Varian (
droptheious) wrote in
deercountry2021-11-01 06:42 pm
Entry tags:
- adam w: natalie,
- ange ushiromiya: jelle,
- ariadne: wizera,
- cassandra: drizz,
- charlie kelly: ashlee,
- fern: pan,
- glitch: ceej,
- haru: samii,
- luca: robin,
- luz noceda: pedro,
- manabu yuuki: elle,
- oscar pine: basil,
- peter graham: jhey,
- rapunzel: owl,
- ryan akagi: billie sue,
- stanford pines: kei,
- takashi "shiro" shirogane: red,
- varian: tf,
- vyng vang zoombah: jansen,
- yuri lowell: mads
Was I really seeking good [Open]
Who: Varian and you!
What: November catchall!
When: Throughout November.
Where: All around the place!
Content Warnings: Child poisoning in the comments, bloodletting in the first half of the Sleeper Farm prompt
BUILDING AN ABOMINATION TO THE GODS - Driveway of Disaster House, Cassandra- OTA
Varian can't actually remember the last time he built something purely for himself. Both back home, in Deerington and here in Trench, his inventions have always had a greater purpose. Sure, he enjoyed making them, but they were always ultimately to help other people. Building something just for his own enjoyment generally wasn't on his radar. It's only recently that he's felt like he's earned the right to indulge in something for himself.
And so, at the start of the month, Varian can be found on the driveway of the Disaster House- starting to put together the very early beginnings of a frame for a car. He isn't bothered by the lightly falling snow- he doesn't feel the cold anymore and the crisp air is honestly good for clearing his head. He's wearing his serial-killer-esque welding mask and has his little foot-pump-powered 1800s welding kit with him, but that isn't doing so well in the cold weather. After a few frustrating attempts at getting the damn thing to work, he gives up, stepping back to stare at the metal he's trying to get into shape. He looks at his hand, a soft hmmmmmm sound echoing in the mask. He's not comfortable with this, but Mako has been helping him get a more...positive outlook on his abilities.
So, for the first time since he got here, he decides to actually use his abilities for something instead of actively avoiding and being reviled by them. He flexes his fingers, using the techniques Mako has run over with him many a time, willing flame to sprout on them. He has to concentrate a lot, and it's definitely not a tiny, careful flame like the one on his torch (he's not quite THERE yet) but it's enough to start welding the pieces of metal together. Once he's done that he snuffs the flame by closing his fist. He steps back, pushing the mask up so it rests above his goggles (why doesn't he just take the goggles off, why does he have to wear both?) to assess his work, before realising someone is standing nearby, turning to offer a little smile.
"Do you think it looks okay? It's kinda shoddy but I guess I can always go over it later once the snow stops."
IT'S FULL OF OPENINGS, IT'S JUST YOU AIN'T SEEING THEM - All around the city - OTA
For once, fate has smiled down at Varian. His Patron is The Tower and while the buildings are shifting and doorways keep vanishing and reappearing he's still able to find his way around. It's given him confidence that means he might just be ignoring the always buddy up system, because it's fine. It's totally fine. He knows where he's going. So he goes about his daily business as normal - unfettered by the chaos that the vast majority of the population are dealing with. He's a compassionate soul, though, and if he sees someone looking lost, he moves over to them, raising an awkward hand in greeting.
"Uh... hey. You look...lost? Do you want me to help you out? I understand where I'm going for...for some reason. If you stick with me, we can get to where you need to go."
SECRET, SECRET, SECRET SECRET BUNKER - Willful Machine - 28th November OTA with CR prompt
Finding the compass on his workbench had been a happy little surprise. He didn't really need one, but it's pretty nice and after quizzing the people in his house (none of whom took responsibility for the little gift) he probably should have been worried about the device that just appeared in his lab in the dead of night. He isn't, though, because it's cool.
Naturally, he uses it as a normal compass first- but as he's working on his car, he does need to try it on bigger things. He's headed to Willful Machine for more parts, and it using it on a sheet of metal on the ground to measure out exactly what he needs. It's while he's doing this that the circle opens up under him, upending him into a little room. One moment he's there, the next he isn't. Maybe you were there to watch him fall in like an idiot. He looks around at the space- full of everything a person would need to hunker down for a night and makes a soft confused noise before yelling because that seems the best course of action here.
"Um- HI??? Is anyone there?"
And if that doesn't work, he'll get out his Omni and send a message to his friends:
Fell in a hole. I think into a pocket dimension? Help.
MUSHABOOMING
On hearing there were cool new mushrooms to deal with here, naturally, Varian's gone about trying to harvest some. He can make all kinds of cool alchemy with them!! This being Varian, of course, means he's neglected some pretty basic health and safety in his mushroom harvesting. So people can catch him in various pickles throughout the town as he goes about stupidly collecting stuff for his lab.
They may find him hallucinating on Walking Terrors, covered in spores and running around with a panicked expression and screaming about the floor melting. Or maybe you'll find him face-down in the dirt, a Floater sitting happily on top of him. Just...help the idiot out, he'd appreciate it.
THE SLEEPER FARM
Varian starts his No Good Real Bad Time swinging upside down- his blood dripping down into a bowl underneath him. It freezes before it hits the bowl, of course, leaving a blue, frozen blood slushie at the bottom. He's still confused how he got here, but he knows that's not the pressing concern here- not while there are other bodies strung up who have definitely had body parts removed. Varian does a quick, muggy-headed check that nothing seems to be out of place- no organs missing, two arms, one leg. Everything as it should be. They've even left him with his prosthetic, which is nice. But he'd still rather get down from here before this gets worse.
"Uhhhhhh, hi? Anyone still...conscious here?"
Or perhaps you find him afterwards, once he's down and on his feet again. He's still got a sizeable gash on his arm, but at least it's frozen over - thanks for the natural cauterization, coldblood! He'll be helping get other people down or helping them move as best he can. Much like earlier in the month in the town, he feels a strange pull towards the way out, and he'll be trying to bring whoever's with him along that path.
"C'mon, I...I know the way out."
He's not offering a reason for that, oh no. It's while he's leading someone towards the alter that they're suddenly pulled out by a force Varian recognises almost immediately. It's an old, familiar one after all- and once they're upended onto the lawn where Disaster House's Lamp Friend sits, he looks up at the sky, frowning.
"...Cynthia?"
[[ooc: As always if you want something else or a closed thread, please hit me up on
teeff or PM me! Will add event stuff later!]]
What: November catchall!
When: Throughout November.
Where: All around the place!
Content Warnings: Child poisoning in the comments, bloodletting in the first half of the Sleeper Farm prompt
BUILDING AN ABOMINATION TO THE GODS - Driveway of Disaster House, Cassandra- OTA
Varian can't actually remember the last time he built something purely for himself. Both back home, in Deerington and here in Trench, his inventions have always had a greater purpose. Sure, he enjoyed making them, but they were always ultimately to help other people. Building something just for his own enjoyment generally wasn't on his radar. It's only recently that he's felt like he's earned the right to indulge in something for himself.
And so, at the start of the month, Varian can be found on the driveway of the Disaster House- starting to put together the very early beginnings of a frame for a car. He isn't bothered by the lightly falling snow- he doesn't feel the cold anymore and the crisp air is honestly good for clearing his head. He's wearing his serial-killer-esque welding mask and has his little foot-pump-powered 1800s welding kit with him, but that isn't doing so well in the cold weather. After a few frustrating attempts at getting the damn thing to work, he gives up, stepping back to stare at the metal he's trying to get into shape. He looks at his hand, a soft hmmmmmm sound echoing in the mask. He's not comfortable with this, but Mako has been helping him get a more...positive outlook on his abilities.
So, for the first time since he got here, he decides to actually use his abilities for something instead of actively avoiding and being reviled by them. He flexes his fingers, using the techniques Mako has run over with him many a time, willing flame to sprout on them. He has to concentrate a lot, and it's definitely not a tiny, careful flame like the one on his torch (he's not quite THERE yet) but it's enough to start welding the pieces of metal together. Once he's done that he snuffs the flame by closing his fist. He steps back, pushing the mask up so it rests above his goggles (why doesn't he just take the goggles off, why does he have to wear both?) to assess his work, before realising someone is standing nearby, turning to offer a little smile.
"Do you think it looks okay? It's kinda shoddy but I guess I can always go over it later once the snow stops."
IT'S FULL OF OPENINGS, IT'S JUST YOU AIN'T SEEING THEM - All around the city - OTA
For once, fate has smiled down at Varian. His Patron is The Tower and while the buildings are shifting and doorways keep vanishing and reappearing he's still able to find his way around. It's given him confidence that means he might just be ignoring the always buddy up system, because it's fine. It's totally fine. He knows where he's going. So he goes about his daily business as normal - unfettered by the chaos that the vast majority of the population are dealing with. He's a compassionate soul, though, and if he sees someone looking lost, he moves over to them, raising an awkward hand in greeting.
"Uh... hey. You look...lost? Do you want me to help you out? I understand where I'm going for...for some reason. If you stick with me, we can get to where you need to go."
SECRET, SECRET, SECRET SECRET BUNKER - Willful Machine - 28th November OTA with CR prompt
Finding the compass on his workbench had been a happy little surprise. He didn't really need one, but it's pretty nice and after quizzing the people in his house (none of whom took responsibility for the little gift) he probably should have been worried about the device that just appeared in his lab in the dead of night. He isn't, though, because it's cool.
Naturally, he uses it as a normal compass first- but as he's working on his car, he does need to try it on bigger things. He's headed to Willful Machine for more parts, and it using it on a sheet of metal on the ground to measure out exactly what he needs. It's while he's doing this that the circle opens up under him, upending him into a little room. One moment he's there, the next he isn't. Maybe you were there to watch him fall in like an idiot. He looks around at the space- full of everything a person would need to hunker down for a night and makes a soft confused noise before yelling because that seems the best course of action here.
"Um- HI??? Is anyone there?"
And if that doesn't work, he'll get out his Omni and send a message to his friends:
Fell in a hole. I think into a pocket dimension? Help.
MUSHABOOMING
On hearing there were cool new mushrooms to deal with here, naturally, Varian's gone about trying to harvest some. He can make all kinds of cool alchemy with them!! This being Varian, of course, means he's neglected some pretty basic health and safety in his mushroom harvesting. So people can catch him in various pickles throughout the town as he goes about stupidly collecting stuff for his lab.
They may find him hallucinating on Walking Terrors, covered in spores and running around with a panicked expression and screaming about the floor melting. Or maybe you'll find him face-down in the dirt, a Floater sitting happily on top of him. Just...help the idiot out, he'd appreciate it.
THE SLEEPER FARM
Varian starts his No Good Real Bad Time swinging upside down- his blood dripping down into a bowl underneath him. It freezes before it hits the bowl, of course, leaving a blue, frozen blood slushie at the bottom. He's still confused how he got here, but he knows that's not the pressing concern here- not while there are other bodies strung up who have definitely had body parts removed. Varian does a quick, muggy-headed check that nothing seems to be out of place- no organs missing, two arms, one leg. Everything as it should be. They've even left him with his prosthetic, which is nice. But he'd still rather get down from here before this gets worse.
"Uhhhhhh, hi? Anyone still...conscious here?"
Or perhaps you find him afterwards, once he's down and on his feet again. He's still got a sizeable gash on his arm, but at least it's frozen over - thanks for the natural cauterization, coldblood! He'll be helping get other people down or helping them move as best he can. Much like earlier in the month in the town, he feels a strange pull towards the way out, and he'll be trying to bring whoever's with him along that path.
"C'mon, I...I know the way out."
He's not offering a reason for that, oh no. It's while he's leading someone towards the alter that they're suddenly pulled out by a force Varian recognises almost immediately. It's an old, familiar one after all- and once they're upended onto the lawn where Disaster House's Lamp Friend sits, he looks up at the sky, frowning.
"...Cynthia?"
[[ooc: As always if you want something else or a closed thread, please hit me up on

no subject
"...That's pretty much what Mako said," he exhales, uneasy. "That it's a natural part of me now and I need to just...let that be a thing. Learn to accept it and practise on being better in tune with...myself."
He glances down at his hands, opening and closing them. It's a little more honesty and vulnerability than he'd normally entertain around Stan- but this is important.
"But it's easier said than done. It still feels alien sometimes."
no subject
Stan gestures to Varian - specifically to his prosthetic leg.
"I'm willing to bet that thing had a hell of a learning curve at first," he says. "The difference here is you already learned how to walk once and you've never done any of this fire stuff before. Otherwise it's the same kinda thing right? It's just getting used to part of your body being different now, and if you did it once you can do it again."
He's never once put it into terms like being in tune with himself or other hippie nonsense. It's easier to just connect it to other things that already make sense to him, like pushing through something tough because he knows he already did it once before.
no subject
"...Hah. Yeah. I fell on my face a lot," so many times. "But...that's not a bad way of putting it. Just something to get used to."
After all, a year in and his prosthetic feels as naturally a part of him as if it was his flesh and blood leg. Sometimes, it's easy to forget that it's not actually attached to him. Right now, feeling that about his powers seems impossible. But then he'd thought that about the leg, when he'd first started using it.
He shifts awkwardly - not really used to saying anything remotely pleasant to or about Stan, but...
"Thanks. That...actually helped a lot."
no subject
"Ha! What was that? Sincere thanks? Don't strain yourself there!"
It's as close to a You're Welcome as Varian's getting from Stan. It feels more normal than letting himself have a real moment with him
"Seriously though, you'll get the hang of it," he says. "Then you might actually get this car done before you're my age!"
no subject
"Ugh, whatever. I regret saying anything already. The moment's ruined," still, he rolls his eyes, scoffing lightly. "That's kind of the plan. I doubt I'll get it done before winter's done- kind of depends on how bad it snows here. But ideally, I don't want it to take forever."
no subject
"Yeah - looks like the kinda place where we'll get tons of snow. Maybe even a blizzard or two." He coughs into his hand, as though the helpful thing he's about to say is just a frog stuck in his throat. "You, uh-- you'll wanna throw a tarp over it before that. So it doesn't get all rusted and junk."
no subject
"...Yeah, that's probably smart. I can't really fit it in the house and the garage turned into the stable so I don't have anywhere inside to keep it," he rubs the back of his neck. "You done this before? The...car stuff."
no subject
He can't even remember all of the dumb problems he's had over the years with his car, but he knows he fixed them every time because he couldn't afford not to. Even once he could afford not to, the car had decades of sentimental value on it. He wasn't going to just let it go if he could keep fixing it. It was a perfectly good car! The only reason he doesn't still have it is that he's here in Trench now.
no subject
That car's older than Varian has existed for, wow! He's...not used to having anything even vaguely in common with Stan (Fern's stupid LIST notwithstanding) and he's not exactly sure how to...proceed here. This isn't something that can be injected with their usual vitriol.
"Well, I uh- I was starting up with an engine in my lab...too. I uh...I've been trying to work out the best way to make it run, knowing we won't have conventional fuel here."
no subject
"Vegetable oil works pretty good - that's prolly what half the restaurants are using to fry stuff, so you oughta be able to get it no problem," he says. "Bet they'd even give you it for free, since they'd just chuck it in the garbage anyway."
Because obviously that's still important, in a world with no real consistent currency. Obviously. At the end of the day, Stan is who he is.
no subject
"That makes sense. It would make a pretty decent fuel- and as I'm building the engine from scratch I can make it adapted perfectly to that fuel source. My only other choice was using FLynnolium. I used that to power my automatons but that gets very...explosive."
Varian has and will continue to dumpster dive. His Designated Disney Animal Companion isn't a raccoon for nothing.
"Ruddiger's pretty good at finding stuff like that in the garbage."
no subject
"Eh, oil's oil. Not like I've never jumped in a dumpster before anyway." he says. "Plus the last time I had to build something I flat out stole nuclear waste."
You know, as you do.
no subject
"Oh wow, yeah, they apparently frown on that a lot. Nuclear waste," people are SUPER touchy about it. "I guess because it's a lot more dangerous long-term. Whatever. I say you work with what you can get."
no subject
"Yeah, something about 'radiation' or whatever," he says, making air quotes. "I had a hazmat suit and they were getting rid of it anyway! Once someone throws something away, it oughta be free for the taking. Even if it's dangerous nuclear waste."
no subject
He's too into this to realise he's actively agreeing with Stan on something. But this is important!!!
"Like, no matter what it is, once it's been put in the trash, it's free for the taking. They obviously didn't want it anymore, so why should they have any say in what happens to it once they dump it?"
no subject
Which he could do, and absolutely has done.
no subject
no subject
"Once it's in the trash it belongs to me, 'cause I'm probably the one pulling it out of the trash!" he says. "The universe is gonna have to fight me for it!"
no subject
"Somehow, I don't like the odds of the universe."