#just to be clear i don’t think varian is completely without blame

[neokonewman]

Would Rapunzel going to check up on Varian after the storm situation have really done anything? Varian told Rapunzel after she helped him steal the sundrop and she tried to convince him not to go about the way that he was, that "it has to be this way." So, he was intent on flipping out on her and the kingdom regardless, I guess? Seen people say that Rapunzel picked up on this after he got removed by the guards and that she knew going to him after that would be pointless. Thoughts?

Now I won’t outright say I know exactly how this “what if” scenario could have turned out since I have no direct insight on the intentions of the characters, so all can offer you is my interpretations on how things could have avoided being escalated the way they did during The Alchemist Return to The Secret of the Sundrop. That being said based on what the show established, while I firmly believe by The Alchemist Returns, Varian was undoubtedly planning to leave with the flower no matter what, from how you worded it, you aren’t taking into account the sheer time skip between Queen for a Day and The Alchemist Returns and the events that happened in between them.

For starters, canonically months have passed between the blizzard and Rapunzel’s birthday. Back in Queen for a Day, Varian made the estimation that it would take the black rocks months to reach the capital. Then we have Rapunzel dreaming about preparing for her birthday celebration during The Quest for Varian with her actual birthday being the S1 final, meaning that between those two episodes, her party was close enough to start decorating in preparation for it. In short, even though Varian had told Rapunzel back before the blizzard hit that the black rocks had gotten very bad in Old Corona and frantically telling Rapunzel that his father was in immediate danger during said blizzard, Rapunzel failed to act on Varian’s pleas for months despite the blizzard having long since been dealt with.

If that wasn’t enough for Varian to lose all faith in the royal family, I’m sure the events of The Quest for Varian knocked what little hope for them to actually help Old Corona without actively being forced to. Not only is Rapunzel FINALLY willed into action after being waved a shiny clue in her face for her own problems, but we also have the implications of Frederic outright sending royal guards in secret to harass and maybe even outright steal from Varian despite the complete destruction of Old Corona. Again, the mains actually don’t make any attempts to find Varian in the ruins of his home. Eugene outright said that they should leave the moment they found the clue Varian used to get them to the town and made no mention of even establishing contact with him.

So finally we reach The Alchemist Returns and Varian is the one to actually risk everything to make direct contact with Rapunzel. He tells her that he is unable to receive any help from his fellow Coronians because of the accusations of him “attacking the princess” during the blizzard. Despite knowing the state of Old Corona and Quirin’s fate, Rapunzel badgers him about his intentions and acts generally wishy-washy through their quest to the royal vault. The two of them reach the flower and see it’s in a decayed state. That’s when Varian’s “betray” happens.

With all of these events and facts stated above, Varian’s “it has to be this way” comes off as less of a teen being needlessly stubborn, and more on a teen who has be pushed to his limits and doing what he sees is literally his only course of action. He was the one to show Rapunzel that the rocks were spreading. He was the one to tell Rapunzel that the spreading rocks were destroying his home. He was the one to reach out for help after months of no action and received none of it. He outright told Rapunzel he intentions of taking the flower in order to find a way to save his father, which again, he made sure Rapunzel was WELL aware about, and Rapunzel still questions whether or not it’s enough to risk making her father upset. So my opinion is that Varian has very understandable reasons why he thinks aggressively going against the crown is his only option. Again, I don’t know if Rapunzel being more proactive and actually reaching out to Varian faster would have circumnavigate all the conflict leading up to The Secret of the Sundrop, but I can’t imagaine it would have escalated to such an extreme degree the way it did if she actually put in more effort in actually taking responsibility.

As for Rapunzel “knowing that helping Varian was a lost cause?” I would like to call BS on that take. The only reason Rapunzel has any established unease in helping Varian at all is the fact that he appeared in a bad dream of hers, which he had part in controlling. Other than that? Again, Varian is the one who brought up the problems with the rocks multiple times. The last time she physically saw him was being dragged out of the castle by the guards as he screamed for help. If the writing actually made sense in TTS, Rapunzel would actually trust Varian more than Frederic at the time of The Alchemist Returns because Frederic has already outright LIED to her about the rocks while Varian is the only one actually working to try to stop them. Rapunzel feeling guilty in the Paint Block has no bearing on whether or not Varian would get “even” with her during the storm, it was about her grief stricken of being put in a position to make such a heavy choice. Outside of the plot making Rapunzel act suspicious of Varian via dream that he had no actual say in the matter being in, before The Alchemist Returns, Rapunzel had no reason to suspect foul play, unless she truly thinks that the flower was better used decaying in a vault rather than save the life of a teenager’s only parent, but again, Rapunzel is not portrayed as a good person in this show.

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - Rapunzeltopia

This episode, much like many other plot important episodes of the first two seasons, is decent on it its own, but becomes retroactively worse due to season three’s bad writing and behind the scenes bullshit. 

Summary:  Matthews reveals himself as another dark spirit and disciple of Zhan Tiri, and traps Eugene, Lance and the others in unbreakable vines similar to the Great Tree's evil magic. He has Rapunzel live the perfect life while he prepares to hand over the mystical powers of the Sundrop to his master. Fortunately, Rapunzel is able to make contact with her brown-haired dream self and attempts to convince her to let go. 

Timeline Alert

So what does almost a year ago mean? The Great Tree was six months out, and then in Mirror, Mirror, Lance said that they been fighting for three weeks since. So how long have then been stuck in this shell house? Because You’re Kidding Me was just the next day after Mirror, Mirror. Was Lance’s ‘three weeks’ comment meant to be after Brothers Hooks and Rapunzel: Day One and not Great Tree? Are we 7, 8, 9, or 10 months out from Secret of the Sundrop? Like be clear about your time frame guys if you’re going to use it as a plot point. 

I’m going to say we are 9 months along on this trip, just cause that sounds closer to ‘almost a year ago’ without keeping them all trapped in the shell house for months. So Great Tree is 6 months, Brother’s Hook and Rapunzel Day One is 7 months, Mirror, Mirror is going on 8 months, and at the end of this episode they’ll be heading into the 9 month period...I guess. Lets just say they were trapped there for a week or two. 

This Episode Only Highlights How Self Centered and Immature Rapunzel Still Is Rather Than Showcase How Much She’s Grown 

The point behind this episode is show how much Rapunzel has grown since season one, and how she is accepting of responsibility now, but it actually backfires because she’s not actually being challenged on her selfish desires but on her lack of agency. Which is the wrong lesson that she needs to be learning at this point in her development.

Rapunzel in her subconscious mind doesn’t wish for what’s best for other people but what’s best for herself. People she must interact with on the regular have to be superficially happy even if it completely warps their character. While people she doesn't care about, like Lady Caine, can just be simply banished and ignored regardless if they deserve such an end or not.  She doesn’t see people as people with individual thoughts and feelings, but as satellites to herself and her narrow worldview.  

 Also, ‘I believe everyone deserves a second chance’ my eye! Caine never gets even a first chance in Rapunzel’s own fantasy world. Because Rapunzel is a selfish hypocrite who’s ‘redemptions’ always comes with strings attached. 

Here Comes the Dumbest Plot Point In the Show

I’ll talk about this more when we get to season three, but this scene is the beginning of the end for any dignity the show once held. 

Also why would ‘I don’t trust anyone’ Cassandra follow a creepy voice calling her name through a doorway inside a magic house that’s tried to kill her twice now? 

If you gotta make you character act out of character in order to get your plot rolling than you haven’t a good plot. Think of something else. 

What’s the Point of Having Two Names? 

They did this both with Sugarbee and Matthews here and it makes zero sense. Why would they need to bother with fake names if the heroes wouldn’t even recognize their real names to begin with? Such revelations add nothing and fails to tell the audience anything new about the characters.  It’s also not consistent as it turns out Gothel was a disciple too and she only gets one name, so what gives? 

So How Does This All Work Again?

So Zhan Tiri needs ‘a clash of the sundrop and moonstone’ in order to be freed from her prison. Why? I don’t know, but holding Rapunzel prisoner for life actually undermines that plan, and it’s a plan that Zhan Tiri is currently setting up with Cassandra off screen during all of this. 

So does Tromus/Matthews just not know that Zhan Tiri is already ‘free’ and has her own plans?

Is Rapunzel’s power being drained what gives Zhan Tiri a foothold in the real world?

Or was Zhan Tiri released back in the Great Tree with the removal of the spear and that’s why she knows to go after Cass? 

What was up with the Great Tree and the sealed tree back in Painter’s Block? Did they have any impact on Zhan Tiri’s plans?  

Were any of the disciples actually useful at all? 

So What Do the Disciples Gain From All This?

Sugarbee, Matthews, and Gothel were all once real people who actually lived so what are their reasons for following Zhan Tiri? What do they gain from going through such complicated plans? Why continue to follow someone after you’ve been dead for centuries and are a ghost now, and were presumably trapped and or killed by Demantius for following her? Real people don’t just hold on to such fanatical devotion without reason. 

This Conflict Over Choices Does Not Work Without Varian

Going back to how this episode fails to develop Rapunzel; it wants to have Rapunzel take responsibility for difficult choices, but much like Painters Block, it completely ignores her biggest fuck up thereby undermining why she has trouble with owning up to hard choices.  

Rapunzel ruined a child’s life. She may not have meant to but she did, and thus far she has done nothing to make amends for it. She’s not even spared the poor boy a single thought beyond seeing him as the boogeyman in a nightmare once. 

You can’t have Rapunzel take responsibility for anything if you won’t hold her accountable for anything.  

Varian was meant to appear in this episode, and indeed he should have for the above reason. 

But of course Chris had to give us a bullshit excuse for why he cut the most plot important character from the series. 

I’ve already spoken about how Varian’s cameo in Happiness Is did nothing to actually further develop Rapunzel nor explore her guilt back in that review. In this episode, however, I want to discuss how hollow the comparisons to Gothel is and why there shouldn’t logically have been any competition between the two. 

Varian and Gothel provide two completely different conflicts and two completely different points of development for Rapunzel’s arc. Gothel is the instigator of her conflict with Rapunzel. Rapunzel, as the victim, has only one thing to learn, self esteem. She learned it back in the movie, she relearned it back in the season one, and here she’s re-contextualizing it for this episode’s mini-arc. 

Meanwhile Rapunzel is the instigator of her conflict with Varian. She’s the one with the power in their relationship and her choices matter. She doesn’t need to learn agency because she already has it. What she needs to learn is responsibility and she can’t do that without confronting Varian and what she did in some manner. So unlike with Gothel there only new ground to cover here rather than rehashing old conflicts. 

Chris Sonnenburg has things all backwards. Rapunzel’s agency/self-esteem issues and her need to take responsibility for her actions are not interchangeable conflicts. Addressing one does not automatically address the other, and of the two her conflict with responsibility holds more weight because it’s ongoing. We haven’t seen the resolvement there. It also affects more people than just herself so the stakes are higher there as well. And to top it all off, it fits with the themes of the episode better. 

Also, you very much could have had both characters because they both reflect different conflicts and serve different purposes in the narrative. Time management in television is a very big deal yes, but you have little grounds for defense when all you’ve shown is how poorly you’ve managed your time until now. 

In short, Chris is full of shit. 

No, It Wouldn’t

We’ve already established that there’s no need for Rapunzel to go on her quest in season two. The black rocks are inactive, there’s no ticking clock she has to beat, and her staying at home would have actually prevented the conflicts in season three. 

Unless dream Rapunzel is referring to Zhan Tiri being released, but even that is false because Zhan Tiri is already floating around a little blue ghost girl off screen right now. What Rapunzel choses or chooses not to do does not change that. 

Lack of external conflict undermines internal conflict.  

Just Cause You Make A Meta Joke About Your Heroes Being Dumb For No Reason, Does Not Make Them Any Less Stupid 

Jokingly admitting a fault in your writing doesn’t not excuse that fault. If you can’t have a plot without handing the idiot ball to your characters than you haven’t a good plot. Time to go back to drawing board. 

Season Three Will Go Back On This Episode’s Message and Prove the Villian Right

I’ve liget seen fans unironically praise the show for it’s message of ‘be content with what you have’. Not only is that a terrible lesson to teach children; it’s actually the exact opposite of what the show is trying to achieve.

“Be satisfied” is suppose to be the wrong motto. Rapunzel is suppose to be fighting against this message. In the episode itself it’s the villian who is saying such things in order to tempt her to stay put. 

So how could anyone look at the show as a whole and come away with idea that the one off villain was right along? 

Because season three does a complete 180 away from its original messages regarding agency and responsibility. All consequences disappear from the story and the mains are given convenient scapegoats to distract from their decisions. Characters actively regress and are rewarded by the narrative for either not doing anything or for victim blaming others for their actions. 

But most damaging of all is the fact that nearly everyone winds up back where they started out at, or aren’t given a proper ending at all. Tangled’s story is just one giant circle and that in of itself contradicts the idea of progress.  

Cassandra’s Hurt Hand Is Only Relevant When The Story Wants Rapunzel to Feel Guilty About Something  

Oh but we can just throw Cassandra’s burnt hand in here as a substitute Rapunzel’s guilt over Varian. Even though the two incidents should actually complement one another rather than compete for dominance. 

Tangled doesn’t trust its audience to remember things. It acts like if it’s off screen or not being focused upon than it’s not happening or isn’t relevant. This undermines any ongoing or overarching conflicts.  

Why should we care about Cassandra’s arm if she’s been shown as being fine with it for four episodes by now? Especially since it’ll never come up again after this point? And on the flip side of things, why should the audience not care about the 15 year old who has been sitting in a dungeon for almost a year now due to Rapunzel’s neglect?  

We’re not magpies who are quickly distracted by shiny new things. We are capable of retaining information and informing decisions based off of that. Especially if Chris was shooting for the teen audience as he claims he was. 

Oh But We Got Time For Godzilla-Pascal 

Can’t spare even half a minute for a Varian cameo that would be relevant, but we sure got time to waste on a pointless action sequence that does nothing to further the character in what is meant to be a character development episode. 

This Scene Is Out of Character 

That’s not how abuse works! 

The whole reason why Gothel was able to keep Rapunzel under her thumb for 18 years because Rapunzel always sought her approval. Never at any point, even when finally choosing to break away from her in the movie, did Rapunzel wish to harm the woman. That goes against who she is as a character and it’s not how abuse victims respond to abusers even after cutting things off with them. 

If anything, Rapunzel’s treatment of Frederic in Happiness Is is more in line with how a victim goes about mourning the loss of an abusive relationship. Victims grieve for what might have been. Victims mourn the loss of what good times they had with their abusers, because yes, abusers aren’t abusive 100% of the time 24/7. They can’t be or they risk losing their victim quicker.  

I initially was ok with flashbacks to Gothel on occasion because no victim ever makes a completely clean break from their abuser. Even ‘moving on’ isn’t some triumphant singular action when you stand tall while you knock your opponent down in a wish fulfilment fantasy.

No. ‘Moving on’ is slow. It’s understated. It’s routine. It’s about being able to do the dishes without getting triggered. It’s sitting at lunch with friends and being happy and calm without the fear of returning home hanging over your head. It’s not skipping out on work because your anxiety is through the roof over just meeting with your boss. It’s not devolving into a yelling match over something minor because you internalize your abusers behavior.  

Abuse victims don’t celebrate violence as strength. We celebrate being an unmovable mountain of clam fortitude. Being in control even as the world rages at us, because we’re self assured. 

The fact that this scene exists, while Happiness Is shows Rapunzel behaving the opposite way to the father who abused her the same as Gothel did, only proves that a man shouldn’t have been in charge of this show. Certainly not without a woman by his side giving equal input. 

Stop Using Destiny as a Shorthand for Everything!

Destiny isn’t a catch all word that can mean whatever you want it to. Words have definitions for a reason. Destiny isn’t a goal nor does it equate to agency and responsibility; kind of the opposite in fact. 

Well That Was Redundant

All we did was rehash Rapunzel’s season one arc in under half in hour. Nothing new was learned. It’s like writers don’t know how to resolve any conflict that isn’t a repeat of the first movie. Meanwhile actual unique conflicts are just sitting off to the side being ignored. All because the show’s creator doesn’t want to hold his precious self insert accountable for anything. 

Bye Bye Smart Cass, Hello Dumb Cass

So from this point onward the Cass we’ve known for nearly two seasons is gone. She’s just been replaced by the dumbest bitch on the planet. Because the writers don’t understand how manipulation and trauma actually works. Nor do they comprehend the importance of giving characters actual goals.  

Conclusion 

Season three is what retroactively spoils this episode. Cass’s dumb decision here, Zhan Tiri’s lack of a coherent plan, the uselessness of the disciples, and even the lack of Varian could have been glossed over had they writers given us a satisfying pay offs for any of the main conflicts. But they didn’t and so here we are. 

Also a small update, but after this review and starting next week, the Salt Marathon will go from bi weekly updates to only one a week. This is a combination of real life work getting in the way and the growing length of the reviews. This means we’ll hopefully be done come March, which would mark the show’s anniversary. I got some plans to celebrate if that works out. 

[sonicgetsrawed]

Blue is the Loneliest Color

This takes place in the bad dad Quirin au and is basically Hugo finding out! Thanks all my discord peeps for putting up with my meltdown yesterday! And big thanks to @oneneetwriter for inspiring this with their lovely fic: The color blue! Enjoy! 

Hugo placed his hand over Varian’s. He immediately stopped his fidgeting, staring up at him with wide blue eyes. He brought his other up to cup Varian’s face, placing a soft kiss to his lips. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. I’m sure we’ll get along great.”

Varian bit his lip, eyes now fixated on the ground. “Right.”

Hugo’s eyebrows knit together in confusion. He could never get a proper feel for Varian’s relationship with his father. He always seemed to avoid the topic at all costs, it was a strange side to Varian and it just didn’t make sense to him. From what he’d heard from others Quirin seemed like a perfectly okay person, although when he asked for details they seemed to be lacking. He was an enigma and Hugo was determined to get to the bottom of it.

Normally he wouldn’t push Varian into doing anything he wasn’t comfortable with, but it had been two months since they settled in Corona and he had yet to meet his father. He had met everyone else, from Rapunzel and Eugene, to Lance and his girls, Adira and Hector, hell he’d even met Shorty. Everyone except the one person he wanted to impress, everyone except Varian’s father. So he pushed and pushed, until Varian finally gave in. He needed to meet the man if he was going to ask for his blessing to marry Varian. It was something he’d been planning, sure it would probably be another year or so down the road, but he wanted to make sure he was in his good graces and not have anything catch him off guard when the time came.

“Can we cancel? Please?” Varian asked, eyes pleading as he took Hugo’s hands in his.

Hugo sighed, pulling a hand away as he rubbed his temples. “Why?” It was harsher than he intended, but he wanted an answer, damnit. Everytime he tried to meet his dad there was some excuse as to why they couldn’t. It was getting tiring. He knew something was bothering Varian, he just didn’t have enough information to figure out what and Varian wasn’t helping in the slightest. He moved his hand away from his head as he was hit with a startling revelation. “Is it me?”

“What? No, Hugo, it’s-“ Varian had brought his eyes up for a second only to turn them back to the floor. “Complicated.”

Hugo frowned, that explanation did little for his nerves. Varian’s refusal to meet his eyes only increased the sensation that something was wrong, something was being kept from him, and he didn’t like it. “Var-“

“It’s fine, let’s just get this over with.” Varian said, stepping away from Hugo. Hugo nodded, not that Varian saw, he was already out the door posture tense, his hands shaking. It was all so very un-Varian. He hated it, he never should’ve asked for this, his stomach sunk as he thought about what could possibly happen at dinner to make Varian act like this.

Dinner was lovely. Sure Quirin didn’t talk that much, but they got along well. Varian had been quiet at the beginning too, eventually warming up. He had been watching their interactions closely, noticing Varian’s tense posture and the way he flinched slightly whenever Quirin looked at him or handed him something. It faded as the evening went one, Hugo brushing off Varian’s odd behavior as nerves. He let himself slip into a sense of ease, maybe that’s how he missed it.

Hugo made himself busy clearing the plates from their meal, stacking them inside the sink. He moved to start washing them, but Quirin stopped him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Let me and Varian take care of this. You’re our guest.”

“Oh, it’s no problem. I don’t mind.” Hugo insisted.

Quirin’s grip tightened, almost painfully, he assumed it was just because he was so much stronger than him. “I insist.” Hugo nodded, making his way back to the living area, joining Varian on the couch.

“This wasn’t so bad.” Hugo said, wrapping his arm around Varian.

Varian opened his mouth to reply, his teeth clicking together when he promptly shut it again at the sound of his father’s voice. “Varian, come help with the dishes!”

Varian tensed immediately, any sense of ease he had previously disappearing. He looked at Hugo, his eyes once again pleading, but Hugo didn’t have an answer, how could he when he didn’t even know what the question was? Varian removed himself from Hugo’s grasp, pressing a kiss to his lips, desperate, pleading. Hugo broke it, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion, the sinking feeling in his stomach returning. Why did he feel like this? Dinner had been fine, they got along fine, everything was fine, wasn’t it?

Suddenly he didn’t want to let him go, but he had no reason to keep him. So he let him go, his stomach sinking as Varian disappeared into the kitchen. Hugo stood then, making his way around the house. He hadn’t been to Varian’s childhood home before. It almost felt as if he was seeing a new side to him, but there was something unsettling about it. The walls were bare, not a single picture of the family lining the walls. It was almost like Varian had never been there. He may have been an orphan, but he knew this was not normal. Didn’t most parents love to shove their kids in peoples faces? What made Varian different? He knew of Varian’s past, but was that really cause to purge all trace of the boy’s existence from the home? They had made up, their relationship was better, Varian had said so, they got along now, didn’t they?

Hugo turned to the stairs fully intending to go up the stairs and investigate Varian’s old room. His foot hovered over the first step, the sound of a plate breaking preventing him from taking it. He turned just in time to see Varian bolt from the kitchen, wiping at his face with his sleeve. His eyes caught sight of the red that stained it, Hugo following him out the door and into the woods, hoping Quirin wouldn’t think he was being rude. Where was he anyways? Was he not concerned for his son? Had the plate cut him somehow? It had to, it was the only way to explain the blood, but then why would Varian flee from the house?

“Varian!” He called, hot on his heels, but Varian kept going, not acknowledging him in the slightest. Once he was close enough he grabbed Varian’s upper arm, attempting to get him to stop. He regretted it instantly. Varian looked up at him with fearful blue eyes, tears staining his cheeks, and blood trailing from his split bottom lip. Hugo’s heart stopped, his breath catching in his throat. “Did-“ He didn’t want to finish that train of thought, he didn’t want it to be true. “What happened?”

He reached up to cup Varian’s face, the latter flinching as soon as Hugo raised his hand. He dropped it, letting go of Varian’s arm as well, if what he suspected was true he probably wasn’t fond of the contact right now. More tears spilled down his cheeks. “I’m sorry. I-I didn’t- I didn’t mean to upset him. I messed everything up. I-I’m sorry.”

Hugo’s hands hovered awkwardly over Varian. Usually he wouldn’t hesitate to pull him into a hug, but this wasn’t something usual, it shouldn’t be. And yet it seemed that it was Varian’s reality. He wanted to march back into that house and beat the shit out of Quirin, even though he didn’t stand a chance in hell. He so badly wanted to give into his anger, but right now Varian needed him more. “Can I hug you?”

Normally he’d go right into spewing sweet words in his ear, trying his best to soothe Varian with them, he didn’t think that was the most important right now. He needed to first establish that he meant him no harm, that he wasn’t going to hurt him, unlike his father, no, unlike Quirin, he didn’t deserve that title. His heart sunk as Varian shook his head, his shoulders shaking as he brought his hands up to his mouth to suppress the sobs. “No. I-I’m sorry. No.”  

“That’s okay. That’s fine. I won’t do anything you’re not comfortable with, okay?” Varian nodded, it was small, barely there. He felt sick that Quirin had reduced Varian to this. Had it been like this his entire life? Had it happened after the amber? Did anyone know? Hugo fought the urge to pull him into a hug again. “Can I touch you?”

“Okay.” It sounded unsure, like he felt bad for denying Hugo, but he wasn’t completely comfortable with it.

“Var, I need to know if you’re okay with it or not. I need you to answer honestly. I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to.” He hated how hypocritical that was, he’d forced him into this hadn’t he? Still he pushed forward, swallowing his own guilt. “Can I touch you?”

Varian wiped some of his tears away, giving a slightly more confident nod. “Yeah, that’s-that’s okay.” Hugo made sure to move slowly, bringing his hands up to cup Varian’s face, wiping away the tears with his thumbs. Varian’s breath hitched, leaning into the touch once he got comfortable. Hugo didn’t say anything, waiting until Varian was calmer before he’d chance speaking again. Instead he used his sleeve to wipe away the remaining blood from his lip, gently dabbing the fabric against the wound. Varian grabbed his wrist, stopping his movements. “I’m sorry. I-I didn’t want you to see that. You weren’t supposed to see. I’m-“

Hugo brought his finger to Varian’s lips, effectively cutting off his sentence. “Don’t apologize. Do not apologize. None of this is your fault. None of this should be happening to you.”

“But-“

“Varian, it is not your fault. Whatever he’s told you, whatever he’s done, you are absolutely not to blame. You don’t deserve this abuse,” Varian flinched at the word, but he needed to know that’s what it was, what it is. “You deserve the world, and I’ll make damn sure you get it.”

Varian smiled at that, it was a small, broken thing, but a smile nonetheless. “Thank you, Hugo. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

This time Hugo chanced wrapping his arms around Varian’s waist, the smaller wrapping his arms around his neck in return. “Lucky you, you’ll never have to find out. You’re stuck with me, babe.”

This time his smile was more genuine, closer to what he’d grown to love. “Thank you, I mean it.” He leaned forward, pecking Hugo’s lips. “I love you.”

“I love you too. Now let’s get out of here, before I do something stupid.” Hugo said, eyes darting briefly back to where the house was. He didn’t let them linger, focusing instead on Varian. It was strange to think the person he treasured more than life itself someone would take so for granted.

“Everything you do is stupid.” Varian laughed, sounding more like himself, despite his tear stained cheeks, and the dried blood on his lip. He pulled away, making sure to keep a firm grip on Hugo’s hand.

“I resent that.” Hugo shot back, not sparing another glance behind him as he led Varian away towards a better future. He wouldn’t ask for details today, he’d let Varian share on his own terms, no matter how long it took. And when the time came, maybe, just maybe, he’d ask Eugene for his blessing instead.

[words-with-wren]

Hi! I have a possible prompt from the bingo board. From Tangled. Maybe either working to exhaustion or forgetting to eat. The characters Varian and Eugene? I love their brotherly relationship and I kinda wanna see Eugene making sure Varian is okay. Also I love your writing!

Prompt: Forgetting to Eat 

Fandom: Tangled the Series 

Characters: Varian, Eugene Fitzherbert, Ruddiger

Word Count: 1905

A/N: Been slightly caught up in the Sun and Moon AU but I had to write something about this! And thank you! I appreciate it (also yes Team Awesome is the best!!) 

___ 

It was starting to get late, and Ruddiger was trying to draw his attention to that fact. Varian waved the raccoon away, darting across the room and scribbling something onto the wall. He paused, reading through the scattered notes that spilled from the blackboard and began to cover the walls of his laboratory, running through a few equations in his mind as he did. 

“Yeah, yeah, one second, Ruddiger,” he said absently as the raccoon chattered at him from on top of the blackboard. With a chirp, Ruddiger bounded to his shoulders, making Varian sway slightly at the impact. “Careful buddy - look, I just gotta finish this, then I’ll head to bed, okay?” 

Ruddiger didn’t seem convinced, but Varian ignored him, running a finger over the vials kept on one of the many shelves in his laboratory. Moving into the castle as the royal engineer had many perks - he could have as much room and supplies as he needed. 

He grabbed a vial that was glowing slightly purple, moving back to the table, covered with various vials and pipes. Carefully, he leaned over the desk, eyes furrowed as he poured a single drop into one of the tubes. 

There was a knock at the door, startling him, and he watched with horror as he poured half the vial into the tubes. 

“Oh, no no no!” he cried, darting around the table and watching as the chemical slowly made its way through the tubes. “Ruddiger, I need the extinguisher!” 

Ruddiger leapt off his shoulder as Varian pulled his goggles down hard, trying to pull a tube out of the whole set up before the chemical came into contact with the other chemical in the set up already. 

“Hey, you alright, kid?” 

Eugene’s voice came from outside and Varian ground his teeth, giving up on trying to stop the reaction and taking cover under the table. 

“Uh I’m -” his reply to Eugene was cut off by an explosion rocking the table and making Varian’s ears ring. He curled under the table, hands pressed over his ears, waiting for the ringing to die down. 

Eugene rushed into the room almost before the explosion died down, looking like he had just kicked down the door. 

“Varian? You alrig - holy what happened?” 

For a long moment, Varian lay under the table, suddenly not having the strength to pull himself up. He heard the telltale small poof of an extinguisher ball being thrown at the table by Ruddiger. He knew he should get up, but his body was refusing to cooperate. 

“Varian?” Eugene’s face appeared under the table, looking concerned. Forcing a slightly shaky smile, Varian pushed himself up onto his hands, feeling surprisingly empty. “You alright, kid?” 

“I’m okay,” he said. “Just… miscalculated the measurements.” That was the last time he was going to pour something directly from the vial. He had droppers for a reason. 

To be fair, he had told himself that last time something had gone wrong.

He gladly accepted Eugene’s hand and let the other man help him out, narrowly missing hitting his head on the underside of the table. Ruddiger chattered nervously as he emerged, leaping onto his shoulder, another extinguisher ball in his paws. 

The set up had been almost completely destroyed, glass shards from the various beakers and tubes scattered across the slightly charred table. Varian winched at the sight, wrapping an arm around his body. Another failure. 

“Alright, kid, checklist time,” Eugene said, marching him across the room and forcing him to sit down in a greatly underused chair by his desk. “When’d you last sleep?” 

Varian frowned, thinking back through the day. 

“Dad made me sleep about… five hours? Last night,” he said. “And Ruddiger was trying to get me to go sleep, so I’ll sleep soon.” 

“Yeah, I’ve heard that one before,” Eugene said, mock glaring down at him. Varian had the grace to look slightly sheepish. “However, five hours, while not enough, isn’t as bad as I was expecting. Next thing on the list! Water - when was the last thing you drank anything?” He was pacing up and down in front of Varian, checking his fingers off as he spoke. Varian had a sudden strange feeling that he was being interrogated. 

He gestured to the bottle that had been knocked off the table by the explosion. Rapunzel had made it for him when she learned how easy it was for him to get lost in an idea - a bottle to keep water in so he didn’t have to go looking for it. Or not, as was more likely the case.

Eugene crossed the room quickly, picking it up and shaking it gently. The water inside sloshed slightly, but it was clear it was mostly empty. 

“I filled it up this morning. Only some of it was used in my experiment!” 

Eugene opened the bottle, peering inside. 

“Okay, have to admit, once again - not as bad as I was expecting.” He twisted the lid back onto the bottle, placing it onto the table and moved back to where Varian was still sitting. 

“I’m getting better at looking after myself,” Varian muttered, looking away. “It helps that everyone’s nagging at me about it.” 

He didn’t want to admit it, but it was nice. It was nice to have Rapunzel worried about how much he was drinking, to have his father forcing him to go to bed at a decent time, to have Eugene walk him through his habits for the day. It was nice to know people cared enough about him to help him. 

It was also nice to not have headaches from lack of sleep, or feel parched and dry without knowing why because he hadn’t been drinking enough. 

“So what you’re saying is that you want us to keep nagging at you?” Eugene asked. Varian looked up at him with a slight grin, running a hand through Ruddiger’s fur. 

“I don’t know if I said that,” he said. 

“Well, I’m going to. Final thing on the checklist - when was the last time you ate anything?” 

Oh. 

His smile faltered slightly at that as he cast his mind back, trying to place when it had been. Not today, that was for sure. Unless he counted that half an apple he had shared with Ruddiger. 

(Now that he thought about it, Ruddiger had practically forced that thing down his throat.) 

“I can see by your face that it’s been a while,” Eugene said. Varian frowned, still trying to place when it was. 

“Rapunzel brought me some bread she’d baked!” he said finally, remembering. Eugene crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow and Varian dropped his eyes. “Yesterday afternoon.” 

Now that it came to his attention, that was probably why he’d been feeling so off today. He’d been so caught up in finishing this experiment he hadn’t even thought about eating. 

“Okay kid, let’s go,” Eugene said, holding out a hand. Varian took it hesitantly, unsure what Eugene’s tone of voice meant. “We’re raiding the kitchens.” 

“Wh -” Varian began. 

“You and me, you can have a chance to see how Flynn Rider works first hand.” Eugene hauled him up, and despite himself, Varian felt a slight rush of excitement. Maybe his obsession with Flynn Rider had been childish, but part of him couldn’t help but be excited at the chance of sneaking around with Eugene. Even if it was just the kitchens. 

“Team Awesome Operation Kitchen Raid,” Eugene said, holding out a fist. Varian grinned, bumping it quickly. “Stick close and follow my lead, kid.” 

Half an hour later, Varian’s stomach feeling comfortably full, they were sitting in Eugene’s room, surrounded the remains of various treats, fruits and an apple pie Varian was pretty sure someone would miss in the morning. (Ruddiger had insisted they take it. Who was he to say no?) 

He sat on Eugene’s bed, legs tucked under him, nibbling at the leftovers of a croissant. Eugene was seated on the floor, Ruddiger curled up in his lap in a comfortable food coma. 

“Hey, Varian?” Eugene said, looking up from where he was running his hands through the raccoon’s fur. Varian blinked awake from the food coma he was starting to slip into. 

“Yeah?” he asked, sensing from Eugene’s tone it was important. 

“You gotta look after yourself, kid.” 

“I’m getting better,” Varian said quietly. He was. Back at home, in Old Corona, he would go days without eating, without sleeping, drinking only when his father forced him too.

And the month or so of mad, manic work, trying to find a way to free his father, to save his father - well, he didn’t like to think about that. 

It was enough to say if Ruddiger hadn’t been there, he probably wouldn't have eaten at all. 

“I know you are, Hairstripe,” Eugene said. He shifted slightly, Ruddiger giving him a sleepy scolding. “Just… know that we worry about you.” 

Varian looked down, feeling slightly guilty. He wasn’t used to people caring about his wellbeing, he wasn’t used to letting people down by not looking after himself. Weren’t there enough ways he was already doing that? 

“I’m sorry,” he muttered, blinking back sudden tears. 

“Woah, hey, wait a sec, kid.” Eugene shifted, lifting Ruddiger and standing. “Sorry buddy,” he muttered to the indignant raccoon as he sat on the bed beside Varian. Laying a hand on Varian’s shoulder, he spoke again, his voice soft. “Look, we worry about you because we care. And we don’t expect you to do it alone, okay? I don’t expect you do to it alone.” 

Varian looked up, blinking down tears again. Eugene’s face was soft, empty of any blame and Varian felt a lump in his throat at that. His father cared - he knew - but his father tended to look at him disapprovingly when he forgot to ate, to blame him for not looking after himself. 

And maybe it was his fault, but sometimes it was just so hard to remember when he got caught up in something. 

“Just... let me know if I’m pushing too hard, okay?” Eugene said. 

“No!” Varian said quickly. “I - I mean… it helps. Having you, and Rapunzel… and, and everyone helping. Sometimes I forget to eat or sleep and… it helps to know….” He trailed off, suddenly unsure if he could say what he wanted to.

“It helps to know people care.” Because he knew they did care, but sometimes he wondered why. He still wasn’t sure he had completely made up for what he had done. The nightmares still haunted him, sometimes he wondered how they had forgiven him at all. 

“We do care, Varian,” Eugene said quietly. “And no one blames you - it just takes time to break bad habits. Tell you what,” his voice was lighter now, less serious, but still full of love. “I’ll come find you for lunch and we can eat together? How’s that?” 

Varian smiled slightly, nodding. Then, before he could think to stop himself, lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Eugene’s waist. Eugene pulled him closer and he closed his eyes, burying his face in his friend’s chest. Ruddiger, awake now, purred softly, bounding onto his shoulder and curling around him, warm and familiar. 

“Thank you,” he muttered quietly. 

Sometimes he wondered how he had got so lucky to get a family he didn’t deserve after all he had done. But he wouldn’t give it up for the world.

[hersheyotaku]

Shards

Fandom: Tangled Characters: Varian & Rapunzel Tags: post series, hurt/comfort, whump, blood, minor injury

Summary: With her free-spirited preference for a barefoot lifestyle, it was only a matter of time before Rapunzel stepped on something she shouldn’t. Varian’s just sorry it happened in his lab.

Read on Ao3 here

“Okay, so that wasn’t…exactly the reaction I was hoping for…” Varian mused, peeking over the upended table he’d used to take cover. He pushed up his goggles and scratched his head as he surveyed the mess his latest experiment had created.

It wasn’t unusual for the royal engineer’s experiments to go awry in spectacularly explosive ways, and it certainly wasn’t uncommon for some of his equipment to end up being destroyed in the process. Still, once the smoke had cleared from the minor explosion of an especially volatile mixture of gaseous chemicals, he couldn’t help but frown at the shards of glass strewn across the workbench and floor. He was going to need a new beaker set and distiller, which was a pity…those had been such sturdy ones too.

Fetching a small broom, he cleared a path around the workbench before sweeping the glass off the wooden surface and into a bucket, careful to catch every piece so there weren’t any leftover shards. The last thing he wanted was for Ruddiger to walk across and get glass stuck in his paw.

He yelped when the door slammed open behind him, scrambling to not drop the bucket. He twisted around just in time to see one barefooted princess come rushing into the lab.

“Varian, I heard an explosion! Are you—ah!” Rapunzel cried out as her foot came down on a particularly large and jagged shard of glass, reeling back and barely managing to catch herself against the doorframe. 

“Rapunzel!” Varian gasped, dropping the bucket with a jangling clatter as he rushed to her, glass crunching beneath his boots.

“V-varian—!” Rapunzel whimpered, one hand reaching for him as the other clawed at the wood beneath her fingers, her hip braced against the frame. Breathing hard, she curled her leg up in an attempt to keep her weight off of her injured foot.

Varian grasped her outstretched hand in both of his and gave what he hoped was a comforting squeeze as his wide blue eyes took in the glittering shard protruding from the bottom of her foot. His stomach flipped queasily as his gaze travelled from the thin rivulets of blood running from the puncture wound to the smeared red footprint on the stone floor, no doubt from Rapunzel accidentally putting too much pressure on her hurt foot at the shock of being impaled.

“Oh...oh no.” He quickly moved to wrap his arm around her waist to help support her, then bit his lip when he realized there was no way she’d be able to move without potentially stepping on another glass shard. “J-just hang on, I’ve got you. It’ll…it’ll be fine, I promise.”

Coming to a swift decision, he ducked down and hooked an arm under her knees, lifting her off the ground with a soft grunt. He took a moment to adjust his grip before carefully picking his way across the floor, not wanting to slip and drop his friend.

Rapunzel sucked in a shuddering breath and buried her face in Varian’s neck as he carried her to his workbench, her fingers curling into the material of his vest. Her foot was burning, the throbbing pain sharp enough to send aching pulses shooting through her leg.

Coming to the workbench, Varian set her on the edge of the hard surface, mindful to avoid jostling her foot. But when he tried to step back, he found that Rapunzel’s fingers had a tight hold on his vest, and she was still leaning into him, instinctively seeking comfort. Biting his lip, he gently took hold of her shoulders and guided her back so he could look her in the eye. “Rapunzel, I know that it…that it hurts, but I need to check your foot. Please…let me?”

Rapunzel swallowed hard, hesitating for a few seconds before releasing him and moving her hands to her lap, her fingers bunching into the material of her skirt. “O-okay,” she whispered tightly, trying her best not to focus on the hot twinges of pain in her foot.

While he was by no means a medical professional, Varian knew some basic first aid, since he did work with some pretty dangerous chemicals and equipment. And while the sight of blood still made his stomach turn, he’d certainly gotten better about not passing out the way he did when he was younger, and could push past his discomfort in acute situations.

Kneeling down, Varian gently took hold of her calf and lifted her leg so he could see the bottom of her foot. The bleeding actually wasn’t too bad, the initial penetration had made it seem worse than it was. But there was still a pretty sizable piece of glass embedded in the ball of her foot, and from the way she was trembling, he could tell it was agony for her.

If he was honest, he was surprised that this was the first time something like this had happened to her. But it seemed after 22 years of foregoing shoes unscathed, her luck had finally run out.

But that didn’t make him feel any less guilty about it happening in his lab.

Not wanting to touch the glass until absolutely necessary, he released her leg and stood to his feet. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself to deliver news that, while inevitable, was still sure to be unpleasant for Rapunzel.

“Princess, I have to remove the glass, and…um, I’m not gonna lie it’s…it’s gonna hurt.” He found her hand and gave a sympathetic squeeze. “A lot.” His eyes searched hers, hoping she wouldn’t hold it against him.

Biting her lip, Rapunzel’s free hand wrung her skirt fretfully. The knowledge that pulling the glass free was going to hurt even more was intimidating, but she knew it had to be done. And besides that…

She managed a weak smile and squeezed his hand back. “I trust you, Varian.” 

Even though the circumstances weren’t ideal, Varian’s heart swelled at her unwavering faith in him. He couldn’t—wouldn’t let her down.

He gently pressed his forehead to hers before pulling away so he could gather the necessary materials for the extraction.

As Varian hurried around his lab, Rapunzel wrapped her arms around herself, gently rocking in an attempt to soothe her nerves. She was briefly distracted when Varian stopped to have her take a dose of pain killer he kept handy in the lab.

“I don’t think it’ll take effect in time for the extraction, but hopefully it’ll help with the aftermath,” he told her apologetically, before hurrying back to making preparations.

It only took Varian a moment to sterilize the tools he’d need and fill a bucket with water, and then he moved back to the workbench where Rapunzel was perched. Almost as an afterthought, he stopped to grab a strip of leather from a drawer.

He set down his tools before offering the rolled up leather to her. “Here, princess. You’ll…you’ll want this.”

Rapunzel blinked in confusion, shifting her weight uncomfortably. “Why?”

“To, y’know, put between your teeth,” Varian said, baring his own and pointing at them for emphasis. “For the pain?”

“Ohhh.” Rapunzel sucked in a tight breath and nodded, taking it from him. “Um, thank you.”

Varian didn’t really feel like she had much to thank him for at the moment, but he smiled at her anyway as he picked up a pair of sturdy pliers. “Just…just try to bear with me, okay?”

Placing the thick leather between her teeth, Rapunzel nodded, and he kneeled down and took her ankle in his hand, pulling her leg so he could clearly see the bottom of her foot. 

Pinching the glass between the jaws of the pliers, he had to take a deep breath to steady himself. He could do this, Rapunzel needed him. “Okay, here we go…” Carefully, he started to pull the shard free.

Rapunzel gave a muffled cry, and Varian had to tighten his grip on her ankle to keep it completely still as her leg gave an involuntary jerk. 

“It’s okay, it…it’ll be—hrk—” Varian had to press his lips together tightly, his stomach lurching as the glass slowly slid from the bloody wound, though he managed to keep his hands steady. Just a little bit more…

Rapunzel gasped and whimpered behind the leather, her teeth digging into the thick material as she shuddered. It was taking everything she had not to kick at Varian to make him stop. He was helping her, even if it sure didn’t feel like it.

Varian had to wiggle the glass a tad to finally pull it free, wincing sympathetically at Rapunzel’s high-pitched yelp before he dropped the bloody shard, pliers and all, into an empty bucket.

“Okay, it’s out, Rapunzel,” he told her, patting her leg soothingly. “I’m just gonna clean—oh. Uh…okay so the antiseptic is probably gonna sting, b-but after that I won’t have to do anything else that’ll hurt you.”

He glanced up to her face to make sure she was all right and jolted at the sight of tears sliding down her cheeks as she shakily pulled the leather from her mouth. Obviously he knew why she was crying, but seeing it still wrenched at his heart.

Then he was on his feet, cupping her cheeks and wiping her tears away with his thumbs.

“Rapunzel, I’m sorry,” he whispered, guilt gnawing at his core. Sorry she’d gotten hurt in his lab, sorry he hadn’t done a better job of alleviating her pain, sorry he’d made her cry.

But Rapunzel smiled at him softly and placed a hand over his on her cheek. “Varian, you don’t have to be sorry,” she told him, her voice only catching a little. “You’re helping me.”

“But—” Varian found himself silenced by a finger placed over his lips, and he blushed as Rapunzel leaned in closer.

“No buts,” she told him firmly.

Taking a deep breath through his nose, Varian held it for a second before he finally nodded, and Rapunzel’s smile brightened as she let her hands drop into her lap. She didn’t want Varian to blame himself for any of this—it had been an accident, and now he was being so sweet with how he was helping her. He could have run off and tried to find someone else to help her—she knew he was squeamish when it came to blood—but instead he took it upon himself to take care of her.

Varian melted a little at the fond look she was giving him, but when she shifted and winced slightly he suddenly realized he hadn’t finished treating her foot yet, and he pulled back to do just that.

For the next few minutes he busied himself with disinfecting her wound, murmuring to Rapunzel soothingly when she sucked in a tight breath and squirmed at his ministrations.

For her part Rapunzel did her best not to react to the stinging antibacterial wash, or how even his gentle wiping and dabbing with a soft cloth caused small throbs of pain. But once he’d wrapped her foot snuggly with linen bandages, she could feel a marked difference, the once stinging pain reduced to a dull ache that only flared if she moved her foot a certain way. Or maybe the pain medicine was finally kicking in? Whatever it was, it was a relief, and she let out a sigh as she watched Varian clean up his tools and wash his hands before coming back to her.

“Are you…feeling okay now?” he asked as he approached, glancing down at her foot before meeting her eyes.

Rapunzel nodded. “I’m feeling much better.” She reached out a hand and was pleased when Varian took it, giving an affectionate squeeze. “Thank you, Varian.”

Varian rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. “Oh it…it was nothing.”

“Oh, but…” She glanced around the floor, realizing that there were still glass shards littered between them and the door. “Um…I might need some help getting out of here.”

Gulping, Varian couldn’t help but blush. He could only take that to mean she needed to be carried, and now that there was no urgency…

“Sh-should I go get Eugene to come carry you?” he asked, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

Tipping her head to the side, Rapunzel quirked a brow at him. “Are you saying I’m too heavy for you?”

“N-no! Not at all!” Varian was quick to reassure her, holding up both hands in a placating gesture. “I-I just meant that since you’re okay now you might prefer—”

Rapunzel smiled, endeared by her friend’s flustered state. “Oh, so you’re just trying to get out of carrying me again, is that it?”

Varian’s eyes darted around the room before coming to rest on her again. “N-no?”

“Then I don’t see the problem.” She held out her arms to him expectantly. “C’mon, just one quick trip to the infirmary and then I’ll be out of your hair. Besides, Eugene’s busy running drills with the guard, and there’s no need to worry him when you took such good care of me.” 

Well…he couldn’t argue with that logic. “All right.” He grinned at her as he looped an arm under her knees, bracing the other behind her back as he lifted her from the table. “But only because you twisted my arm.”

“Wow…you’re a lot stronger than I gave you credit for,” she said, holding her fingers to her mouth in feigned surprise as they moved towards the door.

“Heh, maybe I should add ‘princess lifting’ to my daily routine,” Varian joked, bobbing her a bit.

“Maybe you should,” Rapunzel agreed lightly.

They looked at each other for a moment, then burst out laughing, the sound carrying through the halls as Varian continued to carry her well past where the shards were scattered across the ground.

While the circumstances leading up to it weren’t ideal, Varian was glad to share a moment like this with Rapunzel.

[alkae]

They Were Roommates

Chapter One

Varian was late for class. Again.

It wasn’t his fault he kept telling himself. He set alarm after alarm but he just couldn’t seem to be able to wake up early. Every morning was the same: wake up 5 minutes before class started, change out of pajamas, brush teeth in five seconds and then basically sprint across the campus to his first class. Which, by the way, was about a ten minute walk on a non busy day.

It’s been like this for a week. That may not seem like a long period of time but that was how long he had been at Corona University. And his roommate didn’t seem to care enough to wake him up for class.

Said roommate he hasn’t even met yet. They had completely different schedules. That or his roommate was purposely trying to avoid him. Varian didn’t mind. Frankly he was glad for the lack of distractions. He just wanted to graduate and then move on with his life without having anyone sidetrack him from his goals. And so far so good.

That particular day, though, completely shit on his goals. He was sprinting to class, bag half packed and hair a mess, his mind elsewhere and he wasn’t looking where he was going. That’s probably why he ran headon into someone and felt something warm spread onto his shirt. His white shirt.

Neither him nor the other person fell, luckily. Varian reeled back and looked down at his shirt that was stained with a dark liquid. He lifted it up to his nose and sniffed. His nose wrinkled. Coffee. He had hot coffee spilled onto his shirt. Great. Just great.

“Whoops! Sorry about that!” the coffee-spiller laughed. Varian glared up at the perpetrator who was about 6 inches taller than him. He had blonde hair that was long in the back and tied in a ponytail, obnoxiously green eyes and glasses that covered most of his face. He wore a green jacket and loose jeans with a smirk on his face that made Varian want to slap him. “Man that’s unfortunate.” Wonderful. He must’ve noticed the fact that Varian’s shirt was white and the stain most likely wouldn’t be easily hidden.

Varian gritted his teeth. “Yeah, you think?” He didn’t even try to wipe at it, he just sighed. “Sorry for running into you,” he muttered. “I gotta go.” He made to go past the blonde stranger but said stranger stopped him.

“You’re going to class like that?” he asked. “Do you want to be made fun of? Are you some kind of masochist?”

Varian yanked his arm away. “What other option is there? I’m already late.”

The stranger tapped his chin in thought. “I have one option.” He took off his jacket and held it up to Varian. Varian’s face scrunched up. He couldn’t be serious. The stranger seemed to read his mind because a shit-eating grin spread across his face. “What, you’d rather go into class with a giant brown stain?” He shrugged. “Okay, man. You’re funeral.”

Varian snatched the jacket from him and put it on, zipping it up to his chin. “Thanks.” He wasn’t sure if his voice was audible or not. His face felt warm.

The stranger chuckled. “No problem. You look good in it anyway.” He winked.

Oh no. No no no. He did not. Varian did not have time for this. He ducked his head. “I have to go. I’m seriously late.” He went around the stranger trying not to catch his eye and slowly broke into a run.

“Study hard!” the stranger yelled after him. Laughter followed this and Varian’s face burned further. He broke into a sprint and refused to look back.

And if in class, someone sniffed around and said, “Is there coffee?”, he wouldn’t admit it.

~~~

Varian collapsed onto his bed face first, still wearing the stranger’s jacket. His classes were one right after the other and by then it was nearly 1 and he was starving and exhausted. Plus he still smelled faintly of coffee. He needed a shower, a change of clothes, a nap and a ham sandwich.

Groaning, he rolled over onto his back and sat up as the door opened. He froze. Was his roommate really showing up now out of all days? He felt his breath catch as the door widened and in stepped… the stranger from before.

They stared at each other in silence, Varian’s jaw open and the stranger looking as if someone had just slapped him. It was 5 minutes before the stranger started laughing. “Of course my roommate happens to be the same person I spilled my coffee on! Of course!” He slapped his leg and doubled over, clutching his stomach.

Varian got over his shock and crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s not that funny,” he said.

The stranger straightened and wiped at his eyes. “Yes. Yes it is.” He choked back another bout of laughter. “Sorry, sorry.” He didn’t look very sorry. “That was a poor introduction.” In a few swift steps, he was over by Varian, hand outstretched. “I’m Hugo McCoy.”

Varian took his hand warily. “Varian Ruddiger.”

Hugo took his hand back, grin still on his face. He pointed at Varian. “I see you’re still wearing my jacket, Ruddiger.”

Varian looked down quickly and felt a blush rise to his face. “Ye-yeah.” He cursed his stutter. “Well, I didn’t exactly have time to make a bathroom stop.”

His roommate nodded in an understanding yet somehow exaggerated way. “Sure sure, I get it man. I stand by my statement by the way.” He looked too cheeky for Varian’s liking. “You look much better in it than I do.”

Varian rolled his eyes. “Is that like your only line?”

“I’ve got more. Want to hear them?”

He leveled him with a glare. “Pass.”

Hugo held up his hands in surrender. “Alright, don’t get so touchy, Hairstripe.”

His eyes narrowed further. “Hairstripe?”

Hugo waved his hand up at Varian’s hair. “You got a blue streak in your hair.”

On instinct, Varian reached up like he was going to cover it. “Hey don’t be ashamed,” Hugo said. “It’s pretty cool.”

Even though he said to not be ashamed, a flush made its way onto Varian’s face. “It’s natural,” Varian said, voice low. “Don’t ask how.”

Hugo raised a pale eyebrow. “Did you just say it’s natural? What, are you part Smurf?” He chuckled. “That would explain the height.”

Now Varian’s flush was indignant. “I’m not that short! Just because you’re built like a beanpole-”

Hugo laughed. “A beanpole! Man, you’re vocabulary is massive. Did you swallow a dictionary as a child?”

What was this guy’s deal? Varian felt his anger level rise. He unzipped the jacket, shook it off quickly and then tossed it at Hugo. It hit his chest and fell to the floor. Hugo blinked. “It smells like coffee now,” Varian bit out. “I’d wash it.”

Hugo blinked again before his face settled into an annoyed look. That was new. “Don’t tell me to wash my jacket when your shirt looks like you took a bath in coffee.”

“Who’s fault is it that the coffee spilled in the first place?”

“Uh, yours. Maybe if you woke up sooner you wouldn’t have to rush to class everyday.”

Varian felt his mouth open in indignation. “If you woke me up every once in a while, maybe I would wake up sooner.”

“Yes please blame me because you don’t set an alarm every day.”

“I do set an alarm!”

“Really?” Hugo looked skeptic. “I never seem to hear one. Tell me, do you set it at a frequency that only dogs can hear?”

“You just don’t hear it,” Varian replied hotly, “because you’re gone by the time it goes off. What, do you wake up at like 5 every morning? Do you have a girlfriend or something that wants to meet before school everyday?”

“Yep you caught me,” Hugo said, voice bland. “I have a girlfriend who wakes up at 5 in the morning just so we can make out before classes start.”

Was he joking? Varian honestly couldn’t really tell. He cleared his throat. “Whatever. Just wherever you go, don’t get coffee.”

Hugo nodded solemnly. “Yes master. Anything else?”

He resisted throwing a shoe at him. He stared down at his bedspread in frustration. He was still hungry and he still smelled like coffee. Not gracing Hugo with an answer, he slipped off his bed and padded over to his closet to search for a new not white shirt. He could feel Hugo’s eyes on him. After selecting a shirt, Varian turned around. “What’s your major?” he asked lightly. An abrupt topic change but a necessary one. If they continued the conversation they’d been having, Varian couldn’t promise that harm wouldn’t be done.

Hugo seemed a bit put off but he replied, “Chemistry.”

That was Varian’s major too. He bit his lip. “Same.”

Hugo tilted his head. “Funny how we don’t have classes together then. Have you been avoiding me, Hairstripe?”

“Don’t call me that,” Varian snapped immediately. “And besides, it feels more like you’re avoiding me. It’s been a week and this is the first time I’ve seen you.” His eyes narrowed. “Why are you even here anyway?”

Hugo rubbed at the back of his neck. “My class ended early today because my teacher had a wine headache.”

Varian’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“No.” Hugo grinned as Varian rolled his eyes in annoyance. “But she did have a headache so we watched YouTube videos for half an hour before she just let us go. I came back here to get my ID to get lunch.” He batted his eyes at Varian. Varian stilled. “You could come with me. It’ll be my treat and as a payment for spilling my coffee on you. And then every second we spent talking together these past few minutes.”

Varian mulled it over in his head. On one hand, the last thing he wanted was to spend time with Hugo. On the other hand, he was really hungry and it would be nice not to have to pay for once. He clenched the shirt he was holding. “I need to change,” he said, praying his voice didn’t come out short.

Hugo beamed. “Lovely! Get changed, Hairstripe, and quickly before I lose my appetite.” He made a shooing gesture at him. Varian huffed and turned on his heel.

This was his roommate. Hugo McCoy.

This was going to be a long year.

Next

[disneymiraculousefandomsblog]

Hey guys!! So I know I was taking a break from writing stories but I just couldn’t help myself so I wrote a story and I was really wanting to write a story with angst. This is not a Hugo/Varian ship story. Also thanks to @dangara2610 for helping me find a title for my story:)

Summary : Hugo is staring to get attached to Varian and the gang so he is wanting to get out of the mission Donella gave him but it does not end well for our boy.

TW: Donella, Cutting, Electrocution

AO3: link is here

Switching Loyalties

Donella had sent Hugo on an assignment to infiltrate the group and remain on good terms with Varian so he can lead him to the totems she needed. Hugo and Varian were always arguing and teasing each other like they were brothers. It had been about a week since Hugo had been undercover with the group. Varian and the gang had found the first totem and were on their way to get the second totem. Hugo was trying his best not to get attached to Varian or anyone for that matter he was on a mission to find the totems and give them to Donella that’s it. He was not there to make friends.

They stopped in the forest to camp for the night they were close to the kingdom with the second totem. They would go and get it in the morning.

Varian was the first to set up camp, “Alright guys, this looks like a good place to camp for the night” Varian stated.

“Really Hairstripe! You want us to camp out and sleep here where there can be bears or wolfs that could attack us!” Hugo said with a doubtful tone.

“For your information Hugo, there are no bears in this part of the woods. And wolfs don’t attack you unless they feel threatened so we should be fine.” Varian said sarcastically to Hugo.

“If you say so Hairstripe whatever” Hugo answered crossing his arms.

Varian rolled his eyes, “I’m going to go and get some wood to make a bomb fire to keep us warm” Varian stated.

“Maybe Young should go with you just to be safe” Nuru said with concern.

“I’ll be fine Nuru, I’ve been camping before” Varian answered.

“I know but still, and besides you can’t carry all that wood by yourself.” Nuru answered.

“Young would you like to go with Varian and help him gather wood for the fire?” Nuru asked Young.

“Sure i would like that” Young said with a smile.

“Alright If you insist” Varian said giving up.

Varian and young went to gather the wood while Hugo and Nuru stayed with the caravan. Nuru and Hugo never really talked much with each other because she felt a bit sketchy with Hugo she didn’t trust him, he never said why he was even helping Varian and he surely wouldn’t gain anything from helping him.

Nuru saw her chance to try and get to know Hugo and why he wanted to help Varian find the totems.

Nuru walked over to Hugo, “Hey Hugo, Are you ok?” Nuru asked him.

“Yeah I’m fine thanks” Hugo answered with a chuckle.

“So I know we don’t really talk much and that we don’t know each other that well, but in would like to change that. May I ask how you found Varian? and why you want to help him find the totems?” Nuru asked Hugo.

Hugo could not tell her the truth of why he really wanted the totems he had to come up with a believable story. “Well..I met Varian when he was trying to get the first totem, I the fire kingdom, I took it before they could, I mostly wanted it because I thought it would be worth something and maybe to use it for my alchemy potions. Anyway I wanted to know why Varian wanted the totems so badly. It was kinda funny to see him get upset when I took it. Once he told me why he wanted the totems and what he is going to do with them i knew he would needed my expertise to get him passed the other challenges even if he doesn’t admit it.” Hugo said with a chuckle to Nuru.

Nuru didn’t know if his story was true or not and he didn’t answer her question of what he would gain helping Varian. Hugo saw that Nuru was hesitant, “Look Nuru I know you don’t trust me, and I don’t expect you too but I’m not here to hurt Varian, I can tell you that truthfully” Hugo said with a half smile.

Nuru still didn’t trust him, but he seemed to be telling the truth. “Ok Hugo, it may take me awhile to try and trust you but I can see that you really do care for Varian so I will do my best. Thank you for being truthful” Nuru answered with a slight smile.

Varian and Yong came back with the fire wood,

“Were back! And we brought the wood for the fire” yong said with a smile.

Varian looks at Nuru and Hugo, “what happened? Did I miss something?” Varian asked.

Nuru and Hugo exchanged glances, “No we were just having a little chat” Nuru answered nervously.

“Oh what was is about?” Varian asked placing the firewood on the ground in a bundle.

“Eh, it’s nothing Hairstripe” Hugo answered.

“Oh-Ok” Varian answered hesitantly.

Varian grabbed two rocks and clicked them until sparks came out and lit up the wood. “There that should last us till morning” Varian said proudly.

“Heh thanks Hairstripe” Hugo said with a smile.

They sat around the fire and Varian made them some s’mores as a light snack and they went around telling different types of scary stories they have heard. They laughed and Hugo teased Varian with his puns and nicknames. The sun had finally set and the moon came out by the time they finished their s’mores and telling their story’s. Nuru was the first one to go to bed, “Alight guys I’m calling it a night, see you in the morning” Nuru said heading inside the caravan.

“Yeah me too I’m kinda tired, see you guys in the morning” Yong said walking behind Nuru.

“Goodnight” Varian answered.

Hugo never had fun before this was the first time experiencing fun, he enjoyed it, he never had any friends or thought he would even have any with Donella. Hugo had this weird feeling inside his stomach like he was actually starting to care for them and he could feel himself getting attached to Varian and the gang he didn’t like it. Hugo was lost in his thoughts when Varian snapped him out of it . “Hugo?” Varian asked.

Hugo snapped himself out and turned to looked at Varian, “yes Hairstripe” Hugo answered.

“I think I’m going it call it a night you coming?” Varian asked him.

Hugo wasn’t really tired and he really wanted to take a walk and clear his head.

“That’s fine Hairstripe, I’m gonna take a walk, I’ll be back later” Hugo answered nervously.

Varian knew something was up with Hugo but he went along with it. “Besides if he does not come back after awhile he could go check up on him. Ok” Varian answered with half smile.

“I’ll be back soon” Hugo said with a smile. He got up and walked into the forest, Varian stood at the door watching Hugo leave and he turned to go inside the caravan. Meanwhile someone is lurking in the darkness watching from afar. Hugo walked around pacing telling himself, “get it together Hugo!, what are you doing?, you can’t start having feelings, your on a mission!. You know what would happen if Donella found out your becoming soft...” All these thoughts flooding his mind. He saw a nearby tree and sat down under it. It had been 15min since Hugo left and Varian was getting worried but also because he couldn’t sleep either a walk would probably do him good, Varian left the caravan to look for Hugo. Hugo sat under the tree looking into the distance looked around when he heard a noise, “Hello, is someone there?” Hugo said getting up looking around seeing where the noise was coming from. He sat his eyes on a bush that was moving he got closer to get a better look and fell backwards with a small yelp.

Varian popped out from the bush, “Hugo! Oh I’m sorry I didn’t mean to startle you heh” Varian said embarrassed. Varian put out his hand to help Hugo up, Hugo Gabe him his hand and Varian pulled him up. “It’s ok Hairstripe” Hugo answered dusting himself off. “So what are you doing out here? I thought you were sleeping?” Hugo asked Varian.

“Heh well I couldn’t really sleep and I saw you weren’t in bed so I thought I come check up on you and see if you were ok” Varian answered with a half smile.

“Oh I-I’m fine...just lost in thought I guess” Hugo answered with a half smile.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Varian asked.

Hugo stayed quiet he could tell Varian the truth and then once Donella Finds out that he betrayed her they would all probably get killed or he could just lie like he has been this entire time. “Uh, it’s just stupid stuff from my past it’s not really important heh” Hugo answered with a small chuckle. Varian didn’t know Hugo we’ll but he knew how it felt to not want to talk about personal stuff or your past for that matter. “Oh ok” Varian answered. There was silence for awhile then Varian broke the silence. “Hugo, I just want to say... Thank you, for helping me get the totems it means a lot to me, I know we don’t always get along and we tend to fight a lot heh, but thank you for coming along with me to find the totems.” Varian said sheepishly rubbing his hand behind his head.

“This mission really means a lot to you huh” Hugo said with a half smile.

“Hehe, yeah it does I mean I may have never met her and I don’t even know If she is alive...but I’ll at least complete her mission and find out what this secret library is and why it’s so important. And make my Mom and dad proud” Varian answered with a smile.

“Hmm, it must be nice to have parents that love you” Hugo said with a bit of sadness in his voice.

“What do you mean?” Varian asked.

“Well, I Don’t have parents like you have your dad, My Mother died giving birth to me..my dad was so angry he blamed me for killing her he said it was my fault that I should have been the one to die instead of my mom. My dad hated me so much and wanted nothing to do with me so he put me in an orphanage when I was born. At least that’s what he told the orphanage. The orphanage closed down when I was 6 and I was left alone to fend for myself. I know you don’t know what it’s like to be by yourself for so long without anyone to help you. Hugo said with a heavy sigh.

Varian sat there quietly, he knew exactly what Hugo went through because he went through the same thing when his dad was encased. Varian didn’t like talking about his past he wasn’t proud of it, but he knew Hugo needed to hear it.

“No Hugo, I know exactly how it feels to be alone for a long time. I wasn’t always a Royal Engineer I had to really work for it, I’m not as innocent as I seem I’ve done some pretty bad things that I’m not proud of” Varian said with a sigh.

Hugo looked at Varian, “pff you no! You couldn’t have done anything bad” Hugo said with disbelief.

Hugo saw Varian’s face was serious, “oh you really mean it, what could you have done that was so bad?” Hugo asked Varian.

Varian shut his eyes and remembered, “Corona was being attacked by these magical black rocks that were unbreakable no one knew where they came from or why they were sprouting for the ground, I was 14 at that time and I really wanted to get to the bottom of these black rocks so I used my alchemy and did experiments on them with different type of compounds. Anyway one day my dad came Into my lab and he didn’t really like me studying the rocks and experimenting with them because he said they were dangerous, I didn’t listen he startled me and I tossed this yellow compound all over the black rock. This yellow rock started sprouting from the rock I was so upset at my dad that he didn’t understand that I just wanted to help the people and find a way to stop the rocks, before I could tell my dad he pushed me out the way of the yellow amber and he saved me. It ended up trapping my dads arm, I told my dad that I would be back and bring help, so I went to go get the princess and she refused to help me because of the snow storm she couldn’t leave her kingdom. I was so desperate I guess grabbed her by the arms pleading to help me but I guess it looked like I was attacking her so they tossed me out into the snow...when I went back to Telly dad he was....already encased completely in the amber..” Varian said tears starting to form in his eyes.

“After that I had to fend for myself for a whole year. I was so focused in finding a way to free my dad that some days I didn’t even eat or sleep. In my fit of anger I tried taking over corona and making the royal family pay for not helping me save my dad, so I ended committing treason, kidnapping, almost killing the princess, and...just some other stuff I’m not proud of. In the end the princess managed to find a way to free my dad and I was pardoned thanks to her.” Varian said wiping away the tears.

Hugo couldn’t believe what Varian just told him, how could a young kid like Varian even be able to do that. “I’m sorry Varian, I didn’t know” Hugo answered with guilt.

“It’s ok it’s not your fault, I’m over it anyway hehe” Varian answered nervously. Varian was lying he still had nightmares about his past and what happened but he didn’t want to tell Hugo that.

Hugo looked at Varian and smiled, “Well I guess we are kinda alike in a way” Hugo said with a chuckle.

“Hehe yeah who knew right” Varian answered with a smile.

Hugo gave a half smile he started to feel guilty for what he was doing to Varian, He had already been through so much. “Ugh Hugo! Your getting soft again!Maybe if I start being mean to him he’ll stop trying to be my friend.” Hugo though you himself.

Varian saw Hugo lost in thought again and pretty quiet, “Hugo, I just want you know your not alone anymore, you have friends now, we care for each other and we help each other.” Varian said with a smile.

Hugo didn’t know what to say he never had any friends or anyone who cared for him like Varian did. “You really think we’re friends? But you don’t even know me that well, how do you know I’m not just trying to use you to get to the totems, how can you trust me?! Hugo said with aggravation. Hoping this outburst would turn down Varian from wanting to be his friend.

Varian was stunned at the sudden outburst, but Hugo was right he didn’t know him very well yet and he didn’t why Hugo was really helping him. For all he knew Hugo could be working for Someone else that wants to get to the secret Library too. “Well are you just using me to get to the totems?” Varian asked with a sigh.

Hugo stayed quiet for awhile, he probably just blew his cover, he has to think of something fast. “No.. I’m not.. but how can you call us friends if we don’t even know each other that well? You don’t know what I’ve done in my past, how can you want to be friends with someone you don’t even know? Hugo asked confused.

“Because I can see that your a good person, if the princess taught me anything it’s that every person has a good side, your a good person Hugo. I know you have had a rough past, your right I don’t know what you did in the past, But the past does not define who you are you are who you choose to be right now. I’m still learning that lesson myself hehe.”Varian answered with a chuckle.

Hugo tried his best to not ponder the words Varian just told him but he have o successes. “Maybe he’s right, maybe I can change this, I’ll just tell Donella that I don’t want to do this mission anymore and to send someone else. Maybe if I tell Varian the truth he’ll forgive me.” Hugo thought to himself. He needed to know if Varian would forgive him if he told him the truth.

“Hairstripe what if I did do something to you that seems really hard to forgive, would you forgive me anyway?” Hugo asked waiting for his response.

Varian was surprised at that Hugo would ask a question like that. He really must be going through something that he obviously does not want to talk about. Varian understood thought. He put his hand on Hugo’s shoulder, “Well it depends really... but of course I would forgive you, that’s what friends do, we all make mistakes because no one is perfect. If I have learned anything though is that everyone deserves a second chance no matter how great the mistake is. Varian answered with a smile.

Hugo was surprised how could Varian after everything he been through be so nice and forgiving he just couldn’t understand it.

“Thanks Hairstripe, I appreciate it” Hugo said with a smile.

“Heh your welcome,”Varian said with a chuckle.

“You know you are starting talking like the princess, I’ve never met her but from the stories you have told me it seems that’s something she would have said” Hugo said with small laugh.

“Haha, yeah your right, you can tell that I hang around with her to much, but that’s a good thing, if anything I need to learn more from her” Varian said with a smile.

“Hey, uhh..Thanks for...you know listing, I don’t really like to talk about my feelings heh but thanks” Hugo said trying not to make it awkward.

“Hehe it’s ok I’m the same way, I don’t like recounting my past, but sometimes it’s good to talk to someone about it. I’m glad we talked your like a brother to me Hugo and It makes you feel so much better after you know?” Varian said with a half smile.

"Heh...T-Thanks Hairstripe... I’ve never had a brother before but I do consider you as a brother too”Hugo answered with a chuckle.

Varian smiled and bumped his arm. “Well I’m going back to the caravan, you coming?” Varian asked him.

“Yeah I’ll be right behind you” Hugo answered with a arm bump.

“Ok” Varian answered walking away.

Hugo got up and dusted himself off to follow Varian when a familiar person came out from the shadows. “Hello Darling!” The women said sarcastically.

Hugo felt a chill run down his spine as he turned around to look at the women. “H-Hello Donella! What are you doing here?” Hugo asked nervously.

“Well you know I just wanted to see how the mission was going and to make sure that your doing your job. From what I just saw It seems like you have that boy wrapped around your finger he trusts you good job.” Donella said with a grin on her face.

Hugo wanted to tell Donella that he wanted to back out from the mission but he couldn’t seem to find the right words. “A-Actually that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” Hugo said trying not to sound nervous. “I don’t want to do this mission anymore I want out, I can’t do this to Varian! he’s already been through a lot he deserves those totems!. Hugo said with aggravation.

Donella wasn’t surprised at Hugo’s aggression, she knew this would happen, Hugo was becoming soft and to attached with Varian. “Hugo are you becoming soft?” Donella asked walking around him.

“No! It’s just that...we’ll...” Hugo was having trouble figuring out what to say. He was getting soft and getting attached to Varian and the gang he knew it.

“Tsk.Tsk.Tsk. You are becoming soft you actually care for him don’t you?. Hmm, you see him more of like a brother than a friend right...someone you can trust and tell all your problems too.” Donella said shaking her head.

Hugo remained quiet, but he knew Donella was right he saw Varian as a brother he never had.

Donella walked around Hugo, “isn’t that true Hugo?” Donella asked. Hugo still remained quiet. Donella was not a very patient women you did what she asked you or she would make you pay for being disobedient.

Donella turned around and grabbed Hugo but he arm and sent electricity through his arm, Hugo whence in pain, “I said isn’t that right Hugo, you think of Varian as a brother?” Donella said bitterly sending another shock through his arm.

Hugo yelped In more pain and answered, “yes I do!” Hugo answered in pain while the shocks were still gonna through his body.

Donella let go on Hugo’s arm, “that’s what I thought” She said with a grin. “Now Hugo you are going to finish this mission whether you like it or not. You really don’t have a choice. I need those totems and your the only one that can get them for me because Varian trust’s you” Donella said rolling her eyes.

Hugo grabbed his arm trying to stop the pain still going through his body. “Your wrong Donella! I do have a choice. I can tell Varian the truth.. he would believe me, once he knows the truth we would get to the totems first. You wouldn’t have anyone to get those totems for you, you would have lost!” Hugo said angrily.

Donella cringed, she hated people who talked back and were rebellious against her. She grabbed her dagger and swiftly cut Hugo on the cheek. Hugo groaned in pain putting his hand on his cheek blood filled his fingers. “That was just a warning darling, don’t ever talk back to me or I will do stuff so much worst and more painful.” Donella said angrily.

Hugo face was I shock Donella did torture him but never with a dagger this was a first. She usually sends electricity in his body, or put him in the water room, Hugo thought that was the worst.

“You May think you have a choice but you don’t Hugo, I am the one that rescued you, I gave you a place to stay, I taught you everything you know, you owe me.” Donella said with a grin.

“And just in case you forget your place.” Donella grabbed Hugo by his arms and used both her hands to send electric shocks all over his body.

Hugo tried his best to break free from her grip but the electric shocks going through his body were making his nerves weak. He started yelling In Pain, the cut on his cheek didn’t seem to hurt anymore with all the electric shocks running through his body. Donella kept doing this till she felt satisfied. After a few minutes she finally let him go. Hugo fell to the ground he couldn’t feel anything his body was completely numb, he could still feel the electricity running through his body.

“Now I hope you learned your lesson. I quiet enjoyed it but know that was just a warning remember darling I can do so much worst.” Donella said with an evil grin on her face.

Hugo was trying to pull his body up, he managed to move it up an inch when Donella came over and pushed him back down to the ground with her foot.

Hugo grunted, “Listen Darling I don’t care if you tell your little friend the truth, just know that you are putting him in danger as well, because I will the same thing to him what I have done to you maybe even worst. So I say it’s best if you keep doing your job or your little friend will be in worst pain than you are now.” Donella said with a evil chuckle.

Hugo knew Donella meant it she would go after Varian just to get back at him, if he wanted Varian and his friends to be safe he had to do what she said. He would have to find another way to stop Donella without hurting his friends.

Donella saw Hugo on the ground still groaning in pain, “Before I go I need you to answer one more question, Are you going to finish the job? Or should I go after your little friend.” Donella asked him with a grin.

Hugo grunted in pain while pulling himself up, “N-No I’ll do it...I’ll finish the job.” Hugo answered in between grunts.

“Good Darling that’s what I like to hear, Remember thought that I’m watching your every move so don’t try and do anything stupid because I will find out” Donella said with a chuckle walking away back into the shadows.

Once Hugo couldn’t see Donella he tired to stand up, it took him a minute but he finally picked himself up and stood to his feet. Hugo didn’t know how he was going to explain his injury’s to Varian but he would have to come up with an explanation. He couldn’t tell Varian the truth it would put him and everyone in danger he had to continue his mission until he can find a way to stop Donella some how. He walked back to the caravan hoping Varian and the others would be asleep. Unfortunately that’s wasn’t the case Varian was awake he barely made it to the caravan as well.

Varian heard movement and turned and saw Hugo badly hurt. “Hugo! W-What happened?!” Varian rushes to his side and puts his arm around his shoulder helping him to get to the caravan to sit down on a chair.

“Nothing Hairstripe I just fell” Hugo answered trying to make it sound believable.

Varian analyzes Hugo, he had bruises on his arms and he had a cut on his cheek he know a fall could not have done that. “Hugo you have a bunch of bruises all over your arms and you have a cut on your cheek a fall does not do that... what really happened?..” Varian said with concern.

“Ugh! it’s nothing ok! I’m fine!” Hugo answered with aggravation.

“No Hugo it’s not! Your hurt and I need to know why! Did someone do this to you?.” Varian snapped back.

“It’s none of your business If someone did do it! I’m Now just leave me alone!” Hugo snapped back.

“I’m tired and I’m going to bed” Hugo said with a sigh.

Hugo got up and went to bed. Varian didn’t know what happened that had a very nice conversation while ago and now they were fighting something was up and Varian was going to get to the bottom of it somehow. Varian went into the caravan and got on his bed too. He would have to figure it out tomorrow.

The End

I really hope you guys enjoyed reading this:) I’m not really good at writing angsty stories this is like my second time writing a Fic with angst so it won’t be that great 😐. Your Feedback and Reblogs are much appreciated I love to read your comments 😊

[chiscribbs]

PLUS EST EN VOUS Review

(Over a week later, and I’m finally posting this. At least I don’t have to worry about another episode coming out before it’s posted.)

Okay - there’s a lot to cover, so without further ado...  Let’s get right into it, shall we?

Things I liked about the finale:

All of the beautiful Cass / Rapunzel scenes! 

They were so emotional and beautifully done, it felt like everything that needed to be said was said, and seeing them act like friends again was very cathartic for me. In a lot of ways, Cass & Raps’ relationship reminds me of some of my own (old ones that didn’t end so smoothly, and then newer ones that I can already tell will leave a lasting impression on my life) and seeing them reconcile and talk about how much they meant to each other really warmed my heart. A best friend is an irreplaceable thing, and I love that their interactions showed that. I also really appreciated the “I love you”s, because the world needs more of those between friends. And it also reminded me of Eugene saying the same thing to Lance, in Beyond the Corona Walls.

The awesome Team Awesome content!  There was an abundance of it in this episode, and I loved every second of it! Truth be told, I was never a big “Team Awesome” fan until S3 came around. The relationship always felt a tad too one-sided to me, and I just couldn’t see them being particularly close, at least not as close as Varian and Rapunzel. The fandom helped me warm up to the idea a little bit, but this past season definitely sold it for me. Eugene has really matured and become a lot less self-involved since the first time they met. I absolutely love that he’s turned into sort of a cool older brother figure to Varian (in fact, many of their interactions are reminiscent of moments I’ve shared with my own brother) and Var now looks up to him rather than just the “Flynn Rider” persona. The fact that Eugene could tease him about his past mistakes and Varian just turned around and casually joked right back? That made my heart happy.

Speaking of maturing & happy hearts -

 I’M SO PROUD OF THIS BOY!!! 

I know I say that a lot, but He’s just come so far since S1, or even the beginning of S3! There were a ton of little moments showcasing his growth in this episode. Such as:  - Jumping onto the piano to help Raps rally the troops (did anybody think we were going to get pianist Varian? I sure didn’t, but I’m not complaining.) - Stating with certainty that he can rebuild Demanitus’ portal, before even seeing the schematics, and just overall showing more confidence in his abilities. (Quirin looked so proud when he was building the portal...you know, before going  all mind-slave and trying to pull the lever.) - Being the first - the FIRST - of the gang to walk into Demanitus’ tomb. This may seem small, but it was such a 180 from Be Very Afraid, where he was nervous and trailing behind Raps the entire time. Now he’s not only joining in on the adventure, he’s taking the lead on occasion! - Rigging Quirin’s helmet with a temporary stun mechanism as a fail-safe for the mind-trap. He seemed hurt and offended when Eugene initially brought up the possibility of his dad being a double-agent, but even so, he listened. He put common sense and the safety of others before his own feelings, and that’s not an easy thing to do.  - Firing an explosive concoction straight into the face of an enormous demon monster??? I mean,...heck yeah, boy!! Also - using his past mistakes (i.e. the amber and monster!Ruddiger) and repurposing them towards something good. I could go on, but you get the idea. he’s just come so far and I could not be more proud of his development. And the fact that he went on to become Corona’s Royal Alchemist Engineer was just the cherry on top! YOU DESERVE IT, BOY!!! 👏👏👏

You know who else I’m proud of? Rapunzel. She was never my favorite character in the series (despite being the protagonist,) but this story - and this past season in particular - has really endeared me to her. She’s grown so much, she’s become a strong and wise leader, and I’m proud of her for it. Honestly, I’ve related to her far more this past season than any other. And I don’t know if that’s because she’s older and more mature now, or because her naivete and eager-to-please attitude is all but gone, or because she just felt a lot more real and vulnerable in recent episodes - but I really, truly love her. And I’m happy to see her story reach its completion. (Also - long-haired brunette Raps is my new favorite thing, tbh.)

THIS:

‘Nough said, I think.

The epic new powers and abilities (and return of some old ones)!!! There were so many moments while watching the finale where I was literally just yelling at my sister like “wHOA, DID YOU SEE THAT?! THAT WAS AWESOME!!!” I had no idea that Cass could make ANIMATED WOLF HEADS of the black rocks, that completely blew me away! And then there were those golden rocks that Zhan Tiri manifested, that was so cool! I wonder if the sundrop alone could make those appear, or if you had to have both of the elements to make it work. Also - the Healing Incantation was finally brought back! I knew it would be, eventually, but I’d almost completely forgotten that was a plot point by the time the finale came around. It was good to hear Mandy’s voice saying those familiar, nostalgic words again. And she put so much emotion into it!

Now, onto the less fun stuff...

Things I disliked about the finale:

(Feel free to skip over this section if you’d rather just focus on the positives, I fully understand. I’ll do my best to be fair and only address the things that really stood out to me.)

This subplot went on for far too long:

It was pretty funny for the first few minutes (and I’m sure the animators loved getting to go crazy with the characters’ designs like this,) but after awhile, I was like “is this really what we want over half of our cast to be doing during the BIG FINALE?” I mean, we already had the monkey gag, which I actually thought was a riot. And this one came right in the middle of a pretty climactic moment, so it just seemed kind of out of place.  I’ll admit, the snake-hair joke and Lance’s multiple eyes had me rolling, but ultimately, I just felt like this whole bit only served to waste limited time that definitely could have been better utilized.

The portal was too quickly demolished.  They could have at least come close to a success with it before it was destroyed, so that it didn’t feel completely useless! I get that they wanted ZT to be defeated by her own power, and I’m down for that, but if the portal’s sole purpose within the story was just to temporarily remove all the secondary characters in limbo so that the mains could do their thing, I can’t really get behind it.  Especially seeing as their only Plan B was “throw things at the giant all-powerful octopus monster,” come on, guys. I would have preferred that be a last-resort after several failed attempts at other pre-orchestrated plans. They could have had Varian and Quirin working on repairing the portal while the others distract/attack Zhan Tiri and THEN have her destroy it (purposefully, rather than by some random falling rock.) Or, maybe everyone could have been in on the plan to get the sundrop and moonstone to meet, and then have Raps and Cass are the ones who finally succeed in doing it. I don’t know, I just feel like there was a lot of wasted potential there.

This scene:

I’m going to be perfectly honest, this scene bothered me. For a multitude of reasons:

Firstly; it was a shot-for-shot copy (not a parallel, a copy) of the iconic New Dream moment from the movie, just replacing Eugene with Cass. That wasn't necessary, Cass and Raps have their own unique relationship and their own moments, they don’t need to steal Raps & Eugene’s. This should have remained a New Dream-only thing, in my opinion. (Especially seeing as her parents already stole their gondola bit...I’m mostly joking about that one.)

Secondly; it didn’t make sense? Rapunzel was standing just as close to the blast as Cassandra, yet she wasn’t harmed at all. In fact, she seemed completely unfazed by it. Why was Cass the only one effected? (And we can’t even make an argument that the moonstone shard protected her, because the powers were lost the moment the two fused.) If they needed a brush-with-death scene, why not have ZT hurt Cass? I feel like that would have been a lot more dramatic, especially after manipulating her for an entire season.

And finally; it made every other character’s “death” seem unimportant in comparison. I get that the writers needed Raps to use the Healing Incantation, but, EVERYBODY ELSE WAS ALREADY HALF-DEAD, AT THIS POINT. I’m sorry, but, why wasn’t that incentive enough to use the healing power? Why did we need to have Cass’s near-death on top of everybody else’s?  I mean, I would’ve been maybe a little bit more okay with it had Rapunzel mourned everybody’s death and not just Cass’s, and then used the power to save ALL of them at once. But instead, she completely forgot about everyone else until the very last second, which was frustrating. I’m not a fan of plot devices that ignore other characters, especially when the protagonist is supposed to care about them but then just doesn’t even seem to remember that they exist for a hot minute. This felt like the ending of Freebird, only worse because you can’t make the excuse that she was unaware. (Just to be clear, I’m not blaming Rapunzel. I know it wasn’t meant to come across that way, I just feel like it was not well executed.) There are a lot of ways that this could have been done differently. Rapunzel and Cass could have BOTH been devastated about their friends/loved ones, I would have loved to see Cass show genuine concern and remorse towards the OTHER people whom her actions hurt, not just Raps. Or, Rapunzel could have at least landed near Cass so it would’ve made sense for her to notice her first, and then looked around and noticed everybody else before using the healing incantation. At least that way, the other characters wouldn’t have felt so much like a second-thought. I don’t know, I just didn’t appreciate the treatment of the supporting cast in this scene at all. It felt like they were forgotten right up until the very last second.

Cass didn’t get to sing in any of the songs.  I was really surprised by this, I figured given how important her role had become, she’d get to sing at least one line (like Lance and Varian did.) But nope. Actually, a good 90% of the music in this episode was sung by Raps, and as much as I love the songs & Mandy’s beautiful voice, I was hoping for the other characters to be a little bit more involved. Especially in the Life After Happily Ever After (Reprise), that would have been a great opportunity to have everybody sing together.

Things I would have liked to see in the finale:

More information about Demanitus and ZT.  We got so little! I was expecting this episode to answer all of our questions about that two, but I still have no idea; what their relationship was, where Zhan Tiri came from, why exactly she wanted the power (besides just to have it for herself, I guess), or how they came across the SD and MS in the first place! Like, just a little bit more information would have been nice, the only thing the flashback really gave us was what ZT looked like before spending a few millenia in limbo. (Also - apparently Corona is several thousand years old??? Which, I didn’t know, I was under the impression that it was a fairly new kingdom.)

Closure for this relationship:

This is probably what I was most disappointed by. Honestly, I’m still kind of surprised that this didn’t happen, even just a little bit. Given that Cass was wearing the Cassandrium at the end, we can safely assume that they at least parted on good terms. But the last few exchanges that they had really gave me the impression that we’d be getting some kind of closure before the credits rolled. We were given two whole episodes focusing on the unique bond that these two share (that’s more than we were given for Cass & Eugene,) they were painted as parallels, so it only makes sense to give them a proper wrap-up. In CR, Cass seemed hurt and devastated after realizing that she’d effectively pushed Varian away, it’s clear his friendship meant a lot to her. Not to mention, Var had the best understanding of Cass’s feelings, he could relate to her - especially about her guilt and fear of not being forgiven. But despite all of the build-up & foreshadowing, they didn’t even get an on-screen goodbye? Not a single “thank you” or “I’m sorry”?  I realize that the main focus was always on Cass & Raps’ friendship, and I’m totally fine with that. I’m just saying that after all the obvious parallels and time invested in this relationship, it would have been nice to get some closure. I just wish they’d included at least one little dialogue exchange to wrap it up in a satisfactory way, like we got with Cass and Eugene.

Actual pay-off for all the Varian - Demanitus parallels.  I think we can all agree that this seemed like it was going somewhere, and then it just...didn’t. He did rebuild the portal, but it turned out to be useless, and outside of that, the similarity was never touched upon. Not by Rapunzel, or Zhan Tiri, not even Xavier made the connection. I mean - this kid is doing at 15/16 what Demanitus did in the latter half of his life. He’s not only following the legendary engineer/inventor’s footsteps, he’s expanding the legacy. If that’s not foreshadowing for something, I don’t know what is! And I do love the fact that he became the Royal Alchemist Engineer, but at the same time, I just feel like there was so much wasted potential in this almost-but-not-quite-subplot.

An actual Brotherhood reunion, without all the mind-trap influence.  It would have been so interesting to see them all interacting! I was surprised that, even though Edmund and Quirin were both in the same place for most of the episode, they never really interacted? Outside of mind-controlled Quirin, Hector, and Adira attacking Eugene &  Edmund, they didn’t exchange so much as a word. And I get that a lot of that was time restraints, and having to focus on more important plot points (as Edmund said “bigger fish”) but honestly, if they had time to thrown in all that netherworld nonsense, a little Brotherhood interaction doesn’t seem like too big of a favor to ask. 

Rapid-fire Opinions: 

Favorite song: Through it All

In my opinion, this song is the best group number in the show (not counting the ones only sung by main 3, such With You By My Side or Next Stop Anywhere) It’s not quite as epic as Ready As I’ll Ever Be, but it has an infectious beat and a triumphant melody that I really enjoy. Also, the scene as a whole was so cheerful and fun, and we got Varian, Lance, Kiera, and Catalina all playing various instruments! (Plus more New Dream dancing! ❤ )

Favorite callback to a previous episode: Easy answer, because it comes from (what is still) one of my favorite episodes in the series - the Cassandrium.

Favorite scene: This one’s a little tough, but I did really enjoy the little moment that Eugene and Varian had after Quirin was incapacitated by the helmet. 

I also loved the final scene where Cass said goodbye to Rapunzel and they gave each other the biggest, warmest hug I’ve ever seen in animation history (and the prior exchange between her and Eugene was really sweet, as well.)

OH! And how could I forget? That beautiful New Dream proposal. 💜 That was absolutely perfect. The animation, the music, Mandy & Zach’s incredibly heartfelt voice work, just...I loved everything about it.

Most underrated moment: Catalina pushing Kiera out of Zhan Tiri’s way and getting grabbed herself. (Show of hands, who else briefly forgot that she was a werewolf and had a small heart-attack in that moment?)

Theories I had that were proven true: 

- Cass leaving Corona to “find her own destiny.”  I’d always felt like Cass never really had a dream of her own; she didn’t know who she was, and she was never going to get the answers by staying by Rapunzel’s side. So I had a strong feeling that she would be leaving, but I’m glad to see that it was on good terms.

- Everyone vs Zhan Tiri.  Granted, like most people, I was under the impression that Xavier’s “magic and alchemy” statement would be more...relevant? Turns out, we read into that way too much. Which, honestly, is a tiny bit disappointing, but it was still cool to finally see Zhan Tiri at her most powerful.

- Varian becoming Corona’s Royal Alchemist Engineer.  This is a theory I’ve had since my early days in the fandom, and I’m glad to see it finally confirmed! My only complaint is that we didn’t get to see Rapunzel bestow the honor upon him, because I would have loved to see that exchange.

Theories that were not proven true, but I still believe:

- Varian (and possibly Quirin) being a descendant of Demanitus.  You can pry this one out of my cold, dead hands, there are way too many clues pointing to it. I’m not even sure if Demanitus has any descendants (again, we have very little information on him still) but if he does, Varian’s a prime candidate. His lineage comes from the Dark Kingdom, he’s a genius alchemist/inventor, has a personal connection to both the Sundrop and the Moonstone; honestly, I’m kind of surprised this possibility was never even considered, at least one, in canon.

- Cass will eventually return to Corona.  I have no idea when, why, or how, but I truly believe she will. Her spirit may be roaming free at the moment, but the heart always returns home. And - as it stands right now, at least - her heart is still waiting in Corona. In the meantime, though, I’m glad she’s living her best life, seeking out adventure wherever destiny leads her! She deserves it <3 

Well, that’s my full Plus Est En Vous/Tangled the Series Finale review! I’d love to hear everybody else’s thoughts on the final episode, as well; how many people were satisfied vs unsatisfied with the ending? What were everyone else’s favorite moments, what else would have been nice to see? Let me know!

Final words: This show and this fandom have meant so much to me, and I’m far from done loving it. I still have many projects in the works to celebrate the show and its completion, but in the meantime - thanks for reading.

And God bless the amazing team that came together to bring us this incredibly beautiful, meaningful, story which will always have a special place in my heart. 

[amateurwordbender]

Everything to Regain

Summary: After Zhan Tiri has been defeated and it's all over, Cassandra and Varian still have a few issues to work out. (Gen, No Warnings)

also on ao3

———————

The courtyard below is brimming with life, a stark contrast to the wasteland of destruction it was just a few hours ago. Well, that’s Corona—bouncing back after any hardship, its citizens laughing and joking and turning tragedy into a bonding moment. And how can they not, with Rapunzel leading the way? Cass can see her down below, in the thick of things, rolling up her sleeves along with everyone else to clear out the debris and make repairs, all with a radiant smile on her face. She may not be the sundrop anymore, but she still brings light to everyone around her. Cassandra, on the other hand… 

“Cass?”

She turns to see a familiar figure standing in the doorway of Rapunzel’s room. Cass is good enough at reading body language to notice the wariness etched into the lines of Varian’s stance, but the only thing that shows on his face is concern. “Oh. Hey, kid.”

“So, just… chilling in a hole in the wall, huh.” Despite any hesitancy he might be feeling—and Cass really can’t blame him—he walks towards her with a lopsided grin, almost teasing.

Cass shrugs. “It’s a pretty roomy hole.” She scoots over a little, and Varian accepts the invitation for what it is and sits down beside her. They stay that way for a bit, silently watching the people cheering and rallying around Rapunzel below. Soon, though, the bubble of guilt building in Cassandra’s chest becomes too much to ignore. She clears her throat. “So, are you here to say ‘I told you so’?”

Varian looks over at her, that touch of concern back in his gaze. “Cass…” 

“No, no, please. Let me have it. Because you were right, you know. About everything. I lost control, and I—I completely lost myself; I hurt everyone I cared about without thinking twice.” She’d meant for the words to come out matter-of-fact, but something cracks at the end. Traitorous voice. 

“But it’s okay. It’s okay, now. You’re back, and we’re all safe, and you’re going to get back everything you lost.”

Cass snorts, the sound coming out harsher than she intended. It surprises her how grateful she is that Varian doesn’t flinch. “Only because Raps is the single most forgiving person in the world. It’s not that simple.”

Varian sighs, kicking his feet lightly over the ledge. “Oh, trust me, I know. It almost makes it harder, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Cass leans against the side of the jagged wall, tilting her head back towards the sky. It’s suddenly become really difficult to watch Rapunzel. “I almost wish she would—I mean, I know I should just be grateful that she’s giving me a hundredth chance and welcoming me back, but I want her to, I don’t know, scream at me or something. Throw me in prison for a couple years. I don’t deserve this—this blanket forgiveness.”

Varian shoots her a look. “Hey, I get it. I actually—Cass, I kidnapped and threatened her family. I was ready to put her life on the line on the off chance that it could save my dad. But Rapunzel forgave it all, just like that, no questions asked.”

“At least you worked for your redemption. You don’t get it; I didn’t even come around at the end. It wasn’t until Zhan Tiri took the moonstone and it was clear that I’d lost that I started to come around, and even then, Raps had to give me a fucking pep talk before I was ready to fight by her side.” Also, you were just a desperate child who was abandoned by everyone you turned to. Cass does't say the last part aloud, though. She doubts Varian would appreciate it.

“Um, objection. You think I worked for anything? You think I earned Rapunzel’s pardon? When she came back, I was busy staging a full-on coup with the Saporians. I was trying to wipe the memories of everyone in Corona, and I probably would’ve gone through with it, too, if Andrew hadn’t betrayed me,” he says darkly. “And that’s when I got my pep talk.”

Cass can’t help the note of bitter laughter that escapes her. “Fine, fine. We’re both terrible people who don’t deserve Rapunzel.” She sighs, then forces herself to look Varian in the eye. He’s still watching her with that mixture of understanding and caution. He’s so much older now than when she first met him, so much wiser, so much more… worn. Oh, there’s still that same energetic, nerdy, and, though she will never admit it to him, endearing spark in him. But she can also see the pain. 

And she was the cause of a good deal of that pain.

“I’m sorry. By the way. For everything I did to you.” Once again, her voice betrays her, and the words come out barely audible, squashed by a shame she can’t shake. She literally kidnapped and drugged him. He’s so, so sharp, and he’s braver than most of the soldiers Cass has known, but he’s still just a kid. And she knows that she’ll never forget that flash of terror in his eyes when she trapped him in a cage and shoved him out of her fortress. She'll never forget how he looked at her with fear when she used to want nothing but to protect this kid, and how she even enjoyed that fear for a vicious, vindictive moment.

“Cassie.” There’s a hint of alarm in Varian’s voice, and she startles when she realizes that her vision is swimming. She swipes away the tears before they can even think about falling. “Seriously, don’t worry about it. We’re good. Honestly, I kind of had it coming, inventing that truth serum in the first place. Plus, I’m sort of getting used to nearly falling to my death. At least you weren't the one to actually drop me,” he adds with a little shrug.

Cass shakes her head, clearing her throat to make sure her words will come out steady before she speaks. “That’s not… healthy, kid.”

Varian just scoffs. “You are not one to talk about mental stability right now.”

“Touché.” They lapse into silence, and Cassandra lets out a long breath. None of what she’s done is okay; far from it. She still can’t believe that everyone around her has somehow found it in themselves to wipe the slate clean, and it’s going to be a long while before she can do it for herself. If she ever can.

“You know what the worst part is?” she murmurs, almost to herself. Varian hums in acknowledgement anyway. “I can still feel that resentfulness inside me. Even after everything she’s done for me, and even though I really recognize how fucked up this is now, a part of me is still selfish enough to want what Rapunzel has. I even still wish my mother—I still wish Gothel loved me, even though I know she wasn’t capable of that. And I know none of what happened was Rapunzel’s fault.” Cass is definitely being too open now, but at this point, she’s honestly too tired to care. And it’s kind of a relief to admit the darkest parts of her to someone else.

“I think…” Varian hesitates. Cass glances over to see him looking down at his hands, brow furrowed. “I think you’re allowed to still feel hurt. I mean, I definitely still have days when I’m—when I’m scared of being left alone again, and it makes me want to betray everyone else before they can hurt me. And I know my dad loves me, and I know he’s proud of me now, but I still have this voice in my head that is always seeking his approval, even though I already have it. I don’t know. It’s kind of pathetic,” he mutters, and Cassandra’s heart aches at the twinge of self-loathing she can hear. But then Varian takes a deep breath, and he looks up at her. “But I think it’s okay. There’s darkness in both of us, and the feelings aren’t going to go away just because our situations have changed, you know? We really—we really internalized them. We just have to work on ourselves, and make sure we don’t act on those feelings.”

Something coiled tight in Cassandra’s chest begins to loosen. She raises an eyebrow. “When did you get so smart?”

“Probably while you were busy terrorizing the kingdom.” Cass gives him a mock glare. “Sorry. Too soon?”

“We were just talking about how shitty I feel about that, so yeah, I’d say it’s too soon.”

Varian chuckles, but he bumps her shoulder lightly in solidarity. “Really, though. It’s all going to be okay. I mean, look at them.” In the courtyard, the citizens of Corona have started singing a song, something silly about a goat-headed demon and golden hair. Raps and Eugene are dancing together, their faces alight with pure happiness. They’re going to be fine. The kingdom couldn’t possibly be in better hands. Cass swallows.

“I don’t think I can stay here.”

“What?”

“At least, not yet. I need to make amends.” She continues before Varian can protest. “I know, Rapunzel’s already forgiven me. And I also recognize that the most direct way to make amends would be to stay and do my best to do better here. But… I just can’t. I think I need to go out and figure myself out first.” Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Varian giving her a smile, warm and free of judgment.

“I think that sounds like a good idea. Where do you think you’ll go?”

“I don’t know,” Cass admits. “Wherever my destiny takes me, I guess.”

Varian shuffles in his seat. “If you’re leaving, I guess I should give you this.” She turns to see him taking out a necklace from one of his many pockets, the purple pendant gleaming in the sun.

“The Cassandrium,” Cass murmurs, a genuine smile tugging at her lips. This freakin kid.

“Yeah, I, um. I found this in your old room a while back. I was saving it, because, well, I—I guess Rapunzel wasn’t the only one who never lost hope that you could return.” He’s stammering and sheepish, but Cass can see a marked difference from when he first gave her the necklace. This time, he looks her right in the eye. And this time, he’s the one comforting her, instead of her offering support to him.

“Thanks, Varian.” She takes it from him and puts it on, the pendant resting right over where the moonstone used to be. “You know, you’ve really come a long way. You’re not that little kid desperate to impress me anymore, huh?”

“Wow. Wooow. Hey, you can’t really blame me. You were like, the most badass person I’d ever met.”

“Hold on, what do you mean by were?”

Varian just gives her a cheeky grin. “You’d better start getting ready for your trip.” 

Cass rolls her eyes, but she stands. He’s right; she has some plans to make and goodbyes to say if she’s going to do this. “How about you?”

“I think I’m going to sit here for a little longer.”

She nods, placing a hand briefly on his shoulder. She’s brushing off her clothes when he speaks again.

“Wait, can I give you a suggestion?”

“Sure, what?”

“Bring your dad with you. Please.” There’s something gentle in Varian’s expression. “He really misses you. And I’m sure he wants to get to know you along with you.”

Cass nods, blinking hard against the stinging in her eyes. She offers one more smile. “I’ll see you around.”

“You’d better. Don’t stay away for too long,” Varian says with a grin. 

With that, he turns around to watch the courtyard below, and Cass turns to leave, a warmth in her heart that wasn’t there when she’d entered. He’s such a good kid. A good friend.

———————

(Reblogs are greatly appreciated! Plus, if you’d like to read more from me, check out my ao3!)

[neokonewman]

Honestly? I think what tangled failed to do was make sure characters had good chemistry as friends. Seriously Cass and Rapunzel where like crude oil and the ocean. One single match from destruction. Season one is bottom barrel because it goes out of it's way to excuse Frederick for his shit. Season two was actually really good because Rapunzel was still herself and was making tough choices left and right. Season 3? Ohhhh boy. Season 3 was a half good half bad because while I do applaud her trying to bring her friend back into the fold? Cassandra wasn't wrong when she said "this has to stop now. This thing where you THINK you've been my friend". Cuz as far as I could tell? They were never friends. Hell even when being a slow burn villain, Varian had better friend chemistry with Rapunzel. When the show expects me to swallow "Cass and I are besties.and sisters!" whole sale? I'm not buying it.

Oooooh boy! This ask is just dripping with potential rant power. Sorry in advance for how long this answer is destinied to be!

First things first. I absolutely agree with you on how badly TTS handles chemistry amongst the main characters. Cass gets the worst of it because she is shoehorned as Rapunzel’s BFF off screen and suddenly she has equal sway on Rapunzel as Eugene? Her character can’t even be allowed to breathe most of the time because the show is obsessed with sticking her next to Rapunzel to the point that she can’t grow any further away from her. At least other show original characters like Lance and Varian have an actual introduction and a place in the world outside of Rapunzel, but even then they suffer because Rapunzel is upfront and center and there is very little wiggle room for interactions that don’t have at least have some involvement with her. It’s here where our opinions differ however.

I would make the bold claim by sayin that S1 of TTS is by far and away the best out of the three. Yes it has the glaring flaw of bias for Frederic and against Varian that makes me question whether or not it should be considered “good” but it’s much better balanced than the other two seasons that follow it. In S1 we actually get character who aren’t Rapunzel more chances to shine without her stealing the spotlight away at the last moment. In S1 we actually have an actual conflict that drives the story forward and at least pretends to care about developing the characters. Even the obnoxious bias could have still worked out in the shows favor if they were ever properly addressed in story and not swept under the rug like they were in later seasons. Heck, I would go as far as to argue that the worst parts of S1 is the fact that S2 and S3 make it worse retroactively.

S2 in my opinion is the dullest of the three, by a wide margin. With them never addressing what the mains left behind in S1 as well as taking the threat of the rocks away WAY too early, the conflict is particularly nonexistent. Not only that, but it does what I think is the worst thing a show can do during a season long journey. They never actually develop the world outside of Corona. They established that there are 6 other kingdoms in the alliance with Corona, but the most we get of any of them is the one throwaway line about them being close to the mountains of Koto in Freebird. Other than that we overstay in three separate places that end up being worthless to the plot as a whole. After spending three episodes in Vardaros right out the bat, we never return or what’s become of them afterwards. Them mains stranded on the Island is pretty dull and is only memorable to me because they had the guts of mentioning Varian again and established that Rapunzel STILL has an unhealthily delusional bias for Frederic despite of everything. The House of Yesterday’s tomorrow is just an excuse of shoehorning a bunch of magical hijink cliches that aren’t done very interesting. Heck, despite them spending a whole season getting to the Dark Kingdom, they only spend an episode and a half there and only a single night in universe. The rest of S2 is just filler that don’t even develop the characters or tell any interesting stories. Like, an enchanted forest episode even though the mid season finale takes place in another enchanted forest? A repeat of the first part of Tangled the movie with Cass replacing Eugene? Whatever the heck “Curses” was supposed to accomplish? The only thing interesting that S2 introduces is the Brotherhood, and we all know how little they are used afterwards.

I would also like to point out that at the start of S2, the mains just…. Stop developing almost entirely? Cass and Eugene never have any meaningful moments together like they do in S1, and are reduced to just taking potshots at each other to remind us that they have some sort of relationship. Lance is reduced strictly to comedic relief and in my opinion is just there to give Eugene something to do when he is removed from the plot because once again, the show is obsessed with making Rapunzel and Cass’ friendship be a thing that only matters. Hookfoot is just there to give his stand up routine about how marriage is terrible in the first episode of the season and just to exist afterwards, yet he SOMEHOW gets actual episodes focused on him while Lance suffers. Even characters properly introduced this season are cursed to never flesh out because Adira keeps pulling a vanishing act for no established reason, Hector is only gets any lines in his debut episode and never given any real focus again, and Edmund gets the same treatment as the other dads (except maybe Captain) by getting his entire character reduced to one trope later on in S3. Speaking of…

S3…. Ooooh boy S3. It’s not as boring as S2 for me, but that’s only because it’s a media equivalent of a train wreck that I couldn’t look away from. It’s like they took the two major issues of the past two seasons (the clear bias and shallow filler) and mashed them together while trying to savage it by inserting what worked in S1, (actual conflict) but completely missed the point why it worked in the first place. All pretense of caring about any other character other than Rapunzel and Cass is gone in this season. Even episodes that focus on anyone outside of Rapunzel, ends up ending with Rapunzel saving the day because she is the only one allowed to be heroic anymore.

They try to make Cass’ villain arc as complex as Varian’s but for some reason they think her blaming a literal baby for being kidnapped is enough grounds to go on a murder streak without one episode of hesitation. Lance is just there for bottom barrel dumb humor, yet the show thinks he is responsible enough to raise two kids on his own. Varian falls into the pigeon hole of just being the “kid character that hangs with the grown up mains” trope that he managed to avoid in S1 while also being just a plot device to not only give the mains access to tech, but also get shoehorned into scenes to keep the audience somewhat invested. Eugene is literal retconned in universe to be just a bland supportive boyfriend. Rapunzel, my gosh Rapunzel…. She treated is so painfully “perfect” to the point that she is completely unrelated. I’m not calling her a Mary Sue because they only ACT like she is perfect. She is still a hugely flawed human being, but the other characters just applaud her because she is “the magical, wonderous sundrop” and very little else. Also yes, Rapunzel being obsessed over Cass while playing off all the horrible actions her BFF as her being lost is the most frustrating thing ever. It’s as if she became Frederic from S1 and abandoned everyone else well being in favor of one person who doesn’t even want her attention, only worse because it’s made into a good thing. Again, S1 is made retroactively worse because of the seasons that follow it.

There is much more things wrong with S3 than S2, but honestly I find myself changing my mind a lot whether which one is objectively worse. Like making a show boring is arguably the worst thing you can do, but the choices, morals, and all around writing of S3 is just bad. Then again the writing in S2 is honestly pretty on par with S3 at times, so again, it’s a toss up.

Sorry again if this answer is a lot, but it was pretty fun at the same time. Thanks for the ask. ^^

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - Rapunzel and the Great Tree Part 2

Continuing on with the midseason finale of season two.

Part 1 is here  https://rachelbethhines.tumblr.com/post/628826170657570816/tangled-salt-marathon-rapunzel-and-the-great

Summary: After Adira saves Rapunzel and the group from the hurt incarnation, Cassandra makes her suspicions of Adira known which causes a falling out between her and Rapunzel. Meanwhile Hector uses the dormant power of the tree to try and attack everyone. 

Cassandra’s Motivation Doesn’t Aline With Her Later Actions 

If you’re going to have a character do a complete 180 from her original goal, than you need a better reason than just mommy issues; or validation issues, or career problems, or just simply having a falling out, or jealousy, or a ghost girl whispering in your ear, or whatever the fuck they’re trying to do with Cassandra.  

Going from ‘protect’ to ‘murder’ is a huge moral alignment shift that needed clear and reasonable justification. Cassandra is never given that. Instead they just throw everything at the wall that they can think of in the hope that something sticks. 

Only it never does because her original story was re-written at the last minute.   

Well That Was Pointless

Max and Pascal wind up saving Eugene and Lance from the man eating plant. Which adds nothing to the story. It happens and is then never brought up again. It’s just an excuse to write Eugene out of the Cass and Raps conflict and not an extension of either his or Lance’s own narratives. 

That’s a problem, because Eugene should be a main character and Lance an important supporting side character. Instead Eugene is regulated to side character status while Lance is unimportant comic relief. Not only does this ignore that fact that Eugene was the protagonist of the movie same as Rapunzel, but it also ignores the basic writing rule of ‘don’t add in characters who don’t serve a purpose in the story’. 

Adira Just Saved All of Your Asses, Cass

Boy does Adira put up with a lot of bullshit in this show, and 90% of it comes from Cass being a little bitch. 

She has no biases for this argument. Adira hasn’t done anything to warrant this accusation. In fact she’s proven herself time and time again only for Cass to lash out like a spoilt teenager with an inferiority complex. 

And Cassandra is 23!!!    

The young adults on this show are constantly written like pre-teens while the only actual teenager is constantly forced to be the most mature person in the show. 

It’s mind boggling. 

Rapunzel is In the Right Here, But the Show Wants Us to Sympathize with Cass Instead?

Oh No! Raps raised her voice at Cassandra and made her feel bad, you guys. Feel sorry for the poor paranoid baby who who’s acting like a jealous brat for no reason. 

Bull Shit. 

Cassandra not only has nothing to back up her accusation but the narrative never goes on to prove her right either. Adria is on the up and up, and always had been according to Destinies Collide. For all the show’s efforts to make Cass seem reasonable by having Adira mysteriously pop in and out, it all falls flat once you know where everything is heading. 

Plus, even if she were magically right about Adira that wouldn’t excuse her bossing Rapunzel around and insulting her intelligence. Had she done that to me I’d be telling her something a lot harsher than just to knock it off. 

Oh, But I Thought You Said Flashbacks to Corona Would Be Too Confusing?

So one of the writers, Ricky, has gone on record stating that they did originally have plans to show flashbacks to Corona to show what was going on with Rapunzel’s parents, Varian, and the Saporians. He then said they dropped them because they feared that it would be too confusing for the audience. 

Yet we get this pointless scene thrown into the middle of the mid-season finale. 

And by the looks of it it’s before even Beginnings, or maybe after Beginnings, who knows; so it’s not just a change of scene, it’s also a change in time as well. A point in the timeline that’s not been firmly established enough. So it not only has less reasons to exist then a Varian flashback would, but it’s also potentially more confusing than what a simple single episode set in Corona would have been. 

I don’t know who to blame for this poor decision making, if it’s just Chris, Chris and Ben, or a shared blame with all of the writers, but while the buck does stop with Chris, much of what Ricky has said online doesn’t reflect very well on his writing skills. Cause that’s a huge and utter bullshit excuse. 

So What Does This Add, Exactly?

Cass gives Rapunzel this purse as a gift. A purse that’s not been shown to be all that important before and isn’t made significant again. Then Raps launches into this speech about how good a friend Cass is and how lost she’d be without her. 

I understand what the thought process for this was; it’s to show how far Raps and Cass have grown apart recently and what Cassandra herself liked about being friends with Rapunzel to being with, which was the validation boost of being useful and needed; but there’s a lot of problems with including it here. 

For starters, lack of validation isn’t enough to suddenly switch into ‘kill mode’ which is where all of this is eventually leading.  

Validation shouldn’t be the foundation of any long term relationship and so rather than proving how good of a friend they are to each other, you’ve only given futher reason for why they’re toxic together. 

You needed to be building them up all throughout season one before launching into this break up plot. This scene is too little too late because we’ve spent too many episodes tearing Raps and Cass down for this plot to have the effect that they wanted it to. 

Cassandra is just doing her job. She’s suppose to show Rapunzel around and help her with shit, that’s what a lady in waiting does. Cassandra’s friendship with Rapunzel shouldn’t be so tied to her career trajectory to begin with. Not only is it unhealthy but it then is used to victim-blame Rapunzel for all of Cassandra’s problems. Even though the only thing actually holding Cass back is herself, as proven in season three. 

Timeline Confirmed

So it is indeed six months since Secret of the Sun Drop, give or take a few days to organize stuff before the trip. Meaning we’re now a year out from Before Happily Ever After. I point this out now, in order to prove something later on. 

This Logically Should Have Been the End of the Argument, But the Writers are Dragging Things Out Needlessly 

You know what I hate more than a ‘lack of communication causes drama' trope? Characters taking the time to communicate and still missing the bloody point and not resolving anything. 

Technically, Rapunzel is still in the right. She is an autonomous person capable of making decisions for herself, and Cass does need to get over herself and treat Rapunzel as such and stop getting butt hurt over not being the one in charge. 

But then we have to ruin that message by throwing in this line. 

Like, yes you’re technically in charge here Raps, but making decisions shouldn’t mean walking all over someone's feelings either. Being a leader is just as much about listening as it is about taking charge and neither of these characters understand that yet. 

And they never will, cause the writing for them is shit. 

When I first saw season two I honestly believe that this would tie into Rapunzel’s previous conflicts regarding responsibility and hypocrisy. I thought they had an arc here about learning to balance assertiveness and personal boundaries, with genuine compassion and respect for others. Had they went through with that then this could have been something truly special, but they go and throw it all away come season three. Now its just heartbreak and frustrating to watch. 

Also Stupid ‘Sisters’ Plot Foreshadowing 

More on this later, but just know if you hate the idea of calling Raps and Cass sisters then blame Chris. 

This Song Underlines The Core Problem With Cassandra's Arc

There’s no stakes.

I’ve already discussed at length now about how Cassandra’s goals and motivations are inconsistent, and how her actions don’t line up. But the reason the writers are struggling so hard to find something that fits her, is because the story has grown past her. 

We’ve already seen characters who struggle with poverty, homelessness, neglect/abuse, and oppression. There are now tons of people in the story who are fighting just for survival, and they’re all regulated to either supporting roles, one off appearances, or are background characters. 

So with that in mind what is there to justify Cassandra getting focus over them? What is she struggling with here that deserves more screen time and attention than, Eugene, Varian, Lady Caine, or even Adira? 

Cassandra isn’t poor. She lives well off in the castle and has high ranking connections. She’s not even struggling with a job she hates anymore because we’ve already seen her promoted to the one she wanted by this point.  

Cassandra isn’t homeless, she once again lives in the castle and if she chooses to leave she has plenty of opportunities waiting for her, as evidenced by Goodbye and Goodwill and Beginnings. Plus she’s shown to be capable of supporting herself both in this season and the next.  

Cassandra isn’t oppressed. She can leave anytime she wants to. She can defy the king's orders in SotSD because she’s the princesses’s bestie. She doesn’t face jail or hanging just because she and Raps has a fight now and then. 

The only thing going for her is possibly neglect/abuse, but that’s not been introduced into the story yet and isn’t what she’s discussing here. It also contradicts what was previously established between her and Cap in season one when it does come into play. 

Validation Alone is Not Enough to Connect With Most of the Audience 

Even the stanchest of Cassandra supporter often has to heavily project onto her in order to connect with her. Which isn’t a bad thing in of itself. Everyone projects to some degree or other when exploring media, that’s part of being human. But the problem is that because she’s so thinly written you’re left with little else but projection. And so you’ll hear excuses like, well she’s fighting the class system, she’s an abuse survivor, or she deserves to lash out over not getting what she wants when she’s worked so hard for it. But none of those excuses are actually presented on screen. 

Cassandra doesn’t fight against the class system. If she did she would be fighting for everyone. She’d be singing about everyone’s problems not just her own. 

Cassandra’s past abuse is just slapped on at the last minute and then disregarded when convenient. It doesn’t actually factor into the decisions she makes later on.  

Also, you don’t deserve anything just because you ‘work hard’ nor because you just really, really want it. 

It’s that point that I really take issue with. 

On the surface Cassandra should be the most relatable person in the show. I mean what young adult or teen living in this post apocalyptic nightmare of a capitalist dystopia not ever felt disappointed over not getting the job they wanted or not being given enough positive validation while crushed underneath mounting unrealistic expectations. It’s the main reason why so many of her supporters are teenagers and LGBT+. 

But all of those worries stem from something deeper than just a lack of positive reinforcement. 

You know why I had to give up on my career as an animator?

It didn’t pay benefits. 

I had medical issues and needed health insurance, but since most animation is commissioned and/or contract based, particularly if you live/work on the east coast, then you’re not going to get that most of the time. And this is after spending the majority of my time in college homeless, living out of my car, crashing on friends and families couches. I did this for three fucking years because I didn’t want to wind up in a textile mill or a carpet factory like everyone I else knew growing up, and I was told my whole life that if I went to school and worked hard enough I could have a well paying job that I enjoyed and got me away from my abusive home life. 

People like me, we’re bitter over not getting the jobs we wanted or the support we needed, not because we believe we’re special and therefore deserve it or some such bullshit, but because our very lives are dependent upon it! We’re victims of a class system that lets you starve if you don't find work. Where you’ll be trapped in abusive situations cause you can’t afford a home on your own. Where simply being yourself can be dangerous as there are people who vocally want to deny us rights and even kill us. 

Cass is an entitled whiny brat in canon because she doesn’t have any of those underlying issues. She doesn’t face real discrimination, oppression, poverty, or the looming threat of death hanging over her. She’s just throwing a temper tantrum. 

Once Again Adira is Saving Your Butt Cass

Adira is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters in the marathon. I’m sorry I didn’t appreciate her more when I first watched the show. 

Also, I’m Sorry I Didn’t Recognize the Awesomeness That Is Hector Until Now Either.

Like this is a good conflict. They both have legitimate reasons for what they do. They’re both in the right here. That’s what makes them interesting. 

They’re both fighting for something. They’re home and the belief that they can fix things, vs the fate of the world and their loyalty to both the cause and their family. All on top of having their own relationship issues. 

Hector so should have been the main villain of season two, because he just has the most reason to be opposed to the mains’ goal. 

That’s more than whatever Cass and Raps are fighting about. The only thing at stake there is their friendship, which isn’t that big of deal when you compare it to the lives and safety of billions of people. 

Plus Hector’s just flat out entertaining. 

Why is Everybody Just Standing Around Doing Nothing Here?

Fucking do something you lugnuts!!!

You’re all capable fighters. You’ve all taken down much harder enemies than one lone guy and two bearcats. Why aren’t you helping Cass fight back? Or heck, if you wanted Cass to face Hector alone then have her be a distraction so that the others can escape. Anything but having them just stand there and be useless!

Yet Again I Have to Ask Why Should Cass Care? 

Or rather why should the audience care? 

Cass isn’t a lady in waiting just because some random jerk who's already taunting her and trying to kick her ass calls her such. Hector’s not from Corona and has no knowledge of Cassandra’s life beyond what he may have heard repeated by Adiria (who is also not from Corona) or what Cass herself said in her very metaphorical song.  Nor does either them have a say in how Cass’s career goes. 

If you want to push the narrative that Cass is still a lady-in-waiting and a maid, despite having earned Cap’s approval and being appointed by the king to guard Rapunzel, then you damn well need to establish that among the mains. 

Or you know, stop trying to go back on what you’ve set up in season one. 

So How Is This Suppose To Work?

So from the backstory that we get on both the Tree and Zhan Tiri herself, this shouldn’t happen. Like Zhan Tiri is currently trapped in another dimension and according to season three she has no possession powers herself. 

Now the tree itself is said to be sentient and that Zhan Tiri took control of it, but how? How is a tree sentient? Why is it sentient? How did Zhan Tiri bend it to her will? Why is it still under her control while she’s been trapped in another dimension for hundreds of years? Why and how does the spear keep it dormant? Why does the tree itself have possession powers when Zhan Tiri has none? Is there any connection between this Great Tree and the cursed tree that was suppose to free Zhan Tiri back in Painter’s Block? If so then why are these things never brought back into play during season three? 

Give me answers damn it! 

Now This is a Good Conflit, Shame It’s Never Resolved 

Both have valid reasons to do what they do. Both are neither right nor wrong. Both however wind up getting in the way of each other because neither will listen or trust the other. 

Rapunzel thinks that this will stop Hector, and she is right it does, but more importantly she chooses this route because it gives everyone else a chance to run away. The problem is that she can’t control it, but from her point of view that’ll only put her and Hector at risk if everyone else will just do as she says and leaves. 

Cassandra thinks the spear will stop it because it’s done so before, and that’s a logical assumption. It also means that Rapunzel herself won’t be in any danger, though the others might. Cass can’t free everyone at once like Rapunzel can. It’ll also be a threat to herself, and there’s the risk that tree will stop her before she can deal the final blow.  

So what’s happening on a personal level is that Rapunzel thinks taking charge means that everyone needs to follow her say without question. Cassandra thinks Rapunzel should listen to her more, not because Rapunzel needs to listen better in general, but because she doesn’t feel Rapunzel is mature enough to make big decisions and that she herself should be in charge of the group. Both girls feel superior to the other and above other people as well, because they’re convinced they’re always right. 

Had this been the actual conflict that they went with in season three, had they actually had both characters held accountable for their actions and learn something, and hadn’t dragged innocent people into their bullshit with so much as a ‘by your leave’ or ‘I’m sorry’; then this might have been a decent story. Perhaps not as impactful as Varian’s, but still meaningful, thoughtful, and well, coherent. 

But that’s not what they did, and we’ll see no real resolution to this disagreement. 

So Why Is No One Affected By the Hurt Incantation This Time?

Eugene here was injured by the tree earlier, that’s why he’s past out, but everyone else remains unharmed by Rapunzel’s singing. Even though just last episode everyone around her were dying from it, and again in the season finale everyone dies from said incantation. But here and in Rapunzel’s Return, Rapunzel can use the incantation without harming anyone nearby so, how does that work? 

Some people have suggested that when Rapunzel focuses her hair on a target like the tree here or the amber later, that it doesn’t spread to other people, but that’s never stated on screen so it’s still a flaw. 

 Well This Goes Nowhere 

I think the writers just like throwing in shocking ‘twists’ and moments like this just for the sake of looking edgy and ‘deep’ but then they never actually follow through on the impact of such moments on the characters nor consider the more troubling implications of including them. 

I grew up on Gargoyles, Batman the Animated Series, the 90s X-Men Cartoon, and The Pirates of Dark Water. I’ve seen far more shocking and edgy stuff than this when I was six years old. In many ways the american animated tv landscape has regressed since the early 2000s when it comes to more mature cartoons, and no that’s not a complaint about modern cartoons being bad; some are good some are bad, just like its always been; but that culturally we’ve shied away more from darker moments like this and we’ve having to push for them all over again in media.   

But the difference between Tangled and those 90s cartoons I’ve mentioned is that Tangled’s darker moments are misplaced. It clashes horribly with the more comedic route that the series usually takes and as such they don’t get the focus that they need too. 

After season two is done, Cass’s hand will never be mentioned again. It does not tie into her later motivations at all nor influences her actions. Throughout the series she’ll be able to use it easily without consequence. We don't even get any on screen confirmation if it’s healed by grabbing the moonstone, by the sundrop incarnation in the finale, or if she just forever has a burnt arm. That’s how little importance it is to the story. 

This Also Goes Nowhere

Hector calls out this warning but it’s then never followed up on. Adira is proven not to be a liar at all and nobody in the group is actually doomed. Yes the wider world is put in jeopardy, but that’s Cass’s fault not Adira’s. 

The writers were too focused on making Adira the red herring for Cassandra that they forgot to make her an actual person, with wants, feelings, desires, goals, and a life beyond her mission. She’s never shown helping her family and barely interacts with them, she’s never given a reason for why she keeps disappearing, and the idea that she’s doing this to save her home is just supposition on my part because otherwise she has no reason. The series never gives us one. 

And ‘Destiny’ Is Not A Fucking Reason!!!

Oh, So Adira Will Help Hector But Not Quirin or Varian?

If Hector and Adira consider each other siblings because they’re both in the Brotherhood, than logically Adira would consider Quirin her brother as well, and Varian would be her nephew. 

She was around long enough to see the final battle in SotSD. That’s why she appears at the end of that episode, how she knows Rapunzel is the sundrop and has ‘seen her power’, and how she knows that the group has met both Quirin and Varian before now. 

She knows that Quirin is trapped in amber. She knows her nephew has been arrested by a kingdom with a poor track record of punishing orphaned teens and poor people with overly harsh sentences. So why didn't she do anything there? 

We find out during season three that the black rocks can cut through the amber, and its established that Adira’s sword can cut through the rocks, so clearly she didn’t even try to save Quirin has just given him up for dead. But there’s no reason why she couldn’t have broken Varian out of the prison and taken her with him. 

In fact Adira hiding Varian from the rest of the group during season two would have been an actual reason for her disappearance and an actual reason not to trust her. That would have upped the stakes and given Cass reasons for what she does. Plus more time for Varian’s redemption, more chances to call out Rapunzel and Fredric on their BS, and ties seasons one and two together better. 

Seriously leaving Varian out of season two was the dumbest decision in television. Putting Varian back in actually fixes everything in the show. 

The Real Reason for the Burnt Hand is a Costume Change for Cass

I don’t know if she even got merchandise for this costume.   

Conclusion 

Much like season one’s arc episodes, The Great Tree held a lot of promise that was then completely wasted by season three. It’s also one of the very few episodes in the season to have actual stakes and conflict so it easily jumps to the top of the pile. But what it sets up is then never resolved or expounded upon, making it a waste. 

Next up we’ll have the mid season recap. 

[bestworstcase]

as someone who's favorite character is Eugene, eugene stans are so annoying. also as much as they claim to love new dream, they sure do like to fantasize about completely unnecessary drama between the pair. also all their hate for cass is completely stupid, like... I understand just not being a fan of a character but like. they all gotta chill about cass.

i think there is a general tendency for people who go hard for a particular character—any character!—to get a bit blinkered about that character. 

even me! i feel really defensive of zhan tiri to the point of (a) blocking people whose takes on her annoy me and (b) bristling a bit at anything remotely negative that is said about her (unless it’s criticism of the way she’s written that i happen to agree with, lol). i love her to bits so i don’t like to see critical opinions or outright hate of her, and i think we can all agree that that is stupid. it’s a silly, irrational way to feel. she’s evil! she has zero redeeming qualities! there’s nothing to defend lmao

so, emotionally, i get where this particular subset of eugene stans is coming from. when you get that invested in a fictional character, i think some defensiveness just comes with the territory—and when you have a bunch of people all stanning with you, that can create an environment where that defensive feeling is being reinforced all the time. 

even moreso where shipping is involved, because people get heated about their ships. that’s definitely playing a role here; i don’t think i’ve ever seen this kind of sentiment expressed by a eugene stan who wasn’t an anti-cassunzel new dreamer, and while i absolutely don’t think that those takes are all exclusively coming from a place of bashing cass because she is perceived as a threat to new dream, i do think that is one of several factors that encourages this zero sum mindset where cass’s character arc is seen as stealing or taking away from eugene’s. 

and also, in all honesty it comes from the top. whoever the big names are in a given corner of a fandom, they’re going to set the tone for everyone else in that corner of the fandom. 

so as a point of comparison, like, there’s the brotherhood corner of the fandom: they can also get very critical and salty about their faves, but the big names there take a pretty reasonable tone and draw clear distinctions between Writing Problems and Character Problems (e.g. with the mind trap discourse, the criticism is leveled at the writing decisions rather than devolving into cass bashing). 

whereas with eugene stans / the new dream corner of the fandom, the big names all seem to be very anti-cass and will actively insert cass hate into unrelated conversations about eugene, because they blame cass for things they don’t like about how eugene was written, and that pushes any discussion taking place in that corner of the fandom further and further into the realm of being cass hate first and foremost. 

so like, i get why it happens. it’s annoying to stumble across in the fandom tags, but it’s... whatever, it doesn’t effect me, i don’t engage with it at all other than to write my own posts now and then if i see someone say something that sparks a thought that feels worth expressing in my own little space.

what i really don’t understand is when i see posts from eugene stans that seem, to me, so disparaging and disdainful of eugene himself! saying he’s reduced to one note comic relief, or that he’s denied any moments of emotional poignancy! in every corner of this fandom, there are people whose interpretations of the text i just plain do not understand or agree with, but the eugene stan corner of the fandom is the only corner where i frequently see takes about eugene that feel like... bashing-adjacent? 

and for the new dream stuff it is kinda strange to see fans of a ship that is widely and rightly praised for being an amazing portrayal of a healthy, supportive, drama-free relationship clamoring for it to become an angsty dramafest instead (while also often in the same breath deriding the angsty dramafest of cassunzel as “toxic” lol). but i kinda figure that just comes from a place of wanting angst in general, and relationship drama being a quick and easy way of generating angst—sort of akin to (sigh) the endless use of zhan tiri as a plot device to pile more angst on varian’s or cassandra’s or new moon au!new dream’s shoulders without any real thought given to zhan tiri as a character in her own right.

and now we’ve circled this back around to zhan tiri and my own blinkeredness where she’s concerned lmao so i’ll just conclude with: with the exception of bigoted shit—which does deserve to be called out—people can do whatever they want in their own spaces, on their own blogs and the best way to deal with people who annoy you is to ignore ’em. don’t follow, don’t engage, be kind, if it gets to a point where just seeing their url makes you irritated then block ’em. it’s fandom, it doesn’t matter, cultivate an experience that is enjoyable for yourself. there’s always going to be unpleasant people or obnoxious corners in every fandom and the key is to not give them any real estate in your brain.

[perthshirecottage]

Project Obsidian

Varian frowned as he considered Eugene’s proposal. A weapon that could be used against Cassandra. Varian’s heart constricted painfully to think about creating something that would be used to hurt one of his friends. He knew the best way to do it of course, using the same alchemical compound that encased his dad in amber. Varian shook the thought away not wanting to think about the connotation that the same substance that nearly ruined his life would be used to purposefully harm another person. 

Varian hated the thought of creating such a device, but he didn’t outright toss the idea aside either. After being her prisoner, Varian had come to realize that Cassandra was passed the point of reason. Varian remembered what that was like. To only want to cause others to feel pain, to want to drag them as low as he felt so that he wouldn’t be alone in his sorrow, to make someone, anyone, understand even the slightest bit of agony he faced every day. The biggest difference between himself and Cassandra is that Varian knew that what he was doing was wrong. It’s why Varian refused to let the Queen speak after he captured her. He knew that what he was doing was the only way to free his father, but he didn’t want to hear any arguments because he had felt in his heart of hearts that if he gave anyone the opportunity he could be talked out of his plans and Varian couldn’t afford the chance that if he stopped, if he gave into the grief and realized the blame for his predicament lie with him and not Rapunzel, he would fall apart and never get up. If he wasn’t fighting to free his dad because he couldn’t move, well, Rapunzel and the King had already proven that they weren’t going to bother trying to save his dad. Or so Varian had convinced himself at the time. But despite everything he had done, everyone he had hurt, Rapunzel still found it in herself to forgive him and to free his dad. It was far more than he deserved but here he was, finally happy and working to wrong the mistakes of the past. Cassandra thought she was truly right and justified in her decisions and that made her even more dangerous. 

But, this wasn’t how he thought he would redeem himself. 

Varian bit his lip as he mulled over his options. He could say no and Eugene wouldn’t think less of him for it. Eugene had been very clear that if Varian didn’t want to build a weapon then he didn’t have to. Varian strongly considered telling Eugene that he wouldn’t, that he couldn’t, create another means of destruction (Varian was still reeling from the Rooster incident, even if technically wasn’t his fault it was still his invention and he had to make up for what had happened. He should have known that Lance couldn’t resist adding more Flynnolim and double checked that the right amount had been added). 

What if she hurts someone, his mind whispered, and you could have stopped it, then wouldn’t you be responsible for anyone else who was injured.  Varian closed his eyes, releasing a deep sigh. He was going to do it. He was going to build a device that would stop Cassandra in her tracks. 

It had to be done. Cassandra wasn’t going to stop of her own volition. The only reason that Varian hadn’t succeeded in killing Cassandra, the Queen, or Rapunzel on that fateful day was because Rapunzel had learned to control the black rocks. Varian shuddered to think what he would have done if she hadn’t stopped him. If Varian had gone through with it (and Varian wasn’t delusional enough to think he wouldn’t have in his mindset at the time), then he would have never recovered from his actions. He would have been lost to the darkness forever, unable to come back from such permanent consequences, his soul gone for good, ripped out to soothe his aching heart. 

This machine would be Cassandra’s black rocks. It would stop her before she could go too far. Cassandra had already gone so far already. The image of Cassandra trapped in amber just like his dad flashed through Varian’s mind, stealing his breath away. Varian pushed past the thought, determined not to dwell on such things. Varian consoled himself with the knowledge that amber wouldn’t hurt Cassandra. His dad had been trapped for over a year and had suffered no ill effects. This solution would be temporary, just long enough to figure out how to take the moonstone from Cassandra so she couldn’t hurt anyone else, then Rapunzel could use that incantation to free Cassandra from her prison. It would be a better prison that the one Varian had been in. He had been aware of the passage of time with nothing to do but dwell on each and every one of his shortcomings, alone except for Andrew who only worked to heighten Varian’s uncertainties and use Varian to take over the kingdom. Cassandra wouldn’t be aware of the passage of time and would wake up to find her friends ready and waiting to help her. By using the amber it also meant that in a fight no one would have the chance to hurt Cassandra while defending themselves. It really was best for everyone. Cassandra wouldn’t hurt anyone and no one would hurt Cassandra. Varian sat up straight, wiping the tears off his face and got started on working up some blueprints. 

                           *       *           *             *             *           *

“Alright, Team Awesome!” Varian yelled, trading the secret handshake with Eugene. Varian smiled widely his head light from giddiness. He and Eugene had a secret handshake! This test was going so much better than the Rooster. Eugene actually listened to Varian (for the most part) and hadn’t attempted to make any last minute changes to Varian’s design. The invention itself worked like a charm which there weren’t a whole lot of Varian’s inventions that worked this well so that was definitely going in the win column. As long as Varian ignored what the invention was going to be used for he could say he was honestly having a blast. “Project Obsidian is a success!”

“Project Obsidian?”

Varian and Eugen whirled around at the sound of Rapunzel’s voice, Varian shoving the weapon behind his back on instinct, “Project Obsidian. It’s a device that can destroy Cassan..,” Eugen bumped Varian to stop him from completing the thought,”...dra’s self esteem.” Realizing what he almost said, Varian took off, not wanting to deal with Rapunzel’s wrath. Varian couldn’t hear what Rapunzel and Eugene were saying over the loud pounding in his ears. Varian had been so caught up in the euphoria of a successful test and bonding with Eugene that he had actually said, had thought...that. The point of this was not to destroy Cassandra, it was to stop her so they could help her. Varian felt like he might throw up. He stood there for a long moment taking deep breaths and pushing the nausea down. How could he have said that? Cassandra was his friend and he just, he just… Varian pulled his device and aimed and fired. It took some concentration to shoot the device so that it hit its mark and was the distraction that Varian needed to keep from thinking anymore about, well, about what he had been thinking about. He fired a couple more shots until he didn’t feel like throwing up or crying anymore.

Clearing his head helped a bit. Varian walked back over to where Eugene and Rapunzel were talking, “Princess, believe me, I don’t want to hurt Cass either, but we can’t promise that she won’t try to hurt us,” Varian had to make sure that Rapunzel understood why he was making this. It wasn’t because he wanted to, it was because he had to. Cass couldn’t be allowed to hurt another person. Varian didn’t want that on her conscience or for anything to happen to someone. 

“Fine, I will sign it but I know we won’t have to use it because the Cass we love and know is still in there,” Rapunzel snatched the paper and quill from Eugene, angrily writing her name at the bottom. Varian ignored the sinking feeling in his gut. This was necessary. Varian knew, better than anyone, that at this point, Cassandra wasn’t going to stop. They would have to take drastic measures, just like they had had to do for him. And unlike his other inventions, this device was going to help, Varian would make sure of it. 

               *                  *                *                 *               *                 *

Varian sat atop one of the palace horses, his device strapped to his back in case of an emergency. Eugene was worried that such a big event would be the perfect target if Cassandra decided to make her move. Varian insisted that he was the only one allowed to use the Obsidian device and was therefore stationed with Eugene in the guard. Varian was glad Eugene had agreed that only Varian could use his device. After the disaster that was the testing of the Rooster, Varian was even more scared of letting someone else with no training handle his inventions. In fact, Varian hadn’t let the Obsidian device out of his sight since he built it just to prevent anyone from accidentally or intentionally messing up the parameters he had set. 

Varian hoped that Eugene was wrong and that Cassandra wouldn’t pull anything but Varian couldn’t deny that it was the perfect opportunity to attack. He would have taken advantage of the festivities when everyone was distracted. It was very different to be here, trusted to help defend the people instead of being on the other side. It was a nice change if not for the still looming threat. One day Varian would go to one of these things without some kind of threat and all his friends by his side. 

One of the guards suddenly ran up to them, exclaiming, “Captain, Cassandra is in Corona. She’s attacking Rapunzel!” Varian shared a determined look with Eugene, both of them pulling on their reigns, heading in the direction of the festival. 

When they got there Cassandra was sending up black rocks, knocking back the guards that were trying to stop her. Varian hopped off his horse, pulling the Obsidian device off his back. As Varian took aim at Cassandra he couldn’t stop the doubts that crept into his head. A few minutes ago he had been so sure that he was doing the right thing, but now he wasn’t so sure. 

“Hold your fire,” Eugene held his hand out as if Varian had any intention of firing his device. Looking down the scope, Varian wasn’t sure he had it in him to pull the trigger. He knew that Cassandra was hurting the guards, that she had to be stopped. Varian knew logically that it wouldn’t hurt Cassandra, but as he thought about actually firing his alchemical device all Varian could think about was his father being encased. Could he do that to another person, especially a friend?  Varian bit his lip hoping that he wouldn’t need to shoot. 

Suddenly the Obsidian device fired on its own. 

The amber began growing, covering Cassandra and keeping her held in place. Varian stared in horror. No, no, no, no. This was just like what happened to his dad all over again. Why couldn’t Varian do anything right? 

“No!” Rapunzel whipped around, anger distorting her features, “I said we didn’t need to attack her!”

Varian looked down at the Obsidian device, shame heating his cheeks, “I, I don’t know what happened! It mu...must have malfunctioned!” How could he have ever thought this was a good idea? He had just trapped Cassandra!

There was a cracking noise emanating from the amber, drawing everyone’s attention away from Varian. The amber flew across the courtyard by Cassandra. Varian blinked in surprise, stunned for a moment that Cassandra had managed to break apart the amber. He thought only the reverse incantation could do that. “Project Obsidian, huh? Zhan Tiri was right.”

“Cassandra…”

Rapunzel was cut off by Cassandra, “You want me to be the bad guy? Fine, now I’m the bad guy,” Varian was snapped out of his shock by the absolute rage that consumed Cassandra’s face as she pulled a jar out of her bag. This was all his fault.

“Cassandra, no!” Rapunzel attempted to stop Cassandra but was unable to as she threw the jar on the ground and a blue cloud of smoke emerged causing Rapunzel to fall unconscious. Varian wasn’t sure what it was, but it couldn’t be good. 

“No!” Eugene ran forward, picking Rapunzel up and setting her on Max who turned and ran, presumably taking Rapunzel somewhere safe. Eugene turned back towards Cassandra, preparing himself for a fight. Cassandra immediately flung Eugene backwards with the black rocks, and trapping more of the guards in cages like the one she had tapped Varian in when he was her prisoner. 

Varian stepped forward, hoping that maybe, just maybe he could talk some sense into Cassandra. She had for a moment seemed open to listening to Rapunzel until he had ruined everything. Now Rapunzel was injured and gone, so he had to try, “Cassandra! Please, this is your home!”

“Not anymore!” Varian’s heart dropped as it hit him that he had thoroughly messed everything up, “Corona falls today!” Cassandra’s voice rang through the courtyard, destroying any hope that Varian had of ending this peacefully. 

Cassandra then began using the rocks to attack the civilians that had come out to enjoy the day’s festivities. The next several minutes were a blur as Varian used the Obsidian device to try and destroy as many of the black rocks as he could. After how horribly wrong everything had gone, he was glad that he had found some way to protect the people. Maybe his device wasn’t all bad.  

One of the black rocks jutted out of the ground directly in front of Varian knocking the Obsidian device out of his hands. Despite the danger Varian couldn’t help but stare despondently at his work. It had caused so much more destruction, but he had also been able to help the people by stopping the black rocks. Another rock burst out of the ground near Varian, jolting him out of his somber contemplation. 

“Fall back,” Eugene yelled. Varian didn’t need to be told twice. The rocks had filled so much of the courtyard that he could barely move without running into one. As he and Eugene ran out of the courtyard Varian could sense the rocks dogging their steps. By the time they made it out of Corona, Varian’s heart was racing so hard it felt like it was about to burst. His heart stopped when he turned around to see that the entire city was completely covered in black rocks. 

Project Obsidian was not a success.

[hellas-himself]

More Than Enough

Remember that self indulgent crack ship holiday fic I was writing about Cassian and Feyre? And how I couldn’t seem to mix the past with the present? 

It’s a fic now. Still in the same AU just like... the year before. Leading up to the cheesy ass nonsense it is now. Originally it was going to be angsty at first but I think we have enough of that in our real life. If you haven’t read the crackship holidays featuring these two dumbasses, start here or on AO3.

Also. I promise all my other fics are not being abandoned. 

I’ve had a playlist to listen to when writing them but it is so incredibly inappropriate if you understand spanish. and i haven’t made it onto spotify yet. But this song reminded me of them and that’s where the title comes from. Which is funny because Alina is who i put beside Toni Mafud as Rhys and Feyre whenever fan casts come up. ANYWAY. 

Let’s follow Feyre as she thirsts after her best friend. 

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.

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I blame it on the music.

Cassian lost his shirt about half an hour ago and is doing pull ups. The garage door is open, letting in the cold winter air. My fingers are cold but I don’t like wearing gloves when sketching. I had been working on hands and eyes but once he tossed his shirt… It’s not like I’ve never seen Cassian without a shirt on before. Between him and his brothers, they seem to always find an excuse to not wear one. But the difference is I don’t find myself daydreaming about what it would be like to run my fingers down their backs.

It’s definitely the music.

Even if I didn’t understand the words, the beat itself is way too sensual to not be about anything else but sex. But the lyrics and Cassian’s sweaty, half naked body mixed with the fact that I haven’t had sex in months is probably the worst mix. I am not supposed to be imagining sleeping with my best friend.

I clear my throat, startling Valo who was falling asleep at my feet.

“Sorry, baby, I need a drink.”

I set my sketch book and pencil down on the crate beside my chair.

“Would you get me a drink, bunny?” Cas breathes out and my face flushes all the more. I didn’t need another detail to this stupid daydream.

“Yeah,” I squeak and head into the house. I already know his post workout drink recipe by heart. I drink ice cold water while the blender is going.

Cassian is suspended in the air, holding his entire body parallel to the floor with his hands. Goddamn him. He drops his head back so that he’s looking at me upside down and he smiles.

“I love you,” he says and I roll my eyes.

“I’ll love you more if you don’t bust your ass.”

He chuckles and just to drive the nail in the coffin that is my desire to be the reason he’s making noises like that, he slowly lowers his body and resumes his pull ups. I set his cup on the table where he has his tools and go back to sit down.

Cassian drops down and walks over to his mat to do his cool down stretches. A new song comes on and the words are so filthy that I find myself staring at him. His tattoos. My ex-boyfriend had always believed I was into Cassian- and I wasn’t. But I wasn’t blind and I’ve been at his house almost every single day since Thanksgiving- he is always without a shirt.

It’s just the music.

“Plan on drawing me?” Cassian asks and I blink. I look away from his tattooed chest and to his face. He is smirking. Shit.

“Uh. Yeah. What better way to do anatomy studies than with a living reference?”

“Anatomy, huh?”

He flashes me a grin before he walks over to the table for his drink.

“Hey, what do you want for dinner?”

His question distracts me from looking at his ass.

“Uh, whatever you want… I’m not really craving anything.” Except you. I sigh and cover my face with my hands and lean over. I need a cold shower.

“Hey… You alright?” he asks softly.

I nod and slowly sit upright.

“I’m just… I’m fine. I promise.”

He doesn’t believe me but he walks over to grab his speaker.

“I love this song,” he says and starts to sing along to it as he gratefully goes back into the house.  

Cassian meets me in the living room now dressed in a white tee and grey sweatpants. He lifts both my legs up so that he can sit down. This is normal. I always use his lap to rest my legs.

“I ordered Greek, I hope you don’t mind.”

“I told you, I’m not craving anything except-”

Fuck my entire life. Cassian raises a brow and I toss him the remote.

“Why don’t we finish your show so then we can watch my movie?”

This pacifies him and thankfully, his stupid show is so violent and bloody that all thoughts of fucking my best friend fade from my mind.

*

Our annual Christmas party is tonight and I’ve found an outfit. It is the kind of outfit Tamlin would have told me not to wear. It’s blood red and insanely inappropriate for winter with its spaghetti straps and super low neckline. Mor says it’s the perfect thing to wear after a break up and just the thought of all the pictures we’ll take with me and Cassian together makes me believe it.

I hang the dress up in the closet of Cassian’s bedroom. The heels are set beside his dress shoes and I can’t help but think about his reaction. Of dancing with him all night and coming back here and-

“Bunny!” 

“I’m in the closet!”

I hear him chuckle. 

“Shut up,” I call out and walk into the bedroom to find him pulling off his shirt. I feel my face go hot.

“I’m going to shower… do you want me to use the other bathroom?” 

“What? No, this is your house,” I say far more casually than I feel. “Besides, we’ve got time, we can share.” 

I want to punch myself in the face. Cassian starts to grin. 

“The shower might be a little too small for the both of us but I’m sure we could find a way to-”

Cassian laughs when I smack his arm. 

“Not exactly where I like being spanked but I’ll take it.”

“Oh my god, Cassian.”

He laughs and disappears into the bathroom. I force myself to leave the room when I hear the water.  

*

Cassian walks into the kitchen in nothing but a towel, his hair wet, water dripping down his chest. He walks over and takes the sandwich from my hands.

“Fuck, we’re out of beer,” he mutters as he opens the fridge. I grab the second sandwich I made, expecting him to steal from my plate and force my gaze up. On his stupidly gorgeous face.

“I can go get some,” I say but he shakes his head and walks over to take my cup of iced tea.

“Are you cool with us taking a cab tonight?”

“Uh, yeah. I guess.” 

Cassian drinks from my cup and sets it down before pinching my cheek. 

“It’ll just be you and me,” he says softly. “So don’t worry about it.”

I blush at this and Cassian kisses my forehead. 

“I’m gonna go get dressed. Thanks for the snack,” he says with a wink and walks away.

*

I keep my makeup rather muted; lip gloss and the usual winged liner. Nude eyeshadow. Cassian picked out the highlight and I have to admit, he chose well. My hair isn’t going to get any better, so I leave it in loose waves rather than the curls I’d wanted. I’ll leave that to Mor. I feel nervous, this is the first time since the breakup that I’m going out with all of our friends but Cassian will be there, and that’s enough to ease my nerves. Almost.  

“Our ride is here,” Cas says as he walks into his bedroom. He stops and just stares. I approach him and hold out my ID card and debit card, needing to ignore the way his attention has me feeling.

“I don’t have pockets.”

“What?” He blinks and looks down at my hand. He laughs and pulls his wallet out. “You only need your ID.”

“Maybe so,” I say and reach out to smooth down the collar of his shirt while he puts my cards away. I remember my lip gloss and put it in his back pocket, giving him a wink.

Cassian holds my hand when we go outside, helping me down the steps and the driveway. It’s a regular occurrence, but I blush when he opens the door for me. And when he slides an arm around my shoulders when he sits down beside me. We take a bunch of pictures and call Cassian’s parents to check on Val- as if we hadn’t seen him an hour ago. 

When we get to the club, Cassian holds my hand as we walk inside. Cassian and the boys are all friends with the owner, so we get to skip the line.

“Where are we going?” I ask as Cassian leads us up to the VIP lounge.

“Meeting up with Rhys.”

“What’s he doing up here?”

Cassian chuckles. “You know Rhys never passes a chance to be extra as fuck.”

I can’t argue with that.

Upstairs, Cassian helps me out of my coat. His fingers brush my skin and my mind takes a swan dive into the gutter.

“What do you say to a few drinks before we go downstairs?” he asks as he takes my hand. The bouncer outside the lounge acknowledges us with a nod.

“Yeah, I could use it.”

Cassian flashes me a grin and then opens the door.

“SURPRISE!” Everyone shouts and I find all of our friends standing under a Happy Birthday banner.

I am at a loss for words and Cassian laughs, bringing me further into the room. I’d completely forgotten about my birthday, I hadn’t cared enough to even think that anyone else would. But Elain is here with Az. So is Rhys and Lucien, Amren, Varian. Viv and Kallias, too. I’m separated from Cassian as I’m hugged and kissed by everyone. I realize Tarquin and Cresseida are here as well. Rhys is the one who breaks open the first bottle and we all stand around the little table to take shots.

“There is a cake,” Elain says as she hands me another shot. “But that’s later.”

“Later?”

She winks at me and shouts for Azriel.

“That’s my favorite song!” she exclaims and her husband happily ditches his brothers to go out and dance with his wife.

Lucien and Rhys pull me in for another hug as the others begin to trail down to the dance floor.

“You look good enough to eat,” Lucien mumbles and I laugh.

“Don’t tell me you’re already drunk, Luce.”

“We may have pregamed at the house,” Rhys admits. “But we took an uber! It’s okay.”

I roll my eyes.

“You both suck. I’m going to go find me two other cute boys to dance with. Boys who would have invited me to pregame with them and no amount of flirting is going to fix that.”

They begin to whine and I laugh, holding onto Rhysand’s forearms as they keep me caged between them.

“Alright! You win!” I say with a laugh and look over to find Cassian looking my way. He smiles.

I want to ask him to dance but Mor pulls him away before I can open my mouth.

We drink and dance and drink and dance and drink some more. I feel light headed and everything makes me laugh. But I haven’t danced with Cassian yet and that’s enough to dampen the mood. I push my way through the crowd until I find Cassian at the bar. I take the empty barstool beside him and sit down. I order myself a margarita before turning to face him.

“And where have you been all night?” I ask and Cassian smirks.

“Enjoying the night,” he says and takes a sip of his drink.

“Without me?”

I don’t understand the look in his eyes as he takes a sip of his drink. He sets the glass down and leans forward. I didn’t really understand just how short this dress was until he lays his hand on my thigh. If I turn my chair completely, if he moves his hand just an inch more…

“Yes,” he says and kisses me cheek. “But I think I’m about to enjoy it more now.”

“Why?” I manage to say. Cassian’s hand brushes my thigh as he sits upright.

“I’m about to go dance with my best friend.”

“Are you now?”

My drink is set before me and I grab it, chugging it down as Cassian slides off his chair. He turns mine so that I’m facing him completely and puts his hands on my hips.

“If she says yes, of course.”

I finish the last of my drink and set down the glass.

“When have I ever said no to you?”

Cassian grins.

I have danced with Cassian many times. At parties, at the beach, at clubs and bars and festivals. At his parents’ house. I should be used to the feeling of his body against mine, of his hands on me while we dance but not like this. I want nothing more than to take him back up to the lounge and push him down on the sofa or go find an empty bathroom stall.

But I don’t.

Birthday cake and alcohol isn’t the best mix, but I haven’t felt this alive in months. My face hurts from laughing, from smiling. My vision is spotty from all the pictures we’ve taken but I don’t care. Everything is right in the world.

“My feet hurt,” I complain and sit on Cassian’s lap.

“Want me to rub your feet?”

I shake my head and lean into him.

“No. Not until I’m showered.”

He laughs. “Okay.”

I sigh when he wraps his arms around me. He is so warm and smells so good, I want to stay this way forever.

“I think the birthday girl is done for the night,” Rhys says teasingly and I realize I was dozing off. I look up to see Rhys standing there with a stupid smirk on his face.

“Fuck you,” I say and curl up in Cassian’s arms. I feel his hand holding my dress down from showing everyone else my ass.

“Tempting,” Rhys says and then shoves his hands in his pockets. “But I think I’ll pass.”

I don’t think much of the look Rhys gives Cassian in favor of playing with his hair. I take way too much satisfaction in the knowledge that not everyone gets to do this, and that he enjoys it. Cassian seems to win whatever silent staring contest he and Rhys were having and Rhys rolls his eyes and goes after his boyfriend.

“You’re making me sleepy, bunny.”

“Good thing we’re going home together then,” I say before my mind catches up. But Cassian only chuckles and hugs me a little closer.

*

Cassian and I are a laughing mess as we stumble into the house. I lean on him to step out of my heels and he laughs as I shrug off my coat and toss it at him. We’re both trying to catch our breath, and I swat his hand away when he tries to tickle me again.

“I’m taking a shower,” I breathe out and walk off but he stops me.

“Wait,” he says and I turn to find him smiling.

“What?”

“Happy birthday,” he says softly and pulls me in for a hug. “I promise I’ll make you breakfast in the morning.”

“Hm… you really know the way to a girl’s heart, Cas.”

He pinches my side and I yelp.

“Go shower,” he says and kisses the top of my head.

“I won’t be long.”

My shower is clumsy and not at all relaxing. My feet hurt. So I put lotion on my body and grab the bottle of perfume that is on the dresser, except it’s not perfume but cologne. I shrug and put on Cassian’s Nirvana tee shirt and double check I actually have underwear on before I go looking for him.

“Cas?” The house is dark save for the light coming from his room. “My feet fucking hurt.”

He says something but I don’t understand it. His room is open and I step inside, finding him lying on his bed. He’s got basketball shorts on and his hair is loose.

“Bunny!” he says as if he hadn’t seen me all day. “I almost busted my ass in the shower.”

“Me, too.” I say with a laugh. “Maybe we should’ve showered together. It would’ve been safer that way.”

“I like the way you think, Archeron.”

He holds his hand out to me and when I’m close enough, he pulls me into bed with him. “You smell good.”

I snort. “I smell like you.”

“Exactly.”

I swat his arm but he ignores it, putting his arms around me.

“My feet hurt,” I complain, hoping he’ll make good on his promise.

“Just stay here,” he says simply.

My heart stops and starts too fast.

“Like… sleep here?” I ask too quietly.

“Mhm.” He goes quiet for a moment and then groans. “I forgot to turn the light off.”

“I can do it,” I say.

“No… Stay here.”

He goes quiet once more, and I let myself relax. We haven’t shared a bed since we were kids, playing video games until Adela would force us to go to bed. I smile at the thought and rest my head against his chest.

“Goodnight, Cas,” I say quietly, my eyes getting heavy.

“Goodnight, bunny,” he says and lets me go to stretch. Then he wraps his arms around me again and moves us so that we’re on our sides. He presses a kiss to my forehead and I close my eyes, letting the warmth of him lull me to sleep.

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@mythicaitt @bookloveaffair @nalgenewhore @candid-confetti 

[keeperofhounds]

Lost & Found (Chapter Nine)

Special thanks to my beta reader @rachelbethhines and special thanks to Varian66 on Discord for their part in developing this story.

We all know how the original story started. We all know how it ended too. Let’s see an alternate take if Eugene were to have been adopted rather than being alone for most of his life.

Sleep didn’t come easy for Rapunzel that night. How could it when the unkind words of her mother echoed in her thoughts? The blond trusted Eugene with her secret, why wouldn’t she trust him to keep his word? She knew the answer of course it’s because she still had doubts about the outside world riding on this one trip and this one person. If Eugene were to leave her like nothing happened when he got the satchel back she didn't know how she would take it.

Mother had been very clear when they talked last night. The older woman didn’t believe that Rapunzel was smart enough to be out in the world, that she was naive in her beliefs. That Rapunzel was being difficult when she got silly ideas in her head, that she needed a reality check. 

The blonde had done something she had never done before which was stand up to her Mother, it left both of them shocked at the action. Mother had been cruel in her attempts to disway her daughter to convince her to come back to the tower. The satchel was just a means to warn her daughter about the darkness of humanity, that she was just a means to an end, the exact reason why she was hidden away in the first place. 

Rapunzel wouldn’t let those doubts stop her though, for too long she had let others dictate how she acted it was time for her to make her own experiences. If she was being honest with herself she believed Mothers jabs, which is why the girl had hidden the satchel from her companion. It was an attempt to protect a fragile hope, a hope that her Mother was wrong about everything. Even if she was naive about the dangers of the outside world she was out and willing to learn. If she could prove her Mother wrong about this then maybe she was wrong about other things too. Maybe this trip would only become the first of many.

Shouting jolted Rapunzel and Pascal from their uneasy sleep. It was Eugene, and he sounded like he was in trouble. Rushing towards the sound Rapunzel was met with the strangest of sights. In front of her was the same white horse who chased them in the canyon, he was trying to drag Eugene off, although Eugene was clawing desperately on the ground in an attempt to getaway. It would have been funny if the situation wasn’t so serious.

Grabbing Eugene’s flailing hands Rapunzel tried pulling away from the horse, but held fast not willing to let his prey escape again. Neither side was gaining traction however leaving them in a stalemate in their tug of war. This only prompted both sides to pull even harder until finally the boot that the horse was holding onto slipped off the panicking thief causing both sides to fall to the ground.

Finally free from the animals clutches Eugene scrambled towards the nearest tree pressing himself against it in an attempt to give distance between himself and the horse. The horse huffed running towards his target only to be stopped by Rapunzel who threw her arms out wide in an attempt to lock the horse. The horse tried to move past her only to be blocked at every turn until he could only stare at the strange girl with a chameleon on her head.

“Now sit,” Rapunzel said, lowering her hands in a downwards motion.

The horse made the motions to sit, they clearly weren’t sold on the idea when they stopped in a squat. Only sitting when Rapunzel repeated the command to the horse.

“What?” Eugene said he couldn’t believe it would be that easy.

Rapunzel pointed her hand down, “Now drop the boot.”

The horse gave Rapunzel a look as if she was asking him to do something ridiculous, but complied when she repeated herself. When they did Rapunzel showered them in praise petting their snout and talking to them in a sweet voice, one reserved to animals and well-behaved children. Eugene would have thought what he was seeing was some crazy dream if it weren’t for the fact that everything felt too real.

“Come on,” Eugene said, throwing his hands towards the horse, “he’s a bad horse.”

The horse glared at Eugene, not appreciating the slander to their character. Luckily they were distracted by Rapunzel before they decided to do anything.

“Aw, he’s nothing but a big sweetheart,” The horse nuzzled Rapunzel in agreement as if to prove her point, “isn’t that right?....Maximus.”

Eugene crossed his arms over his chest in disbelief, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Maximus glared at Eugene, it was clear the goodwill did not extend towards the thief. Although considering how things went yesterday it would be good to have a little more help in keeping the guard off Eugene.

“Look today is kind of the biggest day of my life,” Rapunzel said, slowly walking towards Eugene being mindful to keep her eyes in contact with the horse. Somehow she was able to help Eugene back onto his feet without too much trouble. “And the thing is I need you not to get his arrested.”

Maximus stared at what he could only consider as a silly proposal. Him not arrest a criminal? Ridiculous.

“Just for twenty-four hours,” Rapunzel said, seeing her lose the horse, “then you can chase each other to your heart's content. Okay?”

The thief sighed at where his life had led him up until this point. One second he was gallivanting through the forest the next he was making deals with guards to keep his freedom. His fate resting in the charm of a girl winning over a horse. Eugene held out his hand to shake on it, but he didn’t have to like it.

Maximus stared at the held out hand, then at Eugene. The horse looked away clearly not being won over by Rapnunzel.

“And it’s also my birthday,” Rapunzel said through gritted teeth clearly hoping for the best.

Which shockingly enough happened with Maximus holding out a hoof to shake. Both thief and guard shook in agreement at the supposed truce for twenty-four hours. Although it didn’t stop Maximus from punching Eugene in the gut when Rapunzel’s back was turned. The horse needed to get back at the thief for causing so much trouble after all. It was only fair.

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There’s something about hiding from guards and seeing your face on a wanted poster that really puts the sense of adventure in you. Since arriving at the capital Eugene with the help of Maximus was able to stay out of sight, imagine his surprise at the corona issued wanted posters. Imagine his horror when they got his nose wrong, although the horse seemed in good spirits about that.

Rapunzel had a rough start when first arriving at the capital since her hair was dragging on the ground without the bands longing it up. It was only luck that she was able to make friends with a group of sisters who were nice enough to braid the long hair. Eugene imagined that they also couldn’t resist the challenge either, but the braid they left behind was much better suited to Rapunzel than what she previously had before. 

Now the thief was watching her bring people to dance with her in the courtyard. It didn’t matter to her that the people were complete strangers, she wanted everyone to join in on the fun. Not that he could blame her considering that it was a special day for her, she just wanted to share it.

“So, aren’t you going to dance with your girlfriend?”

Eugene jumped forward in surprise almost dropping the food he bought. Maximus let out a horse laugh at the thief's reaction. “What? Varian, what are you doing here?” Eugene crouched a bit looking around the crowd, “Is dad here too?”

Varian looked at Eugene as he took a bite out of his apple. “Don’t worry, Dad couldn’t make it, he’s busy working on the harvest. Like I’d miss the chance to help out my favorite brother impress a girl.” The younger boy handed Maximus an apple that the horse gladly ate.

“Taking bribes are you now?”

Maximus ignored the thief relishing the flavor of the apples.

“Also Varian, I’m your only brother,” Eugene said, placing his hands over his hips. “And she’s not my girlfriend.” “Then why is she trying to get you to dance?”

Eugene followed where Varian was pointing and sure enough, Rapunzel was motioning for him to join the dance circle. Eugene shook his head not wanting to dance, but the present company was not having any of that. Maximus strongly nudged Eugene forward with Varian giving his brother his own little push towards the crowd. The thief wouldn’t admit that he did have fun during that time dancing. He and Rapunzel tried a few times to dance with each other but someone else always came to whisk them away.

When Rapunzel and Eugene came back from dancing, Eugene saw Varian talking to the guard horse who looked too happy for comfort. Rapunzel’s face broke out in a grin rushing towards Varian, greeting him and asking if he was there to see the lanterns too. “Well, yeah who wouldn’t want to spend extra time with the Flynn Rider.”

He could at least give Varian credit, the kid knew how to butter people up. Eugene had taught him well. It also didn’t help that Varian was giving him a look which was usually the one reserved when he wanted Eugene to keep a secret from dad. Eugen let out a breath, at least he didn’t have to worry about his dad at the moment.

Rapunzel watched the interaction thinking about the words and zeroing on a few important words and details. To her it seemed obvious that Varian wanted to spend time with Eugene, how could she not? She used to do the exact same thing when she was younger with Mother.

She looked at the thief who gave Varian an unimpressed look before breaking out into a smile, “Oh, fine the more the merrier right?”

Varian jumped at the words doing a little dance in celebration, “Woohoo, Team Awesome is back!”

Rapunzel jumped in excitement almost letting out a little cry hearing those words, she gripped Eugene's bicep and leaned forward towards Varian. “Eugene, Varian is your brother right?” She remembered the words Eugene said last night before her Mother appeared. 

The younger boy’s eyes widened in surprise as he turned to Eugene, “You talked about me?”

“The subject came up.”

“It must have Eugene,” 

“Why you little.”

Rapunzel laughed as she saw the two brothers give chase to each other. Varian kept away from Eugene as he tried to catch Varian. They stuck close to her not wanting to lose her in the festival, but it was clear that it was all in good fun. The girl couldn’t help but watch seeing another side or at least the one Eugene tried to hide from all that time ago. She had a feeling that the worries she had from last night were unfounded.

[spiriituma]

I rewatched the first episode of RTA Season 3 again, and I have a MIGHTY NEED to talk about the fact that Varian was TOTALLY WILLING TO DIE TO FIX HIS MISTAKES.

And not just that he was willing, he seemed to WANT TO. Without being prompted by Rapunzel, he tells her that SHE has to get off the ship, that HE will be the one to make sure that his formula doesn’t COMPLETELY DESTROY Corona. “I’ve gotta clean up my own mess.” After all that he’s done, there’s a NEED to do something-- ANYTHING --to make up for all of it. To prove that he’s really a GOOD PERSON, a good person who maybe went a little deeper down the rabbit hole than he’d ever imagined he would.

This DESPERATION to clear his name and go back to living a NORMAL LIFE with his father is prevalent throughout the entire episode. He’s spent A YEAR IN JAIL WITH ANDREW, probably being fed false hope and LIES that whole time-- no one will ever forgive you, THIS IS THE ONLY WAY, this will make up for EVERYTHING YOU’VE DONE. Varian doesn’t see it at first, but THE SAPORIANS WERE USING HIM FROM THE BEGINNING. Andrew spent an ENTIRE YEAR grooming a fifteen-year-old kid to do his bidding, KNOWING what Varian was capable of... but also knowing that sometimes his chemical formulas DON’T ALWAYS WORK AS PLANNED. So the Saporians “suddenly” turning on him and locking him away? Yeah, no, I’m gonna bet that was the plan FROM THE GET-GO; there was never a plan on their end to WIPE EVERYONE’S MEMORIES. They just let Varian BELIEVE THAT so he would help them achieve their end goal of taking down Corona.

And when Varian’s locked up with Rapunzel, he thinks THIS IS THE END. He confides in her that HE’S NOT SURE HE CAN TRUST ANYONE AGAIN, and yet he doesn’t blame HER OR ANYONE ELSE for treating him as the untrustworthy traitor that he believes himself to be. HE’S SO FULL OF REGRET that this is how far he took things, that THIS is what he’s become. He realizes that he’s a shell of what he could be, and HOW COULD HIS FATHER EVER BE PROUD OF THAT? How could he stay in Corona and PRETEND LIKE EVERYTHING IS OKAY?

Which is why he’s SO RESIGNED to the notion that HIM DYING IS THE ONLY WAY TO FIX THINGS. If he’s never going to have a normal life again, if nobody will ever TRUST HIM, TALK TO HIM, WANT TO BE AROUND HIM, then, frankly, WHAT IS THE POINT OF LIVING? He’d rather DIE A HERO than continue to live and be vilified for the REST OF HIS LIFE. 

On a sidenote, this shows how truly SELFLESS Varian can be. He was willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING to save his father, including himself (he knew what the stakes were if he didn’t fully succeed, that there was a VERY HIGH CHANCE he would be tried and hanged for treason,) and he would do the same for Rapunzel. Going into some SPOILER TERRITORY here... HE ALSO DID THE SAME FOR CASS. Standing up to Cass during NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE, Varian was putting HIS LIFE ON THE LINE to try and convince her not to make the same mistakes that he did. She could’ve killed him. EASILY.