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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At least, for the most part, Varian was already very aware of all of that- she didn't need to say it- it was unspoken. He got it, just as much as he felt the same towards her.

"Oh yeah, trust me, I'm not gonna...race into this, I still need to heal first," he's taking his time as much as he DOES want to race into things as he normally would. "And yeah, I'm hoping if nothing else, my experience can mean we have a better way of helping people in the future."

Then maybe all of this suffering wouldn't have been...pointless.

"Me too, I guess I really lucked out, huh?"

"Seriously, I don't know how you and Dipper manage it, but you wind up worrying your prospective sisters half to death despite being so smart! Must be something about putting your life so close to danger that brings out endorphins or something."

Not that YOU would know anything about that Luz, oh no, you are always so SAFE.

"Maybe we should start documenting all of the Sleeper corruptions, see if there are correlations between how they happen and what the corruptions actually turn the subject into? Yours full on and, well, the start of mine and a few other people are the only ones I know about."

"Hey now, me and Dipper do a lot of research too! It just so happens that research sometimes involves...poking dangerous things with sticks. To take samples. And you're one to talk- how many times do I have to tell you not to fly into danger onto your staff?"

Just how many times, Luz?!!

"You know, that's...not a bad idea. I think- I think I'm gonna stop looking at the death crystals, it was...doing more damage to me than I really wanted to admit," and at least he's admitting it now. "Maybe focusing on something that can help people that isn't a massive emotional trigger for me would be a good thing."

"Yes, I noticed! But you know, if you guys buddied up, you might find yourselves in less crazy situations!"

Ooh, he might be right there.

"Ok, so we're both idiots that need to start thinking about the people around us. I'm still not wrong!"

Darn him and his points.

"Exactly! That kind of stuff can only cause you to start getting detached from reality, which is still pretty grim. If you want, I'll even help you with your next project! Just...take it easy and make sure that your corruption is going down."

"Or the exact opposite might happen and we might be in more crazy situations because we decided we needed to study some eldritch monolith and ended up leashing the End Days or something."

Because that feels like a highly likely scenario when Dipper is involved.

"I am glad you also acknowledge your idiocy here," he smiles, patting her head. "Sure, I want to get back to working on my car. That kinda...fell by the wayside with everything."

"Well, you can always call us for back up, you know. There are a variety of people who are super willing to go along on whatever crazy stunt you have in mind, so at least you won't be risking getting killed and making everyone upset at you later."

And yes, that did sound EXACTLY like something Dipper would do, and something that Luz would just as easily come with to help if he asked.

"Dumb recognizes dumb," Luz said, shrugging. "Even I know that I can do some crazy stuff. But now that you mention THAT, if you need a grease monkey sidekick to help you with that, I'm your girl!"

"Oh, I know. A lot of you are worryingly willing to fling yourselves head-first into all kinds of danger. "

Given how easy it is to die in this place, he wonders if he should be more worried about that- but it would be pretty hypocritical of him if he did that, so-

"Thanks, Luz," he chuckles softly, giving her a squeeze. "Knew I could count on you."

"Hey, sometimes you can't help it! Danger just finds you!"

And sometimes things are boring and you have to invent your own fun, which just HAPPENS to invite danger even if you didn't really mean it to.

"You know I fully support your projects and building a car could be fun! Granted, I don't know how well we'll be riding in it since I don't think people here have a reason to pave roads, but as long as the wheels can handle it, you'll be good!"

That SOUNDED right.

"Uh huh, sometimes danger finds you and you choose to not run from it."

He snorts lightly, waving his hand idly like it ain't no big deal.

"I'll figure that part as I go."

Luz opened her mouth to say that he should be trying harder to avoid it...then remembered what was in the stables, that SHE agreed to house.

This was surely a house of flimsy cards.

"Wish we could get it floating, like in the end of Back to the Future. That way we wouldn't even NEED roads."

She just gets a blank look for her troubles. The blankets of looks.

"...Is that a pop culture reference I don't get again?"

"I mean, it kind of is, but I also meant it literally too. If a car could float, we wouldn't need roads!"

Not that she thought he could quite do that yet, if he was still working out cars. It wasn't even possible in HER world, after all.

"But I really should have you watch Back to the Future. When's the last time we even had a movie night?"

"Then it would technically no longer be a car but some sort of aircraft, I think."

He considers this, humming thoughtfully.

"It's been a long time, probably months? Before I started to get corrupted, anyway. We're well overdue. "

"It can be both! It's just, well, not something that really exists in my world yet."

Stupid reality, getting in the way of cool science!

"We totally are! Also, now the house is bigger and Rapunzel is here! I'll bet she'd never seen a movie before, right?"

"Can it be both? Pretty sure a car needs to be on a road to be classified as a car. It's like - you don't call a boat a car, right?"

Reality is the cruellest, truly.

"I can promise you that Rapunzel has seen exactly zero movies," that's a fact he can be sure of. "And I'm sure she'd love to see one. "

"But you can't ride a boat on the road. That's what makes the Delorean so cool: it can do both AND it works as a time machine! I don't expect THAT, of course, but that it's able to do both to me is really amazing!"

There should be a law that cool science must exist alongside regular science.

"Oh, I can wait to show her some movies then! I'll bet it's been awhile since Ahiru's seen one, and Luca probably hasn't either! Whoa. In that case, I better pick something really good."

The pressure was on!

"Wait. So the time machine is a car? Because that's...not very subtle. Like if you didn't want to disrupt the timeline you couldn't drive that very far into the past without people freaking out a lot."

He's just here, poking holes in a cinematic classic, don't mind him.

"I don't think Luca has either, no. But I have faith you can get the perfect one."

Somehow. For the huge mix of personalities in this crazy house.

"You'd have to stash the car, of course! That way people aren't going to wonder what this strange box with wheels is doing and what it's made of! But I firmly believe you could do it!"

Nevermind that Marty Mcfly got into some trouble back in the fifties with the Delorean anyway. Shh.

"Oh yes. I'm going to get SUCH a good movie, you'll see! Maybe something else sci-fi, but with music! I'm thinkingLittle Shop of Horrors!"

"I mean, yeah. If a car had shown up in my time back home, it would have..." he pauses. "Well, it wouldn't have caused a panic because people would have automatically blamed me for it. But my point stands!"

He blinks. Oh god that will be the best choice even if he doesn't know it.

"Uh...okay. That's got horror in the title, is that...scary? I don't want to scare her."

Luz giggled. "Yeah, but they wouldn't have known what it was though, right, and would probably stay away as a result, if you didn't outright stash it in a safe place!"

Luz was pretty sure that was what they did with the Delorean, but it had been some time since she saw the movie.

"Oh, not scary! A bit tongue in cheek and definitely saucy, but not scary! I wouldn't od that to Rapunzel!"

"...Yeah no, someone definitely would have touched it. Probably Lance," a pause. "Definitely Lance."

He would have set it going in no time at all and probably ripped a hole in space-time while doing so.

"Hah, okay, I'll take your word on it. I look forward to it, then."

Luz laughed. "Honestly, he would have, but he shouldn't count. He's been to space!"

Also he would totally do that.

"It's a good movie, and there's music! I know how much you like it!"

"Oh no, not the Lance here," he laughs. "Though he would. No, I know a Lance back in Corona. Who touches stuff he shouldn't all the time."

Okay, that does convince him a little.

"...I do like music, that's true."

"OH. That explains things! I mean, not really since I've never met YOUR Lance, though that still sounds a little like something our Lance would do!"

He would resent that. Good.

"Uh, yeah, Mr. sings-like-an-angel! I'll bet you do!"

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

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Yup, she said it.

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