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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.

[alchemistake]

[VERY SUSPICIOUS...he may try to peek only once before giving up, but that doesn't mean Ruddiger won't be trying to look in his place. Though it's questionable whether he could read it anyway, really. The appearance of the brand new door that Barian is positive wasn't there before, though...that takes precident over what Elsa might be writing, his attention thoroughly distracted.

For good reason too, given what he walks down those stairs to find. His jaw drops at what he sees.

He probably won't ever be fully done taking it in, but he's...he sure is trying. Varian ends up taking a few steps further in as he scans the room, trying to make sense of everything he's looking at. The setup isn't familiar as his own or even one he's seen before, no...but it's still more than he ever even dared to dream he could figure out for this place. He'd been trying to brainstorm the last while, thinking about old abandoned buildings he could maybe take up residence in...then trying to suss out how he'd get his equipment, and where from.

This takes care of so much of that.

He turns finally to look at the notepad so he can read what Elsa wrote, but in doing so it's difficult for him to hide the look on his face. Varian has been prone to emotional outbursts before, for better or worse, but right now he seems too shocked to do anything. Still, the glassy quality in his eyes is clear enough even as Ruddiger chitters excitedly, jumping from Varian's shoulders so he can explore in his stead.

Despite everything though, the lab itself isn't what Varian comments on first.]

You did this...for me? You really consider me...family?

[The way he questions her- that "me"- is almost like he doesn't feel deserving of it, for some reason.]

[defyingfrigidity]

Of course.

[It's almost a break from her usual neat handwriting, because of how fast she writes that out.]

Those of us from Corona, and those of us from Arendelle... we need to stick together. We share the same bond that our kingdoms do, and in a way, that makes us family.

[They've been through hell together. They've suffered together. Elsa wants to protect this boy as much as she wants to protect her sister, Rapunzel, even Cassandra and Eugene who don't need protecting. If that's not a sense of family... she's not sure what is.]

I just thought it might be nice to have something to help take your mind off things when things start getting a little tough.

[alchemistake]

[In truth, it's only been a relatively short time that Varian truly felt part of his kingdom, let alone part of more than one. Corona had welcomed him into it's doors with open arms, despite the things he'd done...so maybe he shouldn't be too terribly surprised by this show of kindness, either. That's just how people tended to be in their neck of the woods, in spite of everything.

Varian shakes his head, though it's not in reference to what Elsa said. It's more to try to pull himself together before he does something embarrassing, even as he's having to lift his arm to quickly scrub over his eyes.]

I don't...I don't even know what to say. All of this, just...it's incredible. It's more than I could have ever hoped to have.

[He looks back at the equipment again, as if half expecting it to disappear. Like it's some sort of dream, really.]

How can I possibly repay you?

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?

[yellecaster]

[And up he goes!! She can't say no to Ruddiger - he's about the closest thing to a Pokémon she's seen yet, of course she's gonna give him special attention.
It helps, too, that both her arms are fine; that fog really did heal her up quick, though it left her with a sizeable scar under her bangs.

Varian's question, though, gets...
A shrug. Just a shrug.]

You ever have curry before? I made too much to eat myself, so I thought it might be kinda nice to share it with someone.

[... So this clearly loops back around to the whole "Marnie doesn't really have friends aside from Varian", thing.]

[alchemistake]

Curry? That's a new one to me...what's it like?

[He asks as he starts to walk into her place- he's just going to without asking, apparently, now that she has his raccoon and all- already looking the corridor over to see how exactly Marnie has made it her own. If Elsa hadn't been kind enough to get him his own lab in the castle, he can imagine he would have been coming up with some kind of scenario similar to this one...though maybe not in the sewers, and especially not the sewers where he'd been taken apart and tortured.]

[yellecaster]

Depends on how you make it, really.
Normally it's got a kick to it, but they don't sell anythin' I'd use to make it back home... it's a pretty bog-standard recipe back in Galar, but you ask one guy if he's got any Pecha berries and suddenly everyone's starin' at you like you've grown another head.

[It's almost a complaint as she follows along behind him - and really, there hasn't been a whole lot added to the place.
In fact, it's the opposite; every single cell and room as they go down the corridor looks to be completely cleared out.

There's a sharp, 90-degree corner at the end of the hall, though, with a room on either side of it - and considering the flickering light pouring out of one of them, it's safe to say that's the one she's picked to start living in.
In there is where all of Marnie's decor changes have been happening. Most of it's clearly scrap, stuff she's drug down into the sewers from a nearby junkyard or maybe just plain pilfered out of (and from around) dumpsters in the city.

But there's a rug stretched along one side of it, a sleeping bag neatly laid on top, as well as a big stewpot on stilts off to the other side with a little fire going underneath.
And the smell of the curry is... unique, for sure. Not bad, just. Unique.]

Whole pot's right here if you wanna have a taste. Spoon's on the little table next to it.

[It's a box of brand new silverware, luckily. The bowls in a little stack next to it seem to be brand new, too.]

[alchemistake]

[It's as impressive as it is interesting. He can imagine it must have taken Marnie a while to get things down here, and from what he can only assume, she's probably done it all through her own manpower. Or well, mostly- he knows some people helped her clear the place out, but even then. It's still impressive work even if it's still in it's infancy.

Ruddiger sniffs the air when they come up on Marnie's room and the curry pot, Varian making his way over to where it's softly boiling away. Since Varian has definitely never had curry before, he's not entirely sure what to expect...but he'll take one of the spoons for a taste anyway, scooping some of it gingerly to his mouth to carefully taste.

It's hot temperature wise, and he's not quite detecting the "kick" he's sure it's lacking. There's some spice there, but it's probably just from black pepper. The rest he could probably identify through taste alone if he had a good enough starting point. Cooking is just alchemy with more steps, after all.]

This is pretty good, Marnie. Even if you don't have the usual stuff to make it, it's not half bad at all.

[yellecaster]

[Her face does something at the compliment - it's really hard to say what, or if it's even positive.
But at least the cheeriness can be heard in her voice!

... Or maybe that's worse, considering the hard dissonance between her blank face and cheery tone. Yeesh.]

Thanks. The guesswork to get it this far was pretty hard; it's a little off, but I think I got pretty close.

[And now that she's gotten his approval, she'll go ahead and actually serve him a bowl of it -
As well as one for Ruddiger. We work by Pokémon rules down here in the sewers.]

And hey, if you like it... that makes it a pretty good way to repay ya, right?

[alchemistake]

[Yeah Varian looks mildly surprised she's feeding Ruddiger too, but it does look like there's a LOT of curry here...so before the raccoon can just shove his whole face in, Varian lifts a hand.]

Take it easy on that, Ruddiger. Last thing we need is for you to have a problem I really don't want to have to deal with.

[The raccoon's response is to, of course, stick his tongue out at Varian and blow a raspberry before picking up the bowl in his paws to eat straight from, fuck you??

But anyway, Varian will have a seat wherever he can so he can eat as well, holding his spoon between the fingers of his one hand.]

I'd sure say so. Any reason you made so much of it, though? Surely not just for me, right?

[yellecaster]

Well...
I'm used to cookin' for six.

[Her whole team's not here to share it with her, so there's a lot there that she just straight up can't eat. It's too much.
But that's why she figured inviting Varian over would knock out two Pidove with one stone; she doesn't have to worry about too much leftovers, AND she gets to repay him for helping her out!]

... But it looks like Ruddiger's enjoyin' it enough, I could probably send you guys back with a little extra, right?

[alchemistake]

[He sure is enjoying it...but raccoons are also known for eating literal garbage, so Varian knows Ruddiger would have likely eaten it even if it was burnt. But he isn't going to say that, of course.]

Well, looks like we wouldn't mind it. It'd be nice to have something I can just grab to eat for a couple days, anyway. I've been so busy working that I forget to head out to get lunch sometimes.

By the way...has anyone told you about the coins that sometimes just seem to...appear on you, yet?

[yellecaster]

[Marnie just stares at him blankly for a second, before shaking her head "no".]

Not yet, nah. I don't talk to a lot of people around here, myself...
Is that really a thing?

[Asked as she serves herself a bowl next, of course.]

[alchemistake]

Yeah! It's a little surprising at first, but you get used to it. Here...

[He reaches into one of the pockets of his apron, pulling out a silver coin that he hands over to Marnie to look at. The coin has a funny engraving of what looks to be a monster on one side, a creature with small bat wings curled up like a gargoyle almost...a Goblin.]

I asked around, and what they are is like...a currency you can give to someone called Mana here who is able to grant people things if you pay her. That's actually how I was able to get Ruddiger here, back. It was the first thing I could think of, so I gave her everything I had.

[Ruddiger lifts his head from his bowl when his name is mentioned, curry staining his white fur around his cheeks.]

If you want your team back, you could bring her some of these coins and ask about them.

[yellecaster]

- I could get Morpeko back.

[That's said without even thinking about it, the importance of her little electrified hamster clear just by the insistence behind her words.

Because holy shit, social interactions are SO HARD without Morpeko here to help her.

She stares at that coin for a moment, turning it over in her fingers, before handing it back over to him.]

How many coins did you need for Ruddiger? Can't have been too much, right?
The lad's fat, but he's not big...

[alchemistake]

It only took 20. They showed up over the month, I'd find around three or five every couple days. I had enough to give her by the end of last month, that way.

[He takes the coin back, looking it over a bit more himself before pocketing it again.]

So if I had to guess, it'd be that much for Morpeko, too.

[...]

Is...Morpeko one of these Pokemon you keep mentioning, Marnie?

[yellecaster]

[He gets a couple of nods.]

My partner, too. I've had Morpeko since I was just five... nearly as big as I was, back then.
This place has been pretty hard without Morpeko around; I'm not really all that skilled at talkin' to people or judgin' character.

At least, not off the field. Durin' a battle, sure, but I can't read a person even a little just by talkin' to'em.

[Which probably makes it even more clear why it feels so urgent for her to get it back.]