[id: a sketchy drawing of Taako and Kravitz from the waist up. The drawing is hued red mostly, with a light red circle behind them and the under sketch the same red. The lineart is a dark teal. Taako has a large wizard hat with flowers on it and two short braids on the back of his head. Kravitz has dreadlocks pulled into a ponytail at the back of his head. Kravitz is holding Taako’s waist as he leans backwards, and Taako has his arms looped around Kravitz’s neck. They are both smiling at each other and sticking out their tongues.]
[Caption: Art of Kravitz and Taako Taaco from The Adventure Zone’s Balance Arc. Kravitz, a tall black man with cornrows and pointed ears, is holding Taako, an elf with light brown skin and long hair that fades from brunette to blonde, in his arms bridal-style. Kravitz looks unamused, while Taako is winking cheekily. Taako is dressed in teal and pink, including heeled boots and a witches hat, and Kraviz is in a grey button-up with a black tie and a black feathered cape.]
[id: a fullbody drawing of Taako and Kravitz walking together. Taako is a tan-skinned elf with long blonde hair in a fishtail braid. On his head is a blue wizard hat with a pink flower. He’s wearing a pink tux jacket with pink flowers on it, and a black bowtie and pants. He has bright blue shoes that go up past his ankles.
Kravitz is a dark-skinned man with black dreads that go past his shoulders, and he’s wearing a black vest with pink lining over a mint green shirt. He has a long black cape that is flowing past his shoulders, and the inside of the cape is the same color as his shirt. He has several piercings and a ring on his middle finger. Taako is smiling, and over his head is written “ok so then…” The “ok” is in small blue text and the “so then” is in big yellow text. Kravitz is laughing and holding his hand near his face.]
Lup comes home to the mouth-watering smell of garlic sautéing on the stove. It’s fucking delightful. She loves having a body again. Not enough people appreciate having a working nose; for a long moment, it’s all she can do to stand in the hallway and inhale. Mmm. Fuck yeah, that’s the good stuff.
Then she kicks off her shoes and heads on into the kitchen, because after twelve years trapped inside an umbrella and several months as a lich, Lup also greatly enjoys having legs. It’s the little things, you know? Taako’s standing by stove, and when she enters, he glances back and waves her over to the counter.
“Oh, good, you’re just in time,” he says. “Come grate this parm. Where’s Barold?”
Lup rolls her eyes, but pads over and pulls a box grater out of the drawer. “What, no hello? Barry’s still filling out paperwork, he told me to go on ahead. What’re you making?”
Taako sticks his tongue out and reaches past her for a bowl of diced tomatoes. “Pasta puttanesca,” he says. The tomatoes sizzle finely as they’re added to the pan. Lup watches as he stirs, then lowers the heat to let them simmer. “How was day one of Reaper school? You gank some ghouls yet? Slurp up any souls?”
“Nah, no soul slurping,” Lup says. “That’s day two.” She eyes the skillet, then his mise en place. “You never add enough red pepper flakes.” She reaches for the little bowl.
Taako slaps at her hand. “Don’t you fuckin’ dare,” he says. “If you add it now it’ll burn.”
“Um,excuseyou, it’ll be nicely toasted. You just have no taste.” Lup elbows him back, then picks up the block of cheese and resolves to try again when he’s not looking. “Orientation was good, though,” she says. “Pretty standard onboarding. It reminded me of the IPRE a little, actually. Krav made us do icebreakers.”
(I must amend my mistake for a major detail I added in this story now that we have updated information lol)
Kravitz hates having to leave in the middle of dinner to go to a work related emergency. It doesn’t happen too often, but it happens often enough that it irks him greatly. Couldn’t necromancers and undead beings hold off on doing their nefarious work from seven to eight pm everyday? Or even just every other day? He’s sure Lup and Barry would love the consistent break too if they could just make that happen.
Unfortunately, he knows necromancy won’t stop for anyone.
Tonight is another night that he gets called out to help with a job, but Taako promised he would keep the rest of his half eaten food warm in a stasis spell. At least he has that to look forward to as he cuts his way through a horde of zombies a powerful lich summoned from the graveyard he was squatting in, so Lup and Barry can concentrate on taking down the lich himself.
By the time they’ve dispatched everyone in the graveyard, Kravitz is exhausted. He’d already had a really long day, but at least now it should finally be over. Lup and Barry thank him for coming out to help them and send their regards to Taako before he waves to them goodbye and steps through a rift back home.
Kravitz steps through the front door and immediately heads back to the dining table where his food is waiting for him. “Lup and Barry say ‘hi’,” Kravitz says as he passes the kitchen. Then he does a double take and walks back to the entrance of the kitchen. “Taako, what are you doing?”
Taako looks back at him from his place in front of the sink and laughs. “What does it look like I’m doing, babe?”
He turns around again as Kravitz walks toward him, and places another dish from the sink into the drying rack. “It looks like you’re just piling dirty dishes in the drying rack that’s meant for clean dishes to be put away.”
Taako snorts. “Do these dishes look dirty to you?” He asks, gesturing to the drying rack.
Kravitz gives them a once over. “No, but if you haven’t actually washed them, then they’d still have whatever bacteria, germs, and whatever other particles and food stuff on them.”
Taako sighs. “They’re not dirty, Krav. Look.” Kravitz watches as Taako picks up a pot with sauce in it and waves his hand over it. Instantly, the sauce disappears, and the pot looks clean. “It’s called magic, and cha’ boy is chock full of it.”
Kravitz shakes his head and crosses his arms as Taako places it in the drying rack. “You can’t just clean them with magic.”
Taako glances up at him. “Uh, yes I can. See? They’re clean.”
Kravitz sighs. “That’s not actually cleaning them! Does prestidigitation kill off the microbes and sanatize the dishes?”
Taako shrugs before picking up a plate. “I don’t know. Probably? I mean, it does clean anything smaller than a cubic foot, and they look clean.”
“But cleaning away what’s visible is not the same thing as actually cleaning it,” Kravitz says pointedly.
Taako elbows him in the ribs playfully. “Why do you care, Bones? You’re already dead, so it’s not like you have to worry about illness and disease.”
“But you do. And just because I don’t have to worry about getting sick doesn’t mean I’m okay with eating off of dirty dishes.”
“Okay, but they’re not dirty!” Taako says, slight irritation seeping into his voice now. “See, look!” He waves his hand over the plate, and the remaining food particles vanish. “I’ve gotten all the important bits off at the very least, so they’re fine!”
“It’s not properly cleaned! You can get sick!” Kravitz says exasperatedly. “And you’ve been doing this with everything lately.”
Taako places the plate in the drying rack before turning to give him his full attention and crossing his arms. “Doing what?”
“Using magic. Magic can’t be your solution to everything.” Kravitz says.
“And why not?” Taako asks, heatedly.
“Because it can’t do everything for you, and it’s ridiculous how many things you’ve used magic for that you can use your own two hands to do. Like getting up from the couch to grab your cup from the counter instead of using mage hand, or or… I don’t know, taking a shower?” Kravitz runs his hand through his hair in exasperation.
Taako pokes him in the chest accusingly. “One, magic like that is helpful for when I don’t feel like doing things, vis à vis mage handing my cup or doing the dishes-”
“Which aren’t getting cleaned proper-”
“Two,” Taako continues, “I don’t use magic to clean myself. I’m not an animal; I do take showers! How do you think I get my hair this soft and smooth?”
“Okay, but that doesn’t change the fact that you use magic for literally everything else! I’d bet that you can’t go a whole day without using magic!”
Taako gets a glint in his eyes, and he smirks. “Is that a challenge, Kravitz?”
“You know what? Yeah, it is.” Kravitz says, smirking back.
“Well I’ll do you one better,” Taako says. “I won’t use magic for a whole week.”
“That would be literally impossible for you,” Kravitz scoffs.
“No it wouldn’t! I could go a whole year without using magic if I really wanted to.”
Kravitz raises an eyebrow. “Could you? Could you really?”
Taako straightens up and taps him on the nose. “Yes, I can, and in fact I will.”
Kravitz full on laughs at that. “You are not going to be able to not use magic for a whole year!”
“Want to actually bet on that?” Taako asks.
“You know what? Fuck it, why not. Whoever wins has to give the other a back rub.” Kravitz says, thinking about how desperately he wants one right now and how he usually does on really intense work days.
Taako smiles as he turns around to turn on the water and grab a sponge. “When you give me that back rub, Bones, it’s gotta be the best one I’ve ever had.”
Kravitz rolls his eyes and kisses him on the cheek. “I give it 12 hours before you crack.”
Taako rolls his eyes too with a smile and grabs another pot. “Whatever you say, babe.”
taakitz is just so funny as a concept. here we have a giant crystal golem, who then turns into a skeleton with a cockney accent, and then into a handsome man, who’s also the literal grim reaper, hunting Taako, Merle and Magnus for their death crimes. then we have this elven wizard with a funny voice, who’s apparently into tentacle porn. fast forward ten years, we see a dinner party, hosted by Kravitz. This personification of Death, who is Taako’s boyfriend, has been for the past ten years, invites Taako’s friends to their house, convinces Taako to adopt a dog that Magnus brought with him, and patiently waits for Taako to come home from his adventure. what, you want to be a ranger now? you do you. Jocasta? nice name, suits you. I put the pie in the fridge, we can watch Masked Singer together at 10, love you, byeee. they’re just so! adorable, and also hilarious. Death is doing the dishes while his elf boyfriend fights a powerful terrifying creature using only a crossbow and the power of persuasion because he bet Kravitz that he can go a year without magic
it appears the extended nap solved my computers lil problem, sorry for the dodgy quality (i really wanted to get this out on time: its still the 1st somewhere right?)
way belated but here’s my annual “yay the new taz gn is here” piece. drawing taako and kravitz together is hard because it ends up looking like a scene out of kingdom hearts with the discrepancy in realism
Hello hi it’s been 800 years since I’ve posted but I still love TAZ, especially balance, so when TAZ Imbalance started my hand slipped at this incredible moment.
I also couldn’t help referencing Justin’s expression because how could you not? It’s so great getting to actuallt watch them play
My other socials are:
@ Artist_Justine on Twitter and @ ArtistJustineSchneider on IG ✌ I suck at posting there too but oh, shoot, the wind is picking up byyyeee…
…I love you, Taako, and at this point, I think that everyone in reality is going to love you after hearing your story, and nothing’s gonna change that…
I wanted to do more with this but I’ve been dealing with a lot lately. It was nice to work on it though and I’m happy with the place it’s at. Love these two. They’ve absolutely become one of my top favorite couples in any fandom I’ve been a part of. Thanks for doing this event @taakitzweek ! Hopefully I’ll be able to draw more next time. (PS: Hope my image description is alright! I’m new to doing them!)
[ID: A drawing of Kravitz and Taako from The Adventure Zone. They are both in robes; Kravitz’s is black and Taako’s is a light purple. Taako is a tan skinned elf with long dyed blonde hair that is tied up in a messy bun, his brown roots are growing in. He has a silver septum ring and several silver ear piercings, as well as purple painted nails. Kravitz is a dark skinned man with dark brown dreadlocks that are tied up in a bun. He has a gold septum ring and several gold ear piercings, with gold hair accessories. Both are wearing wedding rings, have on light teal face masks, and are holding mugs. Kravtiz’s face mask is painted on to appear like a skull. Taako is winking and sticking is tongue out playfully at Kravtiz, while Kravitz winks back and looks at him lovingly. Two small hearts are floating by their heads. End ID.]
I see your “Lup says that Kravitz has to beat her in a duel for Taako’s hand” and I raise you “Kravitz says he’s going to propose, and Lup agrees to help with the proposal and then like, a week later Taako says he’s going to propose and Lup, seeing her chance, tricks them into proposing on the same day”
I see your “Lup says that Kravitz has to beat her in a duel for Taako’s hand” and I raise you “Kravitz says he’s going to propose, and Lup agrees to help with the proposal and then like, a week later Taako says he’s going to propose and Lup, seeing her chance, tricks them into proposing on the same day”
