deercountry | [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! ]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Well. This wasn't a visitor he was expecting at all. Varian leans back in his seat, swinging it lightly- trying to exude an air of calm. Just as much to give her a sense of ease as much as himself.

Sorry, Cass, your disguise isn't that good.]

I got better. Thankfully. That was...a pretty bad time there for a while. [Lightly:] Apparently the power of friendship does wonders.

[Shush. She is a master at stealth, she could sneak back into Corona, all the way into the castle itself, without a single soul being any wiser until she made herself known. Just because she's standing here, dressed in her best cloak for concealing purposes, it doesn't mean she's less stealthy!!

Just ignore the soft, blue glow emanating from beneath that hood. It's fine.]

So I've heard. [And, judging by her tone, she doesn't fully hate the idea... She's annoyed, yes. Still annoyed, though.] Guess you're lucky, having people around you who cared so much.

[Of course, of course- she's clearly the stealthiest here. The blue glow is totally unnoticeable. ]

Guess I am. One of the advantages of living here for so long is that you accumulate a lot of people who care about you a lot. [Then, a little pointedly:] So long as you're willing to let them get close to you in the first place.

[He sits back, exhaling softly, despite the bait, he doesn't want to fight with her, he's tired. ]

Are you settling in okay?

[She pulls her cloak even tighter around herself, as though she could hear that introspection. But obviously she can't, so it's probably something simpler, like her crippling self-doubt.]

Yeah, I've let people get close to me before. It almost cost me my good hand.

[It still stings, on occasion. The rock.... helps, actually. It's almost soothing. Almost.]

Well, I found a place to sleep that's indoors. With some people who won't stab me in my sleep. Does that count?

[Ah, the good old crippling self-doubt. That's always super fun. He frowns softly, he wasn't there, so he can't pass a lot of judgement on it, but-]

...Do you really think she did that to you on purpose?

[His tone is soft, not-judging. He doesn't have to elaborate on who she is. They both know. He pushes one of the patio chairs a little further away from him, scraping it across the wood. A silent invitation for her to sit without making her sit too close to him. Compromise. He smiles gently.]

That counts. I'm glad you found people you feel safe with.

[Even if those people can't be him and Rapunzel, it's important she has someone. Solitude only makes things worse. ]

[Nothing like it!! That crippling self-doubt has gotten Cassandra through the worst years of her life - albeit, kicking and screaming. Now, here she is, a shining example of a young person with zero chill and a whole lot of complexes holding her together.]

She sure didn't listen to me on purpose. Since she's "going to be queen one day" and all.

[Part of that conversation still stung. And... the thing is, it's not wrong: Rapunzel will be the reigning monarch of Corona someday. Her word will be law, god willing. She'll be making her own decisions, but what's the point of that if she can't listen?

Her eyes flitter to the chair from beneath her cloak, watching Varian not-so-subtly present it for her. Wordlessly, she continues to stand.]

...It's not much. It's something, though. I guess that's all I can ask for in this place.

[He mulls that answer over in his head before responding.]

...Well. We can both agree she could use some work on her listening skills- and I can see where she's...struggling with that, too. Unlike every over monarch waiting to take over their kingdom, Rapunzel's missing out on a lifetime of learning the ropes. And it's not like her dad has been the best guiding example, let's face it.

[Is he going to be bitter about Fredric and his inaction against the back rocks forever? Signs point to yes. ]

But...Cass. You know you mean the world to her, right? She'd- she'd never do anything to personally spite you, however much you believe it at the time- and trust me, I do get why you'd believe it.

[Perhaps he, out of everyone back home, is the only one who really could get it. But he's had time to understand where he was wrong, too. Time Cass herself hasn't had, just yet. He makes a note that she doesn't sit, but tries to not feel too bad about it. She doesn't have to take the olive branch, after all. ]

That's...pretty much how it goes. Yeah. I was alone in this place [he gestures at the house] for a while. It was only after I died for the first time I needed help recovering that Fern moved in and just...never left.

[You know you mean the world to her, right?

There aren't many days where Cassandra hears that, no matter how true it is. No matter how much Cassandra wants to believe it. The sentence rolls around in her head for a little bit, following the slow tilt of her chin as she tries to nod along to Varian's words. A part of her, kinda small, just finds herself... stuck. Like, there's still an obstacle she needs to climb over.]

...Hm? [He's stopped. Okay. digesting what he said...] Oh, yeah. No, I... I've been angry with her. She's... You know, the girl who has everything.

[With all the love and adoration she could want, from her adoring subjects, her parents, her friends, even... for better or worse, Gothel.

She knows what Gothel did to Rapunzel. She can't deny that, it would be too much. Still, she felt... torn. At least Gothel wanted her.]

After everything she'd been through, I was... kind of hoping that she'd understand. [She rolls her shoulders, shrugging the hope off.] But me and Raps haven't had the greatest time seeing eye-to-eye. Even when we were friends.

I know she is.

[He's not going to deny that. Rapunzel has everything she could ever hope for- BUT.]

But she's got a big, huge hole in her life without you in it. That- that much has been obvious this whole time. You're her best friend, Cass. You- she doesn't have everything if she doesn't have you.

[He saw how miserable Rapunzel had been with Cass against her back home, and he's watching it again now. It's an awful lot of misery for two people he cares a great deal about. ]

Maybe not, but- but that doesn't mean things are broken beyond repair. Maybe it's a case of you both sitting down and talking and hearing each other.

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

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