#background platonic analogical

[dotemakesthings]

Chapters: 4/? Fandom: Sanders Sides (Web Series) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders Characters: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Deceit | Janus Sanders, Morality | Patton Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Alternate Universe - Human, Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Identity Porn, Alternate Universe - College/University, Childhood Friends, Bad Parenting, Fist Fights, Insults, Minor Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Depression, Recovering from a Massive Fuckup Summary:

Virgil’s soulmate, Dee, writes to him on his arm almost every day. He’s supportive, sweet, and everything Virgil could want in a soulmate.

He’s glad for the support when he has to deal with this absolute *asshole* in his English seminar named Janus.

Chapter 4: Virgil gets a little help from people who love him.

Taglist under cut:

@awitchbravestheverge

@sometimes-love-is-enough

@prince-rowan-of-the-forest

@fangirlwriting-stories

[naomijoestar]

Hi I, I thought of a funny scenario in which Giorno is having an identity crisis about having two biological fathers but Reader is exchanging glances with Mista and Narancia because it's not adding up? How does that work? But the three of them feel like idiots, maybe one of them starts to laugh nervously (hysterics) which prompts the rest of the Bucci Gang to intervene? (It unfolds in more chaos). Sorry if this is so random but sksksks it just popped up in my mind 😭👍 I guess this is more of a platonic scenario but I'll leave that up to you, thank you and sorry for the messy request

Masterlist here <3

This is so silly and I loved writing it, I hope you enjoy!

Giorno’s crisis and funny chaos

It all starts with Giorno thoughtfully pacing the room. “It’s just…sometimes I wonder who I am. I mean, biologically speaking, I have two fathers. DIO, who is technically Jonathan Joestar, and…well, biologically that doesn’t make sense.”

You glance at Mista, who’s frowning and squinting like he’s trying to do algebra in his head. Narancia leans toward you, whispering, “Does Giorno mean, like…two guys? How does that work? Like, scientifically?”

Mista, clearly overthinking it, mutters under his breath, “Maybe it’s like…a frog thing. You know, like how some frogs can—”

You interrupt, “Mista, that’s not how human biology works.”

Narancia squints at Giorno, then looks at you and Mista. “Wait, are we saying Giorno is a frog now?”

The three of you exchange increasingly baffled glances while Giorno’s lamentations about identity continue in the background. Then, out of nowhere, Mista lets out a nervous chuckle

You side eye him, confused. But then Narancia starts giggling too, more out of secondhand awkwardness than anything else. Your lips twitch—you’re trying so hard to keep it together, but the absurdity of the situation is getting to you

The giggles snowball into full-blown hysterics. Mista is doubled over, tears streaming down his face as he wheezes, “Two dads…how?!” Narancia is laughing so hard he’s gasping for air, slapping the nearest table for support

Giorno pauses mid-monologue, turning to the three of you with a mix of confusion and mild offense. “I don’t see what’s so funny about my existential dilemma.”

Before you can explain (not that you’d know how), Bruno steps in, visibly concerned. “What’s going on here?”

“Giorno has two dads!” Narancia blurts out between laughs, gesturing wildly toward Giorno

“We know,” Fugo says, pinching the bridge of his nose like he’s already done with this conversation

“Do we, though?!” Mista exclaims, throwing his hands up. “Do we really understand it?!”

At this point, Abbacchio chimes in with a groan, “If I have to listen to another word about Giorno’s parentage, I’m going to walk into the ocean.”

Trish, sipping her drink, raises an eyebrow. “Honestly, I always assumed it was just…Joestar weirdness. Why are we dissecting this now?”

Giorno, still frustrated, tries to bring the conversation back to his identity crisis, but his voice is drowned out by Mista and Narancia arguing over whether frogs or seahorses are a better analogy for Giorno’s situation

And you? You’re stuck in the middle, trying (and failing) to mediate while also laughing uncontrollably because, really, how did it come to this?

If you’d like anything changed or added, you can always message me and I’ll fix it!

If you enjoyed this make sure to check out my other posts, and if you’d like anything specific written for a jjba character/squad you can request it if my requests are open!

[skania]

I realized something yesterday while replying to an ask.

I've never dared to question Akane's conclusion above because I felt it'd be hypocritical of me to do so, considering I pretty much see her as an Aqua Interpreter.

But now that I think about it exclusively from Akane's perspective, I can see why she could have reached the wrong conclusion (if we play with the hypothesis of Aqua's feelings for Kana being platonic rather than romantic).

It all starts, of course, with the TB arc��except not quite. It actually begins on the very night Aqua and Akane become a fake couple.

Here Aqua confirms to Akane, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he doesn't see her romantically. For the next few months and up to the moment when Aqua kisses her for real, Akane has no reason to question this. She grows closer to Aqua, yes, but their interactions from his side are contextualized with the knowledge that he just doesn't see her that way.

Enter Kana.

In the two occasions above, Akane is shown noticing the attention Aqua pays to Kana. However, it's important to note that the manga doesn't quite frame either of them as romantic to the reader. At the contrary, the first one is explicitly framed as Aqua's competitiveness as an actor flaring up, and the second is analogous to the way Akane herself regards Kana.

Maybe Akane knows this—or maybe she, who idolized Kana growing up and knows her qualities better than anyone, doesn't fail to realize all the ways Kana fits Aqua's description of his ideal girl. In either case, this is all just background noise until the moment Kana brags about Aqua taking her out on date.

What does Akane know, up to this point?

Aqua doesn't see her romantically

Aqua is planning to break up with her

Aqua thinks he's finally free to fall in love

Aqua went on a date with Kana the very next day after he tried to break up with her

All of this, combined with the attention Aqua pays to Kana, is indeed more than enough to have Akane reach the conclusion that Aqua's feelings for Kana are romantic.

It also perfectly explains Akane's thoughts in Chapter 87, because before Aqua kissed her, Akane was acting under the assumption that Aqua wanted to date Kana instead of her.

What Akane doesn't know is that, while Aqua was on that date with Kana, he had already changed his mind about breaking up with her.

His relationship with Akane was an open question to him rather than a closed deal—the complete opposite from that night when Aqua was certain his relationship with Akane would never be more than a lie.

What's more, Akane doesn't know that when Aqua said that he was thinking of falling in love—he was also thinking of her.

I've said this before, but if Aqua were dead set on pursuing Kana romantically, this date right here would've been the perfect chance for him to tell Kana that he and Akane were a done deal.

But he did the opposite, because by this point the way Aqua perceives Akane has already changed.

And most of all—Akane doesn't know that for Aqua, that carefree moment they share under the umbrella is one of the many ways she has been saving him, to the point Aqua remembers it when he thinks of living "happily ever after".

Akane, despite how well she reads Aqua, doesn't know any of this. Why? Because Akane, Queen of selling herself short, has never questioned what Aqua told her back then: that he doesn't see her romantically.

For Akane, Aqua wanting to date her for real was likely just Aqua giving himself the chance to maybe start seeing her that way.

Which is why she describes their couple this way, even though at this point they have been dating for real for 6 months...

Why she doesn't stop to consider just how broken Aqua would be if something were to happen to her...

...And why she is so surprised when Aqua shows her just how much she has come to mean to him.

Akane may be an Aqua Interpreter, but a shift in Aqua's feelings for her could very well be the one thing to blindside her. After all, she would never dare to hope he has grown to love her back.

[aorish]

October's list of books to read in 2025

Nietzsche - Zarathustra, Beyond Good and Evil, Genealogy of Morals, The Gay Science: I've read large portions of all of these several times but never grappled with the whole. i have Kaufmann's Nietzsche monograph to reference alongside his translations, which seems accessible and not too horribly out of date or superseded by current scholarship. Plenty of other secondary literature but it's mostly outlines/study guides.

Murasaki Shibiku - Tale of Genji: guilty pleasure reading, my inclinations towards aristocratic poetic drama arent really philosophical so much as aesthetic. picture me with my pinky in the air sipping a cup of tea. I've got the translation by Royall Tyler and a set of essays he wrote on the work for secondary literature.

Anonymous - Tale of the Heike: The legendary account of the fall of the Taira clan at the end of the Heian period. More literature than history. to make a crass inexact analogy, this is basically the Homer of medieval Japanese literature; I'll need to read this to have a hope of understanding much of what came after it that i also want to read. Don't have a great idea what I want to consult for secondary literature yet, sadly there's much less in English on Heike than Genji.

Zuo Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals: the earliest chinese history narrative thats been fully englished, this is not really a commentary so much as a tale that covers a similar time period. confucianesque fall from grace of the zhou dynasty. Essentially an entry point to multiple categories of classical Chinese literature, i.e. polemical speeches and treatises written for political purposes from the same time period, of which many survive independent of this work.

Wang Bi - Commentary on the Laozi: the three volume edition by Rudolf Wagner with commentary. follow up to my reading of guo xiang's commentary on zhuangzi, which i intend to circle back to at some point with more context since i really didn't get much out of of the commentary from reading that work last year. i'll probably tackle the i ching commentary and ji kang and ruan ji's essays at some point as well to round off my Xuanxue repertoire before returning to guo xiang, probably not any of that in 2025 though.

Plutarch - Moralia: actually just the name for all of plutarch's preserved writings that arent the lives, only about half of which are on "moral" subjects. im probably not going to read all of these closely, but there's really not any reason i couldnt at least skim them; most of the longer and more challenging ones are the ones i find more interesting. i'm skipping the unambiguous pseudepigrapha like "is fire or water more usefil" though. probably not necessary to read much secondary literature, which only exists for a few of the works anyway. the loebs are all in public domain so i can at least reference the Greek easily when the english is badly mangled

Plato - Laws: this is the only one of the "late" Platonic dialogues that i cant say ive read to my own satisfaction yet. its also the longest and most difficult. scholarly opinion is divided on whether it's a culmination of everything that came before it or a pseudoplatonic work that doesn't contain any real "philosophy" at all. I'm more inclined towards the former opinion from what ive read of it so far, but we will see. i intend to supplement this with Glenn Morrow's Plato's Cretan City which gives a significant amount of background on historical context of ancient greek law.

[litgreadersroom]

How To Use AO3 Tags

Want to find a fic but have no idea how to get started? Are you writing a fic and don't know how to tag it? Don't worry, you aren't alone. Tagging is hard and people don't always follow the same rules. But hopefully this will give you a place to start!

Relationships

Character/MC: romantic or sexual pairing with the fic's main character, may be named or referred to by pronouns or MC

Character/OC or Character/Original Character: romantic or sexual pairing with a named individual created by the author

Character/Character/OC: romantic or sexual relationship containing three individuals all involved with each other (note: this is not the correct tag for a love triangle, in that case, both relationships should be tagged separately)

Character/Reader: romantic or sexual pairing with an unnamed main character (you or Y/N), meant to feel as though the person reading the fic is in the story

Character & MC: platonic or familial relationships with the fic's main character, may be named or unnamed and referred to using pronouns or MC

Character & OC: platonic or familial relationships with a named character created by the author

Character & Reader: platonic or familial pairing with an unnamed main character (you or Y/N), meant to feel as though the person reading the fic is in the story

General: there are either no relationships of note in the fic or the fic does not focus on any relationships

Multi: often used for one-shot series or multiple POVs, should be used when there are 3+ pairings essential to the fic

The big question is always 'how many relationships should I tag in my fic?' Especially in villa fics, there are multiple pairings and the relationship tag can get convoluted. There is no set answer to the question, but the general rule of thumb is that if it's not a key plot point of the fic, don't add it as a relationship tag. In a villa fic, there are going to be multiple relationships, but other than the main pairing, tagging those relationships doesn't add anything. There's nothing more disappointing than looking for a fic for a specific ship only to learn that it's a background pairing you rarely see. This includes one-off sexual relationships and villa couplings that aren't romantic (and if you want to include those, additional tags are your best friend!).

Rating

General: very rare in LITG, but basically, any fic you'd be okay with a child reading

Teen and Up: fluffy, romantic fics with NO smut

Mature: implies the presence of sex or violence without going into detail

Explicit: detailed description of sex or violence

Not Rated: author did not select a rating, could be any of the above ratings

A lot of people get tripped up on the difference between M and E. When it doubt, think about the envelop analogy: a mature fic tells you that the character sent a letter in an envelope. An explicit fic goes into detail about how the character did it including describing putting the letter into the envelope, the taste of it as they licked the seal, etc. These lines can blur when it comes to chaptered fics; some authors may chose to rate a fic as mature but include explicit scenes, so be sure to check the additional tags.

Archive Warnings

Graphic Descriptions of Violence: gory and descriptive violence, it is up to the author as to what exactly falls under this category

Major Character Death: one of the main characters dies, does not have to happen 'on screen' (note: just because this tag isn't there, doesn't mean that there isn't death, just that the author doesn't consider that character to be a major character in the fic)

Rape/Non-con: pretty self-explanatory, does NOT include consensual rape play (although that SHOULD be included in additional tags)

Underage: any sexual activity in which one or both characters are under the age of 18, does not include kissing

Author Chose Not To Use: one of the above warnings might apply, either the author isn't sure if their content qualifies or wants to avoid spoilers, PROCEED WITH CAUTION

No Archive Warnings Apply: none of the archive triggers are included in the fic, does not mean that there are no triggers, but does not have any of the ones listed above

Characters

This is a section for you to include any characters included in the fic. The parties to your pairing should be included here, as well as other characters they interact with. General rule of thumb: if they're just mentioned in passing, you don't have to tag them, but if they have a conversation, it's worth a tag. The big exception to this is villa fics: obviously in a S2 villa fic, every S2 character is going to be mentioned, so you might not need to tag every S2 character unless they contribute to the plot in some way (and there is a tag for 'other love island characters' that exists to capture this). This is entirely up to the author's digression, but as a reader, please remember that just because they're mentioned in the character tags does not mean they are necessarily in a lot of the fic.

Additional Tags

Any tags that don't fit under the other categories. This is where an author can truly tell you what is going to be included in their fic, including any additional triggers that don't fall under the AO3 archive warnings. The nice thing about AO3 tag searches is that it is not exclusive, if you want to filter your search for an alternate universe, AO3 will include all variations of the tag in your search (i.e. AU, alternate universe, and alternate universe-sports AU will all come up on a simple AU search). This is the space to include tropes, triggers, setting, smut/kinks, etc.

Fandom

For the most part, the LITG fandom contains exclusively Love Island The Game-Video game tagged fics. But you will run into the occasional crossover or fusion fic. Crossover fics should be tagged with both fandoms as they contain characters from both. Fusion fics should be tagged with only the LITG tag as they contain exclusively LITG characters in the world of another fandom.

[roseaesynstylae]

I have never started a tumblr ask exchange thing so please be nice

Okay so when I first was drafted into the Null arcs and Badbatchers were separated at decanting theory a few months before I stumbled upon your Ao3 account I coincidentally also came up with a Au involving one half of the Null-Bad batch going on a platonic yandere rampage towards their estranged batch mates although my wip is roughly waist depth in liquid gen rated romcom crackfic hijinks which has been giving me sooo much tonal whiplash whenever I reread your fic which I adore in a way that if I was free of writers block forever i would indulge you with a review of how goregeous it is but i am having a hard time describing your really cool serial killer platonic yandere dark fic and have to ask about something here so I thought maybe that you would enjoy reading what I have of my wip ( if you don’t mind me sharing of course and premature apologies for the remodel of the Great Wall of text on Tumblr I don’t know any other formatting techniques)

So um the major influence behind why I often write with a very humorous quirky quip filled style is due to my mental disabilities/disorders being mostly tolerable when I communicate in person orally ( except when I have an anxiety attack about talking ) but my struggles begin when I have to try to articulate/brainstorm/discuss/summarize my thoughts and fic ideas. I discovered that it is comparatively much easier if I use analogies and describe my things with comedy and wordplay so that is why I tend to be a editor’s nightmare in my wording and sorry for the dumpsterfire of my attempt to explain my take on this au

This au is set in a vaguely no order 66 timeline mostly in the background due to my complete inability to make the fic have a plot if the republic is suspiciously dead despite the empire coincidentally inheriting Literally everything so just picture the entire now living in the Jedi temple the former GAR eating bangcorn while they watch the shenanigans of the Bad batches involuntary collaboration with Keeping Up with the Skiratas like a soap opera. Still brainstorming exactly how the Nulls figured out that they are the first clones eligible for compensation for being swapped at birth but they do and they are NOT HAPPY ABOUT IT so obviously the First contact goes as poorly as the Nulls results on a emotional intelligence and social tact exam and the Bad Batch response is their signature combo of Fight AND Flight ( or well they utilize the inside knowledge of their perfect attendance of 99’s regular Take your Vodike to his Maintenance shifts cause it isn’t safe to use Kamino Daycare and the cadethood spent exploring,navigating and basically knowing every single crawl space maintenance tunnel secret compartment and clone accessible nook and cranny on Kamino to first go into hiding but they are as always overachievers and accidentally hide so well they cause the Nulls to make up for the lost time by terrorizing kamino with the most Intense Game of Hide and Seek ever played. And part of the reason the nulls are so Yandere is that a ever increasing amount of the clone population both on kamino and in general is that starting with the Alpha clones have begun aiding and abetting the Bad batch out of spiteful vengeance towards Skirata Poodoo such as ahem when wrecker leaves to safety of inside the walls to get more food from the cafeteria and a kal Skirata spots him they are blocked by a sudden crowd of petty commandos and reg troopers getting up to go to the fresher and the skiratas are caught in the living traffic jam of clones and all sorts of efforts like this increase frustrating the Skirata clan which is done due to the kal and co having a VERY POOR reputation with the Gar to the point that clone sympathies for the Batch having to escape from their increasingly unstable batchmates are helping in a enemy of my enemy is my friend and I owe the lowercase j jerks for being the indefinite distraction for the mando idolizing Jedi-hating chauvinist condescending egos with the second name skirata. But yeah so part one is basically the nulls impulsively making the worst approach at reuniting possible and the batch for the first time in their clone equivalent of Leeroy Jenkins lives decided to react to the threat via retreat and observation ( for Omega and cause crosshair was sick and thus incapable of voting that violence is the solution for the nulls especially) and the Nulls begin their development arc from at first the nulls notice the Search/hunt for the batch is challenging ( I HC that one of the things that the cloners messed up is having impulsively violent wired for adrenaline clones AND then only giving them physical emotional and mental enrichment via combat makes the way the relationship between both halves of the batch turn toxic … ( I am stuck cannot break the characterization of platonic yandere nulls into words will try later ) so that is what I have of my wip

That sounds funny! I personally wanted to try to be more sympathetic to the Nulls, but the only way I could think of to make them more sympathetic was to just hit them with a ton of trauma. Combine that with my desire to write a particularly dark version of the Bad Batch, and the result is what you’ve seen. I didn’t think of it before, but “platonic yandere” sums up the story.

[transfemlogan]

And When The Moon is High Masterlist

Read on AO3 | all fanfiction masterlist

———

Summary: A bed squeaks along with cracking bones. A loud crash, followed by a thud and a bang. Fabric rips, metal clangs, and glass shatters.

The wind screams with a howl.

--

After 5 months of dating, Logan wants to share his full moon with Virgil. Virgil promises to do everything in his power to help him.

Then Logan makes a mistake. He didn't mean to.

He swears he didn't mean to.

———

Warnings: hurt/comfort, (off-screen) murder in self-defense, minor character death

An analogical fic with witch!virgil and werewolf!logan. Background pre-platonic logince.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

[maw-and-pawp]

Hi, call me Bellamy! I've been around some and finally decided to make a side blog for vore, so let me make myself clear before we get into it

Do Not Interact if you:

Are a minor, because there is NSFW here and I'm uncomfortable with it

Do not have your age in your bio

Put children in vore or enjoy that content. It gives me the icks, even if platonic

Believe in radfem and TERF ideology

Have a problem with nonbinary characters/neopronouns/xenogenders

Now that that's out of the way, here's the good stuff :3

Content:

NSFW vore

SFW, comfort vore, and extreme cuddling, as I see it both ways

Soft vore

Safe vore

Half-sized

Mouthplay

Fearplay

Digestion (painless)

Reformation

Both fatal and non fatal

Willing and unwilling preds/prey

Protective vore with g/t

Dimension fuckery

General gay shenanigans

Background murder apparently

Violence

You Will Not See:

Painful digestion

Full tour

Anything other than oral

Sentient pudge

Soul vore

Explicit gore/blood

Scat

Noncon outside of unwilling prey/digestion (cnc is not out of the question however)

Object vore

Farting

Please send me asks! Questions about my ocs or stories, playing ask games, some roleplaying, and general vorny thoughts are all welcome!

The Beneath Veiled Faces series is very plot heavy and character driven. The first few chapters are going to talk a lot around vore and only dip the toes into it as I establish the setting and characters. It's less kinky and more grim - talking about consent and autonomy has inevitably chased me down the path of accidentally making the sex analogy. So the unwilling and fatal digestion scenes are going to give off noncon/horror vibes. I'll do my best to warn you of the unwilling/fatals before each chapter, but reader's discretion is advised. Please send asks if any of the content triggered you and I'll tag it no problem.

For roleplaying, I'm not very experienced and I don't know what kind of limits I should put in place, other than asking you to only use the Ask Box so I can choose to answer. And if you're sending me vore thoughts, please do me the favor of specifying if it's nsf/w or sfw so I can tag accordingly. I tag posts I'm unsure about the intention behind as open ended vore. I don't know if im using that right, though. And my own posts will either be tagged SFW or NSF/W based on if I was horny posting it. Thank you muchly!

[mayxthexforce]

GET TO KNOW THE MUN.

respond to the prompts out of character!

what made you pick up the current muse(s) you have? Hard to say. I gravitate towards obscure and tertiary characters because of the freedom that gives me to develop them beyond what we were given, but I also have some characters who have A LOT of lore (Obi-Wan, Luke, Leia, Han) because of how much information there is to pick from. I guess something else that most of my muses have in common is that they are, to different degrees, confident and passionate about whatever goals they have, no matter how different those goals might be or how different their alignments are. They might not be too sure about who they are as individuals, but they know where they stand, they know the role they play, and they're either embracing it or actively rejecting it.

is there anything you don’t like to write? There's a few. A big one is smut for the sake of smut and violence for the sake of violence, for both I need a certain amount of plotting and some kind of chemistry between the muses + understanding with the other mun of how things might go. Cheating plots are a huge no, I don't want my muses to cheat nor to get cheated on. Obviously incest, non-con, anything involving bathroom stuff in the bedroom. Also I don't enjoy writing one liners-single paragraph replies, the shortest I can give is 2 paragraphs without counting dialogue lines and even that is super rare.

is there anything you really enjoy writing? I love fleshing out dynamics that didn't exist in canon (e.g: Han and Dryden, Maulkiller and Maul, Myles and Din, Koska and Paz, Roan and Anakin, Nuru and Thrawn) or didn't get explored as much as they could have because they were more background dynamics (e.g: Quinlan and Agen, Sabé and Anakin, Garen and Obi-Wan, Medrit and Boba, Bossk and Jango, Elodore and Dooku). I also love writing the scenes in between, the things we didn't get to see but that could have led to how things went.

how do you come up with headcanons? I look at a character and focus on the gaps in the story. Be it a blank in the plot like what Sabé's family life was like for her to so quickly and happily leave them behind and never look back, or something small like what about hoi-broth makes Obi-Wan have such dire allergic reactions (it's the oxidized spices).

do you write in silence or do you play music? either with instrumental/repetitive music or with some random YouTube video (analog horror and AITA compilations are very useful for this lately) in the background. A personal favorite for writing or Under Giant Trees by Agnes Obel.

do you plan your replies or wing them? I plot them a bit. First, I figure out what my character would do and say in response to what my partner's reply said, if it's a longer reply I even do bullet points, and then I actually put it into words.

do you enjoy shipping? I love shipping. Romantic, platonic, familial. It's all awesome!

what’s your alias/name? Mica.

age?  23.

birthday? October 29th.

favorite color?  Green, red, purple.

favorite song?  Zombie by The Cranberries.

last movie you watched?  Diary of the Dead by George A Romero.

last show you watched?  The Simpsons.

last song you listened to? Ainsi Bas La Vida by Indila.

favorite food?  Rice and tuna with butter and cheese.

favorite season?  Spring.

do you have a tumblr best friend? I have a few. Tanya (corruptedforce), Vani (galaccias) and Luna (foundjarin) have been here since my humble beginnings. Break (mutatiio) is a more recent addition but I'm just as attached. Cato (monstarousmythos) isn't in this fandom but has put up with me through it and through so many other fandoms, and then there's Liz (nieithryn) and Viktor (@virulentmastermind) who I've been talking to a lot lately and really enjoy our conversations. Special mention to Dylan, who -while most of our interactions happen on discord- first interacted with me through Tumblr and I wouldn't be this deep into Star Wars roleplay if it wasn't for them being the first nice experience I had in this RPC.

TAGGED BY: Stolen from @nieithryn.

TAGGING: @galaccias, @corruptedforce, @d4gangera, @monstarousmythos, @mutatiio, @k4ssa, @tacticalvalor, @foundjarin.

[garbinge]

Festival

(40s) Bucky Barnes x OFC Adelaide Redi (40s) Steve Rogers & Platonic OFC Adelaide Redi

Day 07 from these April Prompts: Festival 

Word Count: 2.1k words

Summary: Adelaide enjoys her last night with her boyfriend before he deploys. In the aftermath of him leaving, Ade gets an offer from a new Steve Rogers that might be able to get her to see Bucky again. 

A/N: Okay so this is something from a HUGE fic I have partially written from a couple years ago, I never got around to posting or finishing it so I figured I might as well get some of it out there! Idk if I’ll ever post the rest but just know my girl Ade has a LIFE, let me tell yaaaa. Anyways enjoy this super loose interpretation of ‘festival’ lol. 

Warnings: Light Angst

Marvel Taglist: @drabbles-mc​ @justreblogginfics​

Adelaide Redi stood in the run down Brooklyn pub behind the bar cleaning the glassware. Her glance went up to the analog clock that ticked away almost mocking her with how slow time was passing. She could only hope that the way time was passing now, was how it would slow later but she knew that wouldn’t be the case.

It was their last night together.

They were meeting at the Stark Expo Festival but she had 10 minutes left in her shift before she could leave. The sort of friend she was practically guilt tripped into inviting had probably already arrived at the Queens location for the festival and the thought of not being there yet was weighing heavy on Adelaide’s shoulders. 

The clock hit 10 and Adelaide was on the move, practically running through the street to enter the subway station. Adelaide jumped on the A train and promptly put her earplugs in as the ride almost 99% of the time would give her headaches if she didn’t. 

After a 15 minute ride on the express she jumped off and made her way through the large crowds that were there for the expo. She managed to make it over to the spot the group agreed on meeting at and that’s where her (sort-of) friend Lorraine stood. As Adelaide lightly jogged towards Lorraine, the woman’s body shifted in the opposite direction and her hand raised in a wave. Her gaze moved to see where Lorraine was looking and that’s when she saw him. 

Bucky Barnes stood about 50 feet away, tall and absolutely stunning in his sergeant uniform. His smile was infectious as he walked over to the women with his friend in tow. Adelaide matched his smile with one of her own and he laughed as he pulled the orange plugs out of her ears. 

“I didn’t think my presence was that annoying to you.” He laughed, tucking the ear plugs in his pocket. 

“I took the subway here, didn’t want to ruin the night with a headache.” Adelaide adjusted his tie as she got a good look at him. 

“Don’t know how many times I gotta tell you Ade,  you should go to a doctor and get that checked out. Ain’t normal that a Brooklynite like yourself can’t take a 10 minute subway ride without getti-“

Adelaide cut him off with a passionate kiss. Bucky had no arguments as his hands wrapped around the woman he had fallen in love with years ago squeezing her close to his body. 

There was a groan in the background and Adelaide pulled away to see the culprit. Steve innocently waved at the two with Lorraine to his left. The two couldn’t have been any further apart, clearly the sparks weren’t flying between them but Adelaide wasn’t shocked. Steve never paid attention to the friends Bucky would always ask Ade to bring for their best friend. 

“Hi Steve.” She smiled and the group began walking. 

“Hi Ade.” Steve greeted her. “No need for introductions, while you were searching for Earth’s greatest treasure in Buck’s mouth Lorraine and I met.” He smiled knowing the comment would earn him some bark back. 

“You know any other night I’d retort back but considering it’s our last night all together I’ll let you have it.” She smiled and locked arms with Bucky. 

The group of friends laughed, ate, and joked around. Lorraine had decided to leave early once she realized she was more of a fourth wheel than on a double date. Besides that, the night went on without a hitch, that was until Steve noticed the enlistment tent. 

“You’re gonna do this again?” Bucky said, catching up with Steve. The two went back and forth before they inevitably said bye to each other. Steve offered up a wave to Adelaide which made her call out to him. 

“You better still come by the bar every Tuesday!!” She grinned as he turned around. 

“Wouldn’t miss it, Ade!” He smiled and was soon gone in the tent. 

The night came to an end pretty quickly much to Ade’s dismay. She stayed at Bucky’s apartment that night and bid him a farewell in the morning.  Her heart broke. He was the only family she really had, him and Steve. 

Adelaide had jumped from home to home, being placed by the foster system since her biological parents put her up for adoption. Each family she was placed with never truly loving her or caring for her so she’d end up back on the streets.

Life on the run was Adelaide’s life. She ended up in Astoria when she was 16, which is where she met Steve in a corner store accompanied by Bucky. In the midst of her stealing food, Steve had noticed the girl and offered to buy her what she had stuffed in her pockets. She was hesitant until Bucky not only took the stuff from her hands but grabbed a few more things and split the cost with Steve and well, the rest was history.

Nearly 9 years had passed since that day and the 3 of them were inseparable. Adelaide had worked in the restaurant business as a server until she reached 18 and moved to bartending since the money was better. Steve and Bucky would regularly frequent the establishment simply because it gave them time to spend all together as well as a free meal or two. 

Bucky and Ade had figured out their feelings for eachother around the time he was 21 and she had just reached 20. Steve had known all along. The connection between the two was palpable to everyone but them until the night it finally was. But that was a story for another time.

As the weeks passed since Bucky left, Adelaide kept to her routine of work and home and occasionally stopping by Bucky’s place to check on things, on the off chance she would run into her only other friend but she never did until the one Tuesday night that he walked into the bar. 

“I’ll have whatever you’re having,” Steve said with a grin as he entered the bar. 

Adelaide spit her drink out as she looked at him. He was taller, buffer, older, and just way more put together. 

“Steven Rogers?” She questioned making sure she wasn’t just seeing things. 

“In the super soldier flesh” he laughed. 

“Jesus, what the hell happened to you?” She threw the rag she had over her shoulder on the bar and walked over to him. “Ron, I’m taking my 30!” She yelled as she escaped from behind the bar. 

“Long story.” Steve grinned, engulfing her into a hug. 

“Well I got 30 minutes, come on.” She shook her head and led him out of the bar and they started to walk down the street. 

_____________

“You don’t read the papers?” Steve looked at her after he explained everything. “I mean I don’t blame you, it's all over exaggerated. I just want to serve.” He shook his head. 

“In their defense, you are kind of over exaggerated, Steve.” They reached the end of the block. 

“You might be the only person who isn’t completely freaking out over this.” He looked over at her with a chuckle. 

“I’ve known you for how long now?” She smiled up at him now, something she’d have to get used to. “You’re practically a brother to me, I know you just as well as Buck does, maybe even more because I pay attention to more.” She laughed as they strolled back to the pub. 

“You’re still the same Steve. I can tell.” She said looking forward and then came to a stop to glance at him “So what is there to freak out about?” She shrugged, keeping his eyesight for a moment before she continued walking. 

“The whole science experiment ability that the world can do this type of thing doesn’t freak you out?” He questioned catching up.

“There have been stranger things to happen, you just might not know it yet.” She smiled back at him as she reached the door of the pub and re-entered the building.

They changed topics quickly as he sat at the bar and ordered a drink. 

“Bourbon?” She asked, holding up the bottle as he nodded. 

“You hear from him? Letters or anything?” He asked her knowing it was probably a touchy subject. 

“One letter.” She said walking away to other customers at the bar. She clearly didn’t want to discuss it. Steve knew that she had no family, no real friends. She had acquaintances from work but other than that she was alone. Bucky and him were the only close friends she had. 

“Lady! I need you to refill the soaps in the bathrooms before you leave tonight!” Ron, the bar owner, called out. Her eyes rolled, as she walked backed over to Steve’s side of the bar. 

“It’s weird hearing people call you that.” He smiled at the use of what the bar owner called her, Lady.  Everyone in her life called her Lady, a nickname common from her full name. The only people who had called her Ade were Steve and Bucky. Buck had been the one to shorten her name and Adelaide never stopped him. It just felt right coming from both of them. 

“You got special privileges, Captain.” She smiled and refilled his drink with water. 

“So you do read the papers!” He laughed realizing she called him by his own new nickname and she pointed to one of the patrons at the tables who had a newspaper wide open with the headline of Captain America on display. 

Steve hung out for the rest of the night and finally decided he’d ask the girl what he came here for in the first place. “Ade, I got a question for you.” Steve said as the woman wiped down the bar and started to lock up the registers. 

“Go for it, Rogers.” A smile filled her face and she grabbed her coat off the rack and locked the front door of the pub and brought the metal gates down. “You can ask me as you walk me home.”

The two of them exited the pub. “I’m going on this kind of tour, I guess you could say, ‘Captain America meets America and beyond’ type of thing. We’re going to like 30 different cities and then we’re gonna head over to Germany. Wanted to know if you’d come with.” He asked as the two of them walked on the nearly empty New York streets. 

Steve knew Adelaide was alone, with Bucky gone he was honestly worried for the girl and he figured why not invite her along. 

“And what am I supposed to do? I don’t exactly have many skills, Rogers.” 

“Come on, Ade.” He bargained with her. “First of all, don’t sell yourself short.” He scoffed at the girl's lack of confidence. She was exceptionally smart along with having a wild intuition. Between her street smarts and the things she picked up in school, Adelaide was smarter than Steve and Bucky combined and the both of them never let her forget it. 

“You can help backstage, I’m sure once we’re in Germany for a couple months there’ll be a bar you can end up running on your own. It’s traveling! No roots, just seeing the world!” Steve tried to persuade her. 

“I got that here. I don’t need to uproot myself.” Her eyes rolled as she picked up her pace. 

“Ade, you’re all alone. I’m leaving in two days. Buck doesn’t get back for another year and if he decides to reenlist then you’re looking at more time. Just come, who knows maybe we’ll even run into the guy.” He offered up a smile. 

“Why are you doing this, Steve?” She asked as they made their way to the subway station and Adelaide took her earplugs out of her bag. 

“Because like you said, you’re like my sister. I hate seeing you alone, I know we’re the only family you really have and I just could use the company too.” He began to walk her down the stairs. 

Adelaide contemplated the offer. Truthfully, she knew Steve was right, she wasn’t the best at getting close with people. With the only two people she confided in, gone, it would be tough for her. 

“Don’t send a car when it’s time to go, I want you to pick me up and you better tell everyone my name is Lady.” She pointed at him and turned around putting her earplugs in her ears and disappeared onto the platform leaving Steve there with a smile on his face. 

[aknosde]

aknosde’s 2023 fic roundup

mmokay i was thinking abt a post about fic rec lists and also doing something to end the year, and i ended up with this, a reader-pov of the best fics i’ve read this year.

here you can find my favorite fics i read in 2023, along with breakdowns of their quality & why they’re my favorite. for a more comprehensive list check out my ao3 bookmarks, and w/o further ado—let’s begin with pjo

Percy Jackson

Moral Support by vaguenotion (T; one-shot; 2.4k)

To be honest I'm breaking the rules in this very first review because I actually read Moral Support for the first time several years ago. The fact that I was so enraptured by it that I spent time tracking it down over three years later is a testament to its beauty. Sweet and short Moral Support is a conversation between Hazel, Percy, and Piper after she has an argument with Jason. Dialogue and characterizations are graceful. To no one's surprise it's one of my favorites because Percy is portrayed as thoughtful, considerate, and emotionally intelligent. An incredible fic showing a snapshot of friendship with a glimpse of a quest in the background. Canon-compliant.

no more and no less by palestinianpercy (T; muti-chap completed; 167.9k)

Though I haven't finished this one it stands like many (dare I say all) of palestinianpercy's works: obviously well cared for and composed beautifully. An alternate universe in which Percy, Annabeth, and a few others are ex-Olympians, no more no less revolves around their meeting and subsequent slow burn. A commentary on the destructive and abusive nature of professional and Olympic sports, as well as body image, chronic pain, and disability, no more and no less will have you laughing and crying in turn. As admitted by the author herself Percy's slow and intentional way of speaking does not come across in the text due to the difficulty of portraying it, but in my opinion the rest is flawless. You'll have to devote serious time to this one.

Grishaverse

say it right by ev0lution (T; one shot; 18k)

An incredible modern (but still criminal) SOC au that revolves around Inej after a run-in with Tante Heleen. Concerning her recovery after their last heist and guilt over what her "relapse" caused, say it right explores Inej's relationship with each of the crows as they move between safe houses and jobs, along with reclaiming control over her life. Beautifully handled with incredible characterization, it had me immediately scrolling through ev0lution's other works.

Over the Cold Land by goastandgangsters (G; one shot; 2.7k)

A rare appearance of Vasily, Over the Cold Land covers an evening he and Nikolai spend snowed in in a canon-compliant abandoned cabin. Many good analogies about weather are made, and it also features a wonderful argument between the two––both entertaining and in character. Carefully constructed, Over the Cold Land is an elegant and quick read that will leave you for longing more.

Misc. Fandoms

keep those eyes wide by Fahye (E; one shot; 15k)

After being given a... different task to unclutter the ley line Adam is left to decide what he is and isn't willing to do for Cabeswater in the midst of a canon-typical time crunch and dream sharing between his friends. Featuring Adam & Blue as my favorite platonic duo and an interesting complication to the natural progression of Adam & Ronan's relationship, keep those eyes wide is charming from head to toe, with only the occasional minor typo. I read this one twice in a row. (Note for fellow smut non-enjoyers: the scene is only at the very end and easily skippable).

si tu m'apprivoises by bleepblorp (Cobra Kai; T; one shot; 11k)

si tu m’apprivoises is a lovely stroll of a slice of life fic set during a rather odd moment of life—one in which Robby finds himself following Miguel around as he completes domestic tasks. Internal anxieties are contrasted against a calm background in such a way that the reader becomes completely immersed in the emotional dissonance. Paced beautifully with no discernible typos and possibly the only interpretation of Miguel/Robby I’ve ever appreciated (one-sided crush), si tu m’apprivoises is a wonderfully characterized and low-key read.

Downtime by NightsMistress (Blue Beetle Comics (2006); G; one shot; 6k)

Downtime takes place immediately after the Reach for the Stars run and it's a really excellent look at Jaime and his relationship with being a superhero, having the scarab implant, and his little sister. The pacing makes the story an easy and effortless read while Jaime & Milagro give it a strong emotional backbone. Exactly what I was looking for after finishing issue #45. (And definitely not my least favorite portrayal of Kaji-Da's dialogue.)

make a deal with the big bad wolf (so the bad wolf don't bite no more) by cosmicallycatastrophic (Shameless; T; one shot; 7.5k)

Flawless post-canon story about Lip & Mickey becoming friends. cosmicallycatastrophic excels in their characterization, and it spreads to the rest of their work––dialogue & prose. Told in separate scenes the story builds naturally and compellingly over time. A solid medium length read that I couldn't put down. That being said I have not finished Shameless and therefore cannot speak in full confidence vis a vis the characters and its cannon-compliant-ness.

Rearview Mirror by themus (The OC; E; multi-chap completed; 49k)

A spectacularly well done story about the manifestation of Ryan’s childhood trauma in his new life, Rearview Mirror perfectly slots itself into mid s1. Told in alternating parts, one in the present and one in the past, themus slowly builds tension until the reader is on the edge of their seat. The present-day story feels like a mini arc within the season while the past plays along in perfect tandem; switching between times is near seamless. Characterization and dialogue operates at 100%. My only critique is the author’s interpretation of Ryan & Theresa’s relationship, which in the little bit they imply in-show of their past seemed a bit more deep with not such a hard line about her pursuing him purely romantically.

Carousel by Dreamitbeit (The Maze Runner; M; multi-chap completed; 82.6k)

In an alternate universe in which solar flares never plagued the earth, Dreamitbeit depicts a summer romance between Thomas & Newt in their isolated neighborhood while Thomas keeps a secret from his friends and family—he’s been picked for a prestigious STEM program in the city. Carousel is a carefully crafted story about reckoning one's past and home with their future. Book characterizations shone through and were interpreted delicately into the vibrant and tangible world Dreamitbeit created. Involved and wonderful.

[mutipede]

So.. the pattern I've been stuck in.

I think of something. Something reminds me of something. It produces an emotion that is strong enough to mentally shut me down completely. Like if I am standing up I have to sit down because it makes me lightheaded.

I keep... I mean, there's no question in my mind and it makes perfect sense that all of this has been the worst thing that I've experienced. But it's like I keep... doubting that, or feeling like I need to find some way to adequately explain because individual traumatic events other than this have been more obviously worse. If I say what happened in those other cases it's like - yep, that'd fuck someone up. I feel like this "should" be comparatively. Less severe. But in reality it's more like.

It continued a pattern of trauma and legitimized past traumas as "of course that happened, and of course that was going to happen, and of course that will always happen" at best - and at worst "that happened because I deserved EVERY traumatic thing that has happened." That feels like a completely reasonable logical conclusion. Before this, traumatic events felt like just that, individual events. This has transformed and recontextualized all previous individual events into "my entire fucking existence has been one long traumatic event with only brief illusions of respite that only occur for the purpose of lulling me into a false sense of security so that I have something to compare the trauma to in order for it to be as damaging and torturous as possible"

It came from a source that I trusted, as much as it is possible for me to trust, at all, which is not very. And platonic relationships are the closest, most important and most valuable that are possible for me to experience. Like "I am not gay but if I wrote some of the stuff I have felt, you would most likely react with:

lol

Anyways. There are more reasons that are harder to talk about and explain, but. Point is it feels unsurvivable. Self-obliterating. I don't know why I'm still here. I genuinely mean that in every way possible. I shouldn't be and I don't want to be and it really has not meaningfully improved in months and I do not anticipate it being possible to improve and the only thing preventing me from killing myself is fear of nonexistence.

So a thought reminds me of that. ⬆️ If I listed the things that have triggered / can trigger this shit... It's too fucking much. Minor pathetic shit.

So it shuts itself down in a protective function. That itself has been disorienting. Have written about it a bit, both for the purpose of documenting shit and on the off chance anyone reads it and goes "that sounds familiar maybe what is happening is [THING]" because... I don't dislike my therapist but I don't know how much of a specifically trauma background she's got and there's so much we haven't covered because there's so much and it's hard to talk about both in terms of being incredibly painful and logistically within the frequency and length of appointments it's a fucking lot lol. So we keep going like "alright we're focusing on depression" "hmm alright this is more severe we're focusing on grief" "alright shit maybe let's just try and get the absolute basics of survival" and I don't know how much anything is helping and as much as I feel guilty for it, as though it were some personal failing caused by not trying hard enough or not being good enough, but it hasn't felt hugely helpful.

When this shutting down happens, it's like. If thinking about something is like looking directly at it. For a while, all I can do is the equivalent to looking at something in your peripheral vision. My own fucking brain AND my everyday surroundings have become fucking. Strewn. With cognitohazards. So it has to deflect as much of my perception as it can.

It feels like it changes the shape of the thought. I'm struggling to find analogies here I am genuinely curious if anyone knows what I mean. An ordinary thought - it is what it is. If a thought provokes an emotional response then it's like a particular shaped thought fits into a particular shaped slot that activates the associated emotion. But if that happens too frequently for these particular thoughts it will kill me. So it averts my fucking mental gaze as much as possible. Slides right off like teflon. And it distorts the shape of the thought so it doesn't fit into the slot and no emotion occurs.

But I don't know if it's just the fact that "thoughts that will kill me" as a category includes SO. AGONIZINGLY. MANY. things I loved and enjoyed and was passionate about and had long incorporated into the core of my being. Or if it's just that the process itself is sort of a universal scattershot approach. But in effect it means that no actual undiluted thoughts or emotions are able to occur, at all. And during these times I don't exist. The corpse is basically on autopilot. The whole process really feels like something else taking over and doing these things outside of my control. The sensation the other day of "experience emotion -> within the space of a few minutes, entire body feels like temperature drops several degrees, and all emotions completely cease happening" - there's been a few instances I can think of where weird shit has happened - like, states of mind that have a similar... SMELL, somehow. But I don't think I have ever experienced something quite like that.

But it doesn't last. Like, I can't really enjoy the lack of suffering because I'm not there to enjoy it anyways (and "enjoyment" and "relief" are, themselves, emotions, therefore also get suppressed / dampened /whatever it is that is happening) - but also... I dunno, it's like I'm not there but I'm still there. And I still WANT. As fucking useless as that is. I want to enjoy things. I want to do things. Make things. Think about things. I want things to be okay. I am fully aware the entire time that I am wanting these things that I am wanting what is impossible, but it's still there. And the... suppressor, it can't keep it up indefinitely - if it's a thing that wants things then it wouldn't want to do that anyways, since that would be the same as destroying me permanently.

So. I'm just stuck with the constant back and forth. I exist, I experience emotion, emotion tries to kill me, [?] forcibly ceases emotion, I don't exist. Gradually I exist again. And it repeats.

I don't know what to do with this. I don't know what to do with anything.

(Pffff. Starting to hallucinate people walking behind me at work, I don't think that's a particularly good choice for "what to do" but interesting that that just starts happening NOW)

[i-am-bitterly-jittery]

Friends? (pt 1 Logan /4)

Soulmates? (Unhappy Accidents): Part 1, Part 2

Friends?: •, Patton, Roman, Part 4

Word count: 2595

Rating: teen

Pairings: platonic Analogical, Anxceitmus, background Royalogicality

Warnings: anxiety, strained relationships

~~~START~~~

My apologies, but I am running fifteen minutes late  

Virgil felt his heart rate spike just from reading the text. Logan was considerate enough to text him forty minutes before they were supposed to meet up, but Virgil was already almost to his destination. Now forty-five minutes early.  

Ever since the accident two months ago, just being in a car was enough to give him a panic attack. Even when he was walking sometimes if a car was coming his way, no matter how slowly or how far away, he’d freeze up in fear, praying it would stop before it ran him over. It was so bad that even when he took the bus — somehow the least stressful form of transportation for him — he had to have his head buried in his phone the whole time, lest he notice a car outside slightly too close for comfort.  

Knowing how public transportation was, coupled with an anxious desire to be slightly early, Virgil had given himself a half hour cushion time, none of which had been used up.  

He could still go to the café he and Logan had planned to meet at, but then he’d be faced with a dilemma, order a drink and wait out the time, or wait out the time without ordering anything. If he ordered a drink, he’d likely finish it before Logan got there and would then either awkwardly not have a drink while Logan got his own drink, or order a second drink and risk getting too wired. But if he ordered nothing and just hung out, he’d feel like the employees would hate him, he’d be taking up space without actually funding the function of said space — which was basically trespassing.  

Virgil spent the final ten minutes of his bus ride in an anxiety spiral.  

Caffeine was definitely out of the question, and Virgil was beginning to resign himself to the employees hating him when he noticed a bookstore right next to the café. A bookstore was perfect! He could kill time without feeling like a nuisance.  

He ended up wandering the bookstore thinking more about how he got here than the books themselves.  

A couple weeks before the accident, he’d been laid off from his job, and then after the accident, he could barely stand to leave the house at all. He’d never had many friends, and then he was only ever talking to Janus and Remus — except for that one day when they’d gone to Remus’s brother’s house to talk to Virgil and Janus’s soulmates… 

He hadn’t wanted to contact them afterwards — not because they didn’t seem nice, but because he thought Janus and Remus might be upset. He thought Janus would be upset because he hated the concept of soulmates and only accepted Virgil because they’d been together for years before either of them had known about the connection; and he thought Remus might be upset because of how insecure he was about both his brother and the topic of soulmates.  

In the end, it was Janus who snapped at him to “stop looking like a kicked puppy and call them if it means so much to you!” 

He’d decided to start with Logan because he seemed to be the one that Remus liked best. Logan had been quite amenable — to use his words — to hanging out explicitly in a friendship capacity and had suggested a café halfway between Virgil’s home and Logan’s university.  

Five minutes before Logan was set to arrive, Virgil entered the café with a small bag from the bookstore containing a book on snakes and a toy octopus whose eyes popped out of its head when you squeezed it — he couldn’t just leave the store empty handed after wandering around it for so long. Virgil sat at a table, and exactly fifteen minutes after their previously scheduled meeting time, Logan Sanders walked through the door.  

Logan was wearing a crisp black polo shirt and a blue tie, leaving Virgil feeling awkwardly underdressed in his well-worn hoodie — which he had luckily not been wearing the day of the accident.  

“Hello Virgil,” Logan greeted him, making a beeline straight for Virgil’s table rather than the counter to order. “I hope I did not inconvenience you too much.” 

“Uh, no, it’s all good,” Virgil shrugged awkwardly.  

“Ah, I see you have already discovered the bookstore next door,” Logan observed, gesturing to the bag on the table. “I suppose my undiscussed idea to go there after coffee can be crossed off the list of potential activities.” 

Virgil’s face grew hot. Of course Logan had plans beyond coffee, and of course those plans involved books! How could Virgil be so stupid! 

“S-sorry,” Virgil managed to stutter over the staccato of his heart. “I didn't mean to ruin your plans.” 

“Not at all,” Logan waved him off. “I did not discuss my idea with you, and I had no expectations that you were a mind reader. There are plenty of other activities around here, the bookstore is just one thought of many. Have you ordered yet?” 

“Um, no, I was waiting for you.” 

“Excellent! Then allow me to treat you, as remuneration for my tardiness.” 

“Isn’t anticipating your thoughts supposed to be one of those soulmate things?” Virgil asked as they got in line, still hung up on the bookstore.  

“Not at all. In fact, I find open and explicit communication to be much more effective than relying on some sort of soulmate-driven precognition — heaven knows that if I tried to anticipate Roman or Patton’s desires without speaking to either of them first that I would, at least half the time, be wrong.” 

“Right,” Virgil answered, still somewhat skeptical.  

“And even if that were not the case,” Logan continued. “You have met me on two separate occasions, and on neither of those occasions did my love of books come up.” 

Virgil couldn’t press the matter further — not that he particularly wanted to — as they were the next to order. Virgil ordered a plain coffee with cream and sugar since it would be the cheapest option, while Logan ordered a surprisingly foofy drink.  

“Roman called my order of a black coffee ‘boring’ and insisted I try this once,” Logan explained after he’d paid, noticing Virgil’s raised eyebrow. “I am quite hooked.” 

Virgil shrugged, fair enough. Remus had certainly turned him onto his fair share of odd orders over the years.  

“So, what else is there to do around here?” Virgil asked as they waited for their orders. He had expected coffee to be the entire thing, he hadn’t put any thought into other activities.  

“There are quite a few stores we could look at, including an odd gift shop and a music store that has quite an impressive array; there are also three different museums in the area, an aquarium if you don’t mind a slightly longer walk, and a park. I am, of course, open to any other suggestions you may have, but these are the things I know about.” As Logan spoke, Virgil looked for any twitch in his face, any tone in his voice that might suggest which option was his preferred one, but Logan’s genuine demeanor gave nothing away. He sounded just as interested in one option as the next, it seemed it was up to Virgil to choose which one he wanted to do.  

“A music store sounds good,” Virgil said, somewhat noncommittally so he could change his answer if Logan seemed disappointed.  

Logan’s face lit up. “Excellent. The music store it is.” 

Coffee in hand, Virgil followed Logan down the street and around the corner to a music store absolutely stuffed with CDs, vinyl, and cassette tapes. The sheer amount of stuff in such a relatively small space was overwhelming.  

“I know that not everyone is a fan of structured time,” Logan said as Virgil took in the organized chaos. “And I certainly respect if all you would like to do is casually look around, but I have a suggestion if you’d like to have an activity.” 

“Yeah, activity is good,” Virgil shrugged, shoving his free hand into his pocket to hide his nerves.  

“In the interest of full disclosure, this activity is adapted from one of Roman’s favorite date night activities, but I do not believe that there is anything inherently romantic about the activity itself.” 

“Sure.” From what Virgil knew about Roman, romance was kinda his thing, so whether or not this activity would cross any of Virgil’s boundaries — and whether or not Virgil would let it — was now another entry on Virgil’s list of worries.  

“When Roman, Patton and I are here, we are each tasked with finding an album for one of our partners that combines our musical tastes with theirs. I do not know your musical tastes and I do not believe you know mine, so if you’d like, I suggest a music exchange where I will find you an album that I feel is important to me, and you find an album important for you.” 

“Important how?” Virgil asked nervously. Logan was right that this wasn’t inherently romantic, but music was something that could get intensely personal very quickly and Virgil was not ready to bear his soul to Logan.  

“In any way you choose to interpret it,” Logan answered. “It could be something your parents liked to listen to when you were young, it could be an album that has your favorite song on it, it could be something you pretended to hate in middle school; you do not have to justify your reasoning to me, I merely thought this could be an enjoyable icebreaker, so to speak.” 

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Virgil shrugged, mind already racing with possibilities. “Sounds good.” 

“Excellent! Let us reconvene in ten minutes, unless you feel like you need more time, of course.” 

“Sure.” 

It took Virgil a couple minutes to figure out the layout of the store, and then the whole rest of the allotted time was spent trying to choose an album that he knew well enough to justify its importance, but he was emotionally removed enough from that Logan wouldn’t be able to read too much into it. When he finally ran out of time, he panicked and grabbed a CD of The Black Parade — an album he was decidedly not emotionally removed from — before rushing to meet Logan back at the front of the store.  

“Hello Virgil, did you find something?” Logan asked, Virgil had noticed him wandering around the store too, but he didn’t look nearly as anxious as Virgil felt — what if Logan hated emo music and decided never to talk to Virgil again? 

“Yeah…” Virgil fiddled with the plastic case in his hands. “It’s stupid.” 

“No such thing,” Logan replied, matter-of-factly. “If you asked Patton to do this, he would likely bring you a CD from the television program Arthur; Roman would likely choose multiple CDs as one would not be enough; I do not consider either of these choices to be ‘stupid’.” 

“The… the children’s cartoon?” 

“Yes.”  

“…okay. Uh, here,” Virgil shoved the MCR CD at him. “Is that how this works?” 

“Thank you, Virgil. This one is for you.” 

Logan handed him a CD of 8 Mile. Virgil blinked at it. People could like any genre, of course, but Logan did not strike him as a rap guy.  

“This is the first thing I bought when I got my first paycheck,” Logan explained.  

“C-cool,” Virgil shifted uncomfortably, he hadn’t offered an explanation for his choice, and he wouldn’t unless Logan asked for one, but he still felt like he was failing at something. “Um, what do we do now?” 

“We can look around some more if you would like. I do not mind if you don’t buy the CD, picking one out was just meant to be a small activity.” 

“No, it’s cool. I, uh, I don’t have this one.” Logan smiled and the knot in Virgil’s chest loosened a little. Logan didn’t hate him and he wasn’t completely bombing this social interaction.  

Virgil and Logan spent almost an hour looking around the store together and discussing music. Virgil did end up buying 8 Mile, as well as a couple albums for himself; Logan bought The Black Parade. After the music store, they actually did go back to the bookstore so Logan could purchase a few items from his personal wishlist.  

“Where did you park?” Logan asked as they were wrapping up at the bookstore.  

“I didn’t. I took the bus here.” Virgil had actually been enjoying himself, to the point where he’d completely forgotten that he'd need to take the bus home, but now that thought was at the forefront of his mind. He needed to look up the bus schedule.  

“Ah, well if you would like, I could drive you home.” Virgil knew he’d been trying to be friendly, to help Virgil get home quicker, but Virgil's heart still tried to leap out of his chest at the suggestion.  

“No thanks!” He said, much too quickly. “I mean, it’s fine, I like the bus.” 

Logan gave him a strange look, but nodded anyway. “If that is what you wish.” 

“Yeah. Uh, bye.” 

“Goodbye Virgil, I hope the rest of your day is satisfactory.” 

“Yeah, you too.” 

^(^.^)^ 

Virgil's heart didn’t stop pounding until he was off the bus, standing a block down from his building. Logan’s innocent suggestion to take a car had put Virgil so on edge that his phone was barely enough to keep him from having a panic attack on the bus.  

Much to his surprise, Janus and Remus were both sitting at the apartment’s kitchen table when he finally made it up to his floor. Remus’s head whipped around to stare at him with the most heartbreakingly anxious look in his eye while Janus stayed staring straight ahead, a tightening around his eyes was the only indication he’d noticed Virgil’s arrival.  

“Um, hey,” Virgil waved at Remus awkwardly, hoping that would be enough to get his boyfriend to stop staring at him like that.  

“You’re back late,” Janus commented, still not looking at him.  

Virgil frowned. “Sorry, mom, I didn’t realize I had a curfew.” 

Janus’s fingers twitched around the coffee mug he was holding.  

“Damn right you do, young man!” Remus said suddenly, slightly too loud and with a forced-playful look in his eye. “Your mother and I have been worried sick!” 

Virgil rolled his eyes and tried to get a handle on his temper. “I got you both something.” 

He tossed the octopus at Remus and set the book down in front of Janus, more forcefully than necessary. Janus stared at the book, taken aback; Remus put the octopus in his mouth and shook it like a dog with a toy.  

“Thanks, Virgie!” Remus said after spitting the now wet toy into his hand. “Love you!” 

“Love you too.” Most of the anxiousness had drained from Remus’s face, and the rest disappeared at Virgil’s words.  

Janus pulled the book to him and tapped his fingers on the cover a few times before speaking. “And how was Logan?” 

“Fine,” Virgil answered quickly. “Good. It was good. Nice to hangout with someone as a friend — been a while… since I’ve had a friend.”  

With every word, Virgil could feel himself losing confidence, but when he was done, Janus turned to him with a soft look in his eye.  

“Good, I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.” 

Tension he hadn’t even known he’d been holding drained out of Virgil’s shoulders as he returned Janus’s smile.  

“Yeah, it was good.” 

~~~END~~~

I love writing Logan, he can just explain everything without the dialog reading as weird

I got rear ended a few months ago and ever since I’ve been really anxious about cars coming up behind me when I’m stopped (I was stopped at a stoplight when the guy behind me for some unfathomable reason thought the light had turned green and just didn’t realize that I wasn’t moving?), and I can only imagine how bad my anxiety would be if I had actually gotten injured

Soulmates? taglist:

@royalty-of-all-things-snuggly @pixelated-pineapple @aeternum-ablaze @misunderstood-shadowling @vash-the-trans-catboy @dazzling-in-diamonds

[m---a---x]

Oh, you are right, -hedron is the correct english word, -eder the german ending.

The main advantage of (discrete) fibrations for visualization is that they subdevide and structure the space. So instead of the chaotic meshes which are the usual projections you get a small number of subobjects (which are all "the same" in our case). The fact that they are adjacency isomorphic to the faces of the 3d counterpart makes it easier to remove a bunch of the fibers while still being able to imagine how the remaining fibers are located. You could also put the corresponding platonic solid next to it with the faces colored like the corresponding fibers. (You can group the fibers of the hopf fibration into a bunch of torus-esque shells, here explained for the 120-cell (for the other ones it works analogously)

the central ring being the inner most,

all the fibers touching it are the second one,

all the remaining fibers touching this one are the third one and

finally the central column with the outside being the final one,

from each of witch you can just show one in different colors. This corresponds under the afformentioned isomorphism to the dodecahedron, the inner shell is the bottom (or top) pentagon, the second shell is the ring of pentagons that surrounds it, the third shell its opposite ring, and finaly the last shell ist the pentagon opposing the first one.)

A bit of background regarding hopf fibrations: The idea is to subdevide a space into a bunch of rings. A hopf fibration of 3d space starts with a ring and then the rest of space is filled with a bunch tori made each from a bunch of rings growing outwards from the first ring. (Google hopf fibration for a bunch of images/gifs/vidoes illustrating this nicely.) The fibration is finalized with a line going through the center. You may say that that's not a ring but actually we are not fibrating normal 3d space but 3d space + 1 point "at infinity" which is the missing point connecting the two ends of the central line into a ring. This n-d space + one point "at infinity" allways results in the surface of a n+1 d ball, like the surface of a 3d ball (aka a sphere) can be punctured and the resulting hole subsequently be stretched until the surface becomes a plane. (This is called stereographic projection.) Like the 2d-faces of a platonic solid are a discretisation of a sphere, the 3d-faces of a 4d-platonic solid are a discretisation of the surface of a 4d-ball which corresponds to 3d space as explained before. (This is actually what most visualizations of 4d (convex) polytopes do.) So we use the discretisation of the 3d surface to also discretize the hopf fibration. The point "at infinity" is now just a part of one of the discrete regions, so we might as well ignore it, subsequently get a normal 3d-space where the discrete region previously containing the point "at infinity" is now the "outside" region and the discretized hopf fibration looks like described in the earlier posts.

Actually buiding such a model is mathematically very easy, as you only take the mathematical description of the 4d object and put it through the stereographic projection (you don't need to concern yourself with the actual wquation, all of that can be copy-pasted). This will result in the usual visalizations of the 4d-platonic solids. Finding and coloring the fibers is quite easy too, look at the wikipedi page, subsection visualization, for the 120-cell and together with my description it will hopefully become clear. This should suffice for a 3d render. The probably most annoying thing would likely be manufacturing, the easiest way is probably 3d printing, but all other methods might work as well, just will take longer and be a bit detailed.

Just like the faces of regular polyhedra are all the same, so are the 3d-faces of regular polychrons. (This is part of the definition.) I suppose this is the notion of "contained" you ment. So all the faces of the 600-cell are terahedrons.

Feel free to ask further questions :)

Hi, Math Tumblr!

Question first, than I will allow myself to ramble.

Are there names for the families of polytopes¹? Triangle based polytopes are simplexes, square based are hypercubes and orthoplexes, the demicubes are, I guess, demicubes. (I do not yet understand demicubes.) But do 24, 120, and 600-cells have matching group names with their higher and lower dimensional counterparts?

-

Me and my weird little kids love shapes. My youngest also loves collecting and my eldest loves trading (but mostly cubes. Trading is a way to get more cubes). For the last 2 years, I've been making my kids collectible trading cards of convex polyhedra.

If they get a full set (like the 5 platonic solids, the 3 pyramids, or the 8 antiprisms [we don't use any regular polygons above the decagon]) they can trade them in for a special card. In an effort to provide more cubes (there's only one. So it's been a challenge) the special cards are the fundamental complex and regular polytopes in dimensions 3 to 10.

But I don't know much about extra dimensions. My math skills mostly stopped developing when schools brought in the math that requires calculators and ~shiver~ evil decimals. (With a brief glowing resurgence for some aspects of linear algebra in university. Beautiful matrices!) While I COULD just make a set of hypercubes, my completionist tendencies do not accept this. Can anyone tell me if there are names I could use for sets for each of the uniform polychorons?

Additional appreciated information:

Do any of the higher dimensions have a specific term for their polytopes? (Including old terms that aren't often used but sound cool.)

Are there any fun visualization for higher dimensional polytopes? I can use orthographic representations, but anything with pseudo-3D would be more appealing to the kids. Also, do you know somewhere I could find such things online? Currently, I am using wikipedia. I like sets to have consistent visuals with each other, but they don't always need to be consistent with the rest of the cards.

-

¹for the non-math weirdos: 'polytopes' are objects with flat sides (faces). A 2D object is a 'polygon', a 3D object is a 'polyhedron', and 4D things like the tesseract from the Marvel movies are 'polychorons'. You can keep adding dimensions forever.

[hetacon]

The Messages in Blue Ink

Word Count: 1,350

Pairings: Logicality, Background Prinxiety, Background Platonic Logince, Background Platonic Analogical, Implied Platonic Moxiety

Warning: None that I can think of!

______________________________

Summary: Logan writes helpful notes to himself due to his ADHD. He wished other writing would appear though...

______________________________

Note: This is for @artissijam’s birthday, decided to do a cute little soulmate AU for her! I love you so much Jules!!! It’s not much but I really hope you like this you funky and wonderful human being, I’m so glad we’ve become friends!!

______________________________

Logan never could remember things, it was quite an issue that he dealt with. It figures, seeing as he had ADHD but regardless, it was still annoying.

Due to that though, he started writing reminders to himself anywhere he could. Hands, arms, even his legs on the rare occasion. It was honestly just the easiest way to keep track of things. He didn’t have to worry about wasting paper or sticky notes or have his phone die on him. It was reliable.

During the time he was trying to focus on his paper for one of his classes, his roommate Roman made a passing comment about buying some more paper towels when Logan would be going out that afternoon. So as usual, but of course with a sigh, Logan took his pen out from his pocket and wrote down the item on his list.

He probably should wash off the note about calling his parents, he did that yesterday.

With that though, he tried to focus back on his paper.

This system of his had been working for years, he’d always been able to focus much more on all of the tasks when he could actually remember what they were. Figures but hey, he had to work with what he got.

He got to thinking about if he had other writing on his arms though...

Normal people would have conversations with their soulmates on their skin, maybe doodles such as the ones that adorned Roman’s and Virgil’s wrists and the backs of their hands since the latter of the two was quite the artist. Normal people would know their soulmates, have already met them at this point, or at the very least, have had a conversation with them. Logan wasn’t a normal person though in that he didn’t have any conversations with his soulmate. He’d never seen anything appear on his skin other than what he himself wrote.

He didn’t even know if he had one.

He didn’t often think much about it but as he was hanging out with Roman and Virgil one weekend, he watched as Virgil drew on his wrist with a purple pen, the ink blooming over Roman’s in response. Roman watched intently with a dorky grin, his head resting against Virgil’s. They were in their own little world.

“Guys?” Logan finally asked, setting his book down.

“Yeah Lo? What’s up?” Virgil asked, not looking up from his arm as he drew, Roman’s gaze turning up to Logan however.

“What would you do if you didn’t have a soulmate?”

Virgil stopped and put his pen down, looking up in confusion.

“Just hypothetically,” Logan muttered, looking up grimly at his friends.

“Dude, I’d still be in New York for one thing. Wouldn’t have ever met you and Ro in the first place,” Virgil offered.

“And I wouldn’t have started majoring in theater if he hadn’t encouraged me!” Roman said with a hum, kissing Virgil’s cheek.

Logan shook his head. “No, I mean like... How would you react or feel? You know, knowing you have no one ‘destined’ for you.”

Both of them blinked at Logan.

“I’d be a little sad I guess..” Virgil said slowly. “But I know I’d still have the capability to make friends, right? Not having a romantic partner isn’t the end of the world.”

“Right! And you have us!” Roman said with a smile, reaching out to place a hand on Logan’s shoulder, shaking him a bit. “It’s going to be just fine.”

Logan couldn’t stop himself from sighing. He loved his friends but still, a soulmate would be nice...

He would be lying if he said the subject of soulmates didn’t occupy his mind for long. He thought about it often, questioning things for months.

Every time he wrote out an item on his grocery list, he’d wonder if he had a soulmate. Every time he hastily scribbled down instructions for an assignment, he’d ask himself why they wouldn’t have written to him if he did have one. Every time he put down a note to himself to pick up his dry cleaning, he’d think about if he even wanted a soulmate.

It finally came to a point where he was fed up with everything involving soulmates and he rushed to the bathroom, washing off all the ink. Once his arms were dry, he sat in his room, looking down at his arm, a pen in hand.

His day had been awful and honestly, Logan just wished someone was there on the other end, seeing his writing.

He took a breath and started to write.

“Please just tell me, is anyone reading this? Do I have a soulmate?”

Logan was about to get up, only to watch as blue ink appeared under his own words written in black.

“Oh my gosh, hi, yes you do!”

“Hello, my name’s Logan Mandel.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you Logan, this is Patton”

“I like your name.”

“Thank you, I like yours too! It suits you!”

Logan felt his cheeks grow warm. Who was this person??

“You don’t know anything about me, I can’t see how you could tell.”

“Well, I have been seeing everything you’re writing... I know you’re a physics major for one thing. You also forget things a lot I take it. Though that’s ok, I think it’s cute that you write little reminders to yourself! And you keep in touch with your parents or at least want to! You seem like a swell kinda guy, Logan!”

“Thank you I suppose.”

“No problem!”

Just as Logan was about to start writing more, Patton quickly scribbled something below his last message. “I’m sorry, I’m cooking and need to take care of something! I’ll talk to you later!!”

Logan forgot all about his day.

With that interaction, Logan’s right arm became were he’d interact with Patton, his left for notes to himself and all of his lists. He took a quick liking to Patton, he was incredibly sweet to say the least but as they got to know one another, one thing bothered Logan.

“Why didn’t you ever write to me before?” Logan wrote, a bit out of the blue.

Patton was punctual and quick to respond as always.

“Well, I saw the things you kept track of! You needed the space more, I wanted to give it to you <3”

“But you don’t have to do that, I like talking with you Patton.”

“Well we could always meet up so we wouldn’t have to ;D I’m just teasing though, that’s up to you”

“I’d like that.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

They lived in the same city, he was one of Virgil’s other friends. Patton was meeting him at one of Logan’s favorite coffee shops today.

“Almost there!” Patton’s writing appeared on Logan’s arm.

“Alright, I’ll be waiting for you.”

Logan kept his eyes glued to the door as various people came and went from the coffee shop, clutching his arms tightly to himself. He saw a guy come in. It had to be Patton. He didn’t know what he’d do if it wasn’t, he wouldn’t want just any random stranger to have just walked in a sky blue skirt and white off-the-shoulder crop top sweater.

Oh goodness, Logan couldn’t do anything but stare at him, he looked so wonderful. He looked so soft and gentle, everything Logan wanted to see from his soulmate.

Before he knew it, that guy got his drink and went directly over to him with a smile, showing his arms as he sat down.

The ink matched.

Logan could only keep staring at Patton.

He wanted to count out all the freckles adorning Patton’s cheeks like stars.

Logan’s cheeks turned red but nowhere as lovely a shade as the natural pink of Patton’s face.

Logan couldn’t think.

“Hi,” Logan breathed out.

“Hi, Logie” Patton said back, a smile on his lips as he leaned forward to gently kiss Logan’s cheek.

______________________________

Taglist: @artissijam, @virgils-paranoia, @marshmallow-the-panda, @anotheregofanficblog

[snowdice]

Wind Symphony: The Sequel (Sometimes Labels Shift Series)

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Logan & Virgil,  Logan/Patton

Characters: Logan, Virgil, Patton

Summary: Virgil gets his first ever clarinet. This is a very stressful day for him. He doesn't even know the prices!

This is a dealing with events set after my story Sometimes Labels Fail.

Notes: Superhero AU (not that it matters), past child abuse

(Original prompt from @carolofthebell a looooong long time ago.)

Virgil flinched at the sound of the bell as another customer exited the store. He couldn’t help but be jumpy considering the amount of expensive merchandise within accidently elbowing distance.

He’d been usure about this venture from the beginning and was even more so now that they were actually in the music store.

Virgil had auditioned for and made it into the intermediate band for the spring semester, a step up from the lowest level band he’d been in before. Both Logan and Patton had congratulated him for this more than they probably should have and then had taken him out for ice cream.

It wasn’t until about a week later that Logan brought up the topic of buying him a better clarinet.

“The school rentals are of good enough quality,” Logan had explained, “however, if you’re going to play more seriously, it would be beneficial to get you a better one. It would also afford you the opportunity to practice during the summer, so you can audition for the senior band next fall.”

Considering Virgil had only just managed to get into the intermediate band, he thought that was moving very, very fast, but Logan had shut down that protest by reminding him that even if he didn’t manage to get into it next year, he surely would in his senior year, and it was an investment. Virgil’s protest that said “investment” was far, far too expensive was also ignored by both Patton and Logan.

Now they were here in a music shop on a Saturday morning, and Virgil didn’t know if he’d ever been this stressed. (And he’d been shot before.)

He’d never been in a music shop before, and he couldn’t help but tug anxiously on his sleeve as his eyes darted around to all the different, very very expensive instruments hanging on the walls. He didn’t even want to touch the shelves of sheet music, worried that he’d somehow knock them over and trigger an avalanche of costly equipment.

Patton and Logan clearly did not have the same anxieties, strolling through the shelves like this was a Good Will instead of a specialty shop.

Virgil followed them with a caution befitting a man creeping around a sleeping dragon to steal its eggs.

“Hello,” said Logan upon making it to the very back of the store where an older man with wide rimmed glasses was standing at a counter.

“How can I help you?” the man asked.

“We’re looking for a beginner’s clarinet.”

The man’s eyes instantly drifted to Virgil. Virgil chose not to dive behind the nearest shelf (since it held pricey looking ticking metronomes) and instead attempted to hide in his hoodie.

“I have a list of brands that are of interest,” Logan said, pushing a list over to the man.

The man glanced at the list and blinked, seeming surprised. Virgil was sure Logan had been shockingly thorough in his research.

“However,” Logan continued. “We’d like Virgil to have a chance to make the final decision.” At that, Logan looked back at Virgil and noticed he was hanging back a good 10 feet. He waved Virgil forward and Virgil reluctantly shuffled over.

“Of course,” the man said, his eyes on Virgil even more now. “I’ll get a few down for him to look at.” The man turned away to walk into the back and Virgil let the breath he’d been holding out.

Patton settled a hand on his shoulder and Virgil almost jumped out of his skin. The hand jerked back.

“Sorry,” Virgil said.

Patton hesitated and then, careful to choreograph his movement more this time, he returned the hand to his shoulder, giving a reassuring squeeze.

“You don’t need to be stressed, honey,” Patton said. “It’s just a clarinet. It won’t bite you.”

“It’s expensive,” Virgil stressed.

“You don’t need to worry about the cost,” Logan said. “I have already budgeted for more than enough to cover any expenses we incur here.”

But why he had done that was still a mystery to Virgil. He didn’t bother asking. They’d already tried to have that discussion many times before.

“Speaking of, is there anything else you need?” Logan asked.

Virgil shook his head.

Logan raised an eyebrow in response. “Reeds?” he asked. “Cleaning equipment?”

Virgil shrugged. Technically, yes, he probably did need those things.

Logan nodded as though hearing Virgil’s thoughts. “We’ll make sure to get all of that as well. Patton, why don’t you go look around the store for things you think he’ll need while Virgil and I test out the instruments.”

“He’ll buy the entire store,” Virgil pointed out as Patton almost immediately turned to start looking at the store’s offerings. Patton glanced back at him with a teasingly annoyed expression. He was not distracted from his task for long, however.

“He surely will,” Logan confirmed. He always said things like that with more fond amusement than actual annoyance, Virgil had noticed in the months he’d lived with them. Today, it wasn’t even that. He seemed happy that Patton was probably going to drop a bunch of cash on useless things in this store.

The man returned after a few minutes with three different clarinets. The brand names meant nothing to Virgil except that they were all ones that had been on Logan’s list. He wished he’d done his own research since none of the cases had priced on them, and he didn’t know which was the most expensive. All he knew was they all probably costed a lot.

Even beginner clarinets were expensive, he knew. That’s why most kids, even ones not in foster care, rented instruments. Even rich families often didn’t outright buy an instrument until they were sure their kid was going to stick with it.

Maybe some of the kids in Virgil’s grade with rich parents, a lot of skills, and opportunities to play at non-school functions had instruments of their own by now, but people like Virgil did not.

Yet, Logan and Patton had insisted and now here Virgil was.

The man talked briefly about the differences between each clarinet (not the prices) and what each was good for before letting Virgil test them all out briefly.

If it were up to Virgil, he’d have just messed around with each for a couple of minutes, so this venture didn’t cost as much time as it did money, but Logan insisted he play each for around 15 minutes to really ‘get a feel for them.’ The worker seemed to approve of this suggestion.

They’d been at the store for over an hour by the time he’d tried all of the offered clarinets out to satisfaction. He still wished he knew the prices, but without that, he just had to blindly pick which one he’d liked the most.

Patton returned with two baskets of merchandise ranging from useful (swabs, cork grease, and reeds) to unnecessary (a music stand and some books of sheet music from Disney movies) and inane (coasters with clarinets and musical notes on them).

Upon confirmation that Virgil had picked a clarinet, he dumped this all on the counter in front of Logan and promptly (gently) manhandled Virgil out of the store so Logan could pay.

“I wanted to at least know how much you guys just spent on me,” Virgil groused as the door closed behind him.

“You are absolutely never knowing,” he said.

Virgil bit his lip.

“Really, Virgil,” Patton said. “We want to buy it for you. The cost doesn’t matter.”

“What if I break it?” Virgil asked.

“Considering how gently you treated the rental?” Patton asked, “I don’t think you will, but even if you do, it’s fine. It’s just an object.”

“An expensive object.”

“We can afford it,” Patton said with a shrug, “and we want to give it to you because we care. Let us do this for you.”

There was an earnestness to his expression that made Virgil have to swallow. “Fine,” he agreed reluctantly, “but did you have to get the coasters?”

“Those are for me!” Patton declared. “I’m going to take them to my office, so if someone asks about them, I can brag about the fantastic clarinet player I have at home.”

Virgil blushed at the thought. “Do not do that.”

Patton just smiled.

“Patton don’t do that.”

In the years to come, Patton would very much do that.