Chapter Text
Cycle One
“I know this is for science and all, but I feel like an absolute idiot here,” Barry says as he sits down on the ground.
“And that’s different from any other day, how? Feel free to share with the class,” Taako says, raising an eyebrow. “Oral or written presentation only. None of that fantasy PowerPoint shit, though. That’s cheating.”
Heat rises to Barry’s cheeks and damnit , he’s blushing. Once upon a time, he thought joining the IPRE would give him a new start, a place where no one knew him, and he could make some good first impressions.
For a little bit, it worked. He wore his damn bluejeans, embracing his nickname instead of hiding from it, and people responded okay. He even beat out who knows how many people to be assigned to the crew of the Starblaster.
Then he met his future crewmates.
From the second the crew met, it was like being back in secondary school again. Taako and Lup were the popular kids. Magnus the jock. Merle the stoner. Davenport the principal. Then Barry and Lucretia the nerds, sitting on the outside, trying to get a glimpse in.
Well, Barry might never fit in with the cool kids, but he can do his damn job. He can learn everything he can about this plane and maybe figure out what the hell happened back home. He doesn’t like to think about home, though. Not in public, at least. So he tucks the thought away and he’ll unpack it tonight. Alone.
Lup leans over towards him and says in a stage whisper, “Don’t worry, Barold, I’ll accept the fantasy PowerPoint version.”
Alright, so that’s sort of funny. A little bit of the tension in the air dissipates when he starts to chuckle. Lup gives him a wink, which Barry’s pretty sure makes him blush again. Goddamn his capillary loops.
Trying not to think about how red he must be right now, Barry focuses on the mongoose family in front of him.
Learning a language from an animal? This was exactly the sort of shit he dreamt of doing when he signed up for this mission. Granted, this plane doesn’t offer the sort of technological breakthroughs he hoped for, but in terms of learning the unknown? This was fucking awesome.
Barry wipes off his palms on his jeans as he looks over at Taako and Lup. Neither one of them are wearing their robes today, just casual clothes. Lup’s wearing some sort of maxi dress with her hair up in a casual bun. And Taako’s got on some sort of stylish looking romper that does not look like it should work, but somehow does.
And then there’s Barry, wearing his IPRE red jacket, buttoned up to the neck. It’s stifling, the jacket, so he undoes the top button, giving him a little bit of breathing room.
Of course Taako notices. “My man , cutting it loose. Casual Friday, I love it.”
“Do we even know if there are Fridays on this world?” Lup asks absently.
“From what I can tell, the lunar cycle is seventeen days,” Barry responds, almost automatically. Ask him a question, and he’ll get you the fucking answer. That’s his thing. That’s what he does. “I haven’t observed any of the animal groups taking a day off, so I doubt they have a concept of weekends like we do. So probably no Fridays.”
When he stops, both Taako and Lup are staring at him. Barry braces himself for more teasing, but instead Lup gives him a smile. “And that, Barry Bluejeans, is why you’re the best science officer we could ever ask for.”
His damn capillary loops expand again and Barry finds himself grinning back. “Yeah, well, considering our other options...”
“Can you even imagine Magnus as our science officer?” Lup asks. She straightens up and flexes her arm, showing a fair bit of muscle herself. “Need to learn about the thing? I’ll punch the thing.”
Taako waves a lazy hand in front of him. “Or Merle. Have you tried telling the thing about the word of Pan?”
Barry snorts as he pushes up his glasses up his nose. It dawns on him that he better not break these. This is the only pair he’s got. Shit. What if they’re stuck on this planet forever? The Starblaster couldn’t get out earlier when it tried. What happens when his vision gets worse? How will he see?
And that opens up another can of worms. What is someone gets really sick? Sicker than Merle can heal? What then? It’s enough for Barry to grab his notebook and start writing notes to himself, things to go over with Davenport later.
“I think I broke Barry,” Taako says, his voice nonchalant.
That breaks Barry out of his spiral. “Shit, sorry. Just some thoughts,” he says. At Lup’s tilt of her head, he adds, “In case we’re here for longer than we think.”
“You’re not really one for living in the moment, are you?” Taako asks.
Barry snorts. He doesn’t think he’s ever lived in the moment in his life. Always looking ahead, figuring out the right questions to ask, to unlock the secrets the universe has hidden from him. “That obvious?” he asks.
Lup bumps her shoulder into his with a laugh. “Just a little.”
“Well, maybe someday,” he says, turning to a fresh page of his notebook. “So you really think we can learn this language?”
“Why not?” Lup asks. “I speak elvish and common and a little bit of orcish. Why not just add animal language to the mix?”
Barry doesn’t speak anything other than common. Languages always gave him fits when he tried to learn growing up. But he’ll do his damn best. The sooner they can understand the language, the better off they’ll be.
The ground is hard underneath him. He’s never liked sitting on the ground, but they’re going to be talking to a fucking mongoose family. Seems rude to stand up and talk. So he cracks his neck and looks over at the mongoose staring at him.
This is the moment he’s been waiting for. Taako taught him the word for hello this morning, and Barry’s practiced it over and over.
He opens his mouth and grunts hello.
The mongoose’s eyes widen as Taako falls over laughing. Barry should have known. He should have fucking known. “What did I just say to the nice mongoose?” he asks, his voice resigned.
“That you farted!” Taako says, laughing so hard that he’s clutching his stomach. “Oh fuck , that was so beautiful. I’ll never be able to use that one again, though. Worth it!”
Barry can only shake his head. He looks over at Lup, and to his surprise, she’s not laughing. Oh there’s a smile on her face and he can tell she’s trying really hard not to laugh. But just the fact she’s actually not makes things not sting quite as much.
“You got me, Taako. Very funny,” Barry says, holding his hands out in mock defeat. Can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, right? “Can we actually learn this language now or what?”