blupjeansweek

[blupjeansweek]

Blupjeans Week 2024 Prompt Submissions

Hello all! I'd love to take suggestions for prompts for this year's blupjeans week.

If there are prompts you'd like to see or create for this year, please reply to this post with your suggestions!

Even if you are not planning to create for the week, ideas are always very welcome : )

If someone has already replied with your idea, please still reply, as this will give me an idea of which prompts many people are passionate about including!

If for whatever reason you are not able to reply, asks are open as well, but replies are preferable otherwise as they help me keep everything in one place.

Thank you!

[blupjeansweek]

Blupjeans Week 2024 Prompt Submissions

Hello all! I'd love to take suggestions for prompts for this year's blupjeans week.

If there are prompts you'd like to see or create for this year, please reply to this post with your suggestions!

Even if you are not planning to create for the week, ideas are always very welcome : )

If someone has already replied with your idea, please still reply, as this will give me an idea of which prompts many people are passionate about including!

If for whatever reason you are not able to reply, asks are open as well, but replies are preferable otherwise as they help me keep everything in one place.

Thank you!

[blupjeansweek]

Blupjeans Week 2024 Prompt Submissions

Hello all! I'd love to take suggestions for prompts for this year's blupjeans week.

If there are prompts you'd like to see or create for this year, please reply to this post with your suggestions!

Even if you are not planning to create for the week, ideas are always very welcome : )

If someone has already replied with your idea, please still reply, as this will give me an idea of which prompts many people are passionate about including!

If for whatever reason you are not able to reply, asks are open as well, but replies are preferable otherwise as they help me keep everything in one place.

Thank you!

#blupjeans #taz #taz balance #the adventure zone #the adventure zone balance #blupjeans week #barry bluejeans #lup taaco #lup #thezonecast #mod stuff

[blupjeansweek]

Hello All! I'd like to Gauge interest for Blupjeans Week 2024!

[blupjeansweek]

Hello All! I'd like to Gauge interest for Blupjeans Week 2024!

#blupjeans #blupjeans week 2024 #blupjeans week #blupjeansweek2024 #taz #the adventure zone #taz balance #the adventure zone balance #mod stuff

[blupjeansweek]

After the aftermath - Blupjeans Week day 8 (weeks are longer now, sorry)

My @blupjeansweek prompts are part of a story and this is a little ficlet to tie it all off! Find the others here: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 or on Ao3

When people asked for the proposal story Barry never really knew what to say. They didn’t want to hear “one day Lup said it’d be baller if we made our wedding rings out of bone and I had some at home, so we did it, and look here it is! She did that cool twisty thing here first try. Isn’t she great?” Most people outside their immediate family just did weird squinchy faces about it or looked sympathetic. Barry had no idea why, as far as he was concerned it was perfect, mostly because Lup wanted to marry him and he wasn’t really bothered about anything else. 

“How about the bone church, babe?” Lup asked, stretching her legs out in front of her on their picnic blanket. 

Barry stayed cross legged and hidden from the midday sun in the shade of Lup’s parasol. “I know it’s what your spooky heart longs for, and I want you to have the perfect day, but bones or not it’s still a church.”

“And?”

“We’re not in any way religious? Or, well, the right kind of religious, church religious, obviously I worship you.”

Lup snorted. “Bad. Awful. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Said Barry, and squeezed her hand. “How about the university?” 

“So we don’t have to take leave?”

Barry laughed. “Yeah, we’ll just get Dav to use his captain powers and do it in the 10 minutes between lectures when we rush past each other in the hall on Fridays.”

“Taako would have to be there.” Lup said thoughtfully. “But  I think we could make it work… the drama of the time limit sounds kinda hot.”

“I… No, I mean… that wasn’t a serious suggestion, Lup. I was thinking more like the library, or the fancy hall? We could shove everyone round one of the big dramatic bench tables. Plus, we’d get staff discount. I bet they’d let us decorate it however we want as long as we put it back again after. We’re fire wardens too, so that’s the safety certificate sorted.” 

“Ooooh, we do have all those skulls to en-candle. They can’t stop us from having flames if we’re qualified about it.” Said Lup, sitting up a bit straighter. “And we could wrap twinkly lights round the beams…”

“... oh! And we could probably steal the flaming carpet from the office and see if Taako would be able to transmute something longer.”

“Pssh, he’ll be offended if we imply anything other than unfailing confidence in his ability to do it.” 

“Good point. I’ll let you bully Taako into doing a lot of manual labour.”

“He’s got Kravitz for that. Goth boy will be on carpet rolling duty as soon as Taako asks. He’s got it bad.” 

“They both do.”

“Yeah, they do.” There’s a long pause, a comfortable one. “I wasn’t sure I’d ever have this, you know?” Lup said. Barry didn’t dare say anything yet, Lup didn’t talk about the past a lot. He knew it was a hard topic and he wanted to let her get the thoughts out without interruption so he just squeezed her hand and hoped it conveyed ‘I’m here’, ‘I’’ve got you’, ‘I love you’. “There was just a time in the middle there where I wasn’t sure how we were gonna climb our way out of the shit pit life dropped us in.” 

“But you did.” Added Barry, unable to hide the pride in his voice. Sure, his life hadn’t been a walk in the park, but he’d always had Marlena.

 “We did.” Lup nodded. “And now we’ve built a whole family, and Taako has Kravitz, and I have you.”

“Forever and always.” Said Barry, nodding firmly. “You can’t get rid of me now…” He winced. “Okay, wait, no, that sounded creepy, but you know what I mean.”

“I do.” Said Lup, and leaned over to kiss him on the nose.

#fanfic

[blupjeansweek]

Blupjeans Week 2023

I had a super fun time doing these this year!! If you read and reblogged anything of mine, thank you :O!!

You can now find all of these on AO3 here! Or just in the links below!

Day 1: Refuge - Barry and Lup take shelter from the rain.

Day 2: Bet - Barry and Lup grow up together, and grow confident together.

Day 3: Myth - Lup and Taako run a cryptid-themed youtube channel. But it's not like cryptids like the "Red Robe" actually exist, right? ...Right???

Day 4: AU - Lup has a plan to access other universes through a portal. Barry is a lovesick rich guy she picked up along the way.

Day 5: Bones - Barry and Lup talk about becoming Reapers.

Day 6: Free Day - Barry hasn't played a piano in years. Lup finds one for him.

Day 7: Aftermath - Lup struggles with all she missed while trapped in the umbrastaff. Talking to Barry helps.

#fanfic

[blupjeansweek]

Day 7 - Aftermath

It was weird, still being in the world after it almost ended. They had spent a long, long time wondering what a plane would look like post-Hunger, but Lup figured that this was probably the best outcome they could hope for.

The sense of rebuilding and community here on Faerûn wasn’t completely new— there had been several worlds that actually heeded their warning and prepared for the fight. But seeing it afterward? Seeing that strength and love persist even though the Hunger had tried to destroy it? It was truly beautiful.

And, honestly, made Lup feel a little bit shitty about not exactly feeling up to help.

It was— she was a mess. To put it in simple terms. Lup had spent an entire decade imagining what it would be like when she finally got out of the umbrastaff and now that she was out she couldn’t bring herself to go through with a lot of her plans. Sure, she did most of the plans that involved hugging people, or fuckin’ talking to people, and all that. But otherwise, she just felt… shitty. And out of touch.

The crew had moved on without her, especially after Lucretia’s help. Honestly, Lup couldn’t bring herself to be mad about that. She could very easily where Luce had been coming from. Like, Taako and Barry would have kept searching for her no matter what. Hell, Barry had. And she loved him for that, she really did, but in all honesty? She was kinda glad Taako— and Barry, for the little pieces he got to— had the chance to live without her being missing hanging over his head.

But it also left her in this situation. The Hunger was gone, the world was saved, and Lup had no true connections with anyone besides the crew. And even then, they weren’t the same exact people she had left.

Merle had kids! He had been married! Magnus had married too, but it was a bit of a different story from what Lup knew. Taako found people who loved him, with his show, with Kravitz— at the very least, Barry had gotten the chance to know the world, if not many of the people in it. Lucretia had the entire Bureau and people she had met along the way. Davenport was the one closest to how she felt, but at the very least, people knew him, even if wasn’t who he really was.

Lup didn’t have anything. Aside from Cyrus, which didn’t go great for either of them. All she had was a weird, fleshy body and a family who had changed when she was gone.

“Lup?”

The door to the study opened. Barry peeked his head inside. The hallway light flooded through the small gap in the door. Lup had the lights in here down low, so the contrast made her squint a little.

“What’s up?”

“You okay?” Barry asked.

“Not really,” Lup said after a moment of hesitation.

Barry shuffled into the room, gently closing the door behind him. Lup leaned against one of her hands, turning a little so she could see Barry when he leaned up against the side of the desk. He held out a hand and she took it, squeezing softly.

“Can I do anything for you?” Barry asked.

Lup would literally never get tired of him. She got so, so lucky being stuck on a ship for a hundred years with this man.

“Mh.” She brought their hands up to her cheek, pressing against it. Barry smiled. She had missed him so fucking bad. “I’m just… thinking.”

“Well, there’s your problem,” Barry said.

“Stupid,” Lup said, but she was smiling anyway. “I— it’s just… Like, we thought about what it would be like after the Hunger for so long, but now that we’re here I’m— I just don’t know what to feel about it, y’know? It’s— it’s so much, sometimes.”

“I get that,” Barry said quietly. “It’s— it’s been hard.”

“So hard,” Lup said.

“Yeah,” Barry said. “And I— Lup, I can’t even imagine how hard it’s been for you, with the— the being trapped and everything. You’re doing so good, and I know it’s been rough. I just… it’s hard to think of what can make it feel better, y’know? Do you— is there anything you wanted to do? When you were in the umbrastaff, I mean. Like, we can make a bucket list-”

“Most of it was just wanting to hold you again,” Lup said. She cleared her throat, blinking away tears. Barry squeezed her hand again. “I— the world is just so different than how it was during— when I left. I can’t— I don’t know how to adjust to a world where I don’t know anything or anyone.”

“It’s hard,” Barry said. “We could, uhm. We could go on a road trip?”

“Go on a road trip,” Lup repeated.

“Yeah,” Barry said. “So, uh, so you get to know more of the— the lay of the land and all— and we can go places where I know someone or— or where Taako knows someone, and we can talk to them, and get you acquainted, at least—”

“I don’t wanna assume your friends wanna be my friends—”

“Babe,” Barry said. “Anyone who doesn’t wanna know you is full of horseshit anyway.”

“Yeah?” Lup said.

“Yeah!” Barry said. “Like- you’re Lup! Look at you! One, you’re hot as hell-”

“Barry—”

“Two, you’re super kickass? Like, I don’t know if you’ve been hearing the news-press, but—”

“Ugh, the news—”

“I know, right?” Barry said. “And three, you’re— Lup, you’re so genuinely kind and funny that I can’t imagine anyone wouldn’t be jazzed to meet you. You gotta— I know this is your line, but you gotta stop worrying so much about it. People love you. If you wanna go out and meet ‘em, then I’m gonna be right there with you, okay?”

Lup finally let go of his hand, if only to wipe her eyes. She was smiling, though.

“You think so?” she said.

“I know so,” Barry said. “Just… think about it, okay? Doesn’t have to be a road trip, we could just— take a vacation. Gods know we deserve it—”

“We do.”

“Just let me know,” Barry said. “And I’ll be there with you, okay? Now you gotta come eat before everything gets all cold and gross.”

“You’ve convinced me,” Lup said, pushing her chair back. “This bitch is ready for spaghetti.”

“You’re always ready for spaghetti.”

“It’s a character trait, babe, keep up.”

#blupjeansweek2023 #day 7: aftermath #fanfic

[blupjeansweek]

Aftermath - Blupjeans Week day 7

My @blupjeansweek prompts are part of a story and I'll be adding one more part to round it all off I think! Find the others here: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 or on Ao3

“I think I’ll maybe do it after the bone church?”

“How romantic.” Said Taako, wryly. “Here’s a load of dead people whose bones they dug up and made a chandelier of, also, I’ve been in love with you for a bajillion years, wanna grab coffee?”

“I wasn’t going to say the last bit.” Barry huffed. It was already mortifying that he had to talk about this with Lup’s brother. Maybe he should have told Magnus instead, but Barry wasn’t convinced he could be counted on not to wave them off by shouting ‘good luck telling Lup how you feel about her’ or something equally mortifying. Taako, at least, was air tight.

“You aren’t going to tell her you love her?” Taako narrowed his eyes. “Barry, Barold, you are my best friend in the world and I will murder you to death if you do not do this. You have been promising for months. Months! I cannot live like this. It’s homophobic.”

“I’m your best friend?” Barry laid his hand to his chest. “Taako, I..”

“Shut up.” Taako hissed. “If you don’t tell her then I will.”

Barry tried not to laugh at the deflection. Torturing Taako when he accidentally confessed that he had feelings was one of Barry’s favourite sports. It was a toothless threat too, if Taako was going to tell Lup then he would have done it already. He clocked how Barry felt almost as quickly as Barry did. “I’m going to tell her. I’m not going to ask her out for coffee after. Probably.”

“Fine. Fine! But you’d better tell her. Or else!” Taako mimed a series of tiny punches.

“No, please, Taako! Mercy! Mercy!!!”

– The conference was in a castle. It was hard to pretend that wasn’t at least 60% of the reason they were there, but their research was good too. The post-doc hunt had, thankfully, provided them both jobs. In the same University, of course, because it was unfathomable that they wouldn’t be together. The fact they would apply for jobs together and continue to live together wasn’t even discussed, it was just how it was going to be. The photo strings moved again, Barry’s book shelves stood in a slightly different configuration, and their coffee machine only fitted under one of the cupboards in the kitchen. They took their home apart at the seams and lovingly sewed it back together somewhere new.

It was inevitable that they’d end up researching together. They knew each others’ work inside out anyway, and one late night conversation about being able to sap energy from a storm cloud to heal someone led to a frantic few weekends in an empty evocation lab, which produced the paper that had taken them here. The applause faded and the moderator stood to ask for questions.

“It’s more of a comment than a question.” Said the dapper elf who had lazily raised his hand and immediately commanded attention. Of course that would be their first response. No one would want to drag things on after this. It was Barry’s least favourite phrase, but he tried not to roll his eyes and nodded politely instead. He felt Lup bristle beside him. “In my own research…” Barry fought not to tune him out. Maybe it would be relevant? Maybe the comment would even be helpful? “...instead of hiring an evocation specialist, which, even though I’m sure yours wasn’t too costly…” he gave Lup a once over which made Barry want to bite him. “...is still an unnecessary cost. You can just use volunteers. They have plenty of power for the taki…using. Voluntarily offered, of course.” He smiled a violently calm smile. There were murmurs around the room.

“What my colleague means to say…” Said the female elf next to him, Barry assumed his twin because they certainly looked the same, but people with these ethics might be experimenting with cloning for all Barry knew. “... is that our subjects are all there voluntarily and know exactly what they are taking part in.” Barry would like to see the ethics board they’d run that one by.

“...They volunteer to heal others?” Lup asked.

The pair shared an uneasy look. “We didn’t say our experiments were exactly the same, anyway, I’m sure lots more people have questions about your little project.” The female elf made a dismissive hand gesture.

“Which University are you from?” Lup continued before the moderator could take another question. “It would be wonderful to keep in touch as we obviously have similar research interests.”

The female elf’s mouth closed into a tight line and she glared, but her colleague… brother? Both? Answered before she could shush him “Felicity Wilde. It’s private.” He said smugly.

“Uh huh.” Answered Lup. Scribbling a note. “Great, and you are?”

“Edward and Lydia Vo-Gue. Remember it, you’ll see our publications soon enough.” Lydia elbowed him hard in the side.

“Cool, thanks.” Lup finished scribbling. “Anyone else actually have a question about this sweet sweet research?”

They did.

– “Are you actually going to contact them about their research?” Barry asked once they’d escaped from the conference dinner. The food was all strangely combined in the trying to be fancy but not actually fancy way and their table had been full of people who only wanted to talk about nothing but themselves. They fled as soon as the dancing started.

“Fuck no. I already emailed the Neverwinter ethics board. I imagine they’ll be shut down by the time they get home.”

– The bone church was their reward for surviving the schmoozing. The university had to pay for them to get to Goldcliff and back anyway, and the conference just so happened to finish on a Friday and it wasn’t any more expensive to travel back on a Sunday. They had meticulously planned the weekend and the ossuary was their first stop. They had a full morning to explore and they were going to use it. It was also where Barry was going to tell Lup how he felt. Definitely. It wasn’t going to be weird. It was going to be fine. Even if she didn’t feel the same it wouldn’t ruin everything, she already knew and she wasn’t angry. She wanted him to have as much time as he needed, but Barry was growing more sick of waiting and less worried about change with every passing day.

They stood together in front of the church, it looked completely ordinary from the outside, all weather-worn stone and too-modern-roof. “Ready?” He asked Lup?

She casually took his hand. “Cha’girl was born ready for this. Let’s go get our spook on!”

It was beautiful, macabre, but no one could deny the artistry, the dedication to shape and place as the old graves had to be emptied to make way for new corpses. There was an undeniable tenderness in the refusal to throw away the bones, the time spent cleaning and creating instead of destroying and forgetting. Their guide was taken aback by their endless questions, but was able to answer them. Lup and Barry absorbed as much as they could from them, and were eventually let loose while their guide tended to another tour.

“Is it okay if we check out the chandelier again before we go?” Lup asked. “I want to look at how they were connected again.”

“Sure.” Barry replied, his mouth dry. This was the place, and he was nearly out of time. Not that it mattered, but Lup would like it if it was here.

“Babe, you know your cool bird skulls?”

“Uh huh.”

“Think we could make them into cool miniature candle holders like those ones?” Lup pointed to the chandelier.

“I think we probably could.” Barry nodded. A skull and a candle should be easy enough to cobble together into something her spooky heart desired.

“I’m not sure we should try and create the full chandelier.”

“No, I think Taako would probably refuse to come over ever again if we had bones hanging from the ceiling. Kravitz too, for that matter. You know how he is about the sanctity of death.”

Lup rolled her eyes. “Fine. We won’t make a cool spooky chandelier that we’d both love. We’ll just decide not to do a fun group project because of Taako getting all the squeamish genes and picking the least cool kind of Death-y boyfriend. That seems right and fair.”

“I’m in love with you.” Said Barry softly. It wasn’t what he meant to say, there was a speech, he’d written it down. Maybe he could show her later, then she’d know he’d tried. “Just so you know.” He added. “Although, I think you did already.”

Lup smiled and placed her head on his shoulder. “I’m in love with you too, Bear. Just so you know…”

Barry didn’t know what to say. Sure, he’d realised this was a likely possibility. It wasn’t like Lup had pulled back since she’d overheard the conversation, if anything, they were closer than ever. But to hear it. To know, wholly and fully? That was magic.

“Anyway, wanna grab some coffee?” Lup always knew the right thing to say.

#blupjeansweek2023 #day 7: aftermath #fanfic

[blupjeansweek]

Day 7: Aftermath

Last day of @blupjeansweek 2023!

This is a followup to day 5: Bones

Read it on AO3

Summary: Lup meets her future mother in law

Lup and Barry sit in her parked car, staring at the house across the street. It's a cute little white picket fence number. There's a stone path bordered by rows of tiny blue forget-me-nots that leads to a manicured garden, then a wraparound porch with a set of comfy patio furniture to one side of the baby blue door.

Lup turns to Barry and says, "you're sure about this?"

His eyes are fixed on the house, and he nods. She presses her thumb against his cheeks, "unclench your jaw."

He takes a deep breath. "Okay. I'm okay."

"Wait here," she squeezes his arm, "I'll signal you when it's time."

She gets out of the car and crosses the street. She takes a closer look around as she heads for the door. The forget-me-nots poke up through the spaces between the stones. The garden has two different rose bushes in it. There's a little garden statue of a teddy bear in overalls sitting on a side table on the porch.

She raises her fist and hesitates. She's practised what she wants to say, but there's no telling how this'll go. But Barry wants to do this so by god, they're doing it.

She knocks.

It's a long, agonising minute before the door opens. Behind it is a small round woman with blue eyes and short grey hair that has just a whiff of curliness to it. She looks confused. "Can I help you?"

"Are you Marlena Bluejeans?"

"Yes…"

"Hi, uh, my name is Lup. A little over a year ago now, I bought your son's house? And-"

Marlena sighs. "I'm going to stop you there. That house stopped being my problem after I sold it, yet almost every owner since has ended up here. If you think strange things are happening, either suck it up or leave. Goodbye."

She starts to close the door, Lup puts her hand on it to stop it and half-shouts, "wait!" She takes a breath. "You knew your son was still in that house, didn't you? You knew what kind of things he was experimenting with."

Marlena keeps her eyes down, but doesn't close the door any further. "I'm sorry, young lady. If you're here to try to get me to speak to him to calm him, I can't. I tried. I held onto that house for two years trying to talk to him, but he's not himself. He couldn't recognize me. He's angry and volatile, all he wants is to be alone."

Lup remembers Barry telling her that by the time he came back to himself after dying, a family had already moved in. He assumed he just hadn't manifested until then, but what Marlena's saying… he was there, but he wasn't aware or in control.

Marlena looks up at her, and her eyes are brimming with tears. "I'm sorry you had to meet him like this," she says, "he's… he was such a nice boy. And a good son, who always came to see his mother."

"I'm sorry for your loss, Mrs. Bluejeans," Lup says. "But the thing is, I'm pretty stubborn. And I wasn't going to let a cranky ghost chase me away." Marlena smiles a little bit, and it urges Lup forward, "so we eventually came to a truce, and started talking, and we rifled through some old books he had stashed in the attic and, well."

She turns and waves to the car. They can only see the top of his head as he gets out, but once he rounds the car and starts crossing the street, she hears Marlena gasp behind her. She turns back and says, "we found a ritual. And after a lot of prep, we tried it, and… yeah."

Marlena puts a hand on her arm, eyes shimmering, "did you bring my boy back?"

"I did."

"Oh-" she rushes past her and meets Barry halfway down the path, crushing him in a hug. "Oh, my sweet boy. My son." She pulls back and takes his face in her hands, examining him. "Look at you," she says reverently.

Barry smiles, tears rolling down his cheeks every time he blinks. "Hi, mom."

#blupjeansweek2023 #day 7: aftermath #fanfic

[blupjeansweek]

[ID: Three colored digital sketches of Barry and Lup from the Adventure Zone. Lup is a thin, tan elf with curly blonde hair and dark roots. Barry is a fat, pale human man with dark brown hair and glasses. The first image features them in profile, leaning in close to eachother and smiling with several pink hearts floating above them. The second features Lup leaning her head against Barry's chest, wrapped in a hug with the same pink hearts. They both smile, peacefully. The third image features Barry holding Lup up. She is learning down to press her head against his, and they are both smiling. End ID].

Hello all! I've been super occupied with dnd art for my own campaign recently, but have some doodles in honor of blupjeans week! These two are still the greatest of all time!

#blupjeansweek2023 #day 6: free day #fanart

[blupjeansweek]

Day Six - Free Day

Barry hadn’t played the piano in… a while. Though he had some decent excuses! For one, where the hell was he going to find a piano? It’s not like they conveniently popped up in every plane they visited. For another— well. Actually, no, the apocalypse was Barry’s one excuse. His one non-shitty excuse, at least.

His mom taught him to play piano when he was younger. She’d always rope him into more lessons promising sweets or, on one very memorable occasion, a new telescope. And Barry did genuinely like playing the piano. But after she died, his passion for it kinda… went with her. The piano had been her thing. From there on out, any misplaced note felt like a disappointment to her.

He missed her a lot. He missed home a lot. The house he grew up in, the neighbors he came to know so well, the cats that roamed around the neighborhood, and the birds he learned to play to. How could he possibly even attempt to play the piano when he wasn’t in the right place?

“Keep your eyes shut,” Lup said.

“They are shut,” Barry said, before running directly into the wall. Lup laughed, loud and way too close to his eyes. Barry squinted his eyes open, rubbing his head, but Lup said,

“Close ‘em, Bluejeans!”

And he had no other choice but to obey.

The apocalypse wasn’t all bad. Barry could have been stuck with a much shitty group of people. He could have been stuck with someone who wasn't Lup, which sounds like a very horrible version of hell. Sure, he had to deal with trying to hide that he was in love with her, but he was doing a pretty good job, if he did say so himself. No one besides Taako suspected a thing. Or Magnus. Or Merle. Or Dav. Or Luc—

He stumbled, holding very tightly onto Lup’s hand. Normally he’d be incredibly weary of her trying to lead him somewhere for a “surprise”. Last time this had happened, he ended up covered in a shit load of green slime. And Barry didn’t even wanna talk about the time before that. But Lup had seemed so genuine and earnest this time that he didn’t want to spoil it, even if he did end up covered in slime.

He knew they were in a building this time. Where in the building, he wasn't sure. A door groaned and they stepped through. Lup finally stopped.

“Okay,” she said. “You can open.”

Barry opened, blinking his eyes a few times to adjust to the light. The room that they were in was pretty small, but it was filled up as much as it could possibly be with various different broken down musical instruments. There were guitars on the wall and a disassembled drum kit on the floor. There was a clarinet snapped clean in half in the corner. 

And in the center of it all stood a beautiful upright piano, not a sign of wear or tear in sight. The wood was polished, shining in the flickering light above.

It was almost like the one at home. It was- the wood was different, but it shined the same, or it had until Barry let the dust collect up on it. The seat had a cushion exactly like the one his mother used. Barry felt like something was caught in his throat.

“Do you—” Lup was looking at him, looking pleased. “Do you like it?”

“I—” Barry sniffed. He wiped his eyes. “I, uhm—”

“Oh, I— I’m sorry, I thought you—” Lup hugged her arms together, a little red in the face. “You said you used to play, and I was like, hey, I know where there’s a piano, and— I’m sorry, I shoulda asked if it was like, cool to bring it up again or—”

“No,” Barry said, his voice cracking. He rubbed at his eyes, desperately trying to wipe away the tears. “No, I— this is great, Lup, I love— I love it, for real, it’s— I’m— My mom would have loved you. This. Would have loved this.”

“Ah,” Lup said. “That’s… kinda a sore subject for you, sometimes.”

“Some—” Barry cleared his throat. “Sometimes it is, but in— in a good way, I swear. I, uhm— thank you, Lup.”

“You like it?”

“I love it,” Barry said, a little breathlessly. He meant it as a I love you, but the message came across super platonic, he was sure. She smiled at him, still sort of apprehensive. “Really. Do you wanna— any song requests? I can’t promise it’ll be good, but we can try.”

He walked towards the piano, resting his hand on top of it. God, it felt the same. He knew that was how wood worked, but it did make him have to blink back a few more tears.

“I think anything you do will be good,” Lup said. Aw geez, he really was all tears today. “Maybe, uhm— damn, I didn’t think this far ahead.”

“I might still know Fantasy All Star,” Barry said.

#blupjeansweek2023 #day 6: free day #fanfic

[blupjeansweek]

Free day! - Blupjeans Week, day 6

My @blupjeansweek prompts are part of a story find the others here: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 or on Ao3

“So why haven’t you told her how you feel yet?”

Barry nearly dropped the milk he was trying to pull from the fridge. She couldn’t just say things like that, what if Lup heard? “Mummig!” He said indignantly, face hot with embarrassment. Apparently the robust walls he’d tried to build around his feelings for Lup were tissue paper levels of flimsy as far as Marlena was concerned. Of course he knew she’d see through him. She always saw through him. But he thought maybe he could get away with it for more than a minute, at least a day, but apparently not. “Ssssh. What if she hears you?”

“Shall we take our coffee out to the porch then?” Okay, so Barry had no stay of execution, they were definitely going to have to talk about this. Then Marlena smiled wide and soft. “It’s nice to have a cup waiting for me. Thank you Barry.”

There was no world in which he didn’t make the two cups. Lup wouldn’t be awake for hours yet, but in this house? Here the quiet mornings belonged to Barry and Marlena. Instead of his usual solo research hours, they’d take the coffee pot and sit on the porch. Usually they’d watch the deer, rock idly, talk about anything, everything, nothing; but apparently today, they were going to talk about Lup. Him and Lup. Specifically his feelings for Lup. While Lup slept upstairs in his bed. Great. Good. That was fine. Barry could do that.

Situated and settled, Marlena eased him in with stories of their neighbours - no one had changed, this place was constant. Barry wanted to believe it was constant anyway. It was good to know he could always come back and find it unchanged. “But that’s enough of that, I’m going to ask again, Barry. Why haven’t you told her yet?”

“I don’t know what you mean.” It wouldn’t work, of course it wouldn’t work, Marlena was magic, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t try.

She levelled him with a look that he’d always squirmed under. She saw through him, right past his meaty exterior to find bits of soul to read.. “Barry, beautiful, kind, intelligent son of mine. You have been in love with this wonderful woman since at least half way through your first degree. Sooner really, but I don’t think you knew it then. So why haven’t you told her yet?”

“I…” Barry started. Then promptly stopped. He didn’t know what to say.

“Don’t you think she deserves to know?” Marlena’s tone was light, gentle with a hint of concern. Barry didn’t want to cry, he didn’t need to cry. He could talk about this. He loved Lup, Lup didn’t love him, it was a fact of life, nothing to be upset about.

“She doesn’t feel the same.” He said quietly, quickly. He knew why he hadn’t told Lup, it was because he was a coward. If he didn’t say anything he couldn’t be rejected.

“Don’t you think she deserves to decide that, Barry, not you?” Marlena asked, head cocked curiously.

“I…” Barry petered out. There was a long pause.

“Do you trust Lup?” Marlena asked.

“Yes” Barry answered fast, he didn’t even need to think about it.

“Do you think she’d ever purposefully do anything to hurt you?”

“No.” He knew that was true as well.

“Well then, I won’t say anymore about it, but I want you to think on what I’ve said... Now, tell me again about what they asked in your viva?”

“I’ve already told you three times, Mummig, surely you’re bored of it by now?” Barry knew she didn’t understand most of it, but he also knew she’d listen to him explain it for hours if he wanted to.

“Never.” She laughed and shook her head. “How could I get bored of hearing you talk about something you love so much? My little boy, all grown up and doing ethical necromancy.” Marlena pretended to wipe away a tear.

“Fine, but you have to tell me about the field archery tournament next. I want to hear the story about the badger sculpture again.”

They refilled their mugs, rocked slowly, and talked away the first chill of morning.

– “Moooornnnnning.” Lup called through the porch door.

“Lup! Would you like to come join us, dear? Grab a mug from the kitchen, there’s still plenty of coffee in the pot, Barry hasn’t long topped it up.”

“I’d love to, anything you need while I’m there?”

The thing Barry loved about rituals is that they could be the same and new and different all at once. He’d sat on this porch a million times with Marlena, watched the dew on the grass steam and wisp to nothing and felt anchored here. Not by weight, but by wanting. When Lup joined them, shuffling Barry to the side so she can perch in the space beside him and throw her legs across his, it was different, but it was still all the things he loved. It was still home.

– Lup made lunch. She insisted that Marlena should ‘make the most of having a baller chef on staff for the week’ and cheerfully instructed Barry as her kitchen porter. Afterwards, full and appreciative, they all dozed as the television played nonsense in the background. Lup couldn’t be still for long though, and Barry could tell her limit was approaching as she tried unsuccessfully to subdue her need to fidget.

“Shall we go for a walk?” He asked the room.

Lup was out of her seat immediately and almost ran towards the front door. “Wanna show me the old den you built?” She asked, pulling on her boots. “I bet there’s still a bit of it there. If not, you can point out where everything was. It’d be fun to see Baby Barry engineering.”

“You two go ahead.” Marlena waved them off. “I’m going to stay here, big plans for dinner, but I’ll need to stay close to keep an eye on everything. Have a nice time, and don’t worry about rushing back.”

Barry laced his boots, opened the door, and waved. Marlena waved back, and waited until Lup turned away to give him an encouraging thumbs up. Barry suppressed a groan. He supposed she had only promised not to say anything more on the matter, gestures were fair game, but still.

They crunched across the short path to the woods and Lup idly hooked her pinky finger with his. “So, you know how your window’s over the porch?” She said, not breaking her stride, not looking anywhere but the path ahead as they entered the tree line.

Barry did, now that Lup mentioned it, know his window was over the porch. He was willing to bet Marlena knew that too. Was Lup mentioning it because she overheard or just for unrelated architecture based reasons? She hadn’t ever felt compelled to comment on window placement before though… Maybe if he just ran it wouldn’t be weird? He could hitchhike home, leave Lup the car, and by the time she got back to town she would have forgotten why she was angry with him. Although, actually, she didn’t sound angry, her voice wasn’t raised or at Lup’s scary quiet rage register either. “Uh… yeah.”

“Well, I woke up early today. Birds, you know. Noise is different in the countryside.” She squeezed his finger once, reassuringly. She was still here, grounding him, checking in with him.

Barry nodded. “Uh huh?”

Lup stopped and turned to face him. “I just want you to know, I trust you too, Bear, completely and utterly, and that means I trust you to tell me whenever you’re ready.”

Barry didn’t bother bluffing. He didn’t want to. Instead, he wrapped Lup in a hug. He wasn’t ready today, but soon. He’d tell her soon.

#blupjeansweek2023 #day 6: free day #fanfic

[blupjeansweek]

Day 6: Free day

This is a bit of a sequel to day 3: myth

@blupjeansweek

Read it on AO3

Summary: Barry hasn't heard from Lup in a week when he gets brought on for a new project at work

Barry's at work. He should be working. The Institute of Marine Research and Conservation would probably like him to be marine researching and conserving. And he is, sort of. But he's also checking his phone every ten seconds. She has to reach out to him eventually, right? She seemed receptive, when he inelegantly stumbled over his words as he confessed his feelings to her. He didn't mean to include the part about being hopelessly in love with her, he just wanted her to know he liked her. Romantically. And she reciprocated! She said she loves him too and they kissed! But it's been almost a week since that night, and Lup hasn't said a word to him.

Maybe she changed her mind. Maybe she just said she loved him to spare his feelings and now she'll never talk to him again. 30 years of friendship and Barry threw it all away in a single night. Idiot.

He stares at the small wall of outgoing texts that he's generated in the past week. They haven't been read. He's trying to resist the urge to send an apology when someone behind him says, "Bluejeans."

He turns and sees Lucas. The snotty 20-something kid that got the job of head researcher because he's some sort of marine science prodigy. "I have a project for you," he says.

"Okay."

"Come with me," he turns and starts walking away without even looking to see if Barry follows. He leads him through the snaking corridors of the Institute, passing by all the different labs and enclosures. He takes him through isolated, empty hallways deep in the building, down several flights of stairs, and to a large metal door set into a concrete wall. Lucas stops in front of it and turns to him. "Now, this project is top secret. You can't tell anyone about this. It could change the world, but I need to do this my way."

"Then why am I here?"

"I need a second set of hands and eyes, and you're one of the only people here who worked with my mother. If she could trust you, I figure I can cut you in on this discovery." He pulls an access card out of his pocket. "Are you in?"

He hesitates. Sure, he worked with Maureen, she was a phenomenal scientist. Lucas, on the other hand, is… arrogant, at times. He can be difficult to get along with and he sees this job as a competition to get the best discovery. But whatever this secret project is, it's probably better if someone's there to keep his head on straight. "Alright, yeah, I'm in."

Lucas turns and scans the access card, unlocking the door. As he opens it, Barry asks, "what even is this place?"

"It's an old storage room that I outfitted for my more personal research."

The inside is brightly lit, there's tanks and equipment lining the walls. "Behold," Lucas says, spreading his arms, "my ultimate discovery."

In the middle of the room is a large circular tank, with a set of stairs curling around it up to a platform around the top edge. Barry approaches the tank to see what's got Lucas acting all grandiose, and freezes. Laying at the bottom of the tank, with deep red scales and fins, head resting on her arms, is Lup.

Her eyes open, and she lifts her head to look at him. She pushes off the bottom and floats gently over to him, placing her hand against the glass. He puts his hand up against hers, and they just stare at each other for a few moments. Her eyes drift over to Lucas, and she does a lap around the tank before settling back at the bottom.

"It's never done that before," Lucas says, stepping up next to him.

Barry keeps his hand on the glass, watching her lay so concerningly still. "She's lethargic."

"Yeah, she was pretty violent and agitated when I first caught it, so I had to calm it down." He nods towards a canister attached to the filter.

Barry's fist clenches. "You're keeping her in drugged water?"

Lucas scoffs. "I just showed you an actual, living mermaid and that's what you're concerned about?"

"I'm concerned about a lot of things, actually!" Barry turns away from Lup to face him, "this- this is completely unethical! Was she even injured or anything?"

"No, but I pulled up my net and it was a fucking mermaid! I wasn't about to just throw it back, this is revolutionary!"

"Of course she was violent, you abducted her!"

"Oh, so I guess you're a vegetarian since catching fish is abduction now."

"That's entirely different, she's a person!"

"She's a fish! It's a brand new species we've never seen before! If you can't get behind scientific advancement, maybe you weren't the right person for this job. If you're so against it, you can just leave."

Barry wants to keep yelling at him. He wants to clock Lucas in the jaw. But that won't help Lup. What will help her is keeping Lucas's trust and access to this room long enough to enact a rescue. "One condition."

Lucas crosses his arms. "What?"

"Now that she's here, we keep the study as harmless as possible. Starting with taking the drugs out of the water."

He glances at the canister. "Fine."

"Alright, then. Let's get to work."

Over the next few days, Lup becomes more alert. She's agitated, as any sea creature would be in a tank far too small, only able to swim in circles. But she's calmer with Barry there. Lucas sticks to their deal for the most part. Barry only has to talk him out of exploratory surgery once, and he's able to minimise the number of needles he wants to prod her with.

Luckily, Lucas is also an idiot who didn't put cameras in his secret lab, so when they're alone, they can talk. Barry comes in late one night, and Lup's lying on the bottom. He taps on the glass to get her attention and points up. She gets the message and swims to the surface, Barry meets her up there on the platform.

"Barry," she breathes.

He kneels and leans towards her, "Lup I'm so sorry-"

She wraps her arms around his neck and tugs him even lower as she holds onto him. "No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disappear on you, I was just so kinda freaked that night that I went for a swim, and I ended up really far out and got caught in his stupid net, and I don't know what it was made out of, but I couldn't break through it."

"It's not your fault." He unwinds her arms from his neck and takes her hands so he can look at her. "I'm sorry I have to participate in his terrible study of you. But I have a plan, I just need a few more days. I'm getting you out of here."

She smiles and squeezes his hands. "I knew you would."

"Also, I brought you something." He reaches into his bag and pulls out a paper fast food bag.

"Oh my god." She hoists herself up to sit on the platform and snatches it from him. She pulls the burger out, tears open the paper, and practically eats half of it in one bite. She groans. "You're my hero." She swallows and takes a smaller, more reasonable bite. "He only feeds me those disgusting little fish that you feed every other big creature here and, like, yeah, I ate stuff like that for the first chunk of my life, but now? I'm domesticated. I'm a house mermaid. If I'm gonna eat raw fish, it better be sushi." She finishes the burger and inhales the fries. "Did you get a drink?"

He takes out his travel mug, "something from home."

She takes the lid off and inhales deeply. "Coffee," she sighs. She looks at him, "I'm so fucking in love with you."

A few more days pass, and Barry's got a car, an alibi, and Magnus in the security booth to replace any footage of him with empty hallways. He discovered the access cards into the secret lab aren't connected to a network like the ones for the main Institute. They're basically glorified hotel room keys. There'll be no record of Barry being at the lab tonight.

When he arrives, Lup's waiting for him. She's dry as a bone, as human and as naked as ever. He blushes and looks at the ground as he hands her the bag of clothes he brought. He can hear the rustling as she changes and she says, "you know you can look at me, Bear. We are in love and all that."

His blush deepens. "Maybe another day."

She puts a hand on his shoulder and kisses his cheek. He looks up, and she's smiling at him, dressed in a pair of leggings and one of his shirts, as requested. She takes his hand and whispers, "let's go."

Up the stairs, through the halls, out a back door and through some trees, they get to Barry's car, parked in a shadowy spot at the side of the road. They take off and don't look back.

Come Monday, Lucas is pissed. He interrogates Barry, but he tells him he was at his mom's house all weekend. He has no idea what happened to the mermaid. He interrogates Magnus, the night guard for the weekend, and he says that there was nothing on the cameras. No one came in or out.

Lucas tries to question other people without letting on about his "personal" research, but discretion was never quite his strong suit. An anonymous tip sends the ethics board knocking on his secret door, and he gets fired and blacklisted from the marine science community. Barry's offered Lucas's job and happily takes it.

He also makes sure that the secret lab gets torn down and turned back into storage. He even brings Lup in to take a sledgehammer to the central tank.

As the glass cracks and water washes over them, Lup shimmers and falls to the ground in her tail and fins. She laughs, "guess we didn't think that one through."

Barry chuckles and takes off his glasses to wipe the droplets from the lenses. "I'll go grab some towels."

#blupjeansweek2023 #fanfic #day 6: free day

[blupjeansweek]

Bones - Blupjeans Week day 5

My @blupjeansweek prompts are part of a story find the others here: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | or on Ao3

Barry woke up warm. Barry woke up warm because Lup ran warm. Barry woke up warm because Lup ran warm and she was pressed against his back with her arm slung over his side and her head pressed into his shoulder. He should probably move. Sure, they cuddled sometimes, but this wasn’t that kind of leaning against each other watching a movie cuddle. Right now, Lup didn’t know what she was doing. She was asleep and probably dreaming about someone else and she was going to wake up any second just to be repulsed by what was going on. Or… well, maybe not, because she always said he was great for cuddling. But still, he couldn’t take advantage. He tried to gently wriggle free, but Lup just groaned and snaked her arm further round his middle. Barry froze. If he kept moving he’d wake her, the disco ball was still spinning gently above them and only the dimmest light crept through the gauzy curtains. There was no way it was people o’clock yet and Lup was on driving duty today, ergo, staying still was the best thing to do. Lup got more sleep, he didn’t have to worry about her feeling pressured to drive when she was too tired, and maybe he could slip free once she’d settled again. Barry relaxed, Lup nuzzled his back and he drifted into sleep again.

-

They didn’t talk about it at breakfast or once they hit the road. He’d woken up again hours later with Lup sprawled across his chest, his arm round her, and her legs tangled with his. She’d smiled up at him, sleep mussed and groggy, kissed him on the cheek, mumbled “morning, Bear,” then just gotten up as if this was completely normal for them. At breakfast the server asked how married life was and she told him it was definitely and absolutely different to the 17 years they’d been together at before they tied the knot. Then she held Barry’s hand, and kissed his knuckles, and said “... right babe?” Barry had nodded seriously, like he was in on the joke. Like he was her husband and she was his wife and they were both so tired of the question. She packed up the bags and held his hand on the way out of the parking lot “... just in case anyone’s looking….” so Barry rubbed his thumb across her knuckles and smiled fondly at her, just in case.

– “Okay Bear, you’re on directions now, looks like the satnav has no clue where we are.”

“Oh, yeah, that’ll happen. Means we’re nearly there though!” Barry straightened in his seat but kept his hand looped loosely in Lup’s. Sure, no one from the motel could see them anymore, but she hadn’t moved and he hadn’t moved, and it was fine. Friends held hands, it didn’t mean anything.

“Great! It’s been a while since we stopped at the giant ball of wool, can’t wait to stretch out.”

Barry ruefully let Lup know they were approaching a turn. Every time she let go to operate the gears he worried she wouldn’t put her hand back, that it’d be the last taste of that fondness and he wouldn’t even know it until it was over. “Okay, now it’s the third on the left, but that’s going to take a while on this track. It gets pretty bumpy.”

Lup grinned. “I think I can handle it.” She said, and grabbed his hand again. “But I’ll hold on, just to be safe.”

The car juddered along the track and Barry’s teeth rattled in his skull. He usually hated this bit of the journey, but today he couldn’t focus on anything but the bright warmth on his palm. “Here we are!” He pointed to a wooden framed house with a yellow porch, orange shutters, and a smiling woman in the process of leaping out of her rocking chair to run down the steps.

“Kids!” Marlena yelled happily as Lup parked the car. Lup scrambled out first and was immediately enveloped in a huge hug. “Lup! It’s so nice to finally meet you in person! You’re just as beautiful as you are on video!” Barry eased himself out and stood awkwardly to the side. “Was the drive okay, dear? I hope you didn’t get too tired. Barry, I can’t believe you left her to do the boneshaker track.”

Barry stopped himself before fully reverting to his moodiest teen self and snarking back. “I missed you too, Mummig.” He said with a wry grin. “Now, can I have a hug too? Or have you replaced me? I must admit, I thought it would take slightly longer.”

“I work fast, Bear.” Said Lup, shooting him some finger guns before retreating to the car to forage for her bags.

Barry shook his head, then scooped a laughing Marlena up into his arms. Her soft grey hair tickled his nose, she smelled of rosemary, slowly caramelising onions, and home home home. Barry should have come back sooner. It was so easy to get caught up in research and time just slipped away without him noticing, but it had been too long since he got to hug her like this. He was going to chop and stack so much wood, restock the coal shed, and do everything else a penitent absent son could set his mind to while he was here.

“Sorry Barry, I just wanted to give my daughter in law a squeeze, can you blame me?” Marlena said, close to his ear. Hopefully close enough that Lup hadn’t heard. Barry had no idea how Marlena had clocked his feelings for Lup already, but there was no way he was accidentally telling her via the medium of his mother.

“Oh! Did Barry tell you about the accident at the motel?” Lup looked shame faced. Oh no, of course she’d heard, and she thought that Barry had been disappointed and complained about it? She already felt so needlessly bad about it… Maybe fake collapsing would get him out of this… it worked with the school play when he was 9.

“The what, sorry Lup love, what do you mean? Is everything okay?”

“I’m really thirsty.” Barry announced far too loudly. He couldn’t let this conversation continue happening. No way no how.

“Oh, of course, sorry love, I shouldn’t leave you both stood out here, let me take you inside and get you settled in your room. I made up your bed and popped the trundle in your room, Barry. You were okay to share, weren’t you?” Barry didn’t miss the mischief in her voice, maybe he should just drive away? Marlena wouldn’t miss him too much with Lup around, and Barry could go back to the cryptid motel and make weird sculptures out of roadside junk or something. What could go wrong?

“Lead the way, Bluejeanseseses.” Lup saluted, two rucksacks perched on her shoulders. Barry shook his head fondly and took both of their elbows. It was the gentlemanly thing to do after all.

“We’ll meet you back in the kitchen, Mummig, we just need to dump our stuff.”

“Don’t rush on my account.” Marlena winked at him and Barry blushed violently red. He wasn’t convinced he was going to survive 5 days of this, the first 10 minutes had already been touch and go.

– “Listen…” Said Barry, as he stopped Lup in the hallway in front of a door with a sign which read: Barryabratory - enter if you dare “... the thing is…”

“Barryabratory?” Lup was delighted. This was bad. She’d already pulled out her phone to take a picture, which likely meant that Taako was also going to refuse to let him live this one down.

“I was a baby.” Barry held up his hands to protest his innocence, Lup glared at him, seeing straight through his lies.

“... a baby of…?”

“Fifteen…” There was no point in lying, the faster he admitted it, the quicker she’d get bored of teasing him about it. Lup snickered. “But…” He bravely soldiered on. “... just to warn you. This room? This is Barry unfiltered. I know your nerd radar is solid and you clocked me, loudly…” Barry pretends to glare. “...on day one. But, this is probably… more… you know… than… that.” He finished lamely.

“Full frontal Barry.” Said Lup solemnly. Barry didn’t even know how to process that. “This I need to see!” Lup lunged for the door handle. “I wanna know what extra nerdy shit baby Barry was into.”

She tumbled through the door and froze. Oh. It was worse than he thought. Marlena hadn’t moved anything… he definitely thought he’d asked her to move the animal skulls. Lup was going to think she’d been living with a serial killer, this was bad, this was probably really bad.

“Barry, are those real?”

Yep, she was pointing straight at the dead animal bits, she was going to run screaming and there was no way to convince her not to because ‘his childhood room was full of dead stuff he collected’ seemed like a big old red flag. “Er… sorry… I can move them? I… uh… I mean, yeah. Yeah they are, real, that is.”

“Rad!” Lup said happily, and walked over. “Can I?” She gestured towards the shelf. Barry nodded, barely breathing, waiting in the doorway to make sure she didn’t think he was crowding her. “This one’s corvid, right? Krav’s gonna be so jealous!”

Oh. Oh! Lup didn’t care? Of course, of course Lup didn’t care because she was the most perfect woman to ever grace the earth and she thought his skull collection was ‘rad’. So now he had to fall even more helplessly in love with her. There was nothing he could do to stop it, there was nothing he wanted to do to stop it.

“Ooooh, tell me about these jars?” Lup pointed at Percival, one of Barry’s earliest pickling experiments. “Then you definitely have to tour me round those rocks… Wait! Is that stoat wearing a top hat?” She darted over to inspect Stanley.

“Yeah, I, well I had to make one to fit, but then I had a bit of leftover material so I did the matching bowtie too.” Said Barry as he walked over to join her. He prodded gently at the bowtie, nothing happened. “It used to light up but the battery might have gone by now.”

Lup squeaked in delight. “Barry, I adore you.”

#blupjeansweek2023 #day 5: bones #fanfic

[blupjeansweek]

@blupjeansweek May 30th: Bones

Note: please be aware this particular piece deals with character death and extended observations on human decomposition

Humidity hangs heavy in the air as the river lazily moseys by. The sky’s marred by a bloated cloud full of discontent. All life in the area seems to have better things to do than bask in the dark, sunless afternoon. Certainly, the lich floating by doesn’t help with their unease.

He’s been growing fonder and fonder of the slow life, living on the edges of civilization. Fewer people interrogating him on what kind of discord he plans to sow. (None. He’s just a lich. Leave him alone). However, he grows weary of seeing only the few hundred feet of the cave he’s taken to calling home. There’s only so long he can study his tomes; his whole life was devoted to the pursuit of knowledge, to becoming an accomplished wizard. The preeminent necromantic scholar. A lich.

What all the writings fail to mention is what you’re meant to do after. He was so consumed by seeing if he could do it that he failed to have a plan for when he did. He supposes he never really expected to succeed. He supposes now he ought to keep testing and honing his power.

He prefers taking walks in the sun-dappled woods.

On days like this, he can almost feel the wind on his skin.

What he can definitely feel is this odd pull downriver. It’s been creeping on him like kudzu all morning; gently at first, but now all encompassing. It’s hard to describe, this pull. The best he can liken it to is how the first tome that held information about becoming a lich felt in his hand. Like whatever it is he discovers at this source will fundamentally change his life.

Preposterous.

But can it really hurt to follow this pull? Not like his calendar is overflowing with appointments.

So he does. For some hours, it feels as though he’s just wandering aimlessly through the woods; maybe that’s what he’s doing, chasing some phantom sensation. But he has to believe that it’s something more than that. He’s got an awful lot staked on the strength of his belief now, might as well test it.

-

He becomes less sure of himself the closer he gets. If he were corporeal, he’s certain his feet wouldn’t let him go any further. There’s some kind of tangible pressure on his chest, as though some unseen force is trying to keep him at bay. The unseen force beckoning him forward is stronger.

And so he continues his pursuit of the unknown.

But as he comes upon a pond that the river feeds into, he’s convinced he was better off ignorant.

Back by the treeline, he sees something at the far end of the pond, floating on the glassy surface. His stomach twists; it looks like a dead swan. Beautiful creatures. He’s not sure that he’s ever seen one this close.

He’s at the edge of the pond when he realizes his mistake. Floating serenely on the pond’s surface is a pallid corpse.

If he doesn’t look too closely, it isn’t a corpse. Could just be a sunbather. But no. No.

He has half a mind to turn back immediately. But that damned force that has been dragging him here all day won’t let him leave that easy.

He can’t leave her there to the elements. Gods only know what kind of creatures lay below the surface, ready to make a meal out of her. He supposes that’s the circle of life, but he can’t be party to that. His mother raised him better than that.

It’s with a great deal of effort that he gets her to shore. Clever spellwork only slightly improves the ordeal; he’s trying to be delicate, as well. No, she can’t feel a bump or scrape now, but shouldn’t we all be given some softness in death?

Maybe becoming a lich has also turned him into a loon. But she’s out of the pond, laying waterlogged on the bank. After a moment’s hesitation, he gathers a handful of orange and blue and pink flowers growing in small clumps near the water and places them around her.

This whole thing feels perverse. He doesn’t know her. He knows nothing about her. But it feels important, not letting her go unacknowledged in death.

So he sits near the bank beside this unknown corpse. He makes several false starts at a speech, but decides that he ought not to.

He sits beside this unknown corpse for so long that time goes a little soupy. He’s not sure where this kind of unflinching duty to sit sentinel at her side has come from, but he’s hardly the type to question.

It’s after a few days that her hair appears to fall out in clumps.

And a few days more when she’s a myriad of colors not unlike the flowers Barry set beside her.

And more days and more days and more days until Barry is no longer sitting next to a pallid corpse or an exquisite garden or decay, but a collection of pale bones.

He’s staring again, he’s certain. The smattering of bones look like inkblots to him. A ladder here, still a damned swan there, a fiddle here still.

Because it’s remarkable how easy it is to go from breastbone to fiddle. Perhaps you’ve never considered.

Barry had certainly never considered that.

There’s a first time for everything, though.

-

There’s something to be said about wanting to remain a student forever. We all like to believe ourselves to be great students of the world, never tiring of learning.

That’s all well and good when learning botany or woodworking or poetry.

Less good when you're a student of death magic.

He likes to think he was normal once, though when you devote all your time to ghastly rituals with ghoulish components, you likely relinquish your right to normalcy.

However normal he was once doesn’t matter, now that he’s staring peculiar in the eye. Rather, the neck. And the body. And other fiddle pieces.

He’s crafted a fiddle from the hair and breastbone and other bones of that poor woman. Which sounds exquisitely bad just saying it outright. But it’s part of the bylaws of lichdom, collecting and creating macabre memorabilia.

He’s certain that this takes the cake and not just for the sheer fact of what it is.

This fiddle he has crafted is cursed.

That’s impolite. Cursed probably isn’t the correct adjective. Barry knows he’s no great violinist, however he doesn’t believe that a lack of skill is the source of his unease regarding the instrument he has created.

This fiddle he has crafted only plays a single song.

He’s tried little lullabies his mother used to sing to him, catchy earworms he’s heard bards perform in taverns, depressing funeral dirges. Nothing sticks. Everything is this dreadful song that sounds like the howling wind and pouring rain.

This fiddle he has crafted sings a mournful song of how she died.

The song is slow and haunting, it tells tale of a man she and her brother traveled with and trusted for over a year. Their trust was misplaced. They all worked odd jobs together. Evidently his plan was to poison them both and escape with all their money and belongings, but his plan didn’t quite work the way he planned.

This fiddle he has crafted was overcome with grief at the loss of her brother.

She did all she could to make him well. To bring him back. And it was all in vain. The traveling companion long gone, she simply wailed and wailed until her heart gave out. Her wail still rides the wind. Her tears fell like rain.

This fiddle he has crafted succumbed to a broken heart.

This fiddle he has crafted has unfinished business.

This fiddle he has crafted will only sing a single song.

-

It takes time to acquire all the necessary components.

Each night, before his facsimile of sleep, Barry plays the fiddle. And each night the fiddle repeats its mournful refrain of the dreadful wind and rain.

And one night, when each and every ritual requirement is met, his fiddle is no more.

On that night, he meets an elf named Lup.

He listens to her story, a reprise of a now familiar tune.

On this night, he makes a promise to her. A promise to help restore her brother.

And it is a promise he intends to keep.

#blupjeansweek2023 #day 5: bones #fanfic

[blupjeansweek]

I am cutting up the plots of Ghost and Psych I am pasting them into my gay little scrapbook- @blupjeansweek AU:

“And so I told them the husband did it,” Barry says as he merges off the freeway, “because”—

“Because the husband always does it,” Kravitz says at the same time, and Barry nods, satisfied.

“But they got suspicious, so I lied, so long story short,” he says, taking a deep breath and putting on a cheery voice, “ we now own a psychic detective agency!”

“Barry, that story sucks.”

“Krav—“

“No, don’t Krav me, that story sucks and it you wrote it down and said, hey this is a real thing that happened they’d say no it did not because it sucks so bad and is a uniquely Barry story.”

“I didn’t mean to”—

“You never mean to, and also, we don’t own a physic detective agency, because I already have a job. A good, respectable one.”

“Lying to your mom about being a pharmaceutical rep when you really do close up tricks at the Magic Castle on the boardwalk doesn’t count.”

“One, illusions, and two, it does, because when I walk into the bank they say, oh hello Mr. Kravitz, good to see you here again depositing the regular check you get regularly at your regular job.”

“No one calls you Mr. Kravitz,” Barry says breezily, switching on his his turn signal as he pulls into a parking space lot in front of an empty store front. “Besides, if we don’t own a detective agency, why’s your name on the lease?” Barry asks, grinning as he pulls a crumpled piece of paper out of his jacket pocket, and hands it over to Kravitz.

“My “K” isn’t that swirly,” he sniffs as he examines Barry’s handiwork, and Barry shrugs.

“You’ve never been able to get my “Y” either, never stopped us before .”

“You’re a real douche, you know that Barry? And we aren’t calling it Barry n’ Kravitz’ Psychic Magic Emporium”, he reads off the paper. I at least want my name to be first.”

“We? So you are in,” he decides, getting out of the car and making his way into the building before Kravitz can protest.

“Look, there are already two desks,” he says, using his hands to wipe the cobwebs off of one. “We’ll get one of those clear white boards over there, specialize in cheating husbands and scam a few rich idiots- it’ll be our best gig yet.”

“Well, I ”— Kravitz stammers in a way that Barry recognizes as him being so so close to getting on board.

“And we’re across the way from an ice cream shop! You love ice cream.” He fishes a twenty out of his pocket and hands it to Kravitz. “Why don’t we get ice cream and talk it over,” he says, “two scoops on me.”

Kravitz heaitates.

“I heard they do a great pistachio.”

“I’m getting tree scoops.” Kravitz scowls but takes the money and leaves.

He’ll come around. Krav loves a good scheme. Barry dusts off one of the chairs and sits down, leaning back and propping his feet up on his desk and closing his eyes. This is as gonna be a good one, he could feel it. He must have spaced out for a minute because he doesn’t hear the door open, but when he opens his eyes he sees the most gorgeous woman he’s ever seen standing before him. If he were a real detective, he’d say something about her being one hell of a dame, or something else stupid and horny. But he’s not a real detective, psychic or otherwise, so he doesn’t. Instead, he says, “sorry miss, we’re not open, can I help you find—“

She lights up when he speaks to her, and she seems to get even more vibrant, like a projector image coming into focus.

“Holy shit, you can— Taako, get out here! You can see me?”

#blupjeansweek2023 #day 4: au #fanfic