droptheious | Somewhere in Kaisou's junkyard

Somewhere in Kaisou's junkyard

Varian's been working steadily on his portal since he got to the city. Sure, there have been some...complications along the way, but they've only made him all the more certain that he needs to get out of here before more madness happens. Rapunzel and Cassandra showing up from the wrong point in time was definitely the last straw for him in that regard. He needed to resolve this, and quickly as possible.

So he's been working on his portal. He's had help, of course- had his friends (and Hunter) gather ingredients for him. He's been focusing largely on the building himself- he remembers how dangerous the last portal was, how he'd got half of Corona trapped in the Lost Realm. He'd rather not repeat that particular incident.

So when it comes to starting the damn thing up, he plans to be alone. He doesn't get to be alone, of course, because Fern caught him trying to sneak out to do it and that was that. So one hot morning, Varian circles his completed portal, hemming and hawing.

"Okay. I think it's ready."

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This is a really, really stupid idea, but Fern isn't exactly known for his incredibly clever strategies. Besides, between the two of them, he's got a better chance of getting the blood back from this monster. He's a fighter, he's tougher and, frankly, he's way more okay with getting hurt than letting Varian get hurt. So he just needs to get in there, get the blood, and then - kick the t-rex back through the portal.

Easy! It should be easy!

That is why he's mentally kicking himself as the dinosaur tosses him into a pile of trash. It isn't a soft landing and it knocks a bunch of garbage loose and onto him, so that's just great. He groans, vaguely hearing Varian's voice, and part of him why exactly it's possible for him to get knocked around like this so easily when he doesn't even have a normal brain.

"I'm okay," he manages after a few minutes, though his torn arm isn't regrowing and the t-rex is roaring in their direction, so who knows how true that actually is.

This whole thing, Varian is quickly realising, was a stupid idea. He should have been more careful. He should have taken his time instead of rushing into this. Now Fern has been hurt and the portal has destabilised and everything is really bad. He's messed up so badly. His heart is thundering in his chest as he finally finds Fern in the trash, his face pale and panicked.

"You are not okay, look at your arm!!!"

The T-Rex is still too close and he's a sitting duck but he doesn't care. If he gets eaten, so be it. He probably deserves it at this point. His hands are shaking as he rests one on Fern's ruined arm, the other moving to the side of his neck to check for...what? A pulse? He doesn't know, he's not thinking clearly.

He doesn't notice immediately that Fern's arm is starting to slowly regrow from under his hand- healthy grass shooting up and binding together, moving downwards. He's too focused on Fern's face right now, his own lined with fear and worry.

"Does it hurt? Are-can you stay conscious? I- I can get help."

Fern is focused entirely Varian's terrified face, and it's only when he hears the roar and looks down at his arm that he sees it's been torn off. "My a -" Not at big deal, honestly, he can just regrow it - the t-rex still stomping around is a bigger danger to both of them. He shakes his head, forming a sword in his free hand.

"I'm okay," he says, feeling his cheeks darken a tiny bit in response to Varian's hands on him. There's no pulse, though his grass twitches a tiny bit, and he doesn't even notice the grass in his arm starts growing until he looks down again.

That's new. Sometimes his body grows things on its own, but it's always been small stuff, flowers and the like. Never entire limbs. He flails a bit as he tries to sit up, watching his arm regenerate itself and a couple of little daisies sprout up where it had been torn.

"Aah, oh Glob - I didn't do this! Do you do this??"

Varian catches the sword being formed out of the corner of his eye and shifts the hand on Fern's neck to his shoulder- effectively pinning him down. Or...you know, trying to. In theory. He's still a tiny stick boy and Fern could very easily shove him off if he wanted to. But Varian wants to do something to stop him from diving headfirst into danger and he's hoping that's enough.

"Stay put, you're hurt! You can't fight like this!"

The Rex is trashing the junkyard and he hears a scrap of metal and wood as she starts chewing the portal, oh that's baaaad. He winces before his attention is drawn to Fern's healing arm. His eyes widen as he looks down at his own hand on the other boy's arm- he pulls it away for a second like he's on fire - and the growing pauses. Varian stares at the hand, before carefully putting it back on Fern's arm, concentrating this time, trying to feel what he's doing.

It's not helped by the thick alchemy glove though- they're great for his work normally but not for anything like this. He takes his hand away again, this time to pull a glove off (with his teeth, because he's still using the other hand to pin Fern down and it doesn't occur to him to use his tail) before putting his hand back where it was. He can feel the grass better now, the stems shifting and growing under his fingertips- healing. He stares at it a moment longer, before finally looking at Fern properly.

"Um- I think I do now?"

Edited 2022-08-07 23:59 (UTC)

"You do??" Fern exclaims, staring up at Varian with wide eyes. The grass making up his arm keeps on growing, forming a forearm and individual fingers. Along with the grass more flowers grow - yarrow, honeysuckle, and of course one or two sprigs of cherry blossom.

Well, that makes a weird kind of sense. Varian was growing little flowers before, and while this is a big jump it's still something totally doable. He did back home before, so why can't Varian do it here? Besides, Fern doesn't really have a lot of time to have a whole investigation about this.

He makes a frustrated noise, pushing against Varian's hand a little. Not enough to actually shove the other boy away, he doesn't want to hurt him, but to make it clear he doesn't want to just lie there. "Great, then you can fix my arm and I can go after that thing."

"I- I guess so?"

He watches the flowers grow, feeling his chest tighten as the cherry blossom appears. Those were a pretty solid memory of the time on the beach where, if he were honest with himself, he started to realise that he really liked Fern... definitely more than in a Friend Way. He can still sense them growing and reforming, almost as if they were a part of him and not a part of Fern.

Luckily, everything is still chaos so he doesn't have the time to freak out about that entire thing. He can try to compartmentalise all those feelings later on. When they're not dealing with a literal dinosaur attack. As Fern pushes against his hand, Varian's fingers curl into the grass of Fern's shoulder just for a moment, before letting him go- letting him sit up at least.

"Fern, that thing ripped your arm off, what if it kills you next time?" there's genuine fear in his tone, not for the Rex, but for what it can do to his best friend. "I don't know what I'd-"

The Rex roars, cutting him off, then starts to stomp into the portal, along with the god blood. As the only thing powering it leaves through it, the portal groans and shudders more.

"...Okay that's bad."

Weird. This is weird. There were other plant people back in Ooo, wizards who could control plant life, but he's never met a regular human who could regrow his arm. It's weird, but... it's not a bad kind of weird. It's kind of nice? It seems to be coming from Varian's concern for his safety, which he really appreciates even though he wants to get back out there and fight.

This is definitely a point they're going to argue about, though. He's sitting up, the last bits of his arm rearranging themselves into a whole new limb, and he's ready to shoot back that he'll be fine, he's good at not dying completely. It's only one dinosaur, after all.

He doesn't get the chance. The roar from the t-rex makes him glance over in time to see what Varian sees: their biggest problem walking straight out of their universe and back to its own. With the god's blood.

Cool. Cool. Fern suddenly moves, trying to stagger to his feet. "We gotta go after it! We gotta get the blood back!"

It's extremely weird and Varian's really not sure what to make of this yet. His powers are changing all the time and he's never sure what to expect next. But at least this time his powers were actively helping Fern- they're something that can continue to actively help Fern in the future - because lord knows the plant boy is gonna keep diving into danger. He's still not super comfortable having actual magic now, but that sure is something he can find comfort in.

As Fern gets to his feet, Varian lets out a worried noise, clambering to his own, raising his hands to try and steady Fern in case he stumbles. He looks back at the portal, brow furrowed.

"I know. I know, I - I can try and shut it down here first?" guilt is starting to settle in, this is a mess, this is such a mess. "And if not...we'll figure something out."

He absolutely does not plan to let anyone else go in there besides him, already. But soon he'll know the real extent of this damage and be even more determined to do it alone, to not let anyone else pay for his mistakes.

He isn't quite steady on his own two feet, so he latches onto Varian for some additional support, gripping his sword tighter. This is fine, his arm is healed now so he can jump back into the fight. Or whatever, because he doesn't exactly have a plan here aside from 'kill the t-rex.'

"Okay... okay, that might work," he replies. It wouldn't scratch the itch of wanting to kill something, but it's safer for Varian. He nods and starts heading over to what's left of the portal, hoping it's still intact enough to work for this plan.

Oh wow, Fern latching onto him sure does send a burst of endorphins rushing around his system. He can feel his heart beating tighter and this is not the time to start to feel awkward and tripping over himself, damnit. He sucks in a breath, willing his heart rate to go down.

"Yeah... I think that's...the best first step."

He follows Fern to the portal, leaning down to study it when his phone starst vibrating, angry and insistent. He frowns, picking it up.

"...Oh...Zodiac's noticed."

He's very glad Varian is there, he's very sturdy in both the physical and emotional sense right now. Fern isn't feeling that way at all, and certainly not when the phone buzzes.

"Seriously?" He huffs, rolling his eyes. "Great, that's just what we need."

As far as he's concerned they can handle this without Zodiac stepping in, and if they do, there's a good chance they'll get into trouble. He resists the urge to take Varian's phone and throw it in a pile of trash, because as satisfying as that would be it wouldn't actually help.

"Maybe we can get this fixed before they get over here."

Varian would rather he didn't. As much as this is...bad, he also knows he can't run from it. He opens up his phone to view the message - stating there was an anomaly from a man-made portal and his heart sinks.

"I think they already know. I... I can try to stop it but...I don't think I can hide if from them," his brow furrows as he turns to his control panel. "...And I don't want to. That wouldn't be fair. I can own up to my mistakes. "

Fern, however, would love to hide this screw-up from everyone. The reason for that is mainly to keep Varian safe and prevent him from getting into trouble. Not just with the authorities, but anyone who is particularly angry over all of this. Who knows what humans can do when they're angry enough.

"Let's deal with that later," he says, putting a hand on Varian's shoulder. "Let's just get this thing closed first. Okay?"

Varian glances at the hand on his shoulder and does manage to force a scared, tired smile Fern's way. He's not so convinced he can close it with the blood gone, but damnit, he is going to try.

"...Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Later."

And with that, he takes a deep centring breath, focusing back on the controls, hoping to fix things but honestly knowing it's just a matter of time before Zodiac find them.

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Somewhere in Kaisou's junkyard

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