alchemenace | week 5, thursday w/ steph

Varian what are you doing.

[ i mean, she can see what he's doing, but what is he doing. ]

[ Varian does not expect to be addressed at this exact moment, so he yelps and. well. look. holding onto anything with his nerve damaged arm is a crapshoot from the get-go so honestly the slight turn he makes to look at steph is enough. he's toppling over backwards and falling down on the ground with the noise of a thousand regrets ]

... ow. Oh that's. That's going to sting tomorrow.

Oh my god. Varian, are you okay?

[ she will rush over. or... rush. the fake leg is helpful but she ain't running on it. ]

[ he sits up with a groan and just rubs at his pre-fucked shoulder ]

Yeah, I'm good, the, the excruciating pain is just a. A bonus. Also I've fallen off way worse, ha.

[ that's not. that's not reassuring. anyway. ]

No worries. I... am totally fine.

Are you sure?

[ she looks concerned..... ]

What were you doing?

Oh, yeah, totally. One hundred and twelve percent. Just give me a minute.

[ where he will stay sitting and regret, a little. anyway. ]

I was trying to get something on top of that bookshelf because I am pretty certain that's mine.

[ or well. his dad's. technically. but who's counting. ]

... huh. Hold on.

[ luckily she is still using the crutches!! so. hold on, she's going to try to... hit it off... ]

Oh, thanks!

[ and because we want this thread to actually get going, because we don't need an excuse to add filler we do that ourselves thanks, steph manages to hit it off!!!!

the parchment flutters to the ground right in varian's general vicinity so he can catch it. and when he does...

both steph and varian are now surrounded by a bubble ]

Oh, not this again.

[ stephanie just

lets out a long, pained sigh. ]

I don't know what I expected.

Maybe it'll just ... stay a bubble this time?

[ varian experimentally pokes at the bubble, which decides to crush his hopes and dreams immediately by stuttering out this experience. which coincidentally ends at the 2:15 time mark because youtube refuses to give me just ONE SCENE.

there's a nervous energy throughout that memory, thought it's followed by righteous anger, followed by... well. panic. it's a nice time. ]

Edited 2018-07-13 00:07 (UTC)

[ oh.

steph watches, although she is very uncomfortable about it because she knows right away that this is either going to be cute or horrible. and then it, of course, ends up being horrible. her eyes widen in horror when his father gets encased. ]

Varian...

[ varian @ the bubbles: could they let him live, please, ffs.

Varian takes a step back as if to leave but they're still in a bubble, so he just stops and swallows, looking anywhere but at Steph, grabbing at his arm. ]

I didn't mean, it wasn't-- [ he swallows ] It wasn't my fault.

[ that's probably not what she expects from that memory share, but seeing it again made it worse, somehow. it's like he could see everything happen in slow motion this time. if he'd just moved... ]

[ it wasn't what she expected, especially since it didn't once occur to her to put any blame on varian. her expression goes from surprise, to confusion, and finally settles on one of understanding. ]

It wasn't, Varian.

[ she almost asks what happened after, but she also doesn't want to pry. ]

[ okay, so he admittedly didn't expect her to agree, so he just. stares at the floor for a bit instead. ]

... Right.

[ he slowly lets go of his arm to look at Steph, and he gets it out, piece by piece, to try to explain: ]

I, I went to get help, but... but no one would, no one wanted to, and-- and when I came back, he-- [ he's getting tired of tearing up around steph, wow. just gonna. take a breath instead. ] ... He was completely encased by the rocks. He still is.

[ that's... a lot. she wonders what it must be like for him to be here week after week, knowing that his dad is like that. steph rubs at her face m, mulling over what he just said. ]

What about Rapunzel? She's the princess, right? Wouldn't she have some kind of influence?

[ there's a flash of something dark and furious in his eyes, the set of his jaw-- before he looks away again ]

... She's who I went to see. I begged her for help, but she turned me away. She-- there was a crisis in the kingdom, at the time. [ that part is said like pulling teeth, a bit. ] But when that was over, my dad was still--

[ and according to tangled lore she was too busy taking a painting class to go check on that so like yea thanks writers ]

Edited (theres hopefully at least 2 tangled writers) 2018-07-16 18:03 (UTC)

[ oh.

she's never seen him that that angry before, but she feels like it would be a bad move to ask about that in particular. still, it's hard to imagine rapunzel not making time for varian, even after whatever crisis was going on had been dealt with. from what steph could tell, the girl seemed to care about him. ]

Do you... have any idea of how to get him out? Once we get you back home.

[ well at least that takes him out of his anger right back into being just. upset. i'm sure that's better. ]

... I don't. I've, I've tried everything. I don't know what to do.

[ he'd exhausted his options back home, and ended up in jail. sure, he can probably break out because the corona prison is apparently one big revolving door (???) but. he'll be right back to square one, since neither the flower nor rapunzel herself worked. ]

Varian, you're smart. You're like... one of the smartest people here, and you're young. You can do it.

[ sometimes you need to be taken away from a situation in order to return with a new perspective. ]

You'll definitely save him.

It's been months. Even before this place.

[ which was the worst thing to realize while canon reviewing but here i am. anyway, he knows steph doesn't have context for how fucked varian is, so he won't linger on that, but. ]

I don't even know if he's okay in there.

Maybe... something from here can help? When we beat this stupid game, we could maybe see if there's something we can figure out from all the magic here.

[ that is a huge maybe, but it's better than nothing. ]

[ ... he shrugs, tight-lipped. if Fitzgerald was right, there is something that can help, but Varian's not going to mention tokens now. ]

Maybe.

We won't kn--

[ before she can finish talking, though, the scenery changes as the bubble forms a new memory. varian should be able to tell that it looks to be some sort of clinic. it's, uh. not a happy moment.

as the memory plays, steph's expression shifts surprised to horrified. ]

[ aw they have that in common! because varian could not look any more horrified by the end of it. this is a bad bubble day. he turns to her wide-eyed when the bubble finally pops ]

... Stephie, you didn't really... You, you didn't really die, did you?

[ whispers was she dead all along he's going to die irl ]

It was okay in the end?

[ she does not want to explain africa because i, personally, do not want to explain africa. ]

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