alchemenace | week 7, saturday w/ stephanie

[ well, now that they're no longer on the weirdest scavenger hunt of all time

steph is immediately rushing to him so she can finally hug him. ]

[ is hugged

he laughs a bit and hugs back, because trauma is for other people ]

-- I, I missed you too.

I'm so, so happy to see you.

[ she really can't describe it. it's probably for the best that he didn't get to see just how very badly she had actually reacted to him dying. ]

[ varian may never know but when will I get to see it, bitch ]

... Me too. [ hm. ] I mean, I'm-- I'm happy to see you too, not me, I--

[ she knows, varian ]

I know.

-- oh! Come on, we got to go to my room.

[ RUDIGER!!! ]

I-- yeah, okay, sure?

[ he hasn't realized it's for his raccoon yet but he is following give him. a second ]

[ that's fine... it makes the surprise better

but eventually they will reach her room, and she'll open the door before hurrying varian inside. ]

[ he walks through the door with a backwards confused glance at steph and--

and then there's a raccoon running over to him and varian's face lights up ]

Rudiger! [ he picks him up with a smile ] You did keep him in there. Thank you.

[ he knew she would be. now he gets to imagine hikage dealing with a raccoon for a week. truly, a gift ]

Yeah! I figured it would be a bad idea to bring him to trial, since...

[ well. she knew walking in that it was going to be a mess.

she did not anticipate the level of mess accurately though. ]

Yeah, I never brought him to one either.

[ for a wide variety of reasons. rudiger climbs varian's shoulder and pats his face. ]

Or to executions, since, well, yeah.

[ yea ]

That would be bad.

[ she agrees. ha ha. ]

What was it like? Over there?

The same as here, but... mirrored.

[ he frowns a bit ]

Literally. The Other Side stood for "the other side of the mirror". The main difference was that everything was reversed and there were mirrors everywhere so we could see you guys.

... so why were they warning us about mirrors?

I ... don't think it was a warning. The letter said to check the mirrors more closely. All of them.

[ varian says it deadpan because honestly how else can you feel about this ]

Thanks. I hate it.

[ they worried for nothing wow. ]

... hey, so.

... So?

Are you going back to Corona?

I-- I guess.

[ that's one way to bring the mood down. ]

I haven't really ... thought about it much.

... we can probably get both you and your dad to where I live.

If you want.

[ record scratch noise ]

--You'd, you'd want that?

Yeah, I wouldn't offer otherwise. I know you're not... the biggest fan of where you live... so if you would rather just not go back?

[ she might as well take all of her favorite people with her while she's at it. ]

[ he lets out a weak laugh at "not the biggest fan" ]

That's... yeah. [ but as for the rest... he admits: ] I've, I've never thought about not going back. At least, not like that. I...

[ he doesn't know what to pick. ]

... well. I kind of want to use some of my ink for world traveling, and I know others are doing that too.

So you don't have to decide right away.

I. Yeah. Time might help.

[ but... world traveling, huh. ]

I-- I used to love Corona. [ it's blurted out, and he rushes to complete the thought. ] I thought it was a, a good kingdom and that the royalty was... that they had the good of the people in mind, no matter what. I, I wanted to improve things, sure, but the way that any scientist wants to improve society. But then...

[ he trails off ]

I don't know that I can get over what happened. It was-- like I opened my eyes to the first time. And I felt... isolated.

[ he picks at his shirt a bit like isolated is a good word to encompass everything he felt ]

Every time I think of whether or not I'm sorry for what I did here, I think of how it made you feel, and I. Being your friend, it. No, just. You made me feel good for the first time in a long time. But I still only feel bad that it made you feel bad.

[ Varian falters and then huffs ]

I had a-- I had a point. What I'm trying to say is I want to keep seeing you. No matter what? Um. Yeah.

[ she listens to him speak, nodding slightly throughout all of his pauses and restarts. when he finishes, stephanie just gives him another hug. it's tight, like she doesn't actually want to let go any time soon. ]

I want to keep seeing you too, Varian. Forever.

[ the thought that this could have possibly been goodbye for good scared her. people coming and going from her life isn't an entirely new concept, but... she can't bring herself to leave varian alone. not like other people had. ]

I'll always be here for you. No matter what.

[ they been doing hugs a lot but he's definitely hugging back on that one ]

... I know. Thank you. [ he can't explain how much that means to him in words ] I'll-- I'll have an answer by tomorrow, I swear. But, but put me down for people who are giving themselves the capacity to travel between worlds either way.

Good. It'll be a lot of fun.

[ and they can finally mug akechi without the fear of being voted for afterwards now. amazing. ]

week 7, saturday w/ stephanie

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