deercountry | [Open] Keep it locked up, keep it sealed tight

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[Open] Keep it locked up, keep it sealed tight

Who: Varian and YOU!
What: Varian's final corrupted days, his beasthood turn and the aftermath. See his corruption/monster page HERE!
When: First 2 weeks of Jan- before the event.
Where: Around the city!

Content Warnings: Applicable content warnings go here. Mentions of death, corruption, dissociation.

Hope you've stocked up - Last days of corruption

Anyone who's close to Varian will have noticed his slow corruption growth over the last two months. By the time January rolls around, things have gotten worse instead of better. By now his skin is made of a thick, black rock. This same black rock has turned his teeth into sharp fangs and his nails into claws. two amber horns sprout out from his head, and his elbows and one remaining ankle have spurs of the same stuff- as is the tail he's since gotten, flicking nervously as he paces around- firey red eyes darting around furtively.

He'd largely been keeping himself out of sight, trying to handle this alone, but his hallucinations have driven him onwards. He stares at things seemingly only he can see. If he comes across you, he'll grip your arm tightly (sorry if those claws hurt, he's not even thinking about it). He points at an empty spot of nothing, worry on his face.

"Eugene!" you are definitely not Eugene, but it's clear that's who he's seeing right now. "We- we gotta deal with these rocks before they take over everything! There's...there's got to be a cavern around here somewhere so we can cut them off, right?"

It's a long night - Monsterdom (Gaze and surrounding area)

Regardless of how much or how little help he gets in his final days of corruption, eventually, Fern decides enough is enough and the best way to handle this is to Fistfight God. Which is to say, he goes off to confront The Tower about this and gets himself killed by Never Mind in the process. Varian got there too late, and being the driving reason behind his boyfriend dying again was the final nail in the coffin for him.

The transformation is quick and sharp, and what's left is a a ten-foot rock monster spewing fire everywhere. His leg is still missing in this form, at least, which should help anyone with a quick ID-check. Varian himself rages through the city, slamming against buildings and breathing fire at anyone foolish enough to come close. It's definitely attracting the attention of nearby hunters- so perhaps finding a way to talk him back down before there's another death today would be for the best?

Nothing good is meant to stay - Aftermath

Eventually, Varian lets his friends in, lets them talk him down and the best hood fades. Parts of corruption still cling to him- his skin is still an unhealthy grey colour and his nails aren't quite back to normal yet. He's also sitting in a ball on the floor- partly out of shock and partly because he can't go anywhere without his leg - if someone could fetch him that, that would be awesome.

Or perhaps you come to him in the days that follow. He mostly stays near the Disaster House in Cassandra, as he waits for Fern to come back to life. He can be found inside the house, or sometimes sitting on the front porch, people-watching. Though he's certainly not better yet, day by day the signs of corruption lessen. Any visitors will get a tired smile, he's still a little withdrawn, but he's getting there.

"H-hey, thanks for checking in," nothing has changed how awkward he is at least! "Um...how are you doing?"

Because obviously, you're here for him to check up on you. Obviously.

[[OOC: The monster battle is intended to be open to any CR who want to take part. No ONE character will be responsible for talking him down from monsterdom, it is intended to be a team effort- hammering home that Varian is able to rely on his support network. Feel free to make separate threads, team up with other players, thread hop, etc. Do what you like, and we can wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey it so it happened around the same time- to make it easier than players trying to keep to one concurrent thread! Go nuts! As always please hit me up on

teeeff for anything! ]]

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[~~looks like the gang's back together again~~

Illarion arrives at a jog nearly as Perle and Falco do, and hasn't the decency to pretend he's winded by coming all the way from Trenchwood. He lifts a hand to send Iskierka aloft--the better to monitor Varian's destructive progress, and spot any independent Hunters who might have different ideas for the rampaging beast than pacification.]

I will have your flanks. [He's a better distraction and scout than he is stopping power.] And this may help, if he will not listen at first.

["This" being flasks of blood-red water from the Salt Lake, faintly luminant in the moonlight. He'll pass them to any nearby takers.]

[Luz rounds around the lot of them, and she does lower down on her staff to take the blood red water. She's not taking any chances].

Falco, see if you can get his attention first. Maybe it doesn't have to be a drag down fight if he listens to reason. Bigby, if he starts advancing on Falco, do what you can to keep him in check. Ahiru, we'd need the vines to back Bigby up, and I'll throw down my plant glyphs to give your vines a boost.

[She turned to Illarion]. What does this stuff do?

Eases beasthood. Submersing him in it would cure, but, [he assesses the situation again, thinks of the distance he traveled,] we are not likely to herd him to the Lake.

[Luz shook her head].

This'll have to do. It might at least get him to start standing down.

[God, it's... hard. Looking at this beast, and knowing it's her friend. It makes Rapunzel want to cry - the physical manifestation of all the hurt and anger and frustration Varian's been feeling, all right in her face.

But she's not going to cry. Not now, at least. Now, as everyone hashes out a plan, she steels her resolve, reaching up to pull at the ties undoing her magical hair and letting it drop in coils around her.]

I can try to restrain him. And - I think I can calm him? I don't know how, but I've done it before. This sort of... influence?

[Controlling emotions isn't the right word. She doesn't like thinking of it like that. She's not making people feel anything, just... encouraging it.]

I've been able to calm someone down in the middle of an angry fit before, but I never tried it on something like... [She turns, glancing at the beast once more.] Like that...

[Monster Varian is having a great time and you guys are just here to harsh his vibe???

He does seem to recognise his group of friends rallying around to help. At least in the fact he doesn't immediately try to kill any of them. He is actively trying to find a way around them , though, and any hunters who aren't part of this motley crew are getting fire breathed on as he stomps around buildings- gouging claw marks into the side of them as he tries to move around. ]

Okay— [ he should start for the head, then, sending his words over with perle: ] Okay!

[ he’s running as fast as his little legs could take him (which was fast when he needed to), and he was lucky he didn’t wait to meet them and then go to his designated spot. he could be the start— he’d depend on everyone else piling after with stronger support. thirty seconds would only work as a hook.

falco readies and pulls a knife from his waist. not, of course, to threaten or harm varian, but for his own meager self harm to switch to plan b if things went south. varian, the way he was, may not notice, or he may: the floral dagger falco is holding is made by parts of fern himself. ]

Varian! Varian, here! [ just have to get him to look, have good footing and a proper build up from the bottom of his chest to his throat: ] Everyone’s here to help you! S͛ᴛⷮaͣy cͨaͣlmͫ!

[ with his focus intact and the beast susceptible, pacify may work; a calming pulse may tranquilize varian, but it may make things worse— falco knew full well of the backfiring risk and having him getting attacked instead, but . . . they’d just have to act around the result, now, and falco holds his breath in short wait. ]

[Two palebloods on calming duty. Good this is good. At the very least, they can stop his rampage through town, long enough for someone to help get Varian back to normal. They can minimize injuries, and Varian doesn't have to be hurt...

Using her hair - her hair! - like a grappling hook, Rapunzel swings herself up to where Falco planted himself. If they're both going to call out to him in an attempt to soothe the beast, best have it done from one point - two different points might mean that his attention will be divided, and it could confuse him and render their attempts futile.]

He's right! Everything will be okay!

[She's still not quite sure how this works. She hadn't even been thinking about how to use these newfound powers when she'd calmed Cassandra down. But she focuses on putting her feelings into her words, the feeling of... reaching out with her heart, in a way.]

We're going to stop you from hurting! Just please, let us...!

[ princess tutu takes a deep breath. then she leaps into the air, doing a pirouette. the air stills, as if it's holding its breath. a new player was on the stage. the light beams down on varian and soft piano music seems to play in the background.

tutu uses the vines to lift bigby and herself high, enough to catch the gaze of varian's beastly form. ]

Please listen. All your friends are here. You must open your heart to them. You must let them in.

I know it's been lonely. You've been scared of your own feelings. But we will still be here, no matter what shape they may take.

Utilize your palebloods.

That was the advice that she remembered Dipper giving her before she came out here, and it had been bouncing around in her head quite a bit. She had an idea now and seeing Rapunzel and Falco putting their all into trying to get through to Varian, she knew it might need a bit of a boost. Princess Tutu (she knew that name now, and here she was, all over again) was definitely driving home their feelings to get him to see reason.

Luz swallowed, taking a breath. She brought her witches' cape around her, closed her eyes, and concentrated.

Doorway, Pthumerian of relationships. Hear me. Guide the wishes of our group, these friends, the pain of a fallen love, and reach our injured soul. Hear me. Hear us. Break through this corruption, and guide him through your doors and passages. Let him remember us.

And Luz used her staff to visualize a glyph, but rather than symbols, she visualized the people that wished for Varian's safety. There were far too many, but Luz recalled all that she could, and atop the list? There was Fern and Rapunzel, and she visualized them as blossoming flowers opening and flourishing through Varian's skin.

Luz was glad for Princess Tutu's music. It helped her conjure as clearly as when she had combined magic with Lysithea. She just hoped it was enough.

[Varian -- was it not you who accepted me so openly, despite knowing what I am? And here you are, with all of your beloved friends desperately wishing to reach out to you. You and your wonderfully stubborn heart.

For calming, Bigby can only offer his voice through his omen to chime in. Beyond that, he is prepared to use his beastliness for some kind of use as muscle. It is all that it is good for.

There is one thing you should not be stubborn about: keeping yourself from those who wish to aid you. You, Fern, and many others have assured me I need not do this.

This is true for you too.]

[The others here are far more suited to these emotive tasks than Illarion is. The shrike waits long enough to witness them fully engaged in calling to their friend, reassuring and pleading with him, before vanishing among the nearby buildings.

Others had been keeping Trench's Hunters distracted, but the bloodthirsty wouldn't be deterred from a rampaging Beast long. One more person on that task would only help. Even so, Luz isn't the only one calling on Pthumerian aid; the shrike half-sings as he runs toward his first target,]

((Hail to you, Moon Presence, Lady of Skies, Sleepers' Advocate--))

[Iskierka remains behind to watch, and broadcast her own reinforcement to the words of others--a tiny thing, a pre-emotion below the level of words or even images. You belong with us; don't be separated.]

[As much as Varian's mind is clouded by all the hurt, with the anger his corruption is now replacing everything else with, the voices are seeping into his consciousness. It would be hard to ignore them, it's a cacophony of concerned people, friends, people who want to save him from himself. The sight of Falco's dagger, the images and music Tutu and Luz are projecting into his mind, the soothing words from Bigby and Illarion, and of course Rapunzel, someone who has (wrongly) been the focal point of his anger in the past- all pushing together as one to offer only support and promise they will get through this.

It's enough to start to crack through the corruption - not yet enough to break it completely, but the change in him is palpable. His snarls grow a little softer- almost whining, as he stumbles backwards, backing himself into a corner. One of his forepaws digs into the cobblestones beneath their feet, pulling up dirt and stone, like an anxious person might pluck at something to distract themselves from their worries. Displacement activity. It's clear what they're doing is working. ]

[ she can sense it. the cracks in the veneer. it gives her hope. she continues to dancer around him, ethereal and glowing, like a swan circling. ]

I know you can feel it too. Remember us. Come back to us.

[ the music swells and the lights seem to get brighter, as if calling varian back into it. ]

[ falco cannot offer anything else but words now, but— it seems like he doesn’t need to. following princess tutu’s lead, he calls out now with not one dagger of fern’s plants in his hands, but two, in an inoffensive gesture, as if he’d like to show him from where he stood, and makes it a goal to get closer. the closer, the more he could see. there was no need to use the sharp ends. ]

I know it doesn’t feel like it when it hurts that much, [ because all you can really feel is how much it hurts— ] but you’re not alone. You never were— we’re all still right here.

[ even fern— a piece of him is in falco’s hands, and soon he’ll be in full again. ]

You have to come back to that.

[ there was nothing for him, where he was now, but there was so much waiting if he came back. ]

[Luz hadn't know that Falco had a bit of Fern with him, and really, what mattered was reaching Varian. She could see the difference in him: he seemed to be recoiling into himself, starting to slowly gain his reason, finding a way to come back after the depths of pain he must be in now, from forgetting to take care of himself to not being there when Fern died.

It was a lot, but luckily, Luz understood by now that she was a Paleblood. She could help him to ease back into his non-corruptive state. With everyone here too, that capability grew better. Even with corruption and blood being at stake, Luz could feel the bonds of all of them working, and she took a breath, concentrating on all the mingling power around her, the bonds that Doorway presented her with, to draw from.

No one blames you Varian. You struggled, and you're in pain now. We want to help you. Concentrate on us, remember that we're here to help you. We'll feel the pain with you. But come back to us. Please.

[It's like trying to talk to a skittish horse. No sudden moves, a soft, soothing voice... they're all on the same page here, and that helps even Rapunzel's jittering nerves. They can do it. He'll be okay.]

I know everything is scary right now. It hurts, and you don't know how things will be okay again. [There's... something to her voice. Not her magic, but a sense of understanding; if Varian's mind hasn't totally been taken over by the beast, he might know why Rapunzel understands. She's familiar with the loss of someone so cherished, the feeling of uncertainty closing in around you like a vice...] But you know, don't you? You know that things can be okay, even when everything looks dark.

[She holds her arms out, equal parts looking like she's asking for a hug and a gesture for him to get closer.]

Remember back home? Everything worked out there. Everything is okay in Corona. And it will be here, too.

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[Open] Keep it locked up, keep it sealed tight

not late, no marble, did bring drinks

Re: not late, no marble, did bring drinks

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finally slams in here

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