laminae | Tangled AU

Tangled AU

Fern's first memories are painful ones. The first thing he feels is like he's dying, which might sound like a contradiction but makes sense within the context of his creation. Rapunzel's voice echoes throughout the Great Tree, the Decaying Incantation killing the once great being, and in a last ditch attempt to avoid death, either by the Tree itself or Zhan Tiri's influence, the slowly fading embers of its life force are pumped into whatever plant life it can reach. Of course, the Incantation still hits most of it, and every single one of those plants wither away into nothingness all the same.

Everything, that is, except for a small patch of grass. It fades like the rest, but one last spark of life enters as the Incantation is abruptly cut off by the impulsive actions of one Handmaiden, and it remains. As the group moves on towards the Dark Kingdom, and Adira drags Hector off to bandage his injuries, that patch of grass comes to life.

It's painful, suddenly wrenched into sentient consciousness thanks to a spell designed to kill. Like an explosion of death and decay all around him, threatening to smother him the very second he started existing. With no eyes and ears he can't tell what's going on around him, and with no mouth and lungs he can't cry out, so he can do nothing but fight back and push through the agony until it subsides into a dull ache.

He's weak at first, and the remains of the Tree overhead block out any sunlight he could have used to grow stronger. Still, the grass twitches and curls and gradually bundles itself together into a ball, and then after more time something more person-shaped. It's a rough approximation of the body the Great Tree had possessed shortly before its death, and since those memories are strongest in his mind that's what he goes with: two arms, two legs, a head, a body, two eyes and two ears, a nose, a mouth. Something vaguely human and at the same time distinctly not, something that allows him to more freely move around, find a patch of sunlight, and regain some strength. Human senses follow, again based on vague memories that aren't really his, and over the next few months he finds his footing in the complete and total disaster that is Being Alive. He doesn't start living, though, until the man the Tree had possessed finally returns to his long-destroyed home.

~

Beyond the Tree a whirlwind of events happen, not limited to the near total destruction of a kingdom, the rise of an ancient demon, and the reuniting of two cosmic powers. To say a lot has happened is a total understatement, and frankly, Hector is just glad to get out of there, away from people. He always did better with animals, and he has some literal and metaphorical wounds to lick. Turns out getting mind controlled twice is a horrifying experience, who knew.

He is, technically, back at the site of the Tree per Edmund's orders. Before he and Edmund and Adira had left Corona there was talk of building up a proper road of some sort to better connect the two kingdoms, and that would obviously involve clearing out the Tree's remains to make the area more amenable to horses and wagons. Unlike the rest of them, though, he doesn't particularly care about any of that. This was his home for many, many years, and he isn't so eager to raze what's left of it in the name of friendship and progress. So he goes, but he goes because being around the epitome of sunshine is a lot to deal with, and he needs to get away from all of that. All of those people. He needs a metaphorical dark hole where he can be alone with his rhino and his binturongs and all he has to worry about is survival of the fittest.

So it's a big downer to find someone else has taken up residence in his home. It goes without saying that as soon as his binturongs catch the scent that something is off Hector is on the hunt, and then it's only a matter of time before he's ambushing one residual plant monster he assumes is being controlled by Zhan Tiri. Or is Zhan Tiri, whichever. He doesn't care, he's just happy to get a good fight in. The creature is bizarre and learns quickly, mimicking him in the span of only a few minutes and creating a hardened blade out of vine, similar to his own retractable gauntlet sword. The thing fights fiercely, but mimicry isn't a replacement for actual skill and experience, and it isn't long before Hector gets the upper hand. And once he does, the creature starts falling apart, fighting more and more like a cornered animal. As it tires out he gradually finds himself comparing the creature more to his animals than the cunning and deliberate Zhan Tiri. Still, he doesn't hesitate in chopping its head off, ending the battle.

.... Except that doesn't take at all, and while the creature finally backs off it doesn't actually die. It regrows and reattaches its head, then scrambles up some old vines out of his reach to hiss at him. Sort of like an upset cat that's been dunked in a river instead of some demonic monster. It's hardly the most threatening thing... in fact, it's actually a little funny.

Thus began the strange, feral relationship between Hector and a small grass creature. A few more fights occur, though nothing quite as serious as the first one, and each time the creature retreats before he can chop another body part off. It becomes increasingly clear that this thing, while obviously magical, doesn't seem to be an agent of Zhan Tiri. He even learns the damn thing can talk and eat food, after one unfortunate night when he let his guard down while cooking a rabbit he had caught. It was roasting on a spit over a fire, and he had dozed off for all of two minutes, and the creature had snuck past the animals to steal it. He had gone after it, cursing up a storm, and it had responded with some equally vociferous curses. After that night, it had apparently decided that speaking to him was safe enough, and it started doing so.

Though they were less conversations, and more it demanding to know what Hector was doing on any given day. The demands start out simple enough, wanting to know more about eating (makes sense, it's obviously a plant), but grow more complicated over time - how did you build that trap for dinner, what's that thing on your arm, why is it called a sword, how did you get the sword.

There are a lot of sword questions, and one day the creature reappears holding Demanitus's enchanted spear. Hector had thought that thing had gotten buried in the rubble of the Great Tree when it collapsed, but apparently this thing had been doing some digging.

It's gradual, but Hector even starts answering some of them. Mostly the questions about weaponry, and when he does his answers are usually bitingly sharp or mocking, but they're still answers, and the creature accepts them with the kind of curiosity you normally only see in kids. It's a tenuous foundation, but it's there and over time it becomes more solid, to the point where Hector finds he doesn't even mind having the grass.... kid.... thing around. He stays out of his way when he's in a bad mood, and he's aggressive and won't hesitate to fight, and the kid is clearly growing more attached to him (though, that might be because there isn't anyone else around). It's still strange, but it isn't the worst thing ever, and it's certainly preferable to being surrounded by actual people.

When the weather starts to cool down Hector leaves him some proper clothes (patched together, with more animal furs than necessary), and at some point their occasional fights shift from impulsive bursts of violence to actual training and sparring. Hector can't even remember when he started giving the kid a nickname, but he did at some point, if only because he needed something short when telling him off, and 'grass monster' was too much of a mouthful.

~

It doesn't last.

Hector had been keeping in contact with Edmund and Adira via letters sent and received by Hamuel during his time at the Tree. He hadn't mentioned Fern - there didn't seem to be much of a point, if he wasn't connected to Zhan Tiri - though he did offhandedly say the spear had been recovered. Unfortunately, he one day receives word from a very tired Hamuel that Edmund is ordering him back to the Dark Kingdom proper to assist with rebuilding efforts, and to leave the spear in Corona with Quirin's son, apparently some kind of genius alchemist similar to Demanitus himself. He has absolutely no desire to take the kid with him, though efforts to simply leave don't come so easily when Fern starts following him, so he does the first thing that comes to mind.

He tries to ditch him. Several times. But it turns out it isn't so easy to ditch a kid made out of grass in forests, so as soon as he meets up with Adira he tries to pawn him off onto her. That doesn't go so well, either. That leaves him with two options: take him to the Dark Kingdom, or dump him with Quirin.

He chooses the latter, and does it in the most spectacularly low effort way possible. Taking Fern with him, he makes a rapid trip to Old Corona, showing up late one night on Quirin's doorstep with absolutely no notice. He tells Fern a few simple lies to make him stay put long enough to get away, then knocks on Quirin's door. Quirin is, understandably, not thrilled with this arrangement, but Hector doesn't give him any options. After a very quick (and lacking) explanation of what's going on the guy books it out of there on his rhino, leaving Fern standing there on his doorstep, spear in hand. As exasperated as Quirin is, he can't very leave just leave... whatever this thing is... like Hector just did, so he sends word to Varian that the spear is currently in his possession and lets Fern stay. It takes Fern a few days to feel comfortable enough to even go inside the house, and while that isn't the best situation (his presence has a tendency to terrify the Old Corona citizens), Quirin figures he can get this sorted out before Varian arrives.

He's being far too optimistic, though in the meantime he does manage to persuade Fern indoors during a particularly heavy and cold rain, even letting him use Varian's bed for the moment. Just until he can get ahold of literally anyone else in the Brotherhood.

So that's where Fern is tonight. He isn't used to sleeping on a bed but it's a lot softer and more comfortable than the ground, so he doesn't mind. The faint aroma of chemicals bothers him more, honestly, and he tries to ignore it as he burrows further until the blankets.

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"I got no idea what that is but I'm gonna trust you on that," Fern says with a small grin. It's cool, they will both be awkward and hopeless together.

"Did you finish your food...?" Chances are it's cold by now, but he did leave when Varian was only halfway through his meal and he knows food is pretty important to people. If he needs to sit down there with the guys while he eats, then he'll manage it.

"Oh," oh jeez, oh wow, he blushes more- he's got to be the colour of a beetroot at this point. "It means someone who's...who's really good at romance and...stuff. Has a lot of people they...do the romance with."

Do the romance with. Such a wordsmith. At the question, he waves his hand vaguely.

"It's fine. I was pretty much done with it anyway."

"Uh." That's Fern's first reaction because yup, Varian is definitely not a Casanova. He's pretty sure anyone who calls it do the romance with can't be one of those. "Right, got it."

At least he definitely isn't one of those, either?

"Cool. Let's, uh. Let's go up to the room. Rooms?" Whatever, he has given this zero thought.

He absolutely is not one of those, nor will he ever be. He has accepted this. But they seem to have navigated this sea of awkwardness for now and he smiles, nodding. Okay, good.

"Um...room, probably. But it's okay, there will be plenty of space for us unless Lance decides he's going to be funny and make this awkward for us."

He is severely underestimating how willing Lance is to make his life awkward.

"Okay. Okay, room it is!" He says, realizing that this technically means this is the first time they're going to be sleeping in the same room together. That... should be fine, even though they're got all these weird feelings going on. Right? Right.

He heads back into the Snuggly Duckling, pointedly shooting the rest of the guys a vicious look, just to head off any potential sass. Thankfully, they've wizened up, and Lance has headed back into the kitchen, so there's no one to bother them as they book it upstairs to the rooms.

That's exactly what it means and Varian's trying his best not to think too hard about it. It's going to be weird enough, and all he can do is hope that Lance has given them space with two beds. He's glad that the gang have taken a break from mocking him, and exhales sharply as they go up the stairs.

Part of the hallway has a chunk of tree in it- the great oak the building is built around. Varian ducks under it to get to the room Lance had told him was set up. He sucks in a breath, turning the key and stepping inside. He pauses, stares at the room, and looks skywards.

"Of course he'd only give us one bed. Of course, he would."

The tree is kind of a cool touch. Fern hadn't really noticed it when they had first come in, he had been too distracted by the Duckling crew and Lance, but now that he's actually up close it reminds him a little of... himself, sort of. The Great Tree. It's got a nice homey feeling to it, and it helps him relax some more, as they head to the room.

He hadn't given any thought to the bed situation. Apparently that was a mistake. Fern stares at the single bed, then out towards the kitchen, then the bed again. Then he forms a sword, turning to head back down. "I'm gonna go stab him."

It really does say a lot for how tenacious Coronans are, really. A big ass tree is in the way of your building your pub? Build the pub AROUND the tree! Obviously! Varian's still staring at the bed when Fern forms the sword. He yelps, turning to stop him.

"No no! Don't stab Lance! As tempting as it is, don't stab him! He's got kids!!"

That seems as good a reason as anything to not murder the jackass. He moves into the room, putting his hands on his hips.

"It's...fine. I'll grab some extra blankets and make a space on the floor to sleep on or...something."

Fern lets out a loud grumble, not wanting to but listening to Varian and stopping. Okay, no stabbing. No stabbing right now, even though the guy totally deserves at least one stab for this. The sword disappears back into his hand, and he turns and heads back into the room.

"I will. I'm already used to sleeping on floors and outside and stuff," he says, running a hand exasperatedly through his hair. "You can have the bed, okay?"

He absolutely and totally deserves it. But he'd rather Angry and Catalina not have to deal with a stabbed dad, so here they are. Varian frowns, clearly not happy with this, either. It doesn't seem fair.

"The fact you're used to it just means you're more deserving of sleeping on an actual bed tonight," he waves a hand. "It's fine, I probably won't sleep much anyway."

Frowning at that, Fern moves to sit awkwardly at the edge of the bed. At least the thing is big? Though he looks fully prepared to argue with Varian on who gets it.

"Why not?" He asks, a little concerned about that. He likes sleeping, sleeping is great, why wouldn't Varian want to sleep? The only answer coming to him is one he doesn't really like, and he shifts, looking up at the other boy. "Is it... because of me?"

"What?"

Varian had been peering around the room for the best place to put a pile of blankets on the floor when the other boy's question reaches his ears. He blinks up, surprised.

"No! No, no," he waves his hands in a solid, sweeping motion. "Absolutely not. I...I wasn't sleeping great long before you showed up, trust me. That's just...always a thing. Too much going on in my head, it's fine."

Hearing that has Fern looking a little relieved. Okay, that doesn't solve the whole bed thing, but that's good to hear. This isn't his fault, it's just another Varian quirk. Varian quirks he can handle.

"Alright," he says slowly, looking down at the bed. Of course, even if this is a Varian quirk he doesn't want to make things worse by taking the whole bed. "Uh, we could always share? This thing is pretty big, I think there's enough space."

A blush crosses Varian's cheeks at the suggestion, even if Fern is right. It is pretty big. There should be more than enough space without making it awkward...even if he'd have to deal with Lance's obnoxious teasing in the morning.

"Oh um- SURE! Uh...sorry, that was loud," the blushing is only getting worse. "I um, yeah, that...that would be aoky. If you're okay with that, which I guess you are because you wouldn't have suggested it if you weren't."

That blush is unmistakable, and Fern can't tell if he's misstepping or doing the right thing. It'd be a lot easier if there were two beds, or maybe if he just hopped out the window and slept in a tree... but he's getting a good idea of how stubborn Varian is, and he doubts the latter would go over well.

"I'm, um. Yeah, okay with it," he says slowly, watching the other boy's expression carefully. "If... you are? If you aren't you can just tell me, okay?"

Fern is correct in his estimations, of course. Varian is very stubborn and would not let him just sleep in a tree. His gaze drifts down to the bed, then back up to Fern himself.

"Y-eah, it's okay, I'm fine," oh boy, his heart is feeling weird and tight in his chest. "Don't worry about it, I am a-ok with this."

"Cool. Okay. We're both okay with it." He remains sitting there awkwardly, drumming his fingers on his legs. Out the window the sun is sinking below the horizon, so he guesses they won't be staying up for much longer. "So... this whole place is.... okay? The tree is kind of cool."

It hasn't been his best first impression of the tavern, given everything that's happened, but he can see how a normal person might like the place.

"Yes, we're both okay and this is...cool. Super cool."

He moves to sit on the bed too, trying to ignore the last remnants of odd nervousness fluttering in his chest as he does so.

"Yeah, it's a pretty neat pub. It's been a good hideout for us from time to time when we needed it. It has a tunnel under it that attaches to the catacombs in the city."

Yep, super cool. Fern nods at that. They are both okay and cool and this is fine.

At least the tunnel thing helps distract him. "A tunnel?? Dude, that's awesome!" He says excitedly. "So we could take the catacombs all the way to the city?? I mean - if we didn't have a horse and wagon to think about."

He grins, nodding.

"Pretty much! The horse and wagon won't fit down there, but I can go through the catacombs all the way into my lab if I wanted to. But don't worry, you can check them out once we get to the castle."

"Cool, that'll be fun." Cool cool cool, something to look forward to when they get to the castle. Tomorrow. Because they're staying here for the night.

"So... we'll definitely to that, tomorrow. Yup."

They are definitely staying here for the night- which is drawing ever closer to them. Varian eyes the setting sun out of the window. Welp. This is where they're at now.

"Uh- we should probably get some sleep. It's gonna be a busy day tomorrow."

"Yup. Busy day," Fern echoes, kicking a foot a little. Okay, this is fine, he can do this.

He tugs his fur muffler off and drops it on the floor, along with his belt. Then he flops over onto the bed properly, making sure to stay far over on one side so Varian has plenty of room.

"Busy, busy day."

Okay, he's just...going to repeat himself. Awkwardly. He moves to get his boots off, and then his own belt, gloves and goggles- to try and make it a more comfortable sleep. He shifts, lying down on his own side, flat on his back, his hands folded on his chest- drumming his fingers nervously.

"Well. Um. Goodnight."

Oh, he's acing this. He's sure not just...laying there. Awake.

"'Night."

Fern lies there for few seconds, feeling awkward as all get out, before deciding to roll over onto his side. Maybe that'll make things less awkward?? Besides, he's more comfortable curled up on his side. He squeezes his eyes shut, trying to focus on the quiet and the darkness. Yup, definitely going to fall asleep soon. So soon.

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