One day I will find all the right words!

adara and the blue lanterns

Pros of being a Royal alchemist: Get your own chambers!!

light / dark

a redraw of an old set i did a few years ago; it was super fun to see my progress :) was gonna add a eugene to complete the set but never managed to get around to him 😔 very sorry eugene fans maybe ill get to him one day

And do you know why Varian didn't look at the books and say "Wow, wish that were me?" Because he wasn't looking at it from the point of view of a kid that has nothing, he grew up among the elite in Corona and only started to fall out of favor because of his alchemy becoming literally explosive. It was clear his family had money, because he thought nothing of destroying the town by accident beyond "Shoot, that didn't go as planned. Now dad's mad at me, I'm grounded and it's back to the drawing board".

He never had to struggle for food, never had to fight over toys, he thoughtlessly destroyed books while playing around because he could just get more, books that Eugene had to either steal money to get or steal the books themselves. He literally cuts one of the "Flynn Rider" books in half right in front of Eugene while playing with his sword and you can see the pained expression on Eugene's face from it. He carves into several pages of yet another "Flynn Rider" book to shove the graphtych into it. He does not care about destroying his books, because he could just get more. His dad grows an import crop from America, and not because they actually need it but just because he wanted to and they could easily afford it.

He didn't actually start learning the feeling of having nothing until his village was destroyed, his father encased and the king found out that he knew of a threat to the kingdom and wanted him silenced. And then, once his dad was back and the village was rebuilt and his reputation was improved, he was right back to living the good life where he didn't care about wasting money because his family had a lot of it. And he didn't have to worry about people raiding his family coffers because, even if Frederic hated him, he would never let anyone steal from Quirin, which is why the place was untouched after a year of being abandoned.

Eugene was a poor orphan who had nothing and dreamed of a life where he had enough money he could do anything he wanted. Varian had enough money to do anything he wanted and didn't even care about how much was spent and the consequences of his actions because he never had to worry at all. There is concept art of his room being full of toys and instruments and books we never see him use, because he's bored of them already. A room full of things that would make Eugene's eyes bulge out with the thought of growing up without ever needing to want for longer than two seconds. He wants a toy, point and it's his, that was Varian's life.

It's no wonder Varian went through a storm, ran up to the princess and said "You need to come with me now", because why wouldn't he? He had no reason to think he wouldn't get what he wanted, because he had never needed to want. So what if there's a state of emergency, he wants her to come with him NOW! His reasons for being angry were legitimate, there was a real issue, but the fact he didn't think twice about taking her into the storm and seemed almost offended that she said "no, I need to stay here" speaks volumes.

Contrary to what a lot of people seem to believe, Varian was born rich and acted like it. Just because he doesn't wear his nice clothes to do lab work, it doesn't mean all he has are damaged clothes in need of a patch job. He was entitled, sheltered, and didn't have to struggle to get by in life, he just had a hobby that people frowned upon so he was seen as eccentric. The only difference between him and the stuff-shirts at the coronation is the fact that he didn't wear fancy clothes on a daily basis. And I put him in fancy clothes every time I send him to the coronation in my fics, because he definitely has them, he just prefers his work clothes.

Why are you hiding this in the tags? I would LOVE to discuss it with you! In fact, I'm going to do just that right now! I didn't say he was apathetic, he definitely noticed that people struggled and helped when he could, but he didn't see any issue with causing a little destruction because his village can just be rebuilt, thanks to his father's ties to the king and also the money that he has as Mayor of Old Corona. As long as no one got hurt, well, he was relieved and instead focused on everything else. His dad confirmed that everyone was alright after making sure he was okay, so he could focus on instead "back to the drawing board". And as for the books, well, as I said, he could just get more. But, we saw the full extent of his empathy and care towards people when they faced something that couldn't just be paid to repair, that couldn't be bought, that couldn't even be fought, and people unfortunately suffered and he couldn't understand why Rapunzel would just ignore them, why she wouldn't come as soon as he called for help. She was, after all, supposedly his friend and supposedly the ever-loving, sweetest, caring princess that would never let her people suffer. Except she did. And no amount of money could change that. No amount of money could bring back the lives taken. Homes could be rebuilt, usually, all you need to do is throw money at some construction workers and you've got the job done. But, they couldn't rebuild after the destruction Rapunzel caused and ignored. No amount of money would make Rapunzel care, would make the King care. But, Varian did care, he cared very much, and he didn't know how to help. But, when it came to small things like books, replaceable things, he was a lot more, as you put it, apathetic. He didn't put as high a value on books because they've never been hard to get for him. He probably spent way more on getting Eugene's ponytail than he did on the entire set in one sitting, and Eugene couldn't dream of being able to afford even one of the books brand-new when he was a kid and probably had to convince himself that he's allowed to buy luxury things like books now. Seeing one of them destroyed right in front of him, one that looked in mint-condition and was definitely expensive before Varian cut it in half, made Eugene rather distressed.

I think that if Eugene or Rapunzel saw all of the toys and other stuff just sitting around his room, they'd suggest he donate some of it to the orphanage. He's not using them anyway! (Pictured: A clip from a deleted scene. Sorry for the big ol' play button.)

so I guess in summary of my overall thoughts on this, I do agree with what you’ve said, in both posts, I just wasn’t completely clear on what you meant until the second post, thank you for replying!! actually a few side notes also because. Where else am I going to put these.. WHY does Varian have Eugene’s ponytail. How did he get it. Why is he idolizing a thief over the book character in the first place, how is this normalized??? I love Varian he’s a little freak I think. Clearly he is mentally ill and not unlike myself because I probably would be that way about my obsessions if I were in that time and not in the age of keychains and other such merch. It still strikes me as a little odd though because how did he just. How did this 14yr old kid get to that point… when did this start. I know I’ve been obsessive over things since. Forever and I’ve definitely collected stuff but I’m just curious when Varian would’ve started his little ‘flynn shrine’ if you will. what else. I feel like I’m getting out of order again but you couldn’t pay me to sort things out correctly…

It seems that his bad blood with Eugene in season 1 didn't reduce his affection for him any; if anything he probably found Eugene's hostility attractive(?). (This kid has problems, but if you go by Vat7K he definitely goes for the "bad boy" types.) Anyways, as you said, he was more concerned about disappointing his dad than destruction of property. About the Rapunzel thing, it is really hard to argue in her defense because she lamented about sending him away when he was in need, and then canonly left him alone without checking on him for several months. It's even worse if you go by the production order and "Painter's Block", "Pascal's story", "Big Brothers of Corona", "Not in the Mood", "The Wrath of Ruthless Ruth", "Max's Enemy" and "The Way of the Willow" all take place between "Queen for a Day" and "Quest for Varian", but it also fills in the gaps of "what was she doing all those months?" My point is, at the time of the storm she had a valid reason, but once the danger was past, she had no reason to completely ignore Varian's existence and never check in. Also, it's pretty clear by how they were hauling him out that they just threw him outside. You don't put someone that requires being roughly manhandled the whole way into a spare room. He's lucky he wasn't put into a holding cell, frankly. I'm pretty sure that once Frederic discovered what happened to Quirin, any sense of mercy they had for him was shut down. Especially since Varian grabbed Rapunzel and shook her hard enough to make her visibly wince in pain, possibly leaving bruises.

He was desperate, he was confused and he was getting violent when she didn't go along with him, so he got sent away, even if his "violence" was just a desperate child holding on as tight as they could to the last shred of hope and a promise of aid from someone who, by her own words, "never broke a promise". And she not only broke it that night, but she broke it every day after, every day she didn't go to check on him, to help him. She promised him that everything would be alright. She promised him that she would help him. He had been keeping all of his promises to her, all her secrets, so why couldn't she keep the one she made to him? Could it be because she's been afraid of him ever since she first met him? Maybe, if she'd met him in a less volatile setting, maybe if he'd gone to her coronation, or they met at a noble's party, things might've been better between them. Either way, for whatever reason, she not only refused to help, but she ignored his suffering and the suffering of her people on the border of the kingdom for months. Rapunzel's "sort of trying to help" in SotSD took Varian dropping amber solution on a black rock near her mother and the threat of losing her forever if she didn't work with him. She didn't try to help, she just obeyed his commands. She didn't even try to actually help him before he resorted to that. Her "trying to help" was sitting there while he used her hair to try to undo the mess she (and he) caused with the rocks she summoned. Frankly, she should've "sort of tried to help" by looking for Varian when she went to his village after he sent the kite, but she didn't even do THAT. Rapunzel did absolutely nothing in the way of helping Varian, trying to find Varian or making sure he was okay. Her first sign of life from him was a letter begging her for her help and warning her about the masked men that had been terrorizing him, but she didn't even think to go back to find him after she had beaten the masked men at her old tower to make sure he was okay. So, no, you cannot look at things from "both sides" because once she has the opportunity to help and doesn't even try, she has no defense. The one time she tried to bring it up to her dad, after she had a dream about Varian, he lied to her about the rocks being taken care of and Varian being fine and she took it at face value and even when she realized he was lying to her, she never looked for Varian. Not once. And Eugene and a royal guard knowing about Varian's flash-bombs already during his first time using them on-screen implies that they had encountered each other before, and he had used it before. So, clearly, Varian was trying to get to her, even if she didn't try looking for him.

They knew exactly what was about to happen and Eugene was the first to recover as a result.

I really wish we got more Varian and Eugene time. There's so much implied off-screen stuff. And why the heck did they give Varian a stalker shrine with hair on it, as well as some other things, and just gloss over it?!

Like for the majority it really is "oh i'm hungrier and moodier than usual"

If, before you get your period, you feel furiously angry, suicidal, irritated by every tiny thing to the point you want to murder someone, stuck in a black hole you'll never escape from. If you are experiencing extreme emotions for what seems like no good reason, especially if you get your period and those extreme emotions just go away. You're probably not just PMSing , you may have PMS's feral big sister PMDD and it's treatable.

Varian 🧪🩵