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[alchemistake]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, VARIAN. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 018.07.154.55 *** CHARACTER NAME/ALIAS has joined 018.07.154.55 <thealchemist>This thing is SO COOL okay- hey, hi, Varian here! If you're seeing this then you've reached my channel for messages. Leave me one if you need something!

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[Action; 7/15]

[defyingfrigidity]

[Things have returned to some semblance of normalcy, in the weeks following the poacher attack. Elsa has finally shed her wings and scales and horns and returned to her more floral form, and the sense of panic and agitation at what had happened had finally settled in Solsikke. But things were still... hard. They were all still hurting, and they all needed distractions. Varian especially; he'd been hurt so bad, and Elsa's heart broke for him. If she could just do something....

So the night before the 15th, there's an odd sort of rumbling beneath Solsikke. Like an earthquake, but not intense; it was just a sort of buzz against the floor. And the morning after, as the residents begin waking up for the day... there's a knock at Varian's door.]

[alchemistake]

[Varian's relationship with going outside versus staying in had been weird lately, to say the least. On the one hand, he knew Solsikke to be a safe place, yet...being inside for too long made him anxious and feel like he needed to be outside. But then, too long outside and he felt like he needed to be back in. Rinse and repeat, ad nauseum. He can at least say he's doing better than a few weeks ago, but it's still...a process.

All Ryslig has given him so far is trauma, and he's not sure the fancy technology has made up for that just yet. Well, no, it did give him one thing: Ruddiger. Thanks to Mana, his request for his companion hadn't fallen on deaf ears. He's not sure how it even worked, but in the end he decided he didn't care.

The buzzing rumble does wake him up sometime in the middle of the night as it happens, but he'd been sleeping so little lately that he ends up just drifting back off without actually identifying the source. Come next morning, he's convinced he dreamed it. So when he hears a knock on his door, he doesn't initially think much of it...

Varian yawns as he pulls the door open, rubbing one eye with his good hand as Ruddiger sprawls across the back of his shoulders, still mostly asleep.]

Elsa...sorry m'up, I'm up- er, I mean- good morning! S'everything alright?

[defyingfrigidity]

[It's a similar conundrum for Elsa as well. She takes comfort in being outside, surrounded by her plants and the secure knowledge that she'll be able to sense any strange figures that come close to Solsikke. But at the same time, being outside makes her feel exposed, she can feel eyes on her even though she knows that nobody's around, and it isn't too long before she retreats back into the relative safety of the castle.

But now she has something to distract herself from that anxious feeling - helping a friend! She'd been brainstorming for a while now to figure out something to make this sleepy little castle feel more like a home to Varian, and it was only when she woke up to a new handful of the strange coins from Mana that it finally clicked.

As he opens the door, she flashes him a smile. She doesn't say anything - her tongue has yet to grow back - but instead she holds up the notebook she's been using lately to communicate. On the current page, there's something already written:]

I have a surprise for you. Would you like to see it now?

[alchemistake]

[It's sad, knowing that Elsa hasn't fully recovered yet from the abuse of the poachers. On the flip side, though...Varian can't help but feel a tiny bit of relief, knowing he's not the only one still dealing with the effects, both physical and non. Physically he's mostly healed save for scars left behind, save for his right arm, the sleeve of which is tied off at the end.

He tilts his head a little, eyes scanning the words before he looks back up at Elsa.]

Wait...for me?

[A surprise? Okay, he's...at a complete loss, but he'll bite.]

I- sure, yeah! Of course.

[defyingfrigidity]

[She nods, that smile still clear on her face as she turns on her heel and heads down the hall and to the stairs leading down to the floor level of the castle. As she walks, she writes; it's... a little difficult, doing both with just one eye, but her steps aren't hurried. She's also making sure he doesn't peek at what she's writing, and if he tries to, she'll quickly press the notepad to her chest.

Eventually, they come to a door, close to the front entrance, that certainly wasn't there yesterday. A plain brown door, no decorations at all, that when opened, leads to a set of stairs going down, down... to a basement, a wide opened area with plenty of light, which glints off of several things that would be very familiar to Varian.

Tables filled with beakers and test tubes. Shelves lined with different herbs and minerals and chemicals. Gadgets of all kinds strewn across a few workbenches, and fresh, empty notebooks stacked neatly, waiting to be filled. It's not like his workplace at home, or even Demanitus's setup, but it's unmistakably a fully furnished alchemist's lab.

When he's done taking everything in, Elsa holds up the pad again, revealing what she'd been writing on the way down.]

You told me you were an alchemist, and an inventor. Since you're part of our little family here, I thought it might be nice to have a space of your own to do whatever you wished with your experiments.

Night of 7/28

[yellecaster]

[Unsurprisingly, after everything that happened with the poachers, Marnie's gone back to laying low and keeping her distance from...
Well, just about everyone. There are a lot of people in Ryslig, both human and monster alike, and she has very little interest in most of them.

"Most" being the keyword, there.

Even someone like her needs company sometimes. And besides, she may be... who she is, but she's got manners.
She can't just let what Varian did go without doing something in return. It's just proper, thanking someone for something like that.
Which is why he gets a message out of nowhere in the dead of night, imploring him to meet her in the sewers.

Charming!]

Varian,

If you're not busy, come meet me in the sewers. There's a little park bang in the middle of Bavan that has a marked grate nearby, that's a quick route down.
Just follow the lines. I'll be waiting, OK?

[Yeah, that's not sketchy at all. Not even a little.]

[alchemistake]

[Varian, as he does, stays up late in the evening now working on his projects. If he's not working on alchemy, he's working on putting together his arm. It's very nearly complete at this point...the only drawback is the fact that he doesn't know yet how he'll get the fingers moving on their own, but it's a work in progress. His laptop is on his desk as he works, so he doesn't miss the message when it appears.

Only to have to lean over and grab Ruddiger by the scruff as he immediately starts to try to type a response back, despite not knowing how to words.]

I'll be there in ten.

[He hopes everything is okay? But there's only one way to find out, so...he'll scoop up Ruddiger and plop him on his shoulders, grabbing a bag he's been carrying his things around with him in before heading out to the park, searching until he can find the grate. Hopefully this one has much less of a sharp drop down inside.]

[yellecaster]

[Alright, but let's be real here: Marnie would love and adore Ruddiger messages.

But no, this time the grate actually has a ladder - sure, it was pretty clearly moved there by someone (like, you know, Marnie), but it's still just an easy climb down.
And as always, the bright white line trails along one of the walls... the only way to find the underground poacher complex still buried under the city.

... It's, uh. Also not very bright down there. Most of the light comes from sewer grates up above...

But whenever he manages to make it, at least she wasn't kidding about waiting - she's right outside one of the jail's many entrances, her hands folded cutely behind her back and everything.
And thankfully, there's SOME light coming from somewhere behind her. Some bright and tacky 1950s neon sign that she probably got at a pawn shop, hooked into the city's own power grid.]

You made it! Not too hard to find, right?
I keep thinkin' about settin' up some lanterns down 'ere, but I'm pretty sure that'd cost too much to keep up with...

[alchemistake]

[The lack of light is a reminder that Varian needs to figure out a way to remake his staff from home. It was sort of just a hastily cobbled together thing anyway, with his own potions forming the light source...but seeing the "glowsticks" in Majima's dreamscape gave him some ideas for a better way to make one anyway.

But no, that's an idea for later. Focus, Varian.

He does manage to make it through thanks to his night vision either way, so really the idea of a light source is probably moot...and of course the moment Marnie is visible in the distance, Ruddiger abandons Varian and scampers over to her, putting her paws on her legs.

Pick him up, please.]

Ruddiger...

[Varian sighs but doesn't stop him, his boots echoing dully off the sewer floor.]

Not too bad though, I gotta say. You're pretty well hidden from the rest of the world.

[He raps the wall with his knuckles, then regrets it because he has to wipe his glove on his side.]

And uh, don't worry about lanterns. I've got a project in mind that may help with that, so...get back to me in a couple weeks and we can work something out.

But in the meantime- what's up?

[Action; backdated to 8/4

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[Whether or not he's around for when it happened, it quickly becomes apparent what's happened to Cassandra in the last few days; she's fallen asleep and refused to wake up for anything. Obvious sings pointed to either one of Rysligs many weird happenings, or... one specific thing. She could be dreaming of home, experiencing new things that would feel like memories upon waking. If she woke, which, hopefully she did.

It's not until the fourth day of the month when it happens. A shame that Varian wasn't around to see it, she'd just have to go and find him.

Which is when the door to Varian's alchemy lab in Solsikke is flung open, and in rushes-]

Varian!

[Well, no. It's Cass.]

[alchemistake]

[Varian isn't familiar with the way people just fall asleep to relive parts of their lives from home. He had to have it explained to him by Elsa, who no doubt has been watching over Cassandra ever since she fell asleep. There's not much they could do about it otherwise than wait...which Varian does. He's been juggling several projects this month, on top of working on getting himself another space to work in. He'd decided separating his work into a shop-front/garage type set-up elsewhere with his alchemy and all of the plants given to him by Elsa and Anna at his lab in Solsikke would be a smart move, so his fingers are in many pies.

That means he's tired. Exhausted, even. Probably not a surprise that he's dozing across his workbench when Cassandra comes exploding into his lab, startling Ruddiger off a chair and nearly causing Varian to fall out of his as he jolts awake, both wings flapping straight upwards.]

Huuah!?! C...Cass?

[He turns to face the werebear, still trying to shake off what bits of sleep remain. Mostly, he's just glad to see her awake? But...]

What- what's going on? Are you alright?

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[An explanation was far better than the way Cass learned about it; when Elsa and Anna both one day didn't wake up with no answer as to why. Fortunately, that time had been nothing but good news for all of them. It's just a shame that there's never time to prepare for it, no time to warn your friends that you'll be out for a day or two.

She shouldn't have barged in so suddenly, or loudly. There were just so many thoughts in her head now. Memories still settling in as she realized Varian typically worked himself half to death with a variety of high-grade explosives around him.]

Oh, wow. Sorry, but... [She can barely get through her own apology.] Varian, I'm better than alright; I remember everything now.

[alchemistake]

You do. You do?

[That's...abrupt. About as abrupt as her arrival, actually. Varian still feels bad about the way he accidentally dropped a whole ton of hard-to-believe information about herself into Cassandra's lap, so knowing that she's actually experienced it all...]

How...are you feeling? About all of it, I mean.

[She seems to be excited, which is a good sign.]

8/28; CURRY................ 2!!!!!!

[yellecaster]

Hey, Varian. I've got a pot simmering right now if you'd like to come down and have some.
You'll have to be quick, of course; Morpeko might eat it all before you get here if you don't.

[And that's... all she has to say!! That's a good enough invitation for food, right?]

[alchemistake]

[Varian...was asleep on his workbench when he gets the message. It takes Ruddiger pulling on his eyelids to finally wake him up, nearly startling him backwards out of his seat before he makes it to his laptop. Thank you, Ruddiger, he appreciates the heart attack...]

Oh- curry? I guess I haven't had anything to eat yet today, and I should probably be taking a break.

[More like he was taking one against his will.]

We'll be there in a few minutes. Unless I need to send Ruddiger on ahead to save our seats.

[yellecaster]

It wouldn't hurt to send the lad on first, I think. I've got cushions to sit on now too, I'm sure he wouldn't mind warming one up for you.

[Is she just excited to get like ten minutes all to herself just to pet Ruddiger's fat tummy?
Yes, absolutely.]

[alchemistake]

He's on the way. It'll give me some time to get my bag together.

[That and he's still like...half asleep, so this is helpful.

Ruddiger of course, being a raccoon, makes it down to the sewers much faster than Varian ever could have walking. And since he knows his way around via sneaking over sometimes on his own, he's scurrying into Marnie's room pretty much within minutes of Varian's last message.

Is there room for him to scramble up into her lap, or is that Morpeko real estate?]

Action: somewhere in the pre-event timeline

[missleadingquestions]

[SINCE I'M DOING THIS AS THE PLOT BEGINS feel free to put this one on the back burner if you need]

[Maya's good at keeping promises, and wasn't kidding about knowing where Solsikke is! The addition of the lab, of course, is surprising since she's seen it so many times without the lab, but hey. Makes it obvious where she should go.

So, with comic books in tow, Maya approaches the door, knocks, and yells—]

Yoooooooooo! Mr. Varian! Are you home?

[....She's polite enough to have let him know she's coming over AND to address him like a professional... But still gonna yell at his door nbd.]

[alchemistake]

[YOU ARE TOTALLY FINE it's not like Varian is exactly active rn lmao]

[Varian is indeed home, which is fortunate considering Maya already came all this way. He's here most of the time since the sun hurts now, but then again it wasn't like he didn't already spend most of his days as a hermit...]

I'm down here, yeah! Come in!

[He waves a hand even though he knows she can't see him yet, turning his attention back to a little cylindrical object he's tinkering away with on his desk.]

[missleadingquestions]

[Maya definitely doesn't mind the sunlessness even if she isn't averse to the sun; what other opportunities does she have to glow but in the absence of light? It's cool when you're own glowing pool toy. Maya also doesn't have a problem welcoming herself on in, looking far too much at, well, everything. She's not a very look-but-don't-touch person. This might have been a mistake.]

Wow, it really is like some kind of mad scientist lab down here,

[She laughs a little while she says it, obviously not bothered.]

[alchemistake]

I'll take that as a compliment.

[Varian replies as he flicks his goggles up from his face, letting them rest just in front of the two spikes growing from his forehead.

He'll definitely be keeping his eye out for unprompted touching though, because in Varian's lab that's a BIG no.]

Wow...so you're bioluminescent, huh? I read that some merfolk could do that, but I haven't had a chance yet to see it for myself.

ACTION, September 24th, around 11 o'clock at night

[inseine]

[Javert substantiates out of the mists at eleven o'clock sharp.

The mist is an anomaly in itself. It appeared at around half past ten o'clock, beginning as a shimmering veil rounding a lazy vortex around Varian's garage. As the hour stretches and creeps closer to eleven, the veil thickens and darkens to an ominous grey-black until the light from the moon and stars becomes one with the shadows. It is so black outdoors, that an exterior lamp would damn near fizzle and die under the asphyxiating curtain. A calamitous portent, indeed, for the stars and moon to disappear out of thin air, and for the shadows to writhe on the pavement!

All of it dissolves at once at eleven. Or, rather, it condenses to a tangible lean, monstrous shape, impossibly tall, gaunt, and shrouded entirely in a cloak of shadows much larger than himself. A pair of red orbs gleam dully from the center of a rounded head-like shape.

What a fitting end to a miserable week. A fitting, and surprisingly exhilarating end. Javert did not expect to find a pot of gold at the end of his trail, as past months have left him with plenty of loose ends yet to tie, plenty of men at large to hunt and to gut. This time, now, it appears that the group called Mirage has a number of squealers loose after all. Sinking his claws into a few choice men and squeezing what he could from them with a sharp, powerfully suggestive stare was enough to get him all he needed to pinpoint a culprit and assemble the start of a case.

Varian. The engineer called Varian is responsible for the poison-spouting machines, according to MIRAGE et al, and Javert means to find this miscreant and pose to him a tough interrogation.

Several other forms murmur and writhe in the shadows. Javert raises his heavy leaden cane in a halt signal, and hisses under his breath,]

Wait here, boys.

[All movement ceases, and only Javert emerges at the front. The moonlight limns his ashen, gaunt flesh with streaks of silvery glitter. He strides up to the door, unhurried and calm, and raises his cane for a sharp rap befitting the tone of a public authority.]

Open up! [he calls imperiously.] I am looking for the one called Varian! Come, now, open up, and let's talk!

[alchemistake]

[Contrary to how it might have seemed on the outside this week, as Varian was pretty much impossible to find for the duration of all of the chaos, the Goblin has been keeping an eye on things. Partially through use of his ability to hide among the shadows, as well as his pet raccoon who would skitter through the city streets and report back his findings. None of what Varian ended up learning was...at all any good. As he'd feared, his serum had been a complete failure on every level. Not only did it not do what he'd hoped, it has instead been perverted into a very altered version of the truth serum he'd concocted over a year ago in Corona. It seemed to have a much different effect on monsters here, that much was certain...

And with those close to him compelled to tell the truth, he knew that it would be only a matter of time before his involvement got out. Not just via colleagues either, but the group who had made all of this possible through their funding of his research. Even with how awfully everything turned out, Varian wouldn't quite say he completely regretted it, as much as he wished he could have seen the writing on the wall of how bad it would have gotten before it was too late. He'd genuinely thought he was doing the right thing here...

Maybe he should have thought twice when that pool of water from the sea of stars told him differently.

At this point, he's well aware that something's wrong. Someone- something- has cottoned on to his location, and it's no friend from Solsikke. The sky along with the rest of the city lights are blocked out from the sliver of a gap he can peek through on the garage door, leaving him to make a choice. Right now he's like a mouse cornered like a cat, but that doesn't mean he lacks tricks up his sleeves or avenues of escape. He's just smart enough to realize that if he tries to bolt now, he could still be putting his friends in danger. Mirage could have even put someone up to this.

His blood goes icy when Javert's voice rings out as he demands he open up, giving Varian just enough time to usher Ruddiger beneath the desk to hide.]

Stay here, buddy. Please. I'll handle this.

[He turns to face the door after that, walking over to step on the lever on the ground that causes it to automatically open up. When Varian is revealed, he's standing there with his posture tense and straight backed, though not yet particularly aggressive or threatening. Just...wary, watching. Recognition flashes in his eyes, but only for a moment.]

You know, I generally prefer people make an appointment before they come during my working hours.

[inseine]

Bonsoir to you as well, Varian.

[Javert's lips thin into the barest, coldest hint of a smirk.]

About your working hours, [he repeats dryly. The grip around the head of his cane tightens, and he taps the floor idly, eyes narrowing with a glance flicked over Varian's shoulder.] You have been hard at work all week, it seems. Not even a moment to step out and greet the night with the rest of us, not a word to most of your friends and castle-mates. Yet what I find most interesting is this: of all the people in the land, there is a certain lot of human gangsters that knew just where I could find you tucking yourself in the sand.

[Javert takes a sharp, long inhale. He cannot see anything within eyeshot of use, but if there is a trace of sweetness lingering in the air, his vampiric nose will detect it. He grunts musingly, like a tiger with a mouse's tail trapped beneath a meaty paw.] I wonder why that is?

[His pupils fix intensely back to his Person of Interest, and a low rumble resembling a growl wrests free from his throat. His upper lip curls away just enough to reveal a yellowed snarl of fang. He stays and squares his shoulders exactly where he is, chin held high and brow knitted into a haughty crease.]

I want a look around the premises. Step aside. And I warn you that it is healthiest for you to cooperate with my requests tonight.

[alchemistake]

[Oh, Varain knows good and well he's been caught, especially with the way Javert is posturing. It's perhaps stranger that he doesn't look as addled as he should, perhaps indicating that he's been through dire straights like this before. It's almost like deja vu actually, having his residence stormed...except this time, he's not holding any hostages.

He says nothing as Javert speaks, keeping his eyes leveled on the Vampire instead. While that's going on though, he's letting his peripheral observe the outside, trying to take note of everything he possibly can while he still has the chance to do so. Possible hidden threats, as well as potential avenues of escape should things turn ugly here. He just hopes that Ruddiger stays well out of sight where he asked him to go.

While Varian knows Javert likely has no official warrant in place to search his garage, he's not going to reveal his claws just yet. Instead, he cooly takes a step to one side to allow him entrance.]

By all means. Just...mind the mess.

[The mess being...a lot of parts sort of just strewn all over, but none of them seem to connect to any one thing in particular. Unless one is an engineer or well versed in machinery, it would be hard to pick the pieces out for being anything but various scrap metals Varian's been tinkering with. There's a partially built robot sitting on a table at the back, but it doesn't resemble the machines dotting the town at all.

Javert won't actually detect any sign of Varian's serum here, solely because all of his alchemy remains in Solsikke. The machines themselves were assembled in the garage with the cores carefully placed before they were delivered throughout town, leaving his hands clean of that much. Still though...there are only a small handful of other monsters in Ryslig that have this much tech just lying around, and Varian has no alibi.]