themuseabandonsyou | Deerington IC Inbox

i'm at 25 raccoon alley
thanks

[ Orpheus arrives pretty shortly after receiving the message, having cut across some peoples' yards to get to Raccoon Alley from the apartments rather than go around. Fern seemed pretty stressed out about whatever was going on with the cocoon, so getting here quickly seemed a little more important than being polite.

Guitar slung across his back, he knocks on the door. ]

[Fern is anxiously awaiting Orpheus' arrival, so when he knocks he's quick to open the door. He's looking more than a little frazzle, his grass twitchy and frayed from him tearing at it out of stress.]

Hey. He's upstairs.

[He'll abruptly turn and head straight up the stairs to Varian's bedroom. Nervously, he'll take a few steps in, though there's a transparent gold sphere around Varian, the vein cocoon and the bed.]

Eda and Luz put up a shield to protect him. You won't be able to get that close.

[ Orpheus follows Fern into the house, frowning in concern at the state he's in. ]

'Him'? [ he asks, glancing over at the cocoon and yeah, that's definitely person-sized, isn't it? Hmm. ] Who's in there?

[ He's already pulling his guitar off his back as he asks, trying to think about what would work for this. He's never tried to get rid of - what is that? Flesh?? - before, and isn't sure what would be best for the task. ]

Varian. We're best friends.

[He's visible underneath all the veins. It's such a creepy image, Fern hates it, and his nervousness is coming through in his voice.]

Last night he was totally fine. We celebrated New Years together, and when I woke up this morning he was just like this.

Oh! I've met him, once. He seemed nice.

[ And if he's important to Fern, that's all the more reason to try to get him out of this quickly. Taking a quick second to check that his guitar is in tune (it always is), Orpheus begins to play a fast, jangly piece, artistic in its very slight discordance. He couldn't explain why this song in particular seemed like the right choice for the situation, beyond a general notion of plants liking folk and maybe weird magical veins might dislike this country that might or might not be from the future that Allison played at her concert.

He makes it through the song once, watching the veins twitch and move very slightly to the rhythm and, frowning, starts it over again, humming along this time. The veins writhe a little more, and for a moment he thinks something is about to happen, but then they go stubbornly still, and no matter how hard he plays they won't do more than pulse vaguely. ]

Hm. [ he says, squinting at Varian through the sphere of energy surrounding him. ] Well, I can try another song? I thought I had something there for a moment, but...

[Fern nervously waits as Orpheus plays. It's a beautiful song, and despite this whole situation a few little wildflower are growing along his hat as he listens to it. His body is reacting to it, so hopefully this will cause the veins to react, too.

For a second it even looks like it's working. He stares as the veins twitch and writhe, hope slowly blooming inside of him. Orpheus is going to do it, he's going to fix things and Fern is going to owe him forever and forever and -

And nothing. His heart sinks.]

Y - yeah. Try another song, it might help.

[ Right, time for a different approach. Orpheus tries again, this time picking out something slower, with an almost lullaby-like quality to it. When he hits the chorus he starts to sing quietly as he plays, figuring that the words can't hurt, certainly. ]

If you're lost you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall, I will catch you, I'll be waiting
Time after time
If you're lost, you can look and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall, I will catch you, I will be waiting
Time after time

[ But it doesn't seem to do much more than the other song, other than make the veins pulse a little slower. He glances over at Fern, nervous and apologetic. ]

I'm not sure this is something I can fix? [ he admits. ] I'm happy to keep trying, but I don't know. Do you think someone did this to him? Or is it the town?

[That isn't a song Fern is familiar with and oh boy, does it ever hurt to hear. It's crushing, actually, and he folds his arms around himself tightly as he bites back the torrent of feelings that are threatening to make him either cry or start breaking things. His grass is really, really twitchy.

Making everything worse is the fact that even though the song is having a drastic effect on him, it's doing absolutely nothing to the cocoon.]

It... it might be. I don't know. Peter's pamphlet mentions something like this happening to people, sometimes.

Edited 2021-01-05 17:17 (UTC)

Does it?

[ Orpheus pulls his copy of said pamphlet out of his back pocket and takes a second to skim it. It's only a brief mention, but there it is. ]

This may just be something we need to wait out, then. [ He says, frowning sympathetically. It's not what he'd want to hear under these circumstances, but if this is the town and not a curse put on him by another sleeper he's not sure any of them have the power to break it. ] I'm sorry. Peter made it sound like it's probably temporary, at least?

[The uncertainty surrounding all of this just makes Fern continue to remain tense and hunched. The pamphlet offers a small sliver of hope, but he isn't sure he should rely on it.]

What if it isn't? What if it's something else, or this time it ends up being permanent? What if Varian is just - just stuck like this??

I don't know. [ Orpheus looks back over at him, wrapped in his cocoon and presumably oblivious to their efforts to get him out. Peter said he'd 'gone home' but what does that mean? ]

Maybe we should ask people who've been through this before? Maybe they'll be able to tell us what's going on in there. It might not help get him out sooner, but it could tell us how long it might take?

[That isn't a bad idea. That's better than just sitting around and doing nothing and potentially letting all of this get worse.]

I can try asking more people. Maybe, you're right, maybe someone else has got a better idea of what's happening.

[ Orpheus nods. ]

If you need me to sit up with you while this is going on, I can do that too. It's up to you if you want the company or not.

It's... it's fine. I'll be fine.

[Hardly, he just doesn't want to be wasting anymore of Orpheus' time.]

I'll call you if anything changes.

[ Orpheus doesn't quite look like he believes that, but he doesn't want to press the issue, especially since Fern can always change his mind and call him back later. If he wants to be alone right now, Orpheus can respect that. ]

Please do. I'll see you again soon, okay?

[What he really wants to do is curl up in a fetal position until Varian is out of the cocoon. That or trash the house, it's tough to tell which is winning out in his mind.

He gives Orpheus a small nod.]

Yeah. See you soon.

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