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cest-la-vieve · 2 years

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Mind Games (Azriel x Reader)

Summary: Cute little Azriel one-shot, based on a very passionate conversation about who the Inner Court is maining in MarioKart. Az is just a bit too competitive when it comes to game night and reader decides she's had enough.

Word Count: 2k

Warnings: Mature themes! No smut but def 18+

Notes: for a very good pal, @hazelmaysworld, who didn't have the greatest day, az cheers up everyone 😉

---

Game nights with the Inner Circle were no joke, especially since that had extended to include the two elder Archeron sisters and Varian… Well, and myself, I suppose.

Azriel had found me in a cabin in the Night Court territory on a mission gone sideways, knocking on my door bruised and bleeding. I, not recognizing him as the Shadowsinger of the Night Court, took him in and nursed him back to health. He couldn’t say a word at first, the ash arrows in his wings had ensured that, but once he woke up a few days later… He still didn’t have much to say.

I had been perfectly content with that… Until he showed up a second time. His wounds weren’t nearly as bad but I surmised that he was trying to hide them from someone. This time though, I made him explain.

The gist was that he was far from the Court - a Court he was part of, I found out - on a mission that his High Lord and Lady had told him to abandon, which is why he couldn’t call them for help. He also explained that his injuries this time weren’t the only reason he came back.

He had wanted to thank me and ask if he could look through my library for something to help the High Lady since I seemed so adept at healing. My family and I had collected many books throughout the years, so our second floor of the cabin had essentially become a library.

I, of course, as is my duty as a citizen of Night, said he was welcome to come back anytime and browse the shelves. I did not realize that he would come back with both the General of the Night Court and the High Lord himself.

I very quickly realized that these overgrown Illyrian babies were nothing more than that - a trio of brothers that just so happened to rule the most powerful Court our lands had ever seen. I made them lunch and after they effectively ate me out of house and home, they invited me to Velaris.

Weeks later, I was offered a position on the Court, and months later, we were here. Playing a particularly intense game of MarioKart.

Rhys and Feyre, Rhys as Toadette (at the insistence of a very giggly Cassian) and Feyre as Peach, had left hours ago, citing “Night Court business” which we all knew was bullshit. Rhys had been in Feyre’s head all night, flirty or dirty thoughts being shared between them until it got to the point both of them were consistently coming in 11th and 12th. Thankfully, they spared us the details and quietly left to the River House.

Amren had been forced to play as Baby Mario, which lasted for exactly one race before she demanded Varian take her elsewhere for wine.

Mor had been begging to go to Rita’s all night, which was our usual tradition once the games were complete, but the begging had started early when she kept getting 6th place as Rosalina. She eventually claimed she was cursed and that only a night of dancing would make her better. She left, Cassian promising he’d be on her heels the minute this cup was over.

Cassian, who always played as Donkey Kong, was getting more frustrated with Azriel by the second. A well-placed banana peel thrown by our current 1st place had 2nd place Cassian cussing up a storm, which Nesta took as their sign to leave. We had gotten her to play a few races with us, though she kept switching up her character and karts, blaming her losing streak on them. So she grabbed Cass’s hand and practically dragged him to the front door as soon as she could, telling us she was going to dance with Mor.

That left Azriel, Elain, and I battling it out with two races to go. Elain was content to drive Daisy around at a leisurely pace, never throwing her items because she “didn’t want anyone to blame her for their lack of skill”, which I had only laughed at.

Azriel… Azriel was a different beast entirely. From what I could tell, he had spent hours mapping out the exact right character, kart, wheel, and paraglider combination for each CC and board. Though he usually defaulted to Shy Guy, he would have us waiting for minutes as he found which kart had the exact acceleration level he needed. He was the most competitive person I had ever met, though he usually backed it up by kicking our asses at every game.

I could usually get close to beating him but hadn’t ever succeeded. It got frustrating, watching the way he’d planned for my every move and outsmarted me at every turn. This is how most nights ended, everyone leaving and he and I remaining at the House of Wind battling it out until he eventually won too many times that I’d relent and we’d join the others at Rita’s or the River House.

I crossed the finish line and saw Az leaning back in his seat, arms behind his head, smirking. The bastard had been finished for what 15, 30 seconds before I had? Elain was still racing, making cute grunts of displeasure when she was hit with an item or ran into an obstacle. She eventually finished and fell back on the couch, huffing out a sigh.

I laughed and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, “Giving up so soon, soldier?”

She glared at me, though her eyes sparkled with joy. “I already know there’s no beating you two. Better to give up now than watch you two yell at each other the rest of the night.”

Az moved a muscled arm from behind his head to place a hand on his heart, feigning hurt, “No need to yell at her when I know I’ll beat her anyways.”

I stuck my tongue out at him and a small snort of amusement left his nose. Elain just shook her head at us and stood up, smoothing out the wrinkles in her dress.

“Well, best of luck,” she said, patting my head, “But I’m getting up early tomorrow to plant the seeds that just arrived from the Day Court, so I need to get some rest tonight.”

I stood, hugging her, and she whispered in my ear, “Whatever it takes, knock him down a peg.”

I let out a hearty laugh and, loud enough that Azriel could hear, I said, “whatever it takes.”

She smiled and nodded to Azriel before leaving.

I sat back down and picked up my controller. I looked at Az, at that smug grin on his face, and knew Elain was right. Tonight was the night I had to finally beat him at something.

“Well, Azzy-boy? Ready to lose?”

“You know you say that every time we have a game night, right?”

“And one day, I’ll be right.”

“Just hit start,” he grinned, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees, controller between his nimble fingers.

I set my brow, focusing fully on the screen in front of us as I hit the button to start the race. My mind raced with ways to throw him off or distract him enough that I could get the win. I quickly ran through all the training Rhys, Cass, and Az had given me as if this were a battle to be won, which to me, it was. What would Cassian do? Assess his opponent for weaknesses.

Az didn’t exactly have weaknesses. At least, not any I could exploit to win a kart racing game.

The race started and it quickly turned into what most would have guessed: Az in first place and me in second, trailing behind him and trying desperately to catch up.

I kept wracking my brain. Talking. I could talk. Say something to throw him off.

So I just started, “You know, Shadowsinger, today I went to the markets down in Velaris?”

He just hummed in acknowledgment, getting a boost from a curve signifying that this was doing nothing to sway his game.

“Well and I went to that cute little shop right next to the Sidra, you know the one that Rhys got Feyre’s Solstice present from last year?”

I spared a glance at him, seeing his back stiffen as his eyes didn’t leave the screen. I knew he remembered last Solstice as well as I did, when Rhys had gifted Feyre a particularly scant set of lingerie in front of everyone, turning her cheeks a deep shade of red. We all had to hide our blushes and laughter as Rhys just grinned wider and wider.

I watched as his kart veered slightly and the distance between us closed just the slightest bit. There it was. Weakness.

I hesitated, only because I wasn’t sure what lines were too far to cross for our friendship. But Elain’s words echoed in my head, “Whatever it takes.” How many game nights had we suffered as Azriel sat smugly in the booth at Rita’s, the rest of us mulling over our loss? Not tonight.

“Az?” I asked, as some time had passed between my last question and now.

“Hmm?” He hummed.

“Do you know the one?”

“Mother above, yes, I know the one. What are you getting at, Peach?”

I laughed slightly at the use of the nickname. It was one I had earned the week after arriving in Velaris, getting drunk on peach wine with Cassian before challenging him to a fight. He took one swing, missing completely, and we both collapsed in a fit of giggles. The Inner Circle had rarely called me by my name since, except Azriel. He only pulled it out during moments like this, just me and him, to either be friendly or distract me from the game, I wasn’t sure.

I squared my shoulders, shaking the memory from my head as I crossed the finish line. One lap to go. It was now or never.

“I couldn’t find anything I liked.”

“Oh?”

I took a deep breath before saying, “Yeah, look.”

I watched his eyebrows furrow in confusion, but with my Fae speed, I lifted my shirt with one hand and held the acceleration button with the other. His eyes widened as he turned his head enough to gawk fully at my now-exposed breasts.

“Cauldron boil and fry me, what the HELL are you doing?”

“Trying to show you that I couldn’t find any of those lacey pieces that suited me well.”

He stuttered, mouth opening and closing like a fish on land, as I kept my shirt up with one hand and steered with the other. His character had fully stopped in place, almost as if the Shy Guy were also waiting to be filled in on what was happening.

I kept pushing on until I had passed Az and crossed the finish line, all while he blushed a deep shade of pink and fought to find the right words.

I dropped my shirt and whooped with joy, jumping up, “TAKE THAT, SPYMASTER!”

His mouth closed and he looked at the screen. He looked back up at me as if it took him a minute to process what just happened.

I jumped around the room, dancing to a song only I could hear, as I reveled in my win over the unbeatable Azriel. I couldn’t wait to get to Rita’s and tell the others that after months of trying, I had finally -

I gasped as I suddenly found myself pressed against a wall, the hard surface mirroring the hard surface of Azriel’s body pressing against my front. His forearms rested on either side of my head, wings spread wide between him, and every breath either of us took was suddenly shared with the other.

His eyes blazed with something I couldn’t decipher as I stared up into them, his tall frame dwarfing mine. The entire feeling of the room had shifted into something foreign between the two of us and I worried I had crossed a line.

I parted my lips, about to ask if I had offended or to apologize for crossing a boundary, but he moved his head to place his lips next to my ear.

“You have no idea what you’ve started, angel.”

#azriel #azriel smut #azriel shadowsinger #azriel shadowsinger x reader #azriel x reader #acotar #inner circle #night court

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ackerslut · 3 years

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of all i am made of (perhaps you are too)

ao3

Hugo does not believe in soulmates.

To be fair, he doesn’t much believe in anything but the feeling of coin in his pocket and the clever bite of his dagger. What use has he for god and destiny when he carves his own path of lies through time, with a sharp tongue and a cocky smile.

Why should Hugo believe the universe would gift him a soulmate when it already has made it perfectly clear that nothing is free?

Besides soulmates are rarities of the past--legends and folktales on the lips of elders and religious fanatics; the former clinging to superstition from the od era, the latter feeding false promises and hope to the instupid masses.

Soulmates are for hopeless romantics and tiny children. Not for Hugo.

“That does not surprise me,” Nuru says, the beginnings of a smile forming on her face.

She’s lying down in the golden field where they’ve set camp for the night. The contrast of the bright yellow against her dark skin is stunning-particularly in the moonlight, with her dark hair fanning out about her head.

Hugo, who is sitting upright a few paces away and playing with his daggers, frowns.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asks, unsure if he should be feeling defensive or not.

Nuru folds her arms beneath her head, propping herself up enough to make eye contact with him. “Even if you had a soulmate, you wouldn’t know what to do with them,” she scoffs.

He snorts. “ You believe in soulmates?”

“Is that so surprising?”

“Yes, actually. I thought you were the rational one in this party.”

Nuru gives him an expression that indicates how stupid she thinks he is. “I might be the only person who can keep their head in a crisis, but that doesn’t mean I can’t believe in a higher power, Hugo.”

She rolls over, so that she’s laying on her stomach, facing him. “Burning stars fall in my homeland every year. There are stories of a sun princess who’s tears heal the dead. Varian somehow hasn’t strangled you yet. I think you’d better start believing in a god.”

“Or soulmates apparently,” Hugo mutters.

“Or soulmates,” Nuru says. “Would it really be that far-fetched?”

“Do I believe there’s someone out there who shares my dreams? Or has my name written above their heart? Hard pass, Princess.”

“Alright then, how about sharing the same soul?” Nuru asks, folding her hands together and resting her chin on them. “You’re telling me that doesn’t sound at least a little romantic?”

“I don’t have a soul.”

“Now that,” she says, a grin stretching across her face, “that I can believe.”

___

“I think Anya’s my soulmate,” Yong says dreamily, staring at Varian’s redheaded cousin like she hung the fucking moon.

Hugo, despite secretly adoring the round child, rolls his eyes. Hard. “Do you even know what that means?”

“It means we share the same time threads,” Yong replies distractedly.

Varian and Anya are nerding out over something-something Hugo would find interesting or fun to mock them over, but right now, for some reason, he’s more interested in Yong’s adorable-if not misguided-crush on Varian’s little cousin.

“Time threads,” Hugo laughs, cracking his knuckles. Yong winces at the noise, momentarily taking his eyes off the two babbling alchemists. “Alright, color me curious. What are time threads?”

Yong frowns. “You’ve never heard of time threads? Every child in Koto learns about them.”

Ah, must be some religious poppycock only spread in the fire kingdom.

“Well, I’m not a child living in Koto, am I?” Hugo replies lightly. “Spill, little pyro.” He pokes the kid in the shoulder repeatedly until he gets swatted.

“Her lady, Odiyesi, spins a thread for each person,” Yong recites in a sing-song voice. “This thread contains the beginning, the middle, and the end of our lives. If she so chooses, two threads will be intertwined-maybe even beyond the Snip, if she wills it.”

“The Snip?”

“Oh yeah, that’s when you die,” Yong says, side eyeing Hugo.

Hugo ruffles Yong’s hair. “And you think Anya is your thread partner. That’s so cute .”

Yong ducks out from under his hand, scowling. “Why did you ask if you don’t even believe it?” he mumbles, face pink.

“You know what I think?” Hugo asks, pretending like he doesn’t hear Yong. “I think you should go right up to here and tell her all that. Give her a heads up about your eternally bound souls.”

“Your soul is eternally bound to the underworld,” Yong shoots back, with a surprising amount of fire.

Hugo bursts into laughter. “That,” he says, “is the first thing you’ve said all day that makes sense.”

___

“What do you think about soulmates?” Hugo asks mildly. He has a glass of wine in one hand, but he’s barely tasted it. Instead, he stands, staring out the stained glass window and into the courtyard.

Donella, sitting behind her desk, looks up from Varian’s Ulla’s journal-recently procured by Hugo.

The amount of deception and sneaking around he’d gone through to actually get it out of Varian’s line of sight had been painstakingly difficult. And it had been even harder coming up with an excuse to Nuru why he needed to spend the night somewhere other than their current lodgings.

He doesn’t really remember the lie. Just the trust in the Princess’s face when she’d briefly patted him on the shoulder, telling him to be back by sunrise.

Donella closes the journal with a snap, leaning back in her chair. “What a curious question. And from you, no less.”

When Hugo turns around, she’s smiling that sharp smile-the one that makes his stomach plummet with discomfort. Something in him churns at that dangerous expression now, unsure of what he’s suddenly gotten himself into.

He gives a casual shrug, raising his glass to his lips. “Just making idle conversation, I suppose.” The wine tastes terrible. Still, he takes another sip before setting it down on an end table.

“Hmm.” His mentor eyes him skeptically. “What do I think about soulmates?” she muses, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “I suppose the proper answer would be that I hate them.”

He frowns. “So you don’t believe in them?”

“You can’t hate something you don’t believe in, Hugo. Of course I believe in soulmates.” Donella must see the surprise in his expression because she laughs after a brief pause. “I would be hard pressed not to believe in them after seeing it with my own two eyes.”

Hugo blinks, startled. “You met someone with a soulmate?” he asks, disbelieving.

“You could say that.”

“How do-how did you know they were-”

She opens the stolen journal again, long scared fingers deftly flipping back to her reading place. “Because I could feel when she was in pain. Now shut up, Waif, I still have three quarters of this tedious reading to get through and only five more hours to do it.”

___

Even though Eugene has decided to make the conscious effort not to kill Hugo, the guy still shows mild animosity. And by mild, Hugo-of course-means that he drags him around, making him do tedious tasks and scowls whenever he gets close to Varian.

Whatever. It’s not as if Hugo’s going to complain, considering that it’s mostly his fault there was a demon monster briefly unleashed onto Corona that destroyed most of her capital city. As long as Varian isn’t blaming himself, Hugo calls it a win.

So he lets the Prince Consort drag him around the city and put his alchemy to work.

“You don’t have to stay,” Hugo says, at one point, when it becomes apparent that even though Eugene has no idea how alchemy works , he was still going to hover. “I’m not going to cut and run.”

The man had snorted. “Yeah, I already figured that one out for myself,” he’d muttered and then proceeded to not explain what that meant.

So here Hugo is, with an ever present shadow, hovering like he’s a fucking five year old. Hugo honestly doesn’t see what Varian sees in the guy-or Queen Rapunzel for that matter. She looks at the ex-thief like he hung the moon and all the damn stars in the sky.

“It’s because they’re soulmates,” Eugene’s buddy-Lance, Hugo thinks-had said when he caught him staring.

Hugo had scoffed.

Now, bored and overheated after a long day’s work, Hugo watches Eugene frown over some blueprints in the Queen’s study. Hugo’s not exactly sure why he has to be present for this particular part of the renovation project, but he’s too tired to protest.

“Are you and the queen soulmates?” he hears himself asking.

Eugene lifts his head, eyes alight with surprise. He glances back down at the blueprints once, before leaving the table to join Hugo by the open doors leading to the balcony.

“Weird question, coming from you,” he snorts, leaning against the doorframe and crossing his arms. “But yes. We are.”

Hugo doesn’t know what to make of that. “How do you know?”

The older man hesitates, something like understanding dawning on the man’s face. A small smile crosses lips. “Have you ever met someone that no matter how many times you tried to walk away, you couldn’t?”

Hugo swallows.

“That’s how I know. Now,” he claps Hugo on the shoulder. “If you’ll stop messing around, I need your opinion on whether Yong’s demolition idea or Varian’s solvent solution is going to work best for the lower district’s avalanche problem.”

___

At the end of all things-or perhaps the beginning-Hugo finds Varian on a rooftop.

It’s not hard to find him, as when Varian is brooding, he likes to perch. It’s a habit that the alchemist has either picked up from spending most of his time in a castle with high roofs or perhaps it’s born of chasing his dumb racoon into precarious positions.

Either way, Hugo learns early into his friendship with the darkhaired boy, that when he’s being introspective, he likes to pick a high roof and perch like a fucking woodland creature.

So when Varian goes missing in the middle of Corona’s lantern festival, it takes precious few minutes to find him.

“You are so predictable,” Hugo says, dropping down next to him. Heights don’t usually bother him, but the castle is impressively tall.

The other alchemist doesn’t really seem to mind, however. He lets his legs dangle over the edge, occasionally swinging in the air.

“Or maybe I wanted you to find me,” Varian replies easily. His head--tilted up, toward the stars that are mirrored in the constellations of freckles on his face-is wearing a peaceful expression.

Something in Hugo’s chest clenches tightly at the sight of it. There was a time, not too long ago, where he was convinced he’d never see Varian happy again.

But now, Varian turns his face toward Hugo and offers him a smile. “Or maybe I’m just predictable to you.”

The tightness in Hugo’s chest dissipates. What is left aches for something he can’t have.

“Or that,” Hugo says, instead of doing something stupid like trying to hold Varian’s hand or kiss the stupid expression off his face.

Varian turns back to the stars.

“You know, they say shooting stars fall in the direction of your soulmate.”

Hugo rolls his eyes. “Not you too,” he groans, eliciting laughter from his friend. “I thought out of everyone, you would be on my side here.”

“Aw, don’t believe in soulmates?” Varian teases, grinning boyishly. “Sun and moon, I should have expected that.”

“Yeah?” Hugo raises his eyebrows. “How so?”

“You’re so cynical. And not in the way Cass is-she’s like realistically -cynical. You’re just oh poor me I could never have a soulmate because my soul is made of garbage -”

Hugo clamps a hand over Varian’s mouth, shrieking when he tries to lick him. “I- stop -I don’t have to listen to this slander -”

“-and if you ever did find your soulmate you would be insufferable about it,” Varian goes on, catching Hugo’s wrist when he tries to silence him again. “You would spend the entire time trying to prove to yourself and everyone else that there was no possible way they could be your soulmate and when you couldn’t you would-”

He stops. Blinks at Hugo with realization dawning across his face.

Hugo’s wonders if Varian can feel his pulse racing where the smaller boy’s fingers wrap around his wrist.

“Yeah? What would I do?”

Varian’s lips purse. “I don’t know what you would do. I’d hope you would be smart about it.”

He lets go of Hugo.

Hugo immediately misses his warmth.

“And what would be the smart thing.”

“Well,” Varian draws out the word thoughtfully. He scoots close enough to Hugo that if the taller boy wanted he could wrap and arm around his shoulder. “Well, an excellent start would be telling them.”

“And how would you tell them? If it were you,” Hugo adds quickly, when Varian shoots him a questioning look.

Varian leans back on his hands, head tipped back, exposing his throat to the sky. “I would tell them my heart started beating at the same time as theirs when we touched. That there’s a silver dagger inked on my shoulder that burns when they’re angry and sings when they’re sad-”

“Varian.” Hugo’s heart clenches so hard he briefly wonders if he’s having a heart attack.

“-I would tell them that I dreamed in color the first night we lay side by side in the forest,” Varian goes on, ignoring him. “I would tell them that when we touch I see every color-even the ones that don’t belong here.”

“Varian.”

Hugo’s hand finds his soulmate's.

Varian turns his head to the side slightly, finally meeting Hugo’s eye. With his free hand, he cups the side of Hugo’s neck, tentatively.

“I would tell him that our souls are made of the same thing.” He smiles gently. “It’s just science, Hugo.”

Hugo laughs, pressing his forehead into Varian’s. “How is that the most romantic thing you’ve said yet?”

“Because you’re a closet nerd,” Varian says, right before he leans in.

Underneath a starlit sky, Hugo kisses the boy made of the same stuff as him.

___

#varigo #hugo vat7k #varian #nuru vat7k #yong vat7k #eugene fitzherbert #my fanfic #vat7k fanfic #tts #tts fafic

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rachelbethhines · 4 years

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Tangled Salt Marathon - The Alchemist Returns

Strap in folks, cause this is going to be a long one. In truth, there are very few flaws in this episode, but in order to explain them I have to really get into some character analysis first.

Summary: Varian comes to Rapunzel for help in finding the remnants of the mystical golden flower, which may hold the key to stopping the Black Rocks. Working together, they venture through the old tunnels beneath Corona. Meanwhile Cass and Eugene work together to figure out who drugged the castle’s populace with a truth serum.

Behold! The One and Only Time Frederic is Called Out on His BS; and Nothing Comes of It.

Rapunzel finally, finally stands up to her dad and points out both his abusiveness and his poor leadership. It doesn’t affect the narrative in anyway. Neither character learns anything from this nor changes their points of view. This conversation might as well not have happened given how the characters behave in later episodes/seasons.

The only reason this scene exists is to give Rapunzel motivation for stealing the flower within the episode. A goal that she changes her mind about towards the end. Thereby walking back on such motivation and putting us back at square one with her development.

Rapunzel Isn’t Being Truthful With Herself Nor the Audience

So people aren't always one hundred percent truthful about what they want and their goals. Especially if it involves admitting something about yourself or a loved one that you don’t want to acknowledge. Fictional characters are meant to give the illusion of being real so they can sometimes mimic this behavior.

Throughout the episode Rapunzel keeps on assisting that she’s doing this ‘for Corona’, but we’re given context clues along side that to tell us that her real reasons are about her relationship with her father.

Unfortunately, the show has a bad habit of not communicating information clearly and also has a history of expecting the audience to take what the characters say at face value. Ergo, it’s easy to miss Rapunzel’s true motivations and thereby fail to fully understand her actions and decisions throughout.

Once Again, These Prophetic Dreams Go Nowhere

Dream Varian mentions Rapunzel has a ‘destiny’ but the show never spells out what that destiny actually is nor why she needs to fulfill it. Sure there’s a big quest for the moonstone in season two, but the rocks stop being a threat by then so really, she doesn’t actually need to go on that quest. In fact, she would save a lot of people at lot of trouble if she did nothing at all. That’s poor storytelling. You need something driving the action; a reason to motivate the hero.

Secondly, we never get an explanation for why she randomly has these dreams in the first season but for none of the others. Nor why Varian is at the center of the them when it’s other villains she needs to actually be warned about, like say Zhan Tiri.

No, the real reason why this dream sequence exists is just to reiterate Rapunzel’s internal conflict. She wants a relationship with her Dad, but he’s a male Gothel, and she’s now caught in the middle of his and Varian’s conflict because she failed to take responsibility when she needed to. And is still failing because she doesn’t want to shatter her illusions about Frederic.

Shoving the main protagonist’s driving conflit into a subtextual dream sequence is lazy. Especially since we get no official resolution to said conflict. Rapunzel never acknowledges the problem here, never follows up on any type of action, and she never faces any true consequences for ignoring the issue.

She carries on believing in her fantasy version of Frederic, even as he continues to do harmful things, and the narrative just rewards both her and him for it.

There Should Have Been an Episode Showing the Audience Varian’s Side of the Story

What happened to Varian in between Queen for a Day and this episode is told only through context clues. Nothing is stated outright, meaning the audience has to rely too heavily on inference and are left to piece together what happened on their own like a puzzle. That’s poor writing.

Even something as simple as ‘how much time has past’ (its three months btw, S1 is six months long and QfaD is the meant to be the midpoint) is left up to the viewer to keep up with rather then being clearly stated. This is made even harder to do by the marketing team showing most of the episodes out of order.

You need to clearly relay information to your audience. That means repeating said information in a variety of ways over the course of the story. Have those context clues, but also have more overt hints, and direct reveals interspersed along with that. Especially when dealing with the motivations and goals of the character driving the main plot.

Even if you attribute the lack of a Varain episode to the ‘twist’ in this one, (a twist that was revealed in QfaD anyways) there’s still no excuse for why we didn’t get a flashback episode afterwards to fill this hole in narrative out.

Don’t Pretend Ignorance Rapunzel

Nigel literally repeated the rumor to her face last episode. She knows her father is lying about the rocks and attacked her for the scroll. She knows from the letter that those same guards were chasing down Varian for said scroll. She knows about Corona’s laws and what would happen to Varian if the guards caught him.

There is zero reason for her to be acting like this is new information. Let alone have any right to feign concern after three months of ignoring his plea for help.

That’s what I mean about the series not communicating clearly and wanting the audience to take things at face value. The show deliberately has the characters say things that contradict established events to try and get the audience on their side.

The episode is trying to telling us, ‘See! Rapunzel is innocent in all this cause she didn’t know, but she’s trying to make up for it now’. Yet, if you’ve been watching and paying attention to the details, you know that’s not the truth here.

Good writing is about communicating ideas to your audience. But this show can’t decide on which idea to communicate. Is Rapunzel at fault or no? You can’t have it both ways. Either she screwed up and thereby caused the conflict in question now or she didn’t. If she didn’t, then events shouldn’t progress like they do. If she did, then it needs to be acknowledged and she needs to held accountable by the narrative.

More Hints into Rapunzel's True Motivation

I can’t stress this enough. Rapunzel’s reasons for stealing the flower has nothing to do with Corona. That is an excuse. It’s about trying to find out what her Dad is hiding from her and why he’s lying to her. This comment right here is what compels Raps to go along with his plan.

Also...

Varian Isn’t Lying Here

I also want to make it perfectly clear that Varian is being upfront with Raps. He tells her his plan is to steal the flower and why. She’s the one that makes the assumption that this entails them only taking one petal and the assumption that ‘all our problems’ only means saving Corona. Even though saving Corona and saving Quirin are the same problem. (more on this later)

It’s important to understand Rapunzel’s thought process and her true motivations in order to make sense of her actions later in the story.

Rapunzel’s internal conflict is her need for autonomy versus her fear of rejection. The ‘for Corona’ and ‘one petal’ excuses are used because she thinks they’ll play well with her Dad. In order words, they’re reassurances to her that should she get caught and have to face her father’s disapproval then she could counteract his arguments with his own belief system about ‘putting the kingdom’s needs first’ and ‘following your own inner voice.’

And yes, both Rapunzel and Frederic are big fat hypocrites for this, but Rapunzel hasn’t acknowledged that fact to herself and is trying to convince herself throughout the episode to believe in her own excuses.

Why Do You Care About Treason Rapunzel?

For context, treason is the highest crime in any country. It’s punishable by death, even in the real world. Now each country has its own legal definition of what constitutes as treason. Here in a America, in Article III, Section 3 of the United States Constitution, treason is specifically limited to levying war against the US, or adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. And only during a time of war. Legally, a time of war has to be approved by the US congress. Technically, congress hasn’t declared war since World War II. This is why certain people haven’t been convicted of treason like acts both in, and out of, later US conflicts because the definition is arguably too narrow and specific. But it’s intentionally that way to help prevent false accusations and to keep people in power from murdering their political opposition.

Before the US, treason just meant opposing the ruler of the land in any way. The founding fathers committed treason just by signing the Declaration of Independence. They all would have been executed had the US lost the revolution. Here in Corona, that old definition still stands. Simple theft of royal property, a non violent act, is considered treason and we already know it’s punishment. Eugene stole royal property and was almost hanged for it in the movie.

Now Rapunzel though, she is royalty. This stuff she’s stealing is technically her own property. She’ll inherit all of these things once Queen. Moreover, we all know that Frederic wouldn’t harm Rapunzel let alone kill her. She’s not in any real danger here. So why does she care?

Remember that Rapunzel’s internal conflict is personal autonomy versus her fear of rejection. She only hesitates in her pursuit of answers when reminded of Frederic’s possible disapproval. That’s why she stops under his frowning picture to say this. “Treason” only means possible rejection or disapproval from her father. The worst thing she faces is another argument with him.

Meanwhile, Varian’s life is very much at stake here. He is risking everything, quite literally, to save his father. But his life was arguably forfeit as soon as Frederic decided he wanted the scroll. What’s to prevent the king from claiming that as his own property even when it’s really not? If he’s already sent guards after Varian and the scroll then that’s precisely what he’s already done.

The series is acting like Rapunzel is the reasonable one here because she questions stealing, but the reality is she’s being selfish and willfully obtuse. Multiple lives are at stake here, including the one of the person she is talking to right now. Breaking the law, defying her father, in order to save those lives shouldn’t even be in question at all.

Corona and Quirin Aren’t Conflicting Interests.

Quirin and Corona are both facing the same problem. Solving one will inevitably mean solving the other. Any distinction between the two is solely created within Rapunzel’s own mind.

She does this to to hide her true motivations and conflict from herself. The show does this to try and villainize Varian over Frederic.

There’s a clear bias in who the series wants you to root for and so it skews the perception of what’s actually at stake by creating a non-existent competition between Quirin’s life and the country’s safety. Even though Quirin, Varian, and Old Corona are all apart of the kingdom. They’re all Rapunzel’s and Federic’s responsibly too. Saving Quirin’s life should be more than reason enough to steal the flower on it’s own.

But this is ‘Rapunzel’s show’ and according to the creators, that means that her personal feelings are more important than actual human lives. Not really, but that’s their mindset and approach to conflicts in the show.

Rapunzel’s True Motivation is Revealed

So we’ve followed the hints, but here it is stated outright. This was never about Corona, the rocks,Varian’s safety, nor Quirin’s life. This is about her need for autonomy. Her own personal quest for assertiveness. She’s been bullied and abused by two steprate parental figures now and she’s growing tired of it. Which is understandable and valid, but it shouldn’t be made more important than everyone else’s problems. Everytime Rapunzel says ‘for Corona’, she really means ‘for herself.’

Rapunzel Shouldn’t be the Only Person Solving the Obstacles Here

Varian is just as smart as Rapunzel, if not smarter. This has been established throughout the show both before and after this episode. Meanwhile, Rapunzel is more physically adept than Varian. This whole sequence in the tunnels should have been both Rapunzel and Varian teaming up and complementing the other’s skill sets. They need to be on equal footing in order to sell their conflict later on. But the show deliberately down plays Varian’s competence in this episode in an effort to make Rapunzel look good.

‘Girl power’ shouldn’t mean making the character perfect. It especially shouldn’t mean making other characters weaker in comparison. Women want equality. That means we want to see female characters treated as people. That means we want female characters to be flawed while still contributing to the plot same as the male characters. That doesn’t mean we want to be paraded around as the only competent person in the room. We want to be on the same level as the boys not above them.

Over idealization and glorification of ‘strong’ female characters is just as problematic as damsels in distresses.

Writers like Chris Sonnenburg grew up during the heyday of Third-wave Feminism. Right on the cusp between second-wave and third-wave points of view as women really started to challenge Hollywood’s portrayal of themselves as homemakers and love interests. They wanted to be the heroes for once. Starting in the 60s and reaching pick popularity in the 70s and early 80s, film makers responded by making female characters who could physically fight but either failed to give them any sort of depth and/or made them the only archetype available.

Chris, and several other male writers who lived during this era, have internalized this approach by default without actually examining how it came into existence nor why women would no longer be satisfied by this portrayal of them, if they ever were. All we’ve done is trade one stereotype for another, as male creators fetishize what was once meant to be an attempt to empower ourselves.

Had Chis actually brought more female writers onto the show and listened to the criticisms from his female crew, he could have better avoided problems like the one above. But instead he dug in his heels and insisted that he already knew what we wanted. He doesn’t.

Why Would You Assume This Eugene?

Varian hasn’t actually done anything wrong yet. His worst crimes are drugging people with a magic potion, which is what Xavier did without consequence only two episodes ago, and attempting to steal a magical healing flower that the king has been hoarding from his subjects anyways. A king who has been persecuting Varian unfairly and they know this because of Quest for Varian.

Eugene of all people should be sympathetic towards Varian’s plight. He’s been there himself. He should also know that the rumors about Varian attacking Rapunzel are untrue because Raps told him about the events of Queen for a Day herself.

Meanwhile Cassandra was actually there. She knows Varian’s problems and is supposedly his ‘friend.’ She has even less reason to be hostile towards him.

But once again, the series has the characters respond to things that contradict established events in order to create a bias in the audience. “See, Eugene and Cass doesn’t trust Varian and neither should Rapunzel. See, how evil he really is?” It tries to tell us. In order to convince us to excuse Frederic’s behavior so that when the series does just that through Rapunzel choosing his side we’ll be on board with it. You know, unless you have been paying attention, already have a developed moral code, and the reasoning facilities of an adult.

Rapunzel Lacks Empathy

Keep in mind, ‘for Corona’ really means ‘for herself’. The only competition between Quirin and the kingdom is one that she’s fabricated in her own mind. Varian not caring about the island punctures holes into her excuses. Even though Varian is a fourteen/fifteen year old who holds no responsibility for the safety of a whole country. Especially one that’s mistreated him. Of course his father’s life is going to be more important to him.

What Rapunzel is really asking here is, “Why don't you care about what I care about?” “Why aren’t you concerned about my feelings over your own?”

Which makes sense for her character. She’s a woman who has been trapped in a tower her whole life. She lacks the experience needed to be an empathetic person. She’s never had to grieve before. The only permanent death she’s known is that of her abuser. Her trauma over nearly losing Eugene and Pascal was the fear of loss, not the actual process of living without someone. Rapunzel has no framework of reference in order to truly understand what Varian is going through.

Sympathy is feeling sorry for someone. Empathy is understanding how a person feels. Rapunzel may be a sympathetic person but she’s not an empathetic one and there’s a difference between being ‘nice’ and being kind. The show presents to us a woman who needs to learn that difference. The problem is that she never does.

This is actually a brilliant conflict and point of characterization. It’s taking what we already know about a character and expanding upon it to give us believable flaws that impact the story. I actually like this conflict. I like this portrayal. I initially preferred the series over the movie because of this.

I want Rapunzel to be flawed. I want her flaws to to inform the plot. I want to like her as a character. But I can’t. Because the show never acknowledges these flaws, never has her grow as a person. She remains unempathetic and selfish till the end even as she gains more experience, and the show acts like she is justified in hurting others.

This exchange is the quillivant of a rich person who donates money to environmentalist causes trying to shame a poor child for daring to ‘waste water’ in order to take a bath, even while ignoring their own factories spewing pollutants into the local river. The show tries to claim that classism is okay so long as it’s perpetuated by the creator’s favs.

Varian is in the Right

First off he never claimed that he was only going to take one petal. Rapunzel just assumed that. Also, he’s right there is no difference. Once again Rapunzel has fabricated a distinction in her mind in order to have an excuse to sell her dad. She only hesitates now because taking the whole thing means there’s more risk of getting caught and less possibility of weaseling out of punishment through deniability.

Never mind that Frederic doesn’t own the flower anyways. He stole it from Gothel first, outside of his land’s borders. Never mind that him taking the flower actually causes harm to others while stealing it back does not. Never mind that breaking a law to save a human life is not only justifiable but preferable. Never mind that the king is essentially hoarding medicine from the populace, thereby breaking the social contract of a leader towards his people and becoming a despot instead.

No, Varian hurt Rapunzel’s feelings so he’s evil don’t you see? He placed his needs above the main character’s wants and desires, ergo the series treats him as a villain.

Look, I’m not saying that Varian is without fault nor that everything he does is justifiable. But the show (and certain fans) goes out of its way to demonize the character even when he’s doing what’s actually morally right. This isn’t the point when Varian falls to the darkside, that’s yet to come, but it is the point where the series starts to play favorites with its characters at the expense of teaching coherent lessons.

Inconsistent Messages

Yes, how dare he do the exact same thing as Pascal and Max did two episodes later. Don’t you know, he’s the villain; even though he actually has more reason to use the truth serum than they did the mood potion.

The problem of centering so much of the conflict on Rapunzel’s personal feelings means that Rapunzel and the show has double standards for how characters are treated. Friends of Rapunzel gets free passes. Lack of friendship means you’re now the enemy and can’t be excused. Even though in real life that is what we call nepotism and an abuse of power.

Authoritarianism Vs Consequentialism

When you mention the word authoritarianism to someone they automatically picture in their head armed men in uniforms marching in the streets attacking innocent people on behalf of a dictator’s orders. Yet, that’s not what authoritarianism is. That’s fascism, which can spring forth from authoritarians gaining political power but it’s not the only manifestation of this philosophy.

Authoritarianism is the belief system that the ‘authority’ is always right, even when wrong. An authoritarian will find any excuse to follow and believe in their chosen authority even when that authority has failed them or others.

The opposing philosophy here is consequentialism. That’s the belief that right and wrong are directly linked to consequence. To their minds something is morally wrong if the action has a bad outcome for others.

To illustrate the difference let's look at a near universal rule.

“Murder is wrong.”

Now both the authoritarian and the consequentialist will normally agree with this. But the ‘why’ to them couldn’t be any more different.

To an authoritarian ‘murder is wrong’ because the authority has deemed it so. That authority can be anything that the anthoritian has personally chosen; God, the government, their parents ect. It’s completely arbitrary and subject to change on a whim. The authoritarian lacks consistency and conviction and will often have multiple chosen authorities that will contradict one another. If one of those authorities came out in favor of murder then there’s a strong chance that the authoritarian will change their position or belief as oppose to denouncing their chosen leader.

Meanwhile, ‘murder is wrong’ to the consequentialist because there are clear irreversibly bad consequences for doing it. It removes a life from the world. All possibilities for that person are now forever snuffed out. It hurts those left behind. ect. The consequentialist is consistent in their beliefs so long as the consequence remains the same. They can’t be swayed by mere orders. That’s not to say that consequentialism is incorruptible. A consequentialist can easily become a knight templar if they are forced to weigh consequences against each other. Then it becomes ‘murder is still wrong unless it achieves this arbitrary goal’.

In truth, morality is a sliding scale for most people and you normally hold more than one ethical belief system. However history has proven that authoritarianism is the more often dangerous and corruptible philosophy as it relies heavily on peer pressure, groupthink, and yes, abuse. Most authortians don't come from healthy loving homes. Either they were abused or are abusers themselves. When conducting studies on authoritarianism psychologists and sociologists use questions about parenting in order to pinpoint who is and isn’t an authoritarian as most people aren’t going to just come right out and claim we should go back to feudalism and the divine right of kings.

An out of control authoritarian is a bully with power. An out of control consequentialist is just a vigilante.

Frederic and Varian are the representatives of the two sides of these opposing belief systems and the representatives of what happens when people with those belief systems become corrupt. By having the main character choose between the two of them and siding with the her father, the authoritarian, the show is now validating this philosophy.

Breaking an unjust law shouldn’t be presented as a bad thing here. Blindly accepting Frederic’s rule shouldn’t be the end result of all this. Excusing his abusive behavior shouldn’t be the finale outcome of the story. There’s not a single thing that Frederic, and by extension Rapunzel, does that hasn’t been done by corrupt governments in the real world. Their reasons for doing so be damned.

Given the current political landscape and the increasing push to give real life anthortirans more power, this was absolutely the wrong message to put into a children’s show. It’s not that children will grow up to become authoritarians themselves by just watching the show, but it can condition them to go along with authoritarian abuse if they are now familiar the excuses abusers use to validate their actions. Especially, if they are already trapped in an abusive environment and are being fed these excuses by their current abusers.

I've already seen this toxic thought process played out by younger members of the fandom who are only just now forming their moral codes. “Accept what’ve you’ve been given.” “It’s okay, your parent (the authority) loves you and knows what’s best” “Hurting people is alright because they’ve been hurt you need to ofter up understanding”

NO!

Theses aren’t good lessons. These are the lies fed to you by abusive people. And the show repeatedly validates, justifies, and excuses both abuse and political corruption. Whether the creators believe this philosophy or not, they just approved of it anyways through their own incompetence.

Varian has Every Reason to Not Trust Rapunzel

This the third time in three months that Rapunzel has backed out of helping him. All for increasingly flimsy reasons. She’s making a lot of promises here but not offering up any concrete solutions. Remember she’s not ready to confront her father yet, and neither of them know that she’s the sundrop herself. So what is her plan here? How is she suppose to recuse Quirin and prevent Varian from being unjustly punished if she can’t stand up to the one person who is responsible for causing these problems in the first place.

Can you really blame Varian for going through with what he does here given how she has treated him thus far and would most likely continue to treat him? Yet that’s precisely what the show wants you to do because ‘stealing is wrong’ even though in this case it actually isn’t.

This is Out of Character

Once again, both Cass and Eugene have no reason within the current narrative to be so hostile towards Varian, yet. They’re only doing so now to create bias in the viewer. For Eugene this is especially out of character. I mean we’ve already seen Cass place her ambitions of above others people’s needs both before and after this, but Eugene is constantly written as the heart of the show. He’s suppose to be the most empathetic and caring person in the group, and yet here he is trying to arrest an orphan who’s only stealing to survive. Sound familiar? He of all people should be the first to defend Varian not attack him.

Excuse You, Raps!

You know very well what he is. He’s a child. A lost, lonely, grieving, and desperate child who’s been let down by everyone who is responsible for him including yourself. But far be it for the show to actually point this out by stating it plainly and show you for the self centered ass you really are.

Scenes Like This are Why Varian Should Have Been the Deuteragonist

His story maybe connected to Rapunzel’s but it doesn’t revolve around her. He has his own stakes and conflicts that happen to intersect or oppose with Raps given whatever point in the narrative we’re at. As such we gets scenes like this one in his lab where he is the sole focus and is pushing the story forward. No other character actually gets this.

Eugene’s arc has little to no bearing on the overall plot and Cassandra’s solo scenes in season three do nothing to further push the story nor give new insights into her character, as her given goal and motivation is too dependent upon Rapunzel herself to be shown separately.

Out of all the main characters, Varian’s conflict is the only one that holds enough tension to maintain a separate story line. He needs this focus in order to make sense of what's going on with the larger picture and to resolve his conflict in a satisfying manner. Had the the creators been smart enough to follow through with Varian’s story till the end instead of dumping it at the last minute in season two and hastily rewriting a half-arsed resolution it in season three, then we’ve could have gotten the Disney equivalent of a Zuko vs. Aang, Loki vs Thor, or even Duck vs Rue/Fakir arc. As is, we’re only left with the table scraps of several loosely connected stories none of which are very satisfying to watch.

Conclusion

I still like this episode and Varian’s arc overall but I can't in good conscience call it well written knowing now where it all leads to. Nor can I in could good conscience recommend the show knowing the awful morals it touts. And that makes me angry. Angry that I was fooled into thinking that this show had depth and maturity. Angry that I ever once held this show up as being good. Angry that I invested myself into believing that this show would finally give me a decent Disney anti-villain that I could like. Angry that trusted the creators not to be raging arseholes who made poor creative decisions based off of ego and questionable ethics...

I started this marathon so that I could vent my feelings and gain some closure, while also opening up a frank discussion about how bad creative decisions can lead to bad lessons in children's media. This show has many of the same problems as a lot of current tv series do but all condensed down into one place and there are things to be learn from that.However after this series of reviews are over I doubt I’ll ever watch the show again. It’s honestly not worth the time.

#varian #rapunzel #anti-tangled #anti-rapunzel #tangled #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #review #character analysis

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silverhart-makes-art · 4 years

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Alright, time for Silver’s long rant of the day – possibly a controversial one but here it is: Cassandra never needed a redemption.

There! I’ve finally said it! I’ve actually felt this way since before the series wrapped up. The thought that Cassandra needed to be redeemed never sat well with me, and I couldn’t figure out why until the finale aired and everything fell into place. And now, I think I’ve finally gathered enough of my thoughts together to explain why I feel that way. Or at least attempt to. This is definitely gonna be a big, long mess of a ramble - apologies in advance. Let’s go!

I realize a lot of people don’t like what Cassandra did, especially in Season 3, and would’ve liked to see her get some comeuppance. I’m not here to excuse any of her actions, many of which were terrible, but seeing her punished or in any way have to ‘earn’ forgiveness would undermine the show’s entire thesis.

The series really goes out of its way to show that punishing people for their crimes doesn’t solve any problem. This theme is set up in the very beginning with ‘Tangled Before Ever After’ when Lady Caine tells her backstory (and I’m not gonna lie, I really wish they had done more with her, but I get it – they only had so much time to tell the story they wanted to tell). Frederic’s mindset of ‘harsher punishments will reduce crime’ makes sense on the surface. Its human nature to want justice when bad things happen. In stories especially we like seeing the bad guy be punished – it feels really good, and it makes the moralities pretty straightforward and clear. Bad guys get consequences. But the real world isn’t so black and white, and just because a choice feels good, doesn’t mean its the choice that will do the most good. King Frederic was perfectly set up as a character to have to learn this lesson. His role completely contrasts Rapunzel’s. Frederic is the guy who’s going to try and get back at King Trevor with a prank war that never ends, he’s gonna throw people he doesn’t like in the dungeon, punish Cass by sending her to a convent, send an army after a kid, etc. All because he thinks these are the best methods for protecting his kingdom and his family. And even though we all love to hate Fred, he clearly believes that his choices are the best ones to accomplish this. It isn’t until Season Three that Rapunzel feels confident enough in her own abilities to reject this way of doing things. I think it’s really interesting that Frederic never gets a chance to make up for these mistakes in a satisfying way. It goes to show how difficult choosing to be compassionate can be, especially for someone in Frederic’s position. Though Frederic is confronted with the consequences of his mistakes, especially in ‘The Secret of the Sundrop’, we never really see any changes, which as a viewer is a little conflicting, and I think a lot of people feel similarly about Cassandra. But I think there is a reason why both Frederic and Cassandra never get any comeuppance. Despite Frederic never really changing Rapunzel still shows him the compassion he denied to others, even though she has every right to withhold it. I think that says a lot about the person she is, and about what the series is ultimately trying to tell us. Even if someone does nothing to deserve it, they’re still worthy of compassion.

We see this theme of compassion crop up again and again, but especially in Varian’s arc. He’s not shown any compassion after his turn to villainy, and he’s led down an even darker path as a result. He only turns away from it when he realizes he doesn’t need to do anything to earn compassion – Rapunzel gives it to him without him having to even ask for it. And without him having to memory wipe the entire kingdom. Rapunzel recognizes that compassion and forgiveness don’t ever have to earned – something that Varian didn’t understand. And I love the line he gives about learning to trust again. Rapunzel and the kingdom don’t give him that trust again right away – he does have to earn it, and it’s not easy. And I think people wrongly assume his redemption is earned when he helps save Corona again – but no, all he did was earn back the trust he’d destroyed. He was always worthy of the chance to gain that trust back – Rapunzel was just the first one to give him that chance.

Varian’s arc is brilliant, and it perfectly sets up Cassandra’s. I could sit here for hours probably comparing the two, but I’m going focus on the moment when Varian himself compares them, and tries to reach Cass by relating their two situations in the song ‘Nothing Left to Lose’. Its a sweet gesture on Varian’s part, but some friendly advice of ‘hey I went through this too, and here’s what I did’ is not what Cassandra wants to hear. I mean I know I’ve done the same dumb thing to my friends and had it done to me – all you want is a sympathetic ear and what you get is unwanted advice. No offense Varian, but I don’t really blame Cass for locking you up and throwing you out the window – I wouldn’t want to hear it either.

This is the brilliance of Zhan Tiri’s manipulation. She knows exactly what Cassandra wants to hear, what she needs to hear. She’s the first person to offer Cass any sort of compassion (albeit fake compassion). Zhan Tiri doesn’t start by promising power, or destiny, but with a simple show of compassion: “I’m sorry that happened to you Cassandra.” It’s absolutely chilling. She uses this promise of compassion like a carrot dangling over Cassandra’s head, so that by ‘Once a Handmaiden’ Cassandra starts to believe she isn’t worthy of Rapunzel’s compassion. I think if Zhan Tiri had succeeded in making Cass feel she could never be forgiven, or if Rapunzel had given up on her, it would’ve been over for Cass. She’d be too far gone.

The ending of ‘Once a Handmaiden’ and the majority of ‘Plus Est En Vous’ sees Cass on the cusp of this hopelessness. She’s just spoiling for a fight, she wants any reason to attack, and if she has to manufacture it herself (by becoming ‘the bad guy’) she will. She wants a King Frederic to her Lady Caine – a reason to justify her actions. And it would be the easiest thing in the world for Rapunzel to give her just that, to fight back, to lash out with all her anger and pain just as Cass has done. But she never does it. She holds strong to her convictions. Not only does she never give Cass that justification, but she never takes away the offer of compassion. When Rapunzel insists that she’s not giving up on Cassandra, I don’t really see it as ‘I still think we can be friends again’ so much as I see it as ‘this person still deserves compassion’. Nothing Cass has done makes her unworthy of that compassion in Rapunzel’s eyes. When Cassandra sees this, when she’s confronted with real compassion despite everything she’s done to try and make Rapunzel hate her… that’s the moment she breaks down.

And I’m just gonna take a moment to sidetrack and just gush about how beautiful and powerful this scene is. Rapunzel has this steadfast belief in the goodness of people, and it stays with her throughout the entire franchise, despite so many people trying to stamp it out. And just thinking back to the movie when she was this scared girl in a tower, but it was this quality, this ability to see good in people, that gave her everything she needed to confront that dark, selfish, cruel world she was warned about for so many years. She just needed that little bit of confidence, because for so long, Gothel told her that goodness she saw didn’t exist. And over the course of the series she finally gets that confidence. The confidence to say ‘no – the world isn’t dark , and selfish, and cruel, and people are good when they’re given the chance to be.’ And I know I’ve probably said it a million times but its just beautiful storytelling, and it hits really hard for me. Argh – someone’s cutting onions in here again!

Cassandra never needed a redemption. She never needed to earn forgiveness or compassion. Neither did Varian, Stalyan Brock, nor Eugene, nor any of the characters. Everyone of them was worthy of compassion from the get-go – they just needed someone who knew that (even Zhan Tiri may’ve been open to compassion at some point – that was really a mess Demanitus should’ve cleaned up centuries ago). It should be noted that just because I don’t think Cassandra needed a redemption, doesn’t mean I think this erases all the bad things she did. It doesn’t. As made clear by Varian’s story, compassion is not the same thing as trust. Being compassionate doesn’t mean letting yourself be hurt again. That’s ultimately why, at least narratively, Cassandra has to leave Corona. It’s not a punishment, or a penance, but an acknowledgement that things can’t go back to how they were. Those bridges are burnt, and possibly can’t be rebuilt. Maybe our characters don’t even want to try. And that’s okay. It’s good to move on.

Even though it might feel cathartic to see Cassandra get her just desserts for her actions (and also hilarious – I like to imagine Eugene just slapping her with a hefty fine that lists all her crimes and it’s just all the times she insulted him), that ultimately wouldn’t have served this major theme that runs throughout the series. You can’t choose the path of compassion and then have the good guys punish the villain. What Cassandra needed – what everyone needed honestly – was compassion. Even going back all the way to the original film, when a girl with magical hair offered that compassion to a thief who never expected it.

#tangled the series #cassandra #rapunzel #eugene fitzherbert #varian #tangled ramblings #if you read that whole thing you probably deserve a cookie or something #its like two in morning i don't know if any of this makes sense at this point

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whitecatindisguise · 4 years

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Vocalised

Okay, so I don’t usually do sequels to oneshots, because that’s what they are: oneshots. But Silenced (which you can read here) was really asking for one.

So, here it is. Let’s wrap this story up.

------

Rapunzel let out a deep sigh as she looked out of the balcony. The black rocks were everywhere, piercing through the buildings. The rebuilding of the capital will take some time, but right now, they could do nothing but wait for the rocks to disappear. At least, they weren’t growing anymore.

Princess closed her eyes, remembering the events from yesterday. The black rocks entered the capital, destroying homes and shops, moving straight towards the castle. Her father told her to run, but she refused, wanting nothing more but to help her subjects. By the time they finally noticed what, or rather who the rocks were after, it was too late. She was locked in the rock prison, surrounded from all sides.

Then, something unthinkable happened. When Rapunzel touched one of the rocks, they reacted in an explosion of blinding light and deafening sound. Once they were finally able to see, the rocks, at least most of them, reverted to the ground, creating a path towards the Corona’s Wall.

Her father explained everything to her that day. How he was aware of the black rocks from the very beginning. How taking the Sundrop Flower summoned them to Corona. And how he never told her about it, because he knew exactly who they were targeting.

They argued, she cried and shouted, not understanding why he would hide something so important from her. He tried to explain, cover behind his will to protect her. Rapunzel was glad her mother took side with her. She, too, didn’t approve of his actions. To put the whole kingdom at risk for the sake of protecting his daughter. Daughter, who was perfectly able to do so on her own.

Rapunzel decided to follow the black rocks. She stated it as a fact, rather than asking for permission. She knew it was what she was meant to do. It was her destiny. And her father had to accept that. They agreed she would leave in a week, taking Cass, Eugene and Lance with her.

Green eyes opened and, once again, gazed at the demolished landscape. Is this how Old Corona looked like? Was it the view Varian would see every day from his bedroom window?

Her train of thoughts stopped abruptly. Her eyes widened in realisation and shock.

“Varian-!” She whispered, only now remembering the desperate plea all those months ago, on the day of the snow storm. How could she just forget about him? How could she not go and check on him once everything was resolved?

Rapunzel turned on her heel and ran out of her room, her braid flying behind her. She had to find Cass and Maximus. They needed to go to Old Corona!

~~~~~~

Eugene walked the cold corridors, a small shudder going up his spine. He never liked the dungeons. But he was here on a job, and he was determined to see it towards the end.

After the black rocks attacked the castle, many of the rooms were destroyed and demolished. There were several casualties, but luckily, no dead. Many of the castle workers were sent to assess the size of damage.

Eugene, along with Lance, volunteered to help the Royal Guard check the dungeons, making sure none of the prisoners escaped, as well as provide medical attention to those who needed it. So, there they were, travelling the dark corridors he never thought he would enter willingly.

So far they didn’t find any major issues, only several cracked walls and some of the prisoners needing replacing. The two friends turned the corner and noticed one of the bigger rocks destroyed the door to the lower level completely.

“Woah, this one doesn’t like doors.” Lance commented with a chuckle. Eugene smiled and rolled his eyes, bumping his adoptive brother’s shoulder.

“Come on, let’s see what’s going on in there.” He said and the two carefully jumped over the rock and descended the stairs.

This level was anything like the ones they’ve been through before. For one, it was extremely dark, a single torch slowly burning on the wall. Second of all, the cells there didn’t have bars, but rather sturdy wooden doors.

“Looks creepy, if you ask me.” Lance said, shuddering a little at the eerie atmosphere.

“Let’s check it out quickly and get out of here.” Eugene agreed and the two spread out to cover both sides of the corridor.

Each room they checked was empty, and the brown-haired man was certain they would find nothing, when suddenly Lance took a sharp inhale.

“Eugene, come here and tell me you’re not seeing what I’m seeing.” The large dark-skinned man said.

Eugene raised an eyebrow at the statement and approached the door, taking the torch with him to get more light. He leaned over and peeked through the small window into the cell. At first he didn’t see anything, but then something moved in the corner of the room and Eugene felt his breath stop.

“Oh my god!” He exclaimed in shock and horror, brown eyes staring at the small figure curled by the opposite wall. The light from the torch bounced off the cell walls and Eugene gasped when it illuminated the odd-coloured stripe on the prisoner’s hair. “It’s Varian!”

~~~~~~

Rapunzel stared in shock at the sight before her. Old Corona was even worse than the capital. There was no single building that was spared from the black rocks. The dark spires pierced the walls and roofs, rising tall above the houses. Worst of all, it seemed abandoned.

“This doesn’t look good, Raps.” Cassandra commented, jumping down to the ground and helping the princess off the horse.

“I- I didn’t know it was that bad.” Rapunzel admitted, looking around in horror. “Cass, we have to find Varian.”

“Raps, I don’t think-” The handmaiden was trying to argue but the blond-haired woman was already rushing towards the alchemist’s house.

She knocked several times, bouncing impatiently on her heels, as she waited for the answer. When none came, she hesitated for a moment, before pushing the door open and entering the silent house.

“Varian? Are you there?” She called out, taking careful steps around.

“That’s trespassing.” Cassandra hissed, following after the princess. “And the house is clearly abandoned for a long time. Look at all of this dust.”

“Cass, I let him be thrown away into the snowstorm. And didn’t check on him for months!” Rapunzel argued, moving towards the stairs she knew led to the boy’s lab. “I have to make sure he’s okay.”

“I’m sure he’s fine, Raps.” The dark-haired woman rolled her eyes as they descended to the basement. “The whole village probably moved somewhere else, seeing as nobody is here.”

Princess didn’t listen, as she pushed open the door to the lab. Just like the rest of the house, it was abandoned. What piqued their interest, however, was the enormous structure covered in tarp, taking up most of the room’s space. Curiosity taking over, Rapunzel approached it and in one movement pulled the cloth down.

Both of them gasped in shock at the sight. The structure turned out to be a monolith amber with a person stuck inside it.

“Quirin…” Rapunzel whispered in horror, turning to her friend. “Cass, that’s- that’s Varian’s father!”

“This doesn’t look good.” Cassandra repeated what she said back when they entered the village. But this time, the words had deeper meaning. If Varian’s father was inside the amber… then where was the alchemist?

A chitter from under the workbench startled both women. They turned abruptly and noticed Ruddiger, looking up at them. He seemed to search for something (or someone, as Rapunzel realised), and not finding what he hoped for, he lowered his ears and let out a saddened wail.

“Oh, Ruddiger!” Rapunzel cried, kneeling down and picked up the raccoon, the animal not even protesting at the gesture. “Cass, if Ruddiger is here alone…”

“Then something must have happened to Varian.” The handmaiden nodded in understanding.

~~~~~~

When both women came back to the castle with Ruddiger (not before checking the whole house and the village in the search of the alchemist), they were immediately met with Eugene and Lance waiting in the courtyard, both looking nervous and somewhat terrified.

“Blondie, I’m so glad you’re back-” Eugene started but Rapunzel cut him off, jumping down from Max’s back and running up to her boyfriend.

“Eugene! This is awful!” She cried, grabbing his shoulders. “Old Corona is completely destroyed, the villagers left, Varian’s dad is encased in amber in his lab and we can’t find him anywhere! We only found Ruddiger, and we all know, Varian doesn’t go anywhere without Ruddiger! Something bad must have happened to him. I just know it!”

“Hey, hey. Sunshine. Deep breaths.” Eugene reached for her hands and took them off his shoulders, grabbing them between his. “This is actually something we wanted to talk to you about-”

“How can I be calm, Eugene?! He came to me for help and I not only refused it, but left him alone for months! And now we can’t find him anywhere and I’m sure something must have happened to him!”

“Rapunzel, if you would just listen-.” The man tried again but was cut off by another wave of terrified thoughts.

“We searched the whole village. And his house. And even part of the forest. He is gone, Eugene! And I’m scared! So, so scared because I don’t know where he is and-” Rapunzel went on when suddenly it was Lance who cut her in.

“He’s in the dungeons!” The dark-skinned man squeaked anxiously, and suddenly the Princess went silent. She stared at Lance and then back at Eugene.

“Is… Is this true?” She asked, her eyes pleading. Please, say it’s not true. Please, say it’s not true.

Eugene sighed and looked down in sadness.

“I’m sorry, Sunshine, but Lance is right.” He said, looking up and into his girlfriend’s emerald eyes. “We’ve found him while checking the dungeons for damage after…” He waved his hand towards the black rocks. “He’s been locked on the deepest level, behind a sturdy wooden door. No light, no sound, small room.”

“Solitary confinement.” Cassandra muttered and Eugene nodded. That sounded just right.

“I- Rapunzel, I tried asking the Captain for the key. But he said…” He hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath and continuing. “He said it was an order from the King.”

“N-no. That’s impossible. Dad would never-” Rapunzel tried to argue, eyes wide in shock.

“Raps, solitary confinement is something only the King can approve of.” Cassandra spoke up.

“And, not that I like speaking bad about you dad, but… it doesn’t sound so unrealistic, knowing what else he did to protect you from those rocks.” Eugene added.

“How does imprisoning Varian agree with protecting me from the rocks?!” Princess shouted and the man took a small step back.

“I- I don’t know, but the kid was researching those rocks.” Eugene reminded, trying to sound calm. “Maybe he learned something that your dad didn’t like and.. you know… he took precautions?”

Rapunzel furrowed her brows, anger visible on her face.

“It seems me and dad need another talk about secrets.” She said with determination, stomping away and marching towards the castle.

~~~~~~

Varian hugged his knees closer to his chest. It was cold. His whole body was trembling, and he pulled himself closer, hoping to keep some of the body warmth.

He didn’t know what was going on. Several hours ago (at least he thought it was hours. He lost the track of time short after he was locked in, having nothing to help him calculate it) the whole castle shook tremendously, there were some crashing noises and screams. And then, everything fell into silence again.

Some more time passed and he heard people again, walking around the higher levels and talking silently. At some point he almost thought he heard someone enter the level he was in, people talking and someone saying his name. But when he looked up, he didn’t see anything and everything was silent again, so he decided he must have imagined it.

He sighed and let his head drop onto his knees. His stomach had long since stopped rumbling, the feeling of emptiness already gone. His food didn’t come for few days now, he deduced. They must have decided to starve him now. He didn’t really see a point anymore. It’s not like he could do anything, stuck in this cell.

Suddenly, he heard more voices, footsteps coming down the stairs, keys jingling. His heart stopped, thinking what it could possibly mean. Were they moving him somewhere else? It wasn’t food, there was a hatch at the bottom of the door for that, no need for keys. Or maybe the king finally decided on his fate (which probably didn’t mean anything good, seeing his treatment until now)?

The footsteps stopped in front of his door and he heard the key being pushed into the lock and turned. He froze completely, trying his best to hide in the deepest corner of the cell. The door opened with a deafening creak, showing how much time has passed since they were opened last time.

Several figures stood in the doorway and Varian pulled his legs closer, making himself as small as it was possible.

“Varian…?” A cautious voice called, the one he knew but didn’t hear for a long time. But it wasn’t possible? Why would she be here? She had no reason to-

The figure who spoke took one tentative step inside and Varian sucked in his breath, body completely frozen.

“Varian… it’s me. Rapunzel.” The figure, Rapunzel said, taking one more step forward. He stared at her with eyes wide open. It wasn’t possible. It wasn’t-

“Why…?” He somehow managed to crack out, his voice raspy from all the months of silence. She stopped and kneeled down, only few steps in front of him.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” She whispered and he could see tears in her eyes. She was crying. Why was she crying? “I thought- I thought you were in Old Corona. That whatever happened during the snowstorm… that you didn’t come back before everything was fine.”

He stared at her, not sure how to respond. She had to be lying. But then, why would she? It was, after all, the king who ordered those masked men to hunt him, to treat him like a criminal, to, finally, lock him in this cell.

“I… Varian. I saw your dad.” Rapunzel continued and his eyes widened. Dad. He was still trapped. He had to save him. The Sundrop Flower. “I’m so sorry for what happened. I know I promised to help you, and I will.”

He looked up at her expectantly and she took it as a cue to continue.

“The black rocks… they were after me. They entered the capital yesterday, looking for me.” She said and Varian blinked. That explained the sounds he heard earlier. “They… when I touched them, they created a path. They are leading me somewhere. And I know, wherever that is, will help me find the way to get rid of them. And, I believe we can also find a way to free your father.”

“Why are you… telling me this?” His voice was still quiet and raspy.

“Because I want you to go with me, with us.” Rapunzel smiled. “I can’t make up for what my father did to you, Varian. But I can help you make better memories. And, we could probably use your skills and knowledge, wherever the rocks are taking us.” She extended a hand in his direction and smiled some more. “What do you say?”

Varian pondered about the thought before nodding and taking her hand. Her smile grew wider and she helped him to his feet, stabilising him as he wobbled. A ball of grey fur ran up to him and up his frame, to finally set on his shoulders.

“Hey bud, missed you.” He whispered, a small smile on his face. Rapunzel led him out and Eugene put a reassuring hand on the teen’s shoulder.

“Let’s get you looked up, okay kid?” He said with a smile. “You look like death itself.”

“Okay.” Varian nodded and let himself be guided out of the dungeons and into the sunlit corridors of the castle.

------

So, that’s it. That’s the end. I won’t continue the story, but you can imagine how it went. Hope you guys liked it.

#varian #silenced sequel #rapunzel #eugene #cassandra #lance #ruddiger #hurt/comfort #kitty mom writes

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whaleiumsharkspeare · 4 years

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I was so inspired by the headcanon made by @letthemsayfuck and expanded upon by @newsies-of-corona about Varian’s season 3 outfit that I had to write a quick one shot about it! It was such a cute idea and I couldn’t get it out of my head, I had to write it down. Hope you enjoy!

New Threads

It had been a couple weeks since Rapunzel had returned to Corona, and things were starting to return to normal after the Saporian attack had been quelled. Well, almost normal. Thanks to the attack, Frederic and Ariana were not currently fit to rule since their memories hadn’t yet been restored, and as a result, Rapunzel was now the acting queen of Corona. The people of the kingdom were grateful to have their beloved princess back, and Rapunzel was happy to be back as well, even if there was a certain empty spot in the castle that was hard to ignore. Coming back to Corona after losing a friend was hard, but even though she’d lost one friend, Rapunzel was happy to have gained back another one. Now that Varian had turned over a new leaf and was back on the right side of history, he and Rapunzel had managed to start laying down the bricks of their rebuilt friendship. He was a lot happier now that his father was free, and he was almost never not by his side, stuck to him like glue. Rapunzel was happy for him. She’d truly felt awful that she had let him down all those months ago after being unable to save his father, and watching Varian go down that dark road, feeling so lost and broken, had been difficult. Rapunzel never, ever broke a promise, so finally being able to keep hers had been a wonderful feeling. But even though Rapunzel still cared greatly for Varian and had forgiven him for his misdeeds, it didn’t mean that the kingdom had. Varian had never exactly been a very popular boy, not very well-liked in his village, and now he was reviled even more. True, Varian had helped save the kingdom from the Saporians, but not everyone in Corona was as quick to forgive as their princess. Varian couldn’t hardly go anywhere alone without having insults and sometimes objects hurled his way, so he hadn’t been around much since Rapunzel came back. As a result, if Rapunzel wanted to see him, she had to go visit Varian in his own home. Today was one of those days. Rapunzel journeyed happily to Old Corona, hoping to see her young friend. As she walked through the village, the people who had come back after being displaced smiled and waved at their beloved princess. She returned their greetings, happy to see her subjects out and about. She climbed the familiar steps of Varian’s home and knocked on the door.

“Oh, Princess!” Quirin greeted, opening the door.

“Hello, Quirin!” Rapunzel smiled. “How are you?”

“I’m doing much better, thanks to you.”

“That’s great to hear. I’m really glad I could help,” said Rapunzel. “Is Varian home?”

“Yes, he’s home,” Quirin replied. “He’s in his lab. You can go on in.”

“Thank you!”

“Thank you, Princess,” said Quirin as he stepped aside to let Rapunzel in. She smiled as she walked past him and went over to Varian’s lab. She stood outside the door for a moment, listening to the familiar sounds of Varian’s tinkering. She closed her eyes briefly, remembering her friend of before. But he was still her friend, and hearing the usual cacophony of his lab helped her remember that. She pushed open the door and went inside. Looking around, she spotted him in the corner working on some new machine she hadn’t seen before.

“Hi, Varian!” she said brightly. He looked up suddenly from his work.

“Oh, Rapunzel! Hi!” he looked at her with a smile on his face.

“What are you working on?” she asked as she peered at his machine in curiosity.

“Oh, this?” he stepped aside to give her a better view. “This is my newest invention. It’s a machine that’s designed to reverse the effects of the Saporian memory wand and restore your parents’ memories, since I, well...” he trailed off, his smile fading. After a moment, he sighed softly. “I’m sorry, Rapunzel.”

“It’s...well, it’s not really okay, but I trust that you’ll figure something out. You’re a smart guy. You can fix this,” she assured him.

“Thanks. For...for trusting me,” said Varian quietly. “I-I know I don’t really deserve your trust, but-“

“Varian,” Rapunzel gently interrupted. He looked up at her. “I know you feel sorry about everything. And the fact that you’re working to help me already shows me that you’re worthy of being trusted.” He gave her a little smile.

“Thanks.” He loosened up a little after previously feeling a bit tense. “So, uh, what are you doing here?”

“I just thought I’d come and check up on you, see how you’re doing,” Rapunzel replied. “Do you need any help with your machine?”

“Actually,” said Varian, his eyes brightening. “If you could pass me my tools when I need them, that’d be great.”

“You got it!” Rapunzel said cheerfully, handing him a screwdriver.

Rapunzel spent the rest of the afternoon in the lab with Varian, helping him out with his machine, watching him work, and listening to him explaining its function with rapt attention. He also talked a lot about the past couple weeks that he’d been reunited with his dad. He spoke excitedly about how happy he was to be back and how much he missed the simple things they used to do together, like having dinner in the evening, but how glad he was to get to do them again. Rapunzel loved listening to Varian talk about the things that he was passionate about, and hearing his sweet laughter again after so long was a pleasant and beautiful sound. Watching him work and hearing him talk, it made Rapunzel feel like nothing had changed. But things had changed, even in very subtle ways, and there were many indicators about just how much time had passed. As Rapunzel watched Varian tinker away on his machine, she noticed that he wasn’t quite so little anymore. Granted, he was still a “little guy”, as Eugene had called him, but Varian had grown. He was taller than he had been the last time she’d seen him all those months ago before she left. It was evident in where he now stood in comparison to Rapunzel and in the way she noticed him absentmindedly tugging on the sleeves of his faded blue shirt every now and then, as if trying to bring them down further on his arms. It could have also been a subconscious desire to cover his hands, since he was now working with his hands exposed because the black gloves he used to wear had melted off while Rapunzel was in her trance. Looking at him, she could tell why he always wore those gloves, since working without them had left behind tiny cuts on his hands from the lack of protection from his alchemy and metalwork. Really, he had simply started to outgrow his outfit. Even though Rapunzel could tell that Varian was a little bit skinnier now as a result of eating nothing but the prison food for months on end, she still noticed that his old blue shirt was starting to be too small. The way Varian shifted his feet around while standing and talking indicated that his shoes were too small as well. And even if his clothes fit him perfectly, the patched sleeve of his shirt and the old, worn fabric were signs enough that he was in need of a new outfit.

Surely he must be uncomfortable she thought as she watched him working. Then, realization struck her and her heart sank as she thought about why Varian was still putting up with clothes that weren’t exactly fit to be worn anymore. Not everyone in the kingdom had forgiven Varian yet. There were still some people who were harboring fresh wounds and weren’t ready to extend him a helping hand yet. He couldn’t even walk around without his dad nearby for fear of being harassed in some way. Even if Varian wanted to go out shopping and buy himself some new clothes, he couldn’t do it without facing persecution from the citizens who were still angry with him. But not everyone was upset. Rapunzel saw in him a good heart and she knew he had changed for real, and when she saw that a friend was in need, well, she couldn’t just sit idly by without trying to help. So when it was time to leave and she told Varian goodbye, she headed straight back to the castle with newfound determination and an idea burning in the back of her mind.

“Hey, Sunshine!” Eugene greeted warmly when she arrived back home. “How was your visit to Old Corona? Is Varian doing okay?”

“It was good,” she replied. “It was really good to see him. He’s doing a lot better. He’s back to inventing and doing alchemy.”

“That’s great to hear,” he said. “I’m glad the little guy is starting to become more like his old self.”

“I am too.” She smiled at the thought. But then she remembered what she’d been so fired up about. “Oh! I have to go see the royal seamstress,” Rapunzel said as she began walking off towards the beauty room where the seamstress worked.

“You planning on getting some new threads?” Eugene called after her.

“Something like that.”

Rapunzel entered the quarters where the seamstress worked, sewing up new clothes for the royal family. She looked around through the curtains of dresses and suits that hung all around.

“Faye?” she called.

There was a ruffling sound and a bundle of fabric was suddenly tossed through the air and a short woman with pins in her mouth poked her head out from behind some more rolls of fabric.

“Oh! Your highness!” said Faye, the seamstress. She took the pins out of her mouth and pushed them into the mini pincushion she wore on her wrist. “How can I help you? Is there something wrong with your dress?”

“Oh, no, it’s fine. Just as beautiful as ever! But I have a special request for you,” replied the princess. She took out her journal with a new painting on one of the pages and showed it to Faye. “Do you think you could make me something like this?”

Faye studied the picture Rapunzel had made, looking over all the details and specifications.

“Absolutely, Princess! I’ll get started right away.”

“Thank you, Faye!” Rapunzel said cheerfully. “I know it’ll be just great!”

***

A few days later, Rapunzel once again made the trek to Old Corona, this time with a package in her hands. She had a skip in her step as she thought about her little surprise. When she made it to Varian’s house, she entered his lab enthusiastically.

“Hi, Varian!” she announced, her voice bright.

“Oh, Rapunzel! I’m glad to see you,” said Varian. “I wanted to tell you more about my progress with the new machine.”

As he spoke, Rapunzel glanced down and noticed his hands.

“Hey, new gloves!” she observed.

“Oh, yeah,” said Varian, looking down. He was wearing a pair of new alchemy gloves, dark brown this time, with little pressure gauges on them. “Dad bought these for me the other day when he went into town. I had mentioned that it was harder doing my alchemy without gloves, and I guess he was worried that I would burn myself or something. But I’m glad to have them, it feels more normal. Anyway, I’m not quite finished with the machine yet, I’m still working out the kinks,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “But in the meantime, I’ve been working on some potions that I think could help with restoring your parents’ memories. I’ve just gotta test them.”

“Sounds like you’ve been busy,” Rapunzel said.

“Yeah,” Varian agreed, laughing lightly. “So, what brings you here so soon after your last visit? Not that I’m not happy to see you,” he added quickly.

“Do I need a reason to come visit?” Rapunzel teased.

“I don’t know. Do you?”

“Maybe I just wanted to come say hi! But actually I do have a reason.” She brought the package out from behind her back and held it in front of her so Varian could see it. “I have something for you!”

“For me?” Varian looked down at the package in her hands in surprise. “W-why would you get me something?”

“Can’t I just be nice?”

“Of course, you’re always nice. But, why me?”

“Because I thought you could use it.”

“What is it?” Varian asked.

“You are seriously missing the point of a surprise,” Rapunzel replied. She pushed the package into his hands. “Just open it and see for yourself.”

Varian set the package down on a nearby table and used the sharp edge of one of his tools to open it up. He peered inside and his eyes went wide.

“Wait, Rapunzel, really? This is for me?”

“Of course! I hope you like it. I designed it myself and I had the royal seamstress sew it up based on my pattern. What do you think?” she asked. Varian lifted the carefully folded clothes from the box and held it up to himself.

“I, wow, I don’t know what to say.”

“Well, go on!” Rapunzel said, making a shooing motion with her hand. “Go try them on! Let’s see how it fits.”

Varian picked up the box and left his lab, going up the steps of his house and to his room. A few minutes later, Rapunzel could hear footsteps coming down the stairs and Varian came back into the lab, and Rapunzel smiled at his appearance. Instead of his old blue shirt with the patched sleeve and his pants with frayed edges, he was now wearing a new dark maroon vest with gold buttons going down either side, and underneath that was a beige long-sleeved shirt with a collar. He also had a new pair of pants and a belt, plus a new shorter tan apron that tied at the waist rather than higher up on his chest like his old one. He even had a new pair of boots, with a thicker toe on them to protect his feet better from broken glass or just the usual chronic clumsiness that Varian seemed to suffer from. Rapunzel’s eyes lit up when she saw him.

“Hey, you look great!” she complimented him warmly. She got up and looked him over. “That’s a nice color on you, and it looks like it fits you better than your old shirt. Hmm, except for the sleeves,” she noticed, seeing how the cuffs almost covered his fingers. “But that’s okay, we’ll just get you some sleeve garters to wear and it’ll help with that. How do your boots feel?”

“Rapunzel, I...I can’t accept this,” said Varian softly.

“Why not? Should I have gotten you blue instead? You seem to like blue.”

“No, it’s not that.” He paused briefly. “I just don’t deserve something like this.”

“Varian, why would you say that?”

“Rapunzel, just look at everything I’ve done. I-I stole the sundrop flower, I kidnapped the queen, I tried to hurt you, worse, even. I took over the kingdom, I erased your parents’ memories. Why would you want to be nice to me after everything I did? You saved my life, you saved my dad’s life. That’s more than I could ever ask for. Why would you keep on giving me things? I don’t deserve your gifts,” said Varian sadly, nervously rubbing at the too-long sleeve of his right arm. Rapunzel put her hands on his shoulders so he’d look at her.

“Varian, it’s true, you did a lot of things that hurt me. But I can see that you’re sorry for them, and you’re working to make up for them. I know you have a good heart and that you really are a good person. You had a pretty...rough patch, let’s say. But don’t think for one second that you’re any less valuable as a person because of it. You still deserve to be treated with kindness because I can see that you still want to give kindness to others, and you’re a human being just like everyone else. That means you make mistakes just like everyone else, and it means you deserve to be treated kindly just like everyone else. I know you’re mad at yourself and that takes time to get over, but please don’t think that you’re unworthy of love or friendship because of your past. What you need to focus on is the present. Don’t talk badly about one of my friends,” she said earnestly.

Friends. Varian’s eyes lit up at the word and he gave her a smile. He liked the sound of that. He took a step back and turned around to look at himself in a mirror in his lab. He smiled at his reflection, turning to look at himself from different angles.

“So, what do you think?” Rapunzel asked eagerly.

“I think...it looks good.”

“So you like it?

“Of course I like it.” He ran his hands over the fabric softly. He’d never had such fine clothes before. “And you’re right. This is a nice color,” he laughed lightly. He looked up at Rapunzel.

“Thank you, Princess.”

“You’re welcome, Varian,” she replied with a smile. She gave him a hug and she stuck around to listen to him talking about his further progress with his machine. When it was time to say goodbye, she waved and headed back to the castle. And for the rest of the day whenever Varian caught a glimpse of his reflection, he couldn’t help but smile.

***

Not too long after, Rapunzel decided to raise her kingdom’s spirits by bringing them together for a community project, namely to help rebuild the castle’s throne room after the Saporian attack had damaged it. Several members of the kingdom had volunteered to come, and Rapunzel was both surprised and delighted to see that Varian was one of them. Finally shaking off his fears of traveling to the capital city alone, he showed up at the castle with a backpack full of tools, ready to help.

“Hello, Varian! It’s good to see you out and about,” she said.

“Thanks. It’s good to be out and about. I know I’m a big part of why the throne room is damaged, and I’m sorry about that. But I’m ready to get to work rebuilding,” he replied.

“Well, thank you. I appreciate it. We can use all the help we can get.”

At that moment, Eugene entered the room and spotted Rapunzel talking to Varian. He looked him over in surprise.

“Varian! I like the new outfit! You’re looking sharp, buddy.”

“Thanks,” Varian replied with a smile. “New outfit, new day, new me.”

And it was true. The new, special clothes looked good on Varian, and not just because the color was nice. It was a different, more mature look and it reflected Varian’s growth, in more ways than one. It was still perfect for alchemy and inventing, he hadn’t lost that part of himself. He was still the same sweet boy he’d always been, but he was changed. He really was a new person, still with all his same quirks, but now he was bigger and stronger, and not just in size. His return to kindness had ushered in a new change, and change looked good.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed!

#tangled the series #rapunzels tangled adventure #tts varian #varian the alchemist #princess rapunzel #I love their bond so much #whaley writes

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varibean · 4 years

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Try Turning It Off And On Again

This was my piece for the tangled dreams zine that can be found here! I wanted to try writing a bit of Team Awesome/Dadgene so I hope y’all enjoy and lmk what you think!

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It was no small exaggeration to say that, on paper, Varian was living a near perfect life. It was hard to imagine the boy-or as his father so often called him, ‘young man’-wanting for anything and for the most part he didn’t. After the battle with Zhan Tiri and the terrifying day of the eclipse, all of his dreams had been practically handed to him on a silver platter. Royal Engineer, renowned alchemist, best friend to several important people; with all that under his belt it was hard to imagine him not being in a constant state of euphoria over how well his life was playing out. Especially after his rocky start.

However if someone was to catch him in the early hours of the morning, they would be led to think that nothing had ever gone right in the history of his entire life.

It wasn’t a fact of Varian not being a morning person that was the issue but rather the sheer number of things he had to do once he got up. Early on in his career as royal engineer, Rapunzel thought it to be a great idea that he live in the palace with them. He’d been excited about the prospect at first; getting to live close with his greatest friends? Spending his days working on machines? Winding down at night in the grand ballroom for dinner? Absolutely perfect.

What he hadn’t considered was the fact that, by living in the palace, he was essentially on the clock twenty-four seven. Every morning when he woke up he skipped his usual routine of combing his hair or brushing his teeth in favor of opening up his bedroom door. That action was always greeted with a pile of neatly placed but still numerous scrolls, all left behind by the morning castle page. Each one was either a task, request, or order form filed by any and all who needed his service. It was only after he picked them all up and read through them that he continued his other morning tasks.

Life at the castle was more boring than he’d ever considered life in a castle could be. The whole place worked like clockwork and not the fun kind. The only thing that broke up the monotony of the place was Rapunzel, with her always chipper nature, and Eugene, who often tagged along with her despite his own duties as Captain of the Guard. But even that small burst of excitement was becoming less and less as time went on. Less Rapunzel, less Eugene, more work.

When Varian first arrived, everything had been wonderful and new. The scrolls at his doorstep were exciting projects, not boring chores. He had time for his own inventions and endeavors no matter how small they were, and most importantly, he got to spend time with his friends. All of those things were slowly fading, dwindling in time and importance as his daily tasks grew and grew. When writing his father about it, the older man simply replied that it was all part of growing up. Varian hated that. Still, the days dragged on, the ever steady pace of the castle completely uncaring to his internal plight of drudgery.

____

It was on a day of heavy rain and wind when Varian got the notice that something was wrong with the boilers. Nothing major enough to cause an entire village to explode, he’d been sure to put that safety precaution in place, but enough to warrant a knock on his door as he was preparing for lunch. No ham sandwich break for him today.

Apparently some rainwater had managed to seep through the shallow earth and gotten into the underground reservoir used to fill the tankers, in turn causing them to overflow. It wasn’t the overflow that was causing any structural issues, the machines wouldn’t rust overnight after all, but it was causing an imbalance in the chemical reaction. Too much water meant there was more liquid than the chemicals could properly heat, leaving everyone with lukewarm water. Tragic.

Duty called though and lunch would have to wait.

“Lukewarm water. Oh”, Varian said sarcastically to Ruddiger as he prepared to go down and find the leaky bit of earth that was causing the problem, “The horror of it all.”

The people of Corona could survive a day or two without hot water, but why should they when they had a Royal Engineer at their disposal? Nevermind the fact that he was a person too, who was currently missing out on his meal so that everyone else could wash their hands in comfort.

He bit back the desire to spout out another sarcastic comment to his furry companion, knowing that he was just being unreasonably bitter because he was hungry. Food would still be there when he got done; the longer he ignored the problem the worse it would get. In all fairness, it took priority. Besides, something like sealing up a bit of loose earth and diverting the dripping water from the tankers would be an easy fix. He could do it in his sleep.

____

Varian had been correct in assuming that the boiler problem would be an easy fix, maybe slightly tedious at best. What he hadn’t accounted for was how difficult it would be to simply get down to the reservoirs in the first place.

The problems started the second he stepped out of his room and into the main hallways of the castle. Ruddiger trotted beside him happily, the fat animal knowing that his only job was companionship and nothing more. Given the time of day and the raininess outside the place was busier than it normally was. Gardeners muttered over their tools, maids rushed to clean up dirt and grime that had been tracked in, and all the other servants began to hustle and bustle around in order to make sure that everyone was safe and well attended to.

It shouldn’t have been a long trek, just a few turns before getting to the downstairs, but the trip was elongated by everyone constantly bumping into him and pushing him aside.

Despite being a respected member of the staff, he was still just a boy in many of their eyes. He glared at the people who brushed past him, knowing that he’d helped each one of them with at least half a dozen things at some point or another. They’d been perfectly kind to him then but now he was nothing more than another body blocking their way. It was easy to be nice to someone while they were doing something for you and even easier to ignore them when the time was over.

Half way through the crowd to his destination he felt a hand grip at his arm and turning around he was met with the stern face of a maid, face flushed with frustration.

“Excuse me young man, you’re the Royal Engineer correct?”

Her voice was twice as haughty as she looked, speaking as if she couldn’t believe that she had to stoop to the level of talking to him in the first place.

“Varian. Just Varian.” He didn’t have time to deal with whatever nonsense the woman needed him for even though he had a sneaking suspicion that he was about to be given no choice.

He was quickly proven right as the woman gave a soft huff and pulled him alongside her to whatever issue she needed fixed. For a moment he considered squirming out of her grasp or maybe telling her that he was busy but as nice as those both seemed he knew that it would only come back to bite him in one form or another. If he didn’t fix whatever problem she had now then he would have to do it later. He was already missing lunch, might as well make the most of things.

She all but shoved him into one of main rooms, where he was met with several maids and servants covered in dust and circled around one of his many machines.

Ah , he thought, That explains a lot.

“Your blasted machine blew up. How are we supposed to clean up dust when the device that you made to help does nothing but blow it back in our faces?” The woman huffed as she crossed her arms.

Varian would have rather been scolded by old lady Crowley than whoever this woman was. At least Crowley didn’t balk like a fish when she was angry.

“Have you tried turning it on and off again?” Varian tried to joke to lighten the mood, but was met with only a cold shoulder and a stifled chitter from Ruddiger.

Eugene or Rapunzel would’ve found it funny.

He signed while leaning down to the device and fixing it up with one very simple step: Flipping the switch from ‘blow’ to ‘suck’.

“Let me know if you have any actual problems with it ma’am. Sadly, even I can’t fix operator errors.”

He skittered out of the room before anyone could berate him for his mouth. He smirked to himself, thinking how funny one of his friends would find that line. That was only the beginning of his troubles though.

It seemed that every step he took towards the boilers, someone needed his assistance.

Nigel’s mechanical pen needed the ink chamber fixed, Hope needed the automatic laundry cart’s wheel to be tightened, one of the chefs needed more preservation chemicals to keep the food fresh until next week.

By the time he actually got to the door to the boiler room it was well past his lunch break, time slowly and steadily creeping towards dinner. Hours of helping crowds of people with their problems and all that just so he could get to the actual problem of the day.

But yet again, right when he was about to turn the knob on the door and enter the stairwell for the boilers at long last, another hand grasped at his arm.

“Hey there buddy-”

“For the sun’s sake I just need to fix one stupid problem!” Varian shouted, turning around to face the stranger who’d grabbed him only to find that it wasn’t a stranger at all.

Instead he was met with Eugene’s surprised and amused face looking down at him, red uniform dampened slightly from the outside rain and hair slicked back in an admittedly stylish fashion.

“Well hello to you too short stack.” Eugene’s response was met with a groan as Varain pushed in the door and began to descend into the underground area. “Rough day?”

“Not more than any other day here.”

“So I’ll take that as a yes. What’re you doing going to the boilers so late, it’s almost chow time kiddo. You know how your dad will chew us out if we don’t get you your three squares a day.”

Even with Eugene’s joking nature Varian could hear a bit of sincerity in his words. He couldn’t bear the thought of confessing that he hadn’t gotten a chance to eat lunch. Instead he just kept walking downwards, the other man following close behind with Ruddiger.

“The rain cracked through one of the underground tunnel walls, which has been causing the small reservoir down there to flow faster. It’s overfilling the machines which means the formula for heating them isn’t working and that means a bunch of people upset at me until I can fix it.”

“Well of course, can’t imagine what a tragedy it must be to go a full day with only lukewarm water.” Eugene’s tone was sarcastic, mimicking Varian’s earlier sentiments on the matter.

Despite the day he had, the alchemist laughed. Of course Eugene of all people would share his same sense of humor at the situation.

“It wouldn’t be so bad if people would just let me get down here in the first place.”

“Nah, they can’t make it too easy on you kiddo, that’ll just make you go soft.”

Another chuckle rang out against the walls. It was more than Varian had laughed in probably an entire week. Suddenly the task of fixing a leak didn’t seem so bad; having company helped and though he loved Ruddiger to pieces, there was only so much conversation that a single raccoon could have.

“So what do we have to do to fix it?” Eugene asked after the laughter had settled and the two made it to the bottom of the steps, leading to the underground tunnels.

“I’m just going to put some of my newest solution on the crack and up the Flynnolium for a few hours. That’ll give everything time to reset by morning and then I’ll adjust the Flynnolium solution release back down to four percent per tanker. And it’ll also give everyone else ample time to find something new to yell at me about.”

Though he spoke with a joking tone he could see the flash of concern that drifted over Eugene’s face, making him instantly regret saying anything at all. He didn’t want to appear ungrateful to the older man; he really did love his job even with the few pitfalls that came with it. His snark was nothing more than the result of a little stress. That’s what he told himself at least.

The rest of the walk was short and comfortably chatty, Eugene going on about his latest guard duties while Varian laughed and ribbed him on his work ethic. It was nice to finally get some time to talk to his friend again, Team Awesome. He almost didn’t want his work day to be finished but the fixes he needed to implement were easy; it had just taken him forever to get down to do them. Just as soon as the two (plus Ruddgier) had made it to the caves, they were back to the top of the staircase.

“Well kid,” Eugene started, “now that we’ve got that all done let’s go get some grub. Don’t want to keep everyone else waiting.”

Eugene began to walk in the direction of the dining hall but Varian stayed put. He was hungry, that much was for sure, but he’d spent all day around people. Being around them, fixing their problems, having them bump into him and squawk at him. It was nice to spend some time with just Eugene but an entire room full of more people...now that was something different entirely.

“Actually I still have some leftovers from lunch in my room.” By which, of course, he meant his entire lunch. “I’m not that hungry anyways so I think I’m going to pass tonight, tell everyone I said hi.”

“Are you sure? Heard there was going to be cookies tonight-”

“Yeah, don’t-don’t worry about me it’s just been...been a really long day.”

Varian mustered up his best smile and gave a thumbs up as he walked away before Eugene could say anything else.

It had been a nice reprieve from his regular day to day drudgery, but it was time to go to bed and start the whole process over again tomorrow.

____

When Varian woke up the next morning he wasn’t tired which was his first clue that something was wrong. He stretched and yawned, squinting as the sun shone brightly through his window which was the second clue.

The third, and by far the most obvious clue, came when he cleared his nose and sniffed a few times and was met with the scent of fresh ham and eggs. Turning to his night stand he saw a brilliantly decorated tray of toast, butter, and scrambled eggs with ham and tomato slices mixed in.

“What in the-oh shit!” Next to the delicious smelling breakfast was his alarm clock which had apparently not gone off despite having wound it up the night before, seeing how the time displayed on it read 11:12. He was late, beyond late. It was nearly noon, he would never hear the end of it. Not only that, but there was a bigger issue at hand.

“The Flynnolium!” He darted up out of bed, not even bothering to put on his work clothes or brush his hair.

He nearly tripped over his own feet trying to reach the door. When he opened it, however, he ran face first into a solid body, sending him reeling back from the impact.

“Well good morning there sleepy head. Man, you really must’ve been worn out to sleep that long huh? Any sweet dreams?” The voice was calm and teasing with just a hint of sincerity playing against the tone of a smile.

“Eugene!” Varian steadied himself and once again tried to get by him. “I can’t talk right now, I have to go. I overslept somehow and-and the Flynnolium has been set on high for too long, I need to get down there and-”

“Set it back to four percent per tanker? Already taken care of buddy. Now come on, I worked all morning on that breakfast and you haven’t even touched it. Well, the royal chef worked all morning on it but I was in the room so i’m pretty sure that counts for something. Supervising, you know, is a very important part of the process.”

“Wha…”

Varian couldn’t even finish his sentence as Eugene guided him back to his bed and sat him down, moving the breakfast tray onto his lap.

“Well don’t sit there wasting all that hard work, dig in.”

“But I don’t...I don’t understand how-what the hell is going on?”

“Language.” Eugene chidded jokingly before sitting down beside the other, “I noticed you seemed a little stressed yesterday. So, I took it upon myself to give you the day off. Woke up this morning and turned the Flynnolium down. Bribed Ruddiger with a few apples to get him to turn your clock off and let you sleep in.”

Varian looked down at the food in his lap, speechless. He hadn’t been that tired, had he?

“Why though?” He asked, quizzically picking up a slice of toast and slowly biting it.

“I just told you, you’re stressed. We’re Team Awesome and Team Awesome looks out for each other.”

Varian continued to crunch slowly and Eugene let out a soft sigh before putting his hand on the other’s back.

“I know the people here demand a lot from you. It would be a big adjustment for anyone just to exist around this place, let alone be the Royal Engineer. Doing projects every day, people only giving you the time of day when they need you, running around like Pascal chasing after a fly. And I know I...probably haven’t helped much in that regard either. You’re the Royal Engineer because Rapunzel and I know you can handle it. But just because you can handle it on your own doesn’t mean you should have to.”

The more Eugene spoke the more Varian relaxed, shoveling more food into his mouth as he got more comfortable.

“Fankfs.” He said, his cheeks full like chipmunks, causing Eugene to laugh.

“No problem buddy. Anyways, like I was saying, I’m sorry I haven’t been around as much-”

“That’s not your fault.”

“No, but it is my fault for not trying harder. And for not realizing how tough things have been on you. So, here’s the plan, once a week from now on you’re getting a full twenty-four hours of off time. Maybe after a few of those and we’ll finally have you back on a decent sleeping schedule. Anyone who interrupts it gets thrown in the dungeon, my royal decree as Captain.”

“I don’t think Captains can make royal decrees.” Varian stated flatly, suppressing a smirk.

“Ok smart mouth, well they can now. You have the rest of the day off.”

There was a comfortable silence for a moment as Varian finished eating, setting aside the tray and closing his eyes. He leaned against Eugene’s shoulder, content and full and happy.

“Thanks Eugene.”

“Anytime kiddo. Team Awesome?”

Eugene extended his fist and Varian happily, if not a bit tiredly, pounded it with his own.

“Team Awesome. Now, since I have the rest of the day off…” In a split second Varian was falling back against his bed, rolling himself up in the blankets pillows, “I’m going back to sleep.”

Eugene laughed and playfully shoved his shoulder.

“Lazy bones. Well, have sweet dreams. Sugar plum fairies and all that.”

“Nah, I’m going to be dreaming of cute blonds who look like Flynn Rider and take me on daring adventures.”

That caused Eugene to laugh even louder.

“Wow, you really are such a teenager aren’t you? Well tell dream hotshot that if he wants your fantasy hand in marriage he’s going to have to get through me first.”

“And my dad.” Varian joked bluntly.

“Personally I think I’m the more important one to impress but, yeah, that guy too-” Suddenly a pillow hit Eugene’s face, muffling his chuckles, “Ok ok I get the message, I’m leaving, I’m leaving.”

“Eugene?”

“Yes sleeping beauty?”

“Thanks, I needed this.”

“Any time kiddo. Love ya.”

As Eugene closed the door, Varian closed his eyes, sinking down into his mattress and into a day of blissful sleep.

“Love you too.”

By the time Varian got the drowsy words out, Eugene was already gone, but it didn’t matter. He already knew.

#Eugene Fitzherbert #varian #team awesome #tangled the series #dadgene #zk fic #hope yall enjoy!!!!!!

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ultraglittercat · 4 years

Text

Drabble 98

Heatwave

On a hot summer day, the people of Corona were desperate to beat the heat. Varian was doing better than most, even with the broken leg he’d acquired earlier in the month. Varian had several methods for keeping cool, such as the miniature fan powered by Ruddiger, which worked until the raccoon got tired. After that, Varian had rewarded his pet with an apple and a promise that they would find a way to stay cool that wouldn’t tire the animal out. He did after all have his soda water, a refreshing carbonated drink he’d perfected over the years, creating different flavors. The cherry vanilla combination was a favorite of both Varian and Quirin.

But today, Varian had a new idea to cool off. He’d built smaller versions of his amber gun, only this time they were full of water. He just needed someone to try them out, he explained as his father wheeled him into town in the wheelchair Varian had designed.

“These water guns are going to work perfectly, Dad.” Varian told him.

“I hope so. You certainly put a lot of effort into them. I’ve got some errands to run in town. Will you be alright here by yourself?” Quirin asked.

Varian nodded. “I probably won’t be alone for long. I asked Lance and the girls to meet me outside Monty’s, and I bet they’ll be here soon.” Varian predicted.

“Have a good day with your friends, then.” Quirin said, heading into Feldspar’s to get some repairs done on his work boots.

Varian had only waited for a few minutes when his friends arrived.

“Varian! What did you want from us? Maybe treat us to some chocolate before it melts in the sun?” Lance greeted him.

“Yeah, chocolate!” the girls chimed in.

“Actually, I had a different idea. You see, I built these water guns but with my foot like this, I can’t really test them. I thought maybe the girls might--” but before Varian had finished his thought, the girls had grabbed the water gun. Kiera pulled the trigger first, squirting Lance in the face.

“No way! These are awesome, V.” she said, truly impressed.

Catalina fired hers next, hitting Ruddiger on Varian’s lap. The little raccoon huffed indignantly and Catalina laughed. “Wow. These things are gonna be so much fun! Can we fire them around town, Dad?” she asked Lance.

“Well, I don’t see the harm in using a little water gun. Just be careful to only squirt people who want to get wet.” Lance cautioned, but the girls didn’t heed the final part of his request. They ran down the busy streets, aiming their water guns at anyone who walked past: Xavier, Fernanda, Attila, anyone they saw basically. They didn’t really get in trouble until they took aim at the Royal Guards, soaking Stan and Pete.

“Kiera! Catalina! You are distracting the guards when they’re trying to work. Stop this right--” Eugene tried to say, and got a face full of water for his trouble. “Who gave you those things, anyway?” Eugene demanded.

“Varian.” replied the girls.

Eugene sighed. He should have known. He thought he’d make it clear to Varian that he shouldn’t invent things that caused a mess or disturbed people in any way after the glitter fiasco, but apparently the lesson hadn’t stuck.

So Eugene marched into town with the girls trailing behind him, still wearing his Captain’s uniform and trying to maintain some dignity, despite his wet hair. Hopefully his hair wouldn’t get too frizzy after it dried.

“Varian! What did I tell you about not making a mess with your inventions?” he shouted.

“Actually, you told me not to make a mess when inventing something for Rapunzel, and she hasn’t touched the water guns.” Varian hid behind a technicality. Lance smirked. He thought Eugene’s hair looked silly, but he knew his friend well enough to keep such comments to himself.

“Okay, fine. Now that rule extends to everyone. This is a hot day and people’s tempers are short. Get the girls to stop using those water guns immediately.” Eugene declared.

“Stop using them? I’ve never felt so refreshed!” Xavier said, walking over to the group. “I wouldn’t mind if they sprayed me again. It remembers of the legend of the Mermaid’s Tears.”

“I liked it too.” admitted Fernanda before walking into Monty’s store.

“I work in front of a hot stove all day. I certainly appreciated the cool down.” Attila called out.

“See? We were helping people. That was our plan all along.” Kiera lied.

“Hmm. I guess it worked out okay, but when the heatwave ends, I want you to put those things away. I still think they’re a nuisance.” Eugene huffed.

“Look at it this way. It could have been worse.” Varian suggested. “I could have given them guns that fired paint.”

The End

Would you trust the girls (or Varian for that matter) with a prototype paintball gun? Probably not the best idea. XD

#tangled the series #tts #tts varian #tangled varian #varian #tts lance #tangled lance #lance #lance strongbow #tts quirin #tangled quirin #quirin #tts ruddiger #tangled ruddiger #ruddiger #fanfiction #fanfic #my fiction

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glacecakes · 4 years

Text

Alchemy Lullaby (7/?)

Of all the changes that came with living in the castle, becoming a father was not one he anticipated. When Eugene encounters a small child suffering like he did, he gives them the opportunity to grow up the way he never did... helping them both heal. (AU where Varian is 4 and gets adopted by Eugene)

Part 7: Varian spends his first Christmas with his family. There is no actual plot it's just fluff

Read the rest on AO3

Part of an art trade for the lovely @finnoky once again! Finn is my partner in crime on this au so major shout out to him <3 Yes we are aware it is Halloween season but a) the timeline dictates Christmas and b) JUST LET ME HAVE MY CHRISTMAS SEROTONIN

Also a massive shoutout to the Scar Varian discord, who's support has cured my depression. And all of you! Seriously, the love for this fic is insane I don't know how to handle it lol. If you want more baby Varian content dm me! The Scar Varian server is where we brainstorm baby ideas like, daily. And it's a riot. If you have any ideas you wanna see for this AU send me an ask! Also the next chapter is gonna be a world of pain enjoy this while it lasts

The castle was abuzz with joy. The maids flitted around the halls, some even humming as they strung up lights and garlands. The frosted windows shone light through their wreaths, basking everything in a wintery-white glow. Even Old Lady Crowley seemed less angry than normal, barking out orders at only half volume.

Spinning around, Rapunzel hums an old Christmas song. She’s always loved this time of year! Christmas was watching snow, and cuddling up by the fire with chocolate, and cooking gingerbread…! There was so much to be excited about! Even if she never had an official Christmas with her family yet, her steps were light as a feather, confident in this year’s success. Her previous Christmases had been quiet, just her and sometimes Gothel. Now, she had a mother, a father, a boyfriend, and his son! To think, exactly one year ago she never would have thought this could be possible.

The princess twirled to a stop in the throne room. The place was decked to the nines, ribbons and garland and all sorts of red decorated every inch. And in the corner sat a perfect pine, already decorated head to toe. The candles shone down on a confused, pudgy face.

Varian tugged at one of the ornaments. Not hard enough for it to fall, but enough for it to jingle.

Oh, that’s right! She’s not the only one celebrating a first Christmas with family!

The little boy fiddled with the pine needles, marvelling at the bristles and poking soft fingers into needles. He stuck his tongue out and stood on his tiptoes, reaching for a candy cane tied to a higher branch. If only he was a little taller…!

Strong, warm hands wrapped around his stomach and lifted him skyward.

“Need a hand?”

Varian looked up at the princess and beamed. “Hi Punzel!”

“Hello, Varian. Did you want the candy cane?”

Varian blinked, confused. “No, I wanted the red hook.” He grabbed the candy cane off the tree and held up his prize. “See?”

“That’s a candy cane, but it’s just for decoration. If you want actual candy canes, you can head down to the kitchens.” the princess gently took the decor from his hands.

He frowned, trying to commit the term to memory. “What’s it for?”

“The candy canes?”

“No, the tree!” He yelled right into her ear.

“Woah, inside voice.” Varian zipped his lip. “It’s for Christmas.”

“Ooooh. What’s that?” he asked.

Rapunzel’s smile fell off her face near instantly. How do you explain a holiday to a toddler…?

“Well, um,” she started. “It’s a day where we all get together and celebrate being a family. We exchange gifts under the tree, and eat snacks, and sing songs… there’s a lot of stuff to do! It’s very fun, you’ll like it a lot, I promise.”

Thankfully, that seemed to satisfy him. “Celebrate family… like momma?”

“More like you, and me, and Eugene,” Well, and Cass and Lance and her parents, but no overwhelming the baby. Little at a time.

Baby blue eyes glanced down at the floor. “But… momma is family.”

There was no denying the wasps in her heart, stinging at the mention of Varian’s mother. How they burrowed deep, whispering how the boy saw Eugene as his father, but not Rapunzel as his mother. It was selfish, she knew it. Varian was much closer to Eugene, he was practically the man’s shadow. But as Eugene’s girlfriend (and hopefully future wife), there was no denying the wish for Varian to see her in a similar light.

Varian still saw that woman as family? That’s ok, he still needed time. Or maybe he’d always see her as family. That was ok too. But hopefully, they could assure Varian that his real family, his loving family, was there for him this Christmas.

“Varian,” she whispered, gently lifting his chin to face him. “Family loves you, protects you. It’s ok if you still love your momma, but you weren’t safe with her. That’s why you have us now! We’re your family too, and we’ll celebrate Christmas with you, ok?”

Varian nodded weakly, wrapping short arms around her waist. Outstretched arms squeezed him tight. Then, he broke off, skittering out of the throne room and likely towards the kitchen for those treats.

Rapunzel sighed as she watched him go. He was a smart little thing, learning faster than anyone could teach. On more than one occasion she spotted the precocious kid trying to heave a too heavy book around the library. One thing he was particularly fond of were the sciences. From Astronomy to Zoology, Varian ate it all up, greedily grabbing any book that even looked like it was informational. He was also a big fan of the Flynn Rider series, but that may be more because Eugene was so eager to share it with him. Ever since Lance told him Eugene used to be Flynn Rider, Varian assumed he’d meant the book Flynn, and his love for his dad became near fervent in nature.

But while Varian adored learning about the world around him, there were certain things he struggled to pick up. Social cues were a big one. He was dreadfully shy around strangers, and a little hellion to those he knew. On one memorable occasion, Varian had insisted on dressing himself, resulting in a day of backwards shirts and missing pants. Anytime Eugene tried to fix it, he’d screamed like the man was stabbing him.

Poor Eugene had needed a drink after that.

The point is, Varian loved to learn, but he still struggled with sociability, not unlike Rapunzel when she first came home. It sounded like he grew up in the same way, isolated from other people, relying only on a controlling mother. Thankfully, Varian was saved at a much younger age. Rapunzel could only pray that meant he’d flourish now.

Varian struggled to understand the world around him sometimes.

There were some things he understood perfectly well, like how Ruddiger was his friend. There were some things he knew were true but didn’t really get why, like how his family hated his momma. And there were some things he was completely lost on, which in this case, was Christmas.

Everyone around him was so cheery, so lively, even more so than usual. Whenever he asked why, he got the same answer: It’s almost Christmas! Christmas is tomorrow! But when he asked what Christmas was, what Rapunzel meant by singing and eating and gifts, everyone had a different answer! How was he supposed to figure it out if everyone had a different idea of what Christmas was?

Everyone was busy preparing for… something. Varian wasn’t sure what. A party, maybe? So soon after the last one? That party sucked, but at least he got to introduce Ruddiger to everyone.

After that debacle, Eugene hadn’t been so keen on letting Varian keep the baby raccoon. The boy wasn’t even 5 yet, how was he supposed to care for his own pet? Rapunzel mentioned she’d been about his age when she met Pascal, but apparently a chameleon and raccoon are two very different things. Bummer.

Eventually, they settled on a compromise: Ruddiger was an outdoor animal who belonged outdoors, but during the winter and night he was allowed to be inside. And once Varian got older, he might be allowed to keep Ruddiger full time!

Since it was snowing today, Ruddiger got to happily trail the child, keeping close to his feet as they traversed the castle. He said hi to the maids and guards as he walked by, but right now, Varian was trying to find his family. He technically wasn’t allowed to wander the castle alone, but King Frederick was really the only stickler about that rule. Varian had survived 6 months on the street, he could survive the short walk to and fro.

Just as he passed the kitchens, a sweet smell tickled his nose, followed by a deep, familiar voice singing. His pet noticed it too, already waddling into the kitchen. Varian followed, and sure, enough, Eugene’s best friend was there.

“Hi Lance!” Varian squeaked. He latched onto the burly man’s legs.

Lance leaned down from his place by the stove. He’d just finished taking the gingerbread out of the oven, the golden brown sizzling on the sheet. Carefully, so as not to drop the sheet on the child, Lance set the cookies down with one hand and ruffled black hair with another.

“Hey there, kiddo! I thought I told you to call me Uncle Lance,” he grinned at how Varian squirmed under his palm.

Varian giggled. “Eugene said you’re not really my uncle.” Those giggles doubled at Lance’s mock offended face.

“After everything we’ve been through, after all I’ve done for him, and he won’t call me a brother!” He gripped his chest, and his knees sunk to the floor. “It hurts… my heart…” with an overdramatic wail, Lance fell back and squished Varian to the floor. His weight wasn’t entirely on this child, he didn’t want to crush him, but it was enough to send Varian sprawling.

Honestly, Varian didn’t get why Eugene was so against him calling Lance his uncle. He didn’t even know what an Uncle was! Shrieking laughter emanated from the toddler. “Lance!! Get off!” He said.

“Sorry, can’t, Lance is dead.”

“Nooooo!”

“Yesssss, the only cure,” the thief sighed, “Is for a brave, smart kid to call him… uncle…”

“Uncle Lance!” Varian shrieked. “Uncle Lance get off!” Almost instantly he sat upright, freeing his prisoner.

“I live!” He cried, scooping Varian up and standing. “Thank you, sweet child!” He smushed their cheeks together in joy, only letting go when he had to bat Ruddiger away from his creation.

“No bud! Gingerbread is bad for raccoons… probably,”

Varian hadn’t heard that word before. “Gingerbread?” It smelled so good, surely Lance wouldn’t mind if he stole one, right? The guy adored him.

“Ah-ah!” Lance spun away from the stove, cookies now out of reach. He ignored the whines. “Gingerbread cookies can only be eaten if they’re decorated.” Setting Varian on a nearby counter, the man grabbed a few icing pipettes and candy pieces. “Gingerbread men need gingerbread clothes!”

The next hour was filled with messy cookies and sprawling icing. White sugar covered nearly every surface, as Varian couldn’t figure out the right pressure to use a pipette. Eventually he gave up, letting Lance do the drawing while he added buttons and eyes in the form of candies. Every so often, Varian would hand a small treat to Ruddiger, enjoying fuzzy whiskers that tickled his hand. It was a comfortable silence, both of them invested in their individual activity. By the time Lance finally spoke again, the sun had tracked across the room and shone through the window.

“So,” he said, tongue sticking out as he drew a face onto his cookie. “Why Eugene?” His companion stuck his head up, confused. He licked the sugar off his fingers. “What about him made you want to stay with him?”

Varian glanced down, deep in thought. “He’s nice,” he started. “He gives me lots of hugs, and makes me laugh.”

“Yea? What else?”

“Eugene is… super cool! He’s pretty, and he let me keep Ruddiger, and he loves me…” his small voice trailed off. The heat from sunlight warmed his bones, layering him in laziness. A yawn escaped him.

He was just about to doze off, mind still trying to think of compliments, when soft knocking shook him awake. Cassandra nodded at him, bundled up in her winter coat.

“It’s high time someone got fresh air,” She said in her monotone voice, so Varian slid off the counter to join her. He waved to Lance on the way out, and off they went.

No sooner than they left, Rapunzel peeked her head in. “Hey Lance! I have an idea…”

Ruddiger zoomed ahead, happily digging up snow and dirt to catch a meal. The winter sun was bright yet also weak, sparkling off snow mounds. Varian’s small boots kicked up powder as he walked, each step more exaggerated than need be. He gripped Cassandra’s hand tightly. Out of everyone Varian frequently interacted with, she scared him the most… except maybe for the King. But he trusted her not to let him get hurt, not after saving him from the Stabbingtons.

Sure enough, she whispered “Careful, it’s slippery.” And lifted him up and over the patch of ice with just her hands.

“Wow, you’re really strong,” She raised her eyebrow at him.

“I have to be, it’s my job to keep Rapunzel safe.”

Just Rapunzel? Not him, not Eugene? What about the king? Didn’t they need protecting? Thankfully, Cassandra saw his confused face and smiled faintly. “And you, someone’s gotta clean up after you.”

“Eugene said it’s rude to leave things for the maids to clean up.”

A look akin to shock overtook her face. She stopped walking, temporarily startled, forcing Varian to stop with her. “He said that?” A nod. “Huh. Guess he’s not a terrible father after all.”

That caught the child’s attention. Rage simmered in his gut, bubbling and twisting his insides around. He glared up at her with a look he hoped was intimidating, but judging by her veiled laughter, he’d failed. A booted foot stomped the snow, and by his side small black spikes sprouted. It wasn’t noticeable, only as tall as his shoelaces, but it was there regardless. Just as fast as it appeared, the rage fell down his body and leaked out into the earth.

“Don’t call Eugene bad,” Varian pouted, cheeks puffing up and lip jutting out. “He’s the best!”

“Oh yea? Why’s that?” Cassandra teased, resuming their walk.

“He’s a reallllllly good reader. Like, really good. And he’s smart,” That got a laugh. “And he saved me!”

“So did I,” she reminded him, but that just got her frustrated boot shuffles. At last the handmaiden took pity on him. “Ok, ok. I’m sorry I called Eugene a bad dad. He loves you very much, and you love him.” He preened.

He went to speak, but soft crunches interrupted his train of thought. From around the bend, two familiar and burly men step into view.

“...no word from either of them, but Hector never answers my letters anyway-” Quirin was speaking, with Frederick hanging onto his every word. Their faces were both solemn, stoic and businesslike. Whatever they were talking about, it was likely serious. But the seriousness evaporates when Quirin catches sight of the young child. “Hello there!” Frederick’s face remains impassive, but he seems to let the subject drop. At least for now.

Something about Quirin just screams welcoming to Varian. It’s strange. His time on the streets as well as his encounter with the Stabbingtons should have made Varian terrified of men like him, but Quirin’s autumn scent and warm smile relaxed Varian. He grinned his toothy smile and waved.

“Your majesty,” Cassandra bowed. The King nodded, and she stood back up. He gave Varian a nod as well, but he had no idea to react. Bow? Smile? Hide? All of those options sounded like a bad idea, so he just stood still for now.

“Hello, Cassandra, Varian.” The latter name was said with a hint of apprehension. “Enjoying the weather?”

“Yes sir,” The lady-in-waiting responded, and she gently nudged Varian. He nodded frantically, so fast his head might as well have flown off. Quirin seemed amused, at least.

“Don’t stay out too long, we don’t want this young man to catch a cold,” Quirin ruffled Varian’s hair, and the child blushed.

“We won’t, sir.” Cassandra bowed to him as well. Satisfied, they moved on, leaving Varian and Cassandra to finish their walk around the castle ground. “Cassie? Who is Quirin?”

She seemed surprised by the question. “Who is he? I think he’s an advisor, or something.”

“A what?”

“He helps the king.”

Varian’s mouth dropped open in an “o” shape. Who knew Kings needed help? Not him, that’s for sure!

“Come on, let’s go inside, it’s getting cold.” She led him away, until Varian couldn’t see either man when he turned around.

“As I was saying, Adira is hard to track down, but-” Quirin’s words halted as he stumbled over something. “What the…” A small cluster of black rocks, innocent and unflinching. The men shared a nervous glance.

When Cassandra dropped Varian off inside, she watched as Varian toddled off to find Eugene, turned around, and came face to face with a Rapunzel grinning like a maniac.

The princess covered her friend’s mouth before she could scream. “Come on! I need your help. We only have a few more hours!” Without any explanation, Cass found herself being dragged off to god knows where.

Waking up on the early side was not new to Varian. Ever since he’d come to the castle, Eugene would drag him out of bed no later than 9:30 am. And he’d learned to adapt, even if Varian preferred to get up when the sun’s rays were directly overhead. But 7 was really pushing it.

“Noooo!” He whined, clutching his sheets like a lifeline. “I don’t wanna get up!”

Eugene grunted from where he was holding his legs. For a 4 year old Varian had a hell of a grip. “Come on, kid, you can go back to sleep when we’re done if you want! Don’t have to change out of your pjs either. But you gotta get up now or you’re gonna miss your surprise.”

“Nooooo!” Varian wailed, burying his head into the duvet.

“Yesssss.”

With one final tug, Eugene managed to dislodge his child from his bed, sending them both sprawling on the floor. They laid there for a moment. Eugene questioned his life choices as Ruddiger rounded the bed and licked his face.

He carried Varian down the corridor to the throne room. At this early hour, the only people about were night shift guards preparing to turn in. A strange quiet filled the castle, a sense of peace lingered. It would be a nice experience if Varian wasn’t bone-tired. Honestly who decided that 7 am was a normal time to get up? It was understandable during the summer, but not at Christmas!

Grand doors swung upon, revealing the same setup as yesterday, only several people sat under the tree. Familiar blonde hair swung around to reveal Rapunzel’s exuberant face. By her side stood her family plus Lance and Cass, all looking tired but content. Presents sat scattered, surrounded by pine needles that had fallen.

“Merry Christmas!” She cried as she stood up and ran over. Both boys found themselves in a trademark bear hug. “It’s our first Christmas as a family, how exciting!”

“Sunshine, you’re squishing meeee!” Eugene wheezed, face turning red. The princess paid him no heed, leading him (and by extension, Varian) over to the pile. Several gifts with multiple names in fun colors and patterns awaited them. It was at this time Varian realized he knew how to read most things, but his name was not one of them. Thankfully, Rapunzel was eager to hand out everyone’s gifts. Slowly Varian’s pile grew larger and larger.

Cassandra winced. “I think you went a little overboard, Raps,”

“Nonsense! What makes you say that?” Cassandra pointed to where Varian sat by a pile larger than himself. He leaned against Eugene, eyes drooping.

The man rustled his shoulder. “Wake up, kiddo, open your presents.”

“My what?”

“All those boxes, they’re for you! They have fun stuff inside them.”

“Like what?”

The gathering broke into chuckles. “Why don’t you find out?” asked Arianna.

Curious eyes grabbed the largest box and fingers ran across its paper. Happy snowmen decorated the outside, and he was loathe to destroy it. But Rapunzel gave him a thumbs up, and that was all the invitation needed. With a war cry, Varian ripped off smiling snowmen with claw and fang. Even Ruddiger joined in on the mayhem, happily shaking his head as he held a piece of wrapping paper. The box gave way to…. Another box? But this one was on wheels.

A cart! A painted cart! It was light blue, just like his hair, and painted on the side was a name. Varian ran his fingers over it in confusion.

“Ruddiger,” Eugene whispered. “It says Ruddiger. So he can stay with you.” Varian’s eyes lit up in understanding. Without any pomp, he scooped up the raccoon and plopped him straight into the cart, much to Ruddiger’s confusion. Then, like a shot out of a canon, they were off. Varian screeched with delight as he zoomed around the throne room, wheels clacking against the marble floor as Ruddiger chittered in similar joy.

“So, I think he likes it!” Rapunzel chimed.

“He better,” Cassandra muttered. She was not a fan of staying up till midnight to help Rapunzel wrap her last-minute Christmas gifts. Lance got to do the easy part, too. All he had to do was sign! Meanwhile Cassandra nearly broke her nail for that one gift.

“Varian, you can play with that some more after the rest of your gifts! Come say thank you!” Eugene called. The child skidded to a stop, happily launching himself at Rapunzel for a hug.

“Thank you Punzel! Love you!” He pressed a wet kiss to her cheek. It should’ve been gross, but to her, it was perfect.

Eugene smiled from his seat on the floor. It was pretty damn perfect to him too.

#tangled #tts #tangled the series #varian #tts varian #team awesome #tangled eugene #eugene fitzherbert

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fletchphoenix · 4 years

Text

What I’ve Been Looking For

Hey Gamers! Here’s Chapter 8 of the Varigo Coffee Shop AU and I’m gonna be honest - I think this is my favourite chapter yet! It’s certainly the longest so I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!! Thank you for your support and ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

Word Count - 4853

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A week had passed and it was finally Christmas - aka Hugo’s least favourite day of the year. Passing through his lips was a groan as he turned to his side on his bed, which was only a few bad days away from giving up on him completely. He felt around on the bedside table for his glasses, placing them on his face and laying back again, his head resting against the moss green pillows. Picking his phone up, he smiled at his phone screen - a photo of Varian at the library which was almost completely covered by the wall of text messages from said boyfriend. He let out a small sigh - his boyfriend absolutely adored Christmas, but...he didn’t get the appeal.

At the orphanage, Christmas wasn’t really celebrated at all, it being far too expensive to buy presents for all the kids there. The only real indication he’d had that it was the streets being decorated by a ridiculous amount of lights, a giant pine tree placed in the centre of town with a mass of baubles scattered amongst the branches. Ever after he’d left, living on the streets for a while and after Donella took him in, she’d never been caring enough to celebrate the holiday. In her eyes, it was a ‘useless, excessively capitalised holiday used to manipulate the poor into spending a mass of money at one time’ and ‘a waste of money’. It wasn’t that he didn’t agree, the holiday was vastly overrated and had turned into a way to swindle money from the poor, manipulating the true meaning, but it wouldn’t hurt to get him a gift one year. It could’ve been a small one or something work-related, he wouldn’t have minded, but he never got one.

But that was the kind of woman Donella was, always cold and unfeeling towards everyone, including her son. Kind of. Did she even see him as her son? I mean-he’d always seen her as a mother to him, since she was the one to take him in, give him a home and a purpose...but that was because, in her eyes, he was a valuable asset. She’d only taken care of him, because she could get money from his skills. He knew that - she’d always been transparent about that fact with him - but there were plenty of instances where she’d contradicted herself. Where she’d actually cared. For example, when she’d brought him his jacket.

She’d initially shoved it into his chest, wrapped in a plastic bag with her usual scowl and folded arms greeting him as his eyes met hers in confusion. Her grey hair was perfectly kept, behind her back in a braid which left the scar on her chin on full display as it jolted up towards her lip. She’d never told him how she’d got it, but he had his theories. One of his most outlandish scenarios was trying to trap her old research partner in a magical library, her partner using magic and a knife to scar the skin (11-year-old him had a wild imagination, okay?). Her sickly green eyes held annoyance in every last nook and cranny as she examined the boy in front of her’s confused expression at the package that was thrust towards his chest. “Well, aren’t you going to see what’s inside? I don’t have all day to be standing around waiting for you, Hugo.”

“Yes ma’am.” He replied hastily, hands fumbling as he unwrapped the bag and took out the cargo. It was a green jacket, a grey hood at the top of it. He raised it to his eyes and tilted his head quietly. It was a little bit, but he’d grow into it. The second thing he’d noticed was that it was really, really soft, like..absolutely amazingly soft. Like fur! He pulled the jacket’s sleeves over his arms, noting how they covered his hands completely, before he rolled the sleeves up to his elbows. It was comfy - a childish grin covering his face as he looked up at his mentor, grateful for his gift.

“Your clothes looked ratty,” she said, looking away and trying to suppress her soft smile with a hardened expression. “I got you new ones. Maybe now you’ll look even slightly presentable.” she slowly walked away, Hugo knowing her true intentions behind the present. He let out a small yet happy sigh, his hand trailing through his hair as he walked down the hall towards his workshop again. He’d have to thank her later, he noted as he pushed open the door. He guessed that all the thanks he could give would be finishing off this commission they’d been working on for the past week...that would satisfy her more than a gift or hug or anything. He hung the jacket up on a peg, sitting down on the leather stool by his desk before leaning over and getting to work.

Hugo sat up in bed, finally deciding to get up on this cursed day and standing. He stretched his legs and arms, walking to his desk to give Olivia her daily helping of sunflower seeds, which the mouse graciously accepted with a happy squeak. He yawned and grabbed some clothes from the closet, heading down the hall towards the bathroom for a shower, passing framed photos of him, his boyfriend and their friends along the way. They all got along just fine - them being Hugo, Varian, Nuru and Yong, however him and Nuru did have the occasional sarcastic quip aimed at each other, much to Varian’s annoyance. Despite the playful banter though, they got along well considering the short amount of time they’d known each other, with Varian always taking pictures so Hugo would have to ‘frame his memories’ and place them on the wall. It was sweet, especially how he’d exclusively picked frames that were painted green - a nice little detail that didn’t go unnoticed by Hugo. Still, it felt strange. He thought Varian’s dad had grounded him, so why was he allowed out so frequently to meet up? The thought weighed heavy in his mind, although it disappeared as he arrived at his final destination.

Varian sat up in his bed as soon as he’d woken up, a large smile on his face as he realised the day. “It's Christmas...It’s Christmas!” He yelled as he jumped up, startling the obese cat who was sleeping quite satisfied on his legs, curled up in a ball. The cat mewled and batted at Varian’s arms in response, the teen too excited to care as he threw open his door and sprinted down the stairs. He must’ve moved at the speed of sound, because he swore it only took him a few seconds to arrive in the kitchen, where his father stood preparing some hot chocolate and pancakes. He felt out of place in his teal pyjamas, but nonetheless he still took a seat at the table. “Good morning, Dad. Hey, that smells great!”

“Good morning to you too, son. And thank you.” he replied, placing the pancakes on a plate, picking it up in one hand and the hot chocolate in the other before setting it in front of his son. Varian wasted no time, swallowing it all down so fast, Quirin could’ve sworn he’d just inhaled the things. Chuckling at the thought, he moved and sat down beside his son. “So, we’re stopping off at Rapunzel’s for Christmas dinner aren’t we?” A nod of confirmation came from his son, who was sipping his hot chocolate. “Okay, will we be picking up your boyfriend on the way?”

Varian spat his hot chocolate out in shock at his father’s latter question. What? How did he know about Hugo? He’d never told him about the other boy before...maybe Rapunzel had told his father? No, she wouldn’t do that to him. Eugene? He scrapped that thought as soon as it came. Those two would never do that to him...would they? “No Varian. You need to trust them.” his inner voice reminded him. He composed himself as his eyes met his dad’s, who was quite obviously holding back his laughter. “I...how do you..know about him?”

“Remember the night I grounded you? Last thursday? Yeah, that's how I know.” He explained nonchalantly, leaning back in his chair and sipping his hot chocolate quietly. “I went upstairs with the intent to apologise and saw you two fast asleep and cuddling. You both looked so peaceful that I didn’t want to intrude on your moment, so I left you be and wanted to wait until you were ready to tell me.” He suddenly leaned forward, taking his son’s hands in his own with a serious expression on his face. “Son, you know I love you no matter who you’re attracted to, whether it be boys or girls. You’re still my son and I love you unconditionally. So will your Aunt Adira and Uncle Hector. And we’ll support you no matter what. Although...it would have been nice to have a formal introduction with the boy, he seems very nice.”

A smile crept onto Varian’s face as he rose to his feet, moving around the titular table to embrace his father. “Thank you so much, dad. And yes, we will have to pick him up. I want him to celebrate Christmas - it’ll be his first time celebrating too, which makes it even more special!” he paused. “I’ll let you know where his apartment is. I have a present that I...desperately wanna give him.”

“Speaking of presents..” Quirin began, rising from his chair to look down at his son. “I haven’t given you yours yet. So, follow me.” He declared, leading the way towards the basement door. They hadn’t been down there since his mother left - it used to be her old workspace for anything science related. Varian used to love going down there and watching as Ulla would experiment, combining different elements in processes he didn’t even understand. Their son would watch in wonder as, with one ribbon of metal being added, an acid would change colour, and he’d cheer so loud with the biggest smile on his face whenever Ulla let him act as her ‘lab assistant’ and let him perform his own experiments (supervised, of course).

He did miss the woman and her presence in the house. She brought so much joy to everything she passed, making even the worst of days become one of the best. It was because of her that they even celebrated Christmas, her introducing the holiday to him and the various traditions that came along with it. She really was a loving and caring woman in every way there possibly was - Varian taking after her in that department. She’d sing to their son to help him sleep as a newborn and sit by his crib all night in case he woke up in the night and needed her for anything. But they never saw the stress wearing her down, causing her to become more and more confrontational as the days went on. Hell, the divorce came out of nowhere, Ulla one day stating that she wanted one and was leaving. Nonetheless, Quirin had supported her and let her go, because she was the woman he loved. If that’s what she wanted then fine, he’d let her leave. He bit the inside on his cheek. No time to think of that - it was Christmas and by god, he was gonna enjoy himself.

The door to the basement opened and Quirin gestured for his son to go down the steps before him. Varian obliged, walking down the steps that threatened to break. They’d have to get them replaced one day, he thought as he reached the floor below and flicked on the lights. He was met with the sight of a truly magnificent sight. Tables were pushed up against the walls, a wheeled office chair placed under one. Beakers and a Bunsen burner sat on the side, beside a large stack of drawers that, upon closer inspection, were labelled and filled with all the equipment he needed, such as burets, test tubes, pipettes and micropipettes...it was simply breathtaking. He travelled further around the home lab, a coat peg in the corner with a single, white lab coat hanging from it. He immediately knew it was his mother’s from the small blue patch on the elbow of the left sleeve - a hole caused by 7-year-old him accidentally changing the Bunsen burner from the safety flame to the blue flame, his mom lunging over it to stop him from burning himself. After that, he was terrified of the burner for years after that.

“Dad, this is...this is amazing!” he gasped, running over and giving him a tight hug. “Wow! I love it so much!” he cried as he moved away and excitedly explored the room even more. Pulling on the lab coat, he flattened the creases of the lab coat. A perfect fit, he thought, before he turned to his dad with a smile. “How is it? Do I look alright?”

“You look great son, but go upstairs and get dressed. We need to pick up your boyfriend and drive over to Rapunzel and Eugene’s house, okay?” He commented, watching his son’s excitement as he placed the lab coat back on the bed and sprinted upstairs. Quirin’s gaze drifted to the lab coat. He looked just like his mother in that lab coat, it was almost uncanny. He always thought about her this time of year and how much different life was without Ulla’s constant presence in the house. Nevermind,he muttered as he walked to the stairs, flicking off the lights and travelling up the stairs. It was in the past. Now, time to prepare himself to meet his son’s boyfriend.

Hugo sat on the couch, his arms folded and pouting. There was nothing on but stupid goddamn Christmas movies! He hated them! All they did was brag that they had everything he didn’t have, like a family or gifts..it sucked. He especially hated them as a kid, wishing every year that he’d get adopted and have that one day. He’d always imagined his mom being a tall, gentle woman, who’d pick him up and put him on the counter if he’d fallen over while playing, placing a gentle kiss to his wounds before covering them with a bandaid, giving him a hug and sending him off to play. He’d also imagined his dad - a stern, blonde haired man with a soft side, who would always make time for him and show him what he did for work. They’d have good paying jobs too - his dad being a mechanic for some high-class company and his mom being a nurse. He’d had it all planned out. Especially Christmas, where he’d run down the stairs to be greeted with the sight of endless towers of presents, hugging and kissing his parents on the cheek after each one. Instead, he’d been ‘blessed’ with Donella, who couldn’t care less about him or Christmas. No parents, no luxury life, no Christmas. She snuffed out his dream on the final one really quick, being the one to tell him Santa wasn’t real (even though he already knew that, but the confirmation hurt).

He was so lost in thought that he almost missed the sound of frantic knocking at the door to his apartment. “Who the hell is that?” he muttered under his breath as he sauntered down the hall. He ran his hands over his clothes, trying to flatten any creases that might be seen before opening the door. Varian stood, his hand raised as though he was about to knock the door again, with a goliath of a man behind him, causing Hugo to swallow thickly. Oh fuck was that man large. He could probably snap Hugo in half over his knee if he felt like it. ‘Please don’t call him dad, please don’t call him dad…’ Hugo found himself praying.

“Hugh!” his boyfriend cried as he lunged forward and wrapped his arms round the blonde’s neck, who was still in shock at the sight of the man accompanying the titular teen. “Dad, this is my boyfriend, Hugo! Hugo, this is my dad!” he explained. Brilliant. Now he knew if he ever broke up with Varian (“Pfft, as if that’s gonna happen.” his inner voice reminded him, yet again butting in rudely.), he’d be assured a quick death at the hands of this titan of a man crushing his skull.

“It's a uh-a pleasure to finally meet you, sir.” he finally stuttered out, trying to uphold his usual relaxed attitude, however judging by the crack in his voice, he’d failed miserably. He held out his hand, the older man exchanging his greeting and virtually concealing Hugo’s hand in his own, it being barely visible as it was shaken before being mercifully let go. “Why are you two here, by the way. In like-the politest way possible.”

“You’re spending Christmas with us! Speaking of which, we’re meant to be at my sister’s like-right now! So! Let’s go!” he grabbed his boyfriend’s arm, only giving him enough time to grasp his coat, which had Varian’s present concealed in it, and scarf before pulling him out of the apartment and down the stairwell to the street below. Hugo listened to Varian’s rambling about their christmas traditions which didn’t seem to stop even as they got to the car and were heading towards Rapunzel and Fitzherbert’s house. Speaking of which, he’d never seen it, the only conversation he’d had with them being the...rather awkward one the day he’d asked Varian out. What a wild day that had been...it felt like forever ago, if he was being honest. It didn’t seem real that they were together at all. He gave the raven haired boy’s hand a gentle squeeze, his thumb rubbing circles into the back of his hand with a smile tugging at his lips again. He really was helpless for this boy.

The car came to a halt outside a small cottage, very different to the one he had imagined the couple would live in. It was a surprise, albeit a pleasant one - what, a cottage out here in the middle of the countryside seemed like the best place to settle down. He just couldn’t believe someone like Fitzherbert would’ve settled for that. It admittedly looked kind of cute though, lights hung from the roof carefully and around the gate. Varian, however, gave him no time to admire the beauty of the cottage, grabbing his hand and pulling him through the white-painted fence and rushing up the steps before opening the front door. “We’re here, guys!” he declared and almost immediately they were swarmed by a mass of people.

The only four people he’d noticed were Rapunzel, Eugene, Cassandra and Irene, pulling them into hugs and exchanging Christmas greetings with each other. The other three he’d recognised as Kiera, Catalina and Lance from all of the stories Varian would tell him randomly during their dates, such as how Lance had adopted them after they were orphaned (“Lucky kids.” Hugo had muttered to himself bitterly before turning away and staring out the window again). Hugo winced and grimaced at the exchanges, awkwardly returning them before heading towards where he thought the living room was.

Luckily, he was right, and he moved quickly to sit on the couch, immediately cringing at the sight of an excessively decorated and obviously fake Christmas tree sitting against the wall with a mass of presents underneath it. More reminders of the things he’d lacked all his life, he thought bitterly, before a warmth beside him broke him out of his thoughts. Varian cuddled into his boyfriend’s side, kissing his cheek gently with a soft, loving smile on his face. “Hey there, sweetheart..you enjoying yourself?” he asked, an eyebrow raised.

“Yeah, definitely. Don’t you worry your pretty little head over it.” he lied over his teeth, praying his boyfriend didn’t notice his discomfort. It must’ve been his lucky day as, other than a concerned noise, Varian seemed to take this answer as gospel and just cuddled into his side further. Hugo thrived in their moment of peace amongst the madness of Christmas, almost like the week before where they sat in the park at almost midnight just cuddling on the park bench. This only lasted a moment, however, as Rapunzel called them all in for dinner as she placed various dishes onto the table.

Everyone crowded around it, Varian holding Hugo’s hand under the table as they sat side by side (the fact that Varian was left handed helped tremendously, considering Hugo was right handed and both could hold each other’s less dominant hand) with a shy smile on his face as he, once again, answered the numerous questions on how they met. All the while, Hugo sat uncomfortably. It was all too much for him - the family, the food, the absolute love...he couldn’t take him. “Give me a minute.” he muttered as he let go of Varian’s hand, standing up and excusing himself. Hurriedly, he left the room and sat outside on the steps up to the house.

He didn’t get it. How did he deserve any of this? He was a bad person and didn’t see how someone like Varian could look at him and think that he warranted any of this. He was a thief and a liar and messed up everything good in his life. Varian would realise that one day and leave him, just like everyone else in his life did. He didn’t want to admit it but..he knew he wasn’t good enough for someone like Varian. Someone so sweet despite everything he did in his past - someone so forgiving...he didn’t deserve that. The door opened behind him, quickly shutting before footsteps stopped beside him and none other than Fitzherbert sat down beside him. “What. You come to laugh at me or something?”

“Nope. I don’t know why you’d think that.” Fitzherbert commented, looking at the troubled teen and sighing, seeing himself in the boy. He took a deep breath and looked directly ahead as he continued to talk. “I know how you’re feeling. I was an orphan too. You feel as though you don’t belong - like you don’t deserve any of this and you never will. But you do, Hugo. I know I don’t really know you that well, but I’ve been in your boat before and I know Varian well enough to know he adores you. Varian thinks the world of you and looks as though you put the stars in the sky. I’m not trying to invalidate your feelings - you deserve to feel however you want and that's okay, but you need to know that we all care about you so much and...for the record, Rapunzel was really excited to meet you again. Just letting you know, she literally texted Varian asking everything about you like your favourite flavours, colors..hell, even smells!” He let out a laugh, and so did Hugo, albeit a little weak. “You don’t have to come back in..but you can if you want.”

Hugo bit the inside of his cheek before leaning and resting his head on Eugene’s arm, letting the older man put his arm around him before bringing him into a long embrace. One that he didn’t know he needed, especially from someone like Eugene. He let out a breathy chuckle before standing up with Eugene, making their way inside and sitting beside his boyfriend again. Varian gave him a concerned look, Hugo nodding in reassurance and raising his boyfriend’s hand to his lips, kissing the back of his hand before they smiled and continued to eat.

As soon as dinner was over, Hugo found himself sitting down beside Varian on the couch yet again as the others exchanged presents. Eugene had got Rapunzel a purple frying pan (he didn’t question why, the woman seemed eccentric enough to adore the gift, gifting her boyfriend with a mass of kisses), Rapunzel bought Eugene a small ring to match her engagement ring, Irene gave Cassandra a leather jacket and Cassandra gave Irene a pink helmet to wear on the motorbike, Lance got the girls MANY presents that Hugo didn’t have the energy to remember. And that left him and Varian to exchange gifts.

Carefully they both took out their boxes for each other, trading them and opening them at the same time. Both gasped when they saw they’d both bought each other a pair of goggles! Hugo gazed at the goggles Varian had bought for him. They were circular - big enough to fit over his glasses - with orange lenses and spikes around the rim, being painted grey all over. A leather strap connected them at the back, him placing them round his neck. Varian, on the other hand, stared at his in disbelief. A small, extra magnifier was attached to the left eye of the goggles, the rims painted bronze and gold with clear, colourless lenses. They were perfect, he silently decided, leaning in closer to Hugo to place a gentle kiss to his jaw.

“These are perfect, Hugo..I..thank you so much!” he said with love and affection dripping through his words as he put the goggles on top of his head, his hands drifting to the vial around his neck and fiddling with it. It illuminated, shining a soft light across his chest and hands as he gazed down at it in wonder. He looked up at the blonde again, who looked at him with the utmost affection and a dorkish smile on his face. “Anyway, we should be heading back. It’s kinda late and I need my beauty sleep!” he joked, standing and pulling Hugo and Quirin along with him. They bid their farewells, Rapunzel extremely reluctant to let Hugo leave as she hadn’t learnt absolutely everything about him, but she let them leave after a while. They all got into the car and drove back towards Hugo’s apartment complex.

After Hugo left the car, Varian walked beside him hand in hand up to his apartment. “Hey, look at this.” Varian said as they got to the door, bringing a piece of branch out of his pocket and raising it above his head. He raised an eyebrow in confusion, looking down at his boyfriend who quickly elaborated. “It’s mistletoe so you have to kiss me!” he declared, raising himself onto his tiptoes and puckering his lips. His eyes shut and Hugo’s face took on a grin, leaning down to kiss the boy in a long, sweet kiss, pouring every bit of affection they had for each other into it.

The kiss eventually broke and Varian headed down the hall and away from Hugo for the night, the blonde sighing. He pushed open the door, however it stopped part way due to a weight in front of the door. “Huh? Weird.” he muttered, sliding in through the thin gap between the door as his eyes met a package at the door. It was green and moderately large and, after Hugo had kicked the door shut, he crouched down and reached out to read the tag on the box.

‘Merry Christmas - Donella’

Huh. That was weird. Donella ACTUALLY getting him a Christmas gift? That was unheard of in his world up until now, but he still picked it up and carried it into the living room before placing it on the glass coffee table. He slowly untied the bow and raised the lid, noticing what was inside the box. It was a new laptop - one he had been working to try and get for months now. He didn’t think she’d actually listened to him when he talked to her about it. “Well, that’s a welcome surprise.” he whispered under his breath, lifting it out to see something else tucked at the bottom of the box. Setting the laptop aside, he raised it to see another jacket - this one he immediately recognised. She’d worn it all the time when he was younger and he’d always loved it, but now..she was actually giving it to him.

This one was a dark green with a few gold and grey accents across it, the crest of her company embroidered onto the arm only as big as his thumb. He smiled happily, his fingers tracing over the material as he carried both the laptop and the jacket upstairs to his room. He’d always loved the jacket, and usually Donella was overly possessive about her property, so the fact that she was willingly giving it up for him...it was a large statement for a woman like her.

He pushed open the door and placed the two items onto his desk, changing into his pyjamas and laying down on his bed. He took off his glasses and set them aside onto his bedside table, moving to hug his pillow close to his chest and imagining it was his boyfriend. He’d have to thank them both for their gifts when he had the time.

“Y’know...maybe Christmas isn’t so bad after all.” he whispered to himself before letting himself fall asleep, a smile still plastered on his face.

#varigo #varian and the seven kingdoms #varian x hugo #varian tangled #tangled varian #hugo tangled #tangled hugo #alchemy boyfriends #varigo coffee shop au

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comesassylostchild · 4 years

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Why Cass IS Worse than Varian and Also A Worse Villain

Alrighty let me just start by saying NONE OF THE BAD THINGS EITHER CHARACTERS DO IS EXCUSABLE OR OKAY Now with that out of the way I’m sick to death of people excusing Cass but still treating Varian like a horrible person So lets take a moment to actually analyze the differences between them Lets start with this The main excuse for Cass is that she is being manipulated by ghost girl. Remember that MANIPULATED she’s not being controlled she’s being manipulated. Cass has the power to not listen to ghost girl, actually think about what she’s doing and stop doing bad things but she chooses not to. All for the sake of getting power that she wants to satisfy her personal issue of wanting something Rapunzel doesn’t have. Rapunzel and Varian have given her multiple opportunities to back out of the villainous path she’s on and even work out the problem and she still chooses to keep going. All of this to make herself feel more important while she throws herself a jealous pity party. A tragic event that happened when you were 4 doesn’t justify her behavior especially when Rapunzel didn’t have any choice in the matter. As for her current life, I do understand that she is in a job she doesn’t like and wants to do more with her life. I also understand how it must feel to be the lady in waiting to Rapunzel and feeling like your dad kept something important from you. But I’m sorry to say, most people get stuck in jobs they don’t like and have something more they want out of life. That’s just the way life works out a lot of the time and you have to make the best out of it. She’s also an adult and can just leave to find her own path if she isn’t happy. She’s an adult she is capable of making her own decisions of not doing bad things and can choose to leave if she isn’t happy. And again she’s being manipulated not controlled so she has the ability to not listen to blue girl but chooses to do what she tells her to despite Rapunzel trying to solve the problem and work things out with her. I know it must be hard for her to be Rapunzel’s lady in waiting when others tell her she’s a servant and Rapunzel has some big destiny and Rapunzel can unintentionally say or do something to make her feel less important. But Rapunzel has at every opportunity done everything she can to show Cass that she values her as a person and friend. Cass is the one who refuses to talk things out even to solve a problem between her and Rapunzel so you can’t fault Rapunzel for not being able to read her mind and I know Rapunzel can slip up and say or do the wrong thing that hurts Cass unintentionally but Rapunzel is still learning how to interact with others and deal with the world. She’s only been a part of the world for around two years of course she won’t perfectly handle complex issues and emotions. Cass also is flat out rude to other people including Eugene and sometimes even Rapunzel and she gets upset when Rapunzel unintentionally makes her upset but Cass refuses to talk things out. Cass has not only gotten angry at her own father but even attacked him for not telling her Gothel was her mother but attacked him without even letting him explain himself. Cass makes an assumption that her own dad lied to her out of selfishness and attacked him even though he has only ever tried to be a good father to her and she attacks him without even a chance for him to explain himself. The problem with Cass is that she is hurting people when no one is trying to hurt her or even treat her like a villain. She attacks Rapunzel and even tries to kill her even though Rapunzel is trying to work out the issue with her not fight but Cass refuses to listen and fights anyway She attacks her dad even though he has only ever tried to be a good dad to her. The kingdom isn’t out to get her but she says ‘give me the scroll and I’ll leave Corona in peace’ meaning she would attack the kingdom if Rapunzel didn’t give her the scroll. Cass is being a villain to people even when no one is trying to hurt her. She’s deluding herself into thinking there’s a war when there isn’t. Yes I know that’s what blue girl is trying to trick her into thinking but one tragic backstory doesn’t excuse her for not being able to think logically like an adult 5 seconds and see that what she’s in the wrong. She has the power to choose but always makes the wrong choice. Cass is also upset about not getting a chance to shine but she was awarded for taking down Andrew, given a chance at a guard assignment and being trusted to lead the battle against Corona. She gets what she wants but its never enough for her Now Varian Let me start off by saying I know his actions are wrong and I know they were his own choice. But there is a big difference between Cass and Varian 1. Varian was in a really bad situation that he was trying to get out of just going about it the wrong way and was pushed to his breaking point while Cass is fighting a war that only exists in her head which I will always say I know is ghost girls manipulation but Cass has the power to choose and see what’s right and wrong and chooses wrong anyway 2. Varian had the kingdom against him before he did anything wrong while Cass is hurting people even though everyone wants to resolve the issue, she’s the only one making this into a bigger deal then it should be, she’s starting a war where there isn’t and refusing to resolve the issue. Once again I know that’s ghost girls manipulation but Cass is still capable of making choices and she’s given multiple opportunities to resolve the issue but refuses every time. Also Varian was very much a kid on his own and scared while Cass has people reaching out to her that she refuses to listen to. 3. Varian was fighting for the specific goal of saving his dad he just went about it the wrong way until he hit his breaking point and snapped while Cass is fighting for vague destiny that doesn’t belong to her but she says it does like a child and wants to hurt Rapunzel who has basically done nothing to her while Varian actually had a reason to be angry at Rapunzel who let him down in his time of need (it wasn’t her fault during the storm I know) and didn’t bother checking on him so he suffered a great loss alone. Cass gets angry at Rapunzel for saying wait when Rapunzel has no idea why that bothers her while Varian gets upset that Rapunzel said promise when Rapunzel would know exactly why that would bother him, because she broke an important promise to him. 4. Varian blaming Rapunzel is wrong no doubt about it and we know the amber is in part his own fault. Firstly though part of the reason Varian even touched the rocks when he was told not to is because Quirin wouldn’t be honest with him of why he should stay away from them while the situation was getting worse. While things were getting worse Quirin just expected Varian to take his word without being honest why he should listen to him. Varian still disobeyed him which was wrong but it was partly Quirin’s fault for not being honest. Varian not excepting his own fault in Quirin’s encasement and blaming Rapunzel is wrong. But Remember, as far as Varian knows his dad is dead, which means accepting its his fault would mean Varian accepting that he killed his father which is a terrifying thought for any kid. Its wrong that he blames Rapunzel but its the reaction of a scared kid terrified that he killed his dad. Cass simply targets all her anger at Rapunzel because she needs something to be angry at. Both Cass and Varian are kind of the same for blaming Rapunzel just because they need something to blame. But Varian at least has the reason of being a kid who is terrified of being the reason his dad is dead. Cass has 0 reason to blame Rapunzel other than she’s sad and needs someone to blame even though she’s an adult targeting her anger at someone because she needs someone to blame like a child. Cass and Varian do most of the same things so lets look at it side by side Choosing to take the sun/mooddrop Varian did it because he was in a desperate situation running out of options because knowing Varian he defiantly tried everything he could to free his father but nothing was working and the sundrop seemed to be his only hope of getting his dad back. Tricking Rapunzel was the only way of getting it other than force because the kingdom already hated him for attacking the princess when he didn’t. He even was driven out of his own home by the kings men trying to cover up information, There was no way he was going to get the flower other than tricking Rapunzel or force and he had to trick Rapunzel because he knew she likely wouldn’t let him have it either. And he has a point that it is just sitting there rotting and this is his only chance he has of saving his dad. Also we see later that Varian crushes it so the sundrop is gone and it doesn’t effect anything. The kingdom is against him when the flower being gone doesn’t effect anything and it does not belong to the king. He wanted it to save his dad but of course he wouldn’t get it other than tricking Rapunzel or force because the kingdom was against him for attacking Rapunzel which he didn’t. I will say Rapunzel begging him not to take the flower was his only chance out but he thought he had the solution to his problem and everything would be over while Rapunzel had no solution to offer and already let him down which makes it understandable why he didn’t back out when Rapunzel told him to stop. But that is the only time someone tries to actually reach out to him. Varian didn’t have everyone reaching out to him like Cass did which he desperately needed and would’ve taken while Cass just keeps turning down people reaching out to her. And before anyone says anything whether or not Varian unintentionally hurt Rapunzel a little in his panic it was clearly obvious that he was scared and begging for help so the kingdom being against him for attacking her wasn’t fair because it was only an assumption that he attacked her when he was clearly begging for help and scared. So Varian only chooses force to get the sundrop later because he has no other options and the entire kingdom is against him. I am in no way saying that makes what he does okay but Varian was not given any other options Cass stole the moonstone knowingly putting the fate of the entire world on the line for her own personal gain just because she’s jealous and wants her own destiny. She’s only thinking of herself not caring that she’s putting the world in jeopardy for her own personal satisfaction of destiny. At the very least even if what Varian was doing was wrong which it was it was to save someone’s life. Using the truth potion Both Cass and Varian used the truth potion to get information. However with that information Varian was only planning to steal the flower to save his dad, he was not planning to use that information to hurt anyone. Cass used the potion to get information she would use to hurt someone. Varian did drug the palace as a distraction. But he had done it by giving adults cookies so he used a trick and didn’t force anyone into take the potion and adults were dumb enough to fall for off colored cookies from a stranger in a bush. Varian didn’t force anyone into taking the potion, adults were just dumb enough to fall for off colored cookies from a stranger in a bush and Varian didn’t mean any harm to the palace by doing it or any harm with the information. Cass drugged an unconscious minor to get information with the plan of hurting someone. Cass drugged an unconscious minor which is giving him literally no choice in the matter. Drugging a conscious adult with an off colored cookie from a man in a bush at least means the adult had the chance to see the red flags and they weren’t forced into taking the potion. Varian literally had no choice in the matter because Cass drugged him while he was unconscious. She also put an entire bottle of potion in his mouth while he was unconscious which he could’ve choked on and used an entire bottle on one person. And let me just say Part of the reason people are disturbed by Cass drugging an unconscious minor is because of the real life uncomfortable territory. Drugging a kidnapped minor while they are unconscious to make them give into what the adult wants. That is very uncomfortable territory that I know the tts crew was in no way trying to allude to but it is uncomfortable that they wrote that in without thinking of the real life uncomfortable territory that the scene is unintentionally treading around making the scene a bit uncomfortable. Both Varian and Cass threatened people Rapunzel cares about to get to Rapunzel. Both are not okay. Varian at least has the reasoning of not only trying to get at Rapunzel but his kingdom failed to help him when he desperately needed help and the kingdom was against him even before he actually did anything wrong which made it why he grabbed Arianna and Cass who were innocent. Not only to get at Rapunzel but because the kingdom failed to help him and hated him before he actually did wrong. And no one ever reached out to him which is why he went as far as he did while everyone is constantly trying to reach out to Cass but she turns them down. Cass even decides to hurt Eugene similarly to Varian hurting Arianna and Cass but Eugene literally had nothing to do with the conflict so she is involving and hurting Eugene just to get at Rapunzel and no other reason. Varian was a desperate kid in a really bad situation who needed help and no one reached out to pushing him to him to make bad choices. Cass is a grown adult acting like a child wanting to hurt someone for selfish and petty reasons just to make herself feel better and and her excuse of being manipulated doesn’t work since she is being manipulated not controlled she has the ability to choose but chooses wrong every time because she’s too busy wallowing in her own self pity to listen or think clearly. Varian did what he did because of a really bad situation. Cass is doing what she’s doing because she’s wallowing in self pity and making a mountain out of a molehill.

#tangled the series #tangled #tts #rapunzel's tangled adventure #tts cassandra #tangled cassandra #cassandra #Varian

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kingreywrites · 4 years

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Make my messes matter - Chapter 2 - Arguing

Fandom: Tangled

Word Count: 1320

Summary: A series of seven ficlets focused on Rapunzel learning to navigate life in different ways after living eighteen years in a tower, with Gothel as a mother.

1. Touching - 2. Arguing

Read on ao3

Note: Yesterday’s chapter wasn’t showing up in the tags so you could check it out if you haven’t seen it!

It took a while before Rapunzel realised that she didn't know how to argue. There were two reasons for that: not many people were willing to seriously disagree with a recently returned crown Princess, and she had sincerely thought she was able to. She had argued before.

Well, it wasn't a recurring occurrence, of course. Rapunzel had learnt at quite a young age that disrespecting her mother could have grave consequences and, like most things, she quickly understood how to make her calm and happy. And that meant, most of the time, agreeing with her on little issues, if that helped keep the peace.

However, that didn't mean they had never argued before. Furthermore, if they hadn't argued about the lanterns - if Gothel hadn't grown tired of it enough for her to snap at Rapunzel the next time she brought it up - Rapunzel would have opened the door to her closet and shown her Eugene's unconscious body.

Today, thinking of that particular scenario made her want to be sick.

But, thankfully, they had argued. Thankfully, Gothel had snapped. Thankfully, Rapunzel didn't open the door. She left her tower, and discovered the world, the lanterns, Eugene, and then her family, and everything ended up fine. More or less.

"I forbid you for researching those black rocks," her father announced harshly, the moonlight highlighting his features, and Rapunzel surprised herself by repeatedly telling herself not to flinch.

Her father kept talking, and Rapunzel felt anger rise up in her for the first time in a long while, but her mouth was clamped shut and her fists so tightly closed she could feel the bite of her nails on her skin. She wanted to argue, to defend her choices, to ask him for clarification, but she barely managed a biting answer, before she fled back to her room.

Rapunzel didn't let herself question her reaction. She refused to do so, refused to revisit the cold dread that washed over her, the taste of ash in her throat as once again, she was made to feel small and inferior. She was fine. And her father only had the best intentions - that had to count, somehow.

Once is a chance. Twice is a coincidence.

Rapunzel was able to get angry. She was able to bicker with Cassandra when both of them had widely different opinions on how things should be. She screamed at a lot of people when Pascal disappeared and she considered it to be a sign of perfectly good mental health - see? She could get irrationally angry like anyone else.

Then, Varian betrayed her - though, in his words, she did it first.

"I committed treason for you!" she wanted to scream, but it didn't come out as half the exclamation she wanted it to be. Varian accused her of abandoning him and the protests rose in throat like bile, but she couldn't voice them properly, could barely move, and then he was gone.

Eugene came to comfort her later that day, but his warmth barely made a dent in the weird feeling that enveloped her since Varian left. She wanted to tell him about it - tell him how it felt to be frozen in time, watching your own body make clumsy mistakes that you knew were only furthering the problem, but she didn't.

"I don't know what he is anymore," she whispered, ignoring how she still wasn't sure of who she ever was herself - ignoring the heartbreak, the guilt, the righteousness and all these confusing feelings she had about Varian.

Eugene smiled softly that night, took her hands and saw right through her defenses. For once she was desperate to ask what he was seeing underneath it all. Could he see the anger vibrating through her, like a caged lion she would never be able to release? Eugene would tell her if she asked - he was always honest with her, and she nearly, nearly did it.

But she didn't. Neither did she question her reaction in the privacy of her bedroom. She took that anger, that growing, infesting, imprisoned anger, and knew she could never let it out. That anger, that threatened to explode when her father confined her to her room - she squished it as best as she could, because there were bigger problems and she was fine.

Once is a chance. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is a pattern.

Cassandra stole the moonstone. Rapunzel dried her tears and laughed, as if it was all a prank gone wrong. She discovered her parents had lost their memories, and Varian had joined the Saporians, and she smiled, because what was she, if not optimistic? She saw Cassandra's room and she broke down and cried, and in all of that time, she never allowed herself to acknowledge the growing fury in her heart.

If only she had found the right words. If only Cassandra had listened.

"I'm sad, mostly," Rapunzel lied, Eugene's eyes boring right through hers.

His hand caressed her cheek and she wanted to cry - no, better yet, she wanted to rage at how unfair it all was. She wanted to scream at Cassandra, shake her until she understood that she had never wanted this, but the words were stuck under her tongue and Cassandra wasn't there anyway. And Rapunzel was rational. She knew that this anger would only do her a disservice in the end, and so, she bottled it up.

Or at least, she tried - but Eugene wouldn't let her. He kept insisting that she needed to see Cassandra's actions for what they were, that she could want her friend back but she had to accept that Cassandra had done bad things and hurt her, insisted that she had to be at least a little mad-

Until she went to the past.

"Friends don't leave friends behind." The sentence was still echoing through her head, as she watched the sun set numbly. She couldn't forget the first rush of relief, as Eugene said it - couldn't forget that she had been happy that he would finally let her bottle everything up without pressing her to be honest, was relieved…

Was relieved that she had essentially manipulated her boyfriend to agree with her. What kind of monster did that?

Someone knocked, but she knew already who was here. "Hey Sunshine," Eugene smiled, going to sit beside her, and her eyes were burning already, "you're feeling okay?"

Friends don't leave friends behind. But Rapunzel didn't lie to Eugene either, and that - that was a pretty big lie.

"I'm sorry," she blurted out, ignoring his confusion, "I'm sorry, I haven't been honest with you, about Cassandra."

"Blondie-"

"No, no, don't comfort me," Rapunzel sniffed, and Eugene didn't pressure her into a hug. Eugene never pressured her to do things she didn't want to do. "I also- I also did something awful, and you need to listen to me before you make your opinion on it."

Eugene nodded, and so, Rapunzel talked. And, for the first time since she left her tower, she allowed herself to be really, truly mad at someone that she loved.

Eugene was understandably upset at the time manipulation, though, as he explained to her, it hadn't changed much, in the end - he had still been the same Flynn Rider when it counted. And, he found it really important that she hadn't meant to change anything. She wasn't sure it was enough to be forgiven, but Eugene still maintained that it mattered.

Then, Rapunzel mentioned Cassandra, and how she was so, so angry with her, even though she shouldn't be. They talked way into the night, and, despite her conflicting emotions, Rapunzel felt relieved.

And maybe her issues weren't fixed after one conversation; maybe she would still freeze up the next time she had to argue, maybe she would keep avoiding confrontation until it had bad consequences; but at least, there was progress. Sometimes, it was the most important thing.

#tangled #Rapunzel #Eugene Fitzherbert #Tangled the series

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nerdasaurus1200 · 4 years

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It’s the Great Pumpkin (tantrum)!

In which Jericho tries to be strong and fails, and then nearly commits food murder. “Alright, Jerry, we just gotta put Daddy’s new sun protector on you and then we can head out.” Cassandra instructed. “Okay Mama!” Jericho replied. The little two year old was practically bursting with excitement. The Goodwill Festival was coming up. While Varian and Luna were at the castle working on some new kind of cooker, Cass would follow the Old Coronan tradition and harvest everything on the farm. And for the first time, Jericho got to help out! He couldn’t wait to help his Mama pick out everything.

As hard as it was, he made sure to stand perfectly still as she rubbed sunblock on him. When she was done she booped his nose, making him giggle. “There we go.” She said, “Now, who’s ready to help Mama with some harvesting?” “Me!” Jericho declared proudly. As soon as the front door was open, he practically bounded over to the fields.

Cassandra smiled softly as she watched her son run to the apple tree. A part of her wished he could stay like this forever, always so excited about everything they were doing. Although, given that he was Varian’s son, his enthusiasm would likely never leave.

Most of the harvesting was done without any problems. They got all the apples down (narrowly avoiding Jericho biting into a bruised apple with a worm inside), picked all the carrots and potatoes and corn. All that was left was the pumpkins.

“Pumpkins!” Jericho squealed excitedly, pointing at them. “That’s right moonbeam. We gotta get all the good ones in the cart, so Grandpa can make pumpkin pie tonight.” Cassandra instructed. Jericho puffed out his chest to make himself look bigger, “I'll help Mama, I'm big an' strong!” “Yes you are!” Cassandra praised, “You’re my little soldier after all.”

And with that, she picked up a fairly large pumpkin, not much bigger than her head, and set it in the cart. Jericho watched her closely, memorizing everything she was doing. He nodded once he was sure he got it all down and toddled over to the biggest pumpkin in the field. He looked it up and down, and decided that without a doubt that THIS would be the first pumpkin he would put in the cart. No other pumpkin would do. It HAD to be this one. Using all of his strength, he tried to lift it. But it didn’t even budge an inch. Cassandra looked over when she heard her son grunting, and was a bit concerned.

“You...need any help, sweetie?” She asked carefully. “I got it, Mama!” Jericho said, although it was clear that that was far from true. Cassandra was torn. She wanted to help her son, but at the same time, going at lifting it herself would make him feel weak and inadequate. She was very surprised when he ended up turning the pumpkin over on its side. That was a grand feat for a boy his size!

But Jericho wasn’t satisfied. It was supposed to go in the cart! He grunted a little and grabbed it by the stem to try and drag it, like Grandpa did sometimes. “Careful of your hands, Jerry. The stem can be really rough.” Cassandra warned. “I got it.” Jericho grumbled. Dragging it still wasn’t working, but he was at least able to use the stem to rotate it so it rolled towards the cart. He didn’t see it but Cass was beaming with pride.

She moved the cart a bit so it’d be easier to get it in. Jericho once again used all his might to push it up. The pumpkin was right on the edge of the cart...and then it fell back down to the ground. Jericho’s lip quivered a bit, but he stopped himself from crying. He was a big boy! His Mama was counting on him! He tried again, and once again the pumpkin fell back to the ground. That was IT!!! Quick as a flash, he drew his wooden toy sword and started hacking at it, letting out a scream that was positively unholy.

“Jericho! Hey, hey, hey. It’s alright, it’s alright.” Cass tried to console. “I WANTED TO GET THE PUMPKIIIINNNN!!!!!!!!!!!” Jericho screamed, wailing. “You got it to the cart at least.” Cass pointed out, crouching down. Jericho threw himself into her arms and started sobbing into her shoulder. “I can’t carry it…” He whimpered. “Hey. I am super proud of you. You gave it your all, son.” Cassandra said gently. Jericho, sobbing and hiccuping uncontrollably now, stepped out of his mom’s arms for a second and picked up his sword again. He stood tall and pointed his sword at the cursed gourd.

“BAD PUMPKIN!!!” He roared. He went to charge at it, but Cass grabbed him again before he could. Jericho wriggled out of her grip once more. But instead of charging at the pumpkin, he fell belly first on the ground kicking and screaming, punching the dirt. “I WANTED TO GET THE PUMPKIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNN!!! BAD PUMPKIN! BAD!!!” He screeched at the top of his lungs. Cassandra sat on her knees and gently rubbed his back, hoping to calm him down.

About an hour later, Eugene and Lance rode up to the house and found Cass sitting in the field holding a still sobbing Jericho. “We’re here! We’re here! What’s wrong?!” Eugene asked. “Nothing. Just an angry boy.” Cass explained. She kissed Jericho’s head and gently tugged his thumb out of his mouth. . “So no demon?” Lance asked. “Nope. Jericho was trying to lift that pumpkin by the cart.” Cass told them. “Oooh that’s a big pumpkin!” Lance praised, “Lil bro, that is a FEAT!” Sadly, that didn’t help Jericho. That only made him start crying more. “I WANTED TO GET THE PUMPKIN!!” He cried again. And from then on, although Jericho gladly helped his mother with the Goodwill harvest, he NEVER helped out with the pumpkins. In fact, one could say that he declared war on them.

#tts #tangled #rta #rapunzel's tangled adventure #tangled the series #cassandra #jericho #Eugene Fitzherbert #lance stringbow #fanfic #fanfiction

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flowers-for-flamingos · 4 years

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Season 3 Episode 8: Day of the Animals

Guess what time it is?!!

Sorry it took me so long to write this one but we’re getting to it now which is all that matters!

First of all, this episode kind of grates on my nerves because it wasn’t necessary. This is purely a filler episode, we don’t even get any snippets at the beginning or end. We are is episode 8 of season 3! Why are we making filler episodes? Where is my backstory on the sun drop? What about Demanitus? I want to know more about him! Why did his followers betray him? I don’t want this garbage!

Don’t get me wrong I love Pascal, Max, and Ruddiger a lot, but their friendship was kind of already developed (and could be further developed in other episodes as background). We didn’t need an entire episode centered around their inability to get along and how to overcome it.

Really the only reason I like this episode is because my children are all on a road trip together!

Like LOOK at my son (even though he’s like two years younger than me) He’s so cute hiding behind Rapunzel’s hair! I love him!

Ok, I think I’ve already mentioned this before but Ruddiger’s a little shit and I love him.

Also, this whole thing could have been solved if Max would have just gotten another apple!

Fucking Dwayne

I love this bit (not just because of the evil grin on Varian’s face) because Varian is 15ish, he’s still very much a kid! And therefore, when a pillow is thrown at his face he’s gonna throw it back! Then Raps just casually snatches it from him and he looks confused and then POUTS because he couldn’t mess around.

Also Angry (I’m calling her Angry because it seems as though she wants to be called Angry still and everyone continues to call her Angry but call Catalina Catalina) calls him V and if that isn’t sibling love then I don’t know what is.

Honestly, if Hamuel were to die mysteriously I’d be perfectly fine with it.

This bird causes more problems than fixes any and I am so sick of dumb comic relief characters (even if their animals) that aren’t actually funny.

O M G!!! Look at her leaning on Varian and Angry’s heads! Gahhhh!

Also, look at my precious girl Catalina! I love her to bits!

Do you understand how much I love them?!! Do you?

Pascal really was so done in this episode. The chamaeleon is tired of being the mediator let him rest.

Just wanted to draw some attention to how Dwayne switches his sword from hand to hand as he’s singing to himself.

It’s so simple, yet animated in such a beautiful way and I can’t explain why I like it so much, I just do.

FUCKING DWAYNE!

Ok, but also! You may hate Dwayne, but I love him. He’s hilarious and, honestly, if I were a thief I too would annoy all the main characters, constantly be making weird faces and body movements, and wouldn’t be able to spell my own name.

Speaking of body movements, this entire camp fire scene is my absolute fav of the episode! The way he moves! I can’t!

They’re morons! It’s great!

I die with laughter every time characters do this!

I already said why I didn’t get too excited about this episode from the beginning. This just seems like a season 1 episode and I’m not into it.

Sure, it was funny and we got to see more of the animals, but there was no point. I would have rather had an episode about Demanitus’ past, what caused Zhan Tiri? Who is the little blue girl with Cass and what her deal is! Anything but this.

Besides that, I got a nice Varian episode, so that makes me feel better but still.

4/10 for episode 8. I didn’t hate it and it’s not my least favorite episode (that one where the got turned into birds in season 2. What??), but it’s not good. Sorry if that disappoints anyone. I have no problem with any of the characters in this episode, but there is no reason for it.

I want to get the rest of Season 3 done before Wizards: tales of Arcadia comes out August 7th, but if I don’t I’ll finish this before I do them. (That is if you guys are cool with me reviewing them too?)

Anyway, another one soon :)

#tangled the series #tangled #rapunzel's tangled adventure #rapunzel #eugene #varian #eugene fitzherbert #lance strongbow #tts season 3 #tts review #cassandra #kiera and catalina #red and angry

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themisadventuresofmomtiri · 4 years

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Here we go, Part 2 of the Tangled Sibling AU! I actually cut this in half because it was proving to be way longer than anticipated, but the good news is I should be able to get the next part up yet this week! Enjoy~!

It took a second for the words to sink in before Rowena and Quirin bolted for the wagon door. Kiera jumped off the steps, making way for them to enter. The thee sisters shared a look before running in after their parents.

Literally nothing had changed about the interior of the wagon since Rapunzel had left it merely an hour ago, but somehow the air felt more oppressive, thick with a tension that was ready to snap at any moment. Ruddiger chittered, wringing his little hands nervously as Rowena and Quirin reached their son’s side.

“He’s burning up,” she said, worry thick in her voice.

“Rapunzel, can’t you heal him,” Catalina asked, voice barely above a whisper.

If it were Dad or Kiera, Rapunzel wouldn’t hesitate. She’d managed to successfully heal them from colds and other ills in the past. Kiera always came down with a cold at least once a winter, and Catalina usually got sick for a week or two come spring and fall if she spent time outside--- for some reason, Rapunzel’s healing magic was only ever a short-term fix for Catalina. Mom’s working theory was that it was the pollen in the air making her miserable, and it wasn’t like Rapunzel could cleanse the air of the little irritants, so Catalina had taken to spending most of the fall and spring in the wagon until Mom could get a hold of the ingredients needed to make the only medicine that seemed to offer her any relief. Dad would get sick sometimes, though it was rare and tended to come after Kiera recovered from her cold if it came at all. Mom never got sick, but that was probably because she wasn’t human so mortal ills likely didn’t affect her.

Varian and Rapunzel, however, had never caught so much as a sniffle in their lives.

And unlike Kiera and Catalina, Varian had a lot of magic. Rapunzel had been able to handle cuts and scraps in the past, but it took a lot of effort and Varian needed to be able to help her out.

Instead of answering, Rapunzel swallowed hard and stepped forward. She undid her barrettes, letting her golden hair fall loose around her shoulders.

“Mom? Dad? Do you think maybe I could…” she trailed off, holding up a thick lock of her hair as a visual cue.

“Rapunzel, I don’t know if---”

“Row, we have to let her try,” Quirin cut in, somehow managing to keep his voice level.

“What if she gets sick, too,” Rowena worried. If there was an illness that could take Varian down, it wasn’t too much of a leap to think it might get Rapunzel, too.

“We have to try.”

Rowena bit her lip, but nodded, moving a bit to give Rapunzel room to join them.

Varian looked terrible. He was paler than usual, almost ashy, and it looked like he was soaked in sweat. Rapunzel radiated heat like the sun---a comparison Kiera had made once and refused to let go of the second she realized the pun---and sure, six people sleeping in the same area meant for a lot of body heat (a godsend come the winter), but the nights were still fairly cold this time of year. There was no reason for Varian to be sweating so much. And his breathing…it was shallow and fast. He’d been perfectly fine last night.

She carefully placed her hair around him, deciding not to wrap it around him because the idea of jostling him and accidentally doing more harm than good terrified her. With any luck, this would do the trick and Varian would be back to normal. Rapunzel took a deep breath and started singing.

“Flower, gleam and glow; let your power shine.”

The faint tingle that was constantly humming under her skin grew stronger, concentrating in her scalp as it poured into her hair, the strands lighting up with the sun’s magic.

“Make the clock reverse; bring back what once was---”

Rapunzel always sang with her eyes closed; when they were little, Varian had noticed and asked her why. When he’d convinced her to sing without closing her eyes, they discovered that her hair wasn’t the only thing that glowed. Which explained why her eyes always burned a little anytime she used her magic. But since her eyes were closed, Rapunzel wasn’t able to notice certain things.

She wasn’t able to notice Varian’s hair suddenly glowing the strongest it ever had outside of him using his magic during a full super moon. And, since it happened so fast, neither Quirin nor Rowena were able to warn her in time. The resulting surge of power sent her flying back wards, snapping her out of the healing trance. The glow disappeared as soon as Rapunzel stopped singing, which was probably for the best.

“Rapunzel!”

She held her head, wincing as she recovered from the shock. Dad’s callous-rough hand gripped her arm and slipped behind her back to help her regain her footing.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” she assured. “Is Varian---” Rapunzel caught sight of her brother and sucked in a breath.

He was still glowing, but it was violent, wildly inconsistent, and he looked as if it were causing him pain. Mom pulled him up to her shoulder, holding him tight and muttering under her breath. The longer she murmured, the more the glowing began to slow and smooth out, until finally it was a dull pulsing sort.

“I’m sorry---”

“Rapunzel, you have nothing to be sorry about,” Rowena replied. “Quirin, get Rapunzel and Catalina outside now. Kiera, come and help me with your brother.”

“Mom, what’s wrong with Varian,” Catalina asked, putting up a token fight as Quirin ushered them both towards the door.

“Just stay with your father,” Rowena ordered.

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Kiera stumbled out of the wagon nearly an hour later, trembling from a combination of shock and the effort it took to not completely fall to pieces.

“Mom said she needs you,” she said, voice wavering a little.

“Go sit and get something to eat,” Quirin told her, giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Kiera just nodded, moving forward to join her sisters at the fire pit.

“How is he,” Rapunzel asked.

“He’s…not good. Mom doesn’t think it’s catchy, but…I know there’s more to it than that and she just didn’t tell me.”

Kiera dropped onto the ground, propped up against the log they’d commandeered for a bench when they first set up camp and next to where Catalina was seated. The redhead gently patted her sister’s head, setting up a soft stroking motion that had been known to soothe Kiera when she got agitated.

“I don’t get it,” she continued, curling up into Catalina’s touch. “He was just fine yesterday!”

“Maybe he wasn’t,” Catalina pointed out. “After all, the full moon was only a couple of days ago. If something was wrong, it probably wouldn’t have shown up until that extra energy started to go away. Remember two years ago after the winter solstice? Varian had to stay in bed for a whole week because he got that concussion and didn’t notice until after the full moon wore off.”

“Yeah, but he still woke up,” Kiera retorted. “I couldn’t even get him to twitch.”

There was a vulnerability in her voice that Kiera rarely ever let show. She’d always been the sort of person who liked to put up a strong and independent front, unfazed by anything and ready for everything. But underneath all the bluff and bluster, she was still just a kid. Her nineth birthday was still months away. And she’d already lost her family once; no doubt the idea of Varian being so sick terrified the heck out of her.

“Varian is going to be just fine,” Rapunzel assured her, joining her on the grass and putting an arm around her. “You’ll see. He’ll beat this bug and be right back to his old self in no time.”

“What if he doesn’t get better before the new moon gets here,” Kiera murmured. “New moons have been making him weaker lately. He acts like they don’t, but I’m not stupid.”

Rapunzel winced. The constant shifts in his energy levels had been hitting him harder than they used to, but Mom had said that was likely just a side-effect of Varian entering puberty and that it should stabilize as he got older. Not that the assurance made it any less worrying at this point. Before she could think of any platitudes to offer, the sound of the wagon creaking caught their attention, and the girls turned to see their parents stepping out into the daylight.

“Is he okay,” Rapunzel asked, immediately standing back up.

“For the moment, he’s about as okay as can be expected,” Rowena replied, sounding absolutely exhausted. “We’ll have to keep an eye on his condition, but things seem to have calmed for a bit.”

“Do you know what’s wrong?”

“Whatever he’s managed to catch, it’s interacting with the Moon’s power.” Rowena took a seat on the log, undoing her bun in order to tidy it back up. “Whether it’s for better or worse, I can’t say just yet. That being said, considering the reaction we witnessed, Rapunzel, I want you to keep your distance until I can figure out exactly what’s going on. Hopefully, this is just an aggressive illness that’s as short-lived as a cold.”

“And if it’s not,” Catalina asked, voice small and quiet.

Rowena took a deep breath. “If it’s not…well, we may have to bind his magic.”

#tangled siblings au #moon!varian #tts varian #tts rapunzel

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