#maladaptive daydreaming! Roman

[everyone-with-a-para]

I hope everyone with paras that are twins has a great day

[orbch]

My sasi animatics are usually just recaps of episodes but I had an idea that I aggroed on LOL so (ill explain the idea more vvv because im insane)

I don’t think that Logan would ever duck out as a result of the lack of acknowledgement he receives. I don’t think he would ever take HIMSELF out of the picture… but I don’t know… him taking the others out is an interesting idea. tehehehee..

I really liked the idea of Logan cutting all contact between Thomas and the others via restricting everyone to their rooms (even if I don’t really rhink something like this would canonically happen, still an interesting thought). And Virgil wants to help him, or stop him, or do anything about this, but seeing someone you are possibly the closest with being corrupted by someone you’ve distanced yourself from for so long kind of muddles what the right way to go about that would be.

So Thomas can feel himself falling into the steadfast work prioritization. And Remus, well Remus is no stranger to being hidden away from Thomas, so he wont let himself mourn the prematurely fleeting liberation. Roman, not used to being trapped in the confines of his own room, is quickly holed into an unbreakable maladaptive daydreaming state. Janus knows well and good what’s happening, it was inevitable, he just never expected such a direct approach from Logan. And Patton,, we know how Patton gets when stuck in his room too long :///

But with that all out of the way Logan and Thomas can finally start a new day and get working. yaayyy..!

[anemoiashifts]

mental health check-in for reality shifting.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

as we all know, reality shifting is generally neural thing but tends to be glorified & romanized by a select few due to people wanting to have a better situation or a more desirable life.

that in itself is totally fine but this post is created with the intent to make sure the community has a healthy relationship with shifting & if not possible solutions.

if mental health is left unchecked it can lead to destructive behaviors & can worsen preexisting mental health concerns. for me personally, that’s not what shifting is about. you can learn about yourself & grow without even shifting. the expansion of your perspective & becoming more empathetic to yourself is something i believe is extremely important.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

♡ how often do you think about shifting ?

while it’s fun to daydream & think about your desired reality — does it consume your life or take away from other tasks that need to get done in this reality? if you’re somebody who has maladaptive daydreaming disorder (like myself!) it can exacerbate the fantasy-like aspect of thinking about shifting.

if you’re someone whose mind wanders a lot do something productive. this could be finishing some homework that you’ve been putting off for a long time or rearranging your bedroom. stuff like partaking in hobbies while listening to youtube videos in the background may help too.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

♡ why are you shifting ?

is it because you’re searching for something bigger ? maybe you’re looking for friends ? while you probably aren’t going to be able to meet your favorite characters here, you can meet lots of other people & make new connections at anytime. if it’s in person or even if it’s in an online space , i bet there are lots of people in this comment section or any shifting video who would love to be your friend.

defining why you want to shift can do wonders for uncovering more about yourself. 90% of the things people want to shift for are & can be found here & you’re more then worthy of them. just because you want something like love or a sense of belonging doesn’t mean you have to travel the multiverse for it.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

♡ “i want to k!ll myself because i can’t shift.”

while i understand frustration, extremes that result in life altering & ending choices are never good and quite frankly, frightening for a creator to see in their comment sections. most sv!c!des are committed on impulse. we go through so many emotions on the daily & process so much information a day. taking a moment alone to think & break down thought process & long term effects your actions will have is a nice way to come back down to earth.

meditation is also a great tool to calm down. you can even use shifting guided meditations without the actual intention to shift. breath work has also been helpful to me.

i understand these suggestions aren’t long term fixes but if you’re someone who has echoed these words & truly meant it then i cannot recommend therapy & possible taking a break from shifting even more to focus on yourself right here where you are. this may not be the answer you’d like to hear but it’s the one that is possibly needed.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

♡ timing.

there is no specific time frame that you have to shift. both children & adults do hold the capability to shift. if someone tells you, you can’t shift because ___ or that you’ll age out of something its simply not true. things take time & it’s okay if your journey doesn’t look like everyone else’s. there’s no need to stress yourself out. try to enjoy the journey as well as being excited for the outcome. essentially, a large part of the shifting journey is meditation & affirmations which are both beneficial to your mental & physical self. try to sprinkle in some self love affirmations or general positive thoughts too. even if you need to take a step away from shifting & pick it up at a later date, i encourage you to do so if it’s stressing you out or you’re only focusing on shifting or neglecting your life / responsibilities here.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

♡ shadow & trauma work.

answering questions that are meant to make you think & deeply reflect are tools that hi light some issues you may not even realize you’ve had. i have a tumblr post here with some, but for tiktok, ill list some on the next side. these ones are specifically for shifting but i encourage you to venture out to discover some more personal ones to expand upon your answers to these.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

i should also mention, i’m not a therapist so take what i say as non-professional advice & mere suggestions & a starting point to truly expand what shifting has done for you, negatively & positivity. im a huge advocate for therapy & if you feel comfortable enough expand upon these conversations in sessions if you feel comfortable.

i understand my audience is varied in age but i do notice a lot of you are younger then myself. it’s hurts to see people who are so young stress themselves out this much over trying to shift. i really do care about you & want to see all of you happy — with or without shifting.

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚.

[kneelingshadowsalome]

I promised, promised myself that I wouldn’t read the Roman König x Fee fic until it was completed because I knew i would get absolutely drawn in, wrapped up in your exquisite prose, then get addicted and suffer from withdrawals. Unneeded to say I broke said promise and welp here I am 🤡

Thing that surprised me was how quickly he endeared himself to me? A cock swinging village massacring brute that I was FULLY prepared to hate had me sighing by then end of chapter 3 with the “you care about my head?” ✋😩 YES I worry for your stupid head you adorable monster.

It’s uncanny how similarly Fee and I felt as the plot progressed. I know this is a self insert and though I made an OC for fee, you were able to capture the feeling of hate to curiousity to distrust to budding emotions on the readers side so beautifully and in only three chapters?? What sorcery is this?? I could go on and on about how I’m just… in awe of your writing skills.

It’s the small things too. The effort he went through to understand Fee, learning her language like he desperately wants to be a part of her. It’s just his delight in the simple things like having a woman and buying her pretty things. I AM GOING TO GNAW OFF MY ARM THIS IS SO GOOD!! I don’t know if you’ve watched HBOs Rome, but they remind me of Pullo and Eirene so much! Like you can’t tell me König doesn’t fit that goofy brawdy soldier who’s only hobbies are drinking and fucking and fighting to a T!

Then it got me thinking…. If König is Pullo then Simon is Vorenus. He has that straight laced, no bs aura about him. Now I’m imagining them both in this universe and please excuse me while I melt in a puddle 🫠

This is perhaps the best piece of fiction I’ve read in a while. I can’t wait for part 4, I have no doubt it will be wonderful as usual. Please accept my maladaptive daydream interpretation of Fee (first she was supposed to be a wood nymph, then the earth goddess then a fairy queen?? I’m not sure anymore. There was so much great imagery couldn’t settle on one. Your honor, we lost the plot.)

Oh my goodness OH MY GOODNESS ❤️❤️❤️

You shower me with praise and I’m over here like aaahh... for me? 🥺❤️

And yes I’ve watched Rome like four times at least! Every time I watch it just gets better, the producers and crew really outdid themselves with all the details in that series. I consider it one of the best TV shows ever made and excuse me but you opened a Pandora’s box here, I'm just so pleased you brought this up...

It took so much time for Pullo to grow on me, I was so frustrated with his character but when he killed Eirene’s man because he was so in love with her and was just like: “Oh there's something in the way of our love? Oh well. *there*, solved.” Gosh I was IN LOVE. I’m sorry, I’m a horrible person, but I fell in love with Pullo right that second. And yeah König is kinda like Pullo in that sense! Eirene wails at the corpse of her ex-lover and Pullo is just like “Um, yeah nasty business but… why are you crying? Oh, oh yeah, oops. But hey, we could be together? Oh, you don’t want me? Damn. How come?” I wanted to shake and kiss him for being so dumb and adorable.

And Ghost is Vorenus YES, you get it 100 %! And the tragic love story of Vorenus & Niobe, oh god, took me about a month to get over it. And Vorenus being under the protection of Mars first and then literally becoming Pluto, the Lord of the Underworld… The mythology nerd in me is swooning over here. The only thing about Vorenus that's slightly König coded to me was when Pullo had to explain to him what a clitoris is, and Vorenus is like “How do you know this about my wife?!?!” and almost kills him :D That’s so so Roman!König.

But AHHH let me squeal about your maladaptive daydream adaption next: she’s the most gorgeous Fee ever, so lovely and feminine and yet, strong and possessing that earthly power in her. I love the color of her dress too!! There’s a lot of earth & water elements linked to Fee so that color (green to turquoise?) is the most perfect combination of earth and sea, while König is more like fire & air, coming from the mountains and slow to anger but when the fire rises, no one is safe...

This was so lovely, thank you so much! I hope you enjoy the rest of the story 🩷💋

[happyk44]

Okay before I go into the ASPD thing, wanna do a quick summary of what I have so far:

Zeus/Jupiter: OCPD and Autism (based on being the god of law and order, and justice, as well as king of Olympus)

Poseidon: BPD and ASPD (based on the idea of a moody and volatile sea)

Neptune: SZPD and ASPD (based on the idea of an emotionless and uncaring sea)

Ares: IED and ASPD (self-explanatory)

Hades/Pluto and Thanatos/Mors: infertility, and, in rare cases, sterility (self-explanatory)

Hypnos/Somnus, Morpheus, and the Oneiroi/Somnia: Excessive daytime sleepiness, maladaptive daydreaming (self-explanatory, have also been thinking about STPD and DPDR)

Aphrodite/Venus and other similar deities: Hypersexuality, NPD, BPD and HPD (first one is self-explanatory, I'm still thinking about the other three and might do a separate post about them at some point, also considering Body Dysmorphia but I have to do some thinking on that one as well)

Hermes/Mercury: Kleptomania (self-explanatory)

Now! Onto the main point: propensity of Antisocial Personality Disorder in children of the sea and children of war.

First things first, please check out @neurosharky! He has a lot of good posts discussing his experience with ASPD, and I found them very helpful in framing understanding around the diagnostic criteria.

The DSM-5 describes, "Antisocial Personality Disorder is characterized by a pervasive pattern of disregard for consequences and for the rights of others." It can only be diagnosed in people 18 years and older, and patients must have evidence of a conduct disorder being present before 15. They must show three or more of the following symptoms:

Disregard of the law, typically indicates by repeatedly committing acts that are grounds for arrest

Being deceitful, indicated by lying repeatedly, using aliases, or conning other for personal gain or pleasure

Acting impulsively, or not planning ahead

Being easily provoked or aggressive, indicated by constantly getting into physical fights or assaulting others

Recklessly disregarding their safety or the safety of others

Consistently acting irresponsibly, indicated by quitting a job with no plans for another one or not paying bills

Not feeling remorse, indicated by indifference to or rationalization of hurting or mistreating others

(Side note: the diagnostic criteria is so... idk, something about the phrasing makes me laugh)

Personally, I don't think Percy has ASPD. From my interpretation of canon, I think he cares and thinks too much of people. Not to say that people with ASPD can't care or think of other people, but from a "disregards the rights of other people", I don't think Percy fits. He does rise to anger quickly, and doesn't think much of his own safety, imo, so there are traits there but that's likely more related to BPD.

Now - the ocean, Poseidon, Neptune, Amphitrite, other ocean gods out there, my beloveds, they can be angry uncaring beauties. As I've discussed before and mentioned above, in PJO canon, I interpret Poseidon as being representative of the moody, ever-changing sea, hence the BPD. He's clingy, demanding, quick to anger, volatile, emotional, dramatic.

In PJO, the Romans eschew the ocean, so Neptune, although we never see him in canon, comes across as the opposite. He's detached from society, doesn't care about the people who cross his waters, doesn't care if you live or die, little emotion, flat, bored - so SZPD.

Their destructive ways are different across these lines as well. Poseidon will drown you because you've pissed him off and Neptune will drown you because he doesn't care enough to save you, no matter how hard you pray.

How does ASPD play into this? Think about the commonalities in both representations of the ocean - it will kill you without thought. It is unapologetic. A moody ocean will hurt you, an uncaring ocean will hurt you. Another thing I've come across is that ASPD is a defense against being controlled. You can't control the ocean! It does what it wants, and fuck you for thinking you're in charge of the seas.

Additionally, in SZPD, while alexithymia is common, most people appear to feel anger much more strongly than other emotions. Which makes sense, imo, anger is a very strong emotion and easier, for me at least, to make sense of. In BPD and ASPD, being quick to anger is fairly common. BPD and ASPD share impulsivity as a symptom as well.

Low empathy and little to no emotion is also a shared trait in ASPD and SZPD, as well as a detachment from society. For SZPD, it typically appears as a detachment from emotional connection, relationships, and/or socialization. For ASPD, it's more of a detachment from social rules. People with SZPD are asocial, people with ASPD are... well, antisocial, lol. People often mistake the latter for the former, but asocial is a preference for solitude and antisocial is a disregard for the feelings and wellbeing of other people.

So that's the ocean. Some ideas of how the comorbidities may present:

Coral is a daughter of Neptune with extreme SZPD. She has little interest in societal rules, and little understanding of morality and ethics. However, she - as much as she can with her SZPD - cares for her mom, and thus does her best to follow the rules her mom has explained or laid out for her. She doesn't have much capacity for remorse or guilt, and will hurt people without much regard for them. However, she purposely avoids interacting with others and so rarely is the instigating cause.

Melpomene is a daughter of Neptune with more prominent ASPD traits and SZPD. She has less severe alexithymia, and is easily prone to anger. She doesn't start fights, but she doesn't back down from them. If you fuck with her, she'll fuck with you. She has a basic, albeit still small, sense of morality, but lacks a code of ethics and the motivation to adhere to it. She does not care about other people's safety and will abandon them to their doom. This overlaps with her SZPD because she finds emotional responses uncomfortable and stressful, so panic and distress in others turns her away. Her detachment from people leads her to lie and manipulate people, typically to make them go away (SZPD) or put them in harm's way for the fun of it , or as revenge due to seeing them as trying to control her (ASPD).

In a child of Poseidon with BPD traits, ASPD may present simultaneously with a fear of abandonment that causes them to react violently towards whatever or whoever they perceive is causing the abandonment. They may disregard that person's safety and rights in order to keep them close at hand (think kidnapping, or physical harm rendering them immobile and dependent). They can rationalize their actions away (I need you, you're not allowed leave me, etc etc). Splitting may provoke their anger issues. Intense emotional mood swings might cause them to instigate or pick fights, and impulsive behaviour can lead to breaking various laws and ignoring their own safety.

I don't think any personality disorder is mutually exclusive to one another. There might be some that are more uncommon to be comorbid with one another, but I've seen discussion that comorbidity between personality disorders (i.e. having more than one) is fairly common. And in doing research into various personality disorders, I've seen a lot of people say things like, "SZPD with OCPD traits" - situations where they don't meet the full qualification for the second personality disorder, those traits aren't intense enough to be considered considered/presumably, or the secondary traits appear to stem primarily from their initial personality disorder rather than being it's own thing. So there's that too.

So yeah, think of the ocean. The beautiful, uncontrollable, dangerous, salty ocean.

Now for Ares and his kids. I separate Ares from Mars because Mars is considered more disciplined than Ares, he was less of bloodlust god, more orderly and held in higher regard than his Greek counterpart, and I prefer to view him that way in PJO canon.

So IED (intermittent explosive disorder) and ASPD are fairly self-explanatory in regards to the god of war and bloodlust, a deity noted to personify brutality and savageness. But I'll detail some stuff anyway!

The first child of Ares we meet is Clarisse. And the first thing she does when we meet her is bully Percy. The second thing she, and other members of her cabin do, is try to injure him during the Capture the Flag game. Someone (Percy, I think, I don't have the book on hand) points out that they'll get trouble for hurting him and she just shrugs it off.

So that's: disregard of other people's safety, easily provoked, rationalizing away the mistreatment of others (he deserves it for humiliating her), acting impulsively and not planning ahead (did they think about what would happen if Percy were seriously injured as a new camper with minimal training? what if someone interrupted them before Percy blew up the river? what was the end goal to hurting him?), disregarding the camp rules

Now I think part of the reason ASPD is not diagnosed in people under 18 is because, like we see with Clarisse in canon, some people grow out of their behaviour. With her, and probably much of her cabin, their anger issues - which I believe is something they have a higher propensity for as well, and that they share it with their Roman half-siblings - causes them to bully and hurt others.

A lot of personality disorders develop from trauma, and we also know Clarisse was abused in some way by her dad (re: Sea of Monsters) so her reactions towards other people may stem from that. Before 18 their behaviour is typically diagnosed as a conduct disorder, to which I imagine treatment and intervention is attempted to hopefully avoid it continuing into ASPD by adulthood. According to some quick research, about 25% to 40% of children with a conduct disorder are typically diagnosed with ASPD in adulthood.

I think it would be really interesting if Clarisse didn't age out of her aggressive behaviour, and maintained ASPD traits into adulthood. I guess a neat concept would be Silena managing to sort of "soften" that side of her, and then, in BoTL, when she's caring for Chris, it's a moment of "I will be better for them". So she works hard to keep her traits at bay, because she wants to be a morally good person for these two people that she loves - even if she still is an amoral person.

It would be cool if she and Percy talked about it. I tend to view him as a fairly amoral person as well, ascribing to the moral view of the people he cares about (his mom, Grover, Annabeth). So maybe after a spar, she asks how it's so easy for him to be so stubborn about right or wrong and he's just, "Well, I love my mom and the idea of disappointing her fills me with a dread so intense I want to vomit and/or kill myself."

"Gods, that sounds like shit."

"Yeah, it's not the greatest."

"I can't imagine being afraid of disappointing someone. But... I guess I do like making Chris happy. He's got cute dimples, you know?"

"Focus on that. Would beating the shit out of some newbie punk make him happy? Would it show his dimples?"

"... probably not. Ugh. This shit is hard."

"But you can do it."

"Yeah, I fucking can. What, you think I'm a wimp? Can't tough out being a normal person for my boyfriend?"

"... Yes."

"I'm going to fucking kill you."

"Not if I kill you first."

So those are my thoughts on the propensity of developing ASPD or traits of ASPD in demigods. For Poseidon/Neptune, it represents the uncaring, angry, and remorseless nature of the ocean. For Ares, it represents the brutality and bloodthirstiness of war.

Again, if you have any thoughts on anything that you think the nature of certain gods may cause their kids to be predisposed to, feel free to hit me up with your thoughts! It's probably pretty obvious to the people who follow me (see my recent ramblings about the Roman trio and their dissociation and literally everything I've ever written about Jason being raised by wolves 😂), but I love analyzing shit like this!

[problucid]

maladaptive daydreaming kid to shifter teen pipeline is my roman empire.

[caterpillarinacave]

Aww, thanks. I´ve got like four versions of that AU ranging in accuracy to folktales and canon show, haha. It´s my detailed, fucked up, little baby that I´ve never actually shared with the world. The things I would do with it if I could draw.

Is it a coincidence that I, a small Irish child with a deep and abiding love for folklore, particularly will-ó-the-wisp cryptids, managed to a select a favorite character with a will-ó-the-wisp allusion and love them unconditionally for years before finding out about it?

I think not.  

[loganofthenorth]

ohhhh now im very intrigued by your headcanons

i just want to hear it all, whatever you want to share, like character headcanons, headcanons for certain ships, or for certain aus in general, either within the actual canon non-real non-human version of the sides or a type of human au!

I recently wrote a list of Janus head cannons so I’ll find that first

*flips through book*

Ah, here they are.

Janus Headcannons

- Janus basically raised the Dark Sides. He thinks of Virgil and Remus as his children (I imagine Remus has been around longer than Virgil so he’s more like a best friend to Janus and Virgil is more like a child but Remus and Janus still have a mom friend/child friend dynamic)

- Janus likes to drink tea

- Janus likes to play chess

- Janus definitely cheats at games

- Janus is working on plans to help Thomas achieve complete self acceptance

- Janus used to be in love with King Creativity before he split into two different sides

- Janus was younger than King Creativity, and is younger than Logan and Patton, but he’s older than Roman, Remus, and Virgil.

- Janus is a neat freak

- Janus is self conscious of his snake features

- Janus doesn’t have any reflexes because he’s used to Remus attacking him and the damage just fixing itself

- Janus sometimes disguises himself as Patton to comfort Virgil when he’s going through a hard time

- Janus is a good cook

- Janus always needs to be doing something with his hands or he gets frustrated or zones out. So he writes all his plans by hand, he keeps a journal, he plays chess with himself, he knits, he cooks by hand, he makes crafts, he plays the piano, etc.

- Janus maladaptive daydreams or disassociates as a coping mechanism which is why he zones out so easily

- Janus is a control freak

- Janus is extremely protective of the people he cares about

- Janus likes sour things, he loves anything lemon flavoured

- Janus loves baked goods, especially home made bread

- Janus is good at puzzles

- Janus is easily distracted by silence. Background noise he’s fine with because of Remus and Virgil but silence makes him stressed.

I think that’s everything

I’ll reblog this with Headcannons for the other sides so that I can post one at a time

[sundere1181]

This is for the fanfic writing ask:

1,2 and 16?

Do you daydream a lot before you write, or go for it as soon as the ideas strike?

Oh absolutely I daydream. That's where I get at least 70% of my plot ideas. I'm a maladaptive daydreamer and I daydream to music often, so I have playlists for fanfics with different songs that are important to plot.

2. Where do you get your fic ideas?

Depends on the fic. Often times it comes from a tumblr post (that I or someone else posted) sometimes a song, and even once or twice I've been inspired by a tiktok (like roman in shining armor, and another angst fanfic idea that I'm nowhere close to writing but was inspired by a tiktok)

16. Do you write by hand, on your phone, or on your laptop?

I do have a journal reserved for writing, but I've only used it a few times. I prefer computer or phone (when I get inspired on the road) for a few different reasons: I have terrible handwriting, my mind moves too fast for my hands to keep up, and really writing by hand is just slow and tedious, especially with how many mistakes I have to erase. Besides, writing online is much more organized.

[everyone-with-a-para]

I hope everyone with a para called Roman has a great day

[astronomical-bagel]

concept: darkside roman is daydreaming, lost in a fantasy world an unable to interact with the real one.

Blue I made a wholeass au in my head because of this ask I HOPE YOURE HAPPY

(Seriously tho, this wasn’t meant to be so long—it just kinda grew)

I think I’ve seen a Maladaptive Daydreaming! Roman  somewhere, tho I can’t remember who made it. I think, if I made my own version of that, his theme song would be “Oh No!” by Marina (”tv taught me how to feel, now real life has no appeal”) and he would just kinda... sleep all day and stay in bed, and if anyone tried to get him out and make him do stuff, he’d snap at them and be grumpy the whole time, and sooner or later, he just locks his door so he can daydream in peace, and be stuck in his own little world.

Soon enough, his room starts changing to match what he’s dreaming about, and he can’t tell the difference between being awake or asleep or daydreaming, but he doesn’t care anymore.

The others get worried—because are those plants coming from underneath the door?— but ultimately they decide he needs space, because they don’t want him to be uncomfortable as he obviously was any time he came out. And they can’t actually open the door, and he doesn’t want them in there.... so they don’t do anything, just knocking when they think no one else is there and asking when he’s gonna come out (they expect a joke of ‘im gay’ or something, but he never replies)

And now Roman is in sort of a Sleeping Beauty situation, trapped in his own mind, not that he cares. Things are much more exciting in here, and he’s a hero, a prince! People love him in his dreams! Other times, he’s an actor in broadway, with a crowd roaring in front of him, or maybe he’s fighting a dragon, or he has fire powers!

But... the other sides are never there in his dreams, and the faces in front of him are always blurry and indistinct, and he has to fight to stay happy, because the moment you get scared or upset in a dream, you lose control, and you become trapped in a nightmare, but with no one to talk to... no family to support him... he can’t stay happy all the time!

and BAM, the moment he stops trying to smile, he’s trapped in a seemingly eternal nightmare and everything’s confusing and weird and when people hit him it actually hurts, and he’s losing battles and he’s forgetting his lines and his flames get of control and they hurt everyone, he’s hurting everyone—

And Thomas, who throughout this time has been lazier, less passionate, increasingly sleepy and keeps getting lost in his thoughts, suddenly can’t sleep at night because of nightmares, he’s stressed because of how behind he’s gotten on work, and he’s even MORE stressed because he knew he SHOULD work but he’s so tired but every time he sleeps he has a nightmare, and by now he and the sides know something is wrong, especially because the plants crawling out from Roman’s door are now gnarled and black instead of green and lush, and they have thorns now. And they’re so worried for Roman but the stupid door won’t open and so they get Remus to bash a hole into the door—the plants seem to be trying to keep them out— and when they get in their jaws just drop in pure amazement because holy SHIT there is an entire castle in Roman’s room and the thorns are so thick and there’s ominous clouds and lightning and rain coming down in sheets. The place looks like it could’ve once been beautiful, but now it looks similar to Pink Diamond’s garden after thousands and thousands of years of neglect.

And they know, by sheer nature of Roman, what they have to do—and by sheer nature of gravity, it is going to be very, very hard to do that, because of course they have to find their way through the dilapidated castle, and of course Roman is in the tallest tower. Oh, and the gigantic red dragon flitting around in the clouds isn’t really going to make things any easier.

At least there’s stairs.

But in the castle, there’s traps, too. Remus makes his way through most of them with ease, and Virgil is paranoid enough to expect any trap, but they have to stay behind for the others. They have to fight, too, like they’re in the final level of a video game. Weird beasts, bats with cat heads that breath fire (bcats? Cat bats?) and alligators with freakishly long tongues that try to wrap around you (alligatoads? Frogidiles?), and lion-bears, that even Remus has trouble defeating, and he’s the best fighter besides Roman.

They’re almost to the base of the tallest tower when the dragon above them decides to make an appearance.

She’s tall, big, and red. Like Clifford, If he had scales and claws and breathed fire. She blocks their way to the tower stairs, hissing and blowing warning fireballs in the torrents of rain.

But...she never directly attacks, only defense. She’s trying to keep them from the door.

She’s protecting Roman.

In the end, all it takes is some soft words, an entreaty—and a couple apologies for trying to hurt her— to get her to move so they can pass. Patton approves.

Past the stairs, the thorns are back, this time crawling and writhing along the ground like living beings, but instead of seeming like they attacking like the monsters in the lower castle defending like the dragon, they seem... trained towards the main room, set in an almost strategic manner, every thorn pointed inwards.

They get to the top, hacking and moving tendrils away to clear the stairs, and then, laying almost peacefully in bed... is Roman. He’s in all black, his sash pale, making Roman look ashen and grey. Thorns caress his face, and it looks like it could have once been loving, but the thorns are digging into his skin now, making bright beads of red pop up on his par skin. It almost seems like Roman’s dead, if it weren’t for the uneven rise and fall of his chest, the little whimpers escaping his mouth, the way his face twitches and twists as if he is in pain—or like he’s terrified.

When Roman wakes up, the thorns are completely cleared away from his bed, and the sides have fallen asleep around his room—some sitting on his bed, others on the armchair in the corner, Remus is just laying spread-eagle on the rug— and Roman isn’t quite sure what’s happening, only that he’s not having a nightmare anymore, and that his family is here.

And Thomas sleeps better than he has in months.

[katt-katt]

Living in fantasy worlds AKA dealing with your problems through escapism.

I think Roman would have this problem as well.

This looks really different from my usual work ‘cause I made this at 2am and wanted it to be more simple, this is mostly a vent(?, but I’m sure a lot of ppl can relate

[anxiousgaypanicking]

what about the twins having maladaptive daydreaming, so oftentimes, when they listen to music especially, things in the imagination/mindscape will actually change and new things will form as a result, and its something the twins cant control, so they treat it like new decor

the candles that have started growing from the ceiling? light sources! the way the wax melts defies gravity anyway

the black hands growing from the walls? coat hangers! they usually form in bunches anyway

they learn to make the most out of an otherwise annoying situation

[your-fav-has-madd]

Roman from Sanders Sides has Maladaptive Daydreaming Disorder

Requested by: anon

[sanders-sides-uncorrect-quotes]

Madd!dark!Roman sleeping on a bean bag chair! (He wearing socks btw)

[meowthefluffy]

I drew @meripisi ‘s super cool maladaptive daydreaming Roman! I really like the design so I couldn’t resist!