#and it’s okay to be scared of or squicked out by bugs

[firekitten830]

“No more bug dragons!!!” I hope the wind ancient is a dragonfly. Fuck you

[froggiemoonposts]

I used to like butterflies. As a kid I was extremely scared of bugs...and to an extent I still am. But not butterflies because they were pretty and whatnot and reminded me of the fairies that haunted my dreams.

I don't like butterflies anymore. I still don't like most bugs, I resoect what they do for the ecosystem...and I try not to kill them when they are in the house...but I don't like them. I have my reasons, but I really dont like them.

Now think about every person you know who has certain dislikes that seem silly...or its something they used to be okay with but now avoid entirely.

They have their reasons.

Dont be an asshole. Respect peoples boundries.

"Oh but Froggie you cant just police people and the wolrd doesnt cater to your squicks and triggers"

I don't care. Its not hard to not be an ass. Close friends know my reasoning about bugs and therefore don't bring up things that squick me out. I do the same for them. Its not hard.

Its not policing, its respecting the people around you.

[baconcolacan]

If it’s okay to ask, what scares you about butterflies/moths? How they flutter about or?

My fear is entirely irrational and I acknowledge that it is, so if my answers seem lacking just chalk it up to weird brain goings-ons

I don’t like how erratically they fly, it feels like watching something have a seizure mid-air, not to mention the dust on their wings that can harm your eyes. Its really mostly the flying that squicks me out, not sure WHY though, like birds and bees dont bother me, dragonflies dont bother me, other flying bugs dont bother me.

Some wing patterns also make my skin crawl, moths are the biggest perpetrators of this. Butterflies with certain patterns also gross me out, but artistically I can appreciate their patterns (from a distance or maybe dead from a distance.)

I’d never harm them though, since I know this is all an irrational fear, and I can stand to shoo them away if I very very lightly disassociate from myself. Other than that, I would have a panic attack lmao.

[ariaadagio]

Hi Aria! Hope you're having a good day. I'm new to writing fanfiction, and I wondered if you had any tips on getting your work out there and seen by more people? I've posted a couple of works on AO3, and the people who read them seem to like them, but they quickly get buried under everything else. I enjoy what I've written and I want other people to enjoy it too, so how to get out to the fandom that it's there for the reading? Thanks!

Hi there! Thank you for the ask. My day is going okay so far—I hope yours is as well :)

This is a great question, but unfortunately there is no easy answer.

Lots and lots of authors struggle with this, including me.

Sometimes, you can do everything right, and people still won't read. Lack of readership doesn't necessarily mean your fic hasn't been seen. That's just ... kinda the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. Not everybody likes the same things. Don't beat yourself up, and try not to stress overmuch about hypotheticals.

That being said.

My suggestions for specific technical things you can do:

1. Make sure your summary is catchy, actually summarizes what the story is about, and contains no typos or grammatical errors. Do not put what actually qualifies as author notes where the summary should be—if what you're saying isn't specifically about your plot, it doesn't belong in the summary block. Do not say things like, "I suck at summaries. Just read!" A quote from your story probably isn't as descriptive as you think it is—try to actually summarize as well. Avoid asking simple questions with obvious answers like "Will Chloe and Lucifer get together?"

2. Make sure your story is tagged appropriately. Tags should concern major (i.e. not things that occur only on page 42 of your 2,349 page opus) ideas, tropes, ships, characters, squicks, triggers, and kinks portrayed in your story. Be extra sure to tag major tropes the fandom has a collective hard-on for. You can get a feel for what tropes are popular by examining common tags on popular stories.

3. As an addendum to this, Ao3 has required tags: author chose not to warn, no archive warnings apply, major character death, rape/noncon, and underage. "Author chose not to warn" means "any of the other required tags may or may not be present, so read at your own risk." A lot of people who won't read major character death, noncon, or underage sex will automatically skip a story marked "chose not to warn" regardless of whether the fic contains those things. Be aware that by choosing not to specifically include or exclude certain tags, you are very likely losing out on potential readers, not just by scaring some readers away, but by preventing readers actively looking for those tags from finding your story. Also, don't select both "chose not to warn" and "no archive warnings apply" because these two tags are mutually exclusive and clicking both sends a mixed message.

4. And as an addendum to that ... be aware of the difference between & and /. Relationship tags with an & signify a platonic or familial relationship, whereas / signifies a romantic or sexual relationship. Amenadiel & Lucifer and Amenadiel/Lucifer mean two entirely different things. Be aware of what message you're sending to potential readers.

5. Make sure you do not get caught by the timezone bug on Ao3. When you're posting a story, if the timezone you're posting from is on a different date from UTC, you are in dangerous territory. This can cause your story's posting time to get flagged wrong, and you'll never make the front page for your fandom.

6. Make sure you do not get caught by the draft "feature" on Ao3. When you post a story from draft, the date your story is listed as posted actually corresponds to the date you started your draft, not the date you posted. If your draft is a week old by the time you hit post, well, your story is already going to be buried behind a week of other stories.

7. Don't preemptively put yourself down. Be confident. Announcing that you don't have a beta reader, or that you wrote this story in a coked out haze at 3 a.m., or that you think what you've written is trash, is a great way to convince readers your work isn't worth their time. Don't do it.

And then my suggestions for general exposure:

1. Network. Network. Network. Make fandom friends. Use social media like Twitter and Tumblr to actively promote your fics. Join the fandom discords. Talk!

2. Golden rule. If you want people to interact with your stories, it's always a great idea to interact with theirs. Obviously don't do this with the expectation of reciprocity, and absolutely do not lie. I'm just saying it doesn't hurt (and may actively help) to be nice and treat people how you'd like to be treated.

I hope this helps!

[flecks-of-stardust]

Okay sorry im sendi g an ask but the character limit worries me so im doin this here! Trigger and squicks list for bugsnax is as follows:

-alcohol-esque drinks are mentioned and consumed several times

-unnatural changes to bodyparts occur

-this is more a squick but theres a fair bit of romance, idk im aro and you have the flag so idk how much it bugs you but theres three relatively healthy relationships (two are queer if that means anything) and then one thats sorta uncomfortable and iffy

-bullying of other characters (just in case)

-paranoia, theres a character who is very paranoid and afraid and he discusses these things with the player, if you have problems with intrusive thoughts or fear that someone is watching you, this could trigger that

-theres some yelling, notably from a man in the game which may bug some people. Its not super serious and hes got a goofy accent but be warned

-a woman also yells at you in a gruff voice and hits stuff early in the game, though she doesnt appear again, just in case

-there is cannibalism in this game, though not depicted on screen it is mentioned snd the effects of it can be seen

-unsanitary warning, i think thia is minor but im trying to be comprehensive, the characters can sometimes be seen running to the bathroom in game and there is a sidequest where you collect someones poop, not explicit and its all in like a little bag and everything but still a bit icky, and your character is implied to have thrown up at one point, though not shown.

-theres lots of mention of death as a whole and lots of remonders of it. If death scares you, or existential questions and that sorta thing bug you, theres a character that can be found whos sidequest really ventures into that and it could be rough

-sort of melancholy ending no matter what

Overall the game is definitely aimed at kids, but there is darker stuff and its pretty prominent. Sorry for being thorough about this, but im thoroughly hyperfixated on this game and also want more people to enjoy it while being safe!! I hope you do get into it and enjoy it, and even if you dont drop 20 bucks on it, theres a couple people who have streamed playthroughs. Theres also a free dlc coming out in a bit so if that sweetens the deal then go wild.

Sorry to bug you! Have a nice day!!

OH also a couple minor sexual innuendos!

no no this is great, thank you so much!! i really appreciate it! and this is really helpful tbh. im very grateful you thought to mention the unsanitary stuff, because i have fairly severe emetophobia and info like that is really useful to me. i also appreciate you warning me about the romance; for the record, i Am romance-averse to an extent, but unless the romance is front and center itll probably be okay.

it sounds like it might be the paranoid character who might pose the biggest problem, tbh, cause fuckin same. my paranoia is wild and that's the biggest reason im worried about playing any games heavy in psych horror, though cartoony graphics and silly themes help cushion it (and ive been told bugsnax is heavy on the silly). im willing to try it, at the very least!

im still guilty about never finishing one shot but holy hell that game Fucks with me hard, with how meta it is and how anxiety inducing it is to quit out of the game. maybe ill watch a playthrough of that at some point,,

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

Okay- first request ever Can I get Mikan, Chiaki, Chihiro, Celeste, Kirumi, Byakuya And Hiyoko with an S/O/or friend that got scared by a bug and called them for help?- Great blog by the way! Adore your writing ❤️

Tysm! I’ll just give hcs if that’s okay ^^

..................

Mikan

She would be the one freaking out more--why call her for help of all people?

Will probably just tell you to avoid the room for the rest of the day.

Just be prepared to hear her shrill screams at any time should it suddenly disappear and reappear somewhere else.

You’ll have to be the one to kill it or put it back outside.

Chiaki

When she’s summoned for help, she’ll stare at the bug and be like “oh this is just like Ant Smasher hold on.”

And she just...calmly walks over and stomps on it. No hesitance. No emotion.

Then she returns to your side and says “don’t worry, it’s gone now. Let’s just clean it up.”

You can’t fathom how tf she’s so calm about it.

Chihiro

Instant panic.

“No you kill it!!” “I-I can’t!! Why don’t you?!!” “That’s why I called you in here!!” “I can deal with computer bugs but not real life ones!!!!”

It’s just back-and-forth arguing between you both on who should deal with it..

Until one of you finally realizes the bug disappeared.

Eventually, Chihiro tries to prove his masculinity by going back into the room to kill it.

And he does, though you gotta comfort him afterwards as he’s crying about how it was the scariest thing he ever experienced.

Celeste

Utterly disgusted by the sight of the bug.

She’ll just hand you a broom, say “good luck”, and leave immediately.

She ain’t putting up with that. Nope. No way.

God forbid the bug ends up hiding in her drills, though.

The whole house would burn down.

Kirumi

Has absolutely no problems killing the bug. She’s used to getting rid of household pests.

She can also catch it and put it back outside if you want her to.

Though she might remind you that the bug’s more scared of you than you are of it.

Will prob use bug spray to prevent any other unwanted critters from sneaking in.

Byakuya

Is a bit squicked by the sight.

He’ll have one of the servants take care of it ASAP.

But if it’s just you two, he’ll give it a swift death by broom.

You’ll have to clean it up, though, as repayment for forcing him to deal with that nasty critter himself.

Hiyoko

She giggles and runs to the bug.

“Hehe, little bug goes squish!”

And that’s exactly what she does--squish it with whatever’s nearby.

Will probably call you a scaredy cat.

Unless you tell her you knew she’d wanna squish it herself, and then she’ll thank you.

“Next time tho we’re gonna squish bugs together!”

[spectral-apparitions]

NSR: What they do when there's a bug in the room

Since I'm doing the main characters, there's a lot here. So under the cut it goes. No endgame spoilers, but minor spoilers for a few bosses that have alternate forms

Mayday: She's not a fan of bugs. She will SCREAM. She mostly shoos at it and tells it to go away until it scuttles off. If she really has to, she'll swat at it with something. Not to kill it, just to get it to move. She may not like the little things, but she won't kill them. If there's someone else with her she'll ask them to handle it. Well, more like beg them to. Then once it's handled she tries to pretend like she wasn't just freaking out.

Zuke: Also not a fan of bugs but not as loud about it as May. He will grab something to nudge it with to get it to move. Or if it climbs onto what he's holding he repeats "okay okay just stay just stay" under his breath while he takes it outside, then frantically waves the object around to get the bug to fall off. Usually between him and May, he's the one getting rid of the bugs. With anyone else around, he would much prefer they handle the bug, but if they're more scared of it than he is, he'll take action.

DK West: Indifferent to bugs. He'll pick them up in a cup and put them outside. Or if there's nothing to pick it up with, he'll take it in his hands, as long as it's not something that he thinks might bite or sting. He won't complain about having to move a bug, but he visibly shudders every time.

DJ Subatomic Supernova: Look this guy is a nerd. He's even a bit of a nerd about bugs. Unless this is something that actually poses some kind of threat, he'll pick it up in his hands and take it outside. He's used to being the only calm person when there's a bug, so he's usually the first one to get up and retrieve a bug as soon as one is noticed. If he's in the company of anyone else who can stay calm around bugs, he'll share any interesting facts he has about the one he's holding. Other people freaking out over bugs tends to annoy him. That said, he’s easily startled, and anything that could bite him, that moves suddenly, or he just can’t identify will freak him out. He might scream if it jumps at him.

Remi: Totally fine with bugs, even finds them neat. Out of the Sayu group he’s the one who handles bugs most often. He’ll pick up bugs with his bare hands or in a cup. If he’s alone when he spots a bug, he might leave it alone for a few minutes just to watch it crawl around.

Dodo: A little squicked out by bugs. By himself he mostly stays at a distance, traps it under a cup, then yeets it outside. Around anyone else though he usually hangs back to see if they'll take care of it. If they're more nervous about it though, he'll handle it.

Sofa: Out of the Sayu group he's the most bothered by bugs. He'll pick up a bug with a long object and put it outside and freak out about it the whole time. If anyone else is around he'll ask them to handle it. If he had to move it he'll wash his hands like three times even though he didn't touch it.

Tila: Finds bugs kinda neat but does not like handling them. She will pick them up in a cup and put them outside but she will not touch them. Usually the one in the squad handling bugs if Remi can't. Bugs inside bother her, bugs outside do not.

Sayu: Alright I'm not sure what situation leads to Sayu seeing a bug but since Sayu is for presentation it's probably in the presence of other people. She can't handle the bug herself due to how big she is (and in some cases, because she is presented virtually). But she will do her best to calm down whoever else is around. An advocate of gently putting the bug somewhere else, please don't kill our little friend :(

Yinu: She tends to get squicked out by bugs she's unfamiliar with, though once she learns about them she settles down. But there are a lot of bugs that don't bother her, like garden spiders and ants. Anything that she sees while she's gardening with Mama she has learned to not be afraid of. On her own she might pick up a bug and put it in a nice spot outside, out to the garden if she's at home. She'll even talk to the bug a little bit. If she's not quite comfortable she'll get Mama to handle the bug. Around people who are more nervous about bugs though, she takes on a teaching role and shows them that the bug won't hurt them as she picks it up and takes it away.

Mama: Very calm around bugs, actually. She's taught Yinu that bugs are good, important creatures and are not scary. She calmly picks up bugs and puts them outside. In the presence of anyone who is scared of bugs, she will offer to help them calm down. She has no patience for people who angrily hate bugs, though.

Rin/White: Around other people (other than 1010) he immediately goes to take care of it and insists that he’s got it, there’s no need to worry, even if nobody is actually freaked out. Usually picks it up with something or under a cup, but if need be will pick it up by hand. Incredibly calm the whole time. As soon as he’s back, he checks if anyone needs calming down.

Zimelu/Red: Secretly a nerd about bugs but keeps quiet about it because he doesn’t want to seem weird. Around the rest of 1010 he’s usually the one handling the bugs. When alone, he’ll hold the bug for a while after taking it out just to admire it. Around other people, he puts on a tough guy act while he picks it up and takes it outside. Gets a little shy with anyone who takes an interest in bugs and wants to share facts/watch the bug with him.

Eloni/Green: If there is a meme with a bug that resembles this one he’ll quote it. With other people he pretends to drop it on them after he picks it up. Unless of course they are genuinely scared by bugs, in which case he wouldn’t dream of pranking them like that. If Red is around he’ll get his attention to show him the bug, knowing his interest.  Haym/Yellow: Calls it cute no matter what it is. Around other people he will offer to let them look at it while he holds it, or watch as he releases it outside. For people nervous around bugs, he’ll try to show them that it’s okay. While not as much of a nerd, will happily listen to Red talk bugs.

Purl-Hew/Blue: Absolutely chill while removing a bug. Just stone faced and quiet. Kinda indifferent towards them but has a small appreciation for them seeing how Red and Yellow like them. Except for around other 1010 members, with other people he’s usually the first one who notices and the one to handle a bug in the room. A lot of times if he’s the one who saw it he won’t even say so to keep everyone else from freaking out. Incredibly gentle in placing it outside.

Neon J: Not a fan of bugs but has learned to put up with them. Traps it under a cup and puts it outside. At home it’s usually one of his troops that handles the bugs, and if he’s alone and sees it he’ll call someone else and pretend that it was just because he knows they have an interest in the things. Truthfully, he would prefer someone else handle bugs, but he’ll never admit that. Around people who are scared of bugs, he handles it himself and then checks on them.

Eve: Does not care for touching bugs, but can deal with them. She usually finds something to pick it up with and relocate it. She is uncomfortable with bugs being around her. While she can handle a bug situation on her own, she does prefer for someone else to do it. She also takes a bit of inspiration from bugs. Being able to create six limbs herself, she sees a bit of connection between her and insects, and sometimes reflects that in her art. She also finds interesting patterns and colors to work with by looking up butterflies, moths, and beetles.

Tatiana: Really does not care about bugs. She’s not a fan but also not a hater. She won’t kill them if she can put them outside, but also isn’t too bothered by killing them if need be. Especially if it’s something like an ant or termite that could end up in an infestation if left unchecked. When relocating a bug, she picks it up on or in something. She does find some beauty in them, even the unconventionally pretty ones. 

Kliff: Jumpy around bugs. He does not like touching them. He does not like handling them. Alone, he tries to trap them in a cup and then throw the cup outside. Around someone else, he simply moves to the other side of the room or somewhere else entirely, hoping they see it and handle it. If they don’t notice it quickly enough, he’ll mention that he sees it. He’s trying to get them to get rid of it without actually asking. He doesn’t like letting people know that he’s kinda scared of bugs because he’s afraid he’ll seem lame.

[thewisekenisme]

The more you know

Summary:  Tiny!sides. Thomas takes on the responsibility of taking care of his sides who had mysteriously turned into children during the night. while trying to figure out how to turn them back into their normal selves Thomas realizes how much Patton actually does when the others regress without him knowing. will Thomas learn more about each side during this time? will he be able to keep up with the needs of five children? or will he not be able to keep up with their needs making this a horrible experience for everyone. Or will Thomas prove to them that he can help take care of them if something like this happens again?

warnings: crying, mentions of separation anxiety, fighting

words: 15,663

To say Thomas was confused was an understatement. It was currently one in the morning He had just gotten home after seeing a movie and having dinner with Joan and Talyn, somehow they had convinced him to go see a horror movie thought he was scared he couldn't help but not mind because he was with the most important people in his life, his friends. But when he arrived home he couldn't help but noticed the feeling that something was off. He had just walked through the front door when the feeling hit him, he carefully closed the front door walking towards the living room as quiet as he could trying not to alert whoever was in his house that he was going towards where they were. As he approached the living room he began to hear children voices echo throughout the room.

"Are you sure we should be here? I would rather be in my room and watch Disney movies." Groaned a bored sounding voice. "I mean we can have a marathon until we get back to normal."

"Yes I am, we need to so if we need any help he will be here so nothing will go wrong." A cheerful voice replied reassuring the other. 

"I think its a good idea, we totally shouldn't go back and not bother Thomas " another voice spoke up sounding annoyed at the other two. 

Thomas frowned slightly hearing one of the voices say his name, why did they need his help? Do they know the who's house they are in? and why are they, child!? Carefully pressing himself against the wall Thomas looked around the corner to see who was in his living room and why they needed his help. Once he got a good view into the living room his jaw dropped at what he saw. 

There in his living room was five children three were sitting on the couch and two were standing in front of the other three. The two standing seemed to be the oldest and youngest of the group. The oldest one was wearing a black shirt with jeans, their glasses seemed to be too big for his face so it seemed to be sliding off his face.  The younger one was pressed against the older one's side, he was wrapped up in an oversize version of Virgil hoodie. Their arms were wrapped around the other's waist holding onto them tightly.

"I still do not see the point of coming here now. Why not wait until the morning, he needs to maintain a proper sleep schedule even if he is out late with his friends." Lectured the older.

The three on the couch seemed to be the ages in between the other two. The second oldest was wearing a smaller version of a Prince outfit with a large sash on his shoulders. Next to him was a boy who seemed to be the same age as the one next to him, he had glasses that seemed way to bug for his little face but none the less adorable wearing them. He was wearing Patrons Cat hoodie that almost covered their entire body.  The last kid was leaning on the one with the cat hoodie, his left side was pressed against the other wrapped up in a black thin blanket that almost looked like Deceits cape.

"Because I said so! And I'm the dad so you have to listen to me." A sudden shout of annoyance

The closer Thomas looked and the more they knelt talking. he could see the kids actually looked like younger versions of himself when he was younger. His eyes widened slightly "wait these couldn't be." He said without realizing he said the sentence out loud.

The oldest looked over towards his direction wincing slightly, he carefully adjusted his glasses before speaking. " Salutations Thomas. We thought you still out, Apologize for barging in without warning." His voice squicked slightly causing the child's cheeks to have a light dusting of blush.

"Logan, is that you?" Thomas asked slowly coming into the living room getting a better view of all the kids in the room. The closer he got the more his bad feeling started to make its self known to him. He couldn't believe his eyes, he didn't want to believe them. He wanted to believe that his sides were just pulling an April fools joke on him it was only a couple days late, but the more he thought about it the logic set in.  Logan wouldn't participate in a practical joke like this, neither would Virgil or Deceit.

Logan sighed softly nodding, he carefully tries to turn to face him, but the younger one he decided must be Virgil had tightened his grip on his waist let out a frustrated whine. Logan sighed carefully lifting Virgil into his arms who instantly hid his face in his shoulder as he tried to Thomas. " Sadly you are correct, I am Logan" he replied giving Thomas a pointed look.

"So that means that." He gulped slightly looking from Logan to the three on the couch wishing it wasn't true.

"Greetings Thomas! I was going to put on a movie for us to enjoy while we wait for you! But someone 'Patton' told me that it would be rude if I had without permission!" pouted Roman, as he sent glares to who he assumed, was Patton.

Patton gasped narrowing his eyes pushing up his glasses giving Roman a  sharp look  "That's cause it would be! If we went into your room and picked out your favorite movie and watched it without you, you would be so mad you wouldn't talk to us for a hundred years!" He argued almost as dramatically as Roman would. He was careful not to move his arms too much in fear he would disturb the other who had moved from his side and was now laying happily on his lap.  "Besides it's past your bedtime!"

"No, it's not! I don't have a bedtime dee and Vergie does!" Roman shout back causing Virgil to tense up and try to hide in his hoodie more than he already was. This caused Logan to send stern glares at the others for being too loud.

Thomas quickly got between them, pulling Roman off the couch and to his other side making sure he and Patron had distance between them. "Wow hey time out you two, nobody has a bedtime right now, we need to figure out what's going on. Now first off I need to know what happened to all of you." He sighed making sure Roman was giving Patton dirty looks behind his back.

"I know what happened." Deceit grinned sitting up still wrapped in his cape. His face was showing fully now so Thomas could see that his scales were a lighter color then they normally are. His eyes shined brightly as he saw Thomas had given him his full attention. "We weren't eating pizza Ro-Ro made, and we didn't watch a movie with Pat-Pat, and then Vergie and I didn't go to sleep and wake up here." He relayed the information with a huge smile on his face.

Thomas gave him a small smile "that's very important information, Dee! Thank you for telling me."He said sweetly as he reached over carefully ruffling the boy's hair. He tried not to go full Patton on the side when he realized he was leaning into his hand. He looked toward Logan giving him a look that was begging him to explain what had happened while Deceit forced his left hand to stay on top of his head.

"In shorter words, we have no idea. We fell asleep during our movie night, then awaken regressed." He sighed pinching the bridge of his nose. "As far as I can tell you haven't encountered anything traumatic to cause all of us to regress. And as far Roman can tell the dragon witch hasn't gotten out of his kingdom to do this to us. So in coming here since we all are regressed, we were hoping you wouldn't mind helping to take care of us" Logan asked sheepishly obviously not wanting to be the one to ask for help.

"Yeah! So we can come and play with your kiddo! I can't wait I hope we can play a lot of things together! Like, hide and seek, tag and, and dress up!" Patrin shouted excitedly, he smiled widely grabbing Thomas free hand bouncing on the couch excitedly. The bouncing caused his glasses to become ajar on his face which he didn't miss a beat pushing his glasses back into place.

Thomas looked from Logan to the other thinking about how much responsibility it would be to take care of 5 children in different age groups. He didn't know the first thing about raising kids or taking care of them, but he thought back to how much they had helped him, how they are still helping him every day, there was no way he could in good continuous say no to them. "Alright yeah I'll take care of you guys no problem, just would you mind telling me how old all of you are so I have an idea of how to properly take care of you all?" He asked carefully removing his hands from their captor to remove his jacket and shoes.

Roman raised his hand waving it quickly "Oh I can tell you! Please let me tell you!" He practically begged grabbing onto Thomas's arm swinging it back and forth waiting for the elder to reply.

"Okay, Roman you can answers." He said honestly feeling tired just watching how much energy both Patton and Roman have, he had a feeling he might have a hard time keeping up with them both.

Romans smile widened "Patton and I are 8 so that means we don't have a bedtime we can stay up as late as we want, and we can watch all the movies we want and, and we can have as many cookies as we want!" He smiled widely looking at Patton giving a look. Patton must have gotten the message because he was nodding in agreement with whatever Roman was saying.

Logan sighed holding a hand up to stop Roman quickly "Roman all you need to say is your age not a bunch of falsehoods." He scolds Turing towards Thomas carefully pointing to Deceit "Dee is 6, Roman and Patron are both 8, I myself am 13 and Virgil he is about 3."He replied shifting Virgil slightly so Thomas could have a better look at him. "Virgil I believe Thomas would like to say hello. Could you please look towards him so he knows he has your attention." Logan spoke gently as he rubbed Virgil's back. 

Slowly Virgil moved from where his face was hiding on Logan's shoulder with a grumpy huff. He looked to Thomas avoiding eye contact not saying anything just content with holding onto Logan waiting for Thomas say something.

Thomas gave him a small smile "Hey there Virge, are you okay with all this?" He asked softly careful not to make him feel belittled for being regressed to such a young age. he tilted his head to the side slightly giving him a curious look.

Virgil slowly looked up at Thomas giving him a curious look, he looked from Thomas to Roman who was still hanging on Thomas's arms. Then too Patton who was giving him a curious look. He scowled slightly at Patton before he shrugged turning back to hide his face back in Logan's shoulders.

Thomas frowned slightly giving Logan a confused look before standing up straight He looked down again when he noticed Patton had hidden his face in his side looking away from Logan and Virgil. "Pat are you okay?"

Logan let out a long sigh again, he carefully walked towards the couch picking up Deceit noticing he was leaning on the armchair looking tired. Carefully balancing the two in his arms Logan turned back towards Thomas giving him a tired sigh "It has seems an hour after we woke up like this Patton was playing too rough while playing tag, causing Virgil to trip. Ever since he has refused to leave my side."

He nodded slowly frowning slightly hearing two small yawns from both of his side's confused. He looked towards the digital clock on his television noticing that it said it was two in the morning. He gave Logan a soft smile "come on Lo, we can talk about this when we all are more awake. But for right now I think we all need to get to bed." He promised. Carefully picking up both Patton and Roman heading towards the stairs, once they both were comfortably rested in his arms, they let their heads rest on his shoulder getting comfortable in his arms.

Frowning slowly he followed walking up the stairs, careful not disturb the two in his arms, once they made it to their destination his eyes went wide slightly as he realized where they were heading "But Thomas we will be fine here in the living room, you don't have to let us stay in here." Logan protested following Thomas into his room.

Shaking his head Thomas carefully pulled the covers back laying Patton and Roman on his bed so they were sharing a pillow carefully taking Patton's glasses placing them on his nightstand, both sides curled up next to each other. "Lo there's five you, I'm not sticking you all on the floor. besides, I bet the 'sleep' you had before this was the first time you slept in a day or so was it?" he asked walking over to logan carefully taking Deceit into his arms before laying him next to Patton who instantly wrapped his arms around the  younger one pulling him into the cuddle pile.

Logan opened his mouth to protest but a yawn had come out instead causing him to scowled rubbing his eyes under his glasses. "But were will you sleep?" he asked snapping his fingers so they were now in their pajama's ready to settle in for a long night. Roman was wearing a Dragon onesie, Patton in a cat onesie, Deceit in a yellow snake onesie, Virgil was wearing a Jack the Skelton onesie. While everyone was wearing a onesie Logans pajamas was just a black shirt with fluffy dark blue PJ pants that had stars all over it.

"Besides Virgil and Dee need's a nightlight to sleep with. and I need to help you figure out why we regressed. So I cannot simply get to sleep now I need to find a way to get us back to normal. And what if Virgil has a nightmare?" He rambled looking around the room avoiding Thomas knowing gaze.

"Logan hey look at me," he spoke gently placing a hand on said sides shoulder causing the rambling to halt for the moment. "We have all day tomorrow to figure out what happened, besides you guys came here for me to help and take care of you and that's what I intend on doing and if anyone including Virgil has a nightmare I'll be there to provide comfort for everyone," he replied giving him a small smile, he went towards one of his lamps that was placed at the other end of the room, he turned it on letting the dim light filled the room giving off the illusion of a nightlight. "Alright, Lo lay down with Virgil okay I'll go grab an extra pillow and blanket so I can set myself up on the floor."

Logan sighed looking towards the bed, he had to admit he was tired and wanted nothing then to curl up under the covers and get some well deserved rest. he slowly nodded going towards the bed carefully laying down with Virgil still in his arms. "I'll only sleep for a little while, not the full recommended amount of time bit merely a nap. I would like to get an early start in researching." he yawned again laying his head down on the free pillow holding Virgil close in his arms.

Virgil snuggled closer to Logan letting out a soft yawn laying his head down on his chest rubbing his eyes slowly letting them fall close falling into a light sleep surrounded by the people that he loved and felt safe next to him. Before he fell asleep he whispered "Night, night Lo". It was quiet enough that only Logan could hear.  which he whispered back a quiet "Night Vergie."

Thomas smiled softly carefully putting the Blankets over all the sides in the be careful to make sure they all were tucked in and comfortable. He stopped noticing Logan giving him a curious look. "Don't worry Logan I need to make sure I finished some editing before heading off to sleep anyways. Besides, it'll be like a sleepover" He reassured giving him a soft smile as he gently took Logan's glasses into his hands carefully folding them before placing them into the bedside table.

Logan yawned nuzzling into the pillow letting out a comfortable sigh, letting the warmth of the pillow, blanket and Virgil's body heat make him relax."I can help if you want. Just because I regressed doesn't mean I can't be logical." he whispered fighting his slowly closing eyes. He carefully rubbed his eyes frustratedly careful not to disturb Virgil. "I can be of use I promise. You can still count on me" he mumbled giving Thomas pleading eyes hoping that his request would be approved.

"That's okay Logan I'm just going to look over it and make sure I have everything in order so we can go over it once your back yo your normal size." He replied gently moving the hair away from his face not commenting on the way Logan selfconsciously leaned into his hand "Besides it's late and we both need sleep, you even more than me. Tomorrow is going to be a long day and I need you to be rested so you can help me keep an eye on everyone, especially Roman and Patton" he joked carefully cradling his fingers through the logical side's hair copying the action he's seen Patton do when Logan was overworking himself when they would be brainstorming for video idea's.

slowly his eyes fell close letting the soothing motion lull him into a deep sleep, but he didn't go without whispering just one last thing to Thomas. "Falsehood, I don't need sleep." He spoke so quietly he had to lean down to hear his words go silent as he was dragged down into sleep.

Thomas stood up straight looking at the sides fast asleep in his bed happily cuddled up with each other. He turned around walking towards his closet carefully opening it grabbing a spare pillow and blanket, he closed the closet door placing his pillow and blanket onto the floor before grabbing a pair of plaid pants, and a plain black shirt. he walked towards the bathroom to change deep in thought trying to figure out why someone or something would turn his side's into children. Or if he had stressed so much that he made them all turn, he hoped that wasn't the case he really didn't want to be the cause of his side's turning into children he didn't know how he would feel if that was the case but he had a feeling he would feel guilty.

Sighing softly he got dressed before he walked back into his room quietly making sure that they were still asleep. once determining they were asleep he walked to his pillow and blanket to try and make himself comfortable. He ended up laying awake for a few hours just listening to the extra breathing and snoring in the room. He found out that Roman is the loudest out of all of them who snore, he was snoring so much he was afraid he'd have to wake him up just to get him to stop for a little while, Thankfully he rolled onto his side which caused the snoring to stop. Thomas finally surrendered to sleep around 4 in the morning thankful that no snoring or anyone having nightmares woke him up while he tried to get as much comfortable sleep as he could on the hard floor.

"Pat should we wake him?" A voice above Thomas loudly whispered

"Shh No, he needs sleep." Another replied from behind the other voice.

The loud whispering slowly brought Thomas out of deep sleep. He squeezed his eyes shut taking in a deep breath before he slowly opened them blinking a few times trying to think why there were kids whispering about him. Was he babysitting again? Once his eyes began to focus he could Roman, Patton, Deceit, and Virgil standing over him debating on whether they should wake him or not. 'Oh that's right, they regressed.' He thought to himself

Deceit pat Patton (no pun intended) on the arm gently "Pat, Thomas isn't awake." He whispered pointing at their host.

Patton turned away from Roman to look at Thomas, he smiled widely pushing up his glasses so they wouldn't fall "Thomas sorry if we woke you up."He replied sheepishly swaying side to side holding onto Virgil's hand. Virgil didn't particularly look too happy to be awake but he held onto Patton's hand regardless.

Slowly Thomas sits up regretting sleeping on the floor when he felt his back stiffly give him some pain. He shook the thought away reminding himself that he didn't want to stick the others on the couch. He yawned slightly giving Patton a small smile "your okay Pat, what are you guys doing out of bed? I would have of thought you would have wanted to sleep longer. What time is it?" He asked looking for his alarm clock to see If he could find the time.

"Shh Thomas you'll wake up Logan! it's only 7 O'clock" Roman pouted grabbing Thomas hand carefully pulling him towards the door giving him an annoyed look when he would move"Can we go downstairs? I'm hungry but Pat wouldn't let me go down without you." he whined accidentally knocking into Deceit who nodded agreeing with Roman.

"Oh yeah sure, Logan's still asleep?" he asked carefully standing up letting Roman drag him towards the door. Before they were out the door he let the other two run ahead going down the stairs. Thomas stooped and looked towards the bed see if Logan was okay. He couldn't help but chuckle when he saw that Logan was still fast asleep, instead of sleeping on one side of the bed he was now in the middle of the bed taking advantage of the extra room to stretch out snoring softly as he slept, the blanket was pulled over his head to block out any light. He smiled softly before opening the door letting everyone file out. he watched Patton struggle to get Virgil who seemed to be laying where he was not only a couple of moments ago to follow them to the door. "Pat I got him, go on down and make sure Roman doesn't make a mess in the kitchen." he winked careful that roman didn't hear him

Patton gave Thomas a small frown before nodding. "Okay, he's still sleepy so he is a little grumpy when he doesn't get his way, we will meet you downstairs" he whispered back slowly letting go of Virgil's hand. he carefully kissed Virgil's forehead giving him a smile "Virgie I'm going to the kitchen okay? Thomas is going to talk to you." he whispered making sure he was okay before standing up going to the door, he looked back nervously giving Thomas a look before disappearing behind the door to fallow the others downstairs.

Thomas smiled softly going over to Virgil sitting next to him, they sat in silence the only noise in the room was logans deep breathing. "Hey, Virgil you okay?" He asked quietly careful not to scare him just in case he was trying to sleep again but loud enough he could still hear him.

Virgil moved his hands towards his eyes carefully rubbing them letting out a small yawn causing Thomas to cough covering up a slight squealed. "LoLo." He whispered pointing to Logan with a slight pout, he scrunched up his nose giving Thomas an annoyed look. "LoLo okay?" he asked looking towards the bed with a slight frown.

"Yeah, he's still asleep. Do you want to check on him?" He asked watching Virgil carefully hoping he wouldn't be too anxious. Seeing Virgil give him a slow nod Thomas carefully got into a kneeling position giving him a small smile "is it okay if I pick you up?"

Virgil looked from Logan to Thomas. He stayed quiet and still for a moment thinking about his decision. Slowly he nodded lifting his hands toward Thomas opening and closing his hands making a grabby motion. "Up, please " He replied shyly as he looked away from Thomas blushing slightly.

"Of course Vergie." Thomas smiled softly carefully picking him up holding him close to his chest as he stood up straight. Walking towards the bed he stepped carefully as to not make the floorboards squeak to wake Logan up. He stopped at the side of the bed reaching over to slowly but carefully pull the blanket off of Logan's head, careful not to wake him up.

Logan let a soft whine at the sudden movement but settles down once the blanket was off his face. He had both hands behind his head laying as if he was watching the clouds on a nice sunny day, his head lulled to the side allowing his mouth to be opened slightly letting small snores escape past his lips. He seemed so relaxed, more then anyone has seen him even when he regressed he's sometimes not this relaxed. Maybe it was because he was regressed into a teenager and teens normally like to relax, but it was strange to see Logan so relaxed.

"See Virgil, Lo is just sleeping. He's still tired bud." He replied gently dropping the blanket back into Logan's chest. "He may sleep as long as you do when you're big again." He joked gently poking Virgil's nose causing the younger to giggle slightly.

Virgil laid his head downThomas's shoulder watching Logan for a second before looking back to the other. His stomach growled making him wrapped his arms around Thomas's neck hiding his face in his shoulder. " 'm hungry." He hummed tiredly into his shoulder.

Thomas gently placed his hand on Virgil back rubbing soothing circles along his back slowly walking towards the door. "Alright let's head on down and make sure the others haven't wrecked the kitchen. you know how much Patton likes to make breakfast even if he's regressed." he joked slowly opening the door again slowly walking out closing the door behind them. keeping hold of Virgil he walked towards the kitchen preparing himself for what was waiting for him to clean. he stopped midstep seeing a small figure sitting at the top of the stairs sniffling. blinking a couple of times letting his eyes adjust to the light he could barely make out the shape of a tail behind the figure. "Dee is that you?" he asked softly wincing slightly when the figure jumped.

"N-no." They said quickly hiding their face in their hands, voice quivering slightly as they turned their body so they were pressed against the wall.

Frowning he walked towards Deceit still holding onto Virgil as he knelt down carefully to get a better look at the deceitful side. He let out a soft 'Awe' sound when he saw his year stain cheeks puff out slightly, accusing his scales to shine a bit. He couldn't help but notice the younger one shivering slightly. "Dee are you okay? are you cold?" He asked worriedly.

He shook his head rubbing his eyes " Patton and Roman didn't leave me to wait for you, and it's dark and I'm not scared." he replied looking up towards Thomas tears streaming down his cheeks, no matter how much he tried to scrub the tears they wouldn't stop falling. He hung his head hiccuping slightly "I'm not scared, I'm brave."

"It's okay to be scared Dee, it is kinda spooky up here isn't?" He asked gently placing his hand under his chin lifting his head up carefully so he could look Thomas in the eyes, giving him a small smile he carefully using the pad of his thumb to wipe his tears away. "Would you like a hug? maybe it will make you feel less scared, I know it helps me" he suggested looking at Virgil gently bouncing him to look at them.

Virgil turned his head facing Deceit with sleepy eyes, he slowly nodded "Pat gives the bestest hug." He smiled softly nuzzling into Thomas's shoulder "Thomas too, not the bestest like Pat but good." He giggled slightly tightening his grip around Thomas's neck making Thomas heart melt into a puddle at how pure he sounded.

Deceit looked from Virgil to Thomas looking deep in thought weighing his options, he looked back to Thomas tears welling up in his eyes, his bottom lip shivered slightly. Slowly he lifted his arms making a grabbing motion signaling he wanted to be picked up. "I would not like a hug please." He cried moving closer to Thomas.

Thomas scooped the crying side into his arms holding him close to his chest gently rocking them both. he frowned slightly feeling Deceit burry his face into the crock of his neck, he couldn't help but shiver feeling how cold his scales felt on his neck. "I think I know what will make you feel better, how about we set you and Virgil up on the couch with the fluffiest blanket I own. And maybe you two can pick a movie you both can watch while I get breakfast ready. How does that sound?" he cooed walking towards the hall closet carefully shifting Deceit to his other arm balancing both him and Virgil on one arm while he reached up to the shelf to grab a heated blanket he uses when he went to visit family in the north. Once he had it in his hands he carefully held the blanket in his hands as he held onto both kids back to their original places in his arms.

Together the three started to walk towards the stairs to go and start on the plan Thomas had suggested the two to do when suddenly a loud crash caused the three to jump out in fright. Virgil let out a startled cry tightening trying to curl up into himself trying to make himself small, Deceit copying his action both crying into his shoulder. From downstairs there was a loud "I'm okay!" From Roman. Thomas groaned making his steps faster as he tried to comfort the two as he went to find out what happened.

once he stepped off the last step he disposed of the blanket onto the couch, carefully sitting Deceit and Virgil down beside of each other as he rushed towards the kitchen mentally preparing himself for what he was about to witness. once he got into the kitchen he had to stop eye's wide, mouth hung open slightly when he saw the state of his kitchen. flour was everywhere, there were pots and pans all over the floor, standing in the middle of the mess was Patton and Roman arms crossed glaring at each other. "What in the name of Disney is going on in here?" He asked causing both Roman and Patton to quickly look towards him they quickly pointing to each other yelling 'he did it!'.

Thomas groaned rubbing his temple "I don't care who did it, why did you do it?" He asked his mind going everywhere trying to figure out why Patton and Roman wrecked his kitchen and trying to stop himself from scooping Virgil up and cuddle him until he stopped crying, he had to deal with the problem at hand he just hopped Virgil wouldn't be too angry with him for letting him cry for a while his heart really didn't want he would do if he was mad, all he could do was hope Deceit was comforting the other while he dealt with the problem at hand. "Guys you were out of my sight for only five minutes and you wreck the kitchen." He said putting his hands on his hips giving them a stern look.

Patton looked away sheepishly holding his hands in front of him staying quiet for a few moments while he tried to figure out what to say "well you were busy with Virgil and you're letting us stay, I wanted to make everyone breakfast so you didn't have too. But I couldn't reach the bag of flour so I asked Roman to help but he wouldn't give me the bag, so I pulled and he pulled and then it ripped! And went everywhere!" He exclaimed waving his arms pointing to the ripped bag of flour on the floor.

Roman huffed crossing his arms turning his back away from Patton and Thomas pouting like he didn't get his way. "It wasn't my fault, you wouldn't listen to my idea for breakfast! So I tried to do my own breakfast but Patty told me no trying to take away my pots and pans and now they are all over the floor dirty with flour on them so I can't do anything now because Patton thinks he's my boss, today only Logan and you are my bosses not him" He stomped his foot glaring at the floor refusing to look at either Thomas or Patton.

Sighing softly Thomas gave both of them a soft look " okay how about we all calm down okay? Go wash up while I take care of Virgil and Dee and I clean up this mess okay? " he asked helping them both out of the kitchen making sure they didn't track any more flour out of the kitchen. "Just leave your onesie in the bathroom, I'll grab them later on to clean them." He sighed taking them to the stairs making sure they went upstairs. Both kids walked up the stairs their heads hung low as they walked, they were mumbling to each other as they walked up the stairs towards the bathroom. Leaving Thomas alone to stand there and sigh.

Thomas stood up straight Turing away from the stairs going towards the couch were Deceit and Virgil, he knelt in front of them frowning softly. "Virgil, can you copy my breathing for me? good job, you're doing amazing" He spoke calmly. Carefully slowing his breathing so Virgil was able to copy his breathing and calm down. Slowly but surely after fifteen minutes of crying and reassuring him, Virgil finally stopped crying. He coughed a bit as he rubbed his eyes frustratedly trying to get the tears off his face as he leaned into Deceit.

He gave him a small smile slowly picking up the heated blanket wrapping it around both boys before plugging it into the wall socket. "There now you two are warm and toasty how about some cartoons while I clean up the kitchen. What would you like to watch?" He asked quietly picking up the remote looking at the two patiently.

"Nightmare before Christmas." They both agreed without hesitation. Deceit pulling the blanket curling up under it letting out a happy sigh bleeping slightly letting the warmth surround him. Virgil sniffles reaching out for Thomas to pick him up giving him a teary eyed look "Thomas up please." he begged sounding absolutely miserable.

"Virgie I have to go clean the mess Pat and Ro made in the kitchen, I promise after breakfast I will give you as many hugs as you want okay?" he asked putting on the nightmare before Christmas on the tv, trying to stay strong with his decision of not picking him up but Virgil was making it hard on him because he had now started whining. "No Virgil I will pick you up once I'm done okay?" he carefully stood up placing the remote onto the coffee table heading towards the hall closet grabbing a broom and dustpan to get to work.

Virgil slipped off the couch trying to follow him into the kitchen "Thomas up!" he repeated keeping his arms stretched out to him. He letting some big crocodile tears fall as he tried to follow him in, but Thomas simple held his hand walking him back to the couch sitting him down next to Deceit going back to the kitchen. Virgil showed he wasn't having any of this. He got back off the couch and marched towards the kitchen sitting himself down in front of the entrance and yelled "up Thomas please !" Again Thomas gently held his hand helping him stand taking him back to the couch going back to the kitchen. This time Virgil started to wail getting frustrated that he wasn't getting his way. He walked back to the entrance this time he laid on his back and just sobbed trying to get Thomas attention. 

Thomas sighed sweeping the floor trying so hard not scoop up Virgil and give him what he wanted, but he knew if he did there would be no way he would be able to put him down anytime soon. he frowned slightly listening to the wails of said side wondering if he did this to the others when he regresses or if this is something new. "I'm sorry Virgil but I have to clean the kitchen so I can make breakfast for all of you, I'm making pancakes," he promised sweeping the flour into a pile carefully sweeping it into the dustpan before going over to the trash can.

Deceit whined covering his ears looking towards the kitchen. "Thomas he's not gonna wake up Logan, make him stop I can totally hear the movie over his crying," he called giving Thomas an annoyed look, but it quickly turned to a worried one when he heard Virgil start coughing because of how much he was crying.

"Okay, okay sorry Dee" he sighed giving in, he leaned the broom against the counter before walking towards Virgil who was still laying on the ground. carefully Thomas knelt down taking Virgil into his arms holding him close to his chest. "Okay you win, shh it's okay, Let's see if we can make Breakfast together won't that be fun?" he whispered gently rubbing his back rocking him back and forth carefully standing up keeping his arms tightly around him.

Virgil wrapped his arms around his neck and legs around his midsection. resting his face on the side of Thomas his tears dampening his cheek. He coughed slightly nodded tightening his grip taking deep breaths copying Thomas's breathing. "Okay. no down please" he hiccuped gently pushing his face closer to his taking in shaky breaths.

He sighed softly nodding as he stood up gently rubbing a hand through his hair "Okay bud I won't put you down." he promised walking towards the Kitchen grabbing the broom and dustpan going back to the closet to put it away. "I'm sorry I didn't pick you up, I had to get the kitchen swept. I couldn't have you in here getting the flour on you."He replied carefully picking up the pots and pans putting them into the skin, just as Roman and Patton came back downstairs all clean and dressed for the day. He couldn't help but smile when he felt tiny fingers go through his hair as he was cleaning.

Once he got all the pots and pans put in the sink to be washed later. He tried to put Virgil down so he could make pancakes but he quickly stopped when said side started screaming. So he decided the easiest thing would to just make everyone toast and put whatever they wanted on it. So around 10:30 he finished getting the toast toasted and placed on plates."Pat, Roman, Dee come on in so we can get your breakfast." He called into the living room grabbing peanut butter, butter and crofters placing them on the dining table. "Virge, I'm glad you calmed down and my hair has never looked better. But would it be okay if I set you down so you can eat breakfast with the other and I can get Logan?" He asked softly as the others came rushing in. He only got an unhappy whine in response as his arms and legs tightened around Thomas. He sighed softly "okay okay."

Roman gasped once he got to the table "Toast? I thought you said we were having Pancakes. What happened to pancakes?" He asked sitting in his chair glaring at the toast as if it had offended him.

"Ro be nice, Thomas doesn't have to make us breakfast but he's doing it out of the kindness of his heart. So no complaining." Patton scolded sitting in the seat across from Roman. He grabbed a couple of napkins placing them in front of each plate of toast. "Thomas do you want me to go wake up lo?" He asked helping Deceit spread some Peanut butter on his toast.

"It's okay Pat I'm just about to head upstairs to get him, you guy go ahead and eat, sorry i couldn't make pancakes because the flour you used to decorate the kitchen was now all I had so toast is all I can make for now, so you guys eat up and  I'll go get Logan up," he replied walking towards the cupboard grabbing a couple cups placing them on the table before walking towards the stairs. "But before I head up what do you guys want to drink? I have milk, orange juice, and apple juice." 

"I want milk please!" Patton asked with a huge smile before he suddenly gasped looking to Thomas with wide eye's "Can we make it chocolate milk?" he whispered basically vibrating in his seat. he looked at deceit smiling widely "Dee do you want chocolate milk too?" he asked softly hoping if both him and Deceit wanted it Thomas would say yes.

Deceit looked at Patton then to Thomas, he stayed quiet for a second thinking about his options carefully. he slowly pointed past Thomas to the Orange juice. "I would not like Orange juice, Please Thomas" he replied leaning back into his seat looking back to Patton wondering if he said the right thing. He smiled widely when Patton gave him a thumbs up showing he was okay with his answer

Roman huffed "I want some apple juice chocolate milk is for babies and orange juice is only for people who are boring like logan, which I am neither." he said crossing his arms looking towards Thomas with a grin on his face. "Princes only drink apple juice, it helps keep the Dragon witch away." He exclaimed waving his hands around.

"Okay okay, but Roman it wasn't nice of you to say only babies drink chocolate milk and boring people drink orange juice. Everyone can have what they want to drink." He lightly scolds carefully pouring out the drinks for each carefully placing them in front of them. "Okay does Anyone need anything before I go upstairs?" He asked readjusting his hold on Virgil carefully rubbing his back gently going back to the cabinet grabbing a glass for Logan and himself and a plastic cup for Virgil.

"No thank you "Patton smiled eating his butter toast happily munching on it.

Deceit shook his head taking a sip of his orange juice sitting on his knees so he was able to reach anything that was in the middle of the table. "I am not okay, thank you." He replied with a wide smile melting Thomas heart into a puddle.

Roman shrugged reaching for the crofters "nope why do you have to get the nerd anyway? he's going to be all boring and telling us what not to do. And then he's gonna be grumpy because we won't listen" He whined dramatically leaning back into his seat.

Thomas sighed shaking his head. "Yes I'm waking him up Roman, and you better watch how mean your being because I have stairs and I will make you sit there for 8 minutes in time out do I make myself clear?" He asked using his stern voice "and that's not just for Roman that's for all of you, I mean I can't put Logan in time out but you four I can. Especially, Virgil you can't use sad eyes on me no sir, I'm not Patton I won't fall for it." he exclaimed poking Virgil's side smiling softly when he heard a small giggle. Once the others gave him a small "okay" He gave the others a small smile walking towards the entrance of the kitchen taking one last look before he made his way up the stairs to go wake up the teenager. 

Virgil laid his head on Thomas's shoulder watching the kitchen become smaller as they walked towards the kitchen, he turned his head towards Thomas gently running his fingers through his hair again smiling to himself when he saw Thomas's hair stick up more than it already was. "Lolo gonna be grumpy." He said in a 'matter of fact' voice, making a face as he began to sit up when Thomas started to walk up the stairs. 

"Yeah well, it's okay to be a little grumpy when you just wake up in the morning, not Princey's type of grouchy like he is today but more like when you don't get your coffee." He explained "And if I'm not mistaken not but fifteen minutes ago you were being a grouch because I wouldn't pick you up," he replied raising an eyebrow at him, he smiled softly when Virgil shook his head as fast as he could denying that he was ever in a foul mood. "No, it wasn't you? I could have sworn it was. then there must be another person in the house with looks exactly like you being a grouch" he chuckled walking to his bedroom carefully opening his bedroom door walking in quietly, he hoped when Virgil was back to his normal self he would feel that it is okay for him to be silly and have fun with the others.

Virgil grinned laying his head back down on Thomas's shoulder staying quiet as they entered the room "Roro always grumpy, Pat pat can too. Dee sometimes grumpy when he's sleepy." He replied looking towards the bed, he giggled seeing Logan was now laying on his stomach arms down at his side and head almost under the pillow, The blankets were now laying on his legs no longer providing warmth for the sleeping side. Under the mess of blankets, he could spot a familiar plaid purple sleeve sticking out from under the blanket. He suddenly sat up pointed to the sleeve  making a grabbing motion "Thomas please." He exclaimed excitedly

He followed were Virgil was pointing. "Oh yeah, I got it." He replied going over to the bed gently pulling the covers away before picking up the hoodie, "here you go Virge" he smiled giving the hoodie to Virgil who happily tried to put it on himself, But with Thomas help, he was now happily warm in his hoodie snuggled up against Thomas's shoulder. Thomas smiled softly going over to the bed were Logan had managed to place himself, he gently placed a hand on his shoulder "Logan? Lo it's time to get up, I've got breakfast ready downstairs." He said gently giving his shoulder a shake careful not to be too loud to scare him awake, but loud enough that he would wake up.

Logan continued to lay there unmoved, his breathing still even as he slept, the only sign of him waking up was his eyes were moving around under his eyes lids.  Thomas tried once more shaking his shoulder again causing Logan to scrunch up his nose and frown his brows as he let out a whine. He moved his arms to grab the pillow to try and hide his face away. "Go away, Let me sleep." He whined softly suddenly being more stubborn then Roman was when he didn't get his way on movie night.

Thomas winced slightly hearing Logan, he hadn't expected Logan to whine about getting up but from what Patton had told him even adult Logan could get like this from time to time and it was just best to try to get him up and moving, even if he is being a complete grump. "Sorry, Lo I can't, I've got Roman and Patton downstairs I feel like I've left then down there by themselves to long, and I've got Dee with them snuggled up in a blanket. And Virgil is right here with me so now it's your turn to get up." He replied carefully taking the pillow off his head and placing it on the other side of the bed.

He huffed as he sat up in the bed rubbing his eyes frustratedly. He gave Thomas a glare as he tried to wake himself up more than he actually was. "I'll meet you downstairs if you're worried that Roman and Patton are causing chaos." He said laying back down shoving his face into the pillow planning on going back to sleep once Thomas left.

"I don't think so, sorry Lo I know what you're trying to do, come on up you go." He replied holding his hand out giving Logan a small smile "once you get up and eat then you can take a nap I won't stop you there. Maybe Roman and Patton will follow your lead"He replied helping him off the bed handing over The abandoned glasses that were on the nightstand.

Once Logan put his glasses on he continued to give Thomas an annoyed look showing how displeased he was with him. "I do not nap Thomas I am old enough to function without one no matter what Patton says, let's just go get breakfast done I request a cup of coffee please." He replied his serious tone wad interrupted by a yawn. He rubbed his eyes under his glasses before standing up straight. His annoyed look replaced with a tired one.

"Sorry Lo I don't think coffee will be a good thing for you right now, but I do have orange juice, Apple juice, and chocolate milk if that's okay ?" He asked adjusting Virgil on so he was resting on his hip, he walked towards the door opening it wider so they could walk out of the room. He sighed softly when he saw the annoyed look come back to Logan's face. "I'm sorry Lo I can't risk anyone else getting into it especially Roman and Patton." He said. As if I'm cue there was a loud Thud that came from the living room followed by an "I'm okay!" From Patton. He sighed softly giving Logan an 'I'm not risking it' look.

Logan sighed hanging his head as he followed him to the door. "Okay I guess it wouldn't be ideal to keep a caffeinated drink out for anyone could grab wouldn't be smart." He replied lifting his head slightly now noticing Virgil staring at him with wide eyes. "Salutations Virgil, are you enjoying your morning?" He asked giving him a small smile hiding any look of annoyance he had towards Thomas.

Virgil gave him a small smile tightening his grip on Thomas's shirt. His hands covered by his hoodie sleeves but he didn't let that stop him from having a tight grip. He shrugged keeping his head rested on his shoulder. "Hi Lolo, I'm okay. You not grumpy at me?" He asked quietly carefully using one hand to push his hair out of his face so he was able to see Logan better. 

"I'm fine Virgil, there is no need to worry about me I am merely tired that's all, I'm not grumpy with you more Thomas then anyone" he replied following them out of the room before giving Thomas another look before  straightening his glasses. "are you feeling grumpy today Virgil?" he asked as they made their way down the stairs towards the Livingroom were he could hear a the others playing some sort of game in the distance.

he thought for a moment wondering if he should tell him he did feel upset earlier but he really didn't want to worry him. so he just shook his head with a small bashful smile "No I not grumpy." he replied snuggling closer to Thomas as they reached the last step and walked towards the kitchen.

"Logan!" Patton shouted running towards the trio jumping into Logan's arms almost knocking him off balanced, thankfully Thomas Caught Logan's arm before he was able to fall backward. "Lo, when you're done with breakfast, do you want to play with us? me and Ro are going to save Dee from the dragon witch, we need a wizard" he rambled loudly holding onto Logan as tightly as he could giving him a huge grin.

"Patton I have to help Thomas figure out how to get us back to normal," he replied wincing at the sad look he got from Patton. "But I guess a few moments of playing pretend couldn't hurt, so yes I would be happy to join you in your quest against the dragon witch." he agreed smiling softly.

Patton's eyes widened as his smile grew he gave Logan one last squeeze before running to Thomas carefully taking hold of Virgil's hand smiling widely "if you want to you can play with us too, you can be a wizard too.  but you don't have too if you don't want too we won't be upset I promise" he replied giving him a small smile giving his hand a small squeeze.

Virgil quickly shook his head hiding his face in his hoodie tightening his grip on Thomas "No thank you, Pat Pat, I stay with Thomas" He replied quickly shaking his hand away wrapping his arms around Thomas's neck holding onto him tightly. Afraid they would make him leave  Thomas and play a game he didn't wants to play at all.

"That's okay no worries, you can stay with Thomas, just remember if you want to play you can okay?" He asked. Once he got a jerk nod from the younger he ran back to Roman and Deceit happily placing himself next to Roman to make a plan to help rescue Deceit.

Thomas raised an eyebrow at Virgil. He was starting to get more confused the more Virgil held onto him. He gave Logan a look before taking them into the kitchen "Virgil can I put you down so you can eat breakfast? While you eat I can go get Ro and Patton's onesies so I can put them in the wash " He asked gently pulling one of the chairs away from the table to trying to put him down in the chair, but as soon as he tried Virgil tightened his grip and started yelling 'No no No! No down Thomas no down!' Making Thomas quickly pulling him back into his arms holding him closer to his chest. He frowned feeling him tremble against his chest, he gave Logan a panicked look to see what he would do.

Logan pushed his glasses up seeming not to gazed by Virgil's actions. He walked over towards the table carefully picking up the crofters and butter knife spreading the jam on two pieces of toast. He gave Thomas a blank stare "oh yes I forgot to mention, Virgil has developed a form of separation anxiety when he regresses so suddenly like yesterday. It has seemed that he has no longer found interest with me and has moved to stay with you. I do hope Virgil takes it easy on you "He stated the obvious placing one toast back on the plate before picking up the other toast carefully doing the same.

He frowned slightly holding onto Virgil gently rocking him to keep him calm. "What is that suppose to mean Logan?" He asked worried what he actually meant by his words. "He's been fine so far, besides not letting me put him down."

"Let me put it simply Thomas." He replied giving him a devilish grin that sent chills down his spin "I can use the bathroom alone, you can't." He said taking a bit of his toast waking towards the entrance of the kitchen " and if you try you will have an ear full from Virgil himself. As of now, I wish you luck I am off on a quest" He chuckled darkly walking away leaving Thomas standing there shocked and worried.

Thomas looked from were Logan was standing back Virgil, he carefully sat in the seat bringing the toast in front of them staying silent for a moment watching as Virgil slowly detach himself from his death grip around his neck to eat his breakfast , he still kept a tight grip on his shirt making sure he didn't go anywhere. "You'll go easy on me right Virge?" He asked quietly.

Virgil looked at Thomas shrugging taking a bite of his toast humming happily as he leaned into Thomas's chest acting all cute and innocent trying to make his heart melt, causing  Thomas to sigh softly running a hand through his hair and have a feeling that today was going to be a long day for all of them. 

Once breakfast was finished and Logan kept Patton, Roman, and Deceit busy playing pretend having a good time. while Thomas was able to gather up things that needed to be washed, keeping Virgil balanced on his hip as he went along listening to Virgil babble about his favorite stuff animal that Roman had. everything seemed peaceful and right with the world, that is until it was getting closer to lunch time.

Thomas was currently making grilled cheeses for everyone to eat, sadly he had to set Virgil down onto the ground so he was able to use the stove, so he was clinging to his leg pulling on his shirt sobbing, begging to be picked up and held again. Roman was now sitting in the corner of the kitchen crying loudly saying that he didn't mean to hit Patton when they were playing and he didn't mean to knock Deceit down when he was running. Deceit and Patton were in the living room crying on Logan's shoulders telling him about what happened.

He sighed tiredly putting the last grilled cheese on the plate Turing off the stove, carefully he turned towards the table placing the plates around the table before moving to the fridge getting everyone a cup of juice moving fast so they could have a drink with their lunch, he was moving to fast for Virgil to keep up, which started to make him more and more frustrated so he just sat down in the middle of the kitchen floor and just sobbed. Thomas sighed taking a deep breath putting the cups on the table before he walked over to Roman, he crouched down in front of the younger giving him a serious look. "Ro deep breaths okay? let's stop crying so we can talk okay?" he asked staying calm as he spoke.

Roman coughed before taking in a deep breath hiccuping. "I didn't mean too I thought I was hitting the dragon witch but Pat was in my way when I was running to get you then I tripped over dee and then I hurt them both, I didn't mean too" he coughed again before the waterworks started up again. he put his hands over his eyes as he cried "Now they're gonna be mad at me and never want to play with me again!" he sobbed louder dramatically taking in gasps of breath making it sound like he was hyperventilating.

"Ro they won't be mad at you I promise. deep breaths Ro let's calm down okay" he said carefully pulling Roman into a hug gently rubbing his back gently trying to help him calm down. once Roman was calmed down he carefully pulled away wiping his tears away gently" we all are just going to take a break for a while from playing after lunch okay? for right now how about you go to them and try to apologize. Logan will make sure they listen to you okay?" he asked giving him a small smile happy to hear the other two in the living room had finally calmed down as well.

Roman sniffled nodding. "I want to be their princely big brother I have to be nice and apologize." he admitted as he held onto Thomas for a little while before letting go giving him a small smile "Okay, if your sure they won't be mad at me I'll go apologize" he whispered rubbing his eyes slowly moving away from Thomas going into the living room to apologize to the others for what had happened before leaving Thomas with an upset Virgil.

Thomas stayed crouched for a few moments taking a few seconds to collect himself before he could do anything, it had only been a few hours since they all woke up but he was feeling extremely exhausted maybe he could use their calm down time to catch a quick nap. he suddenly jumped when Virgil's crying got louder, he turned around to see Virgil red in the face tears pouring down his cheeks, he reached for Thomas he was sitting on his knees trying to make himself bigger. "Virgil I'm sorry bud, I'll pick you up once we finish lunch okay?" he asked slowly standing up going towards him so he could get him into the chair so he could eat lunch.

Once Thomas got closer he grabbed his pants leg leaning closer to him rubbing his tear stained cheek onto his pants taking in a rushed shaky breath before coughing as he took in another breath before crying again. "Daddy up! daddy up please" he begged sobbing louder causing his voice to quiver as he wrapped his arms around his leg squeezing as tightly as he could.

He Froze eyes widened as he looked down at Virgil, wondering if he heard him right. 'did he just call me what I think he called me?' he thought to himself staying still to see if Virgil would yell it again. He noticed Virgil getting more anxious the longer he waited to see if he would say the sentence again so he gave him picking him up. "Okay, okay I got you Virgie, deep breaths, there you go, you got this" he whispered gently having Virgil rest his head on his shoulder as he rubbed circles on his back, gently counting for Virgil going through his breathing exercises.

Once Virgil had calmed down he stayed rested against Thomas hiccuping as he wrapped his arms around his neck sniffling softly "bad daddy, you promise no down. You broke it" He hiccuped making himself sound so miserable it made Thomas feel guilty for even putting him down in the first place.

He leaned on the counter sighing softly. He carefully turned his head to face Virgil, reaching up he wipes away the stray tears that lined the younger face. "I know that wasn't nice of me, was it? I'm sorry Virgie. How about when we pick a movie to watch so we all can calm down I give you all the cuddles you want, how does that sound?" He whispered gently walking towards the entrance of the living room checking in to make sure that the others were okay. Roman had both Patton and Deceit in a big bear hug, they seemed to have made up "Hey guys lunchtime."He called quietly giving them a small smile.

Patton smiled pulling away from Roman quickly grabbing his and Deceits hand running towards Thomas giving him a wide smile "Thomas! Guess What!." He grinned excitedly. Before he let Thomas say anything he was already bouncing with excitement telling him what he was going to say. "Ro said he was sorry for hitting me and tripping on Dee, and I said I was sorry that I was in the way and so did Dee, but then he said he thought we didn't want to play with him ever again, but we said that it wasn't true! And that we thought he didn't want to play with us anymore. But then Lolo said that sometimes when People are sad they think the worstest thing ever. But now we made up and after we eat lunch we are gonna play some more! Thomas can we color, please? That will be fun we can draw you a lot of pictures!" Patton said as fast as he could making Thomas have a hard time keeping up with what he was saying.

Thomas gave him a soft smile "that's great Pat I'm glad you all made up, I'll see what I can do about the coloring for right now let's get you all lunch how does that sound?" He asked carefully crouching down to their level keeping a tight hold on Virgil continuing to rub circles alone his back. "I was thinking maybe we could watch big hero six while you guys color." He replied looking to Logan he hid a grin on his face when he saw his eyes light up at the movie suggestion he quickly looked away trying not to show Thomas that he was excited about it.

"I don't like big hero six!" Deceit said excitedly bouncing up and down were he stood next to Patton, he seemed to almost have the same amount of energy that Patton and Roman did once he was warm and kept entertained. "Especially Baymax he's so not cute and soft. I really don't want a Baymax." He put one hand over his mouth giggling excitedly, he hid face in Patton's shoulder hugging the other tightly.

Roman throw a fist into the air letting out a cheer "yes Disney is always the answer Thomas, you know us so well!" He smiled proudly gently pulling Patton's hand towards the dining table where their lunch was "Patton Dee wanna sit with me while we eat lunch?"He asked as they walked past Thomas towards the table, they continued to have their own conversation leaving Thomas with Logan.

He chuckled carefully standing up giving Logan a look "come on Lo let's eat before they get too hungry they might steal ours." He joked walking towards the Logical side holding out his hand smiling softly. He gently pulled Logan up when he gave him his hand. "Besides I can't put on your favorite movie if you don't each lunch, that would be wrong of me to have the others follow rules and you not. "He smiled putting a hand on Logan's shoulders.

Logan looked away a light dusting of blush speed across his cheeks. He adjusted his glasses looking up at Thomas "I suppose I do have an interest in the movie."He mumbled slightly looking towards the others. He suddenly turned towards Virgil giving him a slightly annoyed look. "Okay fine I love that movie, you don't have to give me that look, Virgil, I admitted it you can stop now" He pouted crossing his arms looking away from the two huffings in annoyance walking towards the table leaving them alone.

Virgil gave a small watery giggle looking up at Thomas with a small smile. "Lolo silly daddy. He poutin' cause I look at him like this" He said giving him a serious look rising one eyebrow, a few seconds later he fell into a fit of giggles again sounding like he was feeling a lot better then he had earlier. Thomas was still shocked that he was calling him daddy but he wasn't going to stop him if he felt comfortable with that. "I like the kitty, hairy baby." He laughed putting his sleeve covered hand on top of Thomas's head fluffing his hair when he said 'hairy baby'

"Oh yeah, you were giving him a look? Well, let's go eat some lunch before he gives us a look huh?" He asked smiling walking towards the Table taking a seat next to Logan holding Virgil on his lap "and yes Hairy baby is a good kitty huh?" He asked gently moving some plates around so his and Virgil's is now in front of them. He looked around and frowned. He had now noticing everyone was dressed ready for the day.

Patton was wearing a light blue shirt that had a paw print in the front, he was wearing a pair of khaki shorts and socks on his feet. Roman was wearing a grey shirt that had Minnie and Mickey mouse hugging the space between each other with a heart in the middle of his chest, He was wearing red shorts with grey socks. Deceit was had a black shirt that had a yellow snake that wrapped around from his back to his form. He was wearing jean shorts with yellow socks. Logan was wearing his normal outfit except he wasn't wearing his tie.

Thomas looked down at himself and Virgil frowning, they both were still in their pajamas, he wanted to change but he wasn't sure if Virgil would want to change as well. "Um, Virgil do you want to change into day clothes so we can wash your pajamas? We can change back into them tonight before we go back to bed" He suggested taking a sip from his bottle of water wondering how he could change and not make Virgil upset at the same time, he might have to bring him into the room with him he wasn't prepared for another temper tantrum from Virgil.

He hummed lifting his arms up letting his long sleeves all as far as they could so he could pick up his sandwich taking a bite of his grilled cheese, he smiled happily as he took another bit. Shaking his head he looked back at Thomas "No thank you, daddy I wanna stay in my PJs all day please."He replied placing his sandwich back on the plate before carefully picking up his glass with help from Thomas he took a drink of his Apple juice.

Patton quickly put his hands over his mouth to suppress an excited squeal when he heard what Virgil called Thomas, he quickly hid the expression and looked towards his sandwich eating happily pretending that he didn't hear him but on the inside, he was squealing. 'Virgil your so cute, I hope your able to stay this happy when we are back to normal.' he thought to himself He turned to Dee and happily went back to their conversation about what they could draw while they watched the movie.

Logan suddenly groaned crossing his arms giving Virgil a glare "Thomas make him stop please, he keeps giving me that look. I've asked him to stop but he proceeds to give me the same look. I would appreciate if he did not look at me like that anymore" He said giving Virgil an annoyed look when he keeps staring at each other. It was hilarious to see Logan so annoyed with Virgil for just giving him a simple look, but Thomas knew if he didn't stop Virgil soon Logan may get to the point where he might start shouting in frustration.

"Virgil leave Logan alone, he's asked you nicely so let's just eat our lunch okay?" He asked gently placing a hand in front of Virgil's Face hiding whatever look he was giving Logan. "I know you like to antagonize but I don't think lo appreciates that bud." He replied handing Virgil his other part of his sandwich.

Virgil took the sandwich into his hands looking at Roman having an idea come to him, he suddenly had a huge mischievous grin come on to his face, sadly before he could even try to give Roman a hand time Thomas gently covered his eyes with his hand sighing softly. He pouted putting the sandwich back onto the plate leaning back trying to push away Thomas's hands "all done, no more." He replied pressing himself further into his chest.

Thomas sighed softly gently moving Virgil's plate away, he looked over everyone enjoying their lunch, he couldn't help but wonder how this could have happened, or who could have done this to them, he wasn't going to worry about it at this moment he decided once they were watching their movie, he'd talk to Logan more about what they had done within the last week that may have caused them all to regress so suddenly without warning. 

Once everyone finished lunch they all went off to do their own things. Roman and Patton were happily sat around the coffee table happily drawing Multiple pictures of puppies, kittens, and even a couple dragon witches quietly planning their next adventure they were going to play. Logan sat next to Thomas leaning on the older slightly having his full attention on the movie, occasionally he would turn to Thomas asking him questions that have made him curious while watching the movie, Questions he would ask was more along the line of 'what do you think Tadashi made Baymax out of? he seems too soft to be any sort of metal.' or 'why did the college let Hiro get in at such a young age, that is highly doubtful especially nowadays being a genius is taken for granted.' in which Thomas would say 'Well he made Baymax is a special type of material that makes him soft.' and 'I'm not sure Lo, but I bet you could do it if people saw how smart you are.' which made Logan give a satisfied smile, But then he would ask questions that Thomas couldn't answer himself so he had to google the answers, he read at least four different articles within the last twenty minutes just so he could find out how likely it is for a child to skip a grade. Thomas found himself laying on the couch with Deciet happily laying on his legs watching the movie letting out a couple giggles as he tried to get Thomas to do the fist bump but every time he tried Thomas woukd do the 'balala' noise causing the other to go into another fit of giggles, Virgil was snuggled up against Thomas's chest head rested over Thomas heart listening to the steady rhythm eyes drooping slowly the longer he laid there, he was trying to fight off the need for a nap the best he could, but Thomas wasn't helping as he gently brushed his hand through his hair in a soothing motion causing him to let out a soft whine and tighten his hands on his shirt every so often but refused to remove the hand away from his head. Laying over top the three was his heated blanket turned onto the lowest setting providing making them feel warm and comforting. They all seemed to be in a happy calm mood at the moment which made Thomas thankful for.

Thomas opened his mouth to say something to Logan when he suddenly saw a figure appear by the stairs out of the corner of his eye causing him to go into protection mode. He turned his head quickly to see who had suddenly appeared in his apartment and if he needed to get ready to fight to protect the others. Standing there was a figure wearing a white shirt and leather jacket with jeans, they had sunglasses resting over his eyes and a messenger bag resting over his shoulder. He had a Starbucks cup firmly in. They brought the drink up to his mouth taking a long sip before giving a cocky grin. "Sup gurl what did I miss?" He asked setting the cup next to him as he sat on the steps.

"Remy!" Deceit suddenly shouted excitedly quickly getting off of Thomas legs rushing over to the other launching himself into the arms of the other troughing his arms around the other's neck almost knocking the sunglasses of their face as he gave them a tight squeeze. "I didn't miss you! Guess what! I didn't get saved by Pat Pat Ro, and lo 'cause the dragon witch took me away. And we didn't eat grilled cheese and orange juice for lunch!" He smiled widely snuggling into the other's neck giving them a happy giggle. "What are you doing here?" He asked his eyes shown curiously as he tilted his head to the side slightly.

"Woah! Careful there Dee, don't want my glasses falling off now do we?" He asked gently giving the other a squeeze hug smiling softly when the other burst into a fit of giggles. "That sounds like a lot of fun hon, I'm so glad two handsome princes were able to save you as well as a wizard, next time call me if love to be rescued by some handsome princes like Pat and Ro" he said winking ag roman and and Patton who both had proud smiles on their faces. "Anyways I'm here because Emmy wanted to make sure you all were okay. Someone didn't  leave him a note saying they were going to Thomas's so he can take care of them and I don't think it was Dee, Vergie, Ro or Pat would be able to write a note explaining why you all suddenly left,"he replied gently pushing his sunglasses down on his nose giving Logan a slight look, his grin widens when said side crossed their arms looking away a slight blush dusting their cheeks.

Logan huffed turning back to Remy giving him an annoyed look. "So you mean to tell us that Emile let you out of his so called 'time out' after grounding you for a week after you decided to keep everyone away the day before filming seasons of love audio, just because Roman said your sunglasses weren't um Gucci?" He questioned looking to Thomas to see if he said that word write, once he was giving a nod he continued "so what out of the goodness of your heart you decided that you would check on us? I highly doubt that is why you're here. I bet you snuck out and you're using us as an excuse just so you won't get in trouble again." He replied getting back into his comfortable position on the couch laying his head on Thomas's shoulder looking satisfied with his response.

Remy pushed his sunglasses back up on his nose before standing up holding Deceit on his hip and placing his other hand over his heart. "Gurl how cold hearted do you think I am, yes Emmy wanted me to check on you all so I agreed. I was worried too, especially our little snake right here, last time he regressed he spent the whole time hanging out with me huh?" He asked gently bouncing Deceit causing him to giggle holding onto the other's shirt as tightly as he could. "But anyways , I see everyone is okay now for me to do my Job, looks like our little storm cloud is fighting a nap, hon if you wait any longer you will altimently ruining your sleep schedule and you know Lolo will have a cow about that,"he said walking over to Thomas kneeling down next to him giving Virgil a slight look.

Virgil turned his head to look at Remy for a few seconds looking at him through droopy eyes, he gave him a small frown he huffed in annoyance before turning his head into Thomas's chest shaking his head "No nap stay with daddy." He replied holding onto Thomas as tightly as he could trying not to show that he really was tired. "Only stay with daddy, no one else." He replied sounding serious. Causing Remy to give Thomas a strange look.

Thomas frowned slightly gently placing a hand on Virgil's back "Virgil I won't leave when you fall asleep I promise. And when you wake up all of us will be right here ready to hang out with you and we could watch a movie." he replied giving him a small smile gently rubbing soothing circles on his back. Trying not to think about how much he needs to use the restroom

Virgil placed a hand over Thomas' mouth slowly lifting his head giving him a slight look of annoyance. He turned his head to Remy waving " go away Rem, only Emmy, Pat-Pat, Lo, and daddy tell me what to do. Not you, you not responsible enough " He said sticking his tongue out at him. He said with a satisfied grin when Remy gave him a shocked gasp at the sudden attitude. He laid his head back down slowly moving his hand away from Thomas's mouth. He snuggled further into his chest looking at Remy waving his hand at him "bye bye. No nap never ever" He whispered causing himself and Deceit to go into a fit of giggles at his reaction.

Remy pouted slightly going back to the stairs picking up his Starbucks "you know what, since no one can control the little beast I'll go get someone who can. I'm also taking Dee with me maybe he can help sweeten the deal" He huffed sinking out taking Deceit with him leaving an empty space at the bottom of the stairs.

Patton slowly moved towards Thomas and Virgil giving them his serious dad look, he put his hands on his hips standing tall so he would look more serious "now Vergie that wasn't very nice, I'm still the dad even if I'm small so your going to time out because you were mean to Remy, come on big guy you need a time out." He said without worming he picked up Virgil walking towards the step placing him there gently patting his head "I'll be back in three minutes, don't you move a muscle." He said walking back to his coloring pages going back to his coloring. Surprising everyone Virgil didn't fight he just sat there putting his hood over his head and cried quietly.

Roman winced slightly watching Patton put Virgil in time out, he looked towards Logan "I hope I'm not next, time outs the worst" he whispered careful not to let Patton hear him, Causing Logan to roll his eyes and go back to the movie.

The living room was quiet for a moment other then Virgil's crying and the movie playing no one made a sound, but not a moment later they all jumped hearing someone yell "da! Ta Da da Ta! Da ta da ta da ta da!" They looked towards the kitchen and saw a hand doing the jazz hand before a full figure came out with a big smile, wearing a tan cardigan over a white button up with a pink tie, their hair was neatly combed and glasses placed on his face,  quickly pushed his glasses up walking into the living room saying in front of the stairs  keeping the smile on his face "ah there you all are,  Do you how to do?" He asked looking at everyone.

"Greetings Emile, we are here  I suspect you're here because of Remy?" Logan asked adjusting his glasses lazily as he sat up allowing Thomas to sit up as well. He crossed his legs moving so he was facing the other better.

"Awe Lo not just because Remy came to get me, It because I was worried about you guys, you were supose to stay in the mind scape."He replied frowning softly seeming to finally hear the soft crying from behind him. He turned around and frowned seeing Virgil now sitting up rubbing his eyes. Emile knelt down in front of Virgil "Awe Virgil why are you sitting all the way over here? Why not turn that frown upside down?" He asked softly.

Virgil looked up sniffling, he pointed to Patton letting more tears fall "pat pat said I was mean to Rem, so I have to sit in time out." He cried putting his face back into his hands crying softly trying to make Emile feel bad for him so he could get out of time out if that didn't work he at least hoped he could get out maybe a little sooner. "I'm not mean rem is."

Remy came out of the kitchen gasping Deceit still happily placed on his hip taking sips of Remys Starbucks. "I am not mean! Gurl if I'm mean because I'm trying to make you take a nap then I must be a horrible person. I'm not the one who put you in time out doll face" He huffed looking towards Emile giving him a 'do something look'

Emile sighed looking at Patron for permission to pick him up. Once he got the thumbs up he carefully picked Virgil up holding him close frowning softly "Virgil." He said softly before whispering something into his ear that only he could hear. Virgil suddenly sat straight up his bottom lip quivered slightly "daddy saw a scary movie." He replied hugging Emile who nodded rubbing the others back gently, While he whispered something else to the other who reluctantly nodded hiding his face in the others shoulder.

"Emile is Virgil Okay? Why are you whispering" Patton asked worriedly slowly going over to the two gently placing his hand on Virgil's leg giving him a worried look. "Is he sick? what if he's sick? I didn't notice oh no!" He gasped standing on his tiptoes trying to reach his forehead to make sure he didn't have a temperature. "I'm sorry Vergie I should have checked your temperature before i even put you in time out I'm sorry." He said still trying to get to his forehead.

Emile gave pat a small smile "he's okay Pat, he just feels very upset at the moment."He replied gently putting a hand on Patton's head having him stand still "he's not upset with you no worries, he's just a little worried that you all will be angry with him once I tell you why you guys are small. Dee is it okay?"he sighed softly looking at Virgil who tried to make himself smaller in Emile’s arms. Deceit laid his head on Remy's shoulder bleeping happily while Remy gently scratched his scales under his eye, he looked as if he didn't Have care in the world.

Thomas frowned slightly he sat up watching the others give Emile worried glances as they nodded for him to proceed with what he was going to say all looking worried. He stayed waiting to see what would happen he hoped Virgil was okay he looked ready to burst into tears at whatever Emile was about to tell them.

"Well, a month ago Virgil and Dee came to me wanting help with an April fools day joke, the idea was to make you three think you guys regressed for no reason and then try to figure out how to help each other while doing silly tasks to 'make yourselves bigger'. They Decided not to do the prank on April fools day because of everyone freaking out the day before with the 'selfishness or selflessness' video caused a lot of fans to think it was a prank, they figured they wouldn't want you all under any more stress. So we waited until last night to do the prank, what we weren't planning on Thomas seeing a scary movie which caused Virgil to panic and Dee to go into overdrive to lie saying Thomas wasn't scared of the movie, which as you can see has caused them to regress" he explained  softly holding onto Virgil's shaking frame, he gently rubbed his back slowly carefully he lifted his hand and flicked his wrist Turing Roman, Logan, and Patton back into their adults selves all dressed in their normal attire, leaving Dee and Virgil still regressed.

Thomas winced slightly looking at both Deceit and Virgil, he was the cause for them regressing he felt horrible "sorry guys, I didn't mean to make you two regress."He sighed softly giving them a sad look. His apologies were ignored when he heard Patton suddenly gasp.

Patton rushed over to Emile gently placing his hand over Virgil's gently running his thumb over his knuckles giving him a small smile "Awe irs okay Virge, it was a good prank when you think about it. I'm excited to hear what kind of silly adventures you were going to have us do. Right guys?" He asked looking over to Roman and Logan giving them a slight look.

Roman stood up from where he was sitting still drawing his mighty steed "i'd have to say I'm more upset that I didn't come up with that idea myself, I may have to use it next year." Roman said standing behind Patton giving Virgil a small smile.

Virgil sat up looking at the two confused he expected them to get upset and angry at him. "You're not mad?" He asked looking to Dee giving him a shocked look before twisting his body in Emile's arms to get a better look at Logan's eyes widens "Lolo not mad?" He asked confused.

Logan stood up walking over to the other adjusting his glasses shaking his head "No I am not upset Virgil, it was a harmless prank, I am more concerned about how you are feeling after this all has happened, you seemed pretty determined not to leave Thomas side today. Though I do not particularly mind you staying by his side, I wish you will tell us in the future if this happens again, we will not be angry with you for something so silly as this." He replied giving him a rare small smile.

He nodded slowly looking at Thomas with a small frown "daddy?" He asked tilting his head slightly hoping Thomas wasn't angry because of all of this.

Thomas laughed softly shaking his head softly "Don't worry Virgil it's okay I didn't mind taking care of you at all, I actually enjoyed it because I was able to get to know you all more." he smiled softly. he gave a sheepish chuckle when he noticed everyone giving him weird looks. "I mean I found out Logan is still really curious about different things, Roman is very quick to defend others when his actions hurt others, Patton is still our very loveable happy pappy Patton, Virgil gets really cuddly when he's stressed or tired which if you need any cuddles I will be here to give you any, and Dee he loves to stay warm and loves to have his scales scratched lightly."He replied giving him a soft smile "so No Virgil I'm not upset at all."

Virgil smiled slightly reaching for Patton hugging him tightly before letting out a small yawn as he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand "I'm sleepy." He finally admired laying his head down on Patton's shoulder snuggling closet to him.

Patton smiled softly "Awe okay kiddo well go take a nap, wave by to Thomas. Thanks for taking care of us Thomas." He smiled holding Virgil close. Virgil lifted his hand and waved slightly "bye bye." He whispered just as Patton sunk out taking Virgil with him.

"Well, I guess that's my cue to leave, come on Dee let's go get some Starbees before pat finds out. maybe we can get some cookies if we're lucky you can give them a cute look and we will get our drinks and cookies for free" He smirked bouncing Deceit again making him giggle and cheer before they both sunk out.

Emile winced slightly "I better make sure he doesn't give him any more coffee, I do believe Patton wouldn't be happy with me if I allow this." He sighed softly shaking his head as he sunk out following Remy and Deceit making sure they stay out of trouble.

Roman stretched slightly letting out a deep breath "Well I'm gonna go shower and have some me time in my kingdom, I bid you all a good day Thomas thank you for trying to entertain us!" He smiled sinking out in the most dramatic way leaving Logan and Thomas alone in the living room.

Logan looked around the room frowning at how messy it was, he sighed flicking his wrist cleaning the living room leaving only Thomas heated blanket. "Thank you again, Thomas, for taking care of us, I am sorry we came so late into the night last night for help but it is appreciated. I shall go find Patton and make sure Virgil is alright. Please call if you need anything." Logan nodded his head slowly sinking out now leaving Thomas alone.

Thomas smiled softly couldn't help but smile when he thought about the events that happened today he was overjoyed that the sides trusted him enough to take care of things while they figured out what was wrong with them, even if it was a harmless prank he was still happy.  He walked over to the couch laying back down pulling the warm blanket back over him snuggling into the warmness of the blanket  draw him into a happy sleepy mood 'a nap does sound pretty nice at the moment' he thought to himself closing his eyes letting the peace of the room draw him into a slightly dazed mood. He suddenly sat up straight eyes wide and panicked he forgot something important. "I still have to pee!"

Tag list

@today-only-happens-once @figurative-falsehood @chanderefk @pawtoncake @combine-the-kitchens @whymustibedraggedintofandomhell @imjustawibba

[starrbomb]

For your langst prompt thing, maybe Lance actually having major depressive disorder and starting to crumble under it. The team starts to notice and confront him. Then as a group they try to help him through it. It's not very original, I know...

honey, it doesnt matter if it’s not very original, its something that you want to see and that is all the reason i ever need to write for you. and as for this prompt, this actually hits quite close to home ( since i myself also have clinical depression and went years without proper treatment) so if you yourself are dealing with this, you aren’t alone darlings.

__________________________________________If anyone ever asked lance when all of it started he could never really pin point it to an exact cause or time in his life.

it’s just always been there.

thinking back on it now, he would say that the excessive amount of anxiety has been with him since first grade. a knot that formed in his stomach and wouldn’t go away, a knot that just seemed to weigh him down and make every movement forward feel like the wrong thing. something in his head telling him that going to school was a bad thing; that something bad was going to happen if he went to school. but when he tried to explain it to his parents, they just told him that it was probbly just a stomachache, that everything was fine.

but that unnamable knot came back every time he got ready to go out somewhere, or whenever he had to do something that he didn’t believe he would succeed in. it always came back and made things seem impossible to do alone; that if he tried something wrong would happen and it would be all his fault.

but he learned how to deal with it; albiet not in the best way, but it was better than being trapped in his own heartrate and short breaths. sometimes he could ignore the feeling, push through it to do mundane things like homework and chores. other times, all he could do to stop an anxiety attack was to just avoid the subject all together.

the depression came into play around high school; making friends was hard and the bullying for his accent and where he came from was even harder, it didnt help that he was pretty much the baby of the family; all of his siblings had already graduated back in cuba so there was no one to keep an eye out for him at school and struggling with both understanding the lessons he was given and the complex language barrier that he still had between himself and everyone else at the school, it all took its toll on him. whenever he came back from school, he woould go straight to his room and collapse on his bed, wishing for sleep to just take him away from all the hateful words and mocking he got from his ‘classmates’ day in and day out. he barely ate, even when it was his mother’s cooking that wafted into his room. he just couldn’t gather the motivation to go out of his room and be apart of the world. not while his bed was so safe and warm and judgement free.

it was after Lance had missed three school days in a row like this that his mother and father had realized just how bad things were for lance. they took him to a psychiatrist to see what was wrong and what they needed to do to get their old Lance back.

and thats when he was diagnosed with major clinical depressive disorder.

his doctors immediately had him start taking anti depressents and anti anxiety medication; switching between this one and that one before they finally found one that worked with him and his body. it was slow going at first, and many times it felt like it wasn’t doing anything at all, but then one day lance was doing his usual chores and realized that it didnt take as much energy as before to do it, he wasn’t wrestling with himself to get things done as much as he used to. he actually felt somewhat…..normal. he felt light.

Lance always made sure to keep some of his AD and AA on him at all times, just in case he had to rush to his classes or accidentally forgot to take them. he didn’t expect to be thrown out into space with just a handful of his medication on him and no one actually knowing about his mental problems. he didn’t expect to be blown up, destroying what little remained of his medications, protecting the one man who could have made him more of them if he had known about them.

but now, here he was in the middle of space with nothing left of his medication, and all he could do was hope that now that he knew what it was like to actually feel happy and carefree and……normal, he wouldn’t be as effected by the sudden stop of his meds. he knew it would take a few days for the medication to completely work out of his system so he took the short amount of time left that he had of feeling normal to make ways for hijm to try and find that normalcy again without the help of his meds.

but soon enough, the dark feelings came back. it was slow at first; taking longer to get ready for training, loosing the energy to go all out during sparring sessions. Lance could tell that the others were picking up on his weird behavior, how he didn’t really contribute to conversations anymore and that he even stopped flirting with the princess. it was as if they were watching their blue paladin slowly die right in front of their eyes; and they had no idea as to why. they all became so worried about their friend that they all met together during one of Lance’s now usual naps.

“ I’m sao worried, what if he’s planning on leaving? what if he just disappears in the middle of the night? what if- what if-” Hunk stammers out, tears threatening to spill as he works himself farther and farther into an anxiety attack. thankfully Pidge takes a hold of his hand and makes him sit down on the sunken couch and does her best to calm him down, “ Hunk, its okay. Lance would never just up and leave us. you know that he still loves us and even if he is acting like this, he cares about us too much to ever just leave……right?” Hunk isnt sure if she was trying to goad him into agreeing or if she was trying to find the answer to calm down her own worries about their friend, but he nods anyways, taking a look back up to his friends as a way of saying that he’s okay.

“maybe it is a bug that has number three acting so out of sorts; like the stomach one that number five got just a few weeks ago!” Coran suggested, getting a few spare chuckles out of Hunk and Shiro. “ while that is a good theory Coran, im not sure that’s what going on with Lance. it doesn’t seem like he’s sick with anything; it’s like the life is being sucked right out of him.” Shiro states, getting a gasp from Allura. all eyes turn to her as she whispers “ What if this is Haggard’s and Zarkon’s doing? what if they are actually draining the life right out of him.” everyone seem to pale at the thought of it, Shiro unconciously gripping the forearm of his artifical limb.

the tense moment is quickly intrupted as Lance runs into the room, sweat staining his undershirt and a terrified look of desperation painting his face.

“Lance?!”

many of the occupants in the room standing as Lance seems to heave a sigh of relief and almost collapses in the doorway, heaving in breath after breath as if he has been running for hours. Thankfully, Coran was close by and caught him from completely falling and helped him slwoly down to the floor, the others immediately rushing to his side.“Lance?”“are you okay?”“what’s wrong?”“are you hurt?”

everyone asking question on top of question at once, not sure what to do to help and yet wanting to do anything to try. once it seemed like lance somewhat caught his breath, he chokes out “sorry- sorry I-” Shiro takes hold of Lance’s hands, getting him to look at him. and Shiro was surprised to see such a sad and scared look in his eyes. “ Lance, you did nothing wrong. you just scared us a little. can you tell us what got you so panicked?” Lance doesn’t seem eager to share, but he manages to squick out “ it’s just me being stupid.” Pidge is the one to speak up this time, squirming her way to being face to face with Lance “ Lance, you aren’t stupid. trust me, I’m the smartest one around and i’m telling you the truth: you. are. not. stupid.” Lance can’t help but let out a breathy chuckle. “ but this part of me is.” Pidge puffs up with irriation and is obviously ready to speak up again, when Lance beats her to it “ i know, i know im not stupid, but this part of my brain makes me think stupid things” lance starts out strong, trying calm down the others, but the more he talks the quieter and timid he becomes, baiting everyone to barely breath so that they can hear every word, “ I thought that it was really quiet and then my anxiety kinda took over and made me start thinking that you all had just left me and that you didn’t care about me and i know that’s stupid; i know that you guys would never do that to me but i couldn’t stop thinking like that and i was getting scared that the stupid voice inside my head was right so i started looking for you guys and i didn’t find you guys anywhere and that just kept feeding my anxiety more and more and that just fueled the depression and i started running everywhere looking for you guys and i’m sorry, I know i’m ranting and stuff but it was just like before back home and i thought i had better control of it but I-” Lance is immediately cut off by Pidge throwing herself into his lap, knocking him out of his spiralling thoughts and back to his surroundings and noticed that all of his friends were on the brink or already crying, he can feel the small wet patch on his undershirt from where Pidge has buried her head into his stomach, clinging to him as if that would be enough to hold him together. man, he really was falling apart at the seams, huh? he thought he had it under control, but instead it caused him to go back into that dark and negative head space all over again.

“lance? do- do you honestly believe that we would-” keith whispers out, not even having enough strength to finish the sentence

“no! no, i know you guys would never abandon me! its just my anxiety and depression making me think stupid things that i know aren’t true and yet it makes things feel like they are. that’s why i said that that part of me is stupid.” Lance stammers out, clutching to Shiro’s hand and Pidge as he explains. “ it’s just been so hard to keep my anxiety and depression under control since i lost my meds.”

“then why didn’t you tell us that you were struggling and needed medinical help? you know we wouldn’t have judged you for needing help.” Keith counters, his sadness and betrayal leeching into his words.

Lance looked down at the ground at the words, knowing that they were true, even if Shiro was getting on Keith for being angery at him because of something that Lance couldn’t control. “i-” he whispers, catching everyone’s attention once again, “ i thought that you guys wouldn’t understand, or that you wouldn’t care. i know that it was just those dark thoughts spreading lies in my head, but they can be really persuasive when they want to be.”

Shiro looks back towards Lance’s hunched over form, unconciously protecting him from the outside world and the ominious what ifs that seem more like mountains to him than the mole hills they truly are.

“Lance….” shiro waits until Lance finally looks up, a look on his face as though he’s bracing for the worst. “ I’m glad that you shared this with us, it must have been really hard to talk about this. im proud of you.”

it was with those words that Lance felt like he was able to take a full breath again. they didn’t hate him for hiding this from them; they weren’t going to leave him. and for the first time in weeks, Lance felt like everything was going to be okay, even if its just for a little bit. and that’s all he could ask for in that moment. everything was going to work itself out.

[lookinlikeaking]

just because @charmingviolence found something that is 100% up my fucking ally with the horror genre, and i’ve noticed I’ve never really gone into my favourite horror stuff, I’ma do that now.

WARNING: I like a lot of things that get very violent reactions from other people. A lot of it turns stomachs and includes things like trypophobia. I’m also including some links to graphical examples in the post, click em at your own risk.

First, lemme just say I love anything that brings in the idea of completely unmoral experimentation with science going on mid 50s through 90s. Just that entire time period of when computers became an actual thing and tech started becoming tech, and trying to push the limits before we actually had breakthroughs. I especially love things that just. Should not be possible becoming reality. Machines that can just do something that even today is not possible with technology. This is why games like Portal (specifically, Portal 2) and Prey are very, VERY much my thing. I know, not too horrory, but my favourite basis for anything horror. Bring me to an area where there’s no rules and it’s completely okay to kill people who are on the same level as you for science.

now. The thing Ace showed me today that I fell in love with is called Cooking With Bill. Here’s a link to probably the softest one, since it’s just some fake gore. The others get far grosser. The combination of bio-matter and tech, /especially/ tech that ISN’T humanoid, is so so good to me. Whether it’s blood or other bio matter, I just enjoy it when it’s squished together into one idea. Another example of this is Simon Stålenhag’s works, such as these: [x] [x] [x] gosh I really want those books of his.

Mostly posting this because I’d love to see more. I haven’t seen a lot that has been this particular aesthetic, and so far there’s only 4 episodes of cooking with Bill. But I want more games and movies and stuff like this. maybe some of youse all know of stuff? IDK

and to wrap it up, the general reason that horror movies don’t work on me at all:

Not scared of survival situations, not scared of being hunted, not scared of murders, gore, injuries, monsters, infections, bugs, trypophobia stuff, darkness, nightmares, ghosts and ghoulies, etc. Most of the stuff in mainstream media doesn’t even make it interesting enough for me.

Some other things I do like to see: Digital corruption of real life where there should be none. (So not a scifi scene or where people have implants. Just digital corruption that shouldn’t be happening but is.) Non-humanoid machines and technology gaining sentience, especially in a non verbal way. Controlled human experimentation / unmoral actions. Like Battle Royal and Stranger Things.

I do get squicked by eye horror. Specially needles. Yes, that’s a fuuuuun part of playing Prey. Also fingernail shit. 

... i guess this got a lil away from horror genre, but I guess I was afraid to openly talk about it, cause I know a lot of my followers would just NOPE the fuck out even slightly scrolling over some of these ideas... idk.

[tweakerwolf]

Ellen Endings 5 + 6

Ellen is a little unsettling here, one wrong answer and you just don’t know what she might do to you! I put these two together since they were literally just one choice apart hahaha. Crazy how one different answer can lead to a different outcome!

You can’t help but notice how starstruck she looks, it’s too much for you to bear. You want to hear her side of it though, so you walk forward and get her attention. At first she’s startled by your approach but you easily see recognition in her eyes, she knows you. She doesn’t waste time, realizing that you saw everything; you accuse her of sleeping with Jack (black heart). That surprises her, and she admits that things must’ve looked bad from your perspective but that it’s just a misunderstanding… don’t believe her, saying “I know what I saw“ because she isn’t going to worm her way out of it. She shrinks away from you, almost like she’s scared and begs you to hear her out (broken heart). She admits that you don’t have to believe her but she thinks you deserve to know what really happened, she wants to explain. You know it won’t fix anything but at the very least, it will help you understand, so you nod and let her continue. She introduces herself as a grad student and reveals that Jack keeps a photo of you at his desk. You counter with the fact that Jack has mentioned her before although you can’t help the harsh tone out of your voice and she stiffens. You try to clear things up, saying that you know she’s a student of his and that Jack’s called her bright. It flatters her and that makes you glower even more… Ellen says that she wanted to get to know Jack better and you ask her for details about what she mentioned earlier, ‘being a part of something’- just how many people are involved?? Ellen pauses, her sentence cutting off before you can find out what she thinks you ‘really think’. Her demeanor changes and suddenly she’s saying that she has something that belongs to you and your stomach drops. Has Jack been giving away your things? You don’t recall anything that’s missing but she’s already going on, talking about how she doesn’t feel right keeping the ‘gift’. You tell hear you’d like to have it back; a part of you doesn’t want it back but you also want to know what he gave away… Plus you still have the conversation with Jack to think about… You follow her to her car as she apologizes but you’re only half-listening anyways. As she opens her car door, something shiny falls to the ground; you reach down to grab it and she slams the car door into your head. You hit the ground and feel nauseous, your head is split open and bleeding. Then a hand tangles in your hair and is slamming your head into the car again. This time you lose consciousness.

Eventually you come back around, finding yourself in an unfamiliar room, unable to move. You struggle for a bit until you realize what exactly is going on… you’re in a large, metal animal cage with your head sticking out of a hole cut into it. How…? Why?! Before you can get too lost in your thoughts, Ellen calls out to you, glad that you’re finally awake. She doesn’t want you to be upset and she just wants to finish the conversation from earlier… you were getting all worked up and she didn’t like that. So… now you’re naked in a cage… that logic is sound. You do catch the answer that you’re specifically naked because dogs don’t need clothes. Is that a subtle way of calling you a bitch or…? You charge ahead, accusing her of lying and she shrugs it off, also commenting that Jack does it all the time so surely you’re used to it. She won’t go into detail though, that’s for later. This is an outrage! Scream at her, “You bitch!” because at least one of you isn’t afraid to curse! You scream more, asking what the hell is wrong with her and what makes her think this is okay. Ellen reacts immediately by spraying you in the face with pepper spray. How nice. The pain is instant and it’s hard to breathe… it doesn’t help that you can’t really move, adding to the panic. As you struggle, Ellen glares at you, calling you a bad dog. Apparently she’s being weird and it wasn’t a pacifist way of calling you names… she’s… treating you like a dog. Now you know you’re really in trouble… It takes a few minutes for the burning to die down and you notice that Ellen looks like she’s trying to calm herself down as well. Ellen tells you that she doesn’t like having to do things like that; you notice a certain tremble in her voice that concerns you. Once you’re full calmed down and able to breathe again, she tells you that as long as you obey her, nothing bad will happen to you. Satisfied that she’s explained the situation to you, she gets down to business. She wants to get to know your husband better, harshly telling you that he isn’t actually having an affair- he hasn’t slept with any of his students. You aren’t sure if you should believe her but you can’t help but feel relieved despite everything. That’s short lived because she confirms that Jack is doing something behind your back, something you’d dislike… she is surprised that you haven’t found out about it though. Maybe he’s protecting you… but whatever might be going on, she’s certain that you’re the key to understanding Jack. You scoff, saying that this is not the way to understand someone; Ellen gets mad, asking if you’re really an expert. There’s a whole side to your husband that you know nothing about, you have no right to judge how she goes about her business. She threatens that she’ll get what she wants whether you cooperate or not but cuts off and she remembers she has something to do.

She hurries to her desk, grabbing something off of it and setting it in front of you. It’s a muffin in a dog bowl- she has to feed you something right? -Refuse- to eat the muffin because you don’t trust her, she calls them her leftovers but it doesn’t look like it’s even been eaten. Besides, you are not about to start eating out of a dog bowl. She waits a few moments before realizing that you aren’t going to touch it; she picks the bowl up with a sigh and tells you to go hungry. Then she’s sitting at her desk, grading papers. It’s quiet and as much as you’re freaked out by the situation, you want to try and get to know Ellen, so -talk to Ellen-. She does reply, letting you know that she’s grading tests, her students just did a midterm. You ask if she likes teaching and she admits that she does- it’s rewarding. You might be surprised to hear that she’s quite patient when it comes to her students. Because we’re dumb and don’t know when to stay quiet, say, “that does surprise me” and piss her off. She glares at you, saying that you aren’t a student of her and gives you a cold shoulder after that. Not that it matters anyways, something on her computer chimed and Ellen freaks out. Even though she’s miffed at you, ask her what’s going on. She reveals that she emailed Jack about not coming to his house and now he’s upset. That’s surprising, “you cancelled on him?”- wasn’t she just talking about how she wanted to get closer to him? Ellen admits that she freaked out, of course Jack would be looking for you and she wouldn’t be able to hide your disappearance from him. She realizes that he’ll never forgive her for taking you… In the spirit of trying to stay alive, you tell her that she can fix it, there’s still time. But she won’t let you go because she can’t trust you, she’s just going to have to deal with it herself. First, she needs to relax though, and you’re going to help with that. She’s at her desk for a moment and you hear some strange noises…

(squick scene below, bug mention)

Ellen randomly tells you that she isn’t a sadist or anything but seeing other people suffer makes her feel better. As she turns around to face you, you see that she’s holding a cricket with a pair of tweezers. She steps closer to you and tells you to be a good dog and stay still. As she crouches down, one hand comes up and pins your head to the floor. You squirm as she lowers the cricket to your face and you demand to know what she’s doing. Ellen actually pauses and tells you; she’s going to ask a few simple questions and she just wants you to answer honestly. Oh, and she’s going to put the cricket in your ear to help you along. You tell her not to, you’re uncomfortable with the thought of that. She just strokes your hair and tells you that the human mind is incredible and it can adapt to the most horrendous situation (even though you’re supposed to be a dog). Then the cricket is pressed against your cheek… it’s still alive, you can feel it moving. Ellen admits that she wants to ask you about Dr. Buchanan. As she slides the cricket closer to your ear she asks if you’re sexually intimate with each other. You aren’t comfortable answering her and you’re wondering what the ‘right’ answer might even be… but she takes the silence as an embarrassed yes and asks you how it is. Do you lead or just let him take control of everything? Then she asks if you can feel the maggots inside you or if he cleans himself off before he gets to you. Does he even enjoy the sex with you? Maybe it’s brief and lacks passion? Then she makes a comment that stands out, asking if you can see the marriage unraveling because he’s found something he likes to fuck more. You think that she’s just trying to get a reaction out of you, she hasn’t even given you time to answer. Besides, Jack isn’t like that, he wouldn’t find someone else just because the sex may or may not be the best. Ellen waits a moment but then slowly slides the cricket into your ear and you can feel its legs as it tries to stop itself. That’s when you lose it and start to struggle. Ellen pins you down with a knee, telling you to stay, like a good dog. You know she means business… The cricket gets pushed in deeper and it starts to struggle even more, trying to get free of the tweezers. You can hear and feel the buzzing inside your head as it moves around, it’s unbearably loud. It’s so loud that you don’t even hear Ellen for a moment but apparently she’s trying to talk to you. Then you realize that she’s squirming around, her hips moving just a bit. Since she still has her knee on your neck, you can see up her skirt… you start to question if she’s getting off on the whole thing because she’s breathing a little wonky. Ellen tells you that she doesn’t want to ask questions, now she just wants to talk and she wants you to listen. She admits that she fantasizes about Jack and as she says that, her hand trembles and the cricket harshly rubs against your ear canal. Ellen mentions that she knows he’s married and everything but she can’t help but think about Jack holding her down like this. The chirping in your ear gets louder and more painful. Do your best to -stay still- and let her do what she wants. It’s extremely unpleasant but you really don’t want to do anything to upset her. The cricket continues to move inside your ear but you stay as still as possible. She’s surprised at your self control and you’re surprised at the praise. Ellen says that she thought you were a little impulsive but it took a long time before you finally got desperate enough to follow Jack. You tell her that Jack’s entitled to his secrets. She goes quiet but pulls the cricket out of your ear; she’s starting to feel like she’s starting to understand. The cricket is still in the tweezers and she takes it back over to the desk. You breathe a sigh of relief, that ordeal is finally over.

Right after that, Ellen leaves the room to go make food- you know because you can hear it sizzling and smell it to. The smell makes you realize just how hungry you are, because you turned down the muffin from earlier. Call her back into the room and awkwardly -ask- if you can have some. Ellen immediately frowns and reminds you that you turned down breakfast- very ungrateful of you. Why should she share her dinner with you?! Well, looks like you’re going hungry! You leave her alone while she’s eating dinner, not wanting to annoy her any further. After dinner, she cleans up and turns off the lights, telling you to get some sleep… apparently she has some plans for you in the morning… Somehow you manage to fall asleep… A touch from someone wakes you up later… why was Jack touching you? You groan and tell him to let you sleep. The other person giggles at your response and your eyes snap open, it’s Ellen. Right, you’re in her room because she kidnapped you. When she reaches out to touch you again, you realize that you aren’t in the cage any longer… how did she get you out of the cage without waking you up?! You’re still tied up of course but not trapped in the cage. Ellen starts off the day by apologizing for the other day, she doesn’t normally get mad like that. It sounds like she does feel bad, genuinely, but you can’t quite understand why she doesn’t feel bad about the kidnapping part…

Anyways, Ellen is ready to start again, a new day for the two of you. She’s going to be asking some questions and you just have to cooperate, that simple. Suddenly she climbs on top of you and says that she wants you to stay still; you feel a prick in your neck and realize she just injected you with something. As she climbs off she calls you a good dog and says that she only injected you with a paralytic, nothing that’s going to kill you. And she adds on that she stole it from Jack and it was something that he was planning on using on you. Why would Jack want to paralyze you?! Ellen has finally had enough at this point, she can’t believe how dense you are- Jack has sex with dead bodies! Duh! That’s why he’d want you to lie on the bed motionless. And worse than that, he kills the people, he isn’t just stealing the bodies from the morgue or something. You have no idea how to reply to her, not that it matters, the paralytic has taken effect and you can’t move anymore. Ellen changes your position and says that she needs you to accept the truth because you have to help her understand. You can’t imagine that she’d want to understand someone that was so disturbed and she’s disappointed. She grabs a small knife and presses it to the palm of your hands, asking her first question. She wants to know if you love Jack, which, of course you do but she seems to doubt you. So she stabs the knife into your palm, making you scream in pain. Jack emailed her back last night, telling her to transfer to a different university and Ellen knows this is her last chance. She moves the knife to your finger, asking if you understand her predicament. No, no you don’t, so tell her, “you should think about what he said” in an attempt to get her to give up and transfer, get her out of Jack’s life. It’s the wrong thing to say, she shoves the blade into your finger, tearing the nail away from the finger. You scream in pain again as she just looks down at you. Suddenly she leaves the room, scrounging around in the kitchen for a moment before coming back with a very large knife.

Jack has apparently talked to her about death and murder because Ellen reveals that he told her to try. She admits that she’d never done it before but he encouraged her because the only way to understand something is to do it for yourself. If she wants to understand Jack, she has to do what he does… she’s going to kill you and then have sexy times with your body (okay but… with his wife? Whom he loves… like, Ellen, that seems like a bad idea). Joy! You try to reason with her, she can’t possibly want to do this. But she says she’s willing to do unpleasant things for Jack; she starts mumbling about how she’ll have to take pictures so he’ll believer her and how he thinks she’s a coward. The knife is resting on your thigh and her hand is shaking as she tries to push it in. It hurts because the knife wasn’t really made for meat but she tries all the same, talking about how she actually wanted to keep you. Ellen admits that she was starting to see things in you, endearing things- the things Jack gets to see (I don’t think Jack ever gets to see you terrified but okay). She saws the blade back and forth through your muscle, blood dripping out of you as she goes deeper. Things are starting to feel numb but you still try to reason with her when she suddenly stops moving. “You already understand Jack” you tell her, it’s the truth. She knows so much about him that you could’ve never dreamed about. She insists that there is more to him. She asks if you’re really okay with the fact that you’re sharing a bed with a stranger.  Well just because you don’t know all of his secrets doesn’t mean he’s a stranger, so counter her statement with “he isn’t a stranger to me.” That quiets her, it wasn’t the answer she was expecting; the quiet lasts so long that the pains in your leg lessens. When she finally speaks again, she says that she has more that she wants to know: what is it like to sleep with him? She’s asking honestly because she’s never been with someone before. Does Jack kiss your neck or is there not much foreplay? You realize that she’s looking for an answer…

Ending 5: Well, since she’s expecting an answer, tell her “I like kisses on the neck” because who doesn’t? Ellen admits that the neck is sensitive… she wants to try. She shifts and climbs closer you to, pressing her lips against your lips. She comments that you’re warm, like she’s surprised… but she does it again, a little more sure this time. You can’t help but gasp when she lightly nips at you and she lets out a pleased laugh. She climbs on top of you now, nibbling at your skin and you do your best not to moan. You can tell that she isn’t very experienced but she is passionate. Suddenly her lips are gone and the knife is pressing into your skin… before you can fully ask what’s happening, she’s slashing your throat and your blood is spraying on her face. She sits back and watches you die… as your head drops to your chest you hear her say that she understands now- she should’ve listened to him before! She can’t wait to tell Jack about her triumph. Died- Ellen slit your throat

OR

Ending 6: As awkward as it is, be open with Ellen, tell her “I get impatient with foreplay” which she seems to understand. You notice that she’s looking down at your crotch, commenting that it should feel nice. She undoes the ties around your ankles so she can spread your legs apart, gently reaching out to touch you intimately. When you can’t help but become aroused, she’s surprised at how sensitive your body is. Next she moves the knife between your legs and you try to beg her not to but she’s already moving, digging the knife into your most vulnerable parts of you. She continues to saw at you, cutting and cutting until there’s nothing but mangled flesh between your legs. Then she touches you again, commenting that she’s starting to understand. You feel her hands probing your body in ways you aren’t meant to be touched but feeling is starting to fade. Died- Ellen mutilated you.