I don’t think we have enough content mining the comedy of Lup’s first few weeks being corporeal again post finale. Everything is so much? There are so many soft things. She forgot about soft things and now she has to touch all the soft things. She does not care about your personal space, if your are/are wearing a Soft Thing, she’s ‘a comin’.
But also like, not soft things are cool too? There are so many textures she did not appreciate enough before. Like the smoothness of polished wood (Magnus’s workshop gets a thorough once over – many dick jokes ensue). The sharp-pricklyness of a cheese grater (Taako threatened to take all the sharp things if she kept fondling them but like, that’s not about to stop her). The rough, abrasive feel of Barry’s stubble (okay she always appreciated that, but she really really missed it, okay?). Literally everything is fascinating to her, it’s like being high. Barry watched her spend three hours just wiggling her fingers because look at these crazy lil bitches, Barry. Look at them!!
No one can really hold it against her because, like, duh, but it does sometimes become a problem when she decides to dedicate her evening to playing with Taako’s (carefully, painstakingly styled) hair when he really should be doing multimedia wizard brand stuff. But if he tries to leave she’ll pout and bear hug him and whine nooooo, don’t, youre so warm Taako I forgot what warm felt like :(( and he knows she’s hamming it up as a goof but he also knows it’s not a goof at all so welp, guess he’s gotta call Ren and cancel all his plans so his sister can rebraid his hair for the billionth time.
[Image description: a doodle of Lup and Taako from the Adventure Zone. The twins are elves with tan skin and long silver hair. Taako’s hair has some small braids woven into it. They are both sitting on the floor, Lup hugging Taako from behind, her face buried in his neck. He looks back at her with a small, sad smile. End description.]
You know what I said we’d mine this for comedy but it’s ten pm and a bitch is feeling a ‘lil sad, so!!! Angst time.
I finished the Taako drawing, so now the set of these are complete! I wanted to illustrate some of my favorite quotes from the podcast, since they’ve continued to stick with me since I finished it :’)
[ID: A series of three drawings of characters from The Adventure Zone. The first features Taako, an Elven man with long braided blond hair. He is wearing a red robe with the IPRE insignia on it and is holding the Umbrastaff. His head is slightly bowed and his eyes are closed. Behind him is Lup, an Elven woman. She is facing away from the viewer and is wearing a red robe. She is holding out both hands to her sides and there are small flames above each hand. In the background there is a sun, a moon, and stars. Text above Taako’s head says “I have a beating heart”.
The next drawing features Magnus Burnsides, a human man pale skin and red hair. He has sideburns and a scar over one eye. He is wearing a red jacket with the IPRE insignia on it. Magnus is bowing his head slightly with his eyes closed. Magnus is holding Fisher, a small jellyfish creature, cradled in his arms. Behind Magnus is the Kodiak bear who is standing upright with his paws on Magnus’s shoulders. In the background there are small wooden ducks and music notes. Text above Magnus says “It’s not perfect but it’s the best I can do”.
The last drawing features Merle Highchurch, a dwarven man with a long white ponytail and a large white beard with pink flowers in it. Merle is wearing a red jacket with the IPRE insignia on it. He also has glasses. Merle is holding his hands folded in front of him like he’s praying. Behind him is John, a tall man with salt and pepper hair. There are cracks in his face through which a black substance with red, green, blue, and yellow spots are visible. John is looking over his shoulder down at Merle. In the background there are gold chess pieces as well as white eyes looking out from a black background. Text above Merle says “I choose joy”. /end ID]
[image description: a drawing of Lucretia in front of a dark background and long tendrils of different shades of blue, green and purple. She’s a thin woman with dark brown skin and short gray hair. She’s wearing a blue cape over blue robes, and is holding a hand to her chest as she smiles with tears in running down her cheeks. “We are just misguided ghosts” is written down the image in capital white letters.]
[image description: a drawing of Taako from the shoulders up against a green background. He’s a thin elf with dark brown freckled skin and chin-length blonde hair. He’s wearing a green vest and matching wizard hat, which he’s touching with one finger as he smiles at the viewer.]
He is knocked backwards by your spell. Up against the railing of the Starblaster’s deck, and… he looks up at you? And you see a brief, pained smile on his face as he topples backwards and off the ship. And as his body falls, further and further down, you realize… youdon’tknowwhothatis.Andasyoufalltoyourkneesonthedeckofthisshipthathasservedasyourhomeforonehundredlongyears,yourealizeyoudon’tknowwhereyouare.Andyoudon’tknowhowyougothere,and…
Hey, I saw a post about this and I’m not gonna tag it cos I don’t want any drama, it just made me think.
So this person was saying people shouldn’t write grimdark TAZ fic because they were missing the point of the show – hope and optimism above all else.
I kinda saw where they were coming from (though I’m always hesitant to tell anyone what they should/shouldn’t write) – I personally don’t like reading straight TAZ angst.
But I think they were a little bit missing a point. I think, for a lot of people, fiction is giving yourself the happy ending you didn’t get. TAZ is full of hope and optimism, that’s what makes it so beautiful.
And if I write a story for TAZ that has abuse, or sexual assault in it – it’s not because I want to be edgy, it’s because I want to be able to pretend that I and people like me can get that happy ending too. EVEN IF horrible things happen to us. Even if they’ve already happened. The beautiful, optimistic ending isn’t just for the well-adjusted characters. A character who’s abused can get that ending too. That means SO MUCH to me.
I can’t speak for anyone else. But if I write Taako experiencing assault – it’s not because I want to hurt him. It’s because I want to believe these things could happen to him, and he’d still come out being the brilliant, brave, unapologetic man he is – and he still gets a happy ending. Because if I can give that to Taako; I can give that to myself.
Lesetoilesfous 