#blupjeans baby

[lillianabluejeans]

Did someone say mermaids?

@taznovembercelebration Ocean or dirt

-

Not too far off the coast, a boat belonging to the Institute of Marine Research and Conservation (IMRC, if you will), lazily makes it's way through the water. Davenport is manning the helm, Lucretia's keeping an eye and ear on cameras and sensors, and Lup and Barry are watching the water for anything to break the surface.

Their use of the boat isn't entirely kosher, though. The mission they're on would get them laughed out of the room if they tried to propose it. But Davenport can pull rank and get a boat outside of work hours whenever he wants, as long as it comes back in one piece.

Lup perks up from where she was leaning against the railing around the deck. "Bear," she puts a hand on his arm, "do you hear that?"

He pauses and tries to listen past the sound of the boat and the water. "Yeah," he says, "I do."

Coming from a small cave, they can hear a high-pitched wail, like a baby's cry. Davenport steers the boat to the entrance, close enough to peer in, and all of them feel their breath catch.

The cave is a semicircle, with a few feet of a flat rock floor around the edge, the water in the middle laps up onto it as waves come and go.

Lying on that flat rock, is a mermaid. The fin of her deep orange tail is still in the water, she has more orange fins on her back and forearms, webbed fingers, and gills on her neck. She has a series of bleeding wounds on her side and back, her breathing is laboured and her eyes are closed. In her arms is a wailing human baby, wearing a seashell necklace.

Lup carefully jumps out of the boat. The mermaid's eyes snap open and meet Lup's. Lup holds her hands out to try and placate her. "I'm not going to hurt you," she says, "I want to help." She approaches slowly, and the mermaid draws her baby closer into her chest, and it's cries calm to quiet whimpers. She looks scared, and desperate. Lup stops where she is, and kneels to be closer to her level. "Did a human do this to you?"

The mermaid digests this question, then shakes her head. The movement is lethargic. "My own," she croaks.

"Other merfolk did this to you?"

The mermaid nods. Lup bites her lip as she debates her next question. "Where..." she hesitates, "where did the baby come from?" She hopes the mermaid doesn't take it as an accusation, but the baby looks human. She has to ask.

The mermaid looks down to the baby, then, with what looks like a lot of effort, she twists and leans towards the water. She scoops some up in her hand and pours it over the child. With a small shimmer, the baby transforms to have a bright pink tail and fins. "Mine," the mermaid says, laying her head back down on the stone and closing her eyes, "but illegitimate. That's why... this."

Lup picks her jaw up off the floor and says, "they did this to you because... you had an illegitimate child?"

She nods, her movements slowing even more. She opens her eyes and looks up at Lup. They ponder each other in silence for a few moments, then the mermaid pushes the baby in Lup's direction. "Safe," she whispers.

Lup's taken aback. "What?"

"Keep safe, with humans. Merfolk stay away from shore. I return to the depths for eternal sleep."

"No," she finally comes right up to the mermaid, "no, I'm not letting you die." She twists to call back to the boat, "Bear! Bring-"

"Shhh," the mermaid hushes her, putting a hand on her arm, coaxing her to turn back towards her. "Time is up," she whispers, her eyes lidded. She lowers her hand to rest on the baby's chest. "Take her," she says. Hesitantly, with shaking hands, Lup takes the small mermaid into her arms. The mermaid keeps her hand on the baby and says, "keep safe. Let swim, but keep close to shore. Sea is in her blood."

"I will," Lup says, "I promise."

The mermaid smiles, and her eyes flutter shut. Her hand falls to the ground, and her whole body starts to shimmer. Moments later, all that's left is seafoam. Water laps up over the edge of the stone floor and starts to carry it away. Lup looks at the baby in her arms. The water her mother put on her dries up, and her tail shimmers and disappears. She looks up at Lup with big curious eyes. "I'm so sorry, baby," Lup says, her voice wavering, "I wish I could've done more."

The baby eats her fist and whines. Lup kisses her forehead. "Come on, you're probably cold."

She stands and walks back to the boat, where Barry, Davenport, and Lucretia are all waiting for her with teary eyes. Lup climbs up with the baby, and is handed a towel that she wraps around her. "We'll have to, um," she sniffs and wipes under one of her eyes, "call Kravitz. He can probably get us a- a birth certificate. And stuff."

"Maybe you should sit down, babe," Barry says.

She lets him guide her into a seat. "I should've asked for her name. Both of their names. Now she'll have some- some human name we come up with, and I won't be able to tell her her original name. Or her mother's name. Fuck." Her vision is blurry. She blinks, and she feels tears roll down her cheeks. "Shit."

Barry crouches in front of her, "maybe someone else should hold her for a minute."

"No." Lup holds her closer. "I can hold her." She looks down at her little face as she starts to settle into her embrace. Lup feels her lip quiver and she shakes her head, "this wasn't how I wanted to make this discovery."

"I know," Barry brushes away some of her tears, "but there's nothing we can do about it anymore. We don't even know if we could've saved the mother." He stands and kisses her forehead. "But we can keep the baby safe. She'll grow up happy and healthy and loved."

Lup nods. She looks out over the water as Davenport drives them back home. She wonders how far out the merfolk are. If they're still looking for the woman and her baby. She wonders how long they'll search.

She looks back down to the baby, and notices the seashell necklace again. It's almost comically big, sitting against her little chest. She turns it over and inscribed carefully on the back in neat, swirling letters, is the name Lilliana.

Lup smiles softly and looks at the baby's face. "Hi, Lilli," she says, "I'm going to take real good care of you."

[ceilingfan5]

Wip Poll

Rules: Make a 24hr poll listing the titles of every WIP you want to work on. (It’s fine if you only have one, still make a poll for the vote count). Whichever WIP title gets the most votes, write 1 sentence for every vote received.

tagged by @aeivyen, thank you!!

mmmmmmm (all of these are taakitz) (shocking no one)

tagging @noodyl-blasstal and @holdmecloser-gandydancer @barry-j-blupjeans and you, who is reading this and not working on your wip even though you kinda wanna but you want it to be worth it. the people want you to work on it bc they love you

[noodyl-blasstal]

Blupjeans Week: Bet (day 2)

It's @blupjeansweek day 2. This follows on from yesterday's prompt. You can also read on Ao3

-

"It's going to be fine."

"Easy for you to say, you just casually revolutionised thermodynamics, you're gonna walk your viva." Barry could hear Lup rolling her eyes at that one, though he stayed resolutely focused on the raggedy copy of his thesis which was, at this point, 70% sticky notes. Could he read what any of them said because of how much they overlapped? Shut up.

"Natch, evocation is never going to be the same thanks to cha'girl's research, but that doesn't meant you're going to fail, Barold."

"No, they're just going to MPhil me out."

Lup sighed heavily. "Oh no, you worked hard and gained mastery in a subject, how terrible, what an embarrassment."

Barry did look up then, didn't she get it? He’d thought she’d get it. It was an embarrassment! She’d watched him put so much into this, the stupid well thumbed, badly bound paper stack represented four years of late nights, early mornings, cancelled plans, 3am anxiety… he thought she understood. She’d lived it with him, they were working for the key to the next level, if they gave him the wrong one what was even the point? "You think…?"

"I'm being flippant because that's not going to happen. Once again, I've read your work my guy, it's good, in fact, it’s great. In fact, right now, you’re arguing with established fact.” Barry grimaced as Lup spoke, but she ploughed on. “... you've already published three chapters of this thing in peer reviewed journals. 6/6 esteemed peer reviewers agree!"

"But they publish bad science all the tim…"

Lup cut him off. "Barry stop. You know you’ve done good science because a) I would have told you if you hadn’t, and b) peer reviewers might be lazy but you’re not. You know your submissions were solid, just look at the citations.”

“But…” She was right. But Barry still struggled, sure she hadn’t said anything incorrect, he knew he’d done solid work, but he also just knew that he’d fucked this up.

“...But what? But maybe they're idiots who can't recognise genius? They're gonna recognise it, Barry. It's impossible not to recognise how brilliant you are. That thesis is just you yelling “I’m Barry Bluejeans and I know what the fuck I’m talking about, pay me money about it.” Plus, publish a few more chapters and you can do PhD by publication without those losers to worry about anyway."

Barry didn’t even register the second part because Lup thought he was brilliant! Lup thought he was brilliant and she was telling him and he kept shutting her down instead of just being grateful about it. Maybe if he tried to accept the compliment. "Than…"

Lup started speaking at the same time. "In fact…" She paused to let him speak, but he shook his head and gestured to her, he could try being gracious another day. "... Okay, if you're sure." He nodded. "I think, Baraldo, that we should make a bet, you and I. I may as well profit from all this self doubt, so I bet you're gonna pass with no corrections."

Barry laughed bitterly. Whatever she was betting she'd be losing. "Lup, I'm going to fail."

Lup shoved his shoulder gently. "You're not and you know it. Be serious."

"Oh, like yours was serious?"

Lup's ears flicked back defensively. "Serious? Barry, c'mon. Obviously we all know cha’girl’s out here shaping the future of evocation, but you're doing magic within magic on all your spooktacular stuff. The chapter on spell wheels? I'd never considered it, and even if I had, I definitely would have taken at least 10 minutes longer than you to come up with something so elegant. You know what you're doing, I know what I'm doing, it's why we're such a great team."

They did make a great team. They’d met the first day of undergrad at orientation. Barry the lone mature student in a sea of babies, then Lup and Taako had appeared, and sure there was The Nerd Incident, but they cleared that pretty fast. They coincided in most classes, worked together in labs, and powered their way through a ridiculous amount of higher education together. There hadn’t been any question about it when the option of choosing housing came up, they lived together off campus and were joined by a rotating cast which had pretty much always featured Taako (well, until this year), but LupAndBarry, BarryAndLup? They were a constant, they worked. “We do work well together.” 

“You can say that again.” Lup glared at him as he opened his mouth to repeat it. “...And you know exactly how smart I am, right?” Lup asked. Barry could taste the trap-ness of this question, she was an angler fish and the question was a beautiful little light, he was going to answer it honestly and wholly and she was going to chomp him down with her big clever teeth.

“You’re incredible Lup, your research is amazing and you’re passionate and eloquent and so smart…” 

Lup’s teeth closed. “Then you know I know my shit well enough to know your shit’s good, so, what’s your bet?”

“I pass with major corrections?”

Lup raised an eyebrow. “Question, or an answer?”

“I pass with majors.”

“Fine. If you want to lose whatever you’re betting then be my guest, Bluejeans.”

“I don’t think I have anything you want.” Barry said, and he wasn’t sure, it was a ridiculous thought, but he could have sworn that Lup’s ears reddened at the tips. She coughed loudly, then almost shouted “Jeans.”

“What?”

Lup coughed again and spoke in a softer tone. “I get rights to your wardrobe. I know your jeans are comfier than mine.”

Barry hesitated. He’d already lost a good chunk of his shirts and sweaters to Lup. Not that he minded most of the time, he usually managed to steal his favourites back briefly on laundry day, but his jeans? He only had three pairs and they all served specific purposes in his life, he couldn't afford to sacrifice them, no matter how cute Lup would look in them. But, <;i>but</i>, there was no way he was actually going to pass without corrections, everyone at least got minors and Barry's supervisor definitely didn't think he'd even manage that. According to the available evidence, this seemed like a safe bet. "Deal!"

Lup grinned big and wide and dangerous . "GuyWhoJustLostHisJeansSaysWhat."

"What?" Barry asked.

Lup snickered. "Just asking what you wanted from me if your externals are somehow struck incapable of recognising brilliance?"

Oh... yeah, Barry had forgotten this part. Lup's brash overconfidence in his abilities had essentially signed her up to do whatever he wanted. He could stick her with dish duty for the next hundred years; make her actually use the dregs of her body wash before she moved onto the next one so the edge of the shower wasn't a terrifying pile of upside down barely balanced bottles; he could ask her to tell him whether there was an expiration date on their whole thing, whether the end of study meant different directions and fond memories, phone calls which dwindled as she remembered less and less… "You have to come home with me." He blurted out the thought before he could properly consider what he was asking. Was that too much? Oh it was probably too much. A trip home meant a road trip, motels, meeting his Mum. There was no way Marlena wouldn't pick up on exactly how he felt about Lup, not that she hadn’t already, but it was easier to lie on the phone. Plus, there was no way his Mum wouldn't love Lup too. How could anyone not? Then he’d only disappoint her when Lup moved on with her life and left him behind. Maybe he could back track, do the dishes thing instead…

"You have yourself a deal, Mr Bluejeans, may as well use that title one last time. Now, I have some outfits to plan, go eat the sandwich I made you, then I'll help with the last minute prep." Lup disappeared in the direction of Barry's room. 

Barry resigned himself to losing another few shirts while Lup investigated his wardrobe and obediently shuffled his way to the kitchen. It was definitely time to eat, he wasn't entirely sure when he last did… probably the last time Lup shoved food at him. He definitely had to thank her when this was over. 

-

"...And why did you decide on Necrostics?" Lup looked expectantly at Barry. 

"It was the most logical methodological approach as it incorporates acknowledgement of the agency held by constructs and the undead while also acknowledging the influence of social and summoning factors. I modified the approach to ensure it was appropriately controlling for the new spells I developed."

Lup clapped her hands delightedly. 

"It was that good an answer?" Barry asked.

"It's that good a wardrobe. I cannot wait to get my hands on it, Barold, you're gonna be living in your pants… although…" Lup narrowed her eyes. 

"Absolutely not, no!"

Lup shrugged. "You can't watch your stuff all the time, Barry. Cha'girl needs some new sleep shorts."

Barry felt his face flame at the thought of Lup sleeping in his clothes, Lup wanting to. "I'd better go now!" He said, too fast and too loud. "Gotta go get it over with."

Lup jumped up. "Cool, I'll grab my book and and few other bits and come with. There's some comfy chairs in the corridor with my name on them."

Oh. Lup was going to come with him. Lup was going to wait for him. "You don't have t…"

"I want to."

–

"Good luck Barold, you've got this." Lup hugged him firmly, he squeezed back. If he didn't let go he didn't have to go into the scary room. Can't defend your thesis if you’re in the middle of a hug, that’s just science. Lup pulled back slightly, then dipped her head to kiss him on the cheek.

Barry didn't have time to react before Lup pulled away and planted herself across the corridor chairs, head buried in her book.

"Are you ready, Mr Bluejeans?" A voice asked from the door behind him. All Barry could do was touch a hand to his cheek, turn, and nod. 

– 

"Congratulations again, Dr Bluejeans, this may be the most enjoyable viva I have ever taken part in." Said Dr Combish, opening the door for him. 

Barry was going to pass out. The adrenaline finally drained out of him, weeks, months of panic, gone. It was over. An outright pass? It was so rare, so ridiculously unlikely. He should be raring to celebrate, but mostly he just wanted to go home and sit very still in the dark. He stepped into the corridor, remembered to thank Dr Combish, and stared numbly at the door as it closed. What did he even do now? It was over. A whole chunk of his life was just… done. He had the keys to the next stage, had the fancy title, had everything he'd worked for and… and? 

"Hey Bear?" Lup nudged his arm gently. "How'd it go?" 

"I… I passed?" Said Barry. "Yeah. They. Well. I passed!" His voice broke momentarily, to say it was so surreal. "Lup! I passed!!!" He grabbed her into a hug. "I did it! We did it! Thank you, thank you thank you thank you!"

"Knew you could." Lup said thickly, hugging him back. They didn’t say anything for a while, just held on tight. “We… we should do something.” Said Lup, eventually. “Celebrate, you know.”

“We’ll celebrate together when you pass next week.” Barry didn’t even have to think about it. Whatever he could do, Lup could do better, there was no way she’d be correcting anything.

“Fine, but we’re getting pizza, from the good place.” Lup grabbed her backpack from the chairs.

Barry stared for a second. “You… you’re wearing my garden jeans. Lup!”

“And they look great on me. Told you I believed in you. Fair’s fair.” Lup winked, wiggled her butt, and grabbed his hand. “Now, let’s get you home, Baraldo. We need to ring Marlena and tell her, she’ll be having kittens.”

Barry couldn’t do anything but nod.

[fandomsnstuff]

The fates of @taznovembercelebration gave me permission to write my parent blupjeans propaganda

Day 2: baby

Lup comes in for work after the winter break and meets a new kid.

Read on AO3

First day back from the winter holidays, and Lup's running late. Every year there's a blizzard, and every year the entire bus system goes to shit. She left two hours early, but still runs into the daycare an hour late. She apologises profusely to her manager, but she waves her off. With the weather, they aren't nearly as hectic as they usually are in the mornings. Most of the kids are late or at home. 

Lup puts her stuff away and sheds her outer layers. She observes the room of children, trying to decide where to start. There's not even ten of them. She's about to start towards a small group colouring together when a shrill scream rings out. She looks and sees a little girl she doesn't know in the corner. She's clutching a teddy bear and sobbing as one of the four year olds stomps away. 

She walks over and crouches in front of the crying girl. "Hey hun, what happened?" 

"He's b'oken," she sobs, holding out the bear. One of its arms is half torn off.

"Oh no," the bear has a blue ribbon tied around its neck with a plastic tag attached, identifying it as a toy from home. The tag is flipped the wrong way, so she can't see the girl's name. "That's really sad, huh?" 

The girl presses the bear to her face and nods, big tears rolling down her cheeks. 

"Can I see him?" 

She clutches the bear tighter and eyes Lup suspiciously. "Why?" 

"I want to see how hurt he is. I might be able to fix him." 

Her eyes widen, "really?" 

"Sure, I think he just needs stitches. Do you want to walk to the front desk with me?" They've got a small sewing kit in one of the drawers for this exact reason. 

Lup takes the girl's hand and brings her to the front of the room. She crouches in front of her again and says, "can I see your friend now? I promise I'll take really good care of him." 

She hesitates for a second. "He's scared."

"Oh yeah?" 

"He's never been in the big kid room before." 

"I see," Lup says, very seriously. She must have turned three over the break and been moved up to this room. Explains why she's never seen her before. "How about I fix his arm, and then I can help you show him how much fun the big kid room can be?" 

After taking a moment to deeply think this over, she hands the bear over with the most care Lup's ever seen in a toddler. 

Upon inspection, the tear isn't that bad. Maybe an inch long and exactly on the seam, it's an easy fix. When she's done, she ties off the thread and snips away the excess. "There," she says, smoothing her thumb over the seam, "all better." 

"Can I see?" 

"Sure." She hands the bear down and says, "it's like it never happened." 

The girl beams and hugs the bear tight. "Thank you Miss… uh… um…" 

"Lup."

"Oh!" She perks up. "Like daddy's friend!" 

"...what?"

"Lup, like daddy's friend." 

Well. The only Lup she's ever met is herself, and as far as she knows none of her friends have kids. She gets on the girl's level and says, "who's your dad?" 

She cocks her head to the side. "He's daddy." 

To make this whole conversation shorter, Lup reaches out and flips the tag around the bear's neck. In the same slanted, scratchy handwriting she sees in the notebook next to hers every Friday night at DnD is written, Lilliana Bluejeans. 

"Well would you look at that," she says, "I do know your dad." 

Lilliana smiles and yeah. She sees it now. She could recognise that smile from down the street. 

"Can I be your friend too?" Lup asks.

Lilli seems like she's vibrating with excitement, "yeah!" 

Around 5:30, Lilli's name gets called and she bolts up from where Lup was reading her a book. Lup follows, grabbing Lilli's little coat and backpack from her cubby. She leans against the front desk, but Barry doesn't notice her. He's crouched to Lilli's level as she talks his ear off. 

"-but then Lup came an' fixed him an' we played all day!" 

His brow furrows the same way as when he's trying to solve a puzzle.

"Hey stranger," Lup says. 

He looks up, surprised. "Lup!" He stands. "I didn't know you worked here."

"And I didn't know you had the cutest kid in the city." She holds out Lilli's coat. 

He takes it. "Have I never mentioned that?" He helps her put it on. "I swear I have." 

"Nope. I would've remembered a thing like that."

"Well," he lifts Lilli into his arms, "that's an oversight on my part." He looks at Lilli, "what do you say?" 

"Thank you Miss Lup! See you tomorrow!" 

Lup laughs and hands Barry the little backpack. "I'll see you tomorrow, punkin."

He smiles at her and Lup's heart melts. He walks out and she rests her head in her hand as she watches them go. 

"Oh, you've got it bad." One of her coworkers says from behind her. 

She goes scarlet and whips around to face them. "No I don't! Shut up!" 

"Miss Lup you can't say shut up," a nearby kid says. 

Her coworker snickers. Lup signs and runs her hands over her face. The worst part is that they're right. She has it so bad. And this changes absolutely nothing. If anything it makes it worse. 

She's fucked. 

[cyrenescreams]

(Don't Call Me Kassidey) My Name is Baby by Adjust the Sails is soooo blupjeans coded

specifically Barry about Lup

[anistarrose]

writing ask game: 11 and/or 20 for your blupjeans vampire wip!

(ask memes here!)

unfortunately I don't have any great moodboard images for this one, so I'll stick to the first question!

11. What scene are you most hyped for this chapter/fic?

I'm very excited for the final scene, which part of me doesn't want to spoil, but like. it's a vampire fic. very little explanation needed, you know someone's blood is gonna get a little slurped lmao

but the reason I'm excited is because for one thing, I'm making Barry the vampire in this one because I felt like inverting the common fanon choice for those two in vampire AUs, but also because it's actually an incident that goes down mid-Stolen Century instead of an alternate universe, and I got to have so much fun weaving it into canon thematically! (the justification is that Barry just got jumped in the woods by some vamps in Cycle 30-something. funny enough, I actually rolled "vampire AU" for a TAZ November Celebration, but I wanted the challenge of canon compliant vampires!)

and actually, I kinda lied about question 20. I still don't have good atmospheric moodboard images but I do have an offering of three bespoke text posts instead:

[Image description: screenshots of tumblr posts. The first reads: "hey sorry if i was offputting and strange and bizarre and weird as fuck last night i was just being myself".

second: "sorry i came back wrong do you still wanna hit it"

third: "baby i can be your case study". End description.]

[barry-j-blupjeans]

2022 Fic List!

This is a compilation of all the fics I've posted on Ao3 in 2022, plus some ficlets I like that I posted here! As always, Journal Pages is still being updated but I'm not gonna put it on this list because I made it last year (I think??)

Memories, Just a Bit To the Left

Being kidnapped was, honestly, not incredibly horrible. It wasn’t a good thing, for sure, for sure, but Barry could deal with it. Was he low on hit points? Yeah, and it was shitty. Did he feel like he was going to die? Occasionally, that’s just something that happens sometimes, you know? But it wasn’t all bad. Some of the gerblins were nice. They gave him some water, kicked him around a bit more, gave him an orange that they refused to peel so Barry just kind of spat the peel out as he went. A solid three out of five stars.

But he wasn’t too worried about the whole thing. Even as low as his hit points got, he knew that Taako would come find him. It was just a matter of if he would find Barry too late.

This was for the 2021 Candlenights exchange and it is killer, I think. I really enjoyed getting to write this and explore the space of this AU.

Archaeology Excavation on My Body

“How do you always know everything?” he asked instead of rising to her bait. “That’s the secret I want to know, ma’am. You’ve got prying eyes anywhere? Listening ears?”

"I run a secret organization on the moon,” the Director said dryly. “I’ve grown accustomed to knowing both everything and absolutely nothing at the same time. If you don’t want me to know, then I won’t know. I’ll never bring it up again. I’m simply offering us a way to, uh-” she glanced at the wall. It had been twenty minutes since the Reclaimers went offline. “Pass the time. And perhaps a way to help manage your pain a little better. No one else has noticed, Angus, but you do tend to limp a bit.”

Fuck, Angus thought.

This one was a pure vent fic, but I'm glad other people could relate to it anyway! I love giving characters I like everything that's wrong with me.

Tedious Familiarity

Déjà vu. Noun. A feeling of having already experienced the present situation. A tedious familiarity.

Barry Bluejeans woke up in a cave, fresh out of a pod filled with green goop, and saddled with an unsettling feeling that he had been here before. If you had asked forty-year-old Barry if he would follow instructions left by a talking coin, he probably would have asked you what type of drugs you were on. But, y’know, fifty… two? Fifty-one? How old was he? Fifty-two sounded right. But, y’know, fifty-two years old Barry didn’t really have that many other places to turn, so this couldn't be all that bad.

Barold my beloved!! I love any take on Barry's years alone and I thought I'd give myself a stab at it! Or several stabs, if we're going by death count. I really like how this one came out!!

Heart-Shaped Stickers

A collection of my blupjeans week prompts for 2022!

As seen on the tin sldkfsd.

Keep Your Friends Close (And the Lich Who Gives You Cryptic Advice Closer)

“There’s a lot you don’t know and I can’t tell you yet,” the Red Robe said. “And I’m genuinely sorry about that, Magnus, but right now, from the Bureau’s perspective, I’m not the good one.”

“From your perspective?” Magnus asked.

“From my- I…” he stopped again, contemplating, as if no one had ever asked him this question before. "I try to be, I think."

AKA: Magnus has questions and no one from the Bureau is giving him answers. He goes looking for the one person who will.

This baby is my pride and joy of this year, I think. It has always taken me Ages to write any chaptered fic but I'm very very proud of this one.

Autumn-Themed Notebook

Prompt fills for TAZ November Celebration 2022.

Again, as seen on the tin!

Now onto the Tumblr Ficlets!!

This list would not be complete without this ficlet about Magnus, Carey, and Killian discussing Magnus's top surgery or this one about a heart-shaped locket Barry picked up. Some other favorites from this year include:

Voidfished Taako interacting with Red Robe Lup and Barry (x)

June/The Temporal Chalice finding Barry's worst memory (x)

Merle and Hekuba talking post Story and Song (x)

Lucretia and Magnus talking about emotions and the stars (x)

Lucretia discovering the umbrastaff broke early (x)

Barry and Lucretia forming a truce to fuck over Governer Kalen (x)

Lucretia trying to discover who's stealing from the Fantasy Costco (x)

Taako taking the fall for all of Lup's deaths (x)

The Starblaster Crew stealing Magnus's shirts while he's dead (x)

Taako, Kravitz, and the mafia - Werewolf edition! (x1, x2, x3)

I gotta stop there or else this will go on forever sldfksdf. Let me know if you have any particular favorites from what I've written this year :D! It'd mean the world to me. My writing tag is #ise cube writing as always and my ao3 is IntrovertedHappiness if you wanna go check me out there!

[raspberryzingaaa]

I am SO normal about Angus McDonald Blupjeans baby AUs

[holdmecloser-gandydancer]

20 Questions for fic writers

Tagged by @room-on-broom (thank you!!)

tagging @barry-j-blupjeans @ceilingfan5 @noodyl-blasstal @anistarrose and anyone else who'd like to!!

1. How many works do you have on A03?

23!!

2. What's your total A03 word count?

192,336 which feels insane to me!!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Basically just the adventure zone and then I have also been writing some stuff for various ttrpg characters of my own!

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Say it with Flours, The Only One On Your A.M. Radio, Some of my best friends are liches, Take it like a Man, and is it too late to say it's not what it looks like?

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to!! I just like interacting with people who like the stuff I make, especially when they're kind enough to comment!!

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

So all of my bigger fics tend not to have mega angsty endings, but there's that one ficlet I wrote about the twins and hair dye that is just angst city

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending Probably say it with flours!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

One guy once got big mad about starblaster lanes because he thought the setting was stupid and that John hunger (who was a throwaway, nonnamed character in the fic) was ooc and that the twins were too mean. like, buddy I don't think we listened to the same podcast, they can be little shits

9. Do you write smut?

As of RHAPAW, I do! it's not like, my most favorite thing to write (not because I don't like it, I just don't think I'm super good at it)

10. Do you write crossovers?

no, but when I was in junior high I had a grand plan for this like. mega cross over fic that involved characters from Hannibal, welcome to night vale, doctor who, supernatural, h*rry p*tter, and also sherlock. the plot was nonexistent but I remember that Hannibal was going to be like. the new professor at the private school everyone attended together

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

nope!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don't think so!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

yes and no? so I have like. a fic in progress with larissa that I don't think either of us have touched in months, and then Hali and I have put Something Bigger Than The Sky on indefinite hiatus. but also so much of my process just involves talking back and forth for hours so they usually feel pretty collaborative by the end

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

like. It’s blupjeans it Has to be blupjeans. I was really into Amy and rory pond when I was younger and that just primed me for blupjeans

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

so I dont necessarily like assuming I won't finish a fic ever but the ones that are lowest on my priority are the warlock taakitz thing and then my resurrection roadtrip (simply because I Know that one will be big and it feels daunting)

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm good at getting into a character's head and writing a truthful internal monologue and good dialogue.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

actually moving the damn plot along and pacing

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I've never done it because I know one (1) language but I think it's neat when other people do it!!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

the hunger games! I was intent on writing Annie Cresta's games BY HAND during study hall in seventh grade

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

It has to be RHAPAW, right? like it was SUCH a big effort but it's my baby :3

[liltaz-asatreat]

I posted 2,958 times in 2022

That's 2,010 more posts than 2021!

670 posts created (23%)

2,288 posts reblogged (77%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@/idkanameatall

@/barry-j-blupjeans

@/holdmecloser-gandydancer

@/institute-of-planar-shitposts

@/taakosleftshoe

I tagged 2,458 of my posts in 2022

Only 17% of my posts had no tags

#taz balance - 840 posts

#taz ethersea - 552 posts

#taz - 517 posts

#taz ethersea spoilers - 419 posts

#fav - 356 posts

#taz fanfic - 326 posts

#taz art - 313 posts

#lup - 292 posts

#taako - 284 posts

#barry bluejeans - 220 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#i'll reblog this to both blogs because i think i have more followers who listen to tma on my main and you should be recognized for this 💜

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Just had a depressing thought

How the hell did Lucretia not lose her God damn mind between the time she erased everyone's memory and sent them on their way to starting the Bureau of Balance and even beyond that? Like, I lived in a small house with 9 other people for a good few years, and when I went to college and moved into the dorms there, one of the things I had the hardest time dealing with was the utter silence I was left in. My roommate moved into the dorm late because of rooming and organizational issues on the university's part, and then her mom didn't want to pay for her to stay in the dorm in the second semester, and they didn't move anyone else in with me. Among the many other issues I was having, the silence and loneliness was crippling in a really major way, and I had friends I was with at every chance I got to be with them. It was the most social year I had ever had, and I was still hardcore struggling with the fact that I had to go home to no one.

Lucretia didn't even have anyone to hang out with or talk to at all ever until she met Maureen and Lucas and started the Bureau. And even with having as many people on the base as she did, she still had to go home to no one. I just about lost my God damn mind in my situation, how. The fuck. Did she do it??? And for 10-12 years????

469 notes - Posted August 5, 2022

#4

One of my favorite meta things about the Stolen Century is how Griffin really thought he could cover 100 years of backstory in two episodes lmfao Like, as someone with ADHD, I understand how hard it is to figure out how long something is going to take, and I underestimate how long I'm going to need to do tasks and finish projects all of the time, but like, even if he wasn't expecting to get as deep with it as they ended up doing, the absolute confidence he had going in that he could cover 100 years in 2 hours, like, king there was no way but I admire how over confident you were about that lmao

484 notes - Posted May 13, 2022

#3

Angus really did have a big day on the Day of Story and Song. Like, first the Director had some shady shit going on with the Relic disposal chamber, then a strange man hops out of Taako's bag whom Taako and Merle claim said the Bureau is bad, then there's the discovery of the baby voidfish, then the Director has guards take them to a room where she is kneeling over the balls that had contained the Relics and is channeling energy out of the undestroyed bell into her staff, then she talks mad shit about coming from another reality with tres horny bois, the guy whose name is Barry, and some person named Lup who is dead(?) while Taako and Merle are trying to keep their heads from exploding, then Davenport can actually talk and was captain of this past mission this whole time, then Magnus comes barging in and he can see the absolute chaos of the apocalypse outside, so he tries to barracade the door while the others are going down memory lane, then the others start debating about leaving everyone to the forces outside versus putting up a shield that would still end up destroying the world in a manner that suggests they've had this argument exhaustively before, then they get attacked and BOOM a lich comes out of Taako's umbrella who is apparently Lup who is apparently his sister, then Lucretia disappears and Davenport wants him to help find her even though he still has no clear idea of what the fuck is happening, then he hears the story and song and suddenly gains the knowledge of their 100 year journey and the impending end of the world, then he meets up with the others again when he and Davenport can't find her only to find Lucas is also not dead, then Lucretia turns up, a crystal shows them a possible future, and Taako knew the answer to save everything all along, then he's expected to help fight against a world ending evil force, and then FINALLY they defeat the Hunger, and he's got time to process the absolute wild day he just had.

And just like, I feel like probably around the time he found out Lucas was still alive he was just like:

560 notes - Posted March 29, 2022

#2

Balance: Don't split up the party or you will die

Amnesty: Splitting up the party is tentatively okay depending on what you're doing except it did, in fact, get someone killed

Graduation: We're going to refuse to split up as much as possible because we're best buds

Ethersea: If we don't split up and do wild ass stunts before somehow reconvening back at the ship then what even is the fucking point

1,362 notes - Posted April 7, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

What I like about the scene where Magnus spins mind in Wonderland is that Griffin chose the lesser of two evils because it would have been really fucked to make him choose whether or not he forgets Julia which most definitely would have resulted in a no and forced them to take another two spins without much deliberation, but I think it also paints an interesting picture in-game of the characterization of Lydia and Edward. They believed that love wasn't a strong enough force to sustain them anymore and that it wasn't as important, and I think that's also reflected in how they thought the worst memory to take from him would be the person who caused his suffering and not the person he loves. Because to them, suffering is more important now, and it's how they sustain themselves, so why wouldn't it be the thing sustaining him too?

1,603 notes - Posted March 23, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[ao3feed-taakitz]

24 Days of TAZ

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/N7dY3Qq

by fandomsnstuff

A collection of the fics I wrote for this year's taz november celebration

I'd like to formally apologize for the absurd number of tags

Words: 13396, Chapters: 24/24, Language: English

Fandoms: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: Multi

Characters: Barry Bluejeans, Lup (The Adventure Zone), Original Female Character(s), Davenport (The Adventure Zone), Magnus Burnsides, Taako (The Adventure Zone), The Director | Lucretia, Julia Burnsides, Greg Grimaldis, Merle Highchurch, Kravitz (The Adventure Zone), Angus McDonald, Carey Fangbattle, Killian (The Adventure Zone)

Relationships: Barry Bluejeans/Lup, Barry Bluejeans & Original Female Character(s), Lup (The Adventure Zone)/Original Female Character(s), The Director | Lucretia & Original Character(s), Julia Burnsides/Magnus Burnsides, Kravitz/Taako (The Adventure Zone), Barry Bluejeans & Magnus Burnsides & Davenport & Merle Highchurch & Lucretia & Lup & Taako, The Director | Lucretia & Angus McDonald

Additional Tags: BLUPJEANS BABY, Brief mention of animal death, Animal Death, Domestic Fluff, Marriage Proposal, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Food, Cozy winter vibes, Magic, Alternate Universe - Reality Show, Immortality, Love Confessions, Temporary Character Death, Character Undeath, Breaking and Entering, Blindness, mermaid au, Mermaids, Minor Character Death, blood mention, Candlenights, Christmas Party

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/N7dY3Qq

[youhearstatic]

It's that time of year - the time when I want to reread the Blupjeans and Taakitz Candlenights AU.

The premise:

Lup lives in England where she's gone back to school to study Shakespeare, Taako's a screenwriter in California. Each wants the other to come visit for Candlenights. What happens when they each decide to surprise one another?

Now Lup's in LA, staying in Taako's fancy refurbished apartment in Santa Monica all alone and Taako's in her cold little cottage several hours outside London where it's starting to snow.

This is an AU where the twins don't cook but instead gained a love of stories and old movies from their aunt, Kravitz is landed gentry, and Barry's ... still a nerd, but a music and computer nerd.

It's Candlenights romance time, baby!

[ID: Digital art of Taako and Kravitz, two young adult men, leaning over a bar countertop in what appears to be a warmly lit pub. Taako has long, blonde hair, tied in a braid, tan, freckled skin, green eyes, and a slight build. He is wearing a purple sweater and is seated on the customer’s side with his chin resting on one hand. He appears to be talking. Kravitz has dark skin, long, dark locs, pulled back neatly, facial hair and a slightly more toned build. He is wearing a blue button up shirt rolled up at the sleeves. There is a white towel over one shoulder. He is smiling and looking intently at Taako during their conversation. End ID]

POV: You are trapped in the English Countryside and the local bartender is an extremely handsome man. Inspired by O. Henry Never Had Santa on a Jet Ski by @youhearstatic and Bitsy on Ao3. Is 10/10 a good fic :0

[ceilingfan5]

PQRS for the fic asks if you'd like :3 !

P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)

oh for sure a gardener and maybe even a forager some of the time. aw sick mushroom i cant believe ive been lost for three hours. but you guys have seen my planning docs right? like?? it's a guideline and then the fic happens to me. im along for the ride too baby

Q: How do you feel about collaborations?

YEAHHH WOOOOO HOOOOO ILU PLAY WITH ME

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?

i mean theres douglas adams, rick riordan, barbara park, beverly cleary, douglas evans, fucking. roald dahl in a way, authors i hate who help me shape my writing AWAY from the stink garbage, like for example my parasocial nemesis james patterson. and also on the good side, hundreds of other authors i read from the moment i could crack a book on... but in the taz fandom, we got. the mcelroys themselves. obviously honeycorvid, barry-j-blupjeans, you, wevilo707, noodylblastal, thie my beloved thie who helps me plan all my fics anymore bc we play and play and play, several other people im not thinking of at the moment but love anyway, lots of people i havent seen in the fandom for years, people from old fandoms like haikyuu, opm, welcome to nightvale ...i could keep going do you wanna sit down and analyze my fics with me come sit down and play we can annotate and everything look i have different rainbow highlighters and sticky notes. here we have a line that's a reference to junie b jones and then th-

S- i thought of one more and it's schemes and plots and shenanigans

[noodyl-blasstal]

Blupjeans Week Day 1

It's @blupjeansweek! Blupjeans week last year was the thing that encouraged me to start writing fics, so it's been fun to play with it again! Like last year, it's loosely connected (so far anyway!). So, now I'll stop blethering and here's some words. Day 1 - refuge

16 hours to go.

16 hours until he tanked his viva, fucked up everything he’d been working for, and his supervisor says he hadn’t ever believed Barry was capable, he just wanted his fees... Well, John would definitely say that if Barry could get hold of him but it had become abundently clear over the course of his postgrad research that John wasn’t the easiest guy to reach. Which might not be a problem if it wasn't his literal job to support Barry through his PhD.

At this point Barry hadn’t heard from him in two weeks despite a variety of progressively more panicked emails. The last conversation they had was John's particularly un-comforting statement that Barry should “...expect majors" because "it’s not the worst thesis I’ve ever read, but it certainly isn’t the best.” Barry's secondary supervisor hadn’t even bothered to show up for that meeting, so it was anyone’s guess what his take was. Barry assumed it wasn’t great.

He grabbed the pot from the coffee machine he’d abducted from the kitchen a few days ago and perched on his desk instead. He debated swigging straight from it, that seemed more efficient than using a mug, plus, his hand seemed to be shaking a bit and he didn't want to risk trying to pour it into a mug then into himself - he needed every drop to keep him awake long enough to work out how to fix this disaster.

“Knock knock! This is your 16 hour anxiety check in.” Barry’s door creaked open, but Lup didn’t appear. “Barrrrooollllld?” She sing songed, then added hopefully “...have you finally decided to sleep?” 

“Come in Lup.”

“Damn, you’re still up.” Oh, of course she was disappointed. She was probably sick of having to baby him through his anxiety. “...Not that I don’t want to see you, I was just hoping you were getting some rest.”

Barry held up the coffee pot in a cheers motion then took a swig from it. He was fine, this was fine, but if Lup left in disgust he could get back to scribbling increasingly unhinged and hard to read annotations on his sticky notes and trying to work out how to pull this disaster over the finish line. 

"Doing totally fine, huh?” Lup eyed him disapprovingly. “Barry, you have to take a break. You're going to crash in the middle of it if you keep this up. You've got what, like 15 and a bit hours?" She waited for him to nod in affirmation. "Cool, then you've got time to sleep."

He didn't have time to sleep, he had to try and plug the holes in the sinking ship that represented four years of his life. Suddenly Lup was in front of him, he hadn't noticed her moving, but she had appeared and was gently prying the sticky note monstrosity he hadn’t realised he’d picked up out of his hand. "No, I need to…"

"Sleep." Lup said. "You need to rest. There isn't a single thing in here you don't know. It's fucking brilliant, no, don't argue with me, I've read it." Barry snapped his mouth closed, he wanted to protest, but he wasn't entirely sure he could remember what he was arguing with, there was no fight left in him. "Now give me the coffee pot, Barold." He gripped it more firmly. No, not even for Lup. He couldn't relinquish this, it was the only thing keeping him awake. Lup raised and eyebrow. “Barold, don’t make me full name you. I'll do it! Hand over the pot.” Lup held her hand out expectantly.

"I'll fall asleep."

"That's the idea my guy. C'mon, gimme the sweet sweet bean juice. You don't need that where you're going."

"Where I'm…? Where am I? I'm here." Barry looked down to check.

Lup used his moment of confusion to swipe the coffee pot. Usually it wouldn’t have worked… probably, okay, it would have, but slower and he would have protested more. Right now his hands felt too heavy to even think about taking evasive action. "Yoink!" Lup said triumphantly, holding it aloft. Then he blinked and she didn't have the coffee pot any more. Maybe she magicked it somewhere? Barry turned his head to try and find it, and then she was tugging at his hand. "Not here, Bear, somewhere comfy."

"The chair's comfy, it's ergonomic." He paid a lot of money because the guy in the shop was really confident about that.

Lup snorted and tugged harder. "Barold Jorts Bluejeans, you're coming with me." 

"My name isn't…"

"...Ssssh." Lup might have been laughing. Barry wasn’t entirely sure, maybe it was him actually? Should stand? Oh, actually, he was up and moving and Lup still had hold of his hand and maybe she didn't have to let it go and she could just keep holding his hand and he could hold hers and maybe she’d have a nap with him. They stopped.

"This is your room." Barry wasn't entirely sure how they'd got there, time was doing strange things. 

"Yup, cha'girl decided you couldn't be left unattended in yours, it's too full of anxiety, even if I get you to sleep you'll marinade in it. So, we're here." Lup pushed the door wide.

Her bed had developed some kind of blanket canopy, there were string lights strewn around, and he could hear the soft patter of rain even though there wasn't a cloud in the sky. "It's… this is… magic. You made it all magic."

"Uh huh, now get in." Lup lifted a corner of blanket, it revealed a whole mess of pillows and blankets waiting inside. The bed looked so cosy, so inviting, so much better than his boring bed. He shouldn't, he really shouldn’t, he should study more, he couldn't afford to get off track. "That’s it, Bear." Oh. He was in the process of crawling in, and he was comfy. He flopped bodily into the bed and everything smelled of Lup’s orange body wash. Maybe he could just live here.

"I should do more prep." He mumbled, and sank into the pillow nest, rubbing his face on a soft fleece blanket. 

"Uh huh." Said Lup. 

"There's… I need to… you see, I have..."

"I'll wake you up in a few hours, sleep tight, Bear."

“Sleep tight Lup.” Barry mumbled from the depths of his blanket cocoon.

Part 2 here.

[lillianabluejeans]

Don't @ me about it being too early for soft snowy vibes let me have this

@taznovembercelebration Chilly or cozy

-

Say what you want about feminism and equality, but Barry would rather die than make his girls shovel snow. Every year they offer, and every year he insists he's fine. This is why he only keeps one shovel in the garage.

It's the night of Christmas Eve, the snowfall is the perfect balance not too light and not too heavy, but he wants to clear out the driveway at least once before bed. Like always, Lup and Lilli offered to help. But he's not going to make Lilli shovel snow right before her birthday, and Lup should stay inside with her next to the fire. Enjoy the serenity that comes with this kind of snow.

His cheeks and nose are cold, and he's kinda wishing he'd put on snow pants or something, but it's not unbearable. The sound of plastic against asphalt is almost calming. He's bathed in warm light from his living room window, and the strings of colourful lights all down the street are at their prettiest in the dark. The only thing this night is missing is sleigh bells ringing down from the sky.

Soon enough, the driveway is cleared of most of the snow. A thin layer has already built up again where he started, but that's a problem for later. He stomps his boots off at the welcome mat, and shakes off the snow that's collected on his coat. When he opens the door, the smell of chocolate wafts over him.

"Did you make hot chocolate?" He says, kicking off his boots and shedding his layers.

Lup comes over an hands him a mug piled high with whipped cream and dusted with cinnamon. "Just for you," she says, kissing his cheek.

He walks into the living room and sees Lilli on the couch with a blanket over her lap and a mug of her own. She has a whipped cream moustache. Barry smiles, "you're a mess, kid."

She grins and licks the moustache off. Barry sits next to her, and soon after Lup joins on his other side with her own hot chocolate. A cheesy Hallmark movie plays on the tv, and a fire crackles in the fireplace, warming him.

T'was the night before Christmas and all that.

[lazylittledragon]

I just wanna know what Taako's reaction was when Blupjeans had Melody 😂😂

he slept through it

bonus: