Deer Country application
Jun. 4th, 2021 11:41 pmCharacter Base
• Character Name: Varian
• Age: 17 (in game- 16 at his last canon point)
• Canon (Date/Year Released)/Canon Point: Tangled. Epilogue of the series finale Plus est en vous. Episode released 01 March 2020 - This is from a canon bump that happened in Deer.
• Items Coming Along:
1. Disaster House - This will be relocated to Cassandra, because how could I not?. Includes everything inside it- along with the magically boosted tower to ease sleep and the stable which protects animal (but not Sleeper) life.
2. Ruddiger - Semi-sentient raccoon pal.
3. Backpack from home - enchanted to be a backpack of holding. Plants are the only living things it can hold and anything larger than a sword might get lost in the bag for a few hours before being found again.
4. Alchemy bombs - a selection of his alchemy bombs, ice, explosive, sticky and fire.
5. Bone pocket watch - It doesn't work
6. Alchemy schiavona - A sword Varian can barely swing. Can store up to 4 alchemic potions in the hilt that, when triggered, affect the blade (e.g. ice alchemy applied can allow the blade to freeze things, Flynnolium applied can cause whatever the blade cuts to explode). The sword itself is immune to alchemy.
• Content Warnings for Character: Parental loss, kidnapping, attempted murder (a LOT of attempted murder), drugging, self-loathing, attempted suicide mission, Disneyfied PTSD.
Original Deerington Application
• Link to Accepted Deerington Application: Here. Also here is his accepted canon bump.
• Additional Adjustments to include:
Positive Experiences:
For a guy who tends to be introverted and locks himself away in his projects, almost all of Varian's positive experiences revolved around other people. Perhaps a little unsurprising, given how deeply Varian has always sought validation from others. Learning to accept internal validation instead of always seeking out the external sort was a lesson he had not got completely to grips with during his time in Deerington, but he was certainly working on it.
Back in Corona, his biggest positive experiences came from his reformation, and the support he received after beginning it. Finally having his father tell Varian that he was proud of him (admittedly fifteen years too late at that point) had been a huge bolster to him. It had been all he'd ever wanted for all his life, and he regained some lost confidence in receiving it. More so, Quirin making sure to tell Varian multiple times after this that he was proud helped cement it. It didn't undo fifteen years of waiting to hear it, but it was a start. Team Rapunzel (especially the Princess in question) were a massive influence in his life. Rapunzel offering him gentle encouragement to deal with his trauma from the amber while they were dealing with the red rocks helped him navigate his fears a little better. It wasn't enough to stop him being so hard on himself completely, but it did at least give him the first stepping stone towards starting to do so. Eugene, too provided a great deal of support for Varian, becoming even closer to him than he was before. Varian already idolised Eugene, but as they grew closer and Eugene treated him more like an equal than a Kid Fan, it helped give Varian a firmer place in Rapunzel's inner circle. Thanks to Eugene's encouragement he felt he was a worthy member of the team, with something genuinely helpful to bring to the table. These were all small steps the group made which made Varian feel not only more integrated into the team, but slowly start to realise that he could be forgiven for his past actions.
Without a shadow of a doubt, one of the largest positive influences on Varian's life in Deerington had been Fern. He was the first person Varian opened up to about his past- after stumbling on Fern having issues with his own troubled past. With Fern, Varian found someone who understood him to his core, something he didn't even have back in Corona- so surrounded by people who were either deeply morally good or currently refusing to acknowledge their own problems. They understood one another's inherent monstrous pasts, and the genuine difficulty in overcoming them to try and be better people at the end of it. Fern was without a doubt, the best friend Varian had ever had, and Varian was deeply grateful to have someone who understood him so well. July (and the Monokuma effects therein), especially, was a large milestone in their relationship- while many tried to reassure Varian that his actions were influenced by the town, Fern stood by that the capability to do what he did was always a part of Varian. Mother Superior didn't put anything inside him that wasn't there already. He just needed to figure out how to recover from that. While it might have seemed like a very negative thing to say, it was what Varian needed to hear. He didn't want platitudes, he was very aware of the darkness he was capable of- what he needed to know was that he could pick himself up from that and do better next time, which is exactly what Fern offered. This would be a concept they'd share with each other on more than one occasion during the town's events- helping each other recover from them without softening the blow on the effect they had on them.
His romantic feelings for Fern were also a big positive in his life- even if he took a while to get there. Fern made his own feelings clear from very early on in their friendship, but Varian didn't return them immediately. In part, this was due to learning to accept his own sexuality and also in not feeling quite deserving enough for how deep Fern's feelings for him ran. He did a whole lot of repressing before his feelings finally bubbled over and he admitted to them- the same time he explained to Fern what truthfully happened to his leg. It took the boys a little longer to get together after that, and they moved at their own meandering pace, trying to figure out how to make a relationship between not only two separate species, but two very emotionally damaged people work. Regardless, opening up to Fern about his feelings and the resulting relationship was one of the most grounding experiences of Varian's life. In Fern, he found someone who would stick with him no matter how bad things got, no matter what mistakes he made, and he could offer the same. Remaining with Fern (and for once in his life, letting Fern be chosen over and above everything else) was one of his big factors in choosing to move forward to Trench (more of this in the negative experiences section) something he definitely didn't regret. The boys loved each other and certainly weren't prepared to be split apart when they'd got as far together as they had.
Usagi was someone Varian got attached to almost immediately. She was someone who reminded him of Rapunzel- both in looks (can't hide that long, blond hair) and in her kind, selfless personality. Admittedly, he was desperately homesick when they met and at first clung to her as a reminder of Corona. To have someone even tangentially familiar to him helped ease him into Deerington a lot. Perhaps it was a little selfish, but Varian soon learned to love and appreciate Usagi in her own right. She became a cornerstone of support for him. She provided unconditional love for him through every bad turn he made. Every time the town knocked him down, she was there with kind words- even when he felt he didn't deserve them (especially when he felt he didn't deserve them). She was instrumental in his growth in Deerington, giving him at least a few baby steps towards accepting some sort of self-worth. He found it stifling, at times- often much preferring Fern's gruffer take on it that they were screw-ups and sometimes that's all they were. Usagi wouldn't have any of that, constantly telling Varian he was worth it and trying to nudge him gently towards better self-care. She became a sister to him and there was absolutely nothing he wouldn't do to her. As they got closer, he began to see the cracks in her own psyche - after all, she was similar to Rapunzel in the way she handled things being too hard (and the repressive "I'm fine" attitude to deal with it) too, Varian recognised this for what it was very quickly. It put him in a position to help her in return. Providing her with a listening ear and a willing shoulder to cry on when things got too much- always offering a pragmatic approach to Usagi's unrelenting optimism. It meant they both learned they could offer their support in their own, unique ways, trying to even the other out.
Another positive experience in Varian's time in Deerington was his attitude towards magic. Miracles were not made here, he certainly never got to the point where he actively enjoyed and fully accepted it- but he did leave Deerington at a point where he could admit that it really did have its uses. This was in no small part thanks to the actions of Eda and Luz. Eda, in her gruff amusing way, became something Varian had been lacking for his entire life- a mother figure. Sure, she was abrasive and took no small amount of pleasure in tormenting Varian whenever she could- but she also risked her life multiple times during events to protect him- including the time she failed when he was murdered by Maul- her actions saving Fern, something he could never thank her enough for. And she did it all with magic (something she obnoxiously crowed to him about at every available opportunity) something he'd been dismissive of at best and hateful of at worst before this point. Her loss when she went home weighed heavily on him. Luz, too, became something of a sister to him, and showed him that there was a science to magic, at least back on the Boiling Isles. As his closeness to Luz grew, so did his tolerance of magic, because even he had to admit, Luz had to do a lot of research and careful learning in order to perform the magic she could. He definitely didn't want magic to happen to him, but thanks to them he learned to not find it completely pointless.
In his time in Deer, Varian gained a very strong support system, all who helped him gain his confidence and a little more self-worth in their own ways- through patient interactions and helping him ride out the worst of his dark times. There were adults who came to serve as role models and quasi-parents such as Adam, Mako, Amara, Orpheus, Melius and the Doctor. And for the first time in his life, Deerington allowed him to spend time with people his own age, and so he grew close to peers such as Eddie, Bella, Dipper and Ange. All providing those little boosts of positive experiences - small moments of comradery or simply listening to his woes which helped him grow as a person.
Negative Experiences:
While Varian's positive experiences were more little snippets of support and encouragement which built up his confidence and positive memories for him over the course of time, his negative experiences were much more based on solitary events which made a large impact on him- like a short, sharp shock as opposed to a more gentle dip.
Naturally, Varian's entire villain run had a huge impact on his life in canon. He went from a naive and trusting kid who was desperate for attention and validation to an angry kid desperately trying to save the one person he felt cared about him any more and lashing out at those he felt responsible for losing him in the first place. He spent over a year of his life in a very dark place, and when he came back onto the side of good, he was far from the person he was at the start of the series. He carried a new sense of self-loathing and genuine fear of what he could do and that people were justified in hating him. He knew just what he was capable of, after all of that, and it was something that haunted him both in canon and when he came to Deerington. It became a solid cornerstone of his personality- for better or for worse.
His run-in with Cassandra was a very large pit-stop in his road to redemption back in Corona. At that point, he'd definitely dedicated himself to the side of good once again, but he was also marred from his experiences of being an antagonist. He knew how much damage that had done to him, and he recognised Cassandra's actions as very similar to his own. He reached out desperately to her after she'd kidnapped him, doing everything he could to explain to her that her actions would have lasting consequences- not only to the people she was fighting against but herself. He'd hoped that his own experiences, that bearing his heart about just how badly his experiences had given him a "permanent mark" and that if she didn't stop, she would do the same to herself. Cassandra didn't want to hear, still believing herself not to be the villain, and refuted everything he had to tell her. It was a harsh lesson for Varian that even if he could use his experiences to help people fight their inner (and in Cass' case, literal) demons, he couldn't force them to alter their course. They had to come to that on their own. While he still continued to try and convince Cassandra to turn back to the light as the series progressed, he also created a weapon to fight against her- just in case she couldn't be brought back. As much as he believed in redemption, he also learned to protect himself and his loved ones for a worst-case scenario. It was a bitter taste of failure and he prepared against it for the future.
A few months into his time in Deerington, Varian's worst fears came to play out. He'd been keeping his chequered past very much in the dark, except for a very small number of individuals. Seeing Deerington as a potential fresh start, he covered his tracks- he'd been spending months back home known as That Kid Who Overthrew The Kingdom Twice and suddenly no one knew who he was at all. This came to bite him back hard. It started in June, when memories were shown to others through the Labyrinth event- meaning people Varian never intended to know about his past suddenly saw it. This churned some considerable anxiety in him, which hit breaking point in July. Mother Superior forced him into the "ultimate betrayer" label in Monokuma's game. While he tried to keep himself locked away to protect others, knowing full well what he was capable of, it didn't work. He escaped and wreaked havoc on the town- almost killing a number of people before he was taken to trial and killed. When he came back from the dead, he carried a considerable amount of guilt for what happened, even if he wasn't in his right mind when it happened. It was an event that would haunt him for the rest of his days, and while he was still careful about who knew the details of his past, he stopped trying to cover it up completely after this.
It was not long after this that Varian learned from Jon Sims that there was a demonic presence inside Fern's head. Very much marred by his understanding of Zhan Tiri and what she had done to Cassandra, and his complicated (and still very much repressed) feelings for Fern muddying the waters, Varian decided to do something about this. Along with Glitch, he and Jon went into the Great Sleep and trapped the Grass Demon in there. This had drastic ramifications for Fern, as the Grass Demon was an actual part of his being. Fern slowly began to lose himself, not being able to sleep and having ever-increasing paranoia and bouts of disassociation. Varian realised he had made a mistake and reached out to Luna for help (something that would start a very long and bitter feud between the pair) but it was too late- and Fern had his third death in Deerington. Varian had already been indirectly responsible for Fern's second death (from reading a cursed Leitner book which made all life around him decay, including Fern), and the knowledge he'd played a part in another of Fern's deaths weighed heavily on Varian.
Worse still, was when Fern returned with a large portion of his memories missing- including that of Varian himself. Varian watched with considerable uneasiness as Fern struggled with the missing memories, feeding into both boy's self-loathing. Varian struck up a deal with Julia Sodder to restore Fern's lost memories- anything she wanted, to undo the mess he'd made. As it was October, and Sleepers had been undergoing monster transformations, Kurt Wagner had been turned into a dragon, who tore Varian's leg off. A month after that, Fern got his memories back- it was only when Varian was speaking to Martin that he realized that his leg had been the price for Fern's memories. He apologized to Fern and despite the fact that Varian's actions had done considerable damage to Fern, the other boy forgave him. Varian took a little longer to admit to Fern that he gave up his leg to restore his memories (the same time he finally admitted his feelings to him) and while Fern was far from happy with it, Varian made sure to make it known he didn't regret the loss of his leg if it meant it had eased Fern's suffering. Varian made himself a prosthetic and his lost leg remained a permanent reminder of applying his own experiences to those of others.
Varian came up against his tendency to not think through his actions again when his portal work came to fruition. After his canon bump, he had the full knowledge of how to build a trans-dimensional portal and wanted to get to work on building one in Deerington. So many people he knew couldn't go to their homeworlds for various reasons. For Fern, he would die, for Oscar, he would have his own mind assimilated with that of Ozpin, Glitch would return to a life of servitude, Eddie and Richie would return to a world where nothing but further trauma and bigotry awaited them. Varian had paid attention to people when they spoke to him about what their home lives were like, and he wanted to make a difference, to give them another option- something that wasn't staying in Deerington or going home- the choice to go to a different world- even if that meant bringing people back to Corona with him. Deerington was a very magical problem, so naturally, he decided to throw science at it.
Bill arriving meant he could move much more quickly forward with his plans than he had been, and working with Bill, Ford and Fern meant he managed to build a solid portal- one which they would link through the various layers of Deerington as a means to punch through the final layer and stabilise the dream. Naturally, Bill double-crossed them in the ensuing chaos of the Guardians trying to protect the world, and everything fell apart, nearly destroying the dream in the process. Oscar used his magic (something Varian was WELL aware brought him closer to assimilating with Ozpin) to push Varian through the portals as they were collapsing, almost getting himself killed in the process. Varian was angry about this, but not as much as he was at himself for trusting Bill in the first place. While he never gave up on wanting to find a way out of Deerington, it tempered him from trying to brute force his way through. It was yet another lesson that he needed to think things through. Sometimes, it takes a couple of goes (and nearly destroying the world) for a lesson like that to stick.
His second death was certainly no easier. Maul had been someone Varian had a close relationship with. The man sought out redemption for his past deeds and that was something Varian had a great amount of experience in. Maul was one of a number of people Varian had been helping with the process of finding a better life- of building something new from the rubble of their old mistakes. Though the reminders of his own past were unsettling, being able to help others with his experiences was something good to take from his past. After all, Varian had a pretty solid belief that everyone deserved a second chance if they wanted it. He needed to believe in this, because if some people didn't deserve redemption, then what made him deserving of it?
Enter Maul and his event-driven murder rampage. While Varian didn't blame Maul for his murder (Varian knew what it was like to have the town push you to those extremes, after all) the fallout from it shook him greatly. He'd been defending Maul's actions to others (particularly Glitch) for some time, knowing the road to redemption was not an easy one and if Maul lost his support network he'd likely backslide. However, after Maul's rampage and subsequent losing of his memories, Maul sliced off Glitch's arm. Glitch told Varian in no uncertain terms that maybe Maul didn't actually want to find redemption, and there are only so many chances a person can be given. He picked apart Varian's reasons for wanting to back Maul, pointing out that Varian changed because he wanted to, and he kept working on it even when it got hard- and that was the big difference between himself and Maul. It harkened back to his troubles in bringing Cass around and left Varian feeling conflicted once again about his belief that people deserve to make good of their mistakes. Maul's dismissive nature towards Fern's anger at the event did not help matters, and while Varian and Maul talked it out, Varian realised he needed some space between himself and Maul. That Maul needed to take some steps towards redemption without Varian acting as a complete safety net. Maul needed to genuinely want it, for himself and to prove he did. While it didn't completely destroy Varian's faith in redemption, it did hammer home to him that he could only provide help and support down the road- that most of that weight had to be carried by the person seeking it. He also saw the effect it had on Usagi, how exhausted she was from carrying this weight- and while he felt guilt at not taking some of it for her, he realised that was her choice also. That he had to learn to take a step back and provide support when he could provide it himself. Though it caused a lot of hurt and guilt, he took a considerable step towards protecting his own mental health- realising he didn't have to put it last behind his loved ones, that he did, in fact, deserve to look after himself, too.
Varian's second death had taken his memories of home- specifically those of his villainous rampage. Fern filled him in on what he was missing, once he realised what was gone, but Varian was left feeling like he'd been cast adrift. He couldn't remember being this terrible person, and knowing he had been left him scared of his own potential for evil all over again. He'd also been robbed of the growth he'd gained from these experiences, and he was left more argumentative than usual- straight up almost having an actual fight with Luna at Prom when their issues with one another finally boiled over.
Much like Varian had with Fern, Oscar had seen Varian's suffering and ultimately decided to pay the price to restore Varian's memories to him. Oscar lost his leg, and once Varian's memories returned, he put two and two together and confronted Oscar about what had happened. They argued about it, with Varian finally relenting and telling Oscar about his past- about the memories he'd given his leg up for, believing they were not good memories and Oscar had made a grave mistake. Oscar refuted this theory, telling Varian though they were bad memories, they still made Varian who he is today, and Oscar did not regret losing a body part to get Varian back. Despite it being a rocky road and plenty of hurt on both sides, both boys came out of the experience closer and with a better understanding of how their self-destructive behaviour could greatly impact the people who care about them. It set Varian's progress towards Trench in learning to take better care of himself, both emotionally and physically.
One of the last big negative experiences Varian had in Deerington was dealing with the Waste version of his father, Quirin. His dad has always been a large weak spot in his armour (after all, his entire slip-slide into villainy started with trying to save the man) and this was certainly no exception. The Waste Quirin died in front of Varian and Fern, imparting the knowledge that there were multiple versions of them in this world. The loss devastated Varian, and he tried to repress all his hurt and anger about it. When he first thought he'd lost his father, he'd lashed out at the world and done truly terrible things, he tried to circumnavigate that happening again by trying not to feel anything at all. Thankfully, Fern remained with him to get him through this- knowing himself that repressing feelings is a terrible choice. He and Varian buried Quirin in the backyard and said a few eulogies for the man. While the weight of Quirin's loss would be a trauma Varian would carry with him to Trench- and it remained something he avoided talking about, he at least stopped repressing it to a point where it was causing him damage. The knowledge that there were multiple versions of themselves was also the final puzzle piece Varian needed in order to choose to go through the door to Trench. To choose to leave Corona behind, safe in the knowledge that there would still be a Varian back in Corona to live a life he wasn't sure he could even fit into anymore. He'd changed a lot in his year and a half in Deerington. It was time to see what sort of new life he could lead.
Chapter 2 Attributes
• Canon Powers: No canon powers, but as per my original app, Varian tends to be a living, breathing deus ex machina - there's very little he can't invent. However, as I did in Deer, I will aim to make sure he has plenty of failures too, to prevent him from being obnoxiously game-breaking.
• Blood Type: Coldblood
• Omen: This will be transferred to his raccoon, Ruddiger.
• Blessed Day: 28th November - this is the date he finished making his prosthetic leg.
• Patron Pthumerian: The Tower
• Blood Power Manifestation: I plan to let Varian have eventual access to fire, ice, and lightning powers- but definitely not all at the same time. Just as soon as he starts to get a handle on controlling one, another will crop up and throw him all out of whack again. I plan to spread these three out over a long period of time- at the very least 3/4 months between each new powerset.
The Player
• Player Name: TF
• Player Age: 38
• Player Contact:
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• Permissions: Here.
Link to your reserve for this character: Here.