call it “elf practice.” (Their aunt always tries to get them to stop, to call it by its actual name, to give it the respect it undoubtedly deserves, but they never listen.) Elf practice, at the entry stages, consists mostly of proper meditation techniques and how to walk and speak Elvish correctly.

The other children like the twins well enough, but the adults more or less ignore them. Some of the instructors call them cursed (“Twins are bad luck. They killed their mother.” “Their eyes are bewitched!” “Unnatural cretins.”) and others keep them totally separated from other kids. Some are scared of them, so visibly unsettled by the two of them that Taako’s cried more than once after being on the receiving end of a terrified scream.

Classes are fairly uninteresting for the most part. Lup has trouble sitting still most of the time, too energized to clear her mind or work through mental exercises. Taako has less trouble with sitting still but clearing his head is an issue. He wants to think about this or that and can't force himself to think about nothing. He ends up falling asleep during these lessons, more often than not, and wakes up to scoldings from the instructors and laughter from his sister.

The two are almost unnaturally skilled at speaking proper Elvish. They pick it up like they were born speaking it, and they excel in both writing and reading. Taako loves the way it looks and Lup loves the way it sounds. Taako wants to eventually learn more languages. Languages are fun. (He tells their instructors and they crinkle their upturned noses and glare at him. “Why would you want to know anything but Elvish?” they ask him, disdain on their voices.)

They both fail rather spectacularly at controlling their twitchy ears. There's an entire class devoted to schooling an elf's emotions enough that they can resist the natural movement their ears want to make. The instructors give the children stimulants—mostly sounds at first, some loud, some quiet, some maybe by voices, some made by objects—and try to tame their ears into a neutral position.

They hate it, natch.

Lup has too much energy to calm herself or her emotions, too wound up at any one point to still her hands or feet or ears. Taako is too much into his own head to notice the movements of his ears. He hates the loud sounds and flinches at the booming crashes and high-pitched shrieks. Lup's ears are always pricked in interest and Taako's flatten more often than not.

They're not very good students.

“Dears,” their aunt says to them one day after elf practice, “why don't you try to do better?”

“We do try!” Lup insists, her too-big ears twitching at her honesty. “It's just so hard!”

“It's not that hard, babies.” Their aunt crouches to their level and gives them both a stern look. “You just have to try.”

Taako's ears flatten. “It's hard to focus,” he murmurs, clutching at Lup's brightly colored sundress. “And they yell at us.”

“We don't like it when they yell at us, Auntie! They've made Koko cry before!” Lup is full of righteous fury and Taako pulls a little insistently at her dress. She settles with a huff. “It's not fun there.”

“‘Cept the Elvish,” Taako adds, ears lifting, smiling a little.

“Koko's like. The Best at Elvish, Auntie!” Lup flashes their aunt the biggest grin and tugs Taako in front of her. “He's real good at words!”

Their aunt just sighs indulgently at them and stands up. “That’s good. You need to be passionate about something.” She considers them for a moment before smiling gently. “I have an idea. Follow me into the kitchen.”

From that point on, their aunt teaches them all about cooking, promising to teach them new techniques and recipes if they promise to do their very best at elf practice (except she doesn’t call it that—she uses the long, fancy name Lup and Taako can’t remember.)

They like these lessons much more than elf practice.