TAZ: BALANCE ART BLOG

“Your past sin is wrath. How do you plead?“

[ id: Drawing of Davenport from the waist up from the podcast The Adventure Zone.  Davenport is a light skinned, freckled gnome with long, orange hair, mustache and hair. He has a small hearing aid on his ear, and sharp teeth. He is yelling upwards, brows furrowed. His arms are tied with rope. There is a speach bubble coming from his mouth reading “ Have we not earned a little wrath? “. Red triangles surround the beige speech bubble.] 

balance is a love story

[id: ten screenshots of transcripts. 

“Lucretia: I can do this Magnus, please, [voice starts to become staticky and fade] please just lie down, I don’t want you to fall and hurt yourself. I love you, Magnus, I love all of you. I’m sorry, it’ll be over soon.”

“Justin: And Taako walks over to Angus. Taako: Hey, um, cool knife. You know he has a sword that’s on fire, right? So, just before you get too excited, he did just give you a knife, I just want you to remember who’s your dude? Who’s your dude? Griffin: He runs over and he just grabs on to you, um, and also gives you a big, weepy hug.”

“Looking back, this performance is where that love that Barry and Lup cultivated quietly and cautiously over the last half century truly bloomed. There was romance in every measure, and longing in every note. And after the performance, they- they take each other’s hands high in the air, and they swoop down for this over-the-top bow, just laughing at- at the drama of it all. And the audience cheers. And Barry and Lup laugh, and they don’t let each other’s hands go. And then they stop laughing, and they don’t let each other’s hands go. And they keep not letting go. And Lup says,  Lup: Barry, do you wanna go talk somewhere for a while? Griffin: And Barry says,  Barry: [Wholeheartedly] Yeah.”

“Taako: Well I’m not leaving without Barry.”

“Magnus: I’m so sorry I forgot you, buddy. I’m so sorry.  Griffin: Um, it lifts up one of its tendrils and puts it on your shoulder. Travis: I lean my head in so that my forehead’s pushing against it and I start humming.”

“Taako: Am I…? I’m not going to lose you again.  Griffin: She says, Lup: Never. Never again, bud.  Griffin: And floats over and hugs you and says, Lup: Please don’t die.  Taako: I’d say the same to you, but that ship done sailed, eh?”

“Travis: I-I just stare at her. Not in a dumbfounded way, not in a I-can’t-believe-it way, but just. I can’t not look at her.  Griffin: She sets her tools down, and she smiles, and she says, Julia: You lived so much longer than I thought you were going to! Magnus: [tearfully] I know, I’m sorry I made you wait. Griffin: I think she starts running towards you, and you start running towards her, and you embrace in front of this house, and the two dogs are just kind of weaving around your feet as you stand there for what feels like hours, and- Travis: I whisper in her ear, Magnus: [tearfully] I tried to make you proud.”

“Lup: Barry already gave me a day. And… I love him, Taako, with all of my heart, but you… I needed a day from you, because you are my heart. You know that, right?”

“Griffin: She… smiles and she says,  Mavis: Well, you’re my hero too, dad, not just because you saved the world, but… because… I know how hard you’re trying.  Griffin: And she comes in for a hug, and she says, Mavis: I–I love you, dad. Merle: [softly] I love you too, baby.”

“Clint: Starbuck- okay. Um, if it’s about the finale, the one time I can remember crying was, um… was Merle’s last scene with, uh- stop looking at me, Juice- Merle’s last scene with Mavis, when, uh, she talked about how proud she was of how well he was doing, and he said “I love you, baby”, because that was- that was kinda me telling you guys the same thing.”

I’m—I’m traveling around with the boner squad and I never get to just say—what I’m feeling—I have emotions! It’s not all abra-ca-fuck-you and what have you—I have a beating heart! I’m multi-dimensional! I’m a fully realized creation! FUCK!!

Ya know what I like about how Justin portrays Taako? The little things. I like the way he often gives simple, monosyllabic answers to the character-building questions that Griffin asks as DM, simple grunts that cause his family to laugh in response as if he’s told a joke… then he interrupts Griffin just as he’s getting ready to move on, do his DM worldbuilding magic, and he gives that short, silly joke, some meaning.

Here’s a specific example: during the Stolen Century, Taako cooks dinner for the team. When Griffin asks Justin what he’s cooking, Justin grunts out a single word: stew. His voice sounds short and bored, like this is just… the first thing he happened to think of, not important or meaningful, not something he put any amount of thought into, just the first food he could remember - yeah, whatever, I wasn’t ready for your question but I guess my silly game character is making some fucking stew or whatever. It’s blunt and it startles a laugh out of everyone, but then, just as Griffin is getting ready to move on, Justin heaves a sigh and says “look, the thing about stew…”

He explains that he - no, not him, not Justin. He explains that Taako has learned, over the years, that stew is the perfect comfort food. It’s warm, it’s hearty, and everyone gets to pitch in with grabbing the ingredients, because you can make basically anything into a stew. He sounds bored, he sounds put-upon, even gripes about the inability of the rest of the crew to bring him any real, desirable ingredients… but it’s not a monosyllabic joke anymore, and he’s not fooling anyone. It’s not a joke. It’s not something he never thought about, it’s not just the first thing he thought of. The distance, the boredom, the complaints and griping… it’s a good act, but it’s not real. Justin’s thought about this. Taako has thought about this, and he didn’t come up with stew because it’s easy, he came up with stew because it’s comforting.

Because it makes the crew feel involved.