#jester hates patton | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

silylilboi · 3 years ago

Text

What I would do with the sides if I wrote them in different AUs

Or the sides (plus occasionally Remy, Emile, and Thomas) in different situations and other random things because I’m bored again.

Hamilton

Logan as Hamilton

Patton as Eliza

Roman as Angelica

Virgil as Laurens

Janus as Burr

Remus as Maria Reynolds

Thomas as Peggy

Remy as Mulligan

Emile as Lafayette

Harry Potter

Logan as Hermione

Patton as Ron/Neville

Roman as Harry/Fred or George

Virgil as Neville/Draco

Janus as Draco

Remus as Fred or George/Crabbe or Goyle

Remy as Lee

Emile as Cedric

Thomas as ??? (I have no idea. Let me know who you think he would be)

Gravity Falls

Logan as Dipper

Patton as Mable

Roman as Pacifica/Wendy/one of the two cops (idr their names)

Virgil as ??? (I couldn't think of someone)

Janus as Bill (duh. Basically the same person tbh)

Remus as Stan/Old Man McGucket (was that his name? It's been awhile since I've watched it. Sorry)

Remy as Wendy/Pacifica

Emile as Soos

Thomas as ??? (Couldn't think of one for him either)

Beauty and the Beast

Logan as Belle

Patton as Mrs. Potts/Maurice

Roman as Gaston

Virgil as Lefou

Janus as a mix of Lumier and Clogsworth

Remus as the Beast

Remy as ???

Emile as Maurice/Chip

Thomas as Chip

Aladdin

Logan as the sultan

Patton as Genie

Roman as Aladdin

Virgil as Jasmine

Janus as Jafar

Remus as Iago

Remy as Abu

Emile as Carpet

Thomas as ???

The Little Mermaid

Logan as Sebastian/Grimsby/King Triton

Patton as Ariel

Roman as one of the sisters/King Triton/Flottsum or Jettsum (how do you spell their names? One of the eels is what I'm talking about)

Virgil as Flounder

Janus as Eric

Remus as Chef Louis/Ursula/Scuttle/Flottsum or Jettsum

Remy as Ursula/Flottsum or Jettsum

Emile as Max(?)(I don't really know)

Thomas as King Triton

Princess and the Frog

Logan as Tiana/Evangeline

Patton as Ray/Louis

Roman as Naveen/Lottie/Louis

Virgil as Tiana

Janus as Dr. Facilier

Remus as Lawrence

Remy as Lottie/Naveen

Emile as Mama Odie/Ray

Thomas as Louis/Lottie's Dad

Cinderella

Logan as Lady Tremaine/Prince Charming/the king/the royal advisor

Patton as Cinderella/the king/Gus Gus

Roman as one of the step sisters/Prince Charming/Fairy Godmother/Jacque

Virgil as Fairy Godmother/the royal advisor

Janus as Lady Tremaine

Remus as one of the step sisters

Remy as one of the step sisters

Emile as Cinderella/the king/Gus Gus

Thomas as the king/Jacque/Gus Gus

My Little Pony

Logan as Twilight Sparkle

Patton as Pinky Pie/Fluttershy

Roman as Rarity/Rainbow Dash

Virgil as Fluttershy

Janus as ???

Remus as ???

Remy as Rarity

Emile as Fluttershy/AppleJack

Thomas as Spike

Hogwarts Houses (where I would place everyone)

Logan in Ravenclaw/Gryffindor

Patton in Hufflepuff/Gryffindor

Roman in Gryffindor/Slytherin

Virgil in Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw

Janus is Slytherin/Ravenclaw

Remus in Gryffindor

Remy in Gryffindor/Slytherin

Emile in Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw

Thomas in Hufflepuff

Which country they would be from (if they weren't from the US)

Logan from France

Patton from Australia (just a slight accent though. Just enough to tell where he is from. And no, he does not kill the freakishly large spiders there. And yes, he does still hate spiders.)

Roman from Spain/Mexico

Virgil from Scotland/Ireland

Janus from France/the UK

Remus from Germany

Remy from Brazil

Emile from Italy

Thomas from Italy/Brazil

Highschool Cliques

Logan as a nerd

Patton as one of the nice, lesser known popular kids/theatre kids

Roman as a theatre kid/jock

Virgil as one of the loners

Janus as a loner/popular/smart kids

Remus as a theatre kid/jock

Remy as a popular kid

Emile as one of the nice,lesser known popular kids

Thomas as a theatre kid

What everyone's sexuality/gender identity would be in a human AU

Logan would be a biromantic Demisexual male, he/him

Patton would be a pansexual male, he/him

Roman would be a gay trans male, he/him

Virgil would be a Non-binary bisexual, they/them

Janus would be a gender fluid bisexual, any pronouns

Remus would be a gay trans male, he/him

Remy would be an omnisexual male, he/him

Emile would be a pan romantic gender fluid, pronouns depend on the day

Thomas would be a gay male, he/him pronouns

Which store they would go to in the mall

Logan would go to the mall just to keep an eye on the others

Patton would go to Box Lunch/Old Navy/Bath & Body Works/Build-a-Bear

Roman would go to Box Lunch/Build-a-Bear

Virgil would go to Hot Topic

Janus would go to Spencers/Hot Topic

Remus would go to Spencers

Remy would go to Starbucks

Emile would go to Box Lunch/Build-a-Bear/Bath & Body Works

Thomas would go to Box Lunch/Build-a-Bear

Dr. Dolittle (the one with RDJ)

Logan as Dr. Dolittle

Patton as Lily Dolittle

Roman as Lady Rose

Virgil as Stubbins (there's just a lot of parallels between Stubbins' arc in the movie and Virgil being accepted as a light side in the series)

Janus as Lord Badgely

Remus as Müdfly

Jurassic World, including other movies (both people/dinosaurs)

Logan as Dr. Wu/Claire/Blue

Patton as Grey (I think that’s how his name is spelled)/ankylosaurus

Roman as Owen/T-Rex

Virgil as Zach/Delta(smart but also the first one to die)

Janus as Dr. Wu/the main bad guy from the second movie(can't remember his name for the life of me)/Indoraptor

Remus as Hoskins/Allosaurus(mainly for the split second it get hit in the face with a boulder)

Big Hero Six

Logan as Tadashi

Patton as Honey Lemon/Callahan(if I do write this AU he would be the villain)

Roman as Wasabi

Virgil as Go-Go

Janus as Hiro

Remus as Fred

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Logan as one of the gargoyles

Patton as one of the gargoyles

Roman as Phoebus

Virgil as Esmerelda

Janus as Quasimodo

Remus as the jester who tells the story(and maybe as Frollo? I don't really know)

#patton sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #roman sanders #remus sanders #deceit sanders #random #head canon #alternate universe #sanders sides #i still don’t know how to tag #please help

17 notes · View notes

that-spider-fan-over-there · 4 years ago

Text

I've been writing this since 2AM, and may be 4:35 AM right now, but it doesn't change the fact I want a mashup of Jester's Tear - Celestial Aeon Project and Mysterious Paths - Marco Belloni.

... Yes, those are Virgil's and Janus' themes, no, I'm not a shipper. What about it?

Jokes aside - no pun intended - I personally think it'd be a badass and bittersweet theme.

We don't know what else Janus can do, and Virgil's past is really catching up to him, and it's gonna have consequences, Janus is just the first one of the consequences.

And then I noticed the parallels and everything went downhill XD. Basically, long post, if you don't wanna read it, it's fine!

Name reveals:

We could assume that Janus and Virgil were close enough to share their names, while the others apparently didn't. For 25-30 years.

V: Guys, he's a liar! You literally know him as Deceit!

J: Glass houses, Virgil... You yourself said you're not a beacon of truth.

V: Yeah, because I'm wrong a lot.

J: Oh, so you've never been reluctant to share anything with the group, then?

V: Don't...

J: What? I just meant your name.

V: DON'T!

Also, noticed that even their names have a parallel, in and out-universe?

My name is Virgil! Okay, it's like a bandaid, you just gotta rip it off!

I don't have a simple answer to that question... but here's a start... My name... My name is Janus.

In-verse parallel:

Virgil:

Wasn't exactly... Loved by the rest of the Core Four at first, but as time went on, they started to trust him more and more, so they knew that he didn't truly harm them.

Built up a bond with Logan, Roman and Patton even before they fully accepted him. He's proved to Logan he can be really intelligent, he finds Patton pretty cool, and Roman isn't actually a person he hates - they're just prideful and stubborn.

Revealed his name to people who he had mutual trust, all were accepting, and despite being laughed at first, the one who laughed did regret it afterwards.

Janus

Isn't trusted, with good reason: He disguises into other Sides time and time again, he manipulated one of them. He's secretive, withholding.

Toyed with Roman's insecurities, pretended to be Patton and Logan (twice!) who he was willing to drag by the neck with a Vaudeville cane. Basically, he broke a possible bond with Roman (who already had a weak ego), made Logan feel way less wanted by his friends, and Patton isn't even trusting him, he just offered a seat at the table.

No one actually prepared for his reveal, one of the Sides sank out before, and the same one who laughed had good reason to do so. Even Thomas didn't trust him.

Virgil was already trusted before his name reveal, but Janus used his name to gain their trust.

Out-Verse Parallel:

Virgil is the name of a Roman poet, and the name brings up the word "vigilant"... Or a character of the same name who guided Dante through the nine circles of Hell in Dante's Inferno. And added bonus? It means Staff Bearer. And isn't Janus the one who has a staff?

Janus is the name of the Two-Faced Roman God of duality, transitions, changes, archways and time... Kinda reflects on the character development that Virgil has since Season one. And it includes archway? Back to Dante's Inferno.

Mysterious past?

We also can assume that they had a really bad fight, and Janus is the main reason why Virgil is so wary of the Others:

Do not allow him or any of... His friends to stick around that long ever again!

- Virgil, Selfishness vs. Selflessness (Part 1)

He phrases it as if Janus is just the gatekeeper, but he's still the main concern. Maybe he learned something Janus never bothered to share with him? Something crucial?

And one thing I remember? Of all of the Core Four, the one who,has more hesitation to shapeshift is Virgil, and we know this since Season 1!

Remember Making More Changes? You might argue that's because the rest changed him against his violation... But then you realize that he was hesitant changed into a puppet in LNTAO, before saying that he'd do it if it helped! And it might be a stretch, but even changing clothes bothers him! In 12 Days of Christmas and SvS Part 1!

Now, who's the Side that specializes in disguises, trickery, changes and impersonating others?

Maybe an incident happened that involved Janus impersonating him to hide a crucial secret, and Virgil found out?

Common goal, different stance:

A funny thing about both Anxiety and Deceit is that they're so different, yet they work for the same thing: Defense.

Virgil is the social anxiety, obviously. He's fight or flight response, so we assume he's the main defense mechanism. But, as shown in FWSA, he's also willing to shove it down for the sake of Thomas' hopes and dreams, even in the risk of things going wrong! However, he's still heightened, social anxiety. He's prone to panic attacks, recklessness, and can be blunt and sometimes, insensitive. He lays down general worst-case scenarios.

Janus doesn't care for who's hurt, as long as he's listen to. He's defense in the form of aloofness, apathy, brutal honesty (ironically), egoism, he doesn't back down. Imagine how different FWSA would have gone with him! However, he points out that being selfish isn't bad, and his grey view of the world balances out the optimistic nature of the others. He sets out personal worst-case scenarios, which are more realistic.

The thing they have in common, however? They're both acting on Thomas' sake. They only want him to be able to defend himself from the bad things in the world.

Conclusion/TLDR:

As much as they hate each other's guts, they're way more alike than they'd like to admit. Virgil is a contrast to Janus because, while he hates change, he's the character that developed more, while Janus isn't willing to. And that might be a clue to what happened between them. They're also looking out for Thomas in similar, yet different ways, and it does have pros and cons.

...

... This all started because I wanted to say I wanted a mash-up version of their themes, but the point still stands!

Something is building up in arcs. Mysterious past, a common trait, a secret that involves who they are down to their names, even their name reveals!

Anyways, I'm truly excited for the next time we see those two interact, and I want to know what happen to them as much as I want to see the next Side, and that's why I wanna see a theme mashup: It can be a final argument between them, or a sign that they're putting their differences aside and start over!

Anyways, I hope you have a good day, or night, if that's the time,for you right now! Thanks for reading!

ILY, and Peace Out!

#the spider rants #TS Sides: Virgil S.#TS Sides: Janus S.#Sanders Sides #Thomas Sanders

6 notes · View notes

unsympathetic-teach · 5 years ago

Text

Hi! You can call me Party, Icarus, Jester, GoGo, or Roman. For pronouns: Poi/Moon/Ae/Ray/Sol/Neon/Ey/Xe/It/Sun/Void/Lun/Fire (or just use my name)

I don’t write, but i draw. Requests or prompts are open!

My main is @supremecourtjester and my u!janus blog is @unsympathetic-snake if you want to check either of those out

Tags for blocking purposes (these may be updated every now and then):

#logan critical and #logan criticism: posts or asks that criticize Logan’s canon character

#logan negativity: random hate or non-analytical posts about logan

#u!logan and #unsympathetic logan: hc’s, art, or fics about u!logan

#abusive Logan: hc’s, art, or fics that depict Logan being physically or emotionally abusive

#manipulative Logan: hc’s, art, or fics that show Logan manipulating other characters

(these also apply to any other sides that might be included in posts or asks)

#tw [_]: trigger warnings

#ts discourse: criticism of the ts fandom

#victim [character]: when a side or character is portrayed as the victim of abuse or manipulation in a post

#art: u!logan art

#fic: u!logan fics

#art?: my u!logan art

#ro’s rambles: my own loose ideas or hc’s.

#ro rants: my own vents or rants

If you need anything else tagged please DM me or send and ask so I can tag it!

Don’t ask/submit/request: nsfw, heavy gore, romantic dukexiety, romantic anxciet, romantic moxiety, romantic roceit u!roman, u!patton, or u!virgil

Please put trigger warnings before you send an ask if if has heavy content

If you want me to add on with more head canons please specify that in your ask

DNI: lgbtphobes, terfs, exclutionists, anti-neopronouns racists, facists, pro-lifers, white supremacists, maps/pedos, incest/pedo shippers, superstraight/superterm

#pinned #blog info #u!logan #unsympathetic logan #sanders sides

10 notes · View notes

blogging-time · 5 years ago

Text

Mealybugs

Send me a random word and I will attempt to write a Hurt/Comfort Fic containing/based on it. My Fic Masterlist

Word: Sick - Submitted by @3amthebitchinghour!

Summary: Roman couldn’t deny the fact that he’d found Patton’s seemingly unjustified concern to be somewhat endearing at first... but now things were quickly getting out of hand...

If only Roman had known why Patton felt so protective over him, it could have saved the pair oh-so much heartache.

Warnings: Mild illness/fever. Very brief Remus mention.

Pairings: Platonic Royality. (Can be interpreted as romantic.)

Word Count: 3,595

~ ~ ~

Roman couldn’t deny the fact that he’d found Patton’s seemingly unjustified concern to be somewhat endearing at first. Despite his well-sown fear of appearing both feeble and childish, there was just something about the dad Side’s ever-blossoming kindness that chipped away at the prince’s protective thorns until he was nothing more than a delicate collection of crimson rose petals in the botanist’s careful hands.

Perhaps to Patton, Roman was little more than a single clipped rose, powerless to fight off the tender love and care that he had deemed the prince beautiful enough to be deserving of. Still, Roman had enjoyed every last moment he’d spent simply being a part of his friend’s heavenly garden. Every day he’d let his roots embed themselves further and further into the soil until there was seemingly no moving him, and every day his friend would come by to perform his routine check-up.

“It’s always a pleasure to see you flourishing, kiddo!” his friend would chirp with a carefree smile.

But even the most attentive of botanists will one day see their flowers wilt. Even the most well-tended gardens can become victims of disease. And when this happens, perhaps one of the worst things you can possibly do for an already suffering rose is overwater it.

In the beginning, the whole thing had seemed as innocent as a timid field mouse cautiously poking its head up to greet the cold evening breeze. True, you typically wouldn’t want to see any type of rodent rummaging around in your garden, but there had just been something so careful and genuine in Patton’s eyes that had made the man seem far sweeter than any succulent berry he could possibly steal away.

Besides, Patton had been Roman’s faithful botanist, not some common thief. The prince knew there was nothing in this world that his friend would intentionally deprive him of. However, the intention doesn’t always match the outcome, and one simple observation was all it took to set off a rather unfortunate series of events.

~ ~ ~

“Oh, kiddo… you’re sick,” Patton had commented, concern dripping from his voice like melted ice-cream.

“Oh, Padre, you’re too kind,” Roman had joked back, hoping against all odds that he could bury the dad Side’s concern with his quick wit.

But Patton’s heart was not so easily satisfied.

“What in Thomas’ name do you think you’re doing out of bed? You should be resting.”

The prince sighed before answering, “It’s just a passing cold, Patty-cakes. There’s no need for you to be getting your buns in such a twist.”

“You leave my buns out of this, little mister,” Patton countered, taking a step forward and gently placing his hand on the ill man’s already damp forehead.

Looking back, perhaps the moment Roman instinctively let himself melt into the touch of the moral Side’s cool hand was the moment he’d sealed his fate.

The botanist’s persistent supervision began not long after that.

~ ~ ~

It had all started with a humble offering of chicken soup.

“Now you just lie here, Roman, and I’ll serve you up one of my very own Patton-patented pawsitively palatable poultry plates in just one moment!”

“Now look who’s paid a visit to the alliteration station!”

Then came the many cutesy looking coffee mugs, almost all of which contained some different variation of Healthline’s ‘Top 10 Healthiest Herbal Teas You Just Have to Try!’

“As the wise Uncle Iroh once said: Sharing tea with a fascinating stranger is one of life’s true delights!”

“Padre… we’ve known each other for almost thirty years.”

“And yet this dashing prince simply never fails to fascinate me!”

And who could forget all of those simple yet tedious everyday tasks that Patton had offered to fulfil in Roman’s steed?

“Oh, most sweet and noble knight of mine… are you absolutely certain that this quest I have assigned to you won’t prove itself far too time-consuming or demanding?”

The moral Side chuckled faintly at that.

“My liege, I can assure you there’s nothing to worry about. I’ll see to it that Master Thomas gets his chance to rehearse this afternoon, and that the last of the required props are picked up from Ye Olde Hobby Lobby in plenty of time for supper!”

“You have my eternal gratitude.”

“And you, my tissues.”

One could easily argue that the feverish prince had been entirely too willing to comply with the botanist’s generous wishes during those first two days, but how was he to know just how overbearing his friend would become over the course of the next seventy-two hours?

It had all started with Patton’s refusal to let Roman prepare his own toast.

“It’s just a simple slice of toast, Doctor Ramsay,” Roman bantered, “And if it’s any consolation I’ll promise not to cut the bread with my sword this time – Prince’s Honour!”

“Kiddo, you shouldn’t be handling food at all while you’re not well; that’s how you end up spreading germs.”

“To whom? Myself?”

“You never know, Roman. Please… just leave all of the cooking to me for now. I can have everything done within five minutes.”

Then came the many unnecessary yet incessant visits to Roman’s room that Patton would make throughout the day.

“Knock, knock!”

“Oh, I wonder who could possibly be there?” Roman drawled.

Patton giggled weakly at that.

“Just your happy-chappy pappy checking up on someone sappy!”

“Somehow I don’t think I’m the sappy one here, Patton.”

And how could Roman ever overlook the fact that he’d practically been put on strict bedrest for multiple days when there were so many other things he’d rather be doing to elevate his growing boredom?

“Listen, nurse… I understand you’re just trying to look out for me, but I can’t see any good reason as to why I shouldn’t be allowed to go and play ‘Mario Kart’ with the court jester. I feel like I’ve done nothing these past few days, and besides, my temperature barely even meets the criteria for a fever anymore.”

“First of all, we’ve already spoken about you referring to Virgil as the ‘court jester.’ Second of all, the reason your health has been improving is because you’ve taken the time to do nothing. Thirdly, Roman you’re far too competitive to be playing videogames right now. You’ll just end up psyching yourself up too much and making your headache so much worse.”

The prince had done his best to tolerate this sort of treatment for five whole days before allowing himself to finally admit the obvious: Patton wasn’t his knight in shining armour; he was the dragon-witch responsible for keeping him locked up in a tower.

He knew confrontation was inevitable if he wanted to see the outside world again anytime soon - Too long now had he been kept inside of a restrictive vase as opposed to an open flowerbed. Still, going into the discussion, Roman had downright dreaded dealing with the resistance he would surely be met with from his fellow Side. Of course, he knew the moral Side would never be mad at him for standing his ground, but if he didn’t want his friend to worry then he felt he’d still have to prepare a solid rebuttal.

The creative Side had braced himself for his moral counterpart’s troubling frown. He’d fully anticipated his friend’s most frequently recycled justifications and prepared what he considered to be an adequate counterargument for each. Heck, the prince had even taken the liberty of preparing an evidence casefile should the dad Side ever demand to see proof of his ongoing recovery.

“Behold! The piece of evidence that clearly contradicts the witness’ testimony!” Roman rehearsed, finger pointing rather dramatically at his bedroom mirror, “If you take a good look at this thermometer, you’ll see that my temperature read as 98.6F this morning. Mr Sanders, you claimed I couldn’t leave the room for as long as I have a fever, but this device clearly shows I now have a perfectly normal body temperature!”

Undoubtedly Roman had done enough preparation to ensure that even a man as tight-lipped as Logan couldn’t help but feel proud of his work. If only history had been kind enough to repeat itself, then perhaps the creative Side could have even found himself standing in the middle of another ‘Sherlock Holmes Fan-Fic’ type situation.

However, there had been one rather unfortunate series of developments that the prince had not fully fortified himself for – one that had proven itself to be far more regrettable than unlikely, and one that the prince would have no choice but to embrace as he failed to sway the conversation back in his favour.

For within mere minutes of opening his carefully planned, well-constructed and adequately researched argument, both the poor over-watered wilting rose, and his apparently not-so-attentive botanist had completely abandoned their cool demeanours in exchange for a far more contentious persona.

“Roman, please, just be reasonable,” the dad Side pleaded, arms outstretched in a halting motion as he took yet another step back towards Roman’s doorway.

“Oh, my stars!” the aforementioned Side proclaimed incredulously, “Do my ears deceive me? Or is that truly ‘The Hypocrite of the West Coast’ sincerely asking me to be more reasonable?”

Had the man standing before the prince been anyone but his favourite fatherly figure, then surely he would have pressed him on the long sigh he just let out.

“Kiddo, I understand why you’re upset, but you know I’d never try to deter you like this if I didn’t think it was absolutely necessary. I hate seeing you cooped up in here just as much as you do!”

“Then why won’t you set me free?”

“Because I believe-”

“Oh yes, because you believe it’s the right thing to do, don’t you? That’s always what it seems to come down to at the end of the day! Everything in the entire Thomas-sphere has to revolve around what Morality thinks is right and wrong! Honestly, what have the rest of us ever done to deserve a seat at the table?”

The moral Side’s entire body seemed to tense at that, his breath hitching as though he were trying to force some unsavoury words back down his own agitated throat. Tears were now threatening to spill from the corners of his eyes, yet his gaze remained almost perfectly fixed.

“Roman…”

“No! I don’t want to hear it, Pat! I’m sick and tired of listening to what you have to say!”

“You’re sick and tired, full stop, Roman! Please, you should really just go back to bed while I-”

“While you do what, Patton? Are you planning on tucking me back into bed again? Perhaps you could infantilise me even further by reading me another bedtime story, or- Oh! I know! Why don’t you go and prepare me yet another bowl of your infamous chicken soup? I’m not sure the first couple-hundred bowls have made me entirely anti-poultry yet!”

Undoubtedly, hunched up shoulders and pointedly narrowed eyes weren’t a particularly good look on the usually oh-so-cheery dad Side, but he simply couldn’t help the fact that his composure was shrivelling up so fast.

“If you really want to get me out of your hair so badly, then why won’t you just let me take care of you? The sooner I can get you healthy again, the sooner I can leave you to your own devices!”

“Because it’s not your job to take care of me, padre!” the prince snapped back, this time sounding utterly exasperated. “I’m not some delicate little flower that you should feel obligated to attend to! You’re not my designated botanist! You… You know what you are? What you really are, Pat? You’re just some aggravating little mealybug that’s latched onto my leaves that now adamantly refuses to let go! You’re sucking the life out of me, Pat, and it’s causing me to wilt! How on Earth do you expect me to stand it?”

With those words, the last of the moral Side’s composure finally slipped away.

“I don’t know, Roman! How do you expect me to cope with losing Creativity again?”

The words had come barrelling out of his mouth before he could even think to stop himself, and the tears don’t fall too far behind.

The room fell completely silent in an instant, bar the sound of the dad Side’s sombre hiccups.

Try as Patton might, he genuinely couldn’t help the feeling that he was being cruelly suffocated and torn apart from the inside. It felt as though someone had forced him to swallow an entire packet of dandelion seeds, and now the unwelcome plant was blooming, stems sprouting painfully from the pit of his stomach before forcing its way up through his throat, and finally bursting out dramatically from his silently screaming mouth. It seemed that no matter how hard the botanist had tried to suppress this unruly weed, the truth was always destined to come to light in some horrific way.

“Patton…?” Roman hesitantly asked, his previous shouting voice having been replaced by an almost-whisper.

The man in question only let a single choked sob escape before continuing to speak…

“…He was just like you, you know…” he blurted out, voice sounding unnaturally strained from trying to suppress his own emotions. His eyes were now utterly transfixed on the floor, almost as if he were willing it to magically open up and swallow him whole.

The prince audibly gulped as he mentally prepared himself for the question he’d inevitably have to ask, regardless of whether or not he already knew the answer.

“Who was, Pat?”

Another choked sob escaped; this time followed by a long, shaky, uneven breath. The question seemed to hang in the air far too uncomfortably for far too long as one Side watched the other pathetically curl in on himself.

“The King,” Patton eventually rasped out, words slicing through the tension in the air so swiftly and so grotesquely they almost seemed to mimic the actions of a rusty lawn mower blade.

Roman could practically hear the machine whirring around inside his head.

“He told us all it was just a cold – That he’d be perfectly fine if we just left him alone for a few hours…”

“Patton…”

“He told us all to just go out and play… He promised us he’d come and join us as soon as he was feeling better… At the time none of us even realised that would be our last chance to run around in the garden together… Our last chance to marvel at the early Spring flowers together… Our last chance to weave intricate little flower crowns together with the King… and so we missed it… We missed our final chance to say ‘goodbye’ and then he was just… gone…”

As the well finally overflooded, allowing for two long streams to suddenly pour down the older Side’s fiercely flushed face, the young prince swore he could feel his own still beating heart immediately split in two.

“Patton,” he tried again, “Surely you don’t blame yourself for any of that. I highly doubt there’s anything you could have done to prevent such a fate from befalling the old Creativity – and even if there had have been, you couldn’t have possibly known any better!”

“I could have been by his side!” Patton snapped back, punctuating his words by gripping his upper arms even tighter. “I knew one of my friends was sick and I did nothing to help him! Worse than that, Roman, I left him alone to play hopscotch.”

“Darling, it’s not your fault for having such faith in an old friend. He was the one who told you to give him some space! You were only doing what was asked of you!”

A sudden wave of realisation swiftly struck down the prince’s confidence the moment he heard those words aloud.

“Oh, my dear little heart…” he cooed as he watched his shaking friend visibly shrink. “I’m so sorry, Pat… I didn’t mean to-”

“No… No, you don’t have anything to apologise for…” Patton sniffled as he tried to stand up properly. “I… I understand I may have been a bit… overbearing these past few days, but I…” He was getting choked up again. “I… I just couldn’t risk losing Creativity again… I couldn’t risk losing you. I love you so much, kiddo, and I genuinely don’t know what I would do if I ever-”

Roman decided to silence that oncoming tangent by abruptly pulling his spiralling friend into a warm embrace. Perhaps the experience would have been a little more pleasant had his own body not decided to start trembling mere moments ago, but none of that seemed to matter as the dad Side slowly melted into his soothing touch.

“Do you want me to let you in on a special little secret, padre?”

The dad Side merely nodded his response into the crook of the prince’s neck, causing the slightly calmer man to let out a faint chuckle.

“The truth is… when I first appeared here in the mindscape, I really didn’t know much at all about… well… anything! Sure, I had a decent enough hold on what sort of things inspired Thomas, what stories he wanted to tell and how he wanted to go about telling them… but when it came to Thomas’ internal ‘Breakfast Club’ I was almost completely at a loss! By all accounts your quizzical looks should have made me feel like a Roman gladiator thrown haphazardly into a colosseum without so much as a broken stick to defend myself!”

“I’m sorry if any of us startled you…” came a muffled response.

“But that’s the thing, Pat,” Roman recounted with a kind smile, “None of you ever did… In fact, from the very first moment I ever laid my dazzling eyes upon all of your startled yet adorable – if not slightly nerdy – faces, I honestly never felt anything but… safe, secure… welcome, even! Now I know that may not make much sense at first given how little I actually knew you all at the time, but I happen to have my own little working theory as to why I felt that way. Would you like me to share it with you?”

That question was apparently enough to make the dad Side look up from where he had been nuzzling his tear-soaked face into his friend’s now admittedly rather damp shoulder. The sight of his puffy eyes alone was enough to make Roman want to tear off his own crimson rose petals and use them as an overly extravagant tissue on the botanist’s grief-stricken visage.

Alas, a small piece of his velvety sash would have to suffice for now.

“Please,” Patton tentatively begged as the prince carefully wiped away at his cheeks.

“I reckon it’s because the Creativity you once knew never truly left. Even if I didn’t maintain the vast majority of his memories, I vehemently believe that all of those otherwise inexplicable feelings were the by-product of him having once loved all of you. He never felt betrayed… He never felt lonely… He never felt as though you let him down, padre, because it’s abundantly clear didn’t.”

“But how can you be so sure his feelings never changed?”

“I don’t know, my own little Patton-ted Piglet… How can you be so sure they ever did?”

Something in the moral Side’s expression seemed to change in that moment… Something subtle yet unmistakable that let Roman know he’d finally gotten through to the man.

It was only a matter of time before a contented smile had taken place on both of their blushing faces.

“I suppose I never really thought of it that way…” Patton sheepishly admitted.

“Yet you’d dare to entertain the thought that your dashing prince would ever leave you?”

The creative Side had fully intended for his sentiment to come across as light-hearted. Rather unfortunately for him, it appeared his words only served to make the dad Side feel more guilty.

“I’m sorry for blowing up at you like that earlier, kiddo… and I’m sorry if my paranoia ever made me act unfairly towards you… I guess I just let my parental instincts get the better of me sometimes…”

“I’ll consider it all water under the bridge so long as you promise not to tell Teach I had to take a leaf out of his book today,” Roman joked, earning a stifled burst of heartfelt giggling from his now slightly more chipper and upbeat friend.

When the laughter eventually subsided, the dad Side decided to take a step back and get a better look at Roman, consequently breaking the embrace as he did so.

“I can’t tell if you acting all logical is supposed to be a sign that your health is improving or deteriorating,” he playfully teased.

“Well whichever one of the two it is, I just hope all of this exposure you’ve had to my sorry-self over these past few days hasn’t been enough to infect you.”

“Oh, Roman, I hate to tell you this, but I was already sick,” Patton merrily admitted after only a brief pause.

“What?” the prince dramatically exclaimed, voice suddenly sounding perturbed. “Oh, padre… Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t feeling well? We need to get you tucked into bed with some medicine and a bowl of chicken soup right away!”

Although Morality had tried to contain their mildly inappropriate giggling, he simply couldn’t help but be amused by the irony behind Creativity’s words.

“I’m afraid there won’t be any need for that,” he giddily reassured, “After all, doctors say there’s still no known cure for love-sickness!”

~ ~ ~

General Tag-List:

@lunamay2006, @not-so-innocent-bi-sander, @saphael-malec102, @anastasialestina

Note: It’s been a long time since I’ve posted a fic, so this tag-list may be a little outdated. If at any point you want to be added/removed from my tag-list then feel free to let me know!

Secondary Note: I may come back and edit the ending a little at a later date. This fic had been sitting in my WIP’s for far too long, so I’m worried it may have come across as rushed due to the fact I really wanted it to be completed.

As always, feedback is much appreciated! I was very out of practice and sleep-deprived here, so I’m sure I’d benefit a lot from constructive criticism! I hope you’re all having a fan-der-tastic day!

#Thomas Sanders #Sanders Sides #Roman Sanders #Patton Sanders #Royality #Platonic Royality #My Fic #Reblogs > Likes

44 notes · View notes

dragonindigo245 · 5 years ago

Text

Muffled

Tags: N/A

Warnings: Transphobia, a dash of angst but mostly light hearted stuff.

Summary: Virgil Nix hasn’t spoken once to his friends he’s known for 9 years. He is mute from his overwhelming social anxiety but around them he can finally feel safe.

————

-Elementary school, 5th grade, January of 2010-

“Hey? Who’s the new kid?”

Logan didn’t bother to look up from his book. “And you expect me to have this knowledge?” Roman shrugged. “I dono. He’s quiet like you.” Logan scoffed at this. “I am not quiet. I speak quite often.” Roman rolled his eyes. “Fair... Actually speaking of that, the new guy hasn’t talked once. Not even when he was asked to introduce himself yesterday. Just pulled his hood up and it stayed like that all day.” Logan glanced at the new shadow in the corner of the class. “He’s looking at us you know. You could just talk to him instead of discussing him with me.”

Romans’ head snapped up to meet the figures heterochromic eyes. He quickly looked back at his desk and Roman turned back to Logan. “You know what? I’m just gonna say hi.” Logan finally looked up from his book properly. “I couldn’t have thought of a better plan. You are a true genius Roman.” Roman held back a laugh. “Yeah yeah. I know it was your idea.”

Roman approached the desk in the corner with the figure and posed dramatically. “Hello there! My name is Roman! I couldn’t help but notice your keen interest in our conversation.” The figure held up a hand in a jester to wait and opened a black notebook with a big storm cloud on the front. He flipped through the pages filled with words and stopped at the first blank page he reached. He grabbed a pen from beside him and began to write.

“I couldn’t help but notice your keen interest in my presence.”

They turned the notebook so Roman could read it. He chuckled and waved a hand in dismissal. “Touchè. What’s your name, dark one?” They tapped the pen against their notebook nervously before writing, “I go by Virgil. I like that name better though.” Roman smiled and extended his hand dramatically. “Well then Virgil, Lord Of Darkness...” He rolled his tongue at Virgil’s name. “Would you care to join me and my friends? The professor shouldn’t be in for another ten minutes or so!” Virgil pointed at Logan curiously. Roman nodded in confirmation. “Yeah that’s one of them. The others will be coming in soon! What do you say?”

Virgil played with his hoodie sleeves and nodded. Roman pulled him up out of his seat and Virgil barely had time to grab his notebook and pen before being pulled away. Logan looked up from his book at the slam of Romans hand against his desk. “Salutations Roman... and...?” Virgil opened back up his notebook and pointed to his name. Logan put his own book down and extended his hand. “Nice to meet you Virgil. I apologize for our conversation about you right in front of you.”

——————

-Preforming Arts College, Sophomore Year, December of 2019-

“Oh Ur-sulk-ula!” Virgil rolled his eyes and looked up from the couch. Roman loomed over him with a mischievous grin. “You know what today is?” Virgil pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened the notes app. There he typed, “It is Wednesday my dudes.” Roman chuckled at the reference. “Okay yes. I’m meaning what do we have to do today?” Virgil’s mind began to race. What was he forgetting? What was going on? Was he in trouble? Would his other roommates insult hi-

“Calm down there Meanie in the Lamp.. I can see worry painted all over that white foundation. Today is our day off!” Seemingly on cue Patton opened the door and he walked in with Logan, talking about some sort of animal. Roman ignored them. “Today Patton planned the board game day! I hope you got your game ready because I’m about to crush you!”

Virgi sneered and typed into his notes quickly, “Bring it on Fairy-fail Prince.” Roman gasped and held a hand to his chest. “You wound me emo!” Patton tisked at them. “Virgil, inform Roman that you’re-” Patton held up a board game labeled “SORRY!” Virgil snickered while Logan acted as if he was insulted. Patton’s smile traveled over to him. “Oh come on Logan! You know making dad jokes is my-” Patton now held up a board game labeled “LIFE!” Both Roman and Virgil broke out laughing while Logan visibly cringed.

Patton looked down at Virgil on the couch. “What game did you pick?” Virgil typed in “That’s a surprise for the end of the day.” Roman laughed. “I bet your game is not nearly as glamorous as mine.” Virgil rolled his eyes amused. They would just have to wait and see.

—————

-High school, 10th grade, April of 2015-

“MY DAUGHTER SHOULDN’T BE DISADVANTAGED LIKE THIS!!!”

“Mrs. Nix, I assure you that we were unaware. Your daughter claimed she was male so we treated her as such. I do not see why she couldn’t identify as one but if you say she was lying for attention and truly isn’t trans, I will make sure her teachers know.”

“WE WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS!”

Patton looked to the open office door next to his locker. Something was going on in there and it wasn’t pretty. He finished putting away his school stuff and curiosly peered in. There were three people Mr. Sanders or the principal, a tall and frightening woman, and... Virgil? Virgil’s hood was over his face and his sleeves were pulled up over his hands. He was visibly panicking and nobody had noticed.

The tall woman glared at Mr. Sanders and slammed her hands into the table. “IF THIS HAPPENS AGAIN I WILL PERSONALLY ASSURE YOU THAT THIS ENTIRE SCHOOL WILL BE SHUT DOWN!! Veronica, Go to your class unless you have something to say on the- I’m not reading some words out of your dumb notebook. You can speak just fine.” Virgil put his notebook away and got up to leave the room.

He almost got out the door before he realized Patton was standing right in front of him. The two adults didn’t seem to notice them. Patton glanced at them to make sure before tucking Virgil under his arm and leading him away.

They walked down a few halls and came to a taped off classroom. Stepping inside, Patton sat Virgil down. “Hey Virge... you doing alright? Think you can write for me what happened or are you too panicked?” Virgil curled his knees up to his chest and nodded. He slowly opened his bag and took out the notebook (which had a blank page bookmarked) and a pencil. “My mother just interveining intervening with the school. I just messed up is all.”

Patton read over the page and sat down beside Virgil. “Well... even if you messed up... I’m sure it’s not that bad! If you tell me what happened then I’m sure we can work it out!” Virgil nodded and stared at the paper for a few minutes, seemingly trying to write with his eyes. Eventually, with the help of Patton rubbing his back, Virgil picked the pencil back up.

“My mom hates that I’m trans. She claims it’s a made up thing and I’m lying to spite her and make her look bad, that being trans isn’t real and I will always be female. I messed up when I went to my dads for the weekend and asked for surgery to make me... less feminine. My dad was on board but my mom wasn’t. I should have just stayed quiet.”

Virgil barely finished writing his last sentence before Patton barreled into him with a hug. He almost fell onto his other side but caught himself, returning the hug as soon as he could sit back up. They hugged quietly, barely feeling the passage of time.

Patton eventually forced himself out of the hug but immediately took both of Virgil’s hands. “Virgil... Your mom is either going to have to accept who you are or she is going to have to suffer silently. I will not allow her to hurt you like this. You are allowed to be whoever you want to be. She has no say in who you are. The only person who has a say is you. We should go tell Mr. Sanders though.” Virgil nodded and immediately pulled himself back into a hug with Patton. Once again they sat silently.

Everything else could wait. For now this was all Virgil needed.

—————

-Preforming Arts College, Sophomore Year, December of 2019-

Evening came by quickly, too quickly for Virgil’s taste. Patton looked up from the Monopoly box as he shoved the lid back on. “So what game next? Oh! Virgil what about your game?”

Virgil’s head snapped up and he smiled nervously. Patton’s expression changed to the worried look of a parent. “It’s alright Virge. I’m sure we’ll love it.” Virgil nodded his head and moved to the floor. He dragged out a box from under the couch that he set on the table. A hush fell on the room as everyone stared at it. There in bright white words across the box read “Taboo, The Game of Unspeakable Fun”

Logan was the first to speak up. “Virgil... Do you know the rules of Taboo?” Virgil smile grew bigger with nervousness. Roman looked around. “I don’t? What could be so bad about it?” The room was quiet for a few more moments before Patton answered his question. “You have to speak in order for the game to work.” Roman looked back at Virgil in shock. “What?!? You picked a game you can’t play?”

Everyone turned to Virgil searching for some kind of answer. Virgil took careful, deep breaths and closed his eyes. After multiple breaths he opened his eyes and quietly replied aloud, “I feel safe enough to speak around you all now.”

Patton squealed and went around the table to hug Virgil. “OH MY GOODNESS! VIRGIL THAT’S- YOU ACTUALLY SPOKE!” Logan sat strait up while Roman put a hand over his own mouth. Patton started crying and laughing, burying his face into Virgil’s hoodie, who returned the hug back slowly as a grin spread across his face. “Yeah... I did.” Patton hugged him even harder at the end of his second sentence, so hard it looked painful. If it was then Virgil didn’t react.

Roman got up from his spot and wrapped his arms around Virgil, lying his head on the emos purple hair. Logan wasn’t far behind in the hug pile. They didn’t dare move for a long while, happy to finally hear their best friend voice himself.

#sanders sides #thomas sanders #roman sanders #ts roman #ts creativity #ts virgil #ts anxiety #virgil sanders #ts logic #ts logan #logan sanders #ts morality #ts patton #patton sanders #ts thomas #character thomas #my fic

25 notes · View notes

imnotcameraready · 6 years ago

Text

chivalry is dead (20)

A/N: BIG YEEHAW HOURS TODAY Y’ALL ITS BALL TIME!!!!!!! AND WE CAN’T HAVE A BALL WITHOUT A PRINCE *stars bawling*

costumes will come in another post bc i. got really excited and then drew them all like, last month (most of them, some were finished last night y e e et)

WARNINGS: remus mention, heist details, wound descriptions, sword mention, scar descriptions, threats of violence, thoughts of dying — alright, im pretty sure that's it, but this chapter has thicc details so if i missed anything pls pls pls lmk

Words: 4550

AO3 link!

MASTERPOST! <– look here!! for the longterm warnings!! including sympathetic Deceit and cursing/swearing!

enjoy !!! <3 <3 <3 ,3 <3

Deceit really was right, Patton thought while he looked around at the town. His arm was linked around Logan’s as they walked down one of the town’s side streets, from Dr. Picani’s office, and he was taking the time to admire how intricate all of the architecture had gotten. It was intricate and worn and every building seemed unique now, something that he hadn’t realized was missing during their first pass through.

There were arch ways, bridges between doors on the third floors of buildings. There were seemingly hand-woven canvases shielding some of the streets from the sun and, if Patton squinted hard enough, he could see actual detailed stitching and some stains of age. They passed buildings that had scratches and chisel marks, and Patton could clearly see that it was made from stone bricks that had been painted over. Twice, actually. Once with a very old and faded blue, then with a lighter cream that still let the blue show through in spots where the paint was gone.

He wondered a little what had caused those spots. Was it because you weren’t supposed to layer house paint? The spots were different sizes — how many memories were made here?

Patton stumbled, tripping over his thoughts and heels, and leaned more into Logan’s side.

Logan tugged at his arm. “Don’t ponder too hard, Patton,” his voice was soft, hushed to not draw attention.

They’d figured that the best thing to do was to not think about the world around them. Thinking too much about the world and specifically the things that they would affect about it made their focus wander onto fixing those things. Logan would get a headache, Patton would space out, and Deceit would….well, okay, Deceit hadn’t disclosed how and if he’d been affected. But Patton noticed he’d been sweating like a sinner in church, and how his fist would clench every so often, so it was clear that something was happening with Deceit. He didn’t want to force him to talk; honesty wasn’t Deceit’s strong suit.

The four Romans had agreed that that was the smartest decision; none of them nor all of them together were able to limit the Imagination enough. The Playwright had argued that, had Dragon and Damsel known that it was hurting the other Sides, then they would probably all have a unified thought enough to close up the unused worlds. But that would require discussing the entire matter with them, which, as the Thief pointed out, is “pretty fucking useless where they are now.”

So the focus thing was their current strategy. Patton grinned at Logan. “Thanks for the reminder, Octo-cutie-pie,” he smiled wider as Logan blushed.

“I–I’m–Octopi is the plural for octopus and there is only one of me,” Logan bit his lip, then patted Patton’s hand gently, “Thank you.”

Patton giggled, snuggling against Logan’s side briefly as they kept walking. They hadn’t actually talked about the whole love thing, hadn’t really established boundaries, but that seemed like a problem for tomorrow.

Right now, they were all going across town, invitations in hand, to the ball. And, at the very specific right now, Patton was admiring the Playwright and the Artist’s handiwork. They’d worked together to make everyone’s outfits and he’d be a liar if he said they weren’t handsome and beautiful.

Patton himself was themed after a cat — a grey cat, but a cat nonetheless! His dress had a long train for a tail, made of shimmering silver tulle, the same as his poofy sleeves. The skirt went from his waist to the ground, with a built in flair in his corset at the waist. Like, all of it was sparkling, all three tiers of his skirt, which went from grey to black with an inner layer gradient of blue to grey. His favorite part were his gloves, though. Silver for the most part, but with soft circles on his palms and the tips of all his fingers. His own lil’ toe beans!

Logan’s outfit was one of Patton’s favorites. His was themed after an octopus (“Known for their intelligence,” the Playwright had explained, face bright red as he tied Logan’s necktie into an Eldritch knot) with a dark blue blazer and slacks. He wore a vest that shimmered royal blue, with a white button down underneath. There was a piece of coral in his lapel where a flower would usually go, and his coat tails seemed to spiral in shapes that resembled an octopus’ arms. There were even rhinestone bubble decals on his shoulders, or suckers, if you wanted to interpret it that way. The Artist and the Playwright had a small argument about that.

He was dashing, in summation. Patton leaned his head against Logan’s shoulder. “Who knew the town was so big!” he said.

“That’s actually on purpose,” the Playwright said from behind them, “It’s actually not so big as the castle is small, using the same foreshortening techniques used at the Disney theme parks to make Cinderella’s castle, or Sleeping Beauty’s castle depending on which park you’re at—”

“I think he means how far Picani’s office is from the castle, God Mod,” the Thief responded.

The Thief and Deceit were walking in front, swords drawn on the chance that they ran into any guards, and so that the Thief could critique Deceit’s sword fighting skills. Surprisingly, he’d taken to the weapon, something about it being good to have at his disposal while dealing with the Others. The Thief offered to make him one once this escapade was over.

Or maybe it was an excuse for the Thief to keep touching Deceit’s hand. Because that was happening every so often. A lot more often than would be considered normal.

It wasn’t like Deceit was complaining about the touching. It was more the other way around. The yearning for physical contact was frustrating, but neither of them were going to admit that they wanted to hold hands. Even though they’d confessed to at least caring about each other.

“Oh,” the Playwright hummed.

“Cheer up, butter cup, I love hearin’ bout the forced perspective! The Disney parks are so~o~o fun,” the Bard sang out. “When’s the next time we get to go to California? Are we making a trip down to Anaheim? Can we PLEASE take a trip down to Anaheim!”

One of his arms was looped around the Playwright’s, while the other was looped around the Artist’s. They had settled on outfits that complemented each other’s, pulling from the same red and black color palette.

The Artist was the only of the trio in a suit, though his outfit could be considered the loudest. Buttoned down the middle with a high collar, half of his shirt was a solid black, while the other half was a diamond checkered pattern. All of the accents were gold, and his pants were half solid red and half checkered as well. Tonight, the Artist would be a jester.

An improvement on his self-esteem, the Bard had thought. The Artist had said so, too, saying he’d be dressing like a joke. It...was nice to hear.

The Playwright had also gone with a more light-hearted outfit, pun completely intended. He was dressed as the queen of hearts, with an A-line skirt that skimmed the ground and was almost entirely a replica of the skirt worn by the Queen of Hearts in Disney’s Alice in Wonderland animated movie. His corset had a low scoop neckline with a long heart that stretched down from the neckline to the bottom of the waist. His sleeves were poofy, black with red stripes between.

It was a deck of cards theme between the three of them. Honestly, they took a bit of solace in their three Musketeers situation. The Bard was dressed like a harlequin in a ball-dancing dress. His entire dress was checkered, a stiff corset traded for a looser fit bodice that was sinched at the waist by a thick black belt with a heart clip. Bits of tulle were attached to his wrists, ideal for dancing in, which was perfect for the plan. He and the Playwright had matching heart chokers, too.

As he’d said earlier, “We cute.”

Neither the Artist nor the Playwright had argued, and they had yet to pull away from him holding their arms. Maybe they didn’t hate him.

They didn’t! They were moving beyond all that!

Because they had to get the Child back, and Virgil back, and save the Damsel and they had a plan. Actually, they should run through the plan again, because the Bard had already forgotten most of it.

“Thief?” he called ahead.

“Mhm?”

“Can we run through the, uh,” they had a code word for it, shoot, what was it? Oh! Oh, right, “The waltz again?”

“Great Mona Lisa, Bard, how the fuck did you forget how to waltz?” the Artist groaned. “We’re going to a ball.”

“No, no, no, THE waltz,” the Bard nudged the Artist’s side with his elbow.

The Artist shot him a small confused glare, but realization struck his face quick after. “Oh. Oh, that waltz. Yeah, uh,” he turned to the Playwright, who also seemed confused, then to the front again, “Before we get in, we should go over the waltz again.”

The Thief and Deceit both stopped as well, fingers brushing once again. The Bard saw the motion and chuckled to himself. Sweet Chopin, they needed to just hold hands already. He could envision the love birds flying around their heads.

He felt a smidge bad, though. After all, he was the lucky Roman who got to kiss Patton.

Logan and Patton both turned back to them. Patton let go of Logan, then looked around. They weren’t quite at the castle yet; a side alley, wide enough for all of them to stand in and with ample trees, barrels, and an open door beside it would provide good cover.

“Let’s go over there,” Patton grabbed Logan’s arm again and led them all into the alley.

They grouped up into a small but tight circle, the Thief pulling them together. He was in a suit, and an ironic one at that. Originally his costume was intended for Deceit, but he suggested switching them, so that the Dragon would think he were Deceit while being less suspicious. He was themed after a snake, though the theming was less noticeable than the color palette; there were yellow sequins arranged in scale patterns across his black blazer’s forearms, and his vest was black as well, undershirt yellow, and bowtie black. It looked a little like a snazzed-up version of Deceit’s lawyer suit and, though he’d tell no one, the Thief loved the look.

Deceit had said it looked nice on him, too. The bowtie, specifically, but also the entire outfit, and also the Thief simply looked good — yeah, they were both kind of messes. Gone was the ability to seamlessly flirt, apparently.

Still, it was nice to see Deceit in something other than yellow for a change, too. He was dressed as a peacock, with no blazer but a side-cape that shimmered iridescent purple and green. Part of it had blue and green rhinestones inching up the shoulder, and his vest beneath was teal, while his undershirt was mint green. There were bands on his upper arms, keeping his shirt bunched back, that were dark blue. Even his ascot was an iridescent purple and blue.

They leaned against each other in the huddle. Brown eyes trailed all around the group, meeting similar expressions of steely determination.

They could do this.

“Alright,” the Thief started, “For the first hour, we’re gonna scope out the room and surrounding rooms. Meet wherever the snacks are in pairs, alternating pairs, and spread details. Patton and I will go twice.”

“Because you and I are gonna peel off after the first hour to go get Virgil and the Child,” Patton said, meeting the Thief’s eyes.

The Thief nodded. He looked around at everyone — Deceit and the Bard had both been fairly defensive about that choice, but he argued that they needed people who were good at causing distractions on the floor. Patton would be the best at comforting both Virgil and the Child, and the Thief was the only one who had any inkling of what the inside of the castle looked like.

He continued. “Right. We’re gonna try to get out and—”

“Say, what d’ya think that’d make us?” Patton asked, a tiny grin on his face.

“Oh, no,” Logan groaned, “Not—”

“Cat burglars!” Patton exclaimed with a giggle.

The Bard immediately broke out into a fit of giggles, leaning into Deceit a little as he did so. Deceit just rolled his eyes and patted the Bard’s back, letting him cling to his side.

The Artist stifled some chuckles of his own, and the Playwright grinned. Oh. Oh, no, not the idea grin.

“I think Dragon will be hard pressed to find flaws in our purr-fect plan,” he said, eyes shining as Patton laughed as well. “We’re just gonna have to distract him with our adorable kitty-Pat.”

Logan groaned again, in good humor this time. “I thought you were supposed to be on my side, Playwright,” he grumbled.

The Playwright immediately sobered up, mouth pressing into a line. “Ah, Logan, darling, I’m sorry, I didn’t—”

“Hey, but,” the Bard raised a finger at the Playwright, smile wide and mischievous, “If he catches wind of anything, you, Artist, and I can pull a wild card and deck him.”

That got the Artist and Patton to both laugh aloud, and even Logan smiled a tiny bit at the Playwright, if only to reassure him that his frustration was not directed at him.

The Thief seemed actually annoyed, though. He snapped his fingers in the center of the circle. “C’mon, focus here. Patton and I are going to get Virgil and the Child, then we’re going to come back up to the ball room at the second hour. At that point, Deceit—”

“I’ll be dancing with Dragon and, once you’re back, I’ll be distracting him enough for you to get out,” Deceit waved his hand, also slightly exasperated. He wanted Virgil back immediately and, as the time to pull off their hest approached, he grew more nervous.

“Right. Then, Playwright will take you backstage once everyone else has filed out,” the Playwright nodded to the Thief regarding his involvement, and the Thief looked around the group once more, “All of that sound good? Everyone else, be on the look out for Damsel. We don’t know where he’s gonna be. If he’s out on the ball floor, Logan, you—”

“I will approach him and explain that we are here to get him out,” Logan grimaced, “If he is not on the ball floor….”

“Then I’ll be on standby to head into the dungeons,” the Artist said, smile deflated, brow furrowed in thought.

“Good,” the Thief patted his shoulder, gripping reassuringly, “And if Remus is there, then Bard is going into the dungeons with Patton and I’m staying in the ball room to kick his ass.”

“This all sounds like a plan, Thief,” the Bard said, smiling at him, “Logan, thoughts?”

Logan huffed, frowning at the ground. He’d rolled the details over in his mind a few times, so he’d already worked out some of the issues, such as the irrationality of the original plan’s “jump out the dungeon’s windows, really, how large are the windows, and how do we know it’s not underground.” For right now, it seemed as though the plan were efficacious, but they couldn’t be certain until it was enacted.

But at that point, it’d be too late to change the plan to any degree of impeccability. They would have to wing it. And Logan wasn’t a fan of that.

But what choice did they have?

“It is as detailed and as faultless as we can arrange for it to be currently,” he said.

The Thief’s mouth twitched into a slight grimace, but he nodded all the same. That was as optimistic as he would be. “Once this is all over, we meet at the tree as fast as we all can get there,” the Thief said, casting one more look around, “If we pull this off right, no one’ll be leaving alone. If your partner gets injured, you carry them to the tree.”

“I don’t think….” the Artist said, frowning a tiny bit as his voice trailed off.

The possibility of injury was very high, actually. Death for the Romans, at least. And they didn’t know if the Dragon had injured Virgil or the Child. To be honest, they didn’t know if the Child was alive. Oh, goodness, what if Dragon had killed him?

“It’s gonna work,” the Bard said, “It’s gonna.”

He squeezed the Artist’s arm and gave him a nod. It was going to be okay. Roman was optimistic by nature, and the Artist did crave that sort of positivity.

“It must,” Deceit affirmed none too positively.

“It will,” Patton said, smiling at them all again before clapping, “And break!”

Everyone stood up on instinct. Then, they all shared slight laughs, small smiles.

The Bard leaned over and hugged Deceit with an arm, reciprocated a little. Patton leaned against the Artist, who didn’t hug back, but also didn’t flinch finally.

They were getting somewhere. It was going to be okay.

It was going to be okay.

….Without Virgil, they all felt as though their optimism was naively placed. But that was why they were going to get him back!

Once he was back, Deceit thought, he was never letting go again. If he was back. No, no, once he was back. He was coming back soon.

“Let’s go,” the Thief pulled his mask out from his coat, a black half-face mask covered in yellow sequins arranged like scales.

Everyone shared looks, nodding to each other as they slid on their own masks. Logan, Patton, the Artist, and the Playwright all had special masks that mimicked their glasses prescriptions so they wouldn’t need contacts, too. With faces obscured, they nodded once more, squeezing arms in reassurance and patting backs and giving smiles, and hurried out of the alley.

The Playwright walked at the front of the group, the only one not paired to any Side. He looked up at the sky. A storm had grown, clouds angry and grey above the castle, which was only a few blocks away now. Perhaps it would thunder during the ball.

He wondered vaguely what had caused the sudden shift in weather. During their week alone, it was all sunny skies.

Was it….

No. No, no part of Roman was that desperate, to have gone to Remus. Right? He’d been telling himself that ever since they’d begun this game, but the darker their future seemed, the more he worried about the Duke’s involvement.

The Thief seemed to think it was very real, enough to have a back-up written into the plan. C’est la vie. Such was life, he thought, the show must go on.

They walked quietly for only a few minutes. The closer they got to the castle, the more Imagination inhabitants they saw walking around them, some in pairs, some in groups, some alone. Everyone was in costume, most intricate. Good. This would be good, for coverage. The Thief had been a little worried that the ball would be sparsely attended, but this was good.

It was going to be okay.

They approached the drawbridge. Patton leaned against the Artist, gripping his arm tighter as the wind picked up. The Thief and Deceit were stoic behind them, and Logan and the Bard were simply quiet, though their hands were interlaced tight. It was going to be okay.

A line had formed on the bridge, in front of one man in a suit, perhaps the medieval equivalent of a bouncer. The group shuffled into the line, looking around at the castle, at the moat (“I think it’s filled with alligators,” the Bard murmured to Logan, who shook his head and was about to respond that that didn’t make sense, until an alligator’s maw jumped up and snatched a low-flying bird) and at the sky.

Angry, angry clouds.

It took an excruciatingly long eleven minutes for the Playwright to finally reach the front of the line, but when he did, he immediately grinned. He had to hand it to the Dragon.

“May I see your invitation?” Zac Efron asked, dressed in a black butler’s outfit.

Bless the Imagination’s castings. The Playwright handed over his invitation, and Zac looked over a list in his other hand before handing back the invitation and checking off a name. “You may enter to the ball room,” he motioned to the door.

The Playwright curtsied and hurried in. Behind him was the Artist and Patton, both of whom gasped a little, becau se holy shit, it’s Zac Efron.

The Dragon was really out here casting Thomas’ celebrity crushes as butlers. It was the first thing that the Artist had wholly agreed with the Dragon on, actually. Once they were Roman, they were going to have to look into that as a possibility.

One by one, each entered, walking down a grand hall with a ceiling so high and so vaulted that there seemed to be a sky inside. But, then again, there probably was. This was the Imagination. It looked somewhat like the Great Hall from the Harry Potter movies, this time shining with stars and constellations.

Logan could identify Aries and Pieces. That was actually accurate for the season and hour, so he gave a mental kudos to Roman for his design, then considered if it were his knowledge that had been used to perfect the stars. Well. That was inconsequential, I guess?

The hall was also lined with suits of armor, and bannisters adorned with Roman’s full crest. Though, Deceit noticed while he walked through, the entire crest was outlined in gold and the castle in the center was colored with grey and brown and black. He thought the Dragon was only supposed to be the outer tower and walls. If the Dragon called all of the shots around here, then why was the center tower also colored?

The walk was long, heels clacking against the stone. They turned with the carpet to the left and entered through a pair of double doors that had to be at least two floors high.

Inside was life. The room was massive, stretching almost the size of a football field. There was a stage near the entrance door where there were musicians (with undetailed faces, Deceit noticed) were playing loud enough to echo across the room. The dance floor seemed to take up about half the room.

Farther away from the entrance were some circle tables, arranged around with some citizens already sitting down. Further back were some long tables, food stacked atop them, and even further….

The throne was elevated so the Dragon could see across the hall to the dance floor. The Thief’s fists clenched immediately upon seeing him wearing the Prince’s attire, white uniform a stark contrast to the black he was typically adorned with. It was a jarring difference.

He was taunting them. By Doc Holliday’s pistol, they were gonna take him down.

Beside his throne was a large Ottoman seat, where there was another figure. The Damsel, most likely, though his face was obscured by a sheer red veil and distance. He was wearing a large dress, which had a triple-tiered skirt that seemed to flare out orange, then red, then black. His corset was decorated with red and orange and yellow rhinestones, and raised behind his head. It almost looked like flames.

Burned. The Damsel’s scars were also entirely visible, scabs on his arms angry and red, clearly not fully healed. They weren’t openly bleeding, but the Playwright could tell that they would start bleeding at some point in the night.

His nose scrunched as he examined the pair. They didn’t seem to notice him, the Damsel leaning against the throne’s side and not moving, the Dragon stroking his chin and looking across the hall absently. He had a sword sheathed beside the throne, too, with its handle sticking up in an easily accessible manner.

He was waiting for them, he realized. Of course he was, this was a trap, you fool. You knew this. You’d planned. It was going to be okay.

The Playwright turned back to the group just as the last pair, Logan and the Bard, entered.

“Okay. I am going to move toward the snack table,” he nodded toward the thrones, “Octopus, would you like to join me?”

Logan let go of the Bard, who curtsied and stepped back, and then offered a hand to the Playwright. “It would be my pleasure,” he said, “How about we acquire a table, Hearts?”

The Playwright nodded, then shot the Thief a look. “Snake,” he said, a promise, a warning, “Let’s waltz.”

“Let’s,” the Thief responded, squeezing Deceit’s arm.

The Bard and Patton had already taken each other onto the dance floor, hoping to not be conspicuously waiting in a group by the door way, and the Artist was meandering around — nope, no, he just asked an Imagination citizen to dance. Blending in well.

Operation save Virgil and the Child was a go.

Virgil could hear the faint music from above. He squinted up, then closed his eyes and exhaled. What’d that matter?

His side was throbbing. It seemed that just wrapping a bandage around a wound did fuck all to stop it from hurting, or bleeding, especially if it was just wrapped once and around the front. Virgil would have to remember that for the next time he got stabbed by an evil Dragon, he thought snidely.

He and the Child had relocated themselves to the bed. Pretending to not be panicking was tiring, but luckily for him, the Child had fallen asleep.

He sniffed quietly, rubbing his eye with the butt of his palm. For the past half an hour, ever sine the Child fell asleep, Virgil had been silently crying. And there was no Damsel to conjure him a glass of water or tell him it’d be okay. Because he knew it wasn’t going to be okay.

Even if he didn’t die in the Imagination, he’d be exiting it alone. And that was fine!

The Child snuggled closer to his chest, tiny arms wrapped around him. Virgil sniffed again and hugged him tight.

If he did nothing else, he’d at least protect this Roman.

He wished he’d at least told Roman how he felt.

Maybe he’d never get the chance.

Gosh, this was really fatalistic, even for him. It wasn’t like he was gonna die in the Imagination.

Virgil shielded his eyes with an arm and, as illogical as it was, wished that he could use that one arm motion to block out the sounds of the ball going on above. Shit, he was gonna die in the Imagination.

….Usually that’d freak him out a bit more. Maybe he’d bled out to the point where he was too tired to be worried. And, maybe it was childish, but he really did want to dance with Roman.

taglists!

chivalry taglist: @starlightvirgil @forrestwyrm @daflangstlairde @marshmallow-the-panda @askthesnake @k9cat @patromlogil @theobsessor1 @ninja-wizard101 @fandomsofrandom

general taglist: @jemthebookworm @okay-finne

46 notes · View notes