It’s not all abraca-fuck-you and what have you!

[sciatrix]

I've been reading a lot of Adventure Zone fic lately, and there's some real good writers in the fandom, and my buddy Queenie loves TAZ too but hasn't dipped into the fic, and she was curious to see what the good fics were. So! A brief rec list, and reasons I really loved these stories! This rec-list is focused on TAZ Balance, although if I have a minute I'll sit down and dig through for TAZ Amnesty stories I really love. One thing I love about this fandom is that there is a lot of good gen out there, and a lot of meditations on the theme of chosen family: there are canon queer relationships, if you don't know TAZ, but most of these stories don't revolve around them. I don't believe there are any non-canon ships in this list. (I also think there's only one canonical romance between two straight-and-cis-as-far-as-we-know characters in the whole of canon, which is its own form of nice.)

anyway! the recs!



breaking the same old heart, by tardigradeschool

Taako and Magnus in triptych: before, during, and after the Bureau.

I love this one because it's such an interesting study of a relationship that is, as the author puts it, "not especially romantic but beyond the platonic?" It was written before the Stolen Century, so this is a Taako viewed without the benefit of knowing how he actually relates to his canonical sibling, but I think that just makes the portrait more interesting: he's choosing to open up to Magnus and trust him, and I think that Magnus' perspective on Taako is a really comfortable one.

Stop Me If You've Heard This Before, by ohjustdisarmalready

Lup is good at a lot of things. Magic, chaos, blowing things up, cooking…the list goes on.

But she’s best at knowing her brother. And it doesn’t take much to see that Taako is being suspicious as fuck.

I love this one because it's such a powerful premise: imagine if the Song and Story arc hadn't worked. What do you think Taako would have been willing to do? Give the man access to, say, a time turner, so he knows everything that will happen with the Hunger and has the chance to do it all again... and let Kravitz and a dead Angus keep those memories, too--well, Wonderland starts looking pretty tempting. Unfortunately for him, of course, Lup isn't going to let any of this shit go, and she's really pissed off at this Death asshole, too.

This is technically unfinished but it's really just missing the wrap-up chapter to set all the loose ends to rest; the story ends on a fairly good end-note. I am a sucker for Lup struggling with the changes to Taako's life after she's finally released from the Umbra Staff, and this story delivers in spades.

these strange creatures, by anonymousAlchemist

Taako sweeps himself into the common area of the Starblaster with all the drama and panache that he reserves for alternate Tuesday afternoons. Barry ignores him with all the practice he has from a decade of alternate Tuesday afternoons.

“I’m exhausted,” Taako whines, draping himself across Barry’s shoulders, the sharp point of his chin poking into Barry’s collarbone. “I’ve been up since for-ev-er, working on this dumb transmutation thing for Lulu.”

“Go meditate, then,” Barry says, absently reaching up to pat Taako’s head.

“Meditate?”

“You know, meditation? Isn’t that, uh, one of your elf things??” Barry finally looks up from his book, barest hint of a wrinkle in his forehead. Taako shakes his head.

“Never heard of it, homeslice. Musta skipped that day at elf practice.”

Barry laughs.

“Elf practice, sure.”

This fandom has some good good takes on elves, and this one is a particularly interesting and creepy-as-hell ones. It haunts me like rereading The Stolen Child by Yeats. From one throwaway line in the story re: elf practice comes a really deliciously horrific and interesting concept revolving around souls.

starting to sound like a friendship thing, by Psilent

"You don't owe me anything," Magnus says quickly. "You're my friend and you were in trouble and protecting that button clearly wasn't working – really sorry about that, by the way – and I couldn't just stand there and do nothing!"

Taako is staring at him. He doesn't quite slump, just holds himself at different angles as the indignation slinks out of his posture to be replaced by bewilderment. "I'm your what?"

This is another lovely pre-Stolen Century meditation on Taako and Magnus' friendship thinking about the contrast between Taako's fundamental loneliness and his violent allergy to vulnerability. Contains: wooden dogs.

Bury the Lead, by marywhal

Taako’s senior year at Neverwinter High could be going better. Faced with a choice between joining the school’s floundering newspaper or being expelled, he opts for a career in journalism.

Lucretia, the paper’s editor, kind of wishes he'd gone the other way.

I often enjoy AUs more than a lot of my friends do, so I'm limited my inclusion of AUs in this list. But this one I can't resist: Taako as a scholarship student at a boarding school in the style of the Austin live show, doing his best to not get expelled in the wake of making Teacher Rick cry in Home Ec. A beautiful character study of Taako's essential wariness and prickliness, with a particularly good conflict between Taako and Lucretia and learning to communicate between two very opinionated, different, and brilliant teenagers. Also has a really good Lup. Favorite concept? "In Elvish, colors are verbs."

Lup Flips Off Wonderland, by veritashopian

For the first time in nearly two decades, a resident of the Felicity Wilds takes a hesitant step into this clearing.

Perched on a high branch of a wide, tall tree, a single black bird watches in silence.

“You wanna torch it all, is that it? We don’t like the place so we’ll burn it down so we don’t have to look at it? I thought we were past that kiddie shit.”

A really beautiful scene between Lup and Taako, featuring some good good healing shit and a great idea as to what to do with the remains of Wonderland. Fuck Edward and Lydia, y'all: one set of elven twins wipes away the legacy of another.

The Teenager's Guide to Gambling for Fun and Profit, by terezis

“Look, necromantic activity’s pretty unusual ‘round those parts, so these guys are either total newbies, or they’ve been good at keeping their heads down ‘til now. Shouldn’t be anything you can’t handle, though.”

“That’s all you got?”

“I didn’t exactly read the fine print on the contract, Taako. That’s all the boss man said when he called for backup. S’like I told you before, he tried to gamble for the bounty and lost."

Kravitz finds himself in a bit of a pickle. Lup makes some calls. Taako strikes a deal.

Sometimes you just need a funny goof, and this is that. I always wind up cackling like a hyena at the end--but I won't spoil it beyond that.

Winner, Winner, by a_big_apple

The same meal in three different situations; or, the one in which time heals all Taako's wounds.

Oh, oh, oh. There are some good meditations on Taako's relationship with food out there in TAZ fandom, but I think this might be one of my favorites. Vulnerability and self-doubt and recovery from a bad, bad mistake; and learning to take joy in yourself again. Mmm. Yes.

A Royal Reprimand, by anonymous_moose

Barry has a very particular set of skills -- skills which have been a boon to his friends and family for over a century. The only problem is, in his new line of work, they're not exactly kosher.

Barry sweats. Kravitz is amused. The god of death lays down the law. Theology is sometimes uncompromising.

I love the idea that Barry and Lup, who had been liches for what? forty years? find re-adjusting to the laws of the Raven Queen pretty rough--but even more I love the concept that Barry wouldn't be able to just give up experimenting in his off time. And I really enjoy Barry and Kravitz interactions--they have a lot of reasons to dislike one another and more than a few to like each other anyway. Makes for an interesting relationship, especially since they're very literally chosen family--in-laws!--whom neither of them technically got to choose, and you don't often see that type of relationship illustrated in canon.

running into the sun (but i'm running behind), by Quilly

When the bubble cannon breaks while the boys are away, a road trip is clearly the best way to pass the time until it gets fixed.

Magnus loves his friends. Taako doesn't understand affection. Merle shares some of his truth.

Where did they wind up? Oh yeah, near fuckin' Glamour Springs. Taako's rather unfortunate attempts to cope with that fill me with an awful lot of joy, especially as I watch Magnus and Merle trying to figure out wtf is wrong with him, anyway. Good good gen.

Rest for the Wicked, by BoPeepWithNoSheep

The problem with surviving the end of the world is now Lucretia has to live in it.

I love Lucretia, who does terrible things out of a misplaced sense of responsibility and guilt. Lucretia the tragic figure in the most classical sense of the world--and I love that Lucretia is not allowed to simply die and have done with it, at the end of the world, but must figure out how to go on and live with her mistakes, with some of the people she loves forgiving her but not others.

tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine, by anonymousAlchemist and emi_rose

Taako snaps his fingers sharply and the glasses appear on the table between them. He refuses to look at them — or at Lucretia — as they appear.
"I still fuckin' hate you, okay? Just because, just because we're sitting here and you're drinking my shitty moscato, that doesn't mean we're good, alright? cause we're not! we're not good!"
“It’s not that bad.” Lucretia proves her point by taking a long drink of sweet wine.
“It was four gold at Fantasy Costco,” Taako says. “And hey! fuck you! Stop trying to get me to talk with you! I’m onto your tricks, Madame Director.”
“I’m in your pocket spa,” she retorts.
“Yeah, well, it’s mine, and I was here first,” he says.

Of course, I love Taako and Lucretia... negotiating, after Song and Story. Don't make Taako engage in character growth before he's ready--and if you do, prepare to get bitten and clawed until he's fucking well ready to decide to go where he wants. At the same time, I love the raw grief and sorrow swirling around Lucretia, and I love the interactions between the two of them in this series, where both of them are allowed to be in pain and sorry and unwilling to forgive... but also unwilling to forget or let each other go properly.

Unhurried, by goodnicepeople

"Then you don't know me," Taako says. "Because I don't give a shit. About other people."

"You saved the world," Magnus insists a bit pleadingly, with a quality Taako quietly resents.

"It was a job, bubbeleh," Taako shrugs. His voice wavers, for just a moment, before Taako wrestles it back. "Just a job."

---------

Life is short and some people keep rushing through it.

Magnus has some trouble coping without his grand mission to center him. I think this is really realistic for him, and prods gently at the character Travis made and the life he made for himself before he died at a ripe old age. For a character who seems to have spent a surprising swathe of his life staring wistfully at his own death, either in the service of glory or in the service of going home, this is a thoughtful take on what got him to let go of that yearning and content himself with his dogs and his work until death came for him in its own time.

Comments

[kaberett]

Shared with my coz who is a fan, thank :)

[sciatrix]

np! I love them. <3

[silversandbea]

Count me as someone else who really enjoyed The Adventure Zone but never really thought about tracking down any fandom works for it. Thanks, I'll check these out!