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[droptheious]

CONGRATULATIONS YOU ARE THROUGH TO RUDDIGER. PLEASE LEAVE FOOD AT THE END OF THE BEEP. MESSAGES CANNOT BE GUARANTEED DELIVERY IF FOOD IS NOT PROVIDED.
[VIDEO | AUDIO | TEXT]

FROM: SUBJECT: FERN Follow me SHIRO Varian -Have you heard of 'Mother Mercy'? We might have a problem. PAIMON fern's mate ,. are you conscious. ? ZIB hey you know how you suddenly grew horns and a tail... FERN V? USAGI Hey, Vivi. Are you... how are holding up after... everything? MELIUS Ahraan! Faaz! Hi kos fahdon! RAPUNZEL Hey, Varian? You in there? SASUKE You're Melius' friend Varian, yes? MAKO Hey. It's Mako. You been out to the sea ice yet? AHIRU Heyyyy Varian USAGI So, Rapunzel and Cass are here. PETER Hey, uh, Varian! LUZ Varian. I'm messaging you about this since... STAN LOOK I DON'T LIKE YOU BUT WE ARE BEING SLANDERED RIGHT NOW FERN hey, so i made this bet with Stan about you and him FORD Varian, have you been contacted by someone asking about the portals we built? FERN Uh, hey. ZIB Hi Varian, this is Dib. I need advice on something... USAGI VARIAN! WANNA MEET MY OMEN! MAUL Are you still having trouble sleeping? FERN are you made of copper and tellurium?

TO: SUBJECT: DIPPER It's pointless asking if you're okay but... ANGE Hey, Ange. Just checking in on you. RAPUNZEL So. Hey. I learned a fun thing about... ADAM Shiro's a teenager now and he's being an idiot. KORRA So hey. Do you remember me joking that... MAUL My corruption came back PETER HEY. Hey Peter! I found a meme!!! PETER Happy birthday! It's not a lot but... USAGI So. Fern being human sure was a thing that happened. FERN A list of Coronan/German words... JOHN No one has ever been inside an empty room. MAUL You never stop clapping. ANGE You can only buy used mirrors. K If a spoon was made of gold... LANCE If you rip a hole in a net... MELIUS The word swims upside down is also swims. ORPHEUS Every time you clean something... PETER Is the letter S or C silent in the word 'scent'? EDDIE Turtles can never have sleepovers because... WU If you run in a straight line for long enough... MAKO It's impossible to touch any reflection that isn't your own. OSCAR While we sleep our brains make stories that scare us RYAN Beef jerky is just a cow raisin USAGI You know how people think snowflakes are... DIPPER Do twins ever realise that one of them was unplanned? BELLA History classes are only... SHIRO Your stomach thinks all potatoes are mashed FERN Did you know you did an Arthurian Legend?

code by cawaii

Comments

[droptheious]

[Varian's just...gonna stare at the tail for a moment, and then raises his eyes skywards in an impressive eyeroll. Then he speaks, loudly and pointedly:]

Oh, gee. It seems that Melius isn't here at all. What a wild goose chase you've led me on.

[He walks in a circle, making sure his footfalls are pointedly loud.]

And here's me really worried about my friend, too.

[fusrodaaaah]

[There is... silence. Except for a faint crackling noise. Ice starting to form along the edges of the leaves. Defense mechanism engaged.]

[But very quietly, he manages:]

... V-Varian?

[droptheious]

[There we go. Varian's lips quirk in a smile as he wanders over.]

There you are. [Does he sound convincincgly surprised? Probably not. ] You okay there, Buddy? Are you um...stuck?

[fusrodaaaah]

[There is an astounding amount of silence from the pile of leaves. But, then, Melius extends an arm out. It's very slow, and he's still wearing his outfit from the party... and soon, the reason for his slow movement is clear.]

[His bicep is shredded. Like JAWS took a chunk out of it. There's blood all over the ruined sleeve, and yet, it doesn't seem to be actively bleeding any longer.]

Potions. I... I used... healing potions.

[droptheious]

[Oh. Oh no. Oh this is bad. Varian's breath catches as he shifts forward, looking at the arm.]

And they didn't do anything?

[This is desperately not his area of expertise, but he at least has very basic first aid skills. He starts rummaging in his backpack. ]

Can you get out of the bush? I- I can get it cleaned and wrapped up at least, so you can see someone who knows what they're doing better than me.

[fusrodaaaah]

N... no they... they made it stop. Bleeding.

[But didn't repair tissue, apparently. Not exactly something he's used to.]

[No, he does not want to come out of the bush, but it's Varian, and he's not acting weird. So... he crawls out. Slowly. Staying hunched up in a lizard ball.]

It's not... there's no more blood... [That's good, right?'

[droptheious]

Well. That's something. Small mercies, otherwise you might have bled out.

[Maybe? It looks serious enough for that to have happened. It doesn't look like it would have stopped on its own. He pulls out a bottle from his backpack and some cloth, turning it out on it. Once Melius is...mostly out of the bush, he gets to work.]

This is gonna sting, but it'll make sure there's no infection, okay? Because I don't want to trap any of that in there.

[He'll dab it on and it does, indeed, sting. Like a little bitch in fact. Sorry, Meli, he's only doing this because he loves you. ]

[fusrodaaaah]

I... I know.

[You don't survive in the woods without knowing that. Seeing that. But his voice goes very soft when he admits that, seeming to hunker in on himself even further in the process.]

[He doesn't say anything when Varian starts to work. Even when it stings like a son of a bitch. He just hisses, his tail jerking back and forth, while ice creaks and crackles on the ground under his feet.]

[droptheious]

[Varian grimaces at his friend's clear discomfort. He carries on with the cleaning though, this is a necessary evil.]

Sorry, I'll go as quick as I can.

[True to his word, he finishes cleaning it and wraps it in a bandage.]

You might need stitches for it, but that's beyond my skills, sorry. Probably someone in town that can do it. What-what happened? It looks like something took a chunk out of you.

[fusrodaaaah]

I-it. It's fine.

[There's more hissing, but he holds as still as possible. This has to be done, so he can't complain. He'll just endure.]

[And promptly falls silent at the question. Ice crackles its way over his boots.]

A... a monster. At the party.

[droptheious]

It doesn't look fine.

[He's just putting that out there, Melius. He frowns at the ice, this is...not good.]

A monster? Like... like a Sleeper?

[His memories of beasthood, fuzzy as they are, are still fresh in his mind. If more of that is happening...well, that can't be good.]

[fusrodaaaah]

[A flinch. The ice abruptly stops its growth, rapidly melting, then freezing. And melting again.]

[... Apparently his coldblood powers operate like a mood ring.]

I... I'm ... um. I don't know.

Nok! [Thank you, Omen. For yelling liar at the top of your tiny lungs.]

[droptheious]

[Varian casts a worried look at the Omen, raising an eyebrow.]

Uh huh.

[Be glad he doesn't know that word, Meli, be very glad. He finishes wrapping up his arm and leans back on his legs a little, inspecting his work.]

There you go, all done. Anyway, I only ask because there's a lot of corruption going around at the moment. [He...should know. Ha ha.] It could be someone who needs help.

[fusrodaaaah]

Cor... Corruption?

[Well hey!! Maybe that was what happened. Maybe he didn't totally misjudge his friend.]

That... that makes... people hurt their friends?

[OOPS.]

[droptheious]

Yeah, it is. That's what happened to me. It- it can get really bad.

[But he's not here to talk about himself, his brow furrows a little more.]

So a friend did this to you?

[fusrodaaaah]

O-oh. I... I'm sorry.

[He may have missed that due to hiding in a bush. Or just. Hiding in general.]

I didn't say that! [Which means yes.]

[droptheious]

It's... well, it's not okay, but it's just...a learning thing. Turns out you really do have to take better care of yourself here.

[He doesn't judge Melius for being in a bush.]

I'm not gonna press on who- but it could be someone who's still a monster who needs help being talked down. The hunters will try to kill them if they think they're a danger.

[fusrodaaaah]

... and. Not hide...?

[In a bush? Maybe he shouldn't hide in bushes like this, hm???]

[He fidgets. Hesitates. Tries to lift his hand to pick his scales, then abruptly switches to the other hand.]

He... he won't be... punished?

[droptheious]

And not hide. [He's just going to reiterate this.] Because we can't help you if you hide.

[Melius is clearly very worried about this and it does give Varian a moment's pause. His tone is a lot softer when he responds to the question.]

Of course not. This wasn't his fault. Heck, I wasn't punished and I created a whole lot of property damage and I'm pretty sure a few hunters that went after me didn't make it? It's...my memories are kinda fuzzy. [And that's a whole bunch of GUILT he's trying to shoulder right now.] Regardless, he'll be safe, no one will punish him for something this place did to him.

[fusrodaaaah]

[Oh, right. He's not on his own anymore. He's not in the middle of Skyrim trying not to die every five minutes. Somehow, that's still hard to accept.]

R-right. I... I know that. I think.

[Why does he have horns. He wants to pull a cloak over his head. Hide while walking.]

... He... um. I .. I don't... think there was... property damage. [Because he'd run like a dumbass.] I...

It... was at the party. Bigby.

[droptheious]

Good, I'm glad. You have friends here, Meli and none of us wants to see you get hurt, okay?

[Because that's a very important lesson to learn!]

Bigby? [Oh no. Oh no. Oh, that explains so much. Varian's worry spikes considerably.] Is that why he was so freaked out about asking to be bound again? Okay, well. We can find him and help him. That's- that's definitely not his fault. It might be...something he's had to deal with since he was home, but it doesn't make him any less deserving for us to help him.

[fusrodaaaah]

I... okay.

[He knows, logically. But there's only so much you can logically recognize when your brain doesn't want to agree.]

[There's a strangled sort of hum out of him. It's an agreement, of course. Because he can't really say no...]

I um. I don't. I don't know. I just - I haven't. Looked at the network.

[droptheious]

That's okay.

[He can see Melius isn't doing so good, so he'll reach out and pat his shoulder. There there.]

You've been busy. It's okay, and he's okay, no one has been attacking him- opposite, actually. People have been trying to help him.

[fusrodaaaah]

[Is it okay? Is it? It doesn't seem like it's okay! He doesn't flinch away from the physical contact, though.]

O-oh. That's. That's good. Right?

[droptheious]

Of course, it is. That's what we need, helping each other out. The second we turn on each other is when we've lost this place.

[He offers an encouraging smile.]

I'm sure he'll be fine. But I'll double-check on him later, okay?