findingways | IC Inbox for Kaisou

[ Moana had been doing her best to be patient and waiting for Varian to bring up talking about his history. She understood it was a sensitive topic for him, and she didn't want to push him about. But somehow, the more he put it off, the more nervous it made her. She didn't think there was too much he could say that would make her not want to be his friend, but the fact that it was so hard to talk about made her wonder just how bad it really was.

When he finally does contact her, she's both relieved and still a bit worried. But she promptly replies. ]

Okay. Should we meet somewhere to talk? Or would it be easier this way?

[ Knowing it was already a difficult subject for him, she wants to make the process of talking as easy for him as possible. ]

[He's so relieved to see she's still willing to talk. He's still terrified of what might come out of this, but the fact she's willing to listen is a start.]

This is definitely an in-person talk. Do you wanna come around? Fern's not in right now, he's doing his crossing guard thing so we'll have some privacy.

[ She'd made a promise, after all, that she wouldn't abandon him. ]

Sure, I can head over. You're still at the apartment building that Zodiac lets you guys stay in, right? What's your apartment number?

Yup, that's the one, honestly not as bad as you'd think.

[He'll put an apartment number down for her.]

I'll make sure there are snacks.

[A little humour to try and get through the anxiety twisting in his gut.]

[ She makes sure to save it in the contact information for him, so it'll be easier to find if she needs to visit again. ]

All right, I'll be there soon. Make sure to have some ice cream.

[ Also sort of joking, but honestly, ice cream is always good for if things get emotional.

She doesn't know if there's really much she needs to do in terms of getting ready - they were just talking, after all - but she does take a bit of time to clean up a little before heading to the apartment building. Double checking to make sure she has the right apartment number, she then knocks on the door to announce her presence. ]

[Varian is so unused to this spending time with other teenagers thing that he does take the ice cream thing seriously. He doesn't have any in the apartment (it's SEPTEMBER, Moana!) and thinks he probably should get some if she's told him to. His first port of call is the bodega on the ground floor, where he's told they don't have any. Knowing he doesn't have time to go anywhere else for it, he sucks it up and knocks on his neighbour's door to plead for some help. Despite Zelos' suspicions, being told the ice cream is for a girl helps Varian's cause considerably. And so, as Moana knocks, Varian appears behind her, breathless and carrying some ridiculously expensive-looking ice cream.]

I'm here! Sorry! Sorry, I had to get the ice cream.

[He fumbles with his keys, unlocking the door and letting her into an apartment that she probably needs a tetanus jab to enter. This is what happens when two teenage boys are left to fend for themselves, this is exactly what happens. Ruddiger comes clambering over to see what food is available, as the beeping of the haunted Tamagotchi starts up immediately.

...This is probably not the best place for a serious conversation, but here they are.]

Um...make yourself at home.

[ She jumps just a bit in surprise at hearing him behind her, and as she turns she does feel bad that he'd taken the suggestion seriously. She doesn't have the heart to tell him that she'd been joking about the ice cream (there are still a few days of summer left in September!), but she still gives him an apologetic smile. ]

Oh! Thanks, Varian. I'm sorry that you had to go through so much trouble for it, though.

[ She follows him into the apartment, and it's certainly...an interesting-looking apartment. Not really how she'd decorate things, but it has a weird sort of charm, especially knowing two teenage boys lived here. ]

Thanks.

[It's such nice ice cream, too- a real treat that he'll probably have to owe Zelos for in some future period. ]

Oh, it's okay! My neighbour gave me some, so it's no trouble.

[Ruddiger clambers onto his shoulders as Varian shifts into the open-plan kitchen to grab some bowls, moving back to sit on the couch, gesturing for Moana to sit down too. It's...probably safe to sit. ]

No problem. Thanks for coming. And..um being willing to listen?

Oh, that was really nice of him. [ She'll have to ask for his apartment number later, so she can leave a thank you note or something for the ice cream. ]

Of course. I promised I'd help out however I can, didn't I?

It was weirdly nice of him. He doesn't usually like me.

[That might have something to do with all the explosions at 2am, Varian. He smiles, handing her a bowl of ice cream.]

I know, and- and I appreciate that so much. It's just...well, it's a lot. Hope you're ready for...well. [His fingers drum on his own bowl, anxious.] A lot of really bad stuff.

Really? How come?

[ She thanks him as she takes the bowl, and eats a spoonful of ice cream. Oh wow, that is some good stuff. ]

Only one way to find out. [ She isn't too sure herself, but she wants to be here for him no matter what. ] Just take your time.

I dunno. Noise, or something.

[No something. JUST noise. He tries some of the ice cream himself and wow, Zelos DOES get the good ice cream.]

Okay, okay. I can do this.

[He takes a deep, centering breath.]

So in my world, there were two magical artefacts- the sundrop and the moonstone. They're...complicated but what's important to know is that they were separated and the moonstone sought out the sundrop. My friend, the princess of the kingdom, Rapunzel? She had the sundrop inside her - it was originally in a flower but it was used to save her mom when she was dying when she was pregnant. So, magic went into the baby. Somehow.

[It makes SO LITTLE sense, he knows. But he doesn't want to give a full historical explanation on the artefacts when they were only set-pieces in his story.]

Anyway, the moonstone had sent these unbreakable rocks to find her- crossing whole kingdoms. They got to the outskirts of Corona, where my village was. It... they were destroying everything. Crops, livestock, homes. Our village was dying and I wanted to help. Dad forbade me from messing with them, but I had to do something.

[ Ah, is Varian one of those kind of neighbors? Good to know. ]

Yeah, you got this.

[ She sits back a little when he finally starts, and even while she's finishing up her ice cream she listens intently. Though the idea of the baby gaining the flower's magic made perfect sense to her, she focuses more on the moonstone, because that seemed to be the more important bit right now. ]

So what'd you do?

I made a chemical compound, to try and break it up. But it...reacted in a way I didn't expect. It created this unbreakable amber solution. It nearly swallowed me up, but Dad pushed me out of the way and got stuck in it himself. I- it was encasing him and I had to help him. I was so scared he was gonna-

[He pauses for a moment, taking in a shuddery breath. This is what he faced when the red rocks made him see what he feared the most. It still brings him out of dreams in a panic more often than not. He tries to move on, to not get stuck on this- he's got a story to tell her and he can't get stuck on the first hurdle. ]

I went to Rapunzel. She- she'd promised she'd help me, but there was this snowstorm, a big one- she couldn't abandon the city to help me and the guards thought I was attacking her when I begged her to come anyway and threw me back into the storm. [He chews the bottom of his lip.] By the time I got home, it was too late. He- Dad was completely encased.

[ She sucks in a breath, placing the bowl aside now as the story already starts going south. ] Oh no.

[ While she could understand needing to help people with a city-wide emergency, being tossed out in a desperate time was just adding insult to injury. And then to find his father completely engulfed was even worse. ]

So what happened?

[It was awful. Varian had never felt so desperately alone in his entire life. He'd been lonely, yes, always lonely, but never alone. The rug had been pulled out from under him and nothing got any better.]

I thought I'd try the original source of Rapunzel's powers: the sundrop flower. I thought maybe it might still have some magic left in it? I...uh I created a truth serum and drugged the guards with it to find out where the flower was being kept- 'cause the king had hidden it away.

[He rubs the back of his neck.]

I convinced Rapunzel to help me get in. She- she knew it was treason to help me, but I convinced her I wanted to help the Kingdom. Once we got to the flower, I stole it and left her to take the fall. I- it didn't even work- the flower, I mean. All the power was in her, but I'd pretty much obliterated my bridges so I knew I had to do something more drastic to get her to help me.

[ And here's where the story starts to turn. She can't say she didn't expect it, given how cagey Varian's been, but she doesn't quite expect that. And a feeling of dread forms in her stomach, because "something more drastic" means that it's only going to get worse. ]

And...what was that?

[It's categorically gonna get way, way worse. Varian looks down at the ground, guilt resonating in his voice as he speaks. ]

I drugged Ruddiger with a serum that turned him into a... well, a monster. Temporarily. [The raccoon looks up, chittering softly before shifting to cuddle up to his leg.] I um- while he was taking out all the guards, I used the distraction to kidnap the queen. I figured Rapunzel would come to rescue her mother...and she did.

[Because of course, she did. Rapunzel is a good person.]

I-I set a robot army outside to deal with the people she'd brought with her. She and her father thought he'd get the jump on me by sneaking around back, but I was ready for them, and... captured them. [He doesn't sound in the LEAST bit proud about this.] I used my amber solution near the queen. To-to try and force Rapunzel into helping me.

[ The sincere regret in his tone does help temper his words a bit, but hoo boy there is a lot going on here that Moana has to try and process. ]

And...did it work?

[He plays with his hands, clasping and unclasping them, shaking his head.]

No. It didn't work. Rapunzel's hair didn't do anything. They- they all managed to get out while I was freaking out about that. I saw them hugging each other and I got... I don't know. I guess whatever was left of me just broke more.

[He finally gave in completely and utterly to his anger. He had nothing left to lose. ]

I attacked them. I had this...giant robot and I used it to grab the queen and Rapunzel's best friend...I tried to crush the life out of them. Luckily, Rapunzel figured out her connection to the rocks before I could actually kill anyone and managed to stop me. I went to prison and was there for about a year before I broke out.

[ So adding attempted murder and escaping from prison to the list. Cool, noted, all right.

Moana takes a breath, running everything through her head. Just give her a minute, Varian. ]

How'd you break out?

[Cool cool, it's a great list. He gives her time to process that, he's aware it's an awful lot to process all at once. ]

Andrew.

[He says the name like it leaves a bad taste in his mouth. ]

He was my cellmate. He was part of a...group of people who wanted to change how things were run. [A terrorist, he was a terrorist.] He convinced me to join them, we broke out and one of his people used magic on the king and queen to wipe their memories. I...stepped in and pretended I was their advisor. Had them collecting these minerals in mines I needed to try and make the memory magic into a gas. I wanted everyone to lose their memories. To forget what I did.

[He fidgets with his hands, trying to ignore the bile rising in his throat.]

It was stupid. I was stupid. Luckily, Rapunzel came back from a trip away. Her showing up made them show their true hand. That...that they were planning on using my alchemy to raze the kingdom to the ground. They were gonna kill everyone and I...I couldn't do that.

[ So it sounded like there was some manipulation there at least, but it still didn't paint the greatest picture. She is a bit relieved to hear that he did draw a line there, though. ]

So what'd you do?

[There truly was, even if Varian struggles to see it. His self-loathing is pretty strong, and it makes it hard for him to really realise how much Andrew pulled his strings to have him exactly how he wanted him. ]

I helped Rapunzel. I um- we got onto the airship he was gonna drop the chemical from and fought him. He tried to kill me but didn't manage it...obviously. But in the fight he destroyed the ropes holding the airship up, there were only a few left and not enough to keep it afloat. If it crashed, it would have exploded and killed everyone.

[He hugs an arm around himself, letting out a slow breath. This never goes well. ]

I tried to stay behind. I could've used the chemicals to get the ship high enough so it wouldn't hurt anyone when it exploded. [Except for him.] I-I it was the best option. I didn't have anyone left who would have missed me and I just- I just wanted to fix something.

[Even if fixing it meant him dying. He shrugs.]

Rapunzel wouldn't let me. She got me out of there and got the ship away- survived the blast herself. After everything had calmed down, she used this new ability she found to get my dad back. He was...fine. [He plucks some imaginary lint off his arm, expression still sad.] I've spent all the rest of my time trying to do good for the kingdom. To-to put good in the world to try and balance out all the bad I put into it.

[ She picks up pretty quickly what would have happened to him if he had stayed on the airship, and the fact that he was willing to do it makes her heart hurt. Hesitating just a moment, she then places a gentle hand on his arm. ]

...Good. I'm glad...I'm glad that Rapunzel was able to get you out of there. I'm glad that you're alive.

[ Even though she's still trying to get her head around everything else he's told her, she wants him to just know that. ]

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