week 5, thursday w/ steph

[alchemenace]

[ well if steph is hanging out near the foyer on this thursday-before-the-other-pc, she'll find one varian climbing the bookshelf in an extremely precarious position, hand extended as he tries to grab what looks like a damaged piece of parchment hanging out innocently on top.

the bookshelf wobbles ominously. ]

Just ... a little more...

Comments

[vigilantics]

[ 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.

[alchemenace]

[ 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. ]

[vigilantics]

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.

[alchemenace]

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.

[vigilantics]

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. ]

[alchemenace]

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

Maybe.

[vigilantics]

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. ]

[alchemenace]

[ 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 ]

[vigilantics]

It was okay in the end?

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

[alchemenace]

In the end?

[ that didn't. help. ]

[vigilantics]

I'm okay! That was-- a few years ago, and I'm nice and happy now. It's fine.

[ that's also probably not helping. ]

[alchemenace]

[ X( ]

What happened? Who hurt you like that?

[vigilantics]

Uh, no, it's just-- I got caught by a bad person, and he wanted to get information from me.

[ look, there is a reason she kept saying that losing a leg was not the worst thing to ever happen to her. ]

[alchemenace]

You were tortured? Stephie...

[ this is definitely helping ]

[vigilantics]

[ fuck ]

I'm okay! So...

[alchemenace]

[ :( :( :( ]

Yeah, now. But...

[vigilantics]

It was my own fault that I got into that mess.

[ some guilt complexes die hard and this one never will. ]

[alchemenace]

[ steph no that's his trigger ]

So, what, you think that means you deserved it? There's nothing you could've done that would make it your fault.

[vigilantics]

[ there is a long, pained pause. ]

I accidentally started one of the bloodiest gang wars in my city's history because I thought I was helping.

[alchemenace]

And you just saw me encase my dad in a pile of rocks because I thought I could make things better instead of worse for once!

[ that was reflexive, and varian pauses after saying it, lifting a hand to his mouth like he's going to be sick before he swallows and follows through, voice shaking a bit-- ]

You said, you said that wasn't my fault. So why would that be yours? You-- you didn't deserve that.

[vigilantics]

[ she's not sure what she expected. stephanie has fought against a lot of unfair treatment and accusations thrown at her over the years, but this had always been the one thing she agreed with them on-- everything that happened was entirely her fault, even if she didn't mean to do it.

hearing someone say otherwise is... she's not sure. there's no room to argue against him because he'd just use his own example again, even if she doesn't think the situations are they comparable. ]

I don't think I deserved it, but...

[alchemenace]

But what? You, you got tortured for it. You don't need to blame yourself on top of it.

[ stephanie defense squad over here who also maybe has some lingering issues about like, guilt and blame or something, ha ha, idk ]

[vigilantics]

[ she genuinely does not know how to respond to this. ]

[alchemenace]

[ ... just going to keep staring until she does >:c ]

[vigilantics]

Sorry.

[ she swallows, her gaze shifting away to look at the ground. ]

It just seemed like... it was all me.