Varian (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
droptheious) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
deernet2021-10-07 05:13 pm
droptheious) wrote in deernet2021-10-07 05:13 pm
un: trienemybest; video
[The video feed opens in Varian's creepy basement lab where health and safety regulations go to die. The boy himself isn't looking that great, his skin has a grey-ish tinge to it and he looks more exhausted than usual. But that's fine, he's fine. He turns the camera around to take in some sapphires on his workbench. Some are soaking in various chemical substances, some are under a microscope, some are in various steampunk-y machines: it's clear some testing has been going on. ]
So, Flynn was kind enough to give me some of the crystals that grew on his corpse during...whatever weird new thing death is here. [He doesn't sound as excited about this as his usual projects and anyone who knows about his deeply unfortunate past will know why.] I have experience in creepy, magical death rocks -no...no I'm not going to elaborate on that- so I decided to study them. They seem to be crystalising the actual cells of the body- so not just a separate coating. I also found traces of warmblood within the crystals themselves, which I think is what Flynn is? A-anyway, it seems they're working on a cellular level, like they're what jumpstarts the reversal of the cell degeneration after death- so- so it's possible they're what reverses then entire process.
Anyway, moral of the story is, they're probably super important in resurrecting people so maybe don't mess with the process when it's happening? Of course, without having any other samples to compare this to, it's all conjecture right now.
[A beat, he turns the camera back to himself, grimacing.]
Sorry, I forgot who I was talking to. Please don't take that as encouragement to get yourselves killed in the name of science.
[Another beat, then he waves a hand airily.]
Thaaaaaat said, this is October, so statistically, there's a high chance that a not-insignificant portion of the population will be dead by the end of the month. So...if you wanna donate your death crystals for science then, that would be less...morally grey. Probably? Probably.
So, Flynn was kind enough to give me some of the crystals that grew on his corpse during...whatever weird new thing death is here. [He doesn't sound as excited about this as his usual projects and anyone who knows about his deeply unfortunate past will know why.] I have experience in creepy, magical death rocks -no...no I'm not going to elaborate on that- so I decided to study them. They seem to be crystalising the actual cells of the body- so not just a separate coating. I also found traces of warmblood within the crystals themselves, which I think is what Flynn is? A-anyway, it seems they're working on a cellular level, like they're what jumpstarts the reversal of the cell degeneration after death- so- so it's possible they're what reverses then entire process.
Anyway, moral of the story is, they're probably super important in resurrecting people so maybe don't mess with the process when it's happening? Of course, without having any other samples to compare this to, it's all conjecture right now.
[A beat, he turns the camera back to himself, grimacing.]
Sorry, I forgot who I was talking to. Please don't take that as encouragement to get yourselves killed in the name of science.
[Another beat, then he waves a hand airily.]
Thaaaaaat said, this is October, so statistically, there's a high chance that a not-insignificant portion of the population will be dead by the end of the month. So...if you wanna donate your death crystals for science then, that would be less...morally grey. Probably? Probably.
Private
...Thank you. I appreciate that.
[He really does. Shiro... well, Shiro and Adam are the closest things he's had to actual father figures since he got here. No replacement for his actual father, of course- but...people he desperately doesn't want to disappoint either. ]
Okay. So. I didn't manage to kill anyone, thankfully. Rapunzel figured out a connection to the black rocks in time to stop me. I got sent to prison for a year, and while Rapunzel was following the path the black rocks led, I broke out with a group of other people and took over the kingdom with them. I helped them wipe the king and queen's memories, and ran the kingdom with them as puppets. I wanted to wipe everyone's memories- make them forget everything I'd done. Which was so stupid, but I was desperate. I made the people of the kingdom work in the mines, to gather the materials I needed for the potion.
[He ran a slave state, basically. The people held that against him for a long, long time- he's sure some of them still do, and he honestly can't blame them for a second. ]
Rapunzel came back and the group I was with revealed that they were planning on using the chemicals I created as a bomb instead. They were gonna destroy the entire city, with everyone inside of it. That... it was a line I couldn't cross. I didn't want anyone to be hurt. So I helped Rapunzel stop them, and she used the powers she'd gained away to free my dad. So I spent the rest of my time I had back home trying to make things better again, to make up for everything I'd done, you know? Put some good back from all the bad I'd put into the world.
[Which should offer some solid explanation as to why Varian so tirelessly tries to help people here. H feels like he has a debt to the universe he's not sure he can ever really clear. ]