#I need to draw Taako in this now

[knightforflowers]

finally finished this!! I had a lot of fun coming up with some of these designs

if I didn’t get to your suggestion, just know I’m locking it in for next time I decide to do one of these, bc I certainly would like to do another in the future bc of how fun this one was!

tysm to @boydykedevo, @honeybard, @twacn, @mcpoofblog, @samule-is-gender, @thatfrenchemoshithead, @aldriix, @raspberrybluejeans, @per4mancecheck, @triblu and @entguarde for the suggestions!! <3

[noodyl-blasstal]

Fake Dating - TAZNC Day 1

It's @taznovembercelebration time again!!! My first card pull was "Fake Dating" (delicious, also, we're already off the rails). Want to take part too? Find to post here. You can write, draw, share thoughts, anything. It's just a fun time to talk about taz!

Anyway, have some Taakitz! Read below or on Ao3:

--

“Krav, Kraverooni, Kravino, please? Taako’s asking you from the bottom of his tiny shrivelled up husk of a heart.” 

Kravitz rolls his eyes. “You hand reared a litter of kittens you found in a bin bag.”

“Easy money, the resell on those.” Taako says all faux nonchalant, flipping his hand as if Kravitz didn’t sit up all night with him so they could take shifts to sleep but both woke up for every single feed alarm anyway.

“You kept three of them and gave the others away for free.” Kravitz says flatly, "... In fact!" He's worked up now, he's remembering "... You did home inspections for every one to check they'd be safe and happy." There’s no chance he’s going to let Taako pretend he doesn’t care. He cares often and passionately in various directions. “Anyway, who was the one who organised the letter writing campaign to Angus’ school when they tried to stop his soccer team’s funding and put it into the football team?”

“Anyone would have done that.”

“Did anyone else?”

“They might have.”

“If you didn’t?”

“If I didn’t.” There’s a long pause. “It’s not because I care though. Taako just didn’t want to see his sad little face.”

“Because you don’t care.”

“Because he takes up more room when he’s sad. It gets everywhere, the child mope. I’d have to scrub it out of the floors.”

“And why would he be moping here?”

“Because… I… It’s court ordered.”

“Uh huh.” Kravitz has him on the ropes.

“And there’s evidence of that, then, is there? If I googled your name I’d see the sentencing?”

“I had Google wiped by data assassins.”

“I assume you have a copy of the paperwork I could review?”

“Cats ate it.”

“Which ones?”

“This one!” Taako indicated Tiny Taco, who’s gnawing at the string of Kravitz’s shoe. Taako’s got him here, it’s plausible, but…

“Cats plural, who were the accomplices?” 

“You don’t know them. Strange cats, a bad crowd that Taco’s been hanging out with. I’ve tried telling him, Taco, son, they’re not worthy of your time, they’re leading you down a bad path, can’t you just play nicely with Garyl and Beans? But no, he worries me sick instead.”

“Taco’s a house cat.”

“He’s been running up massive phone bills.”

“How did they get in the house to eat the documents with him?”

“He pushed it under the door and they lady and the tramped it.”

“You have a porch, the cats aren’t allowed in the porch.”

“The back door.”

“Uh huh. And this flagrant fabrication is easier than admitting you want nice things for Angus?”

“Yes.” 

“Why?”

“You’ll think I care.”

“You do care. I watch you care all the time! Today you cared at least three times before breakfast.”

“Nuh uh.” Taako’s squirming in place now, he can’t run though, it’s his house.

“Yuh huh. Who helped Grant with the papers to set up his juice stand?”

“Well it made sense, I set up Sizzle It Up so I knew what to do. It was a chance for Taako to show off.”

“You helped coach Sloane to ask Hurley out.”

“So she’d stop whinging about it to you. She was taking up my valuable Kravitz time.”

“You care about me then?”

“No.” Taako looks pained when he realises what he said and how quickly he said it. “Just the normal amount. The friends amount.”

Kravitz tries not to let it sting. Of course Taako just wants to be friends. It’s fine. Kravitz is a grown up, he can look after himself. He shouldn’t have let it get this far, shouldn’t have let his feelings get so deep. It’s fine, he can just change the subject, they don’t have to do this now, especially not with the current context. “You didn’t let Magnus pet the bear.” 

“I should have.” Taako says darkly. “Then I wouldn’t have had needed to listen to him complain all the way home.” 

“Also you didn’t want him to die?” Kravitz asks casually, trap closing.

“I’m not a monster.”

“Show off, I can’t believe you’d be so insensitive.” Kravitz flops backwards onto the chair, hand across his eyes.

Taako throws a cushion at him. “Come off it, you love it, wolf boy.”

Kravitz sits up, grins to show off his slightly-sharper-than-they-should-be teeth. “Sounds like I’m not the only one.”

“It’s such a good club, Krav. Lup and Magnus are always saying how fabulous it is there, and who’s more fabulous than Taako?” 

“Good point. I can’t think of many people.” He means it, is the problem, Kravitz can’t think of anyone more fabulous, more funny, more handsome… nope!

“Then you see why Taako’s solution is perfect?”

Ah fuck. They’re back to where they started.

“Why me?”

“Do you know any other single werewolves who’d be down to fake-date Taako into The Starblaster?”

Kravitz growls low and slow, surprises himself just as much as Taako. “Er. That… I… I have to go to the bathroom.” Kravitz flings himself off the sofa, dives towards the toilet, slams the lock home, and tries not to let the panic take hold. Maybe Taako didn’t even notice? How often was he even around werewolves? Did he even know what that was? Like, fine, yes, his sister was married to Barry, and Magnus was married to Julia, and Taako was part of their families and he’d seen the dating process up close, and… fuck. No no, it was fine. He was psyching himself out unnecessarily. Barry told him all the time that he worried too much, ocerthought everything, this was fine, good even, he’d just say that it was a cough if Taako asked.

Kravitz splashes his face with cool water. It doesn't help as much as he hoped, but it was worth a go. "It's fine." He says firmly to his own reflection. "He didn't even notice."

“So I couldn’t help but notice…” Taako says, the second Kravitz re-enters the room. It’s probably too late to go hide again. “... that you might be feeling a bit possessive when it comes to other weres dating yours truly.”

“It was a cough.” Says Kravitz, not even convincing himself.

“Uh huh.” Taako isn’t convinced either. “You know, the only condition of getting into The Starblaster is that you're a were or you’re dating one.”

“I’m aware.” Kravitz cannot believe Taako is still focused on the club while simultaneously tearing away the carefully constructed wall Kravitz has been using to hide his ridiculous unwanted feelings for months. Doesn't he care? He could at least be offended. The indifference hurts.

“Well it doesn’t have to be fake. I didn’t realise you’d be down.”

“Are you offering to sleep with me to get into the stupid club?” Kravitz is angry now, furious. He thought they were friends, he thought Taako wanted some kind of relationship with him - even if it was just friendship, he would have been happy with friendship. He doesn’t want this, it should be special, not just some flippant transactional thing.

“No! I’m offering to sleep with you because I like you, you idiot.”

“Wait, did you just proposition me, confess you have a crush on me, and call me an idiot in the same breath?” Kravitz didn’t know whether to be offended or elated, settles on something in the middle.

“Sounds about right. Wanna kiss about it?” 

Kravitz does, in fact, want to kiss about it, but first he needs to know what is going on. “You like me? Romantically like me?” 

Taako arches an eyebrow and looks peeved about the lack of kissing. “Obviously.”

“For the club?”

“A bit for the club.” Taako’s forehead wrinkles. “It’s really cool. I’m not going to lie to you. But that’s more a perk of the boning, not the reason for it.”

Kravitz sinks down onto the sofa. Taako likes him back, Taako likes him back and not just because he wants to go to the stupid club.

“If anything, the boning will be the biggest perk of the boning.” Taako says cheerfully, pats him on the shoulder.

“Why are you like this?” Kravitz asks through his hands, face buried.

“You love it.” Taako says, plonking himself down next to Kravitz and throwing an arm around him. “Can we skip to the kissing bit now, or do I need to tell you about how I was gonna fake date you so hard you’d forget we weren’t real dating?”

“Can we do both?”

“You want me to talk through the kisses?”

“Between them?”

“Fine, but it’s a talk sandwich, kissing bread.”

“Kissing bread.” Kravitz extracts his face from his hands, sits up, and nods solemnly.

“Here we go!” Taako says, leaning in. 

“No!” Kravitz scoots backwards. “That was terrible, awful. Our first kiss is not going to be prefaced by “here we go!””

“You do better then.” Taako’s arms are crossed and he’s doing the frowny thing and Kraivtz is going to kiss every grumpy furrow out of his brow.

“I’ve wanted to do this for months.” Says Kravitz simply, makes it inches from Taako’s lips before he pulls back.

“That’s not fair! You can’t just be all suave out of nowhere. What am I supposed to say to top that?”

“You don't need to top it, it’s not a competition.”

“It could be. If it was.”

“Well it isn’t.” Kravitz says firmly. He reaches for Taako, trying to draw him back in. They were so close to finally getting it together.

“Buckle up, sweetlips.”

Kravitz stands, horrified. “Taako! What… why would you?”

Taako’s too busy laughing to answer. “Your… your face!” He gasps out.

“Do you want to kiss or not?” Kravitz is trying not to be petulant, he’s trying so hard, he’s failing.

Taako dives forward and crashes their mouths together. Kravitz can’t entirely tell when his mouth opened, or when exactly Taako started to nip at his lip, but it’s good, it’s great, even. Kravitz’s hands pull Taako closer, closer, closer, cradle his face, weave into his hair, help pull him down when he moves to straddle Kravitz’s lap. It’s messy and passionate and perfect, he doesn’t want it to end.

“Wanna kiss or not?” Taako pulls back, then snorts with laughter.

“I would love to do more kisses, why don’t you come back down here?” Kravitz asks, running a hand over Taako’s chest in what he hopes is an alluring manner.

“No, you said… I… it’s perfect. “Wanna kiss or not?” and then we did. That’s how we got together.” He collapses onto Kravitz’s chest, giggling furiously.

“You tricked me!” 

Taako laughs harder.

“We’re going to have to tell people that when they ask.” Kravitz says, aghast. He really doesn't want to have to tell anyone this story.

Taako attempts to sit back, taking a moment to collect himself. “We’re going to <i>get&lt;/i> to tell people when they ask. What a gift!”

“A gift.” Kravitz repeats, quietly, carefully. 

“Hey Krav?”

“Yes Taako?” 

“I think you’re great.”

“I think you’re great too.”

“Wanna kiss about it?”

Kravitz cups Taako’s face, brings it gently, reverently towards him like Taako’s the most precious thing in the world. He might be in this moment. Kravitz kisses each cheek softly, then his nose, his forehead, and finally his lips. It’s gentle, tentative, full of care.

Taako pulls back. “You’re going to tell people this was what happened, aren’t you?”

“Yep!” Kravitz says happily, pressing their lips together again.

“Fine. But I’m telling the real story.” Taako says huffily before kissing a firm line from Kravitz’s collar bone to his jaw. “The people need to know.”

“Uh huh.”  Kravitz is finding it harder to focus on anything but the insistent kisses on his neck and the hands working themselves down his chest. “Gotta give the people the…” He tails off as Taako’s teeth graze his neck. “What… they… it’s science.”

“Uh huh.” Taako replies. “Great point.”

“No more words, just kissing.” Kravitz tugs Taako closer again.

“Are you going to tell people this bit too?” Taako asks. 

“Ssssh.” Kravitz kisses Taako again. “Nothing about other people, just about us.”

“Just us.” Taako nods. “And how much fun we’re going to have at The Starblaster.”

Kravitz sighs.

“Hey Krav?” Taako noses at his cheek.

“Yeah?” 

“I’m glad we figured it out.”

“Me too, Taako. Me too.” 

--

Thank you for reading! You can find the next day here.

[barry-j-blupjeans]

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.

[herbgerblin]

meme: 1 4 and 14!!!

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw

*grabs Kravitz like the “YOU” cat meme*

this beautiful motherfucker takes 4-5 rounds of sketches before I feel like I’ve gotten his face right. Drawing everyone else is like muscle memory at this point. You need a taako? I’ll churn out a taako in 5 seconds. You need a Kravitz? You better check the almanac and hope the stars are in position

14. Any favorite motifs

A lot of fire and ice/water (you know, cuz twins.) I like rebirth and renewal, cycles. I don’t know if this shows, but I love drawing the passage of time, seasonal shifts, the way things change and stay the same. I love when characters don’t realize how far they grown, until they look back and see the distance between then and now.

[umbraastaff]

I'd love to hear your general thoughts on the new gn! I personally think Wonderland was a little rushed, but I loved reunion tour.

was fun in some ways and fell short in others! i overall i agree with you on that as well. more specific thoughts, in no particular order:

some really really cool visuals in this book. lucretia in the hourglass at the start, some awesome panels with space and the hunger and stuff... barry regaining his memories on page 212 is probably my favorite page in the whole book

the choice to make the Chug & Squeeze be painting instead of pottery is baffling to me. the title of the place made sense with the original… the choice to change it so that it doesn't fit, and then also make fun of that, feels a bit like i am being made fun of as a fan/audience member, regardless of whatever the original intent was

(compounded with the total loss of the original depth in this scene… no vulnerability from taako, just a good 'ol fanservice kiss…)

similarly bizarre, the choice to make lucretia lose 30 years instead of 20...? 20 not bad enough? she needed to be 60 instead of 50? what's happening lol

i feel vindicated on a spiritual level for being the only person i can remember drawing mullet ponytail barry - like 95% of fanart i see draws him either short haired or with long hair free n out like in HTBG graphic novel... never ponytails. im winning

more bafflement with magnus even THINKING on the question of forgetting julia... the kalen thing is a much more interesting conflict to me given (a) it makes sense to be uncertain about and (b) relates directly back to his love for julia. and they established AND NAMED kalen in eleventh hour, why not use that...

feels like they swing back and forth on how much they trust the audience to pick up subtext... being hit over the head with magnus continuing the "id hate it shut the fuck up" thing to rly look at the camera and wink and tell us how much he loves julia, but then the comic version of the "love barry trust barry" was VERY dependent on picking up cues and seeing taako's attitude change

speaking of, i did really love the "love barry trust barry" scene. and both times lup jumps into barry's arms is so cute ugh

i know it's a product of how rushed everything has to be putting 10+ hours of audio into a singular COMIC book, but for fuck's sake, removing KEATS..........?????? so now lydia & edward have no depth??? & no parallel/foreshadowing for the way liches work??? OKAY???

mannequin magnus design and the way they enabled him to do expressions was preddy good. enjoyed it. also the whole possession + wonderland final fight action is cool and fun

while i am disappointed the bell is all fancy and weird instead of being a very plain and small thing as it was described in canon (which felt more in character for barry), i DO really really really like the flower on top... the wither-and-bloom motif... tasty

oh yeah griffin disappearing is such a great way to foreshadow a thing beyond planes coming down to consume... ahh i love playing with meta stuff

so so much good barry content man. so much. thank god we got so much good fun reunion tour stuff. hes so dumb as rocks i love him

actually pretty cool they more explicitly canonized the explanation for barry physically attacking davenport. also barry/lucretia interaction so so so so good

as cute as the original scene is with them planning and writing the note for magnus' body, i think the way they split the party in this version was smart

i dont need to contribute more to the pool on fan feelings on blue twins, BUT given there was no choice but to have her be blue, lup is very cute

taako falling to his knees instead of like pointing the staff at lucretia... :/ eh

given how much literally this entire series has suffered from being so scrunched up, i'm also not SUPER looking forward to stolen century and S&S being condensed into one book, but ohhhh wellllll

TL;DR i don't really read these books because i have a lot of faith in the way they Tell The Story, but it still had a lot of fun moments and scenes and visuals that got my heart! fun to see thorough visual takes on my fave podcast.

[fandomsnstuff]

Second last day!!!!! One more to go!!!! We're almost done @taznovembercelebration

Three guesses what this one's about (shocking no one, it's blups)

Day 29: musical

Lup's just trying to get the rust off her violin skills for the challenge the Legato Conservatory has posed them when she finds someone she didn't expect at a piano.

Read it on AO3

Lup's heading to one of the practice rooms in the Legato Conservatory's music building late one night to keep brushing up on her violin basics. One of the doors isn't shut completely, letting a sliver of light out into the darkened hallway along with muffled piano music. She stops to quietly pull the door shut, but pauses as she sees the pianist through the window. 

Barry's eyes are lidded as he looks down at the keys, and his hands glide easily over the keys. It's a simple enough tune, but it's soft and sweet and beautiful. He has no sheet music, playing simply from memory. Lup stands with her hand on the doorknob, watching him. She doesn't want to interrupt him. 

He finishes his song, and takes a deep breath, lowering his hands into his lap. 

She opens the door slowly, “Barry?” 

He jumps slightly at the sudden intrusion. “Lup?” He relaxes, “what are you doing here?” 

She lifts the violin case. “Same as you, apparently. I didn't know you play piano.” 

He sighs, running a hand lightly over the keys. “I don't, really. My mom put me in lessons as a kid to… build my confidence or something. I couldn't tell you the last time I touched a piano, even before the mission.” 

“You sounded good.” 

He smiles, still looking at the piano. “Thanks. I'm still really rusty, but I couldn't think of anything else to do for this.” He looks up at her, and nods to the case in her hand, “violin? I hear that's really hard to learn.”

She laughs sheepishly. “Yeah… one of the caravans Taako and I traveled with had a handful of bards. They said we'd get a cut of profits if we played with them, so I got one of them to teach me. Taako wasn't interested, he stuck with cooking.” Her smile grows as the memory comes back, “the one who taught me said I had “fiddling fingers” so,” she lifts the case again, “fiddle.” 

“Fiddling fingers sounds inappropriate.” She barks out a laugh. Barry puts on a deep, gruff voice, “you could fiddle something with those fingers, young lady.”  

Lup leans against the wall as she laughs, brushing tears away. “Oh my god,” she takes a deep breath, “I never thought about it that way.” 

He makes grabby hands and in the same mocking voice says, “or maybe you want to try out my fiddle fingers.” 

She clutches her imaginary pearls. “How dare you! Trin was a perfectly respectable and pleasant young man.” Barry laughs as Lup tuts and shakes her head. “I never thought you'd be one to disrespect the consumed.” 

His smile fades slightly and his eyes drop back to look at the piano. 

“Hey…” she puts her violin down and walks over to him, sliding her hands over his shoulders, “you okay? I'm just poking fun.” 

“Yeah,” one of his hands comes up to cover hers, “I'm just…” he sighs deeply and his voice wavers, “my mom…” 

“Oh, Bear.” She sits next to him and draws him into her arms. He drops his head onto her shoulder and wraps his arms around her, holding her close. She slides her fingers into his hair. 

He doesn't cry, he's just silent for a while. She's learned by now that sometimes he just needs someone there. They've talked about his mom a lot. She was the only person he was leaving behind for the mission, and when he was finally comfortable enough with Lup, he started telling her everything he could remember. She's heard a lot of childhood stories. She loves learning about baby Barry. 

When he withdraws from her, she brushes the back of her fingers against his cheek and cups his jaw, bringing him in to rest their foreheads together. “Feeling okay?” 

“Yeah,” he says softly, his eyes closed. “Sometimes it just hits harder.” 

“I know.”

“It was a lullaby. The song I was playing. She used to sing it to me, it was the first thing I ever learned on piano.” 

“Will you play it for me?” 

His eyes open, and she gets lost in the ocean of them as they meet hers. “Okay,” he whispers. He sits up and turns back to the keys. He takes a breath, then starts to play. After a few measures, he starts singing quietly. Lup's heart swells. She wants to link her arm with his and rest her head on his shoulder, but she doesn't want to mess him up. She presses closer to him, his warmth seeping into her where their sides touch. 

It's when he finishes that she slides her arms around his middle and leans her head on his shoulder. “Beautiful,” she says. 

He lifts his arm over her and settles it around her shoulders, pulling her into his side. “I'm not much of a singer.”

“I like your voice. I'm sure it could soothe a baby to sleep.” She's long since stopped trying to force away the image of Barry with a tiny baby half elf in his arms that comes to her in moments like these. 

She can hear the smile in his voice, “you think so?” 

“Mhm.” She closes her eyes. “In fact, it's soothing me to sleep right now.” 

“I don't think so,” he jostles her lightly, “you've got fiddling to do.” 

She giggles. “I know something I'd like to fiddle.” 

She doesn't need to look at him to know he's rolling his eyes. “Come on, you need to practice.” She stays firmly in place. “I played for you, it's only fair you play for me.” 

She groans and laboriously tears herself away from him. “Why do you have to be so logical?” She crouches and opens up her case, taking out the violin. “What do you want to hear?”

He shrugs. “Anything.”

“I don't know any classical stuff. We only played in taverns and town squares.” 

He laughs, “that's okay. Play me your favourite.” 

She puts her bow to the strings and says, “you asked for it.” 

She plays an upbeat tune with dirty lyrics that always got crowds going in taverns and made her teenage self giggle when she'd sing it. By the time she's finished, Barry's roaring with laughter. He gives her a standing ovation. 

“I think you should play that for your submission.” 

She snorts, putting the violin away. “I think the professor helping me would have an aneurysm if I did. She almost popped a vein in her forehead when I kept calling it a fiddle.” 

He sits back down. “Lame.” 

“What are you going to play?” 

“No idea. I thought about maybe trying to expand the lullaby? Make it more complex or elegant? But I don't want to risk losing it, you know?” Lup has an idea. She chews on it for a moment. Barry notices her gears turning. “What?” 

“What if we played something together?” 

[artsyriv]

Family Is What You Choose, But You Made My Choice Ten Years Ago

Barry knew how to get past Lucretia. She was observant but easily distractible and had a strong sense of wanting to help other people. He could use that against her. But as he approached her dias, making finger guns at the people he passed, he knew that something was wrong with Lucretia. Something was very wrong. 

During their hundred-year-long journey, Barry had grown accustomed to noticing the others' warning signs. Taako and Lup would get almost manic when something was wrong, forgoing their trances to bake, cook, and clean. They would talk faster than normal, to the point where it was hard to keep up. Magnus would train for hours on end, not stopping for a drink of water or anything. He would push himself to the brink of exhaustion, and then go a bit further, only resting when he collapsed. Davenport had withdrawn, saying that they could captain themselves. It would seem mopey and manipulative if it was anyone else, but it was Davenport, which was always alarming. Merle too would withdraw, going into his greenhouse and not emerging for meals or snacks. He had a vacant stare and was difficult to bring back to reality. 

They all struggled, as is to be expected. Sometimes one person would draw a knife on someone else without meaning to, Taako was the most likely culprit but Davenport was close behind. They had invested in weighted blankets within ten years, and when someone used it, everyone else knew that it was a bad day for that person. 

There were a lot of bad days. 

Lucretia too would forgo sleep in pursuit of her journals, in pursuit of knowledge. She was also so full of self-loathing, sure that the rest of the crew would not miss her if she died. It was hard to help her, all they could really do was try to force regular meal times upon her, and lay down with her for naps, containing her in a nest while they tried to get her to sleep. Please, Lucretia, your books can wait. 

Barry had been so blind. 

This Lucretia, in the here and now, was not wearing her glasses, and she held her head before she saw Barry approaching. There were circles under her eyes that almost appeared like bruises, and he could see that her hands were shaking. Her cheeks were sunken, her eyes hollow. She was a shell of the girl on the ship, of the chronicler she once was, she was a fragile shell of a woman, and he had been so angry at her that he had been blind to it all. 

Lucretia looked up with a start and smiled. "Robbie! What can I do for you?"

"Ah, I'm just hanging out. There was some sort of situation in the cafeteria, ya know? So I'm just wandering now, just trying to avoid any conflict you know how it is."

"Uh-huh."

Something told Barry that she could see right through him so he tried again harder. "Are you sure that everything's ok in there? I feel like they need a person of authority to help them straighten things out. There was magic flying and food all over the place!"

Lucretia sighed one of her deep sighs. She hadn't sighed like that since the cycles immediately following 65. Barry wanted to reach out and hug her, to tell her he wanted to help, but he had no idea how he would go about doing that anyways, so he didn't, instead watching her leave, Davenport trailing after. 

Barry knew how to get past the traps in the hallway and he made his way back to her secret office, hoping his distraction would work well enough and long enough. 

He had made it back to the office and was looking around when he saw the tank. A small voidfish, about the size of Fisher when they first met him, was swimming in this small tank. Barry knew what was going on now, how his friends couldn't remember him but were able to remember the Relics. He could feel himself growing more angry and he started to emerge from Robbie without meaning to. Instantly an alarm went off, Barry sunk back into Robbie's body completely, and Lucretia rushed down the hall. 

"I KNEW you weren't Robbie!" She said, holding her staff in order to stay steady. Barry wondered why she had held onto it, what she was planning, how she had avoided thrall. "Fess up, now."

"Lucretia, are you alright? Are you happy with this decision you've made?" Barry asked after a moment. Lucretia's eyes snapped to Robbie's and Barry could tell immediately that she knew he was in there. "Are you sleeping? Are you eating? Or is the guilt eating you alive?"

"That's enough." Her voice wavered and she cleared her throat. "That's enough."

"Is it though? You're sending the boys on these fetch quests, Lup is gone, and Davenport..." Barry gestured to Davenport who was looking at a model of the Starblaster with interest. "You've taken everything from us."

"If you're going to kill me, at least make it quick."

Barry tried not to show his shock, but the more he thought about it, the more he could understand why she thought that. "Lucy, please, I'm worried."

"You said you hated me." Lucretia wrapped her arms around herself as if she was going to crumble to the ground if she didn't. "You said you hate me."

"Yeah, well that doesn't mean I want you dead, and for SOME REASON, even though you got your way and you are carrying out whatever scheme your brilliant but deeply sacrificial brain came up with, you're killing yourself through it. Why?"

Lucretia's eyes were overbright and she was shaking. Her staff was the only thing keeping her upright and Barry was scared for her. "I deserve it."

Barry didn't know how to respond to that. On one hand, she had ruined their lives and taken so much away, but on the other hand, she was family. God damn it, she was family. Still in Robbie's halfling form, Barry walked over and hugged her leg. "No, you don't. You don't. You're family." They stayed like that for a moment and then Barry stepped back. He felt immensely awkward. "Try to eat, try to sleep. Maybe consider fixing your mistakes instead of wallowing in guilt."

Lucretia's face was carefully blank. "You need to go, Barry."

"Luc-"

"NOW." She turned her back to him, pretending to busy herself with sorting papers. "We're not family. Not anymore."

Barry reached out but then sighed and left Robbie's body. Instantly he was thrown back by the anti-lich wards and he flipped Lucretia off on his way out, but she had her face in her hands, sitting on the ground. He almost felt bad. Almost. 

She would come around eventually. Or they were all dead.

[dumbass-duo-showdown]

DDS mod here with an update!!!!

So I was planning on doing a most submitted post. BUT I MADE THE LASAGNA SCALE! And here are the stats!

HERE IS THE FORM! TRIOS ARE OFFICIALLY ALLOWED BUT THEY NEED AT MINIMUM 6 SUBMISSIONS

LASAGNA STATS

Basically if you would trust your duo on making lasagna

With 33,1% of the submissions. 1/3 of the characters are probably banned from the kitchen. WITH A SIMPLE 0

After that with 17% of the votes. Comes duos with a 2 on the scale with 52 submissions.

Now our least voted options are 6,7,8,9 and 10 on the scale. Let’s reveal those characters

Now I won’t reveal how many submissions each got. Some got 4, some 3, some are just solo submissions

6 on the scale

We have

The Dr & Donna from Dr Who

Porsche and Pete from Kinnporsche: The Series

Henchman 21 & Henchman 24 from The Venture Bros

Yor & Loid Forger from Spy x Family

Elder Price and Elder Cunningham from Book of Mormon

@gregorygerwitz & @kitthekazoo (yes I allowed real people and people submitted themselves)

Bill Preston & Ted Logan from Bill & Teds excellent adventure (this was the second highest score they got)

Walter White & Jessie Pinkman from breaking bad

Pete Wentz and Gabe Saporta from Bandom

Calvin & Hobbes from uhh… the comic of the same name

Now for our 7, where 11 duos landed

We have

Bill Preston & Ted Logan, again!

Jack O'Neill & Daniel Jackson from Stargate SG-1

Mayday & Zuke aka Bunk bed junction from no straight roads

Laura Hollis & Carmilla Karnstein from Carmilla

Allison & Paige. I still need your URLs please DM me

Kotetsu T. Kaburagi & Barnaby Brooks Jr from Tiger and Bunny

Alec Hardison & Elliot Spencer from Leverage

Rean Schwarzer & Crow Armbrust from Trails/Kiseki series

Madoka Kaname & Sayaka Miki from Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Mayday & Zuke, again

Eustass "Captain" Kid, Trafalgar D. Water Law, Monkey D. Luffy from one piece (oh yeah about uhh Luffy is in another duo with like an equal amount of submissions and I won’t allow him to go in twice. Hes stupid but not a cheater)

7 duos have gotten an 8 on the save

We have!

Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took from lord of the rings

Bobbi Morse and Lance Hunter from Agents of SHIELD

Jessie & James from Pokémon

Lup & Taako from the adventure zone (credit to @arojovela for the fanart!)

Nathan and Jacob from drawfree

Shadow/cid kagenou & beta from the eminence in shadow

Monkey D Luffy, Roronoa Zoro, Sanji from one piece

Time for the 9s!

We have 6 characters here!

Romana(dvoratrelundar) & Leela from Gallifrey (Doctor Who expanded universe)

The Bros from the bro duet

Mary Quinn & Sarah McCool from Derry Girls

Dana Scully & Fox Mulder from the X-files

Sokka & Zuko from Avatar: the last airbender

Someone’s mom and dad (they said I could draw stick figures)

Now for the 10s, let see who we can trust in the kitchen

Here. They. ARE!

TK Strand and Evan "Buck" Buckley from 911/911 lone star (I know I make jokes about being followed by OP fans but buck has followed me more. I CANT escape him)

Lanz and Sena from Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (credit to Illius on pixiv for the fanart)

Spongebob & Patrick from SpongeBob SquarePants (they also got a 0)

Nozaki Umetarou & Mikoto Mikoshiba from Monthly Girls' Nozaki Kun

Billie and Thea from Bill & Ted Face the music

@mb-blue-roses & @sungsyc-amore

Rin Okumura & Kuro from Blue exorcist

kirika akatsuki & shirabe tsukuyomi from senki zesshou symphogear

Mario & Luigi

TK Strand and Evan 'Buck' Buckley, again

(Btw sup @tournamentdirectory)

[cptkphob-archive]

Ohhhh I'm mentally ill. I need to draw Taako and Lup rigjt now or im gonna DIE

[maketheblorbsobrawl]

taako 🤝 nepeta

people campaigning to just get them out of there because they dont belong

LITERALLY

I need to draw this now i swear

[room-on-broom]

Heyo!! :D Idk what fandoms you write for or if you do original writing, but I wanna send in a thing too!!

Do you have candle somewhere in your wip(s)?

~Gab

Indeed i Do!!! well I cheated slightly with candle-nights but eh. both From Lucretia's (hypothetical) Baller Birthday Cake!

Thank you!

Kravitz shook his head. Barry frowned, turned to the blackboard, and wiped away ALL of Taako’s maths calculations.

“Barry hey I need those!”

“Taako hear me out?” Barry asked, still cleaning the board. Taako huffs but does. barry Dosnt explain straight away so he has to sit and watch as Barry wipes away all his hard work. Then grabbing the chalk He draws a line across the board and Labelled bits. He’s showing them a time line.a time line.

STARBLASTER LANDS IN FAE RUN. FISHER MINDWIPE.  L IN WONDERLAND. BOB FORMED.  THB JOINING BOB. 1ST CANDLENIGHTS ON BOB. L’BIRTDAY. THB IN W.LAND.  DAY OF SASONG. 2ND CANDLE NIGHTS (THB away ON ADVENTURE (Merle’s now Santa???) ). L’S BIRTHDAY. SWEET FLIP WEDDING. FAMILY DINNERS Multiple. 3RD CANDLE NIGHTS (MOON/ GETTING Ang’s JEFF ANGEL TOY). NOW. L’S FUTURE BIRTHDAY???.

“Candle nights,” Barry said tapping it. he’s in full researcher mode now. “This was the first one you guys spent on the moon, right?”

xxx

The moment Mookie is swinging off her arms yelling “Cake time cake time!” Magnus and several have started others joining in

“we can’t have food till Aunt Lucretia blows the candles out!” Mavis tells her brother.

“oh my. Shit. Candles? Prllural? ” Lucretia asked then joked loudly, “wow anyone know gust of wind? I might need a little help over here.”

“nothing like that my dear.” Lup assured her “Drum roll pah-lease!”

[baladric]

I posted 9,435 times in 2022

That's 5,563 more posts than 2021!

931 posts created (10%)

8,504 posts reblogged (90%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@little-werewolf-tori

@elytrians

@1080p16x9

@sepulchritude

@dianapocalypse

I tagged 3,436 of my posts in 2022

#ofmd - 157 posts

#stranger things - 151 posts

#tge - 133 posts

#tlt - 121 posts

#trc - 116 posts

#the art tag - 91 posts

#eddie munson - 64 posts

#maia's a pirate now - 63 posts

#maia drazhar - 58 posts

#steve harrington - 51 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#he loves to silently wig out about how much he needs beshelar's approval while the corazhas witnesses yell at one another in the background

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

my favorite thing about ofmd is how people keep hopping in dinghies and rowing off into open ocean, and then the scene cuts to them in a totally different place later the same day

405 notes - Posted March 27, 2022

#4

Taako From MTV™

(i needed to draw a colorblock windbreaker and you cannot convince me that taako wouldnt be onboard)

453 notes - Posted September 2, 2022

#3

one flesh, one end, bitch

588 notes - Posted January 22, 2022

#2

can’t believe it’s been 10 years since that first St. Mark’s Eve

813 notes - Posted April 24, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

happy 413 i made a gif of that one scene

1,077 notes - Posted April 13, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[barry-j-blupjeans]

Orphanage + magical realism AU

When Merle called and asked for a favor, Taako had expected something like "order some pizza for the kids" or "can you run these errands for me?" Not "can you teach some kids some magic?" And yet, here he was, at fuck-early in the morning, struggling to find a parking spot near enough to the orphanage that he wouldn't have to walk ten extra blocks, just to teach some little brats a few party tricks. The secret parking spot he had found during his teens was taken. There were only parallel parking spaces left because fuck him, but, y'know. Taako could deal with that.

Correction: Magic could deal with that. So what if Taako used a little bit of extra charm so that he wouldn't have to maneuver his way into the space? He was literally here to teach magic. He was leading by example! He was a teacher figure!

The orphanage was a large brick building, which looked like it needed a good pressure wash. There were dozens of plants lined up on the windowsill, vines creeping up the brick walls. Taako took ahold of the door knocker- the bronze face of Pan was engraved into it- and knocked. Loudly.

He waited.

No one came.

Taako knocked again.

Nothing.

He gripped the door knocker again, banging on it now, and raised his voice to say,

"Merle fucking Highchurch if you don't open this goddamn door-"

The door opened, bringing Taako, who was still attached to the door knocker, back with it. He tumbled, barely catching himself before he went all the way down.

In the door stood a young human boy. Maybe. Taako still didn't know how humans aged. He looked like someone had stuffed a businessman into a child's body. There was a wand attached to his brightly colored lanyard and an honest-to-gods feather in his little business boy hat. Taako knew it had been a while since he had been a kid, but had fashion really changed that much? This kid dressed like his grandpa had.

"Are you… Mr. Taako?" fancy boy asked, looking extremely hopeful.

"Sure am," Taako said.

"Oh, boy!" fancy boy said, bouncing up and down on his heels. "P- please! Come in! Mr. Highchurch is, uhm, preoccupied with some of the other children, but- but I can get him for you! Or, or if you wanted to get stuff set up for magic-!"

"Nothin to set up, my man," Taako said, stepping inside. Fancy boy shut the door behind him. "I've already got everything I need right here." He tapped a hand against his chest.

"In your heart?" fancy boy asked sweetly.

"Nah," Taako said, reaching into his shirt pocket for the small card he had put in there before. "This bad boy right here."

"Flashcards?" fancy boy asked, with even more excitement than before.

"A receipt for the money Merle owes me," Taako said. "Can't do magic before that."

"O-oh," fancy boy said. But he perked up again, saying, "I- I can show you where we're doing magic, and then I can go get Mr. Highchurch for you! It's- it's right through here!"

He brought Taako into the drawing room, which had a large table set up in the middle of it. There were many chairs, but none of them were occupied. Fancy boy pulled out a seat for Taako, like a little gentleman. His nose wrinkled when Taako put his feet up on the table, but he didn't say anything. He scurried out of the room with the receipt, presumably to go get Merle, and left Taako alone.

It had been… a long time since Taako was last in here. Felt like it, at least. Merle had obviously redecorated some in the nearly hundred years since Taako had been under his care, but it still felt cozy. The table was still set up as it had always been for activities- a red table skirt, with various little place mats around it. There was a bowl of glitter glue in the middle of the table and various child-sized scissors around. When Taako inhaled, it still smelled strongly of lavender and cleaning chemicals.

Fancy boy hurried back into the room, money clutched in his hand.

"Four dollars and seventy-two cents," he said, pushing the money toward Taako. "He's, uhm, he's getting his fingernails painted right now, so he couldn't come, but he'll be by later!" He pulled up a chair for himself, scooting towards Taako. "May we do magic now? Please?"

"Pretty sure it was eighty-one cents," Taako said, picking up a penny. Fancy boy faltered and frowned, looking ready to get back up. But Taako turned the penny in his fingers. Using just a little Prestidigitation, he turned it into a dime. Fancy boy looked so excited he nearly rocked himself out of his chair. When he got his balance, he scooted forward eagerly and leaned in to look at the dime.

"W- wow!" he said. "Are we- can you teach me how to do that?"

"This?" Taako said, holding up the dime. "This is illegal, no, I will not be teaching you that. Keep your nose clean, kid, goin' through court is a mess these days."

"Oh," Fancy boy said. "Well, uhm. Is there any legal magic you can teach me, sir?" A pause. "Pretty please?"

"I'm sure I can find somethin'," Taako said, setting the dime down. It flickered back into a penny. "What's your name?"

"Angus, sir," fancy boy said.

"And it's just gonna be you today, huh?" Taako asked, peering through the door that he had come through. "No one else wants to take a stab at the ol' magic game?"

"Oh, uhm, no sir," Angus said. "They're all pretty into Fantasy Fortnite right now."

"Ah," Taako said. "That'll do it, yeah. Alright, Anges-"

"It's- it's Angus, actu-"

"Here's the deal," Taako said. "You wanna learn magic, you gotta be cool. Are you cool, Anges?"

"I- I like to think I am!" Angus said. "I can- Mr. Highchurch says I can hang. Is that anything?"

"Sure, sure," Taako said. He checked his watch. Three more hours of this shit. And then six more weeks after that. What had he gotten himself into? "We can work with that."

[lozeyart]

So I stumbled across @reinardfox‘s cosplay of Taako and I instantly fell in love and I absolutely had to draw them in their cosplay. If I have time at all in the next couple weeks then I might color this, but for now it’s just a little sketch. 

(ok but honestly this might just be my ultimate head canon of Taako. It reminds me so much of The Hobbit -thebooknotthemovie- and how much nostalgia I felt by just looking at this cosplay!)

Y’all, go check them out, they are the bee’s knees! 

[artsyriv]

TAZ NC Day 5- Promise

Wanted to do a Lupcretia piece, and ended up projecting onto my girl Lucretia. While there are no trigger warnings really applicable to this piece, please be aware that Lucretia in this is suffering from a mental health episode, implied to be BPD. I want everyone to be safe, this is based on my own experience with the disorder. Story below the keep reading line :)

Lup was like a dream. She drifted between the billowing curtains, the sheer ones that let all the light in--a stark contrast to the heavy duty ones Lucretia preferred with her sleep schedule--, and danced to music that no one else could hear. Lucretia's hands ached, to draw her, to hold her, to write about her, anything at all. But she was stuck. She was paralyzed. Lup said something Lucretia couldn't quite catch, and she turned to look at her but Lup had no face. And then Lucretia woke up. 

It was familiar now, the nightmares that came from losing Lup to the world. Barry was still looking, as was Taako, and Lucretia found herself paralyzed in indecision. Their plan was clearly not working, but she didn't want to be the one to bring it up, she couldn't be the one to bring it up. It would destroy Taako, destroy Barry. 

Plus she had promised. 

Lup laid across Lucretia's lap, the casualness making Lucretia's heart flutter. She felt whole with Lup, the sort of belonging that she only felt when she was emotionally dependent on a person. She knew it was terrible. She couldn't stop. 

Lucretia was an emotional person, given to bouts of finding everything good or bad, black and white. Lup was an anchor in the storm, reminding Lucretia why she still tried so hard to be around. Why she still took the time to record everything. Lup was stable in a way that Lucretia never was, despite Lup's chaotic upbringing and Lucretia's perfect one. It seemed perfect from the outside anyways.

It was after a stolen kiss, well, not stolen, but it felt that way to Lucretia. Any physical affection had to be stolen as there was no way to receive it from others honestly. Barry knew about them, he even made it clear to Lucretia that this was ok with him, but laying in bed with Lup with legs tangled always felt like a betrayal somehow. She always felt as though she was betraying others. 

It was after a stolen kiss when Lup made her promise. "Hey Luc," her golden eyes had been earnest in the moment Lucretia could meet her gaze, "if anything happens to me, I need you to promise me that you won't run this time."

"I wouldn't run." Lucretia argued, knowing in her mind that she had a bigger plan, although the shape of it was still rough. "That's not what I would do."

"Well, what would you do?" Lup leaned against the wall, crossing her arms and smiling. "Got some big plan that no one knows about?"

"I wouldn't do it." Lucretia looked at the ground, at their shoes. 

"But?"

"But I would go back to my plan."

"Then promise that."

"Promise what?"

"That you won't enact that plan." 

"I promise." She meant it at the time too. Lup had smiled and taken her hand, and they had run onto the deck together, and Lucretia had meant it. 

But that was when Lup was here, when Lup was safe. When Lucretia was relatively stable and had an anchor. She knew she should have developed some coping skills, some way to cope with what her brain put her through, but her coping skill had been Lup, and Lup was gone. 

She had promised though. 

Lucretia took a deep breath, tucked a braid behind her ear and decided. She had broken promises before, so what was one more? After all, they would never remember after this anyways. 

She began to redact. 

[somelazyassartist]

Why can't I draw everything I want to draw all at once?????