I had a dream set during the Gerblins arc where Magnus kept trying to make awkward small talk and ask the others about themselves.
Taako was annoyed by it and sarcastically said “okay guys, how about we just stop the whole adventure and get to know each other better?”
Merle looked off into the distance and said “there used to be so much time for that.”
And the others were like “what” and Merle was like “what” and they shook it off and never mentioned it again.
And now because of that dream I have a headcanon that Merle “forgot his own last name, twice” Hitower Highchurch has a memory that’s already so full of holes and folds and blank spots that occasionally one of those holes works the other way around and he briefly has a thought like “this is worse than that mushroom planet” or “didn’t Magnus always used to wear red?” pass through his mind, only to immediately be forgotten again.
On rare occasions while the thought is in his head he’ll make an odd comment that others brush off and forget just as quickly.
And yes, he once called Taako Lup by mistake. Taako didn’t react and it didn’t stir any memories but later he looked down and realized he’d been clutching the handle of the Umbra Staff so tightly that the tiny raised pattern at the top had left a deep indentation in his hand.
I was re-listening to the Gerblins arc and at one point Merle says (to two people he’s supposed to have just recently met) “Can we talk? I feel like I don’t know you guys […] I just feel like we’ve grown apart.”
And obviously it was just goofing as is the case for 90% of the things that are foreshadowing in retrospect but that’s all I needed headcanon locked the fuck down.
Im 78% sure that when N03113 mentions liched Merle joked about being good friends with some liches
Merle’s brain: uselessly shouting vital information
Lucretia had definitely had taako’s elderflower macarons before the candlenights episode like they’re one of his signature recipes and she had loved them for 100 years
BUT she also knew that they were his own, secret recipe that no-one else knew so she was like ‘hmm ok if i eat one i have to be sure to react like i’ve never had one of my favourite macarons before, if he thinks i’ve had them before he’ll get suspicious, ok Lucretia just… act… natural’
& long story short that’s why ‘hot diggity shit that is a baller cookie’
Lucretia, mentally: nailed it
Taako: haha the whole recipe is in my book!!
Lucretia: …
Lucretia: this pretense has been wholly unnecessary
*later*
Lucretia: *leafing through a newly purchased copy of taako’s cookbook trying to commit to memory which of his recipes she can and cannot admit familiarity with* okay okay okay this is fine okay
*still later*
Lucretia, sweating: *pointing at recipe for a dish taako made almost every week on the starblaster* hey taako… this looks… good… could you make it??
Taako, drinking a milkshake, only half listening: do i look like i work for free
Magnus: why don’t you just make it yourself there’s instructions right there
Okay, so like, here’s the facts. Lucretia had to figure out new lives for Magnus, Taako, and Merle with only the ability to take away information via the Voidfish.
As we know, Taako just got hooked up with his show, feesibly without any further erasing needed. I headcanon that the original Merle from Faerun died as a baby, so Lucretia only had to erase the fact that he died to place her Merle with this plane’s version of his family.
But Magnus insists that he was born and raised in Raven’s Roost. And as far as we know, no one ever questioned him on it. So how can Lucretia give him a lifetime at Raven’s Roost if she can only erase something?
The answer: she erased the fact that he’s a stranger. Maybe she wrote down “Magnus Burnsides is not from around here” onto a piece of paper and threw it into the tank without really thinking it through. Because now it’s not just the people of Raven’s Roost who is pretty sure Magnus Burnsides has been here his entire life even though evidence suggests otherwise. everyone in Faerun has this vague sense that Magnus Burnsides has been a vaguely familiar face in these parts for a long time, even if they can’t quite place why.
Magnus tells a barkeeper in Bradybuck that this is his first time here and the barkeeper doesn’t say anything, but they’re pretty sure Magnus has been stopping through here their entire life. Maybe they’re wrong, but either way his familiarity makes him easy to talk to, if not downright comforting to be around.
What I’m trying to get at is that one of the stranger side effects of the voidfish’s static is Magnus’s rustic hospitality.
No one ever mentions the best joke of TAZ: Balance and that’s that during the first episode it’s said that Magnus, Taako and Merle met on Craigslist: a list that a gnome named Craig puts on a tree every day
carey, kicking open killians bedroom door at 5 in the morning: THE GUY THAT TAAKO WAS AT THE CHUG N SQUEEZE WITH TONIGHT WAS THE SAME GUY HE USED THOSE TENTACLES ON
