TAZ blog

the adventure zone amnesty episode 7 description:

Kravitz: what’s a wedding?

Taako: ok babe if this is your way of hinting that you don’t wanna get married, i dig it

Kravitz: no, really

Taako: …two people, union of love

Kravitz: ok, we didn’t have that when i was young

Taako: youre killing me, how fucking old are you?

Kravitz: i told you i dunno, calendars were different back then

i came across this unfinished on my computer and decided it was about time to tidy it up and show it off to the world

i hate how much i’m liking this guy 

Lup has heard his jokes. Heard them, told him exactly what she thought of the barbed humor he pointed at himself, and refused to let him continue. It hasn’t stopped him yet, but she’s trying. Lup heard the terms of the sacrifice, too. She was listening when the liches explained - she didn’t stop listening after they dropped a huge, metal box on her brother because was going to know what the fuck was happening to him. She knows what they took, and it isn’t what Taako calls it.

Taako’s not ugly. Taako’s not average. No one would ever accuse Taako of being anything but extraordinary, no matter what his face looks like. No one would think anything is missing. That’s not what this is.

Lup knows the difference the moment she sees his face, when he finally lets the spell down in front of her. She would - she knows his face maybe better than he does. It’s the freckles she catches first; it’s the wrong number, in the wrong places. The feeling is a little like looking up and seeing that the stars are all wrong - she remembers doing that with Taako, sitting on the roof of the Starblaster. They spent hours looking for just one familiar constellation. For years, it was the closest they came to talking about what they’d lost.

Next are the eyes; the shape is less severe, and the color isn’t quite right. The changed details find her faster after that. There’s something different about his nose, his hair has more hints of red than gold, his expressions are… off. It’s her brother’s face but it isn’t, he looks familiar but not entirely. Her brother is right there in front of her and she misses him.

Lup smiles. She tells him that he’ll never look as good as her, but he’s a pretty close second. Taako looks relieved. He tries to hide it, and even on a face that is as unfamiliar as it is familiar she can see right through him. The changes aren’t that much. He still looks so much like her.

But he’s not like her.

Taako and Lup are elves. They have long ears, sharp eyes, and wicked smiles. For one hundred years, they are two of a kind; no matter where they go, no one looks quite like them. The “elves” of other worlds are not as sharp, not as strange. Like always, they take pride in the way people stare. They’ve never minded being a matching set.

Now it’s only Lup. For the first time in one hundred years, Taako looks like he belongs. He might have been born on Faerun; he might have lived his whole life here, without her, like he did in another set of memories.

Magnus Burnsides was never supposed to be on the IPRE mission.

He’s not a scientist or a magic user.  He’s strong sure, but he’s also like 20 years old and not nearly tempered enough to be the Security Officer on a mission like this.  Compared to the rest of the crew he seems like the odd man out, the only fighter on a ship of magic users.  No major accomplishments to his name, no reason to take him on this historic mission.

Imagine Captain Davenport, testing and screening applicants for his mission.  It’s important that they be talented and multifaceted, able to handle a variety of tasks.  The crew will be small, and everyone will have to pull their weight. 

But they’re also tested for compatibility with each other.

The Starblaster’s revolutionary Bond Engine is powered by relationships.  Having a crew that gets along, that gels together perfectly and supports and, frankly, loves each other.  It’s no easy task, especially as the pool starts to narrow down.  The Twins alone are a hassle, and it’s difficult to find people that get along with them.  Merle is a bit of a wise-ass, and Barry can be a little overwhelming when he gets into one of his scientific rants.  Lucretia is pretty neutral, but that’s only because she chooses to observe most days.

They get along well enough, but they’re missing something.

Enter Magnus Burnsides.

He’s probably not even supposed to be there.  Maybe he’s making a delivery to the Institute from the farm he works at.  Davenport watches as this young man walks onto campus, completely out of his league, and immediately begins to make friends with everyone he comes across.  He banters with the janitorial staff, he jokes with the freshman coeds walking to class, he kindly offers to help an elderly professor carry their bags to class.  This kid is so friendly, so hospitable even when he’s in an unfamiliar place, that Davenport snatches him up and takes him to meet the mission team.

And they all click with him immediately.

“It’s not enough that we get along,” Davenport explains to the board later that day, “Simply getting along won’t be enough to reach the engine’s full potential.  We need to be like a family, and this kid immediately took to everyone like he had known them his whole life.”

“You want to send an untrained civilian on a dangerous and historic mission into Gods know where?” the board asks.

“He got along with Taako.  Within ten minutes of meeting him they were friends.”

Magnus Burnsides is admitted to the Institute that day, and taken under Davenport’s wing for special training to catch him up with the rest of the crew.  It’s not an easy task.  Magnus has no formal education, and no magical ability.  Davenport works with what the kid does know, which is fighting and friendship.  They train hard to make him into a suitable Security Officer, still a little green around the edges but ready to fight for the people he cares about.

Davenport knows that Magnus’ kind nature will be the most important asset he brings to this mission, and as the years pass he is proven right again and again. 

Comic N-053 “… Double Horseyback Ride?”