['Too late,' he had wanted to say, but he but back the dry, bitter retort in favor of releasing a heavy sigh. Oscar's shoulders sank with his frustration and exhaustion, for he knew that this was not going to be a simple conversation between the two of them.
They still had options. ]
We can either keep talking on the Fluids like this, or you can let me try something. Oz is gonna know-- but it's not hard, and I can be mobile with it.
[Talking on the Fluids is a last resort. It wouldn't be the first time Varians has had to bear his whole sad story on this thing, but he'd really rather do it in person if he can. At this point, Oscar deserves to hear it, face to face. He casts the feed a worried look, relenting. ]
Okay. Try it in your room first. If it hurts or causes you problems, stop and we'll just... do this over the Fluids.
[It was starting to become a familiar expression-- that look of worry that people regarded him with, where they wanted to say something but held back. Oscar attempted to offer a reassuring smile, but the result only looked tired. He was too young to look so burdened and wearied-- but that, too, was becoming a familiar state of being.]
It shouldn't be hard. I've done it by accident when I was in bad shape.
[The admission should not have been as casual as it was. If being tortured by Salem was not equivalent to his state in that moment, he didn't know what it was equal to.]
Besides. You've probably seen it somewhere else before.
Give me a few, okay?
[With that, he closed the feed off. He had windows to open, magics to reach for, gear to prepare...
Yet shifting his body into the tiny, flighted form came far more easily than he had expected. The draw on the shared reserves of magic was likewise negligible, and for a moment Oscar felt...
Free.
Several minutes after Oscar cut off the feed, Varian would find a slight tapping at his window. Outside, a saw whet owl, bright eyed and apparently one legged, sat patiently on the window ledge.]
That doesn't fill me with confidence, Oscar. But yeah... okay. Be careful, please.
[And so he'll wait, with every growing anxiety to see... well, whatever Oscar is going to do. He said he could turn into a bird. He knew Qrow could do that, and of course, back home there had been that magical tea with the same effects. It wasn't a completely alien concept to him.
He's still surprised by the little owl at his window anyway. The one-legged, obviously Oscar owl. Maybe his life is just accepting dark-haired people with poor decision-making skills with an affinity for owls are just... a thing. He walks over, opening the door to let Oscar hop in. ]
Well. You weren't kidding. You can sit on the bed- you probably need to.
[Or it could merely have been the fact that Oscar, in many ways, resembled an owl. He was wide eyed, impulsive and flighty, but also tended to unnerve the unaware with his presence. The Owl blinked up at Varian before fluttering off toward the bed in a puff of tawny feathers-- in the space of a blink he shifted back to being a Boy who gratefully took a seat upon the bed.
The soft orange flannel of his shirt was wrinkled from his general dissaray and state of recovery, and the loose fitting pants were firmly knotted on the remaining stump of his left leg to guard against drafts. Besides the crutches, which he had managed to bring along, the only obvious embellishments Oscar had made were a fresh piercing in the lobe of one of his ears, a green silken scarf wrapped around the still healing injury, and the subtle gloss of dark blue polish on his fingernails.
He was already learning alternative means of coping, evidently with the guidance of the very goth art teacher at the high school.
Oscar brushed his hair out of his face in a futile act, and tried to cast a wry smile for Varian. The effect only highlighted how young he was-- a boy of fourteen (almost fifteen!) who carried burdens of someone who had lived for centuries.]
I told you I'd make it, [he commented.] That, uh... Uncle Qrow helped me figure that one out.
Oscar's new look does get a slightly raised eyebrow- but hey, everyone deserves a chance to remake themselves if they want to. It's not like Varian hasn't done that himself before now. At least Oscar didn't draw a fake goatee on his chin. If it was helping him cope with the, quite frankly awful, experience of losing a limb, then Varian wouldn't judge.
He doesn't smile back, though- his face still pale and lined with worry. ]
...Yeah, I guess he would know. [His eyes drop down to the missing spot where the rest of Oscar's leg once was.] Have you had enough to help deal with the pain?
[Embarrassment and shame burned on his cheeks under Varian's worried gaze, and for a moment he couldn't look back at his friend. Ruby had already punched him for trying to take responsibility for what had happened, Gerry had already lectured him before Salem even arrived, and Ozpin...
Their connection made what had transpired that much more brutal.]
The scarf is something Oz got from Sodder a while back. It helps, a lot. Mostly it's been hard to getting used to all this...
... I'm just glad my knee doesn't hurt like it did anymore.
Yeah, losing the entire leg does solve that sort of problem.
[There's no humour in his tone. He pinches the bridge of his nose, exhaling slowly- trying to keep hold of some measure of calm. There's still anger there- bubbling underneath it all.]
I can connect the dots here- memories back early, missing leg- two and two make four- but I need to know for sure anyway. Did you make a sacrifice? Is- is this [he gestures at the very missing space where Oscar's leg should have been] is this because of that?
[Oscar sobered as well, heart pounding in his ears and shoulders tensing while he prepared for the worst.]
... I did make a deal with Sodder to do that, [he confessed after a moment that felt like an eternity.] But she took so long taking it that I'm not sure it wouldn't have happened anyway once Salem showed up.
I made my choice regardless... And i know it was selfish.
[Varian buries his face in his hands, his voice coming out scratchy and strained. God fucking damnit. He knows, logically, that it's hypocritical for him to be angry. After all, he did this exact same thing for Fern. He didn't know what the sacrifice would be - but he made it willingly anyway.
But he's still angry- hypocritical or not. He's trying his best to not start shouting, and the effort is clear in his voice as he removes his hands to look at Oscar. ]
You don't- you don't even know what you sacrificed yourself for. You gave up a piece of yourself for- for nothing good. I'm not worth this.
[Oscar visibly flinched under the strained tone and the reprimand that Varian used in that instant. He had expected this-- and yet when faced with the all too familiar self loathing that he saw within Oz and felt within himself, Oscar knew he had to speak up. ]
Yes you are! Varian, I-I I like you. And I'm tired of watching the people I like get hurt!
[Varian hugs his arms around himself. Being back home, helping with Zhan Tiri, and his time here- he'd thought he was finally getting a handle on this. But having those memories gone, and then return in a sudden tidal wave... well, the self-loathing has come back strong again. ]
You don't know what you gave up your leg for.
[And he knows that's not Oscar's fault. He's always been so careful about who he trusts with his past and honestly, he knows he should have trusted Oscar with it a long time ago. But he didn't. And now they're here.]
I did terrible things, Oscar. I wasn't a good person.
[Oscar said quietly, fidgeting with the green scarf he had tied around his stump and hoping that whatever enchantment was allowing it to heal his wounds would be enough to help him stay calm in the face of whatever storm he saw brewing in the shadows in Varian's eyes.]
Big ones, sometimes. And, bad people?
[Briefly he thought of Ironwood, how the man built with the aggression of a tank had gently carried him through the woods near Lake Tomie after the attack, destined for Ozpin's mansion. He remembered the strange tenderness in which Ironwood had handled him despite the edges of panic that he had recognized from their terrible meeting in the Vault-- with Oscar on the wrong side of Due Process.]
Bad people sometimes do good things. Life isn't as clean as you're making it.
I know they do. And I know people can learn from their mistakes and do better from them.
[He is, at least, at a point where he can say that and actually believe it. It's taken him a while, and he knows he's nowhere near healed yet. He's not even in the general neighbourhood of getting healed. But he's aware and that's... something.]
That's why I said wasn't. But the memories you gave your leg up for weren't good ones. Not ones worth losing a limb over. [He exhales, moving to sit in his chair by the bead heavily, rubbing the back of his neck with a hand.] But that's one me. I should have told you a long time ago.
Those memories are a part of you-- and I could see how upset you were by not knowing why your life is as it is.
[He regarded Varian with a firm, level look-- as if daring the other boy to suggest that living knowing there was a part of you missing that couldn't be recovered was worth the pain that came with it.]
...I don't know the details, and you don't have to tell me if it's too painful. But, living without knowing why?
[Oscar shook his head, knowing from the infinite depths of the thousands of years of memories and feelings that he could touch just how dangerous a life of half-truths could be.]
It's no way to live. No one should have to live like that.
[Varian... doesn't argue. His shoulders sag and he heaves out a sigh, staring at the ground.]
I was. Upset. What I went through changed me. A lot of it was for the worse, but it wasn't all bad, I learned from it too. It's not- it's not black and white.
[Because it did a considerable number on his psyche, too. It left wounds that are only just starting to heal over- wounds that have left considerable scars on him. As much as he wishes he could have taken everything he did back, he knows that he wouldn't be the person he is today if he hadn't done what he'd done. ]
But it would have come back eventually. This sort of thing never lasts wrong.
[Sounds defeated already though, he knows that's a stupid argument. He could have left Fern get his memories back naturally, but he didn't. He moves his gaze to his prosthetic, tapping it on the floor.]
But I guess I know what it's like to not what someone you care about to go through that. Even if you know it'll end anyway.
[Oscar said in protest, despite suspecting that his attempt at offering space and time wouldn't be accepted.]
I like you, Varian. A lot.
I've liked you for a long time, and nothing you can say will change that. It still was my choice-- I guess I needed to try to take back some of the control we lost in this dream.
I chose to not sit and just watch someone I care about suffer anymore.
[He listens to what Oscar has to say and he doesn't have an argument to it. He hates it. He knows that Oscar has lost a piece of himself, possibly forever, in order to help him and it doesn't sit well. But then, Fern had hated it when he'd learned Varian had done the same thing.
It was like karma had come calling. ]
It's not that I don't appreciate what you've done for me, I just- I wish Sodder had taken something else as payment. Because now you're going to deal with this for the rest of your time here.
[He moves to sit back in his seat, staring at the ceiling.]
There's a very good chance you're gonna regret it once we're done.
[Oscar cast Varian a firm, unwavering look before shifting aside and patting the bedding next to him. This clearly was going to be a long discussion on both of their parts, and there was no need for either of them to be needlessly uncomfortable during it.]
I've already made bad choices, and I have my own regrets, [he added quietly.]
Every decision I made in Atlas led to people being hurt, and I've made plenty decisions here that did the same. This, though? Isn't one of them.
I bet none of your choices were made to purposefully hurt people, though.
[He heaves out a sigh, moving to sit next to Oscar on the bed. He stares down at that missing leg again, before focusing on the ceiling once more. Okay. Here we go.]
So. This can get bogged down with... magic stuff that I don't want to get into. The important thing to know is that there were two magical artefacts back home. They were once together but separated when they came to earth- but each had an effect on the other. My father used to protect one of them- it destroyed his kingdom and he was sworn to always keep the secret about what it could do. I never knew anything about any of this - he didn't tell me. That part's... well, it's not an excuse, but it's still important.
[Would things have gone as far as they did if he knew about the moonstone right away? He doesn't know.]
[There was no lie in Varian's words. Nothing Oscar had done was with the intent to truly hurt anyone-- his only aim had been to help prevent disaster.
And, he had failed.
But Oscar listened regardless, and was once more struck by the similarities between Varian's world and his.]
...Artifacts of immense power that are kept secret? That sounds a lot like the Relics Oz made. They're held in secret in each of the kingdoms.... and people have died over trying to possess them. It's... bad.
[Varian had heard a little of the relics. He'd seen the Lamp in action. He nods. ]
A lot of our most dangerous magical artefacts are hidden away and protected by a guardian. But there two were wild in the world. Anyway. These black rocks which were connected to one of them started growing in the ground, making a path towards the castle- to where the princess who held its opposing force lived. They were indestructible and sharp. They were destroying people's homes, their crops. Our village was dying and my father and the king were covering it all up.
[They acted like no problem was there, while people starved or were left homeless. He couldn't stand by and let that happen. Varian's compassion has always been one of his greatest strengths and equally his greatest weakness. ]
Dad forbade me from touching them, but I had to do something. So I made a compound that I hoped would stop them. It... went badly. The compound reacted with the rocks and created this unbreakable amber. My dad managed to push me out of the way before it could catch me in it, but he got stuck in it instead.
[The memory is etched into his mind permanently. A nightmare he relives several times a month- watching the amber eat his father alive. Slowly creeping tendrils trapping him.]
It was swallowing him up and I couldn't do anything to stop it. So I- I went to find the princess. I figured she must be able to help.
[It was the same as any fairytale. A youth spies a problem but no one believes them, and they do whatever they could to uphold their beliefs-- at great cost. Oscar thought of the family he had left in Mistral-- his Aunt and everyone else-- and felt somewhat... disingenuous.
But he couldn't stay. Not if it meant that his family would be in danger.]
The Princess... is she the same one you told me about before? The one in the tower?
Yeah, I was. I started with good intentions. But you know what they say about the road to hell.
[He'd genuinely wanted to help, at the start. His people were suffering and it felt like no one cared. Someone had to do something, and he wasn't about to stand idly by and do nothing.
He shakes his head, shoulders hunching.]
That's the one, and no. There was a blizzard engulfing the kingdom- demonic, it turned out, but we didn't know it at the time.
[Proof that Zhan Tiri had been pushing them around like chess pieces even then. Making sure everyone was exactly where they needed to be exactly when she wanted them to be.]
She had to stay and help her people. I was scared and desperate and begged her to help. The guards thought I was attacking her and had me escorted out. But the time I got back to dad, it was too late. He was completely encased. I knew I needed answers, and I knew I couldn't rely on anyone else any more.
The princess got her powers from a flower- that's where the magic originally fell. The flower was used to save her mom while she was pregnant, but I knew it was still in the castle somewhere. [He picks at the bedsheets.] So I created a truth serum and used it on the castle guards. Found out where it was being kept- and then convinced Rapunzel to help me steal it. She did, even if she knew it was treason to do it. I told her I wanted to help everyone with it. I lied.
[Oscar insisted-- knowing full well how those reasons were not necessarily altruistic in nature. He knew the extents that Varian had gone within Deerington-- and, somewhere in his gut, he knew that the Oz of a different time had certainly committed acts of a similarly nebulous nature.]
Even if you lied, you were still just trying to help your village. You were probably angry and scared, too.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Video
They still had options. ]
We can either keep talking on the Fluids like this, or you can let me try something. Oz is gonna know-- but it's not hard, and I can be mobile with it.
Video
Okay. Try it in your room first. If it hurts or causes you problems, stop and we'll just... do this over the Fluids.
Video -> Action.
It shouldn't be hard. I've done it by accident when I was in bad shape.
[The admission should not have been as casual as it was. If being tortured by Salem was not equivalent to his state in that moment, he didn't know what it was equal to.]
Besides. You've probably seen it somewhere else before.
Give me a few, okay?
[With that, he closed the feed off. He had windows to open, magics to reach for, gear to prepare...
Yet shifting his body into the tiny, flighted form came far more easily than he had expected. The draw on the shared reserves of magic was likewise negligible, and for a moment Oscar felt...
Free.
Several minutes after Oscar cut off the feed, Varian would find a slight tapping at his window. Outside, a saw whet owl, bright eyed and apparently one legged, sat patiently on the window ledge.]
Action.
[And so he'll wait, with every growing anxiety to see... well, whatever Oscar is going to do. He said he could turn into a bird. He knew Qrow could do that, and of course, back home there had been that magical tea with the same effects. It wasn't a completely alien concept to him.
He's still surprised by the little owl at his window anyway. The one-legged, obviously Oscar owl. Maybe his life is just accepting dark-haired people with poor decision-making skills with an affinity for owls are just... a thing. He walks over, opening the door to let Oscar hop in. ]
Well. You weren't kidding. You can sit on the bed- you probably need to.
Action.
The soft orange flannel of his shirt was wrinkled from his general dissaray and state of recovery, and the loose fitting pants were firmly knotted on the remaining stump of his left leg to guard against drafts. Besides the crutches, which he had managed to bring along, the only obvious embellishments Oscar had made were a fresh piercing in the lobe of one of his ears, a green silken scarf wrapped around the still healing injury, and the subtle gloss of dark blue polish on his fingernails.
He was already learning alternative means of coping, evidently with the guidance of the very goth art teacher at the high school.
Oscar brushed his hair out of his face in a futile act, and tried to cast a wry smile for Varian. The effect only highlighted how young he was-- a boy of fourteen (almost fifteen!) who carried burdens of someone who had lived for centuries.]
I told you I'd make it, [he commented.] That, uh... Uncle Qrow helped me figure that one out.
action forever
Oscar's new look does get a slightly raised eyebrow- but hey, everyone deserves a chance to remake themselves if they want to. It's not like Varian hasn't done that himself before now. At least Oscar didn't draw a fake goatee on his chin. If it was helping him cope with the, quite frankly awful, experience of losing a limb, then Varian wouldn't judge.
He doesn't smile back, though- his face still pale and lined with worry. ]
...Yeah, I guess he would know. [His eyes drop down to the missing spot where the rest of Oscar's leg once was.] Have you had enough to help deal with the pain?
no subject
Their connection made what had transpired that much more brutal.]
The scarf is something Oz got from Sodder a while back. It helps, a lot. Mostly it's been hard to getting used to all this...
... I'm just glad my knee doesn't hurt like it did anymore.
no subject
[There's no humour in his tone. He pinches the bridge of his nose, exhaling slowly- trying to keep hold of some measure of calm. There's still anger there- bubbling underneath it all.]
I can connect the dots here- memories back early, missing leg- two and two make four- but I need to know for sure anyway. Did you make a sacrifice? Is- is this [he gestures at the very missing space where Oscar's leg should have been] is this because of that?
no subject
... I did make a deal with Sodder to do that, [he confessed after a moment that felt like an eternity.] But she took so long taking it that I'm not sure it wouldn't have happened anyway once Salem showed up.
I made my choice regardless... And i know it was selfish.
no subject
[Varian buries his face in his hands, his voice coming out scratchy and strained. God fucking damnit. He knows, logically, that it's hypocritical for him to be angry. After all, he did this exact same thing for Fern. He didn't know what the sacrifice would be - but he made it willingly anyway.
But he's still angry- hypocritical or not. He's trying his best to not start shouting, and the effort is clear in his voice as he removes his hands to look at Oscar. ]
You don't- you don't even know what you sacrificed yourself for. You gave up a piece of yourself for- for nothing good. I'm not worth this.
no subject
Yes you are! Varian, I-I I like you. And I'm tired of watching the people I like get hurt!
no subject
You don't know what you gave up your leg for.
[And he knows that's not Oscar's fault. He's always been so careful about who he trusts with his past and honestly, he knows he should have trusted Oscar with it a long time ago. But he didn't. And now they're here.]
I did terrible things, Oscar. I wasn't a good person.
no subject
[Oscar said quietly, fidgeting with the green scarf he had tied around his stump and hoping that whatever enchantment was allowing it to heal his wounds would be enough to help him stay calm in the face of whatever storm he saw brewing in the shadows in Varian's eyes.]
Big ones, sometimes. And, bad people?
[Briefly he thought of Ironwood, how the man built with the aggression of a tank had gently carried him through the woods near Lake Tomie after the attack, destined for Ozpin's mansion. He remembered the strange tenderness in which Ironwood had handled him despite the edges of panic that he had recognized from their terrible meeting in the Vault-- with Oscar on the wrong side of Due Process.]
Bad people sometimes do good things. Life isn't as clean as you're making it.
no subject
[He is, at least, at a point where he can say that and actually believe it. It's taken him a while, and he knows he's nowhere near healed yet. He's not even in the general neighbourhood of getting healed. But he's aware and that's... something.]
That's why I said wasn't. But the memories you gave your leg up for weren't good ones. Not ones worth losing a limb over. [He exhales, moving to sit in his chair by the bead heavily, rubbing the back of his neck with a hand.] But that's one me. I should have told you a long time ago.
no subject
[He regarded Varian with a firm, level look-- as if daring the other boy to suggest that living knowing there was a part of you missing that couldn't be recovered was worth the pain that came with it.]
...I don't know the details, and you don't have to tell me if it's too painful. But, living without knowing why?
[Oscar shook his head, knowing from the infinite depths of the thousands of years of memories and feelings that he could touch just how dangerous a life of half-truths could be.]
It's no way to live. No one should have to live like that.
no subject
I was. Upset. What I went through changed me. A lot of it was for the worse, but it wasn't all bad, I learned from it too. It's not- it's not black and white.
[Because it did a considerable number on his psyche, too. It left wounds that are only just starting to heal over- wounds that have left considerable scars on him. As much as he wishes he could have taken everything he did back, he knows that he wouldn't be the person he is today if he hadn't done what he'd done. ]
But it would have come back eventually. This sort of thing never lasts wrong.
[Sounds defeated already though, he knows that's a stupid argument. He could have left Fern get his memories back naturally, but he didn't. He moves his gaze to his prosthetic, tapping it on the floor.]
But I guess I know what it's like to not what someone you care about to go through that. Even if you know it'll end anyway.
[He sucks in a deep breath.]
It's fine. I'm ready to tell you.
no subject
[Oscar said in protest, despite suspecting that his attempt at offering space and time wouldn't be accepted.]
I like you, Varian. A lot.
I've liked you for a long time, and nothing you can say will change that. It still was my choice-- I guess I needed to try to take back some of the control we lost in this dream.
I chose to not sit and just watch someone I care about suffer anymore.
no subject
[He listens to what Oscar has to say and he doesn't have an argument to it. He hates it. He knows that Oscar has lost a piece of himself, possibly forever, in order to help him and it doesn't sit well. But then, Fern had hated it when he'd learned Varian had done the same thing.
It was like karma had come calling. ]
It's not that I don't appreciate what you've done for me, I just- I wish Sodder had taken something else as payment. Because now you're going to deal with this for the rest of your time here.
[He moves to sit back in his seat, staring at the ceiling.]
There's a very good chance you're gonna regret it once we're done.
no subject
[Oscar cast Varian a firm, unwavering look before shifting aside and patting the bedding next to him. This clearly was going to be a long discussion on both of their parts, and there was no need for either of them to be needlessly uncomfortable during it.]
I've already made bad choices, and I have my own regrets, [he added quietly.]
Every decision I made in Atlas led to people being hurt, and I've made plenty decisions here that did the same. This, though? Isn't one of them.
no subject
[He heaves out a sigh, moving to sit next to Oscar on the bed. He stares down at that missing leg again, before focusing on the ceiling once more. Okay. Here we go.]
So. This can get bogged down with... magic stuff that I don't want to get into. The important thing to know is that there were two magical artefacts back home. They were once together but separated when they came to earth- but each had an effect on the other. My father used to protect one of them- it destroyed his kingdom and he was sworn to always keep the secret about what it could do. I never knew anything about any of this - he didn't tell me. That part's... well, it's not an excuse, but it's still important.
[Would things have gone as far as they did if he knew about the moonstone right away? He doesn't know.]
no subject
And, he had failed.
But Oscar listened regardless, and was once more struck by the similarities between Varian's world and his.]
...Artifacts of immense power that are kept secret? That sounds a lot like the Relics Oz made. They're held in secret in each of the kingdoms.... and people have died over trying to possess them. It's... bad.
What happened?
no subject
A lot of our most dangerous magical artefacts are hidden away and protected by a guardian. But there two were wild in the world. Anyway. These black rocks which were connected to one of them started growing in the ground, making a path towards the castle- to where the princess who held its opposing force lived. They were indestructible and sharp. They were destroying people's homes, their crops. Our village was dying and my father and the king were covering it all up.
[They acted like no problem was there, while people starved or were left homeless. He couldn't stand by and let that happen. Varian's compassion has always been one of his greatest strengths and equally his greatest weakness. ]
Dad forbade me from touching them, but I had to do something. So I made a compound that I hoped would stop them. It... went badly. The compound reacted with the rocks and created this unbreakable amber. My dad managed to push me out of the way before it could catch me in it, but he got stuck in it instead.
[The memory is etched into his mind permanently. A nightmare he relives several times a month- watching the amber eat his father alive. Slowly creeping tendrils trapping him.]
It was swallowing him up and I couldn't do anything to stop it. So I- I went to find the princess. I figured she must be able to help.
no subject
[It was the same as any fairytale. A youth spies a problem but no one believes them, and they do whatever they could to uphold their beliefs-- at great cost. Oscar thought of the family he had left in Mistral-- his Aunt and everyone else-- and felt somewhat... disingenuous.
But he couldn't stay. Not if it meant that his family would be in danger.]
The Princess... is she the same one you told me about before? The one in the tower?
... did she help you?
no subject
[He'd genuinely wanted to help, at the start. His people were suffering and it felt like no one cared. Someone had to do something, and he wasn't about to stand idly by and do nothing.
He shakes his head, shoulders hunching.]
That's the one, and no. There was a blizzard engulfing the kingdom- demonic, it turned out, but we didn't know it at the time.
[Proof that Zhan Tiri had been pushing them around like chess pieces even then. Making sure everyone was exactly where they needed to be exactly when she wanted them to be.]
She had to stay and help her people. I was scared and desperate and begged her to help. The guards thought I was attacking her and had me escorted out. But the time I got back to dad, it was too late. He was completely encased. I knew I needed answers, and I knew I couldn't rely on anyone else any more.
The princess got her powers from a flower- that's where the magic originally fell. The flower was used to save her mom while she was pregnant, but I knew it was still in the castle somewhere. [He picks at the bedsheets.] So I created a truth serum and used it on the castle guards. Found out where it was being kept- and then convinced Rapunzel to help me steal it. She did, even if she knew it was treason to do it. I told her I wanted to help everyone with it. I lied.
no subject
[Oscar insisted-- knowing full well how those reasons were not necessarily altruistic in nature. He knew the extents that Varian had gone within Deerington-- and, somewhere in his gut, he knew that the Oz of a different time had certainly committed acts of a similarly nebulous nature.]
Even if you lied, you were still just trying to help your village. You were probably angry and scared, too.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
tw: suicide
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)