#blupjeans week

[yaboi-julien]

Last minute submission for @blupjeansweek!! (Day 7: Reunion)

Sorry I haven't been drawing at all lately, my health has been absolute trash lmao.

[blupjeansweek]

[ID: A white banner with black text and a drawing of bluejeans with heart patches on either leg. The text reads “Blupjeans Week 2024″. End ID.]

Announcing Blupjeans Week 2024, a whole week dedicated to Barry and Lup from the Adventure Zone Podcast!

The week will run from Sunday May 26th to Saturday June 1st, honoring the anniversary of Episode 64. Any creative content is accepted, so feel free to share whatever you create! AI-generated content will not be accepted.

For Visual Artists: image descriptions are deeply appreciated! I'd like to make sure this event is as inclusive as possible, and not having to describe all the images myself allows me to run things much more efficiently!

Prompts Are:

May 26: Memory

May 27: Alternate Universe

May 28: Strings

May 29: Duet

May 30: Kiss

May 31: Loss

June 1: Reunion

Tag your posts #blupjeansweek2024 and @blupjeansweek to make sure I see it! If your post is not reblogged within a day or two please send me the post through message so I can reblog it here!

Happy Creating!

[ethersierra]

@blupjeansweek day 1: refuge

Barry and Lup are ready to visit Refuge for their second (? Who can keep count in Refuge) time.

[soapsoupy]

Nothing wrong with being noisy in a library if it’s abandoned.

Happy blupjeans week! I am here just in time. @blupjeansweek

[image description: a watercolor painting of Lup and Barry from the adventure zone balance sitting and having a conversation on the floor of an abandoned library. Lup is a tan-skinned elf with curly, long blonde hair pushed back by a headband. She is smiling cheekily and holding a coffee mug. Barry is a pale-skinned human man with a brown mullet and patchy beard. He wears glasses and has one hand on Lup’s back. He is pointing at her excitedly with the other hand as though she just said something very funny. There are several empty speech bubbles above each of their heads. End ID.]

[orykorioart]

From Feb 2023

Legato Conservatory + When someone leaves your life.

[ID: A set of 2 parallel 3-panel-comic illustrations.

For the first image:

1st panel: Lup is front and center, excitedly holding hands with an off-screen Barry. She is smiling back at him as she runs, hair fluttering in the wind. Behind her are sunflowers blooming on a slightly pink background.

2nd panel: Lup and Barry’s intertwined hands, the background is a hazy pink and blue.

3rd panel: Barry is smiling up at Lup, following her hand in hand. Behind him are daisies flowing in the wind, on a slightly blue background.

For the second image:

1st panel: Lup in her red robe, hunched over, with a slash on her back. The background is a dark red and gray.

2nd panel: A hand holding the note saying, “Back soon”. The background is a dark gray.

3rd panel: Barry in his lich form, shedding a tear, with something resembling worry on his skeletal face. The background is a dark blue and gray.

End ID]

(Wanna try to finish the first part at least, bc I do really like the sketch)

[noodyl-blasstal]

Cool, Calm, and Collegiate ch 1

It's @blupjeansweek!! Lup's returning to IPRE summer school for the first time since she attended it as a kid. Some of her colleagues are pretty awful, but one of them... Well... He's very interesting.

Find here or on ao3

--

Lup [14:45]

Made it safe, don’t burn the plants down and remember to water the kitchen.

Taako [14:45]

Instructions unclear. Filling bath with mayonnaise.

Lup [14:46]

You’re the worst <3

Taako [14:47]

Stop texting me and go teach kids space magic or whatever.

Lup [14:48]

You need to know I’m flipping you off right now.

Taako [14:48]

Never doubted you for a second, now go do your thing. Be safe, don’t talk to dogs, pet a lot of strangers.

Lup [14:48]

<3

Taako [14:48]

<3

Lup double checks the instructions, then stows her phone in her pocket, adjusts her rucksack, and definitely doesn’t give herself a pep talk, she doesn’t need to, she’s Lup fuckin’ Taako. They’re lucky to have her. These kids are gonna know so many things about space and magic and no one’s gonna act like she doesn’t belong.

“Eward! It’ll mess up my hair!” A tall elf looks perturbed as Edward, (her twin? Judging by the fact they look like mirror images they have to be, plus, twin recognises twin) holds out a satchel bag.

“It’s your bag, Lydia, dear.” Edward, clearly an optimist, continues to hold it out.

“Can’t Harry get it?”

“Oh yes. I’m sure he can come and sort this out.” Edward makes a sweeping gesture to the ever growing pile of bags and cases the poor taxi driver is piling on the pavement.

“I’ll call him.” Lydia snaps open her clutch.

Lup’s transfixed by her acid green nails and the wildly impractical heels. Not to mention Edward’s wearing a short sleeved suit jacket with embroidered shorts that Taako would kill for… how rude is it to photograph strangers?

“Harry… yes… sure, whatever… uh huh… well you’ll be glad to know that we’re here… yes… so can you come be a darling and get our bags?... I’m not sure that Daddy would like to hear that you’re being so unfriendly on our very first day… Thank you so much darling, we’ll see you soon.” Lydia grimaces and slides the phone back into her bag and shakes her head at Edward. “Such poor service here.”

It takes everything in Lup not to say something. Sure, their fashion sense is glorious, but they’re a caricature of awful if this is how they treat people. Lup’s ready to swing on poor Harold’s behalf. Not to mention the taxi driver they definitely didn’t tip, just waved her off once she’d finished hauling their ridiculous bags out of the minivan.

“Oh there you are, Harry, we’re just over here. Don’t worry about not being out front to meet us.” Edward smiles broadly, as if he’s not aware of precisely how much of a dick he’s being.

Lup’s willing to wager he knows exactly what he’s doing.

Harry though, assuming that’s the guy in the blue jeans who just walked reluctantly out of the front of the building, doesn’t look so confident. “Uh. Hi Lydia, Edward.” He tugs at the sleeves of his white shirt, clearly uncomfortable.

“So good to see you again.” Lydia says without looking at him.

“This is everything.” Edward points, as if there were a chance Harry might have missed the small mountain of wealth piled at the side of the road.

“And you need me to, uh, get some luggage trolleys?” Harry, poor sweet Harry, asks.

“If that’s what you need to move them to our rooms.” Edward shrugs, already scrolling on his phone.

“Did you check us in?” Lydia asks.

“Er… the accommodation office is…” Harry starts.

“Oh darling, these heels aren’t made for walking, are you sure you can’t just bring us the keys and let us know where we’re going?” Lydia titters and flutters her eyelashes at him.

Lup sends a beam of strength to Harry. Don’t fall for it, my dude, make them do their own life admin. You’ve go this.

“The accommodation office is over there.” Harry points.

Yes! Go, Harry, get ‘em!

“But darling, how will you know where to take our bags if you don’t check us in?” Edward asks, not looking up from his phone.

Lup watches the fight drain out of him. He fought a good fight…

“I’ll go to the accommodation office, which is over there.” Harry bites out.

At least he’s not trying to pretend he’s not pissed off any more. This is most definitely and absolutely not his job, for sure. Lup was under no illusions when she took this role. Science educator at a Summer education programme was never going to pay well, but coming here set her on the path she’s on now, and the least she can do is give back (and be legally allowed to make explosions for educational purposes.)

“Hey, Harold, mind if I walk with you? I haven’t been to the accommodation office before.” Lup catches up to him quickly, closing the distance in a few long strides.

When he turns to look at her his face is sour. “Please, uh, just, there’s no need to keep doing it.”

“Doing what?” Lup tilts her head, but doesn’t break her step. “Cha’girl needs to find the accommodation office, and you look like you know what’s up. It’s Lup, by the way.” She stops abruptly and offers a hand.

Harry stops too, looks at her for a moment, sizing her up. Then he smiles. “Barry.” He says, shaking it.

“Oh hell no.” Lup can feel the flush of heat spreading across her cheeks. “I’m so sorry, I just heard them say it and…”

“Yeah, well, they’re not always right.”

“Not often right, from what I’ve seen.” Lup mutters.

Barry laughs, once, sharp, perfect. “C’mon, I’ll show you the office.”

“Thanks Barry!”

His smile is glorious.

–

“I’ll help.”

“It’s fine.” Barry huffs as he tries to work out whether it’s better to wheel two suitcases at once in front or behind. “You’ve got your own stuff and you need to get settled.”

“Cha’girl has a single hiking bag because she’s not a complete maniac.” Lup rolls her eyes. “Plus, they’ll just complain if you leave anything on the side while you drop the first lot to their room.” She grimaces so Barry knows how wrong she thinks they are.

“You, uh, well, can’t argue with that.” Barry shrugs. Then adds, softly. “Thank you.”

Lup bumps his shoulder with hers. “Lup’s got you.”

She ends up with her rucksack, three bags on each arm, and the hair-mussing satchel (hair completely intact because she’s capable of operating a strap, thank you very much.) Barry wields two cases with his meat hands, and one with his mage hand. Lup copied him to get the last of the cases.

“How do people even have this much stuff?” Barry asks while they wait for the lift.

“Dedication? Perseverance?” Lup nudges him with her elbow, hands blessedly free as she’s laid the bags down to wait for the world’s slowest lift. “How much did you pack?”

“I didn’t have to, I live just off campus, uh, the street behind the student accommodation.”

“Oooh, happy accident that the job came up and you lived nearby?”

“Well, I… you know… work here. It’s new. But I said I’d help with the, er, the programme.” Barry looks embarrassed about this fact.

Lup raises her eyebrow. “I thought you said you were Barry?”

“I am.”

“They didn’t mention a Barry on any of the forms.” Lup knows for sure because she googled the fuck out of everyone and everything about the programme when she found out she got an interview.

“I’m not sure they put me on the letters or the websites or, well, uh, that stuff… plus, it’d by a different name.” He pauses. “It’s a long story.”

Lup points at the cheerful lift floor light which is currently still stuck on 19. “We’ve got time, my guy.” She’s going to go rogue and hack into the computers to fix it if this school is deadnaming him or something.

“Okay, it’s not really a long story, but I’m not on the forms because I help unofficially, and Barry isn’t my government name.”

“Okay?”

“I prefer Barry.”

“Barry Bluejeans.” Lup points at his denim-clad legs.

“Why not?”

“Do you not want them to use your other name?”

“No no, it’s fine, it’s just for, you know, business. It’s what’s on my office door, it’s Sildar.”

“I never thought I’d know two! Sildar! Elf King of the Forest, Thirteenth of his Line…” Lup swishes her imaginary cloak and laughs gently. “Destroyer of…”

She stops, Barry looks stunned. Shit. Maybe he was more sensitive about his name than he made it sound. She’d fallen into a comfortable pattern. Lup closes the distance between them. “Oh, my dude, sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you, that’s an…”

“...In joke.” Barry finishes for her. Then draws himself up to a majestic height and swishes his own cloak. “Destroyer of Ill Informed Zombies.” He’s smiling.

“Hallwinter?”

“Tacco?”

“Barry?”

“Lup?”

“What the fuck?” Lup swears she’s buffering, she’s usually not short of words, but this? What is she supposed to do with this? Sildar, in the flesh, not just a guy in a computer. “You’re real!”

Barry laughs. Hard.

Lup pokes him in the side.

“Ow!”

“Just checking.” She smiles her biggest smile.

He laughs again and it sets Lup off too. They’re still gasping for breath when the door the lift light finally blinks another floor down.

“Did the last email help?” Barry asks, pressing the lift button again, as if that’ll help.

“Yeah! The way you explained it made a lot more sense than the textbook.”

“Cyrus.” Barry says like it’s a particularly awful curse word, and shrugs dismissively.

“So you have roughly three thousand degrees?” Lup asks.

“No!” Barry protests quickly.

“Uh huh. Have you forgotten how many you have?”

“It’s only four PhDs. It’s fine. Erm… Look! The lift’s moving.” Barry points enthusiastically at the blinking light which shows a whole floor’s worth of progress.

“You can’t distract me from the fact I’m with academic royalty right now.”

“I’m not academic royalty!” Barry looks offended at the very thought.

Lup just wiggles her eyebrows. “Oh Sildar, can’t I please have your autograph?”

“Lup!” Barry looks genuinely distressed enough that she decides it’s time to stop bullying him.

“So what’s the best meal on the canteen rotation? I figure you’ve been here a little bit? You said you were moving in your email last month, right?”

Barry’s discomfort fades immediately. “So they make this mac and cheese with asparagus in it and the summer school kids hate it because it’s got green bits so they always give you extra. I figure it’ll be different once the students are back, but uh, I guess you’ll be gone then?”

Lup shrugs. “Gotta wait on the post docs to get back to me, but my cheese yen thanks you for the baller tip! What else you got for cha’girl? I’m gonna plumb your depths.”

There’s a long moment. Lup dares Barry to double her entendre. He thinks about it, she can tell, but he doesn’t. She’s not disappointed exactly… but.

By the time the lift finally arrives Lup knows where the quiet libraries are, has a few routes for her morning runs, and, most importantly, knows where to get the good coffee (The Davey Lamp Cafe or Barry’s office. She’s inclined to try the latter first, because Barry has good taste, obviously, no other reason.)

“Okay, tetris time!” Lup zoops the mage hand suitcase into the lift, Barry shoves his in close behind.

“Do you think we can do this?”

“Cha’girl has better things to do than wait another 84 years for the lift, Barold, prepare to get cosy.”

Lup shoos him in with the suitcases next.

“Okay, if I put the bags on top of the cases, and then…” Lup scooches into the, admittedly small, gap next to Barry. “Is this okay?”

“Uh, yeah, fine… er.. Good… I mean… Yeah.”

“Do you want me to get the next one?”

“No! No. I mean, this is okay.” Barry’s swaying very slightly, Lup’s pressed against his side, so sways with him.

“They’re floor 26, right?” Lup asks.

“Oh, fuck, hang on.” Barry lunges towards the buttons. “Yeah, there we go.”

The lift grinds slowly upwards.

“So why IPRE? I imagine everyone was clamouring to get their hands on you?” Lup wiggles her eyebrows and Barry flushes bright pink.

“Well, uh, you know… I really liked their er… ethos?” Barry starts tentatively.

“Funding?”

Barry laughs, relieved. “Yeah, that. They have plenty of funding available. Plus, they seemed interested in letting me, you know, work on some of my own stuff.”

“Bonds?” Lup hisses quietly, as if anyone could hear over the slow grinding noise of The World’s Shittest Lift.

Barry nods and his face lights up. “You remembered?”

“Hard to forget when someone’s so passionate about something, Barold.”

“It’s also closer to Mum.”

“Of course. How is Marlena?”

“Still raving about the cookies you sent. She said they were as baller as you promised, and that you’d promised you would only send them to her so I had to come visit if I wanted to try them.”

“Who am I, but a girl who is willing to engage in cookie crime to help a Mum out.”

“I visit her!”

“I know.” Lup nods, he’s talked a lot about wishing he was closer, especially as she gets older.

“Now I can go more.” Barry adds.

“You sure can, I’d better look at the recipe book.” Lup winks at him.

–

“Leave them here.” Lup shrugs. “You’ve done your bit.”

Barry dithers, and knocks again. “I don’t know why they went ahead of me to get the key when they specifically asked me to check them in.”

“Weird power play.”

“Really?”

“Definitely, I’ve met their sort before. Just leave their stuff here, don’t hang around waiting. You’re the guy, they’re nothing in the scheme of research. This is absolutely not your problem.”

“Yeah. Yeah…” Barry keeps his hands on the cases.

“Barold?” Lup takes his arm gently to pull him away.

Barry twitches slightly, like he’s about to pull his arm back, there’s a moment where Lup worries that she’s gone too far. Sure they’ve sent some emails, they joked in the lift, but this is Sildar Halwinter, Magic Science guy. He wrote the textbooks, or should have, he’s got the cutting edge papers… He’s not just a cute nerd for Lup to boss about. Thankfully though, he relaxes, lets himself be tugged away towards the lift.

“Yeah. You’re right. I’ve given them enough of my time.”

“Yes! That’s the spirit.” Lup punches the air. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Which floor are you?”

“3.” Lup says. “I don’t have fancy parental connections to get the good view.

“Well, at least you’re in luck if the lift goes out.” Barry says wrly.

“You truly are a genius, Dr Hallwinter.” Lup nods cheekily.

Barry throws her a sideways glance, and smiles. There’s no blush this time, maybe he’s easing into it.

This time, they stand slightly further apart in the lift.

“Is there anything I can help you with?” Barry asks. He sounds like he means it.

Lup wants to say yes immediately. There’s absolutely nothing she can think of that Barry can do for her right now, but she likes hanging out with him. He’s fun to talk to online, and more fun in person, if just for the immediacy… also she gets to look at his face. Er… she means… shit.

“I’m not sure I need a hand with my bag, but you’re welcome to come check out the digs if you want?” She realises too late that it sounds like she’s propositioning him. ‘Come look at my room’, she may as well ask the guy in for coffee.

“I’ve actually already surveyed the rooms, so I’ll let you get settled, but if you decide you want coffee before the staff briefing this evening then stop by my flat, I’m heading home for a few hours.” Barry smiles warmly.

Uh… did Barold just uno reverse her? Bam! Proposition me will you? Here’s one right back! No, no way, he probably just means coffee. Would she go if she thought he didn’t just mean coffee?... Nope, stop! Bad line of thinking. He’s being kind, it’s generous. They’re friends! She’ll see.

“Cool, I’ll get settled, write a postcard, then maybe head over when I go to post it?”

The lift dings to announce its arrival at the third floor. “No pressure, I’ll see you later, Lup.”

–

Hey Ko’

I know you’re gonna roll your eyes, but you’re getting postcards, just like we wrote to Tia back in the day. Today was fine. Those twins I messaged about are fucking awful (that’s right, I can swear in these now, when you’re the teachers no one checks!) they kept calling this guy Harry, turns out his name’s Barry. Barry Bluejeans (well, not officially the last bit, but he was wearing them, so sue me.) They made him carry their bags, so obviously I helped, and we got talking and I was all “he’s really cool. No idea why they’re so mean to him”. Anyway, anyway, turns out his Government name isn’t Barry. It’s Sildar fucking Halwinter! That one, yeah. So I guess my pen pal is my person pal for the next 8 weeks… I’m gonna make the most of it, I just need to figure out which questions to ask.

Anyway, I’m running out of postcard space, but it’s all pretty similar to how it was, the room’s slightly nicer, only one bed and a private bathroom (thank every god going, I’ll never forgive Greg Grimaldis his bathroom crimes), but it’s still student digs.

Love you always,

Lup xxxxx

---

Thank you for reading! Find chapter 2 here.

[forestknifefight]

Blupjeans Week Day Two!

I thought a modern au working on a pier like Santa Monica Pier would be so fun. Please enjoy!

There is a man in a red robe and crisp, blue denim. He leans over the edge of a grandiose metal hull and stares out at the stares as they pass by. He realizes that he’s being watched, and his body tenses for a moment.

He turns and smiles behind horn-rimmed glasses. The corners of his eyes wrinkle delightfully. He looks happy and in love. Beautiful.

“Lu-Lu,” Taako says after Lup finishes describing the dream she had the night before. “You’re being a bit delusional. Delulu, even.”

Lup’s face pinches. She holds her index finger up in front of her brother’s face. “First off, you know how I feel about Lu-Lu, and second, be nice to me, I saw the literal man of my dreams.”

“Yeah, of your delusional dreams,” Taako mutters. He steps to the side and wipes down the grill of his taco stand, cleaning grease from it.

Lup adjusts her position on the bar stool stationed in the corner of Taako’s small kitchen. She grips the edge of the seat cushion and leans forward.

“No, no, Taako, you know this, we’ve discussed this,” she insists. One of her hands comes up, and she points at her temple. “Our brains can’t construct a human face. Every face we see in our dreams, we’ve seen in real life. That means I’ve seen this beautiful, horn-rimmed man before. I need to see him again.”

Taako whips around to face his sister. “Lup, we’ve seen a lot of people,” he says. “We work on a pier. You run a rollercoaster. Speaking of! Don’t you have to be at work right now?”

Lup straightens her back, her face contorting into offense. “You just don’t support my goals and dreams.”

“Not when they interfere with my cooking.” He crosses his arms in front of his chest. “Now get out.”

“Fine.” Lup jumps down from the stool and swipes her bag from the floor next to it. She digs through it and pulls out her employment-issued hat labeled “The Firebolt” and slams it over her head. “I will go to work. I will also not be giving you a free ride today.”

She leaves the small stand, the sound of Taako calling that he doesn’t care following her. She walks around the stand, glancing up at the glittering Sizzle it Up with Taako sign, and rolls her eyes.

The Firebolt is not that far down the pier from Sizzle it Up, but having to wade through crowds of tourists doubles the amount of time it takes to get to the coaster. She rocks up to the control panel, dropping her back next to it, and grins up at Magnus.

“Sorry I’m late, Taako just would not stop talking my ear off,” she says, the lie falling easily past her lips.

Magnus waves his hand at her dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, Lup, sure. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He scoops up his backpack and descends the rickety metal staircase of the ride.

“Later, Maggie!” Lup calls after him.

She double-checks the settings on the control panel before nodding with satisfaction. She and Magnus run this coaster like a well-oiled machine. She jumps down from the panel to the short line, collecting tickets from each passenger as they step up to board a car.

A slightly shorter-than-average red-haired guy hands her a ticket, and she takes it with a smile. He takes the first couple of steps up to the platform before looking back at his friend.

The friend comes up next and extends a ticket to Lup. She wraps her fingers around it and looks up at the passenger.

Her breath catches.

It’s him.

The beautiful, horn-rimmed glasses of the man she saw in her dream. He stares at her in awe, like he’s dreamt of her before as well.

Lup drops her hand from the ticket. “Congratulations, you get to ride for free today,” she says with a wide grin.

A pink blush colors his cheeks. “O-Oh, really?” he stutters. “Th-thanks, uh…” he trails off as he steps past her and up after his friend.

“Oh, me?” she says with a purposefully accentuated drawl and a hand over her chest. “I’m Lup.”

“Lup…” he says wistfully. He smiles at her, and the corners of his eyes crinkle delightfully. “I’m Barry.”

[barry-j-blupjeans]

Day Three - Myth

There’s something incredibly disconcerting about being able to see your own breath when you breathe out. For someone like Lup, it was always a reminder of where she came from. Cold, windy nights on the street with Taako, hidden in the back alleys of a city that never really went dark, unless you knew where to look. The chill was part of the reason they had moved away. Starting a fresh life somewhere warm had always been the goal.

It didn’t get cold out here. Even in the winter, the lowest it would drop would be the mid-forties. Lup hadn’t seen natural ice in years.

But here she was.

To be completely honest, being a YouTuber wasn’t the hot shit that it was made out to be. To be even more honest, Lup and Taako often put their lives in major jeopardy with the cryptid hunting videos. They had never actually gotten any solid evidence that the cryptids they were looking for existed, but that’s what video editing was for. Instead, the danger came from being out in places like the woods she was in now. Far enough away from town to lose even the shittiest of wifi, deep enough into nature that no one would know where to find her.

They took a lot of measures to make sure they never got separated. And now Lup was out in the woods by herself, with her way too expensive camera and a sweater not heavy enough for the chill that had settled over the area.

And the camera wasn’t even working. It had been static all night, but now it had dissolved into straight nothingness. There was nothing Lup could do to get the view back in focus, or back at all. Maybe if she hadn’t been so focused on it, she would have felt colder. Maybe she would have watched her step more carefully.

Maybe-

There was a flash of red from her left. Lup staggered slightly, then stopped walking. She aimed the camera towards it, just in case. If she was about to get murdered or some shit, then at least they’d have video evidence.

And she’d not be going down without a fight, thanks to the obsessive amount of pocket knives Magnus had given her. They had gotten her out of more than one shitty situation before and she could do it again.

The temperature seemed to drop lower. Just being able to see her breathe was something, but now the cold was starting to seep into her lips and fingers.

Logically, she should stay put. She hadn’t strayed far from where she lost track of Taako. Or Taako lost track of her, or whatever. But there was a dread creeping up her throat that had started with the static and increased with the chill. If it came down to fight or flight, she couldn’t exactly choose the latter and leave Taako behind.

And it was only when the screen of her camera cracked into shards that Lup realized. Oh.

Fuck.

Despite doing this for several years, they never really encountered a cryptid before. Like, duh. It’s not like they exist. If the Mothman was real, someone deffo would have gotten that guy on camera. If Bigfoot was out there somewhere, he’d probably be trying to buy some fuckin’ Air Jordans or something. If the Red Robe existed, then he would have been recorded already. The flimsy excuse of him “breaking cameras” was supposed to have been a convenient sidestep.

But here she was. Cameraless, freezing, and stuck staring at the red, hooded figure emerging from the trees.

He was fucking terrifying. Where there should have been a face beneath his hood, there was a curling ball of static that dripped down his chest. What could have been hands looked more like inky black claws, curved and pointed, much like the dozens of pocket knives Lup had on her. Past his knees, the robe began to fade away, leaving a wisp behind him, tangled up in static and empty air.

It was horrifying. But when he spoke—

When he spoke, Lup figured that the most awful part of it all was the ache in her chest.

“Lup,” he said, in what might have been some sort of twisted joy or disbelief. “Lup, you came back.”

Fight or flight, baby. And Lup was all out of flight.

She pulled the pocket knife out of her sleeve.

[herbgerblin]

I missed Blupjeans week but they still live rent-free in my brain

ID: A comic of Lup, an elven woman talking to Berry, a human man. Lup has tan skin, curly blonde hair, and is wearing a t-shirt, pajama shorts, and slippers. Her shirt says "Born on a mountain, raised in a cave, truckin' and fuckin' is all that I crave." Barry has pale skin, graying brown hair, glasses, and is wearing a plain t-shirt, jeans, and shoes.

In the top panel, Lup is standing over Barry, while he is seated on the floor with the Light of Creation resting on a large metal podium that Barry has clearly been tinkering on. Lup asks, "Hey Babe?" Barry replies, "Oh! Hey Lup! I had no idea you were up!" "Interesting," Lup says. "Real quick, do you remember a certain talk that we had not too long ago?" "A talk?" Barry asks. "Yeah," Lup says. "It was something of a "eureka moments that happen after 10:00pm can wait til the morning" talk." "Well," Barry says. "1:00am is technically morning-" Lup cut in. "It's 4:13am babe."

In the bottom panel, Barry says, "Oh man, really? I'll start packing it in." Lup is now sitting on her haunches in front of Barry in the light. She says, "After you tell me what this latest eureka moment is about" End ID.

[blingblandart]

it's blupjeans week apparently so here's a meme

[blupjeansweek]

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

[melonkittii]

i have that genre of autism that makes me mash my special interests and hyperfixations together like barbie dolls so sometimes my brain will conjure evil dark visions like "super paper mario but timpani and blumiere are blupjeans" and i have to go lie down for like a week

[mellowmaidenhairs]

belated lesbian week doodle 🌈 blupjeans but animal

[soapsoupy]

Happy blupjeans week to those who celebrate

[ID: a digital drawing of Barry and Lup from the adventure zone balance. They are both wearing red sweatshirts and taking a nap. Barry is a pale human man with short brown hair, glasses, and a brown stubbly beard. He is leaning slightly on Lup who is sleeping comfortably on his shoulder. Lup is a tan elven woman with curly blond hair that is pulled into a bun. There is a window behind them showing the stars outside. /.End ID]

[fandomsnstuff]

It's May 30th so you know what that means

I've written an absurd amount so here's a select few of my favourites for your persual

Blupjeans week 2023 - 11k

This is for Julia - 2.1k

Magnus doesnt understand why his friends want to spend Candlenights killing some guy, but he's happy to come along for the ride

my castle's crumbling down - 2k

It's been months since Lup's kingdom was taken over by Governor Kalen and she was taken captive. It seems he's finally decided that today will be her last.

dreaming, instead of sleeping - 1.2k

Can a dream be recurring if it's different every time?

call me babe for the weekend (tis the damn season) - 3.1k

Barry's mom has been absolutely relentless ever since she found out he's romantically interested in someone, especially now that Christmas is coming up. Lup has a plan to make her stop.

Everybody here was someone else before - 5.1k

Angus, despite being part of it, doesn't trust the Bureau of Balance. There's something strange going on here, and he's going to get to the bottom of it.

aka: Angus figures everything out and fucks up Lucretia's whole Thing

Of course, you're also free to just look at my AO3 and see if something strikes your fancy

Anyway happy blupjeans week, I hope everyone's having fun and in my mind everything posted for it today is for Me, Specifically

[noodyl-blasstal]

Cool, Calm, and Collegiate - Chapter 7

We did it! We finished @blupjeansweek with prompt 7 - Reunion.

You can read below, or on Ao3. Missed yesterday's chapter? Catch up here. or read the whole story in one go.

-

There’s an emergency meeting in the aftermath, a lecture on press interaction and how to deal with any angry parents that might be in touch. They’re also notified that the children from the twins’ class are going to be split among them. There’s no question of Edward and Lydia coming back, especially not with the formal investigation still underway.

The rest of the summer season is blissfully dull by comparison - kangaroo shoe day has nothing on beemageddon. The kids still enjoy it, natch, but it feels safe enough, contained fun (which is exactly what it should be.) They get good grades, she gets good reviews, and the summer marches inexorably on to a blank spot on Lup’s map. There’s no plans yet, no nothing.

The worst part of all of it is the waiting. Lup’s utterly sick of it.

She’s waiting for news from jobs, she’s waiting to know where she’ll be living and what she’ll be doing, and she’s waiting to tell Barry that she’s in love with him and would like to bone down proper style about it if he’d be game actually. Not that she’d say it that way… probably. Honestly at this point it’s a real risk - she’s nearly blurted out her feelings a few times and she definitely keeps staring at his lips at inappropriate moments, but she wants it to be good, he deserves that.

The worst part is, the worst bit of it all, she knows he feels the same. She’s seen the way he looks at her, knows that he’s felt the change between them too. It would be so easy to just say something, pop the unnecessary protective bubble that they’ve both built up around themselves and fall into the relationship they’ve been unknowingly carving out all these years. But she doesn’t. She can’t until she knows the plan, it’s not fair to him.

“Last week of summer school!” Barry says, next to her in bed.

“Yeah.” She snuggles in closer and lays her head on his chest. “And still nothing back about last week’s interview.”

“Ah… well, they’d be lucky to have you.” Barry soothed his hand across her back. “If they go with someone else they’re idiots.”

Lup sighs heavily. She knows that, she’s fucking fantastic, but hiring committees don’t always get the memo. She bodied that interview, but… nothing. “I just want to know the plan and where I’ll be and what I’ll be doing. I don’t think that’s unreasonable!” 

“It’s not.” Barry’s tone isn’t the faux-soothing one that people sometimes adopt with her when she’s complaining about the tenuous nature of taking short term research jobs, he means it. “I remember the post-doc years, it’s no fun.”

“I just want to be in one place and working on something important.” Lup nuzzles her head against Barry. “Something like the bonds research”

“Well....” Barry pauses as if he’s trying to work out exactly how to phrase what he’s about to say. “What if something like the bonds research was the bonds research?”

“What?” There’s no way.

“Well, I was thinking, you’re doing so much on the project anyway… it’d make sense for it to be formalised. I already want you to publish with me, but it would make more sense to just have you on the team.”

“You want to hire me as a post-doc?” Lup’s face scrunches up in consternation.

“No, I want Lucretia to hire you as a researcher.” Barry says as if it’s that simple. As if that’s a thing that can just happen.

“Fucking what?” Lup sits upright. “You want to nepotism me a job?” She doesn’t know whether to kiss him or kick him. Maybe she could do both, she’s talented. But she doesn’t need his help to succeed, she can do that all on her own. She doesn’t need pity.

“No! I mean… kind of.” Barry frowns. “This isn’t how I wanted to ask you… Shit. Look, obviously I know you, so it’s possibly kind of nepotism technically if you squint, but I want you because you’re a brilliant researcher who’s familiar with the project. You’ve got all the qualifications and more besides and IPRE would be lucky to have you on staff. You’ve already helped me solve like three issues this summer alone, why wouldn’t I want to work with you on this?”

Lup’s about to shout at him about not needing pity, about to push herself away, but she resists the urge. Really, he’s not wrong. She found her first post-doc through a researcher she met at a conference, there’s literally networking events for these kinds of reasons. She’s a baller scientist, she’s a phenomenal researcher, she’s the best teacher the IPRE ever saw if her reviews are to be believed, so why the fuck shouldn’t they want her… The main question was whether she wanted this.

She did.

But she couldn’t choose that fast, she should at least pretend, for salary negotiation if nothing else.

Lup jumps out of bed. “I need to shower.” 

“Uh, sure.” Barry motions to the bathroom, as if she doesn’t know where it is by now. Sweet idiot.

She’s halfway to the door before she turns back and sits down next to him again. “Thanks Bear, I really appreciate the offer.”

“It’s not just because you’re you, you know. Lucretia wouldn’t put up with any bullshit.” He says quickly before she can turn and run again.

Lup kisses him quickly on the cheek before she completely loses her nerve then near enough sprints to the bathroom. She’s calling Taako before she locks the door behind her.

“Yes, I have seen the time thank you so much… Taako… Taako… TAAKO, listen, I think I got a job… Here! With Barry… no it’s… well, yeah it is kinda like that… but listen. Research! Proper research!... The bonds project… I guess I have been, yeah, I’ve been involved since nearly  the start… Huh… No, I didn’t think about it that way… I don’t know… I haven’t had time to think about the logistics… I only just found out… He told me… In be…” She catches herself but it’s too late. “... it’s not like that!... I was here late… talking! We were talking!... No. Not about that… I haven’t figured it out yet. I will though… Don’t be gross… What should I do?... You think so?... What if something goes wrong?... yeah… good point… we’ve kinda been working on it for nine years… Thanks ‘Ko. Say hi to Krav for me… HA! I knew he was there… you can dish it but you can’t take it, you baby… I hate you too, super triple double… okay, I’ll keep posted… love you… bye!”

Lup starts the shower, then immediately stops it again and rushes back to Barry’s room. “Do I get an office?”

“Yes.” Barry says, he has the grace to not even look slightly startled by her swift reappearance.

“Okay. Thank you… shower.” Lup says quickly and leaves again. 

She makes it halfway to the bathroom before she turns round this time. “Is it a permanent contract?”

“Yep.” Barry nods and sits up slightly, his attempts to doze abandoned.

“Thank you.” Lup leaves again.

Temporarily. 

“Is it full time?” 

“Yes, full time and year round, no term time nonsense. Lucretia’s really fair with this stuff. There’s campus housing for a bit if you need it too.” Barry looks at her as if waiting for another question.

She never said he isn’t smart. He knows his stuff.

“And there’s proper research support?”

“Budget for research expenses, publication fees, and support to take time off to go to conferences and training.” He smiles.

She smiles back. “Huh. Okay.”

“Okay…?” Barry’s eyebrows raise expectantly.

“Okay it’s time to shower.” She gets to the door before turning back. “Oh, also, I think… No, I know, I’m in love with you… bye!” She sprints for the bathroom and locks the door behind her, only just resisting the impulse to keep running. She did it! She did it! She’s got a job! And maybe a Barry? Fuck… that wasn’t the plan. Adrenaline surges through her system as she grabs her phone again.

“‘Ko?... I’m gonna take the job… also I told Barry I love him… I don’t know… what do you mean what do I mean?... I told him I’m in love with him… I ran away… bathroom… well it wasn’t exactly planned was it?... Put Kravitz on, I can hear him saying calm and useful things in the background… Hi Kravitz… nice to meet you too… uh huh… yeah, sprinted out of there… okay… that’s a fair point… yes… no it wouldn’t… in my defence I can’t say I was thinking at the time… how did Taako tell you… really? Oh fuck… bye Kravitz!... I saw an opportunity… fine… sorry… Yes, I will…  Love you too ‘Ko, byeeeeeeeee.”

Lup laughs as she hangs up. Taako seems happy, Kravitz seems nice, now  she just needs to fix whatever the fuck mess she just created, but she’d quite like to do it clean.

There’s a light tap at the door as she’s washing her conditioner out. “Lup?”

“Who isssssss it?” Lup sing songs.

“Lup!” Barry sounds like a guy who’d just had someone confess they were in love with him and then sprint away without any follow up opportunity. Oops.

“Sorry Bear. I’m nearly done.” She feels guilt prickling at her. There’s no nervousness, she knows he feels the same, it’s so evident, but she’s had time to freak out about it with Taako and Kravitz, he’s been stewing. “I’ll be with you soon, in fact, do you just wanna come in?”

“I… uh…” Barry sounds panicked at the prospect.

Lup reaches out to unlock the door. “It’s open, you can if you wanna.”

She can almost hear the anxiety rolling off him.

“You can wait if you’d rather, it’s fine.”

The door cracks open.

“In or out, you’re letting the cold air in.”

The door clicks shut. “You’re in love with me?” Barry asks.

“Head over heels.” Lup says matter of factly. “Sorry for… you know, the sprinting. I’ve been trying to work out how to tell you and it keeps nearly slipping out and then it actually did so I panicked.”

“I know.” He says simply. “I’ve been trying to tell you too.”

“To tell me what?” Lup asks, smiling to herself.

“That I’m in love with you.”

“There you go.” 

“What?” Barry asks.

“You just did it.” Lup peeks her head out from behind the shower curtain and grins at him, not that he can see her, his glasses are totally steamed up. “We both did it!”

“Oh… yeah. I did do that. We did that!” Barry smiles, pleased with himself. “What do we do now?” He asks.

There’s a long pause, water sloughing the last of the conditioner from Lup’s hair.

“I mean… I’ve got some suggestions, but they’re not very PG.” Lup tries to sound as sultry as possible.

Barry laughs. “I love you.”

“I love you too. Now pass me my towel please?”

She knows for a fact that Barry screws his eyes shut behind his glasses when she steps out of the shower, she loves him for it. She also loves him for the way he pretends the towel is a matador’s cape as he prepares to wrap her in it, and the small kiss he plants on top of her head when he does.

“I have a suggestion.” Barry says.

“I’m willing to hear it.” Lup replies. 

Barry laughs and cups her face gently with calloused palms, she knows every scar on his hands and most of the stories behind them. She’s traced the shape of them while they talked late into the night, and now his thumb is ghosting along her lower lip. She kisses it quickly. It’s clearly enough permission for Barry and he dips his head to press their lips firmly together, stroke his thumbs across her cheeks. It’s a chaste kiss, a perfect first kiss, but Lup wants many more kisses from Barry and she plans to get them.

“When does Lucretia need to hear back from me?” She asks, kisses her way along Barry’s jaw as he answers.

“Uh… I don’t… Lup, I’m not… I can’t concentrate…” 

“Don’t then.” Lup replies.

Barry doesn’t, not on the job, anyway.

-

Bear, 

Hey office neighbour! I bet you didn’t know that there was a letter tube between our offices, but boy is there. 

I know, you’ve been thinking to yourself that seeing me at work, at home, on dates and via email just isn’t enough. Don’t worry, the carrier pigeons are in training. But hopefully for now this’ll suffice.

Thank you, not for the opportunity (though thank you for that too), but for wanting me and letting me know that. I never feel less than with you, and I hope you know how much I adore you.

Anyway, what do you want for tea later?

Love you (collegiately, we’re at work, be professional!) with my whole heart,

Lup xxxxxxx