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

[droptheious]

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! ]]

Comments

[droptheious]

[Varian cants his huge head, like a dog listening to his owner. He doesn't answer, of course, but perhaps he would have been led away...if it weren't for the next wave of hunters stalking around, trying to flank him.

His attention is diverted from his friend to them, as he drops into a crouch, tail swinging low and angry, growling threateningly as they get close. One hucks a spear at him, and while it bounces off his hide harmlessly, he snarls in retaliation, setting off another blast of fire. ]

[zib]

[Oh, he is really starting to get irritated by more of these guys showing up now.]

Hey! Do you people have a hearing problem or are you all just too stupid to take a hint?

[He had been doing well, he thought, in talking loud enough for Varian to hear him and be calmed by his words, surely the Hunters would have heard what he was saying to try to get this to stop instead of... surrounding and attacking Varian here.

His PAK cables whip out again, now two at a time to grab whichever hunters are in reach to toss backwards away from Varian so that they don't get burned. Once again, he is not particularly concerned about where they land once tossed aside, though he does hiss at one that he flings away.]

If I catch any more of you filthy worms trying to attack him like that again, I might just break your legs to keep you from getting back up.

[If he notices that he just uttered an insult and threat that is far more Zim-like than his normal way of speaking, he doesn't show it.]

[droptheious]

[It's fortunate for Zib that Varian largely won't remember a lot of this. Or rather...a lot of this experience will be stuck in the recesses of his memories to come up again at the worst possible time. So maybe it's not all that fortunate. Still, once he's back to himself he'll be so much more grateful for all the effort Zib is going to in order to help him.

The hunters are starting to turn their attention to Zib- the PAK cables are strange enough to warrant their attacks- and the fact he's protecting the monster means he's an active target to get rid of. But hey, at least Varian's not having any of that- and as the hunters start to round on Zib, weapons drawn, he snarls, low and warning, putting a huge rocky leg between Zib and the hunters. ]

[zib]

[Zib momentarily seems surprised, but is very quickly grateful for the assist. He pokes around the other side of Varian's rocky leg to give the hunters a look.]

See? Even he thinks you're being rude right now.

[He then pats a hand against Varian's large rocky leg in an attempt at being reassuring.]

Don't worry. If they still try anything, I'll do my best to protect both of us. You're my friend and I'm not going to just let them walk all over us here.

[droptheious]

[Varian growls, maybe partly a warning at Zib himself for the touching. He snaps once at the hunters - watching them back off...before starting to walk in the opposite direction.

At least he doesn't like...step on Zib as he goes? That's...something. And he seems a little less destructive now the people have stopped attacking him, so that's a bonus. There are people in the distance calling his name, and he does turn his head in that direction, canting his head like a dog listening to his owner. ]

[zib]

[Thankfully, Zib takes the hint and quickly retracts his hand.]

Sorry.

[But, then his antenna perk up on his head, listening to what sounds like Varian's name being called. He checks the network for a quick moment, and after a very brief conversation--]

That was probably Luz and the others we heard calling for you, then... you should go see them. I can stay here and keep these guys from following.

[Or at least distract them long enough until it's not necessary for him to be as involved anymore--apparently Stan Pines is going to be exploding stuff so that's also probably going to be a good distraction for the Hunters too.]

[droptheious]

[Varian cants his head this way and that, hard to know if he's understanding what's being said to him or not. A few hunters are still hanging around and he growls, low and warning at them. For a hot second, it looks like he might stay and defend his friend- something he would absolutely do in his right mind, come hell or high water.

As is, alas, he does not. He spews one last glob of fire at the hunters- keeping them well clear of Zib, before he scrambles over a building, causing bricks to fall in his wake as he heads off towards that sound. ]

[zib]

Good luck.

[Zib watches him go, and while he did at least look to make sure that none of the hunters immediately caught on fire with that last glob, he isn't going to help them either with attempting to get past it to try to follow Varian, prepared to even fight one and try to knock them out if they insist.

His goal is to keep them here until Varian is out of sight, and sure, it doesn't take a genius to still follow a large lava rock monster even after it's out of sight due to the path Varian leaves behind, but at the very least it might give Varian enough of a head start of sorts to reach Luz and friends before the Hunters catch up.]