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It was hard deciding what to present to the mountain.
When the seven were told that their best chance of entering the cave was submitting a piece to the mountain, they were all on board for that. Magnus seemed to know what he wanted to do immediately. After looking at a list of classes, he picked up woodcarving. Merle picked up a weird sort of hybrid-dance, that was oddly enough a sensation. Taako rebranded quotes from their home planet as his, spouting them out to the philosophy class. (When he told Lup this, she had laughed and high fived him.) Lucretia painted. Davenport sang, much to nearly everyone’s surprise.
Barry and Lup knew that they wanted to do something together. They just didn’t know what they wanted to do. They spent several nights brainstorming ideas for a performance good enough to be accepted, only going to bed when Barry passed out on the desk.
Their first idea was a sort of… magic show, something with lights and small fireworks. The problem was, they weren’t exactly sure how they would put it on paper to submit it.They could certainly make a list of the spells they used, but that would be forgotten in an instant. It would be something fantastic to watch, but horrible to enter. The second idea, more of a joke on Lup’s part, was to write a skit, make a show of it. Barry quickly shot the idea down with reddened cheeks, claiming he couldn’t act. Their third idea was music: they could compose a duet.
The sun was setting on their fourth day of brainstorming when Barry sheepishly admitted to knowing how to play the piano. Lup nearly spit out the hot chocolate she had been drinking, staring at the other in shock. They were on what cycle, and she was just now hearing about this?
“You can play the piano?” She asked after swallowing, setting her mug down on the table.
“Yeah. My, uh, my mom taught me how to play when I was younger. Though, I haven’t played in a while and I’m probably rusty-”
“Play for me.”
“What?”
“I want you to play for me.”
Barry blinked and stared at Lup as he repeated the words in his head, trying to fully process them. He hadn’t played since he joined the IPRE, not having enough time to practice while researching. He couldn’t practice on the different planes, either, he was too busy trying to find the Light of Creation. He couldn’t even think of a song to play off the top of his head, let alone remember which keys were what.
Nevertheless, he allowed her to take his hand and drag him through the halls of the observatory and to the nearest music room with a piano. She sat him down on the small bench in front of the instrument, and pulled a chair up for herself to sit in. She offered him an encouraging smile, which sent a bit of warmth to his cheeks.
Barry turned his gaze to the piano, noting the sheet music already laid before him. He scanned it and recognized it as a rather simple song, one used in teaching. He already knew the notes. He placed his hands on the keys slowly. His fingers seemed to know where to go, placing themselves in the correct positions to start playing the song. With a deep breath, he pressed down on the keys.
Lup grinned as he played, eyes lighting up. Sure, Barry was a bit rusty, but it was amazing regardless. His playing would certainly knock the metaphorical socks off the mountain, if they wrote the right song for it.
When he finished the song, Lup jumped up from her chair and clapped for him, smiling warmly when he noticed his face turning a light shade of red. He stood up and bowed slightly, which earned laughter from the both of them.
“You’re so playing the piano for our submission.” Lup said, leaving no room to argue about the matter.
“What will you play?” Barry asked as he pulled the wooden cover over the keys.
“Um,” she paused and quickly looked around the room. She spotted a violin, going over to pick it up. She lifted the instrument for Barry to see, “I’ll play the violin. I’ve always wanted to learn. In one town Taako and I visited, there was a bard who would play to the kids.”
“Do you know how to play?”
“Nope! A year’s long enough to learn, right?”
Despite never picking up a violin before that moment, Lup was pretty much a natural at playing. She got the hang of it relatively quickly, and she made beautiful music with it. She abandoned the sheet music as soon as she pieced everything together, making up her own songs on the fly. Barry would watch her, admiring her, as she played from her heart. She encouraged him to play the piano without sheet music as well, which he did hesitantly.
They played freely together, awakening a new sense of passion in both of them.
Lup and Barry worked every second they could composing their own song. They stayed up late at night, playing and scribbling down anything that sounded good. They barely left the music room that they had found that evening, rarely talking to the rest of the IPRE members outside of breakfast and dinner. They were too focused on their music, their love, to worry about anything else. The song had become less of creating something to obtain the Light, but something special between the two of them. Something that was theirs and theirs alone.
The sun was peaking over the horizon one day when they finished perfecting their song. The two of them cheered, collapsing into their chairs. Lup laughed, Barry soon following suit as he found her laugh too contagious not to. Their gaze met and lingered as their fingers loosely linked on the table in front of them. They were exhausted and hungry, but they were happy. They created something magnificent, something wonderful, and they made it together.
For just an hour, they abandoned their instruments to go make themselves a well deserved breakfast. (After that, they would pick up practicing, playing the song, their song, over and over again.)
Eventually the day came where they had to perform their piece. Lup decided to wear the most elegant red dress that Barry had ever seen. It was on the shorter side, stopping just above her knees, with long sleeves. She wore matching red heels, muttering something about how her feet would hurt later. She forced him into a black suit, something that he wasn’t really used to. Though, he supposed wearing his usually denim wouldn’t be appropriate for their performance.
They watched as every member of their group went up on stage and presented their piece, and the two felt themselves growing more and more nervous as time went on. Sure they would do fine, but they couldn’t help but feel as if they were projecting their intimacy to the world. They supposed, though, if they needed anything to help declare their love to the group, to The Hunger, to everyone, this would be it.
Lup anxiously fiddled with the hem of her dress as she watched the last of their group finish showing off their creation. Barry turned to her with a nervous, but warm smile on his face.
“Are you ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”